Day 78 - May 28th 2009
Workin pretty hard today for the most part. I knew this would be a day when I spent a great deal of time on the phone and in front of the Computer. Firstly I had a bunch of gigs come in for me and had to sort through them all as I try to get a foothold back in the city and the region so that I can schedule some of these out of town shows. Some interesting things on the horizon, we got some hippie festivals and hopefully some TV. This would be sweet. Once I locked some of this new stuff down I got a call telling me that my Thursday meeting was cancelled. So I moved on to some of these HYPE! shows that still need to be set up.
They finally posted info for Thursdays show on the World Café Live website. So we can finally start doin some advertising for it. I’m just about ¾ of the way of getting July booked solid. I’m working with a lot of new great bands for these Lickety Shows. A lot of bands from NYC are comin in as well as some bands from Philly and what not so things are looking good. Soon I’ll be able to turn my attention to my own music and start really writing again. I need to start making plans for this NYC trip and Cali for that matter.
Mom brought Yoni home for hair purposes, then I went and saw Star Trek (for the second time) with Becca and Zach. Zach and I discussed the fact that we probably need to really start working on some creative type projects together again, it’s likely that we’ll start doin some stuff once I get back into the routine of the band and what not I’ll have time to pay attention to something else. We’re thinking of developing some sort of media project. I’m considering dusting off the Action Boy project and showing it to people…we’ll see.
I couldn’t help but think that maybe it might be a good idea to try to get some acting work to pick up some extra money until these shows pick up. We’ll see, I (obviously) have a great deal of free time at the moment.
Can’t believe Friday is tomorrow
Friday, May 29, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 78
Day 77 - May 27th 2009
In a rare moment of stupidity I double booked myself today. I have the monthly competition for Philly Rising today and at the same time I have a show at Lickety Split. I spent most of my morning tryin to lock down the details for my upstairs show at World Café Live next Thursday Night.
I lined up some more Lickety Split shows and hopefully by tomorrow’s end I’ll be booked through the end of July and can start working on August. Once you get a whole season booked and know what works you can kind of put people on a rotation you have to make sure you are keeping it fresh of course, but the more often you can put people in that you know that will do well it makes things a bit easier. The shows so far look really good.
At 5 I left the house on my way to World Café Live. Tonight we were doin the March winners. I saw the higher ups at World Café Live who were pretty satisfied with Sunday’s show. I begged to have the staircase back. We kicked the show off with Steven Allen. Followed by Adrian Silva, the first artist I’ve met that won while I was away. He did an electro pop set that reminded me a little of 3OH!3. I fear my tastes aren’t as eclectic as others. The Rainy Day fools played next followed by Aphillyation. After it was all said and done Aphillyation were our standouts for March. They’ve been working very hard since their inception so it’s pretty cool they finally were able to win a standout.
I left as soon as possible tohead down to Lickety Split. As I arrived I heard the horror story that involved 2mas. Apparently he brought a CD that wouldn’t read, so they had to dig a DVD Player out, but the remote was missing so he had to wait for his beats (which he always leaves a lot of extra time on) to finish before he could go to the next song. Safe to say it was a pure hell gig for him. I apologized and will rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Soon as the show wrapped up I got to hang out with Dani Mari for a little bit and then I went back to the crib. Big meeting tomorrow so I need to get some rest.
In a rare moment of stupidity I double booked myself today. I have the monthly competition for Philly Rising today and at the same time I have a show at Lickety Split. I spent most of my morning tryin to lock down the details for my upstairs show at World Café Live next Thursday Night.
I lined up some more Lickety Split shows and hopefully by tomorrow’s end I’ll be booked through the end of July and can start working on August. Once you get a whole season booked and know what works you can kind of put people on a rotation you have to make sure you are keeping it fresh of course, but the more often you can put people in that you know that will do well it makes things a bit easier. The shows so far look really good.
At 5 I left the house on my way to World Café Live. Tonight we were doin the March winners. I saw the higher ups at World Café Live who were pretty satisfied with Sunday’s show. I begged to have the staircase back. We kicked the show off with Steven Allen. Followed by Adrian Silva, the first artist I’ve met that won while I was away. He did an electro pop set that reminded me a little of 3OH!3. I fear my tastes aren’t as eclectic as others. The Rainy Day fools played next followed by Aphillyation. After it was all said and done Aphillyation were our standouts for March. They’ve been working very hard since their inception so it’s pretty cool they finally were able to win a standout.
I left as soon as possible tohead down to Lickety Split. As I arrived I heard the horror story that involved 2mas. Apparently he brought a CD that wouldn’t read, so they had to dig a DVD Player out, but the remote was missing so he had to wait for his beats (which he always leaves a lot of extra time on) to finish before he could go to the next song. Safe to say it was a pure hell gig for him. I apologized and will rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Soon as the show wrapped up I got to hang out with Dani Mari for a little bit and then I went back to the crib. Big meeting tomorrow so I need to get some rest.
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 77
Day 76 - May 26th 2009
Morning was slow today. Mostly doing my booking stuff and sending out reminders for the open mic monthly competition mostly.
My day picked up when I traveled to the Northeast to meet with Phil Valentino, my former manager and current…I dunno what he is anymore actually. He’s a very good lawyer who has some connections in the music business. I’m sure he’ll definitely be involved from here on out, especially in the vein of reading over contracts and possibly negotiating certain deals but I’ll probably need to find a manager that can push this thing forward in a different way. Starting my own record label may be back on the table. It’s something he and I discussed we’ll see what happens moving forward. But now I know that there’s a certain piece of the puzzle I need. He seemed to be impressed by all I’ve done since he sort of dropped out of the picture a few years ago.
I moved on to Center City to meet with Becca and Alyssa. Becca’s and old friend of mine and she and her friend are interested in guitar lessons. We start next week. That’s more money I have comin in…Sweet. I’ve always been teaching one way or another since I was 14. All your really doing is facilitating learning. I’m sure there are things that I will learn from them as well that will allow me to teach them better. Sharing music with people is probably the coolest thing you can do if you know how to play. It’s like watching someone unlock music’s great mysteries and realizing that they’re favorite song isn’t so hard to play after all.
I stopped by the Tritone to say hey to the Absolute Zeros before I came home and went to bed. Have another meeting in the next few days, we’ll see what happens.
Morning was slow today. Mostly doing my booking stuff and sending out reminders for the open mic monthly competition mostly.
My day picked up when I traveled to the Northeast to meet with Phil Valentino, my former manager and current…I dunno what he is anymore actually. He’s a very good lawyer who has some connections in the music business. I’m sure he’ll definitely be involved from here on out, especially in the vein of reading over contracts and possibly negotiating certain deals but I’ll probably need to find a manager that can push this thing forward in a different way. Starting my own record label may be back on the table. It’s something he and I discussed we’ll see what happens moving forward. But now I know that there’s a certain piece of the puzzle I need. He seemed to be impressed by all I’ve done since he sort of dropped out of the picture a few years ago.
I moved on to Center City to meet with Becca and Alyssa. Becca’s and old friend of mine and she and her friend are interested in guitar lessons. We start next week. That’s more money I have comin in…Sweet. I’ve always been teaching one way or another since I was 14. All your really doing is facilitating learning. I’m sure there are things that I will learn from them as well that will allow me to teach them better. Sharing music with people is probably the coolest thing you can do if you know how to play. It’s like watching someone unlock music’s great mysteries and realizing that they’re favorite song isn’t so hard to play after all.
I stopped by the Tritone to say hey to the Absolute Zeros before I came home and went to bed. Have another meeting in the next few days, we’ll see what happens.
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 76
Day 75 - May 25th 2009
Not a whole lot going on today. Just some Barbequing and hanging with my friends along with basking in the glow of last night‘s show (which was a roaring success) and looking towards the future.
Since today is Memorial Day I’ve decided that this is as good a day as any to wrap up this entire touring experience with Bang Camaro. I’ll spare you a narrative because you can read a day by day account of it here on the blog and those of you who have been following me know the story. I’ll just try to stick to what I learned and what not.
It wasn’t too long ago I was a guy that worked 9-5. I had an ok but dead end job, I was hitting the ceiling on my salary and looking for something different to do. Music was my first priority but whenever someone asked me what I did and I answered “I’m a musician” they would ask what do you really do. I had gotten to the point where I was pretty prominent in Philly as an original music artist and expanding into New York and DC. But there are mountains that have to be climbed.
One Craig list Ad changed my life and all of a sudden I found myself being offered a position to tour with Bang Camaro as a vocalist. Be in a rock and roll band, Tour the country, be on TV, a no-brainer right? It wasn’t that easy a decision to make. There was the anxiety of never being away from home, not knowing these guys I was gonna tour with, and the fact that I had to sacrifice quite a bit to do this. The job, my band, the booking agency, I had worked very hard to get the last two to a decent place. I was looking over the edge of a cliff and decided to jump off.
Here I was on stages all around the country, gaining experience, making new friends and contacts. I truly became a part of a brotherhood and like the mafia you can’t get out of Bang Camaro. I did lose some things upon my return home but I gained so much in return. A renewed confidence being the greatest thing of all. I came back knowing that I had what it took to really do this for a living. Now to what I learned.
The most important thing to me was taking care of my body as best as possible. Performing Night in and Night out can really take it’s toll. I learned very early on that I didn’t have the stamina to play a show and then party every night. So in order to last I personally needed to find a bed (or my air mattress) as soon as humanly possible after a gig. I also did my best to eat right, if I could get to a wal-mart and buy some soup or get to a Subway (although I don’t think I could ever eat there again) and get a healthyish sandwich I did that. Basically get as many veggies in your body as possible whenever possible. I quickly learned that I sweat like a slave on stage so for me that meant bringing a towel and dry clothes (including socks and drawers) to change into every night, the worst thing that can happen is you getting sick.
Secondly it became important that I take care of my mind/spirit as much as possible. The tour was pretty overwhelming especially at first. I felt bad wanting to get separation from the guys the first few weeks, but I’m the type that needs a certain amount of solitude so it’s important that I get that just to hold onto my sanity. So whenever we got to a city and finished load in/soundcheck I’d walk in a straight line as far away as was feasible just to get that breather, call home, soak in the scenery.
Third was the pursuit of free. There’s free shit everywhere, it’s free because they want you to have it. Find out where the free is located and make sure you make it there before it runs out.
Number four, it was imperative that I stayed focused and didn‘t lose myself. The road can truly be an amazing experience and it definitely made me a stronger person. But there’s so much stuff out here that has nothing to do with making or performing music and you can get so caught up in it that you can look in the mirror one day and not recognize who you are. There’s no one there who knows you that can check you when you step out of line. I tried to write tunes while I was out and even the action of doing that kept that creative part of me flowing. If I could find a place to play my own tunes, I did that. It helped a lot, not just from a promotional standpoint, it helped anchor me.
Finally I had to learn to lean on my bandmates. If I was goin through anything I knew I could come to someone and talk to them about it, they’ve done this dance before and some insight on how they handled it. I was able to try a lot of things before I figured out the best way to handle it on my own. They were excellent to make sure I didn’t spend to much time withdrawing into myself. I can watch a laptop flick or listen to my ipod for a 16 hour car ride. Sometimes they had to go “Take your ipod off and talk to us” I’m glad they did. I would have missed so much had I not done that.
So that’s basically how I survived two months on the road with Bang Camaro. How I get through the rest of this thing called life. Now that’s the mystery.
Not a whole lot going on today. Just some Barbequing and hanging with my friends along with basking in the glow of last night‘s show (which was a roaring success) and looking towards the future.
Since today is Memorial Day I’ve decided that this is as good a day as any to wrap up this entire touring experience with Bang Camaro. I’ll spare you a narrative because you can read a day by day account of it here on the blog and those of you who have been following me know the story. I’ll just try to stick to what I learned and what not.
It wasn’t too long ago I was a guy that worked 9-5. I had an ok but dead end job, I was hitting the ceiling on my salary and looking for something different to do. Music was my first priority but whenever someone asked me what I did and I answered “I’m a musician” they would ask what do you really do. I had gotten to the point where I was pretty prominent in Philly as an original music artist and expanding into New York and DC. But there are mountains that have to be climbed.
One Craig list Ad changed my life and all of a sudden I found myself being offered a position to tour with Bang Camaro as a vocalist. Be in a rock and roll band, Tour the country, be on TV, a no-brainer right? It wasn’t that easy a decision to make. There was the anxiety of never being away from home, not knowing these guys I was gonna tour with, and the fact that I had to sacrifice quite a bit to do this. The job, my band, the booking agency, I had worked very hard to get the last two to a decent place. I was looking over the edge of a cliff and decided to jump off.
Here I was on stages all around the country, gaining experience, making new friends and contacts. I truly became a part of a brotherhood and like the mafia you can’t get out of Bang Camaro. I did lose some things upon my return home but I gained so much in return. A renewed confidence being the greatest thing of all. I came back knowing that I had what it took to really do this for a living. Now to what I learned.
The most important thing to me was taking care of my body as best as possible. Performing Night in and Night out can really take it’s toll. I learned very early on that I didn’t have the stamina to play a show and then party every night. So in order to last I personally needed to find a bed (or my air mattress) as soon as humanly possible after a gig. I also did my best to eat right, if I could get to a wal-mart and buy some soup or get to a Subway (although I don’t think I could ever eat there again) and get a healthyish sandwich I did that. Basically get as many veggies in your body as possible whenever possible. I quickly learned that I sweat like a slave on stage so for me that meant bringing a towel and dry clothes (including socks and drawers) to change into every night, the worst thing that can happen is you getting sick.
Secondly it became important that I take care of my mind/spirit as much as possible. The tour was pretty overwhelming especially at first. I felt bad wanting to get separation from the guys the first few weeks, but I’m the type that needs a certain amount of solitude so it’s important that I get that just to hold onto my sanity. So whenever we got to a city and finished load in/soundcheck I’d walk in a straight line as far away as was feasible just to get that breather, call home, soak in the scenery.
Third was the pursuit of free. There’s free shit everywhere, it’s free because they want you to have it. Find out where the free is located and make sure you make it there before it runs out.
Number four, it was imperative that I stayed focused and didn‘t lose myself. The road can truly be an amazing experience and it definitely made me a stronger person. But there’s so much stuff out here that has nothing to do with making or performing music and you can get so caught up in it that you can look in the mirror one day and not recognize who you are. There’s no one there who knows you that can check you when you step out of line. I tried to write tunes while I was out and even the action of doing that kept that creative part of me flowing. If I could find a place to play my own tunes, I did that. It helped a lot, not just from a promotional standpoint, it helped anchor me.
Finally I had to learn to lean on my bandmates. If I was goin through anything I knew I could come to someone and talk to them about it, they’ve done this dance before and some insight on how they handled it. I was able to try a lot of things before I figured out the best way to handle it on my own. They were excellent to make sure I didn’t spend to much time withdrawing into myself. I can watch a laptop flick or listen to my ipod for a 16 hour car ride. Sometimes they had to go “Take your ipod off and talk to us” I’m glad they did. I would have missed so much had I not done that.
So that’s basically how I survived two months on the road with Bang Camaro. How I get through the rest of this thing called life. Now that’s the mystery.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 75
Day 74 - May 24th 2009
Big, big, big, day.
I’ve performed all over the country and even on national television at this point and I still wasn’t anywhere near as nervous then than I am about tonight. Tonight would be the first night I would perform full on as Boy Wonder since I joined Bang Camaro on tour in early March. If that weren’t nerve racking enough I had to manage the entire show, meaning myself and nine other acts. The concept is we have 5 bands and in between them we have 5 acoustic artists (generally rocking a piano or guitar solo or with minimal accompaniment) to fill the dead air as opposed to house music or nothing.
I have to make sure they get on and off on time and make sure they all get paid at nights end. The odds are against me tonight in terms of draw, it’s a Sunday on Memorial Day Weekend and a great deal of the people in Philadelphia head down to the jersey Shore that weekend. But first things first.
Today was also the Pastor’s Anniversary at church. 43 years in the pulpit, I haven’t even been alive that long. After seeing what my Dad goes through being an associate minister there on an almost daily basis I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to be in charge of an entire congregation, and to put up with those fools for that long, there’s gotta be a God.
There was only one service scheduled for the day (instead of the two that we usually have) the place was packed. Even Mayor Michael Nutter, one of our churches more prominent members (We have a state and U.S. Representative among others) showed up to honor Pastor Campbell (who lent the Mayor his support when he was running a year or two ago) he doesn’t drop in too often these days so it’s always good to see him. Once the service was over we moved to the Fellowship Hall where they hosted a big meal. Food was alright. The church has about 2000 members so there are still people who are seeing me for the first time since I left. I answered the same questions I’ve been answering for the past few weeks and when I looked up it was 1:30 I had to get back home to start packing up for tonight’s show.
Soundcheck was scheduled for 3 at World Café Live. When I got there nothing was set up. Apparently there were some lighting issues that had yet to be repaired. Caitlin got her sound check and I got horns and vocals checked. As Brianne O’neill (who was kicking things off) was getting ready to check one of the lights started to smoke…this is bad. As one of the stage hands leapt to prevent the curtain from catching fire he tripped up her keyboard player’s keyboard and it went crashing to the stage…that’s even worse. His keyboard is out of commission not to mention her guitarist was in the hospital. Doors opened at 6.
At 6:30 I come out and introduce her. She opens solo (smart move considering) and brings her backing band Flux Capacitor out. She played very well. Katherine Mundy (who had to step in for the Infadolls) was brilliant as always, she seemed disappointed in the way it went. I thought she was amazing. She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in a year’s time. Bojibian would hit the stage next. I’ve been watching them quite frequently since they formed and they’ve improved leaps and bounds since I left.
The Soul Stretch of the show would start with Leah Smith, who is so incredible 20 minutes never seems like enough. She would be followed by Soulfatronic, a truly nasty band they brought the energy up to a crescendo. I would play with my sister Nichole Lynn before I ran to get ready to play. When she was done it was time. I brought out my crew and I greeted the crowd. I didn’t notice how packed the room was until that very moment. There are a few hundred people in the room and they are all staring at me. I take a leap in the air and land on a power chord….it’s on.
