thanksgiving, new songs and a crazy guy at the coffe shop

Hi there-sorry I missed out on a November blog. My excuse this time is the fact that my internet went out and I just haven't gotten it back on. Now...when I say my internet went out-I mean the free Wi-Fi I've been picking up got disturbed and its been a no go. I didn't go get my own internet immediately because I thought that it would magically come back...seeing that it was magically there when I got here. I guess someone wised up and put a password on the thing. Anyway there has been a lot going on out here. I've been playing every Tuesday at a bar called Whaler's in Venice...so far it's been a really good time. I can try out new songs, play a few covers, improve old songs and hear other really good musicians do the same thing. So far the names of the new songs I've played are; tarot cards, the snake oil salesman, the Montana song and Medusa. A few that are aaalost ready to be tested are Whispers and Echos, Priestess, Almost home, Woman, Screaming Bloody Murder, Poison and the Irish song. Of course all names are subject to change. I remember seeing a thing on the band Blue Oyster Cult and a pretty common thing that other musicians said was that they had cool song titles-like Don't fear the reaper and Godzilla among others...anyway-that's a pretty fun part of writing songs is actually naming the song-sometimes there is not an obvious title amongst the lyrics so you just throw out something weird.
OK-so in November, I did spend Thanksgiving here in LA and actually house/dog sat again. It was a bit lonely but if your gonna be on the lonely side of things I was definitely in a good spot- over looking the pacific. And I don't have a TV in my apartment so being able to watch football was pretty nice also. I did make turkey eggs and a turkey sandwich and took a nap with fig and took her up to the edge of the canyon to watch the sunset. So, actually it was a pretty unique thanksgiving-just kinda missed my family. I do believe I'll be making my way back to Texas/Oklahoma in February so I'm looking forward to that!
And I gotta tell you a story of playing at this coffee house the other night...Friday I guess it was. I got to this place pretty early to see one of my buddies play a few songs and was just kinda hanging out....eating a Californian bagel sandwich and drinking a coconut tea-which was pretty awsome by the way. So as I'm sitting there I notice what seems to be an Alice Cooper look alike come in with an electric guitar slung on his shoulder-he had somesort of a police man style hat on, painted black circles around his eyes, leather pants, gloves with the fingers cut out, cigarette in hand etc...only in LA right? So this coffee house up until now had been really really quiet, very chill atmosphere-whispering to talk to people-that kind of vibe. So Javalyn the host introduces the next performer and Alice Cooper gets up on stage. I am veeeery curious at this point-with this get up he is either really talented and very eccentric....or he just kinda sucks and is crazy(i don't think there is any in between with guys like that). So he starts out by kinda mumbling something about the song he is about to play and starts sortof playing an out of tune chord and still kinda trying to mumble some lyrics.....after about 40 seconds of this he just starts to scream some choice profanities at his guitar and absolutely chunks his guitar on the ground and storms out of the place proving to me that he was definitely not eccentric and talented...that's right...he sucked and was way crazy!! or on crack, I dunno. I actually needed to go get my guitar out of my car so I kinda followed him out of the place and saw him get in his car and leave. I was playing last that night and figured if didn't come back I was gonna take that guitar! Well- he actually broke the thing into pieces so no new guitar for me. By the end of my set and the end of the night he had yet to come back, so I did actually take his guitar strap which is a pretty cool one. Part of it is pretty much a bandolier with bullets on it...which I think looks pretty cool. Other than that I thought I played well and was a good night!
Well-that's about it for now. Hope everyone who reads this is having a good day! gad
ps...i've been trying to post pictures of the busted guitar, me playing and the coffee shop but somethings not letting me do it-oh how i love computers! anyway-i'll get those up soon!

