Dang. It’s 5:21 and essentially, I’m just getting started on
this parade of activities. Rolled in the door from “The Hunt for The Great
Christmas Tree” rehearsal around 3PM. I dove right in and started working on
“30 Days” at that time. Here, hours later. I tracked some vocals and now it is
bouncing out of my Pro Tools. Still to come: making an entire video for “30
Days.” At least I have a 365 recollection idea of how that is going to go down.
Still gonna need an original and some words at that point. I’d love to be done
in 30 minutes, but twice that time is much more likely. It is OK. I am blessed
and thrilled to be able to do any of this. It’s a gift. A gift for whom? Now
that’s another story.
At UMASS in the early 90’s one of the first deep musical
connections I made was with a fellow from Braintreee, MASS named Derek
Speredelozzi, known to his friends as Deek. Now if you’ve ever met Deek,
despite the fact that he has “FIVE!” (– King Kong Bundy) siblings, there is no one like him on the
planet. His own lyrics in this, his tune “30 Days” reflect his self-awareness
of this fact, “So call in my reservation to a
far off place / Cause you know how I can sometimes be.”
I do. Derek and I spent tons
of time together back then. I even shared my dorm with him the semester I had a
single. We were close…. Maybe too close. When we tried a band in Humboldt and
subsequently, San Francisco some years later, we had a lot of great original
acoustic songs, but that was about it. Then, the band split and for a long time
we were estranged. It was for the best. Fate reunited us, as every time I
visited SF, I would run into him despite my best efforts not to. After years,
this became normal and our friendship resumed.
I always loved his tune “30
Days,” and was delighted to sing it, after Deek was kind enough to record the
guitar for me. It felt great to “jam” with him again as I recorded this in the
tranquility of my music room. You never know what’s going to happen in this life.
Life reminds me of that every chance it gets. I am grateful it cares enough to
tell me anything.
NOTE: For some unknown reason, YouTube only uploaded the first 8 minutes of this 8 minute and twenty-two second video, so I am up at 1:05AM fixing it, or at least trying to. Thanks to Derek Speredelozzi for the TIP! Processing 95%... 8:22 please... May have a new... for ya...
Operation 365 2 - Jefferson Jay – Covers – 355 “30 Days” by Derek Speredelozzi
Operation 365 2 - Jefferson Jay – Originals - 355 “City of
Champions”
It’s 5:34 and I have no idea what is going to go in this
spot today. Perhaps it will be a song that in no way shape or form exits yet.
That would be exciting, and more importantly, fast potentially. I know there
are only ten 365 days left after today, but I am getting more excited for it’s
aftermath, than it’s final countdown. I had hoped to do a big video shoot with
some friends to cap this filming frenzy, but that seems likely to be eclipsed
by other things that need to be done by folks as Christmas and quiet quickly
approach. You can only do something this first time once and my 365-finishing
virginity is long since left behind. Sometimes you do stuff for other people,
and with other people. Sometimes you do stuff alone… for you.
5:53, still no clues. Three hours of work on that “30 Days.”
Labor of love…
6:57 PM.
OK, So I diddled a little blues thing out of the keyboard
over there, but there is a lot of fan noise squeezing out of my computer right
now, so that was a no go. Eventually, I grew resigned the fact that I was gong
to have to bust out my guitar and actually do some work of a creative nature.
Sometimes busy work hit the spot. What can I tell ya? Usually, when your brain
sports fatigue.
I looked through the list I made at this project’s inception
of tunes I had written and wished to include. There are only one or two left I
feel compelled to include. So I thought of this tune I wrote last week. It is a
bit intricate. It was another song I wrote about the perennial failure of our
San Diego sports teams, but it has a different twist. It is about a new future,
a theoretical future, where local fans needn’t always be disappointed by their
hometown sports stars. There were a bunch of snarky comments snuck in between
the lines, but including them makes the song a bit annoying and much harder to
play.
Now, the only thing left, besides bouncing it down, loading
it up and sharing it on social media, is to decide if I wish to call it “City
of Champions,” a title reminiscent of its original name or “Around We go,” the obvious
title, if you listen to it. I like the positive twist. If I’m going to take
this perfectly nice song about anything and make it about San Diego sports, I
may as well name it like that.
I see a horizon. On it, lies San Diego, sports and myself.
And I see a happy ending for the first time in the history of the city that
calls itself “America’s Finest.” I dream for all of us… “America’s Winningest
City.” And SD is in first, but in a tie with all the great cities everywhere. In
terms of seeking solutions to society’s ills, Americans do very little, but it doesn’t
have to be that way. The beautiful truth can prevail yet. It is not too late.
It is never too late.
Operation 365 2 - Jefferson Jay – Words – 355 “Breaking Down
Walls”
Other names considered for this, the final video of the day, included, “Preconceived Notions,” “Getting Intimate,” and “My Beauty.” All are
sublime, but only one could prevail.
Hail prevail. The Last Horizon. Glory right on time. The next
chapter: We rise.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment