Perfection?

Some of the music on my computer contains the cracks and pops of an imperfect compact disc. Some of the CD's I have ripped on my computer were burnt CD's who's original source was another burnt CD. Now, I could download another copy of whichever album I want, but I prefer my imperfect copies for various reasons.

I am currently listening to Radiohead's In Rainbows. My dad burned me my copy, and he received his copy from a link posted by one of his band members though an email. I have no idea where his band member got it from, but I'm more than positive that if one were to trace the lineage of my copy of the album one would end up at the original link posted on Radiohead's website.

That doesn't really matter to me though. What matters most is that, according to my iTunes, I have listened to In Rainbows about 50 times, and if I were to re-download the album for the purpose of sound clarity, I would then be engaging in an entirely different listening experience, and it would not be the In Rainbows I know and trust. I anticipate the cracks and pops of Jigsaw Falling into Place and the bass peaks in House of Cards.

Sure, I bought In Rainbows the day it came out, and sure, I could rip it onto my computer, but I could've done that January 1st, 2008, and I'm not about to do it any time soon.

I'm going to end this post by saying, without getting into too much detail, yes, Radiohead is the perfect band, yes, In Rainbows is a perfect album, and yes, my "imperfect" copy of the album is just as perfect as yours is.

Dedication

This is for You

To anyone

who has laid their head

on top of a small amplifier

to feel the sound.

This is for you.

To anyone

who has attended a quiet concert

and opened a can of beer

at a time that flowed with the show.

This is for you.

To anyone

Following the sound

and wishing they had the paper

to use their pen.

This is for you.

Preparation

Yesterday I woke late, hazy trying to shake off a cold, the Ny-quill from the previous night, and the fact that I forgot my coffee at home. I got to class as my professor was shutting the door. I opened my notebook and wrote "Tuesday, January 18th" at the top of the page. I had no idea what date it was, and I wasn't about to dig through the pockets of my giant coat to find my phone to confirm it was or wasn't the date I had assumed. Instead, I looked at the heading of notebook that belonged to the girl sitting next to me. She had written "Tuesday, January 19th". This was one of those instances that takes me back to middle school, one where I would enter a test unprepared, knowing that I would be cheating that day. I scratched out the original date at the top of my paper and replaced it with what I could only assume was the correct date based on my record for the day.

All day I purposely didn't check the date. There was part of me that was hoping that she was wrong, and by chance I was right. I only wanted to be right to confirm my ideas about going with my gut-instincts. I wanted it to be a lesson to myself, a lesson only I would really ever know, until the day where I would teach that lesson, in a different form, to someone else.

But I was wrong. The day was right but the date was wrong. There was a part of me that was upset that I didn't learn my lesson. But there was another part of me that accepted a new lesson. I'll let the Beatles explain that one.

Acceleration

3G

The speed of life

Heterogenization

Maybe one day I'll put all of my old book marks in a big sloppy bucket with equal parts of water and stir it around until it becomes a soupy conglomerate of grocery lists, pieces of old bills, price tags, and used reminders. Maybe then I'll take a handful of the mixture, squeeze the water back into the bucket, make small abstract shapes and lay them out to dry.

Submission

"When you reach a certain stage it's your body's natural reaction, as a human being, to throw up. But if you throw up each time you get to that stage, instead of getting stronger, you would get accustomed to throwing up."

-Takeru Kobayashi

I played football from 3rd grade until my junior year of high school. The cool,fall air always made it difficult for me to breathe during practice; inhaling became audible and exhaling came easier than usual. Breathing was no longer involuntary.

This forced process of breathing laid dormant for years. During last winter break, however, i began to experience shortness of breath at times when I was inactive. I was reluctant to make an appointment to see a doctor for whatever reason. Eventually I had what I could only describe as an asthma attack. It felt like someone with incredibly large hands was squeezing my lungs.

I went to the doctor the next day and was diagnosed with asthma. I was prescribed a small red inhaler and a larger blue inhaler. One for twice-a-day use and one to use in the case of an emergency respectively. I have been taking these inhalers as directed, and have experienced no problems since.

Is taking these inhalers with such regularity a solution to a problem, or is it the cause of a problem greater than mild asthma? Am I conditioning my lungs to grow weaker by taking the prescription? Would I be strengthening my lungs by enduring each asthma attack?

My answer to all of these questions is yes, and that is why I will not refill either prescription.

Participation

Here is a few of the most recent musical endeavors, in chronological order from most recent to least recent, that I have participated in and am most proud of. Please share this music if you feel compelled to do so, and tell whoever you share it with to do the same.

Enjoy.

Things Falling Apart - Practice for a Show : 27m

Loud, quiet, fast, and slow post-rock

In early September 2009 I was asked to play a show with Things Falling Apart at Otto's in DeKalb, Illinois on October 9th. I had never felt so honored in all of my musical career. I agreed to play whatever they needed me to. I was asked to come up with a guitar part for "Asleep on a Riverbed" and "Refracted Rays", and I did. This recording comes from the first and only practice I had with the full band, so if there are any noticeable screw-ups on guitar, that's me, but for the most part I am very confident in this recording. It was recorded by Tim Walker on his hand-held Tascam. The show at Otto's happened, and the band broke up shortly after.

Things Falling Apart, on this recording, is...

