Currently I am plodding along attempting to get things set up for my new brand and it has been slow going. BUT WAIT! I at least have a landing page up where you can see the new logo and which direction I’m heading. Can’t click on anything yet as there is no content. I still have to put all that together but I am very excited about this new direction (albeit very different from Lotus Eleven) and have partners that are very talented and dedicated.

So with out further adieu, I introduce to you the new, the improved, the when-its-finished-it-will-be-a-really kick-ass-site.

Click linky-linky below for the landing page.

www.wheelhaus.net

Lotus Eleven is not going away completely. Rather it will be going through a metamorphosis, all Franz Kafka style. Call it more of a business friendly makeover if you will. I plan on keeping this site up for the next few months and then bringing in some big guns to help me create the uber marketing and design site. Work is good for the time being, but I also have to be constantly vigilant and getting prepared for the next big thing that may come my way, hence the new direction the site will be taking. Gotta dress to impress baby.

Besides, this wordpress site is all goobered up right now (hence the missing images) and isn’t functioning properly due to a database corruption and the only true way to fix it is to start over. Sniff…It’s a shame, I had some damn funny stuff on here too. I’ll be sure to archive what I can.

Sorry it’s been awhile since my last posting. My current assignment and school have taken up most of the waking hours. I’m going full bore to knock out this degree as quickly as possible. It will open more opportunities for me in the future. There are always new skill sets that can be learned and improved upon, and I intend to do so. I’m even doing seminars, audio books, you name it…

I’ve really enjoyed all your comments and look forward to stepping into a brave new world in the coming months. Thanks for all your support! We’ll be in contact soon.

Of course, I can’t say goodbye without one last video, a favorite song of mine. Yes, it’s melancholy, but you know how I am.
Hey, it’s been a real blast. Peace. -sp

John lives the life as a true musician. That doesn’t mean he’s a starving artist though. You see, John owns and operated Tiny Telephone, a recording studio in San Francisco. A lot of “Big Name” bands record there. So this guy is pretty smart, makes ALOT of money with his recording company which allows him to fund his releases (around 10 records now) and travel the world. Not a bad gig. Living the dream.

John is also considered to be the “nicest guy in indie rock”. From first hand experience I would agree. Mindy and I have been listening to him for 10 years now, and have seen him about 5 times. He’s always kind and will come right up and talk to you. Pretty cool considering he is one of our favorite artists. In fact, we rolled into Hotel Congress on Friday about the same time he did. We’re sitting in the bar and he comes in to grab some drinks and we ended up talking to him for a few. He hi-5′d us for driving down from Phoenix to come see him. Just a really cool guy.

I didn’t get a chance to get too much photography in, but here are a few pics I grabbed, plus a video of him singing “Exodus Damage”, one of our fav’s. Oh, also, I threw in a disturbing ad I found online just because it’s so random. Talk soon Kiddies! -sp

So. Where have I been? The question is where haven’t I been?! For starters, I just came off an absolutely grueling client project which pushed me to my limits. A very important deadline needed to be met and it was of course, but it required some serious hours. We’re talking 80-100 hours for weeks on end. I pretty much looked like a zombie by the end of it all. That said, the team performed like warrior poets and resulted in a great victory. It was officially A Very Big Deal™.

That done, the next day I moved onto a small get together of friends I haven’t seen in 23 years. Since high school. Yep. 23 freakin’ years. Don’t know where that time went.

See, I was a R.O.T.C. kid in high school. Yep, I know, hard to believe right? I was (and still am) Marine Corps all the way, Semper Fi. I was a Lt. Colonel in our little, but very special group, member of the best U.S.M.C. Drill team that ever was (Except the 8th and I who helped us out from time to time). We won countless trophies and traveled the nation. We were respected. We were the best. We were feared. With good reason too, nobody could touch us in the entire country…including the Air Force Academy. We met dignitaries, generals, you name it. I remember meeting Colin Powell when he was a mere 2 star General.

We were a perfect storm of talent and tenacity. Many of my teammates went onto great things.

Joe Johnson, Commander in the Navy, Annapolis grad.
Shannon Orick, U.S.M.C., Ret., now a firefighter
Brad Reilly, Special Forces, tours of duty in Afganastan, Took a bullet, saved a life.

I saw friends…comrades all. We did things most people could only dream of. It was a great day. Thanks to everyone. It was great and will not be forgotten.

Finally, to Gunny, it was so good to see you. Thank you so much for all of the wisdom you gave us during those formitive years. Semper Fi and thank you for your service, it will always be honored by all of us.

OK, so now onto the next event:

So after that, my wife and I flew out to Washington, where we would spend the day in Olympia, courtesy of Min’s sister Cilla. We walked around downtown and hung out, saw where Kurt Cobain used to sit and play guitar. We ate yummy goodness™ at the Bearded Lady, a pastry shop where Megan works. She’s awesome and what not, very talented, smart and nearly made some dude wreck his car trying to impress her. BTW, Olympia is beautiful. If you’ve never been there, please, get a ticket and go there now.

From there, we roadtripped it to Portland where we would spend the next few days with some of Min’s other family members. We took a LONG walk through downtown Portland. Such a beautiful city. Great people, great places. Finally got my Go stones, my collection is now complete. As with Olympia, if you’ve never been to Portland, please, get a ticket and go there now.

From there, it was off to Seaside, Oregon. We spent the day at the beach being typical tourists. Amazing views. We loved it. Finally, we celebrated Avery’s 3rd B-day and that was great too. Meg made a Minion cake that was awesome. After that, there were hugs and goodbyes and back to Washington. Took a trip to the Space Needle. Never been to Seattle, also a great city. What an amazing sight from up there. Very cool place.

To Nan, Tom, Avery & Reno: Thanks for being great hosts and having us. We really enjoyed seeing you.
To Perry: Always a treat to hang with my bro.
To Cilla and Jeff: Thanks for putting us up too, and for ferrying us around the NW. It was a blast!
To Meg: Your just nuts, your camera 6th sense is uncanny.
To Jemay: Keep designing, you’re very talented and will put me out of work one day.
To Racheal: An absolute pleasure as always. It was nice having a few moments to speak with you outside.
To Amber: Just keep staying cute.
To John: John, I know you tried and I’m sorry you didn’t hit your weight goal….You see, John, a young 30 something, is something of an enigma wrapped inside a Monty Python skit. He’s desperately trying to lose weight….His goal of course was to reach his birth weight. He wanted to be able to be carried in a backpack around town. John, you definitely take the cake.

And of course to my wonderful wife Mindy: Happy Birthday!! You’re finally legal. Thank you so much for everything. I’m a very lucky man. I’m so happy to be part of your wonderful family. Love always.

It’s been a whirlwind tour the past few weeks. Luckily, I’ve had a few days off to decompress and enjoy life a bit. I even managed to read a book as well. Fuzzy Nation – John Scalzi’s new triumph. That man can do no wrong and always brings me laughter.

Let’s see….Bands. Check out Vermillion Lies and Kate Earl. Super cool stuff. You know me, always on the lookout for musical grooviness….

So that’s about it…oops, no it isn’t. I start school in June….again. Gonna finally get that degree that’s been hanging over my head. Looking forward to getting that out of the way for sure. I’m on the 20 year plan. Took awhile for me to figure it out, but I did. Watch out marketing. You haven’t seen anything yet. So yep, still lots going on. Sorry to ramble on and on and on. Just needed to spew forth all the coming and goings of my life lately.

I’ll be in touch soon. In the meantime enjoy the artsy black and whites and randomness below. I’ll be posting more later. Peace! -sp

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A to Z Window Screen, Chimney Sweep & Dryer Vent Cleaning
www.AtoZScreens.com
916.408.2496
Ask for Aaron Zambrana

Take a look at the video posted below. Most of the artwork, door designs and photography was done by yours truly. So go buy a door, we have one. They really are a great product, the best in the nation. After we installed ours, the neighbor across from us immediately bought one.

So this gives you an idea of some of the things your humble marketing guru does to earn his bread and butter. Unique Home Designs is a great company to freelance for. Enjoy. -sp

Anyway, just wanted to post a funny. Enjoy the vid and make sure you watch the whole thing. Nite-nite. -sp

But this one is very special to yours truly. I’ve been a fan of this kid for a long time now and he has just release his 11th, and possibly last album. I’m referring of course to Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Oh, he’s not done with music, he might just retire the Bright Eyes name and move onto other projects. Conor is pretty prolific afterall. The 11 albums that he’s made with Bright Eyes just scratches the surface of his work. He’s been involved on at least 40 albums from what I’ve been able to deduce. He’s had at least 9 albums with other band projects alone, and he’s only in his early thirties. He wrote his first album when he was 12. He’s pretty much a boy genius with a lot to say. You won’t hear him on the radio, you won’t see him in the press. He’s a true loner and eccentric artist.

