I post so infrequently that I have to try to remember my password everytime I log in. Generally, there is a new interface to learn upon login as well. Let’s just say that I don’t blog often.
I did get a job. That’s my excuse for not blogging for a while. Monster.com came through. I received an email from a resume I sent out in October. After two interviews and schmoozing a bit, I started on January 20th. Same day as Obama. So, needless to say, that was very good news. So far, the job is good. I am still in the process of learning the office dynamic and figuring out exactly where I fit in, but overall it’s very nice to have a job to go to everyday. Oh, yeah… it’s also nice to be able to pay the rent and bills.
I’m so far in debt that I’m still broke most of the time. It really is difficult. I desperately want to be out of debt so I try to maximize the money that I pay to my debtors… sometimes I get a little too ambitious and don’t leave enough for myself. I am currently in one of those situations. Ramen noodles are my friend(s).
I am to fly back to Dallas around Easter to record bass for Johnny Lloyd Rollins on the new album. It’s been a long time coming and most of the songs we’ve been perfecting during the live shows. Being in NY, I don’t really get to play with Johnny so much anymore, but I am lucky to be the go-to guy for recording.
On that same note, I am looking for a steady gig in NY as a bass player/guitar player/harmonica/whatever…. so let me know if you know someone.
On a final note… there is a girl that I like a lot. I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t know this yet, but I’m trying to do my best. After being cynical about love for several years, I think I am coming back around. I’ll let you know in about six months.
Last Sunday, my parents arrived in NY to join up with me before heading into Pennsylvania to visit my brother and sister-in-law. This marks the first week away from Guitar Center. It’s scary. I don’t have a job and it’s the worst possible time to be unemployed both from a personal and societal standpoint. The job search is moving forward as much as it can while I am away from home. I have my laptop, so all is not lost. Hopefully something will come up soon. Until then, it’s temp agency time… gotta have that cash flow.
In NY, my parents and I took in all of the major sites: Empire State, Rockefeller Plaza, Battery Park, WTC Site, Central Park, the Guggenheim, the Dakota, Flatiron Building, and Coney Island, as well as a little of Williamsburg. Then we headed out Tuesday morning for Pennsylvania.
I am currently in State College, PA, home of Penn State and the Nittany Lions. It is a pretty town and home to my younger brother and his wife. He is working on his PhD in Philosophy (THE PhD) at Penn State. Anyways, I only get to see him a few times a year, so it is always fun to visit. Since I live closer to him than I have in seven years, I hope to see him a little more often in the future.
Pennsylvania is a lovely state. I don’t care what John Murtha says. We took in the election returns on Tuesday night (yea, Obama!) and had a little dinner. Then we drove out to western PA to stay in a cabin near Cook’s Forest Wednesday evening. The scenery was gorgeous. We arrived at the tail end of the season change, so the tree colors were waning, but still beautiful. The cabin we stayed in was pretty nice. With room for eight, it was very comfortable. It had a little kitchenette with a fridge and oven/range for cooking. A few mice were apparently staying with us as evidenced from the droppings everywhere. A good hike in the state park and a drive to an elk viewing area rounded out the two days in the woods.
So we are back in State College to celebrate Mom’s B’day. Tomorrow it’s back to NY with the parents. They leave from Newark on Sunday. Next week is a pretty serious week for me, as I pretty much have to find a job immediately.
I have been doing the Monster.com and Craigslist searching and sending resumes off for jobs that I think might work for me. Hopefully, I will get something quick. If any of you out of the five people that read this blog have some suggestions, they are more than welcome. I do a little bit of everything and can pretty much learn how to do anything, as well.
I recently discovered that I haven’t written anything on the blog since the big move: here it is.
I’ve been here for approaching two months. I got some basic employment pretty quick at the old standby: Guitar Center. I am leaving that job in a week with the hopes of getting something better. Hopefully, something better will come sooner rather than later.
