Posts

Showing posts from August, 2008

A Very Cool Experience

If someone were to ask: What is one of the coolest experiences you've ever had? You might say, "Meeting Aimee Mann and having her put her arm around you when posing for a picture." Then again, you might say what I experienced last night. I had some friends over and we had a fire in our fire pit. We sat around the fire and I played guitar a little bit. We talked, made fun of each other, argued about ridiculous things -- the usual. We also roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. One of my friends had brought his work laptop and played some CDs when I wasn't playing my guitar. Then, he pronounced that he could also play DVDs and asked what movies I had. I named a couple and then explained that I also have seasons 1-4 of Scrubs . So, the sitting around the fire late at night roasting marshmallows turned into: sitting around the fire late at night roasting marshmallows while watching Scrubs . And that was a very cool experience. Not to mention, one of the episodes that

Acrobat Cat

I came home last night after being out late at Lena's to find Mimmy, the cat that some times sleeps in my guitar case, playing with a cricket in the driveway. This was quite odd, due to the fact that Mimmy is an indoor cat and isn't allowed outside without a harness and a leash and a person keeping watch on her. Stephanie has lost cats in the past to the cruel world and we are taking precautions to make sure that the same fate does not befall the current cat. Which is why I was very confused to see Mimmy outside. "Hey, Mimmy," I said. "Watcha doin'?" I unlocked the back door and put my guitar, etc. inside and watched as the cat pounced on the cricket, let it go, pounced on it again, and repeated. I walked back down the back steps and crouched a few feet away from her. She had "escaped" a few times before and so I know how much she doesn't like to be "caught." You have to be sneaky. I was waiting for the right moment to... er, poun

There's Someone In My Head, But It's Not Me

Yo. It's Friday and it's almost lunch time. I'm in my PJs still and I have been doing a lot of nothing for the past few hours. Although, I did lay down in my bed and listen to the radio while a slight breeze washed in through the open window. It was a nice, relaxing experience. And I needed it. A lot. I plan on doing more nice, relaxing things today. And tomorrow. And Sunday. Because I need to. A lot. I did attend Lena's open mic last night, but I didn't interview anyone for Inside the Open Mic . (I did receive an advertisement for the series on www.rkstar.com -- a local music 'zine -- which is pretty cool). I played Passenger and Endless at Lena's. Afterwards, Emily Smith told me that she sang along to Endless . I invited her to sing it on stage with me some time. She's a great singer. Some people have been asking when I'll feature myself in one of my Inside the Open Mic s. I don't know. I like doing the interviews. I suppose I could have Ste

I Have Become Comfortably Numb

This past Thursday at Lena's was a little overwhelming, and as such, I did not interview anyone for Inside the Open Mic . I did receive some nice compliments on my editing of Episode 8, which features Gail Sparlin. That video, as well as the others, can be viewed from the following link: www.jamesfrederick.net/inside.shtml . I played Falling Slowly by The Swell Season and Walking; Standing Still , which is one of my own. I played Walking; Standing Still at a faster more rock-based tempo than I usually do. I also changed some of the words around to help it fit better with the tempo. I like the changes and I may play that version of that song more often. In fact, I played that version for a (very critical of my music) friend last night and, when the song finished, he asked, "Who is that by?" Which I take to be a compliment. Currently, my thoughts are kind of jumbled... and I feel a little bit out-of-touch, which -- when combined -- makes it difficult for me to come up wit

Sleep or Something Sort of Like That

I slept last night. I know I slept because when my alarm went off this morning, I opened my eyes and I was awake. However, it didn't feel like sleep. I had a couple of very vivid dreams and, what's worse, they had an effect on me that I'm still reeling from. One of the dreams -- the frightening one -- was about me and, more specifically, me dying from brain cancer. This dream was most likely caused by my having read an article (in Glamour magazine of all places -- long story how I ended up with that) written by a person who took care of her terminally ill sister, who had brain cancer. I like real life stories like that... I'm a little morbid... and it usually doesn't effect me very much. I feel sad about the article and I think, "Oh. That's sad" and I some times write a song about it, but I usually move on. Typically, dreams of my own demise (of which I have had many in the thirty plus years of my existence) have the same effect. Which is why, this tim

Ring of Fire

Image
Last night, we had some friends over and grilled hot dogs and had s'mores -- we roasted marshmallows over our new fire pit table. It was a perfect night to sit around a fire with friends. I took my guitar out for a little bit and played some potential sing-a-longs. Ring of Fire went over particularly well. I played at the Farmer's Market in Gloversville today. Things weren't going so well at first, but it turned out to be a very nice gig. Not to mention, I left the market with a bag of corn and a bag of bread that I didn't have previously and that I earned just from playing some songs. You've gotta love playing at Farmer's Markets. I also learned an important lesson this time around: Check the power supply before setting up all your PA gear. I had my entire thing set up and ready to go. All I had to do was turn it on. When I did, nothing happened. We later determined that the electricians must not have known that we needed the power and didn't hook some wir