5 months...

Well, did a lot in the past 5 months. Most recently, moved to El Cerritto. Cool lil' almost haunted house down the street near Cutting Blvd. ; turns out to be the only remaining visible part of the El Cerritto Creek. Totally trippy. Should be revamped to working argriculture community sustainability self-sufficiency kind of place. Did a bunch of gardening at the old Oakland house and cleared all the stuff out during the first few weeks of August. Finished the landscaping thing I was doing...but I think I forgot to get the planks at the bottom of the hillside trail I carved in. Ah well. Pretty sure the renegade, but hilarious and chill squirrel who took all the plums from the sugar plum tree...all of them... took all the grapes because the vine was almost ripe when I started moving and it was like each grape had been picked off individually when I used the hot tub one last time. Pretty chill. It was as if the disturbing aspects of the area [a few neighbors] were gone. Hope the apple tree goes good. The palm graft didn't work but they both survived. Moved some palms to the back near the apple tree and grafted oak tree. Worked a lot on the trip-hoppish Warlock stuff and rerecorded on last newer version of the Spectrum thing...with a bunch of all the albums cool songs [since there are a lot, its nice to be able to diversify] combined to make a solid one.. Gonna record that after I finish organizing...

Also, the grandpa died... and Truely the Cat also died a few days later. She dug the new spot til' the Possums with fleas began smelling the food. Regardless, unlike the gramps, she went reletively painlessly. Cool cat. Probably the last one I'll ever adopt though. Can maybe handle a kitten at some point, but yeah...

New El Cerrito spot rocks. Almost all settled in. Gonna miss the hot tub, but this place is nice. Found a bunch of weights in the basement and even a bench...so gonna mess with those...and there's a bunch of good food around. Hardly any pizza places though. The Jalepeno tree has jalepenos. The other flowering plants have flowered... nice little nature reconnect.

Uh, probably all I wanna write for now... maybe a picture blog in the future... or something..

FOUNDATION [short film idea/gist]

Been doing a lot of landscaping this morning... came up with an idea after seeing a snap dragon's stem which reminded me of a heart and re-channelling all the aggression from the whole Clippers debacle...

Opening scene:

"I reconnected the heart valve to the intestines..."

Ridgeback Dogs [retrievers mix?] keep watch while Surgeon watches some victim gasp for air...

cut to next scene:
Victim is sculpting in the backyard...there is a pool...

The pool cleaner comes...

Ridgeback dogs are heard barking from the pickup...

Sculptor is now smoking pipe tobacco as he greets the pool cleaner...

"if you were making a movie, and the villian was some kind of evil surgeon, what would he say to his victims?"

"you mean how would he get 'em?"

"i'd introduce them to my ridgeback dogs..."

"thank you"

cut to next scene:: before the pool cleaner enters...

Sculptor in garden is making a rock sculpture... he has placed a dead plant upside down so the roots are showing and it resembles a volcano with an egg on top...the egg is a white rock.."

looks almost like a habitat for a corn snake

Petstore scene:: sculptor is looking at the snakes...and hissing/communicating with them...

Old guy who looks similar to the pool cleaner passes by with a strange look at the sculptor...

Old guy has reserved fish in a tank with a skull...

TV transition from fish tank:::

Fuse blows while the news is on...

"I dont dig that..." says a familiar voice....

spotlight turns on and hones in on Surgeon who is about to kill the sculptor...

Ridgebacks bark loudly as the surgeon's Ridgebacks near the fire place start moving toward the pool cleaner..

short dialogue ends with the pool cleaner saying...

"Its how you raise them..."

A2D Security demo...

C L I C K M E 4 YouTube

warm-ups...

Ah... magic rules.

Ran thru an impromptu hour and a half non-stop warm-up to start prepping for playing some shows... and kinda impressed myself...

Earlier that morning, I did something I've never seen done before...which was also impressive...just didn't include any depression or impressions...ah, but it was a slight progression...or a transgression... whatever...it might end up being a good suggestion to any artists who just aren't "feeling" like doing the same routine...

There's this Tool album I hadn't heard for a while, Salival...[www.google.com] bought it a long time ago at Border's in Emeryville when it still existed... so I ended up using the entire album as sort of a backing track...Merkaba was the intermission..however, I played with a differently tuned guitar and made the album into an almost completely personal experience...simply myself reacting to this album -  not just "some sort of psychedelic experience..." but it sounded almost like that Jeff Buckley cover of Genesis' Back in NYC... with an album being consolidated into a Warlock song...and it sounded so beautiful to me... glad I didn't record it at the same time...

Then, there was a break in the storm outside...

Then, I ran thru 20 songs [must admit though, did 3 Radiohead songs, an Elliot Smith song, and some covers...so more like 13 completely original songs and 5 reinterpretations from a living american's perspective...] with my acoustic plugged into my bass amp running thru a guitar cab and me singing through my smaller amp...

the songs I played were:

half-ass improv [tuning and 30second warmup]
box [aka pandoras box]
needle in the hay [cover 1]
costume
invisibility
wizard [aka driveway]
obelisks
wind drag [aka ixchel... fyi: who would name a song ixchel...]
20 [aka skeletal roads]
(switched to some patriot songs)
yosemite
motorboat
puppy girl
(back to warlock)
reckoner [cover 2]
a2d security (shorter version)
videotape [cover 3]
not what i needed [all i need cover....4]
breathe/welcome to the machine/little wing [5,6,7]
halflife

Recorded it to listen for any areas of improvement...
[did this on 4-1-14]

Anyways, yesterday, watched two of the best films ever made...

Enter The Dragon
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0070034%2F&ei=V2Y9U7-9I4KGyQGQ6oDoBA&usg=AFQjCNFYt5Ovk-YMxbPIY3gxKFkmHfgJog&sig2=F9IAJ-1NDrfdPVLHB20w4A&bvm=bv.63934634,d.aWc
and
The Man Who Knew Too Little
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0120483%2F&ei=OmY9U4PUK6SbygGCp4CQDQ&usg=AFQjCNFDFGxKKmxcz2JVn0Kr6l47z2UnwQ&sig2=wWBhmuDznsZ-UuOMUF4PmQ&bvm=bv.63934634,d.aWc

that's it for now...

I will run thru another 20 completely different songs...and then 20 more completely different songs...etc. when I feel the urge again...but this time I'm going to use an electric...the next time..a different electric... etc.

The point is to get as eclectic as possible... like oil... or Oakland... where I am...but with a stabilized sort of organization lingering above... like clouds...

BTW, "I've looked at clouds from both sides now"

Tao [town]

ah, the Tao of Jeet Kune Do...

not many people know this about me, but I was a huge ball of energy when I was young. I always get "he's so chill" these days. I used to have such a hard time keeping my energy in check. of course, the art realm was inviting...but I never really saw any sort of "escape" from the situation. I would go to bed, worn out from late night jumping up and down or something and end up kicking in my sleep. Then, after I woke up and went to school and adjusted, I'd be running across the school yard...all recess.  I'd go to the Orthodontist with my bigass teeth and he'd say I had "overactive saliva." Overactive may have been the key word. So, without regard to people not in my situation, I began seeing my effect on people... some would be inspired... some would be confused... some would feel the need to judge... most wouldn't see anything other than a kid with a lot of drive...

now, fighting has been all over the world. most people get inspired...some get confused...some feel the need to judge... most wouldn't see anything else other than....a fight.

Its a great book. Instead of just jumping up and down and running across...i first skimmed through the book... then I looked again... Pictures. This book was much more historically informing in the realm of human muscle/general development than the Bible to me at this point... why?

Because all I understood was I had all this energy... it was getting me in trouble [school suspensions, arguments]... I had seen movies like the Karate Kid, which was almost like a mirror of my alone self in an alternate reality... so I started getting into my version of self-discipline. Years passed, got laughed at for being into karate, took some karate classes, got tied up in school work because of parental pressure....Then, there was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers... and one of them came out with a martial art instructional video.... ah... what a cool thing.  Made me realize what a "kata" was... in essence... a song... being performed through physical actions... with the body being the whole instrument spectrum....