My band (3 horns, bass, drums 2 backup singers and me on vox and guitar) is air tight and I begin to loosen up playing with the crowd as I take off my jacket. By the time we got to the really funky part of the set I was burning up. I took off my dress shirt to reveal the Bang Camaro shirt I had on underneath. Someone heckled me, then I take off the Bang Camaro shirt to reveal the Boy Wonder Shirt (the one I wore on Kimmel) underneath to a raucous applause. It was a sign of solidarity between my audience and myself. To see them all again was this incredibly overwhelming feeling. I didn’t have to be the guy who went on tour and was on TV. Being me was enough. Maybe being me is enough.
The Absolute Zeros and Benjamin Visch from Soulfatronic joined me for Hangover…money in the bank.
As I exited the stage I was followed by Genevieve (an amazing artist from LA), Caitlin Potter (who killed it incorporating the lights with her great sound and hot legs) , Lloyd Alexander, and my friends The Absolute Zeros who I sang with for their last song. To be honest it was a blur after I was done. Shaking hands, kissing babies, thanking people and counting money. After seeing the numbers, the folks at World Café Live were impressed especially since it was the Sunday before Memorial Day.
The gig was over so I went home and went to bed with a triumphant feeling. Memorial Day is tomorrow so I’ll get a chance to kick it with my buds.
Big, big, big, day.
I’ve performed all over the country and even on national television at this point and I still wasn’t anywhere near as nervous then than I am about tonight. Tonight would be the first night I would perform full on as Boy Wonder since I joined Bang Camaro on tour in early March. If that weren’t nerve racking enough I had to manage the entire show, meaning myself and nine other acts. The concept is we have 5 bands and in between them we have 5 acoustic artists (generally rocking a piano or guitar solo or with minimal accompaniment) to fill the dead air as opposed to house music or nothing.
I have to make sure they get on and off on time and make sure they all get paid at nights end. The odds are against me tonight in terms of draw, it’s a Sunday on Memorial Day Weekend and a great deal of the people in Philadelphia head down to the jersey Shore that weekend. But first things first.
Today was also the Pastor’s Anniversary at church. 43 years in the pulpit, I haven’t even been alive that long. After seeing what my Dad goes through being an associate minister there on an almost daily basis I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to be in charge of an entire congregation, and to put up with those fools for that long, there’s gotta be a God.
There was only one service scheduled for the day (instead of the two that we usually have) the place was packed. Even Mayor Michael Nutter, one of our churches more prominent members (We have a state and U.S. Representative among others) showed up to honor Pastor Campbell (who lent the Mayor his support when he was running a year or two ago) he doesn’t drop in too often these days so it’s always good to see him. Once the service was over we moved to the Fellowship Hall where they hosted a big meal. Food was alright. The church has about 2000 members so there are still people who are seeing me for the first time since I left. I answered the same questions I’ve been answering for the past few weeks and when I looked up it was 1:30 I had to get back home to start packing up for tonight’s show.
Soundcheck was scheduled for 3 at World Café Live. When I got there nothing was set up. Apparently there were some lighting issues that had yet to be repaired. Caitlin got her sound check and I got horns and vocals checked. As Brianne O’neill (who was kicking things off) was getting ready to check one of the lights started to smoke…this is bad. As one of the stage hands leapt to prevent the curtain from catching fire he tripped up her keyboard player’s keyboard and it went crashing to the stage…that’s even worse. His keyboard is out of commission not to mention her guitarist was in the hospital. Doors opened at 6.
At 6:30 I come out and introduce her. She opens solo (smart move considering) and brings her backing band Flux Capacitor out. She played very well. Katherine Mundy (who had to step in for the Infadolls) was brilliant as always, she seemed disappointed in the way it went. I thought she was amazing. She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in a year’s time. Bojibian would hit the stage next. I’ve been watching them quite frequently since they formed and they’ve improved leaps and bounds since I left.
The Soul Stretch of the show would start with Leah Smith, who is so incredible 20 minutes never seems like enough. She would be followed by Soulfatronic, a truly nasty band they brought the energy up to a crescendo. I would play with my sister Nichole Lynn before I ran to get ready to play. When she was done it was time. I brought out my crew and I greeted the crowd. I didn’t notice how packed the room was until that very moment. There are a few hundred people in the room and they are all staring at me. I take a leap in the air and land on a power chord….it’s on.
My band (3 horns, bass, drums 2 backup singers and me on vox and guitar) is air tight and I begin to loosen up playing with the crowd as I take off my jacket. By the time we got to the really funky part of the set I was burning up. I took off my dress shirt to reveal the Bang Camaro shirt I had on underneath. Someone heckled me, then I take off the Bang Camaro shirt to reveal the Boy Wonder Shirt (the one I wore on Kimmel) underneath to a raucous applause. It was a sign of solidarity between my audience and myself. To see them all again was this incredibly overwhelming feeling. I didn’t have to be the guy who went on tour and was on TV. Being me was enough. Maybe being me is enough.
The Absolute Zeros and Benjamin Visch from Soulfatronic joined me for Hangover…money in the bank.
As I exited the stage I was followed by Genevieve (an amazing artist from LA), Caitlin Potter (who killed it incorporating the lights with her great sound and hot legs) , Lloyd Alexander, and my friends The Absolute Zeros who I sang with for their last song. To be honest it was a blur after I was done. Shaking hands, kissing babies, thanking people and counting money. After seeing the numbers, the folks at World Café Live were impressed especially since it was the Sunday before Memorial Day.
The gig was over so I went home and went to bed with a triumphant feeling. Memorial Day is tomorrow so I’ll get a chance to kick it with my buds.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 74
Day 73 - May 23rd 2009
I woke up pretty early today. My bro-in-law had to go to the ER for a rash he had. I attempted to watch cartoons but their inherent lameness made me fall asleep several times. When I woke up there were some rugs that needed washing and some laundry that needed to go to the dry cleaners. Once I did that I considered going out.
I got a call from Eric Darden and old friend from church, his fiancé was coming to pick up a couple of tickets so I stuck around the house. Those two tickets turned into four which is always a good thing. Hopefully I’ll get rid of most of them tomorrow before I turn the money in. It was still hot outside so I went upstairs to take a second nap. When I woke up I watched the rest of Point Break with Dad and when I went outside it had gotten cooler so I decided to hit Rittenhouse Square to work on some tuneage. While en route I made sure Caitlin gets her sound check tomorrow.
When I got there I had a really good idea. I had a convo with a friend of mine. He told me about how he suspected that his girlfriend of like 5 years was cheating. Fertile ground for a catchy pop song. I’ve also been really thinking a lot about true love and all it‘s aspects. Love is such a battlefield and it’s hard work no matter who it is. It’s a subject I’d really like to intentionally explore with the next batch of songs. I’d also like to brush up on my chord theory to open some more doors musically. I’d been working pretty hard on it when I got a call from Barbara, we were going to meet up to hang out.
Barb is a cool chick I met a few years back. I was looking for musicians that could serve as backup for the guys I had at the time. I ended up with an all female crew, we even formed a second band (The FBI). Barb and I were fast friends. She’s a straight from the shoulder kinda gal, I like that. We met for coffee and took it back to the park. We sat on a bench and talked for hours while I played my guitar. She’s one of those people I know I need to be around more but for some reason it just doesn’t happen. I can’t think of a better person to spend a lazy day with. One of the few people that can get me to shut up and listen, she gave me some advice which I always heed.
As we were hanging some homeless looking, toothless guy came over and wanted to talk guitars and music. He had a band that was better than Kevin Eubanks’ band, he was blowing everybody away. He came over twice and didn’t really wanna leave us alone. He expressed his disgust with Sting and Eric Clapton for leaving The Police and Cream to pursue other projects. "You never leave your band" he says to me. I was going to express my disagreement but you don't debate with a crazy person. It was when he wanted to show us pics of his glory days Barbara suggested we should go. The park is filled with crazies unfortunately. I walked her to the subway and I met mom dukes who was coming over the bridge, hopped in the car and went home.
Hopped up on the caffeine I sucked down with Barbara I stayed up and watched the History Channel before I went to bed.
Huge day tomorrow, hope people show up…lol
I woke up pretty early today. My bro-in-law had to go to the ER for a rash he had. I attempted to watch cartoons but their inherent lameness made me fall asleep several times. When I woke up there were some rugs that needed washing and some laundry that needed to go to the dry cleaners. Once I did that I considered going out.
I got a call from Eric Darden and old friend from church, his fiancé was coming to pick up a couple of tickets so I stuck around the house. Those two tickets turned into four which is always a good thing. Hopefully I’ll get rid of most of them tomorrow before I turn the money in. It was still hot outside so I went upstairs to take a second nap. When I woke up I watched the rest of Point Break with Dad and when I went outside it had gotten cooler so I decided to hit Rittenhouse Square to work on some tuneage. While en route I made sure Caitlin gets her sound check tomorrow.
When I got there I had a really good idea. I had a convo with a friend of mine. He told me about how he suspected that his girlfriend of like 5 years was cheating. Fertile ground for a catchy pop song. I’ve also been really thinking a lot about true love and all it‘s aspects. Love is such a battlefield and it’s hard work no matter who it is. It’s a subject I’d really like to intentionally explore with the next batch of songs. I’d also like to brush up on my chord theory to open some more doors musically. I’d been working pretty hard on it when I got a call from Barbara, we were going to meet up to hang out.
Barb is a cool chick I met a few years back. I was looking for musicians that could serve as backup for the guys I had at the time. I ended up with an all female crew, we even formed a second band (The FBI). Barb and I were fast friends. She’s a straight from the shoulder kinda gal, I like that. We met for coffee and took it back to the park. We sat on a bench and talked for hours while I played my guitar. She’s one of those people I know I need to be around more but for some reason it just doesn’t happen. I can’t think of a better person to spend a lazy day with. One of the few people that can get me to shut up and listen, she gave me some advice which I always heed.
As we were hanging some homeless looking, toothless guy came over and wanted to talk guitars and music. He had a band that was better than Kevin Eubanks’ band, he was blowing everybody away. He came over twice and didn’t really wanna leave us alone. He expressed his disgust with Sting and Eric Clapton for leaving The Police and Cream to pursue other projects. "You never leave your band" he says to me. I was going to express my disagreement but you don't debate with a crazy person. It was when he wanted to show us pics of his glory days Barbara suggested we should go. The park is filled with crazies unfortunately. I walked her to the subway and I met mom dukes who was coming over the bridge, hopped in the car and went home.
Hopped up on the caffeine I sucked down with Barbara I stayed up and watched the History Channel before I went to bed.
Huge day tomorrow, hope people show up…lol
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 73
Day 72 - May 22nd 2009
Today would be a day dominated mostly by laundry. There was laundry unfinished from last weekend and both hampers filled from clothes from this week. So instead of going back to sleep like I usually do after I watch Morning Joe I just went ahead and got a bunch of stuff done. While I was doing laundry I was able to add Katie Haire from the Tritone and The Sobriquets to a couple of bills for Lickety Split. Both awesome acts. As I inched to the afternoon I would be hit with three very significant pieces of information that would effect the future.
The first was a call from one of the artists playing the show on Sunday telling me they were going to be unable to make it. The reasons are understandable but it’s still a minor inconvenience and now I have to scramble to find an act to replace the one that left, my only other option would be to switch everything up and we’re too late in the game for that. I would have to call around and find an acoustic performer that would be up to the level of everyone else and that can maybe bring some people. Two days is not nearly enough time to promote.
The second was an email from the Bang Camaro camp. There’s going to be another tour starting in October running through most of November. Ever since I got home I’ve wondered if I’d get another call and how involved I could be if I did. I’d like to be involved as much as I can but October is a long way away, who knows what’s going to happen between now and then. Hopefully some things will open up that will allow me to give them a decent stretch.
The third was a call from my sister. Her songwriting partner at EMI has some other industry interests that may involve me. Not quite sure what that could mean he wants to have a meeting this Thursday. This along with a pending meeting with my former manager Phil my future as an artist may be a little less murky than it was before I left provided these guys aren’t all talk.
I discussed this over the phone with my Dad and he described it as walking the line between Boy Wonder and Bang Camaro, that those things and people I left behind in March to tour the country may not be there if I leave again. For me there is no line, if ever forced to choose I know what choice I would make. With the support that the Bang Camaro brethren have given me I’ll never be forced to make that choice, I’ve been blessed that I can (and want to) do both. I know Boy Wonder might not be much to the average person. At the moment it’s a local or regional thing at best, but I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and I think the music I’ve made has some legs. I believe in what I’m doing.
I took a break from all of the madness and went bowling with my best friends at North Bowl. We had a blast. While we were there I think we put the kibosh on the String Quartet for Sunday as no one is free to do it. After bowling was over, the crew did alcoholic milkshakes and I went home.
I shall relax tomorrow for I have a big day Sunday.
Today would be a day dominated mostly by laundry. There was laundry unfinished from last weekend and both hampers filled from clothes from this week. So instead of going back to sleep like I usually do after I watch Morning Joe I just went ahead and got a bunch of stuff done. While I was doing laundry I was able to add Katie Haire from the Tritone and The Sobriquets to a couple of bills for Lickety Split. Both awesome acts. As I inched to the afternoon I would be hit with three very significant pieces of information that would effect the future.
The first was a call from one of the artists playing the show on Sunday telling me they were going to be unable to make it. The reasons are understandable but it’s still a minor inconvenience and now I have to scramble to find an act to replace the one that left, my only other option would be to switch everything up and we’re too late in the game for that. I would have to call around and find an acoustic performer that would be up to the level of everyone else and that can maybe bring some people. Two days is not nearly enough time to promote.
The second was an email from the Bang Camaro camp. There’s going to be another tour starting in October running through most of November. Ever since I got home I’ve wondered if I’d get another call and how involved I could be if I did. I’d like to be involved as much as I can but October is a long way away, who knows what’s going to happen between now and then. Hopefully some things will open up that will allow me to give them a decent stretch.
The third was a call from my sister. Her songwriting partner at EMI has some other industry interests that may involve me. Not quite sure what that could mean he wants to have a meeting this Thursday. This along with a pending meeting with my former manager Phil my future as an artist may be a little less murky than it was before I left provided these guys aren’t all talk.
I discussed this over the phone with my Dad and he described it as walking the line between Boy Wonder and Bang Camaro, that those things and people I left behind in March to tour the country may not be there if I leave again. For me there is no line, if ever forced to choose I know what choice I would make. With the support that the Bang Camaro brethren have given me I’ll never be forced to make that choice, I’ve been blessed that I can (and want to) do both. I know Boy Wonder might not be much to the average person. At the moment it’s a local or regional thing at best, but I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and I think the music I’ve made has some legs. I believe in what I’m doing.
I took a break from all of the madness and went bowling with my best friends at North Bowl. We had a blast. While we were there I think we put the kibosh on the String Quartet for Sunday as no one is free to do it. After bowling was over, the crew did alcoholic milkshakes and I went home.
I shall relax tomorrow for I have a big day Sunday.
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 72
Day 71 - May 21st 2009
After a quick run (I gotta find something else to do my knees are starting to hurt) My daylight was dominated by trying to find a string quartet for Sundays show. No luck so far and with it being memorial day weekend I may be S.O.L.I have a few numbers that I can call but It’s not looking good. I feel really good about Tuesday’s rehearsal so it might not make a whole lot of sense to try and cram the quartet in there this time. If you can’t do it right don’t do it at all.
My afternoon would be spent writing. I promised a new song and wanted to have another option in case I wasn’t feeling Get Me To California. I came up with some stuff I’m really excited about. Generally if I come up with something I let it swim in my head for a few days, fleshing ideas out. If it’s good after a few days I’ll start work on the song. So we’ll see where it goes.
Most of my evening was spent trying to close out June for the HYPE! Shows I’ve got two more acts to book on June 24th and June will be done.
My dad got home around 7 so we went to Best Buy to take my ipod in for repairs. It broke about a week ago and I’ve been wanting to run it up there ever since. It took forever and I had to fill out some forms but at the end they told me they’d let me know when it was ready.
When I got back home I went down to South Street Sounds to rehearse with The Absolute Zeros along with Caitlin Potter and Brianne O’neill. We are to sing backgrounds on Red Bone Mama. Just a call and response thing. I’m always a little gun-shy about background vocals especially when someone tells me to “be free” I’d rather people tell me what they want so I can just do that. After a few times through I had a better idea of what they wanted. Once Caitlin got there we played with some harmonies which I thought sounded a lot better than us singing in unison.
I have to admit I like what’s going on here, it had to be the right bands and at the right time but on Sunday, if all goes according to plan you will see many of the artists/bands collaborate with each other all night long. We’re very close to creating a strong community. I’m very excited about it.
Once we were done I got home and hit the sack. Just a few short days until the show. Very excited.
After a quick run (I gotta find something else to do my knees are starting to hurt) My daylight was dominated by trying to find a string quartet for Sundays show. No luck so far and with it being memorial day weekend I may be S.O.L.I have a few numbers that I can call but It’s not looking good. I feel really good about Tuesday’s rehearsal so it might not make a whole lot of sense to try and cram the quartet in there this time. If you can’t do it right don’t do it at all.
My afternoon would be spent writing. I promised a new song and wanted to have another option in case I wasn’t feeling Get Me To California. I came up with some stuff I’m really excited about. Generally if I come up with something I let it swim in my head for a few days, fleshing ideas out. If it’s good after a few days I’ll start work on the song. So we’ll see where it goes.
Most of my evening was spent trying to close out June for the HYPE! Shows I’ve got two more acts to book on June 24th and June will be done.
My dad got home around 7 so we went to Best Buy to take my ipod in for repairs. It broke about a week ago and I’ve been wanting to run it up there ever since. It took forever and I had to fill out some forms but at the end they told me they’d let me know when it was ready.
When I got back home I went down to South Street Sounds to rehearse with The Absolute Zeros along with Caitlin Potter and Brianne O’neill. We are to sing backgrounds on Red Bone Mama. Just a call and response thing. I’m always a little gun-shy about background vocals especially when someone tells me to “be free” I’d rather people tell me what they want so I can just do that. After a few times through I had a better idea of what they wanted. Once Caitlin got there we played with some harmonies which I thought sounded a lot better than us singing in unison.
I have to admit I like what’s going on here, it had to be the right bands and at the right time but on Sunday, if all goes according to plan you will see many of the artists/bands collaborate with each other all night long. We’re very close to creating a strong community. I’m very excited about it.
