| Back In Action |
[Mar. 20th, 2007|01:07 am] |
Long time no see...
It's been eight months since I've wrote something here and five months since we've all played together, but tonight ended a five-month hibernation for Elson and the Soul Barkada. I just came back from a rehearsal with Vince, Dennis, Miguel and Keith for our show at Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach on April 14.
I was expecting us to be incredibly rusty but surprisingly, aside form a chord here or a lyric there, we were pretty much on point. We refined some tunes and made things work. Best of all we were at Dennis' lockout studio and were free from the shackles of three-hour rehearsal blocs, noise emanating from the band in the adjoining room, too much or too little air conditioning and the rehearsal studio staff knocking on the door to give you the Five Minute Warning.
Yes our last rehearsal and show was back in October 2006. We've had a couple opportunities to play since then but none of them were ideal. One was at a venue we had played before, another for a major outdoor festival that was booked on the same night as the Oscars. they all fell through, but I decided if we're going to get back, we better do it right.
I personally intended to go on a live performance hiatus, though not as long. In late October, my music took a backseat to something called "N Scale" (if you know what that is, then yeah, a new take on an old hobby took hold of my time). I also spent a few months in a period of self-doubt, just a few steps away from depression, though it never got that bad for me. Life's been generally good, but I've just been stuck in the mud, so to speak, for the past few months.
Hopefully I'll gain my desire to finish my CD, which has also taken a long time (five years in the making so far). It's not necessarily writer's block, it's just that I have a certain number of songs that I'd like to put on the album, I have the music down but I want to choose the right words to say. I'm particularly picky with lyrics (almost as picky as I am with women, heh heh).
Last week I found myself in the Valley with a good two hours to spare so I pulled over and parked in the parking lot of a train station in Van Nuys (those are where I like to spend my "quiet times") and tried to flesh out lyrics to two songs I've been wracking and slacking on. No, I didn't finish the lyrics, but at least I had the verses and choruses more organized after 45 minutes of writing notes to myself on exactly what I wanted to say with those songs. One song, called "And If You're Listening" has to do with the futility of songwriting when there doesn't seem to be anyone really listening to what one has to say.
Which is like this "not-a-blog." I doubt there will be people reading this, but the fact that I'm writing what I'm writing is quite therapeutic and helps me with the creative process.
The other thing holding me back is that I have new song ideas coming up, and I'd feel like putting those new songs at the expense of some of the old ones...
The weirdest thing is that I get way ahead of myself creatively. My heart and mind is set on the second album, which will have a certain sound and a certain theme to it, and those songs are popping up in my head all the time, but I must finish the first one and say what I want to say before I can get to "Elsongs 2".
Anyway, glad to be back... |
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| Another Gig |
[Jul. 7th, 2006|09:35 pm] |
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Wow the music thing's really picking up...got a gig next week for an acoustic wedding reception. It's gonna involve a couple other members of the SB. Should be interesting... |
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| Rehearsal |
[Jul. 6th, 2006|01:18 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Invisible" | ] |
Back to work and back to business. We had a rehearsal tonight in North Hollywood for our Lotus Festival set this Saturday. I normally don't do this but here goes, this is what our rehearsal sounded like:
Lotus Festival Set Rehearsal - July 5, 2006 (24 minutes, 22MB MP3)
Mike couldn't make the rehearsal but can make the gig...so we'll have the full eight there on Saturday. |
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| Independence Day |
[Jul. 5th, 2006|11:04 am] |
Tuesday was another Independence Day at my college friend Felix's house in Eagle Rock. This is not the usual 4th of July BBQ - this one has been going on for the past 17 years. This was my 13th.
Lately, it has evolved from a BBQ which involves his current circle of friends to one that includes his friend's friends, and their friend's friends, and their friend's friends. Around 200 people come to this thing apparently. Yes it's nuts.
There's a pool, there's a jam session and there's tons of food. Yes this is my mid-year pig-out, which is probably why I look a but bloated in my Lotus Festival photos, but oh well.
