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| May 2005 »
(start music shuffle…)
(now playing: Nick Drake “Cello Song”)
I can barely contain my excitement for this weekend, it’s ON…
VEGAS!
This Saturday night Camp Freddy is playing at the Hard Rock Casino for it’s 10th anniversary. Dave and the guys graciously included one of my Camp Freddy numbers, The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary”. I sang this with them at the last Key Club show, but Cult guitarist Billy Duffy wasn’t at that show. He will be at this one this weekend, and It'll be great to be doing his band’s song with him. I have always loved the Cult’s “Love” record, and especially that song. Since I am a part of this whole Camp Freddy experience, I kind of luck out and get some perks. The best of which is a ticket to the Nine Inch Nails show on Saturday night (earlier, before CF plays). I have seen NIN twice, but not since the “Pretty Hate Machine” tour.
(now playing: U2 “I Threw a Brick Through a Window”)
 Most of us fly out tomorrow, but Riss can’t come out til Saturday. This gives me all Friday night to check out the other thing I am really excited about: the new Wynn Las Vegas casino.
I follow everything Steve Wynn does, and have been keeping tabs on the building of this casino for a couple years. Wynn is a true visionary, and every property he creates seems to alter the idea of casino/resorts and the landscape of the city immeasurably. I read an interview where he had mentioned that his other casinos (Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio) all put something really big right on the strip (volcano, pirate show, fountain) in an effort to lure people inside. With Wynn LV, he has reversed this, and built a 130 million dollar mini-mountain blocking the front of the hotel and creating a sort of secluded inner area. I am really curious to see how this is all laid out.
(now playing: Queen “My Best Friend”)
It opens today, so I will be able to investigate it on opening weekend. It’s no secret that I love Las Vegas and take any possible opportunity to get out there. This weekend should be the granddaddy of great Vegas trips. Largely because for once, I don’t have to pay for the plane and the room!
(now playing: Frank Sinatra “I’ve got a Crush on You” – Live at the Sands)
…ahh how appropriate. Sometimes it seems that “shuffle” mode is somehow sentient. Trips me out.
Been off for a while. Here’s what’s been happening…
(start music shuffle...)
The band has been back in rehearsals. It feels so great to (loudly) play the songs again. My odyssey of searching for the right guitar/amp setup has settled for a bit. Last week I went to True Tone music in Santa Monica and picked up the guitar I will be using in the band, a reissue of a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty. Gibson has a custom building shop, and every year they remake a certain model from the past. Last year they made this one: all black, nickel hardware, ebony fingerboard, humbuckers, white trim. It’s also kind of “pre-aged”; the black is matte finish instead of glossy, and the white trim is a touch yellowed. I love it dearly, and spent most of last week playing it, coming up with new parts and locking myself in my room and soloing over Led Zeppelin records. I’m taking this time to put myself back into “guitar student” mode, and spend at least an hour a day working on scales, finger picking, learning new songs, and focusing on the mechanics of guitar playing. Usually, every free second I am playing music alone, I am trying to come up with new songs or parts.
Amp-wise, I will be using my new blue Mesa dual Rectifier. So far this setup has been really great in rehearsal, and I don’t think the band overall has ever sounded better.
(now playing: Nick Drake “Things Behind the Sun”)
We have been getting our set ready for the show on the 17th. We will be playing a lot of new songs, some we have only played in showcases, so be prepared for a lot of new stuff. After recording these songs, we have been tinkering around with the live arrangements and getting them all worked out. In the recording process, you end up changing some things, and once back in rehearsals, you need to incorporate those changes into the live version. That was the work this week.
We will also be playing a Musicians Assistance Program awards charity thing on the 20th. Dave is picking up an award for the work he did last year for the charity (all the proceeds from his “Don’t try this at Home” book go to MAP). They help musicians with alcohol & drug recovery. I don’t know too much about the show, except that it will be an industry shindig, and that we are playing 3 songs. The bill is also a bit fuzzy, what I have heard is that Jerry Cantrell’s band is playing and maybe and acoustic set from Omar and Cedric from The Mars Volta and John and Flea from the Chili Peppers. I really hope they play.
I have been dividing my late night hours between playing the new guitar and working on a The Panic Channel logo. We have an “icon” which is the cross inside the arch, but the “logo” is a graphic type treatment. I like when bands commit to a logo instead of changing the look all the time from record to record. I created one yesterday that I love. Dave and I have been bouncing it back and forth tweaking a letter shape here, a detail there. I am dying to show it off, but need to stifle my excitement and save it until it has been lived with for a while. The new logo will probably make it’s debut on thepanicchannel.com v2.0.
(now playing: Pearl Jam: “Glorified G” )
Did some more work this week on getting The Panic Channel merch happening. As I had mentioned before, we are trying something new in this department. We have decided to go with a unique company that makes nicer, softer, more worn-in feeling stuff, instead of the standard-issue band shirts. The price won’t really be that different, but the initial steps of getting the deal all worked out have taken more time. We truly believe that when you get Panic Merch, you will feel the difference and this wait will have been way worth it. Plus, the crew at this company are very creative and I am looking forward to collaborating with them on the designs and processes to make band gear like no one has ever seen.
