"Hear It In These Lines"

So, although my car heater was fixed Saturday, it's still at the shop. See, the car developed a nasty coolant leak (though "leak" is a rather small term to describe the torrential flood of coolant that exited the underside of my car with amazing rapidity on Sunday afternoon). I took it back to the service station Sunday afternoon and left it there so they could work on it Monday. Unfortunately, issues with their equipment meant they didn't have a chance to work on it until today. The car is ready now, but I haven't been able to go pick it up quite yet.

On the positive side, though, Michelle's father was kind enough to loan me his van until my car is fixed and back in my possession. So I've been cruisin' in the Plymouth Voyager van since Sunday. Lemme tell ya, I'm ready to be back in my car.

One positive aspect to the whole I'm having to drive a freakin' mini-van thing is that I've had the opportunity to listen to an old tape I found in the bottom of my pit of a closet last night. It's the tape Clif and I recorded back in the summer of 2002 of the original Cross-Eyed Yeti tunes. It's interesting listening to the songs we'd picked out to record back then (a lot of them ended up on the CD we made the summer of 2003 in Norman), hearing how the songs had changed (man, some of those have been sped up from their original recording version) and what songs we've stopped playing (I can't remember the last time we did "I Dig Chicks"). We actually had some good stuff (I really wish we'd do a proper recording of "Folk Singer's Blues," 'cause that song actually kicks a significant amount of ass) that is just sitting in the "vault," as it were. The Clyde and I really just need to get together and record some of this stuff properly somewhere (there's a place down in Fredericksburg I still want to try out at some point).

The first half of that cassette was the original "album," about 14 songs (including the two "bonus" tracks, "Country Joe" and the "Hummingbird Version" of "Lord, Take Me Home WHere I Belong"). The second half was a "show" we played at the Mammoth Hot Springs employee pub that summer with mom and dad in attendance. The live show was pretty interesting (we could tear up when we wanted to), though dear God, what were we thinking letting Clif sing? And where did I get it in my head that I could sing the Beatles' "All My Loving?" Ah well. Many of the original tunes had an energy and a fire that impresses me. I also rather liked the poor sound quality on the tape. It had an old-fashioned, homemade feel to that I really dig. Worked especially well on "Folk Singer's Blues." My biggest complaint about the CD we made is that it sounds too cold, too sterile and small. There really is something to be said for recording with analog equipment, I guess.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Cross-Eyed Yeti, "Folk Singer's Blues"