Sam Adams Music

YouTube Poop

2010-03-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Granted there is some pretty amateurish garbáge on Olde YeToube, but I have a special place in my heart for "remixes" like these:

It's rife with inside jokes and references to Internet lore, effortless in volatility, mildly vulgar, and the source material was priceless to begin with. How can you NOT win here, folks?

House

2010-03-16T09:35:00.001-07:00

Aeolian Harp

2010-03-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

Ascension Again

2010-03-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

It's been too long since I listened to John Coltrane's incredible Ascension - an album that can still give me serious goosebumps. Especially after playing with Kenny Reed (who was a student of Elvin Jones for a time) I can really hear the grooves being laid down in the rhythm section. So dense, and so jarring - even after years of listening I'll always find more and all at once be completely inspired and completely destroyed.

This is why I listen to this music! It spontaneously creates and annihilates, and I feel renewed.

The Cozmic Goat Garage Show

2010-03-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Woah! I've taken some steps here to be an actual live musician! Here are some upcoming shows:

-April 1st @ Cozmic Pizza from 10pm to 11pm

-May 6th @ Sam Bond's Garage from 10:30pm to 11:30ish

-June 3rd @ Wandering Goat Coffee Co. from 9pm and onward (maybe)

This is just too exciting.

Husband and WIFE

2009-11-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

I've made a move and asked Lisa to officially incorporate herself into my live act. It was basically bound to happen, anyway. She's very talented, and will be even MORE so when we get those fangers worked up so they can play bar chords!

Some new lyrics

2009-11-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

The song is called Pavane, and the music has been simmering since I went to the Aspen Music Festival in 2008. I've had a few of the lines kicking around in my head, but yesterday and today I was able to weld them together in vaguely bitter song.

I came down with a smile fixed onto my face
We held hands stepping slow in uncertain space
Do you see friends' faces twist in the night?
But what did you expect? I will hold you tight.
Better instincts got us in the way
This pavane will take us to the day.

Show you scars. Show you're underneath unreachable stars.
Demonstrate to them all who you really are.
I can catch their ears and sing the prettiest songs
Once or twice round the room won't take so long.
Hide me in my bottle for a while,
I can peek my head out when they smile.

These broken hearts can still laugh into the face of regret
Stealing all of the sings that we didn't get
We come down with fashion fixed to our eyes
Till the senses give out and we get wise
Afterward I don't know who it's for
No one ever held open the door.

And day is done.

Lisa and I first danced together in our music history class - and the pavane was a perfect match for our shared temperament.

Days of Flowers

2009-10-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Starting a rerecord of Palm Sunday today - all kinds of percussion and ornery off-beat emphasis. I am no drummer, though, and I want to get this mutha good and tight. Probably will end up following Oh Architect on next release, so the bar will be set high. So I run over and over and over and over... whacking on this Indian drum Lisa got me, and burping a stainless steel water jug. It's still not good enough after about 4 hours of all that. Glad to be recording though.

It's always my nature to skip the difficult "effort" stuff and dream ahead of myself. I can see the front cover of the album, I can almost even see the track titles of my next album. I tried to go the backwards way and come up with a title first today - "The Midnight Special". I know it's already taken, but I thought it would be a good place to start and diverge. I met it with hearty unsuccess, but I'll try again and again. Plans!

Palm Sunday goes like this:

The days of flowers have taught me how
To count it all for nothing till the sun rains through the clouds
The bread of life and cup reply
And fill my heart and mind with every reason telling why.

The days of flowers have taught me how
To count it all for nothing till the sun rains through the clouds
The bread of life and cup are now
What's flowing through the sap and dew drops all around

The town is glowing green
What a winter it has been
The kids are on the rooftops with their stereo machines
Yeah we all hit the streets
Skin blazing in the heat
I know each mossy crack in sidewalks underneath my feet

I check the time, I find your name
I'll call you up on Thursday, glad to see you again.
I'll call you up on Thursday, glad to see you again.

I Must Have Been Blind

2009-10-08T17:04:00.001-07:00

Tim Buckley is a hero of mine. Here's a very dark video of a song of his.

#554; The Fiction Generator.

2009-10-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

#554; The Fiction Generator.

