Things are going on. Shifting things. New jobs, more travel, bigger contracts, more money, more responsibility, more soudtrackage, strange places. Plus I have to talk to my mom about my father/her husband of 40 years's death, and her father's "dementia" next week. That dood went out kinda, well, poorly. I can take it, but how much of it will be left on me psychologically? I brought her ass back from the birnk of addiction with a coupla ideas, thoughts, and melodies...what the hell is it gonna take to shake this thing off of me?

lemme know, i need help from "somewhere" dammit...

Just got back from a short 2-week outing to hell, but it's done and I'm back now. It's too hot to be inside so I went out and played soccer w/yosh today, and then we filmed some more video at the park. He and his roommates were projecting movies from their roof on to the side of a neighboring building last night, that was pretty damn cool. Speaking of bigger art I need to learn how to do stuff like this:

My flight was painless, minus the minor screwup of the airline losing my baggage that has most of my tools! I kinda need to start building this stage rig tomorrow... Otherwise things are great, just had dinner with the tour manager, production manager, and some of the crew and the band. The tour manager used to manage all kinds of bands, anywhere from the Village People to Rush to Slayer, and he has some great stories.

We ate at NY's oldest bar (http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com/) and it was kinda cool and kinda creepy too. It's been around since the mid-1850's so there are a lot of really cool old wallhangings and framed news articles from way back. But the thing that kinda creeped me out is that there is this one area above the bar: World War I soldiers, before they left for duty, hung a wishbone on a wire above the bar. When they got back, they broke the wishbone and hung it back up. There were pretty much an equal number of non-broken and broken wishbones. Plus they literally have left it in the exact same state, so there's at least half an inch of dust over dead old bones. Weird.

On the more positive side, I'm staying in Manhattan next to the Empire State Building. It looks bigger in the movies. Oh yeah and I just found out I have the weekend off to wander around! Even better news is that my video camera was in my carry-on bag, so I can go out and do a shoot of the city.

p.s. if anybody lives here in ny and wants to run around town, give me a shout/msg/email/carrier pidgeon.

A few weeks ago I went down to L.A., which I seem to do a lot of lately. I went down there to work on a movie as well as a tv show. The movie is a documentary called "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music." The basic concept is that they went around the world and had different street musicians contribute to 4-5 different songs. When I say different I mean musicians from Tibet, Africa, all over Europe, and some from the U.S. too. Strange people playing strange instruments for a common cause, pretty cool.

I stayed with a friend that I've known for 5 million years. He has two of the coolest cats in the universe, and a big fat German shephard that likes to race. We worked mostly at this studio called Monkeyland which cost more to rent per day than it does to rent my apt for a month! Got to learn all kinds of new stuff like Cedar ReTouch for Sadie. With this hardware/software combo, you can do some crazy shiat such as remove vocals, or a kick drum, or any specific instrument from a song, it's insaaane.

Tonight I'm packing for a couple of different outings. In three days I'm getting flown out to NY to build the stage set for Cyndi Lauper's upcoming tour. I'll be out for however long that takes and then they send me home for a coupla weeks. Then I go out on the road with the Cyndi/B-52's tour across the U.S. If you happen to live in any of the cities listed on this tour list (http://cyndilauper.com/uniquecirx/tour.php) and want to meet for a grilled cheese or something lemme know.

Does anybody know how to (or know anyone who would) modify a flash template? I'm totally willing to pay, but I'm having a hard time finding someone isn't flaky.

But wait, there's more, if you act now, over 10% of this email will go towards helping under-privledged robot children get homes in the city where they belong. Ok that's probably not true, but this is: Directly after the Cyndi tour I'll be going off to tour with Babyface in London, Belgium, Amsterdam, and South Africa! So much more to write about but I gotta go meet up with friends, more later.

