Daily Junk, Monthly Contest, Dreams

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

While I was out of town I got some orders for some puzzle boxes & so I put those together & actually had to order another batch of blocks to be able to make them all.

Been assembling a bunch of comics to get ready for going to the winery show this weekend.  I’m trying to be optimistic even though sales were a bit low last year.  This year I’ll have some puzzle boxes & the wooden comic boxes & a bigger display table & the spinning comic rack.

Last night I decided to place an ad for QRD on Facebook.  A penny per click targeted to people who have fanned the Facebook page for The Wire.  I guess I probably should have waited until a new issue was up, but whatever.  We’ll see if anyone clicks on it.  I’ve spent less than $200 in advertising on Facebook over the course of maybe three years & though I doubt it’s paid for itself, it makes me feel like I’m doing something.  It did generate a thousand likes on the Silber Records Facebook page for $20, whatever good that is.  While I’m talking about Facebook, that’s the only place I’m running the “guess last month’s top download to get a free download” thing for this month.

In semi-related news, I’m thinking about investing $20 in Project Wonderful ads which to do will probably take 20 hours of research.  PW dropped both of the review blogs, but is still functioning on QRD.  We’ll see if it goes up in value, but right now it’s earned me less than a dollar after about a little over a month.  Though of course there hasn’t been a new issue up in that time.

There is some big stuff going on behind the scenes here at Silber that will hopefully start next week.

Last Night’s Dreams:
I’m on tour with Alan Sparhawk & instead of touring in a van or car, we’re touring in a pickup truck.  Because of how many people there are we’re sitting in the bed of the truck as it goes down the highway & I’m scared of falling out & Alan is sitting on the edge of the truck playing an acoustic guitar while singing/screaming.

They make a movie of 50 Shades of Gray starring Malcolm Jamal Warner (Theo from The Cosby Show) & in an interview he’s talking about how he made them change a bunch of parts because it didn’t align with his christian values.

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Days & Dreams

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

So I’m back in Raleigh from the initial wave of working on Philip Palmer’s album.  On our last listen before leaving I heard some more things I need to work on mixing wise.  So, I’ll let it sit a while before doing another wave of work on it.  We did get lucky that we finished mixing on Monday as Tuesday morning power was out in the whole neighborhood for several hours.

So it’s my first time home where I have a second to relax & the feeling of existential dread came back over me that I don’t have the luxury to have while I’m out on tour or whatever.  I hope to knock it back away again for a few more weeks.  Lots of work to do here…..

Recent Dreams:
I go into a public restroom & the first room is just sinks.  I go through a door to the actual bathroom & there’s about 20 urinals on the right hand side & all of the near ones are occupied.  I walk down to the far end of the room & start pissing, but I look down & notice that instead of pissing in a urinal I’m pissing into one of those machines that’s used to polish bowling balls.  Whatever, I finish going.  I go to wash my hands & then a smoke alarm goes off & I smell an electrical fire.  I guess I shouldn’t have peed on the machine….

I’m at Myrtle Beach & there’s been a storm that’s caused the ocean to move in about 200 yards & flood every beach front building.  They say it’s going to take a year for the ocean to recede.

Me & Eric Shonborn just cooked up a batch of meth in the house I grew up in & are celebrating by eating some M&Ms out of a glass bowl.

I’m watching an episode of Breaking Bad & the oldest son from Malcolm in the Middle shows up dressed as a younger version of Walt & tells Walt he wants him he wants to learn how to cook.

I have a show at some club downtown at a club that is built into a hill & I’m playing on the lower level.  I have never seen this place before in my life.

My friend Brian who now goes by Adrian  & in the dream calls himself Jeff is making a living by selling weapons he gets from a police evidence room.  I’m trying to buy a knife from him that is the evidence that will keep another friend out of jail if it disappears.

I get an invitation for an appearance at a big music festival for the band I used to be in with my ex-girlfriend.  I email her & she agrees to do it.  I go to pick her up & she brings along some dude that I guess is her husband/boyfriend.  The whole drive is just the husband/boyfriend telling annoying stories that I don’t want to hear.  When we get there to check out the venue it’s outdoors which sucks because it means I won’t be able to get the amps loud enough.  It ends up we’re playing third from last so we go to the hotel to practice a little since we haven’t played together in about ten years.  Her husband/boyfriend goes to wander around the town while we practice & we make it through one song (“13″ which has a 13/3 timing) & then we start making out & having sex just like old band practices.  In the middle of doing it she complains about feeling bad about cheating on the husband/boyfriend (I don’t feel bad about it just because the dude is such a freaking douchebag) & we stop & don’t bother to try practicing again.  I start drinking some homemade alcohol that I brought with me & as soon as it hits my mouth I know that something is wrong with it & it makes me feel like a time traveler because it’s suddenly four hours later.  We’re about to go on stage & it’s raining hard enough that water is going sideways & I need to lay down a piece of plastic on top of my pedals so that they don’t get wet & short out.  I take a shot of my homemade alcohol & I travel forward in time & it’s the next morning & we’re in the middle of a service at a mega-church.  I ask my ex-girlfriend how the show went & she tells me she was amazed at how bad the other bands were & no wonder they’re less famous than us.  After the church service we go back to the hotel & me & my ex-girlfriend start having sex while her husband/boyfriend is in the shower & she tells me to be careful because she bruises easily.

