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12/29/03- Snow, snow and more snow.
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12/28/03- Post-Christmas yard work and stuff. Ho ho ho rake the yard...
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12/25/03- Merry Christmas peoples!
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12/23/03- Busy working on my movie script for the last week. I've gotta have it done by next month. Right now I'm on Scene 7. That's about 15 minutes into the film. I have the rough screenplay finished for 3/4ths of the movie, but I need to make it easily readable- especially for the actors. We start rehearsals in February.
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12/14/03- Go-Kustom TV went to check out the Burning Hearts Burlesque / Western Gents Rockabilly Burlesque Fest last night at the Eagles Hall in Ballard. Cool locale...they should do more shows there. Good turnout and alot of fun. We interviewed Trixie Lane, The Felinas, and various members of the Burning Hearts, and got some great live footage as well.
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12/13/03- Crazy week...had three giant trees cut from our front yard. Two were pushing up the front end of the house, so they had to go. The other, a 100 plus year old Douglas Fir, was included to get the urban logger guys out to our place and then take the wood to a lumber mill. That all happened earlier in the week and the yard was wrecked from trucks and falling trees (ever see an 8 story high tree fall on rain drenched grass?). So I spent all day digging and grading and putting in cobblestone pavers to replace our door step. Alot of friggin' work.
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12/07/03- It's 11:26 and everybodys asleep but me. I've been uploading MP3's onto the Go-Kustom MP3 page, mostly because my main source out of MP3's was MP3.com, which is now history. Took me awhile to figure out how to get PageMill to upload the mp3 file. I found a weird work around. You open any page you've created in PageMill and drop the MP3 onto the page. Then you highlight the file and klick file then upload then object. That tricks PageMill into uploading the mp3 file, even though the file isn't part of a page. Then go back and create a link on any existing web page, making sure you list the file with the MP3 suffix. It actually works! I was afraid I'd have to find a PageMill/MP3 plug-in or new ftp program to upload the files. Anyways between loading files I watched the special features of Michael W. Dean's DVD- D.I.Y. Or DIE. I hadn't seen all the special features, including a cool interview with Steve Albini. Inspiring stuff. Makes me remember why I do art and music. It is a purpose, not a paycheck. Unfortunately people seem to associate fame and money with artistic success, which is never the case. Art fills you from the inside, makes you feel the mechanics of God. Art is a higher form of the human potential, that can't be bound by dollars and cents. People who only strive to get noticed, to get the big bucks can never truly be artists. Rant rant rant. Oh yea and we put up our Christmas tree and X-mas decorations today. I love the way the Christmas lights look in a darkened room. I should leave them up all year round...
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12/05/03- Thousands of people are without power in the Puget Sound area. Big storms dropping trees and power lines. I drove back to work on a 15 minute break. As I got to the intersection, my light was red, then the power went out. I waited and started to go through the intersection, and then the power came back on and I had a red light again. I slammed on the brakes and waited. Then the light turned green, I got through the intersection and looked back and the power went out again and all the cars stopped and began beeping in confusion. Power was out at some businesses, but not others right across the street. It's strange how power grids are set up.
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12/03/03- Christmas shopping on the internet...working on the Go-Kustom website...faalaalaalaalaa-laalaalaalaaa.
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12/02/03- Goodbye mp3.com. You've gotta wonder what the new site is gonna be all about. I bet there gonna charge bands a fee to be on the site.
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11/30/03- Recorded the chorus vocals and a scratch verse vocal for "Evil Undead Girlfiend" and burned a bunch of DVD's & CDR's for promo mailings. Also adjusted the vocal mix on "Drive" to get it a little more balanced sounding. I'm hoping to get the "Drive" video shot in the next few weeks.
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11/29/03- Working on the pre-animated still images for the music video for my tune "Surfin' Robot." It's alot of image conversions and cut and pasting. I still need to draw the robot character and then scan him in to my 'puter in articulatable bits. Also finished the lyrics for "Evil Undead Girlfiend." Man- that one was like giving birth to an elephant.
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11/27/03- Happy Turkey Day!
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11/23/03- Rearranging the Orange Room Studio setup. It's about time. I kept piling the new equipment I bought in different corners and loading up boxes with crap. Now I'll be organized for a while. It usually takes me 6-8 months to trash the clean studio. The coolest things about the new set-up is my older gear (like my Korg DW-8000 & Roland S-550 Sampler) are back on-line with the mixer and computer based virtual synths I've been using of late. I even hooked in my old Atari Mega 4 ST!
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11/22/03- Go-Kustom TV went over to a little private party the Burning Hearts Burlesque ( www.seattleburlesque.com ) troupe was part of. They did a great show! Also on the bill was Faith & Disease.
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11/21/03- Snowy mornings, rainy lunch. This was the picture looking out my front door this morning. So anyway, there's a new video game out called Kill.Switch, which is funny because it is so close to my band name Kill Switch...Klick. "Close" in the period vs. my ellipses, plus of course the words Kill Switch. So I've noticed the Kill Switch...Klick pages getting like 3,000 extra visitors a week, I get the idea, maybe it has something to do with the launch of the new video game. So I type Kill. Switch into Google, and sure enough my Kill Switch...Klick pages are the #2 listing. Mystery solved. I figure I was first, I should get a little kick back.
