Joyoyoy

Greetings from Oakland!

So, I had the strangest thing happen the other night while playing a gig in Oakland at The Nomad Café.

I was playing the first song of my set, which just so happened to be a brand new tune called "Joy". Two of the ladies in the audience were laughing hysterically throughout the song and it made me happy that they were taking so much enjoyment out of the tune. Now, before I continue with the rest of this little ditty of a story, here, have a listen to the song (yes, it is integral to the tale):



I complete the song and everyone goes bonkers in the room. The two girls that were especially taken by the tune announce that their names are both Joy and that they really enjoyed the song I wrote about them. I come to find out later that these two lovely young ladies are friends of my tour mate Sas. After completing our show at the Nomad Café, one of the Joys invites Sas and I back to her pad to enjoy a beer with her and her husband. Sas and I hop into our ride and follow Joy back to her place. As we tail her through the streets of Oakland on route to her home, I can't help but notice Joy's license plate:



Coincidence?

~ Mike

PS

I just wanna do something special for all the ladies of the world... ladies...

The MVPPP Foundation

Hi Everyone,

I would like to introduce you to an acquaintance of mine from San Francisco, California. This is Steve:



Steve is a "Pot-less Pothead". While walking the streets of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco, you might run across SEVERAL, if not a DOZEN of these deprived and destitute folk just like Steve, starving for their next bong rip. The sadness that pervades from his story is all too grim; Steve simply doesn't have the funds to pack another bowl. His THC starvation could inevitably lead to a day of sobriety or perhaps, even worse, to a local book store for a cup of coffee or a good read in order to pass his time.

However, you can help! Make a small donation to the Mike Vitale Pot for Pot-less Potheads Foundation (MVPPP Foundation).

The MVPPP Foundation has already helped several people just like Steve to maintain their daily habits in order to continue their useless and meaningless existence in the face of mankind! A few dollars a day can help people just like Steve to successfully blind fold themselves with a small piece of dental floss, play video games, eat vast amounts of junk food, watch infomercials, and laugh at jokes that really aren't that funny or clever, all while enjoying their Scoobie Snacks. With your small charitable donation, we can keep people just like Steve as high as a kite with absolutely no clue what to do with their lives!

Charitable donations can be made by cash or check in any denomination and, as always, are never tax deductible. Please make all donations payable to:

The Mike Vitale Pot for Pot-less Potheads Foundation
P.O. Box 3064
Fullerton, CA 92834

Make a difference. Join the Mike Vitale Pot for Pot-less Potheads Foundation today! End the hunger.

~ Mike

PS

Greetings from San Francisco - More blogs from the road to come so stay tuned!

Hey Mom, look, I’m on TV!

So, I think I might revise this blog when I have a free second, however, I thought perhaps you folks might enjoy this.

I was on the KDOC show Daybreak OC this morning and thought that I would share:



I'm in LA hanging with my friend Barbs and we're going to grab some Thai food before the show tonight in Los Angeles.

More stories to come about this morning!

~ Mike

Interview

This isn't a typical blog for me. However, I really love Nu America's, so I wanted to introduce some of the work that they do for their community, mainly, by bringing artists and local people to the forefront of the public's attention by actually getting them on tape in some real conversation. This is a brief interview that I did with them in August on a show called, well, "Interview". I hope you enjoy it:

Mike Vitale on INTERVIEW


If you like this, you can also find more from Nu America's online at the following locations:

http://www.nuamericas.net/

http://nuamericas.vox.com/

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=39855441

http://www.myspace.com/nuamericastv

Seattle! Or “Into the Great Wide Open Part Deux”

Seattle! Or "Into the Great Wide Open Part Deux"

Let's face it; Seattle is a crazy place. They have a monorail system there for public transit. How cool is that? I dare say that is way cooler than my sweet and dear Anaheim. Sure, Walt is responsible for bringing a monorail system to Disneyland, but Seattle gets extra coolness points for at least having the foresight to successfully venture into something futuristic and environmentally clean for their city rather than just investing into the ideology of the "transportation of the future" as a certain theme park did… not to mention any names. I read a quick wikipedia on the monorail and found out much to my chagrin that Los Angeles had actually proposed a monorail system around the same time as Seattle, yet overturned the order in the favor of (drum roll please), NOTHING… and the citizens of L.A. are still pleased and thankful to this day for all the traffic! But I digress…

This is part two of my tour installment entitled, "Seattle! Or, Into the Great Wide Open Part Deux."

