Museday Mumblings (Vol. 80): Forgotten Inspirations

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 80): Forgotten Inspirations

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I like fact that this is my 80th Museday Mumbling entry, because it honors the passing age of someone we just lost who was weirdly important to my lead guitar playing but I would never really think to credit until now.

Dickey Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, and one of the most solid, unique, and melodic guitarists rock music ever saw. Honestly I always respected ABB but was never any sort of major fan of their music. I loved a bunch of songs, but not enough to ever consider them a major inspiration. That said, they were a major inspiration to Jive Town Jimmy and The Knights of the Purple Cadillac, the jam band I had with my brothers and brother-from-another-mother, but that was largely because the brother-from-another-mother was trying desperately to BE Dickey.

The Allman Brothers Band made fantastic music, legendary, classic truly capital-A AMERICAN music. A bit noodly, sometimes a bit plodding, but the stuff they did I loved I LOVED. Overall, generally not for me. But there was one aspect of their music that was 100% for me, and it’s something that imprinted on me and I’ve used in solos pretty much to this day.

So even though I was never a superfan, I did nick a scale they would frequently use. I’d always joke and call it the “Allman Brothers” scale, but more accurately you could call it a major hexatonic scale – adding the fourth to a regular major pentatonic.

Now, before you close the page, I hear ya…major hexa-what?

Here’s a breakdown of how the scales compare.

Let’s do an example in the key of C, since that doesn’t have any sharps or flats. A full C major scale is composed of the notes C – D – E – F – G – A – B, and a C major pentatonic removes the 4th (F) and the 7th (B) to make C – D – E – G – A. Dickey and the brothers utilized a scale that added back in the 4th, which added some beautiful suspension tension in for playing melodic lines. So that scale is C – D – E – F – G – A. That little bump between the E and F allows for some interesting texture that’s not available in a regular pentatonic scale.

Now for the multimedia portion of our show…A little “Major Hexplanation” for ya…

And there are actually tons of examples of solos I’ve cut on basically anything that even hints at being country, Americana, or whatever, where you can hear me add this little flavor in to a major pentatonic, because I just love the sound so much. That little suspended-sounding 4th adds so much to my ears and just makes me happy. And I have Dickey Betts to thank for that, because it was his beautiful playing that put that in my brain. Listen to the solos in the Allman Brothers Band’s classic “Ramblin’ Man” (a Dickey song, even). It’s ALL OVER THE PLACE…

So as tribute to the man, please hit up your favorite streaming service and go enjoy some more of his beautiful music. Start with the tracks “Jessica” (Top Gear fans might recognize that one) and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”.

Thanks so much, Dickey, for the fantastic music and being an unsung-until-now part of the fabric of my guitar playing, and may you rest in peace.

Thanks for reading and peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 79): Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 79): Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet

Graphic design/publishing nerds will get the title of this one. I put it there as filler because I didn’t know what to title this catch-all musing.

Life’s been pretty dang good here through 2024. I released another one of my songs on streaming services, which was fun. I did a remix/remaster of it, felt pretty happy about the overall sound, and then realized once it was posted everywhere that I should have boosted the vocals about 1.5 dB. Ah, well, when I post my next collection of things, I’ll post a remixed version. Until then, just go to any streaming service (and I mean ANY streaming service – I got that sucker on all the big’uns) and give it a listen. It’s called “We Really Just Don’t Care” by your humble writer, “The Musical Schizo”.

I got to see two of my favorite bands of all time, Living Colour and Extreme at one of my favorite venues – ACL Live at the Moody Theater. Thanks to my hetero life mate Ned for snagging those tickets – they were AMAZING seats in the center section of the mezzanine – so basically directly across from the stage and only slightly higher up. The view:

Moving on to other stuff, Chandler and The Bings has been sporadically busy as usual, but with great gigs in FOUR cities (Laredo, Austin, Killeen, and San Antonio). And five if you count Cedar Park/Leander separate from Austin – it kind of is, since almost no one from up there would travel to our downtown Austin gigs. We’ll be hitting Houston and San Antonio on the same day at the end of April, so we’re certifiable. It’s been a crazy year so far, with only more craziness to come for the band. Love those boys.

I’ve been wanting to own an American-made Ernie Ball Music Man bass for the better part of my life as a bassist, and now I do. I saw an ad on Craigslist for a EBMM Sterling 5H, which isn’t my beloved Stingray style, but it’s a little lighter and more ergonomic. The ad mentioned they’d consider a trade for a Line 6 Helix. And wouldn’t you know it – I happened to have one of those sitting around the studio because I hadn’t sold it yet. So I got in touch with the seller, and then weirdly got a call from an old coworker/friend who used to produce my ex-wife’s radio show. I was like, why is he calling me? Turns out it was HIS bass! So we made the trade (and had a great reunion) and after a LOT of tweaking the setup, I’m a pretty happy camper with the ol’ Sterling 5H. I still think there’s some special magic in my cheapo Stingray that’s been my #1 since 2018, but this new one is definitely giving it a run for its money. Kind of hilarious that a $2000 bass is in direct competition with one I got for $330, but magic is magic. And price doesn’t trump magic. EVER.

On a more creative level, I picked the song that I’m going to collaborate with my old pal Dennis C. Miller on – actually, it’s going to be more me driving the bus on it – but it’s his song from about 20 years ago and I’m going to produce a version of it. That should be coming in the next month or two, so once we work that stuff out you should see it appear on a release from him later this year (and I might put it out, too, if that ends up being the deal).

On the mental health front, it’s been a rough go the past month or two. I don’t really reveal it much to most people, but I struggle with depression sometimes, and it’s been a dark time in my brain. Thankfully life has a way of keeping me just busy enough to not be swallowed up by it, and reminding me that I have so much value and I am loved no matter what my shitty-ass brain tells me. Just practicing gratitude daily and trying not to spiral, and it works for me. Meds might help, but my valleys aren’t persistent enough or frequent enough for me to feel like it’s necessary. Thanks to my lovely wife, and my wonderful children to help keep me from falling in the pit. If you need to talk, you know where to find me. I’m a good ear and I will love on you as much or as little as you need.

What else – oh, I’m also rather enamored with Olivia Rodrigo’s songs, and she just released a few more on the expanded edition of her record GUTS, including a BANGER called “obsessed” that you should check out. It’s awesome, and she put it together with the inimitable and excellent St. Vincent (Annie Clark). (The other four songs on GUTS (spilled) are fantastic as well.)

So that’s the update. I hope you have a fantastic day whenever you read this.

Lead with love, and peace be the journey.
TMS

Necessity Being The Mother Of Invention (and all that)

Necessity Being The Mother Of Invention (and all that)

I have a great day job. I get to make audio productions for the largest audio company in the world, with hundreds of radio stations, streams, thousands of podcasts, and just a MASSIVE footprint.

Sometimes this job requires the musical side of me to pop out and do some stuff because whatever resources I have aren’t quite good enough or exactly the perfect fit. This post will be about that.

I’ve been doing commercials for a local annual event every year, and am very proud and honored to have them as a client. The nature of my contract with the aforementioned day job precludes me from using their resources on stuff that falls outside the company, so I honor that. My library of music to use on outside stuff is minimal at best, and I’m not interested in paying piles of money to license music, because, well, times are tight. So, my composing and performing skills bailed me out. This necessity led to the invention of some music!

The first cut I created is a typical country-rock midtempo stomp tune:

Then that wasn’t quite working the way I wanted, so I checked their other ads to see what sort of things they had in them, and it was more rock-oriented. So to kill both birds with one stone, I came up with this one:

Then this client had some ads for a BBQ fest they were having as part of the larger event, and that one was just BEGGING for some Texas Blues. So I grabbed my Strat and made this little ditty:

It was so fun coming up with bespoke music for these ads that I think I might actually start composing more stuff to use for any non-company stuff I work on. It stoked my creativity in ways it hadn’t been stoked in a while. And it was all so fast and easy to make it all sound good using REAPER and my Line 6 Native, iZotope, Native Instruments, and Steven Slate Design plugins.

