John Doe Thing

I saw John Doe today at the farmer's market. He is one of my musical heroes. Last month I saw him perform at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in SF's Golden Gate Park. He played as part of the songwriters circle, his performance was rad. I'd seen him play with X (totally one of my favorite bands) a few years ago at the Warfield. I waited to see him go backstage, and handed him a copy of "For the Birds". He said he'd listen to it, and maybe even email me if he had any feedback. At the time I thought that he might listen to it, but probably not, and even if he did, he wouldn't give me feedback.

Then today he and a gal came up to the Blossom Bluff stand, and bought some fruit. He asked about hachiya persimmons, commenting correctly that they need to soften before they are eaten. He said he had a friend with a tree. I was getting all nervous and light-headed cuz there was one of my heroes, out of context, and I had given him a CD before. I told him that I knew him - I meant to say I knew who he was - and that I gave him my album at the music festival. He said "Oh yeah, I was just listening to that and I liked it".

Did he really listen to it?!

Did he really like it?!

Could he have just been trying to get out of an awkward situation? He walked away pretty quickly...

John Doe: even if you didn't listen to my album and lied to me it doesn't change that I like your music. But if you did like my music.... uh gee thanks!

gave it a tri in LB / rhomboid sleeves ready in oakland

Heyo all! I just completed my first triathlon. Went pretty good I think. Swam 1/2 mile, biked 12 miles and ran 3. did all that in 1 hour 24 minutes. felt like I could have pushed harder on the swim, got schooled on the bike with my 80's steel frame Trek by dudes with carbon fiber aerodynamic bikes with mono-spokes, then passed a few folks on the run in my Vibram 5 fingers.

Pre game food: melons and grapes day before, melons and plums two days before

During event: datorade - soaked dates blended with celery and water

Post event: melons! and a lotta wata. gonna go get at another watermelon now!

ohh but wait!

Gotta tell about the progress of the Rhomboids album. The sleeves are printed and ready to pick up in Oakland. Should be back up there to pick 'em up by the end of the week... then look for the album to drop, then roll (all after stopping - cuz its on FIRE!!) probably by the end of the week, but for sure no later than next week.

Piece of it!

xoxox DB

Don't Get Comfy

Lately I've been busy with my job selling awesome organic fruit at farmer's markets, and delivering the same to restaurants and markets. But I've been finding time between work and sleep for making the finishing touches on my album. I've learned much from Rob-ot Bray who patiently mixed the album with this perfectionist at his Underfoot Studios. The next step was to get it mastered at MasterFade by John Dahl Honoré, who has ears of gold and speakers of unobtainium. Oh yeah!!! also somewhere in there, I filmed a music video (shot by the Cherimoya Yogi)- see below!

For a cleaner/bigger version, go here.

++++++++++++++++++Lyrics++++++++++++++++++

Don't Get Comfy

I'm gonna go out and forage
I'm gonna find me some borage
I am going to stand up and flourish
I'm gonna eat some borage
I'm gonna build up my courage
I am going to clean out my storage
I'm gonna kill my fear today
I'm gonna look it in the eye
I'm gonna make it go away for good
My fear, this is goodbye

Its fair for you to take
The sleeves that keep me warm
An icon for your desktop
Will not contain my arms
Prepare for a mistake
You'll be left in the cold
The wave that crests will break
Don't fold is what I've sold
Pay mind to what you sell
Someday it will sell you
Would you buy the lies you serve?
And just who's purpose would that serve?

We'll get it all, won't we?
Each and every plus and dash
It can be difficult to remember
Only you can shave your 'stache
Hold on to what you want
Attend to what you choose
Stand up if you can walk
Singing shoo's away the blues
Dive in and make a splash
But don't get comfortable
Air goes in beyond your lungs
Never forget there's higher rungs

Go 'head deny it if you want
I'll listen to your side
I see a case to be made for either
The road to cross is not so wide
So close we never touch
So far I cannot see
The timing between your words
But my shoulder still has vacancy
My time is expensive
I keep hoping someday it will be free
Why do I settle for twice less?
There are no deals on what's priceless!

