Did someone mention music?

Its 12:32 am

    Sitting in the den,the cheetah is sitting in the window and listening to the birds chirp outside.
Drinking some iced tea and just waiting to see if the words will flow well enough for a entry.
I am tickled to see that Dollar Tree Theater is starting to gain some traction as far people being amused by the term. Paladin and I slugged our way through a truly God awful film called "Curse of the Wolf" which should have called "Curse of the wasted 90 minutes". Like I posted in on my Facebook page,this movie was so bad even the SyFy Channel rejected it
  But we started watching "Descendent" starring Jeremy London and a young Katherine Heigl (the movie was released in 2003) and it was surprisingly a nice little gem of a tale. Quite unexpected considering the fact the first five films I have watched in this collection have been so bad.



So many things come across in this film...number one being bummed for Jeremy London,who was the best thing going in this. His role as  Ethan Poe,a descendant of Edgar Alan Poe was sad, sympathetic,creepy and driven. Very much like Jeremy himself in real life as a series of bad lifestyle choices have pretty much derailed his once promising career.  Pretty much just like Poe's drinking destroyed his life,a case of life emulating art.
  Katherine's performance was very understated and I liked the fact the director didn't glam her up,she looks very plain and normal which allows the watcher to focus on her acting which is quite good.
Of course the next movie I am going to watch is called "The Fear Chamber",so I suspect I will heading back down to cheesy town.


 
    Had a very unexpected surprise when I came in to work last night. One of my co-workers and I have bonded over the love of good music and he burned me several CDs worth of music. While I can get 19 low budget films for a buck at the Dollar Tree or Wal-Mart,I can't afford 15.99 for a single CD. And since I have blogged about the death of used music stores in my area,I won't recap it again. New music has been extremely rare and since I never listen to commerical radio,I am out of touch with many new bands....which is my friend was amused when I told him I stumbled across Paramore.
  I kept hearing a quirky sounding tune on our overhead radio in the store. I started to listen for it and when I did,I copied down the lyrics and came home and Googled them and up came "Still Into You" by Paramore.
Slide over to YouTube and ta da,I saw the video. What a cool sounding alternative band. Really like Hayley Williams look,spunky without being affected.
  The band has been around since 2003 but the releases have been sort of sparse,only four albums in 11 years is not a very large catalog. Which while of sad for the band,maybe not such a bad thing for a new fan like myself who has belatedly found their music.

While I am listening to Jewel again while I am writing this blog,I am pretty excited to give the new CDs a crank in the Rodger Young during the summer months.
  He asked me about my favorite singers and of course I shared him Barbara and Dave Alvin,whom he wasn't too familiar with. We talked Dave and of course The Blasters,who have just released a new album.
Last night he came into work a bit excited,The Blasters and Dave are touring Detroit and so guess who is going to treat my buddy to two of the very best in American music? It will be my first live music show since I can't remember when. Oh,I have seen a couple of free jazz shows but the last time I saw a show at the club level was Barbara Manning so many years ago.

  It will be a real treat to introduce Dave Alvin to a new pair of ears....as well as The Blasters. Sort of bummed the brothers are not playing together but still,Phil can still bring it a lot better then most anyone...

  Getting geared up for the work around the house,I went and started gathering up the supplies that I will need to get this project going,fresh caulk,new check value for the sump pump,plumbing parts for the bathtub and going to have to replace the faucets in the upstairs,some much has fallen apart while Lori was sick. Its like I am seeing these things for the first time...and now I am ready to try and fix it.

  Working overnights is not so easy for me anymore,when I was younger,it was nothing to wake up at 7:30 am,be to work at 9:00 am,work all day,do a rock show,get home by 3 am and do it again the next day. I am no longer that same guy anymore,I am slowing down a little bit....it takes longer for this beat up soul to recover. I like the shift in terms of the people I work with,my job is so much easier because of the team I have and we work well together. Its funny,when I do interviews for jobs,they always "Do you like working by yourself or with others"? While I am perfectly happy working solo,I enjoy working with a team so much more. A good team gets the work done and done right. Time flies as well....because you are working on a common goal and working to hold your end up.

   

Its one of the strengths of my job,we have a lot of folks who will quickly jump in and help out someone else. Makes it easier to come into work...

Heard some most welcome news from back in San Jose,seems like the SoFA Street Festival is coming back in September. This was a true neighborhood driven event and I got to work on three of them in both planning,set-up and booking bands. The Fair was the brainchild of Fil Maresca and Gary Walker of Club FX and it was a lot of fun with great music,small businesses and tons of folks walking down First Street.
 Well Fil is back and he is once again working very hard to put this event in place.
    I think its going to be more of a real challenge this time due to the fact there are no more clubs in the area...which really helped draw the crowds due to the strong musical line-ups both in the venues and on the main stage.  He does have some heavy firepower still at his disposal in the fact that my former boss Jimmy plus Chris Esparza and Larry Trujillo are still in the live music scene and should help book some strong local and in Jimmy's case,national acts to help headline the music part of it.
 Just hope the city of San Jose is a lot more progressive in working to make this happen with as little trouble as possible.

   Well that is it for now....short and to the point.

If you are on Twitter,follow me @Jinzo_2400


Shout outs

Don Zimmer - a hell of a great Yankee, RI.P.
Valerie - This is your year..
Monique P. - Can't wait for your answers and new website
Fluffy Sisters  - The poster above is so you.....
Josh - Thanks for the toons


Everyone else "Life is a cabaret.......so sing!"


If you had to share your favorite band/singer with someone new,who would it be and why?

For my friend Paul...

