We Look Like A Bunch Of Nigger Lovers

Hmmm. First, the good bits of this story. We played our fourth show with this core band line-up last night down in Huntington Beach. The music was good, the sound was good, and the audience was into the music. We weren’t sure how it was going to go down with this crowd though because it was a bit of a dive bar and the other bands were a bit harder sounding. So we rocked the songs up a bit and had a really good time. Good, good, and good.

But then there was also an element to this place that was pure shit and an in-your-face reminder that there is a lot of hateful ignorance left in America. Although most of the crowd seemed totally cool, there were a few skinheads and other assorted white supremacists. Unfortunately, Huntington Beach is known for being a little bit backward and having a very visible number of these people there, but like I said, not all of the people there were like that and we very much appreciated that we got to meet some very cool people too. After the show though, one of my friends who was helping to sell CDs got turned away by a group of locals who said “yeah, they look like a bunch of nigger lovers”. Hmmmm. The depths of ignorance seem to have no limits. I’m not sure what secret super powers they were using to look into our souls, but in a very twisted way I guess what they were saying was a compliment.  There are times though that I just like to pretend I’m a different species than people who can really believe that type of hate.

Anyway, this story just seemed even more relevant because of the recent news stories about the increase in people joining white supremacist groups. They’ve been gaining membership by playing on the fears generated by the shit economy and blaming Obama and illegal immigration. It’s a perfect opportunity for these fears and twisted individuals to take people who don’t understand basic economics and turn them into snarling and spitting ugly assholes. It wasn’t Obama who got us into this mess, and it wasn’t ‘illegal’ immigrants that tanked the economy. It was a bunch of (mostly) white men on Wall Street, in the previous White House, in the halls of Congress, and in the banks, who got us into this mess.

So, I guess it’s just another reminder that we’re still partially living in the dark ages. I take a small measure of satisfaction though in that we’re at least making progress.

¡¡¡SIGH!!!

Pay What You Like

Comrades,

I have been wanting to do this forever, and now finally my online store allows it: You can now choose your price that you would like to pay for my album ‘Mercy’. After you have put in the amount you want to pay, and made your payment, you’ll immediately be given a link to download the MP3s for ‘Mercy’.

Click Here To Pay What You Like For Mercy

I’m glad I can make my music available to you at a price you can afford no matter what your situations is. Thanks for your support.

Cheers,

SJ

Relay For Life – American Cancer Society

Friends,

I am playing a benefit show in Mission Viejo, California, for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. It’s a yearly event to raise money to fight cancer. This year the event is on June 6, and I’ll be playing at 7PM.

1 in 3 persons will get cancer in their lifetime. I have been affected my cancer from multiple different angles in my life. I think if we set a goal to cure cancer, like we set goals to eradicate polio, put a man on the moon, end slavery, and do a whole bunch of other things that people said we couldn’t do, then we can also get together and cure cancer.

I’m also raising money for the American Cancer Society for the event. You can follow this link and donate $10, $20, $50, or $100 to cure cancer:

Make a donation here

Thank you for doing your part.

Cheers,

SJ

Cellist Wanted

We lost our cellist this week, this time it was alien abduction.

So now I’m reaching out to you to ask if you or anybody you know might be a really good cellist with a great attitude and a desire to play with Saint John and the Revelations. It’s fun, challenging, and a downright good laugh to play in this band. Send me a note on MySpace if you want to come and try out.

Cheers,

SJ

MP3 Sale

Friends,

You can now download the MP3s for the ‘Mercy’ album for only $5. They’re encoded at high quality and sound very good, I tested each one personally.

Click here to download

Cheers,

SJ

Opening My Studio To You

Comrades,

I am opening my recording studio to singer-songwriters. I would love to help produce your music and get it sounding great for a super reasonable price. Send me a message and let me know about your music and what you’re looking to do. :: Click here to email me ::

If you are looking for examples for what I can produce in my studio, go check out my MySpace page, the songs from my most recent record ‘Mercy’ are up there and they were all produced by me in my studio. The studio has a lot of great warm tube gear and I have so much fun recording music and coming up with ways of making it sound great.

I look forward to hearing your music. 

