Wednesday Dec. 8th:

Dallas: KDGE 102.1 Morning Edge show. 8am

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

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

Check your local listings.

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

Exciting, huh?

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...

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...

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

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

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

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.

How weird is this: UnclaimedBaggage.com?

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

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.

When you're bored with this blog, check this out: http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html.

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.

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...

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.

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".

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.

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.

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

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

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...

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?

Yes. I'm still here...

Still alive

I'm still here...

Still here. Busy, broke, optimistic and ready.

I'm still alive...

Hello again...

Hi!

By now you know that Ireland lost to Spain in penalty shots on Sunday.

England advanced and will go against Brazil on the 21st.

The two biggest upsets are
1. the USA advancing to the semifinals after beating Mexico inspite of their cheap and below the belt antics in the last 20 mins or so of play. Did you see the crap they were doing to Toby?!? This is the first time the USA has advanced since 1930 and
2. the amazing game this morning between S. Korea and Italy, Italy losing 2 - 1 around the 110th minute. I couldn't believe it... I still can't believe it...

England advances to the Round of 16 and Argentina goes home!

Got all our shirts in today. I can't believe I'm doing this again... "this" being band doing shows with merch. etc.

I've been so busy working on our live show that by the time Letterman came on last night, I had forgotten that db was scheduled to appear. The mb's are buzzing with how gorgeous he looked last night... we were to be in NYC this week for tonight's Roseland appearance but we're not. :(




GREAT NEWS!!!!!!
Ireland advances to the Round of 16!!!

What a glorious morning...

England: 1
Argentina: 0

Well, Scaterd Few is done! I LOVE it!!!!!

In 9.5 hours, I will disappear again for another month while my beloved World Cup of Soccer is played. I will try to blog during this amazing event that only occurs every 4 years, otherwise see you at CStone!

Have I ever told you how much I love NYC? I can't even express the feeling I get when I think about the city, the sites, the smells, the sounds, the pulsing life that is NYC. I wish I lived there.

I might be going again in a few weeks but first I have to go to Philly, PA.

To own a loft in Chelsea or Tribeca... I would like that so much.

Off to write lyrics for 7 songs so that I can wrap up this CD. New York's a go-go and everything tastes right... Poor little Greenie.

Tracking is underway for Omega No. 5

I noticed that my brother knocked me off his "daily visit's" section due to my lack of blogging, I suspect.

What have I been doing?

Finished the American Culture eXperiments recording last week. It was a very good time and the recordings came out very strong. Some good friendships were made in the two months we worked on that CD and now Scaterd Few has a like minded-like spirited sister band. The shows/tours we plan to do together will certainly be a treat for all involved. I'm looking forward to it.

Doing lot's of label stuff... looking for new places to advertise, servicing radio, etc. So much to do...

On Sunday we start tracking the new Scaterd Few, finally. We'll start with the seven songs we have done while we continue writing. The next 2 months will consist of writing, recording, and getting the live show down for CStone.

I'll also be going to GMA in a couple weeks and then to the Projekt conference in Philly, PA at the end of May. I'll also have to find time to put the Spy Glass Blue show together in time for CStone between now and the end of June. Can you believe we have a 90 min set? What are we going to do for 90 mins?

Anyone know any good jokes?

Besides working on the new American Culture eXperiments CD, I also started writing the new Scaterd Few CD, "Omega No. 5".

That, along with all the label work to be done, has kept me too busy to blog.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to...

I just finished doing an interview for HMMagazine. It went well. We discussed me, both my bands, the label and studio. It's been awhile (there's that damn sick Staind song again!!!!!! I can't even say that phrase anymore without hearing that pathetic excuse for a vocal, whining it's way through the words 'it's been awhile'! There it is again!!!!!!) since I've done one so I was a bit nervous. I didn't want to put my monkey boot into my mouth or come off like an ass hole or anything.

Anyway. The interviewer asked about Ramald Domkus and if he was truely buried. I said yes, long ago. He then proceeded to tell me that he had interviewed Ramald back in 1990. I apologized... immediately.

I guess you had to be there... and for those that were... sorry... ;)

Some friends of ours 9 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia last Friday. It's bad. She went into ICU this morning. It's a real tough time for them. I can't help but think there's something spiritual about this one. Pray for her. Her name is Samantha.

It's cold outside...

