The Quarantine Blues: Musicians Killing Time in Isolation, Part Three - Scott Gorsuch

In an effort to formalize our Quarantine Blues series a bit, we’ve devised a 5-question quiz to pose to the musicians & other media figures sharing in the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders sweepstakes. There will be new entries every coupla days.

Scott Gorsuch is a Columbus-based musician. His latest record is Park Boulevard Park. (Click here for a story on that.) He also performs with his wife Nicole in the band Bloodthirsty Virgins. He is the founder/owner of Gorsuch Guitars and does mastering at Musicol Studies as well.

1) How are you getting your live music fix? Any live streams or YouTube clips that standout?

I loved seeing Happy Chichester the other night, that was neat! Rufus Wainwright does some streams and he sounds perfect; I love his voice! 

2) What else have you been watching, listening to and reading to pass the time?

A friend of mine posted some music documentary links on Facebook. I downloaded a few to watch later: XTC, Zappa, Zeppelin – the XTC one I already watched – fantastic! We’ve been bingeing Dark on Netflix lately – really good. As for reading, I’m in the middle of “This Is Your Brain On Music,” by Daniel Levitin. It focuses a lot on what’s actually going on psychologically and physically when you listen to, and make music. Nerdy but fun. 

3) How are you managing (or not) to stay creative / healthy?

I take a lot of walks; I get a lot of serenity walking, especially in the woods by our house. I also tend to get creative ideas while I’m out-n-about like that. 

4) You have to pick just 3 records to listen to till this is over. What are they?

Oh my God, I’m gonna give away how nerdy I am, but maybe UK’s first album (self-titled), Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach’s first colab album, “Painted From Memory,” and “A Farewell To Kings” from Rush. If I’m going to hell, I’m draggin’ these down with me! 

5) Food Time! Have you been cooking in or carrying out? Favorite recipes or restaurants you're supporting? What's in the liquor cabinet? Share your quarantine eating & drinking habits and changes!

Too much pizza, like everybody else! We live really close to Villa Nova, so we order a bit of take out from them – good basic Italian comfort food. Also, I have to recommend Misfit’s Market! It’s home-grocery delivery, but their schtick is it might be ugly. Nothing’s seemed ugly to me, so far, and it’s always a random box of really super-fresh stuff. That makes me have to cook outside my comfort zone sometimes. We’ve also got deliveries from Parsons North Brewing Company – really lovely beers! Beer delivery, pinch me! 

The Quarantine Blues: Media Figures Killing Time In Isolation, a Pencil Storm Series, Part Two / Brian Phillips

Ricki C. here: It’s not only musicians crafting quality ways to kill time during their stay-at-home Covid-19 Enforced Vacations: Pencil Storm contributor (and our favorite local D.J.) Brian Phillips of CD 102.5 has been posting links on his blog page - Mornings With Brian Phillips - to interesting and entertaining rock & roll and sports sites.

Here’s my favorite so far, a collection of videos from Rockpalast, an in-concert show that - as Brian details - has been running a mind-boggling 46 YEARS on German television…….

Brian Phillips / Rockpalast Dumpster Dive

(by the way, here’s one of MY five favorite Rockpalast clips of all time that Brian reminded me of…….)

Missin’ the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey action, or just sports in general? Check out Brian’s dive into vintage - and I mean VINTAGE, PRE-HELMET action - hockey, linked here…….

Brian Phillips / Vintage Hockey Dumpster Dive

And - as always on the 102.5 website - check out Brian’s daily Trending Topics segments, easily the high point of my mornings, day-in, day-out. Sometimes in these Covid-19 ridden days & nights, Trending Topics is the only time I laugh out loud each day, at least until Trevor Noah comes on Comedy Central at 11 pm. Thank you, Brian & Trevor. - Ricki C. / April, 2020

New Song: Hard Times For Young Lovers and Old Friends - by Colin Gawel

Since the whole quarantine started, I’ve been working solo down at Colin’s Coffee. Yes, we are open every day from 7am-2pm and Sunday 8am-noon. To-Go orders only, but I suspect you already knew that. ANYWAY, I’ve had some extra free time on my hands so I’ve been challenging myself to write and record songs while working at the coffee shop. I just finished Coffee Shop Song #2. It’s not perfect, and I make no promises going forward, but it feels good to accomplish something. These days we are all walking that fine line between self-improvement and self-care. Some days are better than others. Stay safe my friends. - Colin G.

Click here for coffee shop song #2 : Hard Times For Young Lover and Old Friends

Click here for coffee shop song #1: Standing On the Rocks

Robert LeBourdais From Mother May I Auditions for Fountains of Wayne. R.I.P. Adam

Listen While You Read! Click Here For a Spotify Playlist I Put Together - Colin

The Pencilstorm office was reeling this week with news of the loss of Adam Schlesinger from Covid-19. Adam played bass and wrote songs for Fountains of Wayne, Tinted Windows and many other great projects. (Click here for WTF interview) I personally teared up numerous times diving deep back into his catalog of amazing tunes. He definitely influenced my band Watershed. We lost a true artist. Below is a Facebook post from Mother May I drummer Robert LeBourdais about his audition trying out for Fountains of Wayne. He was kind enough to let us share it here. Below that are a few of my favorite tunes Adam had a hand in. - Colin

Robert LeBourdais

April 2 at 1:23 AM · 

My Adam Schlesinger story: In 1996 my band had been dropped by our label and we went our separate ways. I was sleeping on friends’ couches on Long Island trying to organize and move back down to the D.C. area when I spotted a classified ad (Village Voice?) by a band with a label deal looking for a drummer influenced by The Replacements and Cheap Trick: a no-brainer for me. For some reason I thought I’d give it a go even though I had already decided to move back south and try to reform my band.

