2009-The first song to emerge from the basement of the Dustin House in Brighton. I’m uber-proud to say this song was all first take/no punch-ins! On every instrument! I haven’t recorded much in a year so my brain is on fire right now…more to come..
2007-This was the last song I recorded in the Burlington studio which was my home away from Somerville. Thank god for that. Somerville almost killed me.
2006-I wrote this years ago, but never recorded it. The solo part is my personal favorite spot in the Sky Bear album just for the shear pounding of everything. I broke a lot of gear that night. My fancy car you don’t see me driving is in all the strings, drum heads, amp tubes, cables, blown speakers and sticks over the years..
2005-I played in a Russian band for a couple years in LA and it was such a learning experience that I must pay homage to it.
1993-This got a lot of air time in Hawaii. The Album won 2 Hawaiian Music Awards. And put me in another tax bracket for a short time. I got a glimpse of the “other half”. Same crap, just more money around. And I found out the money comes with it’s own crap…
2004-A song I wrote for my daughter, Savannah. She’s on trombone in it. When I went to Arizona for her high school graduation, I took some recording gear and we laid the horn tracks down at my friends house. Thank you Bryce and Jenny! I miss you guys!
1992-From the debut album in Hawaii on Mountain Apple Records. This was my ‘Santana-esk’ version of a Cazimero’s hit. It stirred up a lot of controversy (via some provocative editorials in more than one paper) being all rocked out, but I used to play with Willy K. ….perfect in my opinion.
The First Cut Is The Deepest-Kapila
1993-When Sheryl Crow did this I was a little pleased and miffed at the same time. Pleased that I had the right idea of covering it. Miffed that Sheryl had a better team than me for mainland airplay. Knowing the secret behind the Tuesday Night Music Club also makes me a little sick sometimes… but I breathe, count to ten, and then mind my own business….
1993-I’m a huge Gabby Pahinui fan. This was my tribute to the giant. And also a ‘thank you’ to the rest of the family for inviting me to thanksgiving at their house one year. Those guys are AWESOME!
2004-This always sounded like something I could do a ‘Hawaiian men’s choir’ thingy to. But I wasn’t in Hawaii anymore. But I couldn’t NOT do it. So I did it anyway. And then put it on the Sky Bear CD…
1994-This was recorded live at Shark’s cafe in Honolulu, where we had a residency there. I did it on a digital 8 track machine and took it home and mixed it. You can hear us showing the bass line to Dante cause he forgot it. Rory Flores on drums. Rest in peace Rory. That’s also Chris Bovard (my guitar teacher) on the guitar solo.
1982-This guy was a 19 year old real live pimp with a real stable and a real posse in the early 80’s. Long before any of these little ‘50-cent’/Jay-Z’/”Puff Daddy’ posers that are out now, were even born. Unfortunately, his fate was also as real as his life-style. He was gunned down in Pacoima weeks after this was recorded. We had a blast in the studio together and it was my privlidge to produce such a talent. All the writing/programming/scratches are his own. I just produced and engineered it.
1999-This was the last song I recorded in San Francisco and the first song to get laid down on a computer instead of tape. Right around the time of my Pagan spiritual journey…which was hard, dark, and painful. I wouldn’t trade it for the world but I don’t have to like all of it if I don’t wanna…cause the truth does hurt..a lot sometimes…
1992-My biggest discovery ever. These guys were the coolest/hardest/most difficult/most time consuming/most fun thing I ever produced/played trumpet for…I’ll post more tracks of them. They were on Skankin Pickle’s Dill Records and toured with them as well. I couldn’t go because Kapila was released at the same time. Then after their disbandment I played drums with the trombone player on bass and the lead singer/guitar player and a harmonica player which was called ITV. Which had a nice long stint opening for bands like WEEN and actually playing an in-store at Tower Records with BECK.
1995-The band that got me back to the mainland after 5 years of Hawaiian bliss. Only this time SF instead of LA. The bass player (Brant Swigart) and I worked together some years after that in a cover band in San Jose. This is the first recording in Jim Atkinson’s SF basement before I built a whole apartment down there. Brant wrote this and is singing and playing bass and guitar. I’m playing drums and a balalaika plugged into a Marshall amp. That was a magical day for us. I’ll never forget how giddy we were when we mixed it. It’s still one of my favorite songs. Which is why I re-did it live in New York City at Alex Grey’s Chapel Of Sacred Mirror’s and put it on the Sky Bear album. Thank you Brant. I really miss playing with you, ya bastard.–He’s back in Hawaii now, flying helicopters…
2004-The live version in NYC…
Pretty Maids All In A Row-Kapila
1995-I’ve always wanted to cover this song as a kid. It was a dream come true to finally do it as an adult. And, oh yes, I use the term, ‘adult’ VERY loosely….poop on you all!