I received this stunning photograph from Al Peery today for the Breathe project. Al took the picture in Kanawha State Forest and provided this description - "This shot was 3 separate images bracketed at 3 different exposure settings, then blended using a program called Photomatix Pro that creates HDR (high digital range) images. Pulls shadow detail from the high exposures and highlight detail from low exposures."

Thanks to Al for his visual contribution to my "hey, want to participate in Breathe?" program. I described Breathe and how you can participate in my Dec 27, 2008 blog post. If you have images you'd like to submit, drop me an email, contact me at one of my social network outposts, or comment on this blog.

Greg Kleffner was kind enough to supply these gorgeous pictures for the Breathe project. Greg and John Andrus are avid ice fishermen and "like to capture the sunset over the frozen lake" during their adventures. These particular photographs were taken this winter in Minnesota.

Thanks to Greg for his visual contribution to my "hey, want to participate in Breathe?" program. I described Breathe and how you can participate in my Dec 27, 2008 blog post. If you have images you'd like to submit, drop me an email, contact me at one of my social network outposts, or comment on this blog.

Bryan Beller joined his lovely and talented wife Kira Small for an intimate show at the Hotel Metro in Milwaukee this evening. I caught up with Bryan for a few minutes before and after the show and Hollis snapped this quick photo.

Hollis and I met the extended Andrus family for a pre-concert bite and sip before heading off to see Kansas tonight. Imagine my delight to see number one Andrus daughter Cassie proudly sporting her Clayphonic Records^TM t-shirt! And at her first concert! Like all fashion conscious young folk, Cassie insisted her dad outfit her to represent, and represent she did. You look great Cassie!

And you can look great, too! Pick up on your own Clayphonic Records^TM short- or long-sleeve t-shirt in our swag store and be cool, like Cassie!

We had the artwork and CD from One Feather Shy framed at a local shop. It is displayed lovingly in the friendly confines of Make Noise Studios. I snapped this pic with my iPhone before leaving home on Thursday.

Stefan and I are off to explore Montreal, find sustenance, and enjoy night two of the Marillion Weekend.

Dateline: CoachUSA, somewhere between Brewtown and O'Hare. I've long held the belief that work/life balance doesn't occur on a daily basis, but rather happens over longer cycles. During some stretches work hums along and activities outside of the workplace are at center stage. At other times, though, work requires a greater commitment of time and energy, with little regard for 5:00 pm or the modern day concept of the five day work week. I'm in one of those stretches now and it's good. The downside, of course, is work on Breathe has taken a backseat for a bit while I've been in a heavy travel cycle and working late and on the weekends. This cycle will ultimately complete, I'll have my evenings and weekends back, and I'll be in the studio soon.

This explains, of course, why I haven't been posting lately; no tangible progress has been made in terms of recording. It doesn't mean, however, that Breathe isn't continuing to morph and mature, it's just all happening in my mind. My vision of what I'm trying to accomplish on this project is coming into greater focus. I'm anxious to begin realizing that vision.

In other news, Guitar Circle of Chicago is ramping up for a fresh period of activity. Our aim is to get our collective chops together, perform several live shows over the coming months, and record and release a collection of our original material. It's an exciting time for the Circle as we move forward with two adjustments. First, our primary work will now be as a quartet and that requires an adjustment to how we approach the repertoire. Second, while our primary focus will continue as an NST-acoustic guitar ensemble, we're looking to experiment with instrumentation more than we've historically done; I will be tapping on some pieces based on the successful experiment at our Angola show. We're also looking for opportunities to bring additional musicians into our performances, including percussion.

I am delighted to enter this next phase of activity with the team. It means, of course, a significant investment of time on technique and repertoire. Although it may appear on the surface this will conflict with my work on Breathe, I am at my musical best when I am immersed in my Guitar Craft studies. Bring it on!

