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 The bad news is that "Halloween Season" is coming to a close this weekend, and the good news is that it's gets best right at the end. Riss and I have been trying to do one Halloween thing every night this week leading up to Sunday. The other night we carved some pumpkins (two more to go), and last night we went to the Hallowed Haunting Grounds.
Riss found this site for haunted happenings in L.A. We're going to try to hit a couple more off the list this weekend, but last night we went to the "Hallowed Haunting Grounds" - really just a front yard in the Valley that was absolutely insane with decoration. The entire thing (it was big) was so meticulously themed out that we walked around with our jaws open. The look of it was very dark, elegant and gothic, not cute Halloween "spooky" style. It looked like a movie set, ghosts on wires slowly floating in shadowy groves over perfect gravestones, every area had a soundtrack and amazing detail. We're going back tonight. If you are in the Valley and like this stuff, you really should check it out.
We plan on hitting the one in Van Nuys after that (Grimmstone Cemetery), then we are probably going on the walking tour of Hollywood Forever Cemetery tomorrow morning. Later on, Chaney is having a Halloween party. Riss is going as a dead fairy, and I am going as a generally dead zombie type guy. I wanted to get the white contacts and really do it up, but can't really bust for that right now.
Might also check out the Spooky House haunted theme park, went a few years ago, and it wasn't so great, but it seems they add more every year, so we might see how it is these days.
We're out of the studio til December, so now my focus is back on the Panic website - in between all this seasonal stuff, I am on the coffee-induced trance state of website work routine. 2 days left!!!!
Got some work done on "Project P" this week; started song 5: "PB" and song 7: "N2". Also got some lyrics for a later song, "ER". The subject matter has a lot to do with this time of year, I am hoping that the inspiration stays after the holiday has passed, so I can get it mostly finished and show the guys.
Riss wrote this poem about today - it ROCKS!!!!
Friday before All Hallow's
Listen to the air
Can you hear the sound?
There is rumbling beneath the ground
Tis the Friday before All Hallow's Eve
Did you hear that coffin creak?
Cauldrons are boiling
Banshees are screaming
The night is approaching
For all trick or treating
The ghouls are preparing
The vampires sit in wait
The witches and fairies are laying sweets as the bait
For the unsuspecting
So be you ware
For Friday night is here
Two more nights to go
Two more nights til the seam
The seam of all we know grows thin
And the world of all that’s spooky
Comes creeping in!
 We are having a little political debate over in the comments section of the "Don't Forget" post, and I whipped up a response comment that got a little long, so I'll post it up here. For those who aren't up to speed yet, "Ed" left some posts yesterday asking for some positive aspects of Kerry, and when I didn't respond immediately, he went off.
Round Two , ding! ding!
Ed,
You apparently have a lot of time on your hands to pepper my site with comments (5 posts in 11 hours) claiming I don't have anything positive to say about John Kerry, and if I don't post a response in 30 minutes of one of your posts, I "fall flat". Well, I have some time open this morning so let me address your hostile little minefield. Some reasons I am voting for John Kerry:
1. He correctly addressed the way we waged the war in Iraq as a "colossal error in judgment" - I agree. He supports re-positioning ourselves as member of the world, instead of acting as unilateral world policeman.
2. He has a dignified career of military service : I have no idea of the form you mention, but the guy has 3 purple hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star. Whatever you are alluding to that he’s “hiding”, I am not really that tormented by what it could be, in relation to what he did accomplish while on duty.
3. He came home from Vietnam and rallied against it: He did his duty with honors, then came back and followed his conscience - worked against type and demonstrated against a war he saw as wrong. Is this is what you (and most desperate for anti-Kerry ammunition Republicans) see as "shifting positions"? If so, then we disagree strongly - I see that as courageous, morally sound, and commendable. I see in that the mark of a true leader, someone who can exist in the moment. That’s not what I see in Bush; a pawn of corporate power and special interest groups who I doubt has any true convictions that haven’t been imposed on him by big business and the religious right.
4. He supports stem cell research: Again, free of the shackles of the religious right, science should be free to move forward and try to help people.
5. He is pro-choice: This, I think is just insulting to women to envision anything other than giving them the right to choose what happens with their bodies.
