Clark Blogs

The first real snowfall of the season just fell, & I have had to be out driving in it. Now, it’s not like we had a blizzard or anything. I don’t know what the “official” amount is, but in my driveway this morning, the average depth was about 4 or 5 inches. It looks about the same on the streets. This is not a lot of snow for this part of the country. But because it is the first significant snowfall, we have a phenomenon occur that I call “snow idiocy.”

When the first snowfall like this hits, I notice that there are essentially 3 categories of drivers: Snow Idiots - Type 1; Snow Idiots - Type 2; and the 2%-ers. Type 1 Snow Idiots are the folks who act as if they have never seen snow before, and decide to drive at absurdly slow speeds in order to prevent any possibility of their vehicle suddenly careening wildly off the road, flipping over multiple times, and exploding into flames as it sinks into a bottomless drift of snow, where their charred & frozen corpse will remain undiscovered until 75^th century explorers in search of ancient civilizations stumble across them by accident. Seriously, while taking my kids to school this morning, we got behind a guy going so slow that my speedometer did not register anything! We were literally going so slow that a guy walking was passing us. And the really funny thing is that the street had been plowed last night, & there was only an inch or so of snow on the road!

Please don’t get me wrong, here. I think you should exercise caution under slick, icy, &/or snowy conditions. But when someone is driving this slowly, they are creating a traffic hazard, as well. And in spite of the fact that it snows here every winter, and has done so for thousands of years, the Type 1 Snow Idiot is stunned when it happens and has to re-learn how to drive in the snow. This usually takes until mid-February, which is when we typically see more reasonable driving from them. But wait! I’m not done with the Type 1 Snow Idiot yet! They have 2 subclasses, at least. The first is the Clean Vehicle Type 1 Snow Idiot, whose car is kept in a garage, or car port perhaps, and their only offense is being so overly cautious as to be dangerous. The second subclass is the Rolling Snow Drift Type 1 Snow Idiot, and these are some of the stupidest, dim-witted, brainless creatures to ever climb behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. They have no shelter for their vehicle, and so it gets covered with snow whenever there is a snowfall. And because they are morons they don’t think it’s important to brush the snow off their car- they just wipe the snow off a little pancake-sized spot on the windshield, maybe the driver’s side window, and occasionally the rear window. They don’t clean off the headlights or tail-lights at all, so you can’t see brake lights or turn signals, and they normally don’t make the pancake-sized hole anywhere on the passenger’s side. Then they plod along at dangerously slow speeds, drifting from lane to lane, all the while cursing the fact that once again (just like every winter they can remember) snow has fallen out of the sky, and covered their car.

Unlike the Clean Vehicle Type 1, who is mostly undetectable by the end of February, the Rolling Snow Drift Type 1 Snow Idiot is with us until spring comes & melts everything. These boneheads will be late for everything for the entire winter. They are driving slowly, because they can’t see out their windows, right? It takes them an extra 15, 20, maybe 30 minutes to get anywhere, BUT IF THEY TOOK FIVE FLIPPING MINUTES TO CLEAN OFF THE SNOW they would only be 5 minutes late. But they are too stupid to figure this out. Oh, it gets better! These fools will leave their vehicle covered with snow the entire winter! You would think that they might occasionally brush the snow off - like after work, or when they get home, but no! I have seen Rolling Snow Drifts weeks after the most recent snowfall. And so instead of being late to work the day the snow came, they are late every single day for weeks, and dangerous, because they are too lazy and too stupid to take five minutes to brush away the snow one time. Good grief.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Type 2 Snow Idiot. These are the ones who think that they are bullet-proof and drive at speeds that would be reckless on dry pavement. For the most part the Type 2 Snow Idiot has a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, and this is why they think they are bullet-proof. They have traction, and they use it to its full capabilities. What they fail to understand is that they have no more stopping power than anyone else. Everyone has “4-wheel-stop,” but they don’t take this into account. The Type 2 Snow idiot also fails to take into account that 4-wheel-drive will not help you steer on ice, or on roads that have packed-down snow covered by slush. So when the first snow like this comes, you will find most (but not all) of the vehicles in ditches or wrapped around poles are 4-wheel-drives, driven (or should I say “crashed?”) by Type 2 Snow Idiots. And of course we have sub-categories within the Type 2, as well. Just like the Type 1 Snow Idiot, we have the Clean Vehicle & the Rolling Snow Drift variants in the Type 2 Snow Idiot as well. The Rolling Snow Drift Type 2 Snow Idiot is without question the most dangerous of all the Snow Idiots. Many times this particular variant will be driving something with regular 2-wheel drive, but really it doesn’t matter. Going too freaking fast & not being able to see is just stupid no matter how you got up to speed, because you can’t stop quickly either way. Lazy and stupid is a common combination in life, but it reaches new levels with the Type 2 Snow Idiot. I really despise the Rolling Snow Drift Type 2 Snow Idiot. Much like their Type 1 brethren they will often let the snow build up all winter long, or until they crash, which- sadly- is what comes first most of the time.

