I started learning B♭ clarinet in fifth grade. I hated it. I wanted a trumpet, but my folks had a problem with the volume. Anyway, it's hard to learn music when you dislike the sounds you're making, so I gave…
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Jul 6 2023
Jul 6 2023
I started learning B♭ clarinet in fifth grade. I hated it. I wanted a trumpet, but my folks had a problem with the volume. Anyway, it's hard to learn music when you dislike the sounds you're making, so I gave…
Read moreMay 10 2023
An encounter with "Artificial Stupidity". I posted on an event for a gig today and facebook took the post down calling it "hate speech". What?! I gave the dates and band names and put up a drawing. Did the algorithm…
Read moreMay 3 2023
I attended high-school back in the Pleistocene Era and played electric guitar in a garage band. After graduation, I left the city and moved to a small town to attend college. Alas, there was no real rock there, just a…
Read moreApr 21 2023
It's here! The new album is finally done!
El Borko ¡Surf! is the first album with Cameron Wick on drums and James P. Daley on bass. I've been around the Pacific Northwest with these guys, they're fun to hang out…
Read moreApr 3 2023
Most people who have recorded an album know how much work it is. You have to write the songs, then play the songs, then record the songs. Then you gotta mix the songs, master the songs, make an album cover…
Read moreFeb 20 2023
It's fun to break down a genre into sub-genres and see what they bring to the whole. Here are four possible sub-genres for surf music; cinematic drama, barefoot beach party, hotrod hoodlum, and sensuous jungle tiki.
Cinematic drama is the…
Read moreFeb 5 2023
Ask someone for an example of surf music, then get ready for many different answers. Some will say "Beach Boys", some will say "Dick Dale", some will talk about the Ventures or Duane Eddy. They are all correct.
Surf music…
Read moreJan 27 2023
Like Indiana Jones sinking into quicksand, civilization seems to be struggling to keep afloat. Along with the woes of the world, we have our own private problems to solve. Sometimes it's hard to keep from being overwhelmed.
Sometimes just knowing…
Read moreDec 11 2022
Thanks to everyone who came out to see El Borko or The Miller Brothers or any other shows this past year. Your support means a lot. Special thanks to Celeste from Yeti Set Go, Rob Tobias, Lisa Rennie, Beau Eastlund…
Read moreNov 18 2022
Everything has to be new all the time. Does everything have to be new all the time? Why does everything have to be new all the time? Everything new happens all the time. So every time a thing is new…
Read moreOct 15 2022
Sometimes we do things just to see if we can. This week was an example of that where I played an El Borko show in Seattle on Thursday, a Miller Brothers show in Eugene on Friday and tonight it's up…
Read moreSep 5 2022
I have been so lucky to find such a great band. Jon Neher is a loyal friend and a great musician. He brings intensity and life to everything he does. James P. Daley illustrates the maxim, "still waters run deep"…
Read moreAug 13 2022
I spend a lot of time promoting my band on various calendars, websites, and other Public Relations-y sorta things. You have to write descriptions of the band... over and over. Go to any events or band website and marvel at…
Read moreAug 7 2022
It's no secret that our expectations can affect our outcomes. But it's so obvious that we often forget, and then undermine our own projects. I had some recent reminders of this. Here are two examples.
I just returned from a…
Read moreAug 1 2022
When you compose music, you might write down chord changes or lyrics. Some people actually write out a score. I do a little of each, but no matter how often I play it, I wanna hear what the finished product…
Read moreJun 19 2022
There's no such thing as an "unknown" band. If you're a band, and you play out, then someone must know you. I've played gigs where it was us and the bartender and two drunk people who left after awhile. So…
Read moreMay 10 2022
I like the early Rolling Stones, they were rowdy and innovative, but the Mick Taylor period is my favorite. I was a teen, discovering music and girls, and guitar just as the Stones were maturing into a great band. Time…
Read moreMar 20 2022
I hated my middle name. So I made sure my kids had NO middle names. When they got old enough to notice these things thaey said; "Dad! why didn't you give us middle names?". You can't win.
Back in the…
Read moreFeb 27 2022
I watched a bunch of youtube videos about songwriting. They covered a variety of subjects like how to write a hook, how to write a song, things you should do, things you shouldn't do. I'm not a prolific writer, but…
Read moreFeb 21 2022
No... I don't mean in this house... This picture exemplifies what I like about Eugene, Oregon. You should google that phrase and be amused. It's cool to live in a town where people do stuff like this... "Like what?"... you…
Read moreFeb 10 2022
In the 90s, my wife and I worked at a private school in Arizona. There is a campfire story about an unfortunate student called 'Headmixer Larry'. I love this story, it's many variations, and it's place in the memories of…
Read moreNov 18 2021
Sometimes a sleeping person's environment influences their dreams. Okay, so my cat jumps up on the bed early in the morning and puts her whiskers in my face so I will get up and feed her. I think this was…
Read moreSep 5 2021
Sensible people recognize that we as individuals are insignificant. We hope that we matter to those we care about, but in the big picture we are nothing.
Nonetheless, this is our life, and it means a lot to us. Not…
Read moreJul 19 2021
I played two very different shows this past weekend. One was a full electric band at a brew pub and the the other was Sunday brunch solo acoustic music. At both events I saw friends who have been coming to…
Read moreJul 5 2021
Looking for a cheap travel guitar in Guadalajara, I discovered what they called a requinto. Who wouldn't love a tiny classical guitar tuned up high like a ukulele? Mine was a "Tres Pinos" brand, and I carried it around in…
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