The Need to Produce

Once you come to the point where you recognize your own talent; probably well before, actually, you start to feel almost obligated to produce.
I'm a musician, so I eat, I breathe and I make music, right?

I guess not always would be the more realistic answer.
A writer has to write, and birds gotta fly. But the ones I notice spend a lot of time sitting and observing. Preening & cleaning. All sort of things but not flying.

Because music is part of your DNA doesn't mean when you poop it comes out musically.
Quite the contrary.

There is much time that is not singularly dedicated to making your craft, but it is just as necessary as the act of creating.
The minute I feel guilty about not having churned something out, I realize how foolish that premise is from the start. Shaken, not churned.

Craft is an act of finessing it out of you, not pinching a loaf, pushing to give birth or evacuate anything.
There is a spark that resides inside me and it takes a lot of work to get that spark to dance its heart out.
I'm sure some creations were acts of birth, but I would hope most are not so painful.
-----
Listen to me on Rocker's Dive Radio and BBC Introducing - Jazz on 3 on BBC Radio 3 - from free jazz to fusion, post-bop to electronica.

A pal and I exchanged emails in which we bemoaned our current state of affairs. I said, I am doing something positive to change my life.
How 'bout you?
Thank You Blue - My latest piece.

BBC Introducing

One has to sign up for every opportunity available.

Social Media - Lies and Damned Lies...

In 2008? I joined FaceBook. Not as a means to reaching out to those far away. No, in an effort to generate some buzz.
I had a MySpace page that got me absolutely nowhere, musically speaking. One nibble in the, literally years I had taken to "craft" a MySpace page and persona. And the reason for the nibble was that we were connected in life and used MySpace as a communication tool.
But not one band needing a guitar player...no A&R guy looking for the next big thing. And funny, but everyone and their mother had product for sale. This was becoming a marketplace, not a networking tool.
And so I left.

What is FaceBook now? Beyond the obvious; lunch snapshots, pictures of people on airplanes...and God Bless America, but fucking advertisements. And no, I don't mean Mark Zuckerbergs ads. I have a very effective ad blocking plugin for my browser.
No, it all the purported musician "friends," my so called network selling their latest CD or Kickstarter campaign or gig. (Isn't that what the "Invites" are for? And NOT my newsfeed?)

Gawd...
At least with Twitter it is a simple thing to cull those whose only input are services they offer. I am not buying 100 CDs and jackets with promo material all for the low price of two hundred fifteen dollars.
If you know an A&R person, great...can sign me, awesome...want to propose a route to stardom, I am here to listen.

Understand that I get the use of social media as a free advertising channel and I do not begrudge them the space or bandwith involved. Ain't my dime.

But I will stop following you the way I switch channels on the television every time an ad comes on.
I am the worlds worst consumer, I know what I want for the most part and only need a few choices made clear. One whiff of salesman and I run.
Same applies to servers in restaurants - be friendly, not sycophantic, be accessible, not hovering.

Some people really get it.

Being a Creative Genius Can Be a Lot of Work

I get energized and plop myself in front of my computer ready to write, record, compose, play and be that musical genius I think I am.
I compose a score.
I revise and edit.
Rinse and repeat...rinse and repeat.

Finally...hours later, I have a score I like. Yes, this sounds good - in a vacuum.
Now I have to add my guitar for perhaps with a second or third time.

And fuck, I don't have the energy to go on.
This is not new; not age related. I have always had this. After an orgasm, I tend to be hungry and sleepy. Well, the creative process, being another expression of intimate sharing is sex. It is the same thing.
I want a drink, maybe a sandwich and a nap before I go on.

So to be that driven musical genius, I have to learn to have multiple orgasms. Not at the same time. Over a course of a several hours.

I think I am truly on to something. I am not being facetious.
Maybe it is a scheduling thing? Write early in the day and later when I feel it try laying the overdubs down?

Like Sex, Only Better...(I Said That?)

You play and the feeling is sex only you are doing this in public in front of a crowd and garnering applause.
You are having intimate relations with a room full of people.

This area of LA county is home to not a few honest-to-goodness roadhouses.
A Grotto is one. Literally a basement room. Long and low and packed. People who are drinking and looking for fun.
We don't have to be great. Just something to dance to.

Easy. Fun. And the release is palpable. For all of us in the room. Maybe for different reasons, but everyone is finding a way out.

The night began watching another friend at a local lodge. I have been putting it off as I find the lodge scene way too shuffleboard geriatric for me. The only interesting people are the drunks. Again, not for me.

We are playing a mix of Small Faces, old Johnny Winter, jamming 'cuz nobody realizes it's not a Hendrix song anymore...
I realized I had my acid smile on and that I was having a great time doing a huge amount of nothing.
Share, sharing...experiences or fluids, it's all the same to me really.

My guitar sounds great.
I can play a lot more than I imagine if I put my mind to it.
People appreciate what I can do to the point they buy drinks and leave tips.

I am THIS close!

Villex Update

Want to save the shipping? Drive to Sherman Oaks.
(Amp Shop/Bass Exchange)
The Villex demo

(Ask me how I know)

Gud gawd.
Okay I realize that demoing a product is not a strength of mine, yet. There should be more finesse in this but here it goes.
Staring in position five on the guitar (neck pickup) with the VMB off, play four chords & flip a switch.
5 off then on
4 on then off
3 off then on
2 on then off
1 off then on

I watched the output on an oscilloscope and saw an increase of somewhere between 75 and 200 mV depending on the pickup and notes struck. Which means to keep G Ohm happy, we must reduce the current. Conservation maintained.
In the world of guitar pickups and their output, 200 mV is a huge increase.

When gain is employed it is not as noticeable.  However this vastly expands the guitars palette.  What was a weak sound, i.e. without gain is now a very usable option.

When I got my Alairex HALO what I noticed was that it doesn't have one "set" perfect position for me. Depending on what I want to hear I need to flip switches, or turn knobs.

What this little miracle does is it also make the guitar "unstable." Needing input from me to achieve what I want to hear.

Next Up, Villex Passive Mid-Range Booster

Clapton...Beano boost...Mid tone.
Eric has said his signature sound is the emphasis on the middle frequencies.

If you buy the Fender Clapton signature Stratocaster you get an active mid boost circuit included.
Active versus passive - using a power source, in this case a battery to power and boost the circuit.
A passive boost, by strict definition is not real - what it does is shift the resonant peaks down stream...so they get away with using the hyperbole "...Mid Range Boost." Yeah.

No, the loudness factor is not what interested me, boost is not needed. So why is this interesting?
Clapton used a boost to the middle frequencies of his Strat, the quintessential 'quack' of a Strat. He used an active amplifier, made small to fit within the body of the guitar.

You unscrew the jack from the guitar. Cut the two wires and insert them into the opening in the top photo. Screw the wires snug. Replace the jack and attach it to the guitar.

Flip the switch and the circuit is in use, otherwise you have the stock sound you bought.


The ONLY troubling aspect in the entire process is the company and it's murky history. First in the U.K. and now in SoCal, a website that a would cause a 2nd grader to giggle, has a loop in the 'How To Order' page inducing anything but warm and fuzzies.
It seems your choice is to call a personal number and give someone your credit card information.
Whew...I found a dealer on eBay and that adds PayPal protection and also obviates the need to give someone I do not know my personal information.

In California...$105.99 + $9.54 tax and $3.99 shipping - $119.52.