Week 24. 24. 24. 24. 24.24.24.242424!@#$%!
Mon Jun 28, 2004 11:00 pm
Monday June 28
We're Zooming in on JULY!
Can I even continue this boring monologue without going burZerk!?
Hi and welcome to Eisley's 24th consectutive week of being immersed/
enmeshed in the cacophony of recording their first full length. We're
about to enter July. This journal began when we arrived in California
January 28th. The band has been back home here in Tyler for... hmmm,
I'd have to look it up and lose this entry. no way.
I know - even though it's been a long, frustrating journey, all of this will
have made sense by the time the record goes to mastering. This is the
struggle that can make for a great record. Labels push because they
know artists... artists resist because they love art. I honestly don't
believe that this iron-sharpening-iron wrangle will have been in vain. At
the very least, it's given us something to talk about... and learn about.
In speaking with Craig Aaronson today, I was reminded, as always, that
we're really dealing with flesh, brain and blood...not some torpid, lifeless
regime. People like Craig are rare. The dude is wildly impassioned over
this band and her songs. (woah, did I just assign a la fem' gender to the
band? strike that!..but it was poetic) Anyway, I honestly believe that he
lives and breaths and sleeps Eisley almost as much...I'm the only I know
besides him that can make that claim.
I appreciated the words as we closed out last week. On "My Lovely", I am
reconsidering my stiff-necked position on the release of a small video clip
that unveils pieces of the tune. I swear, it wasn't a build up. After
learning today that more than likely, the tune will stay as is... and be
tossed into the giant pile of songs to mix. That changes everything.
Besides, the band likes it this way... so, who cares.
All I can say is...hang around or keep checking. I'm putting a few tweaks.
As a video, it's the same lo-fi calibur clip I always put out...you know,
that special, indie-cred crap; not good enough to be a threat to real
videoographers/film-makers, but handy down in the trenches. If I were
you, and...I am you, this is what I would want.
I have the new Eisley T-shirt up on my borrowed monitor to the right,
Kim is skipping over track 15 on Good News for People Who Love Bad
News (well, the F bomb right here in the office with women and
CHILDREN?!), the Eisleyoids are tucked away in rooms doing creative
things like watching movies with freinds, the Weber's embers are slowly
losing their glow in the wake of my mosquite smoked, lemon pepper,
grilled Chicken...and, that video is not going to get finished unless I get
off the forum.
"My Lovely" may or may not make it on the full length. It's just another
song in a line up of potential songs. I've been told "it's probably not a
single", so...maybe that means it's just another average Eisley song. To
me, there aren't any average Eisley songs. I might have been sucked in,
manipulated... transfixed, blinded, bemused by their enchanted fairy
spells... horned with the unicorn from their galloping Barbie horses... lost
in the deep woods of their dark, foreboding forests...where night
creatures alone sing their praises... but, I just like all of their songs.
If I drink enuf coffee, I might be able to cook up a QT version and toss it
up tonight. (wee morning?) I'm JUST getting this to press before
midnight. bd
---------------------
it's 2:10am and all it well. my espresso beverage is only half drunk, my
mind is still ticking and I'm getting closer on the vid-yo.
--------------------
it's 4:00am and somehow I screwed up a critical video/audio alignment
that's sucked an hour of time already; it's too big to fix tonight. I have to
work on it tomorrow. I wanted to make it happen so bad. sorry. First
thing tomorrow morn, I have to prepare t-shirt art for separations...so,
hopefully after that I can wrestle this stupid little clip to the ground. bd
--------------------
Tuesday June 29th
It's raining in Tyler again!
Still, I think it's a lovely day...
At 5:00am, I wrestled the clip back to some sembence of it's original
state... actually improving it some. Then I crashed on the couch in our
bedroom so I wouldn't wake kimbertones.
When I awoke, she was gone... it was 8:40am. I'd slept in. I jumped off
the couch and scampered back to my little cave...ahh, finish tweaking
that silly little 3 minute motion picture:
It's fat, but that's the price you have to pay to watch it. (Hey, nothing is
free... cheap MAYBE...)
Info about what you're about to watch:
The video opens up with Sherri's original acoustic, garage band version
that was sent to the label/management in the background; Random
dialogue happens while they're preparing to play the song again (over
and over) to learn it...and get scratch tracks for Weston to track drums.
He's actually tracking during this clip.
Everything is fairly sloppy...vocals aren't intended to be all pretty or
tuned...it's just all live until you see Sherri/Stacy sitting in the console
room listening; I fade in an unmixed version of the song (as cooked as it
was at that time) for a while... until you see Chauntelle tracking guitar
over the bridge. That's real, of course... the tune is still playing in the
background.
