The Superdelegate phenomenon is rearing its ugly head again. If Hillary loses the popular vote, the delegate count, and still somehow convinces the professional politicians in the Democratic party to make her the nominee I'm officially retiring from amateur politics (again). This possibility makes me want to hurl large objects. I'm trying to find a happy place in my mind, but with no avail.
I believe that Senator Clinton has to know deep down inside that this is just bad pool. If she can become a nominee after losing the nominating process that's really no better than President Bush becoming the "leader of the free world" after losing the election to Al Gore. Boo! Between that and the 3 AM fear-mongering ads I hope she thanks Karl Rove and the Republican Party for inspiring her campaign tactics during her acceptance speech.
I finally got around to watching Barack Obama's speech on race. I would run into a burning building for this guy. I haven't donated to either candidate until now. We must not waste the opportunity to elect a once-in-a-generation leader. Make the right choice now and we'll be telling our grandkids about what we did to make a difference after what is among the darkest eight years in our country's political history.
Ok, I feel better now, kind of (grrrrrr!).
More good meat debate after the last blog. Good times!
Meanwhile, I'm still a musician. I was just about to recommend that you go listen to Caribou only to discover they're playing The El Rey (yes, it kind of hurts to type "the el", but that's just how we do it) tomorrow. I gotsta gets me some tix.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
A Farewell to Meat, Day One
I received a lot of quality responses after my throwing down the meat-free gauntlet to myself. Thank you. After reflecting a bit I've decided that I'm still going to eat fish, preferably sushi, and also eggs, preferably scrambled. The plan is to go beef and chicken free for one week and reevaluate from there. Unfortunately my first day as a semi-vegetarian (fish&veg&eggetarian?) had an inauspicious debut.
I was sharing my quest for meatless-ness with a couple of friends on the way to lunch. We went to Porto's Bakery. The "potato balls" were recommended as a must-have by one of the aforementioned friends. I ordered a veggie sandwich and a potato ball. I was less than pleased to find out during my first bite that the full name of the potato ball is probably potato MEAT ball. That 2 inch ball of goodness is going to be my last bite of bovine for at least a week, as long as I don't get hoodwinked into accidentally ordering a strawberry shake with steak in it.
After my meat debacle I spent the evening tinkering with my new pedal board and a hot glue gun. I avoided the very real possibility of fastening my new Memory Man delay pedal to my forehead, so I consider it a success.
I just looked at my iTunes sales report and 14 people downloaded "I Met a Girl Like You Once" last week. I smell a meatless steak celebration in my future!
See you at the birthday party at Libertine on Sundee.
I was sharing my quest for meatless-ness with a couple of friends on the way to lunch. We went to Porto's Bakery. The "potato balls" were recommended as a must-have by one of the aforementioned friends. I ordered a veggie sandwich and a potato ball. I was less than pleased to find out during my first bite that the full name of the potato ball is probably potato MEAT ball. That 2 inch ball of goodness is going to be my last bite of bovine for at least a week, as long as I don't get hoodwinked into accidentally ordering a strawberry shake with steak in it.
After my meat debacle I spent the evening tinkering with my new pedal board and a hot glue gun. I avoided the very real possibility of fastening my new Memory Man delay pedal to my forehead, so I consider it a success.
I just looked at my iTunes sales report and 14 people downloaded "I Met a Girl Like You Once" last week. I smell a meatless steak celebration in my future!
See you at the birthday party at Libertine on Sundee.
Monday, April 21, 2008
meedley meedley monday morning
Good morning internet. How are you? Don't you know me? I'm your naive son.
I am feeling good, in a Nina Simone-ish kind of way. I'm feeling good despite a couple of not-so-fresh feelings:
I had a weekend of gigs with Drake Bell in Vegas. I've expanded my gambling habit to include blackjack. It felt pretty decent to have won $25 the first night I played. It felt incredibly stupid to have had a net loss of $60 on the second night I played. I think I'm going to stick to music and save the card counting for Hallmark's product managers.
Another idea is bouncing around my head. World food prices are on the rise. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible animal flesh. I also can't shake conversations I've had with friends about meat contributing to some types of cancer. I love In 'n Out burger real hard. It's a deep, profound, and perhaps unconditional love. I think it's time that meat and I went our separate ways. Like the dude says, "at least I'm housebroken", no wait! I meant the other dude, the one who says "be the change you want to see in the world." And since I'm not planning on morphing into a couple of quarters and a dime, I need to start with red meat. Yes, I'm going to ween myself from the teat of meat. I may very well fail. If you see me on youtube David-Hasselhoff-style, shirtless and surrounded by burgers, that may the time when I admit I'm powerless over a higher power (in this case the higher power of fast food).
The big three-oh is fast approaching, folks. Am I worried? I've had just as many days on Earth as everyone else who's 29 and 11/12ths years old. No, I'm not worried. My (perhaps obnoxious) motto on the subject is: if you live to be 100, you're going to feel really stupid if you look back and realize you've felt old for 70 percent of your life. It also doesn't hurt that I was carded not once, but twice while gambling this weekend. I won't be going out for any high-school-age acting roles, or any other roles for that matter, but I'm happy with where I am, and more specifically when I am.
Don't forget to come to the really big shew this Sunday at Libertine on Sunset to celebrate the aforementioned passing of my 20's.
Now I'm off to practice all my meedley-meedley's...
I am feeling good, in a Nina Simone-ish kind of way. I'm feeling good despite a couple of not-so-fresh feelings:
I had a weekend of gigs with Drake Bell in Vegas. I've expanded my gambling habit to include blackjack. It felt pretty decent to have won $25 the first night I played. It felt incredibly stupid to have had a net loss of $60 on the second night I played. I think I'm going to stick to music and save the card counting for Hallmark's product managers.
Another idea is bouncing around my head. World food prices are on the rise. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible animal flesh. I also can't shake conversations I've had with friends about meat contributing to some types of cancer. I love In 'n Out burger real hard. It's a deep, profound, and perhaps unconditional love. I think it's time that meat and I went our separate ways. Like the dude says, "at least I'm housebroken", no wait! I meant the other dude, the one who says "be the change you want to see in the world." And since I'm not planning on morphing into a couple of quarters and a dime, I need to start with red meat. Yes, I'm going to ween myself from the teat of meat. I may very well fail. If you see me on youtube David-Hasselhoff-style, shirtless and surrounded by burgers, that may the time when I admit I'm powerless over a higher power (in this case the higher power of fast food).
The big three-oh is fast approaching, folks. Am I worried? I've had just as many days on Earth as everyone else who's 29 and 11/12ths years old. No, I'm not worried. My (perhaps obnoxious) motto on the subject is: if you live to be 100, you're going to feel really stupid if you look back and realize you've felt old for 70 percent of your life. It also doesn't hurt that I was carded not once, but twice while gambling this weekend. I won't be going out for any high-school-age acting roles, or any other roles for that matter, but I'm happy with where I am, and more specifically when I am.
Don't forget to come to the really big shew this Sunday at Libertine on Sunset to celebrate the aforementioned passing of my 20's.
Now I'm off to practice all my meedley-meedley's...
Thursday, April 17, 2008
by the guay
I'm taking a trip down mammary lane (wait, I think that means something else...). I dusted off an old timey mp3 of a concert I did with Rob Wilkerson. It's from a gig at a place called The Rising in Brooklyn back in 2002. Oh New York, I never really felt at home in you, but I sure did have some great times playing music, and the camaraderie we had was profound. In the name of full disclosure: I had to consult the ol' spell check on that one, my thinking was comrade is spelled like that, therefore comraderie should be spelled like that. Who needs a college degree when you have the internets! I guess that's why I came in 2nd in that elementary school spelling bee.
Now I am here, and am happy to be(e). It's laundry day. It's also take-my-new-alto-to-the-repair-guy-to-have-it-looked-at day. That's a national holiday in Paraguay, by the guay.
Back to the tangent of the internets, or at least my corners: I put up the information for my concert in Phoenix that's on May 9th. I'll be performing for MEF, which is a music school thingy. I'm writing arrangements for flute, alto sax, trombone, and bass clarinet of seven or so of my songs. I'm excited! Lots of pencil and paper work to do now.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by, but mostly stay classy.
