Emotional Reflections:
We had our first paid gig last night at the cutest little cafe in Coronado Cays. It was a full-on unplugged show. Just us, the guitars, and djembe. One of my favorite things about touring and being on the road is meeting people. Last night, our music got into the hands of people who were touched and inspired by what we're doing. We left Calypso Cafe on a musical high.
After our gig we headed into San Diego proper for a little open mic action. We got there and found out the list was full. We had missed the sign-up. A chit-chat and smile later, Jackson Price (a local singer/songwriter) gave us his slot. What?! Amazing. The place, Rebecca's Coffee House, was packed. There were lots of young kids playing original tunes. Their energy and excitement was great. When they called The Yes Team to the stage we were ready. We've been working very hard on really tight three-part harmonies. We went up and did what we came out here to do. We showcased ourselves as professional touring musicians. After we finished the sound guy made it a point to tell me that we "melted the room" with our harmonies.
We've decided to make San Diego our home base out here. We have shows booked in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, and Vegas, but will return to SD to sit down and get to know the area, the people, and the music scene.
The help we're receiving while out here is overwhelming. My phone is blowing up daily with contacts of friends of friends, places to play and places to stay. Nothing feels better than knowing we have the love and support of so many people across the country.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, "At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you." It's true, folks. Believe it.
The Deal
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday evening, deep inside the West Coast trenches...
So, we're here and we're finally getting caught up with all of the things we wanted to be a part of this journey. Hoo-ray!
I just wrote a novel yesterday, so I'm gonna keep this brief.
I can't believe how unbelievably lucky I am, although I think I can speak for the rest of The Yes Team and say "how unbelievably lucky 'we' are."
This was our workday yesterday. We got up around 9:30am (five hours after going to sleep) and began the move making process. Instant oatmeal with a touch of peanut butter, pecans and raisins was the meal of the morn'. A delicious cup of instant coffee to make me feel whole was a given and was well received. Then it was off to the internet for the daily tasks. We all wrote our first blogs, more video editing (which is addictive and takes longer than you think) and eventually five hours of rehearsal.
We came back after rehearsal for some veggies and protein following it up with more rehearsal :). Then we went and played a two hour gig at this lovely little coffee house called Calypso Cafe. We met some great people and afterwords packed up the van to head to an open mic.
The open mic was at Rebecca's Coffee House and when we got there the list was already full, but all was not lost. A gentleman hippie (Jackson Price) had to go and offered us his spot (#9 and a free copy of his cd) and they were just finishing up #4! We couldn't believe our luck, or could we. The kindness of the world had been so amazing so far that I can only hope that I'm giving enough back for it to continue!
Jeff Ludden (my best friend Mark's older brother), who lives in San Diego was able to make it out to say hello. We were even lucky enough to go on before he had to go. Many thanks to Jeff as he recorded two of our tunes for us, which will be up on YouTube today (1/7/11)!
We performed our songs for about 60 people at this quaint little coffee shop and were thrilled with the reaction! The sound engineer said "...we melted the crowd." and that "...with harmonies like that you'll have a following in no time." We walked out of Rebecca's with our heads held high and mouths that were unable to talk about anything else besides the music we'd been making all day.
Life is good.
That's all for now. I have many a video to edit.
Yes Team, GO!
Jo-Seph
http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo
http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh
I just wrote a novel yesterday, so I'm gonna keep this brief.
I can't believe how unbelievably lucky I am, although I think I can speak for the rest of The Yes Team and say "how unbelievably lucky 'we' are."
This was our workday yesterday. We got up around 9:30am (five hours after going to sleep) and began the move making process. Instant oatmeal with a touch of peanut butter, pecans and raisins was the meal of the morn'. A delicious cup of instant coffee to make me feel whole was a given and was well received. Then it was off to the internet for the daily tasks. We all wrote our first blogs, more video editing (which is addictive and takes longer than you think) and eventually five hours of rehearsal.
We came back after rehearsal for some veggies and protein following it up with more rehearsal :). Then we went and played a two hour gig at this lovely little coffee house called Calypso Cafe. We met some great people and afterwords packed up the van to head to an open mic.
The open mic was at Rebecca's Coffee House and when we got there the list was already full, but all was not lost. A gentleman hippie (Jackson Price) had to go and offered us his spot (#9 and a free copy of his cd) and they were just finishing up #4! We couldn't believe our luck, or could we. The kindness of the world had been so amazing so far that I can only hope that I'm giving enough back for it to continue!
Jeff Ludden (my best friend Mark's older brother), who lives in San Diego was able to make it out to say hello. We were even lucky enough to go on before he had to go. Many thanks to Jeff as he recorded two of our tunes for us, which will be up on YouTube today (1/7/11)!
We performed our songs for about 60 people at this quaint little coffee shop and were thrilled with the reaction! The sound engineer said "...we melted the crowd." and that "...with harmonies like that you'll have a following in no time." We walked out of Rebecca's with our heads held high and mouths that were unable to talk about anything else besides the music we'd been making all day.
Life is good.
That's all for now. I have many a video to edit.
Yes Team, GO!
Jo-Seph
http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo
http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Pacific Time.....Part 2
Our journey continues 14ft in the air.....
We rode in style on top of that flatbed tow truck. It was our first official night in California, and we were going to make it unforgettable. We descended, literally, in El Centro, CA. Oddly enough, I had spent some time in El Centro years ago while out on the Seussical tour. This visit was a little different. There would be no hotel room for this young band. Purple Reign is our home on this journey. We needed to prepare our home for bedding down. We ventured through the streets of El Centro and came upon a Von's. God bless California for selling wine in grocery stores. A magnum of Yellowtail and a trip to Jack in the Box later we were back home preparing for dinner and a movie. We christened our home with The Big Lebowski...and the slumber party began.
The next morning, Tony, from Butler's Auto had our baby fixed before lunch. We spent the morning at the office (Starbucks) making moves and utilizing these facilities for brushing our teeth and trying not to smell like we were on the road and in Purple Reign for 36 hours. We had a plan and a van and were ready to hit the road. Our first night in San Diego went a little something like this.....
7pm: Rolled into the Ranoa's condo where we had dinner, showers, and a mom and dad waiting for us. What?! (Our trombone player from NYC set us up with his longtime family friends, Art and Janice)
9:30pm: Showered, fed, and happy we kidnapped Art and set out for downtown San Diego for our very first west coast open mic.
10:30pm: We arrived at South Park Abbey where we were last on the list to perform for the night.
1am: We play!!!
1:30am: The owner and bartender are asking to book us.....KABLAMSKI!
2:30am: Sampling the local fare at La Posta taco stand.
3:30am: Art calls it a night and heads in to bed. We, of course, hang out in our house until the obscene hour of 4:30.
Rock-n-Roll livin.
Currently barefoot and basking in sunshine.
We rode in style on top of that flatbed tow truck. It was our first official night in California, and we were going to make it unforgettable. We descended, literally, in El Centro, CA. Oddly enough, I had spent some time in El Centro years ago while out on the Seussical tour. This visit was a little different. There would be no hotel room for this young band. Purple Reign is our home on this journey. We needed to prepare our home for bedding down. We ventured through the streets of El Centro and came upon a Von's. God bless California for selling wine in grocery stores. A magnum of Yellowtail and a trip to Jack in the Box later we were back home preparing for dinner and a movie. We christened our home with The Big Lebowski...and the slumber party began.
The next morning, Tony, from Butler's Auto had our baby fixed before lunch. We spent the morning at the office (Starbucks) making moves and utilizing these facilities for brushing our teeth and trying not to smell like we were on the road and in Purple Reign for 36 hours. We had a plan and a van and were ready to hit the road. Our first night in San Diego went a little something like this.....
7pm: Rolled into the Ranoa's condo where we had dinner, showers, and a mom and dad waiting for us. What?! (Our trombone player from NYC set us up with his longtime family friends, Art and Janice)
9:30pm: Showered, fed, and happy we kidnapped Art and set out for downtown San Diego for our very first west coast open mic.
10:30pm: We arrived at South Park Abbey where we were last on the list to perform for the night.
1am: We play!!!
1:30am: The owner and bartender are asking to book us.....KABLAMSKI!
2:30am: Sampling the local fare at La Posta taco stand.
3:30am: Art calls it a night and heads in to bed. We, of course, hang out in our house until the obscene hour of 4:30.
Rock-n-Roll livin.
Currently barefoot and basking in sunshine.
Yes Team, GO!
The Deal
Elsewhere, while the East Coast was sleeping...
First blog. Kablamski. We made it. That's what I have to say. We. Made. It!! Being that this is the first blog entry that I'm writing why don't we start it where all good stories begin, the top.
