Heavens To Murgatroyd

I like when things are not what I expected. Eye openers that sneak attack. Bombshells of wonderment. Whether it’s a creation of my own or someone else’s, I like to have my ass kicked. Here are several things lately that have done as much.

Chow Truck (chowtruck.com)- If this was my last meal I would die of delight. K turned me onto this mobile cuisine that stops at spots all around the Salt Lake Valley. It’s technically a ‘roach coach’ with health enhancing, succulent & robust entrees. Seriously, the Panko Fried Tofu Tacos might be some of the best grub I have EVER (ever, ever) eaten. It is all SO tasty and affordable. Nothing on the menu is over $6! And ALWAYS get the Asian Spiced Root Chips to complement your order.

Nanowrimo (nanowrimo.org)- the month of November has been dubbed ‘National Novel Writing Month’ by some crazies from the bay area. Nanowrimo is thirty days of literary abandon. Participants begin writing on the first of November with the goal to have completed a 175 page novel ERR 50,000 words done by the 30th. This is my first year as an official accomplice and eleven days in I’m brutally behind. However, I do like what I’m writing. The fly by the seat of your pants storytelling angers the Virgo in me but it’s also engaging ideas in my brain that that have been comatose.

The Lazy Waves (Thelazywaves.com)- Fisch (danielmakesmusic.com) does amazing work and he continues to outstand. The Waves are a ‘Happy’ three-piece group without all that unimaginative cheer. ‘Happy’ in a soothing sort of way. Think ‘Tears For Fears’ over break beats. Their debut project of the same name is a hook filled chain reaction of sonic indie-airness. The lulling vocal talents of Mike Gross come together perfectly with the joyous melodies and assimilates into the sample-collaging of Daniel Fischer’s colorfully dense production. With textures of keyboard emphasis that are sprinkled in throughout the long play by Matt Glass, The Waves showcase the work of extremely commanding and intentional songwriters that flex their talents into new directions.

Chaos Walking Trilogy- If you think all YA fiction is supersaturated with emo-bity vampires or I could have thought of that tropes then think again. Patrick Ness has crafted a trilogy of books (I’m only halfway through the second, no spoilers!) that provide the reader with insight to human nature: compassion and cruelty, love and hatred, authoritarian and individualistic, honesty and deception. The read is engaging, entertaining and heavy with shocking revelations. He exposes the unsavory sides of man, much of which is offset by best of what humanity has to offer. Nothing can be anticipated or expected, new and unforeseen twists emerge to shock and surprise when you thought all possibilities have been exhausted. I REALLY enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy I think Ness is a more accessible writer. The three books of Chaos Walking are: The Knife Of Never Letting Go, The Ask And The Answer & Monsters Of Men. Google them, you won’t be disappointed.

Peace, DAG!

Too Much Coffee Tour Refill

A couple of weeks ago I rocked an instate tour of popular open mics & coffee shops along the Wasatch front aka UTAH. The idea of doing this type of presentation for the release of my first solo project grew from just a minuscule coffee bean almost a year ago. I thought instead of doing one specific ceedee release where maybe fifty plus people show up at some bar in an already apathetically saturated music scene: 1) I could hit a different type of crowd and 2) I could get used to playing as a solo instead of relying on my homies (Numbs, Rotten Musicians) & all the while fine tuning my performance (and yes, I still have miles to go). Here is a breakdown. Let’s do a rating of ‘Damn Good Coffee Cups’ zero to five with some notes…

Saturday, October 2nd: Velour in Provo. 3 out of five D.G.C.C.

This one doesn’t technically count since it is neither a coffee shop nor an open mic still it’s on here? The openers on the bill were Papertron & The Agents. DJ Shanty set it off with some glitch-down-electronic-noir. That Kaos-en-tendo does him right (Womp Womp). Papertron reminded me of mid-nineties ‘Provo Hop’ in the same vein of a Chump, if you will. Seeing The Agents rock live again was the highlight of the evening for me. Facts, Jay Playwords & Illumino have an awesome chemistry and it tore through the fabric of reality. We all need a new Agents EP/LP…whatever. The pseudo Numbs set went smooth. We did a handful of group songs after this Gunnar and myself split the time switching back and forth between solo jawns. I went through half my album and I think we played for over 45 minutes but I could be wrong. Shanty did a great job of jumping around the tunes since we really didn’t have a set…set list. It was nice seeing old friends and new fans. The sound was better than good & K got me a victory cake for my first show. Chocolate delicious.

Sunday, October 3rd: Greenhouse Effect in SLC. 4.5 out of five D.G.C.C.

When I play spots that I don’t normally frequent. Places that I have never been to. I get that feeling before I go on. That watchful, edgy, precarious & nefarious sensation. I’d say there was probably close to a hundred peeps crowded into an intimate living room type setting. The ‘stage’ was down the end of long hallway. And yes, there was a mic plugged into a guitar amp. Gulp. I signed up on the list and took the first spot. There are two rounds at this location and you get to do one ‘piece’ each round. The hostess kicked it off with some poetry-spoken word. She joked when introducing me saying it was my first time there, a Greenhouse Effect ‘virgin’. I went hard and fast with ‘Miniboss’. Fisch was in the place and did a significant job tuning the sound as I played. After the song finished I received a warm response from the crowd. Not what I expected at all. One kid specically referenced the Contra part on ‘Miniboss’. The hostess did another piece of poetry before the second round started and it was laced with innuendo. There was a mention of X-Wing fighters probing the deep trench of the Death Star. I was struck with imagery of Mon Mothma before I cannon balled into ‘Angel Dust’. Figuring the shamans could head nod along with the bass line…or dance. I will most likely go back to this place time to time. Awesome atmosphere. Good people and good times.

Monday, October 4th: Muse in Provo. 1 out of five D.G.C.C.

Not much to say here. The Juice N Java ‘Young & Restless’ drink I bought before I arrived had my Italian blood boiling. It was a rainy night in Happy Valley and the crowd was in the single digits. The guy who ran the show mentioned it as normal. I signed up first on the list again and ran through ‘Miniboss’, ‘The Sometimes Why?’ ‘Death Stars’ & ‘Angel Dust‘. The sound was plastic and my vocals seemed hot. I dropped a dollar in their tip jar and was outtie.

Tuesday, October 5th: Mo’s in Downtown SLC. 4 out of five D.G.C.C.

Mo’s is set up like an inebriated orchestra pit. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Both the dinner crowd and the hecklers have equal access to you, as they are right there at the stage. K, Fisch & Chase One-Two were in attendance and I wasn’t the only ‘rapper’ to perform on this particular night. Minute After 8 went first. One the two emcees very first line ‘I go raw dog, no condom’ I knew we were in for a treat. I’ll give it to them; Minute After 8 had the crowd into it. However, their choice to play over the restaurants surround sound and not through the stereo head right on stage made for a hard listen. The tracks cut in and out and then stopped completely. They had a homie with them that jumped in and started playing the drums that were set up. The host followed suit and grabbed his bass. And then, and only then some joker started yelling ‘drum battle’. I assumed he was a percussionist and wanted some. This angered one of the emcees and he started ‘battling’ the pest. I counted over eighteen ‘mother fuckers’ monophonically aimed at him. The situation sucked the air out of the place so much that the second kid on the list, spy hops singer/songwriter of the year for 2009, got two songs into his set and stopped. Not a ‘fuck you guys, I’m out of here’ stop but more of a shell shocked I’m not feeling it afterthought. I went third. Introduced as ‘The Virgin’ yet again I tore through ‘Miniboss’, ‘Angel Dust’, ‘Scoreboard’ (with help from Fisch on the chorus) & ‘Death Stars’. After my set, I swapped ceedee’s with other artists and the bartender (booker) took my contact info. The sound seemed solid and I felt that my performance had leveled up.

Wednesday, October 6th: Mestizo in Rose Park 3.5 out of five D.G.C.C.

If you live in SLC and haven’t been to Mestizo, head there now. They make (IMO) the tastiest coffee related beverages in the area. The ambience is second to none as well. I’ve been to the open mic here before and they have a lot of the spoken word variety. I was third on the list. K, Marissa & Fisch flew with me to the venue. We watched slap bass solos and heard penguin penis jokes. Alongside highbrow poetry. After a quick sound check (Boardwalk) I moved the mostly sitting crowd through ‘Miniboss’, ‘The Sometimes Why?’ & ‘Angel Dust’. This was the closest to achieving that high fidelity sound I had experienced. I thanked crowd and the hostess for letting me play. I jetted soon after the guitarist who writes only songs about Southern Utah finished.

Thursday, October 7th: Salt Rock Coffee in Ogden 0 out of five D.G.C.C.

Me: (calling earlier that day): Hey, I called last week and just wanted to make sure that you are still doing the open mic tonight?

Lady: Let me ask (Her shouting) are we still doing the open mic tonight?

Guy in background: (Yelling but faint since he isn’t holding the phone) No. No one showed up last week.

Lady: We cancelled it because no one showed last week. But, we still do them on the first Friday of each month.

Me: Oh, ok. Thanks.

(click)

Friday, October 8th: The Coffee Shop in Riverton. 0 out of five D.G.C.C.

