Jim Baumer's Blog, page 2

Cover Song Fridays (Elliott Smith)

Over the past four years, I’ve developed a three-hour set of songs, many being my own songs I’ve written, but I also play some covers.

I’ve never been one to learn a bunch of songs by some other artist. However, if forced to play covers out of necessity, I’m going to play songs by people I really like. Elliott Smith is one of them.

This is my 2nd Cover Song Friday since I’ve gotten rolling.

This one is “Rose Parade” and I’m happy with this version; recording on my back deck.

Will try to do one of these each Friday.

It’s a Wrap on 2023 (JimBaumerME Newsletter)

Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 2

I’m actually working on this newsletter on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I don’t love this time of year, where, at least in these parts, the days start out dark and the light fades far too early.

Dec. 20 follows Dec. 19, which this year would have been the 40th birthday of our late son, Mark. It was nearly seven years ago that he was hit and killed by an SUV along a desolate stretch of highway in Florida’s Panhandle while attempting his second walk across America. Many of you know the story, so I won’t elaborate.

We celebrated one year in Lynchburg back in November. I’m getting used to the area and trying to figure out the music scene—or in terms of Lynchburg—the lack of one. If you don’t play covers or you haven’t been playing the same three bars with your sorry hard rock band, gig opportunities are slim. I played out less in 2023 than any of the previous three years.

Instead of letting this deter me, I started working on new material and releasing some singles. Each of the past three songs I recorded have gotten steady plays on Amazing Radio and a few other places. My last single, “The Music Shift,” got some great feedback when I submitted it for December’s REM (Record Every Month) songfest. REM is an arm of the RPM Challenge. I had people digging the guitar and even comparing my approach to both REM and Buffalo Tom. The latter comparison really made me feel like I’m hitting my marks because Buffalo Tom was a favorite of mine back when I was hosting an indie rock radio show on the Bowdoin College station, WBOR, back in the mid-90s.

Two Saturdays ago, I played my first live gig since August. I headed up to Harrisonburg (home of JMU) and delivered a three-hour set at a great nano brewery, The Friendly Fermenter. I even found a Lynchburg University videographer, Tiana Artese, to shoot some video and take pictures to update my marketing content. Tiana films the college baseball team, who happen to be reigning 2023 D3 champions. She did a great job, so I have a record of my night, which is cool.

As we close out 2023, my plans are to begin venturing out from Lynchburg in the spring and I’m hoping to find places to play in Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro, and maybe Richmond. All places where original music is appreciated. I’ve submitted to a couple of festivals in the spring and summer, also. I may even hit the road in June for a two-week tour of the southeast, once school lets out. Oh yeah—I’m working as an instructional assistant for Lynchburg City Schools. I’m enjoying the day job.

Here’s to wishing all my fans a festive holiday season and I hope to catch some of you out on the road in 2024. Stay tuned for a new release in February/March. I’m hoping this will be a big one!

Cheers!

Jim
JimBaumerME

The Music Shift (I Don’t Sing Like Taylor Swift)

The song “Music Shift” is about music approached as an avocation, if not a vocation. The idea of working a “shift” in terms of labor dates back to 1809 and mining. Playing guitar may not be mining but it helps to approach music with that same sense of purpose and consistency.

I begin the song by saying that playing music is a “grift.” This emanates from much of today’s music promotion being about “pay to play.” Yet, this is nothing new. We know about the days of payola. In our time, it’s the constant enticements to pay for this or that in terms of getting your music streamed. Even if your song(s) get played, you’ll make little to nothing because any profits from Spotify or other platforms aren’t funneled equitably to the creators of the work. The con works because musicians want their music heard by others.

Since I began writing songs and getting my music out there, I’ve had a sense that people really don’t understood what I do. I play indie/alternative rock with influences from lo-fi bands like Guided by Voices. For fans of Taylor Swift and her overly-produced schlock and corporate façade, lo-fi with a DIY orientation sounds foreign.

I spent nearly 20 years slogging along as a writer. While working at a soul-sucking insurance gig, I romanticized about what it would be like to be a writer being published regularly. Truth-be-told, it’s not much different than being an underground rocker with a negligible following. It takes perseverance to grind it out every day, writing songs and making music and then, trying to explain it to fans of Swift and other popsters.

