Happy Thanksgiving.

Because my brother had to work tonight, my family's doing Thanksgiving tomorrow night. But my landlord, seeing my light on, brought up a meal and a beer for me. Just one of those the-world-ain't-so-bad moments.

Actually, today's been pretty great all-around. Even though the turkey goes down tomorrow night in Connecticut, my parents trekked down into the city today, and I dragged my ass out of bed at the crack of dawn to meet them at the parade. Of course I got stuck on the opposite side of the street from them with no way to cross, but it was no big deal. I just watched the parade surrounded by little kids on their fathers' shoulders, bubbling excitement in 90 second installments as floats drifted by our viewing window, framed by the buildings on the corner of 74th Street and Central Park West. A quote I hope I never forget: "Daddy it's SNOOPY!!! Why doesn't it say MetLife on him?" A cautionary tale to any artist considering advertising as a source of revenue if there ever was one.

Went to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City today, too. It was, in every sense of the word I can think of, spectacular. And they don't waste any time in giving the audience exactly what it came for. The first full-on kickline came not more than 10 minutes into the show. So many legs.

And then I came home to a really nice compliment in a MySpace comment. Turns out "Triple Deke" is the #1 song on a girl named Grace's iPod. I can honestly say that I never in my life expected to to be told something like that. Funnily, my first instinct in replying was to suggest some other artists that are way better. But then I decided to just say thanks. Seriously though, it felt so good that I might even pick up the guitar again sometime very soon as a result.

but one inch the other way and you would've missed completely

there was almost another truck vs. bridge today on the northern state parkway, but this time i guess the truck realized it was a bad matchup and hit his brakes pre-disaster. nevertheless, it slowed down my ride a bunch because there were a bunch of cops trying to figure out how to get the guy off the road during rush hour. no big deal really, i just wanted to use the term "truck vs. bridge" again.

in other more relevant news (to this particular website anyway) i'll be posting "triple deke" a little later tonight to the myspace page. listen to it if you get a chance and let me know what you think.

if the past is any indication (and the past is always an indication) i'll probably make a few more changes to it (maybe add some keys?) before i officially call it done, but i kinda like how it sounds now and maybe you will too. it's going to be the first song on the record and probably the only one that'll even sound close to how i'll perform it live since i'm really just one guy.

so there's your disclaimer. enjoy.

it's not a long walk to my place from here

today is thursday, which means it's alternate street parking day where i live and my car needs to be elsewhere by 8:30 am. it's not usually a big deal because i work, but this week it sucks because i totally planned on sleeping until noon and when my alarm woke me up at 8 and it was raining i basically wanted to throw a temper tantrum.

so i hoof it to my car in the same clothes i wore last night and plan on finding a spot quickly, and returning to my warm bed where i had been oh so happy only minutes before.

but i couldn't find a spot after one circle around the block so i got cranky and just drove 45 minutes out to long island where i've been recording and did some takes on "triple deke." nailed it, dude. on the second take. at least, i think so. i'll have to listen again in a few days. but i sound tired and kinda sick and my playing is a little sloppy. if you're a dork like me, you think that's cool because the lyrics kinda lend themselves to that sort of delivery. or something.

so. it's raining in new york city, and i think i'm going to put myself back to bed now. this day has already been productive.

also in case you missed the memo sam ash still sucks.

break me in half and then step on both halves with spikey shoes

today i went to a sam ash music store to buy some new strings for my acoustic guitar so i could get to recording "triple deke" finally. let me say before i even go any further that i hate sam ash stores, and every time i land at one i immediately remember why i always swear to never go back. it just feels like something is amiss in those places.

so the guy in the guitar section has a really hard time finding the pack of strings i want even though i am looking and pointing right at it. then he wants nothing to do with ringing me up (strings must do nothing for commission) which i guess if it was the only thing wouldn't be so bad because i have done sales and the guitar showroom was full of people probably looking to spend money so whatever. the guy didn't want to help me.

so i walk with my package of strings to the drums section where three dudes are standing around calling each other gay. eventually they notice me and i get one to ring me up. when the register opens he stares blankly at it for about ten seconds (seriously) then tells me he can't make change for my twenty dollar bill so i have to hang on. he comes back like way-too-long later with a fistful of bills and hands me my change. asks if i want a receipt.

