The Musical Stylings of Jonny Q

I’ll be on hiatus for a little bit (as if I haven’t been already). Amanda and I just bought a house (!) So we’re in the process of packing, closing, and moving. I hope to have some dates to play soon - I’m working a couple of angles. Also, anyone who has any ideas as to where I might be able to get some quotes or press from any published source (web or otherwise) about the new album, please hit me up.

Anyone who ordered a copy of WSL, don’t worry, it’s coming. Anyone who has downloaded a copy, I hope you’re enjoying it. I know I had a blast recording it. It was such a thrill to work with Snuzz.

If you want a physical copy, with artwork and everything, just shoot me an email.

Enjoy whatever it is you’re doing, and I’ll be back playing with a vengance soon.

Also! There seems to be a possibility of a Grandma’s Genius reunion on the horizon. The other half of the band will soon be relocating to North Carolina, so expect some news from that too.

Okay, one more thing. One project I hope to tackle soon will be digitizing my collection of Grandma’s Genius and Short Story videos - Maybe I’ll make some of that available out on the information superhighway. Any particular songs or performances anyone is interested in?

Never Say Sorry

Ghost Town

Unsent Words

Meg White (Reminds Me of a Friend)

Tennessee

This music free to share under a Creative Commons Music Sharing License.

For the last week or so, I’ve been fighting some sort of virus that Amanda has already battled through - no fun. So of course, no voice and no energy means no music. No problem. I’m on the mend.

I bought a workbook the other day to help me with writer’s block. t’s published by the Berklee school of Music and is basically a collection of exercises in harmony and chord structure. Theory-wise, it’s a good review of the material I learned in Sarah Stoycos’s great class at Centre, but I don’t really want theory to enter the writing process overtly. I like it more for the exercises, like where you take rhythm patterns from one song you like and play it with a chord progression from another. Stuff like that can get the creative juices flowing.

Amanda and I did go to Boone, and did see Neil, if not the Carry-Ons. They were the third band of three to go on, and the first band hadn’t gone on by 11, so we left. Amanda was already having the first symptoms of what would later become this great sick-fest. It was great to see Neil. We only got to talk for a couple hours, but he seems to be doing really well and reminiscing old times was almost as fun as living them. Hopefully we’ll catch up again soon. They’ll be back in Boone in April, I think.

Chris is coming to Raleigh this weekend for a prospective PhD student thing. A Grandma’s Genius reunion in the works? Who knows?

Finally, let me plug MusicMatch On Demand. I hate paying for music as much as the next guy, but if I’m going to do it, this is a tolerable model. I pay $7 a month ($5/month if I paid for a year up front), and have access from any PC to their entire on-demand library. It’s not comprehensive by any means, but it’s definitely got enough stuff to keep me entertained. In fact, it was the only place I’ve been able to find the one song that will forever define our NOLA honeymoon, “Squeeze that Thang” by Rockin’ Sidney. Plus, Although it sucks that you can’t save the streams to hard drive (or portable player, for that matter), that’s nothing a decent stream recorder can’t (or hasn’t) fixed.

P.S. Guster’s new album is coming out in the early summer! Hurry up, BnL.

The last time I saw my friend Neil was probably early in the Fall semester of my freshman year at Centre - 1999. We were at Vanderbilt visiting another friend I haven’t seen in too long (my fault), Nick. It was a brief visit, and the first one in quite a while before it. All in all, Neil and I were tight from eighth grade through probably tenth. He moved to Chattanooga, and we saw each other sporadically after that.

About a year ago, I got news that Neil was in a ska-punk band out of Nashville (now Atlanta) called The Carry-Ons. I still haven’t talked to him since that time at Vandy. Tonight, they’re playing a three-band bill at a place in Boone, about an hour and a half away.

