Saturday, March 31, 2007

warp factor 1

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

i had worked myself in to a bit of a "state" before my flight
yesterday morning
i think all the anxieties of the last 6 months came to a head
it was good in a way
because now i'm feeling better
LA is already raging
full on in its weirdness
we're staying in a massive apartment complex
called the oakwoods
that doesn't have one solitary vacancy
the rooms are questionably furnished
in a ramada inn sort of way
paperthin wornout tan carpet throughout
dull kitchens
equiped with dishes and everything else you need to try and survive
funny thing is
it all costs about $4000 a month
but it's not even close to posh
most the occupants are living here permanently
not visitors
lots of wanna-be child actors too
i know i'm just a slow texan and all
but the whole thing seems a bit nutty to me
rhett played the largo last night to standing room only
he was great as always
and had everyone in stitches by the end of the night
general lefler and delamatyr helped liven me up
after a day full of travel fiascos
by the end of it all i had been up for 24 hours straight
daddy lives the rock'n'roll life!
so today it's off to meet the producer george
and start "pre-production"
will we be giving birth gently?
or have it yanked out kicking and screaming?
i should have more of an idea about 6pm

thursday the wimbledons de-cheese the viper room!!!!
i'll be sure to kick tommy lee in the tattoo for you...

Thursday, March 29, 2007

let's do the time warp

Monday, March 28, 2005

so tomorrow i'm off to sunny california
who knows when i'll be back
hopefully i'll help rhett make a great record
he's got the songs
that's for sure
i'm already missing the little plastic bubble i've made for myself
called "home"
as the years roll on
it's getting harder and harder for me to make these trips
i'm fighting the family disease i know i have
even though i feel this will be a great experience for me
something inside makes me not want to budge an inch
i know it's just that thing i have to keep fighting
enjoy "snowing in my heart" while i'm gone
it's the last song i've written
now almost 6 months ago
there's been no time to write these past few months
and i'm getting moodier by the day because of it
right now it's looking like there never will be time again
life speeds up and then it's gone
right sk?
i still do feel like one big stupid
breathing snowball...

love

s

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

proper channels

this past month
i haven't spent a lot of quality time
with my son
i've been too busy
doing my hamster on a treadmill routine
today
finally
we get a day to ourselves
i had hoped we could make it to the park
but it's another overcast morning
i'm doing my anti-rain dance
hope it works
it's part of my timberlake bit
its jayme's painting day
so the boys are on their own
until 7
J just got an amazing offer
from the magnolia theater
to display her paintings in july
that girl o' mine is on a roll
in the past 3 months she's been featured
in park cities people
(which landed me that great gig
at park place porsche)
dallas modern luxury
(her painting for art con 1 of only 2 featured)
and now the magnolia thing?
i think she's one step away
from starting to sell her work
and reach her childhood dream
of being not only a pro photographer
but also
a working artist
i'm very proud of her

yesterdays mastering session went really well
i'm going to spend some time
running around in the car today
and playing it LOUD
to make sure i'm really done with it all
i've got 4 little parcels
sitting on the ledge in my computer room
ready to fly to various parts of the country
hopefully on of them will lead to something good
i'm beginning to get ansty
about pinning down a U.S. release date
i don't like sending my stuff out to labels
it's such a miserable feeling
when they don't have the time or courtesy
to respond
pro or con
it causes flashbacks
to the MF days
when i sent them out by the truckloads
and got nothing but rejection letters
i kept every one of them
filed away in a grey metal filing cabinet
under "rejection letters" in my mom's closet
makes me think of "proper channels" from
the last happiness factor record

they threw it out
the gift they had no use for
they chucked it out
solicit it please through proper channels next time


here comes the sun
dada dada doo

Monday, March 26, 2007

happy monday

sunday afternoon
the nourallah factory was in full tilt
we worked really hard yesterday
jayme on a photo shoot
with chemistry set
me in the studio with bobby g.
it felt good
our dream of self-employed independence
fully realized
set in action with the utmost efficiency
how lucky i felt
to spend a day working on great music
and then getting paid
at the end of it

