From The Ground Up

2009-05-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally begun...sort of. I've made my list, checked it twice, and started calling. I have even nearly lined up a few dates. The venues have tentatively agreed and are confirming things on their end so I have every reason to assume I'll be able to get things rolling with the side (and in-between and around the edges) project. I'll keep folks posted on the wheres and whens.

Which brings me to "sort of."

As much as I was prepared to get going with the solo act it appears that the solo act was not quite ready for me. After having a wonderful jam with CJ, my band's current fiddle player, we've made plans to do these shows as a duet. Format will be the same: old time tunes, string band blues, oddball originals...stuff that doesn't fit the band or overlap its repertoire. The band is the meal ticket; the side project may pay for dessert. I loves me some dessert though.

With a little luck I'll have some video to post soon. I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to fill up all my dead time with music, even if the money will be slim. It won't be slim forever and we'll both get a chance to stretch out and play all the stuff we noodle with at home. I'm stoked. The more I get to play the better I feel.

Off to Ashland, WI, for the weekend tomorrow. The 'Pigs are playing a folk festival. More next week. I promise.

2009-05-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

I've been preparing demos, finding contact information, getting a web presence established, and in general doing everything I can to avoid the onerous "making of the cold venue calls". I'm really good at it. Sadly I've now left myself no other excuses so I hope to begin reporting on some event schedules soon. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile I've continued my imagery exercises and gotten in some writing. I think what I've been doing has been more robust but you be the judge. Feel free to voice (ok, keyboard) your opinions. I include a very rough sound clip I banged out on my iPod+microphone. The idea is to give you a flavor of how the music/words go together, not to underwhelm you with my fumblings. It's in the key of Gm (the loneliest key--it's not just my opinion, it's the truth) for those keeping score (heh. heh.) at home.

Long Cold Lonely Winter

V.1
You left me
In September
When the leaves
Lay dead and brown

Now I'm snowbound
And it's midnight
And there's noone
Else around

Chorus:

It's been a long cold lonely winter
Since you went away
It's been a long cold lonely winter
And now the ice and snow are here to stay
You are the sun that warms my heart love
You are the spring, you set me free
It's been a long cold lonely winter
Please come home to me

V. 2
The wind carves
In the shadows
And howls
Your name

The trees crack
From the inside
And I do
The same

Chorus:

V. 3
I wish I
Could come and find you
But I waited
Too long

Now the snow drifts
Deep as sorrow
And I know I
Did you wrong

Chorus:

Exercising

2009-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Instead of actually calling some venues or lining up some open mics or going to coffee houses with promo packs--just thinking of which make me weary as Sisyphus--I've decided to start some new songwriting habits. I've been stuck in a songwriting rut lately (lots of beginnings, very few middles and no endings) and figure that that striking off on a side road may eventually lead me back to the highway.

To that end I posed myself the following exercise:

Write down a series of random words and create 4 similes. Then write down 4 metaphors. Similes are images that typically use the words "like" or "as" in them, to wit "mad as a hatter." Metaphors in general can be thought of as images that use some version of the word "is" to create them such as "life is a bowl of cherries."

Here's my output today. Feel free to suggest your own. They may find their way into a song someday.

Similes

gentle as
gossamer
a smile
green grass
a rumor

hard as
a coin
a knot
a rasp
flint

red as
rage
rust
shame
desire

mean as
homegrown sin
a miser's purse
whipped dog
a silent grudge

Metaphors

The greedy past
The flickering hearth of memory
My hand is a stylus riding the unseen groove in the strings
Maps are dreams of lives not lived

Check one. Test, Test. Check one.

2009-04-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hello blogosphere. Thanks for stopping by. I'm not a complete newb to blogging but I've got a different reason for starting up again, one that running a blog meshes with nicely. Perhaps you can all help me with it too.

I've recently decided to step off the ledge and develop a solo, just me and the old mandolin. I've had one show already and it went well enough so that I think I can start actively looking for work closer than a 12-hour drive from home. I sure welcome any feedback from you on any aspect of what I present here. There just aren't a whole heckuva lot of solo mandolin acts out there so I'll be making up a lot of it as I go along.

My regular band is still my anchor point but since I have more time to play than the band does, I figure I better get out there and, as brother Thomas Carlyle once said 150 years ago or so:

"Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product, produce it, in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with it, then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called Today; for the Night cometh, wherein no man can work."

I am working on recording myself. I'll be playing originals, old time music, and some old string band blues: whatever turns my crank in other words. With luck it'll turn yours, too. I'll finish up this intro post with a couple tunes. They're not really movies but rather a static picture with a soundtrack (why in god's name does blogspot allow you to post a 20MB movie but not a 3MB mp3????). Sorry! I hope you enjoy them and hope you'll chime in and say something about them or me or whatever.

Lastly, I'm actively seeking work so if you've got a lead, shoot it along to me. Thanks!

This is a little waltz I wrote about the place I grew up the longest (dad was with IBM so...we moved). We had a place out in the country north of Byron, MN and the Zumbro River ran through our property.

This one's called "Mama Had A Baby." I tried to find an old, traditional form for some thoughts I had about parenting.

Let me know what you think and stay tuned. I'll be back soon.