Monthly Archive for March, 2004

no christmas while i’m talking.

Published on March 31st 2004 in Journal. 5 Comments Tags: .

the rat. (6k image)hi. remember me? right. things have been so incredibly busy. i’m not going to make this coherent….so you’ll just have to follow along. work has been insanely busy. for the past two weeks…..one to two people have been been out….and of course i have to help carry the load. so i haven’t had time to do much else while i’m here…..besides email jessica. there’s just some things i always make time for. while i’m not working…..i’ve been practicing with friends of the library. that’s coming along very nicely. things are starting to sound more sonic….and they’re getting louder! it’s turning into more of a mogwai/my bloody valentine type of thing….rather than a low/dirty three kind of thing. i’m happy either way…..but i like the direction we’re going. hopefully we’ll be playing out soon….and maybe some of you can come check us out. then there’s the apartment search…..which has been driving me crazy. i thought i found a cool place in chestnut hill….but the bedroom was too small….so i bagged it. after some more looking and some creative thinking…..i found a place in jenkintown. it’s called the castle. it’s an 1867 victorian home that was converted into apartments. i hooked up with a one bedroom apartment for a really good price. the best part is that it’s huge….has hardwood floors….and every room is painted a different color. it’s perfect. and they allow pets! so jessica and i can finally get a dog of our own. rock. so everything’s coming together…..i might even get a second job. but more on that later once i speak with some people. more news as it happens. i hope all of you are well.

who do you think should rule the new iraq?
45.1% mat
38.7% daniel
06.4% simon cowell
03.2% bush jr.
00.0% john kerry

an old man takes polaroids

Published on March 24th 2004 in Noteworthy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

lester150 (9k image)Last week on the walk back from the Metro I realized that I love my city. I was walking back and realized I could stop off at the 7-11 and pick up a hot dog. I could stop at the CVS and pick up my perscription or get some ice cream. I could stop by Reruns or Takoma Underground and do some vintage shopping. I could get some good food at Mark’s Kitchen or that Middle Eastern place. I could go to Video Americain and get a good movie. I could get back on the Metro and check out a show at 930 Club. Hell, I could get some dry cleaning done. I ended up just getting a good movie at the movie store. But I realized that I dont think I could ever live in the suburbs anymore. There’s no reason to. I love being part of a diverse community. I love my city. I love DC.

In other news Emily posted a message on the community Listserv about wanting to know about basic plumbing and electrical classes taught at a local university, sorta like what Home Depot does, but not at Home Depot. Two days later one of the Plan Takoma peeps had a class scheduled at the local library by a university professor. The class was great. We learned how to wire a lightbulb with a wall switch. We learned about watts, amperage and current. He also took a ton of questions and answered some really obvious questions that actually turned out to be wrong. I knew a lot of math from my DC electronics class in college, but this was way more practical. This is the stuff that makes our ‘hood in DC the best place to live. Ever.

And since my studio went public, I’ve actually recored three bands in just a few months. I have one of those bands coming back in May and June to record a full length record. There is another person coming in after Passover to finish up a demo coming from Boston, I believe. And hopefully I’ll be recording with a musician from Baltimore doing a film score. The reception for my studio has been almost overwhelming. I never expected this much talk and traffic. But it’s what I love doing and I am not complaining. Hopefully soon I can do this full time and/or part-time and just do another job to pay the bills. Life is good. I am just waiting to get struck by lightning or something.

outta the mist i kissed your lovely drug-filled lips

Published on March 14th 2004 in Journal. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

oms_zander1 (36k image)

Zander is thinking: “This synth has way too many knobs! Where’s my casio?”

oms_zander2 (25k image)

Gordon says, “Well, what if we take the aux sends of the snare and room mics, run them through the Lexicon and then run them back in to busses 1 and 2 in stereo – well, just watch me…”

oms_zander3 (46k image)

“Don’t you mess with my o-ring!”

Mass Transit’s demo is finally done. Eric and his crew were happy with it. There were of course things Gordon and myself would have rather done with it, for example: We would have liked to have had more time to fix a lot of problems both sonically and in the musicality. But due to the time constraints I think it went really well. And we are already looking forward to recording a full length “non-demo” sounding record with them.

Saturday, after Zander found his way through DC, was spent in the studio recording some more drum tracks and casio bass lines from the scratch tracks Zander already cut as demos. The drums are finally sounding really good and I am really enjoying the time working on this project. I still wish he’d experiment more, but then again, that perhaps isn’t so much his style. Whatever he’s doing is working so far, so I can’t complain. And Gordon and me also linked up the 2 ADATs. They sync like a charm even even use a 9pin “gender bender” adaptor. That, my friend, is badass.

Ican’t wait for more recording gigs to come in the next few months. It’s almost overwhelming that I am finally doing something I completely love and am making a few spare dimes as well. Seriously, I never thought such a thing could happen to me.

Time for bed. ‘night.