Underscore [#0002]
Before you continue perusing the goings-on as of late, if you wouldn’t taking a moment to subscribe to the Mohaynow YouTube channel, and follow us on the streaming and social services you prefer, it would mean the world to me.
Welcome to Underscore [#0002]
Update
Lately
Well, as you can imagine, the recent few weeks have been full of holiday festivities. I made fried chicken on 12/24/2024, and, with the leftovers made chicken and waffles for breakfast the next day. Lots of good cooking, and lots of good times have been had. My daughter Lucy and I finally watched Home Alone together for the first time, and ended up watching the entire series.
I’ve been slowly catching up from having been sick from 28 May through late November. Work and music in general have been lagging. I am grateful for patience at this time in my life, as I tend to have precious little of it for myself, but those with whom I do business and family alike seem to have patience a-plenty as of late.
Throughout the process of continuing to get well, I’ve had maintenance out to handle some items at the apartment, and have recently had to throw away my mattress and pillows because they were hosting the mold from my previous apartment.
I’m really enjoying being able to spend time working with the piano again. I was gifted a small vintage four-channel desktop mixer from my Dad that sits perfectly atop the piano. I have it running over to a keyboard amp on the other side of the room, and have enjoyed having a microphone set up nearly all the time at the piano (which I also use with the guitar).
Another thing I had nearly entirely forgotten about the piano, is that when I was in college for music, the piano was the workstation that we utilized in the practice rooms provided by each different university I studied at. It makes it very straightforward to keep charts and scores and notes all together, though I tend to allow my music workstations to pile up, as I’m generally interested in continuing to pursue a technique or transcription once I’ve stumbled upon it, or worked it up.
I haven’t been doing much notation, but I’m looking forward to working on a little figured bass notation piece I wrote in November. I’ve found that once a person understands the logic of western harmony, it’s often entertaining to compose away from an instrument altogether, and to use the logic of music theory and the quiet hum of learned intervals to intuit the way a piece of music might sound. This is the opposite of the “piano roll” composition technique that I began learning at three or four years old, and am still employing on a near-daily basis, if I am able to get to music production at the end of a given day, energy and schedule permitting.
Literature
I have all but abandoned endeavors with respect to poetry for the time being. Not for any intentional reason, but, having written volumes upon volumes of the stuff, and there being a sincere lack of interest in my preferred word-crafting mode, I may have adopted another practice altogether that I’ve spoken about to nearly no one.
Community
I’m learning that living in a given city doesn’t mean you’re going to have friends or community there, even if you’ve known people from there for two decades. I’m fine with that. I’m also very well acquainted with the notion that it’s difficult to make new friends when one is nearly a shut-in. I’m working on this. Might be going out to work at coffee shops more often, but it puts way more steps between me and work, and it tends to be more expensive, as I think the coffee I make at home only costs around $2.50 (and it is ni-i-i-ice).
Speaking of community, I again applied for the Amplify 817 program put together through the Fort Worth Public Library back in September, and was again rejected. You can read my mildly snarky application here: Amplify 817 Letter. I have not been vocal or public about much of what I think about the music scene in this town, because I am not really involved in it anymore. I constantly feel like a reject in a scene I personally felt I had a home in some five years ago. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to hear more about this, as I’m not especially keen on publicly elaborating, but much of it is pretty concisely elucidated in the application letter linked above. My personal perspective is different than what you may expect, and I have a lot to say which I have no fear of speaking about, but just prefer not to waste my breath defaming a scene that is more interested in liquor and beer sales than it is artistry.
Digression
So without much further digressing, I’m still setting the tone for this newsletter. Trying to keep closer to musing than journaling, as I already have a practice for that. If you have any suggestions, or in these two installations have seen something you’ve particularly enjoyed, please let me know in the comments. And please, if at all possible keep the comment section rowdy and unbearable!
Highlights
Single Announcement
I Dont Mind
The newest single by Mohaynow [Release Date: TBD]
I Don’t Mind
Mute Moon 0001 “Fanfare”
Mute Moon 0002 “Andante”
I Don’t Mind [Instrumental]
Trashman [Bonus Track]
There’s not any way to pre-save or hear the single, as I’m currently taking a break from mastering the tracks. I’ll be blasting it out everywhere, when it’s time!
After it is finished and uploaded, I’ll be putting together a music video for the single, which I shot on Thanksgiving Day, and the subsequent weekend. I’m pretty excited for the concept. It may turn out as absurd as humanly possible, but we will see.
Strangers [Take 4]
Walk Alone [demo][Take 2]
STORE
Over the past couple of months I collected a handful of items to put together as a little side-hustle, but moreso to demonstrate a simple ecommerce webstore to prospective clients. I put some books from my personal library up for sale that I wouldn’t be able to procure much for from the local used bookstore, and I also added some items for local pickup only, mostly in the musical instruments category. I’ve been thinking about doing some bulk breaking with items like strings and picks. Drop some ideas in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to source from nealmcalister.com/store.
New Server
Mohaynow Discord Server
I’ve put together a public Discord Community for Mohaynow! To join, stay up with Mohaynow goings-on, and meet like-minded weirdos, follow this invite link: https://discord.gg/T87w3Njg49
Mark It! Records Community / Site
We’re continuing to push on making a Mark It! Records launch, and with that we have the website in production. Currently quietly parked with our logo (expertly designed by Zach Dominguez) at the URL you’d guess it’d be at, we’re pretty excited to show you all what we’ve been busy with since late 2022.
We also have a digital artist community, so if that sounds like something that might interest you, and you’d like us to consider you for membership, please don’t hesitate to DM me or get in touch with me at info@nealmcalister.com. We currently have a weekly game night, and have ways to share and promote art of all kinds.
Thank you for reading and listening.
– N
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Questions, concerns, or feedback? Please email info@nealmcalister.com.
