Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Do my hands look dry?


Winter dryness just kills my skin.
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Short lived tee


Check out this rockin' awesome t-shirt! Bedazzled by the hands of a tiny, polynesian child no doubt (straight to the trash for you, my offensive t-shirt!).
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Monday, December 17, 2007

Aciphex... not what I was expecting.

So I don't know if they're pushing this product in your neck of the woods, but out here in Denver there's a commercial running every three minutes for an antacid product called Aciphex.

Aciphex.

Say that out loud.

Yes, that's pronounced "ass effects."

I don't know what that brings to your mind, but for me I picture tricked-out booty alterations, like fast and furious derriers with giant wing spoilers and splashy neon paint jobs.

Ass FX.

Here's a look into my mind's eye (as sported by our illustrious president):

Kick ass. No?

This best part of this is that this thing went in front of a room, and nobody had the balls to tell the person in charge that the name is horrendous. You know this went through the channels and then finally met with approval. How many people thought: "Ass Effects? That's disgusting, but the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, so I'd better just keep my mouth shut."

Or perhaps they all thought: "Man, I hate my boss. I think I'll let this thing ride so the world can see what an idiot he/she really is."

Nice.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

I have succumbed to Facebook.

Well, I finally broke down and joined Facebook. The odd thing is, unlike most of the "tools" on MySpace (search for friends, search by location, events, etc...) the tools and networking interfaces on Facebook actually work! What a concept.

I'm not sure how much I'll actually log on and "interface" (you can get lost in that black hole), but I've at least got the info up there for when people come looking for the music (Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three, DB3, Cats or Cars).

The iLike thing seems to be the music app of choice, but I think it's pretty lame that your Facebook page for your band and your iLike page are not the same (or even linked for that matter). Makes things confusing for all parties involved.

For instances, the above links go to the Facebook pages for each artist, but below are iLike Facebook links to the iLink pages for the same artists (confusing, no?).

Cats or Cars
iLike Cats or Cars

DB3
iLike DB3

Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three
iLike Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three


The other frustrating thing with Facebook and MySpace (and this is a Gmail thing): any notifications that come in from either service go straight to spam. And it's infuriating that you can't set up a Gmail filter to place mail in the inbox (only archive, star or trash). WTF?! Who cares if a label or a fucking star was placed on a piece of mail that's in my spam box?! Why can't I whitelist text or a subject or a domain? And I know this is a feature that people constantly write to Gmail about ('cause I do it about three times a week).

Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Stones are haunting me.

So last night we were driving home after the gig in Colorado Springs, and to keep from falling asleep we turned on the radio. First song up was The Rolling Stones, and I just wasn't in the mood. "Change it."

It's a one and a half hour drive from Colorado Springs to home. With last night's snow it was closer to two. Here's the bizarre part:

Now I know that it's been said that I am prone to hyperbole. Yes, Dan sometimes exaggerates, but I have witnesses on this one. For almost two hours, every time we changed the radio station --every time-- the first or second song was either a Rolling Stones song, or made reference to one. And the vast majority of the time it was an actual song (only twice was it a reference).

This was very strange. I fear I am being haunted by Keith Richard's pre-ghost.

drawing by Sebastian Kruger


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Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Comin' atcha live on the Internets!

Check it. I'm playing a show with my buddy Jeff Caylor this Friday, December 7, at a place called Nemo's in Colorado Springs. We'll be doing mostly stuff from his new album, Okay (I'm playing guitar, singing, jumping up and down, etc...), but I plan on interjecting a few tunes of my own into the mix (worry not --he's ok'd this).

Anyway... Jeff has set up a web stream for the event, so those of you 1500 miles away (or more) can watch the show live, streaming on the web.



You can come back here and watch the show on the screen above, you can go to Jeff's blog, or you can go to the site that is providing the service. Either way, 7pm MOUNTAIN TIME is going to get you a live show worth tuning in for.

Hope to see you there.

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Thursday, November 1, 2007

Mazzy Star/Eric Clapton Cover Added to YouTube


Please visit YouTube to check out the new acoustic cover of the week from Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three. For those of you who used to frequent the Round Bar, you should recognize this little ditty combo.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Recording cello for the new album

what's playing - Tito Puente, "Mambo Tipico"

Well, it seems odd considering all that is going on these days, but we started moving forward on the new DBi3 album. Erika pointed out that once she and I get to Boulder, it'll be a bit of a trek for the current band to get into my studio, so for the past two days, I've been tracking Talia on "In the Meantime" and "By the By." As you can see, the "studio" is a bit makeshift, but the sound is surprisingly good for the surroundings.

Guitar, vocals and percussion for "In the Meantime" were already tracked for the most part; I just had to add the new "she loves to be his wife..." all-stop and slow section. The recording of "By the By" I had previously recorded was too slow (at 151 bpm), "undanceable," as Talia pointed out, so I re-tracked the vocals, guitar, tambourine, shaker and drums at a much more upbeat 161 bpm. Now y'all can shake your groove thangs when you hear it.

