</lj-embed>

This is how I feel right now - like Gene Kelly in "Singing In The Rain" when he realizes he can save "The Dueling Cavalier" by turning it into a musical. Oddly enough, the scene in the movie takes place on March 24th. Today is March 29th, and a real horrorshow rain storm just swept through NYC, (just like in the movie), and although I didn't go outside to dance and sing - I was too busy writing this and I don't care for pneumonia - I could have very easily done so given the proper encouragement. 

The reason I am so happy? I finally found some work and worked today. I'm working with wood. I love it! My boss is an independent contractor who works exclusively with reclaimed and recycled materials. Today I sanded pieces of a wood tank that will soon become part of a covered outdoor dining area at a restaurant in Williamsburg. It wasn't the boring kind of sanding. It was the kind where you leave traces/an undercoat of the original finish...rock-n-roll sanding. I used to do this when I lived in Jackson MS. I was an antique furniture restorationist's apprentice. That was a lot of fun. Filthy lucres from the area..docs, lawyers would come to get their furniture "distressed". Distressing furniture is right behind playing music as one of the most fun things one can get paid to do. Today we also worked on a prototype for a Whole Foods produce bin...a slightly distressed bin. My boss is pretty easygoing. No warning bells rang in my head as I interacted with him. I was early for work. He was a little late and apologized. I like being the early guy. He's cool with me leaving early to play shows. Many of his friends are musicians.

Speaking of...Regia has a show tomorrow at Cakeshop at 9! Regia is a band for which I am the bass player and driver of the Winnebago. Shameless self-promotion is awesome. Anyway...come on down and we'll sing ya a song. I still need to massage a few of the pre-computed backing tracks on T.H.O.R., and now I don't have all of tomorrow to do it because I'm working! Yay! So until next time, web-spinkers, this is the gossip girl signing off.

 Being chased by a hit man would be no fun. Being chased by a hit man named "Atchoo" would be even worse. Every time a person sneezed you'd wonder if it was time to die.

 Sometimes I forget how awesome Gary Numan is. That is, until I listen to him again. Jack White's new band, The Dead Weather, does a cover of "Are Friends Electric?". I heard it. It's okay. A sort of mash-up between the their cover and the original got stuck in my head, so then I listened to the original, which I haven't heard in years. No comparison. I mean, I'm sure it's a fun song to play and everything, but really...on the other hand, I'm equally sure hoards of people will love it. 

Then I found this on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhqTFUYwm1c

"Embedding Disabled By Request". Thanks, jagoffs. Nevertheless, iffa you copy ze linka, you will be treated to a fine fine superfine live version of Numan's "Me I Disconnect From You". The staging, the sound, the performance...all top notch! (and richly so!)



In other news, Louis and I worked on ze recordings yesterday. I have to say I am very pleased with the way it came together. Still tweaking drums, then we have a few more overdubs including vocals, but not only is there light at the end of the tunnel, now we can even see the station. The haul is something like 16 songs. Easily the most ambitious recording project I've ever worked on, not just in terms of the number of tracks, but also sound quality, little neato details, and overall recording whooziewhatsit.

 Today I have a paying music gig. A guy named Milo is turning 1 year old and his folks asked me to provide live music to help celebrate the occasion. I am actually somewhat anxious, having never played to such a young audience before, and having been so busy with my own old people music, that I haven't yet made time to put together a proper set. Luckily, I woke up early and show time is 3:00, so if I really apply myself, instead of writing on LJ about applying myself, I do have a chance to arrange something that I'm sure will knock these kids' socks off, (unless they're wearing onesies, in which case socks are unnecessary).

I think that steering clear of material by people like Raffi should be Job #1. Nothing against the guy, but he's probably a pedophile. Kidding. On the other hand, Milo's mom asked me to play some country songs, and I didn't think that was a very good idea either - at least not the country songs I know. Vanquished Love, Drunkenness, Poverty, Infidelity, Despair, and Murder are not the best themes for babies, in my opinion. The subtleties are simply lost on an ultimately unappreciative audience. Pearls before swine. No, I'm taking the John Prine, Taj Mahal, Pete Seeger-y route, and for filler - sonic spackle - there's always "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Wheels On The Bus", "If You're Happy And You Know It", "The Farmer & The Dell", "Old McDonald", and "Bingo", (to challenge the audience's motor skills and allow them to participate). 

