Pat and Kelly Living Dangerously

No, this is not the title of a buddy cop movie starring Pat and Kelly, although I think that would be great. Good cop, Bad cop. We'd wear cool suits. What I'm talking about is last night.

Pat and I were at Roscoe's on Stark St. with our ladies when 8 cop cars came barreling up to close off the street in front. They quickly sealed off the area, actually sealing us into the bar, with "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape. Turns out there were some gangstas shooting celebratory shots into the air.

Parklife

Blue Skies is still hard at work recording our 5th full length album but in the meantime we've laid tracks for some of our favorite cover tunes. Here we have the Blur classic, "Parklife," off of their album of the same name done by us featuring the Chicago's FleasKi freestyling what "parklife" means to him.

Free download peeps, "Something for you to take home and listen to."

Valentines Day in the studio!

It's as if these two cultural icons are writing about me.

"Beth, I hear you callin' But I can't come home right now Me and the boys are playin' And we just can't find the sound Just a few more hours And I'll be right home to you I think I hear them callin' Oh, Beth what can I do Beth what can I do."- Peter Criss

"I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I don't want anybody to hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta.

No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there.

The drinks poured and Jon-Luc kept on talking. I'm sure that he said many astonishing things. I simply focused on his eyebrows." - Charles Bukowski from "Hollywood"

Well, it's my turn to post something on our glorious blog. I have a hard time being creative on these things but, since we can really post anything we want, that takes some of the pressure off.

We did, just this last weekend, lay basics for two new songs as well as a couple of cover tunes. Monday through Wednesday of this week, we struggled mightily to get some overdubs onto our tape. We aren't struggling as musicians per se, but with the tape and tape machine. For some reason (and if anyone has any ideas as to what may be causing the problem, please let us know!!), the tape itself is pretty gunked up and we (well actually Pat, our engineer Mark and intern Frank), spend a lot of our studio time cleaning the damn machine heads and it seems to get worse as the evening or day progresses. Despite these delays we are making decent progress, if not on the schedule we'd like.

We are prepping for a 2.5 week tour down to Austin Texas and back. We'll be hitting SXSW as well as heading down I-5. We'll turn left in SoCal and drive through AZ and NM before getting to Texas. But, unlike last year, we actually have shows booked between L.A. and Austin, so the drive shouldn't be quite as excruciating. We'll also be heading back through Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, before heading into Oregon and back home.


Also, I've FINALLY (ask my girlfriend, Shannon), started to begin my new job search. I lost my office job at a large health insurance company in late November, two days before Shannon and I went to New Orleans for Thanksgiving. I received a decent severance, which may explain some of my slowness in getting the ball rolling. Instead of being crushed that I lost my lame office/cubicle farm job, I saw it as an opportunity to get into something that I really ENJOY doing and have a real interest in learning more about.
I've figured out that wine is the industry that I want to learn more about and make living at in some way. Lord knows I certainly enjoy drinking it! Perhaps as a sommolier or wine steward, or even opening/running my own wine bar. If anyone out there knows of anything, let me know! I know that I'll likely need to start at something like a distribution warehouse or stocking shelves at a wine store. I'd like to work tastings at any of the area wineries, too.

The Superbowl is this weekend and Shannon and I are rooting for the Saints. Shannon is from Louisiana. It's been fun so far. We'll see if it lasts one more game.

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Paul.