Can you believe it? It's already International Talk Like a Pirate Day! My, how the time flies...!
Personally, I'm not very good at talking like a pirate -- I prefer to leave that to the professionals. And I'm even worse at living the pirate lifestyle. I'm not really into drinking warm beer, eating gruel (whatever gruel is...), or going months without bathing. Nothing against that stuff, it's just not for me.
But if big-screen movie pirates have taught me anything, it's this: they knew how to party! They threw huge feasts! They had barrels of booze! They enjoyed each other's company like one big happy family! And they had live music, even if it was just fiddles, fifes and concertinas!
That's such a winning combination! Food + friends + spirits + music = fun! Think about it -- if you removed any part of that equation, it wouldn't be the same. You might have a little bit of fun, but it wouldn't be guaranteed. Without music, it'd just be a dinner. Subtract the booze, and it would just be a picnic. Without food, it would be a very short evening. And if not for friends, nobody would show up. But when all the pieces come together in the right amounts, it's pure magic! Every time.
Maybe we landlubbers could learn a thing or two from pirates.

The Wild West Social hosted a really cool event yesterday -- the Summer Music Jam!
There were about ten great local bands playing for about a half-hour each; everything from originals to classic rock to blues. It was awesome to see local bands and local music lovers come out and support each other in such a cool way!
Surfing Everest played some fun classic rock; Two-Bit Pistols played a great raw-sounding original set; Bare Knuckles laid down some nice blues originals; Sons of SoCal killed it with some dynamite rock medleys; Rockaholix were just awesome, and Rain finished the gig with a great high-energy set.
The sound was great! Every band's rhythm section sounded nice and fat; and all the vocals and instruments were really clear and distinct.
Again, this was a great event showcasing some great local talent! We need to see more events like this!

It's kind of funny (in a funny = sad kind of way) how we somehow manage to accumulate so much stuff in our lives. Stuff, in itself, isn't necessarily bad -- in fact, it's comforting for us to hold on to the first guitar we ever owned even though we haven't played it in 25 years. That kind of stuff is good stuff. But if you're holding on to the first guitar cable you ever owned even though it's totally destroyed and you'd never think of using it, that's bad stuff. If it's not bad stuff, then it's meaningless stuff (unless you've got an emotional attachment to it).
We need to go through our stuff every once in a while and get rid of the bad and meaningless stuff. Keep the stuff we want. Definitely keep the stuff we still need. But let go of the other stuff. Meaningless stuff can suffocate you. It can slow you down. It can also get in your way and block your vision from seeing the good stuff. Eventually you reach a point where it's detrimental to hold on to so much stuff.
Sadly, we never realize we've got enough stuff until we've already got too much of it. But then again, maybe that's what makes it easier to start letting go of some of it. Maybe it's when we finally get rid of that 112 Crate amp we've been holding on to, that we rediscover the old Fuzz Face that completely changed our life back in 1979!
Letting go of stuff doesn't have to be a complete loss. There's certainly a market for old stuff (aka Used Gear), even if it's not particularly great stuff. You don't need to cover all the mirrors and go into mourning over selling your old Fender Twin Reverb. With an almost zen-like calm, you can give your old gear a new start in a new home, while making some quick cash to buy some new stuff.
At the end of the day, you need to remember that all your stuff is just that -- stuff. Inanimate stuff. If you lost it all tomorrow, you could either replace it or live without it. Don't let your stuff blind your eyes from the things that are really important. 

Today is Guitar Shorty's birthday!
He would have been 90 years old today.
This cat was legendary! He was leading bands as a teenager. He shared the stage with Ray Charles, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, the Chambers Brothers, and Willie Dixon, just to name a few. He was one of the great electric blues power-hitters. He left his fingerprints all over blues and rock -- you can hear his influence pretty clearly in the music of Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy (and all the musicians they influenced in turn, like Stevie Ray and Billy Gibbons).
He was married to Hendrix' sister for a few years, and he may have even introduced Jimi to the wah pedal. Pretty wild, huh?