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11/20/03- More rain...no more snow. Finished 3/4ths of the lyrics for "Evil Undead Girlfiend." Man is this tune taking along time.
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11/19/03- Woke up this morning when a big snow laden branch broke off one of our giant firs in the front yard and hit the roof. Bang! Just like an alarm clock. I look out the front window..."what the hell was that." To my surprise the front yard is covered in snow. Snowy Seattle...in November no less. I get out a step ladder and pull the branch off the roof in my jammies and bare feet. It was huge! 10 foot long or so, and bigger than a mans arm at the break.
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11/16/03- Rainy November day in Seattle. Oh- and my DVD burner took a dump on my 'puter. $200 to replace it!
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11/14/03- Well I finished up half the lyrics for "Evil Undead Girlfiend". The music has been done for months, we even shot the video, but the lyrics allude me.
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11/13/03- Made some more updates on Melene Marie Browns web pages at www.go-kustom.com/melenemariebrown.html
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11/10/03- Working on editing the Jet Car Episode of Go-Kustom TV. These guys at North American Eagle ( www.landspeed.com ) are building a jet powered car to make an valid attempt at the land speed record (currently 763.035 mph held by Andy Green in the Thrust SSC back in 1997). They took a surplus F-104 fighter jet and put all kinds of elbow greese into the project to get it to where it is today. These guys just might do it- take back the world speed record!
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11/09/03- Saw the new Matrix Revolutions today with the family. Excellent. The battle for Zion is worth the ticket price alone. I like the heavy "spiritual" nature of all the Matrix films...it's about time spirituality made it back into the mainstream pop culture. Reminds me of the Beatnik fascination with Eastern Religions. My kids were asking me questions all the way home. They seemed more interested in why certain things happened, as opposed to how bad ass Neo's fight scenes were. That says something about the picture. I think the critics of the two new Matrix films are non-thinking types, who go to movies to escape life, rather than confront life. Not that The Matrix will help you confront your own lifes problems, but it lets you know that many others (i.e. the people who made these films, not the characters in them) do care about the same things many of us do. The big "WHY" question...and all that cal.
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11/07/03- Cold, clear days...man is it cold in Seattle.
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11/02/03- Posted a few new pics of Melene Martie Brown on her Go-Kustom pages. Also dropped off the new Earaches Episode of Go-Kustom TV at the TV station. I'm slowly getting caught up on the TV show editing.
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10/31/03- Happy Halloween!
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10/28/03- Lindsay Calkins came over and we wrapped up the "Evil Undead Girlfiend" filming, using a local car dealership desk to simulate a newspapers newsroom. Ahh- the magic of film (or in this instance video).
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10/29/03- Had a meeting with burlesque dancer Miss Trixie Lane and photographer Lance Wagner about helping with Go-Kustom TV and our movie next summer. Very cool and creative people.
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10/26/03- Great day of filming. Shari McLaughlin drove her '62 Chrysler 300 up from Portland to get interviewed for a new segment on Go-Kustom TV called Go-Rides. These are one off segments featuring different Hot Rods & Kustoms, sometimes in stills and sometimes in video footage. She also let us use her car for the "Evil Undead Girlfiend" music video we are working on. Melene Marie Brown and her son Malcolm also came out to finish shots for the video. Melene did a great job driving back and forth and back and forth, running around parking lots with bags of money and hand guns, and falling down in despair in a cemetary.The weather even matched our weeks previous shoot. That doesn't happen often in Seattle during the fall.
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10/24/03- Did some updates on Chris Jones and Carolinas pages on the Go-Kustom site. Chris is an excellent illustrator with a unique hardcore rockin' style. Carolina is the latest Go-Girl with her own pin-up card slated for 2004.
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10/22/03- So I'm tucking my daughter into bed tonight and after I give her a kiss good night she says," Daddy, can you not give me a kiss when you drop me off at school., it embarrasses me." I look at her a little stunned, but understanding. "O.K., if that's how you feel, I won't give you a kiss goodbye at school, I understand." Then playing it up, I continued, " I mean I understand how embarrassing it must be to have your Daddy give you a kiss in front of all the other 1st Graders...so I'll just wait and and wait and wait until I can give you a kiss good night, unless that embarrasses you too?" She got perturbed, "No Daddy! You can give me a kiss good bye at school." I told her we'll see what she wants to do tomorrow at school, and we left it at that. It's unbelievable how fast your kids grow up. I mean, I stopped giving my son, who's now 8 year old, kisses years ago. Occasionally I slip and kiss him on the forehead. He's still cool with hugs from Mommy & Daddy, but I'm sure that will become embarrassing soon enough. It's like when they stop calling you Mommy and Daddy and start calling you Mom and Dad. As a parent it's really cool seeing all the changes your kids go though. It really can give a 360 perspective to your own life and how you dealt with your own parents.
