Baah-Baah-Bap, or, How Accidents Are a Good Thing

The live video above is of my playing my song "Fly, Baby, Fly" at the Starbucks courtyard in El Cajon last Saturday, April 20, with John "J-Rod" Rodriguez on bass and Dave Farrell on drums.

When I first wrote this song a few weeks back, it all came out in one short episode of inspiration.  I was talking on the phone with a good friend who was sharing how she felt like a failure in pursuing her dreams, which sounded to me was distorted thinking, that I could definitely relate to!

This friend has followed her dreams really well from my perspective, and is still doing so today.  So I envisioned this conversation between someone struggling with these kinds of thoughts and feelings, and a wiser, gentle, person or force, giving the person struggling the strong shot of encouragement and support they need right now.

I played it a few times at open mics in its original form - and made a live home video of me performing it you may have already seen.  But I've put below here, so you can compare this original version with the changed one.



After a while of playing it this way, I felt like it needed a change or two.  One theme that often occurs to me as a songwriter is doing more with less.  This is really a common theme throughout all Art, I believe.  To me, this concept means: I can spoil the creative stew by adding too much of too many ingredients, or, I can improve the creative stew by leaving one or two ingredients out.

In my music, employing this concept often means taking out one of the instruments, for a particular period of time in the song.  I was at a 7-Eleven getting my breakfast and decaf coffee this morning, and "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp was playing on the sound system.  If you know the song, in the first part of it, there are guitar chords, some guitar notes strummed, and some hand claps.  At one point before the vocals come in, we hear the guitar chords "Daaaaaaaaaah, daaaaah, daaah-dah-dah," a quick instance of silence, the strummed notes with the hand claps, then a couple more quick instances of silence.

That part of the song could have guitar chords playing straight through the whole time, with the hand claps underneath, and the strummed notes on top.  But for some reason, it sounds cooler to me when the chords stop, and I hear only the notes and hand claps, with little silences in between.  I've copied in the music video for this song if you want to listen to the first part of it and hear what I mean.



So I was messing with this concept of less is more at home with "Fly, Baby, Fly." and It seemed like it worked better when I just did the guitar chords quickly all at once, and then stopped them at a particular point in the lines, instead of playing chords all the way through like I had written originally.

The only trick to this was that, as I was singing and playing guitar at the same time, the original version was easier at first for me to pull off.  If I was strumming the chords all the way through the lines in the verses, I could kind of put my strumming and chord-fingering hands on auto-pilot, and focus mentally on the lyrics and vocal notes.  If I was going to do this start-stop of the guitar in each line, in the early going I would have to split my mental focus as I performed it.  I would have to keep my attention both on the start-stop guitar part, and the lyrics and vocal notes.

So at home I messed with the guitar in the verses a bit to see what worked.  What I eventually arrived at was a new, two-chord "Baah-bap" three times in each line, with no guitar in between, just vocals.  It sounded much better to me, and I was pretty satisfied with it.

There was a problem, though.

Sometimes, when I started the first part of the song, before the vocals began, I would do a three-chord "Baah-baah-bap" just naturally, thinking I was doing what I wanted to do.  Then I would get up to the first vocal line of the first verse, and realize that I had begun doing the three-chord "Baah-baah-bap," not the two-chord "Baah-bap" I wanted to do.  This would throw me off.  I thought to myself, well, if it's really the three-chord "Baah-baah-bap" that wants to come out, maybe that's what it needs to be, and I could practice it that way...

But the three-chord "Baah-baah-bap" was a slightly trickier rhythm for me to play for some reason.  I could do the two-chord "Baah-bap."  No problem.  I MIGHT be able to do the three-chord "Baah-baah-bap," but it would take longer.  It would require more practice to get it down.  I was trying to be easy on myself - in the past I've had a habit of making some things as hard on myself as possible. So I said to myself, "No, I'll stick with the easier choice."  I kept practicing the two-chord "Baah-bap."  I got to where I THOUGHT I had it down.

Skip ahead in time to the open mic at Starbucks last Saturday.  I get to the moment when I am going to play "Fly, Baby, Fly."  I have a bassist and a drummer now, who I have not rehearsed with.  They're just picking things up as I go.  So I start the song.  And do I start it right, with the two-chord "Baah-bap"?  Um, no.  I do not.  Probably out of a bit of stage nervousness, I start with the ol' problematic, three-chord "Baah-baah-bap."  Oh, dear.  We have a situation.

Add to this: John on bass and Dave on guitar choose to match the three-chord "Baah-baah-bap" EXACTLY.  I'm guessing, because they don't know what this new song, which they've never heard before, will sound like once we're into it.  So the smartest thing for them to do is match what I'm doing on guitar as closely as possible.  As the song really gets going, they'll be able to figure out more what to do.  But now my misstep has tripled in size.  ALL THREE OF US are doing the "Baah-baah-bap."  Remember: up to this point, the "Baah-baah-bap" has messed me up in doing the vocals EVERY TIME.  And because of that, I NEVER practiced the whole song doing the "Baah-baah-bap."  But here we are, three guys playing music up in front of people, and we're all completely committed to the "Baah-baah-bap."

Well, I briefly - like, for a nanosecond in my mind - considered calling the whole thing to a halt and starting over.  But I have this punk rock aesthetic, anchored deeply somewhere in the back of my brain, that tells me to always keep going.  No matter what the heck feels off or seems to be going wrong.  Just keep going.  I think I got an album title, or something like that, from that somewhere...

