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 Thursday August 26th:
I was feeling a little shaky about going to Vegas twice in two weeks with my current financial situation, but after my last session at the Golden Nugget, I felt better about it. This time, Dave was invited to play a poker tournament called “Vegas Rock Star Poker” at the Palms. Dave, Tommy Lee, and Johnny Rzeznik from Goo Goo Dolls would play a bunch of contest winners in a NLHE touney, and the winner gets 10 grand. We cruised out on Thursday afternoon, and watched Ali G season one on DVD in the car. RESPEK!!! We got to Vegas, checked in at the Palms, and got some food. Afterwards, I hit the poker tables, and made a quick hundo. There was a private in-room 2 table poker tourney that the people behind the event put on, but it was a sham of a farce of a travesty …because I didn’t win it.
Afterwards we got tattoos. Dave got his bats at the Hart & Huntington shop in the Palms the week before, and this week I wanted to get a design on my wrist that I had drawn up. It was a design of line art, with curlee Q’s and thorn shapes. Like tribal, but a bit more girly. All of my tattoos I have drawn up for the tattoo artist, I don’t trust anybody yet to just go for it on me. A guy named Ben hooked me up and did a great job. So far this was the most painful tattoo yet for me. It wasn’t so bad until the inner part of my wrist on the right side. That, in a word, sucked.
Dave had some extra space on the front of his right arm and got “Don’t Try This at Home” in cursive. We both finished up about the same time, and afterwards we all went up to the Ghostbar. Ghostbar is a really cool looking place, but as with all clubs, its blasting hip hop at max volume, so therefore, generally unpleasant. I remember leaning over to Riss and screaming “This would be the coolest club in the world if they played good music, can you imagine?”, and low and behold, the DJ got wind of Dave being there and started playing music with ....(drum roll) GUITARS and SINGING. Led Zeppelin, Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s, Chilis, Alice. It was nice. Of course, all dancing abruptly stopped, and all the hotties in attendance started looking around all confused, but hell, it was only one night, and we had fun. And you know what, it probably did them some good, too, a little exposure to Rock and Roll. Loud dance clubs are about my least favorite place to be, but when one is on the top of a skyscraper in Las Vegas, and it’s blasting “Would” from Alice in Chains, I am forced to reconsider my position.
Afterwards, we hit the café and I had a butterscotch sundae. The French waiter asked Dave, because he is in show business, if he had any way of reaching actor Dolph Lundgren.
(insert awkward silence here)
Apparently he doesn’t, but the sundae was AWESOME.
Friday August 27th:
So begins one of the most fun days I have ever had in Las Vegas, but also the day of my worst slaughtering in the poker room. Riss was off to do Dave stuff, so I hit the tables. Sadly, the next two hours were not so pleasant, and culminated with me pulling one of the worst idiot moves in all of pokerdom: the misread straight. I had good pocket cards, and was heads up with a guy for a big pot, and when the river card fell, I went all in, he called, and I triumphantly threw down my cards and said “straight”. But saying it doesn’t mean much when there aren’t really 5 cards that all run together. My stack was gone, and instead of buying in for more, I got up and left. Some hands you don’t recover from.
The Vegas Rockstar event was warming up, and there was a dinner for all the contest winners and Rock guys before the game. I was seated next to a nice mother named Penny and her daughter Mandy from Houston, Texas. They were all trash talking, but confided in me that they were just out for fun, and had no real aspirations for winning the thing. I gave Mandy some basic poker help (premium hands, premium hands) and said that hey, they had a one (or two) in 21 shot of taking home a boatload of money, so give it your best shot. The event was run by some cool guys -especially Mike McGaw.
The game itself ended up being insane. Phil Gordon was the emcee, and was calling all the action from the floor. The first musician out was Rzeznik, then Dave, then Tommy. The final two were a guy who had played great solid poker all night named Eric, and wouldn’t you know it, Penny, the mom from Houston. She was the short stack at the final table, but won some insane all-in hands to go heads up with Eric. She was getting kinda smashed, dancing in her chair, and having a good old time with it, and Eric was a rock. It looked like it was over for her on a giant hand, when she caught a miracle card and became chip leader. This set Eric on a massive orgy of tilt. In a calm moment before the play resumed, I bent over and whispered “You can do this” to Penny. After catching some good cards, and capitalizing on Eric’s suddenly uneven play, Penny won the 10 grand. Sadly, it was a winner take all event and Eric didn’t get any of it. I give huge credit to Eric, and feel bad for him, he really played wonderfully all night, but at the end, it was fun rooting for the underdog.
