Last weekend I cut a new practice tape with Fifty Bears in a Fight, and the results are up on our myspace, including new songs and better versions of old ones.  We’re still looking for a singer/howler/yeller/wailer.

I spent an hour yesterday at Half-Price Books, burning time between work and play, and picked up all this outstanding vinyl for $10:

• Prince, Purple Rain
• Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago at Carnegie Hall (Sides V-VIII)
• Led Zeppelin, III
• Pretenders, Pretenders
• Pat Benatar, Crimes of Passion (“Hit Me With Your Best Shot”)
• Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA
• Neil Young, Harvest and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
• Billy Joel, The Stranger

Jill, Tim and I watched a documentary on U2’s The Joshua Tree that was pretty great.  It was cool to hear Daniel Lanios talking about how different songs were recorded, tracks they didn’t use, etc.  Flood is a giant music nerd (= awesome) and it’s still my pie-in-the-sky dream to have him produce a record of mine.  I think the doc came out a couple years ago, though the album reissue is just a couple months old.  It left me wanting more, and wanting to get the record out and listen to it, which is probably the point.  I was amazed to see footage from the Zoo TV tour of the band playing these passionate, heart-on-sleeve, rural-America inspired tunes; I didn’t know they were still playing a lot of that stuff on the Zoo tour.
Projects:

The Sleepover – I finished mastering the first EP for Cory’s new band this week.  We’re going to put one track on Furious Instance, and the rest will be available via the band.

The Combine – Nick tells me they’re about done writing the new tracks that we’re going to bundle with a few from their album for a MFR EP release.  Super-looking-forward to that.

Pat Bradley – I’m listening to and tweaking a second master version, anticipating a MFR release in a few weeks.

There is Something and not nothing – I’ve finished all bass, keys, and guitars for Sally M/S Ride’s fourth.  (It’s fourth in my mind even though it will probably come out before Boots.)  So when I get my voice back I’ll start singing, and Matt will come play drums soon.  I gave him a disc with three songs on it that had rough vocals and drum loops, and I think he was pretty surprised even though he’s heard the demos.

Howie comp – I think I’ve got a tracklist nailed down, I haven’t decided on a title, and I’ve been too sick to even think about recording an acoustic “Major & Minor.”

MFR – Once Pat Bradley is out, I’m going to spend some time working on new images for the site and possibly a whole new WordPress theme.  -h

I guess we’re not SUPER new, since we’ve been practicing since last fall, but we’ve only played a few shows. Here are the vitals:Members: Cory Kibler (guitar, vocals, songwriting), James Tucci (bass, songwriting), Sarah Rosenau (keys, background vocals), and Brock Beckman (drums).

James and I have been in like 4 bands together including The Sleepover (if you count Axeface). Sarah is classically trained, and she also plays with Lincoln Americana heroes Loup River Band & Street Choir as well as a folk group called Blood & Ready. Brock Beckman is by far the most experienced member, having been in Lincoln bands since the 80’s (including Rascal Basket, World Record Players, The Sissies, Wide, and most recently Strawberry Burns!!!).

Sounds like: Well, we’re not hard dance-metal-punk-rock like Robot Creep Closer, and we’re not as “indie” as Shacker… but we’re somewhere in between. I mean, we’re pop rock, but we also have elements of folk and grunge.

As always, James and I are influenced by Superdrag, Nada Surf, The Pixies and Weezer, but there are new influences in the music including Wilco and The Hold Steady. When I was younger and in bands, I was always really hesitant to border on anything I might consider “Americana”, and I was always a little afraid of being too earnest. It’s easy to write cool-sounding songs that are ironic or cynical or sarcastic, but it’s really hard to write a good pop-rock song with earnest lyrics, because there’s a danger of being cheesy. Now, I see this as one of my challenges; I want to write sincere, earnest songs without sounding lame.

Where you can see/hear us: We don’t have any shows in Lincoln scheduled for the future, although I am sure we’ll have one scheduled soon. We are playing in Omaha sometime in May, and along with various Lincoln shows, we hope to make it to places like KC, Denver and Chicago sometime relatively soon. Also, right now Howie is mastering our 4 song EP, tentatively titled, “When Bands Have Attractive And/Or Cool-Looking Members, People Care More Than They Would Otherwise, All Things Being Equal.” Soon, we’ll have the four songs up on myspace so folks can stream them, and we’ll have a physical copy for sale in the next couple of months. We’re also putting up the smash single from the EP (ha!) up on MFR called “Built For It.”

So, I hope you can meet us soon in some form or another, and we hope you enjoy it!

Cory Alan

mis*sion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mission

16. an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.

