Penny Dreadful

i would say that a person could create a lot of strange connections between parts of my life & paint a pretty weird picture, but in thinking about things lately, i feel so blessed that i have the wife (and family) that i do. i love this unpretentious town, i like the freedom (and responsibility) that being unplugged from the 'corporate world' has provided, and it is indeed nice to truly live the american way.

that said, i've been messing around with the guitar more lately. i've never been a fan of guitar (and those who have had to hear my play could probably say the guitar has never been much of a fan of me), but this week i had a little extra free time & was able to learn some rudimentary versions of the following songs:

Erasure:
- always
- phantom bride
- a little respect
- i love saturday
- blue savannah
- la gloria
- joan
- chorus
- freedom

Train:
- Calling All Angels

Killers:
- All These Things That I've Done

Feist:
- 1234

Rilo Kiley:
- The Frug

and a handful of old 'pop standards' (Moon River, Cheek to Cheek, etc).

my wife also let me watch DepecheMode: Live In Paris one night, and an 80's new wave compilation DVD the next. was great ...

i've also begun to get back into the swing of things with original material. it has been incredibly difficult to find the time (and mental space!) to do so ... i suppose it is something any artist with children/other responsibilities has to deal with ... and when you're untalented (but lucky when it comes to putting things together) like me, you can't simply fall back on skill ... i HAVE to have a calm environment (late night, hang out in the desert or on a beach, etc) to allow the ideas to flow.
were i skilled (cole porter, for example), i could just hammer out structurally sound songs and sound-good lyrics despite distraction ...
but then again, i don't think he was faced with quite the same obligations.

i kind of wish i'd fallen into a different genre when i was younger ... i truly appreciate my little "maybury" lifestyle, but if i were to let it influence my writing, i might be more 'christian contemporary' or country or something. argh ...