Wasted Continuum

I finally had a little time today to connect my guitar to my new MacBook and mess with GarageBand. I realized something today. I’ve completely lost my rhythm. I couldn’t hold a steady beat if my life depended on it. I was much better before when I used to jam with other people. I just kind of suck now. I need to spend less time playing the guitar and more time practicing the guitar. GarageBand is a solid program. It doesn’t have a massive amount of features, but I was able to just connect my PodXT to it without any issues. I just need to get used to the interface a little. I’m actually more used to using Soundtrack Pro. I think GarageBand will do what I want for now which is to do some multi-track recording quickly and easily.

While I was at Target getting a cheap phone for backup, I checked the music aisle to see if they had Rivers’ new release. As luck would have it, they had one copy of Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. It’s a collection of his recordings from 92-07. I’ve heard a few of these tracks before. “Blast Off!” and “Longtime Sunshine” are two of my favorites songs written by Rivers. Any fan of Weezer should go get this album. And I’m not talking about buying it off iTunes. I’m saying you should go buy the CD. The jacket contains short writings by Rivers that tells the background and origin of each song.

After watching her cover of Toxic, I had to see what this girl is about. Stevie Ann is a young Dutch singer-songwriter. From the video, I see that she’s also quite adept at the guitar. She cites Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt as her influences. Both are great choices. She’s now listening to artists like John Mayer, Gillian Welsch and Shawn Colvin.
Her official site, stevieann.com, is pretty sweet. It’s a full Flash site. It’s a little slow, but well-designed and implemented. It’s all in Dutch though. I managed to find my way around. Her music is a little bit too country for my taste. I’m going to give it a little more listening time. She’s got a great voice.

One thing I do know is that she’s no Sara Bareilles. I still have a major music crush on that girl!

Stevie Ann’s official site

Stevie Ann’s MySpace

Wow. This is how the song should have been. I understand more of what the songwriter was going for. Thanks to Mike Rose for his post on this video.

I finally got the chance to see Tegan and Sara live. I’ve been in love with them for so many years, but for one reason or another, I was never able to attend their performances. Tonight, it was at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis.

Northern State, a band from New York, opened for them. I can’t say I liked them much. They’re basically a hip-hop girl band. A lot of their songs sounded like the Beastie Boys which would in theory be a great thing. However, after their set, it left me wanting to listen to some Beastie Boys, not Northern State. They do deserve some props because they did actually work with Ad-Rock on a few tracks.

I’d like to say first that Tegan and Sara’s performance was almost flawless. During the first three or four songs, the vocal levels were too frickin’ low. That really sucked because one major reason that I love Tegan and Sara is for their voices. Thankfully, they fixed that issue.

Between song, they told a lot of funny stories. Tegan did most of the talking. Sara did have a great story about humanity losing to the “robots” and Armageddon. I like it when artists actually talk and acknowledge the audience. Do you hear that Mr. Dylan? You can see some of their hilarity on their DVD, It’s Not Fun, Don’t Do It!. I highly recommend it. Besides John Mayer on Any Given Thursday, I don’t know of anyone else who actually has a commentary track you can listen to as you watch the live concert. It’s funny.

I think they played about seven or eight songs off The Con, their newly released album. The rest of the set were older songs, which I prefer. I don’t think I appreciate If It Was You and So Jealous enough. I think I just love Under Feet Like Ours so frickin’ much that I feel all their following albums are inferior. Now that I think about it, there are so many tracks of those two albums that are just so good and solid. Songs like You Wouldn’t Like Me, I Know I Know I Know, City Girl, and Not Tonight are amazing and I can’t imagine not being part of their discography.

I had seats in the second row so I had a great view of them. I came to realize three things during this concert. One, they can play much, much more that pretty chords. I watched Tegan with her sexy black, flat top Les Paul and red Ace Frehley strap. She played some sweet riffs on a few songs. Two, Tegan and Sara are so hot and adorable at the same time. I just want to put them in pocket, one on each side. Three, I think I love Tegan more than Sara. I know they both look them same, if you don’t count their tattoos. I know they have the same voice even though they sing slightly different from one another. The big difference is that Sara is the one with all the cute and funny stories. Tegan, on the other hand, is the one with all the smartass remarks and funny stories. I understand that more. And for some reason that I can’t explain, I think she’s a little bit sexier. It may have been the Les Paul. The kicker is that I feel like I wouldn’t get along with her. I don’t know why. I think it’s just like their song You Wouldn’t Like Me. I think that is why that is one of my favorite songs.

I had a great night. Good things do come out of Canada. I stopped into Solera again after the concert. It was happy hour. I ate a lot of cheap and yummy tapas and bocadillos. I also had a tasty glass of Spanish red wine.

I just got an email newsletter from Taylor announcing a solidbody guitar line. I’m not sure what I make of this. Taylor makes some of the most beautiful acoustic guitars I have ever laid my humble hands on. They are absolutely amazing. However, I’ve played their T5 (semi-hollow) line and I was not very impressed by it. I’m a hesitant to give these solidbodies a try. I mean, I will, but I’m hesitant. It looks like they’re using mini-humbuckers on the classic and custom. I think I’d try the standard that’s equipped with humbuckers. As for looks, it’s a Les Paul variants. It looks like they’re flat-tops. I’m not to keen on it. I prefer the look of my Les Paul Junior. If only I can leave work before Guitar Center closes one of these days, I’ll go check one out.