semidetached.net

You could ask anyone who has ever worked with me – I don’t let people into this music craft thing very easily. I protect my ideas and don’t allow the form to change very often. This is a behavior that is perhaps a faulty one… but one that over the years has been still, for all of its evil, manifesting itself into some really bad ideas that thankfully only exist on cassettes that people have long since trashed (more on that later).

Recently I packed up the guitar and spent a few days in Illinois under the tutelage of Mr. Kyle Gray Young. Kyle is a musician, man of electronic wisdom, and most importantly a Monkees fan. The goal was to write enough songs for an EP, which was perhaps half joke and a fully lofty goal… but what we did get done was something that means quite a bit to me.

I had come to Grayslake with a nearly completed song called “Noughts + Crosses”. Kyle had seen a rough draft of the lyrics early on, and when I started working on the music at home I started to push it a bit out of the range of comfortability. It was somewhere around the middle of the blur that was my vacation that we took things outside and started to play around with the song.

It was decided sometime during drinking that Kyle would play some noodly things (as is his specialty) in standard tuning while I capoed up the fretboard for some added fullness. I am not sure exactly what I wanted Kyle to do save for working out some harmonies on the chorus, and to be honest I wasn’t sure what I was going to let him help with.

Kyle started working on licks and chord voicings while I wrote an incredibly rough third verse to flesh things out. I had some ideas that I wanted to get in there lyrically, and was able to do it quickly. We then started on the song. The key was changed, I revised some lyrics, and we were off. And then, as we hit the chorus section, Kyle said those words that hung in the air with uncomfortability.

“We may want to change that chord there.”

I’d never worked with someone on an arranging level before. Ian Zapczynski, bless his heart, provided me with a tight beat that I wrote music and lyrics against – and make no mistake, it was invaluable and made for some great songs that I wouldn’t have come up with otherwise. He often made clear which of my lyrics sucked (and still does) but never dared suggest a chord change. And I wasn’t sure that I was ready to let someone assume that role.

[Let me digress: I have learned recently, while going through my back catalog, that what I needed most for the last fifteen years was a fucking editor.]

I’ve sat with the song for about a month now. Not only was Kyle right, but as of this writing that changed chord has become the focal point of the song and its coda as well.

The rest of the writing session is a blur, although we thankfully committed it to tape. It wasn’t only the changed chords, and Kyle’s idea for some lyrical changes in the bridge, it was the fucking support that I appreciated most. It was his enthusiasm for the song that I created to get me out of one of the most horrible moments in my life; it told me that perhaps it could speak to someone aside from me.

Kyle is a class dude that knows his shit. I respect his talent and passion for the creative process, and only hope I can translate my ideas as well as he does. Cheers, bro – miss you, miss the city, and can’t wait to come back.

Well hello everyone. Lots going on, will try to encapsulate.

THE MINNEAPOLIS SESSIONS is still puttering along, and yes I do realize the original deadline has passed. Vocal tracks have been problematic – something I should have factored in when planning the course of action. Perhaps I will do a recut on the vocals after allergy season and rerelease the album.

That’s jest, by the way.

There are negotiations for a very special guest to play on one of my tracks. I would love it to be “Second Song”, as that’s the track that leaves me a little cold. However, I’m not sure when the stars will line up in terms of scheduling. Should I be able to receive these guitar tracks soon, rest assured they’ll be on this track.

Aside from this, I am prepping two digital-only archival releases. ELECTRONIC MUSIC VOL. I will be released very soon, and it breaks my heart to make it digital-only given how great Steph’s artwork is. So I’m saving her artwork for a CD release or compilation, perhaps somewhere down the road after I’ve done more electronic type stuff. The second, THOSE WHO CAME TOO LATE, will consist of the pre-Nashville Sessions tracks that never found a home. You know, those fan faves like “Dusk”, “Fall Behind”, “Only A Muse”, that lot.

During the time that it is taking my voice to come around, I’ve been writing a new full-length album as well called THE COMMONS. More on that later.

On a more personal note, I have been taking some time to work on the Recording Wing and have moved all of the equipment into a new space. Change is good; it helps the creative process sometimes.

