| 2003 Journal Archive 12/29/03 Damn it's cold...bitterly cold. My apartment's heater is out of commission and has been for some time. It's been in the thirties down here at the beach at night. I've been waiting for the maintenance bloke to come down, but it appears I'm being stood up. Christmas was okay...felt so overwhelmed this year that I didn't even send a mass email. Sometimes you find yourself cocooning when you're overwhelmed by the inordinate amount of things on your plate at one time. Sometimes it's too much for your sensitive artistic temperament to bear and you have to withdraw out of necessity. Did I mention how cold it is? I need HEAT. I'm SICK of being COLD. Just one more thing to deal with when I'd rather be creating. Just finished reading Sting's memoir...very interesting. Cool to know some of the details about his career, his ascension into the rock n' roll pantheon. He really skimped on the details once he got to his time with the Police(!), but I suppose it's all academic from there anyhow. I suppose his rationale was that we already know everything about him from that point on...I think he's right in that we know everything we NEED to know. Fame IS exposure, whether one wants it or not. The memoir confirms something that I've suspected all along...that it really is unmitigated dysfunction driving those select people among us to seek out and attain celebrity and fame and riches. It's the only thing that can compensate for whatever void it is inside them that they're desperately, futilely trying to fill. For Sting it seems to have been a class struggle, a deep-seeded desire to break free and rise above the station he inherited from his family. I think he also just wanted to distance himself from his family, the tension and despair they represent, the phantom of his childhood. There's this great quote I heard recently that is very apropo, can't remember who said these words, possibly Freud..."Nothing affects a child more than the unlived lives of the parents." That's real, keeid. I think I've also realized that EVERYONE'S childhood has left them scarred in some way. Either your childhood was really bad and you're bitter that the wrongs done to you will never be righted and your innocence returned, or it was great and now adulthood pales in comparison and you find yourself deluded trying to recapture the halcyon childhood vibe you've since lost. Or some combination of the two(!). There's just no way around it. Everyone bears the scars of their own childhood (and sometimes someone else's as well!). Everyone must become their own guardian in the end. Some people never fully manage the trick of picking up the reins while leaving the carriage of childhood behind. I can't really tell how I'm doing with this(!), except to say that at the very least I am aware of and feel self-sufficient in my own struggle, and that is more than half the battle. I've spent the last few years making sure those familial issues don't subconsciously inform my actions and decisions anymore. I DEFINITELY know I'm living the right life, even though I've met opposition from loved ones and have had to let some people go that I really cared about because of the difficult life I've chosen. I'm definitely not focused on music as a vehicle for wealth and notoriety anymore...I just want to do this for a living, please. The objective pragmatist in me knows that the loss of my anonymity would surely drive me to ruin. That is to say, more succintly, it would kill me. And all that money would just make me lazy. If I ever find myself with more money than I need, I think I may make myself retire. There's just nothing so tediously boring and aesthetically vulgar as a rich artist trying to maintain their "street cred," or their career for that matter. THEY DON'T NEED TO! Their lives aren't real anymore. Their struggle and responsibility for their actions have been subtracted from the equation, and I've always found the resulting art to be TERRIBLE. I can't relate to or believe J-Lo when she claims "I'm still Jenny from the block." She OWNS the block!!! That's not real life, not for most of us anyway. Reread some Rilke lately as well (as if I need any more heavy thinking!)...it makes sense to me, his idea of the difficult path usually being the true path. We could call it Rilke's Razor, kind of like Aukum's Razor from that movie 'Contact' (Jodie Foster, Matt McConaughey[sp?], James Woods), which stated that the simplest explanation for something tends to be correct. Except with Rilke's Razor it would be: "It is usually the most difficult path that proves to be the right one, the most beneficial." Not that we should always try and do the hardest thing possible(!), but that the road of truth is usually the most difficult to walk, because it requires a selflessness and a self-objectivity that we don't naturally possess, or goes contrary to the natural state of our egos. It requires that we do what we need, what others need, even though it may be contrary to what we want, or may hurt us in the short run. It causes us to endure what from a rational standpoint can only be healthy paradoxes that are oftentimes difficult to get our minds around. But what do I know. I know that I'm freezing my *ss off! And that the Galoka gig on Friday the 2nd should be really fun. My bro and I rehearsed this afternoon, went over the songs, and ended up exhuming this