I’ve also created jingles and little ad sounders for clients for the day job, which I won’t post here, but if you’re curious, I’ll email them to ya – just get in touch with me.

Thanks for reading and listening, and peace be the journey!

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 78): Life Living You

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 78): Life Living You

I think I’ve addressed this before here on the blog, but I think sometimes you live life, and sometimes life lives you.

You feel like you have choices when you’re living life.

You feel like you’re just following a to-do list if life is living you.

Right now, it really does feel like life is living me instead of the other way around.

To be clear – some of the most fantastic things have been happening the past few months, from my 50th Birthday with surprise visits from my parents and a cousin I hadn’t seen in years to a couple of wonderful trips to North Carolina and Atlanta to see friends and band reunions. And reuniting with my best friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in over 20 years and finally meeting his wife and wonderful boys. SO MUCH LOVE!

But even as it’s been great, everything’s been SCHEDULED. My wife and I haven’t really had good alone time because we have a little kid and no good sitters. Work has been relentless for both of us, and SUPER STRESSFUL for my wife. Gigs have been very sporadic (which serve as a nice salve for my psyche, so that’s not good).

Some days I feel like I’m just driving people places and then sitting in a room for hours on a computer cutting up voiceovers I’m not particularly pleased with and mixing with music that’s ALMOST right for the commercials while periodically being interrupted by questions that have often already been answered.

I’m sure a lot of people go through this stuff, and honestly, I’m usually fairly good at forcing myself to be present and not just muddle through. But right now? It’s not going great. So I’m writing this at 1:41am to kind of put it out there so I can move on from it and take more action in my life.

Recently for the day job I had to create a jingle out of some really questionable a cappella singing, so I threw that pitchy mess into Melodyne (a wonderful software for naturally removing pitchiness), and wrote and recorded music to match the flow of the melody (which was a VERY atypical arrangement). Shockingly, it turned out fairly decent. I had polished the turd to a fine sheen (and they ended up going with the original a cappella…go figure).

The good part about that was discovering how quickly I can throw together music that is a full arrangement (the cleaned-up voice, along with guitar, bass, and drums I played on my Korg X50 keyboard). It really inspired me to possibly use those same techniques to get my songs done and start using my DistroKid account to make them available for people to listen and/or buy on all the streaming services.

So I know I’ve said it before, but I really do think that I’ll actually be finishing some songs in the coming months, and probably releasing them in chunks as EPs on Spotify and stuff like that.

That is, if I can manage to stop letting life live me and turn that shit around so I’m living life.

Wish me luck!

And if you also feel like life has been living you, I feel you. And I’m hoping for your sake you can turn that shit around as well.

Take care, and Peace be the journey!
TMS

Ah, Maaaan…

Ah, Maaaan…

Well, my monthly solo gig is gone now. “First Saturdays with Brian V. at 360 Uno” is no more.

360 Uno is shutting their doors for good in late August and my gig this Saturday was cancelled.

It’s a weird thing – there were things that were kind of terrible about those gigs – I never felt prepared enough, the crowds were largely indifferent about my presence (because it was a restaurant situation with sort of old people and families, not a “bar” bar), the setup by the front door was kind of awkward, etc. The staff and how I was treated as a performer there more than made up for it. I got to play all kinds of different songs, take chances, and scratch other musical itches not scratched by Chandler and The Bings. I played my own music almost every show. I played a PILE of Sloan songs for Canada Day on what is now officially my last performance there.

My lovely and talented friend Mandy Prater got me in there, and it was a great situation for me. I just need to find a new place for it – try to set up a monthly gig somewhere. This time, perhaps, a lot closer, and at a BAR bar, so patrons will be more engaged and I’ll play better – I feed off the crowd more than I ever thought I did. That’s a lesson I learned.

