Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Monday, December 06, 2004

Wednesday Dec. 8th:

Dallas: KDGE 102.1 Morning Edge show. 8am

ABC Primetime: ABC's Wife Swap. Check your local listings.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

The Zaney Aguirres put the fun back into dysfunctional on ABC's Wife Swap Wednesday, December 8th.

Check your local listings.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Back home. Busy... very busy. Have you seen the magic taken with my Nokia 6820?

Monday, August 02, 2004

End of day 3 in L.A. and lots of photo's for you to view here.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Flew into Los Angeles last night with the kids. If you're interested, click here.

Friday, July 23, 2004

Today is an interesting day.

My son turns 16 today. My parents shipped me off to Central America on a one way ticket a month shy of my 16th birthday. It's been a running joke around here that we would soon have to send him off to some third world existance; "well, we'll be having to send you off in about 2 years", "just a couple more months now, son, and you'll be off too", etc.

I can't think of a single thing my son could do to make me ship him off to a relative in a third world country (we actually don't have family in the third world today, so...). I haven't been able to come up with a hypothetical that would make us ship him off anywhere. There's nothing so bad that he could do to make us do that to him.

We love our son. He has a great heart. He desires to do the right and honourable thing. Nothing could make us discard him in that way. We would all work it out together like we have all these years. Life without him wouldn't be life. It would be a tragedy. Happy birthday my son.

Ten years ago today I pulled out of Los Angeles with my family. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies with our rented mini-van packed to the brim heading for Dallas. Our plan was to have the wife and kids stay in Dallas with the in-laws til I got off tour in Oct. When I got off tour in Oct., i knew we were suppose to stay and make a life for ourselves here. We did and it's been good for us. Hard at times, it's Texas, but it's been good for us.

Today is an interesting day...

Monday, July 19, 2004

I have put up a few pictures that I've taken over the last few days. Click here

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

So what have I been doing for the last 2 months?

1. Recording and mixing a band from Plano, TX known as Perfect Ending. I think they're changing their name to I the Passenger...

2. Designing celebrity merchandise for FamousMerch.com, namely, Rupert from Survivor 7 and Survivor All Stars.

3. Building the corporate website for a Dallas based technology firm.

4. Developing artists like Drama Dust, Perfect Ending, Unforsaken and Stories of London.

5. Dealing with the hell that is The Extreme Tour...

That'll keep anyone from staying up to date.

I am reviving my love for photography. About 2-3 months ago I actually picked up my 22 year old camera and put film in it. I have photographed 3 bands since then and chomping at the bit for a Canon Digital Rebel. Once I am seriously taking pix I will create a photo-blog. I am pretty excited at the prospect of doing photography again. Getting paid to shoot pictures is also pretty cool...

Saturday, May 15, 2004

I'm back in Texas again. Somewhere called Ennis at a Drama Dust/Fusco show.

Exciting, huh?

Friday, May 14, 2004

I'm in Franklin,TN again. Got here yesterday for a meeting today with a record company and one of thier artist that needs representation. A very good meeting.

I was here 2 weeks ago for GMA and I think I'm really liking this town. Besides being beautiful, it was also a confederate strong hold. It's also been the center of all things regarding CCM for the last decade.

I could live here...

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Yes, we're back from GMA.
Yes, we're prepping for a new recording client that starts this Friday.
Yes, we're getting ready to start that new web project.
Yes, we're hammered with RA stuff.
Yes, we're picking out tile for the hallway, downstairs and master baths.
Yes, Riley is growing, and growing, and growing...

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Well, I won't have my 6820 by next weeks GMA so I won't be doing any Toothing in Nashville... darn...

Monday, April 19, 2004

I love humans. I love this planet: Toothing anyone?

In case you are or you aren't: Click here

Friday, April 16, 2004

Omarosa Stallworth is a lying and conniving ....., as suggested on The Apprentice early on. She's evil incarnate!

We saw her true colors early on. It was obvious that she lacked the basic fundamentals of integrity, that she was a liar, deceiving, lazy and bitched about everything.

Finally, last week, as clear as day, she was caught lying, flat out lying and deceiving Kwame, her employer, on film. Then she does it again tonight. Simply not doing her task and not answering her radio was enough to disqualify her from anything and everything. Especially her allegations of racial slurring. Controversial? No. Evil.

