The countdown can begin. The video is in its final cutting right now and is to be released this Saturday. I'll be posting the 30 minute version "A Night At The Filthy Pirate" and the 3 minute version "Dallas, TX" sometime next week.

Well, well, well. I was reading an article about Mastodon in the latest issue of Bass Player Magazine tonight and Troy (the bass player of Mastodon, duh!) said he was currently listening to Blood & Time's "At The Foot Of The Garden". I recorded and mixed that CD! I think that record flew way too far under the radar--it's some very mellow yet intense music. Anyway, it was exciting to see it mentioned!

Life's a funny thing. Life tends to hand you dreams. Dreams and ambitions. So you find the dream or goal that fits for you and you work toward it. Most of the time, it doesn't pay the bills. So you work a 9 to 5 to support your dream (i.e. habit). You do what you gotta do to survive and hopefully work toward your passion. And then, it seems like when you're finally at a place in life that affords you the opportunity to do the things you love--the things you REALLY want to do--new obstacles arise and deter you once again.

I've gone through that cycle many times in my life: I moved away to go to college, I moved again to find a new home, I went to another college (synopsys in "Dallas, TX"), I had a child, I started a new career, I got married, I (recently) had another child, etc. etc. And when your life's path changes so significantly, it's hard to "keep your eyes on the prize" so to speak. And, in many of those instances, I've faltered and let my music, my dream, come second. And every time, I've regretted it. Not that I should have abandoned my new life for my dreams, but, I should have at least worked on them a little. Not quit completely. Because when you quit, it's very difficult to start again. That's why people who don't go to college right after high school never make it back to college--they're now on to the new thing--life, the job, the family, whatever. Their dream becomes "the thing I USED to do." But every time I pick up the guitar I think, "You should have played it more. You should have practiced more. You should have written more songs . . . " And that's a weird thing to think as young (ha!) as I am.

We started writing a new song tonight. I could see on Justin's face something wasn't right. After practice, he told me that he's leaving the band on Dec. 2. He's leaving on good terms. He's got a lot of major things happening in his life and, right now, being in this band isn't going to work for him. I completely understand. I've been there and I don't envy his position at all. He had a tough decision to make and I respect the one he made.

I wish Justin the best in his future and I hope that he reaches all of his goals and aspirations--he deserves a happy and fullfilled life.

But now, we are a band without a drummer. Any takers?

Today, September 12, 2006, was the release date for Mastodon's "Blood Mountain".  Besides the obvious fact that this record fucking rocks (it was called "Record of the Decade" by one magazine) another cool thing is that I'm in the credits!  I recorded Scott Kelly's guest vocal in my studio (like I did for their "Leviathan" CD) and actually got credited this time.  So, please go buy this CD--I want that gold record for the wall of the studio!

I've been recording the new Virus Nine record entitled "We Are Here To Wreck Everything" for the past 2 weeks. Man, just looking at that amount of time is shocking because SO much has happened that it feels like a month or two has gone by. We just finished all the raw tracks tonight. Now it's on to mixing. So far, so good. Everyone (including me) is happy with what we have so far. I'm sure the mixes will be even better. As tired, no, exhausted as I am, I'm really thrilled to be part of this project and am putting 100% (come on, that's as much as a person can give) into it.

It breaks down to: Beer. Pizza. Cigarettes. Beer. Pinball. Playboy. Sunlight? Pizza. Beer. Hollywood. Beer. Cigarettes. (no)Pillow. Beer. Pinball (broken). What? Beer. Sandwich. Beer. Hollywood.
and so on. . .

It's an inside joke without a punchline. You had to be there. Oh . . . who has a cigarette for Jamal?

The best part is, once this gets mixed . . it's on to finish the Chesterfield record. And then I go into hibernation for the winter. Wax plug and all (look it up on Google). Then it's the next big project in January (not NE).

So, thank god for dirty dishes . . .

Got tired of waiting for the new CD release.  We're not sure if we're releasing the EP or if we're going to record some other songs and put out a full-length.  Any suggestions?  Enjoy the new tracks.

Hey! We ran out of show! For this season anyway. The last 2 bands I booked were the Hollowbodies and Delaney. Check out their performances on Saturdays on Channel 10 at 11:30 PM. Curtis and I realized that we had booked it all up and NE, for all I&P, got bumped. Hopefully there will be another season (i.e. WATCH the show DAMMIT!) in the fall or the winter. With any luck, they'll keep me on as the Music Director. It's been fun doing this gig.


So what's the deal with NE and the lack of shows? I'm neck-deep in the Chesterfield CD so I haven't had any time to play with NE. We have a show in PDX and we're trying to set something up for Supernaut to come back down.


