Paul Roub : blahg

I'm recording a CD. Almost said "a new CD", but where's the old one?

Somehow, over the years, recording a CD of just-me-n-a-guitar has always been the next thing I was thinking about. Despite being the first thing, or the only thing, everyone asks for at gigs and in-between.

Stars are aligning, though, since I'm actually excited to do just that. Studio? Chosen and booked. Mastering and duplication? Priced. Artwork? Who knows; haven't come to that bridge yet. Funding?

Funding. That's where you come in, I hope.

In short: $1 or more is a helpful and appreciated boost. $10 pre-orders a CD, shipped to you and signed, as soon as one exists. $25 gets the same plus early peeks at the tunes. $50 lets you make me squirm, cringe, and bite my tongue as I cover the song of your choice. (you could also pick something I'd enjoy singing, but how's that fun?)

If you're unfamiliar with Kickstarter, where the project is living, it's kinda awesome: you pledge what you want towards my goal. If the goal is hit in time ($1050 by March 31st), you get charged. I don't hit the goal? No charge. All or nothing.

Take a look. Hop over to music.paulroub.com and take a listen. Tell your friends via those nice little Share buttons on the Kickstarter page.

Every little bit helps; and anything you can post on your Walls and your Timelines and your Twitter Streams is hugely appreciated.

I've set a short schedule because I'm stoked; this is going to be good. I'm proud of it in advance.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:34 AM | Permalink

I know I'm at least a year late on the "babbling about Evernote" train, but here I am anyway. I knew it was a nice app, heard all sorts of rave reviews... but having it on my phone kinda changes things.

In particular, I think this piece of software is going to let me write more songs. Leaving aside the question of whether this is a good or bad outcome for the world at large — as someone who (a) is a songwriter and (b) find himeself blocked more often than not — it's certainly a win for me.

I had the germ of an idea a couple of weeks ago. A lyric, in this case. Sometimes it's a fragment of melody, a chord progression, a theme... in any case, usually quickly forgotten. In this, I grabbed my phone, added a new note, titled it "Lyrics", and added one line:

He's been anything but kind

Had an inherent rhythm, suggested a lot of ways to continue. A good start. And now, I wouldn't forget it.

Fast forward a couple of days, I have some ideas for more lyrics, as well as some of the tune. New Audio Note time, and I warble this little bit of ridiculousness:

humming and la-ing like an idiot

and then some chords:

barely audible chords

Not done, maybe not good, but not forgotten. A few days after that, stuck for progress, I headed out to see Kayla Brown play. Well, not see; I sat at the counter, out of site, and just listened. Kayla's fantastic, I got inspired, and started free-associating lyric ideas, discussion of lyric ideas, arguments-with-myself, etc. Later, I scanned the scribblings in. Not forgotten:

Started to actually type out the lyrics into Evernote on my laptop (everything synchs everywhere, so all of my reference points were present).

Had most of the verse/chorus figured out, and recorded those to the laptop for future reference:

almost there

Finished it up, took it out and played it, and earlier this week recorded an actual demo. Here it is:

Paul Roub - A Little Bit Wiser

What I liked about the whole process was how unobtrusive and immediate it was. Evernote was my pocket notepad that can handle sound and pictures. The whole thing just came together so much easier than it has in the past.

Now watch me not write anything new for nine months.

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:49 PM | Permalink

Just posted a new demo, "A Little Bit Wiser".

This is not quite a week old, but I think I've mostly found it now, performance-wise. I think this will age well; finding something new every time I sing it.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:29 AM | Permalink

I'm heading back to Illinois on Sunday, and wanted to get out and play once while I'm here. Begged, borrowed and rented some gear. Indian River's open mikes are unstructured - no PA, no nothing.

So I'm bringing a PA. And some friends. And I'm planning to take over for about an hour, in return for you, me, and your dear friends buying delicious caffeinated beverages and things. We'll see how it goes.

Your friends? Tell them. Please.

Address, etc., at paulroub.com/gigs, as ever.

What's it gonna sound like? Me, pretty much: paulroub.com/audio/

There's a Facebook event page here. Be a fan, sign up, I don't know, I'm not the boss of you.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:16 PM | Permalink

There's a demo up of a brand new song. It's quieter, sadder, simpler than most of what I do. And, I think, one of the best things I've written.

Don't mind the vocals... body and voice are tired right now.

Paul Roub - One Man At Best (demo)

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:46 PM | Permalink

Just a quick, last-minute-ish reminder that I'm playing at Aroma Café in downtown Champaign this Wednesday. Starts at 7, ends about 9.

If you do come out, please say "hi" before; after; during a break; mid-song if you have to.

The details are, as always, on my gigs page. There's also a Facebook event page if you want to RSVP or Share (hint, hint). I created a MySpace event as well, but I don't know why. I think I just didn't want to hurt MySpace's feelings, all alone and graffiti-covered in the corner over there.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

... OK, yeah, I am actually a music nerd, but that's not the point here.

A Nerd Musician. But not in the MC Frontalot sense.

Maybe Geek Musician? Nah, "nerd" is the operative word here... in the socially-awkward, or at least socially-hesitant, sense.

If you're one of those, too, this may ring a bell:

I don't like asking people to come to my shows.

Even though I really want them to.

I hate describing what I do.

Even though I like it, and love playing and singing it.

I tend to get really embarrassed and uncomfortable when people compliment me at a show.