6. While not supporting Gay Marriage, which I believe the best candidate should, he does support civil unions, a step in the right direction. Bush uses the upstanding gay population’s plight for equal rights as a cause to display his “moral superiority” and try to ALTER THE CONSITUTION to forbid gay marriage. This, even without his horrible, shameful foreign policy and politicalization of 9/11, for me would be enough to lose my vote. I believe that the gay population deserves every right to marry legally.
7. He wants to work for energy independence from middle eastern oil.
8. Decades of civil service.
9. He favors health care reform.
10. His favorite album is Abbey Road: Awesome choice. What would Bush’s favorite album be? I am afraid to find out. Someone who is so out of touch with modern society that he uses the word (?) “Internets”, is just plain scary.
That’s just off the top of my head. John Kerry appeals to me as someone who is not just “the lesser of two evils”, but an intelligent, experienced man who has earned the right to be considered to run this country. There is no real way to see how good of a president he will be until he has had the chance to lead. Bush has failed us, we can see that very clearly now. He is very clearly a liar. Lie first, scramble for scapegoats second.
Kerry could be an awful president, there is no way to really know until he is elected. I like how he presented his case in the debates, and appreciate his perspective from the interviews I’ve read. I honestly can’t give you one single reason why I would vote for George Bush. Not one. You also apparently can’t offer up any supportive comments for him. You seem to be satisfied to assail me from your cozy anonymous email address lambasting me for not jumping to your challenge of defending my candidate in your tight little timeframe.
You asked what “loophole” Bush was elected on. Come on, be honest for two seconds: Bush didn’t get more popular votes, he “skated by” with the help of the courts and our obviously lacking electoral college system. To me, any device of manipulation or argument that evades the fact that Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush is a “loophole”.
I called Bush a “lying asshole”. The last time I checked, I pay the server bills on this website, and I am not hosting CNN Crossfire. I have no responsibility to be anything other than myself. If a friend walked up to me on the street and said “how would you describe George W. Bush?” – I would say, “well, for starters, he’s a lying asshole.” My tone on this website reflects my personal conversational style, but you seem to use that as mileage for my “name calling”. Here’s another one for you to use: I also think George W Bush is an “idiot”, a “fool”, a “pawn”, a “fucking liar” and “embarrassing for our country”. Feel free to use all those terms to fashion some kind of assertion that I don’t know why I’m voting for John Kerry.
So now it’s time to add your thoughts, but let me ask you a question… what in the world can you tell me that would make me waste a vote on George W. Bush? Please, I cordially invite you to say something positive about your candidate. For another couple trillion added to the deficit? For an even more tarnished world reputation as arrogant bully? Really, I would be amazed if you can name one good reason for four more years of this administration.
Ok, time’s a wastin’, don’t fall flat!!!
(thanks to Caffeinated Sue for the pic)
An exciting day of acid reflux news. The Simpson spin machine went into full effect, and Ashlee had a shot at redeeming herself on live TV (the Radio Music Awards - whatever the hell those are). Have to give it to her for laughing it off before she (actually) sang her song "Autobiography". But now I see why they had her lip-synching on SNL. Damn holy shit almighty, that little chick is a shitty singer. Damn. Couldn't carry a pitch in a bucket. My cats started moaning when she was on, they thought there was a cat in heat inside the TV.
iPod update: Apple totally rules the universe. I called them, they sent out a box, I put my sick iPod in it (it was my fault for dropping it in the bathtub, but I left that part out when talking to them) sent it off, and 3 days later, I had a brand new one! Unbelievable.
Project P: Been focusing on the vocals for the record for the last week, so I have only done some lyric writing for it. This week I have more free time, so I want to get some more songwriting done for it before Halloween.
The Panic Channel website: My other project this week. It's about 25% done, this is my middle of the night project up until we launch Halloween night.
Vocals: Did more work on "The Loophole" tonight after Dave did some guitar work on "Ashes". Got some harmonies done on it. Tomorrow Perk is laying down some percussion, then I go back in the evening.
Ok, gotta run. Pumpkin carving begins tonight.
This was Saturday:
Worked on vocals, Day 5. Good progress. At this point, all the songs are sung, and we're going back over them to see where I could hit things better, or change a vibe here and there. Once all the main parts are locked, then I go in and "double" parts, do harmonies, and have fun with the vocal "icing".
