Friday Randomness 5.18.12

Man, it's been a hell of a week. I'm just burnt. Crispy.

I am really, really, really hoping for a relaxing weekend. Although, I'll be trying to get our wi-fi back up and running, and I have a very, very bad feeling that's going to be about as stressful as it comes. Tech nightmare.

All I want to do is crawl into a couch and watch a movie or something, but no such luck.

I'm sitting here, staring at the screen, and I just don't know what to write, at all. It's pretty clear that I'm not going to be whipping up my clever repartee for today's entry.

Oh, hell, right? Who cares?

What say we close the week with some Pete?






Or maybe some Springsteen?





Everybody have a good weekend.

Working for the Weekend...

Hey, look...ANOTHER busy weekend.

I'll be at Stage Left all day tomorrow. We have a work call preparing for our move out of our current space at the end of the summer, then I'll be doing my staged reading for Leapfest.

You only have two more chances to catch this reading of The Meaning of Lunch, this Saturday (June 26th) at 7:30 PM, or this coming Wednesday (June 30th), also at 7:30 PM. I'm really proud of this one, it's a great script, and the more reactions and responses we can pass on to playwright Dan Aibel, the better. So, if you're free, please make an effort to see us.

Some folks over at New Millennium Theatre Company also contacted me about a private reading of some new scripts they have. I'll be doing that on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, I can keep Sunday night free to go to a movie, or work on some music, or maybe just relax.

Or watch this;



My Blu-Ray just came today. I am ready to crack this thing open. Of course, by now, anybody who reads this blog ought to be aware of my deep, almost psychotic love of Bruce Springsteen. I'm excited to give this a whirl, as I've never seen, or even seen footage of, Bruce work a massive outdoor crowd like this. There's the Super Bowl, of course, but I don't think that counts.

I have the Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage Blu-Ray coming next week, and these are, really, my last two splurges before I head to San Diego for Comic-Con. I have to admit, London Calling has the "newness" factor, since I haven't seen any of it, but I'm probably just a bit more stoked to see the Rush documentary again. It was just so fun to watch and interesting.

Track 5 is in progress, tentatively titled "We've Got Forever For This To Be Over." I stole that title from a comment Josh Homme made during the Them Crooked Vultures show. I had the drum tracks down, as well as the bass and two guitar tracks, but I just didn't like the way the two guitar tracks were mixing. Plus, the track was clocking in under three minutes. I was aiming for a shorter track, so it seemed ok, but in the end I thought I would try to figure out a bridge that would work.

I re-sequenced the drum track, and laid down a slop guitar track on the new version. Now I just need to find the time to flesh it all out. I've got a really good idea how the bassline will go, then I can delete the slop guitar track, and start building back up.

I re-listened to the first four tracks the other day, and I gotta say, I'm really pretty happy with how these instrumental tracks sound. It's almost a shame to lay my crappy-ass voice over them. I find myself wondering if I could find somebody to really sing, and help work out the melody lines and lyrics.

Although, that's not new, is it? I whine about finding collaborators every, single time I talk about the music projects, don't I?

I hesitate to even invoke the name, but the tracks feel much more toward a Led Zeppelin feel than anything I've done before. I've found the groove a lot more here, I think, and not been so trapped by the drums. It's definately more of a hard rock/classic rock feel, and I think I've found some good riffs to play around with.

I have a couple of leftover, totally finished tracks that might end up going on this disk (which would bring me up to 7, the goal, as usual, being 12), but they're awfully raw. One, in particular, is just me and an acoustic, and it's very angry and raw. I listen to it, and feel like it might be one of the best things I've ever done, but I'm also kind of afraid of it. It doesn't really sound good. I recorded it live, so they're no "fixing" anything.

I don't know why that frightens me, but it does.

Monday, Monday....

Tired today.

Extra performance of Sun, Stand Thou Still tonight. Industry night.

And I am tired.

This was one of those weekends that doesn't even seem to exist. Rehearsals all day, shows at night, and generally a "gotta run" vibe to the whole thing. Not very relaxing, as you might guess. I was really, really happy to see that, along with having next Monday off work, I'm not scheduled to be ANYWHERE that day. Which is great, I'm dying to work on some music.

