Minutes

I must relearn these chords, recorded long ago on Orcas Island. Link to the post.

This is me at the bottom of the Exorcist steps in DC - you see Father Dimi fall down at the end of the movie. Sums up our week! Now we move to a vagabond lifestyle of staying sometimes at home, sometimes in friend's and family's guest rooms until we sell our places. Dayum. This is me testing my portable situation out at Kim and Chris's. Link to the post.

My notebook says this is Japanese Pentathalon for Piano. A little bit of squaring up and cutting up - just fingerpainting with this here today. Once I get back into our house I'll take a look through my last notebook - I think there's a longer notated version. Mount Saint Helens Day. This is the view from Olalla that day - someone posted it on the Olalla Facebook group. Link to the post.

"Morning Music" - notebook says 20181104-085906-acoustic snaps on harms - morning music, so likely recorded the morning of November 4, 2018, a Sunday. Looking at my photos, I only took pictures of shelves at Costco, so luckily there was some artistic activity that day. A lot of editing and squaring up to get this close to a sketch. Crawlspace detail from Jason. TIL that I've...

"Give the wand back" recorded one October morning in 2016. Live acoustic and Vo's 1st-gen Wond. The sewer cam computer is a crazy device, and seems capable of interesting creative things. Link to the post.

The working title for this was Quiet Mantis. Edie and I have spent a lot of time together, and we've discussed starting a band - this is the first album cover. Link to the post.

Score is in my last folder - the beginning of a Guitar Cult piece not yet realized. Trying to maximize what I can get from consistent glissandos on an electric. For 6 guitars if I remember correctly. Washing the big slider left really angular water patterns on the panes. I tried to capture - seemed like notation at the time, but hard to get the phone to focus on it. Link to the post.

Received a random piece of music on my VM today - from 530-217-3588. What does it mean? Packing up my stand - and the pic of Xenakis I've had stuck to the wall for the last year. Link to the post.

A little bit of wisdom. I'm not sure who this is from on this episode of Meet the Composer. He drops some knowledge about how composing is a way of being honest with yourself, and ultimately a way to optimize yourself. I think about this quote a lot - especially in a week where I am not the best version of myself. Ryan's new amazing tatoo is pictured here. I assumed it was graphic (musical...

Ebow Minor 9 Strata. EVERYONE is in a spot to check out the Aurora this weekend - it being visible to us here in Washington is a rarity. Brother Sam on Bainbridge took this one. When he texted them out I assumed I'd forgotten about some trip north he'd booked. Link to the post.

These string skipping excursions always bear fruit - here's a high point from a 12 minute bit recorded March 22, 2020 - right as Covid was kicking in. Today a string of 16 hour days begins as we get ready to sell the Ballard home base, so these next 9 posts are all reflecting back on the last 8 days. This is the ceiling of the main car deck of the Cathlamet, sailing from Southworth to Fauntler...

Who can complain when lines like this flow out? Makes me get all emotional. I'm so lucky just to witness the music when it works. There's a plot I hear: Here's what happened a sec ago Here's where I was less-than-confident Here's the spot where I figured it out and could move on Here's where I saw the light at the end of the tunnel - the end of my list of chores. Pictured i...

This one's goin out to the Priz - Wizard Prison flavor here from some time in 2018. That's the sound of the DL-4 doing it's best Space Echo impression. More good clangy seconds - I love the sound of seconds on my SG. A picture of Paul Simon's capo, from a new doc on him we watched last night. I was moved. Paul always makes the words flow for me: People keep asking “how much is enou...

Morels bring flavor to any pile of garbage - check out this biggie. A remix here of an improv on Skips - notebook says "Improv 3 Rainy Rock". It is blustery as hell today in spots, heading over the Narrows bridge, especially. Ableton warping magic really works when you play with a lot of percussion. I love the sound of beating seconds on my SG. Link to the post.

"Bowed upper ghost" it says here in my notebook. A blurry photo of the still-inhabited wasp nest I found after jump-starting Mike's truck, which had laid dormant in Olalla for most of the last 9 months. Link to the post.

Head down walking through 12 more days of work before we can sell our house and get back to normal art practices. I like the melody here - descending from 2nd to root. Link to the post.

It used to be the case that I'd be recording every year on my birthday. It wasn't an intentional decision, but something that started randomly the year my brother made Vanilla Guerilla, and I was in a studio with a horn section playing an arrangement I made myself. Still so gratifying to hear your horn writing played well and hear that the players liked to play it. This was recorded May 4,...

(From 5.1 session, 58:00ish) Sometime you remember a better version of a thing than the actual thing, but this line felt great in the room. Reminder to transcribe and do something with these heavy ass riffs. Jason's cool bass answer is buried in there around :20 and later in the breakdown. Link to the post.

(From 5.1 session, 33:30ish) This one reminds me of playing Boston Sucks in Baby - I was so proud of my rapid fire D.Boon stylings. D. Boon lords over a chunk of my brain when I play with both of these guys. The abandon mixed with the melodicis, and the raw straight sound are something I click into with D in mind. "How can I believe in books when my heart lies to me? I'm full of shit!...

(From 3.19 session again, 53:20) I love Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo's playing so much on Trout Mask, Mirror Man Sessions, Decals, Spotlight Kid etc - he's the first thing in mind when I pick up a slide, which I barely do. I need to do it more, and do something with lines like this, which I would only come up with through slide. When I lived briefly in Chelyabinsk in 1998, I brought a s...

From a 3.19.23 session w/Jason and Neil (about 22:00). Note to self: go back and do something with this line - dig the counterline that Jason comes to about halfway through. Link to the post.

I was reading about poster art the other day and there was this comment, which I'll paraphrase thusly: "people want a lot elements in an image, and space to allow them to draw their own conclusion". Sometimes I find random bits like this and, having no recollection where, when, what, who created the sounds, fill in the gaps. This was just called "Vox.wav" in...

Looking for a horn sound in these delayed guitars, inspired by Bill Nelson. Link to the post.

Flip on KSQM ("K-Sequim") 91.5 FM and you'll hear a a clutch of very local NW DJs, though none as unique as this quirky goofball: "The Unknown DJ". I'm not sure if he's trying to emulate Snagglepuss or Christopher Walken or what, but these are the most roundabout intros to songs you will ever hear. I'm not sure how long he's going to last so...

Up on Lopez, Kim, Leesa and I saw two hawks and two eagles in some sort of fight - the hawks had a seagull-like call that I managed to catch a few times at the beginning here, but the eagles were silent. They each were clearly pairs - I even saw the eagles tap wingtips as they flew, like they were high-fiving. Not sure what they were chasing but I'm assumed it was food, given the competition....