So I kept going.  I started the vocals, committed to doing the completely un-practiced, three-chord "Baah-baah-bap" throughout and just...see how it went.

You can see the results for yourself, in the live video of everything I just described, at the top of this post.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here, and reading, watching and listening.  I enjoy reading what you have to say, as well, so please leave a comment if you're so inclined.

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Songs in Santee Part 2 - Night Drives and Secret Agents

Musicians and Patrons Outside During the Open Mic

Continuing to tell about what transpired at the Open Mic at Kaffee Meister last Thursday night...

John Movius is a great electric guitar and mandolin player who plays this open mic and the Open Mic Rancho San Diego - typically held at the Starbucks in El Cajon.  He's one of several performers at these open mics who loves to find songs from the past and bring them to life today by playing them for us.

One of John's selections last week was a surf rock song which I really enjoyed.  I fell in love with surf rock at a very early age, when my Uncle Tom would bring me along to see the University of New Hampshire ice hockey team play.  Ironic, right?  Yes, it's true - my first exposure to music inspired by riding the waves in sunny California at an ice arena in the dead of winter in Durham, New Hampshire.  How, you ask?  Well to get the fans riled up, the sound man always played the song "Wipeout" as the UNH hockey team came out of the locker room, got on the ice and skated around for their pre-game warm-up.  It was the perfect music to get all the UNH fans riled up for the game.  "Wipeout" was released by The Surfaris in 1964.

John Movius played an instrumental by The Ventures, whose hey-day was the 1960's.  The Ventures had many hit songs, but are probably most widely known today for authoring the original theme song to the TV show Hawaii 5-0.  John played a song called "Night Drive," off their fifth LP.  You can listen to it on the YouTube video below.



To bring the song that got me into surf rock, "Wipeout," together with the band that created John's cover, The Ventures, here's a video of The Ventures playing "Wipeout" along with Max Weinberg, of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and currently Conan O'Brien's TV show.  The drumming here is pretty awesome...



The open mic's closer was Greg Gross, who played a bunch of interesting covers.  He played Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," but I'm planning on dedicating a whole post to that song, and its relationship with Boston and the Marathon tragedies, on Sunday or Monday.

The other one Greg played that caught my attention was a song that I have loved since I first heard it as a kid.  There's something about the guitar riff at the end of the chorus, the overall guitar sound, and the vocal rhythm throughout that has always got me.  It's "Secret Agent Man," which was written by Steve Barri, P.F. Sloan, and uses that guitar riff that hooked me, which was originally written by Chuck Day, a guitarist and bluesman from the South Side of Chicago.  It was recorded and released by Johnny Rivers in 1966. 



Thanks for visiting my blog here, and for reading and watching.  I hope you got some enjoyment out of these fun songs!  

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Songs, Songs, Songs in Santee: Part One

Just outside Kaffee Meister in Santee last
Thursday night, shortly before showtime

I played the open mic at Kaffee Meister in Santee last Thursday night for the second week in a row.  It was an absolutely beautiful early evening as we began, sunny and just the right temperature outside.

To my surprise, my name got drawn for the first time slot at 6:45PM, so I had to guzzle down the decaf coffee I had just bought, tune my guitar up, and go play pretty quick!  

Incidentally, I ended up leaving my guitar tuner and cable at Kaffee Meister because I tuned right before I went on, but did so in such a rush I forgot that I had just left it by the performance area.  Thanks to Open Mic organizer Tim Woods and musician Cliff Niman, for seeing that these crucial little pieces of musician gear both found their way back to me on Saturday.

Singin' n' strummin' at
Kaffee Meister

I started my set with "First Step to Starlight," then played "Picture of Your Touch."  I played "Home of Love" third, and then had a few minutes left.  I wasn't exactly sure what to play, so I played "20 Faces of Love."  That ended up being the first time I played that one for a live, in-person audience, ever - I played it a few times for my live, online audience on LIVE from The Basement last year.  It's a fun tune to do. I was glad that was the one that popped into my mind to use as my closer.

There were lots of great performances throughout the night, too many to list them all here.  But I did want to mention a few covers that really jumped out at me for various reasons.

Amos Jessup played a song by Al Grierson called "Til the Circle is Complete."  In the few times I've seen him, Amos has a real knack for finding songs from days gone by, not widely well-known, and honoring them with great renditions of his own.  I wanted to share this song with you, because I had never heard it before, and it really moved me.  You can listen to what I believe is the original version by Al Grierson below. I've posted the beautiful lyrics underneath the video as well.

Both the turning of the season and the ticking of the clock

Say the planet's one year older -- so are you

But I'll leave the speculation and the silly idle talk

For another time and someone else to do

There'll be a celebration at the end of every street

When we claim our bread and roses, and the circle is complete

So if destiny should drag you down, or dress you up in style

May you never be too weary

To walk another mile

And may you never cease your growing

And your learning as you grow

May the things that you discover

Be the things you want to know

May you gain in strength through sorrow

And may all your love be true

May you turn your hand to something

That you really want to do

May your friends encounter fortune

And your comrades find release

Though they see the hopes of others disappear

May your parents die contented, and your children live in peace

Though the hands of desperation hold them near

Should the future find you lying with a lover by your side

Or left alone with broken arms, and all your dreams denied

May your footsteps ring like rifles through the darkness of defeat

May your spirit never falter

'Til the circle is complete

And may you never cease your growing

Your learning as you grow

May the things that you discover be the things you want to know

May you gain in strength through sorrow

And may all your love be true

May you turn your hand to something

That you really want to do

May your life be like a love song in the act of every breath

Be a poem to the purpose that it serves

May you set your shoes to dancing in the hour of your death

And meet it with the courage it deserves

May your shadow pass in pirouettes of such amazing grace

That the tears of those who mourn you disappear without a trace

In the smoke that shapes their sorrow to the fading of your feats

In a ring around the rainbow

Where the circle is complete

And may you never cease your growing

Your learning as you grow

May the things that you discover be the things you want to know

May you gain in strength through sorrow

And may all your love be true

May you turn your hand to something

That you really want to do

May you turn your hand to something

That you really want to do

I'll finish up my story of the Kaffee Mesiter Open Mic here tomorrow, with more cool songs brought to life by my fellow performers.

Thanks so much for coming here and reading.  I sincerely appreciate it!

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Can I Look Into Your Eyes?

Last night I went to the twice-a-month gathering of the San Diego Songwriters MeetUp Group, the first time there for me.  I had such an amazing time and met so many wonderful people.

For the first hour, special guest speaker Katherine Zimmerman spoke about performance fears and anxiety, and taught several techniques for relaxing oneself before a performance. I found this extremely helpful.  Most of her talk centered on relaxing before a performance.  But one during-a-performance issue she discussed was whether or not to make eye contact.  She talked about how there is an old technique for public speaking that gets retold and re-taught quite a bit, that of looking at the back wall, above the audience's head, while speaking.  She stated her own feeling that as a public speaker herself, this did not work for her, as it prevented her from really connecting with her audience.

I was very active in politics many years back, and even held public office once for a year.  Having to speak in front of large groups of people was terrifying for me, but suddenly I had to do it all the time, sometimes multiple times in a single day.  I had heard the look-at-the-back-wall technique somewhere before, and began using it immediately.  I may have made eye contact with someone in the audience every now and then, but for the most part I stuck to my reliable friend, the back wall.

After my days in politics, I was a stage actor for a while.  I was still up in front of people a lot, but for the most part, it was required that I look into the eyes of my fellow actors on stage, not at the audience.

When I began performing as a musician in 2006, I wasn't really sure how to handle where to look, and I never asked anyone about it or discussed it with anyone.  I guess I had seen lots of musicians perform by that point - some of them looked at the audience, some didn't, some seemed to be using the old tried-and-true back wall method, some looked away, and some even kept their eyes closed a lot of the time.  I guess I just figured it wasn't that important.  Over the years, I've mainly used the back wall method, making eye contact occasionally here and there, but only for quick, fleeting moments, and only a few times at most each show.

But a funny thing has been happening at the open mics I've been playing recently here in San Diego.  Most places I play, the venue is fully lit.  Back in my NYC rock band days, quite often the venue would turn out the lights in the audience area and turn on bright stage lights, so I couldn't see the audience if I had wanted to.  But here, most times (the notable exception being Lestat's West, which follows the audience-dark/stage-bright model) I look out and can clearly see everyone watching and listening.  

So I've been feeling strange using the old back wall method, because all these eyes are pointed towards me and my performance.  But I'm looking over them, and I almost feel like I'm shutting them out or intentionally blocking myself off from them.

I was glad to hear Katherine's suggestion of welcoming and getting used to audience eye contact.  I performed one song for the group last night, my new one "First Step to Starlight," and my intention was to start practicing making eye contact as much as possible while performing.  I was startled to find how scary it felt at first.  But the more I did it, even over the course of that one song, the better it felt.  

I'm excited to try this out at my future performances.  I think feeling connected to the audience is a big part of the joy of performing, and I've been unintentionally cutting myself off from this for a long time.  

I also met a bunch of great people last night from the group and got to chat with some of them after the formal event was over.  Big thanks to Cliff Keller for organizing the event last night and doing such an amazing job running it.  Thanks also to songwriters Karin Keller, Star St. Claire, Brian Frankel, Roy Schultz, Omar Musisko, and Len Guerzon for chatting with me and being so incredibly welcoming to me afterwards.  Everyone who played one of their new songs last night did great, but I wanted to mention that Star St. Claire's song, which she sang while accompanied by Len Guerzon on guitar, was truly wonderful.

I'm going to play the Kaffee Meister open mic in Santee tonight, the drawing for time slots is at 6:15PM PT and performances begin at 6:45.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here and reading.  I deeply appreciate it.

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Music and Money, Money and Music

The Cover of My New Single, "Pretty Blade Trickster:
Live at Lestat's," Which is on Sale Today on Bandcamp

Today I am excited and proud that my new live single, "Pretty Blade Trickster: Live at Lestat's" is on sale on my Bandcamp site.  It is 99 cents, and there is an option on Bandcamp for people to pay more if they feel moved to lend additional financial support to my music.  You can buy it HERE.

It was somewhat challenging to decide whether or not to put this single on sale.  There has, for years now, been great debate over at which point it is best for an artist who is not well-known far and wide to begin selling his or her music.  There are many people out there who recommend that musicians and bands give away just about everything they offer for free, until they have a very large and measurable fan base.

Their theory, if I understand it correctly, is that someone may listen to the music for free and become a fan, someone who will buy music from that artist in the future.  But that same person might not even listen to the music if they have to pay for it before even becoming familiar with the artist.  In this line of thinking, charging a price for the music is seen as a deterrent to accumulating a fan base of large enough size in the future to sell lots of music.

There has also, for several years now, been a trend in selling music towards offering people the choice pay whatever they like.  Radiohead was the most widely-known of this a few years back, when they put a new, full LP on sale and allowed fans to pay whatever they liked for it.  They could pay 1 cent or $100.00.  