(copyright 2010 Dave Bartels)

Album Nearing Completion!

My friends, I have been working (hard at moments, hardly at others) since October 2008 on recording some songs that I've written in recent years. It was not supposed to take this long, but as the project moved along, more layers wanted to be added, the mixes wanted to be tweaked with til they were just right, and other business got in the way. A number of songs wanted instruments that I don't play and voices other than mine...

SO, its not complete yet, but getting closer... so dang close. Some songs are done.

DBB's Musical History:

+Children's drum kit- outgrew it and my parents had had enough.

+Saxophone- 4th - 7th grade, chose art class over band. Can honk a little now, but you don't want to hear it.

+Guitar- 8th grade, took a few lessons, started writing songs as soon as I could play a few chords.

+4 Track Recorder- 9th grade, under the name Crock Pot Crew, started recording songs (immature love, nonsensical poetry, growing up frustrations, raps, punk) using Mario Paint to program the drums. Heavily Beck- Mellow Gold and Beastie Boys- Ill Communication influences.

+The Supporters- my high school punk band with Dakota and Ryne. Played at school lunch two times, Ryne's sister's birthday, and once at my Dad's studio when he was out of town. Such hits as Question the Authority, Golden Rule, No Junk, Quicksand. Lots of time spent jumping on the trampoline with skateboard decks. My first time collaborating in a rock setting, and recording a band with my four track.

+MJD- my rap group with Scope1, Jason, and the Heartbreak Kid, Marco. Stayed up late making beats on my keyboard. We were a recording project whose songs were at least six or seven minutes long. Gangsta rap mixed with nonsensical poetry.

+Solo Acoustic- near the end of high school I performed a few songs live at a few different school related events. Sad, personal, and frank songs. I wrote hundreds of songs in high school, sometimes five a week.

+Career day- in high school I met composer Lynda Roth through "career day". She helped me with a recording on her computer using Cubase, featuring Grant Owens on Trombone!

+David Benjamin- in the first two years of college, I recorded a collection of songs that kept growing- up to 22 songs. Programmed the drums on some free computer program, played everything else- guitars, keyboards, percussion, vocals.

+West Side Action Busters- hip hop duo with Foodboy. Many collaborations throughout college. Also collaborated with Johnny C, Wolfman, Crayzay.

+African Drumming- took a semester of CK's Ghanaian dance-drumming class in college, and I'm also currently auditing the class, getting so much out of it. I've been messing with African poly-rhythms in guitar finger-picking. Also much of my feel for playing the drum set is thanks to CK. The ability to play different overlapping patterns gained from this class in invaluable.

+Gamelan- fell in love with Javanese Gamelan music in college, first with Mas Hari P, then with Midiyanto, who I've been playing with to this day (with a year off in 2009). I'm currently focusing on singing, and have played bonang penarus, peking, and kenong in the past. The interlocking parts influence me greatly on my current recording project. I'd like to incorporate more Gamelan influence into my music: the shifting tempos/densities, 4 being the strong beat, some of the forms. Very meditative music, and at the same time exhilarating!

+Composition class at UCB- showed me how chords often go together, really fun to learn, a little de-mystifying which made me nervous, but now I am grateful for the knowledge (that I still remember...).

+Safeway- punk band with Adam Club Card on bass, Terry Crimes on drums, and me- Primo Taglio on guitar and vocals. Adam was just learning bass - and doing so really quickly. Released "Live in the Dungeon". Played at co-op parties in Berkeley, as well as legendary club 924 Gilman a few times, went for a southern California tour. Cutting Edge Driveway Punk! We had influences in One Man Army, Rancid, Swingin' Utters, and Elvis Costello.

+Value Judgments- Safeway side project- me on drums, Adam on guitar and vocals. My first experience playing drums with other people. Living at Cloyne with access to drums, one summer I played for hours every day, picking it up. We never performed. Boogie down Rock n Roll.

