Friday, July 29, 2011

You Got Grandma Hair

     Yep, that's what they said to me in Vegas - "you got grandma hair." I have to post a picture of my new hairdo soon. Actually, my hair is rather shaggy on one on of my youtube videos under ilexstudios. I lived on the east coast for most of my life - up until five years ago when we moved to the Los Angeles area. I knew something had to change when I walked up to the guitar player at church and asked if I could sub in the band sometime. By the way, this band was completely off the chain! They were all heavy weight pro players that were paid to be there. Libby and I called them the "Saturday Night Live Band." They were hip with pony tails and ear rings. As I would learn later - you do not tuck your shirt in if you want to be hip - let it hang!! Anyway, the guitar player asked me if I was a politician. I was like "Huh?" It was probably not more than a week or two later, that another guy came up to me and asked if I was in the military. He was a fighter pilot down at Point Mugu.
     Okay, I gotta change something if I am going to work as a guitar player in LA. I had to change my look. So, I got some new threads and shoes that were hip, but I did not change my hair. I always asked for a number two razor on the sides of my head leaving it a little longer on top. Yeah, that was a military cut. All of a sudden out of the blue Linda, who has been cutting my hair for almost five years, told me that I needed to look like a guitar player once and for all!! She meant business. So, I have been letting my hair grow for about eight months and it is getting a bit wild. They called me Peter Frampton in high school so that gives you and idea of how curly it is. Somebody said that I had a Sammy Hagar look the other day. Then my aunt, who is up in years and doesn't see very well, thought that there was an old lady sitting on the couch in the living room of the house that I was visiting - it was her daughter, my cousins house in Vegas. My aunt came into the room laughing so hard - it was hilarious. We asked her what was so funny and she told us that she thought that there was an old lady sitting on the couch. It wasn't an old lady - it was me!!  Hopefully my hair will get longer on the sides soon so I don't look like an old lady with a perm. Anyway, old lady or not, my hair will grow on!!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

What Ails You Brother?

Drop me a note and I will see if I can help you out. I am going to blog about the struggles of a performing artists in hopes that it will help you with your career, even if it's not in music. There will be some funny stories about going on tour, playing gigs, looking for work, going back to school, and raising kids etc. I might even throw in a few stories about characters that I meet at the beach - I like to surf. I will talk about some of my interests on the subject of music industry, performance, as well as guitars and gear that I own, or want to own. I will be out on an east coast tour of a Christmas show in December. I will do some tweeting (@ilexstudios) and some video streaming. I need to get another facebook account. I will get that address to you in one of my next blogs. There will be some book reviews and pointers on getting your career in music launched.  Until next time - Surf it Mellow Brothers and Sisters - the MD