Bob Aspatore: guitar

Brandon Welch: bass, trumpet

Ben Aldis: drums, glockenspiel

Tim Walker: guitar

Dan Monaghan: guitar

Good People - Live Set in Two Parts : 20m

Experimental poppy sound

Recorded in John Benson's hallway in DeKalb, Illinois sometime in the fall of 2009, by John Benson, on both an analog and a digital recorder. Both tracks were synched up during mixing. The digital recording was panned completely to the right, and the analog recording was panned completely to the left. However, both tracks are never perfectly synchronized, because it is impossible to do so. This gives the end product a cool Zaireeka-esque feel.

Good People is

Mic Anderson: guitar, keyboard, electronics

Tommy Gilbert: bass, keyboards, electronics

Dan Monaghan: drums, keyboard, vocals, electronics

Information Deliver Service - 3^2-1/5 : 30m

Freeform jazzy noise

Recorded live at the Ars Nova Arts Festival on the steps of Jack Arends hall at NIU in DeKalb, Illinois in the spring of 2009. With a total of eight musicians, the idea was to start with one drummer who would sound a horn to bring a new musician at five minute intervals until every musician was on stage. This set was recorded by me on my cellphone, so the quality is not the best. Things unfolded in a chaotic manner, as one can assume, with the end product resulting in two or three extra musicians and multiple instrument changes. The most interesting part of this set was seeing a crowd of 20-30 dwindle to maybe 3-4 by the end of the set; it was a very powerful feeling to have seen this happen. Liberating. Refreshing.

IDS is

Everyone: everything.

IDS was (during this set) in order of appearance

John Benson: drums, electronics, horn

Jacob Boulay: drums, electronics

Matthew Judson: drums, electronics

Dan Monaghan: electronics, drums

Jim Schram: tenor saxophone

Brett Hedrick: alto saxophone

Jonathan McQuade: trumpet

Jeff Swanson: guitar

added mid set...

Dave Click: electronics

Micah Isaacson: electronics

Ears and Eyes - Trying to Capture Fire : 30m

Spastic prog-noise.

We wrote all of this material in short bursts of coffee induced creativity February-May 2008. This album was recorded on one day in June 2008 at the 7th st. Space in DeKalb, Illinois by Tim Walker. It was mixed in an hour or two. Every song was recorded live with no overdubs, and most of the tracks were first-take. It is important to note that this band consisted of, at the time, two solo musicians. We would generally play our solo material, as well as Ears and Eyes material, at a majority of our live shows. We each recorded one of our solo songs, both of which appear on this album.

Ears and Eyes is

Andrew Erickson: guitar

Dan Monaghan: drums, guitar

Dan Monaghan - An Ideas : 50m

Jangly experimental folk

An Ideas is a collection of written material and improvisations. All of the material was conceived between summer 2007 - spring 2008. Sure, there are aspects of this album I'm not entirely proud of, but I feel it represents my creativity during the time quite accurately. The last track "B66od" contains dialogue from the movie Buffalo 66. James Bishop contributed to the tracks "Watching the Sun Set from a Space Ship" parts 1 and 2, as well as "Sounds from Underneath Your Bed on Mars". This album was recorded on the roof of my house in West Dundee, Illinois and in my bedroom in DeKalb, Illinois.

Dan Monaghan: acoustic guitar, electronics, editing, field recording.

Speculation

Somewhere out there is a crazy person who's tongue has grown barbed due to the incessant cleaning of his or her cats.

Inspiration

I woke up, showered, and shaved. I keep my face-wash, shave cream, and disposable razor in a corner of the footrest (if that is what that is) of my shower . I shaved at my sink, which is about six inches to the left of my shower. I tossed my razor back into place when I was through with it. The razor sounded like the beginning to the rhythm of the song "Snare Hanger" by Battles as it ricocheted off of the bottle of shave cream, face-wash, and the two corners of shower's wall.

This is how I chose what to listen to on my way to work.

Definition

Lately I've been obsessed with knowing the exact definition of every word I hear. I may know the meaning of the word, and I may know how to use it correctly in everyday speech, but I have come to find myself relentlessly interested in learning precise definitions. For example, pompousness can describe one who possesses or expresses a high level of self-importance. Here's the situation.

I tried to sneak one last book in before I had to start reading text I didn't particularly choose to pick up, so I borrowed "Installations" by Joe Bonomo from my friend John two days before the Spring semester began. I chose this book because as the Spring semester has officially begun, I am currently taking Literary Non-Fiction with Dr. Bonomo. Today, after our first class, I let him know how much I am enjoying reading his book, however, maybe I should have waited to do so because I have not finished it yet.

"How can others possibly view the installations if, most of the time, they were destroyed during your viewing?" I said.

"The whole work is imaginary," he said

That was all in much more words of course.

I was stunned, and I'd be reading it right now if I weren't typing this. Either way, I was relaying this information to my girlfriend, Lindsay, over the phone a minute or two ago. I explained how the book is a part of Penguin's National Poetry Series.

"It must be some sort of contest that he obviously won." I said.

"Don't say obviously." She said. " You sound pompous."

After we each hung up our phones for the night, she went to Walmart, and I was on my way to get ready for bed until my newly acquired diction-hungry blinking light just about burned a hole through my head.

So to wrap things up here, one who is pompous has or exhibits self-importance, so using the word "obviously" wasn't pompous of me because I wasn't even talking about myself.

So I'm right. Na-nana-boo-boo.

Justification

What?

I have decided to leave Facebook behind, for the most part, and start this blog.

Why?

Because it's time to grow up a bit.

So...

Here goes nothing.