I love the sound of metal scraping teeth. The sound of a clean surface. I love the sound of a high speed handpiece spinning a cross cut fisher tungsten carbide bit 500,000 rpms through the nervous, fist clenched, sweat-humid air - like a tiny fire truck with lights blazing through the night- To the rescue. gurgling saliva, ping pangs of stainless steel, grinding stone models, vacuuming the tongue, whistle while you work, improv songs to patients singing behind a blue mask - "your tongue doesn't want me there, oh tongue - won't you please behave, I got to keep this dry so my stuff will stick, oh tongue - why you got-to-be soooooo mean?" " Wait wait wait - Don't laugh, just stay open, I'll stop singing." Music to my ears.
At Beat practice tonight we attempted to learn this song on a whimsical whim. How it came up? It just started playing in our practice. I didn't bring it up. I have no idea how or why this song started playing, but I just followed along once it did. The funny thing - It has been rolling around in my subconscious for a week or so. It is one of those songs that gets half stuck in your head somehow, someone threw a slice of the record and it penetrated my skull, and you wonder what song that is, or you wonder how it all goes, or you wonder who it is written by or something- you can hear a distinct guitar tone or drum pattern or set of vocal pipes that you know who they belong to but just can't identify...your mind gives you bits and pieces and they just roll around in your dome like a broken stain glass window and you can't really tell what it going on. Then someone gets out the glue and puts the pieces together and you realize, "Oh shit, that is it, that is the song that has been in my head all week." And you realize that while you are playing it - after the first verse, even though you don't know how to play it or never did. It's like a rock and roll exorcism. Sometimes things are strange like that, but only in hind sight. With out thinking too hard it seems so natural that it isn't weird at all.
I have had 3 jade plants and they all died. Two were given by one x-girlfriend and when we split, so did the stem of the plant. The third was given as a gift from another old lover gal, and as our relationship deteriorated, so did the integrity of the insides of the plant and it rotted from the inside out. What the fuck? It is the only plant I do not want someone to get me. It seems to be telepathic of its own symbolism.
Sometimes I try and act cool like I've seen it all before and I'm just too cool, but I am giddy as a childlike yard gnomb - when everyone is sleeping - on the inside when I see my name, picture, band, song etc in print. When I'm outta town, I pick up the local indie print and scan for the show that night my band is playing, but I'm at the bar acting all cool, but I'm smiling all big and getting excited cause it has a star next to the show so that means it's good. I really love that, I love that feeling. I never save that stuff cause I'm too cool - like I said before, but I always look. I know there's places I go and people I hang out with, they think it's not cool to be happy about the things that make you really excited. And I'm not one to brag, I'm a modest dude, so I just try and keep that to myself with a big old smile. And sometimes folks ask "why are you smiling?" and knowing where the cool line is and avoiding crossing it, I can just say "I'm really excited," "I'm having a good day," "I'm in a really good mood." I don't know when it ends, but I know I'm just along for the ride. I put energy into things that I love to do, and there is a pretty clear ratio. I keep my mind childlike for experiences, and that keeps me from becoming jaded - like them plants up there.
I only got a few blogs left and then I'll be done for awhile ...say 2.
I learned a new word this weekend. Busking I learned that word, not while I was busking, but afterwards when 2 of my dear friends, a lovely couple- told me the story of how they met. She said, "He was busking on the street beneath my apartment and (blah blah blah ...awesome romantic and funny story unfolds)" It may have been the cutest story I have heard in a very long time I thought with a smile on my face as they told me - that 2 am sparkle in their eyes as they recalled that lovely night. It was a perfect story topping a perfect night of busking.
I just learned this song a moment ago to sing tomorrow on State st. This is my first take/ run through. This song is packed with soul. It makes it so much easier to sing a song when there is no one around, like my roomates - who are here to make fun of me and wonder "who are you cryin over? You want a tissue?" "Over YOU, did you not hear it?"
Friday Night: Singing and playing guitar on State St. in Madison with fellow Beater J-Man Grizzly for money to buy bait. Maybe Ryan or Logan or Justin will join us.
Saturday: Trout Fishing in a stream, glub glub. (legalize sea weed 4/20)
Saturday Night: Unknown - but several paths lay ahead. "With which wind will my sail be filled?" is the question.