song I'd written a while ago that I'd all but forgotten. All of a sudden we started jamming on it and it finally felt right...like its time had come. Maybe it was just the moment, or my brother's pleasant, supportive reaction of surprise when I told him I'd written it...who knows. It's funny how it works out sometimes...makes me wonder how many songs out there have been rushed into commercial existence before their time, before their best and true form could be properly discovered, before their greatest moment of poigniancy had arrived (or after!). I know that New Year's is gonna RAWK. I have a few resolutions this year. One is to get myself in better physical shape. Too many cobwebs. Too much neglect. I could probably get away with it for years and years, we all can...but then one day it catches up with you and you end up dislocating a shoulder while trying to assemble a new desk from IKEA (this really happened to me in September!). This I cannot abide. So it's BACK on the bike, BACK on the skateboard, or the sidewalk, or the trail, BACK on the weight bench to get myself BACK on TRACK. Must be done. I always feel so much better when I'm exercising regularly. I'm already doing pretty good with my sugar intake(!), so my other resolutions have more to do about music than anything else. (Although I want to travel through the British Isles this Summer!) I need to PLAY MORE SHOWS. I need to get 'Indigo Child' done. I need to hit the road, plan some tours for the Spring, Summer and Fall. I need to parlay this paradigm into a cash influx juggernaut, ha ha! I need to get better at the business of music, is what it is. I just want to continue doing this for a living is all. I'm absolutely useless in any other kind of job (and sometimes I feel useless at this one!)...well, that is to say, not incompetent per se(!), but I can't give another job the energy I want to give music. Nothing else interests me as much as music does. Well, except for maybe writing...or reading...maybe I could be a professional book tester...?! Ha haa. I shouldn't laugh...if one can imagine it, then surely it has already happened. Everyone has the potential to go pro in their own chosen endeavor. Sometimes it's just a matter of waiting for the going to get weird, as they say...I feel like I'm still waiting in that regard. But that's okay. I'm going to continue letting the eternity I carry within me win out through patience. I'm going to keep trying to love like I've never been hurt (difficult), keep dancing like no one's watching (more difficult!), and whatever else that cheesy Hallmark greeting card says. I hope everyone has a grand New Year...year of the Monkey...that's GOT to be good, right?! Simeon 12/13/03 Okay...I'm getting the impression that 'Soliloquy' is not necessarily the most 'accessible' album ever made(!). I am becoming more aware of this as time goes on. The record definitely takes risks and pushes limits...which is, I suppose, encouraging, because it manages to belie my inner life even though it was recorded so spontaneously and instinctively. I think it might mean one of two things: either I am an ahead-of-his-time genius who will only be grasped posthumously, or I'm a total idiot/failure/fool and I'll never amount to anything through my art. Either one is a drag(!), but I accept my fate with open arms because that's all any of us can really do. There are too many of us not being what we really are... The thing is, I can't really express how satisfied I am with the way 'Soliloquy' turned out. It's so DIVERSE...it reflects my own diversity. It has more than your average chord changes, more than your run-of-the-mill, barely-thought-out lyrics. It bravely delves into sensitive issues and explores emotions that most people either repress, ignore, or otherwise don't recognize. Whether I'm singing songs about generational pain ('Trey Downs'), dysfunctional fetishism ('Voyeur'), unrequited third-party love ('No Ordinary Days'), or the confrontation of one's mortality ('Nadir'), I know I'm making an important statement about the honesty and emotional acuity that are essentially lacking in modern society. All the more corroboration to follow the sound of my own heart and ignore the non-grokking pundits. Nevertheless...I am impatient to release my second album because I feel it has the potential to reach more people due to its increased accessibility. It's going to be the polar opposite of 'Soliloquy' in so many ways! More subtly provocative. More produced (that's why it's taken so long to record). It has some great songs on it...hey, I can say that because I've been listening to them for YEARS now and I'm still not tired of them. I'm very eager to make a huge, HUGE statement with the upcoming record, even down to the album artwork. I'm thinking about commissioning a painting for the cover...that's how serious I am. Y'all betta recognize! For the NEXT album I want to combine these two polarized approaches to recording into an objective hybrid process that is more able to do what is absolutely best for the song. Then I'll have an ideal mixture of diverse music that has been recorded diversely. Sometimes I wish I had another life... Doing this musician thing can take its toll on a guy. I crave stability and sedentary familial bliss...I crave a love that will last (what a pipedream!)