Alter Egos

The last time I performed live in front of an audience with just myself and an acoustic guitar... I failed miserably. 

According to my own standards, I failed miserably. 

I have no idea if I actually failed miserably, but I know what my head thinks and I know what my memory contains and I know that memories can be unreliable but I also know how I feel about what I remember...

And tonight I picked up my guitar and played some of the acoustic songs I played that night. 

And something clicked. 

I failed because I was grossly unprepared and also because I didn't know what I was trying to accomplish. 

I had no direction, no through line, no confidence. 

And so... I want to create an alter ego. Because I'm not the person who wrote those songs anymore, but I love those songs and I know there are other people who would love them so I need to figure out how to get them out into the world in the best way possible. 

So an alter ego... it would be a great vehicle for these tunes. 

Complicatedly Simple

glynnjammin

I like glynnjammin, but I would rather it not be something so closely related to my actual self. 

I need to think on it...

Songs I'd Like to Write

A song that's one chord the entire time. 

A song that starts with the chorus. 

A song where every verse, chorus, bridge, etc. is based on a completely new musical motif but it all still fits. 

A song that starts with only bass. 

A song that starts with only drums. 

A song that starts with a harmonized riff on bass and guitar. 

A song that's just acoustic guitar and vocals. 

A song that's full band instrumental. 

A song that's traditional intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro. 

A song where the first chorus is a half version of the actual chorus. 

Even better if I can have all of these songs on a 10 song album. 

Covers I Know

 Say It Ain't So- Weezer

...

That might be the entire list...

Um... 

I could probably stumble my way thru Foo Fighters-Everlong. 

Maybe I should learn more covers...

That's not a bad goal for 2026. 

Learn a cover every week. 

Time to go make a google sheet to track my progress...

Break Through the Wall... and some Goals

It's fun to surprise yourself. To come up against a self-imposed wall and smash through it. Even if it's just on a run of the mill training run on a Tuesday in May...

If you keep pushing yourself past what you think you're capable of, you can't help but become more fit, become a better songwriter, develop a more entertaining and engaging stage presence.

Incremental improvement. Fastidiously measured and notated. Keep track of the time and distance run. Be aware of time spent strumming, writing, singing, developing your art. Test the recipe then do it again.

By the end of 2012, I would like to:

- Complete a sprint triathlon
- Have 5 Go-To recipes under my belt
- Record at least 10 songs
- Perform my acoustic material at least 6 times
- Finally have a clean house

Incremental improvement. Baby steps. And always be grateful and motivated and never take anything for granted.

Oh yeah... bomb haircut today... I am a rockstar...

John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Last night, I spent about 15 minutes reading the Wikipedia article on this serial killer. Depressing, astonishing, unbelievable, car crash you can't turn away from. Was he evil? Disturbed? Confused? Evil? Crazy? Created? Remorseful? Aware of anything he'd done? Lonely? Just a man...?

Sufjan Stevens is a genius. The juxtaposition of the horror of the subject matter and the beauty of the music... so good.

Below is a YouTube video of my cover of Sufjan's song about John Wayne Gacy, Jr. It's haunting, and from the moment I heard the studio version of Sufjan's song, I fell in love with it.

Enjoy...

*sidenote

Winter is winding down.

*sidenote: I live in California, so saying that "winter is winding down" is purely chronological and has nothing to do with the actual season. It's 77 degrees outside and sunny and beautiful and why would anyone want to live anywhere else in the world? Oh... people live in a bubble out here, which can make it difficult to find something "real"? Hmmm... I didn't know you were so pretentiously judgmental, Glynn.

Winter is winding down. We'll be losing an hour in 8 days.

*sidenote: Sure. We lose an hour in the morning, but you gain that hour in the evening because the sun will still be out when you leave work, so if you want to, say, go for a run or walk to the store or cruise to the beach for an hour, you can because there will be glorious daylight until 7:00pm. So quite yer complaining.

