tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61141930609499834182012-01-25T23:28:59.955-05:00If only the sky wasn't built so close to the sun.redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-1868797395107435912011-12-15T15:58:00.004-05:002011-12-15T18:34:26.350-05:00

It wasn't till my fourth year (out of six) at Oberlin that I finally started to put my own concept album project - Project::in•fin•i•ty - together. I forget exactly how we came together. I'd already known Christopher (keyboards/production) a little and he was my RC. Charles (drums) lived at the end of the hallway and somehow he knew Jonathan (guitars). Something something something [cue flashback

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-35663357696390569232011-12-07T02:45:00.005-05:002011-12-07T04:09:30.204-05:00

My first year at Oberlin brought me a new experience: the opportunity to date _guys_ - the gender I am attracted to. For the young ones today in a seemingly more progressive and queer-friendly field, perhaps it isn't a big deal. But for me - someone who grew up in this conservative and strange "normal" reality of the 80's and 90's in a backwater town of California... It was a second adolescence.

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-75641108171837997972011-11-14T01:12:00.006-05:002011-11-14T02:13:08.187-05:00

It wasn't the first time I fell in love but it was definitely the quickest.It was the summer of '93 and I had just turned 17 a few months before. I was hundreds - which at that age seem like thousands if not MILLIONS - of miles away from home attending the Berklee in L.A. program. Surrounded by musicians - mostly guitarists - my age from all areas of the west coast, it was a week of

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-57191676358968604892011-10-31T03:43:00.005-04:002011-11-07T14:26:58.271-05:00

I was about 16 when I wrote Diamond Rise and it’s the earliest song I still make any claim too.It was 1992-ish give or take a few months. Silent Lucidity had inspired me to add guitar to what would soon become an ever growing list of instruments I play. I’d spent the past couple years both kinda dating a young lady and, at the same time, going through the rough process of coming out to myself and

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-6787998210797599482011-10-23T20:12:00.003-04:002011-10-23T20:32:17.063-04:00

Fellow guitarists take note: I learned today that (in the case of an emergency), if you pop your B string, you can move your high E string over and tune down to a B. Fairly effective!James and I have done a number of gigs with an organization here in Philly - the Community Cultural Exchange. Their recent engagement is to bring back live music and buskers on South Street which is pretty cool.

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-32789819864366030942011-10-19T02:04:00.004-04:002011-10-19T02:39:55.443-04:00

Oops. It's been almost a year since I updated things here. Life has actually been pretty good - it's a shame some of the better parts haven't gotten mentioned - at least yet. Time. In time I'll recap the past few months and point forward for a change.In the meantime, during my evening commute to work, as the specter of my face transgressed the shadowy substance of streets, I found myself

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-17270214154818059492010-12-14T02:58:00.003-05:002010-12-14T03:30:29.053-05:00

Strange how life moves - how some pick a path that leads them up *there* while others follow a path that leads them down *there*. No one ever knows until much later.It was almost a decade ago now. In 2003 I left a cushy 40k dead-end-to-me job in Boston for a life of who-knows-what-the-fuck-will-happen 0k in NYC. No longer would I be a fucking web developer. I was now to be a permanent full-time

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-75023844325034638022010-12-06T02:04:00.002-05:002010-12-06T02:37:38.556-05:00

Yes, again with the silence.Oy.Seriously, though, there have been some major changes in life. Back in April or May I FINALLY left that goddamned store - something I think was very definitely LONG overdue. The story behind that is actually kind of amusing. The whole economic situation threw the chain into some turmoil - as it has with basically every sector, of course. There were some heavy

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-30830783928835487892010-03-14T22:26:00.002-04:002010-03-14T23:54:26.098-04:00

I've lost it.No, not my mind. Though certainly that, too... But rather my old logo for Project::in•fin•i•ty - my old experimental/concept art-ish music.See I started the project back in 1995 or so. (God, 15 years!) Naturally, it's been evolving. Or changing. I'm not sure the "progress" implications of "evolve" are being met currently... But more on *that* later.Anywho, the logo I developed was a

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-78175719355262813102010-03-05T03:43:00.004-05:002010-03-05T04:21:52.058-05:00

I've been pretty heavily at work on some tunes for another Trannywood Productions film. I'm having mixed success - mostly in that my computer keeps deciding to crash at the least-convenient times. Or just generally starts fucking up - it's all about the same, really. And then sometimes I start working on something, get in a groove, love it, and only later realize it's not really... appropriate.