Funny how she's going to be rewarded for displaying some of the worst human characteristics possible by getting a book deal and speaking engagements as if she was a role model for African American women... I would think someone would be put off by that possibility... but then again, she did work for Clinton and Gore. Go figure.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

How weird is this: UnclaimedBaggage.com?

Based on the CD titles I would have to say that "Christians" are the most dimwitted...

Thursday, April 08, 2004

Better Late Then Never

Cindy's post about "Are PDA's Dead" and Larry's post about "What I did with my Palm last weekend" really made me start to think about the benefit and convenience of owning / utilizing a PDA in your day to day.

I consciously avoided getting a PDA for close to 4 years. Not that I didn't want one. I did. I just didn't want to get sucked into another "distraction" which would easily feed my wannabe techy personality.

Then about 4 months ago, while visiting a new church, right before the Pastor started to preach, he holds up his hand, sort of waving it in the air and what do you think was snuggly wrapped inside it... a T|T3. He asked, "how many of you still don't have one of these"?... can you say conviction... and then proceeded to preach from his PDA.

We visited that church again the next 2-3 weeks and before starting every sermon he would do the same thing; arm raised, waving slowly as to coax my addictive personality. "How many of you still don't have one of these"? That was it. I submitted.

My birthday was coming up so I decided that I only wanted one thing. A Tungsten T|T3. And just like I predicted, my addictive personality rose it's ugly head and I started consuming everything I could about these little handhelds... my precious. Frankly, I don't know how I lasted this long without one.

I run an Artist Representation firm with over 16 active clients. The majority are music related acts that tour locally, regionally and some nationally. We also consult a good number of them in the ways of this thing we call the business of music. We have a constant flow of 6 - 10 "prospective" clients on average every month to weed through and juggling all of this insanity is my trusty Tungsten T|T3.

The stock calendar with it's 4 views and color coded category lists are reason enough alone to purchase one of these gems. Being able to look at the week and month views in all their color coded glory... breathtaking. The tasks list, the freeware, let's not forget sites like this one and Brighthand; indispensable assets to the world of business!

One of the most amazing things about my T|T3 is the ability to carry our most promising artists anywhere, anytime. Let me explain.

It's Saturday night and you're out on the town at the hippest concert venue schmoozing with some "Hollywood" agent you never knew you were going to run into. You're not carrying your bands media press kit on your person. Who would be? But with my T|T3, I can confidently take it out of it's stylish black case and proceed to not only play Mr. Hollywood the latest and greatest MP3 in beautiful stereo, I can also show him the bands one sheet in either PDF or Power Point, their promotional photos in a slideshow and then close the deal by bringing up the color coded concert dates they have spanning the next 4-6 weeks! All while enjoying a couple pints of Guinness.

Of course, a mere 6 hours later I'll hear those familiar words again... "How many of you still don't have one of these"? while I search the New King James Version on my Personal Dedicated Assistant.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Friday and Saturday were spent with C at the Father/Son campout our church had going on. Camping without the RV is... rough, but we always enjoy it.

Did some bass fishing. There is definitely a big difference between trout fishing, which I have done for years, and bass fishing and there is a big difference between bass fishing and Texas bass fishing. Fortunately, one of the guys from church that I hit it off with early on is a big time Texas bass fisherman and he taught me a few things. I caught about 4-5 bass ranging 2-4 pounds. Very cool for someone that loves fishing that hasn't fished since Park City this time last year.

On Saturday we had dinner with the in-laws for my mother in laws birthday. I was worn out from camping and looking forward to going home but then Jerome called.

Jerome is an old friend. He was in Mortal and Fold Zandura and he's now a member of Switchfoot and went Platinum 3 weeks ago. They were playing in town Saturday night and called to invite us out. We had to say yes.

So we hung out on their tour bus for a couple hours and then we we're escorted backstage for the show. These guys are very good. They do calculated pop rock and it's working for them. They sold out every show on their present tour. Did you see them on TRL yesterday? Same ol' Jerome and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Monday, March 29, 2004

What a weekend.

It started on Friday with interviewing a possible candidate for the Riley Agency. Please welcome Olivia to the family. She brings a bachelors in Business Marketing and some good ol' hands on experience.

