Happies!

2008-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

To anyone who may be looking, please check out the baby panda party.

2008-02-17T14:58:00.001-08:00

Among our many very funny jokes, Tyler and I will often sing all of The Homosexuals' "Vociferous Slam" when we have the notion, and it's a lot of fun.

One of us will go "Oh-- the-- rain [or whatever]" and we'll be off, trading lyrics and bass lines and the like. We only know a few of the lyrics so it'll sound something like "capitalize on a Ray-andom snippet of sound/ The earth da da da da/ Mm, da da da/ Sinatra's black delete me from the logarithm/ minstrel rhythm/ biorhythm/ rhythmmm/ na da da da da..."

And the end is AMAZING it goes "doors that slam/ [CHUG-A-CHUG CHUG-A-CHUG CHUG-A-CHUG CHUG-A-CHUG] Ai!"

2007-07-12T21:04:00.001-07:00

I made it to Santa Cruz, and I've started to spread out my presence through the Crystal Palace.

I scalded the roof of my mouth with Pizza My Heart last night, and chopped off my hair this afternoon. I've had bad luck finding inexpensive shoes, though. I'm trying to write an album and I'm seeing success already which is a pleasant change from the past. I've got to go back to Fresno next week for more things and to deal with tax issues, but this place feels home-y already.

-Max

2007-05-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, wicked weekend.

It involved three James Rabbit gigs, one African pop song, three games of beach volleyball, one long meeting, one HUGE dance party, Railroad Bob, new friends, and no alcohol.

I got accepted at the Zami! co-op in Santa Cruz, and I'll definitely know my living situation within the next week-ish.

I recorded a bass line last week to a song Dave Nash and I started recording several months ago, and I'm going to make a mental push to get SOMETHING done before I'm out.

-Max

2007-04-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like I earned my spring break with this last week. Our pop/jazz vocal group's Hits from the 70's show was sparsely attended and a big headache, but turned out pretty well. And it was fun.

My supervisor also asked me to play for the annual Fresno's Finest concert as the "featured alumni guest." Dave, Casey, Quetzal and I played "Don't Let Me Down" and an original (for now called "Tomorrow, Already"). We were well received, and our harmonies were sweet as ever.

Also I heard the Fleetwood Mac song "Tusk" at Walgreen's. And whenever I write (either by hand or on keys) "Fleetwood Mac" I inevitably type "Fleetwood Max" first. If only people would call me that!

2007-03-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Great Leaving Songs

Television- "Marquee Moon"
To get from the choir room where I work to my front porch takes all of "Marquee Moon" and about three and a half minutes of "Elevation." The guitars go well with "thank god I'm going home, but oh shit I've got so much else to do today." It's all tension, except maybe on the solos.

Orange Juice- "Three Cheers For Our Side"
The faster, swingy parts soundtrack the manic ride to an appointment you're late to, and the slower sections are like your friends drinking tea, and checking their watches.

Steely Dan- "Bodhisattva"
Duh.

2007-03-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

I am very slowly moving out of my apartment, back in with the 'rents. And, you know, it's cool and whatever.

I can't get past the political overtones in 300 enough to fully enjoy the prettiness and artistry of it. So sue me!

2007-03-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

City of Mahoganny

A crowd-pleaser it wasn't. As near as I could tell, they (the LA Opera) were attempting a kind-of-faithful, Brechtian production. The actors walked very slowly, and the performances were pulled back to almost dead pan recitation. The music is typically challenging to the ear, and the Brechtian device of "alienation" was in full swing. It was clear that we were there to learn Mahoganny's lesson of anti-materialism (anti-capitalism), rather than be "entertained."

And yet... the music smolders. The score has so much bile, and the male chorus gives so much muscle to the choral numbers. The English translation they performed was too clunky and too faithful to do it justice, and I want to hear it in German. Mostly, the entire cast is onstage, swallowing the lead players (even Patti Lupone). But Audra McDonald found a lot of breathing room in her character, easily commanding the stage and transcending the generally oppressive nature of the rest of the show. It was almost like she was having fun, which maybe the rest of the cast could have taken from.