Life in NY is interesting, to say the least. I have discovered that, contrary to what NY would have you believe, NY is NOT the fast-paced city that everyone thinks it is. It takes forever to do anything. Lines are long. Traffic is slow. A 6.5 mile journey to Laguardia Airport takes a half an hour by car, an hour and a half by public transit. In Dallas, 6.5 miles is pretty much 10 minutes. I waited in line at Burlington Coat Factory for 30 minutes yesterday. On the positive side, the long train rides give me plenty of time to read. I have knocked out two books already! In Dallas, that would have taken me all year.
I feel pretty anonymous in this city. It is so big and there are so many people, it’s easy to just let yourself let go of any sense of self-consciousness or self-importance. Everyone is everywhere. All different races, creeds, religions, classes… they all exist here in a sort of frantic, complex harmony. It’s similar to the way a tri-tone in music is considered harmony: it works, but very delicately.
Life in the apartment is going well. All of us have sacrificed a significant amount of privacy, but we all manage. I say this knowing that I am the snorer and I sleep pretty soundly when I am not being shaken awake by a certain perturbed roommate. Music is a sort of constant in this apartment. Some sort of musical instrument is within reach from almost every place in our home and being that three quarters of us are musicians, there tends to be some music being created during most waking hours.
The neighborhood we live in is awesome. We live close enough to the hipster scene to appreciate what it has to offer yet, our home is also close to a more diverse neighborhood to the south and east of us. We pretty much live at the intersection of hipsterville, a Hasidic Jewish community, and good ole Brooklyn. It is an adventure everyday. Yes, I feel safe… everyone always asks me that (keep in mind that Dallas has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation).
We are pretty close to a couple of subway stops, the nearest being about 4 blocks away. That gives us plenty of access to the city. I try to venture over to Manhattan on my days off. There is so much to see. I’ve only made it to the Museum of Natural History so far, but I plan on getting to the rest of them once I start a new job that allows me the financial and temporal freedom to do such things.
The weather is turning cold and it is exciting to actually witness all four seasons, as opposed to the two we get in Texas: hot for a long time and then cold for two months.
I guess that’s about it… my life in a nutshell. I am still in a state of flux. I don’t know where I’ll be working in the coming weeks and I am just as confused about what I want to do with my life as I’ve always been. The search continues…
But, I guess it can’t hurt every now and then. Next Friday will be my last show here in Dallas, at least for a while. I wanted to put together a show because it seems like we (JLR and the All-Nighters) get to play very much anymore. Things have been moving slow for a while and we have been taking it easy, which is part of the reason that moving to NY while staying in the band is feasible. But, I digress.
So, I asked my friend John Solis of Method Entertainment, and a former All-Nighter and Comet like myself, to put together a show to serve as my last. I really didn’t intend for it to be billed as a “Farewell to Eric Swanson”, but I didn’t put up much resistance, either. Subsequently, “Swansong” was born. Airline, The Slack, and Jeremy Megert will join JLR and the All-Nighters for what promises to be a drunken good time, at the very least. Admittedly, as far as shows go, this one isn’t anything to write home about. I think this lineup has occurred at least a few times this year so far. But, who cares? It’s supposed to be fun and if this isn’t your idea of fun, then don’t come.
So, one last hoorah at Dada, and then on Sept. 2nd it’s off to Brooklyn to live with The Fieros. Maybe I can play tambourine in their band.
So, as you might or might not know, I have an unhealthy love for Led Zeppelin. No, not all things Zep, but what I like about Zep, I REALLY like. I could listen to “IV” and “Houses of the Holy” back to back on infinite repeat for… well, infinity. I have lots of love for the first three albums and “Physical Graffiti”, as well. My appreciation starts to wane after that, but it’s still good stuff. You also might or might not know that I have tried to put together, with varying degrees of success, some musicians to play some Zep every so often. Anyways, the intro to “Rock and Roll” has always been a sticking point with anyone I play with. Some people get it, some don’t. Most people think they get it, but don’t really. Most people also have some sort of cheating method to figuring out the intro as opposed to really feeling it.
