Find The Silver Key

January 27, 2010

a new song, great joy; older songs, too; Spring

Filed under: Music, New Music News, Weirdo Deluxe, songwriting — admin @ 4:22 pm

Seems like winter has lifted in my head. Spring has sprung.

I was sick last week and that lifted, making me feel energized and capable. Like a million bucks. Then yesterday morning, just getting out of the shower, a brand new thing popped into my head. By the time I got to a guitar I had the first verse (melody, chords, lyric) and was working on the second. It played in my head on and off most of the day, and by the time I got home I had the big pieces finished.

Now all that’s left is the twiddly stuff: intros and spacers, an end to the bridge, the right key, and making sure the words fit in the mouth just so. This last part is important. The words have to do right on paper, but do even better in the mouth. Vital.

So far it’s called “Yours Is Mine” and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

On another note, I’ve been reviewing scratches, demos, and actual recordings in various stages of completion. Gonna be FUN to finish these up.

I love spring. The only downside is I don’t have enough time to tend to everything that comes up; and some things get lost in the weeds.

January 22, 2010

post-sick and new music

Filed under: Music, New Music News, Weirdo Deluxe, songwriting — admin @ 11:57 am

So.

No one likes being sick. Kids maybe; not the being sick part, but the stay-home-from-school-watch-tv part. I hate it. I was sick – headache, body ache, no sleep. Some sort of flu perhaps? And of course it coincided with a planned day off. Happily, today is another planned day off and I feel like a million bucks. It’s beautiful day so I’m cleaning and have the music up loud, the windows and doors open, and am taking regular piano breaks.

Another nice symptom (symptom? maybe, yeah) of surfacing from this sickness, was a revitalized fervor for music. Each winter I take something of a mental break from the fuss, and there is no set plan to get out of it. I’ve learned I can’t force my way through. But I’m up and awake and energized and eager to finish some songs that should be done; and record others; and write even more along the way.

The new songs show up on their own schedule.

To work. Hopefully doing vocals on some tracks in the very near future. Then recording with a band. Then writing horn parts for everything. Then.

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 14, 2010

more songs on the ukulele

Filed under: Music, songwriting — admin @ 4:06 pm

I have now determined it’s impossible to play “On The Sunny Side of the Street” on a ukulele and feel bad. And that third verse is killer. Beautiful.

This also holds true for “Rubber Ducky” a song I used to sing as a kid, so they tell me. What’s super amazingly cool about that song is it’s deceptive simplicity. You can probably hum it – but man, the chords in that thing are hip. It’s a perfect example of my favorite stuff about Sesame Street, The Muppets, and other Jim Henson stuff: they never cheaped out. On anything. They could have had some treacly boring song, but instead they got a writer in who could make something beautiful and simple and clever – which helps it bear up to repeated listenings.

For the musically minded, here are the first 8 chords to “Rubber Ducky”, up through the line “…lots of fun”. Two changes per bar.

A7  Bflat dim  |  B-7  Cdim  |  A7  Aaug7  |  D  D-6  |

So smart and great sounding. Music for kids doesn’t have to be cheap and stupid and obvious and boring. Writing a song for Sesame Street would be a fantastic joy.

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.

January 8, 2010

why I like music so much

Filed under: Music, New Music News — Tags: , , , — admin @ 11:32 am

Mistakes.

So, I have this new-ish song called “Broken”. I did a really nice demo of it a couple of months ago, nice enough to consider it done, really – it’s very sad and, well, sad, but nice, in a heart-wrenching sort of way. It helped me out when I was hurt.

Anyway, I wrote it on guitar and it’s very guitar-ish, if you know what I mean. And the other night I played it on piano. Now I am no great shakes of a guitarist. This is not false modesty. I play the way I play, but am in no way a proper guitar player. Which is why I have great guitarists record my stuff, rather than doing it myself. Simple bits: yes. Cool bits: not so much.

And as rough of a guitarist I am, I am a worse piano player. Doesn’t mean I don’t love it, but I suck. I’d love to play like Tatum or Waller or Booker; maybe in the next life. Or the last.

So, I’m playing and I made a mistake. There’s this B-flat major chord that drops to minor (key of F, the old IV to iv routine) and I played it wrong. When I went to the minor I accidentally put a G in it. Which, of course, makes it a B-flat minor 6 and adds a wonderful new flavor. Uh oh. Now the demo version, which was admittedly flawed but not without charm, won’t sound as good and I’ll have to re-record it. Hmmm.

It’s a real good thing I love this stuff.

January 7, 2010

Happy Ukulele New Year

Filed under: Music, New Music News, Weirdo Deluxe — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 11:12 am

I got a new ukulele. Happy New Year to me (and you). It’s so nice – it stays in tune and plays great and sounds great. I got a great deal from Rockin’ Robin Guitars and am pleased as punch. It’s a concert. And, in addition to the “normal” ukulele songs, I’m playing through some Sinatra classics. Do you know how cool it is to play “Young At Heart“. What a great song. Especially that c-6 chord. Man. Magic.

Anyone know where I can find a chart for “Hula Lou”?

So now I will sell my existing ukulele, a cute little soprano; Regal le domino.

New Year’s Day is, far and away, my favorite holiday. I like reflecting on the previous year and thinking about the promise of the next. I mean, I dig thanksgiving and xmas and hallowe’en, but new years has not gone all commercial (yet). And it’s peaceful and cold and contemplative.

Plus, I’m starting to formulate the next round of music. Songs to be finished (the writing parts), recorded, released, etc. I’m thinking about straying from the album format I’ve done for the past few years, but haven’t worked that all out in my head yet what it might look like. In the meantime there will be a Weirdo Deluxe website up soon that will contain all (most) of the music and projects and oddness I’ve gotten up to in the past 20 years or so. PLUS, I may even include things like stories and poems and other creative bits. We shall see.

In any event, the working title for the next Weirdo Deluxe collection is Full Body Kiss. And it will feature the playing of some incredible players, including: Reggie Young, Bob Babbitt, Ed Greene, Catherine Marx, and Andy Reiss. 4 tracks, anyway – with the sessions helmed by Bob Olhsson. Reggie alone has played on more records than I own. That’s some pretty amazing company to have playing my songs, and I am awed the sessions actually happened. Now I just have to write some horn parts and sing.

January 2, 2010

2010

Filed under: Music — Tags: , , — admin @ 12:21 pm

Well. It’s 2010. Which is odd ’cause it doesn’t seem anywhere near like a full decade since the big Y2K scare. I remember, I was working for a large corporation that night, equipped with a satellite phone and emergency procedures Just In Case something crazy happened. Of course, nothing did. My girlfriend at the the time drove down to kiss me. And I went through all the security procedures step-by-step, even though all other systems and communication methods were up and functioning fine. And that was that.

Been a nutty decade. I made at least 7 albums, and that alone is a nice thought.

With luck, this year I’ll make more music, get kissed some, thoroughly enjoy fatherhood (a great gig), eat & drink & stay warm and happy and healthy.

The rest, as they say, is gravy.

Cheers!

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