karmic calamity

Gah

2007-07-17T16:44:00.001-07:00

I am bored.

Meat Puppets

2007-07-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is a good article on theMeat Puppets

Another sad story about a band with all the promise in the world who lost everything because of drugs. But they're back now. Read up.

Avoid Wet Blanket Syndrome

2007-06-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

I recently started posting The Plastic Flappybats songs in Hold My Life.

My friend Frank and I recently studied the craft of songwriting from Peter Case. Hold My Life readers will recognize Peter through his songs that have been featured in various episodes of the comic, music fans will know Peter from his work with the Nerves, the Plimsouls, and also through his amazing body of solo music since the Plimsouls disbanded.

Anyway, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Peter Case. One of the first things he told us in the class was "avoid wet blanket syndrome" - basically don't be your worst enemy, don't get halfway done with the song, decide it sucks and give up on it. Finish your songs and if you decide later that it sucks, well you don't have to play it anymore.

Beyond that, he said to write, write, write. Write every day. And he gave us some valuable tools, using examples from songs written by people like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Lennon, McCartney and himself, to name just a few. Westerberg's name even came up a couple times... we really dug into the craft of songwriting, and the things that are universal in great songs. You'd be surprised...

Anyway, he gave us new and different colors for our pallette, gave us songwriting assignments every week and sent us out into the world to write songs. And I appreciate Peter's willingness to take neophyte poserus like us into his world and give us the time of day.

We know we're not ever gonna get a record deal-- and honestly, none of us really gives a shit. We're not gonna get our big break. We're probably never gonna get offered the opportunity to play a show anywhere but at Karmic Calamity on First Fridays (kind'a hard to lose that gig cuz I own the joint)-- and we don't really care. The Flappybats just wanna play songs, and hopefully people dig it as much as we like playing.

So that's where the songs are coming from. The class itself gave me greater insight into the life and mind of a songwriter, and I've begun applying that to Penny's story as well. But part of me kept saying "well if you put music in your comic, why aren't you putting your own stuff in there"

And it makes sense. Kind'a putting our money where our mouth is. Yes, the recording quality is haphazard, they're poorly mixed (I never said I was a producer or an engineer), the vocals aren't so hot (I never said I was a good singer) and there are mistakes a-plenty to be found on the recordings (I never said I was Keith Richards). But I think the spirit is there, and you know what? I like the damn songs. We think (well, most of us think) they sound pretty good when we play them live, and they're a hell of a lot of fun to play. And that's the approach Penny's taking in the comic. She keeps saying that everything in life is so heavy, so many things dragging her down, that she wants to write fun, groovy, poppy songs and just entertain people.

So keep that in mind when you listen to the songs in the comic. The Flappybats have songs titled Stumblin Blind, Due West, Far Away, Little Miss Think Twice, Clove Cigarettes, One Hit Wonder, I Don't Know and High Heel Mary. And coincidentally, Penny has songs with those exact same titles.

I think of those songs appearing in the comic as The Flappybats from the comic covering Penny's music. I like to think of those guys waiting for Johnny to leave the studio, and knocking out a cover of Little Miss Think Twice while he's out buying smokes cuz they like her songs better than his.

Unfortunately, they have no idea how to produce a recording.

Just have fun with it, be kind, and hopefully you'll dig the songs.

Cleaning House

2007-06-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

Funny thing happened to me awhile back.

A lonnnng time ago, I'd written a blog entry about the night that a bunch of us wrote a song for our friend Betty, former bartender of the former bar formerly known as the Pit, where we formerly spent most of our free time.

We met a guy there named Richard Alexander-- I dubbed him the Pianist of Doom. Richard is a cool guy, incredibly gregarious and extroverted, who helped us write our quickly cobbled together song and played the thing with us when we dragged Betts out to the lobby to hear it.

It was a fun night, everybody had quite a few, and quite a bit of banter (and more drinking) followed. Richard recently contacted me after having been pointed to the blog entry by a friend of his, and let me know that he felt that he came off looking like a goof in the story. I didn't think so, but Richard was bent about it, so I took it down.