I'm glad to have seen it, though I doubt I'd pay $165 to see it again.

2007-02-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

I was reminded the other day of a time I ditched in high school. Someone had lent Drew a unicycle, and if they knew Drew at all, they knew that it would be the only way he was going to be getting around for a while.

So, being unable to practice unicycling in class, Drew, Dave and I left in Dave's car. Our first stop was down the road at the McLane High parking lot. I'm not sure how far we thought that one through. We were there for a few minutes before McLane security showed up. We piled back in the car, and Dave pulled an impressive job of peeling out just as the guy was reaching for the car. I was afraid we were going to run over his feet or something, but he was okay.

After that, we decided Fresno City College would be the most logical spot, where we would run into the least hassle. We just kind of wandered up and down the midway. Drew would get on the unicycle, ride a short way and lose balance, then come back and try again. I don't know of a better way to learn to ride. One security guard caught up with us, but he just wanted to give the unicycle a try. He was pretty good, but I forget what his story was for that.

2007-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

Three days before Tower closed for good, their closeout special was 10 CDs for 10 dollars. I couldn't resist, even though the store was thoroughly picked over. I have not listened to any of these albums, but I still intend to.

1. Ole Schmidt, Concertos
2. Zemlinsky, Une Tragedie Florentine
3. The Scottish National Orchestra, Music From Estonia, a 2-disc collection
4. Flemish Connection V- Arthur De Greef, Orchestral Works
5. Tokfursten (The King of Fools), an opera in two acts by Carl Unander-Scharin
6. Göran Gamstorp, Growings, for Symphony Orchestra and Tape
7. Once Upon a Time in Chinese America... (I don't know what this is, but I think it has something to do with martial arts. It might be the work of a guy named Fred Ho.)
8. Metamorphosen, Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo
9. Shawn Persinger, The Art of Modern Primitive Guitar
10. Music for Glass Harmonica, Bruno Hoffmann

2007-02-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a short documentary about James Rabbit, a band that I am happy to be a part of. I don't appear in the movie, but I'm there in spirit, and I'm mentioned.

2007-02-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

I've got a very uncomplicated recording setup going at home, and I'm having some fun with it. Trying to record bass and guitar parts without knowing how to play either is my biggest obstacle. I'm listening to Magazine, and I'm 21 years old now.

-Max

2005-12-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well we lost momentum and the Beach Party LP is on hold for the time being. Tyler's busily tracking away at his house, and I don't even really have all these songs finished, so we'll just have to wait until I get back from Washington. But it'll happen! Ha-cha!

One song we've got, that we refer to as "the Motown Song" has some pretty good defeatist lyrics, "Miles and Miles" and "We Never Made It" are already verified smashes, "Holy Fog" will break your heart and save the pieces for you, so you can access them every time you listen to "Holy Fog" again. Just wait!

-Max

2005-12-12T00:26:00.000-08:00

Today I played through all the songs I've got for the album, accompanying myself on piano and singing words when applicable. And though I did them in an essentially random order, I was pretty satisfied with the result. Beach Party's first LP will be an explosion of rhythm, harmonies, horn flourishes, mind-slushing guitar, hypnotic bass, restless piano, and vocals that will melt hearts.

-Max

2005-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Platinum-- But I Still Take the Bus

When I got home from work at 5:30, I thought I could afford to take a nap. I set my alarm for 6:45, but alarms rarely wake me up anyway. I woke up to Drew calling at 8:00, thinking I had blown it completely. I fell apart for a couple of minutes. I had been late to gigs before; too late, too many times, but I've never missed a show entirely. I don't even know anybody who's done that. Luckily Patrick called and said I could still make it on time. And I did. But still, how many times am I going to flake out in one lifetime? Seriously.

The gig was at Fresno State's illustrious monthly poetry jam, and we were asked to play for their year end ceremony. After we played, Patrick and I watched several poets and MCs, and one of them plugged his forthcoming clothing line ("we got booty shorts for the girls"), and ate quiche.

THE BEACH PARTY ALBUM:

We've got eleven drum tracks down, two or three bass tracks, keys here and there, and a giant pile of lyrics to be written.

-Max

2005-11-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

Summer '98 I was twelve, playing Mr. MacAfee in CMT's production of Bye Bye Birdie. I was still in the process of acquainting myself with musical theatre. My first show was the summer before that in Annie, and even by the standards of the eight and nine-year-old Junior Company vets I was working with, I was a fledgling performer. My voice had yet to change and I was still in the "cute" chubby phase. And Ethan Weiner just had to let me borrow his copy of Rent.

The characters! The swears! The Music! It was, like, all sung! Oh, Jonathon Larson, why did you have to have an aneurysm? Why couldn't your blessing to us continue? It was alive to me, even the boring songs (I always skipped "Without You," the song in between the two parts of "La Vie Boheme," "I'll Cover You," and various others). For a couple of years I wanted every song I wrote to be "La Vie Boheme," or "I'll Cover You Reprise" or "What You Own." The harmonies; the counterpoint.

And so, of course Rent the movie in 2005 isn't going to live up to Rent the sublimely wonderful stage musical in 1998. Of course the spoken dialogue that was once recitative (in the mid-nineties adult pop rock sense of the term) is going to sound stilted and weird to my ears. Does that mean that it could have been adapted better?

I don't know. I just remember the characters being much more vibrant and distinguishable. Does that really have that much to do with how much they sing instead of talk? Somehow, even though they took the characters off of a stage and put them in the real world, the pageantry of it is magnified. The grand seize-the-day-isms just don't pack the same punch, after you watch Maureen writhe around on a pool table in a country club in the middle of their commitment ceremony, or whatever it is.

Most of the songs are there (except the totally awesome street vendor scene), and most of the original cast is there, which already makes it at least a C. They even have echoes of the original staging. "Without You" is made bearable by watching Angel's illness take hold, and Collins caring for her, just like the show. But I can't shake the feeling that Rent, like all good shows, is inextricably bound to the stage. But hell, Rent was IT before I discovered Kurt Weill and Michael John LaChiusa, and it makes me happy in my heart that it's made it to the movies, and I would gladly see it again.

-Max

2005-11-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

Going to Santa Cruz tonight, will be there for the weekend. Beach Party practices totalled three this week, including one without horns and a horn "sectional." I've never really dealt with having to think of stuff for horns to do, and it's especially hard because I don't really know what horns do most of the time. And what is a "pop" horn section? I guess we'll find out.

Also, there was this bum at the bottom of the Shields exit of the 41 today who was at the same spot the same time yesterday. Yesterday, I gave him a dollar. Did he stay there the night and all of today? Did he walk to Panda Express maybe? Only a couple of blocks away. Did he make a particularly good haul yesterday? How much did my dollar contribute to his decision to come back at the same time today?

-Max

2005-11-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

Beach Party gig tomorrow at the Unitarian Church, and it should be pretty cool. We're deliberately keeping the future gig schedule light so as to concentrate on the album and sounding better. And shit. We sound pretty good now. In a couple of months though, look for us to sound transplendent.

You've heard it before, I know, but this time for real. We're recommited and reenergized and re-ady to steamroll this town flat.

-Max

2005-11-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

And I turned twenty yesterday.

-Max

2005-11-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Beach Party is playing at the Starline tonight and we haven't practiced in a week. It'll be fine.

We played two distinct gigs last Saturday, and that's probably not something we'll do again soon, but it was fun, kind of.

BUT WHERE ARE THE SONGS?

-Max

2005-10-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Continental summer process largely involved Tyler and Conner recording rhythm tracks on the fly, Tyler doing most of the overdubs himself, and then Tyler and me, usually late at night doing backing vocals and additional keyboards. I just wasn't there for most of it. I was busy obsessing over Sideshow and transcribing string parts.

This past weekend involved more horns and melodica and whatever, and even more layers upon layers of vocals, adding to existing album tracks, finishing unfinished B-sides (newly graduated to album status). Where the original Continental showed a restraint uncharacteristic of James Rabbit, Continental the double album has slightly more of the trademark mess. Tyler forced Conner to "unmaster" the album, taking the sheen off. Conner wasn't too happy. The final mixing process was Tyler and Conner redoing some levels, asking me what I thought while I watched Sin City on mute. I stayed till three in the morning and drove to Berkeley six hours later.

