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Hey, good morning.

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Welcome to the Unstarving Musician Podcast.

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I am Robonzo.

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This is my podcast.

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And yes, I say good morning, but good whatever time of day it is for you.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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I’m so happy to have you here with me.

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Happy to be in your earbuds.

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How are you?

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Where are you?

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What are you wearing?

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I need to know all of these things.

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Hey, before I get into today’s guest, a couple of little announcement things.

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Abe Partridge, who’s been on the podcast a couple of times.

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I love that guy.

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He’s a great folk singer.

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He’s also got a punk band side hustle.

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He’s on tour.

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You can check out his tour dates at abepartridge.com.

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I hope you will if he’s going to be in your town.

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I definitely recommend seeing him.

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I’d like to see him.

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I’ve not seen him live.

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I need to do that.

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In other news, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone died at 82 yesterday.

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I did not know but he was born in Denton, Texas not far from where I was born in Fort Worth.

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He was raised in the Bay Area of Vallejo in Northern California, not far from where I lived with my wife Sammy for 17 years.

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And Sammy is still alive by the way in case you have never heard me talk about her.

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In case I made it sound like she wasn’t.

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She’s still here with me.

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But yeah, Sly Stone, he is I guess kind of responsible for perfecting funk and fusing it with all kinds of other styles, R&B among them.

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And he was a big star at Woodstock as I recall.

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Anyway, it’s kind of a surprise.

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I know it’s kind of old, but still seemed like it was a little early.

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I don’t know what was going on with him, but may he rest in peace and may his family heal from his departure.

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And then in kind of sad news for me, Mark Maron, the comedian and pioneering podcast host of WTF, announced that his show is winding down.

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He and his producer decided to wind it down this fall.

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They launched back in September of 2009 when there were fewer than 70,000 podcasts in existence by my estimates.

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Now, those weren’t all active, but to put that in perspective, today there are estimated to be about 4.5 million in existence.

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Now, active is a much smaller number.

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It’s around 15 percent, but if my numbers are right.

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But anyway, this speaks to the fact that Maron, among a handful of others, was one of the pioneers of the medium.

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And he was doing great things at his show.

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I was, like a lot of people, kind of surprised and sad when I heard the news.

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But I’m happy for him and his producer, Brendan.

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And I hope all of his die-hard fans, many of whom he’s really helped, that they can move on with Mark.

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And so, congratulations, Mark Marron.

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Thanks for making this a great place to yammer on about things like independent musicians.

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My guest today is Christian DeWild.

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Christian and I are old friends from the San Francisco South San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose Redwood City to be specific.

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We played in a band called Dry White Toast.

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And I unearthed a couple of MP3s as I was editing this conversation for your listening pleasure.

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I may have to post those.

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So there might be a link in the show notes for that.

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But Christian is a multi-faceted artist based in Folsom, California who really seamlessly blends music, literature and visual art into a compelling creative practice.

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I learned a lot about him in our short conversation, but I knew he was funny and I knew he had a great voice from working with him in the band.

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But Christian works and has worked for an electrical contractor for a number of years.

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He does that by day, but his true passion lies in his diverse artistic pursuits.

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He is the author of two self-published books, Dead Flowers, Let’s Get Married On Halloween, and Some Days Are Ashes, Poems, Limericks, and Illustrations.

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As a musician, he has just released his first single of 2025 called By Your Side, recorded and self-produced on his analog Tascam system which we talk about.

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He’s also an active painter and performer who is deeply embedded in Folsom’s blues scene.

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What makes him particularly fascinating as a music artist and just a creative person is his philosophical approach to creativity.

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He’s someone who gets completely obsessive about whatever project he’s working on while also contemplating the finite nature of life and the urgency that brings to artistic expression.

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That was a deep bit of conversation and you might hear it in my voice, but it was kind of moving and had me reflecting on my own pursuits.

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So thanks for that, Christian.

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It was a gift.

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All right, here is me talking with Christian DeWild.

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Are you still in Sacramento?

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Folsom, yeah.

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Yeah.

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Folsom, okay.

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Still here.

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Is that a little bit closer or right out in the same area?

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I don’t remember.

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Same area?

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I mean closer to San Jose.

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No, it’s closer to San Francisco, about two hours away from San Francisco, what, east, northeast, I guess.

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Yeah, 20 minutes from Sacramento.

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We’re actually going to San Jose Friday for a memorial for a friend who killed himself last year.

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Oh, geez.

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What happened?

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I don’t really know.

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I know someone who, we had a mutual friend who is a therapist, and he’d asked her for a referral which she gave him, and things were supposedly going well.

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But my friend, another mutual friend had seen him and said that he’d been a little bummed out about some girl that he was dating, like maybe they weren’t.

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And then I think somebody else said the same thing, but also afterwards his aunt was telling us that she was trying to plan a birthday thing for him which was around the corner, and he was kind of putting it off.

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Okay, so he wasn’t up for it.

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That’s terrible.

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No, but he was living with these two women, just friends, roommates in Los Gatos, and strangled himself when one of them was out of the country.

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I’m sure it was all terrible.

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Yeah, it’s not more common than I remember.

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I don’t know if that’s because I’m an adult.

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I know, I see it.

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I see it a lot more with kids and, yeah, middle schoolers, high school.

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Now, it’s a sign of the times.

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That may be true, yeah, because they’re under a lot of weird pressure.

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Yeah, kids have it really, really hard right now.

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Social media, just everything.

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There’s just so much shit that I didn’t even, well, we didn’t have when it was going on.

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We just had a few, life was more basic.

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Just like what our parents used to say, it was a simpler time.

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Totally, totally.

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But I dealt with, yeah, having three, especially the girls.

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How old are your kids now?

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Oh God, my daughters are 18.

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They’re graduating high school this year.

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They’re not twins, are they?

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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Yeah, twin girls and then our boy is 22.

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Wow.

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I didn’t know you had twin girls.

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That’s crazy.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Nuts.

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Nuts.

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Yeah.

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It’s different, man.

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Yeah, I bet.

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But hey, you’re a better person for it, I’m sure.

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Maybe.

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I don’t know.

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It depends on the day.

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Tell me about your new single, By Your Side.

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It just came out this year, right?

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I think it just, I think it came out maybe a couple of weeks ago.

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Nice.

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Congratulations.

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Yeah.

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Thank you.

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What I’m doing is I’m recording singles.

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I’m just doing singles.

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No albums.

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When I have a single done, I release it.

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So this was just one of those.

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A song that actually came pretty quick, which is really rare for me nowadays.

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The chord progression came really quick.

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The melody, vocal melody came really quick.

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And the lyrics, within a matter of a couple of maybe days, which is very uncommon for me nowadays.

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What, like when you assuming it takes you more than, well, what is not quick for you?

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I think it probably varies for everyone.

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What is not quick for me?

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Yeah.

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Two, three years.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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Maybe longer than that.

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I’ve got lyrics that are probably five, six years old.

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I’ve got some melodies that are probably the same.

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Yeah.

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They just kind of don’t go anywhere and then kind of just kind of shelve them for a bit.

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I assume you write with some regularity, which I want to talk about.

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And do you play the guitar regularly or like, or whenever you do, do you catch an idea on your phone or something and just kind of file it in case it turns into something?

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Yeah.

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That’s yeah.

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A lot of they all 90, 95% of them start with the guitar.

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Starts with the chord progression or the lick, the riff.

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And then, oh, I kind of like that.

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And then you get a vocal melody goes on top of that.

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And then once I get, well, that’s kind of cool.

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So now what would I do for a chorus?

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Well, okay, these chords work.

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And then all that works pretty quick.

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What I get hung up on are the lyrics.

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I’m very particular about them.

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That doesn’t surprise me somehow.

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Yeah, yeah.

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How did you record it?

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Did you do it yourself or do you get some help?

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No, I do everything myself now.

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The early stuff was in a studio and I spend so much time and money chasing sounds that it’s just not practical.

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It’s just not worth it.

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It’s just too much money, too much time away.

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So I got the equipment myself and I just started driving me crazy and the band crazy and the engineer crazy.

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I just drive myself crazy.

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What DAW do you use?

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Just no software.

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So it’s a standalone board.

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Tascam with 24 tracks and goes on an SD card.

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And then from there, I go to something called…

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I’m drawing a blank right now.

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I use the software just for converting it over to a WAV file.

00:12:10.600 –> 00:12:12.280
You’re so throwback.

00:12:12.280 –> 00:12:12.960
Yes.

00:12:12.960 –> 00:12:14.740
Yes.

00:12:14.740 –> 00:12:15.840
That’s awesome.

00:12:15.900 –> 00:12:17.760
Yeah, with new technology.

00:12:17.760 –> 00:12:19.420
Yeah, so you don’t have to play…

00:12:19.420 –> 00:12:20.260
Maybe you do sometimes.

00:12:20.260 –> 00:12:21.440
You don’t have to play everything live.

00:12:21.440 –> 00:12:25.920
You can do like some guitar and then put your vocals on top and whatever else.

00:12:25.920 –> 00:12:27.900
Recording-wise or live or playing live?

00:12:27.900 –> 00:12:29.220
Recording.

00:12:29.220 –> 00:12:29.500
Yes.

00:12:29.500 –> 00:12:32.820
No, everything is done isolated track by track.

00:12:32.820 –> 00:12:33.920
That’s awesome, man.

00:12:33.920 –> 00:12:35.300
You need to make some videos.

00:12:35.300 –> 00:12:36.820
Nobody’s doing that anymore.

00:12:36.820 –> 00:12:38.920
I mean, not at home.

00:12:38.920 –> 00:12:39.460
Not at home.

00:12:39.700 –> 00:12:40.460
Oh, yeah.

00:12:40.460 –> 00:12:41.820
There’s no editing.

00:12:41.820 –> 00:12:42.800
Yeah, there’s no editing.

00:12:42.800 –> 00:12:46.220
There’s no visual mixing board.

00:12:47.620 –> 00:12:53.620
I can’t tweak any of the waves or whatever they do.

00:12:53.620 –> 00:12:56.120
So you’re doing everything until you get it right.

00:12:56.120 –> 00:12:57.140
Exactly.

00:12:58.400 –> 00:13:01.360
I’ll do it a hundred times if I have to, and I have.

00:13:01.360 –> 00:13:02.920
I’ve done a guitar, I don’t know how many times.

00:13:02.920 –> 00:13:21.480
I’ve gotten a guitar part completely right to where it was perfect, and the last note is ringing out, and the dishwasher in the kitchen is finishing its cycle, and the water is squirting out into the sink.

00:13:23.540 –> 00:13:25.640
That’s amazing.

00:13:25.640 –> 00:13:32.040
So you’re kind of, in a way, you’re doing it live or you’re doing like one, well, not one take, but single take.

00:13:32.040 –> 00:13:45.520
It’s funny because I’ve only done a couple of singles, but the first one, especially for the drums anyway, I just wanted a single track until I got it right.

00:13:45.520 –> 00:13:50.080
It just didn’t make any sense to me to be trying to piece something together.

00:13:50.080 –> 00:14:09.100
Now, in the second one, I did have to piece together a middle section because it just sounded so wonky, and I was rushed for time and it still wasn’t perfect, but I just told the engineer he probably would have heard it anyway, and he probably adjusted some of that, but he was real happy with it.

00:14:10.380 –> 00:14:25.340
Then I probably, with a digital workstation, definitely have the luxury of singing bits at a time, but I think a lot of people are always editing stuff, which you can do.

00:14:25.760 –> 00:14:27.120
It’s really easy.

00:14:27.120 –> 00:14:28.640
Yeah, you have the technology to do it, right?

00:14:29.520 –> 00:14:33.080
It’s funner to me to just try and do it.

00:14:33.080 –> 00:14:35.160
I see you feel like you played live or something, you know.

00:14:35.240 –> 00:14:40.280
Yeah, I feel like I’m cheating otherwise.

00:14:40.280 –> 00:14:44.100
And I feel like I’m, you know, I’ve kind of, it’s like a disappointment.

00:14:44.100 –> 00:14:45.040
It’s like, come on, man.

00:14:46.500 –> 00:14:48.140
You know, you’ve been doing this your whole life.

00:14:48.140 –> 00:14:49.980
Put a little work into it.

00:14:49.980 –> 00:14:51.700
Do it the right way.

00:14:51.700 –> 00:14:55.040
You know, it’s a craft.

00:14:55.040 –> 00:14:56.280
Take some pride in it.

00:14:56.280 –> 00:14:57.640
Can you record drums with that setup?

00:14:58.240 –> 00:14:59.180
You get 24 tracks.

00:14:59.200 –> 00:15:00.260
Actually, I have.

00:15:00.260 –> 00:15:01.960
I have.

00:15:01.960 –> 00:15:04.300
We did an album with the band.

00:15:05.400 –> 00:15:13.560
I did a lot of studying on, it was like two mic placement, the Led Zeppelin, John Bonham, two mic placement deal.

00:15:14.760 –> 00:15:15.460
And so what?

00:15:15.460 –> 00:15:17.400
Two mics.

00:15:17.400 –> 00:15:19.180
I think I had four tracks.

00:15:20.200 –> 00:15:21.080
So what was I doing?

00:15:21.180 –> 00:15:28.360
Oh, I think what I did, I just kind of kind of panned them off a little bit so they wouldn’t cancel each other out.

00:15:28.360 –> 00:15:29.140
And it came out good.

00:15:29.140 –> 00:15:32.680
The room it recorded in was not really nice sound.

00:15:34.380 –> 00:15:35.160
So it worked.

00:15:35.160 –> 00:15:36.580
Yeah.

00:15:36.580 –> 00:15:37.160
Yeah.

00:15:37.160 –> 00:15:42.380
I like the whole engineering part of like micing drums.

00:15:42.380 –> 00:15:46.700
And I have played a little bit with single mic and dual mic.

00:15:46.700 –> 00:15:49.400
And I’ve even done stuff where I have like a single condenser mic.

00:15:51.320 –> 00:15:55.660
And the drum kit mic’d up and an iPhone doing video.

00:15:55.660 –> 00:15:59.660
And I’ll mix the audio from all of them.

00:15:59.660 –> 00:16:00.640
It’s kind of cool.

00:16:00.640 –> 00:16:01.900
Audio from the iPhone?

00:16:01.900 –> 00:16:02.320
Yeah.

00:16:02.320 –> 00:16:02.520
Yeah.

00:16:02.520 –> 00:16:04.700
Mix it in as well.

00:16:04.700 –> 00:16:06.700
Somebody actually asked me about it once.

00:16:06.700 –> 00:16:08.040
It’s like, how do you get that?

00:16:08.040 –> 00:16:09.200
I forgot what it was.

00:16:09.200 –> 00:16:09.880
How he asked.

00:16:09.880 –> 00:16:12.660
But he was asking about the snare.

00:16:12.660 –> 00:16:24.760
And I’m like, I think you’re hearing like the secondary audio from the iPhone was maybe given kind of a sort of like very mild slap back effect or something.

00:16:26.200 –> 00:16:27.840
Where did you put the phone?

00:16:27.840 –> 00:16:31.760
And the phone was just far enough away to do video of the…

00:16:31.760 –> 00:16:32.880
Because I was doing like…

00:16:32.880 –> 00:16:33.960
I’ll have to send these to you sometime.

00:16:33.960 –> 00:16:35.060
I was doing like some…

00:16:35.400 –> 00:16:37.020
You maybe have seen it before.

00:16:37.020 –> 00:16:45.220
Doing like loops that I downloaded and I was playing on top of them and just making, you know, short, very short drum videos with them.

00:16:45.220 –> 00:16:47.220
And so the phone’s capturing the video.

00:16:48.080 –> 00:16:49.060
Oh, that’s pretty cool.

00:16:49.060 –> 00:16:50.800
Actually, maybe I did see something like that.

00:16:50.800 –> 00:16:51.780
You probably did.

00:16:51.780 –> 00:16:53.520
I can’t imagine I wouldn’t have shared it with you.

00:16:53.520 –> 00:16:55.660
But I’ll re-share it just to refresh your memory.

00:16:55.660 –> 00:16:57.780
Yeah, yeah, do it.

00:16:57.780 –> 00:16:58.600
Wow.

00:16:58.600 –> 00:16:59.180
So that’s cool.

00:16:59.180 –> 00:17:02.620
So you’ve been using this same setup for quite a while then.

00:17:02.620 –> 00:17:03.300
Yes.

00:17:03.300 –> 00:17:04.100
Do they still support?

00:17:04.100 –> 00:17:08.400
Does that thing still have support or are you just like hoping it stays together?

00:17:08.400 –> 00:17:12.580
Yeah, it’s well, even if it did have support, I wouldn’t know how to get it.

00:17:12.580 –> 00:17:13.620
I wouldn’t know how to go about…

00:17:13.620 –> 00:17:14.740
Do I actually, you know what I did?

00:17:15.020 –> 00:17:30.560
Yeah, I did have to call them because I did a total rookie move to where I had a bunch of all my track files and there was just a whole log when you put it in the computer, a whole log of just these tracks.

00:17:30.560 –> 00:17:33.720
I thought, well, what I’m going to do, I’m going to label them all.

00:17:33.720 –> 00:17:39.040
So I know, well, in doing that, I rewrote the whole code so it doesn’t have access to them.

00:17:39.040 –> 00:17:44.360
So I lost tracks to two songs, complete tracks.

00:17:44.460 –> 00:17:47.620
Yeah, one of them was a very intricate song to play.

00:17:47.620 –> 00:17:51.380
But at least I was able to, it was mastered or released.

00:17:51.380 –> 00:17:54.060
But I just can’t do anything with it anymore.

00:17:54.080 –> 00:17:54.640
Oh, that’s too bad.

00:17:54.640 –> 00:18:06.700
Well, gosh, I was going to say, like, I’m imagining you’re well into some recording project and lost them and like thinking of the heart-sinking feeling that you probably got anyway, but at least.

00:18:06.700 –> 00:18:08.620
I had that and I’ve had both.

00:18:08.680 –> 00:18:13.140
Yeah, I’ve had it where actually, yes, actually that did happen.

00:18:13.140 –> 00:18:14.080
And I did.

00:18:14.080 –> 00:18:20.520
I had a bunch of rhythm guitar tracks for the next tracks I was going to work on.

