A Billy Collins Poem

Billy Collins, poem, poems, poetry

I’m going to write a Billy Collins poem
I’m gong to write about
the poem I’m writting about
right now
What I’m doing
Where I’m sitting
Very self-aware, you know
Like “Budapest”
or “Tuesday, June 4, 1991”
or the best, “Workshop”
You know, Billy Collins-style
very conversational.

How does he pull it off
without sounding cute or pretentious?

Maybe it’s because
in the midst of the conversational style
he throws in a great image
or a devastating metaphor
to remind you
that he’s the real deal.

(A pause while I take a swig
from my vodka tonic
The vodka tonic I made
in a beer pint glass
2 shots of vodka,
1/4 of a lemon squeezed
then 1/8 of a lime
ice
and tonic water.
Now back to the poem)

Ha!
How did you like that clever digression
with the drink recipe?
Just the sort of thing Billy Collins would do.
Brilliant!

Anyway…
I’m sitting on my front porch
in Denver, Colorado
It’s June 26, 2008
A beautiful early evening
like all Denver early summer evenings
I should say it’s 7:30pm
(notice my concern for detail)
This is my favorite time of day
Perfect temperature
perfect light
I sit out here everyday that I can
at this time
and write
or read poems
I watch my neighbors walking their dogs
and I have a drink, of course
It tastes so good after running.

Oh I forgot to tell you
Usually after work
I go up to the local park
and run 2 miles
it keeps the fat off
and lowers the stress
then I shower
and sit on the porch.

I should say something about the flowers
I love flowers
So I’ve planted a bunch in my front yard
And I have planter boxes hanging off the deck
or mini-deck
that is my front porch
half of the ones I plant die
I’m not a good gardener
But I’m learning and getting better
I like the amazing colors
and amazing shapes
They make me happy.

So I’m sitting on the front porch
on a beautiful Denver evening
drinking a vodka tonic
and writing a Billy Collins poem.

No devastating metaphor
simile or image
but dude
this is like
only my third poem
or something.

-Rob Roper

A Live Music Lover’s Pet Peeves

corporate beer, live music, live music lover, local business, music venues, small business, tables and chairs

My blogs thus far have been from the point of view of a music creator. But I’m also a music lover. I’ve been going out to hear live music, individuals and bands, for years. So I thought, blogs being a perfect forum for rants, complaints and pet peeves, I’d list my longstanding grievances about many live music venues. Don’t get me wrong–I’m grateful that they provide a venue for live, original music–but I wish they would have…

Tables and Chairs

I can understand a dance venue not having tables and chairs, or a venue that has punk or rock bands where people thrash or dance. But when the music is for listening, I like to sit on a chair, and have a table to set my drink on. I really hate to have to stand during the entire show, my back starts hurting, my feet start hurting, and then there’s the issue of what to do with my drink when each song is over and I want to applaud? Put it on the floor? In my armpit? Between my legs? Or just don’t clap and yell instead? What if I really like the song and want to yell and clap? It’s so much more enjoyable to be able to sit at a table, have a few drinks, and listen to the band. For venues that have all kinds of bands, well, take the tables and chairs out for the dance bands, and put them back for all others.

I suspect that some venues take the tables and chairs out in order to pack more people in and sell more tickets. Well, I can understand why they want to make more money, afterall, they’re a business. But frankly, I avoid going to these venues, unless it’s someone I just can’t miss, so they’re actually hurting their business by not having tables and chairs, at least for people who feel like I do.

Local Beer

I live in Denver, and there are many small breweries in Colorado that make great beer. So why do so many live music venues only have the boring corporate beers? Dude: support small business! You’re a small business, for chrissakes! Support your small business comrades. And their beer is more interesting than the big corporate beers. When I asked bartenders at these corporate beer venues in Denver (which, incidentally, are also the table-less and chair-less venues, hmmm….), I was told, “we’re a Miller bar”. Seems Miller has made some sort of exclusive agreement with them to ban local beers, and only sell Miller and it’s large European corporate partners (Guiness, Pilsner-Urqell, Newcastle). OK my anti-corporate bias is coming out here. But it’s not just that; small local breweries’ beer is better tasting than the large corporate beers.

So listen up, corporate beer, chair-less and table-less live music venues: change your ways, and you’ll get a bigger share of my entertainment dollars.

Sound

Why is that, all too frequently, despite very high quality equipment, the mixes are so bad? I was at a show recently, at a small venue, and the drums were WAY too loud, and you could barely hear the singer. You definitely couldn’t hear the lyrics. Now, as a songwriter, I know how much time, heart, pain and suffering goes into creating lyrics. What a shame that nobody can hear them. And speaking of drums, who invented the lamentable modern standard of mixing the bass drum and snare WAY louder than the drum kit as a whole? The lack of balance sounds awful. A good drummer makes use of more than just the bass and snare, and I, for one, would like to hear it all. I didn’t come to a show just to hear a bass drum and snare drum. I came to hear music; I came to hear a band–the whole band–including the lyrics. And how many times have you seen this: one band member, perhaps the lead guitar player–is playing his heart out, but you can’t hear it, because the sound guy is… I dunno, either deaf or asleep? Isn’t he paying attention?

I’ve done a little live sound, and I recorded and mixed my own cd’s, so I know it’s not as easy as it may seem. And everyone has their own tastes in terms of mixes. But when one band member can’t be heard at all, and another is WAY louder than everyone elses, I don’t understand that.

