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The weekly musings of one kErrY kOMpOsT, (financially) struggling musician, freak, whatever.

Friday, January 21, 2005

Happy times in the Kingdom of Drink. Hello, and thanks for tuning into my blog-of-love.

So, it’s been a pretty good week, starting with the Abe Lincoln Story’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration gig at the Covina Ikea last Saturday. I swear, my guitar never sounded better than it did in that cavernous space! There’s a video of the performance floating around somewhere, and, supposedly, we sounded pretty good. The folks at Ikea sent us a nice email that said our performance was “like a nuclear explosion of energy”, which was nice to hear. Next on the Abe Lincoln Story horizon: a gig at Spaceland with Trainwreck (assuming the fuckers don’t cancel at the last minute as they did to us late last summer), coming in March. Stay glued.

Monday of this week, I was asked by Abe Lincoln Story vocalist and emerging solo artist Deena Rubinson to record guitars on a couple of tracks of hers, which I did, and, I might add, had a blast doing. She had to rush-record a song which is earmarked for an Italian film, so she ripped it out in a frenzied day of recording – it sounds great, from the mixes I’ve heard anyway. Deena has an amazing home studio in her 1903 house in Highland Park, by the way. Anyway, she was very happy with the parts I laid down, and I was happy to help her out and to add one more session to my feeble discography.

Speaking of my discography, have you checked out the latest release featuring your drooly? Thank you for your support!

This week I’ve also been in contact with a concert promoter, trying to get on the bill at a cool festival this spring, performing on an acoustic stage; hopefully the deal with work out. I also sent in some music to a notable pop songwriter who is starting up their own label, and are looking for product; I will let you know what happens.

On the home front, this week I tore down a wall that separated my music room from my office, making one nice big music room/office in the process. It rocks! I also did some cleanup in my backyard, enjoying some incredible springtime weather in the process. I’d almost forgotten how intoxicating the warm spring air is here in Southern California. Very, very nice.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Stew lately; you should, too. Inspirational!

This weekend finds Nipper and me hitting a party on Saturday, hosted by the inseparable Robbie Rist; also, tonight we will endeavor to catch a show by art-poppers Aguafantastica at the Roxy, should the planets deem to align. I am looking forward to a nice, sunny, warm and relaxing weekend.

All right, I’m ghost; blog over. Catch you next time, and thanks for reading. xoxox kErrY xoxox

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Hey, ya’ll, happy new year and a prosperous and healthy one to you at that. May all your Howard Johnsons.

A confession: I used to really try to post blog entries every week, but, in reading back over last year’s entries, it’s become painfully apparent to me that I have nothing to say, nothing going on, and nothing cool to talk about. Just the same old “rehearsal this”, “party that” bullsquat. It gets old, doesn’t it?

So, my new year’s resolution – the only one, mind you – is to only blog when I feel like it. I shall only write garbage whenever the urge to urinate hits me, and hits me hard. I’m thinking maybe a little mystery about my whereabouts and inner workings might be a good thing, you know? Maybe not. Maybe no one cares. Whatever.

Meanwhile, we’re just getting over a FOUR DAY downpour that, for me anyway, was totally unprecedented. I mean, I was here for the El Nino winter of 1997-1998, and I drove Laurel Canyon every weekday morning that winter and witnessed the massive water flows during that exceptionally rainy year, but the wham-bam-thank-you-yam of last weekend’s stormy blow was amazing. Roads closed everywhere. Houses falling into rivers. Dead children. Dig this: one of my favorite local trout streams – usually knee-deep (if that) – crested at over fifteen feet the other day. Think about it. FIFTEEN FEET of water flowing in a canyon that usually holds inches of water. Unreal. I just hope all the trout survived – you think I am kidding but I’m not.

Anyway, this kind of deluge, while definitely damaging to property and infrastructure, has the added benefit of cleaning out the local streambeds, removing the last five year’s worth of accumulated garbage, streamside growth, algae, etc. It’s like hitting a “RESET” button and cleaning the slate for these creeks. That’s a good thing, in case you were wondering. So I am a happy fisherman, anticipating an amazing forthcoming spring – hell, if anything, the wildflowers will be insane, but my fishing buddy Bernard Yin “has a hunch” about this spring. When Bernard has a hunch, I tend to listen – he’s been deadly accurate in this regard in the past, and I have learned to put my emotions on hold and to trust him. We’re looking forward to a kick-ass year of trouting, you can bet your gills.

In gig news, if you feel like it, The Abe Lincoln Story is playing a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration gig at Ikea -- yes, Ikea – along with a fistful of other bands. It’s the Covina Ikea, in case you wondered, and it's Saturday, January 15th, 2005. We’re on at 2:30PM sharp, so be there, and bring your gift certificates and get a free latte! Just kidding about the free latte part. However, and I stress this, it’s going to be an interesting and fun show, and WE ARE GETTING PAID (imagine that), so, please, be there or just wait for me out in the car if you like. We don’t care either way, all we know is that our aim is to confuse the shoppers to no end. All good, children, all good.

Meanwhile, my powerpop band The Ultra Suede continues work on our forthcoming album. About 90% of the music has been tracked and roughly mixed, and, if I may say with utmost modesty, it’s sounding great. We’re finishing up some horn parts this weekend, then proceeding to nail the vocals over the next month or so, and then, BAM, we’ll be ready to unleash the record on an uncaring world. More to come as details unfurl.

So what else is up? If I can drag my skanky ass out of the house tonight, Nipper and I might catch two shows, the first being The Animators at Fais Do Do (with Bernard Yin guesting on guitar), and the second being Willie Wisely at Spaceland. Of course, I reserve the right to stay home and play games with my tape recorders, so who knows? Only time will tell (sung to the tune of that old Asia song, you remember it, don't you? The video was on MTV every five minutes in 1983 if I recall incorrectly).

Speaking of my tape recorders, I recently recorded a drum track for one of my progressive rock epics, which turned out amazingly cool, considering my rudimentary drumming and drum-recording skills. I’ve also added a bunch of guitars to this particular track, and now I need to write some additional lyrics to flesh the thing out. I also did a full-blown demo of an older song called “With You All The Way” which turned out waaaay cool – the drum track is the best one I’ve ever recorded. Anyway, I think I might give this tune to The Ultra Suede if they want it. All I’m trying to say here is that I’ve been keeping myself busy demoing again, which is nice. I didn’t do a whole lot of demoing last year, and I plan on doing a lot more this year if at all possible. Gotta keep tweaking it!

Now is the time in our program where we all lie down and take a nap. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first blog of mine for 2005 – here’s hoping my life has enough going on this year to keep ‘em coming. If not, please be patient, I promise I will post updates from time to time, and to offer you love and squeezes. Until the next time, remember: architecture is frozen music, so build yourself a Howard Johnsons today. x0x0x kErrY x0x0x

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