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I'm about to share a video pulled together from clips that I shot on Feb 20, 2021 while recording 'Mile On Ice' for the 2021 Song-A-Day adventure. If you know me, you already know that I've been writing, recording, and sharing a new song every day in February as part of the Song- A-Day project. At this point in February I had already written about 20 songs so I already had the workflow and mindset in place to go from raw idea to 'song' very quickly.

In this example, I was able to create a couple guitar tracks to go with drums & bass before adding #vocals. The #performances and the recordings are messy but that's kind of the point - I want to generate and capture an idea before dinner time. In this case it worked out - the tune has moments that I'll hang onto: a killer #bass line, the shift from the hook to the chorus... even a couple lines from the lyrics would probably make it through a rewrite.

Believe it or not, part of what makes this whole thing work for me is turning off the #critical part of my brain and letting the ideas roll. You can hear a lot of self-critical stuff bubbling out of me, but even though I have #doubts about the '#goodness' I gotta accept it for what it is (and move on). I don't really evaluate the work (as a whole) till I give it some time. Coming back to a song after a few weeks lets me hear it with fresh ears, appreciate the strengths, and let me imagine its next (better) form. The whole point here is to #create and boom- there it is!

So give it a spin and let me know what you think. If you want to hear more, go here:

More Song-A-Day music: http://songaday.netscrap.com Go find the #bands: http://doubleplusalright.com http://blert.com http://instagram.com/greacen http://greacen.com

2018 was a musically-rich year fo me. This post is the second in a series of brief roll- ups of some of the musical projects in which I performed this year. The last post was all about my band Doubleplus Alright. This one is about an ongoing project I've done every February for the last decade called Song-A-Day.

#MyMusical2018: Song-A-Day 2018

Holymoly, this was a big year for the Song-A-Day crew. This year's project was full and highly productive for everyone who participated. Know what? 2018 marks the 10th year this group has written, recorded, and shared a new song every day in February.

If you don't know me, here's the brief background on this project - each year I write and record and share a new song every day during the month of February. I do this with a bunch of musician-friends who have participated for many years. I'm still shy of 300 songs, but there are a few folks who are WAY over 300. Normally everyone records at home, alone, and shares music in the middle of the night. I's FUN.

This year was also special because we got a chance to play songs in front of an audience at the Alameda County Fair. We had been joking about playing he AC Fair for a while- i was a punchline that had legs.

Eventually those legs ran off and got in touch with the booking agent for the fair. Before anyone could say 'no' we were on the bill... with no real rehearsals, and no real plan (kinda like the project as a whole right?) this is where we ended up (oh hey- a video!)

Oh hey- some photos! (click through to see more)

I was a blast! 10/10! Would do it again!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next post in the #MyMusical2018 series: "Open Mics and Other Gigs" I've played.

Some truly amazing music rolling out of the 2012 Song-A-Day crew so far. The month is nearly done and people are feeling it. I'm feeling it.

Here are a few of the downloads we've noticed...

