Saturday, March 27, 2010
Energy Follows Thought...I think
I've had some thought-provoking experiences this past week.
Crystallizing it all and bringing it into a pattern that makes sense to me were the experiences I had last night at my gig in Livermore.
I'm a songwriter. To those unfamiliar, songwriters make their money from their words, which are fueled by their emotions, values, and experiences. Those who can make those words speak to the hearts of a large number of other people and affect them emotionally tend to make quite a bit of money. I'm not there yet, but it's something to aspire to.
My parents raised me with some values, as good parents should. One of those was a definition of the American way of life as, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Sadly, there is an element in American culture and politics these days that seems to have never learned that, or has chosen to repudiate it.
Without going into details, I've encountered a few individuals this week who seem to believe that "free speech" only applies if you agree with their limited views of the Universe. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's bullshit. If you want to live in a country where only one viewpoint is acceptable and people who disagree with you can be threatened, damaged, or killed, move to China. Or Iran. Trying to intimidate people into either agreeing with you politically/religiously or shutting up is terrorism, plain and simple. If you don't believe me, look it up in a dictionary.
So with this background, I loaded up the car and headed off for Livermore for my show. I got there through rush-hour traffic, and there was a large group of very angry evangelical types "witnessing" on a street corner across from the venue. Very loud, dark looks on their faces, angry voices, and very in people's faces. And they were taking up the good parking. Needless to say, not my idea of a good time, and my initial thoughts were not friendly.
So I found a place to park a block or so away, hauled my stuff down to the coffee shop, and began setting up. I do have a few somewhat satirical songs about religion and idiots, and I began to think about working them into the show while psyching myself up to be "out there" for a couple of hours.
Two things stopped me.
First, I remembered that inconvenient First Amendment thing. If I want people to support me when I express *my* opinions, I have to be okay with them expressing *theirs*. And be willing to defend their right to do it.
Second...my show is about having fun and helping people escape from their stress, not rubbing their faces into it. If I start mocking the people across the street, then I've brought that nasty energy into my space and am propagating it to my audience. And that's not what I'm about, and none of us would have had a lot of fun. Especially not me.
So I did my regular show, out of a heartspace of wanting to have fun and share that fun with as many people there as were willing to let it in, and with the intention of making the coffee shop a bubble of positive, fun energy regardless of what happened outside.
Two things happened.
First, it was an *extremely* fun show. One group of a half-dozen folks - new friends - showed up early and stayed all the way through because they were having such a good time. A good-looking woman wearing a tiara came in to use the bathroom. I asked what that was about; she said it was her birthday. So I sang "Cabana Boy" for her, and I got a lovely hug and a kiss on the cheek (and a tip). One of the "table of six" women wanted her picture taken with me. Other people came, stayed a while, smiled and tapped their feet with the show, and then moved on. I told people about the Key West motto: we are all part of "one human family." People asked me for more original songs. It was certainly my best show at that venue, and one of my better ones in a while.
Second...remember the Jesus people across the street? About three songs into my set, a fight broke out right in the middle of them. As it turned out, it was several drunks, totally unrelated to them, who just happened to pick that particular place to fight. One guy got laid out on the sidewalk. Apparently the "people of God" packed up and left in a hurry after that, without helping either the victim or law enforcement. "By their deeds shall ye know them," and all that.
Now, getting back to that First Amendment thang, I'm glad that it wasn't the Jesus people on either end of that fight. There is more than enough urine in the well of public discourse without people getting beat up for expressing an opinion, regardless of how obnoxious it or they might be. But I'm not surprised that it happened there. Those people were generating enough negative energy to start their own quantum black hole. The drunks, already unhappy with one another, must have stumbled into that energy field and it may have put them over the edge.
I believe that energy follows thought. And it follows intention. Some people would call that "prayer." My energy and intention were to have fun and to share that fun and relaxation with other people. Ergo, the inside of the coffee shop was a fun place to be. Across the street, people were building up a major hate against "sinners," I guess, or anyone who hasn't agreed to talk with Jesus in just the way they'd want them to, and the hate popped loose into a fight, and the people spewing all the angry stuff felt a need to depart prematurely.
