What do I do now?

More Invention Ideas

2011-09-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

The Keeper

What if you could google your memories? What if your life experience, everything you saw or heard, was searchable the same way you search the internet? What if, given appropriate permissions and privacy provisions, you could search another person’s memory and they could search yours?

Origin of the Idea

Last summer, I traveled through Yellowstone with my wife Katie, who was my fiance at the time. We entered the park on Father’s Day, and Katie had the idea to send our fathers videos of our adventures with my newly purchased iPhone. The video app on the iPhone makes e-mailing or uploading videos to the web effortless, and our dads enjoyed the funny clips we sent them.

This experience led to a brainstorm on applying this same technology to a head-mounted helmet-camera, and making the uploading process automatic. If videos were automatically uploaded every minute, this would allow someone to remotely review your experience in nearly real-time.

This conversation led to the idea of “assisted memory.” My wife’s grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia during the last stages of her life. At times she went missing and didn’t know where she had gone. I imagined that if she were wearing a helmet-camera which automatically uploaded video to the internet, her family would have been able to search to see what she had seen during different moments of her missing memories. Katie’s grandmother would also be able to review her own missing memories and hopefully fill in some gaps in her experience.

My wife sometimes has memory lapses, though of course not on the scale of her grandmother’s. I joked with her that if were wearing memory-assisting camera, she would never lose her car-keys again. The question “Wear did you see them last?” would be followed by an internet search.

INVENTION: A wifi connected helmet-camera whose automatically uploaded videos are searchable by time, spoken words, images and location via website or phone app.

Combining Existing Technologies
Helmet Camera -- www.gopro.com
360 degree cameras -- www.immersivemedia.com
Uploaded videos -- www.youtube.com or www.vimeo.com
Voice to Text software -- www.nuance.com
Image Recognition software -- www.google.com/mobile/goggles
GPS tracking -- www.instamapper.com

Explanation of Combination of Existing Technologies

Voice transcription software, which turns speech into text, would be incorporated into the device. The audio from video footage could be turned into text and posted on a website along side its corresponding video. This text would of course be searchable. Since the text corresponded to the time and video, it would be easy to search the last time certain words were spoken.

A smart-phone app would allow a users to search his memory directly from the phone in his pocket. Also, a GPS tracker would allow for more data gathering potential to add location stamping to the records. Image recognition software, such as Google Goggles which is currently in its early stages of development, could eventually become incorporated for image searches.

Next, why limit yourself to one camera. Imagine a wrap-around headband of cameras shooting footage at every angle. This would literally allow for eyes in that back of your head. By reviewing 360 degrees of their experiences, users could in fact have a more comprehensive “instant replay” of their life than the one they initially experienced. Google street view uses 360 cameras mounted to a car to map the planet. Imagine the same thing, but on your head and searchable by time-stamping, location-stamping and spoken words.

The catalogue of video records could be made public and searchable for other individuals with appropriate permissions and privacy provisions. Some particularly exhibitionary users might be interested in a plug-in for Facebook which would essentially allow permissions for others to search the user’s eyes and ears. Individuals could search the eyes and ears of friends or celebrities via their Facebook pages.

Applications

Memory Difficulties
I initially considered this invention as an assisted memory device for Alzheimer’s patients. Although it would not cure their condition, patients could review their memories by video and perhaps this would help them to better process their experiences.

Professional Accountability
I currently work in education, and I am often in one-on-one situations with students. As a safeguard against potential missteps, I could use this invention to allow parents access to see and hear what I see and hear as I work with their children. Parents could search this footage at their convenience from the home computers. Similarly, workers in other professions like policeman and politicians could be held to higher levels of accountability if they knew that their actions could be review and searched.

Educational Opportunities
Students could use this device in class as a means to review class lectures and activities. Like an advanced dictaphone, students could record classes and then search lectures for keywords and watch the corresponding videos that went with those words.
Professionals in a variety of fields could post searchable videos of themselves in various situations for others to learn from. Imagine a heart surgeon creating footage for medical students to search to learn about a surgical procedure. What if the next time you wanted to fix your car, you could search the experience of a car mechanic who had worked on a similar problem.

Vacation Memories
When on vacation, imagine releasing the need to get out your camera every time you wanted to take a picture of something you saw. With a constantly filming and uploading camera, you would never worry about missing the perfect shot. This would allow you to be more present during your vacation experience instead of getting behind your camera every time you wanted to preserve a memory.

Blogging
The motivation behind many bloggers and facebook posts is to publicize and communicate experience. Some people might be interested in a system that allows them to share their lives with this device from their Facebook page or personal website. As with any form of expression, humans have an inherent desire to share their experience with others.

Research and Data Collection
Scientists and researchers use this invention to compile a massive amount of data and could easily search their findings for more precise information analysis.

Potential Problems
Battery life:
Constant filming and uploading would require a strong battery similar to that of a cell phone. However, unlike a cell phone, no power would be spent on powering a backlit screen and this is the primary energy expense for cell phones.
Disk storage space:
The amount of video storage would require large hard drives. The resolution of the camera should be adjustable to a low level, perhaps taking only a few pictures per second, in order to minimize data storage problems.
Health problems:
Some individuals may be uncomfortable with transmitting wifi device next to their head at all times. However, the radiation would be exactly comparable to the potential damage cause by a cell phone.

Marketing

One possible name of this device is “The Keeper.” The name is concise, descriptive, and broad in its scope.

The device could be installed in eye-glasses or sunglasses. It could also be installed in stylish headband or hat. By partnering with sunglasses or hat companies, the brand could develop a more appealing image.

For publicity, imagine a music concert or video in which each band member was wearing a “Keeper.” Fans could then view the concert footage from the perspective of any band member. This publicity through music would help popularize the device.

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Please let me know if you think this is a good idea and worth pursuing. Thanks.

yanivsalzberg@gmail.com

Invention Ideas (2)

2011-08-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

Glow in the dark paint...

I know I didn't invent this idea, but think of the many unexplored applications of glow in the dark paint as an eco-friendly energy saver. What if you painted the inside of your house with glow in the dark paint? Think of the money you'd save on electric bills and lightbulbs. What if downtown buildings were painted with incandescent paint? The government could save money on streetlights. If cars were painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, there might be less accidents and serious attention drawn to some people's hot-rods as well.

There are many other applications regarding safety and energy savings for this idea. I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of.

Invention Ideas

2011-08-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

I love inventions. I've come up with a few.

One of my best invention ideas is the guitar-case chair. It's pretty much just a hard-shell acoustic guitar case with legs that fold out to turn it into a chair to sit on as you play. The case would have four fold-out legs arranged in a rectangle on the body-section of the guitar case. There would be an additional fifth fold-out leg by the head-stock of the guitar case. All these legs would be attached on the back of the guitar-case.

Over the neck part of the case, a fold up canvass seat back could come up -- kind of like a beach-chair recliner. The fifth leg by the headstock of the case would allow the case-chair to fold down into a beach-style recliner. You could also arrange the chair-back upright for a regular chair playing position.

At festivals, a guitar play could wander into a jam with guitar-case-chair in hand and then easily have a place to sit to play with friends. If traveling alone, a street musician could quickly set up a place to sit and play anywhere he would want.

One potential problem is the hinges. I have sat on guitar cases before, and the hinges often break. In order for the guitar-case-chair to work, you would have to come up with some sort of hinge that wouldn't break under the body weight of a guitar player sitting on it.

I have some other invention ideas I'll post later.

Thanks

2011-08-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our wedding last weekend was awesome. It was so fun. And being married is also really fun.

I wanted to make sure that all the musicians that played were thanked and recognized. Below is a list of all the musicians that played at our wedding. Look them up and check out their music. (There were also many brilliant musicians who came to our wedding who didn't play... and we thank them too).

Regan Kane

Keynes Chen

Andrea McGowan

Andy Straus

Greg Travis

Bobby Krech

Rob Gonzales

Jack Shaw

Chris Fuller

M'hamed El Menjra

Gabe Mervine

Charlie Mertens

Eric Moon

Justin Donovan

Elana James

Whit Smith

Jake Erwin

Thank you all so much.

Media

2011-07-19T12:04:00.001-07:00

I've seen some great movies and shows lately. Here's a list of some awesome stuff to check out:

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

--on iTunes movie rentals

Legend of the Fist

--on Netflix streaming

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

--on Netflix streaming

Transcendent Man

--on iTunes for $0.99

Stan Lee's Superhuman

--on Netflix streaming

The IT Crowd

--on Netflix streaming

And we're back

2011-07-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start blogging again. Stay tuned.

Last One?

2009-10-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about retiring this blog. I haven't really felt the need to keep it going lately. Maybe I'll try to break it back in anyway.

I've been pretty busy lately. Yesterday I spent 6 hours a recording studio near Blackhawk together with Tammy Yurich and Mike Music. With the help of Ron Dropcho we recorded an album worth of music a day. I can't wait to hear the mixdowns. I will post some of it online once it's polished and clipped up.

Two days ago I ran the Denver Half Marathon. I did it in about two hours which was my goal. My legs still hurt a little, but I don't think I did any permanent damage so that's good.

This coming Thursday I'm going to play a short solo concert at Swallow Hill. I played their open stage last week, and they invited me to come play in a little 20 minute set for a showcase thing together with 4 or 5 other performers. The show starts at 7:00 and cost $7, but I don't know when my set is. I'm playing a Halloween show in Winter Park with Hunker Down. We haven't played together in a while, so it will be a fun reunion. I played a couple little private parties last weekend in the mountains, and I'm happy that my music schedule seems to be regaining momentum.

As far as grad school goes, I'm over the hump and in the home stretch. I have a little over a month before the end of this semester.

I'm also going my girlfriend to Mexico in two weeks for my friend Abe Drucker's wedding. It's a "destination wedding" in Cabo San Lucas. I'm really looking forward to that weekend.

In other news, I'm working on a radio jingle for Curbside Recycling, a company that my friend Jesse McWilliams created. Once I finish it, it will play on KCMV 106.3 FM. Here's Jesse's website if you're interested in recycling in Grand County: http://www.curbsidegrandcounty.com/

Lots to look forward to lately. Thanks for keeping up with me here.