an overcast windy monday morning
today i'm going up to crystal clear
with my friends bucks and hubert
to master the rachel bazooka cd
a saucerful of trippy pop
it's going to be fun to hear it on THE BIG SPEAKERS!!!!
and hang out with my friends
celebrate a record well done
tomorrow i go back to crystal clear
to finally master snowing in my heart
i can't wait to hear that on THE BIG SPEAKERS!!!
when i'm done tomorrow
i'm gonna send one to r.m. and a few labels WV asked me to hit
i haven't made a change to my record in 2 weeks
so i must be truly sastified with it
now i listen through
and all the previous nagging little bits
have gone away
it feels GOOD!!!!!
and to think...
i once was of the opinion that i'd never make anything
i could actually listen to
what a horrible feeling
i'm glad i overcame that one
FINALLY
not until polaroid actually
so it took me 14 years bucks
it sucked
what's the use of making music if you can't even
enjoy the fruits of your labor?

i'm in a great mood today
all the bad little events of last week
completely gone
and now i'm going to enjoy a nice bowl of raisin bran
with a sliced banana
and look out over the lush green grass
growing in my backyards

have a nice day folks!


love


s

Saturday, March 24, 2007

i wonder how it feels to hate

this afternoon
jayme is in the house with G
i'm in the studio working
she hears a loud aggressive banging
at the front door
she looks out of the peep hole
and sees a solicitor
she's busy cooking dinner
she doesn't feel like answering
next thing she knows
she hears a banging on G's door
now she's beginning to get a little creeped out
then she sees a man walking down the drive
to the photo studio
sweating profusely
walking fast
he starts banging on the studio door
he's now in our backyard
uninvited
he turns around and catches a glimpse of her
peering out from the kitchen window
he runs to our back porch
and starts banging on the back door
she knows he's seen her so she steps out
and says, "yes????"
he yells
"i'm not a burglar or a jehovah's witness...ha ha ha...
i need two minutes of your time"
she says, "i don't have two minutes"
"you don't have two minutes?"
"no, i don't have two minutes"
he says, "oh, i see...because i'm black!!!!!"
she says, ""that has nothing to do with it"
he sneers
turns and starts to leave
then turns around and waves his fingers tauntingly at gavin
a menacing, "hi little boooooooy....." comes out
gavin is hiding behind jayme's legs
he knows something is wrong
he's scared of the angry man
the sweaty man sneers again
and walks away

my wife and son were supposed to be at my show tonight
gavin was excited about going all day
he talked about seeing grandma and grandpa
and sia
and about being a "good audience member"
he was ready to have a good night
on their way down the street to my show
they saw the man
he was walking back toward our house
jayme got a bad feeling
and decided it wasn't safe to leave the house unattended
so they turned around and went back home
set the alarm on safe mode
and stayed in
they missed my show

that man
and his little ball of hate
ruined what should've been a beautiful night
and nice day
our soft existence
shaken up
a little jab through the bubble
a reminder of the ugliness and hatred
that surrounds

i wish him a lotta luck
his anger is going to blow up in his face one day
when karma comes back around
i believe it will
i believe it always does
and i'm sitting here wondering tonight
at 1am
how it feels to hate so much

and it's made me sick to my stomach


be safe my friends


love


s

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

bobby hart

playing the perpetual cocktail party
of the starry heavens
bobby hart and his piano rotate
slowly
levitating in thin air
amongst the celestial bodies
the sanctum of space itself
aloof
and alone
a bottle of german vodka
sitting on his piano
eight fingers
and two thumbs
float over a black 1912 steinway
like entranced familiars
overhead
burning comets tumble by
at the speed of light
aldebaran dangles
lonesome
windswept
bright
off in the distance
the aurora borealis
lights flicker and flutter
frolic and fade
he plays a sad little piano piece
"napoleon's army christmas eve,
outside moscow"
glancing up from the keys for a moment
to notice the sun's glorious rays
creeping and peeking around the smooth
rounded edges of the moon
in a baby blue rental tux
smiling faintly
and dangerously
childlike in the cosmic wind
an icy stare sent over the tiny stars
that throw pale light
through each thread of his suit
and light up the stubble on his face
like neon wire
forming a soft glowing halo
around the spinning black piano
and it's spectral master

