Michele Clark's Sunset Sessions are just jam packed with interesting industry peeps and fantastic musicians. The Empty Pockets not only had a chance to play but also see some really rippin' artists, such as the previously blogged about Eric Hutchinson [ blog ]. As we move through the year, we'll be recapping our favorite performances from said awesome artists. Today's positive post: Jason Mraz and Mona Tavakoli!

In the beautiful Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, there are many great places to see a show. Exquisite ballrooms, beautiful terraces and gorgeous vistas all serve as a perfect backdrop for wonderful music. We were lucky enough to experience just such a picturesque mini-concert experience when Jason Mraz performed for the Sunset Sessions crowd in the Santiago Courtyard, the very same place The Empty Pockets had played the day before! The lunch-time show featured a wickedly intimate performance by Jason Mraz and percussionist Mona Tavakoli along with tasty treats served up by Chipotle. Jason even informed us that his farm was supplying the local Chipotle with it's fresh avocados, which we were gobbling up in the burritos and guacamole whilst jamming out.





If you could extend this video out to the right about four feet, you would see The Empty Pockets sitting and rocking, front and center for the festivities. The video above was shot by one of the attendees of the Sunset Sessions and shows how supremely gorgeous the surroundings were and how excellent Jason and Mona both were, even though we can't see Mona's gorgeous face. The video below is a section of the same performance, but you get to see Mona jam out on the solo section. So freaking good!

Needless to say, it was a concert experience The Empty Pockets will never forget, and we have Michele Clark and the Sunset Sessions to thank. After the show, we even got a chance to chat with the talented Mona Tavakoli before her and Jason jetted off to Dubai for their next concert. She was super gracious and our very own lovely doll, Erika Brett, got a classy picture with her. Gear! Check out Mona's band, Raining Jane on the interwebs. [ link ]

We'll be featuring more awesome artists and positive people from Sunset Sessions all through the year. Enjoy!

Cheers!
-Nate Bellon(bass)

Whilst we were at Sunset Sessions, we got to meet some really excellent people and enjoy their prodigious company. The Sunset Sessions attract all manner of world-class people, including our new friend, the awesome Laura Curtin, a music industry and rock-and-roll titan as well as current El Capitan of Curtin Rises Music Promotion. (Editors Note: Link removed due to malware. Google this woman, it's worth it! -N.)

Laura's "About" page reads like a Who's-Who of modern rock and pop. She's been responsible for the success of such artists as Pearl Jam, the Spin Doctors (my favorites!), the Indigo Girls (Eri's favorites!) and Rage Against the Machine, to name only a scant few. On top of that, the company currently represents a huge cross-section of musical styles, from Keb' Mo' to the Backstreet Boys to Korn. She's the real deal, yo.

The Empty Pockets had the distinct pleasure of hanging with Laura several times throughout our stay at the Sunset Sessions. She's very nice and an excellent laugh-er, which made Erika's jokes actually funny.


Born into the Boogie,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

The Empty Pockets like to play to a dancing crowd. There's nothing better than a bunch of people boogieing down, cutting loose on the dance floor and really workin' it hard to some crunchy jams. Folks like to dance in all sorts of ways, and the ladies of the crowd often find that the dressier of the shoe choices lead to aching feet during a dance-marathon, so they (wisely) choose to remove them. This is when disaster can strike.

Dance floors get packed with people and people bring on dust and debris, but that's all fairly harmless on the feet. What can get you barefooted boogie-bots is broken glass, the enemy of barefoot enthusiasts everywhere.  It happens by sheer accident: A crowded dance floor gets cleared when someone drops their drink, causing a ripple of people moving away from the shattered glass and slippery liquids until it can (hopefully) be fully cleaned of any dangerous particles.


This very thing happened this past weekend at the wedding of Dennis and Lindsey in Cincinnati. Everybody was getting their groove on and a glass got shattered on the dance floor, causing a small ruckus and a slight boogie interruptus for the dancers. The highly competent staff at the Western Hills Country Club managed to get the dance floor cleaned up and safe for everyone's continued enjoyment, which they did with GUSTO, I might add.

But all of this got me thinking: What if there was some sort of solution that could allow barefoot boogieing to continue unabated and unconcerned with dangerous particulates?

What about something like a Kevlar(tm) or similar half-sock. You know, kind of like the sock they give you at the department stores to try on shoes with? Can these be made of some sort of cut-resistant material? Every sock that's commercially available which is made of some sort of cut-resistant material is marketed towards the seriously tough jobs, rugged outdoorsman, or hockey players of the world. They are thusly built with aesthetics as an after-thought, and rightly so. But what about a dainty, unobtrusive-yet-stylish sock made of cut-proof material for all the barefoot dancers of the world? 

I can't think of anything better than something that would improve the crowd's enjoyment of dancing barefoot with the knowledge of the safety of their tootsies. Imagine the reckless abandon that would be shown on dance floors worldwide. Now all we need is something to stop people like me from stepping on the toes of our dancing partners. (Aha, I think those are called dancing lessons. D'oh!)

Mayhaps we should get someone to sew up a prototype and start an Empty Pockets brand cut-proof slip-on. What would we call them? "Safe Slips"? "Boogie Bottoms"? "Pocket Protectors"?

Bringing 'Safety Dance' a new meaning,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

The Empty Pockets get their travel on. A lot. From the West Coast to the East Coast, we drive our van and play our tunes here, there and everywhere. That leaves a lot of time in the van to do all sorts of things like reading, sleeping, or a hybrid-activity I'm working on called Sleading. (It's pretty difficult so far, but let it never be said I'm not up for a challenge.) We also listen to a lot of different musics and a variety of podcasts. One of our favorite podcasts to listen to in the van these days is a wonderful piece of brilliance lovingly crafted by this man.


His name is Marc Maron and his podcast is "WTF with Marc Maron"  [ link ] wherein he converses with comedians and other working professionals (writers, actors, etc.) about their career, the ins-and-outs of the business, life and generalities, both brilliant and banal. Each episode invariably includes Marc explaining his early dislike for the guest or checking to see if their relationship is in a good place, which it almost always is. The show itself is a poignant look into a business that seems to mirror the Music Business in a variety of ways and thus delights us to no end and the Empty Pockets all find relate-able material throughout. Sometimes the interviews are touching and sometimes they are uproarious, but they're always fascinating. The live shows are always a hoot and a half, such as this one with another band favorite, Maria Bamford: (NSFW: Adult Language Ahead.)


So, to wrap all this up into a nice little package, "WTF with Marc Maron" is an excellent podcast that the Empty Pockets thoroughly enjoy listening to on the road. It involves real moments of honesty from people whom we respect and enjoy and it's a true boon to have it readily available. You can subscribe to WTF on iTunes of course, and we highly recommend you check it out.

We're on the road to Cincinnati this weekend for a private event and you can be sure we're going to listen to a few of the WTF's on our way to and fro. Maybe the recent one with Amy Sedaris? Or maybe the one with comic legend Jonathan Winters? Who knows. The possibilities are endless. So thank you, Marc Maron, for making the Empty Pockets road experience that much more joy-filled. You rock, sir.

POW!
-Nate Bellon(bass)

The Empty Pockets stay in a lot of hotels these days as we travel hither and yon about this great big country of ours. One question seems to emerge at every hotel, big and small: "What time does breakfast close?" You see, most of the hotels we stay at offer a complimentary "breakfast buffet" that opens at some horridly early time in the morning and closes just slightly earlier than a reasonable musicians wake-up time. That being said, the breakfast buffet is often worth rising early for, as it can provide much needed energy for the day and be quite a boon on the old pocket book. But after awhile, you can become bored with the standard fair of fruits, grains, dairy, meats and juices offered by anything but the most modest hotel buffet and crave something more substantial. Well fear not, for the Empty Pockets have a sure-fire way to get the most out of your next hotel breakfast buffet experience. Read on, MacDuff!


Beginners Tip: The Parfait

Everybody's got to start somewhere, so why not start somewhere delicious, like the breakfast buffet parfait? It's a healthy morning treat, super easy to make and nearly every hotel buffet, small to large, has the components to make a tasty parfait. Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious!

Step 1) Get some yogurt. Often there will be a few flavors to choose from, my favorite is strawberry, but you can use whatever you would like.

Step 2) Get some fruit. The easiest to obtain and slice for parfait usage is the almighty banana, but you can use any fruit if you're willing to put in the effort to slice it up small enough with those silly plastic knives that are often the only utensils available.

Step 3) Get some granola or granola-type cereal. If the hotel doesn't offer a granola cereal, you can use corn-flakes. (Pro-Tip: Frosted Flakes may sound like a great idea.... because it is.)

Step 4) Combine all of the ingredients in a cereal bowl and enjoy! You've just created your first breakfast buffet parfait and hopefully not your last. Mangia!