Frankly, I'm surprised that anybody actually read the blog.

Anyway, if you're reading this Richard, sorry. Like I told you in the email I sent, it certainly wasn't my intention to piss you off. If you have a website or a myspace or something I can link to, please do send it to me, and I'll post it here.

And next time you're in Phoenix, hit me up. I'll buy you a beer and hopefully we'll have a laugh about it. We just can't go to the Pit, it's a dorm now. Ugh!

Like a Mixed Drink Waiting To Happen

2006-12-02T01:08:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should post this while it's still fresh in my mind.

The Plastic Flappybats took the stage again tonight at Artwalk, and had a smashing time doing so this evening.

Were we good? I dunno. Do we care? Not particularly. I'm sure that I've mentioned this before: the only thing that matters is that we do the best we can do, taking into consideration our general skill level, the amount of practice we've had, and the average level of intoxication of the band at the time we play.

And, y'know what? Given those parameters-- the 'Bats freaking killed it. We had fun. We were sloppy, it was so cold out that guitars started going outta tune--- but we did our best, and we had a lot of fun in the process.

The Plastic Flappybats are the best band you'll probably never hear. And even if you did, you might just not get it. We're that lowbrow.

Open Season Soundtrack

2006-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

I got the opportunity to hear Westerberg's soundtrack for Open Season the other day.

It's good, catchy, poppy stuff. To me, it sounds like a return to the "14 Songs" sound. Which, for a movie soundtrack, is probably a good idea.

Can't wait for this CD to come out. And the movie, for that matter.

Various happenings of little importance

2006-09-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

The other day, I saw my friend Lindsay. She hasn't seen the Flappybats play for a long, long time. And every time she did see us, we were horrible. Anyway, I see her, she's telling me that a mutual friend of ours has joined the roller derby, and that the team she's on was going to be making an appearance at the Bikini Lounge here in Phoenix last Friday. We were invited to go, but couldn't because it was a First Friday and we had to have the gallery open that night.

So then we talk for a minute about First Friday. Lindsay's never done the artwalk thing, and said something to the effect of, "yeah, I'll have to do that sometime".

If she was going to do it, I mentioned, she should try to make it the First Friday in October, because the Flappybats are planning to start playing outdoor shows again. She looks at me, as if to say "why would I come see you guys play?" Knowing that that's exactly what she's about to say, I follow up with "We're really good now."

Without missing a beat, Lindsay says "No you aren't. You guys suck." And no matter what I say, I can't convince her that we aren't gonna go up there and be awful.

That's love. Then again, it's probably deserved skepticism, because when last she saw us play, we were truly awful. It was quite awhile ago. Back when we were still butchering "Jane Says".

I saw her the next day getting on the elevator, and said in passing "I swear, we're really good."

"No you aren't." she says, as the elevator door is closing. Drat. Foiled again. Somebody's gotta keep us honest.

Anyway, I'm starting to get geared up to play again. We haven't been able to since the Pit closed back at the beginning of July. We have been practicing, though, and should have a nice set of rockabilly songs worked up by Oct 6.

Can't wait.

Something new

2006-08-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

I got this weird idea in my head to create Flash trailers for Hold My Life. First one went up today on GirlAMatic.

The music is from a demo that the Flappybats had cut of our first original, High Heel Mary, and I somehow convinced Rhonda to record a couple clips of Penny's narration from the first episode. Yeah, it's a little sloppy-- I prefer the term "shambolic" myself-- but it was a hell of a lot of fun to do, so I think there'll be more in the future.

Who knows, maybe I can make it a regular feature. Maybe every other week debut a new trailer. We'll see.

My quote for today

2006-08-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.

--Keith Richards

My new mantra

2006-08-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

"I think somehow you need to get to a certain point in your life where the notion of failure is absurd."
-Jeff Tweedy

More Woody

2006-08-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that.

-Woody Guthrie

Since I'm posting quotes--

2006-08-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

“If you play more than two chords, you're showing off.”

-Woody Guthrie

I keep running across the weirdest quotes this week:

2006-08-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

'Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.' - Steve Earle

New week

2006-08-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Here we are, Monday once more.

