Chris Schuette – Indiebear Music
  • dogs

  • January16th

    4 Comments

    Where Is The Snow?

    Posted in: dogs, family, Minnesota

    Isla seems to be taking our unusually mellow Minnesota winter in stride.  Thanks to her cochlear implants, she can now hear her dear old dad go on about the brutal winters he experienced as a child; however, thanks to her youth, she simply doesn’t care.

    Patty and I recently took Isla and the dogs for a jaunt through the fields behind our house. We all enjoyed the mild weather, and Indie & Bear got to wear themselves out.  Isla even got to walk the dogs for a bit, although, Indie seemed to have some reservations about taking orders from someone in a penguin hat. I guess I would too.

    A lot of people ask how Indie & Bear are with Isla.  Well, they’re both great with her; however, Bear seems to be her protector and is a good sport when she wants to hug/ride/borrow money.  Indie prefers to keep her distance, lest Isla decide to work on her eye-poking skills.  Isla is never alone with the dogs, of course, and Patty & I are good about teaching Isla the proper way to interact with them.

    Nothing wacky occurred on our walk, so unfortunately, all I have are adorable photos that’ll treasure forever. Sorry.

     

  • December3rd

    2 Comments

    Clockmaker

    Posted in: dogs, humor, Music, Weekly Thing

    In case I haven’t made it abundantly clear, I am a musician, not a photographer. Oh sure, I can hold a camera and follow the basic “aim away from face” rule, but that’s about it.  Most of the photos you see on my blog were taken by my wife Patty.  She is a very gifted photographer and she frequently posts on her own blog at pattyanne.net and on her Flickr stream.  I’m trying to become a better photographer just so she can be in more pictures with Isla.

    Isla & Bear

    Bear Hugs

    As a result, most of my posts involve original music I’ve created for various clients, or just for fun.  This piece is one of the latter.  I’ve been switching over my recording software from Digital Performer to Apple’s Logic Pro, so I put together this simple piece of music entitled “Clockmaker” as a way of trying out the software.  My goal was to complete it in four hours, but it ended up taking twice as long. Oh well.

    I’d love to hear what you think.

  • November8th

    No Comments

    Current Family Favorite

    Posted in: Baby, dogs, humor

    Isla is growing like an adorable widdle weed and as a result, she is rapidly outgrowing some of the funnier (and less offensive) clothing she currently owns.  Patty & I figured it was our last chance to photograph her in this particular article of clothing.  As you can see, Indie & Bear are slightly less than amused…but only slightly.

    OK, it’s a cute photo, but in all seriousness, we were VERY careful in staging this photo with Isla and the dogs. What this photo doesn’t show is me standing just off-camera ready to grab Isla if either one of our dogs moved even a little. Make no mistake, Indie & Bear are wonderful dogs and they have been great around Isla, but despite their training, dogs and other pets are still inherently unpredictable and should never be left alone with a child, even for a minute. 

    Betcha didn’t think I knew that, did you?

  • April7th

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    I Turn My Camera On

    Posted in: dogs, humor

    Since Patty & I are expecting our little human any day now, I decided it was time to do the most important possible thing a dad can do: I bought a camcorder.  OK, I didn’t actually get the Marty McFly Special (pictured,) because I didn’t feel like breaking into the Smithsonian…yet.  I actually bought the new Kodak Playsport.  It’s one of those quick point and shoot jobbies and it looks like this:

    It’s surprisingly inexpensive online, and it’s a lot easier on the shoulders.  I decided to test it out earlier this afternoon when I took Indie & Bear to the park.  Here is some video I shot, then edited in iMovie.  Nothing fancy, just a nice day at the spooky abandoned hockey rink.

  • August31st

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    She Hates These Cans!

    Posted in: dogs

    I’m a bad Dad.  OK, Patty & I don’t have human children, so I’m more accurately a bad dog-Dad…before my morning coffee at least.  There; now that I’ve accepted responsibility for the following story, I can proceed with a tale of extreme animal cunning worthy of a Cuba Gooding Jr. film ( a recent one.)

