Noise
Hey music lovers! If you’re going to be in the Hudson Valley on April 20th, I’ll be plying an acoustic set at the Whale of a Concert fundraiser for the Chancellor Livingston Elementary School 5th Grade whale watch trip. That’s a mouthful, right? But it should be fun. come dig the music, tickets are cheap, and I won’t blush if you wish me a happy birthday.
Cha cha cha.
Life
Back when I got that futon in Boston, I had a visit from my Mom, Grandma and Aunt. They were the little trio of ladies that would come up from time to time. They were all 5 feet ad under, so they’d sleep sideways on the futon. All three of them on the mattress. It was kind of hilarious, but really pretty practical. I had another, much smaller and crappier futon I would usually have folded up as a chair that I’d use when they visited.
The first time they visited, when I wasn’t paying attention, my Grandma pinned a Sainte Anne de Beaupre medal to the mattress. Some people wear a St Christopher Necklace. Grandma went with the French Canadian hunk of wood from a cross that didn’t burn. And that was supposed to keep me safe. What with my dirty little rock and roll lifestyle and all…
Life
I remember calling mattress stores Boston style back in the day when I got my first studio all those years ago. I ended up buying a queen sized futon, mostly because I already had a queen sized futon frame I’d pulled form an Amherst dumpster with a broken slat. It was an easy fix and gave me a great place to lay my head. I even got a deal on a thicker mattress than planned because it was the only one left on the truck by the time they got to me. It was like 2 inches thicker than I’d planned on but I only paid a teenie markup. It was like I got an inch and a half for free.
Is there a that’s what she said joke in there somewhere?
PS Blog
A couple of months ago I had some trouble with the little flat screen that hangs in front of my elliptical when I exercise. I was thinking hard about buying a new TV and even started looking into TV mounts. See, the old TV was on this wood corner unit thing. The short term solution was to use a CRT 11″ I had in the kitchen, but then I got my old flat screen working and forgot all about buying new.
Then I realized that the old school flat screen actually has a built in stand AND the stand can be twisted to use as a wall mount. How cool is that? What was Philips thinking when they sold that thing? Didn’t they see the potential of selling separate televisions, stands, and wall mount units? Those wacky Dutch.
Life
I was never a big fan of high end strings. At least. not until I bought my Taylor 214. Like all Taylors, it came with elixir strings. And man, I love me them things. I will say this – if you want strings that last like three times longer than the norm, try these guys. But go with the nanoweb ones if possible. The original, polyweb strings feel a little heavy and gunky. So yeah. Go with the nanowebs. I can’t feel the difference between those and plain strings, but man… they just seem to last forever with a ring a ding ding.
Noise
I just made a purchase, a slightly impulse purchase, but man, I can’t wait to get it. I bought a new Taylor guitar. I mean, I love my 214, but this will be a big step up. The step from laminat Rosewood back and sides to solid rosewood is just… wow, I’m excited as can be. And if you don’t get it… well, not your fault. But if you were a guiatr player, maybe it would get your juices flowing.
Noise
I’ve been slowly breaking back into live performance lately. Did a thing at the library, just booked a whale watch fundraiser. Pretty soon I’ll rocking a Peel session and the King Biscuit Flower hour. It’ll be mostly acoustic and vocals. Maybe a little ukulele, harmonica, dulcimer, and Ashbory bass. (Look it up, it’s awesome.) Who knows, an affordable lyre might sneak its way in.
Rock ’em sock ’em robots. Right kiddos?
Life
When I got my elliptical and started exercising daily, I tried a few different footwear options. First I wore the best sneakers I owned. I thought the support was probably key. But given the number of times I’ve messed up my feet and ankles, maybe it wasn’t the best. I put checkerboard grip tape on the foot pedals of my elliptical particularly bitchin’ if I do say so myself, but it was really tearing up the soles of my sneakers. And honestly I didn’t love wearing them.
I moved on to socks after considering other more conventional footwear options. Non Conventional too. Yogitoes, for example, have always held more than a passing interest. Ultimately, though, I went with socks. I’ve seen so much about going barefoot when it comes to walking or jogging or similar exercise. Who knew how rough the griptape would be, though. After a couple of weeks I needed a new bag of socks to replace all my holey failures.
Now I do it barefoot. Totally barefoot. And without griptape, because the first couple of days before I removed it ut calluses on my calluses.
Life
One fo my favorite topics, particularly when talking about singing, is breathing. I’ve said it many times, but the reality is that most people don’t know how to breathe. Hepa home filter or not, do you really know how to breathe? Let’s take a look. Stand up, put your palms on your belly and take a deep breath. Do your hands press in or move away?
Here’s the thing – if you take a deep breath, your lungs and related internal workings should expand. But in my experience, most people “taking a deep breath” actually compress their lungs and suck it in. Not so good. Certainly not so “expansive.” Can you dig it?
Booze
When I was younger I wanted to be a rock star. I mean, I said I didn’t. I pretended to be an artist, that all I cared about was pushing the limits of creativity. But let’s be honest… I wanted to be a rockstar. I didn’t need to be the Beatles, I didn’t want the contemporary clothing line/fragrance line/sneaker line/B-movie tie-in required of contemporary mdeia properties… I mean artists. Artists seeking services… drug rehab California type services.
No. But I did want to be successful. Successful enought to pay the mortgage without a day job. Successful enough to write and practice and play every day. Sheesh. What a selfish jerk, right?