Monday, March 30, 2015

Oh, the things you find while cleaning!


Dead Media is an idea that has long occupied a corner of my brain (and studio) before Bruce Sterling codified the term at the turn of the last century. One look around the forgotten stereoscopes, pre-midi synthesizers, obsolete computer systems and video game consoles from the 70s that clutter my house is a testament to my interest.

Occasionally my wife feeds that collection by going to auctions and estate sales and bringing home items like this beauty, a late 1950's Heathkit CR-1 Crystal Receiver (along with two separate telegraph keys). Not to get all Doomsday Preppers about it, but the beauty of the crystal radio is they require no power source (handy if the grid goes down). Not that it would survive an EMP (unless shielded in lead), but it's look back at a time when the Civil Defense (CD) station marks were shown on the radio dial (as above on the right at 640 and 1240 AM) and "Duck and Cover" was shown in thousand of schools.



(yes it works, and no, it's not for sale)



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Capo (Diem)


In one of my earliest blog posts I talked about changing up time signatures to break out of creative ruts. It always seems to jump-start ideas for songs. Another thing that I do is to simply add a capo to my guitar and change the key. Songs that sounded familiar in standard E tuning, suddenly sound strange and fresh. Currently I'm mining ideas from the capo on the sixth fret (Bb as shown above) and also on the second fret (F#). It also forces me to re-think bass parts that now require unfamiliar patterns and passing notes.

Playing these songs live is going to require a set list with the capo setting printed in very, very large lettering to avoid a key trainwreck. ;)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Downtown (Akron)


Made my way out to Highland Square for coffee (from Angel Falls) and to pick up the debut issue of a new print magazine The Devil Strip. As a former ink-stained wretch (in a previous life I worked for the Cleveland Scene), Chris Horne deserves a large round of Kudos to for showing us that print isn't dead (yet).

Already looking forward to issue two!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Back of the envelope thinking



Thanks to the copious amounts of junk mail delivered to our house each week, I never have to worry about having enough paper to organize my daily "to do" lists. I also use them to capture ideas while driving, so there's always some in my car instead of index cards. Afterward, we recycle them, but at least they get a second use.

Also, yes, that's a standing desk -- we found the lectern at a sale a two years ago, extremely cheap (more recycling).


Standing and having my guitar(s) right next to me (and plugged in to the computer) at all times has been the best thing for my song writing and productivity!

Speaking of which, here some other links to hear/stream/buy our record!

Bandcamp (also t-shirts available), Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes and iHeartRadio.