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« June 2005 |
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Working on settling in to my new place. Getting used to apartment living and being close to people in the city again. I have neighbors under me and to my side, and I am nervous that my lifestyle will once again get me in trouble. I have been here since the 8th of July, and only tonight did I actually get some writing done. If I think anyone can hear me while I am playing, it kills the vibe when I am trying to let the ideas out. I have been slowly being more and more "myself" as the days go on. I pray that I can just do my thing here and not bother anybody. One of the issues I face is that right about now (4:54am) is when I feel all clear and ready to write songs. During the day it's usually much more of an effort. Different ideas come out. Phones ring. Cars honk their horns. Babies cry. Dogs bark. Right now all I can hear is the whirr of the fan (it's been very hot for the past few days) and my typing. I just had a new song come out, I have been waiting for this one for a while, wrote the lyrics before I moved out of the last place, "Black Butterfly". It's a bit of a sad idea - about a young man who can only see one way to be with the one he loves who has left him. One very desperate, tragic way. A love song to the life he is about to leave behind in the hopes that he will be reunited with his love in the life to come.
I am crossing my fingers that the neighbor to my side doesn't give me shit tomorrow. She seems really cool, but even most cool people hate guys singing and playing guitar at 4 in the morning. Welcome to my life. This is the kind of shit I have had to conceal in the back of my mind every time I have rented a place, ever. Looking at the walls, the proximity of the next door neighbors to me, wondering how much noise I can make. Asking the question "Do the neighbors make much noise?" knowing that neighbor will be me.
For years I have had a "no apartment" guideline. With enough creative searching, there is always a bungalow or guest house somewhere. Those places fit me like a glove. This time, I didn't have the time or cash to really find the uber-place, so I found something in a Hollywood neighborhood that looked promising. Time will tell if it's gonna work out. If they don't like me here, I don't have many options; either write only during the day, or write really really quiet at night. Both options aren't that appetizing.
Got the Howard Benson mix of "Half Hearted" back a few days ago. Sounds good. Very produced. Kind of a trip to hear a song I wrote a couple years back on acoustic (in the middle of the night) just to make me feel better when I was heart broken about a girl sound all full and radio-y today. The title of the song is going to change, it's going to be "Why Cry" now. The second half of the old chorus is gone now and I don't end up saying "Half Hearted" anymore. The old post-chorus part "Why cry for you" is now the chorus.
We're still waiting to hear how the Benson version of "Blue Bruises" came out.
Listening to:
Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
Gomez - Liquid Skin
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination" - John Lennon
Saw "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" last night. Here are my thoughts, beware of spoilers.
A bit of back story: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is, in my opinion, genius. I keep it in the category of most favorite non-drama film. I absolutely love every element about it and keep it in the "perfect" category: those films that you couldn't add anything to or subtract anything from.
I'll refer to the remake as "Charlie" and the original as "Willy".
"Charlie" was, what would seem to be the most ideal fit ever for Tim Burton. The over-the-top fantasy of the concept, the inherent darkness of the story, the mix of universal appeal and sly subversion. I found myself really liking the first act, then liking it less as it went on. Here's why. The opening and introduction of the nameless city where Charlie and his family live were fantastic. Charlie was perfectly cast, as were his parents and grandparents. Found it a little odd that he slept 12 inches from an open hole in the ceiling during a snowy winter, but maybe that was one of those "true to the book" elements that they are so happy about with this new version. Never read the book. The flashback sequences that give insight into Wonka were great. The introductions of all the golden ticket winners, I really liked as well. The production design was wonderful, everything I'd hoped for. Right up until Wonka opens his factory doors, I had the feeling that Burton had really done it, made a film that was truly worthy of being judged with the original, while adding a fresh take and added scope to the story. Well, that feeling gave way to a chilly uncomfortable feeling once Johnny Depp's Wonka took over.