Even more exciting: In June I will be taking a mini-vacation to see some good friends – Sean Zloch, who is responsible for the design of THE MINNEAPOLIS SESSIONS, and Kyle Gray Young. Kyle is a musician who I respect deeply, and not only because he can whip up a killer version of “St. Matthew” (my favorite Nesmith tune). Hoping to get some writing/collaborating done in my time there. Also will be dining at Stephanie Izard’s The Girl And The Goat, which has me all sorts of excited having just become a Top Chef junkie in the past few weeks.

I’ve never been a Beach Boys fan. Their music – to me – just bled of the ba ba ba doo doo doo that I never could quite embrace. Like the days where songs had the same chords over and fucking over and fucking over again.

Good friend and sometime collaborator Ian Zapczynski once attempted to play me some songs from the mysterious and ill-fated Smile sessions, and I wasn’t having them then.

There’s talk of Capitol Records releasing some sort of Smile package in the near future, so I got swept up in reading about these things as I tend to do. I went for the Purple Chick version of Smile, which contains the original Beach Boys recordings in the sequence of Brian Wilson’s 2004 revisiting. They went to great lengths (along with other fans) to make the most complete versions of tracks that were available in unfinished/unmixed states.

On original listen, I was on the fence. That ba ba ba Beach Boys stuff that I hate creeps in sometimes. But there was some damn outright moving music in there. I say this as a man who hasn’t been all that moved by Pet Sounds (outside of “God Only Knows”).

Good music here. The story, and the eventual breakdown of Mr. Brian Wilson, is a sad one. But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t nearly brought to tears watching him finally (and sadly in his ‘limited’ state) perform all of these songs years later.

An interesting mix of creativity, genius, and drug tragedy – even if that wasn’t the reason for the sessions/projects’ end, it was to interfere with his creativity down the line. I now consider myself a fan.

Email to Ian:
There it is, in Roll Plymouth Rock – that BAW BA BA BABABA BA BA BAW straight out of the AWFUL Barbara Ann, sticking out like a silver turd between Richmond and Isleworth. May have to edit that section out. It makes me want to wax a surfboard. Is Mike Love responsible for that? Who is that? Vile. Couldn’t he have been grooming his beard that day???

Today saw work on four songs (Sometimes, Eightball, Second Song, Will Die) – mainly acoustic based demos so that I can tighten up the arrangements and vocal melodies. I actually spent most of the day relearning Pro Tools and playing around with the virtual instruments. Will be spending a few hours tomorrow on arrangements.

Hello all…

This weekend will see a marathon session that I hope will bring us closer to the end of this project. All of the tracks are in various unorganized states of completion, and a day or two is needed to make sense of things so far.

I am happy to mention here that I have turned the design of the project over to the fully capable Sean Zloch – who will be putting together the entire package from my supplied elements. We have decided to splurge a bit and go with a booklet instead of a folded insert. I am extremely happy about the state of things so far – just hope to get the recording and mixing over with soon so that these songs can finally be shared.

These songs are a little more fully realized than the Nashville collection of tunes – hence the wait. For instance, “One Thing” is completely reliant on piano and strings with a very sparse vocal. A lot of the acoustic tracks have some sort of synth going in the background – I stopped these songs just short of percussion. It’s a mellow listen, a pretty melancholy one – but it fit the season it was written and recorded in.

We’re looking at a release in late March if all goes well – but that depends on the length of time left spent finishing the recording, mixing and mastering. See you then.

Hello peeps.

Just thought I would quickly drop a line and say hello, and let you all know that this project is still going to happen.

I hope you all enjoyed the best of holiday cheer these past few weeks – I sure have, in excess. This morning, at doggy daycare, I was told how good my dog looks since he has lost weight. I will not be shown up by a beagle. But I digress.

The EP is coming along nicely. “One Thing” has fallen by the wayside for now – it’s just not coming together. Could be because it’s piano based and feels like the odd one out – not sure. The other seven tracks are in various states of completion. Some specific anecdotes on the tracks:

“Amorphous” is tricky. It’s an intro, and kind of a ditty that just sets the whole thing up. I can’t quite get the instrumentation right – but it’s staying.

I am very proud of “Sometimes”. It’s the one that just came to me and it melted together incredibly nicely.

“You Don’t Know” was completely written and demoed previous to the trip, so it’s a no brainer.

“Winter” is the first song I’ve ever written to feature a partial capo. Hitting the capo accidentally will manage to knock everything out of tune, forcing you to start again. If I was smart, I would drop this one. It’s an instrumental, by the way.

