Emily Dickinson loves our music!

My good friend and fellow designer 'jazzed up' our new header image on AboutAsher. You should check it out.

You might have also caught on to the changing slogans on our site. Right now it reads:

"Asher and a cold beer, there is nothing better." -Emily Dickinson

This is something funny I am going to have to maintain. It is a very simple formula:
1) A funny, enthusiastic fan quote
2) Quoted by someone who is both famous and dead

Previous posts have read:

"If you don't love Asher, you don't deserve to live." - Benjamin Franklin

"Coffee is nice, but Asher is better" - Leonardo DaVinci

We are also entered into a a new contest (see the ad on the right-->) so if you like us (As Dickinson, Franklin, and DaVinci do) support us and vote.

Butterfly in Reverse

You crawl before you walk, you write poems before you learn how to play the guitar...

And by 'you' I of course mean me. My first writings were poems and short stories. I wrote from the time I was about 12 until I began writing songs at the age of about 17. A guitar stared at me in my room for five years before I ever mustered up the strength to teach myself. After getting 'okay-enough' at the guitar, I completely abandoned poems altogether once I realized that music and and melody could carry words and a story much easier than paper and ink alone.

The biggest and most obvious difference is the music. You can have very simple words in a song: "Baby, oh baby, I want you back." And if sung with soul and with a catchy rift it works swimmingly. But try only reading it, boring.

I am beginning to see my writing style go full circle now as my songs beg for more poetic themes. I'll give 3 examples to illustrate this. The first is from a poem I wrote when I was 15. The second is part of a song I wrote at 20. And the third is a song I wrote a couple weeks ago (at the ripe old age of 25)

Excerpt from 'Undermistood' - 1998

Undermistood, was I,
for being so subtle.
Unalarming, yet boisterous skin
From hers into what used to be mine.
Broken exhaustibly on the floor,
Cuddled with the remnants of my heart.

Excerpt from 'Killed a Man' - 2003

Chorus:
No matter where I run
No matter where I hide
A part of me is gone
A part of me has died
And sometimes you can't see
The forest for the trees
And there are times that I forget
The part of me
That's still alive

Excerpt from 'the Procession' - 2008

Verse:
The wet leaves on the sidewalk
Reminds me of cornflakes in milk
And the lines in your eyes
Are as bright as the sky, as thin as silk

Chorus:
Day to day we get forgotten
Twist our hearts into sailor knots, and
I know it all seems so trivial
But all the cars will stop
For your funeral

So I feel in some ways I am getting back to my roots, incorporating my earlier e. e. cummings-like dreaminess, while not missing the importance of a catchy, easy-to-sing hook.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. . .

. . . but tonight I will write.

When I send Hannah - my 3 year old - back to her bed for the fourth time, I can't but relate to her. It is hard giving up this consciousness when you have a restless mind. It's strange the small things you'd never thought you would give somebody.

It is weird to see my ways stamped on to my children. The way that Ava gets nervous in crowds, the way that Hannah can spin anything into a positive. But what is most rewarding is seeing the things that are uniquely-them. The way Hannah can start a conversation with anyone, the way that Ava makes sure her blocks are perfectly aligned when she is "Buildin' a casle, daddy."

Speaking of castles (of sorts) the children's outside play center is coming a long nicely. I have successfully (with the help of my Dad) moved all the 'tube sections' in to my backyard and now clearly have a plan together. It is going to be so sweet. Thanks to my wife for trusting me, I am teaching her how to take creative risks.

Project home theater is right on track as well. I tried to get a new projector this weekend, but it looks like better deals are to be-had online. But much thanks to me mum for watching my chitlens as I ventured from store to store in search for one. I did get a few things off the list, however:
Surround sound, check!
Projector mount, check!
Room re-layout, check!

There is a sect of Greek mythology that personified Sleep and Death, as brothers in fact. I think that is the coolest thing. This means that in leaving this post I can say, "I have to leave here, for I have a date with the brother of death." Brother of Death is also a great band name for those out there in need of one.

