Defending a Kidd

I found myself in the middle of 5 bouncers that had just found out I work for Kidd Kraddick. And as most guys do they started making pokes at Kidd. See most guys like Russ Martin and think Kidd is a girly girl. I started to defend Kidd. Me defending Kidd Kraddick in a Rock bar, against bouncers, 2 to 3 times my size. Hmmmm, a year ago I would have never thought I would be defending Kidd Kraddick, I used to be one of those guys thinking he was a girly girl. Kidd really isn't that bad and actually with the empire he has built I respect a lot of what he has done. "Big" Mike the biggest bouncer said "Man Chris you just lost some cred with me dude." Dammit I can't afford to loose anymore, I mean on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the kewlest and highest in cred points I rank at about a 4, if you take some away that brings me down to a 2, and that is down right just dorky. I need to start using words like "fantastic" and "neeto". Then in desperation I turned to my bald brother "P" (Paul) and he agreed with Mike except he liked Big Al. Then Mike said he thought Kellie was hot and they all agreed. And the guy that started it all was James, my wife even bought him a Adidas ball cap, and he sold me out :) Nah just kidding, I don't care if people know, I think I need to get a shirt that says "I Listen To Kidd Kraddick in the Morning" and where it wherever I go, of course it would need to be white, with white lettering, BUT I would wear it with pride. One more thing, I do have to thank Zack, a New Music Festival worker for having my back, he liked Kidd and even went on a fishing trip with him. We didn't really care to hear the details...

To Job or not to Job, that is the question?

A lot of people now know I work for Kidd Kraddick and his morning circus. I know guys usually think "Kidd Kraddick, that dude is a girly girly", well he really is a kewl dude. I respect him to know end because of the risks he has taken and the empire he has built. And to be honest, other than getting to play music to a large captive audience, this job with him isn't a really a job. What I mean is a job is something you dred having to do, but do it because it makes you money. Sure we all need money. To let you know what kind of guy I am, I have been playing music for 13 years on stage, and probably averages about $1,000 a year in income from music. Break that down and it just doen't add up to much, pennies on the hour. I love music though and I love getting on stage and playing a song that I or the band has written and seeing people enjoy it. Working with Kidd isn't much different, I get to help entertain people in a different way and a lot of it is fun. I have never been yelled at for wearing shorts and flip flops to work. Or I have never been gripped at for being late and when I do a good job they say "hey good job." Sure I have jobs that I work for money and those take a lot out of me. I hope and pray one day my music will become a career, wouldn't that be nice.

Local Music Support is a good thing

I know that earlier in a blog post I swore off the New Music Festival, well guess what, we are now one of the 230+ acts playing this weekend. To be honest I don't really care that we are playing the festival. I am glad that we get in FREE! And I am always glad to play for fans, but I could care less about what the festival name is or who is putting it on. No one will get a big record deal from this or become an overnight sensation, but there will be a good time had by many local music fans.

Lately I have been posting other bands to see around Dallas, see I have a theory and that theory is people like more than just one style of music and one band, I know I do. So I decided, hell there are tons of bands out there busting there butts writing and performing every weekend while holding down day jobs just like us and I like a lot of those bands. I figure I could just feed you that information and maybe you will like the bands, maybe you won't, but hopefully you will at least give them a listen. And that is what support is all about. For some reason in Dallas there is no unity among bands, I have been around this scene for 5+ years and have met tons of musicians, but I don't talk to any of them on a regular basis. I stopped going down to Deep Ellum for a while because I was getting tired of being the "Hey whats up" guy, there was nothing geniune about it. Now I just want to go down and have a real conversation with just one or two people or none and just enjoy the music. I saw this band the other night that had 4 cello players and a drummer and they were doing covers of Star Wars and other movie themes and they were GREAT. I saw Liz Williams for the first time the other night and she had a excellent voice, drew me right in.

