End of 2007
Haven't felt much like writing lately, but here's a quick end-of-year update, at least what I can fit in the rest of lunchtime. December was very busy with work, holidays, etc., so not much change, not much progress songwriting. In fact, I barely got a chance to sit down at the piano or keyboard and even play most of December. Last night was the first good practice session I've had in weeks, although my voice was questionable from the sniffles I've had the last week. Christmas travel was good, saw lots of family and relatives, came home with a cold, mostly recovered now.
I'm now secretary of the CRBA boat club, taking the job over from my wife, who is now editor of the semi-annual newsletter, the Foghorn. We did manage to shed her treasurer job to another family that's done it in the past, but will occasionally see busy periods with the secretary job. Not much chance to sail; we skipped out on the CRBA New Year's Day "revognaH" because of my cold and the cold, blustery weather.
Missed the SAABO open mic's November and December; the next one I probably won't make either is Thursday, January 10th. Still looking for other (Saturday? Sunday?) open mic's, and (re)discovered this Craigslist link for Houston musicians, which I may try to follow-up some leads from. January isn't shaping up good for music either though...big projects at work, some travel, probably some late evenings to fit it all in. February and March should be better, possible overseas travel in April or May. Probably won't try to do much, if any performances the next few months, but still hoping to fit in some song-WRITING. Have some scores "nearly there" for copyright submittal, maybe a song-writing contest that keeps sending me emails - and to post here on the site. Please check back.
Comment 8/26/08/BC - SAABO's MySpace page has disappeared, and they are apparently no longer hosting open mic's (as a group, anyway).
WooHoo! Garage Band!
WooHoo! Kind of an historical day for me. Sat myself down in front of Mac and keyboards and finally got A SONG! completely done, multiple tracks and all, in Apple's Garage Band software! Still a long way from perfect, still not a commercial-quality recording, but a whole lot better than some of the audio I've had posted on the site. The coolest thing about it is, though, it's a multi-track baseline that I can go back and tweak individual parts and the overall mix on. Pretty cool, huh? Check it out! Tell me what you think! The mp3 link: Come Drive With Me (mp3)
Lyrics: (html)
Chord sheet: (pdf)
I've got a headline in Heaven
New song popped up on the drive to work this morning - Headline in Heaven. Could probably use another verse or two later - thought for next week's commuting (What, you expect me to concentrate on driving?). Pretty standard Gospel-style tune, feeling, and message.
It's an optical illusion that your head is put on straight...
This new song (lyrics) developed on the drive to and from work over several days the last week. It started out as an OK little ditty that developed into something kind of catchy when I thought of adding the "na-na-nahs." So far, though, I've just sung it in the truck, haven't really seen where it'll go to at the piano or keyboard. Yes, there is a specific group of people the song is sort of aimed at, and I thought of developing more specific lines to make it clear who that was (think global, not personal), but I decided to back off and leave it a pretty generic, general disagreement with...somebody. If nothing else, though, it does fit perfectly the witch! who cut me off in traffic Saturday then shot me a hand signal like it was my fault. Thanks, lady. You too. It's an optical illusion...
When all other worlds have vanished in the light of our great Savior...
Added a 2nd verse to Headline in Heaven. Made a good start getting some midi parts into Garage Band but couldn't get it to accept the audio input for some reason - still have to figure that out. The key is at least tentatively in G; figured I'd lay down some pretty basic keyboard and drums for now then use that to play over and try to get more creative, but it will probably still end up a pretty simple gospel-style tune.
Chord Sheet posted
The chord sheet for "Headline in Heaven" is now posted. I'll probably do it in G major, but I've provided A-flat, A, and F chords too. Pretty simple 3-chord Gospel tune. Still working on the audio; at least I got the GarageBand audio input working, but still not sure why it didn't a few days ago.
I live in better paint than you!