I still hear a lot of people say, that because of the impact of the so-called Digital Revolution, that "no one is buying music anymore." But in 2011, music sales worldwide went up for the first time since 2004, and in 2012, they went up in the U.S. for the first time since 2004.  There were 330 million total albums sold worldwide in 2010, and 330 million in 2011.  Last year in the U.S. alone, a total of 1.6 billion individual units (including sales of singles, music videos and albums, in both physical and digital form) were sold.  To me, numbers like 330 million and 1.6 billion would seem to contradict that claim that no one is buying music.  

So who knows...it's another mysterious step on this mysterious musical journey of mine.  In the end, I decided, this is what I want to get paid to do with my life, so...I might as well charge for at least some of the music I put out.  I spend a lot of time writing, practicing and rehearsing, and I try to put out the best songs I can.  After that, it's really beyond my control and up to you and others out there, what happens next.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here and for reading, I appreciate it very much.

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Boston, Massachusetts

I was in Manhattan, working at my office temp job at 55th Street and Park Avenue, on September 11, 2001.  I've told the story of what my day was like many times since. 

Of course the number of those physically impacted by the events in Boston yesterday are lower than those affected on 9-11.  I suppose this is some sort of blessing, but at the same time tragic deaths and injuries are tragic deaths and injuries.  On a spiritual level, I can't distinguish.

My journey as a professional musician began in Allston, Massacusetts in October of 2004.  I had moved to New York in April of that year, and I was now a 4-hour bus ride away from my friend Dan, a drummer, singer and songwriter himself, who was working as a programmer at a software company in Boston and living in Watertown.  My sister Kelly, a singer, was living in Portland, Maine, just a two-hour drive from Boston.  So I asked them to meet me in this rehearsal space called The Music Gym in Allston, just to play some songs I had written and have some fun.

Playing at the Music Gym in
Allston, Mass., late 2004/early 2005

When we got back to Dan's apartment in Watertown after the practice/rehearsal/jam session/whatever-it-was, I had an inner knowing stronger than any I had ever experienced in my life.  I wanted to do THAT, more of THAT, as much as possible, as often as possible, until I didn't want to anymore.  It was one of the clearest and happiest moments I'd ever had.  Creating original rock music became the primary focus of my life from that day forward.

We met again, in December I think, at the same studios, but in the room across the hall from where we had been in October.  In the room we had been in before, was this other incredible band we kept hearing through the walls, whenever we stopped playing.  Before we left, I asked the guy at the desk who they were.  He said they were a local band called Plumerai.

A few months later, Kelly decided to go to Chiropractor school in Atlanta, Dan moved to NYC, and he and I made the band Victor Bravo a reality.  Dan and I caught Plumerai on one of their East Coast tours at Piano's on the Lower East Side, and we met Martin and James Newman, the brothers who had moved from North Carolina to Boston and founded the band.

Over the next several years, Victor Bravo played Boston many times, often on the bill with Plumerai on a show they set up for us.  I remember one time when we opened for them at The Middle East Upstairs to a huge crowd, where both we and they played incredible sets.  This was after the sound man told me one of the two speakers in my amp had been completely blown at some point in the past - somewhow I hadn't noticed.  We also had Plumerai come down and play with us.  I recall one amazing show at The Charleston in Brooklyn, just a rectangular, cement floor basement, with Plumerai sounding like a chorus of a thousand angry angels, the whole space almost entirely in darkness, with only a single, solitary, working light bulb providing the smallest bit of illumination.

As a kid who grew up in a small town in southern Maine, watching Channel 4 News every night with my dad, hearing about places like Roxbury, Dorchester, and Woburn, and watching the Red Sox and Patriots, it felt good and right that my connection to Boston continued with my musical endeavors.

So when I was on Twitter yesterday and started to see Tweets like "Thoughts and prayers with those in Boston today," and "So awful, can't bear to hear what's happening in Boston," my heart sank.  I didn't want to hop on GoogleNews.  I knew it was going to be bad, really bad.  And it was.

There's something about being human that for most of us, I think, makes us want to be a part of something.  Everyone's different, of course, but I think most of us like to belong.  Belong to something other people are a part of.  Something that makes us feel good about being a part of it with those people.  It can be a school, a religion, fans of one particular sports team, a charity, a band, a city, a town, a nation.  When we're a part of something, connected to it, and something good happens, we get to share in the victory, in the celebration.  And when something bad happens, we all feel the wound, the pain, the hurt.

Sometimes the wound is big enough that even people not associated with our thing feel it.  They feel bad for us.

There's something people who have lived in Boston their whole lives or for a long time are feeling today that no one else can feel.  Even people like me who went through 9-11 in some way can't...because it's something done to them, their thing, their city.  It was done on one of their big days, at one of their big events, in the midst of one of their victories and their celebrations.

But I am so grateful that Boston always has been and always will be a part of my life.  I'm a lover, a constant visitor, and a friend of Boston.  And I'm proud to be so. Today and forever.

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Weekend Wind-Down

I'm excited about the release of my new live single this Wednesday.  It's a really good recording of my song "Pretty Blade Trickster" that was recorded at Lestat's West a few weeks back.  It will be on sale for 99 cents as a download on my Bandcamp site, with the option to pay more if you would like to support my music in an even bigger way.

