The Making of the Words of a Song Video

You’ve probably heard me say- If your dream is big enough that you can do it by yourself its probably not big enough. You’ve also probably heard me say- You are the five people you hang around the most. It’s funny how what you believe in life manifests itself all around you. I knew it was time to create a video that would tell the story behind one of my songs.

We did a little innocent focus group with the public to get some honest feedback on which of my songs would be the best candidate. It’s hard sometimes to evaluate your own art. Now that I look back at this video and how we pulled it off there is no way it could’ve been done without the entire team we built around this project. This all started by me driving down to Austin and meeting with director Mickey Cevallos in his office. From there I played him a rough draft of the song. I then pictured a female background vocal enhancing the track. My good friend photographer James Bland introduced me to John Mellencamp’s back up singer Pat Peterson. I called her up, she heard the track, liked it and was on board. I had Grammy award winner Eric Delegard mix it. Then I had Bernie Grundman master it. All the guys in my band- Tex Bosely, Clark Erickson, and Elliot Morgan played great on the track and went back and forth to Austin with me to film scene after scene.

Mickey’s entire staff of Gilbert, Vera, and Jazz were invaluable in helping us on location. Robert Lopez and the staff at Bull Films brought the chopper camera from San Antonio. Melissa my assistant went back and forth with me from Austin and ended up being perfectly cast into the video. Brent Watson let me crash on his couch time after time after so many long days in Austin. His brother Brad snapped some incredible behind the scenes photos.

How’s that for a mastermind group? Fifteen people and a years worth of envisioning, scheming, location scouting, clothes shopping, and carefully watching the weather and we were finally able to pull this off. Here’s a shot of Mickey the director of our video shooting some time lapse photography over the bridge. He’s got some cajones sitting on the ledge like that.

It’s my hope that anyone who hears this song and watches this video will realize the point of power is always in the present. Get real clear on what you want to do and those who can help you achieve your goal will arrive.

I wrote this song from the perspective of God. If you listen to the opening words- “When people sing I will dance, into the earth in a trance, I travel far and emerge in the words of a song” you will notice it is kind of a riddle. A subtle “Who am I?” We derive the word music from the Greek term muses. The Greeks believed that muses were angels that sent music to us. In a sense I can relate to that. When I look back to all the music I’ve written its like I am a receiver on a radio dial. If I show up and spend time and sit there at my piano each day every once in a while I get rewarded for my tenacity. Woody Allen once said that “80% of success is showing up”

I love the work of Joseph Campbell and I visited his grave when I was in Hawaii. I completed this song a short time after. His work was the inspiration for this song.

The meaning behind this song is to follow your bliss, and be alive and in the moment. If you do what you love you will never work a day in your life. You must believe in yourself when no one else does. When you are presented with obstacles in life, these obstacles are best overcome by searching within, listening to your inner voice, and being true to yourself. The night is always darkest before the dawn. No matter what obstacle you are faced with in life it is essential to realize that you are not alone. This is the amazing power of music. What ever experience you are dealing with, somewhere someone has written, or is writing a song that can be related to your own individual struggle. This translates the awesome powerful feeling of unity among us that can be shared through artistic expression. The quality of your life is in the quality of your relationships. I am the luckiest person in the world in this regard. I’ve known Mickey for twenty years and we’ve always been friends and stayed in touch. It was just a matter of time until we did something of this magnitude. We are just getting started and it wont be long till he makes a movie and I compose the soundtrack. Stay tuned and even more importantly stay in tune with your friends.

The most important appointment you’ll have each day

The first thing I do when I get up in the morning, I put both my feet on the floor and I walk over to the mirror, look myself straight in the eyes and say “I love you Eric.”

I learned this little lesson from a woman with a gigantic heart and even bigger message, Louise Hay. You should check her out. She is a pioneer in the field of healing and wrote the book on it called: “You can heal your life.” It sold well over seven million copies. That’s a lot of books.

She coined the term “dis-ease”. You might want to think about this, this is profound. The word disease means dis-ease. You are not at ease. You are anxious, depressed, scared, worried, envious, or whatever other laundry list of negative terms we can conjure up. Your thought patterns have your body, which is a print out of your mind, in a state that is not at ease.

