Tale of Two Four Year-olds

Oh kay. Where are we? I am home! I am back. The road was grand. I have a three way tie for best hosts on Earth award: Tyson Leslie, Kevin/Ina Steinman, and my folks. They drove me to the airport and back repeatedly. They kept me well fed and sane. I only wish I could freeload longer.

Go to Chino Latino in Minneapolis and eat their $1 happy hour tacos. You will like it. I know this because I liked it.

This tour was really about the youth demographic. KC badass/musician/host/friend Tyson Leslie's brilliant li'l four year-older and I became fast friends. Young Nathan's quote: "I'm still getting used to Zack, so I'm going to sleep in his bed tonight." I'm considering getting that tattooed on my back.

I played a friend's wedding in Omaha, and there was another equally precocious four year-older at that gig. Her name is Julia, and she told her mom that she no longer wants to marry her younger brother when she grows up. She wants to marry me. Also, she referred to me as "Zack Expert". I really hope that nickname sticks.

So what now? Bask in the glory of the adoration of four year-olds? No! Write songs! Make records! Score a movie! Do some gigs with Drake Bell! Play the Side Door in Manhattan Beach on Friday!

The Drake Bell band will play Hershey, PA at the end o' May. Last time we played there we were escorted to the front of the roller coaster lines, where we laughed at the little children who had waited patiently and feasted on their tears. Ok that's not true, I did feel a little guilty, but really enjoyed getting the bejesus scared out of me when the roller coaster took off so fast that the only tears to be feasted on were mine. The sheer velocity forced them out of my eye sockets, I wasn't crying because I was frightened, I promise.

Right before I left for the road I finished scoring three short films. When/if they are available online I'll put them up for your viewing pleasure. I finished the last one, La Pastisserie at 4:15 AM. I left with the Drake Bell band for the road fifteen minutes later.

This lack of sleep to start the tour, plus the impending doom of Swine Flu being all the rage, made for a nervous couple of days. I inherited what I call a "Swine Cold" which is still vaguely lingering two weeks later. I think I'm going to amputate my sinuses if this doesn't clear up in the next year or two.

Oof dah

The bone-melting heat has subsided in Los Angeles. I can now go outside without fear of spontaneously combusting.

So what am I doing at this computer? I'm getting cracking on the three (possibly four) short films I'm scoring.

Each of them will be six and a half minutes long. One is a Japanese war film, one is set in Spain at a bakery, and the other is a comedy that tours classic movie locales (Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Die Hard).

Tonight will be our first rehearsal in many moons with the Drake Bell band to prep for our jaunt through Illinois. This makes me happy.

Friday I'll be playing a gig with my Norwegian singer friend Therese Ulvan. We're doing a private concert for a Norwegian school that's on a field trip to LA. As my Norwegian grandma would say: Oof dah.

Let's get Bizet.

Favorite Spheres

Hello blogosphere!
What is happening?
Not much here, just cooking inside my skin, inside this sweltering atmosphere. Blogo, and atmo are two of my favorite speres, by the by, followed closely by basketballs and tennis balls.

I'm getting geared up for the Midwest Tour.

Here's the deal:

May 4, 2009 : Lee's Smmit, MO (Kansas City) : Performing at Jerry’s Bait Shop
May 6, 2009 : Lee's Smmit, MO (Kansas City) : Performing at Jerry’s Bait Shop
May 7, 2009 : Minneapolis, Minnesota : Performing with Kevin Steinman at 400 Bar
May 10, 2009 : Omaha, Nebraska : Performing at Slow Down
May 11, 2009 : Chicago, Illinois : In-store performance at Apple
May 11, 2009 : Chicago, Illinois : Performing at Subterranean

Won't that be neat? I think it will.

Did I mention that I'm at http://twitter.com/zackhexum fifteen times? Ok, good.

I had a dang fun time sitting with Tim Fagan at the Witches Brew. We did mad covers. It inspired me to learn a few myself. Yesterday I mostly learned Wilco's "Jesus, Etc" and The Shinses' "Australia". It was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday. The trick is to commit the lyrics to memory. I don't have a hard time remembering my own songs once I write them, since I have to listen to them a billionty times. I've discovered my memory works best when I don't think about it at all. If I start to think ahead to what line comes next it's a fairly sure path to disaster. I have to use both hands to cram information into my brain, but once it's in there it's semi-permanent.

micro-payment of attention

Two open letters to my last two venues:

Dear Zoey's,
You are real nice to me. I had a damn fine time with you on Friday night. Jes Hudak sang real purty. Your renovations and cafe spot downstairs are perfect additions to your beautiful space. Let's do it again real soon.

