Hello. So it's now december and an entire season has passed since I last posted anything. I don't know what prompted me to post something now, on this day, but there is something bizarre about it. When I loaded the site to write this, I noticed a comment on my previous post. From 2 hours ago. From my brother. Telling me to update this shit! I was completely unaware of the comment before I saw it. FUCKING WEIRD RIGHT?! I guess brothers really are on the same wavelength sometimes.

Anyway. Part of the reason I haven't been paying attention to this is because I've been working so much. Here's a rough draft one that never made it up from the beginning of September:

"Posts on here have been few and far between as of late. I thought that with the entire month of August off from work, I'd be able to write some and keep this interesting. What ended up happening was another week of work, two weeks of traveling (more on this later), and a week of slacking off. It's suddenly september again and now I'm back to the grind.

I'm writing this from the studio, while I wait for 45 minutes of leonard cohen acapellas to print. It's my first day back in the studio today, not counting the previous two days of setup. From now until christmas, I'll be spending 15 hours a day here. Although having this job means not having any time for myself, I'm actually really excited to be back."

Now there's just a couple weeks until my xmas break. Three glorious weeks off. I'd like to say I'll write a goddamn novel up here for yall but it's pretty unlikely, so merry christmas and happy new year. Maybe I'll surprise everyone with a winter vacation update. PEACE!

Chris Brown - Dreamer

I recorded this song with mr. brown just a few months ago, and it's now part of a promotion for the US olympic team. Sweet! Let's see if I get my credit.

Spiders On Drugs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

Devendra Banhart: "Carmensita" with Natalie Portman.

I'm Jon Check and I'm craaazzy

First Ever Moog Guitar

Posted some new photos to flickr

if anyone is interested.

Iggy and the Stooges

This post inspired by a book I've been reading.. "Please Kill Me."

Listening to the new Coldplay

..right where it was mixed.

My own Cut-and-Paste-iffiti

The Burg is Back!!

The Burg is a hilarious online-only show about a group of hipsters living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I'm a huge fan and so is every person I've told about it. There hasn't been a new episode since Christmas of 2007, but three days ago, to my surprise, I opened iTunes and whaddayaknow there's a new episode downloading. Here's the included episode synopsis:

Spring discovers her favorite coffee shop has been replaced by a condo development.

Hi. You may have noticed that we here at The Burg haven't posted in a long time. You might be wondering why.

Here's the short version.

When we started this project, there were no rules. Anyone could do anything on the internet, make content however long and ambitious as they wanted, and as long as it was good, it would garner attention. We were proof of that. Now, for many reasons, it is almost impossible for a producer to make a good show with decent production values, a length over three minutes, and pay their cast and crew a living wage, without having it paid for up front by a product integration sponsorship deal. It is almost impossible to get such a sponsorship deal unless you can guarantee millions of aggregate views. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that you need 60 pieces of content, and the shorter the better. Never mind that 90 second episodes provide barely enough time to meet a character and results in little more than a strictly plot-driven series of unsatisfying cliffhangers. Some sponsors think audiences don't really care about story or quality - they want quantity, and lots of it.

We here at The Burg call bullshit on that. We think the future of teevee on the internet is in its ability to help a show find its specific, targeted, vocal fan base. Forget the 2 million who watch thirty seconds, one time. The show is not for them. We're after the 200,000 who watch the entire episode, the entire catalog, love it, and wait for more.

We want to make our show for its fans. And we want a sponsor who understands our fans, knows what they actually want, and knows that they won't buy a Ford Focus because we have Courtney and Spring test drive one in a throwaway episode. And we want your help.

Over the next four weeks, we are releasing four shorts that we shot earlier in the year. They are a bridge to our intended second season of The Burg. If we can get each of these shorts watched 200,000 times, we think we will be able to convince a sponsor that The Burg 2 is a worthwhile investment. So help us out.



- Pass us along.

- Add our videos to your blogs, Facebook profiles, Myspace pages. Our hosting partner Blip makes a great player that is embeddable. Use it.

- Join our group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6159242774)

- Befriend us on Myspace (www.myspace.com/theburgtv)

- Blog or write about us.

Our little Internet neighborhood will thank you for it.

