West Gate

I went to see West Gate tonight. Kurt and Rob started up this group after Roots of Rebellion broke up.

Check them out. They absolutely blew me away.

You can hear them online (www.myspace.com/westgatenj), but the recordings, solid as they are, don't do the group justice anymore. They've been consistently touring lately, and it really shows.

If you're in the NJ area, check them out on January 31st at the Starland Ballroom when they open for Powerman 5000.

Seeing the show made me want to finish up all the tracks I've been working on. I went back and listened to the drums that Kurt put down for me months ago and started creating them digitally, just to have more control over them. "Remember to Write Happy" is first up. When it's done, it'll be on here.

Next weekend is going to be a long one, so I'll hopefully going to be able to get some work done.

Poetry

I've recently moved, and falling back into the groove of writing music has proven more difficult than I have anticipated. I have a  feeling that the floodgates will eventually open and I'm going to be coming up with some really great material, but I have no idea when that is going to happen.

In the mean time, I think it's worth mentioning that I have finally started writing poetry again. This is a much bigger deal than it sounds. After working on The Spire virtually every day for almost a year straight, I stopped writing altogether when it was done. I was very proud of it, but I think it ultimately scared me away from writing; I didn't know how to live up to that standard I set with the absurd amount of work I put into it. That, and getting a new job as a first year teacher really stole my focus.

About a year and a half later, I turned on the Nine Inch Nails instrumental album, Ghosts, and fell back into some good habits. I wrote and edited a few hours worth of work down to about 80 words I'm proud to stand behind.

I doubt I'll post poetry on this blog, and I'm not even sure if I'll post individual poems in another section of my site like I used to. I'd love to post more completed works, the way I posted The Spire. I'll see the way they turn out. At this point, I really just need to continue to keep a serious work ethic.

Thanks go to Phoebe for an unintended kick in the pants.