Kabob way no heart burn.

What are they doing?

Bees me.

Conversation On Top

I love to run in Griffith Park and Runyon Canyon. After pulling and pushing hard for several miles up steep grades there is the amazing pay off view. Some days I hate that I reach the top of a peak only to find it littered with others, occasionally though it's nice to encounter my fellows, and to realize they've all made the commitment to climb to be there themselves.
I have fun conversations in these situations sometimes. People do seem more open after a great workout, in the presence of great splendor. Below is a half remembered transcript of the conversation I had last night:

stranger: "Can you imagine what our hearts must look like right now?"

me: "I bet they are going crazy"

stranger: "I think there's a reason god put all that stuff on the inside where you can't see it."

stranger: "If we could see it we probably wouldn't carry on like we do, smoking and drinking and other stuff, if you could actually see what it was doing to our insides."

me: "It's a subtle thing, it's only been in the last few years that I've been able to make the correlation between what I put into my body at night and how I feel the next day."

stranger: "Sounds like you and I have been on a similar path"

stranger: "It's funny that we don't often give ourselves the consideration we give our friends or our special ladies. I'll take mercy any day."

me: "me too"

stranger: "I like your vibe, have a good evening"

me: "you too"

Tones of Accomplishment

I'm taking my guitar maintenance very serious. It's been really bugging me that I was down to just one well functioning electric guitar. Now I have 3 out of 4 working at capacity, and actually the 4th is as good as it's ever been, but I have bigger plans for it. More on that when they happen.
They guitar I fixed last night was a gift from Angela. Her uncle gave it to her, though in reality she let me pick it out in order to give it to me. This was long before we were the item we are today, this was just a great kindness from a friend. It is the guitar I preferred to play in Invisible Material. Around 6 months ago it developed a short, one of the wires had lost a solder to a volume pot, making on of the pickups not work. I can't be trusted to not flick the switch on accident when I play guitar. I flail like man in the grips of the plague when I play. If one of the switch settings on my guitars could flick to a position where my guitar ceased to make any noise, I would on accident end up in that position constantly, simply by the force of the possibility.
The guitar is a semi-hollow body guitar, which allows it to have a nice ringing tone and also look very pretty, but the down side to that is there are no access panels to get the electronics inside the guitar. The only access is through the "f" hole on the body, which is very tiny in relation to my big fingers. I had been scared to take the guitar apart for many months, I felt that were I to just charge in I would end up with a situation where my guitar made no sound at all, and that I would never get the electronics back inside.
The stand off between the guitar and I lasted several months, and then Ronnie came to visit. On the first night of his arrival, after we had put in many hours of celebration, we decided it would be a good idea to get the guitar working again. Long story short the out come I had be cautious of nearly came to pass. We were able to actually re-solder the bad connection, so the guitar did make noise in all positions, but when it came to getting the tone pots bolted back into position we found the task to be beyond us.
So the stand-off continued. I did some researching on the internet and read about a method of using fishing line to pull the pots through the holes in the body, which works really well if you remember to tie the lines around the pots before you remove them. We of course had not done that.
Last night I got bold and I dove in. Using a paper clip, fishing line and a magnet on stick I was able feed the fishing line through the holes, tie them around the poles, pull them back through and bolt them to the body. I gave the guitar a nice cleaning and a new set of strings. It's now as pretty and playable as the day I got it. I feel proud and relieved.

Continuity of Consciousness

I awoke this morning with last nights thoughts still in my head. I felt good and well rested. This is a nice way to wake up. I stepped out of bed and walked into the living room. I did a set of 40 push ups. I wonder how it has happened these days that I remember to do that first thing every morning. Is this the force of habit?
After my push ups I poured Angela a coffee and turned he television program on. I then brought her a pair of eye glasses and head band.

It was in the shower that I realized that I had awoke with the same mundane thoughts as I had when I went to sleep. Occasionally something like this would bother me, but since they were pleasant thoughts I instead felt good about it.

I have been a person who has woke up hungover and wretched, with a vague sense of puzzlement about the thoughts and events of the evening before. Occasionally life calls for this type of a full brain reset, yet I'm learning more and more that this is a rare occasion.

I enjoyed the sensation of my continued conscious, and the accompanying feeling of freshness. If the week actually begins on Sunday as some people perceive it then this continuation makes sense. I had a wonderful Sunday and I hope to make it last the entire week through.

Yesterday I slept till 11am. A phone call from my sister brought me from slumber at a very agreeable moment in my sleep cycle. She was in a good mood and a soon as the sleep fell from my eyes her good mood proved to be contagious. We talked briefly and I then got out of bed to find Angela. She was hungry so I dressed and went to gather breakfast. Bagels were the food of choice this fine morning.

After breakfast we drove to a park in North Hollywood where we started a 2 hour walk. It was a nice peaceful day and when we ran out of park we walked through the surrounding neighborhood. We talked and told each other stories. We hatched plans and ran through imaginary scenarios. At the end of our walk we went to a grocery store to get food for lunch and for the next few days.