00:18:20.520 –> 00:18:21.680
And yeah, I lost those as well.

00:18:21.680 –> 00:18:24.300
So yeah, I did lose both.

00:18:25.500 –> 00:18:31.160
And actually, one of them was By Your Side.

00:18:31.160 –> 00:18:33.760
I had to go back and do that.

00:18:33.760 –> 00:18:35.620
Oh no.

00:18:35.620 –> 00:18:36.400
Well, it’s a nice song.

00:18:36.520 –> 00:18:38.800
I finally made time to listen to it today.

00:18:38.800 –> 00:18:40.180
I’m sorry I hadn’t listened to it earlier.

00:18:40.180 –> 00:18:40.680
Oh, it’s fine.

00:18:40.680 –> 00:18:41.280
I saw that.

00:18:42.400 –> 00:18:45.560
And is it like the first one you’ve done in like a year or two?

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:46.680
Yeah.

00:18:46.680 –> 00:18:49.040
Yeah, I’m a little slower.

00:18:49.040 –> 00:18:50.480
What’s wrong with that?

00:18:50.480 –> 00:18:50.920
What was it?

00:18:50.920 –> 00:18:54.160
What was the one before that was Soul Shine?

00:18:54.160 –> 00:18:57.880
That might have been two years ago.

00:18:57.880 –> 00:19:03.320
And then before that was When Summer Goes, which was 2020, I believe.

00:19:04.740 –> 00:19:07.620
I think there’s another one.

00:19:07.620 –> 00:19:08.600
I’m forgetting the name.

00:19:08.600 –> 00:19:11.520
This is just on iTunes and it may be the dates may not be correct.

00:19:11.520 –> 00:19:17.400
Was I went, I first looked at them on YouTube Music, but I could not see.

00:19:17.400 –> 00:19:18.340
Thank you, friend.

00:19:18.340 –> 00:19:19.640
The published dates.

00:19:19.640 –> 00:19:24.840
But I went to Apple Music and I saw the, I’m going to look right now just for funsies.

00:19:25.180 –> 00:19:25.920
There was another one.

00:19:25.920 –> 00:19:27.920
Thank you, friend.

00:19:27.920 –> 00:19:29.640
Yeah, that was another one of those batches.

00:19:29.760 –> 00:19:35.600
But I forget that one just because I’m not happy with the master.

00:19:35.600 –> 00:19:37.340
I completely screwed that one up.

00:19:37.340 –> 00:19:38.100
Oh, yeah, you’re right.

00:19:38.100 –> 00:19:38.680
Thank you, friend.

00:19:38.680 –> 00:19:39.880
You had Soul Shine.

00:19:39.880 –> 00:19:40.800
Thank you, friend.

00:19:40.800 –> 00:19:42.960
In the same year, according to the date here.

00:19:42.960 –> 00:19:43.540
And then by your side.

00:19:43.540 –> 00:19:44.820
OK, that makes sense.

00:19:44.820 –> 00:19:45.260
Yeah.

00:19:45.260 –> 00:19:47.640
And you had When Summer’s Gone was actually before.

00:19:47.640 –> 00:19:49.440
Yeah, before this.

00:19:49.440 –> 00:19:50.600
That’s cool.

00:19:50.660 –> 00:20:00.540
And I saw that you had I listened to a wee bit of and may have listened to it before, but maybe it’s been a really long time, but an album from 2009.

00:20:00.540 –> 00:20:07.520
But I was looking at the theme and I was thinking about your books for obvious reasons.

00:20:08.880 –> 00:20:13.660
So you have a couple of books that I could find.

00:20:13.660 –> 00:20:20.240
Dead Flowers, Let’s Get Married On Halloween, which came out in twenty one, according to to to Amazon.

00:20:20.320 –> 00:20:26.320
And then I also found Some Days Are Ashes, the Poems, Limericks, and Illustrations from 2019.

00:20:28.060 –> 00:20:35.340
But yeah, it kind of had that, I guess that, well, maybe it resonated the theme that both of those books have.

00:20:35.340 –> 00:20:36.740
I’d have to go back and look at them again.

00:20:36.740 –> 00:20:38.220
But what do you think?

00:20:38.220 –> 00:20:38.860
What are you talking about?

00:20:38.860 –> 00:20:42.300
The album Nightmares.

00:20:42.300 –> 00:20:43.300
Yeah, Nightmares and Fairies.

00:20:43.300 –> 00:20:43.900
Yeah.

00:20:44.120 –> 00:20:51.880
Well, it’s got the, I mean, I drew the cover of that, just like I drew all the illustrations in the two books.

00:20:51.880 –> 00:20:54.080
So yeah, they’re going to have a theme.

00:20:54.080 –> 00:20:58.000
I think lyrically and it’s coming from the same writer.

00:20:58.000 –> 00:21:00.880
So yeah, it’s going to have the same theme.

00:21:00.880 –> 00:21:07.580
I’ve always loved the darker type of themes.

00:21:07.580 –> 00:21:15.380
There is an artist who’s been on my podcast a couple of times, and I’m in a kind of a musician marketing group with her.

00:21:15.420 –> 00:21:18.200
She is so into the whole dark theme.

00:21:18.200 –> 00:21:25.220
It’s amazing how she just leans into it as the expression goes.

00:21:25.220 –> 00:21:26.720
I’ll have to send you her stuff though.

00:21:26.720 –> 00:21:28.900
She likes Halloween’s…

00:21:28.900 –> 00:21:30.480
That is her thing.

00:21:30.480 –> 00:21:31.780
Songwriter?

00:21:31.780 –> 00:21:38.180
Yeah, she’s a songwriter, singer, piano player, and she’s started doing a little more collaboration.

00:21:38.280 –> 00:21:50.520
The first one that she did was an interesting journey for her because she did it with an established recording artist.

00:21:50.540 –> 00:21:54.900
Established in the sense that he put out some work and had a bit of a following.

00:21:55.640 –> 00:22:06.800
I wouldn’t say either of them are usually famous or anything, but it was just interesting to see how people reacted when she did a track with him.

00:22:06.800 –> 00:22:10.540
It wasn’t well-received by everyone because it was such a change for his audience.

00:22:10.540 –> 00:22:11.940
I was just going to ask.

00:22:11.940 –> 00:22:12.840
Yeah, but it was great.

00:22:12.840 –> 00:22:15.140
It was great stuff and they work well together.

00:22:15.140 –> 00:22:23.300
I don’t think they’ve ever actually had an opportunity to play live together, but I think she’s doing more collaboration, but she loves writing.

00:22:24.020 –> 00:22:31.240
She’s got this whole newsletter thing and she writes kind of poetry and stuff, and it seems kind of similar, but you might appreciate it.

00:22:32.000 –> 00:22:35.140
In fact, I’ll have to show her some of the stuff that you’ve done, too.

00:22:35.380 –> 00:22:39.540
Yeah, I’d love to send me her link.

00:22:39.960 –> 00:22:42.040
The other guy, what does the guy do?

00:22:42.040 –> 00:22:43.980
Guitar singer, songwriter?

00:22:43.980 –> 00:22:49.100
He’s a very prolific producer and yeah, he plays guitar.

00:22:49.100 –> 00:22:50.940
I don’t think he sings.

00:22:50.940 –> 00:22:51.820
I can’t remember though.

00:22:52.000 –> 00:23:01.620
I don’t think he sings and his natural musical tendency is pretty heavy.

00:23:02.500 –> 00:23:08.400
Kind of metal, but more like a maybe industrial metal thing.

00:23:09.580 –> 00:23:13.920
Maybe more along lines of metal meets nine inch nails or something.

00:23:14.220 –> 00:23:17.380
And that was a drastic change for his fan base?

00:23:17.380 –> 00:23:19.880
Oh yeah, because she does this sort of…

00:23:21.060 –> 00:23:23.620
I’m trying to think, you know, like…

00:23:23.620 –> 00:23:24.100
She’s…

00:23:24.120 –> 00:23:26.780
Oh man, I’m forgetting this artist’s name who’s very famous.

00:23:26.780 –> 00:23:34.220
She had a big song in the Netflix series with the kids that had all the supernatural stuff and stranger things.

00:23:34.280 –> 00:23:40.920
Yeah, she’s kind of like in that wheelhouse of music.

00:23:42.240 –> 00:23:42.900
She’s great.

00:23:42.900 –> 00:23:44.960
I mean, she’s got a beautiful voice.

00:23:44.960 –> 00:23:47.400
So yeah, it was a big change.

00:23:47.400 –> 00:23:51.660
But you know, the marriage of the two influences was very noticeable.

00:23:51.660 –> 00:23:53.940
It was really cool.

00:23:54.220 –> 00:23:55.360
I’d love to check that out.

00:23:55.360 –> 00:23:56.520
Yeah, he’s been on the podcast too.

00:23:56.520 –> 00:24:03.340
I’ll have to send you his links to their music in the podcast episodes.

00:24:03.400 –> 00:24:05.220
If you’re interested, you can hear those too.

00:24:05.220 –> 00:24:07.560
So are you still writing, like for books?

00:24:08.600 –> 00:24:13.060
No, I think I’ve burnt that out.

