Jacob Wolkenhauer

I’m done with all the recording / editing / mixing / producing / cud-chewing / etc.  The album is finished!  And by finished, I mean it still needs to get mastered (by my amazingly talented ME, just you watch, he’s sick!) and I still need to put the last touches on the artwork, but it’s D-U-N.  Werd.  It’ll be out soon.

And in the meanwhile, I’ll be playing a show this Friday, May 8, 8pm at the Rooster’s Roadhouse in Alameda, 1700 Clement Ave, at Grand… with my good friend and amazing musician Steve Laciak.  He’s one of my favorite people, musically and non-musically alike.  Join us for tunes and drinks (do they serve drinks?  they do?  oh good!) as we rock it out for you.

So I’m playing some improvvy musical craziness at an art show over in West Berkeley this Friday.  It’s kind of on the railroad tracks.  Or at least, on a building on the railroad tracks.  Danger!  Trains!

April 24, 2009   8 pm - 12 am
@ Zughaus
1306 3rd Street, Loft 2, Berkeley, CA 94710
(This basically means, at the intersection of Gilman and the RR tracks.  Choo choo.)

Other things happening there:  Drawings!  Music!  Shiny (Nancy Fair + 6 others)!  Sangria!  Trains!!!!

Here’s a flyer.
Here’s a googlemap.

Sometimes you’ve gotta record a song seven or eight times before you really nail it.  Done, and, done.

So my multi-dimensional expertises (yes, expertises) apparently don’t include website maintenance.  This website’s been down for about 4 months, but I finally fixed it.  Now I’ll try to work on being interesting again.  Don’t hold yer breath.

So last wednesday, I went to go see one of my favorite bands‘ CD release show. This particular band also happens to hold the top 3 spots for loudest shows I’ve ever seen in my life. So on my way there, I decide that it’d be a good idea to pick up some earplugs.

I start by going to corner store #1.  This place has a fairly limited selection and small staff, so their prices are a little high.  But they’re really friendly people, and sell lots of organic stuff, so all the better.  But no earplugs, so out I go.

This brings me to corner store #2.  Cool place, just a hair cheaper, and cool staff.  They have earplugs as well, so how much are they?  (Cue yelling to the back of the store:) “HOW MUCH ARE THE EARPLUGS?”  Guy comes out and says the earplugs are $4 / pair.  Not just any pair of earplugs, these are old earplugs in faded cardboard packs, in tiny plastic ziplocs… at least 5 or 10 years old, by my estimation.  You’re not seriously going to try to charge me $8 for earplugs for me and my friend are you?  Really?  REALLY?  Out I go.

Most days, I’d be one of the first people to kick all the chains out of Berkeley and only go to local stores.  But here I am at the medium-sized chain pharmacy, and they’ve got 10 pairs of earplugs for $4.  This is seriously 10% of what they cost one block down the road.  As much as I’d like to support the little guy, I can only do it within reason.  So I bought the earplugs from the chain store, and I don’t really feel bad about it.

So what?  What’s the point of this?  I don’t know… maybe just that you have to include a little bit of flexibility in your philosophies, whatever they may be.

are here.

So I’m supposedly “not playing shows” while I’m making my album… but that doesn’t always work.  I’m playing one at Blake’s this Friday.

I’ll be playing some songs on the loop-station, some with my good friend Joe Hickey, and some straight-up acoustic.

I’ll be giving out free sampler CD’s of the upcoming album, only at gigs.  So if you want to hear what I’ve been doing, get your butt in gear and get out to the show!

The album has been going amazingly well. I’ve got most of the songs tracked, and now I’m doing overdubs. For most of them, I’ve had a “write new parts as you go” approach.

I don’t think that many of the songs are going to end up being acoustic-only. I play them acoustic-only when I’m playing them live, so I’m trying to make them all do something special on the album version. My good friend Joe Hickey has provided me with some invaluable support on a couple songs, and I’ve been writing countermelodies like mad to a bunch of the songs.

Other highlights of the recording process include the EBow, a really cool device that turns a guitar into an almost-bowed-synth-string-sounding instrument. I’ve been playing some *gasp* electric guitar. And there might be another musician or two on the album as well, depending how the songs end up.

On one hand, the process is taking way longer than I’d imagined. On the other hand, the process of getting to create entirely new versions of my songs is also way more fun that I could have imagined. So that’s probably why I’m letting it take so long!

Thank you all for sticking with me while I’m in hiding!

So I’m in the process of writing a song with a rubber ducky.  The only problem is that I’ve been cracking myself up every time I try to play it.  We’ll see where this goes…