Apologies dear reader for my lack of updates. Every time I find a new web site I think is interesting I immediately check how often it is updated. It’s literally the pulse of thing. No updates = no pulse = not alive = I’m not coming back. Hopefully I’ve got the paddles on this site just in time to yell CLEAR and bring it back to life for you.
Life has been interesting. I began the road to change but it was suddenly transformed into a dead end. Now I’m sitting at the wheel and frustrated with my lack of destination since I was mentally prepared for the trip. I’m tired of things and hunger for a change but my last minute cancellation has left me unmotivated. A debacle I’m currently dealing with. What one knows and what one feel are often in direct conflict. Once one realizes the uselessness of one’s emotions you should earn the right to deactivate them. This is on my short list of questions/complaints to THE LORD OUR GOD should I ever bump into him accidentally. Yeah thanks I get it, I’m (insert emotion here). Mind turning the THING THE HELL OFF NOW PLEASE THANKS.
Speaking of the HOLY MASTER HIMSELF (or lack thereof) I’m currently reading The Book by Alan Watts which communicates a Western version of the The Vedanta Philosophy which I hesitate to summarize due to my unfamiliarity with it at this point. I’m almost done reading the book and I find it very interesting. However the information is fairly condensed so I’m going to re-read it I think. The basic premise is one that found myself recognizing before reading the book however. It touches on the possibility that the universe is essentially ONE thing with many parts that all rely on each other to be the ONE thing; similar to components inside the body. In order to even consider the possibility however, Watts points out that the way we see things is all together wrong (separate components) which makes subscribing to the notion a bit challenging. I won’t butcher it further, it’s worth a read for sure.
So I’m neck deep in Facebook. I resisted for a while but have been pleasantly surprised in the experience so far. Facebook has created the Hagen Daz Vanialla Ice Cream of social sites. Perfect in it’s simplicity, pointing out even further the massive failure Myspace has turned out to be. Yes may I please have more bots spamming me with requests of folks with obnoxious profiles of gaudy backgrounds and horrible looping music interested solely in self promotion? MySpace shows what happens when you let people do whatever they want. It’s a web site version of the United States and Facebook shows us why we need laws of every kind to prevent us from fucking each other over for self-advancement.
On the GAMING front I beat Call Of Duty World at War in co-op mode on PC with my friend Derek. We had a blast. I made it a point to not play the game during development so I would get the fully cooked dish. I’m glad I did, it’s the best game Treyarch as made I would say. I know I may appear biased, but I’m not. I pretty much call it like I see it, and they have really made a great effort to add the grit and edge to the WWII genre. Even the the launch trailer is essentially a heavy metal video violence highlight reel that I Love. One trailer I didn’t make that I wish I did. I’m also playing Ninja Gaiden II which I’m enjoying a lot. The combat is fun, and the gore is hot too. Tried playing Gears of War 2 co-op with a friend, we got maybea 1/3rd way into it and both decided to stop playing. High on presentation (amazing visuals, well cut but lengthy cinematics ) , but the whack-a-mole style shooting gallery just wasn’t enough to keep coming back for more. Pretty amazing looking game though. It’s been said that many games are the same 10 minutes repeated. Strip away everything and drop the player in a room with the enemy and some cover and make it fun to kill and you’re just about home. The combat is just..bland. I really wanted to like it too. I didn’t like Gears 1 but I played it solo. Everyone told me OMG IT’S AMAZING CO-OP YOU’RE NOT GETTING THE FULL EXPERIENCE (of course co-op is more fun. JAIL is more fun with a friend.) So I made it a point to play GoW2 co-op. It was the same game but my friend was controlling one of the characters. There were some attempts to harness a co-op experience with one mission requiring player 1 to shoot target A in order for player 2 to advance in an area below. This was cool. Hell, EVERYTHING about the game is cool, except the combat. So it didn’t last.
I also beat DEAD SPACE which was amazing. First game I’ve beat 100% in a while. It’s basically the movie ALIEN perfectly translated to a fun, suspenseful, scary, and gross game. If you play this game be sure to play it loud and uninterrupted. It took a while to get to the Epic level, I had all but given up on it before getting sucked back in.
Apologies for the lack of updates folks. I’ve been busy working hard on getting to the next level of my life. I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not yet, but I will update when i find out. In the meantime a trip to Cambria California yielded the above picture (click it for more).