OK now that I’ve got all that off my chest, guess I should get off the computer and go practice guitar, or piano, or write a song. Or clean my bathroom.

-Rob

Another new song, 1st draft

songwriting

Following up on my earlier blog, “The Songwriting Process is Weird”, I’ve written a 2nd and 3rd verse for the song. So here’s the first draft lyrics, I will post a rough cut on my myspace site, myspace.com/rroper, so you can hear the music.

No Title Yet
by Rob Roper 1st draft April 19, 2008

She took off for Biloxi, with a banjo on her back
and left me here in Denver, trying to understand
I heard thunder in the distance, but I never thought it’d rain
and now you say, you’ll be ok

Chorus
But try and explain that to my heart
It cries when it’s left out in the dark
Like a child, it wants to have its way
everyday, and feel no pain
(hey-hey-hey)

Well, I’ve got a friend, all she does is cry
’cause he won’t return her calls, and she don’t know why
She showed me the pictures, of that beach in Mexico
I tried to say, you’ll be ok, (but she said…)

Chorus
Try and explain that to my heart
It cries when it’s left out in the dark
Like a child, it wants to have its way
everyday, and feel no pain
(hey-hey-hey)

Most good things come to an end
That’s the way it’s always been
Just listen to your brain, it’s easy to explain
So what’s wrong? Just move on

Chorus
But try and explain that to your heart
It cries when it’s left out in the dark
Like a child, it wants to have its way
everyday, and feel no pain
(hey-hey-hey)

The Songwriting Process is Weird…

songwriting

…but I’m starting to accept that, and even like it.

You may have noticed I haven’t written any love/sex/relationship songs. Of course, that theme comprises probably 90% of all popular songs. That’s partly why I haven’t written any, I figure the world doesn’t need anymore of them. Why write the same songs that have already been written 1,000,000 times by 1,000,000 songwriters? But I have done some free-writing on various past relationships, and even started putting some lines together. I thought I should do at least one.

I was trying out some lines with different types of music, not finding anything that seemed to resonate well. I then put on a cd of my “library” of music ideas–stuff I’d come up with and recorded so I wouldn’t forget, sometimes years ago. One was on a mandolin. Upbeat, simple I-IV-V chords. I started to fast forward to the next idea, then hesitated. Hmmm… something about that. The girl in question was into bluegrass music… and maybe the music shouldn’t be slow, shouldn’t be minor key, the subject matter is dreary enough… let’s try it. So I grabbed my acoustic guitar instead of the mandolin. The music on the mandolin was in D. I replicated it on the guitar. Then I remembered seeing a songwriter friend of mine, Ed Skibbe, performing recently, and it seemed on 2/3 of his songs he used a partial 5-string capo on the 2nd fret, for a drop-D simulation in E. I had one of those laying around, hadn’t written a song that way before, so I slapped in on there. Bingo. That was it.

Once I had music that seemed right, what do you know? The lyrics started falling into place. Got a chorus–a good chorus too, if I do say so myself–and the first verse written. Some of my best stuff, I think. Here it is as it stands now:

Verse 1:
She took off for Biloxi
with a banjo on her back
And left me here in Denver
trying to understand
I heard the thunder in the distance
but I never thought it’d rain
And now you say
You’ll be ok

Chorus:
But try and explain that to my heart
It cries when it’s left out in the dark
Like a child, it wants to have it’s way
Everyday
And feel no pain
Hey hey hey

Now for the second verse. Another weird thing happened. I’d written all sorts of other lines about the girl in question. But something said to me: you’ve said enough. Talk about somebody else now. I thought of a friend, and started writing about one of his experiences. Then I ran into another friend, and decided her story was better. I’ll write that one for the 2nd verse.

Then I’ll have either a bridge or a third verse where I summarize the theme–talk about how illogical the “heart” is; how the “brain” can accept that something is over and move on, but the heart won’t listen. That’s the plan now, it could change. Hell, the first verse and chorus could get changed, too! Gotta keep an open mind…

Weird how this songwriting works. But now I say, “bring on the weirdness”.

Capturing Ideas: songwriting technology

capturing ideas, Edirol R09, songwriting, songwriting technology

Every songwriter knows that ideas–lyrics, melody and such–frequently come at times when you don’t have a guitar, pen and paper handly, much less a multitrack recorder. But if you don’t get them down, they’re long gone and forgotten.

For a few years I carried a mini-cassette recorder in the car with me, because, oddly enough, I would get ideas for lines or melodies while driving. Of course I have a notebook (or notebooks), for free-writing and such. That was good for capturing ideas, but if I wanted to record a demo, I’d have to setup the microphones and my multitrack recorder.

Last December I gave myself a Christmas present: an Edirol R09 handheld digital recorder. I highly recommend it. It’s easy to use, and the fidelity is great–of course, WAY better than a mini-cassette recorder or a boom box. In fact, the built-in microphones are good enough to record a concert. You can record to either .wav or directly to .mp3 files, then just transfer the files to your computer with a USB cable. I put two new songs that are in the first draft stage on my myspace site (myspace.com/rroper). I recorded them by simply setting the Edirol on the music stand next to the lyric sheet, and recording voice and guitar at the same time.

By the way, I’m not being paid to promote the Edirol R09. There are other similar products by Zoom, Tascam, Sony, etc. I can’t say if those are better or worse. I suspect they’re all pretty good.

Yesterday I got new cellphone, the Palm Centro. It has an application called “Voice Memo”. The fidelity is crappy, but I think it will be fine for capturing lyric ideas if I don’t have my Edirol with me.