Loren's Musical News & Ramblings

NY Thruway Tour 2008

2008-09-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Wow.

I spent large parts of this past weekend on my old home turf, reconnecting with people I hadn't seen in as much as 36 years. And it turned out very well.

The whole thing started a couple of months ago, when I got email from someone in my high school class. I have heard *nothing* from these people in well over 30 years. I sort of shook upstate NY off my shoes when I moved to California in 1976, and never really looked back, which tells you how happy my younger days seemed to me at the time.

Anyway, my classmates were planning a reunion for August, and asked what it would take to get me there. I told them. They said yes.

I then was posting about this trip over on Meet The Phlockers, and one of my fellow Trop Rock musicians in a band called Pirate Dreams said, "Hey, we're playing this festival on Sunday in Buffalo that weekend; why don't you come out and play with us?

And that's how the whole thing started.

So I hopped a plane last Thursday for upstate NY, arriving somewhat late at night. I'd been out there last year, so I knew how to find my way around.

The reunion was up at the Saratoga racetrack - the flat track, not the harness track. We met there for the afternoon. We spent most of the time in one of the restaurants, watching the races on closed circuit TV. I actually got up and went over to the track side to see one race, just because I wasn't feeling entirely like I was *there*, if you know what I mean. We got about a dozen people out of a class of 38 - not a bad turnout.

Then we went over to Vapor at the "Racino." Craig, one of my classmates, knows the people there and got me booked for an early evening gig before the main band went on. So I did an hour or so show over there, closing with "Pirate Looks at 40," during which everyone came up and pictures were taken of the group of us. It was a touching moment.

On Saturday, I drove out to central NY to reconnect with several of my cousins. I went to Verona Beach to my cousin Dean's place - it's lovely. There's a particular feeling to a place by the water, where people are as much in and on it as on the land, and Verona Beach and its neighbor Sylvan Beach definitely have that. Dean took me on a tour of the area, including several rather interesting and comfortable beach bars that I wouldn't mind playing at.

In the evening, he and his band (DVD) were playing at the Turning Stone Casino. I went over and caught up with a couple more cousins, won $5 playing blackjack, and had a great time. If you're out that way, keep an eye out for DVD - they'll be playing some of my songs soon. :)

Finally, Buffalo on Sunday.

I stopped at the airport to print a boarding pass, to make sure I got into the A group. I discovered, to my horror, that I'd reserved my flights on the wrong day! I was very fortunate to have a good ticket agent, Joanne, who not only got me rebooked onto Monday flights, but didn't charge me any more for the privilege. Southwest Airlines, you have made a loyal customer!

The festival wasn't quite what I'd expected. We were a bit off on one side, so our audience wasn't what I'd been hoping for. But the folks in the band were very nice, and the crowd really enjoyed my stuff.

My flight home took me to some new territory - changing planes in Baltimore, and I got to see Washington DC from the air. I could clearly see the Capital Building and the Washington Monument - first time.

So I closed some circles and reconnected with some folks from my distant and sordid past. I had a great time, and I think I laid the groundwork for a return visit and mini-tour next year. Stay tuned!

Positive feedback on the album!

2008-08-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what some people have been saying about Every Day's a Holiday:

"I listened to the whole CD in the car yesterday. Really enjoyed it!" - DK, "Island Time Radio"

"*LOVE* the CD! Ten tracks are being added to the playlist rotation today." - Thomas, Permanent Vacation Radio

"I played it this morning and then I REALLY didn't want to go to work!" Mary Anne, Berkeley CA

"wow, every song is catchy and has a great hook." - Steve, El Cerrito CA

In addition, CDBaby has already sold out of their first shipment (more are on the way), and the song "Every Day's a Holiday" is already surpassing almost every song from my last album in popularity on iTunes.

Have you got your holidays yet? If not, listen now and then go and buy the album! The only thing you have to lose is your stress.

NOTE: Management assumes no responsibility for absenteeism as a result of listening to this album.

Holiday Now on iTunes!

2008-08-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! iTunes managed to get Every Day's a Holiday processed and available on iTunes in only a week! And people are already checking it out - the song "Every Day's a Holiday" is already being listed as my third most popular. When I get a link for the album, I'll post it to my "Buy" page.

And CDBaby already sold out of my first shipment to them. I've sent more, so if you haven't bought your copy yet, they'll be back in stock in a day or two.

We're playing from coast...to coast...to coast...to coast!

2008-08-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

The early response to my new album, Every Day's a Holiday, has been fantastic.

I've received broadcast play, starting with a pre-release appearance on KALX in Berkeley CA, on their "Next Big Thing" radio show, then spreading to the "North Coast" in Cleveland OH on WBWC-FM (Island Time Radio Show), and now I've got songs being added to rotation at WIIS-FM (107.1) in Key West itself!

Online it's getting even more exciting, with songs added at RadioIndy, and the pholks at Permanent Vacation Radio have added ten out of the twelve tracks to their rotation.

Come see what the buzz is about on my music page. Read about the album, and then click on the album cover to read more about the individual songs and listen to samples. And then buy a copy for yourself, and another for a friend. Be among the first to be a part of Trop Rock history in the making, and help make that history!

The holidays are just getting started.

Doubleclick holds Internet hostage - film at 11

2008-08-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

I accept that the Internet has to pay for itself *somehow*...but when many of the major sites all use the same ad server, and that ad server is running slowly or not at all...well, it reminds me of the Good Old Days of 56 KBps modems. And not in a good way.

Granted, part of it is doubtless my own fault. I didn't look at the posted schedule before setting my VCR last night. (Yes, 20th Century technology; I'm hopeless, right?) So I somehow missed recording a significant part of the Doctor Who season finale. When I turned on the VCR earlier today, Davros was busily monologging the Doctor and Rose, which implied that a whole lot of something had been going on before my VCR turned itself on last night.

Right. So I start poking around the Internet for a video of the part I missed - they've existed in the past. And every site - BBC's Doctor site, BBC America, SciFi Channel - is loading slowly if at all, and my browser status bar says they're all waiting for content from ad.doubleclick.net.

The gorram ad servers are holding the Internet hostage. On a Saturday, when nobody is likely around to fix whatever problem it is. And I'm pissed.

Wednesday's the day!

2008-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Oasis has shipped my CDs, and they'll arrive sometime Wednesday!

First out the door will be pre-orders, to those individuals with the discerning taste necessary to get theirs ahead of the crowd. :)

Second will be disks for CDBaby, so I can get set up there and start the wheels in motion for things like iTunes.

Third will be all of the Trop Rock DJs and a couple of folks who are likely to review the album.

And I will, of course, have copies along with me at Migration.

I'm excited.

Posters

2008-07-18T15:57:00.001-07:00

Well, the first shipment is in from the duplicators, and it's my 11x17 posters for the new album. They look good, and I'll have to see about posting one somewhere online for the morbidly curious. :)

No sign of the CDs yet, which isn't necessarily a bad omen. Theoretically they were supposed to finish today and ship UPS 2-day. So if they ship Monday, I'll have them Wednesday. Needless to say, with Migration coming up next weekend, I have my fingers crossed. They could even show up on Thursday and I'd be good; I'm not planning to leave here until after rush hour Thursday evening.

I've added the songs off the album to my iPod mix, and they fit right in with the rest of my tropical mix. That's good.

When the music's finished

2008-06-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

The masters for my new CD are done and on their way, to me and to the duplicators.

I've been listening and sending feedback and my producer has been tweaking and sending me MP3s for the better part of a week, as we've been finishing it all up. Today was mastering day for Stephen, and I just got notification that the disks are now in the hands of FedEx.

It's sounding very good. I've been listening and listening and listening, and while only Earthwalker makes things perfect, this album is coming out extremely well, and I'm proud of it.

The album cover is now up on my music page, in miniature, and I'll have the lyrics to my own songs up by tomorrow sometime - I have the lyrics page done; I mostly need to put the links into the album detail page. Once I have the master, I can start creating samples for each song too - expect those up by sometime next week.

Deadlines in the sand

2008-06-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best way to get something done is to just tell the world when and how you want it.

If you've been following what I'm doing at all, you know that I've been working on an album for most of this year. You've also heard me say "any time now" quite a few times. Well, the end is in sight.

There's a Parrothead "phlocking" coming up in Las Vegas the last weekend in July called Migration. Two days of music, socializing, drinking, and having fun, and a prime place for me to let people know about my music. And I really, really want to have copies of my album there.

Well, last week I got off my fundament and got in touch with the duplicators, and asked them how much lead time they'd need. They told me. I turned around and shared that information with my producer, who told me when he needed the final tracks in order to be able to meet that deadline. And then I checked in with Tom and told him when I needed the rest of his sax stuff.

And presto, the sax is done and in my producer's hands, and I'm starting to see final mix candidates. And the album art is likewise moving forward on a parallel track that will be ready when I need it. Nobody was holding anything back; there just wasn't much urgency until I created and communicated it.

So here's the scoop: Official release date is August 1; unofficially I'll have CDs a week before that and will be taking them to Migration with me.

The "official" album page for Every Day's a Holiday will be up within the next week or so. I'm revising song insights, to give people an idea of what it's all going to be about, and I need to compile and tag the lyrics. Samples will come a bit later, after the final mixes are done.

We're on our way, and it's gonna rock.

Vegetables and quirky electronics

2008-06-09T10:36:00.001-07:00

I played my second farmers market gig of the season on Saturday. It went well, better than the previous week in Hayward, I think.

I've been having some odd problems with my gear. Last week in Hayward, my PA was putting out distorted sound. I'm guessing that I was getting dirty power from their generator, as everything is clear at home.

And this Saturday my mike was cutting in and out. I think it may be the mike and not the cable, as I swapped out cables. So I'll need to get a new mike. Oh joy, oh rapture. I'm looking at the Audixes, at the recommendation of a friend, though I have other friends who swear by the good old Shure M57 and M58.

Other than that, it was a good day. I'm trying out a new "performance piece" called "Traffic Jam" that relies heavily on my new looper - I set up some background guitar and vocals, and then riff over the top of it. People really liked that. I think it will definitely be in the set more often, and I'll need to keep polishing it and embellishing on it.

And people are really enjoying my new feel-good "Margarita Ya Ya." It's got a singable chorus, and a catchy beat.

Meanwhile, I'm getting some new sax tracks in from former "Coral Reefer" Tom "TC" Mitchell. He is *such* a nice man to work with, a true creative soul. We've got the better part of two songs done, out of four he'll be contributing to for my new album, and I really like what he's been doing with my songs. I've got my fingers crossed for having the finished CDs in my hands by late July now, so I have them for Migration.

Piece by piece, an album emerges

2008-04-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm getting closer and closer to getting my album done.

I was in the studio today, cleaning up and tweaking several songs. And it's all coming together very nicely. I think this one's going to be a definite step up from my last CD, which was pretty good.

I talked with TC Mitchell earlier this week. He's doing some sax parts for me on several songs. He is one of the sweetest men it's been my pleasure to know, and I am so thrilled to have him working on my songs. It looks like he's about to dive into the material, so I'm hoping to have something to listen to in a week or two.

All of this good work means that the CD is probably going to run a bit late getting done and out, but I feel it's worth taking the time to do it right.

Who Wants to Sleep With a Politician - new reality show

2008-03-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

In the light of Ashley Dupre's newfound fame, I think we need a new reality show, for all of us other under-publicized aspiring musical artists.

And the show could be called, "Who Wants to Sleep With a Politician?"

It's simple, really. You do an American Idol-style cattle-call to line up a group of promising young wannabe stars, and introduce them to Mr. (or Ms. - no need to be sexist) Politican, who can be sitting in shadow and have their voice electronically disguised. The musicians can compete, elimination-style, for the right to sleep with the Politician. Winner gets their sordid tale broadcast to all news media, recording contract, yadda yadda.

Sex and scandal sells. Hollywood, take note!

Album project update

2008-03-13T16:40:00.001-07:00

I am *not* cut out for this blogging thang. I just don't have the time or attention span.

We've had all of the main recording sessions for the new album, and I've done most of my overdubs. It's all sounding very good, especially with the pan parts from Tom Miller, which are exceedingly tasty.

Now I'm waiting to hear what Coral Reefer Tom "TC" Mitchell does for several of the songs. He's graciously agreed to contribute his magnificent sax playing to our creative efforts.

In the meantime, the mixes are coming in one at a time, and I'm starting to play around with the sequence of songs for the album. I like the one I'm playing today.