Then the girls and I went to a father/daughter banquet at the church and found out some amazing news about the place we've been going to for the past 3 months that we've started calling home. More on this later...

Sat started too early. The local radio show, Spin 180, held their 5th annual listener choice awards. They added a 3 day music conference this year and Riley Agency started the 4 speaker Sat sessions at 10am. We had to be there at 9am. After the sessions there were Q&A's then lunch.

At 2 the actual awards started so along with the other bands, we set up "merch world". Drama Dust presented Best male Vocalist followed by a 3 song set from Spy Glass Blue. We got out of there by 5:30 - 6pm, home, change and then off to Deep Ellum to check out a band we're (RA) talking to, Letter 12. Good band, good set, good draw. Home by 12:30.

Up and out by 9:30 for church where I was able to sit down with Gary (head Pastor) between services and talk to him about what I found out Friday night (more on that later...). Home by 2 and then out again by 6 for the Drama Dust show an hour away. Home by 11:30...

Up today by 7am so I could take X into work for my 10am meeting with a President/CEO of some tech co. to pitch him my services for his site redesign and then off to close on the refinancing of our house, PO box run and then home by 3ish.

I have to be in Dallas tonight for an investor showcase for that play we're doing a website for. I need a day off....

Thank, Abba, for the opportunities...

Thursday, March 25, 2004

I hate practicing. It's boring.

Looking at possibly hiring a new agent. Doing the interview tomorrow. We could really use the help.

Did some roster restructuring in hopes of being able to make some room for some new bands to come on board. Other than that, just the usual task of phone calls and emails. I do have to design a promotional postcard and tour poster for ET04, place a banner ad on the RA site for a new band so that breaks up the routine slightly but it's still work. Not complaining, just needing some more qualified bodies to lessen my personal work load.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

The dogs, Mellow and Riley, really pissed me off this morning.

I was on my way to do some errands and I saw Riley come out the front door and look at me from the walkway. I got out of the car, slowly, and called to him. He gave me this "do I run or obey" look. Remember that look between the bad guy and Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday in Tombstone at the OK Corral? That kind of moment / look. Well, he decided to run.

No more then 3 steps and a yellow blur rushes by him... Mellow. Riley decides this must be play time and goes into a full run after mellow (Riley is 60 lbs already and he's fast and strong). I start screaming their names to come back, running after them. Nothing...

Well, I chased them and called for them for about 2 blocks before calling the house for backup (read: bring the car - I'm old). I finally catch up with them a block later, and these are really long blocks, while Jason (Riley Agent / drummer for The Subject) pulls up in the car. Riley decides to come to me but is dodging and doubling back (this is fun and exciting for him... he's 6 months old). Meanwhile, mellow, seeing that Riley is actually thinking about submitting, takes off again. Riley, preoccupied with the possibility of obeying doesn't see mellow run but is still evading me. I take a few steps towards him and he runs, playfully, dodging until the sound of my voice prompts him to come towards me again. He takes a few strides towards me, I reach out, he tries to dodge me but I get a good handful of his neck and he does what he should have done at the front of the house; fall to the ground in submission like the bitch that I'm going to make him for having me chase him 1/4 of a mile. I throw, yes, throw Riley into the car.

I start driving towards where mellow went. He sees the car, knows he's screwed and high tails it again until I call him. He comes towards the car, Jason gets out to grab him but again he runs, this time towards the house with Jason in hot pursuit.

I start to back up and turn the car around and there in front of me is animal control. Damn, just in time. I catch up to where Jason is trying to get mellow to come to him, roll down the window and yell for mellow. I am so pissed off right about now that the rage in my voice (I think) makes him come towards the car where Jason grabs him and throws him into the back seat. I'm so pissed.

We get home. I put mellow in his outside pen where he'll be for the next frickin' week and then Riley into his crate where he'll be for days as far as I'm concerned.

I got back in the car and ran my errands, came home, up to the office and about 15 mins later, X goes, "I let Riley out about 10 mins ago because he had been in his crate for about an hour......"

Now who's the bitch...
Picked up a new web client yesterday. As soon as I finish building their new site I'll share the url with you. We (Riley), may be doing some more work for them in the area of marketing/promotions and traditional design. We'll see.

