NEWS + JOURNAL

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2009-10-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

Last night's sunset

2009-09-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, now I'm stepping out of the office, just had to post this photo and share the beautiful evening last night.

Stepping out of the office

2009-09-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Stepping out of the office for a bit, please feel free to comment or carry on conversations in the comment section.

S

p.s. random thought: It's hot out today and all that's left in the box are grape flavored popsicles, that always seems to be a problem. All the other ones get eaten up quickly and the grape ones are left. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I know anyone that likes the grape ones. Maybe they should just make the box with only orange and cherry instead.

reflection

2009-09-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Caught a good reflection in the computer screen while working. The typical recording day, Cosmo on lap.

This Weekend

2009-09-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

So much for the Bears winning their first game on Sunday Night Football.....

Sitting here listening to the rain outside as I write, a very pleasant sound. We actually had some thunder storms yesterday morning! Not very common around these parts but great to hear, I think it's left overs from the tropical storm down south. About to have some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. For some reason, I had a major craving for it so I quickly went out to the store and picked some up. I ran almost 2 miles this morning so I feel it's okay to have ice cream tonight.

Speaking of the store, when I was there they had green chiles from New Mexico! Had to grab a bunch of them to take back with me. I was thrilled to see that they carried them, it's that time of year that they're in season. Can't wait to roast them this week.

So I've decided to give the movie Quantum Of Solace another try, just got it on net flicks. I'll let you know what I think. Wasn't sure about it the first time through a few months back. As you know, Casino Royale has been one of if not my favorite movies of all time (I'm sure those of you who have been following my blog already know this) so I set the bar pretty high for Quantum.

YESTERDAY:

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening hanging with my pal Luke out in Livermore Ca at the Guitar Player Live 09'. Man, it's gotta be about a year and a half since I've seen him and it was really cool of him to invite me down to hang. When I got there we walked over to one of the stages and watched the Travis Larson Band rock out for a while, man they were great! Great players and their live sound was killer. We all hung out after their performance, really nice cats. Soon after I went with Luke over to the Bankhead Theater, he was on the judging panel for the guitar player competition. Hung out backstage with him, Jennifer Batten, Earl Slick, Elliot Easton and Greg Hampton. I also sat behind them during the competition and listened to them critique the guitarists after they performed. It was almost like American idol, there were some pretty funny comments back n' forth between the judges. All of us were thinking it's got to be hard to get up there and play in a competition like that. That kind of thing is not for me but I give lots of credit to the players that got on stage.

websites

2009-09-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just closed my linkedIn page. Not that I had anything going on there because I didn't spend any time on it so having it open was serving no purpose. So that's another one of those "in things to do" that I've decided not to deal with anymore. That along with facebook, myspace and twitter. I think out of all of them, I enjoyed twitter somewhat but not the rest. I remember spending up to 30 min or more putting in tour date information on myspace and half the time something went wrong and I had to do it over (because the way they had it set up completely sucked). I could have spent those 30 min practicing, writing music or anything more productive.

Myspace always has a ton of spam emails or promotion emails about things I could care less about. Some of the emails I would get that were concerning me, (questions about my gear, music etc) I'd replay back with a nice responce but most of the time I never received a reply i.e. thank-u email (which I feel is rude). So to say the least, I'm over it. Maybe there is some art form to it and some people have a knack (if there is such a thing or shall we really call it luck) for being very successful in achieving amazing success through those sites and if so, more power to you. I personally think it's just the "in thing to do" and in my case, I would rather spend time working on my music and having somewhat of a life when not recording/practicing/performing/networking then knacking around on these sites.

Now, this post is obviously more on the serious side, don't worry though I'll get back to more of the music and silly stuff soon - in the mean time, I've been busy working on new music.

music update

2009-08-31T23:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, chilly out tonight! Okay, it's 60 degrees out, am i allowed to say that?? I do live in California, I've been getting used to these 80 and 90 degree days so 60 with a light breeze feels freezing to me. Okay, moving right along here... Thought I'd check in and give you an update since it's been eons!! Been plugging away at the new music and recording more electric guitar this week. I took a picture but it didn't turn out so great so try to imagine a photo with an electric guitar in it.

I tend to not work on only one song at a time. I like to jump around from song to song. I'll work on one song for a few days and move on to another. I then listen to what I've worked on when walking or driving to go run some errands or whatever (I get ideas that way). So there are a bunch of tunes that I have in the works and 3 of them are about 98.333% finished (as of this afternoon!). I just need to add some bass, other then that they're ready for mixing. Going to work on the next set of 3 tunes and get them up to speed and so on. So that's what's going on over here. Now I don't feel so cold but now I'm hungry... uh oh, I just saw that Cosmo is chewing on something, I better go and deal with this..

Ottmar Liebert - The Aladdin Theater (Portland, OR; July 26th, 2009)

2009-08-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

A nice review and some great photos from our show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.

The atmosphere was mellow throughout the night. Everyone: sat and enjoyed the performance; clapped exhaustively after every song; panned around, from right to left and back, taking at least one glace at each and every musician on stage; locked sight with Ottmar in the center, then clapped and cheered again. The entire length of the concert was around two hours. I can tell you right now that time truly flew by. It was an amazing experience hearing ten years worth of my near-obsession with Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra’s music, live.

Here's the link -

The Aladdin Theater (Portland, OR; July 26th, 2009)

Uploaded some more photos from the tour

2009-08-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight at the House Of Blues - Houston

2009-08-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

This week on tour

2009-08-07T21:55:00.001-07:00

Just got off stage at the One World in Austin. It's been a while since I've written so I thought I'd check in. I was down with a virus for about 10 to 12 day but I'm feeling much better now, not fun to be sick on tour but that's how it goes.

Really nice show at the house of blues in Dallas the other night, great audience and It sounded great on stage, I'm looking forward to playing at the HOB in Houston tomorrow evening.

So far, the movies I've watched on this tour have been -

U-571 (watched twice)
Paco De Lucia documentary
Public Enemies
Street Kings
Body Of Lies
Proof Of Life
The Hangover
Angles And Demons
Transformers 2 (Walked out of the theater during that one, totally sucked!)
Wedding Crashers
8 Mile
The Ugly Truth
Star Trek (the new one in theaters)
Casino Royale (watched twice or more)
Terminator Salvation

Speaking of movies, I think it's time to put one on in my bunk. Nothing like rolling down the fwy in the bus while watching a good movie!

Oh, there are a few photos from the tour I need to upload in the near future here.

Sometimes I just like sit and play piano for hours...

2009-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Tour update - Seattle

2009-07-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

In Seattle for a few days, nice weather here today, much better then the 110 degrees we went through in the desert a few days back. Got coffee this morning and practiced for a while before it was time to leave for sound check. Two shows at the Triple Door this evening, the same for the following two nights as well. This time I brought a long sleeve shirt to wear under my button down on stage to keep me warm, it's usually as cold as the North Pole in there (good thinking on my part I must add), I was able to keep warm and comfortable on stage tonight. I'm now back at the hotel about to put a movie in and fall asleep.

I've been catching up on my movies lately which has been nice, been watching some on the coach ("coach" my fancy term for "tour bus") and the last few times we've had a day off I've been able to make it out to a movie theater.

The show at the Nugget in Sparks, NV was fun (about 4 days ago now) and of course I had to stop by the In-N-Out burger just down the street after the show. Two shows in Santa Cruz, CA day before yesterday. I found this really cool music/dvd store that sold new/used stuff just down the street from our gig. I had fun walking around in there looking at all the stuff and ended up buying 4 movies for the price of one.

I hear that Cosmo Kitty is doing well back home, It was a rough few days for her after I left, (wasn't a happy camper) but she seems to be doing well now which is good to hear. I don't think Herbie knows I left. As long as he is fed his cat treats, life's good for him. He's most likely sleeping as I type this.

Alright then, that's the SD report for now......

Tonight - Las Vegas

2009-07-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Nice show in Las Vegas tonight, great audience. After having some tasty Mexican food after the show, I'm now chilling in my bunk on the bus about to throw on a Paco De Lucia dvd.

