Another Quote

The most important thing is sincerity... and once you learn to fake that you've got it made.

Quote

We'll find who's the fastest
On the uptake me or you
For every horse that passes
Horse's asses I count two

--"Me or You" by Chris Fuller, www.chrisfullermusic.com

Webbed Fingers

I've been working a lot on my website. It's very easy to do, and I'm starting to create good systems of keeping everything organized. In some ways it's easier for me to organize everything online--I think it's the best way not to lose stuff. I have faith in the great server up above... or in California or wherever they keep the room with the big computers.

Open mic last night went very well. It was a big contrast from the week before when very few people came to play. There's a very positive vibe about the thing, and a lot of people want to support it. I'm going to get more recordings posted as soon as I can.

No Connection

My internet went down last Friday and was out all weekend. Apparently the Comcast tower fell down or something and knocked out internet service all over the Fraser Valley. They got it up and running again last night, but most of town was offline for the weekend plus two full workdays. I'm sure there were some people freaking out. I'm ended up turning in some of my assignments for my online classes a few days late. Being without internet is a similiar feeling to losing your cell phone. You feel disconnected and you also realize your dependance on technology.

Speaking of broken technology, the headlight on my car went out today. I know that the lightbulb came a bit before the internet, but lights still come in handy. The right one went out last night and the left one went out today, so I assume it's some sort of electrical problem.

Speaking of my car, I talked my way out of a serious speading ticket yesterday. I got pulled over for going 30 mph over the speed limit. The cop wrote me a ticket with a court date and everything, and I bargained him down. I told him I was coasting downhill in neutral in order to save gasoline, and that was the reason I was speeding. Seriously. He rewrote the ticket and now it's only a $40 mail-in fine and 1 point on my record. Sucker. I hope he doesn't read this blog. Sucker.

Speaking of sucking, it sure does suck to lose your internet connection. That last connection sucked. If it wasn't for your internet connection, you wouldn't be reading this. Sucker.

Mo Money

I just got back to the mountains. Hunker Down played a wedding last night and tonight Bobby and I are playing a duo gig at an Irish pub. Bobby is a great player, and he pushes me as a musician. He just gave me the sheet music for "Take Five" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" in D, and we're going to try to pull off those tunes tonight.

My Berklee classes are going great. I'm taking three, which is a big load, but I think I'll pull it off. Two of the classes focus around using the program Reason, which I'm fairly unfamiliar with. Reason is apparently a great MIDI program, and it's very powerful. I'm going to buy a new MIDI controller tomorrow that I can plug in via USB instead of a MIDI cable. I want to get an M-Audio Radium49. It's cheap and has what I need. I've spent so much money on gear over years. I wonder if I'll ever make the money back. If I had a dime for every time I spent a dime... if I had a quarter for every time I spent a dime, that would be even better. Hell, I'd even settle for a nickel per dime. That would be a lot of nickels though, and I don't have that much space. Dimes are better cause they're smaller and easier to rhyme.

Network

Hunker Down had a pretty big day yesterday. We played twice. The first gig was at the Ullr Fest Parade in Breckenridge. We set up an a radio station's parade float and drove through town jammin. At least most of the band was jammin. It was snowing while we were playing and my hands were so cold I could barely feel them, let alone move them, let alone hold a chord. I played terribly, but the radio station said they'd play our stuff and hook us up with some gigs, so I guess it was worth it.

After the parade, we thawed a bit and drove back to Winter Park where we opened a show for the Vince Herman Trio. Vince Herman played with Leftover Salmon and his bass player Cliff Starbuck plays with Ekoostic Hookah. Their third guy Randy Crouch was awesome, but he's not all that well known. It was a really fun night, and I danced hard. K.C. Groves from Uncle Earl sat in later in the night. Greg and Bobby from our band sat in too and did a great job. Everyone had a blast it, and it might lead to more stuff also.

Hunker Down is establishing its name more and more, and I feel like we're putting the band on the map. We just need to make sure that the music comes before the PR stuff. We have to put more energy into the music than we do in the promotion. I don't want to be Britney Spears.

Shredded

My throat is killing me. I've been feeling ill since last Tuesday. I've tried to sleep it off but it's not working. I'm debating calling in sick tomorrow for work. What is more important: my health or making money? Then again a better question is whether or not my health is dependent on me making money.
I usually assume that any illness I get can be defeated with sleep and orange juice. I'm 27 years old, and so far this theory has worked pretty much every time. I imagine that it will eventually fail. I hate going to the doctor and paying him $100 to tell me to sleep and drink orange juice. People like to pay for peace of mind. My idea of peace of mind is not losing my money.

Catching up

I haven't written a blog in a long time. It's not that I've been so busy that I haven't had time to punch out a few words on to this thing--it's just that I haven't really come up with any clever little wittisisms that I thought were worthy of posting. Here's one I read the other day.

"Even if you don't have all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want."

Open mic yesterday went well. Not that many people came to perform, but the ones that did rocked it. The crowd was really good and danced all night. It was the first time I've ever seen a crowd dance at an open mic night. It was a good scene and it's getting better each time.

Tonight I'm playing with Hunker Down. Paul, the former bass player for Slipstream, will be sitting in on bass since John can't make it. Tomorrow I'm playing a duo gig with Bobby down in Denver. We're going to play Irish fiddle tunes for a couple hours and some classy Irish restaurant. It will probably be a background music kind of thing, but I'm learning to enjoy those gigs more and more. The first few background music gigs I played, I felt like I was being ignored. I don't feel like that any more. I think that people are listening even though they don't let on directly. Besides that, it's fun to just play for the people I'm playing with and for myself.

I made a big decision last week. I was offered a full-time teaching job at the elementary school where I'm currently teaching part-time. I decided to turn the job down. I was very relieved the minute I hung up the phone with the principal. I turned down a steady paycheck, but I'm sure I made the right choice. I have a lot of exciting projects I'm working on now and I'm not willing to give any of them up. Also, I'm taking three more online classes through the Berklee School of Music which start next week. The last two classes I took were awesome, and I want to have the time to put into these new ones.

I'm going to try to write blog entries more often. There isn't enough random blabbering on the internet yet, and I want to do my share to remedy that situation.