I arrived right at 7pm so I could scrawl my name along the chalkboard that they have set up for participants only to see a note on the door.

‘We are sorry for any inconvenience. We will be closing early tonight at 10 o’clock. And we will be postponing open mic night until next Friday’

I went in and spoke to the barista. He apologized & said that Mike tried to call me? Which is strange since Mike doesn’t have my number. I did a quick Google search and saw that Whispers held their open mic the same night. I called them and it was on.

Whispers in Salt Lake City. 2.5 out of five D.G.C.C.

Have amp, will travel. Very low key place. The host was rambling through an acoustic set when K, Fisch and myself arrived. I was on right after and since everyone was sitting down enjoying teatime I thought I would oblige. The host kept saying the genre was ‘Rad’. I don’t think he could read my handwriting. The set up was simple and I was told afterward that the mic had a distortion effect on it, which was ‘kinda cool’. One guy on the couch pulled out his smart phone and recorded the three songs: ‘Miniboss’, ‘Angel Dust’ and the end cap…’War Machine’ (which is not on the album). I received a decent response from the crowd that was there. And yes, I performed the three songs sitting down. On to the next one.

Saturday, October 9th: High Point in West Jordan. 4 out of five D.G.C.C.

The reason this one didn’t get a five out of five was on me. Vocally I don’t think it was the strongest showing of the week, which is crazy because everything else fell in place fantastically. The posse showed up at 7pm. that’s when I found out I needed to actually show up at 6pm to sign in. The roster was full BUT…the barista was one of the guys from Minute After 8. The raw dog guy. He was able to get me a 15-minute timeframe that started at 10 o’clock. Weird in a karmic sort of way. My CRE/PRIDE peeps were in the house and together during the next two hours we sat and witnessed things that we can now check off the bucket list. Purple pants, check. Mouth trombone, check. Act after act singing somber tunes of breakup and heartbreak, check. My set was uncanny and seemed to be a welcomed sigh of relief. ‘Miniboss’, Angle Dust’ & ‘Scoreboard’ (Fisch on the assist once again). All the time, the hosts were working out the kinks with the sound design to perfection. Ad infintium.

The day after, I questioned it all like the Double Rainbow guy…What does it mean…and here’s what I came up with:

An instate micro-tour reminded me of an out of state macro-tour minus the long drives and traffic. Some nights are killer while others are meh. Still, you meet up with people and connect through music. I sold over half of my physical inventory. I had one person (not counting K or Fisch) follow me to two or more locations. I felt my live show getting tighter and exact. Even though I’m not exactly there yet. And I had a BLAST! It was way fun showing up, plugging in and playing. It gave me that raw, that unique, that hungry feeling. Like they used to say.

I felt accomplished.

By NO means am I going to take it easy. Are you kidding me? I still got a lot of PUSH left in this. However now I might be too big for coffee shops. Next up...Pizza joints!!!

Peace, DAG!

Patiri Photography is the BEST!

 
 
 
 

Check out these pictures from http://www.patiriphotography.com

'SelfHighFive' drops on 10-5-10

Too Much Coffee Tour 2010

 

Hey there BLOG peeps! Here are the dates for my 801/435 tour next week. Come on out & grab a latte...

The Too Much Coffee Tour Twenty Ten
Saturday, October 2nd: Provo! Velour 9pm (135 N. University Ave Provo)
Sunday, October 3rd: Brickyard! Greenhouse Effect 9pm (3231 S. 900 E. SLC)
Monday, October 4th: Provo! Muse 9pm (151 N. University Ave Provo)
Tuesday, October 5th: Downtown! Mo’s 9pm (358 SW Temple SLC)
Wednesday, October 6th: Rose Park! Mestizo 7pm (641 West North Temple SLC)
Thursday, October 7th: Ogden! Salt Rock Coffee 8pm (270 12th Street Ogden)
Friday, October 8th: Riverton! The Coffee Shop 7pm (12600 south 4013 west)
Saturday, October 9th: West Jordan! High Point 7pm (1735 west 7800 south)

Totem

Coming back to reality is an ironic use of a common human expression. It's something you hear every day put in a new light by extraordinary circumstances.

It might no longer matter to you what happens with the totem, you might walk outside instead of getting an answer. That's the authors choice to leave some with uncertainty. You might not like his or her decision to stop regretting and doubting is too passive. Do you need to PICK UP THE TOTEM before it produces an answer. Walking away from it could be cop out because of the nature of the totem. If he or she walks back in an hour later, the totem would still give an answer. That lacks actual resolution for the character, they need to take action to show how much they don’t care about the totem. If the answer doesn't matter to the character, then it needs to be played out in a way that doesn’t leave the answer spinning on a table. Is it or isn’t it is the recurring debate. Having that debate misses the point about characters resolution. And when it ends, it could be made more clear how irrelevant that debate is…while still leaving the debate unanswered.

Or…If you lost the totem during the journey would you start to have significant doubts.

Peace, DAG!

Is This Thing On?

 

Three months. Really, that’s how long it’s been? I’m sure I have been as busy as you were. Fault line shifts & solar events. Brimstone & char. An intrigue-filled arc including a neutral character which revolves around a rebellion and involves a leader…and so on. Anyways, I finished my solo LP. ‘SelfHighFive’ eiffel towers on 10-5-10. I’m in post-pro mode. Trying to get the planets to align. I think the project works on the number of levels it does & it is a good listen. Chaos running. Like an apocalyptic warning if you don’t get your head out of the idiot box. We are all under an ISHT ton of societal pressure to save the world…so get involved and get into.

More on a day in the life LATES, I need to go and check on Frankenringo. Soon come: movie, TV, music & life review(s)…

Peace, DAG!

Tell-All

‘Tell-All’ is presented as a quasi-screenplay, broken into acts and scenes. Alongside, elaborate stage and camera directions. "The scene begins with a tight shot of..." begins one chapter. Another starts, "In the establishing shot…

We, the audience, are only supporting players.

Told from the viewpoint of Hazie Coogan, a woman who has been taking care of actress Katherine "Miss Kathie" Kenton for ages. She's faithfully cleaned every spot in the house, watched every would be lover, polished every flaw in Miss Kathie's appearance. When a new man steps up to claim Kenton's love, Hazie just knows that he's out to use the aging starlet in some sort of ploy. When Hazie & Miss Kathie discover a secret manuscript written by said lover, they find that he's planning to write a scandalous ‘Tell-All’ of his life with Miss Kathie…complete with a grand finale death scene.

The bolded name drops are done in excess throughout the novel. As we know that Hollywood revolves around people, brands and trademarks. The over-arching attempt here is to provide a link from today's TMZ to the tattletale tabloids of old.

The Palahniuk rhythm flows through the 180 pages.

Lines like…

'toast-masturbating.' Or 'laud mouthing’. ‘was-bands’ Or ‘nothing but tan and bones’.

Occasionally a triplet of animal sounds or jungle ambiance prefaces other references. Signals to show that the actual conversation was just noise and the only thing worth noting were the names that people were dropping.

Sort of like Blah blah blah, Paris Hilton. Blah blah blah, Bieber.

Palahniuk, is a brilliant satirist who creates madcap adventures that lambaste modern life, yet manage to be so entertaining that you can't possibly criticize them for being nihilistic.

‘Tell-All’ is more glam than grit, for readers who love how he shapes our language. (3.5 out of 5)

Whatever Happened, Happened

I started watching LOST (the television show) back in 2005. People
that I worked with kept telling me they thought I would dig it since I
get into sci-fi/metaphysics/funny books/weird shit, etc. I was sick in
July? That year and so I rented season one and watched it within a
week. I was hooked. Some of my favorite episodes of season one
were/are: Walkabout, White Rabbit & Deus Ex Machina. Locke & Jack were
my favorite characters right off the bat. I LOVED the duality between
these two persona's (Faith vs Science). After my introduction into
this cool new mythology I made sure I didn't miss the second season
premier that September. Around the same time, I discovered 'PODCASTS'
and made it a point to download my two favs each week 'The Lost
Podcast With Jay & Jack' & 'The Transmission'. Both of these
productions were top notch and went even further into the theorizing
of what was actually happening.

Besides the fact that this show was BRILLIANT over six seasons. The
part of LOST that was the most fun for me was sharing ideas and
theories with friends and family. Writing words up on message boards,
blogging them, Printing off a hi-res color copy of the blast door map
from 'Lockdown' and naming the yet unknown hatches, Keeping track of
the summer tie-in online content (The LOST experience, FIND 815),
Trying to play the Via Domus PS3 game...you get the idea. I was in
full geek mode.

Sure there were/are many great shows on television. Dexter, The
Sopranos, The Venture Brothers, The Wire...to name a few. However, no
other show felt the way this one did in my opinion. It had cultural
references (history, science, philosophy, music & books), crazy
literary techniques (Flash backs, Flash forwards & Flash sideways),
recurring themes (Black & white, Fate & destiny, Life & death) and
many mysterious happenings. It also had superior writing, an amazing
cast and possibly the most beautiful location in the entire world.
These are things that I'm not sure we'll see again very soon, and that
should only add to its legacy. LOST was an incredibly special and
unique experience, just like the enormous community the show spawned
to support.

Thoughts on 'The End' (Spoiler ALERT!)

The Island was real. Everything that happened on the island that we
saw throughout the 6 seasons was real. ABC has already come out and
stated that the final image of the plane crash (during the credits)
was 'meaningless'. Oceanic 815 really crashed and they really
survived. The Island does keep the balance of 'good' and 'evil' in the
world. I won't pretend to know what 'The Source' is or the origins of
the the chamber with the stone cork, or what the heart of the island
truly is or how it got there in the first place. That's not the point.
The 'Protector' of the Island was also real. Jacob wasn't the first
and Hurley won't be the last. The only difference is that Jacob had
created a Monster (Pillar of smoke aka MIB) and needed to find a
loophole to kill it since 'The Rules' prevented him from doing so
(Again, not sure what the extent of 'The Rules' are...And again that
is not the point).

This is what started Jacob bringing 'Candidates' to the Island.
However, every time he brought people there MIB corrupted them and
caused them to kill one another.

Enter the Dharma Initiative. It was real as well. Dharma would end up
being corrupted but not before lending MIB a powerful piece in the
game, Benjamin Linus. I was under the impression that Ben was doing
Jacobs work but now at the end I think its pretty clear that the MIB
was manipulating him all along (The Purge, Killing Jacob, etc).

I'm still not sure if Jacob brought Dharma to the Island or if they
'happened' to just find it. Jacob DID bring the candidates. Who really
knows how many candidates he brought there decade after decade.
Oceanic 815 was the end game. The thing is, Jacob wanted to give the
Lostaways the one thing both him and his brother did not get: A
choice, free will. Letting them choose who amoung them would be heir
to the throne. Did he know all along that Jack would be the one to
kill man in Locke and that Hurley would be the protector in the end?
Maybe, maybe not. I think he did. The writers didn't need to answer
this directly and they shouldn't need to. It would ruin the fun.

The resolution of the plot and these characters was powerful. I didn't
want to say goodbye. Sun & Jin-Soo Kwan, Sayid Jarrah & Shannon,
Boone, Frank, Miles, Rose & Bernard, Desmond & Penny, Locke, Hurley,
Claire & Charlie, Sawyer & Juliet. Kate & Jack. The pacing and the
emotion was pitch perfect. And in the end, Jack got to do what he
always wanted to since 'The Pilot'. Save his fellow Lostaways and in
the 'Flash Sideways' he saved everyone by helping them move on.

Not to mention...

The showdown between Jack & man in Locke was INCREIDBLE. The cliffs,
the rain, the music, the stunning visuals. The final two pieces in the
game that Jacob and his brother began playing nearly two thousand
years ago. FUCKING EPIC!

Sideways world aka Limbo:

One of my favorite episodes ever was 'The Constant' (season 4). Check
Lostpedia if you need to. To break it down, we are all linked to
certain people during 'The Most Important Moments Of Our Lives'
(Christian Shepherd). These connections are what matter. Think about
it for a second, have you ever did something that was really mundane
or go somewhere you didn't want to or need to and have your life
changed by just a simple experience. You might have marked it up as
coincidence or chance. But really, was it? Throughout all six seasons
the show worked religious/spiritual angles. Through these philosophies
and thought the 'Flash Sideways' or Limbo was created.

The Lostaways (Hurley?) subconsciously created this world where they
would exist until they were 'Awakened' (i.e. reconnected with one
another). Once this happened, they could all move on together, move
forward. Live together or die alone. What was behind the glowing
double doors? Heaven? Reincarnation? Another Life? It feels great NOT
to know. The only thing the matters in the scope of these characters
lives is that they got to walk through it together.

The how of LOST is interesting, but the why is so much more
compelling. It could have went the way of 'Midichlorians' but they
left the mystery. Was the Island magic or advanced tech as to appear
magical? Was the light connected to all of us being alive or did it
just maintain the island.

Or was it the same light that they were going in the afterlife. 'The
Source' of life, death and rebirth.

I'll forever keep my own ideas and reservations about the island. You
should too. Don't let anyone tell you what it should be. As one
storyline comes to an end, another one opens. And no one (especially
not me) should be able to completely define the rules and reality of
exactly what we watched for the last six seasons.

I'm just glad I was along for the ride. What an amazing ride it was.

Peace, DAG!

PS. This isn't the last I'm going to write about this either. Hell,
Jay & Jack are going to PODcast about it for the remainder of twenty
ten...Legacy!

PSS. We are ALL pieces of what came before us. LOST is one of the
reasons I decided to write my own novel (story). Believe that!