Diss Rants

Making a move to MySpace ... Come on Along, Ya'll

2006-06-29T16:59:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally made the move to MySpace. I think I'm going to be using that site as my blogging and music-posting area for the foreseeable future, as the interface is better, it allows me to feature streaming media, get a little more exposure, etc., etc.

So, if you've been subscribed to this blog or following along, head on over to:

http://www.myspace.com/dissonline

There you'll find my most recent blog, some tunes, etc. More to come.

Thanks, everyone! See you at the new place...

New tune, mofos. And other junk.

2006-04-04T11:50:00.000-04:00

I know, you all thought it would never happen. What can I say, I work hard, but I work slow. I'm not a ... strong ..............swimmer. (apologies if you don't get that).

Anyway, I finally finished the full version of my new song, "Stare You Down." Just click the link, and listen away.

As mentioned in the last missive, this is a reworking of the demo that appeared here earlier. A total key change, which necessitated total reworking of most all the parts. One thing that's especially different is the slide solos, which replace the E-bow on the demo. The E-bow just wasn't working for me, and I've been really enjoying fooling around with the slide lately, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. I'm pretty pleased with the results. It really helped to have my new "weapon of minor annoyance" (as opposed to those Weapons of Mass...well, you know).

This thing is amazing. Just check out the link of such things interest you. It's a digital acoustic guitar modeler, to be brief, and one of the guitars it models is a round neck slide, which is the setting I used here for the slide parts, plugged into my Line 6 pod for some distortion. I like the sound of it a lot.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song. Lyrics are as follows:

I will stare you down
I will claim this ground
In the name of all your dreams
For the ones you lost
For the ones you double-crossed
For the ones not meant to be

Put your little hand to my heart
And lead me back to where it began
Put your little hand to my heart
And wait for the sky to fall

Though your eyes burn blue
I can see clear through
To the fear that drives you on
So I will stare you down
I won't let you leave now
For your lonely days of running away are gone

(Repeat chorus, scream a little at end).

I'm also nearly finished another reworking, this time of the song "Lost Lamb." That's another song that I truly love but just wasn't totally happy with on the Greenhorn CD. I've stripped it down, lowered the key again, and made it much more haunting and raw, I think. It'll be up soon...

Now, as to "doing things differently," which I alluded to last time, I think what I'm going to do for now is just release individual songs. Here, for now, but probably migrating to a site like Rhapsody or something in the near future. I still plan to release another CD, but instead of taking on that whole project, which for me, alone, is pretty daunting at times, I'm just going to concentrate on one song at a time. I tend to get overwhelmed by things when I've got too much going on in my life, and this will help me to keep that from happening. Then, at some point, I'll look up and have enough songs ready for a CD release and we'll go from there. (I know, I know, if I release them all individually, what's the point in someone buying a CD? Well ... I don't know, alright, I'll cross that chasm when I come to it.)

So, look for "Lost Lamb" soon, followed by some more brand new stuff, probably one of the demos I posted awhile back finally fleshed out.

I honestly wish I could work faster, but it's just not meant to be with me, for some reason. My wife told me of an interview with Jack White of the White Stripes recently, and he said fans shouldn't worry about the band splitting up (he has a new band called The Raconteurs), and that when it's time to record a new White Stripes album, he'll do it "in a fortnight."

Bastard.

It takes me "a fortnight" just to come up with one guitar part. Anyway, some artists simply have that gift to be raw and immediate, and I seem to be one of those guys that just agonizes over every little note and line. Plus, I love overdubs. Love 'em. Love lots of guitar layers, lots of vocal layers, etc., etc., and there are just SO MANY possibilities when you are recording if you have good software. So many possible effects to use ... at some point, you just have to discipline yourself and say, "enough, it's done, for better or worse."

That's what I'm doing with "Stare You Down." I'm still not in love with my vocals on it, but I'm pretty happy with everything else, and I think it's a strong song. I especially like the end segment where everything sort of degenerates. I also like the acoustic part, which is my new instrument again, set to the "Mandola" setting. A very cool sounding instrument, this is. I really like the sound of it, even this digitally modeled version.

Well, lots of other things to talk about, but I'll save some of them till next time.

Joanie and I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs last night at the 9:30 Club. I really, really love this band. They are my favorite new band to come along in a long time. I was totally captivated by their single "Maps" from their last album. It was haunting, sonically and visually, and the guitarist reminded me a bit of Skids-era Stuart Adamson, which always helps to make me a fan. The last album, Fever to Tell was good, but spotty in places. The new one, however, Show Your Bones, is just amazine. One of the best albums I've heard in years, and one of those rare albums that brightens your day as soon as you wake up, because you look forward to listening to it on your way to and home from work.

Anyway, the show last night was excellent. Great, energetic band. In fact, I believe you can download the show from NPR.org, as they webcast it. If you're a fan of the band, I'd highly recommend it. If you aren't yet, I'd recommend getting a CD first, or downloading a track or two from the new album, as that'll give you a better first impression than the much rougher live sound. The song "Phenomena" is especially amazing. One of the coolest pieces of music I've heard in a long time...

Okay, well, thanks for listening, and please feel free to post any reactions to my new tune. More to come....

Stay safe, happy, and tuned...

Diss

As promised (sorta), new music (kinda).

2006-03-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know I said I'd have a new song up last week. Well, as usual, it took me a little longer than I thought it would to finish this new song I've been working on called "Stare You Down."

But, I do have something for ya'll to listen to. Once again, it's just music this time. In fact, it's music that I've since abandoned, and I'm presently finishing up a re-recording of the whole song? Why? My friggin' voice, that's why.

I've never been the greatest when it comes to writing songs that are comfortably within my vocal range. Often, when I'm thinking of lyrics or melodies, they seem like they'll be easy to sing, but when I actually attempt it, I run into problems. That happened here. Unfortunately, it happened AFTER I'd recorded ALL of the music.

Basically what happened was, I spent two days trying to sing a pretty simple song and just kept struggling with it. Finally, it hit me (I'm a tad slow sometimes): This song is in the wrong key for my voice. It was in the key of "A", so I did a quick, rough recording of the acoustic part in the key of "G", and, viola, singing was infinitely easier.

So, I set about to re-record the whole darn song in the key of G. That's not as easy a task as it might seem because of the way I play the guitar. I use a lot of open strings, droning strings, etc., and switching keys throws that all out of whack. So, I had to try to cop the original guitar parts when I switched keys, and in some cases, come up with new ones. Same goes for the bass parts, too. Had to rethink everything.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the new one's come out. I think it sounds better in most respects, and it CERTAINLY fits my voice much better.

But, I don't want to debut that until I totally finish the vocals, which is the last thing I have left to do. So, in the meantime, I thought it'd be interesting to present the soon-to-be-scrapped version. (Link is at the end of this post.)

It's a rough mix of everything, so don't judge too harshly, but it'll give you a good idea of the song to come. I even broke out the old e-bow for the solo here, but in the new version, I'm replacing it with some slide guitar, which I think works better.

Anyway, next time I post (hopefully next week), I'll have a finished version of the song, and I'll include lyrics and a little statement about how I plan to do things musically from here on out. In short, I think I'm abandoning the "new CD" idea for awhile and will just be releasing songs here as I record them. I actually think I'll get more done that way. But more on that next time....

Anyway, here's the link to "Stare You Down" v. 1.0.

Talk to you all soon.....

Diss

"What's Shakin'" and the Decline of Western Civilization

2006-02-01T16:01:00.000-05:00

How's everybody doing out there? It's been a bit of a hiatus for me here, with the Holidays and all. Plus, a personal crisis a couple months ago sort of threw a wrench into my blogging activity. Not to worry, everything's fine now, and maybe sometime I'll write about what actually happened, but I'm just not feeling up to it today.

Overall, Christmas was nice this year, especially since my beloved Washington Redskins made it into the playoffs for the first time in years, even knocking my most hated rival (The Dallas Cowboys, who else?) out of the playoffs (Sorry, Rob, but the last few years have been pretty miserable, so I'm going to enjoy this one a few months more.). Yeah, I'm a huge football fan, and have been since I was a young'un. It's odd, because no one else in my family is nearly as intense about it as me, and I've been that way as long as I can remember. In fact, I remember throwing one of my mom's pillows once after the Skins lost a close game when I was 11 years old. Of course, it knocked over one of her flower pots and broke it. I've also smashed a few remote controls in my time. Nothing I'm proud of, but hey, this forum makes me feel all honest and stuff.

But I'll deal more with football at a later time. For now, let's talk about something light...like...oh, I don't know...the decline of Western culture?

Warning: the rest of this blog will be of a more rambling nature than usual. Read at your own risk.

As I get older (I'm in my thirties), I start to see myself drifting more towards "grumpy old man" status. Things annoy me. Lots of things. Little things, big things, people especially. They just annoy me. And since I live in America, I can only use Americans as my reference point, so I'll try to give some examples of what I'm talking about.

One thing really hit me more than usual during the holiday season: how America is so consumed with entertainment. I mean, utterly and completely consumed, almost to the point of obscenity at times. And it's like selfish entertainment, too. The motto for Best Buy, for example, is "Get yours." You have to get the biggest TV (heck, I'd love to have a plasma myself, but $5,000 for a TV? Are you kidding me?), you have to get this, you have to get that, and it's all about instant self-gratification.

I mean, even our phones now can play video clips, songs and games. Plus, if the XBox and PS2 weren't enough (I prefer PC games, myself), now you can also pick up a PSP Portable to take with you so you can play a game anywhere you go.

Now look, I LOVE to be entertained as much as the next guy, and sometimes my idea of the perfect day is to go eat, see a movie and play video games on my computer. But, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I've just become more sensitive to the gluttonous aspects of it in our culture, when it's taken too far.

