Wednesday
Jan172007
...it pours
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 05:05PM
Few things raise your spirits after a couple rough days than getting to put a crowbar through some drywall. Moldy plaster in my hair, I embraced the metaphor and spent a good hour ripping apart the ceiling of my basement.
It felt pretty freaking awesome.
We've had some plumbing issues for a while and last week our kitchen sink started leaking water through the ceiling of the studio. The sink's drainpipe sits right above where my pedal board usually sits. Thankfully, the bulk of my rig was at another studio.
Long story short, we fixed a couple things which pointed out that there were bigger problems down the line, and that process repeated a few times. Next thing you know, the ceiling of the studio starts spouting random holes and water is pouring out onto the floor, the couch, right next to some guitars. There were a couple bathtubs worth of water sitting stagnant between the floor of the kitchen and the ceiling of the studio, and it emptied like a waterfall for a good ten minutes. All over. So gross.
So now I'm waiting for the plumber to get here (been saying that a lot this week) and he's going to pretty much replace every cast-iron pipe in the whole house. There's 40-some odd years of nastiness about to greet the sunlight for the first time.
I stayed up last night taking everything in the basement and putting it into very dense, yet wonderfully organized piles in parts of the room not located under a pipe. Then my brother-in-law Clay and I spent this morning ripping out the ceiling to expose all that pipe. And again, that was awesome.
It's been a week with 30 hours of stuff to do a day, where every dollar that shows up comes with a bill for two more, and where the club won't book you cause you played in a church, and the christian college won't book you because you drink beer. And yes, that really happened.
All that to say, the crowbar was therapeutic. And my trips back and forth to the hospital with my neighbor Kenny have been good for perspective. His wife is still in the ICU, but I wonder daily if he'll still be around when she comes home. He knows he's dying, and that makes my complaining about the plumbing seen pretty pathetic.
And so here I am, typing with both hands at the kitchen table while a 6-week old baby girl is sweetly sleeping across my forearms. Alison is singing "Old McDonald" while Ella is walking around saying "quack, quack, quack, quack" and laughing as if that was the funniest joke she ever heard.
I've been trying to come up with some nice thought to sum it all up and make this season make sense, but I'm drawing blanks, so how about a quick scene change and we'll end with a question. What's your favorite album or song for the crazy days? Why?
It felt pretty freaking awesome.
We've had some plumbing issues for a while and last week our kitchen sink started leaking water through the ceiling of the studio. The sink's drainpipe sits right above where my pedal board usually sits. Thankfully, the bulk of my rig was at another studio.
Long story short, we fixed a couple things which pointed out that there were bigger problems down the line, and that process repeated a few times. Next thing you know, the ceiling of the studio starts spouting random holes and water is pouring out onto the floor, the couch, right next to some guitars. There were a couple bathtubs worth of water sitting stagnant between the floor of the kitchen and the ceiling of the studio, and it emptied like a waterfall for a good ten minutes. All over. So gross.
So now I'm waiting for the plumber to get here (been saying that a lot this week) and he's going to pretty much replace every cast-iron pipe in the whole house. There's 40-some odd years of nastiness about to greet the sunlight for the first time.
I stayed up last night taking everything in the basement and putting it into very dense, yet wonderfully organized piles in parts of the room not located under a pipe. Then my brother-in-law Clay and I spent this morning ripping out the ceiling to expose all that pipe. And again, that was awesome.
It's been a week with 30 hours of stuff to do a day, where every dollar that shows up comes with a bill for two more, and where the club won't book you cause you played in a church, and the christian college won't book you because you drink beer. And yes, that really happened.
All that to say, the crowbar was therapeutic. And my trips back and forth to the hospital with my neighbor Kenny have been good for perspective. His wife is still in the ICU, but I wonder daily if he'll still be around when she comes home. He knows he's dying, and that makes my complaining about the plumbing seen pretty pathetic.
And so here I am, typing with both hands at the kitchen table while a 6-week old baby girl is sweetly sleeping across my forearms. Alison is singing "Old McDonald" while Ella is walking around saying "quack, quack, quack, quack" and laughing as if that was the funniest joke she ever heard.
I've been trying to come up with some nice thought to sum it all up and make this season make sense, but I'm drawing blanks, so how about a quick scene change and we'll end with a question. What's your favorite album or song for the crazy days? Why?
Reader Comments (23)
sorry
Favorite Album for Crazy Days: 40 Acres or U2's greatest Hits. First helps me just chill, 2nd helps me to Rock out and vent. If i just need to relax overall and fall asleep, I kid you not Chariots of Fire soundtrack is wonderful....
That's no fun. I hope your week drastically improves.
If I need ultimate relaxation, there is a cd we bought when our first daughter was born called Bedtime Prayers and it's by Twila Paris. It's not something I listen to regularly, but man, if I need to relax nothing does a better job. It's just really sweet, soothing and uplifting.
On the other end of the scope, if I'm having a crazy day and something just needs to be done about it, "It's On" by Superchick gets my adrenaline pumping. (It's also a great running song).
You'll think I'm nuts, but I'll respond anyway. I received Josh Groban's new CD "Awake" for Christmas and enjoy listening to the song "You are Loved." Very reaffirming. Anyway, if everything is going crazy and I want to listen to something really loud to block it out, I put in the CD "Rock the Flock" by Khool Praize. I picked this CD up in a bargain bin for a couple of bucks several years ago and I still love this Aussie CD. Then again, if I'm all pensive about life, I'd probably toss in a Rich Mullins CD.
Favorite album for the crazy days?
What else? "Coming to Life" by The Normals. That's the best "crazy day" album ever.
Seriously. I'm not kidding.
Man, sorry about the crappy week.
Patty Griffin is often my soul-soother. Impossible Dream (not to mention everything she's done) is full of songs that are relaxing - "Top of the World," "Rowing Song," and of course "Kite Song." whew.
Burp Burp Chicken Wiggle... don't spit up, don't spit up..... that's all we listen to around here - when every day is crazy.
One of my favorite albums to wind down to after a crazy day is "Not all who wander are lost" by Chris Thile. Raining at sunset is so beautful I think it could make anybody chill. 40 acres is also another good choice to echo an earlier comment. Table for two has gotten me through many a selfish "why am i still single? "moment.
If I want to get my energy up right now my ultimate track is "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse- it literally rocks my face off. (:
I think of the crazy test to good music, is sometimes the commute of rush hour in nashville.
* love and thunder-andrew peterson
*why should the fire die-nickel creek
*live from new orleans-ginny owens live cd
*elizabethtown movie soundtrack
Rubber Soul-Beatles
Fight For Your Mind-Ben Harper
XO-Elliot Smith
Albums for crazy days:
Throwing Punches in the Dark - Matthew Perryman Jones
1000 Kisses - Patty Griffin
Why I Sing the Blues - B.B. King
Songs for crazy days:
I'm So Tired - The Beatles
Another Day - Steven Delopoulos
Lenny - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Rain - Patty Griffin
Five for Fighting - The Battle for Everything, anything Vanessa Carlton, or John Meyer's latest.
And if I want to jam while trying to sort the craziness: (don't hate me) Best of Bon Jovi. But always with the door closed and/or headphones.
I third KRS II and Tom with 40acres. I used to hate that album. Then one day it was all I had to listen to. I was pissed off with the world. It was just what I needed (aside from a good reading of Matthew 5-7). I also listen to some Sufjan Stevens (I know, you're wary of him. But dude. Dude. 'Illinoise.' its great... just ask clyde)
I am also diggin Over the Rhine's 'Ohio' record. "Changes come", as you probably know, is an amazing tune to restore sanity. Just listening to her say "Changes come, turn my world around. Changes come, burn the whole thing down" over and over again is very awesome.
AO. You are the man. I am praying for you and your joy, and of course, your family. Look only to Christ for your satisfaction. Love His word.
tk
Hmm. It's good to know that folks like you that have had (and left) recording contracts and that have the soul of a storyteller get turned down for gigs for those reasons.
"We played the flute and you didn't dance.
We sang a dirge and you didn't cry."
I wonder if one can call that persecution. For the sake of the middle class, let us hope so.
Crazy day albums:
Over the Rhine - Drunkards Prayer - because the whole thing is like rocking to sleep in mother's arms, especially that sax solo on "Little Did I Know," and because it puts us all in the same struggling boat, watching in surprise as some ghost comes stepping across the waves.
The Blue Nile - Peace At Last - because the music is soothing in the vein of "I'll Be Watching You" (Police), and the lyrics reveal the beauty in the ordinary.
" I want you back" by the jackson 5.....
sweet sweet motown
"where the club won’t book you cause you played in a church, and the christian college won’t book you because you drink beer. And yes, that really happened."
Well, I don't know why you would be surprised that a Christian college wouldn't book you because of the beer thing if it's a school that, technically at least, doesn't allow their students or staff to drink it. I'm just wondering how did they KNOW you drink beer? Did you have to fill out a questionaire or something?
Good call on the Blue Nile, whipple. Although, as one who's not daunted by 80's synth sounds, I prefer their previous album "Hats" - so atmospheric, soothing, melancholy and yet strangely hopeful.
Daniel Lanois's "Shine" is a good one too. And Peter Gabriel's "Up" has just the right balance of paranoid mania, sadness, and beauty to perfectly score some of the crazy days I've been having lately. David Sylvian (a lot of his stuff), Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life," man...the list is too huge.
eastmountainsouth for me. maybe a little 'october road' by james taylor thrown in for some extra relaxation.
How about "Crazy Times" by Jars of Clay?
Definitely sorry to hear about the waterworks; I've had a bit of that myself at home.
"The rain in (the)basement
falls on the righteous and the wrong"
*groan*
If it's been really crazy and I some music to deal with it, I head for Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Man, does it groove.
Anything by AP, Sara Groves' Station Wagon, or Derek's Mockingbird.
P.S. - What I said above unless the craziness has to do with being single and lonely. Then I listen to A Place Where You Belong.
Typically I dig out Pink Floyd's live album, Pulse for those really depressing days. Sometimes it feels good to wallow a bit, ya know.
I remember ripping out a bunch of drywall at my brother-in-law's house and thinking it was pretty fun. Then again, it wasn't my job to fix it . . .