Sunday: Baseball
Sunday Night: Elephant Walk practice! I have been trying this thing with two amps, mine and another nice tube-y like Lydia's. My amp on one side of the room with a tremolo effect going, the other just clean and reverb-y. It really fills out the sound and makes a bit more psychedelic tone too.
Here are some songs I'll be learning today so I can play them tomorrow (i hope)
This one is incredibly hard. Do these chords even exist?
Ok, this is a really cool and fun song writing experiment.... Hear me out.
Adam and I were chatting today about songwriting and stuff and he mentioned to me that I should check out this interview on WFMU fm with Tommy James of Shondell fame. It's a great interview and dj piece that includes rare records of when Tommy was 13 years old. Anyway, Tommy talks about the songs "I think we're alone now" and "Mirage." Apparently, they were listening to the final takes of "I think we're alone now" on reel to reel and they had the reel on backwards so it played the song backwards. One of his bandmates noticed a cool chord progression and that evening they wrote "mirage" after hearing "Alone Now" backwards. AWESOME! It's as clear as day when you listen to the songs back to back. Even some of the guitar rhythms sound like a backwards loop in "Mirage"
I took a few listens and tried to translate whatever gibberish I could into English for some working lyrics to the new song. I'm going to call the new song "Easy Lips" because you can hear me say that in there and I think that is a pretty cool song title. Here is what I heard, click the link above and follow along: "Yes Ma'am I'm going by airplane My ass is here right over each day- Slow down the wildfire in the blimp Squeeze now my hand
in the air it is nothing that you ain't seen oh mushy mushy you must see it- I heard I was Easy Lippppppps E nah Cinny E now wob wob wob wob"
"I thought I saw the girl of my dreams -just the other day I was shopping at the grocery store -just like any way Then she came through the door my heart nearly hit the floor and my knees buckled underneath my shoes, whoo hoo- I put my feet back down in place but she was gone with out a trace- Different Islands Different Isles and Different Aisles
I thought I saw the girl of my dreams -just the other day I was sitting at the optometrist, just like any way then she came through the door, my glasses hit the floor when my head flew over my feet, tweet tweet Well I put my glasses on, and I looked but she was gone- Different Islands Different Eye lens Different Eyes
I thought I saw the girl of my dreams, just the other day I was paddling down the Mississ-sip, just like any way then she came through the door, I nearly droped my oar as my head flew over my cannoe -- whoo hoo I got my head back above stream but she was nowhere to been seen Different Islands Different Islands Different Isles"
I'm not a very clever guy, but this worked out for me. I can't take credit for any work that comes to me in the middle of the night. If I look at the moon and something pops into my head, I have to give credit to the universe for using me as an antenna for whatever ideas are already present. This song is contains 3 levels of inspiration and interpretation. The first is fairly obvious, some dude is at these places and sees a girl and loses her.
The third is a bit more far out, but it is about the sacred Devine Feminine that has been lost from the Earth and how she continues to show up and express herself as "the girl of my dreams." She is the muse of art and expression, and without her the human race is a bubbling idiot. It is part of my quest to realize Her in a physical form that has inspired me to write this song, but She prefers not to be named or described because it is beyond the scope of my language and songwriting at this point in my life to communicate that.
It is NOT about ABC's hit show LOST on tonight, or how Karl and Alex are on different islands. Oh wait, yes it is! I just saw the many similarities in that that statement alone. Weird. Happy 3 Kan.
Lately a bunch of people tell me they have read my blog or brought up something I mentioned here. I think that is really awesome, I really appreciate you reading and sharing your thoughts with me. I don't really talk about my blog or do a lot to promote it, I just kind of wanted to keep it sublime and see where it would go, so your reactions have come as a great surprise. I had no idea how many people read, because the little clicker down there says "1 follower: ADAM." Of course everything here interests me, and I really do enjoy talking to you about it as well. It makes me feel good to know that you can laugh at my silly dumb songs I put on here and encourage me outside of this forum to continue what I'm doing.
That said, I'd like to reiterate the mission of this online journal: It is to study creativity through my perspective. It is to study creativity through other peoples ideas. It is to find the source of creativity in my ideas and others, analyzing inspiration. It is to watch and comment moments from: the big bang of an idea into growing into a (tangible or intangible) complete form of art.
