Sean Mormelo..Singer Songwriter, Creative Soul.

Putting My Music Back on My Site

mormelo — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:18:34 +0000

The whole debacle with Myspace changing their player, no longer offering to let Indies give songs away etc lit a fire under my ass. I hate Myspace because it’s bloated and full of spam etc and I would rather have my own files on my own site once again so I set up a music page. There you will be able to listen to all of my music, download demo and live versions of tunes and Download stuf for sale. I’m tweaking so it should be ongoing. Stay tuned.

Old Pics….

mormelo — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:22:02 +0000

Got some Camera pics and an album of a trip we did across country over summer 02 from FL to Seattle. Fun stuff baby.

Update on Europe and Plans 4 Rest of The Year.

mormelo — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:30:18 +0000

Oh my how things never quite go the way you hope they will and in my case that’s the norm. So, I was supposed to do 5 weeks on 2 different cruise ships in the Baltic Sea originally. Work issues with Estonia erased my first 2 weeks but we were holding out that I was going to be able to do the last 3 weeks and 2nd ship but the Estonian Government will not grant me a work visa. The reason for this is because I’m non-EU and probably because i’m American. In any event, American’s who are the best musicians on average on the Troubadour scene in Europe, can’t work for the cruise line that is based in Estonia which screws us and really sets the Estonian Cruise ship company back because they were trying to step up their entertainment quality. Oh well..Lost $6000 on those 3 weeks of work and now I have my Copenhagen gigs starting October 26th which aren’t even remotely as lucrative but I have to work. Basically, I’ve made about 3 grand the entire summer doing limited gigs and studio work so I have no choice but to hit Europe hard and generate some income. There are other opportunities there for me to make money outside of my regular gigs that i’m going to vigorously pursue.

The basic schedule is that I’m leaving here to head to Los Angeles to hang with my best friend Mark, work on music, and chill a bit. It’s looking like the first week of October we are going to hit a recon mission to Costa Rica for a week. I want to check it out for an extended surf trip and Mark wants to take his Russian girlfriend there for a month this winter and he will be retired from his company October 1st, we can get cheap tickets, it’s cheap down there and we will probably going. We will get back from Europe and I’ll chill in Lost Angeles until I leave for Europe from Los Angeles around the 23rd of October. Once I hit the ground running in CPH, I’ll work through the end of January basically killing myself. Will head to FL for a week or 10 days then come home to AK for a visit. After that I will head back to Europe hopefully for some good cruiseship gigs, more St. Mortiz,etc etc. No work that can sustain me back home here in Alaska so I’ll visit and work in Europe. That’s what’s going on and everything after the end of January is fluid. Another tropical vacation is very probable this winter or early spring and more consolidation of my possessions here in Alaska is possible. Why do I need all this stuff here if I’m not here to use it?

Playing For Free

mormelo — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:51:03 +0000

Here’s the problem with playing for free. It doesn’t work for me. I need to feel like someone gives a shit enough about what I do to pay me something for my time. And I should be paid. Regardless if you think music should be free in it’s recorded form which of course is fucking ludicrous, driving to the gig, setting up one’s gear, playing and singing for multiple hours, breaking down, and driving home are all alot of work and thus, an artist should be paid for his time. You don’t ask a waiter to come to work for free. You don’t ask a Doctor to work for free. The fact is, I’ve put 30 years into playing musical instruments, writing songs, singing and performing and my entire life revolves around music. That said, playing for free is demeaning. It’s like the bar owner saying, “oh well of course I get paid, my staff have to be paid, in fact everyone has to be paid for their time, but you should come here and play but NOT be paid”. WTF? Now, I do see alot of so called musicians who are amateur and thus should not expect to be paid. They are essentially lucky someone lets them come out and get the experience they need until they develop the professional level skills that warrant them being paid as such. I don’t have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when I’m lumped in with the smelly hippy blowing into a didgeridoo that he just got a week earlier. That sucks and I can’t deal with it anymore. I’m fucking sick of being expected to play for free. This is what I do. Music. It’s my vocation. You pay a Lawyer. You pay a Doctor. But artists are continually taken advantage of and I sincerely believe much of it stems from Jealousy from people who have no talent or artistic skill. Music is life!! People know this, it affects them just like good Visual art or art of any kind! Why is that artists are shit on? Made to feel inadequate because we do not operate by the same conformity of society as other people. My theory is people know this, are jealous and they want to keep the artist down; in their place as an outcast not worthy of any reverence or special treatment. In fact they seek to subjugate the artist to prop themselves up so that they can compensate for their feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. It really is quite sad. In any case this seems to be how the world works from my perspective and It seriously sucks! I want no part of that world.

