24/04: 30 Songs in 30 Days!
Ok, I'm sitting here in Burger King, trapped until the rain passes. I happened to bring one of my gadget-boy tools, so I can use this as the opportunity to post my intention to record 30 songs in 30 days!
I've come up with this great scheme now for my live performances, and I relly, really want to start working on it, but if I were to just drop everything and dive into it, there would be one problem in particular with my group of web sites. The problem would be about how many songs are posted. I want a better range of my tunes to be up, so other mucisians, who might be interested in joining forces, band-wise, or people who want to hear more... Y'know. There's just not enough divesity up right now, so I'm posting 30 songs in thirty days!
I'm already on day 3, and it's been going ok. Had some trouble with my new computer (don't buy a Roland US-122 if you're on dual-core, groan), so I'm doing it on my old one, and it took me way longer than I'd hoped to get a decent sound, and I had uninstalled Cakewalk on the old machine, so I had to find it and reinstall it, etc., etc. All things that might have stopped me before, but not now! There are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines, right? I've tamed my inner Eeyore, and i'm on the gravy train to... Graveyville. Sweet Gravyville.
The sound has been important becausse I'm using non-studio quality equipment, and it's just me and my acoustic guitar on all these tunes. I've gotta do acoustic versions of everything so I can guarantee posting so many in such a short time frame. I think I've found the right spot in my "Lab" now, to get the most out of the gear I've got. Lol, but if a truck goes by, it puts a shitload of bass into the recording.
Anyway, I'll probably get to the posting part tomorrow, so over the next few weeks, you can check out my progress at http://eyeofthemonkey.com, should you be so inclined.
I've come up with this great scheme now for my live performances, and I relly, really want to start working on it, but if I were to just drop everything and dive into it, there would be one problem in particular with my group of web sites. The problem would be about how many songs are posted. I want a better range of my tunes to be up, so other mucisians, who might be interested in joining forces, band-wise, or people who want to hear more... Y'know. There's just not enough divesity up right now, so I'm posting 30 songs in thirty days!
I'm already on day 3, and it's been going ok. Had some trouble with my new computer (don't buy a Roland US-122 if you're on dual-core, groan), so I'm doing it on my old one, and it took me way longer than I'd hoped to get a decent sound, and I had uninstalled Cakewalk on the old machine, so I had to find it and reinstall it, etc., etc. All things that might have stopped me before, but not now! There are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines, right? I've tamed my inner Eeyore, and i'm on the gravy train to... Graveyville. Sweet Gravyville.
The sound has been important becausse I'm using non-studio quality equipment, and it's just me and my acoustic guitar on all these tunes. I've gotta do acoustic versions of everything so I can guarantee posting so many in such a short time frame. I think I've found the right spot in my "Lab" now, to get the most out of the gear I've got. Lol, but if a truck goes by, it puts a shitload of bass into the recording.
Anyway, I'll probably get to the posting part tomorrow, so over the next few weeks, you can check out my progress at http://eyeofthemonkey.com, should you be so inclined.
As I've mentioned before, my endeavor into Facebook, in a lot of ways, sort of makes official my intention to try being an extrovert for awhile, to see what happens. I haven't been an extrovert since, I dunno, '92, let's say. That's me trying to sound older and wiser. It's been a very, very long time, and even then, I wasn't great at it. That's one of the reasons I became an introvert in the first place, was to work on those chops.
Anyway, it seems a person's goals will parallel the person's abilities to reach them, so the last few years have slowly brought to my attention, that I'm ready to drop, for the forseeable future, certain words I've identified with over the years, like hermit, cave-dweller, loner, independant learner, etc., without losing my introvert super-powers. After all, being inwardly-mobile is what, I've always figured, gave me the time and space needed to become more of a lot of other words I identify with, like, creative, thoughtful, yadda, yadda, yadda.
At times, I'm almost overwhelmed by the numbers of friends most of the people on Facebook or Myspace have. I don't know how long it will take for me to become that much of an "outwardly-forceful", and whether or not I should, but I'm walking toward it anyway. It's a little scary for a simple boy like me. I guess what gets me the most is how long it would take to grow a formidable network even if I was working on it every single day. You should see Emma-Lee's myspace page these days, for those of you who know her. I was like, how the fuck did she do all this in, like, a year and a half? I had to ask her about it, and she was gracious enough to fill me in on some things, but I've promised to keep a lid on 'em for now... 'Cause she's shy. Ha!
