Manic Music Monday!
OK, try and stay with me here.
A few months ago, I decided to get ahold of an old college buddy. We talked and shared some laughs and lunch. We went through acting school together and had some amazingly crazy times. He told me the other day he talked to another nut we called Popcorn. Well Poppy and I shared a couple emails. He is also a musician. Well this morning I got an email from an up and coming artist named
Jeff Eaton. He has a tasty CD out and is working on getting the buzz going. Popcorn gave him my email. He is looking for a "great guitarist" to join his band! I listened to his tunes and they are quite good. A nod to the Americana singer songwriter thing that got lost in grunge and hip hop, sadly enough.
Reading his bio, we have a lot in common. A wild past of drugs and music. Now, we are both off the drugs and have a connection with God. He has an excellent and unique voice, a bit lower than most, which I dig. I can't hang with high voices, except Pete!
A weird thing is that a review mentioned a songwriter named Freedy Johnston as a similarity. Sometime back when I was doing acoustic nights around town, someone told me the same thing about my music and voice. That would be the fourth degree of separation if you have been following along!
SO, I emailed him and he asked me to go to a rehearsal tonight but he had to reschedule do to drummer issues (those drummers, I tell ya!) I emailed my good friend, brother and music pastor who encouraged me not to doubt this. Whether it works out or not, he reminded me that God has blessed me with gifts and talents that have blessed others. My tendancy is to shuffle what could be a huge blessing into some self-deprecating something. My beautiful wife sees it as an opportunity for a dream to come true...not the immature rock star dream, but the music dream. Just to be back in it would be so very cool. So, I will go, and see what God has for me!
Oh and do try and check out
Jeff's music. I believe it to be quite tasty.
ALSO, I recorded Comes a Day over the weekend...there is a rough mix of it here. My first public offering of my music in over 10 years! I welcome your comments!! PEACE! I probably wrote it on a guitar much like this Tele.
Guitar and Pen Friday 5
An old college buddy reminded me of this song I wrote in my old band, Beggar's Theater. He said it was his favorite song of our whole set list. So I thought I would post it. This one actually has guitar parts, harmony, the whole shebang...but I only have cassette tapes of it. The Gin Blossoms had just released New Miserable Experience and I keyed off on that. There were a lot of messed up people in Tempe Az back then. It is a bleak little ditty circa 1991...I had a Les Paul back then...sniff.
Comes A Day
There comes a day, when every thing crumbles
There comes a day, you can't help but fall
Everything looks beautiful to you
As you watch my world go down, down , down, down
I run away, only to stumble
Too proud to say, there's no place like home
Everything looks beautiful to you
As you watch my world go down, down , down, down
I don't need you to tell me that tomorrow everything will be fine
I don't need you to tell my that tomorrow my sun will shine
Everything looks beautiful to you
As you watch my world go down, down , down, down
Down, down, down, down
There comes a day, when every thing crumbles
Copyright© 2006 Stradasphere Music
Guitar and Pen Friday 4
I wrote this a while back after, well, you'll get the picture. Thankfully, my wife is very forgiving to my moodiness. She has put up with a lot in the 13 or so years we have known each other. But hey, she was the one who fell in love with a musician!
The pic to the right is a good expression of how I feel after I act like a jerk. If I could, I would! After reading this again I see a selfishness and self-centeredness in the words. I could blame it all on being an artist--the torture inside that causes us to look sometimes too deeply into ourselves to come up with answers, expressions, visions, etc. The torture isn't always a bad thing, perhaps a better word would do...there is something...perhaps a burning, a yearning. Did I just blame being a jerk on being an artist?
Edge of Forgiveness
Today is the day that sorry just won't do
I can't take the pain I inflicted on you
Now I am where I don't know what to do
Except say I'm sorry again, and I love you
I reached down and took a shot
I hit you square in the heart
I used my pain to bruise you
Used my pain to hurt you
So I sing from the edge of forgiveness
Waiting to hear her call
And I sing from the edge of forgiveness
Wondering if I'm worth it at all
I've searched and cannot find, a way to rewind
But there are no take backs in love
I've been here before, time after time
Please don't take back your love
Copyright© 2006 Stradasphere Music
From pt.com
20 July 2006
US/Canada Tour updates
Some new dates been added for the 1st leg of the US & Canada tour...more dates just waiting to be confirmed so I'll post them for you as soon as they're definite.
