I've Got Fun To Do

I finally had a good recording day. It’s been a while. I’ve been trying to recreate the atmosphere that helped to create PINK TRUCK. That song basically came together in about 6 hours. Most parts were done in one take. Yesterday I started opening old scratch sessions. My plan was to file them into on old dusty folder with other musical doodles that will likely amount to nothing. The first one I opened had a great groove. I just started dropping in little parts here and there and it came out great. I broke for lunch, and came back to resume the original task. The second song also had a great groove and surprisingly, I just started dropping in parts. The third track is totally bizarre, but I’m riding this inspiration out. Years ago, I remember recording until into the night until I was exhausted. Only stopping to sleep and make coffee in the morning. I slept, and now I have my coffee. So I must run. I’ve got fun to do.

Meeting James Whelan

I recently returned from a second visit to CA this month. My goal was to do my best to visit my friends I missed the first time. I still missed DP and Hyunjoo Kim, but I did get to meet with Jason Ford and my sister, Marty, Frankie Lee the newborn, my Mom for mothers day, and Katie Strand. Katie convinced me to join her at what she tried to sell as an open mic, but it was more like a private jam at a restaurant named Michael’s in Santa Monica. I didn’t know what to expect although she offered some details. Apparently, this group gets together every Monday. James WHELAN was the leader. Katie and I arrived at 10pm, the restaurant was closing and James was waiting on the last table in the garden. Katie introduced me to a guy a bit younger than me named Rob. Rob asked me if I play music and I replied. There may have been brief battle of wits at some point. I couldn’t tell. Perhaps my head is up to it’s usual shenanigans and imagining something. maybe Rob was just being Rob. After all, I just met the guy. He commented int my shoes. The only other comment about these shoes came from Rhonda when she told me they were odd and perhaps on the ugly side. Rob said he liked them. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or mocking me.

Katie asked me to help her set up. We went upstairs to the restaurant storeroom. On out way, I especially noticed the strange artwork on the walls and general décor of the place. it was unusual for a restaurant. Not hip to my taste. Bizarre. As I remember, the walls were cream color. I thought a darker color would help the artwork stand out. Instead, the whites in the art sorta clashed with the cream walls, and made for ugly.

I moved a really heavy Yamaha keyboard down the stairs as Katie followed with the cables and a stool. A second trip made for the speakers and mic stand. Katie set up quickly as Rob and James were polishing wine glasses and wrapping up from Monday night business. We were all in a little bar room area. Maybe a lounge or waiting area. It was comfortable. There was a third guy who apparently played the box with drumsticks, or hot rods as I remember them named. There were two Hungarian girls that were friends with Katie, and there were two other employees who were staying after-hours for the entertainment.

Katie kicked it off with a few Katie songs and the Yamaha digital piano. The Hungarian girls talked softly while Katie sang. Apparently, they were sisters and one was visiting the other and they hadn’t seen each other in a while. Rob and James continued polishing and prepping their sides for the next day. I wasn’t certain what was going to happen musically. Katie sounded great. Much more advanced then I remember. Polished, yet a bit raw in some areas that worked overall. I requested some of my old favorites and she obliged. I especially noticed that she tailored her piano around her voice in her newer stuff. Between songs, Rob repeatedly asked me if I was going to play one. I was patient and didn’t want to take too much time away from their performance. I declined. Katie’s songs are mellow and jazzy. Moving, but not in a loud way. I wanted to pick it up a notch. In these situations, I usually play We Bleed Blue. It showcases a cool guitar progression I invented, and I can sing it softly if I have to. Rob was adamant about me playing his steel string, but I opted to play Katie’s nylon string. The last time I picked up a nylon string was at a 29 Mules band BBQ and jam when I played the same song and it went over well. I started a bit shaky and it got worse. I played well with the Mules, but the spacing on the nylon string threw me for a loop this time. I finally got used to it mid way and finished. I kept my energy at medium. After all, I hadn’t heard the others play and I didn’t want to come across overly confident. I prefer to match the energy in the room.

I gave up the guitar after one song, which I believe is the proper thing to do (keep this in mind Ken). James picked up the guitar and exploded with energy like a race horse out of the gate. He definitely brought the energy in the room to an 11. It was comfortable. He was playing an old martin or gretch acoustic in some alternate tuning. It was a 1-4-5 progression utilizing the open tuning to hammer on a great riff, all while singing straight from his soul. I couldn’t help it, my legs and arms started moving to his tune. It’s wasn’t an uncommon progression, but it was clearly well done and I certainly wouldn’t category it as ordinary or common. It my nature to take in the energy and with this, I loose the lyric, so I’m not certain what he was singing about. It took me another song or two to realize this man. Somehow, he was able to effortlessly create chord structure while simultaneously creating a sorta independent rhythm. Make no mistake; I’ve heard some great, great singer songwriters that can do the same. But this guy really had a style that spoke to me. It inspired me to continue with my own style and fine tune it.

When I got back to Brooklyn, and picked up my guitar, the James WHELAN in me surfaced. Suddenly, I’ve realized my own style of dynamics and percussive rhythm. For the last 5 years, I have become a musical computer composer, and my acoustic has sat patiently collecting dust. I’ve been trying to transition back towards it, and I have been making progress. This may be the straw.

Broken Sushi

I broke the news over sushi. September 24th. A line from on old song came to life. “if I could see your lips curl.” The line had nothing to do with this moment or this personality. I wondered if my lyrics predict my own future, or if I unknowingly scripted it. Consistent with my plan, I captured a video clip of the reaction. It is going to be interesting to see how these play out. I understand the reasoning of staying in the moment, and not obsessing over past and future.

Who Am I?

For some reason, it finally cleared up today.

I feel a slight settling
into a groove
a clear direction

I know who I am.
(drum roll please)


I am an artist.


And whether or not people like my work, it doesn’t change who I am.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, you’ll have to excuse me, I have some art to make.

In This Moment, Do I Need All This Stuff?

I have almost returned from a milestone trip to my hometown Lancaster, CA. This will likely be my last trip for some time. I’ll set up this story with a talk with my good friends Daniel and Brother Bob. Daniel seems to be having a tough time dealing with job related stress. No more or less than the rest of us. I tried to help by telling Dan about my recent exposure to the School of Practical Philosophy. More specifically, one of their most important suggestions, ‘don’t dwell on the past or future’. It’s been difficult to get this point across when talking about the class. People resist….. Like I did. I suppose they need to take the class.

Anyhow…. Brother Bob turned it around on me and told me this story. I’ll alter it a bit to my taste.

A man lived in the forest. It was tough living. Tall trees, shrubbery, tough terrain. It was difficult to see in the distance and difficult to maneuver, navigate and find food. Suddenly the man noticed that across the river was a beautiful wide-open grassy field with plenty of food and easy living. So the man began to build a raft to cross the river. After weeks and weeks of building a beautiful sturdy raft, the man crossed the river. Once on the other side, feeling a great sense of accomplishment, rather than discarding this tool he built to cross the river, the man looked down and admired his work and this thing of beauty. So he proceeded to carry the raft around on his back.

Thanks Brother Bob. I have built a great studio to make music and it has served me well. But I am realizing that when I go to record, I always seem to use the same few items. I may have a few items that I just keep around because I like them, but they are serving no purpose.. It’s time to upgrade to software based instruments. The time is now.

not my space anymore

not my space anymore
I guess myspace locked up my account this week. I am guilty of trying to send all 7,000 firends a comment at the same time. here's the note I wrote to the myspace contact form:

Hello,

I do my best to keep my myspace activity within your guidelines. And I believe everything I send out is courteous and reasonable. Finally, I NEVER abuse the send message option. I hate getting silly stuff in my inbox, and I pay other people the same respect

Recently, I sent everyone a comment thanking them for helping me reach a goal. I know there is a limit to adding friends per day, and like I said before, I don't abuse the SEND MESSAGE option. But I was unaware that I couldn't' send as many comments as I want to.

Since my comment to all my friends, it seems that sending people a message has been completely disabled. And when adding a friend it shows that my profile has been deleted, and they are unable to accept.

Can you please let me know if this is permanent? Of if it is a temporary warning for excessive use, how long I will be unable to add someone new, or send a message.??

In closing, unlike many, many bands and profiles soliciting something, I use my profile responsibly. I do NOT add people randomly. I target a particular demographic of folks that I believe have similar interests as I. I appreciate all the work you guys do behind the scenes, and I completely understand that it must be a nightmare weeding out all the people with evil intentions.

Thanks for reading. I trust you will do what you have to do.

-augiealexander.com
a man who enjoys a place for friends

Digital Typewriters

I love taking pictures. Before digital cameras, I found it frustrating taking pictures. I wasn’t interested in F-stop, aperture and all that crap. I wanted it to be more simple, I see a great photo in my head, and I want to capture it and be done without attention tio the technical aspects. Once the digital camera came out, it was a bit easier. No developing cost and I could take as many pictures as I wanted to get the lighting right. (Still having no knowledge of the other settings). BUT I DON’T Like the instant gratification part. I mean, I want to capture the image like I see it in my head, BEFORE I share it with the subject.. Film would surprise you. Especially when you let it sit around for a few months before processing.

The same type of thing held true for the music album. Often you would buy simply based on the cover art. There was risk involved. At best, you heard a song on the radio, and you bought the record and were surprised with other material. If the artist was a TRUE artist like Pink Floyd, or The Beatles, then great care was taken on each track from beginning to end. No senseless album filler like you see with commercials stuff.

Now take these thoughts and apply it to word processing. Or bogging for that matter. I think you’ve got to be older than me to actually “remember” typewriters. So, I’m not speaking from experience, only speculation. Let’s go back even before the auto backspace erase key was invented. I suppose a writer really had to know what he was going to say. Editing must have been a real pain in the ass. I great deal of thought may have happened before the author even began to type. Now, you can just pluck away without even spending a piece of paper.

I don’t really consider myself much of a writer. In fact, I didn’t much care for grammar and English literature. But I love poetry. I like it because you can break all the rules. I excelled in math, and fell way behind in English, History, and all that other stuff that wasn’t interesting to a kid just trying to fly under the radar without getting harassed by the kids with even lower self-esteem.

So, I’ll correct my spelling, or. Uh, I mean, I’ll let my computer correct my spelling, but I prefer a more stream of consciences type of blog. If you don’t get it, or it’s not up to par, then don’t read it. I don’t care what you think of me anymore. At least I’m doing it. Consider this. The hip hop revolution is butchering the English language.

A final thought as I’ve distracted myself with the hip-hop comment. If society doesn’t turn itself around and start educating these kids and giving them the same opportunities that the rich kids have, it’s possible the Snoop Dogg will be the Shakespeare of the 2nd millennium.

musical puppets

As I was surfing myspace today, looking for people to add that may like my music, I am thinking back to when I first started and my first band. I was thinking of friends and acquaintances that also played music who always talked about being rich and famous. I remember one guy who loved U2 can wanted to start a band. He said, “I’m going to give it 5 years, and if I don’t make it, then I’ll quit.”

My final goal was never to be famous or rich. If it happened, that would be great I think I’ve always been practical. Maybe a bit too critical. I had a short discussion with myself about “WHY” I am playing music and what it I never “make it” I do admit, after going to countless Oingo Boingo shows and singing along verbatim with Danny and the other 5 thousand people in Universal Amphitheatre, the ultimate rush would be to write a song, perform that song for five thousand people who love that song enough that they can’t help but to sing along. But Most Important, these are not silly Justin Timberlake lyrics that appeal to millions of people who seek nothing more than ordinary day to day recycled stories of love. These words that I chant with Danny and fans are well thought out political and metaphorical clever fun and mystical poems. Nothing you’d hear on television. Make no mistake; I do not claim to be nearly as clever as Danny. In fact, the best I can do is steal his words, mix them up, and sprinkle them into my own creations without even knowing it. But isn’t that what everyone does?

So back to my original thought. I am questioning how I ma spending my time today. What is the point of adding myspace friends, when fame is out of reach, and any monetary income will likely be un-substantial. This is why… I love putting together songs. I love the feeling I get when I finish a song that I am proud of. I remember listening to Come Together for the first time and wanting to write bass and drums like that. I remember listening to Animals for the first time and mediating to it before a stressful bartending shift. I remember listening to Nothing To Fear for the 50th time and still not getting it, but knowing that I had to play it again and again until I did. I remember getting completely lost in Songs From The Big Chair that album would start and stop in an instant. I remember standing a dance club, with absolutely no intentions to dancing, because dance music doesn’t really do it form me, until NIN came on, and my heart and soul sparked my limbs, my legs and feet moved me to the dance floor. My body did things in public that I would never do again. I remember learning and performing a Jungle Boogie/Rollercoaster/Get Down Tonight disco medley with Rhonda, Dan, Michael, and Sly, and feeling so euphoric and getting a sense of nirvana.

Well my friends. This is why I must promote. I’ll make the songs whether people want to hear them or not. But if I can move at least one other person in the way that other artists have moved me, then I will be giving back to the universe, what I have gotten out of it.

(not) The Next American Idol

It’s god damn depressing how my chops have suffered. When I first moved to NYC, fresh off the 2001 tour, I was probably at my strongest vocally and acoustically. I went to lay down an acoustic track the other day and I was surprised at how my timing was off. (but I sure am able to type this sentence with comfort and ease)

I’ll tell you one thing, it sure is comforting to know that I am NOT the next American Idol. I was watching that show a few weeks ago, admiring the strength and pleasant timbre of some of their voices. I also noted at how easily a sour note can stand out when you’re that good. I had to reassure and remind myself that I am not competing with vocalists at that level. I’m more of a talking heads robert smith type. I’m a producer and a visionary. It was Jay Ray at Quad Studios that finally convinced me to stop worrying about whether or not I’m singing in tune, and that delivering with confidence and honesty would win more respect. Now that I’m thinking about it, you know, Brittany and Justin aren’t great singers either, but damn they can dance.

I’m really not getting the same enjoyment out of singing and playing guitar that I used to. Layering instruments in pro-tools is still great fun and gives a sense of accomplishment, but when I pick up the bass or guitar and can’t get rhythm I used to, it’s painful.

I’m kicking off a project in April. I have imported some great drums tracks and arranged them to my ear. I plan to track down as many musicians as I can that I’ve met and worked with over the years. It’s all on my laptop, so I will go to them with a mic and a line in. I’ll get them all to lay something down without advance screening. I’m looking for a snapshot of their instincts, and then al follow up with direction. I’ll start with Roby Duron on guitar and Daniel (Lawlor) Joseph on Bass. Hopefully, against my drum tracks, a song will begin to form. It would be great if I don’t play a lick on it, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist. Next, I’d love to track some vocals from Rhonda Robison, Katie Strand, Carlos Olmeda, Justin Self, Siri Dyal, and my wife, Jennifer Hyjack. I plan to get Dan and Roby to contribute vocally as well. I’m really excited to get Michael Ellis, Mark Loperfido, Brian Geltner, Derek Walkington, Kid Sic and Johnny Ciccolella to lay down some love, but I suspect they will be hard to pin down. I get chills just thinking about it. It would be a gigantic stylistic universe. The Vocals will be the most difficult AND the most fun. In some cases, I probably wont let anyone hear what others have done. We’ll compose words on the spot and capture that moment. I may use verses from one singer and a chorus from another. It will be a musical mosaic collage of people destined to collide.

Inspiration Substance Abuse

When I was a kid, I used to drink coca-cola, listen to music, and build things with Lego’s for hours and hours. When I got my first computer, I used to drink Coca-Cola and write little programs in basic for hours and hours. And then I started layering instruments, sounds and vocals while drinking Coca-Cola. (Never Pepsi) later, I replaced the coke with coffee in the morning, and booze in the late afternoon and evening. As my tolerance has built up over the years, I’ve found myself getting more and more doped up of caffeine and alcohol For whatever reason, just like when I was a kid, the head change really aids in inspiration and the creative flow. . Last year, I had a few blocks of time, anywhere between 2 to 6 weeks. Towards the end of 06 I realized that I was easily polishing off a half liter of vodka or tequila in an afternoon. I would sober up before I went to bed, so I never woke up with a hangover. The music flowed and flowed.
I made a decision to stop drinking for at least the entire year of 2007. I saw in the new year having had 4 pints of water. I now have a block of time, it could be 4 weeks worth. I fired up the recording rig, I tuned up the acoustic guitars, and bass. I loaded up some loops and there is no alcohol in the house.
I got nothing.
No inspiration whatsoever.
It’s frustrating, but I guess I’ll just have to go with it. No booze for 2007. I’ll have to find inspiration another way.