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10/19/03- Had a blast shooting the latest D.A. Sebasstian & The Inner Demons video called "Evil Undead Girlfiend." Big thanks to Melene & Billy for setting up their garage as an evil doctors lab, as well as the mini-cast of Mike Ditmore, Sheri Johnson, Lindsay Calkins and Melenes puppy dogs. More stills at www.go-kustom.com/evilshoot,html
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10/11/03- Spilled coffee all over my G4 keyboard this morning. It worked OK for a few hours then died. Had to go to the Mac Store and buy a new one. $40.00 bucks...now thats an expensive cup o' Joe. Didn't get much done all day because of "the coffee incident." This new keyboard is springy. The keys klick...unlike my old one, who had (before the coffee) been accidentally sprayed with spray adhesive, loaded with crumbs from months of lunch eating over it, and stained with smaller less catastrophic coffee spills. It didn't klick, klick, klick it kinda pumph, pumph, pumphed. I think that was the spray adhesive.
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10/10/03- So I'm going through all my old DAT (small VHS looking tapes used to record hi-end music) and I'm thinking, "Christ- I have alot of old half baked ideas." It's unreal. For every song I've recorded, there are like 40-50 half baked, almost finished songs. Now I'm not bragging, but in my 20 some years of recording, I've released 100's of songs. That would be like 4-5 thousand bits of songs. It's frustrating, because the one thing I and probably most of you feel is- we don't have enough time. In my case it's the time to complete all these fragmented tunes and half cooked themes. Meanwhile Britany Spears and Co. get enough money for me, her and a small town in the Midwest to survive on, for an entire lifetime. Justice, where is the justice. Now some would say we get what we deserve. Some others would say that this life- all of our lives, are only a great school room. So what do we learn from all this. I don't really fuckin' know, the class room is too big- except I've got more songs to complete than I have years to live (that's if I make it to 70+) and Britany Spears could fart and get more attention than I have in my 20 years of recording, if you put my entire musical career in a...well...fart. OK- bad analogy. But why you say do I pick on Britany- because she's an easy target. Most people would agree that if she was 40 lbs. heavier , she would never sell record one (well maybe to her Mom, but Moms are like that). Ahh, but if I were 40 lbs heavier...well that would make me one fat fuck, and yes my Mom would probably still buy my records. So what I'm thinking is- what if like in the Aztec game days, the superstars, sports stars and such were sacrificed to the Sun God at the pinnacle of their careers. How cool would that be! No more Keith & Mick, no more Madonna, no more Zamphire! I mean I don't wish any of those people dead (OK maybe Zamphire), but what if in order to get the brass ring, you had to give your life...no fame and fortune...just an appointment with the good old Sun God and a guy with a big knife cutting out your old ticker. Sacrifice. How bad do you want the brass ring?
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10/08/03- Miss Lindsay came by to tag the second Halloween Episode of Go-Kustom TV. Odd thing is because of the time slot lottery, we are on Halloween night two years in a row. Strange...isn't it?
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10/04/03- Got together with Mike Ditmore, Melene Marie Brown, Sheri Johnson & William Elliot for a logistics meeting and band practice for the "Drive" video. Looks like we will start shooting in November.
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09/30/03- My new song "Drive" is 99.9 percent done. A few more vocal adjustments and it's complete.
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09/28/03- Go-Kustom TV went out to the Rooks Car show and Shake The Shack Rockabilly Ball in beautiful downtown Ballard yesterday. We got alot of great footage and sold a few CD's as well.
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09/20/03- Finished the lyrics for "Drive," after months and months of keeping that tune on the back burner.
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09/14/03- Finished the cover art and editing for The Best Of Go-Kustom TV Volume One & Two. I also ordered the UPC's from the guys that make them for me, so the finished boxed VHS tapes will be ready to ship Monday, or Tuesday.
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09/12/03- Today- Mr. Cash left our little planet...I'm sure he's singing gospel with his wife now.
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09/11/03- Finished rough editing The Best Of Go-Kustom TV Volumes One & Two.
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09/08/03- Started editing The Best Of Go-Kustom TV.
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09/07/03- Man I don't know what I've been fighting for the last few days, but it feels like the flu. I feel better for a day or two and then- wham! I can hardly get outa bed.
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09/05/03- Got the 1st verse for Drive finished. Man...these lyrics are kickin' my ass! Feeling better.
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09/04/03- Feelin' sick. Still going into my day job.
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09/03/03- Kids goin' back to school. 3rd and 1st grades, for my two children. Time goes by extra quick after you have kids.
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09/01/03- Working on my new tune Drive. Laid down some new backing vocals. We shoot the video for it, end of this month, so I better finish the damn song soon!
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08/31/03- Finished up the last song for the Flathand 5 album!!! I started this project in 1998 with myself and several drummers laying down the basic tracks- all drums and percussion. The project slowly built over the years, with me adding various musicians to build the songs from the drumming foundations. Some of the drum tracks landed on my own CD (Isabella Rossellini & Evil Undead Girlfiend). This album is very different from Kill Switch...Klick or d.A. Sebasstian & The Inner Demons stuff. Moe like something Bill Laswell or Brian Eno might do.
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08/24/03- Go-Kustom TV went over to the Second Annual Hotrod-A-Rama in Tacoma. Cool event with cooler weather as well. Lotsa great cars and bands.
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08/19/03- Burning promo DVD's of the new Monster Monster video.
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08/19/03- Didn't get much sleep last night. Power crews were up all night fixing the blown transformers, and the news crews hung out, talking and filming outside our front door until midnight. Just relaxed and went to bed early. The house still smells like smoke.