For Talia's cello, I'm using an AKG 414 aimed directly at the body just above the bridge and run directly into the MOTU 828; I'm also using an AKG C411PP run hotter than the 414 and then run through my Aphex 207 with the "MicLim" function engaged. That C411PP is a great pickup... but make sure you get the "PP" (normal sized XLR) not the "L" (mini XLR) if you're in the market for a condenser for your stringed instrument; I've heard horror stories about the tone of the "L."

Who knows how this "lighting a fire under my ass" will affect the release date of the next album? I've got about 9 songs intended for this project written and with rough tracking, but considering the fact that I'm about to pack up the studio and move it 1,200 miles West, I have a hard time believing that I'll be able to finishing anything up soon. Maybe I can get a couple songs cranked out to final format before the big tear-down though.
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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Harder Better Faster Stronger

what's playing: Daft Punk, "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

Sometime, you gotta just sit back and say: "Damn... Daft Punk RULES!"

ps Panda Bear doesn't rule. What's up with ripping off all the bad parts of The Beach Boys? I mean, I love Pet Sounds as much as the next guy, but in what way is it cool to rip off a band so blatantly? Boo to Panda Bear.

My arms hurt from coding/designing. Thank the MCP for my Zero Tension mouse. While it has it's problems, it's all but eliminated my ulnar nerve strain. My neck still hurts though (turns out this Microsoft keyboard is so damn wide, you have to strain your shoulder/neck to use a mouse --let's start a revolution and get that number pad moved to the left side!).


Monday, March 5, 2007

Live Dan Beahm Ramones cover posted to MySpace

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Handclapper Dave recorded the WPGU live performance with his trusty boom box (circa 1987). After I figured out what the rectuangular plastic housing containing two wheels and a long string of dark ribbon was (a "cassette," it turns out), I converted it to MP3, and it's now posted on the MySpace page for your listening enjoyment.

Check it out.

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Saturday, March 3, 2007

Surprises...

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Part of the fun of performing live music is all the surprises that come down the pike: what bands you get put on a bill with, where you play, what kind of crowd is at the venue, how the venue treats you, etc...

Last night we played a show at The High Dive in Champaign, IL. I thought it would be, as the name implies, kind of a dive. Wrong. It was actually one of the nicest places I've ever played. It was clean. It was well laid out (a large bar in-the-round that wraps around a two-story wall that divides the venue, stage and plenty of space on one side, lounge and booths on the other side, pool tables upstairs, large smoking deck out back). The lights were great and run really well (good balance between ambience and spots). And probably the best sound system I've ever heard in a place that size (probably around 500-600 capacity). There was great equipment, but the caliber of the audio was largely due to Jimmy, the sound guy. He really knew what he was doing. That was awesome. How many times do you tell the sound guy what you need in the monitor and he just says, "Sorry, can't do that." Not Jimmy. He pulls cords and makes it happen. And he actually spent time eq-ing the lows on Talia's cello to minimize feedback. Killer.

The other suprise was the "genres" of the other bands. Especially when you're new in town, you get put on bills that don't necessarily reflect the style of your music. Last night was one of those gigs. And I don't mean for that to come across as a bad thing. Sometimes it's really fun to get pushed out of your boundaries. You make new friends. You make new fans. It's part of the beauty of live music.

We opened the night to a pretty small crowd. That kind of comes with the territory of being the early evening opening act, but last night it was particularly bad as "unofficial" (a campus wide drinking holiday that the UIUC crowd really goes in for) did a number on our numbers. Anybody in the student crowd who would've been coming to see us play had likely started drinking at 9am, so were in no shape to walk, let alone get across town to the High Dive. But the sound was fantastic, we played a tight set, and those who were there really dug it (and Andy and Jodi finally made it out to a show!)... a great experience and one that I hope we can repeat on another night that doesn't conflict with the campus's largest drinking holiday.

After us was a band called The Fuz. They were definitely very, very "jammy." Their set lasted nearly an hour, and I think they played maybe five songs. But they were good at what they were doing, they were definitely having fun, and they brought out a good crowd that was obviously there to see them. It's been a while (the days of shooting photos for John Mullins Band) since I've been in that type of a patchouli/hemp fueled throng. ps The guitar player looks exactly like George Michael, Jason Bateman's character's son from Arrested Development.

The second band was the VilleBillies from Louisville, KY. I had heard a couple of their songs on MySpace, and I was thinking kind of "Kid Rock meets Limp Bizkit," but seeing them live caused me to rethink that. There were ten guys on stage. That in itself is a force to be reckoned with. They've got kind of a "southern rock with rap" thing going. To re-label the previous hybrid mentioned, I'd say they were more like a cross of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eminem with a little Rage Against the Machine thrown in for good measure. And I actually mean that in a good way. They played music that had the "you must sing along" feel of classic southern rock, but the chest thumping crowd pumping drive of "new" rap. It really won the crowd over. I could see them totally ripping up a huge crowd at an outdoor festival. The bass player had a six string bass, and was definitely a driving factor in their music. They used a lot of loops and the drum machine, but the drummer kept it going throughout, and he was no slouch. Adam was probably my favorite. He played the acoustic guitar and the banjo, and definitely added the southern flavor to the stage presence. Not necessarily the kind of music I'd listen to at home, but damn they were fun in a club setting.

