ben wakeman : : Journal

Rock and Roll Sideburns

September 11, 2003

In an effort not to look like the middle-class, work-a-day Dad that I am, I have begun the campaign for the rock and roll sideburns. It will be a long and challenging effort, but I'm sure that once complete, I will be the envy of legit rock stars everywhere. I really hope this works, because I don't think I can wear leather pants.

It's all about the image. Forget about all that other fluff --- songwriting, musicianship, anyone can have those meager skills -- it's all about the look baby. Okay, so my hair is thinning... we can de-emphazise that... my abs are not exactly a Tupac six-pack... I can wear loose shirts. Yes, things are gonna change around here.

As a back-up plan, I am still going to work everyday, just in case the world can't handle another rock star of my calibre. I'm finishing up another new song. It's one of a series I've done lately that fall into the "this was easy to write --- can it still be any good?" category. I'm trying to just crank them out more and think about them less. A side effect of this technique though is that I don't seem to feel as passionate about them when they're not as hard-won.

I really want to get more comfortable recording. I want to get better at capturing the raw emotive thing that makes it all work, though I must say that it's near impossible when you are recording yourself and thinking about levels and disc-space and blah blah blah. Okay, I have to go pay the bills.

Later...

Okay, normally I don't double post, but I just had a celebrity spotting while out at lunch and had to document it! Catherine is a huge Trading Spaces fan and loves one of the designers there, Vern Yip. I have a friend Jen Gordon who is designing a web site for him at the moment and just this morning asked me to take a look at... So I go to lunch with my co-workers Carla and George and who do we see: