the roof is on fire: bloodhound gang
sleep now in the fire: ratm
rock co-kane flow: MF doom ft. de la soul
under the bridge: rhcp
incubus: make yourself

You know the 6 degrees idea?

My patience is growing thin with some people but I remember that I should just let that go, as I could not control everything, or help out everybody...

On another topic I went out to a friends birthday party. After a bit of talking around, I get the feeling that everybody knows everybody. I don't mean just the group of people there. Then I realize, it is because they do. If anyone is only 6 degreees from everyone else in the world, then in houston everyone is only 2 or 3 degrees away from everyone else. The reason why you get the feeling that everybody knows everybody is because they do...everybody is either a friend of a friend of a friend or an enemy of an enemy of an enemy...

Splitting up practice time: there is no "later"

Its really easy to get lazy and become an excuser when it comes to putting down time writing or practicing music. Even though writing music is fun and i'm passionate about it, its a lot of heady work. It takes a lot of focus to be creative for a sustained amount of time... numerous things will distract you. youtube. being tired. tv. the internet. thinking about your other issies is distracting. thinking about chicks is distracting.

The biggest mistake I used to make is saying "I'll do it later". Well the problem with that is, if I don't have the discipline to do it now I won't have the discipline to do it later. There is no "later" Plus the later in the day it is, the more tired I will become. Sometimes its all a bit easier to get started if you get momentum.

The second mistake I still am guilty of is getting distracted and not knowing that I am distracted. Such as watching that simpsons video on youtube. Or even looking at my laptop's screen could be distracting. The only cure is to refocus, and since its so hard to just go from one thing to another for some reason, if I get up to come go somewhere and come back the momentum allows me to refocus. I'm sleepy and I'm not certain if I am making sense. I also find it easier to write music and not get distracted if I get someone to collaborate...cause I'm just not gonna sit there and take a nap if I brought someone along to help me out with the music writing.

So here is how I need to divide my daily practice time to be successful (not be an excuser)
1. write for one hour
2. practice for voice lesson the next hour
3. practice the piano or guitar for one hour

luckily at school they have these private piano practice rooms where I could just camp out and just have quiet.

Some people work in reverse

I always start a song with a drum line and then I build the chords and melody on top of that. I work bar by bar...

So I was surprised today that a drummer friend works backwards...and he likes to start with the melody and attach a feel to that. and everything is just jammed out.

So i'm going to start thinking...what is the opposite of the process I would usually do...what are all the other ways of doing something. people are aware that the opposite of their method exists but they don't really explore it to see what it really entails. see, you think something is simple because you do it everyday but really, when you break things down you'll see something else.

its like drawing faces...you see faces everyday but until you learn to draw them well, you actually don't truly know what you're looking at!

my mind is restless

as you have noticed i post a lot. I need to have a songwriting session that lasts an hour everyday. From now on I will commit to that regardless of anything else that is happening in my life. I'm commited to this. I'm also going to bring other people in to work with me since I like working with people.

hit me up if you want to collaborate.

I am going to write a song about

direct. except people who don't know about direct, will think the song is simply about being straightforward. about not being wishy washy. About being a man and not playing any games about it.

once again paul mccartney has beat me to it:



Hey Jude

"Hey, Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better.

And any time you feel the pain, hey, Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Hey, Jude! Don't let her down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember, to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better."

oh well, i'll just have to write another song about it. its not like any idea is entirely original anway.

p.s. that shit is a little too happy for my tatse.

diphthongs are sexy

Why is that red more of a surprise than a moon when you rise?
Why should you keep knives out when you have to mirror your run?
Why should I do that when making love with a vibrating robot is more fun?
Keep that yummy yummy in your tummy tummily and you'll be hummily bumbily!

Three blind dwarves get together in the trunk of a tree.
As mad as you are, 3 steps ahead of you love will arrive to where you're going.
A giant air conditioner will solve global warming
and the reason why she has a baby in her stomach is because she eats babies!

making a team

sure it is great to be independent when you need to be, but I don't believe in that hard core....people are screwing themselves over by being too independent when you could get things done much faster, more intelligently, and efficiently if you get a team. you can be both collaborative and individualistic, not either/or. anyway...what was I writing about?

ok I am looking for these people at this point:
1. collaborators - people who could write music or lyrics
2. a drummer to help me write
3. collaborators - people who don't write music - It helps just to have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off off.

i guess thats it at this point. Eventually I'm going to need management, business people and lawyers and web designers and all that hoopla. no use thinking about that now, thats seems so far ahead.

you know, songwriting is an art but being a musician is a business and i'm going to take the business side seriously.

Current recordings and ideas

I produced a song for a friend. By produced I mean wrote the music to his lyrics. Anyway, it being the first song I ever truly completed and recorded, sounds like a first attempt. I'm fine with it, the friend seems excited about it (so much so he cried to get into mood when we recorded it). I had a friend come in and do the drumming on it and he did an amazing job. A really good engineer is recording it so i'm excited to hear the results.

My whole point is that I'm going to need software that could print notation. That way I won't have to be there when they record. Cause hearing the same song you wrote over and over 50 times will drive you CRAZY. You know the song is not going to switch something up on you...that would be freaky.

It is absolutely SURREAL to watch your friends play the drums and sing the melody parts that you wrote on your little laptop...

Anyway, as soon as I get over my blocker of singing in front of people I am going to be wrecking. Where the heck am I going to find my next source of inspiration? I'm going to start a relationship by saying I need a source of inspiration for my songwriting. Then tease the girl that maybe I'm going to have to write hate songs about her, instead of love songs. Maybe that is too harsh.

My goals and plans

The short version: my goal is to become a songwriter that is both artistically and commercially successful. Write great songs, stay off of drugs and out of courtney love. (bad joke)

I hated the music and entertainment industry for long time. It is filled with phonies and dicks, maybe I am wrong. But I have always loved art and I've always wanted to be an artist and a composer. Except I don't want to be the poor starving artist stereotype. My idols are not elliott smith and kurt cobain but they are 50 Cent and Jay Z. It doesn't have anything to do with rap or rock; it has to do with mental attittude.

50 Cent and Jay Z aren't only successful artists and musicians but they are successful businessmen. They aren't thugs, they're warrior-ceos. They ain't the soft she-man stereotype. I can't fucking stand the soft she man. As much I love elliott smith's music I want to slap him around and tell him to grow some fucking man balls.

Anyway, my point is that I believe art is supposed to be both beautiful, neccessary and practical. I think the starving artist is really just a bad one that is out of touch with the world. I think great art and music must both be artistically great and commercially viable. Both/and. NOT either/or. You can write a great 50 minute art song in your basement with abstract noise added, but nobody is feeling that shit.

The second thing I have to say is that I get the feeling some people get into the entertainment industry because they want to be "big stars". I really hate that crap. I don't hate people who want to be stars: that is their business and I have nothing to do with it. I'm fine with them wanting it. But my own value system is that I'm all about the music and the art, and I don't want to become a successful songwriter because I want to be famous or something. Honestly the money and wealth, I want. The women I want. The art and creativity I want. But I don't need or want fame, and I don't want anything in ridiculous proportions. I'm all about the art, not the ego.