During my early days as a writer, once I started finding my byline in newspapers and magazine and then later, on the front of award-winning books, I naively believed that my words as a writer made a difference. I even had a blog I named Words Matter. Talk about being puffed-up with “foolish pride.” Words don’t matter, and neither do lyrics. That hasn’t stopped me from “shipping,” however, a valuable practice I first learned from Seth Godin.

The song has a reflective ending. The idea that looking back is often sad, or at least bittersweet. For me, there is sadness, which is conjoined with the loss of my son. When I consider the past, there are memories that produce elements of happiness, but ultimately, sorrow pushes that aside because I no longer can spend time with Mark Baumer (my son) who I was very close to. The memories compound that sadness.

The new song is available for pre-orders on Bandcamp.

JimBaumerMe · The Music Shift

Spotify Heavy Weather

Just like Oliver Anthony, I release my new songs via Distrokid. It works well because for a minimal annual membership, I can launch multiple tracks/albums via a host of streaming platforms.

Streaming seems to be where it’s at (even if no one makes any money), so I thought I’d take Distrokid’s suggestion and create a playlist of my own, including two of my own tracks. My playlist, “This is Indie Music” is a really good gathering of my influences and the bands/artists who inform what I do as a songwriter and guitar player.

Have at it!!

Oh, and feel free to add my songs to your Spotify playlists.

Creative Continuation

I was thinking the other day about creative output and how it relates to my own production. During the time I was focused on writing, I put out four books from 2005 to 2014, which also included my repurposed Moxie book in 2012, sold to Down East Books (now Rowman & Littlefield). Remarkably, this book continues to sell and I’m sure it’s one of the better-selling regional releases for New England from that period.

Those years also included a host of articles for publications; alt weeklies, trade journals, and newspapers, both local and regional. I launched this blog in 2012, as a platform for content and became a practitioner of “shipping” (as Seth Godin frequently talks about). It was routine for me to create and post three to five blog entries each week.

Since 2018, I’ve been focused like a laser on music, another side of the creative process.  First, playing guitar daily in order to advance my playing. But just as important—writing my own songs. Over the course of that time, I’ve written 30+ songs. I have two Eps and two full-length releases available for purchase on Bandcamp.

In 2021 and 2022, I played more than 100 times across New England. A guy who prior to 2018, knew maybe three or four songs, now able to carry three-hour sets of covers and originals.

Forgive me for saying this—some of the musicians I knew in Maine, and some of the same types in Virginia really aren’t very impressive. They don’t write their own songs, and they’re really not that committed to their craft, even though most have been playing a hell of a lot longer than I have. And I’m not even going to get into the “community” aspect (or lack thereof) there is around music in both places. Unless you want to play three songs at some lame open mic. I don’t.

Since moving to the Commonwealth of Virginia, I haven’t been playing with the same frequency as in the past. Part of this is by choice. I’m also tired of dealing with bar owners who can’t seem to keep a basic calendar and eliminate double-booking performers, or grinding through a three-hour performance for people who don’t seem to care and can’t be bothered expanding their knowledge of music beyond their limited scope. I’ll continue to play occasionally, but in places that are more suitable to listening and appreciate original music.

JimBaumerME live at the Topsfield Fair in 2022.

Playing live is just one element of creating and performing music. I’m very focused on writing new material, including a single about Oliver Anthony that’s been getting some regular streaming live on Amazing Radio. This is the second song that’s been streamed regularly on their platform. Unlike many of the artists being streamed alongside me, I have no PR firm or marketing firm promoting my music. It’s just me, writing, recording, and then sending my songs along. It’s gratifying being played alongside indie royalty like Mitski, longtime indie stalwarts Blonde Redhead, and newer bands/artists like MammaBear (from Atlanta) and amazing young talents like Gigi Perez and Jordan Levy.

I somewhat understand that most people who listen to music have a very different frame of reference than my indie-informed tastes. Many seem to think all music needs to sound like over-produced garbage like Taylor Swift’s; more about technology and recording tricks. But we’ll just say she’s so “talented,” and I’m not. Okay?

