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.

Well, it’s happened again; I’ve hit the proverbial wall.

After seven gigs in the last ten days (many of which were out of town), work being extremely stressful and hellish this week (despite having Monday off), and having some very heavy emotional discussions, I’m throwing in the towel. Complete exhaustion has set in.

Tonight I’m staying home and collapsing, and I believe a bath is in order.

Tomorrow the craziness will begin anew, but for tonight, I’ve had just about as much as I can handle. Time to ‘check out’ and shut down for a while.

Blissfully.

Here it comes. . .

Yesterday we had a bunch of lay-offs at work. No, I wasn’t one of them–thank gawd–but two people in my department were on the list. One actually volunteered to go. We knew something big was coming, so we were waiting all day to hear what the huge news was going to be, and who was going to be gone. We were all on pins and needles all day. I didn’t realize just how tense I was until I was at home, and I was able to breathe again.

As if I didn’t have enough to think about, it turned out that one of my friends had a bunch of ‘frustrations’ with me lately, and she hadn’t known how to tell me about them before. So we had to have that discussion. Most were valid frustrations (some were simple misunderstandings), and we ended up talking it all out, but suffice it to say that yesterday wasn’t the best day I’ve ever had.

FOR THE RECORD: If there’s something you need to tell me, PLEASE tell me. It’s infinitely better and easier that way.

Thank you.

We now return you to the witty, insightful blog, already in progress.

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.