I took yesterday off from performing.  Recently I've been playing the Open Mic Rancho San Diego on Saturday afternoons, which is usually held at the Starbucks in El Cajon.  I didn't get my e-mail request in on time last week to get a time slot I could make - I was offered the 7:00PM PT slot but already had another commitment at that time.  I thought about going to support the other performers, and sometimes they can sneak someone who is not on the list on stage for a song or two here or there.  But as it turned out, I really needed the day off and it helped me feel a lot better.  I have been running myself pretty hard lately, so the rest was much appreciated by my mind and body.

The staples of my most recent open mic sets, where I usually only get to play two or three songs, have been "Pretty Blade Trickster," "Picture of Your Touch," and "First Step to Starlight."  I've been tossing in "Home of Love" and "The Door" when it makes sense to do so.  

I really want to get five new songs worked into performance shape, so I can play them live, too.  The first of these is my slightly-redone version of "Fly, Baby, Fly."  The second is a song called "New Home," inspired by my thoughts and feelings of moving to San Diego right before I actually did.  "The Road Between" is a very new song I wrote last week, about the distractions of focusing on the past and the future too much, and the rewards of staying in the present.  The writing of that one is finished as far as I know, and I've almost got it all learned.  

"Throne of Gold" is the one that's taking the longest to figure out and learn.  It's a lot of loose imagery about denial, egotism, alienation and self-righteousness.  It's a faster tune than most of what I've been writing lately. It's got a really odd guitar pattern for me in the verses, and I haven't quite nailed down what the vocal melody in the chorus should be.  

The final one of the five I want to start playing live is "Bittersweet Departure."  I wrote this right before I left the East Coast, so the subject material should be pretty obvious.  I did make a live video of it on the LIVE from The Basement set before my trip west.  You can watch it at the top of this post if you haven't seen it.  Let me know what you think of it in a comment, I really enjoy hearing and reading people's reactions and responses.

I'll be going to the open mic drawing at Lestat's West tomorrow (Monday) night.  If my name gets drawn, the performances begin at 7:00PM PT, and I typically pick a time slot of 9:00 or later, so I can let some local people know I'm playing.

Charlie California's Tuesday Night Open Mic at Rebecca's in South Park is always off on the third Tuesday of the month, which is this week, so I won't be playing there.  I will be going to play the Wednesday Night Open Mic at 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach, which starts at 9:00PM PT.  I'll also be playing the Thursday Night Open Mic at Kaffee Meister in Santee.  The drawing there is at 6:15pm and the performances begin at 6:45.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here and taking the time to read it.  I appreciate it!

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Meister Maestro

The video above is my performance of "The Door" at Starbucks in El Cajon this past Saturday, with Dave Farrell on drums and John Rodriguez (out of frame to the left) on bass.  Thanks so much to Teri Hoffman of the Open Mic Rancho San Diego for filming this, uploading it and posting it to her YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/user/tieresa1).

Last night I ventured up to Santee, in the eastern-central part of San Diego County, to play the open mic night at Kaffee Meister, a great little coffee shop.  About three weeks ago at the Open Mic Rancho San Diego, musician Cliff Niman told me about this one and encouraged me to play it.  I had it on my calendar for two weeks, but was just too busy and exhausted after the Lestat's West on Monday/Rebecca's on Tuesday/710 Beach Club on Wednesday run of open mics (which I am still doing).  Then last Saturday at Starbucks, Cliff mentioned it to me again, and Tim Woods also pitched it to me.  Tim is another musician who plays the Open Mic Rancho San Diego regularly, is the proprietor of Kaffee Meister in Santee, and runs the open mic there.

So this Thursday night, I finally made it up there.  It's a fantastic little place, and another completely different environment from all the other open mics I've played in San Diego.  It's a much smaller room than Rebecca's, with tables and chairs fairly close together.  The place was absolutely packed with people.  When I first got there, there was not a free chair for me to sit on.  And almost everyone was there for the open mic.

I wrote my name on a slip of white paper and put it in the big blue plastic jar - the ol' draw-the-names method of assigning time slots for the night.  Similar to how they do it at Lestat's West, but much more laid back, as there weren't as many musicians.  I originally got the 9:15PM slot, but Cliff asked to switch with me - he had drawn the 7:30 slot.  He said he wanted to play near the end of the night, when everyone was tired and falling asleep.  I chuckled at this and said okay.

When 7:30 rolled around, I got up and took my spot.  I started with the not-even-one-week-old song, "First Step to Starlight," then went into "Home of Love."  I played "When I Fall" third - I played that one on my LIVE from The Basement online show last year, but this was only the second time I've played it for a live, in-person audience.  The same acoustic version of this song appears on both my all-acoustic EP The Darkness and The Light, and is also the only all-acoustic track on my full album Just Keep Goin'.  Then I finished up with "Picture of Your Touch."  

It was a really interesting set, first because I got to play more than three songs for an in-person audience the first time in a year.  Sometimes lately, I feel like I'm just getting into the groove on stage, and then my second or third song is finished, and it's time to get off.  It was nice instead to have some time with the audience, which stayed packed the whole night.

It was also a great experience for me because of the way the sound system was set up, and the overall vibe and atmosphere created by the other performers.  The sound system last night was fairly loud volume-wise, and the chairs for the audience closest to my microphone were only a few feet away.  So any loud vocals or guitar would have been like smacking the first few rows of audience members in the face.  Hard.

The atmosphere was one for pretty, light tunes. Most performers played folk songs, older country songs, or even older tunes from bluegrass or ragtime.

All that led me to pick some of my most mellow, slow, and pretty songs to play.  It also got me to really focus in on using my voice and singing the lyrics, rather than using the guitar or loud vocals to get my musical point across.  I sang the same vocal melodies as always, but just backed off on the power...most notably in the choruses of "First Step to Starlight," the sped-up bridge and ending of "Home of Love," and the last verse and chorus of "When I Fall."  It was a challenge for me, but I really enjoyed it.