Got home around 8:30pm. Dave, Stephen, and Chris had a Camp Freddy gig at the Wiltern. Scheduled to play were Macy Gray, Davey from AFI, Terri Nunn from Berlin, Stephan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind, Jerry Cantrell from Alice and Chains, and Billy Duffy from the Cult. I had been planning on going out to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the last Cinespia event, a viewing of "Rosemary's Baby", but had forgotten that the Camp Freddy gig fell on the same night...
I love the Wiltern, it's an old-timey theater with tons of vibe, seen many good shows there including Rufus Wainwright, Radiohead, and Crowded House.
The show was to start at 9:50pm, we got there around 9pm and had some time to kill so we went backstage to say hi to the guys. Everybody was in good spirits, and there were loads of people backstage. Dave comes up to me and says "Dude, we need you, can you sing The Who tonight?" ...Apparently Macy Gray was sick and didn't show up, and they were short one song. Who am I to turn down a request like that...??? The Gods of Rock would burn me alive were I to decline. We sat down and went over the "Baba O'Reilly/ Pinball Wizard" medley we worked up for the Nascar show a couple times to get ready.
Spent some time yodeling in the dressing room while the first few tunes were played, then after Davey did his couple Bowie tunes, I went out and rocked it.
Had a blast. Yes, I did ask "is Princess Abby here?" ... I know your name from your website. Saw Snow White in the front row with a Panic Channel shirt. Stephen had one of his new Panic Channel kick drum heads on in full glory. The Camp Freddy shows are really fun to watch, but even more fun to play in. I got to share the stage with Terri Nunn, one of my major High School crushes. Awesome. She looked hot and sang her ass off, really knows how to command the stage, and she's just a wisp of a thing. Again, Jerry Cantrell was the shit, just full rock fury with his Les Paul and doing the furious hair swinging. Played "Them Bones" - one of my favorite Alice in Chains songs.
Before the show, Stephen Jenkins and I hung out a bit and we sang my Who tunes to get ready... kind of a Rock and Roll study hall. He got a cell phone call from someone who had just seen Ashlee Simpson on Saturday Night Live totally blow it and get stuck with the wrong backing track to lip synch to. I TiVo SNL every week, and was super excited to get home to that.
After the show, Riss, Dave and I got a pizza. A frigging incredibly good pizza. We bailed around 1am and Riss and I went to a party at Riss's friend Mark's house. He is such a great host, and we always have fun over there. Well, mostly fun, at one point this chick came out of the bathroom and cornered us on the couch outside (overlooking an awesome view of Universal City), and proceeded to babble her silly fucking face off. I mean wow, after 10 minutes of inane babbling about herself, herself, and her favorite topic, HERSELF, without either of us offering up any kind of interest or conversation, I began to wonder if stimulants were involved: if she had just come from a visit from the "booger sugar" fairy. Riss is very polite, and sat there nicely nodding and offering up the occasional "oh", or "really?", and I was silently wishing that my eyes could shoot lazer beams and make her yakking head explode off the top of her neck if I squinted hard enough and thought bad thoughts. I bailed inside and sadly Riss didn't take the exit ticket and listened some more.
We went home a little while later and settled in for some good old fashioned network television humiliation.
Let me preface my upcoming tirade with a little back story.
I have watched Saturday Night Live for years. There are good years, there are bad years. There are timely, classic sketches that are meaningful and funny, ...and boring, lame, never ending waste of time sketches. When it is great, it is the best comedy show ever, brave, funny, and scary cause it's LIVE. What I love is that it is the very last bastion of classic "Live" comedic television. In the tradition of all the old greats who had to make something funny happen OR ELSE. No editing, no do-overs. So I keep abreast on SNL year to year. As hardcore as it must be coming up with an hour and a half of material to shoot live every week, the musical performance part of the show also has an important place.
Since the show started in the 70's, SNL has been like a running timeline of almost every major popular recording artist, performing their songs LIVE before the audience. It's really astounding how many classic performances have been captured in that studio. Like the Elvis Costello famously changing songs, in mid-song to one he wasn't supposed to play. As I was growing up, I watched every week primarily for the musical performances, and have never stopped. One thing you could always count on was that they were LIVE. Yeah sure, with the years, more backing tracks have been used; a percussion track here, a sound effect there... but not THE LEAD VOCAL. Never. NO.