Needless to say, this won’t be my or Amanda’s scene. She quilts and I unironically cover WHAM!, but it’s definitely worth three hours in the car into the mountains and the worry of what to wear to say hey to an old friend and see some music. Plus, Boone’s a hippie college town filled with bluegrass and folk music, so as long as we pass for college students, we’ll be all right. I’ll wear leather bracelets just to be safe.

Well, here’s the first batch of recorded songs. These are rough cuts with no post-recording effects. I could probably benefit from some reverb on the vocals, at least, but that’s for another time. Meg White (Reminds me of a Friend), Eden, and Never Say Sorry. You can read descriptions of these songs a couple of posts back. Yesterday, I also recorded a little version of Jimmy Eat World’s Hear You Me. It was done just kinda messing around, but I think it sounds decent. Often when I hit a low point in motivation or creativity I have to try to craft a good version of a song I like to get going again. I think it’s because I lose faith in my songwriting first, then my faith in my playing and singing goes (not that it’s far from fragile to begin with). When I do a cover, I at least know that it’s a well-written song and I have at least a halfway good chance of sounding ok on it.

Anyway. I’m having some issues with some songs. There are a few (Gun, I Know Your Name, and Letting Go, most obviously) that I just can’t seem to make good versions of on tape. I like them when I play out, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to get a recording I like. I guess they’re more like song sketches than fully developed ideas. I need a band to help me flesh them out.

I need to get away from the idea that I have to record a conventional 12-song album. I’m trying to finish writing the ones that are half-done, record them all, pick the best ones, and go with it. If it’s 10-12, awesome. If it’s three, then I guess I have a demo I can pass around. I have high hopes for a couple new ones. In the meantime, I’d love feedback on the ones I just posted (from my readership of zero). I don’t want feedback on the older two. They’re silly. Goodnight.

Music meme, via www.itsrob.com

- Put the iPod on shuffle (in my case, put the Nomad Zen Xtra on shuffle)

- Listen to 5 songs

- Write how you feel about each one

1. Garrett Sparks - (Not So) Hidden Track:

I miss Garrett! I read his blog, and it’s entertaining, but I still wish we could have been in a band together for more than one night. This is his take on the Duck Tales Theme song.

2. Sufjan Stevens - The Upper Peninsula:

Is this my favorite Sufjan song? It might be. Great ambience. It’s the one that first truly sold me on Michigan. I sometimes play it as a lead-in to “Ghost Town.”

3. The Whites - Keep on the Sunny Side:

I guess the O Brother soundtrack was my first step into getting into some roots music. This song always makes me think about how depressing so many songs from thus era are. It also makes me think about my (late) maternal grandmother. I could picture her in a group like this, even though she didn’t play music as far as I know. Nice low harmony voice though.

4. Tom Jones w/ Steven Page - Little Green Bag:

Wow. It’s amazing what’ll pop up on a 30 gig. I don’t think I’ve listened to this song since freshman year at Centre. I like it though. I wonder how it came about. Steve really divas it up on this one. Almost better than the Welshman.

5. The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun:

This song makes me realize I should listen to the White album more often. It’s also one of those songs that would definitely be on the “I wish I’d written that one” list. Mother Superior jump the gun!

This is fun. I’ll probably do it again.

My parents gave me the TASCAM 8-track recorder for Christmas - the one on which I recorded Rearrange. Remember? My hit debut? Lately (when I get around to recording anything), I’ve been going straight into the computer, using a pirated Cool Edit Pro. I haven’t really been happy with any of those. Something about turning the knobs and having a big mixer in front of you feels more organic. At least for me, more organic leads to more creative.

So yeah. I’ve re-learned how to use a real analog recorder and have recorded the first two songs in the “sessions” for my long-awaited follow-up - as yet untitled. I need a working title.

I made some lists for the process.

Songs already written I want to record (9): Gun, Ghost Town, Letting Go, Later, Meg White, She’s Learned How to Disappear, Never Say Sorry, I Know Your Name, and Eden.