But if you have any sense of what I’m trying to do, and you “get” that my influences are less likely to be household names, but certainly artists with talent—artists like Elliott Smith, Big Star, Guided by Voices, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr., Car Seat Headrest, Mark Linkous/Sparklehourse, T Rex, and Lou Reed—then you’ll understand that I’ve travelled eons from when I picked up my old Yamaha acoustic that fateful afternoon in August of 2018, despondent after Mark’s death. My songwriting process (as well as my recording prowess) continues to evolve. I’m actually continually amazed at how far I’ve come.

There are people who appreciate what I’m doing. A friend of my sister’s said he “loves” the new single and said I sounded like Iggy Pop. That’s a high compliment, and perhaps Iggy Pop circa “Passenger.”

Having said that, I often wonder—where are all my so-called friends? Do they not see me out there, trying to move my music up a mountain? There are many places to get music “plugged-in” and streamed, but the competition is epic. There are so many talented singer-songwriters, and many of them are so young. Could some of my peeps back in Maine stream the new song a few times? I mean, it will take three minutes of your life. Okay—that’s off my chest.

I spent Tuesday and part of Wednesday re-recording a song that’s very different than my other stuff. Not so much musically, but lyrically. Rather than trying to make a statement or having something to say, I just took random rhyming couplets and strung together a three-minute banger of a song. I hope to release it over the next week. Stay tuned.

Earlier this week, someone solicited me to play a private party. She apparently didn’t read my profile page on GigSalad, a site where I’ve picked up a few private gig opportunities from. Instead, she requested I learn a bunch of songs I have no interest in playing—like Taylor Swift and Lizzo, along with some Southern rock. If I’m going to play covers, I’m going to play people I like and respect. Swift and Lizzo aren’t in that category.

Lynchburg feels like a graveyard in terms of options for original music. There are a shit ton of mediocre performers vacuuming up all the local gigs. I’m working on making some contacts in Charlottesville, Richmond, and maybe Raleigh-Durham. My stuff’s a better fit in those locales.

In the meantime, I’m having a blast writing and recording new material.

What’s the Deal with Oliver Anthony

Picking up an old acoustic guitar I’d had for 20+ years, I began playing every single day back in late 2018, This became a cathartic escape from a deep, dark hole prompted by the tragic death of my only son a year before.

When I started playing three or four songs at open mics in 2019, I never thought I’d end up writing nearly 40 songs over the next three years, while releasing music regularly on Bandcamp. I especially never thought I’d have the guitar skills to play professionally, often carrying three-hour sets of covers interspersed with my own songs.

My goal was never to become a popular musician. First, the musical influences I have are obscure indie bands and singers—performers like Guided by Voices, Swearing at Motorists, and some bigger name performers like Wilco and Car Seat Headrest.

At the same time, I honestly thought I might manage to gather a niche following of music fans, similar to what I’ve been able to cobble together over the last 20 years as a writer. My Moxie book still sells steadily because I’d found a nostalgic topic that came with a built-in cult following.

Music seems to be different, however. At least for me.

Not for Oliver Anthony (real name, Christopher Lunsford), however. A country performer singing plaintive songs, supposedly living just east of where I’m now living in Virginia. A guy few (if any) local musicians had ever heard of, suddenly bolted to the top of the Billboard charts in August, becoming the first artist to debut at No. 1 on the charts. His YouTube video of his song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” has been viewed 70 million times since being uploaded at the start of August. The song has now accumulated a similar amount of streams on Spotify. He’s become the darling of a right-wing rabble, glomming onto an artist not any better than the country cover artists that are all the rage in Central Virginia.

Did Oliver Anthony really come out of nowhere?

This was all rather suspicious to me. Then, I ran across a musician named Matt Moran who has been raising a series of red flags about Anthony. His ongoing Twitter posts about astroturfing and right political influencers using marketing tools and even bots to ratchet-up Anthony’s music poll position is fascinating to comb through. I’m also digging Moran’s music way more than the “fraud from Farmville’s.”

Go ahead and like Anthony’s music. That’s your prerogative. But you don’t necessarily have to go all-in thinking that this artist is some kind of cultural savior on the basis of one song.

I wrote new song I am releasing as a single that teases out some of that tension between believing Anthony might be the real deal, while holding onto some healthy skepticism—the latter being a better position—especially given Anthony’s recent signing with Hollywood talent promoters, United Talent Agency.

Give Anthony another six months before you knight him country music’s king, or cultural savant. He might even disappoint you sooner than that.