As you may recall from my previous tour blog, I went on a West Coast tour earlier this year through California, Oregon, and Washington, playing a number of colleges and universities throughout these beautiful states:

Mar 13, 2008 Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
Mar 12, 2008 University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
Mar 10, 2008 Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, CA
Mar 5, 2008 Seattle University, Seattle, WA
Mar 3, 2008, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
Mar 2, 2008, Unity Edgewood Church, Edgewood, WA
Feb 28, 2008, Mt Hood Community College, Gresham, OR
Feb 27, 2008, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Feb 26, 2008, Clatsop College, Astoria, OR
Feb 25, 2008, Clatsop College, Astoria, OR
Feb 16, 2008, Yosemite Bug Café, Midpines, CA
Feb 14, 2008 Stubrik's, Fullerton, CA

This particular blog will deal with all the wonders that make Seattle.

So, let's start with the reason I was there, Seattle University!

It's a rather strange and wondrous phenomena in Seattle (and truly, many people don't know this unless you've been there), but water doesn't move in Seattle. It sits perfectly still as if time stopped: truly miraculous. I took a few pictures to illustrate for you folks at home:



That was at Seattle University as I was getting a tour of the campus from Winnie Chow. Hi Winnie, if you're reading this.

And this one was taken while I was on my way to the Pike Place Fish Market:



Isn't it incredible?!



Speaking of the Pike's Place Market… for those of you unfamiliar with this storefront, it is a HUGE outdoor market place located along the Puget Sound in Seattle on Pike Place. This is where you might see dudes throwing fish at each other… you know, the really cliché stuff that you might see on television in order to notify the viewer that you are in fact watching a show that takes place in Seattle. For whatever reason, I didn't see any fish throwing that day… and I didn't really take many pictures while I was at the market… I felt silly taking pictures of fish at a store… maybe it's just me. However, I did take a few shots on the way to the market:












One of my favorite stops during my downtime in Seattle was the Experience Music Project and The Science Fiction Museum. I wasn't allowed to take pictures while I was in the museum, but let me tell you, pretty cool stuff. There's lots of music history in the Northwest. For example, Jimi Hendrix grew up in Seattle; they had a great exhibit dedicated to him. Lot's of the obvious stuff: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, etc. The female rockers Heart are based out of the Northwest. Ray Charles and Quincy Jones made their start in Seattle. I could go on for hours. Cool place to check out. The Science Fiction Museum was a dork fest… I loved every second of it! They had all sorts of great original memorabilia from old television shows, movies, and authors (including original manuscripts for books). I spent a lot of time in there. Here's a picture of the outside of the museum:



Now, these museums were located right next to the most quintessential landmark in Seattle. I'll allow your imagination to wander for a moment:



Granted, the Space Needle is pretty cool, but was a little boring for my tastes, however, I did get some cool pictures from the top:








Oooooh, houses!













One thing that will always stick out in my mind about Seattle was one of the first interactions that I had with some of the nightlife. I went walking around the downtown area near my hotel room. I was immediately offered a copious amount of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroine, etc…. I can't help but laugh about that now, but, man, that still strikes me as funny every time I think about. They guy who offered me "the goods" was this dude who upon first look, appeared homeless, however, my later encounters with the same gentleman on the way back from the downtown area, made me think otherwise. At any rate, he struck me as a funny guy and I quickly turned his drug salesman routine towards the more harmless topic of local music in Seattle, which he was more than willing to accommodate for. I wonder what his name was…

I also was hit up for cash from a dude whose car apparently broke down a few blocks away from my hotel room. Whether or not this was true is beyond me. Whatever the case may be he haggled money from me like a professional. He initiated the conversation with a sob story about his car breaking down and then proceeded to ask for a few dollars to help with gas. I don't recall how he did this, but he essentially kept raising the amount of money that I was willing to give him without consulting me first on the subject. He ended on his own mutual agreement that I should give him $20… he ended up settling for $6.00… I thought the effort warranted a raise.

