Morning.

Wake.
Pee.
Kettle.
Cold.
Carafe.
Bean.
Grind.
Hot.
Pour.
Steep.
Cup.
Drink.
Wait.
Poop.
Shower.
Dry.
Dress.
Drive.
Work.

Devils work.

I love you. No- I love you! This HAS to be love- I think about you ALL THE TIME! I love you! Please never leave me- you complete me. No- wait- don't leave me... WHY DO YOU TREAT ME THIS WAY?!?!?


It used to comfort me so, nicotine. But in the last few months it never seemed enough. More than that my legs would ache when i walk and my job at SLSC requires much walking. Last Summer i had a new bike and it was a pleasure to ride- i want to be able to ride it again without my legs hurting from lack of oxygen. I quit smoking on Sunday, April 5th at 18:16 when I ran out. I was driving home from work and decided I would not buy anymore. As i smoked the last one it occurred how painful smoking is. Inhaling deeply those last hits- I coughed and hacked and wheezed until i was able to breathe normally again... turned off into a Walgreens and bought a box of mint flavored 4 mg nicotine lozenges. When it gets bad I have one. It's still hard at times- but it's so much better than the prospect of playing my saxophone with an oxygen tank beside me. Come to think of it- i saw 3 separate visitors to the Science Center with oxygen tanks. Maybe that inspired me to finally be done with that shit.

Goodbye to my overflowing ashtrays. No more smoking in my house or in my car. When the weather gets a little warmer I look forward to opening all the windows for a final "airing out".

One last thought- I spent $8 a day at the end there... okay- let's round it up to $10... that's $300/month (a car payment) or $3600/year! Think of all the treats i can buy myself!

Hmmmm...

The "Dirty Fucking Hippies"...

This has to be one of the most impressive videos i've seen in a while.

Enjoy!



DFH by joeyess

"Saxy Nights"

Performed by Modern American Dance Company (MADCO) of Saint Louis to music composed by Dominic Schaeffer and choreographed by Jennifer Reilly in February of 2003.

30 Years Ago Today-

My friend Teresa was sitting on a wall with her friend listening to Stand Up by Jethro Tull when it all started...



Reminds me of a favorite verse of a song by The Clancy Brothers-

"Up the long ladder
and down the short rope
to Hell with King Billy
and God bless the Pope
if that doesn't do
we'll tear 'em in two
and send 'em to Hell
with thier red, white and blue"

January 20, 2009

Coolest. President. Ever.

President-elect Barack Obama drops in to Ben's Chili Bowl in D.C. for a chili dog.

The Band Practice pt 4

Our Hero dreams of the concert he and his cohorts practice diligently for. When does the dream become life? One way is by living the dream, the other is by being shaken awake by ones bandmate.

The Music: "As Far As We Know" by David Udell performed by Earwacks.

The Lyrics: "Time may waste your dreams"

Earwacks are: Tracy Wynkoop: bass; Benet Schaeffer: drums; David Udell: guitar; Dominic Schaeffer: sax.

The Band Practice pt 3

Part 3: Our Hero drinks before practice. Tracy: "Where's Dominic at?" Benet: "Dunno... Anyone been to his apartment?" Tracy: "I don't even know where he lives..." David says "Oh I know where he's gotta be..." David retrieves Our Hero and proceeds to work on the chord changes for "Listen To Me" then the band rehearses a portion of "This City" followed with "Cold Hans" in its entirety. Then it's time to party with crew, friends and fans!

Our Hero falls to sleep per chance to dream...

The Band Practice pt 2

Part 2: Our Hero stops for coffee before work. He works in a restaurant so he can eat. After work he goes to a bar so he can drink before practice. Music: "92bpmloop" performed by Dominic and "The Trouble With My Treble Is The Space In My Bass" performed by Earwacks.

The Band Practice pt 1

Davids favorite song of mine brought to life in the film "The Band Practice" by Matthew O'Shea and featuring Earwacks.

Story: Our Hero does this. Every morning he does this. Goes to work. Every day. Rain or shine.

LYRIC BOOK

Goodbye, 2008!

I'd say good riddance but there were some very good things that happened last year as well. Not gonna list the good/bad year-in-review here, you all know what is on that list- but there is one thing from last year i really, truly wish that i could undo.

I fucked up. A mistake anyone could have made. A permanent and un-fixable one.

I have always made a point of saving my work- music, drawings, writings, etc.. For instance, in 1997, when i was house sitting for Uncle Albert during their first six-week tour of Germany/Bosnia i made use of the recording studio and archived the 4+ hours of MIDI compositions that i completed to a digital multi-track ADAT tape deck so can mix them later. Shortly after the transfer EVERY sound source in my midi suite broke... Shwew!

SIDEBAR: For the non techy reader- MIDI is not music/sound/audio. It is a programming language that allows a composer to control a variety of sound sources simultaneously. Much like a player piano- a MIDI recorder is like a piano roll puncher- when the person plays the notes on the piano, holes are punched in the roll in the order played and, when the roll is put on a "player piano" it seems to "play" itself. With MIDI you can compose for multiple "player pianos"... But, these are not the notes themselves- only commands for when/which note is played. /SIDEBAR

So a couple years ago i took all those ADAT tapes to FoJammi's studio and transferred the multi track tapes to digital sound files i can work with on my home computer. Thanks to the new home studio technologies i have pretty much everything i have ever recorded in my life preserved for "the ages"... (like anyone else is gonna care- who the fuck am i kidding, really!?!? lol)

Back in the mid '80's began putting all my writing on a word processor. As life went along and i updated computer equipment i always transferred my writings along with everything else. It was in an ever expanding file called LYRIC BOOK. Whenever i needed to refer to it- it was always there.

In March of 2008 I purchased a 500 Gigabyte hard drive so that i could file away the ever growing psychotronics recordings and solo work. I did a very thorough job- also throwing out the redundant and superfluous. The whole process took about three days. Maybe it was too thorough...

January 1st, 2009 i wanted to have my first post be a favorite poem i had written called "69"... LYRIC BOOK was nowhere to be found. I have looked in every folder on every hard drive i have and to no avail. 30 years of writing erased.

I used to pride myself in being able to say i have no regrets. Well, now i have one.