From The Burg Cast and Crew

The Hamptons: Day One

I went on a trip to the Hamptons with Greg this past weekend. Here's what happened.

It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon in new york city, the good weather arriving just in time to kick off memorial day weekend. I got a phone call from Greg. "Ryan, we need to go to the Hamptons. I need an adventure."

About two hours later, we had tickets to Montauk and were boarding an LIRR train in Jamaica, Queens. Never having been to the hamptons, we bought tickets to montauk because that's the last stop on the train. We weren't necessarily even going to montauk, but it made sense to just get a ticket to the farthest place we could go. During the ride, we made a bunch of phone calls and asked other people on the train where we would get in the most kicks. Eventually we decided on the Hampton Bays stop.

A pretty big crowd exited the train with us. A good mix of young people and families. Within seconds, most of them had taken off in cabs or limos, leaving Greg and I standing in front of the station, virtually nothing around. I spotted two last girls getting into a cab and asked one where the party was. Her friend replied "Beach Bar!" The one I asked the question to replied, "I don't know can you shut that door please thanks."

Ok so beach bar it was then. A cab driver approached us and said he'd take us to beach bar. For fifteen dollars. Fifteen dollars?? (later on we would know full well how ridiculously expensive everything is here.) Fine lets do it, take us to beach bar. The driver told us on the way over thats it's pretty much the best place to go on a Friday night here, especially during memorial day weekend. Our spirits were high. About 10 minutes later we were being dropped off in front of this bar.

There was NOTHING else around. All woods and dark houses. No stores, no people, rarely a car driving by. We started to walk in and were immediately hassled by the four bouncers at the door. "We have to check those backpacks. And you can't bring them in there, you gotta leave them here at the door. We're tougher than JFK over here," the big fellow said, with a definite attitude. We handed over our backpacks and walked in. We were literally the first people there. Only bartenders running around preparing for a supposed huge party. We got two coronas for $6 apiece and drank them quickly, because being the only two people in a bar is pretty weak. We decided to leave and come back later when there would be more people. We grabbed our backpacks from the guys out front and as we were leaving, one of them made a comment to me that I "can't wear a white t-shirt in there by the way. You gotta get a shirt." Dick.

The cab driver had told us there was a motel just two blocks down the road from the bar. Not having a place to stay, or any plan whatsoever really, we went to check out how much a room would cost for the night. Mind you, this was not exactly the Four Seasons. It was a very small motel, not unlike the ones you find all over the Jersey Shore. Doors lining two levels of balcony. Nothing crazy. We walked into the office and inquired about a room for the night.

"Well we are only taking bookings for two-night stays right now, I'll have to check with my manager if we can book you for just one night." Said manager comes over. The two women bicker in Russian for a minute and say one night is ok.

"How much for one night?"

"One night is four hundred dollars."

"Excuse me?"

"Four hundred dollars for one night, but if you want to stay two nights we will only charge you seven hundred fifty."

(At this moment we were both starting to realize how ridiculously expensive everything is here.)

Close jaw. Exit motel office. New plan: Find a 7 Eleven and buy a boatload of beer so we don't spend a fortune at the bar. There were a bunch of young guys drinking outside the door to their overpriced room, so we approached them and greg asked if there was a store nearby where we could obtain some beers. He gave us some drunken directions and said something about it not really being within walking distance and us being crazy, and we set off. And walked. And walked some more. In all it was probably about three or four miles to this 7 Eleven, all along pitch black roads through residential areas, not another human being in sight. Even still, we were in a great mood. We had a plan to get some beer, and a place to party after we drank some of this beer, and this would definitely be a fun night. Not having a place to sleep that night did not bother us in the least. If all else failed, we would just stay up until dawn and then sleep on the beach. We considered during our walk what Jack Kerouac would do in our situation, and we felt we were right in line.

As we got closer to where this 7 Eleven was, we recognized something. The fucking train station. We had walked all the way back to the train station. The 7 Eleven was basically right across the street. We thought this was hilarious. We bought 4 24 oz. Modelo cans, a six pack of bud light, and some pistachios and granola bars.