    Indie is an absolute twirling nutcase at breakfast and dinnertime.  I mean it; she literally twirls around until I feed her, and If I don’t hand-feed her a little of her food at a time, she can’t keep it down. To clarify, “there will be vomit.”  Bear, on the other hand, greets food-time with all of the excitement of an episode of “The Mentalist.” As a result, we occasionally mix in some wet dog food to make it more palatable for him.  Indie gets a little bit of wet food too, because in theory she’s a good dog…in theory. (Are you with me so far? ’cause I can write this paragraph again.)

    Well, in my usual pre-coffee stupor the other morning, I accidentally left the open can of wet dog-food on the kitchen table.  Fast-forward to later that day:  Patty & I were in the kitchen when I suddenly remembered the little matter of the open dog food can.  Unfortunately, the can was nowhere to be found in the kitchen.  A quick, expletive-laden search of the house revealed a notably empty and (might I add) horribly mangled dog food can on the living room floor.  At least, I ASSUME it was dog food, since even the label had been ripped off…the freaking label!  We didn’t reprimand her, since the whole thing was pretty much my fault anyway. By the way, we didn’t reprimand ME either, (except for the grammar in this sentence.)

    On the bright side, at least we know Indie can open cans with her teeth, because you never know when that’ll come in handy.

    What?

  • December28th

    No Comments

    Weekly Thing #32: Walking Small

    Posted in: dogs, humor, Music, Weekly Thing

    As a musician, I often hear voices in my head…I mean, “songs;” I often hear songs in my head.  I came up with this week’s piece while watching my dog, Bear kinda lumbering and snooping around the house.  I swear sometimes that dog has his own soundtrack.  It’s a really short musical cue at 44 seconds, but hey, I said what I wanted to say. Enjoy!

  • May24th

    No Comments

    Crankmeister C?

    Posted in: dogs, humor

    A friend of mine (who shall remain jobless…lousy beatnik) referred to me as a “curmudgeon” the other day. Obviously this was meant as a compliment, but I can’t say that I agree with this. First of all, “curmudgeon” seems to suggest someone slightly older…and bearded. At 37, I think that I’m too young to be a curmudgeon. On the other hand, I’m much too old to be a “punk-ass.”

    My Mom suggested I might be a “humorist,” but I couldn’t disagree more. First of all, “humorists” have real talent that transcends the times they live in. You know, folks like Mark Twain, Marilyn Manson, Will Rogers, Kevin Kling, or Garrison Keillor, if that’s your thing. They have a folksy demeanor that softens their message. In other words, they’re NOT writing about the time their dog ate a pile of dirt and barfed sand clouds for three days. (Yeah, real subtle writing there.) I’ve also never “softened a message” in my life…which might explain why no one showed up for my birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last November.

    I guess I’ll just stick with what my uncle used to call me: “sarcastic little freak who can’t hold his liquor,” which actually doesn’t sound like a compliment, now that I think about it.

  • May6th

    No Comments

    Animals, Animals, Everywhere Animals

    Posted in: dogs, humor, Movies/ TV, photos, pop culture

    Sometimes Patty and I like to refer to the dogs as “Pooch #1″ and “Pooch #2;” just to let them know who REALLY assigns the names around here. Lately, Bear has been acting a lot like #2. He was playing with a piece of string this past weekend while Patty & I looked on with resigned boredom or unbridled enthusiasm. (We’re Minnesotans and we frequently mistake the two emotions.) We turned away for exactly one minute and he actually swallowed the string. We know this because after I turned off my stopwatch, the string was gone.

    ricecreek2 Well, I had no intention of removing string from an utterly horrible location at a future time…possibly while neighbor children looked on. So we figured it was time yet again to make a dog barf. I’ve had to do this once before with Indie, but Bear is a bigger dog. I led him outside and gave him several squirts of hydrogen peroxide to swallow. Quoting one of my favorite Futurama characters, I implored that he “barf like a freshman.” (Patty stares at me blankly when I say stuff like that; it’s a thing we have.) Soon enough, the string re-appeared and I performed the invigorating task of clearing away the awful barful remnants. Bear is fine, but still a little dumb.

