I've been so tired lately. The weather doesn't help. It's not even a good kind of tired that you feel from working hard, although I am coming off of a five day work week. It's that kind of bored, apathetic kind of tired. I have a few irons in the fire so it's not like I'm just waiting around for some divine force to show me the way, it's just that everything is currently on hold or in the works. Hurry up and wait. It makes me nuts. The thing that makes me the craziest is that I have this screenplay that I'm working on and all I can figure out is what's wrong with it.
It's not the usual kind of thing where you look at it and think it's drivel and want to start over, I've learned to fix that in the second draft. Just get it on paper and fix it later. No, this comes from following a train of thought and realizing that it's going nowhere or is completely unnecessary. I had a break through earlier this week but, when I went to write it down, it eluded me like trying to remember a dream. I know where it is and I see the approach, I just have to find the words.
The crazy thing is that I've been working on another project with a partner and since she went off to do the next draft, all I keep thinking about is that project. My timing's all screwed up.
There was a waitress that worked in this all night diner that I used to like to hang out at. She eventually became a friend. When I first started both of these projects, I'd be in there until the wee hours just writing and drinking coffee. She'd always listen if I had an idea that I needed to talk through. Sometimes she'd make suggestions. They were usually simple things that were just what the doctor ordered, but without them I was lost in the forest trying to find a tree. I tried not to monopolize her time, usually waiting until she had a couple of minutes, because she'd get in trouble with her manager for hanging out with me. She said she didn't care, it was more fun trying to figure out my plot holes than trying to find busy work. The best part was that when I got stuck, really stuck, and had to go home and think about it, she'd just shrug it off and tell me that I'd figure it out. Like there was no doubt in her mind. It was nice to have someone in my corner. She broke up with her boyfriend, moved across town and I haven't seen her since. It seems weird to miss someone you didn't know that well or that long but I miss her on nights like this.
So when it's a little after 1:00 a.m., what do you call it? Tuesday night or Wednesday morning? I've known people who mark time by when they wake up and go to bed. That's a day to them. Some people mark time by sunrise and sunset. Personally, I mark time by the clock. Everything starts fresh at 12:00 a.m. I work nights and have been a night owl most of my life. There have been times due to work or whatever that I've had to keep Jack Bauer hours. If I marked time by my sleep pattern, my week might get a little shorter.
It gets confusing when I try to talk to people who mark time differently. I'll be asking them about what they're doing later today and they'll either look at me funny or tell me what they did yesterday afternoon. I'll end up explaining the question for five minutes just to have them tell me they don't have any plans. Most of the time I'm just making conversation. Sometimes I might be trying to make plans, but that's kind of rare any more.
Most people don't do the things I do or when I do them. That's fine. I used to try to be accommodating but too many times I found myself sitting around and waiting for phone calls to confirm or somebody'd cancel or want to reschedule. I have things to do. It's not that I don't want to hang out with you, I just don't have all day to try to figure out when. It sucks sometimes, but it's often best to just do my own thing. I'm done dragging people to things that they've never heard of. No matter how good the intention, if you're not having a good time, you're just wasting your time.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Random Thoughts While Doing My Laundry
A few years ago, when I was washing my clothes at a local laundromat, I'd take my notebook with me and write about different observations and get caught up on journal writing and what not. I've since moved out of that neighborhood and the laundromat has closed but I still have a few things rattling through my head. Isn't that what this whole blog thing is about anyway? I figure if nothing interesting is going on with my job, maybe there's something else I can entertain you with.
A friend of mine posted a youtube clip on facebook that was talking about the current state of music. Next to the clip he posed the question of do you agree or disagree? The person being interviewed is someone I've admired and respected for years and I know he's not talking out of his ass when he says that he thinks the state of music is alive and well. Being in the industry, his ear is most likely closer to the ground than mine. I live in the mid-west and work in and around bars where cover bands and d.j.'s come to play the same 50 songs every weekend. I listen to classic rock on the radio because it's the station that comes in the clearest at home. In the car I'm usually listening to a book on cd. I've become a fan of Spotify because it gives me access to 83% of the bands on the planet without having to spend a bunch of money just to find out that the song that made me buy the album was the only good one on it.
I'm fortunate enough to be friends with a lot of musicians and have been turned on to a lot of good music that way. Most of it theirs. Unfortunately, most of the bar/club patrons have the attention span of a three year old and just want to hear the same thing that corporate radio has been shoving in their ears all day so, no matter how good of a musician these people might be, if they want to make money they'll be practicing Santaria and telling all the single ladies to put a ring on it.
One of the things mentioned in the clip is how a lot of bands are using the internet to get their stuff heard. It is cool when you can find somebody who's playing for the sake of playing and not getting stingy over a royalty payment. Also, companies like CD Baby make it possible to get the music to the masses without having to conform to the big labels idea of what they think people want.
Something I miss, and I'm surprised that there isn't more of it considering all of the social networks, is when you would hang out with your friends and one of you'd be listening to something new and cool and you could turn each other on to other things. I have a couple of friends that will post about some new release they just listened to but they're in the minority. Now, if you don't check the website of your favorite bands, you don't know what's coming out. Also, you miss out on some things you'd never hear before.
I've been called everything from an alien to a freak because of things I've retained as a music fan. Sometimes I might be talking to somebody about an obscure song on side two of some rare album and if you just found out about this band yesterday, I'll let that blank look slide. When I talk to some of my musician friends about the follow up track to a number one hit that went platinum, and I still see that look, I start to question them. I love music. It's always been a big part of my life. But I've always considered myself the outsider looking in. Movies and books have always been my passion. Music is just what I listen to while reading. These people were so inspired by music that they picked up an instrument and learned to play so they could MAKE music. How they don't take me on some musical Enter The Dragon every time I open my mouth still surprises me.
The flip side of that is while they blow me away with being able to come up with some cool stuff with only a piano, guitar and an empty room, I get to turn them on to stuff they should have heard already. It's almost circular.
One final thought before my dryer goes off, in an age where we now have the world at our finger tips, I no longer accept "that came out before I was even born" as an excuse. Charles Dickens wrote books before I was born and Humphrey Bogart made movies before I was born. Richie Vallens had a career and died before I was born. I'm not Superman, I just find something that turns me on and I follow the thread. Stop playing Angry Birds and do something constructive. This isn't like the good old days where the radio d.j. could express his own personal tastes and you could hear music that was new to you. You have to do your own leg work. Even if you like Justin Bieber, find out what some of his influences were, maybe you'll like them too. Hopefully they didn't become corporate whores as well.
The buzzer means the laundry is done and so is this post. Hope you enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on the current state of music? I've told you my limited view, I'm curious to know yours.
A friend of mine posted a youtube clip on facebook that was talking about the current state of music. Next to the clip he posed the question of do you agree or disagree? The person being interviewed is someone I've admired and respected for years and I know he's not talking out of his ass when he says that he thinks the state of music is alive and well. Being in the industry, his ear is most likely closer to the ground than mine. I live in the mid-west and work in and around bars where cover bands and d.j.'s come to play the same 50 songs every weekend. I listen to classic rock on the radio because it's the station that comes in the clearest at home. In the car I'm usually listening to a book on cd. I've become a fan of Spotify because it gives me access to 83% of the bands on the planet without having to spend a bunch of money just to find out that the song that made me buy the album was the only good one on it.
I'm fortunate enough to be friends with a lot of musicians and have been turned on to a lot of good music that way. Most of it theirs. Unfortunately, most of the bar/club patrons have the attention span of a three year old and just want to hear the same thing that corporate radio has been shoving in their ears all day so, no matter how good of a musician these people might be, if they want to make money they'll be practicing Santaria and telling all the single ladies to put a ring on it.
One of the things mentioned in the clip is how a lot of bands are using the internet to get their stuff heard. It is cool when you can find somebody who's playing for the sake of playing and not getting stingy over a royalty payment. Also, companies like CD Baby make it possible to get the music to the masses without having to conform to the big labels idea of what they think people want.
Something I miss, and I'm surprised that there isn't more of it considering all of the social networks, is when you would hang out with your friends and one of you'd be listening to something new and cool and you could turn each other on to other things. I have a couple of friends that will post about some new release they just listened to but they're in the minority. Now, if you don't check the website of your favorite bands, you don't know what's coming out. Also, you miss out on some things you'd never hear before.
