Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Crazy Burghs

IMPORTANT: NEXT GIG IS SATURDAY, June 26th, 10am-1pm in Charleston, West Virginia for Festivall, on the corner of Washington and Tennessee. It's free, so see you there! :D
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One thing I have noticed a lot about Pittsburgh drivers is that most of them drive wreckless and slow at the same time. Today must have been just wreckless day.

1) On my way to a call, I was stopped at a stop sign by my house. I looked left. I looked right. I look left again which must have been my mistake because when I took my foot off the brake, this teenage punk in a blue silverado was flying down the road coming up on my right. By the time I saw his speedy gonzales-ness, i saw him mouth the words "f*ck you" to me as he flew by in the truck his parents probably bought him.

I wanted to follow him to the next stop sign, pull him out of the truck, knock out all his teeth, then have him call his parents, so they can hear him say the exact words he said to me while he was driving 60 mph in a residential area. Considering, I would probably never do that and the words "I don't want to go to jail" started to pop-up in my mind, I just let it slide and went on to work.

2) I pulled out of a gas station later on in the day, and a teenager in an impala swerved into busy, oncoming traffic so that he could pass the dump truck in front of him. Almost caused a big wreck. Smart kid.

3) I was behind a napper van (ya know, the white van you always see in the movies kid-"napp"-ing people?) on the highway today and he had two ladders and about 7 pieces of plywood on the top of his van. It wasn't enough that the van was already swerving from lane to lane, this dude didn't even strap down his wood (that's what she said). For real though! 3 big sheets of WOOD came flying above and around my car. At 65mph, I could have DIED, but luckily i swerved out of the way for the first sheet... the only thing i could do to tell him though was *beep beep* *shrug, point at the top of the car*

Got any crazy traffic stories?

Summer makes for some crazy burghers.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Twitter's 404 page: The Fail Whale.


For the last week or so, Twitter has been saying they are over capacity and that too many tweets have been tweeted at once.

Notice my post is at 6:39pm EDT, so this can't be a planned maintenance.

Maybe they should have prepared for the World Cup?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Updates, A Rant, and Many Thanks

So, wow, almost a year since my last entry. I'm so sorry about that guys.

So a lot of new things:
- New camera: the Canon EOS Rebel T2i (suggested by AJ Rafael) - awesome everything.
- Made a commercial for Kellogg's: "Start The Day" (which actually allowed me to buy said camera).
- I've got a vlog channel where I'm going to be posting some more personal stuff.
- I'm still writing for the new album... I don't want to start recording until it is really right, but all the songs are good. :)
- I'll be playing at FAP 2.0, so please don't hesitate to get your tickets! It would be great to see you there.
- and more... too many to name.

(Warning: this is a rant)
Recently, I've been looking over myself, trying to figure out the weird parts of my life. If you all are keeping up with my vlog, you'll see that I'm on a diet and I'm exercising more. I'm starting to realize that the name I made for myself on YouTube is now a thing of the past. Videos are higher quality, there is a lot of post-production in every video out there... it's really hard to keep up with the flow.

But I'm asking myself, why do I have to keep up with the flow? I'm a singer/songwriter.

I had lunch with a couple of friends a few weeks ago and got to talking about music... one of them is a musician, a songwriter actually. He asked me, "So how is music going, ya' know being a YouTube cover artist." I was slightly offended.

But it's true a lot of us do covers, and covers, and more covers to get more hits, and really -- it's true! A lot of YouTube artists are essentially just doing karaoke. I mean, I haven't released an original song since "Here" (except for "Start The Day" lol). And I feel kind of like a hypocrite because I've been discovered because of my unique renditions of songs, but some people are taking a "diva-ish" twist as they start to become egocentric and less of a musician, and more of a label or brand, if you will.

I dont mind it - hell, i'm just jealous and i wish I could only have a problem like that so I can prove to people that there can be honest, polite people out there in successful land... but when it comes to getting success, you best acknowledge the people who gave you the opportunity, the people who supported you through it all, and your closest friends and family. If you start to ignore them, your support will not follow you, they will not respond to you, and they will not be loyal to you.