Saturday Night Live has been the place where an artist cemented their place in history with a great two song appearance. I was at the taping of Nirvana's first appearance, and you could feel it everywhere: the electricity of history being created. Sometimes SNL has changed my mind about someone, too. When Christina Aguilera was on for the first time, I expected yet another useless pop product, but was amazed at how great of a singer and performr she was. She isn't my knid of music, but I totally respect her gifts as singer and performer after that show. Same goes for Avril Lavigne. Not on my iPod, but she went on that show and sounded great AND SANG, definitely represented.
When Britney was on for the first time, the press was full of speculation,"Will she or won't she" lip synch? She had been accused of it in her live performances (and rightly so). When the show came around, she sang (sort of), there was definitely singing going on, but it was mixed with backing tracks - a very popular way to go on live TV these days. Her second song was sung live - and not that super impressive.
Since then sadly, more and more "artists" have been straight up lip synching on SNL - Britney's next appearance, Janet Jackson, and now our little sweetie pie, Ashlee Simpson.
If you haven't seen the tape, or read what happened, here goes:
She played her first "methodically crafted to exploit the buying tendencies of the female teen market musical product", "Pieces of Me". Obviously lip synched. Sounded like the start of the song had her live vocal mixed in, then they faded it out to pure tape. Not even lip synched very well, ...like Britney quality lip synching. Awkward dancing. It was very catchy, but leaves one with a cold, uneasy feeling. Like when you are stuck humming the hook, you have somehow become apart of something ...wrong. Not Evil really, like Diet Evil.
Her second song is now history. Here's my take on it: who ever is responsible for triggering her "backing" tracks punched the wrong button. The wrong song "Pieces of Me" instead of "Autobiography" starts playing and HELLO! - Ashlee's voice is coming out, but she isn't singing. The sound guy quickly turns down the lead vocal, but you can still hear a bit of it as she begins her "Hoe Down" dance, and the hired alterna-boy band is stuck with nothing to do by continue playing the wrong song. Ashlee skulks offstage, ..commercial break. If you saw it live on the west coast, they mixed out the wrong vocal playing as she wandered around onstage, but you can download the east coast feed for the real thing.
So we finally get what I believe karmically HAD to happen at some point, someone got what they deserved, the exposure of a their sham. It should have happened to Britney.
Hey, there will always be 2-5 prepubescent chicks with pop hits that ride the tops of the charts. Young girls identify with them, and have millions of dollars to freely spend on anything they make. Either they don't know that they don't sing live, or just don't care. If everybody does it, then why would they even think that it's important to have songs sung live? So Ashlee now will pay (let's hope) for all of them, Britney, JoJo, Janet, Beyonce and all the rest. Ashlee can't even limp along on Britney's excuse for lip-synching "I do alot of dancin' Y'all, I can't do both at the same time!" - hell, why would we ask of her something so strenuous??!! I think they all deserve this to happen to them. The public shouldn't stomach lip synching at all - ever. Ashlee seemed to be against it when she said: "I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me."
Do I sound like I am getting on a high horse? - hell no! I have spent years working on how to sing in tune - it ain't easy! If a manager is greedily trying to exploit a young, not ready for prime time singer, they should give her lessons, training, and stage experience. I know that would never happen though, when you can just push a record out while she is as young as possible, and have her sing to a tape live- the little girls won't care. And they don't. They want to be a part of something theirs, a shared adoration experience. Ok, fine, so lip synch at the "concerts", but don't dirty up something cool like SNL with that crap.
I am eating this Ashlee shit up, I love it! Even though I do feel bad for her - she has to feel so overwhelmed and frightened right now - she has appearances all this week and I am sure her tyrant DadManager is whipping her like a dog to go out there and be what she is not nearly ready to be, and she has to be absolutely shitting her capri pants.
Also let me lavish a big "You Suck" to the producers of my beloved Saturday Night Live. At some point, someone should have put their foot down and started telling the musical guests - "don't lip synch on our show", but as with everything, that was probably a poor financial decision they didn't want to make.
Raining about an inch an hour here in Los Angeles. Bring it on, I say. It's going full blast right now against the window as I write this.