I got to finish my show, and people loved it.
It's a powerful lesson. I hope I remember it for a while.
Intend to have fun today. Live on "Island Standard Time," and make "Every Day a Holiday." Why not?
Crystallizing it all and bringing it into a pattern that makes sense to me were the experiences I had last night at my gig in Livermore.
I'm a songwriter. To those unfamiliar, songwriters make their money from their words, which are fueled by their emotions, values, and experiences. Those who can make those words speak to the hearts of a large number of other people and affect them emotionally tend to make quite a bit of money. I'm not there yet, but it's something to aspire to.
My parents raised me with some values, as good parents should. One of those was a definition of the American way of life as, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Sadly, there is an element in American culture and politics these days that seems to have never learned that, or has chosen to repudiate it.
Without going into details, I've encountered a few individuals this week who seem to believe that "free speech" only applies if you agree with their limited views of the Universe. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's bullshit. If you want to live in a country where only one viewpoint is acceptable and people who disagree with you can be threatened, damaged, or killed, move to China. Or Iran. Trying to intimidate people into either agreeing with you politically/religiously or shutting up is terrorism, plain and simple. If you don't believe me, look it up in a dictionary.
So with this background, I loaded up the car and headed off for Livermore for my show. I got there through rush-hour traffic, and there was a large group of very angry evangelical types "witnessing" on a street corner across from the venue. Very loud, dark looks on their faces, angry voices, and very in people's faces. And they were taking up the good parking. Needless to say, not my idea of a good time, and my initial thoughts were not friendly.
So I found a place to park a block or so away, hauled my stuff down to the coffee shop, and began setting up. I do have a few somewhat satirical songs about religion and idiots, and I began to think about working them into the show while psyching myself up to be "out there" for a couple of hours.
Two things stopped me.
First, I remembered that inconvenient First Amendment thing. If I want people to support me when I express *my* opinions, I have to be okay with them expressing *theirs*. And be willing to defend their right to do it.
Second...my show is about having fun and helping people escape from their stress, not rubbing their faces into it. If I start mocking the people across the street, then I've brought that nasty energy into my space and am propagating it to my audience. And that's not what I'm about, and none of us would have had a lot of fun. Especially not me.
So I did my regular show, out of a heartspace of wanting to have fun and share that fun with as many people there as were willing to let it in, and with the intention of making the coffee shop a bubble of positive, fun energy regardless of what happened outside.
Two things happened.
First, it was an *extremely* fun show. One group of a half-dozen folks - new friends - showed up early and stayed all the way through because they were having such a good time. A good-looking woman wearing a tiara came in to use the bathroom. I asked what that was about; she said it was her birthday. So I sang "Cabana Boy" for her, and I got a lovely hug and a kiss on the cheek (and a tip). One of the "table of six" women wanted her picture taken with me. Other people came, stayed a while, smiled and tapped their feet with the show, and then moved on. I told people about the Key West motto: we are all part of "one human family." People asked me for more original songs. It was certainly my best show at that venue, and one of my better ones in a while.
Second...remember the Jesus people across the street? About three songs into my set, a fight broke out right in the middle of them. As it turned out, it was several drunks, totally unrelated to them, who just happened to pick that particular place to fight. One guy got laid out on the sidewalk. Apparently the "people of God" packed up and left in a hurry after that, without helping either the victim or law enforcement. "By their deeds shall ye know them," and all that.
Now, getting back to that First Amendment thang, I'm glad that it wasn't the Jesus people on either end of that fight. There is more than enough urine in the well of public discourse without people getting beat up for expressing an opinion, regardless of how obnoxious it or they might be. But I'm not surprised that it happened there. Those people were generating enough negative energy to start their own quantum black hole. The drunks, already unhappy with one another, must have stumbled into that energy field and it may have put them over the edge.
I believe that energy follows thought. And it follows intention. Some people would call that "prayer." My energy and intention were to have fun and to share that fun and relaxation with other people. Ergo, the inside of the coffee shop was a fun place to be. Across the street, people were building up a major hate against "sinners," I guess, or anyone who hasn't agreed to talk with Jesus in just the way they'd want them to, and the hate popped loose into a fight, and the people spewing all the angry stuff felt a need to depart prematurely.
