Just as I suspected…I just checked my web traffic for this month and blogging about Collin Farrel’s Sex Tape got me a bunch of hits from people searching:

collin: 41 times
sex: 35 times
farrell: 35 times
tape: 32 times

Of course 95 people got here by searching the word “gentry“…
I just hope the full phrase wasn’t “Gentry Sex Tape” or even “Gentry and Farrell Sex Tape” LOL

“Shrimping Toes” STILL gets my site hits…I’m attracting all those toe suckers out there. And JUST FOR you people here’s something to masturbate to…

I aim to please ya know

Hmm..My favorite iTune track I’ve downloaded this month is:

Helena by My Chemical Romance [do not attempt to drive a car listening to this song unless you want a speeding ticket]

Let’s see what else I can say about July… I guess the main thing is …I’m ready for a life changing August. I say this meaning For the Better

I spent the better part of the day recording and messing around with ideas. I keep getting a little sidetracked though but only because…Now that I have the ability to record easier, I’m wanting to do too many things at once. The result is ….A bunch of ideas without any finished product.

It’s not writer’s block…It’s more like writer’s diarrhea…I’ll leave that mental image to your own imagination. It’s just a mess though.

I think this week, I’ll need to focus more on smaller steps and concentrate on one thing at a time. I am having fun though

I stepped out to play tennis last night with some of the hockey team guys(and a boxing match broke out)–kidding…Just wanted to how many sports I could get in a sentence). I had fun doing playing but it might have been a little more fun if I’d won a game. I can’t even make up some lousy excuse of saying “well, I just had a bad night“…Truth is..I was SMOKED!

I’ll be pulling a “Count of Monte Cristo” after I break out of “Lacking Skill” Prison…I’m just not sure when that will be. It was still fun to play–but I hate to lose(specially by so much). Just wait until I land on the tennis courts in my hot air balloon ..It’s all about making a good entrance right? I should score points just for that no?

I was cleaning up my computer desktop and found this flash file I was going to use as the “Enter” to my site but decided it was a bit much. Looking at it now, I think the idea is sort of fun but I’m still not wanting to use it… I just can’t help but think of the movie The Karate Kid on the mouse-over…Either that or I look like I’m doing The Twist.

And what a great little segway into talking about the show “So You Think You Can Dance“…

I caught this for the first time this last week not expecting to like it but I found myself extremely entertained. I watched it with a friend of mine who said something that stuck with me as we were talking about this whole Reality TV Tsunami. He said …”I like this mainly because I’m just getting tired of sitting through a bunch of bad singers… And this is good for a change“. I agree.

I’ve been watching INXS Rockstar and am liking it more than I did the 1st time. My 1st impression of it was not very good but after a couple shows, I’ve found myself hooked on that as well. What really bugs me the most about that show is that…There’s only about 2 or 3 people on it who can actually sing…The rest make me think that they sure didn’t try too hard to find good people. As the show goes on, I’m starting to feel bad for INXS that they have to be stuck with one of those people as their singer. I’m not ripping on all the people…There’s a few that seem like they’re not too bad but none really stand out as “OH MY GAWD, THIS PERSON DRIPS OF TALENT”. [My money’s on Mig to win]

Well…I’m playing tennis tonight with a bunch of the guys from the hockey team. Should be fun but I haven’t played in a while. With it being as hot as it’s been here the last week, Tennis has taken a back burner.–but I AM looking forward to getting on the court tonight.

I just returned from the music store with lot’s new toys. Mostly things to improve my home recording studio…I think I’m set for a while but of course there’s always something new or better to buy–this goes for everything.

I told the sales guy…”I’m looking for cheap and functional”(like me)… I hope that’s what I walked out with. The main thing is to at least make some listenable home recordings. They may not end up being earth shattering tracks but I’ll be able to get the ideas down and perhaps it’ll save recording costs in the long run.