So this friend of mine calls me up, a guy I know from the road, his name is Otto. We started talking and I notice he sounds unusually semi-serious...he says 'hey, what are you doing?' I tell him I'm just hanging out workin on this track/he interrupts me: "No what are you doing right now, can I hire you right now?" I say bitch you wanna give me maybe a bit more advance notice? He tells me that he's sorry but some dood bailed on him and he wanted me for this short gig. Said gig included acquiring a 24-foot RV from oakland, drive it down to Los Angeles to pick up Gavin Degraw and his tour manager and drive them back to San Francisco and then record the show. (I fronted this tour manager around $1500 in rental fees, which now that I think about it, is a tad scary. But despite any real contract, I know Otto well enough to know I'm covered. I probably should be a bit more careful though, I've only signed one contract on a total of five different gigs, no need to lose my ass over being stoopid)

So anyway yeah I did it, I pretended I was training for the no-sleep olympics. Friggin got the van on Saturday afternoon, parked it out by the ballpark at night. On Sunday I drove down to the video production house where they were shooting his new video. People were too busy to schmooze with but I got to fuel up, got some food (from his on-staff travelling chef), sleep for around 3 hours, then drove back up. But today Gavin's mild cold had bloomed into a real honker, so much so that he could barely sing, and the show was cancelled! But the good news is I still got paid, plus the gig is just postponed, so I'll have some more work in about two weeks when they come back. Yay income, it'll help fund some my video projects.

Speaking of video, I posted my first video on Current last week. Current is that Al Gore site, it's pretty cool, it's kind of like YouTube for arts, politics, and culture. Anyway I had to get it up, even in it's raw-ass form, so that I could get the warning out before it's too late.

I am now heading over to the studio to play some piano for a coupla hours. It's been nice, having access to that old wooden beast, and she digs me too. It was there that I wrote a song for my mom's birthday....but then I brought that song on home and it mutated into this electronic thing. Here's one version of it, and I already know there's a newer version brewing in the cellar under the stairs of the subconscious.

Yes that's a word, look it up elstwhenverwhere. Getting back on topic: I just got some crazy news from my friend Jeff back in Austin. When I passed through Austin I got him 4 tickets for the show, it was for The Bikers Foundation. They help abused kids to get re-adjusted into society, that's pretty cool. Here's an email I got from him that made my day:

Paul,

Thank you so much for facilitating the Hannah Montana tickets!

As you will read on the attached letter from the 9 year old girl, these tickets not only made the girls year, but they will be an unforgettable event in their lives.

So you know, 5 minutes after they walked into the concert the Assistant District Attorney informed the girls that the perpetrator was found in Florida and is now awaiting extradition. This was simply an amazing night for them.

Although we can't change the world, you have helped change the lives of some special kids and as the girl letter says, "Thank you so much!"

Please forward this to the promoter.


Thank you again,


Jeff Bishop

It's late Wednesday night, I'm in a hotel room in Austin, Texas. I just got over a mild cold/Vegas hangover combo so I'm feeling 20x better than yesterday. I thought I was gonna wait until I got home to start writing it all down but I just can't and will not settle down, I need to get this stuff out of my head before it evaporates. In no particular order of any sort, here are some highlights of my trip so far:

1. I met Johnny Depp in Vegas. Seriously. This is great for a number of reasons:

A. He's a great actor. I especially loved his work in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because I am a huge Hunter fan (see pic 1 below). To meet him in Vegas seemed like a nice added coincidence. According to Jen (who has helped to keep me in good spirits on the road) he was also great in Sweeny Todd which I have yet to see but I'm sure it's great.



B. I got his autograph. He was in town and both he and his daughter got backstage passes to our show. It was the second-to-last song of our show when I saw him, and I didn't know the tour's policy about interacting with celebrities who attend the show. So far I've met some interesting people (Billy Ray Cyrus, Colin Powell, Alicia Keyes) but I've never felt the urge to say much more than 'hello.' In this case I grabbed the book I've been reading on the road (Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle) and went for it. I convinced myself by telling me that I would regret not-doing it later, so just go for it. He was was so genuine and sincere, we got to talk a little bit, and then I had to go back to work. While we were talking one of my co-workers Otto came up and said 'whoa, hi!' Otto suggested that I should tell him about my SkullHammer movie and I replied 'but that would exceed my "no prop or actor shall cost more than $20 or a fifth of Jack" ' to which he just laughed. He said he'd like to see it when I'm done though...there's some motivation.




2. My friend Jeff lives here in Austin, and we were motorcycle buddies back in my Colorado days. After miraculously recovering from a major car accident (aka $27,000 of reconstructive surgery to his body and face) he formed a non-profit company called The Bikers Foundation. It's an organization that's dedicated to such things as helping abused kids get re-acclimated to society...here's a quote from his site:

"The Biker's Special Children's Foundation is one of many 501 C3 tax deductible charities, but we are one of the best children’s charities to donate to because we are one of the few national charities that 100% of the money generated goes to our cause, helping children in need."