This is exactly why the most important appointment of the day is the one I have with myself, to remind me, all be it with a sense of humor, to believe in myself. If you love yourself, you believe in yourself. The word believe is translated from the latin confido meaning to trust, to have confidence, to believe. In the moment, right there, looking into your eyes it’s impossible to be in a state of dis-ease.

There’s an old saying: “The day the man found the mirror is the day he lost his soul.” There is some wisdom in that, and I see where its coming from, the world is full of narcissists, however I think believing in oneself is the most important gift you can give yourself. It truly is the gift that keeps giving, because when you believe in yourself, you love yourself. Which means you believe in love, and are real, spontaneous, open, and vulnerable when need be.

This is why this appointment sets the tone for the entire day. You have appointments with everybody else, why not have one with yourself?

You have to go to work, you have to go to the dentist, you have to pick up the kids, you have to go to the tax office. All these things are important, and I realize they must be done. Trust me they will be done in a much more effective manner if and when you take the time.I want to emphasize time. Mark Cuban hammered home this point quite eloquently in his last blog entitled “Don’t follow your passion, follow your effort.” He stated “Time is the most valuable asset you do not own.”

The only thing that happens when you wait for anything is that you get older.

That’s true and besides time the most valuable asset you have is yourself. Visualize the positive energy, and love each person carries as filling up a sort of personal cup. If you take care to make sure your cup of love for yourself is full, it will consequently overflow, extending outwards to the people around you.

Carpe Diem

You are the 5 people you hang around most

It still surprises me how many people have not heard this phrase. Truth can be a little tricky sometimes, and it can get hidden in all these cute aphorisms and platitudes. I have been very lucky in my life to hang around some pretty big movers and shakers. I don’t know what it is, but I just vibrate to the same measure as those guys.

Even when I was a kid I would imagine myself growing up and hanging out with all my hero’s. I met Larry Bird a couple times and after that I just kept meeting everybody that I looked up to. One day I looked around and they were all around me, and they still are. I can call a good friend the greatest prank caller in the world. So many of my friends are phenomenally successful artists, musicians, and chefs. I don’t even have a rolodex big enough for all of them.

This is not meant to be brash or any kind of boasting and is in no way meant to impress anybody. If there’s anything to be impressed here, it is to impress upon you the power of this principle and the importance of how you spend your time and who you spend it with. You can always reinvent yourself, never forget that, you can always reinvent yourself. I knew this, but even knowing can fall by the wayside if you catch yourself hanging around the wrong crowd. A few years ago I took a real good look around and decided to start making some changes. I fired a few friends and ignited a major reevaluation of my social circle.

Its sad, I have a dear friend who I care for very much that simply will not apply this principle in her life. I have watched carefully as she hung around bars and douche bags, you know the type. The Dallas observer wrote a brilliant article about them a couple of years ago. I think it was entitled “The thirty thousand dollar millionaires.” Fifteen years in the service industry and its all she knows. Because of who she’s hanging around she’s now facing insurmountable legal odds that will effect her life forever. One of the cardinal sins is pride. Its pride that keeps her from walking through that door. The way out is through the door. I love that saying, its actually a zen koan, and its brilliant, its so to the fucking point. The way out is through the door.

I met a lot of very interesting and successful business men through my love of the electric guitar. Us men have a special connection with the guitar. Its like a tool, a wrench have you. Legendary attorneys Dick Deguerin, Rafe Foreman, and Greg Westfall all play the guitar. For example its good to have friends like them when you need good counsel, and if your trying to be anybody in the United States, especially in the entertainment business, you will at some point need good counsel. You are who you hang around.

Do you know how comforting it is to be able to call an attorney the caliber of Rafe Foreman in the middle of the evening when you are freaking out about something?

The best part about this phenomena we are speaking of is this: when you are ready to do the work and reinvent yourself, to live life like we talked about on the edge. Like clockwork, the right people will show up when your ready for them. They will roll up their sleeves and go to work with you.