I think that is one of the biggest things I'm struggling with - comparing myself with other musicians and putting a price on myself based on how many subscribers I have in comparison. I'm sure a lot of you YouTubers do it too, don't lie. "So and so got 5M hits on their one original and I've got... 700k?" It's sad that this kind of thing could have any type of competition. Before, YouTube was a community of people who just enjoyed sharing their lives on a video medium because it was new, intimate, fresh... now, it's more than commercialized, it has become as (or more) concentrated with professional artists as regular TV. It has become the mainstream. I have to admit that I cannot compete with that.

But I do love YouTube for what opportunities it has given me from a lower-level perspective. It has been almost an extension of my life - my music career, my proposal, etc.

What I have come to find is that I am fortunate there are 46k people out there who I moved enough to hit that little yellow button. I am fortunate to say to people that I am a semi-professional musician because of the people who support me on YouTube. I am fortunate that God gave to me the gift of music. That is what is important - stepping out of the box for a second to look back and see what all has come of my efforts on YouTube and the people who love watching me... and from what I've seen in the last 3-4 years, it is so good.

So for those of you who are still here... thank you. And thank you for everything you done to make me who I am.

See you on the next blog.
-Chris

Monday, August 3, 2009

SoCal, so good. :)

(I know I'm posting this pretty late, but I've been pretty busy trying to catch up with things at work, planning a wedding, and here recently, get my jeep situation squared away.)

July 24th, San Diego, CA
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6:50am ET -- Just got on the plane heading to DFW in Dallas (my connecting flight). Didn't sleep the night before because I had work to finish... and I was overly excited to get to California (big thanks to BlogTV and SINxJAE). Not sure how this is going to be, but I've got a good feeling about this show. So good, I haven't even planned a set yet.

11:30am CT -- Just finished playing about 15-20 songs in the Dallas airport. It may have been to early for everyone as I noticed people leaving when I first pulled out the guitar. Oh well, they don't even know who I am. Oh well, I just bought a Naked Mango drink for breakfast so I'm good to go.

1:30pm PT (4:30pm in Pittsburgh) -- Just landed and I see a couple of wonderful faces, AJ and Jenny, totally being awesome for picking me up from SAN from flippin' LA. Ahh I love these two. At first I thought I lost my baggage, but then it surfaced at the VERY END of the cue. Gash people. Off to Fashion Valley!

6:30pm PT - Hangin with AJ, Jenny, RB, Kat Badar (Cake Batter), Matt, Jasmine, freakin Ramielle Malubay from American Idol, and one other (whose name totally slipped my mind... so sorry) fine filipino man at a Bubble Tea place. We discussing what we would do for money, and I realize that AJ REALLY doesn't care much for money... just the shock factor. Which is why I love him. Would you rather...?

10:00 PT - At the BlogTV campfire on the beach with all of the previous people, filled with TONS of BlogTVers, fans, and YouTube pros/celebs such as Alyssa Bernal, Sam Hart (Mario Kart Love Song guy), Ryan, Brandon, Jesse Barrera, Michael Carreon, Michelle Martinez, Thunder PerfectMind, Judy and Cindy, Krystle Cruz, Angie, Albert, Mark, Renato, Darren, Ronan, Petee, PhilChao, Richard Tran, and ... the list is endless. It was such an awesome time with just the feeling of community, laughter, singing, and of course, FIREWORKS?? Wow, is this shindig really that big? :)

July 25th, (Day of Featured Acoustic Playlist) San Diego, CA
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12:00am PT - Left the bonfire and chillin' at Christian's house (which is BEAUTIFUL, btw) with Sam, Judy, Cindy, Brian, Ryan, Dustin, Monique, and Simon. I really really really wish I could have come earlier, but man, it's hard when you're on such a limited time schedule and all you wanna do is hug everyone. :D Miss you guys <3

3:00am PT - Sam and I finally get in our room. We decided to jam. I fell asleep guitar in hand.

