Pseudo Mentors

It is ridiculous the amount of time that I spend on the computer reading blogs. At the moment my favorite is Lefsetz Letter. A man who was in the music industry back before i was even born and now writes against their current practices. Along with others like Godin and Hypebot, I've learned so much. Not just about music business but all business and just dealing with people in general. The amount of information and advice that you can get for free on the internet is outstanding. Tucker Max and Ryan Holiday talk a lot about getting a mentor and learning from them but until i can the wisdom that get from these guys online will have to do.

Industry Problems

Free WiFi should be a staple at all hotels. It is ridiculous to charge ten dollars a day for something that can be received for free in so many other locations. It's a sad day when in the a nice room in a hotel on a busy street in a large city, I can not get an internet connection.
The thing I have noticed is that smaller hotels will provide free WiFi as an enticement while the larger ones already know they will have their customers so they refuse to go that extra bit to make their stay more comfortable. Why not? It is not as if the cost is that high for them. If the smaller hotels can do it, so can the larger. I guess it is an entitlement issue. The larger hotels feel they are entitled to their customers while the smaller have to earn them.

This is the same problem that major labels have. They believe they are entitled to charge what they want. They are entitled to ripping off not only the people who are buying the music but the artists themselves. An audience can't be expected or demanded, it should be earned. That's why P2P and the internet is so great. It is starting to show the major labels that they are not entitled to anything. They can cry and sue all they want right now, but there is a major shift in the system and unless they start catering to the audience they are for sure going to become extinct.

The major hotels should watch out. They may not be at the same point that the record companies are but it does not mean that it will not happen to them. It is a changing world with changing customer demands and if companies do not keep up they will find themselves desperately clinging to their illusions of their own importance.

City Stars

As much as love looking at those celestial bodies when I am out in the suburbs and beyond, here in the city, I don't miss it. Here I am, eleven stories up in a hotel in Long Beach and i can see the city lights stretching out for miles in front of me. As a kid, driving home at night we would pass the Valley and I would always see the city below us, the lights twinkling like a mirror of the sky. I always knew that we were almost home then. And if i squinted my eyes, the lights would blend together and the city would become nothing but glimmering yellows and whites.

Say what you like, but I'll take my fake stars anytime.

Pump House Gang

It's pretty rare that a new band gets me excited. Even more rare for a band without at least some critical success to do so. But it can happen and It has. I have never been so excited for a band as I am for the Pump House Gang. Hailing from a Los Angeles high school they are one of the most amazing bands that I have heard.

I first heard them in February. The hotel room was crowded with people that i didn't know. K and I were sprawled on one of the beds talking with some of the people from the other teams. Techno music was coming out of the stereo but someone was playing a Led Zepplin song on an acoustic guitar while others were softly singing along. When he finished, the guitarist, Thomas, mentioned how he was in a band. He even had one of their songs, a cover of Red House, on his ipod. Lying on the bed, eyes half shut, listening to beat of the bass and hearing the singer's growl, It was as if the lights had dimmed and the room had been transformed into a dingy club. The music was so raw, so powerful, it was hard to believe the guitarist was the same kid who was sitting on the other bed. The song ended, but i stayed where I was, just revisiting the notes that made my breath catch.

That same night K and Thomas got rather close but nothing came out of it. For me, this caused the focus to go to the performer and not to the band so I mainly forgot about them.

Until recently. I was on their myspace and i listened once more to their music. Once again, I fell in love with the dark bluesy feel that soaked into my every pore. I downloaded every song that they had up and have been listening to them on repeat for the past few days.

I can't begin to say enough about these guys. The guitar is smooth and sharp in all the right places. The bass and drums just blend perfectly in the background moving the song along. But what really gets me, what makes me want to give all that I can for this band, is his voice. Those gravely notes that lead you down to that shadowy room where there are no rules.
My favorite so far has been Detached. It starts off quiet, mournful. And that's a feeling that remains even as the song picks up pace and falls back again. This is a band that speaks the truth. And the truth is in a time where it is all about being polished to selling perfection there are still some bands that are gritty and real.

It's bands like this that make me want to get into the music business. If i could manage any band, risk my future on any group of musicians, it would be the Pump House Gang.

I Love L.A.

It's the weirdest thing living just outside of Los Angeles. I am close enough so that i could go every day, but I don't. Being seventeen, It's just not something that is plausible. And so, L.A. is still a bit of a mystery. Sure, I know what it's like to visit frequently, I know the city's layout, I know a couple stores and restaurants and the major attractions. But i still don't know what makes it run.

I sit here at my home reading the blogs of people describing L.A., and it's not one that i recognize. People in L.A. always hate L.A. They describe the people and the lifestyle as fake, shallow, uninteresting. I've been there many times and yeah, some people may be like that but they were the same way in New Mexico, the same way in Egypt, the same way here in the suburbs. And those people are part of the reason I love the city. I know that they are there but i never have to deal with them. Maybe it's because when I am there I am usually dealing with professionals or at least those who know how to act professional or maybe it is just because in L.A. you can find every type of person.

Visiting The Getty, or Olvera Street, or the Watts Towers, or even Fox Studios, I have met many great people who are artistic and passionate and truly care about who they are and what they do.

Maybe the people who complain about the city just are not attracting the right people. Or maybe I'm still too young and too much of an outsider to have really met the people they complain about. Either way, I still love L.A.