beard?

sometimes you have to ask yourself: should i grow my beard or shave it off?

songs

songs i've been listening to:
1. sympathy for the devil - the rolling stones
2. black friday
3. bad sneakers
4. my old school
5. riki don't lose that number - steely dan
6. all my stars aligned
7. what me worry? - st.vincent
8. everyman has a woman who loves him - john lennon
9. oh woman, oh why? - paul mccartney
10. strait lines - silverchair
11. positively 4th street
12. i don't believe you (she acts like we never have met) - bob dylan
13. wake up alone - amy winehouse
14. i am the walrus - the beatles

a negative night

tonight was not a good night. i didn't really even want to go out, but for some reason i decided it would be ok. it wasnt and i wish i had just stayed home and worked on something productive. LA is a bad scene. the valley is ever worse. bars in the valley, the lowest. thats about all. my night: stayed sober, watched friends act like idiots, talked to maybe the dumbest girl i've ever met. the end.

no giraffes

wednesday night i finished writing and recording 'no giraffes'. i really like how it turned out. it has a very different feel than my usual stuff. its not that the music is much different from the ghost waltz stuff, its just that the way i recorded it ex: the sounds of the guitars and bass and such, sounds very different. i think its a little harder around the edges, not so much reverb on the vocals and such. right now i have about 14 newish songs, by new i mean either recorded after or during ghost waltz. the ones recorded during were never intended to be on that project because of my mind set at the time. i wanted ghost waltz to stand up as one piece of work. i think the next thing i do, be it a album or ep, will be more of a track by track adventure. then again who knows. i may change my mind. as of right now i'm still all about ghost waltz and trying to get it heard by as many people as i can. in fact i have two pretty interesting shows coming up in september. hopfully we can sell some more cds and gather more contacts. as for now i need to put together some more albums.
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currently reading: the biography of marion davies by fred lawrence guiles
many years from now by barry miles

olive branch complete

last night i finished 'olive branch'. played it for the parents and they both liked it very much. will be working on 'no giraffes' tonight. by the way i miss a girl. her name you ask? track 8 'ghost waltz'
~paul
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works in progress:
a. no giraffes (verse, bridge)
b. books upon books of books for you (chours)

newly completed songs:
a. olive branch
b. you tell your own lies
c. july in a canyon

songwriting is sometimes like magic

last night as i was attempting to fall asleep, i started thinking about lots and lots of things. past friends i don't speak to anymore for whatever reason, bicycles, books, old movies, all kinds of odd things you think about while falling asleep. well anyway i then started thinking about handing my old friends all these various objects as a type of olive branch. as soon as the word olive branch came into my mind a verse along with melody and lyrics was right in front of me. it just came out of nowhere. i think my brain was subconsiously placing all these thoughts for me, knowing later i would want them in a song. so anyway this verse appeared and i decided to get up & record what was there. went to my trusty mac and laid down that first verse and a bit of a second verse which i just kind of made up. for the next 20 minutes or so the rest of the song just came; more verses, a bridge, chorus. all of them just appeared. so i laid down a basic guitar and vocal track. onto that went a second acoustic along with another vocal. then for good measure i added 2 tamborine parts that kind of sound like casstinets. after all that it was about 2:45am so i decided to get in bed and wait for legends of the hidden temple to come on at 3. i fell asleep soon after.........
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works in progress:
a. olive branch (recorded: acoustic guitars, vocals, bass, tamborine, snare)
b. no giraffes (verse & bridge)
c. books upon books of books for you (verse)

cut and paste paul, st.vincent, marion davies

today i got my infected under arm cut open in order to get rid of the infected stuff. it wasn't a very pleasant event. i now have a large bandage taped from my left collarbone to the bottom of my left ribcage. it looks like i've been shot, which is kind of cool i guess. after the doctor i mailed off another copy of 'ghost waltz' to some fella in texas. i'm wondering if he is friends with aaron rollins or johnny lloyd rollins if you're into that kind of thing. i believe i've sold about 60 cds now, which is a lot more than i thought i'd have by this time. very nice.
so saturday is the drumming gig for bob fisher's band. it will be nice to play a show where i can just sit in the back and groove along. apparently i'm supposed to play 3 songs acoustic & sell my cd's as well at this gig. i'm not sure if that will be good or slightly odd. maybe it will be slighty good. we'll see.
i've been listening to st.vincent's album 'marry me'. i've got to say that it is one of the best albums by a new/current artist in a very long time. key tracks for me are: marry me, all my stars aligned, landmines, and what me worry? i dislike when people do that "they should like _______ mixed with _______", but she really does sound like bjork singing fiest songs with better melodies. 4 out of 5 stars.
last thursday i recieved in the mail miss marion davies autograph. this sounds like i'm nuts but when i hold it i get very starstuck and crazed fan like. my brain does that whole "she touched this!" thing, which i know is a bit odd but its still a nice feeling. i ordered a 8x10 picture of her which i'm going to frame with the autograph. i will place her next to paul mccartney.

love to you,
mr. paul starling
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works in progress:
a. no giraffes (verse, bridge)