We put all of this into our backpacks and started walking. Back to the beach bar. Again, this was a very long walk so by the time we were back at the beach bar, we each had 48 ounces of Modelo in our bellies. Not trusting the bouncers, we stashed our backpacks in the woods this time (which I later discovered was actually a giant thorn bush) and put on sweatshirts and stood in the line that now existed outside the bar. When we got to the front, we were told there was a $20 cover (the full picture of how ridiculously expensive everything is here was really coming into focus now). We debated for a minute whether it was worth it. The argument basically went like this:

"Twenty dollars is a lot of money man."

"Yeah it is but what else are we gonna do?"

"True. And there are about one million fine girls in there too."

"Ok let's do it."

We paid our $40 and entered the bar. It was packed full of young hamptonites getting drunk and dancing like fools. To save time, I'll just say we were here for a few hours, got drunk, and met a group of brazilian girls, one of whom offered to let us stay with her. Greg and I and Brazilian Girl left in a cab back to her place, which was in Southampton. It was a very expensive cab ride, and a fun one, singing all the brazilian music we knew, like Waters of March. We arrived at her little cottage, which is right on the bay, an absolutely beautiful area. Passed out.

Monkeys Control a Mechanical Arm with Their Thoughts

Get ready for the robot monkey uprising.

Memorial Day Weekend

I am currently in the process of writing up the full story of this past weekend. Greg Barbone and I, as chris renne so eloquently put it, went to the hamptons with nothing but backpacks and 2 days worth of an empty schedule. It was an adventure to say the least, and the story should be finished soon. In the meantime, here's a photo I took of a sunset over the bay in southampton.

Flying Penis

I'm a little late on this, but if you haven't seen this, you need to. Story here.

Photo of the Day

This is my neighbor's friendly little feline, who likes to jump on my window sill and stare at me.

This is awesome.

From kottke.org: "The music video for my song 'Alice', an electronic piece of which 90% is composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland'."

More Cut-and-paste-iffiti

Photo of the Day

Shameless Plug killing it

scratchitti?!

Riding the L train, I saw on the video screen that subway graffiti and scratchitti are punishable by law. What the hell is scratchitti you may ask.. Apparently this is what people are calling graffiti in which no marker or paint is involved, just carvings into glass or other surfaces. Technically, this should just be called graffiti.

It turns out graffiti, and graffito (the singular), come from the italian word graffiato, meaning "scratched." So originally, the word graffiti referred to carvings or imagery scratched into a surface. Since then, the word has evolved to include any kind of drawing on a public surface. What is crazy to me is that the word's meaning, or at least people's understanding of it, has changed to the point that a new word is being made up to fit the original definition. Even worse that the new word is so stupid sounding. Does this happen often in language?

I've noticed a new form of vandalism in the subways lately. Someone (or some people) is going around slicing out parts of posters and pasting them onto other posters, to comical or ironic effect. I hereby declare this new form of subway poster vandalism Cut-and-paste-iffiti, which is just as dumb-sounding as scratchitti.

brief geek alert.

I use Safari as my main browser, and always use command-T or command-click to open links in a new tab instead of a new window. This tends to keep things a little less cluttered. The only problem was google. Regardless of what keys I pressed, google sites like gmail and google reader always opened links in an entirely new window. Annoying to say the least. This little Terminal command remedies the situation and gets Safari to stick to one window.

Just open Terminal and type in the command below. Hit enter and you're all set.

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

Grand Theft Auto for NES

Busta Rhymes VIDEO

Here's the video for the new busta rhymes single "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On 'Em)". (which I recorded.. heh heh). Classic busta rhymes, just like the video for Gimme Some More. Check it!

A Turtle, with Wheels

From kottke.org:

After Jim Lee's turtle was hurt in an auto accident, she never regained the use of her hind legs. Instead of letting her die, Lee affixed hind wheels to her shell to help her get around. That's right, a turtle with wheels:

After some weeks Little Bit seemed to have made a full recovery except for the use of her hind legs. So some wheels seemed to be the way to go. Some lightweight model airplane wheels on a wire frame did the trick. The removable wheels were secured by a velcro strip epoxied to her plastron. The velcro strips on the carapace were removed after four months. She was eating, drinking, and exploring all the rooms of my house. Eventually she was able to move around outside as well.

