Paul "Pablo" Smith-Stewart

Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “truly stupid” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he now claims that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal.

On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said, “Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that every first generational person he knew started work early.)

This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.

Gingrich wants to start with the facts? O.K.

First, as I’ve pointed out before, three out of four poor working-aged adults — ages 18 to 64 — work. Half of them have full-time jobs and a quarter work part time.

Furthermore, according to an analysis of census data by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, most poor children live in a household where at least one parent is employed. And even among children who live in extreme poverty — defined here as a household with income less than 50 percent of the poverty level — a third have at least one working parent. And even among extremely poor children who live in extremely poor areas — those in which 30 percent or more of the population is poor — nearly a third live with at least one working parent.

For this analysis, the most granular national data available — census areas with 100,000 or more people — were compared. For reference, New York City has 55 of these areas. You’d have to slice the definition of neighborhoods rather thinly to find a few areas that support Gingrich’s position.

Lastly, Gingrich vastly overreaches by suggesting that a lack of money universally correlates to a lack of morals. Yes, poverty presents increased risk factors for crime. But, encouragingly, data show that even as more Americans have fallen into poverty in recent years, the crime rate over all — and, specifically, among juveniles — has dropped.

“Facts” are not Gingrich’s forte. Yet he is now the Republican front-runner. It just goes to show how bankrupt of compassion and allergic to accuracy that party is becoming.

Performance Tonight

2011-11-20T12:33:00.001-08:00

I apologize for the last minute notice, but I will be performing with the group Dirty Cello at Yoshi's SF tonight from 6-10pm. There's no cover because we are playing on the Jazz Lounge stage. Rebecca Roudman is a fantastic cellist playing everything from jazz to zydeco to gypsy. If you can't make it out tonight no worries, I'll have many more gigs with them in the future and I'll be giving much more advanced notice. Links to artist and venue below:

Rebecca Roudman

Hideo Video Clips

2011-11-20T12:02:00.001-08:00

New videos from the Hideo concert. Check it out!

Music starts at 2:15

Hideo

2011-11-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

John Vucinich and I are playing in a sweet anime/video game concert tomorrow night here in SLO entitled "Hideo". One night only! Check it out! http://www.hideoconcert.com/

Esperanza Spalding at White House

2011-10-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Killer performance by Esperanza Spalding at White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word. Check it.

2011-09-29T19:51:00.001-07:00

Sleepless in Seattle

2011-09-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

So I have a gig this Friday night, playing in the band backing Layne Tadesse at Club Oasis here in Oakland, and then I'm off the next morning to Seattle for one night to see my brother Tim in a play. If you live in Seattle, make sure to go check it out, it's called MilkMilk Lemonade:

MilkMilk Lemonade trailer from Abiel Hoff on Vimeo.

Also, got the word that Still Time's next gig at SLO Brew is going down on November 12th. Check www.slobrewingco.com for more info and advance tickets.

Collective Collaboration Project Update: Got to jam with John, Nick & Ryan of Still Time a couple weekends ago in the Santa Cruz mountains and we got together some great starts to some seriously funky tunes. Also been jamming with my buddy Dave Mann, got a solid start to a more jazz/dance trance tune. I also have the beginnings of two tunes that for now are just bass guitar and vocals, at least one of them is going to have a larger ensemble when all is said and done. So yeah as you can see, this project is going to be all over the place musically, but I think it's all going to tie together in a big way by the end of line.

I heard a god awful cover of this song in a commercial today, but it still motivated me to look it up online and share it with you all.

Updates

2011-09-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure as anyone who is reading this has heard, Still Time's last show will be next May. Probably not forever, there will definitely be some reunion shows down the line, but at least for a couple years that will be the last show. For me that's led to quite a few changes over the last 6 months. I am now living in Oakland, back in school finishing my bachelor's in music, gigging in the bay area, working on a new collective original music project, and trying to find a job to pay the bills. So it's been a pretty crazy whirlwind, but I am very much looking forward the music collaborations I am currently working on. I am going to make a strong effort to have at least one weekly blog update, so people that are interested can know what's going on in my musical life.

I have started work on, I wouldn't call a solo project, because it is going to be much more collective than that. It's going to involve a lot of different players of which I am merely one cog in the wheel. I will be a big part of organizing the recording, performance, and promotion aspects. But this is not going to be "The Paul Smith-Stewart Free Jazz Experiment Project Vol.XXI", I'm just facilitating a group of musicians coming together for a common idea/concept. This WILL be recorded on analog tape, it WILL be pressed to vinyl (it will be available in digital form as well), and there will be at least one performance, most likely in Marin County, but ideally I'd like to do a show in Marin and SLO but I'll have to see if that's going to make sense financially and logistically. My goal is to have it recorded and have a performance towards the end of 2012, so we'll see how that goes. I also bought my domain name (www.paulsmithstewart.com) but at this point do not have the money or personal skill to build the website, however the website will be operational before the album comes out, but for the mean time this blog will be my main means of communication and updates.