My latest release:

JimBaumerMe · Prophet For Profit

Spaceship Flying Saucer Bluze/AB Records Issue #105 (June 2023)

Very pleased to be featured in the latest Aldora Britain Records – AB Records e-zine, The Independent and Underground Music e-Zine, Issue 105.

Tom Hilton champions true independent music from all over the globe. He obviously understood what I’ve been trying to do, especially the past two releases. Thanks, Tom!!

Spaceship Flying Saucer Bluze
Indie rock is an infinite field of sonic possibilities. It is a bracket that has been employed by thousands of bands and artists from all around the world. Some have lived up to its legacy, and some have fallen behind.

Out of Lynchburg, Virginia, contemporary singer-songwriter JIM BAUMER carves out his very own space on the alternative indie spectrum. Outings such as 2022’s Living in Some Strange Days and this year’s Home Sweet Home have stood up and been counted.

These selections showcase Jim’s fantastic approach to music, a glorious crossover of experimental rock, lo-fi pop, and one-man band indie. This musical approach provides a strong foundation for tales of darkness and pain, but also hope and real-life optimism. It is this relatable edge that really brings these LPs, and Jim’s music, to life.

Earlier this year, following the release of Home Sweet Home, Aldora Britain Records had a chat with this underground artist to unearth his journey so far.

Jim Baumer has previously contributed his track ‘Kick the Darkness’ to our ‘Knighted’ compilation. Listen or download HERE.

[If you enjoy this content, please consider making a small, magazine-sized donation at the following link. Thank you!]

Aldora Britain Records: Hello Jim, how are you? I am excited to be talking to such an innovative and creative contemporary artist. Thank you for your time. Let’s start off at the very beginning. What are some of your earliest musical memories and what was it that first pushed you towards pursuing this passion of yours?
Jim Baumer: My first memories of music were when I was eight years old, listening to my local AM station in the early 70s. Back then, you heard a great deal of rock on AM radio, not like today in the US where it is all talk radio garbage.

[Jim Baumer live, Loose Shoe Too, Appomattox, VA, May 2023]

I can remember one Thanksgiving, hearing the full version of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ and thinking his talking blues was the greatest thing ever. Then, bands like Blue Cheer with their version of ‘Summertime Blues’ blasting out of the stereo console at my house. Also, our local drug store downtown carried rock mags like Creem and I remember reading about Marc Bolan and Lou Reed when I was like nine or ten.
Aldora Britain Records: And now, let’s take a leap forward to the present day and your impressive solo output. I love the lo-fi and DIY attitude that you have. That really appeals to me, for sure! Where does this drive come from, and what would you say this DIY approach brings to your musical output?

[2022 Full-length]

