My sleep schedule got thrown out of wack after DJing 2 late night gigs in a row. All I did today was sleep in, pick up my suit from the dry cleaners, take a nap, eat, then prep music, notes & gear for tomorrow’s wedding. Now I’m back in bed ready to go back to sleep. Zzzz…
This afternoon I went on 3.65 mile hike, then delivered my blanks to Jimmy at Downtown Screen Printers so they can print me a new batch of San Jose (EMNSJ) shirts. Later, I went to Meeting of the Minds, the collaborative paint party, and painted a fun piece with my fiends Catrina & Eddie. When I got home, and in bed I started sketching out the design for a new mural I’m working on. Tomorrow night I’m DJing & hosting karaoke for a high school graduation party at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk from midnight till 2 AM. Busy, busy, busy…
It’s almost 4 AM and I’m still winding down after my gig tonight. The event itself was nothing spectacular, I’m just excited the week is over. Tomorrow I’m getting a little rest and some me time before jumping into a new mural and DJing more gigs later this week.
I’m back home after spending the day in Elk Grove. I’m all set to DJ tomorrow’s wedding in Monterey. Monday, I get to sleep in before starting work on a new mural design!
It took me 4 hours to prep the music and all my notes for two events this weekend. A 50th anniversary party in Woodside on Friday and a wedding in Monterey on Sunday. I had to prep for Sunday’s event tonight because on Saturday I’m going to Elk Grove for my grandma’s surprise birthday party. It’s a busy weekend, and a lot of driving, but I’m ready to crush and have a little fun!
A 1.5 hour drive through the Santa Cruz mountains. 3 different location setups. Hot ass day. Ceremony in the sun. Sweated my balls off. 6.5 hour long event. 1 hour drive back home. I’m tired as fuck but can’t sleep.
Tomorrow I’m DJing a wedding so tonight I spent a few hours preparing music, notes and logistics for the equipment. This is normal. I’m in DJ Mode long before the ceremony starts
My 2021 federal & state tax returns are filed. After 3 days of staring at spreadsheets I was mentally done as well. I spent the rest of the day in bed watching movies. Tomorrow I might go for a hike before prepping for a last minute vending & live painting event on Wednesday. It’s at a weed store on 4/20 so it should be interesting!
I’m still preparing my taxes. All my income & expenses are in order and I’ve started plugging numbers into TurboTax. Tomorrow is the deadline and, I think, I have until midnight to file. Hopefully it won’t take me that long.
I spent most of the day reviewing self employment expenses & income. I want to make sure my records are bulletproof before I plug any data into TurboTax. I wish I had done this part sooner.
Tonight I DJ’d my first wedding in almost 2 years and I’m happy to report I still got it! I was afraid my MCing & DJing was going to be rusty but once I started going through the motions it all came back to me. 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!
Today I agreed to take on 5 DJ gigs with my old work. The place I worked for 7 years before the pandemic. The events are in April & May of this year. Just a couple weeks ago I thought I had DJ’d my last gig and now I’m gonna give it another go. This will technically make it year 8. I hope I’m not too rusty.
I got to Eastridge around 12:30 in the morning. Long after the mall closed and after the last movie at the AMC Theater let out. After the security guard let me in I pretty much had the mall to myself. After getting getting situated I set up the projector, to trace my design onto the wall. After a few minutes trying to focus the image I realized the projector was not powerful, or big enough, to work. I need a bigger & brighter projector ASAP! Today was lost and I can't come in tomorrow because I'll be working the 31 Skulls event for Local Color, then going to my buddy's show afterwards. The soonest I can be back at Eastridge is Sunday night, if I get my hands on the right projector. I DM'd my buddy Mike, who's got a heavy projector he uses for drive-in movie nights at his ranch. I hope he can let me borrow it! Stay tuned...