Several people came up to me afterward and complimented me on my singing voice, which...has been a pretty rare thing for me.  Back in my old scream-ey, punk rock days in Victor Bravo, people would occasionally say they "really liked" my vocals, but I don't remember anyone saying they thought I "sang well."  Makes sense, as I was yelling a lot.

I stayed the whole night, and had a wonderful time watching my fellow performers and talking to people.  Musician Bob Cool cracked me up...he came over after my set, and asked me if I had stuck chewing gum to the bottom of my black Fender Strat guitar to make some sort of statement.  I explained that it wasn't gum, it was where the black exterior paint has been sliced away to expose the bare wood underneath...I claimed I had "dropped it a couple of times."  I wasn't sure he would understand if I gave him the whole story...that I didn't "drop it," I HURLED it from the stage like a javelin at the end of several blazing Victor Bravo sets in places like Chicago, Minneapolis and Brooklyn.

L to R: John Seever on harmonica, Barb on vocals and Cliff
Niman on guitar perform a stunning rendition of "Summertime"

There were lots of great performers last night, but one song in particular just blew my mind.  John Seever played harmonica, Cliff Niman played guitar, and Barb (apologies - I didn't get her last name) sang an absolutely amazing version of "Summertime."  John's performance on the harmonica was the most incredible I've ever seen - and I've seen quite a few harp players.  Barb poured so much heart and soul into the vocals...I was completely transfixed from first note to last.

I sent in my e-mail request too late to get a time slot I could actually make, at the Open Mic Rancho San Diego this Saturday, which is again at Starbucks in El Cajon.  I may go anyway, just to watch and support the other performers, and see if they can sneak me in for a song or two somewhere.  I'll most likely be going to the drawing at Lestat's West Monday night to see if I can play there, and 710 Beach Club on Wednesday night.  The Tuesday night open mic at Rebecca's is off this week.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here and reading.  I really appreciate it!

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The Psycho Lizard

Ladies and Gentlemen, the 710 Beach Club in beautiful, sunny San Diego proudly presents...the Psycho Lizard.

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Dancing Cherubs and Magic Flutes

An adorable little girl decides she belongs on the stage,
too, during Sarah's set last night at Rebecca's

Before I go into last night, I wanted to let you know, in case you don't...my most recent full album, Just Keep Goin', which I recorded with a full back-up band, is on sale now at Bandcamp for $5.99.  Just go HERE to buy your copy.  My new live single of "Pretty Blade Trickster" will be on sale on Bandcamp as well, beginning April 17.  I appreciate so much the support you continue to so generously give me.  Every sale of my recordings helps me continue to make more music and share it with more people.

Last night I had an amazing time playing Charlie California's Tuesday Night Open Mic at Rebecca's coffee shop in the South Park part of San Diego.  First off, upon walking into the place, I saw a couple of people who have now become new friends...singer-songwriter-guitarist Eric Bender and singer-guitarist Rory Bloch of the new band Mucho Mojo.  Not too long ago each open mic I wandered into meant seeing a whole bunch of faces I didn't know.  It's quickly becoming a much different feeling

I signed up and got the third time slot. Wes Lee played some great classic rock covers and a young lady who identified herself only as Sarah sang some great, original tunes.  Then it was my turn.  I asked the very talented multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Kimo to play percussion with me, and he kindly and generously agreed.

I played my newest song "First Step to Starlight" (live video on yesterday's post here), for the third time in four days, after just writing it on Saturday.  I felt even more comfortable with it than I did Monday night at Lestat's, after I had really just learned it.  The lyrics were more firmly in my mind after a good afternoon of practice at home, so I could concentrate more on just letting the emotions out and connecting with the audience.  Kimo's percussion was excellent and perfect - there is so little guitar in the verses, it's really built to let other instrumentation take the helm.  Kimo expertly picked up on this and gave it just the right feel.

Then I asked Charlie California himself, the host of the open mic, to play with me and Kimo on "Pretty Blade Trickster."  Charlie often plays some sort of wooden, perhaps Native American flute in the sound checks before the open mic begins that has this beautiful, haunting sound to it.  I always love it when he plays in the sound checks, so I asked him to play on "P.B.T."  That song also has a haunting feel to it, so I felt like Charlie's flute would work well.  The only way to find out was...to just do it and see what happened!

As it turned out...OH. MY. LORD.  I only have my perspective while playing on stage, but to my eyes and ears, it was A-MAZING.  For me Charlie's flute worked PERFECTLY, and Kimo again had just the right feel every step of the way with the percussion.  By the first chorus I was having fun on stage in a way I have not experienced in quite a while.  I was allowed to play three songs, but I left the stage after those two.  They were both big experiments and had turned out beautifully, better than I had even hoped.  I really need someone to come and video next time I do that, if I'm able to get the three of us together again on that one.

My new pal and insanely talented songwriter himself Eric Bender also shared with me that he liked the new song "First Step to Starlight," as well.  I thank Eric for sharing that, it meant a lot to me.  Ultimately, I need to always balance what I hear from other people with my own internal feelings and intuition.  But hearing that one specific song really stood out for someone in the audience, and gave them some enjoyment...that's become absolutely crucial to my process.  It helps me see what is true for me as well, and helps guide what I do next on this ever-evolving journey.

