Musician, Freak, Dayjobber, Etc.

Just a quick note: tonight I'll be playing guitar with the all-new and improved Abe Lincoln Story at Spaceland, Silver Lake, California, at 10:00PM, opening for Dengue Fever. More info at www.abelincolnstory.com. I'll post a full weekly report tomorrow, Allah willing. Love you. See you tonight. xoxox kErrY xoxox

Drop me like Powerbait (tm) -- you're back, once again, like a heroin addict who can't escape the clutches of the ever-elusive high. You're back, like the acne that used to plague the nerdy kids in high school, returning to ravage innocent, sun-splotched faces (damn, I love the word "splotched"). You're back, like herpes on horseback; you're back, like Kotter; welcome back. I've been missing you. Okay, first, please allow me to plug something: next Monday, March 29th, the Abe Lincoln Story will be playing their first show in over five years at Spaceland, along with buzz-band Dengue Fever. I am proud to be a part of this new line-up, and I have a feeling that this is going to be a very cool show -- the word is that Dengue Fever has been PACKING the place during their March residency. It's a free show, so, other than the fact that it is, after all, a Monday night, you've got no real reason not to come to this show; I simply won't hear another word about it. End plug. Damn, last weekend was pretty insane. Friday night, Nipper and I hosted a birthday party for Jim Laspesa (with TONS AND TONS of help from Jim and Derrick Anderson -- THANKS, GUYS!!!), and it was a total, complete blast. By 10:00PM the house was packed, the beer was flowing, and the strange scent of what seemed to be burning rope could occasionally be detected in the kitchen, the garage and the backyard. Jim's parties always bring out the greatest cast of characters, and Friday's was no exception -- I couldn't even begin to name some of the dozens of musicians, artists, writers, and assorted weirdos who were in attendance, but suffice to say, it was a great, eclectic crowd. I had one extra-cool moment, among many: I was hanging out on the patio and the DJ spun a song I hadn't heard in years, confusing me and making me drink more beer in order to compensate. I was hanging out with my bro Aron Ohanessian (that's his link, seriously; he's also a kick-ass musician) when I remembered the name of the song that was playing: "Spyder" by Imperial Drag. It had been a couple of years since I'd played the album, which was a fave of mine, in case you can't see me drooling. (SIDE NOTE: The DJ -- whose name I forget -- was a good friend of birthday boy Jim's, and he played the coolest fucking music all night long. I'll post a link to him as soon as I get some info, he totally ruled -- he even played Redd Kross' "Stoned", one of my fave synth-n-guitar pop tunes.) Anyway, I'm standing there -- beer in hand -- bullshitting with Aron, and telling him what a cool band Imperial Drag is (or rather, was), when, at that precise moment, none other than Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. walked outside (with his gorgeous date -- whose name escapes me now -- at his side) wearing a somewhat confused look on his face (as well as a full set of clothing, in case you were wondering). He said "Man, I KNOW this song, what IS this?". I just started laughing and said "Dude, it's Imperial Drag! The 90's must've been VERY good to you!" He cracked up and we all had a good laugh. It was one of those "you're funny, because YOU'VE got the fish in the trousers" moments. I've met Roger a couple of times now and I've always made it a point to tell him how much I LOVE his keyboard playing and, especially, his songwriting with Imperial Drag, so that was a very cool moment for me. Things began wrapping up around 4:30AM or so, and Jim and Derrick hung around and helped clean things up, and then Nipper and I crashed for about ten hours straight. The sleep was definitely needed, because the next night we had another party to hit, this time at our friend Sabrina's in Pasadena. Sab's party had a somewhat mellow vibe, which was a nice contrast to the crazy-au-go-go vibe of the prior night. I spent some quality time with the always-fascinating Tequila Mockingbird, who regaled me with sordid tales of the rock-n-roll lifestyle. I also spent some hang time with Pooch, who's band The Condors have a new album coming out soon; Pooch played me a couple of new tracks and they sounded great: hooky, attitude-laced power-punk. I'm looking forward to hearing 'smore. We split the party at around 2:00AM-ish -- a reasonable hour -- and crashed out immediately upon arriving home. We had to get up at an ugly hour (10:30AM) on Sunday to attend an informal gathering being hosted by ultra-pop girl-geek Cathy Gale. About a dozen or so people showed up at a place in Burbank (humorously called "Mo's") for a champagne brunch that seemed to feature more bubbly than breakfast; was I complaining? It was a blast hanging out with this crowd, which included Anna Borg ( TallBoy Records founder and a music fanatic) and her sweet and amusing husband Mark, Adam Marsland (who has a big show coming up this Friday, March 26th; check his site for info), and the hardest working man in Woodland Hills Robbie Rist and his sweeter-than-saccharine sidekick Missy (who, it seems, we hadn't seen in ages). Also present were my ex-Receiver