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08/18/03- We had a huge neighborhood fire. The fire spread to within 2 houses of ours. It started down the street behind a neighbors backyard. It climbed up the hill and jumped into a tree and with the high winds and record dry conditions, spread from one tree to the next within minutes. Because I work down the hill from where I live, I could see the fire creeping towards our house, I ran home to help evacuate. I watched as one 5 story pine, two houses away, burst into flames- literally exploding. You could feel the heat wave from the blast. Unbelievable. Once my wife and kids were safely out and going to a predesignated meeting place, I went back and sprayed our roof with water and got our dogs out. As I was walking down the hill, the fireman said the road was now blocked for safety reasons. This was a road that 5 minutes before was completely open and safe. As I walked with the dogs, I figured our house was a goner. It looked hopeless. It took the 50 firefighters almost and hour to control the blaze. When we were able to re-enter our neighborhood, we feared the worst, we didn't know what to expect. Charred trees lined the street and news crews and firemen meandered around looking for hot spots. When we got to our house, everything was fine. A dew branches lay in the front yard, and an anonymous woman had turned on our garden hose to flood our yard and keep it from burning. What a way to start the week!
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08/13/03- This month is flying by! Started work on a new edit of Monster Monster. The plan is to do one as an all zombie edit and then mix the shop and zombie versions into a third version. That might be overkill, but I have over an hours more good video footage to use. I hate to waste all those good images. having three versions of the same music video can't hurt either. We are planning to shoot a video for my song Drive next month, then a video for Evil Undead Girlfiend in October/November.
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08/11/03- Mailed off the remix for PsychoCharger.
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08/09/03- Finished up the roughs of the remix I'm doing for NYC psychobilly band- PsychoCharger. Ended up arranging it in Reason. It's alot easier to arrange in the Reason timeline, especially since I'm using alot of synth sounds from the Reason program. That means I don't have to bounce back and forth between Reason and Cubase as much. I still need to add additional cymbals, snare rolls and stuff. It'll be done tomorrow.
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08/08/03- Episode 32 of Go-Kustom TV is done and printed to VHS.
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08/05/03- Lindsay Calkins came over to tag the Dusty 45's Go-Kustom TV show episode. This one will air in two weeks.
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08/02/03- Working on the remix I'm doing for PsychoCharger and started dumping The Donnettes, Dusty 45's and Redneck Girlfriend shows for Go-Kustom TV. Both Dusty 45's and Redneck are playing the Hotrod-A-Rama in Tacoma and I'd like to get them on the show before the end of August.
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08/01/03- Lindsay Calkins came over to do some tags for the next episode of Go-Kustom TV. I have to have the episode ready to drop at the station tomarrow.
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07/31/03- Finally- the Monster Monster video is completely finished!
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07/29/03- Spent the last few days working solid on the Monster Monster video. It's almost done. Gotta fix some of the colors and do some minor adjustments.
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07/25/03- Taxes.
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07/24/03- All day and most of the evening doing my 2002 taxes. We thave wo home offices (my wifes business and my label) and filed an extension for 2002. We have to have the numbers into our accountant by early next week. My eyes are blurry...I need more coffee! Arrrrgh!
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07/23/03- Spent the whole day doing taxes. What a great way to spend your vacation! On the up side- I spent the evening editing the Monster Monster video. I'm fixing little edits and working on a few holes that just don't look right. I'd say I'm 80% finished. It's presentable now - I even burned a DVD and tested it on the ol' Living Room Tele, but I am the perfectionist when it comes to work that hundreds of thousands of people will eventually see.
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07/22/03- Got the first rough of the Monster Monster video completed! After almost losing it from a computer crash and losing 2 weeks editing time to reconfiguring my 'puter, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I also did a quick design of the DVD cover for the video E.P. that this video will be on. The finished VHS/DVD will have Monster Monster, Drive, Evil Undead Girl Fiend, Example and a few bonus clips on it. I hope to have it available for sale early 2004. I also managed to do a first rough of the remix I'm doing for PsychoCharger. Saw The Hulk yesterday with the kids. Pretty good movie- a bit long, but at least they did a better job of character development than Spiderman.
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07/19/03- Spent the last week reconfiguring and reinstalling software on the old computer. That's two weeks of lost time! But did download Adobe Type Manager and a whole bucket load of fonts from frontfreak.com. This should help get the graphic wheels a turning for various projects. I also managed to get a few hours in on the Monster Monster video and PsychoCharger's remix.
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07/13/03- Spent all weekend sorting out the computer. Did several hours of video editing on the rescued Monster Monster video. I'm up to the end third of the song, rough edited. I'm planning on doing two completely different versions and then a hybrid version mixing the two. The first version will be mostly band shots from our shoot in Michael Soldano's Shop (see below). The second version will be lo-fi zombie footage that I shot with me in zombie make-up. The hybrid version will possibly be a split screen of the two. I'm gonna have to experiment. PsychoCharger also just sent me "Bastard Son" to remix. I can't seem to get my Reason software to work on my computer without freezing up. I need to get that program up and running to work on the remix.
