LOTS going on ... LOST going on!

The demos for the 12 songs are just about done. I think I'll have them finished by Monday, Tuesday at the latest. I may post some on Facebook/MySpace. I'll let you know.

Now, some news ... the wife and I are moving. Eight blocks down. Silly, but we're gaining an extra bedroom and we're moving into the same building as my sister, so lots of plusses there. And we're not paying that much more for it (although initial moving costs are always a pain in the ass). So we're very much looking forward to it. We're deciding on paint colors now, we have a month of overlap at our current place, so we'll be painting and moving in over the next few weeks - which is why I want to finish these demos ASAP.

This probably also means I'll be delaying November Sessions to late-February at the earliest - most likely March. SORRY!

OK, now for LOST. HOLY CRAP!!! Charles Widmore is on the island as a young man. CRAZY. I did NOT see that coming. I love it, though. I wonder what Locke was thinking at that very moment ... 

• "Huh ... Charles Widmore's here. He was here before Ben was here. So who does this island belong to?"
  
• "Huh ... Charles Widmore's here. Can I kill him? No ... wait ... I can't change the past. Or can I? Since I'm special!"
  
• "Huh ... Charles Widmore's here. He's English."

And c'mon ... my thoughts about Ms. Hawking being Daniel Faraday's mother were all but confirmed, but now I'm thinking Ellie - the girl that was escorting him to the JUGHEAD with a gun pointed at him - IS Ms. Hawking. "Ellie" is short for Eloise, which, according to published reports (but impossible to find out by watching past episodes), is Ms. Hawking's first name. Eloise was also the name of Faraday's mouse in his lab.

Furthermore, did Ellie and young Charles get it on? Do they have a love child? Is that love child PENNY?!?! Jesus ... it's too much. BUT I LOVE IT.

Desmond naming his son Charlie - after the man who kept him and Penny apart AND after the man that sacrificed himself to bring them back together - was sweet as hell. And as a Filipino-Canadian-Texan-New Yorker, I'm glad to see that little Charlie Hume was born in the Philippines. REPRESENT! I just can't believe he went to see Widmore. Not good. NOT GOOD. Oh, and with Widmore telling Des that Faraday's mother is in Los Angeles (or as Des says it, "Los Angelees"), that pretty much all but confirms who Faraday's "next of kin" is, RIGHT?

No O6 footage this week, but I'm sure we'll get to see more of Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun & Ben on the next episode. Judging from the upcoming scenes, looks like Kate's gonna do "what she must do" in order to protect Aaron. !!!

OK, kids. I'll keep you posted on the new demos. Peace.

Throwing Hot Pockets

Greetings. I've been working on the demos for the 12 songs ... hope to have them ready for you special people out there that I so dearly trust with sneak peaks of my music. I hope to finish them by this weekend.

OK. What a week! President Obama. That was something. But this week was also significant because it marked the return of LOST, which is, to me, the best scripted show on television right now. Season 5's season premiere - an airing of two hour-long episodes - was AWESOME.

The first scene - a flashback of Dr. Chang filming a Dharma Orientation Video - was FILLED with so much allegory, I would've been fine had the first episode ended with that close-up of Faraday's face. The time on the clock, the playing of a record, Willie Nelson's "Shotgun Willie", a BABY!!, the record skipping, the Barracks, the filming of the Orientation Video, the Orchid being built (looking all "incomplete-Death Star"-like), the drill bits melting, the construction worker bloody-nosed and passed out, the sonogram of the donkey wheel, Dr. Chang talking about manipulating time, Faraday's cameo ... AHH! What an opening!

On the mainland (and three years later ... well, after they left the island, anyway), the Oceanic 6 are all in Southern California, enjoying shelter, air conditioning, transportation, microwaves, hospitals, dishwashers, etc. But it's clear that they're all unhappy ... or, dare I say, LOST. I know Ben still has something up his sleeve, but I can't tell if he really wants the Oceanic 6 to return with him to the island, or if he's just trying to get back to the island and he knows that this is his only chance. And his meeting with Ms. Hawking at the end of the second hour ... WTF?!?! She has to be Faraday's mom, right?

