Nelson V-Blog

Don't Talk, Just Do Follow Up

2012-01-14T13:55:00.002-06:00

So, It's been about 12 days since I seriously commited to the idea of just doing things instead of talking about doing them. Here's my progress report so far: Started the long-talked about musical podcast Musical Chairs Podcast where I give my honest opinions about music that I (don't) care about. I come up with a list of 5 things for a subject I really have some strong opinions about. I've

Don't Talk - Just Do

2012-01-02T23:47:00.002-06:00

As the new year has arrived, I've come to the realization that I've been my own worst enemy regarding what I want to do in my creative life. I come up constantly with reasons as to why I can't/won't do t things I' ve always wanted to do. Here's a short list of items I constantly have runningi n my brain: I'm not a good singer... I want everything to be perfect... Inspiration is just supposed

Being a Musician Fawkin' Rawks!

2011-12-18T01:41:00.001-06:00

I attended a Christmas party where we got into a pretty in-depth discussion regarding the pop culture relevance of popular artists such as Britney, Madonna and Lady Gaga. I made the argument that Lady Gaga had "jumped the shark" with her outrageousness in wardrobe and overall circus-like spectacle public outings as those things overshadow her actual musicianship. The girl can play an

Will Yourself To Health!

2011-12-06T22:52:00.001-06:00

While I recover from a hacking cough, I am reminded just how powerful the human mind is. I had an audition today for the remount of "In Living Color". I found out about it two weeks ago and was so excited about it. I spent everyday thinking about the audition, picturing what it would be like to have a great audition, getting a callback to meet Keenan Ivory Wayans, and ultimately flying out to

Welcome To Your First today of Improv

2011-12-02T09:31:00.001-06:00

I went to an improv showcase in the city last night to get some reps in before a big audition next week. I took a fellow Salsation member with me and tried to prepare ourselves for a night of getting up on stage. We schmoozed a bit with the teams there and with the event coordinator just to get a feel for what potential there was for getting up on stage as well as in what format. There were 5

NEW WEEKLY GAME! "What's Wrong With This Ad?"

2011-11-25T22:52:00.001-06:00

There are two websites I peruse frequently to keep my finger on what's going on in the local music scene - Craiglist and BlabberMouth.Net. Whenever I get the chance to read the ads on Craigslist (CL) or the comments on BlabberMouth (BM), I am always amazed at what I read and ask myself, "Why would someone post this online?!". So, I'll do my best be nice. Here's this week's post: "Hows it's

Ready For Another One? I Think Not!

2011-11-25T14:56:00.001-06:00

The Velazco Clan has grown by 2 in Chicago and 2 in Dallas, Tx/Bonaire, GA in the last 4 years. Personally, I like having two and have always held a place in my heart for 3. The question is: WHY? I went to Hooters with my neighbor Jack and my son AKV to Hooters (yes, a family restaurant). Our waitress was a very cute woman with a fun personality; her conversations seemed genuine and she

Let's Go Mobile!

2011-11-04T07:55:00.001-05:00

I recently got a SideKick 4G from T-Mobile to replace my antiquated G1 phone. I loved that phone, but alas it told me it was time to let it go by going into boot menus whenever my son would drop it :-). The best thing about cellphone technology improving over the last three years is that I am one step closer to having a mobile computing powerhouse to handle my needs when I'm on the road. I am

Meeting Your Idols

2011-10-30T13:48:00.001-05:00

If there's anything I've made clear over my teenage/adult life time is that I am a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. So, when the opportunity came for me to do a meet & greet with the great Jimmy Chamberlin at Vic's Drum Shop, I jumped at the opportunity to do so. Since I knew there would be a ton of people there, I decided to make it a jeans-and-tie affair :) It definitely got a lot of attention

Rawk-U-Meant-Awry Review: PJ20

2011-10-28T12:21:00.001-05:00

WARNING: I am a long-time fan of Pearl Jam (PJ) up through Yield. After that record, they lost me. I just watched the Pearl Jam Twenty (PJ20) documentary produced by Cameron Crowe, a long time friend of the band (as well as the only director to capture the golden age of Seattle's music scene in his well-crafted romantic comedy Singles by featuring members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam as

A Smashing Return For The Pumpkins On Their Oceania Tour - October 14, 2011

2011-10-16T17:02:00.064-05:00

I got the chance to see the Smashing Pumpkins last night in a new light. Last year I saw them at The Metro for the Matt Leone benefit. I got the chance to meet the band (albeit briefly) and get up close and personal with them musically during the soundcheck: At the time I got a good sense of where the band was musically with the older music but had no idea really as to what they were going

Relating to 9/11 in the Future

2011-09-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

With the amount of heavy news coverage marking the 10 year anniversary of 9/11/2001, I chatted with The Wifey about how we're going to relate our perceived importance of the date to our children. I came to realize that the new generation of children will see 9/11 completely differently than the previous ones. My sons will never know a world where terrorism wasn't always being brought up or where

Just Call Me Gandalf, Baby...

