Off to a nice start with the Bumper Car City soundtrack. Just wrapped up the beginning of the opening sequence and am setting down the headphones now that I have a nice kernel to work with later. We'll get into the nitty-gritty beat editing later.
Having lots of fun with the project already and love that there's nothing else looming over my head so I can give this project my undivided attention. I think that people who know my music won't expect the soundtrack to sound the way it's going to. I'll upload little samples of progress later.
I had a great weekend. Today, the highlight was cooking up this pasta dish with napa cabbage, ham and carmelized onion in a cream sauce. Sawyer, my five month old was sitting at the table in his new little table chair now that he can almost sit up on his own. My 2 year old was messing around in the living room with his trains and trucks.
I was cooking, which always makes me happy. I was going to work on music tonight but decided against it, I'd rather do it tomorrow early in the morning.
I had the beginnings of a song in my head on the balcony smoking a cigarette just a few minutes ago. A song that feels like a contented weekend with my family I love so much. The two boys that are so incredibly different but obviously brothers, and my beautiful wife. Sometimes I feel like I fell into the American Dream by accident, except that mine is the real one that so many others misinterpret and become miserable in the quest to achieve something that seemed to come to me because I was destined for it.
Weekend...a track to start tomorrow on Monday.
Free at last. I just composed this little piano + synth ditty last night. I used to make these little sketches often, but haven't lately so I'm making an effort to experiment more and write little quick tracks. Many times, these sketches lead to elements that end up in more composed pieces. I wrote this in one take per each of the three tracks.
It was so much fun to make something that I had no expectations or self-imposed pressure with. Enjoy this glimpse into my sketch book.
What a place. What potential. What a crowd. What gifted people live with us in this town.
Those were my thoughts I walked away with on Saturday night. TION is a place that a lot of things could be born in. I loved the huge projection wall and the sound was great until it broke.
I'm really glad that the show is over. Anytime I play out I get all stressed about handling music that was made in the past. I get so sick of my tracks and inspired to move on and make more in different directions. I get my creative license back after a show and end up experimenting again. I'm looking forward to sitting down, late at night or early in the morning, to put on my headphones and write piano pieces or design sounds that are pretty much unusable but a lot of fun to create.
I don't want to play for a while. Maybe an open mic to test out some meditative ambient piece. Another thing about playing a whole set is that I get really bored with myself. It feels so self-indulgent. About 40 minutes into it I start to think about how much more fun I could be having experiencing other people's creations, reading my friend's new book, staring at a mural, standing slack-jawed in front of La Fin Du Monde. 30 minute sets are better I guess.
Kyle Delmar called me out on the infrequency of this blog. I'm back on track with that and thanks for holding me accountable. I didn't know anybody actually read this.
Raul Gonzo's film awaits and I was having a lot of trouble getting creatively invested into that effort with the TION set looming large. Well now I'm free at last and can get back to work.
I had a lot of fun on Saturday night. Keep an eye on that place, the potential is oozing from the walls. It will be interesting to watch what is or isn't realized from that.
To those who came out, thanks so much and I'm always enriched by the people I meet and inspired by other art and mediums.
GRAND OPENING of TION is tonight babies.
Lot's of Music and excitement will be there. Many bands, artists, circus freaks, etc.
And basic will be on at
12:30am
See you there.
www.sparktheevolution.com
So selling a business has made me totally forget about this blog and spend some great time with the family, gain a new appreciation for weekends, and turn out some new tracks of music.
New exciting levels of debt have been achieved due to tax liabilities and negotiations with government agencies are at a whole new level for me. I don't recommend retail unless you can work it yourself for many many many hours.
Family and I are off to IOWA in one week!! I will take the opportunity to refine the new tracks for the show at TION's grand opening and maybe squeeze out one or two more.
Production of the super weird film being projected behind me during the set starts tomorrow.
It's time to get busy...sell cd's on the street...or drum on the corner. Desperation is a great motivator. Need is in the air and it stinks. Creative output is in a good place. This sounds like a horoscope...I don't believe in horoscopes.
This is my last weekend in my coffee business. I'm so glad it's about to come to an end. Putting my mind on music is so liberating. There was a brick wall between me and my creative output.
People keep asking me if I'm sad about it. Absolutely not. I've learned so many lessons that will always be with me. Many of those lessons have to do with ambition and how it needs to be harnessed to lead to something productive and genuine.
Most importantly, this project served to erode my fear. It showed me that it is relatively easy to "do" things as long as you don't mind working a lot and jumping into the unknown. I think the erosion of fear this place has created has made me much stronger as a human being, artist and business person. I'm incredibly thankful for that.
NOV 8, Saturday, GRAND OPENING OF TION
www.sparktheevoluTION.com
I'm playing at 12:30am. I was billed as "Church of Basic" which gives me some pressure to make this a performance piece / multi-media experience.
The day will be filled with performances starting at 7pm. I'll see you there.
Here are stills from the film I'm helping to score. See more at raulgonzo.com
So I'm playing the grand opening of "TION" if that's actually how they're spelling it. TION is the brainchild of Ty Gorton and others. The plan is a mysterious blend of things. Event venue? Warehouse of hard core underground creative innovation?
I hear there's 3 stories! I hear there will be the most epic sound system! I hear graphic design, film, websites, record labels will merge with a circus-like dream studio. People will live there too?
This is all rumor...all speculation. I sense it will be something very special, an elevation of Chico art and artists. A laboratory of artistic and business experiments, a petri dish for dreams to flourish or turn into really stinky, blue moldy funk. I don't know. Whatever it's going to be, I'm really looking forward to it.
All I know is that Ayrian is putting together a night of psycho beats on Saturday November 8. I'm writing special tracks for the occasion. The one in the works is featuring some mangled b-boy breaks constructed with tr808 samples, some deconstruction sound design techniques, samples of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr........and stuff.
I'm excited for this show, I think it will be the largest sound system I've ever played out on, so bring your epileptic seizures and fear!
I will be in costume. Theatrics are necessary for this special occasion.
This place may change the landscape of Chico arts forever.
Selling a business, I've been thinking a lot about ownership lately. As far as businesses, homes, companies and stuff; ownership is never forever. It's all temporal and fluid.
The only permanent ownership is in your love and your thoughts. Intellectual property is the only real property that is actually ours.
The economy is falling apart and numbers like 1.5trillion and 500billion get thrown around and it is so impossible to wrap your head around what that means that it becomes a big weird math game that only works if we all agree that it's real.
Your creativity is 100% yours, for real. Make more stuff.
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