Once we were done I got home and hit the sack. Just a few short days until the show. Very excited.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Boy Wonder: Prfessional Musician 71
Day 70 - May 20th 2009
No Lickety Split tonight. With no Philly Rising on Monday I have a rare full week off. The weather is warm so I decide to do something that I haven’t done in ages, Got To Rittenhouse Square.
Rittenhouse is a small park in the Center City section of Philadelphia. It’s close proximity to the arts schools downtown and the ritzy apartments that surround it make it an ideal place for people watching. Everyone comes through and either sits or walks on by. It’s probably the best place outside of a beach ot look at hot girls. It used to be a place where I could really develop song ideas but it’s been harder and harder recently to do that. I always see a lot of my friends there and today was no different.
I ran into B Dell a guy who did a lot of promo for me back in the day. Changing cell phone numbers put us out of touch. We caught up, he asked about the tour, and we talked about anything under the sun. Hours passed and we ran to Cosi to get some food and went back to the park.
I did get to play a little and came up with a pretty sweet riff. I need to find a new place where I can write. People always want you to play their favorite songs and you end up not doing much creatively.
Came home and wrapped up some Lickety Split stuff and hit the bed. Have rehearsal with the Zeros, Caitlin, and Brianne Tomorrow so I better get some shut eye.
No Lickety Split tonight. With no Philly Rising on Monday I have a rare full week off. The weather is warm so I decide to do something that I haven’t done in ages, Got To Rittenhouse Square.
Rittenhouse is a small park in the Center City section of Philadelphia. It’s close proximity to the arts schools downtown and the ritzy apartments that surround it make it an ideal place for people watching. Everyone comes through and either sits or walks on by. It’s probably the best place outside of a beach ot look at hot girls. It used to be a place where I could really develop song ideas but it’s been harder and harder recently to do that. I always see a lot of my friends there and today was no different.
I ran into B Dell a guy who did a lot of promo for me back in the day. Changing cell phone numbers put us out of touch. We caught up, he asked about the tour, and we talked about anything under the sun. Hours passed and we ran to Cosi to get some food and went back to the park.
I did get to play a little and came up with a pretty sweet riff. I need to find a new place where I can write. People always want you to play their favorite songs and you end up not doing much creatively.
Came home and wrapped up some Lickety Split stuff and hit the bed. Have rehearsal with the Zeros, Caitlin, and Brianne Tomorrow so I better get some shut eye.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 70
Day 69 - May 19th 2009
I’m pretty restless. Luckily I have plenty to do today. I’ve got the final rehearsal with the band and will be hanging at the Tritone Open Mic along with some other promo.
Around 4 PM the crew shows up and we dig into the set. The horns and background vocals are stunning for the most part but y ears always shift to Jake and Rob. I’m noticing now that these guys aren’t polite players. Whenever you listen to these guys you can tell that they really dig into whatever they’re playing. I’m really excited about the new set. With the possibility of some traveling on the horizon I want to put together a set list that can really encapsulate where I am at this moment in my development. I still like playing the songs from the previous records and they do a great job of replacing some of the songs on Superego that we had a difficult time making work live. We’ve tweaked some of the Superego stuff as well, I’m very excited about it.
After we were done I hitched a ride with Steve and we headed to Kelvin’s house to grab the equipment for their open mic. We crammed some stuff in the car and headed to the Tritone. I helped them briefly and headed over to Ron’s Ribs grabbed some food and came back.
The open mic got underway, I don’t often go to open mics these days. After you start hosting one it sort of loses it’s magic, sort of like once you find out how they do the special effects in movies. The tritone is one of the better ones in town.
I ran into a girl who I thought was amazingly talented (and quite adorable) as I approached her to talk to her about the possibility of booking shows she goes “I remember you, I gave you my number and you didn’t call me” Uh oh. For a minute I thought hat I had hit on her at some point and never called her (not my style) turns out I had seen her at my open mic some time ago and was interested in her music but for some reason never called her. I fixed that by booking her at Lickety split sometime in June
Tonight is good especially since the featured acts are Todash and Genevieve, two acts that I’ve worked with extensively. Todash is a sweet jam band that features former Sheep and Boy Wonder drummer (and Current Two handed Engine Drummer to boot) Tom Mlcoch. I was a big fan of The Sheep and it’s always great to catch up with Tom and Bucky who was also there.
Genevieve, well she’s another matter altogether. I normally hate the piano singer/songwriter girl but with her lush arrangements and rich sultry voice it’s tough not to fall in love with her. I saw a room full of dudes do it tonight. She’s playing my show on Sunday and I’ve gotten a lot of flack from people about the fact that more often than not most of the girls I book (especially for shows like this) are pretty hot, like I have some sort of bias. My response is always, if the HYPE! Is about presenting high quality entertainment and if I’m saying these are artists that could easily be signed to major labels or in the market place somehow they have to have the complete package. The complete package involves having a good look as well as a great sound. Ugly is relative anyway, I’ll book just about anyone provided they get the job done.
There were a whole string of comics one who raised an interesting question. Why didn’t Chris Brown hire R. Kelly’s PR people? R. Kelly urinated on a child they should have been able to clear all the Chris Brown stuff in 30 minutes.
After it was over there was some more music and we called it a night.
Tomorrow will be my first Wed in ieons with nothing to do. Wonder how I’ll spend it
My Buddy Genevieve
I’m pretty restless. Luckily I have plenty to do today. I’ve got the final rehearsal with the band and will be hanging at the Tritone Open Mic along with some other promo.
Around 4 PM the crew shows up and we dig into the set. The horns and background vocals are stunning for the most part but y ears always shift to Jake and Rob. I’m noticing now that these guys aren’t polite players. Whenever you listen to these guys you can tell that they really dig into whatever they’re playing. I’m really excited about the new set. With the possibility of some traveling on the horizon I want to put together a set list that can really encapsulate where I am at this moment in my development. I still like playing the songs from the previous records and they do a great job of replacing some of the songs on Superego that we had a difficult time making work live. We’ve tweaked some of the Superego stuff as well, I’m very excited about it.
After we were done I hitched a ride with Steve and we headed to Kelvin’s house to grab the equipment for their open mic. We crammed some stuff in the car and headed to the Tritone. I helped them briefly and headed over to Ron’s Ribs grabbed some food and came back.
The open mic got underway, I don’t often go to open mics these days. After you start hosting one it sort of loses it’s magic, sort of like once you find out how they do the special effects in movies. The tritone is one of the better ones in town.
I ran into a girl who I thought was amazingly talented (and quite adorable) as I approached her to talk to her about the possibility of booking shows she goes “I remember you, I gave you my number and you didn’t call me” Uh oh. For a minute I thought hat I had hit on her at some point and never called her (not my style) turns out I had seen her at my open mic some time ago and was interested in her music but for some reason never called her. I fixed that by booking her at Lickety split sometime in June
Tonight is good especially since the featured acts are Todash and Genevieve, two acts that I’ve worked with extensively. Todash is a sweet jam band that features former Sheep and Boy Wonder drummer (and Current Two handed Engine Drummer to boot) Tom Mlcoch. I was a big fan of The Sheep and it’s always great to catch up with Tom and Bucky who was also there.
Genevieve, well she’s another matter altogether. I normally hate the piano singer/songwriter girl but with her lush arrangements and rich sultry voice it’s tough not to fall in love with her. I saw a room full of dudes do it tonight. She’s playing my show on Sunday and I’ve gotten a lot of flack from people about the fact that more often than not most of the girls I book (especially for shows like this) are pretty hot, like I have some sort of bias. My response is always, if the HYPE! Is about presenting high quality entertainment and if I’m saying these are artists that could easily be signed to major labels or in the market place somehow they have to have the complete package. The complete package involves having a good look as well as a great sound. Ugly is relative anyway, I’ll book just about anyone provided they get the job done.
There were a whole string of comics one who raised an interesting question. Why didn’t Chris Brown hire R. Kelly’s PR people? R. Kelly urinated on a child they should have been able to clear all the Chris Brown stuff in 30 minutes.
After it was over there was some more music and we called it a night.
Tomorrow will be my first Wed in ieons with nothing to do. Wonder how I’ll spend it
My Buddy Genevieve
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 69
Day 68 - May 18th 2009
Last night was sick I have a lot of thank you’s to dole out to the Absolute Zeros a band from Philly that have become my best friends in the scene. I don’t hang out with many of the other bands in town outside the confines of the show, I’m too entrenched and know way too many people for me to be tight with all of them. But those guys are good guys and I’ve enjoyed everything that we’ve done together from the shows to collaborating on Hangover to the times we’ve gotten wasted together. These are guys I’d love to tear up the country with. They were able to get me my first show ever in New York a year or two ago and now they were able to get me on the radio. They said they DJ liked my stuff so I have to send him my package. This is a perfect example of two bands/acts in a local scene helping each other out as best as possible.
There’s no Philly Rising tonight so I get a chance to rest and see about getting to Jersey to rehearse vocals with my sisters who are doing backgrounds for me on Sunday. Jersey’s always tricky. I have to find a ride and find a way back home.
I worked on Get me to California a new song I’d written while out on the road. I never quite got the bridge part down so I’m tryin to lock that down now. I have some other new ideas as well. A lot of this stuff is really up close and personal so it’s hard to tell if the music is good or not. Just because one pulls material from their heart and soul doesn’t necessarily make it a good song, so I want to be careful and make sure that any new material released or played for the general public is better than anything I’ve ever put out. I’m def interested in goin back to the three piece sound that I do live on-stage with the next batch of recordings. I send out my confirmation text for rehearsal tomorrow and get responses from everyone. I think I’m back to being used to being a band leader again. There are certain things that need to happen to make it all work
I met up with the folks who dropped me off with my sister Nikki and my nephew Aydan and from there we picked up some Chinese food and went to my sister Lashon’s house in jersey.
I played with her daughters for a while before they went to bed. Once Nikki put Aydan to sleep we went over some stuff. Definitely better than it was last week. Although I do have some concerns I think we’ll be ok for Sunday’s show.
I watched some TV and went to bed I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me tomorrow.
Dear John by me and my sister Nichole Lynn one of the songs we wrote together
Boy Wonder and Nichole Lynn
Last night was sick I have a lot of thank you’s to dole out to the Absolute Zeros a band from Philly that have become my best friends in the scene. I don’t hang out with many of the other bands in town outside the confines of the show, I’m too entrenched and know way too many people for me to be tight with all of them. But those guys are good guys and I’ve enjoyed everything that we’ve done together from the shows to collaborating on Hangover to the times we’ve gotten wasted together. These are guys I’d love to tear up the country with. They were able to get me my first show ever in New York a year or two ago and now they were able to get me on the radio. They said they DJ liked my stuff so I have to send him my package. This is a perfect example of two bands/acts in a local scene helping each other out as best as possible.
There’s no Philly Rising tonight so I get a chance to rest and see about getting to Jersey to rehearse vocals with my sisters who are doing backgrounds for me on Sunday. Jersey’s always tricky. I have to find a ride and find a way back home.
I worked on Get me to California a new song I’d written while out on the road. I never quite got the bridge part down so I’m tryin to lock that down now. I have some other new ideas as well. A lot of this stuff is really up close and personal so it’s hard to tell if the music is good or not. Just because one pulls material from their heart and soul doesn’t necessarily make it a good song, so I want to be careful and make sure that any new material released or played for the general public is better than anything I’ve ever put out. I’m def interested in goin back to the three piece sound that I do live on-stage with the next batch of recordings. I send out my confirmation text for rehearsal tomorrow and get responses from everyone. I think I’m back to being used to being a band leader again. There are certain things that need to happen to make it all work
I met up with the folks who dropped me off with my sister Nikki and my nephew Aydan and from there we picked up some Chinese food and went to my sister Lashon’s house in jersey.
I played with her daughters for a while before they went to bed. Once Nikki put Aydan to sleep we went over some stuff. Definitely better than it was last week. Although I do have some concerns I think we’ll be ok for Sunday’s show.
I watched some TV and went to bed I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me tomorrow.
Dear John by me and my sister Nichole Lynn one of the songs we wrote together
Boy Wonder and Nichole Lynn
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 68
Day 67 - May 17th 2009
Sunday.
It’s the third Sunday in the month which means I have to play guitar in church for the Junior and Young People’s choir. Something I’ve done almost as long as I’ve been playing. There are only two constants whenever I play for them; I don’t know what songs the band and I are playing and I don’t know the chords, just the keys for me to improvise over. I realized how rusty I actually still am in terms of playing guitar. My fingers aren’t in flight like they would normally be. Making chords is a bit tough but I got through it. I’ll have three more shots in June to get back in line with the rest of the band. It’s a completely different mindset. Most of the time I’m wailing on guitar as loud as possible and church is where I learned to pull back and be more creative in terms of what I do with my guitar.
A quick meal with the family then off to take a nap. I’ve been napping like a four year old lately. When I woke up I got a text from Steve from The Absolute Zeros telling me that they were guest hosting Hometwon Heroes tonight and that they are gonna play Hangover on the radio at some point during the show. I was listening to them for a while as they played some of the best local music I’ve heard in a while then at 9:37 they start talking about this guy Boy Wonder. My ears perk up even more. They talk about me for a few minutes and then at 9:40 the intro to Hangover plays.
My dream is coming true as I imagine my music being beamed everywhere on the radio. A song based on one of many walks of shame is being aired for a bunch of listeners in the region. It’s truly an awesome feeling. Everything else that happens to me at this point on is icing on the cake. I’m officially in the still grindin but can’t complain part of my music career. I definitely want more but looking back I realize that in less than a month I’ve been on national television and one of my songs have been played on the radio. I’m sure that one of these days I’ll simply see radio as a tool to raise awareness and sell records but tonight I’m going to soak in the magic that this experience has brought me. It’s an amazing thing.
Since some of my dreams are coming true I’m headed to bed to come up with some new ones.
My buds The Absolute Zeros
My Favorite Commercial Ever
Sunday.
It’s the third Sunday in the month which means I have to play guitar in church for the Junior and Young People’s choir. Something I’ve done almost as long as I’ve been playing. There are only two constants whenever I play for them; I don’t know what songs the band and I are playing and I don’t know the chords, just the keys for me to improvise over. I realized how rusty I actually still am in terms of playing guitar. My fingers aren’t in flight like they would normally be. Making chords is a bit tough but I got through it. I’ll have three more shots in June to get back in line with the rest of the band. It’s a completely different mindset. Most of the time I’m wailing on guitar as loud as possible and church is where I learned to pull back and be more creative in terms of what I do with my guitar.
A quick meal with the family then off to take a nap. I’ve been napping like a four year old lately. When I woke up I got a text from Steve from The Absolute Zeros telling me that they were guest hosting Hometwon Heroes tonight and that they are gonna play Hangover on the radio at some point during the show. I was listening to them for a while as they played some of the best local music I’ve heard in a while then at 9:37 they start talking about this guy Boy Wonder. My ears perk up even more. They talk about me for a few minutes and then at 9:40 the intro to Hangover plays.
My dream is coming true as I imagine my music being beamed everywhere on the radio. A song based on one of many walks of shame is being aired for a bunch of listeners in the region. It’s truly an awesome feeling. Everything else that happens to me at this point on is icing on the cake. I’m officially in the still grindin but can’t complain part of my music career. I definitely want more but looking back I realize that in less than a month I’ve been on national television and one of my songs have been played on the radio. I’m sure that one of these days I’ll simply see radio as a tool to raise awareness and sell records but tonight I’m going to soak in the magic that this experience has brought me. It’s an amazing thing.
Since some of my dreams are coming true I’m headed to bed to come up with some new ones.
My buds The Absolute Zeros
My Favorite Commercial Ever
Boy Wonder: Profesional Musician 67
Day 66 - May 16th 2009
I wake up at 11 AM…I’m disoriented. When you’ve spent your previous night throwing back adult beverages that’ll usually be the case. I’m in a ritzy apartment with a big ass window. You can see Manhattan from here. Bryn’s sleeping on the couch and I get a txt from Morgan, we need to get to the hotel in Wehawken New Jersey so that we can pile in the van and get to the gig. Still drunk I do my best to get Bryn up and out of the apartment.
We hit the Manhattan Streets and start walking towards the Port Authority. Manhattan’s a lot quieter this time around. Not so many people pushing me and making me killing mad. Bryn and I grab some Pizza and realize we’re goin the wrong way to the part authority, so we turn around and head in the right direction. As I talk to Bryn about everything under the sun I realize that as out of character it was for me to party all night in NYC with no plan whatsoever I was having so much fun. I had such a rich experience just not worrying about it.
30 blocks or so later we end up at the Port Authority and we’re deep in search of Morgan, this building has a flaw. Everything looks the same, it’s really stupid that way. After Keystone coping it for like 10 minutes we decide to stay in one spot and let Morgan find us. Bryn and I get some gum (I haven’t showered or brushed my teeth…ewww) Morgan finds us and we try to find the bus port to Weehawken.
We find a lady who can’t seem to tear herself away from her crossword puzzle to let us know what’s going on. No one else seems to be able to figure out this clusterfuck of a place either. We finally find the right terminal with the right bus and get on it. As we drive Bryn looks up and realizes that we’ve reached Weehawken and suggests we make a grand exit. Morgan goes “Andre I’m following you”
Me: Excuse me sir, we need to get off.
Nothing
Me: Excuse me sir
Nothing again
Me: Hey stop the fuckin bus!
The bus comes to a screeching halt.
This is the second time I’ve had to be a tad more aggressive than usual. I don’t like what New York is turning me into.
We walk three miles to the hotel. Midway through we see poopy pants, meaning someone took a crap in their pants, took them off, and left them there. When I arrived at the hotel my other band mates (who had the good sense to go back to the hotel after last nights show) asked me how my evening was. I said I don’t wanna talk about it and asked if I could use the shower. I felt so clean afterwards. I was then told that we didn’t have a hard check in time and several members of the van didn’t make it back either so I took a nap and once I woke up we piled in the van.
It was strange being back in the big bopper . I spent a huge chuck of my year practically living in this van. It was so spacious though seeing as though there aren’t 15 guys in it. We got caught up in traffic and sat for quite some time. After we got out I went and got Popeye’s and then we hit the starland ballroom. Everyone was there and the guys grabbed some beer and we were gonna drink it in the parking lot but the security guard came and yelled at us so I went inside.
