Fine Lines and Hidden Spaces

Signing Off...

2012-01-05T14:16:00.001-06:00

Wiki Commons:The_End.jpg

I love writing. Maybe more specifically, I love ranting. I like creative writing, developing a blogging voice, thinking about what to post about, editing posts, forgetting to proof-read posts, finding pictures to go along with my post topics, and the like.

But blogging is not writing music. Or playing music. It's a different creative outlet - one that I think I'm not half-bad at. But not one that I feel I should be spending so much time doing. I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately.

After much deliberating, and with so many things vying for my time at this point in my life, I've decided to focus my minutes more specifically on music for a while - writing and playing it.

To all of my subscribers and followers, I would like to say thank you for keeping up with my blog... I'd also like to let you know that I'm not completely done with this sort of journaling either. I'd like you all to join me on Twitter, following me there (which is here: http://twitter.com/jaymathesmusic). Yes, it's shorter bursts of words, but words none-the-less. You can also Like me on Facebook, here: http://facebook.com/jaymathesmusic. And, you can subscribe to my Jaymathes.com news posts, here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jaymathesnews. Or, of course, I have a monthly newsletter. Sign up here: http://jaymathes.com/?page_id=33. The point is, you'll still be able to read words from me - just not here.

So please come along! Hop on a different train with me and continue reading with me...

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jaymathesmusic
Facebook: http://facebook.com/jaymathesmusic
Jaymathes.com News: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jaymathesnews
My Newsletter: http://jaymathes.com/?page_id=33

Also, I still have some unfinished blog business here, too. I do plan to finish up my top 25 albums of all time list, but I may not post that here... I'll make sure you're all able to see it, though.

So here's to a new year of opportunity ahead and 232 posts behind. Cheers!

New Year Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-01T16:43:00.001-06:00

I'm a fan of new year resolutions.

Here's why:

People rarely slow down to honestly assess their lives these days: where they're at career-wise, the things they value, what they spend their time and money on. Now, some people still don't get it. But I like the fact that, built in to our culture, is a kind of system for self evaluation.

I thought briefly about resolutions this year, and even briefly considered resolving to make no resolutions at all. I finally decided against it. Why? Because people are all messed up and are always in need of improvement; and, when looking in the right places, a very particular type of improvement in your own life is always readily available. What I mean is, by God's grace, we can end this new year with a greater understanding of who we are, the world we live in, and what Christmas really means. (What? Yeah. Life is about Christmas. It's pretty sweet that every year ends on a high note, reminding us about the things that really matter.)

So here are my resolutions for this new year:

1. To consider it one of my highest joys to serve my wife, my children, and my family with humility, generosity, and grace.

2. To take my wife out on a date every month. (Perhaps a modest goal, but one I'm sure she'll like.)

3. To give my wife a kids-free crafting day once a month.

4. To improve my physical, emotional, and mental fitness by exercising my body regularly.

5. To pray for my wife and children daily.

For those of you wondering, I say "new year resolutions" and not "new year's..." because they are my resolutions - not the year's. I want to take ownership of them....

Let's also take a look back at my resolutions from 1/1/2011 and see how I sized up:

1. Read a minimum of four excellent books.

I only read two of the books on my short list for the year, though I did read a few others, too. The two I did read were The Reason for God and Forty Days of Musa Dagh. I'll get to the other two this year, I'm sure.

2. Pray for my family every day.

Totally didn't happen. Utter failure. But it's a good thing that God already knew that.

3. Climb 5.11a.

Also didn't happen - I don't think. But have been climbing a lot more recently. In the last two weeks, I climbed my first 5.10d and V3. My guess is that 5.11a isn't out of my reach, I just haven't had any opportunities to give a climb of that rating a shot. I attempted a 5.11b yesterday, at the end of my climbing session, and couldn't hack it. I got stuck about half-way up. If you have zero idea what I'm talking about, here's a quick intro to how climbs are rated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)

--

You might be wondering about a few things here - why 2012's resolutions don't include anything about climbing or reading. Re: climbing, I still want to climb - and climb harder - but I want to make sure my interest in climbing doesn't overshadow my service to my family. Re: reading, I still will read - and I hope to read more this year than last - but again, I'm not interested in focusing on it. I'll just do it. Hopefully.

Merry, Merry, What is Christmas?

2011-12-28T10:39:00.001-06:00

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adventskranz_Porzellan.JPG

It's almost time for my annual new year resolutions post. I'll get to that soon. I'm still thinking about those...

But today, I want to ask you a simple question:

After the Christmas lights turn off and everybody goes back to work on a gray, overcast day in December, what are you left with? What was the point? What does Christmas mean?

Here's an interesting read if you're looking for a good answer to my question:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/12/23/the-best-christmas-songs-tell-the-truth

My guess is that if we really examine our own hearts, we'll find that the meaning of Christmas - for us - has been hi-jacked a little bit by our culture: good feelings, spending time with loved ones, presents, "peace on earth", "Jingle Bells", eating awesome food...

When it's All Worth it

2011-12-15T12:44:00.000-06:00

Raising kids is hard. It's a complicated process that never ends - not even when they're "grown up" and out of the house. That's because as we teach our children, we're also ourselves learning how to teach them. And every lesson taught - and learned - or re-taught and re-learned - is again another new lesson - because the circumstances have changed: you're older, the child is older, the day's events are different, and every variable is different. The weather is different, too!

Raising kids is complicated - not just because it is - but because it's what we call life. Life is complicated. There are new variables every single day. You can't even perform the same, simple task the same way from one day to the next. Take a less simple task as an example: you learn to walk as a toddler. Then you run. Then you gain speed and mobility. You train. You run further, faster, longer. Then you get older. You lose some of your edge. And sometimes, you lose your ability to run at all. Or even walk. You can't approach running in the same way from one day to the next because you're not the same person from one day to the next. Life changes. It's one of only two constants*.

But here's the deal: some of the most memorable moments in the last six years of my feeble existence have been spent with my children. Those moments almost always relate to something they've done - a laugh, a tumble, a word or sentence, a mess.

These moments make you realize that yeah, as cliche as it sounds, you wouldn't trade your kids or these hard days for the world. Psalm 127:3. This post has made me start to think about some of those moments in my own life, going as far back as I can remember. I think I'm going to try to compile a list of them and post them here over the next year or so. (It will take a while to remember them, to think through the years, and I don't want to miss any.)

If you're wondering what that picture is in this post, it's my son's bedroom after he decided to remove all of his books from the bookshelf.

Armenian Cookbooks and a History Lesson

2011-12-10T15:14:00.001-06:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Armenian_Empire.png

I've been shopping for Christmas presents this afternoon - for an affordable Armenian cookbook, in particular. I didn't realize how difficult the task would be. I guess I didn't realize (until I looked at a map a few minutes ago) just how small and insignificant Armenia is in the world. I mean, Armenia is on par, size-wise, with Israel. But I'm not saying that Israel is insignificant. I guess I'm saying that people see Armenia as insignificant, but it's not.

Here's a fact for you: People complain about Israel or Palestine "losing" land - or any number of "countries" (IE: ethnic/religious groups in that region) but Armenia seriously lost a lot of land to Turkey. It's like 700 km from Yerevan to the Mediterranean, and you've got to figure that Armenia at one point stretched at least 200 km both to the North and South of Musa Dagh, which is basically right on that sea. But let's keep in mind that the history of this region of the world has always been messed up. Land is trading hands all the time, and it's been that way for way over 2000 years. I don't want to get into a debate over whose land it really is... My opinion is that all land is on loan from God, and one day he's going to take it all back for himself anyway...

So my quick history/geography lesson came as a result of researching various regions of "Armenia". You see, to at least some Armenians, they still call parts of what is now Turkey "Armenia". I don't disagree. But I also don't think it matters, in some senses. What I mean is: politically what you call a place matters. Historically what you call a place matters. But when it comes to calling a place your home, if you're an Armenian, if you grew up in Cilicia, for example, you're likely to call your childhood home "Armenia." I think.

Back to my quest for an quality Armenian cookbook.

I'm not sure there is one. I've found a lot of "church lady cookbooks" - you know, the ones the ladies at churches compile and print for their congregations? Yeah...

If I had the money, I think this was the most promising one I found. Again, I think it's too much money:

http://www.armenian-cuisine.com/about.htm

- this bad boy is 65 USD, including shipping!!!

Looks pretty cool, but you can't really look inside. A ton of pictures, but could probably use either fewer and more recipes or just fewer all together. And cheaper, please. But again, this one hits the mark as far as hip factor goes. It sounds like the authors have a killer restaurant in Lebanon...

My second and third choices are pretty much equals, and I'd hate to settle on my gift by buying one of these seemingly lesser cookbooks. Again, the problem with shopping for cookbooks online is that you can't really get a good feel for them. Here are those two:

The Recipes of Musa Dagh - $20 on Amazon.

and...

Simply Armenian - Only $17.

So what do you all think I should do? I'm totally torn. Oh yeah, this search has also help me to come to the conclusion that Armenians don't use cookbooks, so the mere fact that I'm even looking for one is paradoxical.

When I'm Not Me

2011-12-07T09:14:00.001-06:00

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CrayonLogs.jpg

Over the past month, I've had conversations with two different friends about what it means to be "me" - whoever you are. We all came to the same conclusion:

One thing that makes you you is that you find special satisfaction in doing a particular type (or types) of work. You've been uniquely gifted, and if you're not regularly exercising those gifts, you're acting contrary to how you were created to act.

Those gifts could be anything: dancing, typing, editing, marketing, talking with people, building, designing, writing, punching or crunching numbers, analyzing, caring for someone, snapping a picture, digging holes, driving, teaching, learning - whatever. The thing is, sometimes your desired vocation doesn't turn out to be your occupation - at least for a particular season in life. But hang in there. I say that as one who struggles with this very thing.

Just to clarify: vocation is just one part of who we are. It isn't the whole person. It's not even the most important part of the whole. But it's a part that gets over-emphasized in countries like the USA.

Supporting the Companies that Support Climbing

2011-12-06T14:00:00.000-06:00

Something has been bothering me lately.

Two days ago, I received the newest issue of Vertical Times in my mail box (yes, mail box). I read through it immediately. I got to the second-to-last page and, as always, I am careful to review the entire list of corporate donors. Until this evening, I couldn't tell you why I do that. I couldn't put my finger on it, but now I can tell you: I was interested in seeing which companies are actively involved in the climbing community - which companies demonstrate a vested interest in the activities that I'm interested in.

But why does that matter? In some of the same ways that it makes sense to "buy local" (stimulating the local economy, local owners have an interest in the community prospering, these people are often our immediate friends and family, their product offering can be, and often is, unique and nearly one-of-a-kind, and they often support other, fellow local businesses and causes), it makes sense to support the companies that support your interests - in my case and those of many of my friends, climbing.

Here's a list of the AF's current corporate donors: http://www.accessfund.org/site/c.tmL5KhNWLrH/b.4992449/k.C75D/Corporate_partners.htm

For starters, let me say that I don't know over what amount of time these donations have come in. They may reflect lifetime donations by an organization. I plan to contact the AF to see what the numbers actually mean, and I'll update that on this post.

A couple things surprised me about the list:

1. PrAna, which I thought to be a fairly small organization, is one of the top five donors. Experience has told me that PrAna makes the absolute most comfortable climbing clothing ever, but I did not expect a top five from them. It really makes me wonder why we don't see other brands that make apparel that high up the list: Marmot, Mammut, and Arc'teryx, in particular.

2. I didn't think Outdoor Research made that big of an impact in the climbing world. I guess I was wrong.

Here's the biggie, and here's really what sparked this post:

3...

Yesterday, I was at my local climbing gym, Vertical Endeavors, in Warrenville, IL. I looked around and this is what I saw: 8 out of 10 climbing harnesses on 70+ climbers were Black Diamond brand. Another 10% were Petzl and the final 10 were probably Wild County, Mammut, etc. That's a lot of cash going Black Diamond's way from the climbing community.

I then thought about my own, personal gear: carabiners, quickdraws, slings, harnesses, nuts, cams, tents. I'd say 80% of my climbing gear is Black Diamond brand, 10% is Petzl, and the final 10 is a combination of Trango, Metolius, and C.A.M.P. Again, that's a lot of money going to Black Diamond.

Considering these sorts of numbers, Black Diamond should be able to donate eight times the amount of money that Petzl donates and closer to 16 times the amount that Mammut donates. But on the Access Fund donor list, all three companies are in the same bracket. The simple numbers here mean that Black Diamond should easily be in the next rung up. (They all give/have given between $50 and $100k.)

4...

About one year ago, I wrote a letter to Mountain Hardwear, expressing my unhappiness with where their company ranked on the Access Fund donor list. The company did eventually respond by saying that they donate to a number of organizations and are constantly working on giving more. Interestingly enough, the company is not listed in the current issue of Vertical Times, though they are listed on the donor list on Accessfund.org. I'll have to contact the AF to see what the deal is there.

