three universal truths…
I was just listening to a song by “Everything But The Girl.” In came a soprano sax, and I came to a conclusion. There are three universal truths:
- Starbucks ruined the Cafe Macchiato. They created this drink with some kind of flavoring in it and called it a Macchiato. For all of us who drink the Macchiato as our drink of choice, ordering one has now become a total crap shoot. Thanks, Starbucks. You suck. Badly.
- MTV’s “Real World” ruined television. OK, Television was already bad, so maybe this one is a stretch. But this was the first so called “reality TV” show, and now TV land is FULL of them. No thanks. Actually, maybe I should thank them… because I rarely watched TV before, and now I watch even LESS of it!
- Kenny G ruined the Soprano Sax. Prior to Kenny G, there were plenty of people who used the Soprano Sax to good effect. My first experience with it was the guy “Alto Reed,” the sax player for the Bob Seger Silver Bullet band, and the song “Turn The Page.” Yes, I grew up in the midwest. Anyway, now everytime I hear the damn thing I think of my days in radio when I had to listen to freakin’ “Songbird” three times an hour. EHH!!! Click that link at your own risk!!!
my favorite CD these days….
Kathleen Edwards “Asking For Flowers” is just a great CD of contemporary americana. The lyrics are really great.
For example, here’s the lyrics to the her song, “Scared at Night”:
Published by mark fassett on July 2nd, 2008 | Filed under general | Comment now »As a child I would wake at night.
I was scared but I kept real quiet.
Shadows on the walls moving in on me…
And underneath my sheets I could barely breathe.
And your room was only just across the hall.
All it would have taken was a single call.
But maybe sometimes we’ve got to trust ourselves not to scream out loud, and run like hell…Believe me, all our days here are unsure.
Believe in me, I don’t want to anymore.
And in the dark, picture me in your mind.
And I’ll lay with you.
You don’t have to be scared at night.As a young man you were shooting rats.
By accident you hit the farmyard cat.
He ran for the fields and came back the next day.
You’d blown out his eye and you could see his brain.
That’s it boy, there is some things in life, you don’t want to do, but you know is right.
So take him out back and finish him off. Got your gun off the shelf, it only took one shot.Believe me, all our days here are unsure.
Believe in me, I don’t want to anymore.
And in the dark, picture me in your mind.
And I’ll lay with you, so you don’t have to be scared at night.And I flew away and I paid on your final day.
They said that you waited ’til I came.
We sang your favorite hymns and we held your hand.
You took your final breath and that was that.
But I’d never seen a person die before.
I tried so hard not to cry and all…
‘Cause maybe sometimes we’ve got to trust ourselves, that when you die you go some place else.Believe me, all our days here are unsure.
Believe in me, I don’t want to anymore.
And in the dark, picture me in your mind.
And I’ll lay with you.
You don’t have to be scared at night.
You don’t have to be scared at night.
You don’t have to be scared at night
whew… this is amazing, really…
This is just too much for words.
Published by mark fassett on June 26th, 2008 | Filed under general, life | 1 Comment »radiostar studios
After a great family vacation/weekend up to Ashland, Oregon to see a couple of plays and enjoy the general ambiance of southern Oregon, I had to stop by radiostar studios on the way back down highway 5. What a cool vibe. The place had a writeup in the Jan/Feb issue of TapeOp (article not available online that I could find).
The studio is in the town of Weed, north of Mount Shasta (and there is a view of the mountain right from the facility). The town itself is pretty dead, it seems… not sure what the main industry is now, maybe the recording studio. Anyway, what a great place to do a recording. They feature analog and pro tools, a pretty healthy stable of Neve preamps, and just about all the experimental gear you could imagine getting your hands on. Old tube gear? All over the place. Drive-in movie theater speakers? Check. Classic guitar amps? Yep. They offer accommodations with your studio sessions as well, dirt cheap. They were really great to give me a tour, completely unannounced… and really, now I’m dying to record there just for the experience.
Their main room, studio A, is an old theater… giving you an option to record in a familiar performance/stage environment, even with an audience of your choice. I can see how that could elicit some great performances from a band.
Their owner/chief engineer/producer, Shirley Massy, has some major credits and a great attitude… seems like she’d be great to work with. Anyway, check them out…
Oh… and the plays? We saw a couple, and they were great… especially a western version of “Comedy Of Errors”… way cool.
Published by mark fassett on June 10th, 2008 | Filed under general, music | Comment now »great conversation today with Karl Mueller
Talked to Karl today… he introduced me to the ideas of Alexander Scriabin, and he is in the process of introducing me to his music.
Anyway, one thing of particular interest to me is Scriabin’s ideas about music and color, especially considering my idea for a new project utilizing both visuals and music. You can read about him at the link above, scroll down a bit. This is pretty cool…
Published by mark fassett on June 3rd, 2008 | Filed under music | Comment now »entamoeba… again…
I received an email a few days ago from Nicole, the lead vocalist of entamoeba… they need a bass player for an upcoming performance in San Francisco. I’ll post more information when I have it.
Tonight after the entamoeba rehearsal I spent a couple of hours in the studio and worked on a new piece… another piece for the collaboration with Michael Nold, possibly.
Other than that… not too much going on. No new work on the Papa Bueno stuff, or much else new to report.
Published by mark fassett on June 1st, 2008 | Filed under music | Comment now »weekend fun
I’m looking forward to the annual “Hollerin’ Hills Music Fest” happening tomorrow. It’s a private event featuring music all day… including an evening jam session that promises to be a ton of fun. Really looking forward to it…
Sunday my daughter is in a track championship meet. She was originally not in it, but due to an injury to another teammate she is now competing in the long jump. Over the last couple of weeks she has really put together a strong effort to improve, and I think she has upped her distance significantly. Hopefully she can improve on her personal best, which she set in the qualifying meet.
Not much time for writing or recording lately… and the summer usually makes things even more difficult. Now is the time for discipline… I need to come up with some set music times and stick with them, otherwise it’s not going to happen. I’m still going down the dual path of creating new stuff for a more ambient project with Michael Nold, and creating something funky as a “Papa Bueno” project that I’ll be able to perform live.
Today I listened yet again to the Liquid State CD.. and I have to say, it sounds really good. I’m VERY proud of that CD!
Published by mark fassett on May 16th, 2008 | Filed under general | Comment now »podcast plays…
Yes, we’ve had a few podcast plays over the last few days since I uploaded some music to the podsafe network site. Here are specifics:
The first play we had was “Lost” by Liquid State on the Chillcast with Anji Bee. We appeared on Episode 23.
Then “After The Rain” by warrenpeece was played on the Blue Jeans Guy podcast, Episode 128.
A Quiet Time podcast played Inglas “Back In The Mood.” Episode 41.
Finally, “Lost” was played once again, this time on the Sunday Sundown podcast, #33. Interestingly enough, we’re played along with The Mermen!
Hopefully our music has been introduced to many people by these plays… if that is why you are here, welcome, thanks for stopping by.
Published by mark fassett on May 13th, 2008 | Filed under music | Comment now »we’re podsafe…
If you’re a podcaster, all the music I’ve made recently is completely podsafe and ready for you to rebroadcast. For more information, visit:
So far, Liquid State has had a couple of podcast plays… and if you have a podcast, get on the boat, eh?
Published by mark fassett on May 11th, 2008 | Filed under music | Comment now »pangea day
…is this Saturday. Find out more: http://www.pangeaday.org/
It will be happening here in my time zone at 11am. I will be on the laptop!
Published by mark fassett on May 7th, 2008 | Filed under general | Comment now »
