arranging and tweaking

projects on my plate right now:

revising "The Natives Are Restless Tonight." this was my final project in Arranging II, and I've added an extra solo/backgrounds section, a drum solo at the end, and various little harmonic tweaks here and there.

writing for the FedEx Kinko's commercial with the business men in the shower. i have a basic idea, but not all that much done. i'm sort of procrastinating on this one, which is not a great idea. it's due next week, and i need to use my time well to get this done.

ideas in my head right now:

arranging/transcribing "I Wanna Get Married" by Nellie McKay for some female vocalist to sing sometime.

arranging this latin-type tune i've written for big band. it's hard to describe, but it could be compared to "Chiaroscuro" by Alan Baylock.

writing a string quartet. i know i want to do it, and i know i don't know how. i'll need to pick up some scores and recordings and study and ask before i try my hand at this. this is sort of in the back of my mind.

arrange for vocal jazz ensemble. again, i have no idea where to start. scores and recordings are needed for this as well.

long term idea that i'll have to try at some time:

i still would love to arrange "Roundabout" by YES for big band. granted the closest genre it would fit into is Funk/Latin. It's not really a North Texas type thing, but maybe i'll get around to doing it before i graduate. I'm aware that it's been recorded by the Don Ellis Orchestra, but i can't get ahold of the recording of that. maybe it's for the better that i don't hear another arrangement of it.

good morning

there's nothing quite like a call from your professor to tell you that you're 10 minutes late to your lesson to wake you up!!

new books

i've recently ordered 3 books from Amazon.com

Contemporary Arranger by Don Sebesky

The Mixing Engineer's Handbook by Bobby Owsinski

and

Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen (The Songbook)

i ordered the first one maybe a week ago and i ordered the second two today.

sound

yesterday, i started learning the ropes about sound setup and sound stuff, because apparently jazz singers needs a new sound guy next fall. is it going to be me? survey says yes, for now. do i know how this really came about? survey says "huh?"

weekend of cooking

elizabeth and i made salmon with garlic mayonnaise, garlic cheese toast and salad on thursday night, and made pancakes from scratch today! how adventurous can i get with all the cooking? who knows!

9 MUMFS

elizabeth and i have been together for 9 months today. that's 39 weeks, or 273 days, or 6552 hours, or 393,120 minutes, or 23,587,200 seconds!!!!

i mean....

plugging along

this week has gotten off to a kind of boring start. i went to Radio/TV Music, which is always cool, then ate ate the Bruceteria (sloppy joes 'n' chicken! yee haw!), then i played in Summer Lab Band. after that, i went on over to the Chilton Media Library to watch some COMMERCIALS, OH BOY!

we're supposed to pick a commercial to re-score. i chose the one for FedEx Kinko's, where all the guys are standing in the company shower to get ideas. i chose it mostly because it had no music.

i fiddled around with Reason some more, and have been trying to emulate "Porch" by the late great Tiki Obmar.

i ate pizza over at Casa De Cesare, and watched The Critic, which was enjoyable.

now i'm fiddling with Reason again.

learning curve high

i'm trying to learn the Reason program.

GAHHHHHHHHHH

excellent weekend so far

i got elizabeth on thursday, then we went to Three Fins, and split a crawfish trio. we rented Team America: World Police, and laughed most heartiliy.

yesterday i went to Stephen Arnold Music, and toured their facility. It was really excellent and I was quite impressed. Chances are you've heard their music without even knowing it. They've recorded News Music for all the Networks and CNN, plus probably hundreds more.

I need to learn how to do some of that stuff. Recording and mixing and stuff like that. It's all really interesting, I just need to learn to do it.

I have curtains now, thanks to Elizabeth. We picked some up at Wallmart, and I spent WAY TOO LONG today putting them up. Lack of a power drill = pain and suffering.

week done!

week 2 is now over and i'm gonna pick my girl up in a few hours!

i need a computer chair, i'm using a wooden chair that hurts my neck.

i need to do laundry. i'm on emergency underwear.

you all NEEDED to know that.

songwriting

i am in such a songwriting mood today.

tour

now i have some time to expound. it's time for the VIRTUAL TOUR TOUR TOUR tour...

My Bed

My Desk, which cost me $16.24 at the UNT Surplus

The Downstairs Shower. I use Irish Spring

View of the bathroom from the shower

Stairs means we have two floors. Jeremy and Ross live upstairs, with the upstairs bathroom, which doesn't so much live upstairs as it exists upstairs.

Our living area

Our living area as viewed from the kitchen

the Kitchen

Our living area as viewed from the other side

Our awesome patio furniture that no one sits on

Chairs. the one on the right has been Fabreezed by Jeremy at least 100 times. the on on the left is one i picked up for $5.00 at a garage sale.

my room is quite messy and i still have a few things to get (dresser, chair for my desk), but my new domicile is pleasing.

i have the internet

yesterday i bought a router, and today i went looking for networking cable.

Lowe's was out of bulk cable, so i had to bite the bullet and get some prepackaged cable at Best Buy. at least i have the powers of internet once more.

GAWLIK

HEY HO! GAWLIK IS HEEEEERE

i'm in the computer lab once again. working on pop perfection on finale 2004. yay.

i want lots of computer stuff. i want midi and some sort of finale so i can do stuff at home on my own time!!

another from the libarry

to answer phil's query, yase i have moved into my new place. currently, my bed is a futon mattress with a egg crate foam thingy on top. if all goes according to plan, i'll pick up my bed tomorrow, and my desk on thursday. the desk i bought from the UNT Surplus store for $16.24.

no internet yet. that'll happen probably at the end of the week. i'm at the library, and needing to read a book on reserve, so byeeeeeeeee.

HOT

i'm back in texas. i'm only partially moved in. it is warm HOT and i know it's not even that hot for Texas.

i start classes in 40 minutes. yase!

JODY GERUT

i just found out that Cleveland Indians outfielder Jody Gerut has a weblog.

it hasn't been updated in a while, but maybe drew's and my antics last night will merit a post.

favorite quotes included:

"Jody and the Pussycats."
"You play baseball like a girl: a quote from Sandlot the Movie."
"Where's Coco [Crisp]?"
"JODY."

problems and solutions

problem: my dad is not able to help me drive back to Minnesota in July.

solution: drew might fly down and help me drive back.

ROAD TRIP. it will be just like the last two summers except we'll drive twice as long and we won't see Ben Folds!!!!

...wait...

:-(

curse of john guari

every time i go to a Twins game, they end up losing. it's a good thing i'm going back to Texas this friday. i'm excited to live in my own space. that means not a dorm room. that means no roommate, only housemates. i am not excited about having to teach myself to cook. i am excited about finding tons of house stuff for dirt cheap at Goodwill and garage sales. i'm excited to see Elizabeth!