Last week I spent a fast weekend in Dallas on the foot of a larger trip to Houston. While there, I went to a club called Brooklyn with my dad to see Martha Burks and The Band. Martha Burks was good, but her band was fucking incredible. I don't drop the f-bomb too often on my blog, so when I do, you know it's justified.

Listening to these guys is like good foreplay. It lulls you into this pleasant, listless state of sensory bewilderment. You become warm and weightless, like you're floating in some viscous, primordial gel. You forget things you once knew. Each taste, each smell, is a strange encounter. Small things like breathing suddenly don't matter. And in this sensory overload, you begin to feel almost numb, anesthetized. You find yourself detached and wishing it wouldn't end, but with fear and loathing, you know it will. And the only thing to do is hope you won't embarrass yourself too crudely when it does.

Eh-hem.

Anyway, the drummer was this heavy-set guy who tended to look out the window most of the gig, which gave the appearance of effortlessness, boredom, or both. But every once in a while he'd turn and make a motion to one of the other band members and you'd see that his whole mind, possibly his whole being, was in the song. His solos were these free-form, off-beat, almost a-rhythmic series of ripples and pulses that somehow fell into cadence at the end of it all. Unreal. The bass and keyboard player were equally impressive. At one point the keyboard player played this series of triplets that caused a strange utterance to escape my mouth. It was gibberish. But I had said it and it seemed good.

Yes, these guys reminded me why it is we play music - to transcend our normal language and rise to something more basic, more instinctual, more universal. I left the club feeling inspired and that night I dreamed deep colors and rich plots. Now, all I can think about is playing music. Other things are beginning to pale in comparison. Sometimes, I won't think about playing music. During these times, these times when I'm not thinking about playing music, I'll think about listening to music, and this will inevitably lead me to stop thinking about it and instead start listening, start playing.

Which brings me to Mat's music survey which he has passed on to me, among others:

Total Volume of music files on my computer: 7.54 GB, 1,176 files, 225 folders.

Last CD I bought: Well, the last full CD I bought, was actually downloaded from iTunes and was Bob Schneider's I'm Good Now (Amazon Link), which has a couple of great tracks on it, including the title track.

Song playing right now: Corn Flakes and Sodium Penethol by Bob Schneider (The Galaxy Kings)

Five Songs I listen to a lot these days:

I'm Good Now, Bob Schneider from I'm Good Now
"Untouchable Face," Ani DiFranco from Dilate
"Too Far Apart," Wilco from A.M.
Ireland, Tori Amos from The Beekeeper
Getting Better, Bob Schneider from I'm Good Now

Wow, looking at those, it appears I'm in some strange sort of 'recovery' mode. Must've been the recent trip to Texas, and the resulting excavation of my past, that did it to me. Well, I've surfaced and am better for it.

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