10-20-09 My Curry

The latest hit at all the dance clubs. Where no one is dancing. Link.

10-19-09 Once I Was

Sounding a bit like Iron and Wine on this one. Not the best performance of it, but it feels like a complete idea to me. I like it. Link.

10-18-09 Future Booty

Drums by Garageband, the rest by me. Kick ass bass, sexy absurd/chic. Gimme gimme gimme! Link.

10-17-09 In Deep

I think that with this one, all I really had was the one little short guitar loop. It didn't occur to me until later in the year to add the weird stacked vocals. Tone clustery! Link.

10-16-09 Meh

John angry. John need to play sloppy loud electric guitar. John feel better. Link.

10-15-09 Case

I spend a lot of time carting around instruments in cases, so it's only natural to dream about consolidating my home with my guitar's home. Don't judge me. Link.

10-14-09 Warning

This is not a test. Link.

10-13-09 Helicopter

I was driving to work on this day, and I have a very clear recollection of seeing helicopter seeds swirling high up in the air while I was stopped at a traffic light. link.

10-12-09 One More Hour

Creepy piano, nice arrangement, winter encroaching. Link.

10-11-09 Phil Collins

Written after reading about how Phil might never play the drums again. Which would make me sad. It would make me less sad if the spinal injury that precipitated this news hampered his shmaltzy songwriting rather than the ability to hold his drumsticks. Because, let's face it, he's a badass on the drums.



This song is not badass.

10-10-09 Winter's Calling Card

Written and recorded outdoors in the courtyard outside Intiman Theatre on a dinner break from Abe Lincoln In Illinois. Link.

10-9-09 Fish Ladder

One of my favorite places in Seattle is the Ballard Locks. The fish ladder is what helps the upstream-bound salmon from Puget Sound through the locks and to their source, to spawn and die. Link.

10-8-09 Melancholy

A nice little song scrap featuring Weezy the Accordion! link.

10-7-09 Baltimore

A little doo-wop for my traveling wife, with a little reference to The Wire thrown in at the very end. link.

10-6-09 Phineas Gage

From Wikipedia:

Phineas P. Gage (July 9?, 1823 – May 21, 1860)[n 2] was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his incredible survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior—effects so profound that friends saw him as "no longer Gage."

link.

10-5-09 Your Hands

This song would be great with a full band arrangement - it needs an emo treatment of some sort. That 12-string arpeggio needs to be a bass guitar. I like this song. Link.

10-4-09 Ohio's A Piano

Based on a random email that Rob sent out. I'd like to think that either the Ohio Chamber Of Commerce or Baldwin Pianos might pick this song up as their state anthem/jingle.

10-3-09 Autumn's Tugging At My Sleeve

A nice moody piece heralding the season of melancholy. Shades of Jose Gonzalez. Link.

10-2-09 Don't You Go Spreadin' Yer Pizen

Hey, there, o tens of readers. Sorry, I fell off the wagon for a bit. This whole getting-ready-to-be-a-dad thing takes up a fair amount of psychic energy. And the countdown continues...

Last year, I was part of a production at Intiman Theatre called Abe Lincoln In Illinois. I was onstage for most of the show, in my musician corner, and got to hear (and almost memorize) large sections of dialogue. One bit of dialogue that tickled me considerably was that of a country ruffian threatening a newcomer to their town for defaming President Andrew Jackson. This song goes out to Matt Shimkus (who's just become a dad himself). Link.

10-1-09 The Only Way To Survive

A song about backsliding. Link.

9-30-09 Not Your Friend

One of my favorites of the Paul Gude songs. My attempt at a Mountain Goats type of song. Link.