trying to meet our deadline, mike b desperately plays piano.

i don't know if you have ever been to pioneer town, but i think you should. it's a place where you can get mixed up with the biggest lowlifes who turn out to be lifelong friends. we rented a room at the rimrock ranch. we were balling out of control. just look.......

taking a dip in the tub. no big deal. just another day in the life of this player.

discussing what to wear to tonight's big show aka/ open mic night.

so the heart of pioneer town is a place called pappy and harriet's. it's a restaurant, bar and music hall. and it's also a little magical. it the hogwart's of the desert. we ate dinner and then rocked the crowd. here's a highlight....

i can't resist. here's someone making an ass out of carlos santana. i lose it every time i hear the keyboard player playing the 'final countdown'. this will hopefully be the last of these videos. 

i remember a time in my young life when i thought that shredding was it. i wanted to shred. i waited in a three hour line to meet joe satriani when i was in junior high. maybe if i shook his hand some of that shred would rub off onto me. i still have my signed copy of surfing with the alien. it's something one should outgrow by high school. but, these dudes still captivate guys who can't play guitar and namm show nerds. 

goodbye to tucson. here's what i'll remember.

coming back to life after food poisoning. i've been wearing this shirt for like five days. my sickness has given me a new appreciation for using a whammy bar. it makes the guitar sound like you don't know how to play it. it's great.


here are a couple of awesome amps that i will never see again.


the last moments of a hot solo. another pat on the back.

food poisoning. thank you rubio's for your amazing shrimp tacos. and for the vision quest that i was on for three days straight after dehydration. thank you rubio's for allowing this chance to meet with my spirit animal.

after missing the first show we had out here with cmg, i wasn't going to let rubio's win the battle. grabbed my tambo and headed out for the trunkspace in phoenix. it was all a blur. here's a highlight.

i think this one might speak for itself.

anybody who knows me knows that i'm not shy to lay it down on a freestyle session. i'm not saying that i'm good or i even rhyme, but i handle my business. at the backyard party or in the car or walking home. but never on public access cable shows. why? because i suck.

with that being said, here's eli porter and envy in the saddest rap battle in cable access history.

when i was living in mid city los angeles a few years ago, i used to listen to jonathan richman once in a while on the stereo in the living room. that was when i was new in the house.

after a few weeks, people start getting familiar with me. i remember rocking this next song in the old living room when suddenly the music stops. it was one of my roommates telling me that there was going to be a strict ban on anything jonathan richman. then another roommate walks out to agree with him. i was in shock. how can this man stir up so much hate in roommates?

i went in search for the answers late night at the club congress in tucson. he played with local hero tommy larkins, and it was awesome. i wished the old roomates were there with me to pull the plug from the sound board and to tell richman that he had to bail.


that's my picture from last night and here's an old school video of his smash hit 'new england' live (maybe) from the top of the pops. make sure your roommates have left the room first.

so right now i am in tucson living a lazy man's dream. right before i left, i did a massive closet cleaning and found so many treasures. mostly trash though. anyways, i found my friend paul's cd that he made a few years back and it's been the soundtrack for going to trader joe's. his one man band is called the 'gold state', and the cd is called 'whole wide whole'. paul is a complex man, he's an artist, poet, composer, with the humorous voice mail message chops of a well paid comedian. he also does comics which are awesome and called underwear lane. anyways, his record is a good summertime late night jam. here's one more comic to sweeten the deal.

so i'm not going to walk through the steps of refinishing again, i just wanted to show you the new project. i'll let you know if anything interesting happens and show updates from time to time.


this time i'm going to try to cut down the man hours. one hint, if you plan on painting a guitar a solid color, don't sand down to the wood. just scuff up the surface until you reach the polyurithane and then primer. i wasted a lot of time dealing with filling in the grain. so, if you want a natural finish, good luck. sounds like a pain in the ass.

remember a couple of weeks ago when i made this chart? i told you i was working hard.


boom, check it. it's like way more complete. it's true what they say about charts. i was telling grant capes (his records are awesome and he's performed for huell howser) how it becomes more about the chart and less about the record at times. like when they have that monopoly game at mcdonald's. i just want to see all the pieces there, not to win a prize, but for the pat on the back after doing a such a great job.


i am currently in tucson and will be for the next two weeks working on finishing this album and hanging out with dogs, naim amor, artie vint, and eating tater tots.

so, now with those pesky electronics out of the way, we can screw in the pick guard to the body. look at this thing come together! it's what god must of felt like when he created his first guitar.


i sort of can't believe that this all worked out. now the hardware.


now for a couple of jaguar/mustang knobs that i got for $5. it's kind of ridiculous what a difference nice knobs make. i spent at least 4 days non-stop on the internet until i decided on these. oh my god i'm getting excited. i think i might overheat.


here it is. what a transformation. at first, i couldn't imagine anybody wanting this guitar but now it should have it's own room. me and this guitar should get a room. i'm going out for drinks, alone.


so believe it or not, there are still some things we need to do. it's time to get that logo onto that headstock. mysteries will be revealed.

i might have mentioned it before, but i'm not sure how electronics work. i just know if you mess around with them long enough and look at things that actually do work, it will find it's way to you. so that's what i'm doing. i've heard you're supposed to make a fake pick guard out of cardboard so you don't screw up yours doing this. check this thing out.


so i looked at how people wire things online and just went with it. how hard can it be? there's like five things going on. you have a volume knob, tone knob, output jack, pick-up and some sort of capacitor. i just started soldering what felt right. look at this thing. it's got to work!


and hell yes it worked, indeed. now i screw this stuff onto the pick guard and we're ready to do this. by the way, every screw that was on this thing was worthless. i don't know if you have ever tried finding weird small screws at home depot, but they laugh in your face when you do. i was referred to the lovelady screw shop in torrance. they set me up. go say hi if you're in town. here's the finished deal.

next, it's time to screw the hardware and pickguard onto the guitar. i can't wait.