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Friday, March 27, 2009

Yeah, I Rock!



Last night I rawked the Underground Lounge with Static Republic.  It's been a while since I've been up on stage like this and I rediscovered some new things while doing the gig:
  • Sound checking is important to do.  None of the bands last night got a bona fide sound check.  we all "line checked" which means they threw mics on our stuff, asked us to play our instruments, and left us with cruddy monitor mixes.    Of course, none of us were bitchy enough to demand more volume in the monitors, and, of course, we payed them anyway.

  • I need to make sure my levels of the amp are correct for the size venue I'm playing at.  My levels were all over the place and in audible at times.  Just because it sounds good in a crampt rehearsal space doesn't mean it's going to sound good elsewhere.

  • I sure have gotten better with jumping around on stage.  It might just be the material allows me to do it more or just that I'm a better musician than I used to be to be able to jup around...or I was channeling my inner Robert Byrne. 

  • I can scream if I REALLY want to.  I screamed last night during one song where it makes sense to do so.  I don' feel like I hurt my voice but then again I wasn't screaming the whole night either.

  • Damn I'm a sexy man on stage .  Watching the video showed just how comfortable on stage I can look.  THANK GAWD. 

  • It's weird to play to the 40+ crowd where everyone sits/stands in the wings.  I like people right upfront.  Next time, demand that the crowd fill-in.

  • I'm excited to play the next show already.  Cool.
Well, time to go to bed.  Big audition tomorrow to prepare for.  Thanks to all of you who came out to support!

Currently watching:
Rush - R30 - 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Release date: 2005-11-22

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=479559265

Monday, March 23, 2009

My Hopes for The Smashing Pumpkins

As you know, my favorite drummer of all time Jimmy Chamberlin has left The Smashing Pumpkins  for unknown reasons.  I've been living with the news and finally posted up my thoughts about it.  This was originally posted on smashingpumpkins.com:

Here are my hopes from this news now that I've had some time to think about it:

* Jimmy is in good health both mentally and physically.
* The split was amicable and necessary for both of these guys to move on artistically. Why do I want an amicable split? Because they are ultimately friends and should have some kind of relationship moving forward other than musical especially after 20 years.
* Billy sees his "starting all over to be great" philosophy/plan through till the end. He's dismantled the last remnants of the ole skool SP (other than himself which I guess isn't truly a complete dismantling) and had replaced them with effectively session players. In my opinion, I hope he's level headed enough to pursue his dreams while allowing input from the others to make the songs even that much more special to play, thus, to listen to. I'd like to see a return to playing smaller clubs/residencies again. I don't necessarily care about having a new album of music if a steady stream of music is sold as singles.
* The new drummer is faithful to Jimmy's old style of playing and compliments the new direction of the Pumpkins at this point. Matt Walker and Kenny Oranoff fulfilled those roles well touring-wise (I'm not a big Matt Cameron fan so no props there).
* Any new endeavors the former members are in go well for them.

Until I get more news, these are the things I'm going to hope for.

Peace,
Nelson

Currently listening:
Watchmen Soundtrack
By Soundtrack
Release date: 2009-03-03

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=478531940

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Creativity Haiku

Believe in youself
Cuz no one else will do so
The funny will come



Currently listening:
Tinted Windows
By Tinted Windows
Release date: 2009-04-21

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments athttp://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=478483644

Monday, March 16, 2009

If You Don't Know It, Fake It!

The media is jumping on Jessica Simpson for forgetting lyrics to some of her songs.  It happens to the best of us especially if you have a huge back catalog of music to pull from.  What ticks me off about this is not that she forgot the lyrics is that she stopped the freakin' song and restarted it!  C'mon Jessica, don't let something like forgetting lyrics stop a song.  Just make up new ones and get through the song.  Just ask me to sing any nursery rhymes to my kids and you'll see just how handy making up lyrics is .




Currently listening:
Do You Know
By Jessica Simpson
Release date: 2008-09-09

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=477067360

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Should I Continue Buying Physical Media?

I have a few records I want to buy but am debating whether or not I should buy the physical CD and rip them or if I should just go the digital route.  I like having liner notes, pictures, etc but ultimately they end up on my iPod and I listen to merely the music.  I end up making a physical backup anyway so having a CD isn't too far of a stretch.

