Find The Silver Key

August 12, 2010

GAMES and Facebooking

Filed under: Hints for Treasure Hunt, New Music News, Silver Key, Silver Key Hunt Tips, Weirdo Deluxe — admin @ 5:33 pm

Hello.

Welcome back, I suppose. It’s been an involved summer.

I had a real vacation, and that was nice. Been writing lots of songs for a variety of uses. Playing ukulele and piano. Writing. A surprising bit of writing, too.

But you don’t care about that, do you? Probably not.

You want to know:

1) there’ve been some ads in GAMES Magazine of late, which will hopefully bring some more players to the game.

2) Facebook. Yes. We’re there. Go in and search for The Silver Key and you’ll see us. Please link and spread and all that. Also, as I clearly know next to nothing about Facebook, if you have any tips or tricks or whatever, I’d love love love to hear ‘em.

3) Hints. Clues. Yes. Between now and Sept 15 (halfway, dontcha know) I’ll have some art and at least one song. They are clues. Things that might help you sort out how to find the clues in the puzzle. AND I hope to blog soon with a roundup of the clues people have solved (or think they’ve solved) so far.

4) YouTube. Nope. Not there. There’s been a few folks who’ve asked me about the Marvin videos on YouTube. Let me be very clear about this: there are no clues there. None. Zero. This is not a false hint, a bit of misdirection. All the needed info is in the album.

Back sooner than last time. Promise.

May 30, 2010

review in Austin Monthly

Filed under: Music, Silver Key, Weirdo Deluxe — admin @ 7:22 pm

The Silver Key garnered a review in the new edition of Austin Monthly. It says:

The Weirdo Deluxe offers an incentive to buy it’s latest release, The Silver Key: cash. The Austin band has hidden a silver key somewhere in the continental United States. Find it first and you win $1,000, plus $1 for each copy of the CD that’s sold. The concept album’s 12 songs and packaging contain clues to help sleuths decipher the puzzle. Taken as a creative project, it’s a hit. But music isn’t the primary concern on the album, and the songs suffer, many of the tracks are campy, with the ballad “You Can Tell” being the exception. 2 stars (out of 5)

May 29, 2010

it’s been six weeks

Filed under: Hints for Treasure Hunt, Music, New Music News, Silver Key, Silver Key Hunt Tips, Weirdo Deluxe, songwriting — admin @ 10:41 am

Indeed. Sorry ’bout that. I was sick (pneumonia) for a bit. The hard part was not the lay-in-bed-for-some-days part, the hard part was feeling just fine but having to take a break midway up a flight of stairs ’cause I was just too winded. Terrible.

Anyway, since last I wrote I’ve somewhat immersed myself in some other art projects, very few of which are musical. As I’m not making a living with any of them (i.e. relying on them for income) I’m just sort of letting things flow where they seem to want to.

I have almost finished some songs for the annual album by The Weirdo Deluxe. Odd calling it an “album”. Dunno yet if I’ll press actual, physical CDs or just make it a digital only release. They tell me the music business is changing, but what do I know? I just make songs.

I’m really thinking about putting together a regular band thing – doing western swing and new orleans stuff – or maybe making our own category where those two things merge. Whatever. Gotta swing and have a clarinet in it.

And a hint. Yes. A hint for The Silver Key is coming. Actually, it will be hints. A small collection of three or four things: a song, a map, an image, perhaps a code or cypher-text (or what appears to be a song, map, image, & cypher-text). The song is written, the rest is planned: I know what I want to do, but haven’t created it yet. I called a drummer the other day to schedule a session, but it turns out he’s on vacation on Kauai. Nice. I’d l like to vacation in Kauai.

I have no idea when the hint(s) will be released. On or before Sept 15, though.

More soon.

April 8, 2010

a hint is coming; or, hints are coming

Filed under: Hints for Treasure Hunt, Music, Silver Key, Silver Key Hunt Tips, Weirdo Deluxe — admin @ 8:39 pm

Yes.

Not exactly sure when, but there will be a hint, or a small group of hints coming. I’m hoping for summer, but at the VERY latest, the 1 year anniversary mark (9/15 for those of you playing along at home).

Watch here & at the site.

February 4, 2010

sick again, and an 8-string ukulele

Filed under: Music, New Music News, Silver Key, Weirdo Deluxe — admin @ 3:23 pm

Ugh. Virus, please go. It wouldn’t be so bad if not for the slitting headache, the back/body/joint ache, the sneezing and runny nose, the fever, chills, sweats, and the sore throat. And by “sore throat” I don’t mean that it’s a little red and sore, I mean it’s like broken glass when I breathe. Argh.

The Dr found no flu or strep, so that’s good; but that also means no antibiotics. I’m relegated to bed rest, fluids, and chicken soup.

And here I was planning on doing some vocal tracks this week. Ha!

- – Although, on The Silver Key, I achieved a particularly strained/gravelly vocal sound on “Where The Blue Meets The Blue” by singing with strep throat. I had some other sessions booked and had to cancel ‘em (no way am I gonna spread that shit around) and Jon said, “try singing with it” so I did. Came out OK and I used some of it.