00:24:14.080 –> 00:24:14.860
The writing is fine.

00:24:14.860 –> 00:24:23.080
It’s just all the editing, the formatting, just, oh, that stuff is just not my forte.

00:24:23.080 –> 00:24:25.980
I thought for sure you were going to say the marketing part.

00:24:27.800 –> 00:24:29.720
Yeah, marketing is always an issue with everything.

00:24:34.840 –> 00:24:40.480
But yeah, marketing, I mean, that is what it is.

00:24:40.480 –> 00:24:57.540
But when you’re, you got these 300 pages of poems and illustrations that you worked endless hours in, you got the last, one last step to edit, format it, and turn it into the book.

00:24:57.540 –> 00:24:59.940
It’s just, and that’s the big hold up.

00:25:00.960 –> 00:25:06.900
It’s something, yeah, it’s just, it’s like I said, it’s not my strong point.

00:25:06.940 –> 00:25:12.220
Yeah, I know not everybody likes paying for that, and I’m one of those people, but there are people that do that part.

00:25:12.220 –> 00:25:14.240
Yes, yes.

00:25:14.240 –> 00:25:17.680
And the price, I think, was a little hefty.

00:25:17.680 –> 00:25:19.600
Yeah, maybe more competitive now, but anyway.

00:25:20.820 –> 00:25:21.940
I understand completely.

00:25:21.940 –> 00:25:27.420
I mean, I wrote one book, and in my opinion, it’s not great when I look back on it.

00:25:27.420 –> 00:25:29.840
I was real proud of it, of course, when it came out.

00:25:32.840 –> 00:25:46.040
But the prospect of creating a second edition, like an expanded, improved edition, is just overwhelming, although oddly enough, I was thinking about it again today.

00:25:47.500 –> 00:26:13.320
Because, you know, using an AI assistant, you could have them go through, like I was thinking, you know, I could have my use an AI assistant, go through the book, look for things that I think might be problematic, a little bit of redundancy, and then also go through a bunch of other content I’ve created and propose like an expanded edition, and just basically give me an outline.

00:26:13.920 –> 00:26:22.220
Now that I’m verbalizing it and telling you about it, it would be way easier now, and then I could write from there much easier.

00:26:22.220 –> 00:26:23.420
I mean, that makes total sense.

00:26:24.080 –> 00:26:30.020
I completely didn’t even think about the AI aspect of it.

00:26:30.020 –> 00:26:30.320
Yeah.

00:26:30.660 –> 00:26:36.520
I mean, starting fresh, you could certainly, I mean, I don’t know how good they are.

00:26:36.560 –> 00:26:38.140
That like, format this for Kindle.

00:26:38.140 –> 00:26:39.220
They might be great at it.

00:26:39.220 –> 00:26:40.740
It’d be worth trying.

00:26:41.920 –> 00:26:42.480
Yeah.

00:26:42.480 –> 00:26:44.880
I mean, you’re on to something.

00:26:44.880 –> 00:26:50.960
It’s just, I don’t even know how I’d go about doing that, figuring that out.

00:26:50.960 –> 00:26:56.620
But I mean, I’ve had AI do bios for me because I always hated writing bios.

00:26:56.620 –> 00:26:57.920
Oh my God, I hate writing them.

00:26:57.920 –> 00:27:03.180
I’ve written them for other people, actually, and myself, of course, but it’s hardest for yourself.

00:27:03.180 –> 00:27:04.000
Oh, yeah, exactly.

00:27:04.980 –> 00:27:11.280
AI just, I don’t know, Googled, what are the AI?

00:27:11.280 –> 00:27:13.860
ChatGBT is the famous one.

00:27:13.860 –> 00:27:14.800
Yeah.

00:27:14.800 –> 00:27:18.580
My son whipped one out, and I was like, that’s good.

00:27:18.580 –> 00:27:19.940
Hey, can you dumb it down a little bit?

00:27:19.940 –> 00:27:22.400
Because it’s a little too…

00:27:22.420 –> 00:27:23.620
Verbose.

00:27:23.660 –> 00:27:25.120
Exactly, yeah.

00:27:25.120 –> 00:27:28.940
And then he goes, yeah, so he just types in dumb it down a little bit.

00:27:28.940 –> 00:27:31.120
And all of a sudden, it’s like, wow, that’s just great.

00:27:31.120 –> 00:27:31.700
That’s perfect.

00:27:32.920 –> 00:27:36.140
Yeah, it’s nice for that kind of stuff, for sure.

00:27:36.140 –> 00:27:37.360
For sure.

00:27:37.360 –> 00:27:53.020
Yeah, I don’t particularly care for the way they write, but like when I get stuck on something or pressed for time, like, help me develop this topic, and then, you know, it’ll be good, but like, I just don’t find that whole writing style approach great.

00:27:53.200 –> 00:27:55.320
I sort of rewrite it, you know.

00:27:55.320 –> 00:27:58.260
Yeah.

00:27:58.260 –> 00:28:05.500
Yeah, and I think that that book, that expanded edition is going to nag you until you do it.

00:28:05.500 –> 00:28:13.340
Because I’ve always wanted my, I always thought that my books, they’re going to be a three-part series, right?

00:28:13.340 –> 00:28:20.460
I just, the idea of just two books, a pair doesn’t work, just doesn’t sit with me correctly, sit with me right.

00:28:21.360 –> 00:28:22.700
Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:28:22.700 –> 00:28:30.080
So I wanted to, I wish that would be a little trilogy, but I just can’t, I can’t see myself to do it, just go through it again.

00:28:30.080 –> 00:28:35.300
Plus, this higher son to like, do the whole AI assistant part for you, you’re gonna be golden.

00:28:35.300 –> 00:28:46.240
Yeah, pinning down a 22-year-old is, yeah, with a task like that, yeah, is close to impossible.

00:28:47.740 –> 00:28:50.520
But I don’t think I even have, I mean, I’ve got bits and pieces of like.

00:28:50.980 –> 00:28:56.760
I just don’t, I don’t think I, I think that, that well might be tapped out.

00:28:56.760 –> 00:28:58.640
Maybe, maybe.

00:28:59.680 –> 00:29:01.560
Well, that’s, that’s interesting.

00:29:01.560 –> 00:29:05.140
I had an author on here, on the podcast not long ago.

00:29:05.140 –> 00:29:07.740
I don’t, she’s just an author.

00:29:07.860 –> 00:29:11.400
And that wasn’t something I’d ever done before, but there were a couple of things.

00:29:11.400 –> 00:29:16.280
She’s like, you know, and she’s had an international bestseller translated in multiple languages.

00:29:16.300 –> 00:29:17.140
Oh, wow.

00:29:17.140 –> 00:29:18.500
She’s Mexican.

00:29:18.500 –> 00:29:19.560
I’ve read her book.

00:29:19.560 –> 00:29:31.760
It was, it really touched me because it’s a historical fiction that happens during the time that my father was actually born in the town he was born at, born in.

00:29:31.800 –> 00:29:33.400
Oh, well, what a coincidence.

00:29:33.400 –> 00:29:34.380
Yeah.

00:29:34.420 –> 00:29:35.640
In Texas.

00:29:35.640 –> 00:29:40.420
No, he was born in the state of Nueva León in Mexico.

00:29:40.880 –> 00:29:45.620
Not far from Monterrey, Mexico, and long ago.

00:29:45.620 –> 00:30:18.000
So it was a real treat to learn anything about what life was like because it was during, I mean, he was born at the very tail end of this, but it was like what life was like during the Spanish flu, and also there was a revolution and a lot of war going on in general, and there were also these agrarian reforms and going on in Mexico at the time, which affected landowners.

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:27.440
But anyway, I had her on because she’s a prolific writer, she does workshops for writers, and she spoke English.

00:30:29.820 –> 00:30:40.720
And I thought, you know, this would be a chance to interview somebody just about creativity and business just from another like creative person’s mindset.

00:30:40.720 –> 00:30:50.900
But she had a gift for equating much of what she talked about to what she imagined songwriters and musicians went through.

00:30:50.900 –> 00:30:52.560
So it was really cool.

00:30:52.560 –> 00:30:52.760
Yeah.

00:30:52.960 –> 00:30:54.780
I mean, it’s a creative process.

00:30:55.260 –> 00:30:56.360
Yep.

00:30:56.360 –> 00:31:00.880
And I don’t think it’s just limited to one genre, right?

00:31:00.880 –> 00:31:02.360
No, not at all.

00:31:02.360 –> 00:31:06.220
And there was actually a guy that I think you’d like.

00:31:06.220 –> 00:31:07.220
His name is Tony Hara.

00:31:07.220 –> 00:31:13.420
He’s been on a couple of times and he’s written, he had written a book when I talked to him the first time.

00:31:13.420 –> 00:31:22.300
But I think he’s got a newer one out and he’s really working hard, I think, to figure out, you know, the whole marketing.

00:31:22.360 –> 00:31:31.660
And he, you know, he was sort of real, realizing at this point in his life that he spends so much energy like making albums.

00:31:31.660 –> 00:31:46.820
And the time and energy that he did that compared to the time and energy that he spent doing a self-published book for the return, you know, like the money he made, he was like, it just seems to make a lot of sense to write.

00:31:46.820 –> 00:31:49.240
And he loves doing it, so.

00:31:49.240 –> 00:31:50.620
Yeah, it’s the same with me.

00:31:50.620 –> 00:32:00.680
I just love creating, whether it’s writing a song, a book, or poems, the paintings, I have to create.

00:32:00.680 –> 00:32:07.280
Yeah, I wanted to ask you about painting because I’m, I was re-looking at something that you did recently.

00:32:07.280 –> 00:32:08.980
How long have you been painting?

00:32:10.120 –> 00:32:12.280
Oh, like a year and a half.

00:32:12.840 –> 00:32:13.560
No kidding?

00:32:13.980 –> 00:32:17.900
Yeah, yeah, but art was always there.

00:32:18.440 –> 00:32:21.980
I was always doodling, drawing as a kid, always.

00:32:21.980 –> 00:32:35.780
And then it just took a, you know, it took a, I stopped doing it probably, you know, in high school, and then years after that, I just wasn’t really placed for it, but drawing was something I loved to do.

00:32:35.780 –> 00:32:52.160
And then, yeah, the painting is, so I’ve got this weird relationship with art to where it, like, I’m writing a song and recording a song.

00:32:52.160 –> 00:32:58.240
Well, that song just takes up, like, everything.

00:32:58.880 –> 00:33:04.880
I wake up, the first thing I’m thinking about when I wake up is, okay, what do I need to work on on that song?

00:33:04.880 –> 00:33:06.320
Okay, I’m going to work on this part.

00:33:06.380 –> 00:33:14.360
And then same thing, last thing I think about is, okay, tomorrow I’m going to change this part of the song or write this.

00:33:14.360 –> 00:33:21.040
So I’m constantly writing, constantly running the scenarios through my head.

00:33:21.040 –> 00:33:26.180
And then I just work it to death till I completely burn out.

00:33:26.180 –> 00:33:28.880
And then it’s like, okay, I can’t touch a guitar.

00:33:29.420 –> 00:33:33.580
I don’t, you know, I can’t, I don’t want to think about singing, I don’t want to think about writing a song.

00:33:34.340 –> 00:33:36.400
But I still got this creative urge.

00:33:36.400 –> 00:33:38.700
So okay, well, then I go to the campus.

00:33:38.700 –> 00:33:40.460
And then I do the same thing.

00:33:40.540 –> 00:33:42.040
And I’m working with like a gallery.

00:33:42.040 –> 00:33:45.580
I’m like, okay, well, I like the painting, but I want to see more of this, and I want to see more of this.

00:33:45.580 –> 00:33:49.340
And oh, by the way, can you have it done by tomorrow?

00:33:49.340 –> 00:33:53.300
Okay, so, you know, I work all night into that and burn myself out on that.

00:33:53.300 –> 00:33:55.540
It’s like, okay, well, I’ll go back to the music.

00:33:56.760 –> 00:34:02.020
It’s just like this unhealthy, obsessive relationship I have with it.

00:34:02.540 –> 00:34:16.020
And that’s how the poems, the poems came to be, is I was writing, I was writing for, ever since I was in high school, writing lyrics even before I knew how to play guitar.

00:34:16.020 –> 00:34:22.160
And then I got to a point where all my lyrics started kind of just sounding like the last song.

00:34:22.160 –> 00:34:25.120
Well, this song sounds like the last one I wrote.

00:34:25.160 –> 00:34:26.120
Okay, let me try it again.

00:34:26.120 –> 00:34:29.220
Well, this sounds like that other last song I wrote.

00:34:29.220 –> 00:34:36.000
So I thought, okay, well, I got to step away, take a break from writing.

00:34:36.000 –> 00:34:37.920
Man, what do I do?

00:34:37.920 –> 00:34:46.520
And I thought, well, I want to keep on working the, you know, I need to keep writing so I don’t lose the technique, right?

00:34:48.700 –> 00:34:50.720
Because I think to me it’s like a muscle.

00:34:50.720 –> 00:34:53.860
You just want to keep it working so you don’t lose it.

00:34:53.860 –> 00:35:04.580
And so I thought, okay, well, I’m going to write some silly poems just to keep the creative juices flowing and kind of keep the practice up.

00:35:04.580 –> 00:35:07.280
And that’s where I was like, you know, you get one poem, you got another one.

00:35:07.280 –> 00:35:08.740
I was like, oh, these are kind of good.

00:35:08.740 –> 00:35:10.000
And it’s fun to do.

00:35:10.000 –> 00:35:11.620
It’s refreshing.

00:35:11.620 –> 00:35:13.820
So that’s how that whole thing started.

00:35:15.420 –> 00:35:18.980
When we met, you were writing lyrics.

00:35:18.980 –> 00:35:22.480
And we played in a, I’m struggling to remember when we played together.

00:35:22.780 –> 00:35:29.960
Was it to be up until 2005 or 2003 to 2005ish maybe?

00:35:29.960 –> 00:35:32.180
No, you think?

00:35:32.180 –> 00:35:35.760
No, it had to be like 2002.

00:35:37.020 –> 00:35:39.080
Could have been, could have been.

00:35:40.880 –> 00:35:44.860
Cause I think it was shortly after that we moved here.

00:35:44.860 –> 00:35:48.860
Okay, then yeah, that would narrow it down for sure.

00:35:48.860 –> 00:35:53.780
So yeah, how do you feel that your writing was during that time?

00:35:53.780 –> 00:35:55.820
You know, I have not looked…

00:35:57.140 –> 00:35:57.360
What?

00:35:57.360 –> 00:35:58.700
You don’t remember every song?

00:35:58.700 –> 00:36:00.900
No.

00:36:00.900 –> 00:36:01.900
Yeah, that’s a…

00:36:01.900 –> 00:36:12.040
I kind of once that, once that was done and that door closed, I just focused on solo.

00:36:12.040 –> 00:36:19.120
I mean, there were a couple songs when I got started solo here that I did bring along and play live.

00:36:19.120 –> 00:36:20.180
Yeah, that’d be interesting.

00:36:20.220 –> 00:36:23.060
I should probably check them back out.

00:36:23.060 –> 00:36:26.140
But back then, I mean, I was writing every single night.

00:36:26.140 –> 00:36:28.280
Not all of it was good.

00:36:28.280 –> 00:36:32.500
But I was, I mean, constantly writing every night.

00:36:32.500 –> 00:36:34.420
That’s the way to do it.

00:36:34.420 –> 00:36:37.140
Yeah, especially when you’re that young, right?

00:36:37.140 –> 00:36:43.980
And just, I mean, you’re that young, you got the energy, you want to make it work.

00:36:47.420 –> 00:36:50.600
Yeah, it’d be interesting to check some of that stuff back out.

00:36:50.600 –> 00:36:54.040
Do you write these days on paper or do you do it on the computer?

00:36:54.040 –> 00:36:54.880
Nope, still on paper.

00:36:54.880 –> 00:36:57.060
Everything’s on paper.

00:36:57.060 –> 00:37:01.920
And then I’ll transfer it over to computer when it’s all done.

00:37:01.920 –> 00:37:03.200
I still like, I like paper.

00:37:03.200 –> 00:37:04.860
I like the feel of paper.

00:37:06.100 –> 00:37:09.300
I do too, and I want to like it more, but I cannot stand handwriting.

00:37:09.300 –> 00:37:12.680
I can’t, I mean, I just cannot stand the act of handwriting.

00:37:13.540 –> 00:37:21.820
So, so my lyrics are all handwriting, and when I do poems, when I do poems, it’s still in cursive.

00:37:21.820 –> 00:37:22.900
That’s great.

00:37:22.900 –> 00:37:25.300
Yeah, so I still kind of keep the cursive up.

00:37:25.300 –> 00:37:29.920
It’s not as good as it, not as tight as it used to be.

00:37:29.920 –> 00:37:33.520
I don’t do it as often, but it’s something I want to try to retain.

00:37:33.520 –> 00:37:34.820
Why not?

00:37:34.820 –> 00:37:36.460
Your kids probably don’t know it, do they?

00:37:36.460 –> 00:37:37.800
Or do they?

00:37:37.800 –> 00:37:41.760
Actually, that’s part of the reason why I do it, so nobody can read it.

00:37:41.760 –> 00:37:42.020
Really?

00:37:42.020 –> 00:37:42.560
They can’t read it?

00:37:44.060 –> 00:37:44.460
I don’t know.

00:37:44.640 –> 00:37:45.560
I’ve never asked.

00:37:45.560 –> 00:37:48.320
I’ve never, I don’t know.

00:37:48.320 –> 00:37:50.000
That’s a good question.

00:37:50.000 –> 00:38:12.960
I do remember, I think Dylan and maybe the girls too, yeah, they were learning like what preliminary cursive in elementary school, just kind of how you write the letter, and you’d write the letter in cursive and it would just kind of flows into the other letter.

00:38:12.960 –> 00:38:13.920
Why did we do that?

00:38:13.920 –> 00:38:17.340
Was it faster or was it just like a weird throwback thing that we did?

00:38:17.340 –> 00:38:18.260
I don’t even know why.

00:38:18.720 –> 00:38:20.700
That’s probably because generations before.

00:38:20.700 –> 00:38:21.300
I don’t know.

