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SuperNormal Tyler dropped into Darwin’s Waiting Room (Famous Wings) in Phoenix, Arizona for a solo acoustic performance. At 11:11p.m. Tyler Strolled through the door with an acoustic guitar, and harmonicas in a case, and a jam packed backpack on his back complete with a chrome mic stand sticking out of it like a large antennae. The quintessential ’indie’ Tyler had just hopped off of the 41 westbound bus and was making a casual beeline for the stage.
“I have begun to play local shows in the same vein as I did when I was on my Public Transit Tour of Portland, Oregon (May 2008). The idea was to utilize public transit to get to all of my gigs. I think I have nearly perfected the method of light travel and pre-planning to the point where I prefer to not rely on anything but the hopes of a good time. No cars, no MPG’s, no CFC’s… I think that I just might be the greenest musician on the planet.” – SuperNormal Tyler
Well, green to a point, he sure did bring a lot of paper with him. A key component of Tyler’s live show’s is the ream of paper stacked up on whatever is handy, be it a barstool or a table. Due to his prolific songwriting Tyler is constantly workshopping new tunes and a live performance is sure to be a presentation of his latest efforts in songwriting. No two shows are the same and no matter if you saw him play last night or twenty minutes ago, it is a fresh experience packed with new material everytime.
Blazing through his set and shuffling through the ream, about an hour in Daylon Greer the Local ‘King of Covers’ walked through the door. JT’s, a local pub down the street ,was having their 11th anniversary, and Daylon had been out celebrating and bar hopping all day. It was great to see these two local performers interact on stage, even if the whiskey was playing Daylon’s harmonica more than he was. After depleting the bar of a fair share of it’s stock of Jack Daniel’s Daylon and his girl headed out the door and back into the night.
Tyler closed out his set with a message by playing his song “Walking”. Indulging, as he rarely does, in a little songwriter/storyteller moment, he explained the story behind the song. An up-beat, positive number about a simple walk downtown, the crux of the story and the reason for the song relies on when Tyler was doing laundry in a laundromat downtown and took a walk around the block while his clothes (complete with his favorite shirt) was tumbling in the dryer. He returned to find the door open and his clothes gone. Rather than let the experience sour his chin-up stroll around downtown marvelling at passers-by, and passing on a little good cheer on a day where ‘morning made a masterpiece’, Tyler released the negative overtones of the theft by crafting a little ditty. ’ my clothes are gone/i hope whoever needs’them puts them on and goes out walking/head held high in pride/ in their brand new clean clothing’ . The resounding choruses reverberating across the bar and out the door into the end of the night; ‘we owe eachother the world / and the world don’t owe us a thing’.
(Special Thanks to Pope for the videos)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUy1KiZdGbo[/youtube]
See More Video at Our YouTube Channel
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
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…
“Supernormal Tyler Live @ Rula Bula” (4 of 5)
SUPERNORMAL TYLER VIDEOS POSTED AT RULABULA.COM
A webmaster over at Zenith TPM uploaded 4 of the 5 “Supernormal Tyler Live @ Rula Bula” video’s to the Rula Bula video page. The player and arrangement look great and Supernormal Records could not be happier. You can see the video that was left out above.
Supernormal Records did not send these videos to Zenith TPM or Rula Bula, they simply used their internet prowess to seek out our productions and post them in their project. It appears as though the Supernormal tentacles are spreading out through the “internets”. Don’t worry this octopus just wants a hug. Thanks for the love Rula Bula and Zenith TPM.
“On February 12th, 2008, I played three songs (Father’s Son, Carousel, Arizona Born and Glory Bound) at the Open Mic Night hosted by Walt Richardson. I had Pope run the camera for me and spent a week editing together the videos and posting them to YouTube and, it looks like someone over at zenithtpm is on top of things. They found them and posted them yesterday. Just in time for the Public Transit Tour“
NEW VIDEOS
More videos are in production for the “Public Transit Tour” in Portland, Oregon (May 11-18th, 2008). The first show will be at Eugenio’s at 3584 SW division Street (Map It). We are in the development process for a slew of Supernormal Tyler Live videos, Travel Vlogs, and day-to-day blogs during the tour. Take your digital-self on the road with Supernormal Tyler.
“By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-Flop!”
MORE INFORMATION
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.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nq3zJQ9Mj0&fmt=18&eurl=http://www.supernormalrecords.com/[/youtube]
Here is a clip of a live performance by Supernormal Tyler that took place at Rula Bula in Tempe Arizona on February 12th. This is part one of a five part series you can view all of the segments on the video page or at our YouTube Channel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ_DtpDPMVU&fmt=18&eurl=http://www.supernormalrecords.com/[/youtube]
I am currently editing the footage of my performance at Walt Richardson‘s Songwriter Night at Rula Bula in Tempe Arizona last night (2/12/2008). I hope to have it up in a few days for you. It was a great show and the audience, as always at Walt’s events, was awesome. Thanks for running the camera for me, Pope. �
I just painted and added a green screen to Studio 38. I’ll start posting more complex video and audio with the studio finally built out. For now, here is a little clip of the ‘green screen test’. BEHOLD, “6 edicts”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9dUbJZoMrM&fmt=18[/youtube]
Video #2. I’m learning some things, yes?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F7u1X5XmxI[/youtube]
Here is my first video. I’m learning the process and showing you all of my warts. “last night I had a mole removed and I had it replaced with a wart.” Enjoy?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C09aUkL0F9M[/youtube]
