Bits & Pieces-NREQ

* bits & pieces, 1989

for years i recorded song ideas on cassette tapes
any scrap of a melody or interesting chord progression
i kept the tapes in a box, and over time accumulated a hundred or so,
always thinking i’d go through them and maybe find some nuggets worth
developing
once in a while i’d put the box in my car and listen to a random tape while driving

the recordings were sloppy; the guitar almost always out of tune, my voice
fumbling for the right note, lyrics made up as i went
listening to them was not enjoyable
there were lots of variations of ideas
there were lots of bad ideas
there were lots of variations on the bad ideas

so when i discovered, after our last move, that the box was gone i was kind of
relieved. even if i lost some promising song bits, i no longer had to feel like i should
listen to every last tape, just in case

i still have a few tapes that were in drawers or cabinets and didn’t disappear with
the others. a few is plenty

* 1994

it was the morning of my birthday. erica had spent the night
i got up and went to the bathroom
walking back to bed i decided i was going to propose
immediately my heart started pounding
we’d been together for five years but it still felt impulsive
i laid down next to her and said: “for my birthday i want you to be my wife”
we both cried
later she pointed out that that was not a question, therefore i hadn’t given her the
option of saying no

when i got to work i went into joanne’s office and collapsed in a chair
“what happened to you?”, she asked, “you look like shit”
i was feeling a bit lightheaded, but i had no idea it was so obvious
i didn’t tell her i had just proposed

i never told my wife that last part of the story

 

* 2000

this was either the end result of a failed negotiation, or some sort of a bribe.
or, if you look at it another way – she’s eating and getting clean at the same time –
it’s an excellent example of parental ingenuity

* 2011

erica was doing a photoshoot at the spring mansion. she staged it like a hotel – an
abandoned hotel. i thought it would look cool if there was a bellhop in the
background of some of the shots. she liked the idea, so they rented a bellhop
costume. then they looked around to see who it might fit…

~ more photos @ erica tanov

* 1993

elizabeth street in little italy was the last place i lived in new york. i loved that
neighborhood. at the time it was a pretty quiet block; there was a hardware store, a
butcher (albanese meats), a bar on the corner at houston, and a cafe on the
corner at prince (bella’s). that was about it. lots of boarded up store fronts.

erica lived around the corner on bowery in a building that was originally a ymca

* journal excerpt, 06.10.87. on the road

nevada is just as i remembered it – unmemorable
thunder showers at elko. must be butterfly season – they’re everywhere
coolest thing about the barren desert and hills is the train tunnels, tracks and
bridges. they look exactly like what a model railroader would build.

richard is trying to tune-in something on his watchman… jeopardy i think
stopped in a little town with “two stiffs gas and minimart”
next door to “two stiffs hotel”. what a pleasant thought
already drained my walkman batteries. three tapes; one wilson pickett, one velvet
underground, one lloyd cole

* 1979

i had been out all day – don’t remember where – when i got home i was informed
by my bandmates that we were playing that night at a party. “we got a gig”, they
announced proudly. i was confused. how could we play a party when we didn’t
know any  songs? not any whole ones anyway. we knew most of ‘doctor love’ by
kiss, and my brother could play the solo to ‘cat scratch fever’, but it certainly didn’t
add up to being ready to perform in public.

the party was in a field, which was not unusual – davis was surrounded by
cropland. all you needed were some coordinates, a keg of beer and some plastic
cups. if a band was playing a gas powered generator was necessary. someone
always knew someone who had one. it was never a problem.

we played the party. we were lame. i was embarrassed. at the keg a guy said to
me sarcastically: “why don’t you guys just jam?”

i think that was our only gig.

*  march 14, 2011

i did a test shoot for the ‘dream of fireflies’ video (a song from the new album). it’s
stop motion – very labor intensive. we shot a few seconds and i love how it turned
out. now i just need to spend a couple hundred hours finishing it.

the background was created by isabelle. it was her ‘fairyland’ that she built in her
room over a period of a few years. when she outgrew it i wanted to save it,
thinking it would come in handy someday for something.

 

* nyc 1990

man: “now where are we?”
woman: “at the home of a young folksinger. they say his career is about to soar.”

one of erica’s friends from parsons design school told her that a japanese tv show,
‘the world around us’, was filming in town and they were looking for an artist or
musician to film. i was nominated and they included me in the segment, which
appeared to be about questionable lifestyles. at the time i was living on east 14th
street in a flat with three other guys; jp olsen, richard malone, and will knapp.

 

* 2000

isabelle dictated this to me when she was four, for which i am very grateful
I had not been at all clear on the expectations before we made the list