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...