The Things I Dream

     I had the weirdest dream this morning just before waking up. I was at my friend Bryan's parents' house, but it didn't look anything like their place. It was clear to me that I was visiting with my wife, Gabby, and baby, Cadence, but they weren't there with me. I kept trying to call Gabby but my phone wasn't working, nor anyone else's phones. I decided to go to them and jumped in a Camaro.

     Flash to me at a stoplight in Pacific Beach, CA and my Camaro morphs into a bike. Not a motorcycle, mind you, but a 10 speed bicycle. I turn left and start pedaling down the street when it randomly changes into an extremely ghetto street. I decide to keep going until I see flashes of light up ahead on both sides of the street. Then I heard gunfire accompanying the lights. Being unarmed but for my SOG knife I decided to turn around and get the heck out of dodge. Unfortunately for me I was spotted and one of them came after me. I tried to dial 911 but my fingers became enlarged so I couldn't press just one button at a time. Frantic, as my pursuer closed in on me, I pulled around a gas station building and tried to hide there. The thug came up behind me somehow (even though in real life it would have been a physical impossibility) and pointed his gun at me.

     Cornered, I dropped my cell phone, and put my hands at my side ready to draw my knife. I wasn't going down without a fight. I mean, I knew he was going to shoot me anyway so I couldn't witness against them. I drew my knife while simultaneously reaching out for his gun. I wasn't able to grab the wrist so he got a shot in my left shoulder. I swung my knife around to get him in the armpit, which would give me leverage to take him down. Before I could jab at him he got another shot in my left shoulder.

     I couldn't believe the speed at which this punk moved. Enough was enough. I wasn't sure I could take another round. I was losing blood fast. I reached out with my left arm; if I dropped my knife I would be completely unarmed. Success! I was able to grab his wrist and force the gun away from me. I took full advantage of the momentary leverage I had, reaching around his neck with my knife and digging it into his corrated artery. I put just enough pressure to make it uncomfortable. Just when I was going to finish the turd off I saw a Sheriff's deputy and my humanity got the best of me. I dragged the punk by his neck while trying to shout out to the deputy, but it seemed my voice didn't work. My little prisoner decided to try to get one last shot in and the round hit the Sheriff's car. I was glad to get the deputy's attention, but while mine was drawn to the vehicle being shot the gang-banger tried to fire one more into me. Luckily, he missed. Unlucky for him, I decided to let him have it. I stuck him like a roasting pig..... then I heard the baby stir and woke up.

My First Live Performance in a Loooonnnnngggg Time

     Back in December I saw a wall post on Facebook from the Student Program Board (SPB) asking for any UH students who play acoustic music to hit them up for a performance opportunity. I did, and I was accepted immediately. I guess my enthusiasm gave them confidence in my abilities.
     Over the next 2 months I had to practice and figure out what to play. I really wanted to debut a new song, but I wasn't able to come up with anything I considered satisfactory. The next challenge was to decide if what covers to do, and if I should maybe learn some new ones. I learned a Dave Matthews Band song,"So Much To Say"

and worked on "Collide" by Howie Day

 and "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash.

     My next order of business was looking at looping pedals for my guitar. What a loop pedal does is record a riff or whatever you want to be looped, or played over again, and repeats it until you tell it to stop. This would have been helpful so I could show off my soloing capabilities. Alas, I wasn't able to find one I liked in time to get used to using it. Oh well. I didn't NEED the loop pedal, though I really wanted it. 


     The big day came up. February 24th, 2011. I was feeling pretty nervous. The only live stuff I had done in the last 5 years was some open mics around Houston. The open mic crowd is pretty forgiving, so not much of a gauge as to how I'm actually sounding or performing. This show would be my first time playing for regular ass people since my cousin Keith and I played as Morning Wood in 2004.
     My nerves and anxiety were pretty high as the first performer went on. When I came on the stage and set up I realized I was drawing a blank; thankfully, I had my set list typed up. I played through Dave Matthews' "So Much to Say" with a minor hiccup I don't think anyone noticed but me. Before moving on to "Don't Cry" by Guns n Roses my wife, Gabby, asked if I turned on the video camera. I had not, so she turned it on for me. I felt pretty good about Don't Cry so I thought I was losing my nerves. I was wrong. I had to skip over Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" because I forgot the words all of a sudden. I literally remembered them right after my set was over and I was leaving the stage. The rest of the set went pretty well. I did well enough to not be mad with myself, which isn't easy. I tend to be so critical of my mistakes that I overlook the good stuff.

     So, to conclude my story, I got decent recordings of the rest of set which included: "Don't Cry", "Drive" by Incubus, an original song called "Upon Goodbye", "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, an original called "Trust You", "Times Like These" by Foo Fighters, and an original, "Overload".  I have placed a link to youtube where all these videos of my performance can be seen.