“Second Song” was the first one finished in Minneapolis, so it’s a bit a of centerpiece.

The most personal is “Eightball”. It also features what may be my favorite chord ever.

I have literally scored hundreds of variations for the orchestration on “Will Die”. The most gushingly heartbreaking breakup song I’ve ever written really deserves a sappy arrangement, no?

Hopefully that will be enough (for now) to prove that these songs exist. As I go, I hope to throw some live videos up here (and I am working on the downloadable best-of stuff for you guys too).

With my ongoing thanks,
Craig

My time here is coming to an end. There are eight songs written and demoed, and several guitar tracks recorded. I will be doing vocals and keyboards at home, and spending some time feeling out the tracks to see which work. Hopefully all will.

If all goes according to plan, this will be the track lineup. I envisioned this as a 5-track EP, so it may be pared down if any of these don’t cut it:

Amorphous
Sometimes
You Don’t Know
One Thing
Winter
Second Song
Something Missing
Will Die

I am feeling really comfortable with these songs, so I think the process of overdubs and mixing should be quick.

If by chance we don’t reach our $500 goal, the album will still be released, but likely just on iTunes and the regular downloading places where the kids hang these days.

Well, we’re on a severe storm warning here in MN until tomorrow, and they are calling for an eighteen inch snowfall. I have spent the last few hours writing music for an entirely new song that may or may not end up being called “Sometimes”. Also went through some chord progressions written a few years back for “Amorphous” and “Will Die”. “Second Song” has come out really smoothly, very happy with that one. I’ve started to record guitar tracks and will continue to do so, but it looks like the vocals will have to wait until the home overdubbing session.

Other songs being considered for the EP are:
“You Don’t Know” – a song I demoed in 2006 that needs a home, and it has several ties to my previous trips here.
“One Thing” – this was written in December 2008.
“Something Missing” – the music was written here in MN during December 2008 and I started forging the melody and lyrics a few weeks back while listening to the 2008 MN tapes.

So if all of those work, we will be looking at a seven song EP. Considering that the Nashville Sessions only yielded four songs, I am feeling very productive. I should say that when I came here in 2008 I had gathered all of my bits of breakup lyrics, and so this one may take a sadder turn. That’s sort of representative of this time of year for me, so it’s kind of fitting.

Nearly, but not quite, a wash.

A strange and sleepless night featuring Wilson Phillips and wavering temperatures forced everyone in the room awake by 6AM, and for the first time in history we found ourselves at the continental breakfast by the 6:30 open.

The continental breakfast here is like an old friend – however, there were some changes this year. The much loved wafflemakers are still in the same corner, however now we have blueberry waffle mix. In a move that made me very happy, they have now added hot eggs and breakfast meat to the continental menu. Today was sausage. Breakfast was good; we were back in the room by 7AM.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Otto took a six hour power nap while I headed to the mall. Once there, I indulged in the following:

- a gorgeously delicious cinnamon crepe
- a new wallet
- a fab Beatles coffee mug of the large variety
- cotton swabs
- Burlesque

Things went downhill upon returning to the room. We ordered in and set the laptop up on the nightstand to serve as a makeshift media center. We watched a complete Al Stewart television concert and then watched It Might Get Loud. What followed seemed like several hours of complete dicking around, and I grabbed the guitar and half heartedly started playing an unfinished idea, all the while telling myself that if I get through the intro at least I would have done something music related today.

With that, the music for “Second Song” was suddenly (and completely) born.

Arrived around 2PM after a very pleasant flight. Immediately unpacked and tuned the guitar while I waited for pizza to arrive, the sounds of Gordon Lightfoot filling the room. Otto sauntered in a few hours later, guitarless.

We found ourselves taking a quick jaunt to the mall, where within minutes Otto found himself no longer guitarless. I grabbed a few books from Barnes And Noble to devour during down time, and we sat for a little while listening to the locals playing piano.

Not a whole lot there on the agenda but it felt really really long. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open at this point.

Wow – before taking it upon myself to type out my thoughts I went back and read some old journals of Minneapolis trips past. Minneapolis always comes at an interesting time: December is a notoriously bad month for me and has been for many years. However, I find joy in Minneapolis and always look forward to it. Once there, my head has a battle between complete joy and utter desperation.

Let’s recap.

