Didn’t love this week. Got the stuff done, but I never felt particularly accomplished about anything. I just spent too much time on a conference call, behind the wheel of a car, or hunched over a keyboard. Such things are exhausting, and I really didn’t want to do them, but because I am a grown-ass adult with responsibilities, I did them.

When I wasn’t doing that, I got some decent hot-weather biking in (it’s been in the 90s most of the week, which is part of the lethargy, I think), though not as much as I’d like, and it’s looking like storms on and off for the weekend, though I’ll do my best to get at least some miles behind me.

On the creative front, it’s been a little better; some folks whose work I truly admire offered up, unsolicited, some very nice words regarding some stuff that I made, which always feels good, especially when I’ve been spending so much of my time these days struggling emotionally and mentally. I also submitted some written work to a small press anthology this week, because it fit the theme and a friend asked me to; we’ll see what comes of it. Because along with all those other things I’m doing, I might as well add to the pile by becoming a published author as well, right?

I’ve also dug into rehearsals for next weekend’s “back-into-the-world” gig that I’ve been talking around, and thankfully, I’m starting find my groove again after more than a year of not really playing these tunes, and the new ones we recorded over the last couple of months for the record appear to have not completely abandoned my brainspace once I sent my tracks off for mixing.

I’m weirdly of two minds on this one; I am desperate to see friends and make music again, though, as I said, it’s been more than a year since I’ve done such a thing in proximity to real people, and I’m kind of nervous about it; I don’t want to suck or let my bandmates (and our fans) down. Plus, even though I’m fully vaccinated and then some, the idea of attending this sort of event is a little intimidating, even if they’re saying all the right things regarding protocols and precautions. It’s creeping into my subconscious as well; I had a dream the other night that I left home for a weekend gig several hours away, and right before we were supposed to go on stage, I realized I didn’t have my instrument with me.

The subtext there is kind of obvious.

Anyway; tunes. Spotify’s all over the place this week. Old stuff, foreign stuff, and things I’ve never heard. I’m not going to complain; most of it’s got a decent groove:

1. “TAXIMAN” – SAKURAN-ZENSEN
2. “Mambo Sun” – T. Rex
3. “Swamp Thing” – The Chameleons
4. “Wait A Million Years” – The Grass Roots
5. “So Gently We Go” – I Mother Earth
6. “Killer Klowns” – The Dickies
7. “Right Before Death” – ASG
8. “Blinded By The Light” – Eagles of Death Metal
9. “Ohms” – Deftones
10. “Minnesoter” – The Dandy Warhols
11. “Goliath” – The Mars Volta
12. “Cold Sweat” – The Sugarcubes
13. “I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself” – Elton John
14. “Everything You’re Breathing For” – The Parlor Mob

…I kind of love how they totally lean into the mondegreen on #8; appropriate for a warm summer evening.