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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. 71): Taylor Hawkins, Mastery, Confidence, BIG NEWS!

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 71): Taylor Hawkins, Mastery, Confidence, BIG NEWS!

First, Taylor Hawkins.

I thought he was rad from his time in Alanis’ band, fell in love with him when he joined Foo Fighters and he and Dave clearly became hetero life mates (a la Jay & Silent Bob), and always respected him as a musician and singer.

Foo Fighters were an okay band when he joined, then Taylor asked the question, “But what if we were a GREAT band?” (People who know me know I relate to this “join the band and push them to be awesome” sort of mentality) And he kicked all their asses into shape and gave us one of the greatest live rock bands this country has ever produced. Foo Fighters only became a great band because of Taylor Hawkins.

The world of music is a lesser place without him in it. He was a kind and generous person and musician who carried the same exuberance and love for music as his best pal Dave, and they together kept rock on people’s minds by playing great arena rock shows and being ambassadors for the music and musicians they loved.

Taylor Hawkins was truly one of the greats, and I’m glad he and Foo Fighters got into the Rock Hall when they did so Taylor could feel the love and respect from his peers he so richly deserved.

Rest in peace, timekeeper. Thanks for all the music and laughs over the years.

On to more typical things…because of Taylor Hawkins’ untimely passing I had a hilarious thing happen at the Picks Bar show on March 26th. A “lady” came up mid-song and held up a napkin with “FOO FIGHTERS FOR TAYLOR” written on it, and stood there holding it until the song was over and I talked to her. I explained very earnestly how much I was sad about Taylor’s passing and how we didn’t play any Foo Fighters songs and we didn’t want to mess them up in tribute. And this asshole walked away like I farted in her face. Cut to the end of the next song (which I was singing lead on), and she walked (alcoholically) by me and flipped me off very enthusiastically as she left the bar in a huff, the man with her pulling her hand down trying to keep her from embarrassing herself. It was crazy and ultimately hilarious, though it’s always unnerving when someone has real anger toward you, even if it comes from them being a drunk dipshit.

I’ve been overdosing on Foo Fighters music, deciding that Chandler and The Bings needs to add one of their songs, “My Hero” being the leading candidate (“Everlong” being a close second, but losing out because it’s in Drop-D). So I basically went through and learned all the parts on bass, guitar, and vocals so I could make sure we do it justice (teaching guitar parts as necessary). And at our private party last night, we did just that during soundcheck. All we need now is to go through some of the stops and for Jay to nail down the drum parts and it’ll be ready for prime time (and is likely to appear at the Speakeasy show on May 6th). Mastering the parts really made me feel good, and reminded me that when I focus, I’m pretty dang good at this stuff.

Of course the soundcheck lesson and my overall satisfaction with my bass tone and in-ear monitors at last night’s show really made me confident. Things just fell where they were supposed to – I played very accurately and my notes were generally very strong and true – more than normal. That level of connection with what I’m doing on stage just fosters even more confidence, and I kept getting better and more determined to rock faces off as the night progressed. It was lovely.

Well, cool shit is definitely on the horizon now, because I’ve started to realize that I need to get off my ass in life in general. So more live streaming, more Bathroom Schizo videos (this time I’m serious) and more content in general.

On the gig front, more Bings stuff is coming, and the BIG NEWS (buried the shit out of the lede here): I have the first of hopefully a LOT of First Saturday shows at 360 Uno coming up on May 7th, and I plan on really taking those up a notch. I might even add some tracks and stuff…we shall see. (Of course they’ll be tracks of me playing other parts live…)

So every first Saturday of the month, I’m playing 360 Uno. How cool is that? I love regular gigs! (thanks to Mandy for getting me in there and Jamie for booking me and Laurel for being, well, awesome always)

Headed to bed. Peace be the journey!
TMS

Brian V. Live at 360 UNO

Brian V. Live at 360 UNO

Decided to post the show from February 19, 2022 in its own post as well.

Here it is in its entirety:

I didn’t take a break, so it’s two solid hours. Feel free to skip around. Comments are welcome.