The after party was up in the Real World suite. What a room. No locks on the doors, crazy décor, and packed with people. Dave got into a bubble bath with a view of the strip. Photo Op. They had some acoustics in cases lying around, and I took one and went into the black “confessional” room and came up with a chord progression and melody. Sometimes I get inspired when there are loads of people and loud music nearby, but I am alone in the midst of it. Something about the energy is transferable, I suppose. Later we went to Dave’s room and rocked the room service. Great day.
Sunday I had one agenda: cram as much touristy Vegas stuff as possible before the car took us home at 6:30pm. We went to the Bellagio and hit the buffet. Love the buffet. Walked the Caesars forum shops, then hit the Mirage and took in the dolphin habitat and Siegfried & Roy’s secret garden. The garden has an elephant, white tigers, leopards, and lions. At 6:30 we got into the car (Dave flew out to Miami for the VMA’s, so we the car to ourselves on the way back) and watched “Alien” and the original Rat Pack “Ocean’s Eleven” on the way home. All in all, I lost the money I had made the week before at the Nugget, but had one of the best Vegas weekends I’ve ever had.
Now, enough of that crap, back to work making music.
Sometimes the universe smiles. In this context, that smile manifests as two consecutive weekend trips to Las Vegas. We begin with part one, the weekend of Friday the 20th.
Friday the 20th:
Riss and I drove out Friday afternoon, checked in to the Flamingo. Had some Italian food, then I hit the poker room in the Flamingo. The great thing about all this poker TV is that the poker rooms n Vegas are booming. Almost all the casinos have them now (No-Limit tables), and while sometimes it still takes hours to get your seat, at least you have way more options on where to play. The Flamingo action was pretty good, but I lost my shirt. Played way way too long, and at 5am, wandered back in the room a broken man. Well, not broken, but almost broke. As these things go, I swore off playing for the rest of the weekend, …a vow that lasted about 6 hours.
Saturday the 21st:
Riss and I hit the pool at the Flamingo. Love the pool there; waterfalls, a little waterslide, and unfortunately, about a thousand people. It was late summer hot Vegas sunshine, and the water was perfect. After the pool, we took off for the Palms to meet Dave and see the Celebrity Poker Showdown taping. Some poker friends from the Silverlake Card Club came down for the taping and a weekend of cards, and I met them in the Palms poker room for some action before the show. I made half the money back that I had donated the night before at the Flamingo. Around 6pm we all were herded into the studio and watched the taping. I have been informed that I will be executed by a Bravo TV secret police squad if I divulge what happened, so let’s just move on to… “after the taping”.
That afternoon, Dave had wandered into the Hart & Hunnington tattoo parlor in the Palms and booked some time for some ink after the show. He didn’t know what he wanted, just knew he wanted something. He decided on two symmetrical bats, one per shoulder, and we hit the tattoo shop after the show to keep him company. Also in attendance was Emily Procter, the actress who plays the ballistics expert on CSI Miami (she was at Dave’s table on the show). She was really cool, very interesting, and damn- she really knew her poker. I was surprised to find out that she has a passion for returning to med school and becoming a doctor if she can after CSI. I had a great moment’s mental snapshot, as Dave was getting inked in this crazy futuristic Vegas tattoo shop in a casino, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was playing on the TV behind him, and Queens of the Stone Age’s “Rated R” was on the stereo. A good time. A little scare happened when Dave moved his head and the needle grazed the side of his face. It wasn’t deep enough to leave a mark, but it sure was …exciting.
