Texas Blues ~ Jazz Style - Luis Arizpe and The Truth - Blog

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Back that up!

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:00:55 -0700

So, here's the short of the long. Whatever you do, BACK UP YOUR WORK!

I like listening to podcasts, and last week, this one in particular reminded me that I needed to back up my computer(s). So, I'd decided to look into purchasing this on-line service that will back up your information for you (for a "nominal" fee, of course!) without you having to worry nuthin' 'bout it.

Wouldn't you know it? The morning I'm going to look into it, I open my computer and it never wakes up! So, down I go to the store to talk to them about it. I'm crossing my fingers nothing's been lost and I'm only dreaming this whole thing. But, "nnnnooooo!!!" It's all lost. The guy behind the counter tell me I should really think about backing up my work. (uugghhh!!) So, I tell him how just that morning I was going to look into the very same thing. As they're getting me another computer (this one still being under warranty), we're talking about how much memory this computer has and what nots. The dude tells me I should just go out and buy an external memory thing that will hold all my information. Want to know the real kicker? I already OWN ONE! (uuugghhh!!!!)

I just didn't know that the one I have can fit my entire computer on it! Or, I didn't make the connection. Here I was, all along, equipped to back up my work all along, and I lost it because what I didn't know hurt me - as always.

Needless to say, I'm backing up nightly - sometimes twice a day!

A little goes a long way. Back up that work, people. With my luck, I'll probably never experience a crash of that proportion again. But, do you want to know what? I'll never have to worry about it again.

Punk Rock and The Blues

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:35:46 -0700

Be sure to check out this week's FREE blues guitar lessons. We'll cover the blues chords and how you can use them to more effect. It's really fun to take the simplest of things and get as creative with it as you possibly can. Actually, that's one of the reasons why I love the blues so much.
Coming from a punk rock background, I was profoundly influenced by minimalism. For some people, minimalism = "basic". But, that's just so ... cliche. It's more accurate to say that the constraints of minimalism really show off the artist's ability to be creative. Look at it this way, anyone can write a song with verses and choruses and bridges and ramps and intros and outros and interludes and solos and time changes and key modulations ... I mean, ANYONE. But, who can write a really good song with just one chord? John Lennon? Sure, John could.
Blues is minimalistic, musically and lyrically. It's "three chords and the truth" as my friend Chris Taylor is fond of saying. It's a haiku of lyrics married to the some of the most exquisite harmonic poetry every constructed.
Anyway. That's what this week's blues guitar lesson is about. You take one chord and milk it for all it's worth. Blues ain't about the words your using as much as it's about what you're sayin' and how you're sayin' it.

Texas Music Coalition, July 2010 Panel, "Your Visual Panel"

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:57:40 -0700

Just got back from the Texas Music Coalition's July panel, "Your Visual Presence". It was good to see some old friends and catch up. My friend Nikki Young, CEO and President of Prima Donna Productions was a panelist. The topic this month was getting sharp on your visual presence as an artist. Lots of good information that is very usable - to be sure.
I also ran into my other good friend, Lee Hurtado who is an excellent writer on the happenings in the theater life of San Antonio. Lee and Nikki have been incredibly busy launching and staging Neil Simon's (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues) "Rumors" which will run for a couple of weeks more. You should get out there and see some good theater! If you haven't seen a Neil Simon play live, you won't want to miss this one!

ASCAP Membership!

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:32:52 -0700

As of this morning, I have received the good news that we have been accepted to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, or ASCAP. ASCAP is one of the two major performing rights organizations (PROs) that handle royalties. The other being BMI. What that does is establish a high level of credibility. Radios stations will have to report on our air time, if we should be used in movie soundtracks, or if we're covered by another group or performed live - they will collect royalties on our behalf. This is good news of the highest caliber, to be sure.

Also, Michelle Travis and I worked on our photo shoot. Michelle is such an incredibly talented photographer and, being the good friend she is, was able to put me at ease enough to relax. I have a thing about photo shoots - they stress me out, and it comes out in the photos (of course). But, we had a good time and we should see some results soon enough.
I praise God for moving in such a huge way. I can't tell you how humbled I am to in a position as this. I don't deserve it, but, true to form, it just goes to show you how gracious God is.

News Letter

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:39:10 -0700

Good day today! I've been working on updating my email list and purging closed email accounts. If you were on the list, but had an old email address, you might not have received it. You can re-join the email list by entering your information again and I'll make sure you get up to speed on all that's going on at Luis Arizpe & The Truth. There's a whole bunch of stuff going on! I've been busy busy busy!!

I also made contact with Steve over at Casbeers at the Church (http://casbeers.com) here in San Antonio and with Kenny over at Tin Roof Steakhouse (http://www.tinroofsteakhouse.com) in Boerne. It would be a great honor for us to play at their fine establishments.

I'm already working on the next guitar lesson's pdf documents and will start filming this weekend, I think. And finally, I'll be doing a photo shoot with my good friend Michelle Travis on Sunday! Woo-hoo! Don't know Michelle? Well, you should. You can see her work at http://michelletravis.com. You really ought to visit her site. She does incredible work!

Ok. That's it for now.

Uploaded first Blues Guitar Lesson!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:55:42 -0700

I have just now completed uploading my first on-line, and long-promised, guitar lesson. It's a little ditty designed to move a person from the "oh, I sure would like to play the blues one day" level to the beginner level - it's that basic.