2011-09-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

On two different occasions this week I've dispensed some adult-level advice regarding other people's relationships. It's been forcing me to have to reset myself on a lot of the drama I've been dealing with unnecessarily. Here's are the life lessons I need to recommit myself to that I shared with others: You are in control of your life and choose to feel the way you feel. If someones "makes"

It's Coming Around Again...Again

2011-08-31T19:39:00.005-05:00

The creative monster within me is stirring. His hot, steaming breath is racing down my spine as he sits perched on my back like a gargoyle whispering words of artistic encouragement and admonishment in my ears. I can feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest as if it's trying to convince my brain that by doing so my soul will benefit from this coming spurt of creativity. Everything is

I Tried Dialing It In But...

2011-08-24T17:25:00.000-05:00

In a rush to get out of the house this morning to make it to the city, I completely forgot to grab my phone. That mistake completely fawked up my day. I drove a good 20 minutes out to the major highway from my cozy home in IN. Right as I got on the major highway I realized, "Hey, where the fawk is my phone?" I drove 90 miles an hour to the next major exit, pulled over in a waffle house

Did I Cheat?

2011-08-21T17:33:00.000-05:00

During rehearsal today someone mentioned that they didn't understand how I could claim to be away from social media when I was blogging the entire time and maintaining a presence on Facebook through automatic linking; it seemed that I was cheating on my claims. Perhaps I was; perhaps I was not. When I decided to take my social media sabbatical, my main vices at the time were Facebook and

My Return To Being Social A.K.A. Going into Sober Living A.K.A Social Media Withdrawl - Day 15

2011-08-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Nelson - and I'm a recovering social media addict. Tonight's my last obligatory day to not be a part of my normal social media routine. It'll be 15 days since I went on sabbatical from Twitter and Facebook. I have a show to promote so I will be back on but in a limited fashion. Here's how I am going to stay sane: Take everything day by day. Yes, just like a heroin junkie or

It's The Little Things That Kill

2011-08-19T02:05:00.000-05:00

I got to see Bush and Chevelle with the Wifey in Chicago tonight for free thanks to Samsung and AT&T sponsoring the event. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the evening. The security was very courteous and nonchalant with no pat downs or searches. The peddling of phones where relatively innocuous and I even got to play my first game of Angry Birds via their slick new Galaxy S phone which

Social Media Withdrawl - Day 10

2011-08-15T21:23:00.000-05:00

I've made it ten days without consuming myself with my social media. I made a goal to make it for 15 days at this point. The hard part about today was not necessarily worrying out my Facebook status; what made it hard was that I have a ton of things to share with people! I have pictures, videos, and graphics I've made for the Salsation show that I will hav eto share in an alternate way.

Took A Bite Of The Apple

2011-08-13T17:37:00.000-05:00

My beloved iPod crapped out on me a couple of days ago en route to rehearsal. I got this dreaded screen: Luckily I was in the car with my laptop so I tried to restore it while on the road. iTunes kept telling me that there was some kind of error with the restore process and it could not proceed with the restore. I figured that either it was the fact that my laptop wasn't running the

Championing the Underdog

2011-08-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

One of the things I remember growing up was my father calling me into his room, and lecturing me on the way the Yankees would win the next world series irrespective of whatever cruddy record they were having that year. He would always say, "You see, I like to root for the underdog." I would look at him, nod my head in agreement, and walk out of the room thinking, "My gawd man! You're crazy!

Social Media Withdrawl - Day 2

2011-08-06T14:04:00.000-05:00

Today was a better day so far without my social media crutch. Had a good family day with the Velazco clan and a couple of friends from their city and their child. In preparation, we cleaned up 3/5 of the house so there is that much less work to do. I also got to work a little bit on preparing for tomorrow's rehearsal. Overall, I feel a little lighter on my feet. Whoo hoo!