I’m on tour with The Independents & the hotel we’re at is in a weird town & the restaurant nearby is really just a house.  It says it’s open 24-hours but we have to ring a doorbell & it’s clear we wake the woman up who runs the place.  I order eggs over medium with hash browns & Evil orders a soft boiled egg.  When the woman goes to cook the food Evil tells me he ordered the soft boiled egg because then the woman can’t spit in his food.

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Mixing & Dreams

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

So I’ve been spending the past couple of days trying to get everything finished up for Philip Palmer’s album.  Looks like we’ll have eight newly recorded & mixed tracks (five mixed so far with one more day to go).  I guess it’s not bad for twelve days including a day of setting up the studio & a couple songs that were scrapped or started over completely.    I kind of like the idea of touring around helping people record their music.  It lets me have a better vibe for a town than I get from playing one bar on a Wednesday night or whatever.

Got an email today from a guy using a bunch of QRD articles for his master’s degree or something.  Kind of funny.

Last Night’s Dreams:
I’m watching the news & they have a segment about goths vacationing on some tropical island called Tactic.  It seems like all the goths are cute skinny girls wearing lace & carrying parasols with their make-up on.  I wonder if it would be worth trying to get a show there.

I’m on tour with The Independents & to save money we’re touring borrowing equipment & using a Crown Victoria instead of the van.  There’s a total of six of us in the car (four band members, me on merch, & Ned Kirby as a sound man) & it kind of sucks actually….

I’m fifteen years old & I’m at some girl’s house.  Her dad is a professional musician & I suppose I’m more interested in finding out about him than about dating his daughter.  In the girl’s bedroom she takes her shirt off & she’s wearing some kind of bondage gear instead of a bra.  It’s the first time I’ve seen a naked breast not in low light.  She tells me she’s lesbian, but I can suck on her breasts if I want to.

A song with these lyrics:
I wanna pull off the road
Call you on the telephone
Here the voice I though I’d always know
But that was so many years ago
I hope that you’re not still alone

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Work & Dreams

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

A lot of today was wearing  the producer hat instead of the engineering one.  I helped Philip write lyrics to two songs.  I have to say being asked to write lyrics with/for someone is both flattering & intimidating.  I pretty much failed in helping to write a song about the city of Savannah.  The other song I completely altered the rough lyrics from being about the drive to make music to about being called to & cast from the stars by elder gods & I’m pretty happy with the results on that one.  Tomorrow we’re hoping to catch up on the recording as today was another day of finishing half of one song & recording half of another.

Last Night’s Dreams:
I have one of those microwave popcorn things that looks like a movie popcorn bucket in my hand & this punk rocker dude is trying to be cute by lighting it on fire with a zippo lighter.  I kick him in the crotch as hard as I can a couple of times before he falls to the ground & then I say to him, “Food is a perfect example of personal property.”

I’m talking to somebody about local hip hop producers & they mention that one of my former co-workers has a new recording studio called “Hue B.” I should probably get back in touch with him.

I’m taking my niece & nephew to church & they are whining & being so annoying it’s hard not to slap them.  I decide to just lock the car & leave them in their when I go to church.  The service is even more annoying  than the kids with all the music done with a rock band where no one is under 50 & I can’t even make it through the whole thing.  I just need some alone time.

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A Day of Dreams

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

The production/engineering work is continuing down here in Savannah.  I’ve been trying to clean up some tracks getting ready for mixing & I realize I need some closed back headphones.  So we went out to buy them, but the big music shop here was closed for Yom Kippur.  Also today had two semi-comedic phoning it in recording moments.  Philip was working out the notes for a guitar solo & I took his dog out for a thirty minute walk & I came back & he was still working it out.  Later on (right after lunch & trying to get the headphones) Philip was counting out measures & BPM on a new song when I was cleaning up some vocal tracks.  After 30 minutes of him not coming in ready for me to set things up for a next take I found him taking a nap, so I lied down on the couch for thirty minutes myself.  So today we finished a song from yesterday, got half a song done & scrapped it, & got half a song done to finish tomorrow.  Which I think brings us to six songs done, two songs half done, two scrapped half songs, & one scrapped full song.  So in the end about one song a work day.  Hopefully tomorrow things will turn around to move faster.

Last Night’s Dreams:
I over sleep & don’t get started working on Philip Palmer’s record until 1:58pm instead of 9am.  I lost half a day.

I’m doing a craft show with my comics inside a local mall.  Dealing with the public is super frustrating.  I should’ve just stayed at home.

I’m on top of the empire state building watching CBS This Morning live.  I suddenly remember I’m deathly afraid of heights & start clinging to the building.  Al Roker makes fun of me for it.

