M-I-S-T-A Mista Cookie Jar!

Love Bubble at Goldstar!

Announcement: The Love Bubble will promoted and sold at Goldstar Rehab and Nursing in Santa Monica. 4 bucks of every CD will go to the Activities Department of Goldstar! Fundraiser event coming soon....I'll keep ya posted!

In the mean time check out this video of Bill Moyers interviewing CIGNA whistleblower, Wendell Potter.

A Mista Cookie Jar Documentary....?!

Nick J Palmer, my friend and fellow colleague, is making a doc about me and my work as a "Strolling Minstrel" at the convalescent hospital I work at in Santa Monica. We've been filming for the past few months and have much excitement and "ecstatic truths" on tape! Hooooty whooo! I'm fortunate someone is capturing some of the stories of my friends at this home away from home. Despite the dreary vibes inherent in hospital life, we have a lot of fun and make a lot of magic happen. There's LOOOVE among residents. And such characters! Aunt Carol being one of them! Also, my girlfriend's mother/my adopted mother, Victoria--she came up with the whole idea of the Love Bubble! I can't go on without mentioning my second adopted mother and Soul Coach, Miss Angel Crain (first pic above). She has kept me in check with life and quality of recordings/performances.

It's a true honor to be working with Nick and his cinematographer, the talented, Amanda Treyz (check out her work on the amazing film, Acholiland, a short film about refugees and U.N. workers in Northern Uganda). We've captured many concerts with the residents, interviews, karaoke fun, music video shoots, Mista Cookie Jar concerts, and much much more. Sometimes it feels like my own reality TV show, talk about awkward. ; ) Nick was aiming for a short documentary in the beginning, but it may be turning into something bigger perhaps....stay tuned!

Old School Recordings: Cyberstardom

Check out this 12 minute electro-rock opus composed about 10 years ago as part of my Electronic Computer Music class in GWU. My old band, Onrefni Atnas (the Mr. Hyde of Santa Inferno) released it on the album My Mistake in 2001. My sister commented, so EMO. I guess I went from EMO to ELMO! Big ups to Joe Tarowsky for reminding me about this little zinger! Parental Discretion is advised.

Cyberstardom - Onrefni Atnas

Gabby La La & the Ukulady @ Echo Curio

The show (9-19-09) was a lot of fun! I got to meet the one and only, Gabby La La (pic to prove it above)! I read about her online trying to find kickass kids acts. Found her in the Kidzone at Michael Franti's Power to the Peaceful Festival website. Her album, Be Careful What You Wish For... was produced and engineered by the one and only, Les Claypool (one of my childhood heros!) Les Claypool best describes her, "Besides being an accomplished Sitar player, Gabby La La utilizes Toy Piano, Ukulele, Theremin, Accordion and Butterfly-Guitar while tap dancing and singing like Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of OZ. She is a wonderful inspiration and I whole heartedly support her nomination for Secretary of State." The album was released on Prawn Song Records--the label is associated with many of my old favorites in the 90's such as Sausage, M.I.R.V., and the Charlie Hunter Trio (not to mention the Primus records!). Check out her album, its brilliant! The Ukulady along with the Ukulad were super fun too. They wore cute matching outfits from Roswell and covered, "She'll Make Me Happy" from Muppets take Manhattan. Check out the Ukulady's album, Banned From Canters! (she apparently did get banned for real!) The album is badass and touching at once: Comedy & heart-on-a-sleeve songs! Below is the Ukulad, Ukulady, Carrottina, and Gabby La La.

Aunt Carol Video Shoot

On August 15th, 2009, at Aunt Carol's hospital, Goldstar (formerly known as Oceanview), we completed the music video shoot for the song Aunt Carol off the Love Bubble. Loads of fun! Aunt Carol had on a bright pretty dress and I painted her nails rainbow with glitter. We had a good handful of kids show up to dance, sing and be cute. Patients of the hospital showed up in wheelchairs and birthday party hats to party along with us. A fake band jammed along with the music. Edvardo, a young Mexican bass guitar prodigy who I met at a Church's Chicken drive thru a few months ago was on a pink kids sized electric guitar. Felipe, another prodigiously talented youngster who just graduated high school fake played his electric guitar and will be featured in the video doing a charming Elvis, "Thank you very much." Little Lucas rocked it on the toddler drums. Bubbles were everywhere thanks to my trusty bubble machines I bought at Big Lots. Angel, my adopted mother and president of the residents of the hospital, was shooting kids with her bubble gun. We got glitter all over the cake which made for a great video shot but an unedible dessert. Thad Reid, the director of the video, captured it all while Nick J Palmer, captured Thad capturing it. (Nick is making a documentary about my work as an strolling minstrel/activity leader at the hospital which is a whole other blog entry all together!) Robin came with Little Miss Mikyla while Jessica brought hula hoops and made Carol an amazing pirate patch with flowers and designs painted and glittered all over. Jenna was rockin it in a wrestler's mask while Avaroni led the kids around dancing in beautiful figure 8's around the residents. Big up to our friend Marisol and her friends for coming through with some beautifully delightful children! The spirit of the song was in the air and I've got a good feeling Thad got it all on his camera! The only thing missing was Jose Gonzales whose Richie Valens/Johnny Cash-esque prescense is featured on the song. Shucks, wish he could've made it. Here's a little behind the scenes slideshow to get a glimpse of what we were up to that day. Avid readers, stay tuned in the next few months for the full video!

Mista Cookie Jar and Chocolate Chips in LA's Little Tokyo

August 18, 2009 Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips at Tuesday Night Cafe. Fun show! Everyone loved the kids. The gang was actually called Da Big Seeds that night but soon after we changed the name to the cuter and catchier Chocolate Chips. This gang includes Ava aka Ava Flava/Avaroni, Lucas aka Joey the Dogg, Miss Mikyla, and Venice Carly. They did a great job! The kind folks at TNC gave the kids each their own mic. Lucas was really cute with his arfs during Joey the Dogg. Ava nailed her raps and all her cues. Mikyla fashionably came in midset with a stunning entrance. They gave her a mic and she was good to go! Then the girls did some spontaneous synchronized dancing. All the while, Carly was doin her thang dancin lookin stylish and cool. We were all strangely amped and tired at once--the previous two nights we were making a video for Magic World at Carly's place til the wee hours of the morning. So we were exhausted but we had that Love Bubble synergy thang goin on. Farmer John aka Johneric gave us a warm and generous introduction. And the Tuesday Night folks always give out good vibes. ; ) We had my friend NIck J Palmer who is making a documentary about me came out to film it. Hopefully we'll get some of that footage for youtube soon. Big thanks to Alex (Nick's twin bro) for taking pictures! Here is a slide show of the night featuring the song, Circles, off the Love Bubble LP: