Busy busy busy.

Sometimes it’s difficult to write a blog, like when I’m driving.

Seems these days constant multitasking is essential to getting everything done.

Ironically, it seems that I thought when I got older, I’d long for simpler times & days gone by.

But either I’m not there yet, or my generation is different. I’m looking ahead towards new technologies, where thoughts & ideas can be shared and absorbed instantly, where medical breakthroughs can be figured out, mapped out & processed quicker so a lifesaving or healing procedure can be approved before anyone has to die waiting.

A time when thoughts & ideas can be shared easily to provide an emotional bridge or fill a psychological gap so people can understand each other on a deeper level, before throwing verbal & physical assaults at each other. I want more, faster, better.

Perhaps in some sense it does mean simpler, where little thought is given to injury because you know a sensor will activate a healing process based on your pain. A bout of depression can be alleviated by a musical interlude, a comment, a picture or taste. Bad stuff happens, poof, it’s all better without having to deal with it.

Which frees some people to be more creative, & other to enjoy those new things that happen because of this creativity.

Ultimately, understanding how & why God created mankind, & while not being God-like, finally communing with Him at the level we were originally designed for.

Ultimate, unrestricted, pure love.

Cool.

These past few months have been a ..LOT.. busier than I would ever have imagined,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWS7VeG8z6g

Gives you a lil’ idea of what I’ve been up to.

I missed the VMAs last nite, but after watching the reruns of Kanye’s nonsense, I hope he crawls back into his closet & never comes out.

Angel wings? Diva attitudes? fighting & whining over trivia & minutae?

His apology is like saying: “Oops. Sorry I killed yo’ mamma…peace out baby” Even Michael Jackson eventually found forgiveness in his passing. Kanye may find it too, but sadly, I think he’s gone beyond & needs to step into has-been land & shut up before he does more damage.

His next hit will probably be to his head, with a bat. A very large one.

Thank You Kanye, for a life that has served as a warning to other artists.

Yeah, you can follow me & I can follow you. Kinda.

I am not gonna put that on my phone. As it is, when I go to my page it rolls like a slot machine. Too many tweets from too many friends.
Staying connected is so overwhelming, sometimes I wanna just run to a cave someplace & hide. There are some people that seem to LIVE on Twitter & other social networking sites. While I do agree it’s important to stay connected, and, for a performing artist it’s ESSENTIAL to be there for your friends & fans, there are only 24 hours in a day.

Ya gotta eat. Ya gotta …do yer bizness. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve heard that unmistakable swoosh click of a sidekick, echoing over stall doors. Talking to my kids over dinner, they were carrying on a conversation with me while texting their friends.

How can a brain work like hat?

Once, I attempted to learn drums. I was amazed at how great drummers could keep one beat with their foot, while playing something entirely different with their hands, in fact, playing up to four different rhythms at once. So I tried Piano. Right. Left hand running bass lines in ¾ while the right hand is playing chords & melodies in 5/8.

I suppose multitasking in realtime keeps your brain active & may help prevent loss of coherency or acuity. But it’s just making me a little crazy & manic.

Although it seems archaic & maybe even inefficient, I prefer sitting down with my friends, just discussing life over a cuppajoe.
Without the Bluetooth on one ear, ipod in the other, in my car headed someplace with the news & traffic on the radio…

Some of you know the lil’ project I’m doing with Pauline (www.youtube.com/pspauline)

Apparently people enjoy parodies. Because now those lil’ youtube videos are getting reposted in ther places like YahooGLUE  http://glue.yahoo.com/page/watchtower+magazine

And Youtube Japan  http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=JP&hl=ja&v=Ezd5GY66AWI

Even Spain! http://www.videoblogs.com/visor_youtube.php?web=youtube&id=opKaeOTILTE&clave=como%20la%20folr&pagina=1

Andy Warhol was a pre-internet celebrity. He was known for “pop” art, & probably made more money on his painting of a Campbell’s soup can than the original designer did.

