Open Mic Night: Typeface Edition

After the events of last week’s open mic night edition, I found myself in Florida, looking for work as a writer while I made some quick living cash as a member of a landscaping crew. It was a small operation, and we basically just maintained the really nice yards of really nice homes. We'd do about 20 yards a day. It was easily the most satisfying job I’ve ever held.

I fell in love with riding a mower like this, and likened it to a sport. You’re standing on this one-wheeled platform cruising through the St. Augustine grass and running around with a weed eater, an edger and a blower making lawns look beautiful. If the lawn had hills and sharp turns, all the better, as it felt like some sort of offroad race track. It's a great workout too. What added to the satisfaction of the job was this weird sense of accomplishment when a yard was done. It was production by committee, but much different from how it works in an agency or a studio. No one is going to say, “No, I think you should mow it this way,” or “Can we get a sharper edge on that curb?” When a job was done, it was done, and everyone knew it. Then off we’d truck to the next nice home in one more identical suburb.

Of course, mowing lawns doesn’t pay well, and eventually I found a “real” job, but not before I observed some things during the summer of '02 as a ‘scaper, which worked themselves into a song recorded at home. It's merely a demo and doesn't need any production critique. I'm fully aware of the many areas in which it sucks. Guitar was straight into the computer. Drums are canned. It’s called "Time’s New Romans" and is found in the top of the sidebar until next week's edition replaces it. Lyrics are here.

I’ve got plans to make this the title track of my fourth CD, which is sort of getting way ahead of myself, as albums 1 through 3 aren’t even produced yet. See the companion website here.

Archived Open Mic Night Music is found here.