beautiful, funny, sad & true

I have a whole bunch of things I’ve been wanting to write about, but they’re all very disparate and random, so I think I’ll have to settle for an update, at least for now.

Wednesday night I was invited to record some guitar parts and maybe other things too) by BassPlayerChris who plays in Breanna’s band. One of the other people he plays with is named Matt Vrba (yes, that’s spelled correctly; it’s pronounced VERB-uh), and Matt wrote a Christmas song, and he and the band were recording it. They needed some other textural instruments, so Chris called me. I ended up playing electric guitar, xylophone, and Casio keyboard on the song. It was a blast. First time I’d met Matt, but he’s a great guy. Can’t wait to hear how the song turns out. We recorded at Opal Studios with a guy named Kevin Hahn, and everything sounds really great. I’d recommend him without hesitation. It wouldn’t surprise me if our paths cross again.

Last night, Stephanie’s band played at the Hawthorne Theater. We played well, but it was kind of a tough gig. We opened for a well-known band from Canada, but I think we all kinda felt like we’d been jerked around, from the minute we walked in the door. The show was scheduled to start at 8:00, so we all arrived about 6:45. Well-Known Canadian Band was just starting their soundcheck. Someone came and told us that the show was scheduled to start at 9:00, but we’d been telling everybody to be there at 8:00. In addition to that, we were originally scheduled to play first, then a DJ would play for a half-hour or so, and finally Well-Known Canadian Band would play. This seemed like an odd choice of ‘flow’ for a show, so we asked if the DJ could play first. This was agreed to, but we still needed to have a soundcheck too. Fifteen minutes before the doors opened, Well-Known Canadian Band finished their soundcheck, and we were finally allowed to set up our instruments on stage. Luckily, their drummer invited DrummerDrew to use his drums, which cut down dramatically on set-up time, but we still had precious little time to test the vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, and accordion. Plus, can I just take a minute to mention that the sound guy was a complete amateur? Thank you; because he was. Steph’s acoustic guitar kept feeding back during the show, and I didn’t even get to test my accordion’s microphone before the show started. These things are all pretty much unheard of in professional venues. In any decent-sized venue where there are multiple bands on the bill, each band usually gets a half hour or so to test everything, so that the sound crew knows what they’re dealing with and they can make the groups sound as good as possible.

All that aside, the venue was also very strange. It’s an all-ages place, so what they’ve done is divide the room in half; front and back. The front (by the stage) is all-ages, and the back half is the bar area. While we played, it was still early, so everyone was still in the bar area, which meant we were playing to a great big hardwood floor and a half-empty room, which felt a little bit insulting. As performers, all we have to gauge our performance is the audience. If we feel like they’re distant and unresponsive, it’s a bummer, because we either feel like they aren’t enjoying themselves, or that we’re not doing a good enough job.

So all that, combined with the showtime issues, made for a frustrating experience.

The good news about the show was that BoringFish was there. It was great to see her, even though conversation was a little difficult; shouting over a band isn’t the most conducive environment. But she’s great, and shouting at each other is infinitely better than not seeing each other at all.

The other good news about the show is that the band played well. DrummerDrew and BassistWill are really fun to play with, and they’re getting comfortable and stretching out in a great way. Last night was also the debut gig for my new guitar amp (not to mention the new amp stand that I bought while I was on my lunch break), and it sounded fantastic. So that was really nice, but the gig itself was still really frustrating, overall.

This week at work has been infinitely more stressful than usual, too. Normally there are two other people (or sometimes even three) who work in my department, but this week one of them had her grandmother die, and the other has a daughter who just had her first baby. So Wednesday, Thursday and today I was alone. It was totally crazy, and I’m totally exhausted, which is why I’m sitting here writing in my blog and doing laundry on a Friday night, despite a couple of offers to go out.

