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Naming names

While it's been pretty easy to come up with new songs, one thing that's been very difficult: coming up with a name for this one-man band that I have. Theme Park Experience was a name I suggested to one of the bands I played with in college, but when that was shot down, I kept it for later. When the time came to name this blog, I found the name to be fitting.

Now I'm faced with the dreaded "untitled Eric Grubbs solo project" title. That name is not gonna cut it.

I like it when an answer comes to me. Coming up with the titles for all three of my books came naturally. I didn't force it or stress about it. I simply thought about a few names over a short amount of time and bam, there was the answer. Post came to me when I was in the bathroom of my old apartment in north Dallas, the same apartment complex where a pile of shingles fell onto my head and I got the idea to write the book. When We Were the Kids was a no-brainer, but I can't seem to remember exactly when or where I chose the title. And Forever Got Shorter came while I drove to Jenny's place one night.

Answers come to me when something is on my mind, but I have other things on my mind. The cliche of coming up with the best ideas while on the toilet is absolutely true. When you're on the can, your priority is not music, lyrics, or character motivations. The focus is getting your bathroom business done. The same is true with walking a dog after writing and editing and slaving away at something for hours.

I've tried to come up with creative names for my new "band," like looking at a list of Robert Pollard releases and mixing names up. When I thought I had a good name, turns out, there was already a band with that name.

With almost all of the bands I've been in, the naming process was a non-event. My favorite band name was the 11:30s. One of the guitarists wrote out a long list of names on a yellow legal pad. "Eleven Thirties" stuck out to me. He came up with the name due to the time of night he wrote this list. I thought it was a great name, as did the other band members.

Keeping in this tradition, I'm not going to force things out. I've been down that road before, and the results are seldom satisfactory in the long run. Since I want to keep doing this for a long time, I best let the answer flow out of me naturally.

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