And there will be cool-looking Hawaiian shirts too. Soon...

Sleeping your way to success

2008-03-13T16:36:00.001-07:00

Yes, once again, we've proved that sex sells.

This time it's the one-time erotic services provider for former Governer Spitzer of New York. Nice-looking gal, doing something that I personally don't think should be illegal.

What gets me is that, as a result of having done someone famous and contributed to his fall from power, she's now getting lots of hits on her MySpace, probably selling some music (she's a singer), and has a shot at those fifteen minutes of fame, which I hope she milks for all their worth.

*My* problem is, I can't think of any governors out there I'd be willing to do that with in order to get that type of traffic. And Paris Hilton and Britney are, like, unsanitary.

Oh well...I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way, whatever that is. :)

Making every day a holiday,

Loren

The New Album, Day One

2008-01-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first tracking session for my upcoming CD, Every Day's a Holiday. After several years of songwriting and planning, it's finally happening! And I think it's going to be pretty good.

We assembled at Laughing Tiger Studio in San Rafael for a day's worth of good music. The crew included: Stephen Hart, my producer, formerly chief engineer at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley; Brad Dollar, his assistant; John Cross, guitarist; Eric McCann, bass player, and Jeff Myer on drums. Each of them has worked with many "name" artists over the years - Jeff was the original drummer for Charlie Daniels, and I'm guessing that Stephen's worked with anyone who ever used Fantasy Studios. And everyone's experience was obvious, and we created some very nice stuff together.

We managed to track eight songs - everything we needed Jeff for. The result so far really feels like what I was hoping to get - somewhat of a mix of my first album, which was almost all me, and my second album, which was all studio players plus my vocals. I haven't listened to all of the rough mixes yet, but what I heard in the studio sounded excellent.

We still have three more songs to track without a drummer, though one or two of those will use congas. We'll also overdub congas on a number of other songs, and add some other instruments - pan (steel drum), piano, and sax from a Special Guest Performer to be named soon. :) Monday, in fact, if you listen to my interview on WBWC-FM Cleveland (www.wbwc.com) starting around 7:30 PM PST.

And, of course, I'll need to overdub more vocals and guitar, to fix the stuff I didn't do right the first time. :) But that's the joy of ProTools.

I'm aiming for a release somewhere around May, and I hope to remember to blog a bit more about how it's going between now and then. Or get onto my mailing list - the form is on my home page - and you'll get regular updates that way.

Space Truckin!

2008-01-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

It looks like Virgin Galactic might finally be getting closer to their goal of private passenger space flight. More power to them! Yes, seats to suborbit are still expensive as heck at $200K, but if I were to suddenly be burdened with more cash than I knew what to do with, this would be high on the list of things I'd sign up for.

As for safety issues, it's probably safer than my daily commute - one individual from the shallow end of the gene pool almost caused a wreck this morning by speeding his way into the normal slowdown on 880 south past Auto Mall Parkway, and had to weave around several cars and onto the median to avoid an accident. And then he and his buddy were laughing about it, like, "Wow, wasn't that fun?" I really have to wonder whether they were stoned or just stupid. The shallow end of the gene pool could use a bit of chlorine, if you ask me.

Jimmy Buffett at the Fillmore!

2007-10-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Now that was a helluva show.

The Contra Costa Times had an excellent review. I agree with Mike Wolcott; it was a one-of-a-kind performance. Jimmy does "God's Own Drunk" for the first time in seven years, and tops it off with his first live cover of "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35."

The audience was about 99.9% "phaithphul" Parrotheads, and some of the nicest people on the planet. A few fuggheads managed to stumble in somehow; the bouncers were really good about getting those folks out of the way when they became a nuisance.

It's the closest I've ever managed to get to the stage when Jimmy was on it, and while it's still not the same as having him in my living room, it was very personal. And Jimmy was cutting up more with the audience than I usually see him do. At the end of "Everybody's On the Phone," he borrowed the cell phone of an audience member who'd been "simulcasting" to a friend and talked to the person on the other end. I can't imagine how cool that must have been for that person. And he signed quite a bit of stuff for folks up front between songs and at the end of the show.

To top it all off, the Fillmore gave us souvenir posters on our way out. They're very nicely done, and worth framing.

