The Christening

I awoke in a daze as usually is the case to the sound of a whine from my little feline today. He would not relent as I hopped out of bed in a fury as I hurried to say no to his request. You cannot go outside because I’m taking a stand for waking me so early and I will not give in. What was I thinking as I surely am mad, but why not let him out so he could squat I should have said. I had it in mind that I would control his mind too, like a clockwork cat that follows my command. Boy, was I wrong, as I went back to sleep for just an hour more and I awoke to Jeep’s pee. Jeep is his name, the name of my cat, what the fuck did he do? He pissed on my brand new expensive leather couch! Ouch, ouch, ouch! Fucking shit! What the fuck happened to my plan that’s gone shit! I rushed to the store to find a proper stain-cleaner, and just as I finished my efforts I noticed more shit! This time, not just pee that I cleaned, but actual shit wrapped in a godforsaken lil blanket for me. Thank god it was all wrapped up, but I wish it were reversed. I’d rather clean bits of shit off this couch than puddles of kitty juice. Fuckkkkkkkkk.

Seriously, this all happened today. It threw off my day, kinda. I was pissed (pun intended). I canceled an appointment I had at 9AM. But it actually propelled me to get some work done earlier than I probably would have today. I spent a few hours preparing for a series of phone interviews I was conducting for hiring a Restaurant Manager for the opening of our new business, The Carvery.

I will be visiting my cousin tomorrow to go over my recently recorded music. I need to make some final decisions on the song mixes. This includes most likely wanting to record new vox for 1 or 2 tracks. My cousin is a full time musician and also has a business that he can help me with releasing my songs. In fact, he suggested I do this alongside the release of his new album. How cool!

Tomorrow night is Friday and I have tentative plans to rehearse with friends. Just like last weekend. If you haven’t read my previous post about this, the last rehearsal went okay. I will be looking to go into this next one with a few adjustments. Namely, I will bring my own amp, microphone, and cables. I will also recommend starting with a couple of cover songs.

The location of the rehearsal is at my friend John’s studio on 2nd Street. It’s not a recording studio, but a music school for teaching lessons. Although, I think John has always wanted to do recordings there, particularly for students, as part of a business plan. In fact, last weekend he had an engineer and new equipment for recording our rehearsal. But it was not ready in time. Maybe tomorrow he’ll have that ready to go.

I spoke to Antoine at The Compound regarding some final adjustments on the tracks I recorded with him. As mentioned above, I most likely will record some new vocals. But I want to make sure I have the vocal parts down and ready to go. This means I need to be in my right frame of mind as I prepare for this. I think the best thing I can do is just play every day. Unfortunately, because of how this day started, I did not make time to do that.

I am also in the process of reorganizing my house with new furniture so I spent most of the day on my newly christened couch that I would have otherwise avoided if it weren’t brand new and awesome for the comfort of my piano bench. Also, my guitars have been moved around and are either packed in cases or are in the next room.

In other news, I thought of a new harmony idea for the song Coming Home. The idea is a background choral harmony. Kinda psychedelic pseudo-gospel paving the way for some soulful vocal runs during the chorus and outdo. Did I mention this in a previous entry? I don’t think so. Anyway, Antoine recommended I test it out with a strings patch on keys, meaning I should play the notes as on a keyboard so it sounds like a orchestral strings, assuming like a cello. So yeah, I will do that. That sounds fun.

Also, I read an article on best times to release an album. I saved it for when I have time to read it thoroughly. Hm. Basically it said not in March (because SXSW) and not in October (because CMA). But this brings me to my next thought, which is that I have been considering recording more songs. I would love to do 10 or 12 songs so that I can release a full length album. But at the moment it’s not looking like that’s the best thing to do. The additional songs will take some time to develop, and I will want to nail them the next time I do a vocal session. I also don’t have a budget for more song material at the moment. So my release at this point is looking like it’s going to be an E.p. Although, as the article suggested, it is best to start promoting 3 months in advance of a release. So it’s possible I could add material during that time. I would like to set a release date in the next couple of weeks. It also said the best day to do release, somewhat officially, is on a Friday!

I could aim for February release, with the consideration that I’ve been promoting for the past month, or in May as that seems like a good time of year just before summertime. It’s also the month of my birthday! Happy birthday to me.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for reading. I’m glad we have survived the inferno that is wrecking Southern California these past few days. Wildfires have made our beautiful region look like hell on earth. I am thankful for what I have. But part of me is like, damn I kinda wanna go make some art. Maybe film the blaze. Another part of me is like, yeah, the world is suffering all the time. We should pay attention more.

I never know how to end these things… Goodbye is probably the best way.

Goodbye.