Anyone Else Discovering They Can't Do Gravy Anymore? Issue #78

Last week was a blur! My parents flew in from Hawaii for a big family get together at my grandparent's house, and my brother came down for the first time since I put on his big boy pants and sent him off to college...like a big boy indeed. Even crazier my sister and her fiancee flew in from L.A. for the holiday and that made it an official Galindez/Stevens reunion VOLTRON; the first time in 10 years we have all been together in our hometown. It felt really good to be around "my people" and it didn't take us long to drive my mom nuts and gross her out with sibling riffing and inappropriateness.


Maybe you're in a family situation like I am; everyone is getting older, traditions are changing and the tribe is spreading further across the plains. It's sad and o.k. at the same time, but if there ever was a holiday to send off the old ways and depart on a new path of family tradition...it was this one. The "old school" was back I felt like a little kid again with the whole family around...


A HUGE thanks to EVERYONE who came out to the KISS CAFE and packed the place! It was a big love fest and I don't think anybody had a better time than I did having had it been a while since I played solo locally. It was great to play some older songs that had been changed up, and some cuts from the upcoming KIRBY KRACKLE and COLLIDER albums. The reaction to the debuted KK songs left me ecstatic being that they seemed so well received by a broader demographic than Jim Demonakos and I had envisioned and left us even more excited for the release.

I've been having very vivid dreams lately about my childhood and especially my middle-school years. I know a few of my postings of late have been about strong past experiences, and that nostalgia has seemed to kind of take a forefront theme in my blog for the past month. I think in a way it's connected to the fact that the KK material feels a lot like music did to me during that time in my life. A time of no rules, creativity, and discovery into an endless world of sound. Don't get me wrong here, I don't think I'm re-writing the book with the album by any means; it just feels good to create, and I love sharing that with people and seeing a smile when it's received as it was intended. THAT'S what it's all about.


I am and have always been a big WEEZER fan, and was stoked this past week when lead singer Rivers Cuomo released a 2nd installment of his "Alone: The Home Recordings" album series he's been putting out in the last year. It's an intimate look into the process of sketching sound and how someone's songwriting style develops over time. His home demos reach as far back as when he was 15 in his basement with his teased-up 80's do, and span the years until more recent times during his success with Weezer. The liner notes are almost my favorite part as he lists the inspiration of the songs and what was going on in his life at the time that would lead him to down the road of the lyrical content. Near the front of the tray booklet he decribes his feelings after reading Brian Wilson's autobiography, WOULDN'T IT BE NICE in a way that parallels my experience reading his works as well.

Cuomo writes:

"When I first read it in 1993...I strongly identified with the author's sense of self-doubt, creative struggles and passion for music. I particularly identified with his words, "My whole life, since I discovered music, has been about only one thing: about experiencing the sheer, pure, unencumbered, liberating happiness of the creative moment" (390). His words seemed to describe my life perfectly at the time. But now, fifteen years later, I see that my life has been about something else in addition to experiencing "the happiness of the creative moment." It's also been about learning how to achieve those creative moments. It's been about learning what to do...and what not to do."



Cool Stuff,

KS