The wheels on the bus go round and round.

I have been riding the bus since I was a kid. My grandmother used to take me all over on the RTD.
I remember it took 3 buses to get to Burbank (her friend Betty lived there) and it was no big deal.

Public transportation can be full of characters. On the current line I use to go to work there has been a homeless woman who ba'd us (I saw a little bit of her vajay too), a crazy guy pee all over the back row of the bus, a fist fight, and a dude negotiating how much he should pay to ride "2 blocks."
Did I mention these events all happened before 8am?

There is always a little bit of crazy on public transportation and I am totally okay with it. Except...

M likes riding the bus. I think she feels liberated because she doesn't have to strapped in a car seat. She is usually a great rider. She likes to look out the windows and tell me about the vehicles, have some Goldfish crackers, and on rare occasions she will talk to the bus drivers.

Yesterday was not a good bus day. Apparently, the schedules had changed, which made us late. Strike one.
I walked with M on my shoulders to a different stop to pass the time. Strike two.
On the second bus (when I take M to school, we ride two buses and then I catch a third to go to work) a dude was talking into his cell phone like a reality t.v. star about "fucking up the bitch," and beating some guy's ass and M got scared. He was practically yelling into the phone and since he was a large fellow, no one, including the driver said anything. Strike three.

When we got off the bus M told me that she did not want to take that bus anymore. Poor thing.
I have the luxury of borrowing my mom's car from time to time, so when we go to school tomorrow she will not have to ride the bus.

I want to make sure that the next bus experience we have will be positive. Weekends are a little quieter, so maybe we will go somewhere on Saturday.

I guess I can be lucky that I don't have to take the 22 Fillmore everyday. Right?

Time has told me, you’re a rare, rare find a troubled cure, for a troubled mind...

I have rediscovered Nick Drake. Though I did not jump on the N-Drake bandwagon when the Volkswagen commercial came out (it was about 3 months earlier when I got into Jeff Buckley) I did go through a definite "malaise faze," whilst listening to him.
I think that downtown Long Beach is kind of like a Nick Drake song. There is an under current of complexity and a celebration of being flawed. I like downtown LB in the morning. I ride my bike to work and I like the view I get of it waking up. There is the food line at the Baptist church, people walking their dogs, folks changing into work clothes at the bike station (oops, that is me), and the clean Long Beach people power washing the sidewalks on Promenade. Ol' Drakey makes for a nice soundtrack.
On a completely different note, I think that I have been out of grad school long enough. I am going to read a book every other week. I will make sure that they are all NOT non-fiction, or library related.
Any suggestions for good fiction? Mysteries in particular.

There is no vacancy when you're empty...

I found out yesterday that Tom Mallon died. For those of you who do not know who he was besides being a great musician, he was also a sound engineer, and producer in San Francisco who offered professional services at affordable prices. This is how I met him.
I have been lucky enough to have worked with some really great engineers in the Bay Area: Kevin Army, Andy Ernst, Ryan Massey, and Greg Freeman. However, Tom Mallon is the one, I believe, who showed me how to record. He always had the band  play together in the same room, when the take was not-so-great he would just tell us to try it again, and after every take he would say into the headphones, "tune."
It had been years since I had seen him (ran into him randomly at a Peet's Coffee like 10 years ago) and it was not much more then hi, how are you?
The band mates that I worked with during the Tom Mallon recording sessions understand how important he was to not only the SF music scene, but to the us personally. The first time I came into his studio to record a 7'inch, I admit I was a little cocky, but after working with him on a full album, I was humbled and a much better player. The band  was silly, but professional and I am glad to say that we made him laugh. Granted it was probably at our expense.
A friend of mine told me that he was sick a few months ago. My thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and friends.

Now that we've perfected the art of love
Now all the lights shine on me and misery
My good friend misery

You can be cured by a single touch
You can get up and walk away
Anything that you say

The drive of the road again
'cause I'll be your only friend
Right before we touch the ground
The night asleep, loving sound
Sweet loving sound

"Asleep" of the album "Engine," American Music Club, 1987.

Nothing changes on New Year's Day

It is New Year's Eve. Who cares.
 I have never been a fan and usually I am so exhausted from Christmas that I don't want to do anything anyway.