Whew, that was a lot of words. If you made it through all of that I now reward you with this kick ass song I heard at this amazing bar (they have a hi fi stereo system and only spin vinyl records) the other evening.

Music in Space!

2011-07-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my bro for sending this article my way.

How Astronauts Fill Their Space With Music

by JOEL ROSE

July 16, 2011

All week, the astronauts of space shuttle Atlantis have been serenaded with music from stars back on Earth. Elton John, Michael Stipe and Paul McCartney have all recorded messages for the crew.

According to NASA, the tradition of waking astronauts up with music dates back at least as far as the Apollo program in the 1970s. The choice of what to play on the space shuttle belongs to the CAPCOM, or capsule communicator, an astronaut on the ground in Houston. Chris Hadfield, who has served as CAPCOM on space shuttle and International Space Station missions, says it's no trifling responsibility.

"A long time ago, we realized that if you could give the crew some great, familiar, energetic, rev-you-up kind of music in the morning, that's a good way to get going," says Hadfield. "Sometimes we just choose it ourselves. Sometimes we ask the spouses, the husbands and wives of astronauts. You try and choose something that's specific for that person."

Music has also played an important role in the space program back on Earth. Former astronaut Brewster Shaw remembers when the shuttle fleet was grounded after the Challenger disaster in 1986.

"Morale, as you can imagine, was pretty low," says Shaw. "We weren't flying. And we'd killed seven of our buddies. And people were struggling with the future. So somebody came up with an idea: Let's have a sock hop."

Shaw had played guitar in a band in college, and he knew a few other astronauts could play. So in June 1987, the world's first and only all-astronaut band, Max Q, took the stage for the first time.

Max Q has been performing ever since, whenever its astronaut members can find the time to rehearse. The founding members all retired years ago, but new astronauts stepped in to take their places. Brewster Shaw says he's not surprised that so many astronauts are also passable musicians.

"You have people who are able to quickly pick up and accomplish tasks in areas totally outside their field of training," he says. "Those kind of people are very likely to have enjoyed music, and been able to play something musical, so you just recruit them into the band." He adds, "There's not a lot of pressure — it's pretty much you just have fun and do it. Nobody gives a damn if you're any good, because you're just a bunch of astronauts."

Not many people are likely to mistake Max Q for a touring rock band. (The pleated pants are a dead giveaway.) But there are some dedicated musicians in the bunch, a few of whom have even brought their instruments with them into orbit. Chris Hadfield, a guitarist and current Max Q member, is one of them. He's looking forward to playing during his trip to the International Space Station next year.

"It's busy," says Hadfield, "but there is some downtime. Evenings and mornings. And I'm definitely going to be taking that time to play music, to sit and try to write. It's just such an inspirational and rare place for a human being to be in this early stage of space exploration. And I want to do my best to not just record it in pictures and words, but in music as well."

The space shuttle program may be coming to an end this week. But as long as there are astronauts and gigs to play, Hadfield says, Max Q's mission will continue.

2011-07-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Photo by Sarah Thorne Hames

2011-07-14T19:45:00.001-07:00

Strike that last post. Looks like I got food poisoning...curse you whole foods.

Sittin' In

2011-07-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. So I will have many more updates soon about the final Still Time shows and my own solo projects. But I just wanted to put up a quick note that I will be sitting in tonight with Kevin Wong's (keys player from Still Time's "See America") band BASSment and Thomas Pridgen (formerly of The Mars Volta) at Flight Lounge. Should be an awesome night of funk, jazz, hip hop awesomeness. Here's the facebook event for more details on the show:

BASSment w/special guests Thomas Pridgen & Lonnye Dotson!

The Music Biz

2010-10-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

Some interesting insights into the daily life of the modern musician that crossed my path recently. If this video starts getting redundant, just skip to about 4:10 for the moral of the story.

Managing Musical Artists in the new Digital World from Peter Malkin on Vimeo.

Don’t shoot. I’m just the messenger: A musician gets attacked for speaking up
Thursday, October 14th, 2010 by Lucinda M. Dugger

It’s two o’clock in the afternoon and Pandora plays my (new) favorite radio station through my laptop speakers. While doing work, every dozen or so minutes I click back to the website to see who the band is that has popped up on the station.

I haven’t heard of this band before. Who are these guys? I like them. I make a mental note to check out their MySpace page later.

As a music consumer, I love options like Pandora to access and purchase music. Because of these choices, I have learned so much about bands that are making the “transition from local notoriety to a rapidly growing regional and national presence.”

I continue working as my music plays, combing the internet for news and other noteworthy happenings in the world of artists and copyright. I soon come across a website that provides a forum to learn about and comment on proposed legislation. Musician Jeremy Soule voices his opinion in favor of the proposed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, citing a perfectly reasonable example of how on the internet he sees “tens of thousands of illegal copies of my work go out in the span of an hour.”

Of the next 34 comments, 6 of them attack Jeremy directly. One calls him a “greedy pig” for wanting to make money off of his music, while another says “you should be happy that you’re getting that kind of exposure.” One commenter questions his integrity as an artist: “can you honestly call yourself an artist?” Someone else tells Jeremy that he “will not download any of [his] music” even though he doesn’t even know who Jeremy is. Another person (named Reason) accuses him of being an impersonator of the real Jeremy Soule and also tells him to go back to Great Britain and “leave the US alone.” Of course, that person is reasonably assuming that there is only one Jeremy Soule in this world, and he happens to be British.

Of the other comments, almost all of them are as equally unconstructive and a few of them attack artists broadly. One person says to musicians, “Greedy piggies. How about making music because you love it?” And another tells musicians to “Get a job if you want/need money so bad!” And just in case the reader didn’t catch all the hatred for musicians in the first dozen posts, someone wrote “Umm… to the musicians that say they aren’t getting paid… how’s about you get a real job… wouldn’t that be great?”

And, as I read, Pandora plays softly in the background.

I wonder, how many of the people who left these comments were also listening to Pandora or itunes or Spotify when they were so vehemently attacking Jeremy and other musicians for wanting to protect their work – their livelihood? Probably most of them. And if they weren’t listening to music right then, they probably listened to it later that day – in the car, on the metro, or found themselves humming to a catchy tune in the grocery store.

There may be a dark hole of people who abhor any sort of music, melody, or sound of any type or genre. But I haven’t found them yet. So, it’s probably safe for me to assume that these very attackers are also music listeners or even lovers.

How then can so many people slander and belittle the very people who bring them joy or communicate that exact message that’s needed for that one moment? Our music collections are big in part because when we are in that happy, sad, or frustrated mood, we want that one band that can speak so deeply to our souls.

I guess some people think that it’s okay for music listeners – and lovers – to search out through technology new music and covet the words, songs, and playlists for personal enjoyment. But once they see a musician step up to say ‘hey, I’m being affected by all this so please help me protect what I do for a living,’ it’s as if the dogs are let loose for the attack and the musician is suddenly viewed, not as a provider of something so highly coveted, but as an intruder.

Slow Motion Reality

2010-09-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Our sax player Ryan showed me this. Super trippy. I recommend watching it when you're really tired at the end of the day, it really messes with your eyes. And remember kids, don't do drugs or you'll end up like these guys.

TuneGroove #2: Marvin Gaye "What's Goin' On"

2010-09-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

I started working on this bass line again when we got back from tour, and have realized even more since traveling the country what an amazing song this is. Here's a few thoughts I have on the recording itself. I love the alternate percussion congas, they are an essential part of the groove on this track. I love all of the background party vocal tracks, gives it a really laid back vibe. Great use of auxiliary instruments as well like vibes and strings. I recommend this whole album, unlike other Motown songs which are single based this album works as a whole and has an amazing vision, concept, and message behind it. Now to that bass line. I think this is one of James Jamerson's best. It is extremely difficult to play not because it's shredding all of over the place, there all some technically challenging lines, but it doesn't at any point sound hard because his right hand attack and over all phrasing are so smooth. I think this moves aboves the average Motown single, James Jamerson and Marvin Gaye really seem to have made a deeper connection on this single and entire album for that matter. This sounds less like a studio musician with solo singer, and much more like a full time band. To me this one of the cornerstone songs of that era, a true masterpiece.

The Return of the Blog

2010-09-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

Finally back home in good ol' Cayucos! It feels awesome to be back on a somewhat regular schedule, sleep in a bed, watch a movie every now and again, sit in chair that isn't moving 60 mph, etc. I have many stories and pictures to share from the tour, but for now I leave you with this amazing video of Stephen Colbert testifying before congress...that's right you heard me correctly. I'm quite positive some members of this committee got beat down with a cat o' nine tails afterwards for allowing this to occur, but they stood tall during the testimony with some solid poker faces. Enjoy.

Blog Hiatus

2010-05-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

So unfortunately I found out on this tour that I get extremely car sick in RVs, which means I can't work on my laptop top at all, which in turn means no new blogs. Also, my digital camera died in an RV accident right at the start of the tour. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my Dad lent me his canon 35mm camera for the rest of the tour, which has been so much more fun to use and experiment with. I've probably shot about ten rolls over the course of the tour and I am going to get them developed when we get back, so expect pictures and tour stories blogs starting in mid July. Until then make sure to check out the Still Time blog for all of our picture and video blog updates. What I can update from the road is my twitter and facebook from my phone. So if you're looking to stay in loop with my every day going ons check out one of these webpages:

twitter.com/psmithstewart

facebook.com/paulsmithstewart

On that note, I leave you with this song to help you through your day...

