What a long day I had yesterday. Nothing like getting up before the sun when you normally head to bed a few hours before the crack of dawn. It didn’t help that I was excited to be flying to Florida, meaning I hardly slept. When I got up, I figured I had a good plan for getting to the airport ontime. I checked sigalert.com to find out what traffic was like and changed my plan. While enroute I made a tatical decision and it almost caused me to miss the flight.
I rolled into the airport and had to valet the car to avoid a longer wait at an ancillary lot and a bus. I ran into the airport with my carry-on and boarding pass. Luckily there was a very small line for security. But then I got stopped twice, once for my belt. Then my computer. Which is odd. They took my computer out and wouldn’t allow me to touch it. After which they ran the computer bag a second time through the x-ray. Why?
In case you don’t know, I’ve read about how easy it is to bypass the whole reason we have security with the online boarding passes that so many airlines allow you to do now. In fact it’s been proven already. A terrorist can book a flight and print a phony boarding pass with that reservation, then provide an ID that shows that and bingo, they’re not stopped. All because the algorithm that is used to print those passes is easily cracked. So instead of fixing the problem, they do what they can to hide it and continue to hassle the general traveler with this joke.
Mind you, I’d prefer they’d do away with the “security” – not increase it. I prefer to be free, not live in a Nazi state.
My experience as a Jetblue passenger was actually good. When I purchased the seat, the flight was full. The row I was in was one of the few seats left, yet I ended up being the only passenger in the row. Thus I was able to shift a seat and spread out. That was nice. The plane felt new. The concept of the direct TV was ok, but I spent a good deal of my time watching my iPod and reading. I do have to dispell a myth though. The claim more room in their seats. Bullshit. These planes must be designed for people who are about 5’8″ and under 150 lbs. Being 6’4″ instantly had my knees in the back of the seat in front of me. When will airlines stop lying about the comfort and massive leg room the never seem to have?
Ah Florida. I landed and waited for Maurice to pick me up. The weather was much like LA, only a little more tropical in feeling. We got a bite to eat then hit the road to go meet the investor. I hadn’t slept on the plane and was beginning to feel wiped. So I napped in the car since it was a bit of a drive to get there. Once we got there, wow!
This house was probably the biggest house I’ve ever seen. I believe the front living room was larger than my whole house in LA. It was amazing. High ceilings (like 30 feet), marble floors, nice decorations, a bar (more than one), a theater, a game room, a helicopter pad, a private lake, and that was just the little portion that I saw. It was bigger than that. I think one could get used to living in something like that. We chatted with Mr. Wagner for a moment then watched a video he’d produced for a symphony and another for a rap group.
He then asked about my music and we played him my video for Falling In. When it finished he was very impressed and liked the fact it had just won an award. That’s a plus. He was very humble about giving me a compliment. He asked for the materials we brought and asked for a copy of the video which I’ll be FedEx’ing to him today, since I didn’t realize I’d need to bring it on DVD. Why FedEx? Because he’s on one of his planes today to Canada. How nice is that? To own your own plane to jet where you need to go. Thus he wants the video by tomorrow to play for his partner while he’s in Canada. Gotta love that.
After the meeting we drove back to where Maurice resides and chatted about how we felt the meeting went. Maurice felt it went very well and that he knows Mr. Wagner will listen to the whole CD. The conversation switched to what we’ll do for Friday’s meetings, which now include Lou Perlman (just to meet him) and another investor. What a trip. Oh, lest I forget, later today Maurice finds out if he’s heading up the promoter job for Superbowl Entertainment. I’ll put it out there that if this happens, you might see me during the festivities. I’ll know more tomorrow.
Geez, I haven’t even gotten to Joe yet. You know the guy who’s song you’ve probably already finished listening to. I grew up listening to that guy while I was learning to play guitar. While I don’t think I sound like him, he was likely the most influential guitarist I have in my background. I know that on my Amalgam CD I did have quite a bit that sounded like him. Lots of artists do something like that on their first outing. Sound like their influences – until they grow into their own skin. While I did things that sounded like Joe would have done them, there was one song that was frightening.
I wrote a song called Beside the Lies on the Amalgam CD. Then Satriani released a CD a few months later that had a song called Time Machine. Hold on, let me double check it real quick on my iPod…
Oops, it’s actually called Time and is on Crystal Planet. What’s freaky is if you hear that back to back with my song. The opening riff is scary similar rhythmically. The chords are close to the same but mine are different. Even the changing from what I call the verse to the chorus has a similar change in feels. How about that for two minds thinking a like? When that occured I kinda got wigged out and decided I needed to really step back from the influence lest someone think I ripped him off when it was pure coincidence. That’s why my first solo CD E.A.R. goes so far away from the band idea I was going for.
It goes without saying that I really like Satriani. I believe that out of all the instrumental guitar players I listened to while I was learning to play, he was far and away the most musical and interesting. So many instrumental guitarists get caught up in the licks and solos, and even Satriani is prone to that from time to time. However he is capable of pulling off some amazing things that separate him from the pack. All the while he remains musical to me. Even now when I have a hard time listening to most of that stuff from Steve Vai, or Vinnie Moore, or Shawn Lane, et al. It’s hard to give a definitive song for Joe, the only reason I chose this today is that it provides the feel of home, and seeing that home was inspiring. If you don’t own any Joe – don’t even talk to me until you buy it or unless you tell me that you hate it for which I’ll forgive you.
(** Disclaimer: if Joe’s label decides to take my Home for turning you onto him, I’ll send the audio packing so that I can keep my current home. The post will remain to help remind me of my roots. **)