It's different, but it's the same. It's great to see people, especially my old college friends, where this is perhaps the only opportunity I get to see them. Then again there's some people at the party (expected and unexpected) that I'm not too crazy about seeing. But it never gets bad enough where my experience is ruined by their presence.
I brought my sax, my keyboard and a couple pies. That's usually how I show up for this thing, except it's the first time I brought my sax.
I dunno, mostly at parties people socialize, and I do socialize, but primarily with my old friends. Most of the time I'm there playing or singing, as if it's my sole refuge or something. Is it just me or is it a musician's curse? There's a few cute girls at the party though most came with their boyfriends, and it's worse when their boyfriends are friends or acquaintances of mine. Har. But most of the people there are people I already recognize. So no real first impressions are made. This is probably why I want to break out of my social circle once in a while.
Someone at the party, who was a fan of my e:trinity project, asked why I didn't want to do it anymore. I just told him the basic reasons and that it's done and that I want to do other things. Apparently though he wasn't aware of the Soul Barkada. I did use this event to pass out flyers and promote my thang. We'll see how it goes.
After dusk, the place was a prime spot to view fireworks. Felix's house is adjacent to a hill, where one can see fireworkds displays from the Rose Bowl, Dodger Stadium, even as far away as Burbank, Alhambra and the Hollywood Bowl, not to mention the local Eagle Rock/Highland Park neighborhood pyrotechnics.
At the end of the night the crowd got smaller and more mellower, we did some "acoustic" tunes, I played until like 2am, worn out and groggy, but still down to test my musical knowledge. At one point I sang and played James Blunt's "Beautiful." And John Legend's "Ordinary People" of course.
Funny, I'm always one of the last people to leave. Thanks again Felix, Alden, Johann, Antoine and all y'all. Man that BBQ steak early in the day was good. 13 hours at my 13th 4th of July BBQ. God Bless America. |
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| New Music |
[Jul. 3rd, 2006|11:40 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | In The Groove | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Do It Again" by the Brand New Heavies | ] |
First off, on a non-music-related note, today I helped successfuly complete the certification application for the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, which was submitted to the Los Angeles City Department of Neighborhood Empowerment today.
Doesn't sound like a big deal, but I was working on this thing for the past four and a half years.
FINALLY! IT'S FINISHED!
Maybe it's the celebratory spirit, but something within me made me go to Amoeba on Sunset and buy the following:
The Brand New Heavies
Get Used To It
I honestly don't know when was the last time I bought a Brand New Heavies album. At one point they were my favorite band and still are one of my favorite bands. Lord knows how much their music has influenced mine.
Though they've released a few albums on obscure overseas labels in this decade, apparently this was the first since 1994's Brother Sister album in which vocalist N'Dea Davenport is with them. Quick Listen Review: Ehh... I dunno. Part of this album sounds AMAZING, like "Let's Do It Again," which sounds like it came from their 1994 release, along with tunes like "Sex God" and "All Fired Up," but then there's some mediocre tunes as well. Whereas Brother Sister (I guess you can tell I'm partial to that one, eh?) is one great album from start to finish, some songs on this one sound like filler. Oh well, maybe the album title is sound advice for me personally.
Jamie Lidell
Multiply
Quick Listen Review: If Jamiroquai's Jay Kay is the white British soul brother, then Jamie Lidell kicks his ass. Hard. With a steel-toe boot. I'm just diggin on the Prince/Ready For The World-inspired "When I Come Back Around." Hot damn. This is what I want The Purpose of Innocence to be like.
Kirk Franklin
Hero
Quick Listen Review: It's like an all-star who's who of contemporary gospel artists. I normally dig live gospel albums a lot more (the musicianship and energy are just...well...divine) but this one sounds pretty good so far. |
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| DAMN!!! |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|10:34 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
Update on my Juno-106 synthesizer. Just my luck, the thing developed the dreaded chip failure problem. Though 1/6 of it works fine, it's a major bummer and it's almost worthless. What to do? |
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| New Toy |
[Jun. 20th, 2006|12:15 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Stevie Wonder, "Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing" | ] |
When I was 13 and a wild-eyed junior high school student obsessed with this powerful new talent I had recently acquired called music, I wanted a synthesizer sooo bad...