Then Rory and Blake from Mucho Mojo played some tunes, again with Kimo providing the beats.  Their slowed-down, California-groovy cover of Green Day's "Longview" really made me smile.  Then Eric played his set...he led off with his original "The Road to 99."  I think I may have heard this one before, but I was really listening last night, partly because I had volunteered to video some songs for him with my iPhone.  Truly great, heartfelt song.  Eric has an amazing voice and fantastic lyrical sensibility.  Then he played a great cover of  "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz, and closed out with a song that gets the crowd going every time...his original tune "This Song's About You."

After Eric, Lightning Tom, who filled in as host last week, caught me off guard.  He blazed into a cover of "Born to Be Wild" as soon as he took the stage.  It was awesome.  Then he went into a beautiful, eerie cover of "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues.  He did an outstanding job with these extremely well-known songs.  I was definitely impressed!

After Tom, I caught the set of Brenden Bourgeois.  I got to meet him and chat with him before the open mic started.  He surprised me, because he told me he had already seen me play at Rebecca's, Lestat's and the Open Mic Rancho San Diego.  I hadn't yet seen him, which probably means he played way before me or way after me on each of those occasions.  But we had a great chat, which segued into a 3-way conversation about being a singer-songwriter-guitarist, specifically, with myself, Brenden and Eric.  

After getting to know Brenden just a bit, I was excited to see what he sounded like.  I was not disappointed.  Great lyrics, great voice, really talented songwriter - all his stuff straight from the gut.  All three songs really moved me.  I'm looking forward to catching more of his sets in the future.

A cute and VERY energetic little boy dances his way
through every note of Brenden Bourgeois' set

I stayed for one more set, by open-mic-regular Jeff Boyer.  Jeff plays the open mics at both Lestat's and Rebecca's like I do, and he's an amazing instrumental guitarist.  Last night he also did his own take on the Emerson, Lake and Palmer song "Lucky Man," which I really appreciated.

I'll be going to play the open mic at the 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach tonight.  That starts at 9:00PM PT, we'll see where I end up on the always-unpredictable time slot sweepstakes.  And maybe, just maybe, I will write about the Psycho Lizard here tomorrow.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here and for reading.  I really appreciate you taking the time.

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Live Video: (New Song) First Step to Starlight

This is the live video from the Open Mic Rancho San Diego at Starbuck's in El Cajon from this past Saturday.  I wrote this new song, "First Step to Starlight," at noon, just as I finished putting new strings on my guitar.  I rehearsed it a few times, and figured, what the heck, I'll bring the lyric sheets and play it at the open mic.

Huge thanks to John "J-Rod" Rodriguez for playing bass, Dave Farrell for playing drums, Paul Grinvalsky for setting up the sound and especially to the darling angel of this open mic, Teri Hoffman, for filming this and uploading it to YouTube.  This is a tremendous service Teri does for all the musicians and their fans, and I am deeply grateful to her for it.  If you'd like to see more great videos from other performers at this weekly open mic, subscribe to Teri's YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/tieresa1.

Went to Lestat's West last night and struck the jackpot!  My name got picked FIRST in the drawing to determine who gets to perform.  I chose the 9:00PM PT slot.  I learned "First Step to Starlight" yesterday afternoon, so I could play it at Lestat's without the lyric sheets.  So I started with that one, and then finished with "Pretty Blade Trickster."  "First Step to Starlight" went really well to my ear...I found myself less able to connect with the audience, as I was so focused on remembering all the words.  That's fairly typical for an early performance of a new song.  That will shift as I play it live more often, and get it into my blood and bones.  I've played "Pretty Blade Trickster" many times live now, and last night it just RIPPED.  I felt SO comfortable with it, I was really connected to the emotions of it, and could really just let go and have fun with it.

Thanks so much to my friends John and Renee for coming out to see me play last night - you're the best!  Thanks also to Chad, Chris C., Lou and Miguel, who do an amazing job every Monday night putting that open mic on.  And thanks to everyone in the audience who watched me perform.  I am humbled by how large and attentive these open mic audiences can be, it's such a gift as a performer.

Playing the Rebecca's open mic tonight, which starts at 7:00PM PT.  My exact performing time won't be known until the sign-up sheet is complete, between 6:45 and 7:00.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog here, watching the video and reading.  I truly appreciate it.

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10,000 Thank You's to You, You, You

Yesterday this here lil' ol' blog passed 10,000 overall page views, since I started it on May 7, 2010, just a month shy of three years ago.  Over 1,000 of those many views have come just in the past 30 days.  People who know me well know I have a bit of an obsession with measuring things with numbers that can be...shall we say, a tad unhealthy, at times?  So I wanted to mention it here, not to pump myself or the blog up, but to express my profound gratitude to each and every person responsible for every one of these views.

For some reason, it has been important to me not just to write, record, and perform songs, but to share some parts of my journey as a songwriter and musician in narrative form here.  This blog, for me, is very much a part of my creative work as an artist.  As such, I need to share the writing on it with others, in order for my creative process to be complete.  That means I need you to read it.

So thank you, thank you, thank you, each of you, from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you for the taking time to visit my writing here, and to read whatever has spilled out of my heart and mind, and onto this screen, through my fingers and the keys of my computer keyboard.  I appreciate it so much.

I'm happy to share that I seem to be on a bit of a new songwriting kick since the open mic at the 710 Beach Club last Wednesday.  It seems to have arisen naturally out of my recent experiences...becoming used to my new home here in San Diego, playing all these open mics, hearing so many different songs from so many talented people, having discussions with new friends, and reflecting on my past from my new vantage point.

