I whipped out a quick little riff and some chords and the words started flowing.  In about an hour I came up with the basic structure of the song and then recorded a bit of it last night.  It’s still not quite there yet… consider this version 0.1.  The “what do you want? love!” chorus is missing… that’ll come soon enough.  And, there’s only one verse (though, it might work with just one verse anyway).

what do you get?

Either way, it felt great to write a quick song and then to actually get back into the recording groove.  It was really tough to play with a click track.  I ended up putting down a basic drum line that I could groove to while I played and sung.  I then replaced that drum track with a better rhythm section.

I used GarageBand on my old PowerBook G4 (almost 4 years old!).  I have a USB-based Tascam US-428 that I mixed the vocals and keyboard parts down with.  This is the first time I used GarageBand since the old days where I used Cubase VST.  I really like GarageBand!  There were times I wanted more from it, though it fit the use case perfectly… a quick write and a quick record.

Let me know what you think.  I already have tons of negative comments for myself already ;-)  Though, given the timeframe I put this together, I’d say it’s not bad…

Add this to one of the places I want to go… a co-worker of mine went rafting down in the river that this valley feeds. Gorgeous!

The few months I’ve been at Socialtext and all of the work I did at AngelPoints has prepared me quite well to take on this challenge of hosting a panel discussion around what are the ingredients that make a product manager able to thrive in an agile development environment.

The panels are up for voting right now, so head on over and let me know what you think of the panel idea and vote away.  I’d love for you to vote for mine!  See ya in Austin in March of ‘09.

Go and listen… Thunder & Rain.

I discovered an awesome place freesound.org.  I love it!

The stage at Ace in the Hole

Turns out I got play 5th in the line-up and started out again with my “decidedly odd” instrumental.  I improvised a little bridge in there that I liked and will start to integrate into the next performances.  And, then I debuted a new song that I finished up earlier in the week.

When I feel like giving up
I give it all away, and
giving in to you, my love,
means something got to give

It’s up to me to lay it down
laying up close to you.
I’m fine with you being up on me
when the color fades away.

Why do you fall away when I fall in love with you?
Rising up now and take it ’cause everything is clear to me.

Why do you fall away so late in the game with me?
I gave up on you long ago and it’s taken this long to let go.

You have a way of driving me
crazy with your words.
And speaking of the time that’s left,
it’s time to speak up now.

You aren’t the one who makes it right
nor am I the one who sings.
It’s the melody inside this song
that sings so loud in me. 

[chorus]

Not crazy about the chorus yet, especially the “rise up now and take it back…” line, especially the melody around it.  I’ll be working on it, though.  

Anyway, I ended with “beloved” and throughout it all I was finally able to relax and let go both with my voice and guitar playing.  It was like I was at home jamming out and there happened to be a whole bar full of people around me.  Way cool.

That feeling of being in the flow at the same time as being aware of an audience… I think that’s the key to really drawing people in and drawing me out.

Either way, I’ll be playing a longer set at Ace in Hole next Thursday afternoon the 24th at 4:30.  Come see me if you can!

Yesterday, I think I may have strained my ham string a bit.  Early this morning, I was out for another hard workout on the court and it felt tight.  The first real jump I did flared up my muscle again and I could tell that pushing it further was going to really injure it or damage the muscle.  So, I took it easy this morning.

I’m a bit disappointed, though… I haven’t really experienced very many injuries over the years.  I guess it’s a sign that I was really pushing myself hard.  Could I have listened to my body more effectively and known that something like this was going to happen?  Probably.  Though, it happened when I was totally warm and about 2/3 of the way through the workout.

Either way, it’s not so serious.  Just a couple days off it and some icing should take care of it.  We’re heading into second weekend for PLD and I was shooting for being at least 40% done with this goal.  To me, touching the rim would get me halfway there, even though I don’t know if it’s a linear trajectory to get enough of a vertical leap so I have enough of my hand above the rim to dunk…

Either way, I’ll call it that I’m about 30% of the way there.  About 1 1/2″ increase in my vertical leap that I measured about 35 days ago.  Once I’m at full-speed with my legs next week I’m going to get serious about doing real vertical leap increase exercises.

We hung out for a bit afterwards and before I went home I stopped at Chrissy Field and ran through the song a few more times.  This had been the first time to sing it without any cheat sheets with me.  I even wrote a fourth verse that wraps it up and made it complete.

someone sowed the seeds before me and I just want to know
how they were buried beneath this earth I walk with you
has it been that long since we have let it rain in here
how I have misunderstood and stood here crying foul
I’m sorry for the seeking our seeds were meant to grow
feed me your beloved heart

ever since I climbed that tree and thought of what to do
I convinced myself I wanted you and all the things I fear
half of me was here for you and the other half was gone
to be the man you wanted then I gave my heart away
I have forgotten all the reasons why it began with you
feed me your beloved heart

the animals inside our cages feed themselves on god
a fight or two could keep them quiet so have your say right now
it wouldn’t mean that much to me if tonight we called it quits
tear up all the roots we made and burn them all tonight
I wouldn’t shed a tear for you just sing it all away
feed you my beloved heart

when the dust has settled and the morning light has come
we will see the holes we dug to navigate our pain
let’s make our way up to the ridge and see the grand design
hold my hands let’s give ourselves to something more than this
wash away the mountains and the valleys of this land
fly with me die with me to
our beloved song

I’m quite happy with the guitar picking and chord progressions and the flourishes I invented last night.  Phew!  First complete song is ready to go.  “I am unseen” is next on the block to be complete.  And all you other songs nearly done, watch out!

Here, for your listening pleasure is one of the instrumentals from last night:

I’ve got some lyrics building for this one about my kids and the magic they bring into my life.  And, from a darker time in relationships I pulled out this song that I’ve been working on for a couple of months:

That one feels like it deserves a bit of a bridge and a fourth set of lyrics that takes you/me to the transformation on the other side of giving up and giving into desires of the heart.

I’m really enjoying this “tour of the bay area”… playing a different open mic each week.  3 so far: smiley’s in bolinas, melt cafe in the north beach area of san francisco and the no name bar last night in sausalito.  Check out my growing calendar of appearances.

See you soon!

I took this picture last night, in preparation for Day 1 of PLD… a big 90-day goal extravaganza. I’m excited! I’m #1 in my life, are you?

We’ll be refining the goals this weekend, but here’s my first take at them:

• A full album of my music written, recorded and produced.
• 5 full-length conversations in French with native French speakers.
• Dunk a basketball on a 10-foot goal.
• An active and well-read contemplative blog (this one!)

I’m working on refining each of these under the idea that all goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely).

Who thinks I can hit these goals in 90 days?