Citation
2006-02-09
So, you want to stop everything you're doing for four weeks, lock yourself in a room, write, play, sing some songs and record them on the permanent medium we have to date? Then distribute it to an indifferent world of friends, family and people who think they know you or what you're about? Well, it beats hauling drywall. Or roofing. Or process serving. Yeah, I'll try that.
Here comes "Citation". I almost called it "Wild Things", "Arsenal", "Up Your Arsenal ", "Heroes", "Jim Dickinson Presents", "Brian Jonestown Massacre", "Walker", "Nobody's Gonna Get This", "Prime Numbers", Naughty Pine", "Tall Midget", "Goodbye, Folk Rock", but if I had it to do over again I think I might call it "Unmarketable". Poor Sugar Hill, its not like I make their job easy. I think I used a swear word in every song but one, leaving them no choice for a "single". I also
promised to stay out their way on this record and let them do their jobs. (You think I would come up with a cover like that and want my mother to see it?) Meanwhile, I am like a cat on a screen door.
But I sure liked working with the "legendary" Jim Dickinson; I always love playing with the Commonweatlh ( sadly, keyboard/guitarist Eric "Ace Buckeye" Fritsch won\'t be touring with us this go 'round). And once I get out there, I love being on the road, seeing friends and fans and trying to keep up with you all at the beer olympics we compete in every night. I\'m a pretty lucky fellow for sure.
If this record "does anything" its going be by word of mouth. Television? Tried that. Radio? Who listens to radio anymore? Touring? They say we'll be lucky if gas is LESS than $3 per gallon this time next year. So here we are on the internet.
The internets.
The internest.
I promise to try and be more internet present, do my best to keep ticket prices low, and make the shows good. You don't have to promise
anything but giving this record a chance to grow on you.
Do we have a deal?
Maybe the CD is not that permanent, after all, 8-track tapes went the way of the TRS-computer...
Here we go, good luck to us all
Release Day
2006-03-14
DATELINE KNOXVILLE, TN. MARCH 14, 2006; IDES OF MARCH EVE; FULL MOON. SCOTT MILLER & THE COMMONWEALTH RECORD RELEASE.
To everything there is a season ( blah, blah, blah )….
A time to write, a time to record. A time to mix, a time to re-mix. A time to listen,
A time to master. A time to master again. A time to let your parents hear your record.
( haven’t done THAT yet) A time to rehearse, a time to tour. A time to wonder what
the hell you are thinking? A time to look at your friends. Who have real jobs, nice
cars and 401(k)’s. Who do what they want on the weekends. And have time to
watch their favorite football team.
A time to ra-tion-al-ize. That I really love what I’m doing. And wouldn’t trade it for anything. Besides, I have no other skills. A time to beg and to grovel.
The new record “Citation” is out TODAY ( not at Walmart, as it has a ‘parental advisory’ sticker on it…). But I hope you have a chance to purchase it, and listen to it, and eventually let it grow on you. Hope to see some of you out on the road; the dates are on the webstie.
Thanks for all your support in the past and hope spring is upon us
( although this was really meant to be a ‘winter record’)..
Scott
Reconstruction
11-08-2006
This word has been on my mind lately, not just because the new website is up and running, and I've got new management and booking, but because '07 is going to be a rebuilding year for me as well as this country as a whole-- Not that '06 was bad, I mean any year I still get to play music for a living is a good one...
But now, look what's about to happen:
• A new website with new merchandise.
•
A new solo train tour right after Thanksgiving
•
A new 'live' album we're recording in December to be released in March '07 titled what?
RECONSTRUCTION.
If you are reading this you have found the BRAND NEW website: For myself, dedicated to myself, about myself and I can't stand myself so I really don't visit too often. HOWEVER: it seems the "team miller", who built this site and put up all the new merchandise wish that I would (visit here more often) so here I am...
Anyway, hope you check out the new site and snag some new shirts (we WILL have baby-onsies with "Scott Miller hates me!" on them very soon) and decide to stick around with me.
