Vacationitis

Hello ladies and gentlemen.  Back again pecking at this keyboard for no reason whatsoever.  Except...

This time I am about to go on vacation!  Well, it's not a real vacation since I'm not going anywhere, but it's time off anyway.  Friday at 5:30, I get me a nine-day weekend. 

I planned this maybe a month or two ago, but don't really have any plans for it.  I was gonna go hit the Crater, but I still have some truck things to do so that's out.  I also wanted to try to do some shopping for maybe a big item or two, but that's also out.

So it's time I have to take off because I haven't really taken enough and need to use it up.  It'll be damn good just to take the days off.  But it makes me feel bad because there are other people that could use the break more than me.  As in Jamie.  So.  What to do.

I figure I could finish off the new Dr. Tissue album during this time.  I think that would be a lot of fun to do.  All the backing tracks are there, most of the lyrics and sound effects and background tracks are there, it just needs to be recorded and put together.  Autumn is one of my best times for recording new music for ome reason.  The heat and the pressure slows down I guess. 

It's probably no surprise that October 10, 1991 was the day that I recorded my first album that actually had a name and a "project" name.  The project was called Psychlone and the idea was basically borrowing my cousins keyboard to put down songs on a tape and try to make rock music later. Which of course is not what happened.  I was days away from moving to another state and had this huge keyboard in front of me along with lyrics/stories I'd written and some stories by my friend Nathan.  All were silly of course, and there was a lot of improv, but hey, that's what I had to work with so you do what you gotta do, when you wanna do something fun.

I made copies of that tape and held it up like a trophy after moving, while in class in a different school in a different state where no one knew me yet.  It was a liberating experience.

Which of course led to other musical ventures - many of which were shared with new friends in Arkansas.  That was a place in my life where I finally became a free spirit.  Musically, creatively, it was an open door.  Prior to that I lived in a place that was very uptight and all about conforming and trying to out-impress your peers.

Sadly, there's a lot of pressure to out-impress people now;  I observe it in my adult life and it's silly, even after a college degree, some still adhere to such a social order. 

Anyhoo, I've veered off-point! I'm about to have this really fantastic, or boring, nine day weekend. Maybe it'll be musical.  Or creative in some ways.  Who knows?  Come October 20th, I might have some new stuff to share with you. If not... talk some smack!

I've got a few musical things going on.  Got a new Korg MicroKey of course, and that is a lot of fun.  My Dad gave me a Tascam recorder this year, which is great for random/field recording, and I've been compiling unused lyrics.  This could be a lot of fun!

There are gonna be a couple of days of absolutely nothin' though - if not to prepare for new projects, just to rest.

But for now, I'm just looking forward to this brief time off.  Call it Vacationitis, if you will.  I know I gotta hook everything up at work before I take some time off.  Really.  For real.  You don't have to remind me.  I always got my hustle on... and even if there's a little slack mode - Im'ma have it sewn up by Friday at 2 pm.

OK, maybe by 5:15. 

The Tacos of Illumination

Howdy y'all!  It may have taken a month or so, but I'm back.   As promised I'm not in sad mode this time around.  Hasn't been the prettiest month around, but it's ok.  I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first.  The day before my last post I got into an accident in my truck, the fourth collision in the old Ranger.  Some lady rear ended me at a red light, and it still hurts from time to time.  There were two small layoffs at work this month, and we lost some good people (and some half-asses.)  That's all I got for that. There are other things I could mention that are negative or sad but I'm more about healing than discussion.. we've all been there.

Now for the good news - we got a kitten!  He's solid black like Snowball was, but we got him at about five weeks old, and he's roughly three months now, and we named him Skittles because he jumps sideways and "skittles" around.  He's growing!  And he's biting and clawing like crazy!  That's actually subsided this last week or so, but he's really a go getter and quite a fighter.  I wouldn't mind more purring and catnaps.  But for now, his plots to kill me are actually sort of cute.  Plus he likes to climb in the fridge, which is hilarious.  Because I can open it to get a water or a beer, or ingredients for dinner, and he just makes his way right in there.  That's even cute, because that just proves he's a Texas cat.  Live here, and you're running towards anything cold you can find when it's hot outside.

Service King is really expensive.  They wanted so much to get a new bumper for my truck and patch the paint, the other lady's insurance gave up and wrote me a check instead.  Totaled the truck but that's ok.  I can spend a hundred bucks and patch that old ride up over a couple weekends and use the rest for other family needs. 

Several weeks ago, I researched MIDI and I have to say it's pretty awesome.  You can basically use a keyboard and have just about anything as an instrument.  Samples, cats, loops, regular instruments, sound effects, anything!  You could record yourself sneezing, and with MIDI you can pretend it's an instrument. 

I know this is random tonight, but if you know much about me, random is sort of how I am.  I've gotten to a place in my life where that's started to matter quite a bit.  There's nothing wrong with following the rules when you have to and not following any rules when you don't have to. Creatively, it's the difference between Dave Grohl and Kim Kardashian. 

I heard a song last summer by Daft Punk called Giorgio By Moroder, which explains this perfectly.  He was in high school in the late 60's/early 70's like my parents were.  And he wanted to make music for a living.  Of course it didn't pay much and it was difficult, but his theory on music was spot on.   Make music based on what is current and what you know, but don't let anyone tell you how it should sound or be done.  Be yourself and share the gift you've been given creatively.  He ended up being one of the greatest and most successful producers of music in that time period.

I think everyone can achieve that level of knowledge by way of interest in any subject or area of life. 

The mafia's pretty sharp at what they do, could you imagine a world in which honest folks had that kind of bravado and collected talent together?  Maybe it's out there... I'm just writing randomly, don't take me too seriously. 

Anyhoo, I haven't had tacos in a while.  I could go for a handful of tacos and wash em down with a nice Dos Equis or a really big limeade.  Mmmm, tacos.