Do I miss my boys?

Hell yeah! But I'm not going to lie. I'm enjoying the short time freedom I have at the moment. I rode my motorcycle in today. I'm hanging out with friends after work. Should I feel guilty?

I ask because my wife says I don't miss them because I'm enjoying the free time too much. Not true. They are in good hands with my folks, and I can call them to hear their voices.

The little crumb snatches ignore me on the phone too. It's THE BOYS who don't miss us! LOL

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Twice in one day?

I have been blogging my ass of today! checkout my Wonderboy Brewery log, seriously!

Anywho, I'm in the studio finishing up my Harpo Project. So far, I'm 10 days ahead of the schedule. I spent tonight mastering the music. Now I'm listening and typing, and filling out a spreadsheet.

I'm starting to feel awake again, after a long spring of awakening. I wrote a nice song called Electric Soul. It's funky. Not to mention a song called Urban Legends, which is going into a video for SIA's Snow Show. Pretty neat, huh?

I always think I'm musically inactive, yet I always find out that I've been subconsciously working on stuff. Even this Harpo project. How did I get to the finish line on this one? I have magic music elves! LOL

I got a lot coming. I hope everyone's ready for it....

Where have I been?

None of your biz....

Seriously, working my ass off, and there's not a lot back there...*chuckling*

I was sick for a while, then work got in the way of my fun, and the music....Had to finish up some things for Harpo....Now it's the end of June, the 4th is around the corner, along with the middle of the summer AND MY BIRTHDAY!!!!  Going to be an interesting one...

I've been brewing a lot, so much I started a blog, http://www.wonderboybrewery.blogspot.com.  Check it out.  Well, don't rush to it.  I started it TODAY, so give me a minute.

Summer's here, and the time is right for dancing in the streets....or writing blogs.  I'm heading to my home town at the end of the week.  Shipping my boys to Gramma for a week.  I haven't been home since January.  That's entirely too long.

Well, I'm just rambling, and I have work to do.  Back on the job.

Peace.

Happy Times

So, my boys and I have been working on a Mother's Day gift for my wife, their mother. I would go into the details, but she might be reading this blog right now....LMAO ROTLF. Ok, seriously, I'm writing this with her sitting next to me, and this is the CLOSEST she'll ever get to reading it. She doesn't do blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc. Too cool for that...

Anywho, I took INXS' "Need You Tonight" and Mediate" and redid the lyrics, along with some music. We recorded the vocals and this week tried to get the video done, with all the rain going on. I have to tell you, I had a great time, and I think the boys did to at times. I know I yelled too much. I was stressed about not getting the footage done in time, and the lack of interest at times from the boys. I forget a lot of the time that they are 8 and 7 years old, and their attention spans aren't that great. But I got to hand it to them, they listened to the song twice and went in and recorded it. And then I borke out the instruments and the Rock Band and we recorded some more. I got a little nutty when it didn't stop raining and they had no interest in the video, but we got it done and it looks great! I showed it to them tonight and they are excited to give it to Mommy!

This reminds me of when I was a little lad and my Brother Stan would get out the 8mm and recorded me and family members doing crazy stuff. I have one particular one where my cousins and I are doing this dancing routine. I have some of me playing in the snow, and it carried on to my older youth as I used 8mm up until college. I think I bought my first video camera senior year of college. It was as big as a toaster...oven! LOL I have one now that fits in the palm of my hand.

I digress.

Anyway, This all reminded me of Happy Times. When I was a kid, and being creative was all I needed to think about. When I carried my cameras around and just snapped pictures and videotaped stuff.

I need more times like those....

It's been some time....

And I've been thinking.  And that might not be a good thing!

I've tried to stay away from the REAL serious subjects.  I've tried to keep this blog fairly tame and whacky, in my own sense, but it's time to open it up.  I apologize in advance for the folks who just figured they'd come here and read what's going on with DLF and music.  I think I've spoken very little about music.  Maybe I'll make a different blog just for that, as not to confuse the average reader.

I've realized over the last few months that blogs are a platform, a soapbox, per-say, for anyone with a computer and a connection to voice out and also for the voyeurs in us to read and say, "HELL YEAH!"  The things that I plan on discussing in the next few blogs are some "HELL YEAH" moments, I hope, for who ever's reading.  I want to talk about religion, people as a whole and this generation vs. my own, life in general I guess.  I welcome as many comments as the internet can hold!  But I will say this, and ask a favor:

This is MY blog, which means this is MY opinion.  I live in America, and have a right to it.  If you don't have anything constructive to say, please, just move along.  I am going to use examples and experience to get my points across.  IF you're angry and bitter about the subject I'm talking about, check the next blog.  The one thing I can't stand about this medium is that it gives the average Joe or Jane the ability to be extra rude without consequences.  I've seen blogs and videos on You Tube where people will leave nasty comments, just because someone didn't do or explain something the way they wanted it explained. I bet the majority of the hecklers wouldn't even know how to produce a how to video or make enough effort to string a though together for good use.

So if you can only be DESTRUCTIVE, and not CONSTRUCTIVE, please move to the back of the line until you've acquired the proper attitude.