That brings us to the 2%-ers. That would be the 2% of all drivers that drive at speeds not too slow, not too fast, and who actually clean the snow from their cars every time it snows. We 2%-ers are split between the 2-wheel & 4-wheel-drive groups (I’m 4-wheel-drive), and between those of us who need to park outside & those of us who have a garage. I have a garage, but sometimes it snows while I’m shopping or gigging, or whatever, and I use my snowbrush to clean my car every time. It only takes a couple of minutes. Most winters I hope to find that some mysterious force has imposed sense, logic, courtesy, and a glimmer of intelligence upon the other 98% of drivers, all of whom are either a Type 1 or a Type 2 Snow Idiot. But deep down I know that is like hoping that all the little froggies will grow wings and not bump their poor little green butts when they hop. It just ain’t gonna happen.

So, in all seriousness, please, please drive carefully if you are in the Snow Belt. Take the extra time to clean your windows & lights, leave early so you aren’t tempted to hurry. Be extra cautious, watch out for all types of Snow Idiots, and be forgiving on the road. Do it for those you love & those who love you. Thanks! I’ll talk to you soon!

Clark

Experts crack me up. Really, they do. Each one is absolutely convinced that he (or she) is right, and everyone who disagrees is deluded. For instance, within the last week I have seen two “experts” from the music industry expounding on the best way to get your promo pack opened by whoever you’re sending to, i.e. record companies, booking agencies, etc. One was a video, the other an article on a web site. Expert Number One says you need to use “props” to drive home your uniqueness: put a tiny toy race car in the package with a card that says “Race to the top of the charts with our band!” Expert Number Two says never use gimmicks like that; serious music industry people aren’t fooled by this type of stuff, they just want the facts.

And on & on it goes: Expert Number One says “Put your whole life on the web! Video tape & blog about everything! It’s Web Two Point Oh!” Expert Number Two says “Don’t put everything you do on the web! Maintain an air of mystery. Use Web Two Point Oh to interact with your fans just enough to get them hooked.” Expert Number One: “Look & act totally outrageous! Be so unique that everyone notices you!” Expert Number Two: “Look and talk like your fans! Show them that you are just like them!”

I see this conflicting information & I want to shout “JUST SHUT UP!!!” These so-called experts are just offering up their opinions, and like everyone else, they can find rationalizations & justifications that they think “proves” they are right. And it’s not just music industry types, I’m using those as examples because they tie in to what I really wanted to talk about, and I promise - I will get to that in just a minute. Anyway, experts in politics, the economy, religion, sports, computers, car maintenance, parenting, sex and more all offer conflicting advice. And they all crack me up because of the conviction they have that their theory is right and everyone else is misguided or maybe even stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are all entitled to an opinion, and that we should have strength in our convictions. I just want to see more of these “experts” admit that their advice may not work for everyone; that there are other approaches that have yielded good results. You know: YMMV, right? (For the utterly out-of-the-loop, that means Your Mileage May Vary.)