He had a cadre of artists & musicians, some of whom because enduring legends, other who had their “15 minutes of fame” & were gone. A lot of people can’t remember the name of the band who did the Macarena, or even “Octomom”’s real name. Now with twitter, anyone can be famous for 15 seconds, because they can be part of a celebrity tweet to that celebrity’s entire fanbase, where tens of thousands of people will see their name. Pauline & I will have more stuff up soon, and will be posting audio versions as well, so hopefully our fifteen minutes will last a lot longer, & the grins & smiles this stuff is generating can continue to help people feel better, & make the world a better place.
For at least 15 minutes.

I’ve been hearing a lot of exceptionally great music lately, & going thru some vintage classics to skewer for the parody project I’m doing with Comic Pauline
http://www.youtube.com/pspauline
SO of course, I started to feel really small. Like, “how the heck can my little songs compete? Why should anyone listen to MY songs when there is so much “better” out there?”
Then comes the email.
A friend requested a song I haven’t performed for over 30 years, one I almost forgot about, because he felt it was still relevant. Then Pauline forwards an email about how a fan got her entire office to see one of our performances on youtube, because she found it so hilarious. And another friend emailed a single word about a song I shared last showcase. The word was “Perfect”.
Just as I was feeling like maybe I should quit doing my own stuff so I can help others more, I get encouragement. Helping other artists get placement, encouraging them, helping them with their productions & just taking the time to listen is not enough.
My friend Gilli Moon said “Jimi, you are also an artist too, never forget that”.

Though I may be too old, too simple or not “something” enough to get help distributing what I do to a larger market, I am appreciated in places & by people I may never see or know about. A friend was the program director for a syndicated radio show, & back then, he was allowed to put his own selections into the mix. One of my songs was in there, & sometime later I got a LETTER from a fan in ....Philadelphia.. ..PA..... For a while, I would alternate fan letters & rejection letters (including contest entries where I was not a winner) but soon that stopped, because I stopped trying. I was still writing songs, still sharing them locally, but local acceptance among friends was about as far as I figured I could take what I had done. There are plenty of friends I can pitch for, so I don’t need to go through the pain of rejection myself. Yet, I know that just having one more industry person listen, even if the work is not picked up, means I have been heard by someone who would never have heard it otherwise. It’s an opportunity for the music to breathe & take on a life of it’s own. And once it’s done that, it has the power to come back & visit me again, just as this 30 something year old song is doing now.

I hope to have more available to share soon, & will be pitching for myself again as opportunities arise. I know most of you are too busy to listen, so I won’t ask that of you.

But when I do see you face to face, or we correspond directly, I want you to know that you are relevant to ME, part of my life & I am thankful that you’ve “listened” to my blog & my thoughts, words & sometimes, music.

I am blessed.

My father-in law passed away on my birthday, last Thursday.

My kids were close to their grandparents, & as my father in law, he was a friend.

He loved spicy food, & usually had a fresh jalapeno with every meal.

He wanted to savor the flavor of every individual thing he ate, & because of that, he’d always have his meals on a child’s “divided” plate to avoid mixing stuff up.

Wide but not fat, he cut an imposing figure wherever he went. Warm caring & friendly, he still looked like he could rip you in half with his bare hands if you got him upset, something I never saw, even when he had reason. He was always inquisitive, absorbing whatever he saw or heard. During his last few weeks, I would hang out at the house to watch over him in case he needed assistance, so I brought my laptop recording system to get some work done while he was asleep. But as soon as he heard the guitar, he’d get up & come over to see what I was doing. He’d ask about the software, the music industry in general & the songs I was writing. He enjoyed the new songs from my friends as well as what I was recording. We talked about the detail work involved with my guitar building, & the tools needed for that. He was an optician/optical tech grinding lenses by hand back before that was computerized & automated. He had collections, most of it stuff that made him happy, but really had little financial value. One of those collections was big belt buckles. Every one had a story about how he wound up with it, & what it meant to him. Souvenirs from vacations, pictures in boxes, reminders of a life well lived, & people blessed & touched by his presence.

My own father passed away decades ago, but it’s only been recently that my mom has started to share his collections with my brother & me. There’s a lot of stuff, more keepsakes than valuable heirlooms, just as with my father in law. But it’s the smiles, lessons & memories that I’ll treasure most, & though those will fade out along with me, at least I’ll know why I’m grinnin’ whenever I sink my teeth into a fresh jalapeno…