So my first spec miata race was this past Sunday at Buttonwillow Raceway. I’m happy to say that I finished the race without any major incidents! Started 15th, I think I finished 13th. Not bad since my main goals were to 1. not crash, 2. finish the race, and 3. not finish last! I think the best lap time I could manage was a 2:11, which was about 4 seconds off the leaders pace. Looking forward to the next race and picking up my lap times a bit.

Here are the first couple laps:

And a few photos:

practicephoto.jpg

stateshirtmiata1.jpg

stateshirtmiata2.jpg

stateshirtmiata3.jpg

I’ve made a muxtape of some of my favorite songs.

:::: Listen to my muxtape here

Here’s what’s up there now.
I think I’ll update with a new theme every few weeks:

- The Helio Sequence - Nothing’s Ok : Everything’s Fine
- Unkle - Rabbit In Your Headlights
- R.E.M. - Walk Unafraid
- Hayden - Dynamite Walls
- Sebadoh - Careful
- Nick Drake - Things Behind The Sun
- Elliott Smith - Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud
- Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet
- Josh Clayton-Felt - Too Cool For This World
- Neil Young - Old Man
- Toad The Wet Sprocket - Always Changing Probably
- Radiohead - Let Down

If you have a muxtape, comment on my blog post so I can listen!

I’ve been rehearsing a bunch lately and figured I’d set up a couple cameras. Here is a video of me playing my new song ‘Computer’. It’s all live looping, no prerecorded audio.

I realized that I’ve only posted videos from inside the car… haven’t gotten around to post any pictures of the actual car! Took these at the track the other day. My first real race is coming up in a few weeks! Can’t wait.

ingarage2.jpg

ingarage1.jpg

garage.jpg

ingarage3.jpg

We went to Zuma beach early yesterday morning with the hopes of seeing a California gray whale make their way back up the coast to Alaska from Baja. The weather was perfect, no wind, the ocean was calm and glassy and the sky was overcast, perfect conditions to spot wildlife in the sea. Hung around the beach for a couple hours and saw several sea lions romp around and catch fish while dodging greedy sea gulls. We were actually about to leave when we spotted a gray whale flipper just over the breakers, maybe only 100 feet away! Apparently the gray whales come incredibly close to shore right in this area. The whale hung around for 20 minutes, feeding off the ocean floor, rolling around, spy hopping and generally putting on a great show. Then he was off up the coast, we followed him for a few more minutes but then he was gone. Pretty damn amazing… Photos below by Angela Heine.

youngwhale01.jpg

youngwhale02.jpg

youngwhale03.jpg

So I’m ramping up to get my new album finished and out into the world. The thing is I’m not sure exactly how I should do it. I really like the idea of a CD and album artwork and something that you tangible that you can hold onto, and the full-length album experience. Maybe I’m just nostalgic. Ever since the first time I heard OK Computer, I had to listen all the way through. And remembering back to high school driving around in my Ford Econoline listening to Helmet Meantime album on infinite repeat. I love the idea of the album, but I’m not sure anyone else does anymore.

Should I even release a CD at all? Does anyone buy CDs anymore? Or are you happy buying tracks as digital downloads from artist websites, iTunes, eMusic, etc? Should music just be free? Or would you feel bad taking music without paying for it? Should I offer the album on a USB thumb drive? Or put together a book of art, photos and illustration that goes along with the music?

I read a good blog post by Scott Andrew, who had some similar questions last year when he was getting his new album together. It does kinda suck to have so many songs just sitting there, waiting for me to get the whole album done. I could just release them one by one on my site– as I spend random evenings working on new music. So, should I dump the whole album idea? Or really find a new and interesting way to make it work?