Tuesday
Getting really close to finishing the new album, “Middle of Infinity”. I’m proud of every album I release…but this one really seemed to come together in a magical sort of way–can’t wait to hit these songs live…it’s going to be epic. Some of these songs seemed to nearly write themselves. Seamless. I wish I could say the same about the album cover. I went through a number of so called designers before finally lucking out with one with some true vision. I can laugh about it now but at the time it was a bit disappointing. It seemed every graphic designer that got back to me was a total phony. For instance there was this chick in NYC–some kid fresh out of college from what I gathered…I figured she might be a real go getter. She asked what I wanted for the cover and I said, something reminiscent of an old album cover from the 1970’s…old Hollywood style. She had no idea…no confidence…she didn’t own it at all. As a potential client, you’re seeking confidence…insight…some visionary input…you want the designer to own it and you’ll know right away if they don’t…I knew right away that she didn’t but I figured I’d give her the benefit of the doubt…I explained the type of cover I was looking for.
After pondering it for a number of days, she suggested we do a booklet with several pages–yet no further elaboration of what would actually go on the cover. She sent me a booklet Taylor Swift did for one of her albums. Ha! I was like, what am I supposed to fill that booklet with? That’s a lot of pages. I just want a cool retro looking front cover for an iTunes release. Nobody cares about a booklet for an indie band iTunes release. They just want to see a cool cover. Just to confirm, I asked her if she could name a few legendary album covers…she couldn’t…and I naturally assumed that she’d suggested the flashy booklet to distract from her lack of imagination…maybe she thought she could charge me more if she put together a booklet…hilarious shit actually. But I think it happens a lot these days and that explains why there’s a lot of flash yet a serious lack of originality in what’s being putting out–it’s a game of distraction and copy-catting rather than just a spark of inspired genius; what was once so prevalent in the 90’s. There are probably a lot of people trying to find work in the creative field who should have stuck to answering phones, or waiting tables or whatever…but I can’t say that about the guy who finally wound up designing the album cover for ‘Middle of Infinity’. I told him what I wanted, he got it immediately and sent me this cover two days later and it’s exactly what I wanted…the shit was legit. Moral of the story…hold out for the real thing–don’t settle for some jive ass shit…your art deserves it.
Sunday
Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight’s ill-fated visit to Salt Spring Island. Ha!
Saturday
Just posted the another gem from the 1990’s in the selected shorts section. The napalm narrative at it’s finest.
Tuesday
Me, Ols and Jer the gentle giant before the plague…chilling after hours at one of my fave hangs in Hollywood–iconic Canter’s deli on Fairfax…24/7…west side baby…
Friday
This is a photo of me standing outside the Satellite…I guess January of 2020. R.I.P Satellite Silverlake…you were my favorite live music venue in Los Angeles. Nobody ever foresaw that your demise would come in the form of a godam virus. Makes no sense.
Monday
Didn’t make it to Austin this year, however…we are doing a “live stream” performance for the SXSW after party, hosted by EMA. Stoked…looking forward to it. Follow the link at the bottom of the poster for free tickets.
Sunday
Standing outside the Echo in Silverlake one night when we played there with some friend’s bands back in 2016.
Friday
All I need is some tasty waves…a cool buzz and I’m fine…
Wednesday
Immortal beloved
Sunday
Saturday
Anyway, this photo was taken a few weeks before the pandemic hit…and only after being at Beverly Center for twenty minutes…my girlfriend hung about four more bags on me by the time we left.
Wednesday
Hanging at my fave coffee shop…House of Pies on Vermont and Franklin.
Tuesday
I’d rather remember shit the way it was in the 90’s, when we were kings.
Sunday
Blast from the fucking past. A friend sent me this very rare photo of a show I did with one of the bands I was in at the time. Can’t remember the exact year…early 90’s. It in the 90’s and it belonged to us–us Gen Xers were cool as fuck coming out of the gate.
Wednesday
In the end I found an amazing designer who is not only a total visionary, he is a wealth of pop and unpop culture and also he plays a mean Les Paul. He’s also a fellow Gen X’er guy who was cool as fuck about it…I told him what I was looking for and he listened to the tunes and the next day sent me over this cover and I loved it immediately…to me it’s perfect out here in the middle of infinity.
Monday
Franklin.
Sunday
So, my bro got me a bunch of 90’s movies I haven’t seen forever. Short Cuts is first on the list baby.
Friday
I’ve been through thick and thin with my Schwinn…we rode a desert highway once a few years back out in the middle of nowhere…I’d been with some shaman, sweating it out…got high on cactus juice…encountered a major storm later while riding back to town…rode 7 miles in hail, lightening and cracking thunder that day. The winds were so heavy that debris was blowing across the highway…I suspected there was a tornado somewhere. There was nowhere to shelter down so I kept riding…the semi trucks were whizzing by and swerving all over the road…I saw some cars spun out in the ditch…or maybe they were just sheltering…it was a bit exhilarating I must admit. I wasn’t too worried–I had St. Christopher around my neck and some bad ass cardio working in my favor. We made it through and the very next day one of her tires went flat near Hollywood and Hillhurst…it was as if she held out on getting a flat in order to get us through that storm. Too fucking rad…my diligent Schwinn.
Thursday
It’s about living the art for real…method writing…enveloping yourself in a perfect atmosphere to create the extraordinary…something that went out in the 90’s.
Monday
Santa Monica BLVD traffic is alright when you got 90’s Oasis on the stereo.
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. Time to rebuild.
Sunday
Monday
I’ve been busy napalming the jungles of contemporary prose. 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.
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.
Monday
Been hard at work on a new installment in the Truman Park series. The adventure continues. Stay tuned.
Friday
Wednesday
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.
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
After searching for a designer to create a cover for the new album, I finally found one who delivered–and really it’s the perfect cover for this collection of songs. We’re rounding the corner on the recording–ironing out some finishing nuances at this point. Should be ready by December.
Interesting note about this album. After spending months writing it on piano and guitar, I wanted a change of space to track the vocals. A friend of mine has an uncle who owns a vintage Airstream travel trailer in the Mojave desert. I left the sanctuary of the city and rented the Airstream for three weeks and spent my time there writing lyrics and recording the vocals for this album–amidst the scorpions and rattlesnakes, the cactus juice and the whispering of constellations; the desert is an entity unto itself. While ‘lost’ in the desert, I became acutely aware of infinity stretching out in all directions…like nothing I’ve ever really experienced. I named the album accordingly–Middle of Infinity.
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.
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.
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
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
People didn’t believe me when I said this was the last show I’d agree to play in Vancity. However, it most certainly was.
Monday
I was into the Replacements when most of you were probably still pissing in your diapers.
Monday
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…
