|
|
|
|
December 16, 2003 My cousin Judy passed away recently. She was an owner of our TwoWheeledContraption cd, of which there are not many. I don't like for folks to pass on who are partakers of the "WornOutShoes" experience. But I know there is no stopping it. I know she is in a better place and no longer suffers and I hope to join her one day. Rest well, Judy. I know I will see you Again... I just got a new Gateway 710XL with a 19" flat panel display, etc, etc. To make it brief - it's a freaking awesome, rocking, mega-computer. Technology like this would have been considered alien ten years ago. With this computer, I shall compose our CD design, install a nice sound card with which to produce better quality recordings, and update our website. Between now and then I am going to see my doctor about a lump on my neck and hope I don't have cancer. It's probably just a cist and nothing to worry about. We captured Saddam Hussein this past weekend. A significant event this day and time, to put it lightly. I am sorry and very grateful for the people who gave their lives and made this event possible. One day, perhaps those with power will forget we are separate nations and realize we are one world and stand together instead of plotting against each other. I play nice. I don't see why others cannot. We should all be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Consider,
December 4, 2003 Some problems seem big but if we could see how much worse we could be, they wouldn't seem so bad. I've hated my life but realize it's not that I don't want to live. It's just that I don't want to live like this. I don't think I will ever understand the human race but here I am and here I will stay for now. I hope you choose to stay too. With that - we uploaded another un-contest-winning song. It's called Peace On Earth. Go get it. This is a song we alllllllmost completed last year until 'yours truly' dropped a drumstick on the external drive whilst playing air-drums, imagining a beat. It was damaged beyond repair so we didn't have a holiday song last year. This year the song has been entirely re-recorded and mastering the thing has been a real pain. But as with all our songs, quality is not the goal. The idea and/or message is the goal. As long as you get the main idea, we are happy. We simply don't have the world's best recording and engineering equipment. So anywayz, wherever, whoever you are, may there be peace on your earth. At least for now. Please pass
the eggnog,
November 11, 2003 Today we uploaded Die Kittens. This is just me and Jack playing around in the studio. We wanted a happy sounding song with evil words. Thus die kittens. Nothing against kittens or animals in general, mind you. It just sounded funny. The file is a little over 9 meg so it will take longer to download. We were using Jack's new mic too. I forget what exactly it was called but it was really cool. We sent Don't Ruin The Picnic in to WRZK. Keep an ear out on Monday nights after 11pm. And remember: Art is not a precise technical illustration of our current capability but an expression of hope for tomorrow's possibility. Keep your head
in the clouds,
November 2, 2003 The new song is called Buttercup - go get it now. The lyrics are on the Lyrics page as well, in case you are interested. I'll tell ya one thing. It's an unusually freakin nice November day outside but where am I? Inside on this computer finishing the song and updating the website of course. I'm not in much of a talkative mood right now so I guess I may have to take a spin on my two wheeled contraption while there is still daylight. Hope you enjoy the song. Be good. Endure for
now, And now - back to dreaming of warmer weather, quality friends, and being a rich and famous band. Oh wait, we're already rich and world famous!......oops...started dreaming already. Back to my 8:30 to 5:00. Bleah
Take good care of your toes
and feet, September
16, 2003 With cement
smiles, September
15, 2003 Zimbabwe to ya, August
16, 2003 I've got a couple of definite needy songs in mind for the near-as-possible future so keep hanging out. With love and
shredded cabbage, August
15, 2003 In the "near" future (as near as I can make it) I will be changing this site a little. It's just time. It's also getting close to time to release another cd so I need to work on the design of that a little as well. I have a strangely renewed interest in my music career but I'm not gonna question it. I like it and I'm gonna go with it. I realize I need to write some more 'rippin' songs. It just seems like when I pick up that acoustic guitar to write something, it always ends up being depressing. And my electric guitar has been really ticking me off lately. Sitting there on its stand, giving me it's dirty looks. It is cruising for a bruising so hopefully for the next several songs, I will light into it, bang the heck out of it and come up with some good rockin' tunes.......or something. I've decided to enter a couple of songwriting contests so don't you guys make a mess of this place. We might have company and we want the place to look tidy. (Eddie!!! You clean off that music page this instant!) Ok that was stoopid. But seriously, it sounded fun and I might win something and it could lead somewhere so I am entering. I am also getting extremely close to having enough material to play acoustic solo and some local venues and am looking into that. Woo. Hoo. One day.................... Don't
terminate your program just yet,
May
18, 2003 I already started working on a new look for the website so it will be ready when the next cd is. When will that be you ask? Well it will be when we have about 15 tracks finished and ready for planting on a new shiny cd. I will try to update a little more frequently even if there are no new songs. The fact is, I feel a little guilty posting an update when all it concerns is my thoughts or activities in our lives. But hey, at least that might keep this place a wee bit interesting. I'm still dying for a new computer and sound card. RCA stereo inputs would be great. I guess I was also waiting to update until I got a good strong firewall and spam filtering software. I finally did and gee that made my life better. Folks with nothing but bad intentions suck. But sometimes I think the law sucks. The law forces us to wear our seatbelts (yes, I still think kids should or their parent should be thrown in jail), wear helmets when riding motorcycles, and carry proof of insurance. I can't help but to think freedom is slowly dwindling. With new technology comes new ways of taking advantage of people and later, new laws to protect people from being taken advantage of. And what about this insurance thing? I pay insurance on my vehicle for years with no accidents. When I have an accident my insurance goes up. But did it go down for all that time I had no accidents? How about a big, fat NO! There's got to be a better way. Perhaps the answer is to simplify life. As much as I hate to admit it, there are just too many things I am involved in that take up time, money and brainpower and with it the legal implications should I screw up. And these days, we are all slowly being required to be perfect, or else. Yes, I'm starting to wonder about this simple life thing. I actually planted a vegetable garden this year and did some studying on how to harvest not only the vegetables but the seeds as well. Interesting how the simple life is so complicated. But won't those tomatoes and onions taste good on a grilled hamburger! And for some reason that FooFighters song Learn To Fly keeps going through my head. Oh well. Give a little, get a little but be careful not to take too much. To quote an