I mean, America is one of the fattest nations on the planet, and it's no surprise. Where else can you super-size every bit of crap you buy at a fast food joint? As if the small portion wasn't bad enough for your arteries. Our portions are huge, and we've become used to them, so we demand them that way. It's like these Taco Bell commercials where people stuff their faces and then proudly shout out, "I'm FULL!!!" I saw a Dominos commercial recently where you can order a big thick crust pizza and then get a huge order of thick, doughy cinnamon breadsticks with icing as a free side order. It was friggin' sickening. I mean, I love pizza, and I love cinammon and icing, but....all that together, for one meal??? Or these bacon, double-beef, extra ham cheesburger thingies....

And, with all the options to sit your big butt down after consuming all this junk, exercise is pretty much out of the question.

But something else really bothers me these days (and now I'm really going to start sounding like a grumpy old man). And that is the general nastiness of so many people, the selfishness, the complete and utter disregard for others. And I'm not talking on a grand scale here, I'm talking about simple things like not holding a door open for someone, or (one of the worst for me) talking in a movie theatre, or not saying thank you or please or whatever. I absolutely hate paying for something and having a cashier not say thank-you, barely even acknowledging your existence.

And it's not just young kids, it's older adults as well. Another thing that bugs me - when I go to the grocery store, every time I load up the car and go to return my cart, without fail, there are tons of stray carts just left in parking spaces. People are simply too lazy to walk an extra ten feet to put the cart back in its area. Who cares that someone else has to do it, or that it blocks a parking space? As long as "I got my stuff done, what do I care?" It's really an "every man for himself" mentality these days. And for sensitive types like myself, it can be trying at times. :-)

Finally, there are commercials, the utter deluge of commerciality. I remember years ago making fun of an older guy who used to mute the tv every time a commercial came on. Now, I'm that guy. They drive me bonkers. Even the clever, funny ones do after awhile, as they're shown so many times and so often.

I like to listen to morning radio on my drive to work at times. I have about a 20 minute drive to work, and I'll be lucky most of the time if I hear 5 - 10 minutes of actual content and then the same 5 commercials over and over. And speaking of football, if you've watched a game recently, you'll be familiar with the pattern:

1. Team mounts a drive and scores
2. Commercials
3. Kickoff to other team
4. Commercials

I collect a lot of old Redskins games as a little hobby of mine, and recently I was watching their Super Bowl appearance in 1972. There were BARELY any commercial breaks, and when there were, there were usually just two commercials shown, at the most three, and then back to the game.

And remember when you could watch a game on TV, or even a show, and just SEE THE SHOW? I like the score up in the corner, and I like the occasional graphic update of scores of other games, but now they have graphics over the field showing red zone stats, they have crawls running along the top, along the bottom, and even after a score, it's not enough to just change the score - it has to be done with an animated graphical flourish and a sound effect!!

Again, gluttony. Gluttony of the senses. That's what I object to.

Now look, as I said earlier, I'm just as guilty as anyone else at times about these things. And there's actually a lot to be said for recreation and entertainment and enjoyment. I couldn't live without movies. I go to one a week, at least. And I love football, I love games, I love a couple shows, and I love good food. But whatever happened to moderation? Whatever happened to a balanced life, whatever happened to just good old-fashioned (did I just say that?) basic concern for the "other guy" to go along with a healthy concern for yourself? What happened to manners, just basic common sense, i.e. if our cell phone rings in the middle of a movie, you don't answer it in a full speaking voice, but instead either embarrassedly shut the phone off or get out of the theatre and talk in the lobby?

Anyway, I warned you, this would be a rambling diatribe. And I guess every generation seems to feel this way at the "next" generation coming up behind them. But, as I said, I don't just see these problems in kids, I tend to see them across the board, and it makes me cynical about the future.

It also makes me feel like a rambling old geezer. So I think it's time to shut up now.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash"

2005-11-30T11:06:00.000-05:00

I saw the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line" recently. It was okay, but I didn't think it lived up to the hype and raves it's been getting. My main problem is in the casting. I think both the leads are great actors, but I thought they were both wrong for the parts.

Joaquin Phoenix just seems too crazy, too wild-eyed, for even Johnny Cash, and Reese Witherspoon seems too "upper-crusty" to me to be June Carter Cash, whom I always envisioned as a pretty rough-hewn, tough woman.

It's certainly not a bad film by any stretch, but I just left feeling a bit let down. I loved Johnny Cash. Always have. There was just something about the man that always drew me to him growing up. And it's odd, because I really don't have many of his records at all, it was more about HIM, the man. I liked that he always wore black as a statement of standing up for the underdog and the downtrodden. Sort of reminds me of the Biblical stories of Jesus going to the whores, the tax collectors, the outcasts of society, much to the chagrin of the "holy" people. I'm always so moved by that type of thing for some reason.

But back to the film - they also took the typical Hollywood liberties that I guess make the story a bit more engaging, but always tend to annoy me. Por ejemplo, the scene where Cash and his band get signed to Sun Records isn't really true to reality. Cash is told by Sun Records icon Sam Phillips that he can't sell gospel music (which is what Cash was performing at the time) and that he didn't believe Cash when he sang those lyrics. He wanted to hear what was in his SOUL. In the movie, Cash then launches into this impassioned version of "Folsom Prison Blues" that gets more and more intense as it progresses, and of course they're signed on the spot.

Well, it made for a great movie moment, but in reality, the song they did was called "Hey, Porter," and it didn't really happen that way. The boys brought Sam their original song and were planning to make it a B-side to their gospel tune, but Sam wanted more originals (the part about not being able to sell gospel music was true). Anyway, they went back and wrote another song called "Cry, Cry, Cry" and went from there. "Folsom Prison Blues" wasn't released until later. But I guess they caught the essence of Cash's struggle there in the film.

Speaking of his struggle, I had to go back and rewatch his final video recently. I can't even put into words how powerful this video and song are to me. This will sound like a complete exaggeration, but it's not: it's probably the most single-handedly powerful 4 minutes of video I've ever witnessed. It's just beyond description, and it is so very, very brutal and real.

It's Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt." Now, Cash was a drug addict through much of his adult life, something he always battled with, and it really took its toll on him physically. He had been ill for the last few years of his life, but he still managed to put out incredible albums. But he hadn't really been seen much in public, so the image of him as the big, burly, black-haired titan of a man was still very much in my head before I saw this video for the first time.

And then, there he is in the video - old, grey everywhere, shaking, unable to keep his hands steady, looking so very, very weary and worn. And he sings the lines, "I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel" and "You can have it all, my empire of dirt," all while sitting around his mausoleum of a mansion, full of old memorabilia, old pictures of his youth, of his family, interspersed with quick edits of clips from his younger years when he was strong, powerful. But the hardest part for me to watch is when you see June Carter, his wife, in the background, looking at him with the saddest look I've ever seen...you can see how much she loves this man, and you can see how she looks at him in agreement when he sings the words, "What have I become?"

This brave, real image of Cash, just a year or so before his death, contrasts so sharply with your image of him, or at least MY image of him. I think it's the bravest thing he ever did, to be honest. Because you can see his pride still trying to fight through in that video, despite the shaking hands, despite the despondency that the song seems to project. It's just the most real and powerful thing I might have ever seen on video.

Sounds like a real uplifter, huh? :-)

Anyway, I highly suggest purchasing it if it's still being sold. It's on DVD and is just the one song, but it's so worth it.

Hope all is well, and more music to come...

At Last - NEW TUNES!

2005-11-20T20:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've finally completed a couple new tunes for your enjoyment (hopefully). Here are the links, and below is a description of what in blazes you'll be listening to. And if you navigated straight to this page from another link, Click here to go to the main Diss page.

Feather In My Hands

Winter Sky (A Big Country cover)

Feather In My Hands
Okay, some of you who are familiar with the old "back catalogue" will remember the song "Feather In My Hands" from the Gunnysack CD under the name The Dissidents. Yes, this is that very same tune, but it's been redone, given a new finish, etc.

Actually, there are a number of songs from those first two Dissidents CDs (Valiant and Gunnysack) that I really thought were good songs, but I was simply disappointed in how they came out. This is an example. I always really loved this song, but, for some reason, the CD version on Gunnysack just didn't do it for me. For one thing, it was in the wrong key for my voice. For another, it simply had too much going on instrument-wise. It was just too "noisy," and the final sound just didn't live up to what I'd been hearing in my head.

So...I've redone it, and I will probably be redoing a few other oldies but goodies, along with the new stuff I have in the cooker. This one was slowed down (just a bit), and the key was switched from "E" to "A" to better accomodate the old vocal chords. This is also the first use of my new instrument, the MandoGuitar, which I bought recently. Really love this thing, and I plan to use it a lot more in the future.

I also fooled with the arrangement a bit here, changed the solo, etc. I don't usually like to go back to the past and change things, as you can always tweak songs forever if you really wanted to. But I just wanted to do this song justice, and, overall, I feel like I finally have. It needs a little mixing work yet, but, for now, I'm leaving it and moving on.

Winter Sky
This is a cover of one of my favorite B-sides from the band Big Country. I've always loved this song, and sometimes just love to put my own stamp on one of this band's tunes. I've recorded a lot of Big Country songs in the past, actually.

The original version of this is a soft, folky, melancholic tune. It's just beautiful. But I was fooling around on the guitar one day and thought that this could sound great as a real full-on rocker. It may not be the right treatment of the tune considering the lyrics and subject matter (my take sounds a little bit joyous and anthemic in places, and I'm not sure that's what Stuart Adamson was going for, but...), but I do think it rocks, if I may say so.