A Supremely Stupid Decision

2010-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

You won't see a lot of political ranting in my blog, but this is something I feel very strongly about. If you feel the same way contact your Representative in Congress today. This has nothing to do with Republican vs. Democratic, Pro Choice vs. Pro Life, etc. This is about free speech and our right to elect a Representative that doesn't have a corporate logo stitched to the back of their suit. If you disagree with me, please email me (paul@stilltimemusic.com). I welcome the debate.

A few days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend freely in federal elections.

It's a green light for a new stampede of special interest money in our politics, giving their lobbyists even more power in Washington. Now, every candidate who fights for change could face limitless attacks from corporate special interests like health insurance companies and Wall Street banks.

Fight for fair elections: Add your name

The Supreme Court decision overturned a 20-year precedent saying that corporations could not pay for campaign ads from their general treasuries. And it struck down a law saying corporations couldn't buy "issue ads" -- which only thinly veil support for or opposition to specific candidates -- in the closing days of campaigns.

The result? Corporations can unleash multi-million-dollar ad barrages against candidates who try to curb special interest power, or devote millions to propping up elected officials who back their schemes.

With no limits on their spending, big oil, Wall Street banks, and health insurance companies will try to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.

Add your name today:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fairelections/

2010-01-24T16:50:00.001-08:00

2010-01-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits

Overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

Well I'm glad my right to political speech is being protected, sans the fact that it will now cost me millions of dollars to exercise that right.

A Christmas Story

2009-12-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

So my brothers and I were hanging out at my middle brother's, Tim, apartment late on Christmas Eve in Seattle. I couldn't get a hold of my girlfriend Sarah so instead of leaving her a message we decided to write her a story. Only catch was we decided we would write one sentence each, and then rotate until the story was done. So here it is...the story of:

The Man and The Sea Anemone

Once there was a man, a manly man, who enjoyed the occasional frolic in the industrial steel factory late on a Saturday night. He was fat. He loved eating krispy creme donuts with his mom before he went frolicking on Saturday nights. On a stormy evening in mid-September he was attacked by a stray sea anemone while soaking up the lightning storm in a half finished canoe 10 miles of the coast of the magical, mysterious, prickly Tonga Kingdom. He cried :( . the man thought the sea anemone was a friendly starfish but when he went to pick it up and hold it, the creature busted out of the water and attacked his face with his sharp prickliness and said, "that's wuts up bitch," and then swam away. He now swelled with the rage of a bloody-thirsty god who had the rage of 23 more bloodier-thirstier gods and formed his now broken canoe into a spear and shield with which to pursue this wretched creature into the darkest depths of the Pacific Ocean. To gain good fortune from the Gods he cut off his pinkie toe, it hurt. On his journey to get revenge he came across mango tango island where he stalked up on mangoes so he could gain juicy power to battle against the sea anemone. "Damn. Thems some good mother fuckin' mangoes" exclaimed the man. He then chanted a poem;

I love mango's
With Mango now I fight
To kill the wretched creature,
Who fucked up my shit one too many times.

He then freshened up on his tango to perfect his tangy dance moves to better his battle stance for his fight. What a sight to behold...the mighty man man mango tango dance of the Tonga Kingdom, the sea anemone cowered in fear as it watched the ritual from the shore break. From a distance, the sea anemone called out, "he- hey man...lo- look I'm sorry about that earlier, do you think maybe we could just (gulp) you know forgive and forget?" For a moment their eyes and...well I guess tentacles met for what seemed like eternity, until the man turned his frown upside down and yelled "Surf's Up!", and the man and anemone lived happily ever after surfing the waves of Mango Tango Island in the magical Tonga Kingdom.

-The End

2009-12-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm using wireless internet on an aircraft which (according to the screen on the seat back in front of me) is currently traveling at a ground speed of 534 mph, with an average outside temperature -76 degrees Fahrenheit...I remember when I used to get excited about getting a free bag of honey roasted peanuts.

2009-12-10T14:13:00.001-08:00

2009-12-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

2009-12-02T18:07:00.001-08:00

TuneGroove #1: Stevie Wonder "For Once in My Life"

2009-10-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting a new series this week called TuneGroove. Basically, I'm going put up a song every week that is close to my heart, and end up with a big list of my favorite tunes. On this particular cut I'm actually learning the bass line right now, by the master of the groove himself James Jamerson.

This one takes us way back to Motown 1968 for Stevie Wonder's version of "For Once in My Life". For me, this song above all others really captures the feeling of love. I don't know why, maybe it's that classic Motown backing band, The Funk Brothers, with a very young and passionate Stevie Wonder. But for whatever reason this song fills me with happiness and joy every time I hear it, so I hope you enjoy!

Email me at: paul@stilltimemusic.com and let me know what you think of the song selection, or if you have any suggestions for the next TuneGroove.