What's new?

My parents have been in town visiting for the last week. It was a surprise for the kids. We didn't tell them. It's been a great visit, being able to hang out with my dad and stuff. I'm really glad they came out.

We woke up to snow this morning. It's still coming down quite steadily. It's beautiful. Makes me want to move to Park City... maybe one day.

Still in the process of getting all our ducks in a row as a label. Radio should be serviced soon and HM is going to do a big feature on me, the label, the bands, etc. in thier May/June issue. That will be fun. It's been awhile since I've done a lenghly interview... I wonder how I'll put my monkey-boot in my mouth this time. :)

Over 3 months since I've had my blog up.

A lot has happened. We opened up a studio. It's called Siren Studios and launched the label. The label is called Accidental Sirens. Now to let everyone know that the blog is back up at this new address.

The new Spy Glass Blue CD is out and I'm extremely proud of it. Now the work of marketing, servicing radio, pr and advertising... whew...

I have 4 months to write and record the new Scaterd Few CD. Both bands are playing CStone this year. That should be interesting...

Everyone is healthy and growing up. S just turned 12. Damn, I'm old.

I can't believe it's been almost a month sinve I've blogged. I'm about a week away from finishing the mixes for the new CD. I really like what we've done. When I'm done mixing I'll have to point my attention to building out the label and band sites. All work and no golf...

Wow... where has the time gone?

I'm still unemployed but I've also just finished setting up a new venturewith a friend of mine... A recording studio/label. 48 tracks of digital bliss.

My band, Spy Glass Blue, started recording their new CD yesterday for this label in our studio. That's where the times gone.

Can you believe it? I was laid off on Friday and I received a call from a prospective employer at 4:30 pm that same day!

I have a 10:30 interview for a position I can surely fill. I'm also excited because I asked for a lot more then I was getting at the old grindstone. There is a catch... it's a traditional ad agency with a dress code. Ugh...

I should have excellent news from the music front this week. And I do mean excellent!

Wish me luck!!

I join the ranks of the unemployed today.

BTW: That isn't one of the things I was reffering to yesterday

Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. There's some big stuff brewing. Good stuff.

I've had a dream for many, many, many years. I've dreampt of being the male Sade or a male Sade. I've dreampt of putting out a record in that genre... I think it's high time I make that dream come true.

BTW: Last night, Sade was more then amazing...

I am looking across the street at the new American Airlines Center here in Dallas. Sade is sound checking. I'll be there tonight with Baby X.

I watched a movie on cable last night called Something Wild. There's a scene at the high school reunion where the band (who is actually playing) does a cover of David Bowie's Fame. It was entertaining.

I found this humerous.

It's Monday.

My son turned 13 this morning. Happy Birthday my son!


There were at least 5000 at Six Flags Friday night to see the POD show.

We hung out with the band before and after the show. It was a good time.

On Saturday I kidnapped my old drummer, Samuel West. He was in town to play with his band Stavesacre. It was great to be able to hang out with him and then with the band at the show. Overall it was a rawk and roll weekend.

It's already Friday.

At TOM Fest we got a chance to hangout with Headnoise. I hadn't seen Robert and Edie for 3 years. T hadn't seen them for about 4. Their new CD sounds huge! It comes out next week on Grrr Records.

We also got to say hi to the POD boys after their show. It was good to see them. The last time I talked with them was in '98 right after they signed to Atlantic, so other then MTV, etc, I hadn't seen them since all of their sucess had happened. The best thing about it was that it hasn't changed them for the worst. I got the impression that it's changed them for the best. Is that possible? My former manager is thier manager and they set us up with 10 passes for tonight's show at Six Flags. They mentioned something about 8000 pre-sales for the show... damn.

My Great Kilt came in early this week as well. I have to return the ghillie brouges for an English 7 1/2 instead of the English 8's I ordered and they sent me the wrong sporran so that's going back too. No big deal.

Getting into the Great Kilt (no that's not me) is such an amazing task. How did they think that up? My kilt is beautiful in the County Cavan tartan.

I'm back from Portland, OR

Had a wonderful time. Stayed an extra day.

We couldn't get on the 2pm flight out yesterday so we had to take the red-eye last night. Arrived at 5:15 this morning and then came straight into work. Yup... should make for an interesting day. Oh, I had to leave the wife behind. There was only one seat left on the red-eye last night. She was picked up by our friends and she is apparently back at the airport now trying to get a flight.

