MySpace
myspace music


Pete Hopkins - Singer/Songwriter



Last Updated: 11/20/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
City: LOS ANGELES
State: California
Country: US
Signup Date: 1/24/2005

My Subscriptions

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 

Category: Life
Greetings and salutations friends!

What drives you?

Pete Hopkins here, writing to you all on a fine Tuesday almost afternoon :)
11:50am Los Angeles Time.










Some stuff floating around in my brain; I decided to organize it as best I could for my own clarity and benefit as I hope  it will be for yours...

I was considering the course of my life and of some of those close to me going through some tough times and began to ruminate over all the aspects of one’s experiences that may or may not compel them to act upon an impulse as well as the momentum needed to keep going.

Nearly all of my musings over life’s complexities begin with a single question.  The question today is:
What drives you?

Well, in order to begin to answer that we must first look at some different facets of circumstance.  The first thing I decided to do was to define what drive means.  I believe that in the very words we use, often lie the answers to the logic of their application.

Drive: (verb) 1. Force to move, esp. forward; impel; hammer in;   2.set or direct in motion, as in a vehicle; carry forward.3. Chase (game) hunt 4.Incite to a course of action or a state of mind; urge; press; 4. (Noun) A campaign to collect something as in money or members 5. (Noun)Extreme haste or strong action 6. (Noun)Energy; Ambition

So we know what it is now... whats next...  How are we going to use this?

First we must choose the subject or "vehicle" of our purpose.
In my case music, that is my passion... It is the aspect of my life that I have chosen to take decisive actions to push forward.
Some of you, it may be the same or another art medium, or civics or mathematics; career; it may be real estate acquisition.
Haha... it may be food, it may be immediate! The desire to get yourself a free Grand slam at Denny's!! :)
You have until 2pm btw. :)

The point is... the first driving element...  The Vehicle.
So...  for the sake of driving this article forward, let's assume we've got our vehicle what comes next...

Destination... Where are you going?
For some of us this is clear, others may cruise along and stop where they become interested or they may choose to go nowhere at all until they are ready.

Next we have to plot a course. Point A to Point B and so on...
On the road of life, it is not so simple to get where we want to go.
There is every kind of traffic obstruction you could think of and many you would not.  
The very path you choose can disappear right in front of you.  
Therefore this particular journey, no matter what your destination, benefits from a sense of adventure, phenomenal improvisational skills, ferocious tenacity and a willingness to take chances. Oh, and carry a repair kit, cause things could be broken and you may also wish to make special modifications along the way.

Drivers can be driving very long distances.  You will need fuel and more fuel.
What fuels you? Inspires you? Compels you?
This to me is the why of all whys.  It is so very powerful.
The method to the madness, the reason for the reason etc.
You have to choose these for yourself.  
Popular answers are money, fame, knowledge, validation, self-improvement, inner peace, redemption...
I have my own fuel resources, the greatest being, love.
I am certain that my other fellow drivers have theirs as well.

That brings up an important element.  "Other drivers"
There are many of us.  When pursuing a dream, a desire, a goal...
It is easy to get tunnel vision and ignore all the other traffic surrounding ourselves.
I think it is important to try and not do this.  I believe that in the end we can assist each other to all find our way together.  
Acknowledge those around you, let them know that you see them and you will be seen by them, in turn.
Help who you think you could help and never hinder anyone.

Whatever your destination, today, tomorrow, ten years from now;  I hope that you get where you are going and enjoy the ride.  Searchers, keep searching.  Dreamers, keep dreaming.
Drivers, drive on. :)









Pete Hopkins

Friday, January 16, 2009 

Current mood:  ecstatic
Category: Music

Greetings friends.  Happy New Year!



The House of Blues Show on Jan 12th was out of this world and I want to thank all of you for coming and making it a smashing success!!  I will be back there again in the coming months for an even bigger performance.  This is due largely in part to your support and attendance and I thank you very much for that!  I had an absolute blast and I could tell that all of you who were there did too!!  Thank you so much for making it extra special!




 


New Blue notes:



CODE BLUE UPDATE:   So very, very, cool!   I recently found out that Victor Indrizzo is playing the drums on my track “I Won’t Cry.”  Woohoo!!!  As if I were not excited enough at the development of this track, this is really something special.  Victor (Mikal’s favorite drummer) has played on countless hits by some amazing artists including Beck, Dave Gahn, Depeche Mode, Five for Fighting, Avril Lavigne, Macy Gray and even Willie Nelson.  Mikal contacted me just to tell me how excited he was about the project and how “effin sick” the tune is.  Yeah baby!!