Intermediate Tip: The Breakfast Sandwich


The breakfast sandwich is a delicious way to mix up the offerings of your hotel breakfast buffet into a new flavor sensation. It's a classic breakfast treat and is fairly easy to make. Most hotel breakfast buffets will offer more than one option as well, so customize to your heart's content!

Step 1) Get a bagel and slice it open. Alternately, you can also use an English Muffin, or if it's offered, a buttermilk biscuit. Toast to taste.

Step 2) Locate the eggs and add as many of those as you think you can handle to your sliced and possibly toasted grain base. Be careful, they're going to squish out the sides whilst you enjoy your tasty treat, so take less than you think you should. But only a little.

Step 3) Add your meat option to your burgeoning sandwich. Often, hotels will offer bacon and sausage and sometimes they offer both a sausage patty and sausage links. The sausage patty is basically designed for this use as a sandwich meat, but do what you feel. (Pro-Tip: Only sausage links available? Slice those suckers down the center for a no-roll meat-option.) Vegetable-tarians can skip this step, of course!

Step 4) Add cheese. Some breakfast buffets won't offer cheese at all, so this may not be an option. But if it is, may I recommend you exercise your right to dairy? You'll thank me for it. (Pro-Tip: Slap that sucker in the available microwave for 15 to 20 seconds to get the cheese melty.)

Step 5) Combine and enjoy! Delicious sandwich goodness is the spoils of your victory of over the boring breakfast buffet blahs. All alliteration aside, enjoy this tasty bit of breakfast heaven.


 Expert Tip: Improving Bad Sausage Gravy


Bad sausage gravy is a terrible thing, something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. It's flavorless goop that only serves to make breakfast a sad state of affairs, especially if you were expecting deliciously good sausage gravy. Well fret-not, because here's an easy, sure-fire way to improve the quality of the sometimes lacking hotel breakfast buffet sausage gravy. (Side note: Not all buffets will offer sausage gravy and not all sausage gravy offered by breakfast buffets is bad. When in doubt, check the gravy. If it's white rather than grey and has no discernible bits of sausage in it, it could probably use some help.)

Step 1) Get your biscuits and place them on your plate or in a bowl, whatever your preference.

Step 2) Get your sausage gravy and place it in a separate bowl, as it's about to get modified. Grab a spoon for mixing and serving purposes.

Step 3) Get the local sausage offerings. Patties are easiest, but you can also make links work. Chop the sausage up into the smallest bits you can. (Pro-Tip: If links are the only offering, you can slice them down the center and scoop the ground sausage off the skin.)

Step 4) Add the chopped sausage into your sausage gravy and mix furiously. If everything is not pipping hot, place it in the microwave for 10 - 15 seconds and then mix again. Good sausage gravy is made with the pan leavings from cooking sausage, so you're goal is to get your chopped sausage as thoroughly integrated as possible. (Pro-Tip: For the Paula Deen method, add some butter while it's in the microwave. She's always adding butter to stuff.)

Step 5) Add your slapped-up sausage gravy to your biscuit and enjoy the luxury of not eating below-standard sausage gravy. Dee-lish!


The possibilities are limitless! Just use your imagination and the hotel breakfast buffet can be a gastronomic wonderland ready for your plucking. Hell, if you have any favorite breakfast buffet combinations or tips and tricks, send them our way. The Empty Pockets always appreciate a bump-up in the food department.

With visions of biscuits and gravy dancing in my head,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

Very few things are as fascinating to me as space. Inner space and Outer space both are incredibly interesting and I try to keep a decent handle on both.  Which brings me to an article I was reading earlier last week.

NASA has recently had a bit of a conundrum to deal with. The famous space shuttle fleet was retired over the summer with no replacement waiting in the wings and the International Space Station still in need of supplies and staff. So the space agency did what anyone who wants to go into space but doesn't have the means of conveyance would do: they went to the Russians. [ link ]


There were recently some concerns over the safety of the Astronauts when contact with Soyuz capsule was disconnected over several minutes. NASA has "unveiled a plan that will allocate $1.61 billion to private companies that will transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station and low Earth orbit." [ link ] A space taxi, of sorts. I APPROVE OF THIS.


Just imagine how much more exciting space travel will be when the Space Shuttle is no longer involved. A yellow space taxi arrives at Cape Canaveral, where the Astronauts will be waiting with their space baggage. They'll know it's the right taxi because of the cool demeanour of the space cab driver, the cranking bass coming from the neodymium 18" speakers in the trunk, and the fact that the whole thing FREAKING HOVERS. It will then ferry them safely and funkily into orbit where they can perform their awesome space duties to the best of their abilities. Also, there will be sweet vocoder solos.


So let's get on that, NASA. And let me know if you need any space taxi drivers. I think I may know a crew of cats that are totally up for the job. (Did I mention The Empty Pockets also are fully certified space taxi drivers?)

We're going straight to Mother Earth to make it funky,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

By now, we've all heard about the earthquake that stuck on August 23, 38 miles outside of Richmond, Virgina. It's a geographic anomaly described by the news organization Reuters as a "once a century" occurrence. The quake registered at a 5.8 on the Richter Scale [ link ], which is described as "moderate strength" by the USGS [ link ] and was felt as far away as Indianapolis and Detroit. Thankfully, there are zero reported fatalities but structural damage was reported in numerous places including the Washington Monument, which is currently closed. [ link ]

There's lots of these wind-generators in Nebraska. You can even see them being trucked across the country via truck. It takes one truck to haul each one of the blades and the tower is in three pieces, each hauled by it's own truck. Even at our greenest, Josh points out, we're still using a whole lot of fuel.


We stopped in Des Moines, IA to switch drivers again (this time to the lovely Erika Brett) and decided to check out a local street fair that was going on off a few downtown streets. The only problem is, we couldn't figure out how to get in. All the vendor entrances were sealed up and we couldn't find any pedestrian entrances on our side of the river. So we just turned around and headed toward Davenport for our evening rest.
Oh yeah, while we were in Des Moines, we saw this building. Some say it's the Capital Building, but we think it's the Iowa Vatican, housing the Pope of Iowa, ruler of all that is agrarian.

We headed out to the Red Rocks Amphitheater for some lunch at the Ship Rock Grille. It was delicious and we got to sit outside and enjoy ourselves in the majestic surroundings. After we finished lunch, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the theater itself, but the officials of the park informed us it was closed due to a sound-check for a concert by Gavin DeGraw, Maroon 5 and Trane. Apparently, we aren't even allowed to peek. After some negotiations from the B-Sol and Erika, one of the employees let us peek in for a few seconds. It's very pretty.
We headed back to the Finebergs and hung out for awhile more, spending more time hiking, fishing and generally enjoy the outdoors while we have the time. Barry even fished and managed to catch a fish. Apparently, the fish spat the hook out before B-Sol could land it, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Speaking of fish, we headed into our gig filed with Sushi from the delicious Wildflower Cafe. As previously mentioned, they bring in a certified Sushi Chef in on Thursday evenings and serve tasty sushi.
After filling up on fish, rice and other various edible devices, we headed on over to the Little Bear for a quick sound-check and to get ready to rock Evergreen for a second night in a row. It was a great show and we would like to thank everyone who came out and supported us at our first indoor Evergreen show. Allen Cruz opened the night up and knocked it out of the park. The gentlemanly sound-guy and sassy-yet-sweet bartender were both delightful people to work with and we're certainly going to be appearing at the Little Bear again. So, if you're in the Evergreen area, expect us back. We love it.







We ended the evening eating pizza and partying a bit with the Finebergs before heading off to a much earned sleep. Day 6 was a successful wrap.

Starting the day by waking up to a rolling creek passing by, swollen with water from the previous nights rain got me in a fishing mode, so I did a little morning fishing. The Pockets arose and gathered, preparing for the Summer Concert Series and keeping an eye on the weather. Danny and Allen hiked in the morning up the side of a nearby mountain and got some great shots. They even saw a fox in his or her native foxiness.

Tour Day Four started with a sweet sunrise wake-up for Dan and I, having slept on the balcony for the evening. Followed by immediately falling back asleep. Sunrise is too darn early, man. The majority of the day flowed into hiking, fishing, and another dip in the creek before wrapping for lunch at The Wildflower Cafe, [ link ] a delicious spot with grandly unique flair.
Their hours tend towards the morning and early afternoon, but on Thursday evenings the restaurant brings in a certified Sushi Chef and serves fresh sushi. We're looking forward to a sample of the sushi spot of Evergreen. Yum!

Sometimes, we spend a day driving. Just... driving. That was Sunday, driving from Cedar Rapids, IA to North Platte, NE. An eight-hour drive-a-thon. We all piled into the Pocket Rocketeer and pushed our way through the heartlands.

"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again." It's as true today as when Willie Nelson sang it in 1980. A band on the road is a beautiful thing and the Empty Pockets are excited to be back in the game. Colorado here we come!


So what do the Pockets do after rocking a show at Navy Pier? Why, pile into the van and drive to Colorado, of course! We're headed out to Evergreen, Colorado for the Evergreen Lakes Presents Summer Concert series [ link ] and the first leg of the tour took us to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So we drove... and drove some more.

His name is Tim Minchin [ link ] and he's a delightful English-Australian comedian, musician and actor. His songs are as thought-provoking as they are hilarious, cleverly written and masterfully executed through wonderfully robust piano chops and excellently timed pauses or looks. His lyrical content is a swirling mixture of rhythm and poetry executed with a straight-faced precision that is made only more stimulating by the subject matter. Betwixt songs, his observational stand-up is hilariously pointed, deeply insightful, and sometimes just plain silly, all of which when added together makes for absolutely excellent theatre experience.

This summer has already been many different things for many different people, as all summers are. There's even disagreement as to when the season begins. Some say Memorial Day, some say the summer solstice. (Retailers have taken to placing summer items in mid-March or earlier.) Despite all the differences, we have shared a common experience this summer. It has been HOT.

The arts. Often they are ignored in the hustle-bustle of normal life. "The arts" are seen as a superfluous accessory to the "real world," a meandering of the mind and soul that oft-times must be wrangled into a small time frame that fits extra-curricular activities. Consistently inside the educational system, the arts go underfunded or unfunded and are relegated to the back-burner for the "well-rounded student."

Keeping in such a mindset, Highland Park High School deserves commendations for many reasons and one of which being the award-winning "FOCUS on the Arts" program. [ link ] Josh and the Empty Pockets were delighted to be involved with this excellent program and were given a first-hand look on Tuesday as we rocked out in the H-wing gymnasium to an awesome group of attendees.

After poking about the internets for new and exciting instruments like the awesome Eigenharp Alpha [ link ] and the still-in-prototype "Linnstrument" [ link ], I stumbled across an old favorite of mine, the Reactable. [ link ] Basically, the Reactable is a touch-surface on which you use multi-shaped blocks to make tones, beats, music, etc. Each of the blocks does a specific thing and you can alter functions of the blocks by turning them a specific way or making them closer to or farther from another block. It's really awesome.

This week on the Empty Pockets blog, drummer and professional Rueben taster Danny Rosenthal takes the helm to bring you his important message. - Ed

I don’t write many blogs because I don’t usually have anything exciting to say, but we’re in luck because I am about to change your life. However before we get there, let’s give a round of applause for Nate Bellon, who writes more blogs than I can read. Now I want to let all of you, my friends, know I have just invented the best diet known to man.

The Pitch…

Have you tried other diets and found yourself ending up starving with little weight-loss result? Worry no more because my Rosenthal Cure-All Weight Loss Diet (patent pending) is guaranteed to work.

How It Works… (I am so glad you’re still reading)

A dear friend of mine had infected tonsils. They were too swollen for the body to take care of itself and medical technology stepped in. They removed the tonsils without fear of what would happen to the body without the lymphoid tissues that had served as an integral part for as long as my friend could remember. Do you know what your tonsils are for? Neither do I but it doesn’t matter because it turns out they don’t do anything.

How do you feel about the adenoids? Adenoids are another lymphoid tissue in the back of the nose that actually does help defend against inhaled bacteria but only when you’re a child because as you grow the adenoids shrink and thus become useless.

Plain and simple we have a bunch of ineffective organs: the coccyx, wisdom teeth, male nipples (these may be kept for aesthetic purposes) and perhaps the most well known offender, the appendix. They can all go. And there's plenty more where those came from. Combining the weight of these useless bits, you’re going to weigh at least a pound less and maybe even a little more.

You’re all on the honor system to send me money if you choose to do this. Please contact you physician to see if this diet is for you, but let’s face it… it is.

- Danny Rosenthal

The 53rd Annual Grammy awards took place on Sunday, February 13th: a date which will live in infamy. (Or famy... I'm not quite sure how that works.) Most of the performances existed sweetly unadorned of autotune, such as the breathy Usher/Bieber duo and the drop-down hilariously executed Cee-Lo Green/Gwyneth Paltrow duet, involving more feathers than a Mardi Gras and more Muppets than an ABC Family Special Movie.

I get e-mails occasionally from the sixtyone [ link ] about certain artists and happenings on the site. The most recent electronic communique reminded me of an artist often heard in the van whilst on tour or traveling and also heard in video games, on television and of course, the internet.