I wasn't a fan of Ana Lucia, but it was cool to see her little cameo ... here's to hoping that they do that more and more before the series' end. We need more Libby and Mr. Eko, please. BRING THEM BACK.

On the island, time travel. It was a bit much going back and forth, but I trust it won't be that sporadic in the upcoming episodes. They'll still be going back and forth, just not as constantly as they were in the premiere ... like, every five minutes? That's going to get annoying ... FAST. I trust the writers agree with me ("trust" meaning "hope"). However, what a COOL way to portray the island's time-traveling capabilities. Too bad there aren't any time circuits around to tell you where you are, where you're going, and where you were. Doc Brown, please report to the Pearl Station immediately.

Locke's scenes were great. Seeing Yemi's plane crash was cool, and his brief conversation with Richard about how he will have to die to save the island ... they've anointed Locke Messiah already. I'm pretty sure he will die only to rise again - on the island. Brilliant. And the other Others ... the Anothers? ... too early to tell what's going on there. Are they Dharma? Are they from the past? The future? Do they have four toes? WE WANT TO KNOW.

Finally, Desmond. I love the role they've given him; his role in saving the island. It will be interesting to see if Faraday ever gets to plant anymore "reminders" with Des. Also, what will become of Penny? Will Ben get to her or will Des try to bring her to the island? SO MANY POSSIBILITIES.

There still one more season after this, but I'd like for the following mysteries to be solved sooner than later:

The four-toed statue

Who is Richard Alpert?

Why was Libby in the mental institution with Hurley?

Who are Adam & Eve?

Is Jin really dead?

Is Locke really dead?

Will Cheech find Chong?

'Til next week ...

Happy MLK Day

Hope everyone's enjoying their holiday. You know, I think Martin Luther King Day is truly one of those holidays that actually means something. I know a lot of us just think of it as another Monday off, but with the events surrounding us this week, particularly the inauguration of the first African-American president, it's safe to say that this year, Martin Luther King Day bares more significance than President's Day, Labor Day, maybe even Columbus Day (sorry, Chris). So, you know ... enjoy your MLK Day.

I've been sick the past few days, so very little work has been invested on making the demos for the 12 new songs. But I hope to perhaps finish them this week ... I won't put too much work into them. They are demos, after all.

I'm thinking about making these 12 songs into another album. I still have to finish November Sessions and release that this century, but I like the way these new songs fit together. So, I told you what they're about ... album title suggestions are welcome!

Finally saw Frost/Nixon last night. Frank Langella is a rock star. I'm not old enough to remember Richard Nixon in the news, but from all the footage I've seen of him, I think Langella really nailed it. Portraying Nixon in a proud, pompous, and even sympathetic way ... that's pretty hard to pull off. To be able to go from completely despising a character, then kind of liking him, to finally feeling sorry for him is a pretty amazing feat - for the actor, the writers and the director. Everyone was great in this film and I strongly recommend it.

Later kids.

DONE!

So, I did it. I wrote 12 songs in 12 days. What an amazing exercise. I'm so glad I did it. It was crunch time at the end, too, as I didn't write anything over the weekend and I had to write five in the last three days to meet my deadline. Well, I finished the 12th one a few minutes ago and I thought I'd post about the experience now.

When my old record producer presented this challenge to me, I was immediately intrigued and began brainstorming right away. Since I wanted to wait 'til after the holidays to start, I was forced not to put anything on paper just yet because I wanted the process to be as natural as possible. But with 12 songs, I wanted to have a theme and the wife suggested the months - 12 songs, 12 months, write about the months. Beautiful.