(now playing: Genesis “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” – live bootleg)
Here's the blue Mesa:
Greetings and salutations. We have been working on thepanicchannel.com v2.0 in the last few weeks, and it will launch soon. The look won't be too different, but there will be a ton of video, photos, downloads and stuff to read. The drag with the way I built it is that it's a pain to update. Robert Chafino is being a web wunderkind super bro and re-tooling it from the gound up and we are very lucky to have him help us.
We are also excited to get out and play some shows, hope to see you Tuesday May 17th at the Dragonfly. We will be playing a bunch of new tunes for the first time. It's been a long since the last show in December, but the studio kind of sucks everything in - like a black hole...
Out of the studio. Odd. Free time. Not liking it so much right now. Antsy.
Weather is beautiful and sunny. Feels like summer here in Southern California. Went to see Sin City last night, loved it. Mickey Rourke is the shit, I wish his character "Marv" was in the movie the whole time. Very happy to see a filmmaker truly respect and be faithful to a comic book's inspiration to the obsessive degree that Robert Rodriquez did. The Clive Owen section dragged a bit for me, but otherwise, it was all good. Seriously, though .. Mickey Rourke owned that movie.
Finished Dean Koontz' "Odd Thomas" last night. Loved that as well. It's the story of a young man who lives in a small California town who can see the dead. His gift gives him insight to an upcoming massacre, and the book is his race against time to decipher his visions and keep the event from taking place. Odd is a really likeable character, and has a cool world view. The story was riveting, and I have that "missing the book when it's over" feeling. Next I'm probably going to hit "Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell".
E! ran that poker show Dave and I played on Thursday night. I am not sure if I am going to check it out. It was fun playing to a degree; with the excitement of all the people running around and the cameras, but the actual game wasn't as "real" as I think it could have been. It was more about the cameras than the cards. I guess that's ok for a televised celebrity game, but my ass really could have used that 10 grand ...I wasn't out there for the friggin exposure...but it was cool of Dave to invite me along.
Speaking of television - sampled the recent crop of new reality shows that have been popping up on A&E. First, there's Knievel's Wild Ride, which follows motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel's son Robbie's stunt show tour. The first show was not so great. The usual reality-show mechanism of trying to get some kind of drama to document was in gear, but the bickering between his team members about where to set up his jump ramp in a car dealership parking lot wasn't hugely interesting. Knievel's team gets in a bar fight and Robbie gets his ass kicked, but even that was more sad than interesting. He is really bitter about his Dad, and that's cool. The jury is still out on this one.
On the other hand, I am really into "Dog: the Bounty Hunter". This is some good reality TV in my book. Dog is a crazy, wrinkled, bleach-blond, mullet wearing muscle bound bounty hunter, and this show is his family team cruising around Waikiki searching out bail jumpers and various miscreants to send to jail. Dog is irresistible in a Mr. T kind of way. Plus, the whole thing takes place in paradise.
Also Riss and I are into "Family Plots" the show about a family who runs a mortuary. Most of the people in the show are either divorced or breaking up, and it's a pretty volatile mix of personalities.
The heaviest of the new bunch is "Intervention" - where they somehow film addicts of all kinds (drug, alcohol, gambling, shopping, self-mutilation, etc.) while in the depths of their sickness, and at the end of the show inevitably face an intervention in the hopes of getting them to treatment. This show can be hard to watch, and is more often than not it's pretty dark, and without release, but always is fascinating to watch.
Speaking of TV, here's my current Tivo Season Pass (record all episodes) rundown:
Battlestar Galactica
The Contender
The Apprentice
Survivor
Family Plots
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Intervention
Iron Chef America
World Poker Tour
Caesar's 24/7
MTV2 Rock Countdown (I have found this the best way to see some videos with the least amount of bullshit: set the Tivo to record a couple hours in the middle of the night when MTV/MTV2 play just music, then I can zip through when I want, and those two hours are overwritten the next night)
Wishlists: ( this is setting the Tivo to record anything that has to do with these keywords)
Occult
Ouija
Witchcraft
Poker
Mars Volta
Ghost
Haunted
I am a believer in the existence of quality television. Almost all network sitcoms and dramas I have no interest in, and as you can see, I like the reality TV. Drama on TV just seems dumb and formulaic, and don't even talk about sitcoms. That said, when you have hundreds of channels, economically, that is going to force smaller channels to try harder and harder to create more specialized (and usually higher quality) programming. That means with all these channels in competition, the little guys are probably putting on something good. Until Tivo started digging it out for me, I could never have given a shit enough to spend the time to find it.
