General Updates

Slow, But Steady…

Since mid-February I've been exchanging e-mail and irregular phone calls with some West-siders, regarding the possibility of making music with a band again. It's been disappointingly comical that at this point in my life, I still can't find a group of musicians with their stuff together enough to pull-off a practice or get-together or two in the span of nearly two months. Some things never change and it makes me remember why I walked away from the band routine in the first place. I've not given up completely, but my enthusiasm wanes with every passing day.

And so, I shift my focus (back) to my solo stuff. The past 72 hours have been a (near literal) nightmare as I've battled with a particularly nasty bug. One consequence of the past three days is that my voice is absolutely and entirely shot. I started feeling a bit better yesterday, so I spent some time with the guitar. My playing was shaky due to three days of ugly, but when I tried to sing, I just had to laugh. It's -- quite literally -- gone. I don't think even Auto-Tune could salvage what tried to come out of my throat. And so, I heal.

The plan is to focus on recovering my energy, my voice and then on my solo stuff, my YouTube channel, recording, and just let the West-side folks decided if they actually want to do something. I'm not going to waste anymore of my time trying to herd the cats.

In other news, I did some (much needed) downsizing, gear-swapping/trading at one of our local music shoppes and came away with more space in my music room and an absolutely gorgeous and sweet-sounding Takamine jumbo acoustic-electric guitar. At least prior to coming down with The Plague on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I was having a blast, playing my fingers raw on the pretty thing. I'm thinking she will be the one to accompany me in my debut YouTube channel video; after the voice heals.

That's it, kids. Thank you for your interest and, most of all, your continued patience!

Cheers!

James

A Brief Update

I clearly missed my target by having the first YouTube video posted by early February. I have no excuses other than I have been distracted by other people, places and things. I hope to get the first one up shortly.

This past weekend, I rebuilt my digital recording set-up. My normal space for writing and recording is currently occupied wall-to-wall with boxes, bags and other miscellaneous items that are the result of my marriage ending. I hope to reclaim that space this summer and/or find a new home when my current lease expires in September/October. I needed a temporary setup to capture song ideas, etc. and get some basic tracks recorded and, while not ideal, the new setup should prove functional.

So, please bear with me while I get the final pieces of my strange world in some semblance of order and I hope you will keep stopping by for new music and media. (I promise!)

Cheers!

James