There were more than 1,000 people in the venue itself this show was gonna be fun.
We all hung out backstage, and after a few beers (I only got one) and some vocal warm ups it was time to go out there one last time.
We played a great set, I felt it went a lot better for me than the previous one, as I stood in the bathroom stall butt naked toweling off to change into dry clothes (as I did in so many cities on so many nights) I realized that this was the last show of my initial commitment to the band. I try to put all of the “What happens next?” talk out of my mind for now and just enjoy the moment. Enjoy being with my new friends as I waited for my family to come pick me up.
Once they pulled up I said my final goodbyes and got in the van to go home. Either way it may be a while before I see those guys again. I go back to focusing on my own music, big show ahead.
I wake up at 11 AM…I’m disoriented. When you’ve spent your previous night throwing back adult beverages that’ll usually be the case. I’m in a ritzy apartment with a big ass window. You can see Manhattan from here. Bryn’s sleeping on the couch and I get a txt from Morgan, we need to get to the hotel in Wehawken New Jersey so that we can pile in the van and get to the gig. Still drunk I do my best to get Bryn up and out of the apartment.
We hit the Manhattan Streets and start walking towards the Port Authority. Manhattan’s a lot quieter this time around. Not so many people pushing me and making me killing mad. Bryn and I grab some Pizza and realize we’re goin the wrong way to the part authority, so we turn around and head in the right direction. As I talk to Bryn about everything under the sun I realize that as out of character it was for me to party all night in NYC with no plan whatsoever I was having so much fun. I had such a rich experience just not worrying about it.
30 blocks or so later we end up at the Port Authority and we’re deep in search of Morgan, this building has a flaw. Everything looks the same, it’s really stupid that way. After Keystone coping it for like 10 minutes we decide to stay in one spot and let Morgan find us. Bryn and I get some gum (I haven’t showered or brushed my teeth…ewww) Morgan finds us and we try to find the bus port to Weehawken.
We find a lady who can’t seem to tear herself away from her crossword puzzle to let us know what’s going on. No one else seems to be able to figure out this clusterfuck of a place either. We finally find the right terminal with the right bus and get on it. As we drive Bryn looks up and realizes that we’ve reached Weehawken and suggests we make a grand exit. Morgan goes “Andre I’m following you”
Me: Excuse me sir, we need to get off.
Nothing
Me: Excuse me sir
Nothing again
Me: Hey stop the fuckin bus!
The bus comes to a screeching halt.
This is the second time I’ve had to be a tad more aggressive than usual. I don’t like what New York is turning me into.
We walk three miles to the hotel. Midway through we see poopy pants, meaning someone took a crap in their pants, took them off, and left them there. When I arrived at the hotel my other band mates (who had the good sense to go back to the hotel after last nights show) asked me how my evening was. I said I don’t wanna talk about it and asked if I could use the shower. I felt so clean afterwards. I was then told that we didn’t have a hard check in time and several members of the van didn’t make it back either so I took a nap and once I woke up we piled in the van.
It was strange being back in the big bopper . I spent a huge chuck of my year practically living in this van. It was so spacious though seeing as though there aren’t 15 guys in it. We got caught up in traffic and sat for quite some time. After we got out I went and got Popeye’s and then we hit the starland ballroom. Everyone was there and the guys grabbed some beer and we were gonna drink it in the parking lot but the security guard came and yelled at us so I went inside.
There were more than 1,000 people in the venue itself this show was gonna be fun.
We all hung out backstage, and after a few beers (I only got one) and some vocal warm ups it was time to go out there one last time.
We played a great set, I felt it went a lot better for me than the previous one, as I stood in the bathroom stall butt naked toweling off to change into dry clothes (as I did in so many cities on so many nights) I realized that this was the last show of my initial commitment to the band. I try to put all of the “What happens next?” talk out of my mind for now and just enjoy the moment. Enjoy being with my new friends as I waited for my family to come pick me up.
Once they pulled up I said my final goodbyes and got in the van to go home. Either way it may be a while before I see those guys again. I go back to focusing on my own music, big show ahead.
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 66
Day 65 - May 15th 2009
The big day
Today I would be reuniting with Bang Camaro for the first time since they took me on a whirlwind tour across the country. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first, I had been home living a more “normal life” for a few weeks now. Most people in my circles were done asking me how the tour was, and I had officially acclimated myself to being home. I wondered if I’d forgotten what it was like to be out there with them, we would soon find out.
I packed a bag (Roxanne would not be needed for this excursion) and headed out around 11:30 I met up with Sean at the Bolt Bus Stop. I figured going with him would be to my best advantage since he lived there for like seven years and I’d have an easier time getting to the venue. I hadn’t seen him since the tour ended and it was the first of many warm reunions. As we got to the bus to get on the clerk told Sean his ticket was for tomorrow...oh no. The prospect of wandering around Manhattan by myself was a pretty daunting one. They let him on though.
I spoke with Sadler (Leslie Guitarist/Vocalist) on Facebook on the way up (the buses have Wi-Fi) I thought it was fitting that we had a convo seeing as though most of my memories from tour involve those boys. He had written a new song based on our shared experience. I listened to it 3 or 4 times, I really dug it. I thought about the song I’d written and how two people can have the same experience and write a completely different song.
The power on the bus went dead for some reason so I unplugged my comp and tried to get some sleep before we pulled up. I open my eyes and bam New York City.
If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been a fan of the Big Apple. Sure it has it’s merits but for me it all comes down to the fact that there are too many people there and not enough space. Not liking people all that much is a family trait. They’re all on top of each other and everyone is always pushing and shoving. The New Yorker’s were in full effect on this day as I try to keep up with Sean so I don’t get lost. We stopped for Pizza and headed towards the venue. The guys weren’t here yet so we headed over to Madison Square Park and di some people watching, We spotted Sherwoond Small, the bald black comic form best week ever, he was walking a tiny dog.
We got a call saying that the guys were nearby so we went over to help with load in. The Venue was open so we waited inside. After a while the guys finally arrived. I was so happy to see everyone a lot happier than I originally thought I would be, as much as I try to brush it off as no big deal I have a bond with these guys that’s pretty deep. I’ve never hugged so many dudes in a five minute period.
Once the gear was in we all fanned out to find food, I went to grab some Chinese with Rod (Camaro Vocalist) we caught up a bit then headed to the venue and found the Green Room where Alex and Bryn were being interviewed for a magazine/website. The journalist, who was nice enough, was asking them some strange questions, that’s NYC for ya.
A couple of hours passed and it was Showtime. This was the part I was most worried about. I had gotten pretty good about 3 weeks into the tour. I wonder if I would hit the stage and start filling the room with suck. The stage was huge and lights were hot. I had one thing working in my favor I had about tow weeks of rest. Which meant my body and my voice were 100% I was ready to go.
As soon as I heard the cowbell for Out On The Streets it all came back to me I snapped right back into Camaro mode and I just cut loose and started havin fun. Shakin my ass again like there’s no tomorrow. We played a 30 minute set the shortest we’ve done since I’ve been with them. We in fact packed a lot of face rockin into a short amount of time.
Bryn and I went to a raw bar for a few drinks which led to me making what I would like to call Dumbass decision Number 1. Bryn mentioned off-hand that some folks from Kittens Ablaze wanted to hang out so he and I took a cab to Brooklyn to a place called Union Pool.
The place was filled with hipsters a sub sect of society that’s truly hard to like. The DJ was lame and the dancing was worse. Brooklyn, supposedly the hippest place on earth isn’t showing me much in terms of fun so far. I like the people that we were hanging out with but that’s about it. With so many people in this small stage combined with being boozed up I’m already on edge and then this hipster (who was trying to get by) shoved me out of the way. Without thinking I grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him to my face and very…gently reminded him that it’s better to be polite in situations like this. He got the message and I was ready to go.
We go to the liquor store and then head to the house of a friend of the kids in Kittens Ablaze. Bryn immediately plugs in his Ipod to get the party started. We got our groove on til the sun came up. Michelle was kind enough to giver us a place to crash so we took a cab back to Manhattan and crashed at her apartment.
The big day
Today I would be reuniting with Bang Camaro for the first time since they took me on a whirlwind tour across the country. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first, I had been home living a more “normal life” for a few weeks now. Most people in my circles were done asking me how the tour was, and I had officially acclimated myself to being home. I wondered if I’d forgotten what it was like to be out there with them, we would soon find out.
I packed a bag (Roxanne would not be needed for this excursion) and headed out around 11:30 I met up with Sean at the Bolt Bus Stop. I figured going with him would be to my best advantage since he lived there for like seven years and I’d have an easier time getting to the venue. I hadn’t seen him since the tour ended and it was the first of many warm reunions. As we got to the bus to get on the clerk told Sean his ticket was for tomorrow...oh no. The prospect of wandering around Manhattan by myself was a pretty daunting one. They let him on though.
I spoke with Sadler (Leslie Guitarist/Vocalist) on Facebook on the way up (the buses have Wi-Fi) I thought it was fitting that we had a convo seeing as though most of my memories from tour involve those boys. He had written a new song based on our shared experience. I listened to it 3 or 4 times, I really dug it. I thought about the song I’d written and how two people can have the same experience and write a completely different song.
The power on the bus went dead for some reason so I unplugged my comp and tried to get some sleep before we pulled up. I open my eyes and bam New York City.
If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been a fan of the Big Apple. Sure it has it’s merits but for me it all comes down to the fact that there are too many people there and not enough space. Not liking people all that much is a family trait. They’re all on top of each other and everyone is always pushing and shoving. The New Yorker’s were in full effect on this day as I try to keep up with Sean so I don’t get lost. We stopped for Pizza and headed towards the venue. The guys weren’t here yet so we headed over to Madison Square Park and di some people watching, We spotted Sherwoond Small, the bald black comic form best week ever, he was walking a tiny dog.
We got a call saying that the guys were nearby so we went over to help with load in. The Venue was open so we waited inside. After a while the guys finally arrived. I was so happy to see everyone a lot happier than I originally thought I would be, as much as I try to brush it off as no big deal I have a bond with these guys that’s pretty deep. I’ve never hugged so many dudes in a five minute period.
Once the gear was in we all fanned out to find food, I went to grab some Chinese with Rod (Camaro Vocalist) we caught up a bit then headed to the venue and found the Green Room where Alex and Bryn were being interviewed for a magazine/website. The journalist, who was nice enough, was asking them some strange questions, that’s NYC for ya.
A couple of hours passed and it was Showtime. This was the part I was most worried about. I had gotten pretty good about 3 weeks into the tour. I wonder if I would hit the stage and start filling the room with suck. The stage was huge and lights were hot. I had one thing working in my favor I had about tow weeks of rest. Which meant my body and my voice were 100% I was ready to go.
As soon as I heard the cowbell for Out On The Streets it all came back to me I snapped right back into Camaro mode and I just cut loose and started havin fun. Shakin my ass again like there’s no tomorrow. We played a 30 minute set the shortest we’ve done since I’ve been with them. We in fact packed a lot of face rockin into a short amount of time.
Bryn and I went to a raw bar for a few drinks which led to me making what I would like to call Dumbass decision Number 1. Bryn mentioned off-hand that some folks from Kittens Ablaze wanted to hang out so he and I took a cab to Brooklyn to a place called Union Pool.
The place was filled with hipsters a sub sect of society that’s truly hard to like. The DJ was lame and the dancing was worse. Brooklyn, supposedly the hippest place on earth isn’t showing me much in terms of fun so far. I like the people that we were hanging out with but that’s about it. With so many people in this small stage combined with being boozed up I’m already on edge and then this hipster (who was trying to get by) shoved me out of the way. Without thinking I grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him to my face and very…gently reminded him that it’s better to be polite in situations like this. He got the message and I was ready to go.
We go to the liquor store and then head to the house of a friend of the kids in Kittens Ablaze. Bryn immediately plugs in his Ipod to get the party started. We got our groove on til the sun came up. Michelle was kind enough to giver us a place to crash so we took a cab back to Manhattan and crashed at her apartment.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 65
Day 64 - May 14th 2009
Waking up after a good night is pretty sweet. Starting off at Lickety the way we did is definitely a good thing. I also realized I hadn’t gotten my ticket yet for tomorrow’s gig in NYC. I took care of that and had to take care of my hair when Claire called. I was on my way.
Claire at one time was my best friend and when I say best friend I mean we pretty much spent everyday together till just before she left to go back home to New Jersey. I met her on Walnut Street when she was trying to get me to give money to starving children and we’ve been friends ever since. She would eventually become my background singer and in turn I would eventually produce her first album. A really bad arm injury derailed her from pushing the album the way she wanted to but I was proud of the work we did. We were like Batman and Robin, Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde. Wherever you’d see one the other wouldn’t be far behind
We met at Rittenhouse Square, a park we spent lots of time playing music and making fun of crazies. We stopped at a café to eat and I listened to her catch me up on her life. She has a cutting sense of humor that doesn’t catch you unless you’re paying attention. We rolled to my house to rehearse while I waited for Yoni to do my hair.
My hands were killing me. The stuff I did with Claire was steeped a little more in Jazz than my own music so I was making chord shapes on the guitar that I haven’t made in quite some time. What would have been child’s play 4 months ago is now a case of mental gymnastics as I secretly sat and wondered to myself why I put so many chords in these songs. I was able to get through it and my hands pretty much snapped back to form. We were ready and left to go to the open mic.
We decided to take the train and while we were standing there I heard a guy talking very loudly, nothing unusual, black folk are loud on the El Train platform sometimes, then I started listening and began to realize he was actually crazy, bookending everything he would say with the word honey bun. Some choice quotes:
“Honey Buuunnn…I got shot back in ‘92 but I came back, nobody could get me…Honeeeyy Buunnnn”
“Honeyyyy Buuuunnnn…This Guy got arrested back in ’95 for biting off little boys dicks.”
“Honey Buuunnn…Where was yo federal friends that was huntin me back in 96...Honeeyyy Buuunnn.”
“Honeeeyyy Buuunnn…Beyonce went into my sisters house and bit off her clitoris, that’s breaking and entering and assault and battery. That’s like 100 years, if she don’t go to jail I’m killin all y’all”
“Honeeeyyy Buunnnn…Don’t wear Rockawear muthafucks”
Jus Wordz is an institution in the R&B Soul community, if for no other reason than the fact it’s been around for 6 years. As a guy who hosts an open mic myself I don’t get out to them often but Claire wanted to go perform so I said what the hell. I looked at the list and decided to sign up too. Her friend Ashley was there as well. I watched the Boston, Orlando game as they set up and the house band got goin for a while. They’re a lot better than the last guys that were in here.
They began with a discussion portion where they talked about the meaning of the word support and how we should support our community. A nice thing to say in a room full of artists, but I’m sure Claire came here to promote for her CD Release show and none of those people showed. The one knock I probably have about Philly is that there isn’t this universal feeling among artists that we should support each other.
The house band got up and played a little more and a poet Lady Srkazym came up to the stage. She and I worked together at the Crowne Plaza a lifetime ago it seems. She’s still there she told me. We went to warm up as another poet came on. We got back in time to hear that it was gonna be a one and done situation so she jettisoned the ballad, which was great because the song was giving me trouble. We started and I noticed her tighten a bit. But her vocal training is definitely benefiting her. She sounds better than she ever did. She seemed nervous but there’s been a lot of growth there. She just needs to loosed her asshole up just a little. She was greeted with a thunderous applause and the host called my name so I stayed up there.
The seconds leading up to playing an open mic in a room full of strangers are the best. In three seconds you look, you assess, and then you pick the right song. I looked at the keyboard player from the house band who was trying to catch the song while I was playing and immediately told him to stop and then decided tonight it would be Feels So Good. People were clapping trying to sing along as I played my Funky little tune. I again notice how my time with The Camaro crew has made me better. I make lots more eye contact with individuals, I’m nice and loose, and I’m singing properly. When I was done some people even stood up and clapped. The host said this about me
“I saw this college kid get up and I’m expecting this coffee house Tracy Chapman, Fast car type shit….and he turned into Prince on me.”
It was a pretty amazing feeling to be received like that. I wish I could have stayed but with a big trip in the AM and it pouring outside it was time to get back to the house. I decided to pack in the morning and get some sleep tonight
Waking up after a good night is pretty sweet. Starting off at Lickety the way we did is definitely a good thing. I also realized I hadn’t gotten my ticket yet for tomorrow’s gig in NYC. I took care of that and had to take care of my hair when Claire called. I was on my way.
Claire at one time was my best friend and when I say best friend I mean we pretty much spent everyday together till just before she left to go back home to New Jersey. I met her on Walnut Street when she was trying to get me to give money to starving children and we’ve been friends ever since. She would eventually become my background singer and in turn I would eventually produce her first album. A really bad arm injury derailed her from pushing the album the way she wanted to but I was proud of the work we did. We were like Batman and Robin, Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde. Wherever you’d see one the other wouldn’t be far behind
We met at Rittenhouse Square, a park we spent lots of time playing music and making fun of crazies. We stopped at a café to eat and I listened to her catch me up on her life. She has a cutting sense of humor that doesn’t catch you unless you’re paying attention. We rolled to my house to rehearse while I waited for Yoni to do my hair.
My hands were killing me. The stuff I did with Claire was steeped a little more in Jazz than my own music so I was making chord shapes on the guitar that I haven’t made in quite some time. What would have been child’s play 4 months ago is now a case of mental gymnastics as I secretly sat and wondered to myself why I put so many chords in these songs. I was able to get through it and my hands pretty much snapped back to form. We were ready and left to go to the open mic.
We decided to take the train and while we were standing there I heard a guy talking very loudly, nothing unusual, black folk are loud on the El Train platform sometimes, then I started listening and began to realize he was actually crazy, bookending everything he would say with the word honey bun. Some choice quotes:
“Honey Buuunnn…I got shot back in ‘92 but I came back, nobody could get me…Honeeeyy Buunnnn”
“Honeyyyy Buuuunnnn…This Guy got arrested back in ’95 for biting off little boys dicks.”
“Honey Buuunnn…Where was yo federal friends that was huntin me back in 96...Honeeyyy Buuunnn.”
“Honeeeyyy Buuunnn…Beyonce went into my sisters house and bit off her clitoris, that’s breaking and entering and assault and battery. That’s like 100 years, if she don’t go to jail I’m killin all y’all”
“Honeeeyyy Buunnnn…Don’t wear Rockawear muthafucks”
Jus Wordz is an institution in the R&B Soul community, if for no other reason than the fact it’s been around for 6 years. As a guy who hosts an open mic myself I don’t get out to them often but Claire wanted to go perform so I said what the hell. I looked at the list and decided to sign up too. Her friend Ashley was there as well. I watched the Boston, Orlando game as they set up and the house band got goin for a while. They’re a lot better than the last guys that were in here.
They began with a discussion portion where they talked about the meaning of the word support and how we should support our community. A nice thing to say in a room full of artists, but I’m sure Claire came here to promote for her CD Release show and none of those people showed. The one knock I probably have about Philly is that there isn’t this universal feeling among artists that we should support each other.
The house band got up and played a little more and a poet Lady Srkazym came up to the stage. She and I worked together at the Crowne Plaza a lifetime ago it seems. She’s still there she told me. We went to warm up as another poet came on. We got back in time to hear that it was gonna be a one and done situation so she jettisoned the ballad, which was great because the song was giving me trouble. We started and I noticed her tighten a bit. But her vocal training is definitely benefiting her. She sounds better than she ever did. She seemed nervous but there’s been a lot of growth there. She just needs to loosed her asshole up just a little. She was greeted with a thunderous applause and the host called my name so I stayed up there.
The seconds leading up to playing an open mic in a room full of strangers are the best. In three seconds you look, you assess, and then you pick the right song. I looked at the keyboard player from the house band who was trying to catch the song while I was playing and immediately told him to stop and then decided tonight it would be Feels So Good. People were clapping trying to sing along as I played my Funky little tune. I again notice how my time with The Camaro crew has made me better. I make lots more eye contact with individuals, I’m nice and loose, and I’m singing properly. When I was done some people even stood up and clapped. The host said this about me
“I saw this college kid get up and I’m expecting this coffee house Tracy Chapman, Fast car type shit….and he turned into Prince on me.”
It was a pretty amazing feeling to be received like that. I wish I could have stayed but with a big trip in the AM and it pouring outside it was time to get back to the house. I decided to pack in the morning and get some sleep tonight
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 64
Day 63 - May 13th 2009
The secret word of the day is stress.
I’m very nervous about this show at Lickety Split tonight. I’ve got a bunch of bands that I’ve done little to no work with in the past playing, and I was texted by the people there that a new band Tunnel from South Jersey would be added to the bill, with Sarah Flynn now out they’re gonna fit right in with the rest of the agenda.
I need to take my mind off things so I throw my jogging clothes on, grab my dad’s ipod and I run. I forgot how centered I felt when I was jogging every day. The simple act of running from one point to another helped me gain perspective, just me and the concrete as it were. I also forgot how bad running on concrete can be for your body. My legs have been killing me for the past two days and I’ll probably need to take a break, which I’ll probably get for a few days once I hit NYC. I do feel like I’m in better shape than I’d been in the past week or so which will serve me well this weekend.
I’m thinking more and more about Bang Camaro as these dates approach. I’m even nervous about it. It took quite a bit to get used to performing with them and it seems like the last show at the Viper Room was a lifetime ago. I wonder with all this other stuff on my mind (Booking the shows, the big show I have coming up, my own band) if I’m going to be able to find my feet quickly enough for this to make sense. Sean called, he sent me a picture of fat Kelly Clarkson, twas hilarious, I called hik back but the phone kept clicking off.
I was pretty stoked to find out that you can download comic books off Pirate bay. I was able to catch up on Batman: Battle for the cowl, had I known that I would have been keeping up while on the road. I generally don’t dig on batman stores that hard but this one is interesting.
I turned on the TV and the science channel was airing this special about a space mission to mars. The part that really fascinated me was the part about how Russia and The US are puttign together teams with a new kind of astronaut, one that would have to be mentally tough enough to survive 1000 days in space, in a small environment, isolated, with a bunch of people on top of you. They show how the isolation of space can drive you crazy, how they purify their own urine to drink, and how they are working on developing Artificial Intelligence companions for each of the Astronauts when human interaction gets to be too much.
The doorbell rings and it’s Funkharp and Steve on the other side. Both respected members of the Philly music scene and in their own fantastic bands are serving as my horn section for the show on May 24th. The parts are written for tenor but since Steve is playing alto he (with Funkharp’s help) had to transpose the parts. After they were done we ran through the tunes that had horns on them. They were a little rough. But I think with the addition of Nick on Tenor and a week of practice on their own the horns will be tight. With the absence of strings for Leavin (so far anyway) they’ll need to be.
After a nap I get a call from my good friend Claire. She’s coming to town tomorrow and wants to play at an open mic in North Philly. I quickly agree as I throw on some clothes headed out to be at my show at Lickety Split.
I get there around 7:30 and Dani Mari has a shot of Vodka on the bar that she’s trying to pass off. It’s called Sweet Carolina, a sweet tea flavored vodka that tickles my fancy. With no 8PM musician the bar was empty so I headed to showcase comics to see what I could find. I turned around and came back shortly after.
Ami Verrill loads in and plays first. We’ve been friends since I was in college, she shared an apartment with a really good college buddy of mine and was the first guest ever on Jukebox (the Music TV show I hosted and ran at Temple) I’m sort of acting as her booking agent, I was able to get her on a show at the Tin Angel while I was away on tour, but it’s been months since I’ve seen her. Her fans filed in and it was good to see them too, she was as amazing as ever.
Emerson B an acoustic hip hop artist was up next. The dude has got a chill vibe and a great stage presence, this guy should be killing it on the college circuit. He strummed, rhymed, sang, and beat boxed his way into the hearts of the crowd. It’s amazing to see people start at Philly Rising then I’m able to book them at a show and watch them rock it.
Tunnel from South Jersey would be up next and they were sweet. They Indy Rocked it like it was 1999, I look forward to booking them again sometime soon. They reminded me of a lot of the bands I see on MTV2.
By the time my Closers Ugly As Sinn hit the stage there were so many people in the bar I had to leave and take a walk. I liked those kids a lot, they were a little loud for my (and everyone else’s) taste but they did a good job. Nice kids too, I look forward to finding a way to work with them.
It’s safe to say tonight was a success, I’m not under the pretense that every night will be this good but it’s a good place to start.
The secret word of the day is stress.
I’m very nervous about this show at Lickety Split tonight. I’ve got a bunch of bands that I’ve done little to no work with in the past playing, and I was texted by the people there that a new band Tunnel from South Jersey would be added to the bill, with Sarah Flynn now out they’re gonna fit right in with the rest of the agenda.
I need to take my mind off things so I throw my jogging clothes on, grab my dad’s ipod and I run. I forgot how centered I felt when I was jogging every day. The simple act of running from one point to another helped me gain perspective, just me and the concrete as it were. I also forgot how bad running on concrete can be for your body. My legs have been killing me for the past two days and I’ll probably need to take a break, which I’ll probably get for a few days once I hit NYC. I do feel like I’m in better shape than I’d been in the past week or so which will serve me well this weekend.
I’m thinking more and more about Bang Camaro as these dates approach. I’m even nervous about it. It took quite a bit to get used to performing with them and it seems like the last show at the Viper Room was a lifetime ago. I wonder with all this other stuff on my mind (Booking the shows, the big show I have coming up, my own band) if I’m going to be able to find my feet quickly enough for this to make sense. Sean called, he sent me a picture of fat Kelly Clarkson, twas hilarious, I called hik back but the phone kept clicking off.
I was pretty stoked to find out that you can download comic books off Pirate bay. I was able to catch up on Batman: Battle for the cowl, had I known that I would have been keeping up while on the road. I generally don’t dig on batman stores that hard but this one is interesting.
I turned on the TV and the science channel was airing this special about a space mission to mars. The part that really fascinated me was the part about how Russia and The US are puttign together teams with a new kind of astronaut, one that would have to be mentally tough enough to survive 1000 days in space, in a small environment, isolated, with a bunch of people on top of you. They show how the isolation of space can drive you crazy, how they purify their own urine to drink, and how they are working on developing Artificial Intelligence companions for each of the Astronauts when human interaction gets to be too much.
The doorbell rings and it’s Funkharp and Steve on the other side. Both respected members of the Philly music scene and in their own fantastic bands are serving as my horn section for the show on May 24th. The parts are written for tenor but since Steve is playing alto he (with Funkharp’s help) had to transpose the parts. After they were done we ran through the tunes that had horns on them. They were a little rough. But I think with the addition of Nick on Tenor and a week of practice on their own the horns will be tight. With the absence of strings for Leavin (so far anyway) they’ll need to be.
After a nap I get a call from my good friend Claire. She’s coming to town tomorrow and wants to play at an open mic in North Philly. I quickly agree as I throw on some clothes headed out to be at my show at Lickety Split.
I get there around 7:30 and Dani Mari has a shot of Vodka on the bar that she’s trying to pass off. It’s called Sweet Carolina, a sweet tea flavored vodka that tickles my fancy. With no 8PM musician the bar was empty so I headed to showcase comics to see what I could find. I turned around and came back shortly after.
Ami Verrill loads in and plays first. We’ve been friends since I was in college, she shared an apartment with a really good college buddy of mine and was the first guest ever on Jukebox (the Music TV show I hosted and ran at Temple) I’m sort of acting as her booking agent, I was able to get her on a show at the Tin Angel while I was away on tour, but it’s been months since I’ve seen her. Her fans filed in and it was good to see them too, she was as amazing as ever.
Emerson B an acoustic hip hop artist was up next. The dude has got a chill vibe and a great stage presence, this guy should be killing it on the college circuit. He strummed, rhymed, sang, and beat boxed his way into the hearts of the crowd. It’s amazing to see people start at Philly Rising then I’m able to book them at a show and watch them rock it.
Tunnel from South Jersey would be up next and they were sweet. They Indy Rocked it like it was 1999, I look forward to booking them again sometime soon. They reminded me of a lot of the bands I see on MTV2.
By the time my Closers Ugly As Sinn hit the stage there were so many people in the bar I had to leave and take a walk. I liked those kids a lot, they were a little loud for my (and everyone else’s) taste but they did a good job. Nice kids too, I look forward to finding a way to work with them.
It’s safe to say tonight was a success, I’m not under the pretense that every night will be this good but it’s a good place to start.
Boy Wonder : Professional Musician 63
Day 62 - May 12th 2009
I had a sweet run planned this morning. I downloaded a bunch of cheesy 80’s music to run to and then my ipod decided to pick now as the time to stop working. Awesome. I’ve never been a big fan of Apple products. But until some of the other companies perfect their MP3 players the ipod is still the most attractive product on the market. I believe Steve Jobs and the Mac folks are excellent salesmen that make horrible products. I had to throw my play list on my dad’s pod and run with that.
Lots of work on the horizon today. I have my first show at Lickety Split tomorrow and my opening act pulled out last minute and with no one to replace them I am worried about draw for the evening. I wanna have a better first night there than I did at Zot. I also have a show to book Upstairs at World Café Live in June, possibly one in August . This is going to require me to inject some fresh blood into the HYPE! situation my heavy hitters won’t be able to play these smaller places for a while
Things are coming more into focus in terms of this weekend when I rejoin Bang Camaro for these two shows in New York and New Jersey. Tommorow I grab my bolt bus tickets and ma dukes is gonna pick me up from the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. I’m pretty pumped to get with the guys again. We’re only playing a half an hour set so we have to pack a lot into a small face rocking set. I have no idea what the plans are between Friday after the show and the show Saturday still but I guess things will work themselves out in the next few days.
It’s Jake and Rob ready to get down and rehearse. Things sound even better than they did last week. They sounded great last week. The problems are with me still trying to snap back into line, adjusting to the leadership role again. Leadership is something that doesn’t necessarily come natural to me. It helps that I have the right guys around me to make the ship go. I’m not much without their support. We worked for even longer than we did before re-working some tunes, shaping them, this would be the last time we would get to really work on the songs. Next week we go into show mode. I was really happy about the way things went. As I stressed about this a little more the doorbell rings.
But with Wed Night at Lickety, Thursday a hair appointment, and Friday and Satruday being out with the boys I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to get my ipod fixed. Hopefully Mac won’t have it too long whenever I do take it in.
The folks came home and I got to spend some time with them. After a few hours of TV I took the trash out, washed the dishes and hit the bed.
Big day tomorrow.
I had a sweet run planned this morning. I downloaded a bunch of cheesy 80’s music to run to and then my ipod decided to pick now as the time to stop working. Awesome. I’ve never been a big fan of Apple products. But until some of the other companies perfect their MP3 players the ipod is still the most attractive product on the market. I believe Steve Jobs and the Mac folks are excellent salesmen that make horrible products. I had to throw my play list on my dad’s pod and run with that.
Lots of work on the horizon today. I have my first show at Lickety Split tomorrow and my opening act pulled out last minute and with no one to replace them I am worried about draw for the evening. I wanna have a better first night there than I did at Zot. I also have a show to book Upstairs at World Café Live in June, possibly one in August . This is going to require me to inject some fresh blood into the HYPE! situation my heavy hitters won’t be able to play these smaller places for a while
Things are coming more into focus in terms of this weekend when I rejoin Bang Camaro for these two shows in New York and New Jersey. Tommorow I grab my bolt bus tickets and ma dukes is gonna pick me up from the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. I’m pretty pumped to get with the guys again. We’re only playing a half an hour set so we have to pack a lot into a small face rocking set. I have no idea what the plans are between Friday after the show and the show Saturday still but I guess things will work themselves out in the next few days.
It’s Jake and Rob ready to get down and rehearse. Things sound even better than they did last week. They sounded great last week. The problems are with me still trying to snap back into line, adjusting to the leadership role again. Leadership is something that doesn’t necessarily come natural to me. It helps that I have the right guys around me to make the ship go. I’m not much without their support. We worked for even longer than we did before re-working some tunes, shaping them, this would be the last time we would get to really work on the songs. Next week we go into show mode. I was really happy about the way things went. As I stressed about this a little more the doorbell rings.
But with Wed Night at Lickety, Thursday a hair appointment, and Friday and Satruday being out with the boys I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to get my ipod fixed. Hopefully Mac won’t have it too long whenever I do take it in.
The folks came home and I got to spend some time with them. After a few hours of TV I took the trash out, washed the dishes and hit the bed.
Big day tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 62
Day 61 - May 11th 2009
Monday Morning started with a run. I haven’t been all that active since the tour ended. With gigs with bang Camaro upcoming I need ot get my body back into shape. Turns out I’m in pretty good shape, a fly ass side effect of beign on otur shaking my ass for two months. I won’t be ripped for the shows a planned ( I need five pound weights for that) but I should be physically ready to roll.
I came home to tie up some loose ends with the show on May 24th , band rehearsal Tommorow at 1. Horn rehearsal Wed at noon, vocal rehearsal Wed night. Then I went back to work on booking the stuff for Lickety Split. They are gonna have a sweet run this summer, I got some great bands.
After a quick shower and some pushups I went to the basement to work on some guitar and before I knew it it was open mic time.
On the way there I get a text maessage from Dan laying out the details for the Bang Camaro shows weekend. I don’t even know how to get to the Blender Theatre so this should be a fun little trip. We’re gonna end up Sayreville a town that I’m tied to just a little bit.
I get there at around 5 and I run into Damon Hamilton and 2mas, two very talented guys I haven’t seen there in quite some time. The familiar faces are slowly coming back and I was happy about that. Workign very hard to restore the luster to the event. Jen in PR asked if I would like to book a show there on Tuesday June 4th. I have a lot of work ahead of me.
The open mic itself was one of the better ones. We generally start slow and towards the middle we get our better people but this one was great right from the start. I saw lots of great bands, many of who I’ll be contacting about booking for gigs at Lickety Split (among other things) in the future.
I noticed that my comfort level was higher at the open mic than it’s ever been. I try to keep the crowd involved all night long. We’re all together for four hours so I try to make it as entertaining as possible since I’m the only constant. I felt the crowd and I were really vibing, they were laughing at my jokes and that hardly ever happens. I’ve been begging them to let me shoot a pilot of this and pitch it to MTV. I don’t think there’s anything more interesting form an audience perspective than an open mic. You have all these different kinds of people, some are skilled some may be a little bit less and then you have some folks who are just strange lol. I think it could keep my attention for 30 mins at least.
It was an extremely good night as I continue to find my feet in my new world of the non traditional job. It’s gonna get a lot harder before it gets easier. But I do think that I can actually do this.
Rehearsal with the guys tomorrow. I’m very excited as we continue to put this thing back together.
Monday Morning started with a run. I haven’t been all that active since the tour ended. With gigs with bang Camaro upcoming I need ot get my body back into shape. Turns out I’m in pretty good shape, a fly ass side effect of beign on otur shaking my ass for two months. I won’t be ripped for the shows a planned ( I need five pound weights for that) but I should be physically ready to roll.
I came home to tie up some loose ends with the show on May 24th , band rehearsal Tommorow at 1. Horn rehearsal Wed at noon, vocal rehearsal Wed night. Then I went back to work on booking the stuff for Lickety Split. They are gonna have a sweet run this summer, I got some great bands.
After a quick shower and some pushups I went to the basement to work on some guitar and before I knew it it was open mic time.
On the way there I get a text maessage from Dan laying out the details for the Bang Camaro shows weekend. I don’t even know how to get to the Blender Theatre so this should be a fun little trip. We’re gonna end up Sayreville a town that I’m tied to just a little bit.
I get there at around 5 and I run into Damon Hamilton and 2mas, two very talented guys I haven’t seen there in quite some time. The familiar faces are slowly coming back and I was happy about that. Workign very hard to restore the luster to the event. Jen in PR asked if I would like to book a show there on Tuesday June 4th. I have a lot of work ahead of me.
The open mic itself was one of the better ones. We generally start slow and towards the middle we get our better people but this one was great right from the start. I saw lots of great bands, many of who I’ll be contacting about booking for gigs at Lickety Split (among other things) in the future.
