Never been one to let the carrier drop

So, the other day I had some extra time at John Wayne airport, which turns out to have a piano between terminals two and three which is public access. I started out just playing a few christmas carols, but then I started to get into it and played a short set including my modified version of Puff The Magic Dragon, Don’t Stop Believing, Southern Cross, Dust In The Wind, Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Joy To The World (3 dog night), Silent Night Blues (my reworking of Silent Night into 12 bar blues), Cats In The Cradle, and probably a few others I can’t remember. I got $25 set on the piano even though I hadn’t set out a hat. This is the most I have made from a solo live performance ever, and it did feel like another milestone in my quest for musical greatness. 😉

I also have ordered, and gotten the impressions for, a set of my own IEMs – I’ve tried using COTS IEMs but they always fall out of my ears. These will be the most expensive earphones I have ever owned, by far, but hopefully they will stay in my ears.

This is somewhat less of a celebration than most because it’s the first second hundred hour increment since my dad died, and he was a large part of my interest in music and desire to achieve some sort of facility with it. But, life goes on. I’m still trying for 2000..

Edit: Apparently the first was right after he died.. I just forgot about it somehow.

Well – sadly I was hoping to get to 2000 hours and maybe get to a level of skill where I’d impress my dad – not easy 😉 However, he’s no longer with us. My project to become truly great at this remains though.

I’ve still been chipping away at my keyboard and guitar skills. I hope to record some more original material soon, and also to maybe do a twitch show soon.

1200 hours

So, I’ve made it to 1100. Still getting better, although there are interesting phenomenons where some aspects get worse and then better as parts of my neural network rebalance. Anyway, looking forward to seeing what I’m like at 2000.

So, sometime early in COVID I installed a hour meter.. I’m not sure exactly when, but it hit 200 hours in Oct of 2020. Anyway, I always said I’d do a twitch show when it hit 1000 hours, and so here it is

1000_hours_Sheer_twitch_show.mp4

So, I know that it’s fairly common for people to not be able to decode and enjoy the level of music that I can. I can handle many more layers than most people can, and I want my music to *have* many more layers than most people want.

I also know that on Bruce’s album, I’m essentially a studio musician albeit a unpaid one and thusly I shouldn’t complain when I get edited out.

However, it was quite a jolt to have *my favorite part* of the whole album removed. Along with all my keyboards on two different tracks, and about 50% of them overall.

(Anyone who is curious, in Falling Down Hard, during the bridge, there was this lovely descending series of arpeggios that come in with the second of four passes that never failed to delight me)

I know part of the issue here is just that I like things too complex.. apparently too complex for Joe, and definitely too complex for Bruce. I did get permission from Bruce to release the track uncut after the album has come out. My guess is most people will prefer Joe’s mix to mine, but I want to be able to share what I think is one of my most brilliant moments with my friends.

There’s a bunch of things I’d do differently.. maybe I’ll see if I can just release the entire album mixed to my tastes. Probably only ten people will ever listen to it, but I know which version I’d rather hear.

So, since I added a hour meter – I don’t actually remember what date that happened but it was somewhat after I started practicing a hour or more a day during COVID – I have done 900 hours.

I’m trying to figure out how to celebrate when I get to 1000.