For this one, I basically just reworked the key guitar parts into some nasty, snarling electric parts. There are two guitars here, one on the right, one on the left, both playing complimentary parts. I never like to double the same part if I'm recording two guitar parts. I like to play something slightly (sometimes extremely) different to give a bigger, more interesting feel. I like the guitars in this version, in that they sound very full and BIG to me. The one on the right is a Strat, the one on the left is my bizarre Ibanez model, the like of which I've never seen anywhere. (I'll have to post a picture sometime.) They're both going through a Line 6 Pod.

I was going to do a solo on this, but it just didn't seem to fit. One thing I did do, however, was add to the arrangement a bit, making a more definable bridge section where things slow down a little and then build to a big crescendo. Just having a bit of fun here, really.

Anyway, so that's it for now. Still a lot of music to come, I promise you that. It just takes me a little time to do these things, as I'm doing everything on my own here - drums, bass, guitars, vocals, etc. So it's quite a production. But I am chipping away at it!

Thanks for listening, and please let me know what you think! The comments make it all worthwhile, honestly!!

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone! Stay tuned for more....got lots to talk about, but just a bit "knackered" at the moment, as they say across the pond....

Take care,

Diss

Three Shows in Two Weeks - The Highlights

2005-10-12T09:50:00.000-04:00

As I get older, the urge to "go out" seems to deteriorate. In fact, I've always been somewhat of a "homebody" type, so I don't know if I would've ever been good with the touring lifestyle of a full-time musician. I'd miss my wife, my cats, my computer too much...

BUT...my wife and I did have a pretty active couple weeks, seeing three interesting shows in the span of about 10 days: The White Stripes, Coldplay and Bob Mould.

1. The White Stripes - What an amazing show. I have become a huge fan of this band, thanks to my wife, who was on the bandwagon first. At first glance, I didn't think much of them - no bass, a female drummer who can barely keep time, etc. How wrong I was. They rock like no other band to come along in decades. And it's a joyful sort of big sound they make. It's not all dire and doom and gloom stuff that so many newer bands are doing these days. Their sound is rooted in traditional blues, but it sounds fresh and new and exciting. Jack White's guitar playing is absolutely magical and exhilirating to see. Live, they were fantastic - they don't do much talking, but come out and just smash and bash their way through great song after great song. Just seeing two people make such a huge noise - without the aid of any sort of backing tracks whatsoever - was so refreshing. The only two colors on their stage are red and white ... oh, and sometimes black. And Jack adopts some odd but charming persona onstage, as if he's channeling some long lost old blues man. They both (Jack and Meg) give absolutely everything to their performance, and it's hard, if not impossible, not to be taken in by it. It was a beautiful thing.

2. Coldplay - Okay, I'm not a big fan of these guys, but I don't dislike them. My wife is the fan here, and since I dragged her to see KISS a few years ago, this was my payback. It wasn't such a high price to pay, though. I sometimes refer to this band as "U3," because I think they've adopted so many elements of U2's sound. After seeing them live, it's also obvious that they've adopted many of U2's visuals. They came out silhouetted against a big video screen, with lead singer Chris Martin dancing around bizarrely ala Bono on the Achtung Baby tour. But I have to admit, they sounded quite good, and they were true professionals, but it was quite the opposite vibe of the White Stripes show, in that everything seemed choreographed and polished. But soundwise, it was quite possibly the best SOUNDING live show in a big place I've ever been to. Every instrument came through perfectly, and there was none of that "mud" you often hear with big show sound. And it WAS a big show. It was at Nissan Pavilion, and it was as packed a venue as I've ever seen. Many, many frat boy types in attendance, though, which detracted from the show for me, especially the moron in front of us that spent the night holding up a beer bottle in salute to the band while groping his girlfriend and screaming every lyric into her ear. The show was relatively enjoyable, if not forgettable (for me), but the drive home was horrendous. In fact, there WAS no driving for about two hours afterwards. We literally sat in the parking lot, not even budging, for two full hours before our section finally was able to leave. Nissan is just notorious for that, as there's only one way in and out of the venue, which is insane.

3. Bob Mould - I loved the White Stripes show, but this show probably meant more to me emotionally, because my good friend Jason Narducy, a guy I've known since college, is playing bass in Bob's band. It's amazing because when Jason and I met, we were both into similar artists, and Bob Mould was one of them. In fact, Jason was jealous of me at the time for having seen Bob live a few times. Now, Jason is playing bass in his band! (He's known Bob for quite some time actually. Bob produced his band Verbow's debut album.) Jason is an incredibly talented singer, songwriter and guitarist, and now we have to add bass to that repertoire. For those unfamiliar with Bob, he was the guitarist for punk band Husker Du, a band known for incredibly loud yet melodic guitar assaults. Bob went solo around 1990 and has been producing great music on his own ever since (although I have to admit I've sort of fallen out of favor with much of his stuff over the last few years, especially as he's delved into electronica stuff). Bob hadn't done a full band tour in years, so this was a welcome return, and it was a fantastic representation of his body of work, from Husker Du to the present, and it was, BY FAR, the loudest friggin' show I've ever seen in my life!! It was at the 9:30 Club in D.C., and thank God I had earplugs (which I took out on occasion to get the full effect). Bob's always been loud, but this was just insane. But his guitar playing was amazing, his vocals were great, and my buddy Jason was, without a doubt, the best bassist/background singer ever to be associated with Mr. Mould. I was so proud of him up there. It was really special for him, I'm sure, and it was special for me to watch. Probably the equivalent for me would've been having the opportunity to play with Stuart Adamson. Very cool stuff. Oh, and the show was filmed for a future DVD, so if you're into Bob, check it out and look for me and Joanie somewhere in the crowd (actually, Jason hooked us up with VIP seats, so we're in a primo spot up in the balcony - we felt so important). It was a horrible night weatherwise, with torrential downpours, so the hour or so drive was no fun. Add to that an 11:30 stage time for Mould, and it was tough on us aging hipsters. But it was a Friday night, so at least we got to sleep in on Saturday...

Anyway, a fun few shows. Nice to see so much live music again!

Next update will have a new demo, promise! I recently purchased an amazing new instrument that I'm totally nuts about. Will be featured HEAVILY on future music. More next time....

Take care!!

My Favorite Guitarists of All Time...As of Now

2005-10-05T10:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, time for another break from the heavy religious discussions....I was just thinking the other day of all the guitarists who've really influenced me heavily over the years and thought I'd try to offer my top list (I don't know if it'll end up being 10 or not, but I'll try).

These are in no particular order, except one: Stuart Adamson. He's definitely numero uno. The others, well, if they're "older" players, then they probably rank up higher since they were influences before I started playing myself.

So, here we go...