Now, even as I say most of the above in jest, there are still a few who probably stopped reading a few minutes ago and hit the comment link.

Man, are they missing out!

Talk to you soon.

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!....Sort of....

Beer brewing

I brew beer. Beer is good. I've become somewhat a beer snob.

The thing with brewing my own concoctions is that its creative. I love being creative. I love cooking too.

Anywho, the beer I'm drinking now is one I'm proud of. A creme brulee stout. I crafted it after drinking s few southern tier brewery versions. I think I like it because its very close to the original. One of my best brews.

I think I should open a micro brewery. That's the beer talking!

Cupid, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus

No, this isn't the start of a joke. It's the realization of what a parent is responsible for, and what lengths they will go to to preserve the sanctity of every kid's dreams.

My wife and I( more her than me, I had started preparations for tomorrow's grand feast) we getting Easter baskets ready. We went to the Saturday service this year, by my request, because I have to cook for the family tomorrow and I wanted to sleep in in the morning. I also didn't want to be caught in the droves of heathens out tomorrow trying to make amends by going to church their one time a year. People, you should realize that Christ should be IN you, not in a building waiting for you to show up every sunday, but that's another blog for another time.

So anyway, we're getting these baskets together and my wife is worried that she doesn't have enough this or that in the baskets, and then it hits me. I remember my youngest getting worried that we were going to church on saturday instead of sunday. "How is the Easter Bunny going to come if we're still here and not at church?" He said. You see, we usually go to church on sunday, then one of us would exclaim as we're pulling out of the driveway, "Oh, I forgot the Bible" or something like that, and then one of us would run back in, grab the baskets from the closet, made from the night before, and put them in the living room or family room. So he was concerned that if we were home, the Easter Bunny wouldn't come and drop off the baskets. We assured him that he would come, whether we were here or not. My neighbor came over and we had a conversation about how she almost caught the Easter Bunny a couple years ago. I said she has a better chance because her house backed up to the woods... Anyway, the kids were eating it up. Later, my son made an easter egg for the Easter Bunny, I guess a new tradition as cookies and milk are for Santa. We leave carrots and celery for the reindeer too. After all, they are driving all night!

Hopefully I will remember to get the egg so my son won't be disappointed that he didn't take it.

But going through all of this just made me realize another aspect of parenting...Keeping these dreams and legends alive. Hell, I STILL believe, even though I do the work without any sitings. I find myself at Christmas fighting with Santa over who's going to give the kids the better gift. I mean I want to be a cool dad. I don't want the kids getting socks and pants from us, and Wii's and Bokugon from Santa. How lame is that?

How many times have I gotten up in the middle of hte night to "make sure" the Tooth Fairy left money in the tooth pillow? How many times has my wife sat at the table with the kids making out Valentine's Day cards and getting candy bags ready? How many Christmas' have we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, wrapping presents and getting them under the tree?

To Cupid, Mr. Bunny, Ms. Fairy and Santa, kudos to you, but I think you should leave the parents a thank you note every now and then. We keep the dream alive.

Grillin and chillin

Ok, so I came home tonight, anticipating working in the studio,. Right now, the studio is in a shambles because I'm renovating. I thought I could get it done in a weekend, but yeah ,right, still f'ed up!

The boys have been gone since sunday and Bridge had some meat marinating in the fridge since saturday, so I took it upon myself to grill when I got home tonight. of course the grilling caused me to make a few cocktails, so I'm REALLY happy right now. Blowing off working on the studio(not in the studio cause it's messed up right now) I'm going to play some video games. I got a good hour before the family gets home, so it's STAR WARS FORCE UNLEASHED for an hour. Maybe some Rock Band.

Later.

Fw: Testing 1...2

I broke down and bought a blackberry. I'm Gadget Boy, after all! This is a blog from it. How do folks do all this?

The Ol' Double Standard

So, it's almost 11 pm. I had a pretty good night. Got the kids in bed, worked out, and worked on the last two required cues for Harpo. I was grooving along, and realized it was close to 10pm, CSI time!!!! So I went upstairs to get my night time addiction of pita chips and hummus. I noticed my wife wasn't home yet.

So as I pick up the phone to see where she was(being that she should have been home about 45 minutes ago) and the phone rang. "I'm still at work, don't know when I'm leaving, call you when I do."

All I know if I tried to come home after I was expected without calling...

That's the Ol' Double Standard.....

Comes with every one of these. Enjoy it.

Watchmen

Ok, back in 1987 I started reading the Watchmen comics. Back then, I thought they were a head of their time. I still do.

I saw the movie, not reading the comics again. I wanted a new experience, and I got it. I just finished the comis this evening. all I can say is OMG. I knew this was a great movie, but it's probably the best comic movie out there today. The movie is practically a carbon copy of the comic. There's only a couple things that are different, I'm assuming a change in storyline to accomodate the simple minded...:)

But this movie is awesome, the comics are awesome. Go check it out.

Fatherhood...or just plain parent hardship

Remember, part of they title of this blog is "father"....Welcome to my world!