The first way someone that studies the guitar with me can get on my radar is perseverance. Jim Gardner, owner of Legendary Leadership Arts, is a great example of this. Jim hardly ever missed a class and since he was my last guy on Wednesdays we had time to get together before my band rehearsals. Jim shared with me some of the strategies and tactics he’s developed from his years of experience working in the corporate world with Pizza Hut, Fidelity, Levi Strauss, and now his own companies. We looked at my strengths, weaknesses, objectives, and tactics and developed a new vision for where I wanted to go. Once again you are who you hang around, and I am proud to have a friend like Jim.

I highly recommend giving him a call if you need to get your business and/or organization to the next level.

I encourage you to sit down one night in front of your computer with a cup of something wonderful and in a simple document take a look at this, put it on paper, ask yourself as you go through each name. You can use a strategy I learned from John Maxwell, ask anybody about John Maxwell, he wrote the book on leadership. He says there are two kinds of people, those who lift you and those who lean. Its really that simple baby. Get to it.

Until next time. Hope you had a great St Patrick’s day, and take a look around, and it is my wish that when you do, that you feel as lucky as I do.

Cheers

Lose Weight Gain Energy Fast!

95% of all weight loss starts at the door of your mouth. It took me a long time to surrender to this. I came to the point where I was so frustrated with my fluctuating weight that I knew I had to make a drastic change. It was time to get this figured out once and for all.

Growing up I was always a fan of the fitness guru Jack Lalanne.

I read an interview with Jack where he described in detail how he fasted one day a week. He would give his body a day off and on that day he would rest. It is hard to argue with the results and amazing life that Jack built. He was vibrant, energetic, and hilarious right till the last minute when he passed away 96 years young.

You could hire all the personal trainers you want, join all the gyms, run your ass off for an hour a day, and buy every ab machine there is and never be in shape. How many times have you seen the same person at the gym for two years, and their body composition never changes. At first fasting is a real challenge, a challenge to your will power. When I started doing it the first thing I noticed is how incredible I felt the next morning. My tongue wasn’t coated, I wasn’t thirsty, and I felt very alert and lean.

Its generally accepted in the business world how profound the 80/20 principle is. If your not familiar with the 80/20 principle its a profound concept discovered by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto. 80% of the results in your life stem from 20% of your actions.

Over two years ago I applied this principle to what went in my mouth and what kind of exercise I engaged in. I set a goal, because it is essential to have to have a target goal for weight loss. It is not hard to do this, just simply use a body mass index which you can find on Google. For example I am 6’2 and my ideal fighting weight is 185. Once I defined that goal utilizing the aforementioned principles I hit my target in four months, losing 45 pounds, and have maintained it with ease for three years.

Here’s how I did it:

Utilizing the 80/20 principle for body composition nothing went in my mouth that came out of a box, can or that had any kind of preservatives. In short if it had additives I did not eat it. That is how I got to my target weight. Once there I added carbohydrates back, but only as 20%. That way I could enjoy them when I am in the mood for them. Everything in moderation, including moderation. Look how fasting one day a week is exactly the 80/20 principle, Ill walk you through it. The average work week for an American is a 40 hour week, five days a week. One fifth of that, 20%, would be one day. If you give your body that day off from food, you have simply and elegantly applied the principle.

The question I was asked the most about losing the weight and keeping it off was, “Man, did you join a gym? You look like you’ve been working out.” Far from it. I don’t like jogging. I definitely don’t like joining gyms. The techno music is atrocious and I swear everyone in those places is out of shape. Whenever I meet a personal trainer I always ask him to do a handstand. I haven’t met one yet that can do it.

I decided to apply the 80/20 principle to exercise as well. I walk my German Shepard one hour a day, then I work out for 20 minutes, doing body weight exercises where my body is my own gym three times a week. For example one day Ill do thirty pull ups. A complete full upper body work out that is extremely effective, and can save your life. Day two Ill do a hundred pushups, or to exhaustion. Then day three I might lift some weights or just do some yoga poses. Its all you really need to do, and you’ll look and feel great. And there’s nothing like looking and feeling great.

Make your fast day your day. It is all about you, and you owe it to yourself. Who is more important than you? When you truly love yourself you bring that dynamic and presence and add value to a relationship. I hope this helps you, and feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

Namaste

Eric

The Number One Key to Success

This is going to be a short post. 96% of the population of the earth never reach their goals or amounts to much of anything in the acquisition of their dreams and aspirations.

