Day Thirteen

I received my new Apple wireless keyboard and mouse today, awesome pieces of equipment.  I've been trying to record myself, and I can tell you it's not easy running back and forth from the computer to the chair with three mic stands in the way.  Someone or something was going to get seriously injured.  So now all I need to do is program in some key commands and set the keyboard next to me on a small table and Voila!  I'm thinking that I may be able to pass an OSHA inspection now.
    My E-bay items are nearing the exciting final hours tomorrow.  The end game frenzy is really the best part, I can imagine all those bidders with their own quirky methodology for getting the final bid in at the precise last moment.  You've got to love the competition of it all, who needs soccer!
   I'll let you off easy tonight, until tomorrow.

Your Daily words of wisdom:

      "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates

Day Twelve

 I managed to control my intake of muffins today, for as Ben Franklin once said, " A little bit of Muffin goes a long way."  He may have been referring to something else, I don't know.  That may not be a direct quote, but creative license can make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.  
  I spent some time in the studio today mixing and massaging some tracks, searching for the holy grail. 
It would have been great to have had this equipment and musical interest as a young sprout, I can only imagine the many hours I could have wasted while accidentally learning a useful trade.  But I was raised in the firm belief that no one enjoys their job, and that going to work every day and doing something you hate is  just a fact of life.  I never even questioned this philosophy, did someone say no re-do's?  
  I started working on a new song today, it's coming along well.  I should have it pretty well wrapped up tomorrow.  I'll take it for a spin and see if it has any staying power.   You never know if it's a keeper until you've worked all the kinks out and played it for a while.  If you lose interest in it, then it probably isn't worth dragging around and irritating people with.  A lot of folks are to polite to tell you when you suck, this is when your friends are very important to the process.  I've been writing for a while, so I pretty much know when I suck, but it's always good for someone to confirm your suckiness.  
  Until Tomorrow


Today Words of Wisdom:
Bacteria is sometimes the only culture some people have.

Day Eleven & Weekend Update

This weekend was HOT!!! I'm pretty sure everyone else from the state has either headed for the Carolina mountains or has hunkered down in the AC. I usually go through a Summer depression, similar to what the northern folks go through in the winter months, cabin fever Florida Style. Except for the occasional trip to Home Depot and the grocery store, the paparazzi probably wont catch me out on the streets.
I did get in a short recording session with one of my regular studio peeps on Sunday. Things went really well and she was here and gone in a flash. We layed down the guitar and vocal tracks for one of her songs and then did a track of harmony vocals. There's nothing better than someone who comes in and knows what they want to do, and just does it. Ahmen!
Today was relatively uneventful. I worked on mixing some tunes, I believe there is some kind of magic in the art of mixing, I need one of those Harry Potter wands. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, oh, they are!
I also made some of my Magic Muffins, pat. Pending. I came up short on some of my standard magic ingredients and had to improvise, yes, scary. I got hooked on these things a long time ago, like some kind of muffin junky, I can't get this muffin off my back. It's a major undertaking to whip up a batch of these things, the ingredient list is as long as my arm, but like every good junky, I have no choice in the matter. At least not until someone performs a muffin intervention.
Until tomorrow, I'm off to get a muffin!

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
~Sicilian Proverb

Day Ten

Sorry I'm late with the Friday report, but we went out to dinner last night with our good friends Norm and Maggie. Norm sings, plays percussion, and accordion in The Ashley Gang, and has been a musical compadre of mine for some time. Maggie is a wonderful person and the perfect compliment to Norm's normishness. They are relocating about four and a half hours north of us, so this was the big kiss off. We will miss Norm's peculiar insight into the world, he knows things that most folks don't want to know. Cover your ears Helen!!
My E-bay adventures have leveled off, I'm watching things percolate right now. I think I may actually sell this stuff. I'm starting to look around the house for other things I can put a price tag on. This is a good way to clean house and put a little money in the pocket, heck, nobody will miss that big TV that was just hanging around on the living room wall!
I'm pondering upgrading my recording program, I use Logic Pro 8 right now, and I've really come to like it. But Logic Pro 9 has been out for a little while and I hear it calling my name. It has some new and exciting features that 8 doesn't have, someone get this devil off my shoulder!
The rest of my recording rig works great and I think will be with me for some time. I use a Fireface 800 to connect my inputs to my Mac Pro, it works flawlessly and sounds great. I have two Aphex stereo tube preamps and an Avalon designs VT737sp, the only other thing I'm lusting over, right now, is a Neumann TLM49 microphone. I'm using an Audio Technica 4050 for vocals right now, and it really does a great job, but, there's that devil again!
I guess that's a wrap for today, or yesterday. Here's your words of wisdom.