What set this whole rant in motion was one of the music industry “experts” (of course) who cautioned his readers about working in the recording studio. He said don’t record anything that you can’t reproduce when you play live. He said don’t get carried away with over-dubbing, adding special audio effects, adding strange instrumentation, and other studio “magic.” He very bluntly said it’s bad, period. “Just don’t do it,” was his final word. And why did this get me so fumed? Because he did not qualify his statements at all. To say that no one should ever do that in the studio is to limit artistic creativity. If no one ever recorded things they could not duplicate fairly accurately live we would not have had amazing albums from artists like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Moody Blues, Queen and others. (Yeah, yeah, I know these are all artists from the old days, that’s only the tip of the iceberg, you know better examples of current artists, that’s just all I can come up with right this second!)

Now, if the “expert” would have offered something like this, I might not have been so ticked: “If you are recording a demo designed to get you live shows, don’t record anything you can’t duplicate during a performance.” Or this: “When you record a CD try to make most of the songs easy to duplicate live and limit the number of the ‘artsy’ tracks.” Do you see the difference? To me, these examples just make more sense; they qualify the advice. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

So that’s what set me on this path to what I actually wanted to talk about today: my approach to making recordings. Once upon a time, I too, felt that the studio was simply a place you went to create an audio record of what your band sounded like when you were at a gig. I essentially looked down on bands that released records that did not sound remotely like their live shows. But over time change crept in, probably due to the amount of time I was actually getting to spend in recording studios. Eventually I came to regard the recording studio as an art form in itself. Think of it this way: painting and sculpting are two different art forms, but sometimes the subject can be the same, and work well in both mediums. Let’s say Abe Lincoln is the subject; you could recognize him just as well in a painting as in a sculpture. Obviously, you would be able to tell which is a painting & which is a sculpture, but you would also know that the subject is the same: Abe Lincoln. Some songs are like that, they transcend the medium. But some work really well in one form, but not the other. A drawing or painting by M. C. Escher probably could not be made into a sculpture, for instance. (Although people have tried! But the results only resemble the original Escher from one very narrow perspective, and just don’t capture the magic of the original, in my opinion!)

So now I approach the studio differently. I record some songs pretty much the way you’ll hear them at my concerts, and others are treated as creations meant only for your enjoyment at home, or in your car, or on headphones at the gym, whatever. Some of my songs may never be heard during a concert, some others you might hear an arrangement that’s aimed at optimizing the concert experience, therefore noticeably different than the CD version. And still others will sound just like the recorded form. This is very much like the philosophy that Jimi Hendrix had about concerts & studio recordings.

Like many guitarists, Jimi had a huge influence on me. For me, it was more of a mind-set influence than technique or sound. So many guitarists are after the exact sound of Jimi, or they try to mimic his playing, but as great as all that was, that’s not what I think he would have wanted. I feel that Jimi wanted us to break out of conventional thinking, to experiment with sounds & arrangements, to express our deepest feelings through our music without confining ourselves to preconceived ideas of what music is. (And, yes, I have snagged some playing technique from Jimi, as well.) So if perhaps the most influential guitarist of our time can treat songs differently in the studio and in concert, I guess I will take a shot at it, too. To use the earlier simile, Jimi could “paint” and “sculpt” with equal skill, and I hope to hone my talents in both mediums as well.

Now, all this is not to say that artists should use studio trickery to compensate for the inability to play your instrument. I have strong opinions about that, which I will save for the next installment. Right now, I have to get back into the studio & work on a song. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this fairly long blog!

Clark

Almost a month has gone by since my last post, and I feel like it’s only been a few days. That’s what happens when you get really, really busy - time compresses, or at least it feels that way. Sometimes that’s a good thing, I guess, like when you’re anxious to have a cast removed from your arm, or it’s almost vacation time, or something like that. In general, though, I don’t like it when I’m so busy that time compresses. I like to savor every moment of every day. When you get too busy you can’t relish each experience of your day, and sometimes it’s like that Adam Sandler movie where he had the “magic” remote control & would “fast-forward” his life. (Was it called “Click” maybe?) Only we can’t rewind, or slow things down; it’s like life is just stuck on “fast-forward.”

