on hitting the "becaaame"

a quick les mis update:

i've been in rehearsing the last three days so towards the end of it last night, some notes got tough to hit. however, my 'empty chairs at empty tables' is actually sounding pretty good.

last night i worked with the guys playing enjolras and valjean, piecing together some of the scenes we're all in. and jason's (valjean) 'bring him home' sounds fantastic. so at least there will be a few songs that will be solid.

enjolras, on the other hand, i feel needs to change a bit. right now he's singing mid-high range. not saying it sounds bad, because it sounds alright, just a little too pretty for the character. he's supposed to be the leader of student revolutionaries, firing them up to fight. he should have a powerful, low voice. it just doesn't sound right singing a battle cry in near falsetto. it should sound like this. (the guy in the sweet vest who starts around 25 seconds.)

but who am i to judge. maybe this will all get sorted out when we hit the stage and start developing the actual plot and characters.

for now, a steady diet of oj, water and lozenges. so i can hit that damn "becaaame."

on ....

*frustrated sigh*

my mood just took a divebomb.

i had spent the better of the last at least hour-and-a-half writing and when i go to save it, it just disappears.

was really happy with what i had written, too.

no use in trying to re-do it right now.

....

fuck.

on two advils and some coffee

if this were still college.. i would not be getting out of bed until after 11 o'clock..

then i'd make the short trip to the couches of woodale and watch a terrible hbo movie, preferably an ernest one..

i would not be waking up at 7:30 and dragging myself to work..

an amber bock hangover feels similar to a franzia one. just slightly downplayed..

here's hoping two advils and some coffee can get me back to an even keel.

it might be worth it if i actually bowled well last night..

on "when the moral kicks in"

thanks to gleeson, i've discovered dirpy.com

dirpy.com allows you to convert videos from youtube into mp3 files to download. brilliant. and, with discovering this, i've also been able to check out some new music as recommended by friends. which is great, since i'm out of the loop of good music out here (maybe that wolf should come back.) and this place has awful music taste. if it isn't anybody-could-write-this, nostalgic-small-town-living country, it's the terrible bands like nickelback, shinedown, three days grace, breaking benjamin.. etc. only thing they've got going is the classic rock, which, let's be honest, who doesn't.

i was talking to an older guy at maury's one night about classic rock and some of the concerts he went to when he was younger, feeling incredibly jealous. guy even had a zz-top tattoo on his left arm. then he absolutely slaughtered my view of his music taste saying that he now listens to nickelback. really?! no, seriously.. really?! i'll never understand it.

anyway, though, this site has sparked some good music my way. i've been listening to the avett brothers (a little behind the eight ball with them, but better late than never) and, thanks too deloose, discovered a phenomenal right-now song. seven plus minutes of missing-friends-and-good-times-because-of-separation-and-gradually-falling-into-adult-life glory. lcd soundsystem - all my friends. examples of some great lyrics scattered throughout:

"it's the memory of our betters
that are keeping us on our feet.

you spent the first five years trying to get with the plan,
and the next five years trying to be with your friends again."


"it comes apart
the way it does in bad films
except in parts
when the moral kicks in"


"and if I'm sewn into submission
i can still come home to this."


"if i could see all my friends tonight."

so that's that.

had another rehearsal last night and have now, almost, at least played/sung through most of the songs i'm in. i'm fairly confident with the ones i'm now familiar with, having played them over and over, but unfortunately, the cd i'm borrowing doesn't have all of the songs on it. so it's pretty obvious when i rehearse which ones i haven't heard, as i'm like "can i hear it once first?" or "yeah.. i'm gonna have to work on that one." maybe i'll dirpy all the songs i'm missing.