Generally speaking, after a period of about a year where I had very little going on, theatre-wise, I've suddenly found myself up to my ears in work. Totally committed, probably over-committed. Completely one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" things. I've been really upset about my lack of work, so, when opportunities present themselves, I want to grab them and run. that puts me in this situation, where I've probably said yes to a few too many things.

When it rains, it pours. I can't complain too much.

Did you miss me?

Had a stomach bout yesterday, and stayed home. Didn't really do much of anything but lay about, honestly.

The weekend was busy. Had a fundraiser for the Ka-Tet show on Friday, and tried to get my $25 worth. This led me to drink more than I would. Which, is usually close to nothing. Saturday was shopping/errands and my big comic book bill for the week. (**sigh**) Sunday was laundry, rehearsal, dinner and a movie.

I managed to get the "Reeses" track put to bed. Aside from vocals, of course. I feel I've been more than clear about the new process for approaching music work, and I'm not going to go over it again. I finished up the guitar solo on Saturday. Next to the vocals, guitar solos are where I struggle. I am not a fast player. I do not "shred."

My goal with every guitar solo, especially with this new work, is to find a melody line to play. I concentrate on hitting the rhythm, and building a melodic phrase around the chord progression. In the past, I could get fixated on trying to hit notes as fast as I could, and it ended up mushy and kinda blah. So, the idea is to get a little more in control of what I'm doing.

We'll see. I feel pretty good about things, so far. I do, however, need to work on my speed. Some of these tracks have wanted to run a bit, and I've been maybe too focused on what I set out as the goal. Not too worried about it, however. I have to go back for vocals, anyway...I can change the solo if need be.

Also started setting out a drum track for a much slower track, which I've dubbed "Gamble." The aim is something more akin to a Pink Floyd track, in my head. More textural, I guess, is how I'm thinking. It's gonna be slower than what's come before. I'm running at about 85 BPM for the first pass. I may have to speed it up or slow it down, depending on how things sound.

Generally, it's just a shot at a new sound. Again, if it doesn't work...you'll never hear it.

Also spending a lot more time poking around the different pre-sets on the drum machine. Lots of interesting stuff to play with, I think. I was getting lots of ideas.

It's been nice. After a LONG dry spell, I actually fell some inspiration to play right now. I feel like ideas are coming at me, and I'm ready for them. My skills keep growing, and I hope that's gonna be evident over the first two CDs. When this one is done, that is.

Working Toward the Weekend.

Ah, Friday...You can be a cruel bitch.

Facing yet another weekend where the plate fills up fast. All good stuff, to be sure, but, man, I still yearn for a weekend where I don't have to see a show, or go to a meeting. I've been getting really excited about working on music, and my time seems oh-so limited for it.

I don't know if it's reading the Slash autobiography, or the music I've been listening to recently, but I've been feeling confident with the guitar lately. I feel inspired. Just this morning on the train, I hit upon what I think is a really cool idea, and something I've never done before. A cover, but with the full guitar/bass/drums sound. I did Freelove Freeway on early pressings (HA!) of my Hourglass 34 disk, but that was just me and an acoustic. It was also mainly a joke. (The Ballad of Serenity Valley was a second thought...LOL)

This would be more of a serious attempt. With a concept for attacking it that fits into the whole idea behind the tenor of tracks I'm working on, now. If it doesn't work, no fear...You'll never hear about it again.

Anyway, there will be some time for music this weekend, I think. Tonight we're taking in The Plagiarists' The Wreck of the Medusa.



Tomorrow we'll be heading out for Ryan M's belated birthday celebration, including Hello, Again with Bohemian Theatre Ensemble.



Sunday is yet another Stage Left meeting. Adding in the general tasks of grocery shopping and laundry, that ought to leave me some time Saturday during the day, and Sunday evening to play a bit.

Still, who knows? Best laid plans, and all that...

First week of Sun, Stand Thou Still is in the can, and I'm having a pretty good time. Last night was table work, and I think the entire company learned that I am one of those people who can just run on at the mouth when I get to thinking about things. Next week is very, very lean, for me, I'm only in on Monday night for a one-on-one session with our director. That's nice, but also a challenge. It's a long time to be away from it, and then jump back in the following week. I also really need to get down to business with the script. It's not a huge part, but there are pretty dense, fast-paced (at least in my mind, for what that's worth) sections, that I really would like to get in my head as soon as possible.