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07/12/03- Well I'm back on line. The ole' computer took a dump last Saturday. I spent every night since then trying to recover files and get the thing running smoothly. I had just reinstalled the Mac OS on the first partition of my Hard Drive, turned off the machine and presto- it couldn't find the Hard Drive. I tried everything, including Norton Utilities. Nothing could find the Drive. I took the beast to a Mac repair shop, they couldn't figure it out (after I paid them $130 in diagnostic fees). Finally as I sat their next to the repair tech, I askedhim to try initiating the Hard Drive in the partitions menu. It read the partitions, but we had to initialize the disc. I got the computer home spent the next two days reconfiguring the Drive and saving what data I could. Then Thursday, crash...again. I went through the whole thing all over. I probably could have erased the whole drive, reinstalled the software and got it up faster,but I was trying to save my last months worth of editing on the Monster Monster video (which I hadn't backed-up on a DVD-R yet). I did recover the video. Anyways the worst is over (I hope). I lost all my e-mail, so if I haven't e-mailed any of you back, drop me a line. Also the entire e-mail mailing list (over 100 people is gone). If you want back in on the Go-Kustom Monthly Newsletter please go to http://www.go-kustom.com/e-mailing.html
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07/05/03- Saw an awesome fireworks display up in Edmonds (north of Seattle) last night with the family. We went to the Edmonds waterfront, so we could watch the Edmonds Stadium display as well as the fireworks across the water far away. It was like being surrounded by fireworks...and the sound- blasting your ears and then echoing across the water was intense. I wish I had brought my Mini-Disc Recorder.Where we parked was also next to the ferry teminal and ralroad tracks. We saw trains and watched the ferries go out to sea as we waited for the shows to start. I've been to many fireworks displays in my lifetime, and this was by far (because of the viewing location) the best.
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07/04/03- Independance Day. Still video editing. Came across some very cool new Final Cut Pro video filters. One called Silk & Fog does amazing things to the video. I need more aftermarket video filters. The ones in Final Cut Pro are pretty basic.
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07/01/03- More Monster Monster video editing. I've been working on ity non-stop for the last week. Who knew a 3 minute music video would take so much time to edit.
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06/28/03- Go-Kustom went over to the massive Greenwood Carshow to film and sell CD's. This event has grown to unbelievable proportions in the last few years. They shut down 17 blocks of Greenwood Ave., here in Seattle and turn it into a gearhead street fair. The show opens at 10 AM and goes to 4PM. Our booth was right next to the salmon burger and sno-cone booths. Talk about prime locale! The lines from their booths spilled into our booth, especially with the heat and sno-cones booth. We sold bucket loads of CD's and got some excellent interviews for the TV Show.
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06/27/03- I went to the E.R. last night. Had mild chest pains and numbness in my left hand. Turned out to be anxiety (money & life issues), which is what I figured, but you can never be too careful with cardiovascular issues. I have high blood pressure and cholesterol for a 39 year old, but am relatively active. They did a chest x-ray, pulled blood and hooked me up to an EEG machine. At least I know now I have a strong heart. Did a bit more Monster Monster video editing.
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06/25/03- Monster Monster video editing. Detail work for the first 1/3.
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06/22/03- More video editing and got a few more pics up for a mini-page I'm doing for artist Chris Jones on the Go-Kustom website. He's got some very cool psychobilly stryle artwork, check 'em out at http://www.go-kustom.com/chrisjones.html
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06/21/03- Editing the Monster Monster video. It's looking good.
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06/15/03- Went over to the Rooks Car Clubs Blessing Of The Cars in Carkeek Park. I missed the actual Blessing (where the cars are blessed by a Preacher)- but did manage to video tape a few of the members cars for Go-Kustom TV. I'll have to get there early next year. This is a very unique and cool event for Seattle.
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06/08/03- Great weekend...got alot done. Worked on the Monster Monster video editing. There is so much good footage from that shoot, it's going to be hard to figure out what to cut. I laid out the main vocal shots and clipped and tagged the various camera angles. Its at the point of a preliminary sketch of an oil painting. It will take some time- but I hope to have it finished by late next month. I also added Trombone and Backing Vocals to Drive. A heavy heavy mofo tune that one sure is becoming. We will shoot a video for Drive in a month or two, so I'll have a d.A. Sebasstian video E.P. (Monster, Monster, Drive, Example and a TBA song) for release this Fall. Took the family to the Matrix Reloaded . Awesome film, very philosophical. The special effects were mind numbing after awhile. These films (part three is out November) better win the Academy Award for "Best Special Effects".
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06/01/03-Monster Monster Part Two. Holli Decker came over to do some additional close-ups as a model. Yesterday she was running all the video cameras. Some stills. I have to get the camera back to 911 Media Arts Center tomorrow, so it's gonna be a late night of filming.
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05/31/03- Had a great day shooting the new video for my tune Monster Monster. Klick here for some stills. Thanks to everybody for helping get this thing done.
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05/25/03- Revamped the Go-Kustom TV section of the site to make it easier to navigate. Finished up editing the next two episodes of Go-Kustom TV.
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05/22/03-Went to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and a root canal. Double ouch! Lindsay came over to tag the next two Go-Kustom TV episodes. I'm really glad we got her on the show. She comes over on a moments notice, never complains and is always fun to work with.
