Pfft!

Last night I went out with Tony B. to shoot more scenes for his video…you know, little things to cut into the video that we already started. We shot some really cool stuff on the streets on Hollywood and I was excited to get back to load up the shots and see how they fit. Today, I’m looking at it and i’m puzzled. They’re cool shots but they just don’t seem to work with what’s already there. It’s almost like these new shots should be for a different song or something…maybe that’s the answer. I don’t know… but it’s like it’s one big visual puzzle and I just can’t seem to put the pieces where they belong. Almost like trying to figure out how to stick a square peg into a round whole.

I have to step away from it. I think the answer is that I’m going to have to re-shoot in a more controlled environment to make sure it matches up and has the same feel. Who knows…Must stop thinking about it and maybe the answer will come.

Let’s see….the week’s recap:

• American Idol? No surprise that Kellie Pickler was not picked to stay around. Unless Paris does something to blow everyone away, I think she may be the next to go.
• I talked to my dad yesterday. A very weird and short phone call but I figure a call is a call so that was nice of him to say "hey" I guess.
• Hmm…I can’t seem to think of anything work recapping on. Dull week!

Oh, I had posted a couple of my tracks on garageband.com to be ripped apart by the all-knowing music critics. One song ["Alibi"] was sliced and diced to the point where it was actually funny. I think only 1 person had something nice to say about it and the other reviews were extremely harsh. To balance out all this, the other song i posted is doing great with a 5 star ranking right now and has gone up to #39 from #489 …I just got one of their little emails saying:

Congratulations! As a result of some very enthusiastic reviews from GarageBand.com members, "Upside Down" will be Track of the Day at GarageBand.com.

For 24 hours on Friday, the 5^th of May, 2006 (PST) "Upside Down" will be featured on GarageBand.com’s Pop Rock front page. The address for this page will be:

http://www.GarageBand.com/go/YYMOO2E8FB

I had Upside Down posted about a while ago under the folk/country section…it did "okay" in that genre but i was being silly by putting it there. Now it’s back to the Pop/Rock genre where it belongs.

This GB website is very fickle and most of the people reviewing think they work for Rolling Stone Magazine and think they know what’s cool and what isn’t in music. Me? I just post them up to get some exposure…even if they hate it, at least they hear it What always makes me grin is the people who usually have the worst things to say….well, let’s just say their stuff usually sucks ass!

Happy Friday! 

We had Hockey two days in a row. 1 game Sunday night (which we lost 3 to 2) and 1 last night that we tied(1 to 1). My body feels like I’ve been run over by a truck. I’m really sore and my legs feel like Jelly. I seem to be the in the running for "The King of Penalties" title. I can’t help it if the guy trips over my stick and can’t skate   In the last 2 games I ended up in the penalty box THREE times…it gets lonely in that box.

Off subject, I’ve been listening to a song by Brian Vander Ark called "And Then You Went Away" …GOD, I love this song! There’s lines in the song that make me think "I wish I wrote that!":

Slept on the velvet curtains, the ones that you had custom made, and then you went away 

And there’s my new best friend, the one you took in as a stray, and then you went away 

 The list of FINE lyrics goes on in this tune. BVA used to be the lead singer for a band called The Verve Pipe…damn good stuff!

Listening to this is inspiring.

I walked into the corner store on Friday night on Sunset Blvd. and I ended standing right next to Philip Seymour Hoffman in line. He was behind me as I was fumbling around for my money. I talked to him but I didn’t say too much. I said "HEY" and sort of let him know I was a fan. He was real nice. We didn’t have any sort of real conversation but It was sort of surreal standing in line with him. 

Living here, I bump into well-known actors all the time and like to say "oh, i don’t get star struck" but I found myself at a loss for words so I guess I must have been eh?

I really love the films he’s done. From the creepy guy in love with Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights" to Truman Capote…He just picks really good roles to play and does them really well.

Last night I was getting caught up on things recorded on the DVR and just happened to catch him on 20/20 plugging the film "Mission Impossible 3" with Tom Cruise. I’m wondering if he was leaving the store just coming back from that interview I saw. Weird and cool.

Speaking of Tom Cruise… He’s really become a caricature of himself huh? I’ll still see the movie (because I love a good action flick) but Tom really needs to quit doing his own PR. He’s turning into a Michael Jackson type of character and I don’t think he even knows it. Or maybe he does and it’s all part of some big Scientology Plan to rule the world :) 

I got caught up American Idol last night….what a shocker to see Chris in the bottom three. I thought he was one of the better ones. But when it came down to just Ace and Chris, it was sort of a "No Brainer". Shockingly, Kellie was not in the bottom three after butchering the song she sang. Interesting. Maybe putting him in the bottom three was a plan to make sure his fans vote for him? Who knows how these things work. Or maybe the order of which they perform has something to do with it. I dunno. It’s apparent that Taylor seems to have the largest fan base though.