Songs that are partially written that need to be finished and recorded(3): This Town, Silver Girl, Untitled anti-protest/protest song.

Tonight I recorded Meg White and Never Say Sorry. I’ve talked about Meg before here, but NSS is a kind of Everybody Hurts meets Elvis Costello with a healthy dose of Jon B.’s overwraught guitar. I’ll post them when I get a stereo RCA-to-stereo mini plug converter.

I’m kinda excited about this. The rest of the songs are going to take a little more arranging and instrumentation than Meg and NSS, and I don’t think Letting Go (too synth-pop) or I Know Your Name (can’t find the feel) will make the final cut, but this is the most creating I’ve done in years. Probably since Short Story. I have a lot of questions and hopes about this, and I hope it turns out satisfactory.

Here I’ll log my ups & downs.

But…

Chris, the other 3/4 of Grandma’s Genius, is coming into town this evening and we’ll have a little reunion show in my living room. Everyone’s invited. I’m going to try to record some music, including some of the newer songs like “Annie” and “Just the Same” that aren’t on any other recording. I’ll put them up here when I do. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

A lot to catch up on, so here’s another bullet-point post.:

-ITEM! I played the Borders stores to moderate to above moderate success. I managed to get one tape’s worth of material from the Charlotte show, but the quality is sketchy. If I can get the sounda little better, I’ll post some highlights. Next date is April 29 at Burke St. Pub here in Winston. Our department is putting on a fundraising “Beach Party” to reimburse us for our trip to Atlanta. Come on out, if for no other reason than to see the awkwardness of me trying to figure out what songs to play at a beach party.

-ITEM! Speaking of the trip to Atlanta, I had a great experience musically. My new best friend (the 30GB Creative Zen Jukebox) played me songs the whole way down, first from my “pretty songs” playlist, for when the weather was crappy, then from my “rock out” playlist, when the sun broke free. Few better feelings than driving fast down a sunny interstate to “Race for the Prize.” The trip home might have been even better. First, a 90’s weekend on a rock station out of Atlanta. Yep, I got Spoonman, Big Empty, Head Like a Hole, and Spacehog’s In the Meantime all in a row. Followed those up with 311’s Self-titled album, 311’s “Music,” Brian Wilson’s “SMiLE,” and Uncle Tupelo’s “No Depression” - all of them straight through. Hope you like lists of what music I listen to, because that’s what I just gave you. BAM!

-ITEM! While I might try to get one or two more gigs in the near future, the plan is to record a new album over the summer. I’ve got some songs written, some ideas ready, and the urge. Hopefully I’ll be able to use this space as a studio journal of sorts. I’ll posts tracks in progress, lyrics, etc. Maybe I’ll get some feedback. (Note to self: obtain readership)

-ITEM! Three things I’m excited about: Elvis Costello’s awesome new DVD - available tomorrow, Ben’s “Songs For Silverman,” coming next week, and (yes, I know I’m not 13 anymore, but) Nine Inch Nails’ “With Teeth,” May 3.

That’s all for now. Hope this wasn’t all too boring. I’ve got some cool stuff coming up, including (for me)graduation, a job, etc. I’m also hopefully going to be working on a secret music project. More to come. HINT: One name, two people.

Crazy! We just got moved in, music doing has been sparse, but tonight’s Borders in G-boro. Here’s the tentative plan. A full report is forthcoming.

#1:

Since You’re Here

Wait

Mess

Unsent

Detectives

Blue Eyes

Good Boy

Aphro

Black

Tennessee

Tried/True

Hung Up

Babylon

Wonderland

#2:

Careless

Anyway

Gun

Prophet

Not Near

You Say

Conventioneers

Meg White =>

SLHT Disappear

Psycho Killer

Light up My Room

Later

Windfall

Lovin’

————–

That’s right before I play my 29-minute jazz opus, “Charles Pace.” And speaking of weird songs, I wanna do a full Rhythm Method album. But it’s not up to me. It’s up to the funk.