I'm Down

Happy Thursday. Yesterday was super warm and lovely, and I only worked like two and a half hours and then I went to the park -- but today was way cold and full of heartbreak. That is, I got to the final chapters of the Beatles biography I was reading, and it was tough going. The next one I read I'm going to get through 1966 and then put it down.

Observing someone's remarkable life from beginning to end, repeatedly, is an insane thing to do. Especially when eight of those years involve being the most influential pop act in history (and as a reader, you know that each year brings you closer to the devastating end). The "repeated" factor makes it that much more incomprehensible because you jump from the heartache of Get Back straight into the glee of A Hard Day's Night and it's like a vertigo attack. Worse, when you see the old ones on the tv, and then jump back forty five years to when they were lil' babies and you can't help but think they're still like that, joking and laughing, out there somewhere.

Ringo put out a single last year that I recently was pointed towards, and it's pretty captivating -- due mostly to the fact that I'm entirely sure that most of it is auto-tuned -- but captivating nonetheless.

One of my favorite things ever is watching young Ringo on stage. The happiest drummer in all the world. The good ol' days.

Maybe one day I'll emerge from my Beatlemania cocoon and actually have something significant to write about. But I'm still crushing pretty bad right now, so this is what you get.

I just spent like an hour trying to find a good clip of Ringo drumming, and ended up watching so many interviews instead. I'm just going to link to you I'm Down, because that's fun. And topical.

Speaking of playing the bass, my goal is to be able to play and have a seizure at the same time, just like Paul.

Beth came over on....one of these last days, and we had a jam session. Actually first we had brownies, then we went to a record store and bought every record (I got a Beach Boys concert recording, a Jimi Hendrix Experience smash hits album, and some Beatles interview excerpts from '64 and '66; Beth got Dylan and Cream and the Byrds and something else and George's first solo album All Things Must Pass, which is awesome). Then we went to Chipotle.

And then we jammed. Scoured the web for tabs and chords and tried our best for hours and hours. I totally sort of know the notes on the fret board now. Also had an extended "jam" of my playing a little riff based on the bass part from "Girl," I just played that and played that waiting for Beth to write a song to go with it.

We're gonna be a band. We'll be called MDMB, which stands for Minor Delta, Major Bravo, which were our nicknames one day. We'll write nonsense songs and do covers and we'll be very popular. Some of our songs will include "George Knows a Sexy Secret," "George Doesn't Know a Secret," "GearFab," "Leggy Eyebrowns," and "Gentle Moose."

But first I have to learn how to play, so don't reserve your tickets just yet. Busted out this instructional dvd that I am borrowing along with the guitar, and he (and the creepiest Andy you ever saw) taught me the E scale and how to play some worship songs.

I would have practiced again today, but there were bees in there. :<

So after I finished my book I played through all of Abbey Road on Rock Band. Even though that was the same as the bee room.

Speaking of writing songs, does anyone know how? Can you teach me?

-Steph