Check it out. I have a profile on BandSpace.com (see? down in the “new artists” section…cool? no?)
Here is my profile on BandSpace.
We’re off tonight to see a musical comedy based on Rube Goldberg. And what geek (or cartoon fan) can resist that?
UPDATE: Now that’s what I’m talking about! Thanks Karan.
Last night’s concert by the OGC was wonderful. They did it like a 1940’s radio show in-progress, and we were the studio audience. It featured songs by Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and George Gershwin, as well as some cowboy songs, a (sorta) gay reading of “Who’s On First?” and a brilliantly choreographed set of Andrews Sisters numbers performed by a group of “soldiers”. Every time we turned around, Sherri was featured in some combo or another, and her solo on “Summertime” was incredible.
Damn them to hell, though! One of her combos not only hit me with the song that sticks a knife in my gut for some, unknown reason (“Moonlight Serenade”), but also reminded me that it has words. *sniff*
If I were a rich (and not so busy-as-hell) man, I’d have season tickets to their shows. (And if I weren’t so entrenched in my church choir, which practices the same night as they, I would definitely consider joining them.)
Last night we spent a lovely evening in the company of the lovely (yet still blissfully bitter) Bitter Kat at the Orlando Theatre Project’s production of “All in the Timing”. When there’s a comedy that includes monkeys trying to write Shakespeare, I am there!
Tonight, we are heading to the Orlando Gay Chorus show titled “Don’t Touch That Dial!” which features songs from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Our friend Sherri is in that, and she’s going to be heavily featured. Yay!
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, meaning lots of churchy stuff. Plus, I’m going to haul the recording equipment over there and capture the handbell choir on record. They really sound good, and I’ll upload a sample if it comes out ok.
Monday night, we’re going to a free reading of the Orlando Shakespeare Festival’s “Young Rube”, a musical comedy based on the life of cartoonist Rube Goldberg (the guy famous for the “Rube Goldberg machines”… ya know, like Wile E. Coyote or Wallace & Gromit come up with?).
The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”
He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.
A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.
“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children. – ‘The Science Guy’ is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture
So do I, lady, but that doesn’t mean I have to have my head so far up my posterior that I take a poetic description of creation written by humans and translated a bazillion times by humans as a literal representation of the facts of nature.
Geez, why does it have to be one or the other with everyone these days? Can’t God be big enough to come up with a more complex universe than *poof!* “there it is!”? Or is God nothing more than a magician with a really big hat?
[ via Stupid Evil Bastard ]
OK, I just had another person say, “You have a new CD??? Whoa! That’s too cool. I didn’t know.”
Um, yeah. Marketing is apparently not my strong suit.
I guess I need to send out a mass mailing to everyone who has apparently forgotten that I have a blog. I am about to become what I revile: an evil spammer. Please, forgive me.
On a brighter note, the test pressing from Kunaki came in yesterday, and it looks fabulous. Anyone who got one of my home-brewed CD’s need only write me and ask nicely, and I will replace it with one of these new, shrink-wrapped ones.
BROKEN BROTHER UPDATE: The motorcycle accident left baby bro with a bunch of recuperating to do. The surgery on his arm went well, but they have to re-operate on his leg, because now that the swelling is going down, there are bone fragments threatening to break through the skin (EWWW! ICKY!!). He’s in a ton of pain and on mucho meds. I spoke to him last night via IM, and he related that he found himself in a drug-induced sleepwalk the other night wherein he thought he was commandeering an alien spacecraft (his hospital bed) that was parked near the space port (the hospital helipad outside his window). Meanwhile, he kept grilling his freaked out roommate as to which branch of the service sent him and for whom was he spying.
Mmmm… morphine…
There’s gotta be something to talk about other than the depressing fact that my album sales have stopped dead in their tracks (not slowed down, just flat stopped like they hit a brick wall… or my Aunt Bessie finally bought all she could afford, damn her and her “but I’m living on Social Security” excuses!).
Whenever I am sad (or stuck for a post), I turn to the Goddess of Goofy, April Winchell. The YouTube video on her blog makes me sooooo happy. All is right with the world after seeing it.
I did have an idea for promoting the cd, but it was quickly shot down…
ME: So, um, Pepperkat… what if I decided to push my album on MySpace?
PK: (pained expression) I would disown you.
ME: Not cool?
PK: MySpace is for losers.
ME: I thought it was the hip, happenin’ place…
PK: Only if you’re a 40-year-old stalker, looking for a 13-year-old pretending to be 30. Dad, seriously, it’s a joke, a well-known joke.
This reminds me of a scene in A Hard Day’s Night:
GEORGE: And who’s this Susan when she’s at home?
SIMON: Only Susan Campey, our resident teenager. You’ll have to love her. She’s your symbol.
GEORGE: Oh, you mean that posh bird who gets everything wrong?
SIMON: I beg your pardon?
GEORGE: Oh, yes, the lads frequently gather round the T.V. set to watch her for a giggle. Once we even all sat down and wrote these letters saying how gear she was and all that rubbish.