In the meantime, check out T.S.R. and Chesterfield (with the Suspects, Hollowbodies, and LB & the Hackers) at VIBES on August 12. 5 bands for $10! Sweet.

It's been a hectic week:
FRIDAY: show. Had problems (understatement, ha!) with the sound guy. People got the opportunity to see the ugly(er) side of me. I didn't get a proper sound check so I blew out my pipes about the second to last song. We did, however, get an article in the paper, a lot of radio support (thanks 97 FM), and a decent turnout. Thanks to everyone who showed. I was mostly concerned with TSR--I wanted the crowd to stick around for a band they'd never heard. But the crowd was down and TSR rocked the house. I was very happy and relieved to see the great response they got. If you missed the show, shame! shame! It turned out to be a great night of music.
SATURDAY: I hit the bricks around 3 am. I woke up at 9:00 am realizing I was supposed to be at Land Mind to help with setting up for the TSR "Hangman" video shoot. Sleepy and a bit, shall we say, distorted was my mindset. I jumped in the shower and rinsed Friday away and headed out the door. And then I broke my year and a half stretch of not drinking coffee--picked up an Iced Quad at DB. It hit the spot. I didn't need food and was able to go, go, go. Luckily, I wasn't IN the video so I didn't have to withstand Global Warming's effect on Medford whilst wearing full Army gear. But there were about 10 volunteers that did. And they all did a kick ass job. We worked 14 or so hours that day. Note to self: Converse shoes LOOK cool but they suck ASS for comfort. Buy pillows and duct tape them to feet next time.
SUNDAY: Went to bed at 2:30 am. Couldn't sleep. "hangman" going through my head and thoughts of different shots, different lighting ideas, where to put extras and stars and when do we eat and . . . Woke up at 6:30 am. Did the usual: laundry, dishes, etc all before I headed out to the next location for the rest of the shoot. Abandoned field off Avenue G in White City. Thistles. Sage. Weeds. Rattle Snakes (according to Dirty D but no one but me believes he saw one). Apparently there was something out there that resembles poison oak b/c my legs are still itching and rashy 4 days later. It could have been hotter but not much--I don't think the sun gets that hot. The extras (volunteers which were primarily made up of band members of Virus Nine, Idle Threats, and the Suspects (OK--now go buy their stuff--hardest working guys out there, etc. etc.)) were truly impressive. Most of them were downing beer by noon. In the heat. Without drinking water. Any person who is willing to subject themselves to that kind of torturous hangover the next day for the sake of the project, is, in my opinion, a hero. Or a big dummy. But I'm leaning toward hero. Technical difficulties got in the way of John Foote's big vision for the project. Blown compressor. Or was it an overpowered generator? A couple of runs to Lowes answered those questions but in the end we STILL didn't get to blow anything up. As they say in Hollywood, we ran out of daylight. And there was no way I was gonna mess with those rattlers in the dark. But we got some killer footage (as JF put it, "We got some million dollar shots!") and the process was a whole lot of fun.
MONDAY: My body hurt so badly that I could barely get out of bed.
TUESDAY: See Monday.
WEDNESDAY: Chesterfield was due to start cutting their new CD for Mental in my studio. My friend Jeff Ocheltree showed up to do the drum teching. Jeff is a "heavy" and can get shitty drums to sound great and make great drums sound like God. Fortunately, we got the latter. The drums sounded great and my makeshift bass "scratch" tracks actually sounded good as well. Keeper good. We got 3 songs recorded and I was blown out by how good the drums sounded the entire time. The band wrapped up around 8 PM and I stayed up until 2 AM working on an electronica thing. Huh? Yup. Electronica.
THURSDAY: The Chesterfield stuff went down really easily today and, I hate to say, we got the drum tracks done. I figured it would take a lot more time than that but they just got off tour and it's pretty tight. I may even have this thing mixed by the first week in August. Whoa.
Then it's rehearsal with NE for the After 10 show and then I turn around and we're recording Virus Nine's new CD here. It never ends . . . and I wouldn't have it any other way.

(Ah, the punch line of one of my favorite jokes of all time . . . )

But seriously folks, we're doing a video shoot for After 10 (airs Saturday nights on Channel 10 in Medford at 11:30 PM--tune in, believe me--you're not missing anything on SNL) in August. Check our shows for the exact date but we would really love to have some folks come down and get "intimate" with the band. We're only letting in 40 people so it'll be like a personal show.

If you haven't been tuning in (shame! shame!), After 10 is a very cool show that features local bands every week. So tune in and see your friends rock out or get turned on to some new stuff.

I was sternly scolded by many for not updating our news and announcing our new member: Chris Tarquinio on guitar. For those of you who witnessed his first show with us last Friday (July 14), I'm sure you agree that he is a welcome addition to the band. It's great to have the extra wall in the goal of "wall of sound" sound.