It was the day after Christmas and all through the house,
Not a tractor was running, not even a plow...
Wrong story.
I was in Hampton, VA the day after Christmas with my amazing folks and one helluva little brother. The plan was that TJ and Kinnie would drive down from NYC, in Purple Reign (our van), to pick me up. You know, meet the folks, make some face time and convince them that we weren't crazy for doing this. There was even going to be a homemade meal of food in it! Snap! Mother Nature, the mother of us all, decided that just should not be the plan. Snow for the city and snow for the bay. Lots of snow. I did get an extra day at home though, which is never a bad thing. The script changed and we adapted...
Back to the city I went, where I had many more loose ends to tie up than I thought (thank you Mother Nature). Well, I will tell you this, we crossed all our t's and dotted all of our lower case j's. Purple Reign went into the shop and got the loving she deserved, my apartment got the cleaning and proper packing up it deserved, Killian (my cat) got one more night of parental affection and our friends got one more chance to drink with us (lucky them).
3:30am. We got in our van and went to the space to pack up our dreams and get the hell our of dodge. 4-5 foot snow drifts on every curb made it an extra special experience for us three early risers, but we succeeded. Dad, I don't know if you'd be especially proud of that packing job (he's the king of packing the trunk), but it made due until our first chance to do it right. That first chance happened to be Mustang, OK. Like champions of old we mowed through the day and night for 28 straight hours. In case you're wondering why I chose "mowed" to describe our forward motion I will tell you. We've got a little leak in the muffler, so PR (Purple Reign) likes to give us a little talking to. You know, let us know she's still with us.
During that 28 hour blast from the future to the past we met up with Mr. Aaron LaVigne (download Aaron Lavigne & The Downtown Crowd immediately!) and had some Chipotle and a jam fest. It was the first of many and you can give it a look and a listen at http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo.
We made it to The Moss Ranch in Mustang, OK in one piece. We were fed, showered and cared for 5 days. It was our artists retreat. We recouped, rested and prepared ourselves for the second push. We played some new tunes together and recorded the first of many live tracks (engineered by Stan "the man" Moss and Son). You can download your free copy of The Changing at http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh.
By Monday evening the itch to get to Cali was unbearable, so after a Mexican Fiesta prepared by Mama Moss we took off. Again we put PR through another 28 hour run across the country. I didn't think that I'd ever say this, but both of these big drives FLEW by. Did we have a three person rotation? Yes, but we still logged those hours on our bodies and it didn't leave a mark.
We stopped for one off the road excursion and that was to see The Mystery Castle. It was a castle built in the desert by a man, that the guide called 'The Builder', who had TB and moved to Arizona for dry climate. How do I describe it? Eccentric. Just like me. For more info on this crazy little place check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Castle.
After a little picnic we got back in the car to mow on out to San Diego, as we had two open mics we wanted to play that night. We were rolling in and we were doing it REAL hot! We came to find out that maybe were rolling in too hot. Right outside of the CA state line we got out of the car to take a band pic and stretch the ol' building blocks. We got back in the car and as we pulled back onto the road I noticed that I was struggling with the wheel. Had my strength been sapped by another 28 hour drive? Was I giving up? Was PR giving up? Holy busted power steering belt Batman it felt like I was wrestling with a bear. The car started to over heat and we were forced to pull over 50 feet past the state line. We three builders looked under the hood of that '98 Dodge Ram with good intentions, but that was about it. Me? Not an auto-mechanic. That is for sure.
We ended up getting to a gas station, calling AAA and being towed 50 miles to El Centro where we had a slumber party in the van outside the repair shop. Slumber party essentials: Jack In The Box, Yellowtail, great people and The Big Lebowski (laptop style). We got up the next morning cleaned and dressed PR's wounds and spent the day making moves in El Centro.
We rolled in hot around 7pm to our hosts, Art and Janice, house in San Diego, CA. They had made us stuffed mushrooms (as an appetizer), tossed salad, homemade mac and cheese followed by homemade brownies and coffee for desert. The kindness of strangers. Out of control. Art joined us as we made our way out the door to go to our first open mic because he was a photographer and wanted to shoot us (can it get any more awesome?!?).
The Tipsy Crow was to be our first site of destruction, but they had fed us some homemade fibs. Everything from the open mic calendar to their answering machine confirmed that there was an open mic there every Wednesday. Lies. All lies. I'll tell you one thing that was true though. Every review complained about the bouncers and barkeeps being douche-tastic. True.
We turned the beat around, got back in the car and headed to another, which had been going on for a couple hours, but we were determined. We got to South Park Abbey and were the last ones to sign up on the list and were the last ones to close the bar. By the end all we had were some stragglers and a few new friends, but what'd we do? We accomplished anyway. We killed it and were offered a gig for tomorrow night (Friday, January 7th), pending managerial approval. We also made a couple new contacts and leads on potential gigs.
Tonight we hit Rebecca's Coffee House and see what kind of noise we can make there...
Thank you to all who are supporting our dream along with us. Thank you TJ and Kinnie for inviting me on this journey. Thank you mom and dad for giving, giving, giving. I'd never have made it this far without you. Thank you Patrick for being my best friend and the best little brother period. Life wouldn't be the adventure that it's been so far without you. Thank you to The Triad for being my best friends and always having amazing listening ears. Thank you to my Ellen's Stardust Diner family. I miss your voices, talent and friendship. Thank you NYC for making me battle ready. Thank you life.
Now, go build your dreams.
Yes Team, GO!
Jo-Seph
http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh
http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo
It was the day after Christmas and all through the house,
Not a tractor was running, not even a plow...
Wrong story.
I was in Hampton, VA the day after Christmas with my amazing folks and one helluva little brother. The plan was that TJ and Kinnie would drive down from NYC, in Purple Reign (our van), to pick me up. You know, meet the folks, make some face time and convince them that we weren't crazy for doing this. There was even going to be a homemade meal of food in it! Snap! Mother Nature, the mother of us all, decided that just should not be the plan. Snow for the city and snow for the bay. Lots of snow. I did get an extra day at home though, which is never a bad thing. The script changed and we adapted...
Back to the city I went, where I had many more loose ends to tie up than I thought (thank you Mother Nature). Well, I will tell you this, we crossed all our t's and dotted all of our lower case j's. Purple Reign went into the shop and got the loving she deserved, my apartment got the cleaning and proper packing up it deserved, Killian (my cat) got one more night of parental affection and our friends got one more chance to drink with us (lucky them).
3:30am. We got in our van and went to the space to pack up our dreams and get the hell our of dodge. 4-5 foot snow drifts on every curb made it an extra special experience for us three early risers, but we succeeded. Dad, I don't know if you'd be especially proud of that packing job (he's the king of packing the trunk), but it made due until our first chance to do it right. That first chance happened to be Mustang, OK. Like champions of old we mowed through the day and night for 28 straight hours. In case you're wondering why I chose "mowed" to describe our forward motion I will tell you. We've got a little leak in the muffler, so PR (Purple Reign) likes to give us a little talking to. You know, let us know she's still with us.
During that 28 hour blast from the future to the past we met up with Mr. Aaron LaVigne (download Aaron Lavigne & The Downtown Crowd immediately!) and had some Chipotle and a jam fest. It was the first of many and you can give it a look and a listen at http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo.
We made it to The Moss Ranch in Mustang, OK in one piece. We were fed, showered and cared for 5 days. It was our artists retreat. We recouped, rested and prepared ourselves for the second push. We played some new tunes together and recorded the first of many live tracks (engineered by Stan "the man" Moss and Son). You can download your free copy of The Changing at http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh.
By Monday evening the itch to get to Cali was unbearable, so after a Mexican Fiesta prepared by Mama Moss we took off. Again we put PR through another 28 hour run across the country. I didn't think that I'd ever say this, but both of these big drives FLEW by. Did we have a three person rotation? Yes, but we still logged those hours on our bodies and it didn't leave a mark.
We stopped for one off the road excursion and that was to see The Mystery Castle. It was a castle built in the desert by a man, that the guide called 'The Builder', who had TB and moved to Arizona for dry climate. How do I describe it? Eccentric. Just like me. For more info on this crazy little place check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Castle.
After a little picnic we got back in the car to mow on out to San Diego, as we had two open mics we wanted to play that night. We were rolling in and we were doing it REAL hot! We came to find out that maybe were rolling in too hot. Right outside of the CA state line we got out of the car to take a band pic and stretch the ol' building blocks. We got back in the car and as we pulled back onto the road I noticed that I was struggling with the wheel. Had my strength been sapped by another 28 hour drive? Was I giving up? Was PR giving up? Holy busted power steering belt Batman it felt like I was wrestling with a bear. The car started to over heat and we were forced to pull over 50 feet past the state line. We three builders looked under the hood of that '98 Dodge Ram with good intentions, but that was about it. Me? Not an auto-mechanic. That is for sure.