"so this is death..."
he croons in a gravelly whisper
"a state of animated suspension
somewhere east of the 5th dimension...
and it's hard to buy a pack of cigarettes
when you're lost in space
cold and dead"
the piano's haunting melody
and bobby's raspy voice
drift languidly
over the passing gargantuan moon
if there were anyone to hear his melancholy tune
in this desolate corner of this solar system
surely
they would weep at its gentle beauty
music carries well in the stellar nether regions
nothing to get in its way
unlike down on earth

bobby hart and his piano spin and drift
in slo-mo
sprinkling sweet sad music through the heavens
like a baker lacing arsenic
on sugar cookies

Saturday, March 17, 2007

the road

the crying dymes story does have a happy ending
at least for me
sadly left out of bryan A's fab song
"summer of '87"
there can be beauty in this life
if you hang on
don't give up
keep trying
even in the face of odds stacked against
even after years of misery
and failure
and heartbreak
and suffering
and i told anju this
DON'T GIVE UP
PLEASE LISTEN
I'M TELLING YOU I WAS THERE
RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE ANJU
but she was in too much pain
and it seemed hopeless to her
that she would ever find love
and happiness
i didn't quit
not because i'm smart
or wise
but because i'm a stubborn bastard
i wish she had been stubborn too
it still makes me sad...

i found jayme after years of searching
if i 'd moved to austin with the c.d.s
i probably wouldn't have found her
we would have never had gavin
or this life we have now
if i hadn't taken the path i took
i wouldn't be right here
where i'm supposed to be
my misdirected aggression towards denton
and the choices i made way back then
were indeed misdirected
i know that now
i just keep bagging on denton
'cause it's a joke to me now
i know it's just a place
nothing more
nothing less
it's completely insignificant
i was on a road
to get somewhere
i couldn't see it then
there was no way
it didn't matter what the stops were
deluth instead of denton
poughkeepsie instead of plano
waxahachie instead of arlington
bob could've moved to fargo north dakota
or paris texas
or reno
he was always gonna be successful
he had that drive even in '87
we were all bound to arrive at our eventual destinations
it wasn't pretty
it was hard
but i wouldn't go back
or trade my life with anyone
in the universe
i'm happy the way it worked out
it was perfect

so i do now fondly recall those days
why shouldn't i?
it's easy to forgive my past mistakes now
that i'm happy

viva la crying dymes!!!!

on jan. 30th 1998
faris bob and i jammed one more time
at pleasantry lane
and wrote "heaven is the day"
amongst a slew of unfinished
mostly comedic tunes
"heaven" ended up on the nourallah brothers cd
it was one of the best days i've ever had
playing music
i will always fondly recall that

Thursday, March 15, 2007

the summer of crying dymes

the details are hazy
afterall
it was 20 years ago
was it really that long ago?
my son's life times 6??????
now that's depressing
maybe i'm just gonna go have a sulk now
instead of finishing this...









ok
sulk over
now where was i.......................?

when i last left our starcrossed heroes
the c.d.'s had decided to leave el paso
for greener rock'n'roll pastures
see
we were seers
not boys
we'd predicted the next musical medium
without even knowing it!
a meeting was held
in F's room
to discuss the next move
"bobby" suggested austin
i wasn't so keen on austin
"bunch of hippie potheads!" i said
you see
i knew it all back then
i was worldly and well travelled
even though i'd never left my bedroom
schneider told us how cool the music scene was there
like california in the middle of texas
he made a very convincing argument
so i conceded
austin it would be
crying dymes unite in the form of
ROCKSTARS!!!
we'd agreed that i would make arrangement to transfer from
U.T.E.P. to U.T.
to get $$$ from the p's
and move in the fall
"bobby" had to go back to germany
to visit his parents for the summer
and we were supposed to move
once he got back
meanwhile
the wheels of the savant were turning...