Although I love it so very much when that happens.

Online promotion works very well for people like me, at least for anxiety-avoidance. But how do I get someone to look at my site, join the mailing list, in the first place?

By making a personal or musical connection, of course. By, I don't know, inviting someone to come to a show. Personally.

So at the moment I'm sitting at Aroma Cafe, where I'm playing in a couple of weeks. There's a band playing tonight. During the breaks, I'm actually handing out fliers. To real live people. I kinda painted myself into this corner, purposely -- by making flyers that don't really work in piles or tacked somewhere. 'Cause there's a drive full of stuff attached.

Needless to say, way more fun than sticking a pile of paper in the corner, or clearing space on the bulletin board.

If you are one of the recipients of these drives, and you've made it this far, I should tell you this is likely the most-neurotic blog post I've ever written. Normally I hide all this silliness as well as everyone else. And I'm perfectly happy and content onstage. Promise. Look.

See you a week from Wednesday.

Yours in dweeb-ness, Paul

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:28 PM | Permalink

My friend and erstwhile bandmate Alex has a new CD coming out, and a couple of my songs are being covered in the process. Which is pretty flattering, and a bit humbling — he's taken two songs I never quite got a handle on, and handled them just fine.

So a little bonus side-effect is that one or both will probably now be pulled out of performance limbo, as I'm all excited about them again. Good chance you'll hear this one on the 1st:

The CD is due out August 21st, and you can and should and must pre-order it now, here.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:57 PM | Permalink

Just an early heads-up: Wednesday, July 1 I'm playing at Aroma Café in downtown Champaign. The show runs from 7 to 9pm.

More details and reminders to come, or watch the gig page.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just posted the roughest possible demo of a brand new song. My voice is shot, my G string goes out of tune midway through, and I don't care 'cause I'm happy to have finished something. I'll make it perfect later.

It's called "Half Way Home", and you can find it here

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hope everyone's holiday weekend went well. Mine involved kids, pools, puppies and NASCAR, so chalk that one up as a win.

But to the point -- just added a show for this coming Wednesday (July 9th), at the Iron Post in Urbana, with Eleni Moraites.

Showtime is 8pm, I'm on first, and the cover is $3.

Details, as ever, at paulroub.com/gigs

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At some point, the choices narrow down to:

1. Get a gig, already. The "I just moved" excuse dried up months ago. Or...
2. Dedicate yourself to the "notoriously reclusive musician" path

The former seems like much more fun.

So, three weeks from tonight (Thursday, May 29th), I'm at Aroma Cafe in Champaign. 8pm, followed by Carl Hauck at 9.

Updates, address, etc. are at paulroub.com/gigs, as always.

Posted by Paul Roub at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So who was better last night? Ben:

or Ben?

Ben Lee was just amazing — despite, or perhaps a little because of, ongoing equipment issues. No guitar in the PA? Just walk to the front of the stage and serenade a packed house unamplified. And continue to be amazing. No problem. He was just loads of fun, and impossible not to love.

And Ben Folds?

Was Ben Folds. And then some.

Being an old guy in a large crowd of UI students, it's easy to start off smiling nostalgically at the puppy-like quality of the bouncing, shouting, crowding-the-stage kids... until I realize I'm bouncing every bit as much, doing all my crowd-vocal jobs, screaming my head off when "Philosophy" started up...

In summary, music continues to be the best.

Oh, and who was better? Easy. Ben was.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Any day where I have soldering irons and guitars in my hands is a good one.

More explanation at the work blog.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, you may have noticed the lack of updates on the RPM Challenge — and you may have thought I hadn't done anything since Idiot.

HA!

Heh. Actually, you'd be right. For a variety of reasons — most of my family spent significant chunks of this month sick; an air travel nightmare or two; and the fact that I've had just enough of a cold the entire time to prevent a decent vocal take — have kept me from wanting / having the time to record.

And can we talk writer's block? I've written, I think, 10 choruses for the new song. I wish I could say they all suck in their own unique ways, but honestly they're a big, shapeless, boring blur to me. And the in-the-mail deadline is Saturday. So I was gonna quit.

But quitting is even more frustrating than all that. So...

I decided to look at the rest of this as though I were just demoing, or recording a gig. Tonight I sat down, set up a couple of mikes, and threw down "live" takes of:

1. Mind of Its Own
2. Disappear
3. Closer
4. Room To Breathe
5. Optional
6. How Do You Do It?
7. Not Wrong

I need to do the roughest of mixes before posting them, or at least edit out the squeaking chair, tuning, etc. at the beginning of each track. That's tomorrow. I'm tired.

Are they perfect? No. What I originally planned? Nope. Is this the version of "Closer" I've been wanting to get on tape? No. Do I have the faintest idea how to EQ a vocal? More than yesterday, yes. Slightly.

But am I happy with how it came out? Yep. Like a decent gig, on a night when I'm fighting a cold and temporarily winning. Nothing I'd try to package and sell, but that wasn't the plan, anyway...

Which isn't to say you shouldn't expect better, or at least more-polished versions, in the coming weeks. I'm getting the hang of this now.

And that chorus can't hide from me forever.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A rough cut of "Idiot" is up at the RPM Challenge site. It's low-fi, low-bitrate MP3 per their rules. I'll post it here in full HiFi modernistic glory once I'm happy with the mix. Not sure about the vocal -- my voice is shot today, but the sound kinda fits this song.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So how's that RPM Challenge going, you ask?

