Cannot wait to get out of here, the weather in Chicago has been glorious the last two days. We actually slept with the window open last night. I guess Spring is here.
Watching the clock tick down to freedom.
Of course, it's another busy weekend for me. Catching the Babes With Blades show tonight, various shopping needs tomorrow, and strike for Here Where It's Safe on Sunday morning.
Other goals include taking another run at the two songs I "finished" last weekend, "Reason" and "Zep." As I listened to them I was struck by a certain tone on the drum track I didn't like for the former, and a generally messy-sounding tone on the latter. My solution, mainly as an experiment, is to try to run the whole thing, all the guitar tones, directly from my Line 6 X3 Live processor.
This is certainly giving me a cleaner tone. The guitar has more bite and definition. I always imagined this project as a little more ragged-edge rock sound, but I have to say I kinda like the control I have doing things this way. There's also a far wider range of tones I can access with the processor, as opposed to twiddling knobs on the amp.
So, I'm going to re-do both tracks this way, and do a comparison. We'll see what strikes me more when it's done. My major concern about all this is falling back into the "it's not perfect" rut. I really felt good last weekend to be moving forward on this project, but listening back...it just wasn't quite right.
"Reason" is a warhorse, I've been fiddling with it a long time. I need to push past it. "Zep" has it's origins in an overnight stay at the Hard Rock Hotel, where they have a "check in, rock out" program, where you can get a free guitar in your room. By the time I tried to get one, only an acoustic was left. We happened to be on the Led Zeppelin floor, and I found myself messing around with a riff/progression that eventually because "Zep." It's got a nice groove, I think, but simple. It gets stuck in my head. I'm liking how it sounds with the drums (electronic though they may be) and bass. The mixing of an acoustic and electric sound is working...so far.
But I do need to "finish" these, and then work on a melody line and vocals, which I hope will present themselves as I listen. I actually have a strong urge to finish all the music for this project before I go back and look at vocal stuff, at all.
we'll see how it shakes out.
Showing posts with label Here Where It's Safe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Here Where It's Safe. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Where the hell did a week go?
Yes, yes, I had another one of my "time just got away from me" weeks, and I have let the blog suffer. Some people have said, "why not just write once a week?"
well, you see...I have an addictive personality. I tend to develop habits, and then pursue them until I can't anymore. In some cases, like with exercise, it's probably not all that bad.
Although...man, for as much as I work out, WHY DO I STILL HAVE THIS GUT!?!?! I mean, seriously, I work out more than most everyone I know. I will kill it. I don't know how, but I will.
So, I'm trying to develop the writing habit. To facilitate a better skill with word, and also to improve my typing, etc. I have a couple of writing projects in the hopper right now, and I need to focus. Having the blog as a kick-start for the simple act of putting them on paper helps.
In fact, one of said writing projects is SUPPOSED to be done tomorrow. It's short, and I have some ideas down already, but I also just realized I have two auditions tomorrow. So, my concept of kicking it out tomorrow morning is pretty well squashed. I feel a real pressure here, because I've promised a friend, a collaborator, that it would be done. Y'all know how I am with responsibility and commitments.
Thank you, Stan Lee for pounding that into my head with your damn Spider-Man.
My auditions tomorrow? Interesting. Companies I haven't worked with, at all. So, I'm a nobody again. (Which is probably damn good for me) Stuff that's not in my "contemporary realism" comfort zone. We'll see how it pans out.
I still have moments when I really think I've forgotten how to act.
I know, laugh.
Seriously, I've been in these readings and such, and there's moments when I don't believe a damn thing coming out of my mouth. If I don't believe it, I can't see how anybody else could. I feel rusty and lost a lot.
In other news, next week we start the process of trying to figure out Stage Left's next season. I've submitted a show which I dearly believe could be good for the company. I saw it performed in London in 2007, and it was like a gut punch. Full of power, and offering the audience no chance to turn away from the subject matter. For a company that seeks to "raise debate on political and social issues," I feel like this show gives us a way to do it, without falling into the pitfalls of "message theatre." That's my opinion, and why I brought the show to the table. I'm intensely curious as to how the rest of the ensemble will react to it.
We shall see.
Here Where It's Safe has opened, and I encourage all of you to check it out. Scott Bishop and the cast have done a really great job of bringing life to MEH Lewis' play. Our Stage Left ensemble members are all doing fantastic work, and our guest artists are equally wonderful.
well, you see...I have an addictive personality. I tend to develop habits, and then pursue them until I can't anymore. In some cases, like with exercise, it's probably not all that bad.