Wonka in "Charlie" is a weird man-child, a victim of seclusion and arrested development. Makes sense why Depp is getting all the Michael Jackson comparisons. He giggles, snaps, is immature, easily provoked, and obviously doesn't like any of the children or their parents. I actually got a kick out of how devious and perverse he was. After a while, I really sensed some things were sadly lacking. It began with the chocolate room. If one scene came to mind when I first heard Tim Burton's name associated with the new movie, it was this scene. The fantastic, completely edible, man-made landscape within the factory walls that first creates the idea of Wonka's genius in "Willy". This was the first letdown. Nothing in the room seemed edible, let alone delicious. The grey of the factory walls were imposing, and it seemed Burton went right into showing the children and parents as monsters with red liquid smeared all over their faces instead of letting the first experience into the room be pleasant and wonderous. Augustus is sucked up the tube from the chocolate river, and the first of the completely wrong parent reactions began. The mother didn't seem to care, she was pretty damn cool and reserved to see her tubby little offspring turn into a giant intestinal blockage. It seemed the fate of the first child was inevitable, no surprise at all. Yeah, that was probably because I knew just what was going to happen, or because Burton never let the factory be a place of wonder for a second before he began picking off the brats one-by-one.
As they met their fates, the parents didn't seem to react, assist, or even bat an eye, and that bugged me. If the parents aren't fighting Wonka as their brats are being sucked up tubes, etc., then Wonka's creepy ambivalence doesn't have much impact. I never saw the direct connection of the parents' character defects and their children's' bad personalities, either.
Also didn't dig the chocolate factory being this super CG, infinite, completely impossible space. I prefer "Willy's" sense of the chocolate factory being somewhat plausible ...if improbable.
Wonka just got more and more two dimensional as the movie wore on. Hard to imagine him as a genius, or as a master puppeteer of this whole shebang, after a while he just seemed creepy. Just creepy. Wilder's Wonka was SO much better, facts are facts. He seemed wildly creative, demanding, single-minded in his vision, brilliant, cold, self-centered, but somehow also warm and compassionate.
So even with the last minute humanizing of Wonka in the new version, and the sudden growth of a heart in the story line, I left feeling that I had watched a good movie, but wasn't especially emotionally attached to it. Nice wrapping, but kind of an empty aftertaste.
That was a pretty unreal month. Right when I thought it couldn't get worse, everything did. Got funny after a while. Things have started evening out a bit; I am in my new apartment, sheets are on the bed, boxes are almost unpacked, walls are painted purple and blue, and after a month of relocation disorientation, I now once again have the Holy Trinity of Telecommunication in place: Television, Internet and Telephone. Somehow muddled through this savage human condition for a month with (gasp) no real online access. After the initial feeling of missing out on something every second, it got pretty good. It's nice to untether from the comfort of steady information sometimes. How soon I forget that anything in excess becomes unhealthy. Escape is overrated. Learned a few things in the silence.
the things you own end up owning you
Was surprised to see some odd online "response" to my breakup with R. That's a pretty strange by-product of the musical company I have been keeping. Found it better not to post anything at all than to post on that topic and make things worse. Have decided not to get too personal with my posts. Don't really care what people say about me, but found it difficult feeling responsible for someone else being brought into discussion because of our relationship. You can't control everything, and to try to control much of anything is a mistake. Control is an illusion.
Relationships are hard. People get together, people break up, and it's always sad. Having it be fodder for online entertainment was weird. I have to take it and move on, because I sure reserve the right to dish it out when I want.
Reading Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor" now. The story of a church-cult raised, suicide hotline worker/housekeeper who hijacks a plane and narrates his bizarre life story into the doomed jet's flight recorder. Needless to say, it rules.
Listening to Fiona Apple's new album "Extraordinary Machine". If you aren't aware of all the drama surrounding it, here's a recap: Fiona tracked it with uber-producer Jon Brion like, a year ago. Sony apparently shelved it saying that there were no marketable singles. Hmm, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, ...FUCKING EVERYWHERE. There have been online petitions, the freefiona site, but still no record. Then it leaked. Have a look, you'll find it. It's really grown on me, no marketable singles and all. My favorite songs are: "Please Please Please", "Extraordinary Machine", "Not About Love", and "Oh Well".
I have the feeling that this record is doing some great work in the fight to let artists have the voice they need to have. A bit of a sacrificial lamb's fight. I am sure it's very painful for her, but I believe that this conflict is a sign of the times. I wish her so much luck with getting the record out the way she sees fit. Also an interesting turn in the story of listeners uniting online and being heard.
