Picked up my new plates today. hehe 

I didn't think I got royalties until the advance was paid back, but I guess the "advance" was more like a "signing bonus." Cool with me because I received my first check today. So far, the book has sold 116 copies between April and June 30. Not much, but interesting to know regardless. 

Because I'm so busy, yo.

That mystery film you've been refreshing for? Keep waiting. I haven't been able to decide on the best underscore music for it. And, the thrill of almost dying alone on the side of a mountain at the exact border shared by Oregon, Nevada, and California, miles from anywhere and visible only from the air has kind of worn off. Still the Wagon Wheel motel was pretty sweet and I do really like the scenery in far northeastern California. Don't worry too much...I'll get to it.

Um...what else.

R3P and Pete went on vacation to Yosemite in August. Went hiking and came across a bear. A small bear to be sure, but a real one. Pete, drawing on previous encounters with bears, threw rocks at it until it sauntered off down the side of the trail into the brush. Also, lots and lots of very not-so-scared deer in Yosemite Valley. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a bad thing. Kinda neat to stand ten feet from a grazing buck and doe on a bright Saturday morning though. Was the first time in a while that Pete'd stayed in the Valley, and particularly at the touristy accomodations (campgrounds count). Back in the day he only camped in the woods with other backpackers. Oh yes, had a surprise visit from Mr. Raccoon, who wandered in the open door of our room at the Yosemite Lodge and went straight for our food bag. Easily shoo'd away, of course. Dropped the digital camera on some rocks after a fellow hiker had taken a picture of us at Hetch Hetchy. Crocodile tears all round since Pete's been hoping for an excuse to upgrade. And upgrade we did the very next week to a 7 megapixel Canon with a 1GB storage card. Phenomenal picture quality and amazing printing results when printed on mom's brand new multifunction HP printer.

This summer's TV show: Stargate SG-1. (not that it's summer anymore...I know...though it's almost summer in the AU) R3P has always had a soft spot for it, and Pete thinks it's ok. We're only in the middle of Season 2, so it's still a little low-budget.

Have switched most of the light bulbs here to mini compact fluorescent bulbs that use about 25% the electricity of regular bulbs. You should, too. They're a bit of an investment but they're worth it.

The Stockton Symphony season has started up again, so the process of preview articles and reviews has begun. First one came out a couple of weeks ago and the conductor actually called our place to say how much he liked the piece. Not sure how to take that given the complex role these features play and that whole objectivity thing, so I'll take it as a compliment from a musician whom I admire. You all can search recordnet.com for me and read things if you want.

Um...what else. I'm sure you're all just hanging on here...

Well, if I think of something more interesting than a new grill and a new set of bedroom furniture, I'll let you know. 

Don't know why, but I've been on a bit of Cheap Trick kick lately (try saying that ten times fast...). Of course there's "Dream Police," with its excellent combination of singable melody, quirky drama, and a perfect pinch of musical complexity to make it stand out. Pete and some UCLA folks worked up that number, along with some other gems of the 70s, for an informal performance at IASPM-US 2003 in L.A., so the song's always been fondly thought of.

Then Amper7sand said Pete would like their album In Color. Finally got around to buying it, three years later, and found I/Pete did like it. And thus, the impulse buying began, aided by "cheap" used versions of the Cheap Trick remasters on Amazon. Received Heaven Tonight (the album after In Color) just before the Yosemite trip. And, on the way to NE CA to almost die on a mountain side, I picked up the Dream Police album. Finally, yesterday the first Cheap Trick album arrived.

But that's not all. Some time ago I read an interview with Jake E. Lee, former guitarist for Ozzy and founder of Badlands, wherein he remarked that during soundchecks on the final Badlands tour the band worked up covers of songs by Captain Beyond. Curious, I downloaded a few songs and thought, "meh." Somehow I changed my tune, perhaps due to the Cheap Trick thing, and bought the band's first album, Captain Beyond, from 1972. It's kind of bizarre music in its combination of Hendrix-style blues rock, progressive rock time signatures, and reeeeaaallly far out lyrics about when the moon speaks to the sea and stuff like that. All in all, though a fascinating musical document from an under-theorized era in rock music history (post-Beatles, right at the start of genre explosion).

Well, maybe the 70s feeling has passed because my most recent purchases (last week) were all metal albums from 2006. Oh well.