What you STILL have to do before February?

Well, I've just finished re-programming all the patches on my amp simulators so they sound better. And I've got a gig on Friday I have to get out of the way first.

After that, I'm thinking about buying a new bass to replace my old broken one.

But yeah, the harddrive thing. I'm going to have to do that too -- sometime, somehow.

I am trying to finish and mix my CD by January 31st -- but that seems like a slim possibility. I am spending more time trying to learn how to mix the dang thing than I did writing and recording the songs!

New strings all around is a good idea!

I've a full disk on the BR-900 that needs to be gone through, labelled, backed up and some of the songs actually mixed into work tapes. Probably some good ideas on there that should be rendered for fodder for dry spells. I could be doing all that right now, actually. Hrmrm... nawww... gonna go browse youtube instead.

1. Get my head back together
2. Get my head back together
3. Get my head back together
4. Get....never mind

@pifie! Last FAWM/End of the World! !What a great promo tool... "THE WORLD'S GONNA END! HOW'LL _YOU_ FEEL WHEN THE END COMES AND YOU NEVER WROTE THAT ALBUM??? SIGN UP FOR FAWM! NOW! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!"

"It did have to be said."

I respectfully disagree.

Before FAWM commences I must embark upon a noble yet wearisome quest to do battle with the evil giant knot of wires that lurks beneath my computer.

Each day this knot grows inexplicably and inexorably larger with coils and cables conjoined in chaotic contortions that defy both description and understanding.

There are terrible dangers lurking there of course: the perilous sharp ends of old guitar strings (beware the piercing stings of the Es and Bs!); the decaying and obstinately sticky remains of chocolate bars plus the ancient gobs of Blu-Tack that have grasped the carpet with their unyielding tentacles hardened over long months and that must be cut away before the long-lost plectrums of Gibson and Jim Dunlop can be rescued and once more take their rightful places in my back pockets.

Only when the quest is fulfilled can I begin to ponder as to what '14-and-a-half songs in February' might actually mean. I suspect that, as in times past, it will involve ukeleles and the magical chord spell of seaeffandgee.

With a fair wind and a sharp pair of scissors I hope to be with you all next month. Wish me luck!

Lately I have counted at least a half dozen tiny lizards in my music room. I enjoy their company, but I've been trying to catch them to return them to their outdoor home, where I think they would be happier. Slippery, quick little dudes. Who knows - maybe they want to be with me; maybe they are the reincarnations of departed friends. So between now and FAWM, I'll chat with them and find out what they want, and maybe they will be keeping me company when I spend a lot of time in the room in February.
Pre-FAWM, my daughter and I are going to be making a video of a favorite Grateful Dead cover song for a contest on the official Dead site, and I'm going to be doing a vocal track for a project with some fellow FAWMers. But the lizards are foremost in my mind ...

okay so that's two people i've already pissed off and FAWM's not even started yet.

So basically the two people who disagree that it needed to be said think i should have shut up and kept it to myself?

Sorry but promoting ANYthing is impossible when the main hub of activity gets shut down immediately before the start.

FURTHER i take exception to that remark about getting back on topic. My remarks are 100% on topic for a discussion about what needs to happen before FAWM.

Okay, look i have a LOT bigger things to worry about at the moment, clearly the FAWM community is NOT going to be particularly welcoming to me this time, i will stop promoting FAWM to my friends and associates and you can all have this year's FAWM without me. See you for 5090.

Hope you all have a great time!

Ha, ha -- I think we have a new record for the earliest that Calum has quit FAWM! Sorry to sound flip, but you, your opinions, your contributions and your songs have always been welcome and appreciated. You always do good stuff -- just have some dang fun! Passion and controversy sometimes go hand in hand.

Before he took the FAWM site down, Burr said he was going to do some much needed maintenance. I am sure the site will be back up soon enough.

Calum said, 'okay so that's two people i've already pissed off and FAWM's not even started yet.' Neither said they were pissed off. They merely stated an opinion that it was unnecessary to say it in public in this thread. How the hell do you think someone is pissed off at them for saying they.. and I quote here... 'respectfully disagree?'

