Sick Day = Boring Blog Post!

I woke up today feeling like I had been run over by a city bus full of plague rats at some point during the night. Consequently, I have had a rather uneventful day filled only with fitful fever-naps and bad daytime T.V. shows. On the plus side,I called in sick to work and I have been giving some serious thought to growing a manly beard. I think it may grant me a certain roguish quality. Of course, this may be the fever talking.

At this point I'm not sure if I am going to go to work tomorrow. I guess it depends how I feel when I wake up. If I feel like I do now, however, it will be another day of hot cider and headaches. Oh what fun.

Now, off to bed with me....So I can dream of my perfect beard

Later

Of Metal bands and Mixing boards...

Okay kiddies, sorry for the late update today. I'm feeling rather under the weather and, consequently, I spent the better part of the day on my couch watching war movies.

So, last night did not go quite as I had planned. We never finished mixing "Patience Guide", K3 and I only shot a couple pictures, and I didn't get home until 2am. I blame this all on the StudioMaster 16x4x2 mixing console that Josh and I purchased last night. The aforementioned mixer is a central component of the recording setup that Josh and I have been attempting to piece together for the past few months so, when the owner was willing to sell it to us for a mere 135 bucks, we naturally jumped at the opportunity.

In this case "Jumping at the opportunity" meant driving to Kenmore in what I can only describe as a fucking monsoon of a rainstorm. In the hour it took us to get there from squad we made four U-turns, got lost at least twice, and sufficiently weirded out a sleeping pregnant woman whose house we mistook for our destination. In fact, while standing on her porch, my inner monologue seemed to break down entirely because I inexplicably exclaimed "Awkward!" when I realized we were at the wrong house. In my defense, It was a tad awkward...Especially after my outburst.

But I digress.

Eventually we did find the house we were looking for but only after the man we were going to meet wandered out into the downpour to look for us. Once inside we got our first look at the StudioMaster. It was big. It looked heavy and, as Josh put it, "it looked legit!. We are, however, professionals...so we tested each channel, asked geeky questions, and were generally skeptical. Finding nothing wrong, we paid the man his money and lugged the extremely heavy mixer to my car and proceeded to drive home feeling very proud of our purchase.

We arrived at the squad, mixer in hand like conquering heroes and immediately set upon the task of integrating our new toy into the recording setup. At first things went well. We removed the old mixer, set up the amps and vocal mics, and connected all the components into the SoundMaster. We rejoiced at the prospects that the 4 new free channels offered, we patted ourselves on the back for such a thrifty purchase...We were pumped.

Then we put on our headphones.

To make a long story short, there was so much buzzing and channel noise that the board, in its current condition, was useless. Josh and I then set a new world record of transitioning from pumped to totally bummed out in under 3 seconds. I'm pretty sure it broke the sound barrier. We are, at the moment seeking outside consultation about possible fixes to the mixing board and, thankfully, the outlook seems promising. Since I know you are all so interested, I'll keep you posted.

At midnight Josh took off and I hung out with Butcher for a while and shot the shit about metal bands and recording studios. At about 1:30 I drove home and nearly wrecked my car on I-90 due to the nearly a foot of standing water on the approach to Issaquah. Good. Freaking. TIMES.

And now, here are the stats for yesterday:

Pictures taken: 5ish

Pictures posted: None!!

New bands I like: My Epiphany,Southcott,and Demon Hunter

New labels that rule: Less Avenged

Reasons I am proud of wife: this video clip in the upper right hand corner is a little promo for her dance company!

also..this is her being featured in an Ad for her company


okay. That's it for today. Hopefully I'll get the new Patience Guide up tonight...We'll see.

later

No sleep till...Bellevue?

Yesterday seemed like the longest day ever. ever, people!

I managed to fake my way though the better part of my workday but, when I literally fell asleep at my desk I decided that the time for keeping up appearances was through. Thankfully, my boss is awesome and let me bail on the remaining 2 hours of my workday. Unfortunately this 2 hour window left me little time to do anything but run back to my apartment, change clothes, eat a cheeseburger, and run back into Bellevue to meet the rest of The Four Colour Process at The Ground Zero Teen center.