Another lesson these gigs taught me is that I am a pretty ham-handed guitar player. Made me really want to get my technique together to execute melodic stuff a little better than just bashing out rhythms all the time.

Thanks to all my friends (and family) who came out and had some pizza or wine or gelato or whatever and enjoyed a show. I loved that you were there more than you can ever imagine. And BIG BIG thanks to Jamie and all the staff there for being so delightful to work with and always making me feel welcome. Good luck to all of you in the future. You deserve all the best.

If you have any ideas of where I can play in the 78748 area, I’m down…

Thanks for reading, and peace be the journey…
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 77) – LITERAL MUSEDAY

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 77) – LITERAL MUSEDAY

It’s Tuesday. It’s a Museday. And it’s literally MUSE day!

My hetero life mate Ned (the Roman Holiday fella) and I are going to see Muse tonight (thanks to Heather for giving up her tickets).

They are one of the best live bands in the world. Their shows push the limits of live show technology and they really throw a LOT of money into the presentation. AND it’s at the brand-spanking-new, designed-to-sound-good Moody Center here in Austin. So it should be an epic experience. I’m very excited.

Speaking of being excited, the next seven weekends in a row I get to play some live music!

March 4th I’m with those Chandler and The Bings fellas up in College Station, TX at Brookshire Brothers. Yes. The supermarket – they have an awesome live music venue there. We’re stoked to be part of their concert series. Then a solo show on March 11th at 360 Uno (thanks to Mandy Prater for swapping with me). Then, more Bings shows, including St. Patrick’s Day at Picks Bar in San Antonio, a private event for the owners of Picks Bar on Sunday the 26th, then back at 360 Uno solo April 1st (I have to figure out if I’m doing some sort of April Fool – maybe I’ll just learn the Soul Asylum song), back at Picks Bar on April 8th, and then a triumphant return to Joker’s Ice House in Killeen on April 15th. Damn. We’re all over the place!

So that’s my next few months. Work making fun audio things for clients for the day job. Learning new songs for the solo project. Trying to manage my blood pressure and lose some weight, still. And spending as much time as possible enjoying the wife and family.

I hope you get to do the things you love. I’m grateful for all of it.

And I’m grateful for you. Thanks for reading and peace be the journey!

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 76) – A Case of The Musedays

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 76) – A Case of The Musedays

Well, it’s a Museday. The last time I posted was in late September. Clearly life is having its way with me right now, as I’m not particularly inspired to even blather on here on the blog.

This series was meant to be almost a meditation – every Tuesday (or so) I’d post about some topic, whether it be musical or otherwise (but mostly musical), and it would keep me creating and creative. But a few things happened over the last year or so that really messed with my desire to share much of what’s going on with me publicly. People who are too sensitive. Beloved friends slightly younger than me who died suddenly. The tennis match-like back-and-forth of worthiness and worthlessness that is being a sensitive artist.

I desperately want to WANT to create. I desperately want to FEEL like people I depend on for music-related things are all on the same page. But time creates distance, distance increases anxiety, anxiety breeds worry, worry breeds resentment. I’m not saying anything is REAL about how I feel about the various things I’m doing or my relationships with music stuff, but it’s definitely making me feel less motivated in general, and kind of depressing me (and thus keeping me from working on stuff).

But let’s take stock. Let’s have ourselves one of them certified, Erin-phrase-coined “Gratitude Adjustments”:

In 2022, I played a PILE of wonderful shows with my boys in Chandler and The Bings. And I played my roles as bassist and singer well in the vast majority of them, which makes me very proud. We had a great bonding experience with our trip to Laredo that was only sullied by a bad stomach bug which led to the very first time I’ve ever left the stage to vomit…and then vomited off the side of the stage out of the view of the crowd. It’s quite a story that’s quite gross, and if you’d like to hear it, I’m happy to tell it in person.

