The Living Rockumentary

Funny that you wrote that entry there, Tony, I was just going to write the same exact thing. Just kidding.

Before our practice last night, I connected my new extension cables and managed to move my computer "mainframe" into my closet. The difference in noise level is incredible. Thanks to my brother, Norbert, for sending me a link to just the right cables.

With the newly quiet room, (and as a bonus, this studio control room is high off the ground and facing away from the busy Route 10 so it really is very quiet) the music that I play back on my computer now feels like actual music rather than something coming from a computer. You know what I mean?

Also, I am now able to record with microphones right there in the room-o. This makes everything about a million times easier-o. So, after Tony left, I did just that. I recorded some harmonies to a couple of my news solo songs and it was so amazingly much more enjoyable than the old technique of running back and forth between rooms. I can't believe it took me so long to make this happen. Idiot.

I was just in the middle of composing a new Harry Nilsson song when I got a phone call from Lesa and Brian who were just leaving the Mullins Center at UMass where they had super-fancy back stage Pixies passes. I was invited to meet them at Hugo's and so I shut down the studio and headed out.

I was still in a creative and relaxed state-of-mind, however, when I walked into the over-crowded, noisy, and way-too-hot-from-body-heat bar. It was nice to see some old familiar smiling faces but it was a pretty rough change of climate. I found myself a wall to put behind me and I stood there and watched the yelling heads and spillling drinks with the silence of my new silent room still in the back of my head. I was completely detached, like I was looking through an airport window out onto the tarmac. This is what happens when you spend a few hours in a purely creative way, the transition to the normal world becomes sluggish. At least for me.

(Tony, all that I ended up adding to that second verse was a triangle. I kind of fixed the transition into it, too, by shortening the end of the chorus. I think it did the trick.)