Episode five is live…you won’t want to miss it–it’s relentless.

 

Check out the new stickers for Psycho City Tales.

Glad so many of you got such a kick out of episode 4. We had a blast filming it–there were a few takes where Juliana and I couldn’t stop laughing . If you dug 4 you won’t want to miss 5.

For JTB enthusiasts who’ve asked if I’m working on any new music…of course! Check out my new single…it’s called “Rad”. It’s a selection from a new collection of songs I’ve been working on. I wrote, recorded and produced this gem in my little studio down by the docks.

 

An old band-mate from way the hell back sent me this photo that he found in storage. It’s me smoked the hell out, playing at a skate park when I was 18–back when bands played their own instruments. Played that guitar so much the fret board wore down. While all the people I’d studied with at the conservatory went on to play in orchestras or became music teachers–I went on tour with a rock band and lived out of a van…why? Why the hell not?

Episode 4 of Psycho City Tales is up. It’s a doozy…you won’t want to miss the surprise ending.

The series has been getting thousands of views on Tik Tok. Thanks to everyone for supporting our truly 90’s indie production. Stay tuned for more!

This is the cover of my third upcoming full length novel ‘Palm Villa’. Pure 1970’s East Hollywood pulp. We can’t go back in time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t embrace wicked, vintage novel covers. 

Taking it back to the 90’s with this wicked trailer for Psycho City Tales. Stay tuned for episode 4.

Took a break this week from the very involved new JTB project…have barely left my studio in a couple weeks…figured I’d absorb some summer, spend some days camping at my fave lagoon, getting lost in lemon haze and an old Updike novel I got on order. Instead I wound up spending my holiday in the studio writing and mixing a new Penthouse Killers single that fell from the sky. It’s called ‘Best Laid Plan‘, and it’s an ode to reckless abandon.

This one is especially cool because I play the intro on an old acoustic guitar I’ve had since the 90’s…one that got smashed up a bit over years while touring with an old band. She was lost in storage for years. I restored her myself with wood filler and lots of glue. Sanded her down smooth, re-calibrated the intonation and adjusted the neck and she sounds as great as she ever did. Look for Best Laid Plan on Spotify in the coming days.

The other night, I had the song on repeat…inspired me to board slide a handrail.

Here’s a sneak peak of Psycho City Tales, episode 4–the most fearlessly original series on the net.

The greatest hood on earth – East Hollywood. Out of all the episodes we shot for season 1 of Psycho City Tales, Ep. 4 is probably my fave. It’s relentless. You may piss yourself laughing…if you have a sense of humor that is…

I got on here today to tell my friends about the new EP I’m working on with JTB. While we were shooting season 1 of the series, I had pretty much zero time to do anything else. Not complaining. When we wrapped and I found myself with some downtime; all of these songs started to magically emerge from my piano, as if they were on back log. Some songs demand to be recorded and these certainly did. So, I’m back in the studio this summer, mixing this EP and I couldn’t be happier about it. Another one for the collection.

You won’t want to miss episode 3 of Psycho City Tales…it’s a doozy.

Psycho City Tales – Season 1 – Episode 3 ‘Mad Men, Mercenaries and Method Writers‘

 

For the last year we’ve been filming season one of a series called ‘Psycho City Tales’. If you’re like me and you’ve become disenchanted with contemporary television and long for the days when indie meant raw and gritty and unapologetic, then you’re going to love this series. Writing, co-directing and acting in this series has been a huge amount of work and worth every minute of it. These aren’t ten minute webisodes…they’re full-length, 40 minute instalments detailing the life and times of method-writer, absinthe enthusiast, and anti-hero, Frank Nero. We recently finished filming season 1 in Los Angeles and will be releasing more episodes in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for those. You won’t want to miss the grand finale.

Thanks to the city of Los Angeles and the our amazing and versatile crew for making this series a reality. For so many months it was just a series of scripts on my laptop.

And yes, the Etilletas night club featured in ep. 2 is in fact the Satellite in Silverlake–one of my favorite venues of all time, which closed sadly, due to COVID. We brought it back to life for one evening and lit up the marquee one last time–anything is possible in Psycho City.

Psycho City Tales – Season 1 – Episode 1 ‘Shit Happens‘

Psycho City Tales – Season 1 – Episode 2 ‘Put a Sock on It‘

 

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Getting deadly with Sheldon and Greg at Skylark last weekend. Amazing show…thanks Seattle…you done us good.

My second novel ‘Waiters’ just went live on Kindle/Amazon today. As I said, I went all the way up the river to complete this novel. Method-writing at it’s most genuine. Buckle in.

I offered a subtle nod, dragged deeply from the blunt and peered skyward, where a 747 moved across the brilliantly blue sky, leaving a thin white jet trail behind it as it shuttled people off to somewhere. They were all on their way somewhere. It seemed even the crack head who I’d seen from my balcony bent forward and wiping his ass with a handful of crumbled drywall before hurriedly rushing away, seemed to be on his way to somewhere. I however was content to stay put, sitting on my balcony, watching the cars, buses and pedestrians bustling by as I typed away at my next manifesto. East Hollywood; I wondered why anyone would ever want to leave her.

—Excerpt from The Palm Villa

 

On the side, I have a punk rock band called Penthouse Killers–it’s like pouring cocaine onto your cornflakes…I’ve never done cocaine or wanted to…but that’s what I’ve been told about PK. Here are a few photos from our soundcheck at the Mint. Evidently, they have a policy at the Mint; if you want photos or video of your performance, the club will do it for a price. We’re not really photo crazed guys though, and it seems that any band who plays should be able to snap photos of their show…and so we declined the offer. Eric’s friend snapped a few during soundcheck though, clever girl.

Next weekend we’re playing an unlicensed, underground, warehouse party in K-Town…DIY baby…obviously I can’t say where or when exactly…if you know or happen to find out, see ya there…that’s what indie rock used to be about.

Had a blast playing the Mint last night with my other band, Penthouse Killers. The Mint is a bit off the beaten path, but they have a giant Bukowski mural on the wall and that intrigues me. I wonder if Bukowski went in there to get smashed back in the day, when he was writing Factotum and getting in alleyway brawls. There is a documentary on YT about Bukowski…he drives around East Hollywood reminiscing about all the bums, hookers and junkies he knew around the neighborhood. Classic Chinaski.

Finally finished Waiters, the second novel I’m going to publish. It’s now available in the ‘Novels’ section of this page. It will be up on Kindle in a couple weeks. While writing Waiters I went all the way up the river, like in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. To the people I was surrounded by who thought I’d gone entirely mad…I guess I sort of did. But it’s the only way I could really tap into the Napalm Narrative.

Mailer was for sure a method writer. I highly recommend reading Tough Guys. If you’re not a reader, at least check out his discussion with Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett show–it’s on YT. At one point everyone turns on him, even the audience…hilarious shit. I would say Mailer was the sort of guy who believed it’s better to be hated rather than fake liked. I sort of a agree with him. At least you know where you stand.

My novel Tales from Truman Park is now available on Amazon/Kindle. I’m glad the story has finally been told and is immortalized in print. That’s what this life is all about–creative achievement. How boring the world must have been when there was no art and only spores bubbling up through the muck for millions of years.

Check out the new video for Fallout Shelter. Shot around my hood in East Hollywood–we had a blast…in fact we had many blasts. Complete with a surprise Creepshow ending.

From my album, Middle of Infinity, here is a video for Mary.

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. I made this documentary as a public service announcement that will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of keeping contemporary arts & culture alive.

This is a documentary I made about North Bend Washington, the eccentric town in which the Twin Peaks series was filmed. It’s not a public service announcement as my previous documentary was…but I was so fascinated by this little town that I was intensely drawn to this project. If you’re a TP fan, you won’t want to miss it.

Maybe we’ll run into each other in Central Park.

I played with a children’s orchestra way back when I was a child prodigy. I guess I was 4 or 5 in this photo. I preferred piano to violin but this particular group already had a pianist. What I remember about the kid with the checkered bell-bottoms behind me, beyond the fact that he carried his bow all wrong, is that he suffered from anxiety, especially when it came to performances. I vaguely remember this concert we did at an opera house…he was standing beside me, anxiously nibbling his fingers which tended to bleed. Moments before this photo was taken, I told him to relax…that we’d been chosen because we were the most talented kids at the conservatory…I told him good old Ludwig himself would have been impressed. I was trying to pep-talk him you see. He just turned to me and said, “I hate Beethoven and his stupid hair.” I laughed and it clicked that he probably really hated that his parents made him wear his hair like good old Ludwig.

Best Altman ever: Short Cuts.

Hollywood and Vine

With art it’s important to go all the way…even if it means losing friends, jobs, fortunes, lovers, and possibly your reputation. Go all the way…you’ll only be a greater artist for it. If you wear a Madchen Amick shirt while you’re going all the way…all the better, right?

Good Luck

Blue dream

East Hollywood…what a town.

Snapped some photos on the way to my surf spot in Malibu. Everyday is gorgeous in Malibu.

A block south of the Paramount lot…no shit–I’d hoped this was some elaborate performance art–that the old man was actually mirroring the Humpty Dumpty on the wall; that they had a great fall and an even better winter. But life isn’t a Fellini film. Are we really fucked? Well…that’s what I’ve been told.

 

LA Rehearsal, room E – Penthouse Killers HQ. Props to Wally for rockin’ the Big Drill Car shirt.

I remember when this place was Circus of Books. It’s now a smoke shop–but it should be a live music venue…especially now that Satellite is closed. 

Skateboarding is not a crime…the screaming hand longs to sink it’s teeth into parking lot security guards.

Back in 2006 I lived in suite 1, the window just left of the entrance. One weekend when my roommate was in San Diego, I went to Cha Cha’s and invited the entire bar back home for after hours drinks. The dude who lives in there now has no fucking idea of the shenanigans.

Punk Rock surfing…