Sunday the 22nd:
Riss and I went to the Peppermill for food, then headed over to the Liberace Museum. They have boatloads of his crazy sequin and jewel encrusted stage outfits. At least I hope they were stage outfits. My favorite was a patriotic red white & blue caped number with hot pants. They had rhinestone covered Rolls Royces, a mirrored piano and … not much else. Got a black Liberace T-shirt and a refrigerator magnet of the hot pants outfit at the gift store. We hit the road to head back home around 5pm. About 10 miles out of Vegas, the traffic stopped and we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. I have been stuck in the drive from Vegas to L.A. once, and it is murder. What can take 3 hours and 45 minutes (if you have no traffic and do 90-ish) can take anywhere from 6-10 hours. I’d rather have my eyes eaten out by pigeons than sit in stop-and-go traffic all night, so we turned around and went back to Vegas. Riss and I decided to stay an extra night and got a room at the Luxor. We got a room in the pyramid, and watched Soul Plane on the pay-per-view.
My friend Brian was still in town so later we hit the tables at the Luxor, which sucked ass (no action, and all new players). He recommended getting out of there and hitting the Palms. I was down for the trip, but thought it might be better to just limit the weekend’s financial bleeding and go back to the room and get to sleep (Riss and I planned to hit the road at 5am and make it back to L.A. around 9am). Screw that, we’re in Vegas, let’s go play some cards! The Palms was all booked up, so we headed downtown to the Golden Nugget. The casino was happening, and the vibe was good. We sat down at a table that looked like the final table of a WPT event – every stereotypical poker type was there: the old cowboy hat wearing guy, the English pro player, an unintelligible Middle Eastern guy, and a heavy Kenny Rogers looking guy wearing Elvis glasses. Rad. The action was crazy at that table: big bets, big raises, and at first I was a bit intimidated. After a few hands, I outdrew the cowboy on a big all in hand and had doubled up. After a couple hours, I had about a grand in front of me. This is always the part of the evening where I say to myself, “this seems like a fantastic time to get up and walk away – this is rent I have in front of me”, but I don’t often listen. I start losing a few pots, then finally I get tangled up in a big pot with the middle eastern guy, and try to semi-bluff him out of it by going all-in, but end up giving him more than half my stack when he calls. Brian and I decide to leave soon, and I am praying I get some of that cash back. I get into another pot with Middle Eastern guy, and call his pre-flop raise with AQ off. We get into it, and I end up raising all-in hoping to push him off the pot. He calls with pocket kings. “Oh shit,” I am thinking, “I did it again, I bet too impulsively, and am going to give this evil fuck my rent money”, when the Great and Golden Poker God blessed me with a fourth diamond on the river to match the one in my hand to double up my stack. One of those pots that doesn’t make you any friends, …but that’s poker. He starts mumbling something I can’t understand, something that I imagine amounts to: “May the jackals feast upon your entrails”, and I do the ultimate bad vibe maneuver and pick up my stack and cash out. Hey, nothing personal, we were leaving anyway. So my extra night in Vegas trying to avoid a traffic jam ended up being nice and profitable. Got the money back I lost, plus 450.00. Plus Riss and I got to watch Soul Plane. I got back to the room around 4:20am, woke Riss up, and hit the road, drove as the sun came up and pulled into our driveway around 8am. I slept for a few hours, then hit rehearsal at 3.
Let me qualify that by saying, I don't have anything against Paris Hilton. I don't even know Paris Hilton. So when I ask her to please, please fuck off, I mean her public image, specifically. She is not in complete control of it, as no celebrity is, but I must admit that I am nearing the breaking point for wandering by a newsstand, grazing over the magazines at the supermarket checkout area, and being inundated with every goddamn detail of her special little life. I suppose I am just bugged at what she epitomizes: Our American fascination with rich, good looking, young, talent-free, unencumbered with any responsibility, celebrity party-things.
I know this is a useless excersise, tapping away at my keyboard about how over I am with seeing this person give her "I know I'm hot - -guess what, I'm RICH, TOO!!!" -look at EVERY RED CARPET EVENT IN THE WORLD, but hey, this is my site.
I know she is a real person, and I really don't mean her any harm or ill will. Maybe when I say PLEASE FUCK OFF PARIS HILTON, I am really saying PLEASE FUCK OFF People Magazine, US Magazine, In Touch Magazine, The Star (now printed on "please see us with more credibility" gloss-finish paper), and Entertainment Tonight, Extra Hollywood, and all the rest. You get the point.
I would think if I had a daughter, I would be horrified if she idolized Paris Hilton, only because she was jammed down her throat and there was no one else around. We as a country tend to do that: accept what is available, repetition breeds adoration. Makes me wonder: where are the young female role models out there in the public eye that are worth being jammed down our throats? Someone with some spirit, creativity, spark???
I am an adult. I know this will never change, in fact it will only get more exaggerated. The next "Paris Hilton" will be even younger, better looking, worth twice as much money, be ten times more vacant,
...and have a sex video with much improved cinematography. And we will be forced to be updated on her every breath and every blink of her eye.
You know, this whole time I forgot that I also want to send out a similarly motivated request:
PLEASE FUCK OFF BRITNEY SPEARS
 Tivo in a word, rules. Just so we're on the same page. Here is a list of the things on my Tivo right now, and what it is set to record regularly:
Iron Chef - Halle Cuisine!!!
The Apprentice - I never in a million years thought that I would think that Donald Trump is a bad-ass, but I do.
World Poker Tour (and all poker TV)
Survivor - I watch every single year and bet on it, too.
American Idol - I get really into Idol.
Ali G - RESPEK!
The Office - on BBC, my favorite show last year, too bad there are only 14 or so episodes.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy - full of good info, and usually oddly touching...
The Casino
Insomniac with Dave Atell - may this show run for all eternity.
Showbiz Moms & Dads
Saturday Night Live - I am a longtime viewer, and have massive admiration for what they do live every week. Tina Fey rocks.
Real Time with Bill Maher - His heart is in the right place.
Mr. Show with Bob & David reruns - on many an episode, you can hear my over-loud guffaw in the studio audience.
CBS News Sunday Morning - a news program that focuses on the arts - a really incredible show that without Tivo I would never see - it's on very early Sunday mornings. Bands Reunited - hope they make some more of these.
Groggy. I feel kinda hungover, but I didn't drink. Was up until 4:30 last night writing a new song. Just put some green tea on, and I'm going to drop a shot of Chinese Ginseng in it to get me moving. We have the day off today, Chaney and Dave are both in separate studios doing tracks.
Monday we ran the set, and I had been working on songs on the weekend, so I had some new stuff to play. The instrumental that I had been calling "DaveJam", is now "Punish Me". It's a song about someone who gets their excitement only with a little pain involved, if you know what I mean.
There was also a part of mine I came up with in rehearsal a few weeks ago, a "weary" progression, that I put lyrics and chorus to called "Blue Bruises". We played both of those for a bit, and played our new arrangement of what used to be called "Nothing Wrong with Me". We had re-tooled it and killed the old chorus last week, and built a really moody one.
Yesterday, I got some lyrics for it, but they were loose and fuzzy, the title I was working with was "Down They Fall". We had some more work to do on this explosive bridge instrumental section, so we did that and called it a day. Last night I had the song ringing in my head and felt that the words/idea of the song were floating around just on the edge of my conciousness. That's what it feels like when the creativity flows or the "sprits" are around; like you are always on the verge of remembering something, and when you get it, find that it was the thing that wanted to come out. I went to dinner at a little place in Hollywood called "Home", and brought my sketchbook just in case anything happened. I was thinking that "Down They Fall" was a good idea for the song, but might not be the final title.
I saw on the drink menu “Bloody Mary” and it struck me as a good song title. The words were buzzing around my head when we got home. I spent some time reading a pre-release version of Dave’s “Don’t Try This at Home” book, and the first chapter, he mentions a drug dealer that used to come to his house named “Mary”. Then it felt like lightning struck. This whole story started writing itself in my head, this image of a beautiful dealer in the Hollywood Hills that was always just a call away. The music to the song after we had re-worked it has a kinetic, busy, kind of “antsy” verse, and a very different sounding, dramatic minor-feel chorus. The Bloody Mary idea fit right into the framework. I scribbled notes and phrases in bed, then when they kept coming, I went into my workroom and started singing them with the acoustic. The song fell together in my most favorite way, like it was writing itself. It’s really an intoxicating feeling when it happens like this, almost addictive. I miss this feeling when it’s not around. Songs tend to travel in packs, so I am hoping something else comes along this week.
So far, here are the finished songs in order of completion: She Won’t Last, Unholy Ghost, The Loophole, Ashes, Outsider, Skin of Your Soul, Half Hearted, and Bloody Mary. (Punish Me is still without a finished verse melody/lyrics).
This afternoon had a good online chat with Freak, White Pony, and BradK: our Panic Agency “Lead Agents”. We are going to team up and get a Panic Agency message board happening. It’s really cool to have help with the Agency, as I plan on devoting all my creative web time to The Panic Channel site, and their energy and creativity will really augment what we are trying to accomplish online.
 Went to Ameoba records yesterday and picked up some new music. I love online downloads, and am super into the iTunes music store, but I have one complaint: that you can't download at any other bitrate than 128k. If you really want CD quality, or really close to it, you still have to buy a CD. Hopefully they will change that soon. I bought the Melissa Auf Der Maur record, Shudder to Think's "Pony Express Record" (lost my copy), Audioslave (never bought it), and one of my favorite classic rock records, Genesis' 1974 double album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
When I was on the road doing the "Tommy" tour, it was a CD that my friend Bill Youmans turned me on to and it absolutely blew me away. I have always been fascinated by concept records, song cycles, and "rock operas", so he was surprised that I'd never heard it. Over the years, my copy disappeared, so I bought it again. I spent last night listening to it like it was the first time. Sounded fantastic. I have never been a big Prog fan (except for early Rush), but this record is different. The concept is very surreal and otherworldly, but the music never gets too far from servicing the narrative. It changes moods and focus so quickly and really creates the effect of taking the listener on a journey. I had always been a bit perplexed about the story, just knowing the broadstrokes of the "plot" and enjoying the music was plenty for me when I first got into "The Lamb", but last night I decided to run a search on it, and came up with "The Annotated Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". A dissection of the lyrics, the "book" (the album jacket story by Gabriel), and notes, interpretations, and observations by the authors of the file. It stumped even the mighty Google for a while, but I found it, and but was worth it. It's a 70 page text file, and I stayed up last night reading it and pouring over the music.
It was the last record of Peter Gabriel era Genesis, and I was surprised to find out that at the time he was being tempted by "The Exorcist" Director Wiliam Freidkin to work on a film project, and temporarily walked out of the "Lamb" sessions. Strange to think about something so great and he was willing to drop it and walk away, and do something else completely different.
"and I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for a windshhield on a freeway"
Also this weekend, Riss and I went to the Nisei festival in Little Tokyo, wasn't much going on, but I love cruising around down there. Found an Anime store that had reams of beautiful posters for 99 cents to 5 bucks, I bought a few and plan on papering a wall in my work room with them. Also got some odd little Japanese kids masks for my wall.
Watched "Capturing the Friedmans" tonight.
Tomorrow I go to Dave's to cut some bits of video out of what we got this week (just let the camera run Monday and Tuesday while we did the songs), and brainstorm about the Panic Agency.
I am in my favorite café, “Nicely’s”. I come here to eat and work on lyrics sometimes. I used to eat lunch here almost everyday when I worked at Real Pie. I mean literally almost everyday. I have seen the owners change 3 times, they even named a plate after me, the “Stevie Special” a plate of salad with two turkey burgers (no bun), cheddar, and bacon on top. Started inhaling these bad boys when I first went Atkins-style about two years ago. The chef Jesus, cooks it just the way I like it, and I finally have a place where I can walk in and say, “the usual”. Always wanted that.
Haven’t posted in a bit, so here’s the recap:
We had last week off so Chaney could go record in Canada (Vancouver, I believe). We rehearsed Monday and yesterday. It’s getting pretty spectacularly unbelievably hot in the Valley, so we are sweating even with the AC and a fan running. Monday was spent playing “the set” – we have enough songs for one now, and we videotaped it to try to get some tidbits for the Panic site. Also had a band meeting, talking about plans for the site, T-shirts, stickers, and how we eventually want to approach management and that stuff. As it is going, everyone is excited to do everything the DIY way. Grass-roots style. In my opinion, we’re going about it in the right order: Rehearse and write songs, set up the website, play shows, then everything else. Yesterday we played the songs, taped it, then opened the hood on “Nothing Wrong with Me”. This is a song which started off quickly, but I have been stuck on finishing, it just didn’t seem right somehow. Dave suggested a new guitar part on the chorus, which made Chris go in a different direction, much more minor-key and trippy. That made Stephen switch up the drums, and now it’s a whole different song. Like completely. I am continually surprised at how quickly these guys change gears in the writing process. I am used to players (myself included) coming up with part and being territorial about changing them. Not this band; once the song starts changing course, everyone re-examines, and re-builds their part around the coolest bit. With the chorus all-new, I pulled out a new melody that worked, and it lead into a whole brand new section. I call these type of sections that bust out after the chorus has already been established as “super-choruses” –my little term. So far, this is the first tune with a “super-chorus”. We are off for the rest of the week, so I have time to work on the lyrics and melodies. The title will definitely change.
Now that there is a website online and a gig coming up, it’s time to work on all kinds of other band work. When my damn computer is back out of the shop, I am going to get a t-shirt and sticker design ready to send off to a printer. Hopefully they will all be finished by gig time. I am also going to start working on an illustration of a band mascot girl called “Pandora”. I see a beautiful woman kneeling with black wings, inked up, and smeared makeup. Also going to work on adding some actual areas to 6767.com for all the artwork and downloads that are coming in. By the way, it is really something special that is happening over there, thriving and positive, and I am fascinated by it’s growth, and wish everybody over there well.
We are devising a plan to develop the “Panic Agency” – our online/street team. We want to create something different that your usual street team. I don’t even like the term “street team”, incidentally... it can be something so much cooler, more cooperative and hands-on than just sending out a box of stickers. The way that the 6767 “family” has sprung up and virally “takes care of itself” in some ways, has inspired us to re-think the “street team”. Ok, that’s the last time I’ll use that term. From now on, it’s “The Panic Agency”, and you will know what I mean. For any visiting Agents, be patient. We are trying to build this band in real-time in front of the web audience, so we need some time to put these ideas into action.
After all that, I am going to get to work building the full Panic Channel website. A big frigging job.
Somebody left a comment today that was just a link to a picture of Perry from the last Lollapalooza tour, the TypePad engine cut it off so
here it is.
I searched his other posts, and they are mainly negative, so apparently it was meant to be a bad vibe, but it got me thinking of the great Jane's shows I've seen....
I missed last year's Lollapalloza. I am bummed not just cause I missed Jane's, but I absolutely love Queens of the Stone Age, and would have been stoked to see them too. I got to see them last year on Halloween night at the Greek Theatre here in Los Angeles, and it was pouring down rain (it's an amphitheatre), but what an awesome show. They came out as the Village People for the encore.
I was at the first Lollapalloza at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Northern California, and it was an incredible time. The EVENT was wonderful, all the acts, booths, and the wild variety of acts ( ICE-T and Bodycount, Souixie, NIN, etc.) and the vibe was something different, special, like we were a part of something new, world-shaking, and at the center was the Jane's gig. Sadly, I dropped acid during Souixie and started peaking right during the opening chords of the Jane's set. I have this wonderful miniature memory of wandering around all the people on a grassy hill with the anticipation of the show coursing through them. Then, ...nothing. Don't remember a thing. Little flashes of being up front, lots of colors, but I got jipped pretty hardcore out of what I am sure was a great show. So if that isn't a good reason to watch it with the drugs, I don't know what is. You might miss a great gig.
The best Jane's gig I remember is the Ritual tour at Universal Amphitheatre (that one I kept it together for). Nine Inch Nails opened up, and I remember thinking, that guy (Trent) is out of his mind - he just beat the hell out of that keyboard. I'd seen lots of guitar smashing, but I'd never seen someone taking a whole synth and destroying it. Then Jane's came on and owned. It was beautiful. Still have my tour shirt.
Last Demcember Riss and I went to the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. It's a legendary show every year in Los Angeles. Apparently it used to be an acoustic show, but these days everybody does their full live treatment. I suppose it's a competition thing, which is a pity, becuase I would love it if bands actually downsized and tried out that dynamic. Love to hear a band commit to the asthetic and pull it off.
Jane's played, & It ended up being a great mini-gig (bands only play 5-7 songs). I was just amazed I was hearing them play the old tunes after so many years and how good they sounded. "Just Because" ended up as an instrumental but whatever...it still rocked. There was some visible tension, but it sounded mighty anyway. Later, Perry walked up into the audience and was carried around. It was great. I was really happy to have seen the gig, but Riss was prepearing for the aftermath. I was genuinely saddened that it seemed like one of my favorite bands was about to break up - again. The Panic Channel was about as probable or as possible as walking on the moon that night. Goes to show you - you never, ever can tell what is in the future, so don't waste your time trying.
I guess the point of this little walk down memory lane is this... If you are a Jane's fan, and hate our new band because it's not Jane's, we're not trying to win you over. It'll never happen. We're trying to build something new from the ground up. The great thing is that we have no idea what it will be like. Every day that we play and write, the band and it's sound grow a little bit. It's not Jane's Addiction, not even close. No band could be JA but them. For some fan circles, they debate if Relapse/Strays was even Jane's Addiciton. Nothing can ever recapture what Jane's was in the early 90's. Bands can try to be good, even great, but only a few bands become important. That is a by-product of the music, the times, and the people listening to the music in those times. It can't be generated at will. I personally would have loved to have one more Jane's album. I dug Strays, it made me feel like the old Jane's was back. For the record, Jane's was going its separate ways before we started playing in Perkins' garage for fun.
When I see a picture of Perry, I think of the great Jane's music I have enjoyed, and the respect I will always have for him as an artist and performer, and think of that time in my life when the music rotated my world in a different direction. Nothing else.
Rode my bike to the subway station and took the train to downtown L.A. yesterday to get "lost". (Walking ideas=good ideas). Had my iPod, listened to: Pink Floyd: Meddle, Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door, and band rehearsals. Wandered around Chinatown, my new favorite place. Lots of urban energy, color, culture, interesting details. Wish I had brought my camera, my picture eye saw lots of good shots. Bought some purple chinese pajamas, and stopped in restaurant called Yang Chow for some spicy beef and lots of green tea. Wanted to get acupuncture, never have before, and have been curious about it lately, but the lady I was asking about it had a weird vibe, and thought I'd give the job of poking needles into me to someone else. Scribbled alot of words, titles, phrases that interested me. No complete songs, but a page on how we have been conditioned to feel "alive" only when we are consuming. Buying, eating, devouring. Our self images are fortified by logos and an ad campaigns.
"the things you own end up owning you" ... Tyler Durden
Since I didn't have a camera, here is my walk: Bamboo plant, money tree, severed duck feet, sun-wrinkles, parasols, clustered buyers, ginsing root barrels, seaweed smell, heavy hot sun, smiles, dragons, dragons, dragons.
From there I walked Broadway toward Civic Center and went to the library. Went looking for books on Ouija Boards, but the two I wanted were mysteriously missing. Did some lyric "research". Found some really interesting stuff on Edgar Cayce. He was a man in the early days of the last century who would go into trances and give medical diagnoses. The kicker is that he was 90% correct, and had no medical knowledge. He "treated" something like 30,000 cases, and cured himself of an odd form of laryngitis while being hynotized, and foresaw the date of his own death, (he missed only by a couple days). Very interesting, will have to reasearch him more. Pissed that they didn't have the books I wanted, but tried to keep in mind, that everything is happening as it should. Always. Just because something doesn't unfold according to my plan, that doesn't make it invalid. Quite the opposite. Usually the unforseen, the accident, and the use of that moment, in the moment, make the best outcomes. Hard to remember, but very true.
Got back on the train, headed back to the Valley, and biked it home. Discovered that I should have worn sunblock.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
..Will Farrell as Bush.
Today Riss and I went to Venice beach for the annual Festival of the Chariots. Every year, the Hare Krishna temple in Venice has this sort of crazy beach party. They parade down Venice Blvd. with these massive 50 foot tall chariots all covered in beautiful bright colors and flowers. They take the dieties from their temple (the statues of their Gods) and limo them down to the beach for a visit. There are displays, dance recitals, a free vegetarian meal, and even a Krishna chanting rock band. I first went years ago while studying Hinduism, with an Indian friend named Prasad who schooled me to the meaning of the festival. We visited their temple afterwards that night to witness the singing and devotional chanting as they brought the statues back home, and it was a wonderful day. The Krishnas were really nice, and very open about their worldview, and I came away with a really positive view of their way of life.
Today Riss and I wandered around and heard some beautiful singing, enjoyed the sun, and shared the beach with the Hari Krishnas! Hari Krishna, Hari Ram to all of you, thanks for a great time!
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