Sunday, February 08, 2009
it's about time
I posted a new blog here.. been posting more at the Myspace site lately, no particular reason...
The big news is that I just finished up the overdubs on the new stuff yesterday.. narrowed down the 15 dunes to an even dozen.. Brian begins mixing now and hopefully have something for y'all by June or so... I honestly have to say that I feel good about every single song.. can't say that's been true since EWTH.
Spent most of yesterday adding electric saz to several tracks. It's a Turkish instrument that Jeanne bought for me a couple of xmas's ago but I never had much of an opportunity to play.. It's not a particularly easy instrument to pick up for someone used to Western scales, but as Brian said.. "For a saz, that makes a great electric guitar".. It's difficult to keep in tune, and the narrow neck and tiny frets make it more difficult to play in a "guitar style".. Maybe someday I'll find an English language instructional video on the "proper" way to play it. But it has a great sound that definitely added the bow to the package on several tunes, especially "Sometimes I Feel", which has vaulted for me personally from the middle of the pack up to near the top... it's pretty different than the demo version posted earlier on Myspace.
Other random things:
It's been a bit of a struggle lately with the lupus..lots of strange rapidly appearing pains that last a day or two then disappear. Makes day to day living rather unpredictable. Can't wait for Obama to lift the ban on stem cell research.. it's one of the ways that the religious right negatively impacted my right to live, delaying important research for 8 long years and with it my hopes that a cure will be discovered in time for it to have some effect on my quality of life..
Sometimes I still can't believe that we have a President Obama. I think it's pretty telling that the media has suddenly discovered it's cajones again now that a Democrat is back in the White House. The whole Daschle thing incensed me from the standpoint that billions upon billions of dollars have been simply "lost" in Iraq with no investigation whatsover, but the media found time to write painstakingly detailed stories about Daschle's car service. anyway, all that's for another blog...
Saw Slumdog Millionaire.. can't see what all the hype is about. It's not bad I guess.. just was expecting to be more blown away based on all the reviews, and Danny Boyle being the director. Trainspotting was brilliant, and the 28 days and weeks movies were interesting to look at, if not particularly compelling story wise, and I really liked his under-seen 2007 SCI_FI flick Sunshine, but as Jon Stewart said.. it was one of the most depressing feel good movies of the year!. I mean I suppose that was the point, the story of a kid who basically had everything taken away from him eventually getting the millions and the girl of his dreams.. but I never felt like the movie built that relationship on much of anything more than their shared misery. With movies of this type, I always want to know what happens next? So he gets the girl, now what? Do they get married, have 1.5 kids, and live in the suburbs of Mumbai? Or does his insane childhood and adolescence of running/searching/surviving ensure that he will never be satisfied, and instead always looking for the next chase?
Also saw Zack and Miri make a porno last night on DVD... cute and funny.. a non-depressing feel good movie!. Two thumbs up for the "Lost" conversation among the cast/filmmakers while Zack and Miri were having their big sex scene.. "I don't know, theyre on the island, off the island, who can follow that shit...".. and 3 thumbs up for Tyler Labine's hilarious cameo as the drunk Steeler's fan. I've liked this guy on the 2 recent TV shows I've seen him in.. Invasion and Reaper (returning to TV in March - also with a Kevin Smith connection) - he gets some funny lines and delivers them with just the right mix of smart assery and dumbness..
The big news is that I just finished up the overdubs on the new stuff yesterday.. narrowed down the 15 dunes to an even dozen.. Brian begins mixing now and hopefully have something for y'all by June or so... I honestly have to say that I feel good about every single song.. can't say that's been true since EWTH.
Spent most of yesterday adding electric saz to several tracks. It's a Turkish instrument that Jeanne bought for me a couple of xmas's ago but I never had much of an opportunity to play.. It's not a particularly easy instrument to pick up for someone used to Western scales, but as Brian said.. "For a saz, that makes a great electric guitar".. It's difficult to keep in tune, and the narrow neck and tiny frets make it more difficult to play in a "guitar style".. Maybe someday I'll find an English language instructional video on the "proper" way to play it. But it has a great sound that definitely added the bow to the package on several tunes, especially "Sometimes I Feel", which has vaulted for me personally from the middle of the pack up to near the top... it's pretty different than the demo version posted earlier on Myspace.
Other random things:
It's been a bit of a struggle lately with the lupus..lots of strange rapidly appearing pains that last a day or two then disappear. Makes day to day living rather unpredictable. Can't wait for Obama to lift the ban on stem cell research.. it's one of the ways that the religious right negatively impacted my right to live, delaying important research for 8 long years and with it my hopes that a cure will be discovered in time for it to have some effect on my quality of life..
Sometimes I still can't believe that we have a President Obama. I think it's pretty telling that the media has suddenly discovered it's cajones again now that a Democrat is back in the White House. The whole Daschle thing incensed me from the standpoint that billions upon billions of dollars have been simply "lost" in Iraq with no investigation whatsover, but the media found time to write painstakingly detailed stories about Daschle's car service. anyway, all that's for another blog...
Saw Slumdog Millionaire.. can't see what all the hype is about. It's not bad I guess.. just was expecting to be more blown away based on all the reviews, and Danny Boyle being the director. Trainspotting was brilliant, and the 28 days and weeks movies were interesting to look at, if not particularly compelling story wise, and I really liked his under-seen 2007 SCI_FI flick Sunshine, but as Jon Stewart said.. it was one of the most depressing feel good movies of the year!. I mean I suppose that was the point, the story of a kid who basically had everything taken away from him eventually getting the millions and the girl of his dreams.. but I never felt like the movie built that relationship on much of anything more than their shared misery. With movies of this type, I always want to know what happens next? So he gets the girl, now what? Do they get married, have 1.5 kids, and live in the suburbs of Mumbai? Or does his insane childhood and adolescence of running/searching/surviving ensure that he will never be satisfied, and instead always looking for the next chase?
Also saw Zack and Miri make a porno last night on DVD... cute and funny.. a non-depressing feel good movie!. Two thumbs up for the "Lost" conversation among the cast/filmmakers while Zack and Miri were having their big sex scene.. "I don't know, theyre on the island, off the island, who can follow that shit...".. and 3 thumbs up for Tyler Labine's hilarious cameo as the drunk Steeler's fan. I've liked this guy on the 2 recent TV shows I've seen him in.. Invasion and Reaper (returning to TV in March - also with a Kevin Smith connection) - he gets some funny lines and delivers them with just the right mix of smart assery and dumbness..