It may start out simple with a "baby song" as I call it, and a commentary on the ideas of how the song was inspired. It may be a commentary on another form of art that inspired me. It may be an interview or outside perspective that I'd like to relate.
I like to use this forum to express my humor. I like to use this forum to indulge in my many wonders and how they affect my songs. (Mayan calendar, astrology, psychedelia, shaman-ism, divination, nature, quantum physics, sacred geometry, matters of the heart and love, matters of the mind and consciousness, matters of the belly and food) I like to use this forum for you, so that I may continue to entertain you in your reading or listening, and once again, I enjoy your reaction and appreciate that you continue to follow this blog (adam) and others.
One last thing: I was listening to this last night, and it is very close to how I feel about the mind and what I am trying to do here. If there has ever been an artist who is fascinated by the source of their own creativity, then this is a must listen. If there is an person who has ever wondered why some people posses creative qualities, and wondered how to improve your own, this is a must listen. If you are a feminist or interested in the transcending of the male ego paradigm in art, this is a must listen. I have got to add, that the speaker, Dr. Terence Mckenna, is an incredible genius that does a magnificent job of relating his mind to us lay folks in not-so-big-word-land. He is one of the leading authorities on the academic sources of shaman-ism, psychedelic plants and herbs, and the preservation of the rain forest. Please watch this. I'm going to get some coffee and write the song that kept me up all night called "Different Islands."
Willy Nelson stopped by today and we smoked a bunch of joints and then we jammed a little. I taught him how to play a few songs. We let the tape roll, and what would you know, it is exactly 4 minutes and 20 seconds. WHAT AN HONOR TO HAVE THEE WILLY NELSON SING THESE SONGS!!!!
Them: "What's the date?" me: "...ummm, nine Caban. The earth. I think...ummmm yeah, it is." ____________
Them: "Hey, want to play some 2 on 2?" Me: "Yeah, sure." Them: "Do you even know how to play basketball white boy?" Me : "Well, I'm from Indiana just like Larry Bird." Them: (hand covering mouth)"hahahahahahahahahahahha - Larry Bird, this guy hahahahah Larry Fucking Bird." Me: "The best basketball player ever." (smiles, shoots 3 pointer, swish, smiles bigger) "No respect for Larry Bird eh? Yeah, I know how to play." Them: "You can't jump though." Me: "I know. You can't shoot though, lets play." Them: "trash talkin white boy." Me: "I play here everyday too ya know."
I'm super duper bored so I messed with my guitar tuning and started playing the harmonics. I could start to hear in my head a country western Indian type song. I don't really know what that means, it's just that songs about Indians all seem to have a certain feel and sound to them. Maybe when whoever is writing it comes up with a melody line and hums along and says "You know what this song should be about?" "Indians?" "Yeah I was going to say that too! Weird."
It doesn't have to be about Indians, I'm just screwing around- but in spite of Chris's expressed verbal hatred for Indian songs, (which happens to be a very reputable argument, most songs about Indians are incredibly cheesy and tasteless personifications of the Hollywood Indian shedding a tear and going "Whoo who who who") I have found myself trying to write the perfect "Indian Song" for months now so Chris will one day say "I hate Indian songs" with an asterisk in his head for the one Indian song that is not necessarily an Indian song but reminds you of an Indian song and that one I will write. And so far the only lyric that pooooped into my head was "There's a storm cloud on the way" because I was looking out the window when I said it, but for the sake of history, this song is from now on about the Indian warrior prince named Storm Cloud, and it will be about how he is on his way... somewhere.... TBA. Surely there was an Indian named Storm Cloud. I'm just fucking around with harmonics tonight cause I'm bored and in a psychedelic mood. Tuning E B E G# B E Storm Cloud on the way coming soon
Hoop Dreams - Mountain Goat in short shorts and high tops
I was out there for a good 2 hours today, shooting in the rain, finding my perfect form, losing it, jukin, jivin, finger rollin with my left hand, lookin west, lookin' east, takin' it to the hole over an imaginary beast. I kept picturing a rainbow following the arc of the shot and pot of gold splashing out coins when I nailed it. Maybe it's an Irish basketball thing... I was playing against a mountain goat with short shorts and high tops on. He can't shoot cause he has hoofs, so he just plays defense and I take the offense. He is listening to music on his i pod really loud and I notice a pattern. His level of intensity depends on the pace of the song. A slow song plays and he relaxes a bit, and lets me score easy, with out much effort. The drums pick up and he slaps the ball mid dribble and it hits my feet and I chase after it like a clumsy fool. I ask the goat what he is listening to and he tells me he is listening to the Midwest Beat songs that were just recorded this weekend. I ask him where he got those songs, but when he takes a split second to think about it, I juke and jive right on past him and send a rainbow