My solo shows were mostly pretty good, and I was VERY consistent this year, basically playing every first Saturday except for July. I love the venue, the staff is wonderful, people tip very well, and I really need to grow this side of my musicianship. I think it would be good for my development to have some bigger crowds to play to, though. So I’m going to work towards that in 2023, stacking up the wonderful venue I already play and maybe even finding some more…

I got some very cool new gear and some of my existing gear got an AMAZING update that inspires me to play more, which is good. I keep meaning to make videos about the guitar and little amp, but that’s another casualty of life in general. Just hasn’t happened yet.

My body has held up pretty well considering I packed on an extra 15 lbs this year. Going to do my best to get that off in triplicate this year, hopefully by my birthday in September. That might be too tall an order, but progress toward healthy living is most important. My health is paramount and I need to stick around for my kiddos.

To close this out:

I am thankful that I can still do this music stuff.

I am grateful that my health so far has remained pretty good (gotta figure out the heart flutter, but…)

I am hopeful that I can stay disciplined and make the necessary changes to lead a more healthy lifestyle.

Now that this is turning into a “Goals” post – completely unrelated to the fact that it’s a new year, mind you – my goals are now to get healthy, get better at playing the songs I perform, get working on my ear training and theory knowledge, get the worthy songs I’ve written recorded, mix the old ones that were already recorded better (and improve the performances if necessary), get some new songs together, release some new music (having one song on the streaming platforms seems kind of sad), get my goddamn ass in gear in general, and get some MONEY.

That’d be nice, right? Rent is EXPENSIVE. Shit, everything is.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I plan to get back in this Museday Mumblings habit again. Have a happy day whenever you see this, and may you stay healthy and safe.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 75): TALK TO PEOPLE

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 75): TALK TO PEOPLE

So I lost an ex-bandmate and sort-of-friend back in August, and I had no idea he passed.

I knew he had ALS and had returned to Austin from Georgia, where he’d moved in the late 2010s, to be closer to people who could manage his care.

But I hadn’t really interacted with him much since his diagnosis – we were always more like friendly acquaintances, and hadn’t really talked since he moved to Georgia other than a few comment threads on Facebook. I was worried about him, and thought about him often, wishing him well (which is my secular form of praying), but I hadn’t reached out. Once the pandemic hit (a few months after he came back), I wasn’t really seeing anyone, and got completely out of the habit of hanging out. So even though he was just a few miles away here on the southern edge of Austin, I didn’t make time to go see him. I now regret that, but I also look back on the times we had when we were closer to each other’s orbit. They were…interesting.

Like when he joined our band Roman Holiday, and even though we initially had a great time talking to him and hanging out – with lots in common, including sharing the Pennsylvania connection – he proceeded to make it very difficult for Ned and I to enjoy the band experience. An excerpt from an old unpublished blog:

We hired one of them (a bassist-keyboardist), the one we liked the most personally. I moved over to guitar and lead vocals. He started learning the tunes, but ignored us when we said, “focus on bass, then come up with keyboard parts for the songs that need them.” Because of this, he hadn’t learned our whole set in time for our next show, three weeks later. I suppose we’re spoiled, because I learn songs very quickly (and so did the drummer we had at the time), but the next show we played he played just two sets (I played bass on the last one). We didn’t mind much at the time, but pressed on. All the while, he was bitching about learning songs, and procrastinating on the ones he didn’t like, in a passive-aggressive way trying to force us to tailor the set to him, which didn’t work because I already knew everything on bass, so anything he didn’t learn, I’d play. We had already done a successful gig as a three-piece in the interim, so we knew it was possible. Right around this time, the drummer got a new job and had to quit, effective within a month.

The bitching from the new guy continued. Finally, we got tired of it and fired him before the auditions – no sense introducing a new drummer to a band that was in turmoil. We decided to continue as a trio, so long as we could find a good drummer.

