My Zephyr

The fall has been full and interesting this year. I've been traveling both for my editor job and also to play frequent gigs with my band, Zombie vs. Shark. The shows have been intense and much fun, especially playing in Norman at Universe City, which is an all-ages venue and has the old-school, anarchist type of setup. There's no door charge, only donations; no stage, you play on same level as the crowd; and it's full of the same weird kids looking for something different than what's made-to-order, ready-to-wear from the corporate music industry, just like when I grew up in the 1980s.

In a word, it reminds me of the music scene when I was a young adult, perhaps a little bit better since the cops don't break up the shows, and with larger crowds, so it's kind of flourishing. Perhaps this signals, like the Nixon-Ford and Reagan eras, an efflorescence of left-leaning youth who are disillusioned with the return to the 1950s during the Bush Era. Whatever is happening is encouraging, because the kids and young adults seem to be doing for themselves all this music and the art that goes along with it. There's an intense wave of artistic and political creation going on that has not been witnessed in a generation.

Whatever is happening seems much better than me sitting around trying to write another book, so I've confined that to the early mornings so as not to take time away from creating music with my band, Zombie vs. Shark. Getting into the flow of life with the four friends in my band, and articulating our view of life, collaborting on scoring our songs, just can't beat by sitting alone writing a book. It's probably better, since doing all this stuff gives some depth and perspective on life, which is necessary to write a good book. I also have a full-time day job as an editor, so writing seems like work when I'm at home, so there's no pressure to do it.

So basically......I'm justifying my procrastination in getting my writing done........and loving every minute of it!! Rock on, bang your head, trip out, or do a stage dive, whatever turns you on.

Philip Rodriguez, our boy-wunderkind, new singer.

Ron Haas, connoisseur of French radical thought.

Robert Scafe, our songwriter who puts the "brood" in our sound so it's dark and twisted.

Jeremy Gragg, a.k.a. Big J, resident, organic Oklahoma intellectual....better than Will Rogers.

100W, 4X12 Marshall stack and a hunk of Mahogany by the name of "Guild Nightbird II."

One of Phil's two instruments, the microphone.

1x15, 200W of power, with Lemmy-esque fingerwork.

The other 100w, JMP powered 4X12 Marshall, with Mahogany named "Gibson."

Ron and his loud kit......equal parts Keith Moon and Karl Marx.