I Just Wanna Rock (Living with Joe Satriani)

March 8, 2010

We don't have a TV.

I guess that's why home life, or in our case apartment life, is very busy for us. You'd be surprised what you can do without television. Anyways, you can watch just about anything online and our place is probably the most internet accessible apartment in the city. 

Some families have a TV in every room. We have computers, six total, all of them Macs with the exception of one that will soon be replaced by a Mac. One computer, the Mac with the broken disk drive, is on my treadmill so I can listen to music or watch movies while I am power walking. 

The PowerBook G4 is the one I'm using now. The iMac is in my husband's studio for all his music composing. That's where the PC is too but he only uses the monitor as a second viewing screen. Finally, the two other Macs, MacBook Pros, are in any given place in our apartment at any given time and when my husband hits the road, so do they.

Enough about the Macs. You want to know about Joe Satriani, right? But I'm sure the infamous Professor Satchafunkilus has a Mac too. All musicians do and if they don't then I'm sure they really want one. Anyways, I'm getting there. Patience, my dear boys and girls.

When my husband is gone, I write and sing and dance and have free rein of the place, which by the way is another perk when you're the wife of a roadie. Also, (I'm sure my mother-in-law would not believe this but I swear on my father-in-law's corvette and on her corvette for that matter) the apartment stays clean. 

When my husband is home, the apartment is not as clean as usual because there are a few unpacked suitcases that stay stuffed for days. His socks also have a life of their own and when they are home they like to lounge on the floor (also for days). We lounge too and (also to my mother-in-law's surprise) we cook a lot. 

We've managed to have our own spaces in our small place. His is the loft and mine is the living room where most of the natural light streams in during the day. We have cathedral ceilings and large windows with a great view of the Von's grocery store parking lot, the 10 freeway, and airplanes flying into LAX. 

When my husband is home, we also work on music together. He composes and produces and I write the lyrics and sing. When the blinds are drawn, I'm sure that the people out there can see into our little world, especially when we are in the loft recording our music. 

I am sure they're thinking, "who is that girl in her pajamas with oversized headphones and a blue sweatband around her head and what in the world is she saying into that microphone. Wait. There's a guy too. He's at the computer. What is he telling her? Oh wait. Now she's throwing the headphones down and stomping off. What in the world! Why don't they ever watch TV like normal people!"

So yes, it can get dicey when we are both at home but it's not only when my husband is being the producer and I'm acting like Kanye West.

My husband is a Joe Satriani disciple and will do just about anything to follow him even if it means purchasing a $2,000 JS 1000 Ibanez guitar to get a front row seat at the local Guitar Center where the Satch-man is hosting a workshop. No worries if he has to later tell his wife that he charged it on the credit card. "But I got it signed," he said. "It's priceless." I'm looking for hidden cameras because I swear we have to be filming a commercial.

I wasn't too happy about the charge but I understand, to a certain extent, where my husband was coming from. I've seen Satriani in action. My husband and I had gone to one of his concerts at the Wiltern with a few friends. Going there was like landing on Planet Testosterone. 

I thought I would be bored watching a bunch of men rock out to a guy wail on his guitar for an hour without any lyrics. But the music was amazing and Satriani made that guitar sing like any rock diva out there. I quickly decided that "Surfing with the Alien" is by far my favorite song by him. It's just out of this world, man!

Later, I would read somewhere that Satriani was inspired to play the guitar when the great Jimi Hendrix died. He had heard the news while at football practice and told his coach that he was dropping football and picking up the guitar. More power to you dude! He was only 14 years old.

Incidentally, my husband was 14 years old when he first heard Joe Satriani's "Summer Song." He was at home and actually had a TV back then. A Sony commercial came on with the song as the theme music. After some investigating, my husband learned who the composer was. He was hooked and asked his mom for an electric guitar. 

I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that since his teen years, my husband has come a long way with his guitar skills and he is pretty daggone good. He plays all sorts of stuff both on electric and acoustic, but his favorite songs to play are none other than the songs by the ever-talented Joe Satriani. 

At home, my husband frequently shreds Satriani songs on his guitar. Oftentimes, it is while I'm trying to write an epic story. When this happens, it is like trying to have a rock concert at the public library during mid-term week. Not a good idea. 

Either I have to wear earplugs or he has to put his headphones on. The diva in me refuses to wear earplugs and listen to myself breathe. So he usually concedes to wearing headphones.

In fact, he's currently wearing his headphones and laying down a backing track to Satriani's "I Just Wanna Rock." I know this because, even with the headphones, I can still hear whispers of the song. I'm sure it's loud under there.  

For all you non-musicians out there, a backing track is basically a Karaoke version of a song for instrumentalists. Apparently, there is no backing track available for Satriani's "I Just Wanna Rock" so my husband has taken on this sacred responsibility. All you Satriani wannabes will have him to thank. Now you will have this splendid up-tempo song to jam to while you don the apropos bucket hat and sunglasses.

This is, however, an unusual night in our household. I've managed to invade a little of my husband's studio space, comfortably plunked down on the couch and working on this blog. So here we are, the writer and the musician, peacefully coexisting -- at least for now. Great. He just slipped his headphones off and turned up the volume. Not bad though. Rock on!

Wifey of a Roadie - Out!

P.S. Listen to my husband's "I Just Wanna Rock" backing track here.