2006 was the year that I first attempted to record a followup to 2005′s moderate seller THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS. It was during this trip that my guitar likely suffered some sort of transformation; when I got to the hotel room it was like a solid block of ice and the bits I planned to work on just would not come out. I packed up the guitar and it sat against the wall throwing me a “haha, fuck you!” expression every time I glanced at it.

This was also the longest trip to Minneapolis at a whopping nine days. Six days in I got really sick and spent the last three days in bed.

2007 I have no memory of. My journal says I planned to bring the guitar but NOT record. I couldn’t tell you if I did or not.

2008 was an interesting year. I brought the guitar and recorder but no media to record on – so I wrote. During this time I got sucked into a situation that would render me pretty useless for the next year. Otto drove out on a whim and found me in a strange state, and Minneapolis became our trip.

2009 was more of the same. Starting to get out of the doldrums that started the year before, I tried to put on a brave face and have a great time even though my heart was breaking into tiny pieces. Otto once again came out and we had a blast… no guitars this year.

So here I am, one week before Minneapolis VII. The plan is to write the next EP and record some basic tracks for embellishment at home. I’m excited about this process as I’ve recently pulled out the recordings and notes from 2008, surprised at how many good (and nearly lost) ideas there were there.

With that, I’ll see you a week from now.

If there was a period of time represented by musical toil that I would have to label as ‘strangest’, the WINDOW era would have to be the time. It was a jungle of out of control emotions, self imposed deadlines and creativity that I’ve probably never matched – recently I’ve been reminded of this time by some people that were there watching me go through it. Looking back, it was fun and dangerous as lots of new ‘scenes’ are… I was freshly smitten and playing my first-ever solo gigs, so emotions were running high on every conceivable level.

WINDOW was the story of a girl. It was a doomed love story, although perhaps… well, not perhaps – definitely one sided. For the sake of the album concept, our heroine was a beautiful girl who had just gotten out of a marriage. She had a very young daughter. Lines like “rock baby to sleep tonight” in Light The Darkness were obviously inspired by that (duh). I knew little about her brief married life, but I took the opportunity to turn it into one of abuse just so that I would have something to write about (Trust, Someone So Beautiful).

The album was – for the most part – written and recorded in the order it appears on the album. The exception to that would be Shining Lights And Broken Glass, which was written halfway through with the intention of making an intro to the album (something I would do better on the next album with the opening instrumental track Window Revisited). The album suffers from sonic gremlins – it exists in various forms, all bad. The original sequence had some extended parts, though not many. This sequence exists on cassette only. The minidisc master (after editing) was used for the original cassettes. I took this master minidisc and ran it through an equalizer in an attempt to make the whole album sound better. I failed, and unfortunately that’s the ‘master’ that survives today – very transparent and awful sounding; unusable.

Most of the tracks on side one of the album were recorded on four track cassette with one tape bounce. Halfway through (sometime pre-summer of 1995), Ian [Zapczynski] bought an eight track cassette recorder that I used for Shining Lights and all of side two. The album was mixed as it was recorded. There was only one demo recorded – Shining Lights, and I believe it was four track. I probably chose that song to update when I was offered use of the eight track, to be honest I haven’t heard it in at least ten years.

I compiled the contents for the booklet while recording the album. I asked people to contribute anything they wanted, as long as the word WINDOW was included. Jesse Prusinski offered some great illustrations, many without me asking and for no payment. The front cover was simply a round candle with a portion burned out. I took these pictures during sessions for the album and it was a happy accident that the candle shot worked.

The listening party took place in the Kornicki basement. Steve and Kevin listened intently, and I believe Michael from Disc/Connection may have been there also. Perhaps Fritz? Kaelin? I can’t even remember. I do, however, remember specific things that Steve said about the chords used and such – he picked out the sixths and ninths used in the opening track, and I felt proud. During the four part ‘harmony’ (yeah, I use that term REALLY loosely) at the end of Lock Me In, he loudly proclaimed “Craigz II Men” – we all had a good laugh.

The album and booklet were completely handmade and released to Disc/Connection only. After the initial pressing was sold out, I declined to press more. I felt those who wanted to hear it were able to – so there exists twenty-nine cassette/book sets, I kept the last.

And now, for the first time (over ten years late), a track-by-track analysis.

SHINING LIGHTS AND BROKEN GLASS
I think it’s a pity that this song didn’t become what it should have. I tried to write a song around a typical I-IV-V progression with a twist, and I felt I needed to write some lyrics to set the scene. It ended up sounding too processed, too happy, and didn’t have enough melody. Regardless, it was played live (although only once) at Cafe Excellence. Crazy Eddie played the harmonica on the track. I used a lyric sheet. Ripped it up when the song was over. Everyone hated this track.

THE VIOLET HOUR [version II]
LIGHT THE DARKNESS [version II]
These tracks were originally featured on WORLD OF ENEMIES. Lyrically, they were written about our WINDOW girl, so I reworked them into the story. The last verse of The Violet Hour is included because that verse was the one written about her, cryptic as it was. Light The Darkness gave me a chance to rework it into a poppier arrangement, as the ENEMIES version was pretty dark. Both songs played live too many times to count.

WINDOW
The melody for the verse came out of the riff, which was written in Cm. Early live versions were sung an octave deeper (tapes exist of this – I had totally forgotten about it), and if I’m not mistaken, all subsequent performances of Window were in Bm because I couldn’t handle the high notes anymore. This track was often played live. The lyrics portray a true incident. There was a window, there was a smile… and I remember at that moment needing to write this song. I knew at that exact minute that WINDOW would be the name of the album as well. This was the point of writing where recording started – this song and the previous two were recorded at the same session.

YOU GOT ME HIGH
Cheesy lyrics aside (Christ, some of that shit is really awful), it’s a fun song. Only played live once at Cafe Excellence (again, if memory serves). I remember being proud of the harmonized vocal lines – I wrote these out strategically before recording the song, and it worked. Also a nifty bassline, and I only say that because I really don’t know my way around a bass.

THE FIRST TIME I CRIED
This song means a lot to me – I remember the first time I played it, we were at Disc/Connection having a wine and pizza party after the store closed. We moved the racks of CDs against the wall and sat in a circle and passed around the acoustic guitar. I had the first verse of the song done, maybe a bit of the second. It was the best reaction I’ve ever had to a song, and I’ll never play the song without thinking of that moment. When first played live in 1995 at Disc/Connection, I only played the first two verses as it was still a work in progress.

DREAM FROM A DREAMER
One could call this track a throwaway; it was a quick side-ender. I did like the sound effects of the kids screaming in the background, but the poetry is just awful. Even more awful is the version I played on the acoustic at live shows. Not meant for that.

BLAME
One of my proudest recorded moments, warts and all. Just like The First Time I Cried, I played part of this song in 1995 at Disc/Connection shortly after it was written. It saw a more realized guitar arrangement, a nifty acoustic intro and just a bit more production. The middle section came from nowhere – I loved it at the time and I still admire it when I hear it these days. The whole track has never been performed live.

WHY I’M ALIVE
Another idea that didn’t quite work because I didn’t have the voice for it. However, I thought it had some neat musical ideas – kinda jazzy – that I never attempted before or since. Contains my most off-key vocal moments ever put to tape, just awful. Never performed live. I even threw in a disclaimer in the book about the vocals on this track. I don’t know why I never tried a second take on the vocals, I guess I was just rushing to get it done. In fact… I know it was.

LOCK ME IN
I thought this was a good idea, but maybe not executed well. I liked the song and the idea and the idea that the drums would drive the intro. I think Ian called it one of my worst songs ever – but at the time it didn’t stick. Recorded with Chris Kaelin’s guitar processor which I ended up buying from him. It doesn’t work anymore.

SOMEONE SO BEAUTIFUL
Just a heartfelt ballad, another proud moment. Never played live on keys, but often played live on acoustic.

THEN WHY CAN’T I?
I think this track was just an excuse to write a verse in 7/4. Early acoustic live versions sounded completely different and omitted the riff in favor of chords. I would have thought this to be a throwaway, but Ian decided to cover it on his 1996 opus THE NEXT ROUND – I contributed guitar to this instrumental version, and I was very proud that I’d been ‘covered’. I hate the middle eight though.

TRUST
I don’t know if I pulled this off. I wanted to convey in lyric the feeling of having a dream and then waking up and realizing that is what it was. It was a strong emotion when I wrote it, and I desperately wanted it to work. Having said all of that, again I hate the middle eight. I think by this point in writing I resorted to using two-chord bridges because I was out of ideas.

