Archive for August, 2009

Song idea tape #63

Published on August 23, 2009 in Dustbin and Musical. 0 Comments

bob-8-22-09.jpgI’ve been chipping away at digitizing my song idea tapes. A daunting task, considering I’ve got damn near a hundred of ‘em. I’m enjoying it, though, as I get to relive the moments of creative epiphany (and sometimes pure insanity) I’ve captured on tape over the years. It would take at least ten years—with no day job—to go back and develop all the song ideas into full-fledged, high-quality recordings. I realize this will never happen. I’m fine with it, though, because 1) Many of the ideas suck; 2) Some of them are too precious to change at all; and 3) I’m constantly coming up with NEW ideas that demand time and attention, so I can only return to the stuff on the old tapes that I find particularly compelling.

This weekend I converted Song idea tape #63 to mp3 files. This 90 minute tape is from the summer of 2006, and documents 48 ideas, including such future classics as Cool riff, Rockin’ riff, Shower song, Legs on a snake, Old timey acoustic riff, Whistle beatbox, and High and longin’.

I also found this short and sweet cover of the Radiohead B-side, You never wash up after yourself, for your listening pleasure:

You never wash up after yourself.mp3

Daydreaming

Published on August 20, 2009 in Personal. 3 Comments

neo-wakes-in-matrix-pod1.jpgI was walking to the mailbox yesterday evening, lost in a daydream I’d been wandering through for hours. I looked up at the sky and daydreamed about how cool it would be if I looked up at the sky and had a true moment of awakening, a flash of clarity about my place in the universe. I reached into the mailbox and pulled out a coupon flier and a bill for my cell phone. I walked by the recycling bins, dropped off the coupon flier, and shuffled back to my apartment.

I’m not sure why I’m bothering to relate such a dull moment, except that it captures the spirit of my existence over the past few days. This morning I watched the Today Show while I sipped my coffee. I kept thinking “This show is just awful” —yet I continued to watch. When I turned the TV off, I did experience a tiny spark of clarity. I had been entranced, caught up in a web of illusion. Suddenly, with the push of a button, I was in another place, rising from my couch, rushing out the door to catch the bus before slipping into another daydream.

I’ve been bothered lately by the news reports of red-faced, pea-brained yahoos squawking nonsense at town hall meetings, parroting what they hear on Fox News, and now toting guns to presidential events. Of course, these people think they’re in the right, and it’s people like me who are really nuts. Just like it seems crazy to Americans how Iraqis and Afghanis blow themselves up every day, yet we may seem like a bunch of dangerous lunatics from their perspective.

We’re all lost in our daydreams. Almost all of the time, we’re caught up in some web of illusion. Worst of all, some of us are well aware of this, and even know precisely what to do to snap out of it—yet choose not to most days.

What can I tell you? I’ve spent most of my life daydreaming. I’ve rescued women from being raped, fought off knife-wielding criminals, performed on the Tonight Show, told off my boss, been interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine – all in the past week, on my way home from work.

Now maybe, from someone else’s perspective, I was just riding the bus, in silence, with a far off look in my eyes. Maybe. But I doubt anyone was paying attention.

Proof that Rock N’ Roll is NOT dead

Published on August 9, 2009 in Musical. 1 Comment

The Dead Weather (Hang you from the heavens):

The Dead Weather (Treat me like your mother):

The Raconteurs (Rich Kid Blues & Kissy Kissy):

Music and lyrics by Stewie Griffin

Published on August 8, 2009 in Musical. 0 Comments

Minor Stars @ The Reservoir in Chapel Hill / Carrboro, Wednesday 8/12/09

Published on August 7, 2009 in Musical. 0 Comments

minorstars8-12-09reservoir.jpgMinor Stars (my band) got some love this week in the Independent Weekly:

INTRODUCING…

08.12 MINOR STARS @ THE RESERVOIR

“Minor Stars is pretty much a name change from Death of the Sun, even though it’s all new people,” says Minor Stars frontman Eric Wallen. But, at least according to him, maybe it’s a good thing the old band’s name got axed. “I always pictured the name Death of the Sun as kind of an epic, brightly burning image,” he says. “I think a lot of people thought it sounded a lot more like a death metal band.”

A lot of people were wrong: Death of the Sun, now Minor Stars, sounds like just the heavy psych-rock band to plant its flag on a peak between Black Mountain and Sleep’s Holy Mountain. Deep, muddy riffs chug and charge and unwind into scorching licks that flicker like snake tongues. Bassist Bob Dearborn plows deep into the riff as drummer Matt McCallus drives with a steady, swinging beat. Wallen navigates the space between, his guitar wandering between the trio’s harmonized voices.

And as the band aims to become a more regular presence on area stages, the beginnings of a record left in the dissolution of Death of the Sun—the forthcoming, Scott Solter-mixed Death of the Sun in the Silver Sea—will finally see the light. 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed