DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I have no comment on the veracity of the claim, but the ad is pretty clever.

(But maybe I only think so because Care2 used to have a Sun server called “treehugger.”)

I wrote Ode to Soup on the hammer dulcimer in 2004. I tracked and arranged the major sections in Pro Tools, and then, once I was happy with the arrangement, rerecorded a demo.

My friend and bass wizard Andrew contributed a groovalicious bass line that’s like its own little low-register song. It’s a great sonic accompaniment to the dulcimer part, a couple octaves lower and more legato than percussive in style.

I shipped the result to the other ex-third of JAR, guitar hero and newly minted Doctor Steve, who wrote a three-voice guitar part that was so right I could sing along after one listen.

We recorded the guitar tracks — three parts times 2-4 takes apiece, in stereo — at my home studio over Thanksgiving weekend, 2004. I’d recorded a final drum track here the previous month.

Then I futzed with the song for two months, comping guitar tracks and playing with stereo guitar sounds and failing to find good drum sounds, recording a new dulcimer melody for the second verse, and then creating about a dozen rough mixes, all of which were small and thin sounding, except in my office. Fortunately, Evan turned in a great mix, despite my meddling.

This song will open my solo CD.

Ode To Soup (160 kbps MP3)

Credits:
  Music: McGlynn, Thomas, Sparks
  Drums, Dulcimer: McGlynn
  Bass: Thomas
  Guitars: Sparks
  Recorded: 2004, Borrowed Time Studios
  Mixed: 2006, Evan Rodaniche / Master Blaster Studioz

Seen in the OS X (10.4.4) system.log file:

Feb 15 08:36:44 localhost kernel[0]: com_digidesign_DigiIO::start(IOResources) <1>
Feb 15 08:36:44 localhost kernel[0]: DigiIO has a funnel lock.  Whoa momma!

I finally saw the Hitchhiker’s Guide movie. I’m too late to spare anyone two hours of lament, but: ouch. This movie is lame. I not only didn’t like the movie… after watching it, I liked the book less.

This is not a gripe about being faithful to the story; there is no story to be faithful to. It’s been well-documented that the books differed from the original radio shows, and from the BBC’s TV scripts, and the Infocom game, and every other incarnation. For what it’s worth I think the movie’s plot held together better than the books or the old TV version. Adams was adept at recycling his own ideas, even dialogue, from one medium to another. And he was credited as the screenwriter here (despite his untimely passing in 2001) so I have to conclude he wouldn’t entirely be spinning in his grave to see the film that resulted.

There were some redeeming moments. I think some of the line readings in the movie worked better than in the BBC series. I think Zoey Deschanel was believable. Or at least cute. And I particularly appreciated Simon Jones’ cameo — he played Arthur Dent in the BBC series in 1981, and appeared briefly in the movie as the “Ghostly Image” above Magrathea.

Umm, I’m running out of redeeming moments.

The song Bleed was composed by my old band JAR in 1995 or so, after the recording of the want CD. We managed to capture a live performance of the song during our farewell gig, but the recording engineer subsequently taped another band over it because he hadn’t heard from us in a couple weeks and he couldn’t scrape up 25¢ for a phone call (much less $5 for a fresh ADAT tape).

In late 2004 I discovered and posted a low-fi board mix, captured to cassette during a college show back in the day. I was preparing, at the time, to rerecord the song in my home studio — a session that was documented here. Also I published some notes from the drum tracking for Bleed.

This song was one of my favorites from the old days, and it was a gas to rerecord it with the same guys, 10 years later. It was also a great challenge to set up a functional recording studio at home and get decent results despite making all the classic beginner mistakes. As usual, kudos and thanks to Evan for extracting the best possible performance from the raw material. And, special thanks to Steve for nailing the high note coming out of the breakdown section!

Bleed 2004 (160 kbps MP3)

Credits:
  Lyrics: Sparks
  Music: Sparks, Thomas, McGlynn
  Guitar, Vocals: Sparks
  Bass: Thomas
  Drums: McGlynn
  Recorded: 2004, Borrowed Time Studios
  Mixed: 2006, Evan Rodaniche / Master Blaster Studioz