Next thing I know I am on the phone with Adam talking about the music biz, and our favorite bands, etc. I remember thinking what a nice guy but hating the band name they had chosen (Fountains Of Wayne). He sent me a cassette in the mail which looked home-made as their record hadn’t been manufactured yet. I listened to the tape for a few days and went into NYC to tryout. There was one other person there before me (still pretty early in the day) but soon I was in a room about 10’ x 10’ with Adam and Chris Collingwood.

I think they wanted me to learn the first song on the tape (Radiation Vibe) but I thought the stronger songs were later on in the album so they seemed happily surprised when I called out Leave The Biker. It sounded pretty great, as if we had been playing together for a while. We also did Barbara H. and possibly Sick Day. They seemed more excited than when we began despite my douchey appearance. (I had a goatee for exactly 2 weeks in my entire life and it was during this time, dyed black like my hair and it just felt and looked desperately trendy - wallet chain, backward ball cap, etc. They looked like totally unpretentious recent grads.)

I remember at one point I asked them kind of derisively who played the drums on the recordings and Adam quietly said “Me. That bad, huh?” and we had a good laugh. There was also a point where Chris made some kind of jab at me (mother joke I think?) probably to see if I had a sense of humor and I came up with something right back at him and we had another good laugh. They were very laid-back pleasant guys with a dark sense of humor that was slowly coming out.

They asked to play Radiation Vibe so we went through that and called it quits. I remember Adam asking me what my plans were and whether I would be able to tour etc. and me telling him I was moving back to D.C. the next day to resurrect my band. I’m sure he was thinking “what the hell is he wasting our time for?” I don’t remember if we spoke after that but I have a fuzzy memory of another call. Of course the rest is history. I was wondering today while reading some articles about them whether I was the first drummer to play some of those songs with them as a band since it was just the two of them at that point. A couple of years later i went backstage at the 9:30 Club after a show (Ivy, I think) to say hi to Adam and I started out with “You won’t remember this but…” and he immediately smiled and recognized me which made my day. A very humble person despite his enormous talent. I’m so glad I got to play a microscopic role in his story. - Robert LeBourdais

(Click here for a PStorm story about Mother May I )

Adam and his band mate Chris Collingwood wrote some of the craftiest pop lyrics ever. Dig this.

Adam shared my love of Give The People What They Want era Kinks. It’s too bad we never crossed paths to discuss this subject in full.

Don’t sleep on their sad songs. I’ve always loved this heart breaker. I thought I about covering it live on Instagram and then thought better. This is the clip to watch. Adam on keys and Chris singing.

Enough of that sad stuff.
—-

Back to Conan for a song that most of us can relate to these days.

Bonus clip! Tinted Windows was Adam, the kid from Hanson, that one guy from Smashing Pumpkins and Bun E Carlos. Adam wrote the tunes of course. Great record!

It’s going to be a tough couple of months for everyone. Enjoy all this great music Adam and his partners left behind. - Colin

The Quarantine Blues: Musicians Killing Time In Isolation, A Pencilstorm Series Kickoff - by Jeremy Porter

Spotify Playlist - Listen While You Read!

We’re about two or three weeks into the great self-quarantine of 2020, depending where you live and when your city/state/country decreed a lock-down, if they did at all, and if & how you chose to personally adhere to it. It’s been a shock to our systems, and the whole “system” in general as we adapt to isolation. I’m certain that it’s affecting us each a little differently depending on our individual psyches, situations, and locations. I’m no expert, that’s for sure, but here’s some of what I’ve learned and how I’m coping and adapting.

While I never felt the coming pandemic was a hoax or a political ploy, I initially brushed it off as something that likely wouldn’t affect me much. I used a phrase I often go to when someone gets uptight about a potentially dangerous situation – “That’s not gonna be what kills me.” Hell, I’ve been through worse – car accidents, serious illnesses, more than a couple sticky situations. I’ve never had a flu shot, rarely get sick, and tend to live for the day. My band drove to Ohio and played a show on March 14th, just as the country was starting to shutter. Never cancel a show. Never.

That Monday morning Michigan was locked down. I watched our governor talk and I stayed focused on the news cycle for the next few days. By mid-week I was suffering from major anxiety and my OCD was out of control. I still felt relatively safe, but we had 22 shows booked for April, May and June. I’d spent endless hours, sent hundreds of emails, spent money on posters & lodging, and endured enough rejection to make a better man quit the music business altogether, but ended up with an impressive spring tour that would take us to several states, some of our favorite rooms, some new ones we were excited about, and with some of our best friends and favorite bands. Everything went from awesome to unknown in a few short days.