My next step:

I'll call the AF and see what's up.
I'll write a letter to Black Diamond.
I'll buy my coffee from Intelligentsia (who gave the Access Fund between $250 and $500!)

Starting Over

2011-11-30T20:23:00.001-06:00

Have you ever wished that life had a "do over" button?

When I was younger, I used to say, literally, "This is my life. No regrets. I am who I am today because of what happened yesterday. End of story."

Do I still believe it? That's a hard question to answer.

Yes, I'm a product of my past, so at least that much is true.

But do I regret any of my past? Maybe the answer is "It doesn't matter, even if you do."

As a famous meerkat once said, "You got to put your past behind you."

Tonight I've got the whole evening to work on writing new music. My wife has graciously let me out of the house (and agreed to watch the chiluns). But I'm tired and having a hard time getting inspired. So I'm blogging instead, for now.

I'm hoping this whole process will inspire me - and you - to remember that "life's a dance, you learn as you go..."

PS: Anybody else getting freaked out by these crazy "appeals" on Wikipedia?!?!

Do over button image: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCPDB0QlqNs

I Don't HAVE to, I GET to

2011-11-09T14:03:00.001-06:00

I love my family.

Sometimes they're difficult. Sometimes they prevent me from doing the things I love to do. But this is all just a part of life, isn't it? Anything can cause us difficulty or keep us from having fun, etc...

I think I'm learning that when you truly love, you're choosing to be in pain - as you love. Here's why:

Love is sacrificial - self-giving, other-oriented, not selfish at all. What does selfishness look like? Putting your desires above the desires of those you love, and when you don't get what you want, you make a big stink about it. (Keep in mind, love isn't one-way - it happens in relationship, so both people have to be giving of themselves, and sometimes it works out that someone is sacrificially loving you - you're the receiver.)

Next, when you hang your heart on the line - when you love - you're bound to be let down by the people you love. People suck. People hurt the people they love the most. Why? They don't really do it on purpose. It's a product of the fact that we spend the majority of our time with the people we love the most. People are prone to act contrary to the way they were originally designed to act (in perfect love).

Now here's how this post relates to my title:

A selfish man would say, "I have to stay home with my children during the day, so my wife can work a steady job." A loving man would say, "I get to stay home with my kids..." I'll be honest. I'm definitely feeling somewhere in between today. Of course, it's because I'm not perfect and I struggle with selfishness - probably more than the next man! But you can't say I'm not trying to work on or figure out how to fully, truly say "I get to..."

Also, my kids are cute. Seth in the leaves and Eleanor with wide eyes.

What All Great Music Does

2011-11-05T21:50:00.000-05:00

Life is never what we expect.

Curve balls are thrown. Your dad gets cancer. You don't end up with the career you always envisioned. Your almost 30 and still single. You feel pressured to achieve the unachievable - the unidentifiably unachievable.

This is what life is.

Life is messy. Life is full of disappointments. Life is imperfect. Broken. Difficult. Desperate.

But great music can help.

There is one thing that all great songs have in common: they fill us with a sense of longing for a perfect, eternal future. They remind us that a glorious future is possible. They even contain within them a glimmer of that reality, and for a few, brief moments, we can be there. In that moment. At peace.

Music helps me to continue living.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately: what does it mean to be human? I think it means exactly what I've already described about the human experience: you feel disappointment and long for unattainable fulfillment. Or is it unattainable?

Many of my friends call me spiritual. Few call me religious.

I'd say if ever there were a need to believe in God it would be because we humans know that this unquenchable longing can not be satisfied by what we do, have, or accomplish. History has shown us that our deepest human desires can't be fulfilled by our own achievement. Time and again people "at the top" are the hardest to fall. They seemingly have everything and yet, they lose it all - and eventually, die like the rest of us. Have your actions, relationships, or possessions brought you perfect fulfillment yet? I'm guessing not.

We have to believe God exists. Without Him, we are utterly without hope of having our longings fulfilled. We already know we can't make it happen ourselves.

And I'd say that if ever there were a reason to believe that God can actually do it - can actually placate my (and your!) frenzied hunger - its because when I listen to great music - in that oh so small, fleeting moment, that's exactly what actually happens. I feel redeemed.

God exists because an unquenchable longing exists in our hearts that can't be satisfied by human activity - and we have to believe that this longing can be satisfied by something out of this world. And God is in fact able to do it because he gives us pieces of that satiety through music.

Do I think there's more to the story? Oh yeah. By grace, I'm trying to learn more of it every day.

P90X and Climbing

2011-10-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

A very good friend of mine recently recommended that I try working out with the P90X home fitness video series. He was so serious about having me give it a shot that, for my birthday, he bought me a pull-up bar. Why I all that interested? Nope. Do I like home fitness videos? Definitely not? But do I want to improve my climbing ability? Absolutely.

Some of you may remember that my first post of the new year (2011) was a set of new year resolutions. You can read 'em HERE. One of those resolutions was to climb 5.11a. Basically, it's a difficulty rating system used by climbers and anything rated 5.11x is right in the middle of it - not too easy, not too hard. So all in all, I set a humble, moderate goal of being able to climb about 1/2 of all routes.

I've only done two sessions/days of P90X and, so far, it has spanked my pants off - hard. On the third day, yesterday, I went climbing at Devil's Lake. I was sore, but was able to pull off a couple of good routes fairly cleanly - a couple 5.8's and a 5.9. (Devil's Lake ratings are stiffer than anywhere else I've climbed, so a Devil's 5.8 is really at least a "real" 5.9 and a Devil's 5.9 is at least a "real" 5.10a.

A few months ago - back in May, when I was climbing more regularly (READ: before our second child was born), I was easily climbing 5.10b and was close to climbing 5.10c. (The steps from 5.10a and 5.11a are: 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, and 5.11a.) I feel like I've taken a small step backwards, but still hope to be able to accomplish my goal by year-end.

So the hope is that P90X helps to round out my training, so that I'm not *just* climbing, which has pretty much been the case for a while now. I've been feeling like a slug, and, with the exception of a handful of runs between today and this past May, it's been all I've done.

I'll fill you in on how I'm doing in the coming weeks...

"THAT Neighbor"

2011-10-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

Until recently, I had never heard of someone described as "THAT neighbor" before. I had no idea what the phrase meant. I have since figured it out.

Ironically, the one who first introduced me to the term has turned out to be the purest embodiment of the word's definition that I have ever encountered. Now knowing the definition, I can say that over the course of my lifetime, I have had several "THAT neighbors": growing up, the pot smoker next door; the drug dealer upstairs; the video game-playing insomniac raver; and now... well, I'd rather not give a description yet.

Here's my working, evolving definition of "THAT neighbor":

Someone who lives next door to you (or above or below you) who habitually, carelessly breaks the spoken or unspoken rules of your neighborhood.

A shorter definition might be much simpler:

"THAT neighbor" = the neighbor that nobody ever wants

Or:

"THAT neighbor" = a bad neighbor

So here's the real issue at hand: now that we have identified who these people are and what they do, we have to decide how we're going to deal with, and interact with, them.

The bottom line is this: I'm convinced that God demands of us all that we treat all others with infinite respect, as we would wish to be treated - even when we screw up - because all people are inherently valuable to him. But more than that, I believe that I am personally expected to act with an impossible amount of grace and patience - to demonstrate a level of love that I am incapable of showing to anyone in my own strength.

With great difficulty, I say here: "I love my neighbor." Now comes the hard part: showing it. By how I act, what I say - both to her and to others about her, and how often I go out of my way to show her that I care.

Late Nights and New Videos

2011-10-05T02:31:00.000-05:00

For the last two, consecutive nights, I have stayed up late - past my bedtime - to work on a couple of new videos to post online. The first one, the live, studio session recording of "Welcome", from my album, Fundamental, and the other, a real-time illustration (music video?) of my song "Orphans", also from Fundamental. Am I happy with the results? Absolutely. Do I wish I were sleeping right now? Yes. Do I regret it? Not yet.

Please take just a few minutes to head on over to my YouTube channel to check out the new videos. And, comment on them and share them with your friends, please:

http://youtube.com/jaymathesmusic

Just FYI, only the "Welcome" video is currently available (as in, today, 10/5, at 2:25 AM). YouTube is doing some system maintenance and the "Orphans" video won't go live until some time mid morning.

Thanks!

-Jay

Music Clout. Seriously?

2011-10-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Wow. Same junk, new name: Taxi. Sonicbids. Reverb Nation. G2.fm. Music Clout. Companies preying on gullible artists, asking them to pay for exposure or concerts or song placement or whatever. Will Music Clout succeed? My guess is yes. Why? Because most artists are looking for a pipe dream: the easy way to musical success. Don't get me wrong: I'm tempted by the same things.

This Music Clout-sort of a business model works on numbers: get enough artists to sign up (IE: "buy in") and, for every submission from every artist, the company makes bank. The only cost to the company is the up-front cost in convincing songwriters and bands of the illusion that *their* organization can *truly* "make" a band - make them lots of money - with one of their "opportunities".

Songwriters and bands, listen up:

NEVER PAY SOMEBODY UP FRONT FOR A CHANCE TO GET HEARD BY A PARTICULAR PERSON, AGENCY, VENUE, OR LABEL.

It's been said that anything worth having takes work to get. It's true. 99.99% of the time, these companies will steal your money and leave you in the same place you started: nowhere. You can't build a music career simply by submitting innumerable entries to virtual businesses. You need to be *there*, in person, pounding the *pavement*. Physical. Work. Sweat.

Wow. Venting. Seriously.

Thoughts on Reason 6 - Upgrades and Pricing

2011-10-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

Just two days ago, Propellerhead Software released a new version of my *favorite* music creation software: Reason. The new version, 6, combines all of the features from two, different programs of theirs. Basically, all I'd like you to know is that this new version kicks serious butt, adds some new features, and is still my program of choice when it comes to generating ideas for new songs in a computer recording "environment" (as they say). I've been running Reason v.4 since around Christmas time of 2009, and my last upgrade before that was version 2.5 - way back in 2004. The software has certainly come a long way, and, dare I say it, if the company can "fix" some of their lack of keyboard shortcuts, Reason just might replace Logic Pro as my multi-tracking (IE: recording) program of choice.

So, a few thoughts on Propellerhead's Reason 6 pay what you want deal (oh wait. you didn't hear about that?!?!):

1. It saves Propheads money. They won't have to manufacture as many DVD's/Boxes for Reason 6.
2. You do have to own either Reason 4 or 5 in order to do it, so they are expecting users to upgrade - to something - and make it all the way up to Reason version 6, making up for some of the money from consumers "underpaying".
3. It's only for one month. This builds buzz and hopefully generates a ton of sales in the first month, helping the companies balance sheet (a business term basically meaning that they'll have cash on hand to carry on business).
4. Most people aren't going to pay what they want - they'll most likely pay what they can afford. I wish I could afford the "regular" upgrade price, but I just can't right now. Consider: starving artist.

This last factor was really the big motivator for me. A regular Reason upgrade - in a box - is $129. Of that, you've got to figure that $20-30 of it goes in to production and shipping to local music stores. The company then has $100 left with which to develop the product, pay their people, etc. When you think about it, that's not much for a world-class leader in recording software. Apple's Logic Studio is $500. Logic upgrades are usually $300.

A secondary motivator for me was considering how much money the music I have created using Reason has generated for me. I'm a professional performing songwriter, after all, and I looked at this picture considering Propellerhead a partner in the music I create and sell. If I made a lot, I think I'd be willing - and able - to pay a lot. Considering where I'm at right now, I hope to be able to pay Propellerhead back for taking a bit of a hit this time around, and when I'm generating a little more cash from my music, I can make up the difference - between what I paid and what I think the software is really worth - when the next version comes out.

This does beg the question: what about hobbyists or people using Reason for fun? First, there probably aren't many of you out there. And for those of you who are, I think you should consider a different model for determining how much Reason 6 is worth: consider what upgrades have been in the past, consider what upgrades of similar products (IE: other DAW's) cost, and consider how many songs you write using the software. Maybe something like, "For an upgrade, I'd be willing to pay $5 for every song I expect to write/compose using Reason 6", using your past usage as an indicator.

Yes, It's 3:30 AM, but the New Site is Up!

2011-09-19T03:37:00.000-05:00

My life always seems to work this way. I get an idea. I run with it. I don't stop. Three days ago, I started work on a complete redesign of jaymathes.com. I knew the day was coming when I'd need to make that happen, but I didn't expect it to happen this week.