Stuart Adamson: Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter from Big Country. This guy is by far my biggest influence, and sometimes maybe that comes through too much in my own style, although I like to think I've developed my own. Anyway, the thing that always struck me about Stuart's playing was not so much his lead playing (although it was great) but his rhythm guitar playing, particularly the odd chord structures he came up with. To this day, he's one of the few guitar players that gives me fits when trying to figure out what he's playing. His use of droning, open strings when playing chords was so appealling to me, and the Scottish/Celtic sound of the playing as well. He is so underrated. Beyond belief underrated. I still think the album Steeltown is a guitar masterpiece. Listen to that one with headphones and just hear the guitar symphony that is going on on most of those songs - tons of parts interweaving with each other, creating a huge, totally unique sound. Just brilliant. Like no one else.
Ace Frehley: Yes, Ace Frehley from KISS was a big influence for me, and I still love the guy. KISS was my first rock obsession. Superheroes and Rock Stars all in one, the perfect combination for a young boy. I always thought Ace was the coolest, and he's another guitar player who doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. Technicaly, he's not the most gifted player, but his guitar solos on those early KISS albums are incredible, in that, to this day, I can practically hum every one of them. To me, that's the mark of a great solo, not how many notes you can play in a second, which gets old fast, but how memorable the melody of the solo is, and Ace had some of the best melodic rock solos ever. They were simple, but they were effective.
The Edge: Another huge influence early on. Say what you want about his technical abilities, and I'll admit he's not that great a player when you judge him solely on those merits. But I never cared about that much anyway. What makes him great is that he forged his own creative sound, one that's been infinitely copied ever since. His use of the delay pedal was revolutionary (yeah, it had been done before, but not like he did it), and he was able to make one guitar sound like an army of guitars, completely filling U2's sound to the brim. His early stuff is what I especially like, and I still think his guitar playing on the song "11 o'Clock, Tick Tock" is pure genius throughout. That was in fact the first song I ever heard from U2, and it blew me away then and still does today.
Pete Townshend: The thing that always fired me up about Pete was just his raw aggression on the guitar: The windmills, the smashing of guitar and amplifiers, the whole vibe he had going really appealed to me at an early age. He just stalked the stage and he attacked his instrument with no respect for its safety. His playing is also fantastic. I don't love everything The Who has ever done, or Pete (sometimes he gets a bit too "artsy" even for me), but the image of him standing on a stage with a Les Paul, hand held high ready to do a signature windmill and hit a big power A chord...that's iconic right there, and I like to think that I took some of that aggression into my own playing. I'm definitely more interested in aggressive rhythmic playing more than mile-a-second lead playing, and Pete is a big reason why.
Bruce Springsteen: A lot of people don't even think of Bruce as a guitar player, which is a shame, because he's freakin' great. I first became aware of just how great when he did his solo acoustic tours in 1995 for The Ghost of Tom Joad album (one of my all-time favorites). His slide guitar playing, on a 12-string no less, on his solo acoustic version of "Born in the USA" is astounding. He's another one who just plays with wild abandon over technical precision, which I guess is sort of a theme in this list. His lead playing is actually great and underrated, too, and he gets an amazing sound from his beat up old Telecaster that I've often wished I could emulate but can't seem to. But his solo acoustic playing is what really gets him on this list for me - seeing him live by himself was just a revelation. He's a true folk hero to me, and there aren't many like him left.
Juliana Hatfield: Okay, I had to get a woman on this list, and Juliana is one of my favorite artists period. I'm listening to her almost exclusively at the moment, in fact. She broke out fairly big in the mid-90's with a song called "My Sister" and sort of disappeared after that in the eyes of the masses (why does this happen to all the bands and artists I love?), but she's been incredibly prolific, usually putting out an album a year, which is unheard of in this day and age. I love her voice, I love her songwriting, and I LOVE her guitar playing. She absolutely rocks. Again, it's her rhythm playing that really appeals to me the most. She's brilliant at coming up with cool, chunky style chord progressions that just ooze attitude, and when she wants to, she can sound like a punk god(dess) with amazing distorted sounds and heavy riffs. On top of all that, she can also play the "girl with a guitar" role to a tee, playing some really sweet, intricate, soft acoustic stuff. She has incredibly varied talents, and I just love her music and really admire her talent.
Bob Mould: When I started moving out of my "heavy metal" phase in my mid-teens, I started to discover a lot of punk music, and the band Husker Du was a part of that discovery. Bob was the guitar player for that band, and his playing was and is amazingly brutal, again, more from a rhythmic nature. He also plays with many open, droning strings to create a huge guitar sound, but he usually played with incredibly loud, distorted guitars that just shredded. He still does in fact, although I've sort of fallen out of favor with a lot of his solo work over the past 10 years. But his contributions to my own guitar playing style are definitley significant.
Jack White: This is a relatively new discovery to me, but he's definitely influenced me recently, and it's nice to still be influenced. This is the singer/guitarist with The White Stripes, a band my wife and I have come to absolutely love. They defy all logic as to what a band should be. They have a pretty poor drummer who can barely keep time (Meg White), there is no bass in the band (just Jack on guitar and Meg on drums), and yet they produce music that is this incredible combination of dark and joyful at the same time. Jack is very heavily influenced by old blues guys, but he puts a modern twist on his playing, often using effects pedals like the Whammy in his soloing. And with no bass and no other guitars in the band, he does an amazing job of filling up that sound. This is an amazing band to see live. When he plays guitar, it's just a beautiful thing, because he also plays with totally reckless abandon. It's so wild and passionate, and it just works for me. It inspires me, actually. What he's brought to me is just to not be so worried about perfection when recording, but to allow yourself to get lost in the moment and play more from the heart.
Tom Morello: This is the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, sadly, a band that no longer exists. Just when I thought nothing new could be done on the guitar, this guy comes along and does things I'd never heard before on guitar. He took sort of a hip-hop approach to heavy metal guitar playing, if you can believe that. He does those little scratch type effects on the guitar that you'd normally hear hip-hop DJs do, and he just comes up with some amazingly original and creative sounds. Plus, his riffs are huge and pummelling. RATM always sounded to me, musically, like what American Indians might have sounded like if someone had given them guitars and amplifiers back in the 1800s. Just sounds like an Indian war party. I just love it. I'm not a huge fan of Audioslave, Morrello's current project, but his stuff with RATM was absolutely groundbreaking.
Buddy Miller: Here's a guy you may not have heard of, but he's one of my favorite current guitar players. So versatile. I became aware of him through his playing on Emmylou Harris' live album called "Spyboy." On that album, he sounds like a cross between The Edge and Stuart Adamson, a pretty amazing combination, yet he's still completely original sounding. He comes from a more country background, but his style is very varied, and he's played on a lot of "alt-country" stuff that I really love. He also backs up his wife, the amazing Julie Miller, on her stuff. Probably the biggest influence Buddy has had on me is my discovery of something called the "mandoguitar," sort of a cross between a mandolin and 12-string guitar. In fact, I just bought one recently and I'm patiently waiting for it to arrive at my door. Can't wait! But Buddy is just an amazing guitar player, and if you're not a country fan, don't be afraid. I'm not really a country fan either, but his work on the "Spyboy" album is far from traditional, twangy country (although he can do that with the best of them if he wants to). I'd highly recommend that album for all you U2, Big Country fans out there. I remember Stuart, in fact, speaking euphorically about it at the time it came out.

WOW, I made it to 10! I probably forgot a couple, but this is a good list as I look back over it. There are certainly tons of other artists who've influenced me that wouldn't fit into this list, since it's strictly related to guitar influences. Joe Strummer, for instance, is one of my favorite musicians of all time, but he didn't really influence me with his guitar playing, so, he doesn't make the list, much as I love him!

Anyway, feel free to comment or list some of your favorite guitar players. Would love to hear 'em...

Stay tuned for some more demos coming soon, promise!! :-)

What the Hell?

2005-08-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

Okay, I guess this is my first excursion into discussion of a religious nature. It's always tricky, this subject. Because people can be offended, angered, disappointed, or, even worse, they can misconstrue what you say. So, let me get this out of the way first. If I offend anyone's personal beliefs here, please understand that it's not intentional. This is a blog, so it's basically a vehicle for me to vent my own personal feelings, often in a stream-of-consciousness way, so don't hold it to the same standards as a researched or heavily-agonized-over piece of writing. It definitely ain't that.

So, what's with the title for this entry? Well, as many of you no doubt know, a few years ago now, Stuart Adamson of Big Country took his own life in what were very tragic circumstances. It was a huge blow for all of us who were fans, not only of the music, but of the man. What was even harder for me is that, at the same time, I had a long-time friend, also a long-time alcoholic, who took his own life in a similar way. In fact, it happened a mere two weeks after the news of Stuart's passing. Needless to say, it was a very, very tough time.

So, again, why the title...well, I built my new computer recently (Yes, it was a success! Pics next entry, for those who care), and I was going through a bunch of old emails on my old computer. I rarely throw away anything. Anyway, I found a post from someone on a Big Country list shortly after Stuart had died. I'd forgotten about this post, because it angered me then, and it continued to incense me recently when I re-discovered it. Anyway, the gist of the post was the person hoping that Stuart was not "in hell" because of his actions, with so-called Biblical references to the so-called fact that anyone who takes their own life can't make it into heaven and basically spends eternity in torturous misery.

What a repulsive, abhorrent concept this is to me.

First, let me give you some insight into my religious background. At present, I don't know what I would classify myself as religiously, but I certainly come from a distinctly Christian upbringing. My father was, until very recently, a Methodist minister, and from a very early age, I was extremely interested in learning about Christianity, Jesus, etc. I've read the Bible through many times, I used to win Bible trivia contests in Bible school, I watched the PTL Club after school instead of cartoons (believe it or not)...I was a very pious kid. So, be careful if you want to debate me on this subject. I don't speak from ignorance on the subject matter. :-)

But, I have to admit, over the last number of years, I've found myself more questioning than ever about who or what God is, what's true, what doesn't make sense, what the answers are. I don't have them. But I do feel pretty confident about certain things that I absolutely no longer believe in. One of those things is the concept of hell.

Okay, here's a theoretical scenario for you. Let's say you go to your job, hang up your coat, and later in the day find a co-worker reaching into your coat pocket and stealing 50 cents from you so they can buy a drink from the soda machine. You've caught them red-handed. Now, what's the punishment? Do you get them fired? Do you punch them in the face? Do you yell at them and make them give back the money? Or, do you take them down into a room, tie them up and torture them for weeks, months, even years on end, keeping them alive just so they can be fully aware of the pain you're putting them through? Does that last choice sound like something a reasonable person would choose? Does that last choice sound like justice? Hell, no on both counts.

And yet, that is EXACTLY what many Christians believe when it comes to the concept of hell and "everlasting punishment" - that God, in his infinite wisdom and love, will not just punish, but TORTURE people for ALL ETERNITY, not just people who committ murder and other horrible acts, mind you, but people who simply "die in sin" or "refuse to accept Jesus" as their savior. Your dear old grandmother, who never hurt a fly in her life and always did good for everyone, according to this mindset, could be in the midst of unspeakable and eternal torture right now, simply because she chose not to believe something.

I find that entire concept borderline insanity on its own, but then to have someone suggest that a person like Stuart or my friend Chris would suffer that same fate for being so depressed and despondent that they took their own life...sorry, but that's crossing the line of insanity.

I can't speak for what Stuart went through during his last days, but I can speak to what my friend Chris went through, as I was in contact with him for a long period of time leading up to his fateful decision. Chris was such a good person at heart. Talented, funny, brilliant. But he was totally hijacked by alcohol abuse and depression, and it's my belief that his untreated depression really led to the alcohol abuse. His own father had taken his life years before. His family situation had always been a mess. He was a scared guy, in desperate need of help but never knowing how to embrace the help that was available to him. He made bad choices, but not out of malice. He wasn't evil, he wasn't selfish, he was just in tremendous, tremendous pain, a mental agony that I hope no one reading this ever has to know. I loved him as a friend, and I love him still, and for someone to suggest that because he took his life in a fit of despair and panic that "God" is making him suffer now even more...it's just a sickening thought to me that people actually believe this. It's sickening and sad that the human mind can be so weak and susceptible to guilt and controlling influences that it convinces itself that this could be true. And yet there are so many who believe this.

It's also incredibly insulting to the concept of God, or a higher power in the universe. It actually reduces the concept of God, particularly a loving God, to a status lower than an animal, certainly lower than a human. After all, if inflicting that sort of punishment on someone can be viewed as undeserved or unjust by us humans, how can we possibly think that God - whatever God may be - supposedly so much more highly evolved than humanity, would think that such a thing WAS just or deserved. It makes zero sense, no matter how you look at it, and I reject it utterly.

Put it this way - if "I" was God, and someone like my friend Chris passed away like he did, knowing what I knew about his life and what he'd gone through, I would offer him nothing but love, peace and tranquility, I would forgive him for the mistakes he made, I would offer him the grace and peace that he couldn't find in life. And if I, a lowly human, would do that, I absolutely know that something that could be called "God" would do the same if not more.