You find yourself talking to funny folk when you're on the road alone.

Ok, I need to get back to booking this current tour. As with the last time, shoot me some comments. Let me know if you are interested in hearing some more stories from the road and seeing some pictures!

I hope this finds you well!

~ Mike

High School Photos and My Family Tree

So, I was digging through old photos today when I came across some pictures of my family. Let me just tell you, high school is a precious time in anyone's life, and these pictures my friends, are priceless.

Let's start with my grandfather on my dad's side of the family, Giovanni Gesepi Vitale:



Giovanni, the first American born son of two hard working Italian immigrants (and an obvious stud), left an indelible mark on his high school, not to mention his high school sweetheart (and future wife), Josephyn Salerno:



Giovanni and Josephyn eventually married in their hometown of Brooklyn, New York before deciding to uproot, settle down, and start a family in their new home on the West Coast, Visalia, California. The fruits of their sexual labor led to one child, Pasquali Vitale:



Pasquali, my father, is a gentle man of few words. However, after meeting his future wife (my mother Claudia Rabee):



his enormous prowess led the way as his family grew… and grew:

My oldest brother, John (who doesn't strike much of a resemblance to the rest of us chitlins, aside from those charming eyes and that voracious smile… however, he does remind me a bit of Cornelius, the mail man).



Susanne, my oldest sister (what a beauty… she almost won a pageant once when she was nine):



Matthew



Dan



… and my freshman photo:



Wow, I'm getting teary-eyed just talking about everyone with you folks. I hope this blog finds your family well!

~ Mike

PS

If you've got some time to spare, you might do what I did and kill three hours of your life making ridiculous photos like these:

www.yearbookyourself.com

I'm a fan.

Dear Girl From Junior High That Inexplicably Punched Me in The Balls Unprovoked

Dear Girl From Junior High That Inexplicably Punched Me in The Balls Unprovoked,

Do you even remember doing that to me? You probably don't. However, I can tell you in all certainty, I do! Let me refresh your memory. We were sharing a Grey Hound bus seat together (not by my own choice mind you… you just sort of plopped down next to me like it was a good idea); it was the end of our eighth grade school year, and we were on our way to the second happiest place on Earth (Six Flags Magic Mountain) with the rest of our entire eighth grade class (there must have been hundreds of us awkward-plague-faced-sexually-aware-plenty-of-nonsense-know-it-all kids riding in formation on several dilapidated incarnations of the same style of Grey Hound bus down I5… yet we ended up on the same coach, and now I'm sharing a seat with you… go figure). We were traveling at a snails pace through the loftier sloped portion of the grapevine towards Los Angeles. You were making small talk with me (with something that might have later resembled wit… it's hard to say… I'm not convinced many eighth graders posses this sort of social gift at this junction of their pubescent life… well, from an adult standpoint… you were on your way though… you had me laughing). However, this sort of jovial banter came to a screeching halt with one physical moment of awakening and pain that will never quit flush itself out of the shitty toilet bowl memories of my existence… you punched me in the junk! That's like punching my future children in the face. Why? I want an answer. Here, I'll break down the order of events for you just to massage your recollection:

1. We were talking (nothing overly rude that wasn't already provoked by your junior high potty mouth… or overtly sexual, just talking smack I think).
2. You punched me in the nuts.

Do you remember now? (It doesn't really matter; that was a rhetorical question). The important thing is why! Is it because you thought I was cute? If so, these would have been some suggested methods in which to better display your affection:

1. Tell me I'm cute.
2. Continue talking to me (minus the socking me in the nuts part).
3. Exercise the age-old art of flirtation.
4. Kiss me on the cheek.
5. Hold my hand.
6. Compliment silly parts of my body (like my chin or elbow).
7. Tell me you like me.
8. Etc.

There is a certain part of me that feels sorry for your husband (let me give you a clue… it rhymes with chesticles). May someone have pity on that poor man's soul… and scrotum.

Best Regards,

~ The Guy You Punched in the Balls (A.K.A. Mike)

Full Band Rehearsal for New Album

This is just a quick update folks...

