James Brown. Legend.

I started playing James Brown Grooves again. This time, I pulled out the bass guitar and put down the lines as best as I could. My favorite of the day is Funky Drummer. It is the most popular groove to be sampled by hip-hop artists in all of history, which basically goes back to the 80s when hip-hop began. My favorites from the weekend are "Funky Women" and "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing". These grooves are so nasty, that they make my face look like I just smelled something really bad.

This is the wonderful book that helped me learn of the nuances of the JB Rhythm sections. Stories, bass lines, wah-wah patterns, pictures and more! BUT . . .

. . . you won't find this guy, who is also named James Brown. How do I know? I don't, but his name came up in Google images on the second page.

Here is JB getting his mug taken.

Freakin' awesome.

My sister got a pony for Christmas. For a day. Freakin' awesome.

Danny Glover was in my dream last night!!!!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but this just blows my mind. I haven't thought about Danny Glover for at least a year and BOOM--there he is in my dream playing drums with me. Weird but...ok, no buts--just really weird! What really hit me the hardest about DG was the depressing saxophone theme that is played in Lethal Weapon. Check it out.

Iowa is the field of ∞infinite∞ possibilities!!!!!!!!

THIS is what happens when you have a a free Sunday in Iowa during a heat wave (50ºF!!!).

Ryan and Mickey

You are in Iowa . . . you go for a walk in the woods . . . you find some large branches. What do you do?

The British Bulldog

Karen

Cali 2

So, the second week in California was different than the first. Not as many movies--more California. THE SURF WAS UP!!! It was pretty much consistent for three weeks straight, in which I was able to take advantage of two of them. Good enough. I re-realized that I am in love with California and more importantly--surfing. The funniest thing is the lingo that I develop out of necessity. By this I mean survival in the line-up. I was able to have access to a secret spot that was run by crazy, control-freak locals. The only way to be accepted was to smile my smile, and respond to the wonderful language of the surfer; some linguists call it the second hardest language to learn in the world, the first being English. OK, seriously, here is the big news: I GOT A SERIOUS BARREL LAST THURSDAY! I know some of you are laughing at me right now, especially the east coast contingent, but it was awesome! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm freaking out just thinking about it!! Follow me . . .

This is from the car on the way to LAX the other day. AMAZING!

THis is from the plane. Also AMAZING!

Also from the car!

Ok, I don't know this dude but I like this shot. This was taken the afternoon of the serious tube I got in the morning. Then I went to have lunch with Mike Ross and PJ Kelly--two geniuses--and then went back for another session at Gladstones in Malibu. Nobody was surfing this point and I had these waves to myself. Unbelievable. They are kicking me out of the coffee shop where I am right now, so no more about surfing right now.

Cali

Here I am, sitting in a Barnes and Noble/Starbucks--with the man, the myth, the legend: Jason Treuting--and I am paying $4 for Wi-Fi, in California. Amazing. The last several days consisted of watching movies--a lot of movies. Some of the best were: A Christmas Story, Crash, Tommorrow Never Dies, and Mission Impossible 2 (Tom Cruise is dreamy). Too be watched are Sin City, GoldenEye (Pierce Brosnan is dreamy), and the first 40 minutes of Crash which I missed the first time. Also, in the theatres is Munich, which I hope to see soon. I had my first real LA County surf-secret-spot experience when I was invited to surf this fun little break (below) by some friends. The waves have been record big in the last two weeks out here, as in 25 feet rogue sets in some places. People have died. I went out two days ago and it was a bout 4-6, really nice and there was only one other guy out. Amazing!

I am a pretty boy

I am going home, to California, in the morning. very early. Much fun will be had, and much will be accomplished. I went to Chicago last weekend where I saw an amazing show: The Hafez Nazeri Ensemble! THis guy is amazing. His dad is one of the most weel known Sufi singers in Iran. They played with two string players of the Juilliard ilke, his cousin on daf (big drum with jingles--unbelievable) and a NYC tabla player--Deep Singh, http://deepsoundz.com/ --who is off the charts. This picture was from the car ride up. I apparently gained 55 pounds for this picture (and became severely attractive).
More from California . . .

Hi!

Alright! I am finally on the web! The world wide web! I figure that until I get my own site up and running, I will just utilize this amazing Blog website which practically does everything for you. I've wanted to do this for a while but I was finally inspired by a wonderful man named David Greenbaum (pictured above) who has everything figured out. (You can visit his blog at http://blahgcabin.blogspot.com/ )
A lot has happened since I moved to Iowa, so throughout the next while, I may at times update you with events and pictures that have occurred since my becoming a resident of the mighty mid-west, something I suggest everyone try at least once in their life. By the way, Iowa IS the field of dreams. Thanks to the quintessential American hero also known as Kevin Costner, we all know that "if you build it, they will come," a maxim that gives hope to anyone that has a will and a way.
So, I went home to California for Thanksgiving. That was amazing. The top picture my family's XMas picture. Pictured with the Fry family are two ladies from Europe. On the left we have my sister's Ukranian roommate at NAU, and next to her is Steffi, the Berliner/foreign exchange student who is staying with my family for the next year. I get to go home AGAIN in two weeks, for two weeks. I can't get over how lucky I am to have grown up in California, and continue to have it as a home base. Oh, Lordy.
MUSIC UPDATE: Just played at the monthly "Open-mic night" at MUM (the school I'm currently attending __ www.mum.edu ) with Karen and native Iowan, Eric Hurlon. Eric plays bass in a trio called The Apocalypso Tantric Boys Choir. Genius. We premiered the first movement of a piece I wrote for a class last year at Eastman. It went quite well and I plan on writing several more movements in the future. Playing with Karen and Eric is so effortless--the way music was meant to be.
That's it for now. Stay tuned.

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