Simple Man

Yesterday we spent the day at the beautiful Blast House Studios in Madison mixing the new record "Simple Man". Here is the cover. Eleven songs in their purest form. No trickery, synthesizers, just a man, a guitar, a harmonica and some words. Stripped down to the essence of song. You can listen to two tracks from the album with the little player at the top of the page. "Simple Man" and "Dakota" are available. The whole album will be released on December 10th.

Recording, Day 5

DAY 5: It has been vocals vocals vocals. The hardest (and most fun) part is getting into the right character for each different song. During "Highwaysong" I was dancing and shuffling around, being goofy and lighthearted. Then during "Letters" I almost started crying because of the loss in the song. For "Straight Up Crooked" I imagined myself with boots, a cowboy hat and a six-shooter. It is so strange to hear the songs becoming reality. Out of my head and into the world.

Recording, Day 4

DAY 4: Back to work today recording Simple Man. More vocals today. I sang as much as I could, which ended up being three songs worth. My voice started to give out a bit while trying to sing "Simple Man". So we stopped the singing and switched to harmonica. We had to do a fair bit of futzing to get it to sound good. We tried a few different microphones and ended up with a (clean) sock over the mic. After our work today, we are approaching half done. Have to cut out early to go play a gig with Ida tonight.

Recording, Day 3

I can't believe it has been a week since I last worked on the Simple Man recording. I had a busy weekend playing for the Rock Your Cause benefit with Bello. And I've been playing catch-up with some other composing, producing and recording projects. But I couldn't be happier to be back working on Simple Man. Today was a super-productive day. We recorded guitar for the remaining 8 songs, stopping only to tune and settle on the new tempo. It went pretty quickly. We were feeling so good that, after a break for lunch, we took a stab at some vocals. We got good results for two songs, but a third was horrible. We'll have to come back to that one on another day. Now, as the gigging weekend approaches, I worry that it will be a few days until I get another chance to record. Fingers crossed.

Recording, Day 2

Today was a day of rehearsing and going over the lyrics with a fine toothed comb. I got out all of my old lyric sheets, written with pens, pencils, crayons and markers on various things: in notebooks, on loose sheets, sideways in the margins of other papers. I had to make sure I am 100% on every lyric of every song before I start recording the vocals in a day or two. It is better if I catch clumsy lines now than when I am supposed to be laying them down. My favorite lyrics as of today are: "I'd rather be angry than wrong" from Right Through Me and "The fantasies ride first class, the truth gets left behind" from Old As Stone.

Recording, Day 1

I started recording a new album of songs today. It will be my fourth solo album, my ninth if you count collaborations (also known as bands). I will be posting pictures and photos everyday about the process as we make this new album. So check back often.

DAY 1: I wasn't planning to start for another couple days, but the mood struck me this afternoon so I set up a couple of mics and tuned the guitar. It took a couple test runs to get everything sounding right, but before long we were up and running (or strumming). I recorded the guitar parts for three songs before I got hungry. Stopped to make tater tots. A fitting end to Day 1.

In college I thought...

I remember when I was in college I thought I didn't want to live past the age of 30. Anything worth knowing, thinking, doing could be done by then, I supposed.

Now that I am older than 30, I realize that I am the same person only with more experience. I had no wisdom, so I thought it worthless. But the years are only what I make them. If I become bored or boring it is my own fault. There is more than enough to do, to learn for one lifetime.

The Haunted Bank

A few nights ago I played a gig in Dubuque, IA with Ida Jo at The Bank Bar and Grill. A nice place with a nice sound system. I have played thousands of live shows in every imaginable venue and situation over the past 15 years - basements, back yards, concert halls and clubs - and never, NEVER have I experienced anything like what I am about to describe. I have no choice but to believe that it was not an ordinary acoustic phenomenon (like feedback) but a presence beyond what we are able to understand. AKA: a ghost.

During soundcheck the power turned on and off several times, inexplicably. When the power was on, it occasionally produce rhythmic thumping so loud that the sound engineer thought Ida was playing a drum loop (she was not). Then the power shut off, the thumping ceased. Then the power came back on. This happened three times.

