The Heat Death of the Universe

Summer is here and the time is right, for dancing in the street. Dancing in the street! No, just kidding. I actually don't dance but I have gone to the club on a few occasions to do just that. What this post is actually about is working all day in 100 degrees California summer heat.

I've been back at work for only two days so far but both days were all day ventures doing work outside; carts and cart handle cleaning duty. Both require a lot of strength, endurance, and will power to complete without being overly tired when you get home. So, without further adieu, here are tips and tricks for working all day in the California summer sun, or as I like to call it, the heat death of the universe. 

1) Drink water: Okay, so this is a given. But only you personally know how much water you need at any specific time. Maybe you only need one bottle of water and that will last you 3 hours, perhaps you drink one bottle and you feel thirsty again 10 minutes later. This depends on the individual. When you're working outside you don't want to be going in and out to the bathroom all day. So you want to drink water and/or other drinks but drink them conservatively. For example, I'll chug a bottle of water when I'm super thirsty but only drink small amounts when I've got more energy. 

2 a) Move your body and do all physical tasks with no tension in the body, likewise, breathe easy breaths: Alright, so this is probably the most difficult bullet point because most people who work outside all day do physical labor that requires a lot of strength and endurance. It's easier said than done but essentially all you're doing is standing, walking, moving, and doing all your tasks with the least amount of effort, resulting in a relaxed body, easing all tensions. This is where Flanders comes in with his famous Simpsons line, "It's almost as if I'm wearing, nothing at all." 

2 b) The other part is breathing. This is the most complicated part of this post because there isn't any one true, right, or wrong way to breathe. What works for me when I'm out in the blazing sun is that I'm so calm and relaxed, that it's almost as if I'm not breathing. Of course, I actually am, it's just that I'm breathing such small, shallow, but essential breaths that I don't even realize it, feel it or think about it. What helped me a lot with this is actually meditation, guitar sessions, and live performances in front of people where I had to calm nerves by controlling my breathing. When I used to have more time for meditation I would exclusively focus on my breathing and do variations of breathing. Try breathing exercises and see what works for you. This is what works for me. Now I feel as if I'm a fish in water. "I dreamt I was a butterfly."  

3) Don't think too much; Thinking a lot requires energy, which we want to conserve as much as possible. This is where your zen training from meditation and breathing comes in. No matter how boring the work outside is, you can't eventually realize that this is boring, this sucks, and start thinking about a million other things. If you do that, then your head isn't in the game. If your head isn't in the game you're using energy to think about other stuff. The energy used in thinking about other stuff will whittle you down until you forget about the work you're doing, resulting in a piss poor job done.  "You're fired!"

4) Lastly, get plenty of rest. Even if you do all this stuff perfectly you will still be tired eventually even if it's two days later. For me, I don't get tired the day I work. For others, they might get tired sooner, or perhaps later if they are a super physically fit Superman. The point is that you want your muscles to be relaxed and have no tension every day that you work. The only way to achieve this Herculean task is by making sure you get plenty of rest. I recommend sleeping 6 1/2, 7 1/2, to 8 hours every night. Doing more makes me groggy. Doing less makes me think too much and have little strength. I recommend drinking chamomile tea before bed to relax the nervous system and fall asleep more easily. Other people that are so inclined might want to smoke some marijuana or have a shot of liquor. Whatever works best for you. Just make sure to get plenty of rest. 

 "Here comes the Sun King...Everybody's happy..."

Punk show last night

Last night I went to a pretty sick show at the Sugar Mill Saloon. The show was sponsored by Demon Candy Promotions. I was around for three bands. All great. 

The first band was Kittenhead. They're a female-led group consisting of a white chick frontwoman singer, a black chick guitarist, an Asian chick bassist, and a white dude on drums. Talk about diversity! I actually haven't seen a band like that live before. The guitarist and bassist kept switching off instruments. They were proficient at guitar and bass, both of them. However, the Asian chick was the better guitarist. But the black chick was funkier. 

