Death of a Harddrive a new play in two parts

A couple of years back, my laptop stopped working very suddenly without any warning at all. I self diagnosed the problem as a failed hard drive. Despite my friends' pleading and apprehension, I decided to fix the computer myself. I have never been so nervous, sweat so much or seen so many tiny screws in my life. I managed to successfully replace the hard drive on my laptop and get it back up and running. It felt like a real victory. At that time, the true loss was the data on the hard drive. I was living from sofa to sofa doing shows promoting my album and everything was in storage. I did not have an external backup of my data so everything was lost.

As a result, I bought an external hard drive and another one to back that one up. Well, I must not have truly learned my lesson because tragically over the weekend my external hard drive died. I had just moved a bunch of files temporarily to that drive because I was out of room on my laptop and the other drive. In my long list of to dos for the week was the purchase of an additional drive to back everything up. Unfortunately, death came to my hard drive before I was able to do that.

I have lost music that I was working on, but oddly I am not freaking out. I am trying to work with the company that makes the drive to see if it is an issue where the data may still be recoverable. If it is a failure to the power part of the drive only, then this is a possibility. If not, then sadly I will have to start from scratch on a couple of songs. Luckily 90% of my music is on another hard drive which is still operational. I am waiting for the arrival of another drive tomorrow and I will back that 90% up onto that. The one good thing is that even if the drive that died is completely dead it is still under warranty so the worst case scenario is that I will be given a replacement drive.

As someone told me when my laptop died... "It is not a matter of IF your hard drive will fail. It is a matter of when."

Always back up the data that is important to you. It could happen at any time.

It's a broken hard drive. I know what to do. I just need some duct tape and superglue.

Duct Tape Version 2.0

I recently "finished" a demo for a song called duct tape and superglue. Actually a few people seperately said that this is a song they could hear in a movie soundtrack. It's an interesting thing to hear about a song. I've never thought "soundtrack" for my path to "success." oh and I really love using quotation marks today. Picture me making them with my fingers while raising my eyebrows.

Anyway, The thing is. The song has felt a bit sluggish to me...and a bit long. Despite hours of work, I made the decision to rerecord the song at 7 beats per minute faster. Actually at 6.001 bpm's faster. I know this is an oddly precise and illogical increase in tempo. who increases the speed of something by .001? Apparently, I do.

Yesterday I finished rerecording the lead vocal and I have to say that I am glad I decided to tackle redoing this track. It is going quickly and smoothly and soon to be done. I can't wait to share this song. It is truly a piece of my heart. appropriate to the title I took a few of the elements from the original version and taped them and glued them to this new version.

Duct Tape 2.0 or maybe it is version 1.0001

Flocks of Paper

snow covered balcony in brooklyn
Flocks of Paper
flipping through the air like birds
little burnt edges falling like broken wings
we closed all the windows and chainsmoked
pretending the smell was from our cigarettes

next day flags waving, so many flags
reminiscent of black and white images of Germany
off to war with a fishy smell in the air

Seven years of war
people disappearing in the night
people with brown skin whisked away for questioning
by men with white skin
never heard from again
torture
murder
lies, lies, lies
death of freedom
death of liberty
death of young men hoping only to pay for a college education
in a failing economy
failing foreign policy
failing war

prices growing
jobs disappearing
cities and flesh have burned
History repeats itself
what have we learned?

The clone gospel choir

On Saturday I indulged a studio wish list item by purchasing the Abbey Road refills for Propellerhead reason.
I mentioned these in an earlier post, if you recall. (scroll down if you don't)

I've been very fixated on the demo for Duct Tape and Superglue which is sort of morphing from demo to studio track bit by bit.

I played and recorded some mellotron samples. I then recorded backing vocals in 3 part harmony. The effect of the two together is this rather amazing gospel choir sound that gives me chills in a good way. It's like I cloned myself and took 9 versions off to choir practice....such fun.

When I started recording Sunrise, I approached originally from this place rooted in African Spiritual music but centered on the idea that perhaps technology can impose a sort of slavery and disconnection that on one level seems to advance society, but on another is setting us back in so many regards.

I took a break and stepped away from the album, coming back to realize that what I thought was done is missing a few songs.

right now the songs that I am focusing on are
-Duct Tape and Superglue
-God in the Telephone Book
-Chickens and Eggs (a re-recording of this track)

I know I promised an album for the summer, but I must be flexible and realize that I would rather have something with which I feel "right" and complete. I promise you that it will be worth the wait.