Well, I did plug one hole in the list -- another unrecorded oldie, "Idiot". And for no good reason, that's the one I've started with. It's one of probably two I'll actually do a full "band" recording of -- which is to say, me, a drum machine, bass, various guitars. So all the solo acoustic stuff should seem trivial. Ha.

Actually, part of the reason is that my voice is a bit out of whack this week, so I'm doing instrumental things as much as possible at the moment.

To that end, "Idiot" now has a full "drum" track and a rough guitar track which meshes nicely with same. Nicer guitar tracks plus bass in the next day or two.

Recording at home, by the way. The gear lineup is:

• Reaper v2.101
• The usual guitar menagerie, through a Line 6 TonePort UX2
• AudioTechnica AT3035
• AKG C 2000 B
• Boss DR-880

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RPM '08:

The RPM Challenge is simple: record an album in 29 days, just because you can. That's 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February.

OK, I'm in. Goals are good. Natural procrastinators like me need goals, and we need to say them out loud so that we don't weasel out.

I'm aiming for the "10 songs" variation -- mine run long, so 35 minutes seems like cheating.

There's old things that have never been properly recorded (not that my home demo setup really counts as "proper"), and I'll likely have to finish and/or create some new stuff. Channel my inner Jonathan Coulton. Maybe actually write a song about Jonathan Coulton. Perhaps everyone should do that. What's his birthday? Let's find out, and declare it National Everybody Write A Song About Jonathan Coulton Day (NaEvWrASoAbJoCoDa).

The list as it comes to mind right now:

• Disappear (live version here)
• Mind of Its Own (live version)
• Closer (Crash Basket version here, with the worst possible vocal)
• The Great Unknown
• two-thirds finished new song which has no title as yet
• Optional (demo version here)
• How Do You Do It? (you've never heard this one, it's old, jangly and fun)
• Room To Breathe (live version])
• ummm...
• and then...

If I'm forgetting something obvious that hasn't previously been committed to shiny plastic circles, let me know.

Posted by Paul Roub at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Yes I'm blue,
but from holding my breath
like I have from the start..."

Guster, "So Long", from Lost and Gone Forever (1999)

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Moving Guitars
Originally uploaded by Paul Roub

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did I mention I uploaded a new demo recently?

Well, I did. It's called "Optional". Somewhat different in tone than most of what's up for download; but almost exactly how I wanted it to sound.

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night was just fantastic. Money was raised, chocolate beers were drunk, and a ton of music was played. The whole night was great, but Alex/frenjen's set w/Gordon Withers on bonus cello was just brilliant; and Gordon's closing set of Jawbox-for-cello was just amazing.

For my part, that was one hell of a half-hour on stage. Gordon joined me for a cover of Jawbox's "Cooling Card", and elevated my little acoustic re-take to something much cooler. Then Alex clambered up to join me on "Disappear", followed by some actual Crash Basket material -- "Mind of its Own" and "No Problem". I don't know when I last played the latter, but I'm sure it didn't sound as good as it did last night. And then on my own for "Closer".

And the crowd and staff at the Funky Buddha couldn't have been nicer or more supportive.

Photos? Sure, have some.

Update: Jen weighs in on the night. Denny's was, indeed, fun.

Update 2: Neil sent some more pictures

Update 3: Some more photos up on Gordon's blog.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reminder -- this Saturday, June 16th, I'm part of "Recital for Survival", an SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) benefit show at the Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca Raton. I'll be joining Gordon Withers, frenjen, the Fantastic Five, and Anthony Hall

Showtime is 8:30pm. As ever, see paulroub.com/gigs for addresses, times, etc.

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

... was just amazing.

By my count, something like 72,000 Satellite students (and recent students) showed up. And many others for whom high school is a slightly more distant memory. There were T-shirts.

James Ryan filmed some of it.

Many photos were taken, none of the good ones by me. If you have them, send them along. I'll post them here, or somewhere.

Thanks to one and all -- to Brad for playing, Christy for singing, and to the Sun Shoppe for having me one last time.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This thing is just ridiculously fun. It works perfectly, the sound quality is excellent, and it's probably the best turntable I've ever owned. I realize that for audiophiles, I might as well say I'm playing LPs with a Cheeto attached to a party hat; but from my standpoint, it's a rock-solid, heavy turntable with a really well-balanced tonearm. Old, scratchy records sound remarkably clear, and all but the deepest gouges are ignored and left unskipped.

It ships with Audacity, but I imprinted on GoldWave so long ago that I never installed it. GoldWave's pop-n-click filter is effectively magic, and my iRiver is now filling up with out-of-print or just-never-replaced-with-CDs goodies. Obscure 70s and 80s Cleveland bands (is your copy of American Noise's eponymous album autographed? no? ha!); Queen's "Jazz" and "Live Killers"; and, at my kids' request, "Peter, Paul and Mommy" -- the same copy my parents used to play for me.

Next up, Nick Lowe. Almost wish there was some Clash or Who left that I haven't picked up in smaller, shinier form. I kinda miss the clicks, and Clampdown still sounds weird without that skip in the intro. And more of my parents' stuff that I hated as a kid, but now... hey, Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas! Awesome! But then, I recently lent my dad "Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Club", so maybe I'm cooler than he remembers, too.

Speaking of which, witnessing the proceedings, Miranda got curious:

M: What's that?

