The Music Blog

I decided to slow down a little for my next album, which will be all acoustic material again. This album will be a little different than the others which I felt I had to get a lot out of my system. This next album will be my more spiritual side so although I have written enough material for a new CD, I am going to be more selective as to what goes on this one. In order to get in touch with this I have been visiting a lot of my power spots while I reflect and write, while living in Pacifica, CA very close to the ocean. I have stopped all performances for the time being to focus on playing and writing as in the last 10 years I have done over 2000 live performances.

More news to follow…

I am currently writing new songs for my next album, while I am on my California 3 month music/kung fu tour. It will be another acoustic album, and hopefully the songs will be quite different than anything I have written before. I have been using different tunings, strange capo’s and visiting many different places for potential inspiration. I even drove by Neil Young’s Ranch up off of skyline drive to see if any of his old acoustic energy’s were floating around. While up there I kept thinking about Jim Stephen’s and our high school trip to Colorado while we listened to Harvest by Neil Young, an album that changed my life.
One of my most favorite places on this earth which is not too far from his ranch is Moss Beach which is just north of Half Moon Bay. I have visited there a lot and when I am there I seem to be taken over by the nature, the old cyprus tree’s and the tide pools. I have meditated many times in the tree’s there. While I am there I feel completely content, a feeling that usually eludes me generally in life.

Hopefully I will have my new album ready to record in another month….

I had fun at the Wine Down at Malones Grill in Scotts Valley, CA..

It started out strange as a power adapter went out right before I went on, but I managed to find a store nearby and get another power strip in time. It was hot, lots of people though and they kept asking me to turn it up. It was cranked up quite a bit, and the more wine everyone drank the more they wanted the music turned up.

It was fun…

I was called today and asked permission for a TV crew to film parts of my performance this friday at Sues Coffee Roasting in Gilroy, CA, just south of San Jose….

Come check out the performance from 7pm-9pm

See you there!

David

Being a musician is very interesting, at least for the one man show. I would imagine I would feel differently if I was with a group and everything was happening all the time. As a solo musician it seems like what you do mostly is drive, what you see the most of is road. This tour is a little different as I am taking my time, and hope to hit a few open mics just to experience some new places and perhaps make some new connections for a real gig here or there.

I finished up writing and arranging all the material on my next acoustic CD to be entitled “Can you hear the empty spaces”, but need to go into the studio and finish it all up. My plan is to release it sometime later this summer…..

I had originally thought I would have my next music CD done by January; but I have been side tracked by many things as of late. Many of the new tunes have been written, but it still feels like a few other things need to be let out first before I finish up the recording of it.

I still may have it finished soon, time will tell. My visit to Illinois has been an interesting one, but I am really looking forward to returning home to California. My last concert in Illinois for the foreseeable future, will take place on Saturday March 22, 2008, from 8pm-10pm at the Borders Books in St. Charles, IL. This will be my farewell concert to Illinois and the Midwest, and for the latter part of 2008/2009 I will be focusing on performing on the west coast.

For the friends I have made in Illinois, it would be great to see you for this last midwest concert, before I start my California tour!

Most of my performances are still on hold while I work on several projects. My current estimate for the next CD to be released (#10) will be in January 2008. This will be an all acoustic guitar with voice CD. Shortly there after (Perhaps Feb/March 2008) I hope to release a rock CD that I am also currently working on.

Stay tuned!

Its been a busy fall for me. For the first time in a ton of years I have had a break from the music performance schedule which allowed me to focus on a few other things. Several years ago I had reconnected with some martial art friends that I had been out of contact with for many years, one whom I had first worked with back in the 70’s. I learned several materials from him over the years, but due to the martial arts organization I was with I was not allowed to practice this material as I made the mistake of being an instructor with them for many years, until I left them in 2003. For the last 3 years I have gotten down some old material as well as learned some new material and last month I tested to 7th Black Belt over 20 of the new materials I have learned in the last 3 years. Now I am free to work with anyone which has been wonderful, but it also means I have a lot of material catch up to do in order to get all my older material up to shape, so this time off has been great.

Now that this test is behind me I am now working on my next CD release which will make #10! At this point I have several acoustic guitar pieces written with no lyrics and only 2 songs with lyrics, so I may decide to make this just an instrumental CD. I hope to release this before the end of 2007.

Being a musician full time sure seems to make one think. Lots of driving, almost 90% driving, 10% performance.

After the gig at the Skokie Art Fair in brutal heat and humidity I have decided to be somewhat more selective in performances.

For the first time in 7 years I have nothing scheduled on my performance calendar. As I look back in retrospect of all the gigs/performances I have done in the last 7 years, which total 1382 performances in Colorado, Illinois and California it is time to regroup. In that time I have performed live on a radio station in Davis California, a TV show in Plano Illinois, a TV show in Highland Park as well as radio play on Mystic Soundscapes radio, soem radio station on the east coast and one in europe. During all this I have released 9 music CD’s! So, now I am regrouping, I have written some new material I am very excited about and I feel it is some of the best I have done. I am going back into the studio to work on my next music CD, number 10!!. This one may take a lot longer than all the rest as I want to make sure it feels right. More news to follow…..

This past weekend I did a performance at the Art in Air Art Show in Webster Groves Missouri, which is my old stomping grounds. In fact right accross the street from the fair was where my Jr. High school used to be located (Plymouth Jr. High).

In all the art fairs I have performed yet, this one was the best. All the staff were friendly, (even the people watching the parking and directing cars), the stage was really cool, the best sound system I have seen at ANY art fair, and the sound guy really new what he was doing. All the art fairs should take lessons from the team that runs this one!!!

I had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed the fair…. Thanks Webster Groves and Art in Air!!!!!