Kafka

I composed an atonal duet for two flutes to accompany some words by Kafka. Here I am playing flute and speaking lines from Kafka's short story titled "Conversation With The Drunk"

Penny Sparkle

Hi. I transcribed the song Penny Sparkle by an awesome band called Blonde Redhead and made a unique arrangement. In this recording I am playing alto sax, flute, clarinet, jew's harp, and singing. This was kind of an experimental project for me and is an accumulation of a couple different ideas put into one piece of music. Firstly, I play the Jew's Harp and always wanted to see if I could make a hip groove by looping the sound of this cool little instrument. Secondly, I wanted to use a larger array of instruments and since I play many woodwinds, I figured that I could apply a classical trio atmosphere to this song. Lastly, I wanted to make a video that portrays a little snapshot into my recording process. Here you will see me singing and playing all the various instruments I used to record this arrangement. Please go listen to the original and try to go see Blonde Redhead live in concert. They are very very amazing!

Playing with Jon

Hi. I sat in with my buddy Jon Maclennan at the Tribal Cafe gig and found this video he posted. This song is in the key of F# for me. Super fun key...NOT! Hahah that's the fun thing about pop music, weird keys. Anyway.. it is always a pleasure to play with Jon. I recorded on his CD "Suspicious Love" way back in 2005. Also, he is one of the best longboarders I know! Seriously.

The Get Up Kids

One of my favorite bands growing up was The Get Up Kids. I love their song "Hannah Hold On" so I learned it on guitar and made this little video. I don't think I deeply understood the meaning of the song until I spent some time really learning it and thinking about the words. I find that this song fit exactly with what I was feeling at the time. Music is an amazing thing isn't it? On a more musically theoretical note.. this song has a great moving bass line! I also switched out a lot of the normal chords for suspensions, inversions, or chords with a lot of common tones so that the harmony would be more stable throughout the song. Dynamically, I really dug into the crescendo leading out of the bridge for dramatic effect. I also used a lighter pick on this one. Lastly, the seasons are changing here in California. The breeze is offshore, the water is cold, and animals are migrating. Don't ever let someone convince you that Southern California doesn't have seasons... you just have to know where to look.