thanx to those who made it out to MidTones Album Release Edition last night @ Grand Star. it was one of the greatest nights we’ve had at MidTones and of my lifetime.
check back here for I will slowly release outtakes and unreleased tracks that didn’t really fit the album but are equally good, and the ones that I performed live at the party and the past shows! hopefully I’ll do videos for some of these tracks (any filmmakers out there who want to take a shot at making videos/collaborating hollar at me!)
here are some quotes from the people who liked the album;
“Completely original, with catchy hooks, crunchy guitar, retro keys, cool vocals and creative arrangements, all while being “way out there” gotta love it.” Sylus Brown
“Complex pop/rock while being fun, an excellent original composition and experience, I want to see Shin” -Rob Ritter
“Instantly enjoyable fusion of different styles of pop and rock” – Stuart Messenger
“I like it! Great stuff! The manic energy is infectious, I love the instrumentation and the sci fi bite. I left it cranked the whole time – pretty rare for a first listen!”
well folks, here it is; after much experimentation, pursuit of perfection (and procrastination) - I am releasing my 1st solo effort. honestly, yet there’s still much room to improve, I believe that I managed to enclose a lot of different aspects of my musical interests in these tracks; some borrowed, some twisted and some improvised. it also showcases the amazing talents that I had the privilege of knowing over the course of 10 years that I lived, loved and grew old in this city of Los Angeles. it’s a kind of thank you note to the community that I was lucky enough to be a part of.
on July 7th, MidTones will make a comeback to its good ol’ 1st / 3rd Wednesdays routine. and I wanna invite you people to come out on a school night (I’M SORRY) to hang with me and the gang at Grand Star. in true MidTones spirit, I’m gonna invite the regulars and beyond to “jam” on some of the tunes included on the album. I am curious to see how these “constructed-inside-a-MacBook” grooves would be interpreted with a live ensemble…the night will also feature a special performance from ever-lovely MidTones Madeleines. the limited-run physical CDs will be available for you to purchase, which features an amazing drawing by Phloe!
2nd part of the night will be MidTones as we know it…we’ll open up and have people jam, dance and laugh (you can cry too) like we have legalized marijuana. you are welcome to bring friends who like jamming with new people, dancing to the music that ranges from Paranoid to My Funny Valentine. or Akon. maybe NOT Akon. don’t know. that’s a tough one.
“Completely original, with catchy hooks, crunchy guitar, retro keys, cool vocals and creative arrangements, all while being “way out there” gotta love it.” Sylus Brown
“Complex pop/rock while being fun, an excellent original composition and experience, I want to see Shin” -Rob Ritter
“Instantly enjoyable fusion of different styles of pop and rock” – Stuart Messenger
a collaboration between Keiko Agena aka Christine Madeleine and myself “Take It Back” is in Sweetwater Presents: The GearFest 2010 Song Contest, and if you download this mp3 enough, we might win about 2G worth of equipment, and believe me, I NEED THEM. it’s a cool track written by her back in the day and I took it to the next level like I always (try to) do, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. DOWNLOAD, IT’S FREE.
there’s also a short clip of this song performed live back in April. when the album comes out later in June we’ll probably be out playing more, check back.
a good friend of mine and talented singer-songwriter/beatboxer from San Diego, Terry Matsuoka invited me to perform at their Asian Cultural Festival on May 8th. It would be a great excuse to drive down there on hopefully a fine Saturday morning (crossing fingers for traffic) and it looks like I’ll be in a company of very talented and versatile artists of San Diego…I won’t have my album ready then but I MIGHT try and print some of them out myself as a test run and have them available at the event? MAYBE. I’ll most likely be working that beloved DL6 to work some possible live-looping magic, but then again it IS an asian cultural fest which tempts me to do some Japanese songs…or maybe both. we’ll see.
