Things as of late

Have been somewhat of a challenge.

Trying to balance everything in my life.  School.  Work.  Building my career.  Making Music.  Dj'ing.  Throwing parties.  Networking.  Promotion.  Keeping in touch with those around me.  Trying to have enough time and energy to tackle all that needs tackling.  As my little brother said yesterday, "Intense".

I want to do everything at once.  Trying to manage my time and prioritize.  These are huge for me right now.  It's really not always easy.  Sacrifices need to be made.  Trying not to sacrifice school, but today for instance I skipped class in order to have time to work on my new house track.  The record label wants to make a compilation with my stuff and it's already been a month and I've barely got a beginning for the song.

Now though I do have a decent start on it so in a way I am glad I skipped class, because this needs time and energy too.  Now I am listening through music as I need to make some new dj mixes.  These will be geared at getting me jobs at perhaps corporate events and or restaurants etc so I can make a little cash on the side.  That's an area in my life that could use some improvement, lol.

Yea, that's basically the short of it for right now.  Trying to get back into updating this regularly too :)

Peaches on the Moon

Just got back from Peaches on the Moon, the outdoor festival in Tahoe.  SUCH a beautiful location and breath of fresh air!  Absolutely gorgeous, peaceful and serene spot, and it provided a much needed break from the urban jungle.  Unfortunately though, the party got busted.  I never got a chance to play, but far worse was the financial loss that my friend Alex suffered from the event.  There were not nearly enough people by the time the cops rolled through and told us to turn it off.  Then on top of it, they slapped him with a $2,000 fine.  Fucking lame.

I still had a good time on the trip though, and got to meet a whole new scene of people.  That was the best part.  I made some friends, some connections, and got a chance to show my face and pass out a bunch of cd's to people.  So hopefully this will lead to some more events and things down the line.  I would definitely like to go back to Reno and kick it with those kids again.  They have a good thing going and some good hearts out there that I'm down to support and be a part of.  And I met my new best friend!  A little 4 year old girl named alexi that was just the cutest thing ever.  I gave her some lessons on how to dance to trance and also how to play thumb war.  I'm never around little kids so it was really fun for me to hang out with a cool one :)

Fucking tired though, that's for sure.  I also learned that it's absolutely pointless to fly to Reno from SF.  Why I did that, I don't know, but never again.  So tomorrow I have to go back out to the airport to get my car....cause after the party got busted I met some kids that were driving back straight away so I opted for that rather than the 9:30pm plane ticket the next day.  Got lots to get back to so couldn't hang unfortunately.

Still, big shout out to the universe for making that happen.  It was really sweet that they had me out and next time, I'm sure we'll get a chance to do it right.  Now time to get back on my SF projects and make some shit happen!  Got two parties coming up, my lovely lady coming into town and loads of love and work to do manifesting my dreams and sounds.  Love it. Boom!

p.s.  on the way out from the party, i shit you not, the moon was the craziest orange color i have ever seen.  it really did look like a freakin peach!!  crazy!!!

Saturday Morning

I am feeling very happy to be alive today.  And for no reason in particular....or perhaps for all reasons at once.  ;)  I am definitely grateful to have some really kickass people in my life.  I love it when people come out of nowhere with some genuine love or appreciation for you - when you least expect it.  That happened last night and it really meant a lot.  It was great because it was a reflection of me putting integrity into something that's not always easy.  But so important! Bruce Lee once said that being genuine is the most important thing in life.  I would have to agree :)  It's the best any of us can do.

I am also very happy because the weather is nice, my studio is clean, good things are happening, and dammit, why the fuck not? =)  

I also just had a really fantastic night working at Supperclub last night so that is always nice too. It was a bit slow for the 4th of July (everyone is out of town) but the crowd had a great vibe.  And I just love my co-workers so much and they really make the place so special :)  We definitely have a really good dynamic going there when we get into our "zones".  There is nothing else like it!

I am also really happy and grateful for the fact that as I am typing this, sun is beaming down on me from behind!  I don't know if I mentioned this, but last week I got a freakin skylight installed in my studio!!!  It is so badass!  It opens too!  My studio didn't have any direct sunlight before so this is a huge addition.  I spent the last 3 days completely taking apart my whole studio as well and cleaning up all the construction.  It was kind of a pain but it felt really good because I cleaned it from top to bottom and put it back together SUPER proper.  Now there is some massive good energy/feung shui going on in here to get those creative vibes flowin.  And I setup my vinyl decks up here with me now and busted out all my old records so I am really looking forward to diggin into those and seeing what I can find.  I have been feeling a return to my roots lately and I have some sick bass heavy breaks and drum and bass and stuff that I want to dig into.  Especially my breaks collection, it is ridiculously phat and my dirty little secret, muahaha!