through a pot of gold and coins spill over as I say "Nevermind, I know where you got 'em dummy." Then a girl comes out to her second level porch across the street and yells "Excuse me, my room mate thinks you're cute." and goes back inside laughing. I smile and nod my head, using it as a head fake and move past my opponent and bang it off the rim, coins swirl and slosh out like a over flowing toilet. Then I start to wonder who she was talking to after all. I was remembering times in my youth when I would get a sudden adrenaline burst when I was playing sports and I saw a girl that I liked. I would be playing little league baseball and standing out there somewhere, and what have we here, but over to the bleachers rolls a group of girls, never watching, just there. There was the one I'd like to really "go out with" -ah man, if she could see what I'm about to do. I could feel my body churn like a the guts of a nuclear reactor, oh the potential, I felt like I could do anything. What a great feeling that used to be. Silly games.
Guitar nap series "Emerge in C" and "Let Me Down Easy" featuring a slide whistle solo
A guitar nap is me and my guitar pickin around on my bed after a sandwich, then I use the paper plate to write lyrics on. It's mostly stream of consciousness and I found that record these is an effective way to write a song. These two as one medley was what I decided to play as an opener last night. A terrible mistake considering I had learned to play them literally an hour before the show, and they were not quite wrote all the way. But whatever. It was just a snowball on the mountain top of a disastrous avalanche of a set. All my equipment broke, I couldn't see, I couldn't play, I couldn't hear my cracking voice box, and I actually got nervous for the first time since last record store day when I played my first show with the Midwest Beat. I closed my eyes and tried to get through it the best I could. I was so unhappy that I through my guitar off immediately and ran out the door, only to get yanked back like a dog on a lease cause I got stuck. It was really strange. I forgot how to have fun for a show, and especially this show when it was simply stupid fun. I thought about that a lot today, I can't stop thinking about it. I spent a little time this week and put my mind to it and wrote 4 new songs and performed them to people when I couldn't see or hear or even play. And that's really fun. Looking back, it was great. I try and think about what I could have done to not get upset on stage, and I think I just got to remember to let go when things don't work out. That was the theme of my guitar nap today and I tried recording what I played to open with last night and I still can't do it. But, whatever. It's just a baby song. It'll grow up someday.
Here is 1/2 of my guitar nap. Maybe the rest later. Also, please don't rip off my stuff. If you like it (or any half written songs I put on here)you or your band can have it. Just ask. Besides, I'm sure I ripped it off somewhere anyway, I just don't know it yet.
"Baby please don't burst my bubble Lord knows I'd be in trouble if you say 'no' my lil heart would surely break in two oooh ooh I can tell by the look on your face that itttt could be any moment that we split I've seen that look a few times before I'm sad to admit."
Part of my job is to call patients before their appointments and remind them that hey are supposed to come in. It may be the least favorite part of my job, or let me rephrase that, I hate doing it. People who I contact also hate picking up their phone to get a call that says basically says, "don't you forget about the place you hate the most, the dentist. Are you stupid? Did you forget? See you soon, and tell me about the nightmares you are going to have thinking about it. Have a nice day dummy." Because they always remember and never want to think about it and I feel like a jack ass. (though I have never mentioned nightmares on the phone, I do get to listen to at least one nightmare dentist story per day.) The best scenario in this responsibility is a home phone number with an answering machine that gets the call. I don't have to hear a cell phone instruction lady, don't have to talk to an annoyed patient - it's in-n-out. Boom. "callingtoremindyouhaveappointmentokbye." In our practice, a bunch of our patients are religious folk or clergy so I hear a lot of machines messages telling me to "have a blessed day" or they tell me "God bless you." And then there is this split second where I start to wonder, hmmmm. I wonder who's authority they are using to bless me? How could they possibly have the authority to instruct such a thing? God Almighty Himself will now have to bless me because this tiny tape has instructed Him after the 4th ring huh? Is that so? Should I be blessed? Am I worthy of such a thing if you did in fact have the authority to command? Then the answering machine beeps and I snap out of it and say "appointmenttomorrow1oclockokbye." I would never really question that. I'm not a smart ass, I'm just curious about the TRUTH, that's all. That's why I became a Morman once. Worst possible scenario in this responsibility: The person answers and then the answering machine answers and then you have to wait for their dumb message to play that is 1000 times louder than their voice, then you tell them something that they already know, and you realize you are being taped like a jack ass covered in wrapping paper. Worst.
