I’m in the middle of changing Web Servers…so my email and site could be of the fritz for the next day or two.

Let’s hope the next server is a little more stable 

I know…I know…I haven’t been blogging for the last week or so. But thanks for the emails asking me if i’m still alive

I am… I swear

I’ve been busy with this silly thing we call "Life" and I keep meaning to write. I’ve been spending more time writing music these last few weeks rather than blogging. Not too much to report there.

For me, songwriting comes in waves. I’m not really the type of person who says "ok, today i’m going to sit down and write a song" …rather, the song seems to find me most of the time. I have actually sat down to force myself to write a tune and most of the time it comes out crappy so I don’t try to push it too much. But…the good thing about having a large back-catalog of songs stashed away is….i can always go back to them.

I usually start with an idea and leave it alone for a while….then when I come back to it, it’s like a new song and I can get a better feel for whether or not it’s worth finishing. That works sort of the same way with recorded material too. It’s so hard to judge your own stuff.

I was listening to an old Moisture CD we recorded a few years back that i haven’t listened to in ages and the songs were as if I’d never heard them before. It gave me fresh ears. Sometimes I shock myself and think "hey, that’s not bad at all!" and other times i cringe. [I guess is good to get the cringes too, perhaps it just means you're improving] 

It’s really different to listen to your own stuff as opposed to a tune from someone else though. When I listen to other music it usually makes me feel something and I listen to what the song is saying..etc… But when it’s something I’ve done, memory gates open to the times i spent hours in the studio recording them…or what was going on in my life at the time…or maybe even a certain show we played where the song sounded its best. So it’s basically like an audio scrapbook.

And so…even if i listen back at a song that I’ve done that isn’t so great, it still unzips the folder of memory files. Funny how that works. 

Anyway…I’m rambling on.

It’s Friday and I need to get some work done. Have a great weekend! 

A friend of mine(Rufus) picked up a GPS unit for his Palm and I was amazed at it and how cool it was. [WHEN IT WORKS]

Okay, so this entry is going to sound like a commercial but I picked this up a few days ago and it’s pretty sweet. [TAKE THAT BACK ...THE GPS Signal on it is WEAK and it has a hard time finding me]

[The picture below is NOT my phone but it works on Treo's and Blackberry's too.] 

They sent me this little box much smaller than my phone that i can keep in the car or with me wherever I go. It comes with a plug for the car but it charges up so you don’t have to keep in plugged in. The box hooks up to the Blue Tooth on the cell and that’s pretty much it. What’s nice about having GPS on my cell is I can take it with me in any car and I’ll never be lost again.

The price is about $50 bucks or something like that…. and you can go online and import your address book from Outlook or Palm. Another nice feature is that you can just call in with a toll free number and speak the address into the phone. I really love this little toy. Oh, you can also go online and pre-plan your trips.

Not that I drive too much but there’s been way too many times when I get lost and I end up calling a friend asking for directions via map quest or Google maps. Not having to do this, is priceless for me…I’m a guy and I hate asking for directions.

My next car I buy is going to have GPS no matter what, but until then…this little thing is gonna do just dandy!

[I'm sending it back and buying a Garmin]

i should take this post down eh?

Yeah…I know…it’s been a while

Sorry I haven’t been blogging this last week. I keep meaning to…I even get as far as logging into the Word Press "Write Post" screen and then I draw a blank. It’s not as though things aren’t happening… there’s actually some good things starting to happen. But mainly, every time I write about something that’s "in the works" it seems to jinx it and then i’m left with emails like:

Say, whatever happened to ____________?

What’s going on with ____________? etc… 

The most asked question i’m getting now is "So what’s going on with RockStar?" 

A: I’m guessing I didn’t get on the show otherwise I think I would have heard something by now. I’ll still be watching the show though. The good thing about that audition was…I didn’t walk out of there feeling like I totally blew it. Quite the opposite actually, but these types of things aren’t up to me. Welcome to life in Hollywood. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be or maybe I’m right for the next season instead?  Who knows…but I’m always happy to try at these things. I figure, If i kick on enough doors, eventually one is bound to open.

As a musician and writer, I must admit I get SO frustrated watching performers on The Tonight Show, Letterman, and Conan. About 1 out of 50 deserve to be there…the rest, I think "JESUS, How the hell is THIS on TV?" I used to think talent had something to do with that but after watching these new acts play…it just leaves me speechless. This isn’t to say that I think I’m a zillion times better than than these people…only a million [evil grin].

The state of music today really sucks…I really WANT to find something I like (and once in a while I do but it’s not too often) but that’s not always easy. I couldn’t tell you a new band that’s "hot" right now…I can’t even remember the last time I watched MTV or listened to the Radio. I’m just so turned off by so much of what I hear and see. Tell me I’m not the only one!

With all these thoughts about where music is today and how it’s changed over time, I’ve been thinking of doing a documentary on the subject. Perhaps something from the perspectives of starving artists out there trying, mixed in with some who have made it and others who made it and are no longer around. It used to be (or at least it seemed like) if something was good and had enough exposure then it stood a chance of breaking through. These days, there seems to be much more that factors into the equation.

Even if something breaks through…nothing seems to have lasting power. The reason for that seems simple…IT SUCKS. Most signed acts are lucky if they’re even heard of after their 1st CD. I could go on and on about this subject… I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it all out and I don’t have the answers. I do know the bottom line is that these record companies are there to make money but with the decline of CD sales(even from huge artists) and placed like Tower Records declaring Chapter 11, it just makes me wonder what the future of music is going to be.

I don’t ask these questions as just a writer/performer…but as a music listener. GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BUY! I want to like something new rather than just iTuning songs from the 60’s and 70’s.

Watching American Idol the other night, where the theme was: 1 from the year they were born and 1 on the charts today.

…The ones from today’s charts are so weak and easily forgettable. Taylor lucked out by getting to do a Beatle’s song since the album is on the Billboard Chart still. It was so painfully obvious the caliber of songs and how the older ones leave the new stuff in the dust.