Began vocal tracks today at our producer's home studio. It's a good vibe over there. Some windows looking out over the hills (a good change from the windowless studio world of last week), lots of hot tea, and a green lava lite. Hopefully this weather keeps up, I love it for the work we are doing. Dave, Stephen and Chris are in NYC for the week doing a Camp Freddy show, so I can focus on my part of the recording.
Reading "Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game" by Stoker Hunt. Great source of Ouija information - much better than the one I just finished, "Ouija: Doorway to the Occult", by Edmund C. Gruss. That one was from the "Christian perspective" and got a bit preachy. I am really into this new one. Have a couple more books on related topics that just came from Amazon.
This Saturday they are having the last Cinespia event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery - they are showing "Rosemary's Baby". Not sure if I am going or not, but if you are in L.A. - DO IT. You'll thank me.
Riss (my girlfriend) and I were going to get our pumpkins tonight for Halloween, but it was too rainy.
Finished up a week at the studio last night. 12 hours a day, nice to have today off. We're not going into detail about it yet for various reasons, but soon we'll let you know what we've been up to. We're really really excited about how it sounds. The weather is overcast and rainy, I love it. "Zeppelin Weather".
Going out to Truetone music in Santa Monica today to get a new pickup put in my Telecaster. Couldn't use it for the recording, because I discovered, It has shitty tone! Looks like the pickup I had installed the day I bought it (a "little 59" from Seymour Duncan) just sucked, really dark and lifeless sounding. We had a great assortment of guitars to choose from in the studio, so I ended up using Mark Vangooll's blue 72" Telecaster thinline on most of my tracks. He is the tone Yoda, so I got a game plan on how to fix my troubles. Getting a new pickup, and see where I am then. The Divided by 13 amp was looking a little shaky the first few days, sounded kind of ratty... but we messed around with it for a bit, and got some good sounds, and used it for most of my tracks. Still have to do some work with it to see if it is the right amp for me in this band.
Had to stop working on "Project P" once a day, just didn't have time. Got home at 1 am every night, and had to be back in the studio at 12am. Hopefully my superstition about stopping work for a day would lead to the inspiration drying up will prove false. I think it will be okay, I still listen to what I have written everyday and am working on it in my head.
Got some sad news yesterday, one of my best friends from high school, Andie Cotton died Saturday night. She had been fighting cancer for the last 3-4 years and when the last round of chemo almost killed her, she stopped the treatment, then it was just a matter of time. We had dinner a couple months ago and she seemed fine.
Our song "Ashes" was written about her, but I never told her so. I wish I had, but I was afraid to; didn't know how she would feel about it. I have been thinking about her all week as we have been working on recording the song, and now she's gone.
You'll be missed, Andie.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike th' inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Thomas Gray
Elegy in a Country Churchyard
The band has been uber-busy this week, so I will check in, but forgo the usual "making a post readable" and just do it stream-of-conciousness style:
begin____________________________>
My iPod is back from the grave, but is deathly ill. Dried it off, and it starts, but the battery is fucked.
Presidential debates: funny to watch Bush change his game drastically every time to make up for previous debate's shortcomings, and watch Kerry get better.
There are photos on my digital camera right now that I would never in a million years have believed. Nor would you.
Project P - still doing work on it every day, even if it has to take a big back seat lately. Think I will need to play the guys what I have so far (when we have time) and then finish writing it with them, to get an evolution in the song structure, 5 songs done at this point.
Chris Rock is hosting the Oscars. No observation, that's just a trip.
My girlfriend is buying our cats Halloween costumes.
Met Dave's co-author Neil Strauss, he is a fascinating guy. Has a new book he's working on that will be huge - I can't wait for him to finish it so I can read it.
Saturday Night Live got better 2nd week.
Watched "The Exorcist" with Riss with the lights off and right in front of the TV. What a perfect movie.
Dave used a vibrator on a track today.
Wrath and beauty fade.
We are playing once in November and once in December in Los Angeles.
Stephen Perkins and I share an appreciation for the music of Mr. Neil Diamond. Knew that guy had taste.
Speaking of which, Perk's new Banyan record is done and will be coming out soon.
In the studio, strange and disturbing things found on the internet are shown on monitors, involving unique combinations of genitalia, food, appendages, and poop.
Am getting a little worried about my purple amp - having some growing pains that might force me to return it to it's mama and begin my amp search anew.
