http://www.vicklet.com

The Ride

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.  -  Robert Louis Stevenson

Before it was utilized as a marketing slogan by InBev, this is the point where I would say something like, “Here We Go.”  It is the first day of Northwesticles: A Public Transit Tour. The longest and biggest tour I have yet undertaken, so, a more complex statement is in order.  “Joy is the fruition of a journey rooted in the heart”.  I fain trust that will not end up in a beer commercial anytime soon.

Little Rock

This little painted rock in my hand was given to me by an old friend.   Not directly however.  Victoria, an acquaintance of mine from The Unlikely Theater Company makes these.  I hadn’t seen her in many years and I stumbled across her booth at an art festival on Grand Avenue.  There she was surrounded by a host of items she has made by hand.  Things like the artist: Simple,  quirky, fun.  There is no other way I would have happened upon an artist like Vickey when I hadn’t seen her in years.  You don’t bump into people like Victoria at the grocery store.  You don’t realize suddenly that you are standing behind her in a record shop.  Not that she doesn’t go to those places.  But, when you have worked as an artist with other artists, you tend to find them again as they were when you knew them.  You see them when they are creating.   Because a true artist is always creating.  Victoria Safriet is a true artist.  I bought this little rock from Vickey, we chatted, and occasionally her and her guy have come to see some Quixote shows.  We know each other through our art.

As we were, we are.  Creating.  Doing.  And just being.  Somewhere in every city there are those hunkered down putting their hands and hearts to make something from nothing.  To take something and change it.  To touch the world.  To leave that indellible print.  The following twelve days will be me doing just that, and just doing that.

Zero Hour 7:30 AM

Today I climb into that rocket tube and they fire it off with the trajectory and intention of landing in Eugene, Oregon in a few short hours.  Tonight at Luckey’s I strike the first note on the Northwesticles Tour.  Noone knows what will happen when those wheels touch the ground in Eugene, but I am sure of one thing: “I’m gonna YouTube the s#@% out of this thing.”

So, borrowing the now trademarked words of everyone’s ‘favorite’ American Beverage, “Here We Go!”

Luckey, Luckey, Luckey, Lucky me again.

Video clips at Ustream

Hey, every Monday we broadcast our songwriting sessions starting between 4-6pm.    Tune in and see how two plus hours of horsing around becomes music sweet music.  -Tyler

Das Hund!!

Pilfered Progress

An overall amazing tour came to an ubrupt end when a bank informed our dear Hobo-Traveller that some one in a distant state was having their way with Tyler’s bank balance. 

Tyler arrived at 6:45 am in Phoenix, Arizona today safe and stinky and immediately hobo-hoofed it to the lightrail in the pouring rain and on back to the fringes of the desert to soap-it-down and head back into this illustriuos city he calls home.  H-O-M-E! 

The Hobo-Traveller shape-shifted into Wine Steward and taught a wine class at Noon today, and real-life has resumed.  Back to the grind – Thank God. 

Dear Arizona,

M, L, R, & T

I love you - I will never leave you.  I missed you like a limb, you’ve helped me stand for so long and showed me how to walk.  You gave me a pencil.  I learned to walk while holding one, and In time, I learned to write.  You have read what I have written and helped me understand what it means.  I would fain trust myself to speak these words to you due to another gift I have inherited, over-active tearducts. 

To my dear family who is my home, no matter where my journeys take me:  You have given me everything and you have saved me.  Not just this time but my whole life.  You are why I am me and I love that about myself.  I can’t wait to see you all, and a thousand apologies if this soul-searching caused you alarm.  I know where home is and I know my dreams are safe in the company of those who support me. 

Lastly, it is my nature to live perched precariously on the fringes of my dreams and push them like a child would push an elephant.  But, I’m developing tools and the means to move mountains with the help of my biggest fans and supporters.  There is only four in this earth that take that cookie, and I extend this as well to all of those whom they have chosen to bring with them.  I would do nothing if it were not for you. 

With the Deepest Love,

Wonis

SuperNormal Tyler LIVE at Mama Java’s: GoodBye Beginning

How’d it go?

