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Monday, December 29, 2008

Letting My Voice Be Heard

I woke up today to take Wifey and AKV to the train station to go visit Na and PaPa during the big  Chicago Bears bonanza of a game only to be followed by the hilarious and atrocious loss of the Cowboys.   By the time I got home, I was running on roughly 6 hours of sleep and new a nap was in order.  The couch invited me to curl up with Munky and we curled up dozing to the dulcet tones of Penn Jillete mocking people who live their lives always wanting "the best" of whatever material goods bring them a limited amount of joy.  A few hours of sleep would do me good before I recorded some vocal takes.

I got a phone call that rudely woke me up.  I could've ignored it, but I figured it might be important (tell me, what's more important - sleep or finding flight information? ).   After that call, I tried to sleep but not felt wide awake .  I laid around for another half hour watching more Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t and then finally mustered up the will to record.

The cool thing about owning your own studio is that you have access to it all of the time.  One bad thing is that you don't ever have someone willing to help you out so you have to do everything yourself.  I detest doing my own vocal takes.  I'm far too critical and insecure about them.  My first instinct is to stop recording and fix everything with Auto-tune and studio trickery.  However, I was relatively in a peaceful state of mind from my rest and just wanted something down on tape.  So, I just kinda went for it.  No vocal warm up.  No multiple takes.  I sang the song three times straight through and did the essential backup vocals.  I then took a break and took Munky for a walk while I forgot about the takes themselves.  I returned and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.  I had enough material to make a really decent composite vocal track!  So, after doing so and doing a bunch of other vocal tracks, I finished "Hypocrite", a song that honestly has been sitting around for the last 4 years to be finished

I listened to it in the car and still am pretty proud of it.  Yes, there are somethings I'd like to fix but they are very minor and if I do it right, you won't have a clue I fixed it .  Now, if I can just take this attitude going forward, the rest of the tracks should be finished by week's end!

Currently watching:
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - The Complete Third Season
Release date: 2006-10-03


Note: This was originally posted at Myspace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=459696052

Monday, December 22, 2008

Blog Grab Bag - 12/21/2008

I originally had posted up a really in-depth blog of grab bag items.  Since the moment of inspiration has past, I'm going to challenge my self to give one-sentence summaries with proper grammar and syntax of each I had originally written about.

  • A Not So Ho-Ho Christmas

    The Honda (Ho-Ho) got towed last week being left with a dead battery in front of Gorilla Tango Theatre after Salsa-Sketch, and after spending $400 total to get it out, it's parked outside of my building with 2 feet of snow on top of it.

     
  • Flagging Down Help

    I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a photographer to help with my photoshoot in order to generate some material for the new Courageous Rue website; it got flagged and pulled off for no apparent reason.

     
  • RueTape Progress

    With an ever approaching deadline of December 31st, I've laid down scratch vocals to "This One's For You" and tracked ideas for "Miscommunication".

     
  • Creative Agenda for 2009

    In 2009, I plan to take ballet lessons, stage combat training, on-camera workshops, put out a formal Courageous Rue record, play shows as Courageous Rue and with Static Republic, audition for more Second City stuff, tour with Salsation and Recapitulation, get a principle role in a movie and/or commercial, lose weight (it's an art onto itself), and be happy.

Alright MySpace, let's see if you accept this blog!

Currently watching:
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - The Complete Third Season
Release date: 2006-10-03


Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=458147028

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Bad Girls Club - Why?

In the string of reality shows I choose to watch(albeit grudgingly), Oxygen's Bad Girls Club has been added to my repertoire.  This show I totally don't understand.  Not even Wikipedia was able to give me an understanding as to why this show is on TV other than watching a bunch of women with psychological and emotional issues fight.  They're supposed to be "working" on resolving their issues but every episode has them doing something completely counter-intuitive.  It makes me angry watching it...yet, I CAN'T TURN AWAY!  

I'm such a hypocrite. 

Currently playing:
Pimp My Ride
Release date: 2008-02-20



Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments athttp://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=456984188

Thursday, December 11, 2008

That Really Would’ve Wrecked My Night!

I could've fuckin' died tonight...

After a glorious night of directing improvisation, I had just got off my phone with my wife letting her know I was coming home and that everything was good.  I was jamming to Chingo Bling and looking forward to seeing my son.  While heading west on Wilson, I was at a dead stop.  I was about to turn left to head south on Central Park when I looked into my driver's side mirror and saw a mini-van about 15 feet behind me swerving to miss me heading 60 mph!  HOLY SHIT!  I didn't have enough time to do anything so I just sat in my car motionless as the mini-van vroomed by narrowly missing my car!  He then weaved crazily in the street, hit 4-5 parked cars and continued driving. 