I'll be back.
ScottgeneralmacarthurarnoldschwarzeneggerMiller
Amtrak Crescent Train Tour, 2006
Beginning 11/27/06
POST ONE: 11/28/06
IOTA CLUB, ARLINGTON, VA.
Well, first night and first show and I played like I'd never done a show before....
I can't BELIEVE so many people came out on a monday night. I knew this town wasn't right.
Anyway, usually you get hammered the night before you leave for a tour and you get this kind of stuff out of your system, unfortunately the crowd had to be there for it last night:
MEA CULPA!!!!!!!!
Okay, at least I'm starting to blog and embrace this internet "thingy" which I'm positive is
is a passing fad.
On to New York City, I hear its really cheap up there...
More on the 'morrow
Scott
POST TWO: 11/29/06
RODEO BAR, NYC
Last night was much better on my end, and the folks that came out to the show seemed to enjoy it as well.
Now we're headed to the station to catch the train and try to get to Ashland by tomorrow.
I think I'm finally figuring out this business of show. See you later NYC!!!!!!!!!!
sm
POST THREE: 11/29/06
Well, NYC treated us well in the end, and the train ride back south was gentle and kind. We
discovered red cap service, and that a well placed picture of Andy Jackson on a green piece of paper
can get you great seats on a train that hasn't been announced to the public yet. It is WHO you know
sometimes, and how much you have to spend. Maybe the 'hokie pokie' IS what its all about...
Mark, Big Al and I got off the train in DC, since we had left my car there the day before. The plan was for Al and I to take the train on to Ashland, and have Mark drive to meet us. Well, it was Mark's birthday as of midnight, and we celebrated of course, so lets just say we weren't "crisp". In the name of friendship we all decided to drive together, only to hit NoVa traffic and watch the train blow by us.
Use your brain, take a train. I need to practice what I preach more...
We're getting a good road groove by now, and its good to know I can still do this and enjoy it. I think I'll be in good shape by Chicago next week, and CERTAINLY ready to kick a tasty groove with the band at the Down Home for the live record.
Until the morrow
SM
POST FOUR: 12/01/06
To Whom it May Concern,
If I am listening to Chuck Mangione. I love it.
Although I promised myself beforehand not to, I unfortunately (in front of my family) told the story about big al and New York City's Museum of Sex: When told about the $25 entrance ticket, Al responded "If I am going to pay $25 to see nudity it better be dancing around and taking my money $1 at a time." Regardless, I'm glad my family came out to see the show. I'm sure it will make good dinner conversation later.
I would like to make a special dedication to mark, bart and al for all their hard work to make this tour possible. But especially to Jerome Trahan, our Amtrak representative, who makes the trains run on time.
Looking forward to Atlanta, but the fact that Florida and Arkansas are playing for the SEC Championship makes me want a playoff system in college football.
Staying the Course As Long As Its On Two Rails Miller
POST FIVE: 12/05/06
If I had known when I sluffed off Big Al and Mark from the train tour I'd upgrade to a first class private room I never would have invited 'em.....
So I now sit in the metroliner lounge, with my wi-fi by a comfortable fire, and count my blessings.
The flight from K-town to Chicago was fine, although I have another idea for when I become Tsar of our country (I keep a list....). The new item, marked number 451-a will have all mountain ranges,
rivers and cities LABELED FROM THE AIR!!!! so I can tell where I am. Its terrible when you look down and say to yourself " Now that must be Dayton, Ohio...." and then, well, I'd be wrong. I don't like to be wrong. I don't like to be wrong SO DAMN MUCH that I have a special " I told you so" dance that rivals Haitian Voo-doo masters in its passion and vigor when I'm right. Ask my wife, she loves it....
Okay, so back to it. Now I'm back on two rails headed from Chicago to St. Louis, cruising at an
altitude of 3-4 feet where I can look out my window and tell where I am. That's how I like it.
