Monthly Archives: April 2006

Standing Room Only

I don’t know how many people ended up attending last night’s show. I do know that more chairs had to be brought in, and it ended up being standing room only.

I find it interesting that when I woke up this morning I was thinking, “Wow, what a great concert I attended last night” as opposed to, “Oh yeah, I played a gig.” That’s what happens when you open for a kick-ass band like Invisible. They wipe all memory of your own set away. Not that I needed much help in that area; I remember the first three songs of our set really clearly (excellent! fast! precise! fun!), and then everything goes mysteriously missing until the dismantling of the set and unplugging of the instruments. Which is probably good for me, because I know there were things that went wrong for me, and if I can’t remember them then I can’t get upset about them. Oddly enough, I clearly remember thinking that things were slipping away from me during the Boom Desjardins song, and just letting it go and not stressing because there wasn’t anything I could do. But I don’t remember the actual music in the middle or latter part of the set, other than Moon Over Bourbon Street. (I can’t even blame it on alcohol, because I had only three sips of my whiskey sour post-performance before having to stop, because my stomach and head started doing odd things as a result of the sound and the crowds. Of course, we were sitting right in front between the speakers for Invisible’s double-length set, and I did dance rather hard for a bit, so that may have contributed to the odd nausea.) I had fun during our set too, though. I’d’ve had more if that song hadn’t gotten away from me, but we enjoyed ourselves. And there’s plenty of proof that the audience doesn’t know when things go wrong. It’s just because we know the songs we’re doing so well that when we make a mistake it stands out with flashing neon lights and sirens to us. I’d like to do some simpler songs that allow us to have fun and be relaxed as well. Our covers tend to be of complicated stuff that sounds brilliant but that requires a lot of concentration. Having fun and being relaxed is a good goal to strive for, I think.

We thoroughly enjoyed Invisible’s set, from the Johnny Cash through the originals. I’m so glad this gig was recorded. (And no, it won’t be available for public consumption; it’s a learning tool for the bands.) We sang, we danced, we cheered!

Unfortunately when I got home I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep despite how tired I was; I kept skipping the surface and waking up. And then Liam woke up at five o’clock, so I had a total of something like three hours of sleep. And the baby’s out of sorts today as well; no sign of teeth yet. Argh.

We’re trying the crock pot we got for Christmas for the first time today. Pot roast: just the thing for a dark rainy spring day.

Gig Minus Five Hours And Counting

We had a good, solid dress rehearsal this morning where we got some blank-memory moments out of our systems, committed music (there were goosebumps!), and were in general pleased with how things happened. I am personally satisfied with my bits in the IBFKATCS. I’m looking forward to the gig tonight.

I had my first soft-serve ice cream cone of the year yesterday. Chocolate and vanilla swirl, dipped in hard chocolate coating. Delicious.

And happy Earth Day to all!

Friday

Since my original engagement was cancelled last night, I joined the impromptu open rehearsal some of the band was having at the studio. There, in the words of the lovely and talented Mousme, “we beat the instrumental of J’Veux pas vieillir into bloody submission, and lo, all was right with the world once more.” I threw my bow at the floor three times in frustrated despair during the beating, however. (Kids, don’t try this at home. I have four low-end bows; I can afford to do stupid things that can damage the equipment in question. And now it occurs to me that I have a heavier bow that would probably better serve my purposes in the band, instead of my lightish all-purpose one I use for orchestra. Note to self: Get the hard case and all the extra bows out of storage from the in-laws’ basement. Bonus: I can finally give t! my old three-quarter fibreglass bow to mess about with as well.)

So, The Instrumental Bit Formerly Known As The Cello Solo will happen. It may not be as pretty as I would like it to be, but it will happen. (And assuaging my gnashiness with the knowledge that it will be over before the audience figures out what bit it is does no good, of course.) Ceri and Mousme were absolutely rock-solid supportive and patient friends last night as we did it over, and over, and over. They even recorded their bits onto tape for me to practice against at home, as I can play the damn thing when no one else is playing with me; it’s listening to the other stuff going on at the same time that throws me. It will be fine, of course; I’ll be the only one who knows it’s not as good as I want it to be.

Tomorrow is full of dress rehearsal, moving equipment, setting up the space, and sound checks. HRH gets to watch Liam during the day while I do music-stuff, until Liam’s grandma takes over the babysitting in the late afternoon.