If you are a fan of the local music scene, get out there this weekend and get a taste of what Dallas and surrounding cities have to offer. Don't just go see the "buzz" bands, go see everybody (I know that is not possible). To be honest if you are a fan of monkeyshyne and there is another band you have been wanting to see when we are playing, go see them, we know you love us, broaden your musical horizons. Oh and if you are worried about getting shot or mugged down in Deep Ellum come find one of us (Chris, Colin or Oz) and we will be more than happy to walk you to your car. See you down there.

How much does a soul cost these days?

Today I met Ryan Cabrera and I got to watch him perform a couple of his hit songs. The guy seemed cool enough, but I still had a lack of respect for him. I just didn't feel a genuine vibe coming from him. I didn't feel like he had suffered for his music or that he was conveying a deeper meaning in his songs. I just kind of felt like he was a kid that REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to be a teenage girls fantasy and up on stage in front of large crowds that tell him how great he is. This is where I am torn. Would I trade places with Ryan Cabrera? I know I have changed my writing style and changed the things the band does to appeal to more people. I am now starting to see the biggest dilemma in music and "selling out." When I was growing up and didn't know anything about the music business I could spot a band that sold out a million miles away. And now there is such a grey area. Would I sacrifice some of my musical style to be able to play in front of big crowds, be on the radio and make a living playing and writing music, instead of busting my ass sitting behind a computer all day making some fat bastard at the top of the company ladder a lot of money? Yes and No. And that is Chris's dilemma. Part of me wants to just be real and write what comes out of me and know that whether or not I ever make it, I was true to myself. And then part of me says I can make the necessary changes, "sell out" a little and have a better chance of making a living at it. The real truth is neither way guarantees me success to a high level. It should be easy for me to answer, but it just ain't. Do I or don't I? I guess only time will tell. And I hope if you are a fan of my music you will stick me no matter what good or bad decisions I make.

Oh and did I mention that monkeyshyne is now looking for another singer between the ages of 18 to 21, blonde, white male, with bed head hair, a couple of tatoos and a hip dress style. No need to really sing, Oz and I will cover that...just kidding...maybe...

The Follies of Modern Technology

Technology is great. It makes our jobs easier, gets us information quicker and gets us to places much faster than ever before. Our phones not only act as phones, as small video game consoles, calculators, Internet explorers and now mp3 player's. Our cars now have built in navigation systems, that tell us where we need to go, seat warmers that toast your buns to the "right" temp and stereos that tell us what song and artist that is currently being played. This is all amazing, BUT when is enough, enough. For instance, I hold a day job working for a prestigous company and every afternoon after lunch I have to use the restroom. I don't rush the time I spend in the bathroom because it is good quit time. The problem is this bathroom doesn't have a light switch, it has a movement sensor. After a certain amount of time with no movement in front of this sensor the light turns . Yes you can see where this is going...and it isn't pretty. Many times since I have been there I have found myself in the dark on the pot (oh yes that is gross right, like you don't ever sit on the pot). And let me tell you that just SUCKS. I have not had any major incedents yet, but the day will come and it will not be pretty. Solution, lets just put a light switch back in the bathroom, I mean technology like this is just going a little overboard and needs to be flushed :)

Play it again Sam

I went to the Black Crowes concert last night and wow what a band. Their Keyboard player blew me away and of course vocalist Chris Robinson sounded like he had just drank a bottle of whiskey and smoked a pack of cigarettes, so in other words EXCELLENT! Now I play in a band, and to my knowledge we have not written a "hit" song. The Black Crowes have written several and one hit in particular that they didn't play was their biggest one "She Talks to Angels." The musician side of me understands, after playing one song 1,000,000,000 times it gets a little old, but the fan side of me wanted to hear the band play that song. Artists have it tough, first we strive our whole lives to write that song or paint that picture and when we finally do it becomes so over exposed we had the very thing that allows us to achieve a maximum level of success. As I stated before I don't know how it feels and am starting to wonder if I even want to know...

