The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

Well I went to a meeting with David Wykoff, at this coffee shop called “Pranzo’s” and it was cool because you felt like you were in another city. Then to Athens for a Guilty Pleasures meeting and I suggested “Young Americans” for a new song for me, but they didn’t think that was a good one. Talk about cool. Nice delivery. If I was singing that song on stage with all the background singers and everything I would feel quite cool. Bowie’s got a lot of songs like that. But it’s more than that. Today I’m inspired by this “Radio Retaliation” record by Thievery Corporation. There’s lots of inspirational quotes on the record sleeve about revolution and whatnot. But there’s really tremendous inequality in the world. But what would a world of true equality look like? Who knows, but we can definitely do better with sharing resources so progress can be made against statistics like this.

It’s time to make people aware of things, and start to get things going locally. It’s more of a state of mind kind of thing. Moving thoughts away from materialism and toward the power of persuasion in music. “Music is the weapon” said Fela Kuti. So it has to be about that Ghandi quote. “Life will not be a pyramid, with the apex sustained by the bottom, but rather an oceanic circle, the center of which is the individual.” We’ve got to fix the water.

Well I think my favorite band at the moment is the Pretenders. I think they are great because they have everything in their music – melody, edge, groove, great guitar parts, drumming, lyrics, singing, hooks, softness, aggressiveness, everything! There is nothing that band can’t do. They can out-write, out play, out fox everybody. Okay well that might be a bit of an exaggeration but they really are my favorite. Then the Strokes album “Is This it” is right up there, too. The melodies are terrific, the album sounds great, the arrangements are concise, there is so much clarity in the recording. Everything isn’t obscured by keyboards and reverb. It’s a timeless classic. It still sounds like the most inventive stuff, besides the pixies and the velvets. I mean, if you put out “Is This It” today, it would easily be the best and biggest thing out now. That guy J.P. Bowerstock I guess really helped with the guitars…Last night Pico and the Island Trees performed 3 songs from the Strokes record and it sounded just like it. They did such a great job!

Well it’s a battle isn’t it? – to do all the things you want to do….wish I could update this beast every day. Just have to make it part of my routine I suppose. David Byrne is an inspiration that way. Spent a few hours in the studio last night. Still have a bit of a cold so I took a Sudafed. Man that thing woke me up. I was rocking out to the Bee Gees at midnight. I said to myself this is ridiculous. You need to go to bed. Dreamed one of those silly gig dreams where it takes forever and it’s a show and it’s all about the set-up and you never get to play. Wonder what that means? I have those all the time. Ran out of tea filters and the only bagged tea I have is white tea, which is a nice change up. Lillie has a cold now too. Both of us sniffling all night. Blah. Went to the dog park this morning and there was something red on the backseat when we got home and I thought Posh got in some clay or mud or something but it was blood and she cut her paw pretty good on something, poor girl. I went and cleaned the seat and I got the blood out.

Well I’ve been under the weather the past few days. Felt myself spiraling down Friday night and spent the weekend on the couch basically. Fever. I got so cold Friday night I had to have two down quilts over me. Something about being sick is just miserable. Makes me in a bad mood. I just feel like the world is ending. This morning seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but still feeling cold-ish, wanting to stay close to the home front…Made a chicken soup and didn’t leave any for L. Just ate the whole thing myself. Feel like there’s so much to do, Internet wise. Carl signed me up for Twitter, so that’s looming on the horizon and i’m kind of so-so about it. I suppose I should embrace, but I wish I could just leave it to Jason and Gehrke. Moved a lot of objects yesterday, doing feng shui. They say if you want your life to change, move 12 objects. I moved about 250. But the office is nice now, livable. Nice view of the back yard, and I set my computer up and the speakers so now I can listen to music in the office. Don’t have speakers for the turntable anymore, but figure I will run it through the PA when that gets back from the shop. Listened to a lot of Josh Rouse yesterday. Man is he good. Comeback (light Therapy) just never gets old. And “My Love Has Gone” is one of my favorite tracks I played guitar on ever. Got a 12 string- made by this company called Breedlove, that I really like. It looks a little bit, how can I say this, like it has a “touch of the Unicorn” to it, but it plays and sounds awesome, and i’m getting used to the new-age-ish look of it. So that’s what I have in the office now. Laptop, speakers, 12-string. Went minimalist. Before it was so cluttered I didn’t even want to come in here! Now I love it. I also have a writing desk that’s just paper. Paper and and stamps and envelopes, because I really do love to write and send letters. Made chicken salad this morning, and L. who doesn’t eat much meat, said “Look, I’m eating chicken!” (laughs) So I’m just on the mend still, taking it easy. Got invitation to a garden party and a Pizza / pumpkin carving but I think we’re just going to hermit it out today.