I noticed that my comfort level was higher at the open mic than it’s ever been. I try to keep the crowd involved all night long. We’re all together for four hours so I try to make it as entertaining as possible since I’m the only constant. I felt the crowd and I were really vibing, they were laughing at my jokes and that hardly ever happens. I’ve been begging them to let me shoot a pilot of this and pitch it to MTV. I don’t think there’s anything more interesting form an audience perspective than an open mic. You have all these different kinds of people, some are skilled some may be a little bit less and then you have some folks who are just strange lol. I think it could keep my attention for 30 mins at least.
It was an extremely good night as I continue to find my feet in my new world of the non traditional job. It’s gonna get a lot harder before it gets easier. But I do think that I can actually do this.
Rehearsal with the guys tomorrow. I’m very excited as we continue to put this thing back together.
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 61
Day 60 - May 10th 2009
Dad woke me up at 8 or 9. I had only slept four hours. It was church time. Generally I would fight him, it’s a dance we do every Sunday. But today was different, number one it was mother’s day, two Dr. Campolo was preaching. Dr. Tony Campolo, our churches sole white minister is a very prolific evangelist, author, and is probably most famous for being President Bill Clinton’s spiritual advisor post blowjob. The sweet thing about him is that he normally doesn’t preach that long.
I was excited to find a 20 in my pants pocket, it harkened back to the good old days when I had money on hand, I was able to get a little something for mom dukes in card form. It’s tough not havin a lot of money these days especially since I enjoy buying her stuff on holidays such as these.
After service I sold a few tickets to the big show at World Café Live and we headed to my sisters house for a mother’s day dinner. The spread was pretty solid as always and just as everyone was enjoying themselves out pops The Jimmy Kimmel appearance on DVR lol they seem to enjoy taking the piss out of me. Mrs. Sharon (my oldest sister’s BFF) sold quite a few discs while I was away. That money’s going to come in handy.
I ate myself silly, played with the kids for a while came home and watched Desperate Housewives with the mom. It is mother’s day after all.
I think I’m gonna download some sweet running tunes and run tomorrow morning.
Dig on some Joe Esposito
Dad woke me up at 8 or 9. I had only slept four hours. It was church time. Generally I would fight him, it’s a dance we do every Sunday. But today was different, number one it was mother’s day, two Dr. Campolo was preaching. Dr. Tony Campolo, our churches sole white minister is a very prolific evangelist, author, and is probably most famous for being President Bill Clinton’s spiritual advisor post blowjob. The sweet thing about him is that he normally doesn’t preach that long.
I was excited to find a 20 in my pants pocket, it harkened back to the good old days when I had money on hand, I was able to get a little something for mom dukes in card form. It’s tough not havin a lot of money these days especially since I enjoy buying her stuff on holidays such as these.
After service I sold a few tickets to the big show at World Café Live and we headed to my sisters house for a mother’s day dinner. The spread was pretty solid as always and just as everyone was enjoying themselves out pops The Jimmy Kimmel appearance on DVR lol they seem to enjoy taking the piss out of me. Mrs. Sharon (my oldest sister’s BFF) sold quite a few discs while I was away. That money’s going to come in handy.
I ate myself silly, played with the kids for a while came home and watched Desperate Housewives with the mom. It is mother’s day after all.
I think I’m gonna download some sweet running tunes and run tomorrow morning.
Dig on some Joe Esposito
Monday, May 11, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 60
Day 59 - May 9th 2009
Today was a laid back day, I decided not to think about the less than stellar show at Zot last night. Hopefully the meeting we have scheduled with them will bear some fruit.
I was scheduled to go to a brunch at Julie’s house. Julie is my best bud Casey’s girlfriend. She’s been with him for quite sometime and has meshed into our collective as well as any girl probably will…ever. My dad had to go to the Toyota dealership to look over some paperwork.
I blink once he’s walking out the door “I don’t really like that number” he says. I blink again and he’s driving a new car off the lot for no money down. They dropped me off at Casey’s house and they were on their way to see Teena Marie and Frankie Beverly.
We shot the shit for a while and I mentioned that I was flying out to Cali and someone suggested we should all go out together. I’ll believe that when I see it lol we were pretty tipsy at that point so I doubt anyone was serious but it’s a cool proposition.
After eating some chicken, mac and cheese, and greens from Pathmark I went into Casey and Julie’s bedroom and slept forever I woke up and everyone left and the boys were watching Iron Man. We finished and then I got dropped off back at the crib.
I stayed up pretty late fixing some effects on my Boss Gt-10 and watching life after people on-demand and my folks got in around 4AM. After staying up for a little while longer I hit the bed.
Dig on some Menya
Today was a laid back day, I decided not to think about the less than stellar show at Zot last night. Hopefully the meeting we have scheduled with them will bear some fruit.
I was scheduled to go to a brunch at Julie’s house. Julie is my best bud Casey’s girlfriend. She’s been with him for quite sometime and has meshed into our collective as well as any girl probably will…ever. My dad had to go to the Toyota dealership to look over some paperwork.
I blink once he’s walking out the door “I don’t really like that number” he says. I blink again and he’s driving a new car off the lot for no money down. They dropped me off at Casey’s house and they were on their way to see Teena Marie and Frankie Beverly.
We shot the shit for a while and I mentioned that I was flying out to Cali and someone suggested we should all go out together. I’ll believe that when I see it lol we were pretty tipsy at that point so I doubt anyone was serious but it’s a cool proposition.
After eating some chicken, mac and cheese, and greens from Pathmark I went into Casey and Julie’s bedroom and slept forever I woke up and everyone left and the boys were watching Iron Man. We finished and then I got dropped off back at the crib.
I stayed up pretty late fixing some effects on my Boss Gt-10 and watching life after people on-demand and my folks got in around 4AM. After staying up for a little while longer I hit the bed.
Dig on some Menya
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 59
Day 58 - April 8th 2009
Big Day
Zot’s tonight. A better place on a better night. I’ve moved up in the world and the potential to have great shows and to make some money is there. Although we had a couple of band cancellations, I’m very excited. But first things first.
Dad needed me to run the key’s to Tommy’s tires, we had a flat last night on the way home from Trek and had to get it repaired. I also had to get my mom’s uniforms to the cleaners to get pressed.
The rest of the day was spent prepping for the show, getting equipment in order and all that. I spent some time doing some stuff as far as Lickety Split was concerned, but mostly I spent the day making sure that all my equipment still worked. It worked beautifully. I got a call from mom dukes (who was my ride) and I loaded the car.
We pulled up to 122 Lombard Street. Zot, an awesome Belgian Bar and Restaurant with a beer list as long as your arm. I loaded equipment upstairs and one of the managers there was there and ready to help out. I was able to get the PA hooked up as Lydia Rene walked in with her band. The cancellations meant we only had one actual band and a few folks that I had to call last minute. I got Lydia up and running as Katherine and Liat walked in.
To see the new place through their eyes was a pretty cool sight to see. They are two of the few acts from O.N.E. that will be carrying over to Zot if I’m able to continue to book there. They were as happy as I am to have a better room on a better night. With some time for promo we should be able to pack this place. I’m glad that there is a core group of people in the HYPE! and that we are all coming up together. It’s time to move up in the world.
We tried to wait a bit to see if the room would fill out. Kat went up first and she killed it. She’s an amazing talent. When that whole Blues/Pop thing happened with John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and others there weren’t really a lot of girls that were making headway. Katherine certainly has the potential to hit it big if she starts performing in front of people that are going to latch on her music.
Liat was up next. She wasn’t ready so I had to play two songs. She’s young I’ve know her for a while. She used to do Philly Rising before I hosted and then I was booking her at O.N.E. she was my last residency artist before we wrapped up over there in April. Because of the bands that cancelled she didn’t make much sense in context of all the performers but she held her own like she always does.
We moved onto Lydia Rene, who did well in terms of her music and drawing a crowd. It harkened back ot the late 90’s early 2000’s neo soul movement but with a more raw edge. This young woman has a future in this business. She’s got a record out that people should really buy.
J.A.I. was up next. Perhaps the second or third performer ever to do a performance to tracks at a HYPE! Show. I generally don’t allow it but J.A.I. is an exceptional talent. We once were a part of the same management stable and I’m glad he’s a part of what I’m doing. He brought it.
The jam session, although a great idea in theory needs to be built. A few guys showed up but the lack of attendance caused us to shut it down early. It was kind of the story of the night. I wasn’t all the way happy with the attendance. I made enough money to recoup my costs and I know that it’s going to take a while to build this place up in terms of it being a prime spot but I still wasn’t happy with it. Chris comes up and says the owner wants to talk to us…Great. I was in too fragile a state to be yelled at.
We went downstairs and the owner wanted to tell me how much he loved the night. Says he wants to meet in two weeks and discuss what we can do for them and what they can do for us. This hints towards a future at the venue, which is a good thing. If they do make decision to house the HYPE! based on what they’ve seen, it will be a decision based on quality, which is also good.
If I’m able to get another shot I have to go and re-tool make it different than what I did at O.N.E. what I’m doin at Lickety Split, and what I’m doin at World Café Live. I think this can be something really special if I’m allowed to do something there.
Need sleep so I’ll catch you on the flipside.
Big Day
Zot’s tonight. A better place on a better night. I’ve moved up in the world and the potential to have great shows and to make some money is there. Although we had a couple of band cancellations, I’m very excited. But first things first.
Dad needed me to run the key’s to Tommy’s tires, we had a flat last night on the way home from Trek and had to get it repaired. I also had to get my mom’s uniforms to the cleaners to get pressed.
The rest of the day was spent prepping for the show, getting equipment in order and all that. I spent some time doing some stuff as far as Lickety Split was concerned, but mostly I spent the day making sure that all my equipment still worked. It worked beautifully. I got a call from mom dukes (who was my ride) and I loaded the car.
We pulled up to 122 Lombard Street. Zot, an awesome Belgian Bar and Restaurant with a beer list as long as your arm. I loaded equipment upstairs and one of the managers there was there and ready to help out. I was able to get the PA hooked up as Lydia Rene walked in with her band. The cancellations meant we only had one actual band and a few folks that I had to call last minute. I got Lydia up and running as Katherine and Liat walked in.
To see the new place through their eyes was a pretty cool sight to see. They are two of the few acts from O.N.E. that will be carrying over to Zot if I’m able to continue to book there. They were as happy as I am to have a better room on a better night. With some time for promo we should be able to pack this place. I’m glad that there is a core group of people in the HYPE! and that we are all coming up together. It’s time to move up in the world.
We tried to wait a bit to see if the room would fill out. Kat went up first and she killed it. She’s an amazing talent. When that whole Blues/Pop thing happened with John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and others there weren’t really a lot of girls that were making headway. Katherine certainly has the potential to hit it big if she starts performing in front of people that are going to latch on her music.
Liat was up next. She wasn’t ready so I had to play two songs. She’s young I’ve know her for a while. She used to do Philly Rising before I hosted and then I was booking her at O.N.E. she was my last residency artist before we wrapped up over there in April. Because of the bands that cancelled she didn’t make much sense in context of all the performers but she held her own like she always does.
We moved onto Lydia Rene, who did well in terms of her music and drawing a crowd. It harkened back ot the late 90’s early 2000’s neo soul movement but with a more raw edge. This young woman has a future in this business. She’s got a record out that people should really buy.
J.A.I. was up next. Perhaps the second or third performer ever to do a performance to tracks at a HYPE! Show. I generally don’t allow it but J.A.I. is an exceptional talent. We once were a part of the same management stable and I’m glad he’s a part of what I’m doing. He brought it.
The jam session, although a great idea in theory needs to be built. A few guys showed up but the lack of attendance caused us to shut it down early. It was kind of the story of the night. I wasn’t all the way happy with the attendance. I made enough money to recoup my costs and I know that it’s going to take a while to build this place up in terms of it being a prime spot but I still wasn’t happy with it. Chris comes up and says the owner wants to talk to us…Great. I was in too fragile a state to be yelled at.
We went downstairs and the owner wanted to tell me how much he loved the night. Says he wants to meet in two weeks and discuss what we can do for them and what they can do for us. This hints towards a future at the venue, which is a good thing. If they do make decision to house the HYPE! based on what they’ve seen, it will be a decision based on quality, which is also good.
If I’m able to get another shot I have to go and re-tool make it different than what I did at O.N.E. what I’m doin at Lickety Split, and what I’m doin at World Café Live. I think this can be something really special if I’m allowed to do something there.
Need sleep so I’ll catch you on the flipside.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 58
Day 57 - April 7th 2009
Something I’ve grown accustomed to, waking up in a place that isn’t my house.
Well it’s my sister LaShon’s house, it might as well be my house. It’s been my second home (mo matter where they actually lived) all my life. I don’t spend as many nights here as I did when I was a kid but I always feel comfortable here. They’re couches are pretty bad ass.
I spent the morning watching my sister get her kids ready for school. A window into the different paths we’ve chosen. They watch cartoons in the morning and eat frozen waffles and cereal. It was a pretty cool hanging out with my nieces just before they left for school. I rolled over and went back to sleep.
My sister Nichole came in a few hours later with her son Aydan I needed to shower so that we could go. She needed to run some errands and they involved taking me home.
We ended up at Beacon Academy where her and LaShon both work. Aydan also goes to school there so she had to drop them off. Shon’s been there for quite some time so I know a lot of the teachers that work there. She’s even got some of them to appear at my shows, so it’s good to drop in on them. We hung out there for a while and then we bounced.
We drove into the city and vibed on some Day 26 and shared war stories, Nikki’s a songwriter for EMI so we often sit and talk about trying to get a leg up in the business. There are a lot of mountains to climb and a lot of things are happening in both our spheres that could lead to potential good things and potential failures. It’s always nice to have someone to talk about these things with. When you’re consumed by it (like we both are) it’s easy to be viewed by some as being self absorbed.
I got the drop off at the house, took a nap, woke up, and immediately went to work on getting some booking things out of the way. Lickety Split has been super duper confirmed so I’ve been moving on finding acts and locking them down for the Wed showcases. Since we play from 10-2 on Fridays booking the openers will be a tad easier. We have to rely more on drawing a crowd on Wed Nights so I have to be smarter about booking.
Zot is tomorrow and my nerves are shot about it. First night in a new place you just never know if people are going to come to it. The house band pulled out but I was able to fashion one together so that we don’t take a hit if people come to the jam session.
I worked for so long I looked up and my parents had come through the door. We spent some time together and watched some TV and I talked a lot about tomorrow’s show. I’ll probably calm down a bit more once we get the shows goin.
After being up super late trying to fill spots I gave up for tonight and went to bed. I got a phone call around 9:30. It was Zach asking if I wanted to see Star Trek. I immediately said yes. I brought my folks with me. The movie was amazing. I'm not a fan of the original Trek (movies or TV Show) but I think this was an excellent reboot. I can't wait to see all the sequels. JJ Abrhams (who was on Kimmel the night Bang Camaro aired to promote the movie) does it again.
Zot’s tommorow I'm very excited
Something I’ve grown accustomed to, waking up in a place that isn’t my house.
Well it’s my sister LaShon’s house, it might as well be my house. It’s been my second home (mo matter where they actually lived) all my life. I don’t spend as many nights here as I did when I was a kid but I always feel comfortable here. They’re couches are pretty bad ass.
I spent the morning watching my sister get her kids ready for school. A window into the different paths we’ve chosen. They watch cartoons in the morning and eat frozen waffles and cereal. It was a pretty cool hanging out with my nieces just before they left for school. I rolled over and went back to sleep.
My sister Nichole came in a few hours later with her son Aydan I needed to shower so that we could go. She needed to run some errands and they involved taking me home.
We ended up at Beacon Academy where her and LaShon both work. Aydan also goes to school there so she had to drop them off. Shon’s been there for quite some time so I know a lot of the teachers that work there. She’s even got some of them to appear at my shows, so it’s good to drop in on them. We hung out there for a while and then we bounced.
We drove into the city and vibed on some Day 26 and shared war stories, Nikki’s a songwriter for EMI so we often sit and talk about trying to get a leg up in the business. There are a lot of mountains to climb and a lot of things are happening in both our spheres that could lead to potential good things and potential failures. It’s always nice to have someone to talk about these things with. When you’re consumed by it (like we both are) it’s easy to be viewed by some as being self absorbed.
I got the drop off at the house, took a nap, woke up, and immediately went to work on getting some booking things out of the way. Lickety Split has been super duper confirmed so I’ve been moving on finding acts and locking them down for the Wed showcases. Since we play from 10-2 on Fridays booking the openers will be a tad easier. We have to rely more on drawing a crowd on Wed Nights so I have to be smarter about booking.
Zot is tomorrow and my nerves are shot about it. First night in a new place you just never know if people are going to come to it. The house band pulled out but I was able to fashion one together so that we don’t take a hit if people come to the jam session.
I worked for so long I looked up and my parents had come through the door. We spent some time together and watched some TV and I talked a lot about tomorrow’s show. I’ll probably calm down a bit more once we get the shows goin.
After being up super late trying to fill spots I gave up for tonight and went to bed. I got a phone call around 9:30. It was Zach asking if I wanted to see Star Trek. I immediately said yes. I brought my folks with me. The movie was amazing. I'm not a fan of the original Trek (movies or TV Show) but I think this was an excellent reboot. I can't wait to see all the sequels. JJ Abrhams (who was on Kimmel the night Bang Camaro aired to promote the movie) does it again.
Zot’s tommorow I'm very excited
Friday, May 8, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 57
Day 56 - May 6th 2009
Today was a particularly special day.
Number one it would be the first Wed in quite sometime I was in Philly and didn’t have a show at O.N.E. to have to go to. I was at that place for almost two years. As I explained earlier we didn’t do so well while I was away, truth be told we were don’t that well as I was leaving for tour. A two year run is pretty impressive at one club for an independent booker. I had some great shows there but the room had run it’s course. It was getting more and more difficult to book bands in this non-traditional venue.
The event (slightly modified) is moving to Lickety Split and I’ve been hard at work lining everything up. I know tough this business can be. One must balance talent with drawing ability. We’ll get a bit of a break from having to completely fill a venue up at Lickety. It’s one of the rare places in Philly with a walk in crowd.
Had to do some work for The Friday Night event at Zot. We’ve added a jam session portion to the event (from 11-2) and the band that was supposed to host it pulled out. So I have to think of something. I’ve been doing my best to spread the word around, I wish I would have had the idea sooner. If we get to do it there again I think it’s going to be a kick ass event. There hasn’t been an event that all the top dogs in Philly go to since Black Lily. I would love to make that happen.
Today’s even more special cause it’s my nieces birthday. 11 years have flown by really fast and soon I will be chuckling as she becomes a teenager getting on her parents nerves and providing me boys to hit with my baseball bat. My sister believes that she and I are exactly alike. I don’t see it, but I imagine there are worst people she could be like. We went out to Fridays and we had some dinner. The wait staff came over and sang and gave her ice cream. Jordan (my other niece) shared her ice cream with me and then we went back to my sisters.
I watched American Idol and was happy to see No Doubt playing they looked good. Honestly if I had to listen to another Gwen Stephani solo record I was gonna put a gun in my mouth. After that went off my sisters and I did a vocal rehearsal for the show. It was a little hairy at first, but I think we may be onto something.
Everyone was fast asleep after that. Kids were in bed by 8 grownups not to long after. I couldn’t imagine living this life as the norm. Which is why one will always wear condoms whilst doing the deed.
Today was a particularly special day.
Number one it would be the first Wed in quite sometime I was in Philly and didn’t have a show at O.N.E. to have to go to. I was at that place for almost two years. As I explained earlier we didn’t do so well while I was away, truth be told we were don’t that well as I was leaving for tour. A two year run is pretty impressive at one club for an independent booker. I had some great shows there but the room had run it’s course. It was getting more and more difficult to book bands in this non-traditional venue.
The event (slightly modified) is moving to Lickety Split and I’ve been hard at work lining everything up. I know tough this business can be. One must balance talent with drawing ability. We’ll get a bit of a break from having to completely fill a venue up at Lickety. It’s one of the rare places in Philly with a walk in crowd.
Had to do some work for The Friday Night event at Zot. We’ve added a jam session portion to the event (from 11-2) and the band that was supposed to host it pulled out. So I have to think of something. I’ve been doing my best to spread the word around, I wish I would have had the idea sooner. If we get to do it there again I think it’s going to be a kick ass event. There hasn’t been an event that all the top dogs in Philly go to since Black Lily. I would love to make that happen.
Today’s even more special cause it’s my nieces birthday. 11 years have flown by really fast and soon I will be chuckling as she becomes a teenager getting on her parents nerves and providing me boys to hit with my baseball bat. My sister believes that she and I are exactly alike. I don’t see it, but I imagine there are worst people she could be like. We went out to Fridays and we had some dinner. The wait staff came over and sang and gave her ice cream. Jordan (my other niece) shared her ice cream with me and then we went back to my sisters.
I watched American Idol and was happy to see No Doubt playing they looked good. Honestly if I had to listen to another Gwen Stephani solo record I was gonna put a gun in my mouth. After that went off my sisters and I did a vocal rehearsal for the show. It was a little hairy at first, but I think we may be onto something.
Everyone was fast asleep after that. Kids were in bed by 8 grownups not to long after. I couldn’t imagine living this life as the norm. Which is why one will always wear condoms whilst doing the deed.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 56
Day 55 – May 6th 2009
I woke up earlier than usual, I usually don’t sleep light but I heard Dad barreling down the stairs and I woke up immediately. Reminded me of the days when I had a normal job. It was around seven and I was excited like a kid on Christmas because I knew that today would be the first rehearsal with my band for our upcoming shows. We haven’t played together since the beginning of March so I’m very interested in seeing what’s gonna go down.
I had some breakfast and tried my best to go back to bed I woke up around 11:30 and hit a shower. My dad came in from a funeral and we spoke for a second. I shared my anxiety about my guitar playing with him. I wondered if I would be able to get it done. These guys I play with are extremely talented and they push me and pull the best out of me. I;m working on getting back to my old self. My door bell rings and it’s Jake and Rob, they’d come together and were ready to get down.
We conversed about the set list. Since this is going to be my first show home since the Camaro tour, I wanna work some tunes from the previous albums into the set so we banged through some tunes and figured out which old songs we were going to do. Me being home is finally starting to feel real.
Rob counts us in and we’re off and in a lot of respects it’s like no time has passed. I have a lot of work to do in terms of my playing but making the pieces fit together again was a very easy process. No wonder I missed my guys…it just works. We jammed out and go through the entire set with little to no real hiccups. We are taking some of the songs apart and adding thigns to them to see if we can spice it up a tad. I wanna start showcasing Rob more, he’s an amazing drummer and in a three piece there’s so much room for stuff like that.
As we were done and they were on their way out we discussed some scheduling things and they left, I immediately went to work. I know I don’t have a normal day job but sometimes it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Between booking the shows for the venues and handling Boy Wonder stuff my days are full. A new date for the California Show came in, as well as some interest from some other clubs around the country. Money’s the problem, I want to take over the world, but I have to be smart about it.
The Zot show hit a snag, one of the bands pulled out, problem was they were supposed to host the jam session. I have to think of something soon. I also had to call Dani Mari to cancel our Wed meeting, my niece Taylor’s birthday is Wed and I wanna be there for that we reschedule for Thursday. I had to call the guys at O.N.E. and tell them that I would have to pass on doing a live music event on a Monday Night. No one wanted to run it, nobody that I work with was interested in playing, so it made sense to let it go. It was my first steady booking job, we booked a lot of great bands and had a lot of fun, but it’s time for the company to evolve.
I watched American Idol for the first time since the auditions, it was rock week, Slash was the mentor, and the kids singing were just bizarre. I was watching enough to be attached to anybody. I get a call from my buddies about seeing Wolverine.
We went and I have to say that aside from some cool action stuff I didn’t really care for the movie all that much. Some of the fanboy stuff they did was cool.
I got home and felt like writing. I had a bunch of cool ideas but no songs, no lyrics. I’m not gonna rush it, when I know what I want to say I should have no trouble saying it.
It’s 3AM so I’m probably gonna go to bed now
I woke up earlier than usual, I usually don’t sleep light but I heard Dad barreling down the stairs and I woke up immediately. Reminded me of the days when I had a normal job. It was around seven and I was excited like a kid on Christmas because I knew that today would be the first rehearsal with my band for our upcoming shows. We haven’t played together since the beginning of March so I’m very interested in seeing what’s gonna go down.
I had some breakfast and tried my best to go back to bed I woke up around 11:30 and hit a shower. My dad came in from a funeral and we spoke for a second. I shared my anxiety about my guitar playing with him. I wondered if I would be able to get it done. These guys I play with are extremely talented and they push me and pull the best out of me. I;m working on getting back to my old self. My door bell rings and it’s Jake and Rob, they’d come together and were ready to get down.
We conversed about the set list. Since this is going to be my first show home since the Camaro tour, I wanna work some tunes from the previous albums into the set so we banged through some tunes and figured out which old songs we were going to do. Me being home is finally starting to feel real.
Rob counts us in and we’re off and in a lot of respects it’s like no time has passed. I have a lot of work to do in terms of my playing but making the pieces fit together again was a very easy process. No wonder I missed my guys…it just works. We jammed out and go through the entire set with little to no real hiccups. We are taking some of the songs apart and adding thigns to them to see if we can spice it up a tad. I wanna start showcasing Rob more, he’s an amazing drummer and in a three piece there’s so much room for stuff like that.
As we were done and they were on their way out we discussed some scheduling things and they left, I immediately went to work. I know I don’t have a normal day job but sometimes it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Between booking the shows for the venues and handling Boy Wonder stuff my days are full. A new date for the California Show came in, as well as some interest from some other clubs around the country. Money’s the problem, I want to take over the world, but I have to be smart about it.
The Zot show hit a snag, one of the bands pulled out, problem was they were supposed to host the jam session. I have to think of something soon. I also had to call Dani Mari to cancel our Wed meeting, my niece Taylor’s birthday is Wed and I wanna be there for that we reschedule for Thursday. I had to call the guys at O.N.E. and tell them that I would have to pass on doing a live music event on a Monday Night. No one wanted to run it, nobody that I work with was interested in playing, so it made sense to let it go. It was my first steady booking job, we booked a lot of great bands and had a lot of fun, but it’s time for the company to evolve.
I watched American Idol for the first time since the auditions, it was rock week, Slash was the mentor, and the kids singing were just bizarre. I was watching enough to be attached to anybody. I get a call from my buddies about seeing Wolverine.
We went and I have to say that aside from some cool action stuff I didn’t really care for the movie all that much. Some of the fanboy stuff they did was cool.
I got home and felt like writing. I had a bunch of cool ideas but no songs, no lyrics. I’m not gonna rush it, when I know what I want to say I should have no trouble saying it.
It’s 3AM so I’m probably gonna go to bed now
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 55
Day 54 - May 4th 2009
Monday, the first day of my first full week home from tour. It’s hard to believe it’s only been about 7 days since I’ve been home. There’s been a lot of movement since then. Hard to believe that this time last week I was still on the west coast, living a much different life. Lindsay Rush told me that you can’t compare the road to home and she’s right. I have so many memories but it feels like the tour was two years ago.
I woke up early as I started attempting to put stuff together for Lickety Split calling acts and nailing some stuff down. The tricky part is figuring out the money for all this stuff. One must make sure the acts are apid and paid well, one also must make sure that he earns some money for his efforts.
I broke open my copy of The Police Certifiable on DVD and decided to watch it. If I’m going to be playing in a threepiece band again I might as well watch the best. The Police are my favorite band, mainly because I love the way the pieces fit together. There are very few perfect combinations in pop music but wheter it’s intentional or natural they way they play their instruments compliment each other. Sting has written great songs since leaving The Police and worked with some incredible musicians but no guitarist makes his songs sparkle like Andy Summers and it’s hard for anyone to hold a candle to Stewart Copeland on drums.
I confirm my rehearsal for tomorrow and go down to shred. My Boss Gt-10 has a custom Distortion so I’ve been looking into that so I can get the sound I want. I shredded till about 4 (I am committed to not sucking once we start gigging again)and I got a call from Steve from The Absolute Zeros. He wanted to come to open mic tonight, so I asked him if he would jam with me on Bass.
I got there around 5 and the line was short, likely due to the rain. I got to share some tour stories with Steve and Jack Gleason and I got to catch up slightly with some of the staff as they watched Bang Camaro on You Tube and told me how funny they thought me being in the band was. I’m dealing with people that mainly know me for my music. I did a 180 musically joining Bang Camaro. This is the first time that I’ve been involved in two functioning projects so it’s pretty cool.
By the time I did sign ups at 6:30 the line was a lot longer but still about half the usual length. It was pretty nasty outside, Even still there were more people signed up tonight then last week. Hopefully we’re on the rebound and things will get back to normal.
The open mic started a bit late. I was waiting for Bob who was driving in from West Virginia but we were able to get through everyone. I kicked thigns off with a four song set and am noticing the difference in my singing after 2 months with Bang Camaro, I’m a lot better than I was before I left. The crowd was really live and I saw some great acts. I love hosting hat open mic, If you are a fan of different kinds of music like me it’s perfect. You can see a folk duo, a jazz band, a rap group, and an electronic artist all in one night back to back. It’s pretty sweet. We ended at 11 and had 3 winners so it was a good night .
I got home practiced some more guitar watched Monday Night Raw and went to bed.
First rehearsal with the boys tomorrow, very excited
Monday, the first day of my first full week home from tour. It’s hard to believe it’s only been about 7 days since I’ve been home. There’s been a lot of movement since then. Hard to believe that this time last week I was still on the west coast, living a much different life. Lindsay Rush told me that you can’t compare the road to home and she’s right. I have so many memories but it feels like the tour was two years ago.
I woke up early as I started attempting to put stuff together for Lickety Split calling acts and nailing some stuff down. The tricky part is figuring out the money for all this stuff. One must make sure the acts are apid and paid well, one also must make sure that he earns some money for his efforts.
I broke open my copy of The Police Certifiable on DVD and decided to watch it. If I’m going to be playing in a threepiece band again I might as well watch the best. The Police are my favorite band, mainly because I love the way the pieces fit together. There are very few perfect combinations in pop music but wheter it’s intentional or natural they way they play their instruments compliment each other. Sting has written great songs since leaving The Police and worked with some incredible musicians but no guitarist makes his songs sparkle like Andy Summers and it’s hard for anyone to hold a candle to Stewart Copeland on drums.
I confirm my rehearsal for tomorrow and go down to shred. My Boss Gt-10 has a custom Distortion so I’ve been looking into that so I can get the sound I want. I shredded till about 4 (I am committed to not sucking once we start gigging again)and I got a call from Steve from The Absolute Zeros. He wanted to come to open mic tonight, so I asked him if he would jam with me on Bass.
I got there around 5 and the line was short, likely due to the rain. I got to share some tour stories with Steve and Jack Gleason and I got to catch up slightly with some of the staff as they watched Bang Camaro on You Tube and told me how funny they thought me being in the band was. I’m dealing with people that mainly know me for my music. I did a 180 musically joining Bang Camaro. This is the first time that I’ve been involved in two functioning projects so it’s pretty cool.
By the time I did sign ups at 6:30 the line was a lot longer but still about half the usual length. It was pretty nasty outside, Even still there were more people signed up tonight then last week. Hopefully we’re on the rebound and things will get back to normal.
The open mic started a bit late. I was waiting for Bob who was driving in from West Virginia but we were able to get through everyone. I kicked thigns off with a four song set and am noticing the difference in my singing after 2 months with Bang Camaro, I’m a lot better than I was before I left. The crowd was really live and I saw some great acts. I love hosting hat open mic, If you are a fan of different kinds of music like me it’s perfect. You can see a folk duo, a jazz band, a rap group, and an electronic artist all in one night back to back. It’s pretty sweet. We ended at 11 and had 3 winners so it was a good night .
I got home practiced some more guitar watched Monday Night Raw and went to bed.
First rehearsal with the boys tomorrow, very excited
Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 54
Day 53 - May 3rd 2009
Church
The original plan was for me to wait until I was completely done with Bang Camaro and had gone to California to return to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, the place where I learned to live under a microscope.
At Mt. Carmel my family is a prominent one. My Dad is the minister to youth (a Sunday school teacher and youth worker before that) My mother, the adult sponsor of the Junior and Young People’s Choir who became one of the first female Deacons at Mount Carmel amidst a shit storm of controversy. They do a lot ot make the church and have done so much for the kids in the neighborhood. My dad’s most recent project is a Youth String Ensemble that now includes Woodwinds and Brass. He’s taken it from a small idea and blown it up to the point where they’ll be playing downstairs at World Café Live sometime soon. My point is people know who they are. I grew up with people knowing who I am and I have no bloody clue who they are.
My family’s prominence resulted in some folks always keeping an eye on me waiting for me to screw up. Whenever I did something someone was always running and telling my parents to sort of thumb their noses at them. Things that wouldn’t even be an issue with normal kids (a kid falling asleep in church, or siting and talking to his friends in the balcony) would be blown up to World War 5 if I were to happen to be seen doin it. I was forced to sing on the youth choir among other things and if I did something good everyone would know about it. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on everything I did and had no problem telling me. It prepares you for a life in the public eye.
Knowing all these things I didn’t wanna be bothered today, but considering God had a lot to do with me returning home in tact form the tour not going seemed kinda wrong.
I slipped in undetected. The 10:45 service has been a bit thin in terms of the crowds so I didn’t have to worry about it too much. It was communion Sunday. The sermon was okay but the choir (who specialize more in sacred hyms and old school negro spirituals) was putting me to sleep. I ran into my little cousin. Some were un aware I was home. I was able for the most part to slip out of the building undetected. I ran into some people I knew well. Some saw the show and were bombarding me with questions. Fortunately mom was ready to leave right away, She had to come back for the church Chorus Concert that they do around this time every year.
We were home for a bit as I tried to make phone calls to see if we can get someone ot run this one event. A lot of no’s at the moment. If I want to attempt to do it I’m gonna have to think of something else that’s outside of the box.
An hour went by and we had to go to my mom’s concert. She sings in the church chorus, A choir who specializes in the more feel good toe tappin hand clappin music that most black churches a re known for. The concert itself was pretty good. It was their 65th anniversary and they did songs for every era of the chorus. Best part though was seeing my sisters, nieces and nephew for the first time in two months. Everyone has been looking at me somewhat differently since I came back so it was nice ot see people that don’t think of me as some big famous guy (clearly I’m not…not yet anyway) .
After the concert was over I saw a lot of the more familiar faces and as happy as I was to see them they kept asking me how my vacation was. The word vacation sticks in my craw just a little bit. I think of beign drenched in sweat every night and the week I had strep throat and the times when I felt like I wouldn’t survive. I had a blast yet but I wouldn’t call the tour with Bang Camaro a vacation. We’re a few days away from me hitting you with my perspective on the entire experience (that’s coming don’t worry)
The family then went to perkins. My Nephew’s got another ear infection and needs to see the doctor tomorrow. We had some food followed by some cookies and then we went home. I played some guitar and that was the end of that chapter.
Church
The original plan was for me to wait until I was completely done with Bang Camaro and had gone to California to return to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, the place where I learned to live under a microscope.
At Mt. Carmel my family is a prominent one. My Dad is the minister to youth (a Sunday school teacher and youth worker before that) My mother, the adult sponsor of the Junior and Young People’s Choir who became one of the first female Deacons at Mount Carmel amidst a shit storm of controversy. They do a lot ot make the church and have done so much for the kids in the neighborhood. My dad’s most recent project is a Youth String Ensemble that now includes Woodwinds and Brass. He’s taken it from a small idea and blown it up to the point where they’ll be playing downstairs at World Café Live sometime soon. My point is people know who they are. I grew up with people knowing who I am and I have no bloody clue who they are.
My family’s prominence resulted in some folks always keeping an eye on me waiting for me to screw up. Whenever I did something someone was always running and telling my parents to sort of thumb their noses at them. Things that wouldn’t even be an issue with normal kids (a kid falling asleep in church, or siting and talking to his friends in the balcony) would be blown up to World War 5 if I were to happen to be seen doin it. I was forced to sing on the youth choir among other things and if I did something good everyone would know about it. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on everything I did and had no problem telling me. It prepares you for a life in the public eye.
Knowing all these things I didn’t wanna be bothered today, but considering God had a lot to do with me returning home in tact form the tour not going seemed kinda wrong.