Why would you say such a thing

Lately I have been told by a number of people, including Big Colin (GAY) that I am hot. Nope I still don't see that. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think I am a slouch, but hot, I have just never pictured myself that way. I mean do hot people think they are hot? I guess I am glad that God blessed me with all the right body parts, but that is about it. I do like people with confidence in themselves, but not people who are overconfident. I guess I want to see myself more like a Clint Eastwood and not a Colin Farrell. Clint Eastwood always played the rough guy with a gun. Whether it was a cowboy movie or a cop movie he was tough (lets not talk about "paint your wagon" I think he did CRACK while filming that movie), rugged and well handsome (I said it, but I am not gay). He talked in this low, cool, "make my day" voice. And he could look right through anyone with that stare of his. Now if I am that kind of hot, I can deal with that. On the other hand if I am Colin Farrell hot, get me a baseball bat, a knife and some duct tape and I can fix that real quick. I mean the dude tries to look tough and mean, but I ain't buyin what he is selling. No offense Oz (the pretty boy of the band), but you can keep that pretty boy stuff to Colin Farrell and yourself...

signing off Chris not hot, but rugged Cloutier

FUCKING STOP

Sorry to use such a BAD word in my blog, but I am just getting tired of all this shit. This shit I refer to is spam. I see spam on blogs now, people posting comments like "Great blog, keep up the snazzy pippy work, and also check out my blog sexwithdogs.blogger.com for some real neat photos of me and my pal." When is it going to end? I guess I should just move up to a mountain somewhere and live in a log cabin for me to get away from it all. Billboards every 10 feet on the highway. Race cars where you can't even see the number anymore. Going to a rock concert at SNAPPLE Rules Superplex. Spamming my email with "I am jamal baba ickycal and if you give me your bank acount number, your credit card info, you SS# and DOB, I will deposit $10000000000 dollars into your acount and you can keep 10%". Endless phone calls of "Hello is Mr or Mrs Calteerier in?". Websites with endless popups about superHOTpersonalhaveityourwaysexdating.com. On and on and on and on. Please just leave the blogs alone, lets agree that this is one place where people share their thoughts, experiences and philophies, not about how you can have a SUPER KICKASS job just sitting there in your underwear.

Apples and Oranges

Some people like apples, some people like oranges, some like both. If you were to only like apples and hated oranges, would you tell other people not to like oranges? What if you were allergic to oranges, then would you tell people not to like them? What is an truck caring oranges killed your dog, and for your whole life you could never eat an orange because of that incident, would you then tell people oranges are evil? My point is today more and more I am finding people that say "I wish people would just let people be", but then they turn around and say "I can't believe the way that person is acting, that is soooooo wrong". Does any else but me not see the falacy in this belief system? Me I like apples and oranges, even though they say too many apple seeds can cause cancer, guess I will die healthy.

Who am I?

I once wrote a song about it and it was called "who am i." Now that might not be a question that people ask themselves a lot, but to me I ask myself several times a day, everday. Lately I have been really trying go to the core of who I am. I am trying to strip away all the things that my mind might be clouded with and it is hard. In todays society there are so many things that bombard my conscience. The 50+ bulletin boards on the way home from work, the 80 radio advertisments in one day and all of this telling me who I should be, how I should act, what car I should drive and how I need to eat a Fresh New Chicked Delux Sandwich from McDonalds to impress the other guys in the band (if you haven't heard the commercial, feel lucky). Not only those influence me, but the people that surround me too. Some totally lift you up and some totally bring you down, and usually the ones that bring you down aren't trying to. I am trying my best to find that spiritual road, and my calling in life, guess all I really can do is try. Right? Anyboy hungry for some McD's fries???

Deep Ellum Hurricane Relief

Ok here is my plug for a very good cause this Sunday. It is the Deep Ellum Deep Relief showcase. Many really good bands in Dallas all coming together to play for free, to raise money for the hurricane recovery effort. I believe all the money is going to the Red Cross, which is the way it should be. Please don't think that this is over, many people still need help and will for a while. Just think all of those people working in the resteruant industry in New Orleans have lost their jobs and Dallas and all the other cities that these people have been forced to move to don't have that many openings. These people will need some help for a while. We will be playing acoustic in the VIP Lounge at 8:20pm. And there are many good bands playing. There are 7 clubs participating in this, which is think is really kewl. Suck it up on Sunday and get down to Deep Ellum for some good local music. And I promise I will not be in a bad mood :)