Don't look at me that way... she insisted I take the flight to make it in to work today.
;)

This is NOT good.

Is this Harrison Ford guy the real deal or what?

The wife and I are jumping on a plane this afternoon. This is where we're going:



That's right... the beautiful North West. The Columbia River Gorge to be more precise. The TOM Fest to be more exact.

Don't let Mikee know! It's a surprise.

My mom has an email account now and this is her first email to me:

Hi mijo,
Thank you for your note, I really don't know what I'm doing.
Your dad and Cass got me this E-Mail connection.
I love you all and miss you, hope to see you soon.
love Mom

Isn't that cute?

You know what's really funny about this picture?



I got it from this website: Stavesacre Girls.com

Man I hope this kid comes out of this ok.

Why bother? It wasn't killed in sport, it was killed for food.

Many of you may not know this, but, Joe Elliot and Phil Collen of Def Leppard have been playing on and off for the last 6-8 years with Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder (the original Spiders from Mars rhythm-section) in the band Cybernauts.

Here's a peek at a BowieNet interview with Joe:

BN: Top five Spiders era Bowie songs?

JE: First of all, for me this question is impossible to answer, but seeing as you asked..... My Top 5 today is:

1. Moonage Daydream
2. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
3. Saviour Machine
4. Drive-In Saturday
5. Velvet Goldmine
6. Bewlay Brothers
(oh, go on, pleeeze!)

BN: Top five pre/post Spiders Bowie songs?

JE: 1. Win
2. Silly Boy Blue
3. Buddah Of Suburbia
4. Growin' Up and I'm Fine (I know, I know.....)
5. Little Wonder/Heroes
(I told you it was impossible!)

BN: Have you ever met David Bowie?

JE: Yes, I have had the privilege. Briefly at the Freddie Mercury gig, and twice in Dublin at those secret warm-up gigs he keeps doing there (please don't stop doing them!) Oh, and once at a BBQ at Bono's house, when David got me to go sing "Happy Birthday" with him to The Edge in some restaurant about 5 miles away. You had to be there, you couldn't make it up!

May I also add that Mark Platti (website down - Ed) introduced me to "one of your biggest fans" when Bowie played "H.Q." in Dublin, (1999 warm-up for the 'hours...' album). It was none other than fab Bowie back-up singer, Emm Gryner, who has since become an e-mail buddy of mine. ......Aaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd has done an absolutely stunningly fabulous piano version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me", which she sent me a while back and had everybody in the band drooling! Nice to see the wheel turning around.

Can you say mullet?

It's Monday. You slither down the greasy pipe. So far so good no one saw you hobble over any freeway. You will be like your dreams tonight...

It was a quiet weekend. Watched way to many movies. Shot another horrific round of golf at the local par 3 18. I suck! The ear is still a bother but not quite as bad. More news about this upcoming weekend later. yoo hoo!

I don't believe a lot of what Amnesty International says and I don't trust them, but this doesn't surprise me at all. When is the rest of the planet, especially the USA and Europe, going to wake up and cut these assholes off?!?

Well, I forgot to take the digi cam yesterday. yeah, yeah...

I shot badly but still broke 100. I shot a 99.

So on Monday night, before going to bed my left ear is bothering me, a bit sore. No biggie I think. On Tuesday at work it's really bothering me. It's all plugged up, swollen, sore and it's a bit painful and very uncomfortable. It felt like i could pull a big bug out of it with tweezers. I figure it'll go away. I wake up yesterday and it feels worst but asprin is helping so I'm doing that but it's really sore and painful. By the afternoon I'm miserable. This morning I go to the doctor and he says I have swimmers ear (damn lake) and sets me up with pills and drops. It's still sore, there's still some pain and swelling and I have a cotten ball wadded up in there to keep the drops from leaking out... my whole left side is plugged up.

Going to watch Snatch tonight.

Life imitates art

I don't think I'll be doing any of this. Drew?

I have an 8:30 tee time for tomorrow. Going to one of my favourite courses with Dan (he got me into the game), his dad Jack and my pal John (one of the JA's). We're playing Steven's Park. They have a really bad site and all the pictures that they have online don't give it justice. It really is a beautiful course so I'm borrowing a digi for tomorrow's game and I'll post the scores and pix just for you, Drew.

