Geno Panino and A Glass of Gruet Bubbly

Sunny Day Gruet

The clouds broke over Portland – here comes the sun – and it’s time for a little flop-flop adventure.  Today I decided to get a little business done and then maybe, oh, I don’t know ‘do something I guess’.  It’s a day before the big show at Eugenios and I figured I’ll take the day off and soak up the sun and dig on the locals for a while.  I started out with a stroll down Hawthorne Boulevard and called Eugenio’s to see if I could catch the owner Eugene for a chat before the big night.  I wanted to tell him how many people I think are coming and just put a face to the name.  He’s been so good to me I thought I’d pay him a visit.   

Down 34th Ave and a the left on Division Street and I scooted through the door.  I had called about ten minutes previous and Eugene was out running errands so I’ll have a little lunch and sit on the patio.  Kate was behind the bar.  She’s an M-80 in a swimsuit and jean shorts sweeter than anything and fully capable of beautiful disaster if you meddle with that fuse.  An angel with the devil her pocket, breaking hearts and taking names – don’t cross this one.  Yeah, she’s rock and roll, man.     

I ordered a Geno Panino and a glass of Gruet bubbly in a short stubby glass.  I try to refrain from using stemware due to my penchant for destruction.  I want no challenges today.  So it’s bubbly in a stubby – Easy is the recipe, and the finest ingredient is time; so it’s slow-go to the patio.  There’s a champagne sunrise at three PM and I’m in search of a day-buzz.  

The Nicest Human Being on the Planet

Eugene rolled up in the alley by the sidewalk in a white Honda Accord and stepped out looking exactly like I expected him to.  Laid back and relaxed.  Eugenios should be built on a boat with Eugene at the helm swaying smoothly on calm waters and going where the breeze wills you.  He’s rocking a blue T-shirt and cream-colored shorts and shades.  He looks like he just stepped off of the deck of a schooner somewhere sandy and blue.  He puts you in the mood he’s seems to be in perpetually; unceremonious, and cruising across the surface of the earth doing what he’s doing and then checking something else out for a while.  The way it used to be? The way it is here at Eugenio’s.  He’s a natural restaurateur.   

Matchbox Omega

Three girls sat at the long table across from me, in true Portland fashion, we were all sharing the same table in a matter of minutes.  Just in time too, because no more than a minute later I would have been destroyed by a cyclist that slammed into the chair that I was sitting in.  These girls saved my life.  Myshelle in sleeves and a sundress.  A 4′ 11″ live wire and a kindred spirit of the bartendress Kate.  Ashley in a simple grey dress and a push up – making a statement in muffled colors the statement she made sounded something like “Damn!”  All the while laying down the wit like a short-order cook.  Becky behind her cell phone peeking out to smile and drop a joke.  Everything said about one could be said of the other if we are speaking solely on first impressions.  There the kind of girls that make the clouds break and I blame the perfect weather on them.  They had a name for their little coalition: Kappa Kappa Matchbox Omega.

Kappa Kappa Matchbox Omega:Ashley, Becky, Myshelle, and Kate

 Chad meandered into the mix, he’s moving to Portland from Vermont and searching for a house.  He won’t find it today, the Matchbox Omega girls stepped in and he and I are about to be hijacked.  Before long we were all ’life-long’s' riding the crest of a wave beatific and ready to sail this thing all the way up to the Gold Dust Meridian on Hawthorne leaving Eugenio’s in our wake and on the docket for tomorrow night.  Showtime.  

 Myshelle, Ashley, Chad, Kate, and Supernormal Tyler

Meridian

The Gold Dust Meridian was the next destination, so we paid the tabs and said our goodbyes to the crew of Eugenio’s leaving it as our safe harbor.  We’ll return tomorrow night, and I can repay the debt of a great day to all of the people who gave it to me.  That’s why I love playing music, the human connection.  Stepping in and creating happiness for people, positive and prolific – I’ve got one-and-a-half hours of stage time and it’s gonna go by to fast.  At the Meridian, we found a back patio, Omega had been there before but none of them had noticed it before.  The little pathway was like entering a secret garden and we assembled ourselves at a table.  Omega was drinking Mojitos made with 12 year Rum, and I was stepping it up a bit.  I had an IPA and a shot of well bourbon, I was seeking the day buzz, and hell bent getting on there.  Our collective energy soon filled the patio to the gills with day-drinkers.  General jackassery and side-splitting laughter, Myshelle drew a Black Bart moustache on her index finger and was holding it up to her face and the rest is a blur.  I believe the buzz had arrived.  And I believe it skipped a few stages and put me straight in Zangsville! 