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Conor took the Americana/Folk sound, bent it to his will and created a new sound which included all the good stuff – acoustic, pedal steel, banjo, fiddle etc. but added his version of synth pop, heavy guitar and his trademark spoken word stories to create a sound that can only be called Conor.  He’s been dubbed the Bob Dylan his generation but I find this to be superficial.  He’s more like Leonard Cohen.  Leonard Cohen is amazing by the way, and still tearing it up in his seventies.  Don’t worry, Conor doesn’t sound like Bob Dylan, he has a voice all his own.  He’s the angsty reflective kid who got beat up a lot.  Always the underdog.  The kid ‘least likely to’.  But he did.  He sings about lost love, hopelessness, despair and despondency…and somehow makes it happy.  If you’re down, Conor is the medicine that makes everything better.  He’s been there for Mindy and I on quite a few occasions.

Onto the new album.  Whilst mere mortals will not be able to pick up this new gem until the 15th, I got my grubby mitts on it early and it has been on repeat ever since.

Indroducing The People’s Key by Bright Eyes:

So how is it?  Well, it’s brilliant of course, like most of his stuff.  But SO unlike his other stuff yet he somehow manages to incorporate all of his prior efforts into one cohesive, tight package if that makes any sense.  If this is going to be his last Bright Eyes album he wrapped it up by combining all of his musical journeys and forays into one disc.  And he did it with style, aplomb and elegance.

The CD is much more 80′s sci-fi spacey new age rock than anything else.  As I mentioned, most of his other stuff was more on the folky side.  Conor ditched that sound on this record.  There are hints of it but this much more progressive.  As he has grown as an artist, he’s lost some of the lo-fi, bad recording quality sound that got him noticed, and there will be those who bitch about him selling out and all.  That’s just rubbish.  He’s still got the angst, he’s just more mature about it now.

Best songs on the record:

Jejune Stars

Shell Games

Approximate Sunlight

Haile Selassie

Triple Spiral

Beginner’s Mind

Ladder Song

Not bad considering there’s only 11 songs on the disc.

So how does it rank with his previous records?  I’d rank it in the top 3.  Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil will probably always be my favorite.  Then there’s Digital Ash, in a Digital Urn, which, by the way sounds most like the new album.  It’s definitely better than  Cassadega, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning, Letting off the Happiness and Fevers and Mirrors, although some may disagree.  All in all, I’m very happy with the release.  It’s been a long four years without new Bright Eyes.

Here’s a couple videos of some of his older stuff and a link to the new album which is being streamed by NPR if you should so have the inclination to check it out.  Hope you enjoy.  I’ll be back soon.  And it won’t be a music review for a change.  -sp

Oh, btw, here is a link to Bright Eyes live listening party on You Tube. Yes, that’s really his living room. The kid is a multi-millionaire but still keeps it real. It was really cool of him to share this. Thanks Conor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVyxRNc_gTs&playnext=1&list=PLCDBBD2C9C1C255F3

Linky to NPR streaming The People’s Key:
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133278431/first-listen-bright-eyes-the-peoples-key

But before we start down the long and winding post…For my wonderful wife (also known as The Great Understander™), I just want to say that I’ll gladly suffer even more bumps and bruises with you.  Side by side, all Bonnie and Clyde style, all the way to the end of the line.  As always, you’re my inspiration and my confidant in all things life related.  Love with Kisses for you.

So, with that,  your humble narrator would like to share with you our New Year’s exploits.  Three simple words…

The Dreseden Dolls.

Yes, as I had posted earlier back, we got tickets to see this wonderful band.  Unfortunately, this band never plays in Arizona, only the bigger cities.  Which led us here to San Francisco.  Yep.  All that way just to see a band.  People thought we were crazy, and we are, but ooohhh how wonderfully worth it.

We stayed in a little dive hotel near a hostel on Skid Row on Market Street near Union Square.  It was an eye opener to say the least.  You know it’s bad when dudes are sippin’ from the bag by 9 am and looking for opportunities to stick a relatively sharp object in you, or at the very least, try to sell you something you really don’t want to smoke or snort.  Thus, I wasn’t really able to get too much photography as I was nervous about walking the streets with my rig. I’d be somewhat perturbed knowing that a pee smelling dude is wandering around with a glove, a balloon and a Canon 5D Mk II in his shopping cart and doesn’t know how to properly set a F-stop.  So yes, pretty rough area.  I don’t see us relocating to this general neigborhood anytime soon.  I just don’t see us getting a loft and being all city folk here.  I’m all about the bohemian thing…just not that bohemian.   The trick is to use subterfuge.  Throw cigarettes out in the street like chaff from an F-16 and run like hell.  That, or just walk down the street yelling at yourself while waving your arms wildly, pointing to this or that from time to time.  And a balloon.  When in Rome…

Oh, and just a caveat. THERE ARE NO FRIGGIN’ BARS OPEN THERE, NOT GOOD ONES AT LEAST.  Plenty of liquor stores, complete with really, really drunk people with dogs, just no where to sit and have a few….Seriously a grrr moment for me.