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05/20/03-Working on lyrics for Drive and Evil Undead Girlfiend. So this entails taking all these scraps of paper and notebook pages, that I've jotted lyric bits on, transferring them into the computer, printing them out, scribbling all over the printouts and retyping them back in. It's like a analog-digital-analog feedback loop. I still have boxes of notebooks filled with half baked poetry and lyrics. Creative fallout.
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05/18/03-Finished all the music for Drive as well as the backing vocals for the chorus. That one just fell out of the sky. Sometimes it works like that- the inspiration hits, you go with it and the song is done in a matter of hours. I still need to finish the verses- so it's not done yet. Sold my '66 Dodge A100 Van today. A guy from Chicago drove all the way here to Seattle to buy it and tow it home. He collects old Dodge trucks and vans. I didn't want to sell- but also didn't have the time to restore her. I think she's got a good home now.
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05/17/03-Started writing a new song called Drive. It's heavy and based on a guitar riff I was dinking around with yesterday. Almost finished writing and recording the music in one day. Also finished the guitar solo and ending for Evil Undead Girlfiend.
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05/16/03-June Carter Cash passed yesterday. She was a powerhouse of a woman and a great, great singer/songwriter.
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05/15/03-Today I had a tutorial at 911 Media Arts Center to learn how to use their bad ass Canon XL - XE something or other rental camera. You have to get certified to rent it- and we have a shoot at the end of the month for my new video for my older song- Monster Monster. I learned a bunch-o-crud, not only about the camera, but about composition and gain levels and shutter settings. Fun stuff.
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05/14/03- Babette LaFave came over to the studio to get a mixed CDR burned for her upcoming Burlesque Tour she's doing. We basically laid out the show's audio (Primus, Midnight Choir, Marilyn Manson, Nina Hagen, etc.), so the sound guy just has to push play on the CD Player and away they go! I also worked on my guitar solo for Evil Undead Girfiend.
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05/10/03- Dropped off next two weeks Go-Kustom TV episodes...wait a minute...dejavu. Anyways worked on the website a bit (that's a friggin' time hole if there ever was one). I also finished Episode 28 (used to be A-Z but I ran outa letters) today. That one will air May 31st and features an interview Mike Ditmore and I did over a year ago with Mike Wimer of Noxious Emotion and the Musicwerks record store. I was sick (i.e. hardcore snot-fest) part of last week so I didn't get as much done as I wanted the last week. Oh yea I also bought two new Blues Samplers at Fred Meyers for $3.33 each. Good stuff for th eprice. I've been getting way into the Blues the last few years.
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05/05/03- Dropped off next weeks Go-Kustom TV episode at the TV Station. Worked on the guitar solo for my tune Evil Undead Girlfiend. P.S. rent Drumline if you get the chance. It's a cool (though predictable) movie.
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05/02/03- Lindsay came over to do some Go-Kustom TV tags for the next two episodes.
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04/28/03- Went down to Capital Hill to film The Bad Things for Go-Kustom TV. Lindsay Calkins did a quick interview with 'em and then they hit the stage. Very dramatic lighting and stage set up. The sound was iffy at places (feed-back, dead mics- not the bands fault), but the band persevered and still put on a kick ass show. Definitely a band to see, if you get the chance.
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04/26/03- Got a hair cut. Recorded the electric bass and second rhythm guitar part for my song Evil Undead Girlfiend. Also filmed a little for my new music video for my older song- Monster Monster. These are bit parts, the main filming will be in May.
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04/24/03- Mixed two more tracks for the Flathand 5 CD. Yes- that's right the project I've been working on, in the background since 1998 is almost finished! One more song to record and it's done. But will it ever get released...we'll have to wait and see. A friend loaned me the DVD of the Johnny Cash version of Hurt . I cried again. Great therapy.
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04/20/03- Saw the new video by Johnny Cash for his Nine Inch Nails cover of the song Hurt. Christ- I got teary eyed half way through it. I don't know if it was knowing Johnny is coming to the end of his life, or Trent Reznors lyrics as sung by the Man In Black. It just got me deep. I wrote Reznor off after his first record (which was fucking brilliant BTW). I had a hard time getting past all the overly produced gothic noise collages that became Nine Inch Nails sound after Pretty Hate Machine. Hearing Hurt sung that way makes me want to reevaluate the power of Reznor's lyric writing. I was always a little jealous of Reznors success and always bothered by some of the comparisons certain rock journalists made between Kill Switch...Klick & Nine Inch Nails. With Reznor being almost a household word with the kids of the nineties, and myself hovering on the edge of musical underground obscurity- it was hard to give a shit about what NIN was doing. At any rate- I'm sure Reznor is proud to have Johnny cover his tune. That's like winning a Grammy or something.
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04/18/03- Finished up mixing The Bad Things 5 song demo. Some real unique tracks. I love the instrumentation, consisting of Upright Bass, Found Percussion, Tap Shoes, Saw, Banjo, Accordion and Acoustic Guitar. These guys and gal are definitely worth checking out live, if your in the Northwest area.
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04/14/03- Once again The Bad Things came by the studio to work on their new 5 song demo. Got all the vocals done. Now it's just some guitar overdubs and mixing and viola- dinner is served!