00:38:21.300 –> 00:38:22.680
I think it was faster.

00:38:22.680 –> 00:38:23.560
I think it was faster.

00:38:23.560 –> 00:38:24.420
Oh yes, that’s right.

00:38:24.420 –> 00:38:25.340
It was faster.

00:38:26.060 –> 00:38:29.100
I think you’re not picking up the pen every letter.

00:38:29.100 –> 00:38:30.080
No, I think you’re right.

00:38:30.180 –> 00:38:32.020
I think that’s why they had it.

00:38:32.020 –> 00:38:35.400
It was a faster way of writing.

00:38:35.400 –> 00:38:37.860
Maybe I’ll pick it up.

00:38:37.860 –> 00:38:39.000
It’s not that I never do it.

00:38:39.000 –> 00:38:43.340
I have some journals, but like now, I just journal on my computer when I do it.

00:38:43.340 –> 00:38:48.600
But I keep trying to find an excuse to take physical pen to paper.

00:38:48.600 –> 00:38:51.400
But I don’t know why I don’t like it.

00:38:51.400 –> 00:38:57.020
Well, part of it is my hand tires quickly.

00:38:58.380 –> 00:39:00.800
I know, because you don’t use it.

00:39:00.800 –> 00:39:03.500
It’s a muscle that you’re not using in that way.

00:39:03.500 –> 00:39:12.020
But I think I have also like, I might, I mean, my hands are frail looking compared to many people’s.

00:39:12.020 –> 00:39:15.340
But I think it’s always been a thing for me.

00:39:15.340 –> 00:39:23.320
So maybe it’s a little trauma based or something like having to write stuff in school or getting in trouble and having to write on the chalkboard.

00:39:23.580 –> 00:39:26.360
Or just having to do assignments really fast.

00:39:26.360 –> 00:39:28.020
They were hard and I never liked it.

00:39:28.020 –> 00:39:30.240
But anyway.

00:39:30.240 –> 00:39:30.640
Yeah.

00:39:30.640 –> 00:39:32.620
I mean, you don’t have to go back to it.

00:39:32.620 –> 00:39:39.580
I mean, I don’t write everything on paper because I don’t always have, oh God, I don’t always have paper on me.

00:39:39.580 –> 00:39:41.740
So I’ll do it in like notes on my phone.

00:39:41.740 –> 00:39:51.080
But I mean, there was a period of time when I was working an electrician out in the field where we didn’t have smartphones.

00:39:51.720 –> 00:39:58.880
So I would rip a cardboard box up and I would jot down a lyric, stuff in my pocket.

00:39:58.880 –> 00:40:06.940
And then, yeah, at the end of the week, I’ve got 15 pieces of cardboard and random papers from the site that have all these different lyrics all over the place.

00:40:07.800 –> 00:40:10.300
And I had to remember where they went to.

00:40:11.860 –> 00:40:13.680
New co-workers are like, what the fuck is that guy doing?

00:40:13.680 –> 00:40:16.280
What’s wrong with this guy?

00:40:16.340 –> 00:40:17.420
He just does it.

00:40:17.420 –> 00:40:17.920
Yeah.

00:40:17.920 –> 00:40:18.220
Yeah.

00:40:20.300 –> 00:40:23.040
Just keep your hands away from his mouth.

00:40:23.040 –> 00:40:23.300
Yeah.

00:40:23.300 –> 00:40:24.940
Keep your hands and feet away from his mouth.

00:40:24.940 –> 00:40:27.520
Yeah.

00:40:27.520 –> 00:40:32.340
So do you have any aspirations to sell your art, your paintings someday?

00:40:32.340 –> 00:40:34.780
So no, I’m in a gallery right now.

00:40:34.780 –> 00:40:35.820
No kidding.

00:40:35.820 –> 00:40:36.220
Yeah.

00:40:36.220 –> 00:40:39.180
Well, I was in two and then one.

00:40:39.180 –> 00:40:42.400
I was in one here locally in Folsom.

00:40:42.560 –> 00:40:46.700
And then after 30 years, she finally retired.

00:40:48.040 –> 00:40:50.840
So I’m in one in Napa now.

00:40:50.840 –> 00:40:54.160
A really nice gallery called Flowers and Hues.

00:40:54.160 –> 00:40:56.560
So there’s a couple of pieces in there.

00:40:56.560 –> 00:40:57.500
That’s cool.

00:40:57.500 –> 00:41:00.180
And where do you actually do the painting?

00:41:00.180 –> 00:41:01.680
Not at the galleries.

00:41:01.680 –> 00:41:02.040
No, no.

00:41:02.040 –> 00:41:04.540
The galleries are more like display places.

00:41:04.540 –> 00:41:05.280
Yeah.

00:41:05.280 –> 00:41:07.500
You bring them to the galleries.

00:41:07.500 –> 00:41:07.860
That’s cool.

00:41:08.520 –> 00:41:09.600
Yeah.

00:41:09.600 –> 00:41:13.940
So yeah, I do paintings here at the house.

00:41:13.940 –> 00:41:27.140
We got a beautiful yard and I can set up right here in the backyard and just kind of, we got some nice string lighting and it’s gorgeous over here.

00:41:27.140 –> 00:41:33.780
So I can set up and paint outside even when it’s raining.

00:41:33.780 –> 00:41:35.720
That’s very cool.

00:41:35.720 –> 00:41:36.860
Well, it’s nicer in galleries.

00:41:38.140 –> 00:41:38.500
Yeah.

00:41:40.220 –> 00:41:40.480
Yeah.

00:41:40.480 –> 00:41:51.700
It was just one of those things that I kind of always wanted to do, but kind of didn’t get to it till later on in my life.

00:41:51.700 –> 00:41:56.640
Well, but you haven’t been painting that long, have you?

00:41:56.640 –> 00:41:58.000
No, that’s why I said I haven’t been.

00:41:58.000 –> 00:41:58.940
Yeah.

00:41:58.940 –> 00:42:00.720
I remember.

00:42:00.720 –> 00:42:01.720
You wanted to paint.

00:42:02.940 –> 00:42:03.200
Yeah.

00:42:03.200 –> 00:42:04.480
I wanted to paint.

00:42:04.780 –> 00:42:17.180
And I remember going to, like, well, my mom’s French, so we would go to visit her parents in France for summers.

00:42:17.180 –> 00:42:23.940
And you go, and it’s just, you know, just the whole romantic idea of seeing the painter there by the Seine River.

00:42:23.940 –> 00:42:26.760
Like, oh, that would be a cool life.

00:42:26.760 –> 00:42:28.860
This is what he does all day.

00:42:28.860 –> 00:42:36.500
And then I’d beg him to buy me a box of paint and some paper, and then I get a little watercolor set and some paper.

00:42:36.500 –> 00:42:40.640
And it’s like, okay, this is not right.

00:42:40.640 –> 00:42:43.640
This is not, I don’t know what I’m doing here.

00:42:43.640 –> 00:42:48.420
And I actually want to talk about a bias, I guess, going back to your writing.

00:42:48.420 –> 00:42:51.220
I do not like watercolors because of that.

00:42:51.220 –> 00:42:54.460
I just, I couldn’t figure out how to work a watercolor.

00:42:57.280 –> 00:43:04.380
And so, yeah, I just, you know, I tried it a couple of times and then it’s like, okay, well, the same, this isn’t for me.

00:43:04.380 –> 00:43:10.200
And then, you know, I got, a couple of years ago, I got to a point where, okay, I’m burnt out on the music.

00:43:10.200 –> 00:43:12.760
I’m done with the poetry books.

00:43:12.760 –> 00:43:14.420
I need to create something.

00:43:14.420 –> 00:43:15.040
What’s next?

00:43:15.040 –> 00:43:15.620
What can I do?

00:43:15.620 –> 00:43:18.980
Whatever, what have I not done yet that I want to do?

00:43:19.000 –> 00:43:24.960
And so I bought some canvases and started going at it with acrylics and mixed media.

00:43:27.020 –> 00:43:29.340
It sounds like you, well, I mean, you’ve said it.

00:43:29.340 –> 00:43:38.800
You just have this sort of creative urge, and if you don’t get it out of you, it starts to maybe feel bad or something.

00:43:38.800 –> 00:43:43.760
Yeah, it causes some stress because it’s just tons of ideas.

00:43:43.760 –> 00:43:49.320
Tons of ideas just floating around in my head, and I just, there’s not enough room up there for everything.

00:43:49.320 –> 00:43:52.820
Do you think of it in terms of like, I got to share this or it’s just like, I just got to get it out?

00:43:53.500 –> 00:44:02.120
No, I think of it in terms as, well, number one, I love to create, that’s what I do.

00:44:02.120 –> 00:44:08.440
And then the other thing is I got a certain amount of time on this planet.

00:44:08.440 –> 00:44:17.520
I’ve got all these ideas, I’ve got all these songs, I’ve got these pictures I want to paint, I want to do it while I have time.

00:44:18.780 –> 00:44:21.140
It’s funny you’re reminding me about these things I want to do.

00:44:22.780 –> 00:44:27.880
They are somewhat creative but they’re not like creative in the visual or like music sense.

00:44:27.880 –> 00:44:32.100
And you just remind me like oh yeah that’s right I have a finite amount of time I better get busy.

