Now that I’m back home in my quiet (read:boring) little corner of SoCal, I’m spending some time going through my pictures from this weekend’s trip. I’m going to post a bunch of them in the gallery and hopefully a write up a more comprehensive accounting of the weekend’s activities.
Until then…
I’m writing this tonight from beautiful downtown Berkeley (thanks again to the tenant above this cafe who is donating his/her WiFi).
On Friday, I met some good friends in San Francisco for a few days/nights of fun. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this area. Last night, we explored downtown San Francisco and Union Square. We walked up and down the streets and experienced as much of the “real” city as we could. Since we were less interested in tourists spots and more interested in the people of the city, we decided to stop in at no less than six restaurants instead of just limiting ourselves to one. Dining on French food, Bolivian food, Spanish food and Chinese food was much more fun than just stopping in at the typical tourist spots. It was an awesome evening and I can’t wait to do something similar again.
Today, we each did our own thing. For me, I spent the day on the streets of downtown Berkeley. I can’t think of a better way to dive into the culture of a town than by spending time with its people. Armed w/ my trusty guitar, I sat around and “road tested” a few of the new songs we’ve been working on. The people here have been really friendly–more accurately I should say that they are just open to whatever one might be doing. You don’t get the judgemental looks or the crossed-glances that we’ve all experienced in SoCal, and that has made for a nice change. The other thing foreign to this LA-boy is that the people here actually talk to the street merchants and musicians. Everyone one that I’ve observed at bus stops, street corners or BART hubs have been so cool. All just one community of very different people doing very different things in a spirit of harmony.
Tonight’s plans are still a mystery, but tomorrow, we’re headed into the wine country of Sonoma where we will be experiencing the beauty or the wineries, spending the night there w/ friends, and then back home on Monday. You can follow the action LIVE! on my moblog or by driving yourself out to Berkeley and meeting me on Shattuck Aveune. (I’m the kid in the grey shirt, blue jeans and the shiny black guitar.)
The sun is setting quickly now behind the historic buildings dotting the skyline. This place is so perfect for me right now…I’m exactly where I need to be.
“…I’ve traveled the whole world to find a love so fine–somewhere between love and hate–I won’t be denied…”
A good friend and I are taking full advantage of our summer break by putting pen to paper and writing a few new songs that we’ll be performing locally for the first time(w/ a yet unnamed drummer). If all goes well, we’ll also be recording these new tracks iIf we can find a sweet deal on either studio time or a home recording rig. Stay tuned…
The first few days have been ridiculously productive and we’ve got the skeletons of 3 new tunes waiting to be clothed w/ inspiration. For our first official performance, we’re hoping for 6 original songs and 6 covers. [On a side note, I'm accepting cover recommendations from JCdN readers. Drop me a line here.]
What makes our writing unique is that both of us are in very different places in our lives. One of us is heartbroken and the other is experiencing true love for the first time. This tandem will either make for an awesome balance of love/sorrow OR we’ll sound like two completely different bands competing for emotional dominance.
We’ll wait and see…
If you keep up w/ events here on JCdN, you may find the next few weeks worth of posts committed to the evolution of our writing sessions. This site provides a natural outlet to communicate ideas to all of you….be gentle.
As our songs develop and we direct them where WE want to take them [and not vice-a-versa], it is becoming more and more apparent that we are going to need a decent percussionist. This discrepancy has us worried because neither of us has been able to find a drummer among our collection of musically-inclined friends. So, if something doesn’t materialize by early July, then we may be forced to hire a percussionist to lay down the rhythm tracks for the recording sessions and just perform live w/o a rhythm section!
[Erina, are you listening? We need ya!]
I was relating my percussion-related frustrations to my kid sister early today and she responded with the following:
Q: “So, what do you call the guy who hangs out all the time with the band?”
A: “The drummer”
[OK, so maybe you had to be there...]
So, to summarize, an “as-of-yet-to-be-titled” band is working on a handful of “as-of-yet-to-be-titled” songs to be released on an “as-of-yet-to-be-titled” EP and to be performed at a SoCal location no where near you.
There will be a quiz later…study hard.
