The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

So I really think the meaning of life is death. I’ve been thinking about Dixie and I’ve decided that she would want everyone she knew to follow their dreams, and go out and really live! Not just sort of dipping one trepidatious toe into the pool of life, but really jumping in! Thinking about this has given me some real inspiration. We shot some of the scenes that take place in Liz’s house today. Jody Spence came over and brought lights and cameras and a monitor and Matt Riddlehoover assisted us. The real star of the footage we got was Posh. She was just such a natural actor and really didn’t mind doing take after take. The only thing I don’t know is if I have the patience to do all these scenes over and over but I better get it. Went to Bob and Lynn’s for dinner and went home and I was exhausted.

Well I got some sad news this morning. Leslie called me at about 11am and told me her mom had just passed away. Dixie Ramirez was a really wonderful, funny and charming person. This is especially hard because there was no warning, she just was gone. I didn’t know what to say, and I was immediately overwhelmed with grief. All day long I couldn’t take my mind off how strange it was that she was gone so fast. I remember when Leslie was in college she used to send big boxes of candy on Valentines and Halloween and I know they were really close. I just hate it when people die suddenly, I hate it.

Lovely day, a few clouds. To Starbucks but my barista wasn’t there. Had breakfast at Athens (Oatmeal with fruit and yogurt and coffee $6) with Grimey and John Deaderick and Trish Brantley and we had to decide songs for the next few Guilty Pleasures gigs. Mike had bad allergies, so he was grumpy. Then Melissa Mathes came over and we did some back-ground vocals. She’s really good at that stuff. But I got a disturbing call from Leslie and apparently her mom Dixie has collapsed and had to be life-flighted to Colorado and isn’t doing well. This was so out of the blue and scary, and I just hate things like this. So she came by and said she was going to Colorado tonight. Took a walk and had dinner at Hopkins and let the dogs play. Home and had a long conversation with Greta. Went to the Basement and David Nole was there and he agreed to be in the movie, and I think he could do it. I’m nervous about all these “non-actors” because Spike Lee says always use professionals, but what can I do? I don’t have the budget, so we have to make the flaws funny. I finally got the password for myspace and there were all these sweet messages on there. It was like opening a little present. There were about 50 emails to answer and it was fun.

Lovely morning. Breezy and cool. 38 degrees. Took the dogs on the long walk, then Starbucks. My barista smiled at me. Home, and did the dishes. Answered emails, and I put a new bass on a song. Melissa came over and fixed the vocals. I ordered some stationery from Papyrus ($109) and there was a nice box of cds on the doorstep when I came home ( from Jennifer at Sony.) Brad Jones emailed, and said could I play on a session for Chuck Prophet next week. I cancelled my membership to Blockbuster, now that I have Netflix. “You have a late fee of $1.71″ said the clerk, which I reluctantly paid as a parting gift for BB. What a jive place. Went to the music store for a minute and looked around, but I didn’t get anything. I started to get depressed around 5pm for some reason. I just felt blue as hell. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I just wanted to disappear. Liz came home and I bounded down the stairs like a golden retriever to see her. I realized I spend the majority of my days alone. It gets boring. I need people. I hate being by myself, really. But I can’t get any work done with most people, so as soon as I’m around them, I can’t wait to get home. I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy. Liz said I need to get more producing gigs. Maybe she’s right. Layng came over and ran this computer-cleaning software on my computer. It erases all the porn sites you’ve been to. Not that I’ve ever been to one, but if you had, it would erase them. We drank a few beers and the only thing I hate is that beer has so many calories. I am not drinking beer anymore. Bed @ 12.

I didn’t think Starbucks would be open, but it was. I was talking to Cordell about it, and he said it was on a volunteer basis. Read the times and there was kind of an indictment against Starbucks in the business section. About the employees wanting to start unions, etc. Walked Posh around Radnor and Amy Loftus called and she said she had a terrible dream about me, and I was telling her that dreams don’t mean anything, but she was worried about me. Read a funny review of “Premonition” by Anthony Lane in the New Yorker. Melissa came over and we recorded some vocals on “Law of Attraction”, then I went to Hopkins for dinner. It was roasted lamb, asparagus, roasted potatoes and gravy and strawberry shortcake with orange custard for desert. Then we walked for a while and I went by Mel’s and got some DVDs. Home and changed clothes, then went to the Lipstick Lounge, to see Tommy Keenum and he was great. The band was really cool. Especially Jerry Navarro on Bass. That guy is amazing. And Jody Nardone on Piano. Had 2 Miller Lites and went home.