I've been called everything from an alien to a freak because of things I've retained as a music fan. Sometimes I might be talking to somebody about an obscure song on side two of some rare album and if you just found out about this band yesterday, I'll let that blank look slide. When I talk to some of my musician friends about the follow up track to a number one hit that went platinum, and I still see that look, I start to question them. I love music. It's always been a big part of my life. But I've always considered myself the outsider looking in. Movies and books have always been my passion. Music is just what I listen to while reading. These people were so inspired by music that they picked up an instrument and learned to play so they could MAKE music. How they don't take me on some musical Enter The Dragon every time I open my mouth still surprises me.
The flip side of that is while they blow me away with being able to come up with some cool stuff with only a piano, guitar and an empty room, I get to turn them on to stuff they should have heard already. It's almost circular.
One final thought before my dryer goes off, in an age where we now have the world at our finger tips, I no longer accept "that came out before I was even born" as an excuse. Charles Dickens wrote books before I was born and Humphrey Bogart made movies before I was born. Richie Vallens had a career and died before I was born. I'm not Superman, I just find something that turns me on and I follow the thread. Stop playing Angry Birds and do something constructive. This isn't like the good old days where the radio d.j. could express his own personal tastes and you could hear music that was new to you. You have to do your own leg work. Even if you like Justin Bieber, find out what some of his influences were, maybe you'll like them too. Hopefully they didn't become corporate whores as well.
The buzzer means the laundry is done and so is this post. Hope you enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on the current state of music? I've told you my limited view, I'm curious to know yours.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Notes Of A Drunk Whisperer
The other night there was this girl who should give lessons in how to be a drunk. She was a little over five feet tall, wearing flats, 110 pounds, maybe. She had this high pitched, cartoon sounding voice that would crack me up as she sat next to me and gave lessons on how to walk down stairs to customers and a running commentary to me.
She would talk to the gravity impaired women trying to navigate stairs in heels and explain to them the importance of using the railing and then turn back to me, shake her head and say, "they're all shit heads, they don't know anything." As people would walk upstairs, without tripping, she'd give them a high five and tell them they did a good job. Turning to me, she'd explain, "you have to give them positive reinforcement, that's how they learn." If they tripped, she'd just call them a shit head and tell them to go home. Sometimes they would agree with her. Others would look at her, then look at me, then back to her and figure she was in the time out chair and on her way out. Most of them turned a deaf ear.
With that much pent up hostility, I knew she had to be in the customer service industry which she later confirmed. She offered to sit with me all night because she said this was the most fun she'd had since she arrived. Whenever a guy would walk by, she'd turn to me and say, "he's not going to get laid tonight" and then rattle off three valid reasons why. Most of them were fashion related. See guys, women notice these things, you dress like a dueche bag, you don't get to swim in the gene pool. You just watch from the side and try to figure out what happened to all of your Motorhead albums.
She could do all of this with her hair in place and not spilling her drink all over the floor and herself. Finally, somebody who can go out on the weekend, have a few, cut loose, and maintain as well as entertain. I wish there were a hundred more just like her every weekend. Her friends eventually came and collected her and dragged her back out to the dance floor but I hope she comes back soon.
She would talk to the gravity impaired women trying to navigate stairs in heels and explain to them the importance of using the railing and then turn back to me, shake her head and say, "they're all shit heads, they don't know anything." As people would walk upstairs, without tripping, she'd give them a high five and tell them they did a good job. Turning to me, she'd explain, "you have to give them positive reinforcement, that's how they learn." If they tripped, she'd just call them a shit head and tell them to go home. Sometimes they would agree with her. Others would look at her, then look at me, then back to her and figure she was in the time out chair and on her way out. Most of them turned a deaf ear.
With that much pent up hostility, I knew she had to be in the customer service industry which she later confirmed. She offered to sit with me all night because she said this was the most fun she'd had since she arrived. Whenever a guy would walk by, she'd turn to me and say, "he's not going to get laid tonight" and then rattle off three valid reasons why. Most of them were fashion related. See guys, women notice these things, you dress like a dueche bag, you don't get to swim in the gene pool. You just watch from the side and try to figure out what happened to all of your Motorhead albums.
She could do all of this with her hair in place and not spilling her drink all over the floor and herself. Finally, somebody who can go out on the weekend, have a few, cut loose, and maintain as well as entertain. I wish there were a hundred more just like her every weekend. Her friends eventually came and collected her and dragged her back out to the dance floor but I hope she comes back soon.
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