I worked hard on this so I’m going to post it. If you want more info, go here
Every since I was young, I’ve obsessed on things that interest me. I think “interest” may be putting it lightly. Things that involve creativity, when the idea strikes, and the momentum gets going, I get consumed.
When I was in High School I got roped into a youth group at my local church and went through a phase of going to church (that’s a whole other story). I remember several instances sitting in a pew listening to whomever, all the while unable to stop the drumming in my head. At the Time I was way into Steve Smith: Part 2 (an instructional video from the late 80’s) and couldn’t turn off the mental playback button of Steve soloing in 5. I was worried that maybe something was wrong with me. Surely during this moment, I should be focusing on the message in front of me. No chance really. The part of my brain that recites music simply has no off switch. I sometimes think that the constant “mental” practice has helped my drumming in a big way. How can it not? It’s its extreme nature that concerns me.
My first experiences with girls at a young age I soon discovered background music was distracting. And by “distracting” I mean sorry honey you’re cute and all but I’m playing a drum solo over this tune you have on and I can’t stop it I hope you understand it’s not you no I’m not like the others wait where are you oh dammit. .
Another odd thing is how the current tune in my head gets planted. I never know if it will or not. One second you click on a youtube link where someone plays an old Chicago song and the next thing you know it’s been on repeat for 3 days straight on the old mental jukebox. You know, the one with no plug (to be unplugged). I’m not complaining, but it gets inconvenient at times where I don’t need my own personal soundtrack. You can imagine. Christ, at least let me pick the tune. Flying, and meetings are particularly grueling because I’m a captive audience to the mental carnival of music, drumming, and director commentary to whatever the heck’s going on at the moment.
I’m used to it by now. It happens with other things that involve creativity as well. Making movies. Taking pictures. I’ve recently learned a great deal about game scripting (text files that contain code that dictate everything that happens in the map you’re playing). I spent a good 11 hours working with it yesterday and got up today at 7am, my mind racing with commands and functions that translate into game actions. It’s an extreme sort of all-or-nothing state that sets me in motion whether I like it or not. There comes a point however, when personality driven obsession meets enough resistance and it’s up to discipline and perseverance to get through the knee-jerk reactions of quitting as a result of repeated failure. It’s called growing up I suppose. I like to call it manning up . Man up, Steve.
Playing music is fun. I’ve been in Altered with my friends John and Jeff for about 7 years now.
I ended up leaving for the gig later than I should have. I was at my friend Derek’s watching Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters (an excellent movie). As a result I ended up rushed from that moment until downbeat. I had to change a few heads on my kit before tearing down and packing up, which took some time. Well spent however, the drums sounded great (I bought them in High School. Yamaha Recording Customs for the win, Alex). I get there, setup and folks are already arriving. I manage to think ahead and order a chicken salad (opting not to eat a huge baked potato before playing). I setup, then sit to scarf down the salad while saying hi to friends as they arrive. I step outside to clear my head for a few, then return and we hit.
Gigs are always interesting in the way they bring together people from various aspects of one’s life. Co-workers, former co-workers that are friends, friends, family, music fans, strangers, all come together and this unique energy is felt as the eyes and ears are upon you. There is nervous energy but it is kept at bay by confidence of past repetition.
I immediately I notice the room sounds a bit strange (it always does, there’s a wall at my back and the sound is loud but dry). I make every effort to hear John and Jeff and try not to step on things volume wise while forking out my share of energy. I like to use the “pilot taking off” as a good analogy for starting a song with a band. Get the tempo, count it off, watch and listen. Make sure the song gets to the altitude it needs to as smooth as possible in terms of tightness, tempo, and overall feel. Every tune has a very specific place it’s intended to get to, I am always conscious of it’s arrival and what happens next. Usually with us it’s the musical version of some kind of loud protest that ends peacefully. That’s how we like though.
The first set is over as soon as it starts (all 60 minutes of it) and I am told by our 2-man/5-camera film crew that all is well. They’re not filming the second set, but despite dome flubs I think there may have been some moments in the first set worth checking out. As of now I haven’t even received the footage yet. I say hello to friendly faces while refilling small thin glasses of water from the bartender. The waitress is a gorgeous Gweneth Paltrow look-alike that is covered in tattoos. I’m curious what her story is. Folks leave, the hardcore stay and the second set happens. I take more chances with less eyes on me and the comfort from set one’s success. We have fun and play music, then tear down while exhausted. The doorman is pleased and so are we.