Social Media Withdrawl - Day 1

2011-08-05T17:12:00.000-05:00

Since my last post yesterday,I can feel the pull of habit creeping into my online routine: -->power on the computer -->log in -->fire up Firefox -->allow Echofon to refresh with my Twitter updates -->click on my Facebook bookmark and check the upper left part of the toolbar to tell me 2-3 people like my post, comment, link, or status -->proceed through the timeline to see what everybody

Taking a Vacation From Myself

2011-08-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been rather intense for me. I had a little blow up with a colleague of mine on the phone ranting and raving about how my life was in this weird place. Granted it was exacerbated by being incredibly hungry at the time and I was unable to put my emotions in perspective while I verbally destroyed everything around me. After I ate, I was like, "Maybe things really

Being the Calm Collected One - Not Me!

2011-07-29T01:54:00.000-05:00

I love watching action movies where there's a bank robbery scene and everyone's on the floor cowering for cover. The camera fixates itself on the hero of the flick plotting and waiting for his opportunity to take out the would-be bank robbers without putting himself or anyone else in danger. When the opportunity arises, the slow-motion action star gets up off the floor, disables his nearest

Afraid Of The Help

2011-07-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

I wake up almost every day feeling overwhelmed. I created a gravity well of stuff I feel I have to do. I feel ike I "have" to do something proactive every day. I spend a ton of energy on these items (in no particular order): Theatre (directing, acting, writing, booking, promoting) Maintaining the landscaping Doing Laundry (it never fawking ends!) Cleaning up the house (this also never fawking

Rebooting My Blogging Spirit!

2011-07-25T08:33:00.002-05:00

I was watching Dr. Drew's Celbrity Rehab yesterday and he had Bai Ling on there detailing history of abuse that she received in Tibet. The biggest thing was that she was a journaler and was betrayed by an adult when that adult decided to read her most intimate thoughts aloud to everyone else in her camp; she refused to journal ever again. I could see just how painful that was for her and it

I Guess You're Just What I Needed!

2011-07-22T10:06:00.002-05:00

I've been heads down in running Salsation for the last few months. This year has been super exciting for me and personally satisfying. we started with a great fundraiser to set the stage for our Fall show and Touring season. We had fantastic general auditions to pick up some new talent (none of which were scrubs like we've had at previous auditions) and it was cool to see how enthusiastic

Gurl...You Lookin' Fine!

2011-06-10T21:10:00.003-05:00

All of a sudden I've become really quite aware towards female body issues. It seems to me that almost all women I know REALLY don't like their bodies. It's so weird to me that almost all of these women are attractive are 0-25% confident in their own bodies. I have to know what causes women to obsess over their body types. Anecdotes to come...

Records That Deserve To Be Replayed

2011-04-15T01:33:00.000-05:00

during tonight's pre-show for The Dude Abides, I sat around with some of the cast members and we listed albums that are completely solid top to bottom. These are records that get played and never get skipped through. Here's a top 10 list that come to mind: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream Revis - Places for Breathing

A Sign Showing I'm Growing Up

2011-02-20T23:35:00.001-06:00

I had an interesting night this evening. I was in charge of AKV for the early evening while the Wifey rested up. So, I cooked us a dinner consisting of reconstituted mashed potatoes (they came out great!) and soy "chicken" nuggets. We both chowed down heartily and then I proceeded to watch the rest of the "Lemmy" documentary I taped and only got half-way through. AKV ran off quickly and all

What's A Teacher Supposed To Do?!

2011-02-17T15:11:00.000-06:00

This teacher got suspended with pay over people freaking out about her blog posts. I didn't make it a point to go back and read the cached version of her website, but in order to make my own opinions about the things she brings up in her blog, I don't need to. Teachers are held to some fraked up moral and ethical standard that we ourselves don't hold ourselves to. I definitely don't want my

Almost Had My "N" Moment Tonight

2011-02-11T01:03:00.000-06:00

tonight I went to an area in my psyche that I hardly ever go to. It's that area that would actually make me want to get into a physical altercation. I avoid fighting with people as much as possible. I hate it. It's normally over something stupid and completely unnecessary. However, tonight I almost let an annoying situation turn into something even bigger. The family was headed to the

That's What Fam Is For...