Near the end of soundcheck there was the most piercing, shuddering bout of feedback I have heard in 15 years of playing live. Most feedback is of one frequency. Very high, very low, or somewhere in between. But this feedback was everything. It was high and it was low and it was in between. It made my heart race and the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Like I said, I have never heard feedback like that.

During our first few songs, there was an odd low howling that sounded somewhat like ringing feedback but didn't act the same. Sometimes it cut off abruptly, and sometimes it would ring on despite both Ida and I holding our instruments still.

Most eerie of all was what occurred when we played Ida's new song "Wham!" The chorus of the song includes the lyrics "Wham! like a shotgun." Upon the first singing of these lyrics, there was a loud howl in the speakers, so loud that Ida stopped singing the song, shocked. She looked back at me with a disconcerted look on her face. I played on. We continued with the second verse, and when she sang the lyrics again in the second chorus, the howl again. Ida stopped and couldn't continue with the song.

I have experienced feedback in many forms, none of it sounded like what I heard that night.

Revising the Riot: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

I am reading Igor Stravinsky’s autobiography. It is a sparse and unadorned account of his life. Of great interest so far is his recollection of the famed premier of The Rite of Spring, the ballet that caused a well-known riot. In his autobiography he claims that it was not the music that created the ruckus but a very specific element in the choreography. Here is a quote from page 36 of An Autobiography by Igor Stravinsky:

The scandal which it produced is a matter of history, but that scandal was in nowise due to the so-called novelty of the performance, but to a gesture, too audacious and too intimate, which Nijinsky made, doubtless thinking that anything was permissable with an erotic subject and perhaps wishing thereby to enhance the effect of the production.

This realization comes as a great shock to me. According to both popular legend and the teachings of music school it was the brutality of the music and the general ritualistic nature of the choreography that created the uprising. Here Stravinsky suggests that it was a single offensive gesture or movement.

Habit or Ritual

Most everyday I start by slicing and apple and making a cup of coffee. It seems like the most mindless of habits, but it is a meaningful part of my new day. I know the apple will nourish me and the coffee will jump-start my mind. Contrastingly, when I was younger I attended church every Friday (Catholic School). Religion is something that is often considered a ritual but, for me, fell into the realm of a habit. I went because it was what I had always done. The big difference between a habit and a ritual is mindfulness.

A habit is something we do without thinking about: turn the radio on when we get in the car (if it is not already on), brush our teeth before going to bed, answer: `Good` when asked `How are you?`. Once we have done something enough times, we automate the action or response so that we can do it without thinking. That is when it becomes a habit. Habits can be effective savers of mental space. But they can also be stubborn and difficult to change. Because habits are defined by their mindlessness, they are tough to recognize. We usually just do them without even realizing, and therein lies their danger.

Rituals are what we do regularly in order to create a place of meditation or serenity. They can look like habits from the outside because they are repetitive behaviors. But the intention of a ritual is to create mindfulness and awareness, not remove it. Even behaviors that seem mundane can be rituals: a deep breath to calm and focus yourself or walking to the end of the driveway to get the mail. We can ritualize everyday activities by seeking the joy, beauty or necessity in them. When we do something, however small, with intention and mindfulness, it becomes meaningful.

30 Hands Challenge

In line with my last post about getting Beyond Boredom, I have been making a point to slow down my life and focus on a small handful of tasks. Instead of trying to do everything under the sun and getting nothing done, I am focusing on doing a few things and doing them often and well. There are 5 elements and I am trying to do this for 30 consecutive days, so I am calling it my 30 Hands Challenge (cause there are five fingers in a hand and it is easier for me to remember that way).

