A mellow Sunday...

I woke up this morning at 10:30. That's pretty late, but seeing as it was Sunday and all, I thought, well, you know...

I read the paper, had some coffee and set down to work.

The BBQ yesterday was fun, and more of a celebration than a whoop-dee-doo kind of thing. There was a band, which was pretty good, but they were having fun, as were the onlookers, and that's what counts. Not much dancing, unfortunately. Seeing the band play inspired me to finally buy a new amplifier for my electric guitar and get back to writing music. This is a pursuit that has given me great satisfaction over the years. I have been in a few bands, but not in sobriety. I have only written 1 song since I got sober, but it's a good one and I put the work in to make it happen. I had also promised a friend that I'd set one of his lyrics to music, which I had been procrastinating.

After I re-strung one guitar and tuned it up, I sat down with the lyrics and in less than an hour had hammered out the tune. I like it and it has a really good melodic hook.

My new amp should arrive in about a week. Then I'll set out to try to find some folks to play with. The thing is that the bassplayer in last nights band asked me to try out for their outfit a few months ago. On the night of the audition I was very sick and I couldn't make it. In a way I'm glad. My musical direction is not about playing covers. I really only like to play my own tunes or at least original tunes by my bandmates. All the great cover tunes I can think of, the ones that I'd like to play, are perfect already. To try to rearrange them seems like a futile effort. It's much easier to write and play original material. If I had joined that band I would have been as dictatorial as always, and eventually they wouldn't be having fun anymore. My music is about precision, timing, and focus. I don't jam around endlessly. My songs have beginnings and endings, bridges, choruses, verses, etc...and they all have a specific time and place. Otherwise there is no structure, no direction. I need to find musicians who can respect that and who are able to see how that kind of discipline is actually very freeing. You either play the song, or not.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll sharpen up another number I've been working on. I also found some pre-sobriety tapes of my playing in some bands from a few years ago. One note to remember is that I never played drunk. I couldn't do it. I became too sloppy. I'd open a beer and take a swig, put it down, and come back to it an hour later. My disease affected my music in other ways. It became very dark, foreboding, and strange. I'll see what I can salvage. Maybe in time I'll put out a CD or something.

Johnnyboy