Up until about 3 days ago, I was in the latter category, I am sad to say. I always knew that there was more to it, but hadn’t really investigated too much. My specific sub-category was the “I know how it goes and just deal with it” type. So, running up against the limits of this interpretation, I was compelled to search the interwebs for advice. I found this article by Chris Milillo. I don’t know him, but I have to give him credit for opening my ears to this. I decided to take his approach a little further and develop some programmed tracks to help with rearranging the emphasis in the drum intro so that a regular ole Zep loving bass player like me can understand. First… the storied intro to Rock and Roll. Think: Cadillac commercial.No, think: awesome!
Mass Confusion:
If you’re like most people, you assume that the great John Bonham is starting on the “one”. That is, you take the very first snare/hat hit to be the first beat of the measure in common time. You would be wrong. I never really questioned it. Partly to blame is my love for Zep. I just assumed that since they were all bad-asses that it made sense to them and Bonzo knew exactly what he was doing. Well, I was right in a way. It did make sense to them and Bonzo DID know what he was doing. That is because he was paying homage to early rock and roll (as is the rest of the song both lyrically and musically). I am just not from the right generation to have really recognized it instantly like Page, Plant, and Jones would’ve. Here is what Bonzo is tipping his hat too, most likely:
Little Richard’s “Keep a Knockin’”
So, it’s pretty obvious after hearing that that there is more to the Zep intro. There is. The first beat is not the “one”, but rather the “and of three”. Once you can count it out and retrain your brain to start where Bonzo’s is starting, then a whole new world will exist for you and your love of Zep (I’m assuming that if you are still reading this you are probably not a casual fan of Zep).
So, let’s get started on the lesson. I cranked up Garage Band and brought up a simple Rock Kit sound to substitute (however poorly) for a vintage Ludwig Vistalite kit. This first file is the intro with emphasis added to the true “one” of the intro. I also added a strong kick drum to count it off and keep your ear on the beat throughout. Here it is:
Emphasis on the “one”:
The next step to really drive it home is that I made it swing! Swinging has the effect of, amongst other desirable effects, distinguishing the even eighth notes from the odd ones. This means that instead of a string of beats that all sound the same and are evenly spaced, you can distinguish whether an eighth note is a “number” or an “and”. One usually counts eighth notes like this: “one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-one-and….” etc. for common time (4/4). With no swinging and no volume emphasis, they can all run together. Think of your drummer sound checking his snare by hitting it over and over consistently to determine a mic level. Which snare hit serves as the “one”? Kind of an irrelevant question, you might tell me. If he or she were swinging the beat, you could at least tell me whether each note was a “one, two, three, four” or an “and” of those notes. Get it? What Bonham plays on Rock and Roll is like the no-swing effect. It’s really straight and hard to tell where the “number” notes are. If you add some swing to it, it becomes obvious and is really easy to find the proper beat. Let’s hear it with swing!
As in “to swing”
Now, listen to the original again and feel groovy:
That is where my analysis ends. It really helps me get it. I like it so much that I think everyone deserves to know about this. I think it is more fun to listen to now. I really understand where the boys were going with this song. Have fun and happy listening.
Every Saturday from 1PM to 3PM the Rahr brewery in Fort Worth has a free beer tasting which is usually quite an event. This is how it works: you can either buy a Rahr glass for $5 or use their (smaller) plastic cups. You are handed three beer caps that serve as currency for you to buy beer. Josh introduced me to this and I am very grateful for that. He initiated and accompanied (i.e. drove) me on this venture as well. Also in attendance were Joshes friends Rob and Craig, and later, Jim.
It used to be that you could pretty much drink as much as you could handle in those two hours. All you had to do was get more beer caps. So, I spent my three and wanted a fourth. I went to the Rahr Beer Cap Reserve and asked the Reserve Chairman for more caps. He immediately deduced that I had already received three caps and denied me. So, I retreated only to be offered a cap by a fellow free beer appreciator. He is an aspiring counterfeiter and told me that he buys beer caps from the home brewer’s store and they are identical to the ones used at Rahr. I accepted and promptly got back in line to redeem my counterfeit beer cap. Apparently, the real beer caps are not indistinguishable from the counterfeit ones. I was immediately called out on my attempt to spend the counterfeit but given a reprieve that came with a stern warning that I wouldn’t be so lucky next time. I tried to explain that I was given it by a friend, but the beer tender and his companion weren’t so easily convinced. I felt like a criminal… but at least I had free beer.