I have a killer concert schedule lined up for April, beginning tonight:

• 04/02/09 - David Fiuczynski's KiF in Burlington
• 04/03/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/04/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/05/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/11/09 - Kansas in Milwaukee
• 04/14/09 - Wilco in Milwaukee
• 04/15/09 - Bryan Beller in Chicago
• 04/17/09 - Adrian Belew in Milwaukee
• 04/18/09 - Jeff Beck in Milwaukee

Most excellent!

Monster guitarist, hiker, and all around good guy Aaron Cowan, aka Joe Riffanucci, rocks the crowd with a killer stinkface while sporting his bitchin' charcoal grey Clayphonic Records^TM t-shirt. Pick up on your own Clayphonic Records^TM short- or long-sleeve t-shirt in our swag store and you can look this cool, too! Can't help you with the beard though.

And get out there and support local live music while you're at it, okay? Okay!

A pair of Warr Guitars, my 2009 Warr Artist 8 and 2001 Warr Artist 10.

My new Warr Artist 8 arrived today, packed beautifully in its way cool A&S flight case. This is a game changer for me, the embodiment of several years of learning exactly what I need in a tapping instrument. The guitar is an eight string model, tuned in 4ths from B below bass E, and is monophonic with active electronics and 3-band EQ. The strings are relatively light, gauged .105 .080 .060 .035 .025 .016 .012 .010. It's a long-scale guitar that goes low, not a bass that goes high. And it does go low. The body is mahogany with a thin walnut laminate and a quilted maple top. The five laminate bolt-on neck has maple mains, two strips of mahogany, and a middle strip of walnut. The fingerboard is pau ferro. Warr Guitar inspired by Paul Reed Smith.

The guitar plays and sounds magnificent. I got lost in 90 minutes or so of improvised looping this evening, working with a variety of tones and styles. I simply couldn't be more pleased.

I'll have the proper picture and description up on the gear page in a couple of days.

I entered the studio this morning and was stricken with a bit of an intestinal bug just before lunch. Not a big deal and it seems to have worked its way from my system. Nothing helps one stay focused on the creative act, though, like putting down a guitar and hustling to the toilet. Still I made progress shaping several songs for Breathe.

I believe I've worked out the fundamental song structure for Winter Breath, the short piece based on the improv Frankenstrat 050103. I really need to keep this song open and airy, simple and clean. I'll let it rest a bit and return in a few days to see if I have it where it needs to be.

One of the LCGE sketches in play was originally called Baritone Stomp Loop, a sister loop to Baritone Stomp Loop 2 which eventually morphed into Bigfoot. I began working with the loop, first by relearning its component parts, then by writing a couple of additional guitar parts to go with it. I created an interesting descending chord passage and a pair of lines with oblique bends. The first line has a whole-step bend on the second string while the second line has a half-step bend on the 3rd string. The two guitar parts work together wonderfully well and raise the question as to whether or not they will stay with the loop that inspired them or if that loop will be jettisoned. I'll let this one rest a couple of days, too, but I'm thrilled with the direction of the tracks I captured today.

I'm fascinated with what Fernando Kabusacki calls miniatures. I'm not sure if this is a generally accepted musical term or one Fernando coined. My interpretation of the concept is the distillation or simplification of a song, essentially capturing the theme of an ensemble piece and performing it with minimal instrumentation. Bryan Beller used the method with stunning results on View, as well. I'm working with this approach on Breathe with the goal of having four short miniatures, each realized on solo fretless guitar, distributed throughout the running order of the album. I expect some of the pieces proper on Breathe to be candidates for the shrink ray, but have also co-opted five pieces from One Feather Shy; Baritone Drift, Evening Bells, Sand Sculpture, Thank You Dan Savio, and When Dads Fly Away. I created the Pro Tools sessions for each miniature, pulled in the appropriate session and audio data, and took an initial stab at the conceptual points of miniaturization. I'll record each of these and will re-purpose what doesn't get used on the album.

The ball is moved a little further down the field.