The latest news is that she is apparently re-recording the whole thing with Brian Kehew of The Moog Cookbook. On a tangent, Brian is a friend of mine and an uber-talented musician and producer. Last time I spoke with him he had been finishing a decade's work on a book about every single Beatles recording session ever. Excited to see what the two of them come up with, but I really like the album as it is, so we'll see. God knows what the true story is with all the drama, it's easy to see only the clear-cut David and Goliath plot line, and as usual I am sure there are many more layers to it.
"Give us something familiar
Something similar
To what we know already
That will keep us steady
Steady -
Steady going nowhere"
-Fiona Apple - Please Please Please
1. Jason Falkner show, Viper Room June 9, 2005
Jason is one of my favorite songwriters, and he played with a new band at The Viper Room. He played a bunch of new songs, all of them were fantastic. Honestly, I think he could fart in a mason jar and I would have to seriously consider it from an artistic standpoint. He played two songs from his latest EP "Bliss Descending", and played a few from his "Can You Still Feel" album. I have seen him play a few times, but have never seen him do so many songs from CYSF with such a good back up band. I always wish that he had more of the harmonies from the record happening live, but I'll get what I can. This guy is what in conversation you would call "underrated". He's not so much "underrated" as just not really "rated" at all - nobody outside the L.A./Japan song geek subcircle even seems to know about his music and that's a shame. The stuff that this guy plays on guitar while singing is so amazing it literally bums me out.
2. Cinderella Man
Really liked this one. If you saw "Million Dollar Baby", (and didn't kill yourself) , but might have wanted the tried and true "underdog goes through the whole underdog thing, and eventually beats the odds, yadda yadda yadda", well here's your movie. Ron Howard usually doesn't start my engine so much, but this movie was pretty spot on all the way through. Won't destroy your mind with impossible to see plot twists, but very satisfying.
3. The Day After Tomorrow
Ahhh, where to begin. My friend Dan had rented this little number, and the other night we checked it out. Didn't see it in the theaters because I have a standing "no Roland Emmrich or Dean Devlin movies" rule. This was a reaction to sitting through "Independance Day", which not only made me hate the bozos who made that piece of shit, but briefly also made me hate all human life. Since TDAT was a rental, and cost me no money to see, it seemed that there would be no harm in seeing it from a "what the hell, the effects are probably good" point-of-view. Well, to begin let's just say that if I had been in the theater, I would have walked out, if I had rented it, I would have asked for my money back, and if I had purchased the DVD, I would use it to clean up "litter critters" from the cat box. I won't bother with going over all that was wrong with this piece of shit, because I had Dan smack me in the head with a hammer afterwards to try and erase it from my long-term memory.
4. Batman Begins
Pretty great. Not perfect, but easily one of the best superhero movies yet. The good: the character development of the first half of the movie, the explination of the batsuit, batmobile, and all the toys, and Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. The Bad: trying to pack way way too much into one movie, the really overdone "BATVOICE", the bullshit with Gordon magically knowing how to drive the BatmobileTankThing and fire anti aircraft missles. A good movie, but with all the build up about FEAR and becoming THE FEARED ONE and stuff, once he was Batman, it wasn't so impressive.
5. War of the Worlds
Nice to see Spielberg tryin' to get all Spielbergy. This is kind of a companion piece to Close Encounters, but where CE3k had a magical transcendent ending, WOTW ended a bit like a cold lonely stale fart. ...A fart farted into a lonely distance, and answered with only tears. How the hell can you end a movie like that? It never explained anything - the bloody vines, the aliens' motives, nothing. Just a big mystery, one that you couldn't give a shit less about discovering the answer to once you realize that the aliens spent a million years waiting for their big debut and somehow forgot to do the math on the fact that they would be killed by EVERYTHING IN OUR ATMOSPHERE.
6. Fantastic Four
No way, not even going to attempt this one. As much love for comics as I've grown up having, and as cool as the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF comics were, nothing can disguise the load of cockwash this one most surely is.
