This Guy Falls Down

The Bon Jovi Formula

After having so much fun last week with "soundalike songs" and rock music formulas, I had to share with you a link to Speakergeek's Bon Jovi formula post. Funny stuff.

For the record, I've always kind of liked Bon Jovi (I even went to their Atlanta show last year), so you can save the hate for later. And on a certain level, formulas are a good thing. You want to be able to sing along with a chorus, right? If not, people like Van Dyke Parks would rule the world...

Awesome quote from Eugene Peterson

I just got my copy of A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson. It happens to be the September selection for the Third Day Book Club. I'm excited to read it as it seems to be the kind of book where you can flip to any page at random and find some inspiration. In fact, that very thing just happened to me. I found this goodness on page 115:

The easiest thing in the world is to be a Christian. What is hard is to be a sinner. Being a Christian is what we were created for. The life of faith has the support of an entire creation an d the resources of a magnificent redemption. The structure of this world was created by God so we can live in it easily and happily as his children. The history we walk in has been repeatedly entered by God, most notably in Jesus Christ, first to show us and then to help us live full of faith and exuberant with purpose. In the course of Christian discipleship we discover that without Christ we are doing it the hard way and that with Christ we are doing it the easy way. It is not Christians who have it hard, but non-Christians.

Interested? Then get you a copy of the book and join in the discussion HERE.

The All New 100 Things About Me

As part of my blogoversary celebration, I've compiled a new 100 things about me. Only a few of those pertaining to where I live, pets, etc. are meant to be replaced. And there's probably some overlap with the last one. The truck incident and the high school Winger kick are worth mentioning twice. So between the two, we're sitting on about 188 things about Mark Lee. Not bad.

BTW - it's been wild seeing how many people read these things. I've had two radio interviewers ask me questions based on my 100 things, just in the past week.

So here we go. Drumroll, please...

1. First of all, I want to say that God is everything.
2. I like to throw in quotes from film and TV at random times. Number 1 on this list is a Steve Harvey quote from The Kings of Comedy.
3. I am typing this on a G4 Powerbook. I don't know why I felt compelled to tell you that.
4. Although I try very hard to fight it, I'm a Mac snob.
5. I started this blog in August 2003. I'm still not sure what it's about.
6. I was born in Austell, Georgia.
7. I am a TERRIBLE golfer. I could probably win one of those "worst golfer in the world" contests.
8. My all time favorite sport is tackle football. And yes, being from Atlanta, I'm a big Falcons fan.
9. Since I'm from Atlanta, people also assume that I like the University of Georgia Bulldogs. You would be wrong.
10. I went to school at Georgia Tech. You should now be able to figure out my college football allegiance.
11. Georgia Tech tied Colorado for the 1990 National Championship despite Colorado receiving 5 downs in a game that year and some very poor officiating in the Sugar Bowl that year. Can you tell I'm still bitter?
12. I love cereal. My favorite all-time cereal would have to be Crispix. I wasn't allowed to eat the sugary cereal when I was growing up, so I learned to like the "healthy" kinds.
13. I'm a major procrastinator. If you saw the list that was here before and how long it sat here before being updated, you would know that.
14. I play guitar for a band called Third Day. You probably already know that.
15. I also played guitar for Nuclear Hoedown and Overbored. You probably didn't know that.
16. Mac Powell was the lead singer for the above three bands, although he wouldn't care to admit it.
17. Mac and I have been on a quest to visit all 30 baseball stadia. I'm on 20 and counting.
18. I'm a massive Braves fan.
19. When I was in college, I was in the Georgia Tech Marching Band.
20. While I was in said Georgia Tech Marching Band, we had the opportunity to march in the Braves celebration parade after their first World Series trip.
21. I lived outside of Nashville, Tennessee for about five years.
22. I have a special place in my heart for country music.
23. One of my very first memories involved me listening to "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell on my Winnie the Pooh record player.
24. I own three Winger t-shirts.
25. I am still a bit of a closet '80's metal fan. I guess you just like the things that were out when you were in high school.
26. 1994 was the pinnacle year for music, IMHO.
27. My favorite movie is Lord of the Rings.
28. My favorite book is probably Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle.
29. Although I probably read about three nonfiction books to every one fiction, I like fiction better.
30. My favorite fiction book would probably be The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.
31. I also enjoy books by Nick Hornby, Douglas Coupland, C.S. Lewis, and a slew of other authors.
32. I also enjoy reading books about the creative process, and motivational books in general.
33. The last good book on the creative process I read was Creating by Robert Fritz.
34. The last good nonfiction, motivational book I read was The 80/20 Way by Richard Koch.
35. I have a daughter named Abigail. She was born in 2003. I'm not going to say how old she is because I have no idea if or when I'll ever edit this. See #11 for details.
36. Abbie has coined her own phrases like "sunnytime" and "ready, setty, go!"
37. I'm left handed. My wife's left handed. My daughter's right handed. God bless her when we try to teach her to tie shoes!
38. In my last "100 things" list, I said I didn't like to talk about music gear and whatnot. I'm trying to get better!
39. I play PRS guitars.
40. I use Vox, Marshall, and Dr. Z amps. The Marshall Silver Jubilee is probably my favorite.
41. My favorite guitar is the PRS Hollowbody. I could play just about every song in the Third Day catalog on it.
42. My wife gave me a guitar for my birthday one year, and gave me a guitar for our anniversary this year.
43. As you can see, I've got a pretty cool wife!
44. Shameless plug: my wife owns a children's boutique in Marietta, Georgia called The Pink Elephant. Check it out for all of your children's shopping needs!
45. All time favorite song: "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procul Harum.
46. "Handle With Care" by The Traveling Wilburys is a VERY close second. If you ask me again in ten years, the answer might be different. Or maybe it's like Pluto and Neptune, where one of them is sometimes closer to the sun, and then sometimes it's the other one.
47. All time favorite album: Automatic For the People by R.E.M.
48. I've never seen R.E.M. in concert. I've seen Winger at least three times. Something's not right in the world.
49. All time favorite band: Wilco
50. All time favorite song by all time favorite band: "California Stars" (with a couple songs off the new record giving it a run for its money)
51. As a songwriter myself, I obsess about songs and songwriters and songwriting (I should probably blog about it more often.)
52. Speaking of songwriters, I LOVE Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
53. You don't? Get off of my (cyber) property!
54. I'm a recovering word snob. I do still love to find little language quirks and point them out.
55. I love wikipedia. I can, and often do, spend hours on there.
56. I used to read the encyclopedia when I was a kid, if that gives you any idea.
57. I'm one of the few people on earth who get where both Al Gore AND George W. Bush are coming from.
58. I would consider myself a tree hugger, and yet I drive a big ol' honkin' truck.
59. I'm one of the few people on earth who liked Van Halen with Sammy Hagar better than with David Lee Roth. Please, no hate emails :)
60. While we're at it, I like Gary Cherone.
61. I enjoy kayaking. Not necessarily the whitewater kind. I just like the solitude and exercise of getting out on a lake or river.
62. I'm way into gadgets. Don't ask me how many iPods I own.
63. I'm an introvert, which means I feel very drained after being in a room with a bunch of people.
64. I'm not really shy. I think I used to be shy, but a few years on the road doing shows cured me of that.
65. I got hit by a truck when I was a freshman in high school while I was selling doughnuts for my youth group. The driver's name was Mr. Coffee. I kid you not. I figured I'd go ahead and tell you that because you'll find out about it sooner or later if you hang around these parts very long.
66. I've been to every state.
67. My favorite state is probably still Tennessee, although I love California and New England and the Carolinas.
68. My favorite things to do are reading, being outside, writing songs, writing just about anything else, spending time with my family and playing the guitar.
69. Maybe I should sit outside and read a book that I wrote about songwriting on the guitar to my family.
70. I don't watch much TV outside of sports and the occasional Seinfeld rerun.
71. That said, Lost is my favorite TV show when it's a good episode and my least favorite when it's a bad one.
72. I also love The Office, Extras, and Flight of the Conchords.
73. OK so maybe I do watch a lot of TV.
74. In my first list of 100 things about me, I mentioned my dog Clovis. He has since gone off to the happy hunting ground in the sky. I probably get asked at least once a day when we're going to get a new dog. I've held off. So far. I'll keep you posted.
75. I majored in the History of Technology and Society in college. No idea what I'd be doing now if I wan't in the band.
76. I still love history. How the Irish Saved Civilization and that whole series is a great historical read, in case you were wondering.
77. I bought a Michael Jordan basketball card for $5 when I was in eighth grade.
78. After Michael Jordan retired, I sold the card for $1500 and bought a 1975 Gretsch Country Roc guitar. I still think that was a pretty good move :)
79. My first instrument was the violin. To this day, I wish I'd kept it up. I guess it's never too late.
80. I think the hardest I've ever laughed in my life was when David Carr held up a Waffle House hat upside down and said, "Hey, I got ripped off. My hat says HM!" It was really late. You had to be there.
81. I still love eating at Waffle House. I could eat there every meal.
82. They recently banned smoking in Georgia, which means that Waffle House is now smoke free. Woohoo!
83. Until August 14, 2007 I had never eaten a Whopper at Burger King. It was good.
84. I don't like organizing things. I don't like things being disorganized. It's a vicious cycle.
85. I once tried out for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I passed, and was placed on a "call list", but they never called me :(
86. It's probably for the best. Game shows aren't my thing.
87. I think I drink about 8 or 9 Diet Cokes in a given day (I've cut back!).
88. I'm not very athletic.
89. That said, I've run a marathon and 2 half marathons, six Peachtree Road Races, and more 5K's and 10K's than I can count.
90. I love writing. I love the idea of writing, of carrying around pens and notebooks and journals, etc.
91. I used to keep a journal, but I stopped in August 2003.
92. That just so happened to coincide with the appearance of this blog.
93. Music you'd probably be surprised I'm into: Chicago, Lionel Richie, the Dixie Chicks, 80's guitar instrumental rock, Celtic music, folk music.
94. Jimmy Carter is my favorite president.
95. I can't throw a frisbee to save my life.
96. I have a personal goal to swim in all 5 Great Lakes.
97. I've swum in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Two down, three to go.
98. The first concert I ever attended was Fats Domino at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
99. My favorite Sesame Street character is the Count.
100. 100! 100 things about Mark Lee! Ah! Ah! Ah!

My "Blogoversary"

Today marks the fourth anniversary since my humble entry into the blogosphere. Four years and I still don't know what this blog is about. The last three times around, I commented on how things had changed in my personal blog neighborhood over the past year. I will probably do that this year, but the main thing that strikes me on this occasion is how fast this past year has gone by. I really feel like I JUST did this. Forgive me - I know I sound like the guy on New Year's Eve who says cliches like "I'll see you next year". But it really blows my mind thinking about it.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck around for another year. I've got a few cool things I'm going to do to commemorate this HUGE occasion (ha!). Nothing major - just a couple of tweaks I've been putting off for far too long. And bear with me I'll probably be waxing poetic blogoriffic. Whatever that means.

Speaking of soundalikes...

Rolling Stone recently made a list of 20 song soundalikes. They also link to an interesting site called . Many of the songs in the list are pretty obscure, but you'll find more than a few that you'll recognize.

I was surprised they didn't mention the whole "Girlfriend" debacle. Or, for that matter, the "Last Dance with Mary Jane"/ "Dani California" controversy, until I realized that the article is a follow-up on another one that used those two soundalikes as a jumping off point.

If you ask me, I think everybody's ripping off Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. But you didn't ask me, did you?

Speaking of ask, do you know of any other soundalikes? List them in the comments - I'd love to see what you come up with...

Songwriting assignments: you think "Beverly Hills" sounds like "Pour Some Sugar on Me"? There's a reason...

Formula or no formula?

Of course we all want to be on our "A" game every time we sit down to work on our hit songs. But what do you do on the days where you ain't got it? A purist might tell you that you need to wait on the muse to come around, or for the inspiration to strike. But there's a lot to be said for muscling through it. And one of the best ways to go about that is to come up with "songwriting assignments" for yourself.

For example, something I'll do is try to write a song based on a description of an album or artist I've never heard. You know, a new record will come out and there will be rave reviews in all the magazines where they say that the record sounds like so-and-so and that they've finally returned to their roots. Or maybe you've never even heard the artist before. I'll try to write a song solely based on these descriptions.

Neil Young used to write songs using titles like "Strawberry Fields Forever" that were already famous, just so he could knock those songs down to mortal level and place himself on the same playing field.

One of my favorite stories revolves around Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me". Apparently, producer Rick Rubin loves giving out songwriting assignments. He encouraged Tom Petty to write a song based on the beat of the Def Leppard classic, and Petty came back with "It's Good to Be King". He did the same thing with Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo, who came back with "Beverly Hills". Here's Cuomo's take on it:

Rick [Rubin] actually gave me some assignments over the past couple years. Like he said, Write a Billy Joel or Elton John type of song, and I just took that to mean, write a song on the piano. And that was part of the inspiration for “Haunt You Every Day,” which closes the album. And he said, Write a song with the beat from “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard, and that was part of the inspiration for “Beverly Hills.” He told Tom Petty the same thing, and Tom Petty wrote “It’s Good To Be King.”