bandmate Don Mogill (a great guitarist-for-hire these days), beloved scene-supporter and photographer Brian Honda, the aforementioned Derrick Anderson, Holly Mogill, and Fran, who I've known for five years and whose last name I STILL don't know. I DO know that she loves Styx, and, really, isn't that all one needs to know? Thanks, Cathy, for pulling this one together! After brunch, things took an automotive turn for the worse as Nipper's car died (for our sins?) while we were visiting Griffith Park. We were cruising around the park -- an amazing spring afternoon buzzing with scooters, the sky alight with balloons and clouds -- whilst looking for a memorial BBQ being hosted by Gus Hudson, he of Wednesday BBQ fame and the toast (whole wheat, naturally) of Silver Lake. We spent about four glorious hours filled with the all of the serenity, tranquility, and peace that the Auto Club and Pep Boys offer. We ended up getting the beast, erm, I mean, the car, towed back to Nipper's place by 6:00PM. Yes, towed back -- a word to the wise: Pep Boys does NOT perform electrical service, which is what Nipper's car required. Actually, it wasn't all *that* bad, and we even squeezed in some shopping at K-Mart while we waited on the car. All in all, it was a great weekend, except for the car-dying ending. Some of the things I bought at K-Mart included fishing lures, which I intend to put to good use later this week when Bernard Yin and I attempt to hit another local stream in search of the elusive wild trout. Location details omitted at this time due to author's discretion -- a report WILL follow next week -- god willing and the creek hopefully rises -- so stay glued to your monitor. Also this week, I plan to begin writing a review of the brand new Todd Rundgren album "Liars" which -- after about twenty listens so far -- kicks major ass. The magazine I'm writing the review for -- Ear Candy -- is also attempting to get me an interview with the man, himself, so keep your fingers (and legs) crossed for me. Of course, I'll be rehearsing with the Abe Lincoln Story this week, as well as attending the Adam Marsland show I mentioned above, which is on Friday, March 26th, so, as has been the norm of late, I'm having another fairly busy week. All this, and a day job, too! Well, folks, I think that brings us all up to date -- thanks for reading. Until next week, remember: architecture is frozen music, so build yourself a skyscraper-in-the-sky today. Hike your own hike, xoxox kErrY xoxox

Hey, wow, you're here again -- thanks! You know what? The spring season we've been enjoying here in Southern California has been freaking INCREDIBLE! It's been so mild, so sunny and beautiful, and all the local streams are running clear and fast, and the wildflowers are among the best and most varied I've ever seen -- I'm loving life, in case I haven't made that clear. Last weekend, me and my guitar hero friend -- and trout fisherman extraordinare -- Bernard Yin spent yet another entire day out in the local backcountry, at yet another wildly beautiful stream. Up at 5:00AM, we were mountain biking to the stream by 7:00AM, and by 8:30AM we were casting -- Bernard with his dry-fly rig, me with a spin-casting set-up, custom assembled by Bernard -- into deep, emerald-green pools loaded with fat 'holdover' rainbow trout. The skies were bluer than blue (but not sadder than sad), and the fishing was beyond my wildest expectations. Hitting deep pool after deep pool -- interspersed with diligently working some fast-moving, riffy runs edged with willows and other streamside vegetation (which makes casting and presenting lures a real challenge, let me tell you) -- we proceeded to explore and fish this particular stream which -- all by itself, with no prompting from anyone -- has carved out the most magnificently remote and delightfully inaccessible canyon I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Wildflowers were EVERYWHERE, and the air was scented with the mild, sweet scent of ceanothus, which literally COVERED entire mountainsides in the most appealing shades of baby blue that you could ever possibly imagine -- and I do mean ever. I personally lost count of the number of trout that hit my lures, fought me, and escaped back into the depths, but I did manage to land two or three beautiful fish, one of which I decided to keep (my girlfriend Nipper loves trout, and I was more than happy to oblige). In a classic scene -- during the edge of dusk, with the sky turning peach, streaked with a few bright pink clouds, the air intoxicating my fish-addled brain -- I approached a large, still, and very deep pool, ringed with cattails on one side and beautiful conglomerate cliffs on the other. The air was still and silent but for the distant yip-yip-yip of a lone coyote and the croaking of a few frogs. Being as stealthy and quiet as possible, I cast my lure far into the headwaters of the pool. Immediately, the surface of the pool EXPLODED as my lure was SMASHED by what appeared to be a MONSTER trout. My rod doubled over in half, and I held on with all my might as I fought this strong, intelligent fish with all the patience I could muster. The trout fought magnificently, jumping wildly, making several frenzied runs, and pulling and thrashing with all of the awesome power that rainbow trout are famous for. Finally, after what