As the song fades, I tossed in random silliness from the tracking room as
they were preparing to play the song again... fades. the end.
My fear is that I built this all up too much... it's nothing special as a video
and...the song is just; well... just another Eisley song. You be the judge. I
like it, but hey...what do I know; i grew up listening to the Beatles and
crap. Oh wait, so did they.
http://eisleymerch.com/boyd/MyLovelybd.mov
http://eisleymerch.com/boyd/MyLovelybdmed.mov (half the size)
I have to jet for a bit. Will come back later to check your pulse on this
content. I hope this one ends up on the record... but, either way the hit
singles crumble, I know Eisley is gonna play this live because they like it.
bd
p.s. kimbertones brought me a triple shot, venti, vanilla lotte. I KNEW
there was a reason I married that girl.
---------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday June 30
Sullen, I Stoke the Embers of Disphoria
Rain, rain, raining, ranting.
A wise man once said, "They may forget what you said, but they will
never forget how you made them feel." - not my context - it's just
what's glooming under the surface of my egghead.
After a conflict and subsequent reconciliation, do you ever feel reflective?
I do. I think the Greeks called it cathartic. And boy are those grey
skies helping. It's dark and quiet in my little corner of my own little
cave... I can be whatever I want to be. Everyone is gone. I can hear the
rain drops thwacking the ground just outside my window even louder
than the faint, spinning hard drives inside the small, shabby, Eisley office.
This is surely the mood for deep thoughts...but they're not coming. I wish
I had been smarter and better at the game of life. Board games always
beat me. "Pictionary" was ok. But only because I could draw. I wasn't
good in math, so counting beans wasn't an option. Besides, I never had
any beans to count. I can draw them...but that doesn't count either.
That pretty much sums up my life.
I really just wanted to say thanks again. (broken record) This forum
constitutes the forged lives of so many amazing people... I value the
on-line friendships and connections way beyond whatever affection we
have for Eisley's music. I have to thank you again. (oh no. sap. he's
squirting sap from his neck.)
You're commitment and involvement toward making this place different
from other forums is not something I take for granted. It's the people.
It's you guys. Someone told me the other day, "the eisley forum is like a
big family". (would somebody please slap the sap out of me.)
Anyway, no matter what I rant about in my journal, no matter how
controversial some of the discussions get, no matter what fears and
defenses I raise in my xanga...(wait, I don't have a xanga. THIS...is
my xanga!), I really appreciate you and want to continue providing
quality content...whatever that is; I guess it's whatever stuff makes you
happy.
I try to return the favor by making homespun video clips, but somehow it
doesn't seem enough. As soon as possible, I'll try to dig up something
else... perhaps nothing new (i.e. new song), but maybe something live.
The new forum will be called "Laughing City" and the new url will be
laughingcity.com. 'Berlies, from this forum gave me the idea during
her time of great pain and suffering (the loss of William). I think it's
perfect metaphor... like a tribute to always remind us of their
circumstance, the brevity of life...what's important in life, our values...
and how we should treat people; The perfect creative umbrella for this
happy place where people can be sad if they need to be. A place where
people comfort the hurting, where people rejoice with those who are
happy... I'm not sure if we've lived up to the title yet, but... I'm up for
the challenge.
I'll have more thoughts on this as we get to that point. This forum will
be seamless... accessible from within the new eisley.com domain.
Today is Collin's birthday. He's 10. The baby is 10. He's double digit. The
man child is a decade old. Boy, where did time fly? The cat's in the
cradle. Happy Birthday Collin. You guys don't know him. He's a cool kid.
Well, I haven't said anything profound, but I've said thanks. I know that
I'm feeling more than i'm able to express today... but, at least I've been
brief. And, now...I have to get back to work.
Have a good day and be glad I edited my 2nd paragraph which said this:
This is surely the mood for deep thoughts...but they're not coming. (Jack,
where are you?!): "I wish I had been smarter and better at the game of
life. Board games always beat me. "Pictionary" was ok. But only because
I could draw. Honestly, I think if my mom hadn't of wormed me in front
of my friends at school, I'd have been more popular. And then, instead of
being a starving artist, I'd probably have been a really nice business
shark...the kind with those glazed eyes on the sides of their heads.
Thursday July 1
Big Dog on the Bed
My Head Hurts
I would hate to have a daily column. Everyday, you have to have
something newsworthy. Well, I don't have anything. And Eisley doesn't.
Tomorrow the band goes back to Rosewood to finish up. Maybe I can
report SOMETHING that relates to why I started this journal.