So far I have received positive feedback from the podcast. Many thanks to the folks who contributed. I am inspired to make another one...I cannot decide if it should be summer or sport themed. Hmmmm. I have been toying with the idea of recording a version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Some of the interesting things I have noticed about the submissions that I got were that most were originals.
I was not sure if folks were going to do covers or write their own Christmas song. I am glad that they chose the latter. Their offerings to the nostalgia that are Christmas tunes, I think were fresh and interesting.
Most of the arrangements were light on the Christmassy orchestrations, but the lyrics were solid in that they were obviously about Yuletide times. I appreciate the different avenues people explored. Christmas imagery was challenged with the southern hemisphere, sexy Santa, and Santa's evil counterpart, Krampus. Ego Sensation created a psychedelic-electro vibe with "Merry X-Mas Liar," and Doug and the DBLF crew reminisced about grandma being drunk. The covers were "non-traditional" as well. I like my take on  "Rudolph"  and there is a video that goes with it. The live performances were meant to be rockin' and or rolling and I thought that Dominick needed props and who doesn't love a kazoo? But JT's "O Holy Night," is amazing! It is so emotional and paints a sublime picture. The songs makes me think of  the Masons of the 17th century looking out of their windows and longing for the pastoral memories of their youth.

2014 is the year of this gal FINISHING projects.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

Holy crap! I finally finished my Christmas podcast.
Track list
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere
Santa Won't You Come Down My Chimney
Dominick the Donkey
Krampus
Merry X-Mas Liar
O'Holy Night
Drunken Grandma Christmas
White Christmas

More to follow. Just listen!

https://archive.org/details/XmasPodcastMp3

Flagpole Sitta

 I heard "Flagpole Sitta" on the radio yesterday. After the song was over the DJ came on and said, "Nobody remembers the name of the band that did this song. They were called Harvey Danger." For those of you who are in the know will understand while I laughed out loud when I heard this statement.

I was "working from home (and getting my hair done at the salon)" and my hairdresser and I were discussing the worst break up we had each experienced. You know, the kind when you are blindsided and your heart is ripped out and you are emotionally devastated. 

Since I have been happily married for the last 8+ years and don't really think about this stuff anymore, but it was in a weird way kind of fun to reminisce about old pain. For some reason I feel French. Anyways.

The crazy shit one will do when they are in unrealistic love is amazing. There is one person who really broke my heart and in talking with my hairdresser, I was embarrassed at some of the crazy stuff I did, thought, and said. My twenty-something self would really irritate my forty-something self if they hung out. 

Besides having nonexistent eating habits and a small drinking problem, I lived in a bit of a fantasy world when it came to what I was going to do with my life. 

There is one time that me and the boy who broke my heart wandered around the city for like 10 hours. It was magical. The conversation was filled with unrealistic scenarios and lofty goals. We ended up at Tank Hill, which has a great view of the city. I am sure we declared our love or something like that, but what I do remember is wanting the moment to last forever. It was like a romantic movie. It is no wonder I associate so much of my life to music. I am a product of the 1980s and dammit, I need a good soundtrack! 

Don't get me wrong, I worked my ass off (still do) and I was motivated to make art and stuff, but I kind of lived for the day back then. 

All during high school and until I was about 20, I had a reoccurring dream that I died on my 34th birthday. It was because I had that dream weekly for 5 years that I did not think about "the future." When I actually reached my thirties things changed and I got older, wiser, and blah, blah, blah.

I am glad that I had the heartbreak. It made me appreciate what came next. 

We're an American Band

I play in a punk rock cover band. I really like the people I play with and I think we are pretty good.
Playing other people's music is a strange thing for me. For over 20 years I played in bands that played originals. In the mid 2000s, I played in two musicals and they were really fun. In fact one of my favorite times ever playing was doing the run of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But it is different than playing covers. This winter I want to FINALLY perform my Christmas show. I have the players (except a keyboardist), and I am pretty sure that I will have no trouble securing a venue as well.
No excuses.
On Friday night, we played at a local watering hole and it was a really fun low pressure gig.
My amp died before we started playing (by the by, now I have three amps that do not work), but luckily the singer is also a bassist and had gear close by to fill in. The other band was great too. Totally nice guys and good players. Not to be mean about the LBC, but it is still a boys club. Women are few and far between in bands in my opinion. In the 5 years I have been playing in this town only a handful of bands seem to have women or are all female. For the record, I am talking about Long Beach proper. I know that I don't get out much, but I do try and keep my fingers on the pulse of what the kids are into.
I vowed to myself that I would not stop creating my own art. That is why this Christmas show means so much to me. Though they are mostly cover songs, I am making my own arrangements of the tunes and there will be a few originals thrown into the mix. That reminds me, I really need to finish my greeting cards for my etsy store.

One of my best friends, Ego Sensation keeps me motivated. She is a crazy brilliant artist and I don't know what I would do without her in my life. I promised her no more pity parties (table for one?) and gosh darn it that is a promise I intend to keep.