If you like what he's doing feel free to either donate or just drop him a line to say hello!


3. I'm coming home sometime this weekend...which is great cuz I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and be back in my own studio. I decided not to shave for this two-week trip and I'm itchin' to shave. Why, you ask? I guess it's interesting to see what I look like all burly...but as soon as I get home it's gone. I will not be leaving the house unless:

A. I run out of food

B. ok maybe an occasional pinball/coffee run

C. the meadow is on fire


4. I got up at 6 a.m. last friday to video-record the entire stage building process at our first Vegas show, which took almost 6 hours! I set my rig way up high in the bleachers, falling asleep and setting my alarm to change dv tape every 90 minutes. I ran out of tape and had to go direct to hard drive, good thing I brought some 500 gb hard drives out with me! When the stage was finished we got to play Guitar Hero on a 25-foot by 25 foot screen and five audio line arrays (our line arrays are speakers that are clusters of around 7 speakers grouped together, and the show used 10-15 of these but we only used 5 of these clusters, it was pretty friggin heavy ;). YouTube video will be following after I get back home and do some editing.

And with that I am off to bed in my final hotel room for this tour, I'm wiped out...did I mention I can't wait to get home?

that's kinda what I feel like right now. ingredients include:

1. 16mm shrine

2. waking up and recognizing the city only by the pitch of its roads. low freq=low speeds, aka non-highway or warm temps (and it' friggin 28 degrees here wtf), aka time to wake up and go to work.

3. the new Hox album. it's amaZing. I fall asleep to it every night. Yes that Z is intenZional so shut up and go buy that album.

4. words started appearing on a page yesterday. my subconscious is finally allowing my conscious self to write the SkullHammer movie. One of the main reasons i'm making this movie is because it cracks me up,a lot, like laugh out loud laugh.

5. further proof that I am newtonionally-kinetic: my headache goes away completely when I am out here building stuff snd lifting things, but it sometimes comes back after just lying there sleeping. might need to see dr.whittles again when I get back.

6. posting from my new cool-ass phone.

7. learning tons of new shiat this tour, 'my brain hurt like a warehouse it has no room to spare.'

What's shakin' on that side of the room?

Hey it's a new year, and it's going to be a year of transitions. I write to you tonight from Brooklyn, I'll be back home tomorrow night for a few days, then back on the road for a coupla weeks.

And tonight I dedicate a song to a great electronic pioneer, Daphne Oram. She was creative and inspiring and she did shit with self-built electronics that most folks couldn't do with a fully loaded MacPro these days. To her I dedicate one of my songs called transitions.

Can't wait to get home...until then have a good new year!

Earlier this month I had the fortunate opportunity to learn how to rebuild a vintage Neve console. I've been doing various sorts of works over at Faultline Studios (http://www.faultlinesf.com/) and they just got an old 70's Neve console. To even get it into the studios we had to do some major construction/reconstruction on the walls of the studio because it was so long!



We hired "Pat the Neve guy" to come up from L.A. to show us how to test, disassemble, clean, and reassemble this 72 channel beast. Pics can be found here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sk3l3t0nk33y/Neve

Man I love learning new shiat, even if it's old new stuff. Pat was a great guy, very patient and knowledgeable. We've had a couple of jams there in the past, hopefully we can have another one soon. This thing sounds pretty damn sweet. I have been acruing a good amount studio time there/ by doing various work for them...moohahahaha. I can now unleash my own new music through a classic analog console of doom!

Long post...skip to the bottom for free music.

I'm sleeping in bed on Saturday morning when my phone rings....it's 7 am and I don't pick up for anyone on a Saturday at that unholy hour, even my mother gets the ol' voicemail. Maybe it's some east coast friend who forgot about the time change?

( Read more... )

Now I'm back home in my studio where I belong, vocoding away into the night. Whoo. Now I'm home for a week before we go back out on the 26th...better finish some of my own songs before I die. Wanna hear what I'm working on? Click here wouldja, it's a song that attempts to capture the feeling I had when a back injury gave me a headache for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT. I was homicidal and couldn't sleep, but it's getting better and going away. Lemme know what you think of it. Much more later.