Winter is winding down. We'll be losing an hour in 8 days. I can't wait to start a whole bunch of projects.

*sidenote: By "whole bunch" I mean three. 1) Record my acoustic stuff. A split EP with the wonderfully talented Lexy Baeza. A solo album. Literally, cannot wait. 2) Run. 1st 5K of 2012 is in 5 weeks. And running also means I'll shed some poundage, which is always good for the old heart. 3) Blog more regularly. I need to write more. Not just songs or emails to angry customers but creative bursts of intellectually stimulating (or not) prose.

Winter is winding down. We'll be losing an hour in 8 days. I can't wait to start a whole bunch of projects. And now it's time to go play guitar...

*sidenote: Thanks for reading this...

Thinking about recording again...

With a new project. With an old project. With another new project. Or another old project...

I just really want to record and make music again.

Acoustic stuff. About my family. About relationships. About losing and failing and succeeding and getting beat up and beating someone up and feeling nervous and finding yourself or someone or something that makes you get up in the morning.

Drums. With Karate in the Garage. Silly, rad, rock music.

Acoustic stuff. With Lexy Baeza. About all the stuff she's written...

Oh Girl stuff. 'Nuff said.

I'm lucky. But not lucky enough to have no other options. To have no safety net. To have no fall back. No plan B...

Because then I might actually push myself to succeed. Out of necessity. Out of pure necessity...

Guitar Shopping- First Time Actually Looking

I got out of work early today. 4pm instead of 5pm. So I went down to every musician's favorite place (note the sarcasm)... Guitar Center. I was in the mood to play some acoustics.

I sat down with an Ibanez Acoustic Electric for a little bit. My first three guitars were from Ibanez, so I felt like going back to my roots. Nothing special.

Picked up a used Martin that was pretty rad. Then migrated to the "more expensive" section and tried out a couple more Martins. Pretty cool. Still couldn't really feel anything that would justify an $800 to $1200 investment.

Then I played a couple Taylors. The Taylor 110ce felt very good. Nice action, no fret buzz, good weight. Yes, I've been playing guitar for almost 11 years, but I still don't know exactly what I like in a guitar. I just know when it feels good. After picking up the various Taylors, I can honestly say that I felt a noticeable difference and that I would feel comfortable investing in one of their guitars. But I can also say that I'm pretty fickle and what felt good today might feel "meh" tomorrow.

It was fun to go guitar shopping, though. I haven't made a "real" guitar purchase in almost 10 years, so I feel like the next guitar purchase I make should be a special one... one with which I take my time.

The anticipation...

... is greater than the acquisition (or the execution).

I may or may not have blogged about this already...

Catalogs are rad. I am addicted to leafing through them and picturing how amazingly awesome it would be to have a vinyl player that converts vinyls to mp3s or a smaller mixer for live acoustic shows that doubles as a recording mixer straight to Firepod straight to laptop or a credit card reader app that would allow me to capture sales of merchandise or another guitar or another pair of running shoes or another book about triathlons or a swim-specific wetsuit or a new car or a computer desk or... (ad infinitum... ad nauseum...)

As Conor Oberst once said:
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I've got

And it's not just about possessions. Ideas and plans and goals, too. Do I actually want to do a triathlon or do I just like the planning? Is it about finishing or is it about planning to finish? Am I really going to pursue an acoustic project that incorporates improv and live artists or is it just about what a great idea it is?

It's all just anticipation until you actually get that whammy pedal or compressor or microkorg... and have no idea how to utilize it... (off to the collecting dust pile)...

I'ts all just anticipation until you actually start training for that half-marathon.. and burn out after a couple months... (off to the "hey, weren't you...?" pile)...


Stop getting off on the anticipation, Glynn.

Work on the acquisition. Work on the execution. And remember that it's not about a moment in time when everything is finished. It's about staying hungry, staying focused, checking things off the to-do list, and building a more extensive to-do list to work on tomorrow...