I went to a friend’s EP release show and watched her and other musicians perform at a beautiful outdoor venue. Afterwards I went downtown and met up with other friends for pizza & beer before going to the SoFa Street Fair and running into more friends. It was great catching up with everyone. I only wish the day was longer. I’m really looking forward to more events later this year.

I forgot how much time it takes to process a timeline and prepare music for a wedding. I was up all night prepping for tomorrow. My first wedding in almost two years. Wish me luck!

I'm in the early stages of purging a bunch of stuff I've accumulated over the years. Today I went through a bag of stuff I used to have pinned to my bedroom wall in the while I was in high school. Mid to late nineties. I threw away a bunch of crap but held on to these concert flyers. I didn't go to the Danzig or Pantera shows but I think I picked up these flyers around the time I went my first concert, to see Megadeth at the San Jose State Event Center in 1995.

Today I went to the Local Color Keystone studio to get some work done. I'd primarily been working from home these last couple of months. I was on the computer all day till I had to test some audio equipment. They have a couple of 12" speakers there, so I checked to make sure they worked when I plugged them into my DJ controller. They did! I also used my new mic for the first time. I'll be using them when I DJ/MC their Estate Sale on September 26. It should be a fun gig!

Today I met with local artist & musician Ben Henderson, a Local Color member, to talk about music for Local Color's 31 Skulls fundraising campaign/event. Last week Ben recorded a sick 80s style synth recording and shared it on Instagram. I DM'd him and told him about my idea for promoting 31 Skulls like an 80s horror movie and that his music sounded perfect for it. Today I visited him at home and he recorded and produced a minute-long song in a couple of hours. Now I need to attach this audio to some video. I would love to film a campy 80s horror movie scene, complete with grainy footage, and use it in our fundraising campaign this year.

​I attached a snippet of the song below.

I spent two hours this afternoon preparing a background music playlist for my buddy's 40th birthday party today. I sat with him a couple nights ago and went over a bunch of music he liked and today I organized the tracks by genre and created a 5 hour playlist for the party. Afterwards, I gathered my speaker, my old iPhone 4 running Spotify and all the necessary cables before getting ready for the party. Later, when I arrived at his house I could hear music coming from the backyard. When I went back there it turned out my buddy found a Pandora station, with music he liked, to play on his brand new boombox and didn't need my music or gear anymore. Womp-womp-womp... Oh well! Less work for me and I was able to just enjoy the party as a guest. It had been years, longer than the pandemic, since I last saw some of the people there tonight. 

I finally went through all the drawings and sketches I've been hoarding over the years and organized them into piles. One pile is old drawings from middle school & high school, making them 20-25 years old. The other piles are of monsters, aliens, head things, shape things, graffiti, video games as well as a large stack to trash or repurpose. The reason I went through all of them today was to look for an old sketch I did in high school of my buddy Victor's band name, QMI. He ordered a t-shirt of mine yesterday so I wanted to surprise him with a custom button when I ship it to him so I redrew the artwork digitally and colored it in. The design might be a little too detailed for a 1.5" button but I'll find out tomorrow when I print it out.

I spent all day cleaning and at night drew myself dancing with a broom, like Turbo in the movie Breakin’.

I finally got a physical copy of the Wet Bandits' CD, "Elysian." I did the cover artwork then the CD layout at the end of last year. The only thing I'm not too happy with is the way the setting sun gradient came out but oh well.

One of the design projects I'd been working on over the last couple months was finally revealed Saturday night. It was the album artwork for my buddies' band The Wet Bandits. They finally released their new album, "Elysian," on Halloween and made it available to stream on Spotify & Apple Music and purchase via iTunes. My friend, Adam, the guitarist, asked me to design a beat up version of the Warner Brothers water tower. I think it was originally going to be a sticker but obviously turned out to be much bigger. Below are the original sketches from Adam's stick figure drawing to my detailed sketch that eventually turned into the digital illustration. There's also a timelapse video at the bottom of how I began the building out the tower then beating it up in Adobe Fresco. I eventually moved it into the desktop version of Adobe Illustrator to finish it. I also did the CD layout which is currently in production and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy

My buddy, Adam, contracted me to design the cover for his band's upcoming album. I finished it a few weeks ago but he recently asked me to also do the layout for the CD packaging. He sent me the photos and I had to do a bit of editing to finesse them into supplied templates. I also had to drop in the lyrics for 8 of the 9 songs. Once it's approved, and I get permission from Adam to share the artwork, I'll post it on here and ​Instagram. This will be the second CD I've done artwork for and can't wait to have the physical copy in my hands.

I ordered a small drafting table this afternoon that's scheduled to arrive on Friday. I've been wanting a table with an angled drawing surface for a while. After working on those large ink drawings for weeks my back began to hurt, most likely from being hunched over a flat table for hours at a time. I put off working on my "protester" drawing, which still isn't done being penciled, till I got a proper desk. It wasn't very expensive, so I hope isn't dogshit. The reviews were pretty good and I like that it's very basic, just the tilting surface and height-adjustable legs. I even got the last black one in stock.

And in other news... I was going thru boxes of old drawings and snapped a few pictures of drawings I did in my early teens.

1. Power Rangers Suck (1994)  - I think I drew this in summer school between the 5th & 6th grade. I don't know what my beef was with the Power Rangers but I copied the cover of Green Day's album, "Dookie," to shit on the them.

2. Ozzy Osbourne (1995) - This was long before the The Osbournes TV show. I copied the characters that were pulled off the internet in 94-95. I think my cousin Dani printed out a webpage for me at her parents house one day. It might have been my first introduction to the internet. I took the pages home and redrew the little Ozzy characters.

3. Inside an Alien Ship (1996) - I'm not sure if I pinched this too but I definitely took Alien Workshop, an actual skateboard brand, from the ads in Thrasher magazines. I still love this drawing, there's so much to look at, I might redraw it.

About a week & half ago I asked people on Instagram to send me song requests so I can record a mix. I got a whopping 3 requests. They were, "Big Pimpin', Lookout Weekend and El Sonidito" (the beep beep beep song.) Today I set up the rig and recorded a 5-minute mix using 5 songs. 

1. Point Of No Return - Expose
   
2. Look Out Weekend - Debbie Deb
   
3. Big Pimpin’ - Jay Z
   
4. Like That - Cardi B
   
5. El Sonidito - Hechizeros Band

I'm taking requests again for the next mix.

I recorded another quick-mix set. 14 minutes of 80s rock. It took me all day to pick songs and set cue points but I'm happier with this mix than yesterdays. 
​

1. Africa - Toto
2. I Love Rock & Roll - Joan Jett
3. Tom Sawyer - Rush
4. Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
5. I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones
6. Centerfold - J. Geils Band
7. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
8. Valerie - Steve Winwood
9. Livin On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
10. Cum On Feel The Noize - Quiet Riot

My work requested some recorded mixes of music I'd play at weddings, that's quick-mixed in & out of. I tried a few days ago and couldn't do it. My mixes fell apart after a couple songs. I feel that most music I play at weddings sounds better when people are dancing to it. Without an audience, most wedding dance music feels flat to me. Today I tried again but used a few songs I wouldn't normally play at events, focused on what makes me dance and had fun with it. It took a long time to choose the songs and listen to them to find the in & out points. When I finally recorded it it took me two tries to get it right/good-enough. In the end I made this 13 minute mix that starts in the 60s and works its way to the 2000s

1. ​California Dreamin' - Mamas & The Papas
2. My Girl - Temptations
3. Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel
4. Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
5. When I Hear Music - Debbie Deb
6. Now That We Found Love - Heavy D & The Boyz
7. What Is Love? - Haddaway
8. Boom Boom Boom - Outhere Brothers
9. Fergalicious - Fergie
10. Low - Flo Rida

This afternoon I went on Instagram Live and DJ'd a 90-minute set and only stopped when I was booted off Instagram, when it detected certain copyrighted songs. There was a 30-minute chunk from my set, all 80s music, that Instagram won't let me share so I did a screen recording and uploaded it here. The 1st, 3rd & 4th sets (as of right now) are up for a another 18 hours on my Instagram (@frankiemcfly) Enjoy!

• Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
• I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones
• Let's Go Crazy - Prince
• Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo (with a little buffering)
• Sussudio - Phil Collins
• I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany (Favorite since I was a kid and appropriate during SIP)
• Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
• Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics
• Don't You Want Me - Human League
• Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran (by request)
• Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
• My Boo - Ghost Town DJs (90s - Got me thrown off IG Live!)

​

I'm calling this one finished, even I could have spent many more hours tweaking it. I originally drew it 8 years ago. It was inspired by my walks to school every morning, listening to cassettes on my Walkman. 

I went LIVE on Instagram again tonight and drew this dude. I prepped music from my "60s & Older" playlist on Spotify before hitting Record. I learned from last time to check my phone every few minutes and make sure I'm still broadcasting. About 15 minutes in I saw that I was no longer Live and there was a message saying I got booted because of the copyrighted music in the background. I skipped whatever track was playing and hit record again. I was able to broadcast for 30 mins before the video stopped again. I think that's the limit. I fired it up one more time and was able to finish my drawing. The first 15 minutes are gone but you can watch the rest on Instagram (@frankiemcfly) till tomorrow night. I watched the playback and realize it gets kinda boring just watching me draw. If it wasn't so late I'd be talking while drawing. I also need to figure out a way to read the messages while I draw. The rig I built holds my phone 2 feet above my desk and I need to stand up and check that I'm still broadcasting. I want to be able to check the status and respond to comments without stopping what I'm doing. Hopefully I'll have that figured out and make it more entertaining next time.

I shot my first Instagram Live video today. I built a rig to hold my phone over my desk to record myself drawing. I made an hour long playlist on Spotify of 80s music because I read Live videos go up to 60 minutes but my video got cut off around the 30 minute mark. I freestyled the pencils then inked it with Sharpie and Copic markers. I finished it by coloring in the inside shape with a yellow highlighter but no one got to see it. Next time I'll plan for a half hour video.

Follow me on Instagram to catch the next one @frankiemcfly

I took a bunch of photos while I was working on my first Cells painting years ago. I knew I wanted to make something with the photos afterwards so I made a time-lapse of the cells multiplying from the center out (starts at the 1:22 mark) Everything leading up to that is the painting process, cans I used, my workspace, feral kittens, and notes that I scrawled everywhere including the cans.

Here are a few details about the piece: The red can of MTN 94 is only used once as a 5 sided shape in the center. Everyone other color was used multiple times to make 5 & 6 sided shapes until they bled off the sides. I made sure no shape was touching, or too close to the same color shape, so they're all spread out evenly. The 2nd large scale Cells painting I made (Cells MK2) looks very similar but I used a completely different process. For the second one I mapped it all out on my computer first then painted one whole set of the same color at a time. 

I originally posted this on an old YouTube which is still up bit no longer active. Before using the alias Frankie Mcfly I used the handle I Draw Weird Stuff. The song I used is "Singing' In The Rain" by Mint Royale (used without permission) and it synced up almost too perfect.

Another year of changing in restrooms. Tonight's gig was a Roaring 20s themed so I played ragtime & jazz during cocktail hour (it sounds better on paper than at a party) then electro swing at dinner to liven up the event. During open dance I played modern music from the 80s thru 2010s. It's weird to think that all new music going forward will be labeled "20s music." My Spotify is ready. I just hope the new 20s music works better at events than the old 20s.

