Pixalanious

This is me, as I appeared yesterday morning at 7:20 am, extreme hangover in hand, waiting for a bus that came at 7:26. I was a waiting for a bus because my van has no brakes at the moment. The same could be said apparently about me, the night before I took this rather painful self portrait. We went to an open bar event at Sky bar the night before last, thanks to our lovely friend Marc, who has those kind of connections. It was a record release thing for some english fellow who's doing well, but I don't even know how to spell his name so I won't try.


Here is the above mentioned Marc, looking happy and not hungover. This pic was snapped at Umai Sushi on Santa Monica, sometime last week. I just thought you might like to see Marc.


This photo is an explaination for why I didn't blog last week. I was actually busy working on a very ridiculous animation sequence that was used as a background for our performance on a public access television show, Can't Understand Normal Thinking TV, or CUNT TV. The animation was used for our song Legalese, I might put something on YouTube eventually.


Here is a picture of The Jewish Council Thrift Store, I like thier sign so I included it. We drove past it after eating my excellent birthday meal at Versailles, one of my all time favorite resturaunts

Amy is very sleepy, she is infact almost asleep here. Arthur is awake but feeling the need to cuddle and sleep on her arm.



Poor Coffee dog got his testicals removed. He had to wear a cone. He didn't like it. Would you? No I didn't think so.


Here's Henry. He loves me, he just has a funny way of showing it. This is taken on a sunday morning when the sun shines in and Amy has just cleaned and Brandon has gone to get Bagels from Noahs. This is a very good time for a kitty.


Here is another project that I need to be working on with more vigor. It's a picture of the master tracks to a Singe song, I've been toying with some mix ideas, but I haven't really gotten into the meat. I have to thank Ronnie my uncle for recording the tracks, Sending them to me, then sending me Sonar so I could open them.

Speaking of Ronnie, here he is, in a picture I grabbed from his daughter's blog.

This next group is from the Palm Springs Wind Field. I snapped these as I drove through it on the way to visit Amy's Mom and Stepdad. They were in Palms Springs for a softball tournament. During our short visit Sandy, Amy's mother, had her purse stolen from her hotel room.

I really found the windfield to be neat, and rather exciting. It's the little things that get me you know.

I enjoyed this drive very much, I like to drive in ruraly Califorina, it suits me. Now that I finally bothered to go get a California Driver's Liscence it's even legal!


This last batch of pictures comes from Tuesday of this week. They are basically pictures of the complex where I work, taken out my front door. This first one is taken around 10:30 am, just as a little storm was rolling in.

About 10 minutes later I took this shot, which is the storm in it's glory, the wind was really whipping, I bet it would have moved the turbines real well if they were here.


About 10 minutes after that the storm was leaving and you could see blue sky agian. I was sad. I wanted it to storm all day, it makes for a nice background.

This last shot is taken at 11:30, as I was walking roxie dog. It is a different angle from my work, looking towards Burbank Airport right across the street.
Nice.

Happy To Me

It's my Birthday. I'm taking the day off blogging, and unlike all the other days that I don't blog, I'm using that as an excuse, so since I have an excuse, I have to do a little blog to explain it, and there it is. And while I was making excues for myself, I figured I'd put in these great pictures of me, and my cousin Andrea, which her mother was kind enough to share with me.

This is Andrea and I on her 1st birthday, her birthday is just a few weeks after mine, so it appears we had some type of joint celebration going on. I bet that cake is wonderful!

We grow up fast don't we. This is another picture of Andrea and I. If you'll notice the look on my face you can tell I'm thinking about what I want to be doing in about 28 years, and that there is some type of rock and roll idea going on there.

You Screwed Up My Yawn

This is Amy at 11:00pm last night, after my Friday night birthday, and the fun that followed, and a late afternoon/evening recording session at Seamonster Sounds. We made the trek to the boo in order to cut vocals on Delay, and to have a consideration session on some sound choices for Mustache Rides. I thought the vocals went very well. I can't wait to hear them all in mix. What will become? Great things I imagine.

I had a strange moment, shortly after arriving. A microphone had already been set up, because the Hoagallala always comes correct, but it was covered by a nice red protective sheath. Upon removing the cover a dream snippet from the night before flashed back into my head, in the snip, Amy and I were recording vocals and she brings to me a microphone, a Nuemann TLM-103, and as I pulled the off the red covered mic, guess what lay underneath? a... Nuemann TLM-103

Dreams Yawns and Sleep, it all seems connected somehow.

A small yet significant invention cam about in the vocal recording which had amy simply speaking the first line twice before she actually began singing, after that the rest of the track seemed to suddenly fall in place.
So it starts,
"the spill of wet stills, the spill of wet stills, the spill of wet stills"

Very good for me. I was thinking that the first two occurrences are an awkward kind of premonition, a foreshadowing, and that they are the beginning of the song as a time line, since it's delay that would make sense, and when she begins singing, is when the song begins actually occur in real time, and then she lays out the next couple lines of verse, when before you know it there is a break... a delay if you will, before she "regains conscious need"... see, regain? hmmm...

That was just some vague thinking. Maybe it will make more sense once you hear it. It is really turning into a vastly different, yet much more modern sounding piece then what we went in with. It originally had a very 90's kind of pop hop sound on the verses with a very abrupt compartmentalized chorus section, now things have found their course with a mood that much better fits the lyrics.

You Can Have Another Rib, Just Give Me Back My Hour

I'm not happy, I should just now be getting to work, but thanks to this day light savings idea, I've been here an entire hour. One should point out that daylight can not be saved, only used. I feel like I've been used, by a clock.