I will give a full Barbara Aston Walsh ( the society writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel) report of the house concert:
The owner of the house, after kicking the visiting musician out of the house for slandering his taste in magazine subscriptions.....
Take care, you cold cruel world!!
scott
POST SIX: 12/07/06
So the house concert was not as painful as I feared, especially as I had plenty of time on the train ride to..."prepare". The end of the night might have been a little strange, and I don't know that I'll be invited back to Twangfest again, but other than that, Rick Woods and his family were great, and the crowd was polite. I think I heard that Yoko Ono's publicist was there....
Good train ride again today back to Chicago. One of the best parts is when you eat in the dining car
you get "seated" with strangers. It could be awkward, ( and I'm not too good with people anyway---I
know, I know, wrong line of work) but everyone has a love of train travel so you have something to
talk about right away. This morning the couple I sat with were on their 80th train trip, and had HAT
PINS to prove it! Tis a big, big world out there.
Anyway, headed down to sound check in my favorite BIG city: Chicago!!!!
Then up early in the AM to do this live record at the Down Home. I'm sure that'll suck..
Thanks again to the AMTRAK folks, ( if they check this; at least their internal police force might..)
and I'm sure they wouldn't mind me saying:
Write your congressman and save a train.
sm
Recording Live at the Downhome, Johnson City TN
Submitted 12/13/06
Well,
The producer R.S. Field and I have listened down to what we recorded,
and first off let me state
that I will not talk between songs ever again. In my own defense,
something had to be done while
we tuned between each song ( because it was 10 degrees F out side),
but still. For all those it annoyed, find
joy in that I had to suffer it with you the last two days. Now on to
Nashville to mix what we got:
which is more than we'll need.
There's no way to please everybody with what we pick, and I have read
the 'suggested' set lists that were sent, so I'm just gonna see if I
can construct a dream set list of my own
and that will have to do.
Thanks to EVERYBODY who worked so hard all last week while I was riding
on the train to get ready to
record; you did a great job and made life much easier. Bill Mapp set
us up with Ridgewood BBQ pre-show
that was a life saver, so thanks to him as well, and to all you who
bought one, two or three days worth of tickets
and came out. I hope you like what we get.
Don't forget about New Year's Eve here in Knoxville at the Bijou
Theatre.
Take care,
Scot thenewsingingbreakman Miller
Christmas Message
12-18-2006
Straight from the train to three nights at the Down Home.
Straight from the Down home to the studio to mix the live record.
Lets just say I'm VERY tired of hearing my own songs at this point, I can only hope
the public at large will not be so. So far, " Still People are Moving" is my favorite cut;
the boys played their asses off on that one. But off the tape and through the ears of R.S. Field and
Jack Clarke, EVERYTHING is sounding good; sounds like the Commonwealth---or how I hope we
sound. Right now we're mixing "For Jack Tymon" and its 'comedy bit'. "Arianne" from the old V-roy's
days sounds good too. I'm glad the boys made me do that one for the record.
I had at first regretted not telling the audience to be quiet during the tapings, as there were
microphones EVERYWHERE in the club, but I have come to enjoy ( and know a little bit better) the
audience and their thoughts. So to answer a few questions we heard posed:
1) I am 5' 11 3/4" tall. The stage does make me look taller--But I ain't short.
2) I really don't like babies. Get over it.
3) You're so tan, I hate you too....
4) Presbyterian
5) Yes, I am with you.
6) Its a good thing they don't serve liquor at the Down Home
7) Yes, I did write these songs.
If you can't tell by now, I am but a shadow of a human. But no rest for the weary: we go to my family
for christmas and then back on the road right away.
Hope everyone has a great holiday. I'm very much looking forward to '07. I got a feeling its gonna be
bad year for the listing music business but a good year for me...
Enjoy your office Christmas Party, but remember, from Miss Manners to Ann Landers they say its
important to NOT put a lampshade on your head...
Take care,
scott |