Light Drawings

Eric Staller is a photographer who does some interesting things with light and long exposure times. This one is my favorite of the ones on his site, but they are all pretty amazing.

Well said.

From The Daily Adventures of Mixerman: 

"Discographies are the name of the game in this business. The deeper and hotter your discography is, the better. The recording biz is basically a small controlled lottery. The more albums I work on in the course of a year, the more lottery tickets I have in my possession. The more lottery tickets, the more chances of a hit. Once you have a hit, you get even more lottery tickets."

Caught on Safari: Battle at Kruger

From Rolling Stone: 

Ever come home after a long, hard day and think, "If only I could unwind by watching a buffalo fight a crocodile and a pride of lions at the same time?" Now's your chance. On May 11th, National Geographic airs Caught on Safari: Battle at Kruger, the berserker wildlife battle taped by stunned tourists and viewed 29 million times online. Bloody awesome!

Or you can just watch it right here.

"A great action shot"

I was looking through some of my photo stats on flickr today and came across something interesting. A photo I took of recording drums for the boogie hustlers is being used on the "Recording Drums" page of an educational website called Squidoo. So if someone googles 'recording drums' there is a decent chance they will end up looking at a picture of my half-baked drum miking technique used over a year ago in a cabin in the middle of the woods in pennsylvania. Funny how the internet works.

Photo of the Day

Taken on the corner of Jefferson St. and Irving Ave in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The Daily Adventures of Mixerman

A british engineer by the name of Andy McKim Parker turned me on to this hilarious novel of sorts called The Daily Adventures of Mixerman. A real-life engineer (who keeps his identity a secret by only referring to himself as Mixerman) gives a day by day account of a massively complicated recording session. What's great is that it's not very technical at all, and even if you know nothing about engineering or recording you will find it hysterically funny. I've only read through the first day, but I'm hooked already. The majority of it is all online for free, but the last part is only included in the book, which is not free, but probably worth your money. Check it out.

Scarlett Johansson: Falling Down

Don't get too excited, this has nothing to do with scarlett johansson actually falling down, but rather the new VIDEO for her song Falling Down. The music is pretty good, and the video is similar to Lost in Translation in that there are long shots of her looking sideways contemplatively. Which is fine because she is gorgeous.

In other news, I met a girl on the street yesterday who looks exactly like miss johansson. I didn't get her name or number, which is probably stretching the definition of met, but if you are out there somehow reading this, and you feel that you look like scarlett johansson, please contact me. I'm the guy who was looking for the store full of lights.

Low Headroom

This sign should be in more places, like on most of the cheap audio gear they sell at guitar center. And on joemeek outboard eq's.

Table for One

I'm writing this from a starbucks in chinatown, where I have a session in a couple hours. (in chinatown, not at starbucks). I got here early because I wasn't sure where exactly the studio is, but as soon as I exited the Subway and got to street level, I saw the building right across canal street. So now I suddenly had about 3 hours to kill before getting to the studio early. What to do what to do.. I walked around the block a few times, just taking in the sights and the sounds and the smells, making eye contact multiple times with the same people as I traced and retraced my steps around this one block. I'm sure these few people where wondering what the hell I was doing exactly. After a few rounds of this I decided I would get some food. I am in chinatown after all, and figured the chinese food must be pretty good anywhere you go. I've eaten in this part of town a couple times before and have never been disappointed.



Eventually I found a place called Excellent Dumpling House on Lafayette Street. I walked in and the hostess greeted me and said "One?" I replied "Yes, thank you," and was immediately led to a round table in the back where three other people were sitting. By the time I was able to give a confused look to the waiter who sat me there, he was gone and there was a menu in front of me. Apparently at this particular excellent dumpling house, a table for one means a table with all the other solo diners there. Now I've been to other places where you sit and eat with strangers, like at Whole Foods for example. Except there, you can decide where you want to sit, like next to that cute girl eating sushi. Here, they sit you right where they want you, at a circular table where a bunch of strangers face each other unwillingly and slurp down noodles and soup and what have you. I'm pretty sure the guy across from me scoffed when I asked for a fork to eat my fried rice. Whatever man, at least I'm not here alone. Oh wait. This all while the woman directly to my left is sniffling because her soup is too spicy, which in combination with her also SLURPING her soup into her mouth made for a fantastic annoyance. I answered my cell phone right at the table when it rang, not caring whether these people were bothered. It was an interesting meal. But yes, the food was excellent.