In other news, I’m going to a Music Business workshop tomorrow afternoon, to learn about contracts, distribution deals, production deals, and all that sort of stuff. There’s a guy here in town who’s an entertainment lawyer, and he’s given workshops and lectures about these issues regularly (but not often) for two or three years now. He’s a really great guy, and I’ve wanted to attend one of his workshops for quite a while. This comes at the perfect time, too, because I’ve had lots of good opportunities come my way recently, and I hope to be able to capitalize on them.

And now I’m going to get off the computer, because I’ve spent all day using one at work, and I’m starting to get sore. Plus, I bought a DVD today called “The Legend of 1900”, which my friend Leila told me I need to see. I stumbled upon a used copy at Everyday Music, so I decided to go ahead and buy it. I think I’m going to go watch it now.

I hope all’s well with you.

You’ll be glad to know that I’ve pretty much been laying low this whole weekend, so I’m feeling much more like myself again.

Saturday morning, I rode the MAX downtown to meet my dad and stepmom at Jake’s Grill for breakfast. It went…okay. Uhhh, it’s complicated. After they left, I went and looked for a new pair of shoes, but couldn’t find any that I liked. Came home and ended up doing laundry, dishes, boring stuff like that. Shelby and I were going to go to MusicFest NW, but the only bands we wanted to see we’d already seen before (for the most part) or were friends with or whatever, so we decided to give it a miss. Plus it would have been ridiculously late–the last band, Derby, didn’t start until 1:00 a.m.– and she had to work at 8:00 the next day. As I’m sure you can imagine, I sure needed the rest, so I was quite happy to stay home. I ended up watching “I Heart Huckabees.”

Today, Joan and I went to see “La Vie En Rose” in the theater. We both thought it was excellent, and the girl who played Edith Piaf is an incredible actress, but be warned. Her life story is an e x t r e m e l y tragic one. We were both feeling really sad afterwards, so we went for a walk through my neighborhood and then went for gelato.

After that, I drove way out to Beaverton to get another guitar amp, like this one. Since Steph’s band has been playing so many big shows lately, I’ve been using my bigger amp more. It’s forty-five years old now, and it’s the best-sounding amp I’ve ever heard in my entire life, but it’s a little bit too old and fragile to use day in and day out. It gets ‘tired’ on long gigs, and it loses a little of its edge. So I found one on Craigslist that will be perfect. I almost didn’t get it because one the aftermarket speaker had a problem, and the guy had also swapped the original power tubes for lower-output ones. (This just means it wasn’t nearly as loud or as clear-sounding as it would normally be.) We tried lots of different things, and he ended up putting back the original speaker and the high-output tubes, and suddenly the amp completely came to life again. It sounded loud and and pristine; just the way it’s supposed to. I can’t wait to use it at the show on Wednesday night, which I’m really looking forward to because Steph’s band is opening for the Paperboys, who are pretty big-time. If you live in Portland, please come see us!

So.

I’m feeling much better tonight than I was on Freaky Friday, just two short days ago. Amazing what a little rest can do for a person.

Wow, what a weekend. FINALLY I have a few minutes to fill you in.

Friday’s gig at the Blue Pepper in Salem with Breanna was great, of course. It was just me and her, and I played cello. Mark (the guy who books shows at the venue) joined us on acoustic guitar for a few songs. It was really nice to see our Salem friends again. Say what you will about Salem’s drug problems and crime problems, but all I know of the town is the Blue Pepper. Love it love it.

Saturday I sorta dinked around in the morning, doing laundry and stuff like that, until 5:00, when I had to get to the Doug Fir for TheStephBand’s soundcheck. We waited until almost 6:00, while the main band did their soundcheck, then we finally got to do ours. The show didn’t start until 9:00, so we all went our separate ways afterwards. I went home and relaxed for a while, had some sushi and took my time heading back. The show was great; quite possibly one of our best this year. Everything sounded awesome, and all our shows lately have made us really comfortable playing together. DrummerDrew and BassistWill are really becoming familiar with Steph’s music by now, and it’s nice to see them both stretching out inside the songs. Another fun thing about the show was that I got to meet a blogging friend for the first time. Elizabeth (you know her from Lizzy Dishes Portland fame) was there, and it was really nice to meet her in person. (Hey, Elizabeth!) Saussha and Conny came too, and so did Shelby. Good times were had by everybody, but I think I had the best time of all.