"Better not forget my umbrella cause there's a brainstorm on the way"
6 songs to write learn and play in 36 hours. I wrote 2 songs today and learned 3. I'm writing a 3rd with the title as a lyric for a song called "Using my Imagination" but I need a break. Last week I agreed to play a show for my friend's birthday, but I wanted to play with new material. Today was the first time I could sit down and write, the show is on Thursday. I figure I should write 6 songs or so, and learn 2 covers, and write 2-3 new jokes. The 2 I wrote today are country and western songs, or cowboy songs as my boss would say. I don't want to record them yet because I want to debut them at the Vault and I'm sure that will be the last time some of them will be played live, but I'd like to say that I really like to play these 2 that I wrote today. One of them is called "Crawling Back to You" and I wanted to write a song from the perspective of a sea slug who hasn't shaved for 2 weeks and he is out on the road trying to pick himself up but he can't - he is too depressed. His wife kicked him outta the conch shell and the only way to get her is to come crawling back and beg. Though I'm trying to get away from writing too many more songs for my client The Rocktopus, the song itself has a universal feel I hope to convey along with a undeniably attractive hook. I hope to see you there, here is an excerpt and then I gotta get back to work.
"Cold rain falling - falling hard find another place to kill some time hope to get you off my mind-
But I'm outta cigarettes in Indiana and round here loneliness is the only friend I'll find-
-ing all the headlights remind me of her eyes oh I guess it would be wise to hitch a ride, but if no one comes... I'll come crawling back
Crawling back, Crawling back, Crawling back, Baby you're the better half of me, The better half I lack Crawling back, Crawling back, Crawling back, I lost your love and I want it back, So now I'm on my hands and knees, I come crawling back."
I think I could use "Sick of eating pork and beans down by the railroad track"
stuck in the chorus at the end there for a reprise or whatever something dumb for a stupid laugh or whatever something like that I guess
Intra-orally, I would prefer to suture with worm poop because there are too many variables in one's saliva and cat guts can dissolve too quickly in patients. It's better to have to patients come back to have the worm poop removed, that way you can monitor their healing.
Besides, kitties are too damn cute to be using their guts for even the most practical procedures. One might sleep better knowing the stiches in their mouth are worm poop and not cat guts, and a patients peace of mind is a pillar of my day.
Guitarnap songz "eagle eye, knee high" and "Drinking my love away"
Taking a nap with my guitar. Rollin' tape while I brainstorm songs. Some dumb shit, some keeper stuff too. I do this a lot, but never record it. I'd like to change that. Spring Resolution! There was one that came to me in a dream last night, the song about putting love in a bottle. I think my subconscious was influenced by the amount of booze I drank. I'd like to re-work that song for sure. The other stuff is just dumb shit that rolls off the top of my head. I added a psychedelic part per my stream of conscious request.
There's something wrong with that dumb player. If you click the link for the song, press stop so it doesn't play two songs simultaneously. "If I could take all my love for you and put it in a bottle I would I'd put a cork on the top and a label on the side it says "keep in a cool place" and save it for a rainy day."
I play basketball to clear my head. It's meditation in movement to me. When the moment is right, and I let go of concentration, I can feel my shot as a reflexion of my life. Kinda like when I play in a band.
I got to go shoot some hoops right now, wait...as I type, my phone rings. It's Logan and Matt. They will meet me at the hoop in 10 minutes. I like to warm up before a show. Stretch out, shoot hoops, or jump on this little trampoline I have while listening to Herb Alpert on 45 rpms. It's like meditation in motion. It takes away my anxiety of performing, cools me out. It helps me clear my mind.