If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.
John A. Wheeler

Day Nine

OK, so I have a few extra musical gizmos hanging around the studio, and I figure I can tidy up a bit by selling them on E-bay. I do a mini photo shoot of everything, and get them all listed, feeling like I've accomplished something. Then sit back and wait.... for all the stupid questions I'm going to get. One guy asks me if I have a picture of this particular item working? I don't know how a picture of a CD duplicator working would really prove anything, but I plugged her in and took a couple shots with the lights on. Yes, another happy customer. Then I get a question about a guitar preamp, asking if I can describe the tones which are possible from this unit.
Oh man, this is not going to be as easy as I had thought. I sent him back a list of the various controls on the unit and hoped he had a good imagination. I guess I could have said something like, "dude the tones from this mother will melt your panty hose", but I've never actually seen this happen, so I'd be lying.
It's obvious to me, and probably anyone who knows me, that my career as a salesman would have been a very short one. My interpersonal skills are somewhat lacking, I've even been described by some as grumpy. "He's the nicest grump I know" is the usual description people give of me. But I manage to remain up beat even in the midst of adversity. It really throws people off to encounter an upbeat grump, they just don't know how to handle that.
Well I think that's it for today. Here are your daily words of wisdom:

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Author Unknown

Day Eight

Today was pretty much a day of goofing off, I'm really starting to get into the groove of this!
I did talk to someone about a recording project, it's not going to be a money maker, but there are more important things in this world than money. At least I'm going to stick to that philosophy until I run out of it. At that point I may reassess my philosophies.
I dropped off some CD's at a funky little place in town with hopes of getting a gig there. Summer is traditionally a slow season here in the sunshine state, so opportunities are few and far between. But there are pockets of musical happenings, you've just got to find them. And then find folks who aren't afraid to leave the safety of their air conditioners to venture out in search of entertainment. It seems that everyone has 400 channels of crap on their television these days, and there's still nothing to watch. A little live music might be just what the doctor ordered.
I guess that's it for today, except for my daily words of wisdom.

Like, What is the least often heard sentence in the English language? That would be: Say, isn't that the banjo player's Porsche parked outside?
Jackson Browne

Day Seven

I managed to keep myself out of trouble for another day, how long can my luck hold out? I had to venture down to the shop today to take care of some paper work, I managed to escape without any paper cuts.
When I got back to home base my favorite web designer had a mission for me and all my fantastical studio gear. She wanted me to re-work the music for her web site animation at Bring The Bling. It turned into a bit of an adventure. It didn't help that she sent me the wrong files at first and when I got done and played it for her she said something like: "What is that"? Oh well, it was good practice. And I did manage to get it done for her, so all is well.
While I had everything fired up I put in a little time on that song I've been working on. It's amazing how time just vanishes when your working on something like that, before I knew it the day was gone.

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Abe Lincoln

Day Six & Weekend Wrap Up

Holey Monday Batman! First things first, the Weekend Wrap Up! The Ashley Gang played at the Ormond Beach seafood Festival on Saturday. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the musicians were melting. It must have been close to 100 degrees, and that's brutal conditions to play music all day long. None of us bit the dust but Michelle claims to have lost some brain cells during our set at noon. It was probably just a mini stroke, no problem for a true veteran of the stage like her. This festival was really well organized, the food was incredible, and the volunteers were amazing. If you missed this years festival make sure you get to next years!
Now for the Monday report. I heard from the folks at the Will McLean foundation that they are putting together another one of their compilation discs. This one will have the top three winners of their song writing contest from the years 2006-2010. I somehow snaked my way into that with my Song "Spanish Gold", I don't recall what year it was but, YEEHAW!
I also submitted some long overdue songs to BMI, they are the folks who make sure songwriters get paid when their songs are played on the radio or are recorded by someone other than the writer. I should be rolling in pennies any day now.
I guess that's it for now. Oh yea, one more thing. Happy father's day to all the guys out there that have sacrificed there sanity for the betterment of their children. Remember when all your friends started having kids and tried to make you feel like you were missing out on something because you didn't have any yet. That was just plain mean.

Day Five

Has it been a week already? Time sure flies when your in a constant state of confusion. We headed out today in hopes of securing a gig at a funky little cafe downtown, only to find they were not open for lunch for some reason. Oh well, I shall pursue this next week. We did manage to get some lunch at a little Italian joint right next to our original destination, so all was not lost. With mass quantities of food in our stomachs we made our way to our next mission, which was to return some previous purchases made by my lovely wife. I'm pretty sure that women go shopping for things they don't really need, just so they can have the joy of returning them and starting the cycle all over again. I think it must trigger a pleasure receptor somewhere in their frontal cortex. The old Frontal cortex, I think that's a move used frequently in professional wrestling. I plan on doing an in depth study about this someday or possibly a doctoral thesis on the subject.