So we get to our destination, Lake Quachita, by around 11:30ish Friday night. It's a little less then 300 miles and took roughly 7 hours with a stop for dinner, etc. and we hit a few patches of rain in Ar Kansas, nothing much.

We hook up the rv (gotta love it, 1 garden hose and an electrical plug-in, done) while the JA's set up their tent (we help, of course) and it's off to bed. At around 5:30 am we get hit by a pretty big thunder/lightening storm. There goes my plan to rent a boat first thing in the morning. It rains steadily til around noon. How depressing.

The guy at the marina says they stopped stocking trout over a year ago so I'm going to have to fish for bass. Not something you really want to do without a boat. I go to the shore near our encampment with night crawlers. For the next couple of hours the kids and I get a bunch of hits (pan fish eating the worms off of our bass sized hooks) but no hook ups except for X who lands an easy 3 lb smallmouth on a power lizard. Our only catch all weekend.

Saturday evening/night were delightful weather wise and after a good hearty camping meal we built a mini-bon fire for the roasting of marshmellows.

After an uneventful night and an unsuccessful morning of fishing, we packed up camp and were ready to hit the road by noon on Sunday.

We checked and replenished the automatic transmission fluid but it was slipping in drive. To make a long story short, 4 quarts and 56 miles in 4 hours later, I was seriously questioning if we were going to get home. Finally, after a very stressful afternoon, drive kicked in by the time we got to the west bound 30, getting us home a lot later then we planned, but getting us home.

So we're off to Ar kansas this afternoon with the JA's. Doing a little RV'in' in hopes of doing some fishing.

That's my only goal this weekend; fishing. The lake we're going to, Lake Quachita, claims "...stripers and trout can be enjoyed in open waters and quiet coves.". We'll see.

I'll proabably rent a boat for the day after picking the brains of the marina locals in hopes of getting my fly line wet. The weather forecast doesn't look good for the entire weekend so, wish me luck.

<*{{{{><

Ooops. Some people just shouldn't golf.

How much does this suck? I'd be pissed if I was in the band. Can you say Yoko?

This is too much: EBay halts auction of AndreaPiaYates.com

You've got to be kidding.

If you got into an accident while driving this car, no worries... they would just bury you in it.

There are way to many crimes against children in this state.

Bad Brains...

T saw Gary (Dr Know) walking around. I was bowling. She pointed him out and I decided I'd go say hi even though I had told myself I wouldn't approach the band. It's been almost 10 years since I've had anything to do with H.R. and a good 12 years since I've hung out with the band. I really didn't expect Gary to remember me.

As he walked by me I said "Dr". He stopped, said hello, we shook hands and I told him he proabably didn't remember me. He said I looked familiar and asked me my name. I told him Ramald from Los Angeles. His reaction was so cute, T said. He gave me that Dr Know grin of his, pulled back and lowered his body as if fainting, still holding my hand and said, "Ramald!. How are you?" and proceeded to give me big ol' hugs. It was cool.

He asked if I had said hello to H.R. and Earl yet. I said I hadn't and that I was just there to see the show and I proabably wouldn't and would he not tell H.R. that I was there. He said, "You know you're bound to speak to each other eventually". I said yeah, but... and then he got all mischievious about it, telling me he was going to tell H.R., etc. We talked for about 10 mins about things and then he went to the bar and his cell phone. I went back to my game (bowling).

When he got off his cell I asked him if he'd like to join us at our table. He said H.R. just walked in, he's over there, go say hi. I was, no. I'm not sure if he'd appreciate it, etc. and Gary was like, "that's what I'm trying to tell you, it's all good, blah, blah, blah...". So I said alright.

Joseph (H.R.) was playing this skateboarder game. I was watching him. When he finished he started to walk by me so I said, "Joseph, my brother". He stopped and looked and you should have seen the look of horror and surprise on his face. He stepped back, his body shook and he grabbed his chest and said, "RaMALD...". It was hilarious. He was so surprised to see me standing there, it actually took him mins to finally be able to extend his hand and then hug me.

We made some small talk. Brought him over to our table where T was. He looked like he still couldn't believe that he was seeing us. It was so funny. He asked about the kids (I thought that was thoughtful), commented on how good we looked and how he was glad to see us again, etc. all along with this very surprised look of disbelief and disorientation on his face.