So the mystery musician that I'd alluded to last week turned out to be none other than Peter Case, formerly (and still sometimes currently) of the Plimsouls.

Yeah, the same Plimsouls that recorded Million Miles Away, and appeared in Valley Girl. Peter's been a busy man since then, having recorded several amazing solo albums, and venturing deeper and deeper into folk-inspired music.

I've mentioned a few times here and there that Peter basically lived Penny's life. He's fighting the same machine that Penny's fighting right now, and I'm really honored to have a smattering of his tunes gracing the comic.

www.petercase.com

Sinatra Quote

2006-08-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Greg just handed me a CD-- "The History of American Music -- Rock n' Roll". We're learning a bunch of new Rockabilly tunes, and this has the original versions of some of the songs we're playing.

Anyway, I open it up and see the following quote that just cracked me up:

"Rock 'n Roll: The most brutal, ugly desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear"
-Frank Sinatra

It's counterbalanced by a Jerry Lee Lewis quote on the front cover:

"If I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano"

Damn shame they never worked together...

Open Season on Westerberg!

2006-08-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Err.. actually, that should be "Westerberg on Open Season"

Information is now coming out on the soundtrack for Sony's Open Season animated film, which opens Sept 29. Paul wrote the score for the film with Ramin Djawad, and now it appears that the soundtrack is pretty much a Paul Westerberg solo album. It's even being billed as "Open Season featuring the songs of Paul Westerberg"

The album includes 10 Westerberg originals, of which "Love You in the Fall" and
"Right to Arm Bears" boast Stinson on bass. One Westerberg track each is performed by Pete Yorn ("I Belong [Reprise]") and Deathray ("Wild As I Wanna Be"). And I have to say that I think it's awesome to see that Paul's getting some much-deserved respect and mass-market exposure

Go here, read all aboot it.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002986769

Soundtrack notes

2006-08-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hold My Life has something really cool coming up in the soundtrack. An established musician who basically lived Penny's life, and is fighting the same machine she's fighting now in the comic.

I'll mail an original sketch of Penny to the first person who correctly guesses this person's identity. Three clues:

This person was in a band
That band was featured in a movie
This person was recently reunited with a Rickenbacker guitar that was stolen from him 20 years ago.

Oh and Frank and Greg-- you already know the answer so you can't enter the contest. So Hush...

The rest of the month...

2006-08-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

After, say, the third week in July, things started to turn a corner. We went to San Diego, kicked around Comicon, I covered a couple of the webcomics panels for comicon.com/pulse... which was interesting.

I can remember going to many of the same panels last year and came out of them thinking "those weren't incredibly informative"-- I dunno, it really didn't seem like I was walking out of those panels with any greater insight into what I needed to do than I had walked in with.

This year? Well, they were better attended, which told me that interest was higher than years previous... and in retrospect I guess they were more informative. Some of them infinitely more informative. I was turned away at the "Webcomics 101 - Getting Started" panel, along with about a hundred or so others who were interested in the same topic, so I can't really speak to how informative or useful that panel had been in comparison to last year's.

I was able to cover Webcomics 102 - Finding An Audience, and Webcomics 103 - How To Make Money, and I can say that there was some improvement in the actual nuts and bolts, useful information that was offered in those panels. I'm still not convinced that anyone's really got much to say on building or finding an audience. If the best advice being offered is to spend lots of time posting on message boards in hopes that people will check out your comic, and to rely on word of mouth-- I dunno, that seems like a huge investment of time with very little in the way of return on your investment. Sure it doesn't cost you anything, but time is a very valuable commodity.

Then again, what do I know? I have a very small audience. I have begun to test a few theories in the past week, but for now they're just theories. And the less said about those the better, for now.

Of course, if they work, I'll be screaming "I knew it" all over the place, but for now, I'll clam up and see what happens.

Webcomics 103 was a freaking cornucopia of ideas, facts and numbers, and was far and away more informative than the previous year's panel. Especially Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary. Incredibly informative. I've gone back and watched the video of that panel a few times now and, frankly, I wish that panel had been an hour longer-- god only knows what they could've gotten around to in that time.

