Music » One Off

New Song: Another Day Goes By

May 232010

Happy Lostmas everyone! Let's all gather round the TV and sing "Jungle Bells." I would be watching Lost when it starts in 5 minutes, but I hate commercials, so I have to fill my time with other things for the next hour so my Tivo can build up a good buffer in order to skip said commercials. So I figured it was time to release another song!

Those of you who follow my blog will note that I have repeatedly, over the last several months, talked about getting back to writing music in my monthly resolution updates. Well, I was not blowing smoke, as they say. I have, in fact, been writing music. I've written a couple of minute-long pieces for podcast or audiobooks, but I also wrote a full song…the first I've written in a couple of years.

I liked this one enough that I decided it deserved the full-up treatment. Well, at least the full-up treatment that could be provided without actually spending any money. So, for the last couple of months, I've been orchestrating, recording, editing, and mixing the song, and I finished it today. I have to say…I'm really proud of the quality of the production on this one.

I think I've also decided that sometime in the future I'm going to release a CD called One Man Band with all of the tracks that I've recorded entirely by myself. This would certainly be on the CD. I played all the instruments, did all the vocals, and completed the whole thing here in my apartment. (Can I just tell you how much I love the democratization of recording equipment? The home studio has been a godsend to me.) This is the sixth or seventh song that I've produced over the last 5 years or so that was done by me at home. That's almost enough for a real album. Keep an eye out for that… :)

Anyway: the song.

I have discussed on my blog often the difficulty I've had transitioning into an "adult" life. I struggle with the regularity and monotony of it all. That was one of the few nice things about being a gypsy performer. If I didn't like a situation, I knew I only had to tough it out a few months, then I'd move on to something else. But now that I have a big-boy job in the real world, the sameness of life gets to me a little. I feel like I'm so busy going about my life that my life is actually passing me by. There are so many things I want to do and try and experience that I can't when I'm sitting behind a computer screen, making money for someone else.

I've found that many people my age (or, to be honest, younger, since I got a late start in the workforce) are struggling with the same sort of thing. We've had a rough realization that we can't, in fact, "be anything you want to be." That sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get by. The things we though we wanted, we've all of a sudden realized aren't that important to us. It's been an awakening.

I can't speak for all of my generation, but I can say this: I've started to realize that what makes a life a life isn't what you do for a living. I may never have the kind of job where I will jump out of bed every morning excited to go to work. But life, true life, is enjoying what you have, not pining for what you don't. I may spent 40+ hours a week behind a computer screen making money for someone else. But I have my weekends, the farmers market, photography, music writing, audiobooks, TV, video games, food, an awesome dog…and that's even more important.

These thoughts and feelings were the basis of this particular song.

Another Day Goes By
Music & Lyrics by Matt Armstrong
Copyright 2010 Silly Looking Little Man Music (ASCAP)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

A takeout container
Or ice cream for four
Or watching The Simpsons
Stretched out on the floor
Walking the dog at 11PM
It's raining again
People walk by me with nothing to say
A nod or a smile as they pass on their way
And another day goes by

Up every morning
At 7AM
The daily ablutions
Repeated again
40 more years left
Of selling my soul
Too young to get old
Another long meeting where nothing gets done
Another long day when I don't see the sun
And another day goes by

Didn't sign up for living life
Without a life to speak of
Didn't agree to pain
With only muted hues
Wanted to be someone
Accomplish something
Bigger than myself
Knew that I'd never lose
By living the life I choose

Curled in the lap
Of the luxury life
Watching the pictures
Of torment and strife
Flickering light of disaster removed
And nothing to do
So many roads open, more choices ahead
The ones in the past, too far past to retread
Still searching for something that I've yet to find
Still stumbling along, out of breath and half-blind
But never refusing a laugh or a cry
And another day goes by

We Are the World…Unfortunately

Music, Rants, Videos 1 Response »

Feb 222010

So, as many of you probably know, just recently, a group of popular singers got together to remake the old Michael Jackson & Lionel Richie song "We Are the World" in an effort to raise money for Haiti…a laudable goal. However, the resulting product was…well…judge for yourself.

