Summer Music Diary

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Ahh, Summer.  The sun, the heat, the long days, bikinis…we look forward to all of them.  Aside from Christmas, my memories of summers past are the most clear and certain songs have provided their soundtrack for me over the years.  I’ll share those songs here, along with stories from my life, and hopefully you’ll discover or revisit some great music.


2004: Summertime Blues

“Rush couldn’t actually be retiring…could they?”

That was my crux of my paranoia as the Summer of 2004 was fast approaching.  The band was about to embark on a 30th anniversary tour and the shows were selling out like crazy.  Despite the celebration of their run, there were persistent rumors that the band would pack it in after this tour. Continue reading

2003: Don’t Walk Away

Ten years ago, magazine racks had an entire shelf of monthly guitar magazines and special issues for me to buy and consume.  Today, the only major US publications are Guitar World and Guitar Player and that saddens me.  It’s not much of a surprise with the continued movement toward digital content, but there’s something about flipping through the pages of a new source of information and lessons that always got me excited.

In 2003, one of the many publications released a special 80s-themed issue (it’s as if they had me in mind!) Continue reading

2010: Alone

It was a summer that began with massive change.  We started recording our first podcast episodes two days before I ended my eight years working for a major retailer.  I was also now single and making a serious go at turning my creativity into a career.  Then she came along.

To be honest, she’d been there for over a year.  We’d worked together for a while and eventually became Facebook friends.  This led to a lot of back-and-forth about who had superior taste in music and movies.  Continue reading

2001: ELO Kiddies

I was already having a bad Easter Sunday no thanks to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I’d barely made it through the movie when a friend called to tell me Joey Ramone had died after a seven year battle with lymphoma, a few weeks before his 50th birthday. It was April 15, 2001.

I’d only been a fan of The Ramones for only a year and half but I was still heartbroken. In a fitting tribute, Joey’s mother and brother organized on birthday bash for Saturday May 19, the day Joey would’ve turned 50. Continue reading

2007: Fuzzbox Voodoo

At the end of March 2007, I’d completed my first year at Musicians Institute and began my six month leave of absence to give my state grants time to kick in before I began my final six months. I’d also recently moved to Burbank after discovering its Anytown, USA charm and substantially lower rent costs. Even though I joked about spending that time sitting on my ass watching movies and playing guitar, the reality was I needed to work.  Continue reading

2005: Lyla

June 22, 2005 was one of the best days my sister and I ever spent together.

Sure, the weather in New York City was rainy followed by humid and disgusting but that didn’t kill our momentum. Plus, we would’ve undoubtedly wound up spending lots of time at Virgin Records in Times Square anyway. The air conditioning was just a perk. Continue reading

2000: Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo

One of the best years of my life was between Summer 1999 and Summer 2000, the majority of which was made up of my senior year of high school.  Like everyone, I couldn’t wait for high school to be to be over at the time, but it’s funny how much we romanticize that time 14 years after it ended, probably because we never have to go back to it. Knowing this time would soon be gone forever, and with only the limited promise of community college waiting for me on the other side of graduation, I vowed to soak up all the fun I could before full-on adulthood overtook my life.  Continue reading