this is the year of the CMG record. ten years in the making. the deadline is 2010 and i think we got this. here are a few pictures the man himself setting tempos for the 2nd half of the album.

it's official. old people are cuter than babies. i was doing some "research" about copyright laws and i came across this. and i know you might have seen this and maybe its a commercial for mountain dew but it made me smile at 3:30 in the morning so its going up.



p.s. she's dead. here's the tribute.

i think it only took me fifteen years, but my friends and i finally got us a real practice space. i finally feel like i'm in a band. so this is my studio, a desk in the corner. it's all i really need. the space sounds like crap though. sound bounces off everything and the walls are paper thin with a hardcore band on one side (tijuana knife fight) and a death metal band on the other. but i call it home. i started to record a few things. i plan to post something by the end of the week. let's see a few photos from the camera phone.

here we have the control room. my set up right now is a 7 year old i book with a 7 year old mbox and a lamp.



now lets move on to the tracking room. a $50 mxl mic, 80's pearl drum kit and a bob marley poster.

and this incredible view of the port. sometimes i look out into the distance and think about how i should give up music and get a steady job at the port, but then i look up at the bob marley poster and forget about what i was thinking about.

but i am excited to get to work on some new music and also recording the rest of the "cmg and we are the night band" record. 2009 might be my year? let's hope so.

last night i got home from a small road trip with my sister. checked the mail. awesome! 'cliff 'em all' the metallica documentary came in from netflix. it's on! i rented this because everybody hated this and i wanted to know why. it's metallica from 1983 through 1986, what's there to hate?

answer: not a god damn thing.

when i was a kid i spent a long summer in the old country and i went prepared. went to gemco and hooked up a sanyo walkman. no reverse though. lots of tape flipping action. i made a few tapes before i left. i was nine years old so a mix tape consisted of waiting for a song to come on the radio and then taping it. you never could get a whole song, there was always a verse missing and some asshole d.j. talking though the outro. so anyways.... i had a few sweet mixes. combine that with a whitesnake tape my mom borrowed from my aunt and my sister's tiffany tape, and its looking like a pretty sweet summer jam. my cousin got a look at my new tape setup and let me borrow a couple of his tapes. echo and the bunnymen, the 'colors' soundtrack and metallica's master of puppets. as a nine year old, echo and the bunnymen sounded like adult music and colors was a good song but not so good as a soundtrack. master of puppets ruled so hard. and i'd like to talk about this for a second.

the opening track is so weird. spanish guitars into what sounds like a queen song and then some thrash metal. this record still sounds expensive to me compared to the big budget metal that was coming out around the same time even though they probably had like a week to finish it. the whitesnake tape ruled and so did the bon jovi tape (i forgot to mention), but master puppets sounded so dry and precise. it's so american. and the fact that you couldn't ever hear it on the radio made it like a gem. it's still perfect as i listen to it now. it took me years to shake off it's influence in everything i was writing when i started my first few bands. metallica should of sued me at age 15.

when my cousin took back the tape and replaced it with ride the lightning i was bummed. i can't take any other metallica record no matter how hard i try. kill em all was o.k. let's be honest. ride the lightning sounds sloppy. and in justice for all has no grandiose qualities to it. puppets is like the dark side of the moon of metal.

so getting back to watching the movie. it's a bunch of bootleg footage from fans and metallica's own footage of the band getting drunk. it's a perfect movie. it captures that moment in time perfectly with it's sloppy vhs footage and clock radio sound. all these bad reviews because of the quality. its like saying a world war 2 documentary sucked because it wasn't in color and in 5.1 sound. what's wrong with these people on netflix? anyways, that record blew my mind and bettered my life. here is the first song on the album, battery. and then some random clip of jason newsted falling.

this song is the 'yesterday' of france. everybody has covered this including rod mckuen, nina simone, dusty springfield, neil diamond, terry jacks, frank sinatra and like a million other people. and these are heavy hitters we're talking about. everybody catching the feeling of this song and trying to bring it home. but much like the sandcrabs i used to bring home as a kid, you try to set them up with a used cool-whip tub as a home, throw in some sand and salt water and then just sit back and watch them die. always bummed that they died but never realizing i was their executioner. sometimes a writer can squeeze so much out of the song that it leaves you looking like an ass. i'm talking to you sinatra. the song is perfect. watch this video of jacques brel serving up a hot plate of pathetic, french style.

today youtube pulled one of my videos off of their website because a copyright was being violated. it seems that 2pac "crossed over" and told the universal music executives that he was upset about my use of his song "changes" in my awesome video paying tribute to the man. here's what pac (2 pac) had to say about it........

"now's you're time to shine little homie. you do what you think is right and don't let anyone crush your dreams. me and you, we're like the same. we both stand up for what we believe in, we respect women, we know the importance of a healthy diet, we both can bust out straight off the top of the dome. but i'm dead as shit, so use the gift of life to blog about this injustice. and remember little homie, i'll always be there looking over you."

thanks pac.

so i signed up with ascap about a year ago. at first i was very much like, "what is this and why is this and don't i need to make a lot of money for this to affect me?" the answer is no. two checks in the mail today issued to myself and my publishing company "c.a.k.e. party" for .18c each. if you do the math, that's .36c! enough to get an hour on the meter when i go cash my unemployment checks.

upon further reading it seems that the song "leaving it" has become a runaway hit in britain and is slowly topping the charts. up two spots from number 1,253,654,893 here's "leaving it."

the song that launched a thousand dreams.

it really just might be the end of days.