17. a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.

18. those sent.

in*sti*tu*tion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institution

1. an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, esp. one of a public, educational, or charitable character: This college is the best institution of its kind.

With time, I’ve come to appreciate mission statements. Both of my employers have excellent ones (though one is unofficial, it’s widely used – much more real within our community than the one on the books!). A mission statement provides identity, and direction; it says who we are and where we’re going.

The mission of Mr. Furious Records, a community of artists with roots in Crete, NE, is to facilitate the creation of excellent sound recordings and to curate and distribute the recordings in ways that enhance the community’s creativity and integrity. (v 1.0)

I left out that we’re a “netlabel.” A netlabel is a type of distribution model; we are currently using that model, but the model is not what we are.

We are not an organization. We organize, but our core identity is not institutional; it is communal. If the community goes away, MFR is gone as well. There is no content to MFR; it is an empty scaffolding, carefully conceived, that exists to support artists’ content. As artists identify needs or concerns, the community may respond, but MFR does not push content out to artists that does not speak to a previously discerned call within the community.

We are a mission. We are not any of the means we may use to fulfill our mission.

Friends – I’m drawing up a tracklist for a compilation of my best songs, and I’m asking for your help. Out of all my stuff, can we write a list of 10-12 songs that make me come off as an OK songwriter?

My thoughts at this point in the process are below, and I’ve already included some stuff I anticpate you would pick (“The Picture Song,” “New Slow Sea”) that I might not have on my own. But what am I missing? What is essential?

This list may end up being a limited-run physical CD release with artwork and everything that I’d sell as a fundraiser to help me take kids to Mexico in June to build a house. Or, it may just be the list I burn for new friends. Either way, help me figure it out.

I also need help with the title, which I’d like to be a phrase taken from a song’s lyrics. (The song doesn’t necessarily have to be included on the comp.)

TITLES:

“You Couldn’t Know Whose Fire It Was”

“No Need To Be Fair”

“A Minor Change in a Major Key”

“It’s Good to See You Home”

“The Weight You Carry In Your Voice”

“Try and Leave and it Kills You”

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Songs of -h

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SONGS:

Snow is a Bear (XMAS)

New Slow Sea (M/S Ride, It’s A Trap)

Coast & Plains (Furious Instance)

J. Cougar Mellensong (echoes, Be A Ska Rat EP)

The Picture Song (Tonight the Lone Wolf Rides… Alone)

A Come-On / Relieved (M/S Ride, …Alive!)

Set You Ablaze (Murder in the Nebraska Territories)

Open Columns (echoes, nickel EP)

Back in the Fire (M/S Ride, It’s A Trap)

Tired Chords -live (howie&scott, Summer’s End)

new acoustic track? – 5*C? / I’m Coming Home (Shacker, Knowing Her > Best…)

The Last Song (M/S Ride, …Alive!)

Last Friday I picked Scott up from the airport.  He’s back in Nebraska now, after six months-ish playing music on cruise ships.  His cell number and email are the same, so welcome him home, see his photos, and hear his stories if you can!

I played a bunch of new CDs for him, he played me some South American music, and he heard h&s’ “Snow is a Bear” from XMAS for the first time (weird!).  I had only given him written instructions to record a lesser-known carol in A minor, and anything else he thought might fit my description of the tune (which is where is mini-fantasia on “Ukrainian Bell Carol” came from.  You can hear it during the song’s bridge).

Are you guys ready for another recipe?  I’ll try to post one (or more?!) this weekend.  -h

Update – Thursday, 9:43 AM – The new jams are UP at myspace.com/fiftybearsinafight 

Hey all – just quick – Fifty Bears in a Fight, including Drew, made a five-song practice tape tonight just so we can hear what the hell we’ve been up to. I’m dropping it into ProTools as I type, and will have it up at our myspace this weekend. It’s pretty rough and out of control.

In a few spare minutes, I’ve also started tracking bass and keys for my upcoming There is Something and not nothing. That’s pretty wild, too, I think. I’ll probably have to do an acoustic version, just to prove it’s me.

5*Matt told me that 5*Joel has a gig this weekend playing guitar in the studio for a girl who’s going on America’s Got Talent! or some such show (I have a TV now, but no cable or even bunny ears, just DVDs). So he’s had to learn a bunch of Hannah Montana songs, but he’s getting *paid*! How rad is that?

Speaking of Hannah Montana, I’ve been arguing with my cube-mate at work about whether her music is great art or not. In the process, I’ve come up with a new way to talk about how I think aesthetic value works. Remind me to tell you next week; tonight I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to bed and read “The Golden Compass” while the practice tape continues to play through. -h