It was definitely the type of show you "won't see in Vegas," as Jimmy put it.

I hope he does it again.

A word from our sponsors...

2007-09-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoy this.

Now on YouTube!

2007-08-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know...it's taken me a while to get there. I'm on Island Time, okay?

Click here for the video.

It's a live performance of my song "Key West Habit," which seems to be a favorite of quite a few folks. I recorded it during an open mike night at the Bistro, a local brewpub in Hayward CA that I like to play at. Check it out, if you're ever in the area.

America's Vacation Deficit

2007-07-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

I just read an excellent article on MSNBC advocating that we take all of our vacation time and then some. And lamenting the fact that not only do Americans get fewer paid vacation days per year than our counterparts in most First World countries...but most people don't take all of the days they're entitled to!

It's no wonder that people flip each other off on freeways. We get too tightly wound, we don't take the time to unwind...and boom!

Not to mention the health effects of stress - higher blood pressure, higher chance of strokes, heart attacks, overeating to compensate...these things take years off your life and lower the amount of enjoyment you get out of the years you've got left.

Vacation days, mental health days...take 'em or lose 'em.

Going Coastal: Road Rage Remedy

2007-05-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

There's an interesting article on MSNBC today about road rage and how to counter it. Among the suggested remedies: Listen to calming music and taking deep breaths.

In other words, counter road rage by making the choice and Going Coastal. :)

Happy Margarita Monday, all!

So it goes...

2007-04-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Author Kurt Vonnegut, who influenced me and many in my generation, has passed on into the next dimension.

When I was in high school, I read every book of his I could get my hands on. Our school did a stage version of some of his short stories titled "Welcome to the Monkey House." One of our alumni played Billy Pilgrim in the movie version of Slaugherhouse Five.

Hell. I grew up in Schenectady, for Gods' sakes.

And I'm going to be back in Schenectady on Monday, for the first time in 25 years.

I never got the chance to meet him, and given what I know about him, I probably wouldn't have liked him much in person. But his words helped shape a younger version of me, back in the day.

So it goes.

New Music Store on MySpace!

2007-04-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to modern technology, Snocap, and CDBaby, I'm about to add my own music store to my MySpace page. If you want to buy your MP3s of my songs directly from me, you can now do so.

At the moment, it looks like they only have Tropical Troubadour on there, but one way or the other, we'll get Songs From My Heart up there soon as well.

And check out the rough mix of "Going Coastal" as well!

License to Grill

2006-06-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

Summertime...and the smell of igniting charcoal and caramelizing/carbonizing meat is in the air.

I just bought a house last year, with a good-sized back deck. So I succumbed to that old male urge and bought a grill. And I've decided that I really like grilling outdoors, and I've invited people over a couple of times just to have an excuse to fire up the grill for more people than just me.

I recently got a bottle of lighter fluid, to tide me over until I get one of those environmentally-nicer chimney things that you put crumpled newspaper in the bottom of. I found the instructions to be laughable:

"Apply starter fluid over pile of charcoal. Use 1.6 fluid ounces (47 milliliters) per pound of charcoal."

I mean, really. Who weighs the charcoal before putting it into the grill? Who's gonna measure the lighter fluid? What happens if you only use 1.5 fluid ounces per pound? 1.7 ounces?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I pour about enough briquettes into the grill for whatever I expect to cook, by eye. I then splash lighter fluid onto them until it seems like there's enough there to make sustainable fire. None of the "47 milliliter" go se.

Anyway, tonight it's sausages on the grill. Nothing fancy. But Trader Joe's has a wonderful salmon fillet that I'll buy when I have company.

A Dish Best Served Cold, part 2

2006-06-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Wow...it's definitely a week for "Internet justice." Though apparently there's been no justice in this particular situation yet:

http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/

The brief summary: Narrator leaves their T-Mobile Sidekick (I'm guessing it's some combination of a phone and PDA) in a cab, someone else picks it up, refuses to give it back even when offered a reward, and starts threatening narrator's "white ass" for having the temerity to make the request. The Internet takes over, and now millions of people know what's going down.

Unfortunately, a couple of million Web hits and lots of publicity, online and off, haven't gotten the Sidekick returned yet. So it goes.