Myshelle and her Black Moustache 

One guy came in with a guitar and some one said paly us a song, he refused.  I took that as my cue and went back to the Hostel and got the Git-fiddle.  I walked back on the patio and asked if I could play them a song and so I played “Arizona Born and Glory Bound”.  That song is kind of becoming my anthem for this trip.  “the secret to success is get the F*** out”, an urge I am trying to fight.  I fall in love with everywhere I travel and the common theme around here is that what is trying to happen to me has happened to many.  Ich bin ein Portlander!  Myshelle asked me if that was a harmonica, I said “yes”.  Apparently, she plays.  She started tooting around on it and I played a remix of one of my own tunes: “The Things I’m Gonna Miss”.  Normally, it’s a heartbreaker track slow and solemn.  People have told me it made them cry, but, now it was up-beat jovial and I gravelled-up the vocals and Myshelle rocked the Harmy.  I had to go after that.  I could have stayed there all day, but, I wanted to hit the Muddy Waters Open Mic on Burnside and the sign-up started at seven.�

The Crew is Growing at the Meridian 

Murky Moods at Muddy Waters

I arrived at 7:05 and the place was already awash with troubadours with guitars in-tow.  I got a negative vibe and heeded it.  I chose to head back to the hostel and good thing I did because about ten minutes later I had to put the buzz to bed.  I spun motionless on the matress then dropped off the planet at 7:00 PM.  That’s Rock and Roll. 

More Pictures and videos coming soon.

Portland’s Finest Open Mic

I hit the streets with Joseph O’Brien and we hoofed it from SE Hawthorne Boulevard all the way to Alberta Street.  It was quite a hike but well worth the trip.  A woman named Tamara runs the open mic and she had two assistants, (Nik and Rachael) digitally recording the night.  Hopefully, can get a hold of that and toss it up on this site soon. 

 Rachel and Nik

The true test of the quality of an Open Mic is who is running it.  Sure, the quality of performers is important, but, when a night is run by professionals and cared for like it was Wednesday May 14th at The Alberta Street Public House in Portland, Oregon the performances shine and the vibe gets positive enough to change things about this little ball we live on. 

Tamara-The Professsional

Whiskey and the Walk Home

Gil (a street musician) Joseph, and I hit the streets and in true busker fashio Gil was asking every passer-by if they wanted a song.  Dusty, a guy strolling home, stopped on the corner of Alberta and tenth, and Gil went into it.  I popped the latch on the case and backed him up on harmonica.  A 20 minute chat and a drop in to the Plaid Pantry for some beers we soon found ourselves parked on a wall along the sidewalk and shot the breeze and talked music and dreams.  Good Times.  Thank you Portland.  

Japanese Gardens Portland, Oregon

In the Hopes of Tomorrow

Today is a day for some winding down, so that I may wine-up tomorrow.  I am gearing up to head out in the morning to wine country.  Pre-departure, I had set up a tour of the Willamette Valley wineries to see the romance and process of wine-making.  I have been a bartender and wine enthusiast for about 8 years, and now I finally get to see a real functioning winery.  At the outset, the Supernormal Wine Tour had different intentions I was to be travelling with someone, but the fates shifted that one out of our collective hands.  What a shame.  I hope to make the best of ill-fortune and turn what was positive in the outset – then hopeless and empty in the middle, into something positive in the end.  Here’s to two days in wine country.  If the Portland scenery is any barometer, then the Willamette Valley is sure to be a show-stopper.  Some strumming in the vines and a little soul-searching. 

Burning Ancient Dinosaur Graves

I don’t drive.  I don’t own a car and barely have a license.   The AZ Driver’s license I do have exists only because modern societal discourse dictates that I keep one current.  This one is good through 2043, so, I won’t have to deal with the DMV for a spell.  Whew.  I found that having a car makes me miss too much.  And I mean more than just my four-dollars-plus per gallon.  Sure the trip to the grocery store was a breeze back when I used to turn my hard-earned cash into flammable liquid, but, the walk to the grocery store is a blessing as well for better reasons than convenience.  I hope that I don’t miss the forest for the “G’s” when I turn the key and press the pedal tomorrow morning. Vroom! 

Mural of Hawthorne Boulevard Portland, Oregon

The Joy of having a Jive-foot

As far as getting around Portland proper goes, I waltz past every little nook and blemish of this city, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I get to see what would be a blur to the daily driver, I get to zoom in on details and see faces while others whiz by in a mad race for a potential parking space.  Pedestrians are not a nuisance to the Hobo Traveller, I can’t, nor do I wish to honk at them or scream “Get out of the way!”  Instead we share a “hello”, or a “pardon me” and a smile. 

Front Porch Bluesman 

Around 3:00 PM, I sat on the front porch of the Hawthorne Traveller’s Hostel and played through some of my tunes.  I hadn’t played at all since I arrived Sunday night.  So, I figured I would get the cobwebs out.  Some fellow hostellers were on the other side of the porch and they would applaud and smile when I finished the tunes.  Passers-by gave the standard nod of approval as they walked past.  As for the daily-drivers; I doubt they ever saw me.  Blessing or curse?  Better or worse?  Who knows?