00:44:32.100 –> 00:44:34.760
Yeah, it’s like yeah.

00:44:34.760 –> 00:44:47.460
I mean yeah our time is limited and I don’t know if I think about death more than the average person does, but I do think about it and I do think about all the things I want to accomplish.

00:44:48.280 –> 00:45:07.100
And yeah, there’s a bunch of songs and there’s songs have been there like I said five years I’d like to get them out of my head and just onto a you know what I guess a different platform and where they go from there I don’t know if I care.

00:45:08.560 –> 00:45:10.100
I think about death a lot too.

00:45:10.260 –> 00:45:11.920
I have for a long time.

00:45:11.940 –> 00:45:13.480
Man, this turned dark.

00:45:14.960 –> 00:45:15.280
I don’t know.

00:45:15.280 –> 00:45:18.460
It’s very normal for me to you know, me and Sammy talk about it a lot.

00:45:18.460 –> 00:45:21.940
In fact, we had a musician friend here who was traveling and playing.

00:45:21.940 –> 00:45:23.240
We were playing together here in Mexico.

00:45:23.560 –> 00:45:27.240
The last time he was here, he was like, man, you guys talk about dying a lot.

00:45:30.220 –> 00:45:37.340
But I guess I have this sort of dual look outlook on it.

00:45:40.340 –> 00:45:42.760
There’s a part of me that does think about what will I have accomplished.

00:45:42.760 –> 00:45:45.460
There’s another part of me that doesn’t.

00:45:45.460 –> 00:45:46.640
Because like, well, I’ll be dead.

00:45:46.640 –> 00:45:47.920
I won’t care.

00:45:49.140 –> 00:45:49.560
Yeah.

00:45:50.100 –> 00:45:52.300
I’ve had the same thought.

00:45:52.300 –> 00:45:57.560
But so my other thought is, okay, I’m lying in my deathbed.

00:45:58.540 –> 00:46:01.000
I can’t do anything anymore at this point.

00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:06.160
I just have time to think while I’m, you know, the last few days.

00:46:06.380 –> 00:46:07.800
You hope.

00:46:07.800 –> 00:46:08.340
Yeah.

00:46:08.340 –> 00:46:09.420
Whatever.

00:46:09.420 –> 00:46:14.640
It’s just like, I want to be proud of the…

00:46:14.640 –> 00:46:15.080
I don’t know.

00:46:15.220 –> 00:46:16.560
I want to…

00:46:17.660 –> 00:46:23.280
I want to be in that bed thinking, okay, I gave it a solid run.

00:46:23.280 –> 00:46:28.020
I accomplished everything I could.

00:46:28.020 –> 00:46:30.920
And I’m proud of some of the stuff I did.

00:46:30.920 –> 00:46:32.700
And the other weird thing is this…

00:46:32.860 –> 00:46:48.500
The other thought is, I remember being a kid, you know, maybe, I don’t know, 10, 11, thinking about all the stuff I wanted to accomplish, especially I just want…

00:46:48.500 –> 00:46:50.760
I wanted to be a musician.

00:46:50.760 –> 00:46:52.060
I was big into music.

00:46:52.060 –> 00:46:53.160
I wanted to be a musician.

00:46:53.160 –> 00:46:57.020
I wanted to be able to play my own songs, write my own songs, play on stage.

00:46:57.020 –> 00:46:58.120
It would be so cool.

00:46:59.520 –> 00:47:11.240
And I look back and I think, okay, would 10-year-old Christian be proud of 50-year-old Christian and what he’s accomplished?

00:47:11.240 –> 00:47:13.280
He’d probably be blown away.

00:47:14.580 –> 00:47:21.220
And it’s just like, am I making 10-year-old Christian proud?

00:47:21.260 –> 00:47:33.120
Did I do, have I done almost everything that he wanted to do, sitting in his room, looking at those album covers, listening to that music?

00:47:34.260 –> 00:47:35.240
That’s really nice, yeah.

00:47:35.240 –> 00:47:36.660
That’s a nice thought.

00:47:37.840 –> 00:47:48.520
So yeah, it’s just tons of stuff and I just, yeah, I don’t want to, and also you stop, you don’t do these things, then what is it?

00:47:48.520 –> 00:47:51.400
You get busy living or get busy dying?

00:47:51.400 –> 00:47:52.120
Yeah.

00:47:52.120 –> 00:47:52.980
Shawshank Redemption.

00:47:52.980 –> 00:48:06.040
I would just, yeah, you need something to look forward to, and if you have this creative outlet, why not take it as far as you can take it?

00:48:08.420 –> 00:48:11.620
Yeah, it’s a nice way to look at it all, it really is.

00:48:14.620 –> 00:48:18.980
Are you performing much music right now?

00:48:18.980 –> 00:48:22.580
Yeah, I’m performing a lot more than I was a few years ago.

00:48:22.580 –> 00:48:24.440
I’m getting back at it.

00:48:27.640 –> 00:48:38.660
Yeah, actually I had a show scheduled last Saturday, but I got informed that the booking agent hadn’t double booked it, so…

00:48:38.660 –> 00:48:40.040
You’re fired!

00:48:41.000 –> 00:48:48.780
Yeah, so that didn’t happen, but yeah, I am playing, I’m excited getting back out there, I’ve got some cool gigs.

00:48:48.780 –> 00:48:57.960
Where we are here in Folsom, it gets pretty hot, so the summers are pretty brutal when they got you playing outside.

00:48:59.220 –> 00:49:03.720
So that I’m not looking forward to as much, but yeah, I’m enjoying getting back out there and playing.

00:49:04.080 –> 00:49:06.580
And you’re playing solo mostly these days?

00:49:06.580 –> 00:49:08.520
Yeah, all solo.

00:49:11.180 –> 00:49:12.720
Yeah, all solo.

00:49:14.800 –> 00:49:24.520
There was a couple of good years where I had a three-piece band, and then, or it could have been a two-piece, three-piece, depending on the venue.

00:49:26.680 –> 00:49:31.460
And bass player had to call it quits because some personal stuff.

00:49:31.460 –> 00:49:40.940
And then my drummer, long-time drummer for, God, ten years, he was from Ohio, him and his wife.

00:49:40.940 –> 00:49:47.540
And it was just 2020 came, and he was like, you know, we got a family in Ohio that’s getting older and older.

00:49:47.540 –> 00:49:48.940
I think it’s time to go back.

00:49:49.880 –> 00:49:55.980
So after that, I just thought, okay, yeah, just kind of do the solo thing again, and see where that takes me.

00:49:55.980 –> 00:49:58.340
But I’m enjoying it.

00:49:58.340 –> 00:49:58.760
Cool.

00:49:58.760 –> 00:50:05.460
And so you have a nice, sounds like you have a nice music scene out there and some, yeah, some places to play.

00:50:05.460 –> 00:50:07.040
We really do have a good music scene.

00:50:07.040 –> 00:50:12.420
A lot of, you know, it’s popping up, all these micro-brews are great places to play gigs.

00:50:12.420 –> 00:50:13.160
Yeah.

00:50:13.160 –> 00:50:22.820
And they’re usually open, you know, they usually close a little earlier than, you know, bars we’re going to be playing till what, one in the morning?

00:50:22.820 –> 00:50:30.060
You start at 11, which, you know, the older you get, it’s like starting at 11 gets a little tougher.

00:50:30.060 –> 00:50:31.380
I haven’t done that in a long time.

00:50:31.640 –> 00:50:40.760
I know a woman here who is a great singer and actually, well, she didn’t play with her boyfriend, plays guitar and they do do some stuff together.

00:50:40.760 –> 00:50:52.260
But anyway, she does like these residency gigs with these classic rock bands and yeah, they like start at like nine or something and play two or three sets or 9.30.

00:50:54.400 –> 00:50:56.000
She’s not like super young.

00:50:56.000 –> 00:51:05.900
I have another friend who’s a couple of friends who are very young and they were doing it with the venue that they were working at a lot close, unfortunately for them because that was good money.

00:51:05.900 –> 00:51:15.620
But I don’t think he, I talk to him regularly because he plays in a band that I have right now, but a couple of them actually, but he said he doesn’t miss the hours of it.

00:51:15.620 –> 00:51:16.660
Yeah, the hours are tough.

00:51:16.660 –> 00:51:21.020
Those hours are tough now for me.

00:51:21.020 –> 00:51:22.000
But there’s options.

00:51:22.240 –> 00:51:24.200
We got wineries around here.

00:51:24.200 –> 00:51:25.620
Yeah, that’s cool.

00:51:25.620 –> 00:51:28.860
Yeah, there’s a lot of festivals.

00:51:30.860 –> 00:51:34.800
So there’s just plenty, plenty to choose from.

00:51:34.800 –> 00:51:39.480
And we also have just a huge talent pool of musicians.

00:51:39.480 –> 00:51:40.100
That’s nice.

00:51:40.100 –> 00:51:42.900
Have you had an agent, worked with an agent for a long?

00:51:42.900 –> 00:51:43.740
I heard you mentioned one.

00:51:43.740 –> 00:51:44.940
No, no, no.

00:51:44.940 –> 00:51:49.480
That agent books for certain venues.