I got to finish my show, and people loved it.
It's a powerful lesson. I hope I remember it for a while.
Intend to have fun today. Live on "Island Standard Time," and make "Every Day a Holiday." Why not?
Labels: dialogue, discussion, energy, First Amendment, fun, intention, Jesus, Livermore, music, respect, thought
Friday, August 14, 2009
New live CD is ready!
I haven't got it up on my online store yet...but my new live/homebrew CD, "California to Key West," is finally done and available.
Whew! This one took a lot of time and work to get done. In the end, I needed to custom-record a couple of songs, because I didn't have good live recordings of them. And it worked out well. I have an excellent portable digital recorder, the Zoom H2. It's got very good mikes, and lets me make high-quality digital recordings, either as a direct line plugin from my mixer, or through the X/Y stereo microphones.
This particular CD has some cool stuff on it.
It's got the only decent recording - done in my living room one evening - of the song "Traffic Jam," in which I used a looper to harmonize with myself. Said looper has been a bit less than reliable, so I haven't been using it at shows for a while. I expect I'll sort it all out and you'll be hearing stuff using it again someday.
It's got my most-recent completed song, "Heartwrecked." I haven't even performed that out in front of people yet, outside of my songwriting critique group.
It's got the best live version *and* the YouTube studio version of "Bail Me Out." Because I figured that some people might be interested in the differences.
It's got the two best recordings from my set with TC Mitchell at the Blue Heaven in Key West last October.
I think it's got the best songs I've written to date on there, along with some excellent performances of things I've already released elsewhere.
Write me if you want a copy. I'll have it listed on my Website very soon now.
Whew! This one took a lot of time and work to get done. In the end, I needed to custom-record a couple of songs, because I didn't have good live recordings of them. And it worked out well. I have an excellent portable digital recorder, the Zoom H2. It's got very good mikes, and lets me make high-quality digital recordings, either as a direct line plugin from my mixer, or through the X/Y stereo microphones.
This particular CD has some cool stuff on it.
It's got the only decent recording - done in my living room one evening - of the song "Traffic Jam," in which I used a looper to harmonize with myself. Said looper has been a bit less than reliable, so I haven't been using it at shows for a while. I expect I'll sort it all out and you'll be hearing stuff using it again someday.
It's got my most-recent completed song, "Heartwrecked." I haven't even performed that out in front of people yet, outside of my songwriting critique group.
It's got the best live version *and* the YouTube studio version of "Bail Me Out." Because I figured that some people might be interested in the differences.
It's got the two best recordings from my set with TC Mitchell at the Blue Heaven in Key West last October.
I think it's got the best songs I've written to date on there, along with some excellent performances of things I've already released elsewhere.
Write me if you want a copy. I'll have it listed on my Website very soon now.
Labels: Key West, music, TC Mitchell, trop rock
Friday, February 27, 2009
Layoffs: Only the Beginning
I just read a fascinating article on MSNBC, about how a layoff can be an excellent time to travel *and* learn a new career. Some of the options included yoga, cooking, diving certifications, and more, in locations all around the world.
Of course, I've been talking and singing about this for some time. The title song of my current album, "Every Day's a Holiday," is about the last time I got laid off, nearly seven years ago now.
It was one of the best opportunities of my life. I got out of a job that I was becoming increasingly irritated with, got the free time I'd been complaining about not having, managed to get my first album recorded, and for the first time truly learned how to define myself by something other than what I was getting paid to do.
And when I *did* find a job, six months down the road, I had such a full life, with music and volunteering and social activity, that I had a bit of difficulty cramming it all back into the smaller time boxes that I had available. Plus I ended up with a better job, for a better company, for more money. :)
Yes, in times of economic hardship it's important to focus on survival issues first - food, shelter, safety. But once those are covered...enjoy the abundance of free time. You'll probably be complaining about not having enough of it later.
Of course, I've been talking and singing about this for some time. The title song of my current album, "Every Day's a Holiday," is about the last time I got laid off, nearly seven years ago now.
