Technology has a way of reminding you once in awhile that IT is in control, not us. I got such a reminder these last few weeks when my digital home studio recorder (the Korg D1200) went haywire; that’s why I’m a couple weeks overdue with this blog entry. It’s not that it quit working, but it did decide to do two jobs instead of one: (1) record my songs; and (2) simultaneously record phantom radio programs from locations unknown on the same tracks as my songs. And then after two weeks of this nonsense it just stopped. The same thing happened a couple months ago, so if any techies out there know why this might have happened and can help me prevent it from happening again, by all means, please stand and be recognized.
Meanwhile, I was traveling quite a bit on business and planning several more trips this summer for vacation and business. For instance, I’m on a plane to NYC as I’m typing this. Just a daytrip today, but tomorrow we fly to Amsterdam to visit my daughter who’s been there “studying” abroad for months. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from her and I miss her very much. Can’t wait to hug her and smell her hair for tell tale traces of too much time in the Amsterdam coffee houses ;-).
During one recent business trip I made a whirlwind tour of my company’s California sales territories and then caught a Saturday night red-eye home from San Francisco that connected to Raleigh in Boston. Those of you who travel frequently know the drill on West-East transcontinental flights: three or four hours of fitful sleep and you wake up feeling like someone drugged you. So, I was in that physical state sitting at Logan Airport waiting to make my connection home to Boston while thinking about all the other travel I’ve got coming up, including a trip to visit sales territories in Houston, Dallas and Austin. And I was thinking about my band and all the great gigs we’ve got coming up and how at Merlefest this past month we actually dared to dream what it would be like if we got signed to a record deal and went on the road for awhile. And I was sitting in Boston trying to make my connection home and missing my wife and my kids. And I was mulling over why so many of the people in Los Angeles weird me out with their “if you ain’t in the business (of TV/movies) I got no time for you” attitude. And I was sitting in Boston trying to make my connection home. And then I was clacking away on my Blackberry Notepad …
MY CONNECTION HOME (G)
© Steve Celestini
Ran to Houston from the, damned confusion
That L.A., put on me
Texas is hotter than a, body oughta be
But least, I can breathe
L.A.’s, sly and foxy like a, devil’s proxy
But they chilled me, to the bone
Now I’m, melting in Houston trying to
Make my connection, home
Next stop’s Austin on my, way to Boston
Where a band, needs a song
Red street river might just, drown my liver
If I stay, too long
But a, night at Antone’s where the, music’s so gone
Could renew, my soul
So I’m, boozin’ through Austin trying to
Make my connection, home
I go round and down through bedrock ground
Just to come up on the other side of … where?
And every town I bounce around
Confirms that I’m just plain homesick and … scared
When this, bus hits Richmond, I’ll be, primed and itching
For a telephone
To tell her I’m, quitting in Richmond trying to
Make my connection, home
If she’ll take me back I’ll jump this track’s
Got me living like a man without a … plan
Spent all this time living in my mind
So why should she agree to take me back … again?
Still I’m, hitching to Raleigh picking, flowers on the highway
Cuz I finally know
It’s time to, quit this roaming and to
Make my connection, home
I suppose this one’s mostly self-explanatory, but I’ll cast a little light on some of the more obscure references for you. “Red street river” and “a night at Antone’s” refer to a couple of the more popular drinking/live music locales in Austin. I’ve never been, but I hear tell that’s a crying shame and I intend to get there soon. “[H]itching to Raleigh picking, flowers on the highway” is a tribute and note of thanks to the band Old Crow Medicine Show and their song “Wagon Wheel”. My band covers that song regularly and people seem to really love our version as evidenced by the standing ovation we got when we played it at the last Merlefest. Read the lyrics in the first verse of that song and you’ll get what I mean. And finally, “It’s time to, quit this roaming” is my tribute to another great artist we love to cover, Steve Earle, and more specifically his song “Steve’s Last Ramble.” That’s another tune that we regularly play late in shows that consistently gets a rise out of folks.
Just about time to land at La Guardia, so thanks again for reading and hopefully I’ll be more consistent with my entries in the future. To that end, I’m hedging my technology bets by wagering heavily on Apple: I’ve got a MacBook on the way that should serve both as my writing and recording device and my until recently reliable Blackberry has just been replaced by an iPhone. The signs are good that I’m making the right move. Turns out the guy in the seat next to me on this flight is a banjo-playing business man who loves his MacBook and says I should definitely check out Apple’s Garage Band software for recording live before sinking a lot of money into ProTools. Thanks, Mike from Chapel Hill.
To listen to “Make My Connection Home”, please click here and use Steve’s MySpace Music player.
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