Until next time..
Spent two days mixing the new CD from my band Altered. Fun was had, levels were adjusted, frequencies were compressed, food was consumed, music was created. It really is cool how personal chemistry can effect musical chemistry. I’ve been in this trio for about 8 years now and there is no substitute for the kind of comfort and trust you get playing music with the same band over time. It creates an atmosphere that is very fertile for reaching it’s full potential as a result of what everyone has to offer. There’s no real interference because of the personal trust musical intimacy that sets the table.
I’m enjoying talking through my car stereo. I met a woman at a party (the same one, on two different occasions) that I regret not asking out. I have a gig on Sunday I’m excited about. I got a chance to speak with one of my favorite actors of all time (can’t mention specifics quite yet). There’s a tree dropping crap all over my car hood. It’s on my neighbors property so it’s going to be a big song and dance dealing with it. I got a new screen door to maximize comfort at the palace. I’m still watching reruns of The West Wing on DVD. I’m excited for the new Batman movie coming out.
Taken from the Mulholland Drive lookout area. There were lots of tourists taking group pictures around each other. I found it odd that none of the groups really spoke to the other despite being confined to narrow walkways and tiny parking areas. I mean, I keep to myself as much as anyone but they all had something obvious in common. I’m not expecting a group session where they chat about their respective vacations, but this was sardines in a can pretending their alone pretty much. I did find it novel that folks had come from around the world to check out this area that’s essentially walking distance from where I live. Of course the novelty wears off after I notice the smog in my pictures.
SO Friday night I go to this video store that’s a chain native to LA. It’s called 20/20 video and despite being a chain it doesn’t really seem like one (which I like). There’s always interesting folks working there, and more so very odd music playing in the store. Sometimes super heavy death-metal, or some odd omlette of genres that I never hear outside of the place. Usually I don’t care for it and sometimes wonder if they do it to minimize time customers actually spend in the store. Whatever the case I’m usually tapping on my legs along with whatever is playing while browsing the new releases.
One tune catches my ear after a moment, an a Capella song in German with two women in a duet. They sing slowly and sincerely and I was having fun soloing over it in my head while being emotionally captivated by the tune. On the way out I ask the guy what it was and he tells me it was a band called Faun, the song being “Der Stile Grund” (lyrics by 16th century poet Joseph von Eichendorff). A live version of the tune is HERE on youtube. Beautiful stuff.
I become intrigued at the idea of playing along to this tune as kind of an accompaniment to some drumming and go home to hit the Google-webs for some research. I end up buying it on iTunes and immediately notice that tune goes in and out of time. Can’t really drum to that! Somehow I have to get this thing to a click track of some kind. I’m determined to cross this over from the idea to reality.
So I burn the song to CD and rip it to wav format to strip the DRM. I import it into Adobe Audition (a sound editing program) and create a project. The tempo is about 110bpm so I end up stretching and blending the end/beginning of phrases while using breaths to smooth out the transitions to get them in time with the click. Currently it looks like this. So far it sounds good, after I spend some time playing with it I may post results (giving proper credit of course). Stand by.
I wanted to also mention that I got a new car stereo on Saturday. Now, I’m a pretty hard-core geek. However I still find myself amazed at some of the technologies available to us these days. The stereo has blue-tooth syncing with my cell phone. When I get a call, I talk through my stereo and the caller comes out through the friggin stereo speakers. Now, I understand how it works, but it’s one of those George Jetson type things that I’m not used to yet, and nowhere near taking it for granted. I mean, they automatically detect each other when I get in the friggin car. My phone and my stereo. They talk to each other. I don’t even have to do anything. OK. I’ll stop now. I’m starting to sound old.
I’ve often driven around the Sepulveda Dam and always wanted to take some pics of it. I figured it would be difficult to get to, but it turns out you can just hike right up to the thing (here’s what it looks like from the the top of it). It was a fun little adventure getting there. Once I arrived there were some kids on dirt bikes there. They obviously knew a better way. My ratio of pictures taken to pictures being good enough to share is getting worse. I’m learning the lessons but not yet applying the new knowledge. It’s a difficult limbo but I’ll get out of it. It’s just a matter of trusting my gut on when to not even bother taking the picture in the first place.
Speaking of “Dam” I went to a CD shop (Amoeba) with the intent of buying the soundtrack to Matrix Revolutions because it has an amazing song during the final fight scene. So I get there and low and behold they have the soundtrack for the other 2 Matrix films, but not Revolutions. I actually gave the clerks grief (you guys were literally caricatures of the type of guys one would expect to work there. I hate to be judgmental but your existence literally breeds stereotypes for record store employees across the globe).
“There’s three Matrix movies”. I said. “There’s a Hajillion CD’s in here. You’re gonna tell me you only have two of the three soundtracks?”
They go on to tell me that the last copy they had was in the store for a long time before it sold so they didn’t pull the trigger on getting another one right away.
Oh.
All of the sudden it doesn’t seem so stupid that I’m literally swimming in compact discs here and you don’t have the soundtrack to the movie that was (oh nothing) part of one of the biggest trilogies OF ALL TIME. Mind you I think the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies sucked. I’m just sayin. They should have the thing.
“Oh.” I said.
“Let me go to one of the other CD shops around here.” Dramatic pause.
“Oh wait. There is none.”
I leave. Dam.
Turns out there’s a new Virgin Megastore in Hollywood. And a Borders. I ordered it from Amazon.
I’m tired. Prepare for typos.
So this morning I tried photographing my friend Frank Fontaine. I had never done headshots or promotional type shots of someone before, so we went around various locations in Hollywood and I got some pretty cool shots actually. I will post them later, they’ll be on his myspace or something. It was fun and challenging. Taking pics is one thing, directing a subject is another. I made it a point to encourage and give specific direction which kept things moving nicely. Would you believe me if I told you I had directed actors in a movie made entirely in a video game at work?
Yeah.
Then I go to rehearsal with Altered. There’s such a huge difference between shedding on your own and playing with a band. It requires so much more from you above and beyond just playing your instrument. I always mention to students that practicing your ass off pays off because then things require less effort overall. Then you can really start thinking about the deep concepts like time, pocket, the band as a whole, improvisation, things that require deep listening and adjusting while your playing. This is why I don’t want to have to worry if I can play certain things or not. I need the things I can practice alone to be as second nature as possible so I can focus on the the other stuff.
Anyway we have a gig July 13th so we’re slowly but surely getting ready. It’s tough because our bass player live 200 miles way. He drove to LA for the rehearsal, then drove back. Yeah.
After rehearsal I went back to the train tracks, now armed with the knowledge of HDR Photography and took some more shots, some of which came out nicely.
At this point I’m crashing pretty hard at home because of course I hadn’t eaten anything yet so I scarf down a salad from Sharky’s and am eager to process these pictures I just took. Then I remember my friend is playing a gig tonight and I wanted to go support him because he’s a cool guy. Plus it increases the chances of him coming out to my next gig. There, I said it.
This is where things get interesting.
I follow the directions to this part of LA I had never been to before (Highland park anyone?) and suddenly get this small-town vibe almost (except with lots of Police around, always a good sign). I’m pretty sure I see my friend standing in front of what I assume is the venue but there’s no sign or lights to be seen. I meet up with him and ultimately find out the place (wait for it…) opens 30 minutes after they said their start time was, and there’s a band on before them. All this translates to a lot of waiting around, but I haven’t seen him in a while so we can catch up which is cool.
As it turns out this “Bar” used to be a Bowling Alley a long time ago. The actual lanes are hidden behind some curtains, but you can easily go check them out if you like. I immediately noticed how old and worn the wood was and got a tremendous sense of the history this place must have. I made a note to come back with camera in hand.
The place is called Mr. T’s Bowl and yes, the place itself iust just as bizarre as that web site. The front counter had stacks of every indie-rock (free) newspaper in existence. The bar area (un)lit with black lights and tended by a curious woman named Paulina. You could tell that she was a long-timer. I asked her about the list of those 86′d (permanently kicked out) from the place. Each name had its own index card by the phone, and all those on it had nicknames. My favorite was “Ballistics Mary” (see what I’m saying about history? Yeah.) I told her I wanted to know what my “86′d nick name” would be but would never know since I would most likely not be returning here kicked out tonight. She said the manager makes up the names anyways. My loss.