New Song: "Better Paint Than You." I leave a pretty decent neigborhood every morning and drive through one that most people would consider an even "better" one; at least the houses are bigger, the yards more manicured, and more Mercedes in the drives. What I noticed about those houses this particular morning, though, is that the paint seems to be kept up a lot fresher, cleaner, crisper than some not-quite-as-nice neighborhoods. I guess you could argue whether the houses are really better (also see "You Paid a Price)," but the envelope of paint they live in definitely is. So, anyway, that's the root of the chorus. The verses came from - who knows? One more excursion into the backwaters of my mind during the morning commute.
Yea, still here
Yea, yea, I'm still here; just working a project that's had me in and out of town overnight for the last month and remodeling projects when I'm home. The remodeling is at least nearing an end, then the house will go on the market, hopefully soon after we'll settle into something with less maintenance, less yard work, less commute. So more time to spend on the music "should" be coming ... soon. At least the "soon" is getting into the realm of months, not years, but still not days or weeks away. Please check back occasionally.
Auditioned for the Columns Cafe, Woodlands United Methodist Church
Auditioned last night (Sunday, May 4) to play at the Columns Cafe run by The Woodlands United Methodist Church. I didn't think the audition went that great; auditioned in a lecture room (not the cafe) that had only ceiling speakers, not a great setup for bringing out the best in either the keyboards or vocals, or for monitoring what I was playing. A bad sound setup always makes me nervous, and that always leads to more mistakes than normal. I was also nervous because I've been sounding terrific, if I may say so my myself, in practice the last week, and that seems to be a pattern with me: terrific practice just before, bad performance; but a horrible practice session where nothing goes right seems to lead to a good performance the next day. Anyone else ever notice that? I've been sounding so good all week I guess I let it psyche me out a bit and half-expected a crash and burn.
But anyway, the people running the audition apologized for the sound, said I sounded good enough considering the setup, and they were intrigued enough by my lyrics and tunes, that I'll (probably) be invited to play at some point in their Summer Music Fest, Friday nights around 7 PM. Please check back for the schedule; I probably won't play a whole night the first time, but with or before another performer. But regardless of my schedule or participation, please come out and support the Cafe as a venue committed to showcasing songwriters and original music (they're seeking wholesome but not necessarily Christian music; email me, brent@jbcmusic, if you want the contact info). I'll hope to make it several Fridays this summer myself just to listen whether I'm performing or not. Fridays around 7 PM - see ya there!
The great Texas toad hunt
I'm not a killer, really. I'm usually fine with live and let live. So let me explain why I had to kill the toads. It's the fault of the dog across the back fence, really. The neighbors got this new dog (probably rescued off the street) sometime around Christmas, I think a Labrador mixed with something else. This dog barks. Incessantly. If this dog is outside, the only time it stops barking is when it decides to howl instead. Incessantly. It's fine when they take it inside; at least if it barks and howls inside, I don't hear it. But outside, it barks and howls, continuously and incessantly, and it's LOUD, especially when it gets in one particular corner of the fence that really echoes the sound back toward our bedroom window, which of course faces the back, upstairs.
That dog really bothers me, mainly because we also had a dog that would bark anytime she was outside, continuously and incessantly. So we paid the price by keeping the dog inside 99% of the time. From the time we moved into this neighborhood until the dog died, seven years, we put up with the hair, smell, mess, hair, "accidents", hair, smell, and hair of having a dog inside. So it really peeves me when someone else isn't willing to pay the price we had to pay .
Still, since we're not around much during the day and the dog was mostly put in at night, I was fine with the dog across the back fence until they started leaving it out later, and later, then later, then sometimes all night. And since it was outside all night, guess what? Yeah, it barked. All night. Incessantly. So after about 2 months of very little sleep, I was in the middle of a project at work that I really needed to be awake for, this dog was barking about 11:30 PM, no way I was sleeping, and I'd finally had it! We don't really know these people; we've said hello over the fence and when they were out walking the dog, but don't really have a relationship and I didn't at that time have their phone number, so I did what any tired, grumpy person would do (although I really wanted to load the shotgun and solve the problem that way); I opened the back window and started yelling, trying to outdo the dog. Like I said, tired, grumpy, sleepy, not sure what I yelled; I don't think I actually threatened the dog, but I was pretty adamant they needed to shut the dog up - NOW. Having had my say, I slammed down the window, and...no, wait! I re-opened the window and let loose another fusilade, then I slammed the window again, and miserably crawled back into bed, expecting that I would have to get up again in a few minutes and call the cops this time (I really hate to bother the police with stuff like this, but this had gotten ridiculous).
But you know what? I guess my voice really carried in the still night air. I guess I was loud. Maybe a little scary. The sheriff's deputy who lives next door later told us he grabbed his gun and was ready to come see what some madman was yelling about. In spite of the dog, televisions, air conditioners, and everything else, I guess people heard me. The dog was absolutely, immediately hushed. Dead silent. And not only that, but you know how you can always hear an occasional bark from the neighborhood dogs, especially when one's barking, they all have to throw in an occasional reply? Well, not only was the dog across the fence hushed up immediately then and every night since, but it seems every dog within a two-mile radius was scurried inside and hushed. Dead silence. I guess people heard me.
So anyway, that's why I was honor-bound to kill the toads. Not that I hate toads; we've lived with one big, ugly black one in the back yard for years. We were renting a farmhouse when we first got our dog, and she got in the habit of bringing us dead toads and other prizes and leaving them on the walk coming out of the house. A dead toad wasn't exactly what I wanted to see first thing in the morning on the way to work, so we captured a couple of toads, sprinkled Tabasco sauce on their backs, and let them back loose in the yard. The dog decided she didn't like bringing us toads after all. So like I said, we had a big ugly black toad in this yard for years, and it was pretty much live and let live. I figured it earned its keep eating bugs, the dog wasn't interested, and I guess the cat didn't really care about toads either.
But when we put the pond in, things changed. First we had eggs in the pond too big to be from our little fish, then tadpoles, then the biggest, ugliest polywogs I've ever seen. I caught several of the big polywogs about a month ago and dispatched them to the compost bin, but in spite of that, we still ended up with live toads come the spring. I don't think they're necessarily related to or even the same species as the original black toad, whom I haven't seen for awhile; these have a little more coloration. And I'm no expert whether they're toads or frogs; my only yardstick is, toads ugly, frogs a little easier on the eyes, and these are ugly, thus toads in my mind. But the big black toad never sang like these started to about a week ago. Which comes to the part of being honor-bound to kill them.
Yeah, these toads sing. Incredibly loudly. It started a few days ago, not so loud and only slightly annoying, then I don't know if they moved closer or just got louder. Their song sounds kind of like the bearings going out on a fan just before it freezes up and stops, only when it stops, it starts right up again in a few seconds. And they're nocturnal, of course, so it only goes on at night. It's probably fine in a country house with a pond or river a few hundred feet away; in a suburban backyard pond fifteen feet from your bedroom window, it's grating and annoying. And loud. We were watching LOST on TV, and these little buggers were actually drowning out the TV sound.
I grabbed a flashlight and went outside at the commercial, and sure enough, there were two of them on the rocks around the edge of the pond, throats expanded and singing their hearts out. I tried just chasing them away by shining the light in their eyes, then getting closer, but they were fearless, and wouldn't move until I actually pushed them with the flashlight. Uh-oh. Being a male animal myself, I know that there's only one thing that can overcome the natural fear instinct that should have had them turning tail and hiding. These critters were in mating mode, and I was looking at more eggs, tadpoles, polywogs. And instead of two, there would be - what? 10? 20? making 10 times the racket in a short while. I could have just waited for the big grey bird, a heron or kingfisher that nests high up in the big pine by the driveway to show up and hope she prefers dining on toads over fish, but having recently established myself as the madman demanding nocturnal QUIET!, there was no way I could allow my pond to become a nightly cacophony of annoying toad songs. Since it seemed I wouldn't be able to chase these toads into silent hiding, I was duty and honor bound to kill them.
So next LOST commercial, I returned to the pond with flashlight and BB gun in hand. I sat down on the bench and popped the toad on this side of the pond in the back of the head with a BB, and was drawing a bead on the second one across the pond, when a third one chimed in from the right side of the pond. I dispatched those two, so I thought, at least I knocked them off their rock perches into the water with BB's, then went back to watch the end of LOST. I returned to find that these are some tough little toads, though! Even though I have a 40-year-old Daisy that's probably twice as powerful as the BB guns sold today, my shots had only stunned them. While I was chasing down the other two, the third one even returned to his rock and starting singing again! It would take 3-4 shots each, chasing one under a bush and moving rocks to get at two before I could put a final BB in each one at point-blank range. I buried them in the compost bin and turned in for a quiet night's sleep. I have to admit, though, not without a little tinge of sadness. I'm not a killer, really.
San Juan 24 restoration progress
The San Juan 24 Project Log has been moved to a separate file.
This tends to happen if you love boats...
Deb says I've reached my five-boat limit with recent acquisitions. I'm starting to agree, seeing that my garage is two-blocked with boats and trailers and I can no longer move around in it. Something's gotta give this year. Here they are: #1. The end of May, we acquired a San Juan 24 "project" boat. Click the link on the main page or this one. Hope to be sailing it by fall, but that may be ambitious as busy as work is right now, trying to get the house on the market, and still trying to squeeze some music and sailing in.
#2. Still have and still enjoying the Starwind 19. I plan to keep it until we've actually sailed the San Juan a few times and see how we like it. When the San Juan hits the water, the Starwind will go on the trailer for a bottom job and then maybe? go up for sale. I keep hearing great things about the San Juan's performance, but the cockpit sure doesn't look as comfortable, and actually isn't any bigger, than the Starwind's. The Starwind is admittedly slow in comparison to the bigger boats we sail against, but still a nice little boat to sail. What may happen is that both may go for sale and we'll let the market decide, part with the one that sells first, keep the other.
#3. Deb's brother Terry no longer has a place to park the aluminum fishing boat inherited from their father, so he brought it to us. The 20-HP Mercury needs work, and the repair bid Terry got in Dallas indicates we may be looking for a new motor.
#4. I bought a 1959 fiberglass speedboat in Tulsa over 12 years ago and started restoring it, but when I realized how much it was going to cost to repower, it kind of took the wind out of my restoration efforts. So the boat's pretty well sat in the garage in Tulsa, then Houston, ever since. I have plans for the bow and stern though; the mid-section has major structural issues and I really think I can get more out of the bow and stern converted to furniture (like for a seafood restaurant entry or patio) than I ever could as a boat. Really cool hardware will go with the deal. It's just that initial cut with the sawzall...
#5. Still have the Old Town Guide canoe. Haven't used it since buying the sailboat, but we keep planning to do some fishing in it ... "real soon now." We've noticed in the stores that Old Town has now changed the front seat in the Guide so it's not a "butt bucket" suitable only for skinny twelve-year-olds - after I'd already fashioned a new one that fits a real adult better than the one that came in our Guide.
Comment 7/5/10/BC - The 1959 powerbaot is long gone, cut up and put out for the trashmen a few pieces at a time. The San Juan 24 is refurbished, sailing, and FOR SALE. I've started repairs on Hurricane Ike damage to the Starwind; the topsides are in better shape than I thought, but the bottom is in worse shape than I realized. We've done some swapping and have a working 15-HP Yamaha outboard on the fishing boat, but have only had it out once so far. Still have the canoe, #4 of 4.
San Juan 24 restoration progress (7)
We finally hit 100+ degree weather here. Actually, it's been a pretty nice spring and early summer, but too hot to get all gritty sanding and grinding this weekend. I did decide to go ahead and replace the starboard cabinet with new plywood, so cut out the parts for that, the plywood for the new hatchboards, and a replacement for one cubby cover. Sunday, had a decent sail pretty far up the lake in the Starwind but then the wind died and we ended up motoring back in.
Snippets and ditties
Posted a file of lyric snippets, mostly little ditties I'd sung onto tape while driving and forgotten about until months later. I happened to turn the tape over and listen to it this morning, found a 2nd verse to Fast Loading Gun, plus 4 little ditties I hadn't written down before, all apparently from about October-November 2007. Some are almost full songs, some might develop into or be used in a song later, some may never develop past what you see in this file.
San Diego Tall Ships Festival
Back from vacation -- some beach, some kayaking (La Jolla Caves), but a lot of San Diego Maritime Museum and Festival of Sail.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brent281/sets/72157606977490785/
Movies: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brent281/sets/72157606983625855/
New lyrics at jbcmusic.com
Updated the Snippets file with some new lyrics, two little ditties that show how my mood can change during the morning commute. And decided two of the existing snippets were fleshed out enough to write up as "new songs" (lyrics) -- That's the Way Life Is and Good Old Talk With God.
You are the designated driver of my heart that's drunk on you.
The drive home from work added a bridge to the "Designated Driver" snippet, enough to turn it into a full-fledged song with the verses repeated. I had intended for it to be country, but by the time I got the first cut at a chord sheet worked out, it's not quite country sounding, although I'm sure it could be arranged more that way.
After little of nothing, something.
Finally, after months of just seeming to not be able to get my head into it, I at least made a start on some song-WRITING this week. Just about done with a score for Designated Driver. I decided to start it, not because it's ever going to be one of my best songs (although somewhat catchy), but simply because it's one of the latest, and I really need to get back into the habit of writing something down and recording something whenever I get a new song, at least for archive purposes, even if the song either later evolves or goes nowhere. I used to be a lot better at doing that than lately.
I also made a good start on a more "serious" score for Lord, Let Our Worship. This decidedly IS one of my best songs and I need to get it out there so you folks (anybody there?) can hear it, play it, hopefully use it in worship. I think you'll like it. In fact, I'm wrapping this blog up to get back to "Lord, Let Our Worship" - as soon as I mention I've also posted three new chord sheets: Designated Driver [Key of G]; That's the Way Life Is[Key of A]; and Good Old Talk With God [Key of D].
I pulled my shrimp boat up onto the beach and started singing port city blues.
New lyrics from the morning drive yesterday - Port City Blues. Nothing directly autobiographical, but the plight of Texas shrimpers has been the subject of several news stories I've run across the last few years. The tune I was getting in the truck wasn't that bluesy and probably not that original - I need to play with it at the piano and try to fit it into a "real blues" chord progression.
Lord, let our worship come before you in your very throne room
I've pretty well gotten all the notes and lyrics into my songwriting software for "Lord, Let Our Worship." This is one of my favorite songs (mine or otherwise) and I'm still baffled that I had never even started writing it out before. It turns out being a fairly simple song with a lot of repeated phrases, both lyrically and musically, but it's the expressions that make the song - slight tempo variations, crescendo and decrescendo, mp and ff sections, and I still have to get all that into the score. It may be a few months before the score gets posted here on the site with the copyright registered, but please do check back. I'll "try:)" to get a really good recording of it done while waiting on the copyright.
You know you're gonna like it like that, until you cross that Red River valley.
Added some verses to "Port City Blues". Sat down with it at the piano keyboard last night and yeah, this one's gonna be smokin' as a blues tune. Also posted lyrics for "When Texans" (I know, goofy title, but read the lyrics) - another new song that started forming a couple of days ago. Had a few verses, then woke up in the wee hours this morning and had to get up and write more verses that came to me lying there. Hey, Gov. Perry, this one's a great ad for TEXAS ... call me? I'd also consider collaboration in the form of additional verses for "When Texans" - it's a big state, I certainly haven't covered it all. Either email me or drop them in the comment box here on the blog. I'll give you the credit for anything I add.
Comment 9/23/08/BC - Post-IKE: That last verse of "Port City Blues" is kind of eerie now, huh?
Our personal experience with Hurricane Ike here in Houston's north suburbs --
Overall, we feel pretty blessed and thankful to come through Ike as well as we did. We had one tree branch puncture the plywood on the roof, then actually had more rain Saturday night than we did as Ike passed over Friday night. Sunday we noticed a wet spot on the ceiling of one bedroom but hoped it was just rain blown in the soffit vents and it seemed to be drying out. Apparently it was wetter than we thought, though, because about 1/4 of the ceiling in the room fell in early Monday morning. I had been up in the attic and looked around, but the hole had enough plywood splinters in it that no light was coming through. The room is my music studio/office, but fortunately I had all the electronics safely packed away and nothing to get wet where the cave-in was. It may be awhile before I regain the song-writing momentum I had just before the storm, though.
That's the only real damage we had; the top of a gum tree broke off and completely surrounded Deb's van on three sides, without a scratch on it. The top 30 feet of one of our big pine trees snapped off (we heard that one), dented the neighbor's pickup badly, dinged his wife's car, and punctured all the way through roof and ceiling of their dining room. The top 20 feet of another pine is dangling precariously over the same neighbor's garage. Debbie's already got someone scheduled to take down the two broken pines and top off the gum tree. Other than that, just a heck of a lot of smaller broken branches (we have 20+ trees on the lot).
So we've got three huge piles of debris still waiting to be picked up, still no power, and we're in the area they say they'll get to restoring power "after Thursday - maybe by October 5th!?" because we live in a heavily wooded area with lots of big trees on power lines. People in the neighborhood have posted signs pointing to downed power lines for when the crews finally show up - I counted five signs just going down the main boulevard this morning. As old-time campers, we can take no power, but now neighbors on three sides are running generators all night and we have to sleep with the windows open, so we're sleeping with ear plugs. That's fine, too, but it makes it questionable if I'll hear the alarms I set on my cell phone - slept through all 3 going off this morning. Thank God the weather's been unseasonably cool since the storm, though. Overall, blessed and thankful; it coulda' been worse! Please continue praying for those who got hit a lot worse than we did.
Cape Royale Marina Hurricane Ike Damage
About 90 miles away, at Lake Livingston, the Cape Royale marina our Starwind sailboat was in was badly damaged; all the floating docks broke free and were pushed to the end of the cove, but there were amazingly few boats damaged. Our boat is wedged in between two badly bent-up piers, still floating, but it's so tight we can't even see the sides to know if it took a beating or not. The 2-HP Suzuki outboard we had on it broke off the bracket (the actual motor housing broke) and disappeared. We had hoped to pull the boat out Saturday, but the marina's insurance company nixed anyone being on the docks or moving boats; we'll have to wait on them to see what shape it's really in. Here's my pics and pics taken by another CRBA member, Dave Bell, some of which ended up on CNN via iReport.com
Finally got power back on last Thursday (12 days without); house insurance adjuster's been out and I've been in contact with the boat insurer, but it's still wedged in its slip. Still waiting on a contractor to bid the house repairs and still have logs from two big pine trees and two huge piles of tree debris waiting to be picked up. Got my music studio set up last night, crammed into one corner of the guest bedroom until the music room's repaired. Time to start trying to regain the songwriting momentum I had just before the storm hit.
When dey gonna fix my lights?
I'm one of the people who, unlike one of our local congresspersons, thinks Centerpoint Energy did a fantastic job getting the power back on to (most of the) millions of people affected by Hurricane Ike. Drive around Houston and see the amount of tree debris in most neighborhoods (I'm talking huge logs from trunks, not just broken limbs) and consider that a large number of those hit power lines as they fell, and I think the progress in three weeks (12 days for our house) ain't bad. That doesn't mean I don't emphathize with the 30,000 or so people still without lights or that I can't poke gentle fun at the situation. Thus "When Dey Gonna Fix My Lights?" was birthed on the drive in this morning. It's more of a chant than song (might be rap if I knew anything about rap), this posting is probably as far as I'll ever take it, but there it is.
Sometime in the week before Ike, I typed up words to another little ditty, "Fish on the Line." If I ever get around to doing anything with the music, I'm hearing it with the vocals, drum beat (more like beating on the steering wheel, cooler, or side of the boat), and not much music. Something to have fun getting the future? grandkids? to sing on the road to the lake.
Singing Port City Blues
After working with it a couple of weeks, I've made some small changes to the lyrics of Port City Blues. I think I'll write this one up and record it to submit to one of the songwriting contests that keep sending me emails. I may be biased, but, yeah, I think it's that good.
Granddad Clifton
I was thinking of my Granddad Clifton on the drive in to work, or actually - no particular reason, I was thinking about his guns, which are most of my guns, most of which have recently passed into my son's possession. "Blues Eyes, Thirty-eight Colt and a Shotgun," pictures and memories are pretty much what I have left of my Granddad. Suffering from diabetes and related illnesses, he was sick a lot when I was growing up, and a lot of my memories of him are hospital visits. But he also loved hunting and fishing when he could, and those are the good memories.
Getting back to normal
Sept. 25 - power back on. Oct. 2 - Music studio back together in guest bedroom. Oct. 4 - FEMA cleared tree debris. Oct. 5 - Removed Starwind sailboat from its bent-up slip to the one surviving dock in the marina; Progressive insurance adjuster got to it on the 8th. around Oct. 6 - received a check for house repairs; still waiting on contractor's estimator, so Deb's looking at others that neighbors have used.
Oct. 20 - received a check for the Starwind; Progressive totalled it out even though damage was relatively light to the hull - one bad and a few minor scrapes on the side, one bent stanchion. We had it insured for so little, though (our original purchase price, and we've made a lot of improvements since then) that it didn't take much damage added to the outboard loss to total it. They let us buy it back, though, at a salvage price of probably 1/10th what it will actually be worth when repaired. It's sailable, but was badly needing a bottom job before Ike, so we may not sail it again before pulling it out, especially since we'd really need to buy a new motor. Right now, focusing on getting the San Juan sailing. And we've got the motor from the San Juan mounted for now on the fishing boat, so we can at least get out on the water before it's too cold. Ready to do some fall fishing!
Aaargh! It's been very slow getting back to songwriting or even playing music much after Ike, and it's mainly due to attitude. Not like we have enough investments for the financial SELLOUT to affect us much, but I still got pretty angry at our SELLOUT! PIG! politicians about it all. Aren't you? I'm proud of some our local Texas CongressMEN who stood up against the SELLOUT, but I've sent some very angry, unkind emails to both of our SELLOUT! PIG! Texas Senators. I'm ready to fire the one up for re-election in a couple of weeks. This website's not about politics, though - I'll just say I consider both major parties abysmal failures right now. The election truly doesn't matter to me, because I see no difference in the ACTIONS of either party, regardless of what they say, and God's still in charge, regardless.
So at any rate, I shouldn't have, but did, let "them" spoil my attitude with anger, and that's not a good place to write songs from. I'm finally starting to get over it, though - God's still in charge, after all. I have managed two long sessions just practicing, playing and singing, one at the keyboards and one downstairs at the acoustic piano, and at least started scoring "Port City Blues" one night. Not where I want to be, but getting back on track ... slowly.
Hey, bartender, should I drink out loud?
There's absolutely nothing auto-biographical in this new song; I really don't hang out in bars, at least not for about 30 years, and I never did it to drink away heartache like so many country songs. But I have been through one of those occasional swings where I've been listening to more country music on the radio, and also enjoyed the Southern Breeze Band at the annual CRBA Street Dance last weekend. They play a few more recent songs, but also a lot of old-time drinkin'/cheatin'/heartbreak country songs, as in Conway Twitty and that era. That's the only explanation I have for waking up this morning with the phrase "Hey, bartender, should I drink out loud?" in my head. Then getting ready for work it developed as if posed to a female ex-girlfriend bartender, so with that idea the verses came together pretty easily on the drive to work. The tune I was putting it to in the truck is a pretty standard variation of probably a hundred country songs. Who knows, though? - a comfortable country tune, a catchy title phrase like country radio seems to thrive on lately, and a time-honored barroom-heartache formula probably give it a potential for commercial success, if I (you?) want to push it that far.
All Lyrics, Music and content Copyright 1988-2010 Jeffrey Brent Clifton
eMail to: brent(a)jbcmusic.com
Archived 7/5/2010/jbc