P: It's a record.

M: Is it like a kind of CD?

P: Yeah, sort of like that.

M: But how do you get music out of that?

I love that there's not a moment spent wondering how "High School Musical" comes out of an iPod Shuffle attached to a dancing toy dog. Of course that works.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Huge thanks to everyone who came out last night -- that was a lot of fun, with the percussion and the duets and the everything. Thanks, Brad. Thanks, Christy.

And just to give you a heads-up -- I'll be back at the Sun Shoppe on Saturday, January 6th, with Alesandra Valenzuela, a very cool singer/songwriter from California.

So if you missed last night, you and your holiday parties and families and wedding anniversaries and whatnot, this is your chance for redemption. Fun. I meant to say "Fun". And "Good Times" and "Music" and "Beer" and "Coffee".

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since the last one has generated many amusing responses, another video clip from the same 1993 show at the Talkhouse: "She Believes", again with the amazing Rich Lyles on guitar. I'd very nearly forgotten about this one; now I'm thinking I might play it Saturday night.

Posted by Paul Roub at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Next Saturday (December 16th, 2006) at 8pm I'm back at the Sun Shoppe for another evening of music and disjointed rambling.

Will there be guest vocals from Christy? Could be.
Brad on percussion? Very possibly.
A new song or two? One might hope.
Bloodshed? Almost certainly.

Always, always a great time playing there. All the more so if you join us.

Paul Roub Saturday, December 16th, 2006 at 8pm

The Sun Shoppe & Cafe
540 E New Haven Ave.
Melbourne
321-676-1438

As always, see paulroub.com/gigs for show details, directions, etc.

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeff Nall wrote a very flattering review of several of my tunes for the 12/8/2006 Florida Today. I'd link directly to the article, but it doesn't seem to have made it online. So I'm leaning on a fairly liberal interpretation of "fair use" and posting a scan of the whole thing right here:

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holy crap.

1993. The Stephen Talkhouse in South Beach. The "Artist Support" benefit show. Me, with a very... colorful shirt and extra-large hair. The fantastic Rich Lyles on guitar. "The Simple Things". Sorry for the quality, pulled this off a 3rd-gen VHS copy.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I neglected to say "thanks" to everyone who came out to the Sun Shoppe last Saturday -- a surprising number of you, in more ways than one. And it really was a good night -- not least thanks to my brother, Brad, bringing on the percussion.

Midway through the first set, I looked down and wondered why the hell these new strings already looked so rusty. Then I remembered that every time I've had that thought, it has not been rust, but rather the result of me wripping my right index finger to shreds. At that point, I also noticed that the strings were not the only part of the guitar so anointed.

Unusually, this time it was not during "Closer", when all caution and restraint are generally abandoned. I think it was during "Room To Breathe", but I don't know. Definitely a while before I actually noticed it had happened.

Hard to get a decent picture of the results, but here's the best I could get (click for a larger version):

And yes, those are droplets inside the guitar as well. You can't really make out the lovely spray pattern on the pickguard. One of the unsung benefits of tortoise-shell patterns, I guess.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've mentioned more than once that I did some guitar and vocals on a number of tracks on Lorena Mire's CD "Kid in a Candy Store". I thought it worth a mention that the disc in question is now available on iTunes, and that everyone in the universe should purchase it immediately.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sometime between then and Monday he somehow got himself an acoustic guitar and a MySpace account

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's the second gig this year! Man, this schedule is crushing.

And you'd better believe it's back at the Sun Shoppe. The people, the atmosphere, the food, the vibe, the art... hard not to have a great night there.

And there may be - dare I say it? New Songs. Just a couple.

When? 8pm, Saturday, August 26th, 2006. Two weeks from today.

Where again?

Sun Shoppe Café

As ever, for gig information, maps/directions, etc. see: paulroub.com/gigs

Update: Please note, and print, and share Amanda Williams's awesome flyer for this show...

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The previously-mentioned new features at openmikes.org are live -- let people know who you are, where you're playing; auto-comment approval for registered users; a number of interface tweaks.

Check it out; feedback is always, always welcome.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, that was quick. I mentioned the other day that Lore would have something new up soon...

And here it is. "Waking Hour" is one of the tracks I got to work on with Lore and the gang last year. Again, the Flintstonian guitar parts are mine. Also some killer violin work from Debbie Spring, and another name from the distant South Beach past, John Falcone, brings the bass.

This was recorded in pieces over time; when I did the guitars, there was no bass, no violin, etc. So this is the first time I've heard it fleshed out -- kinda fun to hear John (whose playing I always loved) echoing my guitar parts in the verses.

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lorena Miré has posted a new tune for your listening pleasure... it's called Kid in a Candy Store, and some of the guitars are courtesy of yours truly. How can you tell? The acoustics: Lore. Beautiful, atmospheric, perfect-finishing-touch electrics? Brian Franklin.

Noisy caveman electric stuff and jangly bits? That would be me.

Anyway, another great song with that amazing voice. FYI, I also lent a hand (vox, guitars) on "Movies in my Head", and some other stuff you'll hear soon.

Sadly, no recording yet exists of Lore and I sitting on the floor singing Diane Ward covers during rough mixing.