I’m not complaining about being busy, mind you. A lot of the “busy” has been for some good stuff, and I really don’t mind being busy in general. I just would like to be able to pace things a little better so that the “time compression” thing doesn’t happen. When I was a kid it seemed as if I could be very busy at things I enjoyed, and still be able to really, really savor each experience completely. My parents always talked about time moving faster as they got older, and now I understand. Everyone that I talk to about this phenomenon experiences it, too. Perhaps it is a function of aging. If I come up with any tips or solutions, I’ll let you know.

In the last few weeks I’ve had a bunch of social events (including an out-of-town wedding & a black-tie fund-raising event), way too many home maintenance issues, a bunch of stuff with my kids (including our first homecoming), technology challenges, a garage sale, appliance repair issues, and a whole list of new things to work on for upcoming tour plans. One of the social events was the planning of a birthday party for my wife. Since it was a “milestone” birthday we rented a banquet hall, hired a DJ, hired a caterer, and invited friends & relatives from all over the country. The party was a huge success, I’m glad to say, and it took way more time & energy than I imagined. But it was worth it to see my wife having such a good time.

One of the home maintenance issues is a new roof. Yow! Many phone calls, many appointments, way too many shingle styles to consider, and a big, big chunk of money later and it’s finally underway. I’m thrilled that we can afford a new roof, and I’m happy to be getting it done, and I’m really happy that I don’t have to spend any more time on the process. We had several other things with the house that required the help of professionals (I won’t bore you with details), and again, I’m very grateful that we can have these things dealt with, but I am hoping to be done with these sorts of “surprises” for a while. Not that the roof was a surprise - we knew that would be in the works this fall, but the other things were all unforeseen.

We are working on the live show, still trying to work things out with a booking agent. and I am back in the studio again after about a 3 week hiatus. I need to spend some time refreshing my memory on how some of the recording technology I recently added works, but I still hope to have this new CD out before the end of the year. Today I am working on a track called “Separation Anxiety,” and maybe guitar tracks for “The Imperfect Waltz.”

I’d better get into the studio & get to work. I know you are busy, too, so the time you take out of your day to see what’s up in my world is really appreciated. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blogs. You are the best!

Clark

Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not. It’s been just one day shy of six weeks ago that I tore the muscle in my forearm & strained the tendons in the palm of my right hand. I still cannot play bass for any length of time, and I cannot pull very hard with that hand, even pulling my shoelaces tight hurts. But I can still play guitar pretty well. I need to slowly warm up, and warm up much more than I’m used to doing in order to play the tougher material. But I can play, and I continue to improve, and that is what really matters. I will make a full recovery, though it will take some time.

So much has happened since I last posted, and I would love to get into it all, but I just don’t have the time tonight. Here are some of the highlights, maybe teasers, about what’s been happening. I’ve been conducting interviews & auditions like crazy, and I think I have the new lineup for live shows decided. Hopefully I can share details in the next couple of days. I’ve also been shopping for a booking agent. (Yes, again! Or maybe more accurately, still!) I thought I had that little piece of business settled, but there has been a new (& ugly) wrinkle develop there. I will absolutely post details on that in the next few days. I really, really hope to post good news, but the jury is still out.

I have been recording, but not much. There are a couple reasons for that: the injury has slowed me down; I have a bunch of new technology in the studio I need to learn; we had a garage sale; and the search for musicians & an agent. This week I am dealing with some family & household oriented things that are cutting into studio time a bit, but by the last part of the week I should have good news on tracking progress.

So here are some random thoughts on things that have been on my mind or calendar lately:

Getting a new roof is expensive. Not getting one could be more expensive.

Why do we pay to have the lawn fertilized, and then complain about mowing so often?

From a kid’s point of view, braces suck.

Garage sales take a LOT of time & energy to prepare.

Standing in the driving rain for four or five hours sucks.

Living in a hurricane zone & having to abandon your home, which then is washed away while a guitarist in Illinois complains about a mere five hours in the rain, REALLY sucks.

Good books are awesome. Everyone should make more time to read.

My kids are awesome. I hope they know it. I tell them, but they think I’m biased.

