Can't sleep. Really wanted too a few hours back, but you can't always get what you want. In Colorado, as relaxing as it was, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night each night and not being able to get back to sleep. My mind would start racing.

On Saturday I worked for a while on "Project P", and it was fruitful. I played the whole thing on the  acoustic. Just the music, no singing, to get a feel for the whole piece in sequence. It felt great playing it like that, and made working on the next unfinished song (PB) much clearer. I concentrated on it for a while, and finished it. The verses are a percussive riff that I am shit at playing and singing at the same time, so I plan on demo-ing it out here at home to hear how it all falls together with the guitar and voice done properly at the same time. I have an idea for the last chorus too, where the 1st verse is sung over top of it in counterpoint. Dave calls this "Michael row row row your boat-ing", and he's totally right. I really like "PB", it feels like a good place to go after the drama of "N1". So here's the "P" scorecard:
"PB" is the 5th song in the cycle, and the 6th I've written so far. The whole thing looks like it is 4 songs from being done, but that could change. A total of 10 songs. I am not fond of even numbers, so I might force it to be 9 or 11. One of my only superstitions.

As I have been working on these songs, and this idea so intensely, a new, non-music idea has formed. I did some sketching on the plane for it today. I figure that you can't really force what shape the ideas and concepts take as well as you think you do, so it is best to try to see the flow, and create within it. So now I am trying to get the ideas down for this new venture as they are fresh. As with "P", until the idea is ready for public scrutiny and discussion, I need to keep it secret for it's own sake, so it can grow naturally. The main gist of it is that is a place, a location, an experience that I someday would like to build. I say someday because it would take a decent bit of time and money to start, two things I have in alarmingly short supply. I do have pens and pencils and a sketchpad and a boatload of ideas for it, so maybe someday I'll have the chance to make it more than a sketch.

Speaking of sketches, I met Rantz in person last week. He is a game/comic industry artist, and we "met" via this site. We sent some emails back and forth, and decided to meet up here in L.A. I really like his illustration style and thought that we should get together and investigate the common ground. Luckily (but not unexpectedly) there was plenty, and I gave him the inside info on "P" and hope to work with him as a collaborator on the graphic/design end of it.

We have Panic rehearsals for the next 3 days, then a show at L.A.'s Key Club on Thursday. It's a birthday party for 103.1 indie radio, so the advance tickets are $10.13, but only $1.03 on the day of the show if you bring a can of food for the homeless. Everybody is dying to get back in the room and play after the holiday, I know I am. After the show, we get back into our regular 4 days a week rehearsal schedule until we go back in the studio right before Christmas to finish up the 7 songs we tracked in October. After that, the plan is to write in January, then track the new stuff in February. Then it looks like we'll have a full-length record. After that, God-willing, we get the hell out of town and hit the road, and come play our music for you, wherever you are.