He offered to "break bread" with me. Another good sign that all was well between us.

While the opening bands were playing (quack, quack, qua, quack, quack quack - sorry but that's all the "singer" of the second band would "sing" into the mic), Gary and I and H.R. made small talk. Gary got me back stage and onto the bus to say hi to Earl who recognized me but didn't remember who I was (I thought this strange that Earl didn't remember but Gary did since I hung more with Earl then Gary (?)) - H.R. was doing the smooth operator moves on some chick at the bar (some things never change).

The Show...

The band was amazing as usual even though Earl didn't seem that animated. What truly bummed me out was, I saw the greatest front man in the history of punk/hard-core last night ruin the energy, intensity and sheer awesomeness that is the band Bad Brains.

H.R.'s bonoesque fly sun glasses and camcorder routine while he carelessly slurred the lyrics to what are some of the greatest songs ever written made me want to slap him. It was as if he was mocking the very thing that made him. I felt bad for the band.

They played for about an hour and H.R. didn't give an attempt at singing till about the last 20 mins. He did of course show more interest in the reggae. Let me tell you something: Darryl Jennifer's bass tone is god!

Instead of an encore, Joseph rambled on about who knows what for nearly 20 mins (it was embarrassing) and then that was it.

As I was afraid of, it was a mere shadow of what once was. I would say I saw Bad Brains at 30% last night but we still had fun.

Stage dive anyone?

I treated myself to a round of 18 after work yesterday at the par 3 course near the house. I got through in under 2.5 hours.
I'm still working on that iron issue I mentioned but it is improving. I shot a +11/65... not bad. I still need a lot of improving.

Bad Brains tonight!

Bad Brains tomorrow night. The thought of seeing them is bittersweet. I know it's not going to be like it used to be and I'm afraid I'm going to go see a shadow of what once was.

My first Brains show was in 1983 at the Olympic Auditorium. H.R. was a no show so the bass player (his name escapes me) for Scream (another D.C. band) filled in for him.

The next time I saw them was at Fender's Ballroom, 1987 - the I Against I tour. That was so amazing. I hadn't become a friend of the band yet.

The last time I saw the real Bad Brains was the Country Club, 1989 - the Quickness tour. That was even more amazing then the Fenders show.

I'll tell you how it went.

At the end of the day, I'm just thankful that I still have a job.

ok...

This doesn't surprise me. I am still a DSL subscriber, even after being in DSL Hell!

This should prove interesting if Mr. Government let's him do it.

I finally got something up at Spy Glass Blue.

Check out the new Forum.

Well. Another busy week here at the job.

The song, "Whispering Willow", that I'm playing at saturday's wedding is coming along nicely but my meeting didn't go that great last night. The client will have to postpone their dreams of owning a dream site. So, we pursue 2 more leads instead... ahh, business.

The label was very pleased with the track I sent them for their compilation/roster CD. I'll let you know when it's out and when and where the MP3 will reside. Now I need to build that website.

Going to spend the better part of the weekend working on the kilt site. My baby X is going to be 15 this Sunday... I can't believe it. Where did half my life go?

ciao

Light Machine is mixed down to DAT and going to the label via FedEx today.

Scarborough on Saturday and a round of 9 afterward were barely possible due to the godless summer heat which is upon us and it's only going to get worst. Prepping for Saturday's wedding tonight with the bride to be and my violinist. Meeting with the realtor on Wednesday to finally scope her site project out. ttyl

Wow. It's been 2 weeks already since my last blog. I still haven't seen Moulin Rouge.

I've been hammered at work, working on freelance projects after work and doing a lot of stuff with the fam on the weekends. I've played some golf and I need to update the golf page with the last few horrible games I've played. X and C have been at camp all week and S has been sleeping over at friends so T and I have had some time to ourselves this week. We don't look forward to the time any of our kids decide to move out. That's going to suck...

We, (the fam) have been doing Scarborough on the weekends except for Memorial Day weekend, we went to an SCA event (no, we're not members) - Stepps Warlord. It was our second time. Got a very cool short sword there and some very cool gauntlets. The Scottish Festival is in town this weekend so we'll swing by there tonight after I dump "Light Machine" to DAT and send it off to the label for mastering and manufacturing. Scarborough ends this weekend so we'll be there again. I love all that shite!

More later...