We've crested 150,000 posts and hit the 3000 user mark. (3017 to be
exact) 248 ave. posts per day. I can hardly believe it. It gives me a mind
Glot. It stumps my skull innerds. It glarnks my grey-stem. Can't wait for
laughingcity.com upgrade and switchover.
Eisley is on page 120 of Teen Vogue - just hit the shelves. August issue.
I don't like the photo. There should have been amazing shots. I have
video of the entire shoot. This one...sheesh; who pics these shots? I wish
they'd send us the contact sheets. Still... nice publicity. This shoot
happened a few hours before the Madison Square Garden gig.
My brain hurts. Writing and staring into a screen all day makes your head
muscle hurt. And your eye's bulge and get twisted inside your sockets...
and you have to quit. So around 7:30pm, I ended up on this bed, with my
wife and our big dog and watched TV. (I never do that).
We were channel surfing and came across the Ashlee Simpson show. Kim
yelled for Sherri to come in so we all watched a few minutes of it.
(everyone else went to the mall. yes. in Tyler, you go to the mall. Then
you go to Starbucks.) Kim and I were going to go but instead, she
insisted on reading her new Jack Handy books to me and cracking
up...page after page. She's on a kick right now.
Ashlee was saying stuff like: I don't want to be like Hillary... gosh, I'm
not like her... I'm not like my sister, I don't want to do pop. If I have to
be like her, I don't wanna make an album...I don't even wanna make a
record.
And the president of the label was saying stuff like: I don't care about
your tv show...you're all caught up in it. "You're a great musical artist"
and I want the Ashlee Simpson that came in here and was bouncing off
the walls... I want you to give it all..this $@#$ (her demo) sounds like
you didn't even care...I want a great record...we're going to put you with
tons of great producers and song writers...and get this thing right...
Ok. I have to stop. It was more than I could stomach. We were
screaming and laughing. I'm sorry. Not trying to be disrespectful, but
does anyone watch it as serious entertainment? I mean, it is...it's so
absurd, it's funny. They have to bleep every other word out of her
mouth. And her youth pastor dad, now the executive producer, always
has to be on the camera.
Now that's more like it... "Pimp My Ride" is on. What a great show.
I have thoughts... things in my head... but, this week had enough deep
thoughts. I've aired so many thoughts about EisleyI don't feel like airing
anything else. Think I'll go read some of what you guys are saying.
Friday July 2
LIVE....from RoseWood Studios
THE DRAGON IS ALIVE!!!
Stacy is recording "They All Surrounded Me" and... the DRAGON IS
ALIVE!. (the people of the village rejoice) Say goodbye to broad...
But, as long as the Dragon is alive, the world is safe. Eisley is safe.
There's a story behind it...but, whatever. He's alive and that's all that
counts. Gotta go! More tonight. bd
•••••••••••••••••••••
It's 11:59, so at least give me credit for reporting today's activities...
today. (clap. clap. clap. BAM 12:00midnight)
Today was a kind of celebration for us doop-ree's today. This morning,
we all climbed in the Eisley van, dashed to Brookshires Grocery Store,
bought a "Celebration" boquet of flowers, zoomed over to ETMC where
Kim was finishing her last day of Cardiovascular Therapy.
Arriving a few minutes early proved to be awkward. They'd found out
about Eilsey and had been saying things like, "Kim's a ROCK star
mom...". When we walked in single file, they were still working out; You'd
thought they had seen the grand Kiwannis hoodini's goat. Anyway, we
just kept walking and found Kim doing her last reps of leg lifts. She
graduated today. It was so cute. Congratulations Kimbertones on working
her butt off to get healthy. She's doing SO good.
Another cool thing happened today - Eisley finished re-recording all of
the vocals for their entire record:
Last Wednesday/Thursday
One Day I Slowly
Plenty of Paper
Today
They All Surrounded Me
Marvelous Things
The Escaping Song
The only one the didn't redo was "I Wasn't Prepared". There was no
point. The vocals are sweet. Sherri nailed it in LA.
To me, all of the vocals are better... WAY better. I've already talked
about this - the magic of this studio, being at home, sonic technology... I
don't know. Like I said, much is a result of the happy vibe and location.
But honestly, I think it's just the girls. They had a chance to live
with the bitter reality that they were finished with vocals and, seeing how
they weren't happy with the outcome, they were frustrated. I remember
at the Sound Factory saying to them, "gosh, if only you guys could just
cut all the vocals in Tyler at RoseWood..." but nobody thought it was
possible.
This was a second lease on vocal life for record no.1. They were
very psyched; determined to beat the crap out of their earlier perform-
ances. I listened today while they tracked... and did swoon. Take
after take were all good. There were many that you'd just say, "why
even grab another one? it's done." But Gary likes to get about 4...like
everyone else.