seemed like a half-hour, the fish grew tired, and I nudged her into the shallows and disengaged -- gently and as delicately as possible -- the lure from her strong, curved jaw. Holding her headfirst into the flowing current, she rested in my gentle grasp until she regained enough strength to swim -- somewhat placidly -- back into the green depths, just as the sun was setting. It was a moment I will never, ever forget. The fish easily exceeded seventeen inches, and ranks as the largest fish I have EVER pulled from a Southern California stream. Extra-special thanks to Bernard for turning me on to this amazing area. Also last weekend, Nipper and I had a total blast hanging out in Pomona, doing some antique shopping, and Nipper treating me to a great feast at a classic Route 66, burgundy-booth steakhouse called The Magic Lamp. The food was fantastic, the service attentive, and the ambience incredible. I highly recommend this place if you're looking for an old-school whiskey sour kind of experience. Thank you, sweetheart, for a GREAT dinner! So, what's going on this week? Well, speaking of Bernard -- AGAIN -- why don't you all join me this Tuesday at the Lava Lounge, where Nipper and I plan to catch him playing with his surf-prog band The MiGS (featuring Derrick Anderson of The Andersons! for this performance) AND with the indescribable Mantle, featuring the divine Kelly Mantle. The Lava Lounge is a nice little place to hang, and the music will be top-notch, so, please, let me see you there; hell, maybe you can even buy me a drink. Also this week -- Friday, to be exact -- we're hosting a birthday party for ultra-musician (and total lefty!) Jim Laspesa, who is turning 29 -- again. Please, email me if you'd like to come to this special party -- it's going to be fun, raucous, and crazy. Hell, we might even open up the rehearsal studio for a jam session, and definitely come see Nipper's tiki room and cool Rock-Ola jukebox (chock full of weird, obscure and classic 45's). Then, on Saturday night, our good friend (and KILLER cook and party hostess with definitely the most-ess) Sabrina is hosting a birthday party for herself. She promises to be cooking Italian this time -- trust me, this woman knows her way around a kitchen, and her party spreads are ALWAYS insanely delicious and oh-so-yummy. Plus, she has the coolest little Pasadena craftsman bungalow that is a great place to party down (by the way, that link is NOT a picture of Sabrina's place, just a similar home). Again, email me for details, because you are, in fact, invited. Yes, yes. In between the shows and the parties this week, I'll be practicing with the Abe Lincoln Story in preparation for our upcoming gig at the end of the month. Last week, we brought out 8 of the 10 band members for rehearsal and it sounded AWESOME. So, I'm working harder than ever on this quirky and cool music, and I can't wait for the show. Meanwhile, if you visit my new kOMpOst page (hosted by Soundclick, there's a couple of items available for download -- for a short time only. Grab 'em before they're gone, and please, let me know what you think. And that, my fine feathered friends, brings this rather lengthy message to a glorious close. Until next week, remember: architecture is frozen music, so build yourself a classic craftsman bungalow -- in Pasadena, of course -- today. Hike your own hike! xoxox kErrY xoxox

Hi there, and thanks for reading my weekly message. Sorry I'm a couple of days late in posting stuff -- it's been a busy time for me lately. First off, I want to offer my condolences to the family and friends of Gene Kraut, former manager of Love Featuring Arthur Lee. Gene recently passed away due to cancer. I met Gene last year when he hired me as the stage tech for Love's UCLA gig. He was a sweetheart of a guy and I'll always remember him for the awesome opportunity he offered me. Rest in peace, bro. Okay, now that the sadness is out of the way, I took last Monday off from work and went on an insanely fun trout fishing adventure with my guitar-playing, globe-trotting rockstar buddy Bernard Yin (he's soon off to Europe with Pansy Division, and his band The MiGS (featuring Derrick Anderson of The Andersons!) is playing the Lava Lounge next Tuesday, so be there!). I'm not going to disclose any locations -- we fishermen like to keep some things secret -- but please realize that this trip involved close to 20 miles of mountain biking and nearly 6 miles of streamside boulder-hopping and hardcore bushwacking (as my bloodied and battered shins will attest). But the rewards far outweighed the sheer physical difficulty involved in reaching this exquisitely remote LA-area watershed. As most of you probably know, the weather around here has been INSANE of late -- I'm talking daytime temps in the fucking '90's, if you can believe that. Well, Monday -- the day of the wilderness adventure -- was incredibly hot, so hot that I found myself, on several occasions, neck-deep in this crystal clear, ice-cold snowmelt stream. With air temps in the high '80's in the mountains, every dip in the stream was refreshing and quite welcome. Some of the pools we reached required full-blown swimming in order for us to proceed upstream. Near mid-afternoon, we reached an absolutely spectacular, incredibly deep pool filled with trout; we even spotted a few