NOTES JANUARY 2008 Back to the archives. 1-20-08 I have started to transfer my old audio tapes onto the computer into digital format! As most of you know, I have long harbored a rather large collection of live gigs and jams sessions on a collection of maybe 300 (?) cassette tapes (sometime I'll have to count them). For the last ten years, I've been threatening to transfer them, tape by tape, song by song onto CD's. Luckily, I've been pretty good about keeping them marked, organized, warm and dry, but I do worry that some day they will all fall apart, piece by piece. Though much of it is "crap," there is also a bunch of cool stuff on those tapes, and I have come to accept that it is these old tapes that are my history, my "life's work," not the CD that I keep thinking I might make in a real recording studio "some day." These tapes ARE it! Crappy or not, so here I go! I took Dad & Mom's old Onkyo double cassette recorder off of their hands last fall, and finally, it is plugged into the laptop and I have started to sift through the tapes. It is a daunting project, but I'm up for it. It will take a long time. I won't keep everything I have, naturally, but I do expect to uncover some old gems, especially on the many collabrative efforts with amazing musicians on past live gigs. Eventually I'd like to pass some edited compilations on to some of those musicians. Or anyone else that might be interested, for that matter. This way, more people get the stuff and it won't get lost for good. Last night we watched a DVD Terry Reed sent us of his son Desmond Reed playing his first official gig as a recording artist at the Lizard Lounge from a couple of months ago. It truely was inspiring and refreshing; the kid is just neat. It makes me realize a lot of things about music, and one of them is that the crap I've done is just as valid as anything else out there. It's all part of the big picture, of energy flowing across the universe through music. (I feel like I sound very self-involved right now, but that's what this website is partially for anyway!) I think I'd rather be interested in the creative things I do than just be the kind of person that sits around and watches the world go by. Not that there's anything wrong with that.... What Desmond is doing is a beautiful thing to see and hear, and I'm going to follow his lead, in my own way. I see I've began to ramble here, so I should get back to work. I'll post some links later to some of the new old low-fi recordings. Watch out. p.s. There are some new mp3's posted on the Stalagmites page. (Later) There. I've uploaded six old Kate songs on another MySpace Page. Feel free to check 'em out! 1-11-08 Arg! Had to miss work today because our road is sheer ice. The town has decided to skip sanding/salting today, I guess, and when I took old Scratch out to the road and put on the brakes at a very slow speed, he slid a few feet. I turned around and went back. Though the ice probably isn't as bad down town, up here it's terrifying. I called in late, then they called me back later and told me not to worry about it. I know it sounds strange, but I'd rather be at work right now! HO HUM. Doo Tee Doo.. la dee da. Tomorrow is the O.G.'s birthday! 79! Way to go DAD! We're going to have them over for a hot tasty meal on Sunday evening. And maybe even a little cake. Yum. Dad's blog is still going strong.. check it out and leave him a happy birthday comment there if you want. He'd like that. 1-9-08 We took down the tree last weekend, taking advantage of the "January thaw" warmer temps and a free Saturday. Though I was still enjoying the tree and the lights at night, once all the Christmas stuff got packed away and the rug got cleaned of needles and the couch moved back into the livingroom, it does feel nice to have things back to normal again. There was so much snow out back that we've just dumped the tree carcass behind old Scooter in the front yard. We'll move it out back into the woods for it's final resting place later on when it's easier to walk back there! Though with these mild temps the last few days, that looks like it could happen soon.. I've probably just jinxed myself, I have to remember it's only January 9th! Soon enough, we will get more snow, no doubt about that. December did go into the record books with the highest snowfall amounts ever (?), or at least in a while. This is our fifth winter living in Maine, and it sure topped our experience here. For a while there, it was snowing every other day. I'm slowly mixing down music off of the digital four-track from our jam sessions on the New Year's Eve weekend, but I got to admit, it's pretty painful stuff. I'm just as much to blame as anyone.. oy! When will I learn? ;-/ Anyway, maybe I'll post one song tonight when I get back from work. Check back soon, and have a great week all! 1-4-08 Happy New Year! Time to take down the tree. Back to the archives.