Fresh fruit rocks. And raw veggies!

Gotta go! Stay tuned for more…

Clark

Last week I was all pumped up because I had a new direct-box for my studio designed specifically for recording bass guitar. (I know, I’m such a music gear geek…) I was very happy with how this thing sounded, and I went way overboard on practicing bass lines for songs, inventing new bass lines, and trying inhuman, Billy Sheehan-like fretboard acrobatics. My hand & forearm muscles got an incredible workout, maybe too much so.

I had suspended work on writing, arranging, & recording for a couple of days in order to clean my studio up. It had become a mess & was actually hindering my work. I wrote about this in the latest ClarkPlaysGuitar.com Backstage Pass newsletter, but in case you don’t receive that, here’s the gist: Too many weeks of trying to stick to nothing but recording, writing & arranging the new songs, and not picking up after myself! I often find myself so absorbed into the writing & recording process that I don’t have much awareness of my surroundings. Reference manuals get used & not put back, effect pedals get used for experimentation or recording, then aren’t put away, CD’s by other artists get pulled out as an audio reference, then pile up on the floor, and so on. Eventually it gets bad enough that I do notice it, and then I can’t focus on my work. So I declared a moratorium on tracking for a couple of days while I go into what my wife likes to call “White Tornado” mode.

So there I was, telling myself to put the bass & my new direct-box toy away, & get back to cleaning & organizing. In order to accomplish the next phase in the organizing I had to move a bookcase. Not a big one really, & not that much stuff on it. But when I reached down & pulled, it did not move. So I bent my legs some more, grabbed a little tighter, & really put some muscle into it. That’s when I heard the “pop” come from my forearm, and felt the explosion in my left hand, followed by fire running along the wrist & inside of my left forearm. The popping noise sounded kind of like when you pop your knuckles, only louder and.. um, wetter I think. Yeah, gross. Did it hurt? Oh yeah. So much so it made me weak in the knees, literally.

The next few hours are a bit of a blur. I remember there was some issue with my kids, maybe they were fighting or something, I really don’t recall. The pain was blinding. I put my hand in ice & left it there for hours. In the morning I spoke with some medical types who said to elevate it, ice it, & immobilize it. I asked if I should come in so they could see if I tore a muscle or a tendon, they said no. How will I know what I injured, I asked, & they said if it starts to heal quickly, it’s a muscle. If not it’s a tendon. If it doesn’t start to heal at all, then surgery might be required. Yow. Visions of never playing my guitar again flashed into my head. Those kind of visions are really, really ugly. I need to play my guitar like normal people need to breathe.

But no worries! It’s been 8 days since that happened, & I am much, much better. Still sore, still not able to use the left hand for anything strenuous, but I can play again. There are limitations, but each day is a little better. In fact yesterday & today were good enough that I managed to get several pesky arrangement issues dealt with, and 2 more songs are now ready to start tracking! YES! So once again, I dodged disaster. Yeah, I had a close call, but that’s okay. I can still play guitar.

Clark

I just got home from a quick trip to a big box-store style “home center.” You know, a lumberyard, paint store, hardware store, garden center all rolled into one. I won’t mention the name, but I’m certain your town has at least one of them from the 3 main chains that are out there. I was standing in an aisle looking at something on a shelf when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. This guy is walking right at me, with a 6 or 8 foot long piece of lumber, maybe a 2-by-8, under one arm and several long pieces of metal under the other. They looked like corner-beading for drywall perhaps, but they were absolutely capable of cutting you if the ends were rammed into you, whatever they were.

Anyway, he’s walking toward me at a very fast pace, the ends of these items aimed right at me - and here’s the strange part - he is looking behind himself! I don’t mean casting a glance backwards, I mean totally focused on something behind him, and for long enough that he could not possibly have known what was in front of him. Which, at that point, was me. Having nowhere to step out of the way I essentially shouted at him when it became clear that he would ram me if I didn’t get him to stop. He stopped suddenly, looked at me, & I think he realized what was going on. He muttered “excuse me” with a look that really said “What are you doing in my way you jerk” as he redirected his items & direction of travel. He seemed upset that I was upset with him not watching where he was going. What the bleep?!? And I see that same phenomenon all the time! People in malls, theaters, bookstores, all over the place - walking one direction & looking another, many times crashing into shopping carts or displays or doors or even each other. I think that’s strange.