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-86478232973328765412010-02-11T02:55:00.002-05:002010-02-11T04:39:11.241-05:00

A couple nights ago I randomly thought of an old NYC-era tune of mine that I honestly haven't thought of since. It just kinda sprang back into my mind from nowhere and for no particular reason that I can determine. Sort of analogous to that unexpected visit by an old high school friend, I suppose."Hey! Long time no see. Was in the area, thought I'd see if you were still around!"Bwah?Progress on

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-41996479829045827242010-02-05T01:24:00.002-05:002010-02-05T02:03:00.331-05:00

In what's likely to become something of a reoccurring phenomenon, June and I returned to the Whitpain Tavern tonight for their open mic. This time, however, we arrived sufficiently early - before it even started, actually - and acquired ourselves an actual slot.w00t!We dithered about what to actually play this time. Neither of us seemed to have realized we'd actually have to *think* about what to

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-56006851048732609622010-02-04T00:10:00.002-05:002010-02-04T00:42:51.302-05:00

As I mentioned (somewhat) recently, I'm a rather visual person. A lot of my thoughts, lyrics, and songs have a visual element that either inspires them or imbue them.This time is no exception. A certain young man kinda entered my life a bit ago. Oh, it's all completely tangential at best. He lives over there, I live here. We've never met in person. We do naught but trade a few comments or such

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-84482181204197666522010-01-15T02:37:00.002-05:002010-01-15T02:56:28.989-05:00

After some dithering, June and I decided to head up to the Whitpain Tavern in Plymouth Meeting, PA for their weekly open mic/jam session. It's often quite fun as usally everyone just sorta piles together in random ways and configurations. As, as it usually happens, we got there *late* and thus only got the last two spots.This time, of course, I decided to do some solo/front stuff. It's not the

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-60341613832905584612010-01-10T04:06:00.002-05:002010-01-10T04:19:37.892-05:00

I'm starting to find a new workflow on this machine. It's *NOT* ideal. But... it works.And I'm at the point where that's good enough. For now.I had intended to sit down and get some ideas down for a tune I started writing last night. (and by 'last night' I do mean Friday night now. EEEK!) However, as creativity sometimes goes, I started writing something almost *completely* different. I just got

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-14589495961852533202010-01-05T16:00:00.002-05:002010-01-05T16:38:08.606-05:00

I seem to have a fascination with writing from... either the 'wrong' side of the line ("Far", "Don't") or the grey side of the line ("Better This Way?", "Can You?"). Rarely do I seem to write anything from the sunny side of the guilt/blame fence - where I'm clearly the "good guy". I guess you could blame it on my growing up in the late 80's and early 90's. There's a sort of enjoyment I get from

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-40564928695518643172010-01-02T01:31:00.002-05:002010-01-02T02:05:33.359-05:00

Got home a few minutes ago from my first _solo_ gig post Rochester. It's... it's an interesting feeling. Overall I'm satisfied-ish with my performance. Given what's happened in the past, that's actually a good thing. My voice wasn't *quite* where I wanted it to be. The last few numbers felt rough vocally - I'd over sung myself and my voice just ended. The first couple felt rough confidence-wise.

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-3803981157863228682009-12-18T03:38:00.002-05:002009-12-18T03:42:26.014-05:00

More later. My process has changed drastically over the years - for both good and bad. But, like I said, more later.For now it's interesting to note that I'm still on my PC. So far it's been acting... decently. Few of the problems that plagued me before - especially right before I revived my Mac.Still... I'm... gun shy. I do NOT trust this beast. I keep expecting horrible things to happen. I...

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-27362671984445307092009-12-12T02:30:00.004-05:002009-12-12T11:03:27.576-05:00

I'm a visual person. I know this. Were I to start life over and be forced to follow some path other than music, I'm pretty sure I'd choose photography. Imagery resonates in 85% of my lyrics. Metaphors, similes, personifications - that's the poetry of which most of my words flow. "Tears of twilight fading into viewEach one a reason that I am here with you." --Half Moon Bay, 1993I say this because

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-31377115310117039952009-12-09T01:46:00.003-05:002009-12-09T03:56:35.234-05:00

Something is changing - something inside my head and soul. It's intriguing to sit here and watch it either incapable of stopping it or just indifferent to stopping it. Certainly I think I've fueled it.I'm beginning to evolve.It's a strange sensation, really. There's an odd disconnect that I can't begin to describe. Chrysalis, perhaps. My world is becoming more about me; centered around myself.