Regardless, it’ll be a day to remember; just for the amount of drive I’ll be doing that day (after my SD visit I’ll haul my ass to Palm Springs for a gig) lol oh what we do for our love of art. NOT complainin, just amused. very psyched actually. haven’t messed with a solo set up in a while. it’ll be fun. come out. I’m pretty sure it’s a free event, and I’m scheduled at 12:30pm.
on April 7th, MidTones presents the 1st official Movie Night featuring a B-Side Entertainment film “Still Bill” with Bill Withers. “STILL BILL is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Grandma’s Hands,” and “Just the Two of Us.” With his soulful delivery and warm, heartfelt sincerity, Withers has written the songs that have – and always will – resonate deeply within the fabric of our times.”
this is a FREE event and open to public. after the screening, the jam session will commence immediately paying tribute to Withers’ music. please RSVP (not required) your spot at the movie website,email, or simply reply to this post here for seating might be limited.
Thanx all for coming out to the 3 shows on my Birthday Week – I got to see so many of my friends and made NEW friends. BIG THANX to Leela Grant and the band, and Jon Hershfield of IsGoodMusic.com!
The next BIG night(s) for me is The 3rd Annual Nite N Day Arts Festival Weekend, presented by the 32nd Annual Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker Run and Chinatown Business Improvement District, happening the last weekend of Feb – where I’ll be doing a set of original materials (with the help of Geoff Haba on drums AND MidTone Madeleines) on Feb 27nd SAT at 7pm, AND with MidTone Arkestra which features the cream of the crop from MidTones; an Eclectic Open Jam, on Feb 28th at 2pm! so many talented artists are on the bill for this event, such as The Fighting Cocks, David Applesauce Tran, Sue Jin and Dawen. it’s gonna be a great weekend of music for sure! there’s more info on Facebook Event page!
Good man Jon Hershfield at IsGoodMusic.com hooked me up with a cool event called Pretty Vicious on Feb 5th (FRI) at Junglerush. I’m premiering a few new tracks from the upcoming album with the help of Geoff Haba of Los Desnudos and MidTone Madeleines.
“PRETTY VICIOUS is a collaboration between Edgar Varela (EVFA), Melissa Krook (GlamScene Entertainment) and Erin Gunnette (Shotgun Mary Photography, GSE). We’re providing you with the BEST tunes to dance to, live bands to entertain you, and photography to document it all EVERY first Friday!”
JUNGLERUSH>>
542 S Alameda St. (& Palmetto)
Downtown LA, CA 90013
are all over the world right now; needless to mention the situation in Haiti – by the way I heard that some of that “Text to xxxxx to donate to Haiti” things is a SCAM…so watch out and only donate to the foundation you know.
I had a privilege to perform, along with Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman, Boots Riley and the Legendary Wayne Kramer of MC5, for Cort Guitar Workers ACTION event on Jan 13 in Koreatown. Following is an excerpt from their website;
“For more than a 1000 days, Korean guitar workers and their supporters have protested against their illegal mass firing by Cort/ Cor-tek Guitars, a guitar manufacturer based in South Korea and founded in 1973.
After dedicating decades of their labor in unventilated rooms full of fumes and solvent, enduring forced overtime and below-minimum wage pay, incurring injuries and lung diseases, and undergoing the abuse of their managers, these workers unionized to finally get minimum wage.
Only a short time later, they found themselves padlocked out of their factories and were forced to sign resignation papers, . It turned out that Cort had moved its operations overseas, for much cheaper and non-unionized labor in Chinese and Indonesian factories.”
Some of these workers came to LA in time for NAMM show to protest; and I plan to attend their gathering TOMORROW afternoon right outside of Anaheim Convention Center. I’m not sure if their voice would reach the money-mongering CEO, but they (and I) want those who play guitars to know that what they have in their hands come from the people who are proud of what they do and yet do NOT receive the treatment they deserve. and with so many here in the US losing their jobs, I believe this hits close to home for a lot of folks out there who don’t really care about guitars at all.
CALLING ALL 818ers – I’m finally playing a show in our hood! ever since I moved from Japan,