I then thought back to a Paul Simon interview where he said that when he's writing songs to construct an album, he likes to write songs in corresponding keys to the Circle of Fifths (musical terminology for you non-musicians). For instance, if he's just finished a song in E, he'll want to write the next one in B or G# minor, and so on and so forth, because through the course of an album (for those of us that still listen to ALBUMS), it's harmonically pleasing to the ear. So since there are 12 key signatures, I thought I'd do the same thing. Wonderful.

For the third element of these 12 songs, I wanted to lyrically tie them together. I was going to make it sort of one long storyline, but because I hadn't written anything down or outlined any sort of story, I abandoned that idea. Instead, all the songs are, in one way or another, about New York City - my adopted home of the past 3-plus years. And New York has so many things to write about. Perfect.

And now I'm done. Here are the (working) titles to the songs I wrote ... can't wait to share them with you:

(In the order of the months, January through December):

• Cruise Control
• Avalanche
• On the Cusp of Something Great
• Dear Aphrodite
• May I
• Father's Day
• Hot Outside
• No One's Gonna Save You with the World in Your Hands
• Barely Contemporary
• Halloween
• Newfound Fears
• Grateful

Almost there ...

So this excercise turned out to be a bit harder than I thought. My deadline is Wednesday and I haven't finished a song since Friday. I've got ideas for a few tunes, but nothing's finished. So, seven songs done, a few ideas in the works, a total of 12 need to be done by end of day Wednesday.

AND, I've got a ton of things I need to do (non-related) between now and Wednesday.

OK, now I'm feeling the pressure a bit.

I'll get back to you.

Enjoy your week.

Halfway there

Yo. Six days in, six songs written. I'm loving this challenge. I can't wait to tell you all the concept(s) I've chosen for this exercise. I think I may have an entirely new album by the time I'm done with this ... but I won't promise anything yet. I may come up with six final pieces of shit come next week. But if the first six are any indication, then it looks promising.

Since I last posted, I've written two more songs: "May I" and "Father's Day." The first one is really nice. The second one's OK. But I cannot WAIT to let you judge for yourself. MAN, this is exciting.

Thursday was Elvis' birthday. I celebrated by going piano shopping, running some errands, and updating to Logic Pro for my home recording setup, all the while listening to my Elvis playlist. I barely had time for any Elvis movie watching, but I did watch the first bit of Blue Hawaii and caught a special on Biography.

For your reading pleasure, and in honor of the King, here are the songs that compile my Elvis playlist. Suggestions are welcome if you determine a gem that's missing:

(In particular order)
That's All Right
Blue Moon of Kentucky
Baby, Let's Play House
Heartbreak Hotel
Money Honey
Blue Suede Shoes
One-Sided Love Affair
Shake, Rattle And Roll
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
Hound Dog
Don't Be Cruel
Love Me Tender
Love Me
Too Much
All Shook Up
Mean Woman Blues
Peace In The Valley
That's When Your Heartaches Begin
(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
One Night
Loving You
Jailhouse Rock
Don't
A Big Hunk O' Love
Stuck On You
It's Now or Never
Such a Night
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Surrender
Blue Hawaii
Can't Help Falling in Love
Rock-A-Hula Baby
How Great Thou Art
I Believe
In The Garden
Take My Hand, Precious Lord
It Is No Secret What God Can Do
The Lady Loves Me
C'mon Everybody
You'll Never Walk Alone
Little Sister
Suspicion
(You're the) Devil In Disguise
Too Much Monkey Business
In the Ghetto
Rubberneckin'
Suspicious Minds
A Little Less Conversation
If I Can Dream
An American Trilogy

Thank you. Thankyouverymuch.

Call me "Butter"

Hi. So, I'm on a bit of a roll with this 12 songs in 12 days challenge that my old producer presented with me (see my last blog on the matter). I'm four days in and have four songs done. Of the four, I think I've written one really good one, a couple of nice ones and one OK one. Not bad, methinks.

I've already told you about "Cruise Control" and "Avalanche," but I've since completed a couple of other ditties called "On the Cusp of Something Great" and "Dear Aphrodite." CanNOT wait to share all of these with you.