This weekend, prior to it's abrupt end, was a wonderful fun time that I very much enjoyed. Friday night, Amy and I were to go hang out with a couple of friends down town. A simple enough Idea. On the drive down the plan seemed to make a little less sense then i originally thought, but still nothing would prepare me for the strange sensation of walking into a bar expecting to see no one only to find a large table full of all my closest bestest LA friends all saying something about surprise. It was really a special thing.

I got many many wonderful gifts. I was very touched by the gesture. I like my friends.

Saturday was a lazy day spent in recovery from the festivities that had ran into the wee the night before. I got to watch many episodes of the television show wings, the first and second seasons of which were gifted to me by my brother and his other of significance. I also got to listen to the new nine inch nails single, watch them in concert last year, read a scanner darkly and rock and rolls 50 strangest moments, while listening to The soundtrack to The US vs. John Lennon, or Future Sex/Lovesounds, while I played guitar with a new strap and picked it with wonderful picks which now have a special place in which they stick, all the while eating a bag of the best cookies ever, which I'll now have to run off in the coming weeks with my brand new trail runner shoes, which were picked out and sized superbly. I also had a balloon and dolphin cards.

And I don't have to age now for 7 more days.

I guess it should be noted, that I started this post whining, and by the end of it I've come to the conclusion that I have nothing really to whine about. I like to sleep, but I like to live a little bit more. Can't really live without sleeping, and if you could would you want to? I sure wouldn't.


We recorded yesterday, but I feel that should be a new post.

I like to play my Guizmo

Last Night was good. I drove out to See the seamonster and to record guitar for Mustache Rides. The track itself has gone through a pretty interesting transformation, one that I can't get enough of. Let's just say it's been taken up a notch. My part went in my mind very well last night. I felt confident and fairly capable, and I think it paid off. It helps that I've been playing more guitar recently, between the shows and rehearsals, and recording. I am so excited to see what becomes of all the irons we have in the fire for the moment.

This past weekend, as Devo blogged about we had good fun and a great show in San Diego. I want to not like San Diego, but I can't help myself. Our show was the best since the opening night in Iceland, it felt good to have a crowd really enjoy themselves. Let's have some more of these please!

We also played last week at the Anarchy Library, another show I enjoyed. I like to play my guitar, which reminds me a while back I think I had in mind to do a photo spread with Nodter, my Telecaster. I will do that soon.

Going back to a post I had at the very beginning of this year, I've also re-titled the blog... Check it out.

K, I've now acknowledge March.
I turn another government year older this month.

Lets all say something nice

A roll of humans in systems is often connector. Like extension cords or power strips. Or those little plastic pieces that connect two phone chords. Zip ties. Duct Tape. Glue. Gravity. Centrifugal Force.

I like other people. I went through a long phase of trying to convince myself otherwise. In the end people just won out. I can still work up some pretty good venom for people, and really convince myself that I hate them, or that I wish them harm, and in many cases I'm still capable of inflicting emotional and even physical harm. I have to admit though, that I know those actions are wrong. If you give me a cool head and some honest facts of a being, just being, then I feel like I can find a point of understanding. I may still have extreme disagreements, but I try now to associate those disagreements with the ideas and the actions, and not the person.

I like people, in my life I hope to convey that more, and to help other people like other people. My world is so much better for all the people around.

Free Along Friendship

Recently Amy was scheduled to travel to New York with her good friend and ex Von, in order to provide company and support on Von's first visit to the big apple, and of course to see the sights of NY. In addition to that, was the added bonus of spending good quality one on one time with an old friend whom she had not seen for years, we'll call this friend Earl. There have been problems between Amy and Earl in the past, and there have been missed opportunities, but over the course of any 20 year relationship, many such things come to pass.
Come departure date the weather on the east coast became increasingly less travel friendly. And the icing on the runway was severe mis-management on the part of Jet Blue, the airline where Amy had her ticket. Hence, just hours before their embarking on the journey, news traveled down that the flight was canceled.
This news really hit Amy and Von hard, leaving them completely disappointed and crushed for the rest of the weekend, and in fact they are still not over it yet.
Matters did not improve when Earl sent Amy an email, that can at best be termed unfriendly. It was obviously disappointment in the circumstance misdirected at the Amy the person, but that is a bitter pill to swallow for someone emotionally invested. 20 years is an extreme investment, and it's understandable that emotions run hot, but it's just sad to see something as silly as a canceled flight lead to damage in a 20 year friendship.
It's had me thinking lately on the value of friends and friendship, and I keep coming back to one thought, that in friendships, the people are in them are not the most important thing, it's the shared experience. Friends may frustrate you, and over the years they may become a person who is a far cry from the person that initially attracted you to them in the first place, but what really matters in a relationship is the shared experience. So years later two people who lead completely different lives still have a commonality that allows them to relate, it's not who the individual is, but what the individuals have shared and experienced together that matters.

I've been thinking about this, and in keeping with that I've had an idea for a bit more blogging. I hope to in the coming weeks post a few entries here and there about some of my old best friends, particularly the ones I've lost touch with. It seems healthy.

unda con

Brandon is under construction, check back tomorrow to see how well it went.

rich, complex, undeniable, high resolution, multi-dimensional recording

I was going to note what we accomplished in way of the recording this weekend, but Devin already took the wind out of that sail . I guess I need to get into blogging a bit earlier in the day.
I will though completely echo his sentiments about the work done thus far. the way we are working thus far really has me feeling excited. I'm also pleased to have started with the b-sides to the single first, because we set about working in a direction similar to the process of "Free Alongside Ship", but we soon realized that with a minor change in process, which Devin also referenced in his wonderful little blog, that we could achieve much greater results. In the end I must say that I think we will have a rich, complex, undeniable, high resolution, multi-dimensional recording that will not only give pride and pleasure to the creators, but to the throngs of listeners as well. oh boy!