By the time I was 22, I had forgotten most of both Bruce Lee's book and the Tommy from the power ranger's Martial Arts video because of travelling, intaking numerous millions of other senses, human society's pressures, emotional adjustments to growing up, and got tracked on a new kind of self-discipline thing.... find out everything you are... look at it... and then do something... with it... ["right?"]...

Instead, I just found out a bunch not only about myself, but other people, science in general, mathematics, language, foreign languages, "human" history... and then I did something strange. I wound up having to remind myself self-discipline all over... bringing it back in as some kind of clothing to keep all that I'd experienced warm... and it gave me an overall sort of personal, just, more balanced, understanding of not the world... but my personality, body, and energy in the world....

So, I wrote an album in the semi-electronica realm that I really liked... had just finished skimming the Jeet Kune Do Tao so I went with "Town" for the name of it...

Now, those of you who know I am in the process of producing songs to put up on my website may or may not know how I work at this point... so, its like this.... I see every activity in my life as having some kind of structure... usually that of a traffic signal like nature [a great personal metaphor is like what I see when I hear that song "Third Eye" by Tool....three traffic signals, all on at the same time...and then a peaceful moment..]....stop and go...

example: I woke up and went to the bathroom today not by magically ascending down to a porta-pottie, but, by sitting up, moving my body out of bed and balancing the ability to walk with the necessity to get rid of excess toxins/stuff in my body. Necessity and balance... structure...

for whatever reason, I felt like writing about what I did this week.... and that's where I'm going with this....

I'm almost done with the 1-take/prelim vocals for the songs on Town... but I'm gonna press pause on them now, forget them all, work on something else, and come back to them at a future point...

This is where it gets interesting though:

While singing/writing/saying the words in recording the prelim vox arrangements, I found myself thinking of two major things: Oil and Oakland. No stigmas attached to either... just those two general things. So, what I realize now is this:

While we [most of us, pun intended to those who are Warriors fans] know (those of us living in Oakland) that there are murders and pollutants from both places [oil and oakland], there are often things that we don't see in between the two...

And, this, blog readers, is no different than - say - any interaction between two people, even twins...Oil and Oakland... without one, there is no "power" while without the other, there is no "stable" and its rather ironic than oil isn't very "stable." Both start with O and are pretty well known "pieces" of society on a local level... and both have "dark" attributes.... but one was a town... and is oil itself nothing more than a halflifed mixture of a bunch of lifeforms...making it a sorta town too....? maybe to me sometimes... ha.

anyways, also been doing some other stuff...

think I may get a fuzz/sustain or distortion pedal for the new amp...

ran thru some of the patriot/warlock songs and have come to the conclusion that I'm happy with my overall progress so far in this strange venture.

Ultimately, I think this album's subconscious drive is to get rid of the murders in Oakland and bring in more legit power... ; )

Coincidence too: I met someone named "Tao" when I started working on this album...

last thought: While people get freaked by synchronicity...if one is self-disciplined enough, its like a pathway with understanding... we just cannot take things so personally. Yes, I too like the color of uh... deep blue, but its not "my" favorite color at the same time.... I too feel the connection to the pleasantness of it... I have no right to see it, such a broad thing, as "mine." After all, if synchronicity is harmony, there is no direct laser beam saying its "my harmony."

This will make sense to most people in a few weeks or when I write the next entry...if it doesn't now.

;) ty 4 reading.

guitar, amps, wah

Finally got a few of the "buy these at some point" things crossed off. eBay is still pimpin' the shit out of old possessions like a good vehicle. Engines rule. Ha.

Boomerang [from the 60's / Wah Pedal] is the dopest sounding fx pedal I've ever had..pretty unique kinda filters going on with it.

Also got a half stack again... gonna play guitar thru a bass head and old traynor enclosed cab...bought the missing bridge for the baritone Kent/Teisco guitar...and a cool USB Walkman to digitalize all my old tapes...

Only things left on the list are a 12-string electric neck for the custom guitar with 5 pickups im making [dremmelled out the new pickup holes the other day]...and a Hughes & Kettner half stack....with the Orange little half stack being a maybe...then its onto the sporting goods buy list...