Even though I live 20 minutes away I always get a little nostalgic being back in Bellevue. It just seems like the ghosts of my teenage years speak the loudest when I'm on their turf.

The Show itself was a good time and the energetic dance response from the kids in the front was a nice change from the usual "indier-than-thou" statue impressions that greet most bands in the greater Seattle area. Coretta Scott, the headliner from Spokane ran into some van trouble stranding their lead singer Josh at the GZ without a band to play with. In a show of true rock and roll "good sportsmanship" Josh decided to give the kids an acoustic performance of several songs from his solo writings and I was left rather impressed by the depth and effectiveness of his set. I would have told him this myself but penetrating the phalanx of 14 year old indie girls that surrounded him seemed like it would take more strength than my exhausted body had left. Really the only down side about last night was when a marauding band of jocks drove by in someones fathers Audi and shot a crowd of us with paintballs. Now my leg has a welt and there is a green paint splotch on my favorite jeans. Devin and I grabed rocks to break the cars windsheild if they made a return pass but, sadly, we were not given the chance to retaliate. probably for the best really.

Overall, last night felt like an all ages show should: a common effort by a bunch of kids to play and enjoy good local music without all the scene bullshit that has left some of us a little jaded.

After the show was over I bowed out of the general plans to go back to the hill and hit the egg room after party. As much as I wanted to stay up until 7am and wake up feeling like an angry rhinoceros had "had his way with me" I felt that the smart move for me would be to go home and catch up on all the sleep I'd missed the night before.

Upon getting home my Wife called me from Bourbon street in New Orleans and my desire to be with her was so bad that my heart started to feel like a tin can in a trash compacter. (ooooh so EMO)It was at this moment that I started formulating plans to build a personal matter teleporter....world economics be damned!!

I woke up early this morning and made my way to pirahna Studios to continue work on recording vocals for our as-of-yet untitled record. Progress is good and by tonight the rough mix of "patience Guide" should be up on our myspace page for your listening pleasure.

Anyway, Josh had to take off for a while to do some work at Mars Hill so K3 and I are going to have some fun with cameras and creative lighting. The results will most likely end up on my myspace page later tonight. If you're lucky.

Okay...Off to be creative.

later.

Happy 24th Birthday Casey!!!

For the last 3 years I have missed my best friend Caseys birthday party. I've always had a good reason, in fact I've always had the same reason. You see, I just happened to start dating the wonderful angel that is my wife at Casey's birthday party oh so long ago and, since then, I've spent every January 27th with her. This time, however, my lady love is in the middle of yet another national tour with Diavolo and I am, therefore, regretably without her company.

The upside of my lonliness however is that this year was the first time since Caseys 21st that I was in attendance for his birthday party and, as dead tired as I am now sitting here at work, it was worth it.

The night started out with an intimate gathering at Chez Gaude (pronounced Shey gawdy), the restaurant where Ben Sparks works his special brand of culinary magic. Our crew had reserved a large, corner couch area and, although things got to a slow start, we quickly assembled a good group and got the party under way. After drinks and bad inside jokes Ben produced a large cake which, after much fanfare, he proceeded to light on fire while the group sang happy birthday. The cake was as delicious as it was flammable. It also stained our teeth a lovely shade of grey for a good portion of the night. All in all...Totally worth it.

Around eleven Casey, Ben and I left the restaurant huddled under one pitifully inadequate umbrella, giggling maniacally as we loudly sang what I'm sure were the wrong words to chubby checkers' "lets twist again". This was great fun.

We then did the twist in the middle of the street in the rain.

