and in the new year

all I ask is that my heart be cleansed, washed anew.

Before Atlanta went Crunk

There was Goodie MOB. And they were good.
Then the whole world fell off.

FREE ALBUM

Check out the fruits of my labor at
Bendelagarza.com
I hope all are well

Whirlwind

So usually it takes me two years to make an album.
Well, apparently not this time. I went into a hyper-efficient Zen mode of recording, mixing and mastering and made a very polished record in a matter of weeks.
I do vocals, play guitar, trombone, harmonica, thumb piano and a drum that I made myself on the album. It's quite a melee. And it's free!
Check http://bendelagarza.com about midway through September, and you'll find the free download. It's free, and it's actually good! (at least it sounds that way to my refined and completely unbiased ears) How bout that shit?

The internet can breed anger

Sometimes it's better to let a thought gestate before reacting to it. Take a walk, a run, talk to people to get perspective.

Anger is an impulse emotion. If you see something that goes against your belief system, you feel threatened and lash out. With online comments, the internet provides a stage for first reactions: posted without deliberation. Youtube is a prime example of this. The littany of hate-filled remarks show little sign of people weighing over what they say before posting it. Even positive first reactions are sometimes not intelligent ones. One might compliment a singer's writing process only to find out minutes or months later that someone else wrote the song.

People should make a conscious effort to think things through deeply before making those knee-jerk reactions that are creating what seems to be a more angry society.

Bela Flek, Victor Wooten and Futureman do battle

news and such

well folks, I'm back to using this blog page as a place to post about my recording status. I usually end up releasing albums two years apart, but I really want to try to do two in 2009. I'm not sure if I'll complete this one in time. The songs are ready, but getting them recorded can be a big task.

Last time around I recorded everything to tape, almost entirely bypassing the computer. That worked out pretty well, but I have to say that I have relapsed into using the computer again for recording purposes.

Speaking of computers, I've just about had it with social networking sites. People need to get out and talk to their neighbors, make some real friends etc. Now it seems like the older people (baby boomers primarily) are really latching onto this twitter thing. I guess they figure that since they missed the boat on myspace years ago, this is their gig. It seems to me like a huge waste of time. I guess they have nothing better to do (sad indeed).

oh well, talk to you later..