2009-09-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

2009-09-03T19:10:00.001-07:00

2009-09-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

6 Days...

2009-09-01T17:22:00.001-07:00

Save 100 parks - Environment California

2009-08-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

Save our State Parks

2009-08-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I just found out about this but apparently the governor is trying to cut funding for 80% of all Califonia State Parks . That's insane! I'm not an economist, but let's think about this logically for like I don't know...10 seconds:

1) What is one of the major selling points of tourism in Califonia? (No Arnold it's not Planet Hollywood restaurants). I wonder how our economy will be doing in 2010 when all the income from campground rentals, hiking permits, parking passes, etc. dries up. California state parks generate $4.2 billion every year, and it's going up since during our current economic times camping is a very cheap vacation option.

2) Man, what has California been plagued quite a lot with in the past few years? Oh yeah! Wildfires. That'll be interesting come next summer when half the state burns down 'cause we fired all the people that are in charge of taking preventative measures against forest fires.

3) Tell you what Arnold, how about this. We'll place you in the middle of Yosemite, and the only things you can take is all of your movie props from Predator. We'll then save nature the trouble and light the forest on fire ourselves. But here's the kicker that will save California from it's budget woes. The whole event will stream live to the world on pay-per-view, we'll bust out helicopter cameras, satellite imagery, secret tree, bear, elk and squirrel cams...the whole shebang. We'll also do worldwide betting, odds if he'll make it out alive, how long he'll last etc...and California gets a cut of the profits. Problem solved.

Here's a link to more information about the issue, and how you can take action:
http://ga3.org/campaign/budget072909#More

Wood

2009-07-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Snapped this shot on the way home from band practice. I'm so excited for our acoustic show on the 13th, we have some pretty ridiculous things in store. I think this will be the first Still Time show I'm playing entirely on Upright Bass, and I'm really looking forward to our fans seeing a totally different side of us.

Currently Spinning: Joy of Cooking

Pacific Northwest

2009-07-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, Portland is such an amazing city. We were only there for a day but it's just one of those places as soon as you show up you just feel this vibe...hard to explain in words. Anyways, our stop in Portland worked out to be on a Monday so we really weren't sure what the turn out was going to be like (expecially since our set didn't start until after midnight). But by the time we went on the bar was PACKED. We definitely had a group of friends there that knew our music but the majority of the people there had never heard of us before, but as soon as we started playing people were dancing, screaming and yelling. I've just never experienced people being that receptive to new music before, it was amazing.

We also got to play directly under the space needle in Seattle as part of the Bite of Seattle Festival. That was particularly cool becuase both of my brothers were in town. On our way back down to SLO we did an acoustic gig at a wine bar in Redding and my Grandpa and Aunt came to the show! It's interesting to me that I've been able reconnect with a lot of relatives and frineds since we're traveling so consistenly through the west coast now.

Well I gotta run we're headed down to Santa Barbara tonight to play an acoustic set live on KRUZ 97.5. Should be a lot of fun.

Currently Spinning: Herbie Hancock

New Videos!

2009-06-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Check it out! Videos from our CD Release show at Harlow's in Sacramento. Muchas Gracias to Mike Berry and BVTV for putting the videos together!

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\/

"In This Life"

"Come Alive"

"American Dream"

"The Fortune"

SB Release Show Pics

2009-06-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

Observe the framed and signed picture of John Stamos...you know you want it.

Currently Spinning: Ali Akbar Khan

Arlington Theatre w/ UB40

2009-06-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to upload these pictures for a while. In mid-April we opened for UB40 at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara. Such an amazing venue! I could attempt to describe the show in words, but thankfully I have pictures instead. Much thanks to localnights.com for the pictures!

New Videos!

2009-06-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

We played the closing of an amazing venue in Monterey a few nights ago, Monterey Live, but luckily got some video from a fan (thanks Greg!) to capture the moment in time.

High Tide

In This Life with special guests Forrest Day & Dave Eaton

Graceland by Paul Simon

Old Soul

Rising From the Ashes

Come Alive

Fresh Island Jam

Class & Style

Currently Spinning: Allman Brothers Eat a Peach

More DTB CD Release Show Pictures!

2009-05-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Muchas gracias to niites.com and Kelly for the pictures. If anyone else out there has any pictures or videos send them over to: paul@stilltimemusic.com. I'd love to check them out!

Story Time...