I feel good about the end product, and even about my contributions to it.

-Max

2005-10-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Steeltown's a Real Town

The Cradle Will Rock is actually a much better show than I had gathered from the movie and the soundtrack, and if the performances at UC Berkeley's production were better it would have been transcendent. It was staged brilliantly, and maybe I'll write about that later. Continental, newly reimagined as a double album is almost set for release. See Tyler for more. Maybe I'll write about that too, after about sixteen hours of sleep.

-Max

2005-10-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Went to Steve Gadd's clinic at Roosevelt, and even though I'm not a percussionist, it was very enlightening. I'd forgotten that words like "double stroke" and "paradiddle" are part of the drum vernacular. He spent most of the time taking questions (mostly, of course, about Asia, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, and Mozambique), and he seemed like a thoroughly nice guy.

He demonstrated what seemed to be very useful techniques, never allowing the groove to get away from him. He played a solo with the audience clapping a 3-2 clave, and we clapped the whole time. For Steve. Quetzal, a senior from Roosevelt impressed him with his stick-twirling, and even played the shit out of a solo, the little SOB.

I've been listening to My Spanish Heart over the past couple of days, and it's tough to reconcile the monster on all those records with the amiable guy in the cargo shorts answering questions like "how are the drums like the piano?" from eight-year-olds.

-Max

2005-10-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

The Rhumba Echoed Down F Street

We filled up what felt like the whole Central Valley with our noise. Patrick, Nye Morton, Quetzal, the inimitable Eva Scow, and I jammed a couple of hours at Full Circle for an inebriated crowd of photography aficianados. It all felt just so right, the standardest of standards alongside, you bet your sweet bippy, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban tunes, the (wildly proficient) dual violins, the almost too solid rhythm section, the delicious Full Circle brewed porter, the fey bartender named Butch... It was a good evening.

Tomorrow, I predict a totally enthusiastic and productive Beach Party rehearsal. We've got new tunes and new T-shirts. How could we go wrong?

-Max

2005-10-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

In Santa Maria, you can find the very spiciest Thai food. Drew ate his entire plate like a champ (was there any doubt?), and I ate half of mine or so, flushed, sweating, and thoroughly enjoying my experience. Mary tried to stop me eating it after my initial serving, but I had to eat more. It was good, it was HOT.

Later in the evening, we went to a beach side bonfire brought to us by the technical department at PCPA. Drew and Rhoda and I wandered further down the shore and found an attentive bunch of Cal Poly students, and we played all the hits. When we got to "y'all don't wanna hear me, y'all just wanna dance," some girls from a neighboring bonfire interrupted with "We don't want to hear you at all. Do you have any extra firewood?"

This afternoon we watched Camp, which I've been meaning to watch for a while, went to lunch, and trekked home.

Beach Party got shut down by the cops on Friday. Well, we had technically finished playing and had packed up most of our stuff, but the officer still seemed pretty annoyed. I'm focused on organizing the next EP, and I think it will be stellar.

-Max

2005-09-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

It's my perpetual lack of focus that will destroy me if I let it. It sure seems like I spend hours writing songs, but I spend more time playing through fake books and zoning out with a pen in my hand. It doesn't take me a particularly long time to finish a song, but it takes me forever to start one.

Pretty soon it's going to be New Years, and Beach Party is supposed to have another EP and an album finished.

Thunder in the Valley
I played a gig out on the Van Ness extension Tuesday, accompanying a violinist during dinner at a PBS [several]- hundred-dollar-a-plate fundraiser. Patrick plays exceedingly well, and surprisingly imaginatively. I just don't know if I can afford him if I ever want him to play for something.

The people were pleasant, they had spicy cheese, and during dinner we watched lightning skip toward us menacingly. Before the keynote speaker, the host of "California Gold" (the theme song to which Patrick and I attempted to play unsuccessfully) was able to extoll the virtues of public television to Fresno's cultural elite, the sky opened up, and everybody was skuttled to shelter.