Sincerely,
Xaque

Dear Hotel Cafe,
We done did it again. There were many old/new friends at you. Erik Kertes played his bass/face off at you. Joel the Martin and John the Wicks brought beautiful happy vibes to you/me/the audience. I salute you, and after I'm finished saluting you, I welcome our next encounter with open arms.

Sincerely,
Zack

Yes folks, I'm in the afterglow of a couple of darn fun concerts. What now? A busy week of writing, recording, and weaving (What? I don't know how to weave or bob, for that matter. Start making sense or I'm weaving!).

As you can deduce the caffeine is in full effect, and I don't feel the least bit bad about it.

I started reading James Michener's "Alaska" this weekend. 950 pages to go: better pack a lunch.

I think the reason that Twittering is such an addictive habit is because it's a micro-payment of attention. When I write a blog, I want to make it worth while (so I suppose now is as good a time as any to say "whoops, my bad!"). When I write a tweet, I can do it in line at the post office. I suppose I could approach blogs in the same way, but/yet I do not.

So what do I have to say that's worth while: the sun is shining in California and there are infinite possibilities. Let's go effect the outcome.

Hotel Cafe V-Flyer with Indian Food

It's cloudy in Los Angeles, but my sunny personality shall not be dimmed. It's been a week full of writing, recording, and many other pleasant -ings (shaving, castigating, bingeing). I recorded the jazzy organ trio at Loyola Marymount University. John Wicks on the drums and Luke Miller on the jazzy organ both played like the intuitive and dynamic dynamos they are. We will use the recording to get some jazzy organ trio gigs, hopefully a residency at a bar in Los Angeles.

Last night I enjoyed the Indian food at Salomi in North Hollywood. My sis lives in the Bay Area, and there's a favorite Indian restaurant we partake of whenever I visit. This restaurant is the Holy Grail of all Indian restaurants (and I can't remember what the hell it's called). Salomi was, as Monica Lewinksy wouldn't say "close, but no cigar." And yes, I mangled that joke from Tina Fey's Twitter page.

In other news, I'm prepared for some serious action at the Hotel Cafe this Thursday. So prepared, in fact that I made a video flyer for it:

Bird brains

I feel like I'm cheating on my blog by Twittering. Really, though blog, she doesn't mean anything to me. You're my first internet love, well you and yourethemannowdog.com.

I'm still here, lurking in the intershadows. Semi-constantly pondering new blog topics. The new death star (i.e. studio) is almost operational. I'm updating software and bringing twigs to fortify my nest.

For some reason the heat just got turned on here, and I'm feeling like a rotisserie chicken.

I got cracking on a new song with my friend Luke Adams. I've known Luke since my days of yore (and by yore I mean college). As soon as it's ready for prime time I'll pop it online so that we can share it with you. The song started with a vaguely Jeff Buckley-esque melodic idea, and has morphed into something else, perhaps with an aroma of Coldplay.

Anywah, it's time to enjoy this beauteous day, and walk away from computer screens. Let's do it together.

Three....

Two....

One....

"Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?"

Consequences be damned

I'm a man about town of late

Monday nights I've been a regular at Molly Malone's, enjoying the musics of Brandon Rogers, Amie Miriello, and David Hodges. I highly recommend it, and not just because of Amie's potty-mouth banter.

Tuesday I sat in at the F.O.C.K.R.'s jam at the Kibbitz Room and earred my way through some Billy Joel on the saxamaphone. It's easy to stand out when no one else plays your instrument, that's why I'm in the market for a sacbut.

Last night I enjoyed the music of Geoff Pearlman at Cafe Cordiale. Geoff is an architect with the songs he writes. There's an intrinsic logic to the harmonic lines that weave through his stories that makes me musically horny.

Music enthusiast by night, music creator/meeting taker by day

I'm keeping on a strict diet of writing one new song a day. I'm planting musical seeds. Some will grow into b-sides, some into chart-topping anthems, and some into birdcage liner. Only time will tell.

I've got a new manager. You may notice a more meaty presence on my myspace and facebook pages in the future. We've been galavanting around LA to line up my behind the scenes army. I like meetings that involve sushi.

Illness is my least favorite "ness"

I'm still feeling the lingering effects of a sinus thing. It seems to have settled into my throat (that's what she said). As a result I've skipped my running regimen for the last week. My alarm clock was a calf cramp at 5:30 AM. This is no bueno (I learned those two words on the Drake Bell Mexico Tour '08). I'm going running. Consequences be damned. I'll need a banana afterwards, and perhaps a new throat. Till then.