So, to celebrate the two events, we went to the Olive Garden with a few
friends and afterward went to Super Walmart. wow. what a celebration.
Everyone was sleepy, so in spite of the fact that we rented "Cat's and
Dogs" and were ALL going to watch it, Collin made cookies and now we're
all in our bedrooms chillin'.
WAIT. I forgot. After Olive Garden, we went and joined a fitness center
called Premier. Amazing place. Brand new self standing building...
privately owned, espresso bar, smoothie bar, big wide screen TV's and
you bring your own headphones, amazing work out place... and all for
very cheap. Kim didn't want to be tempted not to keep working out and
the girls were chomping to get back into it... so we joined.
I wanna go read some posts. bye yawl. bd
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
THE DRAGON IS ALIVE?
I just realized that many of you don't know what "THE DRAGON IS
ALIVE" even means. I'll try to explain: like many of you guys, I was
sad when "and that's when the giant dragon jumped over the hill"
turned into: "and that's when the fearless phrase came into my
head" ... I said, no, no, no, no...no, no, way sir, no, no, no, no,
no...not today sir, you won't surround me...
If you go listen to the mp3 on chad's fansite, (straylight6.org) you'll hear
clearly... Sherri says, "this is a song about a dragon". That was in a
Toronto amphitheater opening for Coldplay. I should one day pull the
video file on that performance and align the audio taken from the board.
ANYway... so what happened? Why the vocal shifting? Well, for one
thing...artistry happens. It's never over until it's over. The song had not
ever been recorded or released. (ok, it was tracked by Rob Cavallo, but
never released)
Artists are picky, as many of you guys know. Changes are inevitable.
And, Eisley is a young band... maybe they were (i use the term past
tense) a bit impressionable. It's just my opinion, but I think it's possible
that knee jerk reactions to the R.S. article caused her to second guess
her (Stacy's) position on whether or not using fantasaical metaphors
were mature enough - (unicorn barbie rock) At the same time,
WB were using the term "broad" more and more.
Learning who you are, what you believe, how to learn not to lick your
finger and raise it to the wind, how to become thick skinned without
becoming hard hearted are all valuable lessons to learn in this game.
Today, moments before she walked in to re-track the song, I asked her -
"so...is the dragon absolutely dead?" I told her of Markymark's comment
the other night at our house: "With the dragon dead, i don't really even
care about the song anymore...it's dead."
He made a brilliant point... (i'm rephrasing and re-interpreting the idea a
little, but it was Mark's observation):
The "fearless phrase" lyric suggests that the author has the power to
protect him/herself, which is far less spiritual and far less romantic - far
less fitting for the song than the "dragon" metaphor, which suggests that
a symbolic, omnipresent, mystical figure protects the author on his/her
own choice - by his own benevolence, devaluing the role of self
dependancy, thereby increasing the romantic, knight-in-shining-armor,
quality and quintessence of the song.
But none of that argument was brought up before she quickly stated: "i
know...i miss the dragon too." She turned, walked confidently walked
down the hall into the tracking room to bring the dragon back to life. The
biggest obstacle was to re-learn the old verse and track it instead of the
newer lyric. I jumped up and down...."yes! the Dragon lives!"
Saturday July 3
Thin Ice Life
The balance between caring and hurting
Do you ever feel like if one more crumb of criticism or one more tiny
conflict befalls you, the thin layer of ice supporting your fragile existence
will crack... releasing you into the deep? Wait. Let me try to make it more
dramatic... ok. Do you ever feel like the damaging, emotional
collaborates in your life will soon join forces to push you over the
edge...and that the last sounds you'll hear are the torid, death cello's of
the Goat Gauntlet performing their haunting version of Daunce Macabre
in a final symphonic rite?
Yeah, me either; just wondering.
In other news... I can't make this my xanga. At least not tonight... I'm
reminded of an early Eisley song and for some reason, it's resonating
with me in a powerful way: "I go down, trembling...these are the, these
are the monsters of the night..." I loved that song; ...not even sure if it
exists anywhere.
Anyway... I guess it's normal, but sometimes the cosmos around us just
weighs us down...and it feels like it would be easier to give up; For some
reason, tonight I just feel like packing up and moving to a place where
nobody knows us and nobody cares. It seems like the greater exposure
we have, the greater pain we have. That's a topic for xanga, but has
nothing to do with recording a record.
No worries. Nobody is giving up; the game hasn't even begun.
Happy 4th everyone. We're gonna have an old fashion BBQ tomorrow
afternoon - with watermelon and swimming and grass and sky and silver
bugs and fire flies...as the dreamsicle skies melt into the silhouetted
furrow of our deep veridian woods.
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