On December 26th. Tyler Christensen (SuperNormal Tyler) played to a packed house at Mama Java’s Coffeehouse in Phoenix, Arizona.    The show started at 8pm with Tyler casually strolling through the doors and saying hello to his awaiting friends and family.  This show was a rare and welcome occurrence for the artist, as he mentioned in opening his set.  This Indie Rock and Roll deal consists of late night shows in whiskey bars and the like.  The cozy, intimate setting of Mama Java’s provided the perfect atmosphere for a simple acoustic singer/songwriter performance.

 

“It’s great to do a show at a place like Mama Java’s, in that, you’re performing in a silent room save for the barista machine firing up every few minutes.  You couldn’t ask for a better crowd then the one at Mama’s last night.  Attentive and appreciative, they made the night what it was.  Good Show.” – Tyler Christensen

And a sizeable crowd, it was.  Every seat was taken in the place with patrons sipping coffee and tapping their toes to the tunes.  Well, every seat except for one was taken, to be honest, the empty chair on stage with Tyler made a good spot for his songbook to be sprawled out.  Tyler flipped the pages and flowed through his songs in a casual “relax, I’ve done this before” manner.

Kick-back, put your feet up…  It’s an intimate little place.

The Setlist

Tyler opened his set with “The Things I’m Gonna Miss” a slow solemn song setting the tone for the evening.  The tone set was not solemn, however, more like captivating.  Starting the set with one of his more reserved, and memorable songs locked the crowd in for the evening.  From the first note Tyler held ‘em and didn’t let them go until it was closing time.  Breezing through his latest material such as: “Muse”, and “Carousel” to ‘digging into the vault’ to pull out older material that Tyler hasn’t played live in years, it was a full survey of this Singer/Songwriters repertoire. 

The Break 

Around 9:00pm, Tyler took a short five minute break and mingled with the crowd milling around.  Meeting with friends from over ten years past, Tyler had a crowd as varied and diverse as his musical history.  Colette Panagos, a high-school friend from back in the days of ‘Promiscuous Chicken’, Tyler’s first band in High-School.  Jessica Bonnet Jennings, a fellow face-in-the-hall all through Junior High School and Chandler High, and her husband were in attendance as well.  Who needs a high-school reunion, this was much shorter and all parties involved didn’t have to do that ‘reunion small-talk’ and ‘reminiscing.’  It was just a nice evening out.  Chatting in the cold and some parting, then, Tyler returned inside for the second set.

The Second Set

Returning to the stage at 9:15, there was only fifteen minutes of showtime left.  Tyler thanked his hosts and spoke a little about the neighborhood.  A recent new-comer to this part of town, Tyler spoke of his affinity for the local independent businesses supporting live music in the area.  Mama Java’s, Darwin’s Waiting Room (Famous Wings), and others were mentioned in gratitude by the artist. 

Thanks for the show Mama Java’s!

The Indie Corridor

Indian School Road is seeing a sea-change of sorts.  From the Great Escape, to The Vig, To Darwin’s, to Hazelwood’s,  to Mama Java’s, Independent restaurants and pubs, and coffeeshops, as well as retail locations are buiding a tight-knit community of mutual support.  A recent influx of energy was brought about by the independent businesses in the area focusing on all-things-local.  There are no illusions of grandeur in this little pocket of culture in the Valley of the Sun.  Humble business owners open their doors each day, and just ‘do their thing.’   When the night falls, the baristas and bartenders set up PA’s for their local musicians and artists dropping in to hawk their latest wares.  The Indie Corridor is experiencing an ebb and flow of a perfect partnership between artists and community. 

GoodBye Beginning   

Take it to mean what you would like it to mean.  A goodbye to a beginning is a beginning of sorts; A prelude to the next step.  A movement ever-upward, humility in-tow and a handful of genuine intentions.  That can be said for Tyler,and for this little local business community. 

“Grow Slow.”  Tyler says,

“In this fast-paced, quick-fix-perscription kind-of-world we live in, it’s important to rise above all that noise.  In this little section of town I call the Indie Corridor, we’ve got the right idea.  There’s no flashy-glossed-over marketing needed.  The guy rocking your party is the guy you saw this morning at 8 am dropping into Mama Java’s for a little  retina relaxer.  And the girl hanging out talking about her artwork is the same girl who gets a pack of smokes every morning at the Circle K with two-dollars cash-back for the bus.  This is my little, real neighborhood.  No veneer, no catch-phrase – This is home.” – Tyler Christensen

 

On November 15th, SuperNormal Records (Tyler Christensen) will be taking part in the 9th Annual A Day For DownTown in Phoenix, Arizona. 