I'm not going to restate why I did the new design. You can read out that on the first news post of the site. (Never fear, I will continue to keep this blog up. This blog is where I get to rant. Over there, I keep things more business-like, you might say.) What I will say, though, is that I feel much better now that it's "done" (I have a few things yet to touch up, but they're all very minor.)

I like the idea of starting something, going all in with it, completing it, then moving on to the next task. It's refreshing. I hope you enjoy the new site as much as I do. I feel like I've accomplished something.

Thoughts on Google Music Beta: Magnifier

2011-09-15T22:05:00.000-05:00

I've only spent a few minutes on Music Beta - and only about 10 minutes listening to music from Magnifier. If you're unfamiliar with either or both services, check 'em out here:

Music Beta: http://music.google.com/about
Magnifier: http://magnifier.blogspot.com

Basically, my thoughts are simple:

First of all, Music Beta successfully ruined my first listen of Rachael Yamagata's song River by blipping the crap out of it. I have 24 mbps download-streaming internet service, so I'm guessing the real streaming problem of this very delicate tune was on the content delivery side - not on mine. Seriously. Ouch.

But here's what I find to be the real problem:

Google says, "Add new and exclusive tracks to Music Beta for free" and in their promotional literature, they repeatedly say Music Beta is "your music library" and "your personal music library".... I find that hard to believe - and as far as I can see, I'm right. Here's why:

Yes, only *you* have access to the songs. Yes *you* can organize them into playlists - just like in iTunes. BUT - and here's the kicker: your songs are stuck in cyberspace and you can't download them on to your computer - even if they are in *your personal music library* that is called Music Beta.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it looks like even when you make content available offline on your Android device (is it available for iPhone?) you CAN'T play songs OUTSIDE of the Music Beta app - meaning: they aren't YOUR songs - they're stuck in MB. Unless I'm missing something, there definitely is NOT a feature to download songs to your computer or make content available offline on your computer.

So I argue here that the feature to "add free songs to your library with Magnifier" is totally and completely dumb. They in no way become MY songs.

At least Spotify doesn't try to tell users they OWN songs that they merely from within their program.

View from Horseshoe

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday night, I took the stage at Horseshoe BBQ on Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. It was a fun night - not a stupendous night, but a good night. It was my first show as a father of two. I had a mild headache. I was running on about 10 hours of sleep over three days. Beautiful. (in a weird sort of way.)

I want to say a quick thanks to Rena Newman for inviting Chris Zonada and me to perform, and I want to thank Mike at Horseshoe BBQ for paying us - for supporting live, original music in Chicago. His commitment is rare this city I call home. Thank you. Speaking on behalf of all other Chicago songwriters, we hope that we can pay you back - some day.

Blurb from My Latest Newsletter

2011-08-28T14:08:00.001-05:00

I don't do this - ever, but I thought it would be good for you all to hear, if you haven't already read it in my latest newsletter... This is a cut and paste from the email I sent out to my music mailing list just a couple days ago, on August 26, 2011 (by the way, if you're not already on it, please sign up for my mailing list at http://jaymathes.com, filling out the mailing list form on the right side of the page, towards the top):

In just a few, short weeks, I will be the father of two, beautiful children. Having kids makes you think, and, paradoxically, gives you less time. Maybe what really happens is you just think better with what little time you have to think.

I've put in a lot of time - and money - into my music over the years. (I just realized that this past February marked the 10-year anniversary of the release of my album, Leave it All Behind.) Don't worry. This isn't a break-up letter.

I'm not losing steam - just trying to evaluate things. What I can say is that I'm even more inspired today by life than I ever have been. I can't help but write and perform. And I'm also even more excited by what I call a genuine musical experience. What I long to see in other recording artists - and what I long to show to you - is a picture of who the artist really is - not some projected image - some amalgamation of marketing tactics and strategies.

In an effort to better show you who I am, I'm going to continue doing what I do: writing music that comes from my heart, my experiences, and reflects who I am and how I feel. I might blog less. I might tweet more. I might be on Facebook less. I will write more music. I will post that music online. I will beg and ask for your support of that music.

Music keeps me going. If I lost my hearing, I'd self-combust.

Thanks for your support, and come on out on 9/4 if you can!

-Jay

Now Serving BMI Artists...

2011-08-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

I just received an email today from my performing rights organization (PRO), BMI Inc., that they just signed a deal with Spotify that pays BMI artists for music streamed from the Spotify application. Awesome. So feel free to stream away those Jay Mathes tunes in Spotify, knowing that I'm actually getting paid when you do!

Thoughts on the John Mayer Q and A at Berklee

2011-07-14T16:33:00.000-05:00

If you're a songwriter and you haven't read this yet, check it out:

http://www.berklee-blogs.com/2011/07/john-mayer-2011-clinic-manage-the-temptation-to-publish-yourself/

It seems as though Mr. Mayer has gotten a hold of himself and regained some serious perspective on life, music, and success. I've always had respect for the man's music and guitar playing, but he hit a serious low last year with his quest for the Joshua Tree of... Just look up his Rolling Stone interview if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Actually, one more thing about his music: using the word "respect" to describe how I feel about his music would be an understatement. I would say he's one of my top 10 favorite artists of all time, actually. I wish that artists more often lived how their music sounded. Is it too much to expect the writers of extraordinary music to live extraordinarily virtuous lives?

Maybe not.

But this time around, I think Mayer has reformed some of his previous errors.

The biggest take-aways from this short interview/article are Mayer's comments on social media. Mayer admits that this crap is addicting, distracting, and creatively worthless.

I've heard one artist, when asked "How did you get to where you are today?" say, "I just turned off the T.V." What he was getting at is that media is a distraction and, ultimately, it is a progress killer.

Does anybody find it ironic that I'm blogging about this topic?

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #6

2011-06-23T20:01:00.001-05:00

Weezer: Weezer

Hands-down the most influential album of my high school years. I can put more experiences to music from this album than any other. And the stories are almost all too personal to share in a blog post.

Classical or Folk: Which is Better?

2011-06-22T14:25:00.006-05:00

Last night, in a late-night discussion about the impact of music on body, mind, and soul, my brother and I argued the pros and cons of "classical" and "folk" music. Let me start with definitions:

"Classical" - instrumental music that utilizes stringed instruments or brass and sounds like it could have been written in the late 1700's. (Bear with me. This is really quite a terrible definition. But it probably works just fine for the average person.)

"Fok" - any music written "of the people" or sounds like it was written by them or sounds like you can have a gay ole time partying to it.

So who won? It's not that simple. At the end of the day, we both felt that lyrics are often integral to the communication of music. But nearly every great lyrical song also has some sort of a musical "set-up" section, where the song wouldn't be the same without the bed of music upon which these words sit.

Conclusion: it might be worth one's effort to try to write lyrics and a melody for Copland's Appalachian Spring.

CAU Performance Rescheduled

2011-06-21T16:34:00.002-05:00

Hey, folks.

I spoke to Michael Teach of Chicago Acoustic Underground last night, and we were *finally* able to reschedule my live performance taping for the CAU podcast. I'm not sure yet when the show will air, but the recording will be on Monday, July 11th, at 2 PM, at the CAU studio on Armitage Ave.

Awesome.

Details forthcoming.

The Strange Tendency of History to Repeat

2011-06-20T18:06:00.002-05:00

@jaymathesmusic: Reading "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh" right now. Why can't we prevent history from repeating itself? Oh yeah, now I remember: politics.

Clarification: I'm reading a translation, in English... The picture to the left is a copy of the first edition.

I'm only one hundred pages in to the book right now, but a lot of what I've read so far sounds vaguely familiar: Nazi Germany, Sudan, and the Trail of Tears all come to mind.

I do have one, big clarification, though, on my tweet: I think there are occasions where the main reason countries do no intervene in preventing genocide is because they do not have the resources - financial or otherwise - to stop it. For all practical purposes, this was probably a big factor in WW2. Not most of Europe together could stop Nazi Germany, even though they wanted to.

I think at the heart of this global problem is the fact that people inherently react to events with self preservation as the highest priority. I can bring this theory in to the practical: I love my son. Very much. But when he runs at me when I'm lying on the floor, full-speed, and I don't see him until the last instant, my only reaction is to lift my arm, shielding my body from the blow, regardless of the consequences to him. Thank God I haven't hurt him yet this way, but he has definitely lost his breath on a number of occasions.

I'd just like to humbly conclude by saying that this is an area of great interest to me, and one that I know almost nothing about. I tend* to be a serious cynic when in comes politics, and the American political system, in particular, and this obviously affects my views here. I'm open to discovering the truth behind what I'm talking about - even if it means revising my entire view of the matter.

A Song is Not a Cookie

2011-06-18T20:53:00.002-05:00

I distinctly remember reading a book for a marketing class in college that referenced the start-up of some, well-known cookie manufacturer of today. That cookie company was started by one dude giving away cookies on public transit buses in whichever city he lived at that time. I could have sworn he did it in the city of Chicago. I've searched, but alas, cannot identify the company. Maybe it was all a dream... I'll try to remember to dig out a couple of books and search for the company the old-fashioned way - by browsing my book collection.

But here's the deal: a song is not a cookie.

When a dude wants to start a cookie company, he just might become successful by giving away his cookies for a month straight, and, assuming his cookies are fantastic, he might gather a long line of customers who seek to eat another one of those fantastic cookies - and pay for it - after that time.

With artists, songwriters, record labels, and anybody else who relies on *recordings* for their income, you can't, ultimately, just give them away for free. Why? Because once someone "tastes" (IE: downloads) your sound recording, the person never has to come back to you to get that same flavor - he already has it in his iTunes library. You've just given away your number one commodity, and users can re-create that listening experience without you now.

I haven't decided exactly what this epiphany means for me, my music, and the music Swiftly Running Records represents, but you bet I'm thinking about it - alot.

If you think you've got a few good ideas to explain what I'm talking about, or if you've got other ideas about how to make sound recordings work for artists, please let me know. Or maybe I'm way off base...

Finding Significance in Your Work

2011-06-16T11:42:00.006-05:00

It might come to a surprise to some of you, but the majority of songwriters and music artists struggle to earn enough money to make ends meet. That means that the majority of songwriters often find themselves employed doing work completely unrelated to their music. And I think that's okay - for a season.

For my own part, I've spent several hours this past week trying to drum up new business, new gigs (music- and non-music related), and I've come to one [I think] very important conclusion: wherever you work, and whatever you do, it has to be "work worth doing":

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
- Theodore Roosevelt.

If your current job is just a job or just a way to pay the bills, I'd suggest seeking new employment. Why? Because jobs like that burn people out. These are positions that are a part of the modern corporate machine, but don't really add value to our or any other peoples' lives. Some might say, "Yeah, but these things have to be done by somebody." And to that I say, "You're right." But why should it be done by you? Find something else where you *know* you are adding value to society - not just to your 401k.

Life is too short to be somebody's tool. I want to be a tool for change.

Anti-Social-Media Trends

2011-06-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

“@jaymathesmusic: Is it possible? I think it is: the successful, anti-social-media band. Only time will tell. Consider this a prediction.”

So, I know this is probably going to come as a complete surprise to many of you... I have a very strong feeling about this, though, and because I have been accused at times of saying "I knew that was going to happen" well after the fact, I'll say it here, right now.

A day is coming when the cool thing is nowhere found online. It only exists in a secret, old-fashioned, *actual* word-of-mouth world. I predict that one day in the not-so-distant future bands will "emerge" and become popular, not as a result of social networking websites, but as a result of anti-media. Does any band or artist dare to test the waters? I don't think so. Not yet. But the one who figures out how to do this first will be the one who benefits the most (or at least gets the credit for implementing this "cutting edge" "marketing" strategy.

So how far in the future do I see this happening? We're probably a ways off yet. I'd say you won't hear about the first, best-kept-secret, off-media band/artist until 2024.

Music Licensing Opportunities

2011-06-13T15:59:00.001-05:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been exploring new ways to generate some cash from the music that I write and record. The good news? There are a lot of ways to generate the money, as I have found. The bad news? It seems like every other artist has discovered the same thing that I have. I've found a bunch of websites that claim to "specialize" in what is called song placement or music licensing - places called "pitching houses" (basically just a new name for a music publisher). The problem is that I'm having trouble navigating this over-crowded sea of music speculators.

For lack of a better comparison - actually, no, I think it's a perfect comparison - the digital music licensing world looks *exactly* like the California gold rush days: everybody is vying for the same territory, the "mining" technology (a content delivery system) is readily available to almost all artists, and the value of the commodity (good, quality music) is fluctuating based on its availability.

So what does this mean for my music and the music that Swiftly Running Records represents? It means that now, more than ever before, I have to rely on personal contacts to exploit song placement opportunities. And the best way to continue to establish those relationships is to be where those decision-makers are - to live where the music supervisors live, eat where they eat, attend the events they attend, invite them over for dinner, take them out for coffee. I know a heck of a lot of them live in L.A., a few in Nashville (I think), and maybe some in NYC(?). But I'm not so sure I'm willing to relocate just so that I can pitch my songs. (Maybe I can get somebody else to do it[?].)

I want to play. I want to perform the music I write. I want to be on stage. I'm just looking for a way to make enough money to keep doing what I love.

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #5

2011-06-09T10:47:00.001-05:00

Death Cab for Cutie: Plans

For starters, they used amazing equipment to record it. A friend of mine, Collin Jordan, a mastering engineer in Chicago, said that the vocal mic Ben Gibbard used on this record was probably worth over $10k. Nice.

Second, Death Cab has pioneered the pop-electronic fusion that is so common in music today.

Yes, I will follow you into the dark...

More Pics from Catfish Studio

2011-06-02T13:15:00.000-05:00

I recently came across two more pictures - ones I've never seen before! - from my time recording Fundamental, at Catfish Studio. Both were taken by my good friend, Nick Gray (iamnickgray.com)

Instrumental Record?

2011-05-17T15:28:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Always a bad sign. Why? Because it means that you're not happy, I think. I have a lot of "unfinished" songs sitting in a drawer right now, and I was thinking about the best way to finish the songs. I listened to some of the sketch recordings I made and I came to a conclusion: one way to finish all of these songs is to keep them instrumental. They range the gamut, stylistically, and not all of them even need words to stand - the melodies and instrumentation can hold themselves up as is. So I just might do that. It would be yet another non-Jay Mathes "project" that I'm a part of, but it might be worthwhile, especially considering it might give me more material to pitch to advertisers, TV, movies, and video games. Just a thought. I'll keep you posted.

Special Thanks: The Hursthouse Family

2011-05-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to give a special thanks to my friends, Bob, Robbie, and Scott Hursthouse, who hosted a concert for me at Scott's house in Channahon, IL, this past weekend. I had an awesome time, there was a great turn-out, and they were more than generous, providing everybody with great drinks and food, and sending me away with a nice, little care package, including pulled pork, rib tips, and sweet potato pie!

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #4

2011-04-28T14:03:00.000-05:00

Coldplay's X and Y. Will anyone actually argue against this album being on my list? Highly doubtful.

More Press for Fundamental!

2011-04-25T12:17:00.003-05:00

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Wheaton Leader Newspaper printed an awesome article about my latest record. Check it out HERE. Booyah.

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #3

2011-04-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

As you know, I have gotten myself in to a little pickle. I have started a top 25 albums of all time list. The problem is that, over the years, a heck of a lot of music has been recorded and compiled as albums. Just as a bit of a reminder, and maybe even a clarification, I have a few ground rules for this list. The more music I have listened to in my quest to compile this list, the more I have seen a need to be very specific about what this list is. Here are a few guidelines I am following:

Pop/Rock genre only. There's way too much music out there, and way too much music that I can humbly say I know absolutely nothing about.
Every song on the record has to be great. Every song has to be able to stand on its own, distinctly stand as a part of the whole and compliment it. For my purposes, even a single, bad song on an album will disqualify an album from the list.
Popularity is not a pre-requisite. I am not using anyone else's list to make mine. I am trying very hard not to let Rolling Stone magazine tell me what to include.
I won't include an album without very recently listening to it all the way through. And when I say listen, I mean that the music has my full attention.
Your suggestions are warmly invited! I know I haven't heard everything out there in the pop/rock genre - especially when it comes to classic rock, oldies, or 80's pop. Some historical background: the album "format" didn't really become popular until the mid- to late-1950's, so just as a simple, point of fact, I probably won't have to go back any further than that.

With all of this now said - and said again, in some cases - I'd like to announce album #3 in my list: Acceptance's album Phantoms. I might take some serious criticism for this one. The album is from 2005 - right around the time when all alternative rock music started to sound the same: over-compressed, perfect vocals, unbelievably punchy drums, et al. But, at the end of the day, in my opinion, this might just be the best album you've never heard of.

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-03T14:52:00.001-05:00

There's no place like home. And for different people, it turns out that home is somewhere different. New York City was awesome, but when I saw that Chicago skyline as our plane was landing, I automatically felt more relaxed. Calm. At ease.

Life brings us huge changes all the time; and for me, at least one big one is approaching - maybe even two or three. One thing I can guarantee: Chicago will always be home.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

New York City Here We Come

2011-03-27T22:43:00.004-05:00

If you think I've been MIA for the last three weeks, you'd be right. So where have I been and what have I been doing? Simple. I've been spending most of my time recording at the Dragon Room (the name I gave to where I do most of my producing). The result? Eight new songs for a new record with a little side-project that I have called Restoration Project. I haven't tallied up all of the hours I've spent on it in the last three weeks because, frankly, it doesn't really matter. I knew from the start that I'd spend as much time on it as it would take. The album comes out April 10th, and you all should come to the release party. Get the details HERE. So there you have it. It's time for a vacation. I leave for NYC with my wife and son tomorrow morning.

A Human Struggle for Recognition

2011-03-01T11:39:00.003-06:00

This morning, I had a little bit of time to think about why people blog. It was on my mind because I actually took some time today to read the blogs of a couple of good friends of mine. We don't read our friends' blogs (usually) because we already know what's going on in their lives, how they feel about things, and how they're continuing down this strange path of existence we call life.

The bottom line? We all struggle with a lot of different things, but there are common ones, too. Though there are obviously many reasons, I think blogging is motivated primarily by a desire to be recognized as a person, separate from everyone else. It's a desire to find meaning behind why we're alive; because if we're all pretty much the same, we all live, we all die, we're simply a part of the lineage of the human race, then what's really the point?

Humans don't just want to exist. They want to matter.

I don't think that I blog because I'm searching for answers so much myself, but that I kind of hope that I can help other people cope with that struggle - that desire - and can move them in the direction of discovery for themselves...

My new album, Fundamental, really is the closest I've come so far to expressing this and other struggles common to the human experience in my music. If you haven't yet, you should check it out, here:

http://jaymathes.com/music/fundamental

To some of you, I know I still owe you copies of the album. I'll try to make that happen this week. Sorry for the delay!

Picture: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V-J_Day_Times_Square_NYWTS.jpg

First Video from Record Release Show Now on YouTube!

2011-02-17T23:04:00.006-06:00

Just this evening, I posted the first video from my record release concert last month. Yeah, this video stuff takes a long time to edit. The first song of the first set was "Broken Well". Take a look (and listen) on my YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/jaymathesmusic. And here's a direct link to the video page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFAJMaCtny0.

Also, my buddy, Nick, who shot all of the video in the studio for the documentary about the making of Fundamental posted some of the raw video on his channel. Here's a link to the raw video (and audio) of the studio recording of "Broken Well": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLafZL7e5SM

Cheers! (and enjoy)

-Jay

Mosquito Fleet / Milano Concert Review

2011-02-15T12:21:00.005-06:00

This past Friday night, some friends of mine, Mosquito Fleet, performed at the local coffee shop, La Spiaza. While I don't exactly like the "venue" or their coffee. Or the owner. Or how they treat the artists who perform there. I do like the atmosphere when there's great, live music being played. Opening for Mosquito Fleet was a band called Milano - some very talented chaps from Chicago, whose lead singer, Joe Guerra, is artist-in-residence at The Line Church in Lincoln Park. Pretty cool gig, if you ask me...

So about the concert...

In a word: impressive.

I only caught a few tunes from Milano, but what I heard was polished, refreshing, a combination of alternative, folk-rock, and a hint of traditional country.

Mosquito Fleet? I love these guys. They bring it every time they perform, and this concert, the record release show for their new EP, was no exception. Without the luxury of having stage monitors, the band did more than just keep it together. Standing at the front, right up against the band - within inches of Josh, the bassist, and feet of everyone else, I had a chance to look back in to the audience and take pictures of the scene in my mind:

Laughter. Heads moving. The floor bowed down with each kick drum hit from feet jumping ever-so-slightly to the beat. Bass emanating from the house speakers gave me blurred vision. And several faces with glazed-over eyes, lips pursed and turned up with joy as ears take it all in: lyrics. music. life.

Even with flawed lead vocals on a number of songs - no doubt caused, in part, by the lack of monitors - Mosquito Fleet still got their point across: they love performing the music they write for the people who love it and they don't ever want to stop.

Have You Ever Wondered?

2011-02-08T14:24:00.002-06:00

Have you ever wondered why, as a little kid in elementary school, everyone told you that you could save the environment by cutting the plastic rings on a 6-pack of soda? Yeah, it has always bothered me - even then - and I finally figured out why... So here was their rationale: cutting the rings meant that no bird or fish could get caught in one of the rings. And now I am asking you, right here, right now, why would this piece of plastic ever end up in a body of water where this sort of thing would even be possible!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!? That's right. I guess people back then were actually okay with our trash getting dumped in to oceans and lakes and rivers and streams. They must have figured that, at the very least, if they couldn't prevent it, maybe they could try to minimize the damage(?). I don't know. How Ridiculous!

The Notebook, 2012, and a Goal

2011-02-05T12:09:00.003-06:00

Let me start off by saying that I've totally blown a few of my new year resolutions. One of those was to write - music or lyrics - every day. Hasn't happened. I've just lost the routine and now I am on a quest to find it again... Here, routinie, routinie, routinie... come here, boy. Wheredja go?....

Next, during the blizzard of 2011, Megan and I watched the movie 2012. Awful. I like Mr. Cusack, but this was bad. Two hours I can't get back.

Finally, in addition to trying to get back on the horse called Resolution, I have a crazy goal of having one article printed in a newspaper, ezine, or other medium every-other week for the next 12 weeks. So far, so good. Here's what we've had so far:

10 Jan 2011 - Chicago Sun-Times

18 Jan 2011 - Daily Herald

28 Jan 2011 - COD Courier

And next week (Wednesday), I'll have a pretty big spread in the Lombardian.

After that, I'm not sure where the next coverage will come from, but I'm optimistic that I can keep this streak going!

Talk to you soon, and look for me in your local paper!

-Jay

Long Saturday

2011-01-31T13:49:00.006-06:00

I finally feel mostly recovered from this past Saturday. From 9 AM until 5 PM, I was recording with The City and Restoration Project at the Dragon Room. Then, at 6:30 PM, I packed up my gear for a performance in Elmhurst, IL, at Cuvee Cellars. I arrived back home at 11:45 PM. Long day? I'll say so.

Saturday was a super-productive session, recording cello for two songs, for two different records coming out in the next four months. "Jump" is a song that I wrote, and The City decided to record a down-tempo version of the song - quite obviously different from the version found on my new solo album, "Fundamental." The other song, "O Love Divine" will be on ResProj's upcoming April release. Thank you so much, Jason Young, for your hard work on these parts. You were great!

Luck and the Art of Waiting

2011-01-27T18:41:00.005-06:00

Waiting isn't exactly the same thing as trusting in something to happen.

One of my favorite college professors (his name was Jun) once said that luck isn't being in the right place at the right time, it's putting yourself in a position to be in the right place at the right time.

And I believe him. If we're just talking semantics.

I actually don't believe in luck at all, which is why I made my first statement about waiting. I actually think that a better way to describe my professor's idea of luck is to call it "active waiting". You see, it's knowing (or trusting) that something is going to happen if you just keep going for it. You take steps that move you forward, and sometimes, if you're going the right direction, you'll hit opportunities that can push you even higher.

This is in contrast to just plain ol' "waiting", which means that you're sitting on your keister and still expecting something to happen. And you'd be right - something will: you'll get fat, dumb, anti-productive, and altogether zombified by that glowing box you sit in front of.

So as for me, I find myself in a season of active waiting. Actually, I can't remember a time when I haven't been in this sort of a season. I expect big things to happen and I am actively engaged in trying to make them happen. But I don't think they'll happen because of what I do. Does that make sense? Ultimately, I think they'll happen because they were destined to. (And yes, I do believe in destiny; but not the kind that is most common today, in our culture.)

It's a really uncomfortable place to be, but isn't all of life really uncomfortable anyways? Isn't it better to actually be able to identify the discomfort and just deal with what you believe to be going on through it all? I think so.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

2011-01-25T12:41:00.008-06:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to my record release show just this past Friday night. We packed the place and rocked the house. If you didn't have a chance to make it up to the merch table, you can still purchase Fundamental online, from my web store. You can get the regular CD, the Limited Edition, hand-printed CD, or the digital download.

A couple of hours before the concert, I was extremely nervous about how the performance would come off. I definitely felt tense as I performed my first song. I was told, though, that none of that came across. So the night went off without a hitch [mostly], and I was happy to see that I can still draw a crowd in my home town. What's more, I actually have friends who are willing to support my music by coming out to see me play.

