back in the u.s.s.r....
i feel as though one of the things i should be thinking about in '06 is how to keep in better touch with everyone i want to, and how to prioritize my time in a way that i can better be there for the people for whom i care. i dunno, maybe it comes with the territory of knowing folks in so many places, travelling, extending myself musically but sometimes i feel like i still don't even have time for me, much less writing an e-mail that really encompasses all that i am feeling in relation to someone, or make a call that has me sitting down and really swapping all the goods.
i am back home in what feels like chicago but is really the state which contained the Confederacy's capitol. i've mostly been waiting for a wurlitzer to fill my ears with vintage blues.
in other news here are some DL cleared-out items that might amuse...
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZdinglehopper27QQhtZ-1
i've played some really nice shows of late, and not even neccesarily because of the night, venue, locale, etc, but more because of the people behind it all. there was this house concert the other night that was pure and seeping with energy, and it was me in the basement of a silver spring house playing to a roomful of people in chairs with hors d'ouvres and cameras and i had a recording engineer there.
and when i was in alpharetta, just above atlanta, in some laid back stripmall upperclass watering hole with a huge table of about 14 of the good tom's peoples sprawled out before me, i didn't feel any pressure to try and be anything except that which i was, and i just had a good time exactly like them, except that i happened to be singing. i love hanging around that area with such a couple of well-rounded authentic people trying to really live within the midst of whitebred suberbia. it's like the theme of a novel i'd write or whatnot.
and when i was in that place i saw an old friend who was one half of a pair of folks i usually dump a heap of audiophile info trading with, and i realized that i should as well post a list of things i am currently into in the music realm, to recommend to any readers on here..
truly inspiring modern day marvels a la musique:
-mieka pauley ****captivating and emotive boston songwriter
-the sketches**** probably the best band kickin out the jamz from the d.c. scene. amazing vocals, nice texture, thoughtful arrangements.
-julian coryell****the album is called bitter to sweet, and i love it.
-regina spektor****wow, with the personality of 8 gals guarunteed to catch the indie ear, she has the edge that somewhere tori lost along the way.
-jackie greene****resonant and powerful musical prodigy who is derivative yes, but who is blessed with a golden ear indeed.
-nellie mckay****prodigious and prolific, this gal has her major label scrambling in circles for exactly how to market her. she makes me feel better.
i'll give other tidbits later. i think tidbits are what propel a blog. i should be more 'usa today'-like.
talk about freaking roots...
here i am sitting in the middle of decatur square, and there are lots of ATL-iens walking around me. i say this because they have a certain umph about them. from the young scenesters already too self-aware for their own good but confident and complex and extra-accessorized, to the working class hopefuls making good wages and dressed somewhere to bridge the gap between their professional days and their nightlife haunts, not to see their lofts for 12 hour timegaps.
and yes i'm all connected up now because i made the plunge and got a nice WiFi-ish laptop because i needed yet another device of modernity to further bring me into isolation and dump perfectly good braincells into. but i told myself that just like cellphoneland i would have rules that defy the ball and chain and the inevitable ways our heads just change without us even really noticing.
and it's an interesting topic while i'm on it. these ways of attempting to regulate self.. i just spent a large portion of a day going thru [stuff] with my mom in storage-- huge heaps of clothes and equipment and the like. and quite proudly i was able to have that freeing, cleansing process of letting bags and bags o stuff just go. just diappear into nothingness, or donation, whatever you want to call it. but i ended up with a whole lot more that i wanted to take with me, that i was newly excited to rediscover. i was thinking how goofy we are when we go thru these long frames of time dealing with stuff.. items.. things to pile up in this world and lay claim to with space we own and all the energy that goes into that. it's exhausting, really. i wonder about the rewards sometimes. so sage, i am trying, bro, i really am. i really do want to be a simple vessel out in this big land without loads of useless material crap. but i guess that's just it. the whole idea of humanly pursuing an ideal or virtue one has in one's head is to try, to constantly be thoughtful and reevaluate oneself, and to go through a process of achieving it. we humans rarely can have instantaneous results with anything, really. yoda may tell us to try not, but do, but the key is to be mindful in this world, and also, as much as i hate to admit it, i am not a jedi.
baton rouge was wonderful to me, and i feel like i really did have a little time to have a variety of experience there and remember what it is i love about where i grew up. and my fam is pretty goddamn amazing, too. there are pics from both shows up on the site that are funny bc they all feature me playing in front of the beheamoth LSU banner like i'm some sort of bruce springsteen transplant singing in front of not the red white and blue but the purple and gold flag of the red stick..
the supercool part of the last days there is that adam and i put many manhours turning ourselves into zombies putting all energy into recording what is the first of the lot of tunes that will be my next album. At this point i am hyped and happy and feel like i just started a golf game with a 3 under par stroke, and i am in the simultaneous endeavors of that and the live album. the fun never stops in crazy DL-land. now i am markedly at peace and so so so very ready to head on back north. and there are all kinds of gigs i have goin down, so come on out in coats and scarves and live you some music, huh?