SIMON: She’s a trend setter. It’s her profession!
GEORGE: She’s a drag. A well-known drag. We turn the sound down on her and say rude things.
SIMON: Get him out of here!!
GEORGE: Have I said something amiss?
SIMON: Get him out of here. He’s knocking the programme’s image!! Get him out. You don’t think he’s a new phenomenon, do you?
SECRETARY: You mean an early clue to the new direction?
SIMON: Where’s the calendar? No, he’s just a trouble maker. The change isn’t due for three weeks. All the same, make a note not to extend Susan’s contract. Let’s not take any unnecessary chances!
It is Opening Day 2006, all teams are 0-0, but the Red Sox this time are better than the Yankees. The wacky winter doesn’t change that. So take the day off and watch Schill pitch to the Rangers and try not to overreact if your team loses the first game. The 2006 Red Sox may not win the World Series, but they are positioned to be sitting in first place in the American League East Oct. 1 when the season comes to a close. – The Boston Globe
Not able to take the day off, but my heart will be in Texas this afternoon. I know I told someone that I was tired of the Sox/Yankees thing and that I was rooting for the Tigers, but I really didn’t mean it. Even though it’s not accompanied by warm spring breezes and melting snow (curse you, Florida!), I still can’t help but be excited by the end of winter and the beginning of baseball season.
Yet another retail outlet for that cd thingy (Did I mention I have an album for sale? Well, I do! And why haven’t you bought one? Yes, I’m talking to you.)
I signed up with Kunaki, which is a cd service that lets you design your project and then produces a nice, shrink-wrapped product in any quantity desired. They even put up an ordering page, so you can order a single copy, which they will manufacture and ship the same day.
Meanwhile, CD Baby has gotten the album onto the Tower Records web site, too. I am currently working on getting it on Amazon.com, but they are a little more stringent in their policies (and don’t share as much of the profits, either).
I entered “Like Sailors Do” in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for the helluvit. I don’t know if it’s their cuppa mud, but I won’t hear anything back on it anyway until November. The song is also up for review at Garageband.com, where it is #180 (of 189) on their Folk chart after 2 reviews. (One loved the lyrics; one did not.) I am also going to get the music submitted to NPR’s Open Mic.
Speaking of reviews, I still only have one at the bottom of the CD Baby page from my lovely stalker in France. I know there are at least two reviews out there in the ether coming from Karan and Jules. However, I want more! I don’t care if you think it sucks. I want to know. So, please, write a review and post it at http://cdbaby.com/review/lesternorton.
[end cd prattle]
Getting ready for the big Daylight Savings Time party this weekend. Woo!
I got my DST invitations sent out weeks ago. Hawaii and Arizona, you are not invited. Sorry. However, this year, all of Indiana is with us! Yay!
The party is at 2am on Sunday, and this time I’m video taping it, because every other year I’m so drunk or something that I just blink and suddenly an hour has gone by and I’ve missed everything! I hate that.
Oh, and I’m saving all my daylight this year. I’m not gonna blow it all on stupid stuff like last year.
So, um, here’s where your friendly neighborhood rock star gets hisself a lesson in humility…
Tuesday night, I was snug in my little bed at the Holiday Inn in Waycross, Georgia, when suddenly the cell phone rings. After seeing that it was not my spouse’s or one of the kids’ numbers, I got over the immediate panic attack and growled into the empty room, “It’s 3 fricking o’damned clock in the morning! Who the hell is calling me?”
Now, the internal monologue of the rock star takes over:
Great. Just great. This is what I get for putting my phone number on the contact page for the music site. Now, I’m gonna be getting all kinds of whackos calling me up at all hours just for the fun of it. ‘3 O’Clock in the morning’ I get it. Very funny, jerkwad. Well, I guess I’m just going to have to deal with it, now. It shouldn’t be too bad…. I’ll just make them all go to voice mail…
And, then, I turned the phone off and went back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up, and after getting showered, dressed and ready for work, I turned on the cell phone. Sure enough, there was a message:
“Hello, this is David’s girlfriend. I just wanted to let you know he was in an accident tonight. He’s in surgery right now. But since I’m not related, they took his cell phone away, and won’t let me have it. I remembered that you have a web site. So, I found your number there… nice songs, by the way…”
Doh! My baby brother was in a motorcycle accident, and I hung up on the person trying to tell me!
He just bought the bike on Sunday, and he thinks someone hit him from behind on the interstate (he can’t remember what happened from before the moment of impact to when he woke up in the hospital). He’s got multiple, compound fractures of his leg and arm, plus broken ribs. They put a rod into his leg Tuesday night, but they can’t operate on his arm until Monday for some reason.
Naturally, my first words of comfort to him on Wednesday were, “A MOTORCYCLE?? Are you fricking nuts? Didn’t you learn the first two times?”
Please, keep the knucklehead in your thoughts and prayers.