There's other (unrelated) things I'd like to blog about, but really, really can't. Blind rage doesn't always translate to enjoyable reading, anyway. But hey, here's a verse of a new song-in-progress:

I'm sorry that this mean old world
Refuses to revolve around your pretty little head
And the only way you know
To feel you're alive
Is to make someone else wish they were dead.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking for the few... the brave... the ones with a bit of time on their hands. Who attend open mikes, and use openmikes.org to aid in that endeavor.

Some new features are in the offing, not far from those mentioned here, and I'm at the point of wanting some real-user input. I'm the least-real-user, since (a) I wrote the thing and (b) I don't get out that much.

If you're interested, drop me a line at admin@openmikes.org.

Update, 3/18/06: testing is underway. See the New Features wiki page for details.

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So last night was just amazing. Speaking selfishly, that is... had a great time, enjoyed playing as much as I ever have, pulled some really old songs out of the hat. Amazing what a receptive audience and a great venue will do to your courage.

Thanks to one and all for coming out... as I've said before, I was really happy to be there. Probably see you there again in March. Maybe a birthday show. Hmm...

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Really should have posted this sooner. It's been on the gig list, and an email went out, but still...

Tomorrow night, Friday 2/17/2006, I'm at the Sun Shoppe in Melbourne. Starting at 9pm. 540 E. New Haven Ave.

A sad time there, for reasons detailed on their front page, but also a time for music and friends and food and drink and all the things the Sun Shoppe is there for.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I'm reading the latest Guitar Player, and I run across a full-page ad for a couple of Mel Bay artists. And one of them is Jonathan Kreisberg.

If jazz guitar is of any interest to you whatsoever, or jazz in any form -- you need to check out Jon.

I'm biased because I knew him years ago in Miami, and he's just a ridiculously nice guy. And an absolutely amazing musician, in so many genres. Not just chops -- although he has those for days -- but musicality, tone, vibe, inventiveness. Jon's the shit.

Visit Jon on CD Baby to hear some samples, and by all means buy the CDs...

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few people at the last Sun Shoppe gig told me they'd signed up for my mailing list, but I haven't seen their subscription notices. The problem here, in all likelihood, is that you need to confirm your list signup -- either by replying to the thanks-for-signing-up email, or by clicking on the link therein. If you don't do that, you never make it to the list.

So please, if you think you signed up for the list recently (or ever), take 1 second and do it again -- the worst that can happen is a note telling you you've already signed up.

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Tuesday went well. Had fun, made new friends, tied for first in the competition. And therefore, back I go on Tuesday (12/13) to the Sun Shoppe. Details / directions / etc. at paulroub.com/gigs, as always. This one's all about audience voting, so come one, come all. If I do somehow win, all the money will go to Broadway Cares / Equity Fights Aids.

The problem with that plan is -- I now give a damn whether or not I win.

Anyway, Tuesday was a blast. Very loose, fun set -- since the crowd was almost without exception there to see the other acts, I didn't have much to lose. So I just had a good time, played well, and it ended up being pretty infectious. The spontaneous, well-timed handclaps all the way through "The Simple Things" were a highlight for me. Thanks to those who know who they are.

That's the worst sentence I've ever written, I think.

To sum up: Tuesday. 8pm. Sun Shoppe in Melbourne. Eat, drink, clap, vote.

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reminder -- the Sun Shoppe gig is, in fact, tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 6) at 8pm.

The Sun Shoppe is located at 540 E New Haven Ave. in Melbourne. Call 321-676-1438 if you need more info.

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

... open mike in Montana, South Dakota, or Wyoming. And yet none have ever been submitted to openmikes.org.

Weird.

So c'mon, musical Montanans, South Dakotans and Wyomingites. Let's hear about it.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is too sad... Chris Whitley, 1960-2005.

"Living With The Law" was one of those records that makes everything else seem irrelevant for a while. It was so bare and raw and beautiful, and so much better, and it came out just when I really needed exactly those songs to obsess over for a year or so.

A huge concertgoing highlight of my life is seeing Whitley at the Stephen Talkhouse on South Beach; and having a beer with him and actually getting to thank him personally for his music.

My heart goes out to Dan and the rest of Chris's family.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday, December 6th, I'll be playing at the Sun Shoppe Café in Melbourne. This is actually part of their Battle of the Acoustics, a multi-week, single-elimination, bare-knuckles, WWF-sanctioned competition. I made some of that up.

In actual fact, I'm not aiming to win, so much as get in front of a local audience (since I live here now), and in front of the folks at the Sun Shoppe -- since I really like and want to play at the place; they don't have an open mike as a first-impression route; and it's well-documented that I'm no good at the gig-solicitation thing.

Regardless, the night should be fun, as the mix of performers (myself, Chris Kahl, Shorthand Provision and Moonshine Blue) is all over the musical map.

The show starts at 8pm; running order will be determined that night.

The Sun Shoppe is located at 540 E New Haven Ave. in Melbourne. Call 321-676-1438 if you need more info.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the plus side, the mixing is done on one of the two songs I helped Lore out with a few weeks ago. As an unexpected epilogue, I got to add some background vocals this week -- from home, while tending to the server crash. Mailed the vocal track back to Carlos, and voila.

Anyway, most of the guitars on there are mine, and a few harmonies to boot. Way fun, and so cool to hang with Lore again. Check out Movies in my Head.

More to come.

p.s. Extra points: spot the extra-special Night Ranger Guitar Moment!

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When emailing requests-for-booking-info to two different establishments, perhaps it would be best not to copy-and-paste the email from one to the other.

