as you may or may not know, leonard cohen is back. back to playing shows in this country. after something like 15 years, he's back. many would call him the best songwriter that has ever lived. i have. it seems like everyone sometime in their lives has their leonard cohen moment. hearing his music not only changed the way i thought about depressing music but allowed me to bond with other depressed musicians that were into him. it's a not so secret/secret club.
so after being a fan for like 10 years and collecting every album on vinyl and reading his novel and joining his email list, i couldn't justify paying $70 bucks to see him? and i wrestled with this for a week. feeling like i wasn't supportive. i like music. i should go to the show. his music moved me and changed my world. but still, nothing. and i don't even think it was the price. i just couldn't see myself at the nokia center watching him.
last year i paid like $50 to go see a leonard cohen tribute concert with michael mcdonald. i'm telling you about this because when i heard that the frogs did a secret show down the street a few months ago and i missed it, i couldn't stop feeling like i missed a once in a lifetime opportunity. every time i think about it, it makes me angry.
sorry cohen, i love you. but maybe just not in that way. i'm really confused. but when i see those frogs, they make me want to travel across the country to be with them. their songs give me hope, comfort me, and make me smile. the way i feel about the frogs is the way phil collins feels about whoever the fuck that song 'against all odds' is about.
next year is their 30th anniversary as a band. 30 years of reelin' and rocking. the frogs have rocked as many years as i've been alive. each year as i get older, they do too. on my 70th birthday i'll say,"happy 70th, the frogs."
from their groundbreaking record, 1989's, fabulous, 'it's only right and natural', ladies and gentlemen, i give you......... the frooooggggszzzz.
this week i had a special assignment of recording a few things for the upcoming 'andrew jackson jihad' record. they wanted to soften their tough sounds with my brand of syrupy wank. i told them that they came to the right guy. i just wanted to show a few pictures of my studio space as the final mix goes down. proving again that it's best to work in filth and chaos.
here's something for all you dorks. i borrowed this mic called an akg 451 and it's the first mic that spoke to me in a really long time. it sounds best on any acoustic instrument. it's the only mic i used for the song and when the album drops and the word gets out that this akg here is the hottest thing around, good luck trying to find one. you've just been schooled. you're welcome.
i'd like to leave you now with this little guy i picked up at the echo curio last week. in this work of art, we see a little man who has been shat upon by a crow. i like to look at it while i'm working to remind me of everything in my life that shits upon me, and then i am comforted by the uncontrollable rage and anger i feel.
i just hope they end up using what i recorded. fingers crossed!
i'm in the offices of carrie sweet's art studio. we're locking ourselves in and we're not coming out until we have a concept for a logo. or if we get hungry. or have to use the bathroom. as you can see by the photo, the staff is working overtime.
after the logo is done, we might celebrate by playing some lemonade stand.
stella luna at the ports o' call. she ruled pretty hard and sort of shut the place down. after she did her set she held the microphone out to the crowd, dropped it, walked out, got into her car and just drove off. we were floored. you should go to her myspace page to hear what musical purity sounds like.
it only took me two weeks of calling paint stores, but i found it! deft. the one with the clock on it! the poor man's nitrocellulose clear coat.
i bought four of them, i was so excited. all other stores told me that nitrocellulose lacquer was too poisonous and that there were safer alternatives. but not lowes. lowes could give two shits. they understand that the greatest shine would come from the deadliest of cans. i guess it's also a pain in the ass because you can't airmail deft. all shipments have to come by ground because it's so explosive and unstable. so here's the body after one and a half cans.
i've been spraying light coats for a week now. sanding out dust between coats. but now i think i'm done. i have to let this thing sit for a month before i can wet sand and polish. they say the lacquer takes years to fully dry out but a month to where it won't smudge when you sand. now it's time to get a logo drawn up.
last night i went to see marianne dissard play at the echo curio. this was the after party featuring the awesome fiddle of vicki brown. this should be every night.
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