The Latest Skinny

2005-08-04T15:44:00.001-04:00

Hi, everyone.

First, thanks to those of you who took the time to respond to my very rough demo offerings. Generally, good feedback, and it's appreciated. To be honest, I am entirely stoked about the one that features drums and bass. I just love it. When you listen to something over and over again, that's a good sign. Tentative title for this one is "Let 'Em Burn," but the lyrics are still a big problem right now for me. I'm trying to force myself to write a bit differently this time out, musically AND lyrically, and it's been tough to get things rolling. But I have a good idea of what this song will be about now, so that's a huge part of the fight right there.

Another reason for the block is, I'm sure, a lot of other things happening at the moment. I just finished 3 straight weeks of 10-hour-a-day (for the most part) video editing for a huge project that I have to do every year for my "real" job. I really love to do video editing, and I'm getting much better at it, but it's a really time consuming and mentally draining thing, believe it or not. And it's something that's very limited to the power of your computer.

Now we get to the title of this here blog entry. My current computer is pretty formidable, but with all the video editing, audio production and...I admit it...game playing I do, it's time for me to upgrade. For the last 6 or 7 months, I've been biding my time, slowly researching the best new parts for a new setup, and I've finally got everything ordered. In fact, the motherboard and DVD drive arrived today. You see, I'm planning to build my first computer, and it's both exciting and horrifying at the same time. In no way am I a big "tech-head," although I do often become giddy when a new technology comes on the market.

But, it's incredibly cheaper to build your own system, and I've installed my own motherboard and processor before when my last computer malfunctioned, so I think I can do it. But, it's not going to be easy. Anyway, wish me luck. It will truly be a beast of a machine if I can get it assembled properly.

As for music, I haven't been TOTALLY idle since the last post. In fact, I've been pretty productive on one front - I've found a guitar tone that I absolutely love and will probably be using for 90 percent of the next project. You see, I've always had trouble coming up with great guitar sounds, especially with distorted guitars. I don't think I've ever been totally happy with anything I've come up with in the past, althought "Greenhorn" had some good moments.

Anyway, I don't even own and amp anymore. I do all my recording direct, and this is what I use for guitars. It's called a Line 6 Pod, and it's a fantastic piece of equipment. It's full of presets that will sound like all sorts of amp/microphone combinations from classic or new setups. Also, you can tweak all sorts of settings and come up with your own, which is pretty much what I've done.

My focus on this next project, as I've said before, will be to try to bash it out quickly and not get so caught up in obsessive perfectionism. I've often found that my demos have a certain raw and energetic quality that is sometimes lacking in the real polished versions, and I want to avoid that this time. So, I found a sound I love, and I'm sticking with it.

I do have other demos recorded, too, but I'm not ready to put them up yet. I will soon, however. One thing I've found recently is a disc I burned awhile back containing tons of VERY old demos from my first band, The Dissidents, and from me when I was just out of high school. It is absolutely horrible in many cases. The singing? Beyond belief bad. The songwriting? Okay, not THAT bad, but not great. The lyrics? TERRIBLE!! I don't know if I have the guts to put these up on the site, but I may. They're good for a laugh.

I've never considered myself much of a singer. In fact, when I first started the band, we had another singer, an Indian guy named "Arjun," or "Arj" for short. He lasted a few rehearsals with us, and that's about it. He was a cool guy, but, to be honest, his voice wasn't much better than mine and I didn't really like how he sang my lyrics. I figured, hey, I'm writing all this stuff, I might as well sing it. My voice has improved a LOT since those days, but boy, it sure was horrible then. Horri-freakin-riffic, actually.

Heard some good news recently concerning a long-time friend of mine named Jason Narducy. This guy has an AMAZING voice, and he's an incredibly talented songwriter, guitarist, you name it. In fact, he was in The Dissidents briefly "back in the day," and it was fun to be able to do some of the dual-guitar stuff live. Anyway, over the years, Jason has been in some really good bands, and one of them, Verbow, was produced by a guy named Bob Mould, who used to be in the punk band Husker Du.

It's so funny, because when Jason and I first met at college, we were both huge fans of Bob, and I remember Jason being jealous of the fact that I'd seen Bob Mould a few times. Well, over the years, Jason has actually developed a good friendship with Bob and is now going to be playing bass with him on his upcoming tour of the U.S. and Europe. It should be an absolutely fantastic performance, and I highly encourage anyone who can to go check it out. Bob does some seriously intense guitar-based rock. I've sort of fallen away from his output over the last few years, as I've found it to be a little too experimental and not my cup of tea, but it seems like now he's back with the hard-edged sound I love, and with Jason playing with him, it should be a lethal combination. Jason's a fantastic front man in his own right, and one thing Bob's always lacked live is a good set of background vocals. He should have no problem there this time out. It'll be exciting for me to see my friend up on stage with Mould, especially since I know that Jason was so incredibly influenced by him. I may be wrong, but I imagine for Jason it's probably like it would have been for me if I'd have been able to back up Stuart Adamson on a show or two.

Speaking of Stuart, I was really excited to see that his son, Callum, is now in a pretty serious band, called The Delta Blues. Don't like the name much, but the songs really aren't bad at all, from what I've heard. For such a young band, they show a lot of potential, and I hope for great things from them. I can even hear a little of Stuart coming through Callum's guitar playing on the tracks. One thing that does slightly disappoint me, though, is the band's mentioning of "whiskey" being one of their top influences. Considering how Stuart's life came to an end, and what brought that end about (serious alcohol abuse), I really would prefer to hear something else mentioned there. The whole "drinking to excess" aspect of rock culture (or rock legend) is so pathetic, if you ask me.

I've been lucky, in that I've never been a drinker in my life. For one thing, I've always hated the taste of beer. I've been drunk, I think, two times in my life. Both times it was sort of fun, but I always felt horrible afterwards, and I just figured, "what's the point of this?" I've seen what alcohol abuse can do to people. Stuart is one example, and there was another friend of mine who died in pretty much exactly the same circumstances two weeks after Stuart's passing, another great, talented person who was destroyed and deformed by that stuff. I know, I know, a lot of people drink socially and are fine with it, and that's fine by me. Honestly, I'm not trying to come across as "holier than thou" here. I mean, we all have our flaws, addictions, obsessions, some more dangerous than others. But I really wish the whole drugs and alcohol aspect of harder-edged music would be devalued and rejected by younger bands like this. Nothing good can possibly come from it.

BUT, all that said, I just wish Callum and his band the best, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what he does in the future. As I said, a LOT of potential there.

Well, that's it for now. It's about 100 degrees today. Thank goodness for air-conditioning, but, at the same time, I don't like spending the summer in an artificial climate, indoors all the time. Hopefully it'll cool down here a LITTLE.

Going to Redskins training camp tomorrow! I'm a HUUUUGGGEEEE Redskins fan, but that's for another blog. I love football season, and this is about my favorite time of year. Still some summer left, preseason games starting....nice.

Thanks again for caring, everyone, and hope to have some more music for you to check out very soon!

Until then, stay safe, happy and tuned...

Diss

New Music!!

2005-07-15T11:05:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm going to take a break from the terrorist/religious/political talk for now (but I'll get back to it) and leave a post about music.

I finally have some new demos up at my site, on the Sounds page. I hope you'll check 'em out if you haven't already. There are three up for now, with more to come (have probably about 6 or 7 that are shaping up).

Please keep in mind when listening to these: they are raw versions that I normally wouldn't let many people hear, because they are not played that well, there are mistakes, etc. I'm too much of a perfectionist, so it sort of makes me feel a bit insecure letting people hear these, but I thought it might be interesting for some to see how a song sounds when it's born and how it develops over time, learns to walk, then run, etc.

The first demo is the more fleshed out of the three. The other two are just rough guitar parts. I did the first one last night, recording the drum parts in about 30 minutes and the bass in about 10, so I'm sure there will be changes to both of these parts, but the general feel is there. This song, whatever it ends up being called, is pretty indicative of the style/feel I'm going after this time throughout - harder, aggressive, but hopefully still uplifting and anthemic. I can't seem to get away from that style no matter how hard I try.

The one problem I'm facing at the moment, though, with the new stuff is a fear that everything is starting to sound the same. I really want to branch out a little on this new effort, so I'm going to try to write some songs in different ways. Usually, I try to envision the entire thing with the guitar as I play, try to arrange the whole song that way. That's pretty much how I've done the demos that are currently up on the site. It's all very guitar driven. I truly miss, however, having a full band interaction where we would just "jam" and see what happened. Sometimes in that environment, songs can spring up as a result of drum parts or even bass parts. I'm going to try some different things this time to come up with another batch of songs, maybe start building from the drums this time and put a guitar part to a drum part rather than vice versa. We'll see. I may see if I can get ahold of some different instruments, too (stringed, of course) and see where that takes me. So, expect something old and, hopefully, something new on this new effort, whenever it materializes.

I have a real problem sometimes with taking on too much in my life, doing too many things at once, and when I jump into a project like this, it's often very, very hard for me to be patient and not be overwhelmed by all the work required to do a full CD on one's own. What makes it worse is that I can often hear the finished product in my head, and if I like what I hear, I want the finished product IN MY HANDS NOW, even though that's not humanly possible. I need to start thinking about one song at a time instead of an entire album. Even now, I've had to force myself to concentrate on one demo at a time instead of five or six. So, hopefully I can learn to relax a bit, we'll see...

So now the big problem is lyrics. What I'll do for awhile is listen to these demos and try to come up with lyrics for them...well, melodies first, then lyrics to go over the melodies. I was having "music-related" writers block for awhile, now it's lyric-related. I have some titles, but I'm finding it difficult at the moment to get the words together. I'm sure they'll come. They always do.

Okay, as for OTHER new music, from OTHER people, I've really been very happy lately as I've discovered some new stuff that I'm really enjoying.

First up, Garbage. I was never really into this band (they've been around for 10 years now), but I always thought they were interesting when I saw a video. Just never felt inclined to go out and buy a CD. Well, their new one, "Bleed Like Me", is amazing. I saw them on a DirectTV freeview concert, and I was really impressed by the new songs. I'm a big fan of Blondie, and this is very much a throwback to that style - mysterious, menacing girl singer, clever lyrics, good guitar, nice production. The new CD has some amazing songs, and the guitars sound fantastic. It's one of those experiences where I enjoyed the CD so much that I've since gone back to the band's back catalogue, which has been fun. It's been a little disappointing to realize that the older stuff was nowhere near as guitar-heavy as the newer stuff, but there are still some absolute gems that I feel like I'm discovering. So nice to have some new music to listen to that I really love.

Second up, The White Stripes. This is a band that I pretty much dismissed entirely when I first saw them a few years back. The song was catchy but I didn't pay much attention, as the band struck me as just some sort of throwback fad. How wrong I was. Jack White, the guitarist/songwriter, is just amazing on both of those counts. I first began to give the guy a second look when he popped up all over the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack. Not the greatest movie, but the music was wonderful - lots of old-time bluegrass-tinged stuff that my wife and I both really enjoy from time to time. Anyway, Jack White was singing a lot of these songs, and he sounded like he'd stepped right out of the 1800s. He'd even written a couple, that were great. It gave me new respect for him as a writer and artist.

Then, my wife bought a White Stripes live DVD. I sat down to watch it with her and was absolutely blown away by the performance. I love the old clips of The Who and Zeppelin and Hendrix from the 60's, where they're just absolutely pulverizing the stage with huge guitars and incredible, distorted playing. That's what I was taken back to when watching this DVD. The guy is just a monster guitar player - and his energy onstage is insane. I think the DVD is called "Under Blackpool Lights" or something. I highly recommend it. Also, White just produced a new album for Loretta Lynn (70 years old!).

Now, I'm not a big fan of processed country music, but I do like a lot of music with country roots. Never been a big fan of the twang, but I love projects that fuse a country artist with a more rock-oriented backing band. Case in point, most of the recent Emmylou Harris releases, some of which were produced by U2 guy Daniel Lanois. Just beautiful, beautiful stuff. And now Jack White has done the same sort of thing with Loretta Lynn. I'm just getting through the CD, but I love it so far. Hard to believe I'm getting into a rockin' song being sung by a 70-year-old, but that's the way it should be! White assembled a backing band of no-names, not session players, and they play with the same wild abandon that he does (he plays on the CD, too). Marry that with Loretta Lynn's weathered and wonderful voice, and it's a real interesting combination, believe it or not.

So, there's a lot of music in my life right now, and that's good. Looking forward to cranking out some more tunes and, hopefully, doing it without all the painstaking obsession over the minutiae this time out. Hope y'all enjoy it....

Diss

London Calling...

2005-07-07T09:10:00.000-04:00

What a sad morning. My wife is out of town at the moment, so I woke up, headed to my computer as I always do, and then see the news that there's been a terrorist bombing in London.

Immediately I was taken back to how I felt on 9-11. Every American has their own "where were you" story of that day. I was actually on my honeymoon, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My wife and I were just getting up, planning a day on the beach, eating, lounging about, the usual stuff...We were staying at a Bed and Breakfast, and there was one TV in a common area of the building.

My wife was out there watching the morning news and I was getting ready. I remember her coming in to tell me that there'd been some sort of plane crash in New York. That was the first plane. We both went out to the TV and, along with the other guests there, watched in stunned horror as the second plane hit the WTC, and our worlds were changed forever.

It was a very odd honeymoon, as you might imagine. On one hand, we were both selfishly sad that our time had now been forever tainted, and yet, on the other hand, we realized how lucky we were to have each other and how thankful we were to be alive and how insignificant a honeymoon was in comparison to the horrible, horrible loss that so many had just experienced. We were so lucky to have each other. We did spend a lot of time on the beach, which was pretty much empty, just lying there, listening to radio coverage, hearing how the nation was reacting, trying to come to grips with what had just happened. It was a terrible time, and yet, strangely, there was some sort of odd calm that eventually took over, and then all the usual suspects in the cycle of grief - denial, anger, sadness, acceptance...

And now, today, I'm taken back to that time with the news of what's happened in London. Granted, it's on a much, much smaller scale, but only if you look at such things in the cold light of statistics. How can you really measure the grief that so many people are no doubt feeling today there?

One thing this event really caused in me was just a desperate hope that someday soon the world at large will realize that the WRONG way to take on these people, these terrorists, is to engage in a "you kill us, we'll kill you" type of mentality. Has this EVER worked in the long run? Look at the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. Nothing's changed over there, really, for as long as I've been living. Always death, always retaliatory strikes, tit-for-tat with guided missiles and suicide bombers. Is that the solution?

It seems like the major western powers, especially the U.S., seem to have adopted the same policy in the way we deal with terrorism. But it won't work in the long run. It CAN'T work in the long run.

Let's look at the problem of terrorism. Where does it come from? It comes from poverty, it comes from hatred of the west as being the scapegoat (sometimes) for a dilapidated country's problems, it comes from religious extremism (which is itself often a product of hopelessness and ignorance and poverty), it comes from problems that are so deeply-rooted in things that, despite the difference in cultures, are common to the human condition worldwide. There but for the "grace of God" go us, in other words.

When Bush or Blair get up on podiums after these events and say, "You will not win, we will defeat you, you (the terrorists) are cowardly and do not value human life," etc., etc....do you think for one second that a terrorist out there watching that is going to be somehow moved to throw down his or her arms...many of these people are willing to BLOW THEMSELVES UP for their cause!

It's sort of like the abortion debate. Pro-abortionists say, "You must let us choose what to do with our own bodies, you fascists" and anti-abortionists say, "this isn't about YOUR body, you are a murderer." There's no common ground in that debate, so there just ends up being blank rounds meaninglessly fired off, with no effect on the opponent's viewpoint whatsoever. It's more like yelling at the opponent while at the same time preaching to the choir.

You don't fight a mentality like that (terrorism) with bullets, not on a broad scale, or with "tough words," you fight it on a different front. Sure, we need to do all we can to defend ourselves from these attacks and find the people who are planning them, but that seems to be the ENTIRE focus of the so-called war against terrorism. If it's ever going to end, there needs to be more, and there needs to be someone smart enough and committed enough to figure out what that is. And I don't see that leader out there right now. Damn sure not in OUR White House. (Sorry, Bush-lovers).

The best place to stop terrorism is at its roots, at the place where people are so filled with anger, hopelessness and hate that they are willing to join with these horrible excuses for humanity like Bin Laden and others who exploit their "minions" while they themselves hide in caves. We have to find a way to stop people from being so mired in ignorance and hopelessness that they're willing to join a despicable regime like the Taliban or some other insane relgious extremist group. How do we do that? I have no idea. But once, JUST ONCE, I'd like to see a world leader approach the issue from that standpoint, because that's the only way it's going to ever be solved.

These terrorists know what they're doing, at least the masterminds who sit safely in caves while others blow themselves up do. We in the west are insanely prosperous as a whole. Yeah, I know, a lot of us feel like we live paycheck to paycheck and that we are scraping to get by...but in comparison to the world as a WHOLE, even lower middle class Americans live like kings. And in many instances we've become, in my opinion, mentally lazy (and physically lazy when you look at how many Americans are obese). So many live for entertainment 24/7. And hey, I fall into that trap a lot, too. What movie will we see, where will we eat out tonight, how much is that new plasma tv, etc., etc. We have no clue what it's like in so many other parts of the world, where a good day is a day with food or a day without a bomb going off in your neighborhood. And I'm not saying that makes us inherently bad people, either. Again, it's just human nature, no matter what race you're a part of, no matter what religion, etc. Throughout history, intense wealth in a society often leads to laziness and other problematic issues.

I mean, hey, just look at Rocky III. Rocky was on top of the world. The champ. Rich, everyone loved him, everything at his disposal...and he lost that "eye of the tiger." He alienated a lot of people who loved him as the brave underdog who struck a blow against an elitist past champ. All the while, Clubber Lang, the poor kid, despised by most everyone, full of hate for rightly- or wrongly-perceived abuses, full of anger at his situation, was training his ass off to take Rocky down. He was more focused, because that was all he had. And when the title changed hands, the same thing that happened to Rocky happened to Clubber. Rocky had to go back and rediscover his roots - not go back and be exactly who he was before he was the champion - but learn how to reconcile the two things so that the excesses didn't overshadow the important things that made him so great. And he won the title back.

I think the terrorist masterminds know how attached so many of us westerners are to our "safe" lives, our entertainment-filled lives, our "so many possibilities" lives. They know we've become soft. They know that the best way to shake up our existence is to hit us where we live and breathe, hit us at the heart of these "things" that we are so attached to.

But they underestimate human nature, too. One thing that truly did amaze me about 9-11 was how the nation seemed to come together, at least for a time. Count me as one of those who thinks the current administration squandered a great opportunity to endear America to the world, but that's for another rant.

Anyway, what I'm saying here is that the terrorist's aims are totally fruitless as well. Is there one time in all of recorded history when terrorist acts have yielded anything positive, or when terrorists have gotten what they were after? Maybe in this case, though, all they're after is to destroy western society, to cause fear and chaos in a system they despise. In that case, terrorism is the perfect example of hopelessness, anger, shame, etc. taken to the ultimate, most unwarranted end imaginable - hating so much, being so blinded by such negative emotions that one is willing to kill oneself AND other innocents for a cause that will inevitably amount to nothing but more and more suffering.