So, needless to say, it was a rough go, at least for the early part of the relationship. Ned played bad cop in that scenario (and as a result, he thought Ned was a dick), but truth be told he was pissing us both off and had to leave. So much potential there, but it just didn’t work out. Despite this, he and I remained friendly and would talk often about putting together a band more like the band he wanted Roman Holiday to be. Ironically, with the next drummer we found for Roman Holiday (Rob), we pushed the band in basically the direction that would have pleased the fired guy had he just followed instructions and been patient. We got along great for years, but we never ended up playing together again – it was never the right time.

Bringing up the uglier stuff may seem sort of harsh, but I’m not a fan of the whole “don’t speak ill of the dead” bullshit because I think knowing and remembering the complete person honors who they were more completely than sugar-coating it. And I’m very sad that I didn’t get a chance to play more music, spend more time, or to even talk to him again (even if his responses would have been a computer voice).

ALS fucking sucks, but at least he’s free from the prison that was that cruel, cruel existence.

Rest in peace, Luis. I hope wherever you are has Starions and Motorcycles for you to drive uncomfortably fast, and all the basses and synths you can get your hands on.

The moral of the story: Social media connections aren’t really real. If they matter to you, get their number. Text them. Call Them. Hang out. Don’t just watch them through the window and see how their life is progressing. Be PRESENT in it. Share love.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 74): BACK OFF THE BOAT!

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 74): BACK OFF THE BOAT!

I am no longer in Yacht Z.

Nothing but love to the members of the band.

There was a personality clash with one member of the band, and it was just easier for life in general for me to disembark. Interpersonal relationships are often the hardest thing about making an ensemble come together. I am so thankful that I’ve been in SO MANY bands where we all got along and had each other’s backs without any ego trips or bickering. Makes the music that much easier, and the shows that much more fun.

The best result of this little development is I have more time for everything else in my life, because these songs were HARD and TIME-CONSUMING TO LEARN. My solo show will benefit from this extra time, so you should come check me out at 360 Uno every first Saturday of the month! I’ll have at least FOUR new songs at the next show, and probably more because I want to shake it up some.

As for other things, I’m doing more tinkering to the studio setup to integrate more things and make everything work together better, so once that’s all done I’ll take some photos and post them here. Should be about a month or two. I still haven’t edited the livestream from the 360 Uno show, but it really wasn’t that great a show anyway, so I’m not going to share it. I have the show prior to that one which was a barn burner, so I’ll probably put that one together with the super-clean audio I recorded and release some clips from that.

And the aforementioned BeatBuddy Mini 2 went back. It just wasn’t for me. It’s cool, though. The full-size BeatBuddy is probably more my speed, but it’s too much for me. I should just learn how to use Ableton.

Take care, stay cool, and stay healthy out there…
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 73): Monthly Mumblings

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 73): Monthly Mumblings

So this page has devolved into about a monthly thing, which I guess is okay for now. Things are progressing slowly but surely with Yacht Z, getting my “sea legs” again, trying to decide what guitar I’m going to use (not fully happy with any of them, unfortunately), trying to learn the music, trying to figure out how to play live as a guitarist and balance my levels and stuff. It’s been frustrating, to be honest, but I need to figure it out. We had a fun-if-super-raga rehearsal last weekend and I loved it. I think Matt (Yacht Z drummer/vocals) is going to be my best friend now because his favorite baseball team is the Mets and he loves Sloan.

On to other things – much of everything is the same. Monthly shows at 360 Uno have been going great. I recorded the May show and the April one was livestreamed so I’ll post those videos here pretty soon hopefully – I have some finessing to do on them.

Chandler and The Bings has been plugging along doing well. Sadly no Austin gigs in June, but we’ve had some really fun ones recently, including a two-fer at Speakeasy and Blind Pig the last weekend of May.

Got a Singular Sound BeatBuddy MINI 2 to play with. So far it’s a lot of fun. It’s basically a drum machine in a pedal format. So that is likely to make its way into my next 360 Uno show, which unfortunately won’t be until August unless I pick up a cancellation somewhere.

Watch the George Carlin miniseries on HBO Max – it’s excellent.

And that’s about it for now. Try not to be a fucking asshole, please.

Peace be the journey.
TMS