Fuck Paris Hilton.
Fuck Britney.
I have laughed until I've cried more than a few times since Monday.
Have you seen that web video about the Pentagon allegedly NOT being hit by an airplane (no plane wreckage, etc.)
Reading only books about Ouija boards, ghosts, and speaking with the dead.
Sleeping more regularly now.
No more Panic video until the new site launch.
Beneath our feet our future lies.
Oh my God, I can't even wait until the end of the debate to post on this one:
GEORGE W. BUSH JUST CALLED THIS "THE INTERNETS"!!!!
He didn't misspeak, HE IS JUST A STRAIGHT UP IDIOT!!!!
Oh my God, please people, we have to vote him out of here.
Took Wendybird's advice, here's a pic documenting a guy's week alone while his girlfriend is out of town, as he stays in his room all day and night, living solely on Atkins bars and low carb Halloween candy:
Woke up, got my car washed, it was disgusting. Stopped at a nice little coffee shop called Priscilla's and sat for a while watching cars go by and working on "Project P". Alot of the business of putting this thing together is in the reviewing and going back over what I recorded the night before. Have a little system going: tape ideas at night with the Mbox (ProTools jr.), make mp3's, put them in a playlist on my iPod, and the next day eat, walk around, whatever, and listen to the night before. I am getting alot of ideas being out and about. Well, I was... more on that in a minute...
Worked on "N1"(song 4) all day today, took a break to watch Survivor (getting better), and The Apprentice (great from the get-go this season). This has been the hardest song yet. Alot has to happen in the song, and I really want the meaning to be clear, so the narrative can move along. It's a difficult balance. I really have no idea if what I am writing is crap or not. I am obsessed with working on it, and seeing it completed, but it's so hard to actually hear it objectively. It's been 8 days now...
So it looks like I finished "N1", it still will need some tweaking for the next few days, and if the guys DO like this thing I am writing, then it will change anyway. I'm not writing areas for solos, or instrumental sections much, hoping that the jam room inspiration will fill in all that. So that's song 4 in the sequence done. This one will be really fun to bust with the guys, it has "loud" written all over it.
The bad news is that during moronic asshole practice this evening, I dropped my perfectly good 400.00 vital songwriting tool, my trusty iPod into the bathtub. Yeah I know, brilliant. It pretty much sucks for my walking around working on music scenario described above, as I can't afford a new one. I went on an iPod board to figure out out how to pry the little bastard open, and dry off it's little expensive guts. I'm hoping it will spring to life, like some of the others' iPods' had on that board. Crossing fingers.
...Night
(closed)
Saw the new Sarah Mclachlan video today - really cool idea behind it. Saved the budget for craft services and makeup and sent it to charity. The song's pretty tame, but cool video. Thanks Stereogum.
You need iTunes to play...
>Tomorrow night is the second Presidential debate. Set your Tivos to see if Kerry can give Bush another good stomping! It's less than 30 days til election day, and the deadline to get in registration is at 15 days, so if you are lagging, get on that shit!!!
Project P:
Worked on it last night on song 4: "N1", also finished up the lyrics to song 3: "SW(twb)". It's weird how this thing was originally going to be a long song that went through a bunch of changes and had a beginning, middle and end, but now it's a whole sequence of songs. "N1" is the most rocking so far, the other songs were leading up to it in a way, and it is based mainly on the jam that Dave came up with and we play from time to time in the jam room. It has a really haunting quality to the "verse" parts, then it opens up and gets really mean and loud. This piece of music gave me the inspiration for "P" in the first place. Riss and Dave get back in two days, so I am trying to cram as much work in as possible before they get back. I will still be able to work, but when I am alone like this, I can completely concentrate without letting other stuff get in the way, "other stuff" like sleeping, eating, shaving, cleaning the house, hygiene, etc.
I can't say too much about the songs I am writing, but I can give you a list of some songs I have been listening to to get me in the mood to work on "P":
Jeff Buckley: Dream Brother, Grace, Nightmares by the Sea, Eternal Life.
Grandaddy: He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
Doves: Sea Song
The Cure: If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
Supergrass: Eon
Soul Coughing: Lazy Bones
Shudder to Think: X French T-Shirt
I can't keep staying up later and later. Day before yesterday I went to sleep at 10am. I was a zombie yesterday. Got better yesterday, went to bed at a "decent" hour, 4am. Got some extra burgundy curtain from the garage and covered my work room window with it. Maybe if I can convince myself it's night time, I can start writing songs earlier.