Here are three powerful principles, when applied with assertiveness and fortitude, that will put you right there in the top 4%. Always remember the key to success is to find out what everybody else is doing, and do the exact opposite. These principles if applied overnight would completely eradicate the thirty billion dollar self help industry, would put psychologists completely out of business, and there would be no need for a life coach. Just simply do this:

1. Do what you say your going to do

2. How you said your going to do it

3. When you said you are going to do it.

As Krishna Murti says, think on these things. Nobody does this. I know a lot of people and I know some very big movers and shakers, and I can tell you assertively, I can count the people that do this on one hand.

Behind the Scenes: Music Video Shoot- Austin

Graffiti Park in Austin is great. It’s right next to Tommy’s Drum Shop and my good friend videographer Mike Cevallos’ Office. Day one of our video shoot began there, and day two was shot over Lake Austin at the bridge. Here a few behind the scenes photos. It took two months of tediously watching the weather to get it just right, and it all came together finally.

Tex on the bluff.

Here’s a panoramic view of Graffiti Park in Austin with Tex on the horizon.

Elliot reclaims his roots.

Here I have a wonderful view of downtown Austin, here’s what I saw.

Evening sets in.

Glowonia

Day two 360 bridge Austin

B&W treatment background 360 bridge.

My Top 12 Guitarists of all time

I have always thought top ten guitar lists, or top one hundred or whatever, are silly. There is no such thing as a best guitarist. Its all relative to the context, the era, and personal taste. None the less they are a hell of a lot of fun to read and I have always disagreed with the Rolling Stone magazine list they publish every year. I was stunned by the excellent list that was written by Josh Tyrangiel of Time magazine. He’s the only guy I have seen with the balls to include Yngwie Malmsteen. In my opinion due to the sweeping changes and influence Malmsteen brought to the guitar not including him, as most of these lists do, is a complete joke.

Without further adieu since I make my living playing the guitar I have decided to throw my hat in the ring. I decided to use a three prong approach to my list. The first criteria I think is paramount is signature. And what I mean by this is signature sound. A strong aural identity is one of the rarest and most challenging thing to develop. This is so because to do so one has to have the moxie and courage to look inward. To not mimic and copy other peoples sound, but truly be committed to finding your own voice. I am talking about a musician where you hear one note and you know who it is. This alone is one of the rarest qualities on the planet, and is deserving of recognition.

Secondly I will use influence as a measure of scope here because when one has the courage to do the aforementioned, it has a positive effect on guitar because change always comes from the outside, not inside where everyone is paying attention to what everyone is doing.

Thirdly, I will argue that the best guitarists who create the unique sounds and change the game often do not listen to other guitarists and are influenced by horn players, singers, and have a vision of taking the instrument to a higher level. Like Howard Roark the famous architect in Ayn Rand’s epic novel The Fountainhead did with architecture.

One thing you will notice about this list is many of these guitarists are not that well known because they are guitarists favorite guitarists. Its often a fun idea to find out who your favorite guitarists are listening to.

1. Clint Strong

I put Clint first on the list because I’ve seen them all and I’ve heard them all and when it comes to what I call just the plain “Wow Factor”. This guy takes the cake. Everything about him and his style just reaches out and pops like some kind of prize fighter when he plays. I have seen musicians high fiving each other while watching in the audience during his gigs like it was some kind of NBA championship game after a slam dunk. Clint doesn’t talk, he just does it. You may have never heard of him, but when you do you will remember and mark my word, Ive seen them all.

2. Yngwie Malmsteen

I would argue as far as rock guitar is concerned there have been three major revolutions in the approach to the instrument since the sixties Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, and then Yngwie Malmsteen. This guy was and is a major game changer. He is the epitome of the three principles I set out as criteria for my silly list. He didn’t listen to other guitar players and he tells guitarists all the time- don’t listen to me, don’t listen to anybody, find your own way, believe in yourself. He listened to Bach and Paganini and brought the brilliance and approach of a virtuoso violinist to the guitar. Before this guy came along rock and rollers were stuck in their little pentatonic boxes. Over night people had to learn what an arpeggio was. Learn about diminished scales, and the fifth note of harmonic minor. By mimicking violin Yngwie took technique to a level never before seen in rock guitar. You hear one note of this guy and you know who it is.

