Extreme Closeup

Happy Monday Blogosphere,

It's been a busy weekend:

-The album is doneski!
-The Huskers lost to USC (boo!)
-Drums were added to "Beyond My Means."
-I bought a video camera
-I recorded "Beyond My Means" on the new camera and put it up on youtube.com/zackhexum, and in the videos section of my my my myspace



George Bush says the terrorists hate our freedom, right? Well good news, terrorists! There's one less freedom to hate. Even though Cher tried to warn us that baggy pants were a bad idea in Clueless a dozen years ago, some of you haven't heeded this warning, so now it's becoming a law.

Like I says, the album is done. It's in the capable and loving hands of Mark Dearnley for a little mixing. Next step is artwork and track order. Then... the world (wide web)!

Tomorrow marks my return to the front of the stage after a two month hiatus. Like the video above mentions, I'll be playing the Montmartre Lounge on Tuesday, September 18th at 9:30.

In other news I'm hatching a plan to host a youtube talk show. The plan is to interview my musician friends, play a song with them, and put it up on youtube. Think Wayne's World without the extreme closeups. If I get to interview Joni Mitchell I will scream "we're not worthy" at her. Mark my words.



Is that me on the right?

Till the morrow...

Adieu.

Ready to Ramble

2007 is the year of accidental TV time. I looked like a serial killer earlier this year when my friend Brandon Rogers was on American Idol. Yesterday I went to see my friends in the Michael Bublé band perform on Jay Leno.

We were stuck in green room purgatory, as were there no seats reserved for band guests. Luckily a guy who works for the show took pity and plopped me down in the seat normally reserved for Mrs. Leno (fortunately, Jay didn't try to take me home or ask me what we were having for dinner).

Michael Buffer of "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!" fame was seated right in front of us. He looked unusually dapper, and I found out why...

Please enjoy this YouTube clip and see if you recognize the dude in the white shirt seated behind Mr. and the future Mrs. Buffer.



This is as good a time as any to keep plugging away (I'm persistent, no?) for my show next Tuesday at the Montmartre Lounge.

We rehearsed last night for the gig and it went swimmingly. There will be two brand-spanking new songs performed, "Beyond My Means" and "Little City Driver".

In other pseudo-news, I enlisted the formidable talents of the aforementioned Brandon Rogers to help me get my best vocal take recorded over the last two days. In addition to being a great singer, he is a fantastic producer/vocal coach. He knows all the singer's tricks, has great ears, and knows my voice as well as anyone. I'm happy to share the work we did with you soon. I have a couple more parts to the add and the album will be done!

My trail of forgotten chargers

I think now is as good a time as any to come clean. I am a chronic forgetter of stuff.

On this tour I have left these things in these places:

My computer charger in a hotel.
My computer charger in a hotel (again).
My cell phone charger in a hotel.
My hat on a Super Shuttle van.

The good news is, I recovered all of these items, and it only cost me roughly forty bucks to get them shipped back to me.

In my defense, they were usually plugged in behind furniture, or I somehow tricked myself into thinking "I didn't use my computer charger, therefore I don't need to check for it."

On the other hand, I was one of the few on the Drake Bell tour who never lost my all-access laminate. I did consider losing it as a gesture of protest since my name was incorrectly spelled "Zach" on it.

I'd also like to take a moment to say how unbelievably wasteful tours are. There were recycling bins that were easily accessible at maybe three of the fifty venues we played at. I can say that on a good day there were at least ten bottles of water that were half full and left strewn about the dressing rooms or on stage. When I'm the king of the world, or at least the headliner on a big tour I'm making recycling mandatory, and bringing out those big multi-gallon things of water, giving everyone a nalgene with their name on it, and making the band and crew responsible for their own bottles.

Also, I made my own tiny bit of an effort to not use a new bottle of hotel shampoo once and then leave it 90% full, but destined for a life in the trash can afterwards.

I know that there are still supposedly people who believe that global warming is a myth (I'll save that tirade for later), but I think we can all agree that trash is not a myth.

Now that I'm done preaching to the choir, or maybe only to myself, I'll again remind everyone that I'm playing a show next Tuesday, September 18th at 9:30 at the Montmartre Lounge. Be there, or don't, but preferably be there.

All Giant Airlines

Well, dear readers, I am home. I am back, nestled safely in my apartment. The highways are clogged, the sushi is delicious, and the smog is nowhere to be seen for the moment.

I was on the road for two months with Drake Bell, and boy are my arms tired? I'm Ron Burgundy?

We ditched our tour bus for the last couple of gigs and had some fantastic voyages on some fantastic and some not-so-fantastic airplanes.

We flew on Express Jet, which I had never heard of. We avoided any La Bamba moments, so I'm not complaining. I will, however, mock. They shared their checkout desk with Allegiant Airlines. Allegiant seemed to be just one step below Express Jet. Exhibit A:



To my eyes that says "All Giant Air". Maybe they only fly puddle jumper planes with low ceilings, like our Express Jet flight. Their slogan could be "All Giant Air, you'll feel huge when you get on our tiny, noisy plane!"

On the other end of the spectrum: we played a private party in Pennsylvania. After our performance in San Diego (where I had seen my brother's band perform at the same venue years before) we were whisked away on a G-550 private jet. I am ruined for life for commercial airlines now. You know how most planes have a floatation device cushion? We had cushions made of sashimi and baby panda bears! Not really, that would be weird. But seriously, no expense was spared. I sat in the jump seat with the headset on. I don't have any issues with flying, but my hands got clammy when we took off. Sitting in the cockpit is like sitting in the front of the roller coaster. The good news is, it's only $8000 an hour to rent a G-550, so I wanna go again!!

Here's a crappy cell phone picture of the jet:



In order to pay for my next jet ride, I'll need all my friends come to my "welcome home" show at the Montmartre Lounge next Tuesday, September 18th at 9:30 (this is real time, not "I'll tell you 9:30 and it's really 10"). Hope to see you then.