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Operator, Can you Connect Me With My Life?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:59:22 -0800

Facebook, myspace, twitter, intranets, email, iPhone, youtube, TV, radio....
I’m connected in so many ways that I can’t keep track anymore. From the texting to the posting to the updating to the browsing to the facestalking profile checking my brain gets completely fried.
Sometimes I just want to go back to doing calculations on an abacus and conversing long distances via papyrus and a stick pen. Sometimes I find that if life would imitate art a little more, perhaps we would all be less stressed and quite a bit more content with things.
Think about it.
How much of contemporary design is based on uncluttered form?
The blues is a timeless genre marked by simplicity in basic structure (can you say I IV I V IV I over and over and over again?)
The entire universe of mathematics boils down to and builds from ten digits.
You get my point.
The more we have and connect to ourselves, the more we must manage it, work to keep it, and worry to lose it. Perhaps William of Ockham could have made his razor applicable to more than just logic problems (I am being simplistic here, obviously, but that’s kind of the point).
Perhaps less really should be more... more often... with our possessions, our communications, our concerns, our habits, and, just generally, in our lives as a whole...

While you and I rack our brains on that, here’s some audible food for thought to take your mind off the insanity (check track 11 - Washed By The Water... it’s listenable for hours on end):

Until soon...

Over The Hill And Through The Years...

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:10:57 -0700

May I start by saying that I’m a man of symmetry. Squares, circles, palindromes, and equilateral triangles are all good by me.
The number 26 is, of course, divisible by 13. Not the greatest multiple, but as of today, it’s a number I’ll be quoting with relative frequency for the next year. Past the the midpoint between 20 and 30.... I think I’ll be bringing a walker to the next gig. My mother called (as she always does) to sing the same birthday songs that makes me roll my eyes every time I hear it. Funny how much you can still appreciate things that cause consistent eyerolling...
In other more uplifting news, recording dates are quickly approaching and I’ve begun doing preproduction for 4-5 new songs that I’m really excited about. Hopefully new live dates will be following soon as well.
In the meantime, check out the Shift and Blur EP from the Daylights... great stuff:

Until soon...

I Am At A Floss For Words

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 21:40:43 -0800

This past week I had a fun outing at to the dentist’s office... for the first time in over a year (keeping my oral health top notch... that’s me...) After having some gum inflammation (too much information... yada yada yada) for a couple of days, I decided it was time to make use of this dental insurance I’ve been paying for and go get myself checked up.
My first notion that this was not going to be most enjoyable visit was realizing that the dentist’s office I had selected from the insurance company’s website was firmly planted in the part of town that you don’t want to be at night... thankfully the sun was out and I was looking pretty fierce having not shaved for a few days.
After having been pleasantly seated on the dreaded throne of pain, I proceeded to get scolded (as usual) for not flossing adequately. The doc checked me out and realized that the innards of my loud mouth were pretty torn up. After a few “are you SERIOUS?!” looks and a few lines of “are you SERIOUS?!” questioning, I found out that apparently the undiluted peroxide that I’d been using as an oral rinse for the week prior was a rather poor idea - not to mention the excessive spicy food I’d been chowing for the past few meals. And then she went to work with the cleaning tool...
Good heavens.... three days later and still in excruciating pain...
The moral of this pointless story is as follows:
floss
don’t use peroxide as an oral rinse and expect good things to happen (especially undiluted peroxide)
visit your dentist for a cleaning every six months to take care of the nonsense that your toothbrush can’t
floss
don’t fib to your dentist... s/he will know if your pulse is screaming “LIAR!”
floss

Obviously it’s been a relatively boring month (not necessarily a bad thing). On a perhaps more serious note, I’ve been reading through C.S. Lewis’s heart crusher and contemplative title A Grief Observed... highly recommended.

I hope that we find the time every day to appreciate the fragility and preciousness of life.
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Here’s the music recommendation for this week/month. Luke Wood was presented to me by a songwriting friend. Very mellow, but the guy just knows how to find the pocket and space of a song. Great lyrics and feel - hope you enjoy:

Have a great week.