3. Allan Holdsworth

All of us in the guitar community know about the influence of this guy. Even guitar players who don’t know who Allan is are influenced by Allan. He is definitely a visionary who found his own way and has a signature so recognizable that you can hear one fourth of a note and tell who it is. Allan is definitely a guitarist guitarist, a great guy, and it is a joke that he is not on the top of that silly Rolling Stone list. So cheers to Allan, this is where he belongs. I have always considered him to be on the top of my list long before we became friends.

4. Eddie Van Halen

It goes without saying this guy changed rock guitar forever. This was the second major sweeping revolution in what we all thought was possible. Everything about this guy was different, and if you want to talk about Allan Holdsworth, Eddie is a big fan and helped Allan get exposure early on in the states. Everything about Eddie is unique, innovative, and game changing. I remember in the 90′s a radio DJ in Dallas announcing two new songs being released by a former band with their old singer. He declined to say the name, as it was a surprise that he would play after a commercial break. I was listening carefully after the commercial and I heard one note I got goosebumps because at the onset of that one note I knew, unequivocally, without a doubt that is was Van Halen. His brother Alex plays drums the same way, one note and I know who it is. Tone Loc, the rapper, sampled Jamie’s Crying, and the first time I heard that, I knew right where it came from. This is what I am talking about.

5. Pat Metheny

Lock, stock, and barrel here is a cat who is the penultimate example of hearing just one note and you know it’s Pat Metheny. His signature is his phrasing and ability to spontaneously create beautiful melodic improvisations that are astounding, original, and very pleasing to the ear. He has a very classy, elegant, approach that has elevated our instrument in so many ways. Hats off to Pat Metheny.

6. Al Dimeola

Al Dimeola is a very good guitar player. So much so at times he is accused by people, with very little technical command of their instrument, as being just a guy with chops. When I hear one of these clowns saying this foolishness about Al I know they have no idea what they are talking about immediately. While his technique is astounding, his playing is deep and rich harmonically and his chordal approach is beautiful. He also has uncanny control rhythmically that sets him apart in a league of his own. I can tell his playing by one note easily. His album Cielo De Terra completely blows me away every time I hear it. It is, to me, right up there with Julian Bream seminal guitar masterpiece Twentieth Century Guitar.

7. The Edge

When I was a kid my buddy Chris Sacco, a fine guitarist in Houston, turned me on to U2. This guys sound is so completely original and instantly identifiable. He is the poster-boy for the three strong traits of signature, influence, and taking the guitar past where you got it. When he plays it doesn’t even sound like a guitar. It sounds like a piano, or it sounds like the hills of Ireland. His playing is so beautiful it evokes visuals, like a soundtrack to a movie. Simply unbelievable.

8. Ted Green

In the guitar community Ted Greene is like our Yoda. Every great guitarist I ever met, or took lessons from, had his book Chord Chemistry. He dedicated his life to the guitar and his approach was so thorough and deep and profoundly affected so many of us that love the guitar. The first time I heard his arrangement of Send in the Clowns by Stephen Sondheim I wept. He had the same effect on me that John Coltrane and Bach have, and that is some very heavy company for a humble guitarist like Ted Greene who put out one LP called Solo Jazz Guitar in 1971. Ted is the best of the best and pretty much the reason I made this list.

9. Prince

This list is about signature and style. No one tops this cat when it comes to originality and taking the game to a new level. Growing up with Princes music, I always knew he had something unique and special, but it wasn’t until seeing him perform live that I realized what a burning guitarist he was. You can hear his influence in a lot of guitar players and to me Prince is a guitarists guitarist, as well as a rock star. I hear a lot of his influence in Steve Vai’s style. And Steve is one bad dude himself.
10. Pat Martino

