Poetry Reading Monday December 3

Hello all,
I will be doing a poetry reading this coming Monday (Dec. 3) at the Sacramento Poetry Center. It is 7 minutes of pure DJ sandwiched by some very talented writers. The event is to celebrate the work of the 2013 American River Review literary magazine, which I'm honored to be included in for the second year in a row.
Doors open at 7, words flow at 7:30.

Thanks for your eyeballs.
- DJ

WTF Wednesday - Faceball

Hello All,

I'm busy.  I'm frustrated.  I'm not getting the things I want to get done done.  I'm at my wit's end. 

I'm just about ready to run and jump off the world when a) I realize that I will always land right back on it and 2) This exists: http://faceball.org/

Faceball tourney anyone?

Now, a word about NaNoWriMo.

I was feeling failurific as the month came to an end, because I am only halfway to that golden 50K word mark. Here is why I shouldn't. NaNoWriMo is a great inspiration to just write - get any words out, hopefully some ideas that present a clear plot will surface. But for me, it doesn't allow me time to do other things like draw or write songs. These are the things I think spur me on toward inspiration when the writing dries up. During WriMo I feel guilty when I do those things, like I'm shirking a responsibility, so I stop. Then absolutely nothing comes out. I need those distractions to keep me going. I'm glad WriMo works for some, it's just not conducive to my process. Then again, I could be just making myself feel better for not having been a "winner", though I am not alone in my thoughts that NaNoWriMo just isn't for every writer.

Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

A Healthy Alternative to Fried Taco Shells

Welcome to the Monday after. In the interest of getting back to healthy, I thought I'd share this lovely invention.




Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

WTF Wednesday - "Literally" the Best Day Ever

Do you remember when words used to mean something?  I mean, when they literally used to mean something?

Literally has lost its meaning.  This word used to mean "in the literal sense" - in other words, these words I have said are something you can take to the bank. I'm not speaking figuratively - the reason for this term to exist is to differenciate these two concepts. 

More and more I'm hearing things like:

This is literally the last twinkie on Earth.
  - No it's not. 

I would literally kill for a twinkie right now.
 - If you would then my obligation as a citezen is to inform the police.

There is literallly nothing to do right now.
 - Then how are you talking?

I literally have nothing to wear.
 - Good, then that makes the choice easy.

I'm literally going to explode from all the Turkey I've eaten.
 - Shit kids, someone get the camera!


I think I'd be a better person of people didn't suck so much.

Thanks for your eyeballs.
 - DJ

Dennis for President

What we need is an autonomous collective. True power derives from a mandate from the people. Stop the violence inherent in the system.

Help, Dennis, we're being repressed.




Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

WTF Wednesday - The Fiscal Cliff Notes

This image is from Howard Taylor the creator of Schlock Mercenary.  If you've never checked out his comic, please do - it's the best free online comic currently out there about a space mercenary made of poo.  It sounds silly, but it's actually very smartly written.

He tweeted this picture this morning, which made me laugh, then made me cry.  If this country doesn't find some real leadership, the standard family of 4 stands to loose $4000 in tax cuts.  I don't know about the rest of you, but that pretty much zaps my family's return, which we've grown to count on to fund our summer vacations and the occasional large purchase splurge.  That money, for most people, goes straight back into the economy. 

Politicians, do you F-ing jobs!

Thank you for your eyeballs.
 - DJ

Songwriting Lessons From the Avett Brothers

Happy Tuesday,

Since I've been absorbed by writing projects lately, I haven't had much time to play music, but I have been working on a few projects in the background. 

The little bit of time I have had to play has produced three new song ideas that are the best I've had in a while.  One is almost complete and is called "Saddle Up (Make or Break)" and is just waiting for 4 lines to be written in the bridge to get placed in the done column.

So, on my lunch break today I played about 5 minutes of a melody that started with me singing fun lines to the kids while they played outside this weekend.  The lines always ended, "So I left my kids at the supermarket."  You know:

     - I didn't know, they'd cost so darned much, so I left my kids at the supermarket
     - I didn't think, it would cause a big scene, so I left my kids at the supermarket
     - They started acting like kids often do, so I left my kids at the supermarket
     - I had a chance to join the circus so I left my kids at the supermarket

Anything to get a laugh from the kids.  But I loved the melody.  So I had 5 minutes at lunch today and picked up the Martin, strummed a bit.  Fresh in my mind was a line I'd jotted into Evernote a while back "Living echoes of a life I never led."  Eventually it worked itself into a full verse, though my 5 minutes were up and I had to zip back to work.  The second verse kind of wrote itself as I was trying to rush to get the first into the Evernote database.  And here's why: The Avett Brothers.

I've been studying their song structures a lot lady, and am really intrigued by the similarity between the words of different verses and how those verses can have widely different meanings - just by changing a word or two.  The cool thing about this approach is that the similarity of the wording helps to reinforce the melody so that by the end of the 4 minute song you feel like you've not only heard it before but could sing along with the whole song (you will probably get some words wrong, but you'll feel like you *know* the song). 

So with both these songs I looked at ways I could make minor changes to the words, change or deepen the meaning and reuse them as subsequent verses.  I'm very happy with this approach and it actually gives me a nice box to work inside when I am trying to add verses.  It does appear the bridge will be the difficult part of the song when using this approach, but I think the end result will be a more divergent bridge that makes the rest of the song more "homey" when you return to it.