Jim Baumer: I’m definitely influenced by mid-90s bands like Guided by Voices and Swearing at Motorists for their DIY sound. There was a great deal of that very stripped-down, minimalist sound during that era. Just before Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ changed the college radio and indie landscape. I was doing a college radio show as a member of the community and had access to all kinds of bands and artists recording on four-tracks. Sebadoh, and a guy from New York, F.M. Cornog, who went by the moniker East River Pipe. A lot of what I’m trying to do now is to recreate that four-track aesthetic using a DAW and laptop.
Aldora Britain Records: In 2022, you released a fantastic album called Living in Some Strange Days. This was the first record of yours that I heard, so it holds a very special place in my collection. How do you reflect on this album now? Is there anything that you would edit or change with the benefit of hindsight?
Jim Baumer: I was coming out of a dark period, still grieving the loss of my son, and then COVID locked us all down and made live music impossible. I was holed up in my basement, writing a bunch of songs about cancel culture and how our leaders were working their divide and conquer plan. I started with some songs, then laid down tracks, and before I knew it, I had a cohesive batch of material. There are times I wish I had a band and bandmates to bounce ideas off. I’m forced, as a veritable one-man band, to create a larger sound all by myself. That means using a drum pedal and multi-tracking guitars, although some sounds, like ‘You Don’t Love Me (You Don’t Care)’, were acoustic rockers with just drums and one acoustic guitar and vocals.
Aldora Britain Records: I love your alternative indie rock foundations with a strong singer-songwriter inclination at play too. It makes for a great sound! How would you say your style came about, what goes into it for you, and who are some of your biggest influences and inspirations as an artist? I have a feeling it could be quite a broad selection.
Jim Baumer: I mentioned Guided by Voices and Robert Pollard’s songwriting as an influence. I also hark back to 70s artists like Marc Bolan and T. Rex. Maybe Lou Reed.
I’m a huge fan of current bands like Car Seat Headrest, Gold Connections, and the Canadian band Sloan.
Aldora Britain Records: Earlier this year, you released a follow-up album entitled Home Sweet Home. I have recently listened to this record for the first time and it has already left a strong impression on me. What are your memories from writing, recording and releasing this LP, and how would you say you have grown and evolved since Living in Some Strange Days?
Jim Baumer: That one came about as an effort to complete a project for the RPM Challenge, which challenges artists to record an EP or LP during the month of February. I didn’t quite hit the mark in 2022. So, this year, I was determined to get something to the finish line by the end of the month. Originally, I was planning on a five or six-song EP, but the songs kept coming and they were longer tracks. I was experimenting with some alternative tunings for the guitar. ‘Info War’ uses a Swervedriver tuning. They’re a British shoegaze band I’ve thought highly of, and these different tunings really shaped some of the songs. That, and listening to a bunch of post-rock, shaped the sound of my most recent release.
Aldora Britain Records: Just before we finish, I would like to pick out two personal favourites. Let’s go for ‘Love Makes the Word Go ‘Round’ and ‘Kick the Darkness’. For each, what is the story behind the song and can you remember the
moment it came to be? Did anything in particular inspire them and what do they mean to you as the writer?
Jim Baumer: Both are the most ‘radio friendly’ tracks on each of the last two records. ‘Kick the Darkness’ is a line from a Bruce Cockburn song, ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’. I used that as a jumping off point to write a song that wasn’t quite as dark as the other stuff on Living in Some Strange Days. On the new record, ‘Love Makes the World Go ‘Round’  was me basically saying enough of all this love shit that everyone talks about. It is never really backed up with anything tangible. The blues shuffle is copped from T. Rex in ‘Bang a Gong’ and it works in this song.Quickfire Round-
AB Records: Favourite artist? Jim: Paul Westerberg, Silkworm, Big Star. A three-way tie.
AB Records: Favourite album? Jim: Silkworm, Firewater.
AB Records: First gig as an audience member? Jim: Kiss, 1978.
AB Records: Loudest gig as an audience member? Jim: Engine Kid, 1994.
AB Records: Style icon? Jim: Johnny Rotten.AB Records: Favourite film? Jim: A Star is Born, 1954, with Judy Garland.
AB Records: Favourite TV show? Jim: NYPD Blue.
AB Records: Favourite underground artist? Jim: This one is impossible to name. The underground doesn’t really exist, in my opinion, due to the internet making everything accessible, even the most niche artists.

Home Sweet Home (2023 full length)

JimBaumerMusic Live Dates (Spring/Summer)

I really don’t know who visits this website/blog these days. But in case someone local to Lynchburg (my new home) stumbles across it, here are the gigs I’ve managed to cobble together at the moment. Happy to have landed one of the coveted slots at the Lynchburg Community Market on Saturday mornings. I’ll be there on June 10th from 10:00 to Noon. Some of my favorite performances have been at farmers’ markets back in Maine. Always a fun time and I guess I’ll be able to break out the “Farmers’ Market Song” I wrote back in 2020.

Upcoming Music Dates

My live performances are always unique. I don’t play the same old covers that everyone else plays. I’ve also forged my own style of playing both electric and acoustic guitar. Not fancy, but my chops come from the heart. I also write my own songs and work these into my two-and-three-hour sets.

Hoping to find a few more places to play in Lynchburg and elsewhere. Don’t be surprised to find me busking on the mall in Charlottesville and who knows where else I’ll show up this summer and fall.

Here’s one of my own:

I’ll also be back in New England in August to make a return appearance at the amazing Bolton Fair on their stage near the beer tent. Hoping to find another venue or two in Maine to play for old friends.

Stay tuned!

Home Sweet Home/RPM Challenge 2023

Last Monday, I finished my final mixes on my last two songs for the RPM Challenge. What originally began as a 5-song EP, over the course of February, became a 10-song album. Honestly, I wasn’t’ totally surprised that I had more songs in me than a mere five.

