The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Well I cleaned the kitchen and did the laundry and picked B and H up from the airport. They said they had a fun trip but were glad to be home. I made chilli and we all ate it. Then to the pool, then home and checked email, etc. Got an email from Devon, saying he heard “Imaginary Girl” on a Kenmore ad, which was really cool. That means they did wind up using the song. I never am totally sure that something good is happening like that until it really does. Called Lillian and she was packing things and looking forward to coming to Nashville tomorrow. I think I need to download this new application for the iphone called “Beatmaker“. Looks pretty cool. I also need some new music to listen to. Maybe I will get that Rolling Stones “Shine a Light” record. I still haven’t seen the film. Played and sang on that song True Love of Mine with Mindy. I’ve decided to get a TV, I mean, I have a quite small one from the 70′s, but I think I want one that I can watch DVD’s on. I also want to get the Netflix going again. Swam and went to Whole Foods and got a “smoothie”.

Jason Lehning and I worked on a Peanuts theme song. We sent it to them and I guess, if they like it, they have to run it by the Shulz family. I don’t know, what we did may be a bit dark…but there’s an element to Peanuts that is dark! I mean, Charlie Brown’s hair won’t grow right (which I can totally identify with) and Lucy always wants to be the Psychiatrist, and I mean, anyone can tell, CB is clinically depressed. That’s why I love Peanuts. A comic strip about a depressed kid. Brilliant. Silver Seas played the Basement for the 3rd Wednesday, and it was fun, except for the fact that the steel guitar was too loud for me to hear my vocals very well. I suppose I should have said something. There’s some youtube videos here. Pam Tillis came and that was exciting. I still remember Bucky Baxter telling me that Bob Dylan came on the bus one day and said: “You know who I think is cute?” and Bucky said “No, who?” and he said “Pam Tillis. I think she’s cute.” or something like that, who knows? But she was there, and we had fun and who else? Jacquire King came. I was just having a hard time hearing the vocals, you know how that goes. But Pico and the Island Trees played after us, and they’re just marvellous! I mean, that singer is great, the whole band are such good musicians! They dedicated a song to me or something and it was great! But I stayed out too late and then drank too much tequila, and I think there’s a lot of sugar in tequila. Anyway, the dogs woke me up at 6:30 as usual. It was hot and glaring sun, and I was  was hung over and hoarse from trying to get my vocals to be loud enough and anyway, there you go- i’m sure you can picture it. To see “Wall-E” and I think that might be one of the best movies i’ve ever seen. It was WAY better than Batman, WAY better. I mean, Batman had it’s moments for sure, but Wall-E was some kind of classic. I cried at the end. My gran was like: “I feel like i’ve been in another world.” But I’m getting the hang of hanging out with her. She can be delightful sometimes. Mom and dad come home Monday and they’re on the cape right now, and there’s part of me that’s extremely jealous, except that it’s been kind of cool in the mornings, and mom said it’s been really humid there.

So I got a call from Joe Ross to work on some music for a new “Peanuts” cartoon pilot. I really like this idea! I remember how I really used to get lost in comics, especially Garfield and Peanuts and, oddly enough, I loved “Doonesbury” as a kid. I didn’t understand a lot of the political jokes, but I loved the idea that when you grew up, you didn’t have to jettison these comics, there was one for your sense of humor! Of course, I also got into long form comics, graphic novels, Frank Miller, Ronin, Tintin, there was a weird one called “Spider Ham” that I really like the drawing style of. Also Vaughn Bode. He had a cool style. I wonder where that guy is now. For I while, I thought I wanted to write graphic novels, but I could never get past the first couple pages. I think I should have been a daily strip man. Just quick one liners. Over time, you develop a world that way. Sort of like songwriting in a way- short sprints of energy that make up a whole album. Anyway, everyone is different, I really admire that long distance runner kind of energy, the kind required for writing a novel, but really, I think even that energy is a cumulative result of many short bursts. Everyone was going to “Batman” so I rented John Adams from Blockbuster and we watched the second disc, me and Jeanne.