Here’s a list of the songs I played (with timecode, for the aforementioned skipping around…):

0:00:24 Hurts So Good
0:03:52 Bad Moon Rising
0:06:02 Learn To Fly
0:09:57 Bus Stop
0:13:14 Lodi
0:15:58 Daydream Believer
0:19:12 Just Like Heaven
0:21:52 Ain’t No Sunshine
0:24:13 Stray Cat Strut
0:27:07 Hold Me Now
0:31:27 Happy Together
0:35:12 What’s Going On
0:38:48 The Way
0:43:16 Every Rose Has Its Thorn
0:47:34 Wanted Dead Or Alive
0:52:42 Can’t Buy Me Love
0:54:52 Santeria
0:58:19 Plush
1:03:30 Wonderwall
1:07:39 Drift Away
1:11:43 Crazy Little Thing Called Love
1:15:03 Hey Jealousy
1:18:42 The Middle
1:21:59 No Such Thing
1:25:31 Always Something There To Remind Me
1:29:01 Tainted Love
1:32:08 I’m A Believer
1:35:22 I Melt With You
1:39:52 Interstate Love Song
1:43:33 Get Back
1:46:56 Out Of My Head
1:50:34 Walking On A Thin Line
1:55:47 Blitzkrieg Bop
1:58:14 Baby One More Time

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 69 – nice): Stuff Since The Last One

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 69 – nice): Stuff Since The Last One

I guess that’s a weird way of saying this is more of a status update than anything, but I’d just like to muse a little about what the past month’s been for me.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I had some really good band shows in January (the solo gig was more iffy). After that, kind of nothing whatsoever was happening with the band for a variety of reasons, which was kind of weird but ultimately very okay. There’s a lot brewing in the other band Pat and Jay are working on, so I kind of knew that was the deal. Which is fine.

I did a setup-cleanup-restringing of the new bass and got it sounding great and in tune all the way up the neck, and I was very excited to play it at the band shows this past weekend. So I strapped it on for the second set…

…and I hated it. Seriously. HATED IT.

I don’t know if it was the choice of strings, the non-maple fingerboard, or the fact that I didn’t adjust the truss rod when I did the setup because things seemed fine, but it played like garbage for me at the show and just didn’t have the right presence sonically. I played maybe four songs and swapped back for the other one. What a disappointment. I was really digging it at home. Maybe it’s just better as a sit-down, studio bass. Not sure. I’ll figure it out, or if not, I’ll let it go. No big deal – there’s no real emotional attachment to this one yet.

The Speakeasy show with Chandler and The Bings went SPLENDIDLY – lots of energy and fun – and a packed house, which included my lovely wife Erin! I was so excited to have her there and seeing her face always makes me feel happy and loved. (Thanks to her friend Christopher for being on toddler duty so she could come.)

The solo show at 360 UNO was just as much fun as the CATB show – Using a “new old gear” setup I brought my Line 6 X3 Live pedalboard back into the fray, designed a patch that ran my vocals and guitar, and it made setup even faster. And I added a Bluetooth page turner footswitch so that I never have to reach up and scroll on my iPad.

I also recorded the show. I was trying to get a decent video of the show to share, but the video looked like total garbage, so I’m sharing the audio with you, if you’d like to have an idea of what my shows are like. It’s pretty good. Some clearly iffy vocal moments (just had a gig the night before, which usually makes things dodgy) and enough guitar clams to make a chowder, but I was happy with it and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it.

Here it is in its entirety:

I didn’t take a break, so it’s two solid hours. Feel free to skip around. Comments are welcome.

Here’s a list of the songs I played (with timecode, for the aforementioned skipping around…):

0:00:24 Hurts So Good
0:03:52 Bad Moon Rising
0:06:02 Learn To Fly
0:09:57 Bus Stop
0:13:14 Lodi
0:15:58 Daydream Believer
0:19:12 Just Like Heaven
0:21:52 Ain’t No Sunshine
0:24:13 Stray Cat Strut
0:27:07 Hold Me Now
0:31:27 Happy Together
0:35:12 What’s Going On
0:38:48 The Way
0:43:16 Every Rose Has Its Thorn
0:47:34 Wanted Dead Or Alive
0:52:42 Can’t Buy Me Love
0:54:52 Santeria
0:58:19 Plush
1:03:30 Wonderwall
1:07:39 Drift Away
1:11:43 Crazy Little Thing Called Love
1:15:03 Hey Jealousy
1:18:42 The Middle
1:21:59 No Such Thing
1:25:31 Always Something There To Remind Me
1:29:01 Tainted Love
1:32:08 I’m A Believer
1:35:22 I Melt With You
1:39:52 Interstate Love Song
1:43:33 Get Back
1:46:56 Out Of My Head
1:50:34 Walking On A Thin Line
1:55:47 Blitzkrieg Bop
1:58:14 Baby One More Time

More Bings stuff coming up, then a Florida trip – hoping to coordinate seeing a lot of my Jax friends. Have to figure out a venue to be hanging around in on Friday or Saturday night or something for when I’m in town.

