Music And Food

Sometimes I stare at my instruments or gaze upon the ridiculous pictures of myself streaming in the sidebar of this blog, and I have to chuckle a bit. I was really pushing the rock star bit pretty damn hard. I had studied the formula well, and knew that anytime a camera was abound that it was my job to look both distant and pissed. Deep set eyes filled with human suffering, well that’s good album cover material right there.

I suppose the most beneficial thing about switching gears and putting the music down for a spell is that it’s taught me to take myself less seriously. I certainly don’t feel like I have to prove any of my musical steeze to anyone, that’s for sure. And at the very least, I can certainly admit when I fuck up better than before. That’s the beautiful thing about food compared to music. When you fuck up in music, you can claim you meant to do it. I hit that wrong note as a means of expressing my angst and individuality. It’s art baby. Not so with the foodstuffs. You fuck up with food, it’s not self expression, it’s just burnt. So, I definitely am forced to man up and hide behind significantly less bullshit.

But beyond a little self realization, can being a cook benefit the die hard musician? Does all the burns and sliced finger tips actually make you better when you pick up your instrument of choice and create?

Surprisingly yes. More than you’d think.

After spending several weeks away from the studio, and ridiculous amounts of time in the kitchen practicing cooking times and getting my knife skills up to passable levels, I finally decided to take a day to tend to one of my guitars. My goal was to do a bit of work on the “bastardcaster,” my trusty fluorescent blue piece of crap featured in a few photos out on the web. Anyone who’s seen it knows it to be a heavily beaten, stripped of innards, barely functioning desecretation of a musical instrument. Mismatched components, beaten paint, chipped wood, and a big gaping hole where a pickguard and neck pickup used to be. And while many a punk like to make new and attractive instruments look like shit, that's not my bag. So, it's been my mission to at least get her looking a little better. And, after a day of cleaning, I finally found the original pickguard, which gave me all the emphasis I needed to get her looking sharp.

My original goal for that guitar to get a custom pearloid pickguard (the white sparkly one for those who don’t speak musician) and a big fat sassy humbuckler (the magnet things that are square in musician talk) in the neck. But budgets are tight, and frankly, I’d rather have me a new sharp gyuto and some cast iron goodness for my kitchen than happening equipment for a guitar I rarely play. So, the big mods have been on the backburner. But, I am quite fond of that instrument, the thing has character after all. So, I can at least get it looking moderately close to how it looked before I plundered it. The original neck pup sounded pretty decent, so why not go the easy route?

So, I cleaned up my tabletop, grabbed my soldering iron, and took a deep breath. I’ve never been a great at soldering. My hands shake a bit too much for such delicate work, and I’m an impatient bastard, which only complicates things further. But, I’m also a stubborn old fool who must do everything himself, so that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I grab my iron and start working.

And it was the best soldering job I’ve done in my life.

My hands were perfectly still, And I was breathing in a good relaxed rhythm that the job finished before I even realized it. It still wasn’t super pretty, and I’m sure most luthiers out there could probably do a far superior job than me. But, it didn’t completely suck either, which was a personal best.

And if that weren’t enough, when I finally plugged in the thing and let loose with a few licks, I noticed something else, my vibrato was fantastic! I could rock a string in a steady rhythm that was neither too fast nor too wide. My noise sounded clean baby!

I’m thinking that apparently all this time in the kitchen practicing my cuts, trying to get my dices uniform and precise, and trying to pare the skin off apples in one pass has made my hands steady. I trust my limbs a little more than I used to and don’t constantly stare at every motion my wrists making to ensure I don’t screw up what I’m doing. I’ve learned how to relax my movements a bit, which is never a bad thing.

Take note eager musicians of the world, food can not only sustain you, it can make you better. Now get the hell out there and cook something!