00:51:49.480 –> 00:51:52.560
So I have a booking agent that worked for certain venues.

00:51:52.560 –> 00:51:55.200
So they don’t work for me.

00:51:55.200 –> 00:51:56.880
The venue hires them.

00:51:57.920 –> 00:51:59.400
That is cool.

00:52:00.780 –> 00:52:03.760
Well, did we miss anything?

00:52:03.760 –> 00:52:04.720
Oh, did we start?

00:52:04.720 –> 00:52:05.980
Did we do this?

00:52:05.980 –> 00:52:07.020
I think we did.

00:52:07.020 –> 00:52:11.020
Oh, I thought you, I thought there was supposed to be some intro.

00:52:11.020 –> 00:52:12.020
There’s no intro.

00:52:12.020 –> 00:52:14.540
There’s no like, okay, are you ready to record?

00:52:14.540 –> 00:52:15.820
That comes later, man.

00:52:15.860 –> 00:52:16.480
Oh, okay.

00:52:16.480 –> 00:52:18.180
No, I don’t think I missed.

00:52:19.280 –> 00:52:20.580
No, I don’t think so.

00:52:20.580 –> 00:52:22.100
What do you think?

00:52:22.100 –> 00:52:23.280
I think we did good.

00:52:23.960 –> 00:52:26.360
We got to get Fred Roy up here.

00:52:27.240 –> 00:52:28.460
Get all his stories.

00:52:28.460 –> 00:52:30.080
To Folsom or on the podcast?

00:52:30.220 –> 00:52:31.400
On the podcast.

00:52:32.720 –> 00:52:36.860
We can talk about the Crow Day box set.

00:52:36.860 –> 00:52:41.440
And the infamous gig where apparently everybody left soaked.

00:52:41.440 –> 00:52:42.960
That’s pretty funny.

00:52:44.200 –> 00:52:47.980
Laura Price is still doing it out and she’s out in Austin.

00:52:47.980 –> 00:52:49.940
And I want to say she’s been here.

00:52:49.940 –> 00:52:50.860
Probably.

00:52:50.860 –> 00:52:52.340
I’m sure she has.

00:52:52.340 –> 00:52:54.520
So we got a really good blues scene here.

00:52:54.540 –> 00:52:55.240
That’s nice.

00:52:55.720 –> 00:52:56.780
Sacramento Blues Society.

00:52:56.780 –> 00:52:57.980
And I’m actually in.

00:52:57.980 –> 00:53:01.140
So once a year they throw a competition.

00:53:01.140 –> 00:53:06.040
And then the winner goes to Memphis to compete internationally.

00:53:06.040 –> 00:53:09.340
And my band actually won 2017.

00:53:09.340 –> 00:53:11.440
And we went to Memphis for a week.

00:53:11.440 –> 00:53:12.400
That’s nice.

00:53:12.400 –> 00:53:18.160
And I’m actually going to try that again this year solo against six bands.

00:53:18.160 –> 00:53:18.900
Wow.

00:53:18.900 –> 00:53:19.980
So that’s good luck.

00:53:19.980 –> 00:53:20.400
That’s going to be.

00:53:20.460 –> 00:53:21.380
Yeah, exactly.

00:53:21.380 –> 00:53:21.900
Good luck.

00:53:21.900 –> 00:53:23.720
That’s going to be, that’s going to be a tough one.

00:53:23.820 –> 00:53:29.980
But especially with us, the bands around here, we got some great, great bands here.

00:53:29.980 –> 00:53:31.480
I’m sure I can imagine.

00:53:31.480 –> 00:53:38.560
Yeah, I, I’m, I’m happy to say there’s a lot of great musicians around here.

00:53:38.560 –> 00:53:41.220
Sometimes I feel like there’s not enough places to play.

00:53:41.220 –> 00:53:46.420
But I think maybe that’s true because I have some young musician friends that they would like to play more.

00:53:46.420 –> 00:53:49.640
So I guess there’s not as many as I thought there were.

00:53:49.640 –> 00:53:57.180
But I told Sammy, you know, my wife, Sammy, that a little bit of that’s laziness on my part.

00:53:58.200 –> 00:54:02.240
I’m just getting out more and seeing other bands.

00:54:02.240 –> 00:54:18.480
And very, I don’t think it’s that different in the States, but everything’s very FaceTime, not like FaceTime, iPhone FaceTime, but like FaceTime oriented, like booking can be done so much easier when you go have FaceTime with the people that you’re trying to get to book you.

00:54:19.320 –> 00:54:28.780
Oh, yeah, and well, that’s the thing with the paintings, with everything, and I’ve tried to tell my kids this.

00:54:28.780 –> 00:54:31.900
I’m trying to apply for a job.

00:54:31.900 –> 00:54:42.880
Yeah, they want you to go online and go on their website and fill out an application, but that application gets stuck in a stack with a million other applications.

00:54:44.160 –> 00:54:52.440
Pick up the phone, find out who the contact person is, introduce yourself, go there in person, introduce yourself, yeah.

00:54:52.940 –> 00:55:13.060
It’s something that, you know, the younger generations are, I guess, I don’t know, they just don’t think about it, they don’t want to do it, it’s uncomfortable, but get out, yeah, get out in front of the person that you want to be in the front, you know, that you want to make contact with, and that way they can put a face to it.

00:55:13.060 –> 00:55:15.580
I’m assuming they think you have no idea what you’re talking about.

00:55:18.800 –> 00:55:23.060
Oh, no, no, Dad is full of wisdom here.

00:55:23.060 –> 00:55:25.640
Yeah, yeah, I do get the eye rolls.

00:55:27.280 –> 00:55:30.860
Yeah, that comes with the territory.

00:55:30.860 –> 00:55:34.200
But, I mean, that’s the same thing I did with all the galleries.

00:55:34.240 –> 00:55:47.160
Yeah, I call them and I have people tell me, oh, wow, it’s, yeah, you can send me an email or you want, but I get hundreds of emails a week.

00:55:47.160 –> 00:56:00.000
Yeah, so it just, yeah, if you really want it, you bug them and I would call once a week, you know, be very politely, polite, but, you know, be assertive, too.

00:56:00.000 –> 00:56:09.700
Yeah, I really have to get the FaceTime, too, and there’s, because I have the added thing that I’m dealing with people by and large in Spanish.

00:56:09.700 –> 00:56:17.140
Not everyone, but by and large in Spanish, which I can do, but the phone is harder, the person’s better, you know.

00:56:17.140 –> 00:56:18.840
That’s true, yeah, you got that.

00:56:18.840 –> 00:56:23.200
That’s a whole different hurdle.

00:56:23.200 –> 00:56:29.280
And I’m, you know, a lot of stuff gets, yeah, a lot of stuff gets lost in translation with texting.

00:56:29.340 –> 00:56:37.080
And then, yeah, with the phone and then a language barrier, yeah, it probably is way better to get in front of a, get in front of the person.

00:56:37.080 –> 00:56:38.900
Yeah, but it’s all just excuses.

00:56:38.900 –> 00:56:41.180
I’m just gonna get out there and…

00:56:41.180 –> 00:56:48.100
Hey man, you’re gonna be on your deathbed and you’re gonna be like, damn it, I should have FaceTimed that person.

00:56:48.120 –> 00:56:50.600
Exactly.

00:56:50.600 –> 00:56:52.380
Well, it’s good talking with you, man.

00:56:52.380 –> 00:56:53.700
Great talking to you too, man.

00:56:53.760 –> 00:56:54.180
We got it.

00:56:54.180 –> 00:56:59.440
Well, you’re gonna be in San Jose, but if you’re ever up this way, I’d love to see you.

00:56:59.440 –> 00:57:00.740
So you’re near Mexico.

00:57:00.740 –> 00:57:01.960
I’m never in Mexico City.

00:57:01.960 –> 00:57:03.140
I’m not even near Mexico City.

00:57:03.140 –> 00:57:09.660
We’re by a very famous art town called San Miguel de Allende.

00:57:09.660 –> 00:57:14.000
Anyone who knows anything about Mexico or watches YouTube knows this place.

00:57:14.000 –> 00:57:15.160
So we’re very close to it.

00:57:15.160 –> 00:57:22.240
So if you ever want to do an artist retreat and see some good musicians, it’s very close by and you could stop here too.

00:57:23.020 –> 00:57:23.480
I’d love to.

00:57:23.480 –> 00:57:30.220
I think every time we go to Mexico is on a cruise and of course, they drop you off in a port or a trap.

00:57:30.220 –> 00:57:31.500
That’s no fun.

00:57:31.500 –> 00:57:33.020
No, it’s not.

00:57:33.580 –> 00:57:37.540
It’s not the proper way to visit a country though either.

00:57:37.540 –> 00:57:39.100
Yeah, it was really nice talking to you.

00:57:39.100 –> 00:57:40.700
Nice talking to you too.

00:57:42.020 –> 00:57:44.920
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00:57:46.960 –> 00:57:49.420
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00:58:34.360 –> 00:58:38.640
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00:58:38.640 –> 00:58:43.400
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00:58:43.400 –> 00:58:54.160
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00:58:54.160 –> 00:58:58.260
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00:59:00.800 –> 00:59:02.180
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00:59:02.180 –> 00:59:04.360
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