I went against my better judgement and wasted my time on the Beyonce contest. I only entered it because there was no submission fee and I wanted to use my automation on the mix (experience). I am so sick of getting bombarded with contest alerts through my e-mail. Here is how I see it. Get 1,000 people to send you $30.00 and a song. You’ve raised $30,000 and may give away $4,000 TO $5,000. These freaking companies that sponsor these events talk about how great the internet is and how it is ridding us from”Evil” and “Greedy” record companies. Truth is, all they are trying to do is create a space for themselves as the “NEW” middleman and you are paying them to elevate their company to that status. The entire process makes me sick. It’s just other people getting rich off of your desires or your dreams. That’s all it is. Like I said before, instead of entering a contest, just give me $20.00 to come kick you in the nuts. It’s still cheaper than most “contests”, it doesn’t waste much of your time and unlike most contest entrants, you will actually have something to show for it, sore and swollen nuts.

Please book in advance so I can properly schedule the event….ba ha ha

With so much music available, it is hard to stand out in the crowd or get noticed. I’m sitting on a gold mine and have been for quite some time. The gold mine is foul, vulgar and obscene. It will definitely make money but could also cause embarrassment to my family. What I’m talking about is an entire collection of songs that will make you wet yourself. People have been hounding me asking me to get them a copy of these songs but I’m afraid if I do, I will be viewed as that obscene singer/songwriter, but at the same time my serious work isn’t doing me much good. You know, I’ve been off for 15 months for foot and ankle reconstruction and ended up selling most of my gear to pay bills these last few months. I’m starting to think, “Why should I care what people think” go for the money. To me money and material possessions don’t matter too much. I have seriously found that I am better with less material objects. The more stuff you have, the more maintenance that is required, then your “stuff” robs you of time. Time is life, time is all we have. What would you do? Then I question, why did I write these songs in the first place? Where did this stuff come from?

Certain ethnicities have health problems caused by specific foods, for me, it’s dairy. I’m going on a one month diet, free of dairy to see how it affects my over all health…But first, a Bud Murphy’s pizza to hold me over. Have you ever given up a food that was suspected to cause inflamation? If so, what did you find? Planning on starting this next week.

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Here is my latest … I hope you enjoy it …  Hope to be working on my new project soon. This is currently available at WhoTune. I sincerely hope you like it and I hope you enjoy it.

The arts are a very important part of the world. Through them, we can learn about the differences that divide us across cultures as well as the many experiences and emotions that unite us as a human race. Even though I am an artist, I support the internet and the sharing of files and YES even the FREE sharing of my own work. If I give away a free download and earn a fan, that is one more fan who may by my merchandise or come see me at a live show. To show my support, I just uploaded my first torrents and I hope to grow my career even further. Thanks to sites like the Pirate Bay and SoundCloud & WhoTune for helping bring the world closer together.

God knows I have enough bad habits, so this New Year I plan on getting more organized. I’ve been writing and recording for 21 years and have never put any serious effort into trying to do something with my music. I guess no time is better than the present. The whole reason I started a SoundCloud acct was to have a place to store all of my work. By having one central place to put it all I realized four things. 1) I have a lot of songs, 2) not all of them are even recorded, 3) Need to record and upload them, 4) need to categorize them into styles or songs for each album,  5) I need to start sending songs on a regular basis to labels that may be interested in them 6) I need to develop better organizational skills and track each submission, what was sent, when and to whom.  Finding the right label to submit work to may be some work but I have some ideas on where to start.

I guess I feel like I am getting together a big enough catalog. Now I just need someone to shop it for me. Having 20 plus years of material is enough to keep me busy until I am physically and mentally able to go out and perform again, it’s been a long time. I expect to be able to bear weight on newly reconstructed ankle within 5 weeks, if all goes well. Maybe 2013, (after we prove Mayans didn’t have all the answers, after all their own extinction should prove that) well, maybe 2013 will be the year for me. I have some serious physical therapy coming up. I am really going to have to work at it. Bring it On !

Sometimes when we listen to music, we may have too much bass or not enough. Today I ag going to talk about weighting. Weighting is split into three classes A,B, and C. Basically weighting seems to amplify the sound of the base by transmitting through the speaker cabinet. A weighting is, speaker sitting on desktop. B weighting is speaker on desktop with one side pressed against wall (2 points of contact for cabinet), C weighting is Speaker touching on bottom of cabinet, and one side against wall and back against wall. For an experiment, try doing this with your speakers and you will see the difference. I like to set my speakers on something to reduce any weighting possibilites, something like a mouse pad works great, so I can get a true sound for audio mix. An example why is as follows, I think I have perfect mix for bass, then pull speaker away from wall and bass disappears. It’s nice ot know that weighting exists and how to use it. Hope you have some fun with this.

Trying to listen to James Brown, get on the good foot. I got about 6 more weeks before I am allowed to put any weight on my foot. Three surgeons couldn’t fix it, the fourth one recommended me to Stephen Conti in Pittsburgh at Allegheny General. This man and his team are the authorities on foot and ankle reconstruction. They are simply the best. When others told me they couldn’t fix my foot, he did  a bone graft, lengthened my tendon and installed a plate with some screws. I’m not even out of the recovery phase and it feels so much better than it did prior to the surgery. I’m very happy about that. Hopefully I can quit taking the motrin soon. Too many different pills cause liver and kidney damage. I never used to think about that kind of stuff but now I do. Our FDA has to approve drugs. Look how many they approve and then you see TV commercials about recalls and people dying from taking these approved drugs. I would like to see cancer statistics from 1961 when we started our modern farming and agricultural methods. Some things should not be messed with. My wife and I have eaten all organic before and we both seemed to have more energy and better digestion. We are planning to go grocery shopping at Whole Foods in Shadyside. They have organic everything. You can buy meat from cattle that roamed freely and grazed off the land instead of cows that were penned up and given feed and hormones and God knows what else. I really believe our foods and medicines are what make us sick. I think we all have a lot to learn. We look back at history and laugh at what people did and how they believed they were so modern. I’m sure years from now, people will look at they way we lived and laugh about it.  C’mon 6 weeks. I am so impatient, I need to learn to relax and go with the flow. I just spent over seven months last year, in bed due to surgeries on feet and ankles. Almost through with it. I am very happy to know that soon I can go back to work and get out of this darn house.

Thinking of new goals for the New Year. I want to make better use of my time & prune away anything that doesn’t bear fruit. I have perseverance but also wisdom and sometimes wisdom is needed to know when to stop and change direction. Good luck in 2012.