News

Hope everyone’s holiday weekend went well. Mine involved kids, pools, puppies and NASCAR, so chalk that one up as a win.

But to the point — just added a show for this coming Wednesday (July 9th), at the Iron Post in Urbana, with Eleni Moraites.

Showtime is 8pm, I’m on first, and the cover is $3.

Details, as ever, at paulroub.com/gigs

At some point, the choices narrow down to:

1. Get a gig, already. The “I just moved” excuse dried up months ago. Or…

1. Dedicate yourself to the “notoriously reclusive musician” path

The former seems like much more fun.

So, three weeks from tonight (Thursday, May 29th), I’m at Aroma Cafe in Champaign. 8pm, followed by Carl Hauck at 9.

Updates, address, etc. are at paulroub.com/gigs, as always.

So who was better last night? Ben:

or Ben?

Ben Lee was just amazing — despite, or perhaps a little because of, ongoing equipment issues. No guitar in the PA? Just walk to the front of the stage and serenade a packed house unamplified. And continue to be amazing. No problem. He was just loads of fun, and impossible not to love.

And Ben Folds?

Was Ben Folds. And then some.

Being an old guy in a large crowd of UI students, it's easy to start off smiling nostalgically at the puppy-like quality of the bouncing, shouting, crowding-the-stage kids... until I realize I'm bouncing every bit as much, doing all my crowd-vocal jobs, screaming my head off when "Philosophy" started up...

In summary, music continues to be the best.

Oh, and who was better? Easy. Ben was.

Any day where I have soldering irons and guitars in my hands is a good one.

More explanation at the work blog.

So, you may have noticed the lack of updates on the RPM Challenge — and you may have thought I hadn’t done anything since Idiot.

HA!

Heh. Actually, you’d be right. For a variety of reasons — most of my family spent significant chunks of this month sick; an air travel nightmare or two; and the fact that I’ve had just enough of a cold the entire time to prevent a decent vocal take — have kept me from wanting / having the time to record.

And can we talk writer’s block? I’ve written, I think, 10 choruses for the new song. I wish I could say they all suck in their own unique ways, but honestly they’re a big, shapeless, boring blur to me. And the in-the-mail deadline is Saturday. So I was gonna quit.

But quitting is even more frustrating than all that. So…

I decided to look at the rest of this as though I were just demoing, or recording a gig. Tonight I sat down, set up a couple of mikes, and threw down “live” takes of:

1. Mind of Its Own
2. Disappear
3. Closer
4. Room To Breathe
5. Optional
6. How Do You Do It?

1. Not Wrong

I need to do the roughest of mixes before posting them, or at least edit out the squeaking chair, tuning, etc. at the beginning of each track. That’s tomorrow. I’m tired.

Are they perfect? No. What I originally planned? Nope. Is this the version of “Closer” I’ve been wanting to get on tape? No. Do I have the faintest idea how to EQ a vocal? More than yesterday, yes. Slightly.

But am I happy with how it came out? Yep. Like a decent gig, on a night when I’m fighting a cold and temporarily winning. Nothing I’d try to package and sell, but that wasn’t the plan, anyway…

Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t expect better, or at least more-polished versions, in the coming weeks. I’m getting the hang of this now.

And that chorus can’t hide from me forever.