our best friend jeff georges
was going to U.N.T.
in marvelous denton
he'd been writing us letters
saying how good the music scene was there
lot's of music students
trapped
nothing to do but join bands
surely we could find a bass player there
we'd be idiots if we couldn't
maybe i knew dad would never go for the U.T. thing
maybe i was scared of austin
maybe i was just a big dumb fool
no
i'm think i was a big dumb idiot
so
when "bobby" returned
ready for the cds to join him in his journey
to rock'n'roll mecca
paradise on earth
heaven without the death
i'd up and changed the plan on him
it was denton for me
not austin

now this moronic decision plagued me for years
not only did "bobby" move on
to eventually find success as bob schneider
king of austin
but F and i suffered the slings and funk bows
of denton for 5 years before moving to plano
then arlington
floating around the metroplex suburbs
languishing in big D obscurity
through most of the '90s
and in fact
you can pretty much credit F's subsequent breakdown
from lack of appreciation
to that 'orrible decision i made
way back
in the summer of '87
doesn't bryan adams have a song about it?
i think it goes something like this...

got my first real six-string
at cielo vista mall
with pawned earrings
from dad's london square jewelry store
it was the summer of '87

me and some guys
had a band and we tried real hard to find a bassist
but we never found one
or played a gig
even though we had a cool flier
bobby moved to austin to be a star
and faris got his nose broken by our next guitarist

i spent my evening's down at pizza hut with gina
that's before she kicked me in the face
those were the days of my life
back in the summer of '87

man we were killin' time
we were young and listless
i wanted to be reckless not feckless
i guess nothin' can last forever

thank god those days are gone
when i look at everything that's come and gone since then
i'm glad the summer of '87 is gone









Monday, March 12, 2007

crying dymes (part 2)

in the summer of 1987
the crying dymes were poised
to takeover
the world
faris
aka: carlo diamonte
bobby
el keyboardo playing playboylito
salim
the velvet clad crooner
we had it all
looks
charisma
schutzpaw
bedazzle
the tunes
the moves
the grooves
the licks
bobby had the chicks
pyrotechnics
and high leg kicks
but we were missing one key ingredient
a bassist
so bobby
(i just remembered that's what we called him way back then
not sure when the whole "bob" thing kicked in)
just a good ol' boy
all the way from ypsilanti michigan
via germany
to el paso
designed the mother of all "musician wanted" fliers
it was a send up of an oldwest wanted poster
with a tough looking hombre
with a handlebar mustache
and 2 six guns
and lot's of spare bullets
the poster said in large type
WANTED: BASS PLAYER
it was kind of funny
i still remember that clearly
we plastered that wanted poster up everywhere
UTEP
pizza hut (where i worked)
coronado high
K-mart
"bobby" took it to parties
i put it up on my bedroom wall
faris lit it on fire and shot it through someone
with his bow and arrow

then we waited
for our entwistle
or bruce thomas
or bruce foxton
or even paul simonon (see: heathen town)
to ride in on their bass chariot
and take the crying dymes
to claim our "chalice of rock"
we would not be denied our glory!!!!!!!!

we waited
and waited
waited some more
the waaaaayting is the hardest part
then the phone calls started coming in

"yeeees sir, dees ease jose
i pluck dee bass gitar
i am a mariachi
from los hombres muchachos
you need bass player
yeees?"

"yeah, this is rod
hot rod sargent
ever heard of me?
i was in glazz dawgz
i noticed yer
crying dymes with a Y
i like that hee hee
you boys got yerselves a rockin' outfit?
i'm lookin' for some speed metal riffs
you got some hot riffs doncha?"