The free beer oppressors used my situation as conversation fodder for at least the next 10 minutes, from what we could tell. Don’t hate the player; hate the game.
Rahr does employ a band at these free tastings and I happened to know the bass player. We worked at Guitar Center together several years ago and it was good to see him.
After several free beers, here is what one might look like:
Which means my blog is probably pretty dang boring. Who cares?
I am anxious to get to New York. Hell, I am paying rent there… I want to be there to enjoy it.
Jeremy and Angie are back in Texas. I am excited about playing at least one show with Jeremy before I move to NY. At this point, that is one of the few things that keep my mind off of the fact that I am kind of biding my time here. It looks as if the Holtster might take up the drums for Jeremy and I on August 29th at Club Dada. It is to serve as my farewell show. Johnny will be playing and most likely The Slack will as well.
My roommates, The Fieros, are in LA right now playing some showcases. They were on the radio the other night and sounded great. Good luck, boys.
I have had a headache for the last two weeks. I convinced myself that I had something really bad, like a tumor or something. I went to the doctor to prove myself right. I had a CT Scan. I don’t have a tumor. I have a headache. That is settled.
I really want to get to NY. I feel like there is something waiting for me there. Friends. Lovers. Employers? Let’s hope so.
I sent off a long-shot sort of resume last night to Eventide (get it? Evenflow… Eventide?). So, as luck would have it, I got a call back this morning. This was most unexpected. The man who contacted me ended up being THE man at Eventide. From what I have read, he is responsible for some of their most enduring and classic products from the mid-70’s. Needless to say, I was slightly nervous about talking to him. The job I applied for is titled “Junior DSP Engineer”. Believe it or not, I am actually slightly qualified for this job. If I were to get hired, this would be the first job where I could actually be challenged on a level that I haven’t seen since my undergraduate days. Most people call that a career. I really have been putting this off for 8 years now… but who’s counting?
The interview went well, as those things go. Basically, the job listing I responded to is a lure to get talented people to respond. Not a bad thing, really. I was asked about what sort of salary I would need, which says to me that they are basically willing to hire someone given the qualification/cost analysis works out in their favor. Again, not a terrible thing, especially since I have been out of the game for so long.
Where I am now is just waiting until I move up there. I was pretty much offered an interview when I am in the area and then I’ll move on from there. Hopefully, if I play my cards right, I will be able to offer them the number they are looking for compared to my experience and finally get a job that challenges me as well as satisfies my desire to do something that I actually want to do (and get paid for it)!
This last Monday, I went ahead and put in my two-months notice at my job. Everyone pretty much knew about the New York plans and expected me to be leaving be the end of the summer, but it is now official. I have worked there for over four years. That is the longest I have ever been at one job. I started when we were very small and owned by a couple that ran the whole operation out of there house. At that point, we only provided super-automatic espresso machines to places and just a little bit of office coffee service. Now, the espresso side of the business is the smallest portion and we run three OCS routes and two (about to be three) vending routes. That’s not bad growth in four years. I had a hand in that, and that’s kinda cool. I knew it was never going to be a career for me, but this is the best job I’ve ever had. So, August 15th is my last day. Then…
It’s off to Brooklyn for a few days and shows with Johnny. From NY we will fly to London for two weeks to play a festival in High Wycombe and a show at the Boogaloo with other dates to be confirmed soon.
The job search is trucking along. Right now I am in the process of studying for the ISCET (electronics technician) certification. This gives me a chance to brush up on my circuit analysis skills and a little something extra to put on my resume. I would really like to start doing some guitar amp and pedal work, so this will definitely help with that, as well. My friend Jess, in Brooklyn, has a contact for a tutoring service in Manhattan that seems fairly promising.
Joey has posted some pictures on his flickr page of the place in Brooklyn and some other stuff.
Johnny hipped me to this cool looking piece of musico-technical innovation. I would really like to play it, but for now if Lou Reed likes it, it can’t be half bad.
