Okay so you know how they say you're dreams are really just your subconscious trying to show you something? Well... Last night (this morning) I had the weirdest one ever. I was on the Real World and it was somewhere tropical (apparently I had signed up for any random MTV show in the past). But I had no idea how I got on the show and periodically I was having blackouts, and the people were literally insane, one was a total schizo.  After about a week or so in the house featuring many raucous parties in some random tropical location, I somehow remembered that I'm supposed to be in school and I have a band that I am fully committed to. I approached the rest of my housemates and told them that I was going to have to leave.  Fair and enough, they were all pretty sad about that one.  The next day, as I was about to approach the producers and tell them I had to leave, we got our "job" that all the cast members had to perform.  All of a sudden I found myself on a Scottish farm talking to the farmer and his daughter... Yeah.... Anyways I managed to find my way to the real "job" we were working at (apparently we were working at a retail store that happened to be 2 seconds away from the farm). As I finished talking to the producers I magically found myself awake.

2 seconds ago. I think I finally figured out what this whole dream meant. It was my body showing how much everything that's been going on in the passed couple of months really means to me.  Nothing is going to stand in my way with my family.

Hey all,

So it's been a minute since I last thought to post on here. Haven't been doing much along the lines of public work in the music world. I've been just doing a lot of practicing lately. There are some really big shows/performances coming up really quickly that I need to be prepared for:

1. As soon as the weather permits it, I will be covering an old Alton Ellis song with a friend. He recently hired me out to record the saxophone parts to the song "Rock Steady". For those of you (like me) who grew up listening to ska, this is a classic and simply a memorable piece. I haven't picked up a saxophone in some time so that's going to be a lot of fun. 
2. Another event that I got hired out to do was a CD Release party for our good friends The Amboys. The party is going down on the 19th of this month and I honestly can't wait. Just from listening to the tracks they asked me to learn I can tell this album is going to do big things for them. If you're looking for something to do on a Friday night with some really cool people, this is the place to be. And if you're wondering where I mean by "this"... I'm talking about the Asbury Lanes!
3. Though, these two are paled in importance when it comes to our own show on the February 20th. This is going to be my highlight of the month. Oh, and the final line-up has been officially decided:
1. Foxes and Lions
2. J'ac
3. Midatlantic
4. River City Extension
5. Status Green!

So if you have no idea what to do with yourself next weekend... I can guarantee you will not regret coming out to either The Amboys' or Status Green's CD Release parties. Hope to see y'all there.

-Patrick

Publicity Stunts... The Good, The Bad, The Sad

Recently I had to read an article about a variety of publicity stunts that were pulled years ago. Some of these stunts were good bits of entertainment, others were poorly planned out and put together.  Then there's the group of stunts that are just plain sad that they either worked or were pathetic in general.

The Good:
DC Comics, 1993
This publicity stunt was pretty impressive. I honestly remember the tail end of this happening. The fact that Superman has been running since 1938 and is still one of the top contenders in the comic book world is quite impressive. Not only did this sequence of events take place on the comic shelves, the "death" of Superman even found itself to the television circuit many years later.

JMP Creative, 1990
Jim McCafferty is a highly daring executive. That stunt of his took pure talent and killer instincts. Well... It took all of that and a bit of luck. If a person is willing to risk everything just to attain success, (in this situation) they rightly deserve everything that they get. This stunt had to have been extremely successful seeing as Jim owns a multimillion dollar marketing company.


The Bad:
ProShade, 2006
ProShade's publicity stunt was nothing except garbage. First off... where does anyone get off selling a visor-sunglasses-lanyard combination?! That's idiotic! Second of all, their stunt was pretty insulting towards Mount Rushmore (a national monument). Not a smart move if your public audience highly appreciates the particular monument that you're insulting.

SonicYoga.com, 2002
The owner and creator of SonicYoga.com does not deserve the publicity that he has attained. Jonathan Fields, in an attempt to get as much publicity as possible told an organization a blatant lie. Now, while I think it is a good thing to take risks, to lie to your public is pretty low in my book. His stunt ended up working but I still think it was highly undeserving.

The Sad:
Burger King, 1998
Years ago, Burger King publicized that it had created a "Left-Handed Whopper"..... People actually believed them and then got angry when they didn't get their custom-made burger. Need I say more? This is just disgusting that the masses have gotten this witless.

GoldenPalace.com, 2004
I remember, back in high school, there being this big "hype" over a grilled cheese sandwich. Little did I know, GoldenPalace.com had bought the damn thing for $28,000 and that this act had gotten them a huge amount of publicity. I mean, seriously?! A grilled cheese sandwich. $28,000. I want some of whatever they were smoking! Again... America and it's lovely witlessness showing again.

For those of you who haven't seen this stupid piece of lunch, here it is:

-P

Traintracks, IMAX, and lots of snacks!

This week has been a pretty exciting one overall and I'm so thankful for that.  I've seen some pretty interesting people all over Jersey; some I liked, some not so much.  Despite the magnitude of so many different events, 3 really stick out to me in no particular order:

The first of these is the interesting weekend I experienced last Saturday (1/23/10).  The night before I ended up getting an email from my singer: we had a photoshoot the next day.  Somehow I managed to find my way down to Farmingdale by 11:30 (which for those of you who know me is quite a feat in itself) and I am so glad that I did.  Turns out the shoot was for our upcoming show at the Stone Pony.  Status Green (some good friends of ours) is having a CD release party in February and we are playing (I honestly had no idea about that one) and we needed photos for all the promo getting done for the night.  Either way, this was my first photoshoot ever.  Needless to say, I was really excited.  The day was filled with typical railroad track photos and some pretty interesting graffiti. Here's a video documenting the day (courtesy of Lou, Status Green):
February 20th @ the Stone Pony

#2: Avatar IMAX-3D
Oh. My. God.  I originally was quite indifferent about this picture... until I saw it for myself.  My whole world was turned upside-down, topsy-turvy, and every other possible variation of the phrase.  I don't even care that the movie was Pocahontas or Fern Gully, it was just that good.  I will honestly admit, my eyes teared up a bit from the beauty of the world James Cameron created.  I don't even know what to say about this movie.  I've never felt so satisfied after watching any movie. Ever. And that's including my favorites.
If you have the chance to, then you must come see this picture.  It'd be even better if you did it in the same format that I did.  IMAX-3D was just... I can't even find words to describe it.  There's a very good reason why this movie has attained and earned the title of #1 Grossing Movie Worldwide (without taking into account inflation). Please. See it. You will not regret it.

The third highlight would have to simply be my Grandmother's 90th Birthday.  I cannot believe we hid 30 people in her little house... with her actually inside there too!!!  Hahahaha.  She was so surprised to see everyone, and then started to yell at all of us for not telling her.  What a woman.  I count my blessings every time that I see her smiling face.  Long story short, I partied with a 90 year old woman until 10 p.m. That's what I call a party.



All in all, I'd say it was a good week. =)
-Patrick