when i was a kid, like a real kid, you know 4 years old....... when reality and insanity were both equal. thats when i was really into music. and songs had the power to warp your mind and remind you of things you've never been through. i remember being like seven and listening to 'glory days' and feeling like i could relate to having kids and losing touch with my high school friends. this is what i'm talking about. or how about when my cousin busted out this tape cover and i almost shat myself.

holy crap, look at this. it felt like a place someone might drop me off at. and the music made me feel like i shouldn't be hearing it, because you can't un-hear metal.

but what i want to talk about is other side of that dark rainbow, the human league. i got the 7" for the hit single 'don't you want me baby' when i was about four and spun that thing into the ground. it was a hot hot number for it's day and still stands up today. i've always hated b-sides as a small child but i would occasionally listen to them if the a-side was out of control. and i remember listening to it and having that sick feeling in my stomach. like i've been punched in the gut. the song is called 'seconds'. hearing that song played after the a-side was the same feeling you got when you heard the m*a*s*h theme song after 'i love lucy' was over. as a kid, that was a top ten bummer. but just like m*a*s*h, 'seconds' became a song i learned to love. and i don't even know why the song popped into my head tonight, but it's a major bummer still, even though it's great. and the only video i could find for it is a homemade one where they used footage of jfk being shot. i mean the song is about shooting jfk but when you pair it with video of him being shot it becomes bad theater. this is what made me uncomfortable as a child.

sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time. video shoots are supposed to be very long and boring. i got loaded and watched two people humping for at least 45 minutes. check out me and artie vint living out some sort of waking dream on the set of marianne dissard's video "les draps sourds." look for me, i'm the one trying to act like i don't notice anyone humping.

p.s. they were seriously humping.

tonight was the first night in a while that i actually got off my ass and recorded something. its been a while. but it was good and things worked out good and i'm happy about that. every time i fire up the old studio there's all these songs that are sitting there unfinished and left behind. before i do anything new i always seem to take an hour to listen to them. it's always a strange feeling to read or listen to something you don't remember doing. especially when its really bad. but i figure i can kill a few blog posts by posting my failures. look out for the series i'm going to call 'failures: blogging hits a new low."

anyways i can't leave you empty handed. here's a video of the knife's song 'heartbeats' live. i missed this show because i was "over" going to see live music. then i saw this video and wanted to buy electronic equipment, lights, masks, a fog machine, two projectors, some kind of robot, electric drum pads, ect.... this video makes me wish i didn't play guitar and went to art school and started a concept band with my sister. i almost think this version is better than the original. i just like the mood of it. it's a very important song in the history of all songs. it has the most impressive chorus since c.r.e.a.m.

i'm right about this one.

there's a point in every musicians life when he or she will have to resort to the lowest of lows to pay the rent. when the dream is on its last legs. when you wish you'd stuck it out through junior college just one more year. it's called a wedding band, and once again i've captured it on video......



but in all seriousness, this is the best band i've ever been in, almost. we're called "the san pedro sound machine" and all the boys from the band have been in bands with me at one point or another throughout my life. here we are playing nada's and eric's birthday party. cover bands are a good way to get praised for shit you didn't do. if you can copy other people and dress up, then you got the goods. after the show ended people were really excited and i was really inspired. when talking to sean cole later that evening he put everything in perspective when he said," of course they like it. you're actually playing something people want to hear for once." and that's true. but it's also a nice feeling to assume the role of john oates for my own selfish reasons. its win/win. if i could find a way to get praised for shit i didn't really do in every aspect of my life i'd be much better off. its like beating contra again for the 600th time. sure you've saved the human race and killed all the aliens, but when you come off of that high you're still going to bed alone after eating a hot pocket. no one gives a shit. but im fine chasing after that cheap high. chasing that john oates resin hit.

the dirtiest of all highs.

i don't know if anyone saw the documentary about Townes Van Zandt that came out a few years ago. its called be here to love me and its great. Townes gets married young and he and his wife get this apartment which has an extra room and Townes decides to use to it as his "writers workshop" to give a shot at writing songs. so just married, never wrote a song, busts out of this room and sings "waiting around to die." the marriage never recovered.

here he is in the movie 'heartworn highways' singing his song and making an old man cry. seriously.

there is nothing on this earth better than breaking off a hot piece of solo in front of a crowd of drunk people. everyone loves solos. this clip shows one of the greatest moments of my life, me soloing.

look at this stoner! you open the mouth to start it. im so proud of this guy. i was looking up how to make a turntable because i hear its easy and i ran across this winner. this dude also made a dog turntable, but this.......

if you search you tube, there's a lot of D.I.Y. tables that are fun as well. im currently combing through the local swapmeet to find my parts.

i went to this silver jews show last night. i thought it would be a bad idea but then after the first two seconds of the first song i was stoked. im not a big fan of how psychedelic they sound live, but some whiskey made me look past all that.



heres my favorite silver jews moment....... listening to 'american water' on my hands and knees on the floor of my bedroom at my moms house at age 19, trying to lift the stain out of the white carpet after spilling wine cooler all over the place in a 'drink-by-myself-all-night' wine cooler and silver jews schech.

when i brought the album home a month earlier i was really bummed on what i bought because it didn't sound like the get up kids. a month after that, it was wine cooler all over the carpet.

here's a song if you never heard them. bust out the fuzzy navel, sit back and enjoy.

hello friends. this a blog i'm starting about music and music related things for one year of my life. why?

i figure i'll talk about writing and recording music, and lots of 'hey, listen to this song i like', 'look how cool this thing is' and 'i remember where i was when i first heard this record. Torrance!' posts. a few demos. a few posts about recording. and lots of music from friends. things that i hate. maybe a trip or two to the alpine village swap meet.

please take this journey with me. i'm hoping i can make it through the year.