I also just returned from the corner store…On the way there and back I walked by a production crew shooting a movie with the working title “Noah’s Arc“.-the only reason I know the title is because it is required by law for the crews to post signs on our building if they’re going to be here shooting. I’m clueless what the movie’s about but let’s just say I did not see any bearded guy gathering animals….Just a used car parking lot

Well…Back to the toys.

Well, my acting career is really starting to take off. Here’s a trailer to a movie I’m in. It’s just a small role but I think it’ll get me some good exposure.

Here’s the link

I know, I didn’t blog yesterday…And the world still spins!! Wow!

Well…God forbid I do two blogs in one day but I just forgot to mention that we won our hockey game last night. The final score was 3 to 2. Oddly enough…We have ANOTHER game tonight at 9:30pm. We don’t normally have 2 in a row but ever so often, the schedule works out like this.

No complaints from me…I’m a little tired from last night’s game, but I’m looking forward to another game tonight. Our team’s been doing pretty good these last few games…We won 3 out of the last 4 and tied 1.

Some actual music news??? I know I don’t often talk about music stuff(though I probably should more) but there’s a few reasons for that. The main one at the moment is because I’ve been in a sort of “holding pattern” the last few months. Like an airplane waiting for clearance to land …I’ve run out of fuel long ago and to be honest, I don’t know what’s keeping me up in the air still. Wind perhaps?

I’ll keep things positive though… The good news is..Apple iTunes totally rocks the house for their indie artists.
My distribution company (CD Baby) let me know:

Apple iTunes USA just raised their wholesale payout to 70 cents per download. (The price for the customer remains the same at 99 cents.)

Since CD Baby only keeps an itsy-bitsy 9% cut, (the best rate in the industry!), that means you make 63.7 cents per song.

For the iTunes music stores that are outside the U.S. we can only tell you “about” what they pay - since they pay in the local currency and the exchange rate changes. But here are the recent averages:

iTunes Europe: 88 cents
iTunes UK: 88 cents
iTunes Canada: 62 cents

Also, Apple iTunes is launching their iTunes Music Store in Japan and Australia soon…This is indeed good news (though I might not be able to buy my private jet just yet)

I’ve been writing quite a bit these last few months…I’ve had time to think and drum up new tunes but I’m a little worried that since these songs are coming from a different mind-set, and that they won’t be liked. We all want to be liked right?

Thing is…writing songs (for me at least) is a little like an audio-journal of my life…Each song opens up a different memory file. Not everything I write is autobiographical but 97.9% comes from where I am in my own life while the rest comes from THE VOICES(kidding).

The best I can hope for is for someone to say “hey, I connect with this and it makes me feel something“. Mainly… I think honesty is the best for songs. I’d like to think that most people can see/hear right through a bullshit song that seems to be pulled out of thin air. I could be wrong though.

Ok…with all that being said …and since I’m on the subject…It’s the perfect time for a shameful plug BUY MY CD on iTunes [Silly grin]

Man! July is just about over? Just one more week left and then we slide into August. Remember when we were in school, our 3 month Summer Vacation seemed like it went on forever? At least for me…I remember cramming so much into each vacation.

My best Summer vacation? I’d have to say the year I turned 14 [let’s not mention the year]. This was the Summer my friend Jimmy’s folks went out of town for a week leaving him and his 2 sisters to watch their house. Jimmy, being the responsible 16 year old that he was, had a party that lasted 4 days. All the kids in the neighborhood all remember this as “Jimmy’s 4-day Party“.

[Cue the “Bad Company” music]

Man, what a great party that was. Jimmy had the largest house of all my friends though that never really dawned on me until just now. We never thought much back then about “whose house cost more“…”how many bathrooms” or “how many square feet“…We DID have “teenage priorities” though. Things like a POOL, Loud Radio, Piano, and the latest Video Games…and most of all.. A CAR….Those types of things ranked much higher and Jimmy had ‘em all.