There are some nice fishing boats around. Particularly drawn to Fisher's boats...really cool designs.

Redrew the two arms' tattoo continuations and am so much more happy with the new ones. Consolidated about 5 tattoos into a simpler 2.

Playing guitar a lot and getting way good at feeling the vibrations/note changes and being able to tell where to move my frets to keep a smooth sound without looking at them. The cabinet I bought for the halfstack was 100$ but is the coolest fuckin shaped thing ever...its like an enclosed projector type of robotic looking thing...

FAILURE and TOOL are on tour. Such a great combo. Couldn't get tickets to either show in S.F. and don't wanna trip to Fresno after the dentist today so I'm hoping to socal-trip it to L.A. in May for the FAILURE Greek Theatre gig.  Might see OutKast @ Coachella too...

Watched some of the Failure bootlegs from YouTube of their 2014 live stuff and it sounds way good. Tool has a dope version of Opiate they've been playing as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t65ukM64xmU

'Bout it for now...

Genius W-2 idea...

Well, since we are not quite all....financially stable, why can't there be state issued independent W-2s for like babysitting and labor jobs...maid jobs....gardening....?

I see no reason; the income rarely exceeds any other job with W-2's...

How about a more free kind of work force?

I think so many people would appreciate this for the future.

Its like a tax on taxes for those of us who don't make enough to be taxed....

Just an idea...

NSA Thing...

[no, the song lyrics in the previous blog were not written about this; they are words about a particular relationship with an online, sweet, chill webcam model....]

So, people are scared the government is "spying" on them...Dipshit Snowed-in is all over the news... motherfuckers think dude deserves some medal for misinforming people causing a "vague, haunting, mass appeal" of fear...in the words of INCUBUS. What a fucking SUCCUBUS kind of train of thought.

1. IF you are worried about some activities being monitored, Why are you worried?

2. Are you that uneducated about security and government?

3. Have you taken political science?

4. Why don't you see the government as the country's shifting parents that they are??
---Is it because of your grudge against your own parents and figures that scare you?

5. What is this "issue" covering up or important for?

In the first place, too many fucked up morons [as in chemically imbalanced, disabled, or brain damaged in a HARSH way of putting it] are messing up the global security that should be enriching our entire chains of civilization. Now. chains do wonders in snow, right? So, why the fuck do people think of them in the negative platonic dialectal dichotomized sense of mistrust and suppression?

IMO its...Because you people who fail to communicate and blatantly misunderstand, judge, and get scared of something called serenity...so they go the artificial wave maker route....

This goes to show how real the citizens criticizing perfectly alright governmental behavioral and scientifically induced methodical solutions are....which is pretty fuckin' fake.

Well, the world is neither extremist liberal, nor is it fake.

If Snowed-In gets a medal, I lose all respect for the Nobel Prize and consider Obama the last recipient.

some words...

Love the saying "sticks and stones [may] break [the] bones but words [should] never hurt me."

And in contrast, had this leftover demo from c l o c k's revision sessions thats really nice and mellow...

and i like the words I have so far...so, check them out:

lets liquefy and drink some more wine
we're living in a beauty mark, baby
hundreds and faces keep on changing
but your liver is a beauty mark, baby

and i won't remember it
or anything at all...

cardboard and blue shut eyelids
you're living in a beautiful maybe
rubbing alcohol stressed attentions...
yeah, your liver is a beauty mark, baby

that I won't remember at all
or anything thats involved...

squirrels and kids fall down like acorns
its all security in three moments and times erasing
high middle low frequencies
that I won't remember at all...
its just simplicity....

Song is called A2D Security...

peace.

witnessing death, new room, job interviews...

Apparently a kidnapping happened right down the hill... I think dude is going to try and duck out til' around midnight - less traffic, and headed to Castro Valley/Crow Canyon Road and 5 Canyons Parkway area...or some remote area. Might be wrong, but there are mad amounts of both choppers and officers patrolling...which is kinda cool to see. I, myself, did some immediate area [around me, not the suspected spots] sort of patrolling after the helicopters announced the model/licence of the vehicle.  Didn't see any red infinity suvs...

and, someone reads this blog based on the view count, so...