Country Roads

2009-09-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

Brown MacDonald was a physician and lived to be 93 years old. He always said he was "Brown in the Winter and Browner in the Summer," cracking a war smile that I never saw disappear from his face. The man sat next to me in our church choir for the last few months of his life, and I came to know this eternal optimist only slightly. I am playing today at his funeral - John Denver's Take Me Home Country Roads - which is quite a lovely song. I'll probably cry or something.

Piece by Piece

2009-09-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hey! The site's really come together! Every section is basically functional, and the individual album pop-ups have been revamped. Now I have to tweak and make sure everything will "degrade gracefully" or whatever. Shucks!

Figured out a lovely way to play My Shepherd on solo guitar. It's a cinch on electric, and it's super classy. If only I had a nylon string guitar… it would sound lovely, as would So Long As I'll Live.

Mysterious Content Vanishing Act

2009-09-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

I've finished some work on the Talk and decided to follow the same template for both the Live info page and Hear, which will be some hybrid monster of discography and audio - perhaps even some video. It's all ugly as sin right now. Why did I pick green? - eh, I zuppoze it lookz nize.

Stone Cold Jazz rehearsal went well, despite a missing Kenny Reed. Ben's tunes are heavily influenced by Indian classical music, and it's easy to get lost in the meters and phrases. But playing with him is getting me excited about writing more jazz, or anything for that matter.

New Look for SamAdamsMusic.net!

2009-09-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Check it out! I worked on the CSS for way too long, dusting away the cobwebs and putting off many things, staying up till 2 in the morning. For all that effort, it's fairly unimpressive, but I like the sleekness of it. I also made a half-hearted attempt to "degrade gracefully" with the page design - text-based browsers will have little problem reading it. Thanks to the folks at BrowserShots.org, who load the page and take a screen shot on oodles of different browsers and operating systems.

Now we'll see how I do with the rest of this site.

Stone Cold Jazz rehearses today - an unheard of event. Sax play Ben Crandall has some original material he wants to tighten up, and he's been pushing for a fixed list of rep that we can play real nice. We'd all like to make it up to Portland sometime. That's the big time, you see.

Behind My Front Door + analysis

2009-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Behind My Front Door by samadams

A lovely little pop ditty recorded for the wedding favor that Lisa and I gave out to visitors - it's too cute not to share. This probably won't make the album cut, and it would be impossible to reproduce this song in a solo live setting. Perhaps that's why I like it so much.

It all just tumbled out of me, and really the end product doesn't resemble a pop song that I would sit down and try to compose. The song has no chorus, and all three sections of the song (as I see it) are quite different, not to mention the abrupt character of the coda.

The opening verses feature bouncy melodies over a repetitive harmony and a strong backbeat. Each verse ends with the familiar reference to the title, but to dissimilar music.
The bridge presents a completely different rhythmic feel (a nod to bossa nova) as well as a much more sweeping and connected lyrical line, moving over an unstable but forward moving harmonic base.
After the bridge, the first melodic gesture of the initial verses is repeated in a layered call and response between Lisa and I. The simple harmonic devices from the beginning make a return, but they are rhythmically set against the original back beat - which is still present in the ukulele and drums. The bass and piano seem to be in an oscillating 3/4 pedal point crisis, while the introduction of an amorphous background choir wander aimlessly around the D mixolydian pitch collection. An obvious V in the grand Schenkerian I-V-I bassbrechung (if you follow that smut). But when it resolves to G major, it feels unfinished and somehow implies further harmonic resolution. Is the song actually in C? I have no clue.
The coda is frail and exposed, and in my opinion relegates all that has happened in the song up till now has been a dream. The chorus opens up the door and lets the air in.

The analysis gets a little carried away, especially since no one really asked for it. But things always get exciting when you realize what's going on in some contemporary "pop" music.

Palm Sunday (acoustic) by samadams

2009-09-09T11:30:00.001-07:00

Palm Sunday (acoustic) by Sam Adams

SoundCloud.com is a website I've recently discovered that packs a lot of punch in terms of how music can be circulated on the web. It looks sexy, and it gives users a some great feedback opportunity.

Here is a demo version of a song I hope to include on my album in progress, working title The Desperate Mystic. It was originally conceived as a birthday gift for my mom's 57th birthday, and it conveys a fairly uncharacteristic bright-eyed demeanor. We'll see if we can darken the tone in the final version. Hoo hoo hoo.

New Address, New Name, New Game?

