Updates at My New Website

Although this has quite a bit of scribbling from 2009 when I recorded my self-titled album you'll find current Eddie West news at www.eddiewestmusic.com. Please adjust your bookmarks accordingly!

Album Artwork

     Back in October when I got together with photographer David Campbell to shoot the photos for the album cover we decided we'd try to find a little-known place in the desert called Butte Camp. Today this camp lies tucked away in the desert behind indian agricultural fields and consists of little more than old slabs of concrete with desert plants growing out of the cracks. During World War II however, the camp consisted of rows of barracks surrounded by barbed wire, sentry posts and armed guards. The big round slab was a base for a water tower (300,000 gallons). It was one location where Japanese-American individuals, the vast majority of which were actually American citizens, were rounded up and interned for the duration of the war - a Japanese Internment Camp.

     These are a few pictures David's wife took while we were trying a few different locations for the cover. You can check out the album artwork and order CDs from Kunaki.com.

Monument at the top of the hill.

Base of the 300,000 gallon water tank.

Sorghum breeding plot.

     Read about the history of Japanese internment at this National Park Service website. Another history of the Gila River camps can be found here. There was a lot going on at these camps - warehouses, factories, seed farms, newspapers, even several graduating classes of high school. The pictures on both these sights show a lot more than the ones above since everything there is gone now. There is still a lot of agricultural production going on on the indian reservation. It's good to be aware of these types of places.

LA County

Last weekend was a surprise trip to LA - I drove from Phoenix all night, recorded some vocals and drove home. I'm getting to know the city fairly well by driving around everywhere. On the ride there I counted that it would be my tenth trip to Los Angeles.

Times I've been to LA:
1. Weekend layover before going to New Zealand for 6 months (Jan '05). I had a few friends that moved to LA after high school; two were attending music school, one was working as a baker and the other was getting her undergrad and later went into the music business. The guys all shared a condo in Pasadena where I hauled my luggage to and from the airport on a series of trains and buses through downtown. A few memorable firsts - of course my first In n' Out burger experience, the first time I heard Ween's album 'Quebec,' and the first time I got on a plane leaving the country. Those guys were great hosts and will tell you that before I left I cleaned the crap out of their kitchen as a thank you for letting me stay there.

2. Had some time to kill in that timeslip between graduating college and getting a job (June '06). Since I had a blast in LA the first time, I just decided I needed to see the coast and drove from Fort Collins, CO out to Santa Monica. I did not see the beach the first time, and I was moving back home. This would have been the last chance to see LA for a while. I saw one of the guys from Pasadena again, James, but everyone else had moved. I was sitting in James' living room when I got a call to play a show in Colorado, and I realized I'd have to go back to Colorado in the morning. I stopped in Las Vegas for the second of two times in my life.

3. Flew out to attend Tim Sweeney's Music Strategies Seminar (Oct '06). Stayed at a hotel, the only time I've ever done that in LA. I met many musicians from literally all over the country who came to hear Tim speak. I jammed with a ukulele player from Hawai'i in front of about 100 people. I have to say it was one big, fun weekend.

4. ASCAP Songwriter's Workshop at the Hollywood Highlands (April '08). Without a doubt the highlight of this trip was seeing Steve Miller Band perform at the awards show in the Kodak Theatre. That was the first night of the conference then a weekend of furious note taking about the music business ensued. I met songwriters from LA and Nashville mostly, walked back to the Hollywood Hostel to cook my meals and sleep. Hiked up to the Hollywood sign. Ate at Pinks with some songwriters who invited me to Nashville. I met Lilly Carrico, who said her neighbor played with Bruce Springsteen and owned a studio in Santa Monica. I did a double take at that. She said she'd get me his info. That obviously turned out to be the best part of the weekend as it got me in touch with Marty Rifkin, the Producer who spent this entire year working with me on my album. Screw Steve Miller Band.

5. Performed at UnUrban Coffeehouse, a low profile cafe in Santa Monica (June '08). As far as gigging in LA goes, wish me luck. Perhaps I may never move there - I might consider it harder than NYC for playing music as a songwriter. Why? For one, people would have to drive to your show and then drive home, as opposed to walking or taking a subway. It's too much of a commitment. LA does have surfing though. But hold this debate; any city is what you make of it. UnUrban is a no-stress, create good music kind of place - it's a great environment for musicians - and that's why I knew it'd be a good place to start doing some performances in LA.