unurban

Hello hello!! it's about 11 am pacific time-i'm just kinda getting up and around after last night's show. So...when I just got to LA and I was living in a hostel on hollywood blvd. I emailed a few places about playing out. I landed one at the whiskey which was pretty cool and a few others. I also booked a show a place called unurban cafe but they booked me so far in advance that I sorta forgot about it. At the time I was still in the hostel with no job and no real place to live...so I thought...umm-yeah if i'm still here i'll play. And it was really only for three songs(sort of an extended open mic night). So as things moved along for me out here, that show did slightly slip my mind until I got a confirmation email a few days prior to the show. Luckily enough I had the night off of work, got about two co-workers to come watch my three songs and things were good. The lady hosting the show is javalyn and she hosts indie music night called “java with javalyn”. Anyway, Javalyn later asked me if I wanted to be a featured artist on one of her nights allowing me to play a few more songs in the extended set. This was the first show that I had more than 2 or 3 people out in the audience. This is a really small room so It kinda felt like I packed the joint! I thought I played fairly well...definitely things to work on but probably the best I've played since being out here. One big thing I did was bring an amp and the g and l legacy electric guitar which I've never done in a solo show. So that allowed for some new sounds and a different vibe than the acoustic can provide. I think the highlight of the show were the two songs I did on electric which were “roll a cigarette” which allowed me to go off on a tangent on guitar and seeing as it was John Lennon's 70th birthday the previous weekend I did a version of “strawberry fields” in a sort of Jimi Hendrix style. Anyway I was pretty pleased with the whole deal-and afterward we all met up at a bar down the street which happened to have some karaoke going strong. My friend Brett and I did “Loser” by Beck and watched and sang along as other pizza antica employees did their best journey, garth brooks, and whatever else you can think of that's good to sing along to. So-good night last night! I'm gonna eat something and head to work later this afternoon!

Dustin Hoffman and Matt Lammert

Alright! Things are going well out west! The job is pretty good-as far as jobs go. It has taken a little bit of time to get used to the oddities of life in LA. For instance, it's a big win to get a free parking spot about a mile away. If you want to park closer to work you're gonna have to pay for it-which turns out to be $9. So...parking a mile away in my mind is like someone saying, “hey I'll give you 9 bucks to walk a mile”....well ok-i can surely get there early and listen to some tunes as I take a stroll on a nice day. Also there are certain little loopholes like knowing which parking garages open the gates at what time at night...so if you're closing and working late you can park for free. I've never given much thought to parking until I got here. Speaking of that, my parallel parking skills have greatly increased. That would be my advise for someone moving out here...save your money and practice parallel parking if you're not going to valet it every where you go. We also get random celebrities in, which is weird but pretty cool. I was taking an order from a table when a co-worker told me to look who was waiting to be sat-there was Dustin Hoffman very casually dressed with his wife waiting to be sat. “holy crap its rain man!” for the next 40 minutes I fought the urge to start whistling ...and here's to you Mrs. Robinson.
The music side of things is coming along as well. I played a small 3 song show at a coffee house and have been asked back to be a featured artist with a longer set on a Saturday night. Which is kinda cool. I think I'll try playing some electric stuff...but we'll see. And in a craaaazy turn of events I think I've got a bass player...or I'm recruiting one anyway. One of my very best friends in middle school was a guy named Matt Lammert. He was the one that got me totally into Led Zeppelin and was another really really good guitar player. We later joined a rock clinic type deal and played all Led Zeppelin covers under the name The Four Sticks...yes that's also from Led Zeppelin. Anyway-he moved to Kansas in about 8th or 9th grade and I hadn't really been in touch with him until we became friends on Facebook and realized he lives in Huntington beach which is about 30 minutes from where I am in Culver city. So, we've been hanging out and catching up and playing some tunes together. I'm pretty excited about all this-even if things don't gel right musically it's nice to have a buddy from Oklahoma to re-hash stories of us riding our bikes to Norman music to play on their new Joe Perry signature Les Paul and being turned away because we were too sweaty and spending the night at each others houses and daring one another to take drinks from my parent's boxed wine! Haha! So I guess I've been out here roughly 6 months give or take a few weeks and things are coming along nicely. Hope things are going well for you-whoever you are reading this right now! Take er easy!