First, for reference sake, the original:

Then, by comparison, the remake. (You’ll have to fast forward to about 1:30 to get into the actual video and past the telemarketing)

Wow. Just wow.

Both casts had groups of people who could actually sing well, and some who couldn’t. (Bob Dylan? Really?) But at least the ones who couldn’t sing were actually talented musicians and songwriters. But the balance between the two is way off.

Let’s look at the list of really talented singers…whether or not you like their work, you can’t deny that they can really sing:

Old Cast:

Lionel Richie
Stevie Wonder
Kenny Rogers
James Ingram
Billy Joel
Dionne Warwick
Michael Jackson
Kenny Loggins
Steve Perry
Huey Lewis
Cyndi Lauper
Ray Charles

New Cast:

Celine Dion
Jennifer Hudson
Pink
Josh Groban
Jamie Foxx
Usher
Adam Levine (Maroon 5)…kinda

I was going to list the really bad singers, from each one, but I realized that I don’t know 80% of the bad singers from the newer version.

But to really tell the quality of the productions apart, look at what happens when everyone is singing. 1984′s Quincy Jones was able to wrangle a room full of egos into singing together, blending, and not trampling all over the song. 2010′s Quincy Jones is apparently too old and enfeebled to wrangle a room full of far-less-talented, but far larger egos into any sort of cohesive unit. It’s like everyone in the room decided that they were going to sing a solo, dammit, even if it didn’t fit, stepped on someone else, or just plain sounded bad.

And then look at the folks in the chorus of the new version who didn’t get to sing solos: Brandy, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick Jr., India Arie, Gladys Knight, Katharine McPhee, Jordin Sparks, Robin Thicke, Rob Thomas, Ann, Brian, and Nancy Wilson.

Also, the 1985 version didn’t need autotune. Can someone please explain to me why, in the name of all that’s good and holy, they let Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain "sing?" If you can’t sing without autotune, then don’t sing. Don’t even come to the studio. It was just painful. And what’s with that moron, Wyclef Jean, who doesn’t even try to sing, but just scream-yodels the sustain of every single note. Or was that Akon? I can’t tell. (I didn’t mind the "rap" in the middle of the new version, but the rest of it…disaster.)

25 years later, and I was able to watch the original version of this song and recognize almost every single one of the performers, despite the fact that the original was recorded when I was only seven years old. I didn’t know who most of these people were then. But nearly every single one of them went on to have long, successful careers. Many of them still have decent careers…those who aren’t dead, anyway. Many could easily be considered musical legends. I don’t even know who 2/3rds of the performers are in the new version, but I’m fairly certain that Miley Cyrus, Julio Iglacias, Lil-Wayne, or Nicole Scherizingeramalamadingdong McTrashyPants from the Pussycat Dolls won’t still be performing 20 years from now the next time they remake this song.

Musically, there’s just no comparison. It’s amazing. 25 years of absolutely stunning development in studio technology, and instead of getting better, we’ve just flushed an entire generation of musical talent down the drain thanks to Autotune.

Hey 2010 cast of "We Are the World," I appreciate your intent, I really do. But that craptastic version of a not-particularly-great song to begin with isn’t going to get me to open up my wallet for Haiti. I think I’ll just go and download Jennifer Hudson’s performance from the telethon instead. At least girlfriend actually knows how to sing.

I wrote a theme song–from the 80s!

Audiobooks, Links, Music, Ramblings 2 Responses »

Feb 202010

So, for those of you who don't know, I do a couple of podcasts for my company, Open Book Audio. One podcast is a weekly installment of my recording of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. I release a couple of chapters of the book on a weekly basis. It's a free audiobook!

I also do the fortnightly Open Book Audio podcast with my partner, Andrew, and we talk about audiobooks in general. We also have samples of other audiobooks, giveaways, and an occasional epic rant or two.