 downloads / files
  803 /songs/2012/20120209_jonnybecky_expiration_date.mp3 
  725 /songs/2012/20120208_darin_instacanon.mp3 
  619 /songs/2012/20120205_darin_trippin.mp3 
  289 /songs/2012/20120209_peter_very_funny_elizabeth.mp3 
  285 /songs/2012/20120206_dberkman_calling_neptune.mp3 
  284 /songs/2012/20120214_dberkman_safari_of_love.mp3 
  277 /songs/2012/20120205_dberkman_hammer_reflections.mp3 
  255 /songs/2012/20120206_darin_epic.mp3 
  253 /songs/2012/20120207_dberkman_patience.mp3 
  223 /songs/2012/20120219_dberkman_path_of_the_heart.mp3 
  204 /songs/2012/20120213_jonnybecky_you_are_me.mp3 
  195 /songs/2012/20120216_dberkman_the_ground.mp3 
  195 /songs/2012/20120203_dberkman_the_tea_party.mp3 
  193 /songs/2012/20120204_dberkman_half_life.mp3 
  187 /songs/2012/20120215_dberkman_aftermath.mp3 
  179 /songs/2012/20120208_jonnybecky_corvair.mp3 
  171 /songs/2012/20120212_dberkman_alien_love_life.mp3 
  170 /songs/2012/20120202_dberkman_creatures_of_the_core.mp3 
  165 /songs/2012/20120203_darin_left_behind.mp3 
  162 /songs/2012/20120210_jonnybecky_anymore1.mp3 
  153 /songs/2012/20120207_jonnybecky_ears_ring_.mp3 
  149 /songs/2012/20120209_artemis_eye_to_eye.mp3 
  146 /songs/2012/20120206_artloft805_hippy_gypsy.mp3 
  141 /songs/2012/20120201_dberkman_a_life_in_the_day.mp3 
  138 /songs/2012/20120215_jonnybecky_baby_bankrupt.mp3 
  137 /songs/2012/20120207_darin_rain_at_last.mp3 
  135 /songs/2012/20120203_artemis_supernova_21.mp3 
  130 /songs/2012/20120214_jonnybecky_the_city.mp3 
  130 /songs/2012/20120211_seela_.mp3 
  130 /songs/2012/20120211_jonnybecky_run_a_shop.mp3 
  128 /songs/2012/20120207_artloft805_moon_cocoon_v13.mp3 
  127 /songs/2012/20120215_jonnybecky_die_in_my_sleep.mp3 
  126 /songs/2012/20120217_bruce_moon.mp3 
  125 /songs/2012/20120207_greacen_want_to_move_on.mp3 
  125 /songs/2012/20120207_derek_elvis_sandwich1.mp3 
  125 /songs/2012/20120201_darin_inauspicious.mp3 
  124 /songs/2012/20120216_jonnybecky_songaday.mp3 
  124 /songs/2012/20120206_jonnybecky_people_are_blind1.mp3 
  124 /songs/2012/20120201_derek_welcome_to_songaday_2012.mp3 
  123 /songs/2012/20120205_artemis_fisherheart.mp3 
  122 /songs/2012/20120202_darin_back_to_sleep.mp3 
  121 /songs/2012/20120210_jonnybecky_the_bill.mp3 
  121 /songs/2012/20120204_artemis_just_a_song.mp3 
  120 /songs/2012/20120208_derek_thanks_walt.mp3 
  117 /songs/2012/20120212_artemis_little_explosions.mp3 
  117 /songs/2012/20120204_jonnybecky_weatherman1.mp3 
  117 /songs/2012/20120203_derek_here_i_am.mp3 
  114 /songs/2012/20120206_dearl_those_wacky_nords.mp3 
  113 /songs/2012/20120201_jonnybecky_january_underwear.mp3 
  111 /songs/2012/20120204_greacen_whats_the_rush.mp3 
  109 /songs/2012/20120220_dearl_creatures_of_the_core_pt_2.mp3 
  109 /songs/2012/20120212_jonnybecky_on_call.mp3 
  109 /songs/2012/20120202_seela_the_dr.mp3 
  109 /songs/2012/20120202_dearl_deaf_by_drop.mp3 
  107 /songs/2012/20120211_peter_running_up_a_pane_of_glass.mp3 
  106 /songs/2012/20120202_jonnybecky_chase_me.mp3 
  102 /songs/2012/20120211_greacen_world_built_for_two.mp3 
  101 /songs/2012/20120219_artloft805_57_blues_with_harry_o.mp3 
  

There are more of course. This is just the list of files in the triple-digits. Go listen!

We're 25 days into 2010 Song-A-Day and hoo-boy, folks are feeling the immensity of the experience. It's no small feat creating, recording a song a day for a month as you can see from Jonathan Aronson's transformation:

Compared with previous years, the 2010 run has the most songs, the most variety, possibly the most talent and verve too. We've also been able to get the songs onto iTunes which has helped drive up the downloads: we'll have 24k downloads within 25 days and will likely finish the month with more than 30k downloads.

We're in the home-stretch. Keep on keepin' on!

Top 10 things to do now that Song-A- Day is done:

1. Give my ears a rest. between the late-nite sessions in my garage and my morning listening, I clocked many hours in headphones. I'll be happy to give that a rest.
2. Give my arms a rest. Between the day-job in front of a computer and the drumming, bassing (needs strong hands and fingers!), and guitar shredding (usually 3 tracks per song), I'm starting to feel it in my wrists and forearms.
3. Surf. The rest of the body needs some exercise too. Now if only the weather would cooperate.
4. Give my liver a rest. I wouldn't necessarily say that I've been drinking too much wine for the past month. But getting out of a nightly routine that involves a glass of whine can only help. Right?
5. Family-time: who are these people I love with anyway? Time to get to know them again. No, I don't mean my family on http://www.quakelive.com.
6. House-time: I was literally shoveling caca out of my garage last weekend. Time to get the place in order.
7. Cook. I enjoy working in the kitchen. As we get closer to summer, it's time to get this rolling again.
8. Plan. What did we learn from Song-A-Day that would make Song-A-Week more successful? How are we even defining success at this point? Song-A-Day is as fun for me as a listener as a player. If people are interested in continuing this, I think we can turn it into something really cool.
9. Sleep. Need a short break from the late nights.
10. Get outta Dodge. March is a perfect time for a quick weekend getaway: Tahoe, Healdsburg, Mendo, Santa Barbara. Here we go.