Busy as a B student

I know I've been kinda quiet lately. In fact, I started a draft of this post almost a month ago and just haven't found the time to finish.

Most of my musical energy has been going into, uh, ghostwriting for a failed 80s pop star.

I have rediscovered the joys of pop songwriting and have been banging out tunes as fast as I can think of them, on the order of 1 every 2 weeks. The wonders and joys of home studio technology. My only limitations are time and creativity.

The best part of being in a rock band lately has been getting to know all the players better. Each of the guys in the current project is a quality human being. Where were they all 10 years ago?

Steve, for example, is someone I'd only known electronically for about 7 years. But now I consider him a close friend. He's made my life much richer than he knows (he's probably embarassed now. Ha!) He's also a sickeningly talented musician. Check out his latest album. The dude has got no mercy.

Naturally, I have a big itch to get back to doing more "challenging" or interesting work that isn't some variation of "intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus/chorus". I still haven't figured out how exactly I'm going to find time or creative energy for this yet, but I am getting a little bit anxious to do something more modern than 80s-influenced pop songs for a 6-piece band.

Steve actually helped me re-discover David Sylvian, who's been doing some very interesting things with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Christian Fennesz (who are also working together!), among others. I just read an interesting interview with him in "Guitar Player".

Being married is still the best thing in the world.

The long and expensive process of renovating the front of the house is all but finished. Paint is up. We're just waiting for final inspection and some finishing touches.

I bought myself a new motorcycle (Ducati Multistrada 620) for my 36th birthday. Perhaps a bit extravagant, but business has been good. And it gets 50 miles per gallon of gas.

I wish Chill would do a full-on disc release.