Tonight in Phoenix

2009-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

Back on the tour bus after the show, yeah it was a hot one out today, 110 degrees or more. Awesome performance tonight at the Celebrity theater in Phoenix, I had a blast!! Great audience too. In between sets I went down into the hospitality room to get a water and when I grabbed the door I hit my thumb nail and it cracked off half of the acrylic on top of my nail. So first I panicked, then after that was over with I went into my dressing room and got out the acrylic and repaired the nail and then held my thumb under a hot light bulb for pretty much the entire break to dry before getting back on stage. The second set went great as well. One of those nights were you feel that you can't hit a bad note. Some good photos and some really goofy ones from today as well, will have to post them later, stay tuned!

Now it's time for an adult beverage, some snacks and then pick out the movie to watch in my bunk.

Later

Santa Barbara

2009-07-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Sitting in a coffee shop in Santa Barbara having a croissant and a latte. It's nice to have some quiet time with my computer. Great show last night in San Diego!! I haven't been taking pictures but HERE is a link to a photo I took of the venue last year. Listening to Paco on my head phones while writing this. The song "Convite" off the album Solo Quiero Caminar is playing at the moment. I wonder if he will put out another album anytime soon. It's been what, 5 or 6 years now?

Beautiful weather here today, going to enjoy the rest of my day off.

002 console repaired

2009-06-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

Spent some time this morning repairing my 002 console. Fortunately this was an easy fix and Digi Design sent me the parts to make the quick repair. Well, sorta quick. I was taking my time so I didn't accidentally mess anything up and make things worse. The thing I thought was most interesting was that I had to soak the entire console in water to calibrate it. That took about 34 minutes and... Just kidding of course!! Gotcha there. I know I know, enough with the cheap jokes and on with the story... Okay, anyway I was able to get things going smoothly and then Cosmo (America's favorite kitty) showed up.

She starts wanting to get involved, looking around, starting to touch things with her paw but this is serious business and a "No cat's allowed" situation. So I let her know that she had to leave and she didn't take it well at all...

She started swatting my hands when I tried to reach in to repair this thing, growling and hissing so she got a one way ticket out of the recording room. No angry pets allowed in my repair shop when I'm in "Pro-Tech" mode!! I almost went as far as to put on the full "Pro-Tech" uniform while I made this 10 min repair (I'd actually do something like that). Moving right along, after about 5 to 10 min of hearing meowing at the door, I let her back in. By this time the console was repaired and in test run mode.

So I opened up the door and a very cheerful Cosmo came trotting in and hopped up on my lap and started purring. Interesting animal (as I mentioned before, I've got a 3 ring circus going on over here). Happy the console is back up an running. Well I really should say, so far so good....

Photos

2009-06-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

I uploaded the rest of the photos from NYC and the travel day home

Some late night editing

2009-06-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

A birds eye shot of what's going on over here. Took this photo the other evening right before I had troubles with the console the following morning. Oh! Speaking of, I was supposed to give you an update about that. It's working fine now after replacing the DC power cable harness. I'll write about my experience being a "tech" in a little while. (I didn't do too bad if you ask me!)

Steve Lukather remembering Michael Jackson

2009-06-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

On June 26th 2009 CNN anchor Tony Harris talked with Steve Lukather, among others, about working together with Michael Jackson, especially for his top record Thriller. Read the transcription of Harris's phone call with Lukather.

Tonight in San Francisco - Ottmar Liebert - Solo performance

2009-06-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

Went across the bay to San Francisco tonight to see Ottmar perform solo. It was really nice to watch from the audience's perspective verses being on stage. I had a great time, just relaxed and had a few glasses of wine, even closed my eyes a few different times and just listened.

Temporary Setback

2009-06-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Digi 002 console is experiencing technical problems - Just spoke on the phone with tech support and they're sending out a part and instructions for me to make the easy repair. Should get it in the mail either tomorrow or Monday.