LIGHT THE DARKNESS / WINDOW [reprise]
Despite a ridiculously dodgy whispered intro (wow, if I could delete that from all copies, I would) I tried to wrap everything up nicely for the story. Funnily enough, writing new lyrics for the reprise made things more confusing during the acoustic live sets – I would start to sing various parts of both lyric sets and fuck things up considerably.

The next album, FACSIMILE OF TRUTH, tried to start where WINDOW left off with the opening track Window Revisited – a short instrumental piece that recalled bits of [in order]: Trust [intro], Then Why Can’t I? [chorus], Someone So Beautiful [intro riff], The Violet Hour [circle of fifths that follows the Window version] and Light The Darkness [chorus]. However, the album would also contain the real ending to the WINDOW story – Dreaming On Glass, Easier Than Saying Goodbye, I Wanna Know Why and Candle. If I ever did it all over again – and someday I might – I’ll tell the whole story on disc instead of the first 3/4s.

Friday was bittersweet. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to MN yet, and I am sure I brought Otto down while we were seeing the sights downtown in the morning. I made it to the airport by 2pm, and I felt the need to drink heavily as soon as I got home, so I made a call to Rick who was happy to see that this would happen.

Minneapolis is a funny place. I always seem to have some big emotional turmoil when I get there, by coincidence or not. And there was no turmoil this year, but a lot of soul searching… questions to myself. And I channeled a lot of that into creative outlets – more bits and pieces of songs than I’ve ever come up with in a chunk of time like this.

I came home and hit my favorite karaoke haunts, and proceeded to Overdo It in ways I certainly was not expecting. I think it was necessary – I had to do a bit of purging. MN sucks me in, and it’s always hard to come back. I had a genuine sense of not being ready for PA, not being ready to face normal life again. MN is a microcosm for me, one that I never tire of.

So now it’s Sunday, and I’ve been thinking about this trip a lot. Today I sat down at the piano, wrote the music for “One Thing” (see previous entry) and for the first time in years, I installed the MIDI software on the desktop and started to record the keyboard/piano and cello lines.

Thanks, Minnesota, for the inspiration this year.

Thursday morning started out with a trip downstairs to indulge in the continental breakfast, and then Otto sauntered out to the laundromat once again. I kept busy until he returned.

It was at some point this morning when I asked how things went at the laundromat, and Otto said that there were “good laundry vibes”. This would start a chain of what I will now call Ottoisms. A few more follow:

“Foods That Are A Condiment To Each Other” – following a discussion about filet mignon and shrimp.

“Drinks With Multiple Dimensions” and “Flavor Stages” – after sipping a Holiday Magic at Bubba Gump’s.

And of course, singing the horn line from the Mary Tyler Moore theme whenever there was a point to be made about the intensity of Minneapolis. He was happy to find that we had ice on the window when we came back from the Mall Of America – this was not only symbolic of the vacation, this was the Core Of Minneapolis.

Otto had a really crazy sleep schedule, after working overnights and then driving nineteen hours – so he pretty much grabbed a bit of sleep during the day and night. We were cutting it pretty close when we went to see Keri – unfortunately the venue this year had no system for keeping people warm who were waiting in line (something we had to do not once but twice, as they made us leave between shows). We grabbed some fair seats on the right elevated side of the Varsity Theatre, which was decorated nicely for the holidays. Sizewise this seemed to be the biggest home for the Christmas Shows thus far, and Keri did a wonderful set that Otto enjoyed greatly as well. We chatted with Keri for a little bit after the show, and she signed a few CDs for us. Otto walked away a fan, which was good, as he was the one who had made more of a time commitment to this trip.

We came home and listened to a little bit of the show, which I recorded. By this point, I was starting to get bummed about the whole thing coming to a close… so I tried to get some sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night with song lyrics in my head. In a moment of creativity that still astounds me, I grabbed the Blackberry and typed out the lyrics to a new song, beginning to end – without any work on my part at all. It just came. I guess it needed to.

The song is called “One Thing”.

Good morning once again from room 512.

Otto made it into town around noon on Day 5, with six pack in one hand and guitar in the other. We immediately consumed a pizza and alcohol, and he was passed the fuck out within three hours. I looked around for trouble and found myself down by the pool for a few hours. I returned and tried to sleep… but sleep is turning out to be very elusive during this trip.