A fairly recent goal of mine has been to regularly draw crowds of 100+ in DuPage County, and I think I'm moving in that direction - with your help. Please continue to demonstrate your support for what I do by coming out to concerts and buying my records.

Thank you for keeping this dream alive.

Photo by: Ashley Hodges // ashleyhodgesphotography.com

Reeling, The Fizz Bubbles Over

2011-01-22T01:55:00.002-06:00

I just spent the last 15 minutes listening to the recorded audio from tonight's record release concert. Wow. I'm tired. Exhausted. My mind is reeling. I am thankful.

Thank you, everyone, who made tonight a special night for me. Had the room been empty, I confess, I would have been more likely than ever to find another line of work. But as it stands, this night has spared me from that fate - this night. Tomorrow is a new day and yet there is hope.

To those of you who made it out to the concert: you give me great joy. It means that you have considered my music worth a listen. You have validated my work as a songwriter.

This was an interesting night. A bittersweet night. Tonight I also saw that I am physically incapable of exceeding my own expectations in so many ways - but particularly as it relates to being an excellent father, husband, and performing songwriter, all at once. I need grace.

Before this evening, I described the feeling I had as of a soda pop, closed, but shaken - a lot. I had a lot riding on tonight's show - for better or worse. And the last four months have mostly culminated in tonight's performance. I had a fear of what would come after...

It's after now, and I can say that I'm just plain tired. The fizz in the bottle is gone, and what's left is a man ready for bed. Goodnight, and thank you.

Live Show Almost Ready

2011-01-19T21:29:00.006-06:00

Those of you who have seen me perform live over the last six months know that I've been working on perfecting some crazy live show stuff. I'm almost there. And I think I'll be ready by the record release concert this Friday night. Yes, in two days. Guitar. Voice. Keyboard. GiO. iMac.

Release Show on Friday!

2011-01-15T21:02:00.004-06:00

I can't believe that the release concert for my new album, Fundamental, is this coming Friday! Unbelievable. I've been working my butt off promoting it, and I'm starting to get some positive feedback, which is really encouraging. And, responses are starting to roll in on the concert's Facebook event page. That's even more encouraging! My goal is to pack the place with 75 people or more, and I think we'll be close. Will you be there? I hope!

And I'll tell you what, if you show up (and because you've read this blog post), I'll give you a $5 discount on purchasing Fundamental at the concert! Just go to the merch table and tell the girl behind the table the secret password to get your discount. What is the password, you ask? Just say the words "Fine Lines". She'll take care of you.

Oh, yeah. Details for the show:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 21ST, 2011 9:00 PM

Fundamental Record Release Show

Muldoon's Restaurant and Pub

133 W. Front St.

Wheaton, IL 60187

630.668.8866

http://www.muldoonswheaton.com

Price: FREE

Description: Come and hang out with Jay for a night of live music from his new record, "Fundamental." CD give-aways, good drinks and music. Also catch a special viewing of Jay's "The Making of Fundamental" documentary between the first and second set. You must be 21 or over to sit at the bar. Minors may request a seat with a view from the dining area.

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #2

2011-01-13T19:29:00.004-06:00

Remember, these aren't ranked in any sort of order. I haven't gotten that particular about this list yet. But maybe once I get a top 25 I can move in that direction...

The second album to make my list is Sister Hazel's 2000 release, "Fortress". It's just another one of those albums that I could never put down - and still now I don't get sick of listening to it. The production on the album is some of the best that I've ever heard, and the harmonies are just tight - in an era that was only just beginning to learn what auto-tune was. The main producer, by the way, was Paul Ebersold.

Top 25 Albums of All Time

2011-01-09T12:48:00.006-06:00

Okay, so I don't claim to know everything about pop music... Actually, I'm pretty quick to say that I have never heard the music of a lot of artists out there. But I do know what I like, and I also think that I'm a pretty good judge as to what other people should like, too. Pompous? No, I don't think so. I think that I have been given the honored privilege and ability to critique music well - both on aesthetic and technical levels.

About a week ago, I watched a ten-minute clip of an interview with Josh Ritter, published by some magazine (the video was a part of a series titled something about eating with artists...). In the video, Ritter mentioned that music, like movies and other art, should be judged 15 or 20 years after it has been released (obviously, that's no help to the actual artist living it out in real-time). His point was that a good song is still a good song 20, 50, or 300 years after it is written.

The goal of music criticism is to assess a song or album in a cultural vacuum (outside of current pop trends or stylistic leanings), allowing the music to stand on its own, judging it against nothing but its ability to relate to the human experience across space and time.

I have been thinking a lot about my favorite art of all time - primarily books, movies, and music; and I think I'm going to try to compile a list of my top 25 albums of all time. The difficulty with this is that I have been told that there are some *unbelievable* records out there - ones that people can actually name by name - that I haven't even heard for myself yet, and so I'm going to be taking this slowly, making sure to leave some room in the top 25 for records that I'll have to listen to between now and before I finish my list. (If you have any suggestions, please comment on them on this post.)

So, without further delay, I would like to announce the first (not number one, but just "one of") of my top 25 picks of all time:

Collective Soul: Collective Soul

And that, of course, is what I am listening to right now.

Are You Kidding Apple!?!?!

2011-01-08T12:48:00.005-06:00

So Apple just launched their new App Store application for OSX. It's pretty cool, I must say - not because the store itself is that innovative of an idea (Apple has been selling people stuff on iTunes for years). But the way Apple is delivering and bundling the products and managing their distribution and installation is. For the first time ever, buy iPhoto '11 without iLife '11. And, for a lower price. And, you can install the software on ALL Mac computers you use. Here's the quote about that from the App Store's Help guide:

"After you purchase an application, you can install it free of charge on every Mac you use."

Pretty impressive - especially when Apple just blasts away their delivery and shipping costs, shelf space, and breaks down nearly all possible limits on accessibility (not being near a store, not wanted to drive to a store, not having the time) - and all slashing their software's cost to consumers... Now we're talking some serious revenue generating.

So I'm not one to typically complain about Apple... for two reasons: 1) there is hardly ever anything to complain about and 2) I own stock in the company. But in this case, I found a technical snag that is exceedingly irritating...

I just purchased Aperture 3 from the App Store for $79 (regularly $199 out of the box from a physical Apple Store). Great price on some really excellent software. One, big glitch.

Apparently, iPhoto event descriptions do not convert in to Aperture project descriptions. Where do they go? Into the air. Gone. Zappo. If you want your iPhoto event descriptions in your shiny, brand new, Aperture software, you best sit down with a warm cup of tea on a cold winter's day, cuz cut and paste key commands are going to be your new best friends.

So here it is: Apple, this Aperture problem really sucks. Fix it. Yeah, that's right. I read the message boards. This has been an issue since at least April 2010. If you want people to migrate from iPhoto to Aperture, this has to be fixed. Fix it. Seriously.

Rihanna's "Umbrella" Uses Garageband Loop

2011-01-06T21:13:00.004-06:00

Old news, but new to me. I just found this out today.

Rihanna's song, "Umbrella" - yeah, you know it's a hit with many a fella, ella, ella, eh - uses a *free*, Apple-made loop named "Vintage Funk Kit 03", included in Apple's Garageband software. Even Wikipedia says so.

So I guess nobody has to feel bad about using the stock loops that come with these types of software programs any more.

It Comes from Somewhere Deeper

2011-01-05T23:59:00.000-06:00

In the exact opposite way that the dwarves of Middle Earth awoke something from the deep, driven by their greed for mithril, in these past 48 hours, I have found something deep within that has allowed me to work late in to the night promoting my art. I actually can't say what it is at all, or that I've even found it. Maybe it would be best to simply say that when I needed the grace to continue, it was there. It never failed.

Good night, Chicago.

Always Behind, Never Ahead

2011-01-04T11:24:00.003-06:00

One problem that I always seem to have is feeling like I am behind, off-schedule, running late, or otherwise incapable of completing a task sufficiently by the deadline that has been set. In my case, the official record release concert for Fundamental is less than three weeks away and the official drop date is exactly three weeks away. Promoting the release show is just one aspect of promoting the record, and promoting the record doesn't just end after the release date.

That said, part of my day today will be spent figuring out what promotion is essential to complete prior to the release show and what can wait. And even more than that, what promotion will be more effective if it is staggered over time, as a part of a larger strategy to build a larger fan base?

These are the questions that an independent artist has to ask - in addition to all of the other, more creative ones: does the chorus on this recording need another guitar part? do those lyrics fit the theme of the rest of the song? what chord am I missing in there?

The trick for the next three weeks will be balancing my desire to be creative and my necessity to do all of the business-y things like handing out flyers, hanging posters, writing press releases, contacting the local media, etc.

New Year Resolutions

2011-01-01T12:43:00.005-06:00

Many of you know that I really take new year resolutions quite seriously. This year, I have kept my resolutions quite simple - mainly so that I can keep them:

1. Read a minimum of four, excellent books.

On the list this year are one classic, one novel, and two philosophy/theology books:

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (in English, unfortunately)
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
The City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo

2. Pray for my family every day.

Contrary to popular belief, I actually do think that prayer can change things. If I actually believe it works, then I should actually do it; and who better to pray for than the people with whom I share most of life?

3. Climb 5.11a.

For those of you who are familiar with the world of climbing, you already know what this means and how difficult it is. I currently climb a weak 5.10b.

One of Top-Ten Most-Depressing Professions

2010-12-30T20:35:00.003-06:00

I just read an article from Health.com about 10 Careers With High Rates of Depression, and guess what? Artists/Entertainers/Writers made the list! Nice. Well, isn't that odd? These very people have sought to make a living doing the very thing which they are most compelled to do - most would say most inspired to do. Even so, artists strive for creative "success", and once found, they still find something to complain - nay, to be downright depressed - about. How is this?

Rabbit trail: for starters, let me say that there's quite a buzz about this article on the music industry blogs... that is, of course, how I found it myself. Specifically, I read about it HERE. And for the record, I mostly agree with what Chris R. at CDBaby.com has said. We differ mostly in our worldviews, which is to say, I think Chris would say that self-help tactics (such as those he has listed) actually work, where as I would say that, ultimately, they do not.

Now to answer the question how...

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't worked out all of the details of my argument here and I'm open to discussion. If I have something wrong, I'd like to hear about it.

I really think it's quite simple. There are two things going on in the minds of artists:

1) Artists channel their feelings to create art. You can't just create excellent art void of any feeling. I don't believe it happens. Art requires emotion.

2) Artists, like those in all other professions as well - all humans! - are on some level discontent with life. I believe that this sense of discontentment is the dominating emotion of our culture - and maybe of every culture that has ever existed. Thus, when channeling emotions to create art, an overwhelming majority of the time, the art produced will represent an aspect of a life of discontentment.

Simple enough logic?

Now, two major questions to tackle on this one:

A) What about love songs? I thought there were more songs about love than anything else.

Yes, you'll often here it said that the most popular song topic is love. But, I, for one, have never seen a study on the subject, so I'm hesitant to agree with answers.com. [Who do they have answering this junk anyway?] And in any case, I'm going to guess that half of the songs about love are actually songs about heartbreak. And even if that's not the case, underneath the words of many, many a love song is, in fact, a longing to be understood, to belong, to be content.

B) So how do we truly solve this human issue of discontentment?

Artists try to solve it by writing about it. Many non-artists try to solve it by listening to art, by watching art, by looking at it or eating it or consuming it. There are other ways that people try, too. "Love" - whatever that means - is also another way that we try to solve it.

But it never works.

The songwriter always has to write one more song. The investment manager always has to get one more paycheck. The church always just needs one more program. But this is also just a part of life in this world. We need certain things to survive, don't we? Money. Clothing. Shelter. Food. For the man or woman of this world - and for most artists - there is no contentment to be found here.

But I have found contentment somewhere, though many of my closest friends witness my chronic struggle with being discontent week in and week out:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Merry Christmas! Plans for the Week

2010-12-27T10:36:00.008-06:00

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful time this week with family and thinking about this unbelievable historical event we call Christmas.

I can say for my own part that this really hasn't felt like the Christmas season at all. Life is messed up. Second only to sleeping, I have spent more time in a hospital this past week than anywhere else, doing any other thing. My dad should be coming home today - doctors think.

Needless to say, I had grand plans for the week leading up to Christmas - all of the things I'd be able to accomplish with more time to work at the studio. Almost none of it happened, but that's life. The last two days, I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to get everything done this coming week that I need to.

I think the basic answer is just to take everything one day at a time and do what I have to do to make it work. Here are just the main things on my list:

Scribble up a promotional plan for Fundamental, my new record, coming out on Jan. 25th
Finish up my media contact list for promoting said album
Put together my 2011 summer festivals contact list
Record pre-production guitars and vocals for Restoration Project #2
Write up the recording schedule for ResProj #2

All in all, I think we're probably talking a good, clean 40 hours of work on these things - and I'm about 90% sure I won't be putting that in before next Monday. Again, that's life.