I watched SNL last week and saw the parody they did of Taylor and thought to myself "I think this is the 1st time SNL did a skit on an Idol Contestant (at least  one that hasn’t claimed to sleep with Paula Abdul)" 

My money’s still on Chris or Taylor to win it though

Only have a moment to write but wanted to jot down something.  Have a great day!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. My weekend was just "Ok"…i did get some work done so that’s always a good thing.

My GOOD FRIDAY was not a very GOOD one though. I was really let down by someone who I considered a friend so much so that I ended the friendship. That’s never fun but I guess it’s all part of life.

My problem is, I’m the type of person who usually lets things bottle up and build up until the glass cracks. At the time of things that are happening, I usually don’t say anything which I’ve learned is BAD. My reasons for not saying anything at the time are usually because most of the time, little things that are said and done to me are usually not worth causing a fuss over but what happens is when shit piles up …THEN, suddenly I think of everything that happened over the years and compile them into one explosive list. That line about the Straw and Breaking the Camel’s Back came this Friday night. 

And so…I blame myself for letting this person walk all over me over the last year or so. The good news is, I’ve put an end to that. 

So what caused all this? It all started with money I was promised for work I did and did not receive full payment(due to the person just not having the money at the time). The amount due was only $2,000.00… Flash forward a year and this person asks me to do more work but still hasn’t paid me the $2,000.00.

Okay…so I’m not stupid enough to say "yes" because I don’t want the money owed to turn into more money owed…but what I do is refer this person to someone else to do the rest of the work. Strangely, this person I referred them to has no trouble being paid for the work they did. So I’m annoyed but still not to the point of blowing off the friendship. And so, a few months down the road the work is completed and I’m sent the finished product WITHOUT being given proper credit and the only credit given is by the person i referred them to. [I'm being vague as to what the project is because even still, I'm not out to blog-bash this person...not sure why I should care about that when they didn't seem to care about fucking me over.]

And so… I got very angry when I saw I was not given credit where it was supposed to be and released everything I was feeling and thinking in an email on Friday terminating our friendship. There’s more to the story and other reasons I’ve been upset over this but the above is the main beef.

I don’t want to believe this person would do all this intentionally to me….I just think they were completely oblivious to what I would feel about it. Perhaps they just got caught up in the moment of getting the project done and was excited about it and just forgot?

And so…after sending my angry email, I get a voice message from them stuttering over everything they were saying. What would have been nice to hear was "Bob, I’m REALLY sorry about all this, let me fix it and make things right" but this was never said. So now??? I want the money that’s owed to me along with proper credit.

I just started working with a manager who’s been doing a fantastic job so far and she said she’s going to be in contact with this person to try and fix this. She might be able to fix the credit and money owed but I feel pretty let down by the way things unfolded.

Well…I have the 1st draft of the Music Video I’m doing for friend Tony B.

Here’s the rough cut of it "Gone" by Tony B.

I’m real happy with the dark moody "Meet the Beatles" look it has going and the silhouetted section rocks the house Tony seemed happy with it too so that made me feel good.

I’ll probably do another shoot down the road and cut in a story line of some sort but for now, here’s the basic edit of just him singing the song.

This is my 1st time doing anything like this so if there some crazy edit mistakes please forgive

Oh….if you like what you hear and see, be sure to check out Tony’s My Space Page and show some love.

I just hope I did a good job of Glorifying him ;) 

Love to hear some feedback since this is a 1st draft. 

Last night, I started shooting a music video for a friend of mine that I mentioned in a previous blog entry. Looking at some of the stuff shot last night, i’m real happy with what I see so far. It was shot in HD but it looks like my measly laptop is not powerful enough to do any REAL editing in this format so i’m going to have to use a friend’s super computer to do that. I’ll make a dent in it today. I’m guessing we’ll do one more day of shooting out and about on the town and various places. Can’t wait to do more. It’s certainly fun work and Tony is great to work with.

