The Reckoning

Last of the words as a 33

as the hours wind down on my 33rd year there is really only time to keep moving. As I continue to stride this is me, glancing backwards over my shoulder. There are some things I don't dare let catch me, those ugly beasts wait for me to stumble, but I have put great distance between us. The faster I move forward the the fainter they appear, and the more forgiving my mis-steps become. The majority of what lies behind is wonderful, like a wave at my back propelling me forward, begging me to keep going, do better, go further.

El

Just finished reading Hotel New Hampshire. Loved it.  Now back to cash

Farm Kids

I feel really cool that I grew up on a farm, I often brag about it. I really loved everything that came with living on the farm, the freedom, the space and all the cool shit I got to play with. I think it helps that I had really great parents to grow up with, and for today's blog I want to shout out to my Dad, who took time out of his farming to do some really great things for us kids. Here is my by no means comprehensive list of some of the neat things my creative dad did to make farm life entertaining.

1. Barrel and saddle horse swing. I only recently remembered that this existed, it was nearly washed from my old brain. Between two trees dad mounted a swing that consisted of a barrel wearing a saddle. A perfect prop for acting out all my wild west farm boy fantasies. I scoured the internet and this is the closest I could find to what it looked like. Ours was way cooler and more rustic.

2. A stock tank in the back yard. It gets ridiculously hot and dusty in western Kansas, and it's nice to take a little afternoon dip in a stock tank. Dad would often sit one near the house in the summer and fill it with water for us kids. Again, thank the internet and a random family for the visual aid.

3. This one is like the best, and maybe I blogged about it before... but seriously my dad surprised us one winter by building an Ice skating rink in our back yard. He borrowed a skid steer from grandpa, and started diggin up the back yard with out telling us why. When he'd cleared a flat section with built up sides he added a thick black plastic liner. this he filled with water. I think we thought he was building a pool for a while. Here from the interent is a fine example:

4. Square Bale House. We had a grainery building, built into the side of a hill, where you could back a truck into the lower level and use gravity to fill the truck with grain from the large container rooms above. I only remember my dad storing grain in there once, so the rest of the time we used the grainery as our club house. One year, for reasons I don't understand Dad bought square bales, instead of the usual round bales he would make from Alfalfa. He stored these bales in the lower part of the grainery, and rather than just stack them normally, he created a room inside, with a door and 2 windows. Like this, but better and with me and my siblings instead of these randoms:

5. Many kids get a sand box, and ours was no more special than most of them. Yet that mom and dad let us spill the project of the sand box into the entire side yard of our property, building a landscape of multiple cities with roads and houses, that would encompass what would come to be called "out in the sand pile". Devin should blog about this, in detail, because it's the greatest part of our farm child hood and it should be done it's justice. To sum up I'll just say this to the kids of this generation, think of Sim City, but in real life, and you are forced to play it in the 100 degree Kansas Summers, and you can not stop or your older brother will chase you across the yard with his fist in the air, and if he catches you, you will feel the wrath. There are no pictures on the internet that do this justice. Use your mind.

6. Simple Tree House - All kids should have tree houses. Our tree house was simple but great, it used a door to connect two trees. We loved it though, and it was perfect.

7. One winter dad lashed an old truck hood to the back of our 4 wheeler and pulled us around in the snow. It might have been tied to the tractor. It doesn't matter, it was totally awesome no matter how you pull it. Nothing beat a snow day at home with the family. Different kids, different farm, different time, but otherwise this is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about:

I didn't mean to get so involved in this. I need to work. bye.

Primary Emotions

It's been a very long day, one little thing after another needed done and I have been doing them. It got to be a little overwhelming and I took a short nap. Sometimes it's best to just stop, and start going again later. Last night we voted in the Los Angeles primary. It was a ghost town at the poll. I feel a little tired if I don't stop to remember how happy I am, and how good I have it.

Air Feel

against my hands in the overcast morning the air is just beyond crisp, stinging slightly as I pull my hands from my pockets to queue music on my phone. I'm glad to have wormed my way from the underground station and into the day. I feel the parts of me that are tired recede into the movement as I progress into my life. I have not heard this music in some time but I know it well, the demo tape of an artist that moved far beyond this small beginning. I'm wearing my running shoes and my feet keep a beat. Side streets are silent beyond my headphones and the buzz of the traffic a block in any direction is only known, and felt in that psychic way.

Weekend luxury

It's been nice this weekend.  A fondue party at our apartment Thursday night ran late, leaving Angela and I exhausted Friday at work. Angela luckily didn't have to work as late and came home to do 5 loads of dishes and tidy up.   I took the subway home and joined her.  
We walked a few blocks to Grub, a place my brother Devin knows well.   It was cute as can be and delicious.  Angie ordered the crab cake burger and I opted for the shrimp poboy.  I made the best decision it was decided.  Our dinner on the patio was just what was needed to kick off a weekend to relax and reward ourselves.  With the Oscars over, it was time to spend some over time money. 
We retired super early on Friday night, both of us fast asleep by 9:30.
Saturday we walked to mendicino farms for a sandwich pitstop on the long walk to feed and care for our brother's cat Bootsy.  Kitty fed and loved we walked back home.  Next up was a nap for Angela and a nice long run up runyon canyon for me.
After a run and a shower it was time for massages at barai Thai massage in silverlake.  We had yuletide money we had earmarked for just this occasion.  The deep tissue massage was just what my crimped neck and sore legs needed. 

This no

This morning we treated ourselves to pedicures, my first time. It was great then a light sushi lunch and a nap. Now I'm blogging by the window, ready to create some music.

Weather You Remember

I was pretty young and I lived on a farm with my parents and my brother and sister. I have been thinking of a vague memory from that time, and I've been trying to make it make sense, but it's blurry and very slim on relate-able details. What confuses me is the timeline, because my family was home at our farm home, which always seemed so separate from the rest of the world, and that it was the entire world. It had to have been late afternoon when a thunderstorm rolled in, and there was a huge crack of thunder and then as it always seemed to happen at that time, the power went out. Is that just my memory making things colorful or did it actually happen that way as I often remember it happening? In this memory, in my head of my own life that's how it happened, and then it was dark. It must have been one king hell of a storm, because in my mind it was scary dark. Lighting candles inside in the middle of the day because the power was out kind of dark. And there were all were, my whole family in the living room of our farm house which to me was separate from the real world and at the same time the entirety of the world. And it was dark, and it was stormy and we were all together and the power was out so we could not escape from each other inside of the TV. And it was raining and storming on our whole farm so dad was not able to do any of the work that he had to do, and I could not check up on any of my places, and my brother couldn't be listening to records, and my sister couldn't be out front dancing in her slip and mother couldn't see to clean up after us and couldn't cook, because the power was out. We lit some candles and we were all together in the storm, and it was dark in the way that we had to be together, but we all felt safe. And then the storm was over, and the clouds parted, and then we were in the freshest evening just before gloaming. And I remember there was wheat in the field and it was the richest golden color and everything was covered in wet, and it was all so clean. I swear that when I look back in my mind even the mud puddles were clean and still and I can see the bottom of them even now. The horizon was still dark, and diffusing what was left of the sunlight, and it I can almost taste how yellow and golden everything was. And the power was still out, and we didn't care at all. My whole family walked up the driveway just passed the machine shed and the horse barn to the first big curve in the driveway, and then we started back towards the house. And I remember in my mind most the way everything was glowing then, and then my memory of that day is over, and I don't care, because that day is there, and the power is still out and we are all together.

Tigrefino studios

What I learned in 5.5 hours of listening to myself sing poorly

So the experience of listening to the entire S no S catalog in order on my trip to san jose just focused for me. This is what I learned; even though very few people ever heard that music, it meant a lot to me. 10 years later I still listen to it, and I remember what my life was like then, and I realize how my life is different now, both for better and worse. Really though the most valuable thing it gives me is the desire to make new music, to keep going, because it still feels like a job worth doing.

Foggy notions

I drove to san Jose and back today to pick up equipment for my work. Ended up being a twelve hour day.  I listened to every s no s album in order today.  I can safely say I've learned all I needed to from the original six albums, and I'm totally ready to not listen to them again for many years.  The new record is coming along and listening to the old ones gave me valuable perspective.  I have new found direction, more on that later. 

Rest stop nowhere

The road

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.