183

Song of the week, 9 February 2003:

183 (drums Tim O'Connell)
mp3 available by email request

I wrote this number while playing with Two-Fisted Frogkicker/Implied Trampoline/Whatever our name was. There are still plans for TFFK/IT/W to finish an the recordings we started in Buffalo, but it will probably take a while. So, I dusted off this demo, which has had a very relaxed road to existence.

The song was first written and recorded in rather crude form on a Saturday morning in 2001. A month or two later, Tim put real drums over my cheezy drum machine track. The current guide vocal (which I'll probably rerecord at some point) and keyboards were tracked last summer to give the other TFFK/IT/W members something to play to (which they haven't had a chance to do yet). For this version, I kept the bass part I did for the original demo and put in some new guitars.

183 a.k.a. Cult of Self
(c) Mark Frey 2001

Emotion emission-a human condition
drawn into conflict-confrontational addict
lines in the sand-reach for the upper hand
innocent questions lead to insincere suggestions

and we're lost in the Cult of Self

important connection-temporary affection
you get what you give-is that a reason to live?

It's the way that we're taught, how we are bred
no cooperative aspirations
just egos that scream to be fed

and we're lost in the Cult of Self

heretical action-letting up just a fraction
a permanent link-destroy your future (better rethink)

and we're lost in the Cult of Self

nospace

Wow. Now, that's a great way to make sure you're remembered long after you're gone! I'd have put something like that up here, 'cept I don't have enough storage space.

powerout

When I was a kid, I used to love power outages. The sudden withdrawal of a major element of 'civilization,' and the overwhelming sense of quiet as all our machines ground to a halt, gave a great sense of peace. This was before personal computers entered my life, of course, so there was never any annoyance at missing email or whatnot. I even liked reading by candlelight, and still do.

Last night's power outage, then, was a bit surreal. The house went almost dark and almost quiet. The main intruders on my childhood peace were my computer and monitoring system, kept unnaturally alive beyond the loss of their life force by the other anomaly: the wheeping, whining UPS that insisted on reminding me every 1.5 seconds that I had less than 20 minutes of battery. Mind you, I love that UPS- it gave me plenty of time to save and shut down gracefully. In retrospect, I believe I could've even checked my email- the phones were probably not out and neither, I expect, was the DSL (the modem's on the UPS like the rest of the studio). Still, I don't like working on borrowed power when I have the file open for a song I've spent the whole day recording (not to mention that abruptly running out of juice with several thousand dollars worth of sensitive studio gear fired up isn't my idea of fun). There was no way I could finish the mix and post it in fifteen minutes, especially with the damn (blessed) UPS wheeping away. So, I poked the power button on my keyboard, shut down the UPS, and got to be a kid again for a little while. Whee!