the writing was on the wall
and it wasn't
"call sting for a good time"
it was
"we gotta get outta this place!!!"
it was plain to see
if we ever wanted to do anything with our music
we knew we had to split town
el paso only had heavy metal
and mariachis
the crying dymes were too sophisticated
for old el paso to handle

it was time to move on

Sunday, March 11, 2007

crying dymes (part 2) interupted by babel

jayme and i rented babel tonight
a beautiful and touching film
but
deeply disturbing
and now i can't sleep
i know all too well how fragile life is
i didn't really need a graphic reminder tonight
i still liked the film
it just made me really really sad
after being really really happy
oh well...
with daylight savings
it's 4:22 am
and i'm effectively screwed tomorrow
so i might as well go for broke
with this blog work

we had a beautiful evening concert
at the north by southwest (festival?)
a cool breeze and beautiful sunset
as we played
sadly attended by only a handful of people
thus (festival?)
with no booze and a 25 dollar cover
it was no wonder that most of dallas stayed away
sad though
why do we need alcohol
to enjoy an event like this?
even the spree
who were rumoured to have been paid
$20,000
outrageous
if true
played to a meager audience
in fact
i think there were more people onstage
than off!

it was my son's first rock'n'roll concert
and i loved getting to see him full of joy
running around and dancing
as we played
1978
and the world is full of people
it was worth more than $20,000 to me
(well....on second thought...)

crying dymes part 2 next time
i had to write what was on my mind this morning

i hope you're having happy sleeping right now!!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

the crying dymes (part 1)

el paso
1986
faris' girlfriend
gretchen clapp
tells us that her sister
heidi
has a boyfriend
who's a good musician
we should "jam" with him sometime
we were so desperate to form a band
we'd have probably been up for jamming
with a convicted serial killer
did he have both limbs intact?
yes?
ok - we're in!!!
so faris told gretchen
"i want to meet this guy..."

bob schneider was one cool dude
even in '86
he had movie actor stubble
girls loved him
i hear they still do
he had devilish charm
and a quick wit
kind of mysterious
and world weary
never really revealed too much
he drove a yellow jeep
that used to belong to the US postal service
it didn't last long
broke down and abandoned behind his apartment complex
he seemed to have a penchant
for not being able to hold down a job
we instantly hit it off
he was a rebel
we were aspiring rebels
and strangely
he was born in the same small town in michigan
as my brother
a place called
ypsilanti
have you ever met anyone from ypsilanti?
i doubt it...
so we started "jamming"
bob on a beat up casio keyboard
me on my shiny crimson rickenbacker guitar
faris on the drums
we christened ourselves
the crying dymes
practices took place in the front bedroom
of our red brick house
on constellation
we made a joyous racket
once every week or two
bob was hard to get a hold of
i remember dropping by his efficiency apartment
on mesa street
all the time
trying to pin him down for rehearsals
he didn't have a phone
and was almost never home
he would just disappear for weeks
then turn up
and see if we wanted to "jam"
we'd always be chomping at the bit
you see
faris and i were very ambitious
and serious minded musicians
even way back in '86
we were ready to take the world by storm
and to do that
one must
REHEARSE REHEARSE REHEARSE!!!

song titles i remember were
"looks like murder"
which i played for papa severs once
i wonder what he thought of my morbid chorus
"it looks like murder but it feels like a kiss
i never thought it would come to this..."
"the perpetual party"
with bob's carnivalesque organ part
and lurching waltzy beat
"label me as truth"
"drinking time"
we made demos on my 4-track cassette recorder
i still have them
i couldn't sing to save my life
my flat monotone warble still haunts me
god
i was truly not born with a velvety golden throat

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

do it again

i've been getting only a very small taste
of what most working people go through
on a daily basis
i lived this way a few years ago
and it sucked
wake up
go to work
work all day
come home tired
it's already dark outside
get a few lean hours in with the family
go to sleep exhausted
wake up and do it all over again
over
and over
and over
again
life goes hurdling past
in a day in day out blur of routine
even when i was a kid
i knew i didn't want to live like this
part of the appeal of rock'n'roll
i watched my dad do it
and it looked to me
like it sucked

i'm only a few days into this 8 to 10
work day
and it's made me feel so grateful
that i don't have to live that way
anymore
i'm terrified of being sent back
i've had it cushy
these past couple of years
even though i work a lot in the studio
my schedule is random
(i despise routine)
i get to see J and G
a lot
i get to enjoy sunny days
i never have that feeling of crushing doom
that hung over me when i was
"working for the man"
so today i'm giving thanks again
thanks that pleasantry lane
is a hub of activity
and that i can work my ass off
these next few weeks
and pay my taxes
then take it easy for a few days
and go back to my semi-hectic
but not mindlessly brain-numbing job
i love what i do
and i'm very grateful people out there pay me to do it
i appreciate each and every one that's come over here
and made a record with me

off to work now!

Monday, March 05, 2007

pigs CAN fly!!!!

i must admit
i'm already looking forward to the weekend
friday night
i'm playing the all-good
all by myself
deadman will be there too
i think i'm playing after them
not 100% sure
so come early
if you're planning on coming at all
i think G and J are going to try and make this one
hopefully G will make it to the end of the show
without being ejected
saturday night
i'm playing the north by southwest festival
'cause i can't make south by southwest
missing it for the first time
in 4 years
because i'll be working in pleasantry lane
NXSW will be taking place
outside of ellum onstage
with the noise
it's an unplanned show
of sorts
confirmed at the last possible moment
the odds that my band could make it
on such short notice
were slight
but somehow it all panned out
polyphonic spree plays one band after us
we go on around 7
if you like white robes
don't miss the p.s.

the new song avalanche is still in full swing
i've been writing like a teenager
if i keep going at this rate
i might have to make record #4
sooner than later
i'm already thinking this next one
should be a more stripped down affair
a few of these songs would be perfectly suited
for a nourallah brothers reunion
as they seem to be dealing with my youth
but the odds of that happening
are probably slim to none
never say never
and i'm not saying never
who knows?
pigs can fly, right?

snowing in my heart
has finally made it to hamburg
even though the package i sent 3 weeks ago
never did
this is the 3rd one in a row
intercepted by customs
so i've decided it must be
my name
what else could it be?
i'm never sending another one to europe with nourallah
written on it
that's for sure
maybe georgie w. just had to have the new
s. nourallah cd NOW
he just couldn't wait to hear it on i-tunes
in May
i bet he's doing the hokie pokie
or playing hide the Iraqi
right now
to snowing in my heart

at least i've received 2 emails in the last 24 hours
from tapete (the german record label i'm with)
saying they love it
so i'm relieved
and excited about a possible april/may
euro release
and fall tour
nourallah family rock'n'roll vacation part deuce
please keep the good luck thoughts coming too
as the struggle to find a bigger US indie
is still underway
no word pro or con yet
from the folks i sent it off to
hopefully
they're going to write soon
with enthusiastic praise

this was more of a sn news report
than anything else
weather at 10

Friday, March 02, 2007

jazz blues

i must admit
i've been a little down this week
lot's of reasons
in 1 hour i start a 3 week tear
that's going to find me in the studio
every day
for 8 to 10 hours
i'm lucky to have the work
but...it's going to be a lot
not one day off
i'm grateful
very grateful
but a little tired just thinking about it
this week i also had to part with one of my
beloved musical instruments
it's on ebay right now
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130084532785&rd=1&rd=1
i've had it since the happiness factor days
and it's only the 2nd guitar i've ever sold
'cause i'm very sentimental about these things
so it's made me a little grumpy
but i know these things are trivial
at least i didn't lose my mom
like my friend did
and that makes me very grateful
i've been very sad for r.r.
and i don't know quite what to say to him
there really is nothing to say
when things like this happen
J touched up an old photo of her
taken in the '70s
and i saw his face in hers
it was eerie
and sad
i've also started my big
"now that i'm done with my record"
project
transferring the 40 plus mini dv tapes
of family and concert footage
i've recorded in the last 3 years
to dvd
the plan is to do 1 per day
for the next couple of months
watching all the memories
fly by
captured by digital taxidermy
it's made me think of a song on snowing
"days disappear"
no duh
they sure do...

Thursday, March 01, 2007

the 3 mothers

2 of the 3 mothers
made it through their surgeries ok
thank you
to all who sent out a good thought
or prayer for them
unfortunately 1 of them didn't make it

r.r.'s mom passed away yesterday