Or, if I must copy, make sure to correct the name of the club before sending.

So, yeah, I'm looking to start gigging some more (OK, at all). Hopefully I'll succeed despite my own best efforts.

Need I mention I've never played these places before? Way to make a first impression. Now to convince them that, if booked, I'll actually show up at the right address.

Anyway. I'd like to book at least some stuff since (a) I really miss playing, and (b) the dread of playing the same old shit usually kicks my lazy ass into writing mode. Haven't written a thing since "Disappear".

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The ever-helpful (but incorrectly spelled) openmikes.org furnished a list of nearby venues...

So sayeth someone who I believe to be named "Thomas".

Y'know, if you want to say the site's ugly, or "sloppy-looking" (I'm looking at you, Scott), or incomplete, I'm right with you. It will always be incomplete, always in progress, as it must be. And I'm no designer, as is plain.

But misspelled? Why, it's almost as though this guy were intentionally tweaking me, in some sort of good-natured sarcastic manner... Oh.

OK, then.

But anyway, I'm right. Sam says so.

Update: As ever, Sam makes his point. And Thomas is a good sport about the whole thing.

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Brian Franklin just announced the release of his new CD, "Desert Farmer".

Brian is an amazing guy, one of my favorite singer/songwriters, and generally a pretty patient and tolerant guy when dealing with people like, oh, me. Seriously, I've been listening to mixes of this for a while, and it's his best stuff yet. Grows and grows on you.

Go, preview, and buy the damn thing.

NOW.

Damn kids.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via the best ever, with instructions copied verbatim:

it's easy i promise. copy this list, post it on your blog. leave in the bands you have seen perform live and delete the ones you haven't seen. finally add new ones that you have seen until you have 25 bands. one * means the previous person had that band on their list. two ** means that the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list. add an * if you have seen the same band as me.

So here's my version. Odd that there's almost no overlap, when I love a lot of the bands in the previous list. I can't quite bring myself to believe I haven't seen Bob Mould. And I wonder if I can count Interpol since I saw Sam in the Holy Terrors several bazillion times? Nah.

1. metallica ****
2. paul westerberg
3. the replacements
4. elvis costello
5. cheap trick
6. frank zappa
7. richard thompson
8. michelle shocked
9. marilyn manson
10. the mavericks
11. jeff beck
12. nrbq
13. chris whitley
14. bruce springsteen
15. the who
16. paul mccartney
17. stevie ray vaughan
18. glen phillips
19. eric clapton
20. clarence gatemouth brown
21. prince
22. u2
23. r.e.m.
24. lone justice
25. the genitorturers

Yeah, I'm kinda old. Kiss my ass.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Had to mention that I got my Taylor back from J. Michael Instruments yesterday, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Hadn't been happy about the plugged-in sound (and old under-saddle Fishman setup); Jay recommended a B-Band dual-pickup system, with an onboard blender to a mono out.

First off, the new setup sounds amazing. As in, actually sounds like the guitar, instead of all quacky and piezo-y. And having blender/volume at hand, plus no more outboard preamp, is gonna be great.

While he was at it, of his own volition, Jay did a beautiful setup and action adjustment on the guitar. And wouldn't let it leave the store without polishing up the face. And just generally did beautiful work, and gave a shit about the results, even though as a luthier and seller of high-end guitars, he has better things to occupy his time than my little pickup job.

So chalk up one more customer-for-life. I'm sure he already has many.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thinking of adding some social / interactivity features to openmikes.org -- nothing major, just something to make it more interesting / useful to players, and maybe inspire them to contribute more updates.

I'm thinking of a lightweight registration -- just gimme an email and a handle, no spam will be sent, the email's not displayed, just for verification. And an optional URL. Then, you can log in and mark a given open mike, on a given day, with "I'm going". So musical acquaintances might better answer the question "is it worth going to... tonight". And of course, clicking on your name in the displayed list would lead to your upcoming open mike "calendar", for all to see -- with a link to that optional URL of yours. Note that this registration would *only* be required if you wanted to add your info in this way - I would never put up the slightest barrier to actually viewing the listings.

And now that you can do this, you'll want to add that night you're checking out that's *not* in our database yet, just so you can add the wonderfulness of you.

Second thought might be lowering the barrier to entry for adding a night -- I currently don't add them if I can't find a solid address, etc. Might arguably be better to allow the "incomplete" data in, with explicit requests displayed for the rest of the data.

And if I did that, then perhaps an automated click-the-email-link-to-verify system to get new nights posted more quickly (currently, there's a bottleneck, and its name is me).

Thoughts? Suggestions? Altoids?

Update, March 8, 2006: Starting to work on some of this. Beta-testers wanted.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

So I did indeed poke my head out while in Tampa, at Yeoman's Road Pub. That was fun -- nice people, some really talented performers, a huge beer selection, damn good shepherd's pie. My kind of night.

So someone from Tampa Gold (a Tampa nightlife website) was snapping some pics, and there they are, including this one:

I swear, it's a really baggy, open shirt. It is mainly filled with air. Nonetheless, I think I'm done with the beer and shepherd's pie for a while.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First time in a while.

Saw Elvis Costello and the Impostors last night. Oh my fucking god it was a great show. 25 or so years I've waited to see the guy, and damned if it didn't live up to my expectations. Played for two hours, barely stopping to breathe. Old stuff, new stuff, hits, obscurities. Didn't even mind the surrounding chatterbox idiots who couldn't be bothered by anything that doesn't get played on classic rock radio. Tough shit. I'm glad he mixes it up, 'cause it's certainly clear that he's far from bored with what he's doing.