You may also remember that one of my resolutions for the year is to get back into writing music more often. I haven't been writing much lately, and wanted to get back into it. Over the last week or so, I've been writing and producing some music that I can use for the intro and outro music for the OBA podcast, and in doing so, I realized something: I've missed my calling in life.

You see, I started trying to write something that was like the theme to NBC Nightly News or the Olympics or something. But as I got going along, i realized that I was being taken on a journey through musical time, back to that magic era where all television shows had immensely awesome theme songs–the 80s and early 90s. (My love of the awesome TV Theme Song has been well documented here.) Before I knew it, I had written an intro theme that was so quintessentially 1989 that I may have squealed with delight…like a big old 'mo at a Barbra Streisand concert. It wasn't want I had set out to write, but it was SO much more awesome. I was BORN to write TV theme songs for 80s and 90s television shows. I was just born about 20 years too late.

So, sit back, grab your slap bracelets, jelly shoes, and hypercolor clothes. I am proud to present, with no further adieu, my piece de resistance, the Theme to the Open Book Audio Podcast. Bask in the 80s!

Open Book Audio Podcast Music

The Good Ole’ Theme Songs

Music, Rants, Television 4 Responses »

Oct 052009

I love YouTube. It’s actually a bit dangerous for me. I’m not the kind of person who likes to watch TV on his computer. You’ll never see me stream the latest episode of Lost from ABC.com unless my Cable went out, Tivo failed to record it, and Xbox fails to publish it. But short little clips? Oh yeah, I’m all over it. Especially bloopers. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched the Friends and Will and Grace bloopers on YouTube.

Tonight, I was doing something that I do often on YouTube late at night: I was trolling for old television shows that make me nostalgic. I’m 31 years old now, ergo, I believe I am officially old enough to begin reminiscing. And in said reminiscence, I came to a realization. The TV shows in the 80s and early 90s had GREAT theme songs. They were catchy, they were memorable. They stood very well on their own as musical compositions. What happened to those? TV shows today don’t have singable theme songs. Instead we get Bones’ random noise as "composed" by Crystal Method, the teeth-grindingly annoying So You Think You Can Dance grind-fest, and the omnipresent Law and Order Bass Guitarfest. The only modern theme song that I would consider even remotely singable is the one for The Biggest Loser, but the woman singing that song has her voice so stuck in her throat it makes my gonads hurt to listen to her.

So, in order to help you both reminisce about some older television shows, to demonstrate the value of the cultural vault called YouTube, and to help prove my point about television theme songs, let me offer up some of my favorites:

First, from the TV Show Blossom

Great theme song…even though I desperately wanted to slap Blossom every single time I saw that scene of her tap-dancing on the grand piano. If I ever catch someone tap dancing on a shiny black grand piano in real life, I will personally break each and every one of his or her toes.

Then there’s perhaps one of the greatest theme songs of all time: Perfect Strangers

Don’t be ree-deek-you-lus! Makes me miss Meepos all over again.

And, of course, let’s not forget the Disney Cartoons…

The Secret of Gummi Beary Juice? *ahem* Anyway, the harmony on the chorus of this theme song was where I first learned how to sing in harmony. I just love the higher harmony soaring over the chorus

And, of course, who can forget about The Facts of Life

Did anyone else notice that Jo looks like Jillian from The Biggest Loser?

And even the rap song theme songs were "chillin’ out, maxin’ relaxin’ all cool"

Ugh. Thank goodness Will Smith moved past the flat-top hair phase. Also, thank heavens that the neon color scheme of the early 90s is dead. Hypercolor Lime Green T-Shirts were not a good luck for anyone…not least of which a Casper-The-Ghost pale red head with an inferiority complex. Also, this theme song version seems longer than the one I remember from when I watched the show.

And last, but certainly not least, the best TV Theme Song ever written: The Greatest American Hero

This show was before my time, certainly, but this song just makes me unbelievably happy every single time I hear it. It even makes me happy to hear the George Costanza version from Seinfeld.

I miss good TV theme songs. I miss that feeling of running into the room when the strains of the theme song start playing, and settling down on the couch to watch my show.

Ah well. At least I have a Tivo now, so I don’t have to listen to the crap that masquerades as a theme song. (P.S., can’t you just imagine me in 50 years as a crotchety old man: "In my day, we had theme songs with melody. Not like this crap on TV nowadays!")

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video

Funny, Music, Videos 1 Response »

Jun 012009

This has been making the rounds on the interwebs. If you haven’t seen it yet, you absolutely must.

The One-Dog Show

Funny, Music, Videos 1 Response »

May 072009

This is so cute…

New Song – Marginalized

Music 3 Responses »

May 052009

Believe it or not, Matt has released a new song. This is the first new song that I have written in probably about six or seven years—if you don’t consider me arranging all those hymns (which I don’t, since I didn’t write the hymns). I wrote this song sometime during the fall of 2008, and just had it sitting around for several months before I had the time to sit down and do the production. Some new software, a week’s vacation from school, and a few sleep-deprived nights, and this is the result. Considering I did the entire things myself from beginning to end, I haven’t sung for reals in about two years, and I’m really out of practice, it’s not too shabby.

I wrote this a couple of months after my friend Clark came to visit me while he was on tour here in Seattle. It was great to see Clark, who has always been one of those people you just can’t help but liking. He’s always happy and gregarious, sickeningly attractive, and always full of energy. He was on tour with the National Tour of Disney’s High School Musical (which I find hilarious, because he was 31 at the time…). In between shows, I picked him up at the theatre, and we drove to Pioneer Square for some food. Over dinner, we got to talking about some fairly deep topics (as I am often wont to do), and in response to one of my cryptic, self-deprecating, and barely concealed attempts at fishing for a complement/reassurance, he said something that stuck with me. He said that he hated seeing me feel marginalized.

It wasn’t until that point in my life that I realized that’s really what I was struggling with. It was probably the best classification of a lot of my personal struggles over the last several years. I have always felt like I was on the fringes of life watching everyone else partake and enjoy while I got left behind. Whether or not that’s true, it’s how I felt, and in some cases, still feel. In fact, that one little statement even prompted me to write a blog post about that very subject. That conversation down in De Nunzio’s basement restaurant in Pioneer Square over some Italian food has stuck with me. So, thanks, Clark. You got me writing music again!

Also of note, this is the very first time a song I’ve recorded features me playing the guitar. It took me for-freakin’-even to record the little bit I did, but hey, it’s progress, right?

So, here’s the new song: Marginalized. If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself. Loves!

Marginalized
Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Instruments, Programming, Engineering, Mixing, Mastering by Matt Armstrong
Copyright © 2009 Silly Looking Little Man Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved.

Don’t know quite what to say
Or where to begin
How to hold my head high
With the walls caving in
See, I never intended to break my own heart
But this storybook life only has enough room
For another bit part

CHORUS
On the margins
Looking outside in
At the story where the good guy wins
Another gallant knight wins his lady fair
But the story’s not there
In the margins

Well I’m damned if I do
And I’m damned if I don’t
I’m stuck in the margins of life
Taking notes
You just can’t understand
And I can’t forget
That the margins will not let me go
Not yet

CHORUS

It’s just a romantic fiction
This carefree addiction
Another fairy tale ending comes true
Do I face it or fight it
Complete re-write it
A story of margins
Of choices, and leavings
And fighting the feelings my heart didn’t choose

CHORUS

Insert Witty Blog Post Title Here:

Money, Music, Pictures, Ramblings No Responses »

Feb 152009

Well,well, well. I feel like writing a blog post, but I don’t really have anything to write. Don’t you hate that? I suppose that’s one of the downsides to a drama-free life.

I decided last Sunday that the week that just completed would be the week of no drama. I don’t really have many interactions with people outside of work, so I knew my drama wasn’t going to come from that. But usually, some injustice, some act of supreme stupidity, some additional proof that the universe hates me–they have a tendency to get me, shall we say, a little over-emotional. Considering how easily I am catapulted into the realm of apoplexy, I suppose the fact that I made it through the week without launching into one of my trademark rants is a relatively significant feat.