We ended up getting to a gas station, calling AAA and being towed 50 miles to El Centro where we had a slumber party in the van outside the repair shop. Slumber party essentials: Jack In The Box, Yellowtail, great people and The Big Lebowski (laptop style). We got up the next morning cleaned and dressed PR's wounds and spent the day making moves in El Centro.
We rolled in hot around 7pm to our hosts, Art and Janice, house in San Diego, CA. They had made us stuffed mushrooms (as an appetizer), tossed salad, homemade mac and cheese followed by homemade brownies and coffee for desert. The kindness of strangers. Out of control. Art joined us as we made our way out the door to go to our first open mic because he was a photographer and wanted to shoot us (can it get any more awesome?!?).
The Tipsy Crow was to be our first site of destruction, but they had fed us some homemade fibs. Everything from the open mic calendar to their answering machine confirmed that there was an open mic there every Wednesday. Lies. All lies. I'll tell you one thing that was true though. Every review complained about the bouncers and barkeeps being douche-tastic. True.
We turned the beat around, got back in the car and headed to another, which had been going on for a couple hours, but we were determined. We got to South Park Abbey and were the last ones to sign up on the list and were the last ones to close the bar. By the end all we had were some stragglers and a few new friends, but what'd we do? We accomplished anyway. We killed it and were offered a gig for tomorrow night (Friday, January 7th), pending managerial approval. We also made a couple new contacts and leads on potential gigs.
Tonight we hit Rebecca's Coffee House and see what kind of noise we can make there...
Thank you to all who are supporting our dream along with us. Thank you TJ and Kinnie for inviting me on this journey. Thank you mom and dad for giving, giving, giving. I'd never have made it this far without you. Thank you Patrick for being my best friend and the best little brother period. Life wouldn't be the adventure that it's been so far without you. Thank you to The Triad for being my best friends and always having amazing listening ears. Thank you to my Ellen's Stardust Diner family. I miss your voices, talent and friendship. Thank you NYC for making me battle ready. Thank you life.
Now, go build your dreams.
Yes Team, GO!
Jo-Seph
http://www.reverbnation.com/jonathanwalsh
http://www.youtube.com/yesteamgo
Meanwhile, in a balmy cove near San Diego...
Alright let's catch up.
Yesterday we woke up in El Centro, CA in a van with some problems. All we knew was the power steering was out and the engine was overheating. All of you mechanical types are probably thinking "duh, that's the serpentine belt," but we're musical types and people like us just don't know what a serpentine belt is until it breaks. Well, it broke. But luckily for us it was a fairly quick and inexpensive fix. Thanks to Tony, Purple Reign was back in no time and we took an office day/whore bath at a Starbucks. #Don'tJudge #OkayJudge
So we hit the road/mountain and steered toward our destiny! Our good buddy and bandmate Gregorio Hernandez set us up with some family friends so we rolled into a shower, a shave, a vegetarian feast, and some new friends Art and Janice. They live in the aforementioned cove in Coronado, a handsome bridge away from San Diego. After we got back to being human we set off for our first ever West Coast show.
The Yes Team plus Art loaded into Purple Reign and headed into the mystic. Our open mic research analysis led us to The Tipsy Crow. The Tipsy Crow blew it. They no longer have an open mic. Hey Tipsy Crow, kindly change your answering machine. Thank you.
We had one more potential option, but it was already past 10:00. This is late in the open mic world. We arrived at South Park Abbey and the second we walked in we knew we had come to the right place. It was hip, but not hipster. I may have been wearing the tightest jeans in the bar. We were certainly the last to sign up, but we are a determined bunch and Art is a trooper. We let the night take over, made some friends, drank some bar beers, and waited. As the night progressed the bar slowly but surely began to empty out, but we waited. I'm telling you...a determined bunch. And just like that it was our time to shine. And shine we did. We killed it. There was even some drunken slow dancing when we played "High Tonight". We closed the night with JoJo's new song "The Changing" which if you haven't heard please click the link below and go download it. We recorded it with my Dad in his home studio in OKC before we took off. Thanks Dad.
Needless to say, we have arrived.
Yes Team, GO!
The Mess
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)