My Mom's 60th

I'm a little late on this but my Mom had her 60th birthday on June 2nd. Our good family friend hosted the party for my Mom and many of her friends. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the party but my sister Lisa passed along some pictures for me to post.


Happy belated birthday Mom.

Outlaw Engine crashes into The Derby

Last night Outlaw Engine played the world famous Derby. It was a cool venue and has quite a bit of Hollywood history. Back in the late 90s on a trip out to LA I saw Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play at The Derby at the peak of the retro swing movement. So this was the first time I played a venue in LA that I had been to previously as a concert go-er.

I had a good turnout of friends from work and since so many bands were playing The Derby that night there was a fairly good built in crowd that were able to see us for the first time.

This was our final show with our current bassist Presi, but hopefully not our last as a band. We are working on potential replacements and if all goes well we may even be able to keep our previously booked shows. I think we will know within the next 3-4 days the fate of our remaining summer shows.

Outlaw Engine
The Derby
(Los Feliz) Los Angeles, CA
June 26, 2008

Rebelution
Born In East LA
This Woman
Sweat Out The Sin
The Palace Of Pleasures
I Know Why
Guerrilla Radio (Rage Against The Machine)
The Four Horsemen (Metallica)

Thanks to all who came out and supported us, and hopefully Outlaw Engine will see you again soon.

Outlaw Engine drama

I had my first set back with Outlaw Engine this week. It looks like our bassist is quitting the band, just when we were gaining some momentum. I'm still unclear as to what happened but it looks like Presi took on too much with both his personal and professional life and something had to give. I'm uncertain as to what this means for the band but I'm hoping things continue since I really enjoy the music.

Our next show and possibly last if we don't continue is this Thursday at the Derby.

Seven Seraphim

Tonight was the best rehearsal to date for Seven Seraphim. This is the progressive / neo-classical / metal project I've been rehearsing with for a couple of months. The music is by far the most challenging I've ever played.

Our bass player wasn't able to make tonight's rehearsal but this gave time for Andrew (guitar), Sam (vocals) and myself (drums) to really work through some of the songs. I was able to nail the arrangements for a couple of the songs for the first time tonight with Andrew.

The goals for this band are to
1. Perform Live
2. Record a live album of the material Andrew previously released on the Seven Seraphim cd.

We haven't put a time line on when we will do the above but based on tonight's rehearsal I think we are less than two months away from performing in front of an audience.

I found out when we talking afterwards that Andrew almost toured with Neil Turbin, the original singer for Anthrax. How cool is that! He said he had to turn down the gig because of the touring commitment.

RIP Bo Diddley

I just read that Bo Diddley died today. Just the other day I was thinking about that classic Bo Diddley beat. Through the years as a drummer I've been told numerous times... "Just play that Bo Diddley beat"... He will be missed.