I rehearsed with John Bach and Nick Schaat last night... let me just tell you, it was magic. I seriously felt like Michael Jackson at a NAMBLA festival (hahaha, I'm sorry, I just made myself chuckle).

Anyway, "The Only One I Need" was nothing short of incredible... I practically wanted to cry (in a very manly way of course). It is rocking in a way that rock songs should rock.

"Joy" is sounding amazing. Reggaelicious.

"I could be dead by tomorrow" is gaining some serious ground and is going to be dope. Shazzam!

I was tossing around the idea with John Bach last night (over a post rehearsal double western bacon cheeseburger) about maybe doing a video blog from the rehearsal room... what do you think? Get a lot of comments on this here blog and maybe we'll see what I can do by next week. Show me you want it (and I mean REALLY want it), and I'll make it happen, like magic:



~ Mike

New Album

Yeah, new album.

Just thought I would post something about this, in case people were curious... I don't know... are you all curious? Post blog comments. Questions? Comments? Let me know you're interested, and I'll spill the beans. ;)

Ok, so this is how the game will work. The more comments I get to this blog, the more I will tell you about the new album. I got three comments right off the bat, so I'm going to revise a bit of the blog right here with some additional info. If you have any direct questions regarding the new album, feel free to post a blog comment with the particular question, and I will answer it! With out further ado, here are some tidbits:

1. I started rehearsing this last week with John Bach from the band Sleepless Me (www.sleeplessme.com). To say the very least, it was A LOT of fun and I was bummed that we could only rehearse/jam for a few hours. BACH is seriously bringing the ROCK! We worked on, "The Only One I Need" (I'm loving how this song is sounding), "Joy" (this song will probably be the first that we track... it's already sounding amazing!!!), and "I could be dead by tomorrow".

2. The bass player on the new album is going to be Nick Schaat. He's a good friend and the best bass player that I know. I can say in all truthfulness, that he makes the low end his bitch.

3. Scheduling the next rehearsal as we speak!

Keep the comments and questions coming!

~ Mike

Deep Thoughts... Michael Jackson

A recent conversation with a friend of mine led to this blog:

He tried to warn us…

He's Bad



"You know I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it!"

He's Dangerous



… so we really should just beat it





because he won't stop until he gets enough (hahaha, I'm sorry, just looking at his hands in this picture makes me laugh):



I personally can't stop listening to him… but that doesn't mean I'll EVER leave my child with him when I have one.

~ Mike

PS

So, I wanted to imbed the original videos for each of these songs, but unfortunately, the Michael Jackson camp is VERY anal retentive and doesn't allow the embedding of any of the original video footage used on MTV.

In other news:

Got a great show coming up tomorrow (Wednesday September 3rd)

Dipiazza's
5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach CA 90804

Show starts at 8:00 PM

All Ages!

Sharing the stage with me that night: Brett Bixby, Sas, and Chris Paul Overall

$8.00 at the door

It’s 7:30 AM...

... and I just got up. Why you ask?

Well, not to make myself a cup of coffee... although, I am right now... coffee is more of a "means to an end" and not, "the end to my means" (I was up until 3:00 AM last night).

I am on my way out to the "Gym of the Pacific" as my friend Marcus calls it (i.e. The Pacific Ocean).

I'm going surfing (or something that resembles it at least... not sure that I would call it surfing yet... maybe when I can stand up consistently).

Going to make the drive out to San Onofre State Park.

Marcus said he saw Dolphins while he was out the other day. You see a lot while sitting on your board waiting for a good wave. I always see pelicans picking fish out of a moving wave OR Flocks of Seagulls!

More along the lines of this:



and less of this:



and even less of this:



And I ran, I ran so far away.

I just ran, I ran all night and day.

I couldnt get away.



Hope this finds you enjoying your morning!

~ Mike

Into the great wide open...

So, I've had touring on my mind for the past few weeks for several reasons:

- My friend Cory Joseph is out touring in the middle of Oregon at the moment, having a ball I imagine. (www.coryjoseph.com)
- I'm right in the middle of preparing for an extensive tour in October and November of this year.
- I pulled out a bunch of photographs from a few months back that chronicled my last tour through California, Oregon, and Washington in February and March of 2008.