“The Day For Downtown will mobilize more than 900 corporate and community citizens in a rewarding day of service to benefit the Phoenix Community.  This event revitalizes and beautifies the Phoenix downtown area and neighborhoods”

 

Plant some flowers.  Help paint structures/murals.  Feed the homeless.  Clean-up the streets.  There are many ways to help your community and this event is one of those ways.  To participate, call Hands On Phoenix at: 602-973-2212, or e-mail stacy@handsonphoenix.com.   

To learn more about the event please click here to be re-directed to their site.

I decided to fast today.  I hadn’t eaten at all and the hunger had come and gone, and there was a show I wanted to see at the Doug Fir.  I don’t know why I wanted to see it, but for some reason I opted out of eating, in favor of seeing this show. 

Upon entering, I found out why I wasn’t supposed to miss this for a plate of pasta.  There was an Amoeba Music show, and it was featuring some stellar singer/songwriters.

• Quincy Colemanhad finished up her set as I arrived.  Country-tinged rhythms and she utilizes the nearly patented Dwight Yoakam toe twist move. 
• Brandi Shearer and her band took the stage next.   Chris Bruce was on Guitar and he has mastered tone like few else, I told him so in the stair well.  Nice guy, humble in spite of his glowing talent.  The drums were tight, but, I was having such a good time I failed to do my job and get his full name.  Ramey? something, sorry man.
• Kate Walsh, from Brighton, UK closed the night.  Smooth and nearly flawless performance, and impeccable songwriting.  Nice little ‘lovey-dovey’s and Heart-Breakers.   

Brandi Shearer Live Sample from Monday’s Gig

Creaking for the Coffee

My hostel room has a built in alarm clock.  A feature not listed on the Portland Hawthorne Hostel website pre-arrival, nor was it covered in the tour.  When the early-riser goes to the kitchen for their morning cup of Joe, the aging floor boards creak underfoot.  The floorboards also happen to be my ceiling above my top bunk perch.  Mind you, this is not a complaint.  It gets me up and out for the day, I didn’t have to call the front desk and request an 8 am wake-up call, instead I am nudged awake gently by little creaking noises and the occasional dropped item.  Hostel travel is all positives.  In fact, this feature should be touted as an upgrade.  A wise traveller should opt for the room with the 8 am creaky-roof”.  It’s all mine for two more nights, sorry guys.

Gresham MAX line

Out the door and on the Tri-met

After the shower, and the java it’s to the 14 Hawthorne, over the river and up the hill to the Japanese Gardens.  I had heard about the gardens and saw some footage on YouTube, so I added this to my mental-list of must-see places.  On my first ‘free-day’ I jumped at the chance to see this beautiful place.  Being from Arizona, I am accustomed to a different kind of green.  Foliage and what-not is a very hearty green back home, yellow-green and browns, reds, etc.  I was in need of some good ole’ deciduous-chewy-basil-kind-of-green. 

 Enter the Garden

A Little Walk 

I explored every inch of the Japanese Gardens and spent a good three hours retracing my steps and turning back to do it all again.  When I visit a place like the Japanese Gardens, or a zoo I like to go through the park in one direction and then revers the path so that I see everything differently.  If I were capable I would have burrowed into the soil and dug on them roots. 

Central pond, reminded me of Monet’s Giverny

Loopy-loops

On one of my reverse laps, I found something I had missed the first time around.  I stumbled into a little hut type meditation thing.  I don’t really meditate in the traditional sense, but I figured I’d try to get into it, Supernormal-style.  So I took out my notebook, closed my eyes, and began making little hash marks on the paper while I sat and listened to the garden and walked through the Garden again in my mind. 