Now I am here, and am happy to be(e). It's laundry day. It's also take-my-new-alto-to-the-repair-guy-to-have-it-looked-at day. That's a national holiday in Paraguay, by the guay.
Back to the tangent of the internets, or at least my corners: I put up the information for my concert in Phoenix that's on May 9th. I'll be performing for MEF, which is a music school thingy. I'm writing arrangements for flute, alto sax, trombone, and bass clarinet of seven or so of my songs. I'm excited! Lots of pencil and paper work to do now.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by, but mostly stay classy.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
they won't carve my face into a mountain, but...
As Gloria Gaynor said, "I have survived." Ok, that's not what she said, but we'll be creative with tenses for the porpoise of this blog. I'm officially done with my first job writing music for TV. I turned in my final episode Monday. The show I'm working on, which shall remain nameless since I'm "ghost writing" (it's really not as spooky as it sounds), has had it's series finale.
It was a success for these reasons:
-I didn't get fired.
-My rent is paid, and there's food in the cupboard.
-I quintupled my producing/recording/mixing experience.
The process went something like this: the producers of the show messenger over a VHS tape with timecode on it, the main composer and I divvy up the scenes, then we furiously and simultaneously compose and record music that's exactly lined up to the various scenes. Next we mix the finished product, and finally upload the music to an FTP server. On average I did about eight minutes of music a week. The first scene I did took me 20 hours to do two minutes of music. By the last episode it took six hours to do the same amount.
I'm hoping to do more television and film in the near future, but for now I'm excited to get back to booking some tour dates. I'll be hacking away at that over the next few weeks, and I'll put 'em online as soon as I know 'em.
Jon Stewart on elitism and the presidential race:
“If you do your job well, they might carve your head into a mountain. If you don’t think you’re better than us, then what the fuck are you doing?”
It was a success for these reasons:
-I didn't get fired.
-My rent is paid, and there's food in the cupboard.
-I quintupled my producing/recording/mixing experience.
The process went something like this: the producers of the show messenger over a VHS tape with timecode on it, the main composer and I divvy up the scenes, then we furiously and simultaneously compose and record music that's exactly lined up to the various scenes. Next we mix the finished product, and finally upload the music to an FTP server. On average I did about eight minutes of music a week. The first scene I did took me 20 hours to do two minutes of music. By the last episode it took six hours to do the same amount.
I'm hoping to do more television and film in the near future, but for now I'm excited to get back to booking some tour dates. I'll be hacking away at that over the next few weeks, and I'll put 'em online as soon as I know 'em.
Jon Stewart on elitism and the presidential race:
“If you do your job well, they might carve your head into a mountain. If you don’t think you’re better than us, then what the fuck are you doing?”
Monday, April 7, 2008
compound words get fractured
Saturday was a bucket o' fun. Videos were made of the show at the Mint. Enjoy one here:
Click on the user to see more of 'em.
Musically it was perhaps my favorite show that I've done. Luke, Joel, and Charles, you are worth your weight in doubloons.
I'm currently locked back in the studio working on the ol' television music stuff. My last day off feels like it was Christmas. Can you feel my whiny tears through the blog? I wonder if the teardrops will short out the motherboard on this here computer.
It's good to be busy, and complaining about not having stuff to do is nowhere near as fun.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 8th) I'm playing the Plush Cafe in Fullerton. Details are on the profile. The lovely and talented Thomas Freund (some call him
Tom) will also be performing. I'm imagining we will be sitting in with on each other's sets. I'd like to say that eachother should be one word and not too. For instance if nowhere is one word... I'm just sayin'. Maybe I'll go German style and start connectingthewordssimplybecause I can. Ok, maybe not.
Back to work! Mush! Mush, I say! See you tomorry.
Click on the user to see more of 'em.
Musically it was perhaps my favorite show that I've done. Luke, Joel, and Charles, you are worth your weight in doubloons.