The live drums will be mixed in to the track this week and I can hardly wait to hear it all come together.



There have been some amazing contributions to this music.  I am so excited and couldn’t be more pleased with the sound that we are shaping together.  The bass line, performed by Mikal Blue, on a Hoffner Beatle bass, is thick and round and growly with a big, phat, bottom that is rich and formidable.  Additional guitar tracks, incendiary, performed by ace guitarist Greg Suran, (Goo Goo Dolls, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair) create a depth and vibe that I could only describe as a “bodacious luau in space” and just wait till you hear the bridge!  Bottom line… I’m positively luvin it!   Its phat, funky, ultra- cool, it rocks and I believe it’s going to knock you out when you get hit by it.  So get ready!!



 


Thank you all so very much for your support.  This would not be happening without you and I am so very grateful. 



I am uber-excited to see what happens next!



 


-Pete Hopkins


CODE BLUE QUICK RECAP FOR THOSE NOT IN THE KNOW:
I am pleased to announce that my song "I Won't Cry" won the final week of "CODE BLUE" -An eight week competition sponsored by Webceleb, Mikal Blue and Immergent Records.  
I was chosen by renowned Producer Mikal Blue (One Republic, Colbie Caillat etc) and Immergent Records as the top winner and will be recording my music at Revolver Studios with Mikal as the producer in the coming weeks. Awesome!!!  


Monday, December 01, 2008 

Current mood:  excited
Category: Music


http://www.babelgum.com/html/clip.php?clipId=14212...

Check out my brand new music video and then click vote so we can all go party in London. Thanks for your support! You will be able to vote once a day. Thanks much and Enjoy! -Pete Hopkins

Sunday, October 12, 2008 
Rockin With Legends. -The recap.  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
So as most of you know, I entered my song "I Won't Cry" in a song contest & I won the "rockin with the legends" performance prize.  I am very proud that out of thousands of entries from all over the country I was voted into the top ten by the voting public and then hand selected by a panel of celebrity judges and members of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as the overall winner.  So as my reward, myself and my band got an all expense paid trip out to Raleigh NC with all the vip trimmings to open the Rockhall Benefit Concert for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and John Entwhistle Foundation.  I played at a 7,000 seat amphitheater!  The line up of acts that I opened for feautured some of the biggest names in Classic Rock History. Frontman of  Cream, Jack Bruce, Deep Purple singer, Joe Lynn Turner. Styx singer, Dennis Deyoung
Alan White, drummer for Yes...so many other's... Dave Mason of Traffic, Tom Bowes, of Tower of Power, Buck Dharma, Blue Oyster Cult, Eric Bazalian of The Hooters, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Rick DerringerRandy Hansen, (Does Hendrix nearly better than Hendrix if you could imagine such a thing).. The amazing violinist, Geoffrey Castle...more I cant even remember... I'm sure I will kick myself later for forgetting someone.  I had the opportunity to play, eat, drink and talk with most of them and I must say they are the nicest coolest people, you could ever wanna hang out with.  They also all happen to be... rockstars!!  The thing I am aspiring to be???.. they did it.. are still doing it. Wow.  To be in the presence of such fame and success and to have these greats praising my work and congratualting me on my success. Hahaha.. umm can you say validation???  There really arent enough words for me to express how it made me feel.  For the moment I will go with euphoria and exhilerating.
 
The performance on stage was amazing and I could write forever on the details over the four days that I was in Raleigh but I don't wanna gush too much so I will share with you my most special rocktrip memoir.
 
On Saturday night/Sunday morning (4am) after a near/miss jam opprtunity that almost happened, but didn't quite, at the Lincoln Theater afterparty with all the guys... I got a call on my cell from someone in the Yes group aka THE WHITESOX ALL-STARS  and was invited to come to the their hotel suite and sing and perform acoustically.  See the thing is that I played on Friday and opened the show early in the evening and not everyone on the bill that wanted to hear me perform got the chance.  They had hoped to get the chance at the Lincoln as they had all heard great things from those who did witness it.  Again... Wow!!! 
I agreed of course. I told everyone in the car, "Change of plans we're going to Yes's hotel room to play some music." :)  Sascha, my drummer was driving and we were stuck in the Wendy's drive thru.  There was only one car ahead of us taking forever and Mike, my bass player was like "dude let's just go, they're gonna go to sleep. hahaha!!!"  Sascha was hungry and has a thing about low blood sugar levels so we stayed another minute or two to calm the beast.
The drive thru girl was seriously like the worst ever and nobody knew why it was taking so long.  Sascha was trying to order chicken nuggets or something and the drive thru girl said.. "We dont have chicken nuggets all we have is number 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" and she said it in this thick accent in like one second with no explanation and I was dying of laughter.  I wish you could have heard it cause it loses something in the translation but anyways... blah blah fastforward to the really good stuff...
 
