These videos should give you a good idea of what it takes for me to put together a song.

Fan Made Video

2009 goals and a little history

To put my 2009 goals in context, I need to briefly summarize my goals for the last four years.

In February 2005, I was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). After the shock wore off from receiving this news, I dropped out of graduate school, and I stopped my volunteer work at a telephone crisis center. I became withdrawn, spending all my time playing cards on the computer. It went on like this for a few months, then a friend of mine advised me to go back to the one thing that always gave me the most joy: music. He said that even though my physical condition prevented me from playing an actual instrument, I could still write music. But, since I was a bass player before I got sick, I didn't even know how to read treble clef. So I set out the following goals for the year:
-- visit my sister in New York city
-- learn how to use Finale, music notation software
-- come to terms with the diagnosis

In 2006, I discovered GarageBand, the music sequencer that comes with the Mac. I set a goal of learning how to use the program, and start getting in the habit of writing music on a regular basis.

My goals in 2007 were:
-- learn music theory
-- learn music business
-- learn the craft of songwriting

I got myself a college-level music theory book. I discovered that my current state of knowledge was about the level of someone who had taken one semester of music theory. So I started reading the book at a rate of two chapters a month, and I started lessons with a composition instructor. I started writing songs, and they got better as the year went along.

I also started taking classes at Berklee school of music online. My favorite classes were "writing lyrics to music" and "music marketing 101" in the first class, I read books about rhyme and lyrical positioning strategies. In the marketing class, I learned all that tactics of being an indie artist, meaning that I as a musician am responsible for personally building relationships with fans, and promote myself through my own efforts, not relying on a record label to do it for me.

My goals in 2008 were:
-- refine my musical style
-- crystallize a description of what my music is all about
-- write 20 songs

All through 2006-7, I had problems collaborating with vocalists and guitarists on the Internet. The guitarist would take way too long to record their part, and the vocalists took liberties with the way that I wanted the song performed. One day it occurred to me "who needs a guitar anyway?" "Why not find a local vocalist that I can have more control over?" So I rebranded my music as "piano rock" and came up with a tag line "Ace Noface: alternative piano rock for the brave." Two weeks ago, I finished my 20th song, and I recorded 12 of those songs in my home studio.

So my goals/dreams for 2009 are:
-- complete a studio CD with live instruments
-- get my CD reviewed in 20 blogs
-- increase my fan base (Hopefully with a little word -- of --mouth from you)
-- get a brick and mortar distribution deal

It's hard to say how realistic these dreams are. By the end of 2009, that will be five years after my ALS diagnosis. On average, 90% of people diagnosed with this disease are dead within five years of their diagnosis. So far, I've been pretty lucky. Up to now, the disease has only affected my breathing. It may be uncomfortable to be short of breath, but I can still speak and operate a computer with my right forefinger. I have done some preparations for when/if I am no longer able to speak or use my hands. I trained a computer program that "speaks" in a voice that sounds like me, so my voice won't sound mechanical when I need a computer to vocalize for me. I'm also working with a professor who is an expert in augmentative communications technology who will come up with a way to let me continue to write music with a device that tracks my eye movements. That way, I can still be productive even after I lose the ability to control the computer with my finger.

http://acenoface.com/

In search of the lost song

Several of my freshman year hallmates joined ΖΨ fraternity, and I got invited to a lot of their parties later on in my college career. Their house was notorious, and was known as the skankiest On campus. The national office revoked their charter after a methacathadone lab was discovered in their house.

But the parties continued and the houses where the members lived after being kicked out of the fraternity house. During one these parties, something magical and unforgettable happened (it didn't have anything to do with drugs). A song was playing, with a typical verse -- chorus -- verse structure. Then there was a bridge section where everything cut out except for the vocals and guitars. The bridge ended with a melodic trombone section playing a happy melody, with the vocals singing the same melody with the words "ba ba ba, ba ba ba" Suddenly, everyone in the room converged on the dance floor in a huge group hug. I heard one of my friends say "these are the greatest days of our lives!" I felt a huge ecstatic rush.

A year hasn't gone by since then that I haven't thought about that song. I remembered a few things about it. It has a pretty fast tempo, the singer was English and sounded a little like Morrissey. The chord progression in the verse was Dm Bb F C. The only lyrics I could remember was that of the first verse started with "its 5 AM", the second verse started with "its 6 AM" and the third verse started with "its 7 AM".