I'm currently locked back in the studio working on the ol' television music stuff. My last day off feels like it was Christmas. Can you feel my whiny tears through the blog? I wonder if the teardrops will short out the motherboard on this here computer.
It's good to be busy, and complaining about not having stuff to do is nowhere near as fun.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 8th) I'm playing the Plush Cafe in Fullerton. Details are on the profile. The lovely and talented Thomas Freund (some call him
Tom) will also be performing. I'm imagining we will be sitting in with on each other's sets. I'd like to say that eachother should be one word and not too. For instance if nowhere is one word... I'm just sayin'. Maybe I'll go German style and start connectingthewordssimplybecause I can. Ok, maybe not.
Back to work! Mush! Mush, I say! See you tomorry.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
a good day
It's a big day folks. I got my special advance copy of Jessie Baylin's new album Firesight. The song we wrote "Not a Day More" is on the record! Ow! I'm excited. You can pre-order it off Amazon through that link. I listened to the first four tracks on the drive to the studio today, and it sounds beautiful. I'm honored to have played a part in its creation.
Second big piece o' news: I got my new very old saxophone! I changed game plan from the previous blog in which I debated the pros and cons of paying for a top of the line new horn or a medium of the line new horn. Instead I found a beautiful silver plated Selmer Super Balanced Action alto on Craigslist. The previous owner bought the horn in Paris in the 50's. He kept it in immaculate (I that word started with an "e", but spellcheck disagrees, and who am I to argue?) condition for 55 years! This thing has mojo. I'll be posting pictures, and probably making a YouTube video of it before too long as well. Good times!
I also renewed the warranty on my 1 year-old laptop! Go ahead logic board, break! I dare you! Just kidding. Please, please, please don't, it's a big pain in the ax, even if it's covered.
It's been a momentous day thus far, and it's only lunch time. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket. On the other hand, I'm hoping to avoid heavy falling objects for the rest of the day.
Second big piece o' news: I got my new very old saxophone! I changed game plan from the previous blog in which I debated the pros and cons of paying for a top of the line new horn or a medium of the line new horn. Instead I found a beautiful silver plated Selmer Super Balanced Action alto on Craigslist. The previous owner bought the horn in Paris in the 50's. He kept it in immaculate (I that word started with an "e", but spellcheck disagrees, and who am I to argue?) condition for 55 years! This thing has mojo. I'll be posting pictures, and probably making a YouTube video of it before too long as well. Good times!
I also renewed the warranty on my 1 year-old laptop! Go ahead logic board, break! I dare you! Just kidding. Please, please, please don't, it's a big pain in the ax, even if it's covered.
It's been a momentous day thus far, and it's only lunch time. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket. On the other hand, I'm hoping to avoid heavy falling objects for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
slap back
Last Summer I toured with Drake Bell. Today we got the band back together for a li'l performance at an elementary school. Jamie plays drums in Drake's band. We invaded his son Carter's music class today. It was a surprise. The way I know it was a surprise was because every ear drum within a ten mile radius must still be ringing from the squeals and screams of delight. We played two songs, Drake answered a few questions, "what's with the beard?" being my fave, and split. It's nice to make kiddies happy.
The rest of the day is filled with pizzicato strings, and electric guitars here at the studio. I'm working on TV stuff, and it's going very well, thank you.
Subliminal promotion: Hello, (come to my show at the Mint on Saturday) how are you?
Didn't that make you want buttered popcorn?
Yesterday I typed the sentence "I think I'll go bowling in in his honor." I sometimes like to add what we in the music biz call "slap-back delay" to words words. Doesn't it make me sound sound like like an an early early Elvis Elvis record record?
Back to work!
The rest of the day is filled with pizzicato strings, and electric guitars here at the studio. I'm working on TV stuff, and it's going very well, thank you.
Subliminal promotion: Hello, (come to my show at the Mint on Saturday) how are you?
Didn't that make you want buttered popcorn?
Yesterday I typed the sentence "I think I'll go bowling in in his honor." I sometimes like to add what we in the music biz call "slap-back delay" to words words. Doesn't it make me sound sound like like an an early early Elvis Elvis record record?
Back to work!
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