We got to the hotel suite and I expected to see like just a few people in there and what I walked into instead was nearly every artist I had met, the president of the rockhall benefit and everyone's collective entourage with thunderous applause, pats on the back and smiles all around me.  I was completely overwhelmed.  What came next was a big jam on "Summertime" with TV personality Elizabeth Vargas and then "Come together"
After that, I was given the floor and a guitar to play signed by Jack Bruce whom I had earlier met.  Amazing!!! 
I played an acoustic rendition of "Become" which was adored by all and remarked as
"fu%in brilliant" by Joe Lynn Turner the singer of Deep Purple (who posesses a rock scream powerful enough to crack the sky) and heartily applauded.  Gigi White,the sweetest woman and wife of Alan White was front and center with her hubby and they both were smiling at me in pride and admiration like we were family.
After I finished that song their was a knock at the door and it was the night manager (again:) warning them about the noise. hahhahaha.  I figured that was the end of it at that point but then Gigi said to me... "Play whatever you want Pete. We're already in trouble." :)  I closed with a song I wrote called "Come Around"  I finished and then all were coming up to me and complimenting me asking for cards and at this point the rest is all a hazy dreamy euphoric blur because the whole thing was a little overwhelming.  All I could seem to say was "thank you" over and over smiling and trying to keep it together.  So it was like 5:30am by now I had a plane to catch in a few hours back to LA.  Goodbyes were exchanged and they all went downstairs to keep jamming till God knows when in the hotel bar which they decided they would take over.  I wish I could have stayed longer, but I'm happy.  I went out strong, satisfied and then some.  What a weekend!!!  I wish you all could have been there.  Thank you to those at The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame for supporting my career and my work and thank you also to my fans here and around the country and the world for your support!
 
Big luv 2 ya! 
 
Raise Up!!!!
 
-Pete Hopkins
 
Tuesday, October 07, 2008 

Current mood:  excited
Category: Music
This foot stompin hand clappin accapella rendition of "Be Your Husband" alla shades of Buckley/Simone/Jackson/Plant/Prince/Wonder/Son House(some of my faves) took place in the dead of the night after a performance I gave at The Knitting Factory late one Wednesday.

The back story: A few of my fans made a long trip to see me, misscalculated the time and missed the show. They arrived just in time to see me leaving the stage. This after parking the car buyin the booze and payin the cover. To show my appreciation, (and cause I'm a nice guy) after everyone had cleared out, I told them I would give them a special performance outside the club. This is some footage captured by one of their cameras that they then sent to me.

If you listen very carefully at the beginning you can hear me talking under my breath about hoping not to get arrested. Security people were within striking distance and as you will see, I get pretty loud. They had already run us off once this night. The things I do for my peeps all in the name of rock n roll... :)




Thanks for ur support. It's a very good life! I'm lovin' livin' it.

-Pete Hopkins
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 

Category: Music
..TR> ..TABLE>
Rockin With Legends.
  
I entered my song "I Won't Cry" in a song contest and I won the grand prize.  I am very proud that out of thousands of entries I was voted into the top ten by the voting public and then hand selected by a panel of celebrity judges as the winner.  So as my reward, myself and my band get an all expense paid trip out to Raleigh NC with all the vip trimmings to open a concert for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in front of thousands.  The line up feautures some of the biggest names in Classic Rock History. Frontmen of  Cream, members of Yes, Traffic, Tower of Power, Jefferson Airplane, and more!!... ya know... them folks.  Pretty sweet... I think even Bob Dylan's gonna be there.
 
I also get four comp tickets to the show, so if anyone knows people in NC and they wanna see me and some of rocks legendary icon types do the damn thang... hit me up.  The Concert is on September 19th at Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, North Carolina  I am excited for this opportunity.  It's gonna be an amazing weekend.
 
..TR vAlign=bottom>
 
 
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 

Current mood:  busy
Category: Music
Yeah... June gloom in full effect here in So cal..

The sky outside my window is a nuclear fallout, whitewash of gray.


I shall be working in the studio all day today on new stuff.. so it won't have much of an effect on me anyways.



Giggin...

PLaying at Molly Malones tomorrow nite.