Sunday morning, Saussha and Conny and I went on a little picture expedition. We started down in Southeast Portland, looking for urban decay. There was plenty of urban, but not so much in the way of decay, so we headed up toward the industrial part of town underneath the Fremont Bridge. We each got quite a few pictures, but I haven’t uploaded mine from my camera yet–I’m doing that today–so I’ll have to share some with you as soon as I do. Saussha was talking about making a Flickr page, so you may get a real treat, and be able to see pictures taken by all three of us.
We spent a good amount of time out there, then started to get hungry, so we drove back across the railroad tracks to have a wee bit o’ lunch at the Widmer brewery. I wouldn’t say it was spectacular, but it was decent enough. Then I had to get to the Mississippi Pizza Pub for another cello gig with Breanna. This time ViolinistKarli was there, and that alone catapulted us to the Next Level, for sure. When she would do melodies, that freed me up to do nice counterpoint bass lines and harmonies, in an improvised classical style. The thing I love most about playing in Breanna’s band is that not only are we an amazing and textured rock band, but we can then turn on a dime (“I’ll give you nine cents change.”) and play in a classical ‘chamber pop’ style, and have even more fun because that’s such an unusual thing. LOVEITLOVEITLOVEITLOVEITLOVEIT.
Wayne (who produced her CD) was there last night too, and he joined us on glockenspiel and harmony vocals for a handful of the songs. So nice to see him and his wife Meg again. It’s the first time I’ve gotten to see Meg since all of us were in Yakima to play with Chad Bault two or three months ago. We (Breanna, her friend Jeff, me, Wayne, Meg, and Cris and Manda from the other band who played with us) went to the Crow Bar afterwards to talk until the wee hours. And yes, I brought my cello inside the bar with me. No way I’m leaving it in the car to be stolen.

Incidentally, that thing about stopping on a dime (“I’ll give you nine cents change”) is a reference I slipped in here for Alyssa’s benefit. If you too are wise to the ways of the Cos, feel free to leave a comment.

Today I have NOTHING to do, and I’m very happy about that. All I know is that at this moment I have nowhere that I need to be, and I can spend the entire day at my leisure. After so many days in a row of gigs and driving and trips and conversations and cars full of instruments, it’s nice to just sit here on a sunny day and read. Or write. Or listen to CryingNeighborBaby. Or best of all, I could just sit and reminisce about how fun this five-day weekend has been.

First things first.

I made a very difficult but necessary decision the other day. After lots of talking–and listening–to a couple of friends who I really trust, and who are in a position to know me better than most people do, I decided I need to give up the attempt to remain friends with Kelly.

This was not an easy thing to do, but it was what I needed. I still felt too hurt, but at the same time I still found myself being too concerned with her life. My instincts (not to mention my friends) told me to go away and take care of myself for a while, so I listened.

Oh. . .and guess which three Angel Cards came up the other day?

Courage
Power
Healing

So I’m focusing on those three things for the foreseeable future.

And as Joan’s grandma told her once, “You need to be with people who WANT to be with you. Relationships are hard enough as it is.”

In other news, my cello’s tuning peg started slipping again, so I took it back into the shop the other day. It’s an easy, cheap fix, and I had new strings put on at the same time.

– Warning: cello geek-out to follow. –

After using Jargar strings for three years, I’m going to try Larsens instead. I’ve been looking for a more ‘distinct’ playability, and a slightly brighter sound from my strings, so I asked for a recommendation. The repair guy told me that Larsens are what most symphony players use. Either that or Thomastik-Infelds, which are $100-150 PER STRING, or a combination of Larsens and T-I’s. Soooo I went with the Larsens. I’m going to go pick it up from the shop as soon as I get dressed and everything. And just in time, too, because I have a gig with Breanna down in Salem tonight. This show will be just her and me. Last time it was us plus violin and bass, which was awesome. Tonight I get a little more space to stretch out, which I’m really looking forward to.

