Recovery

I'm still feeling the effects of a long weekend, even though we really didn't do much of consequence. Friday night was spent in the backyard. Saturday night was spent sleeping. Sunday was spent in the hot sun working on the backyard. Sunday night was spent with friends, hanging out until much too late. Or early. Monday was spent recovering.

And now, it's already Tuesday again. This week seems like it'll be over before I know it, with rehearsals, work, teaching, and gigs on Friday and Saturday nights. So maybe it's just anticipating how busy it'll be, but I feel a little off today.

Like something is lurking... not sure if it's a good or bad thing but... I feel like it's coming soon. I've been banging around a ton of songs ideas, a couple of which I'm very excited about. Just haven't quite honed them to where I can really start working on them. Which is a little annoying.

But what I've realized is that even when I don't have the time and/or discipline to sit down and write, I'm to the point where I can work almost anywhere, at any time: riding the train, driving to teach, walking down the street... I can cycle through ideas and modify them without having a guitar in my hands. Which is nice.

It provides a certain freedom. Of course, there's no substitute for a quiet room, a guitar, and a tape recorder... but sometimes you just have to make do with what you have. I guess that was kind of the message of the movie we watched last night, The Weather Man. I thought it was pretty good. A little American Beauty-ish, without necessarily being quite as profound.

And the Chicago geography was pretty cool, if not a little disjointed. Kind of like this blog.

jbg

Page Not Available

I spent the morning wrestling with our internet connection, but thanks to some Comcastic help, it's up and running again. But the whole episode has left me a little lethargic and cranky. So I'm going to just take it easy until I have to teach.

This week is shaping up to be pretty good... we had a meeting with our manager last night in which we laid out a plan for the next 6 to 12 months, which involved getting out on the road to about a dozen cities in the Midwest, continuing to shop the disc, and looking forward to another recording.

Our manager also got us up to speed on a bite from a well-established producer who is interested in remixing a couple of songs from Bottle Boy, and possibly working with us on a new recording in the future. This guy has worked on projects from Stone Temple Pilots to Talking Heads, and had a lot of good things to say about the album.

We now need to decide how, if at all, to proceed with him, and what involving ourselves with him would do for us. I will say it's just great to get positive comments from somebody who's been successful on the scale that this guy has. It's also great to be featured again on the ever growing empire that is Insomnia Radio. Props to Jason for all he's done and will continue to do.

With a new plan in place, both realistic and aggressive, I think things will start to pick up a bit over the summer and into the fall. And just in time. So now... it's off to the park with the dog to enjoy an hour or two of May sun. Chin up.

jbg

Quoth the raven

Another week, another great article about Burn Rome Burn. Yeah. Cause that happens all the time.

But seriously, you gotta love good, nay, great press. Brightens an otherwise gloomy week a bit. Other than that little nugget... not much happening. Work, teach, play. Repeat. Have got a couple of strong songs simmering... haven't quite honed them to the point where I know how to proceed, but, one in particular entitled "Skyscrapers of My Heart," seems like it has the potential to be something special.

Kind of a combination of Van Morrison and David Byrne so far... if that says anything. One of the things I've been working on lately, with little success, is writing songs in different sequences. That is, trying to write the chorus first, then the verse. I tend to write in chronological order, starting with the verse, from beginning to end, and I think it would change things up a bit if I were to write the chorus/hook first, and kind of work outward from there.

Easier said than done though. It all goes to the idea of continually challenging yourself to do something different artistically... something I know I've been very cognizant of recently, and it seems like the band has been, too.

We've been trying to create different sounds, different structures, different textures, all while still sounding like Burn Rome Burn. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. But I guess that's a good comment on life in general.

That and "It's not rocket science, it's rock and roll."

jbg

Grist for the Mill

Another weekend come and gone... Friday night was a chance to relax at home. Saturday night was spent at a brilliant 60th birthday party in the suburbs. Sunday was spent seeing the various generations of mothers in our lives.

And now, we're back to the work week. I picked up two new albums last week: Paul Simon's Surprise, and Gomez's How We Operate.

 Surprise, at first blush, is quite good. Some immediately obvious positives: Brian Eno as Producer; Tchad Blake as Engineer; Herbie Hancock on Keys; Bill Frisell on Guitar; Steve Gadd on Drums. Wow. That is an all-star lineup of music people. I'm still getting into the substance of the album, but it seems like a return the ideas of Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints, but instead of using South African or South American music as a production and arrangement framework, the singular electronic/ambient production of Brian Eno is the key element. And the lyrics... well, it's Paul Simon. His worst lyrics are better than most people's best. I'll still need more time to decide whether or not I think Surprise is really really good, or merely interesting. But it certainly is cool to hear a guy who's over 60 still trying to make urgent music with integrity, still challenging himself.

 How We Operate, however, has really caught my ear and heart right off the bat. I've never been a huge fan of Gomez, but I've liked a lot of what I've heard in passing. And HWO has demanded the majority of my listening time over the last week. The title track (which I heard last night coming from the TV in the other room... actually, heard it mixed with Gina's sobs as she watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy) is a truly excellent piece of dynamic rock songwriting and I've been working my way through the album with that song as my reference point. It seems like a perfect example of a band just focusing on making a solid, tuneful, interesting album, and benefiting from that focus. Not trying to be groundbreaking, but just trying to do something that's already been done, but do it really well. If that makes sense.

Gomez is apparently on ATO Records, the home of the last band I got obsessed with, My Morning Jacket. Also, Gil Norton produced HWO. My one critique of the album is that the lyrics are sometimes a little lacking in depth... but it's by no means often or extreme enough to ruin it for me.

Getting new music is so good for the ears... I'm so often inspired to write just by hearing something new, just by gathering more ideas for sounds, for arrangements, for lyrics... So on that note (middle C?), I'm off to scribble illegibly and sing out of tune.

jbg

Rolling along

Just before the story ends When the clocks are running down What's broken we will mend What's lost will be found And skeletons, skin, and sky Will fall into one And the days of getting by Will finally be done Remember when It was just a game Remember then It all changed So I'll keep writing songs Of time and the sea And angels and the dawn And singing while you sleep But I'd throw them all away Just ask me to If it meant another day Here, with you Remember when It was just a game Remember then It all changed

jbg