Enough from me for now. I was going to rant on some big concept, and I still have a few ideas I’m going to explore in the coming months, but for now, just an update.

Take care, have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Peace be the journey.
TMS

2021 In Review…And A Look To 2022

2021 In Review…And A Look To 2022

The first quarter of the year was pretty lame. Not a whole lot going on that was new.

Started back with gigs in May. (YAY!)

Joined an awesome Yacht Rock band but punked out because I had to accept reality the playing level expected didn’t fit with my current lifestyle. It still makes me sad when I think about it.

Blogged many, many times but got super inconsistent at the end of the year (depression does that to you).

Made many great improvements to my home studio building on all the great improvements from 2020. Hey, I figure if I live in this room for work, it might as well be decked out, right? Upgraded the live bass rig from a little HX Stomp to the HX Stomp XL, which has more footswitches. Very happy with the change.

Went to California for a family vacation. It was more of a trip than a vacation, because it was the opposite of relaxing, but it was wonderful to be back “home” and see some California family and friends. The Golden State is as much a part of me as anywhere else I’ve ever lived, and I still miss it. If I win a large sum in the lottery, I will buy property there.

Discovered great new music – Mammoth WVH’s debut album is EXCELLENT, as was their live show. I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (aka IDKHOW) somehow escaped me when they were the alternative music press’ retro darling a few years back, but now I know who they are (thanks to my bud Dennis) and dig the SHIT out of their stuff. They’re 80s in all the best ways, but current – if you like the idea of Duran Duran and The Cure having a baby, you’ll probably dig this.

Wrote ZERO songs. Didn’t even compose riffs or anything this year. Not sure why…just not all that inspired. I did do some livestream noodling.

Returned to the stage as a solo act thanks to my friend (and excellent livestreamer) Mandy Prater recommending me to the awesome people at 360 Uno.

And I think that’s about it.

Definitely going to get things set up in the studio in 2022 for easier musical creativity and make it a point to make stuff. I might even make videos of the process since I have that awesome-but-basically-unused live streaming mixer. And Bathroom Schizo videos!

Or not. Since I like to believe I’ll do creative things but I rarely come through because life and my mental state often get in the way. STAY TUNED!

One thing that’s definitely happening in 2022 is a return of the weekly format for the Museday Mumblings. I slacked hard in Q4 and I find that embarrassing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful 2022!
TMS

Life and Baby

Life and Baby

The last pieces I wrote for this site were back in March, before my youngest son was born. I had every intention of keeping up with this page more, and turning it into a site tracking the progress of my latest musical project, but baby is more important. This ended up on the back burner. Now that the little dude is 7 months old, and things are sort of normalizing in a way, I decided to pop in and be creative for a second, and maybe write something about what life has been like for me, but the reality is, life hasn’t really changed. Well, that’s not true – life has changed A LOT – but my musical life hasn’t changed one bit. I’m still not recording as much as I want, not getting my songs together for the album I announced over a year ago, and basically just playing shows with the Bings and hitting the occasional jam night when I can (far less frequently now that baby is here). It’s okay, though. I’m pretty happy these days in general. Because of some other life changes, my two older kiddos are living with me full-time, and it’s nice to have those turds around. They’re so good to their little brother, even if they’re incapable of babysitting him. Getting them here has been quite time-consuming, so even more time away from music and blogging. But again, things are starting to normalize a bit and as we get past the unpacking and settling phase for them, we’ll be ready to make some moves on the music part.

As all this is happening, the Bings have gone through some ups and downs, but mostly ups, and now we’ve got a sort of regular show happening on Thursday nights at a place called Stereotype. This past Thursday the evil “I suck at harmonies” monster came back and reared its ugly head, which when added to the fact that I was suffering some horrible back pain due to all the lifting and moving of things, made my night the worst show I’ve played in about five years or so. When I sang lead, things were fine, but outside of that, it was a shit show for me. The good news is that we’ve got another show this coming Thursday, so redemption is around the corner. I’m going to use different in-ears for this show, so hopefully I’ll be able to hear better and thus sing better. We shall see…

You’d think I’d have more to say, but I’m just tired. More to come in the next few weeks. It’s been four or five years since the last set, so I think I’m going to start posting new videos of me singing solo with an acoustic in the bathroom. I just have to decide which bathroom I’m going to use, and what songs I’ll sing. I think Elenore by The Turtles will make an appearance. Perhaps some more gems from my solo acoustic set just for fun. And maybe some Bings songs, too. Maybe I can convince Pat to come over and do a duet with me in the bathroom. That’d be a first.

