Remember the Pancakes?

Dude, I’m starting to feel like maybe this was one long breakfast. Like, it lasted a year, but what if this year was just breakfast? What if the last thirty years were breakfast? And ow it’s finally time for lunch? I’m starting to feel like it’s getting a little later in the day. Could it have all been phase 1? I better work on my stamina.

-J.P.

Difference in Ability

Today I was telling Bryana about the audition process for Berklee College of Music and how I didn’t get in. There was an improv portion where after you perform one of your songs for a panel, the panel gets up and plays with you and asks you to jam with them. Jamming, improv, free styling, whatever you wanna call it has never been my forté. That’s ok. I think of myself as more of a storyteller. I try to get to the heart of the thing and I often use music to do it. Everybody has different skill sets. Be great at being you.

On another note, I saw Saltburn today…. what a sick movie. Looked pretty, though. Ok, I’m losing the thread a little bit. Gonna call it a night.

-J.P.

The Irony

I’ve had this book, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus since early in college. I’m talking six to eight years ago to the best of my memory. The crazy thing is I’ve started the book SO MANY times, but I’ve never made it all the way through. How perfect is that? This time though, this time I’m gonna get to the end. I can feel it. I reread the first 28 pages today. We’re making it to the top of this mountain. That’s for sure.

-J.P.

We Make Music in the Sun

Like that one song, “The Joker”.

I’ve wanted to record our process more when Understanding and I make music but the room we’re in has no windows.

I know that seems beneficial to a room where sound is being recorded. Almost all the studios you can imagine in your head are in soundproofed rooms, totally isolated from the outside world. In fact they’re likely even floated, which is to say they built a room inside the room so you can be one more level removed.

But I like to have something to look at. It’s 2023. People make music in their bedrooms. I bet some people even make music in glass houses. I wanna be able to see something inspiring while I’m working on executing ideas. I need that for me.

It’s also important in regards to how we record our work because I want things to look a certain way because it sounds a certain way and the two should support each other.

I’m working on it.

-J.P.

The Penny You Know

Today I went for a jog. It was the first time I’ve run since I got sick and only about the third or fourth time I’ve run in a few months so I was hurting a little bit. My pace kinda sucked and my breathing was subpar but Nike says “just do it” and I say how high, so I made it through.

I walked around the block to cool down and I passed a penny, heads up. Now my grandma was a lot like Nike, in the way that she also had slogans and one of hers was “see a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck” (with the understood condition that it has to be heads up for the good luck to take effect. If it’s tails up we would leave those where they were). I’ve already demonstrated my ability to follow orders in the previous paragraph so you can probably guess what I did.

Gotcha. If you guessed that I picked up the penny, you’re wrong. Now to be fair, I used to pick up all the pennies. I was desperate for good luck I guess. Or maybe I thought that picking up one cent at a time would be integral in building great personal wealth. I don’t know, I just did what my grandma told me. Over the years though, I’ve picked up less pennies. I don’t know why. Some days my back hurts. Sometimes I convince myself that I don’t need luck, or that someone else needs luck more than me. Whatever the case is, I often find a way to justify leaving the luck on the ground lately.

Today though, there was a second penny. It was also heads up. I saw it and thought, “huh. Double luck just laying on the street waiting for some takers,” but I didn’t pick up the second penny either! Two times, I left luck behind, convinced I didn’t need it. At that moment I was starting to believe that maybe luck is just following me around, ready to fight for me if I ever I doubt myself. I began to believe that luck would always be there on my side as I progress down my path. Then I saw it. The third penny.

Gleaming in the Hollywood morning sun, it called out my name. I resolved to pick this penny up. Surely if the world offers you three servings of luck, you should probably oblige. It’s like the universe is begging to help you get to where you’re going. You’ve chosen the copper lined path of dream facilitation and everyone is rooting for you. Have some freaking luck for crying out loud!

I knelt down to claim my prize. On the way down though, I saw it.

Tails.

There was no third scoop of luck in my post-run sundae. I got greedy, and passed up two opportunities because I banked on a third, and now I’ve no luck to my name. I’ve had a totally regular day today. Nothing particularly lucky happened to me. All regular shit. Next time, I’ll pick up the first penny.

-J.P.

Goodbye and Goodnight

Ok, I’m back to full health, and I’m back home after going up to Solvang for the holiday and we’ll finish strong from here, promise. Let me tell you a little bit about the latest release from Roe’s Garden, “Goodbye and Goodnight” which came out a few weeks ago.

The original idea was recorded in December 2018, in the midst of my 100 days experiment. It wasn’t technically one of the 100 days, though. There were some days during that stretch where Un would find his way to the back shack and we would cook something up together after I had already finished my work for the day. This one was a sleepy little lullaby that Understanding played the chords of and I added some words that became the hook then we left it at that. Fast forward to 2023 and we finally finished the song, knowing that the hook would sound prettier if Erica could sing it. I wrote some verses and a couple different versions of the bridge until I landed on the one that stuck, and that’s the version you hear. I just wanted to have something that wished well to the listener, and I think this song does it nicely.

Speaking of that, I was listening to some playlists that were full of “Today’s Top Hits” and I found myself walking away feeling very troubled. Now this is just my opinion, but all the music sounded so dark, gloomy, hurt. Everything is drug-fueled and sex-crazed, full of dangerous life choices. Truthfully, that just hurts my heart! I’m concerned for the kids. I think the world could use a little more good energy, so that’s what I’d like to devote myself to moving forward. Some positive vibes. Some hope. Good love. Support. Things like that. Hopefully there’s a new wave coming.

Hope you enjoy the song.

-J.P.

Thanksgiving

I’m back! Today is the first day I got out dressed since we last spoke. It was a rough few days of aches and pains, a cough and cold sweats. I haven’t been sick like that in at least a year. But I made it back just in time to get up to Bryana’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving. Happy Turkey Day!

This year, I’m thankful for the family in friends in my life, as I am always. I’m thankful to have my health and my freedom and the luxury to follow my dreams in this life. I’m also thankful for the lessons I’ve learned trying to execute this vision and for anyone who’s listened to one of the songs we released this year or laughed at something we put online. I feel truly lucky to be in the position I am, and I’m going to make a point to keep that in the back of my mind when I want to complain in the future.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about some music. Peace.

-J.P.

Friendsgiving

I love the holidays. There are few things I love more than hanging out and eating food with my friends, sharing some quality time together. Unfortunately I think I may be coming down with something. But we’ll get through this. I’m determined to get well in time for the holidays. I have plans damnit! I’m gonna get some rest. I’ll keep you updated. Be well friends. Drink water.

-J.P.

A Thing About Space

This is something Bryana and I were talking about today and I think the concept has some merit to it. It’s important to keep your space clean and free of clutter. What you’re doing is physically making space for new energy and opportunity to come in. Also, if you’re looking around at things that need to be fixed or cleaned up, that takes a lot of your energy away from your goal of attracting more abundance into your life. You need to prepare yourself for the good things. Make some space. This weekend, I’ll tell you about some new songs that came out recently.

-J.P.