OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA My mind is smoking from the last 72 hours: Thursday night show at Biddy’s; studio session at Thundering Sky; house concert at the Traeger’s on Saturday night. This string of events provoked fantasies of pursuing music full-time, and will go down as one of the great music-oriented weekends in a long, long time. Here are a few hightlights:

Biddy Mulligan’s – 6/25/09

  • Twenty minutes into my set tonight the news of Michael Jackson’s death came. The information came in on my friend Tim’s iPhone, and the AP changed the story at least twice before getting it right. Everyone made the obligatory jokes (including myself), but in retrospect, no matter how you felt about the guy, you could not deny he was an icon. King of Pop? That’s a stretch.
  • Many folks Brought their kids down to Biddy’s on Thursday night, a wonderful development considering there just don’t seem to be enough opportunities to expose children to live music (outside of Wayne from Maine concerts).
  • Today felt like the official arrival of summer, with temperatures soaring into the mid-80′s for the first time since late May. The change in people’s attitudes from morning (which started with thunderstorms and clouds) until late afternoon (when the sun swept the sky free of clouds).
  • I uncorked a song written on my Facebook wall this week called ‘Sump Pump Blues.’ My friend Jaybird inspired the tune (along with the shitty weather of late), and I followed it up with a quick assembly of lyrics set to the melody of Hank Williams’ Lost Highway. I hadn’t rehearsed the song prior to my set, but you can never go wrong with three chords and the truth.

Thundering Sky – 06/27/09

  • Today we nailed Weather’s Changing Fast, one of many songs inspired by Jenny on this record. The song is an answer to a claim she made back in November ’08, when she said most of my songs were miserable. This one’s a song steeped in positivity, nested strongly in the power of love. This tune is one of two we were planning on recording without bass and drums.
  • Mags started the session off by suggesting that I record the song without a click track (an electronic metronome which you can hear through the headphones but not on the final recording; a click track helps you stay in tempo, and also acts as a map in case you screw up, leaving behind a bread crumb trail for easy punch-ins). After trying his suggestion, I struggled, so we quickly dialed up a beat and I went to work. We were both on the same page, as talk of possibly adding drums suddenly came to surface. After recording five takes, we listened back and found the arrangement a bit mechnical. I returned to the both and recorded a couple of takes without the click track, and the song instantly came to life, with an elasticity of slight rises and falls in tempo. The results are pretty amazing. All talk of adding drums and bass quickly disappeared.
  • Mags and I had great expectations for today’s session, but a brutal round of thunder and lightning quickly spoiled our inspirations, as we had to shutdown the gear due to the threat of a strike. I’ll be returning to the studio sometime next week to finish up.
  • Before the session, I showed Mags a tune I’d written last week called Awake with the Windows Open. I’m thinking the song would make a great last track, or perhaps even a digital-only release, but I’ll let Mags and Otto have the final say.

Traeger’s House Concert – 6/27/09

  • Since I first met Jen and Mark Traeger last summer, they’ve been nothing short of incredibly supportive, coming to at least 2-3 shows a month (sometimes more). More importantly, they’ve become great friends. Tonight they organized a house concert in their living room, complete with good friends Jeff Hawkinson and Courtney Brocks. Their house was packed with an amazing blend of personalities comprised of varying ages and backgrounds. The show went amazingly well, with a solid opening set by Jeff and Courney, a middle set by myself, and a rousing finish by Ghost Train Revue (our new monicker). The crowd kept calling for more, and we threw in a few tunes we’d never played together to extend the evening (Ring of Fire, Sweet Caroline).
  • Our three part harmonies are really coming along, despite our nearly non-existent rehearsal schedule. Perhaps it’s because we’ve played back to back weekends together, but whatever the case, it felt as though they were coming from a single source.
  • Folks attending the show were nothing short of enthusiastic and suppportive. My head’s still buzzing from the post-performance conversations (not to mention the fine selection of beer).
  • We cannot thank the Traeger’s enough for opening their home and lives to this show. Your hospitality and support are truly appreciated.

I’ll be switching to this weekly journal format for a spell as the summer gets busy.

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

More Active Posts: