My computer's poor little hard drive gave out right after New Year's. It hurts just to type that.
I take awesome care of my stuff. Every piece of musical equipment I've ever owned is still in my studio, right down to my first pro keyboard (the Korg DW-6000!), spit-shined and in perfect working order. I've never so much as lost a pair of sunglasses, and the only way to separate me from a cellphone is, well, to fuckin crack me over the head with a sack of books and steal it from me. My first (and only other) computer lasted seven years - I kept upgrading it until there was nothing left of the original machine but the monitor and a disk image. The day I brought my Mac home, the old computer literally burst into flames moments after I transferred over the last byte of data. It knew its time had finally come (Arturo said it smelled like a crack pipe - apparently smokin crack smells like a computer on fire).
So when my PowerBook went down, I wasn't just gonna let it die. I brought the machine (her name is Mother Box, by the way) to Tekserve, where they also diagnosed a fried logic board and told me I should probably just buy a new Mac and move on. But Mother Box is a Power PC, and getting a brand new computer would involve upgrading to Intel-compatible versions of most of my design and music software, and I couldn't do that. We use Power PCs at work with the original Adobe CS, so I wouldn't be able to work from home anymore. And on the music side, our engineer Pete deTective sticks with Pro-Tools 6 because that's where all his plug-ins are at. So I insisted that everything possible be done to resuscitate my little PowerBook.
I got Mother Box back on Friday. She is apparently a legend now amongst the Tekserve staff - it's the most work Apple has ever agreed to do on a computer of her age. The insides were almost entirely replaced. It's a whole new machine. Plus the techs were able to completely recover my old hard drive's data. This is why I love Tekserve, and one of many reasons I love Apple.
Spending a month without a home computer sucked, especially when I'm neck-deep in projects. Now that Mother Box is home, life in my apartment is so much more awesome. Between my excellent roommate LB, this computer, and restaurant delivery, I don't really need anything else. A good deal of my music is made through online collaboration at this point, and social networking sites have made it so that your computer is basically all your friends. Think about it: when you want to talk to one of your friends, what do you do? Maybe a couple years ago you might've called them on the phone and spoken directly - or even visited them - but not anymore. Now you fire up your browser, or your Instant Messenger, and you talk to your computer. And when you're on the go, you send a text. Everyone who is not in the room with you might as well be imaginary. I fuckin love it!
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Tony Levin has finished bass on three tracks for Failing Upwards, over Anton Fig's drums. As you can imagine, it sounds phenomenal.
I consider five artists responsible for the musician that I am: The Beatles, Kiss, The Ramones, King Crimson, and Frank Zappa. Each of these artists (who were introduced to me in that order) taught me one key lesson about the creation and presentation of music just when I was at the perfect point in my life to catch it.
The Beatles taught me that music comes in an infinite number of forms, and every song you write is bursting with possibility.
Kiss taught me that for all that potential, there are still things you can never do or be.
The Ramones taught me how to appreciate the beauty of a song in is most raw and basic form.
King Crimson taught me that once you break a song all the way down, what makes it yours is how you build it back up - so you had better know what you're doing.
And Frank Zappa taught me that in matters of creativity, the artist is sovereign... but he's also responsible for his decisions, good and bad.
My goal for this record was to assemble a great band with a tangible connection to each one of those lessons. Tony is a member of King Crimson from the lineup that had the most impact on me (the early-80s version), and he also recorded with John Lennon. Anton played drums on several classic Kiss albums, including Dynasty and Ace Frehley's solo disc, which was my absolute favorite record when I was a kid.
All I know is, I can't wait to finish Failing Upwards so I can drive around and cuh-RANK it!
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But first, of course, The Rebellion: two songs are mixed for the top-secret triple-A-side single. Third one's coming this week, followed by a crazy remix from the kind folks of Vermin Street. Then we can unleash it.
We are playing on Friday night at Crash Mansion in NYC as part of the Between (A Rock and a Hard Place) party. We will not be performing anything from the secret single (not a note of that shit until it comes out!), but I can promise you a couple things:
- We will play you some awesome music and make you feel good
- There will be one song in the set that The Rebellion has never performed before (and yet it will be wonderfully familiar to you)
- If you RSVP to the promoter at rsvp@newyorkunderbelly.com (and anybody can), you will be put on a guest list and receive free admission to Crash Mansion and FREE drinks from 9-10. That's why this is the coolest club night in the city.
I guess for all my antisocial blather, I might still enjoy going out and seeing the folks I like every once in a while. Call me old-fashioned.
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Here's an idea for someone out there to steal, because I sure as fuck don't have time to do anything with it:
Matching slogan t-shirts for couples. Like his shirt reads "WE HATE YOUR PET" and hers reads "WE ALSO HATE YOUR BABY". Or they both say "I'M WITH STUPID" but have arrows that go in opposite directions so they can point at each other.
C'mon, why sell one obnoxious t-shirt when you can sell two? Beat the recession!
CART