What should I do?!

Currently listening:
Adrenaline Flow
By Young MC

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Oh Billy!

My musical hero Billy Corgan sent a letter of support to Congress for the LiveNation/Ticketmaster merger  WTF?!  Anybody who is anybody can see that this merger is bad idea.  In his letter he talks about the old system being broken today where music industry people wielded too much power and blocked access for the artist to make a living off his own work.   How does this merger truly promote power to the artist?  If you're a high profile artist, yeah, you'd get a lot of money up-front (which may be considered as an advance which would effectively have to be repaid via touring and record sales) and you may get more of a percentage of revenue overall than the old way, but with a similar monopoly on venues as once had in the record industry, artists can become trapped in another situation where if they don't toe the line, they can be effectively destroyed to play any big shows ever again.

I would love to see Billy's reasoning behind this one.



Currently listening:
Human Clay
Release date: 1999-09-28

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=475991364

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Dulcet Tones of Delicacy

I had band rehearsal tonight.  We're feverishly trying to get ready for our show in a couple of weeks, and anxiety was starting to kick in tonight.  While I'm just concerned with ensuring we allow the structure of the songs to set us free to do whatever we each want to do within the song, we kept getting caught up in the minutiae of what actually was being played and heard .  Lots of harsh looks and words were exchanged but at the end, it was a productive evening.

I walked away from tonight's rehearsal giggling the whole time.  I'd say I let go of everything tonight while I held my guitar.  The vibrations it gave off were not only audible but spiritual in nature as well.  No matter what I did or played tonight, it was good.  I played with my Korg AX1G processor like the first I had purchased it.  I tried different guitar parts in the same ole songs we play week after week to breathe new life into them, and it totally worked.  I felt like throwing my guitar around the room and at the amp just to see what noises would come out of it.  It was like I was 17 again.  RAWK!

Improv really helped me navigate through the sonic landscapes were were curating tonight.  I kept hearing the following quotes going on in my head:

"Structure will set up you free." - Shreeman
"I don't know anything...but I sure have a lot of fawkin' opinions!" - Gelman
"Who cares if it sucks...as long as you're having fun while you're on stage!" - Every Improv Teacher I've Ever Had

I allowed  myself to enjoy myself tonight and it as competely refreshing.


Currently reading:
Joy of Improv, Book 1

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Friendship Haiku

To be a good friend
One must let the other in
Then grow together.

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=474908357

Monday, March 2, 2009

Hung Over Without Drinking

Recapitulation's Award Show closed last night.  It was a bittersweet end of the run as it pushed everyone in the ensemble to explore areas in their personal and artistic lives, thus, pushing the ensemble in unexplored directions, and by the time the smoke had cleared and we had a clue as to how the show could work to its potential, it was over after 4 week run .  I wish we had a few more weeks to let us really get into the full swing of things, but, this is always the case with our shows.  We use the first two weeks figuring stuff out then the rest of the run gets better.  I'm starting to ponder if we should start doing a couple of weeks of discounted previews before doing a full run.  I'm happy to free up some of my time, but at the same time yearn to see the show live up to its full potential.

Directly after the show, I did a show with Infinite Sundaes and it went well.  It was fun to play with some of the best improvisers in the city.  It's weird playing in a musical improv group where I have almost nothing to do with the production.  It forces me to focus on just being an actor which is a welcomed dynamic.   Granted, right now, that's all I can focus on for there is a rotating cast every few months so I just want to have fun and fawk the boolsheet.   So, that show took a lot of energy to perform as well.

After the shows, I was exhausted.  I went out for a bit to hang with both casts and found myself slurring my speech, believing the words coming out of everyboy's mouths (all lies as they're all improvisers), and longing for my bed.  My inhibitions were all but gone at this point as I felt like I could just say anything I wanted to and get away with it.  I felt drunk!  It was probably my low blood sugar as I hadn't eaten anything since 2 PM that day.    I knew it was time to get food and go home.

I grabbed some Julio's on the way home, scarfed a couple of tacos once I got home, and went to bed.  This morning I woke up later than normal.  I dragged arse all day and luckily didn't have a headache as a result of the night before.  I felt horrible until after I ate again and then went to work finally. 

Is this what it's like being drunk? 

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=16074757&blogId=474237872