Although...man, for as much as I work out, WHY DO I STILL HAVE THIS GUT!?!?! I mean, seriously, I work out more than most everyone I know. I will kill it. I don't know how, but I will.
So, I'm trying to develop the writing habit. To facilitate a better skill with word, and also to improve my typing, etc. I have a couple of writing projects in the hopper right now, and I need to focus. Having the blog as a kick-start for the simple act of putting them on paper helps.
In fact, one of said writing projects is SUPPOSED to be done tomorrow. It's short, and I have some ideas down already, but I also just realized I have two auditions tomorrow. So, my concept of kicking it out tomorrow morning is pretty well squashed. I feel a real pressure here, because I've promised a friend, a collaborator, that it would be done. Y'all know how I am with responsibility and commitments.
Thank you, Stan Lee for pounding that into my head with your damn Spider-Man.
My auditions tomorrow? Interesting. Companies I haven't worked with, at all. So, I'm a nobody again. (Which is probably damn good for me) Stuff that's not in my "contemporary realism" comfort zone. We'll see how it pans out.
I still have moments when I really think I've forgotten how to act.
I know, laugh.
Seriously, I've been in these readings and such, and there's moments when I don't believe a damn thing coming out of my mouth. If I don't believe it, I can't see how anybody else could. I feel rusty and lost a lot.
In other news, next week we start the process of trying to figure out Stage Left's next season. I've submitted a show which I dearly believe could be good for the company. I saw it performed in London in 2007, and it was like a gut punch. Full of power, and offering the audience no chance to turn away from the subject matter. For a company that seeks to "raise debate on political and social issues," I feel like this show gives us a way to do it, without falling into the pitfalls of "message theatre." That's my opinion, and why I brought the show to the table. I'm intensely curious as to how the rest of the ensemble will react to it.
We shall see.
Here Where It's Safe has opened, and I encourage all of you to check it out. Scott Bishop and the cast have done a really great job of bringing life to MEH Lewis' play. Our Stage Left ensemble members are all doing fantastic work, and our guest artists are equally wonderful.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I continue to slack off...
Yeah, yeah...I've not been keeping up with the blog.
Here's the deal, We're in tech week for Here Where It's Safe at Stage Left. I'm the assistant director, which means I really don't have a lot of pressing tasks or responsibilities, but I also feel like I should be at as many rehearsals as possible. I spend a lot of time just watching.
Which, silly as it seems, can be really draining.
More to the point, however, I have little time for anything else in my life at the moment. I read when I can, and watch movies when I can, but I've had precious little time to work on music, or write. I am looking forward pulling out of this particular creative tailspin.
As an update....
Music:
The new set of tracks was going pretty well, but then I got hung up on the latest. I've been re-evaluating everything from the top down. It's struck me that my lyrics have gotten "dumb" again, and I lack the David Lee Roth ability to make that seem natural. I'm gonna strip all the vocals off everything I've done so far, and just listen to the music tracks for a while. Try to get inspired by what I hear, and use that to spark some new lyrical content.
It means throwing out, essentially, about 50 pages of lyric ideas and notes I have in my notebook right now. However, I think it'll ultimately pay off better.
I'm still struggling with the drum machine. Lord, how I wish someone I knew, who lived within 100 miles, was a drummer. Oh, hell...I'd just like some real people to play with, bounce ideas off off, etc.
(Yeah, I know, it's about the 5 billionth time I've written that)
Writing:
The adaptation I've been working on is dead. Well, City Lit passed on it, anyway. Fair play all around, they, in the end, just didn't like the book. Perfectly fair reason to pass. My adaptation my arise from the ashes at some point, but, right now, I need to move on.
So, I've had an idea for a play for a very long time. The seed was planted on April 20th, 1999. Now, the job is to coax the story out of my skull in an entertaining and interesting way. I've made a decent start at a first draft, but, again like the music, I've felt distracted.
I also really feel like I ought to make a few revisions to Neon (including a new title), and maybe send it out into the world. It's been round and around since the first draft was produced in 1999. (You have to scroll down...and, yeah...first draft...it pains me to admit that) I think I've tinkered and pounded on it as much as I can...the baby needs to walk or fall on it's own.
Acting:
Yep, I'm actively working to find something, anything to do...It's highly likely I'll be a part of the Stage Left Leapfest festival in June. So, I have that going for me. Otherwise, audition, audition, audition....
With relatively little success.
Here's the deal, We're in tech week for Here Where It's Safe at Stage Left. I'm the assistant director, which means I really don't have a lot of pressing tasks or responsibilities, but I also feel like I should be at as many rehearsals as possible. I spend a lot of time just watching.
Which, silly as it seems, can be really draining.