I never know what I've gotten from Comicon until after I've gotten back home and had time to reflect on it. Looking back now, I think I got a much-needed recharge, a break from the grind of everyday life, and a relaxing week away from everything. I also seem to have come away from it with the realization that what I'm looking to do here with the comic and my art is to connect with people. I think that's the source of my angst, is that I don't feel like I've been doing a very good job of that.

Guess every journey starts with a first step. So here we go...

It's always darkest before the dawn (or the Adventures of Roxy and Zeke)

2006-08-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

So anyway, this is my second downer post, part of me putting all this behind me. This all does have a positive ending, I assure you. I wouldn't even write any of this if it didn't.

So there we were, our best little black and white buddy gone, and a First Friday artwalk rapidly approaching. Being open on First Fridays, if you're not really behind the idea, is really stressful. So we both just sort'a looked at one another and decided "no way are you in any shape to be working the gallery" And we stayed closed.

On top of that, we found out that the Pit, our favorite local bar, was closing. The Pit was located inside the Ramada Inn in downtown Phoenix, and that had been given to ASU to use for student housing. I guess they didn't think it'd be a good idea to have a dormitory with a bar on the first floor, so our beloved Pit had to go.

By this point, I'm thinking "what the fuck else can go wrong?!?" No cat, no bar, I'm incredibly stressed out and all I want is to have a beer-- but now I won't be able to because the damn bar is gonna be turned into a freaking cafe or a smoothie bar for ASU students.

Life sucks sometimes.

This is, seriously, the first two weeks of July. Halfway done, just days before Comicon, one week before my birthday and lemme tell ya, I'm in a smashing good mood!

But, y'know, things do have a way of turning around. After we had Erlik put down, neither of us really wanted to get another cat anytime soon. But then we started looking online. And Rhonda found this little tabby/calico mix kitty named Penelope that was being fostered by a lady in North Phoenix. She'd been saved from one of the shelters that euthanizes stray cats. We make arrangements to meet Penelope on a Saturday morning.

The thing is, Penelope has a little friend--Jaden. Weird skinny little bowling-pin shaped tabby mix with a pointy face, pencil neck and a big pot belly. Neither of them was older than 9 weeks old. We went to a Petsmart in North Phoenix, and they get Penelope out of her cage. Almost immediately, her little buddy starts looking at me like "what are you doing?" He's looking at me as if to say "that other cat is the only thing I've got in the world, and you're gonna take her away?"

Great, just great. So then we get him out of the cage and decide that if we're gonna take one, we gotta take 'em both. So we did. No way were they keeping those names, though. Penelope and Jaden? Nah-uh. Roxy and Zeke-- much better.

And all of a sudden, things were suddenly looking up.

Back yet again

2006-08-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I dropped off the face of the blogosphere yet again.

July was freaking brutal, it seemed like every couple of days, another shoe was dropping, another piece of bad news delivered, and something else seemed to be ending. By the time my birthday rolled around towards the end of the month, I can honestly say that I didn't care if I had a good day or a bad one, I just wanted it to be over.

I'm so upbeat.

Anyway, since we're midway thru August, it's probably time to say goodbye to all the horrible shit that happened to me last month, wash my hands of it and move on to something positive. So that's what I'm gonna do right now.

So what happened in July that was so bad? Well, everything started when we noticed that Erlik, our cat/best friend/constant companion of somewhere around 14 years, had developed Lymphoma. He wasn't eating or doing his business correctly, so Rhonda took the little guy to the vet where they found a lump. After that, they wanted to do X-Rays, which gave them nothing conclusive other than "yep, it's definitely a lump". This took us a week to get confirmation that there was a lump.

We knew something was up, but the tests were inconclusive. We began to suspect that the vet that we were taking him to didn't know what he was doing, or even worse, was outright trying to scam us. So we found an excellent veterinary oncologist, who did an ultra sound and a tissue sample. A few days later we got the results-- Lymphoma, very advanced, and the most aggressive form of it to boot. He had virtually no chance of long term survival.