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One Response to A Day of Dreams

  1. Peter says:
    September 27, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    Ha! Roker made fun of you!

Producing & Dreams

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

I’m back on track working with Philip Palmer on his album.  Breaking the song & a half barrier in a day is seeming a bit hard.  I guess we are putting a lot more love & care into his record than I did in my 24 hour record a couple weeks ago.  But it would be nice to figure out a way to work faster.  I suppose a big part of it is that there’s a lot of production work as far as we’re coming up with parts on the fly instead of having fully formed songs.  Philip said that we’re starting with the hardest to record songs & drifting into the easiest, so maybe things will start rolling faster the end of the week.  I am really enjoying getting to work on someone else’s music & could really see this being a thing I could do more of.  I like getting to say, “this song is missing a melodica (or optical theremin or ebowed guitar or whatever),” & then adding it to make the song better.  Maybe help somebody on their album every other month or so to keep my own ideas coming & force myself to learn to work better & more efficiently on things.  One day….  I did realize that I do need to switch to a less obsolete software & invest in some closed back headphones.  May be happening sooner than later….

Last Night’s Dream:
It’s the end of my tour & I’m flying home from the pacific northwest.  I miss a connection & end up stranded in the Dakotas & they give me a $999 hotel voucher because I won’t be able to fly out in the foreseeable future.

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End of the Road, Interview, & Last Night’s Dream

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

So last night was the final show for this little tour leg with The Independents.  Had some fun, not as much side work done as sometimes (no comic scripts written, but I did get a few panels drawn for a comic I was supposed to complete in April).  We did however do a lot of brainstorming about the mysterious Ghost Ape.
Here’s a little interview/article I’m in with a ton of other comic book dudes (including Mike Allred) about comic book creators who are also musicians.

Last Night’s Dream:
I’m pushing my Grandmother in a wheelchair.  I’m not sure where we are, it’s not familiar to me – I’d guess a downtown park in a flat area of the mountains based on the color of the sky.  We come up to a traffic circle type thing around a garden & I say how much I hate traffic circles & my Grandma asks me if I remember the time we got lost in a traffic circle.  I tell her I do even though I don’t.  I lean around & give her a kiss on the cheek.  She tells me happy birthday.  I say thank you.  She says she likes it being my birthday because it reminds her of her birthday.  I tell her it’ll be her birthday pretty soon.  She asks when her birthday is & I tell her in just a couple weeks, that her birthday is May 16.

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Dave Sim & Cerebus Interview Stuff

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

So probably a lot of you regular readers know I’m a Dave Sim fan/friend/ally/collaborator.  Anyway, he’s doing this big series of answering questions people post on A Moment of Cerebus & they’ve made an offer to let other blogs participate in getting questions from fans.  So if you have any questions for him, just post them as comments & I’ll try to get them to the right folks.

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One Response to Dave Sim & Cerebus Interview Stuff

  1. GoddakkAttack says:
    September 20, 2012 at 10:55 am

    i didn’t know who he was until people started saying Cerebus! at me when i wore my Spermbirds shirt. Now it makes me uncomfortable to wear it cuz i realized the band name is written in sperms across my chest.

    Also, i never realized it was an ardvark and not a pig.

Mini-Comics, Small Life Form, Ben Link Collins, Remora

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

Rob Clough just put up a pretty in depth set of reviews of the latest Silber mini-comics. It’s pretty invigorating to see something positive about the stuff as the latest batches seem to not get as much attention since everyone has seen them as physical items before at this point.

Here’s a video from the Small Life Form gig in Taos last month.  The show starts a little rough, but the last five minutes is pretty fun.

Here’s the Ben Link Collins set from the same night.

Here’s a pretty in depth Remora interview on Lazy Lullabies.  It’s actually leading to the possibility of re-releasing some of the early Remora cassettes like Anadia, Anaaron, & Acroyer.  We’ll see what happens, I haven’t listened to those tapes in years & I don’t know if they should be heard or not.

So the 24-hour album from Remora for Somehow Ecstatic seems to be finalized.  I’ll let you know when it’s out.  Here’s a movie that was an inspiration for a couple of the songs.

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Engineering, Traveling, & Dreams

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Brian John Mitchell

Okay, so yesterday recording with Phillip Palmer didn’t go too well.  A lot of problems with technical things  on my end that made me feel pretty useless (apparent electrical power problems despite using a power conditioner, recording software glitching out after a certain amount of tracks).  But today there were no snafus & everything went great.  We probably recorded the majority of the “hit single” for the record & it’s probably the first time I actually earned my keep as being a producer instead of just an engineer.  So anyway, a happy day to end the first part of the sessions on.  The first part of the sessions are ending today because I’m going out doing merch for The Independents in Florida for a few days.  Then I come back & try to knock things out.  We’ll see how many days it takes.

Last Night’s Dreams:
I’m milling around on the floor after a Swans show & Michael Gira is on stage putting his equipment away & yells my name & asks what I’m doing here.  I am shocked he remembers my name much less recognizes me.  It’s been years since I’ve talked to him.

I’m going to university in the mountains & they require you get a special driver’s license issued by the university to be able to drive on campus.  The line to get a license goes off the campus & a few blocks into a regular neighborhood.

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