This is an Awareness Test

Mister Disc!

This is awesome. I'm not sure how practical, but nevertheless, awesome. Mister Disc!

Eagle vs. Goats feat. Florez

This is fascinating and disturbing all at the same time. Be sure to watch at least the first minute.

Recording in Progress!

I'm recording Matt Check's first studio album in six years.. Right now.

Photo of the Day

Greg pointed out this building on HoustOn last week.

This is such a great poster

cool photo of the day

aerial shot of a lumberyard

Taken 5 minutes ago.

Apple Store - The Burg?

It looks like there are two new Apple retail stores coming to New York. One of them is rumored to be located right in williamsburg, brooklyn. I can only imagine the hipster crowds that will gather there if this is true. 

(via tuaw)

some thoughts about the road..

So I've been reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac, whose name I can easily spell thanks to a boogie hustler lyric. The book is the most well-known of a series of novels telling of Kerouac's extensive travels across the country. I started reading it to try and make some sense of the seemingly random travels I've been on with Busta Rhymes over the last eight months. I must say that I was working most of the time, and really only had very brief glimpses of what Kerouac experienced. Still, the spontaneity of it all excited me. There was something special, romantic even, about never knowing where I'd be in a day's time, constantly meeting new people and seeing new places.

I had the same feeling when I went backpacking in europe a few years ago with my college roomate Ben. Sleeping in hostels in foreign countries, I dreamt of just traveling the world with no real destination in mind. I wanted to travel simply to travel and see as much as I could. So naturally, I was pumped about heading to the UK with my family only a month after getting back from europe. After that, I was home for almost exactly one year, before taking off with Busta from August until the end of March, then moved into an apartment in Brooklyn April 1st.  There was also a trip to puerto rico with my friend Marty squeezed in there at the end of February. And just this past weekend I went on a road trip to the midwest with chris renne and mary niewola.

So I've been doing a lot of traveling, and I believe it's been life-changing somehow. But despite my enjoyment of it all, there's always been something in the back of my mind calling it all a waste.  Gathering all these unique experiences has been exhilarating, but when all my meetings are in passing, what is gained? It's a search for something I can't quite put my finger on, but still want to find. Perhaps the answer is at the end of On the Road, but I doubt it. As for now I have no immediate plans to travel anywhere at all. Instead I plan on getting to intimately know NYC, my new home, which is quite possibly the greatest city in the world, and has been at my doorstep this whole time.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is, but I felt like getting these thoughts out in some kind of medium. I hope I haven't bored anyone. If you've been on a cool trip lately, leave a comment.

rode a mongoose till it was dark.

So I've been absent from this blog for quite some time now. Here's a quick rundown of what's new:

1. I am no longer on the road with Busta Rhymes. 

All the recording for the new album is finished, and the first single is already on the radio in New York and elsewhere. It's called Don't Touch Me, which makes me look like a jerk when I say "I recorded the new busta rhymes single, don't touch me." The album should be out early summer, look for my name in the liner notes!

2. I moved to Brooklyn. 

I got an apartment with my good friend Greg Barbone in Bushwick just a couple weeks ago, and have since been very preoccupied with such things as caulking my baseboards and scraping multiple layers of paint off of windows. The apartment is awesome and the studio room is basically set up, save for some acoustic panels and artwork to liven it up a little. Right now its basically a room full of keyboards with a computer and some other assorted goods.

3. I am older.

This past Sunday, I turned the fantastical age of 24.  And thanks to my loving brothers, I am the proud owner of a new George Foreman Grill.  It's actually from the future, which George calls "THE NEXT GRILLERATION." It works great, and warms my buns while I grill things.