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-77046549537588529892009-07-21T03:00:00.003-04:002009-12-09T03:57:04.517-05:00

Overall a decent gig. It was rather rainy and had been kinda threatening most of the late afternoon/evening so attendance was a little ... sluggish but it wasn't dead either. And the feedback we got was very positive!There are some things I think we need to clean up in our act. I think we need a little more structure. It's something of a (developing) pet peeve to be up there and have several

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-10690855842439520772009-05-29T02:57:00.003-04:002009-05-29T04:41:27.278-04:00

The freneticism is long over. I can finally sit for a few minutes and begin to unravel my thoughts in a more organized fashion. But first - the recapThe trip up to Rochester was remarkable only in it's length and lack of... remarkability. I took the 10pm chinatown bus up to NYC from Cherry Hill where I hopped on to Greyhound's 12:45am NYC->Toronto "express" line. I don't remember much of my

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-86919697105323165642009-04-25T03:54:00.003-04:002009-04-25T04:29:00.415-04:00

I finally did it: I booked an out-of-town solo gig. Freddy and Kendall are touring to support Kendall's new CD and, when I heard they were doing something in Rochester, I kinda... got a spark.[*] So a couple days ago I was chatting with Freddy and said, "look. Let me join you for this." And he agreed.w00t!Artistically and musically I'm ecstatic. I'm really flying high on this notion of

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-58011703312581422702009-04-06T01:30:00.002-04:002009-04-06T02:10:37.443-04:00

Last Thursday James, June, and I all got together for a rehearsal for the upcoming Bears on Liberty Weekend gig. I have to say I'm both excited and terrified.James and I have been performing together for 3-4 years now. 99.9% of that time we've just been a duo. (Really the only time we did something with a full band was for Can't Get A Date!) So there's been a fun sort of freedom and looseness

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-90592138036660677912009-03-19T00:55:00.003-04:002009-03-20T13:53:08.273-04:00

I'm a bit opinionated.*glares at all the faux gasps*Okay. Maybe a _lot_. Of course most of the time I feel my opinions are rather... half baked or ill-informed but... *shrugs* That's neither here nor there at the moment.I've been listening to a song a lot that I... well, I loathe. But I also... love a little: "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry's, I should specify)Yeah, it's fucking catchy. *

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-32747768225059200692009-03-13T02:30:00.002-04:002009-03-13T03:05:36.610-04:00

I've been listening to You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk a lot over the past couple of days. And... you know I'm actually kinda happy with the vocals. They are some spots which make me cringe a bit. But for a rather rushed and unprepared go-at, I think there's almost the right level of emotion.I'm wondering if that hard-drive buzz really *is* enough to make me re-record the

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-79950316896603257652009-03-09T02:12:00.004-04:002010-01-15T14:24:40.066-05:00

Resisted my urge to go out tonight after a hellish day at the store. I even resisted a late night urge - after my usual 11pm cutoff for making sound. I'm glad I did! Maybe I'll start getting things done this way. :)I started going back and touching some of the RPM tunes - most notably "Too Close". Also want to get to "Give You A Load/Second Chances" but... Haven't done a *whole* lot yet -

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-6749630797225705232009-03-01T02:42:00.002-05:002009-03-01T03:37:29.139-05:00

so... I did NOT complete this year's RPM challenge. I got _one_ song 'finished' (in as much as I ever manage to finish a song) and that one... wasn't quite an RPM song. On the other hand it was a dear friend's goodbye/birthday song so... from a personal standpoint it was a little more important.I walk away from this year's challenge with mixed feelings. On the one hand I got *MUCH* further

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-39777314513909762232009-02-15T02:30:00.003-05:002009-02-15T03:03:16.277-05:00

