(The Return of) The Weekly List, 3/8/10Posted by Greg on March 8th, 2010
» Reading (online): User manual for the Boss BR-600 recorder
» Reading (offline): “Practice Ressurection” by Eugene Peterson
» Fixin’ to Read (offline): more of that user manual
» Listening: ’80s hard rock stuff
» Singing Along To: For some strange reason, a lot of Wendell Burton tunes
» Anticipating: receiving my Boss BR-600 recorder
Yikes … three of the items above pertain to a new purchase. For fear of making it into a golden calf of sorts, here’s the 411: it’s a digital multi-track recorder so that I can, a) record my practices and b) work on some multi-tracked musical creations. Needless to say, I’m a little excited about it.
Back when I first took up guitar, I got a 4-track recorder for much the same purpose. I remember it helped immensely for dissecting my practices, but I had headaches galore for recording anything in the way of a song. Modern technology seems to hold a bit of promise for making b) a little more productive. Whereas the old recorder was just a straightforward recorder with multiple tracks, this new one also comes with a drum machine and loads of effects to mix into the sound. Like I said before: I’m a little excited about it.
As mentioned in a previous entry, the last week or so was full of day-job insanity. I’m now looking forward to catching up on some items on the to-do list. I’ve already regained a bit of momentum in ye olde handwritten word project and I actually have the end of Galatians in sight now. I’m a bit reluctant to start breezing through Peterson’s latest since it covers the next book, but it’s my constant travel companion to & from work … so I’m sure to dive into it sooner or later. And I still like the idea of continuing on with the handwritten thing since I’m tackling the books in some sort of order all of a sudden.
I’m actually thinking of holding off on adding to the reading list for this month (or maybe just the first half of it) since I want to make ample time for learning the ins and outs of my newfangled recorder gizmo. A couple of miniature song-like creations are already in the works and I’m sure I’ll be posting some of them here as they take on something slightly better than “embarrassing” quality. I vaguely recall reading somewhere how one of my favorite guitarists (Joe Satriani) would tell all of his students (from beginner to expert) to take what they’ve learned and create an album after one month of studying. At the time, I remember thinking that was sadistically insane. But the more I think about it, I see the point. And the more I think about how several of the bad habits I picked up in my first attempt at the instrument … I see the point even more clearly.
Although I’m sure gambling isn’t an approved, Biblical activity, I think it’s ok for the sake of entertainment value to place a light bet on how soon before I try and put a band together. Personally, I’d like to think I would take a lot of time (as in, a year or more) and work on several aspects of guitar before doing this. But patience is not high on my list of virtues. And besides, the list of bands playing Christian hard rock in a way that I enjoy listening to does not exactly make for a long list.
Speaking of which …. The latest project from Stryper has already been announced and you have to give the guys credit for generating a bit of controversy once more. The latest release will be all cover tunes. And what will they be covering? Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath (from the Ronnie James Dio era), Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, UFO, and The Scorpions. They’re still debating a KISS tune to include. You can just bet that the old corner Christian bookstore is going to love that. During the band’s “rebellious” phase of the Against the Law tour, I saw them perform “On Fire” by Van Halen and thought it was great. Then, they joked about doing a Judas Priest song. Well, it turns out that right around that Houston show (I forget if it was just before or just after), they were joined by the lead singer of Judas Priest to perform “Breaking the Law.” Say what you will, but I’ll be on pins & needles to hear what they do to some of these songs on the new release.