I blame it on watching music videos, especially Duran Duran videos, with Nick Rhodes standing stoically behind these mystic machines with the big fat "Roland" logo on the back. Damnit, I wanted one. I had a little Yamaha portable keyboard, but it didn't have those neato pitchbend controllers on the left side. And the keys were too tiny.
When it came time, I wanted either a Roland Juno-106 or a Yamaha DX7. I can even remember going to Nadine's Music in Hollywood (R.I.P.) after school and having the salesguy demo it for me - and one of the patches sounded just like the rhythmic water-drop sound from Berlin's "No More Words."
I got a DX7 as a Christmas present that year, and it still runs fine to this day, but I guess there was that little teenager inside of me that didn't feel complete yet without a Roland analog synth.
I own or have owned Roland rack gear, but this is my first actual keyboard with a Roland logo in the back of it! And I've been into synths/MIDI for over 20 years...
So I won this thing as a bid on Ebay last weekend for $316. The seller was this music store in Colorado. On the good side, the unit is spotless, all the sliders are there, all the keys work and all the voices sound. It even still has the factory presets intact!
On the bad side, although the listing's photos showed the sustain pedal and infamous 2-prong power cable, it wasn't in the package! I've since sent a message to the seller about this. Though I ended up buying my own 2-prong cord at a local electronics store for $5 (I'd still need the other cord, as I gig often and I like to have duplicates of power cables/adaptors so removing and returning equipment to/from my studio is easier).
It's been years since I've played, let alone seen a Juno-106 in person. The thing was surprisingly light and looked kind of toy-like. I was expecting something bigger and heavier.
I spent Monday night moving around equipment and getting it acclimated into its new home. I even had a rehearsal that night with a singer named Guadalupae Dubl'ushus, who I got hired to play in her band for a show in San Francisco next week.
Yes, I brought the Juno-106.
In this day and age, synthesizers have entered the software realm, and I have used them, but there's something about a real, tangible instrument that you can play with your hands at a moment's notice. |
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| The Human Side of Karaoke |
[Jun. 18th, 2006|12:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | grateful | ] |
Earl is an old friend of mine from college. His wife Rebecca, whom I've only seen once or twice before, recently got an offer to relocate to Eugene, Oregon and run a bakery there and is making the big move. Earl, who works for the USPS, has requested a transfer to a post office there so he can join her later on.
Earl and Rebecca share a passion for singing, and this, karaoke, enough that it's become a pastime for them. So last week I got an E-vite to join them and a bunch of their friends for one "farewell" to her friends at a place called Karaoke Max in Torrance. Yes, Torrance.
After having trouble finding their room, they hold the party in the Large Room, which can hold 50 and where one can bring their own food and drink. The selection was pretty good, and they didn't resort to playing General MIDI files as the backing tracks. Which mean, there's background vocals, guitars sound like guitars and not like a cheap computer soundcard and synths sound like the real thing.
It was cool for me, going karaoke with a different set of friends. I got to see another old college friend of mine, Evan, whom I hadn't seen in months, and hadn't seen in years before then. I got to sing Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke", Steve Perry's "Oh Sherry" (as a challenge, I love a challenge, haha), Frankie Smith's "Double Dutch Bus" (the karaoke text stalled for some weird reason) and Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances."
The other folks had some great highlights too...one of the ladies sang the Kinks' "Lola" and right after this guy sang Weird Al Yankovic's parody, "Yoda." Another girl sang "All That Jazz" from Chicago and even did some swing dancing with her boyfriend in the long instrumental intro. And I believe Earl's sister did a crazy rendition of Bjork's "It's So Quiet," complete with screaming. Earl, Rebecca, Evan and I did the Doobie Brothers' "Takin It Too The Streets."