4. Conclusion

That's about it, give or take an excursion to the midwest and some frozen porkchops.  Now that I am kind of settled into this apartment and finally have the internet here, you can expect more regular posts from me again.  See you soon.

photo op

In front of the MET this afternoon, I saw a beat old puerto rican guy yelling maniacally in Spanish. I watched as he hassled the guy running an Italian ice stand and bothered multiple tourists walking by. I passed by him and went to sit on the ledge of a fountain to look at pictures I'd taken so far. As the hobo came nearer to me he saw my camera and stopped short with a strange grin on his face. I motioned like I was going to take his picture and he put on a big gap-toothed smile and struck a few ridiculous poses right there on the sidewalk. I wasn't sure if wanted money for his modeling, but I gave him a buck and said gracias before he moved on to scare some tourists on the next block.

That's 10k in cash boiii

Theremin

Video of Pamelia Kurstin playing a theremin. Not bad, but she's no Clara Rockmore.  If you've never attempted to play a theremin, I can tell you first hand that it's almost impossible.

So that's where all the tape machines are..

(inside jim hensen's studio complex)

Still Driving

This is what the past two days have looked like.

How We Roll: continued

One of my main gripes with this job (and there are a few) is the way we record. In the picture in the previous post, you can see a vocal booth in the background with an AKG C12 on a nice mic stand. From there it's going into an ssl j series and a bunch of outboard gear, and eventually you can listen on the augspurger mains, pro-ac's or ns10s. We'll call this a "real studio."

In the foreground is OUR vocal chain. U87ai going straight into an mbox. And we have a $200 pair of sennheiser headphones. At least it's a real room in this example. Just about every other time, I find myself having to decide which sounds better: a small untreated square room with bare walls or terrible ac hum and wind noise from a fan across the bed.

And what's worse is that there's nothing I can do about it because the talent just does not care about the sound. Which basically makes my job irrelevant. I can explain the situation and the acoustic problems that we'll have until I'm blue in the face, and they'll be duly noted and ignored.

Arghgghjhh

How We Roll

4:30 am. Flipmode Afterparty

Where do you go for flexfuel?

Hearing...

Is a wonderful thing. And they say that you really can't appreciate
something until its gone. So let me just emphasize how much I love my
hearing.

My ears have been all stuffed up for 3 or 4 days now. This has to be
the most infuriating thing ever. My head feels like its going to
explode. I feel like an elderly woman whose hearing aids just aren't
strong enough. I probably look insane constantly feigning yawns and
holding my nose shut while forcing air out of it and tugging at my ear
lobes in a vain attempt to regain the most important of my five
senses. Of course this never works. And driving through massive
elevation changes the whole time and sitting close enough to the bus
engine that it keeps me warm doesnt help. I can't hear a friggin thing.

Until boom. Suddenly my ears pop and all is right with the world
again. Hearing is great. Head colds are not.

like a rich broken family

Since new year's eve, the flipmode crew has lived in two different south beach houses, each worth upwards of $2M. To be clear, this has never been the norm for me, but I have grown so accustomed to these insane living situations that nothing phases me anymore. Maybe part of that is the fact that I know I'll be working the whole time and won't really get to enjoy it. Or it could be the fact that we're usually gone the second I start to get comfortable.

Despite me being jaded, this house is awesome. It's on the bay side of south beach right on the water, with a dock, pool, and hot tub. Five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, two living rooms, dining room, a bar/lounge area, and a huge gym, all on one floor. Also, I just learned that the house being built next door is the future Miami residence of Wyclef Jean. What a trip.

on the tourbus..

Jay-Z starting a record label with Apple?

This rumor has been out for a while, but now there's speculation of an announcement coming as soon as January 15th at the Macworld expo. Jay-Z has also just announced that he is stepping down as president of Def Jam and is interested in working on a new label model. In my experience, labels and the accompanying 'label people' are a shady bunch, especially when it comes to getting paid. The less I have to deal with labels as they exist today the better.  We'll see what happens on the 15th.

I haven't been home since last year!!

After a great time at home with my family and friends, I'm back in miami again and starting 2008.  For new year's eve I was actually at p. diddy's party at his house.  and he was wearing white just like my mom said!  I've also moved into a mansion (where I think they shrink you before you walk in to make everything seem much, much bigger) right in south beach.  I can now officially say that busta rhymes is my roommate.  I'm trying to get him to do a fake episode of cribs for me so I can post it on youtube.  Maybe a whole series. and a music video is on the way for a track from the dillagence mixtape.

This is just a quick update because I'm tired and trying to get back on a normal schedule.

Happy New Year!