When he finally awoke at 8:30PM or so (remember, it was a nineteen hour drive to get here), we stumbled down to Outback for some more beer and dinner. Previous to this, he turned me on to the Mary Tyler Moore theme (telling me to pay special attention to the horn section) as he showed me the scenes of Minneapolis in the opening credits. The horn section would become one of the main focal points of the night, becoming a recurring theme of sorts.

Then, Otto spent hours on Facebook setting up an account while I tried once again to slow down my mind and grasp on to sleep. This would be difficult as he would – in the same incredulous (and hilarious) tone – shout out names of people I’d never heard of.

I finally did catch some sleep when he ended up searching for laundromats at 3AM. This trip would prove to be interesting as he would tell me this morning – he actually passed Otto’s Liquor Store, definitely a place made for him.

It’s getting really surreal here…

Greetings one and all.

Okay, so last night was a wash. I never quite recovered from my ill-planned alcohol intake, but I started off the day today by picking up the guitar (something I have waited until evening to do, post-dinner, and then would be interrupted by movie time). Today was the most productive day of all so far; between bits of conversation I managed to come up with many bits of music that seemed to come from nowhere. On top of this, I wrote the music for “Amorphous”, a song I’ve pretty fairly unsure about. I came up with a nice shimmery two-chord guitar deal that will rely on a fleshed out string arrangement.

I’m going to reward myself tonight with room service from Outback. I just got word that Otto is driving here from Bensalem – he is currently sleeping (in his car, I believe) somewhere in Pittsburgh. He’ll be here for the Keri Noble shows and hopefully give me a good ear for some of the stuff I’m writing. He’s painfully honest; I hope I can take it.

I am extremely happy today. This may have been the happiest day that I’ve ever had holed up in a hotel room trying to be creative. Sometimes things just fall into place… and this is one of those days.

Well hello friends. I come to you slightly intoxicated, thanks to a bottle of whiskey that I purchased at the mall to help me write songs. God help us all; hopefully it’ll do more than make me blog to you and keep going back to correct spelling errors.

A slightly uneventful day today; I spent most of it at the mall listening to live Smashing Pumpkins shows (still doing so; currently on hour five). For those of you who do not know, they set up a two-night deal where they don’t repeat any songs. I downloaded each night (Toronto, for those who care about such details) and I am blown away by the shows. Billy Corgan, for all of his potential prick-dom, is such a fucking GENIUS. I don’t throw that term around loosely. But all one needs to hear is the double-shot of Mayonaise to Tonight, Tonight in this Toronto show (night two – White Crosses) to hear what I mean. Even if I didn’t hear the audience going apeshit, I still would have been deep in musical orgasm while sitting in the food court today.

Okay, so I may have overdone it. While at the mall, I purchased a larger-than-necessary glass to intake said whiskey, which I am cutting with Coke from the vending machine on floor one. I ordered a pizza to try to combat the alcohol, but I really underestimated my intake. Oh well – if it doesn’t help with the songwriting then maybe it will help me sleep. Time will tell I suppose. More adventurous details tomorrow.

Another day comes to a close.

I spent some time this morning walking around the mall, doing the usual routine (including lunch at Bubba Gump’s). I was comforted throughout the morning and afternoon by the good folks at Hipsters United, who run a great podcast devoted to the Smashing Pumpkins. I managed to walk to and from the mall in the snow, and it was refreshing.

I started today’s songwriting with a blank slate of sorts. I ignored the stuff that I wrote yesterday and instead tried to write music for “Will Die”, a tale of woe that I wrote the lyrics to back in April of 2002 (a very dark time). I was always proud of the words and kept putting off the music because I felt it would never come out the way I wanted. I always envisioned it being a piano and string arrangement, so it was interesting to come at it from a different angle on the guitar. I don’t know if I am happy with it yet (aside from the chorus) – it seems too simple and perhaps a little too forced. Fresh ears tomorrow then, as it were.

I’m on an interesting sleep schedule here – I start to get immensely tired around 5PM, and tonight I fought sleep long enough to get two movies in. I started off the night with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was pleasant enough – but then I got ballsy about the whole thing and decided to watch a second movie – Once. I was blown the fuck away. Great, great movie with some incredible music. Inspirational; I hope that I take something away from it that I can use while I am here.