Live Tonight at Taste in College Park!
So I’ve been neglecting this site lately, and I hope to get better about it in the very near future. But nevermind that for now. I’m playing tonight at Taste in College Park. Doors are at 9, I should be on around 10. Louis Defabrizio is on just after me, and then I’ll be retaking the stage with The Herons sometime late in the evening. Cover’s only $5, so come on out!
LIVE! TONIGHT! Austin Coffee & Film @ 9PM.
I’m opening for Robin Yukiko tonight at Austin Coffee & Film in Winter Park, FL. We’re both going to be awesome, so you should come enjoy the show. That’s all for now. It’s a busy day.
Taste in College Park this Saturday night (6/13)
Come out to Taste in College Park (717 W Smith St, Orlando, FL) this Saturday night for live performances by me, me, and someone else. More accurately, it’s a Herons show with opening sets by The Brick Sound and me (doing Ferris Wheel Junkies songs). So you can catch me doing my singer/songwriter thing at 10 and my rockstar lead-guitarist thing with The Herons sometime just after 11. Also, the opening set will mark the live debut of Another Mile, which is exciting. I love that song. See you there!
It’s been a while… odds and ends.
First off, I think I found some new musicians to play with… maybe. I’ve been so busy with other things lately that we haven’t had a chance to get together. But I’m optimistic that this could work out, and with some luck I’ll be playing my songs again for the local folk in a little while. Also on the music front, I had my Washburn frets redressed at Guitar Factory on Edgewater. I can’t give the guys there a high enough recommendation. They know more about guitars than anyone has any right to know, and they stand 100% behind their work. Seriously, if you need guitar work done in Central Florida, go to Guitar Factory.
Sticking with the music theme, The Herons, my other band, will be playing Taste on Saturday, June 13. I believe we go on sometime around 10, and the show is going to be recorded, possibly for a webcast. We have some great songs, and Taste has some great food & drinks, so all in all it should be a great night.
Oh… more on music. I caught Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction down in West Palm Beach a few weeks back, thanks to Tamar Levine. I probably wouldn’t have gone to that show were I not already heading down there to visit Tamar, but man… Nine Inch Nails really impressed me, musically. The production was really stripped down (compared to previous tours apparently), so the songs themselves took center stage, and they more than held up to the scrutiny. Jane’s Addiction was impressive too, even if mostly for the sheer entertainment factor. In fact I think I caught something just looking at Dave Navarro.
Anyway, I hope to update this site more frequently in the coming weeks, provided I don’t get distracted by other projects. Speaking of which… before I go, a quick plug for the last site I worked on… Fastpitch Sales. I was trying to get away from the cookie-cutter layout of most sporting goods stores. I think it worked. I’m happy with it. I should try some cross-promotional stuff from now on where I negotiate Ferris Wheel Junkies autoplay into the homepage of all future clients. Think they’d go for it? No? Me neither.
Ben Folds tonight at Hard Rock!
Ben Folds’ new tour kicks off tonight in Orlando, and I’ve got a front-row ticket. Needless to say, I’m pretty darn excited.
Many Muses & Murfins and Burglars
Just a quick note (or two) about a couple friends. First off, former Ferris Wheel Junkies drummer Austin McMahon recently released a new CD entitled Many Muses. Many Muses was an Editor’s Pick at CD Baby and shows off Austin’s diversity not only as a drummer but also as a composer. I’d write a review here, but I don’t feel I can do it any better justice than my good friend Kirk over at Murfins and Burglars. Suffice it to say, Austin is an incredible talent, and I often blame my current drummer-search woes on the fact that he pretty much spoiled me while simultaneously setting the bar too high for anyone else who might follow in his stead. In short, check out Many Muses.
Now back to Murfins and Burglars, Kirk Hamilton’s blog… Kirk is another extremely talented friend of mine from college, and if you’ve got some time to kill you could do far far worse than to wander around his blog reading priceless entries ranging from The Many Bowls of 1778 9th Avenue to the oft-recurring Monday’s Person I want to Be. Beyond his seemingly effortless skill with a pen (or keyboard in this particular instance), Kirk is also a prolific musician. His new album, The Exited Door is also currently available at CD Baby (with some tracks currently streaming on his myspace). My favorites are No Crow Scarecrow and The Bird Women of Golden Gate Park. For me, the former sounds like a Ben Folds – Guster collaboration reworked for inclusion in a Joss Whedon musical, specifically for the big emotional climax (which undoubtedly will end in a cliffhanger). The latter sounds like a lost piece of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois. If you’re a fan of rich melodies and lush intrumentation, you’ve gotta pick up what Kirk’s putting down. Seriously? I just wrote that?
Guitar troubles
So at least I was right about one thing… I am embarrassingly bad with guitar maintenance. The buzzing wasn’t being caused by the neck angle; it was being caused by worn frets. So I made the wrong adjustment, which led to the intonation problems. Bill at Guitar Factory got the neck back into alignment pretty easily, but I need my frets redressed. That will take around 2 weeks (when I eventually decide to leave it with them). In the meantime I can try to play lightly while I record (to minimize buzzing) or I can use one of the Ovations (which I usually only play plugged in). Decisions, decisions…
Drat! Foiled again.
Apparently my Washburn needs a setup. I sat down this afternoon to record ‘Another Mile‘ and ‘Mexico’ (Jump Little Children cover) for YouTube, but intonation just wouldn’t hold. I probably screwed something up messing with the truss rod adjustment the other day. Note to self: buzzing > poor intonation. I’m sure the guys at Guitar Factory can get things back in line for me tomorrow… it’s probably a simple fix, but I’m embarrassingly bad with guitar maintenance.
So, if all goes according to plan (which seemingly never happens) there should finally be some videos up on YouTube by tomorrow night.