leftovers

It's time again for my annual countdown of the top ten songs that worked their way into my ears this past year.  2012 was an interesting year, as unlike past years, there were not a lot of new albums by my old standbys.  So much of the songs on this list are by new artists, or artists I've just discovered.  Even though I love nothing more than one of my longtime favorite bands putting out new music, I also recognize that I should make a conscious effort to embrace new music, and I think I've done a lot of that this year. 10. "Live While We're Young" - One Direction I think I first saw One Direction on Saturday Night Live and I thought they were pretty good.  I've always had a soft spot for boy bands, although none of them have ever really entered my upper echelon as far as favorite bands go.  I like 1D's sound, style and look, but it wasn't until I went to England this fall that I really started to appreciate them.  Their single "Live Whil...

What a time it is to be me!  The past couple of months have been a crazy whirlwind.  Let's start with October. Last year, Dylan and I agreed that we were tired of going to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval.  For those who don't know, it's a huge street festival that takes place just about a mile west of where we live.  Hundreds of thousands of people show up for it, many of them (although seemingly less each year) arrive in costume.  There are stages with performances, food vendors, and it's a lot of fun although it's also kind of a hassle and can be really irritating since there are so many people there.  It's easy to lose your friends in the crowd, and cell phones usually don't work because of the sheer number of people trying to use them.  We had a great time there in 2011, though, and we had tentatively planned on not living in West Hollywood by the time Halloween rolled around in 2012.  We did look around for a new place, but ended up s...

Here's an interview and song clips from the Turbo Sunshine show last night in Hollywood.  Thanks to the guys at www.thatotherwebshow.com and the folks at club Kitty Kitty Bang Bang!

So much has happened since the last time I posted here (which was 5 months ago! Yikes!) but I guess I have learned to parcel my life out over various internet platforms in addition to this one, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Google+, etc.  My job title now includes "Social Media" manager so I've been embracing all the new forms of social networking available.  In addition to performing at Portland Gay Pride in June, I also was back home in Kansas for a family reunion, which was very nice.  Last night, I completed a new song, "Stomping Ground," which is my entry into the Summer of Music original song contest sponsored by Visit West Hollywood.  I tried to incorporate the energy and excitement of West Hollywood's vibrant night life into the song, representing all the great fun I've had here in the past decade.  There's no way to sum up that many years in 3 minutes, but I tried. Here is the link to the conte...

This is my favorite house in all of Los Angeles. I've always been a fan of old-fashioned, Victorian architecture and I would love to live in a house similar to this, if not this one. I just happened to stumble upon this abode one day while driving around town and since then I've been obsessed with it. If I'm anywhere near it, I will go out of my way to drive by it. After the first few times I did that, I decided to look it up and found out it has a lot of history. First, it was used as the Addams Family's home in a 1970's reunion television special which I used to own on VHS so it's no wonder that this house instantly spoke to me! It's also been used in several other television shows and films over the years, including Beverly Hills 90210, Willard, and Ben. Perhaps my favorite story about the house, which is now known as the Higgins-Verbeck-Hirsch House is from back in the twenties, when the home was moved from it's original location to it's cu...

Today my new single, "Tape," is released featuring a new video and b-sides. I had originally planned to release this last year in August (then pushed back to October), on a limited edition cassette tape format, with a video directed by Shawn Sagen of www.thestrangerpage.com who directed the "Alien Nation" video. I had been on a roll at the beginning of 2011 having released my debut solo album and single in April, and the follow-up single/video, "Winnipeg Beach," in June. Then I ended up just being too busy with other things, concentrating on my next album, and thinking no one really cared if I put out another single anyway so I just kind of forgot about it, and then resigned to the fact there would be no more singles off "It's Never The Way You Imagine It." It can be very difficult, and often discouraging, being an independent artist living in a commercial art mecca like Los Angeles. It's tough to get anyone to take any notice of you o...