2009-09-08T17:47:00.001-07:00

In attempts to get more Web 2.0ish, I'm setting my mental gears in motion toward streamline and perfecting my online musical presence. This includes the following:

A simpler and less cumbersome website design for samadamsmusic.net.

More frequent and relevant blog posting.

Integrating all the pieces of this web-puzzle together nearly seamlessly.

Getting home in time for dinner.

I'd also like to make a buck, but we'll see what we can do about that, won't we?

Jewel Cave by samadams

2009-09-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

Jewel Cave by samadams

Haha and Marriage and Website

2009-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

First, the haha.

Next, I'm getting married in August.

Thridly, my website is undergoing a redesigning and you should check it out.

HAHA.

2008-12-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

I love this video... as a transplanted midwesterner, this is just too much. Portland drives and all that... Eugene's a little better, but man oh man it's ridiculous. After the icy Indiana winters and four years of living in Michigan, I can say I have never seen so many snow chains on cars than I have just in this week. Poor bike people though... they'll have to wait. Snow's almost melted by now.

The Arctic Blast has Passed.

Merry!

2008-12-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

Snow has devastated the entire state of Oregon, it seems, and Lisa's schooling has been cancelled two days in a row. The following picture depicts Santa (the Spirit of Christmas) o'ertaking the tree (representing the natural world and the northwestern way of life) a la King Kong (which represents awesome).

The car on the bottom right is not really Santa, but a messenger sent to warn the nations of impending societal collapse. The lights over the window are just for show.

Ice Caverns

2008-12-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how warm it is this time of year in Oregon... I rarely wear a coat during the daytime and there is no practical need for a scarf. We have to make our own ice and glinting spectral light, so the other day we headed out to Goodwill and bought some wine glasses for musical purposes. And bless her heart, on Saturday Lisa let me take home a glockenspiel from the elementary school where she teaches. With the aid of her back-up violin bow, the icy caves are almost complete...

A Fondness of Winter

2008-12-03T21:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I wrote a little dittle that I'm calling "A Fondness of Winter". It had a familiar smell to the likes of Grizzly Bear and/or Laurie Anderson, I think.

Somebody's seeing angels, aren't ya
Some weaving through the raindrops, aren't ya
These wooden walls are crying for dust

When hair gets long
Happy homes sing happy songs
Changing faces
Happy homes will sing along

Its easy to for get a phone call, angel
They sleeping in the morning/evening shadows, angel
The winter's feeling warmer, aren't ya

When snow won't fall
Happy homes keep happy walls
No ice keeping frozen memories
Happy homes won't cry at all

I am wary to post these lyrics up immediately because A) they are due to change and B) some noonan might come around and pretend that HE'S the poeter. Screw him, folks.

Lisa and I went walking today down the long and legendary 'Leventh Avenue, dishing out resumes for any job - saltwater fish emporiums, incense-hazed CD barns, and local banks. Pray for success!

Thursday night at 9 I am playing some jazz with Dave O'Toole, and Chris Orsinger (el al) at Jo Fed's. The rumors are going around that this place is on the brink of closing, which would be sad for Eugene's fledgling (but dazzling) jazz scene. Come on down for an overpriced drink and some great atmosphere and better jazz! You are reading my BLOG!

2008-12-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Look! I'm trying to start a band through Craig's List!
Look! I'm trying to sell my piano through Craig's List!

Red Dots

2008-12-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

There's a diddly little song that's been nudging me for a while, I've been calling it "Little Bird". It's clangy and full of twists and turns, and I am proud to hear some Deerhoof influence crop up a bit in my musical language. It is an actual rock song, something that is few and far between in my adventures - it will be a JOY to dismantle it into the jazz-folk bizz that I tend to tuttle around with. I've already begun to voice some Rhodes parts, and I have a few metallic pat-a-pans in mind for my colander... if only I had a disposable violin bow.

In the shower this fine morning, I saw in my mind's eye the radio towers that jut up on every other horizon and glow red at night. I started to riff a little about it, and wrote something on the shower wall in the steam. I forgot what I wrote, but I'm going too keep on riffing about it in my mind until it poops out something grand. I started to consider more dramatic and noisy possibilities on my daily résumé drop, as I was listening to Todd's A Wizard, A True Star on my eePud.

I went back to feel alone there
I went back to wipe it clean
I took the lights and radio towers out of my dreams

I will, however, openly acknowledge that it will be a chore not to recycle the image à la Microphones. AWWW shucks.