Last weekend was Labor Day -- now it's time to get back to work! I think it's important to take breaks every once in a while; it allows you to reflect on your work (not only on what you're doing, but how and why you're doing it), and to come back with a fresh perspective. If you don't stop and take time to think about these things, you'll just keep doing the same things the same way, getting the same results and banging your head against the same wall. It will drive you crazy! Stop it. It doesn't have to be like that. Let me share some things I've learned over the years to help you out; maybe it'll help, maybe it won't.
Organize the work. With Patch of Gravity, there are really only two major categories of work -- Administration and Operations. Everything we do as a band can be lumped into one of these groups, whether it's social media, finances, rehearsals, practice, finding gigs, transportation, making swag, or networking with other musicians. So in this little example, Admin would encompass Social Media, Finances, Finding Gigs, Swag and Networking. Ops would contain Rehearsals, Practice, and Transportation.
Schedule what you can. Set aside a day (or a few hours) throughout the week to focus on each type of work. For example, on Mondays and Tuesdays when clubs may be closed, spend some time working on social media or website content. Dedicate another day to making or buying swag (stickers, shirts, mugs, etc). Later in the week, you can work on finding gigs and networking. Make time every day to practice!
No surprises. Ever. You should be tracking all the routine things you're responsible for. There's no excuse for letting a band rehearsal or a known commitment catch you off-guard. But even more than that, you need to develop a good technique of bouncing through all of your responsibilities so you can catch anything that needs your attention. Before it becomes an immediate thing.
Anticipate the unexpected. If you're even halfway-decent at managing your time and all your routine tasks, you'll always be ready for things that come up at the last minute -- when a club owner asks if your band can play tomorrow night, or if that new gear you want goes on sale for today only -- you'll want to jump on the opportunity, knowing that you made the right decision!
There's absolutely no reason you can't gain control of all your responsibilities and commitments and still keep your sanity. Work smarter on the routine stuff, and you'll be able to work harder on the things that really matter!

There never seems to be enough time to do the things we need to do. And it's the same thing every day; every week! We're living in a culture where you need to accomplish more and more stuff just to keep in step with what everyone else is doing -- you don't have time to stop or you'll get further and further behind. You'll rarely hear someone say, "I wish I didn't have so much time to get my stuff done."
Seven days a week has been the standard of timekeeping for thousands of years, so I don't think there's much hope in getting an eighth day added to the calendar. But here's how you can build some extra time into your week -- are you ready? Self-discipline. That's the secret weapon. Self-discipline will get you out of bed a half-hour earlier. Self-discipline will keep you from waiting til the last minute to learn your parts in a couple of new songs. Self-discipline will help you create routines to make sure you remember the little things (charge your wireless; bring extra batteries; make a setlist...).
There are tons of other ways to build more time into your schedule. Time blocking. Prioritizing. Weekly planning. Even increasing your physical activity can help speed up your metabolism and give you more energy. But it all starts with self-discipline -- that's how you can start adding that eighth day to your calendar!

Yup. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. But it's not. And they aren't.
We're rolling out some new changes in Patch of Gravity, and we're starting with our song list. Take a look at the 'songs' page and see for yourself -- we've gotten rid of a lot of the fluff songs and replaced them with some edgier alt-rock.
But change isn't always easy. Learning new songs -- GOOD new songs -- is always a huge challenge! There's memorizing new lyrics; memorizing new song arrangements; there's tons of self-practice to find out what you can play & sing at the same time; and that's all before you get together with the rest of the band to try and assemble all the pieces!
So what if it's not easy?

Flag Day commemorates the day we, as Americans, officially resolved to change our image. We defined our colors and our symbols. We made a fresh start -- as a team -- and assured one another that we were all in; that we were serious about making this organization work.
That's kind of what Patch of Gravity did today. Our old drummer left the band today, but we're making a fresh start with Mike! And we're not looking back. There's no time to look back, and no reason to grieve. Today was our Flag Day. And it looks like it's going to be a HOT summer!

Sometimes life pushes you toward the unknown. Sometimes you don't feel like you're ready to take that first step. And that's okay. There comes a time when you just have to punch fear in the face and do your thing!
That happened to us this weekend. We were faced with the very uncertain task of introducing our acoustic duo project before we thought we were ready. And you know what? We weren't as ready as we'd hoped to be. But we played the show, we had a good time, and it seemed like we got some decent reviews from the people who were there.
We didn't die. We learned some great lessons. We had fun. And we saw a pretty clear path to how we're going to proceed with this thing!
If you don't step out of your comfort zone -- if you never push against the walls of your little box, you're not going to grow. 

I want to give a very special Mother's Day shout out to all of the beautiful Mothers, Moms, Mamas, Mas, Mommies, and Mamacitas in our lives! Much love to all of you! 

A lot has been happening with the band lately; we've added a few more performance dates and we're trying out an acoustic version of the band in order to play more music more often! We'll be doing an acoustic show at Bastards Canteen in Temecula on Memorial Day to pay honor to our Nation's awesome heroes who paid the highest price for our benefit. We've also added June 29th at Euryale Brewing Co in Riverside -- if you like beer and you like live music, you won't want to miss this event! Really. I don't know which one will be better; the band or the beer!