Alright, what's on the lineup?  I definitely have a bit of work to do.  Next weekend (July 12) I am playing an outdoor near Reno (beautiful location, I'm really excited).  This is my first ever gig where I am getting flown out to play!  Hell yea!  I am super grateful for this opportunity and they are gonna love our SF style for sure :)

Then the next weekend (July 18) Supperclub is flying out one of my favorite people in the whole world, Anne Tyler (Atlanta) to throw down with us.  I will be rocking that one as well and I am just so happy to have her out with us again.  We didn't get to manifest any ballet performances on this one but next time she comes out we'll see if we can't get a dual dj/ballet performance - at the same time!!! ....hehehe

Then on Thursday July 24th I am taking a crack at producing an event at Supperclub along with the fabulous DJ Denise (www.djdenise.com).  It's kind of an experiment to see if we can get some of the house headz and trance bunniez to come together for a singular night of rockin music and positive vibes.   Still working on a name for it... I was thinking "positive vibrations" but Denise said it sounded too much like Good Vibrations (sex shop)....and yea, she's right, lol.  

So we'll keep working on that but it's coming up quick so I better get it sorted!

Alright, there's the update for now.  I am gonna get to work on a song for a school project.  We are working on blues scales and applying them to a 12 bar blues piece.  I was doing a traditional blues song but I think I might turn it into a house track.  Btw, blues and jazz are totally on my mind lately, feelin alot of influence there.  I am gonna start some private lessons soon with my school's piano teacher and focus on learning improvisational jazz....hell yea :)

Love!

l.s.

The weekend and more!

Alright, here we are on Thursday...finally finding some time to write about last weekend, which was absolutely EPIC!

Where to begin?  Well Pride Sunday started off kinda hectic.  I woke up late and still had to get my live set over to my laptop from my desktop.  I transfered the files went downstairs to hook everything up imitating the live setup - and my keyboard got no sound!  I started freaking out!  The song played back, everything else was cool...but no friggin midi was happening at all and we had to leave the house!  Not only did I have to be at Pride Mainstage by 12:15pm but I we still had to setup our whole Tantra dance stage!  It was all still in pieces from the night before on the back of the flatbed truck.

Suddenly I remembered that I had recently wiped my laptop and reinstalled the operating system.  Oh yea!  I forgot to reinstall the driver! (slaps hand against head).  So I quickly download the driver, test it out, and we are good to go.

We barely make it downtown in time to setup our stage and do a soundcheck when I have to run off to go and perform.  I literally did one of the fastest setups on sound that I have ever done.  I had to untangle and rewire everything from the night before in the span of barely an hour.  After we got the DJ setup and going I grabbed my gear and ran to mainstage.

Of course mainstage pride is a big deal and I couldn't just waltz in.  However they wanted us to go alllllll the way around the whole thing to the other side when we approached the closest entrance.  Luckily I was with Terrance from the Entertainment Commission and he pulled out his badge and flashed it to the security. "Good enough for me", he says and we run past.

After meeting up with the rest of my crew on the other side - Erica (cellist) and  Isaac (dancer), we quickly go over the setup and then suddenly we are on stage.  It really hit me then.  All the work, all the struggle, all the time and energy into putting this piece together - it was for this moment.  Right here, right now.  I looked out over the crowd and started the music.  Concentrating with all my effort I went through the piano lines one after another, and sent massive love and respect for Harvey Milk and his words in the song.  If 7 minutes could happen in the blink of an eye, I would swear to you that's what happened.  Because before I knew it, we were done.  The last note hit, and Harvey's voice trailed off into the land of delay and reverb.  We bowed and the next thing I knew I was getting ready to run back to the Tantra stage for my dj performance later that day.  Before I left though, I did manage to run into Gus Van Sant.  I gave him a copy of my song and though he missed the performance, he said he really wanted to hear it.  His movie about Harvey Milk is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on November 20.

Back at the Tantra stage things started unfolding gracefully.  The dancefloor filled up and the dj's were rocking it.  It was a really beautiful sight to behold, and even the sun came up and gave us an appearance!  Nikita and Denise did a fabulous job getting the crowd worked up, and when I went on it was a full on explosion.  People were really loving life that day, smiling, jumping, laughing, drinking, celebrating life, love, beauty, what it means to be alive.  It's funny, I was having a conversation with Mark Leno early in the day @ mainstage and I told him just how important these street parties are for the spirit of a city.  Most days of the year we are bound to this concrete, using it, being used by it, working, struggling, pushing to make our way.  On these special days, we take back our land, our streets, our sense of community.  We all come together, everyone is included, to dance, celebrate, and feel true freedom in the place we need it most - home.  It's easy for the rest of us who can pack up and go to a camp out party in the woods up north and get away for awhile.  But for those who can't, this is there chance to celebrate too, there chance to experience the magic and beauty of music and ritual and community.  This ancient tribal ritual that is inherent to our bodies, minds and souls.  This is our communal heartbeat, drumbeat, dance.  It is important that we respect and honor these traditions, and fight to keep them strong in a world that would sometimes just as easily see such affairs disappear and never return!