EL Charango

2009-06-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

In 2005 I became associate producer on the film El Charango—a 22-minute Spanish-language documentary about music and mining in the Bolivian city of Potosí. While I possessed no formal training in film production, I was guided by the simple burning passion for the charango and the culture from which it comes. I worked with director Jim Virga and editor Tula Goenka (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Salaam Bombay!) to construct a narrative about how a little musical instrument relates to the largest silver mine in the world. ....... Check out more of it HERE

Great documentary by Andrew Reissiger. I really enjoyed watching it, definitely worth picking up. I always love learning about different instruments, the history behind music and instruments is fascinating to me. For those of you who don't know, he's playing the Charango on some of my new tunes and it sounds beautiful yet haunting at the same time. A wonderful instrument. Oh, I see that I already mentioned that a few posts below there... Well, now you know again!

Recording - Last Week

2009-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like it just wouldn't be normal for me unless I had a 3 ring circus going on when trying to record. Things tend to get out of control over here with these cats taking over my recording room while I'm trying to work but I still seem to get work done. It's been great to get back to the new music. Life has been a bit crazy to say the least as we moved right when I got back from the tour. Moving is never any fun and it's stressful on the pets too. We're enjoying our new place though and we're happy to have it over with. It's not too far from where we were actually, just across town as they say. Of course I can't say where, that's classified but I can tell you that we live west of the Mississippi!

I've been having a lot of fun with these songs, it's been really interesting to hear how they're turning out. More in the works this week. Didn't get much done today, had to deal with some really stupid stuff. So I may work a bit tonight to make up for what I didn't get done today. Last week I pulled some crazy hours recording. I think one of the days, I was up around 7 or 8AM working on and off through out the day and finished up around 1:30AM. Went to sleep and got up at 5:30 AM. I just couldn't sleep because I kept hearing ideas so I started the coffee maker and fired up the computer to start recording for the day. Although I'm thinking about switching to more of a night schedule this coming week, nothing too extreme though. Not like the old days where my usual bed time was around 5:30 - 6AM. The night is always a lot more quiet and peaceful. No phones ringing or daily stuff to deal with, not to mention unpacking. Oh, and no cats jumping around either. At night Cosmo will fall asleep on my lap while I'm at the computer and Herbie will be sleeping on the bed. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

(Below) Some random photos from my week of recording -

And more photos HERE - A while back I put together a flickr album for photos I'm taking while recording this album

Today

2009-06-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Coffee with Andrew Reissiger at 9:30am to catch up a bit after the tour and discuss future music plans. After, we walked over to my place so I could share some of the new music with him that I've been working on. (As I mentioned before, he's playing a few different instruments on some of the tunes.) Andrew is already familiar with my pet "Cosmo Kitty" but when I have guests I usually go through all the warnings and disclaimers that we have a ferocious feline, just so guests keep their distance. Ah!, speak of the devil - she just hopped up on my lap for some petting, hold on a sec....

Okay, I'm back, that was out of control. I stopped petting the cat so I could get back to typing here and she was not happy about that decision. Trying to reach for the computer mouse was a mistake.... Any cat trainers out there?? Anyway where was I.... ah yes! So we got back to my place and I opened the door and peaked my head in. I looked left and right, no sign of Cosmo. The coast was clear and we walked in. As usual Herbie was right there ready to greet us as the cool cat that he is.

Andrew sat down and right away Cosmo (America's Favorite Kitty) came walking out and over to the cat scratcher. She started clawing and tearing into that thing sharpening her claws while looking at him as if he was a fresh cut of prime rib. She then calmly walked over in his direction. At this point I'm thinking maybe we should relocate into the music room, probably best right? But by then it was too late and Cosmo had reached Andrew. I said don't move, I'll try to scurry her away. But then Cosmo started meowing, purring and rubbing up against his legs??? I paused for a second with confusion. She then laid on her side rolling over etc, he looked at me and said, "she seems fine to me". She totally put on a whole production show acting like the best kitty cat on the planet. I then rolled my eyes, go figure....

So we walked into the music room and started listening to some of my new tunes. Right away Andrew had some great ideas. It was nice to get working on my tunes again, I'm looking forward to hearing how they turn out. When I was in NYC, I spent a lot of time listening to what I've recorded so far. It's amazing to me how much time is spent listening when making an album (At least for me). Hours and hours really. I remember riding the subway and walking around the city getting lots of cool ideas and I'm really looking forward to getting busy. I'm going to try and cram in a bunch of recording time in before I hit the road with OL in July. I'll keep the up-dates coming -