Surveying in Hell

I am working on the latest Out-of-Plumb.com cartoon. I am excited about this one. I started doing them in color last month, and I am really pleased with the outcome. Here is what I am thinking for the June edition:

In surveying when an EDM or a total station (the thing that looks like a fancy camera on a tripod) takes a measurement it is called 'taking a shot.' In my cartoon I will have two guys trying to 'take a shot.' The only catch is that they will be surveying in hell... with flames, stalagmites, etc. The guys will both appear frustrated. The one behind the total station will say, "Nope, still can't get it." The bottom caption will read, "After countless tries, the crew realized they didn't have a shot in hell."

It is subtle (as most of mine are) but I think it will be funny.

A wall of television and a burger king play center

Ah... to be American. Before summer is completely here, there are two home projects I would like to complete: Transforming my living room into a home theater, and installing and old burger king play center into my backyard.

I have never been pleased with my living room setup, the focus of the room is a fireplace, so I must put the tv on a side wall. Which means when you sit on the couch you have to look sideways to see the tv. I wanted to test a work project at home this weekend, so I brought home the work projector. It works great! One entire wall in my living room is now nothing but television, 12' x 10' of nothing but video. I am going to have to convince my wife to let me buy one.

Now to explain the burger king play center. Last year I wanted to buy my kids a swing set. One look at Lowes and WalMart and I realized, wow this is high. So I decided I would try to build my own. Then I got to looking at parts, and I realized, wow this is high. Just to buy a slide was like 500-800 bucks! Then I was driving by a roller skating rink and outside they had what appeared to be an old burger king play center, the kind with tubes and slides and such. It was not put together and appeared discarded. I took it off their hands for $800 and now I have about 250 sq feet of giant colorful tubes and metal posts. I have no plans, no picture of how it was once assembled. Just the opportunity to be completely creative and design and build something my kids will never forget.

Here's to innovation! I will let you know (and by you I mean me) how it all goes.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of video

Well... I am tired of talking about songs, I want to play them. I am getting closer, however. I have been experimenting with ustream, camtwist, and green screening. Soon, I hope to have a pretty nice presentation. The format should go as follows:

Video of my playing
Lyrics link
My commentary (in blog text)
And even the ability to purchase the draft via download (mp3)

That is the plan.

Originality - Not all it is cracked up to be

A major creative block for most people is the want to create something no one else is heard or seen before. This is a hatchet I have long since buried. Yes, romantically speaking it would be nice to create something so new and fresh it could be classified as being original, but even still that is not all it is cracked up to be.

Look at all of the 'before-their-timers' the people on this earth that were truly original. Most of these amazing minds were never even recognized as being great in their lifetime. Sure, their legacy lives on now, but in their day they weren't original at all, they were just weird. That is because we cleave to some form of familiarity. If something is truly original it is so foriegn that it is almost uncomfortable. That is why so many indie artists hate mainstream music, it is so familiar that it is sickening.

But I'm afraid some people, in fear of being too familiar, are blocking their muses if they don't let what ever is trapped in their mind come out, regardless of how unoriginal it may be. In terms of music I try to 'find the song', similiar to the way Michealangelo would 'find the sculpture' all ready in the rock. It was always there, he just needed to remove the right pieces to reveal it.

When I first find a couple of chords I like I am trying to find the song that is there. Sometimes the song sounds like this band, or that band, but you push through. Don't get bogged down, because inevitably your song will sound a little like someone else's song, especially if it is good. The only way to create a song that doesn't sound like any other song is to write a song with an out-of-tune guitar.

I will use this song 'Just to be Free' as an example. I was very proud of this song when I finished it, not because I created a new idea, or because the imagery or mood was so distinctly different than anyone else, but because the words seemed like words from a song, a real song.

I guess what I am getting at is to not worry about being original as much as just worry about creating something. And then make sure what you are creating is something you like, eventually originality will come naturally.