Calum said, 'So basically the two people who disagree that it needed to be said think i should have shut up and kept it to myself?' Maybe they didn't agree with your implication that those who donate their time and their money aren't doing enough or are falling short of their commitments. Maybe they thought you could handle it with dignity and respect and still get your point across instead of handling it in a way that easily could make the person doing the most work at FAWM feel less than appreciated. Or maybe they thought that you wouldn't overreact to their opinion.

Calum said, 'Sorry but promoting ANYthing is impossible when the main hub of activity gets shut down immediately before the start.' Actually there are a few ways. One, that I can think of off the top of my head, would be to send them to FAWM.org so they can sign up for the newsletter that will tell them that the site is up and ready for participation. Now, I'm not arguing it wouldn't be better to have the site up Jan 1 every year. But I AM arguing that having the site up a couple of weeks before FAWM start is a damn fine timeline when you consider the site runs in the red and the time constraints by Burr and company. Again, I refuse to let you imply that those who donate their time and money aren't doing enough or are falling short of their commitments.

Calum said "My remarks are 100% on topic for a discussion about what needs to happen before FAWM."
But the title of the thread is 'What you STILL have to do until February!' - It isn't what Burr still has to do until February. And it isn't what you think others still have to do until February.

Calum said, 'Okay, look i have a LOT bigger things to worry about at the moment, clearly the FAWM community is NOT going to be particularly welcoming to me this time, i will stop promoting FAWM to my friends and associates and you can all have this year's FAWM without me. See you for 5090.' I'm genuinely sorry that you have bigger worries. I hope things go well for you. The FAWM community is one of the most welcoming and caring on-line communities I've participated in. But I think you get out of it what you put in.

I think we should be thankful that Burr has taken the time to keep this thing going and is still trying to improve what we do each year. If you don't like the way it is done you are MORE than welcome to hold that opinion and discuss it. But inserting it in this thread isn't, IN MY OPINION, appropriate or respectful. I can think of a number of ways to handle it in a way that wouldn't offend fellow FAWMers.

Calum said, 'Hope you all have a great time!' I, for one, will. And thank you for the warm wishes.

There's a bigger issue here. "What you still have to do *until* February"? BEFORE February surely. I will not stand for this! On top of this outrage, my bins haven't been collected. I quit FAWM.

i respectfully disagree with many of you (about whether i should be allowed to mention the obvious elephant in the room, whether my comments were respectful, and whether or not they were on topic), i find these forum discussions to be less and less about free speech these days, and while i would like to thank everybody who has offerred messages of support, i am fully aware that not everybody thinks i am a fount of excellent songmanship and glorious wisdom.

It will be better for me and for you if i don't FAWM this year, have a good one. You've still got the real CC and his pal the musical genius to entertain you anyway.

PS smiley face means i'm not foaming with rage or anything. Similarly to what Helen said above, i do think people assume i am pouring over with vitriol half the time, when i've just got a dry sense of humour.

Hi Dominic, i appreciate the support, thank you, but my comments are not an appeal for hugs, or an attempt to hijack this thread for my own egotistical purposes. I am busy with a lot of other crap in my life, don't even know if my normal recording gear works after that last flooding incident for example, and i just don't want to get into the whole thing of FAWM. Yes, 80-90% of the interations are a lot of fun, but that's what FAWM is for me, fun. If the 10-20% of it that isn't fun starts to get on top of me (as it is now doing, already had one or two "you're an arsehole" type messages as well as the inevitable "don't quite we love you" ones) to this extent then there is no point me doing it, because it won't be fun for me, and i won't be a fun person to be around in the FAWM community either.

So i guess to get back "on topic" what i have to do before FAWM exceeds my ability to do it all, and that's why i won't be ready for FAWM this year and it's why i won't be participating. But i know you will all have a good one, and i hope you all get tons of new songs out of it too.

Anyway, you can see from my FB post in the FAWM group that at least one FAWMer "likes" the fact that my roof's caving in and i am therefore unable to do FAWM this year. I am sure he's not the only one that gets pleasure from my pain, so lap it up while you can, calum haters!

Anyway back on topic

Hoover music room and buy some half decent mixing headphones.

Haha, yeah - that'd be a good one for me too, wyatt.

Jes' one more lil' drink won't hurt Musey. It'll make you feel all better---You wanna'----"stay over?"

Muse, be a lady toniiiiight...

If you do lots of collaborations, does that mean your muse is a ho?

I would like to point out that this thread has been continued over at the FAWM site.