The problem with a life free of drama (if there is a problem with it) is that it tends to be pretty boring. A few highlights of a dull life.

I went to the mall four times this week. I took my guitar in for repair. Went to pick it up, only to find that the problem was worse, went back and bought another guitar (more on that later), and then remembered that I left my guitar picks in the case of the guitar that I took in for repair, so I went back to pick up some more picks and a capo. Each time I went, I purchased a Red Mango frozen yogurt–perhaps the best diet conscious desert ever. It’s a shame they’re so expensive. Also expensive? Guitars.

I’m really taking to this whole guitar thing in a way that I never have before. I’m really enjoying it. I guess that it’s been so long since I’ve been around music, that I’m really enjoying being able to get into music in an area that doesn’t contain any emotional baggage. Plus, the whole process of learning a new instrument is far more enjoyable for me than actually being able to play an instrument pretty well. As mentioned in a previous post, I bought a Fender Stratocaster on January 1. It’s a great guitar, but it had a pretty significant problem: the first five frets were seriously out of tune, even when the open string would play in tune. It appears that the frets are too high, or some such thing, so I have to have the guitar repaired under the Fender Warrantee. Could be a few weeks, at least.

I’ve also been meaning to get an acoustic guitar as well, as I really prefer acoustics for most of the kind of playing I like to do. So, I’ve had my eye out for one. I went to six different music stores around the area playing different guitars, and testing them out. I had a nice Alvarez guitar that had been repossessed after my bankruptcy back in 2005, but it had lain neglected for a couple of years, and I never bothered replacing it. I found a store around here that had some nice Alvarez guitars, and I nearly bought one, but I figured I’d check out the store where I got my Fender before I made any final decisions.

I walked into the store, and was immediately drawn to this beautiful guitar hanging on the wall. I pulled it down and started playing, and was blown away. I’ve never played a guitar that sounded like this one. I played for about five minutes, looked at the tag, and talked myself out of getting it. I went back yesterday just to look at it one more time. While I was tinkering away with it, the salesperson said, “We’re going to be moving to our new store next week, and our manager has told us to tell our customers to ‘make an offer,’ and we’ll consider it.” Apparently, they didn’t want to have to move all of their instrument to the new store.

I made an offer that was ludicrous, pretty sure that they would never go for it. He called his manager, and told me it was a deal. I got this thing for a STEAL.

I’ve decided to name her Jo. She’s a Seagull brand guitar–a brand I had never heard of. Apparently, they make some pretty high-end custom instruments costing tens of thousands of dollars, but they also have a consumer line as well. Jo has a solid spruce top, flame maple sides and back (with one of the most beautiful finishes I’ve ever seen), a mahogany neck, and even has a tuner built into the electronics of the guitar, so I never have to carry a tuner around with me when I play. But the best part is the sound. This guitar has one of the clearest, most resonant sounds I’ve ever heard. Her sustain seems infinite–it just rings on and on forever. It’s bright, but warm at the same time. It really is gorgeous sounding. It’s so much fun to play.

Unfortunately, I can’t play it as much as I would like to, because steel-stringed acoustics are much harder on the fingers than electric guitars are (especially when you don’t have calluses enough to protect said fingers…yet). But, I don’t imagine that I will have a particularly hard time meeting my new years goal of getting through all three of my Guitar Method books by year’s end. I’ve only got another 10 pages in book 2, and I’ll be on to three…and it’s not even March yet.

