Rough timeline for our usual Wednesday worship:
We show up at 6:15pm.
We are set up by 6:25.
Soundcheck and the solving of technical problems until 6:35.
Run-through and the solving of musical problems until 6:55.
Prayer and back to places.
Worship starts at 7pm.
If we're lucky, and yesterday we were. By lucky, I mean prepared. So the run-through was done early.
Our drummer is a keys guy who can point the skins on occasion, and he takes whatever time he can to get practice, as he has no kit at home. So, he took the extra time to hit a few grooves.
Second one was quite obvious to me. I knew that song. I've known that song for 25 years. So I start playing my part. F# minor, A major, D major 6, in a clean and trebly tone.
And the other guitarist joined in.
When it was over, the drummer claimed he didn't know he was playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. But that's what we were playing, and playing well.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
No Cool Songs On The Car Radio.....
Listening to XM. X Country (Pron: "Cross Country") played a song, like they're wont to do. Mike McClure, "Everything's Upside Down".
It's the best song Tom Petty never recorded.
I've never heard it on the radio.
It's the best song Tom Petty never recorded.
I've never heard it on the radio.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Oooh! Shiny!
It's been too long since I've done a gear post.
That's a good-un, ain't it? About half again the most I'd ever expect to pay for a guitar, but dang it's pretty. Part of me thinks that if I'm gonna get a metal guitar, I should go ahead and put in a resonator. The rest of me says no, but you really need to have a palm tree sandblasted onto the back.
I'm curious about the sound, though. Whether it sounds like a wooden guitar. Certainly the pickups provide more of the sound than anything else, though.
Some Trussarts come with 3-piece compensated GraphTech Ghost bridges. Wouldn't you want to rock something like this into a MIDI rig?
This one I saw in an ad for Leslie cabs for guitars. A very LesterCaster guitar for setup, and a very sweet paintjob on top of that. I don't really want a Lestercaster, but doesn't this look sharp?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
They Weren't County When Country Wasn't Alt
But, you know Dave, as I write this, it occurs to me that I really have no clue as to the boundaries of what be alt. country.
Well, Jack, I've been thinking long and hard about it. And I've generated some ideas. I'll get into the greater Americana deal in a moment, but first we'll get to the smallest definition of Alt Country. The five essentials, plus some connections.
Uncle Tupelo, and the two offshoot band, Son Volt and Wilco. The band formed by their roadie and spare guitarist, the Bottle Rockets. The Jayhawks. The supergroup containing members of Wilco and the Jayhawks, Golden Smog. The third group contributing songwriters to the Smog, Soul Asylum, which only occasionally leans into this genre, but we'll put them in anyway, just for now. And Whiskeytown, which kinda came later and kinda don't fit in this.
I made a mix for the way home yesterday, and between Brian Henneman and Chrome Dreams, I figured it out. All of the above bands, have Neil Young as their primary inspiration. 1970s Neil Young, the Neil from Decade and Rust Never Sleeps. Not Gram Parsons. Not the Flatlanders. Not Waylon Jennings. Not Buck Owens. It's all on Neil Young. There's other influences, of course, but they come from the rock side, I think. UT plays CCR's "Effigy" for the No Alternative sampler, but they play it like Neil would. When they did March 16-20. 1992, they didn't play bluegrass, they didn't play really folky, they played strummy Neil Young style.
As time went on, they expanded their styles. Much less Neil in Anodyne than Still Feel Gone, for example. And when they did country covers, like Soul Asylum doing "Cocaine Blues" and Tupelo doing "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" with Joe Ely, they're trying to get that sound more. I've been listening to more Waylon these days, and I'd be hard pressed to say how their arrangement differed from Waylon's. The bass was certainly root-fifth and way out in front.
But that brings me to the other part. These bands didn't go to LA and get caught up in that scene like Neil did. They didn't go to Nashville and get day jobs at MCA and play bar gigs on Lower Broadway until they got drawn into the Music City machinery, like the Waylon song describes. They set up their own gigs until they signed to minors, toured small gigs until they got enough following to jump to the majors. They didn't do it like Hank. They did it like Hank! Rather, more like REM. They did it like a college-rock band from the 80s, which really is what they were. Alt Country is a heresy of Rock, not Country.
Not that this was the only influence on these guys.
Well, Jack, I've been thinking long and hard about it. And I've generated some ideas. I'll get into the greater Americana deal in a moment, but first we'll get to the smallest definition of Alt Country. The five essentials, plus some connections.
Uncle Tupelo, and the two offshoot band, Son Volt and Wilco. The band formed by their roadie and spare guitarist, the Bottle Rockets. The Jayhawks. The supergroup containing members of Wilco and the Jayhawks, Golden Smog. The third group contributing songwriters to the Smog, Soul Asylum, which only occasionally leans into this genre, but we'll put them in anyway, just for now. And Whiskeytown, which kinda came later and kinda don't fit in this.
