Album Progress, Twitter & KMasch

So it has been quite a while since my last post but so much has been whirling around I haven't had the will to get on here and write.

As of today, five songs are scratch tracked, three tracks have drums, eight songs are written and one is in the writing stage. So that leaves one more song to actually write, the other nine need pushing and prodding until they're exactly where I want them. When all the arranging and primary tracking is finished, the string sessions begin. I am really excited about having real strings on this and carefully written/arranged parts. After that it's mixing, then mastering and then finally to manufacturing. This process seems so slow, but I want it to be perfect...and I know when it's over, I'll miss the road it took to create these songs. For any that are curious, the songs that are closest to finished right now are "By Now", "I Had You" and "Coming Home".

For those who are really curious as to what I'm up to at given points in the day can check my "Twitter" account. I go into cycles of keeping it posted to forgetting about it, but it's the closest thing to a blow-by-blow account to my life as you will get. Check it out: http://www.twitter.com/rodkim.

So this last week had a killer work schedule...sleep deprivation to the max. I did have a warm welcome in my mailbox this morning, a CD from my good friend Kevin Maschmeier! Yay! (Oh, btw, Jacie, I got your Easter card a couple weeks ago too, thanks!) I'm currently listening to track 13 of 21. My favorite so far is track 8 followed by a close second of track 9. (The CD was accompanied by a note to contact Kevin for a tracklist, so I don't know titles yet.) They are mostly bootleg recordings of Kevin singing and playing on acoustic guitar, but this guy's always had a way to draw me into his tunes. Even when I'm not particularly in love with a specific song, I'm always drawn into the atmosphere he is able to create and stories he can tell with his lyrics and music. That's where I am now. These are raw recordings and without any production (or clean recording for that matter) I feel like I'm in the middle of these stories. I envy that-being able to naturally write so well and tell stories with such fluidity. But that's what separates people like Kevin (a natural musician) from people like me (learned musician) and there's nothing wrong with either, though I do admire him a lot for what he can do.

So a few weeks ago I saw the film "Reign Over Me" starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. I know most audiences and critics didn't like it, but I did. It was a story of two friends helping each other learn to improve circumstances in each of their lives and had a great soundtrack as well. One little tune I picked up from it was "Simple Man" by Graham Nash. I didn't think I was going to love when the verses started, but when it came to "I just wanna hold you, I don't wanna hold you down..." I was hooked.

I guess it's impossible to blog this week and not mention the insanity that happened at VT on Monday. The problems in that are so complex I can't claim to know what was done right and wrong-the police's inability to see the 9am massacre at the 7am shooting, the loneliness that apparently was eroding the shooter's soul and even the seemingly endless testimonies of people who have found some way to connect themselves to the tragedy (i.e. One girl on the news saying, "My dad knew someone who dated someone who graduate from VT 45 years ago.") It's so complex and confusing, I can't be judgemental about any of it other than keeping everyone involved and/or affected in my prayers. It does make me think about how I would handle someone like that. I mean, if a person that, for one reason or another, has failed socially that much went on a killing rampage and I was somehow affected, how would I forgive them? Would it even cross my mind? I don't know. From a distance I know it would be the right thing to do, but I also know that by nature I am a very judgemental person. All I can say is that I hope it will never be tested that far.

So there are probably a hundred other things I've forgotten to include, but I'm tired, and it's time to nap before the work week starts again...g'night friends.
-Rod