They reminded me of the 90s bands fronted by women like The Cars. But they had a more punk rock edge. The three girls sang vocals and sometimes they switched off between lead vocals. The black chick even had songs where she rapped. And she was good. And funky with her guitar playing. They weren't terrific or remarkable in any particular way. Rather, they were the perfect rock band. Perfect in the sense that you know that these musicians aren't remarkable on their own. However, when they come together as a band they are greater than the sum of their parts. Wowie zowie! 

The second band was called Rosemary Reyes. Loudest band I've ever heard in my life. The guitarist even told me outside the bar that he couldn't hear himself. "Did it sound good?" Sure did, buddy. Okay, first of all, this band is one of a kind and I will never see another band quite like it. For starters, the band is fronted by a 72-year-old woman! 

The guitarist was quite good. He was playing an old 1950s guitar, possibly a Silvertone from the looks of it. He had a Vox half stack setup. He had a great fuzzed-out guitar tone emanating throughout the place. Honestly, his guitar playing was carrying the whole band from start to finish. The old lady singing was doing a punk rock snarl throughout every song. I couldn't understand a word. It was all gibberish. So much for punk rock. BUT...the fact that she's fronting a punk band at that age is freaking inspiring. She's a true inspiration. Even though I wasn't a fan of her vocals she looked cool and even sounded cool. 

I was very impressed with the guitar player. He was playing punk rock so his guitar playing was limited to just hardcore rhythms, power chords, and open chords. He did do one solo but it was like maybe ten seconds long. But he made it sound so good. His guitar was an old 1950s model. It's quite fascinating how those old guitars from the 50s actually look futuristic like they could've been made in 2020. Those were the days. They were so loud. I've never seen a band play there that sounded so loud. It was quite good. The young drummer killed it with a lot of hardcore fills. The bassist was very good as well. Talk about fuzz tone.

The last band was Swords of Fatima. The group consists of a girl singing and playing guitar with just a drummer. Because it's just a duo it sounds more rock and roll, more visceral, more raw, more punk rock, maybe even more blues. I didn't stay for the whole set but the drummer was on point. And her guitar playing was great, especially her rhythms. 

It was late and I called it a night. A good show indeed. You can listen to these bands on YouTube but those videos aren't as good as the real, live, thing. Women in rock and roll are pretty damn cool. 

Open Jam Tunes

Hey, what's going on everybody? Here are two tunes from last week's open jam. First we have Hey Joe, a Hendrix cover.

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/hey-joe 

I did my best to cover the vocals, I'm still working a lot on my singing. When it comes to the solo I do my best Hendrix-esque guitar licks. I think I do a pretty job of keeping it in that 60s rock guitar vein. 

Surprisingly the solid state Line 6 amp used for the jams sounded pretty great here. I really like this drummer on this one. He's a guy that comes occasionally to the jams. Its funny, he wanted to do Manic Depression but when I could barely play the riff (I forgot it) we had to stop and play Sunshine of Your Love instead (laughs). 

However, I did learn Manic Depression and I'll be ready to play it the next time he's there. 

Anyways, I think that this is my best cover of Hey Joe I've ever done live, so there's that. 

And then for the next tune we have Sunshine of Your Love by the Cream, a song I've been playing at the jam for a while now. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-most-recent-version

Hearing this back now I think I've done a lot better with my vocals. Still needs work (better tone) if I want to be more professional but its not bad as of right now, at least to my ears. The Hendrixian guitar licks are plentiful and are sounding good as usual. One thing I need to work on is singing louder and with more oomph, ya know. Add some more power and energy into it. 

With this solo here I think it sounded pretty good. Not too much wankery (shredding a la guitar pyrotechnics from the 80s), focusing on hitting the good sounding notes, bending the strings, beginning, middle, end, and then back to the vocals. I like it. 

Enjoy the music!