thezeitgeistmovement.com

I believe it is highly important that everyone watches these two films. Awareness is our greatest tool for change. Watch and listen with an open mind.

Zeitgeist:



Zeitgeist: Addendum

Leaf Blowers Suck... I Mean Blow

I live in an apartment. My apartment building is small. My apartment building is also close to other residential buildings. The owners of these buildings employ gardeners to maintain the landscaping. These gardeners use leaf blowers. Leaf blowers are loud.

Normally I might just whine a bit and then try to go back to sleep after being woken up by one of these monstrously loud contraptions, but this morning after it happened again I remembered that I have a blog and now I can share my idea to start a petition to ban leaf blowers worldwide.

What the hell is the point of a leaf blower? It's supposed to move leaves, dirt and other debris out of certain areas and into others, but it really sucks (or blows, if you wanna throw in a pun) at doing so. How do I know?

1) Because the gardener spends about 20 minutes using the thing to clear less than 2,000 square feet of courtyard and walkway, and makes several passes in order to attempt to do so.
2) Because several times I have walked around the "grounds" of my small apartment building after the weekly assault on our eardrums and noticed *gasp* leaves, dirt and debris still intact in several places.

Here's how a leaf blower works: a very loud gas-powered motor strapped to your back propels a variable-speed fan (the faster the speed, the faster the motor, the louder it gets) through a plastic tube not unlike a vacuum cleaner that spits fast-moving air at stuff on the ground and sends it flying. The idea is that it's supposed to move it along the ground and out of the way, but what really happens is a large amount of it ends up in the air (which happens to really suck for allergy sufferers) and then back onto the ground about 20 seconds later. So you either double back and hit it again, or forget about it and chalk it up as collateral damage.

So if the damn thing don't work no good, why the hell are they being used?

Because people are lazy.

Ever heard of or seen one of these things? -------------------------------->







<--------- Or perhaps one of these?







Since when is it sooooo hard to use a damn broom? Seriously, let's get some scientists and physicists together, because I swear that a damn broom is a lot more efficient and effective than a leaf blower. Not only does it clean better, kick up less dirt and debris into the air, and work faster and more controlled, it doesn't run on gas and it's quiet!

You'd think that gardening companies would want to cut down on costs and not have to buy gas, but I guess they ran the numbers and figured that doing fast, sloppy work with the leaf blower makes it possible to take care of more clients in one day... or some crap like that... Nope, I'm sticking with complete laziness. Oh, and stupidity.

I don't even have to get into the whole "green" issue and environmental concerns -- I guess it's warranted in order to allow a lazy dude to stand there and point a hose while his job of cleaning up the ground is done poorly by a wasteful and obnoxious travesty of an invention.

So if you feel like signing my petition to ban leaf blowers, let me know. I think Obama will put it high on the priority list along with the economy and Iraq and stuff.

Next time I'll rant about the other gardener gem: watering the concrete ground.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

This album has been out for a while, and I bought it a long time ago too, but it wasn't until recently that I started listening to it... and now I'm really into it.

I came across the Yahoo! Nissan Live Sets footage of the Foo Fighters, and after watching all the videos decided I needed to pull out, unwrap and actually listen to their newest album, which also happened to win the Grammy for Best Rock Album in '08 and Best Rock Performance for "The Pretender."

I've always dug the Foo, but I was a fan of songs more than albums. What I mean is I liked a handful of their songs, but wasn't on board with full album composition most of the time. You could say I'd be happier with a "best of" compilation than owning all their records. This changed with "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace."

The Grammy was well deserved. These guys are really tight -- evident both on the album and live in concert. I almost want to say they're approaching progressive rock, but they stay much closer to mainstream, which makes for just enough brainy or technical flare to set them apart from most other rock bands. There is a very solid level of musicianship and interactivity, and each player's parts compliment both the song and the hipness of the band. Songs like the single, "The Pretender," as well as my other rockin' favs, "Let It Die," "Long Road to Ruin" and "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)," show their ability to shove you around with heavy guitars and screaming vocals. But they also show another side of the band, stepping away from their typical hard rock mainstay and into the realm of singer/songwriters with "Stranger Things Have Happened," "Statues," and especially "Home."

I think I might be a little late to the party about the Foo Fighters doing some lighter stuff, seeing as how they mention an acoustic tour they did during the Yahoo! performance, but I'm glad to see there is more than one side to these guys. They have certainly proved their muster on the hard rock front, and after watching/listening to acoustic versions of "Everlong," "My Hero," and their new album, it's obvious that they don't have to turn the gain up to 11 to make a song work.

Kudos to the Foo Fighters -- I am now a full-fledged fan.

What a Weekend

This is where I spent my weekend:



I can't get over how incredible it was. It started as a trip down to the Lake Forest area to see my good friend Robin's band (The Pleasant Return) play, which was followed by some friends going with me to Laguna Beach for a night, which turned into none of us wanting to leave... ever. It's amazing what can happen when really good vibes are bouncing back and forth between people -- nonstop happiness and joy ensued, and it's nothing any of us planned on or expected to happen.

These kinds of experiences keep me reminded of how amazing life can be and what living in the Now is all about. It's hard to express the kind of bliss that occurs, but that just means it was genuine, profound and very special. It's one of those times when you wish it would never end, but I'm happy to have the memories and friendships that will continue to inspire and bring about new experiences.

Good friends, good times, good God.

Wow, I didn't realize Kanye West was so humble

Yahoo! posted a short little story this morning about an interview with Kanye West. Check it out and then come on back:

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/15348921

I was laughing my face off when I read it. Kanye has said and done some silly things before (his infamous outburst on live t.v. during hurricane Katrina; getting booed at Bonnaroo for going on 2 hours late at 4:30 am; adamantly complaining about not winning a Grammy in '06 and '07), but this has to take the cake.

The "voice of this generation???????" Really??? Now to me the really funny thing about this has nothing to do with whether or not the statement is remotely accurate. I'm sure there are lots of people on either side of that discussion, and I don't find it necessary to state my opinion about him as a producer/musician/performer (although if you ask me I'd be happy to tell you straight up).

The point here is that he proclaimed himself as such the "voice of this generation." *Ahem* One order of humble pie for Mr. West, please! This goes against a very basic understanding of manners that applies in even the most basic of social situations. You simply don't talk about yourself like that, unless you want to be viewed as egocentric or self-absorbed. And what's more, in the world of music, every single artist or band who has ever been widely influencial and/or had a massive affect on the society or culture at large (i.e. Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, James Brown, Michael Jackson, etc.) was dubbed as such by other people, not themselves. Sure, some of these influencial people were prone to be very self-confident and carried a bit of an ego, but they never assumed such a state as to proclaim their incredible importance to an entire generation while still in the middle of their career. I mean c'mon, the guy has only been around since 2001. Isn't there a statute of limitations on when you can become the "voice of this generation?"

Yeah, I know, hip-hop and rap artists have the reputation of being very forward and even obligatory with their egos and their confidence in themselves, but this is going a little too far. A word to the wise, Kanye: a really good way to ostracize both your fans and everyone else is to become really full of yourself. Someone who might have been considered musical and artistic can lose their positive luster when pompous attitudes and self-righteous behavior taint their persona.

Who knows... maybe he wants everyone to think he's a dick.

Rest in Peace, Mitch Mitchell

Today we lost the last living member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. We lost Jimi in 1970, bassist Noel Redding in 2003, and now drummer Mother Goose, a.k.a. Mitch Mitchell.

I have to say, as a guitarist who is massively inspired by Hendrix, almost as influential as Jimi himself are the incredible musicians who played with him, and Mitch is definitely no exception to that. While many would argue that Jimi's years with the Band of Gypsys produced the more artistic and progressive music of his life, it is without doubt that the Experience was involved in the majority of Jimi's "hits," and therefore created the stardom for Jimi that allowed him to progress into the Band of Gypsys.

Mitchell played on so many of Jimi's massive songs: Foxey Lady, Manic Depression, Fire, Red House, Voodoo Chile, Crosstown Traffic, All Along the Watchtower... the list goes on. He played with Jimi for that historic performance at Woodstock, and he played on my favorite Hendrix record, "Axis: Bold as Love."

His bombastic style and rock-solid groove was the perfect match for Jimi's revolutionary sound. I simply can't imagine Hendrix without having Mitch Mitchell in the same thought. It's sad to see him go, but that doesn't stop the music from continuing to inspire.

Cheers, Mitch... you'll be missed.

Prop 8

Hotels

Every once in a while I find myself taking inventory on things that I've done in my life, and while finding myself in that place today, I noticed the stack of hotel keys I've been collecting over the past 6 months or so. I can't say why I've been collecting them as the reason is part of a secret operation known only by a few (it's not as cool as I tried to make that sound), but the point is... that stack of keys represents a whole lotta hotels I've stayed in across the country. In fact, if I had kept all the keys from all the hotels I'd stayed in since getting a road gig almost 3 years ago, that stack would be a whole lot bigger.

What it makes me think about is how grateful I am for all the places throughout this country (and abroad) that I've gotten to see. I grew up in a fairly small town, and didn't do much traveling except for the occasional 250 mile jaunt to visit grandma and grandpa. I "learned" about other places in school, but never really saw much of anything until I was 17, when I went to Boston for a summer to attend a 5 week program at the Berklee College of Music. Since then I've been all over this country, as well as Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Caribbean, Kwajalein, Guam, Korea, Japan, and out on the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico on a cruise ship.

I wasn't sure I wanted to write on this topic, because it can seem like I'm trying to sound fancy or looking to impress, but the real reason is that I've realized how incredibly important it is to see as much of this world as you can while you are able. I've learned a lot more than I'm sure I am aware of by going to these places, meeting and talking with people, going to restaurants and bars, seeing "the sights" (even when there isn't much to see), and getting an overall feeling for what life is like in these different areas. It's pretty easy to stay in your comfort bubble around your hometown, or wherever you establish yourself, and keep life to a short list of locations and situations that you deal with on the day-to-day level. But I'm growing more and more fond of the idea of living in multiple places for several years -- a year in New York, a year in Boston, a year in Chicago, a year in Austin, a year in Minneapolis, a year in Seattle, a year in Denver, a year in London, a year in Barcelona, a year in Paris, a year in Berlin... you get the idea. It sounds easier said than done, and that's probably very true, but there's so much life experience to be gained by doing this, even if the list ends up being a bit smaller.

I guess you could say that I have been bitten by the travelling bug, and now it's hard to imagine staying in one place right now. Actually... that's not right. It's too easy to imagine staying in one place, and I don't want to be that complacent. I find that if I don't give myself a kick in the ass every couple years, I start to develop too much of a routine -- I get lazy, get bored, and start to lose sight of all the amazing things that happen and can happen to us in life.

I'm very fortunate to be able to do a lot of traveling as a musician, and I look forward to broadening the scope of my travels as my musical journey sees fit, but the quick visits that these gigs allow still leave me with the romantic notion of living there for a bit. Guess I've got some work to do if I'm going to make that happen... sounds like fun.

I got my sticker

At around 9:10 this morning I turned in my vote-by-mail ballot and got my sticker. Rock on.

I spoke with my friend Jini today, who is currently living in Texas while attending college, and she explained the excitement of today pretty well: "It's like a sporting event." People are watching this election like no other. It's almost creeping into the realm of pop-culture. The country has never been more uniform in its issues that we want resolved, and I've seen more enthusiasm about politics than you can shake a stick at... and I'm talking about a really big stick.

Hopefully all this excitement, enthusiasm and action will carry through past the election. The worst thing any of us can do is vote for someone and then sit around waiting for him and his people to make things better. Hopefully people are adamantly pumped this time around because they see what's going on, have chosen a candidate they think can lead the change/reform, and plan on staying active to help implement the changes after he's elected. Because if everyone actually did that... well, let's just say we could start patting each other on the back for figuring something out for once. There is no "I" in "team" -- this is not a one-man job -- our responsibility is not over once we drop the ballot in the little slot.

Can I get a hi-five?

New CDs

It's a very regular occurrence for me to go to Amoeba Records here in L.A. to buy new CDs. Yesterday I picked up four, and I've listened to two of them so far.

Why come no one has told me about this guy yet? Mark Ronson is (from what I've read) a DJ-turned-producer. "Here Comes the Fuzz" (2003) is not your typical DJ album. It's loaded with guest appearances from Nate Dogg to Aya to Rivers Cuomo to Anthony Hamilton to Nikka Costa. I went looking for this album in the "hip-hop" section, because... it's a hip-hop album. When it didn't exist there, I double-checked the magic-computer-look-up-machine at Amoeba, and sure enough... it's listed as a hip-hop album. But guess where I found it... Rock/Pop. After listening to it, it makes sense. There are rappers all over it, but it's got the flavor of a rock/pop record, so I guess we'll call it a crossover. Anyway, I'm not blown away by every track, but the album serves as proof that DJs are musicians too. The penultimate track for me is of course "Ooh Wee," and my pick for deep cut would have to be "She's Got Me," with a well-chosen sample of the Average White Band's "When Will You Be Mine" as the foundation of the track (?uestlove is behind the drum kit for that one). Another of the CDs I bought was Ronson's newest disc, "Version," which I haven't started listening to yet. Imma let "the fuzz" marinate for a bit first.

The other purchase I've listened to so far is Keane's recent release, "Perfect Symmetry." I've been a fan of Keane since hearing them on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" around 6 years ago, which was about the time that "Hopes and Fears" was gaining major steam in the U.S. I also own and dig their second release, "Under the Iron Sea." I'm not so sure about this new one -- I'm not making any firm judgements here, and I plan on listening to it more before I decide anything about it. I heard the single "Spiralling" before the record came out, and dug it, but after listening to the whole record one phrase comes to mind: 80's. Now that's not necessarily bad, I just found it overwhelming how much the synthesizer predominates the production of "Perfect Symmetry." And not just the synthesizer in general, but the application of certain kinds of synth sounds reminds me a lot of 80's music. Perhaps it was a conscious effort on Keane's part to do so. In fact, if it was, I'd say that's pretty hip, because they did it in a cool way and it works. It's sort-of an evolution of the 80's sounds which makes it a lot cooler than just a retro record. With that said, I was pretty distracted by the sounds, so I wasn't paying all that much attention to songwriting and melody (some of Keane's strong points), so I'll have to listen more for that in the next few spins.

Seeing as how the last time I bought CDs I was mostly disappointed with what I bought, I'm happy that this go-round was better. There will always be good music being made, and there will always be not-as-good music being made. It's fun looking for the good stuff.

MusicianWages.com

Another holiday down, and we're into the last couple months of 2008. Stores have already started playing Christmas music, and turkeys are getting nervous. It actually rained in L.A. today, and Thriller is still a wicked record.

I got an email from my good friend Cam today (Cam's website -- Cam's blog). Cam is a great guitarist and all-around badass. He's extremely smart, and everything I do to promote my music I basically copied from him. Recently, Cam and his friend Dave started a new website for musicians. The site is called MusicanWages.com and it's designed to help working musicians in their pursuit of making a living with music. In addition to writing articles themselves, Cam and Dave (kinda sounds like Sam and Dave... they should make a band) enlist the services of their musician compatriots to contribute to the site. It makes for a real functional and useful site that I wish was around when I was getting started. I wrote an article (yay for me!) and am happy to be a part of it. Cruise on over and check it out, and if you know any musicians, pass the word along.

I'm almost to the halfway point in Thriller, and I'm finding myself wanting to skip ahead to P.Y.T. so I can hear Paul Jackson Jr.'s funky guitar work... patience is a virtue.

It's fun to have fun

Yay for candy day. I don't know who's idea it was to combine candy with horror, but good-on-ya, whoever you are. Not that they have anything to do with each other. It's just neat to scare the bajeezus out of someone and then hand them candy corn.

On a completely unrelated subject (I have a feeling this kind of nonsequetor will be a regular occurrence in this blog), I was interviewed by another online magazine (yay for me!), this time by Junior's Cave Magazine, an affilliate of JC Internet Radio. You can read the interview here.

Now proceed with dressing yourself in some sort of scary/bloody/freaky, humorous, cute, or otherwise witty costume so you can get free candy. God bless America.

I'm gonna be busy...

Not too long ago, I signed up for a music submission service online. The site is called MusicSubmit.com (go figure) and they pass your music on to webzines, blogs, radio, podcasts, indie record labels, etc. The number of submissions varies depending on the package you choose. I picked the 800 submission package, which came with a bonus 200 submissions for free for my genre. It seems like a cool way to get exposure for independent music like mine, and it's all done via the glorious internet machine.

Starting a couple days ago, I've been receiving feedback from the site telling me who they've submitted to so far, and I've also gotten some emails from some of those sites saying they dig it and would like to do a review, and one of them even sent me questions to answer for a virtual interview. So far, MusicSubmit has sent 25 submissions out of 1000... I'm realizing that I'm about to get real busy following up on this. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about it and I've always known it would be a lot of hard work to gain the kind of exposure I need. But now I realize I'm basically going to have an office job (working for myself) responding to these musical leads. Looks like it's time to hunker down in the trenches and get to work... rockin.

By the way, as I'm writing this I'm listening to some killer old funk. The 70's were badass.

Electificate '08

I voted! Well, I haven't turned it in yet, but I filled out an absentee (or vote-by-mail, as they call it now) ballot, so my vote has been inked. I'm not going to be out of town on Nov. 4th. In fact, I don't have much going on that day, and my polling place is literally across the street from my apartment. I chose to go with the vote-by-mail option so that on Nov. 4th I can go to my polling place and turn in a paper ballot that must be counted by hand (I could mail it, but I want to make sure it gets there, and I want the little "I Voted" sticker). After all the crap that's gone on with electronic voting machines (have you seen all the documentaries on how easy it is to hack one of those things???) and voter fraud, I'm not taking any chances. Screw the computer screen, give me a pen and paper. Electronic voting might be monumentally faster to count, but seeing as how there are people who can't be trusted to act with integrity and honesty and who choose to try and mess with the rest of us, I think patience is a small price to pay for accountability and accuracy.

I'm not saying it's all going to go smoothly now that I've chosen against electronic voting machines. In fact, I'm counting (and I'd put money on it, but no one would take the bet) on there being some sort of drama, crisis, uncertainty or suspected fraud surrounding the election results. After what happened in 2000, it's hard to imagine a presidential election, especially one of great importance like this one, to go off without a hitch. So no, my one pink vote-by-mail ballot won't rock the system and eliminate subjugation, but my mommy told me that one person can make a difference, and I love my mom, so don't try to tell me she's wrong.

On a completely different subject, Sierra Nevada's Winter seasonal "Celebration Ale" is officially available. Praise be to BevMo for carrying it in large supply -- what a great beer! Cheers, and happy voting!

Back Home

I love what I do, and I love traveling to do what I do, and I have a blast doing it, but man does it feel good to come home. I got home Sunday afternoon and have spent my time since then catching up on everything that gathers while away: bills, banking, laundry, "shout-outs" to friends, voting stuff, car stuff, gig stuff, indie promotion... yeah, it's always a big pile o' stuff. So now that I've taken care of most of it and I'm mostly caught up with the now, I feel the relief of home.... *siiigghhhhhh*

I tried blogging while on the road, but when you email a blog from your phone, it ends up formatting funny. I had to borrow a band-mate's laptop to fix it. No biggy -- I expect a Blogger app to appear soon for the iPhone.

A couple hip things occurred this tour: firstly (that's a cool word), I filmed a television special with Frankie Valli for NBC. It's called "Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons Tribute On Ice." We played a full show while Brian Boitano and other notable ice skaters performed some bad-ass routines. It was a unique experience to be making music along with visual art as well. It was a blast and I'm excited to see how it turns out. The special airs Sunday, November 2nd at 4pm EST. There will be re-airs on the Style network as well. Here's the schedule page.

Secondly, (not as cool of a word) I recently was interviewed by Feeling the Vibe Magazine, and they notified me that the interview and CD review are now up on their website: FeelingTheVibeMagazine.com. Click on over and check it out -- I even did a video intro for their site... yeah, I'm that cool.

Rock on.

Oooooooo I can blog from my phone

Yeah, this is pretty hip. Kudos to Blogger for making it possible to
post blogs via email -- technology rocks.

I'm in Biloxi, Mississippi today. Arrived last night after a flight
and a bus ride. We flew into New Orleans, so we saw much of the
devastation from Katrina that still hasn't been taken care of. We saw
a lot of abandoned homes and businesses, and even a temporary bridge.
It's pretty amazing that 3 years later you can still see the effects
of that storm. Unreal.

One event that is worth mentioning happened last night at one of the
bars in the casino. I was there with a couple guys from the band
having a drink when I met a couple local girls. They in turn
introduced me to a nice, elderly woman from Germany who they had met
earlier that day. Not too much later the German granny came running
over to us in histerics, saying that someone stole $500 out of her
purse. Apparently there was a guy who she was talking to that told
her he was down on his luck, so she gave him $60 to find a place to
sleep that night. After that, he was going through her purse "looking
for some gum" or something, and apparently that's when he found the
$500 and took it. Okay, so it was probably a bad idea to let a
strange guy go through her purse when she had $500 in there, but what
kind of guy do you have to be to take $500 from an old lady? I think
you pretty much go straight to hell for something like that. If
nothing else, that guy has a lot of bad karma heading his way. Good
thing we're only playing Biloxi for one night, because I don't wanna
be around when that guy gets struck by lightning, or spontaneously
combusts.

So we rock Biloxi tonight, and then bus it to Houston after the show.
I'm unfortunately missing out on a friend's bachelor party in Dallas
tonight, but that's how it goes sometimes. The upside is that I still
get to rock for a living... killer.

Something New

Last night I did something brand new; something I'd never done before. I got together with a new friend of mine, Brett Boyett, and wrote a song specifically to be pitched for use in T.V. and film. *And the peasants rejoiced.... yaaayy.* I've been involved in songs that have gone on to be considered (and some used) for T.V. and film, but never started from scratch with that concept as the sole purpose.

I must say, we did a damn good job. After 4 hours we had written and recorded a 3 minute, 35 second song that could easily find its way into dramatic television shows. And it's a good song, too. Brett is damn talented and he knows what he's doing (he's been doing this kind of thing for a while). And since he's the one who knows the people who could actually put the song on T.V., I'm just happy to be involved.

So keep your ears open... you just might hear my voice and acoustic guitar in the background of a love scene in your favorite drama. Nifty.

Rockin' out... on the couch

I recently saw the movie "The Rocker" and must say that I was quite surprised. Yeah, it's a typical garage-band-makes-it-big kind of story, but look past that and the occasional comic genius of Rainn Wilson and you'll find some pretty slammin music.

During the opening credits I noticed a nice bit of credence being paid to the composer of the original music and score, Chad Fischer. After watching the movie, I utilized the magnificent power of the internet to find Chad's MySpace page. There I learned that Mr. Fischer is no newbie to the land of Hollywood and the business of composing for T.V. and film. He penned (and sang) the theme for the T.V. show "Scrubs," as well as doing the score for the Zack Braff film, "Garden State."

The pop tunes Fischer wrote for the singer-character in the movie (played and sang by an actual singer/songwriter, Teddy Geiger) are what I'd call "that good pop" (a term coined by a good friend of mine). Pop can be pretty bland and void (i.e. Hannah-Miley-Montana-Cyrus), but it can also have some substance and push the genre towards something meaningful. While this isn't completely rare (there are lots of artists/bands making "that good pop"), what's refreshing about it is that it was written by a guy on his couch at home -- a guy who makes a living writing music for T.V. and film.

There is definitely some applause for Chad Fischer needed here, because a lot of writers in his situation would simply write carbon-copies of whatever "the kids" are listening to these days, and completely skip over the chance to write something of value. Chad's lyrics are poignant to the character and to the story without being cheesy or lame, and the songs actually go somewhere, instead of just going through the motions. Are the songs going to save the world? Probably not. Is everyone going to agree with me and totally dig the songs? Nope (in fact, AMG's review is pretty harsh). But it is a redeeming breath of fresh air in a business driven more by the dollar than by quality.

I might be standing totally by myself on this one, but I'm applauding you, Chad Fischer. Rock on... on your couch.

Hello, there...

Wow... I'm here. When the whole concept of blogging came into being and made its way to my eyes and ears, I never thought that I would find myself taking part. But then again, when I was 12 in the backseat on vacation to visit my grandparents in Altadena, I told myself that I hated L.A. and would never live there. I've been living in L.A. for 6 years now, so go figure.

But why the hell am I here? Aside from a recommendation from my good friend Cameron Mizell, I've experienced a realization or 3 as of late. The first of which is a realization that what I've been so passionate about since I was 13 is in fact the reason why I am here -- it's what I'm here to do: make music. Following shortly after that was an understanding of what that means, and fortunately it didn't scare me. If it scared me, I would know that my realization was false. Instead I felt very, very alive. After realizing this connection between my life and music, I began to notice things in everyday life that confirmed (and continue to do so) my gut feelings.

I believe we are living in a very exciting time (realization #3). Yeah, I know, Iraq is a drag, the economy is in a nose dive, the planet is pissed off at us, and it's getting harder and harder to trust the people who are running things... but where many see crisis and ruin, I see the potential for change. There is a lot of negativity and negative people around, but I also see a growing percentage of positivity and positive people. I'm not talking about naive, blind-happy type people. I'm talking about people who understand that every situation, event, choice and action is subject to perception. We can choose to be reactive, or we can choose to be proactive, and I see more and more people who want to move towards being proactive. Maybe they don't know how, but the will is there. And where there's a will... hell yeah, there's a way.

So what does this have to do with why I'm here? Because I believe we are all part of the "way." Music inspires me -- makes me feel alive. And when I make music for others, I see/hear/feel the inspiration they are receiving from me. It's not up to me to decide how they are inspired, or what they do with that inspiration -- that's up to them alone. But I do know this: belief + inspiration + action = evolution. I'm here to live music, and this passion drives me to put my music into the ears of the willing. So this blog will be a sounding board for me along this journey, as well as a way to connect with others who have similar feelings/beliefs/inclinations. Somehow I know that's why I'm here... isn't that exciting?