Tonight I went into work to prep for the 31 Skulls Giveaway + Art Party we're having on Saturday. I laid out black linens across the counters where we'll have all the skulls on display. A couple weeks ago I mounted some lights above the counter to light the skulls as well. There's still much more work to do in preparation so I'm going back in tomorrow to do some more. Here's the link to register for a chance to win a skull on Saturday. I started drawing/painting on my skull with black markers this evening and it's starting to come alive. I have to be really careful not to smudge the wet paint while I'm holding the it so I only did half the skull tonight. I was running out of spots I could hold. I hope I can finish it by tomorrow night. In other 31 Skulls news, the video I edited finally got posted on Local Color's Instagram & Facebook pages to promote the skulls giveaway + art party on November 20th. I spent a good chunk of the day looking for the perfect typeface for a logo I'm working on. I went through all my pre-installed Adobe fonts then all the additional fonts available for download. I picked twelve then narrowed it down to eight. I mocked them up then emailed them to the client (my sister in law) and she picked the winner. The logo still needs a bit of polish but it's getting there.
Today I worked on the sponsorship packet design for Local Color's 31 Skulls fundraising campaign. This was a first for me. I've seen them before and recently learned more about them. Organizations use them for fundraising. They have different levels based on contribution amount, each with different perks for those who choose to sponsor events. I had a little involvement with the actual content of the packet but I handled all the design. I did have to look at a few examples to get an idea of what to do. I'm waiting on the team at Local Color to get back to me with edits and to finish writing out all the content before the board members start sending them out to potential sponsors. I hope this makes us lots of money!
Tonight I started vectorizing a sketch I made for my sister in law's house cleaning business. I drew the pencil sketch weeks ago but I'm finally getting around digitizing it now. I started by building the shapes in Illustrator on the computer then drawing them in Fresco on the iPad. I drew most of the tattered ribbon tonight and plan on having a finished sample by tomorrow.
Tonight I worked on this video for the 31 Skulls Fundraiser for Local Color. This is the second annual event where Local Color commissions artists to decorate ceramic skulls which then get used as prizes in a raffle. I'm spearheading the fundraiser this year and thought it'd be fun to make it like a sequel to a horror flick and gave it the subtitle, "Revenge of the Skulls." This video might change a little before it's official release but my goal was to highlight all the participating artists, in a cool way, and hopefully get people excited about the event! As if October wasn't busy enough with work, vending & my art install at MLK Library, I'm gonna do Inktober again! That's where you draw an ink drawing everyday in October. I've done it the last 3 years in a row and I want to make it 4. I didn't draw one today, for the first, because I was vending downtown so I'm gonna draw 2 tomorrow. I'm already lagging! One of my jobs at Local Color is to compile and send out their two email newsletters. One is the A.R.C.H. (Artists Reaching Creative Heights) Network Newsletter. It's a weekly listing of job opportunities, grants & paid gigs for artists. The other is the Monthly Newsletter with updates about the organization. Today I worked on both and sent them out to subscribers.
If you'd like to read the two latest newsletters: If you'd like to subscribe: I was up late working last night and didn't go to bed till after 4 in the morning and today I paid for it! I didn't have enough energy to make through the day and had a to take nap before sitting down to work on the monthly newsletter for Local Color. I've crept back in tweaker vampire hours after not needing to go in to work in the mornings. I must get back to normal people hours.
A teaser poster I designed for the 31 Skulls 2021 Fundraiser by Local Color. The image is a still from footage my brother, Sunny, filmed at Redwall Studio last week. This is the first big fundraising event I'm working at Local Color. Wish us luck!
After biking 13 miles last Sunday, hurting my knee, working 7 days in a row and ending the week DJing the Local Color Estate Sale, I finally took a day off to rest. I spent most of the day in bed watching TV (two episodes of Star Wars: Visions) & movies (The Outsiders & Die Hard). Tomorrow I go back to work on 31 Skulls duty. Figuring out how we're going to run this year's fundraiser.
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Frankie Mcfly's
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