Bingo! Time to get to work.

Current Music: "Fish & Whistle" - John Prine

I just learned that IBM is dissolving domestic jobs and sending them to India. No big surprise, but the good news is that an IBM employee whose job is getting cut can choose to follow his or her job to India, and keep it. The bad news is that they will be paid in Indian wages. IBM calls it "Project Imagine".

Tomorrow morning I have my first job interview in, like, forever. But the real scoop here is that it's a job I was offered about a year and a half ago, right after I'd accepted a another position at another place, which, in a way, marked the beginning of my life becoming somewhat unhinged. The job I'd opted for didn't work out, so I was unemployed, and then my marriage didn't work out. Double bummer. But now I feel that, if I can get this job, it will do more than put some dough in my pocket, but will serve as a symbolic re-hinging of my life - picking up where I left off.

Speaking of picking up where I left off. I remembered the first thing that ever made me want to write about it, then allow random people on the internet to read what I'd written. I speak of the hierarchical relationship between vienna sausage brands at the C Town on Wyckoff. You see, at this particular C Town, they place the vienna sausages at the impulse aisles near the cash registers. Each aisle has its jetty of vienna sausage cans that extends in the direction of the shopping area. However, as their slightly varying prices would indicate, all vienna sausages are not created equal, and here's why C-Town is peopled by smooth characters. Only one brand of vienna sausage can be found per-aisle, and the brands are sorted chromatically by price. Please see chart below:

MOST EXPENSIVE
Aisle #1 - Hormel
Aisle #2 - Armour
Aisle #3 - Goya
Aisle #4 - Libby's
Aisle #5 - Parrot
LEAST EXPENSIVE

Naming your vienna sausage brand "Parrot" is just not at good idea in my opinion. You can't even compete with frumpy-ass Libby's with a name like that, much less with heavy hitters like Hormel and Armour. Goya gets a piece of everybody's action, but one has the sense that they're never truly married to the cause, so it's only fitting that they should be right there in the middle. Ah! If only the universe at large made as much sense as the vienna sausage checkout lines at C Town on Wyckoff, would not we all live more harmoniously?

 ...that only Flying Burrito Brothers can scratch.

The singer from Canned Heat...

...tried to sound like Skip James.

Here's the real Skip in 1967:

The Brothers Cohen used his song "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" in "O' Brother Where Art Thou?".
 Here's Skip's original 1931 version:

The reason I mention him is because his playing, though obviously what one would call "Blues", is so different. He never seemed to stick to any cookie-cut song styles, expanding the very genre in the process. So basically...I really like Skip James. Thank you. Good night.

Here, dear friends, is Elvis Presley, shortly before his untimely demise, singing "You Gave Me A Mountain". And though, like most songs in his vast catalog, it's not a tune he wrote, it's a tune he owns by means of his performance. Paid in full. His breath is short and he sounds pretty wasted, but all funny business aside, he somehow totally delivers the goods in such a sincere and powerful way.
The homemade accompanying slideshow is not too bad, either, except whoever did it renamed the song "She Took My Reason For Living" and there's some heavy-handed interpretation of the lyrics in the cut. But somehow, the video comes off pretty well despite itself, (just like Elvis on the audio track). The image of him toward the end, boarding the plane, absolutely chills me. He might as well be ascending the gallows' steps.

On the lighter side, The first meeting for "Cocktails at The Centre of The Earth" was held with great success this evening. The Frostberry Dazzler and I will be teaming up for a wild ride of music and mayhem. We already have an idea for one song. It's a tango (or perhaps a sexy sultry cha-cha? I shall not beg the question), featuring the accordion powers of The Dazzler, in which Rudolph Valentino tries to sing his way into the sack with an egg-stealing friend of Mr. Ed. 

Current Music: Jefferson Starship Blows Against The Empire

http://rolcats.wordpress.com/