I was at least able to sneak my camera out (I disguised it as a job as apparently nobody in that area wants one of those) when we went to Chinatown, so I got some pics there.  Turns out everyone has a camera in Chinatown even the Chinese, so I blended well with the rest of the herd mindlessly walking the strip.  Ironically, the Chinese food was nothing to write home about.  Lots of gaudy touristy knick-knack crap to buy though.  But Mindy got a Panda hat.  It’s adorable on her.

Now, onto the show.  The Dresden Dolls played at the fantastic Warfield Theater.  It’s hard to put into words how amazing Amanda and Brian are.  It’s an event you just have to see to appreciate.  The Dresden Dolls are a duo group featuring Amanda Palmer on keyboard and Brian Viglione on drums.  Thats it, just them.  Fitting them into a genre is like banging a square peg into a round hole.  So they invented their own genre known only as Punk Cabaret.   The talent these two wield is simply incredible.  Both formally trained musicians and theatrical performers, The Dresden Dolls really know how to put on a show.  They packed the house with 3000 sweaty fans and commenced to do a slew of their greatest along with covers from Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys, Black Sabbath and some showtunes.  All in all, the show lasted about 2 and half to 3 hours but felt like 20 minutes.  We’ve been to ALOT of shows, and I mean ALOT.  This was definitely up there with the very best of them without a doubt.

Needless to say, it was a magical three hours for both of us.  We brought in 2011 with style.  We hate doing the general admission thing so we were able to get 3rd row seats in the lower level balcony.  GREAT view.  So as the show winded down, we would have never expected Amanda to run up to our section and sing right in front of us.  Of all the sections, in all the theater, she came to ours.  At this point it was after midnight so we can say we ended 2010 with The Dresden Dolls and began 2011 with Amanda Palmer singing 3 feet in front of us.  It just couldn’t have been better.

We got a bit of it on video so take a look below.  There’s another vid of them on stage as well as a bunch of pics for your viewing pleasure.  There are a ton of YouTube vids of the show on the internetz, so go hunt them down if you’re interested in seeing what they’re all about live.  If you like what you see I urge you to go out and immediately buy their albums.  They are so very worth the sonic goodness™.

2011 promises to be a good year musically btw.  We’ve got John Vanderslice with an orchestra, The Decemberists going all Americana for a change and Bright Eyes final album all coming out in the next 30 days!  (Sad that this is Bright Eyes last album, but Conor is moving on to bigger and better things).  Oh, not to mention Mumford & Sons debut album was just released a bit ago.  Brilliant album.  All folky like, and Banjos!

Anyway, it’s so good to get back to the blog, I’ve missed rambling at the horde.  It’s been pretty crazy with work and life has a nasty habit of getting allz up in my grill.  I’ll be posting more frequently now that things are leveling out. Promise and pinky swear.  Talk to you soon!  Cheers kiddies! -sp

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Just letting you all know that the Mighty Return of SP the Great™ is upon you in the coming weeks.  But first, just to keep all your cute little whistles-wetted, I have to put this up for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Mindy.  She made my day with this, bless her…and I really needed a day made for me, so I have declared today….Seanday.

Fear not, for my smart-assed antics will soon be upon you in F5 tornado fashion.  Until then, luvs, kisses and the usual crap, this kid deserves some kind of award…..

Needless to say, Mindy is quite happy with this decision.  She just loves Amanda Palmer.  How could you not?!  It will be Mindy’s special night.  Something tells me I won’t be able to get the smile off her face for weeks.

In addition, because we are special people™, we landed 3rd row tickets, center stage.  This means we’ll be able to see right up the nostrils of the performers.  I’m not gloating or anything….well, yes I am.  Gloat, gloat, gloat, gloat, gloat.  Please don’t be too envious of us, and there is no groveling allowed.  Fear not, we’ll bring back plenty of photographic goodness to share with you all

Now it’s all about getting good rates on air and hotel.  Maybe a jacuzzi and champagne in the room?  General debauchery, shenanigans and such?  Seems fitting.  I’ve decided I’ll send for the band to come to our room and entertain us while we get flush with wine and nibble gingerly on grapes hand-picked by Italian peasants.  Hell, I’ll have the peasants hand-picked to do the hand-picking for that matter.  Only the best for this night.  Why not?   I plan on bringing in the New Year all proper like afterall.

In the meantime feast your eyes on the vid below.  Damn I love The Dresden Dolls.  It’s gonna be one helluva show!  Talk soon kiddies. - Sean Paul