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04/13/03- The Bad Things came over yesterday to do some demo recording. Very cool music- featuring accordion, upright bass, home-made percussion, banjo and guitar. Got basics done for 5 songs. Also got some rough mixes finished of Melene Marie Browns recordings of a few weeks ago.
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04/08/03- Sick again today. Got a head cold. Slept until 1PM. I feel rested, but still quite snotty.
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04/07/03- Called in sick to my day gig. Gotta head cold. Been real busy keeping up with the Go-Kustom TV editing. I finished up a two part episode featuring Tim Conder's - Armageddon Top Fuel (both episodes were done 04/05/03). Now I'm working on The Rooks Car Show Episode. Gotta keep moving or else go back to the reruns. I'll have to wait and see how our new Saturdays at 10:30 PM time slot is gonna fair. I liked Thursdays, but we'll have to see.
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04/05/03- Looks like our Armed Forces are in Baghdad now. I've been on the fence about the whole Iraqi Freedom thing. A part of me understands that we really need to get Sodamn Insane outa there with his Weapons of Mass Destruction, but I think Bush needs to take a few classes in International Diplomacy 101. I mean we're in now and I support our guys and gals to the fullest. They risk their lives for our freedoms. America is great because we embody every ethnic and religious perspective and keep it that way by our freedom. We are a microcosm of the world itself. Our soldiers also represent this perspective and diversity. I just hope it (the war) is over soon. This is a Go-Kustom not World News page- so I'll shut up now.
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03/30/03- Melene Marie Brown and Holly came over to do some more vocal tracks for their demo. We got two songs done. A productive day.
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03/29/03- Editing the Armageddon Top Fuel video for Go-Kustom TV. Hope to have it ready for next weeks show.
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03/28/03- OK, so my computer went down again, and I spent the last few days rebooting and trying to recover audio files. I think it's all good now. It's always like one step forward two steps back with computers. You save alot of time until they go down and waste all the time you saved...
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03/24/03- Melene Marie Brown and Holly came over to do some vocal tracks. The ole 'puter kept a crashing so we only got a scratch vocal and intro part done.
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03/18/03- Melene Marie Brown came over to the studio with her band (Austin from The Spectres & Midnight Choir, Holly & Jimmy) to work on a demo recording.
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03/15/03- Lindsay Calkins came over to do video tags for the next two episodes of Go-Kustom TV. One is a tribute to Metal Blade Records and the other is a tribute to Mute Records. Both of these labels (along with Kill Rock Stars, Tooth & Nail, Metropolis & Cleopatra Records) send us tons of videos for the show- unlike some other un-named indie-labels who think they're to "rockstar" to bother getting free airplay on Public Access here in Seattle. Go figure. I also swung by Display and Costume a very cool Seattle store, with costumes and props and things. I'm lookin' for costumes for the next d.A. Sebasstian & The Inner Demons video for the song Monster Monster- we will be shooting next May. I'm also trying to get make-up ideas for my first feature film, to be shot in the not so distant future. I've been working on the screenplay which is about 5/8's written (in a first draft).
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03/14/03- My spring allergies are kickin' in. I'm takin' Allegra, but it doesn't work so good. I'm allergic to some kinda early spring tree pollen. Wasn't born with allergies, developed them the last 7 or 8 years. Ladeeda.
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03/11/03- Been working on the Go-Kustom website and editing Go-Kustom TV Shows for the last few days. I also uploaded a bunch of new video clips from Go-Kustom TV at www.go-kustom.com/clips.html
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03/09/03- Mike Ditmore & Go-Kustom TV went over to interview the guys at North American Eagle II in their top secret hanger in Tacoma. These guys are building a jet car to try and break the world speed record! Their operation is amazing for a shoe string budget. Look for the interview on Go-Kustom TV in the upcoming months. Oh yea - their website is at www.landspeed.com
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03/01/03- Lindsay Calkins came over to do video tags for the next two episodes of Go-Kustom TV. After she left I worked on video editing. I am so far behind on the show. It's more work than I thought- producing a 30 minute weekly TV show, but at least we are giving serious exposure to underground artists. That makes it all worth it.
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02/25/03- Last night- Go-Kustom TV went down to The Crocodile Cafe here in Seattle, to check out The Dirty Birds. We've missed them a few times, and wanted to make sure we finally got this kick ass Olympia based rock band on the show. They are also gonna be featured on the upcoming Girlfiends & She-Devils compilation we are putting together- due out spring/summer 2003.
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02/22/03- DragStrip Riots CD release party was at the EMP's Liquid Lounge last night. Great turnout. Also on the bill was The All American Playboys, and Leon Berman of KEXP did a live radio broadcast as well. A late night and I got a tooth pulled today, so I'm gonna go lay down. Klick for more pics.
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02/16/03- Finished both the remix for Vanessa Lowe (song 30 Feet Deep) and Faith & Disease (song Halo). 9 hours straight today- that's alot of friggin' computer time over the last two days!
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02/15/03- Worked on Halo, all day. Logged in 10 straight hours- like cross country drivin', only stopping to eat and pee.
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02/14/03- Eric Cooley from Faith & Disease says they need the remix I'm working on for them, a song called Halo, by next Thursday. I'm gonna try and crank it out. Got a few hours in on the remix then went out to dinner with the wife and kids for Valentine's Day. Went to Stella's in the U-District. Excellent Italian food.