Tonight is hopefully more SG work as well. The three of us plan to meet at our apartment, where we will be able to bounce ideas for new tunes back and forth, hopefully coming back with some solid outlines of tunes that are at this point hazy oulines at best.

Wednesday we rehearse at Swinghouse studios just down the street from out apartment. It's an exciting place to rehearse because there have been many a famous type to walk those halls day in and day out, but it's not satellite studios by any stretch, I miss rehearsing there.

Thursday Amy and I will have the pleasure of attending an event at the TV academy for the HBO show "the Wire"thanks to Dylan. "The Wire" is my favorite show. I love it and can't get enough. Why is the 4th season not out on DVD yet? I hope to blog about it Friday morning.

Kick Em' in the Cute or Best Friends Forever

This is my desk at work... It's a wonder I ever get anything done. The two beings in the picture, who are not me are Coffey and Buddy. Buddy Is the original Shi Tzu desk dog. He belongs to my boss, and began working here at almost the same time as I did, so We are Total BFF.

It took several months for me to figure out how to make the most of our time together at work. We started by just playing constantly, chasing a ball around the office, which later evolved into Buddy picking up the ball and making me chase him around the office. How fun for him! He would always go in a figure 8 pattern beneath my desk and the book keeper's desk.

Buddy would eventually tire from that activity, and I would finally have an oppourtunity to get some work done, but being BFF we really didn't want to do it seperatly. So Buddy would sit in my lap and sleep while I typed invoices or made made phone calls, but if buddy is near any exposed skin of mine, being my BFF, he has to let me know he loves me by licking me over and over again. Until I have no skin left to lick.

Eventually I started setting him on the coroner of my desk. Which would just make him walk across all my papers, spilling my coffee, soda or water along the way, and getting paw prints on all my documents. It was then I decided to make it more comfortable for him, so as to entice him to stay on the corner of the desk, and not cause a natural disaster all over my work. I did so by making a box top into a bed.

From there on out it's been gravy. Buddy Has slept on my desk for part of every day, and usually he just sleeps, and doesn't even bother me with his intense need to lick my bare hand. He's found that he gets attention from everyone that walks by, everytime they walk by, because he doesn't have to bend down. It just works for all involved.

We've been happy these 4 years like this, and everyone knows their place... until the little brown guy in the pictures at right came along. His name is Coffee, and he's a silly new puppy. We've had to adapt to the new circumstance, because Coffey likes to come to work too, he doesn't want to stay home while all the other dogs come to work, but he also wants to put everything in his mouth, so he must be in a cage or held at all times... Or put in a box on the desk. At first it was crowded, because I tried to put them both in the same box, but now I've added a smaller box, which was meant for Coffey, butbecause they are dogs, and they don't think like us, Buddy decided to take the small box, and Coffey the big one. Even though Coffey is 1/4 Buddy's size. It was tough at first, Coffey wanted to chase my pen or bug Buddy, but in about 2 days time he go the hang of it. I think it's been a big help to have his older brother Buddy show him exactly how to be a desk dog, because he's caught on so fast. They are both fast asleep as I type, it's cute as hell.

Post 300! Some Pix to Boot!

I made it. 300 posts. That really means nothing really, but it's fun to see that I've actually kept coming here and writing things for nearly 3 years. I have kept journals, but I've never written journal type things in them, I've always just scribbled insane semi poetic song lyrics and directives to my personal savior. I do have one journal in which I endeavor to occasionally spill a few personal beans, and I may have mentioned it here before, it belonged to my grandmother on my dad's side, and had apparently been given to her in 1987, by my brother, sister and I. She never got her mind around to writing anything in it, but it's nice to have as a relic of that great woman.

As promised, here is a rather zany series of photos taken Sunday as Amy and I ventured to Sea monster Sounds in Malibu, California. We left weho in the late afternoon, heading south down Fairfax. Notice the dirty windshield, I've always liked the look of photos taken through a dirty windshield so we stopped in an empty lot and sprayed dirty water on the truck, then we allowed it to dry before heading out, just so the pictures could have that special look to them. Forward and to the right is the famous Eat-a-Pita, where Joel from Brian Jonestown Massacre was filmed in an interview with a plant on his head in the movie Dig.

Just a bit further down the road we passed wonderful Canter's, where Brandon loves to eat. And where it's rumored Kurdt Cobain used to enjoy eating as well. Also it's the sight of the first place I happened to catch a glimpse of Rodney Bingenheimer, who I would later see nearly every day while walking home from the subway, and who would tell me upon my handing him a cd, that we most certainly needed to change our name. I can't help but feel like the Rodney of old would have at least bothered to listen to a band before deciding he had the authority to bark a command like that.
Inside and on the side is the Kibitz Room, where Shitting Glitter played just recently. It was good fun. As I recall the band got free pitchers of beer.

Also here I once met the guy who directed the Nine Inch Nails videos for "Head Like a Hole" and "Down in It"
For these next few, I'll just allow the Pix to speak for themselves, as they pretty much all involve Amy being Amy, and that needs no explanation.

Look! Art!Whoever is driving must be pretty fun! Looks like the subject is really enjoying these pictures!! I must point out also, that of course the driver was not driving
and taking photographs, that would be dangerous. In typical Hollywood fashion the vehicle was mounted to a trailer, and towed through town on the way to Malibu.