We made our way to Linda's where, admittedly, I lost track of Casey for a the better part of an hour as I caught up with, literally, every one of the friends that I had not seen for a while. It was a veritable who's who of people that I love/tolerate. At this point I briefly toyed with the Idea of calling in sick. Upon further consideration I abandoned this idea as irresponsible and pointless. Drinks were had, toasts raised, and time, as is the case in a place like Lindas, passed quickly. When I finally did reunite with Casey he was decidedly more intoxicated than he had been at the restaurant but was still in control of his faculties, he had simply acquired his trademark drunken swagger/"Italian Mafia" pronunciation. Funny but manageable.

At this point I toyed with the Idea of going home. (1:00am) 7 hours until work

The group made its way down the street to the usual party wind-down spot, the Clever Dunnes. I drank water and planned my ill-fated exit strategy while the chaos that is my drunken friends whirled around me like a bourbon-fueled tornado. Once again I managed to lose track of the birthday boy in a flurry of hugs and high-fives from friends I had neglected. Just as the bar lights kicked in and "last call" was shouted I heard rumblings moving through the party crowd that an "after party" was being held at Andrews apartment. I decided that I would crash at Caseys then informed the mob that I would attend. (2:15am) 5 hours 45 min until work

Outside the bar the party goers had assembled as an unruly, drunken mob intent on getting out of the cold, wet Seattle night and into Andrews apartment to continue "celebrating" Caseys birth by throwing away brain cells like confetti. I was so distracted by Daves overexcited "bro hugs" that I did not even notice the absence of the birthday boy as the crowd made its way across Denny towards the apartment complex. It was Ben Sparks that finally noticed and retrieved Casey from his hiding spot within the Dunnes.

Caseys state of inebriation at this point can only be described as "The Gumby Phase". The phase in which one is so intoxicated that ones movements share more with a string-puppet gumby than any bipedal mammal know to modern science.

With considerable help, Casey made it to Andrews apartment and plopped down heavily in a chair on the outside walkway. By this point, my stamina was all but evaporated and I needed to sleep since my workday was only five short hours away. I gathered up Casey, said my goodbyes and made my way to Caseys apartment to get some much needed shut eye. (3:00am)5 hours until work

Upon hitting the couch I was instantly asleep. It was wonderful. It was also, however, short lived.

I was then awakened by what sounded like a home invasion but turned out to be a large group of my drunken friends bursting in the door to Caseys apartment to assault him with a bright blue latex dildo that can only be described as "practical joke big". I could only make out a few words but I am sure someone said "this will go much quicker if you don't struggle". I took the only course of action I felt was open to me. I pulled the covers over my head and fell back into a terrified, restless asleep. (3:45am)4 hours 15 min until work


Soon,I was again roused from sleep by what I can only describe as a remarkable impersonation of Chewbakka trying to lose weight for the senior prom coming from the bathroom ajoining the room I was sleeping in.(4:40am) 3 hours 20 min until work This was of course Casey "returning" all the alcohol he had "rented" throughout the evening in one efficient session. Again, I pulled the covers over my head and slept until my cell phone alarm woke me at seven am.

Now I am at work in a large sweatshirt I stole from Casey, My back hurts, I am half awake, and I miss my Wife more than anyone has ever missed anything.

Happy Birthday Casey, I'm glad I got to share it with you this year! It was great. Now, back to work for me. *sigh*

Later

No rest. Headache. Writers block?

Woke up late today even though I went to bed rather early and the headache that greeted me when I opened my eyes refuses to subside no matter how man external migraine tabs I throw at it.

Practice last night was good but I'm frustrated at my lack of progress in finding a suitable vocal line in one of our new songs. I could sense that the rest of the band was a little frustrated by this as well. I'd work on it now but I'm finding it impossible to think through the headache fog.

I am also frustrated with my inability to start writing my book. I've reworked the setting and the basic premise a hundred times in my head but, for some reason I still have not put the first word on paper.

It seems that in all creative aspects of my life I have hit a wall. I guess this is what writers block feels like. Hell, even this Blog entry feels uninspired.

On that note, I think I'll go back to working...at least that requires no creativity what so ever.

...Stolen from some great writer.