Home recording is a solitary activity. I don’t know how many people there are that would self-identify as home recorders. What I found enlightening during February, thanks to RPM’s attempts to connect all of us, is that there are more of us than I thought.

I’m not really sure where my music fits into the larger context of the rock and roll universe. I’m guessing I’ll always occupy some very small, obscure niche. And yet, I sometimes wonder why my music fails to gain any traction at all.

When I tell people that I “play music,” they invariably ask me, “what do you play?” It’s hard to give them an answer that satisfies how I categorize my music because my points of reference are generally obscure bands in the context of popular music.

My music has a definite point of origination—most likely 1992, when I first heard Guided by Voices double CD compiling Vampire on Titus and Propeller. I found it at WBOR, when I’d come in to listen to new music for my weekend radio slot I was doing at the time.

Another group of original songs.

The album possesses an aesthetic that’s all but disappeared in today’s music landscape. It’s like a lo-fi dream that walks through my own rock and roll journey from early 70s AM rock, through prog, punk, some British invasion, garage rock, with a tinge of psyche thrown in. Granted GbV aren’t the only point of reference for my music as it’s evolved over the past few years, but I think they are important.

This latest offering spends some time working its way through 90s shoegaze and has echoes of British bands Swervedriver and maybe even Ride and tracks like “Living in the Worst of Times” and the instrumental, “The Fool.” It also continues with populist subject matter that was part and parcel of last April’s release, Living in Some Strange Days.

The song, “They Don’t Care,” an acoustic number that I basically captured in one take after watching YouTube news footage of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, comes from realizing that we now have a uniparty that doesn’t care about poor people, black or white. East Palestine is an echo of disasters involving water and necessities of life that had already played out in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, before. As a result, life in America is become untenable for most.

“Guitar Story” is a song about the past six years, from picking up my old Yamaha guitar, and now, being able to play well enough to carry my songs (and some covers) as a one-man-band of sorts. It would be the “single” on the record, I think.

I called the 10 songs Home Sweet Home because the music emanates from our move and it also is an ironic title, also. If the past three years (or perhaps, six), I feel less at home in this world than ever before. Moving to a new geographic location is less jarring than the rapid-fire changes being thrown at us by elites via technology, social media, and now, AI.

The new release now gives me four musical collections. Similarly, I’ve published four books. I’d like to publish another book that draws upon my musical journey over the past few years. Maybe I can combine writing a book with releasing new music in 2024 during next year’s RPM Challenge.

Alt Tunings-RPM Sketch #3

As I’ve been writing new songs and exploring new ideas for the RPM Challenge in February, I have felt gratitude on numerous occasions for the opportunity presented by this annual creative endeavor. One of the benefits to me has been looking at alternative tunings and actually pursuing some elements of these on the new batch of songs.

Since my last post, I’ve posted three new songs, including yesterday’s new track, an instrumental, “The Fool.”

JimBaumerMe · The Fool

 

This song is played in Dropped G tuning and this lends a different element to the sound. At times, I hear echoes of people like William Tyler in the voicings, maybe even a longtime favorite of mine, Yo La Tengo, just a bit. For my musical tastes and where I’m trying to take my guitar-playing, that’s a good thing. Keith Richards of the Stones used Dropped G quite often. There are a few spots where I even hear myself channeling Keith. Very cool.

The track, “Living in the Worst of Times” was played using a tuning utilized often by Swervedriver during their 80s shoegaze period. It lends a bottom-heavy aspect to the song, which I really was looking to create, since as a one-man band, sans a bass player, creating a bottom in my music isn’t always possible in standard tuning, or without multi-tracking the guitar, which I didn’t have to do in this one.

JimBaumerMe · Living in the Worst of Times

 

If RPM ended today, I’d have the five songs I’d committed to making back at the start of the challenge. But I still have two songs partially mixed—a “country” number and one rooted in 80s punk. I might even write another acoustic ditty before midnight on February 28.

As for the title for the instrumental, I was looking through an old deck of Tarot cards yesterday and saw the card for the Fool. Since he represents new beginnings and even—having faith in the future—it seemed appropriate for me, being here in a new place and tackling some new musical ideas. The Fool also represents improvisation.

Another week of work to do. It looks like I also have another track time to qualify as an LP vs. my project being an EP.