...and then there's the little F***ing Satyr running around in my psyche that's always mulling over new tunes and trying to find ways to get my ass to Colorado, New York, Northern California, Minnesota, WHEREVER, to take this sh*t to the people, on the off chance of finding that ONE PERSON out of all the people in the crowds who can relate on an intrinsic level. There's a little pixie inside of me who wears the mask of my inner child, nagging me, reminding me to never let go...precocious, capricious, stretching, bending, happy, miserable, and MAD AS HELL at a world that would so effortlessly deign to rob me of my idealism. There's a horse inside the corral of my soul, snorting and stamping and insisting I not be chained down, who is imploring me to hold fast to my freedom at all costs, even while he stamps the unfree ground in his pen of unique solitude, painful nonconformity and acute emotional awareness. In another room the boy cries in a corner, wishing he didn't have to let go so often, wishing he had a better grip on the world, much less himself(!)...wishing things were more straightforward, wishing everything was possible. And then the clock struck twelve. The carriage is once again a pumpkin, and the limitations of my all-too-human body have sunk in, eyelids conspiring like Brutus against my Caesarian desire to stay conscious and continue writing. I've GOT to deal with Christmas soon! Pretty sad to be saying something like that about what really should be a wonderful holiday...but my capitalistic duty calls. Hard to show how much you care about people given only one day and a bunch of petty tangibles bought on the fly. Follow that faerie into the forest of your heart... Simeon 12/8/03 Lately, one of the best things about having a full website presence online has been hearing from erstwhile friends from different periods of my life and career coming out of the woodwork to reestablish contact via their present curiosity about me and my music. I've heard from some old friends from my high school, college and post-collegiate days, and I can't express how cool that's been or how grateful I feel. Thanks to everyone who's written friendly emails out of the blue the last month or so and ended up buying CDs to boot...you know who you are. I appreciate it so much! Realizing something lately...I work at my own pace. What's more, I think the pace we've set as a society is more than we as human beings can handle. Everyone is fed up with their job, underslept, unerexercized and overfed...no one wants to take responsibility for failures because of fear of losing the crap job...we're all losing sleep over jobs we hate so we can continue to buy things we don't need (wow...maybe I watched Fight Club too many times!) Too much pressure on ourselves to have the grossly oversized F150 Ford, the big house with the pool on the hill, the timeshare in Maui, and bushels of cash left over to pay off the interest on our unfounded survival fears. Advertising has messed with our minds to the point where the president, after the crisis on 9/11/01, told the country to go out and buy sh*t at stores just to keep our country out of a fiscal nosedive(!). Capitalism has set the bar so high, has raised our bottom line so ridiculously high, that in order for the system to keep running we all have to have jobs that can't pay us enough for us to be able to go out and buy the 19 ft. TVs, the deluxe entertainment systems, automobiles big enough for the tractor pull(!), the fully-loaded cell phone, JUST TO BRING OUR ECONOMY UP TO ZERO. If the companies aren't making a humongo profit, they're in trouble. I'm going to continue living by my own rules. I'm going to continue needing less to survive and thrive and be happy. I'm going to continue working at my own pace, concentrating more on excellence than success, more on making a living as opposed to a killing, more on living out of love than fear. 'Indigo Child', the next Simeon Flick record, is going to get done at a pace Brian and I can both handle (although Brian's a little more overworked than I am, unfortunately!). The five evenings we logged in together over the past couple weeks were insanely productive. With the exception of a few minor changes, recording is basically finished. I was hoping for more of a definitive celebratory moment(!), but it seems as though there will be a little overlap happening, where we dive straight into mixing and fix whatever might come up as we go along. I've only heard a couple things that need fixing so far...don't worry, only a couple of things, I promise(!). Everything is still sounding great to me and I'm allowing myself to be excited. :) I managed to get a show booked(!)...over at Galoka in La Jolla. Check the website out at www.galoka.com--it's a great place to get a meal and/or a cocktail--and check my Calendar page for details. Vikas, the gentleman who booked me (via Itai Faierman's referral), is a wonderful guy and has a great thing going on over there. The Enchanted's show there on Friday felt very sartorial to say the least(!). I'm feeling extremely blessed and lucky that he is allowing me to play there, considering the high standards he has established and is maintaining for all the artists he books to perform there. Seriously...the venue is really cool. It's a great place to eat, with a full bar and the performance area in a separate room off of the main part of the restaurant. This is the kind of gig I like to play. Nonobtrusive and sophisticated. I'm definitely jonesing to play, but I'm patient enough to wait for the right gigs to come along. This feels like one of those "right gigs." As an artist I definitely fall under the rubric of what some might call "le gran sensible." The kind of sensitivity where the sound of a feather hitting a carpeted floor feels like a slap in the face(!). I've got allergies galore and need a lot of time alone to recharge...only lately my apartment, my refuge from the world, has been so caked with accumulated dust and crud that I've been coughing and sneezing like it's been going out of style. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm beginning to enjoy cleaning the house(!)...especially now that my bathroom is spotless, the sneezing and coughing have all but ceased, and friends once again feel safe enough to come by(!). I just get into it by putting my Michael Jackson/San Diego wildfire-chic facemask on, cranking up the tunes, and wax-on/wax-off, now knowing that I will feel so much better once I take care of it. Omigod, I'm becoming...CLEAN AND TIDY BACHELOR MAN!!!! AAAAAAA!!! What will my BROS think?!?!?? :} It's kind of funny in a sad way...but it's really human nature to tolerate and/or ignore things until they become an emergency. I've tried to be more proactive in my preventative measures across the board but I'm not sure I'm succeeding. It's just so damn easy and fun to be lazy, isn't it?! Besides, who has the time? You really can't feel a full sense of ownership of something, however, until you maintain it, experience the dutiful responsibility of it. Or take care of the back end, as I like to say. That's another problem with our country's capitalism; we crank out all of these products, chop down the trees, etc. etc. and totally blow off the back end, the post-factory sludge, the clear-cut forests, all the discarded plastic packaging (do we really need that much PACKAGING?!?!), never mind the fact that most of the products we buy and use will turn up at some archaeological dig a few hundred millenia from now in the same condition as when we bought them! Once it's out of the company's hands, it's like it's not their problem anymore. Service is hardly ever as good on the back end because they've already gotten what they wanted from you (unless they can convince you to buy more stuff). Okay...I'm sure revving up a good rant here! Guess I'd better save some of this philibustering for next year (election, election, election!). It's pretty sad when one's main motivation to vote is not to necessarily pick the right cantidate as much as to prevent the wrong one from remaining in office. Hmm. [Editor's indemnifying disclaimer: the opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the expressor, not of Flick Money Corp. or any of its parent, affiliate or subsidiary companies, and is therefore not liable for any defamatory remarks or slanderous comments made herein...etc. etc. ha haa!] One would think that after a couple of years doing nothing but studio work I would be ready to be done with the studio for a while...not so!!! Of course there's still 'Indigo Child' to think about, but now I'm feeling really motivated to bring a full-length, official Alpha Ray release into being(!). I've been demoing possible songs on my four-track and having a great time with it. Alpha Ray is a different kind of animal entirely...I call it alternative R & B (not unlike the Who's maximum R & B)...and I feel an urgency to get this music out there as soon as I can because I can't imagine myself playing it when I'm 40 or 50(!). It's young person's music...I'm still young and able to rock(!), so I wanna get this stuff out. Even if it was just one album I'd be happy...just put 14 or 15 of the best ones on there and make it a one-time thing...don't get me wrong, I love doing my solo stuff...but this is the kind of music I've been daydreaming about recording and playing for years now. Maybe it's exactly because it's been so elusive that I feel such a fierce drive to bring it about... Well, I could write on and on but I'll save some for the next entry(!). Think I'll go enjoy the full moon, maybe take a sauna or a hot tub, get a rub down and a pedicure, kick it in the chaise with a pipe and a paper in the penthouse, in front of my 36 foot TV broadcasting the commercial for the very same brand new Jaguar that's resting cozily in my private garage downstairs (bling bling). Just kidding. Ever yours, Simeon 11/23/03 Finished reading 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray' last night...and I'm wondering why in tarnation they haven't made a movie out of it yet?!?! Well, they did do a black-and-white version of it back in the forties...but what about a modern version, technicolor dolby and all that rot? It's just tailor-made for a modern update. I predict that with the recent trend in sequels and remakes they'll soon exhume this classic tale from the warm grave of decent literature and ruin it the way Hollywood usually does (at least the special effects will kick *ss!!). Unless they do it in England, which would be only right and proper anyhow, seeing as how a Brit wrote it (Oscar Wilde) and it's set in Brittain...hmm. Going to be doing a lot of standing in front of a Neumann microphone up at Strate Sound in the next couple weeks. Have vocals left to record on four songs and then that will be that as far as the recording process goes on my album-in-progress, 'Indigo Child'. I'm looking forward to mixing this thing with Brian Strate, having it be like it was back in the day, when we were recording in his spare bedroom, sipping on Dewars and Cokes and having a grand old time. For one reason or another it's taken a couple of years to finish this record...we've had to do a lot of waiting up for eachother, as each of us grew to the task. Brian now has a professional studio with some amazing gear in it (not to mention clients! check it out at www.stratesound.com), and he's learned pro-tools, which is the industry standard, and he's about as resistant to technology as I am(!). He also has studio rent to pay now (the operation has moved out of his bedroom and into two successive office spaces!), which puts extra pressure on things. As for me...I think I've learned how to be a good little solo artist(!). At the very least, I now know when to say when as far as letting what I record be good enough to leave be. I learned, REALLY learned, how to sing (took lessons from tricia moorea), how to play fretless bass, djembe and a full drum kit...how to produce, arrange and layer, and how to get good work out of the few musicians I hired (not to mention myself!) without sounding like a hardass(!). Maybe in some ways Brian & I both bit off more than we could chew(!)...but the evolution, the forward progress that has occurred as a result is really mind-blowing. I'm looking forward to finshing this record the way it began; just Brian and I behind the console, having fun. And I'm looking forward to getting this record into your hands. I'm giving myself Spring 2004 as the deadline to have it all done, shrink-wrapped, and in my possession. I've already started on the artwork with my bro Nathaniel over at flikWORLD. Go me! Sunday night...I've got Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope waiting for me on the VCR. All the chores are done, room is cleaned (had gear everywhere from demoing 5 Alpha Ray songs on my 4-track), and I'm ready for Leia, Luke, Han, Chewy and Darth. Not to mention the two droids. Definitely a huge contrast, between the two trilogies, i.e. episodes 1-3, and 4-6; I think the first three, that is 4-6, have so much more HEART, in a way...leave more to the imagination due to lack of technology. Now the special effects are mind-blowing on 1-3, but something's missing...I guess something's missing in all of them really; it's just a matter of taste. Both good and bad in their own ways. (Episode VI had Iwoks after all, huh?) I can't wait to see how Annakin goes down, I'll tell you THAT much. It CAN'T be good!!! Not with all that lung, skin and head trauma keeping him on customized mobile life support in the first three movies. Or the second three(?)...whatever. :) Until soon, goodnight, Simeon 11/17/03 Greetings! It was nigh time for a journal update. I'm slowly getting the hang of this website stuff. What's been going on...still a lot of behind-the-scenes work, getting acquainted with the whole "solo artist" thing. Don't have my "team" built yet, so I'm still doing everything myself. Most of the shows I'm playing right now are pretty spontaneous...a farmer's market here, a local Ocean Beach performance there (Jungle Java)...and just continuing wonder and jubilation that I'm managing to sell CDs. It's easy to be self-deprecating as an artist(!), especially because we get tired of our own material quicker than everyone else (we have to hear it more). Nonetheless, I'm still feeling a sense of wonder and gratification at the feedback I'm getting, and just the fact that they're selling is encouraging enough. I've had a lot of wonderful corroboration since I put 'Soliloquy' out in July. I think my main hurdle, as with many artists I'm sure, is in the arena of self-promotion. Most of the playing-out I've done/am doing is the result of some connection, someone I know who is letting me play on their bill. I'm really egging myself on to get my own show(s), but must admit my motivation/impetus to do so is severely lacking(!). I'm just not hardwired to jump through all the necessary hoops...but I'm trying to learn(?). I just totally balk at this part of my job! Anyone wanna manage me? =D As usual, the artistic part is working out the best for me(!)...I've got a bunch of new songs that I'm really excited about. Who knows when I'll get to record and release them (still have 'Indigo Child' to think about)...but at least my process is flowing, despite various setbacks and obstacles. There have been a couple of road trips, some cancelled shows in Santa Barbara that really bummed me out. When you're still so green with getting your own shows, and there aren't a lot of other options to bolster/buffer your ego, it can hit you pretty hard (especially if you spent over a hundred dollars on posters and flyers!). Was also planning my whole week around going up there,hangin' with the fam, and having my hair cut by my mom (I'm starting to look like John Lennon circa '65 here--I'm desperate!), so it was a letdown on multiple levels. I've been hard-pressed to recover over the past couple weeks. I wonder if my skin will ever thicken... I've got my CD Baby page rolling now--www.cdbaby.com/flick--which is pretty much where I plan on selling my CDs over the internet. They've got a good thing going over there, helping independent artists hawk their wares and keeping it waaay real. That's how I like it. That's how I NEED it. To HELL with the major labels. When I heard they were suing young kids for copyright infringement I guess I wasn't too surprised(!)