This was truly a challenge and I'm happy the way my drawings came out. I like them much better than my drawings from the previous two years. This year I drew everything on a separate sketch book before drawing it again in my main book with pencil then inking it. I basically drew each image three times. I used different sized Micron pens, including the Graphic pens and brush pen. When I made booboos I used a white Gelly Roll pen to cover it up. All 31 drawings are original, even tho I copied a few things from last year, and I didn't use any of the official #inktober prompts. If you haven't already figured it out, the number for each day serves as the border to the drawing. If you followed me on Instagram, and viewed my stories, you saw that I added a song to each drawing. The songs usually had something to do with the number or image. That was my DJ brain getting involved.

I DJ'd a corporate event tonight and dance floor was empty soon after we opened it up. Not just the dance floor but the whole room eventually emptied. Everyone went outside to the patio. It's a beautiful venue with string lighting outside, fire pits, heaters, and a bar so I can't blame them. But it got me thinking about my first few years DJing. I used to hate when nobody danced. I felt like I failed to do my job. It would ruin my weekend, sometimes my whole week. What made it worse was playing fast, upbeat dance music to an empty dance floor. After a few more years of DJing I realized there will be occasional empty dance floors but instead of playing nothing but dance songs I've started playing more laid-back & less dancy music. Stuff I usually don't play during dance sets. I figure if people wanna lounge I'll play more lounge type music. Today I don't feel bad if no one wants to dance.

The video below is from a wedding I did exactly 3 years ago today. It was as hot as hell inside and everyone, except for one older gentleman, was hanging out outside or had already left. It was just this one man sitting in a chair directly across from me.  The song was the bride's request and it was just too funny so I filmed a bit of it.

​

Saturdays are for weddings. I've been DJing for 5 years now and this is my usual routine:

• The night before the wedding I'm prepping music requests and typing up my notes.
• On the day-of I start my day with coffee & breakfast before getting ready.
• I change into my load-in clothes. Company polo and khakis. I also pack my suit & shirt for later.
• I load my suit bag, backpack and gig-bag into my car. 
• If I don't have the DJ gear from the night before I drive to pick it up in Scotts Valley.
• After loading out of the warehouse I'm on my way to the venue.
• Once I arrive I check in before unloading my vehicle. I make sure I know where I'm setting up.
• First I setup the ceremony system and do a soundcheck. I usually leave the music playing while I go and setup the main rig.
• I set up the main system where the dancing is going to happen. That includes dance lighting.
• After I'm setup, and all sweaty, I go and change into my suit. Yuck!
• When I'm suited & booted I go and find the officiant and get him/her mic'd up and talk about the ceremony cues.
• When it's go time I'm at the ceremony rig waiting for the coordinator to give me cues to play the processional songs. 
• After the processionals I'm just monitoring the mic levels until the recessional song at the end.
• During cocktail hour I'm usually watching the crowd to get an idea of what the dance floor might look later.
• After cocktails, when everyone is seated for dinner, I line up the wedding party and read out their names making sure I pronounce them correctly.
• Next is the Grand Introduction where I play music and announce the wedding party when they come into the reception. This is usually one of my favorite parts of the day.
• After intros it's usually dinner time and sometimes I have time to relax a bit and eat.
• When dinner's over it's time for toasts, formal dances and open dancing till the end of the night.
• After the last dance I make my final announcement and it's time to change back into my load-in clothes. Usually still wet from my sweat earlier in the day. Double-yuck!
• I strike all the gear, load it back on the cart and wheel it to my car. 
• I drive back to the warehouse, unload the gear and enter my post-event notes in the system.
• I then drive back home, sometimes stopping for food because I'm still hungry.
• It's then time to shower and I usually just hang out for a bit because I've running around all day.
• After that it's already super late and it's time for bed. 
• On Sundays I sleep in.

And that's it! Super easy, right?