It was the title track. The new sub is outstanding though, so I'm actually glad it happened.

It's funny how new music comes at you once in a while. A good friend on a geek forum showed me his brothers work a while back, and I added him to my subscriptions on soundcloud. Today, I was going over a few of my recent things, leaving it play, and this came on as a recommendation.

https://soundcloud.com/jason-william...w-and-the-dove

Very moving.

Eric Mantel had this up on his FB page today. He's been through the industry and is now struggling to keep food on his table. I feel a bit of empathy for artists that get caught up in the music industry grinder like this, especially when they have nothing to fall back on.

Nice. Seems interesting. I'll definitely be checking out this documentary.

It does paint a grim picture, but it is accurate.

I got to witness a small example of all that BS firsthand when Scotty Gelman from Jam Productions signed Zoetrope to a 300k (? I forgot exactly how much) contract for their 3rd studio release. I was the only non-band member in the room when they signed, and I was there everyday at Streeterville studio's for the recording of the album, then I watched it all spin out of control. The band ended up owing Jam Productions a lot of money, and I believe they all filed for bankruptcy. It was an eye opening experience for me, but I had no idea of the enormity of what I was witnessing at the time I was seeing it.

It's pretty weird when you think about every law they've passed to protect workers' right, and everything that organized labor has done, and yet musical artists are just thrown to the wolves with nobody batting an eye.

In the eyes of the people that have the power to put those laws in effect, it serves no purpose of growth to a community to be an artist. There is no immediate end product, only an intangible element that is more often uncontrollable, more so than a person who digs a ditch.

Going through some of my stuff today, trying to get motivated.

My homeboys, Convoy! have a show with Green Jelly tomorrow night. Should be a killer show. I might stop in. The band has been pretty busy lately, and they've been cutting a new album that should be out on Sept 5th.



This is the only tune I know from the Jelly though, since I've never felt the urge to seek out this brand of silliness:



Not sure what to expect. We'll see tomorrow.

Going to see Eric Mantel this Saturday. The last time I caught one of his shows, he dropped tickets off at my buddies house, and we talked a bit about how rough it is for a career minded guitar player with nothing to fall back on like himself. I gave him an extra 20 for the tickets. Up until a few years before that, I had no idea who he was until a band mate scored a gig for us with him at a Nancy's Pizza. For one of his breaks that night, he played a blues rhythm on a loop, and asked me to jam over it for a bit while he went out and got some fresh air. As I was jamming, quite a few people threw money in his tip jar, and a beautiful black lady walked up to me and smiled, saying how wonderful my blues chops were. That did it for me, and I was fulfilled. I never told Eric about the money in his tip jar and just let him have it. I try to support this outstanding guitar player every chance I get, with sharing his links, spreading his name out to places I frequent, and by attending some of his shows. I'll be there at one of my favorite dives (The Looney Bin) this weekend to have some brews and watch a master in action. Who knows, I might even get a little stage time. Crazier things have happened.

I made a bit of an error with that last post ^ Eric is playing tonight. I'm heading out that way to a friends house to help carve pumpkins for the kids. He lives a block or two away from the venue, so it'll be a nice little all day get-away.

...anyway, as I'm perusing FB this morning, I see that one of my friends from a guitar forum went on a trip to Germany. He posted a couple pics of flying over the Alps and other things, and then as I scroll down I see this:

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pshs6q2vq1.jpg

What are the odds that a person becomes a guitar player, learns some Joe Satriani, then many years later he goes to Germany on vacation, only to walk down the street to go have dinner and meet Joe Satriani along the way? Pretty fucking slim I tell ya.