Was glad to see Scrubs back on the air - and on a new network, no less. It premiered with two episodes back-to-back. The first one was ehh ... OK. The second one, however, was CLASSIC SCRUBS. It was really well done. They recycled a familiar plot, but it's one that works REALLY well with this show. I was very happy about it.

Now, just 15 days until the premiere of LOST!!! But before that, we have the premieres of Flight of the Conchords, Big Love, and a new president to inaugurate. So much TV, so little room on the DVR.

Take care kids.

Challenge!

Hello people! So a few days before Christmas, my old record producer MD was in town from Houston. We haven't done any work together since we recorded The Pool Table Matter EP in late 2005, but we still keep in touch. I met him and his wife Amy at Cafe Lalo on 83rd and Amsterdam for lunch.

Anyway, we got to talking about what I'm doing and the new songs I have slated to concoct what will eventually be my fifth album, November Sessions. I hadn't played him anything from the collection of new songs since he's a busy guy, so we just talked about where my songwriting's gone since the first song we recorded together. I hope you'll agree with me on the notion that it's matured a bit, mostly lyrically, and somewhat musically. One of my buddies says the songs are a lot more diverse - something done intentionally unintentionally (or vice versa) ... if you know what I mean.

So MD presented me with a challenge. He wants me to write 12 songs in 12 days. Doesn't matter what comes out - just write 12 songs in 12 days and see what happens. This challenge excited the hell out of me and I immediately starting thinking of ideas, trying really hard not to put anything on paper just yet. I have a really cool conceptual idea which was suggested by the wife, and I think I'm going to follow through with it. I started yesterday and wrote a song called "Cruise Control." I'm about halfway done with a second song today, tentatively titled "Avalanche."

Sorry, that's all I'm divulging at the moment. Who knows? We may ALL be in for a surprise!

Anyway, this may produce a whole new album right away (don't worry - I'll still release November Sessions, as it's an album I've been working on for three years now), but it may produce 12 songs of crap. Hopefully at least a handful of gems. We'll see ...

By the way, saw Yes Man with the wife yesterday. Was supposed to see Frost/Nixon, but unfortunately it was sold out. Yes Man's OK. Not the best Jim Carrey flick. Was great to see Rhys Darby in action, though. And Zooey Deschanel is adorable as always. But in all honesty, you can wait 'til TBS inevitably airs it on a weekly basis.

Happy New Year

Greetings. I've blogged before, but one of my New Year's Resolutions is to do it more often and to keep them short and sweet. I'm also doing this for my music site, so you'll read a lot about what I'm doing with my career and what I'm working on musically, etc., but I'll also drop in the occassional random thought(s).

Anyway, as 2009 begins, I'm trying to finish November Sessions, an album three years in the making. I'll take this opportunity to tell the story of November Sessions:

When I moved to New York in January of 2006, I had just completed my last EP, The Pool Table Matter (available here on iTunes). I moved to New York to boost my career and to get things going with my music, but life got in the way. The reality of surviving financially in this city forced me to work a 9 to 5. Being a newlywed and a new New Yorker took a lot of adjusting as well, leaving very little time for sitting in a room and jotting down ideas.

Having started working and immediately overcome with the staleness of an office job, I became inspired (living in New York didn't hurt either), and in November of 2006, I wrote about a dozen songs in a matter of weeks, maybe even days (I can't remember), all dealing with the strains of feeling locked down and knowing that all it takes is for me to quit whining, get off my ass and JUST START CREATING.

A couple of years and a few more songs later, I've since tracked about 18 songs and I'm in the process of mixing, re-editing and deciding which ones will eventually end up on November Sessions. I hope to be finished with the album by this month. For now, you can still get all my music on iTunes and check out some great videos of past performances on YouTube and Facebook.

I'll keep you guys posted on the progess of Sessions. Until then, Happy New Year and here's to a GREAT 2009. Let's make it happen!