Also, I took delivery yesterday of a marvelous 8-string ukulele, also sometimes called a Taro Patch. Sadly, it was damaged in transit. Like, the neck broke. So I opened a claim with UPS and they picked it up to inspect. I suppose they’ll make some kind of determination that absolves them of any liability; but hell, I used to work in the San Jose hub and I’ve seen how packages get treated. And this uke was in a hard-shell case, and very well packed by a reputable dealer. We shall see.

- -

And, just an aside, ain’t love grand?

January 16, 2010

some thoughts about hints

Filed under: Hints for Treasure Hunt, Silver Key, Silver Key Hunt Tips — admin @ 4:10 pm

So my mind turned to hints. When I conceived of this project I thought I might put out a hint every six months – or perhaps just one on the anniversary (in Sept). I think it might be a good idea. The real trick, I suppose, is to figure out 1) what kind of hint and 2) how to make sure everyone knows about it.

No. 1 can be broken down into three sub-categories: a) obvious, b) oblique, and c) useless. Preferably, I’d want to go with option b.

The trick is, I have no idea how far along people are. Sure, there’s the forum, but not every player posts there, and I’m sure people hold back some of the things they’ve discovered.

For now, I think I’ll plan on a September update (provided it’s not already discovered by then).

In the meantime, I’ll try and sell as many of these as I can. With a bigger pool of players the prize is greater, and the likelihood of a winner increases.

Also, lord knows, I’ve got a handful of other projects in various stages of completion that I need to address. I’ll go get immersed in those, too.

January 9, 2010

lyrics

Filed under: Hints for Treasure Hunt, Music, Silver Key, Silver Key Hunt Tips, Weirdo Deluxe, songwriting — admin @ 9:33 pm

I get asked about lyrics some. Especially with The Silver Key – people want to know exactly what words mean what, or what a specific line is. On previous records (like, 15 years ago) lyrics were included, but I haven’t since then. I like homonyms, and phrases that can mean more than one thing. “You are mine” and “Ewe are mine” sound the same but mean vastly different things. I’d rather have each listener believe what they want about the words and the meaning (and explaining what a song means is a place I’ll probably never go – that’s like clarifying which parts of a love song were influenced by which persons/things …. do you really wanna know that?).

With The Silver Key this is even more true. I want to be somewhat imprecise. The words are there to be determined, or not, as someone sees fit. Perhaps there are clues there, perhaps not; but I’m not gonna help anyone along by printing official lyric sheets or nothin’.

There are a group of people discussing lyrics and clues and such HERE. I am not affiliated, nor do I post there under an assumed name. I do lurk from time to time, just to see.

Part of me could go on and on about songwriting, though I tend not to. Something about revealing too much. But I do run a songwriting forum at The Womb, a pretty cool audio & music hang, if you’re into that kind of thing. Everyone is invited to play along with the challenges and let people hear what they write.

You know, if you wanna.

December 15, 2009

another sell-out

Filed under: Music, Silver Key — Tags: , , — admin @ 12:13 pm

Nice.

CDBaby sold out of CDs. Again. This makes me very happy. It’s rare that I sell out of anything anywhere; and while I’m not getting rich (HA!) this helps.

AND, it looks like a large, local retailer might be interested, too – with luck, holiday shoppers will know about it.

I am not planning, yet, to make another treasure hunt, but if I DID, I think I’ve figured out how to do it, and do it differently than this one. Not that this means anything to you as you don’t know the answer, but trust me. And I think I have a name for it. Maybe. IF….

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December 10, 2009

horn charts, and gig three

Filed under: Music, Silver Key — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:59 pm

Yes. Horn charts. Indeed they sprung. We rehearsed and we played. And all was good. I tell ya, making music with great players is such a treat. And if you missed the shows, well, you missed ‘em. I have no more booked. AND, if some do get booked, the band will change. The drummer was playing as a friend, just to sub – he’s far to busy to pick up extra work regularly. And the fantastic Whit (electric guitar) has pretty much hung up his live-work for good. He’ll continue to play on my records and whatnot, just won’t be lugging black boxes into clubs for gigs anymore.

So the band, for this last show was:
saxes: Greg Wilson, Dan Bechdolt (both from Mingo Fishtrap)
keys: Stewart Cochran, Craig Robinson
guitars: Jon Bookout, Whit Williams
drums: Stephen Belans
bass: me

And the Key? Well, people are still searching, I believe, though some of the forum chatter has died down a bit. I hope this comes back up soon – perhaps after Santa makes his deliveries.

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November 12, 2009

new works

Filed under: Music, Silver Key — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 8:44 pm

For those who don’t know, The Weirdo Deluxe releases an album every year. The first four were pressed in limited quantities (of 200 or so) and mostly given away. An odd way to “make it” in the music biz, I know. Breaking that mold is The Silver Key.

Anyway, I’ve been knee-deep in the next record for awhile now. Even went to Nashville and worked with some fucking killer studio players there (nope, not country). I have no idea what will make the next record, but it’ll be out in August or so (like the rest) and it’ll be just as wildly eclectic as most of the other discs. Working title “Fully Body Kiss”.

Got a piano recently and all these songs are falling out of me.

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