Yesterday watched Donnie Darko again to keep me in the Halloween Season mood, also watched a new show on SciFi network called "Ghost Hunters": a new docu-show about a paranormal research team that search for ghosts and hauntings, and by day are plumbers for Roto-Rooter. Not bad. I like the wife giving the main guy grief for being a ghostbuster.
"Library shadows in candlelight
Bear the dark moody feeling
Surrounded by hundreds of books
Stretching up to the ceiling..."
Wrote today at the diner, moving ideas around to see where they fit. This is like a jigsaw puzzle, but instead of it getting easier as the puzzle becomes more realized, it gets more difficult, the sequence must fit together, the path must be complete.
Spent the afternoon/evening working on the website design.
Worked on "Project P" all night again. Was afraid that the flow was ending - it seemed so "quiet" earlier... hacking around, no inspiration, then it came back. Got a new song; "SW(twb)" (song 3). Moving in sequence (except for the 1st song - still unfinished). Wondering more and more if this will be a band project or not, I really hope so. It all depends on if the guys like it, and can see where it could go. It might just not be their cup of tea. We'll see.
The new song is slower, the music was from a really, really early progression of mine that never really became a song, but I had on my very first demo "Spooky 213", it was called "Thrilltown".
If the writing in sequence continues, then "N1" (song 4) is next. Have about 50% done, I think. Also have been working on what I think is the ending...
I know this makes no sense, but these posts are mainly so I can look back and see this thing's growth, and being too specific right now (about titles, meanings of songs, etc.) while things are forming could be bad, so bear with me. When it's done, whether its a Panic Channel project or not, I'll let you know all about it.
Time to go to bed.
"Don’t say that I didn’t warn you..."
Been staying up later and later. Every night since last Wednesday, after Riss goes to sleep, I stay up and work on "Project P". I can't focus on anything else. Everything else is an annoyance, a distraction. Went to bed at 8am this morning and woke up at 4pm. It's 7am and I need to go to sleep. I am afraid that if I stop working, the idea will stop coming. I fear that if I skip even one night, it will all of a sudden end, and the clear pictures that are in my head now will become fuzzy, hard to grasp, and I'l never finish it.
Riss is in NYC with Dave for the week, so I plan on doing nothing but working.
Between the Ouija stories posted, and the book I'm reading, I am still getting freaked out a little bit, in my work room my back is to the door, and I keep seeing shapes out of the corner of my eye...
Have been reworking the first song I wrote for it "C&S" and getting the words right, also working on instrumental sections.
"October kismet, Charlie's Father is out of town..."
t was finally overcast in Los Angeles yesterday. God I wish it would rain.
As much as I love Los Angeles, it's lacking in .. changes. The seasons. Rain. Moody weather. This whole year, I think it rained maybe one or two days. It's unreal. The same thing every day, sun, sun, sun. Smog and sun. It's generally wonderful, but I love the rain, the clouds. Yesterday's slight cloud cover at least gave the impression that ...HALLOWEEN IS COMING.
The last couple years, Halloween has hit me by surprise and I end up wishing I had gotten more of a jump on things. I always do as much Halloween stuff as I can: go to Los Angeles area "spooky houses", hit Knott’s Berry Farm's "Halloween Haunt", carve pumpkins, the whole nine. This year, I am looking at all of October as "Halloween Season" ...and IT'S ON!
This Saturday, I am getting some friends together to go to Cinespia.
This is one of the coolest things I've ever found to do in L.A: during the summer months, they open up Hollywood Forever Cemetery for movie nights! They project an old movie on the side of the mausoleum on the south side of the cemetery, and people bring picnic baskets, blankets, and candles, and hang out the lawn facing it and watch the movie under the stars. Hollywood Forever is a beautiful old cemetery and lots of movie stars are buried there. This weekend's selection is "Network" the prescient 70's drama about a newscaster who becomes a kind of media messiah after announcing on-air that he will commit suicide in one week. Good movie. "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!"
Last night worked on another part for "Project P" : "N1" didn't finish it. Looks like this will have to be written in sequence.
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