I sat there in shock .  I had these thoughts all going in my head sat the same time:

- I COULD'VE FUCKIN' DIED TONIGHT!!! 
- Man, it was an act of God I didn't get hit at all.  Had he hit me going that fast, I really would've been in bad shape.
- Go after him!  Call 911 and give them his license plate number.
- Is the guy on drugs or drunk?!

I sat at the intersection in a daze having a hard time soaking in the magnitude of what just happened.  After about a minute, I decided to see if the van had stopped so I could get some info, but it was too late.  He had disappeared.

I am SOOOOO grateful I came out unscathed.  I get to see my family in one piece and for another night.  The shock hasn't completely worn off yet.  You can tell by the fact I used real curses in this blog vs my usual "fawk" and "sh*t" or "shite" verbiage.

Currently watching:
Crash (Widescreen Edition)
Release date: 2005-09-06


Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments athttp://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=455512694

Monday, December 8, 2008

Great Song Titles

I just returned from The Smashing Pumpkins show @ The Aragon tonight.  Here a song titles inspired by me observing the crowd:
  1. Fawk You(An Ode To Each of You)
    The title a play on a Pumpkins song title which is dedicated as an ode to no one.  There was so much apathy in the crowd tonight.  I felt like saying this to each of those standing there an not actively engaged.  Why buy tickets?!

  2. A Sense of Entitlement
    Why do girls think they can bump right into you and not expecting me to respond?  Why do they think they should be allowed to go up to the front of the crowd?  Just because they think they're good looking?  WTF?

  3. Now I'm Old
    I chose not to sing along with any of the hits tonight and let the people reliving their youth  do the work for me.  I was a total b-side mofo tonight.  I actually looked forward to the newest stuff that totally alientated 90% of the crowd.  99 Floors was pretty awesome for me.  Singing the new sh*t keeps me young .

  4. Forcin' It
    There were a couple of fools trying to start a mosh pit.  Why?  If the crowd isn't feeling it organicallym why force one?

  5. Disconnected Communication
    I saw so many mofos sitting in the back of the aragon texting and looking bored out of their minds.  Once again, why come to a rock show to not rock?  To not commune with other like-minded fans?  Or perhaps it's a commune of people that don't want really want to be a part of it...

  6. Change
    There's a lot of it going on.  I'm in the middle of it.  It's contagious.

  7. Dear Dad
    This one came to me while hearing Billy sing Medellia of the Grey Skies tonight.  It flashed me back to when I was on tour with Lonestar on the bus.  I made four 120 minute mixtapes of Pumpkins on them and this song was on it.  I remember what it felt like to feel pain due to hearing a simple song.  It got me thinking of what would make me feel like that again.
Currently listening:
The Unquestionable Truth, Pt. 1
By Limp Bizkit
Release date: 2005-05-03

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Recap of 2008

Today we celebrated Recapitulation's success in 2008 at the venerable Wells On Wells where we all first really hung out oh so long ago.  We became a formal theatre company, elected a board, did two long form show runs, performed auditions, got sponsorships, got advertising, had a successful fundraiser, and managed to still ike each other at the end of the tour!    Thank you Recapitulation for giving me something to really be proud of and be a part of.
Currently listening:
Mandy Patinkin
By Mandy Patinkin
Release date: 1990-10-25

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Family - A Nice Way To Remind Yourself Of Where You’ve Been And Where You Need To Go

I just returned from our first trip to Texas with the Baby Boy in tow for the Grandparents to see him.  It's been long over due as he's already grown so much in the last 10 weeks.  He's already in his 6-9 month baby clothes!   

While we were there, within the first two hours of arriving at my parent's house, I was already wanting to go home.    My Dad went had a lot of unbridled energy on this trip.  He would light up every time he saw the baby and would want to play with him.  It was very sweet to see and I do appreciate it, but the energy got really annoying quickly, because he got 100 times louder than normal and didn't give a damn about what else was going on around him .  So, let's say the baby is trying to sleep, he would creep up on him and start messing with him.  The second the baby starts crying, he would walk away for everyone else to deal with the gush of unhappiness    Now, I know grandparents have that luxury of being able to be with their grandchildren and not really deal with the after effects, e.g., spoil them to death, but this was a little bit too much .  

It took me a while to get adjusted to it and interact with my family on a different level.  I as no longer just "the son" but now I was "the father/son" which meant I could switch roles depending on the situation.  I didn't realize how much I tended to revert back to being a  little kid with my Mom around until the baby would start crying and then *bam* Daddy Mode kicked in and I would deal with them on an "adult" level.  It was interesting. 

I saw the best and worst of family along with myself on this trip.  I realized just how much I've grown up in the last 10 years and just how much more I need to do in the next 10.

Currently listening:
Death Magnetic
By Metallica
Release date: 2008-09-12

Note: This was originally posted on Myspace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=453934053