So. . .an Update on how my weekend went.

Friday:
Met Joan for dinner and a movie. We went to a cheap (but good) Mexican restaurant on Alberta, and were both feeling too agitated to stay there to eat, so we took the food home and sat in the garden to eat, since her housemate (who’s very particular about who she invites into the garden) was gone this weekend. Went for a longish walk, came back and sat on the porch and talked more, then we watched Naqoyqatsi, which was all about war and human suffering; but in a good way, somehow. You’ll have to see it. It was almost like watching a kaleidoscope for two hours. Then it was midnight, and I had to prop my eyelids up, ‘Clockwork Orange’-style, to drive home.

Saturday:
Took my car to the shop. I ended up needing a valve cover kit (or something) for the engine, and a new rear wheel hub, so it ended up being like four hundred dollars. I was kinda expecting that, though.
Then I went to get coffee, and since I found myself with a few hours to kill, I called Joan again. We met at Grand Central Bakery, then went to do some shopping at Lloyd Center, then went and got sushi. After that, we thought it would be nice to just sit in a park somewhere, so we went to Laurelhurst Park, watched dogs (and their owners) and practically fell asleep. Around 5:00 I had to leave to go meet Sydne to get to the Robert Cray show, which was amazing. I’ve liked his music for a long time, but if you get a chance to see him live, he’s really in his element. He’s a total master of his art. His guitar playing is so clean and cuts through even the loudest stuff his band was doing. He has a way of doing vibrato really slow, and he’ll play a long, slow note and do that vibrato, and it just changes the air. Amazing.
Riding the train home, and even after having such an amazing day and night, I started to feel really sad again. Joan had said earlier, “Call if you need to; any time,” so I did. She gave me a little bit of ‘tough love’, and that was what I needed.

Sunday:
Woke up and listened to “This American Life”, which was all about break-ups this week. Jeez, if when it rains it pours, then this weekend was a typhoon. I went to the store and just kinda dinked around for a while, trying to stay off the computer as much as possible. At 4:00 I met S & W and a couple other friends, and we went to see the movie “Stardust”, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was based on a Neil Gaiman book, and it was a fairy tale about a boy becoming a man, or a man becoming his real self, and finding love, and all that. Really fun way to escape for a while. Then we went to a place called Appethaizing for dinner. (Get it? It’s a Thai restaurant! Har har. Those Thai restaurants are almost as clever as hair salons when it comes to cheesy names.) The place didn’t look like much from the outside, but the food was wonderful, so I’ll definitely be going back.
Got home and wanted to stay off the computer, so I started watching “War Games”, which Sydne loaned to me, and I hadn’t seen in about a million years. YOU know, it’s the one with Matthew Broderick, and he’s like 16 or something, and he’s a computer hacker who breaks into the National Defense system to play a simulation? Anyway. I didn’t finish it because Joan called in tears. (Remember how she’s going through the exact same thing with her ex that I’m going through with Kelly?) I’ll spare you the details, but I ended up having to return the favor and give her some tough love in return. We were on the phone for two and a half hours, and as soon as I got off the phone with her, BoringFish called. By that time it was like midnight, and I wasn’t sleepy. Or so I thought. I went in and intended to watch the rest of the movie, but fell asleep on the sofa for a while.

Today:
Feeling a bit wrung out. Not sad, exactly, but not far from it, so I’m trying to be good to myself and encourage other feelings. I’m getting my hair cut on my lunch break, because I have a big show with Stephanie tomorrow, and I want to look my best for that, for sure.

Anyway. . .that’s the latest. Please keep sending me your good thoughts; I appreciate the ones you’ve been sending me so far.