2011-02-03T10:40:00.000-06:00

Got another lesson in family this week. I shoveled snow by my lonesome for the last 3 days. I have no idea how much snow shoveled but I do know is that I was the damn bulldozer scooping up snow on my street made getting out of the end of my driveway nearly impossible. It created a 4 foot wall of snow & ice that would take me at least 3-4 hours by hand to cut through. With my new son due any

We Get A Ticket To Crash And We Don't Care!

2011-02-01T09:56:00.000-06:00

Flying Cheap Flying Cheaper Watching these videos followed up by this report from my hometown, makes me very wary to fly now. It's just a matter of time before a place goes down and then the faux outrage begins. I can't pretend to know much about what it takes to make a plane fly and keep an airline running, but it seems to me that the airlines are sacrificing safety for greed again.

Is Chicago In A Lot of Trouble?

2011-01-31T11:34:00.000-06:00

When current Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that he wouldn't be running for another term, a large power grab was put into motion. Daley has been in office for two decades and helped transform the city into what is it today (good & bad). Do I feel any of his successors can do a better job, not really but I do love to be proven wrong :) Which of these fools should I vote for?

It's All In My Head

2011-01-30T22:37:00.000-06:00

Today was a better day than it has been in the last week. I completely under-estimated what it was going to take for me to start becoming comfortable in the new locale. I though I would be fine the entire time while working on getting the house ready when in fact I feel incredibly lost and overwhelmed :( With the Wifey basically out-of-commission due to the pregnancy and a late bout of tooth

Cabin Fever At The New House

2011-01-26T21:41:00.002-06:00

It's 9:15 PM. I haven't left my house in two days. I haven't showered in almost three. I'm snapping at everyone and everything in my home. There's too much to do and not enough time to do it. I feel like a loser because I can't do 2000 things at once. In my mind I have conjured up the idea that I could in the past, but yet now it seems so elusive to me. all I want to do is sleep and wake up

I Have More Creativity In One Home Than...

2011-01-24T15:45:00.000-06:00

It's weird. Ever since I moved my family to the 'burbs, I have been more creative now than I've been in a while. I guess I don't have the distractions of the city to bog me down. Things I've got to get going: 0. Baby expecting 1. Salsation (fund-raising, writing, video editing) 2. Dude Abides Musical (playing drums) 3. Courageous Rue 4. Home Improvement projects Check out the vid below

Appliances - Who Needs 'Em? We Do. Dang It!

2011-01-23T08:32:00.000-06:00

Today I am getting a fridge, stove, washer, and dryer from the good people of Lowes who incidentally outsourced they're delivery services to a third-party company. Total cost? Roughly $3700. It's still cheaper than the $10K I was countered with during home negotiations for the used appliances already in the home. I have to move all of the boxes in the laundry room before they are to arrive

A Fresh Start To the Rest of My Life

2011-01-22T21:31:00.001-06:00

Today I moved to Crown Point, IN after a 12 year tenure in Chicago, IL. I am exhausted after coordinating the move with a huge gang of 12 people. We got help with truck driving, child care, storage, and painting. I am sure I am forgetting other things people did for us but whatever it is, I am sure was well done and received. What I am truly moved by is the amount of support I received from

Bromancing The Stone

2010-12-09T19:25:00.001-06:00

In anticipation of moving out to IN, I've suddenly felt the urge to strengthen my male relationships. I'm pretty much a ladies man in that I gravitate hanging out with women a lot more than men. It's kinda been that way my whole life. Some of the impetus behind that is that I hate having to compete with people for attention (yes, I know...ME WANTING A LOT OF ATTENTION?! :) ) I hear girls talk

Relationships As We Get Older

2010-11-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

Currently I'm trying to strengthen a friendship that has been strained due to multiple reasons (distance, non-communication, basic social retardation). I had a pretty good conversation with that person over a few hour period and began working through a lot of core issues we had. I felt like we broke a lot of ground and we have a lot of potential to kickstart an era where we get along much of

OK...So...I Like Netflix...

2010-11-05T14:13:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that after a very long time of holding out on getting Netflix, I really enjoy it. I've caught up on a ton of movies and TV shows that I previously shunned and I get access to shows that aren't easy to find on bootleg websites. So, I like Netflix.

This Is Some Inception Shite Going On...

2010-11-01T08:49:00.001-05:00

I don't know what the fawk I ate last night but I had some weird but cool dreams. I want to jot them down before I forget them to see if there's any theme amongst them: A friend decided to send me artistic black and white nudes of her and her husband. Most of the pictures didn't really have nudity in them except one. When I ran across the one that did I thought, "Why would she send these to me

Tryin' To Find A House Sounds Easy, Right?!

