The RPM Challenge - Of course, now that's its over, I want it back...

Of course, now that's its over, I want it back...

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

The wind howls, the weather can't make up it's mind, and I sit here, feeling a bit out of sorts. It's like I just came off tour and can't get the evening's adrenaline rush out of my system. I should be DOING something. I contented myself updating my old band's tribute page for a while. Actually, the page sarcastically mocks everyone who was in the band, including yours truly. It's kind of funny to read and the songs are a bit painful to hear, but are enjoyable as a moment in time. But it wasn't enough.

I put on the headphones and listened to a lot of RPM stuff on people's pages here on the site as well... It was all very engaging. Some of it was over the top good, other stuff was pretty good, nothing was bad though, which is striking and a testament to everyone I listened to. Still, it made me want to do something more...I want to do another album...but I need the motivator...I don't know why...I even had a massive fit of inspiration Sunday evening with a book of guitar chords...but I can't bring myself to push the start button...I need to let RPM 08 work its way through for a while...I am like a pitcher after the World Series...I need to nurse my arm and relax...except that I can't relax...

I could take solace and go back and reread the dozens of messages with the very, very, very kind words everyone has sent me in the past week or so about this year's work (thank you again, a million thanks), drowning in an orgy of an ego going supernova (whatever the hell that means). But I can't...I find myself already looking ahead and thinking...how will I beat this one now? Hey Mick, this is the bad Gary talking, time for that drink...

RPM 06 left me exhausted but inspired...RPM 07 sucked me dry for months...RPM 08 has left me needing more release...

I think I am going to grab my mini cassette recorder and listen back to ideas I captured Sunday. Perhaps I can open the window and record that wind....

Gary

Comments (12)

1 Written by Kai Starr, on 03-13-2008 00:12
I'm the same way with music. I need something to kick my butt into gear, some kind of deadline, somebody specifically wanting to hear a song I wrote lyrics for but never recorded, almost anything that doesn't come from ME. I'm not that way with prose writing or with art or with anything other than music. It's not that I love making music any less than I love those other things, but maybe for me, it's the difficulty in getting a good recording of my stuff that puts me off doing it. I bang my head on the desk a lot, when recording, and I don't do that during any of my other creative endeavors. I dunno. Music is just...different.

2 Two of Us
Written by Michelangelo, on 03-13-2008 00:22
After that bout of creative production in Fed I'm still left with ideas rattling around in my head. But I am unmotivated to do them right now. I'm hoping after a break I'll get back to it.

But then part of me says, let it sit. Next year is soon enough. I think I did really good this year coming into it with more ideas then I could record and I produced some decent music.

Not sure what I'll do, but I'm up for colab work. And I got bits to send to moschell and I still owe Tangmo a didj part.

3 Can't seem to stop
Written by Endicott Road, on 03-13-2008 08:25
My muse woke up big time this year, and I can't seem to stop writing lyrics and matching them to unfinished music tracks. As I said in a comment on another blog, I have to stop myself and pay attention to family, work, etc etc, but my muse is still working away. I guess I'm different in that maybe I want to be listless, but my muse is being the slave driver right now. Hey, maybe there's a song in that . . .
ER

4 Written by Tangmo, on 03-13-2008 11:04
And the echo from the amplifier's ringing in my head.

You well know there is a lot yet coming, and that the community is not asleep quite yet. RPM doesn't end with a bang, but with a soft sigh.

There may be another compilation set, more post-RPM collaborations, a way or ways to ease out of the intensity into something more livable.

Hang in there, Gary. You are appreciated.

5 Warm and Fuzzy
Written by Gary Fox, on 03-13-2008 12:01
All of you...group hug.

I am better today. Man, what a whiner I have become though, eh? I need to get over myself...

;)

6 Written by Dazzleships, on 03-13-2008 12:17
Now go have a beer, Gary, or I'll remix you!

7 Hmmm
Written by Gary Fox, on 03-13-2008 20:40
That would be kind of interesting actually...

8 Written by Kai Starr, on 03-13-2008 22:46
ha! Gary, you don't whine anywhere NEAR as much as I do. I am the King of Whine, and if someone doesn't agree with me, I shall immediately set to whining and prove my royalty. ;P

9 !
Written by Gary Fox, on 03-14-2008 01:01
Prove away...I double dog dare you. By the way, anyone want some cheese to go with all this whine?

On a related note, for some reason, I find myself remixing my RPM 06 and 07 stuff right now. Perhaps I need that G&T...Mick?

10 Everybody knows the moon is made of chee
Written by Kai Starr, on 03-14-2008 01:21
I just sent my cheese to Tangmo. About to make some more, though. (^o^)

(begin whine) Why does my life SUCK SO HAAAAAAARD????? It's always like this!!! Everything goes wrooooooooong at the worst possible tiiiiiime! I need cheeeeeeeeese!!! And moooooooney!!!! And huuuuuuuugs!!!! (end whine, but not before adding big sad puppy eyes to it)

Okay, so that was a little forced. But hey, I'm running low on things that I can publicly whine about. Else there would be a blog post from me, about now. ;P

Woohoo for remixing, though!!!!! \(^o^)/ I'd be doing the same, if only I wasn't so laaaaaaaaazy. ;P

11 i feel you, but can't say im WITH you a
Written by Night Driving, on 03-14-2008 10:09
the fact that you have done RPM 3 times is already enough to separate us quite a bit in our musical worlds, but i fully empathize with the sails wanting more wind.

at the end of anything so time consuming, mind consuming, life consuming, there is the natural inclination for deflation. not quite the cigarette in bed, but more the morning after when there's nothing but an indent in the other pillow.

for me, im lucky. this is not just my first time doing RPM, but the kick in the pants that has led me in the direction i need to go, to become the performer and creator i want to be.

and for you, although you're feeling a semi-indescribable wall, a restlessness, that means the gears are moving and that something is happening. i know the awful feeling of stagnance (see the last couple years before i made this record) and you are surely far from that.

instead of the anxiety leading you crazy, i read this more as anxiety leading you to think, move, and create more. you as a musician aren't stopping the artwork, just sitting back and deciding which colors or lines to add to eventually make the product you want, or one that inspires more art.

i hope some of that made sense.

12 Keep hanging on
Written by Josie Quick, on 03-14-2008 11:26
I keep checking this page every morning to see if anyone has any comments, see how many people have read my blog, reading these posts...

I guess that's my own way of coming off this creative high. I'm not much of an internetter, this is the only place I've ever even read a forum, much less posted stuff. I'm amazed at myself pretending to be internet savvy.