When we returned home we ate and cleaned up a touch, then we separated and began work on our own separate projects. I finished the last mix of Alien Nation and then began to set up a project to master Devin's album. I have not "mastered" anything ever, so this was a new experience. With the caveat that I don't really no what I'm doing I agreed to help Devin with this final step of his project. The bonus to him was that I would do it Free and really fast, and that he could attend our session and master it with me. I made a mental rule to myself, "First Do No Harm". With that in mind I set off on the journey. It took about 3 hours to set up the project and do a cursory selection of enhancements for each song. After this period Devin arrived and we got down to business. Things went smoothly, he wasn't happy with the final mix of Alien Nation so we remixed it when we got to it. We didn't have the final version of the song Hoagie did (our fault for beginning without asking for it), but we were able to get a hold of him and he finished his up while we did the rest. The entire process went smoothly and by 9pm we were able to go for a short drive and preview the tracks.

Devin was happy and when we arrived home Hoagie had sent the file. I then burned the master and a back up and sent Devin on his way.

After Devin left I finished restringing 2 of my guitars. I'm on a mission to have all of my guitars up and fully functional this year, and to learn to improve them to the best of my ability. I've ordered new pick ups for one and I've also found a video serious about doing proper set ups. I've decided to dedicate more time to my passion of being a guitar player. I have often let it fall by the wayside for my loves of song writing and production, but this part of me connects directly to the nonverbal emotions of my soul. I need not neglect it so much. Time management has become a pressing theme in my life. Having continuity of consciousness will enable me to hit the ground running each morning.

I retired to the couch last night at the end of my day and tried to watch some TV to relax. My newly restrung stratocaster started calling me. I answered the call and took the guitar to the room to play it unplugged. It sounded amazing. The higher gauge new strings really make the guitar sing. It felt good to wake up today with sore finger tips.

A favorite bridge

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The Romance of Destruction

It's distraction to always fall for destruction.
To paint it black and assume that it looks that easy in the light.
to tear it down once it's been built.

A disturbance in the mind

I am aware of a disturbance in my mind. It's a good thing, it's a compulsion to action. A stone has been thrown into my mind, already as it sinks actions are rippling outward. I want to do, I want to express. There is a sense of urgency as each the wave travels outward from the center.
This is an experience.
The rock continues to sink and stir memory as it passes long undisturbed waters, still the outward expansions continues.

I hope it never hits bottom and the ripples never cease. A continuum of expanding action and deeper sinking stimulation.

Anna Marks

Anna Marks never left home until she died one day, very sad and all alone. The only things she ever had are the things she received from her long dead dad. He left her two glass eyes, one crooked cane, a leaky porch and a bladder the same. They say that her mother was grotesque and had little brains, but the little she had still felt grave shame.
She had nothing to do and nothing to place, just to order the minutes of each day that waits.
One day it arrived in a big blue van, and wheeled into the house it was installed by a man. That it continues to work leaves me perplexed, as does the thing that she has to say.
However it happened, whatever the case, Anna Marks emails me four times a day.

Already the lights are dimming

Already the lights are dimming on this version of the arrangement. The love seat has been thrown to the flea market. Change is becoming more noticable.
I wrote a charter or a blue print for a better life yesterday. I want to be bold with the things that I control.

Passing Transit

I saw this truck on my way to work and it reminded me if how tough we need to be. Keep durable people.

Tomorrow is a Year More

Here is a Logo which Devin Created for Turbo Sunshine. I love it. I put it up as a special present to myself. Tomorrow I become 32.

Breakfast view three rivers ca

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Goodbye Three Rivers

This picture is a parting goodbye from our rental house in Three Rivers, CA. Mother and father flew in and rented a van for Angela, Devin, Dylan and myself to ride up to Sequoia in. Once there we rented a house that sits on this river. It was really nice. It silent save for the dull roar of the river and the tweeting of birds. We sat on the deck and drank wine and coffee. We smoked cigars. There were more stars than I'm accustomed too. I went for one nice run up the road near our house, I felt free.
We spent one day in the national park. I saw the biggest tree in the world. Not the oldest, and not the tallest, but the massiest. HUGE. General Sherman. 2000 years of tree. Trees older than Christ. Get off your crosses, the wood was put to better uses by the trees. I've wanted to visit sequoia since I was a child. Before the internet we had reference books. The set we had contained only a few pictures, one of them of the big trees. I was always intrigued, and I finally got to see them.

I've been working on finishing mixes for Devin's album. I'm excited that it will be done. It's very good.

We took a press photo for turbo sunshine and mailed off an application to play LA Pride. Being as it's our first time applying and we don't have much history I doubt very much that we will be accepted. I had to really hustle to finish a 3 song demo. I'm very proud of it though, it sounds pretty nice. Angela's lead vocals are a surprise and amazement.

I miss my parents. They left on Tuesday. It's hard to be away from those you love. I missed my sister dearly when we were all together without her. She means so much to all of us. I turned around to talk to her at least 10 times only to realize she was not there. I hope to see her again soon.

Top secret compound

Three Rivers, CA

Amp the Sun

tonight is the first turbo sunshine rehearsal.