Switching Gears

Dear God, my old hard drive sounds like a Model T as it tries to upload more music onto my iPod. Yet another drag about iTunes--once you've installed the program onto a computer, that's the computer you have to keep using. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but when I tried to switch over and do this on my other computer, which is much faster, it threatened to erase everything on my iPod and start from scratch. We can't be having that.

Today--and forgive me for not starting with this vital piece of news--Foo Fighters released the first single, The Pretender, off of their new album, Oats, Whey, Barley and Meal. I couldn't get to it until I was logged out from work but once I did I couldn't stop listening to it. I already had the lyrics from the Foo Fighters website so as soon as I leashed up the dogs I hit the streets, singing one of the worst karaoke versions of this song Columbus will probably ever hear. I was halfway up to one house, singing away, when I noticed some kind of town meeting on the elaborate front porch. I took out my ear buds to appear friendly and returned their greetings. One of the elderly ladies oohed and aahed over the girls. I kept thinking I'm missing the chorus! as my headphones dangled in my hand. I made it past the house and plugged back in. I wonder if I made it into the town minutes.

As soon as we got home, I headed straight for the basement. I had tried to work out the drum part during the walk but I knew I wasn't there yet. Sorry, neighbors. I tried to work it out quietly. Anyone ever tried practicing drums on the down low? Yeah, not so much. I played it maybe ten times, growing increasingly louder each time the chorus came around, which was the easiest part for me to unravel. There's still a recurring 4-beat bass part that is all half--or quarter?--notes, of which my poor right foot can only handle two or three, at the maximum. I have the same problem on Times Like These, which has a triplet I still haven't mastered. I keep telling myself I will NEVER be able to sit in as a guest drummer if I don't get these basic songs down, so STEP IT UP!

No pressure.

Foo Fighters' tour starts in September. I just got done telling sister Sarah that I'm having trouble following through with the decision to sell Jack, for the very practical reason that keeping him will bankrupt me, causing me to lose both horses. After listening, singing and playing this new single for the last few hours, I'm ready to sell the horse, the car and the house to buy tickets to every single show on the tour. Stop me if I'm being hasty.

I'm sorry, but this music is like good crack! And bad crack, as we all know, sucks rotten asparagus.

Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins, Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin, uberdrummer Dave, and Sully Erna, Godsmack lead singer and drummer. [Can someone please tell me where the goddamn umlauts are in this blog template?!]