This introductory-level lesson gets the student acquainted with the 12-Bar Blues from, how to think about it, and how to form the basic blues chords. Next the lesson starts the student off with how to put those chords together in a meaningful way. That is, the most basic of the various blues forms.

So, I hope you enjoy. If you know someone who's interested in learning guitar, but not that into learning blues guitar per se, that's fine. I'll upload some "regular" guitar lessons, too. But, if you want something specific, please email me at luis@luisarizpe.com.

Just click on the "Press/Free Lessons" link right there on the right.

New Day

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:33:22 -0700

Sometimes, when I look back at the stuff I write like I did yesterday, I think, "Man, you're a whiner." Here's a warning, I have mood extremes. Would you have thunk it?? From a musician??

Anyway.

Here's an interesting story. Today I was driving in the fine Texas town of Fair Oaks Ranch when I was pulled over. My inspection sticker was expired, apparently - since May. What? What's a little two month negligence on my part? I mean, I'm a busy man! Anyway, the policeman didn't care and asked for my drivers license, of course. So, I hand it to him and I start to reach over for my insurance card.

"Do you know your license is expired, too?"
(Oh, cccrrraaappppp)
"Um ... no. But, how much you wanna bet the insurance card I'm about to hand you is expired, too?"

Sheesh.

Turns out the insurance card was good to go. He let me go with a warning on the license and gave me a citation for the inspection sticker. God is good - all the time.

I've also just now got off the phone with my friend Alfredo Segura. I'll be playing at Spring Creek UMC's Festival in September. I love them. They are a great bunch of people, and Alfredo ... well, Alfredo's a great man.

So, there you have it. Film at 11:00 ....

Rant No.1, Vol. I

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:54:59 -0700

Isn't it the way things go? One day I'm off and running and making huge leaps and bounds in this business thing. The next? Absolutely nothing. It's enough to give a fella a sense that all this up hill battle can only mean one thing ....
But, I refuse to have those thoughts anymore. The truth of the matter is that set backs are a part of life. I've made the decision to be deliberate in learning about failure. Though not getting any work done today is not a "failure", it is a chance to evaluate some things.
I'm still teaching. This summer I'm not teaching nearly as much as I used to, but, it's still taking time away from what I'd rather be doing - working on this here performance aspect of my career.
I mention all this because, well, the life of a musician isn't all it's cracked up to be. I remember a long time ago I (naively) thought it was all about writing songs and performing them and you, the fan, would love me and that's the end of the story. HA HA HA HA!
The truth of the matter is that I've spent MY LIFE practicing, honing, studying, analyzing, practicing, and practicing and ... oh, yeah, practicing. And at the end of the day, this career is really only about 10 percent of that. The real deal is all the "behind the scene" work that goes on that I feel so ill-equipped to do. I have eschewed honing other skills for the sake of performing music. I used to consider myself a writer, a visual artist, a philosopher ... I stopped everything so that I could dedicate, in totality, my life to music. So, here I am, a sensitive artist-type working as a businessman.
The real irony is that I'm an artist who seeks constant affirmation, encouragement, and support working in an industry that is the antithesis of affirmation, encouragement and support. It's no wonder so many of us end up as addicts. It's a very weird place to be.
Anyway ... how'd I go down that trail?
Oh, yeah.
Rant.
Anyway, I'm just feeling a bit frustrated because I didn't get hardly anything done today to keep moving the ball forward. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Re-learning the trade

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:14:13 -0700

I've been working on updating Bios and Fact Sheets. Pretty much getting a "real" press kit together. Trying to schedule an appointment with my friend Michelle Travis to shoot some photos means having to reschedule due to rain and such. If you haven't been to her site, you need to. She's an AWESOME photographer. I'm also learning how to post PDF files to this here website so people can download my info.

I talked to Kenny over at The Tin Roof Steakhouse in Boerne about maybe booking some shows there in the fall. Perhaps we'll be seeing all you Fair Oaks/Boerne people out there. Want to help me out? Give Kenny a call at (830) 816-5011 and request me to play there! I'd really appreciate all the help you can give.

On the band's front, I'm still writing and trying to make plans to make some professional demos of the new material. It might even materialize into an official release because I'm getting some good stuff happening here!

Soon I'll update my myspace page and my new Facebook artist page, too! Phew! Lots of sweat and writing happening. But, you know, it's a learning process and my life-paradigm is to try to get through the process with discipline and diligence because there's really no other way around it; so, might as well get after it, right?

If you can think of somewhere to play that's in your area, please let me know, too. I'll add them to my database and start making contact as soon as possible. You're help in this area is greatly appreciated, too!

Booking!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:33:26 -0700

Alright. Well, the time has come. We're off and running with setting up some playing dates. It's been such a long while. It feels kinda strange, but, this is good and right and I know it's what I'm supposed to be working for.
I'd like to thank you, the fan, for your support through these past silent days. Your prayer and encouragement will mean more to me than you can ever know. I'm not kidding. It's not like I was going through some tough times. It was more about trying to find my center in a world of chaos. And it became too easy to believe my own spin. So, after some deep meditation and prayer, I'm back and very excited to get the new project off the ground!
As the dates are booked, I'll post them here and anxiously wait for us to be re-united again!