6. First recording session at Rifkin Productions (Jan '09). I met Marty Rifkin at his studio and ran my eyes over the guitars and other instruments against one wall with another wall covered in CDs bolted down of all the albums he's played pedal steel on. It was a place where I knew I could work. I remember first we recorded the first song, "Fix the Tractor," then the last song, "Taft Hill," then kept building our way inward. After five days we had started an album that I knew I could be proud of making. My sister flew out to visit, and we walked around the Santa Monica Pier and the 3rd St. Promenade; we ate dinner with her friends at Barney's Beanery.

7. Back in the studio for another long weekend (Feb '09). I wanted to knock out the two instrumentals on the album and a song with another long instrumental part. We got it done. I was told to go to Phillipe's French Dip, a restaurant downtown, and spent about as much time in line as I did walking around Chinatown. Great food though. I snuck in a gig at UnUrban that I set up since I knew I'd be in town. I played "Under African Skies," by Paul Simon, and looped the guitars while I danced onstage to the afro-beat rhythms of the song. It was Valentine's Day; I played one of my more profound gigs because of it.

8. Show and a session (Oct '09). I returned to UnUrban to play as the featured open mic performer. The stage was in the back and I had about 20 musicians to play in front of this time - all waiting to play too! I closed the show with the song I had started recording that day, "Maybe Long Beach," but instead of the guitar solo I introduced myself and thanked the audience saying, "We've got a great night ahead of us." Stayed all night to watch everyone perform since they all watched me.

9. Show and a session II (Nov '09). I thought I would have had the album done with two last days recording a final song. I lucked out to schedule Randy Crenshaw for more background vocals. By this time I'm getting LA down - finding parking, avoiding traffic, merging onto freeways ("People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles." -Bret Easton Ellis). I performed at The Talking Stick in Santa Monica, had some luck promoting and got some people to the show. I was really happy to be performing and it showed - I tore up the stage. The barista said I was "Old School," and told me to come back. I will definitely be taking him up on that.

10. Drank a cup of strait cold brewed coffee and drove from Phoenix at 10pm Friday before last (Dec '09). They add a lot of water to that drink before they serve you a toddy! Because of a mixup (see most recent blog below), I needed to grab some new vocals into the mix of the song I recorded in November. I ate more or less the food I brought with me since this trip almost broke the budget, though as you may have noticed I like to go out to eat in LA when I can. The trip ended up being well worth the effort - "In the Morning of the Earth" is a brand new song that will go on the album before ever being played live, and you have to love songs like that. I do anyway.

What a nice list. It was good to write it out for posterity or something. Actually it elaborates on the inside cover of the album - a list of all the recording dates this year - that needed more detailed chronicling. That's basically what I've sought out to do all this year with the blog here (+/- some). The album is now done with minor layout changes the last thing on my plate before the first pressing.

It's "AGINST TH' LAW" (and not just in Winston-Salem)

I rolled into LA county this morning to fix a song on the album that needed new lyrics. What was originally recorded included some lines from the infamous Woody Guthrie, but apparently that did not fly well with the caretakers of Guthrie's music. Of course I had to record the song first to let them hear it and decide, and no matter that permissions for such adaptation are "few and far between," I still felt it was worth a shot. The good thing is that I only needed to fax a form plus email an MP3 to Bug Music Publishing, and they got back to me fairly quickly that it was a no-go. Once again - worth a shot. Not knowing if the song could be rerecorded in time for it to make the album made the last few weeks a little confusing. Through some stroke of creative genius I was able to craft something of my own that's even better because now I own all the rights... no offense Woody! With that out of the way there are just a few more tasks that need to be completed before the making of this album is just part of the history books!

Hard at Work

     Weekend gigs in the afternoon can be trouble, primarily because I have to make sure I get up early enough to be ready. About two weeks ago I got an email asking me to play at Mighty Cup N' Spoon in Glendale, AZ. Glendale had a few thousand in the streets last night to witness the lighting of the Christmas lights down Glendale Ave - Glitters and Glows of Glendale! Tonight similar mayhem is expected as Black Friday spills into Saturday.

