Wednesday, June 9, 2010

John Locke: Stages

It started with a ball point pen drawing. I scanned that and used GIMP to burn and dodge the contrast back into it. then I gave it a coat of semi translucent paint and then I added more shadows and highlight. Anyway, This is my tribute to John Locke and the actor who plays him, Terry O'Quinn. LOST was a game changer and a life changer, as lame as it may seem.







Molly Ultra Covers The Kills

The Kills provide endless amounts of inspiration to me. They are one of the greatest things to ever happen. This is my tribute to them; a recorded cover version of Gypsy Death and You from Keep On You Mean Side.



Here is a slide show of photos that I have taken at the Kills live shows over the years.Some of the images are stills from video, too. The focus is on Jamie mostly.



And here is video taken by me 2 years ago at The El Rey theatre in Los Angeles. They are performing a Captain Beefheart cover called Drop Out Boogie

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Love Song for the Illusive Stranger (love of my life, life of the moment)

You are a man
You are not a silly thing
A man of non- fiction and action
If you feel I’m sane then you can believe in you by my attraction
If a man is measured by what he does
Then you have it marked
If a man is what you can see in him by standing back and looking through him
You have it
No one can call you anything but a king
You’re honesty may not be words
You are honest when you sing
Truthfully letting the sound come down
Leaving only passion and a gleam
I’ve never caught you looking at the camera
But you always look so good
In pictures you are standing strong
And pure as pure light shines through you
From pure electricity to pure electric sensation
Electric is the word sounding out your wail
Lights lights electric fire in your hair
Modern you man
You don’t want to go back to blues
But you’ll island hop in your modern shoes
Leave the explorers to search for the past
Back and backward
But you my matador push past the landlord
You go east and west and to some place now
And with others lusting forward
Now comes the truth the revelation I am embarrassed
I don’t know you and I love you
You are a man
And while other men are men as well
I claim you as my pick
Please don’t ask how I can tell
When has love ever been too quick?
If I were deciding I would send in the saints
When ever has love come in too quick
In a business meeting of monied men
When has it come too quick?
In a scary house of the struggle for control
When has love beat a beating's punch to the punch too quick?
Love at first sight is not about seeing
But vision over visibility
A vision of pure electric beauty comes and lasts for a second
You know it’s ephemeral, you are the art maker
Give yourself to me and I will never betray that risk, I will be your defender

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Loose Song Ideas (Pills and Crowns Will Bring Us Down)

That machine couldn’t stand or understand my love for you
Getting in first place was always useless
If you’ve no scars to show, no harbored bruise

Our minds inside us are our fate
So we are given the patience to wait
For that thing called will
Leave out all those pills
We make it up that hill

While the ones who won’t wait are going in for the kill
But we don’t seek that thrill, we don’t seek the crown
Our hands kept clean from blood though our hands may be down

our hands are down but
Our hands are clean and
we come out of the woods to follow brighter gleams
Not the dull and crowded shamble hooks
Reflection from the light of a spook



We have to write the words to say
If we can’t think of words to say
We say the words to say
If our problems become non problems too fast
We forget forget how we got here in the first place

If we divide
Who makes our minds
Up and down
A subtle clown
Could have you laughing
If he does it right

To teach is a thing of beauty
And To learn if you wanna learn
If you don’t it’s okay
But get out of our way
And don’t try to bring us down

If we get the better part of the deal
We will share it

But please don’t deny trying a first new meal
If you can bear it.

The only thing worse than forgetting how we got here in the clear for now
Is not knowing or caring cause this life is worth sharing

We got ourselves a rocket ship
That we didn’t get by knowing it
You want to do it again
Sharing a strange mind
It bought us some time


And we’re all going the same way

Don’t force it down
Our souls are lost and quickly found
Don’t make it bad by turning around
We can make it in steps
Or we can do it in bounds
But the worst you could do is to crave a crown

Monday, March 8, 2010

Wanting Out

Watching the critics. At home, we the cynics
Forgetting what we are watching for a long minute
But it’s redeeming what it’s like to be alive
Feeling that we are far removed
And all while you sit in your living room,
Wanting to know why you’ve never been in love

And the song maker is guilty as all
Making judgments or singing the song
It’s hard to get through a sunny day
In such a lovely place
Without the animal pawing from the inside
Tearing all of your patience away

Calling everyone a tool as they ask silly questions
You are the smiling fool, the animal’s been let in
Heart flutter and a shaky draw
Pulling a spoon from the drawer
Eating a distraction
Waiting for anxiety to stop

I want out, I want out
But I can’t stand up for too long before sitting down
Give me strength, give me strength
Tell me how I got this sickness, how low have I sank
Send it in a letter to where I am right now
I left my home, I’m out and down

I’ve made a choice to let love in
His is a magic touch but for a human friend
It’s not any help to tell
Everyone with a crutch of their own
Can’t see it if you’re happy alone
You won’t ask for strength so it may be just as well

Reading your pain a hundred times
Keeping you company against the enemy lines
I was never smart enough to get you to care
I participated in fake nights
Encouraging the “sweet” life
So I wouldn’t call you hanging up on me unfair

By the end of this I have lost all original thought
Panicking my health away yet I nearly forgot
I guess me writing it all out helps
So lovely boy, When you get done
Pretending to have so much fun
Try and remember the loudest truth you’ve ever felt


I want out, I want out, I want out
But I can’t stand up long before I sit down
Give me strength, give me strength
Tell me how I got this sickness, how low I’ve sank
Send it in a letter to where I am today
I’ve left my home, I think I gave it away

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Incapable

haven't felt this down in a while.
If i had to act out a lie it would be a smile.
Don't steal my blank expression as a device.
don't think I won't notice just because I am tired.
I can feel the way you're leading me on but that's just one day.
it all depends on how you feel at the time cause now your treating me bad and my ego is at bay.
I listen to you too well as I listen to you too often.
I pray to God and now my hard shell is begining to soften.
and all you've got is hurt to give off in a lonely hour.
It penetrates this chain mail that used to spit thing out when they got too sour

And then there is you, do you remember I used to call you a friend.
You've only put me out of you're mind but mine is a life that has no end.
I'm thanking you as you're betraying me
cause when else have I best used this voice to sing
I leave some trail marks to a house
If I was sure where it was I would let it out
but who's reminding me to leave
everyone need to be reminded these things

I have stayed to long and the seasons have come, they have gone

Thinking too grand
Filing thoughts across the sand
not counting on the wind yet we feel it on our young faces everyday
with only occasional rain to wash the dirt away

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Horrors - Primary Colours



Written in the Summer of 2009
Life Lessons: Never write anything off... even if you've given it multiple chances. Primary Colours by The Horrors is spectacular! I saw The Horrors 3 times this year, supporting The Kills, and they never made me feel anything too special. The first time was horrendous (no pun). At Coachella Ferris and company were pissed that they were on at the same time as MBV and sulked their way through a set that ended 20 minutes early. The second time was better but still lacked any potential to set my belly a'blaze. By the 3rd night, it was groovy and Ferris wasn't treating the crowd like a bunch of nob-headed American's that refused to worship him like an English crowd would do. Maybe I was blind in eager anticipation for the moment The Kills would grace the stage but I figured by the end of the 3rd time seeing them that they would never figure into my life significantly, or even, much less, my record rotation calendar.

Finally though, at the end of the summer, I listened to my copy of Primary Colours (just today in fact) and I immediately began to feel regret for not having uncovered it until after having seen them 3 times. Yeah, the record may sound a lot like Echo and the Bunnymen, but it is charming creep of a record and The Horrors have managed to grow beyond the pigeon-holds of making it too huge too fast (A monster problem that peers and predecessors would not be so fortunate to defeat), I don't even think any of The Horrors have a heroin addiction or anything. I’ve received the fire that I had been pinning for. Glorious. (Maybe I'll write a full review later)

Anyway; the moral of the story is, fine folks, that making up your mind too stubbornly can only lead to embarrassment and pain and in some cases denial... if, in fact, you want to save-face from aforementioned embarrassment. Therefore, I heed you: Be flexible, be happy, don’t give bad advice about music to friends because you are not smart enough to realize that you don’t know everything, “don't judge a book by its cover, don't judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover” and pick up a copy of Primary Colours.