Climate Protester Attempts to Superglue himself to British Prime Minister

You really can't make this stuff up.
This is absolutely brilliant.
(read the story here)

In related news, I've been working on
a rough demo of "Duct Tape and Superglue"
I'm really happy with where it is going.
I will share when the time is right.

The Empire Crumbles

Photo by Carrie Thomas

I find myself coasting down toward the landing strip after frantically circling for so long. There were times in the last year where I consistently got 4 hours of sleep per night. I have been so focused on my music and my goals that I have not given much time to myself to just eat pudding and watch cartoons. So, that is what I am doing. I am embracing two months of laziness. Don't fret though, I am never completely idle. I am working on writing songs for the next album and I go back into the studio on the 24th to record a song which is brand spanking new called Duct Tape and Super Glue. Some of you got to hear a preview of this song out on the road.

Lately I find myself focused on something rather important. It's odd how this subject came into my head, but it involves roads and bridges. Having found myself in unfamiliar cities across the country doing shows I discovered one disturbing trend, One thread of similarity. The paint on every bridge in this country is pealing away, chipping and the metal underneath is rusting. There are cracks in every sidewalk in every city and potholes on every street.

This may seem like a simple little thing with no meaning, but for me it is a sign of a decaying empire. Our infrastructure, our roads, our rails, our streets are literally crumbling and not being repaired. We have focused all our money and resources on a war that benefits only the few elite involved for their own special self interests. Our educational system is falling apart. Our healthcare system and social security are a mess, yet we continue to funnel money into a war with no end in sight, a war that ultimately makes this country a less safe place to live.

Historically, the end of most empires came when they tried to stretch their reach too far, focusing their resources on colonizing and controlling descenting nations.
We have become so arrogant in our neocolonization of the world that Russia has initiated a move towards a cold war attitude against the United States.

The empire is crumbling as our landfills grow larger with imported chinese trinkets. Penny by penny, those trinkets are building another empire.
We have become a nation full of consumers as manufacturing jobs move overseas. What we think we are saving in sweatshop labor, we are losing in the end.
It is the way of history and the world. One empire will fall as another comes to take its place.

We need to pass legislation to stop overseas sweatshops and outsourcing of jobs. We need to stand up to our leaders and say no to endless wars that take innocent lives with absolutely no justification for being initated. We need to change our direction as a country if we are to remain a world power or we all need to pull out that credit card one last time and buy a good book. I recommend a beginner's guide to chinese.

The empire is crumbling.

Duct Tape & Super Glue

I had previously posted that I was working on a song for the new album called, Your Ghost. I am thrilled to announce that I have finished writing the song and its new title is, Duct Tape & Super Glue.

Yay!

Your Ghost

Last night I finished the 2nd verse and second chorus for a new song which has the working title of "Your Ghost." I am really excited to see where this song goes. Right now It reaches into something I've been feeling a lot lately, which is an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

"I know it's time for me to go, but I don't know where to begin.
I'm curled so deep within my soul
When I look for the sky
I just see my skin."

One thing has become apparent in the songs that have been coming out recently. This album is going to be a little darker than the last. I promise to poke little rays of light through the cloud cover. I will soak you with the rain, but I promise you won't drown.

Just row your boat gently down the stream.

P.S. Avacados + Boiled Eggs = Marriage Made in Heaven

Duct Tape & Super Glue

Photo by Carrie Jo Thomas

The first time my heart broke, it took me by surprise. I tried shaking it and heard all these jingling pieces and a strange clicking sound. Why do we think we can shake a complex piece of machinery and magically repair the unseen damage?

The second time my heart broke I bound it back together with duct tape and kept walking as if I didn't notice that the incessant beating in my chest had stopped.

The third time was a more complicated operation. The edges never quite grew back together and the spots where they had were weaker and so easily prone to giving way at the slightest signs of pressure.

The fourth time it fell out of my chest and hit the floor, shattering into millions of little pieces. A heart that grows hard and brittle is so prone to shattering.

I tried super glue. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, scowering the floor for the pieces that fit together, sometimes trying to force their jagged edges to marry to no avail.
It looked a little rough, but it would have to do.

The last time my heart broke, I didn't feel it. I didn't notice anything had changed. I just hugged him goodbye and smiled and walked away.

I ordered an English breakfast tea before popping into the pharmacy to buy duct tape and super glue.