Category Archives: slacking - Page 2

making things

Posted by on April 22, 2010 No comments

I took last week off and spent it with my family. We camped for two nights and that was fantastic! We also made a trip to Austin to visit friends and family (they can be the same people, you know). I spent the time when we weren’t traveling in the garage working on my newest guitar. It’s another OM style instrument. This one has higher quality materials and I’m certainly paying more attention to the details since I know where they are now. I think it will be a better instrument overall and is moving much more quickly toward completion than its predecessor.

Building the instrument has brought up a number of issues for me, not the least of which is the question of the artisan and quality. Easy credit and over-consumption has done horrible things to our culture. Everything is a commodity. As a result, there is little to no attachment between people and the things they own. I find that disturbing. Not only do we own too much stuff, we don’t care about any of it on a more than superficial level (how much money and time will it take to replace?). That’s sad. Now, I don’t much care about the perception of others when it comes to the things I have, but I care about my perception and relationship to the things. If I have something that I use every day, I want it to be of high quality and meet my needs in a way that is better than just getting something done. Isn’t it better to buy a hammer that will last a lifetime than to buy one every two or three years?

clamped!

It’s also starting to sink in that objects made by artisans have two relationships that are more and more important to me: the relationship between the creator and the item and that of the item and its final owner. This is a small part of why I drool endlessly over the Saddleback Leather bags. They are handmade by artisans. They are of high quality. They will outlast me. That last bit may be a part of why it’s important to me to build a great instrument. I have the hope that someone will enjoy it after I am long gone. The hope that it will persist. This could appear to be very romantic and silly, but if we don’t have a relationship with the things we make and use, there is less depth and ritual in their use. Is that important? Yes!

An instrument that feels good, sounds good, and looks good can inspire a player. There is a certain characteristic of an instrument that draws a person to play it. There isn’t really any good way to quantify that and we shouldn’t try. What works for me will not work for someone else and, frankly, I don’t care. That give and take is unique and beautiful. Whatever it is in that instrument that inspires joy and literally forces someone to make music doesn’t have a suitable word in English (that I know of) and is more important than the monetary value attached to it or the fashion of the day.

I’m looking at the things in my life and trying to simplify them. I need less stuff, but the stuff that I have needs to be more than just stuff off of some assembly line. I would rather pay more for the character and experience. It comes down to this: if what you’re doing matters, then what you’re doing it with has to be seriously considered. Surrounding myself with inspiration is the surest path to results that I know.

pause

Posted by on March 25, 2010 No comments

I took a timeout last night. This week seems to be full of slowing down and catching my breath. My next project isn’t particularly clear and as a result, I’m meandering a little bit. Or a lot. Masquerading as Kratos and tearing the wings off of some harpies has done me some good in terms of focus. I guess I needed some recreation and a little time unplugged from the things that I think about all of the time. It’s like solving a problem that you’ve been staring at all day on the drive home from work. Disengaging from the item at hand sometimes leads to inspiration and insight.

I second guess the idea of a break often. Is this just resistance creeping in? Or is this some bit of wisdom that I have acquired that lets me know when it’s time to back off for a minute.

things on my desk right now

It’s far more comforting to think that I know something without it being a conscious decision. I fall back on that because I have a physical reaction that’s similar. If I have been working too hard or too stressed out for a prolonged period, my body will take a Saturday or Sunday off. That is to say, I’ll be sidelined by a headache or some other sickness that can only be cured by sleep. Everything shuts down for repairs. Now this is nowhere near working until I collapse or anything extreme like that. I’m not my Granddad. I don’t work in a coal mine and on the railroad on the same day. Give me a break! No, this is the kind of soft shutdown that happens well before something awful could come into play. I’d like to think I’m smart because I listen to it. I rest. I recover. And then everything is OK.

Does that work for everyone? Probably not. We’re crazy in this culture. We prize obsession. And I mean that in the “unwanted thought” way. We admire workaholics and those who simply can’t stop doing what they do. We don’t recognize the sickness of being unable to step back or sit still. That’s sad. And it’s not my way. I’m quite happy with being able to put things on hold for a bit. It provides space and perspective. It also saves good work from overwork.

