BK Performs: I'm Not Living Here

I'm still arranging and recording, this time with an obscure piece from an obscure band. All the Garageband exploits of the last week seem to be affecting my iMac, however - it emits strange, whirring noises now.

"I'm Not Living Here" is from the 1966 Present Tense album from Sagittarius - a short-lived studio group created by Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher. The lyrics are pretty amusing, but unfortunately I can't really do Boettcher's falsetto for the chorus. The original is unabashed, up-tempo sunshine pop, so I arranged a more... dialed down version.

• I'm Not Living Here (3:02, 3.5 MB, written by Sagittarius, performed by Brian Kobashikawa)

BK Performs: The Brakeman Turns My Way

Here's yet another foray into covering some of that indie music the kids are listening to these days. Crazily (and perhaps embarrassingly) enough, I continue wading into Garageband by venturing into vocals territory... using a microphone that's designed for Karaoke Revolution (see right). It seems to work pretty well for a $20 purchase - but it often clips and captures a lot of extra noise, which can narrow ones dynamic range (and tuning) a bit. Hopefully I can re-record when something better comes along.

Anyway, this is a cover from Bright Eyes's recent Cassadaga album. I picked up the song one day and recorded it the following day, and did the vocals earlier today.

• The Brakeman Turns My Way (4:39, 5.4 MB, written by Bright Eyes, performed by Brian Kobashikawa)

You'll Eventually Throw Out Your TV

After being an avid TV watcher for close to 30 years, I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that there's a point where TV just... won't matter any more. I'm dreading that day, but it probably relates to the profound correlation between increasing consumption and decreasing interest in the content offered.

As you can see below, erudite hipsters - driven by the confluence of BitTorrent, NPR, and a general distrust of the media - unsurprisingly lead the way. (There is that notable faction of hipsters who watch TV strictly for ironic purposes, something that requires more study.) And when Tom Bergeron starts providing wacky narration on YouTube, it's pretty much all over.

BK Performs: Considering August

It's been a full year since my last entry? Amazing. Anyway, here's something of a rarity: a new arrangement of a piano composition I wrote way back in 1994. Back then, I aspired to be a film scorer, and wrote a couple of pieces for imaginary films, which were often a string of musical ideas sort of glued together. Usually I would sequence the thing in Cakewalk, outputing it through my SoundBlaster card with a WaveBlaster daughterboard. Garageband generally sounds better.

Aside from a modified intro and ending, the piece itself hasn't changed all that much after all this time. Maybe I can dig up some other high school compositions later.

• Considering August (4:58, 5.7 MB, written and performed by Brian Kobashikawa)

Disturbing Trend

I noticed that Burt Bacharach now has a blog. That's right, the Burt Bacharach. This goes up there with the discovery of Art Garfunkel's meticulously catalogued list of every book he's ever read.

But another thing that I noted was that Bacharach seems to be posting blog entries at pretty brisk clip. For example, he's outpaced me, difficult as it may sound. This is very interesting. Of course, I'm pretty sure that Bacharach has weightier issues than my usual standby topics - that is, television and video games.

Then again, I am also one without the handy anecdote involving Hal David, Dionne Warwick, a couple whiskey sours, and deciding between placing a flugelhorn and a muted trumpet solo within "Close to You". "Flugelhorn!" Warwick would exclaim, before collapsing back in the couch, giggling, knocking over a picture frame.

David would then grow surly, demanding whether the presence of an instrumental solo suggested that his phrases weren't up to snuff. "It's slant rhyme, you ignoramuses!" he manages to sputter. Does he lunge at Bacharach with a stretched mic cable, before the haze of alcohol and cigarette smoke sends him back to the floor? Not sure. I'll be eagerly awaiting Burt's next entry, however!

BK Performs: If You Find Yourself Caught in Love

I've been in my new apartment for about three months now, and I finally hooked my computer up to Garageband again. It is astounding how easy Garageband is to pick up, compared to Logic Express. Anyhow, a quick foray into some light sequencing, with this gem from indie pop group Belle & Sebastian. I'll fix the drums one of these days. Maybe.

• If You Find Yourself Caught in Love (4:29, 5.1 MB, performed by Brian Kobashikawa)

Kawabunga's Back Up! Again.

So, I think I have all my hosting issues resolved. I'm back on kawabunga.com, so if you actually went through the process of changing your RSS feeds and all, well, sorry about that.

And, you may notice that I'm trying yet another blog design - a sad commentary on the state of kawabunga.com, where new designs seem to be outnumbering wholly original articles. But on the brighter side, I think most of the older images are now working again. I have yet to test this on Windows' Internet Explorer, so bear with me.

But the last thing I want to do is leave you with one of those "Hey I redesigned my blog" type entries, so here's an instructional video produced by some hipster/geek types on how to make a Monte Cristo Sandwich. But because they don't have access to a deep fryer, it has to be kicked down a couple notches on the awesomeness factor.