Pat Martino is a class act, and has been from day one. He had the moxie and the courage to move to Harlem as a kid and make a name for himself. Like Allan he has his own system and approach to improvising and it is profound. His playing strikes me as someone who loses their mind and comes from their senses. Some Jazz improvisors come across as a little cerebral for me. Pat’s playing always hits you in the gut. My friend Fred Hamilton shared with me recently how Pat explained improvising to him and the students at my Alma Mater UNT. It was profound, based on the seasons. There are twelve notes in the chromatic scale and there are twelve months in a year. He based his system on the way he heard it, and that’s what this list is about.
11. Billy Gibbons

The reverend Billy G. My first guitar hero. This guy is so fucking cool I don’t know what to say. I grew up in Houston, and Billy is Houston. He is so down home, groovy, and always has the best guitar tones . I always say its better to be tasty than trendy. Everything about Billy and his playing is genuine and stands the test of time. I started out with the blues and no matter how far away I strayed, every time I hear this man play the guitar I remember where I came from, and what its all about.
12. Chris Carrington

As I stated previously I have based this list on the “Wow Factor”. I have spent a considerable amount of my years studying classical guitar. I like the discipline. Its like gourmet cooking, fine wine, or building a ship in a bottle. It requires dedication, preparation, and perseverance. The first time I heard Chris play was when he was touring with Al Dimeola. Several years later I was eating in a Lebanese restaurant in Dallas with my girlfriend there was this guitarist over in the corner, and everything he was playing just popped, and had this swagger to it. It was outrageously different than most stuffy sounding classical guitarists. It was so good, it was distracting me from being able to eat. So I went over to introduce myself and when he said his name I immediately realized who he was and I said, “What are you doing in Dallas?” He replied “I live here.” We’ve become good friends and he built me a wonderful guitar. It still doesn’t change the fact every time I hear him play I go “Wow!” Here is a testimony to his “Wow Factor.” One night on Lemmon Ave. in Dallas Chris was playing in an Italian restaurant and Al Dimeola, Paco De Lucia, and John Mclaughlin walked in. Hows that for pressure? If I remember right, Chris tells me he went in the kitchen to hide or something and the owner made him come out and play. Al Dimeola asked for his number and the rest is history.

I want to close here in saying that this list is in no way definitive. Its just the top twelve guitarists that impacted me. I encourage you to make your own list. Not of just guitar players, but of the people that impacted your life. You are the five people you hang around the most. You can learn a lot about yourself from doing something like this. I chose twelve because there are twelve notes in music, twelve months in a year, and twelve eggs in a dozen. Its just a cool number and making it was a lot of fun. These guitarists are not in any specific order. Any one could be in any order they are just the twelve that came to mind extemporaneously as I wrote this blog. Even as I wrap this up I am realizing I didn’t include Chet Atkins, Neal Schon or Jeff Beck? You see how these list are impossible? Still fun though

What’s with all these Italian guitar virtuoso’s?

I grew up in Houston Texas in a neighborhood called Timbergrove Manor. Four of my good friends growing up were Italians. Chris Sacco, Nick Russo, Louie Romano, and Sam Zarzana. Chris Sacco lived just a few blocks from me and is one of my best friends. We both started playing the guitar at the same time. Chris was what I would consider kind of a natural on the guitar. He just seemed to pick it up and get it sounding good right away. Not the case with me, it was a damn battle, from the get go rhythm and playing by ear did not come easy. I eventually got some lessons and stuck to it and about three to four years in, saw some great results.

This was my first inkling that there’s something going on with these Italians and guitars. As I found my way collecting records and transcribing guitar solos, I again noticed great Italian guitarists everywhere. Check out this short list that just came to me extemporaneously as I am writing this:

1. Al Dimeola
2. Pat Martino
3. Frank Zappa
4. Bucky Pizzarelli
5. Steve Vai
6. Joe Satriana
7. John Petrucci
8. Joe Diori
9. Tommy Tedesco

All of these guys are monsters and over the years I have noticed an inordinate amount of Paisano’s that can play the hell out of the guitar. I guess It just kinda makes sense, since Italians love life, music, food, and drama. In which music plays a major role. I was reminded of this again last night when my friend sent me this crazy video of an eight year old Italian guitar prodigy taking care of business. Lucciano Pizzichini is his name and he’s only nine in this video playing a nice version of Stella by Starlight.

