So, it’s 2:30AM and I have a musical offering. I finished up my paying work early (now yesterday morning) and actually got to work on this literally all day and night. No, I certainly dont expect violins and someone to pet my head while I tell them how tough it is to be me, I mention this because I forget how focused I can become and to remind myself how much I enjoy that fact about art and music (so I keep doing it and don’t hide like I tend to do). Im sure the gray gloomy weather helped a lot too, and I’m ignoring that fact that there is water slowly leaking into my basement from an unknown source and damaging all of my things (that really need to be gotten rid of anyway and have been on a purge of belongings lately – so this is actually a fortunate thing).
No, for now, I’ll just live inside this moment of finishing a tune for the internet and its people. All 3 to 5 of them.
The tune is a tad experimental for me and I’m not sure what kind of music you call this. It reminds me of Garbage’s “Cherry Lips” tune, but I’ll let you listen and make your own judgments. My recording and mixing techniques on this are in dire need of tweaking, but for now consider it a “sketch”.
I totally didn’t expect this because I was up until 4AM yesterday morning (this morning?) and should be sleeping, but somehow ideas for lyrics crept up on me and forced their way into my notebook. I love when that happens! Besides I can sleep when I’m dead. This tune’s going to be a little sassy, so that’s good. I wonder where it’s going to go musically though. We’ll see.
I also have another tune I put scratch vocals to before last weekend, but need to add final ones and harmonies. That one is an experiment in the trip hop (?) arena. And it might be a failed attempt, but here goes nothing.
Tonight’s practice was really amazing. See, at Sweet Jelly headquarters, we have gone through some things. Our drummer left in 2006 to start a new life, my bandmate and friend Lance also left in 2007 to start a new life, and since that time we have been really trying to figure out who and what we are. Our songbook of 70+ tunes was sort of abandoned when the other members left because it just didnt feel right to play them without them. So we made 14 new ones. Well, tonight we all agreed to get out the songbook and have a SWJ Kareoke night! But what happened was the songs took on a whole new life of their own and maybe we all needed that break for that to happen. Oh I didn’t like it at the time, and was quite pissy about it because that was and still remains nine years of my life in lyrics and live shows tied into those songs. Sometimes some very personal stories too, but now I think I see a bigger thing going on.
Plus it was just really fun tonight. Too bad we didn’t have an audience. You missed some good stuff!
I had an AMAZINGLY fun birthday this year. The most fun I have had in YEARS to be quite honest. I felt so alive it was astounding. Big crazy adjectives, but necessary. I went down to Chicago for a girls weekend with my very close friends who live there and proceeded to laugh myself into a (literal) asthma attack. Yes. That actually happened. The inhaler needed to be used. You know that kind of laughter you SWEAR you are going to pass out from? Because that was a possibility too at a couple points. I forgot how much I love laughing, but this served as a terse reminder.
All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. I am incredibly grateful to have such caring friends and family.
Yes, it was a very different kind of birthday this year. I feel many changes are in the air for me. I feel very positive, grounded and light about this when my usual past response was that of fear and avoidance. Embracing my own feelings and being honest with myself has been a liberating experience. Apparently when you turn 37, you grow a pair and finally decide what you want/need in life and finally see what is maybe not suiting you. Either well, or not at all. Or at least that is my experience presently while I reflectively type this blog.
On that note, I leave you with some very inspiring music. These pieces are simply beautiful and have been favorites mine for quite a while.
These were sort of serving as a soundtrack in the back of my head all weekend.
Tonight I decided to post a little musical inspiration of sorts. The subtitles are a nice touch, and one I am enjoying quite thoroughly. Though they disappear midway and then reappear at the end with no apparent explanation. Weird.
I would like to see this opera someday. In fact, I think I WAS a gypsy in a past life. Not so much this one, but there is time I guess.
What’s not to like about gypsies? They traveled all over, sang, danced, had fun, had sex with wild abandon (probably in their circus wagons) read tarot cards and told fortunes. Ok I’m not into the petty theft part that is rumored to have happened, but the rest of it sounds like a sweet life.
Anyway, the vocalization here is quite inspiring to say the least, not to mention the theatrics. Bravo, I say!