...just added to the letdown heap in the back of my head. One more reason to avoid the sellout. I just signed on to do some charity stuff with a guy named Jeff Hoffman...he makes compilations for our troops fighting overseas and does a lot of charity work with kids who have cancer. I feel very good about the prospect of my music maybe helping someone cope with their struggle, or uplift their mood, or otherwise take their awareness away, no matter how temporarily, from their challenging lives. It's giving me a long-sought forum to put my music to philanthropic use (not that I'm not doing that already by playing to the otherwise healthy, perhaps stressed out denizens at some local venues!). Today happens to be Jeff Buckley's birthday...one of my influences to be sure. I think out of any of my influences he speaks loudest to my true artistic nature and intent. A fellow loose cannon! Hard to believe he's been gone for six years...then again you can feel it...in the way there's no new Jeff Buckley music coming out...just the Hendrixian flow of posthumous releases to pay the bills...and the existing material is now starting to age, separating the temporary from the timeless. (The Legacy edition of Live at Sin-E just came out...I definitely recommend it) I think his death was a huge loss in the sense that his presence at that high a level in the music industry was an amazing anomaly...mainly just because HE TRIED so damn hard! He played a mean guitar, sang his ass off, and wrote some amazing music that has since touched a lot of people (have to wonder how many of us would be fans if he hadn't died). Maybe I'm getting old and set in my ways, but that seems like a rare thing these days, the unity of talent and vision at the major label level...just too many dollar-sign-filled eyes getting in the way. Too many artists trying to make a killing instead of a living, to the detriment of their art, usually. We just DON'T NEED THAT MUCH to survive, even to thrive and be happy! But I'll save that anti-capitalism-pinko-commie diatribe for another time. I will close this thought, however, by saying there aren't too many artists out there whose overblown succes$ hasn't spoiled their art in some way [at least in MY eyes--ed.]. Been reading a lot of books lately...Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, Dostoyevsky...I've been feeling the increasing need to reach out to these fellow freaks(!), these brilliant dead men, because there are times when I feel utterly uncorroborated, too unique for anyone to grok my freak ass...sometimes I wonder if anyone else's mind is bending with the urge to verbalize the emotional fallout of their artistic temprament. It's a wonderful and yet scary-as-hell thing to realize that there is most likely no one else on the planet like--let alone NAMED!--Simeon Flick. Then again, maybe that's just my first-house Uranus talking. (f...r...e...a...k...!!!) Okay I'll stop before I bore the Thanksgiving stuffing out of anyone! I'll get the hang of these regular update duties yet. Ever yours, Simeon Freak In June I was able to crank out my first solo record over at Lee Tyler Post's Miracle Somethings studio (www.leetylerpost.com). I'm extremely proud of how 'Soliloquy' turned out...you can see and hear more about my new record, which only took a month to finish(!), on the Music page. Soon, any interested parties should be able to buy it online, through CD Baby dot com. The shrink wrap was still warm on the first pressing of 100 (I've had to do another pressing of 200 since then!) when I hit the road for a month-long West coast tandem tour with the Enchanted. We played shows together in LA, the Bay Area, Portland, Vancouver (WA), and Seattle, and drove through some beautiful country. We met some cool people and saw many old and familiar faces, including a man many of us know as Dodger, who used to do sound over at Lestat's and now goes to school up in Humboldt county. He was nice enough to put us up for a night, and get us out of our hotel rooms and cars for a change(!). I had to leave the tour early in order to return and finish working on Lee Tyler Post's new album, 'Emancipate', on which I played most of the instruments. The record is now done, sounds wonderful, and goes down in the annals as arguably the most enjoyable studio experience I've had to-date. We will definitely be collaborating on more solo outings in the future, possibly in Austin, where he's moving next month, so keep an ear to the ground. I've recommenced work on 'Indigo Child' up at Strate Sound (www.stratesound.com)...this was originally intended to be my first solo album, but will make a more fitting second album as it is fully instrumentated and produced and has required more time and patience from everyone involved. I'm hoping to get this record out sometime in the Spring of 2004. My band Alpha Ray (www.flikworld.com/alpharayhome.html) has arisen from its hiatus with a new drummer, none other than my dear friend--and fellow solo artist--Matthew Stewart (www.matthewstewart.com). Look for upcoming Alpha Ray live appearances, and solo appearances, both acoustic and electric, on the Calendar page. Ever Yours, |