Pretty cool eh?
Eric

In the Studio

I realized another vision yesterday during a recording session with Pat Peterson yesterday at my friend Eric Delegard’s studio Reeltime Audio. I first heard Pat several years ago when my friend photographer James Bland introduced us backstage at a John Mellencamp performance. I was moved by her performance and it was just a matter of time before I would write something and her vocals would come to mind. She has a presence and a style you remember when you hear her. She was a Rayette with Ray Charles, sings with The Stones and Tom Petty and John Mellencamp and too many to mention here. All around great musician. Plays the piano very well. We collaborated on my new single which I will be doing a video for with Mike Cevallos in Austin. Stay tuned

The Perfect Day

Ben Franklin was my first hero.

I read his book The Art of Virtue when I was a kid.
Ben felt a perfect day was:

8 hours of work
8 hours of play
and lastly 8 hours of sleep

3 x 8 = 24 hours

That is so elegant and simple, how many of us do this though?

Furthermore if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. I am so glad I read that when I was young.

Life is about balance and what is more balanced than Ben’s perfect day.

Stop working so much! Being a workaholic is not something to be proud of. Workaholics for example, lack balance. Imbalance is a weakness that sooner or later causes problems. The first problem is consistency in performance.

Much Love,

Eric

Create Music Video and win $500

Looking for an aspiring videographer to create a music video for my new single “Reign Falls”. Since the track has the right kind of “oomph”, I am looking for a video that captures the spirit of this song, which is about staying true to yourself at all costs and overcoming all obstacles. The winning video will be awarded $500! The deadline for the contest is August 15th.

Click on the following underlined link below to play the song!

Eric Invades the UK

Got a cool little boost in exposure in the UK when my album cover was used in an advertising campaign for Samsung cell phones. Thought you’d get a kick out of this. My friend Aaron Pendland has been working with a client developing music software for mobile phones, and they recently launched a service in the UK with CarPhoneWarehouse (the UK branch of Best Buy). They needed some album cover thumbnails displayed in the software on the promotions, so he loaded it up with my albums. They had it on a bunch of in-store posters/banners and the like. It was pretty quick turn around stuff but always good to get the word out. I wondered why my iTunes sales had spiked.

Here is a look at one of the ads:

What do you think? Leave your opinion below in the comments!

Tags: ads, best buy, carphonewarehouse, itunes, promotion, UK

The Joy of playing Live.

I am the luckiest guy in the world in that I get to do what I love for a living. Of course I also realize that hard work brings a lot of luck and for 27 years I have “wrassled” and tugged away at my guitar to try and get it to do what I hear in my head.

My friend Clint Strong told me you should always try and be the worst guy in your band. That was good advice as you always want to be on your toes and what better way than have some heavy cats in your corner and with you on the dais. I also work hard on my guitar so it’s challenge I enjoy that bring’s out the best in me as a player.

Here is some footage from a recent show with some of my favorite guys to play with; John Carruth a great drummer and a hell of a listener. He hears everything and John and bassist Mikel Combs have a long history of playing together and it shows. Pete Weise is another excellent guitarist with great tone and timbres. His style is very different than mine. I remember that is something that Mikel used to encourage us to capitalize on early on in rehearsals. Enjoy!

All The Best,

Eric

Show Recap: At The Boiler Room with The Non’s & The 71′s

I had a great time playing at The Boiler Room last week. We tried out some new tunes and it was great to see so many good friends and make some new ones. We played with two good bands – The Non’s from Oklahoma and The 71′s from my hometown Houston, TX.

The 71′s had some serious gear and speaking of gear can you believe I am down to just one amp right now? My beloved Kendrick built for me by Gerald Weber in Plugerville. No worries as I put some money down on a killer amp built in Germany a Bogner “Ecstacy” I have to tell you it sounds great and I am excited.

There is a great joke I love;

“Heaven, is where the Germans are the engineers, the Italians are the lovers, the French are the cooks and the English are the administrators.”

“Hell, is where the English are the cooks, the Italians are the administrators, The Germans are the lovers and the French are the Engineers.”

Fun stuff,

Since I was between “amps” I borrowed my good friend and master engineer Eric Delegard’s Peavey Classic 50 and ran my trustworthy Ibanez “Tube Screamer” through it. That little amp is a monster as you can hear.

