Ah the wind and the cold of a Chicago winter. Good for hunkering down, reconnecting with old friends, rediscovering a love of Guinness, and trying to gain back all the weight you've lost living healthily over the last three months.
Also good for letting inspiration ferment inside a wine-filled belly and waiting for the perfect moment to unleash it.
Aided by hours of listening to new CDs gifted by generous relatives and playing a "new" 1963 Gibson ES-125 gifted by one sneaky, wonderful woman.
Mix in the coming storm, the coming work, the coming projects...
And now to plot more, to drink more, to live more, to sleep more, to feel more, to love more, and to wind those silken cocoon threads a little tighter, seal off the light for a few more weeks until we know we're ready to take flight as something new.
jbg
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Clock watching
I can't believe this year is almost over.
What a blur.
I feel like I'm sitting in class, waiting for the bell to ring.
After a long stretch of being extremely busy, Friday will find me with a bit of a much needed break. I have 3 and a half paid days off from Baker & McKenzie in the next two weeks and two forced days off from teaching (Christmas and New Year's Eves). Additionally, the week between Christmas and New Year's will be slow for teaching.
So I'm looking at a span of 11 days where I'll work at Baker all of a day and a half and likely teach just a day. And I'm fine with that. I think 2006 is going to be a great year full of a lot of hard work so I'll need my, er, beauty sleep. We got the balance of our CDs, got our press pictures, and, I believe, got our CD release party booked for early February with a release date to follow.
So there's lots to be excited about. Lots to be... zzzzzzzzzzzz.
jbg
After a long stretch of being extremely busy, Friday will find me with a bit of a much needed break. I have 3 and a half paid days off from Baker & McKenzie in the next two weeks and two forced days off from teaching (Christmas and New Year's Eves). Additionally, the week between Christmas and New Year's will be slow for teaching.
So I'm looking at a span of 11 days where I'll work at Baker all of a day and a half and likely teach just a day. And I'm fine with that. I think 2006 is going to be a great year full of a lot of hard work so I'll need my, er, beauty sleep. We got the balance of our CDs, got our press pictures, and, I believe, got our CD release party booked for early February with a release date to follow.
So there's lots to be excited about. Lots to be... zzzzzzzzzzzz.
jbg
Friday, December 16, 2005
The Eagle Has Landed
Indeed.
Bottle Boy CDs were placed on my front porch on Wednesday.
There was much celebrating.
It looks great. It sounds great.
Thank you for rock n' roll. Thank you.
jbg
Thank you for rock n' roll. Thank you.
jbg
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Deliverance
You know how we set the clocks forward an hour each spring?
Well, I feel like I set my clock forward a week.
I mean, where the heck have I been?
Last week was filled with rehearsing and playing at Schubas. Of course, the show would fall on the night Chicago gets 6 inches of snow. So attendance was a bit limited. But it was still a good show and we got to try out a bunch of new material we've been working up. This weekend, we had a family event and then we pretty much just hibernated... and shoveled snow.
Well, I shoveled snow. Everyone else in my house seems to be afraid of our shovel. Especially Hendrix. And now we're already smack in the middle of another week. I've got a bunch of lunches (with our web designer and a prospective student) and then my office holiday party on Friday. Always a good time.
Mix in a couple of rehearsals too as we start to focus on our CD release party. And speaking of our CD, it is supposed to be delivered today. That's right. Today. I really hope it shows up before I have to leave for lunch and to teach. So that's what the title of this post refers to. Not the movie in which rednecks sodomize hunters while a retarded kid plays the banjo.
Not that there's anything, er, right with that.
jbg
Last week was filled with rehearsing and playing at Schubas. Of course, the show would fall on the night Chicago gets 6 inches of snow. So attendance was a bit limited. But it was still a good show and we got to try out a bunch of new material we've been working up. This weekend, we had a family event and then we pretty much just hibernated... and shoveled snow.
Well, I shoveled snow. Everyone else in my house seems to be afraid of our shovel. Especially Hendrix. And now we're already smack in the middle of another week. I've got a bunch of lunches (with our web designer and a prospective student) and then my office holiday party on Friday. Always a good time.
