Sunday

Warm Sea

A real easy writing flow has descended upon me the last couple of weeks bringing the Short Songs For Long Faces EP up to 11 songs. Though the running time may be lean, these songs are coming from an authentic place. It’s tough to remember a time when the creative process has been so unfiltered.

Today’s song is titled Warm Sea, at least for now. It came all at once, words and music, allowing for a very easy demo recording. The denial to one’s self of our own desires is one of life’s mysterious tendencies. Or is that just me? One thing I’m not afraid to admit to myself is that polishing these tracks is going to be satisfying – although I must face, yet again, how to balance the drum tracks between electronic and acoustic sounds. They are both great loves yet somehow the overall approach would benefit greatly from a graceful simplicity.

The evening walk turns out to be an excellent mobile blogging venue. All’s quiet on the streets as long as an eye is kept open to avoid potholes.

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Trasherella – follow the red carpet

Last night was the red carpet screening of Rena Riffel’s Trasherella. Rena wrote, directed, starred and edited. Not bad for a blond bombshell!! We co wrote 3 of the songs in it – Perfectly Imperfect and Beauty Is Pain – which Rena performs wonderfully onscreen. That’s me dawdling my way through the photo shoot 🙂

Marathon Jam

Now that I’ve taken a nap and recovered, the Long Beach Marathon goes down as a really great time. I volunteered for 4 hours of jamming for runners. I played all originals except for Blue Suede Shoes. And only one song got repeated. Everyone was running on by so I didn’t worry about playing cover tunes. I must’ve played about 40 originals. Lots of determined faces.

Second Life is taking off

I’ve been a little obsessed with Second Life since that article in Electronic Musician magazine. My avatar has fancy hair now and is getting slimmer and younger. It’s been a gas, really. 2 shows so far. No amp to carry. Real people behind those avatars. Veddy interesting.

So far my avatar has his own life completely separate from mine, even with a myspace page. We might get together down the line the way Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus do. So far it’s pretty kewl having a rock star avatar to kick around. Highly recommended.

Gotta real life gig coming up. Details soon.

My Cuz Tom Dobson

My young cousin, Tom Dobson, has just put out a CD. He’s on the east coast. So great to have some more family blood in the music game. He claims there’s not too many musicians in our clan. I think everyone’s a musician, just of varying levels.

Been spending time editing my wife, Natasha’s acting reel. She’s good. It’s amazing how a type starts to emerge out of these totally different parts, something special that she brings to it. It’ll be on her site in a day or two.

Not totally ready for the holiday. But, we do have a fab tree and snazzy stockings. Come on Santa!

Past, Present…Velvet

It really happened. The Velvet reunion was a success. If you look closely at the pic you can see that our audience is aging with us. lol. All kidding aside (rim shot) it was great to play 3.5 songs together. We can do it again in a few years. It’s enjoyable to play music with friends. 
photo by Natasha Blasick

Martin Blasick – G/V

Kevin Darish – G/V

Mark Prudeaux – B/V

Kevin Caetans – D/V

special guest Scotty Boy McCoy – G/good times

Someday I’m going to make that Velvet myspace page.

Jake Coco

I want to plug singer/songwriter Jake Coco. He’s a super talented artist who I had the pleasure of producing back in August. His upcoming album is called Re-Defining Love. Jake was so easy going and positive in the studio; spontaneous even though the songs were already written. His method of working is what got me to write It’s Already Started. Musicmaking should be fun right? Some people are known to say there’s no good music anymore. Well, Jake’s CD will provide evidence to the contrary. btw If I sound like a commercial in this post it’s OK because this old dog learned a few tricks from this much younger artist.

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