I think musicians are strange, too. Not in a bad way usually, because I think whatever it is that makes us musicians also makes us strange, and sometimes strange can be really good, really fun. But lately I have run across musicians that are just weird-kind-of-strange, or even stupid-kind-of strange. This guy, for instance: not in a band, but allegedly pretty good at his instrument, gets an offer that would get him on stage a lot over the next several months, earn him a decent income, and give him experience, industry contacts & more. But he turns it down. Without even knowing who the band is, & without knowing many details. Not because he has a better offer, he doesn’t. Not because he has a high paying day job he can’t afford to lose; he works for just over minimum wage in a dead-end position. Not because he’s spent too many nights in motels in his many years of being a road-dog; he’s in his very early 20’s & never even played 2 nights in a row. Not because he wants to do something else with his life; he says music is everything to him. He says his genre is hard rock/metal but here’s the deal-breaker for him: this offer was not the precise mix of influences he sees as the ideal band. He says he wants to be in a band whose sound is 60% of an obscure Norwegian death metal band, 20% old school funk, 10% disco, 5% old school country, and 5% of an obscure German speed metal band. (Okay, I don’t know if I have the percentages right, and I have purposely not named specific artists in his “ideal blend” but the overall lack of congruity is pretty accurate.) And he is dead serious, and states this as if it elevates him to some higher level than the rest of the world. “I won’t settle for anything less” he said. Really.

So let me see if I have this right, I say. You have nearly zero connections in the industry that you say is your whole life; you have nearly zero experience gigging; none touring; nearly zero experience with sound men, lighting crews, stage managers, stage hands, and venue operators; no experience in meet-&-greets, PR junkets, etc; and you refuse to even audition for a gig that will give you all of this? Valuable experience that you could actually use when & if you find your Norwegian/German speed/death metal disco country band? “Why should I settle for anything less?” he says. I think that’s like saying “I want to marry a woman that has Catherine Zeta-Jones’ face from 1994, Charlize Theron’s body from 1998, Madonna’s sense of style from 1989, the money of Paris Hilton, and the brains of Jody Williams (1997 Nobel winner) and I am not going to date anyone until I find that exact woman!” Really, I think it is that weird.

Now, I could draw all kinds of conclusions from this: maybe he just didn’t want to audition to be in a band he thought sucked. (He had no idea who the band was at this point, so that theory is unlikely.) Maybe he really doesn’t want to be in any kind of band, so he created some unachievable hybrid that he knows no one will have. (If this is true, why is he spending money on paid advertising for himself on a “musicians available” website?) I’m sure if I gave it some time, I could invent many reasons why he says what he does, but deep down, maybe he just doesn’t feel like he has what it takes. I don’t know, maybe he’s just strange. People are strange.

I sure some people think I’m strange. I probably am, in harmless, interesting ways, I hope. I watch where I’m going, and I jump at opportunities to further my career, and maybe someone will find that strange. Who knows? People are strange.

Clark

It’s not always easy to be a good friend, I know. Sometimes friends ask things of you at inconvenient times, or ask for something that will strain other relationships, and you just aren’t always in a position to help them out. But if they are a close friend, you give it your best shot knowing they will reciprocate if you ever need something.

Of course, being friends isn’t just about doing favors for one another. Friends hang out, have conversations, share meals, celebrate each others’ victories, mourn each others’ losses, and so much more. But when a friend is in need, you’re there. Sometimes all they ask for is a sympathetic ear while they complain about the boss; or a recommendation for a good dentist; sometimes they need more. And we all end up on both ends of the equation at some point. That’s okay, that’s as it should be.