***

This coming Friday, I will be taking the day off work in order to begin moving into my new, smaller apartment. Part of me feels excited, just because I’ve been in this apartment for what seems like such a long time. (It’s not often that I stay in one place for a year and a half.) But, part of me feels a little sick to my stomach about moving into a smaller place. I live by Parkinson’s Law: I expand to fill the space available to me–and I’m used to the additional square footage and layout that a two-bedroom offers me. Plus, there’s just something unsettling about downgrading…even though I did it by choice and was not compelled to do it in any way. The American dream isn’t to rent an apartment, then move out and rent a smaller apartment to save money. It feels like moving backwards. Maybe if I could stop buying guitars (or electronics), I wouldn’t have to downgrade, but I don’t see that as happening any time in the near future. So, I’m moving.

In the last two weeks, I’ve taken four trips to Goodwill with carloads full of stuff. I have thrown away probably 20 garbage bags of stuff: papers, expired medication, expired foodstuffs. I’ve given away electronics like an old Tivo, an upconverting DVD player, VCR, and tape player. I’ve tossed all the old boxes for my Xbox, Playstation, Camera, Zunes, Wii, Wii Fit, etc. (No storage unit in the new place.)

Friday, I’ll be moving down a lot of the stuff I don’t want to pack and/or want to get set up right away. I’ll be personally transporting my recording equipment over, because I don’t trust the movers not to damage it. I’ll also be taking all my clothing over, still on hangar, and most of my kitchen gadgetry. (It’s really hard to pack kitchen stuff without wasting a ton of space.) Plus, the more stuff I can move over myself, the less time that the movers have to spend here, and they less it will cost me.

Saturday at 8AM, the movers will arrive and start moving the big stuff: bed, couches, entertainment center, dining room table, chairs, desks, keyboard, printer and speaker stands, etc. There will be a few boxes as well, but nothing extreme. Hopefully, by Sunday, I will be mostly unpacked, and will have made decide progress in wiring up my computer/studio setup (which usually takes me half a day every time I do it. I will likely be offline from late Friday night through Sunday, when Comcast comes again to hook up my internet at the new place.

***

Other than those two things, life has been pretty calm. Enjoy it while it lasts, I say. It’s about to become a whole lot less so in fairly short order.

Resolutions

Food, Health, Money, Music, Ramblings, Resolutions, School No Responses »

Jan 092009

I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m an open book. And I’m okay with that.

So here they are: the top ten reasons why 2009 will probably be a year of fail as much as was 2008. That’s right! My resolutions! Rather that be vague, grandiose life-changing resolutions, I’m going a bit more granular this year. Some of these are nearly done, so they’re almost already wins. Others are actual, quantifiable goals. Come December 30, 2009, we’ll see if that’s a better approach.

1. Graduate with a 4.0 GPA.

On June 23rd, I will be turning in my final exam/thesis/program project for my final class of a nearly two-year long MBA program. (It’s so close I can almost taste it!) Thus far, I have maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA through my schooling–something I wasn’t able to do in high school or college. Not that I tried that hard. Like that one time where I couldn’t find the classroom, so instead of asking someone, I just went back to my dorm and dropped the class. That was awesome. I didn’t really want to take Physical Science that semester anyway. So, anyway, I want to do this for two reasons. First, it’s just a personal goal thing. I want to prove that I can do it. Secondly, my dad, in his MBA program from the same school, got a perfect 4.0 in his program except for one class in which he got a B+. I MUST beat him.

2. Make it through the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Books 1-3.

Yes, I got a guitar, but that won’t do me any good unless I actually learn how to play it. So, this year, I want to make it through the entire series of guitar method books that I’m working on now. I think this one will be a pretty easy goal as long as I can keep with it. Thus far, I’ve practiced at least 30 minutes every single day since I’ve gotten the guitar. Yay me!

3. Buy a pair of 32-waist jeans and be able to button them

Ever since I was in Jr. High, I have worn size 32/32 jeans. In the early part of last year, I purchased a pair of size 33/32 jeans. Then, in the summer, I purchased two pairs of 34/32 jeans and donated my 32/32 jeans to Goodwill. Before the end of the year, I will fit into a size 32/32 jean once again.