My godfather/Uncle passed away last month... we had been taking care of him.  Its so strange how something like liver cirrhosis can take all sorts of deteriorating directions and tolls on a body. He was diagnosed with this weird cancer that males, unusually 64 years old, get and died three or four days later. I kept wondering if he had just lost his will to live when I would check up on him the last few weeks... He had been taking these really strong pain medications and had severe drug abuse problems in his past so I thought his body might be reacting to the pain killers...but it was both the cancer and the withdrawal that made him so out of it.  We had some great talks the past few months though and I learned a lot of family history and sort of shadier things that happened to him, personally.  I've seen people die before, but this one was a unique sort of death in that he had been in so much pain and trying to hide it...that it almost produced a natural kind of smile and relaxed sort of "finally out of this suffering" kind of expression after his last breath. Gonna miss Uncle Denny. He was a big influence and helped me learn certain aspects...the darker ones...of society before most people are exposed to them.  We had a memorial at the house and way more people showed up than originally expected so its nice to have sent off a nice farewell to a great person.

Since he passed, I moved down to his old "man cave"/den/room... And quite frankly, it is really perfect soundwise, and spacewise. My aunt and mom made the suggestion initially but then a bunch of other family members were like "well, are you gonna move down there now?" So, nearly a month later, I'm almost settled in down in this new space...

Stuck to my New Year's idea to cut down immensely on drinking based on the amt. of alcohol I was drinking around then...and I still don't see how people can't just stop drinking... Its all about willpower, focus, and activities...

Then, applied for some jobs... Funny story. Was called by a company for a phone interview and she asked about my commercial diving experience... For some reason, she thought I was a commercial DRIVER...and in reality, there was no typo-it said DIVER.  So, I explained, "yeah...lotta heavy lifting, air tanks, and boat repairs..blah blah blah..." she was juiced; went to the face2face interview... Different woman of course... "So, I see here you did some commercial DRIVING for Guam Oceaneers?" No, commercial DIVING. ... anyways, here's the punchline: The job was for a Commercial Driving position... I would be delivering water...hope they call back if they can't find someone who already has a commercial "driving" licence...

Would be good to get one of those anyways-opens the doors to jobs, so I'm gonna be studying the CCDL Class B book for a bit.

Got a new guitar too. Lucked out. 12-string Epiphone Acoustic from the early 80s. Yard sale. $50. What a buy. She sounds so perfectly resonant and has great sustain. Also been doing other projects...and playing this keyboard/piano with weighted keys...for that lush piano sound right? Ha. Hooked up my space flanger and delay pedal to it and have been getting compliments about the sounds from my aunt whenever I play. Re-Wrote that Big Fishy song on the piano...sounds cool.

Last night, I finally sat down and figured out some Franz Liszt piano parts by ear... After I'd put the pieces together for the most part, I could feel this soreness in my hands that I've never felt. Not even from blogging...jeez... Anyways, Rachmaninoff is next... at some point.

Finally worked on some paintings too...coming along...

And besides all that, have rarely been able to do much steady recording or anything since my other computers still aren't setup down here. Hopefully next month...if a job comes along though, its definitely the priority. Pretty much waiting on a post-interview letter/call this week...so I can't get into much production work in the music dept. til later this month...been reworking a bunch of songs though and they sound good.

Finally:

IT IS A WONDERFUL FEELING TO FINALLY GET JOB INTERVIEWS AGAIN AFTER NEARLY A DECADE.

Interesting Idea for a "ride..."

Already blogged about some new creative "rides"...the plane crash simulation...

Here's another one to remedy an appalling fear of death / dislike of funerals...

I'm not so much a spectator when it comes to activities as spectating gets rather exclusive and boring... so...

The Coffin Ride

Yup, its a one person ride...and it simulates being taken in a hearse and buried...

Hydraullic pumps on the bottom will achieve the vibratory sensations that make this an educational and almost adrenaline inducing experience...

Imagine it: You know how your body will feel when you die...

Next idea..the Cremation... just kidding.