Now, just a quick word to put this all in perspective: I love my family and I love spending time with them. In some ways, I feel blessed to have been able to spend the time with them that I have. Life is a balance. We all always have to hold both ambition and responsibility with an even hand.

Off we go... happy Monday.

Hospital Beds and Jello Heads

2010-12-21T12:44:00.004-06:00

My dad was admitted to the hospital last night because doctors discovered two separate pools of blood in his head - not in his brain, but between the brain and the skull. Scary times. Last night, he had a small procedure to place a filter inside the inferior vena cava (the main artery that feeds blood into the heart), then doctors pumped him with plasma to reverse the effects of the blood thinners he was on. And this morning, he had two holes drilled into his skull to drain the fluid from his head. The procedure was completed around 10:15 AM and I had a chance to talk with him briefly afterward. He's doing okay. He has several days of recovery ahead of him.

I'm still processing this, so I don't really have much more to say except the facts. I'll let you know more as things progress... and as I compute.

Also, the Bears played a great game last night against the Vikings...

Thank You All!

2010-12-19T13:34:00.003-06:00

I want to just give a quick shout-out to a few people who made my concert this past Friday a lot of fun: Joey and Andrew, behind the bar, Michael and Anne, and my folks! Thanks for hanging out with me at Cuvee Cellars - even if you had to watch me from behind a lathed wall of Christmas decor. Mom and dad, you've been unwavering in your support of this crazy line of work.

Song List for Cuvee Cellars Show (12/17/2010)

2010-12-16T17:42:00.005-06:00

- Everything from Fundamental (15 songs)

- Wine and Rose

- Lead Me to Somehow

- Commit

- No One Makes Me Happier

- You Coulda Been

- Heal or Wreck

- I Remain

- Silent Night

- Hark the Herald Angels Sing

- Joy to the World

- The First Noel

- A surprise cover of my favorite Christmas song this year. It's a song that you've probably never heard before, but that doesn't mean it's not about Christmas.

Also, side note: I was listening to an awful Christmas album this afternoon (City on a Hill: It's Christmas Time) and I realized something: most of our culture - even Christians - tend to over-emotionalize the Christmas Event. Christians should be blown away by the idea of Christmas 24-7, 365. If you're not, then something's wrong with you.

What I'm listening to right now:

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Push It, Mathes

2010-12-15T19:53:00.003-06:00

Man, I'm tired. Over the past few days, I've been spending a ton of time serving my family - to the obvious neglect of my music. On some level, it's a sign of healthy priorities: people over achievement. But on another level, it means that when I finally do get around to working on music - like now - I really don't have any juice left. I just have to do the best I can.

The rest of tonight (2-3 hours) will be spent prepping for my show on Friday night. I just have to push it.

What I'm listening to right now: The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack.

All I Want for Christmas

2010-12-11T13:04:00.006-06:00

http://www.glguitars.com/instruments/USA/guitars/asat-classic/enlarge.asp

Mailing List Overhaul

2010-12-10T20:35:00.008-06:00

So I just spent the last 30 minutes updating my music mailing list. Wow! That was depressing! Basically, I added back in all possible known email addresses for all individuals on the list to find out which ones bounce back as undeliverable. From the undeliverables, I'll know which addresses to trash from the list. In the past, I've kind of ignored the "failure notices", as Gmail calls them, when emails cannot reach a particular recipient (IE: an email address no longer exists).

It wasn't an astronomical number of failure notices - somewhere around 20 or so - but it's still enough to make you do a double-take. The question becomes: am I actually failing at this?

Any Good?

2010-12-06T15:01:00.004-06:00

Does any good come from being sick? Some might say yes.

Certainly nothing good happens while you are sick, if you know what I'm saying - unless, of course, you'd rather feel horrible than go to school or work...

The bottom line is that being sick sucks. Taking care of someone who is sick sucks slightly less; but in this case, you hate to see the person suffer through it. The only thing worse is being sick yourself and still having to take care of someone else, who is also sick.

Some would say that being sick reminds you to long for days without any sickness at all. Some would call those days "heaven." I think I've even said it. And quite frankly, I'm sick of being reminded by life to long for a day when everything that's wrong in this world gets fixed. Every problem is solved. No more suffering. No more sickness. No more pain. No more weariness. No more burden of life. No more miscommunication (I upset someone I love this morning, on the phone, by being insensitive and choosing the wrong words). I'm sick of feeling sick. (By the way, I'm not physically sick in the sense of having the flu or anything.)

I want the perfected creation now. Does that phrase make sense? You probably have never heard it before. It pretty much means exactly what it sounds like: every animate and inanimate object in the entire universe functions exactly as it ought to. Everything is "right." That's what it means.

So what can we do about it? Well, I'm still working on an answer to that. At the very least, I think having that sick feeling in your stomach - that longing for the pain to go away - longing for it to go away so badly that it makes you sicker to think about it - is a good place to start.

I think maybe another good place to start might be to make a list. I might do this. I'll right down the things that I see wrong in the world and see if I can find a way to counter it and, ultimately, correct it. I think I will start with my own life.

There are definitely a lot of things that I'd change about myself, if I could. For one thing, I definitely value my career too highly. Career. Ha! Well, I'm going to take some time right now to think about how I can temper how I value my music, and I'll report back - maybe tomorrow - on what I discover...

Photo by: Joel Sage.

Fundamental Release Preparations

2010-12-06T08:12:00.003-06:00

Releasing a new record takes a lot of work. Actually recording the songs is probably the smallest part about the whole process, and many would say, it's not even the most important. (I disagree, but that's another story.) Over the next three weeks, I have a lot of preparations to make - I have to finalize my media blitz lists (radio, TV, print, and web), solidify a location for the record release show, put together my festival submission list for next summer (all the festival that I'm interested in performing at start taking submissions next week), and double-check to make sure the album is on its way to manufacture.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over the next three months - and not because I think that my effort will yield great success - but because of what others do. So much of what I do - performing, recording, and writing music - has nothing at all to do with me. Almost everything is determined by factors which I can not control. And that's a good thing. Because what it means is that I just have to keep focusing on the areas where I do have control.

To the future!

A Legend Dies

2010-12-03T10:23:00.005-06:00

I cried this morning.

After I rolled out of bed this morning, I walked in to the kitchen and noticed that a small section of the top sheet of our refrigerator notepad was torn off. I then walked to my laptop, discovering the missing page piece - a note left by my wife.

Maybe it was the note. Maybe it was the fact that I have Copland playing on the iPod dock. Maybe it's the fact that the Cubs probably will not ever win another World Series. Or maybe it's because I'm really more upset with the fact that life is fickle, short, fleeting, passing away - like chaff in the wind.

I'm going to miss Ronnie.

My favorite Santo quote: "Awe, jeez..."

Here's a link to an awesome photo collection of Santo: Ron Santo's Life in Baseball.

Baseball card photo by: Tunguska. Used with permission. Read his blog: http://longflyball.blogspot.com

One Reason Why I Love the Guitar

2010-12-02T13:19:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I spent about 45 minutes working on a song I never finished from 2007. Well, back then, I thought the song was done, but when I played through it again yesterday, I knew it was incomplete. What struck me the most was this new outro section that I wrote: simple acoustic guitar, slowly building with drums, steady, rhythmic, then in comes a chorus, singing in unison, music fades out, voices stay strong, then slowly fade. (Photo at left by: Ashley Hodges.)

But again, what got me was the guitar part. The guitar is the most honest instrument in the world. When played skillfully - and usually on an acoustic, no sonic reverberation can say as much as the guitar can in so few notes. Just one chord - or one note - played just the right way, can convey precise emotions which are not nearly as easy to express with words.

I'll try to record the part and post it here sometime for you all to hear just exactly what I'm talking about.

Excerpt from "I Asked the Lord" by John Newton

2010-11-30T12:08:00.008-06:00

....I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part....

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“’Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

"These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

Thanksgiving Blues

2010-11-27T18:42:00.005-06:00

What were you thankful for this year? Were you thankful for all the things you should have been thankful for?

For my own part, I can say that this was just an off year... I found it hard to be thankful. I am thankful, of course, but I definitely didn't show it like I usually do, and I definitely didn't feel thankful like I normally do.

I have been given so many things - stuff that I don't deserve. A good family, a roof over my head, food to eat, access to education, clean drinking water, and lots and lots of "stuff" - material possessions. Very little of this do I actually need. Most of these things are just bells and whistles - to make life easier, more convenient, more entertaining, or whatever.

At the end of the day, we should be thankful for everything, but most thankful for the essentials - the things we can't live without. This year, I have found myself asking for help to want to want to be thankful - mostly for the essentials:

Oh, when I come to die
Oh, when I come to die
Oh, when I come to die
Give me Jesus

Late Nights Can Kill You

2010-11-20T02:37:00.004-06:00

I've been spending so much time at the computer again that my forearms are starting to bother me again. I feel like I already mentioned that in a recent post, some time in the last month. As you can tell by the time of this post, it's because I'm getting in to the groove late at night, after my family has gone to bed. I've found that my most productive "computer work" comes after hours, if you will. It sucks, but it's the only time that I have, really.

But, alas, the time has come to go to bed. Goodnight, computer. I will see you tomorrow evening. Until then, I know that others will caress your pretty back-lit keys, but please don't enjoy it, okay? If you can muster up any sort of passionate desire within your uni-body frame, may it only be for the soft pressing of my very fingertips over all of your buttons.

The Official Blog Title Change!

2010-11-18T00:01:00.003-06:00

Inspired, once again, by a songwriter that I really respect, Josh Ritter, I decided to change the name of this blog. To be a Josh Ritter copy-cat? No way. Just because I didn't want the name to be something so obvious. The previous title of this blog was "What It's Like" and what could be more obvious than the fact that blogs are about "what it's like to be..." [fill in the blank with whatever it is that you do and why you think people care to hear about what you do every day]...

So there you have it. Boom. New blog name: "Fine Lines and Hidden Spaces".

And you may ask yourself, "Self, where did Jay come up with that name?" Well, without giving it all away, I'm working on a new song with this lyric in it.

Crying Babies

2010-11-16T15:01:00.002-06:00

Today, for the first time in a long time, I have a serious problem with the sound of a crying baby.

Moving to Brooklyn

2010-11-15T11:24:00.005-06:00

Manhattan Bridge. Photo by: Daniel Hautamaki (http://www.danielhautamaki.com)

So, over the past few days, I've been talking to a buddy of mine who lives in Brooklyn with his wife. He is really convincing. He thinks I should move to NYC pronto. We're seriously considering the option. It's a great community with a thriving arts scene, awesome food, at least one, really good church, and a boatload of opportunity - in all sorts of areas: work, culture, spiritual, community. We will see... Only time will tell.

Selling a Piece of Family History

2010-11-14T11:14:00.006-06:00

Today I asked my mom if she'd be okay with us selling her father's 1960's Wurlitzer organ, that has been sitting unused and neglected in my parents' basement. Selling the organ is not new news, but the reality of selling it finally hit her when I told her this morning that we might have a prospective buyer.

I understand the sentimental ties to the organ. I feel them, too, even though I was a wee young lad when my grandfather died. I have no memory of him prior to his first stroke. But I also understand that, as life runs its course, all things come to an end; and all things pass on, move on, continue on - life continues as life dies.

And so, to me, the organ is better in the hands of another, as we say goodbye to something that was useful to us at one time, long ago, and brought our family such joy, but has now laid dormant for over a decade. We recognize that to give it to someone else means that the organ actually increases in value - not decreases - as others are allowed to make memories with it and it becomes a part of others' lives.

Saying goodbye to an organ doesn't mean saying goodbye to the memories created by it.

Running on a Full Tank of Ambition

2010-11-12T17:52:00.003-06:00

Yes, Megan laughed when I said to her this evening, "Baby, I'm running on a full tank of ambition," but do you want to know something? Her laugh didn't bother me too much. Actually, it didn't bother me at all. I feel recharged, renewed, refreshed, and ready to go for it - again...

Over the past couple of days, I have been inspired by reading Josh Ritter's blog on called Making a Life in Music. Here's a link to it: http://www.bookofjubilations.com/2010/10/making-life-in-music-vol-1-were-all.html

It's for songwriters who, pretty much, want to do what he does. I guess he does music "full-time" and "for a living", but I've never asked. But he certainly seems popular enough for that to be the case.

Anyway, so Josh's blog has been inspiring, and I've already to put in to practice some of the things that he has recommended to up-and-coming songwriters.

Over the last few years, I have tried a number of record-keeping techniques to help me stay focused and help me continue to move forward. But somewhere along the line, my methods lost their effectiveness, I got out of rhythm, or my circumstances changed and I was no longer able to use whatever system I had developed...

