I have been thinking about doing some writing. I miss it. Songs still come at me. I need to pay more attention to them and write them down. I discovered a while back that the chords to the verse of my song, “So Many People,” are completely ripped off from “Miss Ohio” by Gillian Welch. I play that song and had the mood of the chords in mind when I wrote “So Many People.” I did not realize I had just duplicated the simple progession that Welch uses. Bah. Yesterday I sat down and easily wrote a new tune (not sure I could remember it today). College makes my mind blurry. I have been thinking about not teaching in the fall if they ask me to. I do enjoy teaching, but so much of what I do involves teaching and I am missing the writing a bit.

Also I believe in my heart that the schools in the US (and probably in other countries as well) do as much harm as good to people trying to learn. The college I am teaching at is no exception. So I already have misgivings about taking money from people who see life (and music and art and learning) so differently than I do. Then when they’re kind of creepy (or at least thoughtless) to me it lowers my motivation.

I sometimes wonder why I keep on writing songs. I guess I enjoy it. Eileen seems to like them sometimes. I don’t think I have much commercial viability. At least I hope not. I like East River Pipe. Apparently it’s just one guy: F.M. Cornog is what it says on the band’s website. The website is woefully out of date. But I like this idea. Taking a name (like Iron and Wine) instead of a stage name. Maybe I should do that. Hah. Anyway I’m not sure Cornog has all that much potential to be a musical “commodification” himself. That’s probably part of what I like about him. He’s kind of rough and simple in his music. I like that a lot.