I came across an interesting documentary last night. It was done by a man who is known for producing several movies that you’ve likely heard and/or seen. Now he’s produced a documentary about the Federal Income Tax. Lots and lots of words and examination of what should be the laws about it. The question is, are there laws about Federal Income Tax and it’s legal collection? I haven’t formulated a decision yet. However it is rather interesting to watch. Especially to hear what some of these people in power have to say about it. It comes down to semantics.
Speaking of semantics… I was invited to a new restaurant called UWink. I believe it’s website is uwink.com. It’s got good food, a nice bar, and an interesting concept being developed. They have computers at every table on both sides. They are touch screen technology. It’s how you peruse the menu, order, and then play games with all you eat, drink and be merry. It’s a cool experience. They’re still working a few kinks out. Some of them are semantics of the words chosen to be used for the billing and such. Leave it to me to start talking to one of the engineers about this stuff. I started explaining some things in terms of better use of words to make things easier for people to understand. Funny how a simple change of a single word can change so much in meaning.
Moving on to the song, even here there is a story behind that in terms of me and my connection to Evan & Jaron. A few years back a friend of mine was working at Columbia Records and I used to visit him at work. I knew several people there, but he was my friend. One day he handed me a demo of Evan & Jaron and gave me the story on how they got signed under the Sony umbrella. It was interesting. Out of respect to not promote rumors I won’t relay that story because I can’t verify it.
I went home with that CD and spent some time listening to it. It was great stuff, I really liked the songwriting. Fast forward a month or two and I’m on my way out of Los Angeles for a trip to Utah for my birthday. I got a call from Mark. He told me that Evan & Jaron are holding auditions for a guitar player and asked if I’d be interested in doing it. I said sure, when is it? He lets me know the day and that he needed to get me the tape. I let him in on the fact that I’m on my way out of town. I told him I had the disc he had given me. He figured that was fine. So I learned the songs while I was out of town and cut my trip short to come back for the audition.
Audition time in Burbank. I show up and I’m eventually shuffled in to the large rehearsal rooms to setup and play with the band. I plug in, tune up and start sifting through the riffs I had learned so that I’d have the fresh in my mind. E & J kick off the first song and off we go. I know I’m playing everything I learned as it should be played and I’m kicking it in the ass. After the song I get a comment from one of them saying man that was great, but where did you learn those guitar parts? I knew right then and there I wasn’t getting the gig. I replied that they were on the disc I was given. They had no reason to doubt me, but I learned at that point those weren’t the final mixes and I had learned parts that didn’t make the album and they knew it. I have no idea if that got Mark in trouble, but I suspect it did.
I still feel it’s great music. This song is a really good expresion of how a guy can feel when he’s really in deep with a girl. Thus the concept of is talk cheap? Certainly not – it can lead to all kinds of things. I realize the version of this you’re hearing now is slightly different from the version you can buy at iTunes. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it. I still own the store bought version, I used this as an example.
(** Disclaimer: If Evan & Jaron’s label decides to phone me with a threat, I’ll be forced to withdraw the audio faster than I can slam down the receiver. The text will remain, because words do mean something. **)