jim's blog

So now that the new album is on a roll, I think I've stumbled upon found a good pattern for working on it.  Namely: every other evening.  Because I'm finding that I love getting into the music-making mode on one evening, and then the next day go about my business and sort of step back for a minute.

Earlier today I was watching TV, and inevitably the channel surfing stopped by VH1.  As it happened, they were counting down their "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders".  According to the website, this show "represents those single songs that enjoyed chart success or had a lasting impact on the music scene or society at large."

Hey, I wanted to post a quick message that a new album is definitely in progress now!

I actually started recording the basic tracks back in the early summer of 2008.  This continued, on and off, through the spring of 2009.  Then I took a little break, went to Alaska, and upon returning had a plan of attack for the rest of the record.

Some of my Facebook friends have been filling out something called "15 Albums in 15 Minutes".  The idea is to come up with your favorite 15 albums (and the ones that moved you the most) without overthinking it too much. Also, "greatest hits" compilations are not allowed.

I wasn't able to do it in 15 minutes, though (which should be a suprise to no one that knows me).  So I didn't end up doing the Facebook thing. But if there was something called "15 albums in 15 days", this is what I'd say:

or, how to remove bugs and influence people

23 spiders, 1 mosquito & 1 beetle. That's the the exact number (or pretty close for the spiders) of bugs that I removed from my place since Monday.  Until this week, I'd been away for a while, though I did check in a few times.  But upon returning, I gradually noticed quite a few more cob webs than before...

So I found an old plastic container (featuring a nice rectangular shape with "rounded corners") ...

I'm pretty sure I've blogged before about the madness that manifests in the month of March.  Well now it's September, and I'm noticing a re-occurence of this basic affect (though technically here more of a psychosis ;)

What is it, you ask? Why, it's nothing other than the U.S Open tennis tournament. I'm calling it "September Psychosis", though I hope that doesn't catch on!  But in any case the USTA is darn right -- for so many reasons (too many to get into here) -- 'It must be love' :D

^* crap

It's all about taking chicken crap and turning it into chicken salad
Or, turning crap cakes into crab cakes.
U might know⁺ what i'm talkin' about...

⁺ Last night, at around 2:30 a.m., it was exactly three years since the fight.

So I got back earlier today from a weekend family getaway for my niece's birthday.  Now as I recall, the other times we visited didn't have too many mosquitos.  But this time, there must have been a fresh hatching.  At least, there were definitely more around (and more dragon flies too) this time....

So last night was more-or-less the last night that I'll be staying at my parents house for a while.  As it happens, they were visiting relatives and traveling in Germany, France, Poland and Ireland (Poland, they said, was very appreciated).

Anyway, they were gone for about 5 weeks, which left me head caretaker of the Bjorklun household.  I gradually set up a live jam room in the basement (in a nice "open" area just south of the laundry machines).

It's funny how life claps along sometimes. For example, the other day I was driving to Madeline Island for a band vacation....  Heading east on HWY 23, things actually were going pretty smoothly. Often on this 2-lane highway one can get stuck behind a slow driver, but today from approx. 2-3 p.m. things were pretty sparse traffic-wise.