Thursday

Experiencing a supernatural flood of vitality I guess. After finishing the 9th and final episode of Tales from Truman Park, I started writing a new novel–something unlike anything else I’ve written. The new novel is written in third person–more traditionally styled. It’s an action adventure based in the tropics and written to read like a 90’s blockbuster. It’s flowing like rapids…first 15,000 words sort of just wrote themselves. I’ll post the first chapter soon, once I proof it…I really think y’all are going to love getting lost in this one…I know I have.

Wednesday

Ah, my favorite place in LA to hang out and play music. We did many shows at the Kibitz…the only mad house in town that serves alcohol. On any given night you’ll find some of the best, most well schooled musicians in Hollywood at the Kibitz–you never know who’s going to walk in. One night I wound up sitting at a booth with some people and there was Tom Waits sipping a drink under his fedora. Only in Hollywood. I recently spoke with the booker there and he’s excited to have us back this summer…I’ve also been chatting with some other promoters in LA and surrounding area about rebooking shows we lost last year. Everyone is very excited to get back into it and I’ve got a really great feeling about all of this. In spite of the apocalyptic vibes and the venue closures, I think the LA music scene is going to go off like fireworks when this plague finally passes…like when WWII ended. I’ve seen it all in a dream. I’ll keep you posted on bookings as they come in.

 

Sunday

Monday

I’ve been busy napalming the jungles of contemporary prose. Just got back to civilization. Truman Park episode 8 is up now and it’s the most riotous, gargantuan installment yet. It jumps off the page like all writing should. I call it the Napalm Narrative. I know my artistic successes drive all my enemies mad…yet they keep showing up to see what I’m going to do next; envious chicken-fuckers. To real lovers of prose and fans of my work; I hope this new episode brings you some laughter and some true 1990’s insight. You’re in for a real treat. Cheers.

Tales from Truman Park – series

Thursday

Never Mind the Bullocks–here’s a bottle of exotic juice.

Sunday

Evenings with my USA Strat. 

Wednesday

I want to share this song with y’all. This is pretty much my most requested song at live shows. It’s a pretty little ditty about a woman I called Audrey. Since I wrote it friends of mine have asked me who it’s about. I’ve never really given an answer but recently I was asked by a few friends about the song and I told them the real story–so I figured I’d post it here as well…for all my other friends who have asked.

At the time I wrote Audrey I was hanging around at Cafe Audrey just off of Hollywood Blvd. They had a real nice upright piano in there…and I liked to go in and play it or hear someone play it. This woman used to come in and sit in the corner and sip tea and sketch in her sketch book. She had these really intense grey eyes…almost like the eyes of a wolf. To me she looked like Audrey Hepburn…and dressed like Audrey Horne with the skirts and knee high socks…and because she hung around at Cafe Audrey–I started calling her ‘Audrey’ though that wasn’t her name. Obviously I’m not going to say her name, but I’ll call her “K”.

One evening she told me she was originally from Ottawa, which surprised the hell out of me because her accent sounded more like something from the Carolinas. We chatted about Ottawa–a place I’d briefly lived in another life…she felt it was a strange coincidence that we’d met in LA though we’d lived only a few blocks from each other in Ottawa. One afternoon I met her at the La Brea Tar Pits and when I showed up, she was writing in a book…when I asked if she was writing poetry…she told me she was writing prose–that she was an aspiring writer. I told her I wrote prose in a memoir style…and this became a major curiosity of hers. She asked to borrow the manuscript so she could read it on the bus…I was hesitant but eventually gave in and printed a few chapters for her. She read it and called me insane. I never did figure out why. I heard that she left Los Angeles shortly after. Anyway, I wrote the song in an afternoon and the name Audrey kept sticking. I guess I kind of regretted writing a song about a chick who dismissed me as a crazy writer boy–but like I say–it’s a snapshot…where I was at the time and as far as I’m concerned, one of the best rock songs I’ve written to date. So, for anyone who’s asked me about the story behind Audrey–now you know…and guess so does “K” if she reads my blog. Ha. Enjoy it.

Sunday

It was nice to see this photo from better times; a great night with some badass homies playing the Mint in Hollywood. I really hope the Mint survives…we can’t afford to lose any more legendary venues because of this godam virus. We had a bunch of shows booked before the lockdown came–starting with an outdoor movie screening in Poinsettia Park in West Hollywood…some more around Silver Lake…Santa Barbara, San Diego, OC and even Vegas…all put on hold because of a medieval plague. Bummer. She may have gotten smashed up pretty bad…but LA will come back even stronger–she’s resilient.

Monday

Been hard at work on a new installment in the Truman Park series. The adventure continues. Stay tuned.

Monday

Already I’ve heard that the Satellite is done…the Satellite–one of LA’s most illustrious music venues…gone for good. I guess new venues will open and there will always be outdoor shows…but you can never really replace a venue like Satellite. I try to see it this way; before it was Satellite it was just another disco club…no live bands, just incidental DJ’s which it certainly won’t be remembered for…it was what came after that made it a legend…in the 90’s…when it became a hub for Silverlake indie bands. It’s a lot of history and ten new venues can’t really take the place of one old venue like Satellite. And though it was an actually famous venue–it kept a low profile. It wasn’t the type of place that had an in-house photographer running around snapping pics of clout seeking posers with underarm sweat rings and ironic t-shirts behaving as if it was their very first night out on the town…it wasn’t trying to be a Value Village version of Studio 54. It was dimly lit, low key and hosted live bands all night–from open till close…and that’s what made it cool in the truest sense. It was a venue that really believed in supporting original live bands. Hoping we don’t lose too many more.

Friday

Wednesday

Tracked the vocals for Heartbreaker tonight. Very stoked with how smoothly it went. Usually when I’m in there I sing a number of takes and use the best lines from each take. For Heartbreaker though, I got set up, warmed up and was prepared for at least an hour and a half just to record the vocal and bgs. I recorded two practice runs as further warm up–you always record those just in case…and in this case, they were enough. From two warm-up takes I got the entire lead vocal line…took a couple more takes to get the backgrounds. Half an hour later I was mixing them into the song. Love when that happens.

Monday

Certainly I’ve been asked by some why my recordings don’t sound more digital–even though they are recorded digitally. It’s because I record digital and then painstakingly remove or add frequencies and filters to achieve a more analog texture. Why not just record analog? Well…though it’s warmer, analog is sort of a pain in the ass. I’ve devised dozens of presets though that can usually erase alot of the digital from a digital recording and add a bit of analog warmth. Middle of Infinity is going to be exactly that kind of album–a 1970’s soft focus sativa buzz. 

Saturday

I’ve got something real special for y’all this weekend. I’m talking about Tales from Truman Park episode 7. If you’ve been following this series, you’ll remember episode 6 was a barn burner. Jam packed with authentic 90’s nostalgia, episode 7 is all about the fallout and there are a few shocking developments.

Wednesday

Coming around the corner on this new album. Production on most of these songs has been pretty smooth. Some mixes however, for whatever reasons, are harder to perfect. For the last number of days I’ve been working hard on ‘Baby Jane’…it’s been a super delicate balancing act. I think part of the issue is the guitars, vibraphone, organ and piano sitting in the same frequency register. I normally try to avoid this by playing organ in higher range, guitar in mid range, piano in lower mid keys and the vibraphone usually fits nicely panned opposite the guitar. Modern Stereo EQ has been helpful…but it’s been a bit of a puzzle on this one and the deeper I wandered into it, the harder is was to see the way back out. The engineer I’m using suggested subtracting an instrument or two from the mix–to make some space for everything–but I can’t lose any instruments–they are all equally as important. The vibraphone would be the obvious choice to subtract, being that the song really can’t do without the gritty Hammond organ…but at the same time it can’t do without the vibraphone either…really without the vibraphone an entire layer of ambiance is missing…and this batch of songs is so much about the nuances. Finally though, after a number of intense mix nights, I’ve wound up with a wicked mix. I can’t wait to share this album with people…it’s like a soft-focus sativa buzz from 1970’s Hollywood. One more song left…

Friday

Monday

Read about how this album I recorded was almost never produced and the turn of events that made it possible. Details in video description. Really I listen to this album twenty years later and can’t believe how ambitious the project was and how far deep into the jungles of contemporary composition the odyssey took me. 

Thursday

Friday

I first saw Eleanor Coppola’s brilliant documentary Hearts of Darkness in the mid 90’s and have seen it several times since…I own the video tape. Brutally sincere, riotously funny and even a bit disturbing…but never pretentious; this doc illustrates the divine madness of artistic vision that used to exist in cinema–it’s an element that has become extinct in recent years. If you can find the entire film somewhere, I highly recommend seeing it at least once.

Wednesday

Not messing around…will be watching this tonight. I have this film on a drive, but there’s something about watching films on a moving reel with the trailers and all.