I'd like to share "Saddle Up" once it's in a more complete state.  The words don't do it justice and I really want to complete it before I put it out there.  For the sake of demonstration, though, I will share the lyrics I have so far for the new song I just started today.  Notice how the wording of the first two stanzas are mimicked in the second two.  It will be interesting to see where it goes, but as of the song being 5 minutes old it looked something like:

I wish I could say at the end of it all
That I gave all I had to give
But I'm living echoes of a life I never
Took the time or pride to live

It's all my fault
But that don't heal bruises
It only solves
Who wins and who loses

I wish I could say after the fall
That I'm prepared for the winter cold
But as the spring closes I'm left to myself
Still drunk from the days of my summer, my gold

Find in the faults
A wealth of excuses
It doesn't change
Who wins or who loses

The first and third stanzas are definitely more different, and I think because of this the meaning of the fourth stanza has a lot more depth than the meaning of the second stanza, even though half the words are the same.  Not sure if the concept comes across without the melody, but I hope you get the gist of it.

Besides these projects, I've got a track list finalized for the album, and a title.  "Linens and Things: The Potentially Brilliant Wreckage of an Exceptionally Ordinary Gentleman."  I just have to get my iLok replaced so I can get back into ProTools and see if I can pretend to know what I'm doing on that side of things.  Hopefully recording will resume early next year.

Thank you for your eyeballs!
 - DJ
(NaNoWriMo Word Count = 11587...only about 6K off target...probably ought to quit writing songs and blogs and such). 

Kids and Their Gadgets

Seen last night waiting for dinner at Applebee's. You can't quite see it but the guy's hat said "Dysfunctional Veteran".





Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

Dropping the FB-Bomb

Hello and happy Friday,

I won't be putting up a Faceballs or a Spatchcock cartoon this week.  I'm just too far behind on my book (almost 8K words, should be almost double that).  But, since it is Faceballs Friday, I have a FB related question.

Is it polite to speak up in a Facebook post when it's a person you have recently met and they are having an ongoing discussion about a political matter you disagree with - when all the people responding are just finding different ways to agree?  I understand (now) that it's probably not a great idea if you want to remain friends, but is it socially rude to speak one’s mind in the face of inflammatory political commentary, when everybody else seems to agree with the commentary?  It feels a little like laughing at a racist joke rather than pointing out its ignorance.

And why do people post their opinions if they don't want to actually discuss them?  It's like farting in the supermarket and walking to the end of the isle to watch the reactions of your fellow shoppers.

And you think I didn’t know you did that.   Tsk tsk.

Thank you for your eyeballs.

-          DJ

Red, we gotta talk

Dear Wendy's,

I'm just going to go ahead and say it Red. Having chili oil in the bag should be the default option when the customer has ordered chili. I shouldn't have to ask every time. You can make up for the cost by keeping the second spoon you always give me.



Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

Political Discourse and the Interknot

Politics and the Internet are funny, and Facebook and other forms of social media kind of allow an interesting bird's eye view of things.

From what I can see, conservatives tend to surround themselves with other conservatives.  When a non-conservative wanders into their conversation and dares to interject logic, the group attacks - the mood is, let's kill this dog before it gets loose and hurts someone.  They also appear to think if they just believe hard enough the dog will change into something other than a dog.

Liberals don't seem to vet who they surround themselves with but assume that, having the intelligence to be included amongst their friends, you are obviously of a like mind.  As such, when the dog of logic appears to conflict with them, the group does their best to embarrass it into leaving by showing it how stupid and dog-like it is.  They appear to think if they just believe hard enough, the dog will never have been there in the first place.

There's an old saying that is not PC at all, but I think I may be able to redeem it.  Arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics.  Even if you win you're still retarded.  A long time ago I had the privaledge to work for the Special Olympics and I say, at least with the Special Olympics there is a sense of teamwork, mutual respect and and overall humanity.

It's a pooptacular predicament we've bought for ourselves, and I want my 6 Billion Dollars back. 

Where my dogs at? 


Thank you for your eyeballs.
 - DJ

The Great 6 Billion Dollar Polarization

I read today that there has been over 6 billion dollars spent on the presidential race.  With the amount of polarization it's caused, I'd say that's a pretty good return on investment. 

I'm growing more and more certain that the only way to make any kind of an impact is by working at a local level with non-politically affiliated organizations.

Thanks for your eyeballs.

- DJ

Like If You Don't Think The World Should End, Share if You Do (Faceballs 2)

Friday=Faceballs.  Enjoy Episode 2!


Faceballs Episode 2:
"Like if You Don't Think the World Should End, Share if you Do"

The creation of the universe and everything

Good evening,

As the first 24 hours of NaNoWriMo come to a close, I'm glad to say I'm a bit ahead of the goal at 2442. It took me that long to go from the singularity (the actual one, before the big bang) through the creation of the universe and humanity, etc. (it was the "etc" that was the hard part).

Glad to get off to a pretty good start, and looking forward to writing some good scenes over the next several days.


Thank you for your eyeballs.

- DJ