Woohoo!!!

Thursday June 26th


10pm
575 S Fairfax
Los Angeles CA
90035

See you at the show!

-Pete Hopkins
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 

Current mood:  grateful

She asked me a couple of questions.  Very short very simple questions.

They were,

What do I love about music and performing?
What got me into it... (ha which i realize now.. I'm not sure I answered)

It's something so close to me I never really even think about it.  it's nearly like breathing at this point.  It's what I'm here for and a big big part of who I am and who I'm becoming. 

Today for some reason I was very clear in my mind about the answer so I decided I had better share it before it gets all cloudy and esoteric up in there again. :)

Here is my answer.. to a girl named Courtney, who got me thinking...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Courtney,

Here are the answers.  You caught me in a highly lucid and talkative mood.

Get ready. :)

I love music, like most everyone does, only I think I have deeper affinity for it then perhaps some.  Im the guy who often, when a great song comes on over the speakers at a restaurant or a bar etc, will stop talking to whomever I'm hangin with and change the focus encouraging them to really listen to the music and appreciate it.  I can't help it.  I am compelled by it in a way I cannot explain fully.

I loooove singing and performing because I am by nature an introverted person, with a profound desire not to be.  Somehow, from a stage, or with an instrument, I am able to sing and express things that otherwise I would not be as comfortable sharing, especially with people I don't know very well.

What is interesting is how this business and lifestyle has over time pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, on a regular basis, that I am now quite comfortable talking with new people and genuinely enjoy the process.  I find others fascinating and it is so cool to meet so many different types of people.  I am no longer withdrawn or hesitant and give freely of myself always with a sense of gratitude.  An added bonus!

I have had great conversations with everyone from hardcore gangstas (real ones, not wannabees in oversized jeans and sean-jean wear) to med students and trust fund babies.  The over-privileged to the under-appreciated and what I have learned is every single person is amazing and has a story to tell.  There is a thread of commonality in all of us that the sharing of music seems to expose faster and deeper than anything I can think of.  It is an unbelievable feeling when your own music has done this for someone and they in turn share that with you.  Seriously a Wow!!

I'm very grateful that my honed abilities as musician and as a writer have opened so many unexpected doors to the rooms in my mind and the chambers of my heart.

So in essence what I love about music, singing, writing and performing the most, is how it teaches me to live in harmony with all around me, through sincerity and a strong sense of community and to not be afraid of expressing my feelings with unabashed honesty and conviction, always.

Thank you so much for asking, Courtney.

Have a beautiful day.
:)
Pete Hopkins

Thursday, May 15, 2008 

Current mood:  amused
Category: Blogging

Okay, here's the  story.

The other night at rehearsal I was for some reason chewing bubble gum at the same time as I was singing, which I have not ever done and something really freaky cool happened...

I have this song on my profile called "I Won't Cry" which has a really high and powerful note at the climax of the tune.

When I sang that high note, the gum in my mouth melted.  I mean it fell apart, dissolved and turned to liquid goo on my tongue!  Crazyness.  I told my band what happened because it was unbelievable not to mention it was like rolling out of my mouth as I tried to explain it.  My bass player, Brian, who is extremely smart, analytical, knows something about everything and is a riot said, wryly with a dead pan grin,  "You discovered the frequency of gum..."  we were dyin and laughin hysterically.

Have you ever heard of those opera singers who can shatter a wine glass with their voice?  Yeah.. it was like that... only bubblicious.  I felt so powerful :)

I came up with a new catch phrase slogan right then on the spot.

"Pete Hopkins, so hot, he'll melt the gum in your mouth"

hehehehe

true story.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 

Current mood:  focused

When evaluating and categorizing the components of life...

Do you find it necessary to block events, people, time and circumstances into

little things...
or
the big deal ??
and everything in between?

I'm beginning to believe that this sort of bookmarking and place setting
tactic may be breeding a race of people who are selling themselves and each other short at a subconcious level.

Here is what I think:

It shouldn't be decided what is a big deal and what is a little thing until we have attempted to either grow or diminish said thing to the extend of our own capacities.  Snap judgements based on a fleeting glance should be considered incomplete and a work in progress. They should not be the endgame.

I see people daily casting aside little things because they are so focused on the big picture they think that they can't or shouldn't be bothered.

Little things can be very big things.  Some big deals that seem monumental are only given that power because we have built them up to that status. My question is, if we can build up one? Why not the other?

Perhaps in the end... we are all little, it is all little, they are all little and all are largely significant.

-ph