Stuart McKean

Morning:

From the moment I wake up I have an active mind; immediately ready to consume some sort’ve information. It’s not long after I open my eyes that youtube comes up. There are three types of videos that get consumed: a random video essay (Just watched an exhilarating video on Jack the Ripper), something about baseball, or something about some piece of musical gear that I cannot afford. I also spend this time admiring my two cats Benji and Stanley and trying not to annoy my girlfriend while she sleeps. On my day off, I’ll typically glue myself to my bed till at least 10:30 but this is not one of those days. I’m trying to get something done. 

Typically I’ll have a small snack to start my day and cup of coffee. It’s been a minute since I went to Shot Tower Coffee; a place I enjoy but can sometimes get ‘patron’s anxiety’ mostly because I never know where to stand. Sometimes days off feel just a little too open ended for me but I’m dedicated to finishing a song I’ve been working on for about a month. I need a breakthrough.

Mid Day:

Getting started on recording, especially when I’m home, can be… difficult. However, I find that once I get going, finding the zone is pretty easy. This is a song that has a lot of potential but I just feel so unsure of what to do with it. It can feel deflating to cycle through idea after idea especially when it often feels like you only started with one idea in mind. I get in my head about sounding different or trying to sound original; each day of working on a song is realizing that most things you can think of have already been done…that’s why you can think of them. I was able to add some texture to the track and describing what I’ve done feels kind’ve hard to do so perhaps we can link the song into this entry if that’s possible. 

My absolute favorite/least favorite thing about recording is the way the hours slip away. To be so unaware of time is certainly a form of freedom but once you check back in with the clock, thoughts of going back to work, what you’re gonna eat for dinner, what you didn’t eat for lunch start to roll into my head. 

Evening: 

My girlfriend is enroute to Lancaster for the weekend so it's just me and the cats for the evening. I give them their dinner at around 5:50 (sometimes it pays to be impatient) and think to myself what I should eat (It’s going to be Pizza.) Typically I will eat my dinner in bed while I move around Mlb.tv watching bits and pieces of various baseball games. I like my nights to feel uneventful. I can’t stress how important it is to make time for nothing. I’m not afraid to admit that any day I sleep alone in the house I leave the living room light on; darkness is never a good place to be alone. I never remember falling asleep.

Lists

Random pop culture moments I thought of throughout the day:

• Colorado Balloon Boy

• The death of Michael Jackson

• What I think Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johannson at the end of “Lost in Translation”

• How “True Detective” has never really captured the magic of its first season.

• 2015 Kansas City Royals World Series run

Songs I listened to:

• “White Horses”-Low

• “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”-U2

• “You’ve Got to Learn”-Nina Simone

• “Beach Party Tonight”- Yo La Tengo

• “Till Death”-Japanese Breakfast

• “Are You Looking Up”-Mk.Gee

• “Fast Car”-Tracy Chapman

• “Fast Car”-Luke Combs

• “I Will Always Love You”-Dolly Parton

• “I Can’t Give Up”-Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s

• “Head”-Claire Rousay

• “Superman That”-Injury Reserve

• “Every Grain of Sand”-Emmylou Harris

Stuart McKean is a local musician who lives in Queen Village. You can find them cooped up at home either working in Ableton or glued to the MLB network.