Home Sick Home

So, it's a lovely Friday evening and I am a big ball of boring here. Sneezing, coughing and grumpy faced. Yes, grumpy faced. In reality I'm expressionless.

I started feeling a bit rough on Wednesday afternoon. "Oh No!" I thought to myself,"I can't fall ill now we have a show tonight at the Tin Angel!" I cleared up enough and got through the show clear voiced. It was a great evening with support from some of our best and oldest friends.
It was extra nice because we played to some fresh faces and they were quite in to the music. How lovely!

I really love playing full band shows but, something about a duo or trio is just so...easy. The minimalism is what keeps my heart at ease. It's not that there is less to remember.No. There is less to forget. Cables. Stands.Tuners etc.
It was nice. it's just one of those things that has to be tight or else it could flop.

Landon Pigg was a perfectly nice fella.

So, I'm going to put on some tea and strum the guitar a bit. Followed by coughing,sneezing and sleeping.
Killer Friday!

With friends like these

I have a dear dear friend. His name is RJ. Every 3 months or so he hands me a cd that is labeled "Dave's Dead Songs" These are tunes that I recorded and have basically never played live. Essentially recorded and left there. On the disc. Dead.
They were demos. Ryan Keller recorded them.

I have a funny relationship with these songs for some reason. They were kind of this...midpoint. I thought at the time I was really maturing as a writer. I feel like the material was getting better but, I was not a very good editor. You'll have this.
At the same time the tunes really reflect a very creative time when I wrote a lot. Absurd amounts. I was coming up with crazy ideas. I thought I was digging deep. Hearing it back I was just listening to lots of Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind and Bob Dylan. Hey he can have a song with 7 verses why can't I?

Really what it is is that at this time in life everyone had something going on and it was always crazy. And how would we handle it? And is it going to get better? Odd.
There was some sort of dramatic presence in the air and it was easy to grab a hold of. I can't say I miss it. I don't miss writing about a friend and his broken-hearted loneliness. I don't miss writing about feeling like I'm a failure. I don't miss the hangovers. :)

I do miss the closeness though. People are good at staying in touch but, that doesn't always mean they/we are close.

There is a tune called Mary Reese,about a man walking in on his woman - post suicide. Ryan has this accordion line that is really just chilling. And there are points where things fall in line so perfectly. We didn't know what we were doing and anything could work. Not the case any more. I'd say that Ryan has become an almost meticulous arranger but, with an ear that's exceptional.
There is another one that is actually a bit about some things Ryan - same Ryan - was going through and it could become something, needs some editing though.

Ultimately I hear these songs and I am so grateful. It always comes back to the support. Wonderful pals who want to hear, want to create, want to sing along. I love all the creative partners I've had. It's such a blessing.

I look forward to singing with the prettiest one Wed night at the Tin Angel!!

Living in Rooms

Well, my birthday "week" is almost over. There is still a trip to Rehoboth with some friends scheduled for this weekend but, I feel that is separate.
We did so much over the last week's time. Saw and heard some amazing music and had a bit too much to drink but, hell, you only live once. (Now it's time to cool down and get healthy again)

A major highlight was last night traveling with Nate to New York to see Jim Campilongo at the Living Room. It's a fairly well known venue that hosts gigs for Norah Jones, Richard Julian, etc. Jim plays guitar in groups with the previously mentioned as well as Martha Wainwright. He has a Monday night residency at TLR. Plays every Monday night at 11.
Yes. Starts at 11. Plays until 12. Take a brake and then starts rolling again.

Needless to say I'm sort of an exhausted mess today but, getting by. I got to sleep around 4. Woke at 7. Ouch!!

Well, J.Camp delivered bigtime. Nate and I have been trying to make it up to see this gig for well over a year now I suppose. It was worth the wait. Jim's music is instrumental and it fuses the right elements of country, chicken pickin' twang, brilliant jazz and gentle hints of blues. Effortlessly combined. He has some loud rock and roll romps too. Backed by an excellent upright bassist and a killer drummer sometimes I couldn't believe it was just 3 people. We.Were.Blown.Away.
Thanks Jim for being an inspiration and a gentleman as well.

One other fine highlight was Em taking me to a restaurant called August for my BDay dinner. What a treat. It's tough competing with Em's cooking but, August was definitely adequate. Yes, the crab cake was overpriced but, it was delicious!
It's cute because our anniversary is in August and we'll be creating a new anniv in that same month this year. Except on 8-06 and not 8-24 :)

I'm surrounded by dear friends and true love for miles.
Thanks to you all!

the time between

A lovely, calm and quiet Sunday morning. Soon enough I'll head out on a run.

It's been so long since I've done any blog entry of any sort. Thank God. Everything else on this page is just whining. I think at some point in time this was or is supposed to be a music focused blog and I'll try to stick to that. But, I am also getting married so............

Deathcard is done. It will be released soon enough(tax return) In reality,as I've been telling folks,instead of releasing it I got a bunch of electric guitar gear. That is half true. It's a good thing I did because it gave me a new point of view. Really it allowed me to get reacquainted with an old friend. I learned to play on the electric and found my connection to music through it. Only when I needed to be quiet while writing at 2am did I discover my father's Ovation.

