Day 26 Love Wins!!!

Hey Bud, as you already saw on Facebook, Anthony and I had a great time at Club Avalon in Hollywood. It was Tigerheat's 10th Anniversary complete with male go-go dancers. Tigerheat is the young clubbers night on Thursdays at the Avalon, and man those kids were young! I looked like a cougar dancing with Anthony, but he didn't care. He just twerked up and down and all around that dance floor!

What a special day in history. Marriage equality in all 50 states! Anthony was asking me over breakfast how many states are in the US, and I wondered where that came from. Now I know. It cracks me up how the kids keep up with current events via Snapchat, Twitter, etc. He knew all the breaking news during his whole visit here. It's actually pretty cool. Kids are pretty savvy than they're given credit for.

Anyways, I'm still working on that video. Geesh! Hoping to record a bit of Anthony singing since it's his last day today. Fingers crossed.

Anyways, see ya later for our family BBQ as we celebrate Anthony's graduation. Yay!

Here's the Vine again. I've got it everywhere (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). I might as well post on my blog too. Oh, and of course this Vine features another one of my royalty free music tracks!

Day 19 Hollywood!

Hey Bud, this is probably my shortest, most last minute (and very late) post to date. So busy. Anyways, Anthony's having a good time and so am I.

Shout out to my pals Alias Means at Nickelodeon Animation and Rob Greffey at Paramount Studios for showing us where they work.

So here's day 2 of Anthony's visit. I present "Hollywood!"

Day 16 Come what may

Hey Bud, today at 10:00 am Pacific time Live At Lockett's launches on YouTube today and I'm a bit nervous. What if no one watches? What if it's awful and everyone watches? Oh whatever. Come what may. Do what you can. Don't do what you can't. It's all random. Just like this Vine.

P.S. I love you Bud.

Day 12 Happy Friday! To that I say alright, alright, alright

Hey there Bud, so here's my latest cartoon. Actually there's another one in the works, this is the latest one that is complete to a degree. I'm all about quantity these days as I'm trying to keep up with all the things I want to do.

In other creative pursuits, I'm about to record a new cover tune. I thought music was going to take a short hiatus. Instead I'm picking up my guitar and having a lot of fun playing songs that perk my ears. It's completely out of the blue. Even the material I'm playing isn't what I expected. Such fun and a 180 from my downer mood early in the week. 

With a flurry of activity, each day feels more like 2. Fulfillment is good feeling and it's good for the soul; and to that I say alright, alright, alright.

Day 10 A really dumb Vine

Hey Bud, no rhyme or reason in posting this pretty dumb Vine, except I'm in the midst of animating in Flash again. Funny that I haven't returned to writing my music bio yet. It is what it is.

Sorry for the short post, things are looking up. Again no reason. I'm happy to be taking another crack at creating a cartoon. Working on drawing mouths and lip synching.

So, until it's ready, I give you Puddy on Vine. You may recognize the music loop. It's the Vegas one I did a while back, which reminds I've got to post that on my Royalty Free Music Room website.

Without further ado…

Day 8 You got a heart so big, it could crush this town.

Hey there Bud (aka Christy)!

Well we've been at this blogging thing for a whole week! This is a short entry. Got a busy day ahead of me. Anyways, there were only 2 good things in that Larry Crowne movie; George Takei and the use of this song, which was originally in She's The One back in the day.

Always liked this tune. Since we're both Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers fans, I dedicate this Vine to you because you do have a heart so big it could crush this town.

Love,
Edie

Day 7 of Sister Summer Blog

Dear Bud (aka Christy),

My back still hasn't recovered completely and it kept me from going out. However I did manage to create some shiz this weekend. Worked on some music and did some drawing. How 'bout dem apples? I'm not ready to post an mp3 just yet of that cover song I recorded last Friday night. So I emailed you the link instead.

To keep up with my multi-media blogs, I created another stop motion animation / whiteboard art piece and posted it on Vine and YouTube. The Vine loop is cool, but man, :06 sec and the square aspect ratio can sometimes be limiting. So I'm posting both. The edited-for-Vine version and the unedited-director's-YouTube-video-cut (a whopping :10 sec) in all its high-def glory straight from my iPhone. Ha!!

I was a little down last night because I didn't go out, and then the nail in the coffin was watching "Larry Crowne" on HBO Now. Holy crap. That movie really sucked. I was in the mood for some likable, no brainer, happy fluffy stuff and I thought Tom Hanks would fit the bill. Wow, it sucked so bad that I actually feared for my own art. I mean, Tom Hanks with all his success and clout makes this embarrassingly awful out-of-touch movie. Who the hell am I to even consider being part of the film community or a musician or an animator or anything? Thankfully, I squelched my bad juju by going to my iTunes library and finding the first thing that would strike a chord in me to draw, and behold John Lennon's "Love." An appropriate message for me being a hater. It's kinda inspiring knowing that Tom Hanks is human after all. If he can strike out, then so can I, and just move on to the next project up at bat.

So there it is, my post for today. I'm hoping to catch an early matinee of Love & Mercy, the new movie about Brian Wilson. So excited to see my dear pal Johnny Sneed on the big screen as drummer Hal Blaine. I've already seen the movie at work, but I want the whole theater experience, especially the studio scenes of Pet Sounds. How I love movies about musicians, oh and movies about baseball too. Tom Hanks, if you ever read this, I love A League Of Their Own and That Thing You Do!

Love,
Edie

Day 6 Music and Kitty Time

Dear Bud (aka Christy),

My blog is short and yet I spend so much time trouble shooting the damn thing. I'm just barely gonna make the 6 am deadline. Geesh.

Back to my original blog:
Had a good day off today. My back is slowly getting better. Didn't return to writing my bio. Played music instead. In fact, I'm in the middle of recording a new cover and the process so far is fu. Before I started working on the song, I did another quickie Vine. This time a fiddle loop. I have yet to get the timing right in that damn app.



Oh, and to continue with our ongoing cat thing here's a pic of me and Puddy. Hey you can't take part in the inter webs if you don't offer up a cat in some kind of form.

Me and Puddin' spending quality time in our backyard.

Stay tuned for my new recording. Hope I can post it soon.

Love,

Bud aka Edie

take 2 of Day 5 of Sister summer blogging - I had such plans...

Geesh take 2 on this day 5 post...


Dear Bud (aka Christy),

Well shit. I was hoping to have this big revelatory essay written for you today. In fact, I was in a writing frenzy yesterday afternoon before going to my regular job. Damn that job. It's getting in the way of my plans.

Anyway, in my morning journaling I realized I was finally ready to write my music bio. I've been putting it off for so long mainly because I hate writing about my music and trying to figure out what I sound like. So I decided to write my music history here in LA in hopes of finding some kind of common thread of what I've studied and listened to in comparison to what I play and record. Instead, I get caught up in the chronological order of things. Ugh.

It doesn't help that working 8 hours breaks my rhythm and thought process. It's hard getting that zone back. Again, that damn job.

Since today is my day off, I'm gonna take it up again after some rest.

So no big creative thing today. Instead I will repost my tweets, which are actually Vines from this week and last.

Here's one of me playing word scramble with my vinyl. I picked random records and dropped the needle on somewhat random song hooks to form this random sentence, "Ain't no businessman running right, Bodhisattva."




And here's one of Puddin' because cats are awesome. It's got an experimental short film vibe. (Damn it, I shoulda recorded a track for this.)


Nite, nite. 

Love,
Budmeister aka Edie

Day 2 of sister summer blogging

Dear Bud (aka Christy),

Okay, good day and welcome to day 2.

It's 4am and I've just spent 2 1/2 hours working in Flash, Vine, Twitter and now this blog.

The good news is my Jim Rockford Vine cartoon is done. Here it is!

I had a lot of other stuff to put in, but I kinda burned myself out on this animation. So I'll just have to save it for another installment later this summer. Vince Vaughn is up next. I've got some test drawings and a vague idea of a cartoon for him.

Anyways, this is a short entry because I'm sure The Rockford Files Theme must be driving you nuts by now and I'm freakin' tired.

Love,

Bud

P.S. My cartoon is square because that's the aspect ratio Vine uses. So it kinda effed up my framing composition. I'll try to remember that for the next one.

Day one of sister blogging

Hey Bud,

It's day 1 and I'm already exhausted. Between revamping my website and my Blogger site, I've forgotten all the creative notions I wanted to share as my first entry. It was supposed to be monumental and profound. Yeah, right.

Anywho. As you know, I'm damn excited to finally take a crack at animation. My little Jim Rockford cartoon is coming along. I know you've seen this already, but I'm posting for posterity. I've got some other little details drawn that I need to insert. Man, I gotta add some awesome pans and zooms to make it more Rockford-esque!!

Okay, it's a humble start for my renewed blogging. I can only go up from here, right? Hoping my cartoon is dazzling enough. I mean, c'mon, it's Jim Rockford!! It's also my favorite song right now. My friend Mark Christian from Merle Jagger does a pretty good cover of this tune.

Over and out,
Bud

In just a few hours, I'll be starting a daily blog with Christy.

Wow. It's been 5 years since my last blog. Well I'm starting up again, but my audience is my sister Christy.

Anyways, this entry is a test to make sure my launch this morning goes smoothly and it's a buffer between my five-year old entry and my new 2015 entry.

Everything's humble beginnings lately. I've been teaching myself how to animate in Flash Pro CC. It started with a 30 day free trial on May 1st. Damn. That reminds me; I have to buy the license to continue my work! Doh!

So here's one of my first creations which I learned from an Adobe Flash tutorial. The instructor drew a potato, but I thought a hot dog was way more interesting. See for yourself. And yes, I recorded the simple yet quirky music. It turned out pretty cool on Vine.

P.S. I'll be posting my Vines down the road. Need to figure that shiz out.

I Ain't Eddie Murphy (Edie's My Name)

Good grief! Time does fly when you're having fun. Been busy these days writing and recording lots of new stuff. Even done some collaboration which has been very inspiring, and has definitely lifted my songwriting to new level highs.

Anyways, I wanted to post my latest musical endeavor...RAP! That's right. This fiddle girl has got it goin' on, G.

My new rap tune was inspired from the angst that never got expressed from the numerous name calling I endured as a kid and partly from the confused emails I get from Eddie Murphy fans who stumble on to my website.

Okay, Eddie Murphy fans... for once and for all "I Ain't Eddie Murphy (Edie's My Name)."

BACONSTOCK/Dan Janisch/Happy Halloween

Well, it seems my entries occur on a monthly basis and it'll have to do I suppose.

October proved to be an inspiration music-wise due to some very fun, spontaneous gigs. On Saturday the 17th, I had the good fortune of fiddlin' and singin' with former bandmates and new members of Murphy's Flaw (Donn Cunningham-guitar, John Bryan-banjo, Matt Witler-mandolin, Peter Blackwelder-fiddle and Paul Dorn-upright bass) at an outdoor charity gig which was the fall harvest festival for Tierra Del Sol (a great organization I might add).

Then the following weekend (10/24) played again with Donn, John and Paul as part of Baconstock over at The Cinema Bar.

Baconstock was a hoot! It was a special 3-day music fest/going away party for The Cinema's beloved bartender Sara Bacon who is leaving for Maine in a week or so. Everyone played in such fine form and the joint was jumpin'! Here's a pic (borrowed from Facebook, thanks Hampton!) of Sara gettin' her grove on and me grinnin' away during Dan Janisch's set.

So, I'm hanging out on the back patio taking a breather from all the Baconstock festivities and I notice all these cool Halloween posters promoting Dan Janisch's "Vicious Draculicious" show. So I ask Dan, who's coincidentally taking a breather too, about his show and he invites me to play a tune special for his Halloween gig.

Well, that show was last night, and man did I fun playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia" with Dan and his god-damn awesome band! The Cinema Bar was all decked out in Halloween gear: smoke poured from a coffin, spiders and ghosts dangled from the ceiling and cool black lights lit the joint. "Devil" and Dan's encore of "She's So Wild" were highlights for me.

And now, I get to do Halloween all over again! My favorite LA rockabilly singer, Brian Hogan, is having me sit in tonight for a special spooktacular set over at The Fox and Hounds Pub in Studio City. And yes, there'll be a repeat performance of "Devil Went Down To Georgia." I can't wait!

With all this performing activity, I'm feeling inspired to get my solo act out there on the scene. Stay tuned...

I will miss you dear Amy

I just heard the very sad news that fiddler/singer/songwriter Amy Farris died over the weekend. I'm at a loss for words and can't believe she is gone.

Amy was so talented and had this magical energy every time she played and sang. I am deeply honored that she touched my life with music and friendship.

My fondest memory of Amy are the few, but very fun fiddle jams we had over iced coffee, giggles and girl talk in her cozy Silverlake apartment with her cute little dachshunds Frances and Keysha.

Amy, I miss you.

PICTURED: Me and Amy peforming with the Hollow Trees at a children's winter festival Dec 2008 and of us twin fiddlin' at the Cinema Bar Sept 2008.

The summer has passed me by

Figured I'd better hurry up and write a little quickie blog so that there's at least one entry for August.

Been keeping a low profile music-wise, but having a little fun checking out the off-the-beaten-path film stuff Hollywood has to offer. Found a great cinema hangout (other than the Cinema Bar) over at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax. They even serve free Tecate beer! Diggin' it so much, I'm gonna become a member.

In honor of all the Beatlemania going on these days surrounding the upcoming release of the Beatle Rock Band game, the fine folks at Cinefamily are presenting their British Invasion program at the Silent Movie Theater every Thursday night starting this week (9/3/09). They're even gonna play the Beatle Rock Band game on the big screen. Sounds like fun.

I highly recommend checking this particular cinema scene out!

Star Sighting: Elvis Costello at Amoeba Records

FINALLY! I got to reap the benefits of living in L.A.

Last week, 6/22/09 to be exact, I saw Elvis Costello perform a free show at Amoeba Records THE COOLEST record store in Hollywood AND it was worth every minute of my 4 hour wait.

First, I'll start out this entry with a really good Elvis photo from Amoeba's website and then post pictures from my sucky camera.


I ran into some friends there (shout out to Cleo, Laura, Doug & Kent) and made some new ones too. Pictured below are my Cinema pals Laura and Doug and Steve, a jazz guitarist I met while standing in line along Ivar.

I LOVED THIS SHOW! Elvis performed mostly new material from his latest album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane and a really cool Grateful Dead cover of "A Friend Of The Devil."

And now, the show from the perspective of my sucky camera.

This in-store concert and Elvis's new CD has truly inspired me right now. My favorites are "Down Among The Wine And Spirits," "My All Time Doll," "Crooked Line" and "Sulphur To Sugarcane."

Here's a good crowd shot courtesy of Amoeba.com:

My inner-teenager was so thrilled that with the purchase of a CD you get a free (and way cool) Elvis Amoeba poster plus Elvis's autograph on any one item you choose. I had him sign my poster. Picture taking wasn't allowed in the autograph line, but I was able to sneak this one.

All in all a very fun event! Thanks Amoeba Records and Elvis!!!

In other news, I'm in the beginning stages of recording my DIY mini-CD. It's going pretty good too. Gonna lay low performing solo-wise to dedicate time to recording, but will be playing a few gigs with Murphy's Flaw.

Hopefully, July will have more entries than lately.

Entry #15 Spinal Tap Unplugged

My concert tickets for Unwigged and Unplugged at the Wiltern arrived this morning. Woo-hoo! The show is tomorrow (Sunday 4/26) night and my sister Christy and I can't wait!

Unwigged and Unplugged is Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. You know, the Spinal Tap dudes! To celebrate the 25th anniversary of This Is Spinal Tap, the famous trio is currently on tour performing all their Spinal Tap and Folksmen (A Mighty Wind) hits acoustically and it goes a little like this . . .



It's been a while since my last post. Been busy working on my new website ediemurphy.com which is up now! My blog is up on the website too.

My next post will likely be about the Unwigged show. I love everything about those guys. I dig what the do! When I grow up I wanna be Harry Shearer.

Entry #14 Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Thought I'd make a quick little post to brag about my friend Peter Kavanaugh. I'm so thrilled that Pete will be playing guitar for my big solo debut, and even more thrilled to discover that he's a songwriter too!

His tune "Pendulum Swing" aired on the Discovery Channel's show Time Warp ("Blades and Volts" episode) last Wednesday. Pete and his band we're also IN the episode too. Way Hollywood!!

So I proudly introduce to my under-a-dozen blog readers, Peter Kavanaugh's "Pendulum Swing" featuring Todd Eckart and Laura Jo DeWitt on vocals and the The Phat Cat Swinger horn section.



And if you're a swinging gate like me, I highly recommended this swingingest dance hall over in Pasadena with live swing music from none other than The Phat Cat Swingers with Peter Kavanaugh on guitar. See ya there, daddy-o!!

Saturday 4/25/09
7:30 - 11:00 pm
Pasadena Baptist Church
75 N. Marengo Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
Cost: $15.00

Get there at 7:30 if you want a fun, easy and quick swing dance lesson!!

Entry #13 Hollywood hangout to close the weekend

Another Hollywood live music venue that I enjoy supporting is The Grand Ole Echo over at the Echo, a cool club in that hipster neighborhood Echo Park. The GOE kicks off it's new season today.

My friend Christine Ortega will emcee today's big event and sing a few tunes too. The show will feature: Old Californio releasing their new record, Whispering Pines opening and the pride of the Golden State, I See Hawks In LA closing the night.

In between sets, head outside to the back porch for burgers on the grill and live acoustic music from banjo player Tommy Santee Claws.

The GOE is a free all ages show held every Sunday from 5 - 9 pm through the end of summer at The Echo, 1822 Sunset in Echo Park.

See ya there!