Then, perhaps a bit out of order, the bigger picture hit – people are going to get sick and die. Are my parents taking this seriously? My wife? My bandmates? My co-workers? My neighbors? Is it ok to have band practice or recording sessions? Is it ok to even leave the house? Pretty soon all major sports, concert tours and festivals, and public gatherings of any kind & size were cancelled months out. I still can’t find a roll of toilet paper in this town. This is bigger than any of us thought and I better figure out a way to deal with it.

The first change I made was to drastically limit my news intake. I’ll check the headlines in the morning and watch a little national news in the evening to get the big picture, but I can’t take much more than that. The daily White House press conferences should instill confidence and trust, but they do the opposite. The rest of the news cycle is endless speculation and regurgitated headlines. My anxiety decreased immediately, and I’ve since been able to channel my energy elsewhere.

I started spending a lot more time with my guitar. I’ve never had a problem with writer’s block, but I’ve often had a problem finding the time I’d like to write. Shane MacGowan, paraphrasing Christy Moore, once said that songs are just floating around in the air and all you have to do is pluck them down. I’ve always subscribed to that, and they’ve been raining on me for the last few weeks. It’s been a wonderful distraction and outlet, and I hope a few of them are good enough to share someday.

Left to Right: Lydia Loveless, Vanessa Jean Speckman & Micah Schnabel, Shane Sweeney,. James Hetfield, Ricky Rat.

I’ve also done what I expect many of us musician-types and fans have – started taking in the daily barrage of live streams and iPhone-videos of other musicians playing in their homes. I watched Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman from Frank Turner’s apartment in London the day after the last couple shows of their UK tour were cancelled. I tuned in for Shane Sweeney from his home in Columbus, with a guest appearance by his son. I caught a Lydia Loveless StageIt show from her home in North Carolina, Ben Nichols from Lucero going from room to room in his house playing for an hour on Instagram, Ned Hill from Nashville in his living room in Nashville, and many others. Ricky Rat (Detroit punk icon from The Trash Brats and Dead Boys) does a daily cover-song video that’s been super fun, and every Monday night Metallica is showing a full concert from their archives on YouTube at 8 pm. These Metallica videos look and sound incredible and have given me a newfound respect for the current era of the band. And then I’ve been taking in a whole bunch of friends just posting themselves playing songs by themselves or The Beatles, Tom Waits, Rolling Stones, Lemonheads, John Prine, and each other. It seems never-ending, and in different times perhaps a little annoying even, but right now I just can’t get enough and I want more, more, more.

I’ve even stepped outside of my own comfort zone and done a couple myself. I’m proud to be part of the GTG Records family, a Lansing, Michigan-based indie label, and they’re doing a daily video series called “Staying Home with GTG Records.” My contribution was a solo acoustic cover of “Voices” by Cheap Trick. I’ve got a submission in for the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts that has been posted, and on the last two Saturdays I even did the impromptu selfie-vid thing (an old Soul Asylum song and a Watershed cover) that got me out there a bit. I expect there will be more songs coming out of my own living room soon. It doesn’t beat walking into a venue in another state and bellying up with my pals I only get to see once or twice a year before we play a show together, but it’s all we got, and it’s way better than nothing.

As I work my way through this third week of isolation, save a few trips to the grocery store and a couple walks & runs, I find myself settling into a comfortable routine consisting of working, creating, exercise, and watching and listening to music. There some TV in there too (Tiger King is everything it’s cracked up to be!), and the odd home-improvement project. My wife works in health-care technology and while she’s fortunate to not be on the front-lines in hospitals, she’s working endless hours supporting those people through enabling video visits so they can tend to more patients in less time and stay healthy while doing it. She’s also helping to support the establishment of more beds and surrounding equipment in short time for the growing numbers of sick people in Michigan. I wish she had more time to play, but I’m proud of her and I’m grateful that we can be home together.

I still find myself on the anxiety roller-coaster, but I find peace in knowing that there’s not a damn thing I can do about it other than to do my part not to spread it, and maybe share a little music. If you’re suffering from anxiety, turn off the news. If you’re bored, watch some live music or some not-live music. If you want to help, stay home. Go to the website of your favorite bands and order a record or a shirt, or buy some music from them on Bandcamp. I’m talking about indie bands that need the money - Dave Grohl is a good dude, but you have musicians, artists, and venues in your city that are really hurting. A lot of bars and venues have funds set up to help their employees who are laid off. These are good people I was planning on tipping after a post-show shot after our set next month. If you want to do more still, THIS is a good article about many places that could use some help.

In the coming weeks we’ll be asking other musicians and artists how they’re coping & creating with the isolation and quarantine and sharing their responses here on Pencilstorm.

Do something creative today, stay positive, stay safe and keep up the isolation so we can get back to sharing our art, stories, and lives together again!

xx

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos.

www.thetucos.com

Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.

www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic

Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic

www.rockandrollrestrooms.com