7. Sideways
Finally saw this, and it was as good as I'd heard. At this point, I really think that Paul Giamatti should be in every single film released by Hollywood.
It could only help.
So who won the bet?
I have returned. The last month has been a roller coaster, to say the least. The ups were very thrilling, and the lows were pretty harsh. As with most good roller coasters, it also has left me with a bit of a queasy feeling...
Our studio time with Josh Abraham yielded a great new version of "Teahouse of the Spirits". The music only changed a bit, we rearranged the song to make it tighter, and instead of the choruses being just the "Ahhs", I wrote words and made the "Ahhs"; the background part. At first, I was pretty skeptical about changing anything, but the goal of the one week Abraham session was to look at the song fresh, and make it the best song possible. Since we had a great version in the can from the Virtue sessions, we had nothing to lose. Now, I am extremely happy with the new version, I think that it communicates the idea of the "Teahouse" with much more directly. There is some debate about the instrument tones being better on the Virtue version, but as for the song itself, the new one is the clear winner.
During that week I began a bit of a personal upheaval. My girlfriend Riss and I broke up, and I left the house we rent and have been staying at my friend Dan's house. A few years ago, Dan took up residence on my couch for a couple months, and now I am cashing in my couch credit. I haven't been around the computer much except for small bursts, and this explains my absence. I am moving back into a little apartment in Hollywood, and am in the process of painting the walls purple. This weekend I will move my stuff in and build my new creative environment. Out of respect to Riss, I won't comment further about the breakup except to say that she is the most caring, compassionate, supportive person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I will call her a close and dear friend forever. The Panic Channel and our music wouldn't have existed without her vision, and she is well on her way to showing the world what an intelligent and skilled creative businesswoman she is.
I had a birthday on the 19th. Since cash was scarce, I didn't go nuts, just decided to do whatever I wanted, one thing after another. First it was getting a dozen Krispy Kremes, getting some coffee and walking around a bookstore (I got a really cool book on the making of the original Willy Wonka), then Dan treated me to a steak dinner at Damon's, a Polynesian-themed steakhouse in Glendale. Finally a trip to Sunset Strip Tattoo where I got thirteen stars of varying sizes on my right forearm. (The Left hand is held by the vines and soil of the Earth. The Right is free, and reaches up to the stars) Since I had no expectations about the day, everything that happened was a pleasant surprise.
While on the couch tour, I began to prepare for our second tracking session in June, this one with Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Hoobastank, POD). This experience was a far cry from the Abraham session. Benson operates on a completely song/vocal focused way, and he feels that a song should be looked at as an idea, and rebuilt from the ground up, and made as strong as possible in the process. This can be a bit of a difficult adjustment, considering that the two songs we tracked were the ones I wrote, "Half Hearted" and "Blue Bruises". Once again, we felt that we already had great "original" versions of the songs from the Virtue sessions, so there wasn't much to lose by working on the songs with a completely objective point of view; When you write a song, part of the challenge is knowing when it's done, when it feels right, and when to leave it alone. The past 2 weeks were an exercise in looking at the songs as what they might become by re-examining them and trying new ideas. I haven't worked with many producers, so I am trying to suck in as much info as possible and treat these sessions as learning experiences. I was very impressed with Howard Benson's musical skill and knowledge, and I feel that I picked up some really good songwriting mojo over the last two weeks. He is a pretty interesting cat.
Part of Howard's process is to live with the tracks we laid down, and sort out the best stuff, and come up with his finished mix, so at the moment, we have no idea if the new versions beat the old ones or not, ...we'll know in a few weeks.
It's been a difficult time; packing boxes during the day when I'm not in the studio, wearing the same clothes day after day, being really really broke, and trying to sing, write, and be as creative as I can while in the studio. A weird combination of the best of times and the worst of times. When things fall apart, you really discover how great your friends are, and how life would be so empty without them. Seems that sometimes you have to intentionally go through something really difficult to get to a better place. All in all, I know that in the big picture I am fantastically fortunate. I live in a wonderful city, have great friends, and am blessed to be making music that I love with people that I love as well.
To the American readers, happy 4th of July.
To our readers from the UK, thanks for colonizing this place, we dig it.
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