Got the GarageBand app for my iPad. Mainly for a very simple one-track voice thing I’m doing. But my four-year-old is all over it. In a glimpse of the future, she has – quite of her own volition – selected “Heavy Metal” as her favorite guitar sound.
Time to sound-proof the playroom.
My elder daughter has been playing the Glee version of Van Halen’s “Jump” over and over lately. So, for better or worse, I sat her down and made her watch this:
Sure is cool to look forward to work: In two hours I’m heading across the county for rehearsal with the Long Beds. I never get tired of hanging out with musicians, especially when they’re also friends (and for these two shows we welcome special guest and long-time pal Andy Dee). And I’m especially ready for a little singing after this last marathon writing stretch.
Then tomorrow a show in Northfield, Minnesota. Day after that, a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Been practicin’ and everything and going to do at least one new song.
All from my Grandma’s collection.
Best part? I’m listening to them on this:
Revision: my favorite stage in the writing process. This is when the obsessive-compulsive tendencies that frustrate me to the edge of madness throughout the rest of the process (and daily life itself) suddenly become an asset. This is the inky equivalent of a musician tinkering with the mix.
Eric Taylor: One of the finest lyricists I’ve ever known. Scuffletown still transfixes me, after all this time. Bottom line: American literature, plus guitar. And once he bailed me out of a jam on a rainy night in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. New things coming.
The other night driving home in the dark and the fat accumulating snow I found myself behind a small cavalcade of three cars moving with a tentative slowness that seemed less a reflection of the road conditions than an unfamiliarity with these particular backways. Then my headlights caught up with the rearmost vehicle and illuminated a guitar case and I figured I knew who it was and where they were heading. I turned off my way and let them go.
I will pick up that thread later.
Right now while I write alone I am listening to this:
I’m not hip to all the inside stuff here, Comrade Plymouth as opposed to Conrad Plymouth, and whatnot. But I know Christopher Porterfield writes gorgeous stuff. This, for instance:
And the lyrics of this:
I don’t know, I need to be working on my book, so I’ll just post this and get back to it. But these songs… Makes me feel good that just up the snowy road Christopher Porterfield is working on new music. That was him and his crew I fell in behind the other night. Holed up now, and working it out. When it’s done, I’ll be ready.
Fresh video from Kathleen Edwards album due out in January 2012 (and a little backstory here) :
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