A big highlight was a reworking of one of the Bacharach/Costello songs ("In The Darkest Place") with thick distorted guitar subbing for the strings. I gotta say, watching EC play guitar these days is a blast -- it's coming from this Neil Young-meets-Link Wray place, and he's clearly loving every second of it.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dug up an old Crash Basket song, "Nobody's Bleeding", off of our first casette (do we have to start explaining what those were yet? or is that a couple of years off?). I still don't have the DATs for that tape, but pulled this off of a compilation CD we were part of.

Anyway, I really like this one... certainly one of my favorite piss-and-vinegar lyrics, trying to be happy that a very-much-missed ex had moved on.

"When you said you were happy for me
Were you lying like I'm lying now?
Fresh in my hand there's seven stitches
Cardboard on the wall where the window used to be..."

Like all the good ones, this was just barely an exagerration at the time.

Good times, good times. I'm sure my then-current girlfriend was thrilled about this one. Certainly glad I'm not that self-absorbed and depressed now, but it sure made writing easier.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The Simple Things" is up for download again, at the audio page.

This is a live version, from an old compilation CD ("Live At The Square Vol II") of performers from the late, lamented Washington Square on South Beach. Really fun digging that out again, amazing how much great music was going on there... Diane Ward, Arlan Feiles & Natural Causes, Cell 63, The Holy Terrors... I could go on, and often do.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a similar (yet much more interesting) vein to my plea to club owners and their webmasters, Merlin Mann offers up Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make.

Dead on. Check it out if you're a musician looking to use your website to your best advantage.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Winer, that is. Lady Madonna, that is. Nice to know I'm not the only one hooked on that song. Since age 5, in my case.

And I'd love the chock-full-o-Beatles hard disk too, although if I'm forking over $249, I'll take FLAC or another lossless format. Actually, how 'bout a lossless version + really-high-bitrate MP3? Or Ogg, but that's just me, since not everyone is going to listen on an iRiver.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, wish I'd taken some "before" pictures. Jean has sent along work-in-progress pictures of my (former) old, trashed Ovation.

Wonder if he'd sell it back? :-)

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And for the first time in 10 years, an update to the Ovation saga.

No, the guitar hasn't magically healed itself. No, I never ever heard back from anyone at Kaman. No, I still have no intention of buying another Ovation.

But a guy named Jean Godbout decided he wanted to take a stab at repairing the thing (for his own edification). I told him it was his for the taking, if he'd cover shipping.

He sent me the check, then a few hurricanes hit Melbourne, and he waited patiently while I was a bit busy with all that.

But last week I finally sent him the damn guitar. Be interesting to see what he can do with it... but his previous work is pretty encouraging.

And yeah, I realize the gist of Jean's page is far from "hey look at the neat stuff I built." I'm just pointing out that he's built some nice guitars.

Update: Jean sent a link to pics of an OM-style guitar he built here. The Ovation's in good hands.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man Without Ties (great Paul Westerberg fan site) posted MP3s of a solo show (May 15, 2004 in Louisville). Great stuff.

I added it to Webjay for ease of playing, and stuck "Alex Chilton" up top out of complete self-indulgence...

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking for a case for a case. More specifically, looking to get an Anvil-type case to hold my grandfather's 1930's tenor guitar, in its (no longer all that sturdy) case. So a solid case, foam-lined to fit and protect the guitar in its original case.

Anyone have experience with one manufacturer or another? This doesn't necessarily have to be flight-certified, just want the aging instrument and case to be well-protected and supported.

Let me know. Thanks.

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Al Stevens was a programmer/columnist/author for many years -- and his C column was my favorite part of DDJ most months.

Now that he's retired, Al's back to playing music full time. And now that we've moved to Melbourne, I'm just gonna have to go catch him playing in Cocoa Beach.

Anyway, Al's guidelines for jazz sit-ins apply equally well to all sorts of open mikes and jams, just substitute "rock" for "jazz", "Oops, I Did It Again" for "Love Potion Number Nine", etc. To the point, and funny.

#10: If you are not trained in music theory, don't scat. If you are trained in music theory, don't scat very often.

Posted by Paul Roub at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember in Orwell's 1984, the idea of "Room 101"?

'You asked me once,' said O'Brien, 'what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.'

I think I've found my Room 101. Rock 'N' Roll Holiday Escape with Journey, R.E.O. Speedwagon and Styx.

And how cool is to be able to say this is via Bob? Mould, that is.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had posted this as a news blurb on openmikes.org, but I don't really think anyone reads those. Everyone heads straight for the calendar or search.

Since this blog has a couple of readers, anyway, it seemed worth making the point again. This is about as pedantic and Jakob-ish as I get.

OK, this one really has nothing to do with Open Mikes, or openmikes.org, or me, or the musicians who make up most of the site's readership. It's for that other percentage, the club/bar/coffeehouse owner/manager/employee.

I have a very simple request. This is me speaking as a visitor to your site, and potentially to your club:

Include your full street address on your home page. Preferably everywhere, and at least somewhere.

I know, how obvious could this be, right? You'd think. But time and again, as I search for correct street address and contact information for a new listing, I get all excited that the venue in question actually has a site. And not quite half the time, it takes a pretty thorough search to find an address. And about one quarter of the time, I find none.