So I got very in to acoustic and that was all fine and well. But, we all need a change some times. So I've been fortunate to come in to some nice gear and it's a delight. It's helped me to hear things again. Hear full arrangements and textures. I missed that.

Plus, it's given me some time away from the acoustic. Now, when I pick up the Gibson the sound is energizing and has something to offer. (It is easy to take a beautiful tone for granted.)

All that said I feel and know that my writing will change. My life has changed. As I mentioned I am getting married. And I've always struggled with writing about positive things. Which is rubbish. I never allowed myself to be open. I have never sat long enough to let the truth come through or to feel the light that wants to guide us. It's there and that's great but, even better it helps to bring the darkness to the light. In all life and love there is joy and equal amounts of grief and loss. I think that balance is going to come out in....what ways? We'll see...

I'm excited for the future, for new collaborations and ones that are long overdue. I'm so thankful for the endless support and love I receive. For the everyday and long months between.

More later.

Visit this site for guitar geek madness.

...both ends

Music? what music?
This is how life feels.

This weekend we will hopefully complete mixing for the album,"Deathcard"
I hope to God that it is completed. It's taken entirely too long. In my mind it basically doesn't count anymore.But, it HAS to be finished before I can complete new songs. Which is ridiculous but it's totally how I am.
There are old old old songs that need to come back to life, that need to grow in to something. There are new tunes that need to be finished just so we can figure out if it's a boy or a girl. Not until I finish this album though and are pregnant with the joy of a new release!

I mean, I'm grateful because I've learned so much. I've learned how you should work on a full length album. the answer is quickly. Know what you are doing, Get in there and shut and up and get it done.I went in not knowing what i was doing nor what I wanted...I see that now. thank God Ken is a patient person. thank God i have a patient band.
band? what band?

I hope it doesn't happen this way again in the future. I'm sure the next EP we do will have it's own set of challenges -like recording winter songs in the summer- but, I'll have a better grasp on things.

In other news I am trying to learn some theory. My father is helping me with that.
Fuck,I'm just trying to learn.

Stone Shouldered Men

Well...I finally got over being sick and did spend a fair amount of time playing guitar. Something came out that has a jazzy hint to it. Nothing crazy or actually jazz , just pretty i guess.
To me it sounds like waking up next to her on a sunny, end of winter kinda morning.One with two clouds in it.

I have some idea that I'll provide an "update" It's really just a check list of things I need to do for myself.
-Make sure that the weekend of May 16-17 mixing gets done for the love of God!
-Get your ass some shows.
-Get that g-d damn mother f-cking amp fixed!
-Get better at guitar.
-Keep writing and writing.
-Keep going...

Something along those lines. It's always so simple really.
Guitar is easy. It's easy for me to see and hear what I need to get better at.
Writing is a struggle because you just have to do it. lots of it. And write down so much utter bull sh-t. Then at page 87 something finally escapes from you that is acceptable.
Whoever said creativity is easy?

On other notes, I like us. I like feeling comfortable and talking about what a dork I am. She knows anyway. Everyone does.

Bad news is I feel rough today, not working with 100% strengf.

aww shit!

Chops

So, lots of my energy has been focused on the guitar lately.
I've been looking up different lessons on youtube. Tony Rice riffs, blues Am scales, watching Jim Hall clips(Thanks Fretboard Journal) etc...
And I'm working on things hoping eventually I'll have some kind of "sound"
All of this is built on the notion that the sound comes more from the player than it does from the equipment.
In years past I've been little more than an acoustic guy. A strummer with moderate picking ability. As an electric player I was always a smash em bash em kind of gent. You have to add some sensitivity into the mix. That's what I'm workig on now. It's difficult.
I find that I still want to crank up the gain and rock out a little. Almost sounds childish in some respect but, I'm sure I'll find it to be totally neccesary.
Truth is I can't handle too much noise. Hurts my ears like hell!!!
(ear plugs?)

I'm hoping for a balance between thick chords and twinkley picked notes. All to end up backing whatever lyrical imagery.
Which as I've noticed lately still has lots to do with loss. Still, in another spectrum, there is a lot of things about joy. And things that were written with a joyful notion are finding there place in the chords.
The focus on guitar comes from needing to take a break from too much lyrical over analyzing. not for it's quality so much but for it's content.
Never one to obsess over sadness(knowingly) I think in watching the news and listening to what happens in the day to day, there's just too much of it...

Someone's neighbor dropped dead the other week. Leaving a wife and two small children.
Cancer constantly challenges someone's life...
The other day in Alabama someone decided to go after everyone who'd "done them wrong" There was a man on the news with a painfully blank look in his eyes. His wife and months old child were both killed by this maniac. He said

"I cried so much yesterday I don't have anything left. I've never cried so much in my life. I keep thinking I'll walk in there and they'll both be ther but, no..."

What sound goes with that?