I tried to track down some of the people who I was pretty sure where there using social networking sites, but I had no luck. It's entirely possible that they would have been too drunk to remember it anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that I might be able to find the song using Google. I entered the query "five am lyrics" and one of the first results was a tablature chart for "From Under The Covers" which was on the first album from The Beautiful South. That album was not available on the iTunes store, so I ordered a used copy from Amazon.

Hearing the song after all this time made me feel very nostalgic and sometimes a little weepy, but I'm glad I found it. It's like reconnecting with an old friend.

No need to smoke and hide...

... Because it will be a legal ride.

Yesterday, the voters of Michigan passed proposal one, which allows physicians to prescribe marijuana to treat the symptoms of terminally ill patients, and other seriously ill patients. I spent some time looking over the bill, and everything I found in it was good news to me. For one thing, ALS is explicitly listed as one of the diseases that doctors can prescribe marijuana for. The maximum amount a patient can possess is 2 1/2 ounces, a month's supply for even a prodigious stoner. The new law establishes an ID card system to be administered by the department of health. Patients are allowed to grow up to 12 plants, each of which would generate several ounces of smokable marijuana.

The most interesting part of the new law is the creation of "primary caregivers" who are granted the same protections against prosecution for possession or cultivation that the patients do. One of my caregivers is a tremendous pothead, and he seems excited about the opportunity of essentially getting a get out of jail free card. I think he might even be willing to grow some weed at his house if I supply the startup money.

I found an article in a journal for physical medicine doctors that made the argument for using marijuana to treat ALS. It gave eight reasons why the drug is effective, and admittedly euphoria was one of the benefits to treat the depression that can come with the disease, but the other seven reasons were more substantive. One of them is that cannabinoids have been shown to have neuroprotective properties, which means that smoking pot might actually make me live longer.

Pretty cool, eh?

Whiskey Bottle's Lyrics

My bipolar illness was really out of control in the summer of 2001, and abruptly stopping taking baclofen, a muscle relaxant that causes physical dependency, threw me into a full-blown manic episode.

The first of many bizarre delusions I suffered happened when I was doing shots of Maker's Mark bourbon while working on my PC. For a split second, I saw the eye of God in the circle S IV logo on the label. I immediately started work on this image, which is based on that logo:



Everything in the image had quasi-religious symbolism. The circle represented the walls around the Garden of Eden. The S was the serpent, the I was Adam and the V was Eve. The four three-leafed clovers were about the animist worship of nature. The five pyramids (from a dollar bill) symbolize man's dominion over nature. The five lightning bots (taken from Schutzstaffel runes) was for natural forces' dominance over mankind. If you connect the lines between the small pyramids inside the circle in a certain way, you can make a six-pointed Star of David. The seven pointed figure on the inside of the circle looked like a police badge to me, so it represented Mosaic and Talmudic Law. The nine leafed pot image embedded in the circle represented a method by which mankind could return to Eden. Either I skipped eight when I made the image, or I don't remember how it was incorporated there.

Apparently these types of delusions are common among bipolars. In the film "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" Daniel is shown ranting to a nightclub audience saying "Man is five, the Devil is six, God is seven, number nine, number nine, number nine..."

Cooking Dates

I posted this ad on craigslist and in my synagogue's bulletin:


I enjoy cooking Middle Eastern, Greek, Chinese, Thai, Ethiopian, Indian, Mexican, French, Italian, Indian, and Southern style comfort food, but due to physical limitations, I need help doing the work in the kitchen. I accommodate all dietary restrictions. For a fun and educational evening, answer this ad!

I have a few friends who come over intermittently, resulting in 1 or 2 cooking dates a month. They pick the culinary theme, I look up 4-5 recipes, which we narrow down to 2-3 via e-mail.

Last time our theme was fall vegetables. We chose 2 recipes, both calling for tomatoes. My guest grows tomatoes, but her dog likes them too, and ate all the tomatoes we were going to cook! Still, the stuffed zucchini with ground lamb and fresh mint, and the grilled eggplant with parsley ricotta and tomato relish were a smashing success and a delight for all the senses. The most fun we had was grilling the eggplant with the George Foreman grill I just bought. I can't decide if I like my grill or my lemon zester more.

I know that there will be a time, hopefully a long way off, when I won't be able to swallow anymore, so in addition to good meals, I always have Altoids peppermints, and Altoids apple, mango, raspberry, citrus and tangerine sours, plus Godiva truffles on my desk.