More to the point, however, I have little time for anything else in my life at the moment. I read when I can, and watch movies when I can, but I've had precious little time to work on music, or write. I am looking forward pulling out of this particular creative tailspin.
As an update....
Music:
The new set of tracks was going pretty well, but then I got hung up on the latest. I've been re-evaluating everything from the top down. It's struck me that my lyrics have gotten "dumb" again, and I lack the David Lee Roth ability to make that seem natural. I'm gonna strip all the vocals off everything I've done so far, and just listen to the music tracks for a while. Try to get inspired by what I hear, and use that to spark some new lyrical content.
It means throwing out, essentially, about 50 pages of lyric ideas and notes I have in my notebook right now. However, I think it'll ultimately pay off better.
I'm still struggling with the drum machine. Lord, how I wish someone I knew, who lived within 100 miles, was a drummer. Oh, hell...I'd just like some real people to play with, bounce ideas off off, etc.
(Yeah, I know, it's about the 5 billionth time I've written that)
Writing:
The adaptation I've been working on is dead. Well, City Lit passed on it, anyway. Fair play all around, they, in the end, just didn't like the book. Perfectly fair reason to pass. My adaptation my arise from the ashes at some point, but, right now, I need to move on.
So, I've had an idea for a play for a very long time. The seed was planted on April 20th, 1999. Now, the job is to coax the story out of my skull in an entertaining and interesting way. I've made a decent start at a first draft, but, again like the music, I've felt distracted.
I also really feel like I ought to make a few revisions to Neon (including a new title), and maybe send it out into the world. It's been round and around since the first draft was produced in 1999. (You have to scroll down...and, yeah...first draft...it pains me to admit that) I think I've tinkered and pounded on it as much as I can...the baby needs to walk or fall on it's own.
Acting:
Yep, I'm actively working to find something, anything to do...It's highly likely I'll be a part of the Stage Left Leapfest festival in June. So, I have that going for me. Otherwise, audition, audition, audition....
With relatively little success.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dreary week...
So, my weekend was hardly "relaxing." It was packed full of commitments and tasks to be checked off.
Saturday from 9-2, I had a callback. It was a long day of auditioning. Compounded by the fact that I really wanted this show and this role. I've had a pretty long "dry-spell" audition-wise, at least for me. (Side note - I am 100% aware that I have been VERY lucky here in Chicago, and really have no room to complain about a 6-9 month period wherein I was not getting cast.) So, I went into this callback very much wanting to perform well.
Not the best way to approach an audition, as I've said in other blogs.
I still very much feel that you have to be able to let each audition go, pretty much immediately after you walk out, and accept a "what will be, will be," attitude. It's the only way to keep sane and stop torturing yourself over "failures" in the audition room. That being said, we're all human, and there's always "those shows," that you feel more than others. Shows that you, flat out, just want to have a shot at.
Well, this show on Saturday...it was one of those shows for me.
I still am in the dark. Waiting. I've worked with this director before, and he's always been quite good about letting me know, "sorry, next time," if need be. Still, it's hard. I'm almost to the point where I can say, "if it was yes, I'd have heard."
But not yet. I'm still holding some hope.
After the audition, we had a lovely meal at Wishbone, and then off to the Auditorium Theatre for the John Fogerty show. Great show, high energy, and, by God, that man's voice is better preserved than any singer I can think of. He still sounds EXACTLY like the records. He also has the most amazing hair, ever...like, Ronald Regan black hair. The man has to be sixty-five, at least, I wonder if his preserved voice and hair are connected?
I do have to say, I'm certain I'm spoiled by Springsteen, but an "evening with" show that only runs 1:45 seems a little slight. On a certain level I understand it, because those CCR tunes, well, none of them is over 3 minutes long, but...I dunno. He played nothing off Blue Moon Swamp or Revival, which is a damn shame. You could easily mine another 3o minutes out of those two excellent albums. Other than that I was extremely happy with the setlist;
AUDITORIUM THEATRE
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 21, 2009
HEY TONIGHT
GREEN RIVER
SUSIE Q
WHEN WILL I BE LOVED
WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN
LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACKDOOR
LODI
RAMBLE TAMBLE
BACK HOME AGAIN
I PUT A SPELL ON YOU
BIG TRAIN FROM MEMPHIS
KEEP ON CHOOGLIN’
HAVE YOU EVR SEEN THE RAIN
GARDEN PARTY
BORN ON THE BAYOU
HAUNTED HOUSE
NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
COMIN’ DOWN THE ROAD
ROCK AND ROLL GIRLS
DOWN ON THE CORNER
CENTERFIELD
BAD MOON RISING
OLD MAN DOWN THE ROAD
FORTUNATE SON
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY
PROUD MARY
Fogerty seemed in very good spirits and really seemed to be having a great time with the crowd. I did wish we could've been a little closer in, but don't you always? The band was fantastic, especially fiddle/guitar/bongo/mandolin player Jason Mowery. Just a fantastic time, I would totally see him again.