     I've played a few shows up here, driving over from where I live in Tempe (currently). Downtown Historic Glendale is where all the antique and craft shops are found - a quaint little downtown area with lots of pedestrian traffic on the weekends. I rocked the front lawn for the lunch crowd and the passer-byers, and now I'm working on my laptop inside. This week I've been spending a lot of time on my computer just getting lots of email addresses together and sending out updates. I'm getting ready for the first pressing of the Eddie West album.

     Usually I'm on my computer at a coffeeshop where I perform and someone will either tell me they enjoy reading my emails, or a few have told me they signed up and haven't been receiving them. Since I carry around a folder with all the email signup sheets from all the shows I've ever played, I can sometimes find their name. Possibly the hardest but most rewarding part of my job is getting this email list organized. Any artist will tell you it's a lot of work, but it isn't something that I particularly excel at doing. So since this week I've been setting aside time for myself to work online I took an extra few minutes to write about it.

     I guess I skipped the update about finishing recording, but actually I still might be doing something else in the studio when I get the chance to go back to LA. For the most part though the album is done, so as the cliche goes, now the real work begins. If you follow me on MySpace or ReverbNation then you can check out some of the pictures taken at the shoot for the album artwork. In most of the pictures I look pretty tired, but there are few good ones in there I'll pick from for the album. I realized how nice it is to have recent photos too. Now I've got a haircut and feel like I should take some new ones. Though there's a lot on my plate I'm enjoying this process quite a bit. I'm a few short weeks from holding the first copies of my album in my hand. That and getting the albums out to everyone in the coming months is what all this is about for me. I hope if you're browsing through here you'll stay tuned and get your very own copy.

Back in L.A.

This weekend I'm psyched I get to go back to Southern California. Of the four trips this year, this last one will be the longest. I have some really exciting things planned, like finishing up my record, and some things I get excited to do while in a different environment. One thing people in LA know about is Pink's Hot Dogs. I probably shouldn't wait in line for so long for a hot dog since there is nothing to do in line except eat up a few hours of your time. Check out the menu at Pink's website but look around for lots more to see.

Well if Hollywood's where you go to be seen, then Pink's is where I will be seen this weekend with possilby a few fine chili dogs.

Bacon on top...

Dig in.

A Solid Thanks

     So first to get something important out of the way - if you're reading this in the first week of September you won't see me play at Xtreme Bean this weekend. I had to cancel the show to get something done that has been in the waiting for a while. Sorry to be unspecific, but unfortunately this will take all weekend to accomplish, and the opportunity to get it done happened to be when I had a show scheduled.

     As you may know, the first Saturday of every month I perform at Xtreme Bean in Tempe, AZ. I've had the great opportunity to do this for the last year, and I hope to keep it going for another year. After playing out so much this summer though, I am in the process of a much needed break from performing. And I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been at one of my shows and may be following these sporadic blogs or e-mails I send over the internet.

     Thanks for coming to the shows, signing the mailing list, buying CDs and putting money in the tip jar. From June through August I played nine shows, including my first in Sedona, and took in enough money to pay for a day in the studio this October.

     Though many ask at my shows how much studio time costs and how much making CDs costs, I usually try to avoid pinning it down to the actual numbers. When I finish my album next month however, the shows I played this summer will fully pay for one full day in the studio. As a soloist playing at coffeehouses that don't even pay sometimes, I feel this was a great accomplishment. It gives me a little more leeway with my finances and proves that I can sustain a recording career without it all coming out of my pocket. It also proves how much people are supporting my music, independent music, and the arts in general - it is a great thing.

     In October when I come back to Xtreme Bean, it will be the weekend before I drive out to Santa Monica to finish recording the last three songs for my new full-length album. It will have been 10 months since I started, and the long break was about one thing - I ran out of money. Since January I've been saving up, watching my spending, and playing gigs like a world-class madman. Everyone I've encountered has been very supportive about my music. Some will get a mention in the notes for the extra mile they went to help me create the album. But everyone that has seen me play this year, especially during this amazing summer when I played virtually every weekend, deserves a huge Thank You for helping me along the way. I can't wait to see you again at the show.