Chai Think You Are On To Something

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:32:03 -0800

So in the midst of this Starbucks craze which has invariably become America’s number one vice (quickly eclipsing pot, smack, coke, and pixie stix) and which will almost assuredly be the feature topic on VH1’s “Remember The 2000’s” and the 2038 edition of Trivial Pursuit: Pop Culture thirty years from now, has berthed a new fad which seems to be the new must-have-at-all-times item penetrating the female need psyche.
I am, of course, (wait... not of course?!) talking about the slap bracelet of the 21st century - CHAI  chai spice, chai latte, chai tea, chai muffins, chai gingerbread, chai cupcakes, chai frappacino, chai biscotti...... CHAI CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE
I’ve heard it referred to as “Christmas in a cup”, “Liquid Serenity”, and on and on and on... women are writing songs about chai (see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgbynKYpK9g)  I freely admit a bias that I can’t stand the stuff... tastes like someone dropped a little too much suck into my drink and now it’s destroyed - and the funny thing is that I am yet to find a red blooded American male that actually likes this “spice”. I’m beginning to think it’s the new chocolate... only this time the evil underlords of Middle Earth (no clue where that came from) managed to get a flavor that only snares the female tastebud.  Think about it... when was the last time you heard a guy utter some version of the following phrase: “Dude... this chai latte is awesome... it’s like I’m actually DRINKING gingerbread or something.... totally wicked.... let’s go grab another CHAI LATTE and then play Call Of Duty 3 for seven hours without blinking”  See?! nuh-uh... no chai for the dudes - is it even possible for a guy to be a huge fan of this stuff and retain any ounce of credibility? Ladies? Aren’t you looking for that special Prince Charming who can’t fix a car or shoot a gun, but boy does he LOVE his chai tea?  I know what you’re thinking (no... really...) - “Doesn’t this quack have anything better to do with his life than rail to no one in particular about CHAI?!” - answer: YES... but i’m not doing any of that meaningful nonsense right now... so I say again... give me a break on chai.... for the sake of the male race
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And now... just to contradict myself. I give you the new mystery song of the week (yes, you have to click on it to find out the surprise). I reserve no shame nor flagellation of my self esteem for this... I don’t drink chai, but I know a catchy melody when I hear one:

Yeah... i linked it.... and you know you like it... it’s stuck in your head like a moist chunk of bread on the roof of your mouth... deal with it... you’re welcome...
Until the next condescending tirade (which will most likely be about a really cool subject like mixing up the left and right earbuds for my Ipod... you know - earth shattering kind of stuff)

How To Look Better Than You Really Are:

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:05:34 -0800

Step 1: Find a great photographer that knows what he/she is doing
Step 2: Beg him/her to take pictures of your ridiculous mug in cool places with properly directed poses
Step 3: Rinse, lather, and repeat
In case you haven’t already seen her work, I wanted to highlight some of the work of a very talented up and coming fashion photographer named Dixie Dixon that I’ve had the pleasure of playing model for. We’ve been on a couple of photoshoots together out at some great locations in both California and Texas. All I can say is - the girl can SHOOT a picture.
From what I can gather about the art of photography, one can spend hundreds of shots to come up with only a small few of really great images. Dixie has a knack for capturing life in its special moments, and my sessions with her have yielded some really great stuff that you’ve probably seen interspersed around my website, myspace profile, and elsewhere.
Whether it’s weddings, fashion, engagements, music, nature, or whatever happens to be in front of her lens, I am consistently impressed by her work.
I’ve updated the gallery section with some of her newer work with me. You can jump to it here.
If you’re in the North Texas area (or have the means to hire her out to your neck of the woods) and are in need of some great photography and/or promotional materials, I would highly suggest checking out her website and trying to set something up. Even if to just check out what an artist in another medium is doing, it’s well worth the few minutes browsing her catalogue.  Check it - www.dixiedixon.com
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Back on the music side of things, I was listening to a new online music service called Slacker. My guess is that this will be the new thing in digital radio/music very soon. You can listen to just about any artist you can image for FREE along with other music acts of the same temperament and feel - all programed by professionals with no advertising (and no, I’m not getting paid to say this)
All that to mention that I heard a band today called The Midway State that has a really cool sound. If you liked the OneRepublic suggestion from the last blog entry, I would highly suggest taking a gander (whatever a “gander” is) - check out “Nobody Understands”:

Until next time...