2010-10-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

Today the family and I loaded up to MoMo and headed on souf to Indianer (yes, there are a bunch of intentionally mistyped words in that sentence) to go look at a house. The Wifey felt I would go (Lady) ga-ga over it. So, of course, I had to rain on her parade. Most of the house was actually pretty livable. It was technically "move-in ready"; it had a new roof, new windows, updated kitchen and

Things We Just Can't Teach

2010-10-16T01:43:00.000-05:00

How to be professional. You can teach someone the formalities of professionalism but the innate drive to be on point consistently comes from the heart. How to take pride in their craft. It's amazing how much we all half-ass things to get to the next best thing (looking at you Velazquez!)

Let's Show 'Em We Can Overcome!

2010-09-11T02:59:00.003-05:00

It's taken 10 years for something to be erected at Ground Zero in New York City. The Freedom Tower implementation so far has pretty much a mismanaged affair. It's been redesigned a number of times, had very little to no input from the public, and has plenty of cost overruns. It's not slated to be finished until 2014 barring any other problems coming up. Watch this Penn & Teller BS episode (

FireStarter -Twisted FireStarter

2010-09-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

So, this jackass in the picture - Pastor Dr. Terry Jones of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla - wants to make a statement by burning the Quran - that Christians/Americans are not going to be bullied into fear by Islam's radical wings. He wants to do this on 9/11. Oy vey! The amount of coverage on this effort is staggering. Had news outlets ignored it, it would've

Today Was A Good Day

2010-08-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

AKV was all about Daddy today. He would come find me saying, "Dadda?", grab me by the hand, pull to wherever he wanted me, and then play with me. It made me feel so wanted and good about myself. I guess I'm doing something right. I love you Alexander.

Walk Down Constitution Lane - The First Amendment

2010-08-19T01:43:00.002-05:00

I realized that most of us Americans throw around the numerical form of the Constitutional amendments when talking to others. For example: Friend: "Hey Nelson. Did you fool around with that ugly, old, fat chick after the show?" Nelson: "I plead the fif! 1, 2, 3, 4...FIF!"Nelson: "Man, I wonder if gun restrictions should be in place cuz mofos be shooting each other a lot lately." Redneck: "I

The Return of Rock - Dovetail Joint & IvoryWire 08/14/2010

2010-08-16T19:45:00.004-05:00

Dovetail Joint's Chuck Glaflter(Guitar/Vox), Jon Kooker (Bass), Joe Dapier(Drums), and Robert Byrne (Guitar - Not Pictured) I got to see my two favorite local Chicago bands Ivorywire and Dovetail Joint reunite for the 2010 Doug Meis Memorial Concert at Lincoln Hall this weekend. It's been roughly 7 years since I've seen these bands play so I was naturally excited to catch them at the newly

The Rah Rah Rah Concert

2010-08-03T13:26:00.003-05:00

The Smashing Pumpkins 3.0 Metro, Chicago, IL 07/27/2010 Last week I went to the Smashing Pumpkins (SP) concert in Chicago to raise money to offset medical costs got musician Matt Leone who valiantly tried to fight off a man beating his wife while passing them on the street. Matt's insurance lapsed two months prior to the altercation that put him the hospital, and the medical procedures

Most of Us Can't Handle The Truth

2010-07-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them

I Could've Died Part 2

2010-05-31T20:32:00.001-05:00

I decided to give myself a fever this weekend. Apparently after running around non-stop for the last 4-5 months with shows, rehearsals, and late nights, the one day I get to take off completely was consumed with me having a fever all day...and doing nothing about it for the longest time. In the morning I took AKV out on a doggy walk with Lola. It was a sunny day and I felt pretty normal -

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

2010-05-16T10:41:00.003-05:00

Performing for people as long as I have, I've seen a lot of things happen from awesome shows to on-stage fist fights amongst cast members. When I think I've seen it all, something happens to remind me that I "ain't seen nuttin' yet!". The thing lately that has captured my imagination is how professionalism is a lost skill amongst people who need to take it the most seriously. One should take

Living In the Limelight

2010-05-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

By all intents and purposes, I consider myself to be a performer - not just an actor, a musician, or a comedian. Yes, the latter list of titles describe a facet of what I have to offer the entertainment world but don't sum up everything I can and want to do. This distinction came up in a passionate discussion I had a couple of nights ago. In a very polite way I was asked to be mindful of how I

Acoustic Rawk Roulette

2010-04-08T09:53:00.000-05:00

I played a showcase last night at the Elbo Room. It was the most fun show I've done in a long time! Working up to the show as a bit of a chore however. I took my acoustic into 3rd Coast Guitars to get it setup and be primed for the show. I open the case and the guy looks at it as if it has leprosy :)). He then tells me, "Well, don't get me wrong, I want your money but did you notice that

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! Fit?! No.

2010-03-22T13:01:00.001-05:00

I got a Wii Fit for the Wifey's birthday this month and have been working out on the thing rather regularly. At first I thought it would be a walk in the park: boot it up, do some relatively easy exercises, then walk away feeling good about "working out" without breaking a sweat. So much for that idea :). It's a lot harder than I gave it credit for. I've been fumbling through the different

REVIEW:Smashing Pumpkin's Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (First Three Tracks)

2010-03-02T13:39:00.007-06:00

A lot has changed in the music industry in the last 20 years. We've seen a lot of death: major record labels, hair metal, nu-metal, grunge, guitar solos, electronica, compact discs, ubiquitous platinum selling artists, touring, general artist promotion, high-end recording studios, and radio. We've also seen some exciting changes: digital singles, portable digital players,

To Boycott Or Not Boycott?

2010-02-21T23:19:00.002-06:00

As a follow up the protest video I made two months ago... The owner call me back a couple of days ago apologizing profusely for how badly I was treated. He offered just about anything to get me back as a customer. I would like to think that this protest video has hurt him (AND IT DID! :)) )but I think that Corporate followed up as well to remind him of my complaint. In any matter, he

A Day and A Half of Miming

2010-02-12T20:38:00.000-06:00

My son picked up a nasty cold/flu-ish virus two weeks ago, and eagerly passed it onto the rest of his family so that we can share in the misery :)). I had done a pretty good job of thwarting off the sickness by drinking a lot of water, taking vitamins, and keeping my thoughts on being healthy vs. not being sick. I was doing well and then by Wednesday, I had a minor sore throat. It cleared up

The Trials and Tribulation of a Professional Musician

2010-02-06T12:29:00.003-06:00

There's been a series of postings on Craigslist.org discussing the business aspects of playing live music in the city of Chicago. The fervor of the discussions got me thinking about my own views of the show business in general; how the arts holds very little compensatory value in society. For the sake of my discussion, Ill be using the words "band", "performer", and "artist" interchangeably to

We Are The World Redux? Hope Not

2010-02-03T08:25:00.000-06:00

In 1985, there was (and unfortunately, still is) a massive famine plaguing Ethiopia and sub-Saharan Africa. Americans were getting pelted with images of malnourished children so weak they were unable to swat the flies covering their faces and Sally Struthers pleading with people to send money to support children abroad. The news covered the political situations causing the famine while giving

Rock of Ages

2010-01-24T00:20:00.001-06:00

Tonight I was invited to a party with a bunch of other guys to play Beatles Rockband. Little did I know we'd be playing a lot of regular Rockband as well. I had an awesome time! In a previous post, I had admonished those who played Guitar Hero excessively to the point they're perfect at it vs. learning how to play the real thing. I never did address the reverse situation where a

Top Ten Lessons I've Learned From Yo Gabba Gabba.

2010-01-19T22:47:00.000-06:00

There are eyes on my face, eyes on my face There's a nose on my face, nose on my face There's a mouth on my face, mouth on my face... Don't, don't, don't bite your friends. Keep trying, keep trying Don't give up, never give up. Don't stop, don't give up. We're gonna make a... HIT HIT HIT! 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 people are in my family We are best friends and I love them That's my family,

Let The Craziness Ensue!

2010-01-15T10:01:00.001-06:00

Unless I have 45 spinning plates on sticks with each one narrowly falling off, I seem to be unhappy :). 2010 seems to be the year of creative growth with the way things are turning out - and I like it! One of the top priorities on the list for the year is get another Rue recording out there along with some actual shows. I've done a couple of ustream shows (which will occur monthly from now on)