Well we just went to see It Might Get Loud. Holy cow. That was a really great movie. I really admire the crap out of Jack White. Heck, I admire all those guys. Man. I gotsta get my act together. Jack White seems like one of those guys who’s workin while you’re sleeping. He makes an electric guitar in like 2 minutes from scratch. That’s all I got.

Charlottesville, VA- Well L. had to go to a meeting early, so we went to the Java Java place down the street in the mall. Very quiet and deserted. Home and typed up a few ideas, and then finished the Pink Floyd book. It left me wondering what they could have done if they had realized the strengths that each brought to the table. David Gilmour is the wonderful singer and guitarist, Roger Waters the elegant lyricist. It’s almost as if they wanted to show each other that they DIDN’T need each other, when maybe they kind of did. Nick Mason is a very good simple drummer, and Richard Wright can play very inventive things. But the book really made me glad to be in a band. Then to Revolutionary Soup for lunch. Then I was going to stomp around and take some pictures but I just felt so sleepy and I had to take a nap. Then later took Emilie and Derek to dinner at C&O, which is one of my favorite restaurants ever. Then L. and I to the rehearsal dessert party at the President’s house. Lowell Weicker was there, and we were discussing hobbies. He said he liked to collect autographs. For a while I went out on the porch and there were two black gentlemen in tuxes, and you could look back from the bar into the house and it looked like 1966, exactly! Simon and Garfunkel were playing that sad melody about “El Condor Pasa” and I have never really liked that song before, but it hit me kind of hard for some reason. Talked to lots of L’s friends from UVA medical school. Bed at 11.

I dreamed I was walking with Joe Pisapia, beside a lake, like maybe Centennial park and I was singing him a Joni Mitchell song: “You really can’t give love in this condition, still you know that you need it…” and he said: “Oh yes, Trouble Child!” And then I remember being on the way to a wedding and jumping into a lake with my clothes on. Long drive yesterday. Drank so much tea it’s unfathomable. Listened to some great music on the drive: Ryan Adams: “English Girls” and Richard Hawley “I Sleep Alone” and Elton John singing “Your Song”. Elton made me cry actually, and the Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year” is very beautiful as well. I can’t remember where it was but I heard somebody cover that.

L and I got into a very interesting conversation in the car about drugs and music and she was asking me about why I don’t use drugs anymore, really- (which isn’t true, because tea is a drug and I drink the stuff all day long) and It was really interesting. The gist of it was whatever that guy from the Verve says about how “The Drugs Don’t Work” and whatnot. You just get to a point I guess, or you don’t.

Well it’s getting cool again. I put on a jacket for the first time in a while. I dreamed last night about a drawbridge. It was a New England town, and the bridge had been built to protect an area of land only accessible by the bridge. It was a very beautiful cantilevered kind of thing. All very elegant. Sort of like a watch that would slowly make the bridge un-passable. Been reading Mark Blake’s book affectionate portrait of Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” – been a while since i’ve read a rock biography. I can’t wait to get done with work so I can read the silly thing. I’m almost done so I don’t know what I will read next. Josh Rouse came over yesterday and we wrote a really cool song called “City of Dreams” and it was great to see him. I love writing songs with Josh. He’s very good and we work easily and quickly together. Then I went and spoke to some Belmont students about songwriting. They were very nice and listened attentively to Natalie Hemby and I. One student said “I’m having a hard time getting the magic to happen. ” Natalie was funny: “Babe – there ain’t no magic. Just work.” Then we went to Tenno and I’ve never been there before but it was very good, and I had cold Sake and chicken and Lil came and we were all telling stories about bullies, and Carla had the best story. She told one about meeting this girl that wanted to fight in the Kroger parking lot. Man. I’m so glad I never really fought that much. Off to Virginia today. Wedding. Weekend getaway. Up at dawn to get the rear left tire changed on the Honda. What a reliable and unsexy car.