7:00am PT - Woke up. Did my short workout-even-if-you-don't-have-weights thing. Sam is dead asleep.

8:45am PT - Sam is still asleep. I've been standing right by his bed the whole time.

9:30am PT - Got tired of standing by Sam's bed, so I woke up AJ while singing "Always Be My Baby" outside his hotel room. Totally amazing bedhair, btw. Finally met Gabe Bondoc face-to-face... and his allergies. <3 Soundcheck starts at 12:00 noon.

12:30pm PT - Just got to the venue after scarfing down some Denny's and boy I'm glad we're Filipino - we were some of the first ones there, LOL. Got to see Glenn, the staff, and the sound system (which was looking amazing during setup). To the green room, and I see lots and lots of people. Pizza, water, and AMP. That's all we need... except toilet paper in the bathroom. :)

4:00pm PT - Pre-show acts are going on and they already sound amazing. :D Met Timirose, Melissa Polinar (friggin' amazing songwriter btw), Andrew and Frank, KrisMark, Jon Cardona, AlexJohn, Michelle Do... I'm signing autographs beside vocal phenoms Cathy Nguyen and Alyssa Bernal. In other words, I got "so, who are you again? I'm looking for Cathy/Alyssa" a lot. LOL :D j/k... but not really... Met a lot of fans, took many pictures, gave many hugs... even found out that I have my own Pokemon card. I wonder what my power is. Also got me one-a them radisrad shirts (thx guys!).

8:15pm PT - Did Victor just break his back? How does someone do that??? Victor from Quest and Lydia Paek are on stage, tearing every inch of entertainment real estate up. I've watched some great shows, but I think that EVERYONE HERE could have been the headliner. :) About to watch Amiel and crew. :D

9:15pm PT - I'm on stage. I don't think I've ever played in front of a better, more responsive, more loving crowd that the one at FAP. Set: If I Ain't Got You, Candy Red, Velvet Fingertips, When The Lights Burn Out, No Diggity (totally impromptu performance by AJ and Timmy DeLaGhetto, SO SICK) Holy moly, some just offered to have my babies.... oh wait, that was John-John. Left the stage feeling like I was on top of the world. Alyssa texts me, "We have got to do Comfortable" Am I gonna say no? Did I even have the chance to think it? :D

10:00pm PT - Cathy Nguyen just broke the sound system. But then she brought it back to life. She's just that good. :D AJ is on right now and I am so amazed by this performance. I seriously love it. One thing that I loved about it was that the love for music is alive when all of them are on stage. Another, they rocked the house. Ahhh so good. :D

11:45pm PT - Passion (love this guy) just used my guitar for a song he wrote for his girlfriend who lives overseas - probably the sweetest thing i've ever heard. Ramiele performed with Gabe before this (so flippin awesome) and so did Melissa Polinar, in which I didn't know this, is the definition of a must-see live performer. And of course, there is Gabe, who pretty much rocked everyone's face off with an amazing set, including a very impressive version of Best I've Ever Had. After this show ended, I just wanted to hug everyone, especially Leo who flew in super late, but surprised all of us. If you missed out on this show, you missed out on the Asian version of Woodstock, minus the bad stuff.

July 26th, Post-Show, San Diego, CA
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2:00am PT -- Just finished having Denny's across from Kat Badar, and beside Phil Chao. I was still amazed by how well everyone got along. I was also probably the only person having coffee at 2am.

4:45am PT -- Just finished recording raw video of Comfortable with Alyssa Bernal. Lots of people in me and Sam's room - Dustin, Sam, Brandon?, Monique, Grace, Jesse, Richard, Leo, Matt, Jasmine... I hope I didn't forget anyone, I was delirious by 5:00am when we left for the airport.

