Forgetting the Words

Posted on | March 24, 2010 | No Comments

I’m convinced that one of the attractions of live performance of music is to see the musicians fuck up. It’s sort of like how people go to car racing, but really they want to see a horrific crash with cars flipping, rolling, burning, and the driver crawling out of his car in flames.

I forget my lyrics pretty often. At least once per show. The more it happens, the more I deal with it better. But now and then, as at my show last night at Tommy Doyle’s Loft, I just totally crash and burn. In this case I was doing a cover of Amanda Palmer’s “The Point of It All” and just totally forgot a huge chunk of the second chorus, and kind of panicked. I finished eventually, but it felt like shit.

So I YouTube’d some videos of famous musicians forgetting their words, and they’re pretty interesting. They all deal with it differently. Some just sing gibberish, some sing about forgetting the words, others just stop completely, or ask the audience for help. Tegan and Sara seem to fuck up a lot, but rely on each other to fill in. My favorite is the recording of Bob Dylan forgetting an ENTIRE SONG, trying the whole way to play through it. And then there’s Elvis, freaking Elvis, almost having a meltdown on stage.

To the audience member, especially to people who are already fans, it is endearing. But to the performer, damn if it doesn’t feel awful.

Jason Mraz (0:36)
James Hetfield (Metallica) (0:13)
Joanna Newsome
Bob Dylan
Regina Spektor (1:00)
Tegan and Sara
Bruce Springstein (4:00)
Elvis (2:20 onwards)

Category: Performance

New Song: Lost in Legs

Posted on | March 19, 2010 | No Comments

Check the player in the sidebar at right.

And enjoy.

Category: New Songs

All Asia – March 17, 2010

Posted on | March 18, 2010 | No Comments

Videos including:

Dinosaurs
Hey Vibration!
Colorful Kid
An explanation of why I am wearing a “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt on St. Patrick’s Day.

Proof of Concept: Blind Pilot

Posted on | March 15, 2010 | No Comments

I just found out about Blind Pilot. This is a band that began as a singer/songwriter and drummer duo. They’ve been playing, from what I can tell, about four years, and seem to be somewhat successful, now playing with a full band and a second album on the way. This means, at least, that a singer/songwriter-drummer duo can make something of themselves.

But it also means I have direct competition. Somebody want to off these guys? They’re pretty damn good, and we can’t have that.

We Are the Tide (Live at Doug Fir)

Story I Heard (Live in Studio 4A)

One Red Thread (Live on Carson Daly)

Category: Playlist

I Will Put a Baby in Chan Marshall

Posted on | February 17, 2010 | No Comments

Perhaps this is a completely inappropriate header, considering the subject of this song, but this Cat Power performance of Nude As the News is so powerful I don’t even have time to cry. It’s like she’s tearing out my jugular and eating it, and somehow making me ENJOY it.

She hits that first “Jackson, Jesse.” at 1:53. It is…perfect. I’ve watched the same eight seconds of this video twenty times already. I see shit like this and I’m ready to retire from music forever. She sets that emotional bar so impossibly fucking high I almost hate her for it but instead I love her for it.

Lock me in a closet with Annie Clark and Chan Marshall. Please. There will be babies flying everywhere. Huge ones. Huge babies come flying out of the closet from our epic lovemaking. No pregnancy. Just instant baby.

Category: ...that makes me hate myself, Playlist
Tags: cat power

When Addiction to Creativity Becomes Destructive

Posted on | February 16, 2010 | No Comments

My name is Christopher and I have a problem. In fact, it got so bad that I left my guitar with a friend to ensure I wouldn’t be tempted to use it for the rest of the week.

It seems that two weeks ago, in rehearsing my new song “Blow” I banged up my vocal chords pretty good over the course of days. Then I had three performances in a week, and never stopped to let them rest. Then I started writing a new song (tentatively titled “Spiders”) which I could not stop working on. So more days spent singing and working for hours without rest. I finally managed to stop for two days, and on the third day I picked up my guitar, thinking I could manage to just sing softly for a short time, like an alcoholic who believes he can just drink a little bit. Four hours later I was sore again.

So now, my guitar is safely with a friend to prevent me from hurting myself again until I am healed.

I’m a creataholic. But I’m telling you, this song is GOOD.

Category: On Making Music, Personal Thoughts

On Dealing With the Low Points and Alone Points

Posted on | February 15, 2010 | No Comments

There are many times in our lives when we find ourselves at an emotional low point. Or perhaps, shall we say, a lonely point. It’s all relative, of course, but you know it when you feel it.