Mix in a couple of rehearsals too as we start to focus on our CD release party. And speaking of our CD, it is supposed to be delivered today. That's right. Today. I really hope it shows up before I have to leave for lunch and to teach. So that's what the title of this post refers to. Not the movie in which rednecks sodomize hunters while a retarded kid plays the banjo.
Not that there's anything, er, right with that.
jbg
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Thank-full redux
This week has a cluttered feel to it. So much to do, so little time.
We're expecting that Bottle Boy will be delivered (heh) this week or early next, so we've begun putting together our list of press contacts for advance copies and strategizing exactly how and when we want to release it. This is one area where our manager Paul has proven quite helpful.
We posted a couple of the new tunes on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/burnromeburn... Looks like we'll then stream the whole album from our site starting in the New Year, and look to schedule our CD release party/show and official release date in February. Very exciting. We're also playing at Schubas on Thursday (8:00 pm sharp) where we'll be debuting most if not all of the new material we're planning to record for a new EP. Good times. And all this after a busy weekend.
On Saturday, after teaching 13 students, we met up with a group of friends at a homeless shelter in Andersonville and helped cook dinner for a group of homeless men. Boy, was that humbling. It's so hard for me to relate to the whole idea of homelessness... what it means, why it happens, how it happens... a good portion of the guys for whom we made dinner seemed to have serious mental health issues and I would imagine that this is the single biggest factor in being homeless.
It was a good experience and we got a chance to make a huge meal and then eat with the guys and talk to them. The homeless shelter, which is set up like a halfway house, is designed to get its residents jobs and eventually homes, and a couple of the guys were actively holding down jobs and making progress. Talk about being thankful for what I have.
After dinner, we stopped for a drink in Andersonville and then headed down to Wrigleyville to meet up with my best friend Ben, who was in town from Reno. Good times. After struggling to bed quite late, we got up early and met up with Ben and his wife April for bloody marys and the Bears' game at a bar near our house. Good times again.
Sunday night, I spent a frustrating 4 hours putting together our mailing list on our new server... retyping hundreds of email addresses... grrrrrr.... and the task spilled over to last night/this morning when I finally get our mailer out. So now... all that's left is to rehearse tonight and tomorrow and play this show on Thursday. And work and teach. Oh joy.
jbg
We posted a couple of the new tunes on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/burnromeburn... Looks like we'll then stream the whole album from our site starting in the New Year, and look to schedule our CD release party/show and official release date in February. Very exciting. We're also playing at Schubas on Thursday (8:00 pm sharp) where we'll be debuting most if not all of the new material we're planning to record for a new EP. Good times. And all this after a busy weekend.
On Saturday, after teaching 13 students, we met up with a group of friends at a homeless shelter in Andersonville and helped cook dinner for a group of homeless men. Boy, was that humbling. It's so hard for me to relate to the whole idea of homelessness... what it means, why it happens, how it happens... a good portion of the guys for whom we made dinner seemed to have serious mental health issues and I would imagine that this is the single biggest factor in being homeless.
It was a good experience and we got a chance to make a huge meal and then eat with the guys and talk to them. The homeless shelter, which is set up like a halfway house, is designed to get its residents jobs and eventually homes, and a couple of the guys were actively holding down jobs and making progress. Talk about being thankful for what I have.
After dinner, we stopped for a drink in Andersonville and then headed down to Wrigleyville to meet up with my best friend Ben, who was in town from Reno. Good times. After struggling to bed quite late, we got up early and met up with Ben and his wife April for bloody marys and the Bears' game at a bar near our house. Good times again.
Sunday night, I spent a frustrating 4 hours putting together our mailing list on our new server... retyping hundreds of email addresses... grrrrrr.... and the task spilled over to last night/this morning when I finally get our mailer out. So now... all that's left is to rehearse tonight and tomorrow and play this show on Thursday. And work and teach. Oh joy.
jbg
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