Walked the dogs, did the watering. Cleaned the bird-cage out and cleaned up dog vomit. I think people tend to believe that someone like me might live an idyllic life, but it isn’t the case. I rarely get to do what I really want to do at any given moment. In fact, close to 70 percent of my day is made up of things that I don’t completely want to do at all. But I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, I wouldn’t trade places with anyone. I looked at John McCain on CNN, saying that peace and stability were fragile in Iraq, and that fragility would be undermined by Barack Obama’s plan to set a deadline for troop withdrawal. This kind of polarization is irritating. How could setting a schedule undermine peace? Silver Seas had a great time at the Basement. Jay and Leann Barron came and Jim Hoke sat in with us. Also David Mead contributed some backing vocals on “Candy”. I was just having fun playing the electric guitar. Mindy Smith and I performed a new song we wrote called “True Love of Mine” which Leann filmed and that was really fun. But the thing I think we need as well, are a few really fast songs…They come in handy. You get sort of satisfied with mid-tempo if you’re me. You long to find fast grooves that don’t sound chirpy. Like “Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley or I can’t think of what else. Tough and fast. Nick Lowe I suppose, to a certain degree. Anyway, very enjoyable night, Simon Bruce sat in with us. Next week Jonathan Trebing will be back in town and he said he would play some guitar. So now the job is to put up more lovely posters. I am determined, but the thing is it gets so hot, I almost can think of things i’d rather do. But it must be done. Ate some pralines and cream ice-cream and h.t.s.

Woke up and it was raining. Thank god. No watering to be done, so I fed the dogs and slept in a bit. Made tea and walked them. Had a dream that my dad asked me if I could name 9 cars that we’d had over the years. I started thinking back to this rusty old Saab we had when I was like 4. It had a reverse seat in the back so you could face out the back window. That was cool. Spent the morning doing chores and working on Silver Seas music. JK went to church. After church the pool was open so I went and swam and on Sundays I usually only get to swim once. Walked the dogs the long walk and had sauteed cauliflower and broccoli and some chopped tomatoes and peppers. Read some and took a nap. Worked a bit more in the evening and started drinking Lemoncello and soda over ice. Delicious. Lovely evening.I stepped out on the porch and I could really see the stars! It was like 65 degrees. Strangely cool and clear. Wish it was always like this.

Moved over to Hopkins today, to house-sit for B&H while they are in Norway. My goal is to, you know, get a few more things done for the residency. I was having trouble concentrating and something wasn’t right, then I realized it was the green gingham tablecloth that was making me distracted. I took everything off the table and removed the cloth, and immediately, things improved. This is Feng Shui in action. I bought some roses and set up a little office: Notebooks, guitar, amp, laptop, picks, flowers, NYT, surrounding myself with things that make me happy. Your work environment is so important, you know? Worked on a song called “The Night is For Lovers” and I liked it a lot, but then I got discouraged when I remembered Patti Smith has a song called “Because the Night (belongs to lovers)”(which is one of 2 songs by her that I like.) I know that “Horses” is a great record that is critically acclaimed and she really is brilliant, but sometimes she kind of melts down. U2 covered a song by her which I thought was really good. “Hollow Man” by REM is wonderful. The harmonies are so fantastic. I love that band. Went to the bank and was shocked to discover that I have once again not done my book-keeping correctly. I feel a tremendous amount of self-loathing about that. Once the house is sold, I swear I am really going to get everything straightened out. Lillian mentioned “Quicken.com” as a great way to stay on top of finances. To the pool in the afternoon, then to Whole Foods and got some sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms and made Farro and salad. Got some Lemoncello and Soda water and had one over ice. Went to 12th and Porter and saw that terrific drummer from “American Bang”- what’s his name? He’s fantastic. We were there to see Angelo and Eulene but they weren’t on til late, so I chickened out and went home. It was only like 10 o’clock, too. Can you imagine? Read 2 pages Murakami and hit the lights.

This was the first day of the Silver Seas residency at the Basement in Nashville. We play every Wednesday for a month. We ran over some of the new songs at soundcheck. Lex Price is on bass and he sounds fantastic. Jonathan Trebing sat in on “Candy” and he played the telecaster part. I’ve been listening to the new Coldplay record over and over. It’s so damn good. I think i’ve listened to it probably 200 times. I used to do that more, like when I was in High School. I remember I had a 90 minute tape with Shawn Colvin on one side and Maggie’s Dream on the other side. Kind of a weird combo but I listened to that thing over and over. It’s kind of nice to listen to a record a lot. I heard the new Al Green on the radio and it sounded absolutely amazing. I bet it sweeps the Grammys. Unless somehow Heath Ledger is up for one. Also want to get the new My Morning Jacket, because, you see, I have a “morning jacket”; or a jacket I like to wear in the morning. Sometimes I can’t find the damn thing and I ask my flat-mate: “Have you seen my morning jacket?” Okay. Enough of this silliness. The show was so fun because we added the electric guitar. We’ve been a band since 1999 and we’ve NEVER used electric guitar for anything (except the solo on “It Was”) and so it was a bit of a breakthrough for me. I felt like I had more influence over the dynamics, which was quite gratifying. There were a few people at the show, it definitely wasn’t “packed”, but the crowd was very appreciative. Anyway. 2 more new songs to be learned for next week, so that’s exciting to me. Went to PM with Tommy after the show and did something I won’t do again: Ate ribs.