It was one of the best opportunities of my life. I got out of a job that I was becoming increasingly irritated with, got the free time I'd been complaining about not having, managed to get my first album recorded, and for the first time truly learned how to define myself by something other than what I was getting paid to do.
And when I *did* find a job, six months down the road, I had such a full life, with music and volunteering and social activity, that I had a bit of difficulty cramming it all back into the smaller time boxes that I had available. Plus I ended up with a better job, for a better company, for more money. :)
Yes, in times of economic hardship it's important to focus on survival issues first - food, shelter, safety. But once those are covered...enjoy the abundance of free time. You'll probably be complaining about not having enough of it later.
Labels: economy, Holidays, layoffs, MSNBC, music, Vacation
Friday, January 09, 2009
It's the Economy, folks!
Like so many people, I'm pissed at what's happening to our economy. I'm annoyed at what's happened to what little nest egg I have, and even more annoyed that the people who seem to be getting the most goodies from the government are the ones who are contributing most to the problem - the billionaire big-shots who are still taking million-dollar resort vacations using *my* tax dollars!
Well, I say screw them! Bail *me* out instead! So I wrote a song, and recorded this video of it. Given that I'm bemoaning bad economic times, it's easy to get away with a *very* cheap production.
Check it out. If you like it, rate it, comment, and tell your friends.
And let's get this message out to Congress: Bail *us* out too!
Well, I say screw them! Bail *me* out instead! So I wrote a song, and recorded this video of it. Given that I'm bemoaning bad economic times, it's easy to get away with a *very* cheap production.
Check it out. If you like it, rate it, comment, and tell your friends.
And let's get this message out to Congress: Bail *us* out too!
Labels: bailout, Congress, depression, economy, music, recession
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Let's Go Sailing, Gov. Palin!
America's got a new "sweetheart," and I've got a new song. Coincidence? I think not.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has popped out of obscurity and onto the television screens of America. We're still finding out who she is and what she's about, but virtually everyone agrees on at least one thing: She's damn good looking. Competent, too.
So yesterday, I let my mind drift a bit onto "what if," because "what if" fuels many a good story. And in a surprisingly short time, I had a song titled "Let's Go Sailing, Gov. Palin." It's kind of a love song. A quick trip out to the back yard to shoot a video, and presto! I've joined the "blog on camera for the YouTube" generation!
Go check out the video. It's light-hearted fun.
Personally, while I find quite a few things to admire about Gov. Palin (not all of them visible), I'm somewhat horrified by the woman's political and social views. But I don't have to let the scary parts get in the way of a bit of harmless fantasy.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has popped out of obscurity and onto the television screens of America. We're still finding out who she is and what she's about, but virtually everyone agrees on at least one thing: She's damn good looking. Competent, too.
So yesterday, I let my mind drift a bit onto "what if," because "what if" fuels many a good story. And in a surprisingly short time, I had a song titled "Let's Go Sailing, Gov. Palin." It's kind of a love song. A quick trip out to the back yard to shoot a video, and presto! I've joined the "blog on camera for the YouTube" generation!
Go check out the video. It's light-hearted fun.
Personally, while I find quite a few things to admire about Gov. Palin (not all of them visible), I'm somewhat horrified by the woman's political and social views. But I don't have to let the scary parts get in the way of a bit of harmless fantasy.
Labels: Donna Rice, fantasy, Gary Hart, Governor Palin, Governor Spitzer, music, politics, romance, Sarah Palin
Thursday, August 14, 2008
We're playing from coast...to coast...to coast...to coast!
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.
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.
Labels: KALX, Key West, music, new album, Permanent Vacation Radio, RadioIndy, trop rock, WBWC, WIIS
Friday, July 18, 2008
Posters
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.
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.
Labels: Migration, music, new album
Thursday, June 26, 2008
When the music's finished
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.
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.
Labels: CD, music, new album, trop rock
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Deadlines in the sand
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.
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.
Labels: album, Migration, music
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Piece by piece, an album emerges
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.
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.
Labels: album, music, saxophone, TC Mitchell, trop rock
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Album project update
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...
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...
Labels: album, Coral Reefer, Hawaiian shirts, music, songwriting, TC Mitchell
