Creatively speaking

I have scads of friends who just ooze talent. Whether it's visually artistic, intriguingly audible, culinarily mouthwatering or soul-searchingly thoughtful, I can't think of one person who doesn't have something awesome going on. It's pretty sweet.

I currently have two friends who are hard at work on music projects. Chad, who recently solidified a band and has written some of the coolest songs I've ever heard, is going to be opening for a U2 cover band in the Boston area. He's been in other bands, played in festivals and coffee shops and even tapped through the Zelda theme for me once on his keyboard. He wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, Rain, which you can get on iTunes here. I don't know if I ever told him this, but I listen to that song when I'm bummed out (it's perfect) or when I'm happy (because it's actually sorta perfect for that too) and it's easily made half my playlists on iTunes. When I listen to it, I get the same kind of feeling as when I listen to Let's Dance To Joy Division by The Wombats. Where things are just messed up and you're screwed and there doesn't seem to be anything left to do. But it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.

And it reminds me of one of my favorite memories from school: Running around and playing in the pouring rain. If you've never done that, you really need to put it on your list of things. (Check out Chad's blog.)

The other vocalist in the song, my friend Dylan, is currently in the process of producing his first album. He's been pretty good at keeping an online production journal which I also recommend checking out. His latest entry was pretty deep! This should also be on your list of things to get. I'm a pretty big fan of acoustic music, and Bicycle On The Ice is my acoustic Van Gogh in this album. (I'm going to be thrown off when I listen to it and don't hear the infamous "doorslam" IM sound that I've grown accustomed to on the demo version.) I know how much it means to this kid to actually be DOING this, and as with Chad, I couldn't be prouder of him for doing it.

I'm excited for them. And while I'm sad I'm not a part of their process, I wanted to give 'm a plug. In case you happened to stumble upon this blog, do yourself a favor and check them out. You won't be disappointed.