Hello readers. After last week’s entry and my mom’s promotion of it on Facebook, I feel like there might be a lot of newcomers. That is awesome. Welcome to Breaker’s Point; you are guaranteed to have the time of your life. I do not have a whole lot to say this week. It was a busy weekend with a lot of going out, so I am tired and I am recovering. I watched the Mets game yesterday to see deGrom and Scherzer pitch and they both were dominant. Meanwhile, the offense looked good, specifically Francisco Lindor. The league is not ready.
Anyway, I thought I would give you a little insight into my creative process and how I want to record my next album. For my first two albums, I recorded, engineered, and produced the entire thing on Garageband. I am the only person to work on those records aside from Abby Garcia who sings on a track on each album. I did this out of necessity because I could not afford a studio, and did not have a band to help me record, so like many indie artists, I recorded in my bedroom. The masters on the recording sound demo-quality, which I think fits well with those albums. However, now I am more curious about the sonic element of my music. I really want it to sound good, and in Garageband, you can only make it sound so good. I have recorded many demos in the same way as I did for the first two albums, but now they are just demos. I want to professionally record them with a band. This batch of songs needs to breathe and have the spirit and soul of a live band playing on it. However, studio time is extremely expensive and I need a lot of it because I have so many songs to record. Plus, some studios can sound quite stale and lifeless. Here is my fantasy: I want to rent a house and record it there with a band. We could knock it out in about a week. It would also give the music the sonic element that I think fits so well with it. It is not exactly practical financially or otherwise to do this though. But I don’t know. I want to get imaginative when it comes to recording this thing. It is time for my recorded music to reflect the liveliness (as people have told me) of my live show. Reach out if you have any ideas. Also, I just cracked my phone. S**t.
Grateful Eight:
* Fresh water. So many places do not have good drinking water, and sometimes we take our clean and safe drinking water for granted. I drink like gallons of water each day. If I am anything, it is hydrated.
* Beck’s Cafe. It is a cafe in London near my school and I go there every Monday. I am officially a regular there and the waiter knows my order. It is a nice time for me to be alone, catch up on my TV and eat good breakfast food, which is sometimes hard to come by in this city. Also, why do they eat those nasty beans for breakfast here? I am so grossed out by it.
* My dog Henry. Hanky, if you are reading this, I miss you!
* You! Yes, you, the reader. Honestly, it is not too much but this little project of mine has been getting a lot more attention than I thought it would. That is really cool. Thank you!
* The blues. I have gone to this blues club called Ain’t Nothing But The Blues, and I have seen some amazing talent. There was a band called the Cinelli Brothers and they burnt the place to the ground. They did bluesy covers of “Love the One You’re With”, “Black Magic Woman”, “These Boots Were Made for Walking”, and interpolations of “Miserlou” and “Tequila.” It was incredible. Then, I saw another band that was a lot jazzier and had a three-piece horn section. The blues is soul cleansing. There is something about it that can cheer you up. It is catharsis for the audience who are undoubtedly experiencing their own version of the blues.
* The Bruce song, “None But the Brave.” It is on The bonus Essential Bruce Springsteen Disc Three. It is a personal favorite of mine. It was written in 1983 and did not make “Born in the USA.” It is honestly in Bruce’s upper echelon. It has everything from sax to guitar solos to soulful vocals and an astounding set of lyrics. It is a perfect song.
* Hyde Park. I have been to Hyde Park a bunch recently. The first time I took my guitar and notebook and worked on some music. I also went to walk around with my friends and we explored it all, from the Albert Hall memorial statue to the pond (with some of the biggest swans I have ever seen), to the garden, to the food stand where we got some surprisingly excellent chicken tenders. It is a beautiful park and it is basically in my backyard.
* English Dr. Pepper. I don’t know why, but it is insanely good.
This Week’s Rare Mnemonic Advice/Josh Carus Recording: Southern Gentleman
I wrote this song when I was quarantined in the Sheraton Hotel at Syracuse for 14 days because my roommate tested positive. I could not leave my hotel room. It was miserable. This song has a lot of themes and ideas. I was honestly inspired by the Bible Belt and the values that I know for a fact people have there combined with values and behaviors I infer that the people have there. Religion has always been an interesting topic for me. Although I am a proud Jew, actual religious principles and values do not really mean much to me. I am not a believer in God’s judgment nor in the Jewish and Christian idea of the afterlife. I imagined the stress and pressure that one’s faith (specifically a Christian southern man in this song) can put on him or her. It deals with making mistakes. I feel like sometimes religious people may be harder on themselves because of their fear of God. Part of this song is me trying to say to the southern gentleman that it is okay that you fucked up, but ultimately on Earth, there is no reason to dwell on the divine’s opinion of you (or anyone else’s for that matter). Mistakes do not necessarily make one a bad person. I am trying to communicate that. Counteract negative behavior with positive behavior. Also, I think there is a harmful standard for what a tough, masculine man needs to encompass in the south. It is okay for everyone to be not okay. That is a cliché but it is true. Does that make sense? Oh, and also, Abby hates this song.
Southern Gentleman
Southern gentleman tell me what’s your sin
Have you come to hate your face in the mirror’s reflection?
Man it’s not that bad
Whatever it is you did
God may not forgive you but it don’t matter in the end
Jesse you’re still alive and well
Kiss that bride of yours tonight and you won’t go to hell
Put all of your faith in the marshy swamps and trees
Throw your books into the lake let them disappear beneath the algae
Jesse you’re still alive and well
Pull over that Ford tonight embrace the highway’s spell
Strum a guitar and play a gloomy tune
Cry your spirit out whatever you need to do to feel renewed
Southern gentleman tell me how you’ve been
What’s got you down is it the cloud above you or within?
Do not appear so strong
If you can’t sing that song
You will still be punished after you repent for your wrongs
Jesse you’re still alive and well
Hug your brothers and sisters tight and you won’t go to hell.
Strum a guitar and play a gloomy tune
Cry your spirit out whatever you need to do to feel renewed.
