| CD Shipping June 7, 1998 Chris Maus [RAMBLE INDEX] |
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| My Web Archive |
Hey ALL!
The CD's will go in the mail on the 15th. That is, to the people on this mailing list that are not in Chicago... Plus some... I'll be printing this out and stuffing it in with the CD's for the people who don't have e-mail. So anyway, the story behind this CD is kinda long so a "Rambling..." is a good place for me to write it down. It was about 4 years ago when I started recording with my friend Hook on Monday nights in his studio. We recorded for almost two years. Many of you have copies of this music on tape so it's not "new". When I started recording I intended to make a CD but the timing and money it takes to put out a CD was more than I had until I moved to Chicago. I was fortunate enough to meet Dan who digitally master the CD for me and greatly reduced the cost. Having a master, I shopped around for a company that could mass produce it at a reasonable cost and found "Replidisc". I recently paid off a major debt and could afford TO DO IT! But I still skimped a bit... I cut costs by not using jewel cases and printing the inserts that go into them. Unfortunately this decision left a few people not getting the credit they deserve. Namely, Buffalo who played bass and lead guitar on some of the songs, and Jen who sang background on "My Window". I figured a good label on the CD itself was enough so I designed it and like the way it turned out. Now that I have a CD I hope getting gigs will be easier. I don't know which radio stations to send copies to so I have to start listening. I have to ask my friends here too. Which radio stations play local musician's demos and CD's that don't have recording contracts and/or major followings? I don't even know if these songs are good enough to play on the radio... I also have to start pounding the pavement looking for places to play and sell these suckers... AND stuff them into the sleeves ... The sleeves and disks came in separate packages and I have about ¼ of the sleeved up... So I'll be spending lots of time stuffing. I may have to buy a case of beer and have a CD stuffing party next weekend. I guess maybe this story is not as long as I thought... So how about the stories behind the songs? I sometimes tell these blurbs when I play them at my gigs (if people are listening...) Something's Wrong I co-wrote this song and "After" back when I was in High School! Robin Becker was kind enough to lend me her notebook full of poems. These are two of her poems I set to music. AND I STILL PLAY THEM... My Life Another old song... I think I may have written this back in 1980. I don't really have a much to say about this one. It still fits how I feel most times. Where's life leading me these daze??? 3 Finger Blues Years and years ago I lost my left ring finger to a dado blade in a table saw while building some furniture. I spent about 6 months being depressed about it. I even had dreams about getting my finger back. Once I picked up my guitar again I wrote this song. I look at it like this: I've played the guitar longer with 3 fingers now than when I had all 4. Over You & My Window Some more old songs that I still play... These were written when I was living in Boston. (See "Time to GO!") Time to GO! This is what showed up when I had major crush on a beautiful bartender. (was it the beer?) It got me in trouble and I learned the valuable lesson: Don't admit "who" the song is for or about. It's just a song... and odds are, it will be misinterpreted. Wallowing I don't have anything to say about this song other than it's just another vapid love song... (I write too many of these kind of songs.) Times Back in 1986 or was it 87? I made a tape of the songs I had written to that point in my life and lost it. I had made a few copies of it and gave it to some friends. Well, in 94 I was visiting friends in Boston and saw a copy in their tapes. I borrowed it from them and made a copy for myself. I had completely forgotten about this song. It took me a month of listening to it and re-learning it before I could even remember who inspired me to write it... Bit Head There was a period of several years where I didn't write any songs. Bit Head was the first song I wrote after what I think was about 5 or 6 years. And it was the catalyst to start recording with Hook. After See "Something's Wrong" Enough about the CD you don't have "yet"... Life in Chicago continues to be good. I sneaked into Minneapolis last weekend to help Alison move to a new apartment. It was just the two of us, a rented van and her stuff. We didn't have a two wheel cart or any other moving implements so we improvised with a couple of shopping carts left in the parking lot of her old building. We were up all Saturday night hauling boxes and all, loading the van and her station wagon, Alison didn't sleep, she had to be out of her apartment by 10:00 AM Sunday morning, I laid down on the floor at 5:00 AM when the only thing left to do was haul trash. She woke me up at 8:00 (I think) and we finished cleaning up and went out for breakfast. She was not able to get keys to her new apartment until Monday morning at 9:00 so we checked into a motel and slept. She had to have the van back by noon Monday so we frantically unloaded and made the deadline. I'm so glad unloading goes a lot faster than loading. I wish one of us would of had a camera to document the packing job. I had my doubts about whether we'd make the noon deadline and whether all her stuff would fit in the van. I guess my years as a transient have honed my packing skill because we did it. I got on a plane back to Chicago that evening, sore tired and got a bumpy ride. The turbulence on the flight back was almost scary... |
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