Chasing a Dream, Yee-Man Style

Random thought in not dead blog!

2010-08-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to write lately, and I realize that I've always kinda been a down/pensive mood song person. It's not that I always feel down or I enjoy feeling down, but I guess I relate more easily to the mood that a down song creates. To illustrate what I mean by down or pensive, think more "The Scientist" than "Strawberry Swing" (Coldplay)... or more "Keep Breathing" than "Be OK" (Ingrid Michaelson)... or more "Field Below" than "Fidelity" (Regina Spektor). I could go on and I know some of these references are obscure, but basically I'm talking about leaning more towards songs that lie back in the beat vs. those that are more upbeat.... more those songs that take on the heavy material than those that are lighthearted.

ANYHOW, for whatever reason, I've found it easier to write similarly mood-ed songs (the slower or more contemplative kind) than upbeat songs. I like to think that I could write any style that I would want to, but I have to be at least somewhat honest and admit that some styles are more difficult to write than others. I've been trying to work on doing more upbeat stuff, but oddly enough my ideas always find their ways to slower beats. Oh well... it's always a work in progress, isn't it?

Apologies

2008-10-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

... for being on hiatus.

I basically went into chill mode for the past few months and didn't accomplish much musically. Since I can't do anything about that now, I'll take away the positives and say it was good for a couple of reasons:

1) It allowed me a break from being engrossed in my own little world where my songs were a little too "precious." Through my first run of recording songs, I got pretty deep into tweaking them in an effort to get the sound I would want in an ideal world. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but now that I've had some time to listen to the songs alongside a lot of new music I've gotten been into lately, I've come to feel strongly that all the tweaking in the world means nothing if a song is lacking at its heart.

I realized that the songs on which I spent more time writing are the ones that speak more to me. Coincidentally, these are the ones I want to share more readily, and whose production I seem to care about less. Funny how that works out.

I was talking about this with Rob and basically it's like a snake shedding skins. (Because it's always good to compare yourself to snakes). When I embarked on my first run through recording songs, I scrapped everything from my previous life save for two songs.

My first run netted some quality stuff, (I hope), as well as some drivel, so the takeaway is that I will probably keep maybe 8-10 of these songs for the next "stage" of my journey.

So, in sum, I'm no longer going to be trying to crank out songs for the sake of cranking them out. I think Nate pointed it out quite clearly early in the process when he said it seemed like I was writing songs just to write them and then move on to the next thing. Instead I'll focus on good ideas when they come and let the music flow.

2) Time away from the music gave me some time to think about my priorities...and I realize that I have to give music a full shot. I had a good talk with Sean about our current states as young human beings, and I finally verbalized the idea that I will regret nothing more in this life than to let myself grow old without giving music a full try.

I have been inactive (basically, not proactive) for too long, and it's time to get my act in gear.

I will start by purchasing that equipment I set out to buy oh so long ago...I want to have my own PA so that I can set up and play wherever.

Also, I will make a live demo of a few songs, just voice and guitar, so that I won't mislead any potential gig-givers with my cheesy studio mixes and faux band.

Then I will start hitting the road/working the phones. I think putting in face time will be my best shot at leaving an impression, (at least at the places I think I can play right now), so I'll make a promotional package to hand out and start busing around town.

I've gotta start somewhere right? My hope is that I can find some places to play throughout the OC and LBC. From there, we shall see.

If you are reading this, thanks! Hope you are all doing well.

Not That "Weekly" Thing Again!

2008-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't intend for this to happen, but now my 3 most recent posts have all fallen on Wednesdays.

Anyhow, since my previous post I have posted two new songs on the facebook page. Oh yeah! Jamie had a great idea and suggested I have gregyee.com forward to my facebook page. The convo went something like this:

J: "myspace.com/gregyeemusic, I can remember. facebook.com/greg-yee/q3750ahnmn.,zn.e0961097024[z[pg[jf[jmfmtmtmtttjtjyjwiwiw03939555j ... not so much"

So yes, you may now use gregyee.com to find my musics!

The two new songs are, of course, "Miss Jones" and "Best of Me".

I'll share a little bit about these songs. First, MJ. I don't necessarily enjoy bursting the bubble on my songs, but I wrote "Miss Jones" in honor of Lolo Jones, a hurdler who just made the US Olympic team. She now joins Natalie as part of my "Favorite Americans Who Could Kick My Ass" team.

Really, I had the skeletal idea for the song long ago, but no real "shtick" for it. Along came Lolo and the rest is history. I figure the song can be about any guy chasing a girl who he just can't seem to catch. "Hey, I haven't heard that one before!"

I have been trying to get in touch with Lolo's people to see if they would put the song on her website, or better yet, adopt it as her theme song. I figure it's not everyday that you have a song written about you, even if you are famous. I will let you know if there are any updates in that arena.

Next came "Best of Me". As you know, I had been talking about getting in touch with my inner black man. I had actually been working "hard" on BoM when my reasonable deadline for a weekly song passed last week, so I decided to record MJ first. (That and I'm working with a short time window if the real Miss Jones is to adopt it as her theme song before the Olympics.) Anyhow, I wasn't quite satisfied with the lyrics for BoM and put it off til this week.

I got to try some things with this new song, such as looping a beat I created manually, as well as looping guitar parts. I had been listening to some hip hop / r&b to get an idea of what people do and I've learned that looping is integral to the art.

In my infinite quest for perfection, I'm guessing that looping actually took longer than it would have taken had I simply recorded tracks straight through. The reason for this, of course, is that I was aware that these chords/musical phrases would be repeated many times throughout the song. So, given that I would only need one final cut of each chord or sequence (to be heard 20-30 times in the song, of course), you can guess how many times I tried to record each sequence perfectly. Ladies and gentlemen, the gift and the curse of having complete creative/physical control of recording one's songs. (Just like Spidey)

Another thing I tried was layering the vocals. You might notice in other fast-melody songs that lyrical phrases weave into one another as if multiple people are singing the lines. Of course, there is only one vocalist, which can make it sound like a person has magically doubled, or is able to sing a long-assed line while taking in air at the same time. This is kind of a cool effect and I tried it with some degree of consistency throughout BoM.

As for other tidbits, I have been experimenting with the percussion parts. Any suggestions are always welcome. (Thanks Jeremy!)

Finally, I met Chris the drummer today. He's a pretty chill dude. He's been out of practice for a bit but keeps a good beat. He also happens to have some decent equipment that might come in handy if we decide to stick together and play.

Things outside of the music world are keeping me busy so I'm very, very glad that I have been able to record songs lately. I am convinced that I will keep adding songs to my "potential album" list and I will eventually end up with two full albums before I publish anything officially.

As always, I will be tweaking the songs and updates will magically appear. Until later, do take care!

Meeting the Pledge

2008-07-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have thought about modifying my pledge for a song a week, but really I just need to keep my focus.

I know you've heard this before, but I'm very close on the next song I want to record. It is a fun song and I've been tweaking the lyrics for the past few days. Tomorrow I will sit down and do at least a rough draft with the electric and maybe some bass.

And oh yeah, vox.

Thanks for your patience!!!

Who's For Short & Sweet?

2008-07-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

Staring at the song list again, I think it might actually be better to cut Give A Little. As it was, the last 4 tracks would all be slowish and I feel like 3 is enough to wind the energy level down.

GAL also was the longest and slowest track of all so I think with the 10 remaining tracks I can maintain a decent level of "Intensity."

The new, clean cut 10:

1) Believe (4:05)
2) Picturesque (3:23)
3) Stalker (3:53)
4) Bobby (5:37)
5) Beautiful (4:52)
6) Mr. Spam Man (4:31)
7) Too Cool For School (4:38)
8) Don't Leave Me Hangin' (5:44)
9) Surrender (4:49)
10) So Good To Know You (4:44)

"Old Man" very well might be more likable / better quality than a number of the songs included, but let's just save that for album #2 or the EP. Haha!

[OK damn, I just listened to "Old Man" again and I think it sounds pretty good. Almost too good to not include. But "Traffic" with drums also sounds much better....What to do!!!]

And that just leaves the matter of what to call this thing....

I've been rolling with "Believe" as of late.

P.S. The weekly song is progressing. Apologies for fibbing on my weekly deadlines...I assure you that this song will be worth the wait.

P.P.S. Remember that whole WeMix deal? Anyhow, I was informed that "Picturesque" made "Luda's Picks" so every once in awhile when you refresh the home page for wemix.com you'll see my goofy pic and a link to the song. Again, not sure how "useful-useful" this will be, but it's still cool!

P.P.P.S. I edited the middle section of "Mr. Spam Man" (right after the dueling guitars) and will post it again tomorrow. iLike!

When In Doubt, Blog

2008-06-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting around the past few days working with some song ideas and I'm beginning to think I have a slight case of writer's block. It's not so much that I can't come up w/ anything, I'm just not satisfied with what I've come up w/ so far.

What to do, what to do....

I think at this point it's a matter of figuring out which type of song I want to do next. It will help once I commit to a certain song so that I can just finish it and get to recording it.

The R&Bish song seems like a good idea, so maybe I should get the story straight w/ that one. I have an idea for a "fun" song but I want to put in some more time hashing out the lyrics [i.e. make them a little more complex].

I wish I had something more exciting to say. Alas, I do not... Check out my newest music find, Justin Nozuka, here.

And I'll keep you posted w/ progress!

Quick Note + New Order

2008-06-24T00:24:00.001-07:00

Adding drum parts has "upgraded" certain songs to higher levels of beat-ness.

For example, Too Cool For School (2C4S) has joined the Upbeat-ish crowd.

Mr. Spam Man now Might Make You Move.

Reminds me of how electrons jump levels...by .... gaining stuff. (Que horible!)

Valence? For some reason I remember that word.

Anyhow, I thought about having people (prospective buyers/fans) message/e-mail me to let me know which songs they wanted on a CD, but then I realized, how the heck would they be familiar with the pool of songs from which to pick?

So I might scrap that idea rather quickly.

If I were going to make the CD this minute, I'm afraid I will have to axe YRS for the time being b/c I'm not too happy w/ how it sounds with the dance beat.

The songs would be the following:

1) Believe
2) Picturesque
3) Stalker
4) Bobby
5) Beautiful
6) Mr. Spam Man
7) Too Cool For School
8) Don't Leave Me Hangin'
9) Give A Little
10) Surrender
11) So Good To Know You

I'm trying to capture something from each of my song groups. "Old Man" deserves to be in there, but I think I want to cap it at 11. If I were to axe a song in favor of Old Man, it would probably be Give A Little, but I like how GAL (different beat.... and the singing and clapping at the end) mixes things up a bit [see figure].

Consequently, I have a few choices for naming the album:

1) Self-titled - probably not the most original of ideas, but at least classy? [I doubt I will be doing this]

2) Named after one of the songs - "Believe" is good. "Stalker," probably not....though it would def. get people to listen to the song...haha

3) Named after a line from one of the songs - really I wouldn't even know where to begin with this one, but artists do this.

4) Named after something that seems unrelated, yet something that exists as a song in real life - "Yuppie Rock Star" without having YRS on the album? Regina did name her album "Begin to Hope".....

5) Named after something truly unrelated - endless possibility!

Anyhow, I'm leaning toward "Believe" right now b/c it seems appropriate. LMK if you have any thoughts on this subject. Or if you have strongly differing opinions of which songs belong on the album or how they should be ordered.

Til later, have a happy Tuesday!!

Didn't You Used To Be Funny?

2008-06-22T23:17:00.001-07:00

Looking back at the songs I've recorded recently, I was having another conversation with myself and had to ask me, "What happened to the fun / funny stuff?"

All the weekly songs (Give A Little, Too Cool For School, Mr. Spam Man, This Side, Don't Leave Me Hangin') have been serious in some manner. Though from my writer's perspective, I thought it to be somewhat humorous to have a song addressed to the anonymous guy who floods our inboxes with spam.... And I also found the original observation that led me to Hangin' to be somewhat humorous (the inspiration was the thought of someone trying to give a high 5 to someone, but the other person either disses him or just doesn't see him. And oh yeah, when the speaker says, "You're my only way home," I kind of thought the song could encompass the whole idea of leaving someone hangin'... and literally the object of the song is the speaker's ride home. So obviously the speaker doesn't want the addressee to leave! Yes, I am completely random!)

I guess you could also say this observation that I haven't been living on the light side also came up when my sister told me, "You should write some funny songs." Direct hit!

I thought "Stalker" qualifies as funny, or at least darkly humorous....and "Picturesque" is fun enough. That being said, I do want to get back to the roots and write some more fun or funny songs. Of course the one I had been working on during the last week doesn't qualify, but I am always operating with at least 4 or 5 ideas at one time, and I guarantee at least 1 of them will turn into a fun / funny song!

Oh, 'Tis A Hot Day

2008-06-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I had been trying all week to write the next song, for which I claim to try to be black. I didn't quite finish that and when I woke up this morning I decided that in order to appease the mob [see left] I should get a song up by tomorrow, no matter what.

So I employed The Cheat and recorded "Don't Leave Me Hangin'," my first song post-school written in 6/8. [You know, I really can't recall if I wrote a song in 6/8 during school or not.... I did find a bunch of files on my old comp from maybe freshman year and there were some lyrics and chords and stuff for songs I don't even remember thinking up.... but I digress.]

I will also refer to this song as the "UCI Song," because the name lies prominently in the middle of the chorus. :)

Anyhow, it didn't help much that it was such a hot day. For you non-Physics Majors [see figure], the excessive heat messes with the tuning of strings. Hence, you may be able to hear that the tuning for the acoustic and electric parts might be slightly off. I tried my best to keep re-tuning as I did different takes but I was still left with some messy parts. If you don't have great relative pitch, if you don't suffer from perfect pitch, or if you don't care to listen that closely, you probably won't be able to tell the tuning is off. One trick I learned, if you do plan on recording y'self, when tuning I put the tuner right next to my amp instead of tuning closer to or directly from my electric. I figured since the mic will pick up the sound from the amp and not from the guitar [i.e. maybe the tuner can't compensate for the heat through which the sound from the amp travels], this would give me better pitch accuracy. Though I'm pretty sure most people could figure this out with some common sense :).

OK, next obstacle. 6/8. So I had been using my awesome keyboard to add drum parts to my songs [I worked on "Traffic" and "Old Man" this weekend and I'll post them tomorrow.] The only bad thing this time around is that I couldn't figure out how to set my keyboard to 6/8 time. So either I could have a really funky and completely not-fitting drum part.... Or, I could make it up myself, using the keys.

First of all, I've only played drums a couple times in my life, and to say that I know anything about which hits you're supposed to make in which spots would be vastly over generous. So here I am with all these random drum noises that the keyboard could make, trying to figure out how not to sound like a 12-year old who only knows the simple kick + snare hit.

Pretty much, I failed at that mission.... haahha! I did manage to record the drum parts on separate tracks because I figured.... I'm probably going to be off sync on a hit or two (or 50) so it would be nice to be able to use the wonderful capabilities of ProTools to fix that. [With ProTools you can slide selections of whatever size forward or backward to sync up to the beat]

OK, so yeah, the drum part might sound a bit elementary.

Let's see... anything else.... the heat.... making up a drum part..... I guess those constitute the main obstacles of the song. I mean, the heat made it somewhat uncomfortable to be recording, period. I guess I can think of it as practice for when I play in some crowded, hot venue.

I'll see if I can finish the black song and get that up by midweek. Don't hold y'breath.

On second thought, go ahead and hold it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10-4

Super Progress!!

2008-06-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've joined the Progressive Party!

Anyhow, I've spent the past couple nights adding drum parts to the songs, and I think some of them actually sound pretty decent.

I do think using a computer to make drums qualifies as bastardization, but it is nice to get an "idea" of what I would want the songs to sound like in the real world.

Of course, no sooner did I add the drum parts than a drummer responded to my craigslist want ad! Glory hallelujah!

I also have a cool idea for the next song... just have to sit down and actually write and record it. I won't spoil things completely, but I'll just say I will be attempting to be black. YEEEaaah!

Speaking of attempting to be black, Mark sent me a link about this venture headed by Ludacris and some Hollywood chap called wemix.com. I must say, mah boy Luda is quite well spoken. Anyhow, I'm not really sure the site will turn out to be "useful" useful (to me), but the idea of it is at least cool. Basically it's an online community for anyone interested in music - whether you have your own or not - and you can give feedback to peeps on their songs, do some mashups, and I think there's some way they set things up to expedite collaboration. Ludacris claims that if you generate buzz [i.e. someone important listens and likes you] they can get in touch with you and "make things happen."

I joined for the heck of it, because any opportunity to get feedback is always good. I'm not expecting anything much to come of it other than to have another alternative to the myspace. But it'll be fun trying to get in touch w/ my inner black man again.

The downside to joining the Progressives is I haven't gotten much sleep in the past couple of nights. Sooner or later this will catch up to me. I hope not until I'm 80, though.

Until later, thanks for listening. You can check out the new drummed up songs on the myspace or the facebook fan page. Pace!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I'm still not happy with YRS (the song) yet, so I've replaced it on the myspace with Spam Man. Similar-ish feel, maybe? At least both songs are upbeat.

Blog Be Not Forgotten

2008-06-15T23:35:00.001-07:00

I refuse to become a non-posting blogger!

[Seeing that pic of an old computer reminds me of my u-grad days working at the Hoover Inst. mailroom. Oh, so many great stories. We were cleaning out the basement...for some reason. And there were all these old OLD computers. And la pièce de résistance was this huge monitor. I'm talking probably 2.5 feet wide, with a small screen of course. And on top there was a slot....with paper coming out of it. Yes. It was a giant monitor-printer combo. Lars, my coworker, was like, "This thing is FREAKING AWESOME!!!" And we concluded that the awesome piece of hardware never quite caught on like the ...oh, minidisc]

Anyhow, I just came back from a trip up north for some family craziness and fun. Ate far too much food. This has little to do w/ the music except that I was unable to write or record my weekly song to meet my Monday "deadline." That will make it two Mondays in a row. Who the hell do I think I am?

I do want to do a more fun song this week. Maybe a slight RHCP feel? Perhaps I shouldn't preface my songs w/ other bands, but really, when I am producing my own songs I do have certain sounds from certain songs in mind that I think are cool. I'm not saying I necessarily try to emulate those sounds, I just like to have an idea or model at which to throw my songs... you know, to see if anything sticks.

This week I'm also going to step up the level of harassment in trying to get gigs. I will also post on Craigslist in search of a drummer.

My idea for what belongs on my first "album" is ever changing, but my most recent list looks something like this:

1. Believe
2. Picturesque
3. Stalker
4. Yuppie Rock Star
5. Bobby
6. Too Cool For School
7. Beautiful
8. Mr. Spam Man
9. Old Man
10. Give A Little
11. Surrender
12. So Good To Know You

Right now I think it's a tad long... aren't people supposed to do debut EPs? (7-8 songs)

It really is hard to let go of songs as part of the compilation once I throw them into the mix.

Til later... take care, friends!

Quick Note

2008-06-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

I might not be able to post a weekly song this week [by Monday at least] b/c some stuff came up this weekend.

I will try my hardest to get it up early in the week.

Also, since I will be traveling the next weekend, I'm not sure what's going to happen with next week's song.

Fear not, this will not be a trend.

Weekly Song #3 Posted

2008-06-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

So I had the idea for "Mr. Spam Man" in the form of a poem before... During college when we were doing weekly poems I wrote something in the same vicinity of the idea, but I think the song has turned out much better than the poem. [Should I go find that thing and post it somewhere?]

You can call this song my sort-of attempt at sounding Green Day-ish. Last week when I started writing "Too Cool For School" I was originally going for a straight beat, a la Jimmy's "A Praise Chorus" or Green Day's "Welcome To Paradise," but as I mentioned before, the guitar part didn't quite fit and I ended up with a little more of a reggae-ish feel.

This week, in order to prevent that from happening again, I said, "OK, stick with the Green Dayesque guitar part and build the song around that."

Anyhow, I came up with the melody for the chorus one day at work. It might have been Wednesday. Funny how I would think about writing a song about spam at work, since we are just inundated with spam on our work e-mail server. It's ridiculous, and the subject headers get crazier and crazier - they now mostly incorporate my name, saying something like, "You're ridiculous, Greg" or things that are worse that I don't care to reprint in this space.

So that reminded me of my poem before when I was addressing the people behind the spam. I wrote down, "Why do I always find you here, find you here, find you here," as well as, "Who are you gonna be, gonna be, gonna be today?" And that was pretty much what I started with this morning.

Besides the beat, I tried something else out with this song. I've noticed that a lot of cool rock songs have riffs with two guitars playing harmonies, and I tried to do this myself with the "duel" electric parts you hear in the fills and solos.

Hmm, what else. I used the keyboard for some pad, because I didn't feel like singing choir parts this time. It's the weird synthy, metallic sound you hear during the chorus. I think it turned out fine.

Alright, that seems to be it for now. Lemme know what you guys think! Time to get crackin' on the next song!

Growing Up

2008-06-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

It is back. Oh dear how it is back.

And by "it," of course, I mean, the urge to play.

Playing just makes me want to play more.

I got out again to play tonight and I think I am officially over my anxiety over having to play with other people. For some reason over the past couple months or so I have gotten really comfortable singing and playing solo. Don't ask me how...maybe it's just becoming more familiar with my material, but I definitely felt a great deal of confidence on stage today. And I do realize that though there are definite "minuses" to playing solo, there are also definite pluses. At this point I think I do want to find some solo gigs. And kick some ass.

Special thanks to Ryan, Maria, Robbie, and Michael for coming out and showing your support. You guys are the best.

Safe to say, it begins, my friends.

Hope to see you along the way.

P.S. The one down thing about playing a gig Saturday night, and being a chronic procrastinator.... I have to write and record my weekly song tomorrow. And I probably have only a few lines written. Maybe I'll work on a song I've already written but didn't record properly. Is that cheating? haha

Letting Go

2008-05-26T23:55:00.000-07:00

Something I'm learning... when submitting yourself to the arts, you have to learn to be able to let go of things.... stuff into which you put hours of sweat, anguish, contemplation, etc.

Of course, in my case, I am dealing with songs and having to discard them.

No, I don't refer to them as "my babies" or "my precious," but as you can imagine I do grow a certain amount of attachment to them. Some I will always enjoy, no matter how crappy the rest of the world may think they are. Some I will admit sound good but don't do much for me personally. Whatever the case may be, I am just now starting to get a feel for what I want to sound like as an artist. [Emphasize "Starting."]

With that ever-developing process, I can better pick out which songs I think best represent "my" sound. Practically speaking, I'm thinking about what I want to put out in a first album/EP.

Not to coronate myself prematurely, but after putting forth some pretty consistent work in the past few months, I'm actually gaining quite a bit of confidence in my ability to churn out "quality" songs, and I've definitely raised the bar of expectations of what I can do on a week-to-week basis. Right now I'm probably in the best place I've ever been as a songwriter, and for that I am eternally grateful. That being said, if the clairvoyance were to disappear tomorrow, I would have no complaints.

Anyhow, letting go. I spent a lot of time writing and recording songs like "Movin' On", "Stay", and "Traffic". [I lie, as you may know from earlier blog spots, I actually wrote "Movin' On" in 20 mins, still my record for fastest song... except for maybe "So Good To Know You"] So yeah, I still believe these songs are decent and playable, no doubt, but I am also coming to terms with the fact that they may be good, and yet, not best suited for placement in my first official collection of songs.

Whatever I make - "Album," "EP," etc. - will be the first hallmark of who I want to be as an artist. And maybe this is a stupid rule, but as I listen to my own music to find errors and things, I usually find myself gravitating toward certain songs and skipping certain songs consistently. [And this may be particularly skewed because I've heard from many artists that their favorite songs are usually the ones they've written most recently, which seems to be the case with me too.]

But sticking with the idea, if I'm always skipping a song that I myself spent hours making, I can't imagine what a casual listener, owing no such allegiance to my man-hours, would think.

Of course, I can't be the judge of what songs would reach a wider audience or not, since I am biased myself - and perhaps this is where I may best utilize those whom I trust and respect most.

I'm not sure if these thoughts are really going anywhere. I just started with the idea that I do have to let some songs go in the long run. The good thing is I can still choose to play them live, and I will always have them sitting around.

One awesome thing, as happy I am with my work in the past few months, it's funny how the seemingly most popular song is the one I wrote earliest - Stalker, from freshman year of college.

Until later, do take care.

Second Weekly Song Posted

2008-05-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

I posted my second weekly song - "Too Cool For School."

As you may know from reading here, I attempted to write the same song in two different styles. The first song, "Give A Little", I aimed to have a positive, uplifting feel. The second song, which became "Too Cool For School", I aimed to be a little more angry or upset.

I was actually attempting to make 2C4S more in the Green Day mold of songs, but I came up with the running guitar part, and once I heard in my head how I wanted it to sound [cool, obviously] I couldn't abandon it. It took several takes last night to get it down, only for me to wake up this morning and feel like I had to re-record it. Luckily, my gametime experience from last night aided in me being able to record the part much quicker this morning.

It might have also helped that it was 11 am and not 1 am.

Anyhow, I'll keep you guys posted on my next song.

Thanks for reading!

Weekly Song #1 Posted

2008-05-18T23:52:00.000-07:00

So to kick off my practice of posting a song every week, I have posted a version of a song I wrote this week entitled "Give A Little" on the myspace as well as the facebook.

Basically I recorded the acoustic, bass, and the weird sounding instrument you hear throughout the song - it's called "azimut" on my keyboard - Saturday night, and the rest today. Actually, I didn't have to do much for the weird sound...just recorded a few bars and looped it. My first use of loops!

The funny thing is that with my first few listens after I "completed" the song, I began to think it sounded kind of weird and not all that great. After a few listens, though, I became ok with it.

I'm not 100% satisfied with all the words. Seriously, the one line I had in mind, my friend Mark pointed out upon first listen. It's the last line of the first verse that goes, "You bury the pain and the things you held onto."

I'm at odds with this line for a number of reasons: 1) Grammatical error, 2) It just sounds like filler, and 3) It tries to capture an idea but just doesn't quite do it.

Of course, that's basically what it is right now... filler. It is the line I spent the most time trying to figure out, and it remains the line that causes me the most grief. Fear not, as this isn't the end of the world; I'll merely give it some thought - as well as a few other lines - and see what I can come up with this week. I'm guessing the final product will not look too unfamiliar.

Anyhow, if you have any other suggestions, do please let me know.

Until later, time to start writing weekly song #2!

Initial Response to the Songs.....And An Awesome Hero!

2008-05-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Initial response to the posting of the songs has been positive. I'm thinking people are overlooking many of the glaring "errors" I notice in favor of hearing "what lies beneath." Courteous of everyone, for sure!

The coolest and perhaps most interesting part of sharing music is the variety of ways in which your work happens to appeal to people. In other words, it's kind of fun to hear how different people like different songs. After having worked on them for quite some time (some more than others, of course), I built a certain level of expectation for which songs would be "popular" and which would probably not. But I've quickly discovered that these notions are pretty much built in the mind of the artist alone; once you share the music with the people, you might as well throw expectations out the window.

Yes, it can be somewhat of a letdown when you take a lot of pride in perfecting a song, deem it your "best ever," and wait for the record companies to come 'a calling.... only for response to it to turn out lukewarm at best. On the flipside, though, if I start to dislike a song and could care less if it showed up to work the next day, I think it's especially refreshing when someone hears that song and says it's definitely a keeper. It's all relative, I guess! So, the system works both ways and I am quickly learning that this is all part of the process of the singer-songwriter deal. One may build expectations but one also should not bet the farm on them!

Constructively speaking, I am noticing that I do need to fix some vocal parts on a few songs. I don't get nearly as upset about a poorly played instrumental part as I do with out of tune singing or unnecessary volume fluctuation in my voice. Maybe this is because my voice is the part of a song that most prominently belongs to me. Anybody could have screwed up the bass part, but really, there is only one "me" voice, right?

Anyhow, with the launching of the myspace and facebook pages, I have decided to put my money where my mouth is with my goal of writing a song per week. I have pledged to post a new song every Monday, so we'll see how that goes!

I'll start it off with an idea for a song I have right now that I think could work in a couple of ways. I'm planning to write what is basically the same song in two different styles. The words will be different. The melody and chords will be different. But the general "idea" will be, for the most part, the same. The first version will be a little more in the style in which I usually write, while the second version will be a little more "experimental," I'll say.

And finally, perhaps the coolest news of all...

I haven't talked much about who I count as major musical influences of mine. For those who actually read what I put up on the myspace and facebook pages, you may recall the following: "Regina Spektor, Maroon 5, Third Eye Blind, Ben Folds, Dishwalla, Jayson Belt, Switchfoot... friends, family, life."

Perhaps it'd be a cool idea to go into some detail as to how I think each of these things has shaped my music, but in the interests of time I will save that for a later post. To the story at hand....

Yesterday I was sitting around during my bout of sickness and I figured...hey, wouldn't it be worth a shot to try to contact Jayson Belt? I knew 1) that he was a local guy, 2) that he wasn't currently playing with a regular band, and 3) that he is my musical hero, having written some of my favorite songs of all time while fronting the now disbanded band The Red West - "Days Die", "I Forgot", "Today's Another Nation", and "Don't Fall In". (The Red West toured with Maroon 5, Something Corporate, and some guy named Dave Matthews while I was in college.) Immediately the thought of jamming with my musical hero popped up, but I had to dismiss this as I know he runs an insanely busy schedule these days.

I sent him a facebook message, throwing out the possibility of jamming because I just had to, but more realistically, asking him if he would be willing to offer me his guidance.

When I arrived at work this morning I received the awesome g-mail, "Jayson Belt sent you a message on Facebook..."

As far as facebook highlights of my life go, this is right up there with "Natalie Coughlin sent you a message on Facebook..." Sadly I'm afraid Mr. Belt will have to settle for 2nd behind Ms. Coughlin, but I digress.

Anyhow, I kind of had this feeling that he would respond b/c he seems like an accessible enough guy. What I wasn't expecting was how awesome, humble, and great all around he would turn out to be.

First he was flattered that I would consider him a musical influence. I suppose my message was kind of out of the blue, but seriously, a man with such talent, armed with humility...truly amazing.

He then commented that "Stalker" and "Beautiful" were solid songs.

I just have to put this into perspective. Imagine you dedicate your life to a cause, a project, research, something. [For many of you, "imagining" this isn't very hard...haha] Now, take the person you idolize in that field or regard. Now imagine what it would feel like when he/she takes a look at your work and says, "Not bad, friend." Too awesome to really describe. Usually just the idea that they looked at your work and didn't gag immediately represents some form of validation. But when they actually say something positive? They might as well have given you a coupon good for a life's worth of "Great job!"s.

Anyhow, as I expected, he went on to say that he was too busy to jam, but that he appreciated the offer. What he could offer, though, were his thoughts on anything I would like.

I mean, what can I say? He is seriously the man.

I hope he doesn't mind me referring to him as a mentor from here on out, but even if he serves as simply a facebook mentor, I think it's cool to be in touch with someone who has been through the circus of the music biz. I'm working on formulating a brief list of thoughts to start off with and I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

So to summarize, I have stopped briefly to pat myself on the back for posting the first batch of songs, but I'm getting back to work quickly. I'm officially going to try to post a song every Monday on the myspace and the facebook. And, oh yeah, my musical hero is going to be a mentor of sorts. All in all, not a bad week's work!

Until later, my friends, do keep being awesome.

Paring Down

2008-05-12T01:49:00.001-07:00

To repeat myself, the songs I've posted aren't officially an "album." Basically they are the "best" songs I had at the moment and therefore they comprised the first set of songs I self-recorded.

That being said, if I do begin to distribute a CD consisting of songs from this collection, I'm thinking of paring it down from 12 to 11 or maybe 10 songs. If you have any input as to which song or songs you dubbed as "mleh" or automatic skips, do please let me know. Even if I may not see things exactly as you do (do we ever?), it's best to hear from the people who lend me their support when making these decisions.

Perhaps your suggestion is that I need to cut out 5 of the songs and come up with some new, better material. Don't hesitate to tell me such things!

Alright, thanks, brothers and sisters.

Again, you are the best.

Slight Change in Plans

2008-05-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that I can post all of my songs on ilike. So that is wonderful.

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Greg+Yee works, and if you have a facebook account, I think this page works: http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/Greg+Yee

I have decided to use myspace, the infinitely more popular site, as my online demo area. I'm currently trying to figure which 6 songs belong there.

"For sure" I want to use "Stalker" and "Picturesque." The other slots are kind of open to people's opinions. I figured having one song of each "style" is good, and the way I see it, ROUGHLY:

Stay ~ So Good To Know You
Surrender ~ Bobby
Believe ~ Traffic
Stalker ~ Old Man
Picturesque ~ Movin' On
Beautiful ~ Yuppie Rock Star

Your opinions are highly valued, so please, please, PLEASE...any feedback you have - good, bad, neutral - do pass it along!

Thanks!

OK. Officially. Done.

2008-05-11T01:52:00.000-07:00

Until my next whim to fix a song. haha

I have decided to use myspace and ilike for the time being.

I have also reinserted "Beautiful" into the "lineup."

I am going to split the songs as follows:

Myspace:
Believe
Stalker
Beautiful
Bobby
Stay
Traffic

ilike:
Picturesque
Old Man
Yuppie Rock Star
Surrender
So Good To Know You
Movin' On

I think the two sets of songs complement each other well, but we'll see how things go. Thanks all for your patience!

Halt the Parade!

2008-05-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

We haven't heard this one before. After some contemplation I have decided that I should add piano to most if not all of the tracks currently lacking it.

Fear not though, as my piano skillz are way more mad than my guitar skillz, I should be able to accomplish this all by tonight.

Again, this is all meaningless to most of you who have not heard any of the songs anyway.

Dare I say it'll be done by tomorrow?

And, oh yeah, I'm contemplating adding a 12th song after all. A song I haven't written yet but based on how it turns out in the next couple of days we'll see.

New Order

2008-05-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

I realize this is still meaningless to the lot since hardly anyone has heard any of the songs. But for what it's worth, I've tweaked the order of songs a little.

I'm subtracting "Beautiful" and flip-flopping the last two tracks:

1. Believe
2. Picturesque
3. Stalker
4. Yuppie Rock Star
5. Traffic
6. Movin' On
7. Bobby
8. Stay
9. Old Man
10. Surrender
11. So Good To Know You

As soon as I post the songs, I'll be glad to hear people's input on the order of songs and also which songs you believe should go on my "demo."

Thanks!!!

DONE. (Only 4 Days Late)

2008-05-04T23:52:00.001-07:00

So I'm officially >50% satisfied with 12 songs. Now comes the fun part of sharing. Oh boy...so excited right now. Can't even type in complete sentences or with correct spelling.

The songs are as follows (in tentative "order"):

1. Believe
2. Picturesque
3. Stalker
4. Yuppie Rock Star
5. Traffic
6. Movin' On
7. Bobby
8. Stay
9. Beautiful
10. Old Man
11. So Good To Know You
12. Surrender

Tomorrow I will put them on a CD, print out lyrics, and send them off for copyright purposes. I will also post the songs using myspace, facebook, and mp3.com. [Unless someone has other suggestions.]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YE SYE YSE SY ES YES YE SYE SYE YSE YSE YES YE SYES YES YES YES YES YE SYE SYE SYE SYE SYES YES YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YS EYSE YES YES YES YES YES EYSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YSE YS EYES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-------

Editor's Note: I think I'm going to cut "Beautiful" out b/c it isn't up to par w/ the rest of the songs. I still think it's a good song, but in the company of the other songs, I feel it doesn't add much. And this allows me to do what I've wanted to do all along: make "Stalker" a bonus track!!!!

I Have in My Hand 10 Complete Songs

2008-05-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

I'm more than 50% satisfied with how 10 of the songs sound. (Note that I will never be 100% happy with any of my songs, unless Jennifer Connelly comes barreling down my door, singing my song, telling me how she is love in me because of it, and asking me to break her family apart so that we can get married. And even then, it's hard to say I'd be more than 99% happy with the song. But I digress.)

Anyhow, I am really, really, really hoping to get up to 12 songs before posting them all. One song I need to re-record entirely, and one song I have to finish the lyrics before I attempt to record it.

I'm getting a lot better at mixing/editing/producing songs as the process is taking less and less time with each song (assuming the amount of production necessary isn't exorbitant).

Let's see what I can get done tomorrow, and who knows....maybe I'll FINALLY be able to share my music with you all.

Reassessment...< One Week?

2008-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

I just reviewed what I have up to this point, and I think I won't need as long to complete the 10 songs I've started.

I do, however, want to add one or two more songs before I release them all and that will give me a square dozen to start off with.

Ever Closer....

2008-04-28T02:16:00.001-07:00

I lied. I didn't have all the songs ready by the end of April.

I'm struggling a bit with trying to get the right sound with each song. Being a one man band and being one's own sound engineer/editor/mixer/producer takes its toll.

I'm thinking I'll need another week or two, but I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Thanks and stay tuned!

He's On Fire!!!!

2008-04-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

One night.

Two songs.

Seriously, I am on fire like never before.

Anyhow, I just had to share my excitement over doing something I don't think I've ever done.

I wrote the first song, which I'm probably going to call "Old Man", in about an hour and a half. And while I was waiting to play it for my parents, I wrote another song in about twenty minutes. I admit the second song isn't nearly as complex as the first but I think it will turn out to be just as good.

This puts me at about 13 songs since January. Not bad, considering that from the middle of junior year [2005] to January of 2008 I had completed exactly zero songs.

At this growth rate, I will have about 733 songs written by the end of this year. YEAH!!!!

Til later, friends.

T-Minus 9 Days....

2008-04-21T00:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend I shed exercise for music. Unfortunately, this might become the norm - at least temporarily - while I try to get all of my current songs on tape and ready for "release" as quickly as possible.

You see, the curse of being in complete control of my recording is that I have literally ALL the time in the world to tweak every little detail of every song I record.

Think of it like a take home exam. (Remember those?)

So with a take home, you see no immediately "tangible" deadline - well, Fri @ 8 AM, of course, but hey man, that's days away!

And what happens? You record something....and it sounds aiite, and then it sits there.

Bothering you.

And because it's not due yet, you HAVE to go back and say, "Well maybe that one line could be timed better."

So you re-record it. And the song sounds a little better....and then it resumes sitting.

Until you get the itch that "well, maybe people really can tell I'm out of tune on that sustained note"....on the third vocal track, no less.

And you can imagine, it just becomes a vicious cycle to the point that I could spend weeks on a single track. Not the entire song, a TRACK.

And after several guilt-filled days, when you finally go to turn in the exam, you're cursing yourself, thinking, "I should have spent longer on it...." Alas, you may breathe properly again. Until you realize that you've got at LEAST a few more days ahead of you that will be happy to cause you grief while you wait for your results.

Learn It, Yee-Man Style: On the remote chance that all of my readers are NOT do-it-yourself home recorders (ha!) most song recordings are made up of "tracks." Think of tracks as "parts." For example, one track will be set solely for an acoustic guitar. Another will be for the bass. Another for the lead vocals. Another for a harmony vocal. Etc. How you record each track varies from song to song, producer to producer, musician to musician, etc. In my case, since I am literally a one man band at the moment, I record each track separately and then "layer" the tracks on top of each other. The reasoning behind this is to get each part down as crisply & clearly as possible, which in turn makes editing, mixing, and mastering much easier and much more effective.

To illustrate, imagine I record a song with just my acoustic guitar and voice. Say I play the guitar part flawlessly (really, fat chance, but work with me here)...but the vocals, for one reason or another, are shoddy (that's more like it!). If I'm recording the song using only one track with one mic, well heck, I've just wasted perhaps the only FLAWLESS VICTORY my guitar has in it. And for what? Well, I don't want my shoddy vocals reaching the ears of my legions of fans, and because I used only one track, I can't just go back and fix the vocal part. For shame!!!!

Now, let's utilize a little revisionist history (my favorite kind of history) and do it the "pro" way - mic the guitar and vocals separately using very expensive mics that won't interfere with each other (actually the pro way is to re-record the vocals separately anyway, but I digress). What have we here? Halt the Crying Parade! My FLAWLESS VICTORY does not go to waste. Start the Hooray Parade! I can keep the guitar recording and re-record the vocals as I so please. Make sense?

Anyhow, back to the point that I am spending too much time recording. No doubt, if I were paying big bank for studio time w/ an engineer, I'd have all my songs down in a matter of two or three hours. As it stands, though, I've definitely overspent my time tweaking and re-doing the songs I actually already have down, instead of making makeshift recordings of everything.

"Greg, that's not the most productive way of going about things," you say.

"You are right." I respond. "And quite concise."

But ah, there is a point to the madness.

First off, I'm definitely learning a lot through trial and error. A lot, a lot, a lot. Oftentimes I'll just sit around listening to the songs to figure out how best to make them sound better, whether it's simply re-recording a part for timing or pitch, or if it's adding on additional parts to get Cool Points, or if I'm REALLY lucky, Badass Points. I am also learning the many ins and outs of Pro Tools. In the wake of having done jury duty last year, let this be another personal lesson to not judge a book by its cover. Before I had even used Pro Tools, my impression was that the program was strictly "For the Pros" and would take forever to get used to. Quite the opposite, it has been, as the learning process has been very smooth and equally rewarding.

The other "benefit" of spending forever per song is that when I do have all my songs ready for release by the end of the month, they will be ready for distribution. Yes....free and fully distributable!

This is where the magic begins. Get the sound out there, gather whatever kind of following I can gather, and from there, build the empire. Yes, I am basically following the example of the great Coulton. My wrinkle, of course, is the No Tips Tour, which, if executed in full, will become a collection of stories that I will someday have the great privilege of telling my kids. And of course, you guys, who already exist and everything.

So when I say "T-Minus 9 Days....", it literally means I have 9 days to haul ass and get my songs ready to go. Figuring out how to post them, of course, is an entirely different problem. One way or another, though, you guys will be the first to hear, and destroy, my music. Collect them all!

Haha.

Thanks again for all the support. And I shall keep you posted.

BTW, I should add that playing over the weekend was fun. I played at this fundraiser dinner thing on Friday which was more for kicks. I tried to write a song for the city council candidate who put on the dinner, but couldn't make it in time. Instead I changed the words to a Beatles song and we all had a good laugh. And by "we" I mean myself and the poor guy who had to serve as a human mic stand. YES!!

And come to think of it, the wedding reception was more for kicks as well. Alissa and Mike liked the song I wrote for them...or so they told me! My new friend Joe even said afterward, "I think you just earned yourself an invitation to my wedding." Bzam!@

Anyhow, I'll probably record that song sometime this week and send it to Alissa. Not sure if I should make it one of the publicly available songs in the long run, though. I'm learning toward keeping it special.

That or just changing the names so that I can use it at every wedding on Earth. Haha

At the Buzzer!!!!!!

2008-04-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

There is nothing quite like beating the buzzer....just ask our friend Nick Robinson. OK, so technically I was a couple hours late, but I was sitting around at approximately 1:00 AM this night without having completed my weekly song.

This week's song marked a special occasion as I designated it to be the one to fulfill my duty as a commissioned songwriter. Well, actually I commissioned myself, but the point is I was trying to write a song for my friend Alissa's wedding reception.

I sat down at 1:00 AM with one melodic phrase in mind. And bam, I wrote the song in about 20 minutes. The length of time spent does not reflect the quality of the song, as it is quite badass if I may say so myself.

Just excited to report this news. I can't share it yet because it's going to be a surprise. [Alissa asked me to play so I'm not forcing my way on stage or anything]

Also, I recorded "Stalker" and touched up "Bobby" tonight. They are looking and sounding vairdy nice-uh. Vairdy nice-uh indeed!!!

I guarantee you will be blown away when I post my entire compilation of songs. And by "you" I mean "me."

Smokey Bear: "Only who can prevent forest fires?"
Bart: [looks at buttons labeled "You" and "Me". Presses "You"]
Smokey Bear: "You pressed 'You,' referring to me. That is incorrect. The correct answer is you."

One Pat On the Back

2008-04-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

It is late on this Saturday night...technically Sunday morning...and talking to my buddy Sean, I've had a vision of what will happen in the coming months. I was giving a trial listen through the songs I've recorded thus far, only half of which I would deem "ready for release," and I was just thinking, "Dang, you know, I have to admit this stuff is pretty catchy and good sounding."

So I afforded myself one pat on the back - for living, in some way, up to my own level of expectations. Anyhow, as I can be honest with Sean, with whom I've been good friends for the 99% of my life that I can actually remember, I told him that I hope someday the world will be able to hear the music that doth spring from my brain. And of course Sean lent his support. He's one of the people who is both the subject and the object of my song "Believe." I digress.

Anyhow, I can see what's going to happen now with the music.

I'm going to finish recording all the "complete" songs I have by the end of this month, maybe sooner.

I will then post everything online through some combination of myspace, and iLike or just some random webspace.

The songs themselves will be quality and they will feed off of each other.

The production value may leave something to be desired.

he hope is that I can find players to add to my recordings, in terms of drums, first and foremost, and then bass and leads.

But this entire compilation, which I envision numbering at least 12 songs, will be available for free to any and all who wish to hear it.

I will then proceed to badger venues all around town to get them to put me on stage in front of people.

And the people, meaning me, will rejoice.

Oh how the people will rejoice.

And the rest, as they say, will be history.

The 6/8 Seal is Broken

2008-04-07T01:08:00.000-07:00

For the few of you who I've talked to at length about songwriting, and now for The People, you may not have known of my reverence of the 6/8 meter. So I'll put it out there. I have an unhealthy adulation for 6/8 time.

I admit that I have placed 6/8 time on a pedestal (see right) much higher than it probably warrants, but to debunk this self-imposed myth, I finally decided to take a crack at it this week. (Well, actually a second crack, but the first crack since my "musical rebirth.")

If you're totally baffled over what the heck 6/8 time is, to define it technically, there are 6 beats per measure with an 8th note receiving one beat. What does this mean? Probably not much to you...haha...The feel is very similar to that of a waltz. And I guess you can equate all waltzes, which are written in 3/4 time, to 6/8 time, by what you hear at least. And who said fractions would never be useful?

The effect of writing a song in 6/8 is that the beat automatically induces a "sway." You sway from one side on the downbeat (1) and you sway to the other on the upbeat (4). If this is a completely lost cause, I can give you some examples of songs in 6/8: "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls. "Sparks" by Coldplay. "Daughters" by John Mayer. "You and Me" by Lifehouse. "Fools Rush In" by Elvis. "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. "We Are the Champions" by Queen. Sway to the song as if you were at a concert - break out the lighter, baby! - and you'll know what I mean when I say that the sway is totally induced by the meter, whereas songs in standard meter (4/4 time, about 98% of what you hear on the radio) typically don't create the effect so easily.

ANYHOW, this "sway" is the very reason why I've treated 6/8 time like royalty. One of the strongest measurements of an artist's stage presence is his or her ability to get the crowd involved. If you can get your audience to sing your melody/lyrics/chords with you, sway to your beat, start crowd-surfing frenzies, etc. these accomplishments will serve as signs of the coolness and vivacity of your act. So, taking that into account, if you are an artist and you choose to write a song in 6/8, a meter that AUTOMATICALLY gets your audience swaying, it is my opinion that that song damn well better be worthy of such swaying. Otherwise you have just about "cheated" your way into some crowd involvement. And what kind of artist would that make you, Hoobastank? [j/k...I really shouldn't call artists out like that, just can't help myself]

So, out of respect for the many great artists who have dedicated their lives to developing killer stage acts, I have refrained in my "immature songwriting state" from writing a song in 6/8.

That is, until now!

For my weekly song, I wrote a song in 6/8 called "Don't Leave Me Hangin'", which I shall tweak and include on whatever compilation I compile-ate. Yes I realize it is stinky for me to talk about a song and not post it, but gimme a chance to record it and you can get a feel for what I've done to make my case to join the 6/8 Club.

Til later, peace out!

Use the Monitors!...and Some "Deep" Reflection?

2008-03-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this dual-entry, long-time-in-between-postings deal will become regular practice. I hope not! But I definitely do feel like I'm juggling about 9,277 things at once and unfortunately the blog is a member of "The Juggled."

So first thing, I actually sat down to listen to what I've recorded on some speakers. Not crazy speakers, just the speakers in my bedroom stereo. This led to lesson #14a of recording.....one's recording does not sound the same on speakers as it does on headphones. Namely, my vocals sounded far less strong on speakers than on headphones. And here I was thinking I was the next internet-Pavarotti (God rest his operatic soul!)

Anyhow, taking this revelation into consideration, I decided that I need to re-record the songs and actually use monitors this time around to hear the playback. (In case you don't know, a "monitor" is a speaker that a performer uses so that he/she can hear what's being broadcast by a sound system. The sound system's (PA's) speakers are called "mains," and they are typically pointed toward the audience. [Unless the sound tech is a dullard...or shall we say, experimental?] Monitors, meanwhile, are the speakers you will see on the floor of a stage pointed toward the performer. Now I think I'm using the term correctly when I say that the speakers I use to hear my recording playback are also called "monitors." If I'm wrong, may God help us all.)

Now where was I? Oh yes, the crappy vocals. So yes, I took it upon myself to re-record my songs, and whilst doing so, the perfectionist in me took over.

Being hardly anything of a "trained" singer (see right), I tend to potentially lose my tone on any note held longer than say, one second. You can imagine, playing back phrase after phrase, re-recording each held note....recording a 4 minute song can turn into an hour, easily. (And in addition to trying to get the right tone, there's volume, timing, saying the right word, avoiding loud motorcycles, blah blah blah.....recording is time consuming, bro.)

I successfully re-did a couple of songs but still have a good handful to go. And that doesn't even count the songs I have yet to record. So much to do....at least I have something to look forward to!

And that is my current musical status. I'm beginning to think that all these hiccups are just subconscious attempts by the right side of my brain to keep the left side of my brain down, namely, by shielding the world from the pure insanity that is musical composition combined with the lyrical musings of that very same left side of my brain. I dunno about you but I'll really be pulling for the left side on this one.

Ok, chord change.

The next order of business pertains to some reflecting I've done in the past couple of days. As some of you may know, I am attempting to write and (idealistically) record a song per week, a la Jonathan Coulton. (Currently I am behind by 2 songs, I think....haha)

Anyhow, over the past couple of months or so I have been endlessly invincible in terms of songwriting. I have been able to pick and choose what I want to write about, whose voice I want to use, how I want the song to sound, who I'm writing for, etc. and stuff just comes out. Sometimes I run into lyrical & musical gold, other times lyrical & musical pyrite, but it's been a productive period, to say the least.

Over the weekend, I was trying to keep pace with my goal by checking out some random song ideas I had compiled over the past few months. And out of the blue I asked myself, "What constitutes a truly meaningful idea?" Not in an existential manner, but just, what makes an idea worthy of writing about?

In my personal experience, when I start to write a song, I start with a blank slate. (OK maybe the slate is never truly blank b/c I usually start with a spark one way or another, but when it comes to actually writing out the words to a song, the WORLD is at my disposal.) So why do I choose the certain words or phrases....why do I choose the specific ideas, sentiments, or objects that I write about, and deem them worthy of etching into song? And no, I'm not saying that the 4 minute ditties I come up with are worthy of "all-time status," but just in general, why is one idea or phrase more important than the next one?

I've been tussling with the idea over the past day or so, and even if I don't come to a resolution anytime soon, I think the best part of this experience is that I've still been able to write with these things in mind. It is for this reasons that I don't think this is Round Two of "Cosmic Writer's Block" in my life. Instead, I guess this is just a sign of maturity in the writing dept.

Before, like, say in college, I would be more than glad to write a song about anything. Now, I think I'm really starting to hone in on what kind of messages I want my songs to convey, and I think it really is a great thing. I don't want to sound like I'm sitting here patting myself on the back, but I THINK I am really starting to tap into what this whole "songwriting" thing is about.

I will bore you no further with my brain chatter. After all is said and done, I hope to have a good album's worth of songs recorded and ready for consumption in the not-too-distant future. And maybe a music video or two to boot! Until later, take care my friends.

Update + Fortuitous Randomness

2008-03-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

I've been out of commission b/c of crazy busy-ness the past week or so. Apologies for the de-publicking of the blog, still working out some issues with that. But I think I'm good to go for now.

I've been trying to keep up with my song-a-week pledge, and it isn't as easy as one might think. The writing is one part, but recording it as well? For those of you who think recording a 4 minute song should be a piece of cake, well, I guess you're right if you're not too much of a perfectionist. But when you think about the "Who's going to hear this" aspect, you can imagine that it is quite easy to get caught up in making your instrumental parts as close to perfect in the timing department and making each song phrase as in tune and "pretty" as possible. Add in something like a difficult chord to play or a physically demanding melody....you have yourself an hour long project, at least.

This past weekend I put in a good amount of time recording. Maybe the funnest thing I've discovered (or re-discovered, for that matter) is recording multiple vocal tracks. I mean, who doesn't want to hear a choir of Gregs? Haha

I realize that I can put together some pretty good sounding tracks with just my guitar and me. I haven't even hooked up the keyboard yet, but the time will come, and perhaps then the real craziness will begin.

I also realize that even with my "endless" solo capabilities, I am still limited by not having a drummer or bassist. I think it's perfectly plausible for me to fake my way through bass parts, but an actual good drummer cannot be faked. Will work on that....

On a random note, today I had a totally awesome conversation with my coworker at lunch. What makes it even cooler is that I don't usually talk to him any more than I would talk to your average coworker.

Anyhow, I saw him sitting with a book at the lunch table. I happened to see something about light bulbs on the page, and knowing that he likes to fix up cars, I asked him what he was reading about. I fully expected him to say "car repair"...

"Film-making."

I think I actually said, "Wow!"

"Yeah, what I'm really interested in doing is making music videos."

You can only imagine the next few steps that followed in my head.

I told him about how we should hook up. He said it would be perfect b/c in his position his main issue is finding music to make videos for. OK, twist my arm, I guess I'll let you use my songs. HAHA

Short story shorter, we're going to make a music video. With the possibility of more music videos to come.

Friggin' sweet.

I also have an update on the busking journey as I talked about it with my sisters and brothers-in-law during my trip to the Bay Area a couple weekends ago. Kelly and Gen came up with something that just blew me away, and now basically, I have to do it. Stay tuned!

"Bobby" Begets Gig

2008-03-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

The whole idea of gigs begetting gigs might become old news sooner or later, but "Bobby" was received well last night at the Gypsy Den and even got me a potential gig at UCI. Kazaa!

Seriously, I love this song. Now to play it so much that I get sick of it!

The songwriting mojo is back, dude.

I'll lay a few more tracks in these coming days and maybe start experimenting with those phantom drum tracks. Let's get it done.

The Hard to Get (Forgotten Post)

2008-03-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about seeing my bro-in-law (Zac)'s bro, Tim's band last week. Tim drums and sings [and more] for a band called The Hard to Get. It was their CD Release Party at the Silver Lake Lounge in Silver Lake. I didn't even know about the Silver Lake scene until afterward....haha

Anyhow, Tim is a friggin awesome drummer...the lead singer Melissa is a pretty talented guitarist, a great singer, and an even better songwriter. The lead and bassist were solid too and the band as a whole seems to fit really well together. Their sound is indieish but definitely damn good.

I will honestly say they blew me away. A great drummer can make a band a lot more easily than a great player at any other part, and Tim is nothing short of amazing. It was a pleasure to see them play.

Check their myspace here! Tim is funny b/c he says he's not a good singer....I think he sounds fine and he actually has a little bit of a Jakob Dylan thing going on. Just my opinion. Ok, latas!

A Concert, A Song....

2008-03-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Went to see Matt Nathanson on Friday at the Wiltern. After we got there I asked who was headlining, and someone told me, "some bozos named Lifehouse."

Never heard of 'em.

haha

Really, what happened is I was looking awhile back to see if Mr. Nathanson would be playing around town; I was pleased to find that indeed he was, and as a bonus, he would be opening for one of my favorite bands. It was pretty much a win-win-win.

Anyhow, there was some opening band whose name we didn't even catch, and they played literally two songs. They were aiite and the guy behind us commented that the lead singer looked like Olive Oyl.....and seriously, after he said that I couldn't see her any other way. She played fiddle and sang, so that was a nice way of mixing things up. If only they had told us what their name was at the end, I could actually tell you who they were!

After their "set" I started talking to the people around us just to see who they were there to see....the inimitable Matt Nathanson, or the old reliable Lifehouse. One girl was crazy enthusiastic about Matt b/c she had seen him on this thing called Rock Boat, which sounds like a hell of a lot of fun; you basically go on a week-long cruise with 30 some bands and there are continuous shows until your ears bleed. I'm pretty sure sleeping on the boat comes quite peacefully!

[One random observation, for whatever reason, I think Lifehouse has this major appeal to Asian people. Not exactly sure why, but it seems like when I've gone to see them, there is a disproportionate amt of Asian people - freaking Asians....they're everywhere, man! ]

Anyhow, it was nice chatting with people around to see why they were there....and also where they parked, b/c we parked in the garage and paid $12 to park in what wasn't even a legal parking space. Friggin sweet.

OK so Matt comes on and he's a pretty funny guy - partially why I wanted to see him. Rock Boat Girl insisted that when he plays live he sounds JUST LIKE THE CD - which I suppose has its ups and its downs to it. I mean it's good to sound "good," but also I'm guessing some people go to shows to see what artists do with their music live. Some choose to sound way different, some people choose to sound exactly like their albums. I don't think there's anything wrong with it any way you go about it, he was probably just the first big name I've run into who yeah, sounds exactly like he does on tape.

Other than the fact that his pickup AND vocals were too low, he sounded pretty durn good. [Really, Wiltern, where's your sound tech??!] What I liked most about his act is that he seemed really comfortable and didn't really take himself seriously at all. A couple times he broke in the middle of his song to play a random cover ....and he made a good effort to get the crowd involved. Just a fun guy with some great songs. I hope to see him again. If you want to imeem him, some of my favorites are "Car Crash," "Come On Get Higher," "Gone," "All We Are," and "Suspended." [The acoustic version of "Suspended" is definitely superior to the album version]

About a half hour Matt was done, Lifehouse came on, and they pretty much came through with what I expected - a great show. One highlight was they played "Simon," probably my all time favorite song of theirs. I remember when Lifehouse first came out sometime in middle or early high school. I remember hearing "Hanging By a Moment" and randomly thinking that the lead singer HAD to be in his mid 30s. When I learned that Jason Wade was only 18 and saw what he looked like, I was pretty shocked. [For some reason I thought he sounded black....maybe it was something in his voice....maybe I'm just crazy!]

Jason also commented during the show that he met the drummer 9 years ago in a rehearsal studio in LA. Awesome....I'll keep crossing my fingers!

Anyhow, it was my 4th time seeing the boys so I pretty much knew what to expect from them. I still very much like how Jason Wade can go crazy on stage.....you just have this image in your head, Christian-y band with songs that are pretty deep.....you don't expect the lead singer to be jumping around and rocking the f*** out.....but that guy gets into it. And what a voice. He's so dreamy!!!! Haha....seriously, I think his voice has a really great natural tone. God-given reverb.

Good times. I wrapped up a pretty darn busy weekend by finally sitting down to record another song. I've learned quickly that the Shure SM57 requires a lot of gain, which isn't a totally bad thing, since my house is pretty quiet anyway, it's only slightly annoying when you get that unwanted buzz. I also am borrowing one of Nate's condenser mics for vocals, so playing around with gain has been nothing short of interesting. Seriously, it's funny when I'm trying to record and my dad is shuffling through stuff or my mom is trying to ask us a question from downstairs. It just makes it more adventurous! Supposedly Feist recorded "The Reminder" in a house somewhere - and that created "ambient noises" that gave the album a more genuine feel. I'm guessing she didn't have people doing dishes downstairs though. Whatevs, dude!

So yeah, I spent about an hour recording this song I wrote over the past couple of weeks called "Bobby." I'd had the idea for it for awhile but never sat down to actually write it until yeah, maybe a couple weekends ago. I finished the lyrics a couple days ago and decided to share it with a few peeps. I'll probably run to the Gypsy Den tonight to play it for the folks there. It will definitely be on whatever first album I make. Early buzz includes Jamie thinking that it's my most moving song to date....what a trip. Thanks Jambs.

Finally, I've decided that I'm going to record all my songs on acoustic or piano, at least for now. Playing my electric with distortion sounds all fine and good by itself, but really I don't want to send a demo out without adding drum or bass tracks. And adding such tracks could take a good while to perfect, while in a shorter amt of time I could record ALL of my songs and still sound fine. Really, I'll most likely be playing my first few gigs solo anyway unless players/partners magically appear!

That's it for now. Until later, take care.

My Baby's Coming Home!

2008-03-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

My uncle will be returning my keyboard tomorrow. I'm sorry that my cousin will be w/o a set of keys to practice - he's still early on in lessons - but I think they'll be investing in a piano sometime soon anyway. It's hard to learn to really "play" piano on a keyboard, to be honest, so I think it will work out well.

This means I will soon be able to record keyboard tracks, MIDI style!!!! [Of course I could try miking my real piano, but I'm not sure how that would work out....we'll see!]

Double Digits!!!!

2008-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have officially reached the double digits it terms of "usable" originals. Freaking psyched!!!!!

The past few months have definitely been a renaissance and the time off was probably the best thing that could have happened to me musically. My experience echoes what one of my professors told me about his musical "journey."

He was a music fiend all through childhood and all through school, but when it came time to start a career after college, he took a job unrelated to music. He worked pretty hard, enjoyed his work, and advanced quite handsomely over a period of 7 or 8 years....but the itch for music was always there. Finally, he said, "Screw it" and decided to return to music. He has been teaching music at Stanford since, I believe numbering something around the 12 year mark.

I'm glad my hiatus didn't last as long, and I know this is anything but a sure shot, but at least I know the music will always be there in one way or another.

I believe it is time to start looking for solo shows......now about that whole posting mp3s online thing....I'm playing it safe for now. Currently I'm trying to get all the songs down on "tape," regardless of performance quality, so that I can send them in to get official copyrights.

As soon as they are in the mail on the way to protection I will distribute mp3s freely. I know this seems extra cautious, and maybe even ridiculous, but really, this is my life dream, and I've put a lot of hard work into the songs. The last thing I need is for someone to get a hold of one, rip it off, and claim it as his or her own. Unlikely, yes. SUPER unlikely, but I think you understand where I'm coming from.

Anyhow, I believe this is reason for celebration!!! Thanks for stopping by, and keep it chill.

Recording Systems Are Go

2008-03-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

We have liftoff. Finally set up some recording equipment in my house thanks to a new computer my dad built - just for recording! Needless to say, if I become a hermit in the next couple weeks, you'll know what I'm up to.

I further explored acquiring a PA by visiting Guitar Center to see what the marketplace held. The dude there told me about buying powered speakers and a Mackie mixer, which sounds good...only it would cost upwards of a grand. I told him how I was checking out some PAs on craigslist and he said that for buying a mixer, that should be fine, but to be wary of buying used speakers. Makes sense.

Anyhow, I felt a little bad but had to decline buying the retro system from the one craigslist dude. I'm sure he will understand.

Last night I took Nate out to dinner for helping me make the emergency demo. We ate at Junior's in Westwood, which was pretty good, I must say. Nate and I also checked out a craigslist mixer from a guy who lives literally down the block from Nate. We felt a little bad since the guy was super nice and we didn't up making the purchase....but of course I don't think he's losing any sleep over it.

For now, musically and otherwise, I'm taking it all one day at a time. It's crazy how much has happened in the matter of two weeks.

Maybe I'll run over to the Gypsy Den tonight, but really, I want to get some decent recording time in, try to learn ProTools, and maybe hit the batting cages. Until later, take care my friends.

Oh yeah, I've also started to listen to K-Earth in order to feed the repertoire. Good times.

The Vision Evolves

2008-02-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

I was singing and playing around on the piano a couple nights ago when it hit me - I may be "decent" as a guitar-toting busker, but really, I can hold my own about 643,226 times better on the piano. It's time to unchain the piano and stop limiting myself to strictly guitar! Heck, put those 14 years of training to good use, right?!

I realize the process of covering songs on keys comes a lot more naturally and ultimately sounds worlds better. I remembered how I can transpose [play the same piece but in different keys] pretty smoothly on the piano, and it was that thought of transposing that led me to my next big idea.

LIVE JUKEBOX/KARAOKE!!!!!!!

Ok, this will take some explaining, so patience, young one.

Basically from my "limited" busking experience, I have learned that at a place like the HB street fair, you have yourself a situation that generates a continuous and voluminous amount of foot traffic. At the street fair in particular, there's so much going on that you basically get one, MAYBE two shots to grab someone's attention.

Yes, I have already concluded that I need to learn more classics. But here's where my new idea kicks in.

A la a karaoke bar, I have a playlist of the songs I know I can play available for people to flip through. This bypasses the time-consuming process of "What do you like, what would you like to hear?" etc. It also eliminates the fact that I may not know what they want to hear, which is always a little disappointing for both parties anyway. People can choose any song from the list or make a request to see if I know it off hand. Of course, now armed with my piano and my guitar I can play a greater variety of songs and make them sound good. And here's the thing, maybe the first song that you wanted to hear isn't on the list, but chances are you'll at least find something you half like. This will help esp. in the beginning while I'm still trying to learn the classics.

But there's more!!

Brave souls can choose to join me and take the lead. I will accompany them and they can do the singing. If you're in the mood for it, who wouldn't want to sing live karaoke? It's in front of friends/family, after all, and really, it only takes one enthusiastic person to get the party started. Just ask Mel.

There is a caveat here. I figure I should also have a partner, preferably someone who can sing well, and we can co-host the act. It would help to have another person who can walk around some and gather people who would want to hear a song or sing one themselves. Even better, if I could find a female to join the act, it would be great b/c then we could cover a greater variety of songs in the jukebox. I'll sing Britney, she can sing Elvis. HA

I gave it more thought and a gimmick popped up. I was thinking "trinket factor" again and you could give out buttons or stickers to people who participate. If you're good you get one that says "Live Karaoke Superstar" and if you're bad you get one that says "I Sang @ Live Karaoke And All I Got Was This Lousy Button"....haha! Something along those lines.

I was getting really excited about this idea and e-mailed a few of my friends to gauge interest. I didn't want to explain the whole thing all at once since the idea was still raw in my head, and maybe they'd think I was crazy, but I feel like I have a better idea now of what I want out of this vision. That being said, if you know any singers in the SoCal area, do please let them know about my crazy idea!

So here are a few reasons why I think this idea could be huge:

1) The limited time factor. You only have a few seconds to grab each person's attention. By providing songs that people know and like, you increase the likelihood that people will stop and listen. (For example, the resounding success of "Hotel California")

2) The increased opportunity for audience interaction. This can be key, esp. when it comes to getting tips...haha. Imagine, you flip through a book and can hear a song of your choosing. Better yet, if you are awesome and outgoing, or just a little drunk, you can sing your heart out yourself. This is where the added bonus of having a female partner would be good, because you don't know how many random guys would probably want to sing to show off either to my partner or just some random other girls in general anyway. Most importantly, you make it more fun than just a straight up performer-to-audience act and give people incentive to stick around, come back, etc. Really, it's less work for us and yet we could get an even bigger crowd!

3) The "Hit" factor. It's all fine and good for me to sit around playing originals and trying to self-promote. If I'm great and people like me, people can walk around saying, "There's this really good singer/songwriter down there, check him out." OK, fine. BUT. Doesn't it sound so much more catchy, unique, and fun if someone says, "There's this act down there and they're doing live karaoke, you can sing a song with them!"

Yes, indeed!!!! Plus we'll be distributing those buttons/stickers and people can be like, "Live Karaoke? What's that?" Ba-bam! (OK thought: How about a crazier/catchier name, like "Karaoke EXTREME!!!!!" haha...I dunno, I'll give that more thought)

I could go on, but these are the main reasons that I can think of right now.

I thought about the logistics of how to work the act in a 2-hour slot. Wanting to still play some originals because hey, you can never be too comfortable w/ playing your own stuff, I was thinking we could split the act into half originals and half jukebox/karaoke. This gives some incentive to my potential co-hosts because then they have some incentive to come out and spend a few hours busking with me. I can play one slot of my originals and he/she could play one slot of his/her originals. Or maybe we can accompany each other and, gasp! form a band?!?! Everyone wins!

And really, even if you're just playing just any ol' song out there - for example, if no one is biting on either the karaoke or the jukebox - as long as people are walking by, they give you tips anyway. [Not that this is about the money, it's just a nice gesture]. I imagine, though, that if we sound good and gather a crowd - and I think this act would be both - we could make a killing! We could even have "plants" - read "friends" - who could sing and show off how frickin fun the whole thing is.

Overall though, more important than earning tips, being a hit, or being successful, etc., I feel like the experience has so much to offer. For my co-hosts and me, it's about having fun with the music .....it's ALWAYS about the music. It's great experience learning new songs, performing in front of people, and perhaps most important, bringing a good time to the people! What more could you ask for?

So yeah, I'm still brainstorming this idea. I think it would be a hell of a way to spend a few hours on Tuesday nights, especially during the summer. Lemme know what you guys think. And do send any singers my way!

P.S. I went to check out a PA I found on craigslist last night. The dude was really chill and is about as technically savvy as I am - "To be honest, I don't know what that dial does"...awesome! - and his system is pretty retro. What I like about it is that it is lightweight and seems to pack a pretty decent punch. I'm gonna head back on Saturday with my guitars and we'll crank it outside to see if I actually want to purchase it. Til later, enjoy your Fridays/weekends!

yeeTunes Launch

2008-02-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

February 26, 2008, the official launch date of yeeTunes.

I busked at the Huntington Beach Street Fair and to say I learned a lot would be an understatement. I'll start off by saying that the Street Fair is just an awesome extravaganza. All kinds of vendors come and set up their stands selling or giving away all kinds of stuff.....food [selling], face-painting, crafts, other products.....musicians and other performers come and do their thing.....it's just an awesome scene to check out on a Tuesday night. Playing was almost secondary to how awesome the scene was.

Basically I had my acoustic and my electric out there with an amp, but no way to amplify my voice [looking into buying a PA, right now!!!!]. It's kind of cool b/c you can talk to people as they walk by, and really, I'm getting a good feel for telling who would be interested in listening and who wouldn't be. It's a fun experiment in reading people's eyes, expressions, gaits, etc.

People would be walking by and if I started to sing they would slow down, turn to look and smile, or some would even stop completely just to listen. And really, I think I probably shouldn't go back to busk until I've increased my repertoire, because the stuff I like to listen to personally [and hence the stuff I like to play for myself] isn't quite up to speed with the stuff that "everybody" listens to out there. I've gotten a lot of people asking for classic rock, oldies, and reggae....and here I am and my repertoire consists of all my favorite bands and a few classics, at best.

If I play a song like Hotel California, you can just tell a lot more people recognize it and can get into it, so I will definitely be spending a lot of time trying to learn some more "classics," and it starts with figuring out what those classics are.

All in all it was a great experience. I won't learn what I need to do until I go and do it. I DEFINITELY will return to Main St., but I would like to do so with proper voice amplification. I earned enough in tips to pay for dinner in about an hour and a half of playing, but I'm pretty sure my lack of "miked voice" handicapped my earning power severely. It's all good though.

Special thanks to my parents for helping me set up, my cousins Robbie and Michael for coming out, my Aunt Carol and her business partner [didn't catch his name], and my buddy George for showing his support. All of you are awesome!

I also made some friends with my vending neighbors. One of my neighbors happens to be coordinating an event that will require entertainment, and he asked me to come perform. Sweet! Gigs beget gigs, baby.

I also headed to the House of Blues in Anaheim for their open mic night. I got there a tad early and walked around DTD for a bit and visited the Grand Californian to ask about playing piano there [they have a huge lobby with a piano]. While waiting in line at the registration desk I met Betsy, who happens to work for Disney Imagineering and she noticed that I had my guitar. I told her about how my sister interned there many eons ago and we got to talking about music. It turns out she's a singer/pianist herself and used to do gigs all the time, including a rather long term regular one at a piano bar. I'm like, "Yo that's what I wanna do!" That or dueling pianos. haha

She said that she hadn't been playing/singing for awhile but that she has been wanting to get back into it, and that I inspired her to get back into it. I was like, "Awesome!" I told her that if she needs an accompanianimanimaimainmeientmeitist that I would be more than glad to play with her. She likes some classic stuff - she mentioned Carole King - and I think it will be a great opportunity to learn some older stuff and to just have some fun. It's for the love of music! I realize now that I just want to play any chance I get, especially if the people with whom you're playing are awesome.

So anyhow we exchange contact info and she says she thinks she could get some practice space in the Disney Hotel conference center, or something like that....I'm like, sweet, dude, work those connections...haha. So that was fun.

Finally I get over to the HoB and apparently the signups started spontaneously. I get there and I'm 14th on the list - and there would turn out to be only 15 people signing up. The venue is nice and the people are pretty chill and polite listeners. The host is named Kurt and he turns out to be a pretty good singer/songwriter himself, something in the Jason Mraz mold. I didn't tell him that specifically since apparently he gets that a lot, and I know sometimes it gets old when people keep telling you you sound like someone else. We're there to sound like US, after all....not those other dudes.

Quite a few of the acts were really quite polished and awesome and they kind of made me a little self-conscious about my hokey guitar playing abilities. Really I am considering now what I should do about that...I think I can handle my own on the electric when I'm playing rock songs, but as far as my acoustic playing goes, I think I need to downgrade the weight of my strings so that I can play more smoothly, or perhaps find another better guitarist to play with me...haha. Another option is to switch to piano, but really, lugging a piano around is a lot harder than lugging a guitar. So we shall see.

Anyhow, I met a couple other players/singers again and that was awesome. To think that since I have gotten out of school it never really occurred to me to go and play open mics, it's really refreshing that I have only been out two nights and have met a boatload of really awesome people! I met a nice young lady named Trisha who sings and plays piano with whom collaborating seems like a definite, poss-ibil-i-ty.....to me!!!!! aaaaaah, so pardon me, while I burst!!! haha. Anyhow she digs the Feist and the Regina Spektor, the latter of whom I have dubbed a demi-god, and it would be nice to accompany, to do something crazily original, cover style....or maybe even write. Who knows? It also turns out that she was high school classmates with and knows my frosh year roommate, Marcus. Small world! [Marcus, wherever you are, holla!]

These past couple days have been such a great learning experience, and thanks again to my parents, my sisters, and all those who have shown their support - Jorge, Robbie, Michael, George, Nathan, Jamie, Patrick, Susan, Jeremy, Jason, Otto, Madeline, Mike, Luis, Mark, Dan, Paul, Praveen, Vivek, Chris, Sean, LiMin, Lisa, Murph, A-Flo, Mobes, Steph, George, Sarah, Lauren, Mary, the people I've met at the open mikes, Mike, Dave, Trisha....those who have let me play, Aaron, Steven, and Kurt, etc. etc.....the list goes on and on. You guys and the musics are awesome all the same!

Until later, take care my friends.

P.S. I have decided not to open mic it tonight because I need a break, haha. Plus I cut my thumb last night. Nah ok that's just a lame excuse, although it is true. I just want to get some exercise in since I haven't done so in four days, and I'll pick it up bussing around town again, maybe starting next Monday. Want to get some writing in, too! Peace!

Last Minute Changes

2008-02-26T15:38:00.001-08:00

Apparently the HB Street Fair has no setup, so I will be totally busking with my acoustic guitar.

READ: yeeTunes launches in less than an hour and a half, baby!

Also, I will be running to House of Blues Anaheim (in Downtown Disney) for their open mic night tonight. IF I can get a slot I will be able to play 2 songs some time after 10 PM.

Finally, I plan to hit up Sol Grill - 110 McFadden Pl, Newport Beach - tomorrow for their open mic. If I can get a slot I'll be on some time after 8 PM.

Will report back tomorrow, til then....latas!

Comeback Gig Redux

2008-02-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

The anticipation......the screaming crowds.....the death defying stage performers!!!

Yes open mic night at the Gypsy Den was all of these things and more, so much more.

Being my first live performance in over a year and a half I was glad to be able to get some of the nerves out in front of a pretty chill crowd in downtown Santa Ana. Special thanks to my buddy Jorge for informing me of the weekly event and for driving out to hear me play.

The awesome thing about open mic is that everyone is supportive of each other and you can do whatever the heck you want. It's achievement in and of itself to just get on the stage and attempt your act, whatever that may be....and there were some ....unique ones, to say the least.

So a guy named Aaron, who turns out to be a pretty good guitarist and singer and a pretty cool guy altogether, handles the open mic. He was really nice about setting up mics for people and plugging in. Everyone signs up for a slot and each person gets one song. After everyone has gone once the cycle starts over until the allotted 2 hours elapses.

Jorge and I arrive at the Den and I spot this kind of sinister-looking dude sitting in the corner a little bit off by himself. Dressed all in black, a 14th century hairdo, hunched over posture that makes him look like he's casting a spell....immediately I know....this dude is doing to do a poetry reading. And of course, his name is also Greg, which is awesome, and he goes on two acts before me.

And man. All I will say is when we got home, my mom said, "That guy is scary." I've studied a lot of poetry so I can respect what he's trying to do, but yeah, I will admit I was a little afraid of saying anything to the guy.

The dude who went right before me was a "mind reader" who also does "sideshow acts." As you get only 5 minutes to do your thing, he elected to do a "sideshow act," much to the disappointment of the crowd. He warned in the beginning that what he was about to do was not for the squeamish and that you shouldn't try it at home unless you want to die. Pretty good PSA for an amateur magician, if I must say.

Anyhow he proceeds to "swallow" these double-edged razor blades and puts a string in his mouth. He then "agonizes" as he pulls the string back out and somehow the razor blades are all attached to it. I was getting a little nervous for the guy when he was "choking," so I guess all in all it was a good act.

So finally it's my turn. I get up on stage and I tell the magician dude, who calls himself Draven, that that was a pretty sweet act and that unfortunately what I am about to do isn't as death defying. I had decided that I would play "Picturesque" because J says he likes it [and heck he drove out to see me play, again, gotta keep the guaranteed fans happy], and Luis had also commented that it is the "catchiest" of my tunes - although they haven't heard anything yet! haha

As soon as I start playing things start to go wrong. First, I have some unexpected nerves. Who would have thought? I've played in front of as many as a few hundred (maybe it was a few hundred thousand!!) people and I've never been reasonably nervous on stage. I theorize that it was a combination of me not having played "live" in awhile and that I'm usually playing with at least one person....so the confidence in my solo act is something I need to build up big time.

Second, I didn't bring my pickup so I'm standing there trying to hold my guitar's sound hole to a mic while singing into the vocal mic. This shouldn't be a problem but my hand hits the guitar mic a couple times, making an annoying knocking sound.

Finally, the guitar strap is too long. I notice this about midway through the first verse and I'm like, "Crap, now I have to try to hold the guitar up with my leg. Awesome!!!" I actually stop in the middle of the first chorus because it's bugging me....so yeah.....haha it was definitely good to get all the nerves out in front of a chill, supportive, NON-PAYING crowd.

Despite the technical difficulties and what I would rate about a 50% effectiveness rate in delivering the song, people like "Picturesque." Aaron apparently said, "awesome" when I was done and I got numerous compliments for it as well.

I stick around to see the other acts, because of course I want to see what other peeps are up to. There are a couple guys who stand out and damn, there are some great voices out there. One Indian dude gets up there and he's like, "I just wrote this song a couple days ago, so hopefully I remember it." But he had a great voice and played a decent guitar. I was planning to talk to him afterward but he took off a few acts after his own. A Polynesian looking guy named Mike goes and he has the most awesome voice of the night. Plays a sweet tune that I didn't really catch the gist of, but I dubbed him my fave of the night. This girl named Brianna goes and she plays the piano - which she self-admittedly "has difficulty playing" - and she sings a song called "Fairy Tale." She has a pretty good voice and I will characterize her song as "cute." It helps that she's pretty and Jorge and I agreed that she is definitely Disney's next big pop star. She's not nearly as teensy but I think she could pull it off. The last guy to stand out to me is a guy named Dave who plays a song he said people say is "funny" but he doesn't think it is. It was basically about his woes dealing with the ladies. The song was kind of humorous and he did a good job pulling it off.

The overall impression I got as the night cycled through is that a lot of people don't bother to tell what their songs are about, which is fine, but as I learned from my Brent Fisk Live experience, it definitely helps people "listen" when you give them something to think about regarding your material, especially if they're hearing it for the first time. I also realize that most people sing and take their acts pretty seriously, so before my second turn I decided I have to play something that lightens up the mood. I have also decided that right now I want to go after the Ben Folds vibe; play down to earth music while being able to handle both the serious side and the funny side.

Anyhow, it nears my second turn. Draven has taken off so the poet Greg goes right before me. Let me just say, when I go back to the Gypsy Den, I'm going to make it my mission to sign up for the slot right after scary Greg because basically whoever goes after him has the chance to steal the frickin show! You can tell that everyone is uncomfortable while he's presumably casting a death spell on the audience talking about burning and cauldrons, so when it's my turn to go again, I'm freakin diggin it. I could strum the same chord and yell, "I'm on stage, look at me!!!!" for 5 minutes and I would assuredly receive a positive response.

I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin.

This time I decide that I will sit down to get a better song delivery. I tell them that the song I'm going to play I wrote about about a falling out I had with a girl, and that sometimes you feel a little creepy sticking around after something like that happens.

"This song is called stalker."

"Dressed all in black, in black, in black, in black, in black, in black, in black."

And the crowd digs it. Crowd DIGS IT. Aaron got up on stage afterward and said something that I didn't hear at the time, but my dad later told me that he said I should send the song to KBIG and have people dedicate it. I thought that was a pretty awesome compliment.

Afterward when I was talking to the other performers they all commented that they dug the song as well. What a great feeling it is when people - especially strangers - say they like your music.

When it was all over, I took the time to thank Aaron for setting things up. He said again that I did a great job, which was awesome, and I told him that I would try to come back to as many Mondays as possible. [They have an open mic on Thursdays too, but he commented that it's usually a bunch of "assholes" wanting to plug their myspace pages. Good thing I didn't plug the myspace page....haha]

I went around to say good job to the performers who stuck around. I talked to Mike - the Polynesian dude - and Dave - the unintentionally "funny" song guy - and we exchange e-mails. Who knows, collaboration may be in our futures!

There were two guys who played together, one singing and playing guitar and one playing piano, and they played a cover song. I could tell the guy singing was crazy nervous, but I wanted to tell them that they did a good job anyway because I know how hard it is to just get up on stage and go.

Finally I congratulate Brianna and she and her friends say they dug my music as well. Did I mention it's always sweet when a pretty girl likes your music? Bwaha!

All in all it was a great experience and now I just want to try to play more and more! I really dig that the people there were friendly - sharing guitars, complimenting each other, the whole thing - and I think I'm going to try to go back as many Mondays as possible. Next time I'll probably take my electric so I won't have to deal with the whole sound hole issue. Either that or I'll take my acoustic pickup.

I'll let you all know how tonight's audition goes. [Outside 200 Main St., Huntington Beach, 5 PM!!!!] I'm pretty sure it's going to be insane. I'm bringing the electric and whoever is in the vicinity will be blown away.

Peace!

License to Busk?

2008-02-24T00:19:00.001-08:00

Apparently in order to busk in Newport Beach "near any establishment" you need a permit. 3rd St. Promenade requires one as well. Slightly lame. What if I were really a hobo? The prospects of going across the country strictly off of busking now appear bleak. I might have to resort mostly to"normal people" (i.e. non hobo) gigs. Oh well.

Entourage Gathering

2008-02-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

Alright my local so-cal peeps, all two of you reading this blog...haha

It is time for some shameless self-promotion. I will be descending upon the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana on Monday night for some open mic action. Signups start at 7:30 so I can only hope that I'll get in and hog the whole friggin thing. In reality though, I'm expecting 10 or 15 minutes just to mess around.

If you are in the area and want to hear me blow out the windows [really I'm going to take my acoustic and that's it] then do feel free to show up for a meal and a good time. The address is 125 N Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 92701.

I will also be "on stage" on Tuesday in HB at 5 PM - what a wonderful crowd that will be! Really, though, this is my audition for a return gig. I plan to basically blow the whole place up with some badass artistry and win the affection of all 15 people in attendance. YOU can make it 16. The address is 200 Main St., Huntington Beach, CA 92648, and I believe I'll be playing OUTSIDE in this festival they'll have going on. There will be other bands so it would nice to have an awesome entourage to complement the awesome music [so they'll choose me to come back and not the other guys].

Alright, hope to see you there. Thanks!

MP3s posted on the myspace

2008-02-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

Last night, with the help of my buddy Nate, I recorded 4 songs in a 3-hour emergency recording session. I posted the mp3s on the myspace (seriously...there's another Greg Yee just squatting on "myspace/gregyee"...wtf dude? j/k) .

The singing is of poor quality...haha, but the guitars are "aiite," I suppose. We weren't really going for a "sound" or anything...I just played the songs with no consideration of how I would really want them to be "heard," if that makes any sense. Each track is simply guitar + voice.

Really, if I were going to submit a "demo" for consideration (for the Oscars, of course) then I would "master" my tracks and definitely record keys, another guitar part, voices, etc. etc. I would also want to vary the sound of the guitars, the strumming patterns, rhythms, etc. My mind is already spinning with ideas about how to layer on some "pad" (i.e. piano).

3 of the 4 songs you probably haven't heard, and unless you've been around long enough, you probably haven't heard any of them. I didn't really have a rhyme or reason behind picking which 4 songs to record, and I'm hoping that eventually I can just shuffle songs in and out as I write and record.

Lemme reiterate that the vocal track isn't very stable or consistently in tune. For that I apologize, and really, when I make a "real" demo I will layer in some effects and actually spend time getting in tune. Really all I wanted out of last night was to get some stuff down to give people an "idea" of what I'm doing.

A little bit about the songs...."Believe" is mostly a pump you up rock song. I don't intend for it to be incredibly deep - though if you think it is, sweet, dude - but I do intend for it to have meaning. Part of the inspiration for the song was thinking from the perspective of a friend of the speaker who sees the speaker watch his buddies go off and do crazy, big, worldly things, and how that motivates the speaker to do something himself. I was watching an interview with the Switchfoot dude one day and he was saying how he wrote the song "Dare You to Move" mostly as a motivational piece to himself. That's kind of how I view "Believe," and if someday someone else ever compares "Believe" to "Dare You to Move" I will be supremely, supremely, supremely, supremely, supremely honored. Haha. [Don't count on it] Anyhow, the song is about loyalty and the comfort of knowing that no matter what you do, no matter how far away from home your journey may take you, your friends/family/whoever will be there to support you. The song sounds kind of barren right now and I would like to be able to layer on a piano part as I'm sitting at work RIGHT NOW.

"Picturesque" is a fun funk type song. The guitar part didn't come out exactly like I would have preferred, but whaddya gonna do? It's about a girl, or girls, who are just always lookin' fine and, one way or another, make a guy feel like he isn't worth their time. Or just a girl who messes with guys [you know you do it!!]. Just a fun, Maroon 5ish song....no hate, just fun.

"Surrender" I think is a keeper. I did this in one take, and there's a part where my voice just completely falls off....Nate was like, "dude, you're on edge.........but I like it," so we didn't bother recording it again. I didn't have a name for this track until last night when I was talking to my buddy Jamie, for whom I played the song last weekend. Jambas remarked that the word "surrender" from the chorus really stuck out to him, so I decided to go with it. I started writing this song when I was on a business trip a few months ago. I was kind of projecting myself onto another person's psyche, imagining what it would be like to be one of the "businessmen" into whom I ran. Basically the song is about isolation. I see these hordes of men and women who get sent off to do business, and they meet and interact with dozens of other people while they're at it. In the song, I imagine the speaker enjoying immense financial success and also a seemingly great deal of social success. But after some time, his mind numbs to the world. He is "connecting" with so many people, but in the end, he feels isolated. And of course, there is the "subject" of the song, for whom he longs because the subject is the only person who has ever made the speaker feel complete. This was a real heartbreaker of a song for me to write and I love it to death. Probably the song to which I am most proud of being associated at the moment.

Finally, "Movin' On" was a fun little tune I wrote in literally 10 or 15 minutes. I was really jacked about that ...haha. It's a song about a speaker who basically can't take it anymore....the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. I just realized I didn't take the part out where I started laughing while singing....haha...oh well. Did I mention that this was a 3-hour long demo? Anyhow, one thing that I thought was cool was the idea of the subject "building a wall" in the relationship. The speaker sends imaginary "diplomats" to go try to work things out, but the subject has deployed archers on top of this giant wall that he/she has been building "for days and days," and kills the diplomats. How friggin harsh. I love being an English Major.

[I couldn't post that awesome pic of an archer without searching for an old classic here. You will not be disappointed. I start cracking up just thinking about it. And oh dear LORD I found another great one here.]

Really though, these are just the feelings and stories I had running through my mind as I wrote these songs. In the end, people are, as they should be, free to interpret them however they so wish. That is the beauty of music and especially, of songs.

Seriously, I can't believe I didn't take out the part where I started to laugh. That's awesome.

Well lemme know what you guys think. Maybe with any luck I'll have all my own equipment setup and can start layering in other parts....and re-record my vocals, a thousand, billion times over. Til next time, keep on Croc'in!

Emergency Internet Presence Construction

2008-02-21T13:36:00.001-08:00

The storm has begun.

I created a myspace music page at http://www.myspace.com/gregyeemusic. Feel free to add me if you are a myspacer.

I haven't uploaded any music yet, but I hope to make some very basic recordings by this weekend.
I'll keep you all posted!

Gig?!!!!

2008-02-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

This is silly. I call a woman named Connie who works for Huntington Beach because I'm interested in street performing for this little extravaganza they have every Tuesday.

She refers me to another guy Steven who is the event coordinator and picks the musicians.

Of course I feel like an idiot for not having any mp3s online, so I ask him about how they pick musicians. Common sense prevails; he gives people a listen and they go from there. Well since I'm behind the game with absolutely no cyber proof "AS OF THIS MOMENT" that I even exist, I tell him I could have something to go in 2 weeks....then he turns around and suggests I come down for a "live audition" of sorts next Tuesday....the 26th of Feb.

I think it's pretty sweet that he'll just let me come down there and play a set. He says from there it depends on how well it goes and how well it works whether they want me to come back. I'm pretty sure I'll blow everyone away so maybe I'll have myself some semblance of a regular gig, baby!

Now to record a few songs as quickly as possible in case things go well!!

The place is called Hurricanes Bar & Grill and the address is 200 Main St., Huntington Beach, CA. I think the performers will be outside since the guy said it's "3 blocks long." Performance slots are 30 mins from 5 to 9 PM and I guess I am on for 5 PM. If you can make it out there, you're basically the coolest person ever. I will post on Monday to confirm if I'm doing this or not...I am still considering calling and asking for another week so I can get some decent mp3s ready to go.

Field Research: Take One

2008-02-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

I went to a friend of a friend's show last night, and as the first act I've seen since the "revelation," and incidentally, the first time in awhile that I've seen someone whose music I've never heard, I made a very key observation.

You have to tell people about your music. Unless you are Maroon 5 and can blow people away with mad beats or a tight groove, if people haven't heard you before, you MUST tell them SOMETHING....ANYTHING about your music. Even if your music sounds absolutely awesome, people may not be able to pick up on the words, and after your show the BEST they can say is, "I liked that second one....I think it was that one....."

If you tell them a story, however, even if it's just a short, stupid one, a la Ben Folds with "This next song is about a day when I thought about joining the army, and I told my dad, and he said, "Son, you're f*cking high." .....Well I thought about the army, dad said, "Son, you're f*cking high"...one of the most awesome concert moments ever. Anyhow, back to the point, even if your story is short, when you're done, people can say, "Oh, I liked that song about joining the army," or, "Wow, that song he wrote while on the subway was really cool," blah blah blah.

Just something for me to keep in mind as I kick off my world tour.

Anyhow, the music was pretty good - the guy's name is Brent Fisk, and he had a cool setup with Brent singing and playing rhythm, Peter on "lead" acoustic, and Corey (sp?) on percussion...basically a bongo and a crate. Awesome. You can check Brent Fisk out at http://www.myspace.com/brentfis k.

I swear he looks like John Rzzeezeezzeeeezeezezeezenik in his myspace pic. You be the judge:

I can't tell them apart!!!! haha

Giant Fork in the Road #1

2008-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

I knew this would happen. After a few days a little bit of Practicali settles in, and I want to introduce the biggest issue that has come up. How much do I make this tour about "Me" and how much do I make it about "A man"?

I'm thinking when I busk across California, I will do it mostly to see if I have the skill to engage people for their quarters or what have you. It will make for a fun 3- or 4-day weekend trip.

But say I do decide I want to go on with the journey in full. Wouldn't I want to take it as an opportunity to spread my music out there in the hopes of gathering any sort of following? My gut says, "Spash yeah!"

[On a side note, I've recently reinforced my strong support for going with your gut. Your brain is too practical, your heart is too emotional, and your gut is always right....most likely because in the aftermath, it is your gut feeling that will always dictate - did I do what I really thought was best? If you do follow your gut, no matter what happens, you can take solace in the fact that you went through with what you thought was best. If you don't follow your gut and something goes wrong - and many times something will - you'll end up thinking, "Why didn't I trust myself?" But I digress.]

Anyhow, I just got off the phone with a mentor and former professor, Jonathan Berger. I am always eternally grateful for people who take time out of their day to give me counsel. We brainstormed briefly and he had a couple important points to stress:

1) Whatever I do, predicate it on the music, and

2) Utilize any hook that I can think of to make it easy for people to remember me.

RE: Pt. #1, I truly believe this is my motivation, and I will probably have to remind myself of that fact every proverbial step of the way. Yes, there are lots of "side benefits" and lessons that come along with this mission, but in the end, it's about seeing the smiles on those faces and knowing that I made someone's day/night a little bit brighter by sharing music. I think it's time for an ars poetica. Next blog post. haha

RE: Pt. #2, this is one of those things where you actually know its importance, but it takes someone bringing it up in order for you to remember that fact. So thanks, Jonathan for bringing it up! He actually had a great approach to this idea; basically what I'm aiming for is to be able to hand people something they can take away that seems uniquely valuable to them. As opposed to throwing out, "Check my website!" or "Buy this $2 CD!!!" as we are all apt to do, I can have a calling card with basic info on it - my name, my website, maybe a fortune cookie....booking number....SSN, etc.....and the kicker...an access code.

"To what?" you ask.

"To download a song from my website."

Hmm....interesting. I like the idea [and will brainstorm for similar ones] but I think it could be the perfect balance between "easy & cheap" [both very important] and, more importantly, "effective." You might not even like my sound, but if you sat around long enough to hear me play a few songs and I give you a card that lets you d/l a song, wouldn't you give it a minute of your time when you got home? And plus there's the whole trinket factor.....if you don't throw it away in disgust immediately, say you put the card in your pocket. A month later when you're doing laundry you find the card and you're like, "Hey, I remember that dude and maybe his music was aiite after all." You take your nifty access code and d/l a song called "Crap" and it turns out that you really relate to it. Bam.

