…from digital. I bit the bullet and ripped my entire CD collection to iTunes. Most of my new music purchases in the last few years have been digital downloads, and my listening habits have been geared now towards iTunes on my computer. I only listen to CDs in the car (especially since my iPod was stolen), or occasionally on the big stereo.

It took a few weeks of swapping CDs in and out of the computer, but it’s done, and kind of like being rescued from a desert island. Yeah, I had my one or two desert-island albums, but I’m suddenly reunited with all the musical bounty society contains. It’s like restoring a lost part of my identity.

Another part of the ultimate goal is to start DJing again. It’s fun, I like going out, I like sharing music, seeing other people have fun with the music. I just have to finish prepping clips for my laptop software.

In an effort to start injecting myself into the music scene again, I visited the Kinetic Playground last night. I’ve been there before, but I have to reiterate that it’s a weird place. I previewed the myspaces for the bands that were playing and expected lo-fi crap rock. But to my surprise what took the stage was blazing acid jazz. The first band was even playing jazz standards, from Freedom Jazz Dance, to John Scofield’s Hottentot. A pleasant surprise.

The crowd at KP was all over the place, not surprising considering the location in Uptown. There was a large group that probably wandered down from Little Vietnam, one of whom was hitting on my wife and asked my permission to dance with her (say what?!). There were hell’s angels types, hipsters, metalheads, slick old italians, panhandlers, some girl dancing with a hula-hoop all night, and a sprinkle of plain old boring people. All good, all good, but please, PLEASE, get rid of the attendant in the men’s room. Putting up with that scam really takes the place down a huge notch.

I took a week’s vacation to see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Here are some of my observations:

1. You can’t appreciate the immense size of the Grand Canyon until it kicks your ass with a 10-hour hike.
2. The VAST majority of hikers in the Grand Canyon are European. The Americans are more evenly represented in the cafeteria.
3. Too much salt makes your fingers fat.
4. A dry heat IS better than a humid heat. No dispute. The difference is that at say, 80 degrees in Chicago, you can stand still and end up with sweaty, slimy, grimy underwear. Even at 110 degrees in Las Vegas, you end up crispy clean and fresh.
5. A cover band can probably make a good living in Las Vegas.
6. If you don’t gamble, Las Vegas holds about 6 hours of interest, which are filled with shows, kitsch, looking at  beautiful people, and some general “wtf?”.

I was going to invest in some acoustic treatment for my studio, but I’ll have to maintain my car instead. My studio has some odd bass rumbling, so I’ll need some bass traps, but my car had some odd rumbling in the brakes. I figure the priority is in stopping the car before stopping the bass.

Holy cow, does it ever get hot up here. My studio is basically in an attic with little circulation. I was constantly opening and closing the door and window, and putting a window fan in and out, turning the ceiling fan on and off. It became especially annoying during recording. I got tired of working in 90 degree temps all the time, so I got an AC unit to boost our central air.

This portable AC I got looks incredibly boring, but it cools the room like the breath of ancient gods. Can’t say it’s an arctic blast, but it makes the room pleasant. The best part is the remote control, so I can flick it on and off when doing a vocal take.

Alan studying lyrics during the final vocal sessions

We recently recorded the final vocals for Alan Ruffin’s demo, or album, or whatever it is. I’ve been working to incorporate those into the 8 tracks we’ve produced.

Alan’s the kind of musician that doesn’t really care to name his songs before he’s done (presumably because all the important info is already inside the song) but he definitely has a plan for marketing and circulating his work. He has good connections with people, and by that I mean not only with key individuals, but those relationships are good quality. It’s probably because Alan is a good-natured friendly guy; it just feels pleasant to be around him. He’ll be handing out his demo at his Radio Head shows too, which have gathered a sizable following.

We’ll be finishing it up soon, but looks like he’s already created a Facebook page for the project, so you can peek ahead.

Today I downloaded The Chemical Brothers new album, Further. In these days of being able to preview entire albums before purchasing, it’s a no-brainer that I like it. But my reason for doing so is that the album is a reminder of the epic electronic music I love (not too surprising, since it’s the Chemical Brothers), but don’t often find done well. Further even has musical motifs that are exactly like some favorite old Orbital lines. The “album” aspect of Further is also intriguing, even critical. I wouldn’t say there are any smashing singles here, but taken as a whole the collection is a great piece of work.

Tiny Steve Jobs with iPhone

The iPad is a product in search of a purpose. I think it’s best used as a giant iPhone to showcase a mini Steve Jobs.

winter photo from a real estate website

The quest for space is a long and arduous road. I’ve been looking a long time for studio space. Art studio, or music studio, nothing ever quite fits the bill. Can’t be messy enough, can’t be loud enough, not enough space, not enough light, too much mold… yuck. But I finally have a music studio space that I’ll be happy with. Plenty of room, and an ability to be loud. Maybe not full-on band performance loud, but loud enough to mix and record without disturbing anyone. And plenty of light for that matter. Near some great bars and restaurants. And I owns it, so I can modify it as I see fit.

I’ll be putting my studio back together in the next couple weeks as I get settled in, get my audio interface back from Black Lion, and plug everything back in. In the meantime, listen to some songs, and go get some beats.