I also prepared for the Saturday gig at the Ormond Beach Seafood festival. I'm doing my best not to forget anything important, which I have a reputation for doing. My real problem is that I like to travel light, which is not a very good idea if it means forgetting a piece of gear that you are going to need, like your guitar or the CD's. But I think I've got it all assembled in one pile to head out the door at 6:30 tomorrow morning. That sounds early!
Have a great weekend!

Day Four

Another day in paradise! Today I talked with my favorite web designer, we're working out the technical details of the new web site. It's amazing how many stupid ideas I can come up with and never even break a sweat. She usually gets me back on track quickly by telling me what a dork I am. I guess we all need reminding of that once in a while.
I worked a little bit in the studio on a guitar part for the song I recorded on Monday. It usually takes me a little bit of screwing around with a tune before I really know where it's going. I think I'm still in the screwing around phase on this one.
I received a contract for one of our July gigs today, yes, a contract. We don't usually have this kind of paper work to deal with. We normally tell people we'll do something, and they say OK, and that's it. I'd say we have a pretty impressive record when it comes to showing up and doing what we said we'd do. But a contract makes it feel like your really important, people assume you have a legal department that takes care of these kind of things. That you have attorneys on retainer to cross your T's and dot your I's. Truth is, we just sign on the dotted line and hope for the best.
So I think I'll head back into the studio and do some more noodling. You never know when the noodle God is going to smile down on you. But you better be ready.

Day Three

My goal is to enter this new phase of life and not look back. That is never as easy as it might seem. When people know you as a handy type of guy that can do almost anything involving man tools
(i.e. hammer, saw, bloody knuckles) they're always finding something annoying for you to do. Now you can try to tell them that your not doing that kind of stuff anymore, and after they pretend to hear what you've said, they're going to ask you to do it anyway. So with reservations, I headed down to the old cabinet shop today and created some shelving for someone whom I'll attempt to avoid once I've installed the aforementioned shelves.
I didn't get much accomplished on the musical side of things today. I sent out some E-mails to the band to alert them to upcoming gigs. Which reminds me, if anyone is actually reading this, we'll be playing at the Ormond Beach Seafood festival on Saturday the 19th. I think we are playing four different times during the day. We'll be easy to recognize we'll look like six wet noodles.
So that's about it for today. My closing thought is this:

You can believe in anything you like, just don't expect the rest of us to go along with your crazy ideas.

Day Two

This is going to be worse than I thought!! Just kidding, I have survived day two with only minor injuries. Let's see, I registered the new domain for the studio,
"Pretzelstickstudio.com". I need to get my fantabulous web designer involved now. Fortunately for me, my favorite daughter, Chrissy, is the worlds finest web designer.
www.bringthebling.com
My next mission was to meet with a perspective client about the details of a recording project. I sensed a definite fear of commitment on his part. This is going to be like nailing jello to a wall. But I shall draw on my many years of experience in dealing with the artistic type, and tell him, it's time to either shit or get off the pot. An old saying my dear Mother used to use. It always worked on me. I'll let you know later how this worked out.
I also confirmed a gig for the band, (The Ashley Gang) in August, and made contact on another one for July.
I managed in between all of this to sit down and record some tracks for a new song. I think it's going to be a winner.
Until Tomorrow

Day one

Well it's been a great life so far, now everything changes! At the tender age of 52 I find that my field of expertise has all but vanished from modern existence. yes, I was a CABINET MAKER! The new economy has no room for the labor of the American male, so I shall forge onward and re-define myself.
My lack of a degree from any institute of higher learning has me at a definite disadvantage in the job market. After all, the stock clerk at Wal-mart has a masters degree in literature, I'm sure he's a blast at the company parties. And after being self employed for the past 30 years, I'm virtually untrainable.

I have through the years had some success, small as it may be, in the music business. As a singer/songwriter based in the beautiful state of Florida. It looks like this now will become a part of my new plan of survival. It has always been nice to have something to keep me focused in my spare time, I'm afraid of what it will become if I have to depend on it to survive. Part B of my multi pronged survival strategy will be to use the small state of the art recording facility I have created to provide recording services at a decent price to local musicians.

So this is where we are right now. I'll do my best to keep this current and report the various adventures as they unfold. I'm sure it will be like watching those Jack Ass Movies, but fear not,

I'll be squirming right along with you.