THIS MEANS PHOENIX BABY!! I JUST KNOW IT!
A little more than a year ago, my cousin David was shot. A story came out on the news and I thought I would share. They have never found the scumbag who shot him. He was 20.
I used to call him Dangerous Dave because he looked sharp in a white tux. A little mini 007. I missed his teenage years but know he was an awesome young man. His mom and dad are wonderful and his sisters are fabulous. I grew up with his older brothers. I know their hearts must heart deeply too see this on TV but the killer is still at large.
Here is the video feed that came out on TV here in Phoenix. It is so senseless. I can't understand how a mind can get so deranged as to want to take a life from someone and a family. I can understand, how a mind can get so angry at something like that one would want a violent revenge. But whether the killer is caught or not, one day he/she will meet God. I am sure He has a few things to say about this.
If you pray, please send a prayer to my family. You are also welcome to send good thoughts, energy, or simply love. It's really all the same. David is in a much better place, cliche as it is to say, but it is true. He is in heaven, yet his family is still down here missing him.
Shine on Dangerous Dave
Guitar and Pen Friday-Birthday Edition
36 years ago today my life changed and I didn't even know it. God sent an angel, named Angell, down from heaven. She was to be my desinty. Today is her day. Happy Birthday to my beautiful bride!
This song is currently in progress! (I promised my love I'd clean the house for her!)I was clueless, just a boy
Oblivious to the scene
Something happened on this day
A wondrous site remained unseen
There was a life, there was a light
Shining far away
And I had no idea that it happened
It all pointed to today
She was beautiful and matchless
Her radience remains
Indeed she was an angel
And so became her name
My Angell you fly
Through my heart an heavens
You've flown into my life
Copyright© 2006 Stradasphere Music
Jump for joy! No Phoenix dates yet but I am hoping! Go to the new Who site, there is a membership thingy where you can get early access to tix! THEY BETTER COME TO PHOENIX! If not, my choices are in RED! I even signed up for the Premium Membership to get early ticket access and the DVD. Long Live Rock indeed!
Sep 12, 2006 Philadelphia PA US Wachovia Center
Sep 13, 2006 Wantagh NY US Jones Beach Theater
Sep 15, 2006 Ottawa ON CA Scotia Place
Sep 16, 2006 Boston MA US TD Bank North Garden
Sep 18, 2006 New York NY US Madison Square Garden
Sep 21, 2006 Holmdel NJ US PNC Bank Arts Center
Sep 25, 2006 Chicago IL US United Center
Sep 29, 2006 Detroit MI US Palace at Auburn Hills
30, 2006 London ON CA John Labatt Centre
Oct 03, 2006 Winnipeg MB CA MTS Centre
Oct 05, 2006 Calgary AB CA Pengrowth Saddledome
Oct 06, 2006 Edmonton AB CA Rexall Place
Oct 08, 2006 Vancouver BC CA GM Place
Oct 10, 2006 Portland OR US Rose Garden
Oct 11, 2006 Seattle WA US Key Arena
Nov 05, 2006 Los Angeles CA US Hollywood Bowl August 05
Dec 04, 2006 Toronto ON US Air Canada Centre
Prodigal Lunch
This afternoon I will be meeting my father for lunch. This would seem normal to some except I haven't seen my dad in about three years--my choice. Due to some very bad advice and guidance from a very misguided pastor, I cut ties with my family. While my dad and I have had many ups and downs, there was nothing that God and love couldn't get us through. After leaving a cult/church we were in (no purple robes!) I realized I carried a ton of pain around with me everyday. I made the move and called him. He had some "demands" to make and I ate some crow.
I wanted him to ask for my forgiveness for an abusive childhood, but I chose to take responsibility for my part, especially how I treated my stepmother. Humility is a strange thing. Once you get the anger down, it feels pretty good. I found through many prayers that I may never hear him say "I'm sorry" but I am ok with that now. I'm 41 and he is around 68. I would rather spend the rest of our lives in as much harmony as possible. I forgave him in my heart and that is good enough.
An update will follow lunch. I am a little nervous!
Syd Barrett, 1946-2006
From Spin:
The reclusive artist, who left the band in 1968, died of complications related to his diabetes. He was 60. Syd Barrett, co-founder of legendary rock innovators Pink Floyd, died Friday (July 7) due to diabetes-related complications. The artist, who became a recluse in the 1970s after leaving the band, had been suffering from diabetes for some time and succumbed to complications from the condition at his home in
Cambridgeshire, England, according to reports. "He died very peacefully a couple of days ago," a spokeswoman for Barrett told the BBC. "There will be a private family funeral." Barrett paired with bandmates David Gilmour and Roger Waters in 1965 but left the band after just three years following a battle with drugs.
From Me:
I remember first hearing Piper at the Gates of Dawn when I was about 15. Yes, me and the boys were experimenting, if you know what I mean. This album is a textbook case of psychedelia. Songs like Interstellar Overdrive and Astronomy Domine are classic mind-benders. While my favorite Floyd comes a bit later in the Pink story, but without Syd's madcap genious in the beginning, we may have never made it to the Dark Side of the Moon!
Shine on Syd.
Dogs Part 3
I write this post bleary-eyed and a bit cantankerous. Our neighbors have new dogs. Oh how cute they are, so sweet and lovable...and I just LOVE it that they bark ALL NIGHT LONG! I went outside at least three times last night, or should I say this morning, and tossed lemons over the fence to distract them, to no avail. I can't get mad at the dogs, well I can but I shouldn't, it is the owners who deserve my scorn. They have done this before with some viscious looking fighting dogs, but they are gone...hmmm. I feel like a Nosy Nora but I am calling the Humane Society. Dogs shouldn't bark for 6 hours straight, something is amiss. And I need some rest. I feel like the day after an all-nighter, except I don't do those stupid things anymore!
Perhaps the latest webcast or ITA may cheer me up at work.
I thought I would post lyrics from my favorite song writer this week. I may put up one of my songs later today as well! Long Live Rock!
ENDLESS WIRE
We found this pile of paper
Written by that ether man
He hatched a mad old caper
He had a mad old plan
He'd turn us into music
He'd show us to our portals
He gathered wire and angels
To entertain immortals
Out on the endless wire
THIS IS FROM PETE'S SITE This coming Monday (July 10th) sees the release of the much-anticipated Wire & Glass: Six Songs From A Mini-Opera EP. This is The Who's first single for 24 years and the songs that comprise the Mini-Opera's sections are Pete's first written for the band since Real Good Looking Boy and Old Red Wine featured on the Then and Now compilation.
Wire & Glass reflects Pete's ongoing fascination with technology (and the internet/grid in particular) and, for anyone who missed it initially, it's well worth checking out his novella The Boy Who Heard Music, which can still be read in it's entirety HERE as many of the themes from Wire & Glass are extrapolated in the novella.
Pete previously dedicated the track Endless Wire to internet 'guru' Vint Cerf whose vision and application helped give us the infrastructure and protocols that we take so much for granted these days whenever we surf, blog or download.
Hyde Park Rocking!
The Hyde Park concert was just amazing. All technical issues aside, the boys rocked the hell out of that place! Not many shots of Pino and Simon, but a TON of Zak! That kid is truly amazing! Roger's voice was strong and smooth! And Pete, well he was Pete!! I've said it before, I am so glad he has gone back to the electric full time!
It was so very cool of Pete to offer people back their money for the missed webcast. A true professional and wonderful man. Even if he looks like he would tear your head off while onstage sometimes!
I worked on the guitar parts for By Your Side over the weekend. I should have a rough mix soon. Those of you who have commented on the Guitar and Pen posts have truly inspired me to complete the songs. Thank you guys!
I think I will log back on and watch the Hyde Park show AGAIN!!!
LONG LIVE ROCK!