Quote

2009-10-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

"We are here on Earth to help others. What the others are here for I have no idea."
--W. H. Auden

Life is Good

2009-08-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Wow. I feel like things are going really good right now. My summer is winding down, but I feel great. My gig schedule is slower now, and I have a week left before my fall semester starts up. I'm settling in to my new place in Denver, though I still have reservations about being a full-time flat-lander. I've still made it up to the mountains about once a week through the summer. In all likelihood, my home-base will stay in Denver for the next year or two. I'm looking forward to settling into more of a routine as school starts up. I don't have anything very specific to report. Just a general state of well being is enough for now. It's funny how when you worry about stuff less, the stuff you used to worry about all falls into place. All the best to you and yours.

2009.5

2009-07-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

So today we're half-way through 2009... six months down and six to go. I've been living on dry-land a little over a half a year now. Just yesterday I caught up with an friend I met while I was working on cruise ship and was reminded how happy I am to not be doing that any more. It's been a great year so far.

I just updated my myspace site with some gig dates. It's been over a year since I've posted dates there. It might be kind of a waste of time since I'm not sure if anyone really surfs myspace anymore. I guess it's more of a way of me to stay organized than anything else. Some of the start-times that I posted might be wrong, but I think most of the dates are correct. I'm really looking forward to the "Pickin' in the Park," series and I'll get to play two of those dates this summer.

I had a great time in back in the Fraser Valley last weekend and a really great time in Telluride the week before. I finished up one of my two summer classes yesterday down in Denver. The summer is shaping out really nicely so far, and I'll try to write more about some of the funner stuff as it comes around.

Summer

2009-06-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. What a great time. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, but it went pretty quick.

So I'm spending most of my time in Denver these days, but I'll be back in Grand County this weekend to play with Hunker Down on Friday and Saturday up in Grand Lake. I'm also really looking forward to some gigs with Mike Music and Tammy Yurich this summer. My summer schedule is thankfully filling up, and I'll post some dates on my myspace site some time soon.

I'm also taking on new students for private music lessons. If you would like to take lessons or know someone interested in lessons, please e-mail me at yaniv34@gmail.com

My favorite musician

2009-05-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

My new favorite musician is Katie Glassman. As a violinist she's unbelievably versatile and shows virtuosic facility while staying tasteful and true to her music. She's a great songwriter and her songs show a deep harmonic understanding supporting her heartfelt and resonant lyrics. Her singing voice beautifully blends the tenderness of a young girl with the sexiness of a grown woman. She plays with many different groups around Denver, but has two bands of her own called Impromptu and Pickin' on the Porch. You can check out her websites at these addresses:

www.katieglassman.com
www.myspace.com/katieglassman

I'm also completely in love with her and I feel like shouting it from a mountain-top, but maybe this is just as good.

Quote

2009-05-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

"There is no five second rule in India."
--Talia

Quote

2009-05-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

"Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A welder, a carpenter, and electrician. They don't necessarily need to retire. People who have jobs on an assembly line, or are doing some kind of drudgery work, they might be thinking of retiring every day. Every man should learn a trade. It's different than a job. My music wasn't made to take me from one place to another so I can retire early."
--Bob Dylan

Update

2009-04-16T12:59:00.001-07:00

I just reworked my website a bit and simplified it. There is a new "recordings" page which has links to sites where some of my music can be purchased.

The ski season in Winter Park is coming to an end. This Sunday is closing day, and I'm excited to play music at the C-lot party. I had been at every C-lot party since 2002 up until last year, when I was at sea (not C) and missed it. This year may be a snowy one, but I'm psyched to be there again. I've been back in Colorado about three-and-a-half months now, and I've had a pretty good winter. I performed with the Grand Theatre Company one last time for their final season which finished a few weeks ago. We put on a show called "The Best of the Best" featuring scenes from their previous shows over the past four years. The theater in Winter Park was a special place and I'm sad that it's closing. I'll miss it.

I've also been playing steadily with Hunker Down all winter. Last Tuesday we played at an event promoting the guitar building program at Red Rocks Community College. I'm actually building a guitar through the program, and I'll hopefully have it completed by the middle of next month.

There have been some other new developments in my life that are incredible and change everything, but I'm not going to write any more about that here.

Wood for the Fire

2009-02-13T07:41:00.001-08:00

Hunker Down's new record "Wood for the Fire" is official released as of last Saturday's concert. For now, the easiest way to get is here:
www.cdbaby.com/hunkerdown

The album will be on iTunes in a couple weeks. I played upright bass on the record, and I'm psyched with the way it turned out. Here's a link to a article in the Ski Hi Daily News about the record:
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20090206/AE/902069979/1069&title=Winter%20Park%2FLive%20Music%3A%20Good%20friends%2C%20good%20tunes%2C%20good%20times

Quote

2009-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

On India:
"Everything is still very surreal and I often feel like I'm in a movie set, but it's when I'm sitting in ridiculous, chaotic traffic among auto-rickshaws and mopeds carrying up to 4 people with cows in the medians and monkeys sometimes running along the fences while dusty little kids taps on the windows and try to sell us bobble-head doggies or magazines, it starts to get a bit more real!"
--Talia

Hmmmm...

2008-12-30T09:18:00.001-08:00

When I wear a watch, time slows down.

Dates

2008-12-25T16:08:00.001-08:00

I just posted some upcoming shows on my myspace site. I'll try to keep that page updated. I'm excited to play with my old friend Greg the next couple days at Winter Park Resort, and I'm really looking forward to playing guitar with Hunker Down on New Year's at the Untamed. I'm grateful that my performance schedule is starting to fill up.

Quote

2008-12-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

"When the music is only for money, God walks out of the room." --Quincy Jones

For Real

2008-12-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a lady showed me a picture of her friend from Nashville standing next to Dolly Parton. It looked like someone standing next to a wax sculpture of Dolly Parton. Then I realized that Dolly Parton is a wax sculpture of Dolly Parton.

2008-12-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

I happy to announce that some of the recordings I worked on in about a year ago are now in distribution through Amazon. The recordings were part of a book/cd package called The Next Paradigm. The cd features two of my versions of Bob Dylan songs which I record last year partially in Boston and partially in Winter Park. A few changes were made to the final versions of the songs. A session bagpiper was called in to overdub on my version of "A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall," but one verse was cut to make enough room on the disc. Also, quotes were removed from my version of "Times They are A-Changin" to prevent potential copyright problems. My original version of this song is still available to hear on my myspace site. I'm still very excited to be included on this project, and I hope it will be successful. Below are some links where you can learn more about it.

www.thenextparadigm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Next-Paradigm-Generation-Companion-Collection/dp/9972463990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227367221&sr=1-1

Also, Hunker Down is due to release an album in the next few weeks. I played upright bass on the record, and what I've heard of the final mixes sound great. I don't know the exact release date for the record, but I'll let you know when it becomes available. I'm really looking forward to playing with Hunker Down again when I get back to Colorado, and I believe we have a New Year's show lined up.

I'll be home soon.

Quote

2008-12-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

"Time and space are the only things that separated one thing from another. Take time and space out of the equation and what is left? Oneness! That's it! But even though one could say that time and space are illusions, they are important. They serve a purpose. Without them we would be unable to observe and experience individuality."

--taken from The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten

Wrap Up

2008-12-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

I have spent most of my blogs for the past seven months or so describing the experience of working as a cruise ship musician. When I was first hired for this job, I searched the internet for a blog similar to this one, but I found very little. I hope my previous writing will be of use for other musicians considering work on a cruise ship. I'm tired of writing about this experience, and I don't want to say anything else about it besides this... There are many ways to put your soul in danger; working as a musician on cruise ship is only one of them.

Just Ask

2008-11-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

I spent two winter seasons, 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, working as a ski instructor at Winter Park Resort. Adding the two seasons, I taught ski school for about 9 months. Assuming I finish my current contract with Carnival Cruises, I will have worked as a cruise ship musician also for about 9 months. I may one of the only people in the world in a position to compare these two professions from experience. And this is a service I provide to you, my friend, free of charge.

First, work in the ski and cruise industries is transient by nature. Every ski season ends, and eventually everyone leaves a cruise ship. I suppose every job in the world is eventually left when you consider the inevitability of death, but at most jobs that feeling is less immediate. A ski resort job is of course seasonal, and everyone leaves when the snow melts. On a cruise ship, the seasonal length of your contract is often different than your coworkers contract, so you're in a more unfortunate position of leaving at different times. On the ship, many conversations revolve around the questions of "how long have you been here" and "when are you going home," similar to discussions I imagine people have in prisons. Still, knowing that your job has a clear ending date is liberating, especially if you don't like your job. If you really want to get out, you can just wait out your time and leave the job cleanly--though that doesn't always happen.

Working as a ski instructor and working as a cruise ship musician both sound like "something fun to do for a little while but not forever," and you hear that a lot from people when you tell them your job. It's a true statement. I have met people in both industries who are lifers having spent ten years or more at their job, but of course they are all a little nuts. Besides there is little room for job promotion at either gig without leaving for another gig.

Both jobs are pursued by people who want to work doing what they love. At the start of these jobs, you can't help but have the giddy feeling that you're actually getting paid to ski or to play music. But as time goes on, you realize you're not doing exactly what you love--though it is similar. As a ski instructor, you spend much or your time on beginner slopes trying to stay as patient as possible with new skiers, while the best runs and best snow are out of reach while you're working... even on powder days. You have skis on so you're officially skiing, but you're not skiing freely the way you want to. The same is true with music on a ship. Right now, I get paid to play my guitar which is awesome. Still, although I have a guitar in my hands at work, I seldom get to play it the way I want to. All lot of the material we play is horrible, and the constant repetition of show can be aggravating and creatively gagging. A cruise ship musician is more a hired hand rather than a performing artist. So after a while on each gig, you feel like your job is a lot like what you love, but not it exactly.

