Oof dah

The bone-melting heat has subsided in Los Angeles. I can now go outside without fear of spontaneously combusting.

So what am I doing at this computer? I'm getting cracking on the three (possibly four) short films I'm scoring.

Each of them will be six and a half minutes long. One is a Japanese war film, one is set in Spain at a bakery, and the other is a comedy that tours classic movie locales (Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Die Hard).

Tonight will be our first rehearsal in many moons with the Drake Bell band to prep for our jaunt through Illinois. This makes me happy.

Friday I'll be playing a gig with my Norwegian singer friend Therese Ulvan. We're doing a private concert for a Norwegian school that's on a field trip to LA. As my Norwegian grandma would say: Oof dah.

Let's get Bizet.

Favorite Spheres

Hello blogosphere!
What is happening?
Not much here, just cooking inside my skin, inside this sweltering atmosphere. Blogo, and atmo are two of my favorite speres, by the by, followed closely by basketballs and tennis balls.

I'm getting geared up for the Midwest Tour.

Here's the deal:

May 4, 2009 : Lee's Smmit, MO (Kansas City) : Performing at Jerry’s Bait Shop
May 6, 2009 : Lee's Smmit, MO (Kansas City) : Performing at Jerry’s Bait Shop
May 7, 2009 : Minneapolis, Minnesota : Performing with Kevin Steinman at 400 Bar
May 10, 2009 : Omaha, Nebraska : Performing at Slow Down
May 11, 2009 : Chicago, Illinois : In-store performance at Apple
May 11, 2009 : Chicago, Illinois : Performing at Subterranean

Won't that be neat? I think it will.

Did I mention that I'm at http://twitter.com/zackhexum fifteen times? Ok, good.

I had a dang fun time sitting with Tim Fagan at the Witches Brew. We did mad covers. It inspired me to learn a few myself. Yesterday I mostly learned Wilco's "Jesus, Etc" and The Shinses' "Australia". It was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday. The trick is to commit the lyrics to memory. I don't have a hard time remembering my own songs once I write them, since I have to listen to them a billionty times. I've discovered my memory works best when I don't think about it at all. If I start to think ahead to what line comes next it's a fairly sure path to disaster. I have to use both hands to cram information into my brain, but once it's in there it's semi-permanent.

micro-payment of attention

Two open letters to my last two venues:

Dear Zoey's,
You are real nice to me. I had a damn fine time with you on Friday night. Jes Hudak sang real purty. Your renovations and cafe spot downstairs are perfect additions to your beautiful space. Let's do it again real soon.

Sincerely,
Xaque

Dear Hotel Cafe,
We done did it again. There were many old/new friends at you. Erik Kertes played his bass/face off at you. Joel the Martin and John the Wicks brought beautiful happy vibes to you/me/the audience. I salute you, and after I'm finished saluting you, I welcome our next encounter with open arms.

Sincerely,
Zack

Yes folks, I'm in the afterglow of a couple of darn fun concerts. What now? A busy week of writing, recording, and weaving (What? I don't know how to weave or bob, for that matter. Start making sense or I'm weaving!).

As you can deduce the caffeine is in full effect, and I don't feel the least bit bad about it.

I started reading James Michener's "Alaska" this weekend. 950 pages to go: better pack a lunch.

I think the reason that Twittering is such an addictive habit is because it's a micro-payment of attention. When I write a blog, I want to make it worth while (so I suppose now is as good a time as any to say "whoops, my bad!"). When I write a tweet, I can do it in line at the post office. I suppose I could approach blogs in the same way, but/yet I do not.

So what do I have to say that's worth while: the sun is shining in California and there are infinite possibilities. Let's go effect the outcome.