Jim Cody

A few years ago, I had a blog on the now-deceased aqua-balloon.com website. At the time, I thought it'd be a good idea to write about some of dreams I had while sleeping.  When the blog went down, though, I noticed that this didn't happen very often....

... In any case, I think a small part of me still thinks it's kind of a good idea.  And so on this Easter sunday (add symbolism to taste), I'm going to muse over a dream I had a couple nights ago.  But before that, here's a brief background...

Back in 2007 -- and running until mid-2009 -- I was trying very hard to come up with a suitable (and good) band name for this music.  But I just couldn't decide on something I liked.  And even when I thought I did have something, usually the next day I realized it didn't work for one reason or another.

I thought the coolest thing would be to literally dream up a name, like how John Lennon on occasion said the name "Beatles" came from a dream (it turns out that wasn't true).  But at the time I believed it - and in any case, it sure made for a good story.

So i tried to will myself a dream that would clearly give me a name, and there were a few times when it did basically happen.  The one most clear was "We Come Tuesday", which I didn't like much when I was awake.  Most of the time, though, I could kind of remember a dream - but it wasn't clear what the name was aftewards. ("New Spirals" was an example of that.)

So eventually I settled on "James Land", which I thought of in a kind of dreamy mood ;)...  And finally -- after about 6 months of "making sure" -- I went with it.  Well, now that the album and website etc. have all been made, there's no easy way (or reason) to change it.  These days, I happily don't think about band names much anymore (other than for fun and out of sheer habit).

However, the other night I had a dream which probably would have become my "band name" if it'd happened earlier.  In this dream I was talking with my Dad about my grandmother's maiden name. I learned (to my surprise) that her last name originally was "Cody".  And when I heard that, something clicked to me in the dream and I thought: 'That would make a good band name - Jim Cody'!

I also remember somehow comparing that name with "James Land" - and sort of preferring Jim Cody because it had a nice percussive sound to it.  Then this intermingling of dream & reality sort of brought me out of the dream (though I was still asleep).  And as I started "coming to", I realized that my grandmother's maiden name was actually "Nelson".

Upon waking, I laid there and tried to make sense of it. But I couldn't. It just seemed to be another example of something that seemed good in a dream, but didn't quite add up in waking life.  And so I guess the best thing I can say is that "James Land" has survived yet another challenge.  But maybe I'll find another way to use that name sometime....