Hope this doesn’t come across smug and boastful but…
I have a really good life right now
I live in an incredible 1200 sq ft apartment inside a rehearsal studio complex My cost of living is ridiculously low
I only work 12 hours a week driving around in an air conditioned car listening to my entire music collection and yet make the same amount of money as I did busting my knuckles under a car hood in the sun
I have relaxed my musical sphincter and started to audition for various bands of different styles
This has taught me that I am still going to fail more than succeed.
Not only that but the failures are more like opportunities that I didn’t want to explore any further, which is a lot easier to take and a lot less personal
The concept of one concentrated push of all of my abilities has sh...

This September 11th, you will be innundated with stories of courage and bravery and the American spirit in the face of tragedy etc…..
In addition, you will hear the stories about how our lives changed forever because we now realized that “THEY” could get to us now and we needed to be vigilant against those who hate us for our freedoms
ETC……..
What you won’t hear too much of are the people like me who didn’t see Islamic terrorism as the greatest threat to our liberty
What people like me saw was a wide open opportunity for the owners of this country (a George Carlin expression) to use this new paranoia to encroach upon our liberties in the name of National Security

These statements came out of my mouth that very day
Many people were offended by my cynicism and questioned how I could be so bi...

I have always been very smug and took it personally when being rejected for someone else’s musical project
Most of the time, it is because I see ways that my talents can improve the product
The person trying to recruit me to help produce their project gets threatened and goes for someone with less ideas and more ability to do what they’re told
Nevermind that they have a mediocre visionand inferior product
As long as they dumb it down and dress the idea with the appropriate genre specific clothing, they will be sure to get lots of local gigs
They might even go on tour and play for the exact same people in different cities all over the country (if their day jobs will be waiting for them when they get back)
But all they will ever be is a mediocre entity feeding with mediocre aspirations
Seldo...

October is an excuse to try to work as much as possible
My focus has moved from PyroPlasticFlow to other outside interests
Halloween is perfrct for the video DJ thing so I thought I’d do that for a while
The experience with the metal band, although I ended up getting screwed, was a good excercise in playing for other people instead of just for myself
I have several bands on deck and am looking to see what sticks
I have been giving these bands my best so far and it makes me think back on the way I have felt for a very long time

Playing for yourself is the one answer you always get from musicians and artists when they’re asked the inevitable “What’s the secret of success?” question during the interview
It appears that I have been taking that advice a little too far
I have given my best to ev...

There’s a part in Frank Zappa’s concert film “Baby Snakes” where he addresses his dismay at Perter Frampton and his recent image change with the song “I’m In You”
In all fairness, Frampton kinda got tricked into taking a sexy pic at the end of a photo shoot and the next thing you know, it’s his next album cover
But the lead in to the Zappa rant started with “Some of you already have those cute little T-shirts on that say DISCO SUCKS. That’s not all that sucks…”
The way it came across to me is that Zappa wasn’t just addressing Disco the music but Disco the industry
Disco the music was usually played by very accomplished session musicians including real live orchestral musicians
Yes kids, there was a day when you had to use real musicians
Not to say that programming is The Devil and it’s no...

Last night’s video mixing gig at The Fallout Lounge went very well
I had an initial discussion with the event’s organizer, Desirae and she was a bit concerned that her theme was too specific
I chuckled to myself because this person had no knowledge of my super movie geek powers
She wanted to do films that referenced the 50’s and early 60’s but were produced later on
The films that immediately popped into my head were The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Hairspray and of course, Grease
Then there was one of my favorites, The Wanderers
She also suggested another lesser known John Waters film Cry Baby (well, I knew less of it)
I also liked Parents and Fido but wanted to stick closer to the films she knew
The answer was to use the trailers of films that wouldn’t make the “condense’ list

None of the ma...

The national debate about the economy seems to divide society into 3 camps
The rich, the poor and the rapidly dwindling middle class
Until recently, those middle class citizens vacated their positions on the ladder by moving upward
Now, the areas south of the poverty line are filling up rapidly
The inhabitants used to be mostly darker skinned Americans and people like me
We peacefully co-existed with each other, mostly in the service industry
Mutual respect came from occupying the same rung of the ladder whilst maintaining our dignity
“They” were just honest people looking to feed their families born or immigrated into a very meager existence
“We” were slackers who were mostly born into the middle class and yet weren’t born with the primal urge to move up the ladder
Rather that we pursued ...

“Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean I failed”
This is the new lesson I have learned due to my latest musical endeavor

I recently got involved with some musicians that asked me to write drums and record for them
Things didn’t work out the way I wanted and I basically had to realize that it was time to cut my losses
Normally, I would be coming down hard on myself right now for failing yet again but I approached this situation with a new concept
“If I fail this time, it won’t be because I didn’t work hard enough”

There were a whole bunch of red flags the whole way throughout this process but I stuck it through until I was convinced that the effort was futile
I tolerated someone else’s ego and even managed to navigate some pretty choppy waters thanks to “Zen Rockula”
Situations where...

I bought this 18″ Zildjian “Z” Power Smash back in 2000 and have used it primarily for an in-between china/trashy crash-ride application
I played it bell up and it yeilded a ton of different textures
Lately, I have used it for Mass Torment because my other chinas were just too trashy
However, I just cracked it and am bummed
You served me well Z Power Smash and you lived a long productive life (especially for one of my cymbals)
Sorry to see you go
May the equipment gods treat you well in music gear heaven
Now, if someone would just buy me a new cymbal, that would be great
I have always wanted a Paiste Novo China
I’d like mine in 20″ please

July started out in a dubious fashion when work at Roy’s started to trickle out
I did have an interview with an E-bay store (which hasn’t panned yet)and haven’t worked in about a week or so
Meanwhile, the guys from the metal band dowstairs asked me if I would start recording tracks with them
It was a bit of a task to learn their material
Mostly because the principal guitar player was a bit off on his transitions between his riffs
Add to that the good ole metal tradition of trying to fit as many different riffs into a measure as possible
Pretty soon you have a soup of riffs that are undistinguishable from the next and once you finally understand the riff you’re listening to, it changes into something else
I finally got him to let me dissect each riff one by one until I learned the pattern o...