The danger is that you stop loving what you what you loved. When I taught ski school, I didn't going skiing much on my days off. I avoided the resort on my days off, needing a break from the mountain. So since I didn't really ski at work and didn't going skiing during my time off, I didn't really ski very much. In the years since I stopped working for the resort, I have skied a lot more. Here on the ship we play every night, sometimes four shows or more. But I haven't been playing or writing music much outside of that. I'm still practicing a fair amount, but I'm not playing just to relax and enjoy myself like I used to. I haven't jammed with friends off the bandstand much like I used to, and I have a lot less of a desire to just sit and pick out tunes on my guitar. I need to leave this job before I lose much more of that feeling.

In conclusion, I think it is impossible to get paid to do what you love most. If you get paid to do what you love most, it turns that thing into something you love less and something else takes the position of what you love most. Just ask a hooker. Still, I don't think it's impossible to love your job.

Three is a Magic Number.

2008-11-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at a cafe called the Green House in St. Maarten. They have free wifi here and two for one drinks. I'm two Irish coffees and about two hours of surfing into the experience here. I'll probably spend the afternoon on the beach and then I have two shows to play tonight.

Tonight we're playing a show called "Singing with the Big Band." It's a tribute to music of Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Our band is on stage all night, so it's nice to be out of the orchestra pit. Last night we played a great show backing up Karen Grainger who is a singing impressionist. She's very talented, and refreshingly less cheesy than a lot of the stuff we back up. Here's her website if you're interested: www.karengrainger.com

I have eight more cruises to go after this one, which is not too much I suppose. The novelty of this gig is gone and the routine is firmly in gear. It's a good band though, and relatively good shows. I've decided that my career as a Carnival showband guitarist is over after this contract, barring some drastic experience. I've gotten what I want to get out of it, and I need to get to the next thing. I'm looking into different options for the future.

I'm reading a book called "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. It's an awesome travel book about hiking the Appalachian Trail. It's great because the heroes are completely bumbling disasters, instead the hot-shot outdoorsmen that you might expect from such a book.

I don't have any great adventures to report about yet. I'll let you know if something cool happens. Till then.

Quote

2008-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

"Rock and roll is just rock and roll"
--AC/AC, from the last track on the Back in Black album

Ugh

2008-10-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

I don't think it's unintentional that the word blah and the word blog kind of rhyme.

Anyway, today is my fourth day aboard the Carnival Miracle. I spent the afternoon in St. Maarten. I think that's how the island is spelled because I saw it written that way, though there may be a better spelling. The island pretty similar to other Caribbean Islands I've visited, and fairly unremarkable on the surface... which is all I saw today. I will have four more chances to find something other than the regular tourist shops and an average beach.

There were three other cruise ships at our same dock today. Each one was as big as our ship or bigger. That means that probably over 10,000 people unloaded on to the St. Maarten today. That seems like a ton of people, but maybe it's not. An ski mountain at a busy Colorado resort holds over 10,000 skiers. I suppose that tourist towns are really dependent on dumps of tourists like that.

Our band has tonight off. The group is a full 10 piece orchestra and it's a lot of fun so far. The music here is more challenging in many ways than the music I've played on other ships. Our director has us playing a few original charts that he has written, and also some very challenging charts like "Some Skunk Funk" and others with little or no rehearsal. Still, the vibe is positive and non-competitive even when we mess some stuff up, so that's a good thing. Last night we backed up a Motown singer who was very Vegas-y but still put on a good show. The night before, we played a couple full big band sets, two production shows, and had a rehearsal for the Motown singer. That made for a long night, but it went okay. The day after tomorrow is a Beatles tribute show, and I'm looking forward to that one. I'll blah more later.

Second First Cruise

2008-10-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

After a month back home in Colorado, I flew out to Fort Lauderdale last Monday to join the the orchestra of another cruise ship. I'm scheduled to work on the Carnival Miracle until the middle of January.

The Miracle was built in 2004 and is newer than the other two ships that I've been on. It's less cheesy and neon than the other ships I've seen. My room is a bigger and in better shape. Another plus is that my roommate is staying in his girlfriend's cabin, so I essentially have my own room.

The ship size is somewhere between that of the Triumph and the Imagination. It's 963 feet long, and relative thin at 106 feet wide. It can hold 2680 guests plus 950 crew members. It tonnage is 89, 452.

The itinerary of this ship could be a bit challenging since there's so much time at sea. Each eight day cruise includes four days at sea, and three ports besides the home port of in Florida. We have two different routes which alternate. This current round goes to St. Maarten, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts. Next week, I'll go to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize.

I'll try to blog a lot. I'll have a lot of time on the ship, so hopefully I'll keep this up.

Swirly

2008-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm in Miami today. The skies are clear and blue and windless. Our ship has been cleverly avoiding the hurricanes in the Caribbean with only a few subtle changes to our itinerary. The ship has been rockier than usual which sometimes makes me a little dizzy and sleepy, but usually it's not a big deal.

The countdown is now at two weeks. I missed the second Craigstock this weekend up in Winter Park this weekend. I'm disappointed about that but hopefully I'll catch next year's festival. I can't wait to jam with my friends back home again. It won't be long now.

29th Cruise

2008-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this blog from Nassau in the Bahamas. I'm here because my ship was rescheduled to avoid rough seas near Grand Cayman. It seems easy enough to avoid hurricanes at sea. It's also seems easy enough to avoid them in back in Colorado.

I'll be back in Colorado in three weeks. I'm counting down the time. I had been counting days and cruises when I first started this cruise ship gig in April, but I lost track somewhere in the middle when it started feeling a little long. Now that the end is clearly in sight, I'm counting again.

Last Monday, I went with some fellow musicians to Chichen Itza which is the sight of some amazing Mayan ruins. Chichen Itza is Mayan phrase which means "Chicken, that's it!" The pyramids were very impressive, and we had a great tour guide who taught us a bit about Mayan culture. I bought new digital camera after my last one broke, and I'll try to post some pictures of the trip.

I'm really looking forward to coming back to Colorado. I'll try to fit in a few more blogs in the meantime.

Triumph

2008-08-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm on the Carnival Triumph for one more month before I come home to Colorado. I'll fly home on September 21. I'm still not sure of my plans after that. I was offered another contract with the Carnival Miracle that would start up on October 20 and would go through the new year. That ship is based in Fort Lauderdale and takes eight day cruises to a few Central American countries and a bunch of islands named after saints.

I have a lot of free time out here. I work very few hours playing music on the ship, and have many hours to practice, read, exercise and explore ports. It's a challenge sometimes to keep from getting bored and find things to do in a limited space.

I'm going to start overdubbing bass parts on the upcoming Hunker Down album this week. I'm really excited about this project. The band worked with the recording engineer Chuck Pierce in Alma who sent me audio files of their sessions via yousendit.com. I'm going to record my parts with my Pro Tools rig on the ship and then send wav files back to Chuck for him to mix in his studio. The plan is to have everything done in time for a big cd release party and concert for when I get back to Colorado. I think it will come out great.

I was hoping to write a lot more original stuff than I have so far. I've been mostly working on my playing, and learning other people's music rather than making up my own stuff. I still have a month to come up with some more ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Fun Facts

2008-08-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some specs on the Carnival Triumph.
Gross Tonnage: 101,509
Length: 893 Feet
Width: 116 Feet
Guest Capacity: 2,758
Total Staff: 1,100

Novel

2008-08-12T17:10:00.001-07:00

Novel. New. Give it up? That's easy.
"There is nothing novel left," he said.
"Well you've never written a novel before, have you?" she said.
"No," he said.
"So," she said, "If you wrote a novel, that would be something new."
"But I can't say anything that's never been said before," he said. "It's all been done."
"You could say something that you have never said before," she said.
"What?" he said.
"You mean you've said everything there is to say?"
"Uh," he said.
"Are you that arrogant?"
"Hey now," he said.
"Sorry," she said.
"Why are you getting so fired up about me writing something. Maybe I don't even want to make anything," he said.
"But you do."
"How do you know?" he said.
"Of course you do," she said. "We all do."
"Then why don't you write a novel," he said.
"Oh I can't."
"Because..." He waited.
"That's your thing. That's what you do." she said. "And besides I wouldn't be able to come up with anything."
"Nothing new to say, huh?" he said.
"Stop it." she said
"Why?" he said
"You're negative and defeatist."
"You're angry and deflective."
"What?"
"Projective."
"You're just making up words now," she said. "Wait, I thought you couldn't come up with anything new."
"You're just making fun of me now," he said. "Look, what do you even care?"
It was that that Sandy realized that she really didn't. So she left without saying another word. And Sheldon sat down and wrote a novel.

Shark Week

2008-08-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

I watched this crazy show on tv about this South African guy who "free dives" with tiger sharks. All he has is a snorkel, mask, and wetsuit, but he can stay underwater with the sharks for six minutes. Watching guys on the Discovery Channel diving with sharks is kind of like watching NASCAR racing. The race is kind of exciting, but you're mostly just waiting for the cars to smash into each other. When I realized I was alone in my hotel room yelling "Eat him! Eat him!" at the screen, I had to turn the tv off.

Professional?

2008-07-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

A friend told me once that a professional is someone who gets paid to do what they love. I'm not sure I completely agree with him, but it gets you thinking. I've had jobs that I've loved that didn't pay; and I've had jobs that have paid that I didn't love. If you love doing something enough, the pay doesn't matter; and if you're getting paid enough to do something, you can forgo any enjoyment of it. Few people get love and money. If you're in it for just love and no money, you're a hippie. If you're in it for just money and no love, you're a whore. It's not an all or nothing thing though, and I think it's possible to be semi-pro.

I have been at sea for three-and-a-half months covering 22 cruises. Recently, I'm mostly in it for the money. The routine and repetition is dulling me. I feeling like I keep repeating myself, and I'm saying the same things over and over again... and over again. In two week's, I will move to a new band on a bigger ship, and I'm looking forward to the change.

Quote

2008-07-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a line from a song called "Gravity's Gone" by the Drive by Truckers.

"If you were supposed to watch your mouth all the time, I doubt your eyes would be above them."

some place that he'd rather be

2008-06-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

"Sing us a song..." --anonymous
"The day I'm sick of playing 'Piano Man' is the day I quit." --Steve
"I'm just getting a little bored, that's all." --Yaniv
"JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say." -- Billy Joel

Bad Haircut

2008-06-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

It's a bad sign when the lady you cuts your hair has an unwaxed mustache. I should have known what I was getting into.

