snow

'Tis a snowy day in Toronto (see above). Forecast is for ice pellets this afternoon, freezing rain tonight. Yuk.

I'll be going to Richmond Hill tonight for Urban Tapestry practice; hopefully the subway won't be too crazy because of the weather. The version of Enya's "May It Be" (used in the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings) that Allison and Jodi have worked up for Ad Astra is great! I've added a flute instrumental and added a third vocal harmony to the chorus. I'd opt for penny whistle instead of flute if I was good enough, but I'm worried about it sounding too strident with the gentle melody.

I've also added a third vocal part to parts of Waiting For Frodo. Was horrified last night to find that I had transcribed the wrong chord in the bridge section, writing a B chord instead of a Bb...I play it via a barre chord, and had miscounted the frets when figuring out the name of the chord. :-)

I know I've raved before about how fun it is to do music with Allison and Jodi, but I feel compelled to rave again. Our musical partnership has really spurred all three of us to push ourselves in terms of songwriting and performance boundaries. Ten years ago, I would have rather eaten bees than sing or play guitar in public, let alone attempt to come up with vocal harmonies. I also would never have imagined being able to take a song I had written, including some counterpoint harmonies, and (in one sitting) having someone else able to learn the song well enough to record a decent version on tape.

After working together for about nine years (ack! has it really been that long?), Allison, Jodi and I have developed a strong musical chemistry in our songwriting and performances...we sometimes joke about our "UT telepathy". :-) But it makes for an immensely satisfying working relationship, and it also helps that the three of us are good friends as well.

Anyway, I'm excited about the practice tonight so we can try out some new material we've all been working on. And Allison's come up with some cool counterpoint stuff for Waiting For Frodo, yay! Can't wait to hear it.

A good Marketing Day yesterday. Found some potential new markets to research before querying, sent off three queries (one snailmail, two e-mail), got one acceptance (they need it in two weeks!). So now I have four articles to write, ten queries circulating, waiting for response from one article submission.

I've gotten in the habit of always querying one top-paying magazine market every Marketing Day. I suppose I could only query the top markets, but then my worry would be about how large my rejection pile would get before I could make a sale. Realistically, I think I need more published clippings before breaking into that market. There's always a chance, though, which is why I send some anyway. :-) I've picked about five target magazines in that category and plan to keep sending them queries (waiting until I get the rejection, then sending them another) until I finally break in. And I will break in, eventually.

Wish me luck. :-)

LINKS/UPDATES

Like Junkyard Wars? Then you'll like Ultimate Machine Combat even better! :-)

Augh, it's Deep Impact all over again! Well, maybe just a 7,000 pound satellite instead of a humungous asteroid, and it's falling onto the ocean instead of Tea Leoni's head. Source: Wired. I was going to make a rude comment about the Bruce Willis/Liv Tyler asteroid movie, but can't for the life of me remember the title.

Video on demand via the Internet? A great idea, but taking way too long.

Contrary to popular belief, Richard Dawson is not dead. But what about Red Buttons? Bob Hope? Dick Sargent? Life begins at 80 for some stars on the Web, according to Reuters.