Its 10:45 am

   Woke up to a mini-blizzard of snow this morning..which we weren't expected to get. The weather gurus here said it would just be sort of rainy but I guess they misfired.
 
  I have often touched on my past in San Jose where I worked as a talent buyer at various clubs. One of the best things I can recall is how being a outsider to the music scene when I started at Marsugi's was how quickly I was accepted. As I started to learn about the history of San Jose's music legacy,I always heard of one name....Catflinger. I know,I did a double take when I heard that as well....because Catflinger doesn't exactly sound like a name of a very nice guy. My first couple of years I heard the name but never met the man.
  Then I heard his real name was Paul Goeltz and that he used to book shows at the Pub at San Jose State. Now I had been to a couple of shows that a pal Brian had put on and I can tell you,the Pub was sort of smallish but the shows Paul did...well they still talk about them today,decades later. He booked bands like Primus and Faith No More when they were just cutting baby teeth as bands,before they became major players in the music business.
 A new club opened up downtown called Toons,which was owned by a guy named Steve Hoey. Steve was a very funny guy and he liked the nightclub business as well. He thought a dueling piano bar would do well in downtown San Jose...and about 3-4 months later,he found it wouldn't. That happens in the club world,sometimes a format you think will work,will but you have to be ready if it bombs.
  Toons soon changed it format,out went the pianos,in came the cover bands and cheap beer to draw the college crowds.  Soon the club began to draw a good crowd and a couple of us ventured down to see how Steve was doing it. And it was on that night,I met Paul in person for the first time. I had always saw him as a older,heavier guy with a smoke in one hand and a beer in another wearing a old leather jacket. I could see him with a old Germs or Flesheaters t-shirt,talking Flipside or BAM magazine. But that wasn't the case at all...Paul looked he lived in the mountains,a throwback to Woodstock. He was doing the sound for Toons and it was a pretty easy gig since a cover band was set up,you really didn't have much to do.
 Before I could introduce myself,Paul said "I know you,you're Eddie's new booker. You have done some great shows". Now I worked every show and attended the shows that I didn't work and I had never seen Paul downtown. But the guy knew what bands I had booked? I was pretty humbled because this was the guy everyone talked about...without him,there may not have been a SoFA area but because he proved there was a market for live original music....the club owners took a chance and soon Red Light district gave way to a little thriving club scene.
   But what really surprised me about Paul was his music taste....it wasn't punk,alternative or even rock....Paul loved the Grateful Dead. And still does....as it turned out,it was the reason why we never really saw Paul downtown,he was a Deadhead. A Deadhead was a fan who traveled with the band while they toured. Since the Dead had several side bands as well,Paul went on though tours as well.
  As we became friends,I asked him how he picked his bands and he said he couldn't explain how he knew only that he had a feeling when a band was hot.  Remember,this was waaaaay before the internet and massive media that provides bands with mass exposure. Many times,you would get a cassette tape or a 7 inch record or perhaps read about a band in a little fan zine that you picked up in a record store.
  Now I am not a Grateful Dead fan....but I would like to hear the stories Paul told about selling brownies or different oils to the throngs of fans who traveled with him. There would be long stretches when Paul was gone from Toons and Steve would doing sound. He would stand outside and say "I wish Paul would hurry the hell back home". Steve never replaced Paul,he knew he had a great guy and he trusted him like no other.
  After my first rocky stint at the Club Oasis didn't go as plan,I felt pretty down....Paul had heard and looked me up and talked to me. Not every job is going to work,especially in the live music business is what he told me. You just have to stay focused,keep listening and be ready to go when the time comes to book again. Through Paul,I was able to do a few local shows at Toons before I moved to Mountain View.
  I didn't see my friend for a long time since I wasn't downtown much anymore but I always held on to his words and when a local showcase I was doing at a local coffee shop went really well,I got a chance to work at the Agenda Lounge...I had taken his advice to heart and it paid off.
   Flash forward to today....
How many of you know of someone affected by this recession...besides me? No job,poor health,lost a job,lost savings,a 401k or a house? I know of several people who have had this happen to them and it sucks.
Foreclosures in Michigan are just awful....just as they are everywhere and when you hear about folks who have lost theirs homes to banks which needed and cried so badly for a federal bailout,its even worse. Of all the people,those banks,like Bank of America or Chase should have the most compassion because they themselves were on the edge of losing it all.
 I bring this up because I have discovered since reconnecting with my friend Paul on here that he has fallen on some very rough times. He has suffered a crippling back injury that has left him unable to really work. He is going through a divorce which in California,means you have to split your assets. Between the injury and this,he has lost his savings and now is looking at losing his home.
  He has tried to contact Bank of America to get a re-fi but to no avail....the new government bail out plan will come online too late for him,by the time it does,the bank will have foreclosed on him.
I can understand his fear,being slowly squeezed dry with no where really to turn...all Paul wants is just a chance to sit down with a banker and see what he needs to do to save his home,that is all he or any of us wants. Just a fighting chance,just as they got when the Fed bailed out their asses.
  Paul has started a petition on Change.org in which he is asking you to sign in support of him. I myself have signed it and I hope a few of you will also do so.
  When Paul asked me to blog about this,I said I would be happy too,to give back in a small way to man who made a lot of bands,artists and lovers of good music...to help a raise a voice for him.
I wish I had 10,000 readers who I could have forward this entry all over but I don't. So I'm asking whoever reads this to reach and forward this entry among your own circles.

To sign Paul's petition....
http://www.change.org/petitions/another-one-bites-the-dust1-president-and-ceo-bank-of-america-brian-moynihan-lower-my-interest-asap-stop-losing-papers


Thanks for reading.


Paul- Hope it helps
Renee- breathe *s*
MM- don't be a stranger