the promenade

It is Saturday morning and I'm just waking up from a very long opening night at this new restaurant I am working at called pizza Antica. Pizza Antica is in a huge new shopping center at the beginning(or end depending on which way your headed) of a fairly famous area called the promenade. Or 3rd street promenade. The whole street is closed to traffic and is filled with tourists, musicians, magicians, break dancers, hobos and hustlers, side walk preachers, Michael Jackson impersonators, fine dinning, street vendors and all sorts of shopping. The street pretty much ends at the ocean a huge Ferris wheel looms over the madness and a long pier juts into the Pacific. I'm pretty sure I've seen the Ferris wheel in some movies but I can't really think of any off the top of my head. So for the last week or so I've been studying the menu, figuring out what the difference is in an early girl and a sweet 100 tomato and trying to pronounce the names and regions of our pretty lengthy and eclectic wine list which oddly enough are mostly from Italy not California. I guess they thought you can get any California wines pretty much anywhere around these parts. So far it has been a fun atmosphere with good people. It seems that everyone who works there is either an actor or musician...so I fit right in. I haven't been all that too focused on the music side of things the last few weeks other than playing and writing when I get home from training-i feel it's probably a good idea to focus on the job and get that figured out first and move on from there seeing as that will be what allows me to make some money-it's a hit. I also didn't really know what the hours would be and schedules etc... I did however play at this place called club good hurt in Venice right before training started. I thought I played quite a bit better and was more relaxed despite playing a song I had written about a week before while dog sitting which did make me a bit nervous-but I am confident that it's one of the strangest/coolest/funnest to play blues guitar riffs I've ever come up with. So that was fun! Still not a ton of people showed but I think that will change soon. To sum it all up I got a good job at a cool place with some fun people. WHEW! That's a load off! I was getting kinda stressed about that! Feelin' good now though! Adios from California!

Anne Frank and the Canyon

Well hello there. I know it's been a while but there hasn't been a ton to update on. Still looking for some sort of employment after a rather shady incident at this place called K n' Dave's. I was “hired” and in training-but no one ever really told me what I was training for and different managers would tell me opposing ideas on what I was doing and where I should be. After about two weeks when the new schedules were to come out I called to ask when to come in and they told me they were deciding if they were actually going to hire any of the trainees. I was not one of em if they did. I have also talked to a girl there that got “hired” around the same time as me and she told now has a similar story of management being pretty strange and then not getting hired. So the good news is I really don't want to work for a place like that, the bad news is I don't currently have a job. Bummer. During my search I did get a random call to dog sit in Pacific Palisades. This came from a friend of Jan's-mom's sorority sister-who needed someone to watch their rescued dog Fig and kinda watch their house while they were away. Not exactly a job I can hang my hat on but something to keep me afloat for the time being. The house is right at the edge of a canyon or cliff overlooking the ocean-quite a good exchange for having to pick up Fig's business everyday. It was pretty gray most of the time I was there...the Californian's call it June gloom. Anyway, one of the days after walking Fig I was looking out at the ocean and realized I hadn't actually been to the beach yet since being out here. I figured surely there would be a way to make it down the cliff/canyon or whatever it is...I'm sure there is a good geological term for it out there somewhere. Near the edge I could see trails going down so I knew I could manage at least a little ways. After fighting some tall brush in the trail I came upon the back seat of a car on a good view point of the ocean with quite a number of miller high life cans in front of it. I figured this was the local high school hide away of the neighborhood. Another clue that it was some high school kids hang out was a lot torn out pages to a book. I figured school just got out so most likely on a wild night they sacrificed all their required reading material. I picked up a few pages of the Diary of Anne Frank to read if and when I made it to the beach. I could see another trail down below so I kept going down down down...not into a burning ring of fire though. After some tough going and following some drainage pipes I came across what was probably a hobo hideaway...trash and places to sleep I guess...I didn't stick around long enough to give you any real solid details of the joint. I then made my way back through the thick brush and drainage pipes and kicked up a pretty big coyote-which was kinda cool. I was about to just go back up but thought I'd round one more corner of one more trail-which turned out to be a straight shot to the bottom. The next obstacle was crossing the six lanes of the Pacific Coast High way to get to the shore...the stop lights about a half a mile down gave me plenty of space to do so...i just figured it looked odd for a dude to hop over the cement barricade coming out of the wooded canyons, onto the highway, weaving through cars and making his way to the beach. But finally made it and it was great! I love the ocean! I was pretty hot after my trek down the mountain-i was calling it a mountain by this point and especially going back up-and wanted to get in the water. After getting about ankle deep I realized I was just fine with my current body temperature...i wanted no part of the pneumonia I woulda gotten! I found a good sand dune and pulled out the Anne Frank pages which were really pretty amazing. I only had pages 171-182 but got some good advice from Anne! “My advice is: Go outside, to the field, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy....and whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!” Anne Frank
Will do! AND HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!