A strategy I often deploy is, “keep your feet moving.” My theory is that every low point is temporary, unless you happen to die in the middle of one. And perhaps our minds are too overwhelmed with grief, sadness, confusion, or even terror, to do much of anything. You can’t make your mind move, maybe, but you can surely make your feet move. This can be all you need — to go for a walk, to get some exercise, to run an errand, to clean your apartment — anything besides sitting there moping.

I came up with this idea in response to a different problem while in college. Socially maladjusted to the point that I was clueless at parties and dating, but desperate, I began simply asking out the most attractive girls on campus, none of whom even knew me. It was a juvenile and desperate strategy, and the only way to pull it off was to move my feet, because my mind withered at the thought of doing anything so bold. I could force myself, however, to walk in the girl’s direction, and at some point I would be standing right in front of them, and then I would have to say something or look like a fool. The strategy worked, to a point. I did get a few dates this way, to the envy of my friends, but then I still had to deal with my complete fear and awkwardness, so suffice to say there were no second dates.

Maybe it’s a shit strategy. It certainly doesn’t make me feel any better. But at least I wake up and my bedroom is tidy and there’s food in the fridge. That’s something.

Category: Personal Thoughts

Sketches by Aleksey

Posted on | February 11, 2010 | No Comments

Thanks to Aleksey Nelipa for these sketches of me performing at All Asia tonight! I especially like how he captured my boot-cut jeans in the second one.

Category: Performance

I will never play another open mic as long as I live

Posted on | February 9, 2010 | 4 Comments

I used to think I had stage fright. Now I know: I have open-mic fright. There is something so intimidating about being in a room full of extraordinarily talented people, waiting for hours to play your two songs and then get off the stage in a rush. And when you fuck up, it hurts double, because it’s just an open mic, and nobody cares, so you care MORE because it seems twice as pathetic to fuck up there.

This was the scene at the Lizard Lounge open mic competition tonight. After making the finals last week in my first attempt, I botched my finals song, forgetting the chords, and then completely forgetting the final verse. But I went back tonight thinking I was a shoe-in. I got there at 7:00 to get an alternate slot. But tonight was no ordinary night. The place was LOADED with talent, and many of them are not newcomers to the field.

So I went on late and played a new song called “Blow” and COMPLETELY, IRREVOCABLY, UNFORGIVINGLY BOTCHED IT. I transposed lyrics, forgot others, sang it horribly, and worst of all, kept having to stop. I must have stopped four times within the course of two verses. To the audience, it probably seemed amusing. I certainly did my best to make it seem funny. But inside it felt AWFUL. It is public humiliation. It is abject, prostrating FAILURE. And coming off the stage, I felt I had the stink of disease on me — like no one wanted to touch the festering corpse.

Six hours sitting in this place feeling nervous, and I end the night with THAT. No thank you. When I play my own shows this does not happen. I have FUN.

So that’s it. Never again. No more open mics. I get too nervous. They totally wreck my confidence.

Good night.

Category: Performance
Tags: open mics

I just don't get Wilco

Posted on | February 7, 2010 | No Comments

The media has such a big boner for Wilco. The blogs, the critics, the magazines… They’ve won five Grammies! (Not that this means shit, but still…I’d take a Grammy, well one of the good ones anyway…I might use the “Best Album Notes” as a dog food bowl).

I’ve tried and tried to find something to like in Wilco’s music. I’ve listened to old stuff and new stuff at length (thank you Lala.com). So far I’ve found only one song worth more than a single listen: Heavy Metal Drummer.

I certainly appreciate the musicianship, their consistency, their proficiency in songwriting, Jeff Tweedy’s tenacity through the years, and their help in creating this new genre (which I think is now called Americana, but that may have changed in the last twenty or so minutes). And maybe that’s all it takes to be thought of as a good band. They are solid, if uninspiring.

But Tweedy’s singing just always seems so unspirited, and come to think of it, so does the guitar playing. The lyrics are okay but basically inoffensive and bland.

And I struggle to chalk this up to taste. For example, I don’t really like The Flaming Lips, but I totally see the appeal of this music.

Is there something wrong with me? I want to like Wilco. But I just don’t get it. In fact, I’ve talked to others about this and everybody seems to feel the same way. Can anyone tell me what’s so great about them? I’m serious. I want to know. I feel left out.

Category: Bands
Tags: wilco

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