Just to set the record straight, I love my children. I find that being a parent isn't quite what I thought it would be. Maybe it's because kids have more attitude than when I was growing up. Maybe it's because most of the kids I'm around don't seem to have the same respect for adults, other people, or themselves as they did when I was growing up. Or maybe it's because I thought I was the ideal child growing up, and reality states that that notion was impossible.

I'm not sure the latter really is true. You see, back in the day, if I mouthed off to my parents, I would have, 1.) gotten my mouth washed out with soap, 2.) gotten my behind whooped, or 3.) both 1 and 2. So, it was REALLY easy to stay in line. If you didn't,...well, you either liked soap, pain or was just plain stupid. You stepped outta line, you got popped back in line. simple. Today it's a different story.

I don't have to tell you how many times I've been in a store and some kid, probably the ripe ol' age of 6 or 7 is telling off their mother becuase they couldn't get a pack of gum or a cookie. Now, I would like to hope that when they got home, they get something that would have them standing instead of sitting for a week, but today that probably wouldn't have happened. When I was a kid, I would have gotten a beat down IN THE STORE.

I don't want you to think that I beat the crap out of my kids or anything. BUT I'm just frustrated at the lack of respect I see both in my house and on the street with kids today.

Parents, we need to take back out homes, and kids, you need to learn respect. Respect yourselves. That way you'll learn how to respect others.

Kids don't know how well they have it. And I tired of them complaining about what they don't have. "I don't have a laptop, or a cell phone, or a DS, a Wii, a PS3." GET A JOB By the time I was 8, I was washing dishes, cleaning my room, and vacuuming the rugs. All for an allowance, but my parents never had to remind me to do any of it. I did it out of respect....That and I wanted the cash! Do you know how many times I have to tell my boys just to put their clothes in their hampers? When I was their age I had the respect thing down, and I feared letting my parents down. I wanted to make sure they were pleased with me and what I was doing. But I also knew that if they were happy, then I would be rewarded.

Yeah, I'll admit I was very spoiled growing up. I got whatever I wanted pretty close to when I wanted it. BUT I earned it. I didn't expect everything to be handed to me. I did my chores, I helped aorund the house, did what I was told, and didn't mouth off to my folks. How many times did I have to tell my boys to watch their mouths today? One time each, which was two too many.

How do you teach respect to kids who don't care? As I type this right now, I am typing mainly so I don't go upstairs and start yelling. Sometimes it's not worth it, but it kills me thinking that they think they are getting away with something.

Crazy ain't it?

A couple of things for you.

Again, I found myself in the studio working, but I'm going to stop typing and let me tell you myself....wait a minute, isn't that what I was doing anyway? Ok, so I may just make this a video blog, because I can. I promise to investigate a better camera, but for now, enjoy this!




And I found this one I did back in February. Enjoy! I have to help with the laundry....

FINALLY

I'm actually writing from the studio tonight. WHY? Because I got off my keester and actually did some studio work. I got a lot of work done, and worked on two songs for Coming To Terms. Oh, you don't know about the new CD yet. Well, I'm working on a new CD. Check out the first at http://www.tbpmusicstudio.com. The second is called Coming To Terms. It's going to be awesome, and I'll tell you about it later. Right now I have to get to the TV. CSI is on! LOL

I'm feeling good cause I've been creative tonight. I have a lot of work to do, and I'm going to get it done....someday!

Check this out, I saw I can add this:




Now ya'll in trouble. I can add video! I'll try it with sound next time!

Sitting here....

There are at least a dozen things I could be doing right now, but instead I sit in front of the TV, watching Family Guy and flipping over to Unwrapped on the food network. WTF am I doing? I have songs to write, to finish and to get to Studio 51. I have a CD to work on. I should be looking into WHERE TO SEND SOME MUSIC. Why am I sitting on my ass?

And why am I blogging about it? LOL you know I just realized that I haven't sent anyone this link yet, therefore I've been talking to myself. Nothing new really, but is it necessary for me to write it down?

I'm going to go take a shower. Maybe it'll inspire me to do something other than sit on my ass and watch TV, typing a nonsensical blog!

~D

So why don't I blog?

I wonder, really, how people find the time to do half of what they do. I mean, I've been going since early this morning. Finally got to emails. 247 emails from last night. Now I know about a third of those are emails that will enhance something, or guarantee that in 5 days I will be 20 pounds lighter, but seriously, 247 emails in less than 24 hours? How the hell am I suppose to blog, when I can't even sift through my email?

I'm going to try though. I think blogging is important. To get you opinion or emotions out there. I do think friends and fans want to know what's going on with my music and what am I doing next. Shall I Twitter? LOL That's the new term. I dunno. Blogging sounds like it's fun. Blogging sounds like it will get me into some trouble. I'm going to get a Blackberry.

I'm not sure if that will help me blog, but I feel I should get one. I want to be one of those people who are drinking a latte, checking the scores of the ncaa tournament, while buying stuff off of ebay, balancing my e-checkbook, playing my favorite mp3s, and watching a video, all while calling my wife to see if I should pick something up for dinner.

The don't call me gadgetboy for nuthin'!

~D