I slipped in undetected. The 10:45 service has been a bit thin in terms of the crowds so I didn’t have to worry about it too much. It was communion Sunday. The sermon was okay but the choir (who specialize more in sacred hyms and old school negro spirituals) was putting me to sleep. I ran into my little cousin. Some were un aware I was home. I was able for the most part to slip out of the building undetected. I ran into some people I knew well. Some saw the show and were bombarding me with questions. Fortunately mom was ready to leave right away, She had to come back for the church Chorus Concert that they do around this time every year.
We were home for a bit as I tried to make phone calls to see if we can get someone ot run this one event. A lot of no’s at the moment. If I want to attempt to do it I’m gonna have to think of something else that’s outside of the box.
An hour went by and we had to go to my mom’s concert. She sings in the church chorus, A choir who specializes in the more feel good toe tappin hand clappin music that most black churches a re known for. The concert itself was pretty good. It was their 65th anniversary and they did songs for every era of the chorus. Best part though was seeing my sisters, nieces and nephew for the first time in two months. Everyone has been looking at me somewhat differently since I came back so it was nice ot see people that don’t think of me as some big famous guy (clearly I’m not…not yet anyway) .
After the concert was over I saw a lot of the more familiar faces and as happy as I was to see them they kept asking me how my vacation was. The word vacation sticks in my craw just a little bit. I think of beign drenched in sweat every night and the week I had strep throat and the times when I felt like I wouldn’t survive. I had a blast yet but I wouldn’t call the tour with Bang Camaro a vacation. We’re a few days away from me hitting you with my perspective on the entire experience (that’s coming don’t worry)
The family then went to perkins. My Nephew’s got another ear infection and needs to see the doctor tomorrow. We had some food followed by some cookies and then we went home. I played some guitar and that was the end of that chapter.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professionla Musician 53
Day 52 - May 2nd 2009
Today would be a day about getting he word out and beginning to set some stuff up for Lickety, finalizing everything for Zot, and beginning the major push for the World Café Live show downstairs on May 24th. All this stuff is important so I’ve gotta make sure I keep all these balls in the air. The Monday event at O.N.E. is not looking good. No one wants to run it and none of the bands I know want to take a gig on a Monday Night. I have a host in mind at this point but I’m not sure if it’s going to work.
I get a call from Gabriela Herbas, a young woman who did a documentary on the making of my album, she did another re-edit and would like me to look at it. So after playing some guitar I went to meet up with Gabby to take a look.
I thought the video was really well done and (finally) gave my stamp of approval on it as the final version of it. I suggested a bleep for all the curse words to heighten the humor. We may try to screen it May 24th but I fear we won’t have time. It was an interesting trip back down memory lane, it was almost a year ago when I started making that record, feels like a lifetime ago I feel like I’ve climbed so many mountains in the past year. Doing some things outside of Philly with Boy Wonder then a full blown tour with Bang Camaro. I thought about them quite a bit today. They had a show with Electric Six and I’m wondering how it was.
After the trip to Gabby’s I rolled over to the Tin Angel to check out Amy Regan. We have all these mutual friends and she’s come to Philly Rising a time or two so I was looking forward to checking her out.
I have a bit of difficulty watching other people perform. I always have the itch to be on stage. I’ve gotten a lot better about it over the past few years. It helps when the person is as good as Amy is. She’s amazing in fact, very adept in Jazz theory, knows very expensive chords. Her voice is pretty soulful and easy on the ears.
I came home around midnight and decided to go downstairs and play some guitar. I’m working on some new EQ’s and Sounds, trying to find the perfect tone. Which is useless considering that the tones may not sound right with the rest of the band. Something to do I guess. We have rehearsal on Tuesday and I’m pretty excited about it.
Apparently there was a big argument between some people next door while I was playing. I didn’t hear a thing.
After a while I hit the bed. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
A little Amy Regan
Today would be a day about getting he word out and beginning to set some stuff up for Lickety, finalizing everything for Zot, and beginning the major push for the World Café Live show downstairs on May 24th. All this stuff is important so I’ve gotta make sure I keep all these balls in the air. The Monday event at O.N.E. is not looking good. No one wants to run it and none of the bands I know want to take a gig on a Monday Night. I have a host in mind at this point but I’m not sure if it’s going to work.
I get a call from Gabriela Herbas, a young woman who did a documentary on the making of my album, she did another re-edit and would like me to look at it. So after playing some guitar I went to meet up with Gabby to take a look.
I thought the video was really well done and (finally) gave my stamp of approval on it as the final version of it. I suggested a bleep for all the curse words to heighten the humor. We may try to screen it May 24th but I fear we won’t have time. It was an interesting trip back down memory lane, it was almost a year ago when I started making that record, feels like a lifetime ago I feel like I’ve climbed so many mountains in the past year. Doing some things outside of Philly with Boy Wonder then a full blown tour with Bang Camaro. I thought about them quite a bit today. They had a show with Electric Six and I’m wondering how it was.
After the trip to Gabby’s I rolled over to the Tin Angel to check out Amy Regan. We have all these mutual friends and she’s come to Philly Rising a time or two so I was looking forward to checking her out.
I have a bit of difficulty watching other people perform. I always have the itch to be on stage. I’ve gotten a lot better about it over the past few years. It helps when the person is as good as Amy is. She’s amazing in fact, very adept in Jazz theory, knows very expensive chords. Her voice is pretty soulful and easy on the ears.
I came home around midnight and decided to go downstairs and play some guitar. I’m working on some new EQ’s and Sounds, trying to find the perfect tone. Which is useless considering that the tones may not sound right with the rest of the band. Something to do I guess. We have rehearsal on Tuesday and I’m pretty excited about it.
Apparently there was a big argument between some people next door while I was playing. I didn’t hear a thing.
After a while I hit the bed. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
A little Amy Regan
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Boy Wonder: Professionla Musician 52
Day 51 - May 1st 2009
Electric Six was amazing last night. They’re in Boston with the Camaro tonight. I’ll admit it’s weird knowing that Bang Camaro’s playing a show and I’m not gonna be there. There’s a big part of me that misses those guys. But I’m focused on the present and immediate future and that involves having some kind of money coming in.
With virtually no decent jobs in the world of AV available at present moment my attention turns to booking. The plan; find a few rooms put bands in them and help them draw a crowd. If I do it right I’ll make enough money to pay the bills maybe even be able to put some away for future stuff.
I started booking almost four years ago, essentially it was out of necessity. I had been playing gigs in Philadelphia for a few years and was tired of outside bookers taking all of the money, so I decided to do it myself. I’d round up my friends that had other bands and we’d do a show together. Ever since then I’ve been doing my own shows under the name the HYPE! In different places around Philly. With my Wed night shows at O.N.E. at Rittenhouse all but dried up since I went on tour, it was time to try to find some other spots. I had two meetings today, one at Lickety Split and another at Zot two bars in Philly, Lickety more established, Zot, a place that has had difficulty establishing itself as an original music powerhouse. I believe that I can put asses in seats in both places.
I spent some time on the phone with Jake (My Bassist) and Rob (My Drummer) and we scheduled a rehearsal for Tuesday at Noon. It feels like forever since we last played together so I’m really looking forward to it.
First things first. I hadn’t touched my electric guitars, two Fender strats mainly (I have a Les Paul that I hardly play) Dagger (A modified white lefty strat) and Maverick (A Black Strat, my first electric guitar, I switched the pickups out a while back) in quite some time and I was pretty keen on doing that so I went down to go over some stuff and just play. I’m a lot rustier than even I thought. I suck horribly. My brian hasn’t thought about lead guitars in two months, not to mention I’ve has to press really har donly playing my acoustic during downtime on the road. I got a long way to climb and three weeks to do it.
A quick shower and I get a 10PM time for my Zot meeting so I schedule 11 for Lickety Split. I need a shower before I hit the town. My folks come in around 6, they have a party to go to. It’s been a little strange going back to the daily routine. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time together since California but I’m sure we’ll get to that.
Headed out to Zot. I’ve always been a pretty focused driven guy as a musician. As a business man I’m even more so. I love music and working with bands but I’m in it to make money, especially now that this is my only job. I get there 20 mins early. I’m handed a beer and told that Gina would be out in a minute. She comes out contract in hand. We talk briefly and I sign on the dotted line. We officially have a show on may 8th. I turn my focus to Lickety Split
Lickety Split was a place my band played every Friday from the fall of 2007 till the end of the year. We had a First Friday gig as well before I left for tour. I had walked in Wed and DanI Mari mentioned that they might need help booking Wed nights. So I went there tonight to solidify that. Looks like a start may 13th and they would tell me what Fridays I have later. I ran into one of the kids I used to teach when I ran a Performing Arts camp in high school. She has two kids now and was out with a friend of hers. Weird to see them grown up.
I got a pickup and headed home. Lots of stuff to figure out. Goin with my buddies to see Amy Reagan tomorrow. Very excited.
Electric Six was amazing last night. They’re in Boston with the Camaro tonight. I’ll admit it’s weird knowing that Bang Camaro’s playing a show and I’m not gonna be there. There’s a big part of me that misses those guys. But I’m focused on the present and immediate future and that involves having some kind of money coming in.
With virtually no decent jobs in the world of AV available at present moment my attention turns to booking. The plan; find a few rooms put bands in them and help them draw a crowd. If I do it right I’ll make enough money to pay the bills maybe even be able to put some away for future stuff.
I started booking almost four years ago, essentially it was out of necessity. I had been playing gigs in Philadelphia for a few years and was tired of outside bookers taking all of the money, so I decided to do it myself. I’d round up my friends that had other bands and we’d do a show together. Ever since then I’ve been doing my own shows under the name the HYPE! In different places around Philly. With my Wed night shows at O.N.E. at Rittenhouse all but dried up since I went on tour, it was time to try to find some other spots. I had two meetings today, one at Lickety Split and another at Zot two bars in Philly, Lickety more established, Zot, a place that has had difficulty establishing itself as an original music powerhouse. I believe that I can put asses in seats in both places.
I spent some time on the phone with Jake (My Bassist) and Rob (My Drummer) and we scheduled a rehearsal for Tuesday at Noon. It feels like forever since we last played together so I’m really looking forward to it.
First things first. I hadn’t touched my electric guitars, two Fender strats mainly (I have a Les Paul that I hardly play) Dagger (A modified white lefty strat) and Maverick (A Black Strat, my first electric guitar, I switched the pickups out a while back) in quite some time and I was pretty keen on doing that so I went down to go over some stuff and just play. I’m a lot rustier than even I thought. I suck horribly. My brian hasn’t thought about lead guitars in two months, not to mention I’ve has to press really har donly playing my acoustic during downtime on the road. I got a long way to climb and three weeks to do it.
A quick shower and I get a 10PM time for my Zot meeting so I schedule 11 for Lickety Split. I need a shower before I hit the town. My folks come in around 6, they have a party to go to. It’s been a little strange going back to the daily routine. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time together since California but I’m sure we’ll get to that.
Headed out to Zot. I’ve always been a pretty focused driven guy as a musician. As a business man I’m even more so. I love music and working with bands but I’m in it to make money, especially now that this is my only job. I get there 20 mins early. I’m handed a beer and told that Gina would be out in a minute. She comes out contract in hand. We talk briefly and I sign on the dotted line. We officially have a show on may 8th. I turn my focus to Lickety Split
Lickety Split was a place my band played every Friday from the fall of 2007 till the end of the year. We had a First Friday gig as well before I left for tour. I had walked in Wed and DanI Mari mentioned that they might need help booking Wed nights. So I went there tonight to solidify that. Looks like a start may 13th and they would tell me what Fridays I have later. I ran into one of the kids I used to teach when I ran a Performing Arts camp in high school. She has two kids now and was out with a friend of hers. Weird to see them grown up.
I got a pickup and headed home. Lots of stuff to figure out. Goin with my buddies to see Amy Reagan tomorrow. Very excited.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Boy Wonder: Porfessional Musician 51
Day 50 - April 30th 2009
So I guess I’m famous now (looks at watch sees about 10 minutes left) lol
I woke up to my phone ringing off the hook, phone calls and text messages from people who stayed up and watched Kimmel to catch a glimpse of me, we all ended up getting more than we bargained for. Mostly everything was positive in terms of the feedback. People I hadn’t heard from in years shot me texts and emails and phone calls telling me how rad they thought the Kimmel appearance was.
I go on-line ot see if Push Push is up yet and I see the reviews on You Tube from people checking it out, they range from support
shatteredglassart (12 hours ago)
fuck all you haters. Bang Camaro ROCKS!
have you never played Guitar Hero or Rockband..they're on both.
shatteredglassart (12 hours ago)
I love Bang Camaro ^_^
To the mean spirited
spineK (17 hours ago)
this is so bad.. they cant sing individually so they have to cover it up with 15 guys... not even good sounding.
o0o8ra1no0o (15 hours ago)
booooo
To the kinda funny
VerdammtX (4 hours ago)
This is what happens when a frat house has one too many kegs to drink.
But of all of them so Far this has to be my favorite
LamotteROCK (18 hours ago)
NIGGA
Cause it’s either a show of Black Solidarity or this guys got some serious issues with racism. Either way it elicits a chuckle. People who know absolutely nothing about you, what you’re doing, or what you’re trying to say have no problems casting judgment. My heart goes out to actual famous people that deal with this on a daily basis from the entire world. It’s the culture we live in. If I don’t like something (Like Say The Jonas Brothers or Lady Gaga) I usually respond by turning it off and finding something I do like. It’s funny that people can’t handle that situation the same way.
I enjoyed a little bit of this sort of fame as I sat at the lap top and did some job apps and tried to find some rooms to book in, O.N.E. wants to move to Mondays so if I want to make any money at this I’m gonna have to try to find some place else to do so. Zot looks like it’s back on, so I’m gonna try my best to put that show back together. Got some great bands so we’re gonna score pretty big I think. We should make back our original investment.
Phone rings. It’s Dick Valentine from Electric Six, they’re in town tonight (like I would forget that) playing at Johnny Brenda’s on Girard and Frankfort. I planned on hanging out with them during the day but I remembered I needed to get my hair done so I would have to wait until the show to hang.
I washed my hair again and by the time I was done Yoni was there to do my hair. I’d been without braids since Friday and I’d had that ponytail since Saturday. It was nice to get the hair clean again and get it braided the way I usually do, lookin like my old self. Mind you I only look like my old self.
I went to the show and got the biggest hug from Emily (Electric Six Merch Girl) I associate this band with so many great memories from the tour. The rest of the band came in and we shared warm greetings. They tell me that they’re staying at The Crown Plaza Hotel on 18th and Market…the first place I ever worked. We shot the shit for a little while and Zach (who was my plus 1) and I pushed ourselves to the front.
The show was amazing like always. I’ve seen them more than ten times and they still blow me away as I succumbed to the Dance Epidemic. A douche bag threw a shirt on-stage and hit Percussion World (the drummer) right in the face he throws it into the crowd immediately and of course it hits me and drapes over my head. He was so apologetic, of all the people to hit. I almost died laughing. When they were done we spoke and hugged and all that and I went home.
I went another day without playing guitar. That can not happen again.
So I guess I’m famous now (looks at watch sees about 10 minutes left) lol
I woke up to my phone ringing off the hook, phone calls and text messages from people who stayed up and watched Kimmel to catch a glimpse of me, we all ended up getting more than we bargained for. Mostly everything was positive in terms of the feedback. People I hadn’t heard from in years shot me texts and emails and phone calls telling me how rad they thought the Kimmel appearance was.
I go on-line ot see if Push Push is up yet and I see the reviews on You Tube from people checking it out, they range from support
shatteredglassart (12 hours ago)
fuck all you haters. Bang Camaro ROCKS!
have you never played Guitar Hero or Rockband..they're on both.
shatteredglassart (12 hours ago)
I love Bang Camaro ^_^
To the mean spirited
spineK (17 hours ago)
this is so bad.. they cant sing individually so they have to cover it up with 15 guys... not even good sounding.
o0o8ra1no0o (15 hours ago)
booooo
To the kinda funny
VerdammtX (4 hours ago)
This is what happens when a frat house has one too many kegs to drink.
But of all of them so Far this has to be my favorite
LamotteROCK (18 hours ago)
NIGGA
Cause it’s either a show of Black Solidarity or this guys got some serious issues with racism. Either way it elicits a chuckle. People who know absolutely nothing about you, what you’re doing, or what you’re trying to say have no problems casting judgment. My heart goes out to actual famous people that deal with this on a daily basis from the entire world. It’s the culture we live in. If I don’t like something (Like Say The Jonas Brothers or Lady Gaga) I usually respond by turning it off and finding something I do like. It’s funny that people can’t handle that situation the same way.
I enjoyed a little bit of this sort of fame as I sat at the lap top and did some job apps and tried to find some rooms to book in, O.N.E. wants to move to Mondays so if I want to make any money at this I’m gonna have to try to find some place else to do so. Zot looks like it’s back on, so I’m gonna try my best to put that show back together. Got some great bands so we’re gonna score pretty big I think. We should make back our original investment.
Phone rings. It’s Dick Valentine from Electric Six, they’re in town tonight (like I would forget that) playing at Johnny Brenda’s on Girard and Frankfort. I planned on hanging out with them during the day but I remembered I needed to get my hair done so I would have to wait until the show to hang.
I washed my hair again and by the time I was done Yoni was there to do my hair. I’d been without braids since Friday and I’d had that ponytail since Saturday. It was nice to get the hair clean again and get it braided the way I usually do, lookin like my old self. Mind you I only look like my old self.
I went to the show and got the biggest hug from Emily (Electric Six Merch Girl) I associate this band with so many great memories from the tour. The rest of the band came in and we shared warm greetings. They tell me that they’re staying at The Crown Plaza Hotel on 18th and Market…the first place I ever worked. We shot the shit for a little while and Zach (who was my plus 1) and I pushed ourselves to the front.
The show was amazing like always. I’ve seen them more than ten times and they still blow me away as I succumbed to the Dance Epidemic. A douche bag threw a shirt on-stage and hit Percussion World (the drummer) right in the face he throws it into the crowd immediately and of course it hits me and drapes over my head. He was so apologetic, of all the people to hit. I almost died laughing. When they were done we spoke and hugged and all that and I went home.
I went another day without playing guitar. That can not happen again.
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