Sunday consisted of a whole day at Stage Left. Rehearsal for a reading in the AM, then back for rehearsal for our winter show Here Where It's Safe by M.E.H. Lewis, and directed by Scott Bishop. I've agreed to assistant direct the show, so I'm excited about that. Ought to be fun to have some hand in my company's only full production this year.
I also spent some time going over a script, and writing a short, quick directing proposal for it, for another company. That's in for their consideration, so we shall see. That would be, primarily, a summer project.
Shane is still on a burner, somewhere...waiting.
The week starts with me insanely frustrated with Amazon. My Them Crooked Vultures CD and Star Trek Blu-Ray have still not arrived.
Sloooooow Burrrrrn....
**sigh**
Saturday from 9-2, I had a callback. It was a long day of auditioning. Compounded by the fact that I really wanted this show and this role. I've had a pretty long "dry-spell" audition-wise, at least for me. (Side note - I am 100% aware that I have been VERY lucky here in Chicago, and really have no room to complain about a 6-9 month period wherein I was not getting cast.) So, I went into this callback very much wanting to perform well.
Not the best way to approach an audition, as I've said in other blogs.
I still very much feel that you have to be able to let each audition go, pretty much immediately after you walk out, and accept a "what will be, will be," attitude. It's the only way to keep sane and stop torturing yourself over "failures" in the audition room. That being said, we're all human, and there's always "those shows," that you feel more than others. Shows that you, flat out, just want to have a shot at.
Well, this show on Saturday...it was one of those shows for me.
I still am in the dark. Waiting. I've worked with this director before, and he's always been quite good about letting me know, "sorry, next time," if need be. Still, it's hard. I'm almost to the point where I can say, "if it was yes, I'd have heard."
But not yet. I'm still holding some hope.
After the audition, we had a lovely meal at Wishbone, and then off to the Auditorium Theatre for the John Fogerty show. Great show, high energy, and, by God, that man's voice is better preserved than any singer I can think of. He still sounds EXACTLY like the records. He also has the most amazing hair, ever...like, Ronald Regan black hair. The man has to be sixty-five, at least, I wonder if his preserved voice and hair are connected?
I do have to say, I'm certain I'm spoiled by Springsteen, but an "evening with" show that only runs 1:45 seems a little slight. On a certain level I understand it, because those CCR tunes, well, none of them is over 3 minutes long, but...I dunno. He played nothing off Blue Moon Swamp or Revival, which is a damn shame. You could easily mine another 3o minutes out of those two excellent albums. Other than that I was extremely happy with the setlist;
AUDITORIUM THEATRE
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 21, 2009
HEY TONIGHT
GREEN RIVER
SUSIE Q
WHEN WILL I BE LOVED
WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN
LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACKDOOR
LODI
RAMBLE TAMBLE
BACK HOME AGAIN
I PUT A SPELL ON YOU
BIG TRAIN FROM MEMPHIS
KEEP ON CHOOGLIN’
HAVE YOU EVR SEEN THE RAIN
GARDEN PARTY
BORN ON THE BAYOU
HAUNTED HOUSE
NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
COMIN’ DOWN THE ROAD
ROCK AND ROLL GIRLS
DOWN ON THE CORNER
CENTERFIELD
BAD MOON RISING
OLD MAN DOWN THE ROAD
FORTUNATE SON
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY
PROUD MARY
Fogerty seemed in very good spirits and really seemed to be having a great time with the crowd. I did wish we could've been a little closer in, but don't you always? The band was fantastic, especially fiddle/guitar/bongo/mandolin player Jason Mowery. Just a fantastic time, I would totally see him again.
Sunday consisted of a whole day at Stage Left. Rehearsal for a reading in the AM, then back for rehearsal for our winter show Here Where It's Safe by M.E.H. Lewis, and directed by Scott Bishop. I've agreed to assistant direct the show, so I'm excited about that. Ought to be fun to have some hand in my company's only full production this year.
I also spent some time going over a script, and writing a short, quick directing proposal for it, for another company. That's in for their consideration, so we shall see. That would be, primarily, a summer project.
Shane is still on a burner, somewhere...waiting.
The week starts with me insanely frustrated with Amazon. My Them Crooked Vultures CD and Star Trek Blu-Ray have still not arrived.
Sloooooow Burrrrrn....
**sigh**
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