In conclusion, I am considering busking by day - b/c I'm hoping I'll still have fun doing it - and trying to play "real" gigs at night.

Alright, thanks again for readin'. Let the recording commence!

yeeTunes...25 cents/song!

2008-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

So on my drive to work this morning an idea for how I could get the actual "exchange of monies" to happen popped into my head.

I have a cup...or a hat [classic busker style] and a sign - perhaps taped to this cup or hat, that says "25 cents / song." I think this will work perfectly on my trial busk runs.

Who wouldn't want to hear a song for 25 cents? Especially if you're out with your girlfriend / significant other and this unkempt, possibly dangerous looking Asian guy with a guitar for no apparent reason asks you if you want him to play her favorite song for mere parking meter change?

[On a side note about the "dangerous looking" thing, I have been asked for ID for things where you have to be 18. I'm not surprised when, after people ask if I graduated from school and I reply yes, they ask, "So where are you thinking about for college?" I'm twenty-freaking-three people....I'm totally 18 billion times wiser than an 18-year old!! haha]

The problem is, I don't want to be like one of those baseball game concessions dudes and have to carry around a big ol "change purse" to give people the correct change. I suppose an option is if someone ONLY has a dollar, I'll say that I'll play 4 songs, heck 5, and hell yeah I would play for as long as anyone would so wish me to do so, but really, who's going to stop for 25 minutes to listen to songs? People have stuff to do.

Anyhow, I'm thinking of copyrighting my idea and calling it yeeTunes.

RXN: I talked with my buddy Mark about yeeTunes and I was saying how I thought a quarter is a decent price because it won't put anyone off. If I ask for a buck, boy, that carries some sort of expectation, don't it?

And Mark brought up a couple good points: 1) A quarter just seems like an easily accessible $ amount, and 2) I won't seem desperate. Desperate buskers get pity money. I don't want people's pity. I want them to enjoy the damn music. I have set out my price and it's cheap, and dude, I'm chill.

Thanks Mark!

Self-RXN: I could also make a T-shirt with "25 Cents/Song" printed on it...and also "or "$1/5 songs"....and maybe "OBO"...haha

The Vision is Born

2008-02-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

It starts with a smile. It always does. What a sucker I am for one - especially a pretty one, ha! - but you really don't "earn" the feeling of brightening someone's day until you've brought a smile out of them. And when it happens, you see it, and then it's just there....it's genuine, without care....it's positive....real...and it creates, for lack of a better term, a friggin' sweet feeling.

I went to visit my sisters and a few friends this past weekend up in the Bay Area [CA]. The funny thing is I was hesitant about making the trip at first, but I had bought the plane ticket months ago, and making a change to my itinerary would have been inconvenient and costly, so, I ignored the basic economic principle of sunk cost and said, "Hey, it should be fun," and hopped on the plane. I'm so glad I did because I believe I will look back at Valentine's Day Weekend 2008 as a turning point in my life.

On Saturday I met up with my buddy Chris for lunch in San Francisco. After a great meal at a local restaurant [Zazie], we headed back to Chris's apartment to catch the last of the Stanford-Arizona men's basketball game. [The Cardinal tease Bayless, Budinger, and Co. into thinking we would charity the game to the 'cats, but of course the Lopezeses crush all hopes of happiness with disease because of what they did in the closing minutes to secure the W...and, BTW I do still think Stanford is a bit overrated at #9, but whatevs, we'll take it.]

After the game, Chris suggests that we go chill at Golden Gate Park, a mere 5 minutes or so from his apt. I had just spent a few hours the previous night jamming with my old bandmate Jamie and my buddy Mark, so maybe that was the impetus - but as soon as Chris makes the suggestion, for whatever reason, I get fired up.

Me: "You still have your guitar, right?"

Chris: "Yeah."

Me: "Let's take it over there, I wanna go play for the people."

Chris: "What?"

Now mind you, I have no problem with playing in front of people. I had always wondered what it would be like to go around playing for complete strangers as a street musician [busking is the term], but hadn't done it for real yet. So this new urge was kind of refreshing for me.

Anyhow, I don't want Chris to feel bad and just stand around while I play the musics for people, so I say he should sing along with me. He declines politely with something to the tune of, "You do NOT want to hear me sing."

So we head over to the park and it is just a beautiful, dreadfully beautiful day out. People playing volleyball, people chillin out, lounging about, sunbathing, this one couple doing the weirdest contortionist stuff I have ever seen in public....just your typical awesome day in the pahk that would make any reasonable person want to move to SF in a heartbeat.

First I play a song for Chris, because I have to make my only "guaranteed" fan happy. And then we're off. Hit the first group of people - "Hey you wanna hear a song?" ..."Yeah, sure!" and I go through the requisite, what do you wanna hear, who do you like, song and dance routine. Me being somewhat "underdeveloped" in terms of musical tastes, I can't play the couple artists they throw out there (I will learn Elliott Smith, I promise) so they just say, "Play what you like to play," something I get a lot. I pick a song quickly - "Counting Blue Cars" by my fave, Dishwalla - b/c I don't want to be sitting for 3 minutes picking the "perfect" song - I'm busking, for crying out loud - they enjoy it, and now I'm on. I head to the next few groups of peeps and play songs for them, mix in an original for a girl who says, "Surprise me!" and then stumble upon this guy chillin out with his bike.

I look at this guy and immediately I think of my old roommate John, whom I've on-again, off-again referred to as Montana John [you can guess where he's from]. John was the kind of dude you'd find biking through the park on a nice Saturday, so this ringer is already throwing good vibes. Clint is his name and I ask him if he wants to hear a song and he goes, "Yeah man!" He tells me that he plays guitar too and he thinks what I'm doing is awesome. [Awesome!] When he reveals that he also plays mandolin, I snap immediately and say, "Nickel Creek!" He says he loves them so I play "When You Come Back Down" b/c I can actually make the song sound halfway decent. He's singin along, we have a grand old time and get to chatting a little bit about our respective life stories. Great guy, this Clint.

As we wrap things up and I get up to move to the next group, I eye this one large group in the background, a little off by themselves, looking like they're enjoying quite the afternoon picnic. I had seen them earlier and thought to myself, "Yeah, it'd be cool to play for those guys," but at the same time, I felt a little tentative about intruding on their picnic. I ask my new buddy Clint, "Do you think I should play for those guys?" and he says, "Yeah man! It could be epic...you could get them singing along and everything." Did I mention that other people's enthusiasm gets me psyched?

So Chris and I walk over there....and btw Chris has been an awesome sport throughout, taking pics and just enjoying the music / company. A thinking man's wallflower, if you will [j/k Chris, I love you, bro]. We get over there and I just start laughing to myself. It's a group of about 15-20 people....and I only see 3 guys. 4:1 girl to guy, easy. Obviously these dudes are doing something right. We get within talking distance and I ask, "Hey do you guys wanna hear a song?" and one girl turns quickly and says, "Yeah!!!" She's smiling and has this excited look that seems to say, "Yeah, we overheard. We were waiting...duh." Psyched.

I play "Say It Ain't So" for them (and for those of you reading who think, boy, has he not increased his repertoire in ages? I have, just lemme be a playa with what works naturally first, aiite?) They enjoy the song. After the tune one of the guys comes over to give Chris and me a beer and a few of them say, "Hey you guys should join us," etc. The guy asks if I can play some reggae [again, need to expand the playlist] but unfortunately I don't know any Bob Marley off the top of my head.

So then he goes, "Do you have any originals?!" And maybe Reggae Guy was half-joking, but I give him his wish.

Reaching into the bread & butter I play the newly revamped "Stalker" (thanks Jamie!) ...which is Reggae-ish in its own right, and they dig it. I tell them they've been great and that I'll play one more song [basic stage performer operating procedure] and play "Picturesque" b/c I want to give them something upbeat to walk away with. I finish the song, which they like, and being a showman, I have to leave them wanting more. I thank them for listening and say Chris and I will be on our way. And that's when it happened.

"We like your originals."

It's the girl who first turned to say, "Yeah!!!" The one with the smile.

"Very talented...really great voice, too."

And she still has the smile, just really sweet and sincere.

And I knew she wasn't just speaking to be like, "Yeah. Dude playing guitar in the park, good job...weirdo." She didn't have to say it, but she did, and she really meant it. As a whole, the group was an awesome audience....they put me in a friggin UP mood and reminded me of how awesome it is to share music with people.

On our way back, Chris tells me that our foray into the park taught him two things.

"1) I need to go to the park more often, and
2) I need to get better at guitar."

Of course, I was just happy to make people's days a little bit nicer, and I even got to practice a little stage banter when Reggae Guy asked if we were from Stanford [I had my Angry Tree hat on. No, they weren't from Cal. Thank God. j/k].

But it sticks with me. The compliment from the Girl with the Smile. It had been awhile since I played for complete strangers....and just knowing that there could be something behind the music into which I've poured a lot of myself was a great, encouraging, and liberating feeling. Call me stupid for being so struck by one person's comment, but I guess you just had to be there....or you just have to be me.

Anyhow, Chris and I part and I go to meet up with another friend Praveen. Later on I tell Praveen what went down at the park.

Praveen: [in disbelief] "They gave you a beer?"

Me: "Yeah."

Praveen: "Man. That's cool. You have a skill.....that can make money.

You know what you should do?"

[It's Praveen, the UCSF Med Student who aspires to be a firefighter and also someday rule a village/nation-state in Africa, so of course I have no idea what he's going to say. I'll paraphrase...]

"You should take some time off. Try to travel across the country with just you and your guitar. You start in one city with your car, an empty tank, your guitar, and the clothes on your back. Then you play music for people to try to earn money. You set priorities...obviously food is first, and maybe shelter, if you don't want to sleep in your car,"

Sleep in my what?

"but ultimately you're trying to earn gas money to drive to the next city. Have an end goal in mind...take New York City, for example. Along the way you have mini-adventures. You try to find someone to go along with you, maybe an aspiring director from LA who wants to document it. What's the worst thing that can happen?"

Of course, I guess it's my untimely death at the teeth of rabid chipmunks.

"And the best thing that can happen....you make it, and then you'll always know, no matter what happens, as long as you have your guitar, you'll be alright."

Praveen is perhaps the wisest crazy person I know.

"I have skills. But they aren't skills that would make money on the street. If I had your skill, that's what I would do. Try to make it across the US on that skill alone."

And that was it. The Vision was born.

We brainstorm the idea heavily, I run it by my sisters [they think I should go to Europe instead], I run it by my parents [as I predicted, my mom is worried, my dad thinks I'm crazy], and I've been running it by friends to get their input [mostly positive reception]. I know that it will take a massive amount of planning, preparation, and training. I know that I will run into adversity, be unclean, unshaven, and beat down. I know that it will be anything but easy. But the more I think and talk about it, the more I feel like this is something I have to do.

I met up with my friend Dan last night, and he put it best. "You have no reason not to do it, so now you have to do it. You have to do it while you're young because you won't be able to do this when you're older. It's a risk if you don't take the risk." [a sentiment echoed by another friend, Luis]

So here is my plan. I will hone my act for a bit. Increase my playlist. Go on a few test runs. Go to a few local random malls, maybe a couple college campuses, to see how feasible it is to make money as a busker. Improve my "busking." Then I will busk across California, maybe SF to SD or SF to LA, over a long weekend, to see what it's like, to see if I have it in me.

If after my "training program" it looks like something I can do on a larger scale, I will begin the extensive research and planning process for this grave and serious journey of Busking Across America, and I will plan for it to take place either this spring or the next. Obviously there will be many places I will want to hit up and many friends I would want to visit. Along the way I'll try my darnedest to get actual gigs in clubs/cafes, etc. I'm still figuring out how much of my story I would want to share, because I'm sure people will be a lot more open to letting me play if they know that I'm starting out with no money with a goal of making it out to New York on music alone.

[I also need to find someone with whom to go - preferably someone who could contribute to my act, but if not, just someone I can trust. If you know anyone...]

Praveen and I came up with an end goal for me while aiming for New York. He was bent on me picking a specific goal, i.e. playing in front of a record label exec at the end of my mystical journey, and then the perfect idea came to me....

Letterman.

The guy is kooky enough to put me on the air if I sit outside his studio for a week with people and signs campaigning to get me airtime after a 2-3+ month long pilgrimage. And wouldn't it be sweet to play a song for his citywide audience of 3 or 4? So that's it for now, I will start this journey with that silly goal in mind.

Maybe getting on Letterman won't end up being anything like what I'm searching for or what I've found at the end of my trip. I don't think it will really matter. The point is that I think this is something that will help me grow personally in ways I can't even imagine right now. If I want to make it as a musician, I would have to be on the road, and I would have to face adversity, tough crowds, and the severe energy drain that comes with it all. And along the way, I will learn so much more, about myself and other people, about life, this country. I will learn about fending for myself in the worst possible situations, and how to bounce back from unthinkable amounts of conflict. This is a pilgrimage I was born to make. This is the kind of journey that can make me who I want to be as an artist. Yeah, Europe is a great idea too, and I will do it someday, maybe right after this one, but right now, this is who I am, and this is what I want. This is where the dream begins.

So here's the deal with this blog. I plan to use it to chronicle the many stages of planning, preparation, and training that will go into this pilgrimage before I embark. Thanks for reading and for those of you out there in other parts of the country, I'll be coming to see you one of these days, so keep that extra few square feet of space in your apartment ready for me, my sleeping bag, and my guitar. (And an additional person as well, I hope!) I will let you know when the journey begins.

Thanks to everyone who has gotten me to this point. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me along the way, critiqued me, helped me improve and grow, and will continue to help me improve and grow. Thanks, thanks, and continued thanks. And last but not least, thanks to the Girl with the Smile for pushing me over the top. I have the heart to take on this life-changing experience, and you [and this blog] will all be there every mile along the way.