2009-05-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

So at the CD Release Show in SLO last Tuesday I decided for our encore, Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al", it would be really fun to jump off the stage and do my solo in the audience. But as soon as I started soloing I realized people were grabbing my ankles and I was being slowly lifted into the air and turned horizontal. I tend to close my eyes when I'm playing so pretty much one minute I was on the ground and the next I was still soloing and being held up by a group of our fans in the front row. So I played the whole rest of the solo while people were holding me up in the air. I think the craziest part about the whole thing was that I've done crowd surfing at concerts before, and it's an extremely chaotic experience: rolling over head over toe, falling, being picked up, getting thrown through the air, people grabbing you in inappropriate places, etc. This time though, it was as if I was on top of a human table; they kept me in one level spot the whole time and I had no problem playing my bass, it was so surreal. After the solo Nick grabbed me and pulled me back on stage and there was a moment where I wasn't playing and I just looked out and thrust my hands in the air and everyone just started cheering and screaming. It was such an amazing collective moment, we had all come together to make this crazy event happen and had pulled it off. It's just one of those things that you can't plan out, it was an insane improvised moment that was specific to that time and place. So yeah I don't know who all was involved in holding me up, except for Haircut's brother Phil (you rule Phil!), but thank you for holding me up! Now that you've heard the story here's some pictures, courtesy of our friend and fan Sara, from the show:

Thank You

2009-05-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that came to the SLO CD release show. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. We are so lucky to have such amazing fans. We've definitely been burning the candle at both ends for a while now to get this album together, but it's all worth it to me...to share our new songs with friends and family at our favorite venue Downtown Brew...it's difficult to describe in words. You just had to be there. Well I gotta run to go get set up for our IV release show. Thank you again to everyone who has supported us with the pre-order and CD release shows, we wouldn't be able to do this without you.

Currently Spinning: NIN

Fun times with good people

2009-05-18T04:01:00.001-07:00

So it's definitely 4 in the morning, and we just got back from Hollywood to Chris' parents house in Moorpark. I tengo mucho tired, so I will keep this short. We played an acoustic show at this awesome venue in Hollywood called the Hotel Cafe. It was really fun to play upright bass for a whole set...changed the scene. After the set we met Truth and Salvage Company, who will be playing with us at our SLO CD release show, and moved the party over to a booth with a baby grand piano and sang some classic tunes 'tip close. Playing the new acoustic tracks and meeting those guys got me so excited for our DTB show. Wow time travels fast I can't believe it's only one day away...madness.

Currently spinning: Beastie Boys

San Diego Show

2009-05-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

The venue we played at last night (Cane's) is right on the water in Mission Beach. So we decided to play a little acoustic show down by the beach. We busted out the upright bass, slide guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and snare drum. Anyways we met some girls on vacation from Australia, they ended up coming to the show and were totally stoked on the music. How awesome is that! I hope we can get to the point someday where we can travel and play across the world. I know we can, it's just a matter of time and effort.

I am so excited for our CD release show at Downtown Brew! I can't believe how soon it is. I saw Dredg at DTB the other night...great show I think their drummer broke like 10 sticks...it got me really pumped for our show.

Currently Spinning: Led Zeppelin

On the road again...

2009-05-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the van on our way to San Diego. I can't believe we're playing the first cd release show tonight...very surreal. Even though I think the last six months have been the longest of my entire life, sometimes it feels like they just blew by. I'm so excited to share our new music with our family and friends! Stay tuned for CD Release Show video blogs all week long.

Currently spinning: MMW "Radiolarians II"

Cinco De Mayo House Party

2009-05-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

So we celebrated Cinco De Mayo this year down in San Diego with a good ol' fashioned house party. The house we played at actually had a lime tree in the backyard (clutch). We traded sets with Matt Masih and The Messengers until the cops shut it down around 10 (weak sauce). While we were loading out this Mom came walking down the street in her pajamas and said her and her husband were listening to us from their backyard a couple houses down and were totally digging the music and were bummed the cops broke up the party! That to me is what music is all about, people of totally different backgrounds, ages, etc. coming together to have a good time and celebrate life.

My good friend David Mann caught two jams on camera before it was too dark to shoot. Check 'em out:

Currently Spinning: Nirvana

On the road again...

2009-04-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week so far. I've gone from painting a barn, straight to playing to several thousand people in a theatre, and then the next morning helping set up our manager's mobile stage on a beach in Santa Barbara for a Sorority Volleyball Tournament...then back to painting a barn, and now tonight we're playing an Irish Pub (Maggie McGarry's) in North Beach, San Francisco. It's a crazy lifestyle, but I enjoy every second of it. Getting to meet so many different fans, musicians, venues, cities, etc. is incredible to me. After we set up for the Sorority Volleyball Tournament I decided to drag my upright bass down to the water's edge for a little practice session. About half an hour later this guy appeared out of nowhere, he said he'd stop his car on the highway and pulled over to come meet me....now that I think about it I guess it's not that common to be driving along a coastal highway and see someone playing upright bass on the beach. Anyways it turns out he runs a Gamelan Orchestra in Santa Barbara, how cool is that?! To me that's what it is all about, meeting interesting people and learning from each other, sharing knowledge and ideas. Well the van calls...off to San Francisco!