Sometimes a piece or tune just kind of explodes on you. "trains" was a song like that. I went from something that was hardly even a riff and over the course of 4 days just kinda built up my maybe second most favorite song of mine so far.This B minor thing was just a... vague notion a couple weeks ago. A lot of my stuff tends to get rather dense (see Half Moon Bay for example) and for a long

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-6498991568388094522009-02-14T15:01:00.003-05:002009-02-14T15:06:12.373-05:00

I'm actually like fucking excited for a change. This track came from just a bare idea - a simple practically whole note riff. (Okay, it's in 6/8 time but... just a note per measure!) B - D - A - E.Anywho, I won't go into the process yet. But it's just kinda taking the *right* path. And I LOVE how it kicks in at 0:55.Sock it to me!B minor riff in 6/8draft 1

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-51491881905225018032009-02-13T01:09:00.002-05:002009-02-13T01:35:55.070-05:00

It's a Thursday and thus one of my days off. Unfortunately I didn't get as much done as I'd like even though I woke up at 9am.Yay, me.I did revisit my 'upbeat' tune and really reworked the chorus. While I was at the school yesterday (meaning Wednesday) I came up with a different chord pattern that fist the song just a million times better. The former one... just went somewhere not right.So I

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-26009859542717587952009-02-11T01:42:00.002-05:002009-02-11T02:21:26.292-05:00

Got home from work around 7:30ish and got to work shortly thereafter on Midnight Train. I wanted to get some simple electric guitar parts down - not too different from what was already there just with a very different tone.That's about when the dismay hit.*sighs* I began to realize just HOW craptacular my electric guitar is. The humbucker is falling apart, the intonation has been problematic for

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-51031343758275855182009-02-10T02:08:00.003-05:002009-02-10T02:52:44.662-05:00

The past few days have been less productive than I'd like to admit. Friday I had virtually no time to record for RPM. Took off out the door at 9am for some recording with James. Got home for an hour and did get some minor adjustments to the E Major 7th tune. But then I was back out the door and didn't get home till _late_.I did get some stuff started Saturday but nothing really to the point of

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-76207401915460379122009-02-05T22:36:00.002-05:002009-02-05T23:32:04.077-05:00

Thursdays are one of my days off so today was a nice long day of writing. Yay!Got up quasi-early - around 11:30. After the coffee was brewed and making its way into my system, I pulled up Live for some more experimentation. Decided I should stick to mostly electronic stuff today and all completely new, too.My first goal was to start something more rhythmical, more beat-oriented. I hear a lot

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-741584093950102482009-02-05T02:13:00.002-05:002009-02-05T02:51:41.810-05:00

I'd thought about taking my recording gear in to the school today to record some piano stuff but... Well I got up later than intended so I aborted 'cuz I just wasn't up to the whole dismantling of my "studio". It's not the most complex system but... it's not exactly an H2 or something.*sighs*I futzed around with some piano ideas between lessons but, aside from the piece I wanted to record,

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-40130426516791184832009-02-04T01:32:00.002-05:002009-02-04T02:02:46.636-05:00

After last night's 'official cuttoff' I spent a little time working with beats in Reason. I've long felt my drum programming... just doesn't quite line up with the strange things I hear in my head. Or I just find the product dull.:/I did get a couple things going that I will follow up with but... It was short a lived venture since I had to be up at 8 in the morning to get to work.yay. work.I

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-53262269793614010842009-02-03T00:11:00.002-05:002009-02-03T00:24:40.086-05:00

Got home tonight at about 10:30 and almost immediately returned to "too close". It took a couple passes but I re-recorded the chorus guitars and even added a third. Then I sat down and put down a couple more layers of background vocals. (If you've listened to any of my stuff you'll notice there's almost ALWAYS a choir of Tosh's somewhere...)Then I got in a mood and decided I wanted to put down

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114193060949983418.post-89713914286557700732009-02-02T02:01:00.003-05:002009-02-02T03:19:28.232-05:00

Alas my day was shorter than I'd like. Tomorrow? Virtually non-existent. However I did get a decent chunk of one completely new song mocked up. Like I just kinda had this one riff and then played it out to myself and, when I got enough ideas I just sorta sat down and recorded them.I still need to fine tune some things. I realized the verse actually kinda works as a chorus, too, but that I need to

redmoonriverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00211464639134301259noreply@blogger.com0