Now, this is where I admit that Rhonda and I are both a little superstitious about the weirdest things. She and I have been together 16 years. We got Erlik as a newborn kitten less than a year into our relationship. So for the last fifteen years, it's been Me, Rhonda and Erlik. The only constants in our lives have been one another and that cat. When we drove across the country to move to Arizona, it was the three of us, and what little we could cram into our 87 Chevy Nova on the road trip from hell...

I remember the first time we saw him. He was the runt of the litter. The underdog. The weird little cat with the black thing on his nose that got beaten up by the other kitties, and mocked by pretty much everybody who saw him. Nobody wanted him-- but we did. We wanted him for all of those reasons. He was like us.

Erlik liked to eat your hair in the morning, or pretty much anytime it smelled good. He loved to lick Rhonda's arms, and minty things like chewing gum or toothpaste (no we didn't feed him toothpaste, but you hadda see his reaction upon smelling it). He'd pull catnip and cat treats out of the bag with his paw, and he'd drink from a glass if you held it for him correctly. He was a smart cat, and but for a couple of vacations where we left him in Greg's care, I saw Erlik every day of his life.

I can remember moving into our new home this time last year, saying "this is the last place Erlik will ever live". I meant that in the sense that we weren't going to be selling this place anytime soon. Not that the little fucker was gonna die inside a year.

Anyway, he started going downhill quickly. He started isolating himself in the closet, finding dark remote places to lay. He stopped eating almost entirely, but he'd eat from our hands... we knew it was time.

So we took him to the oncologist again, and stayed with him till the very end. And then we went home and cried the rest of the night. It was the end of one era, but it wasn't going to be the last ending we'd face in July...

Soundtrack 6-5-06: The Lonely Hearts

2006-06-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

I found these guys on Myspace: The Lonely Hearts.

The Boston Phoenix described their sound as latent Opryisms buried
under layers of Counting Crows guitars, early-U2 grandeur, and Rock N Roll-period Ryan Adams.

I'd agree with that assessment. Somewhere in there, you can hear a bit of twang, but it's smartly mixed in with a very modern production that makes it sound very contemporary. Real nice stuff.

check 'em out at www.thelonelyheartsmusic, and also at www.myspace.com/thelonelyhearts.

Soundtrack 6-5-06, the Lonely Hearts

2006-06-05T08:33:00.001-07:00

Soundtrack 6-5-06, the Lonely Hearts

2006-06-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

5-22 Soundtrack-- Army of Robots

2006-05-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

The Heaviest Cure- Army of Robots

I fell in love with this song after seeing these guys play it live for the first time. AOR is a band that, live, has a completely different dynamic than on their recordings. Way more loud, crunchy guitars, with Daggrr yelling the lyrics over the cacophony. It's always a treat to see these guys live.

Anyway, I really dig this song, partially because of the chorus: "How could I walk away from the only thing that ever really mattered to me and become nothing more than a lesson for those who come after me?" I can identify with that statement, and I'm sure Penny could too. Every time we see AOR live, my friend Barry and I always end up leaving the bar singing the chorus-- badly.

I still haven't gotten to use my new favorite AOR song, but it's coming up in the future.

And next week...? Another "name" that some might be familiar with. I'm really looking forward to this one, just got permission Saturday.

Cya

The Longshadows

2006-05-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

This week, Hold My Life's soundtrack song is Long Shot, by the Longshadows.

While the name of the band may not be familiar to you, vocalist Robin Wilson's voice is unmistakable. Robin is best known as the vocalist for the Gin Blossoms.

He's also one of my favorite singers in all the land.

His collaborator in the Longshadows is guitarist/songwriter Steve French, who was in the English band Star-Club. He and Robin met 12 years ago when their respective bands were touring the States together. Steve's an incredibly talented musician, producer and songwriter.

He's also a very cool guy who graciously allowed me to use his songs in my little comic.

Check out www.thelongshadows.com and www.myspace.com/longshadows for more info on the band, where you can see them play live, and to purchase their CD.