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02/13/03- Just got the contacts from Troma. They wanna use some of my music for a new film they are releasing. Looks like a good deal.
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02/12/03- Did some drum work on the Vanessa Lowe remix and a bit of Go-Kustom TV Show editing.
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02/09/03- Went up to the snow at Crystal Mountain to take a break from the city grind for the day. Sometimes it's essential to get away so as to maintain your sanity in these stressed out times. Also tried out a few guitar lines on the remix for Vanessa Lowe's song 30 Feet Deep.
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02/08/03- Go-Kustom TV went down to 911 Media Arts Studios last night, to film a solo performance of Vancouver B.C. based Burlesque Dancer - Kitten Coquette. A steamy performance indeed! Lindsay Calkins & Melene Marie Brown went down to The Tractor Tavern to interview & film Deke Dickerson.
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02/05/03- Bounced the remix of 30 Feet Deep for Vanessa Lowe out of Cubase and then back in as a sub mixed version. Most of the edits transferred clean. Now I'm in the home stretch to finish this track.
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02/03/03- Go-Kustom TV went back to The Rendezvous Sunday night, to film a Burlesque work shop and show put on by Gun Street Girl - Nico. The place was packed for both shows and we got some great footage.
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02/02/03- Go-Kustom TV went to The Rendezvous in Seattle last night, to film The Earaches and The Wannabees. An excellent show!
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02/01/03- Running errands all day. Dropped my wife's amp at American Music for repair, and took my son in to be tested for the Highly Capable program. It's an accelerated education program for bright children. I was in a similar program in elementary school. He was a little stressed, but thinks he did good on the tests. I was at the Fred Meyer's electronic department when I heard about the Columbia Space Shuttle going down. A whole wall of TV's simultaneously dishing out the bad news. I hadn't been around a TV all day long, so it took me by surprise. I was asking the cashier for more details. Later I heard a stock guy in the back room saying, "They don't know what to call the Shuttle crash." Another voice said, "What do you mean?" The stock guy continued, "It's like it wasn't exactly an explosion, or an implosion, more like a disintegration. The TV anchors don't know what to call the crash. They are fishing for a catch phrase. Looks like they are settling for the word accident." I also added cymbals to the Vanessa Lowe remix I'm working on.
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01/26/03- Eric Cooley from Faith & Disease came by to drop off a new version of the WAV files for a remix they want me to do for their new CD. the song is called "She's Got A Halo" and is loosely built on a song Eric and I did in a side project called The Ginsberg Files a few years back. He also dropped off a new Compilation with a track I recorded for Faith & Disease on it. It's a Christmas compilation called A Dark Noel and is a "Best Of" two previous Christmas music compilations that Projekt Records put out (see pic above). The resume just keeps a growin'. I also did some work on the remix I'm doing for Vanessa Lowe. That song is turning out sweet (finally!). I still have some adjustments in the timing and a few more bits to add, but the tune is pretty much finished. Went to Austin (bassist in The Spectres) and Paula's (aka Babette LaFave) house warming party last night. They just got married and all that. A nice little soiree.
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01/25/03- Got the new contracts about distribution for Go-Kustom from HepCat Distribution yesterday. Looks like a good deal- we're going with it.
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01/21/03- A decent sized movie production company expressed interest in using songs from the Kill Switch...Klick - Almost Ambient CD for one of their upcoming releases. I'll post more when/if it's a done deal.
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01/20/03- Worked on the Vanessa Lowe remix all night. Bounced the tracks out of Reason and into Cubase to add more linear audio tracks. It's starting to come together.
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01/18/03- DragStrip Riot came by and proofed the films & artwork for their new CD. They thought it looked damn good, so it's going back to the printers early next week. We are on schedule.
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01/17/03- We may have a new distributor for Go-Kustom Rekords! Nothings set yet- so keep the fingers crossed.
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01/16/03- Jesse James from The Spectres came over to help Lindsay tag his interview segment. This was for the episode to air the last Thursday in January on Go-Kustom TV. I also got DragStrip Riots artwork back from the printers, for their new CD. The guys are coming over next Saturday to proof it. If they like it, we should have the CD's back from the pressing plant by end of January.
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01/07/03- Got more done on a remix I'm doing for Vanessa Lowe. The song is "30 Feet Deep" and has been especially challenging, because of the varying tempos of the song. It's a great tune, and I hope I can do it justice. One verse and last chorus is all that's left and then the drum embellishments.
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01/04/03- Above is the cover for a new compilation I've got a track on called Annihilation & Seduction put out by BLC Productions. I'll post here with links when it's out. My track is Kill Switch...Klick - Living In Your Hell II.
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01/04/03- Busy busy busy. Doin' a few home things, a few other things. We had a big series of storms last week, that knocked huge branches off our trees and put down part of our back yard fence. I spent a good deal of today repairing that. Dropped two more episodes of Go-Kustom TV off at the TV Station as well. I have been editing for the last few days to get caught up and free up some time to do more music projects.
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01/01/03- Happy New Year! Lindsay Calkins came over last night- last year, to tag three consecutive Go-Kustom TV shows for this months airing.
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