Thank You

Ok I posted a blog about feeling down about the music business and how I felt jaded that we didn't get accepted to some festival and a REALLY KIND fan of ours posted a VERY nice comment on that blog. That put things into perspective. I sometimes forget the reason I don't play in my room to my walls is having the ability to share what I feel with other people and hope they connect. Thats what it is about, connecting. Actaully for the first time I am really starting to realize that. Our whole life is made up of connections and most of those connections involve other people. Like our first kiss (in Colin's case I think it was with a dog, but hey I still love him), our first dance (in Oz's case I think that he had 3 dates to his first dance) and our first "song". You know that song that when you hear it you play that 2 minute video of your life. That artist who wrote that song just connected with you and you don't even know him or her, how cool is that. My first song was by RATT "Round and Round", does that bring up memories. Thank you for those who listen to our music and connect with it, it is my pleasure to be able to share with you.

Memory like a dead elephant

That is me and that is my memory. I know everything is in there, I just don't ever remember anything or I just don't remember it the right way. So instead of being one of those people that says "Oh I meant to but I forgot", I write things down. I carry around a notepad and pen with me almost everywhere I go. And I constantly make "To do" lists as well as notes about things. I also have 2 online calendars that mark events for me, not just 1 but 2. To me it boils down to this, change is hard, but change is good. People want to change, they just don't know how. Well here is my suggestion to people who don't remember things WRITE IT DOWN. Make it a habit to write down everything, trust me you aren't going to kill to many trees. And as I have stated before, the more you write things down, the easier it becomes.

Note: I need to remind myself to remind the other guys in the band to UPDATE their blogs...now that is babysitting I don't want to do...

No Respect I tell yah, no respect

Monkeyshyne has gotten a lot of respect over the years. I think my band has earned it. We have played just about every weekend for the last 5 years, we have recorded 4 CDs. We have opened for big name acts like Los Lonely Boys and Fastball. We have written our hearts out and exposed our soul for music. We have changed our sound from a Nickelback/Creed rip off to an acoustic pop/rock sound, something we feel is more geniune, something that is actually our sound. Recently I got a note from the North Texas New Music Festival a festival we have played for the last 3 years. And in this note is stated that we were on "standby". At first I took it as, "well we just suck", but as I have had time to think about it, I think BULLSHIT, but I still think we suck :)

We were told there were over a 1000 entries that came in, and that is awesome. BUT, what about some sort of scene loyalty. We have supported Deep Ellum and these other bands playing the festival for as long as they have been around. There are not to many bands left in Dallas that have been around longer than us. Everytime I want to feel good about music, I get kicked in the teeth by the business part. I MEAN WTF Ashley and Jessica Simpson are selling millions of records and no offense, they suck. Hillary Duff, for coach Christs sake, had the number 1 CD on Billboard for several weeks. What am I not understanding? Sometimes I just want to quit trying to play my music for the world and just go back to playing for myself in my room.

Giving is a good thing

I once read that in order to get something you must give first. That sounds a little greedy, but lets face it we live our lives trying to "get" things. And that giving should be an everyday part of life, not just when a crisis happens. A long time ago I kept making excuses of why I couldn't give. Money, I never had enough. Time, I never had any. Energy, I was always drained. When I finally decided that all that I was blessed and I needed to give back I found money to donate (even in times when I wasn't making a lot), I found my time to donate (I do a lot of free computer tutoring for less fortunate people) and energy, I found plenty of that. I donated most of this past monday afternoon into the evening working at one of the Catholic Charity donation points unloading, sorting and loading supplies. Everytime I felt my back huring (I am getting old, I never thought I would say that) or found myself wanting to call it an evening and leave, I thought "Guess if I was stuck in New Orleans right now I wouldn't have much choice," so I chose to work a little harder and longer. I found the energy. I am not suggesting everyone go out and give till it hurts, but maybe in a time like now and an age like today, this is as good a time as any to start giving a little, and the key is don't stop, I promise it gets easier the more you do it.