Recapping last two days

We trekked over to New York bright and early and met up with two friends Zara and Matt. They had just bought a new house and the place was incredible. They showed us around and we chatted for a bit before heading up to New York where they were joining us as Sinister and Smiley. I just met them that day and they were really cool people. Matt was a sound engineer and Zara worked in visuals/video. They met working on The Blue Man Group.

We left for Aurora, NY before they did. On the way up there the snow started coming down in fits. It's pretty cool. It had been te first time I've stepped in snow in years! Definitely a treat.

We got to Wells College by sundown and had trouble finding the place we were to be at and had trouble getting a hold of the booker. The place looked like something straight from some Ivy League school that you see in the movies. Old buildings and architecture. I had to take a picture in my Napoleaon pose. I couldn't help it.

If it wasn't for Zara we probably wouldn't have found it in time. She found some helpful people and we were on our way. There was no PA in sight and by the time we got it up and running they only had one mic for the 4 of us. That wasn't going to work so we got Tiff's PA out. Luckily. The crowd was a lot of fun. Very receptive. Sinister and Smiley were awesome singing some traditional folk and bluegrass tunes. Tiff rocked as usual and felt pretty good about my set.

After we met some fans and took some pics and signed autographs. They were such great people! It's always fun getting to chat with new people out and about.

By the time the show was over we grabbed a bite, said goodbye to Matt and Zara and headed to the room thy reserved for us at the school. Get this, it was called The Profits Chamber! Awesome! We went to the security guard and he gave us long winded directions. We left with our skeleton key they give us (kick ass!) and went on our adventure to find this room. When we walked in I swear to you it was like walking into the movie The Shining!! I was creeped the fuck out! So fun! We were wondering around when we heard from the other side of the hallway keys jingling and footsteps. It was the security guard tht had helped us before. Great dude. He was a heavy set man, hair cut close to the scalp, and with the attitude and look of people I've met from Hawaii, which as we found out he spent 15 years in. Anyhow he laughed when he saw us, because he figured we'd get lost. Oncehe showed us to our room I was stunned on how incredible this place looked. Red decor EVERYWHERE!! Felt like a horrors e a mobster movie. I could sleep much because of a runny nose, and I was too scared to go up turn a light in to find a tissue in case a ghost would be staring back at me. No shit.

We slept at midnight and woke up at 4. The van had started to complain, it was bitter cold, and we were tired but determined for our 21 hour drive half way across the continent from New York to Kansas.

3rd Day on the East Coast Tour

I'm still not use to the time change. Last night I stayed up till 5am mulling over ideas, concepts and memories for hours after I went to bed at midnight. Ugh. Kinda threw off joining Tiff in taking the van to the shop at 9am. She came to my door and I slept walked my way over. She asked if I was coming along and if I could get ready in 10 minutes but I had checked out long ago. I basically just stared at her until she walked away.

Our pick up show at 1pm was great. We had played last year and it was nice to see a familiar place. The downtown area of Doylestown I thought was charming. We hauled our PA in since theirs was out of commission. I thought I could fix it but that thing was helpless. Joanne, who we have been staying with, came and brought some friends and there were some locals. Fun show overall there at The Zen Den. They had a cool mini piano there that I wanted to tinker with SO badly but there was a piece of paper instructing everyone not to because it was old win thy round. Funny how my desires were flanked by a simple measly piece of paper with something chicken scratching on it.

You never know who you'll meet. Apparently there was a lady there that worked for an entertainment article for the area thAt took a liking to us. She was great, and her name was also Joanne. As you'll see in a following paragraph the East Coast is full of them (Joanneses).

Let me give an insight into my character. Initially since it was last minute we were playing for tips. Plus they had another act they booked weeks before. At the end of our show we received a stack of money. At first I thought they were tips so I thought, "heeeeell yeah", but then since the booker wasn't there I thought that they had confused us for the next band. One part of me was thinking "take the money and run! You're on tour from LA, you should be getting paid anyhow!" Other influences said "the other band is local anyhow they don't need the money!" It was all making sense to me. I wanted to take it truth be told. Plus for a business it would've been chump change! Despite all my illusions of taking advantage of this and making off with some cash, my over developed sense of conscience stepped his fat ass in the way. Truth is I couldn't walk off with that money that wasn't mine and having made a verbal contract. So I walked up to the counter and asked if they had mistaken us for the other band. To my surprise the cute girl behind the counter said the one to give us the money was a manager and he was aware that there were two bands performing. BONUS! Looks like we ended up with the money anyhow.

On the way home the van sounded like it was going to crap out on us again, but we trekked on to a restaurant called Wawa. It wasn't even a restaurant, it was like a 7/11 and they had this AMAZING sandwich shop there. Philly cheesesteak, sautéed onions, roasted pepper, Parmesan, with fresh tomatoes and spinach aaaaauuuummmmmm, so damn good. At a gas station! Are you fucking kidding me! Craziness. Anyhow, If you're traveling by, stop here. Later I found out they are known for there Mac and cheese.

We got back to Joanne's place and she had prepared a table full of appetizers. Some friends started joining in one by one. One lady we met was hilarious. She had some great commentary. So much so Tiff was raving about making a book of her quotes called, Insights by Joanne. Seriously, I would buy it. And with that I've decided that the East Coast has the highest concentration of Joanneses in the United States and perhaps the world.

Over fed, tired, and happy.

2nd day on Tour

These chocolates are the bane of my existence.

What you see in this picture basically sums up our day off in PA. Food, wine, chocolates, and a brief songwriting session.

Start of the Second East Coast Tour

Started with a red eye flight from LA to PA on Virgin Airlines. First time on Virgin and it looked like a dance club in there. Neon blue and some sort of pink light everywhere. Tried to chat with other passengers on their computers, but nobody else was online. Spent the majority of the time listening to music and watching a show called boingboing.net which sounds like a middle schoolers idea of a great porn video title, but was a show highlighting creative projects and music videos online. One video that caught my eye was to a song called "everything changes". I'll have to remember to look it up.

Needless to say I didn't get any sleep when I landed at 5:30am. Tiff was stuck in traffic on the way to the airport, but it gave me enough time to call my friend Josh who was about to welcome his daughter Abigail on her first birthday.

We drove straight to our first show at Gloucester County Community College in Sewell, NJ. We got there an hour or two early so we took full advantage to catch up on rest from her being road weary (she had been touring for 2 weeks before I arrived) and me and my sleepless trip.

Tiff parked and left the car on the sidewalk, and once security found us I parked it in the presidents spot because I thought they directed me there. I thought it was strange, but who was I to argue. Our friend Manny joined us on percussion for an attentive crowd and a full lunch from the cafeteria which tore up my stomach.

On the way back to PA, we talked about the excuses we tell ourselves that keep us from reaching our goals. In other words when we say "once we have [this] I can do [this]". Definitely an inspiring conversation. We also found an abandoned house that had some great textures and crooked angles. Love that look.

After a trip to the automotive shop for some concerning fits the van was throwing we came to Tiff's boyfriend's parent's house. We met up with his sister and headed straight to the liquor store and grocery store. After a well deserved dinner, drinks, and Duck Dynasty I find myself closing the day off with this blog.

Can't wait for what's next.

The band's trip to the TV station!!

We had such an incredible experience with the crew of The Music Box.  Our first TV experience was so positive and unforgettable thanks to them. From the moment we stepped in that studio we felt like we had known everyone in the production crew for years!

Needless to say we were all pretty excited. We were cracking jokes left and right and every one was in high spirits. After shooting the interview they asked me if there was anything I would like to go back over. Honestly, I was so worked up and excited about the interview that I couldn’t really recall what I had said or done. There was a feeling that reassured me that nothing was out of hand so I followed that intuition. While being interviewed by Michelle, she made it feel like a natural and easy-going conversation so hopefully my responses read that way in the playback. Otherwise, I hope their editor is making some magic happen. Honestly though, speaking with Michelle was so much fun. I’m looking forward to more interviews in the future.

The crew was excited to try out new camera shots and try some new arrangements and we were stoked to be on TV. It’s a winning combination. When we started setting up a couple of the crew members put a camera to the end of my guitar. It was kind of like those cameras skydivers put at the top of their helmets to get some crazy shots of themselves falling from the sky. They showed us the footage and it looked deliciously fantastic. It’ll be a nice touch I’m sure. As we were checking my microphone I turned around to see them attaching another to the bell of Mackey’s trombone. I thought to myself, “this is going to be awesome.”