P.S. - If you're interested in Gamelan Music at all you can check him out here:

Peter North
www.gamelansb.com

Currently Spinning: Charles Ives "Symphony No. 2"

More Pictures from Earth Day

2009-04-26T12:15:00.001-07:00

Pictures by LocalsNight.com and Rob Hoffman

Currently Spinning: Bill Evans "Waltz for Debby"

Santa Barbara Earth Day

2009-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

So to celebrate Earth Day we played an amazing outdoor show in Alameda Park in Santa Barbara. Most of the audience was chilling on the grass, with a few scattered hoola hoop dancers...but one guy was throwing down the dance moves nonstop...with no shirt on...and it was awesome. So for most of "High Tide" I decided to go down and dance with him. Here's some pictures and videos from the show:

Video by Cowboy Surfer

Pictures by Rob Hoffman

P.S. If anyone else out there has pictures or videos they want to share send them to me at: paul@stilltimemusic.com and I'll post them here.

Currently Spinning: The Meters

Video Blog (March 19th - March 26th)

2009-03-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

So I recently realized that I can take video on my camera! So from now on I'm going to try and upload videos every week, so everyone can check out what's going on in the world of Still Time from a band member's perspective. I hope you enjoy the videos!

John Taxes 3/19
John preparing Still Time for taxes while listening to Prince at Desoto St. house.

Gas Station of the Future 3/22
Me and Chris at a 76 gas station (at 3 in the morning and super cracked out) on our way back to SLO after the Jackie Greene concert in Santa Cruz

Van Ride to LA 3/22
Listening to the tracks on our way down to mix and master.

Pre-Mixing Production 3/22
Pre-Mixing Production at Fred Vogler's studio.

Ocean Way Studio A 3/23
A tour of Ocean Way Studio A.

Ocean Way Studio A II 3/23
Tour part deux.

Ocean Way Taping I 3/23
Cutting a mixed track to tape.

Ocean Way Taping II 3/23
Cutting a mixed track to tape.

Ocean Way Taping III 3/24
Putting the last track for the album on tape...off to mastering!

Mastering I 3/26
Mastering with Scott at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Mastering II 3/26
Mastering with Scott at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Currently Spinning: "Kodachrome" Paul Simon

New Videos!

2009-03-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple videos courtesy of Michelle San Jose. They are from the Lance and Carla Hoffman Benefit Concert we played in Santa Barbara a few weeks ago. Two of these songs, "Tedd the Monster" and "Old Soul" will be out on our upcoming album See America in May.

Tedd the Monster

Old Soul

High Tide

If you guys have any Still Time pictures, videos, concert recordings, etc. Send them to paul@stilltimemusic.com and I'll post them here!

Currently Spinning: See America Mastered Recordings

My current state of mind...

2009-03-08T17:47:00.001-07:00

Currently Spinning: Rimsky-Korsakov "Sheherazade"

SEE AMERICA UPDATE #2: Mixtown

2009-03-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

That's right, tracking is done! (For the most part) What a crazy, long, exhausting, and fun experience. I think we came away with some really interesting sounds since we did tracking in three separate locations. I learned a lot about my own playing, both good and bad, and furthered my knowledge of the recording process immensely. I think my favorite part of the whole experience was when Kevin Wong came down to lend some keys to the album, we came up with some really amazing spur-of-the-moment jams to incorporate into two of the songs on "See America", and they turned out really well. So I'm very excited for everyone to check them out come May. Probably the craziest moment of the whole recording process was when Chris thought it will be sweet to have the sound of a bonfire on one of the tracks. Unfortunately as soon as we got the bonfire going it started drizzling. So I ran and got a towel to hold over the microphone, which was working fine until embers from the fire started landing on the towel...thankfully it did not catch on fire and we got the track. Now it's back to the studio for mixing...stay tuned for more updates.

I took a few pictures from the Downtown Brew recording sessions, check 'em out:

The bass effects pedals.

John passing the time with some solitaire.

The basses used for recording.

My brand new SWR bass rig.

The Bonfire.

Currently Spinning: "See America" pre-mix recordings.

PSPF Trial #1

2009-02-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Cuomo Finds Big Bonuses for Many at Merrill

By LOUISE STORY

Published: February 11, 2009

Merrill Lynch paid out bonuses of more than $1 million each to 696 people last year, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.

What is striking about Mr. Cuomo’s findings is how much money went to how few people. Merrill employs some 39,000 people, and if the $3.6 billion bonus pool had been split evenly the average bonus would have been $91,000, Mr. Cuomo said.

But Wall Street was never based on fairness. The industry has a strong culture of paying people vastly varied amounts. Mr. Cuomo said the four people who were most highly paid at Merrill were paid an aggregate of $121 million, and the next 10 received $128 million.

Mr. Cuomo did not release the names of the top bonus recipients, but one of them may be Thomas Montag, the head of equities at Merrill and now at Bank of America. Mr. Montag was given a contract worth $39 million when he moved to Merrill from Goldman Sachs last year.

