Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Catching Up (Ketchuping). Issue #65

I'm looking out the window of THE ORANGE ROOM and I'm asking myself, "Where did Summer go?"

Was it here and no one told me or was I slipped a Ruffie with a three-month duration and everyone's got amazing story's of warm weather and vacations to share? Really weird. Fall is my favorite season but even I have to hold off on changing seasons mentally. Either way, it looks like the next couple of weeks will be "Spring-esque" in feeling so enjoy it while you can!

Though this blog is about music, it would be totally artificial to bring you constant stories of studio magic and 100% performance glory. That's not real life (no matter how much I would like it to be). Instead, for me it's all about the stuff inbetween that fuels the fire to make the successes that much more so. If this blog entry seems completely random, well then you're right. In between working simultaneously on 2 (holy crap) albums there's been a lot of stuff I haven't sat back to reflect on that I would have liked to so if this entry is a selfish one so be it; this is the stuff that matters most...




Our really good neighbor friends "The Maleks" (Joe, Tiff, and Kai) moved away to San Diego a few weeks ago and after a whirlwind moving frenzy in the last few days I realized how much I'm really going to miss them. After a first impression of thinking we had some nice Mexican neighbors (really 1/2 Japanese/Filipino), the Wifey and I quickly bonded over laughs with this really nice family and their cute as hell kid Kai. You may recognize him as the "Little Devil" from my "Sparkle And Fall" video.




Over the past year, they have really become family to us and I really cherish the connection we have. They had also let me turn 4 year-old Kai into an action figure/superhero addict and let me poke, trip, douse with water and whatever trauma I wanted to inflict on him happen without blinking. They have also been constant supporters of what I do and I've highly valued their unique perspectives during times of struggle. Truly great people and San Diego is lucky to have them...




I love weddings. It's just a good time with a lot of great vibes going around. Everyone looks nice, and it's one of the few places you can dance with your family. Did I mention I really love weddings? A few weekends ago, I went to my cousin Jayme's wedding on Camano Island for a beachfront ceremony under a beautiful August sunset. I don't really see this side of my family very much, but I like 'em more and more when I do. We took the Grandparents for what as I stated on Twitter was a "double date that found it's median somewhere roughly in the early 1970's." Think about that one...
A beautiful night!








Last week's APPLE BASEBALL 2008 video trumped the KIRBY KRACKLE performance review (subjective), but I couldn't let it go without saying a few words about it. Invited by the guys from THE COMIC STOP to perform at their summer BBQ, the goal was to debut a few of the KIRBY KRACKLE songs (about comics/geek culture) to the belly of the beast (comic/geek culture fans). Easy enough right? Hmmmm...needless to say I was a little nervous to witness the first impression as the audience for this kinda stuff will MAKE or BREAK you without a second thought. I should know...I'm one of them.
Donning my "X-Men" shirt (when in Rome) I played a 1/2 set of my solo material and then ended with three of the KK songs to a thankfully enthusiastic crowd. KK co-writer JIM DEMONAKOS and I took some constructive feedback and left with a sense of what worked and what could be improved on. Considering these are songs about subjects that people feel a life-long investment in, it's really in our best interest to get feedback like that should we inadvertently "wreck" someone's childhood with an inaccurate JUSTICE LEAGUE reference...:)





We recently finished playing host to in-laws from ARKANSAS and decided to mark their visit with a overnight trip to Victoria, B.C. It's always been a special place for me because it reminds me of High School Marching Band trips (3 years in a row), and the only time a girlfriend has ran away from me down the street yelling. That's a story for another time though...

Victoria is great because it still tries to tread the line between a full fledged tourist mecca and a attitude of, "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know you were here." It's a place where you can still get excited about "Maple Candy", cute old ladies sweeping the sidewalk as they open for business, and drooling in front of bakery windows. Speaking of those bakeries, the day I go postal it won't be with me shooting anyone, it'll be me TEARING THOSE PLACES UP. Mmmmm...fruit tarts. If you've never been, make sure you get up there and see a little piece of the U.K. close to home. Oh, and try not to have your car battery die in the middle of the ferry line. FAIL. Butchart Gardens? WIN!











I think that brings stuff up to speed! I'll leave you with a little story that will dissolve your possible false views that plants don't have souls. This has been the summer of yardwork (wake up, it gets better...) and specifically removing a HUGE tree in the front yard. This beast has been constantly dripping sap on us, and not in the sexy way.


(?)


Some workers came out to cut it down, I subsequently learned Vietnamese in 3 days, and the world kept rotating as it should. After all the clean-up was finished and everyone had left, I walked past the HUGE pile of trimmed branches all cut into 18" sections that the workers had stacked nicely and approached the fallen tree stump.
Upon looking closer, I could count the rings to see that the tree was 49 years-old and I felt bad for it. My desire to not clean sap off of my car anymore was more important that this huge life I had just ended. I thought to myself, "Sorry, tree", and walked away. Not more than 2 seconds later...the ENTIRE FREAKING PILE of stacked branches came down as I walked past. To quote my neighbor Lita, "The Ent has fallen, and he's pissed!"



I'M SO CURSED.


KS

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Damn that's alot a stuff. I've never been one for wedding myself, but then I've only been to one (and it was at a courthouse, no dancing).

Victoria Rocks! That place is so awesome and fun! Buchart Gardens: where even teenagers are intrested in plants! (either that or I was a weird kid)

KK was excellent sir! (not very constructive I know, but...)