Thanks for your continued attention and have a wonderful Halloween, All Saints Day/Dia De Los Muertos, and November in general.

TMS

P.S. Ba-by Shark doot do do do do do…Ba-by Shark doot do do do do do…Ba-by Shark doot do do do do do…Baby shark.

Musings from my new machine

Musings from my new machine

My 44th birthday is next Saturday. I officially am starting to feel old. My lovely fiancee decided that she wanted to do something super nice for me for the occasion, so she purchased a really nice 2-in-1 laptop for me, which is the “new machine” mentioned in the title of this post. Even better, she decided to let me have it early! I am so excited because this allows me to take any sort of productions I’d like to do portable. It’s got more than enough power to do everything I need, recording-wise, and it plays nice with all my recording software. I will be able to use it to write and blog more, and be more creative in general.

I really had committed to doing more creative work earlier this year, but I somehow let life get in the way again. I’m still not doing what I really want to do in that respect, though I did come up with a good song idea for Chandler And The Bings that we should be adding to our show soon. It’s just going to take some vocal work and “Bingsification” to really make it special, but it’s got GREAT potential. I’ll have to be satisfied with that for now.

As for my Bings, we’re kicking every type of ass. We just did a benefit last night for hurricane victims where we raised a small pile of money, and it was a really fun show. Listening to my live recording of the show, it’s not as musically “there” as a lot of other bands I’ve done, but it is more energetic and fun, and the crowd is loving every minute.

The one thing that’s truly been nagging at me musically is not playing any shows where I’m doing most of the singing. I really didn’t think I’d miss it as much as I do. I like being bass guy, harmony guy, and once-in-a-while lead vocalist for the Bings, but it’s kind of weird how much of a hole the lack of lead singing leaves just mostly being an instrumentalist.

Anyway, that’s the update from here. Peace be the journey and #leadwithlove!
TMS

The Dangerfields, Solo shows, keyboard, fitness, etc.

The Dangerfields, Solo shows, keyboard, fitness, etc.

Updates:

The Dangerfields are still in progress, and we’ve played one more show since my last post. Okay, that’s not really accurate, because it’s not The Dangerfields, really if Lee isn’t playing drums. But it was a nice try, although an overally unpleasant experience for a variety of reasons. (Kudos to Ernie for filling in and doing a good job) We’ve had a couple of rehearsals since then and the last one was very inspiring – we’re starting to sound like a BAND – which is really good. Finding time to schedule shows around our lives and Lee’s other band is the next trick, but we’ll get to that. So life is good in the world of no respect. 🙂

I booked a few more solo shows at Scoreboard, and I’m very excited to be back there. I’m going to try and make my PA and light rig even more simple for easier setup-teardown, which is a delightful challenge.

I bought a Korg X50 synth at a pawn shop, and it’s already inspiring me with its sounds. I’m excited to become a better keyboardist, and I might even learn some songs on it for the solo gigs. Wouldn’t that be weird?

Finally, I’m back at the gym on a regular basis. Time to get in shape and stay in shape. It’s already making my joints feel better, and once I’ve worked out a way to eat better with my weird sensory food issues on top of the regular gym activity, I’ll get lighter and will be able to start exercising a little harder.

I have been inspired to improve my overall musicianship, but I also really want to tap into whatever emotions are flowing through me now. I’m very happy with my life in general – my work is pleasant, my home situation is awesome, and I feel very loved. And that sort of peace usually keeps me from being all that expressive with music – I just don’t write all that much. I have had some serious moments of worry and pain, though, with family far away, first from Hurricane Matthew (everyone is okay, but it was scary), and then through a friend’s loss this past weekend.

One of my best friends in the world, both musically and non-musically, just lost his brother. I can’t really imagine the emotions he’s feeling, but it’s made me very, very sad, because his brother was always such an encouraging spirit, supporting our musical endeavors and really just showing us “the love”. If I ever had to do a crying scene in a movie, I’d think about losing one of my brothers – the very idea is that level of pain for me, and I wish there was something I could do to help my friend through this horrible time.

I wish there was a way to express it as well as I think Neil Peart and Rush did on this song:

The world will miss you, Darin.

Peace be the journey, all!
TMS