The day after the show I got called in to I guess my first day of work at a place called Kay n' Dave's Mexican Cantina. When I got off I got a text from a dude seeing if I wanted to come to a movie at a cemetery...i wasn't sure if the place was called the cemetery or what the deal was. Anyway, I guess there is this Hollywood cemetery where they show movies every Saturday night. This night they were showing Casablanca. After waiting in line we passed through a cemetery to get to a big open field where people hung out on blankets, lawn chairs and pillows, coolers, wine, dogs. It was such a strange scene-like a concert type atmosphere. As the sun set a dj played over the loud speakers music of the time period of Casablanca...like big band jazz and Frank Sinatra. When the sun actually did set, a projection came across the side of a huge building and the crown shushed each other as the movie started. Many people whistled and howled as Humphrey Bogart came on screen in his white jacket smoking his cigarette. And much applause every time he said, “here's lookin at you kid”. And the line about all the gin bars in world. It was such a unique way to watch a movie. I can't believe I'd never seen that movie! I loved it! I really liked Sam the piano player!

Hello there! The Whiskey gig went pretty good...for the most part. So, to start things off I was trying to get CDs shipped to me in time for the gig-so once I realized I was going to be playing at the whiskey I got a PO box and went to the site where I made the CDs and got to send em to me...as the days went by and by I started getting agitated in the fact that they weren't there. I sent the company an email about it and they said because the CDs are on demand it takes longer to prepare them to ship-they said they may be there on Friday...nothing like coming down to the wire. Well, as it turns out they were not there-i waited until right when I was leaving to check-but no dice. I was trying to get there by 5 for sound check so I left plenty early...like 4:15ish. Pleeeenty of time. I'm going right along following the sweet voice of my British woman Tom Tom. I think I have a bad influence on her...I'm pretty sure she gets confused sometimes...and this was one of those times. Or I may have taken a premature exit...i dunno. But I found the clock getting ever closer to 5 o'clock and I'm circling around neighborhoods somewhere between Culver City and Hollywood. “WE'RE GOING IN CIRCLES WOMAN!!” Needless to say I was a bit frustrated at the fact that I was sortof lost, my Cds didn't arrive and I might not get a sound check. Well, my British lady came through and I came up on the Sunset strip with about 4 minutes to spare and there on the Marquee at the Whiskey was my name in lights saying grady be good tonight. That got me in a bit of a better mood. And actually like I thought-after talking to the sound man I really didn't need to do sound check at 5 seeing as they were just going to plug me into the PA. So I had time to wonder around the club, go backstage, check out the other guys sound checking, whatever. I noodled around on the guitar for a minute but then took to the streets to explore. I found a little place around the corner with a happy hour and the Foo Fighters story tellers on the tube so I thought it a good Idea to stop in for a blue moon. I meet up with a few friends who were coming also, so that was good but then decided it was time to go in and do some warming up. I found the doors locked and a small line outside. I knocked on the door to tell the guy I was the first guy going on and I wanted in...he said, “well...you'll be the first guy in when we open the doors.” uh...ok. So I stood in line to get into the show that I was playing. When they let me in the sound guy said, “it's 7:56-we need you going at 8.” So despite all that, I thought I played decent. I kinda wish I coulda warmed up...but whatever. It was a fun night. One of the best parts was just hanging out backstage with the other bands and watching the shows that followed me. I did make my way to the bar to get a shot of Jack Daniels...i mean I was at the whiskey...why not? The bartender held up both her hands, “TEN!”..... uh..ten what? Ten quarters? That was the greatest tasting ten dollar shot ever! I decided if I wanted another drink I'd find one back stage for about ten dollars less than that one!
SET LIST
Lady Satan
Roll a cigarette
No Rose
Indigo Blue
Magdalene
Anthem