Michael's Texas Embrace

Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long. I've been so busy coughing and not sleeping that I just haven't had time. Coughing all night every night instead of sleeping coupled with massive quantities of antihistimines, cold medicines, cough syrups, etc (almost all of which are ineffective...) has left me in a state akin to zombification. Except instead of brains I crave hot tea, Ocarina of Time Master Quest, and lots of watching anime while sitting upright on the couch, trying not to cough too much. All that would be really cool except for the coughing and the constant fog that surrounds my brain. (Fogbrain, go! Haze attack!)

Um, in other news, Travis Payne has started a blog, after I told him about blogs. I put a link in the Blinks section (Gum Gum Art, seems to be a OnePiece reference.) Curiously, Travis has not announced his Bloggy presence by making guest appearances in the comments on other people's blogs... Anyway, link 'im, and Murf--maybe the Travster wants to Totally Vaguely Review something?

Um, if I could think of something cool I would put it up, but alas, there is nothing of note.

Part of my birthday present to myself was to not go to work. Instead, I worked hard on recording a fitting version of an old song that many people have asked me to record properly. Well, six years after it was written, I tried again. This one's for my peeps. I won't say it's good, or finished. But I will say it's closer to how I originally imagined it than it ever has before. I always wanted square waves in it, and by god there are square waves in it now. To stay true, it's acoustic guitar at its core. And it now has what may well be one of the best dual mandolin riffs ever. And the Moog sounds good. (what it does in the song is about all it will do, but it's still pretty cool.) Imagine what it would do if I could use both oscillators and had control over the attack. Oh well, it still makes the best square wave I've ever heard. (Did I get carried away with the Moog? Let me know...)

But I want it to be just right, for all you space fans out there. So give me any suggestions you have about the mix, or instrument parts, things you'd like changed, added, removed, etc. (like, too much synth? I mean, you can say, "get rid of everything except the acoustic guitar." I'm not getting rid of the mandolins in the chorus, though. Those are mine forever. In my heart.) SO if you've got any beef with the song, or just want something else thrown in, or taken away, or if you want me to scrap the whole thing in favor of a heavy metal guitars over techno drums mix, let me know. It's easy to change, man, the song is like the water. It's wet. It's really wet, man.

So, may I present this mix of:

The Spacestation Song

(formerly officially titled "If We Lived on the International Spacestion" but no one ever called it that, not even me. It was only that on paper, I suppose. Everyone just said "The Spacestation Song." So that's its name. Bop.)

(There's still the dream of Andrew recording harmony vocals. And by god I'll make him when he shows back up in Texas. I guess next year sometime. )

P.S. The song is like, four minutes long, and that might be rough on a slow connection. But it's going to totally be worth it. I mean, if you've been waiting for years for a proper recording, it's going to be worth it. It probably will be anyway. I'm badasss, and you know it. Deep in your heart.

Gosh, somehow, the years just flew by, and here I am at 26 and still not too sure what's going on. Andrew got a birthday song, but he's real cool, and it would be dumb to make a birthday song for myself. Anyway, it's going pretty good so far. I got home from work and there was a pint and a half of Guiness waiting for me, some sushi, and some brownies! Maggie rocks pretty dang hard. I think a bunch of barbecue and some videoke is in the cards for later.

Now, in place of a birthday song, I'm posting a song from deep within the archives, because some poor souls have not heard this song, and I'm listening to it right now, and felt compelled to post it.

The Heart of the Warrior

The Heart of the Warrior (sometimes called "rock sweetly") is from the fabled first album by The Sweetness. This song really shows you why The Sweetness is one of the best bands making music today. And going back to listen to this track, I am reminded of why Rolling Stone said James Murphy was one of the hardest working vocalists in rock, and why Spin named Michael Allen "The Best Mid-tempo Acoustic Guitarist for Ballads of 2002."

James came up with what is in my opinion, the best line in any song of all time ("and it seems like she is younger now cause I call her my little baby...") I'll be giggling about that forever.

Anyway, if you've heard this song a million times, listen to it again and shut up, and if you've never heard it, then you're in for a treat. It may well be the best song ever made about sweet rocking, ladies, and love. And if you got a problem, screw you, it's my birthday and I'll post whatever song I want.

P.S. I promise to put up some pictures of the trip soon, whether they are cool or interesting or not. Also, I am hard at work on recording a proper version of the Spacestation Song(since that seems timely), for the three or so of you who would be intersted in that. It's got acoustic guitar, a la the original, and boopy noises. I think it's sounding pretty good and I'll post it when I'm done.

Pictorial detail of adventures (fabricated and non-) to follow.

When I am done recovering from my vacation.

Now, to sleep. Sleep.

Sleeeeeeeeeeep...

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep..... . . . . . .
Look into my spooky reflection picture eyes. You, too, are getting sleepy. You are in a boat, it is rocking. You hear the sound of the waves, soft, gentle, steady. Everything is amber. You swoon...