    We had another little animal-related incident in the house. Our cat, Jackson, who is the size of several old Volkswagens and twice as smelly, managed to do a little kitty demolition. The cat-room is a small closet underneath the stairs. There is a cat-door in the drywall which we typically lock at night to keep them from messing with our copies of the “Old West” series of books from Time-Life. (Did you know that John Wesley Hardin was so mean, he once shot a man just for snoring too loud?) Well, Jackson actually managed to push the cat door out of the wall. I’ll say that again ’cause it’s creepy: ricecreek3 “he pushed the cat-door out of the wall!” I’m sorry, but if we have cats that can burst through walls, we’re screwed! In his defense, I pretty much had the door connected with duct tape and spit, so I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner. I’ve reinstalled the cat door and reinforced the frame so Jackson the Wonder Manatee should stay where he belongs.

    Some people would say I should keep a better eye on my pets. I still don’t know where the hell they get these ideas.

  • April26th

    No Comments

    A Helluva Backyard

    Posted in: dogs, humor, Minnesota, photos

    The sun blazed down upon my head. I was running as fast as I could, but the marsh and the strong wind seemed to conspire against me. I ducked into the tall grass, hoping to avoid the mysterious individual with the high-tech surveillance equipment, as well as the wild dogs. Alas, I was unsuccessful. The beasts caught my scent and bore down upon me with ferocious intent…

    …and proceeded to lick the side of my face. Ew, dog breath! I stood up as Patty was removing the lens cap from her new camera. “Having fun?” she asked. I was having fun. This was on one of the first real snow-free days around here, so Patty & I decided to head out into the nature area with Indie & Bear. They got to run around, I got to do whatever it is I do, and Patty was finally able to take some photos of things other than our living room and me (“Hey! Is that Marty Feldman?”)

    Patty said she’s still learning her way around the new camera, but she did get some good shots:

    At least one of us has talent. I’m looking forward to more photos soon.

    Oh, and sorry I haven’t written much lately, the new job has been keeping me pretty busy…OK, I’ve been sitting around eating graham crackers and frosting; are you happy?

  • April7th

    1 Comment

    Time Off

    Posted in: dogs, humor, Movies/ TV, Music, pop culture

    I started my new job last Thursday after taking some much needed time off. I say “time off” and not “vacation” because I basically remained in the same zip code and I wasn’t able to avoid yard clean-up. Believe me, I tried. It was great. I got to play more with Indie & Bear, who were mildly surprised, since they usually think of me as “Slightly Taller Foodbringer Who Is Rarely Around.”

    Patty was kind enough to compile a list of chores for me. Yes, I said “chores,” because apparently we live on a farm now. I took a look at the list, and I gotta tell you, she was WAY off. Most of the items on the list seem to require some type of home improvement skill…and what the hell is a “broom?” Seriously, I did a few of the chores before tedium edged out boredom. Didn’t take long, though.

    Patty & I also did something a little revolutionary…well, its revolutionary for us. We actually canceled our cable. Honestly, we don’t watch much except for That’s My Mama and that episode of The Brady Bunch where Greg is kinda high. It’s a weird experience when you tell the Comcast Rep you want to cancel cable; they never seem to hear you correctly the first time. “You want to do what with the what now?” And I get the sneaking suspicion that every time someone cancels cable, some sales rep gets smacked around a bit. I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible.

    I also managed to do a little more recording in my home studio. I plan to have some new music up soon. As soon as I can get everything to stop sounding like Kraftwerk, I’ll let you know.

    This could take awhile.

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