I know it’s hard to imagine, but this was back before computers. Well…I think the Commodore 64 had just come on the scene. We entertained ourselves without email…Amazing huh?

I can’t go into too much detail about Jimmy’s party but if you have ever seen a silly 1980’s teenage coming of age movie, that was pretty much what was going on. Hell, I think we even had a TOGA PARTY. HA! And um…one of the nights I recall being out at 4am in a fucking GRAVEYARD [no, I wasn’t there to dig]. Ok… I need to stop giving details before I ruin my reputation as a respectable human who wasn’t affected by peer pressure and stories of Truth or Dare games where someone usually ended up with their pants down racing across Plymouth Road. I could write book just on this subject alone but for now….Enough said.

That was such a great Summer though… And what’s funny about it is…We all knew it was a great Summer WHILE IT WAS HAPPENING…. Usually, we don’t realize that sort of stuff until long afterwards, but not in this case. Sending out a Special Thanks to Jimmy’s folks for leaving town for that Risky Business, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Animal House week.

Here’s a couple pictures of Ivan. I suppose on a super hot day like today, the best place to be is inside on the couch with the AC on.
Ivan’s watching Beach Volleyball on TV and I’m getting caught up on email.

We’ve had a bunch of walks but the cement is so hot it doesn’t seem like he keeps 4 paws on the ground at once. He’s really a great pup and lap-dog. No shedding…No barking…Completely house-trained and he communicates extremely well. I think that’s the sign of a good pet.

I suppose all animal owners know what their pet is thinking most of the time… But Ivan is good with strangers as well. It’s not as though people have to spend any length of time learning the language of “Pet-a-me-on-da-head”. Of course…I’ve NEVER met a pet owner who didn’t think their animal was the greatest animal in the world. I’m pretty sure that’s a requirement for pet owners

Really nice emails today… And 2 from people I have been out of touch with for a while. The 1st was my friend Eman who I tried to email a while back on her birthday and got a bounce-back. Anyway…last night she emailed and let me know her new email address. Eman and her husband Mark live in Florida and I saw them both a few years ago when I was there getting sun poisoned [waving “hello” to Eman and Mark]

The 2nd email was from my other friend Dave…last I heard from Dave he was living in Atlanta. Dave was also the guy who did the graphics for the Moisture “Bastard” CD. We have yet to catch up but I just emailed him and hope to touch base over the next couple days. I think it’s been at least 10 years since I’ve seen him?? Golly…Has it been that long?

I highly recommend EVERYONE to get their own Dot Com. It’s cheap…and really comes in handy…not only for the shameful promotion ….but it makes me easy to find….Also, as long as you know my name, you know my email address. Of course, for those of you who do not wish to be found…your own domain is probably not such a hot idea

Well…need to get in gear. Hope it’s nice where you are.

Here’s another post from my cell phone…so it’s not going to be a very long entry. Also i’ll have to type quickly since my battery is running on “fumes”.

Ivan and I just returned from our walk. What a better way to dry off from his doggie bath(actually shower) than a walk out in the 100 degree weather? The second he stepped outside, he was dry(as was I).-yes, I shower with my dog …it’s just easier to clean him that way…and he’s small enough to hold in one hand, though it is a little tricky holding him and washing my own hair at the same time. It’s an art.

I’m watching theTV News now and they’re saying that Southern California is having some sort of “power watch” due to the heat and everyone running their AC. The ironic thing is…the anchorman said something like “Let’s take you to _________ standing by for this report…”-THEN they cut to a reporter inside a giant room with AT LEAST 60 computer screens all ON and NOT 1 person sitting front of the computers! Way to go ABC 7 NEWS!!!! After showing that, the reporter had the nerve to ask viewers to turn off unused things in our houses that “could be” sucking up energy. Just a silly report on this “Power Watch”. This same thing happens yearly….you would think that someone would figure out how to resolve this by now. The only real bad thing about this heat is that people get crankier. (growl)

Well..have a great weekend!