My faith in humanity seems to lessen with each passing year, so I don't know if we'll ever evolve enough to overcome such things. But one thing I do know, and that's that somehow, some way, a new front in this war has to be established by someone, and it has to be waged in the invisible realm of the human spirit. Otherwise, it's just going to get worse, and the "every man for himself" mentality will end up being all that's left.

Sorry for the rambling nature of this...hope it made some semblance of sense...my thoughts are with all of you Londoners today...

War of the Worlds review

2005-07-01T12:21:00.000-04:00

I just saw War of the Worlds last night and wanted to post about it while it's still fresh. Wow. What a film.

I'll try to warn you beforehand of any approaching spoilers, so beware if you don't want anything spoiled.

First off, I love Spielberg. I know it's fashionable for a lot of "artsy" terminal film school types to knock the guy because he's so popular, but I think he's just about peerless. In fact, when I look back on many of my favorite films of all time, many of his are right up there at the top. He is so versatile - that's his major strength. I mean, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (about as perfect a movie as you'll ever find), "Jaws," "Schindler's List," "Empire of the Sun" (an overlooked masterpiece), "A.I." (ditto), "Saving Private Ryan," "Poltergeist," "Jurrasic Park," "The Color Purple" (one of my all-time favorite films period)....that's a pretty wide spectrum of topics, from sci-fi blockbusters to realistic emotional journeys to a combination of the two.

War of the Worlds is Spielberg at his best. Or nearly. It's not my favorite Spielberg film by any means, but it does have moments that exceed pretty much anything I've ever seen visually. In short, the effects are beyond description. Not just eye candy, either, like Revenge of the Sith, but smart, brilliant imagery that actually offers something new and unique in this day and age of "seen it all before" effects (at least if you're in your 30s like me and have seen lots of films over the years).

What Spielberg also never forgets, unlike Lucas, is how crucial a strong acting performance is to ANY story, from sci-fi to drama. And he knows how to get those performances. Then again, he's got an amazing cast to work with.

Yeah, yeah, I know, Tom Cruise is a whack job. In fact, I've been worried that all his nutty shenanigans off-camera lately would detract from my enjoyment of this film. But say what you want about the guy offscreen. ONscreen, he's phenomenal. He's just an amazing actor, and he captures the role of a detached and selfish father to a tee.

I've heard the film criticized for not realistically showing how Cruise's character transforms from selfish bastard who hasn't been there for his kids to a caring father willing to do anything to protect them, but I disagree. He gets the nuances of the character down perfectly, in my opinion. In short, he made me forget all about scientology while i was watching this, and that speaks volumes about his skills as an actor.

Another one to watch is little Dakota Fanning. She's like the female Haley Joel Osment. Just an unbelievably gifted actress, and she's only around 10 or so. She already has the ability to completely sell the audience on her sheer terror with just a look, something that even seasonsed, veteran actors often have trouble doing. I hope she doesn't burn out too quickly, but she should be amazing to watch throughout her hopefully long career.

But back to the movie - I read the book when I was a pre-teen, I think, so I can't remember much of it. I just remember that it was scary, VERY scary. Spielberg captures that sense of horror here and then adds even more. This is not a movie like Independence Day, where the conclusion was foregone and the characters were full of witty asides and one-liners while they kicked alien ass. This movie was a holocaust film, a disaster film, a horrors of war film all rolled into one. Once the first tripod alien machine unearths itself, the sheer dread and terror is virtually nonstop.

SPOILER ALERT***********
Spielberg is always great at offering something visual in his films that just really stays with you. Remember the little girl in the red coat from Schindler's List? An image I will never forget. In this film, the way he handles the disintegration of humans by the alien machines was that visual for me. When the alien tripods rise up from the ground,they begin vaporizing the fleeing masses. As they're hit with some sort of ray, they disintegrate in a way I've never seen on film before, and the burnt rags of their clothes slowly flit away. I don't do it justice with the description. You have to see it. There's one seen where mass extermination has just taken place, but instead of actually showing it, you just see the sky full of these pieces of people's clothes, slowly floating down to the ground. It was actually very moving. How many times do you get "moving" in a summer sci-fi blockbuster? Spielberg also brilliantly shows the mob mentality in a disaster type situation. When Cruise, who has one of the only working cars for miles around, gets surrounded by a mob who wants to get that car, it's a very stressful, disturbing scene.
****END OF SPOILER

As for flaws in the film, well, I thought the aliens themselves, while handled fine, were not much different than other aliens I've seen. Why is it that all aliens in these films are depicted as slimy lizard-like creatures that all look exactly the same and wear no clothes? I mean, aren't these supposed to be highly evolved species? Someone really needs to completely rethink the portrayal of an alien race at some point. I'll give Lucas total credit for that over Spielberg. He definitely created some very NON-uniform alien races and civilizations. But that's all I'm giving Lucas over Spielberg. :-)

Also, there were a couple times in the film where I thought the emotional reactions from the people in certain scenes did not match what was happening around them. For instance:

***SPOILER ALERT***
Early on, after Cruise has already seen a tripod wipe out a city block, he runs back to his house...note...he RUNS back to his house...which leads one to believe that he doesn't live very far away from where the actual desolation he just witnessed just took place. There, his kids greet him with a sort of "what's going on" type of thing, as if they're oblivious to what he just witnessed only a few blocks away, something that was so massive and loud that it probably would've been seen or at least heard from MILES away. Then, he gets into a car at his mechanic brother's shop and tries to get away with the kids. The brother comes out of the shop and doesn't want to come along, not believing that anything is wrong, going on about how he has a "busy day" ahead of him in the shop and that Cruise can't take a customer's car.

Again, this scene didn't ring true to me either, as you'd have to assume that this mechanic guy had also witnessed some form of what had just happened, or at least knew enough to know that life as he knew it was nowhere near what it once was. I mean, a huge machine has just risen up out of the ground and slaughtered people, mere blocks away, and he's talking about his "busy day at the office ahead"??
*****END SPOILER***********

But those were the only real hiccups in the film for me. And they were just minor things. As a whole, this was another Spielberg watermark, particularly in the area of special effects. It's going to take a lot to outdo this one.

So, go see this one this weekend if you're looking for a good summer film. Just don't expect a Will Smith-like one-liner spewing alien stompfest. This is an intense piece of art that will leave you exhausted and, probably, mouth agape.

Okay, I'm off for the next few days, so I'm going to try to get some demos together by next week and post a couple on the site. Stay tuned! Happy fourth of July to everyone!!

New Material and My Writing Process

2005-06-30T09:22:00.000-04:00

See, I told you all I would start posting here more regularly. :-)

Several people have asked about new material, so I wanted to give an update on what's going on on that front. I know it's been awhile. I guess I've just come to accept the fact that this is how I work - slowly. Hey, if someone wants to set me up with a big fat contract and make it so I can devote all of my time to this music thing, I would be amenable....until then....I'll just have to keep slogging away as best I can, as I can.

I'm really going to try to do some things differently this time around, as far as releasing stuff. I plan to put some VERY early demo stuff up on the site in the near future, and I hope to release a song or two as works in progress, rather than doing what I usually do, which is wait for everything to be "perfect" and then release it. I'm trying to relax my perfectionistic tendencies a bit. They can be a good thing, but they can also cause needless stress and frustration at times.

Anyway, all my CDs or projects usually start in the same way. I get a title for the entire thing and work from there, and the songs tend to relate back to that main theme. If they don't, they probably aren't used. That's also how I tend to write songs quite often. A title pops into my head that carries with it many connotations of what the song should sound like, both lyrically and musically, and I write from there. For example, on the last CD, I always wanted to write a song called "Blood of the Martyrs." The title came to me first (it actually came from an old book that detailed eyewitness accounts of Christian martyrs killed in horrific ways during the Inquisition period, but I didn't want the song to be overtly Christian). So, you get a song title like that, and it's fairly clear that it's probably going to be a heavy, hard-edged type of thing, and that influenced the music.

Actually, though, the music usually comes first. In fact, that's the stage I'm at now with the newest project. What I do is sit down with the guitar and just start playing, hoping that something interesting will pop into my head and through my hands. If I find myself playing the same riff over and over and over, that's usually a good sign that I've got something useful. Then, it gets dicey, because if you're not careful, as quickly as these things come to you, they can disappear if you don't find a way to somehow ingrain them in your gray matter...or simply just record them...but that's too easy. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm often too lazy to set up the computer and record the part that's just come to me, so I just play it over and over again, hoping I'll remember it next time I pick up the guitar. How pathetic is that? Usually, though, I do remember it, but there have been a few things I've lost because I didn't take the time to commit them to a recording.

Eventually, I DO record all these little bits and pieces, and then start trying to shape them into a song structure. I've gotten much better over the years keeping my songs relatively short - my early tunes were insane opuses that often stretched out over 7 minutes long, with different choruses, two or more bridges, etc., etc. You live and learn.

Once I record these demos, some of which I will post soon, I usually burn them onto CD and take them with me when I drive. I find that driving is the best place for me to write lyrics. I listen to the demos and sort of "scat sing" to them, trying to find a good melody line for the verses, chorus, etc. Once the melody line is down, that's when the words start to take shape. Actually, I'm pretty good at just writing lyrics in my head and retaining them.

Then, I usually do another demo with a rough vocal track, start thinking about drums, etc., etc. As you can see, it's a complicated process, or at least a time-consuming one. But again, I'm going to try to be quicker this time out. Can't promise that, but I'm going to try.

