leftovers

*This is all subject to my hazy memory malfunctioning, but I'm trying to remember the best I can When I was in seventh grade at Paradise Middle School, it was supposed to be the first year our class would be able to attend a school dance, which was the Christmas party and dance normally held in our school cafeteria, only for seventh and eighth graders.  However, the two classes above us really screwed up, starting a food fight or some such nonsense the year before, and as a result, the school decided to no longer sponsor this activity.  I was really bummed and told my parents how unhappy I was, and somehow, it was decided that we would host a holiday party and dance at our house instead! I don't remember how I convinced my parents this was a good idea, but I remember thinking I just had the coolest parents and this was going to be the best party ever! I went about preparing for the party with a fervor that was probably new to me.  Looking back now, this is officially ...

So these are the states that, as of today, I have visited in my lifetime.  I would much prefer that they all be colored in, but I think I've done pretty well for myself so far. As a kid, when we went on vacation, it was always west of the Mississippi.  I'm not sure why, and I also think it's common, that people who grew up in the US always wanted to travel west.  Most of the states that are north, south, or west of Kansas, I visited on family vacations.  I think Oregon is the only exception, as I only visited that for the first time on tour with Shitting Glitter. As for the states east of Kansas, those were all visited in college or later.  Brandon and I went on a road trip with Randy, and that's how I knocked off Illinois and Iowa.  Georgia was because I attended a journalism conference there in college.  New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts were accomplished during the trip Dylan and I made to celebrate the states that had ma...

This is our Halloween video!  We had a ton of fun filming it with Marky Make Up at Jarod's mansion in the hills.

The annual Retro Futura tour, previously known as the Regeneration tour, is something I've been aware of for awhile, and have been to on at least one occasion when Human League was part of it.  Though I was disappointed a year or two ago when Human League were again announced to be on the tour, but then ended up not being on it, I was very intrigued this year when they made the announcement that Tom Bailey, the musical force behind my first favorite band, The Thompson Twins, was coming out of "pop retirement" to headline the tour. At first, in my busy cocoon of a life, it was hard to muster much excitement.  After all, I wasn't initially too impressed with the rest of the lineup, and I was of course disappointed that Allanah and Joe (the other two "twins") would not be taking part.  But my friend Marc's enthusiasm rubbed off on me and I was texting with him while we were waiting for the minute that tickets would go on sale, so we could both get tickets...

This is going to be a bit long winded so bear with me!  I'm just super excited because this song is coming out on Tuesday next week and I want to tell the story of how it came to be. First off, this is a huge milestone for me as this is the first song to be released from the full band Devin Tait & The Traitors.  My last output was solo material, my album "It's Never The Way You Imagine It," which I produced mostly by myself, with a lot of help from my brother Brandon, and some superb contributions from Hoagie Hill and Dolly Dagger.  After I had recorded the album, the band came together mainly for the purposes of playing the songs live, but after a couple of years and some lineup changes, the Traitors came into their own and we are now a five-piece rehearsing, recording and performing entity! The song itself was basically born at G.A.Y. Late in London.  I was dancing with my friend David at this club where all the guys looked like members of One Direction,...

This was a really fun show right in our local park where I used to do boot camp in the mornings with Robin.  It was nice to return to the park and be able to perform with such a talented and artistic bunch of people (thanks to Apt. 3F, Planet Queer and the City of West Hollywood)!  My band was the first band to play since I had to be done early enough to make it to Ryan and Creighton's wedding later that afternoon.  Liana was also out of town for a wedding, so my friend Cindy Sciacca, who's currently starring in Bronies: The Musical , and spent most of last year on tour with I Love Lucy Live On Stage , was gracious enough to fill in for her! We did 5 songs: 1. Winnipeg Beach (revived per Cindy's request!) 2. Too Late Anyway (Jarod sang this song from the musical Nightshriek ) 3. Now I Know What I Want (our next single - coming soon to iTunes!) 4. Sunglasses at Night / Sweet Dreams 5. To Be Young & On Downers Here's a video of that last one:

I'm so excited because in less than a week I will be in Kansas City meeting my brand new baby niece, Eva Rho Joyner, who is my sister Adrienne's daughter with her husband Drew.  She is the first member of the next generation of our family and I am so excited to see her, to see my sister as a mother for the first time, and to see my parents as grandparents! It's a busy time of year and I will have been out-of-town for three consecutive weekends.  Last weekend, Dylan and I went to Long Beach on Saturday to spend some time with friends down there for Long Beach Gay Pride, and the next day I traveled by train to San Diego with my co-workers for the West Coast Urban District Forum, a collaboration between IDA (International Downtown Association) and CDA (California Downtown Association), which we are members of both organizations.  It was a great conference, fun to see the city through the lens of business improvement districts, and to be reunited with our friend Carlee who ...

I'm addicted to my smart phone.  I'll be the first to admit it, and how embarrassed I am by that fact.  I remember when there were artists, and there was an audience.  Now, everyone is the artist.  Everyone wants their own audience, and have developed the ability to imagine that audience exists when it doesn't.  We take photos of ourselves constantly.  Even when someone else is nearby who could take a better photo, we'd prefer to take our own photo.  It's not enough to just be in the photo, we want to shoot the photo also.  Then we want people to "like" it. I remember when there was an exciting intersection between art and commerce.  An artist would create a work, and then a company would market that work to the people they hoped it would appeal to.  Collections of songs were sold as albums.  Scenes, written on paper, were acted out and filmed, and turned into movies.  Now, everyone wants their "reality" to be considered ar...

I've always been curious about the LA Marathon, and admired those who commit to running that entire distance through LA's beautiful neighborhoods - but I have to admit that, until this year, I had never even actually seen the race.  That is mainly due to the fact that it happens really early on a weekend, and I usually sleep in on weekends.  However, this year, my band was selected to perform at Mile 5 (approximately), at Echo Park Lake, so I finally got to be a part of it - and I didn't even have to run.  Leading up to the event, there were several things I had to do to prepare.  First, I decided upon a set list that contained all up-beat songs, and lots of cover songs, because I know people like to hear songs they are already familiar with.  So in addition to some tunes we had already played, we worked up a brand new cover, "I Ran," by Flock of Seagulls, to tie in with the whole running theme. I also wanted to make sure the runners and spectators could eas...