I Really Like Getting High

2010-01-14T22:32:00.000-06:00

I did my ustream show tonight for the second time ever and thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided it was best to play the set more naturally, i.e., independent of all the cabling and crap I was did for the first one to make the sound quality superb. The old method also made the performance stiff and a bit too strcutured. This time around I went with room acoustics and a little bit of extra light. I

iLove iPods

2010-01-11T10:36:00.046-06:00

With my crusade against overusing communicative technologies, one may think I've got a vendetta against gadgets. Believe it or not, I love gadgets. I own computers, gaming systems, and person devices. I like wasting electricity like most of us on keeping my refrigerator running, keeping the lights on, and watching my flat screen HDTV. Having turn-by-turn GPS directions from my phone blows my

Killer Kustomer Service At Kohl's

2010-01-09T12:33:00.000-06:00

This morning I woke up and took AKV out with me to allow Mommy to sleep in and to get in my Daddy/Son-Son time in. We ended up at a Kohl's department store to find me a new shirt for tonight's Sketchfest show. After a long time of walking around, trying stuff on, and chasing AKV through the aisle and putting everything back he tore down, I finally got me a pair of shirts I was happy with. I

News for 2010!

2010-01-07T12:48:00.000-06:00

Moving My Blog Last year (2009) I thought my blog was going to die. Facebook and Twitter had basically taken the "umph" out of posting up blogs by allowing me to now "microblog" via my updates. MySpace has lost a lot of its shine as a centralized location for artists due to its clunky, outdated, and ugly layout and interfaces (although it's still good for musicians for now). So, I toyed with

You Take The Wheel and I Will Take The Pedals...

2009-10-30T21:24:00.000-05:00

When I was 9, Dad decided it was time for me to become a man and learn how to drive. Lucky for me, we got to drive the future death trap of a car which I fell in love with - a 1986 Ford Mustang LX. I want to say that this was right after we bought the car and before years of neglect would make my Mom so nervous that she wouldn't drive or get into the car unless I was driving. My Dad got

Parental Advisory

2009-10-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

Over the last few months I've begun to notice a shift in my own life regarding what I consider important and what I don't. It's kind of weird because I feel the old me fighting to remain right where it is vs. the new me taking over. As Biz Markie says, "Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me vs. me". This week I canceled my first audition ever in the last 4 years due to an unforeseen

Another Collection of Thoughts

2009-08-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

Try as I may, this blog has become cumbersome to maintain *cue Seven Mary Three*. Okay, enough bitchin'... The Passing of DJ AM Uhm, why must I become subjected to non-stop media coverage to care about this guy? I never even really heard of him until after he almost went up in a thunderball along with Travis Barker, who I have heard of and respect highly, a few months ago. I'm not saying him

Life on the Roll

2009-08-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

I forgot just how much I enjoy rollerblading. I've been getting plump over the summer and felt I needed a change, so, I strapped on the 'blades one morning, put my son in hos stroller, and off we went. It was so much fun I went out again later that day and just went on my own. I'm feeling it this morning however :)

Gearing Up For Some Excitement

2009-07-16T22:48:00.000-05:00

Here's the short list of what's going on in my life:Mom coming in for a 1.5 weeks tomorrow. Want to get to know me better, just ask Mom? Just picked out the new hardwood floors we want to get. Got a check for half of what need to make it happen. Fawk it. We waited this long so we might as well go for it and see what happens with the insurance company. Promoting Recap's new musical "Rock

The Upcoming Fight At MicroCenter

2009-07-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

I went to MicroCenter today and bought an open-package clearance item. It was a 1 Gb DDR SDRAM stick for my ailing P4 studio computer. I'm trying to get to 2Gb just so the thing can open up Firefox at a decent speed at this point . Anyway, so, I brought the thing home and eventual got it into my machine. I exepcted to see 1.5 Gb of RAM but only saw it was still at 1 Gb. Though a little

My Space Overhaul

2009-06-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone: I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what to do with my online presence. MySpace is still relatively an okay place to promote myself, but Facebook has been an overwhelming winner in keeping me connected with others. So, therefore, I think I will start planning to reserve myself an official domain name and stop doing the MySpace thing. It's been fun while it lasted and

Take A Look At This Mug

2009-06-16T21:36:00.000-05:00

While surfing around on the internet, I stumbled across the Trib's "Mugs In the News" area. I'm appalled at some of the crimes people these people are acused of. So, like a bad car accident, I couldn't seem to stop looking at some of the mugshots. I noticed under neath them they have links directly to whatever story was written about their individual incidents...until I ran across this one:

Now I Had The Time of my Life...

