That's gonna leave a mark ...

Well, today at guitar camp, I got a tattoo. Okay, it's a press on tattoo, but I'm thinking of making it the real thing. It's the circle of fifths with a snake as the circle. Check out the pic. It's a handy little tool complete with a chord speller in the middle.


I have graduated to music geekdom.

All hail the music geeks.

It's been a full day. I haven't had a chance to come back to the room to chill before now. Classes in the morning, then a half capo workshop after lunch followed by another class and a free form writing session with a fellow student. The teacher calls it "ink vomit" - just five minutes of free form writing based on a beginning phrase. This is part of the songwriting course I picked up after dumping the "Stealin' from Chet" class that was going to be too over my head technically.

It's turned out to be a great switch since my other two classes are theory. The songwriting class gives me a chance to let the right brain play and it's like a kid going to recess for the first time in months. On the monkey bars, jumping off the swings, then jumping off backward, getting dizzy on the merry-go-round. Damn. This kid hasn't played in awhile. It's nice to have the freedom to do that.

The "ink vomit" (I do hate the word "vomit") is an interesting exercise. You take a phrase and just riff on it and see where it leads. The one the fellow student and I did began with a line from a poem she had: "If the moon were a house ..."

Here's my ink vomit (actually lead vomit, since I used a pencil):

If the moon were a house, I'd sell it to the highest bidder and immediately buy it back. If the moon were a house it would be finely decorated, but have no atmosphere (ba, dum, bump), If the moon were a house I could see inside your window every night and watch over you as you sleep. I'd build an addition just to block out the sun, so you'd have to stare at the moon the rest of your life. If the moon were a house, I'd paint it purple with beige trim and make the property values of the universe plummet. If the moon were a house I'd put a couch on the porch and park my beat up Chevy on the craggy lawn. No need to worry about the growing grass because it's the moon. If the moon were a house, I'd have you over every night so we could shoot pool, drink beer and watch the world go round. If the moon were a house I'd live there forever but I'd kick the old man out and make the place my own. If the moon were a house, we'd live there together until we grow too old then we'd simply float away into space. Floating forever, away from the moon where we made our house.

Well, they call it "vomit" for a reason - but there's a fun song in there somewhere ...

I'm including a shot of the pedestrian bridge to the other side of campus. Warren Wilson is gorgeous and the view of the mountains with the morning mist is breathtaking. The bridge is beautiful and represents what I'm working on this week - bridging that gap between mind and spirit, body and soul, music and musician.

I'm well on my way to that spiritual journey - and I know it's gonna leave a mark.