The last band was Eclectic Theory. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I'm just going to post a clip I video'd with my phone at the show (turn your audio way down; it's "concert volume" captured with a phone, so the audio is less than stellar).

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

They're HERE!

The new albums just arrived and they look fantastic. I'm off to the post office to make them available via CDBaby.com!

I've got other news regarding radio appearances, etc... but I'll get to that when I get back.

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Pics from The Canopy Club


Michael Davis just sent me a link to a couple of the photos he took at the CD release Feb. 11, at the Canopy Club. I love the fact that there's a band to look at. Thanks for snapping, Michael.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to record new music lately, as I'm trying to catch up on all the "money-making" that didn't happen while I was recording the album (http://www.waldenholdings.com/, http://www.acompleteseasonofsoccer.com/, etc...). The absence of writing music is killing me, but we've got a show March 2, at the High Dive, so that should help abate my woes.

Driving to Elmhurst Saturday morning, we took Lake Shore Drive and had Sufjan Stevens', Illinoise going on the iPod. The snow was tinkling down on an angry Lake Michigan. The waves, the grey, the city... it was gorgeous. How great that there's actually a soundtrack for that vision now. Thanks, Sufjan.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

New Shows added

Evidently I'm really bad at keeping a blog. It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that there are so many other things to do. Anyway...

NEW SHOWS!! March 2 at the High Dive and April 7 at The Iron Post.

We're also starting to look for a good Columbus, OH CD release date and another for Anderson, IN.

The CD release at the Canopy Club went really well. Thanks to all who came out, supported us live, and bought the new album. We had a great time. It was nice meeting Michael Davis and Doug Robinson and his possie. All great people.

It's been snowing a lot. I shaved my beard. I'll probably grow it back.





Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Illinois CD Release Show is set.


Well, the CD Release show is coming along nicely. The venue will be the Canopy Club on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, and we're kicking off the new series "New Sound Sundays" on Sunday, Feb. 11.

We'll have a wonderful cello player (Talia Dicker), a killer drummer (Gordon Kay), and the lovely vocal harmonies of one David Ward (oohs-and-ahhhs).

The show starts early at 8:30pm, and it's only a buck, so even though it's a school night you've got no excuse for not being there.

Rock.

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Friday, January 19, 2007

Not paying us for advertising...? Then we (a "music magazine") won't cover your album release.

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This is the kind of stuff that indie artists on indie labels are up against. (as reported by www.idolator.com)

It's not often that you see such a blatant conflation of a publication's ad-sales department and its editorial well, and the brazenness with which Joyce made his demands caused our mouths to drop open. Despite that shock, we're pretty sure that Amplifier is hardly the only publication guilty of this practice; sure, Joyce's utter boneheadedness is probably unparalleled, and his magazine has been given the "Hey, Masshole!" award from one of our former AnonIMous Interview subjects.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Waiting

Just twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the CD's to get back from the replication house. Thought people might like to get a look at the cover and the final track listing.
  1. Prologue
  2. Two Hands
  3. Mackincac
  4. Stupid Girl
  5. Separate But Equal
  6. The Visitor
  7. Invisible
  8. Okanaki
  9. Falling or Flying
  10. Kandahar
  11. Half as Cool as Han Solo (new version)
p.s. The album is streaming in its entirety over here.


On a completely different subject...

We recently switched to Verizon (I know, I know --no iPhone for me, but it's what the rest of the family's on, blah, blah, blah). Last night I was going about porting our numbers. I called Verizon customer support at 10pm and... THEY WERE CLOSED! WTF?! This is the company that claims to have the best customer service in the nation. I mean, for crying out loud! I can call and bitch about a crummy bag of Doritos at four in the morning, but I can't talk to my communications network after 10pm (that's freaking 8pm on the West coast)?! What the hell do they run all those adds with the guys being followed around by an ENTIRE CREW of support?! They should show a clip of that guy at 8pm... when that merry band of Verizon staff head off to the bars and leave him stranded and alone.


Also, what the hell happened to Splenda? I know it was awful to say (E and I were committed to saying "sucralose" instead of the brand name), but the fact that it has completely disappeared from the shelves of all our local groceries is a bit creepy. When I noticed it's absence, I actually went searching for it throughout the store, any product, and it's nowhere to be found. Kind of X-Files, huh?
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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Realistic release date targeted

The date has been set, my friends: February 6th.

The artwork and master disc are off to the replication plant. Now the real work begins. How to get people to listen to an album from an artist they've probably never heard of... ahhh, the joys of indie music.

The good news, though, is that now you know what to get your sweetie-pie for Valentine's Day!

Get out the shoe box, the cardboard paper, the doilies, the blunt-tipped scissors and the Elmer's glue. Make your significant other a Valentine's Mailbox and put the new Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three album in it.

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