I guess the question, then, to anyone who will listen, is, what's the secret? .... What's.... Working... For... You...? To stick with the artist theme in my posts, is it easier having a band around? Do they, like, rely on you, or what? Do you feel like your group of friends puts good pressure on you to keep moving forward? Have you got a rule in your head that says, "if I stop, I die?" Are you simply addicted to meeting new people? What's.... Working... For... You...?
Thanks, my lovelies!
As always, feel free to visit www.eyeofthemonkey.com, but my songs are posted temporarily on www.myspace.com/darrylerickson, and some older stuff on download.com. I'm also on Facebook, and expanding from there. Talk to you soon!
Anyway, it seems a person's goals will parallel the person's abilities to reach them, so the last few years have slowly brought to my attention, that I'm ready to drop, for the forseeable future, certain words I've identified with over the years, like hermit, cave-dweller, loner, independant learner, etc., without losing my introvert super-powers. After all, being inwardly-mobile is what, I've always figured, gave me the time and space needed to become more of a lot of other words I identify with, like, creative, thoughtful, yadda, yadda, yadda.
At times, I'm almost overwhelmed by the numbers of friends most of the people on Facebook or Myspace have. I don't know how long it will take for me to become that much of an "outwardly-forceful", and whether or not I should, but I'm walking toward it anyway. It's a little scary for a simple boy like me. I guess what gets me the most is how long it would take to grow a formidable network even if I was working on it every single day. You should see Emma-Lee's myspace page these days, for those of you who know her. I was like, how the fuck did she do all this in, like, a year and a half? I had to ask her about it, and she was gracious enough to fill me in on some things, but I've promised to keep a lid on 'em for now... 'Cause she's shy. Ha!
I guess the question, then, to anyone who will listen, is, what's the secret? .... What's.... Working... For... You...? To stick with the artist theme in my posts, is it easier having a band around? Do they, like, rely on you, or what? Do you feel like your group of friends puts good pressure on you to keep moving forward? Have you got a rule in your head that says, "if I stop, I die?" Are you simply addicted to meeting new people? What's.... Working... For... You...?
Thanks, my lovelies!
As always, feel free to visit www.eyeofthemonkey.com, but my songs are posted temporarily on www.myspace.com/darrylerickson, and some older stuff on download.com. I'm also on Facebook, and expanding from there. Talk to you soon!
Yes, I joined Facebook. An old friend, who broke the straw on my Facebook/MySpace back, has accurately called it Crackbook. Another friend, whom I talked into joining, has rightfully called me her "face dealer".
How does this tie into the goal of this blog? Well, I joined with the hopes, actually more of an expectation, that I'll now get better at networking and learn the give-and-take of being part of a community. The pressure's on for real, because the people I've tracked down in Facebook are all people I care about, and it matters to me what my influence, or lack thereof, in and around that community will be. In fact, this brings me to my thing for today. I dig all these people so much, that I'm realizing again for the first time in awhile, that these are the people I want to hang out with, even if it's mostly in virtual form, most of the time.
I don't think I want to ever hang out with the "commercially successful" crowd, for the most part. They're all great people, and I'll love networking with them, too, and HAVE enjoyed networking with them, but that type of crowd lacks any real connections. In other words, the people are all awesome, but they're too busy to stop and talk about anything of substance, again, for the most part. There are always exceptions, and I can think of a few right away. I guess I've just been missing that lately. I've been working too hard, maybe. Easy enough to fix with Facebook!
Anyway, feel free to picture me drunk, and slurring, I love you guys!
I've got a group of sites going, but none of them are really finished, so if you want to hear a couple of my tunes, go to http://www.myspace.com/darrylerickson, or search for a couple of my older tunes on download.com. www.eyeofthemonkey.com will be in better shape, as soon as I figure out friggin' Flash. It's hard.
Also, the world is free to comment on http://www.eyeofthemonkey.com/phpBBtest/ It ain't prettied up yet, but it works fine. You just have to register, and create whatever topic you want.
How does this tie into the goal of this blog? Well, I joined with the hopes, actually more of an expectation, that I'll now get better at networking and learn the give-and-take of being part of a community. The pressure's on for real, because the people I've tracked down in Facebook are all people I care about, and it matters to me what my influence, or lack thereof, in and around that community will be. In fact, this brings me to my thing for today. I dig all these people so much, that I'm realizing again for the first time in awhile, that these are the people I want to hang out with, even if it's mostly in virtual form, most of the time.