I watched the DVR of American Idol last night. I was excited to hear a night of Queen music but nothing blew me away. I couldn’t agree with Simon more when he said to Chris that he missed his chance to shine by doing a better ..or rather, more well-known Queen song. He would could have NAILED "We are the Champions"…that’s the song i would have picked for him to sing. I think he’s still safe as far as not having to pack his bags…however…Katherine, Ace and Elliot might want to gather their things and have them ready for a ticket home soon. My guess is, one of those three will be leaving. Bucky might be in the bottom 3 as well but I think he did just fine. Paris still annoys me with the "pull my string and i squeak a Thank You" …funny how she went from someone I thought was a contender to …well…someone who just bugs me. I know she’s young and I do think she can sing but with each week she hasn’t really shown me anything worth remembering. I still think it’s all going to come down to Taylor and Chris.

Well, I should get some food and then run over and take over my friend’s computer

Not too much to report these last few days. I haven’t really had much to say otherwise I’d be blogging long entries and putting people to sleep …figured I’d spare any readers random thoughts about nothing. Today’s not too much different but I figured I should jot something down before my family starts to call the Los Angeles City Morgue. I’m alive and ticking but quiet

Let’s see… I’ve added a little E.P.K.[Electronic Press Kit] to the front page of the site. It’s basically the meat of the site rather than having people have to hunt through to find just the basics. The flash site is fun but I’m getting a little tired of the Vanna White type menu system and thinking about putting together a new website. I need some ideas for it though. Hmm…will have to think about a new site update…perhaps that with come with the release of the new CD (whenever that might be).

Oh …some fun stuff i’m looking forward to. Next Tuesday I’ll be shooting a music video for a friend of mine (Tony B.). I’m not really a director but these days anyone with a video camera and a laptop can be. I really like the song of his titled "Gone" and I’d like to try some things on it and see what I can come up with just for fun. Here’s a link to the tune….it’s the 2nd track down. I TOTALLY love the line "I Glorify You Simply for Being You" with all the "ooohs" and "ahs". Tony’s been nice enough to play guitar for me on a couple of live shows so I’m happy to help. I’ll post the finished product when it’s done. Be kind though since it’s my 1st attempt at something like this

No word on the Rockstar thing…I really doubt I’ll hear anything for a while… if at all. But time will tell…either way, I’ll be real curious as to the lucky people who do get on the show

A.I. has been pretty drab these last few weeks. Taylor who I think is pretty good sang a snoozer the other night. Paris who I had high hopes for in the 1st couple of shows has been so out of tune. She’s like a little baby doll when you pull the string ..all she says is "thank you" is this squeaky voice. Chris…he’s still doing just fine. Katherine? She’s hit or miss. Ace, who I normally don’t like did pretty good in the country genre( I thought). Next week is all Queen songs….COOL…i just hope they don’t butcher the tunes. 

I just returned from my audition for CBS’s Rockstar Season 2. I got there about 9:45am and I’m home at 10:30am. There were not as many people as I saw lined up outside yesterday. I’d say there were only about 10 people set for the 10am slot.

We signed in at the front desk..handed in our paper work…then they handed us a large envelope with a number on it (mine was 399). We then had to hold up the envelope and someone snapped our picture with a digital camera and waited our turn to get up on stage. We watched as some other people were on the stage. I wasn’t nervous, as I thought I might be but once I was there and got comfortable with my surroundings, everything was pretty easy.

Everyone there was told that we could only do 1 song rather than the 3 they told us to be ready to do, so I did my most Rockin’ raspy tune. [Take Me Under] I’ve sang this song about 200 times in my life so it took no real thinking. I was on automatic. Most people did their originals which was a relief to hear so I didn’t feel weird about doing mine. I had no flubs and I did the song as best as I could have ever done it.

Most people before me seemed a little quiet on the mic and here I was belting out so maybe I stood out. I did get applause after and a couple "Woo’s" from one girl judge as I was playing. That was nice. She was probably the Paula Abdul of the bunch who likes everything ..or maybe she really liked me In any case, I did my thing and the rest is now up to someone else.

They didn’t let anyone know either way if they got it. Instead, they video taped the audition and will probably look back through it all and decide from there. I actually felt pretty good about it though. I thought I sounded pretty good but I’m wondering if everyone who was trying out thinks the same thing. And so, that’s that. Now I just wait and see if I move on. Hopefully, I’ll know either way soon.

The other people auditioning seemed pretty nice but I think we were all sizing each other up. There were a couple people I listened to before me that were doing real quiet and wispy songs. I’d like to think I have a little more advantage over them but I guess time will tell.

Anyway…that was my audition. Not much else to tell.

Oh, they did have last season’s Rockstar:INXS show muted and playing on the TV monitors as people were trying out. Overall, the room had a friendly vibe and  it wasn’t stiff like some other auditions I’ve been on.  Out of my hands now…but my fingers are crossed