Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hiking

on Memorial day
with the Rinkers 
at Canadice Lake 
was pretty awesome 
even though there were a lot of bugs.
 I hadn't been to Canadice lake before
 and it's really pretty,
 especially when visited
 with good company.







Thursday, May 24, 2012

Library

It feels good to pick up the acoustic and write when the mood strikes me. Sometimes, the melody or chords just pop into my head and I know if I don't stop everything and write it down or record it right this second that it's going to be gone forever.

Somewhere, there is a celestial room with shelves upon shelves of albums. Maybe this room is next to the one with the filing cabinets1. I imagine it looks a bit like a college library, only at the end of the row there's a record player and a set of headphones. The albums contain all the music I've written throughout my life. They're labeled by date, with specific notes on  instrumentation, lyrics, inspirations, and the state of mind of the composer at the time. There are albums labeled "AS RECORDED," as well as cross-referenced versions labeled "HOW IT SOUNDED IN HIS HEAD." The albums labeled with recording dates and documentation are right along side many that read "NOT RECORDED OR OTHERWISE DOCUMENTED (DURING COMPOSER'S LIFETIME)."

My fear is that the "NOT RECORDED" albums already outnumber the "AS RECORDED" albums by a rather large ratio, and every time I have a tune in my head that slips away, that ratio increases. It's undoubtedly posturing to believe that I'm recording my music for "posterity," when I'm sure that no one else loves and hates my own work as much as I do. Nonetheless, it's really important to me that I not simply lose pieces every day to the music library in the sky when I could be saving them, remembering them, recording and sharing them with anyone who cares to listen.

Luckily, I work for myself and sometimes can afford the luxury of stopping everything at a moment's notice for reasons such as these. Here's a piece that I saved today.






1  Except if Jesus drops by, he won't read and judge, he'll just grab another pair of headphones and jam out to tunes with you.



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Guitar clips

After playing with nothing but the new Tele recently, I picked up my PRS yesterday and remembered why I love humbucking pickups so much.

For those not guitar-inclined, "humbuckers"–despite sounding kind of dirty–are a way to clean up the signal coming from a guitar's pickups. They're two pickups smacked together and this, due to many technical and electrical reasons, makes the guitar have less "hum," provides more output volume, and gives the guitar a warmer, smoother sound.

I had a tune in my head yesterday, and recorded it with the PRS. I couldn't decide on a style, so I tried it two different ways: one calm, and one choppier and stronger.

Calmer:


Stronger:

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Random Photos 4 - ArtAwake

Deanna's painting at ArtAwake, the Varbleparents and some other fun pieces that were in the show. 

Friday, May 4, 2012

Random Photos 3 - Kansahomassouri, Part Deux

Rangeline mini golf in Joplin, MO. The holes were WAY harder than they looked. Much to the dismay of Deanna, mwahaha. 

A nice, cold Angry Orchard cider, on tap at Instant Karma Gourmet Hot Dogs. Great (and unique) hot dogs, beer and cider on tap, coffee-house style atmosphere. This is what DogTown should be!



Deanna waits to depart from Kansas City.

Here's a panorama of Union Station in Kansas City. I also put an interactive version online here if you'd like to take a look! Apologies in advance for Silverlight :\




Hurry! Gotta catch that train!


Pretzels at Elephant & Castle Pub in Chicago, on the way back.

Mmmm, salty and delicious with a good beer.




Thursday, May 3, 2012

Random Photos 2 - Missourikansahoma

iPhoning on the train. 

Just outside Chicago 

Whatchu talkin bout

Lamp post near the river

El train

Near Millennium Park

Me, Lindsay and Deanna, reflected in the bean

I love the way the world warps at the far right of this photo. 


Lindsay, eating a delicious hot dog in the park. And sorry, Russ-who-talked-too-much-on-the-train, we did most of the items on your bucket list in less than an hour. Also, add better items to your bucket list.

Thanks, iPhone camera! Neat.

In the observation car

Mmmm, wind farm. Just outside Galva, Illinois.

Painted ads on the old Route 66.

Jaime, Jarrett and Jack were ever so patient while their out-of-town guests took photos of random things.



My butter lamb for Easter 2012 with the Varble/Boyes families. At least I can say I brought one Polish tradition with me!



Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Random Photos 1

I realized that I take a lot more photos than I share.

But... I like sharing my photos, and hopefully you like to see them, so I'm going to share some over the next few days. Starting now!

Deanna, facebooking at Dogtown. She was also taking photos of me eating a big ol' hot dog with beans. That looks kinda gross. But totally tastes good. Mmmm. Oh, and she probably also ate a hot dog in there somewhere.

My painting in progress. 

I made this to show off my various guitars and ukes on Reddit. They didn't particularly care, so it's cool, you don't have to care either. Unless you're from my renter's insurance. Look, USAA employee-person! I really do own them! In case of anything!
Also, please don't rob me.