In My Book

To begin today I must say I missed an important Grey in yesterdays post. A very good kind of grey indeed. It enjoys being kissed on the head and yelling first thing in the morning. It sleeps better than anything thing else I have ever met, and looks wonderful in a bonnet.


Having said that, here is what I'm thinking about today:



1.5 years since I last took the stage and performed music in front of people. To be honest I was worried that I would not get to do it again. Which is silly I realize, but it was in my head. In the past year and a half I've done a lot for myself. I'm healthy and I've lost a shit ton of weight. I'm feeling better about making music again, just for the sake of it. I've come to a new understanding of what I want in the whole performer/audience relationship, I simply want everyone to enjoy themselves. Anyone can play guitar, we can all dance and sing, just because I happen to be in front of someone doing it doesn't make me better than them, it just means that I've put in the time. I do it because I enjoy it. It's a great outlet. I've learned so much from being in bands and creating music. It's a journey to last a lifetime.

Uncle Ronnie calls the guitar the never ending puzzle box. How true that is. I am out of a rut that I was in with the puzzle box and I vow never to return.

Last night I rehearsed with our bass player Ben at his place. We get on well and are developing a certain type of sync to our playing. I'm just damn excited about having Ben along for the journey, he brings a humor that is appreciated and an ordered method that is necessary.

Getting to know our singer Robin over the course of the last year and a half has been beyond rewarding as well. I met him late one night at a gay bar named Fubar. He had just finished go go dancing alongside Angela. He told me he was looking to start a new band and I mentioned I'd just been kicked out of mine. I was standing there with my friend Chris, who also plays, but didn't make it into the band, and Robin exclaimed "we should start a band, cause we all look great!" The statement doesn't have the same impact without Robin's Kiwi Accent.
In the car rides to and from rehearsal and through book club and hanging out Robin and I have developed a bond. I have not had a new straight male friend in sometime, it's fun to have a little Bromance.

And then my brother Devin. I'm so glad that he some how reached into his busy schedule and found the time and dedication to be in yet another band with me. It wouldn't be the same without him. And how handy is it to have another drummer around?

The puzzle rounds off by having Robin's roommate and my girlfriend Go Go dance on a few of the numbers. Angela has been working so hard in the past year on improving her dancing and wardrobe. She has taken classes and worked her hind end off. I'm so proud and excited.

It's a special time in life when you get to cash in on hard work. It's great to achieve something as a group. It doesn't matter what the crowd things or weather anyone comes, the mere fact that we are able to do it is enough. It's a moment that I plan to enjoy.

Wish me broken legs.

Some Good in the Grey

Ah a return to weather I can believe in. It's grey this morning. It's even a bit chilly. I have been missing seasonal changes, so this is welcome, I am almost now convinced it is fall. Though I have heard tell that by the end of this week we will be back in a climate the mirrors hell.

I have some grey hair now. I love it, though I will probably continue to dye my hair for the pleasure of those around me. It looks nice to my eyes though. I'm very glad to be thirty. I was thinking the other day as I was driving that I used to measure success in much different terms than I do now. When I was young I used to think that if you were over 40 and not famous or rich then you were not a success in life. Well, now that I'm not ten years old anymore my definitions have changed. In my book if you are over 40 and alive, then you are a success. What a person goes through simpy to feed clothe and shelter themselves for any period of time on this planet is remarkable, varied and amazing. The mere act of maintaining breathing and body fucntion in the modern world is no small feat. Congratulations to everyone for continuing to do it. It's not fair and it's annoying, but so goddamn beautiful it's ridiculous.

Enjoy your grey hair you've earned it.

Note to the marketing and advertising departments

So most of us DVR the television programs we like to watch these days. When we do this we fast forward through the commercials that you work so hard on. Occasionally it's possible that we zone out in a television trance and forget that we can fast forward. I would imagine that during this state we are more susceptible to the subtle nudging towards consumption of your product that you are trying to sell us.

SO I'm going to think outside the box here...

Maybe it is no longer a good idea to set the master volume of your commercial 10 times higher than that of the program it is interrupting. All this accomplishes now is remind the public they should fast forward.

The game has changed.

Perhaps you can make your adds like a flip book now, so that in regular speed they look to be a serious of still images, but in fast forward they could hock your product? Just a thought.

In a Magic World

Oh yes! Another blog in the same week. I woke up feeling good today. It is a magic world after all, and magic is attained in small triumphs. Last night as I was coming home I walked through our garage. On the walls of our garage are storage units, which the far less than competent management of our building has managed to "lose track of" over the years. They are now first come first serve, which sucks if you are just moving in. Last night as I walked through I cam across 2 of them recently abandoned. The holy joy! I left the building in a hurried rush and went to home depot and bought 2 locks, when I returned they where still open. I slid my brand new locks into each latch like the flag claiming my new land. This minor triumph has me floating. We may now begin emptying items from our closets, and reducing general clutter in our place. A small improvement in quality of life, which makes the world a little more magic!

My muscles hurt today, basically all of them. I have been in the gym every evening this week and I feel great for it. Couple that with eating right and sleeping more and you get more magic. Oh how nice.

I have been neglecting my novel lately. I need to get back at it. This is a good reason to blog more, once I start my fingers to writing then I start my mind to spinning and soon it seems natural to open th document again, and spend some time putting something down.

My sister bought a house. My little sister. I would like a house, or at least to live in one. I'm tired of shared walls. I'm considering going back to school. I have a couple ideas of what I may like to do, but nothing concrete. I wonder about the time factor. I guess the way I see it I just have to trade a little now for more later? Possible. I have always been pretty busy, and I'm sure I could deal with being a little bit more busy. I've always felt like I had 2 full time jobs between working and being in a band. But going to school, being in a band, regularly exercising and maintaining some sort of a social life, is this possible? The thought scares me, which is a good indication that I should do it.

I'm very hungry all the sudden.

I'm listening to the Eels right now. I am pretty in love with them.

Bless your day.

Who Shall Enherit This Post?

Oh Boy, it's been far to long since I've clicked any keys taht were connected directly with this blog. Click Click Click by special request.

I feel really good about many things right now, and I'm also very nervous about some things, and down right disgusted and unhappy about others.

For starters, I feel physically really good. I've been eating right and exercising, and that is just nice. Not drinking either which has been a wonderful feeling. My energy level is at a high point, so I'm actually getting things done.

In less than two weeks, my new band Invisible Material will make their live debut. I'm very excited about this. We are back at a place I've played many times, The Anarchy Library. I love the venue, and I'm really enjoying being in this band. To be playing our first show, gone into the studio twice and never even raised our voices to one another is refreshing.
Before I go into that though, I will mention that we wouldn't even be playing this show had a bass player not fallen out of the sky and fit in just perfect. His name is Ben and he has been playing a massive double bass with us. It's so nice to be in a full band of steady members. I havn't had that really since just out of high school, and even then bass was played on a keyboard.
Last night Angela and I went to Ben's house and Angela chatted with Bens wife while Ben and I jammed out the songs. Good times.

I've also been writing and recording some stuff for another project which I briefly hinted about in one of my last posts. Since then I've shipped a track off to Ronnie and he's added bass and drums to it. Now I'm just awaiting a few more parts and seeing hwere it goes. I also have a basic structure demo worked out for 2 other songs for this project.

Home life is very nice. Angela and I have been cooking a lot, and coming up with many creative ways to eat better. Just the other day I learned that marinated baked tofu can be amazing!

So things are trucking and I'm loving it. I plan to pick up the blog again, let me earn back your readership, by actually posting something for you to read!

Ta Ta...