Actually the whole article is worth reading. Cuomo is has experimented with all kinds of writing styles, both formulaic and otherwise. Rolling Stone reports that he once kept a detailed database of all of his songs, as well as a three ring binder called "The Encyclopedia of Pop" in which he dissected Nirvana, Oasis and Green Day songs in the interest of cracking the code. The logic was that if he could figure out the formula to those bands, he could figure out his own formula and then have an endless supply of songs.

The bottom line is that there's no one way to write a song. And if you're not feeling it, there are other things you can do. Just keep moving forward, and you'll work around it.

David Almond on writing

I just finished reading the lovely and haunting Heaven Eyes by David Almond. He has an interesting writing style which blurs the line between real and imaginary in a very organic way. I highly recommend this book, BTW, and look for a review soon. Not that I'll necessarily give you one, but you can still look for it!

I checked out his website, and sure enough, he's got a great writing tips page. It's all great, and highly quotable. Here's a little snippet:

Writing can be hard, but it's also a kind of play. I do lots of fast scribbling in notebooks. I mess about with words, ideas, images, characters, and test out all kinds of possibilities. I allow myself to write lots of rubbish and to be surprised by what comes out of my head. When I start to put a story together, I try to stay relaxed, and to allow the story to grow organically. Sometimes I write very quickly, sometimes slowly. Sometimes I'm confused by what I'm writing, sometimes It all seems very clear. I put the story together sentence by sentence, chapter by chapter, and try not to worry too much about how it will end.

I hated to do this, but...

You now have to verify yourself before you can post comments on this blog. It seems like every time I'm away from my computer for a couple of days, there are ads for gambling and Viagra on this site. Since I work very hard to maintain a cool site that it gambling and Viagra free, I had to do it. Sorry for any inconvenience - it was just getting too obnoxious :)

I'm also experimenting with having the newest comment listed first. Just shaking it up...

Get your voicemail on

So the iPhone doesn't come with a voice memo feature. Very frustrating for a musician/songwriter type like myself who doesn't want to lug around a cell phone and some other voice memo gadget*. No big deal, though. I'll just call my voicemail and leave a voicemail for myself. And besides, the iPhone has the nifty Visual Voicemail which lets you go through voicemail like you would email, in any order you choose.

Not so fast. You can't leave voicemail for yourself with the iPhone. I've tried. Hard. It's pretty ridiculous, I know. But it's true. So what is one to do?

Enter k7, which gets my vote for the coolest way to improve your life for free since, I don't know, air was invented. You set up a free account and you get a free phone number. You can leave yourself a voicemail, and - get ready, here comes the cool part - it will email it to you as a .wav attachment. OR you can send faxes to the number and you can receive them as email attachments. The only drawback I've found so far is that you get a Seattle number. No big deal if you're calling from your cell phone, though.

Now I'm just waiting for Apple to add a voice memo function...

* Life was so much better before the robotic uprising of the mid 90's**, when ALL I carried around was a MiniDisc player, which acted as a digital music player and a voice memo gadget.

** Flight of the Conchords reference

Jeff Tweedy on "the work"

I picked up Wilco: Learning How to Die by Greg Kot yesterday and I can't put it down. I'm not reading it straight through (I did that three years ago), but just pick it up at a random page. There's something very inspirational in reading about how creative people operate, and there are a couple of passages that really jump out. I'll share one of them with you now. This is a quote from Jeff Tweedy, talking about how the process was different for Summerteeth as opposed to previous albums:

I worked harder at laying the groundwork to generate inspiration. The work is putting yourself in that position more often. Creating the environment is the work. Picking up the guitar, picking up the pen, making yourself do that every day, and resigning yourself to the idea that it won't happen every day, but realizing that it's more likely to happen if you have your pen in your hand than if you don't.

In this passage, Tweedy was working against his normal tendency, which was to sit down with a tape recorder and record things as they popped into his head. To resist this, he began carrying around a satchel with books by the likes of Henry Miller and William H. Gass. He also began filling up notebooks with bits of lyrics, conversation and other text in the interest of starting with lyrical ideas and adding melody later. Any of these approaches sound intriguing and could be an effective way to get an idea going. I would recommend trying one of these you haven't done before if you get stuck in a rut.