5:30am PT - Jesse Barrera and Grace dropped me off at the airport and I love them for it. I didn't tell them that they dropped me off at the wrong terminal, but it's okay. It was like I tried to get stuck in SAN on purpose. Ran into Kristyn at the terminal who congratulated me on a wonderful set, and I was just blown away that anyone would even remember! :D Especially someone I've never met before! :) yaay.

(Sometime on the planes) - editing the Comfortable video, and LOLing on the parts where we're doing stupid stupid stuff. I bet I looked so weird. Oh well. Done, goodnight... should be arriving home soon.

...Oh crap, I forgot to call Natalie back.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Having what it takes...

As time goes on, the pressure is on with my musical career. I constantly ask myself, "Do I have what it takes to go full-time with music?"

Right now, I have a great job in IT. I've been with the company a few years now and every year, I surprise myself with how much I learn over that time. But now, time at work is more demanding than ever and it is cutting into my musical career, taking it over almost completely. People constantly ask me "why do you look so tired in your videos?"

I look tired because I'm doing videos at 3am... and then having to wake up at 6am.

Although, I love doing YouTube and my passion lies in my music, I don't know which way to go from here.

I guess my question is this:

What would you do in my position?

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Life Update

Wow, has it been a while or what? :) If you keep up with me and my YouTube-ness, you've probably asked yourself, "Where has Chris been?"

Well...
- I just moved to Pittsburgh about two months ago.
- Started working a new contract here in PA, so getting used to that has been keeping me busy around the clock.
- Been trying to kinda get in better shape, although it's not really working so well. :P

Other than that, life is doing well.

Janelle is starting to manage walking around now, which is a great improvement since she started physical rehabilitation months ago. During the last visit, my mother sent home a bunch of things I might want - my very first dj mixer (with VU meters WOW), a tambourine, some bongos, and, to my delight, Janelle's old ukulele from 6th grade that I forgot she had. It's kinda beaten up and has two old strings on it, but I noticed that there were signatures and notes from her old classmates on the back. As I started reading them, I remembered how much of an influence Janelle was (and is) to me. Maybe you'll be seeing ukulele vids from me in the future.

Kobie is about 14 months old now, and she is starting to calm down, but she thinks she's higher in rank than Lydia (lol). We take her to the dog park at Frick Park on a daily basis so that she can get her hyperness out. To think, it's was about this time last year when I got Kobie @ 19 lbs. :) She's now 63 lbs.

A huge congratulations to all the people who graduated from college. Lydia graduated from the WVU nursing school with top honors and was named "Most Outstanding Student" for the WVU Nursing class of 2009. Being so smart, I wonder why she's marrying me. :)

A big congratulations to my childhood friend, Kirby, and his new wife, Brandi on tying the knot on May 16th! WOOOHOOO comerbeberenguadalajaramamajama!

More updates to come. :) Miss you guys.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Gig Reviews: Stuckey-Dolan Wedding

There have been times in my DJing career where I thought to myself during shows, "I need to practice my chops" or "This is getting old..." or even "Maybe I should give this up...

Not this crowd. This wedding only made me want to go back to being a professional club DJ.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to quit what I'm doing (i.e. singing, playing guitar, and fixing computers), but the way the reception went just kinda rekindled my love as a turntablist. I don't think I've had as much fun with any group. I think what made the difference was that Bo (the groom) asked for strictly club music from 9:30 until close. My first reaction was "Are you sure?" and Bo said, "Definitely."

He was right - everyone there was gittin' down to biggie, t-pain, flo-rida, lil' jon... and of course, the adrenaline from the club set put me in my element and made me think, "Why did this ever stop?"

Anywho, it was a fun night and a big congratulations to Drs. Bo and Lindsey Dolan! Thank you for letting me be a part of your post-ceremony festivities. :)
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GIG UPDATES --
THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 23rd @ 12 Noon-2pm
Live w/ Domenick DeGeorge and Andrew Bottini
The Mountain Lair, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 24th @ 7pm-8pm
Solo gig @ Hot Topic
Morgantown Mall, Morgantown, WV

See you there!