Monday

Just posted a **revised** version of Tales from Truman Park episode 6–original draft I posted wasn’t the completed one. Buckle in…it’s a barn burner.

Tales from Truman Park – series

Wednesday

Yo, check out the new music video for ‘Mary’.

Wednesday

What he meant to say was: Realizing we’re standing on the Strip next to the tragic spot where River Phoenix died. Grinning about a comment made about the dude with woman hair in the background. Smoking blunts like they’re going out of style…a wondrous madhouse Hollywood is and there’s no place I’d rather be.

Friday

Me in the 90’s…skater boy, showing off my new Sex Pistols shirt.

Monday

New song, “Never Wanted To”.

Monday

Silverlake freedom.

Wednesday

I spent a couple years writing a novel called Waiters. I was working on revisions with a mainstream literary agent who is from NYC…did that for 8 months. Here is the author’s cut–the raw cut and you’ll only find it here.

Waiters – a Novel

Wednesday

‘Before long I was back on the 10 heading east…I passed the 405 and instead looped through downtown and swung back up onto the 101 to get back into Hollywood—I needed some time to think…I needed some time to fit things back into rational perspective. I took the Vermont exit and followed it north until I was finally feeling a bit more level. Hollywood; she knew what I felt as she always had and I could feel her breeze through my window, soothing me as the darkened shop fronts went by on either side…at least I still had her, my beloved Hollywood—though she changed, she was always the same and she always knew just what to say to me.’

–excerpt from ‘Waiters’. Coming soon.

Sunday

Unbelievable…was looking through a box in storage and found this photo of me with my first guitar. I didn’t realize I had a photo of that guitar. I’m 12 in this picture, playing along to a Sex Pistols album in my mom’s basement. I was totally obsessed with the Pistols at that point…learned Never Mind the Bullocks on that guitar and started writing my own songs as well. I remember how nice that guitar felt…intonation was perfect…low action…so easy to play. No idea where that guitar is now. She was the first though, and very special.

Saturday

Traveling from Los Angeles to Vancouver to Seattle, Jarrod Tyler and crew investigate the endangered state of contemporary arts & culture in the digital age and showcase the many citizens who fight to keep arts & culture alive in their neighborhoods. This is my public service announcement contribution to the arts.

Wednesday

Check out the official video for Fallout Shelter.

Monday

Not sure about Spotify…I don’t even bother with a proper Spotify profile…still, here is my best of album…in case you don’t want to pay for it on iTunes. I’m not a used car salesman, or an art dealer or a real estate agent–I’m an artist.

Tuesday

Tuesday

Brentwood Country Mart…this shit ain’t Grandma’s Apple Fritter.

Tuesday

I’ve received a few emails about this show…assuming this is going to be rescheduled. I was waiting for the booking agent to get final word from the organizers and alas…I regret to inform that this show is going to be rescheduled.

It wasn’t just this show though…there were other shows  in the coming months we had booked in Santa Barbara, Long Beach, San Diego and one was lining up in Vegas before the world was infected by the virus that originate in China. Fuck…a…duck…

Tuesday

Echo Park

Sunday

Hello, hello…it’s good to be back, it’s good to be back.

Sunday

Getting off work on Melrose…what to do…too many options.

Friday

Saw this at the Satellite on a week night…these guys were pretty good…they looked like UCLA frat boys but then they started playing crazy punk rock–sort of reminded me of punk bands I used to go see in college…the singer pulled off his hoodie during the first song…he was wearing a Beyonce t-shirt…he jumped down into the crowd and started a mosh pit. He sang a song about growing up in Virginia and crashing his car and how the crash rattled his brain and made him crazy. I’d hoped they’d kick over their amps at the end, but I guess amps are expensive. They were selling shirts afterward for a buck. I assumed punk was dead…guess I was wrong.

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

One of my favorite things about LA is that you can wander into a live music venue on a Sunday or Monday at midnight and the place is packed for freaky indie bands.

Tuesday

Us lefties are forced to exist in a world that is largely designed for the right-handed majority who all seem to have drunk the same Kool-Aid. How can anyone blame us for being complete misfits?

Sunday

Great show last night in Encino…thanks to everyone at VCF for putting this one together and also my band of badasses who rocked out in the SoCal heat.

Thursday

Stoked.

Tuesday

Coolest high school ever; Jack Tripper and Jeff Spicoli went here…

Monday

I posted a montage from the Warner Park show yesterday.