The 5 Elements:
1) Sleep - this may seem obvious, but often I get too little sleep. And then I go the other direction and get too much. Since sleep is an important daily routine I want to be mindful and consistent. 6-8 hours per night. Not stay up too late, not sleep in too late.
2) Lots of Water/Good Food - When I am drinking lots of water I feel better. I have heard that the majority of Americans are clinically dehydrated, and I can tell the difference when I make a point to drink lots of water. Half of my body weight in ounces (I weigh about 170 pounds, so that is 85 ounces of water every day). Minimal sweets, minimal coffee, no alcohol. Lots of fruits and vegetables. This is not a diet but a lifestyle challenge.
3) Write - For me this applies mostly to words. Most of my day is spent writing music, so I do not feel the need to create time for it. But words: spend at least an hour every day writing letters to family, friends. Write essays, articles, blog posts. Tweets do not count.
4) Read - This is the biggest change for me. Read at least an hour every day. The internet does not count even if it is the NY Times. I am talking about books. Even good magazines will get the job done. Do not watch TV or movies. 30 days without movies is a challenge.
5) Exercise - For me this is yoga. It takes care of my body, calms me and focuses me. Again, this is not a diet or an exercise regimen, but our bodies are important and we should take care of them. Take care of your body every day.

I made this little chart to document how long I have been going. Each day I cross out another number at the top. (Feel free to download and/or print this sheet for your own use.) I have already done 10 days in a row of this lifestyle challenge. I have noticed a shift in my ability to generate longer threads of thought and sustain ideas over time. The hardest part has been not watching movies, which I normally do regularly at the end of the day. Now I read instead which is usually very peaceful and not really a sacrifice.

This may seem like a small challenge, but I mainly want to do what is best for my ability to create. I feel that the abundant stimulation in the forms of TV, movies and the internet is distracting and detrimental to coherent and extended thought. This is a search for my higher self.

Beyond Boredom

It is hard to imagine being bored in this day and age. Between radio, television, video games, smart phones, twitter and youtube we are constantly bombarded with information from all sides. How does this affect our creativity?

The creation of something where there was nothing requires significant perspective and vision, both of which are difficult if not impossible to achieve when we are distracted. Yes, while the many stimuli of today’s world are interesting and exciting, they are also distracting.

The beauty of the internet and smart phone apps are that they give us endless choices of surroundings and stimulation. If one web page is uninteresting, we simply click to another and another until we find something to stimulate us.

The big problem is that the more we seek stimulation externally, the less we seek it or even recognize it from within. If we are used to reading about great ideas in the New York Times we will have difficulty seeing a great idea that comes from our own mind.

Boredom is not a problem. It is the hole in which a building is built. It may seem like a step backward at the time: “I want to build up, why am I digging this hole down?!” But without the hole your building will have no stability.

Take a day or two away from the constant stimulation of the internet and television. Let yourself become bored. You will soon find that boredom is not the end, it is the beginning of individual creativity. When you create the vacuum in your mind, it will fill itself with ideas and thoughts. You will be overwhelmed with things to create.

Picasso said “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” Let your mind wander. Let it be quiet. That is the road to creativity.

Namaste: Recognizing Myself and Others

For the past year I have practiced yoga regularly - about 6 times per week. I have done lots of vinyasa in the Baptiste style, lots of Bikram, and a little bit of Yin stretching. Regular yoga practice is an empowering and humbling endeavor. Many things that I thought I was capable of turned out to be untrue. But I also found strength in myself, body and mind, that I never knew was there. The physical exertion - the strength and flexibility - is hard to pretend. Some days are effortless. Some days are a struggle. Each day is different, and that is a lesson too.

Each day of practice ends with an Indian greeting and show of respect - Namaste. We place our hands together as if in prayer next to our hearts. We bow our heads. Some say the word Namaste. It is an act of recognition of the self and those around us. Many describe Namaste as saying “the divine in me salutes the divine in you.”

Namaste requires, above all, a recognition and respect for the self. We must believe that there is value and even “divinity” within ourselves. Once we can recognize our divine self, we start to see others more clearly. When we bow our heads in Namaste at the end of a class, I remind myself that no matter how different we all are and no matter why we are here, we are all here together in the same place so we can't be that different. One person might be here to relax, another to focus, another to exercise, another to heal her back. Despite our seemingly different intentions we are in the same place at the same time when we could be anywhere doing anything. We are more similar that we may recognize. Any strength that I imagine to be within myself is also within those around me.

Namaste works the other way too. When there are days that I am feeling weak or depressed, I use Namaste to remind me of the divinity within myself. If I am in the same place at the same time doing the same practice as the strong and dedicated people around me, I too must be strong and dedicated. It is a powerful phrase. A powerful idea.