But sometimes you find yourself constantly on the “giving” side of the friendship. Or on the “needy” side, perhaps. I’ve been on both, and when I find myself always asking the same friend for help I make certain they know I realize what’s happening. I apologize for being so needy, and always find a way to make it up to them. I try to restore “balance” as soon as I can. When I end up on the “giving” side so often that it becomes an issue in other parts of my life I will try to find out what deeper problem my friend might have that’s creating this ongoing neediness. Sometimes you can help, sometimes you can’t.

It’s when you can’t help that the true nature of the “friendship” comes out. Over the years I have had “friends” who needed help often, & I gave & gave until I had nothing left to give. And rather than being grateful for all the help I had given, they became angry at me because I had nothing left to give. A few of these people needed to be told that their problems were something they couldn’t see: a drug or alcohol addiction, a lousy marriage, being totally self-centered, etc. And sometimes when you give people like this the unvarnished truth, when you take the “tough love” approach, they hate you. Eventually, if they are a real friend, things will get better. If they are not a real friend, or so selfish that they won’t admit to being wrong, they are gone forever.

My dad used to tell me that a person will go though life with hundreds of acquaintances but only a very few true friends. Now I find myself telling my kids the same thing. I also find myself telling them another bit of my dad’s wisdom about being let down by a friend. Look at the situation from their point of view. Are they giving you the “tough love” treatment; or are they retreating because you gave it to them? Or are they not really a friend at all, just someone who is using you? Or are you using them? Or are one of you just “out-of-sorts” & moody? My dad always said that these questions are sometimes hard to answer truthfully, but if you do you’ll know whether (or why) your friend let you down.

Sometimes it’s a big thing: you lent them a bunch of money & they don’t pay it back; you get them a job & they don’t show up for work; etc. Sometimes it’s a little thing: not returning your calls; a mean-spirited comment about your weight or hair. Friends let each other down, it happens. And a wise person said something about true friendship overlooking flaws, so ignore the occasional letdown. When the letdowns come often, & I have asked myself the questions my dad suggested, sometimes I find the need to reclassify someone as an acquaintance. It always makes me sad, especially when it’s someone I have known for decades. Sometimes it’s my fault, but not lately.

On the other hand, sometimes someone you’ve thought of as an acquaintance turns out to be a real friend. You may not even realize it at first, so keep your eyes open. Especially when you have been let down, truly let down, and had to reclassify someone. You may have a friend (or two) lurking nearby that you haven’t noticed. And when you do notice them try your best not to let them down. We all could use another friend.

Clark

I just finished recording the main tracks for “Lilacs and Cardinals,” which is slated for my new CD. This started out as a composition for just one guitar, and I initially recorded it that way. One take, start to finish. I actually recorded it several times, keeping each take, looking for the best performance out of the bunch. Ultimately I was not satisfied with any of them. The performances were okay, but something about the starkness of a single guitar failed to capture some aspect of this piece. So, after many days of trying different recording methods, different guitars, different sounds, etc., I trashed it all. I posted about this a few weeks ago, & I have finally gotten back to it.

Earlier this week I began serious experimentation with using multiple guitars, each playing a separate part of a phrase or section, allowing the previous segment to sustain. That seemed to be what I was after, so I broke the piece into 26 discrete phrases. I recorded all of these, alternating or in unison as the arrangement needed. I’ll go back & double some of the parts, to give more depth to the recording. Perhaps I’ll add some subtle keyboard part or another guitar way back in the mix, just to give the recording a little bit of the mysterious atmosphere that can only happen during a live performance.

It sounds easy, when I read back what I’ve written. Working out which guitar was playing what & which track it gets recorded on was a challenge in itself. I ended up making a grid-style chart so I could keep track of it all! And I still managed to erase perfectly good parts by accident, and not just once! Oh no, I did that all day today: record a good take, erase a bit of it; re-record that same part, erase a different bit of it. By the end of the day I was really wishing I had a new computer based recording system, like Pro Tools, with the ever-popular “undo” button. LOL

Maybe tomorrow I will get the remaining guitar work done, & start on another song. I really need to dig in if I plan on this CD being done in September. I’m having doubts about making our target street date, but it won’t be too far off schedule. So I’ll guess I should keep this post short & get back to it for a bit before I snooze out. Stay tuned…

Clark

Wow, what a technology-challenged week I have been having. Issues with my studio computer, the PC in my home office, and with my notebook computer have all conspired to keep me offline for a few days. An audio processing device in my studio, called a MasterLink, uses a hard drive just like the one in a computer. The hard drive turned to toast yesterday, right in the middle of a major archiving project I have been working on in between recording sessions. And there have been some other things acting up, but I won’t bore you with that, I’d like to tell you about our trip, instead. All the tech issues seem to be under control at the moment, anyway.