Towards the end of the night, Earl chose "We Are The World" and we each took turns. Then as the finale, Rebecca gave an emotional performance of Natalie Merchant's "Thank You." It's just a karaoke tune, but at that moment, it had a lot of meaning for the people in the room.
Karaoke can be fun, it can be cheesy, it can be incredibly annoying when drunk Filipino uncles sing "My Way" with their voices drenched in tons of Super BBS Slapback Echo. But it can have an incredibly emotional, human aspect as well. |
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| My Day in a 3-block Radius; Chow FUN at last! |
[Jun. 17th, 2006|11:28 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | hopeful | ] |
My Day in a 3-Block Radius
Everybody says Los Angeles is so sprawled and spread-out, and that you need a car to get everywhere. But I've always been an exception. Or maybe times have changed.
See, my entire June 16 was spent in a 3-block radius centered around Alameda St and Cesar Chavez Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles.
Morning: My company organized and hosted a workshop/conference called the
Learning Exchange at the California Endowment's posh new high-tech community center on Alameda. I rode the subway to Union Station, walked two blocks, I was there.
Afternoon: After the conference we had happy hour in Olvera Street where I seemed to consume a lot of tortilla chips and margaritas. And more margaritas. Walking drunk in the hot sun is really, um, different. But at least I didn't have to drive. My Metro Day Pass was my license to drink :)
Night: After one Metro train ride home, it's time to shower, change, pack up my gear (while hung over, remember) and drive back...to Chow Fun, which is just one block from the California Endowment building. Yes I'm sober, but kinda worn and groggy at this point.
Chow Fun, At Last
Today was ultimatum day...if we didn't pull a good crowd this week, this would be the final monthly Chow Funk show. We even promoted it as a night where the kitchen would serve Cajun-style crawfish...So everything was riding on imported Louisiana mudbugs...
Setlist
Chow Fun June 16, 2006
Jam 1
Sunshine
Outstanding
Brand New Thing
Never Too Much
Let’s Go Outside
Hearts
(break)
The Magic Chopstick Jam
Stevie Wonder Happy Birthday (to Charles and Louie's sister Chrissy)
No More
That Girl
Why?
Invisible
Love Fall Down
Everyone Together
Chow Funk Theme Song
It was a GREAT night. Our percussionist Scott is out of the country so I had an acquaintance of mine, Keith Dasalla, whom I met at one of our first shows, to play percussion. He brought a *great* vibe to the show, not to mention a whole bunch of his friends.
A bunch of my friends came down tonight - Melanie, Natasha, Salim, Charles (celebrating his birthday), even Mark Henry came down to check out the band and how his support. Okay, maybe the crawfish was the real reason, but it was great to see em. Everyone dug the crawfish.
At the end of the show, while talking to Everett, the owner, we had a conversation on how the night was hyped up on the Chowhounds Los Angeles website (a message board where people comment on local restaurants). As if on cue, my friend Rickmond, who posted the messages to the board about Chow Fun, walks in the door...So we all hang out and Everett treats him and myself to some crawfish. In the conversation, we learn Rickmond and Everett share the same last name and some mutual friends.
Yes, it's a small world indeed...as big as a 3-block radius. |
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| LOOOOOOONG TIME... |
[Jun. 13th, 2006|02:42 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | relieved | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jason Mraz' "Geek In The Pink" | ] |
Yeah it's been a long time...June already?
I don't know where to start. I think we've skipped over a bunch of things. I played a few shows here and there.
Last Thursday my computer went kaput. I didn't panic since I didn't think the hard drives were in danger, but a hardware problem kept, uh, the computer from even turning on. It was 4 days in agony even trying to get a sprke computer up and running (whereas a bad DVD-ROM drive was the culprit and wouldn't get it to reboot properly). Today though I found out my main computer's problem was a bad power supply. So $70 and 500 watts later, I'm up and running. With some new gadgets that will allow me to make more music (more on this later...)
Yeah I'm a nrrd. I can't live without my 'puter. |
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