Before recording the performances I recall being ecstatic to let the first song rip. The lights were hot. There was an energy in the air that kept me well aware and alert. As I looked at all the members of the band and back to the production crew all I could see were happy faces and a feeling that whatever this is it’s extremely good. Francisco had some great ideas and explained a great deal about what was going on in the process. During recording I would glance over to Michelle and Jennifer dancing over in the corner of the room behind the cameras having a great time. The support, approach and execution of the production was professional and efficient. They were sharp and knew what they wanted to capture on film. We just had to come in and do what we love to do.

As we were wrapping up I heard audio playback of our performance. Jacob was in the audio room cooking up an incredible mix. It had a lot of punch and fullness. They had done some brilliant work capturing the sound. Everyone was gathered around the door an in the room taking in the music. The final mix is going to be remarkable I’m sure. We can’t wait to hear the mastered tracks from Jacob. The man knows what he’s doing no doubt about it.

We are very grateful to have had such and amazing experience with El SegundoTV: The Music Box. Now we look forward to finding our way more often to TV land in the following months and years. We’re hooked. A huge thanks to the production crew! Can’t wait to see the final product. A watch party is in order.

Fighting the Forces of Evil & Eat Impossible for Breakfast!!!

It begins with this poster:



HELL YEAH COSMIC FLYING MANATEES!! I may have been borderline delusional when I got invited by my good friend and accomplished singer-songwriter Tiff Jimber to go on tour with her. As you can see by this poster I created for the tour which I entitled "I Eat Impossible for Breakfast" I thought I would do something subtle. It was hilarious how many people responded to this poster when it was posted. They were entertained. I must admit, I was entertained just making it. So, I figure why not have fun with making these things. If I laugh, someone else out there would.

The follow up is an homage to the Golden Age of Comic Books.



One of these days I will rig it so blasts of light rays shoot out of my guitar,  you'll see! By the way, evil has nothing on us. Especially in SPACE!! Yeah, I don't know why the sudden space-kick. Maybe the more the ridiculous the better. These shows are going to be STUPENDOUS!!

Luis and the Amazing Exploding Amp

With pure AWESOMENESS, dammit!! Ha, well, that's only partly true. It was in the middle of a set at the Jester in Ojai, CA. Far away from any of my resources where I could find a quick amp substitution. We were jamming along with Cliff Beach. It was on the last song. It was my turn to solo so of course I turn crank it up to cut through the madness. Thing is, one of my effects is a bit out of control and pushes the sound beyond acceptable limits. At first it sounds like my amp has been smoking cigars for 70 years and just cleaned his throat with sandpaper. It cuts out. Cuts in. Flutters a bit. Then absolute silence. What. the. hell.

At this point I feel like an amateur: back turned to the audience, crouched over my amp, fiddling with the volume, on off switch, and the input jack. I check each over a dozen times like it's going to make a difference. Somehow I'm not all that upset about the amp crapping out on me. I mean, I've had that thing since I was 15! It was a junker practice amp. If anything I'm impressed it lasted this long! It's taken tumbles down stairs, numerous kicks, and various beverages spilling over it. I was, however, nervous about how we were going to play the next 2 hours of music we were booked for. We scrambled talking to people who may have a connection to an amp we could use for the night. Luckily, it was Ruben's hometown so he knew people. After a few minutes he came up to me and said, "I got us an amp! It's a half stack." At this point my eyes widen remembering how much fun it is to play out of those amps.  10 minutes to go we dove into a car, flew over to this dudes place, hauled the half stack into the car and got back on the dot. The rest of the night, you can imagine I was pretty stoked to be jamming on some great sound equipment.

As it is now, I've been on a bad streak of breaking things: A recording mic, a mic stand, foot petal, a little handle on my guitar, and now my amp. I won't even get started on my car. Anyhow, it's not that I don't take care of my stuff, it's just that 1 little slip and it all goes to hell. Well, we'll see if I can manage to rig this amp back together. Frankenstein-style.