Well I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for coming out and I have some very exciting news coming on the Horizon as well as shows coming up in Austin, Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma.

All in the name of Rock and Roll,

Eric

http://www.erickeyes.com

Tags: boiler room, concert, denton, live music, show, show review

One Man’s opinion…

The last post I wrote “Keep Denton Beard” was received with all kinds of fireworks after I published it. The only post I received more mail on was “Learning to Love Yourself”

The responses were about even with a lot of support about what I was saying as well as a lot of negative responses especially critical of my music and that if my music is what practicing produces then by all means “Let’s Keep Denton Beard”

I found the responses cute and fun and ranging from the absurd to downright hilarious. You have to remember only 3 things happen when you put art out there, people either:

1. Love it
2. Hate it
3. Don’t give a damn

Focus on the ones that Love what you are doing because the rest is pretty much a waste of your time. People that “hate” your music are great as well because they will do more to spread the word about you than anyone. Hate as I mentioned before just means “I don’t understand”

I used to “hate” Algebra, I failed it four times in a row

I just didn’t understand it.

If someone hates me I know that they love me because “hate” is a deeply embedded emotion rooted in envy and jealousy. It also has it’s roots in resentment as well.

The 3rd group that just “doesn’t give a damn” could careless anyway and and converting the mind of apathy is a lost cause. This is where I was going in the rant in my last post.

I have sensed this mood of apathy in the music business ever since the “grunge era” and I am honest enough to say I don’t care for it and call me old school but I think it is sad. I come from an era where you work at your craft with an undying zeal and passion. My heroes where guys like Frank Zappa and Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Bach, Ted Greene, Allan Holdsworth, Eric Dolphy, David Byrne, Salvador Dali, Yngwie Malmsteen and the list goes on and on.

Just because it became popular to be “grungy” I didn’t grow a goatee, put a sock on my head and get a flannel shirt and act like I couldn’t play my guitar.

It’s not always about technique either, however attitude is a great equalizer and can make for leaps and bounds when it comes to art. I have to be honest, when “grunge” became the “music du jour” I didn’t get it right away.

But when Kurt Cobain went on Headbanger’s ball in a dress, he won me over. That took balls and moxie and it needed to happen. Metal had become fake, plastic, all about hair and leather pants and shallow subject matter. Bono from U2 said the first time he saw “Nirvana” live it was like standing next to a “nuclear bomb” exploding.

I like that analogy and he was right.

Rock Music is all about “attitude”

Great Rock Music is 1% technique and 99% attitude.

Kurt understood that and I respect him for it. But then it became cool to be “grunge” Oh yes it did and I was right there to watch so many bands “change their tune” Even bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam who were definitely not original grunge acts. They cut their hair and got on the bandwagon right away. If you listen to the early Pearl Jam and Soundgarden records they were Metal bands until they got caught in the wave.

I know there is a lot of truth to what i was saying because it caused such a firestorm of e-mails and responses on both sides of the fence. I don’t a fuck what anyone thinks of me so I can write from the heart and just be real. I wonder how many people can truly do that? I know it’s not easy being radically honest but it’s a hell of a lot easier than being fake.

As I said in my previous post, “Who am I to call someone else’s, noise “noise”. I also stated that opinion’s are like assholes, everyone has one. Furthermore who am I or anyone else for that matter to judge anybody.

It is perfectly just to say that I prefer not to listen to something and to go on from there and just do your thing. It’s just that I love the times I remember being able to go out in Denton and there was a thriving music scene. In all fairness to this town it is still way better here than almost everywhere else. There is an overall wave of apathy and mediocrity in our culture that has been going on for too long now. It is time for a change and I know change happens in the underground. After I watched the American Music Awards I knew we had hit an all time low.

I love the way Jack White displays his “attitude” in the movie “It Might Get Loud” it brings him right into the picture with Jimmy Page and The Edge. It’s not all about technique, it’s not all about attitude. Their is a yin and a yang to it.

However it’s never about apathy…

Learning how to play your instrument never goes out of style.

Style never goes out of style, when you leave your home, it’s a choice.

It says something about you.

All the best,

Eric