The sun came out and the wind sneaked over the river and wafted down Hawthorne and created an afternoon very conducive to a little front porch Git-fiddle and Harmy-time.  It was soul-soothing on the porch soaking up my last moments before the exodus uptown to the madness of the Dollar desk at the Portland International Airport, then out on the highway and into the vines.  Excitement abounds.  Even though this is going against the concept of a Public Transit Tour.      

9 muses

While I was playing, another guy with a guitar came up on the porch and told us all about the show tonight (Tuesday May, 13th) at a little acoustic pub six blocks north of the hostel called 9 Muses.  I mentioned yesterday about Joseph O’Brien, a busker I saw on Hawthorne.  He gave me his flyer and I posted his video and information on supernormalrecords.com and now this other guy was telling me about the same show.  These kids were definitely doing the footwork, and I am a firm believer that effort should be rewarded with a reward.  In this case that would mean a packed house, so I committed my mind to going and tried to help remind people around the hostel to go tonight.

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…

The earth is getting ready for the Public Transit Tour.  Are you?

On May 11th, Supernormal Tyler is heading to Portland, Oregon to commence the ‘Public Transit Tour’.  It appears as though, the earth is moving in anticipation of this event.  Scientists cannot tell you why this is occuring, but, Supernormal Records has uncovered the secret.

“Scientists at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center have recorded more than 600 earthquakes in the last 10 days off the central Oregon coast in an area not typically known for a high degree of seismic activity.” (article)

“This earthquake “swarm” is unique, according to OSU marine geologist Robert Dziak, because it is occurring within the middle of the Juan de Fuca plate – away from the major, regional tectonic boundaries.” (article)

The earthquakes are unique due to the fact that they are not occuring along the fault lines.  Scientists are re-routing research ships to take water samples form the area above the epicenters of these recent 600 earthquakes to gather more data about the anomaly.  There is no definitive explanation for the recent odd scientific activity.  Basically, another one of Earth’s great mysteries.  Or is it?

A Formal Apology

We at Supernormalrecords.com hereby issue a formal apology.  The recent tremors are associated with the activation the generators in our underground lair.  Sorry, we needed to make sure we could get the lights on and be able to plug in our Wii when we arrive on May 11th, 2008 for the Public Transit Tour.  When we fire up the lair it makes a horrible racket, that is why we are doing it so early. 

Our Offer of Assistance

Also, if the scientific community would like water samples, there is no need to re-route a ship.  I can call Deter and ask him to open up the window and fill up some Fiji bottles and send them to you. 

Please accept our apology, and sorry for the rukus.

Sincerely,

Supernormal Tyler

“Video clip of Deter heading off to the store to buy some Fiji water”

MORE INFORMATION

• Listen to some Supernormal Tyler music. (link will open in a new window)
• Learn more about the ‘Public Transit Tour’.
• Read the life story of your’s truly.

RELATED ARTICLES:

• http://www.katu.com/news/local/11619346.html
• http://www.livescience.com/environment/ap_050305_quake_swarm.html
• http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/11/earthquake_detected_off_oregon.html
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080413184801.htm

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.        �

Finally the long arduous task of formatting and typing out the lyrics for my tunes to date is complete.  The docket stands at 53 songs and counting; Literally.  While slogging through a week of search through the notebook, typing, then the inevitable point and click and format and copy and paste, I managed to crank out another ditty; “One World”.  You can hear a no-frills demo at www.myspace.com/supernormal or at last.fm.  I’ll upload the fully mastered version to those services after my nap. 

One World will be the first song that will be put up on ccMixter.  Have a look at what is available from ccMixter as far as re-mixing goes.  But, to get into the remixing game, you must study the ways of a remixah. 

I am in the process of cataloging my lyric notebooks.   There’s a lot of tunes, and it was taking me a while so I’m gonna toss all of my lyrics up here now, and organize them by album as I go.  Consider it a sneak peek.  There is also guitar chords sketched at the top of the lyric sheets.  If you play, strum it out.  I will be adding remixing capabilities to the site through CCMixter in the future.  Get a head start on your remix before the gates open. 

If you’d like to parouse a work-in-progress you can view the Lyrics Page by clicking here, or go to the Lyrics Page on this site.�

comment posted on 1/24/2008 in response to SCREED#1:

Hey, Read your mesage about the library and wanted to let you know that we care about you!!! Don’t know why you could not connect better, but there is a service number on that handy flyer you talked about. It is 877-282-2519. That’s a free call. They can help you through the process- it may actually be your connection. Come back to any of the Scottsdale Libraries and let me know how it worked.

Who knew? A cathartic purge of frustration would lead to a solution so soon. Trouble with a Wi-fi connection brought about someone reaching out and offering help to a complete stranger… me. I am about to go to the DMV, I doubt that anyone will be this helpful in that upcoming endeavour. “Now serving B…4…5…1 at window number Fourteen.”

I wonder what the DMV is like in China, “Now serving symbol…symbol…symbol, at window number 5.”

This was posted on reddit today, Kurt Vonnegut on where ideas come from.

Ze Frank also has a nice little tune about ideas.