The next night, Beach Party played for Cigar Fest, our first gig in over a month. We moved some CDs, got the word around about our Koffeeheads homecoming, and played to a completely apathetic crowd. Some girls watched us from the the other side of police tape, and they would have appreciated us more if we'd played "Smoke Two Joints," but they cared enough to stick around.

Songs, Though...
What can I do but keep plugging away?

I need to find a groove. A pattern for writing songs. I've been making more lists, and that helps me organize my head a little better.

Ah, fuck it. I'll just give everybody in Beach Party a copy of the Real Book, and we'll play PBS fundraisers till we're married and start teaching.

-Max

2005-09-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

Beach Party information here. The Olympian Menace EP is mixed, mastered, and on the shelves.

Once my insurance goes through, I'm going to see my chiropractor and a dermatologist. These are the things I look forward to in my current state of early-onset middle age. Maybe I should just clear my schedule for some debauchery. I've earned that much, right? Hell, the word "party" is in my band's name. We should set the standard!

In the real world, I'm still wracking my head for songs. That seven-disc epic about the end times isn't going to record itself.

CMT is putting Tommy (!) on next summer. Dr. Becker says he's open to suggestions about how to un-boring Brigadoon a little, and Sean wants PA to do a show in the tradition of Moulin Rouge.

"I'm no good at breaking up with girls man, I don't know how I'm gonna do it."

"Dude, there's gotta be fifty ways to leave a lover..."

RSA's got some life in it yet.

-Max

2005-09-15T01:38:00.000-07:00

At the White House web site, currently in two spots close to the top of the page, there is a link to:

Discuss Faith-Based Hurricane Relief Efforts Jim Towey, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, will discuss the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance and faith-based efforts to assist those affected by Hurricane Katrina Friday at 2 pm (ET).

-Max

2005-09-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Waiting to make copies in the back of the RSA office, keeping a low profile. Work's going great, and I'm excited about the possibilities. Trying to get some buddies of mine from high school to sing again. It's that time of the season already.

-Max

2005-09-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

Beach Party is finishing up with our current recording venture, and we'll have our first EP out dead soon. It has a surprising amount of muscle, and I think the songs I'm writing for us reflect that development.

James Rabbit is on recording hiatus at this point, while we spearhead a fabulously, bombastically, grandiloquently epic recording project that will eventually span seven discs. "The main goal is completion," says Tyler, which is really the most we can hope for. Our Ring Cycle, with more aliens.

Work is good and satisfying, only a mite unreal. I just graduated from that place a year and a half ago.

The house that Andy, Padro, Drew and I were hoping to appropriate was flatly refused us by Andy's dad, so the residence hunt continues.

-Max

2005-09-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Los Hooligans played our last gig of the season downtown on the Fulton Mall. Due to a mishap with a sustain pedal, the keyboard made no sound for most of our set. For some reason, Kopi, Channel 26's friendly weather man shot footage of us playing, and got about four extended close-ups of my fingers faking up-beats. There was little tension between Kopi and our guitarist, Channel 47's A.J. Fox.

Navigating the Bureaucracy

I attended Fresno Unified's orientation for classified staff members, and the union rep was very nice, if perhaps a little addled. She got us very excited about our cut rates on movie and Disneyland tickets, and talked a little about the union's legal protection. I, in a flush of pinko unionite pride, put myself down for an extra four dollars a month, for membership to the Victory Club.

Next, a women from administrative personnel expounded on the incompetence of the union rep and then told us what all the papers we had signed last week meant. I am a chapter 27 employee, step one. Once I've got sixty units of school done, I'll move up to step two and get a sixty-one cent raise.

Tomorrow I start work, and I'll be playing piano all day.

-Max

2005-09-01T01:20:00.000-07:00

No-Town Nocturne

Happy that we all made it home alive after a tumultuous gig in Hollywood with the illustrious No-Tones. The show itself went off well, even if the crowd was only there for the headlining space rock band. They were respectful of us and laughed at our jokes.

Right now I'm trying to write an album for Grayson and get in the mindset for work, which starts the day after tomorrow finally.

-Max

2005-08-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Lilian has decided that now is the time to go, and my mom and her sisters are in Port Townsend now easing her out. I can't sleep, though that's not terribly unusual. Grandpa Max died before I was born, and his wife Mary and Lilian's husband Ben went when I was very young. My only vivid memory of Ben is of him unconcious in bed, dying of cancer. Lilian's been the center of familial affairs for as long as I can remember. When she lived with us, we were the Christmastime mecca for the Bennetts, and it transferred to Washington when she moved. She's been run over (by a car), knocked down (by dogs), and kept going in spite of it all, and lived to see two great-grandchildren, and she's ninety-six and has earned her peace.

The Fiery Furnaces' grandma has a voice that's so soothing in its properness, even if it is a bit idiosyncratic. There are traces of Greek that make her pronounce words like "when," "whu-en." Eleanor acts as Ms. Sarantos' foil, and as young Olga. Matt has organs and tack pianos all over the place, not skimping on the brash arpeggiated keyboards and off-putting noises. They lost me around the part at the donut factory, and "as if I had been awakened from a bad dream," they got me back again.

There's a really sad piano part that's referenced throughout the album, and in keeping with Furnaces tradition, recast and revoiced for a variety of sounds. It's this kind of trick, the kind that has been employed by every single composer, that is difficult to master. It's such a simple theme, used maybe three or four times, but it binds the album together, and even without the (mostly) clear narrative, makes the music identifiable as a "piece," a unit. It's "good music." I guess I'd like to make "good music" more than pop music, but who will listen to me if I don't do pop music?

Beach Party Blockade is just about done with our hit single "Thunder in the Valley." The idea is that some film students will shoot a video for it, but we'll have to make sure it's good. It'll be good.

-Max "Gimme the Real Stuff" B-P

2005-08-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

Shangri-La, the closer of A New World Record by ELO opens with a swoony slide guitar borrowed from some surf rock ballad, trading off with the ever-present epic string section and Jeff Lynne choir. Just when you think yeah, these guys do sound like the Beatles, here comes the chorus; "My Shangri-La has gone away/ Fading like the Beatles on Hey, Jude..." They even do a coda, but with no shoutalong vocals, and it's about a quarter of the length of Hey, Jude's.

This isn't even the best song on the album!

-Max

2005-08-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Something's Coming

Until I start work next week, I'm just biding my time. Against my better judgment, I'm devoting alot of time to video games.

This feeling of uselessness is beginning to set in again. If I'm not doing three projects at once I get real antsy, but I've got some mental block that keeps me from remedying it. I have very little personal drive to get things done. If someone else needs me however, I'm all over it. Sometimes. Well, Roosevelt High School will need me starting sometime next week, after my TB test comes back negative and Fresno Unified gets my prints on file. Don't worry, folks. I'm on the way.

-Max

2005-08-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

So Sideshow finished its run on Saturday, and all in all, I'm pretty satisfied with how everything went off. The band was pretty kicking and the performers were clicking by the last couple of days. My vantage point in the pit didn't allow for much actual enjoyment of the show, but watching the DVD helps fill in the blanks.

I guess just from the point of view of vocal coach and co-music director, or whatever, there was plenty to improve upon. It's a perspective I've never had in a production, and it's hard to feel really great about what I did for the show because there was so much more I wanted to do. We issued an ultimatum to band members who didn't pull their weight, and we didn't really follow through with it. Even I chowed during sections of the show when I really shouldn't have. While I feel the production as a whole accomplished what I hoped it would, the aspects I had direct influence over just didn't come together as they should have.

It was still one of the best shows in town, and next time we're really going to knock them to the floor.

James Rabbit played a party a couple of weeks ago, but we got shut down early as a result of volume. Beach Party played clean-up with Conner playing very effective keyboard drums. James Rabbit just needs to find its ideal audience. Preferably one that enjoys music.

Boondock Saints desparately reaches for cool-criminal movie greatness, but falls short. So these guys kill mobsters... because it's their religious calling? Willem DaFoe is a criminological genius, but totally out of his mind? Oh, he's just gay. And then he dresses in drag to kill some guys? Was Bugs Bunny originally intended for the part? The script tries to be gritty and harsh, but the only good guy they have the cojones to kill is the dumb tacked-on comic relief. They were just setting it up for the sequel.

-Max

2005-08-04T02:25:00.000-07:00

"Slaving" over string parts for Sideshow at the moment. A cellist and violinist hopped on board today, and I'm very excited, because the cellist played in tune, and I didn't hear the violinist, but I'm banishing negative thoughts from my head, so she'll be great. Also Laurie's stepdad is playing trumpet, and he'll whip that horn section into shape. The rhythm section sounds great (except when I play in A and the song's in Db). Now if we could only track down some tympani...

Also I practiced guitar while watching Roseanne for a couple of hours.

-Max

2005-08-01T04:01:00.000-07:00

Beach Party recorded a few rhythm tracks for the upcoming Olympian Menace EP. It's gonna be a good'n.

We played Alexa's birthday party tonight, double-heading it with James Rabbit. It was a first time I've played live with them, and I believe James Rabbit's second live show at all. We gave out copies of the first single for Continental, and at least one guy in the second row thought we were loud enough. Also Beach Party learned that even the young kids dig the old school joints, so I'd like to do more of those. Contemporary hits though are good too.

Sideshow will be awesome. Hopefully we'll finally convince Fresno that "yes, CMT is extremely capable, and yes, we are made up of youth performers, and yes, a FUCKING LIVE ORCHESTRA helps a lot." There just has to be an audience for this somewhere in the central valley. Right? A cult favorite that will be exceedingly well done? Right?

Admittedly, it's not a great show, though CMT's production of it will be great. Most of the recitative is really clunky, and in general the songs have too many words. Plus the characters talk about things like "bottomless well[s] of love."

Okay, later.

-Max

2005-07-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

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

2005-06-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

Haven't slept, save for a moderately restful snooze after the gym this morning. I plan to catch up tonight.

Tyler suggested yesterday that I record a solo album at his house concurrently with the James Rabbit sessions. He offered his and Conner's services as producer and engineer respectively. I recorded from the ages of thirteen to fifteen or so under the moniker Fortitude Man about... twelve albums, maybe? It's scintillating stuff. So this project is Fortitude Man revived, but we've got to change the name, obviously. Tyler and I started writing songs for this endeavor today.

After I stopped recording, I stopped writing regularly. The albums were never meant to be listened to. I gave copies to Tyler, because he seemed genuinely interested, and I felt he had helpful input to offer. I didn't even write songs that I could play for people in public. So anyway, it should be major. Fortitude Man was an awesome puppet I made for a skit in middle school. It stuck, it seems.

Sideshow rehearsals are going pretty swimmingly. The ensemble keeps sounding better, and I'm not worried about most of the leads.

How's the Future of Style for a band name?

-Max

2005-06-25T01:29:00.000-07:00

I'll get you up to speed.

I'm Max, I'm in let's say three bands: Los Hooligans, James Rabbit and an as-yet-untitled outfit with some good friends. Even though we are nameless, I include it because we have been playing together in varying permutations for a long time, and have recently been doing "real" gigs. Ones that require forethought, practice, and sometimes matching outfits. We play mostly covers, but we do them damn well.

I'm an accompanist for a high school choir fifteen miles north of town, and erstwhile college student. This summer, I'm vocal coaching a musical for a local youth theatre company I've been affiliated with for a long time, though up till now strictly as a performer.

I just want to write songs. The key word there is "Confidence." Not "over-Confidence," that every song you write is a gift from you to the world's ears; no, no, the confidence to brave through the process of writing a song that might not turn out exactly as you hear it in your head, and the confidence that your next song will be an improvement. I already use semicolons confidently, if inappropriately, why can't I do the same with songs?

By its nature, blogging is pretty egocentric, but I'll try to stay on task and not to be overly self-indulgent.

Thanks for stopping by.

-Max