Internet Joy

Back in 1986 I made a vinyl LP called Dwellings. Yes, that was the year that CDs started to come out and, you're right, my timing was impeccable. Anyway, except for using the "vanity press" model, I followed a fairly traditional process.

• Spend a bunch of money to record in a 16-track analog studio
• Work with a graphic artist to produce the "camera-ready" cover
  
• Have a record plant produce a fixed number of platters based on my nail-biting estimate
• Attempt to recoup the money by selling records through gigs or shaming friends and family

The results were not good in my case. I did not sell enough alto cover the costs. Every time I moved, I ditched a couple of boxed of albums. Also I was disappointed at the amount of feedback I got.

Flash forward to the recent experience

• I recorded one song on my Mac in the basement. I think the quality of audio was quite acceptable.
• I scoured the Internet for images and used $99 image editing software to create an online poster which also included lyrics, an embedded mp3 player (free), notes, and a link with which to send comments
• I sent the link to selected friends

I've gotten more good feedback from this production than from the entire record way back. It's not the quality of the music that made the difference. This is the most perfect example I can imagine of how software and the Internet improve a process. Not only is it cheap and relatively easy to make and distribute music, you are asking very little of your audience. Click this to listen to one song - if you want to comment, click that. And because it's cheap, I can opt out of the whole commercial aspect and just make it about sharing music.

Sweet.

New Song From Left Field

Those who know my brand of angst may be aware that I've experienced the mother of all creative blocks on the songwriting front. It's been 15 years since I've come up with anything. In fact, I just stopped playing the guitar for a bunch of years and tried ramping up on the piano. Still no dice.

Then, about a month ago, I started to play the guitar again and before long I stumbled over the start of something. Two tortured weeks later (it used to be so easy) I wrestled it into the can. Check out Those Days Are Gone.

Note to Self

I found this note I wrote to myself buried in some papers on the piano

Note to Self:
Admire what you're trying to do with no map, no guide, no mentor in the wings.
Be mindful of a few reminders...
There are thousands of phrases that launch off the tongue. They can be taught synchronized swimming. Forget the end result. Go somewhere where moonlight lathers the path. Gather your wits. Don't give up. Don't contemplate for a minute that it is not attainable. Because the cost is much more than your creativity- it really is your belief system. The atom is the solar system. We are at our best when life passes through us.

Beyond Coincidence

I was was watching a movie, Kloya, on the indie channel yesterday, about a Czech man in his fifties who, through a serious of events, ends up caring for a 5-year old Russian boy. This is the second charming movie I've seen in a recent weeks that center's around a Russian boy (The other is The Italian which I also recommend). One of best things about Kolya is the music most of which, it turns out, was Dvorak. There was a gorgeous orchestral piece at the end of the film so I made sure I found it in the credits. It was Smetana's Ma Vlosk (My Country).

An hour later I was at my in-laws and I sat in the piano room listening to Joe play. Next to me there were 2 crates filled with CDs. I pulled out one from the back. .... Smetana, My Vlosk.

What are the chances? I'd say very close to zero. I'd say so minute that it begs another explanation. Just when you get comfortable in your virtual atheistic paradigm....

I immediately went to tell Terry of this bizarre experience. As I told the story a funny expression arrived on her face. She walked over to a pile of papers she had be straightening up and pulled out a medical bill....from Dr. Smetana.

What's it mean?

It's like Nature/Nurture, Chicken/Egg, Great Taste/Less Filling

For a couple of decades or so I have ruminated over the mystery of inspiration and the creative process. At the center of this conundrum is a fork in the road with one sign pointing toward the sky that says "Wait, it will come". The other sign is pointed at your head and says "Get to work". I've always taken the first path since I have had the experience of creating things that seem to have fallen from the heavens. But now that I haven't seen much celestial light for many years I'm inclined to whistle a new tune.

Some of my recent reading makes the case for finding a creative path by combining loose rules and hard work. This kind wacky purposefulness is probably exactly what I need but it would be a very new trick for this old dog. I would like to belive that bringing the artist's view to the forefront could create new habits and pathways. Imagine if you had an ongoing project of building a book of quirky observations, rhymes, metaphors, and catch phrases - not for any particular purpose, it's just what artist's do.

When I was in high school I figured out how to make multi-rack recording by bouncing tracks on a stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder. I'd play something into the left channel, then the left speaker and I would play a duet into the right channel and so on. I remember having a blast doing this. Some years ago I learned enough computer-based audio recording to put together some decent arrangements of songs that I play. The results are OK but I noticed that the mental process involved in this work tends to kill any creative inclinations. It would be like trying to write a song while calibrating a gas spectrometer. But it's not just a right/left brain phenomenon. The fact that you have ALL THIS POTENTIAL keeps you from entering through the proper doorway. Instead of building a song from a rhythm pattern or catch phrase or harmonic idea you tend to waste time experimenting with tuba sounds becuase you can. This is a shame since the potential of a home studio is so great. So the question is can there a way to touch the potential but not the 440 volt buzz kill? There has to be a method that works.