 I was surprised when I opened my eyes that there was a picture-of-sorts there.  And it did look a little like a Japanese Garden.  I titled and dated it and I’m gonna keep it, but, here you can have a copy.  No one ever said I was a visual artist.  I play music like a banshee, but, I draw like a monkey. No shame in that.  If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing.  No judgment on how well, just a can-do kind of thing. 

This place is enchanting, delicately trained vines sculpted with rudimentary methodology.  Simple sticks of bamboo fastened to branches with twine have done the majority of the shaping and training of the branches, but, most of the Japanese trees and plants look as though that is just how they grow.  What I know of Japan is it’s art, I can say Japanese art, and I get an image in my mind as I am sure you do as well.  There is a distinctive look beyond a simple font to all things Japanese, and the reason for that I would guess is nature.  The trees shrubs and other things beyond my botanical prowess have that distinctive ordered Japanese look.

 Right-click, Save as Desktop

From the Garden to the City

I spent the next few hours walking downtown and asking around if anyone knew of a place where I could have a Beer and Blog.  I don’t mean Wi-fi.  I mean, a bar with physical computers in it.  Why do we all have to own a laptop?  I don’t like carrying around all of that stuff, power cable, computer, then with all of the other elements of this SupernormalRecords.com enterprise.  What if i drop it?  What if I get caught in the rain, and soaked to the bone, or in this case; memory?  Just to many what-if’s.  But, here is yet another ‘what if’. 

Training Branches Traditionally

What if?

What if a bar put along one of its walls an array of a few basic desktops.  I am in the Fat Straw, a little Bubble Tea Joint and I love working in this place, but I want a beer man.  My love for blogging and my love for beer are two very strong competitors.  And I would argue, life sustaining drives, urges man!  C’mon Bar Owners.  Open the Beer and Blog, the Blog-N-Beer Tavern, or The Blogger and Lager!   I’ll do it if you give me the dough of course. 

 If this were filled with Sake I would have Stayed here all day

There’s that for now.  I think I’m gonna traipse around downtown and see if I can get a little more of the strong pulse of this cities music scene.   Back into the city now…

You have a dream.  You have talent.  You have a message you want to communicate to the world.  You have dreamed of success in the music business, that is your supreme dream, how very Supernormal of you.

So, dear dreamer, I ask you; Who in this world will serve your dream better than you?  Who will push your dream to have your music heard by those venerated masses and get you where you wish to be?  The answer has presented itself in this post nine times already, and you haven’t seen it.  The answer is: YOU. 

This is the most opportune time for the Indie Musician – I capitalize for a reason.  Being Indie and managing your own career top-to-bottom is key in this evolving industry.  Here is a little known industry secret, the big-labels, the A&R rep’s, those who you wish to please, are lost.  They see an industry being taken out from under them.  They see the dissolution of revenue streams.  They see Indie-Musician’s finally getting it.  They fear the truth of where we are as a community of artists.  They murmur, “Uh-oh, they figured it out.”  And this has all been driven by the listeners – the masses who were the ultimate goal.  Skip the middle.  Serve the servants.  Ask yourself, “why is net neutrality even in issue?”  Because it threatens power structures.  Power structures who never had your (our) best intrest in mind.  You want proof?  Look at history.

Histrionics:

Since the old-timey days of Woody Guthrie, to the recent past of artists like Gram Parsons, to modern who-are-they’s like David Ryan Adams, to me, yes me.  I/You have a better opportunity of “Making it” than any artist in history.  It just requires a dream-shift.  It is easier for you to sell as many records as the Beatles than it was for the Beatles.  You might not have that kind of ‘goods’ and it takes a special connection to move that many units, but, (to a certain extent) it all can be managed by one person, you.  And the best part is, you control the process creatively, in regards to marketing, and any other regards you wish to fathom.  You have the power to vertically integrate yourself and be your own record label.  Trust me, I know, I am.  I am Supernormal Records, it’s me and someone who believes in me, my brother – drawk.  I’d fain trust anyone else, I’ve tried that before – it didn’t work.

