jim's blog

Well, the ADATs went down again about 2 months ago. One night the LCD characters suddenly melted digitally in front of my eyes! As it happened, I was on a roll - with only 3 songs left. But when the old LCD screen went bye-bye, it (surprisingly) brought the entire system down. So there was 2 months where I couldn't really do much work on the new album....

I must say - in the last couple weeks there have been two very surprising animal encounters while driving in my car...

1) It was Friday, the 23rd of Sept, and I was driving "home" at dusk on a county road near Clearwater.  Now, the stretch I was on is very straight, and somewhat hilly, and usually driven around 55 mph... So I was driving up to the top of a hill, and just as I was about to descend something (big) caught my eye in the road.

You may have noticed it's been a while since I've last blogged...

• Started a new (part-time) job, which I like a lot, but that sometimes takes up a good 10 hours per day...
• There's been a lot of shows I've done lately with other bands...
• Am pretty sure i'm going to continue on w/ music in a different way...

It's amazing how you can think about something so much for so long, and come to what you think is a very solid conclusion. And then in one shot of insight, you change your perspective and things look (and sound) very different...

So I got an invite to the new U.S. Spotify release last Saturday, and after using it for a few days here's what I'm thinking.  My only past experience with this kind of music streaming service was LaLa.com. I really enjoyed the free option, where you could stream entire albums, EPs, etc. (and all in a consequence-free environment ;). Of course it had a massive catalog, and the ability to view user comments (which were often worth reading)...

When I think back on the time period when I was writing and recording the songs in "After the Fact", I'd probably sum it up as a time of trying things out and seeing what would happen.  I had already been through what I suppose could be thought of as the initial phase of songwriting: The pure thrill of listening to something that you'd created.  This often is seen in bedroom-type music, recorded on a 4-track using minimal equipment...

Wow, i just noticed an interesting coincidence. So I've just completed my best (current) mix of "Boxing Day" for the upcoming album.  And I must say it took a good 3 evenings, at about 3 hours a session, to mix the song to its current "JB Final Mixes" state...

A little while ago, I was dreaming of a Pulse. But there wasn't one around, and after a while I sorta forgot about it....  Of course, the original thing I wanted, from the time i was a kid, is a Minnie Winnie :) We used to see them sometimes at campgrounds when we traveled around on family trips, and I always liked the way they looked....

Last week I was watching over my parents' house, and happened to catch Prince's interview & performance on Lopez Tonight.  It was definitely good to see his Princeness again, especially considering how great he still looks & sounds. He's even still hitting all the high notes in "The Beautiful Ones", with pretty much the same sound overall.  For me, as a sometime singer, that's a great thing to hear...

So, a few months ago (on Winter Solstice) I had this "feeling", and mentioned that perhaps I may release my latest songs under a different name. And after/before that evening, it's been floating around in the back of my mind...