Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Why Do I write this Goddamn Blog anyway?


What an interesting session last week - I wrote the blog about this girl I know, her texting, etc.etc. If you don't know, read the last post and then this begins to make sense. If you all are getting to know me on paper, you'll know that I fancy myself to be somewhat intuitive, and I have a great interest in social white elephants (def. something we all know to be true (ex. alterior motives), but that for some reason nobody either has the confident to, or cares to mention. And although I had my opinion already, I started thinking, well shit, Im 33, all my friends are married, I'm not, I'm terrible at relationships....maybe I'm wrong? And so I wrote last week's post, different from my usual humdrum-music-business-this-is-the-real-info-on-what-its-like-blog. Switch it up, right?

Now stop, and go read the comments to the post. Wow. Now I love comments, the more the merrier, so thank you for posting your opinion. But, I learned two things along the way through these comments: (1) I'm obstinate, and I haven't changed my view. Very simple: if I'm in love, have girlfriend or wife, I will never ever text or call an ex. Never. And I'll go a step further - when I'm married, I will not be friends with ex-girlfriends, because I don't see the need/reason. So all this about wanting to just play....eh, don't buy it. I just can't see that.I think you that say that are perpetuating the white elephant sickness. And thanks to my boy who stuck up for me as well - always nice to have some testosterone in the room, even though I don' think she had any desire to actually play the venue.  Rather, it served as a good departure point from which to start dialogue.

The second thing I learned is that writing this blog is actually pretty fun. I have always been extremely personal, and still am. But throughout my life, I've seen that people always get it wrong, make up stories, and fill in blanks where information is lacking. And with me, there is no information , so there is alot of mad-libbing going on. This has been a fun, business-friendly way to share my opinions, only to those who want to hear, and also inject some of that fun awkardness into my life knowing that Im sharing with strangers (that hair-on-back-standing-up-feeling). I know I'm not Hawthorne; hell not even Abby. But I'm me, and thats plenty.

So, next week, probably back to music as we have some unbelievably cool shit happening at Saint Rocke..most notable this week of which we were approved for a 5 year contract to produce the Summer Concerts in Hermosa Beach. Mark my words - don't miss the first show next year. It will be unannounced, and it will seem like a "nothing" show. It won't be. Stay tuned...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A Nonmusical, musical post about Sex & Music....

I know there are going to be some reprocussions from this post, but there isn't much you can scare an agnostic man with except for jail or more taxes. I got a text (which has replaced phone calls by the way, to the demise of human interaction) yesterday from a girl I used to date that I haven't talked to for quite some time. When we were dating, I was always trying to get her to further her love of piano and take lessons, because she had some talent. Not as a career move, not as really any motive-fueled reason, but because I find it a shame that most people haven't experienced how breathtaking it is to take part in the literal creation of a piece of music. She never did take lessons, and soon thereafter we stopped dating, although there was no connection between the two.

The text read: "I am taking lessons. If I get better, it'd be fun to play Saint Rocke, and you have to jam with me." Now, I am an over-analytical guy, so that text read something else to me. And side note - she has had a longstanding boyfriend.  So, although I was amused by the text, my immediate reaction was, uh, not happening. Because, I don't know if I'm along in this, but there is something incredibly sexual or romantic about playing music with someone, or even watching someone play music. In these cases, your ears transcend your eyes, and you're hearing beauty, not seeing it. I am a sucker for this - and I know it - and so I quietly declined the invitation, to which I received a text in the manner of "why not? thats rude".

And so i ask, was I rude by over-analyzing and thinking through the situation? Or does over-analyzing just make you look stupid? It's not my first circus in regards to this question....

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Demand for Art, and why technology seems to made it a bargain offer...

It seems to me lately that there is disorder in the economics of art. Simple supply & demand. With the birth & growth of the internet, there has been a huge oversupply of in the art world: everyone is a musician, a producer, a writer, an everything (shit, look at me and this blog). But what I've seen now, is that the TRUE musicians & artists, the ones that have true talent, now have to dodge and weave through this digital world like asteroids in the old Nintendo game to get noticed. And what has also happened, is that it's become a buyers market. Free downloads, free this, free that. Well goddamnit, free sucks. Why do we want everything for free? Why do we want to take a song (a piece of someone's soul that they probably spent 20 hours on) and not even pay $1.00 for it?

Tonight at Saint Rocke is the impetus of what I wrote above. Norton Wisdom. Painter. If you cruise tonight, you'll see this guy paint things from NOTHING, in ten minutes, right IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES, based on what the music playing is telling him. It is absolutely unreal. I saw it for the first time two weeks ago, and trust, it will blow your mind. He should be in a museum, or on TV, and to be honest, Im humbled he agreed to do this for Saint Rocke (we're not real big potatoes if you add AEG & Live Nation to to the game)......

So yes, I'm self promoting. But no, you don't have to partake in the wine night. There is no cover. Im paying Norton. So technically, you could come in and watch this for $0.00. True. But my goal is that you'll see this and you'll want to contribute to him, you'll want to pay him. Because without Norton, and others like him, ART IS GONE.

Watch Norton at WORK

Monday, September 13, 2010

Something other than Music....

I dont have the Monday blues today at Saint Rocke. I've actually got some relief. You see, tonight we are not producing a show at Saint Rocke. We aren't booking a band, or talking to an agent, or hoping people come pay to see music, or dealing with sound & production logistics. Im not getting angry calls from managers or publicists on things that have nothing to do with us. Nope. Not today. Today we're watching some football.

 We're doing fun specials. Easy specials. $1 beer & $1 mini burgers (the gastropub term is slider). Super simple. And we bought a ping pong table and are putting it on the stage for after the game. Simple, fun, easy. What more can you ask for?

And I love music. Dont' get me wrong. I love it, I love being around it. But just not today. Feel me?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

New Years Artist Booked, but not Announced...

So we just booked New Years, and personally Im super excited. We cannot announce the band yet, but I can tell you that I also booked them on October 24 somewhere in the South Bay at a surprise performance, so when you hear about that after the fact, you'll know they are hitting Saint Rocke for a two-day performance (Dec 31, and Jan 1). I had a ski trip planned, but actually cancelled it because I wanted to see this band play. I think you are all going to be pretty stoked on the evening - I'll keep you posted on details, and I'll also be giving blog readers first chance at the good tickets. Stay tuned.