4. Spend less than an average of $50/month on dining out

I live alone. I like to cook, but I hate to do dishes. I work 50 hours a week and spend 20 on school. So I eat out. A LOT. It doesn’t help that there are lots of good chain restaurants, local joints, and even decent fast food at hand. Panera, Acapulco Grill, Jade Dragon, Panda Express, Dairy Queen (mmmm…blizzards), Quzinos, Pizza Hut (one of my guilty pleasures), Taco Time, Acacia Teryaki, What the Pho (pronounced "What the Fuh"–best restaurant name ever), Whole Foods, Starbucks, even the occasional McDonalds breakfast sandwich. Last year, I estimate I spent about $2,000 on eating out.

5. Cut grocery budget from $400/month to $300/month

This shouldn’t be too hard. I throw away so much food it should be criminal. I try to shop for two weeks of eating at home, but I end up throwing out most of it after a week because I don’t get to it fast enough. So, I’m going to shop more often, but buy less. Also, in order to reach resolution #3, the $25/month ice cream budget will be excised, so that will help immensely.

6. Find a new job

I like my job. And lately, I’ve been liking it more and more. But with my new degree, it will likely be time for me to start looking for work once again. I’ve decided I’m really open to relocating, too. As long as I don’t have to move back to either Michigan or Utah (*shudder*), I’ll be fine. I have though about looking in the Georgia/Carolina areas for work. Somewhere a little warmer, but still green and close to the water. Or maybe Portland. Who knows. I would be happy to stay here and get a full-time gig at Microsoft. But, as I have said often, I didn’t go back to school to get my degree just so I could keep doing what I was doing before I went back to school to get my degree.

7. Make it through the whole year without buying another computer

I DON’T NEED ANY MORE COMPUTERS. I have enough. The only exception to this rule I will make is if I accomplish #6 and get a new job that requires me to provide my own laptop. Other than that, no computers.

8. Pay off all my credit cards…again.

Every time I get close to finally paying off all my credit cards, something happens, and I end up filling them back up again. I go to the dentist and walk away with a $3,000 bill. I have to get new tires for my car. My dog needs special medication for his skin allergies. I buy another computer because I "need" it. I want to get them totally and completely paid off.

9. Built a 3-month rainy day fun

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m terrible with saving money (see above). Due to these troubled economic times (drink!), however, I’m worried. There are rumors of over 15,000 layoffs coming at Microsoft next week, and I realized that if I got laid off, I’d be SOL so quickly it would be tragic. I don’t have a single month’s worth of rent saved up in case I got laid off. I would have to immediately abandon most of my possessions and move down to live with my parents, because I couldn’t afford to stay here and look for a new job. And since I don’t have any friends here, I don’t even have someone I could stay with while I looked for a new job. Not a good situation. So, using the remnants of my unused student loans and savings from reducing my ludicrous spending, I want to build at least three months of savings in case I lose my job at some point. Plus, if I have savings, it will prevent me from having to use my credit card when something comes up.

10. Write a novel.

I’ve blogged about it here. November 2009 is the year that I write a novel during the National Novel Writing Month event. I’ve already got a rough story outline, and will be working on the character profiles during the year. But this year, I want to write a novel. I’m sure it will be garbage, but I don’t care. I just want to be able to say I’ve done it.

So there they are: my 2009 resolutions. None of this "be a better person," "touch more lives," "change the world," or "discover a way to control nuclear fusion" garbage that I usually resolve. This year, it’s just a little more realistic. Should be interesting to see if I do any better.

Happy 2009!

That Old-Time Rock and Roll

Music, Ramblings 6 Responses »

Jan 032009

So, once upon a time, I used to be a musician. I have been playing the piano since I was 4, and I studied voice in college, and taught it at the college level thereafter. I worked as a performer, wrote songs, produced albums, arranged music for theater recording, and television, and, for one brief year, ran a company of my building that built recorded tracks for theaters that don’t use live orchestras.

Then I quit.

This year, for Christmas, I got a "bonus" of a gift certificate roughly equal to 3 1/2 hours worth of my hourly wage to any store in the mall. I had been drooling over guitars lately, so I decided I would use my "bonus" to help defray the cost of a new instrument.