beautiful fish valiantly trying to jump upstream right smack in the center of a 4ft waterfall -- wow! We spent a half-hour watching a few fish in shallow, gravel-bottomed waters making the small depressions in which their eggs will be laid during spawning. Best of all is that, after four fishing expeditions with Bernard -- all of which I caught NO fish -- this time I had my revenge, pulling out a nice, fat, beautiful 14" wild rainbow trout. Bernard landed a similarly-sized fish as well, so we both scored trout (all harmlessly and lovingly re-released back into the stream). We ended up mountain biking our way out of the main canyon during late twilight, with a few early stars twinkling, the sky to the west a beautiful pinkish/peach rainbow of color, and the sound of the stream whispering our names in the rapidly cooling evening, bringing this amazing day to a close. All in all, it was a perfect day, one of those days that undeniably confirms the presence of a higher power, a creative entity, whatever it is that "pushes the pedals on the season's cycle", if I may quote the great Andy Partridge. Earlier, last Saturday, my bro Ken West of Receiver and I attended "an evening with" Dream Theater at the GORGEOUS Pantages Theater here in Los Angeles. It was an absolutely fantastic show -- great musicianship, interesting songs, awesome presentation, you name it. Hell, even Derek Sherinian showed up for a track or two, shredding as per usual -- good times! This week finds the official Abe Lincoln Story (ALS) website up and running, with info about our upcoming gig at Spaceland with Dengue Fever, and lots of other information, so please, drop by and email me if you have any problems -- we're still in beta mode. My Tribeca bandmate Dave English continues his editing frenzy, assembling our forthcoming album with the patience of Donald Fagan -- things are moving along nicely. This week finds me practicing a lot of ALS guitar parts, and also finds me at an ALS rehearsal and photo shoot, and then maybe this weekend Nipper and I might trip out to Joshua Tree National Park, and maybe spend a night at a vintage motel out in Palm Springs -- or we might just stay home and drink, who knows? With the local weather being so warm, and right after a fairly significant rain event a couple of weeks ago, the desert should be PERFECT for exploring right now, so I'm hoping we can swing the trip. And with that sun-shiney note, I bid you, noble reader, a fond farewell. Until next week, remember: architecture is frozen music, so build yourself a log cabin in a remote San Gabriel canyon today. And always remember: hike your own hike! xoxox kErrY xoxox

Rain. Sunshine. Love. Music. These are things that I enjoy, very much. Just thought I'd mention that so you knew what to get me for my birthday. Okay, so, once again, thank you and welcome to my weekly message, your up-to-the-minute source for all things kErrY. And that ain't much, folks, but I aim to change all that, one of these days; I just need to get more successful, first. Okay, ANY success would be nice, truth be told. Well, last weekend I missed seeing the great Mike Keneally Band, due to the fact that Nipper and
I were at a really fun party hosted by the ever-gracious Adam Marsland -- and I just could NOT drag myself away in time for the Keneally sets. Too bad, because there are very few musicial experiences akin to a Keneally performance, and I feel like I must have missed out on something cool, something religious and sacred. Somehow, I'll have to turn inward and find the resolve -- the strength -- to get over it. Also, last weekend found us celebrating the leap-year birthday of rock-n-roll guitarist extraordinare Bernard Yin, with whom I have yet another trout fishing excursion scheduled for next week -- happy birthday, Bernard, and thanks to you and Connie for a great "old skool Chinatown" time. Okay, so, even though I missed seeing Keneally, I still had some great fun, and I'm definitely going to get some serious musicial schooling this coming weekend when my old Receiver bandmate Ken West and I attend "an evening with" the one, the only, the utterly bombastic (and musically SICK!) Dream Theater. Think of Dream Theater as being a blend of classic Rush, ELP and the Sex Pistols. Seriously, they're a great band, with great music and insane skillsets; to say I'm looking forward to the show would be a serious understatement. But before that, I've got the whole workweek to get through, which means dealing with the dayjob, working on various Tribeca things, and practicing new The Abe Lincoln Story songs for rehearsal later in the week, in addition to squeezing in as much shred-time as possible (I've been obsessed with some old-school shredders of late, like Jason Becker, Richie Kotzen and Paul Gilbert). So that about brings us current. Oh, I opened a new page with Soundclick.com, so drop by and download something, will ya? I'll be posting some new stuff soon, I assure you. And with that, I bid you -- you, dear reader -- a fond fare-thee-well, and bright blue skies as well. Until next week, please, try to remember that architecture is frozen music -- repeat that statement, please -- so build yourself a comfortable brick-and-redwood traditional home in a secluded Los Angeles canyon today. And also remember to hike your own hike! xoxox kErrY xoxox