+The Sweet Nothings- Safeway turned into The Sweet Nothings when T. Crimes was traded for the Rev. Dusty Danger- who sped us WAY up. We were a band full of raw thrashy energy. We played live on KALX 90.7 fm twice, and at the usual east bay, and san francisco dives: Parkside, Stork Club, Annie's Social Club, El Rio .did a fully poorly planned west coast tour from SF to Long Beach to Seattle to Portland(cancelled) to San Rafael, but it was way fun. Added keyboardist Rob-ot in time to open for Pretty Girls Make Graves. also opened for Agent Orange at 19 Braodway in Fairfax - another regular spot for us. We were called "experimental punk" by Zac Hunter, guitarist from Nerve Agents, the Frisk, Hudson Criminal, and we were stoked! We called our sound: Country-Dance-Punk! I totally won't sing like how I did in this band anymore. It was fun, but now it hurts.

+Isabellas- Initially a Sweet Nothings side project with Club Card on bass, Chloe on guitar and vocals, and me on drums. My first band as a drummer, I grew very much throughout its existence. When Adam left for grad school, Sweet Nothings ended and this became my main project. We had difficulty in finding a suitable bass replacement, with a few near matches with circumstantial hiccups. Eventually found Stevo who is rad.

+Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- Three piece which began as a collaboration with Jules on vocals, me on acoustic guitar and vocals, then we added Foodboy on raps and bongos. Circumstances

+Fauna Valetta- I joined FV and learned about practicing hard and often, something somewhat new to my musical experience. And I hit the drums REALLY HARD. I've still got calluses on the insides of my pointer fingers from drumming with these guys. Psychedelic Rock n Roll. Rob-ot joined this band on organ when Sweet Nothings were still happening, and asked me when their drummer split. He had since switched to guitar. It was also Alan on vocals and guitar, John on bass - later replaced by Eric. We played some fun shows, opening for Darker My Love, Sleepy Sun, and Spindrift. After I left this band, I was replaced by Gordon who I met later as you'll see.

+ESP- fun band with Ryan the Truck and Ellie B. I've filled in on drums for this band about two times a year. Power Pop.

+That Blasted Hound n Trouble- bands that practiced in my old basement with my old housemate D.H. on drums, and guitar and vocals, respectively. I have very sensitive ears, and when I hear music I can focus on nothing else. So I often went down and played bass with these bands, which was really good for me, because I really like coming up with bass lines. Its like a puzzle.

+Riley Bray- Rob-ot turned himself into Riley Bray and got a band together, featuring Sean on lead, me on rhythm, Ben on bass, and Gordon on drums. I played a show with these dudes at the Viper Room in LA, after two weeks of practice about every day. Then we lived in trailers outside a studio in LA for a few weeks, working on a recording. I have no idea what is up with the recording at this point. I had a brief and intense relationship with this band. I learned valuable lessons in studio perfectionism, repetitive practice, and showmanship.

+World's Best Dad- Super Duper fun band. All songwriters. We switch off on guitar bass and drums. Featuring Bevan H, Mark D, Art T, and me. We've been jamming together for three years, but only just recently played our first show at a four piece at the Uptown in Oakland.

+Voice class with Judy Hubbel at SFCC- never had so much awareness of tonal quality until this class. Timbre tends to be the last element of music I take into consideration. (in descending order, this is what I listen to: Rhythm, Attitude, Melody, Harmony, Timbre). Learned about performing, how to warm up, my natural range.

+Rhomboids- the culmination of my short lifetime of musical experience, aside from the missing collaborative element (although I've changed much over the past year-and-a-half, its kinda like collaborating). Things are being taken into consideration here. Because there's no deadline and I'm a perfectionist by nature, I've worked hard at getting things "just right". But I also know that it'll never be just right, and I'm itching to be done so I can start on the next!

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS IN FOR WHEN I SAT DOWN TO WRITE! MUCH LOVE!!!