To Loop our Not to Loop

I have been pondering purchasing a pedal to loop a guitar rythm so I can practice my lead over it, and also because I would like to be able to layer my parts and/or solo live. I asked my boy Stuart, of Skepticynic, what he used for layering. His stompbox of choice is the ibanez de7 delay/echo pedal, if I'm not mistaken. Now,i have been impressed with his layering work and am not opposed to trying one out, but this Guitar Center employee showed me a couple loop pedals. The difference between a delay/echo and a loop is that the delay is mainly designed for short term delays, or repeating of licks and riffs, while the loop pedal is used for extended looping, or repeating of multiple layers of sound. I wanted a legit link to the specs on the Ibanez DE 7, but apparently it has been discontinued. I did, however, find a link for the Jamman Solo specs. http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/JamManSolo.php since I'm doing this on my phone I don't know if that will show up as a link, or if you'll have to paste the url. A decision isn't necessary yet, but I would love to be able to layer myself for my upsoming 30 min spot. Going completely solo without any effects is gonna be tense for me after all this time since I've played live.

Mobile Blogging and Lyrical Content

Blogging could be made easier by this Blogger App from Google. I'm enjoying sitting with Gabby while she watches a Filipino telenovela she has on the DVR. I am taking a few moments to relax before jumping into some bookwork.

On another note, a couple days ago I created this new riff and last night I started writing some words to it. So far, they seem to stem from watching that Christian movie with Kirk Cameron a few moths ago... I think it's called "Left Behind". So in the story-line this guy is the Anti-Christ and fools the world into following him after a world-wide "disaster", a perspective on the book of Revelation.  (The disaster is when all of these people disappear at once the world over, and ALL of the children in the world disappear.)

Ok, ok. So the point of telling you that was to say that the lyrics are regarding a (fictional) person or thing like that. Heck, it could be about my perceived Anti-Christ. I'm not really sure where the inspirado came from, but I know what came to mind after the words began to flow. So maybe the rest of the lyrics will follow suit.

I added a pic of my "working" area.

The Feel of Taylor

Taylor.  Doesn’t it have  a nice ring to it?  A very nice name, eh?  Of course, I’m talking about a guitar.  I used to go over to my best friend, Gabe’s, parents’ pad and drool over all the guitars his dad had hanging on the walls.  No matter how many times I went up there I was always in awe.  I recall only being allowed to play like 1 or 2 of them.  Those guitars were all very special to “Dad”.  I mean, most likely, he hand-made each and every one for all I know. (These aren’t the guitars that are David’s Secret, but they are a sample of Taylor Guitars.)  I do know that, in the den, he was always working on something that I “wouldn’t understand”.  In retrospect, he was right.  I wouldn’t have understood any of the jive he was speaking about the intricacies of sounds.  Acoustics were, and still are, a very big mystery to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I know how to manipulate the acoustics in a given room where I am controlling the live sound of a performance, or performing myself.  Anyway, enough about this.  Gabe just sparked an interest in blogging about my favorite guitars. Taylor Guitars.  Thanks Gabe, and thanks “Dad” for introducing me to that part of life.
Amen

Semper Fidelis! Out here.

The Inspirado

It is a fleeting being, the Inspirado, appearing at random and sometimes leaving before you can fully register that it was even there.  I try to write down my account of the interaction as quickly as possible, but the Inspirado is a sly devil.  Yesterday it appeared to me in a dream whilst napping.  I tried all afternoon to remember the words to the song the Inspirado brought to me to no avail.  Later in the evening, however, I discovered a guitar riff lying around in the "office"/ Cady's room.  The riff was ripe for the picking and it just so happened to be sitting right next to my voice recorder.  I had to act quickly before it got away, so I snatched up my Spanish style guitar and voice recorder and went to work on that Inspirado.  2 minutes and 52 seconds later I had a decent bit going.  It's amazing how versatile the basic chords are.  (AC/DC made entire albums with only 3 chords total.)  I actually used Am7-C-D-F and G... so five chords... The Inspirado was so kind to give me that little gift yesterday.  May it return with some lyrical content soon so that I may complete the song.  Yes, that would be good.

On another note, Gabby helped me change my banner thingy.  She took my picture at the park and I liked it a lot.  I want to take more pictures like that, but I can't think of the look I'm going for. I guess I'm just an average guy wearing regular-ass clothes while playing my guitar.  Gotta get to figuring out a set list.

Semper Fi

Getting Into The Blog of Things

SO, I have said that I would blog more often, and I intend to do that.  I really do.  I wonder who I'm blogging for really.  What should I be talking about on here?  Will anyone want to read it other than my family?  Does it matter if I blog at all?  I guess, if nothing else, blogging regularly will help me keep a record of my life.  That is definitely a plus considering that I don't have the greatest memory.  I guess I should just blog about whatever is happening.  Maybe I will also develop a better sense of using my words to describe what I'm thinking and feeling.  So it begins.  I promise to blog at least three times a week from now on.

That's me, in case you need a reminder of what my mug looks like.  My wife, Gabby, took this picture today at the park.  Tomorrow... technically today... we are going to take some "promotional pictures" of me with my guitar so I can promote the event at University of Houston I am participating in on February 24th.  I will be playing some music for anyone who wants to stop and listen.  More info on that at a later time.