As I mentioned in a previous post or two, we headed out west, ending up in the Mt Rushmore area. Our first day on the road was mostly driving, ending in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The first thing we saw was the “Hot Harley Nights” motorcycle parade, which had literally thousands of bikers. The next day we went to the falls (I’ll have pics up at flickr.com/photos/ClarkPlaysGuitar before too long) and then went to Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace. Really. A building decorated with corn may not sound interesting, but it is actually kind of cool. From there we went to a working archeological dig. It is one of only 3 in the world like it. A building called an “archeodome” has been erected over the dig, allowing work to continue regardless of weather conditions. Quite cool!

As we worked our way towards the Badlands we stopped at the Petrified Garden, and of course, Wall Drug, all of which I actually posted about when we were there. Here is the story from that leg of the trip. I neglected to mention that we visited another working archeological dig while we were deep in the badlands. Did I mention the Badlands were really, really hot?

Then we headed for the Black Hills, some of which I covered here. Truly amazing, beautiful scenery that you should experience if at all possible. After some time there we went on down to Keystone, which is the town next to Mt Rushmore. It was there that my blogging stopped, partially because of a sluggish network at the hotel, and partly because we were just gone all the time! The story of the monument is one of nearly unequaled focus, perseverance, and vision. Most U.S. citizens have no idea of the effort involved in that project, or the controversy that followed, well into the ‘60’s & ‘70’s. But talk about perseverance, the man that conceived, designed, and began the Crazy Horse monument was in a class by himself. For many years he worked on the monument alone. Now, of course, there are many, many people involved in the work, but he was totally solo for a very long time. I hope to draw strength from his example whenever I feel overwhelmed. That thing will be enormous when it’s done. The entire Mt Rushmore monument could fit in the top 25% of this one. Truly a modern Wonder of the World.

One day we went to a cave that is the second largest known cave in the world. We went about 38 stories below the surface of the earth, walked for over an hour and twenty minutes, and only covered about 1% of the caves known length of 140 miles. They estimate that this cave could be over 500 miles long, once it’s fully explored! Then we drove to the top of one of the mountains, nearly 4000 feet above sea level. We also went to yet another working archeological dig where they have found more mammoths than any other single place on earth. What a great day.

We hit some other attractions in the area & on the way home, and landed back in our own beds last Saturday night. After a couple days of laundry, car cleaning, lawn mowing, and catching up on mail & email, we are back into our regular routines. We traveled 2,273 miles, saw amazing things, met some interesting people, ate too much, and joked and laughed the whole time. Life is good.

So I am once again back at work on the new CD, and a couple other things (I’ll talk about them later) in between recording sessions. Talk to you soon!

Clark

Today we drove out to an ICBM (also known as a “minute-man”) missile site, and looked inside the silo. Let me tell you, when you hear the reality of what these things can do - the sheer destructive power, you’ll really want to see diplomacy do it’s job. We really could destroy the world if a nuclear war occurred, literally destroy the planet. Yow.

In a less terrifying vein, we headed up into the Black Hills after that. What a contrast to the stark, harsh beauty of the Badlands. Amazing, wonderful forests on huge hills, some might say small mountains, that is rich with American history & folklore. While in the Saloon Number 10 I was drafted to play a part in the re-enactment of the assassination of Wild Bill Hickok! So much myth & folklore surround this man & his companions, yet the truth is so much more compelling.

Now we are in Keystone, ready to do the Mt Rushmore thing. What an amazing, varied country we live in. The U.S. of A. truly rocks!

Talk to you in a day or so…

Clark