What's Going On?

As I sit here listening to Marvin Gaye, I figured it'd be a good time to sum up some of the recent activities of this freelancer. The frequency of my blog posts has dropped considerably these last two months, but that's actually a sign of being busy, not a lack of things to discuss.

For starters, you probably know I've been working on a website with my friend Dave Hahn. I've been trying to brainstorm new articles for that site as well as find more guest writers to share their stories as musicians.

I've also been recording with Lauren Zettler, a process that has influenced a few posts here. We're shooting to have an EP done by the end of January.

And of course I'm writing a lot of music. Not only for my new album, but also for Collective Pursuit and some songs that seem to be just for the hell of it, not really sure where they'll end up. This song is still in the works although I haven't done much work on it since I started traveling for the holidays.

Speaking of Collective Pursuit, I've been arranging some of the tunes from Life Is Loud for the larger ensemble. Currently I'm working on "Chester Bustamante." When I first came to NYC, I was re-arranging music for an octet to be played by a trio, but now I get to go the other direction. I'm finding this process a whole lot easier.

You can also find me on some other social networking sites like Twitter and now Tumblr. Twitter is where I'll post some short, random thoughts or links I find interesting. Tumblr is something I'm still trying to figure out, but for the time being I'm posting an mp3 everyday. Each track is something I've worked on. It ranges from Life Is Loud to the hip hop band I played in back in college.

Finally, the holidays are a good way to stay busy. My wife and I spent a week in St. Louis with our families and friends, and are now in San Antonio visiting her dad. It's amazing to see how things change with time. We're still close to many of our high school friends (in fact, my wife and I started dating 11 years ago, while we were in high school). These are people that really feel like extended family, in that you start moving in different directions and maybe don't have that much in common after a while, but you still love each other and enjoy hanging out together. These are the people that inspire and encourage me to keep doing all this. I'll probably reflect more on 2008 later, but for now, let's just say it's been a tumultuous year and I'm looking forward to smoother sailing in 2009.

Thanks for reading.