In regards to unlocking the mysteries of the melodica, I was hoping Augustus Pablo would have some profound insight for me. Not so far. He's got at least twenty more albums though, so maybe I'll find something inspiring yet.

-Max

Ska, through no fault of its own, has taken a bit of a critical beating. Dub is now seen as so essential to the history of late 20th century music that to question its importance feels almost heretical. Its brother, roots reggae, has suffered a bit from benign neglect, but its place in the canon is assured. (There's always a new generation of college kids buying Wailers' records for the first time.) Dancehall, of course, is at the peak of its hipster acclaim.

Ska was a hybrid of American r&b, jazz, and a burgeoning move towards traditional Jamaican music, which ska-core nonsense has leached out over the last two decades.

-Jess Harvell, pitchfork

Sure, it's sympathetic, but is it necessary? To elongate on how patently uncool ska is percieved, particularly before an actually positive review? It's condescending. Desmond Dekker is a founding father of ska, as the review goes on to say; why not just pay deference rather than framing your comments like you're doing the guy, and the genre a favor?

I LOVE THE VALLEY AIR, O

It seems like Tyler is growing impatient with James Rabbit's lack of progress this summer, and it appears I've got more days to myself ahead. I would gladly spend tomorrow afternoon keyboarding and singing, but I've been feeling pretty shitty the past few days. These malicious floating particles have been attacking my throat and sinuses for a couple of days. I don't have allergies, I think it's just the much-anticipated drastically lower air quality that comes with the hottest months in our fair San Joaquin Valley. When I'm over this though, it's back to business. Whatever our output these next few weeks, I'll be fine with it, if not pleased, which I frequently am.

With Bobby away for I-don't-know-how-long, and David with his endless string of gigs and projects, Beach Party Blockade is on (brief) hiatus. We'll get back to it. Hell, maybe we could open for Los Hooligans sometime soon.

I'm going to start making a push for that solo album. Even if Tyler can't cowrite alot of the songs, I'd like to get it done before my (potential) violinist is off to Berkeley.

-Max

Hurt my wrist and my cords at the Beach Party show on Friday. We played till Harry Potter hit the shelves across the parking lot. It's the last scheduled gig we've got for a while, so we're going to take a few weeks to regroup, round out our set, and hopefully record a demo. This will be good for us, as tensions seem to have been running high, and it's affected our performance. We'll bounce back, and we'll have songs that raise pulses and move some feets.

-Max

Tyler and I laid down many vocal tracks as the outro for the single cut of "Bourbon," one of the tracks off the next James Rabbit album Continental. We're hoping to get this one on the shelves within the next week or so, and I highly recommend it.

Oh, say Beach Party fellas, howsabout some studio time this Sunday? Maybe record an EP? We know most of the songs well enough, we can hammer 'em out pretty quickly. Hell, one or more of them's recorded already.

First Joseph band practice today. There's hardly a song that hasn't had the key changed, or the tempo quickened, or the form rearranged, so it's tough slogging through the whole score. We'll get it though, and it'll sound fabulous compared to any MIDI tracks.

Maybe all the projects I'm involved in, or have conceived will happen this summer. I've got a few weeks.

-Max

On the whole (with a few wondrous exceptions) modern American musical theatre does nothing for me. Most contemporary composers will: a) go for a "retro" feel (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers) that do nothing but play off of our love of older, far superior shows, or b) ludicrously attempt edginess that just comes off as toilet humor (Avenue Q, The Producers), or, worse yet c) regurgitate pop cliches and pass it off as "contemporary" to theatre goers (Hairspray, Wicked [to a lesser degree], Rent [which when seen live is actually very affecting, and very fun, though listening to the soundtrack is neither])

Unless your name is Sondheim, LaChuisa, Ahrens/Flaherty, maybe even Finn, you probably haven't written a good musical in twenty-five years or so. Sorry to break it to you.

But creativity is rarely a factor in gauging the success of a show (I'm looking at you Tony Academy). The Producers, admittedly alot of fun, is pure unadulterated fluff, with swearing. Wicked is more saccharine than anything ("Dancing Through Life" is barf-inducing to me). Both however are guaranteed to run for a long time, and have recieved accolades from every corner of the theatre community. Urinetown gave me hope, but without blockbuster ticket sales, losing "best musical" to Millie was its death knell, and closed relatively shortly.

One day, this musical that is lost in my head somewhere will be realized, and it will be in such demand that it will run in New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, San Francisco, and New Orleans simultaneously. The soundtrack will garner four grammies, and a dozen cast members will be catapulted to superstardom. I will quietly set to work on my next masterpiece.

-Max

The Beach Party Blockade gig at Koffeeheads went pretty well last night. I replaced some lyrics in Seven Nation Army with these:

"You know I'm pretty sharp and you can tell that I know the score/
You better stick around for our third set, cause you don't KNOW what's in store!"

Koffeeheads and a Mexican restaurant Antonio's share the patio we were directed towards, and Antonio's asked us to turn down the volume, which we did, and then asked us to turn down again, and then we got mad. Our third set was already filled with our "rocking'" tunes, as Dave, our trumpet player had to take off mid show, so we took advantage of that and turned it up loud. I'm going to have to become a passable guitar player in the near future, and also I borrowed a clarinet. I'm nowhere near the plateau I want to reach in my piano skills, but I spend alot of time on it. I can afford to branch out.

So:
-learn guitar
-learn clarinet
-triumphant piano solos
-regain lost falsetto
-lose twenty pounds

In the near future.

-Max

Beach Party Blockade played Kendra's Independence Day party yesterday, and it went pretty well. We've got the "learn songs and play them with competence" part, as well as the "look dynamic while doing it" part well in hand. Now though is the time to up the ante. I'm talking more originals; I'm talking smooth, well-rehearsed transitions; I'm talking looking more than dynamic, I'm talking being the showmen that we all are at heart. Take it to the bridge.

-Max

Drew and I played Heather's grad party last night. Our most enthusiastic listeners were under eight years old, and requested Old MacDonald. I forgot the words.

We're still having trouble on the name front. We decided to go with Beach Party Blockade for the time being. It still might be too verbose, but we'll get it eventually.

Sufjan Stevens on his latest album Illinois sings best on the more blatantly folksy ballads. In "John Wayne Gacy Jr." he sings something like "they were boys, with their cars, summer jobs," and than gorgeously high, "oh my Go-ee-o-ee-o-ee-od," and you believe it. Also there's plenty of great horn melodies, and flutes, and strings, which appeals to the arranger side of me. A word I said to Tyler I wanted my album to be was "heterogeneous," and this album is certainly that. So for sure, check it out.

Some song titles I came up with the other day:

Priceless Wings
You Make it Hard (Not to Ignore You) [too suggestive?]
Arctic Speeds: The Genuine Article

-Max