2008-11-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

Halloween + 4 dayz = Happy - 4 dayz?

Belated happy Halloween?

Happy Election!

Dishes

2008-10-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

I found my camera's USB connector. Now I can connect to YOU!

Today I voted absentee.

Luv, Sam.

Delicious

2008-09-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today I had two failed attempts at songwriting... which was pretty good! I wrote a verse (later rejected) for a chord diddly I've been putzing around on since mid-August. The result ended up being... meh. I can do better - it's difficult to envision how the rest of the song would go, as that verse would end up being in the middle of the tune, most likely.

Next I diddled around with a deep alternate tuning, with repetitive chords, and hushed vocal. It was unremarkable, but I really should have recorded it. I ended up putting my guitar down, and forgot it later. The habit will develop if I do this day after day... and why not, while I still have time without a jobule!

I made Lisa and me a delicious Southwestern Corn Chowder thing... oh yeah! I couldn't remember if my cereal spoon was a table or tea, so I just approximated most of it. Turned out splendiferous, and we topped it off with some EXCELLENT Umpqua Valley Pinot Gris from the Wild Rose vinyard. OH YEAH!!! We drank from plastic goblets. Then: ice cream.

No TV

2008-09-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

Shoes and then

2008-09-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've been finding it very hard to get myself dressed in the morning... there's something about being without a job and out of school that sucks the identity out of us! I'd like to think I was my own person and have my own identity, but it is remarkable on how much we prepare our identities at the beginning of each day with others in mind. Should I dress professionally? I've been avoiding uncollared t-shirts. Do I wear my patterned pants? I've been less adventurous with color clashing in Oregon than I was in college.

I have no idea when I might meet someone who will open the gates and let me live my life. I long for this independence, but how independent will I be working under someone else's preconceptions? The need for steady money is crippling me right now, and I'm under no immediate risk of starvation. Pow! Sucks.

Music today:
David Bowie - Black Ties White Noise
Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Air - Talkie Walkie

So... mildly sterile, but mildly soulful... I'm ready to be taken out of line and put back in. I hate my resume.

Heartbreak

2008-09-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

We found the father...

2008-08-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

This blog now belongs to a parent!! IT'S MY WEBSITE HOLY CRASP!!!!

http://www.samadamsmusic.net !!

This website has been an exciting adventure for yours truly for a number of weeks now (that number is a bit less than two, it turns out), and is full of kinks yet to be ironed out. But you can help! Just tell me what works, doesn't work, or just doesn't look good in your opinion.

My own mother already said I could have done "better" and that it "looks kind of thrown together"! You can't disappoint me folks! Be honest! Be unforgiving! Kill me with your terrible criteek! And if you have any shred of knowledge of HOW to actually make it better, chuck it my way as well. All chucks are appreciated. All.

This blog is probably terribly boring for all to read. My friend Bryan's blog is far more interesting to read. This blog at its best has been a personal internet dumping grounds - and sporadically updated to boot! I am going to try my bestest to fill it with volumies of insightful windows of mindfulness. I'm going to try not to be too clever while doing it either. We'll see how this all pans out, yah?

Brel

2008-07-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

2008-07-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

Check it out!!

2008-07-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

Blogs are difficult for me to run, because I typically tend to forget all about the little profound observations I make by the time dinner rolls around. Here are some things that I can muster up as I get ready for bed on an entirely uneventful Friday night:

I really wish these Aspen concerts were programmed in a way that the music seemed relevent to itself, replacing night after night of complete hodgepodge Frankenstein concerts that feature sub-par Dvorak filler and early Beethoven concerti with turn-of-the-(20th)-century late Romantic chestnuts. The best concerts have been shorter and simpler - two piece maximum. The best concert (Neruda Songs and Prokofiev 3rd Concerto) has been unified further by the common thread of a solo performer. Scattered, and long concerts might offer the most variety, but offer very little in terms of a coherent artistic interest that gains momentum through the course of the evening. This is why jazz and rock concerts are more exciting, engaging, and memorable than most classical extravaganzas.
The mountains here are real nice.

Hmm... I guess that's it.

~Departánt!~

2008-06-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Lisa

Hello Lisa

2008-05-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

I clean because I want to be a better man. Just look at that sparkle!

2008-05-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Love to all!