So I am not one to categorically reject all television as crap, that's just ignorant. Television was the greatest communication medium in human history until the advent of the Internet, and there is an ocean of wonderful, fascinating, mind expanding, and entertaining content out there. It's not ALL dreck, just because "Two and Half Dads" is still on the air.
Been following the sordid details of the Jackson case. Wow. Made me search out the cover of his 90's record "Dangerous". The cover kind of said it all:
When I worked at MTV, and Michael Jackson was still marketable, and still kind of weird, but not insane and truly dangerous weird, he did an interview on Oprah and talked about his mysterious skin condition. I, in that "trying to kill valuable on air broadcasting time with half baked jokes way" said that he was on his way to becoming fluorescent. No biggie, right? ... just shooting the breeze with the people, until I got a call from the MTV higher ups. Apparently he or his people were watching and got pissed. I got my hand slapped, and the higher ups told me that they were forced to do an all Michael Jackson weekend for my comment. How the world has turned since then.
And I was right, he is basically fluorescent now, so sue me.
Google Maps is insane. They just added satellite photos. Unreal. Here is the Las Vegas strip. Click and play around. I am starting to believe that Google is just a front for a highly developed alien race.
Grand Odyssey: At the Japanese Expo 2005, Toshiba is showing a computer generated film that "stars" the audience. As you walk in, you place your face in a scanner, and your likeness is mapped on one of the movie's characters. (via)
The photographic art of Daren Rabinovitch.
Illustrator James Jean (check out Illustration). Beautiful.
Robert Smith's iTunes Celebrity Playlist. Great taste on this guy.
Everybody is starting a band.
Britney Yes (via). Britney No .
Flight to a Floating Horizon, Chris Guest.
Flickr - image network supersite. Upload your pics, give them "tags" - then your pics meet everyone else's pics and weird stuff happens. Free.
Learn about XTC. ..."The man who sailed around his soul, form east to west from pole to pole, with ego as his drunken captain, greed the mutineer who trapped all reason in the hold..."
What I'm reading right now.
What is it?
Our new roommates. Until the scheduled holocaust next week.
The best show on TV.
Chemical Brothers' "Believe" video. (via Rantz)
Sin City shot by shot comic to film comparison.
Way to GO.
Way NOT to go.
e
Ok, I don't know how up to date you are on important current events, so let me just bring you up to speed:
1. Pope John Paul II has died
2. ABC news anchor Peter Jennings has lung cancer
3. There is a legion of Star Wars uber-fans waiting in line in front of Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater 43 days before the release of the movie, despite the fact that it won't be playing there when it opens.
Here's the whole story
Ok, now let me just say that I have a soft spot in my heart for over-the top super fans. In some ways it's kind of endearing. Before the spectacular failure, "Episode I" was released, there was a similar line out in front of the world famous Chinese Theater. Instead of deriding or making fun of them, I kind of admired their single-minded determination. I have to admit that being passionate about something -even something seemingly trivial is more appealing than never being passionate about anything. One night a friend and I bought beer for the line standers, went out and talked to them, got a feel for who they were and why they were doing it. It was a trip. That said, after I endured the mind-numbing legacy-destroying shit fest that was Episode I, I had to move away from any kind feelings for the Star Wars prequels. "Hey, it wasn't so bad, Steve, c'mon..." you might say...
Yes it was. Watch again. Be honest. Listen to The Force whispering in your ear as you watch it ... "this is shit ... this is shit...Steve is right...".
I only give a shit, because the OG Star Wars was the shit. Like every kid my age, when the originals came out, my universe was erased and re-written, -earth shaking! Star Wars!
As great as Star Wars was, and how "Empire" was even better (with the tragic second chapter ending) truth be told, "Star Wars" began to jump the shark at "Revenge of the Jedi".
Yes, once again, admit it to yourself. Ewoks, the ham-handed merchandising ploy, the carbon copy of SW1 ending (bigger death star to destroy, big deal.) This is when Episode I was truly spawned.
So then we had Episode II. Ok, now I am destined to see all the SW flicks, crap or not, just to pay respect to my little 7 year old self. Just have to. So Episode II was slightly better, a bit more action, but still the empty characters, wooden acting, blatant idiotic leaps of faith with the plot, and that horrible fighting Yoda. Ok, it seemed ok in the moment, but looking back- c'mon, leave Yoda on the ground, what the hell is that?
This is why the current line standers fascinate and boggle me. Not only are they lining up for a movie that will SURELY and MOST DEFINITELY SUCK, but add to that that isn't out for over a month, and throw in that THEY ARE LINING UP AT THE WRONG THEATER!!!
Why do I care? Um, I dunno, actually. Maybe it's a little sad that something so mediocre is bound to be such a success no matter what. Maybe now the true desperation of the uber-SW fans is becoming terrifyingly apparent. Maybe I am pissed at George Lucas and his rapidly expanding "neck-like region" and wished he'd just made some damn good movies, and then raked in the boatloads of cash.
Maybe it was just time to post.
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