I made a mix for the way home yesterday, and between Brian Henneman and Chrome Dreams, I figured it out. All of the above bands, have Neil Young as their primary inspiration. 1970s Neil Young, the Neil from Decade and Rust Never Sleeps. Not Gram Parsons. Not the Flatlanders. Not Waylon Jennings. Not Buck Owens. It's all on Neil Young. There's other influences, of course, but they come from the rock side, I think. UT plays CCR's "Effigy" for the No Alternative sampler, but they play it like Neil would. When they did March 16-20. 1992, they didn't play bluegrass, they didn't play really folky, they played strummy Neil Young style.
As time went on, they expanded their styles. Much less Neil in Anodyne than Still Feel Gone, for example. And when they did country covers, like Soul Asylum doing "Cocaine Blues" and Tupelo doing "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" with Joe Ely, they're trying to get that sound more. I've been listening to more Waylon these days, and I'd be hard pressed to say how their arrangement differed from Waylon's. The bass was certainly root-fifth and way out in front.
But that brings me to the other part. These bands didn't go to LA and get caught up in that scene like Neil did. They didn't go to Nashville and get day jobs at MCA and play bar gigs on Lower Broadway until they got drawn into the Music City machinery, like the Waylon song describes. They set up their own gigs until they signed to minors, toured small gigs until they got enough following to jump to the majors. They didn't do it like Hank. They did it like Hank! Rather, more like REM. They did it like a college-rock band from the 80s, which really is what they were. Alt Country is a heresy of Rock, not Country.
Not that this was the only influence on these guys.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Oh My Goodness!
I am working on another Alt-Country post. I will get to that later. Right now, I just must vent.
Driving the Speed Limit on an Interstate Highway is Dangerous
Normally, I commute at 75 MPH, but the last couple of days, I've been going down to 70, trying to up the gas mileage. And I spent most of my time looking in the rear-view. Especially when the guy from Ohio who looked like Horatio Sans dressed up as Mario — Mason, if his license plate is any indicator — who wanted to drive his mini-van into my trunk.
People, if you want to be in the slow lane, drive like it's the freakin' slow lane!
I thought about pulling onto the shoulder. I thought about moving to the fast lane and standing on the brakes. I finally took an exit just to get the guy out from behind me. What kind of ass-holistic driving is that?
Driving the Speed Limit on an Interstate Highway is Dangerous
Normally, I commute at 75 MPH, but the last couple of days, I've been going down to 70, trying to up the gas mileage. And I spent most of my time looking in the rear-view. Especially when the guy from Ohio who looked like Horatio Sans dressed up as Mario — Mason, if his license plate is any indicator — who wanted to drive his mini-van into my trunk.
People, if you want to be in the slow lane, drive like it's the freakin' slow lane!
I thought about pulling onto the shoulder. I thought about moving to the fast lane and standing on the brakes. I finally took an exit just to get the guy out from behind me. What kind of ass-holistic driving is that?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Huh?
There's a Song Meanings page for Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Screw You, We're From Texas".
Wanna know what that song means?
It means "We're from Texas, so screw you!"
It's really not that hard.
I'm not from Texas, so I guess "screw me", but he does have a point. I mean, Mr. Stevie Ray Vaughn is the best there was, and there is no band cooler than the 13th Floor Elevators.
Wanna know what that song means?
It means "We're from Texas, so screw you!"
It's really not that hard.
I'm not from Texas, so I guess "screw me", but he does have a point. I mean, Mr. Stevie Ray Vaughn is the best there was, and there is no band cooler than the 13th Floor Elevators.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
... She should at least find you handy
This is something that recently came up, and maybe you'll benefit from this.
There's a local coffeeshop. They host shows, including a band a friend plays in. I've seen them there twice. This was also where I saw Chaconne Klaverenga.
They have a mailing list, through which they announce their upcoming events.
I signed up.
When the first mailing came, it came to me, to Johnny, to Clem, to Jenny, to Anne, to Trey.... Basically, there was a big list of email addresses, and she put them in the To: line of Gmail and pressed send.
And now I have dozens of email addresses of people that I could now spam, if I was the scum of the earth.
Here's the trick – BCC. It stands for Blind Carbon Copy. If you send something out with someone BCCd, that person receives it without it being addressed to him. If you send something out with two people BCCd, neither can tell that the other was sent it.
Just a tip from your old friend Sans.
There's a local coffeeshop. They host shows, including a band a friend plays in. I've seen them there twice. This was also where I saw Chaconne Klaverenga.
They have a mailing list, through which they announce their upcoming events.
I signed up.
When the first mailing came, it came to me, to Johnny, to Clem, to Jenny, to Anne, to Trey.... Basically, there was a big list of email addresses, and she put them in the To: line of Gmail and pressed send.
And now I have dozens of email addresses of people that I could now spam, if I was the scum of the earth.
Here's the trick – BCC. It stands for Blind Carbon Copy. If you send something out with someone BCCd, that person receives it without it being addressed to him. If you send something out with two people BCCd, neither can tell that the other was sent it.
Subject: My Coming Midwest Tour!
From: Sans Direction <foo@gmail.com>
To: Sans Direction <foo@gmail.com>
BCC: everybody@gmail.com, I_know@gmail.com Just a tip from your old friend Sans.
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