To Proceed or to Succeed

Last night I ran down more new mixes on the S no S album. I'm developing a little plan. I'm starting to feel pulled to do two different things with the record: 1. finish the record fast and move on. 2. take my time and do the record. option 1 would be great, I would get to finish something fairly substantial and move on with other projects. I don't want neglect Turbo Sunshine, which actually has a band and some live shows to consider. I have several commission songs that are going to be tricky and need to be HQ. I need to work on these. Option 2 would be demoralizing in a sense, and it might be being far to precious with the project that is specifically about not being too precious; but is that true anymore? Can I afford at this stage of my life to release something that I know I could make better? So I'm thinking of doing both. I had originally only given myself to the end of this month to finish this record. This month ends tomorrow. To that end I wonder, what if I released an early version of the album strictly on bandcamp, with the option to download for free and pay whatever you like. Then, depending on the feedback and the demand I could then choose to polish the album before a wider release to Itunes and other CDBABY associated services. Perhaps I can event present the idea as a sort of crowd sourcing option... If I get enough Sales/Donations through the bandcamp page I could then use the proceeds to pay CDbaby's $50 album set up fee.

Late winter sets

FrankenAmp

A few years ago while still living in Atwater Village I came across this amp being discarded.

Not having a small apartment amp I figured it was worth a look to determine why it was being trashed. I plugged it in and immediately noticed why it was being dumped. The volume and tone pots were so scratchy that you could barely get a sound. Luckily I had some contact cleaner handy and I was able to apply a touch of that. This greatly improved matters, but also let me hear just how crappy the small speaker that came with the amp sounded. I was able to plug headphones in and hear that the amp itself wasn't total garbage. The amp set with my musical gear, never really getting any love unless I need something small to grab for an apartment rehearsal, even then the sound was barely bare-able. About a year ago while walking past my apartments refuse area I noticed a large home stereo speaker cabinet discarded. the cabinet looked exceptionally well made, but I could tell all the high end drivers had been blown. What really drew my eye was the 10" woofer in the cabinet. It appeared to be in perfect condition. I returned with a screwdriver and removed the speaker. It was a fine 10" Fisher speaker. Suddenly a plan developed in my mind. Like many of my plans for projects it has set in my mind and my storage cabinet until this weekend. Rounding out the materials for my franken amp were several pieces of leftover plywood from a prop I've been building from angela, and a very large, very high quality roll of gaffers tape that I borrowed from a venue my band played at years ago. Yesterday afternoon it suddenly seemed like the perfect time to create my monster. armed with a jigsaw and a drill and a trusty ruler I went to work. A couple hours later franken amp let out it's first scream. She's ugly under that tape, but I love her all the same.

Sunshine sounds

More vocal redos.  I bought my first honest pop filter.  Sometimes I just want to throw this album across the room. 

What a happy feeling

So happy about my sisters pending nuptials.

Running

in case you were interested, here is my zombies run profile. www.zombiesrungame.com/brandonbodt/

Random Good Things That Happen 2013. episode 2

Last night I stupidly left the window of my truck rolled down for the entire night. Wilcox and Fountain in Hollywood. Valuable items in view. Nothing was taken. stupid, lucky me.

2013 Goals

1. Complete S no S Album "10 Digits" 2. Improve reading speed 3. Complete all mission in "Zombies, Run!" 4. Complete and release something from Turbo Sunshine 5. Complete one video project for S no S & Turbo Sunshine 6. Go to bed earlier, wake up better rested 7. Be a good mentor 8. Create Demo Real for Turbo Filmworks 9. Focus more on the the present 10. Remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that I've had

Fun Stuff - Zombies and the Work

For the last year I have been eying an app called "Zombies Run!", once I finally had a phone that could run it I decided that my runs were too special to share with a game, that and I have been very anti running with head phones and music. I am selfish about my running, it's usually an act of unplugging and eventually oblivion. Yet towards the very tail end of last year as I got busier working on music and life my pendulum shift had left me not running as much. This just won't do. I'm not fun to be around on a consistent basis if I don't run, my brain chemicals need it. So I bought the app above and last night I completed the first mission. I have to say it felt like a brand new frontier, halfway between a novel, a game and a work out. At times it was a fully immersive fantasy world. I am excited now to run again, to see what happens next. I'm at a crossroads of sorts in the completion of the S no S album 10 Digits. I really need to finish something, done, finished, finalized, yet I know that I need to do it right. At the same time I'm neglecting Turbo Sunshine, which I need as a vehicle for playing songs live. This weekend I intend to try and very honestly evaluate the amount of time it will take to complete 10 Digits, and then I'll make the choice on exclusivity of my work time.

Random Good Things That Happen 2013. episode 1

Saturday night a red box dvd fell out of our truck in Venice Beach. We didn't notice until we were all the way back in hollywood about to call it a night. By all rights and virtue some fine citizen should have been using the case to roll up a fatty by mid afternoon the following day. I planned to report the dvd missing today. Instead I woke up to an email thanking me for returning the DVD. How cool is that?!

2012: Later Aligator

Here are the results of my 10 things to do or do more of in 2012. 1. Complete list of goals for 2012. Check! I must have felt like making 2012 an easy year to accomplish some goals. This first one was completed by the very existence of this list. 2. Play gigs with Turbo Sunshine. I did this, twice. 3. Travel out of the Country. I did not do this. Rats. 4. Get a Bike and Ride it. I did not do this. 5. Dream Big. I did dream pretty big this year, but I know think I shouldn't go around sharing those things so freely. 6. Study Music Theory. I learned how to build several scales and I did it just so I could put that I did it here. 7. Find a New Way to Express Myself. At the very end of the year I decided to learn more about video production. I think this will count. 8. Buy an Angeles Forrest Adventure Pass and Use it. This did not happen. 9. Make Time for Nothing. On occasion this did happen, though I wish I had structured it better and less. 10. Smile More. I don't think I can call this a win in 2012, and there is no good reason for that. Smiling is easy and effective and it opens many doors. I'm going to keep at it and I'll do better. I'll try and come back later to add a new list for 2013. 6 out of 10 is pretty good. even if some of them were stupid.