Thursday

My good friend Rhys Moody passed away on Wednesday evening last week. I didn’t even find out about it until Tuesday night. I’m still a bit shocked. Rhys was an engineer at East West Studios in Hollywood and a damn fine producer. He co-produced three of my albums, “Fides Veritas Eruditio”, “Don’t Let It Go” and “Auburn” and really helped bring them to the next level. I learned so much about music production from Rhys…he had a way of passing on knowledge. Last year when I was in LA playing the club circuit, he rented a room in his house to me and so we were sort of like frat boy roommates for a number of months. Man, we had some great laughs and some epic bike rides around Burbank…lot’s of smoke breaks in between.

They held his celebration of life last night in Studio One at East West. Such a nice service, he’d have loved it; his friends and family in such a legendary room telling stories and playing music. Though it was sad, I’m glad I was there. He’ll be missed.

Saturday

Just got word that we’ll be playing an outdoor concert at Warner Center in Los Angeles July 21st and we’re totally stoked for this show.

Saturday

Rhys and me, touching up some of my songs in Studio 3 at East West Studios Hollywood. Studio 3–where Brian Wilson recorded Pet Sounds. Abbey Road studios is the only other studio in the world that carries that sort of history and you can feel it when you in there; the wood grain surfaces have absorbed spirits of legends past.

Wednesday

This is an interview I did last week with Nick at 101.7fm Civil Radio.

Thursday

I’ve always said, forget Music BC, forget about stuffy Vancity cliques who could have done more to support their dying venues but were too busy taking selfies…and what’s with the contingency of weakly constituted, stringy haired, skinny jeaned, cover-crooning dress-up boys who are as boring as televised golf? If everyone is original in the exact same way–then nobody is really original–which is kind of like chips without the salsa. Though I don’t buy into any of it and have been basically blacklisted in Vancity…I was offered this show at the ‘new improved’ Railway and for old times sake–we’re going to play it; I guess it’s a good a space as any to stage my Vancity sign-off. That’s right…I’m choosing this as my very last performance in Vancity…so drop by and take in the spectacle. It’s gonna be a doozy.

Monday

I was into the Replacements when most of you were probably still pissing in your diapers. I say this because bands such as the Replacements meant more back in the day because they hadn’t quite become legendary at that point–you had to seek them out and order their records usually–from pretentious little shops with pretentious little owners–pain in the axe. Of course, these days it’s easy to embrace shit that’s been deemed cool thirty years later…but at the time even less people knew about the Replacements or the Minneapolis Twin Tone era…the kids in my grade 7 class thought the Replacements sucked and they let me know about it…however they felt George Michael was tops.  

Friday

If you haven’t already, check out my most recent documentary. A must see if you’re a Twin Peaks fan.

Thursday

All you have to do to understand what’s gone on in Vancity is google search ‘live music venue closures in Vancouver’. It’s part of the reason why in the last year, the bulk of my shows have been in LA, or Seattle or Portland…by the way they don’t start bands at 7pm and have them off stage by 10pm in those other cities–all bands all night.

Monday

This is an interview I did with journalist Nick Pannu at Civil Radio. We talked about my new documentary “Road to Twin Peaks: A North Bend Story”.

Monday

Here’s a video of me and the boys tearing it up at the Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles. The place has been one of my fave hang outs since I can remember. A great venue that is a true supporter of original live music.

Wednesday

Sunday

It felt real good to rock out for a couple thousand people on Kits Beach last night for the fireworks.

Wednesday

Sunday

Check out our new video for Audrey–it’s one of the songs we will be playing tonight at TR!P. If you’re looking for a great night of music, TR!P is the place. For my friends in Hollywood who said Santa Monica was too far to drive–uh, you’re pussies…and I guess I’ll see a few of you at the Kibitz later–I may be sitting in on the piano for a song or two with one of the bands. What did Jackie Wilson say?

Thursday

A friend of ours snapped a few pics of our show at the Kibitz Room. One for the books!

Wednesday

We are playing a set at TR!P Santa Monica this weekend–July 15th. Our last show at TR!P was a bit ill-fated…had to cancel on grounds of a bad cold.  Hard to sing when you sound like Al Pacino from Sea Of Love. If you’re driving in from Hollywood on the 10, it’s LEFT on Lincoln; had someone email me saying they tried to find TR!P and wound up in Brentwood. So, head south on Lincoln…or just do what everyone else does and use GPS?

Tuesday

Great show tonight at the Silverlake Lounge. Thanks again to T-Roy for having us…was a blast. Silverlake Lounge is another of those venues that has a history. Mostly you don’t really think of the history–then you realize; holy shit…that all went on here. Pages in time–snap shots. Tonight we played hard and sweat all over the stage–literally; took our place in those snap shots.

Monday

We are closing the evening with a set tonight at the Kibitz Room; a truly legendary venue. What can I say about the Kibitz? If Barbara Eden popped out of a bottle and told me I could pick five venues to play at; the Kibitz would be on that list, just under the Bronze in Sunnydale. The Kibitz is beyond illustrious, yet it’s got to be one of the most unpretentious, coolest bars in LA.

Anyway, we’re on at 11pm. If you miss it–catch us tomorrow night at the Silverlake Lounge–gotta love this town.

Sunday

To our LA friends; don’t miss us July 10th at the Silverlake Lounge – one of LA most legendary live music venues.

Saturday

Walking by Y-Que on Vermont today, I saw these two books on the shelf outside the store–was meant to be.

Friday

Yes, this is for realz.

Tuesday

We are looking forward to this Thursday at The State on Sunset. Thanks to our pal Kelly McGarry for including us on this bill.

Sunday

Great rehearsal at our usual jam space this afternoon. Yes, it may be ‘hood’…but the guy who runs the place is a real mensch and often gives us a nice deal. Today we even got a room with A/C; appreciate the simple things.

Thursday

Our latest single Audrey is selling like hotcakes on Apple Music/iTunes. Just when I thought nobody is buying music anymore.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/audrey-single/1356634307

Saturday

A cool photo sent to me from a woman who’d been in the audience at our Mint show.

Friday

‘Listen, Jon, if I worried about what the people cared about I’d never write anything.’”

-Charles Bukowski, “Hollywood”

Tuesday

Another great night at the Echo. Man, Echo Park crowds are my kind of folks…they are die hard live music fans…a week night and they’re out in droves to see a four band bill and they stay until the end, grooving out to a band they’ve never even heard before. That’s what I call supporting your local live music scene. What’s more, there’s a serious 60’s 70’s vibe going on at the Echo these days…I can only hope this trend catches on and spreads to the rest of this vast continent…it’s an exciting thought. Gotta love this town.

Monday

Snapped this photo last night while walking back from a movie at El Capitan. Though I’ve walked by the Chinese Theater many times, I’ve never stopped and looked at the hand prints before…most are recent and whatever. However, this one struck me. Natalie Wood; one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ladies of cinema. Such nice writing too. What struck me was how tiny she was–tiny but mighty somehow. Who would have thought she’d pass away two decades later under mysterious circumstances. Tragic.

Sunday

‘The chest opens with a creak and from it Nancy produces a number of glasses bearing stained glass designs which catch the sunlight like a prism, casting a colorfast over the beige wall as she talks calmly, looking him in the eyes as she always has. The world is lost without her kind and that is why her kind is recreated time after time; someone has to maintain values. For this he feels an admiration creeping into his chest, where Nancy so easily fits.’

Wednesday

We’re gearing up to play a show at TRIP in Santa Monica on the 19th. They feature burlesque dancers once a week…and bands pretty much every other night. We’re going to rock the hell out of that place–beach style.

Tuesday

Man, did we ever have a great time last night at the Silverlake Lounge…Next stop TRIP in Santa Monica February 19th!

Thursday

Wednesday

Sunnydale – Class of 99′

Sunday

Busy week…aside from recording–played a set at the legendary Kibitz Room on Fairfax–one of my fave places to hang out…Jakob Dylan used jam there back in the day, before he wrote Bringing Down the Horse (produced by T-bone Burnett)–one of the best albums of the 90’s. Anyway, about piano singing, there is something about the way the voice and piano tones blend–the sound is like an instrument unto itself. Really enjoyed it. Also, started rehearsals at the Musician’s Institute on Hollywood Blvd. Amazing atmosphere to rehearse in.

Friday

Only in LA…

Thursday

Back in LA… Will be doing some writing and recording in the coming weeks and will post some updates. It’s amazing how bright it is here…especially after all the weeks and weeks of rain up north. By the way it’s my birthday December 31st…so a big shout out to my fellow Capricorn/Tigers–feliz cumpleanos.

Thursday

Thanks Substation…last night was a blast! Four bands, no noise regulations…gotta love Ballard.

Wednesday

Had a great time playing at Dante’s last night. Such a great sounding room–ideal for live music. See you again soon Portland!

Back wall of club

We’re not in the habit of traveling with a photographer…but a woman who was in the audience last night was nice enough to email me a couple snaps she took…