I originally had every intention of sharing these photographs with everyone. However, I find myself so caught up in the daily grind at times, that I either forgot to share them through a blog OR by the time I realized that I should have been posting my photos, I figured that everyone wouldn't have any interest anymore. However, I decided that maybe I should let you decide. I'll post a few pictures, tell a few stories, and let you gauge your own interest in my previous exploits.

To start off, there is a lot of the United States (and the world for that matter) that I have yet to see. I can tell you, that I am dead set on seeing as much of the world as possible. I think this mainly stems from the fact that I am not very impressed by the small window of the world we call television. I feel that a lot of the images we see on it everyday are biased and ultimately tailored in some way to fit a purpose. This purpose varies, but for the most part, it seems to culminate into a method in which to sell a consumer something, whether it a product or someone else's perspective… but let's save my thoughts on television for another blog. The long and short of this argument is that the world around us as we know it and the world we see on television never seem to converge at some juxtaposition that we can firmly call reality. This is the reason I enjoy to travel! There is no bias behind hoping in a car and seeing something with your own eyes.

With this being said, touring is perfect for me. I get to satiate my desire to see the world while also sharing my art with the people I come across.

For this last tour in February and March of 2008, I traveled through California, Oregon, and Washington, playing various colleges, universities, churches, and venues. I can tell you in all certainty aside from the wonderful people I met, that all three of these states are beautiful and I had a hard time conserving film. I snapped quite a few repetitive shots from my car as I drove up Interstate 5 all the way through Northern Washington:







Most of the above shots are Northern California, right before you cross over the Oregon border. You hit a large mountain pass right after you drive through Redding on I-5. There was a HUGE downpour as I was driving through this pass on the way up to Oregon, so I missed out of taking a lot of photos, because the conditions were sort of, well, dangerous. It had snowed the day before, so the road was quite icy and slick. I decided to snap some shots of the region on the way back down because it was much more agreeable weather then.

As I crossed into Oregon, I definitely rolled the car windows down. I love the smell of pine trees.











There was one point on the way to Astoria, Oregon that I pulled over to the side of a snow cleared highway to snap a few shots of a gorgeous area where the snow was melting into a shallow stream. I climbed down to this area and took a break from driving and snapped off a couple of shots before I hopped back into my car to play my gig at Clatsop College.











For those of you unfamiliar with Astoria, the 1985 movie "The Goonies" was shot there, as well as some of the other outlying towns (including Seaside) in the immediate Northwest area of Oregon; I was clued in to this factoid by the Astoria locals in various conversation during my stay.



Astoria was a really cool place to visit. It's a REALLY small town that sits right below the mouth of the Colombia River. It's a beautifully hilly area.



If you look closely at that last picture, there is this HUGE freighter off in the distance in the Colombia River. Those ships would scare the shit out of me in the early morning (were talking like 3:00 AM/4:00 AM). They have a huge epic horn that they blare as they are traversing through the heavy fog laden current of the Colombia River; it did an excellent job of startling me out of a deep sleep on a few different occasions. It literally felt like the freighter horn was right next to your bed when they pulled it. In one particular early morning moment of sleep before jumping out of bed startled, I think I was dreamily concocting some sort of story that a hell-bent train was heading directly through the room in which I was staying in before I came to my woken senses.

Here's another picture of one such culprit:



as well as some pictures of the less populated side of Astoria:









Anyway, for the most part, these are just a handful of the pictures and stories that I have from my trip. If you want more, let me know! Leave some blog comments. Show me that you're interested and I'll write and post some more blogs concerning my last tour.
In the meanwhile, I need to get back into the present and continue preparing for my next tour coming up in October and November. There's no time like the present, right?

As a side not, if you're interested in seeing me play in your area, show me! Demand me below! Trust me, I watch this thing like a hawk:




Mike Vitale events at Eventful

I'm going to be writing a blog concerning a contest that I will be running in the near future regarding bringing me to your town for a performance (no matter where you live in the United States). You can get a jump on this by demanding me above today! Show me that you want to see me and get your friends signed up too!

Thank you all for reading this and for your continued support. You bring my dreams into fruition everyday just by listening.

~ Mike