One thing that Josh recommends is buying a nice notebook and writing down your goals - ten years out, five years out, two years out, one year out, six months out, next week, and tomorrow. The first chance I got I ran down to the local bookstore and bought a Moleskine. (I've never owned one before, but I felt cooler just writing in it the first time.)

One more big thing he mentions about your goals: never show them to anybody else. I'm not sure why that is, exactly, but that was his recommendation, and I guess I can see why - a little. To me, it's probably because they are your own private thoughts and other people might not see the world how you do. They might try to mess with your mind, your aspirations, your emotions, or whatever. And so I'm going to try to take his advice.

So far, I've been most impressed simply by Josh's method for going about "making a life in music". Another one of his basic premises is that a career in music blooms out of a music community. You don't do music in a bubble. You pursue it and succeed with others - musicians, friends, other songwriters...

Onward and upward...

New The City Song Initial Mix Complete

2010-11-10T09:24:00.003-06:00

Last night, Gary Stanton and I (The City) completed the initial mix of our song "Broken Well". Read the full blogpost here: http://whatisthecity.blogspot.com/2010/11/newest-song-broken-well-initial-mix.html

And yes, you would be correct in thinking that this is the same "Broken Well" from my new record, Fundamental. By the way, you can purchase a download of the record or the limited edition/hand-painted version right now from my webstore: http://jaymathes.com/store

peaCe!

Working on a New Video

2010-11-09T01:43:00.003-06:00

I don't know much about Final Cut Express, but I'm learning. Slowly. Right now, I'm in the middle of doing some "real" editing for the first time, on a new song video that I hope to post this Thursday. With everything going down for Fundamental, I haven't had a chance to post a video in a while. But this one should be good. It's a solid song, for starters, and the video, I hope, will keep it interesting... The song, by the way, is called "Let Us Live".

15K and Still Alive

2010-11-07T21:54:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, my wife and I ran 15 kilometers in the Hot Chocolate 15K Run in Chicago. I am still alive! My knee is killing me, though. Actually, other than my knee, I feel really good. And as far as the knee goes, I have another doctor's appointment this Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes. My gut is that there....

Okay, I've actually just spent the last 15 minutes looking at knee images on Wikipedia. I also just had my wife check out this funky ligament-deal that is doing this weird popping thing, when I straighten and bend my leg. Yikes! Some sort of ligament over the lateral meniscus, or maybe something a bit lower - the lateral collateral ligament, which connects the fibula and the femur. (I only know some of this lingo because I've been staring at it for 25 minutes now...)

Until the middle of this post, I had no idea how complicated the anatomy of the knee was. This is unbelievably complicated stuff! How on earth the human body has been assembled so well is quite unreal, if you ask me. Even the most complicated automotive engine doesn't hold a candle to the intricacies of the human body. It just works. It makes you wonder who built it...

Hopefully this new doc will be able to tell me something I don't already know about my problem knee and help me fix it. No cortisone shots, please.

Website Updates and the Double-Edged Sword

2010-11-05T00:16:00.005-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been doing a bunch of updates to the website (http://jaymathes.com), and finally, I can say that I won't be doing any major updates for a long, long time...

The main updates:

Design Fundamental ad on homepage.
Music page updates to include songs from Fundamental
Extras page has all new stuff
Music album pages now have album info, credits
Albums now have downloadable artwork - covers and booklets
Listen to every song from my three most recent records in new music players

Now, some of this stuff wasn't necessary, but it has been on my to do list for a while. And, I think as we continue to move towards a more online digital media-based society (especially when it comes to music), this extra content really starts to add some significant value to the site.

But there is one, major drawback:

Because I am *capable* of doing all of this updating myself, I do. It takes a lot of time - time away from writing and practicing music. But at least I don't have to pay someone to do it. It's a skill - perhaps necessary. Well, at least at this stage of the game, it's definitely necessary - because I'm doing it. Hence, I am typing this at 12:26 AM...

Time for bed! And let me know what you think of the updates!

Tendinitis Coming Back

2010-11-03T18:58:00.002-05:00

So, over the past 72 hours, I've put in a lot of time on my music - more time than I've put in in the last three weeks combined. The result? Well, most of them are yet to be determined. Hopefully I'll get a string of shows lined up from it. But what I can say is that my upper forearms are starting to sing to me again... Meaning: they tingle with pain some times and at other times they send two- or three-note staccato soprano notes straight to my brain via my my hyper-active nervous system.

The point: I need to be conscious of my time on the computer, get off of the laptop and back on to a real keyboard and touchpad, and take breaks frequently.

Beautiful Letdown

2010-11-02T11:58:00.006-05:00

I'm still trying to figure out how any letdown can be beautiful, but I think it's a good exercise to get in to the habit of. I've also just recently discovered that the way we think about shame is all messed up - just like our understanding of being let down. Here's what I've learned:

"No one whose hope is in [God] will ever be put to shame"
- Psalm 25, line 3

What ever could that mean? It means that, at the very least, there was no shame at the cross where Jesus died. People mess that up all the time. I mess it up. The culture of the time messed it up. According to the Romans at the time, it was the absolute, most shameful way to go. But somehow, there was no shame there. How does that relate to my first point?

I can't explain it, but I *think* that letdowns *are* always beautiful. (Switchfoot was right.) When I don't get my way, that event should cause me to think about something that is more meaningful than whatever it was that I wanted - and didn't get. I think about a story I once heard about a man born blind...

So what sparked this conversation in my mind? A good friend of mine, Chris, gave me a lead on an apartment for rent (a condo, really) at an unbelievable price - with all of the amenities that I have been dying to have - namely, a dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, a balcony, and two bedrooms.

I made the first call. I spoke with the owner. It sounded promising. She made sure that I was aware of the rate: $800/mo. + gas, electric, and water. Awesome deal. The owner gave me the name of the person managing the rental, and I gave her a call. She didn't call me back.

Day two. I call the property manager. She answers. Bomb #1: someone else has already submitted an application. Then, she proceeds to inform me that there was some sort of mistake about the rental price. She claimed that the *owner* was confused about how much the property was renting for. Yeah, right. Bomb #2: the property manager was asking for $975/mo. + utilities.

And so there you have it. My beautiful letdown.

Now if I can only come to see how it is beautiful...

Things I Like About Halloween

2010-10-31T18:35:00.002-05:00

1. It's also Reformation Day.
2. Baked mostaccioli - our family's traditional Halloween dinner.
3. I look good in the color orange.
4. Spending time with family
5. Any chocolate candies with the name ending in "-eese's".
6. Little kids in cute costumes.

Busted Knee

2010-10-27T19:27:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I ran farther than I've ever ran in my life. I don't consider myself a runner, but I run often enough. I probably average running about 2-4 miles a week...

So, about five months ago, I was rock climbing with my friend, Steve, at night, in the dark, at Devil's Lake State Park, in Wisconsin. I peeled off of this boulder, landed on a sloping, rain-soaked slab, and proceeded to tweak my knee. I didn't hear anything pop or tear, but it felt weird. It wasn't sore at all.

Fast-forward.

I've been in mild discomfort (because of my knee) since about one month after the original injury. I went to an ortho-sports-med guy, who took X-rays and an MRI, and everything looked normal. He said to give the knee about a month or two, but I should fully recover - no problem.

Now to present-day.

I ran 6.4 miles yesterday, on the Illinois Prairie Path, which runs right by my apartment. At about the 4 mile marker, my knee started screaming at me. The pain started to trickle up and down the outside of my leg, radiating from the knee. I told my knee to shut up and continued to run.

So, here I sit with a pretty stiff knee; it's pretty sore. It's not swollen. But, as of this morning, I could only walk on it for about a block before it started to throb.

Well, more on the knee later, I suppose. Until I can see the doc again (I have an appointment on 11/11), I guess I'll just have to deal with it - any that Hot Chocolate 15k run I'm signed up to do on 11/6...

Finding Victory in the Everyday Struggles

2010-10-22T16:17:00.002-05:00

Okay, so this is a pretty lofty-sounding post title; and, to be honest, I don't really have any good answers to this major life-issue. But just because I don't have *an* answer doesn't mean that I don't think I have a few ideas that might help us out. I'll just share one, though, for now...

Being individual beings, we find it really difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of other individuals; and even if we feel like we're gifted at being sympathetic - or even empathetic - we likely don't maintain a perpetual state of being that is accompanied by a constant burden for others and how they feel or how they would react to our actions. And thus, our principle:

One way that we can find victory over our common, everyday struggles is to remember that we don't "do life" on our own - but in community. Every action affects the whole - no matter how small.

It's a simple enough statement, but it's much harder to practice. One thing that I've been trying to do to help reshape my worldview to reflect more of a communal living-type of attitude is to simply think about what my friends and family are doing while I am washing the dishes, hanging laundry on the clothes line, or playing with my son.

So there you have it. That's one thing I'm working on in my own life; and, by grace, hopefully it's one area that will improve in this 29th year of my life.

Life is so Busy!

2010-10-12T12:08:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it's already the middle of October! Where has the time gone?

Over the past few months, I have been learning about how short life is; and how, all too often, we allow the things of the now (the present reality) to influence how we live - instead of the future. I have often heard it said that we should "live in light of eternity", and I think that's a trustworthy saying. But how do we do it?

Pretty much the only method I can think of is to try harder to contemplate the things that matter most - as often and as regularly as we can. It's a tough challenge, but a possible one. One idea might be to stop to think about the future every time you eat a meal, or when you're driving to or from work, or whatever.

The point is, the only way to slow down the pace of reality is to think about the future - the very distant future.

For me, present life has a full schedule: promoting the up-coming solo record release (Fundamental, some time in November?), spending time with my family, recording another album with my band, The City, doing pre-production for the next Restoration Project record, practicing music, writing music, rehearsing for up-coming shows, mentoring college students, volunteering at my church, training for the Hot Chocolate 15k Run in Chicago (next month)... Wow. This is a long list of things - and it's not even all of it.

Life is a balancing act, and by focusing no the future, we can curb the anxiety about the present, keep our priorities in check, and, at least graciously stumble through life.

Album Cover for Fundamental

2010-09-29T12:42:00.003-05:00

Here it is, friends. The hand-painted, hand-screen-printed album cover for the new record, Fundamental. These hand-made copies are a first-pressing, limited edition, so if you want a copy, you'll have to pick it up quickly, before they run out! More info about the album release date coming soon.

A Letter from Peter Roskam

2010-09-22T16:33:00.001-05:00

I hate politics. I don't "get political". It's not a political issue for me. I don't make my political opinions known. I don't fit in to the party system that consumes America.

Just this afternoon, I got a letter from the Roskam for Congress Committee, with Roskam's signature at the very end. It was a two-page, double-sided smear letter against the democrats. It made me angry. It made me sick. Here is my exact email response to his campaign about the letter:

Dear Committee,

I would appreciate it if you would pass this along to Mr. Roskam himself, as this has very much to do with his political future. Thanks!

Congratulations! You have just lost yourself a vote, Mr. Roskam!

Just this afternoon, I received in the mail a letter paid for by the Roskam for Congress Committee.

For starters, don't address a letter "Dear Friend." It's insulting. I don't know you. And you obviously don't even care enough about knowing your constituents to address them by name. Also, take me off of your mailing lists and call lists. Oh yeah, I've already asked you to do that six different times.

I can't believe you people. You continue to send out letters, run ads, and the like, that just bash people in the democratic party (and the opposite happens, too). It's sickening. It makes me hate our system of government. You're what's wrong with politics in America. I'm not saying that whoever you're demonizing in your campaigns isn't also in the wrong, but it's clear that you somehow think that you can use fear and smear to win an election. And maybe you can.

I'm not in to "politicking", as I call it, and I'm not even in to politics. I'm not a democrat. I'm not a republican. I'm just an ordinary American - like so many - who just want our elected officials to do the right thing.

I promised a long, long time ago - and I have stuck to it - that I will vote against any candidate who uses negative campaign tactics. Many times, that has led me to vote for candidates who, in our current system, don't really stand a chance of winning. But this is changing. More people are starting to think as I do.

For your information, I've posted a statement about your letter on my blog. If you'd care to read it, you may do so here:

http://jaymathes.blogspot.com

I truly hope that, as this country moves forward, Roskam and all of the other politicians get real. It's sickening to see how out of touch you all are with the people whom you represent. Until you learn that you can't expect our country to succeed by looking out for your own interests as a politician (IE: winning an election by running smears), you are not fit to represent me in office.

I now await a better day - one beyond party lines, politicians motivated by self-interest, and, yes, a broken system of government.

Politically Not Yours,

Jay Mathes

Mix Masters Complete

2010-09-15T00:21:00.002-05:00

I just got home from Catfish Studio. The mix masters for the new record, Fundamental, are in my hand right now. Exhausted, but it's a good feeling. Check out this studio pic taken by Nick Gray (http://iamnickgray.com).