Did a lot of Feng Shui on the studio. John Deaderick called and said there was a mic in Craigslist I should check out and I went and looked at it and I got it. ($275) I got some sound traps and guitar stands at guitar center and a few other odds and ends. ($171) then to Comp USA and nobody in there knows what they’re talking about. Looked at monitors and wound up just getting an external keyboard and a new mouse ($84) At the end of the day the studio was really looking good. Then there was a surprise party for Leslie and I went and Jessica from Athens was there, and her boyfriend Trevor. He’s really nice. Kat and Bill were there and she was telling me how to get Posh to be more responsive, like if I call her and she doesn’t come. She’s very knowledgeable. Leslie was having fun, and there were about 50 people there, and most of them I didn’t know. I like parties like that because most of the time it’s the same 50 people in Nashville. I have to start hanging out with other people besides other musicians, it’s so boring. But where? I could start going to Mass I suppose. Talked to Mary Sartain and her friend Jim, a concrete man. Kristy West showed up, and the tequila shots started coming out and I thought this would be a good time to split. But Kristy said I looked skinny, and that was nice. I thought it was a nice party, Leslie seemed happy. Asleep by 12:30

Went to Starbucks with Liz after 4 hours sleep and I was kind of being hard on myself and I was in a bad mood a little bit. I hate not getting enough sleep. She was very sweet and was saying everybody needs to cut loose once in a while and I have been very disciplined with my diet, drinking, etc. To corner and picked up the P-Bass from the shop ($32) and then to Chinatown for a hangover-style lunch. (Fried rice, chicken with garlic sauce, hot and sour, egg-roll) I got a table in the back, and that’s my new thing to do: Get a mafia table, and talk on the phone, and there was one other person doing the same thing. I could sit there for hours and do business with my phone and computer and order something every once in a while if they weren’t too busy. That’s what I would do if I was like a stock broker or something. Just set up shop in a Chinese restaurant.  Melissa came over and hung out for a while, then she had to go home and get ready for Curt Perkins gig, and he’s playing at the Basement and I thought about going, but I started watching the Umbrellas of Cherbourg and by 10 I was asleep.

Starbucks, and my Barista was there. I was too sleepy to be in a cheerful, chatty kind of mood, so I couldn’t think of anything to say. “What’s your name?” (says name) “Oh. Well…I don’t know…would you maybe want to get some coffee sometime?” (laughs) Went to Robin Eaton’s studio, and this time everything worked and we got a good drum track. He had a nice intern working the console for him and wouldn’t that be great to have an intern? I know they’ve already been chosen for this year, but next year, a MUST! Home and took a short nap. Worked on scripts for a while. Then Layng picked me up and we went to Puckett’s in Franklin for dinner. I had barbecued salmon ($14) over spinach salad, which was not what I ordered, but it was good. Then we went to Grace Chapel and Bill Frisell and Darrell Scott were there. Also, Viktor Krauss was on the bass, and Kenny Malone on drums. But Darrell Scott wasn’t my cup of tea. I mean, he’s great, no doubt, it just wasn’t my thing, so we left after a few songs. But I did get to see the way Bill Frisell plays up close, and I’ve only heard him on records before. Then we went to the Tin Roof and the band Small Time Rockstars were playing. Wow. That was a weird place. I don’t know why Layng wanted to go there, but it was interesting. I took some movies with my phone. It was funny, I felt totally invisible in there. Layng put it succinctly: “It’s like they know we’re not one of them.” Then we went to the Boundry and L’ayla. Boring. Then to the Gold Rush (boring) and finally to Cabana (boring). It was sort of an expensive ($74) and silly night. But it was nice talking to Layng.