I told John Hermanson I wanted a musical career like his and he laughed at me.

Sad but true. I was talking to him after a Storyhill show at The Mill and he asked what sort goal I had in mind for CST and when I replied that I'd be thrilled to have CST provide a Storyhill-like experience for Matt & I he laughed at me and told me I'd seemed smarter than that. Shows what he knows. Ha!

Matt and I have often discussed where we see CST going, but rarely actually brought the discussion to any sort of conclusion. If it was possible to have playing & selling music (speaking of selling music, I got an e-mail from CD Baby today telling me that the tunes from Second Whisper can now be purchased as ringtones. I'm not sure what I think of that, but I think I'd find it pretty neat if I heard someone's cell phone start telling them that a steady anchor was all that they needed) be a significant part of making our livings we'd be thrilled, but the reality of the music world is that there's a tremendous amount of legwork to be done before a band can reach that point, and most of that requires things we're either unwilling or not in a position, rest-of-our-lives-wise, to do. On the other hand, CST has occasionally brought in some money and we have a lot of time and cash invested so I have trouble thinking of it as a "hobby" really.

I don't have a point I'm trying to work towards here - as much as anything I'm just trying to get into the habit of posting - this "what, exactly, is CST, anyway?" question is one Matt and I have devoted thousands of words in e-mails to and never come up with anything. It seems immensely fundamental to the idea of calling ourselves a band, though, so it seemed an apt post subject. If anyone has any thoughts they'd like to weigh in with I'd love to read them. Meanwhile, enjoy the properly-sized picture of Matt and I (thanks, Joel, for the HTML fix). Check back in for some thoughts and updates on the recording process and hopefully (if I can convince him to sign on as a contributor) some posts from Matt!

Trying something different...

I've read a few times that people enjoy reading band-related thoughts by members of bands - that a good way to connect with people is to send out a regular newsletter or have a blog or barrage people with phone calls. Newsletters are expensive and barraging people with phone calls is time-consuming and seems likely to annoy, so by way of experimenting with this process I present here the Central Standard Time blog, wherein Matt and I (you should be an activated poster, Matt - let me know if it doesn't work) can share news and thoughts about concerts, CDs, etc. - and where you the loyal fan/indifferent listener/confused random surfer can chime in with comments of your own! Plus, regular readers of Matt's and my blogs will certainly agree that our prolific-ness lends itself to a second blogging project.

I stole this URL from myself since it seemed so apt for the theme - those of you interested (for whatever reason) in finding "Meaningless Musings," my blog, can find it at yxelf.blogspot.com.

Posts soon to follow about actual Central Standard Time-y things! Happy Ash Wednesday, if that's not too oxymoronic a wish!