A couple bands played before my friends did. They were all pretty much garage rock bands with mediocre players but high on sincerity and enthusiasm. At this point there’s a a couple dozen of us in this old bowling alley watching these…bands. All the folks there (varying ages to my surprise) were all indie-rock LA types ( Visual aide here. ) The cool thing was everyone there was noticeabley into music. They watched intently during the shows and could be sen doing the slight head nod to the CD’s of surfer rock playing in between acts (sound man included). To be honest I was feeling a bit more open-minded tonight and my tolerance for the people, place and the music was higher than normal (I stayed for more than 5 minutes). Mostly I just wanted to support my friend (and the bar with my 3 Red Bulls. Thank you “$20 Minimum Credit Card Purchase”). Truth is I wanted to just buy one drink and tip Paulina with the rest. She had an amazing body.
Wandering around I was in a slight daze of just being plain old freaked out since I was pretty much in a Tarrintino film at this point. There were pictures on the walls of various older gentlemen hanging out, and bands all dressed up in outfits that reminded me of the Mummer’s Day parade back in Philly. It was all so very odd.
After the show I found myself outside with my friend, his guitar player, and several other folks I did not know. Astrological signs were mentioned and this girl shared my sign of Cancer. Oddly enough I found her offerings to the conversation to be surprisingly witty. I was caught of guard more than once at how funny she was. At one point she said L.A. was a “large sea of Suck with scattered islands of Awesome.”
I think I have Restless leg Syndrome. It’s this odd sensation that’s uncomfortable enough to prevent falling asleep sometimes (like I need another reason) but doesn’t really hurt. It’s always my left leg too. I guess this is the part where I give thanks that my ailment’s biggest symptom is being uncomfortable.
There’s a juicy four-page discussion on the HouseOfDrumming forums regarding file-sharing. I can remember learning about this stuff from hard-core geeky sites back in the 90’s before it was mainstream wondering exactly how big it was going to be. Then Tower Records goes bankrupt. Amoeba Records seems to be the Magic Johnson of cd shops, lasting while others with the same disease drop everywhere around them. There’s one down the street and there’s usually a line of cars waiting to park there. It reminds of Pinks Hot Dog’s on LaBrea. It’s an outdoor Hot Dog stand that has a line down the block in rain, snow, sleet, or hail. I often wonder if there’s rolls of cash in their buns, or they found a cure for Cancer (what’s with the disease metaphors tonight). I’m an In-N-Out burger fanatic and I still don’t get it. You gotta be offering up more than a tasty burger to get my butt in a line outside. I mean really? Really? A quick youtube search yielded this video. It’s just food folks. And by food I mean the novelty of being able to say you went to Pink’s in which case why is no one cashing in on this by selling I ATE AT PINK’S T-shirts online?? Clearly folks want other folks to know they went there. Someone make this happen and send me the link.
I get the feeling most of my witting will be done late at night. I really am a night person. Every morning is a struggle to rise from the coffin and get to work not so much to get to work, but to get to coffee.
Then work. Priorities people.
Anyway, as I’m sure a lot of you can relate to, the night time is when unique ideas sort of flourish a bit. The ideas themselves are different than the day time ones; they have a different aroma to them. One must be careful however, we don’t want to pull a Jerry McGuire and post something for the world to see that feels so right in the darkness but is suddenly ugly in the unforgiving light of day. I can already feel myself slipping down the slope, I had better stop.
So I’m giving Twitter a try, it’s been interesting I suppose. basically you update with “what you’re doing” and anyone following you sees it, and visa versa. So far I’m pretty well informed on what and where my friends are doing and going. Like most concepts like this, it sounds cool but after the third installment of Just got back from work, heading out to have lunch with friends it quickly shows its anti-climactic true-color of “Real Life”. The odd thing is I keep getting unsolicited followers. I get the sense that these are hard-core Twitters that instantly follow anyone they don’t recognize. Fine with me, I’m somewhat of an attention whore (I’m SteveH_ on Twitter. The underscore character is a great way to salvage a username someone else took from you). The future of this page will be a collection of pictures, videos, rants, music, and drum stuff.
It’s going to be good. Stand by.
