Fakebook

About 2 months ago now, I went to a party wherein people were performing together, and anybody who knew the songs or could follow along would play and or sing. It was a little embarrassing that I didn't know lyrics to a lot of these songs, and even the melodies or other parts of pretty popular songs (Conversely, another guest started performing a song that I was the only other person who knew the song).

So, I was thinking of assembling a fakebook of sorts with lyrics and chords and key melodies to lots of songs. It wouldn't be too difficult to throw something together, and ultimately I'd probably learn the songs over time, or at least be able to do a quick prep.

Notable choices:

The Beatles

Beck

The Flaming Lips

Weezer

Violent Femmes

Oasis

And artists whose basslines I'd learn:

Porno For Pyros

Jane's Addiction

The Pixies

Primus

A few of these artists I would want to become rather familiar with their work. The Beatles, for instance, I might want to learn a large number of their songs, whereas there are only a few Flaming Lips songs I would particularly be interested in learning.

Get In The Gate

I really should do this.

This Friday is the last shot. I have nothing to lose by throwing my name into the ring, and I've actually won at least one nationwide contest before online, so, maybe I have a bit of luck for this kind of thing. I just need to make sure I get up before 9AM since I will be out that evening.

Note to self: Tape the show.

Frank Zappa Tribute

In an effort to better my guitar playing abilities and also to get some more stage time, I was considering restarting up my old idea for a Frank Zappa tribute. The idea was to make versions of FZ classics, but do them in sort of an old-school Ween style. All of the odd time signatures would be replaced by 4/4 patterns, and most of the instrumentation would be simplified. There'd be some tonality in the rhythm (tuned toms, etc.) to round out the sound, but it's be mostly guitar aside from the preprogrammed drums; there would be a few other random samples thrown in there as well. The setlist I originally came up with out-of-order is:

King Kong (Prelude-VI)
Peaches En Regalia
I Don't Wanna Get Drafted
The Way I See It Barry/Duodenum
Anyway The Wind Blows
I'm The Slime
Dirty Love
Echidna's Arf (Of You)
Five Five Five
Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar
My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
Electric Aunt Jemima
The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth
Love Of My Life

There might've been another one or two other songs, but that was all I found on the old sheet of paper I had it written down on for one time. If I do manage to get this all settled, I also might record the songs, as a little EP. Seems enough like a concise little project.

Sale Sale Sale

Over the years I've wound up buying hundreds of cds, dozens of shirts, and who knows how many books that I just don't have the space for, nor do I particularly care about them. On top of that, various objects of interest and perhaps some dvds, vhs, and even vinyl might also be taking up a bit too much space. I've seen setups for trades for people to get something they are interested in for something they are no longer interested in, but I think there is an inherent fault in said scenario. Logically speaking, I am only going to get rid of shirts that are for things that I was once interested in, but now no longer am (or at the very least, I am not interested in it now, regardless of how it was obtained). The same is true, with relevant pronouns, for whoever I could potentially be trading with. Let's say I have a bunch of old metal shirts, but I don't really like metal anymore, anybody who wants those metal shirts isn't particularly likely to be getting rid of shirts for whatever it is I am interested in. Likewise, if other people are involved in a trade setting, if they have a shirt I /do/ want, it's just as unlikely I have something they are interested in. Either way, I think the elimination of objects goes as follows:

1) Trades with friends for similar objects, or whatever we deem fair

2) Sale of objects to friends, for agreed cash value

3) Possible repetition of steps 1 and 2, but through some narrow field, such as Somethingawful, as I've seen done before

4) Putting things onto ebay, to ensure some degree of return on my "investment"

Seems to me that this would probably be the best way to handle it, and maybe other people would get interested in doing the same kind of thing. It also maximizes my return, I feel. Anything I have that I can get something I want for, is a pretty even trade. I'm not going to get $15 for any cds I have (certainly not the ones I want to get rid of). If I do sell things, I'll probably get enough money to not feel bad about the situation, but I was hoping not to have too much cash floating around, easier to waste it, since it feels like total black gain. Somethingawful might be a nice choice too, because of the wide amount of people getting in on the deal. Ebay suffers the same pains as the money, but ultimately I do need to try and get rid of the stuff.

Maybe even down the line it can become an annual trend or something of the sort where people clean out their closets of band t-shirts and shelfs of old cds. And new people can join in, and everybody will win.

Mink Car Collage

While mixtapes are a bit trite, I've always liked the fact that they were 90 minutes and, like vinyl, have two sides. The two-parts is a feature I've always enjoyed, and some artists take advantage of this, even in cd form (listen to Modest Mouse's Good News...). Mixtapes often have this uniqueness to them, similar to vinyl, but still quite distinct. The remix idea of albums is something else I haven't explored much, but I'd like to give it a shot, especially since I claim so often to be better at production than writing itself.

The ultimate idea, I suppose, is to take the tracks from the Mink Car companion, and make a full tape of the audio, but blurring the edges, and mixing the songs together, possibly using some samples from the original audio. The final result would be a sort of collage of the companion, wherein the distinct elements still exist, but in a sea of sounds. You'd still get the bulk of the main tracks, but with little extras here and there. It'd also probably help weed out a little bit of the repetitiousness of 5 versions of Hovering Sombrero, not counting the original version.

There's a few other tracks I might mix in or sample, if I ever get around to it, specifically some remixes, and a couple of live tracks, such as performances on Conan.

Hey, my tape deck needs to be used for something these days.

Update: 60 songs including the original album tracks. I still might be missing two though, from what I know, but 60 is such a round number. This is without repeats, by the way for sure. Songs for which I only have the album version: Yeh Yeh, Hopeless Bleak Despair, My Man, Your Mom's Alright. Alternate releases seem to just be the same versions with more blank time on the edges, or slightly less mixing. Discounting the original Mink Car tracks, the whole thing is about 100 minutes, but considering large chunks of songs are superfluous, it looks like 90 minutes is an achievable goal.

Poem Practice

While I was out throwing away any money I still have on vinyl records and Korean horror films, I ran into a man who has a typewriter set up on the street, who will write you a poem for only asking him to. "Strictly donations," the man told me. After five or six minutes he had a poem ready for me. Aside from the fact that he was able to produce a poem in really good time, it was a good poem. I only had to name him a "word" and a job.

Apparently, this started in California, and a friend of the originator's brought it to New Orleans, and he was friends with this guy and brought it to New York, or something along those lines.

I might try it occasionally as an exercise, but I need to practice a little more before I can get up to this type of thing. I'll do some small challenges with some friends and things like this first.

Why DVDs Totally Suck

If there was one thing that would make we want to pirate movies instead of buying them is that there is that damned plastic on the top. It's pretty bad on cds, but at least you don't ruin the cd case when you try and pull it off. It's absolutely unnecessary to exist in its current form.

That, and one million other things.