The songs "Bittersweet Departure," "Pretty Blade Trickster," "Picture of Your Touch," and "New Home," which I wrote shortly before leaving the East Coast for the big move, seem to be the foundation of this new group of songs.  Now it is continuing with "Fly, Baby, Fly," which I have shared here.  It also includes "Throne of Gold," which came together last week, "First Step to Starlight," which I wrote this past Saturday, and now "The Road Between," which I wrote yesterday. 

I've been performing "Pretty Blade Trickster," "Picture of Your Touch," and "Fly, Baby, Fly" regularly at open mics now.  I'm really excited to get all the other songs in this group practiced up, so I can begin playing all of them live.  Tomorrow I'll be posting the live video of me playing "First Step to Starlight" three hours after I wrote it on Saturday.

I'll be doing my weekly jaunt to the drawing at Lestat's West for their open mic tonight, which starts at 7:00PM PT.  We'll see if I get picked to play three Monday nights in a row.  I'll also be going to play the open mic at Rebecca's Tuesday night, which starts at 7:00PM PT, and the one at the 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach, which starts at 9:00PM PT.

Again, thank you so much for visiting and reading.  I truly, truly appreciate it with all my heart.

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New Strings and New Sounds

One of the things I have to do as a guitarist performing live a lot is take the current strings off my guitar and put new ones on.  Tiny bits of oil from my fingers get left on the strings when I play, and then tiny particles of dust in the air get caught by the oil and stuck to the strings.  The dust then corrodes the metal the strings are made out of.  If I didn't play very often, I could leave the strings on for quite a while.  But given that I am playing constantly, both in practice at home at live at these open mics, the strings need to be changed pretty often now, at least twice a week or so.

So yesterday I was switching out the old strings for new around noon PT.  I was scheduled to play at the Starbucks courtyard in El Cajon at the Open Mic Rancho San Diego at 3pm.  After I got the strings on and was tuning them into shape, I accidentally hit just one of the strings with one of my fingers, and then hit the headstock of my guitar against one of my closet doors.  The string sounded its one note and then hitting the closet door made it ring in this sort of echo-ey, haunting way.  Welcome to my songwriting process.

I instantly had an impulse that is now familiar to me: there is a song in me that needs to come out.  I grabbed my clipboard with sheets of black 3-holed notebook paper, and one of my trusty pens - a black Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rolling Ball.  I started to pluck one string, then two.  Words came.  I wrote them down. Soon most of the core of the song - three verses and a chorus, were all there, in black and white.  I played it a few times for myself in my bedroom.  I really liked it, and I had a very strong emotional connection to the words.  They were raw, from the gut, cathartic.

So I decided what the heck, I'll play it at Starbucks.  I practiced a few other songs, packed up my black Fender Strat and my Roland Cube Street amp, and drove over to El Cajon.  Another gorgeous San Diego Saturday afternoon, sunny and warm.  The huge hills in El Cajon rose on my right as they have the last few Saturdays in a row, with their round rings of sand- and orange-colored houses circling their tops.  I arrived at the courtyard between Supercuts and Starbucks, plunked my gear down, tuned my Strat, and listened to the performers before me.  

Then it was time for my set.  I clipped the two white notebook pages of my new song, "First Step to Starlight" to the all-black music stand with a little binder clip.  The lower corners of the pages flipped up in the cool breeze.  I greeted the crowd, and went into "Picture of Your Touch."  This was the second week in a row playing this song here with bassist John Rodriguez and drummer Dave Farrell, who sit in with just about everyone at this open mic, and just play by ear as they go.

I don't know if they remembered this song from last week, but it sounded even better this week to me.  I was still throwing John off like crazy in the chorus, because of its odd C#-Aflat-Eflat/C#-Aflat-Bflat/Aflat-Eflat-Bflat/C#-Eflat-Fminor progression.  But I think he was actually matching it with the correct root notes by the middle of the second chorus, a testament to his ear and talent.  I don't think it matters to Dave what chords or notes I play.

So then I told the audience I had written the next song just 3 hours previous.  I repeated a line I had come up with in my car on the drive over.  "So the  interesting thing here is, none of us up here knows how this next song goes!"  I thought I would get some laughs.  I got silence, blank stares and looks of slight confusion.  Oh, well.  The show must go on!

So I began playing the song, and it was quite rickety at first.  The guitar in the verses is very minimal, just three different notes ringing.  I didn't quite have the timing down, and I wondered if Dave was behind me thinking, "WTF do I play with THIS?" But in a moment or two I got the hang of it, and Dave and John got the hang of it pretty quick, too.

I wasn't able to make eye contact with the audience at all, except maybe for a second or two during the chorus, which I was already remembering a little bit.  Most of the time, my eyes had to be looking down at the lyrics on the music stand.  But it sounded pretty good to me and some people in the audience seemed to dig it.

I finished up with "The Door," a song on my last two records (as well as Victor Bravo's Hammer Meets Fire LP), which I hadn't played for an in-person audience since my Portland, Maine show last year.  It sounded just a tad rusty to me at the very start, but it quickly came into shape, and again sounded great with John and Dave playing along.

There will most likely be a video from yesterday's show posted on YouTube soon by Teri Hoffman, so I'll post that for you here as soon as I find out it's up.  The live video above is my performance of "Home of Love" from last Saturday's show at Starbucks.

I am getting more and more excited about the upcoming release of my new live single, "Pretty Blade Trickster," which goes on sale on Bandcamp April 17.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading, I truly appreciate it.  MUCH more about THAT in tomorrow's post!