Recording Day One

2010-09-13T23:29:00.002-05:00

Day one of recording the new album is over. All 15 songs are tracked. All it took was 5.5 hours of nearly continuous singing and playing guitar. I am tired. I am excited. I am proud. I can't wait to mix all of these songs tomorrow.

Special thanks to Wes at Catfish Studio for putting up with me being a schedule Nazi. Special thanks to Nick Gray for his videography and to Ash Hodges for his photography. Nick, I'm sorry you have 16 hours of recording footage to sift through. Ash, thanks for your lighting expertise and for being available on such short notice.

Now, to bed...

Tomorrow we wrap everything up.

Picking Up the Guitar

2010-09-08T22:32:00.003-05:00

I don't think my experience today is unique. I think that many guitarists have felt what I did today, when I picked up a guitar I had never played before in my life. I couldn't put it down. I played guitar today for about four hours, and only put it down because my fingers were too sore to continue.

A good friend of mine let me borrow his prized acoustic guitar for this week and for my upcoming recording sessions, on Monday and Tuesday. I restrung it, gave it a quick tune-up, and began to play on an instrument worth over 17 times that of any other guitar that I own. Yes, 17 times. Do the math and let that sink in for a minute. Yep. I have a very, very good friend.

I might as well say it: the only way that a human ever lets another human borrow something like this is if the said owner has a different perspective on what things in life really matter. It's an odd way to think about it; but holding loosely to the things we have is actually more important than keeping what we have in pristine condition.

So, as you can see, today I've done a lot of playing and a lot of contemplating on the example that my friend has set for me - for us all. Thank you, friend. And I promise to do my best to return your guitar to you in as good of condition as when you gave it to me - if not better.

Pre-Session Jitters

2010-08-27T21:35:00.002-05:00

Booking studio time somehow always makes recording a new album more real. This time around, I especially feel it. Why? Simple: I haven't actually *paid* for studio time since my first record, Leave It All Behind. Commit was recorded for a class at Columbia, Love Said and Glimmer were both recorded on my own gear, in my own studio, on my own time.

So you might be asking yourself right now, "Why would Jay be paying to go in to a studio to record this time around - especially when all of the records he's done in his own studio have just been getting better and better?" Again, simple answer: when you're recording such a delicate type of album - one where the instrumentation is super-simple - every component in the recording process has to be excellent: the instruments themselves, the microphones, the cables, the pre-amps, the A/D converters, the room/environment itself, and the channel effects.

In my case, I lack really nice pre-amps. The price tag on buying a unit that has four of them built in? $2,700. Yeah. I don't think so. I could rent them, but it would still cost a pretty penny. The best bang for the buck is just going in to a quality studio, with a quality engineer, and having somebody else work with you to record it.

In my opinion, going in to the studio is always a better option than recording it on your own, in your own environment - unless, of course, you've already invested the $15,000 needed to get all of the nice stuff you'd need: the microphones, the cables, the pre-amps, the A/D converters, the room/environment itself, and the channel effects.

So there you have it. I'm going in to a studio to record my next record. I have the jitters.

Looking for a New Apartment

2010-08-23T16:06:00.004-05:00

Megan and I decided a couple of months ago that September might be the month that we move out of our ridiculously small and over-priced apartment. The process of doing so has begun - albeit in a very small way.

Today, I requested a listing of available apartments from the college down the street (Wheaton College) and they were very happy to send me over a very out-dated list of available spaces. Oh well. I guess you have to start somewhere.

By the way, if you were wondering, this is not a picture of my apartment.

Live Show Practice ≠ Perfect

2010-08-21T21:49:00.002-05:00

As you all know, I've been working on incorporating live electronic loops into my shows for a while now. I must say, I've been having a heck of a time trying to make that happen. I haven't given up, because I think the results are really going to be a huge asset to my live solo show.

As you probably also know, my next big show is at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, IL, in just a few, short weeks. I'll be ready by then, but it's going to take a heck of a lot of work. I'll be doing a lot of work late in to the evening on the nights leading up to the 25th, and I know I'm going to be tired. But alas, the pay-off.

The goal for the 25th is to utilize electronic loops for half of my set, or nine songs. As of today, I am 90% confident with performing and looping for one song, and know exactly what I want to do for at least four others. I haven't even started on the remaining four songs; and I'm anticipating a total of about 15 hours per song to get everything "performance ready."

Add on top of that the fact that I plan to record a solo-acoustic record this month, and you can see why I might be feeling a little bit under the gun. But it's a good feeling, I assure you. I haven't felt this lit about my music in a long time, and I'm looking for ways to keep stoking the fire.

To that end, can anyone say "shows"??? If you are willing to help me out with booking, I'll make sure to get you a CD copy of the new record when it's complete. Just email me and let me know where you can get me a show: jaymathes {at} jaymathes {dot} com.

New Album? Yes. Coming in October

2010-08-20T13:05:00.003-05:00

Yes, it is true. Many details are amorphous right now, but what I can confirm is that I will be releasing an all-acoustic album in October. I'm currently commissioning artwork from a couple of friends of mine, working on the track list, and figuring out how I'm going to make it happen. So here's what I can guarantee:

* All new music

* Huge album jacket

* Eco-friendly production

* Hand-made album cover and disc image

Mailing list members will hear about the track list and pre-order info first, plus they'll get a free track from the record the week of the release. Sign up on my website, jaymathes.com.

Going Away for a While

2010-07-30T12:47:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to let you know that I will be out of town for ten days, beginning on this coming Tuesday. I will be traveling to Wyoming's Wind River Mountain Range, where I will be backpacking, fly fishing, and hiking. I'm taking the trip with a very good friend of mine, and I can't wait for him to teach me how to fly fish. Yes, I've never done it before. Chicago doesn't really have any good places to go fishing; and seeing as I've lived here all my life, I have never experienced a yearning to fly fish. As it is, I barely remember how to cast a line on a "normal" reel.

So off I go in to the great outdoors. This is my first backpacking trip since 2003 (?). Ridiculous, considering that I love doing it. But it's not cheap if you live in Chicago, because you always have to travel pretty far to get anywhere worth going to.

I'll try to post another entry or two before I leave, but if I don't, please forgive me. I have a lot of packing to do, and I still have to bone up on some rudimentary fishing skills - like tying a hook to a line!

Ciao!

Wasting Time on Vlad Studios

2010-07-21T20:04:00.002-05:00

For starters, let me say "Wow. I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted." I feel like a real slacker, that's for sure. But as I'm sure you're aware, the itch to blog kinda waxes and wanes, if you catch my lunar drift.

So, for the most part, I haven't been slacking off. But today I have been - just a little. Just a few, short hours ago, I finished a complete OS reinstall on my computer. Why? Because I was having some really screwed up issues with the software I use to record most of my music, and I thought it may have been related to something I did with deleting and adding different users in the OS. Okay, so if all of that doesn't interest you at all, just forget the last 45 seconds and continue reading...

This early evening, I spent close to 45 minutes admiring the work of one Vlad Gerasimov. He's a sweet graphic designer and he has this awesome website where people can download his desktop background graphics and photos. Here it is: http://www.vladstudio.com.

My favorite pictures are always the ones that are clever (as well as sharp-looking) - not just your normal sort of concepts (stars in the sky, underwater scene, etc.). One of my favorites has got to be this one: http://www.vladstudio.com/wallpaper/?lightbulb. It's of a personified lightbulb, sitting in wonder of the starlit sky. Just a cool concept, if you ask me.

That I-Need-to-Sneeze-But-I-Can't Feeling

2010-06-22T17:40:00.003-05:00

I've been sick for the last few days, and for better or worse, it has given me some time to think. Yeah, I know. When is a songwriter not contemplating about life and death and all matters in between. Well, this morning, while I was drinking some Stash chamomile tea, I came up with an interesting metaphor...

All of life is like that feeling you get when you're about to sneeze. Your eyes tear up, your nose starts to tingle with pressure, and yet, the sneeze never comes. It gets stuck somewhere between your throat and your sphenoidal sinus (or somewhere else you've never heard of). In life, we all long and hope for things. We have unfulfilled desires and dreams. We all want what's best - for ourselves, for everyone - yet we often have no idea what "the best" might actually be. We are caught in the space occupied by unrealized potential.

This is what I am now coining as Sneeze Tension. Do you feel it? I feel it every day. Sick or not.

Songwriting Tips: Are You Kidding!?!?

2010-06-07T23:25:00.002-05:00

I just uploaded a new video (of a new song) to my YouTube channel, here: http://youtube.com/jaymathesmusic. (Thanks for checking it out! :)

But seriously, I just watched it to make sure that everything uploaded okay (it didn't, actually. I still can't figure out the whole aspect ratio junk and the videos almost always get squashed in the YouTube player.), and I noticed that many of the videos along the sidebar "related" to mine are songwriting tips. I think I puked up a little in my mouth when I saw them there.

And if that wasn't bad enough, I clicked on a couple and watched these idiots talk about how to write better songs. Are you kidding!?!? These are the kinds of people who prey on stupid American Idol wanna-be's; and even worse, these vloggers have somehow been deluged with the delusion that they have something meaningful and worthwhile to say about songwriting.

Let me say something: songwriting is simple. You either have it or you don't. If you don't have it, by all means, continue watching barf-tastic songwriting tips videos on YouTube, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2MrG8bxR_Y&feature=related (Okay, really, don't click that link. It's a waste of your time and you're going to improve its ratings.)

And if you have it, you know you have it. I'm not saying I have it. Nor am I saying that those who have it can't improve their skills and hone their craft. What I'm saying is that good songwriters always were good songwriters. Maybe not every song they wrote was always great; but there were pieces of great songs all along the way - even from the very start of things.

So where is this coming from? Not really sure. But what I can say is that if you *are* a songwriter (by the way, I think that the only *true* songwriters are *great* songwriters, indeed), the best way for you to improve your songwriting is to write more songs. Every minute you spend thinking about how you write a song is another minute that you're not writing one.

Don't waste your life on theory. Get dirty. Make a mess. Do something. Be somebody. Work as hard as you can at something because you love it and can't imagine life without it. Don't give in. Don't let someone tell you what you can achieve. And be prepared to be broken. Beautifully broken.

Fine Lines and Hidden Spaces

Signing Off...

New Year Resolutions for 2012

Merry, Merry, What is Christmas?

When it's All Worth it

We're Here to Help

Armenian Cookbooks and a History Lesson

When I'm Not Me

Supporting the Companies that Support Climbing

Starting Over

I Don't HAVE to, I GET to

What All Great Music Does

P90X and Climbing

"THAT Neighbor"

Late Nights and New Videos

Music Clout. Seriously?

Thoughts on Reason 6 - Upgrades and Pricing

Yes, It's 3:30 AM, but the New Site is Up!

Thoughts on Google Music Beta: Magnifier

View from Horseshoe

Blurb from My Latest Newsletter

Now Serving BMI Artists...

Thoughts on the John Mayer Q and A at Berklee

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #6

Classical or Folk: Which is Better?

CAU Performance Rescheduled

The Strange Tendency of History to Repeat

A Song is Not a Cookie

Finding Significance in Your Work

Anti-Social-Media Trends

Music Licensing Opportunities

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #5

More Pics from Catfish Studio

Instrumental Record?

Special Thanks: The Hursthouse Family

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #4

More Press for Fundamental!

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #3

Home Sweet Home

New York City Here We Come

A Human Struggle for Recognition

First Video from Record Release Show Now on YouTube!

Mosquito Fleet / Milano Concert Review

Have You Ever Wondered?

The Notebook, 2012, and a Goal

Long Saturday

Luck and the Art of Waiting

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Reeling, The Fizz Bubbles Over

Live Show Almost Ready

Release Show on Friday!

Top 25 Albums of All Time - #2

Top 25 Albums of All Time

Are You Kidding Apple!?!?!

Rihanna's "Umbrella" Uses Garageband Loop

It Comes from Somewhere Deeper

Always Behind, Never Ahead

New Year Resolutions

One of Top-Ten Most-Depressing Professions

Merry Christmas! Plans for the Week

Hospital Beds and Jello Heads

Thank You All!

Song List for Cuvee Cellars Show (12/17/2010)

Push It, Mathes

All I Want for Christmas

Mailing List Overhaul

Any Good?

Fundamental Release Preparations

A Legend Dies

One Reason Why I Love the Guitar

Excerpt from "I Asked the Lord" by John Newton

Thanksgiving Blues

Late Nights Can Kill You

The Official Blog Title Change!

Crying Babies

Moving to Brooklyn

Selling a Piece of Family History

Running on a Full Tank of Ambition

New The City Song Initial Mix Complete

Working on a New Video