Now, I applaud the listing of menus, drink specials, entertainment calendars. But if any of those interest me, I might actually want to come down there. "In the heart of Old Town" or "across the street from Gilby's BBQ" won't help if I didn't grow up there.

That's it. That's my request. I thank you, and your new customers - who can now find you - thank you too.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The photo album is now running the Gallery package. Added "photo album software" to the list of "stuff that exists in such nice canned form I see no reason to go on maintaining my homebrewed version."

Better to put the time/effort into things like IE View, work, life... Maybe actually uploading some photos, for instance.

Anyway, login username is "guest", password is the same as it ever was.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Added another song from the 4/23 show with Brian Franklin. "Room To Breathe" is now up on the audio page.

p.s. If "Disappear" sounds better, it's because Mark Borrow tweaked the audio a bit since I first uploaded it; if "Room To Breathe" is audible at all, it's because I followed his recommendations and did the same.

p.p.s. Added "Mind of Its Own" from the same show.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That was fun. Brian and I had a great time, managed to get an audible soundboard recording on the iRiver (excerpts to be posted soon). As a bonus, Jack Shawde and Matt Sabatella came out, and were drafted into service as well. Thanks to all who came out, thanks to Jack and Matt, and especially thanks to Brian. We'll definitely be doing this again.

And a personal triumph -- for the first time in recorded history, I broke no strings. Brian broke four. I'm a bad influence.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reminder - Brian Franklin and I are at the Chocolate Moose tonight (4/23, 8pm). Gonna be a blast. Details at the gigs page.

Best part of this week -- since Brian and I will be playing on each other's songs all evening, it's been all-Brian-all-the-time on WinAmp and the iRiver. Great, great, great stuff. I'll kill him if "Starting To Unfurl" isn't in the set list tonight.

Posted by Paul Roub at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ye Olde Crash Basket CD, "Letters", has been re-ripped and re-uploaded. It had been pointed out to me that the MP3s that were up had some pops and other errors in them, so I took another stab.

Higher-quality this time, as well (and therefore larger), since I'm assuming fewer people need to grab them at 56.6K.

Go get 'em...

Posted by Paul Roub at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another gig reminder -- this Sunday (March 21), I'll be playing two sets at Pinecrest Gardens, as part of the Folk Music in the Gardens concert series.

I'll be on at 12pm on the main stage, 2pm on the Imagination stage. Details abound, check them out.

Posted by Paul Roub at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brian's show, that is. Hadn't seen him live in a billion years, and forgot how good he is. And he graciously invited me to do a couple of songs, and it was a complete blast.

So one thing led to another and we're playing together April 23, again at the Chocolate Moose. Not sure if we're doing separate sets, or a round-robin setup, but I'd expect a lot of collaboration. Can't wait.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm going to hear Brian Franklin play tonight.

And dammit, so should you.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a reminder that I'm playing the Chocolate Moose tonight. I'm feeling lousy, particularly throat/voice-wise -- historically, this means:

1. Things will be very loose and off-the-cuff, and therefore...
2. Fun
3. I will complain a lot about the state of my voice
4. Everyone else will think it was just great, and what the hell was I whining about?

So remember -- Paul feels like crap, that's the night to come on out. Next time I'm aiming for some sort of tumor.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Three upcoming shows on the list at the moment. That's definitely some sort of record for the current millenium.

LoveJen Family Festival, Saturday, February 7, 2004

A benefit for the LoveJen fund, helping families of children with cancer. My set's around 11am.

Chocolate Moose Coffeehouse, Thursday, February 12, 2004

Cool, funky coffeehouse with good food. There's about three of those left, I think. Show starts at 8pm.

Folk Music in the Gardens, March 21, 2004

Celebrating the day after my birthday as part of the monthly concert series going on at this beautiful park, the former site of Parrot Jungle. Playing a couple of sets between noon and 5pm. Should be fun.

See the gig list for addresses, etc.

Posted by Paul Roub at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Paul Roub at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Silly me, tried to download "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", from Concert for George, via Rolling Stone.

Free downloads are good.

DRM, not so good. Especially when there's a separate web hit involved. To get a license. To listen to a free download.

And then they break the stupid thing.

I'll bet it'll sound pretty good, someday. I'd very likely buy the CD if I could hear this -- say, in that nasty ol' MP3 format.

Posted by Paul Roub at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a gig. Tomorrow. I'm involved.

Honest.

Posted by Paul Roub at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sticking to the completely trivial for now, as all I have room for in my head is that end of the spectrum, or the extremely serious end -- and who needs to hear what I have to say about all that? It's still all too much to wrap coherent thoughts around anyway...

So on the trivial side, staying within my capabilities... When did I become a country singer? Apparently it happened, at least in the view of various denizens of mp3.com. I've had a couple of acoustic things up there for a while (more to come, very soon, hopefully), and several people have added "The Simple Things" to their playlists. Country or country-rock playlists, almost all. Hmm. I mean yeah, it's two guys with acoustic guitars, but... I guess I'm biased because in my head, that song has a Motown-ballad vibe, with big round James Jamerson bass and a B3 carrying the day. To everyone else, something completely different seems to come across. Who knew? Guess I need to grow a mullet and quit rooting for Jeff Gordon.

Posted by Paul Roub at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some words of kindness for my main acoustic. Adding the Ovation saga.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)