2009-06-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

I finished up my last show this round with Infinite Sundaes (Second City's Musical Improv House Ensemble) last night. It was a great show for me as well as the rest of the cast. It marks the last of the steady gigs I have for a while as well. I'll still be acting/training/producing but I am going to be able to devote more time to family during the summer as well which I'm massively excited for

REMIX!

2009-05-28T19:48:00.000-05:00

I love my son's toys more than my own sometime. As simple as they are, their lights and sounds make me want to play with them even more because I can turn almost any toy into a jambox. Need me to remix a count to 4? "Wha...wha...wha wha wha wha one...two two two...thr thr thr thee...four four four four" Want to me to remix the sound of a barn animals? "The cow goes moo...the cow goes moo...

Signs That the Crowd Is Digging You

2009-05-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

Just did another acoustic set at Inner Town with Static Republic, and let me tell ya, the love we felt tonight form the rest of the folks there was unique . Here is a quick review of how the show ran: - We got introduced by the hostess Lily tonight. We took the stage to an audience that was indifferent to us being there. So, I took the mic and thanked the entire crowd for their rousing

Leadership Haiku

2009-05-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

To be a leader Decisions are hard to make Respect and love first Currently listening: Relapse By Eminem Release date: 2009-05-19

Twitter and Facebook Are Killing My Blog

2009-05-06T09:36:00.000-05:00

I have to accept the reality that my interest in my own blog is waning . With a plethora of other sites/tools to share my experience with others at my disposal, posting blogs on MySpace has become arduous. Two and a half years ago when I got onto Myspace, it was the height of bringing together all social interaction together in one place for me to not only promote myself in various artistic

2009-04-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

Having done my research of watching trashy daytime TV, I felt like I must list out the obligatory list of catchphrases in the case you are ever taken to NY to let the world know you're a degenerate: (While screaming) "*Father's name*, when that DNA [test] comes back saying you are the father, you need to step up, and be a man, and take care of your responsibilities!!!" "Maury, I'm 1000% sure I

My Uncle Julio is Ubiquio

2009-04-16T12:03:00.000-05:00

As you already know, I adore Uncle Julio's Hacienda's food. Yes, it's horribly unauthentic, but, hey, if I want to eat authentic Mexican food (which I have), I would fly on down to Oaxaca to get a bite to eat vs making a 20 minute drive to my local restaurant . I'm down the Julio's for life! They're also located in my home state of Texas and in the Dallas Metroplex they have 5 of them. Either

The Stars At Night Are Big and Bright...

2009-04-13T21:13:00.000-05:00

I went for a walk around my parent's neighborhood tonight. It was awesome to look up in the sky and actually see stars! I found my good friend Orion was waving at me with Ursa Major in tow . Seeing the sky is awesome! It makes me feel like there are bigger things in this universe than my own sphere of influence. I also enjoyed the general ambiance of

A Text-Free Holiday (Almost)

2009-04-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

The last major holiday celebrated by many was New Years Day. I gathered with family and called friends to wish them a year's worth of good times. In many cases, I got the empty, cold, hard LCD messages wishing me the same thing in return. I already have my very opinionated thoughts on the demise of functional social interactions being perpetuated by modern "communication" technology; thus,

The Joy of Music

2009-04-11T23:38:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed playing music tonight. It was such a great release creatively to play dulcet tones from my glittery guitar. I ran through a bunch of my own material tonight before Static Republic's rehearsal and that was a great joy. I was rediscovering a lot about myself while singing about about past relationships, self-empowerment, and the

Sunny D Haiku

2009-04-09T21:50:00.000-05:00

Oh Son-Son in the sun-sun Grateful to feel warm To thaw us out from winter Currently listening: Relapse By Eminem Release date: 2009-05-19

The Colonel to the Rescue!

2009-04-02T21:21:00.000-05:00

KFC has offered many municipalities a chance to fix the various problems with their streets by picking up the tab for pothole repair. The only catch is that they would be allowed to stencil "Refreshed by KFC" on the top of the newly laid asphalt. Mayor Daley stated during a press conference that he would be interested in sdealing with KFC "if they were serious". How do you get more serious

Yeah, I Rock!

2009-03-27T21:19:00.003-05:00

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

My Hopes for The Smashing Pumpkins

2009-03-23T07:42:00.000-05:00

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

Creativity Haiku

2009-03-22T22:36:00.001-05:00

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

If You Don't Know It, Fake It!

2009-03-16T10:05:00.001-05:00

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

Should I Continue Buying Physical Media?

2009-03-15T07:40:00.000-05:00

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?!