I woke up early this morning and read for a few hours before grudgingly making my way to work. It was rainy and miserable out again and it was all I could do to bring myself to walk in the door and clock in.

Now, I don't love my job but I don't hate it either. My boss is great, I'm paid well and I have very good benefits for my Wife and I. I certainly could do much worse for myself. I have no passion for the work, however. Other than taking pride in a job well done I really couldn't care less about the business and the customers. Sending some ungrateful and cranky old couple on a week long vacation to Hawaii does nothing for my sense of purpose and, try as I might, I simply can't bring myself to care. I just can't escape the feeling that every second I spend here is a waste.

Some days my discontent is worse than others. Today is not one of my good days. My attempts to mentally block out the artificial cheer and mindless pandering of modern "customer service" has taxed my patience to the breaking point and all my restraint is focused on not strangling those in the cubicles around me with their headset cords for a single moment of peace uncluttered by the universally vague, noncommittal, niceties of the corporate vocabulary.

Am I exaggerating? A little, maybe. Still, I can't escape the feeling that I don't belong here. Every moment I spend in a recording studio, at band practice, or writing serves only to reinforce this feeling.

I just can't wait until my real life begins and all this background noise fades away.

I know that nothing that comes easy is worth having...It just sucks to be stuck in the "paying your dues" phase for so long.

Not losing hope, just losing patience.

"The war is over...they won..."

I stayed up late last night watching the extended "bootleg" cut of Almost Famous and, once again, fell head over heels in love with the movies Idealized portrayal of the freedom and sentimentality of 70's rock and roll. Every time I watch it I can't help but feel like I've missed out, like the music scene we live in and die for is exactly the substanceless "industry of cool" that the movie version of Lester Bangs so gravely cautions against.

Is the war really over? Did They win?

Sometimes it feels that way and I get pretty discouraged. I mean, what logical reason is there that My band should make it as opposed to the 7000+ other bands fighting it out in this city?

And thats just it...logic has nothing to do with it. Trying to think our way to the top will always be a failing gesture.

When we run on instinct we are at our strongest. When that next part of the song just comes out of you naturally it is always a thousand times better and more real than any formulated "thought out" part or transition.

I feel like my band is fianlly getting to that point, the point where we stop thinking our music and start really feeling it.

So, to answer the question of why I know that this band is going to make it....

It's because I can feel it...I can feel it every time we lock in on some new part, or every time we hit our stride on stage and everything just flows together. I can feel it when we talk about our plans and our ambissions.

It's just sleeping there under the surface.

I think the next few months are going to be very interesting...

Studio time.

It's nice to be back in the studio again. I've been re-recording the main and backup vocal tracks on the Four Colour Process full length and and, I have to say, it has been a long time since I have been this excited about a band that I have been in. Tracking has been going at about the pace I expected and, aside from some minor frusteration on my part stemming from singing parts written with a much different vocal style in mind, largley painless. We've already gotten through one song (patience guide) and are moving onto the next (temporary fixes) on sunday.

My new work schedule, however looks like it is going to be more of a nusiance than I thought. Working around band practice was one thing but, trying to find time to record the rest of the record and practice while still being able to sleep is looking like it may be a challenge.

Thankfully, everyone involved is being pretty understanding so I have no doubt that we will make it work until a better solution presents itself.

I've been missing my Wife quite a bit these days. Since her arrival in New Orleans phone contact has been spotty at best. I know that we were aware of how hard this would be when we got into it but, right now it's wearing me down pretty fast.

I am also just a little jealous that she is the one on tour and I'm stuck here in this vanilla corporate nightmare just waiting for my real life to begin again.

In other news, I have been re-addicted to network televison and I am not afraid to admit how excited I am about the 2 brand new episodes of "Scrubs" on tonight...not to mention "Love Monkey" which is looking to be just as good.

...I still think all that "reality" TV is complete fucking bullshit, however.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time until someone realizes that I have not done a second of work for the past hour and a half so I should probably go.

...Later