For my next excursion, I had planned to hike to the tippy-top of one of the many hills around my stomping grounds. Many of these peaks can afford spectacular views of the valley, the ocean in the distance, and possibly the sprawling LA cityscape on the horizon.

Alas, the climb to the top of this particular peak was taking longer than I had anticipated, and the sun was getting lower. So I hunkered down on a relatively flat spot with at least views of a nice, green hillside. Note: bring helicopter next time.

I’ve had a thing for this song since about the time it used to play on a jukebox at a pizza place I worked at in college, back when there were jukeboxes. I might have even bought The Bends solely because of it, and my perennial love for Radiohead (see rambling post). It’s a sweet album, you should give it a listen even if you’re not sure about Radiohead.

Anyway, enjoy. You can also check out more videos like this at our YouTube channel.

I haven’t had much time for my latest hobby as of late. But a couple of weeks ago I found a few spare hours (read: planned weeks in advance) to get out of the routine with the geetar and the sweet new tripod I got, literally just for this purpose. (The height of vanity, I know. Fuck off.)

I initially tried to find a shady spot in the grassy center median on Sunset Blvd to record this one. But after coming to realize there isn’t a square inch of shade on that median, I settled for a park in Beverly Hills, apparently the one where George Michael got friendly with someone in public.

This was actually the first song I recorded this way a few years ago, but it being the first time I didn’t like the recording. I looked pissed off, made too many mistakes and was staring at the instrument like it was turning into a snake or something. This version is much more relaxed, and though it’s not perfect (hi, zero musical training and no time to practice), it was fun to do. And I don’t think the chick sunning herself 20 yards away minded the endless takes.

I especially like the people milling about in the background.

P.S. Want to see more pure acoustic relaxation? Check out my YouTube channel, it’s balls.

The latest installation of my new hobby is here, with a song I learned probably in high school but never played for anyone but my wife. And now you too!

As mentioned previously, my new hobby is journeying into the deep woods (read: publicly accessible suburban park areas) with nothing but a guitar, my iPhone, some time to kill, and potentially donuts. Though rarely donuts.

Recording songs like this has definitely shown me how detail-oriented I have to become to do it well. This was about take 50, when I finally made it all the way through without a major screw-up. My phone died around take 54.

Anyway, here you are:

Mmmm, donuts…

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my new hobby is venturing into the suburban wilderness of Southern California and recording songs on acoustic guitar using my iPhone, in selfie mode.

I usually aim for locations with no visible civilization — no cars driving by, no buildings, no sidewalks. I think a nice backdrop does the song justice, moreso than bedroom walls do. Of course once the recording is done, you can almost always hear the far-off buzz of traffic in the background, along with whatever other noises happen to be going on. This is OK with me, though, as it adds a little bit of “real world” to something that is so often geared specifically for social media. It also seems to turn out pretty damned relaxing to watch.

This was, I think, my third attempt at recording this song. I tried a couple of times before to tack it into the end of another recording, but was always out of juice by then. You’d be surprised how tough it can be to get through a song, even one you know thoroughly, without screwing it up.

Anyway, enjoy.

As I record other songs, they will be posted on the MD YouTube channel.

So the author of MD has a new hobby: going out into the wilderness (or relative wilderness) and recording songs on his acoustic guitar, selfie style.

This was spurred mostly by the thought that when I’m 80, I won’t remember how to play any of the songs I know. It’s doubtful I’ll even remember playing an instrument at all, as I curse “what the hell is that damned thing?” at my old, cracked, half-strung guitar hanging around in the back of the closet behind all of my brown loafers and boxes of Depends.

Now I’m not an exceptional guitarist by any means. But I will say it takes some balls to play live in an environment where people might pass by and overhear you. Because unless you live in deep-woods Montana, and not densely-populated Southern California like I do, you can’t really go anywhere where someone can’t hear you. The best I can hope for is that they think “where is that guitar coming from? Oh well,” and move on.

I do like how the soft background noises of the wind, birds chirping, and light traffic sounds in the distance serve to ground it all in the real world, as opposed to a controlled studio or a bedroom. Anyway, see what you think.

More to come…

By the way, all of them will be posted on the MD YouTube channel as they are recorded.