On vacation (“holiday” for you crazy Brits and Canadians out there) 2 weeks ago out in Chautauqua, I was able to write 4 new songs. Just the music, no lyrics just yet, though I’ve at least got vocal melodies figured out for most of them. That’s easily one of my favorite things to do in the world… Just to sit on a bench in Bestor Plaza there with my acoustic and see what comes to me though my fingers. I miss that.
So, yesterday, after sleeping in til about 1pm (The Velmas had a show in Syracuse Sat. night and I didn’t get to bed til about 7am Sun. morning), I got to work on demo’ing one of them. It was between working on the song and mowing the lawn. The grass will live to grow another day. Five hours later, I’ve got a fairly good-sounding demo on my hands. This is one of the poppier tunes I’ve written in a few years, and I’m planning on doing this one with The Velmas. I’m pretty psyched about it. Maybe once I get lyrics done I’ll throw it up on Myspace. (You know, regurgitate it, or something.)
So in the combined 3 weeks over the last 3 summers I’ve spent in Chautauqua, I’ve come up with a total of 13 new songs. Of those, I think I’ve been able to complete (i.e. with lyrics and everything) maybe 4 of them. A couple are gonna be on my upcoming solo CD, and the others on the next Velmas album. But the others are languishing on my hard drive and iphone (I record quick demos “in the field”, as it were, so I don’t forget them), waiting for me to find the time to work on them and bring them to fruition. What I’d give to be able to spend as much time as I wanted doing just that… As it is, I’ll keep spending my free Sundays and odd hours on weeknights, I guess. In between recording the solo CD and doing Velmas stuff, that is. And you know, mowing the lawn, doing laundry, eating, sleeping…