I had an excellent morning/early afternoon today with ai731, having my hair professionally highlighted (and I have it on good authority that it looks “really, really, really gorgeous”, although I can’t tell because I can’t see it from the correct angles, darn it all), doing lunch, and helping out with corset refitting. We ran errands together yesterday afternoon as well, and I picked up the most adorable little boom stand for the supplemental microphone that’s only about eighteen inches tall. Now I don’t feel as if there’s something looming over me when I sit between the supplemental mic and the amp.

Book roundup: I’ve finally finished Rose of the World by Jude Fisher, the final book in an epic fantasy trilogy, and the end kind of trailed away. I think it lacked punch because the climax was being told from the POV of over six characters, and things kept skipping around. The momentum was lost over about a hundred pages. Anyway, when I realised I was just turning pages to get to the next plot point, I put it down for a couple of days and reread Pratchett’s Witches Abroad instead. I’m always surprised at how quickly this book is over: it’s a very smooth read, and full of truths about basic stories and how they play themselves out again and again. And while discussing Connie Willis with Ceri and Mousme last night I decided to reread Bellwether, so I started that this morning.

Now: more practicing, a warm bath, then bed! And my fingers are crossed for Liam sleeping through the night, for everyone’s benefit. He had a bad night last night. I want these new teeth of his to finally appear and be done with it.

A New Way To Define ‘Graphic Novel’

Penguin Gives Classics an Alt.Comics Makeover

When [Chris] Ware’s artwork [for Candide], with its whimsical comic-strip rendition of the opening scenes and hand-lettered jacket copy, hit Buckley’s desk, he was almost afraid to show it to his colleagues. But they loved it so much that he decided to do an entire series with other cartoonists and independent comics artists having a go at a Penguin Classic.

Full story here at GalleyCat. They’ve even got Seth doing the cover to the Portable Dorothy Parker.

A Writing Truth

There are no rules; there is only what works.

~ Matociquala hits it dead on yet again.

(And also thought-provokes here with the discussion topic, “Words are a tool for injecting the story into the reader’s brain.” In the comments she says, “The art of writing fiction is the art of seducing the reader into generating a story that the reader finds satisfying.” A comment like that can make you look at the craft in a totally different way.)

Random Thoughts

I so desperately miss writing. Writing as my day job, I mean. Having a notebook next to the bed so I can jot things down as I fall asleep isn’t the same. I miss growing a story, I miss taking an idea and developing it through a chapter of NF, I miss being ambushed by a scene or story that has to be written right now, and I miss the feeling of being drained but happy with the number of words I set down during a work session. I even miss growling about how badly the writing’s going, because even then there’s some writing of substance happening. And I even miss this.

And before anyone helpfully hops in with ideas, please understand that I’m not in need of solutions to give myself writing time. My life is different right now, and I understand that; I knew what I was signing up for when I had the baby. I’m glad to have this journal in which to record thoughts and comments and the daily swing of things; that’s my writing right now. I’m just nostalgic for the huge part of my life that writing fiction and non-fic for publication used to occupy.

We had to take Liam’s mobile down yesterday because he’s perfected standing up in the crib. It’s got a funky bend in it that turns it into a base-with-light-and-music-mobile thing, though, so we’ve got it standing on his dresser now like a lamp.

It was nice to go to bed last night with part of the day and my mood salvaged. We finally got most of the coven together to make the coven incense, and it’s divine. The whole house smells fantastic. This is the project we began at Imbolc, pinpointing the three main things our coven works for (protection, healing, and spiritual growth) and then brainstorming ingredients to reflect those things. We tested them one by one to sense energy and scent, and blended three trial batches with slight variations for everyone to test at home on their own and report back. In the end we have thirteen components plus our signature ingredient (real maple syrup!), and last night they all blended beautifully. It went a long way towards soothing the badness of the day away. That’s a sign of success, in my opinion. If the energy released by burning this incense (or simply smelling the mix!) grounds while simultaneously uplifting the spirit, then it’s accomplished a lot of its goal. Now I just need to use it in ritual to get a sense of how it functions there.

Gnash

Yup. It’s official: the day classifies as Bad. Not from any one thing, just lots of little things.

And still miles to go before we sleep.