THE ALBUM IS DONE

Hear Ye,

The album is done. It'll probably be self-titled as Black Fortress of Opium, lest we make it unduly hard on publicists and critics, etc who can't get with the concept of something not in comfortable, safe English. Yeah, OK I'm a little pissed about doing this but whatever. It's the music that matters most, and the concept is secondary.

Anyway, it sounds so awesome, and REAL. Sounds good in the car, or headphones. It's an accomplishment the likes of which I have never before achieved. But the real task lies in the details of getting the artwork finished up so a real product can be made. The actual follow-through is multipart.

My eternal thanks to Martin for sculpting our sonic clay into something full of beauty. A hand-stitched item, as it were.

Other tidbits:
Started reading 'Cat's Cradle'. Digging it. It feeds right into my newest song, which was actually inspired by PK Dick's 'A Scanner Darkly', but there are Bokonian threads...Reading about the scientist got me thinking about Tony, and how I can see a bit of his father's scientific method in his actions. His dad was a nuclear physicist at MIT, and Tony was accepted into West Point, but chose instead to be a soldier of the guitaring kind. I bought him a little present today - one of the fruits from Hell...

Hee hee. Anyway good news as his mom's back surgery went better than expected.

I think I might check out the big gtr expo this weekend. I need new gear. I wanna get all American made instruments.

We're gonna jam with a new bass player this weekend. An absolute must after I had to let Joel go, and go off and do other things. No hard feelings on my end, though.

I bought some pussy willows today at the grocery store. They remind me of my childhood - not of any particularly fond memory per se, as I don't have many from then. No, more of a mood and tone thing, really. They used to grow in ditches alongside back roads where my dad would drive me around. We'd go exploring there, near an old salt mill (ironically near Sugarland, Texas) and pick up things like discarded test tubes.

It's all about the science.

Currently reading : Cat’s Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut Release date: 08 September, 1998