SONICFROG DOT NET

U.S.S. Titanic Update!

So…. How was your Tuesday?

Yesterday was one of those hectic days.

Work was backed up due to Monday’s rain. I installed a heat exchanger on a heater, and that took longer than I thought it would. got home with just enough time to string the Taylor… Oh, if only I had only strung it!

While the strings were off, I decided to polish the thing. The fret board was very dull, so I spent some time polishing it several times…

Which then made me late for Acoustic highway practice! But, since the Taylor was so shiny and bright sounding, I was forgiven my tardiness.

So we had a great band practice, including the audition of a new member. We’re moving Chris from drums to guitar and becoming a five piece once again.

Then went to Spokeasy to join the mate for a beer, then played the Audies open mic.

Yes, the U.S.S. Titanic launched yet again! Thankfully, the time spent on guitar, though not as much as I’d like, is paying off. The more I play these scary open mics, the more confident I have become steering my ship and the better I am at avoiding massive guitaring mistakes, i.e. icebergs! Yeah, I still scrape the hull from time to time, but I still do that on bass, and I’ve been playing that for, what, 26 years!

First, and apology to those who read my facebook pledge to play a new original song or two. I didn’t play the intended original songs that I had in mind because, well, I never did have the time to arrange them yesterday. But I did play a couple of new songs, Paul Carrack’s “How Long” and the Police’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, both of which are very new to me on guitar. Except for going outside the venue for a couple of minutes to doodle and try and remember the chords to both song, both were unrehearsed shots in the dark Remember, no time to practice yesterday. I also played “Blackbird”, which came out much better than the last time I tried it. “don’t Dream It’s Over” was really cool, because a sax player joined me on stage for some killer accompaniment. That was SOOOO cool!!!! And then I let some other people play my guitar. I love to hear what a more skilled player sounds like on that instrument!

Then when I got home, I spent another hour looking at possible songs to learn that can give the sax player an even better opportunity to jam. I ended up stumbling upon a really cool acoustic version of Phil Collins’ “One More Night”, which has a tremendous sax solo at the end. Needless to say, I was up until l too late in the morning! But it was a heck of a night.

Is the tiredness today worth it?

You betcha!!!! I’m getting ever closer to being able to do a one hour show all by my lonesome! It’s my goal to be able to do that by the time March goosesteps into our lives and I turn 48. It’ll be kind of a birthday present to myself.

Now, for today. More work. A nap. And win the lottery… PLEASE!

PS. Here is the version of “One More Night” I plan to learn.

PPS. I’ve decided that the new working title of my solo album is going to be “Jealous Rage And icebergs!”, if only because I don’t think anyone has named an album that before.