Mr. Cuomo also said 20 people were paid more than $8 million and 53 people were paid more than $5 million. He said that 149 people were paid more than $3 million and that their total payout was $858 million. Some of the bonuses — 30 percent — were paid in stock, according to people with knowledge of Merrill’s bonuses.

To read the full New York Times article click here.


I hereby bring to order the first trial of the Court of PSPF, which stands for People who Should be Punched in the Face.  The Court of PSPF is a special ultra-secret tribunal that was established by Eisenhower to punish criminals that are so soul-less, they were seen as unfit to stand trial before a normal U.S. Court.



Defendant: Top Executives of Merrill Lynch

Prosecutor: The other 38,304 employees of Merrill Lynch

Defendant's Plea: Not guilty by reason of no longer having souls.

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: Each defendant will relinquish their bonuses back to Washington for redistribution into the Stimulus Package. I don't know maybe they can spend the money on something crazy...like education. But before the money is returned all other employees can pick up what would have been their cut of the bailout money and are allowed to slap each Top Executive of Merrill Lynch in the face with said wad of cash.

Currently Spinning: Nina Simone

SEE AMERICA UPDATE #1: Kevin Wong comes to SLO

2009-01-31T21:22:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to announce that our good friend and ridiculously awesome keyboardist Kevin Wong will be making his way down to San Luis Obispo this week to do some tracking on our upcoming album "See America". For those of you who haven't heard Kevin play with us before...all I can say is when you pop "See America" into your CD player for the first time be ready for some wailing organ, choice Fender/Rhodes chops, and overall pure psychotic awesomeness from the keyboard arena. That is all. If you are ever in San Francisco make sure to check out his band BASSment.

Currently Spinning: Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli

Highway 1 Revisited

2009-01-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

After visiting my friend Miles in Santa Cruz, I decided to drive the rest of the way home on Highway 1. Here's some pictures from the journey:

Currently Spinning: Charles Mingus "Mingus Ah Um"

Tennesse Valley Trail

2008-12-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

I went on a hike with my family in Mill Valley over Thanksgiving weekend. Here's some photos from the hike:

My Dad and brother Tim.

The beautiful California coast line.

My brothers Tim and Charles.

If you are ever in the bay area I highly recommend hiking here. Click here for more info on the trails, etc.

Currently Spinning: Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy Cornell 1964

Take Forever

2008-10-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

So I've been pretty terrible about keeping this blog updated. But now that we're back in SLO I'll be able to up date it much more often. For right now I just wanted to share a few pictures with you that I took on the tour.

Found these two action figures already set up like this on the deck railing at my home in San Rafael...awesome.

John's Grandparents' backyard, outside of Santa Cruz.

Flower patch at John's Grandparents'.

Isla Vista Sunset.

Currently spinning: Medeski Martin & Wood "Radiolarians 1"

Super Neat

2008-06-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Awesomeness abounds. So I guess this will be my personal blog page from now on. I'll try and update it as much as possible on the road with what tunes I'm listening to, how the shows go, hilarious band antics, etc. I'm going to sell my POS fretless to save up for a quality one, but I'm also going to buy a digital camera with some of the money. So I'll definitely post some pictures up here as well.

Currently Spinning: The Beatles---Rubber Soul/Revolver <---You can totally fit both these albums on one CD, so bitchin' for road trips.

-Pablo

Paul "Pablo" Smith-Stewart

Shut Down The Ports

Really Newt? Really?

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Newt’s War on Poor Children

By CHARLES M. BLOW

Published: December 2, 2011

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Go to Columnist Page »

Poor Children, Working Parents

Related

Times Topic: Newt Gingrich

Readers’ Comments

Performance Tonight

Hideo Video Clips

Hideo

Esperanza Spalding at White House

Sleepless in Seattle

Updates

Music in Space!

How Astronauts Fill Their Space With Music

Sittin' In

The Music Biz

Slow Motion Reality

TuneGroove #2: Marvin Gaye "What's Goin' On"

The Return of the Blog

Blog Hiatus

A Supremely Stupid Decision

A Christmas Story

TuneGroove #1: Stevie Wonder "For Once in My Life"

6 Days...

Save our State Parks

Wood

Pacific Northwest

New Videos!

SB Release Show Pics

Arlington Theatre w/ UB40

New Videos!

More DTB CD Release Show Pictures!

Story Time...

Thank You

Fun times with good people

San Diego Show

On the road again...

Cinco De Mayo House Party

On the road again...

More Pictures from Earth Day

Santa Barbara Earth Day

Video Blog (March 19th - March 26th)

New Videos!

My current state of mind...

SEE AMERICA UPDATE #2: Mixtown

PSPF Trial #1

SEE AMERICA UPDATE #1: Kevin Wong comes to SLO

Highway 1 Revisited

Tennesse Valley Trail

Take Forever

Super Neat