Falling Rockets

Beau’s come up with a first comp of the graphic novel’s logo idea. There seems to be a consensus forming around which one is preferred. Check out the image.

I wanted to post Beau’s first take on John’s character. We’ve had a couple more meetings since he showed this to me and we’re almost finished roughing out the layout for the main storyline. I’ll post more about that when I can.

Beau worked off the script and the character descriptions I sent and, I think, is already close to nailing this. Because the story is evolving as we work on this project, I’m sure the visuals will evolve, too, but this first sketch was exciting to see.

CANdYRAT Records, specializing in acoustic guitar music across a variety of genres (blues, jazz, vocal, modern) seems to have made something of a splash on YouTube, with artists Antoine Dufour and Andy McKee, among others, racking up hundreds of thousands of views of their performances. One of the company’s particular strengths is knowing how to leverage free or easily implemented Web technologies in the marketing of their comparatively low-tech recording and artist preferences. In that sense the company is fairly progressive, despite a rootsy feel to their brand. This, coupled with high-quality, very reasonably priced products, lends a feeling that the company is genuinely in love with its work and even likes its customers — a feeling I haven’t gotten from a record company in, well, forever.

Granted, I’m not exactly immersed in the scene, or any scene for that matter, but I’ve found CANdYRAT’s approach to be accessible and inspiring.

This is CANdYRAT artist Antoine Dufour, playing “Song for Stephen”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgsB_xA2G0I

So motivated was I by this video, and others by Dufour and Andy McKee, that I clicked on over to the CANdYRAT site and purchased a download of Dufour’s transcriptions.

“Transcriptions Set 5″, snagged for $14.95 USD, turned out to be a great buy. The download includes three transcriptions in standard notation and tablature, provided both in Adobe PDF and Guitar-Pro formats. Also included are the three songs in MP3 format. The songs in this download were “Song for Stephen“, “30 Minutes in London“, and “Reality“. Because these performances are available on YouTube for viewing, they serve as amazing tools for learning some of the more involved techniques which seem easy — but aren’t — at the hands of a fingerstyle master like Dufour.

The transcriptions are very high quality and I haven’t, so far, discovered any inaccuracies or glaring errors. They’re doing a good job of helping the songs get under my fingers.

Caveat emptor: These transcriptions are not tutorials and if you’re still working on a smooth C to G transition, you’re going to be bummed when trying to pick up Andy McKee’s Rylynn or his take on Toto’s Africa — these aren’t made-easy versions.

But if you’ve got some experience and a little patience, the transcriptions do offer a wonderful opportunity to learn some new music, especially when paired with the YouTube videos, which can clear up any questions about fingering or phrasing.

Artists Andrew White, Craig D’Andrea, Peter Ciluzzi (who plays music because he needs to, according to his brief bio, which has got to be the cheesiest ever), also have transcriptions available.

Nice stuff. Highly recommended.

I ride, Night Train, down Lankershim,
black boots and leather, and
shooting Knob Creek with riders
telling history in pictures
etched permanent on proven arms.
But there is a history I keep of you,
of what you’ve done to me in those dark rooms,
with liquor in a glass, and liquid changes
spilling out a front door, filling
for a moment the street with your loud
cut-time easy laugh that sounds, God
exactly like her, exactly like another round,
exactly like possibly tonight,
you know, whatever I want, or
whatever you want.

In your own sweet way you improvise
inside me from outside, with hands and fingers
pressing on strings, lips pressing, shaping,
playing my favorite things, valves clatter,
making air a messenger that sings.
I was yours then, I am now, tonight,
in any La Ve Lee or Blue Note,
you take me any way you want, slow, down,
cut, in a minor key, or any two five
one giant step cycle, roaring down Sunset
up at dawn, hours since the last shot,
an hour since the last fuck you but you’re
still in my head and that’s the history
you make in me, etched in dreams an endless
solo break that has changed the way I everything.