The tentative title for this project is "Three Long, Three Short." This is S.O.S. in morse code. It's sort of a questioning time in my life right now...a midlife crisis? I don't know, maybe. You know, you think that as you get older, things should make more sense to you, but I'm actually finding the opposite to be true. Things seem to make less sense. There's less of that child-like wonder and acceptance of things that characterized youth, there's a certain world-weariness that comes from seeing the same patterns in life repeated over and over again, by yourself and others, there's a questioning of traditions and other beliefs you once thought were solidified in your soul for all time.

Now, don't worry - I haven't become Kurt Cobain here. My music will always (I certainly hope) try to inspire more than depress, and I'm not out to make some dark, melodramatic mess. It's just what I'm feeling at the moment, and that's what the songs will probably reflect. They will be harder-edged sonically (again) and I'm going to try to personalize the lyrics more...not make them about "me" per se, but make them more about the human condition on an individual scale. I've never been one to really write about broad political issues or saving the world. But I also don't like it when artists get to a point where they become too self-obsessed in their writing. I want songs that people can relate to on their own, but songs that still reflect what I'm feeling at the time. So, that's the goal.

I may even revisit a few old songs from previous CDs done under The Dissidents name. Now that I'm getting a real handle on this digital recording thing, there are a lot of old songs that I would like to get right. I've never been really happy with either of those CDs. I think the songs are good, for the most part, but the recording and performances are rarely satisfying for me to hear these days, mainly because I just didn't have the time or means to take my time and get everything right.

A couple songs I'm thinking about redoing are "Gunnysack" (always loved the song, but the recording is too muddy and there's too much going on throughout), "Feather in My Hands" (another song I really love, but it was in the wrong key for my voice. I've since dropped the key dramatically and it sounds a lot better and more natural), and maybe something from the Valiant CD, like "Distant Thunder" (always loved the riff of this, but not sure about the lyrics and the arrangement is too bloated - needs to be pared down and shortened).

Another tactic I'm trying this time is how I approach the guitar. When I was in an actual functioning band, The Dissidents, we were a three-piece and there was no other guitar. So, I had to come up with guitar parts that really filled the sound up, and I loved using droning open strings and other techniques that made for a big guitar sound, even though only one guitar was being used. I've carried that over into my own stuff since, but when recording, I've often been more interested in LOTS of guitar parts to fill out a song. I was reading an article on Bruce Springsteen recently, and he was talking about how he struggled early in his career to get a big guitar sound, and then he realized that the best way to get the biggest guitar sound is to record one guitar, not do so many overdubs. So, I may try to get back to playing the way I did when I was playing live in a three-piece setup, although I'm sure I'll still do some overdubs. Just not as many.

Okay, that's the latest. There will be more to come soon. Saw a great movie recently - "Land of the Dead." If you like zombie movies, this one will not disappoint. I'll post a review of this and "War of the Worlds", which I haven't seen yet, next time.

Thanks for reading! Stay safe, happy and tuned!

Diss

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime...

2005-06-15T12:12:00.000-04:00

I can't believe almost three months have passed since my last entry here. Now really, that is quite pathetic. I apologize. As Web designer extraordinairre Rob Oliver said, "a shame to see this site wither on the vine."

Well, no more. I shall be more proactive here, that's a promise. To be honest, life outside the computer screen has been exceptionally busy lately, but I know, that sounds like so much excuse-speak. But it ain't. Lots, lots going on.

For my real job, I'm about to go on a week-long trip for an annual conference event. I hate being gone for that long on business, but it's a necessary evil. Anyway, one good thing about it is that being away often removes other distractions that get in the way of writing new tunes, and on that front, I'm working through a bunch of new riffs and song pieces now. Release date? Good lord, I don't know at this point...but it will be coming...

In fact, I even have a working title for the new project: "Three Long, Three Short." For those who don't know, that's the "SOS" signal. I'm not feeling too positive about things these days. My little corner of the world is fine, but...well, I'll save this diatribe for another time.

Summer is here, and the time is right for seeing movies, concerts, etc. I've been doing a lot of both. I'm a huge movie buff, so there's not much out there that I haven't seen. In fact, I may try my hand at reviews on this space in the very near future.

The new Star Wars was the best of this new trilogy by far, but still leaves me wanting more. I think now that Hayden Christenson just wasn't right for the role of the young dark lord. He still has a certain whiny quality about him that I find annoying. But, all nitpicking aside, it was enjoyable film, and the effects were unreal.

Actually, a great movie I saw that seems to have tanked is "Kingdom of Heaven" with Orlando Bloom. I really loved this film. It was slightly flawed in places, but I loved the message, and it showed the troubles with religious fanaticism on both sides (it was set during the Crusades). I don't know why it didn't seem to catch on, but I'll definitely be buying the DVD. Looking forward to seeing the new Batman tomorrow....

As for concerts, I've seen two great ones recently and hope to see another great one tonight. The two shows of which I speak were Tori Amos at the Warner Theatre and Bruce Springsteen at the Patriot Center. Tori is just an amazing talent. If you've ever seen her interviewed, she often comes off as a bit flaky, with talk of fairies and other topics that some might dub "new age nonsense." I don't mind. I like the mystical stuff, and I think she's a completely unique artist. Her set was brilliant - it was her alone, with a host of keyboards, and she sometimes played two simultaneously, which was, to quote Mr. Vader, "Impressive, most impressive."

As for Springsteen, well, he performed solo as well, which is the way I prefer him. I love his acoustic albums (Nebraska, Ghost of Tom Joad, and now Devils and Dust). They have some of the most beautiful, story-driven songs I've ever heard. Bruce is a vanishing breed of songwriter I think, sort of like an old blues man from a different time. I love his voice especially. Sting once referred to it as a "big foghorn", and I think that's pretty apt. Just a big, powerful, emotional booming voice. He played twisted versions of some old classics, like "Reason to Believe" from Nebraska, where he stomped his foot in time for the song's duration while singing through a mic that distorted his voice into something that was very devilish sounding. The crowd was good, too, in that they were quiet and respectful throughout, which made it so much more enjoyable. Although, there were some dopes there who were expecting to hear all the old hits. I think they were pretty pleased by the night's end, though.

As for tonight, I'm seeing the mighty Judas Priest. :-) Yes, the "metal gods" have returned. As I said in the previous blog, to me, they are truly mindless fun. And opening for them is another metal band I loved back in the 80's - Queensryche! I loved their albums through Operation: Mindcrime, and then sort of fell away after that when they became a pop entity. But I hear they're playing only early stuff, so that suits me just fine.

Anyhoo...I see the Big Country message board is up again, so I will probably pop in and say hello there again. Now that's a band I miss desperately...especially Mr. Stuart Adamson....gone but never forgotten...

Okay, well that's it for now...I'll post again soon, and hopefully will have some sort of more concrete update as to the music. I'm also working on a screenplay that I've been trying to finish for years, and I may make that my first priority this summer, but we'll see....

latah, peeps...

Diss

Narcissism Rules!

2005-03-25T07:16:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my "blog spot."

Yes, I have decided that resistance is indeed futile, and I have jumped on the blog bandwagon. Why? Well, as regular visitors to my site know, I haven't updated it in ages, which makes it look like I've been doing nothing. This gives me a quick, easy way to not only give updates on the music front, but to just rant about things that are on the on-deck circle in my cranium. I have many strong opinions about many things, and I figure it's time to tap into my inner narcissist (always takes me forever to spell that word) and "publish" those rants, under the delusion of grandeur that people out there will actually be interested.

I tend to be rather wordy, maybe because I'm a very fast typist, so if you don't make it to the end of an entry, I'll understand.

Okay, first things first: my music.

Well, it's coming. That's about as specific as I can get. Doing the Greenhorn CD was a huge undertaking for me, because I did everything myself. Wrote it, programmed drum parts, learned and recorded every other part, sung it, sung backups, mixed it, mastered it, designed the art, you name it. It's tough enough to take on a project like that when that's ALL you do all day, but, I have a "real" job, too, as well as other "life" responsibilities, so balancing everything wasn't always easy.

In short, after I finished that project, my tank was empty. I didn't even pick up a guitar for awhile.

Now, as a musician, that results in other problems, namely a feeling of guilt, guilt that I was choosing to "veg out" on my off time instead of write and record NEW music. I still feel that guilt, but I've come to accept that this is just the way my mind and my creative side works - it'll come when it comes. Not the best way to "build a following," but what can I say? I hope those of you who enjoy my music will stick with me and be patient.

The good news is, I've been writing a lot lately, musically. I have some really cool guitar parts that I will turn into songs down the road, stuff that I am really happy with. I originally thought about doing an all-acoustic followup to Greenhorn, mainly to avoid all the work in doing a full blown "Diss Band" production. But, then I'll write a riff and I'll hear the full version in my head, and the idea of an acoustic version just won't cut it, so I don't know. I may even just start recording songs and putting them up on the site as I finish them and forego the whole "album" thing altogether.

In any case, I'm still here, I'm still in love with the guitar and with music in general, but I've just needed some time to rekindle the spark of motivation that's required to put something together again. So, bear with me...

As to other music, I've been listening to a lot of, if you can believe it, heavy metal lately. The new Judas Priest album is really good. It's incredibly stupid lyrically, with songs like "Loch Ness" and "Hell Rider," but it's good kind of stupid, like a big stupid dog that you just love to pet. Sonically, it's just pure metal, just like your momma made. I loved that stuff as a teen, and I go back to it occasionally. I've also discovered a band called Skindred that mixes reggae, punk and metal sounds for a truly interesting commotion. Great stuff. The new Tori Amos album is pretty darn good, too. The last few albums, I've felt like she's been too far out in left field, and this one has those moments as well, but it also has some of her best songs in years. I like the new U2 a lot, but for some reason I just can never recapture the magic love affair I had with that band back in the 80's. But that's for another rant.

Anyway, enough for today. That's what I'm up to. Hope everyone out there is doing great and looking forward to summer!

Stay tuned...

Diss