Subways, Music, & Mayhem Part #1

WOW! What a day. Took off early and wrote the first blog on the bus...ah the bus...I think anyone with Writer's Block needs to hop on the Metro for a day and will have enough material for a LIFETIME! Same goes for the NYC Subways I'd assume.

So I took off today and delivered some Resumes and Cover Letters and had 2 positive phone calls...there's still a lot of work out there but the ambiguity of their time table is killing me!!

There's this sweet looking "Dance Night Club" opening up next to me. It's called Leonardo's...I might have to go in there dressed as a turtle based upon principle...maybe they'll let me in with my Ninja swords.

After stops at Kinko's, UPS, and Beverly Hills Agencies I decided to head out to Hollywood. There is a theater up there (Northwest) that my sister used for the Cal State Showcase.

The Michigan State Bachelor of Fine Arts class has ambitions to set-up a showcase in the Fall in L.A., this would be the perfect spot, affordable too from what I hear.

On the way to the Subway on the 720 Rapid bus..I met....you guessed it...some "eccentric" L.A. transients. They sparked a conversation with a fellow sitting next to me that looked semi-crazy. I guess they have a loco-radar. He had a French Horn case, harmonica hanging from his neck, small laptop size keyboard and a guitar case.

Turns out this guy "Aubrey" wasn't crazy at all, just.....weathered.

He had the look and feel of a musician that spent too long grinding...he smelled of heartache and brass cleaning oil. The streets can be mean to someone with one skill, and all he knew and wanted to do was...JAZZ.

His eyes were tired, his hands callused, his face worn, but you could still see that spark of love for his art in his eye, especially when he talked about playing, and how he utilized each instrument in a song, and yet his passion seemed haggard and suffering, his sparking fading and nearly extinguished.

It's tough to imagine Aubrey 35 years ago, slick kid probably from Mo-Town ready to tackle the world with dreams of playing with the Jackson 5, Supremes, and James Brown. He told us about how 15-20 years ago people loved to hear "Rhythm and Blues" he called it, the real Soul.....Jazz.

Now he can't find work because of how Rap and Hip Hop, and how the music business has changed.

My opinion is he's right in too many ways. Everyone in America wants a quick fix, an instant dose of what they crave. The quick hook, the catchy beat... they crush the slow smooth sounds of old school.

The same is true for Rock & Roll. When is the last time a popular Billboard topping song had a wicked guitar solo, some drum rock-out? The answer is not in awhile! No one wants to hear Jimi rip a solo, and Santana needs Rob Thomas or Chad Kroeger to sell a record??? Stairway to Heaven would flop today because "it's too slow." Makes me sad...that's why I'm grabbing your music and running with it Alex!!

(http://www.myspace.com/suburbaneuphoria)

So Pop in some Miles Davis, Louey Armstrong, Ray Charles, Coltrane, etc. and just listen....don't so it for me......do it for your buddy composing at 2 am and hoping to be the next Aubrey hair slicked fresh off a plane from Michigan...do it for the next generation and teach them to embrace music that means something, sends a message rather than just sells....do it for Aubrey and the way things used to be, when people stopped to hear someone's story on a bus instead of just calling them "that crazy guy with instruments."

To Be Continued in The Subway & on The Red Carpet.....