I don't think I want to ever hang out with the "commercially successful" crowd, for the most part. They're all great people, and I'll love networking with them, too, and HAVE enjoyed networking with them, but that type of crowd lacks any real connections. In other words, the people are all awesome, but they're too busy to stop and talk about anything of substance, again, for the most part. There are always exceptions, and I can think of a few right away. I guess I've just been missing that lately. I've been working too hard, maybe. Easy enough to fix with Facebook!
Anyway, feel free to picture me drunk, and slurring, I love you guys!
I've got a group of sites going, but none of them are really finished, so if you want to hear a couple of my tunes, go to http://www.myspace.com/darrylerickson, or search for a couple of my older tunes on download.com. www.eyeofthemonkey.com will be in better shape, as soon as I figure out friggin' Flash. It's hard.
Also, the world is free to comment on http://www.eyeofthemonkey.com/phpBBtest/ It ain't prettied up yet, but it works fine. You just have to register, and create whatever topic you want.
19/03: St. Patrick's Day
LOL, I was just going through my handheld clearing out some pictures/video, and found this. Oh, yeah, I remembered. THAT's why I wound up getting so drunk after all. I was good, because I was hung over from a gig the night before, but as the night approched after-midnight status...
First, this was taken at the (in)famous Balmy Beach Club. This club was the original home of the Argonaunt Rowing Club, who later became the CFL Toronto Argos. This place is full of trophys from Rowing, Rugby, etc., including a couple of Grey Cups. THIS trophy, lol, I took a picture of, because someone in the crowd that night decided to start drinking out of it. It was HER trophy after all. She had won it, I guess it was the previous summer, for an individual rowing effort of some kind that I can't quite recall correctly.
Anyway, she passed it around, and not too many people took her up on her offer, and I thought, what the hell is wrong with you people? Someone offers you the chance to drink out of a massive victory cup, full of COLD beer (mmmm...), and you don't bite? I had to take charge of the situation, of course! I showed them all what they were missing out on, and, well, it gets a little hazy after that, but I remember I got a few recruits for her. But she was cute. In the end, I don't think needed much help.
St. Pat's was great! I even emailed a friend in Ireland. An actual Irish friend who lives there, not a friend who was just there by chance, eh? I've never had a friend in Ireland before, so that's progress, right?
First, this was taken at the (in)famous Balmy Beach Club. This club was the original home of the Argonaunt Rowing Club, who later became the CFL Toronto Argos. This place is full of trophys from Rowing, Rugby, etc., including a couple of Grey Cups. THIS trophy, lol, I took a picture of, because someone in the crowd that night decided to start drinking out of it. It was HER trophy after all. She had won it, I guess it was the previous summer, for an individual rowing effort of some kind that I can't quite recall correctly.
Anyway, she passed it around, and not too many people took her up on her offer, and I thought, what the hell is wrong with you people? Someone offers you the chance to drink out of a massive victory cup, full of COLD beer (mmmm...), and you don't bite? I had to take charge of the situation, of course! I showed them all what they were missing out on, and, well, it gets a little hazy after that, but I remember I got a few recruits for her. But she was cute. In the end, I don't think needed much help.
St. Pat's was great! I even emailed a friend in Ireland. An actual Irish friend who lives there, not a friend who was just there by chance, eh? I've never had a friend in Ireland before, so that's progress, right?
So, things always seem to take more time than you think they will. I got a new computer during boxing week, and it took me almost two months to give it a full test drive. It's a good little monster. So, I've got better tools to help me do my day job stuff and my music stuff, if I can get tired of all these new games I can play. I waited all year to play Civ III, and Age of Empires III. Also, I hadn't played NHL since it was NHLPA back in, like, '94. Anyway, you can still break the glass, and Roenick is still a dog you can't knock off the puck, and it's still VERY, VERY addictive. Although I'm beating the computer 40-1 now (10-minute periods). It's has to get tiring pretty soon, right? If I can just put together a few shutouts in a row...
This all means the music has suffered somewhat, although I had a great gig at the Renaissance Cafe a few days ago.
ago. It was massive! My friend Terry hooked me up with a sound gig for a 12-piece party band. It was very cool! The image for this entry is a pic from that night. It was like, 400 people, at the Royal York, for the lawyer son of a banker. The estimate was that they dropped between $100-150 grand on it. That's right. No joke. No exaggeration. That much loot for a wedding.
