uTopianTurtleTop

RECORD

“It is (to describe it figuratively) as if a guitarist were to make a slip of the finger, and as if this musical error became conscious of being such. Perhaps this was no error but in a far higher sense was an essential part of the whole exposition. It is, then, as if this musical error were to revolt against the guitarist out of hatred for him, were to forbid him to correct it, and were to say, ‘No, I will not be dubbed over, I will stand as a witness against thee, that thou art a very poor guitarist.’”


I’ve modified the Kierkegaard quote with which J. D. Salinger opens his fictional reminiscence, “Seymour: An Introduction,” to commemorate my feelings upon hearing rough mixes of some recording my band has been doing. We’re making, I hope, an album. Recording has been a joy, despite the sad applicability of the Kierkegaard paraphrase. I had hoped to have the album finished by Independence Day, but it’s summer now, and scheduling more sessions with everybody will be dodgy until fall, as everybody’s going every which way. Me included. We may have decided on a band name, but that’s probably not best discussed in public yet. If you want to know, I'd be happy to tell you, but privately. For now.


ACCENT

Tried to see “Farenheit 9-11” tonight but it was sold out. On Friday I heard the sound for the theatrical trailer on Amy Goodman’s public radio show, “Democracy Now.” Really cool to hear it -- lots of super fast cuts that we’ve learned to watch but are hard to hear without the visual cues. I’d actually seen the trailer, or a version of it, so I knew who most of the speakers were, if not all. My Congressman, Jim McDermott, was in there. There was a clip of John Ashcroft singing some uplifting song, which I’d read about but hadn’t heard; he has a very nice singing voice. Somber classical soundtrack type music in the background at first, giving way to guitar solos from the old hippie blues pop rock song “I’d Love to Change the World” -- wailin’ bluesy rock guitar sounded great, no vocals from the song but the message of the words coming through if you know them, and the message of the rock guitar rockin’ out even if you don’t. Best of all, Michael Moore’s Michigan accent reminding me of my home state. I’d never noticed his accent before, because I’d never concentrated on his sound, never heard it without seeing him.