Looking around at all of the pressure to produce and the 24/7/36(5|6) world we have developed makes me wonder how much better what is being produced would be if we forced ourselves to step away for a period of time. Maybe that’s the best part of having a day job: the forced separation from the work. Maybe that’s seeing the glass as half full. It doesn’t matter as long as I see the limitation as a benefit.

So I’m taking a bit of a timeout. That means plenty of time for instrument building and a little housekeeping.

gear failure

Posted by on February 2, 2010 2 comments

There are some simple pieces of equipment that make my musical life possible. My instruments, of course, and my computer are the key players in the game. Without those I’m stuck. But it’s never the guitar that fails, it’s the cable, right? well, since my son showed up the most important piece of gear in my studio would be my headphones. I’ve had my Sennheiser HD-25s for a long time. Close to 10 years, actually. They were brilliant right up to the end. A short in the cable coupled with something that I can’t quite diagnose has brought their demise.

This is a hassle.

So I ordered up a new set being as I live in the 4th largest city in the United States and for some reason can’t find the cans I want. And now I wait. If only I lived in Austin or got out that direction more often I could have access to great stuff. As it stands I am a hostage to the internet and various shipping companies. Of course if these are the height of my complaints it’s all just whining. And it is.

That isn’t to say that I’m not working. I have plunked out a few things but I’m feeling nervous about hitting my weekly recording. If all else fails, I will pick up my 12 string, hit record, and hope for the best. It’ll be like an open mic night but with only one musician in the room.

There’s a lot for me to say about my new guitar (it sounds great!) and the instrument building projects I have coming up. I want to make some gifts for friends and a recent twist of fate put me on track for just such a venture. More on that soon.

Music soon.

vacation

Posted by on September 29, 2009 No comments

We took a trip back to the frozen northlands of my birth last week. It was wonderful. The weather was cool and breezy. Humidity was low. There wasn’t much sun, but I didn’t mind at all. Sitting on the deck of the house where I grew up, I listened to the sound of wind chimes and the familiar silence of the neighborhood. I used to sit on that deck playing my guitar for hours. Sometimes working over the same piece again and again until it was just right. The sun would slip away and everyone would find their way indoors. A unique memory among the many I have of the different places I’ve lived.

Walking around town was like taking a step back in time. Some places hadn’t changed at all. The streets from our house to the elementary school were exactly as they were when I travelled them thirty years ago. Other things felt like they were missing. People, mostly. But the place was, well, home.

It was a great trip and I’m glad that we made it.

FIRE!

As with all vacations, I took a break from music making. There was some intention of editing but that didn’t pan out. It never does. Resting needs to be complete for me. However, this week doesn’t look too good with the new Ken Burns documentary running on PBS every night. I know better than to think that we’ll get it on Netflix and watch it later. It’s now or never. So that will be two weeks out of the studio. Not the end of the world by any means. I’m counting it as vacation time that will leave me refreshed and ready to finish up this project and get to the next. Because I’m really excited about the next thing on my list.

cooling down

Posted by on September 18, 2009 No comments

Moving to Texas was a rough adjustment for me. Completely worth it, all things considered, but not easily done. When I’m having a miserable day due to the insanely hot and muggy weather I’ll often ask whoever it is calling me a whiner “How many vikings do you find in the jungle?” That said, the three digit temperatures seem to have retreated and we’re supposedly headed into the tolerable part of the year when the wind blows cool and breathing outside doesn’t hurt. I know that not all of Texas is like this, but the coastal plains are pretty miserable starting in May and running through, well, close to now. With the humidity and heat index dropping, my work ethic is growing. I’m coming out of hibernation.

POWER UP, BABY!

And it’s just in time! September 23rd, as some part or other of the mighty Internet has told me, marks the point where there are 100 days left in 2009. Since my little 10 Days Project to kill my personal creative block, I have become a huge fan of random deadlines made up of round numbers. With that in mind, I am planning to complete the following projects:

  • Release my current collection of songs in an album-like format. FOR FREE!
  • Complete the piece of electronic/computer/tape music that has been buzzing around in my brain and notebooks.
  • Optional: finish building my acoustic guitar (I’m so very close now). [This is optional due to weird things like humidity and potential tool acquisition.]

The part of me that thinks this is too modest a list hasn’t really listened to the so called drum mixes on the tracks I’m preparing. He needs to get in line with the “24 hours in a day” principle.