Eventually we got on the boring old freeway, which looked much less interesting than even this photo. For those who need to know, this is the 10 west. Which will become the Pacific Coast Highway in the next shot, or the 1.
Where the 10 becomes the 1 the brave driver is forced to pilot his vehicle through a tunnel, and as soon as the vehicle makes it's brave exit, the ocean becomes visible. This is one of my favorite moments in the drive to the studio. It makes me feel very possible.

After a spell down the PCH, we turn towards the studio, I always pause at this spot to gander at this view, it's usually a little earlier in the day, so the splendor of this shot is usually even more apparent.

Amy hates the driveway, and though it can't been seen from here, this is a nice view of the sunset from the top of the driveway.

Inside work was being done, here is A shot or three of Amy between takes of Mustache Rides vocals. Hoagie is pictured turning around to inspire and give direction. Notice Amy is chuckling... Something I've noticed I've been doing a lot when recording this time around. Funny how the last album was cut mainly in apartments and closets, often with friends and fun around, but in my mind,

that album was stressful to record. There was a great deal of fun and excitement that went into making "Free Alongside Ship", but in the end it's colored a bit by the extreme effort that went into aspects of it that were not necessarily cruscial to the recording. This time around, we are working harder, but the work is actual going into the finished product in a noticable way, and that kind of work just feels good.
There is much work to be done, and Devin and I will be making this same trip this weekend, to do some of it. I'm excited already.
Okay, so ends the Three Hundredth Post. It's been fun, those of you who read this, that are not me are a very strange lot indeed, and you are few in numbers, let's keep it that way.

Things I've Been Taking In.

The Up Series: By chance I stumbled across this film in Netflix, I had really no idea of the history behind it, or any notion that it was a re-occurring series. Amy and I watched it Saturday, in a particularly open mood. It was shocking and touching to me to watch so much of a persons life course chart in such a short time span before me. The premise is that in 1964 21 children age 7, all from different economic circumstance were interviewed on the subject of their lives to come, their desires and dreams, their feelings about their situation, and just general chat. In addition their their daily lives were filmed, in an attempt I believe to show each person in their actual context. After the first film 7up, there were no plans to make it a series, but along the way, that changed, and 7 years later, 14up was filmed and released. Followed by an update every 7 years, leading till the current edition, and the only one I've seen 49up.
To see the obvious strain that 49 years of a life examined in such an odd public way was really food for thought. It made me think about how dishonest we can really be with ourselves. With no one coming around every 7 years and plainly stating facts of your place in life. The details we all tend to skip when someone asks us how we are, those embarrassing facts that somehow don't get mentioned, even to the people closest to us. My god, I wouldn't blog if they made me tell the entire truth, and I doubt many would either. And then you have the crux of the reality TV, documentary problem, being that in no way are these things the product of non-evasive observation. They directly effect and change the course of the thing they are attempting to document, and often times with out ever bothering to present just how much the effect of the camera, crew, contract, financial compensation, stature, fame, ego all have upon the subject. This was another aspect of 49up that I found fascinating was the fact that they did not shy away from speaking about resentment of the project, or the occasional pride in the project. This really is a remarkable work, I am surprised to have never been told of it. Consider yourselves told. Add it to your Queue. Hoagie, you were the only person with whom I've mentioned this, that had actually heard of them, further more you'd actually seen them, for future reference, lets try and pass this stuff on to people like me, folks are not out there talking about this stuff enough.

Idiocracy: This movie, made by Mike Judge, who brought you one of my favorites, "Office Space", and a couple television shows was another film I took in this weekend. I dropped the ball a bit here, as my brother Devin was dying to watch it with me, and I didn't manage to make that work. I should have seen it with him, it would have been fun. The movie is really a funny look at the way our culture is heading, and I can recommend it worth the watch, but it's not for everyone. The extreme ability to laugh at the shocking reality of our current social situation is a must, and trust me, not many of us have it. It's also not a greatly in depth satire, it's not going to tell you things that you don't know, and it's not going to tell them to you in any way you haven't feared, but to see it come to life on the screen will make you go OMG, everyone I know who isn't breading needs to start, because we got to balance out this whole Jackass, Fearfactor, Carl's Junior world we are starting to become at the hands of other peoples dumb children.

I was also going to say I saw "Little Miss Sunshine", and I guess I just did, but I have nothing really to add about the thing, just that you should see it if you haven't and I'm sure you planned to. It's a good movie.

Bye,
one more till 300

The Approach

Okay. Here we go... It's Monday morning and I'm already blogging. This is good, usually when I blog on Monday, I tend to blog with a fair amount of frequency throughout the rest of the week, so, as long as you are willing to admit that me blogging is a good thing, then you should be in agreement with me, that it might be a good thing that I'm blogging today. I was inspired to blogging today by my sister, who just last week took the plunge into her own bowl of alphabet soup, and I must say, she is once again being a little show off, what with her fancy drinking games and all her business there at the state capitol. Still, I'm older... oh wait, that is pretty much not a good thing anymore. UG! It was so important when I was 7 and she was 5. Why? Oh why do the tables turn?

Back to the approach. I'm coming up now, finally on 300 posts. And since it's only Monday, I can only guess that I'll actually hit that 300th post this week. This should be an occasion of sorts, even though some of the posts in that 300 could hardly be said to count, like the one sentence number late one evening on my birthday a few years back. I feel though, that it's important to note such achievement. So i will.

We are approaching many projects in SG land. The single, has been a very interesting thing to work on, as it's really seen a good deal more work already then I think anyone really considered, but this is good. I'm finding now with every trip to Sea Monster Sounds that there are huge areas where my abilities lack, but it's nice that I feel that I'm learning in a way that doesn't exclude me from being able to learn these things. Or to say that rather then feel like I'm encountering things I can't do, it's that I'm encountering things that I'm not yet able to do, and that knowing that I can't do them, I can't start now to see how I can learn to do them. Get it? Tricky approach.

Also, though it won't come today, "the approach" does have a photo blog component. Yesterday as Amy and I traveled to Malibu to work on the single, we snapped many road photos, They will soon be compiled and blogged about here. I've been planning to try and document the journey we take to get to Sea Monster Sounds Studio for some time now, because it's been really an interesting aspect of working there, and I enjoy it, so you dear reader will soon be let in on that joy.

Happy Monday. Let's all try to have a good week k?

Post Script: I almost always mis-spell Interesting.

Catholic Carnival, A lost and found message board post

brandon's10-08-2003, 05:05 PM
Catholic Carnival
So here is an interesting tale of a bizzare gig that didn't quite come to pass.

The gig i will tell you about actually occured prior to my joining but they were all my friends so i was along for the ride.
a little background about the band because it's necessary to understand just how bizzare the situation really was:
the band name is Shitting Glitter, an all queer band fronted by a lesbian with songs about such family topics as strap-ons and mustache rides.
After a performance at the first ever Los Angeles valley pride parade a gentleman approached a few members and asked them if they'd be interested in playing a catholic church carnival. would we be interested in playing your church carnival? of course! sounds like a great time!
contact information was exchanged and the man was on his happy church going way. the band had a great chuckle about this... "shitting glitter live at saint mary's catholic church carnival"
after the initial gut laugh wore off a few questions began to pop up...such as did you tell them our name? do they know we are a bunch of athiest degenerates with drug habits?
no one was really ever able to come up with an answer to these questions. theories abound that maybe they were trying to lure us in to perform a group exorcism, or maybe just a neat old fashioned group stoning, but an actual reason why a band such as ours would be booked to play a catholic carnival never came to light.
a few days later the contact for the church called and left a message with the time slot and date on the singers voicemail. she later called back and confirmed.
saturday of the show arrives and shitting glitter decends upon the catholic carnival. it was held in what appeared to be a school parking lot complete with booths, carnival rides and a rather small stage. security was extremely lax so we were able to bring in plenty of beer, hate to pay those inflated sin tax prices! the evenings entertainment seemed to be of a rather diverse nature because the act on before us was a nice young man singing karaoke! he was explaining to the audience how he'd be prasing the lord this summer from the deck of a cruise ship that was kind enough to hire him as entertainment.
we carted all the gear (and hidden beer) to the side of the stage and began searching for our contact. at the sight of us the cruise ship karaoke boy grew visiblely nervous.
the contact was located but there was a slight problem. upon spotting us he trotted over. "shucks guys, to bad you missed your slot last night." he said looking at his schedule paper.
"last night? you told us tonight."
they insisted we had been scheduled for the night before, dissapointing really, as they so badly wanted to see shitting glitter perform.
we offered to play them the message they left on our voicemail, but they would have none of it.
my guess is they thought about it a little bit or maybe ran our name past the priest. i would have loved to see that meeting...
"father benson, we have a great evening of entertainment lined up for you. we have the choir to kick off the festivities, followed by father thomas playing the spoons, then young jeremy performing uplifting karaoke, and then to close the evening we have a band of degenerate queers from hollywood! it's going to be a wonderful day father..."
no amount of arguement from shitting glitter could force the good catholics to honor their word and allow a performance, but the band refused to take the day as a total loss. equipment was carried, compensation must be reached. the singer amy has a brilliant idea. she pulls the stage manager aside and tells him it will be accepted as a mis-undestanding provided they kick down a few hundred carnival ride tickets. seeing a way out the good man jumps at the oppourtunity and tickets are presented.
shitting glitter being a good fun loving band was off to the carnival portion!
the evening almost ground to a halt when the guitarist and i accidently had a beer over flow from the top of the ferris wheel. apparently a small amount of the foam over landed upon the operator. rather then kick us off he stops the car when we are on bottom, looks at us, makes the drinking symbol with his hand while tilting his head back and then sternly shakes his head and finger "no"...
eventually the tickets ran out, probably a good three hours after our welcome and we went home feeling spiritually fufilled.
i still don't understand what the guy who booked us was thinking

Stoke Up

K, I've been busy, and a lot of irons are waiting to get in the fire. My time is going to be getting scarce in the coming months. I have much to do. Above you'll see a cell phone pic of Hoagie of Seamonster Sounds in Malibu taken 2 Sundays ago. Hoagie was creating a cozy environment for us while we discussed the plans we have regarding our upcoming dance single and the new album which will follow. There have already been many hours poured into the recordings, and it's just the begining.

We are going into these recordings with the right idea in mind, if you ask me. There have been agreements made on the process, ideas kicked around, intentions stated.

I want to really delve inot this deeper, but for the moment time is getting rare.

I could Vomit Blood

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Of Things Being Absorbed

I'm sharp today. I feel pretty well connected to the burning desire components of the brain. Those that want to create, react and experience. It's impart, because of somethings I've been involved in creating, living and experiencing lately. For this post, I'm going to focus what I've been taking into my head in the last couple of days.

First there came the Stan Ridgway album "The Big Heat" I purchased it last week at Virgin. Being as it's the first solo album, and I adore the title track, it would make a great place to begin I decided. The album really interest me a great deal, and over the last week I've found myself steeling moments to indulge myself in it. The track "Walking Home Alone" has a particular attraction to me. I'm ready for a long road trip through the desert.

Next. Last night.

Amy, Marc and I watched "A Scanner Darkly". My GOD. I need to read the book. Why is it no one in my world ever told me I needed to read that book? Really? Where are my mentors on this one? I've never read anything by Phillip K. Dick. And if the movie adaptation of this work is any indication, I've really been missing out. I've spent the morning now reading the Wikipedia entry on Phillip, and the entry on "A Scanner Darkly"

As I read this morning, my ears were being tingled by more new to me sounds, courtesy the ever awe inspiring depths of my good friend Marc's record archive, or as it's been christened, The Marchive. Marc, who has been hearing me blather about Stan Ridgway for the better part of a year, all the while without actually owning any albums, was kind enough to search his well ordered collection and come up with Stan's "Party Ball" and "Holiday in Dirt" These sounds speak to a new developing me. There is a depth of character that cares not for the confines of pop cool. There is a true attempt at expressing what condition the human condition is in, and I am totally fucking diggin it.

This weekend had me programming drums and expressing a lot of things. I feel really ready to dig into some serious new dimension of creation and expression. This is a good world if you can hold on. I gotta good grip at the moment. Which is great, cause in the coming months and year I'm really going to need it. In the next few months I'll be delving into long buried portions of my relatively near past, while at the same time applying newly discovered notions myself and of moral code to my future.
This is going to be a very interesting year, and I can't begin to guess where I'll be or how I'll be there by the end of it. For the time being I'm feeling ready

Laslo

Frustrated Inc.

Tried recording guitar last night. Left me in a funk. Starting to really hate the avliable range of sounds in an apartment setting. Starting to question my abilities as a guitarist. UG. These are bad things. I can't hit my recording groove lately. I can't find that magic spot of all consuming obsession.

Fear not. I go through this. I go through it everytime. I eventually trick myself and pull it back on course. I'm like that. I'll do it.

Thinking about a lot of things lately. Gearing up to make a serious push on the new SG album. Devin re-worked "the red state" early this week. Holy Shit! The guy is getting scary good. If nothing else the fear that he's getting way better then me at all this stuff is going to push me into high gear. Thats the good kind of brotherly competition for those keeping score at home. Makes me achieve.

Excited to get into some work with Hoagie again. Always a learning growing experience.

Also in going through the Singe artifacts it's been basically decided by devin and I that we will cut tow unfinshed nuggets of the era. One is a song that we'd actually worked up as a band in Plaything, it's referenced somewhere in this blog as a song called "get away" or some such. It was performed live once but had been all but forgotten except by me, it's a simple sort of rocker number. Also there was a song I found in the journals, that I was working on lyrically when I was in those bands, and then that I recall I started recording on right before I kicked into S no S stuff. I always liked the song, and judging by the fact that it shows up no less then three times in 2 different notebooks of the era I would say that it was a song I worked pretty hard on, comparatively.
For these two songs I'm looking to make pretty simple recordings that we can marry to the Transformation through decay album, sort of as a retrospective release with bonuses of two or three new recordings and some archival recordings baring any are good enough. The idea will be though to have Devin and I do our part, then send them off to ronnie to add his drumming and bass playing, he was always a fifth member of those bands anyway, and it only seems right to have him behind the board for completion.

More Cellphone Cam Blur

Rewind and Play the Tape

Tuesday evening at 5pm... I rush out of work, hop in the van. Check the post of last friday entitled, "the stars are uspide down", it will give you an idea of the next 30 minutes. I was excited. I had a goal. Devin, as yesterday I had mentioned, was back from his trip to Kansas, armed with artifacts of my past. I was en route to meeting him and a few others at a local happy hour haunt.
Upon his arrival at the bar, he handed me a large bag.
The bag contained:

1. CDR, containing a QT video of my new second cousin. Which I actually was to distracted to remember to watch.

2. Three Journals - The very first "band" notebook I ever had, which has a black plastic cover upon which has been scratched "singe" On the back it has a list of "band rules"
they are something like this
a. no yelling at anyone sitting down
b. no making lovely eyes at Mike's bass (as if)
c. if you say something, say it loud enough for everyone to hear
and such and such...
One of the other journals read "plaything", and the other said nothing.

They were rather silly to look at after all, I really took myself and my feelings far too serious. I did find it funny that in the begining of the first one I wrote
"starting this notebook as a way of expressing something, or maybe just to remember. Or just so I can have something to laugh at when I'm old." Oh me! Does that make me old or jsut a dork?

In the Journals I was able to shed a bit of light on a few points, I know now that the Plaything songs I forgot were for the most part untitled. One I believe was called "reality is all in your mind".

3. Gameboy - yes, my old gameboy, complete with tetris. It's so vintage now.

4. Audio Tapes... nearly 10 in all. On them I have found much frustration with the format. It seems that either the devices they were recorded on had terrible problems maintaining a constant speed, or the devices I'm playing on them have terrible problems maintaining consistant speed. On them I was pleased to find the fourtrack Demo of the lost singe recording "peel", which I guess is actually more of a plaything song.
Another tape was mis-labeled as early Singe, when in fact it was an early plaything rehearsal, complete with Chris Leon on drums.

I managed to mix down peel, and then make a geuss at the proper tempo, in the end it's intersting to hear, but maybe not earth shattering, at least I have a document of it now.

There were some post Singe/Plaything Mastertapes, which haven't in my mind festered enough to be totally intersting.

After Devin handed me the bag, I took a few quick drinks with the gang and excused myself. I had to get home and dig in. It was a fun time, but I'm left wondering how much time I should put into my old band, when I really have a lot of work to do with my new one.

View of a Room

I had a headache last night, it came and went and came and went. During one of the spells I took a moment to cellphone camera document the room as it appeared around me. I have a certain fondness for the total lo-fi aspect of these cameras. There is something left in the fuzzed out edges, kind of like a memory.

If you happen to be paying a particularly keen amount of attention to evolution of this blog, you'll note that it's not entirely about entertaining anyone but your dear author, and most of the time it's not even about entertaining him. There is something to being reminded of things as they were, or how it could be written that they appeared to be.

Irons in the Memory Hole

Revealing Old Glories

MLK Day

Devin is now in Kansas, and has been since early Saturday morning. He traveled for a visit with the family and with the intention of discovering long since stored artifacts of our early musical development, specifically those which center upon our young rock band, Singe, and it's younger brother Plaything.
I've only been informed via text message of one discovery and that happens to be of a master copy of a demo for a song called Peel, which I was certain was never recorded. I'm afraid that the tape is actually a four track demo, and perhaps not even a completed one at that, though apparently it does contain the initials, D, B, J, which would at least mean the recording has Joe and Devin involved.

I do still happen to have access to a functioning cassette four track, however, it is not variable speed where my old one was, and I most certainly recorded at a higher rate of speed in order to get a better quality from the cassette tape, though I'm pretty certain that would have been about the only concern for quality put into the recording it self, certainly no attention was payed to quality in the actual "engineering" of any of the recordings. I figure it should work to just attempt to mix the thing down to the computer, then go in and slow down the recording until I can ball park the correct key. It's also possible in theory to use the panning function of a tape deck, and record separate right and left channels on side one and then do the same on the opposite side of the tape and then adjust the speed of each track individually prior to mixing. The only problem there would be alignment.
I'm also a bit concerned as to weather or not the demo will contain vocals, and if it does not, will I actually have to record them now? dear god.
That will only be possibly assuming that one of my journals from that period actually contains the lyrics, and assuming even that, that I remember the melody. If you could call it a melody.
Those journals will be a very interesting item for me. I'm for the most part certain that they contain mostly song lyrics and other attempts at poetry. Most of it certainly god awful and juvenile. I'll probably post pictures of them later in the week though, because I take myself at least that serious.
He returns home very late tonight, so I won't be seeing him until tomorrow evening. I'm giddy.

Maybe more blog today. I feel up to it.

The Stars are Upside Down

A reoccurring feature of this blog has been descriptions of how I manage to get to and from work. Well, things have once again changed. I leave work around 5:08 pm, after having loaded all 4 of my boss's dogs into his car. I walk across the parking lot to my company vehicle, a 1991 white ford aerostar van. It ain't much to look at, but it does provide me with an extra hour of sleep in the morning, as opposed to the subway and bus. I miss the public transit system often, but never between 6:40am and 7:40 am.

Once in my van I start it up, generally with out the key, as it's not necessary to start such a fine vehicle. I click the radio on, it's dialed into a.m. 1150, as that's the only station I listen to, on the way to or fro work. As I pop the un-keyed ignition into start the theme music to The Randi Rhodes Show begins to slink out of the one working speaker. I put it in reverse and begin to smile, cause I'm going home, and that is one fine feeling.

I work in the valley, as you may or may not know, and I live in West Hollywood. The Valley, for those of you fortunate enough to not have to know, is the San Fernando Valley, and it's separated from my lovely home in West Hollywood (weho from here on out) by what's called "the hill". I believe what "the hill" is actually and extension of the Santa Monica Mountains. "The Hill" is rather notorious for Los Angelenos, because it present a major obstacle in traveling from to and from certain parts of our major metropolitan area. It's generally considered that you can only get from The Valley to Hollywood, We Ho, or Beverly Hills by three ways, The 101 freeway through the Cahuenga Pass, Or through Laurel or Coldwater Canyon.

People of this opinion, especially if you are traveling between 4 and 7pm on weeknight, let me tell you, this kind of thinking is just plain wrong, it's incorrect, and it will get you nothing but gridlock and frustration.

I avoid all of those wrongful emotions daily, and claim for myself a few moments of LA escape, by heading south down vineland, all the way passed Ventura Blvd, and then turning right on wrightwood drive, which I follow all the way to the top of "the hill". When Wrightwood meets Mulholland, I trun left, and meander down that famous street, along the way passing the Universal City overlook, where some days I'll pull over and hop out, just to take a quick moment for me. I like to sit and gaze at the lights, which due to the manual manipulation of our measuring system called time, happen to be in full burning glory about the time I'm a top "the hill" during this season.

In looking at the lights it's pretty easy to see how the sea of lights could easily be mistaken for stars with the help of some smoke and mirrors. I miss the Western Kansas night time vistas. I really miss the feeling evoked by a sky completely filled with those glorious notions of things much more significant. Every star in that sky of my boyhood would continue with no thought to me at all, my role in the that grand scheme was impossible, and therefore comfortable.
From the top of Mulholland, the stars are all upside down, and I drove past many of them to get to the top of "the hill". I know in my mind that I can be significant to each one of those lights, I could force each to contend with me, if I were hell bent inclined. These man made imitations don't humble me in the way they should, individually, but together taken as one, as a sea of lights representing people multiplying and enforcing their whims and desire, without a great amount of thought being given to what might happen if we all got our way all at once. I get some vague feeling like the thing I just vaguely described, but I also feel an excitement, and a call to task.
I'll not delve all the way in here, but rest assured that it's important to me to participate in these moments for me.

After getting back in the van I meander further down Mullholand, until i hit Woodrow Wilson, where I again turn right, only to promptly turn left onto Nichols Canyon Road.

Here the street begins to resemble a quiet one way highway, which winds it's way down a hill that could be anywhere, and doesn't at all have to have the distinction of "the hill". I don't see the sea of lights very often from here. The AM radio station crackles, and sounds a bit warm. I often have the heater on. On rare occasion I'll even have a cigar, and think about my father, we used to smoke cigars together, though I have it on good authority that my sister has forced him to give up such simple pleasures. (good for you odd)
I love my drive home.
When I get down the hill I'm back on the streets we all know, and I'm generally home within 30 minutes. My way is faster, and it makes me happy.

What Would I do Without Wikipedia

My brother Devin and I often send each other interesting reads on Wikipedia, with a general emphasis on isolated societies. In case anyone else finds they are in need of some time filler or fun, here are some links to articles we've found to be of interest.

Rapa Nui

Pitcairn Island

Micronations

Republic of Rose Island

Sealand

Republic of Minerva

Stanford prison experiment

Milgram experiment

Strip Search Prank Call Scam

Non Wiki:
Kleine-Levin Syndrome

Netfux

Here, because I might find it interesting in my next life is a list of all movies I've rented, with the date I've returned them to netflix.

I am really indulging myself here.
Cold Mountain
01/08/07
L.A. Confidential
01/05/07
The Rainmaker
12/29/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 6 (7-Disc Series)
12/29/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 5 (7-Disc Series)

12/29/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 4 (7-Disc Series)

12/21/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 3 (7-Disc Series)

12/20/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 2 (7-Disc Series)

12/19/06
CSI: Season 6: Disc 1 (7-Disc Series)

12/18/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 7 (7-Disc Series)
12/14/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 6 (7-Disc Series)

12/13/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 5 (7-Disc Series)

12/12/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 4 (7-Disc Series)

12/12/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 3 (7-Disc Series)

12/08/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 2 (7-Disc Series)

12/06/06
Boston Legal: Season 2: Disc 1 (7-Disc Series)

12/05/06
Sketches of Frank Gehry
12/05/06
The Wrong Man
11/29/06
Won't Anybody Listen
11/29/06
Airplane!
11/22/06
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan: Season 1: Disc 2 (4-Disc Series)
11/22/06
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan: Season 1: Disc 1 (4-Disc Series)

11/06/06
Thank You for Smoking
11/06/06
Brick
10/24/06
Chinatown
10/24/06
Wonderfalls: The Complete Series: Disc 1 (3-Disc Series)
10/24/06
The Pentagon Papers
10/17/06
Simon Birch
10/11/06
The Conversation
10/11/06
Key Largo
10/11/06
Airheads
09/28/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 6 (6-Disc Series)
09/21/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 5 (6-Disc Series)

09/21/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 4 (6-Disc Series)
09/21/06
The Times of Harvey Milk
09/14/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 3 (6-Disc Series)

09/07/06
Ray
09/01/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 2 (6-Disc Series)

08/30/06
The Pope of Greenwich Village
08/30/06
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 1 (6-Disc Series)

08/21/06
Entourage: Season 1: Disc 2 (2-Disc Series)
08/02/06
Entourage: Season 1: Disc 1 (2-Disc Series)

08/01/06
The Missouri Breaks
07/27/06
Gregory's Girl
07/26/06
Rumble Fish
07/26/06
The Family Stone
07/20/06
Boston Legal: Season 1: Disc 5 (5-Disc Series)
07/18/06
Boston Legal: Season 1: Disc 4 (5-Disc Series)

07/17/06
Boston Legal: Season 1: Disc 3 (5-Disc Series)

07/11/06
Boston Legal: Season 1: Disc 2 (5-Disc Series)

07/11/06
Boston Legal: Season 1: Disc 1 (5-Disc Series)

07/10/06
Transamerica
07/05/06
Syriana
07/05/06
Wonderland
06/28/06
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
06/28/06
Donnie Darko: Director's Cut
06/28/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 6 (6-Disc Series)
06/20/06
Casablanca
06/20/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 5 (6-Disc Series)

06/14/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 4 (6-Disc Series)

06/14/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 3 (6-Disc Series)

06/07/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 2 (6-Disc Series)

06/07/06
Deadwood: Season 2: Disc 1 (6-Disc Series)

06/05/06
Blind Melon: Letters from a Porcupine
05/31/06
Edward Scissorhands
05/31/06
Ed Wood
05/31/06
The Office: Season 1
05/12/06
Sunset Boulevard
05/10/06
Bill Hicks: Sane Man
05/08/06
Good Night, and Good Luck
05/03/06
Six Degrees of Separation
05/02/06

Bends Ends

K, so I am in a new year. Is it the Fourth Calendar year of my blog? Wow. I think it is. I'm tired of the title, there will be a new one sometime this year. I'll make a small list here of things that I might like to see happen in this year. Look for it below.

I finished "The Last Cattle Drive" last night. I really enjoyed it. The book runs the entire length of my old home state, taking in some parts the exact route which we took the year my father and I biked across Kansas. Really it was a fun book for me to read.

The show we had on new years was good, I enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed starting the year a professional musician. Hopefully I'll end it that way as well.

Anyway, the writing isn't flowing today, I've got a lot to do and the IM window is a buzzing every 7 seconds.

Here's a small list of things I'd like to see happen in the new year.

1. Rename the blog
2. Finish blog entry started 2 years ago, a detailed description of the landscape of my boyhood farm.
3. Somehow obtain a new "number 1" guitar.
4. Return to Iceland
5. Play in the UK
6. Eat Healthy
7. Exercise
8. Read
9. Go back to Kansas
10. Skip 10 year High School Reunion