Practice tonight with SGB (I hate practicing) for Saturday's appearance at the Spin 180 Awards. 3 songs in 10 mins. We're nominated for "Best Song for 2003 - Vacant Places". We're debuting a new drummer. The new guitarist debuted about 3 weeks ago.

Oh yeah... watched School of Rock last night. Definitely a rental. It was "cute".

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

So besides the endless cycle of to do lists, projects and playing mr. mom yesterday, I can now surf the web, send and receive email and instant message with my T3 using my Nokia 6800 as a modem via infrared. Ta-Da!

I also downloaded AvantGo and subscribed to Accuweather, Reuters, MSNBC, Rollingstone and the Golf Channel.

Life is good.

Monday, March 22, 2004

Sat was busy.

My son, C, had a karate tourny. He takes Shorin-Ryu, so we were out and about by 7:30. He placed 1st in his division. He's doing pretty good...

By 2pm I was on my way home with Brian (Riley Agent) and off to the golf course. Got to use my golf palm app. Very cool.

Then T and I were off to a friends open house by 7pm. At 9 we were at Books for Less looking through books on Akitas and the Music Business. Bought good used copies of U2's "October", Bad Brains "God of Love" and a 3 disc set of Duke Ellington.

Home by 11pm and watched a DVD with C. The girls were already in bed.

Sun was church and then home to put the living room back how it's suppose to be. We moved things around for my party a couple weeks ago. I know... we're slackers. Built an Ikea piece we bought 3 years ago that we haven't really needed to use until now. It's a CD/DVD storage unit. That was a drag to put together. Another DVD and then to bed by 10:30 and exhausted.

T woke up with the flu today so that's no fun. I'm up here working as usual... or I will be after posting this.

Friday, March 19, 2004

After doing the basic email chores this morning, I went to the studio to mix the local band I've been working with. Came out good. There are definitely some very good moments on this ep. Vocally, sometimes, it reminds me of L.A.'s Wasted Youth and some other bands circa '81-'83.

More emails, some site updates, micro-managing, etc and then the evening break with the misses.

My second shift is consisting of more emails, site updates and the occasional surf but best of all, I'm downloading my contacts from my Nokia 6800 (no Bluetooth) to my T3 via infrared.

I'm looking into the 6820 (Bluetooth) even though I would prefer the 6810 (Bluetooth - out in 2nd quarter) because it doesn't have a camera.

Anyway. 12:30am and we're still woking (Brian and I). Our other agent, Michelle, just got here.

Ciao

Thursday, March 18, 2004

I found a very cool site the other day: http://palmaddicts.blogspot.com/.

What happened to the Blog This! feature?
My daughter sent me this the other day:

DADDY'S ELEVEN RULES OF DATING (Guys take note.)

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes to big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of you date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "Barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: "early"

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to introduce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka -- zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, imwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless God of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveways you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car -- there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Rule Eleven- brake her heart ---i'll brake your legs and every thing inbetween

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Oh yeah.

The kids have a band now. They're called Drama Dust. Very fitting... very good, too.
Happy St Patrick's Day!

I'm 1/4 Irish. Does that count?

There is always way too much on my daily plate these days. Today I'm mixing a local band I started recording a couple weeks ago. I'll be finishing it by the weekend.

I'm also chasing down some online store orders that were screwed up by our merchant account. Worked on that for over 8 hours yesterday. What else... bookings. I have bands that I book here at the Riley Agency.

GMA is about a month away... sheesh
So are you reading this?
Very surreal.

I just read all my archives. Very weird.

My brother Omar has been keeping a journal for over 10+ years. It would be amazing to have all that down. I have always wished that I had started a journal when I moved to Guatemala in Jan of 1980 and with so many people the last couple or so years suggesting I write a book, I would have content.

I wish Omar would put his journal online. There would be some pretty cool stuff in there. Like, when Sublime opened up for Scaterd Few in 1990ish, huh Jason...

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Does this thing even work any more?

ok... I'm back.

I'm going to use this thing like a journal... well, like it's suppose to be used...

First, the crazy news. I turned 40 3 weeks ago. Here's a quick update:
I got this for my birthday:



I got this for Christmas:



I'm at the Riley Agency now as well.

X is 17.5
C is 15.5
S is 14+

gts...

ok, I smoked... what else. So much has happened since I blogged properly. I'm looking at the archives and it's kind of weird. Did I ever post a pic of the house?