the only thing i wanted was to get the fuckshit out of that hellhole and i wasn't planning on returning the strings so i just said no and split. oh and i forgot also about how they try to get your phone number and address and social security number and mother's maiden name and blood type for a $5 purchase so they can sell your information to malevolent entities for profit. i told him no for that too.

it was a few hours later when i went to mcdonalds for a double cheeseburger (i know those will kill me give me a break) and realized that he had given me change for a ten and not a twenty.

god dammit.

so my guitar is nicely restrung now (although i can't find my wirecutters anywhere so be careful not to put your face anywhere near it lest you lose your vision permanently from the sharp string ends) and sounding sweet. i did a few takes but immediately lost my voice so i stopped but by the end of this week so help me god i will have a recording of "triple deke" that was done in one take and sounds pretty rad.

fucking sam ash. i hate that place. potty.

were they all just lost in the flood?

i've spent all day so far today listening to old vinyl records. i have a totally sweet turntable that i never use and a really warm sounding old hi-fi amp that i probably paid about $10 for at a yardsale because some yahoo got himself an alpine. old speakers, etc.

the point is that everyone who says rock and roll sounds best on vinyl is 100% right. i have all these records on cd and vinyl. and they all sound better on vinyl. and if it totally doesn't break my bank, i am going to make some vinyl versions of "they're more afraid of you than you are of them" when i finally finish it. from what i hear vinyl is a specialty thing, but is affordable in small quantities. of course i haven't really done much homework on it yet.

but let's talk a bit about the record, since i don't feel like i do much of that anymore and as i've been recently reminded, that is why i started all this writing in the first place.

it's coming along. not without its share of frustration (i just shitcanned all but the drums for "a viking's funeral" so i can redo it in a different key that i can sing better), but it's coming. a song is done when i am still proud of it 2 weeks after the last time i tweaked it. and by that measure, 4/8 songs are done. of course one of those is the centipede song and it doesn't even belong on the album and it's been done for years and it'll probably just be a hidden track but who the f cares? the other three that are done are "if these walls could talk," "i spin forever," and "new york city." i haven't even started "doctor, these headaches" or "triple deke" yet. that leaves "the loudest man on the laugh track" which is the one i earlier intimated might end up sounding like a william shatner song. at this point that is still possibly the case.

in a drawer here at my desk i have about 10 rolls of undeveloped film dating as far back as my sophomore year in college (which is like 5 years ago) and some recent introspection has made me decide to get them developed. for all i know they've expired or something, but they've all been in lightproof cases and all that so i'm just going to hope for the best. the point is, there's going to be a lot on there that's going to hurt to see. but probably a lot also that'll be really nice. and since none of them are labeled, everytime i do one it'll be a surprise. i hope whether nice or not they'll move me forward with this record and with life in general. not that i'm living in the past or anything (not that far in the past anyway) but these film rolls represent to me a lot of shit i've avoided confronting for a long time. i guess i'll keep you posted.

lastly, i know i've linked you to the ex-girlfriend project about a million times by now, but he mentioned the other day how "mary, queen of arkansas" always reminded him of "kara" (who so far is unquestionably the most interesting of his ex's) and that just came on while i was typing all this. on vinyl the way it should be.

i've got the mighty ducks on vhs

i'm writing now to give my throat a break and to let the house warm back up. i'm at my parents' place in connecticut, trying to record 'triple deke' in the basement with one microphone in one take. it's proving more difficult than i'd hoped.

see the thing is, the basement is super quiet, except when the furnace comes on. so you have to turn the furnace off. but then if it's a day like today, it's kinda cold in the basement and having the furnace off doesn't help much. in fact, the whole house is pretty cold now becuase i've been down there hollering for an hour with the furnace turned off.

so my voice keeps cracking like a choirboy's towards the end of the song, so i'm drinking some tea (celestial seasonings peppermint) and letting the furnace warm up the house a bit while i take a break.

anyway. hopefully i'll finish this song this weekend and put myself one step closer to finishing this record. it'll be nice to have the opening track in the bank. may your weekend be as majestic as the snow-capped rockies on the morning after winter's first gentle kiss.

ps: i might go to a native american gambling establishment tonight.

vrooom...

(later in the same day): so i guess posting about how lazy i am motivated me to be less lazy. i put a rough version of a song up today at the pulverradio site. it's called "triple deke" and i recorded it "live" in my apartment in queens (listen close for the motorcycle solo).