I pre-ordered Splinter Cell: Conviction for my Xbox this week, and it ought to be in my hands Tuesday evening...I'm jazzed.



Splinter Cell is, in a lot of ways, the game that really got me into video games. It was certainly my first "obsessive" game, where I just couldn't stop playing, and I've been waiting a long time for the new game. It looks great, to my eyes, with the stealth gameplay (the game series was based more around not being detected, rather than killing everything in sight, though that was always an option) now being mixed with what looks to be a much faster paced game engine. In any case, I'm very excited to put Sam Fisher through his paces again, complete with that fantastic Michael Ironside voice work...

Also very excited about the announcement yesterday that Rush is going back on the road this summer.



I love Rush with a great deal of passion. It's gonna be a heck of a juggle to get the financials worked out to make it happen (the SDCC costs are always on the horizon, but they're playing July 5th in Chicago at the Charter One Pavilion, which is very close to downtown. For once, I won't have to drive all the way out to Tinley Park, I can just take the train, so that's a bonus.

Well, almost lunch...

Friday Half Day...

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.

It's late Friday, weekend pending...

But I managed to post every day this week. Which is good for my sense of accomplishment, if nothing else.

However, as we wrap up the week, I find myself looking toward a weekend with a lot of activity.

Let's get caught up;

First, I managed to get cast in something this week, Sun, Stand Thou Still with Ka-Tet theatre. It's a smaller part, but pretty juicy and fun. I've never really cared about the size of the role, as long as it had fun, challenging things for me. I think this one fits the bill.

Plus, I'm just happy as hell to have a show again. We start the first week in April, so I have a little time to myself before then.

Well, not really...

I'm working on a little project with my buddy, Zach Bosteel, and I'm fairly excited about it. We've got a first-draft script, and I'm going to be making some changes, expanding and correcting, well, tonight, actually. I'm planning to head home, hit the exercise bike for a little bit, and then go find a nice diner to eat and write. If I feel I'm wearing out my welcome, I'll be packing off to a coffee shop, or something.

I've been hesitant to talk about this project at all, because, in the past, I've seen things like this ALMOST happen, and then get scuttled, for any number of reasons. However, I grow more confident about this with every passing day. Zach and I seem to be very much on the same page at this point, and...hell...the script is actually "finished."

(meaning, it exists....revisions pending.)

If I can get this done tonight, which I don't think will be a problem, then tomorrow becomes about 2 things...Laundry and music. I've got the drum track sitting there, new strings on the Les Paul, and I'm ready to see what I can make happen. The laundry has to be done tomorrow, because I'm working box office for Here Where It's Safe on Saturday night, and then more season selection hi-jinxs on Sunday morning.

Laundry is usually a Sunday morning thing...but I'll be in a room talking about what we're going to do for the next nine months.

(Wow. I'm starting to ramble.)

I decided today that I needed a break from my day job, so I took one of my precious floater holidays and am using it on Monday. So, three-day weekend for me. It's gonna be nice to have an extra day, and I expect I'll be working on music a lot that day.

also have some movies I've wanted to see...I'm hoping I can find time for that, too. Maybe Sunday night?

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**

You know as soon as you write something like I did yesterday....

The crisis of confidence will hit, and you'll go back on everything you've put up as "common sense" advice.

Yeah, the callback tomorrow has me a little worried.

Not "quaking in my boots" worried, or anything. I'm fairly certain I won't make a total ass out of myself. That being said, they sure picked a hell of a scene. Juuuust a little bit difficult. Not that I don't understand, completely, it's exactly what I would've asked guys after this role to do. You don't want to throw softballs.

Lot more confident about the one on Sunday. I'm feeling good, and strong, about stepping into those shoes.

I also have another audition on Sunday, where they want me to play guitar, and, frankly, I just can't really drum up much interest. I kinda just want to blow it off. Probably won't, but....hmmm...

Yet again, I'm looking at a weekend overflowing with places to be and commitments. I'd LOVE to have a free weekend, at some point.

I also just realized that the Ratt/Extreme show I wanted to go see at the House of Blues is tonight...Well, missed that one.