old bluegrass song: Keep on the sunny side, February
28, 2003 We finally got our hands on a Fostex 16 track, 20 gigabyte hard drive, cd burner, digital multitrack recorder. The process is faster, the possibilities are awesome. Before I was coming out of another recorder and into the microphone jack on my computer. It was the only way to get our music onto the website. Now we can record direct to cd either in .wav format or cda. WOW. As usual, I would still like to modify the mixing and other settings but I am so excited about the new song (and recorder) I just went ahead and uploaded it anyway (or at least I will in a few minutes). I still think the lead vocals are too loud and punchy. I think I need to turn down the mids and highs and up the lows slightly. The drums are satisfactory since the are much better than they used to be. One of the guitars may be slightly too loud (the lead which plays through much of the song - the lead part itself is ok). When I play the song on the computer it sounds ok. But when I play the cda file (normal format for audio cds) in my car stereo, all these problems sound more obvious. The point of all this being I think the sound quality is better and I am becoming pickier - which I think is a good thing. And remember: This whole thing is a learning process. An experiment. Slowly but surely we are learning more, doing better and remember, we do all this ourselves. We've come a long way since "Not Enuf". (In case you don't know, Not Enuf was our first recorded song. The words were never written. We had a tune and we wanted to see if we could record it, upload it and download it. Since we didn't have words to it yet, I just mumbled words so we could see how vocals would turn out. Everything worked out ok but it was rather funny so we just left it as is - the first recorded WornOutShoes masterpiece - lol). As more people become more empowered with advancing technology, that's how it's going to be. People making their own sound, recording and promoting it themselves. View it as good or bad, I still think this internet/mp3/music thing is fun. If nothing else, I hope you can catch what we were going for in our songs and imagine what it might sound like if we were signed with a label and recorded by professionals. With that in mind, please enjoy LIFE MATTERS. Screw pride, February
23, 2003 In other news, we have our first song recorded on our newly purchased equipment almost ready to upload. Sorry for the delay. Maybe we can turn out some songs more quickly now. We already put the lyrics up if you are so inclined to read them. Click here. I've been too busy trying to get another song recorded so I haven't had much chance to change this place around a little. I would like to add new pictures and possibly change the design a little. We also intend to stop worrying about me ever playing a live solo act and therefore write fewer slow songs meant for an acoustic guitar. That's right. Time to crank it up about a third of a notch. Ok maybe two thirds. Or maybe a third and a half. Or more towards the square of the left hypotenuse divided by the sum of the parts. (don't ask me). Today I am feeling a strange kinship to Salvador Dali. The famous melting clocks/dead guy/artist. See the connection? Or maybe we'll all actually be less famous when we're dead making what we've done here that much more of an artistic expression. Won't that be great? I still haven't replaced the windshield wiper which was stolen from my vehicle a few months ago. I need a haircut although I keep entertaining thoughts of letting it grow out just to see what I would look like. I usually entertain those thoughts till I finally just get a haircut. Lately I've been reading more on wilderness survival skills. I don't know why. It just seems interesting for the moment. Part of me would like to go back in time and live as a caveman - taking my guitar of course. I would like to start way back there and live all this time, watching the progression of humans on the earth. They aren't robots but I can't help but think if I could only force them to see things my way, this whole place would make a lot more sense. Is that unmitigated gall or what? But I guess we all like to find our own way and believe it to be the sanest route to take. Oh well. At least the chaos makes dealing with life's matters a little more interesting here. Sleep well, January
26, 2003 So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Superbowl Sunday. David bought a new Ibanez geetar which looks cool and is fun to play. Jack now has his own cubicle at mp3.com - check out 1000 Mile Stare <---click there. (I think of mp3.com as a bunch of musicians in little cubicles - I dunno it just seems to fit). And Ben now has his own apartment several miles up the road. He said some woman was murdered in it so I guess he got a good deal. He hardly notices the blood stains and chalk outline. Also, me online bud and fellow Toad The Wet Sprocket fan Bryan Smith just started with the mp3.com thing. Click yhere. While you're there, be sure to give Wead a listen. Remember: Wead is wead. I on the other hand have not had things going so swimmingly. I dropped a drumstick on the external drive (external drive - bleah) of our recorder and it just hasn't been the same since. Makes me maaaaaad. But it's about time to toss the thing anyway. Since I bought it, the technology has gotten much better and cheaper. I also have my eye on a new hot rod computer complete with flat panal display at some point down the road. It will be much more geared for studio work as well. Because of all this we missed posting a really cool Christmas song and we now have a few others finished to the point that they are ready to record. I guess the good news is that when we do get things patched up, we should have several songs for you to sink your teeth into. Mmmmm - music. In other news, I got cabin fever. If it's gonna be cold and miserable, it might as well snow and be pretty. And I don't mean a wimpy snow that melts off the next day. I mean SNOW. Measured by the foot and shoveled by the pound. Yeah. Well anyway, that's an update for now. No new songs from us to post but plenty of music from other musicians of the world. Hope you enjoy their stuff. Eat soup, |