Personal Interlude: Whoa EMO, and A Musical Project That is In My Head

This isn't a livejournal, and I'm thirty. Further, it isn't very safe to talk personal issues on the 'Net, but I do want to talk very vague about a significant problem in my life. I'm going to mind my pints and quarts and proofread my post to make sure that I don't give anyone else or myself any unhappy surprises.

My big problem is that I ain't got a friend in the world, or at least one I can keep in contact with at the moment. My family is breaking down into bits, and even though my family can be a real wart-hog, I am not cheering and throwing a party about that. Some of my old friends hit either speed or crack, and I can no longer trust them as far as I can spit a 30 ought six shell.

They aren't even the same people. They look like old geezers at around my age, and pig grunts are their first language now. Then I've got some real friends - who I can still trust - but I've got some family problems that keep me from talking to them at all. Also, I'm clean, and I'm not trying to bring anybody down, but my friends do get high still, as far as I know. It is their life and not mine, but it strikes a pretty sharp wedge between me and just about anybody I could trust in my life.

So there you are. The 'Netizens dump my hiney quick, my family is more psychotic than me, my old buddies can't come around, and I've got nothing else except my work, this blog, and my doctor's appointments. I don't feel much love around these 'ere parts, and I don't expect any, which is why YOU still can't comment on my gosh-durned blog. Go abuse some teenagers emotionally at livejournal and stay away from me, because Gwyd takes no abuse from anyone without returning heavy artillery these days. Have a nice day if you are capable of having one.

The Musical Project on My Mind

I've got a book on jazz recordings that I received early on in my freshman year of college, and there are two groups that did some hybrid work of jazz and house music. One is called "The Art Ensemble of Chicago," which was originally an avant-garde free-jazz ensemble, and one is a UK group called, "Pinski Zoo." Get the funny bit: I've never heard even 30 seconds of either recording. However, as I was meandering around early one morning with my coffee and my choke, I recalled the cover of Pinksi Zoo from that book, and it COALESCES (RAHR!), a project I want to call, "Mutant Freaks of D10."

Part 1, is that I'm at least going to need 1 Tele and 1 SG to get the job done, plus most, but not all of that megabucks electronics setup. Part 2 is that I'm going to need a good-sized studio space to run the recording. Part 3 is that if I could actually contact some people, the rest would all fall into place. I want a fairly basic horn section, probably two alto saxes, and two tenor saxes, two trumpets, and then I know a guy who can really play a flugel, and I'd like to try the sound on a few takes and see how that works out.

I do need some bottom-end in the horn section, and I'm wondering if maybe a single, valve-trombone might do. I despise the slide trombone. It is a traditional jazz instrument, it is a traditonal instrument of the classical repertoire, and boy do I hate that sound. It might be possible to try a euphonium of some type, although I know of no-one from the past that owns one. They are very expensive instruments.

The next bit would be that I know a guy that can out-RDJ Aphex Twin when it comes to programming, and he is also a whiz with mic set-ups. So, I let him run some programs, fight a little over and massage the charts, and that would get us in a basic place with the arrangements. Also, I'll comandeer him to mic the instruments.

So I'd be on guitar, and I've got another guy on my mind who - it just is hilarious - same kind of number in some ways - great trained pitch (perfect, really), parents trained him classically but not too young, principal guitarist - but he does not even hear the same music coming out of the exact same speakers as the exact same time as I do. So, when my programmer buddy and I have gone over the charts, then we do Vee vs. Gwee on guitar and see what happens. The thing is, that you can almost personality type people by the instruments they play, and Vee and I are a lot more similar than either of us would like to think, but still - WTF mate? What music is that you're hearing? - on both sides of the fence with Vee vs. Gwee.

I've got a buddy that is a real good rudimental drummer, and I think what I'd like to do is try him on some takes against the programmed percussion, and then maybe move in my Baldwin Studio upright - a piano he loves - and try that upright sound versus the programming on the charts. That piano is a wonderful piano, although it is a real mule-workhorse kind of piano.

I've got a second buddy that can also play a good drum kit, but he generally plays technical metal styles. I would love to talk to him about the project though and see if he gets a glint in his eye. S. like me is someone who gets the mean-evil glint in his eye and then obsesses over his interest until he knows it from top to bottom. He and I bandied around doing a noise-metal production maybe 8 or 9 years back, and it just never came to a head.

Back to my Baldwin, which is definitely not bright and tinkly, and the key action and the pedal action are heavier than those old dot-matrix printers. There was also a guy who knew how to play an auxillary percussion set-up hanging around D10 somewhere, and I might like to try him on some takes, although that would definitely bump up microphone costs if we were going to record him well.

I know a guy who plays a 4-string fretted electric bass finger-style (which is not dumb like with a modern guitar, but is still a bit of an argument) with a nice round tone and good time feel, and then I'd like to see if I could find a guy who could run a 4-string fretless electric bass to play off against, although no one comes to mind right now. I know a few good enough jazz contrabass players in D10 - on call guys actually - but this would not be their project. The project title alone would really turn them away. They're good guys, this is just not their kind of material.

As far as the charts, my goal would be "controlled simultaneous improvisation." I don't want a banana cream pie jam, and I don't want utter noise. I also want to keep the charts fairly simple, and then feature certain instruments during certain sections. I do want to do a large number of takes, but I don't want to get ridiculous about it. I was thinking 8 charts and maybe 10, 10- minute takes when it all came to a total.

I want people to get paid fairly for their efforts, and then my hope would be to hit at least one show with the group at a venue where I don't have to be worried about being murdered. Pretty much the whole project, "Project Collective: Mutant Freaks of D10." I've got another idea I really wanted to lay on my hometown, and tried at Facebook, got ignored entirely, and considered posting some flyers and got worried I might get hurt. So I backed up off of it for the time being, and after a brief interlude, I am going to explain that bit of effort I'd like to make, in service of my community, and for the sake of shameless self-promo. LOL! BRB!