At the wedding, I picked up a compressor and an old Alesis Microverb III. I always wanted one when they were new, back when I was playing those NHLPA games in the mid-90's! When I got it, I was thinking, yeah, this'll be good for my studio. After I brought it home, I remembered, oh yeah, I wanted a copressor unit at some point so I could buy a headset mic. I'm always bumping into mic's when I'm on stage, because I close my eyes a lot when I sing. A wireless headset mic would be great. So, you music people out there, did I find a link for you! A store for music gear that only sells stuff that's been opened, or returned because of little scratches or whatever. Killer deals, man! Check it out, if you're so inclined, www.musiciansfriend.com.
Also, at the wedding, Terry and I talked about what works for getting people out to gigs. You know? Here's a question for you. Please send me an email if you've EVER gone to someone's gig, whom you didn't know before, just because of the flyer or poster you saw on a telelphone pole, or whatever. If you have, you are rare. It doesn't seem worth the $1000 bucks in flyers over the months or years, to get YOUR $10 bucks, does it? I'll open a discussion about this on my discussion board.
This all means the music has suffered somewhat, although I had a great gig at the Renaissance Cafe a few days ago.
ago. It was massive! My friend Terry hooked me up with a sound gig for a 12-piece party band. It was very cool! The image for this entry is a pic from that night. It was like, 400 people, at the Royal York, for the lawyer son of a banker. The estimate was that they dropped between $100-150 grand on it. That's right. No joke. No exaggeration. That much loot for a wedding.At the wedding, I picked up a compressor and an old Alesis Microverb III. I always wanted one when they were new, back when I was playing those NHLPA games in the mid-90's! When I got it, I was thinking, yeah, this'll be good for my studio. After I brought it home, I remembered, oh yeah, I wanted a copressor unit at some point so I could buy a headset mic. I'm always bumping into mic's when I'm on stage, because I close my eyes a lot when I sing. A wireless headset mic would be great. So, you music people out there, did I find a link for you! A store for music gear that only sells stuff that's been opened, or returned because of little scratches or whatever. Killer deals, man! Check it out, if you're so inclined, www.musiciansfriend.com.
Also, at the wedding, Terry and I talked about what works for getting people out to gigs. You know? Here's a question for you. Please send me an email if you've EVER gone to someone's gig, whom you didn't know before, just because of the flyer or poster you saw on a telelphone pole, or whatever. If you have, you are rare. It doesn't seem worth the $1000 bucks in flyers over the months or years, to get YOUR $10 bucks, does it? I'll open a discussion about this on my discussion board.
16/12: Darryl TV
I was right, I'm a little hung over.
So now what? I've got this cool blog thing happening now, like every other crazy person around, and very little idea of how to use it!
My very little idea is this: I was thinking, why not use it as a place to post what I'm learning about making web sites work better for you, but then I thought, I've got a bulletin board if want to do that. Then I thought, well, maybe I should use it to chart my progress in getting paid for writing music. That sounds like the best idea, but if other songwriters that I know want to post something, or if my hecklers want to follow me in here, can they post, too? I don't know, but that's where I am today.
Did anyone see the episode of Corner Gas where they all made Hank write a Blog so he'd get out of their hair? That's me now!
...This picture is just a test, but FYI, it's my friend, Terry's, DJ rig
So now what? I've got this cool blog thing happening now, like every other crazy person around, and very little idea of how to use it!
My very little idea is this: I was thinking, why not use it as a place to post what I'm learning about making web sites work better for you, but then I thought, I've got a bulletin board if want to do that. Then I thought, well, maybe I should use it to chart my progress in getting paid for writing music. That sounds like the best idea, but if other songwriters that I know want to post something, or if my hecklers want to follow me in here, can they post, too? I don't know, but that's where I am today.
Did anyone see the episode of Corner Gas where they all made Hank write a Blog so he'd get out of their hair? That's me now!
...This picture is just a test, but FYI, it's my friend, Terry's, DJ rig
16/12: Welcome to Nucleus CMS v3.22
This is the first post on your Nucleus CMS. Nucleus offers you the building blocks you need to create a web presence. Whether you want to create a personal blog, a family page, or an online business site, Nucleus CMS can help you achieve your goals.
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.