Everything I have ever wanted is at my fingertips now – literally.  I am doing it right now – you are reading the fruits of my labor.  I can record records in the echo-laden bathroom of my one bedroom apartment, I can press disks through third-party vendors like, Disc2Day, OasisCD, or Discmakers, I can upload tracks to mp3 hosting sites like: last.fm, iTunes, I can sell them at my very own merch table at shows along with T-shirts I have designed myself from third-party vendors like Acme Prints, Cafepress, Customink, and the like.  I can order stickers, and you can google that on your own.  Basically, I can do what a major label can do with the exception of pay-to-play on a clear channel station – I don’t capitalize for a reason.  Who wants to be among a community of soulless hacks?  If you like the band Nickelback, you can go ahead and f-off.  If you are in the band Nickelback, PLAY FROM YOUR F#@ING HEART!!! If you don’t understand me, click here .  Technology has paved the path for you so why not walk that path with me?

But Don’t Listen to the Liars?:

I never have ‘been’ before in my music career before January of this year (2008).  I have let others usurp my ambition and let them share in the decision process and compromised the notion of where I’d like to be.  I compromised.  I compromised in a world where I never had to.  I gave in, and I was weak, because I was ignorant.  I took the canned answers from Billboard Magazine, Music-Industry related books, and other industry outlets, and so-called sources.  I gave up on myself succeding in an industry that never wanted me to succeed.  In the end/beginning, I wised up, and I woke up to the fact that if I were on the radio (in it’s present form) I would be a soul-less jukebox selling my soul to fit into a little box for which I was intended.  Sit here shut up, play your songs and then pay your label.  I would have been a pan-flash.  I would be cold and old in a matter of minutes, when all I want from this industry is longevity.  

More succinctly, if you like Nickelback you’ve been duped.  You don’t like Nickelback, you just hear it incessantly so you think everyone else likes it; they don’t.  Radio listenership is in the toilet.  Why?  Because program directors are out of sync with their listeners.  Dear dreamer, they don’t give a damn what you want to hear.  They’ve got oiltankers full of liquid sh^t like Nickelback and it foghorns into the port everyday and spills out onto the airwaves and slowly makes us all stupidur. 

I am INDIE – I am FREE -Give Me LONGEVITY  

Hacks lack longevity.  Longevity is acheived through a slow rise.  There are no over-night successes, only bottle rockets, and they burst and cease to be.  If you are an over-night success you are a phony, and your done shortly after you have begun.  If you require proof (read: Britney Spears) popular culture is a misnomer.  It lacks anything resembling culture and it is only popular because someone shoves it down your throat everyday.

Through out history, there were Southern Baptist Negro Bluesmen/women who called Elvis Presley a sell-out, just another foolish man usurping the truth for profit.  His legs were “All Shook Up” when he was young.  And by forty he was “All Washed Up.”  Elvis – A lazy, fat, farting, pill-popper, giving up the dreams of this mortal world for a chance to sing songs by number from a teleprompter – Please don’t forget he died six inches above a turd – there is a divine reason for that.  I have stood in his home, I have seen the lie.  Elvis-Frickin-Nickelback. 

There is a great game being played and we are witness to it every time we turn off our car radios out of frustration.  Please understand, Dear Dreamer, that you possess the secret to seeing all of your dreams through to their fruition.  You are the sovereign master of your own ambitions.  You need nothing but love.  Play from your heart!  You’ll live through your’ own dreams and, in turn, we all will come along.  It isn’t easy work and more often than not it seems like no one is listening.  But such is the great game.  This is your penance, your Indie-penance, your indepen-dance, your dance, your chance.  Won’t you join me?  Be Free.  Be Indie.        �

Tonight you have a unique opportunity to participate in a global movement.  The best part, it is nearly effortless. 

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, (TODAY) Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, PHOENIX and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Be a part of a global movement at the flick of a switch! 

If we care enough, This can truly be “One World”.

• Do Something Supernormal

• www.supernormalrecords.com

We are taking this show on the road. May 11th – 18th Supernormal Tyler and crew will be doing a “Public Transit Tour” of one of the world’s greatest cities, Portland Oregon.

An exercise in sustainable living and rocking and rolling, this trip will be documented in true Supernormal Records fashion. Check back for show dates, public appearances, and reports on the life their livin’ in good ole “Rose City”. Weve got a suitcase full of Hi-8 tapes, and some change for the Tri-Met. We hope you enjoy the show. Details to follow.