2008-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new format for my website, and I'm going to try to have it up by the end of the week. The pages are simplified, and I made an easier system for posting pictures. Look more more picture pages in the coming weeks. A lot of the older pages will stay the same.

I'm just finishing reading a biography on Frank Sinatra called "The Life." The book feels like a celebrity gossip column a lot of the time, only it's out of date. It's fun to read and find out how completely reckless a person can live and get away with it. I've been listening to a lot of old Sinatra records lately too, and I'm becoming a bigger fan. I like how he can be classy and sloppy at the same time.

My family is coming to visit me here, and I'm psyched about that. I've been slacking a bit on blog stories I know, but stay tuned and I promise I'll come up with something good.

Trucking

2008-05-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

My new favorite rock band is the Drive by Truckers. Their songwriting is killer. It's very honest and very American. You should check them out if you haven't already.

As of yesterday, I been six weeks on this ship which is three laps around Cuba. Our itinerary repeats every two weeks, so I'm starting to get to know our ports of call better now. Key West and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas are my favorite spots so far. I'm still not really sick anything we're doing but I can forsee the repetition wearing on my after a while. I have no news to report, besides that I'm excited for my family coming here to visit me in June. There is also a cast change in June which means a new group of singers and dancers in the production shows here. Nearly our whole band is also changing by the end of June. Hopefully it will help keep things fresh.

Tamed

2008-05-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

I swam with dolphins yesterday. It was amazing. Our cruise director Kevin Noonan hooked up me and two other musicians with free VIP passes to Dolphin Cove which is a tourist attraction in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We ate jerk-chicken, drank Jamaican rum and listened to great live music, but the best part was the dolphins.

The three of us and the guide went in the water with life preservers and played with a dolphin named Nina for about a half hour. The highlight of the experience was actually getting pulled through the water by the dolphin. Nina turned upside down, and we were told to hold on to her pectoral fins (her arms, kind of). Then she swam upside down and pulled us quickly through the water. It was incredible to be right next to such an amazing creature. I was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

At first I wondered if I should feel bad for these trained dolphins who are made to perform for hundreds of tourists every day. I don't feel bad for tamed dogs or horses. A tamed dolphin is more uncommon, but I don't think the animals are abused by their captivity any more than a pet forced to wear a leash. Dolphins live longer in captivity (up to 50 plus years) and their health is guarded. They probably have better health care than most Americans living in the wild.

My health care is provided by the ship, and come to think of it, I perform for hundreds of tourist every too. In exchange I get free food (often fish) and a place to stay just like the dolphin. I'm also not free to go wherever I want in the wild. Job equals tamed. That's it, I'm quitting. I hope I don't get eaten by a shark.

Number 8

2008-05-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

People eventually stop counting little things, and start counting bigger things. For example I don't know how many days old I am. Parents eventually lose count of the number of months old their babies are. I imagine that if we all lived a thousand years, we'd eventually stop counting birthdays.

I'm now about one month into my experience here in the Caribbean. Our band is changing again as we are with a piano player again as of today, and without our new trombone player as of next week. The constant change calls for new tunes and new arrangements so it keeps you on your toes. I'm really learning a lot, and this band is great for my guitar chops.

I took a bunch of pictures of Half Moon Cay a few days ago, but I haven't managed to post them yet. Our ship internet connection is very slow, so I have to wait for a faster line at a port. I hope to update my website, www.cyberyaniv.com, some time soon as well.

Seventh Cruise

2008-05-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my favorite day so far performing here on the Carnival Imagination. Our band backed up the singer Yolanda Barber for the second time since I've been with the group. She sang a bunch of classic Motown like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan tunes. I was featured in a couple guitar solos, and I had a blast stepping up. Yolanda is working on putting together some new material, and I actually may help her with the transcriptions and arrangements for her new show. We're going to hopefully meet up today to go over some ideas.

Today we are in Half Moon Cay again. I'm going to sit in again with the Caribbean band this afternoon when they play on the island. Then tonight we have two production shows. Tomorrow we're in Nassau, and then we start a new cruise again in Miami on Saturday.

Also, I just bought a digital camera. I'm going to start posting pictures once I figure out the easiest way to do it and get on a faster connection. Till next time.

Wet Desert

2008-05-04T14:39:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I will be four weeks in to my experience here at sea, and I will have made two full laps of our circuit here south of Florida.

I spent some time today outside just staring at the open ocean. It was great to let my eyes relax and look at nothing but open water in every direction. The ocean is a lot like a desert. On the surface, there's very literally nothing there. It's just wide open inhospitable space. But looking across it clears your mind, like the desert or like a great snow storm in Colorado. It's different though. Here the air is a lot thicker, and it has a taste to it.

It's also a little too hot here. I've been sweating constantly for about a month now. Whenever I exercise, I drip like I'm leaking. I guess I'm getting used to the feeling of constant sweat, but I thought my body would adjust more quickly somehow. I guess there's nothing to really do about it though besides lots of laundry.

By the way here's my mailing address:

Carnival Imagination
ATTN: Yaniv Salzberg, Crew ID #415610
Entertainment Department / Showband Musician
P.O. Box 025658
Miami, FL 33102-5658

Sixth Cruise

2008-05-01T08:58:00.001-07:00

I still haven't lost track of how many cruises I've been on so far, and that's a good thing. This cruise I have the duty of port-manning, which is a bummer. By law, a certain number of crew members must be on the ship at all times even when the ship is docked. Every 6 cruises or so, we are assigned port-manning which means that we can't leave the ship for that cruise. So I'm stuck on board, and I won't get to get off in Key West or Cozumel this time around. The next time I can get off the ship is next Monday in Miami before my fifth week here begins.

Yesterday, the highlight of my day was sitting in with the Caribbean band up on the open-air Lido deck. They are a four piece band who play reggae, calypso and other island music. Their guitar player, Kelvin from Dominica, let me play his Les Paul. Their rhythms are great, and I had a blast. I played mostly Bob Marley songs with them because those were the tunes we knew in common. The keyboard player Leechan told me to play more sharp, not meaning higher in pitch, but more short and precise to chop through the mix. They invited me come back an sit in again so I'm psyched. One funny thing about that band is that all their gear pretty much destroyed. Their stage is outside, so the sea air ages their equipment very quickly. The drummer cymbals and the bass players strings are literally green, and there's rust all over the place. They still sound good though.

I also wrote a new song yesterday. It's actually the first full song that I've finished since my CD release concert in January, which was a long time ago. Also, I finished some simple arrangements of some play-on tunes that our show band is going to play before in some coming cruises. Hopefully I'll gain some momentum and keep writing.

This afternoon, we have a band rehearsal to rework some tunes since as of this cruise we are without a trombone player. I think we're getting a new trombone player in a few weeks, but until then we have to change our repertoire. Now that we have a piano player and one less horn, I'm probably going to get to take a lot more guitar solos. I'm also hopefully going to start singing with the band this week once we fix our monitors.

I'll have a lot of down time on board since I'm port-manning. I try to write again over the next couple days.

Fifth Cruise

2008-04-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Time is starting to fly for me aboard the Carnival Imagination. I can't really say that I've settled into a routine, but the life here is becoming more familiar. Yesterday was the formal night of my fifth cruise. Formal night always comes on the second night of a cruise, and it's our longest work-day with four shows to play. I'm getting used to the order of our shows and also the music.

We have a new piano player as of last week, and we're losing our trombone player next week. In my short time here, I've already watched a lot other people come and go. Everyone's contracts start and end at different times. It's tricky musically to settle in to a band when the line up is constantly changing, but that's the gig. It can be a good thing, because you're not stuck with someone too long if you don't like playing with them and also you get to play with a lot of different musicians in a short time. I imagine that people come back around if you stick with it long enough.

Today we are in Grand Cayman. The tourist industry at each of our ports is massive. Each town we visit has adjusted to having thousands of new tourists dumped on them every week, and the consumerism is staggering. It's difficult to get past all the shops full of cheap crap, and locals soliciting lame tours. Eventually I hope I'll find my way behind the scenes and find some better places to go at our ports of call.

It's hard to believe that I'm already three weeks in to this experience. I am already starting to lose track of time, but I'm going to try keep up this blog as best as I can so I don't lose track. I'll talk to you soon.

Happy Birthday

2008-04-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. As of today, I have officially survived my twenties. I feel good. Some people complain about birthdays as they get older, but they shouldn't. Each birthday is an accomplishment, and I feel very grateful. Many great people have not made it to thirty, and I am lucky to have lasted this long.

You never know when they're going to tell you that you can't play anymore. So just play, and play as hard as you can.

Fourth Cruise

2008-04-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

I've passed the two week mark on the Carnival Imagination, and the ship's itinerary is now repeating. Oddly enough, the same comedian as my first night on ship came and performed a show last night. The first time I saw him, I thought it was my disorientation that took the humor from the show for me. It turns out the guy's just not very funny.

He performed the same exact routine note for note. I can listen to or play the same song a thousand times and still enjoy it, but the same joke? Very few jokes, even good ones, are funny when told over and over again. I think jokes are more dependent on surprise than songs, and that's part of the reason jokes are better the first time. Most jokes are only funny once ever, but successful comedians seem to spend more time performing than writing. They need new audiences all the time. They have that in the crowd, but not in the band.

I've seen a bunch of comedians perform in the time I've been here. Our band plays short pieces called "play ons" before and after their sets, and we sit and watch them perform from the side of the stage. They often perform two shows, which never vary in their material. A few comedians have been good, especially a guy named Tommy Drake who performed a Steve Martin style combination of magic, comedy and juggling. Most of the comedians aren't very good. In their defense, we watch the show from a profile angle, and miss a lot of facial expressions since we're just getting a side view. The band is in the funny position of being in limbo between audience and performer. We're on the side of the stage in a spot to watch either party and also the interaction between the two. Some audience members sit cross-armed and poker-faced like they're watching television. Some others, especially younger kids, crack up at jokes that aren't funny at all and that they don't even understand. Audiences generally come to the shows to enjoy themselves and don't seem very critical.

I'm excited for this week's cruise, because one day instead of having a comedian, a Motown singer is coming to perform. Instead of playing her on and off, we get to be her back band for her whole performance. Her name is Yolanda Barber and apparently her claim to fame is that she used to tour with Lionel Richie. We have a rehearsal tomorrow afternoon for her show and then two performances with her that night I believe.

Tonight, we're playing two swing jazz sets for the Captain's cocktail party, and then two production shows. I haven't had a day off yet, but I really don't work very much even on busier days like this one. I'm still enjoying this gig, and hopefully I'll keep up my enthusiasm for it. A piano player is coming to join the band at the end of the week, so that should be good. Also Saturday's my birthday. I'll try to write again before then.

Fun Fact

2008-04-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Frank Sinatra weighed thirteen-and-a-half pounds when he was born. His mother was under five feet and weighed about ninety pounds, and Frank was literally ripped from the birth canal with forceps. His mother couldn't have any more babies after his birth, and he was an only child. He had scars on his head and face his whole life from the forceps.

Messing Up

2008-04-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, I was packing up my guitar to take to my room to practice for a half-hour between two production shows. Our trumpet player stopped me and said it was fine to leave my guitar on the bandstand between shows. I said that I knew, but I wanted to go over some stuff. I told him frustratedly that I kept messing up the same parts in the show, (only I didn't use the word "messing.") He said to me, "Hey man, we're getting paid to mess up," (only he didn't use the word "mess.")

I had a realization after that about my job here as a cruise ship musician. If I lose this gig, it won't be because of my playing. I did well enough in my audition to get in the band, and my playing is good enough. I'm sure I'm not the best guitar player to work for cruise ships, but I'm also not the worst. The rest of the guys in the group are in similar positions. Beyond that, we are all working for a giant faceless corporation with kind of lame taste in music. Since our boss is a giant corporate blob, we don't have to please anybody in particular and it takes a little pressure off.

I have realized that I can pretty much get what I want out of this gig. If I want to practice long hours and get everything right note for note, I can. If I want to just wing it, I can. It's pretty much my choice. I guess it's always like that to some degree though. Anyway, happy Passover and don't forget to celebrate your liberation.

Third Cruise

2008-04-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

This third cruise I'm on now is apparently the best one for the entertainment staff. First, we have a night off, which is the only one we get every two weeks. Also, the stops in Key West and Cozumel are supposed to be the best. In Cozumel, where we go tomorrow, we don't have to be back to the ship until 9pm. In other stops, we have to be back to the ship much earlier, which can be restricting.

After this cruise, our route will repeat again and all the stops will start to become familiar. Our itinerary repeats every two weeks, and almost all our shows repeat every cruise. If I counted correctly, I will have 25 total cruises with this ship, so hopefully I'll get to each port about 7 more times.

This gig is very good for a developing musician. The music is fairly challenging, and we get many opportunities to perform. We also have a lot of down time to practice. As far as working on your craft and musicianship, this is a good place. Artistically and creatively, the stages here are limiting. Our shows are very cute and fun, and don't challenge people at all. We are playing for middle-America on vacation. Nobody comes to our shows to think or discover any great meaning in our art. This job is not a good one for an artist with something to say. But it's a very good to place for someone to develop their music independently and hone their technical skills on stage.

I'm starting to feel much more settled into the routine of ship life. I'm getting more familiar with the lifestyle and people here. All in all, things are good so far. I'm going to buy a digital camera and figure out how to post pictures some time soon. Hopefully I'll have some more good stories to tell soon as well. Until then...

Second Cruise

2008-04-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

I've been on this ship for over a week now, and I'm settling in. Today, I got off the ship and walked around Jamaica with the bass player and trombone player in my band. Today was the third time I've been off the ship since I started. I went to Half Moon Cay on my first cruise, which is a beautiful little island in the Bahamas, and I also walked around Miami for an afternoon between my first and second cruises. It's liberating to get off the ship. It can be disorienting spending so much time on the ship. I have spent whole days below decks between my room, the crew mess (dining room), and the stage. For the first couple days, those where the only places I knew how to get to, but now I know how to get around most of the ship.

Last night we had a crew party, and I got to meet some new people. The international scene among the crew is amazing. Americans are by far the minority. It seems like even the Canadians outnumber the Americans. Outside of the entertainment staff, there are nearly no native English speakers working for the ship. Most of the restaurant staff is Philippino, the captain and his officers are all Italian, and many of the photographers are from eastern Europe. There are also a lot of South Americans and South Africans here. With all the cultural differences, everybody is still pretty nice. The necessity of living together and the desire to keep from getting fired makes it so the staff is all very polite with one another. I haven't seen any tempers flair up in this tight living situation.

Tonight we're playing an hour jazz set starting at 5:15, and then we have two runs of a production show called "Shout" at 8:45 and at 10:30. After that I'm going to sit in with a solo guitar player who plays in the Promenade. I jammed with him last cruise, and I'm excited to play some tunes with him again. I still have some time this afternoon to go to the gym and do some practicing. Not a bad day at all.

It's my goal to blog at least once a week. I'll talk to you again soon.

Fun Facts

2008-04-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun facts about the ship I'm on...
length: 855 feet
beam: 118 feet
weight: 70, 367 tons
number of guests: 2,052
number of crew: 920

Here's a link to a website with a lot more about the Carnival Imagination, including an itinerary of cruises:
http://www.carnival.com/Ship_Detail.aspx?shipCode=IM

I clicked through this website and two inexpensive cruises you might be interested in. You can come cruise with me starting either May 15 or May 29 for $349 for four days. Apparently I can't get any discounts for people I know unless I sign a second contract at the end of this one, but that's still a pretty good deal considering it includes room, food and entertainment.

First Cruise

2008-04-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday, April 8, and today is my second day aboard the Carnival Imagination. It will probably be a few days before I post this blog, since I still haven't figured out the internet system here.

Yesterday was one of the longest days I can remember. Not long as in bad; long as in it lasted about a month. I woke up at the Sheridan hotel in Miami where Carnival put me up for the night. I ate breakfast at about 6:30am and checked out in time to catch a shuttle to the ship which I was told to catch at 7:15am. The shuttle didn't arrive until about 9:00, but I had fun talking to the other Carnival employee's catching the same bus.

We arrived at the port about 20 minutes later, but it was about 1pm before I got through the check in process. They checked our passports, and also our bags and bodies with metal detectors. I waited in a long line to finish more paperwork, and finally I was shown to my room.

I met my roommate who is a funny Columbian guy. His name is Mauricio and he is the soundman for the ship. He's nice and very clean, and I'm relieved about my living situation. My room is of course tiny, but we do have our own bathroom and it's comfortable enough.

At 2:00, we had a short safety training and were shown our "muster station" which is where you're supposed to stand in case of emergency. I had a brief tour of other muster stations. Excluding this brief tour, I have only been to my room, the stage and the crew dining room so far. The ship is massive, and I hope I'll get to see more of it tomorrow.

At 5:00 we had a rehearsal, and I first played with the band. It's currently a six piece band with trumpet, sax, trombone, bass, drums and my guitar. A piano player is supposed to join us in a couple weeks. The guys are all killer musicians. It's a challenge keeping up, but I'll get there. Our first performance was an hour long "dance set" at 7:00. We played big band jazz swing charts and tried to get couples to dance, though few did.

At 10:30, we played the "Welcome Aboard Show" where some of the staff is introduced to the guests. This show was my first experience playing live with a pre-recorded track. For these productions shows, the whole band wears headphones to hear the metronome click and the extra instruments which are pre-recorded and added to supplement the live band. Each musician has his own controls for his headphone mix in order to control the levels of each instrument he hears. I had a hard time with it last night, but tonight it was a little easier. It's mostly a matter of getting used to it, and the other guys don't seem to mind it. It feels like an overdubbing recording situation, but oddly you're playing live.

After that show, there was a comedian that performed. The band stayed to perform "play-ons" before and after his show. A "play-on" is a short piece of a song, like what you hear on the Tonight Show right after a commercial, or to get Conan O'Brian from his monologue to his desk. During the comedian's act, it felt completely delirious and it's a wonder I didn't pass out. I heard him talking and the people in the crowd laughing, but I had no idea what was going on. I had no energy to get any of his jokes. My dehydration, sleep deprevation, and general overstimulation, combined with the disorienting feeling of a rocking boat took all the humor out of this poor comedian for me. Seasickness has not effected my stomach, but my head is constantly spinning. You know when you're lying down for a while, and then you stand up really quickly and briefly lose your equilibrium. I've felt like that for two days. I don't feel nausious, just off balance. Anyway, I thankfully stayed conscious enough to play 30 seconds of "Get Ready" at the end of the comedian's set, and then packed up to head for my room and dreamless sleep.

Today, I woke up to a phone call of my musical director telling me I had slept past the beginning of my new-hire training which was supposed to start at 9:00. I got there about 9:15, and it went until about 1:00. We had a rehearsal at 4:00, and then two dance sets to accompany the "Captain Cocktail Party." It was easier to get people to dance this time, probably because drinks were free at the party. Afterwards, we played two showings of a production show called "Livin' in America." The dancing and stage production for this show is outstanding. The music... saying the music is cheesy, is like saying the ocean is pretty big. The production show music is super-lame, but's still fun.

After the shows, I went back to my room, finished up this blog and went to bed.

News

2008-04-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm going to fly to Miami this Sunday to start up a 5 month contract with Carnival Cruises. I'm going to play guitar in the show band for a ship called the Imagination. I'm very excited and nervous about this new gig, and I hope it goes well.

I'll try to keep up this blog much better than I have in recent months. I'll have internet access on the ship and at port, so it should be easy to fire off some lines about how everything is going. I imagine that I'll be more motivated to write once I start up over there in unfamiliar seas.

Today, I'm going to drive to Denver to get some things for my new job. One of the things I have to buy is a tuxedo. I have to perform in the show band in a friggin tux. Playing electric guitar in a tuxedo is ridiculous. The whole reason I wanted to become a musician was so I didn't have where a suit to work... but I'll have to let go of that I suppose.

Quote

2008-03-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

"An artist has got to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he's at somewhere. You always have to realize that you're constantly in a state of becoming, you know. And as long as you can stay in that realm, you'll sort of be alright." --Bob Dylan

CD Baby, baby!

2008-01-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

My cd is now available on CD Baby. The direct link to my page is easy: www.cdbaby.com/yaniv
The album is also now on Digstation with a similarly easy to remember link: www.digstation.com/yaniv
It will be a little while before it gets up on iTunes and a few other digital distributors, but I'll keep you posted.

SALE!

2008-01-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

My cd's are now officially available to purchase. Singing Dog CD's and Tapes in Winter Park is carrying them, and I am also selling them directly from my website. By the end of next week, the cd should be up on cdbaby.com. It should be up on iTunes and other electronic distributors hopefully in a month or so. I'm really happy with the way the disc turned out, and I'm excited to get it out there.

Cindy Palmer from the Ski Hi Daily News in writing a feature article on me that should come out tomorrow. I will post a link to it when it comes out.

In other news, I had a great time on New Year's Eve playing with Jimmy Hall, Mike Ray, and Jeff Peterson. Jimmy Hall got his start as the lead singer for the southern rock band Wet Willie, who is known for their hit "Keep on Smiling." He's worked with a lot of famous musicians, and currently tours with Hank Williams Jr. Jeff and I used to play together in Spaceheater, and it had been a long time since we had gotten to play. Mike is a always fun to play with, and he played great. It was a really fun night.

I'm playing this Friday and Saturday on the front range with the Celtic band Potcheen, and then next Wednesday I'm playing with Cubic Zirconium, my Neil Diamond cover band. Then that Friday, I'm at Scruffy Murphy's in Denver with my friend Bobby Krech on fiddle. Then the next day is my cd release concert and the Grand Theatre Company. I'm psyched.

CD Release

2007-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

My solo album is currently being printed. I've set a date for cd release concert on Saturday, January 12 at 7:30pm at the Grand Theatre Company in Winter Park. The electronic and physical version will be available for sale by then if not sooner!

Psyched

2007-12-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

I am almost finished with my solo cd project. I am going to work with grammy winning mastering engineer David Glasser the day after tomorrow to put the final touches on my album. James Tuttle, who works together with David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, just finished finalizing the mixes. To find out more about their company, go to www.airshowmastering.com.

The cd will include thirteen original songs with my overdubs on almost all the instruments and vocals. One of the tracks features Tammy Yurich on back-up vocals and Greg Travis on cymbals. There is a lot of my guitar, bass and dobro, and some mandolin and ukulele in a few song too. I'm planning to send the master recordings off to the manufacturers by the beginning of next week. I was hoping to have a product in time for the holidays, but it may be a little tight. The electronic version should be ready very soon, but the physical cd packaging may take a little longer to complete. I'll keep you updated when the cd comes out. I'm very excited about the album, and I'm proud of the music on it.

Quote

2007-12-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a quote from Al Gore:

Future generations will look back at the beginning of the twenty-first century and they will ask themselves, "How did they" -- meaning us -- "how did they find the moral courage to change the pattern of history, to break through to a new way of thinking about the place of human beings on this planet, and successfully solve a crisis on a planetary scale that so many people were telling them was impossible to solve? What happened? How did they break free of the political sclerosis and spiritual catatonoia that paralyzed them for decades and quickly realize that the survival of human civilization was at stake? How did they then, with great imagination, creativity and spiritual courage, put in place the sweeping reforms that saved the ecological basis for human civilization, restored the balance essential for human survival and lay the foundation for the rewarding and beautiful civilization that we enjoy here in the future?"

Coltrane

2007-11-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting quote from John Coltrane talking about his playing in 1961:

"Here's how I play. I start from one point and go as far as possible. But, unfortunately, I never lose my way. I say unfortunately, because what would interest me greatly is to discover paths that I'm perhaps not aware of... The harmonies have become for me a kind of obsession, which gives me the feeling of looking at the music from the wrong end of a telescope."

Dice

2007-11-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

If you roll one die, your chance of getting a six is 1 in 6. If you roll it again, your chances are still 1 in 6. The six-millionth time you roll the die, the chances of getting a six are still 1 in 6. The odds of rolling a six in six-million tries is one-million in six-million, which is the same as 1 in 6. It feels like the more times you do it, the higher the odds of a six will be but they aren't.
The same is true when trying to do other things. Your odds of success are the same if you try once as if you try a million times. So the whole "if at first you don't succeed, try try again" idea of success doesn't really hold up, right?
Wrong. The odds are the same on multiple tries only if the system is entirely based on chance. If it's a crap-shoot (literally too) it doesn't matter how many times you try. Many systems are not based entirely on chance, and you can narrow the odds on successive tries by learning how the systems work. Multiple tries are worthless only if the system is entirely based on chance.

Acoustic Whammy

2007-10-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

On the outside chance that an expert guitar luthier is browsing through random blogs and finds this one... let me describe my dream guitar, which I have only so far imagined as 2007. The guitar is shaped like a regular Martin dreadnought steel-string, but neck has the feel and dimensions of a Taylor only larger. Why larger? To support a low seventh B-string below the the regular 56-gauge low E. This is of course a bit unconventional, but let me get to kicker. At the bridge of this acoustic masterpiece is an 80's style matted-black Floyd Rose locking tremolo whammy-bar. Yes. Nobody makes a flat-top guitar with a whammy-bar. Why? Because the tension and flex created by a whammy bar would rip through any top of an acoustic guitar, no matter if it's spruce, ebony or Brazilian purple-heartwood. Here's the solution: an extended truss-rod. The truss rod of a guitar usually extends the length of the neck. But on the whammy acoustic, the truss rod will go past the end of the neck, behind the sound-hole, all the way to the bridge. This metal rod will attach to a metal plate behind the bridge, which then connects on the top of the guitar to the whammy-bar. Alternatively, the truss rod could extend all the way out the guitar past the strap-button. The strings could be anchored all the way out there at the back edge of the guitar or the whammy bar could also be anchored back there. How about it, science!?

Ugly Boyfriends

2007-10-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

I saw the movie "Knocked Up" yesterday. It wasn't very good. Sometimes I enjoy watching lame movies because I'm inspired by the fact that so many people got involved to create somebody's average project. It's similar to seeing some ugly guy with a really hot girlfriend... gives me hope for my future.

The Water Around You has Grown

2007-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some new recordings that I'm excited about. I am recording cover versions of classic protest songs from the 60's as part of a project for InterTerra New Media. The company is publishing a book call "The Next Paradigm" which will be released with a companion CD. There's more information about the book/cd at this website:
http://www.interterranewmedia.com/thenextparadigm.php
I posted some of the demo work I have done so far on my myspace site for you to sample. Hopefully, there will be more to come soon.

Quote

2007-09-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a great line from William Goldman's The Princess Bride:
"... life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."

By the way, this book is awesome and everyone should read it no matter how many times they have seen the movie... which is also awesome.

For Craigy T

2007-09-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

I wrote a song for Craig Thomason, a great musician and great friend. It made me feel better, and I hope it helps other people feel better. I recorded it with Tammy Yurich on back-up vocals and Greg Travis on percussion. Below are the lyrics and a link to a recording:

www.cyberyaniv.com/craigyt.wav

"Light Beyond the Blue"

I never thought there was a heaven.
I never thought all that was true.
And when I looked up to the sky,
It was all black behind the blue.

Just a story for the children,
To help them keep in line at school.
I never thought there was a heaven,
Until all this happened to you.

I can't wrap my mind around it.
It all happened way too soon.
We'll never know you as an old man.
31 was all we knew.

But you must be out there somewhere,
Cause I still hear you singing tunes.
You shined way too bright in this show,
And there's a bigger stage for you.

I know now that I was wrong before,
And there's a place I never knew,
Cause you're too great for this to be the ending,
So heaven must be true.
And I hope I'll see you someday.
Lord I hope I get there too.
And we will play again in heaven.
For there is light beyond the blue.
Yes, there is light beyond the blue.
There is light.

Corrections

2007-08-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

I had a funny day at work.

My day job is with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and it was my task today to fix eight large metal screens which are used to catch Kokanee salmon. My boss found out that the cheapest way to fix the screens was to take them to the metal shop at the Canon City correctional facility. I woke up early, loaded the screens in the truck, and drove about four hours to Colorado's largest maximum security prison.

When I finally arrived at the jail, I stopped at the initial check-point. The guard at the entrance looked up my name and found me on his list. They had done a background check on me the day before, and apparently I passed. The guard was a young blond kid in his early twenties who seemed pretty laid back about his job at the prison. He smiled and directed me to the Freemont Correctional Facility metal shop a few miles down the road.

The Freemont Correctional Facility is a fortress. It is surrounded by four stacks of spiraling razor-wire. Inside the glittering razor-wire fence is another fifteen-foot fence with angled barbed wire at the top. I passed another check-point in front of the fences, and then I drove around to the back where deliveries are made.

I parked the car at "Gate 1." The gate slowly opened, and I drove into an outer courtyard area still outside of the razor-wire. An armed guard peered down at me from what looked like a smaller version of of an air-traffic control tower. A second guard on the ground met me at my truck, took my drivers licence, and asked me to step out and sign some paperwork. He asked if he could search the vehicle and I said of course he could.

With in a few moments of searching the truck, the stared at me wide-eyed holding a shotgun shell in his fingers. "Is there more ammunition in this vehicle?" I said that come to think of it, there were hundreds of bullets in the truck and in fact there was a gun behind the seat. It was all standard issue gear for the Division of Wildlife.

"Do you realize you just committed a felony?" the guard said.

I don't remember exactly how I responded, but it was something along the lines of "Oops."

Prison guards don't have the reputation of having a great sense of humor, and this guy was no exception. I thought it was a pretty funny situation, but he didn't return my smile. I noticed that his heart rate seemed to be quickening much faster than mine, and soon both my pulse and facial expression matched his. He told me that I need to return to the first check point to lock up my "arsenal."

When I got back to the first check-point, I told the blond kid what happened. He said, "You need to tell me if there are weapons in your truck, man." I apologized. He said, "That's cool," and I could tell that he was really hoping that it would be. I gathered up all the bullets from the floor of the truck and put them with the shotgun in a large metal locker.

I drove back to the "Gate 1." I passed the vehicle check this time and was allowed through a second gate into the actual prison grounds. I unloaded the screens with another guard who had even less of a sense of humor than the first. While we were unloading the screens, a overweight prisoner with a large goatee approached the guard and ask him to sign some papers for some work he had done. The guard was rude to the prisoner and said he would only sign one of the six papers. The prisoner smiled sheepishly at the guard, revealing only a few teeth on the right side of his mouth, and then walked away. I was allowed back through the two gates, and then drove to the intial check-point to pick up my weaponry. Needless to say, I felt very liberated to be back on road, driving for the next four hours back home again.

On the drive back, I couldn't help but to think about what a horrible job it would be to be prison guard. The prison guards in Canon City work in a terribly desolate place, surrounded by unpredictable felons who visciously hate them. How do the guards get themselves out of bed to go to work in the morning? The prisoners are of course paying for crimes they committed, but on some level the guards must also be paying for some kind of mistake. Perhaps their crime is something more vague like not studying hard enough in school or simply making bad career choices. Or maybe they are serving time as some sort of deeper karmic penalty. Whatever they've done, they serve their sentence alongside the prisoners they watch. I imagine that there are some prisoners who finish their punishments and move on with their lives before some of their guards do the same.

I'm grateful for my freedom.

Website

2007-08-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

I made a lot of changes to my website. There are a lot of new pages and pictures. I also posted the audio recording of the Grand Theatre Company's encore performance of "Hank Williams: the Lost Highway." You can find the link to the mp3 after clicking the projects button.

There are still more updates and changes I'm going to make to the site, so please check back again soon.

Fuller

2007-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just ordered Chris Fuller's debut cd "Sangamon" from CD Baby. I heard the rough version as he was finishing it up, and I'm very excited to hear the final cuts on the record. He worked really hard on the recordings and the songwriting is awesome. To order the album from CDBaby, go to http://cdbaby.com/cd/chrisfuller

Sheesh!

2007-07-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy this summer. I finally feel like I'm over the hump and my schedule is slowing down. It's been a great and exhausting run.

I've been lucky to be part of a lot of great performances. This last Sunday I got to play the Winter Park Jazz Festival in front of an awesome crowd. I'm going to post pictures from the show on my website. I'm actually planning to overhaul my whole website over the next week, so look for some changes coming up soon. I'm going to add more pictures and recordings and change the arrangement and look of the pages.

The Grand Theatre Company's season is in full swing. We had our second performance of Monkey Business tonight and the audience ate it up. We have three more weeks of shows before the season ends. I will be involved in another theatrical performance at the Rocky Mountain Rep in Grand Lake starting at the end of August and continuing through September. I will be playing bass in a musical about Frank Sinatra.

I feel fortunate to be performing so much music lately. Still, I'm looking forward to slowing down in order to have time and energy to work on my own original music. Thanks for checking out my site, and please check back for changes very soon.

Lightbulb!

2007-05-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

I went to the pet store to buy my border collie a 40 pound bag of food. I was staring down aisles and aisles of Iams and Pedigree and Natural Choice when it occured to me that eventually everything on those shelves would turn into dogshit.

Happy Broncos

2007-04-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

I had an idea for a new invention yesterday: edible birthday candles. They would be made of marshmellow or some other kind of sugar that would melt on the cake. This invention solves many problems. I remember last year when my dad turned 60, he blew out his birthday candles and in the process he spit all over the cake. With edible candles, your cake is topped with melted sugar instead of spit or candle wax. The idea is you just let the candles burn up instead of blowing them out. If you miss the "make a wish" blow part, you can just wish when you blow out the match that you used to light the candles. (note: if you use this idea to make a million dollars, please send my half to PO Box 744, Fraser, CO 80442)

Today is my 29th birthday. On my birthday last year, I listened to all three of Jimi Hendrix's studio albums in a row. Jimi died at 27 and never saw 28. Hank Williams died on New Year's Day of his 29th year and never saw 30. I'm pretty sure I'll make it past New Year's. I'm listening to Hank as I write this. That guy was awesome.

Ever since I was 15, I've written myself a birthday letter. My idea was that every April 26th I would write a page or two, and then by the time I was eighty or so I'd have a book-length collection of letters. Each year, I wrote about what I did the past year and about what I wanted to do the next year. The problem is that I moved this year, and I can't find all the old letters. I need to look harder.

This blog does not count as my birthday letter, but I think I'll write a bit more. It's been a while since I've updated this page...

We're about two weeks into mud season here in Winter Park. On the closing day ski season, April 15, we held the 5th Annual Space Jam at the C-lot at Mary Jane. I played with a few bands in the morning and then played with Hunker Down in the evening. It was a blast. Since then, my schedule has been pretty easy. The summer will heat up soon enough, so I'm enjoying the down time.

This summer will be pretty eventful. I will continue working with the live theater in Winter Park. I will probably perform in Cabaret, Schoolhouse Rock, and few encore performances of the Hank Williams play from the spring. In mid-June I will headline Kremmling Days, and in July I will play in an Irish festival in Wyoming. I'm also going to take on a day job with the Colorado Division of Wildlife that I'm excited about. Hopefully more stuff will come up as the summer gets closer.

That's all for now. I've got go eat some spit-covered wax.

Noses and Grindstones

2007-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a silly poem that I like:

If your nose is held to the grindstone rough
and you hold it down there long enough
soon you'll say there's no such thing
as brooks that babble and birds that sing.
Three things will all your world compose--
just you, the grindstone, and your darned old nose.

Puffer Fish

2007-04-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a quote from Julia Cameron's book Walking in this World:

"Here's what I like about God: Trees are crooked, mountains are lumpy, a lot of his creatures are funny-looking, and he made it all anyway. He didn't let the aardvark convince him he had no business designing creatures. He didn't make the puffer fish and get discouraged. No, the maker made things--and still does."

Flew, Flown, Flied

2007-03-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of March now, and I can't believe how fast the month went. I'm coming off a streak of seven shows over the past five days. I had today off to relax. This coming Thursday and Friday are the last two Hank Williams shows. I have a jazz gig in Kremmling on Saturday and then my regular Sunday gig in Winter Park.

After next week and the end of the ski season, my schedule is going to slow down dramatically. I will have more time to work on writing and recording music instead of performing. I'm looking forward to the shift of attention.

I feel really good about the theater performances. I hope I can continue to perform at theaters and concert venues instead of bars. Playing Swallow Hill's Daniel's Hall last Friday was a great experience, and I hope I get a chance to do that again. It's been fun.

March

2007-02-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

There's still a day and a half left of February, but boy it really flew by. Did you know that February is Black History month? The government generously dedicated the shortest, coldest, darkest month of the year to African-Americans. I guess it's something though. Jewish people don't even have a month, probably because of the lunar calendar or something like that.

I'm excited for next month. I have 19 gigs booked in March, so it will be a pretty busy one. Besides the plays and my regular Sundays and Thursdays, I have a few important gigs with the Irish band Claddagh. We are going to play at Swallow Hill in Denver on the 23rd. I've wanted to play at Swallow Hill for a long time. It's an awesome venue and great organization. It should be fun.

I'm going to try to get a lot of recording done in March. Hopefully I'll have new songs to put up on my website. It's my goal to finish a cd of my original music by the end of the month. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading this and keeping up with me.

Whew...

2007-02-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

Man...
Tonight was the opening of the Hank Williams play, since the official opening last Friday was cancelled due to crazy weather. It was good. I think we did a good job. I don't know if it was magic exactly, but it was good. We did good. I'm happy to have the first show under my belt. The next show is Saturday, in two days, so we'll have another chance to rock it.

I feel good about the show. It's only going to get better. It's really a challenge. We had a few glitches, but that's to be expected. I feel fortunate to have very talented people around me. We still have eight more tries to really kill it. I'm excited.

I'm going to sleep now, and I'm going to practice a bunch before the next show. It's really fun, and we're going to keep it going. Goodnight now.

Frank Zappa Rules

2007-02-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

I have a new favorite song. I listened to it about six times today. It's Frank Zappa's "Broken Hearts are for Assholes." Here are a few quotes from the lyrics to the song.

Some of you might not agree
But you probably likes a lot of misery
But think a while and you will see
Broken hearts are for assholes
Broken hearts are for assholes
Are you an asshole?
Broken hearts are for assholes
Are you an asshole too?
Whatcha gonna do, cause you're an asshole...

...You say you can't live with what you been through
Well, ladies you can be an asshole too.
You might pretend you ain't got one on the bottom of you,
But don't fool yerself girl
It's lookin' at you...

Disappointment

2007-02-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

I heard a quote once that the people who win most often are also the ones that lose most often. I guess the point is that your numbers of wins and losses both go up when you keep trying things. Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is no try." On the other hand, Yoda tried to kill both Count Duku and the Emperor with a light saber, and he failed so he went into exile. Maybe Yoda is full of crap.

Today was supposed to be the opening night of the Hank Williams play that I'm in, but the show was cancelled due to the weather. There are extremely high winds here, and the roads from either direction to Winter Park have been closed. It was a big build up for no product. The show should continue next week as scheduled. If no one can make it to the theater, then the show can't start, whether (weather) or not the show must go on. I'm bummed, but I suppose that it's out of anyone's control. I also found out that the piece I made for the Hellmann's Mayonnaise advertisement wasn't chosen by the company to be aired. I tried. I'll keep trying.

February

2007-02-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently it's been nearly two months since I last wrote a blog. I should write more. I should also do push-ups more often... but hey you know how it goes.

February is an eventful month for me. This Friday is the opening night of "Hank Williams: The Lost Highway" at the Grand Theatre Company in Winter Park. I have the lead role, and I'm really excited about the play. The rest of the cast is really talented, and it's going to be a great show. I've worked harder to prepare for this gig than I've ever worked for any other performance. It's really a challenge, and I hope I'm up to it. The play is going to be a blast.

On Saturday, I'm playing a jazz gig for the Grand Arts Council. It's high profile gig in Grand Lake and I'm going to be joined by John Pleasant, Patrick Brower and Andy Irvine who are all killer musicians. I'm also going to play gigs with Hunker Down on both Friday and Saturday nights after the other shows. Then on Sunday, Bobby Krech and I are playing at the Untamed in Winter Park. Including my regular gig on Thursday, that makes six performances in four days. I'm grateful for the work and that I'm keeping busy. I definitely need to rest up these next few days.

Stephanie Buss at the Winter Park Manifest wrote an article about me a couple weeks ago. I posted it on the press page of my website if you want to check it out. Yeah, I'm pretty much famous now. I hope the rich part comes along some time soon.

I also just sent off a third piece that may be used in a Hellmann's Mayonnaise commercial. I've been working with Paul Riggio who runs a music production company in Manhattan. His website is www.soloudmusic.com and you can check out some of his portfolio of commercial music work online. Apparently my piece passed the first round of cuts, so it has a shot of being used in a national television ad.

Last week, I went to Mojamagic Studio in Boulder to record tracks for a cd with the Irish band Claddagh. We have a lot more work to do, but hopefully the disc will come out in a few months. I'm also working on my own solo cd here at my home studio. My schedule is pretty full lately, but I hope to have it finished by the end March.

My music is really coming together lately, and I have a lot to be grateful for. I'm working with a lot of talented people and feel like I'm doing what I want to do. I hope I can keep it up.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2006-12-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

I reworked my website over the past few days. There is a lot more to click now.

I posted a bunch of mp3's from projects I've been involved with over the years. Some of the recordings are better than others... and some are just plain not good at all. Still, I thought it would be fun to make an archive of sorts on my website. Though I cringe at some of the old recordings that I once thought were awesome, the songs bring back a lot of memories for me. I'm happy to have a lot of them collected on my site.

I also re-did the "about Yaniv" page adding a link to press clippings page, a pictures page and a few others. I'm not quite finished with the links yet, but hopefully I'll get to the rest of it soon. I was interviewed earlier this week by the Winter Park Manifest, and I will add an additional article link on the press page once that piece comes out over the next couple weeks.

News

2006-11-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't been too diligent about writing blogs lately. I've been writing a lot in a spiral notebook lately, and doing that has filled my need to write down a bunch of random stuff. I'm still going to post ideas here from time to time, but I think this blog will turn in to more of a Yaniv's news kind of thing.

I have a lot of news to report. The winter is finally in full swing here in Winter Park, and I've been busier. I've been performing music a lot more lately. I counted 14 gigs in December so far. I have a gig every Sunday night at the Untamed in Winter Park, and every Thursday night at the Crooked Creek in Fraser. I may have another weekly jazz gig every Wednesday at the Pub in Winter Park, but that's not for sure yet. I'm still teaching private music lessons, though I'm thinking about cutting the lessons back a bit.

Starting the end of January, I will be performing with the Grand Theatre Company in Winter Park. I'm going to play Hank Williams in a play called "Lost Highway." I'm really excited about it, and I'm looking forward to rehearsals.

I've been trying to record some of my original songs over the last few weeks, but it's slow going. I think that the secret is to avoid perfectionism and just make stuff. I think that the most prolific people are the least perfectionist. The danger is producing a hundred mediocre pieces instead of one good one. However, if you produce a hundred pieces, chances are that one will be good. I'm going to try to follow that model but it's difficult. The hardest part is getting started.

I've also been watching loads of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episodes. That show is completely awesome. And also the Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer" dvd is also awesome, but definitey less so that the "Curb" stuff.

Poem

2006-11-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

I was going through some old papers, and I found a poem that I wrote a few years ago. Here it is:

Time flies… even when you’re not having fun.
Time flies when you’re busy, when you don’t have time.
When you have time, time doesn’t fly.
When you have no time, time flies.
You can’t have it because it’s flown away.
Come again some other day… if you have time.

What?

2006-11-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Planets and plants are only an e apart.

Transient Transcendentalism

2006-10-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

We're still in the in between time up here in the mountains. It's not quite winter yet, but it is more winter than not winter.

Once the Winter Park ski resort opens up and the new crowd of faces moves in to the town, everything will be more settled.

People up here have a name for the time after the ski season ends and before the summer begins. It's called "mud season." It's a period when snow is still melting, but it's still too early to go mountain-biking or hiking. It lasts from about mid-April until late May.

The time in between late August and early November is the second mud-season in Winter Park. We have two mud-seasons per year. How many other places have two of the same season every year. The second mud season is not literally as muddy as the first one, but the vibe is the same. The town is relatively empty, and everyone is waiting for something to happen. We're not in the swing of things. We're all sitting on the swing-set, waiting for a push.

I hope the push comes soon. I'm getting bored.

Webs in my brain

2006-10-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

I completely rebuilt my website today. I'm using a program called freeway express and it's pretty slick. I'm feeling pretty shredded now after spending so much time at the computer.

I think the new website is pretty cool. It's a little busy looking with all the pictures, but I think it makes sense and it's fairly easy to navigate. I think it will work for now. I'm going to reorganize the Made for TV pages and a few others. It can be confusing work.

Zap

2006-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." - Frank Zappa

Phew!

2006-10-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in these last few weeks. I don't know where to start. I don't know when to start either.

I think I'll start tomorrow.

Sculpting Time

2006-09-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from a book I'm reading called "Free Play" by Stephen Nachmanovitch:

"Let's return to Michelangelo's idea of removing apparent surfaces to reveal or liberate the statue that had been buried in the stone since the beginning of time. Michelangelo claimed that he was guided by a faculty he called intelleto. Intelleto is intelligence, not of the merely rational kind, but visionary intelligence, a deep seeing of underlying pattern beneath appearances... As the stone is to a sculptor, so time is to a musician. Whenever he gets up to play, the musician stands there facing his own unsculpted block of time. Over this seemingly featureless void he draws, perhaps, a violin bow, which is a device for carving or shaping time--or let us say for discovering or releasing the shapes that are latent in that unique moment of time."

Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the Crocodile Hunter is dead. I loved that guy. His enthusiasm was unparalleled. I wish there were more people like him. I'm heart-broken that he's dead.

The way he died is curious. A stingway, which is poisenous but not deadly, stung him and pierced his heart. It sounds like something from a novel. If it were a made up story that I read, I would take it to mean that somehow he merged with the stingray and his heart and soul was taken inside the ocean, and so in that way he became one with nature. I know it's not a made up story, but on some level I still believe that's what really happened.

Steve Irwin was great. I really wish he hadn't died.

Effortless Mastery

2006-08-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a book called Effortless Mastery, by Kenny Werner. It's excellent and you should read it.

Will Rogers Quotes

2006-08-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

These are quotes from Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash with Wylie Post in 1935. I especially like number 8.

1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3. There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.

4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.

8. There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

10. If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.

12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral:
When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

You have to want it

2006-08-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

You have to want it like a man whose head is on fire wants a bucket of water.

Colored Pencils

2006-08-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,
I hope nobody finds you, my sweet diary, and publishes you on the internet for everyone to see. Don't worry, diary. I'll keep you locked up, safe in my sock drawer.

I used to want to be a sock drawer, but I was never that good with colored pencils.

Anyhoo... How you been? It's been a while since my last chart topping, best-selling blog entry. I know you've been eagerly awaiting my next piece of nonsense. Well, here it is.

I just got back from band camp. I was in Lyons for the Rockygrass Academy and Festival. It was pretty much completely awesome. I met a lot of great people, and I learned a lot. I came out of it with a ton of stuff work on and more motivation to get going on it.

One cool thing about the Academy was that there was very little ego and self-promotion stuff going on. There were so many great players there that it wasn't difficult to be humble. Competition and ego was kept at bay, and the music was the important thing.

I heard a ton of great players, but here's a short list of some of the ones you should check out: Darol Anger, Scott Nygard, Rushad Eggleston, Tim Stafford, Rob Ickes, Chris Pandolfi, and Jeremy Garrett.

More News

2006-07-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have a new project that I'm excited about. I'm working on music for a website. The site is marketing a nice apartment building in downtown Denver. Eventually, my music will play when you visit the site. The site should be functioning by the end of the month. I'll write the web address here once it's up and running.

I have two gigs tomorrow night. I'm playing with Hunker Down at the Pub from 5pm to 9pm and Juicebox at Buckets from 10pm to close. Sunday is the Winter Park Folk Festival, and then I have a little break. I'm going to head down to Denver at the beginning of next week.

I'm getting very excited for the Rockygrass Academy, which is the last week of this month. It's going to be a week of playing non-stop and the festival follows it all. I need to practice a bunch over the next few weeks to get ready for it.

Please excuse the not-funny blogs. I'll try to come up with some zingers for the next one.

News

2006-06-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

I just finish another batch of audio clips for the Channel 17 radio station. I may post some of them, and recreate my "As Seen on TV" page when I have more time. Also, I have a new cYberYaniv logo that Dennis of Cletus Productions created for me. I'm going eventually create a new home page for cYberYaniv, and I'll incorporate the new logo.

I'm working on a website for a band called Columbian Necktie. They're a speed metal band that has been playing at my open mic nights. They're very good at what they do, and they're very rehearsed. They're the kind of band you either love or hate. Hopefully, I'll get that webpage up soon.

I have a busy week. I'm heading down to Denver tonight. Then tomorrow, I'm helping run sound for 4th Annual Blues from the Top festival at Solvista. On Sunday, I'm playing music at a private party in Steamboat. On Monday I have a break. Then I have a gig every day until July 10, which is 7 in a row. It's going to be a challenging run.

Inter-o-net-o-matic

2006-06-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Blamo!

I'm back, and I'm worldwide, baby!

I just got my internet up at my new place. Comcast is hooking me up with a cool 4099 kbps of download speed and a saucy 355 kbps of upload speed. By the way, to check the speed of your connection at home, go to www.speakeasy.net and click the speed test in the bottom right corner.

Look here in the future for a lot more fodder straight from me to the void. The future is now! ... well maybe not exactly now... er... I guess the future actually comes a little bit past now... wait... Past now!? The future is past now, while the past is passed by both the now and the future. Now in the future, the now will continue to pass the past but will never get past the future. Break it down, smart guy.

Godspeed.

Zing!