Cheers,

SJ

Splendid Show In OC Last Night

I had a really good show at La Cave in Costa Mesa last night. We brought a band called Quebb from Venice with us, and pulled in a local guy, Daniel Valoff, to open the night with some very fine music. The venue was dark and vary cave-y, and the sound was very good (we ran the sound board, so of course it sounded good).  We have a bunch of shows to play before we get super tight, but it was a lot of fun and it has just made us more excited to get out there and play even more often. Check our upcoming shows schedule, they’re going to be a lot of fun.

Capitalist Justice

A couple of judges in Pennsylvania plead guilty to a kickback scheme of where they got money from a privately run youth detention center company. They are accused of sending kids to this private jail in exchange for money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=1

The article makes no mention of these types of companies also lobbying state governments for tougher (and more) laws that put more people in jail, but it also happens. The moral of the story is that if somebody can make a profit from putting people in jail, more people are going to be put in jail.  It’s probably not a good idea to let private companies into the justice system if you want anything that even resembles justice rather than a profit motive.

Insomnia and Hibernation

I barely slept this weekend, and was completely exhausted last night. Sleep felt like a miracle. Now I’m about to go into hibernation to see how much I can get recorded if I do almost nothing else. I won’t be going out at all (except for the shows we have scheduled to play) and will only have visitors over briefly to make sure I don’t go completely crazy in isolation.

I’m Pregnant

There are a handful of different ways in which I write songs. Sometimes I’m inspired by somebody saying something, or seeing something interesting, a book, a movie, or the news, etc. etc. One of the weirder ways that I write songs though is sometimes they sort of stew inside of me until they’re ready to come out. I can’t hear them yet, but I can feel them inside of me. They linger for a while, and then I can start to feel them pushing out, kind of like musical contractions. It’s probably the closest thing I’ll come to being pregnant, thankfully without the stretch marks and morning sickness. Well, I think my water just broke. I’m looking forward to hearing what comes out. 

Anybody want to eat the placenta?

Happy Birthday Charles

Happy 200th birthday Charles Darwin. You don’t look a day over 160. Thank you for helping to bring us into the modern era of science. Well, at least some of us.

SoCal Shows

The band is ready to start playing some shows, so start checking in on our show calendar. We’ll be adding shows pretty regularly over the next few weeks. We’ll be playing anywhere and everywhere so we can get in good shape. Mostly we’ll be playing in southern California for now, so if there are any venues in the area that you want us to play, just let me know.  Once we feel rock solid we’ll start venturing out farther. 

See you soon,

SJ

Learning To Read/Write

I’m learning to read/write sheet music. Usually I just write the parts for cello or bass or whatever other instruments will be on the song on the guitar and then I play the parts for the musician and we go over it until they have it memorised. Well, I thought it would be much more clever if I could actually write all the notes on the funny staff paper that real musicians actually use. We’ll see how this goes.

Have You Seen My Keys?

I opened the door, took off my shoes, put my jacket on the arm of the sofa, answered a phone call on the way to the kitchen, brewed some tea whilst on the phone, finished the conversation, took the tea to the studio, answered email, listened to some music, took the tea outside for a little bit and read a book, came back inside, went to the kitchen to get some chips, put the book away, took a nap, woke up, recorded for a while, worked on some cello parts, etc. etc. etc. And now I can’t find my keys, I’ve looked everywhere, except for where they are, obviously.

If found, please contact me immediately. 

Cheers,

SJ

PS. One of my biggest fears is that when I die I’ll be confronted with a tally of all the time in my life that I’ve spent looking for misplaced items.

Why I Don’t Live In London/Destination Hawaii

It’s raining again in Venice today, and it reminds me why I don’t live in some of the greatest cities in the world like London or Dublin. Although I love the food and the people and the nightlife and the history of those cities, for day-to-day life it’s hard to beat sunshine and warmth for most of the year.

I can however definitely see myself living someplace like Hawaii…

Project Apollo – New Girlfriend

For the new record I’ve taken on a new girlfriend. Well, perhaps more accurately, a new mistress. Alethea, my Gibson Hummingbird, has always been the cornerstone of all my recordings, but lately a new guitar has entered the mix. My Rickenbacker 360 will feature very prominently on the new record. She has a range of sound that goes from jangly to piercing and biting. We’ve spent many nights together now, but I don’t even know here name. I hope Alethea will forgive me.

Rainbows

I was walking home this morning, and Venice was very quiet and wet and grey. I turned the corner to my house and saw a rainbow in the distance, which is very rare for Venice. I have been reading ‘Unweaving the Rainbow’ by Richard Dawkins, and I got inside and decided to play ‘In Rainbows’ by Radiohead just to round out the theme.

How Much Time

I’m outside right now watching the clouds being pushed by the winds. That started me thinking about mortality (which I think about fairly regularly) and the impermanence of things and about how little time we have. That started me thinking about the importance of living life and not taking things for granted (except when taking them for granted actually makes life better) . And then I started thinking about how much time I spend on different things, whether it’s playing music, recording, spending time with friends, girls, playing handball, reading, drinking, watching clouds, etc. etc.

And then my train of thoughts landed on considering how to prioritise all of those things. I wasn’t actually prioritising them, but trying to figure out how to prioritise them, what values to use, etc etc.

And then I decided not to answer that question yet and just enjoy the possibilities of a good unanswered question. Now I’m going back to watching the clouds for a bit.

Project Apollo: Progress Report

We’ve been recording tracks pretty rapidly for the next record. My method of recording changes from day to day. Sometimes I force myself into the studio to at least push through the menial tasks, and then other days I won’t step in the studio until I’m inspired and focused. It makes it impossible to set a date when the record will be done, but I think it’ll make it sound better. 

Anyway, we’ll have some demo tracks up soon. 

Cheers,

SJ

Best Microphone I’ve Ever Used

Dear Bands and all my friends who are Recording Artists,

I hope you’ve had a moment to come and listen to my new record ‘Mercy’. If you have, one of the main characteristics about the recording quality that you’ll notice is the warmth of the sound, especially on the vocals. That’s due largely to the microphone I was using for the recording of the whole album. My friend, Steve McCormick, makes these tube microphones by hand from components that he has personally picked for their high quality and assembles them in his own workshop. It’s based on a design that he has modified that is used on some of the best mics in the world.

I was previously using a Neumann TLM 103, which is a really great mic, but once I tried Steve’s handmade large-diaphragm tube mic I had to have one. It accentuated some very subtle characteristics of my voice and my guitar and it added a lot of warmth without becoming muddy at all. In fact, it was clearer than the TLM 103, which is no small task. I recently picked up a small-diaphragm mic from Steve to use on my new record and I’m already very pleased with how it picks up the nuances and tones of my acoustic guitars. 

Anyway, yes this is a promotional bulletin for Steve’s mics, but I’ve had so many comments on how good the record sounds I figured I would share with my fellow recording artists a huge part of what made it sound good. I don’t promote anything I don’t personally believe in. 

Here is Steve’s MySpace profile:

http://myspace.com/stevemccormick

And his website:

http://www.mccormickaudio.com

Feel free to contact him, he’s a very easy-going guy and loves to talk about the gear he makes. He’ll make sure you are taken care of and that you’re getting exactly what you need.

Now back to your regular scheduled program.

Cheers,

SJ

1967 – I Followed Alice Down The Rabbit Hole

Yesterday was a truly weird day. I had a great rehearsal with the band, we’re learning some new songs and getting the old ones sounding much tighter. Then I went to a local pub to watch the Super Bowl, made it through half-time and watched Springsteen perform. After that we were a little bored with all the commercials etc. and decided we would leave. And then the journey down the rabbit hole began.

A few of us left the pub and skateboarded and rode bikes back to my friend’s house at which point some beer, wine, and some funny devices with green smoke in them made their appearance. ‘Tsk tsk tsk’, I said. But then we went down do the basement recording studio (essentially under the beach) and got some instruments out. All the instruments had such a psychedelic tone to them, and we just sat around and played very random songs and in the haze and the darkness it was like we were transported back to 1967. The smell and the sound and the laughter and the randomness of it all will probably be imprinted on my brain for a long time. Too much fun.