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24F and cloudy tonight, going down to 23F.
I was talking to Tim last night, and as he was in the middle of explaining something, I began to notice popping booming sounds from outside, and then saw out the window, fireworks splashing up from all around the horizon line.
It was midnight.
I went close to the window to get the wide angle view, and there were colorful fireworks all along the skyline; pink, gold, green, rising up from behind the distant trees and buildings.
I'd seen a view similar to this back in the hospital days, on the 4th of July, from the 7th story roof.
And of course, on New Year's Eve, I'd always heard the fireworks going off, and could occasionally see some in the neighborhood, from the ground.
But what I saw last night was a unique and unexpected experience!
With the downtown lights, and the cityscape in the foreground, and all those hometown fireworks coming up out of the neighborhoods... it was magical!
I had lived here in the tower, on New Year's Eve, one other time, with Sabrina, as 1997 turned into 1998... but we'd gone out to a party that night!
So I'd missed this, back then... and this year it just didn't occur to me to think about what the view would be out there... at midnight.
But when I saw it, I thought... maybe it's not so bad I ended up here... and maybe 2025 will be okay.
My only New Year's resolution is to stop harping on the past!.. especially the past five or six years!
If you don't know the story, you'll just have to piece it together out of context, but from today forward... I'm not gonna re-hash the events anymore, that brought me here to Allerton Tower.
New Year, new life!.. and I've been here now for six months... and working at Potawatomi for seven!
Over the past couple nights, I've come up with a viable new song order for the Archeology Album.
A week ago, I was unsure as to whether I was even still working on an album, because the newer three songs sounded so much better than the older 10 I'd worked up through the winter and spring of 2024.
But my efforts over the Christmas break paid off!.. and the updates I did to the older 10 songs really did bring everything up to the same level.
The final changes I did to the song, Archeology itself... by making the intro and verse parts very lo-fi, also saved it as the opening number.
I also came to the conclusion that the best approach for vocals was via Audacity.
And then, after reviewing the latest mixes of all 13 songs a few times, I've come up with the new, quite viable song order.
- Archeology
- Reavis 309
- Never Rains
- Magic Monday
- New York City Gargoyles
- Our Cold Feet
- Closer To You
- Live It Fast
- Bed in the Suburbs
- Clue Phone
- Other Friends
- Spell I'm Under
- Miss Fortune
From summer 2023, through spring of 2024 I also put in a lot of work online.
I first updated the graphics and lyrics for the older four albums... and updated the file types of the songs, from MP3s to FLACs... all on SoundCloud.
I released Coffeehouse Boyfriend, experimentally, on BandCamp.
I created a YouTube channel for the albums, creating lyric videos for all of Coffeehouse Boyfriend, and a few songs from Wig City.
And I did an experimental release of the song, Winter Long, via Distro Kid.
So, the ball is rolling on, & I do have a feel for... what the release of Archeology is gonna look like, once the songs are done.
It'll appear on both SoundCloud and BandCamp, with lyrics and song graphics, and the songs will, one-by-one, be released through Distro Kid, to all the streaming platforms.
And eventually it'll appear on my YouTube, as a playlist of 13 videos.
Those videos will be in the style of the ones I did for, Rendezvous, Shelley, and, Wig City already... which are still images, generated by Night Cafe, that switch on the beat, like a rhythmic slide show.
But it's possible that AI video clips will be involved too, now that that's becoming a thing.
And by far, the videos will be the most expensive to produce, because of the sheer number of images you have to generate before you get a good one.
SoundCloud's got a subscription fee too... once I start uploading again.
So, this will cost some money, and thus, I'll need to be more financially stable than I am, here on New Year's Day.
I need to get Mr. Taylor to cough up that final 5K from the house sale, and then I need to do a bankruptcy to get out from under the PNC loan.
But the car also needs work, so I'll have to square that away before the bankruptcy.
There's also the slim possibility I could get some kind of rent break, if I managed to get hired by my current landlord to do maintenance on the properties they have, here on the island.
And that would also drastically lessen my dependence on the car.
I'd like to move to a bigger place, where I might be able to have a cat, BUT... not this year!
I wasted enough time last year on moving!
The best plan for this year is to stay put, and finish the album!
I did my first test recording of, Closer To You in June of 2023!
I can hardly believe that's now a year and a half ago!
So... now that I'm living in a place that's suitable to do the work, and there aren't any other distractions... like dog walks, lawn mows, home improvement projects, etc... I need to just settle in and put my nose to the grindstone!
I did finally capture some downtown siren ambiance the other night, that still has to be moved off the S10, and onto the PC.
But I also worked up new test FLACS of Reavis, and, Never Rains, with the newer mixes, but the established sound effects... and they sound great!
I was really pleased last night to hear that in the new version of Never Rains the thunder can be heard perfectly in the mix!
In the older version, it was getting lost in all the low-end mud!
So... that's the roadmap for 2025!
- Take care of the car.
- Take care of the debt situation.
- Look into working for Armada.
- Stay put and finish the album.
Four, simple bullet points!
And what I want to be writing in this blog, next December, is that I succeeded in those four goals... that I'm very happy with the album.... and that I'm in a stable, sustainable position to enter 2026!
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