I had owned a guitar once…back in Utah. It was an Alvarez acoustic/electric guitar. I was never particularly good on it. The problem with being relatively well-trained in music is that, when learning a new instrument, it can be frustrating when you can’t get the instrument to do what you want it to. Heck, I’m even a pretty good piano player, and I have a hard time getting the right chord progressions to come out of it.

I never really had the time/drive/money to take lessons or spend the time necessary to really learn the guitar, so I just tinkered around with it every once in a while, often wishing I was better at the guitar so I could use it to write music and/or record. (It’s much easier to carry a guitar or two to a gig or a session than it is a piano.)

When I finally had to declare bankruptcy nearly four years ago, I surrendered my keyboard and my guitar back to the company from which I had purchased it. It was the least I could do. And so, for nearly four years, I’ve been guitarless.

I decided that it was time to get a new instrument. Rather than getting an acoustic this time, though, I wanted to get an electric. They’re easier on the fingers to play, in my experience, and I wanted something that I could have at least a modicum of success playing. That, and electric guitars have all these nifty electronic accessories like stomp boxes, and amps, and reverbs, delays, and choruses. Any excuse to start YET another hobby that would tax the already at-capacity circuits in my apartment.

I remember going to Dickerson Music Company in Albion, Michigan. That store was packed to the gills with every single kind of instrument, music, and accessory you could imagine. They had a huge basement, an attic-y area, and the walls were covered from the floor to the top of the 15′ tin ceilings. You could get everything that this store: guitars, keyboards, recording gear, pitch pipes, harmonicas, whistles, band instruments, drums, PA gear, orchestra instruments, mouthpieces, reeds, strings, picks, tuners, piano tuning gear (seriously). I took my trumpet and my brother took his trombone to Dickerson’s for repair when they got damaged. They had a huge guitar selection, and every time I went in there (at least twice a month for piano music, books, or valve oil for my trumpet) I would stare at the guitars. I even remember the hand-written sign on the wall that said, "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN!"

But, I never got a guitar from Dickerson’s. I got a guitar for Christmas one year, but it was one of those boxed SEARS specials that you could get for super-cheap. The frets were high enough, the strings were terrible, and you couldn’t adjust the plastic tuning pins with any semblance of accuracy, nor did they hold a tune for longer than about 30 seconds. I learned a few basic chords, but it never went beyond that. But I always wanted a guitar. They were just so cool.

So, I figured it was time, and I purchased the guitar above. Isn’t she pretty? It’s a Fender Stratocaster that I got for a STEAL. (As in, nearly 75% off list.) She sounds great, and I remembered how little I knew about playing the guitar. So I got one of those self-teaching books with a DVD and a CD. It’s frustrating to have to go back and play "Ode to Joy" and sit through lessons on the difference between half notes and quarter notes, but I can’t find a guitar theory book for someone who is already well-versed in music, but just not in the guitar.

I think I’m going to hold off on taking actual lessons until after I graduate from school in June. The summer is usually a slower time for music teachers anyway, so I may have more luck finding a teacher I like. I just want a teacher who doesn’t want to teach me punk or heavy metal. SO not my style. I’d really like to learn Jazz guitar. (I also want to learn Jazz piano, but that’s a different story.)

I’ve decided that my theme for this year is going to be: Learning. I want to learn all kinds of new stuff. The last three courses of my MBA continue until the end of June. I’m going to be focusing on my specialization in project management. I would like to learn the guitar to the point where playing it is enjoyable instead of a chore. I am going to start learning a foreign language: Italian, French, Spanish, or German. I want to get Julia Child and Simone Beck’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and learn more about that. I want to take the remaining classes necessary to get Luke trained to do therapy work. I want to improve my web design/programming skills, and I want to become proficient in Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/and After Effects.

I’m going to be finishing school, but I want to continue to learn. And, eventually, to rock out. Now, where do I find the guitar tabs for Stairway to Heaven.

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