Bouncing Over A White Cloud - Video
Rockwood was rowdy. I was anxious. And then it all turned.
Chris was on at 8. I was on at 9.
So I left the office at seven o'clock and struck out through a sweltering Times Square with my guitar, computer, camera and a bag of CDs strapped to my back. I jammed onto a crowded F, turned up my iPod, and began worrying.
Suddenly, all of my own songs sounded foreign. Suddenly, rushing through rehearsal seemed imprudent. Worse, I was suddenly at Delancey Street -- one stop too far.
I hopped off the subway, and headed for the ...
Authentic Records Flood Relief Public Service Announcement - Video
I wasn't offstage much more than two minutes when Thrillcat Editorial Director Travis Ballstadt pulled me aside to tape my part of the Authentic Records Flood Relief Public Service Announcement.
Jason and Mile had already taped their segment Sunday afternoon down by the Des Moines River itself. Unfortunately, I was still recovering from the Hy-Vee Triathlon at the time, and couldn't get myself out of bed.
So just after my thirty-minute Authentic Records Flood Relief Benefit set, I was on. Travis set up in between the kitchen and ...
Universal Studios Fire Threatens MTV Movie Awards
I woke to the sound of a helicopter swooping what sounded like mere feet overhead.
Moving towards the window of my hotel room, a column of black smoke billowed where the mountains used to be, then flattened like an anvil just a few hundred feet overhead. The air was cast a gauzy, grayish-orange. Four helicopters circled overhead, alternately diving into the valley beyond.
'That looks like it's on the lot,' I thought.
I worked a mental map in my head, imagining the five-minute cart ride from our offices on the back of the hill to The ...
Killing The Blues - Video
We're twenty minutes into the "Invention of Everything Else" recording session when we start hearing a loud, arrhythmic clicking sound in our headphones.
Travis stops rolling.
"Ok," he says. "Who's got the bum cable?"
Chris and I aren't plugged in. Tony protests.
"I checked everything before we started," he says.
"Battery?"
Chris and I are mic'd.
"Um..."
There are four microscopic screws between a bass and its nine volt. This was gonna' take a sec. Given that I was gunning to record at least eight tunes in as many ...
Superman In Reverse
That was some serious Clark Kent shit.
I left the Santa Monica office at 5:43, pointed my Nissan towards Temescal Gateway Park (as I've done so many times before), and reasoned with myself the entire way there.
"If I get there by 6:30," I thought, "I can run 'til 7:00. That'll leave me an hour to fill the tank, get to LAX, and drop off the car. It'll be 8:15 by the time I hit security. I'll have a cold beer in my hand by 8:30, with plenty of time to chill before boarding."
It's 8:53, and I'm three paragraphs in.
But that's not ...
Inventing Everything Else
Nine songs in eight hours. Not bad.
Whether it was nerves, or a lack of sleep (probably both), I was sick to my stomach all day. I dashed out of the office around five o'clock, and hopped the NR.
Stepping out of the subway at Prince & Broadway is a little like stepping into a Middle Eastern bazaar. The streets are narrow, the sidewalks are crowded with tourists and vendors. It's not a good place to be when you're in a hurry. I took a deep breath, and endeavored to take my own advise.
Serious Business Studios is on Spring & ...
Breathe In (Live) - Video
Like I said to Tony before the everyone showed up for rehearsal, "If you're gonna' be ambitious in a big way, you gotta' be prepared to fail in a big way."
I'll be honest. It wasn't our best rehearsal ever. Which is only slightly alarming given that we're recording a new album tomorrow.
I don't relish sneaking out of the office to get to rehearsal any more than I relish lugging my guitar to the office in the first place. But there it is. Or, rather, there I was walking briskly down the shoulder of Seventh Avenue. The other ...
Giving Up The Ghost (Live) - Video
There's a lot of hope in the Music Building.
The place is semi-legendary, at least to those of us who grew up watching Behind The Music.
The 42,000-square-foot building located on Eighth Avenue between 38th and 39th -- catty-corner from The Port Authority Bus Terminal -- is eleven stories of rehearsal space: 70, 350 square foot studios in all.
Imagine, then, just how many bands have trolled the graffiti-strewn halls since its inception in 1979. Like Madonna Louisa Ciccone, for one. And Chris Abad, for another. Chris rents a room ...
Oscar Awesomeness
My day job includes oversight of MTV.com Movies (hence last month's sojourn to the Sundance Film Festival).
Our movies coverage was an outgrowth of our news.
Chris Connelly's "The Big Picture" had long since established MTV News' presence in the movies space on television in the late '90s, as MTVNews.com was hitting a stride in strict music coverage, it lacked representation online. During that time, my colleague, Robert Mancini, and I were spending out brief lunchtime trolling the Internet for trailers. At some point, we turned to ...
Here Comes Your Man - Video
In the fall of my sophomore year, I hung three fliers that read:
Seeking: Bass, Guitar, Drums
Influences: REM, U2, Police
Call: Ben 315-412-8735
The advert was posted on three key bulletin boards on campus: The Schine Student Center, Crouse College of Music, and School of Visual & Performing Arts.The boards were selected for their environs, the constituency they represented: populist, learned, and hip. They were, I thought, key ingredients to any great rock band. Or, at least I reasoned, my great rock band.
Forty-eight hours ...