The Credit Crunch, Foreclosures and Killing Yourself

mormelo — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:44:46 +0000

A word about the credit problems in the United States. Americans are utterly, hopelessly in Debt to a corrupt system that was designed to suck you dry! The Federal Reserve that issues your currency is anything but Federal. In fact, it’s a private banking institution and a For profit bank. Look, the Federal Reserve creats money out of NOTHING!!!…Thats right…NOTHING…ALL BANKS create money out of NOTHING, then lend the money they created out of nothing to you at interest. Effectively, they grow money on trees and it’s really worth nothing. How fucked is that? You should all watch The Money Masters-How International Bankers Gained Control Of America. You’ll be blown away! Our Founding fathers did not design our nation to be under the thumb of the money changes but we were taken over. You think your life is over because you can’t pay your mortgage or your credit cards but it’s not. No reason to kill yourself or tear your relationship apart over it. It’s a ponzi scheme and you are caught up in it and you should all collectively just say fuck it all, cut up your cards you can’t pay and stop paying your mortgage to the corrupt Bankers who created this fiat currency out of Thin Air! Create an Emancipation Proclaimation for your freedom from financial slavery. This whole corrupt system needs to come down.

No Gigs Make Sean a Dull Boy

mormelo — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:34:18 +0000

I’ve been in a shit ass state of mind because I have very few gigs this summer. Thing Is, I like to play. I enjoy it and it makes me feel good but I don’t enjoy HAVING to play all the time just to stay alive if you get my drift. Seems it’s either feast of famine. In Europe I played so much that after a while you are praying for a day off but go to the other extreme of say, 3 gigs this month really sucks too. The funny thing is, I have all sort of studio work to get done. I have several albums worth of my own stuff to record and I’m working in the studio with 2 other artists but I can’t seem to motivate this week. I have so much time that I could in fact get everything done if I put my nose to the grindstone. But I haven’t and this week I spent days in bed. I don’t feel depressed so I don’t think that’s it. Just unfuckingmotivated. Kinda Nihilistic if you will; I don’t really give a shit either way about anything. Don’t care if the bills get paid or not. As far as my music goes, I’m enjoying writing and it’s getting better and better but no one really gives a shit but me. That’s fine though as I do it for me anyway. I don’t really know if it’s a good place to be or not but knowing other musicians around town have gigs and I don’t does bother me. But to be fair, everyone is struggling from the down-spiraling economy and not enough gigs to really survive on. I used to have a bunch of steady, weekly anchor gigs that allowed me to survive from my music alone up here, but they are gone. I saw the writing on the wall last summer and the steady gigs started to disappear around November. I think we’re in for it up here and i’m checking out. That is to say, It’s getting worse and worse everywhere. Right now there are gigs in Europe and I’m going to go play them from the end of next month through the rest of the year. I’ll take a break over the holidays then see what’s on the horizon for Winter ski gigs, and other good European gigs. If there is nothing high paying, I will take a vacation to South America. If there are some gig Winter gigs for me, I will go do them, THEN, go on vacation.Vacation. It’s a term that we all know and love although most of us in the US barely take any vacations compared to the rest of the Westernized word. I’ve been reading Vagbonding by Rolf Potts and The Four Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris. I like a lot of what he says in the 4HWW but I really don’t want to run a business per se. These people put in a lot of work to get something going that they can basically automate that generates residual income for them to travel and work form anywhere. Thats fine and I may try to do something down the line but right now I just want to Vagabond around the earth. If I can work for 3-6 months putting together and nice chunk, I can travel for 3-6 months backpacking around, playing guitar, writing, having adventures, getting inspired, meeting interesting people, seeing all the places I want to see on the globe, it will really do wonders for me artistically. I don’t give a fucking shit about material possessions. I really don’t because all you do is work work work doing something you just don’t give a shit about, wasting your entire life, trying to pay for them. Fuck that, I’m out of that game. Never was really in it. I will work just enough to make the money i need to fund my travel and adventures. They will include a lot of surfing, diving, lounging on beaches, hiking waterfalls, and eating good food. Basically, good living. I’ve wrestled with it all long and hard and it’s clear to me that we do it WRONG in the West and ESPECIALLY the United States. I don’t give a shit what a person says, no one starts out with the goal that they want to work their entire life away. Most people have zero passion for their jobs, but even the few that do, didn’t want to do that work and only that work. They want to LIVE! But we promote a work till you die mantra here in the US and this bullshit about getting all the toys you can…., No one has actually paid for that Mercedes or BMW or the McMansion on the hill..We bought it all on credit in a corrupt financial system Meanwhile that was set up to siphon all the wealth from the entire nation and leave us bankrupt, which it has succeeded in doing. I’ve analyzed it all long and hard and I’m out of it. It’s good that I fucked my credit up 6 years ago because I might well be as fucked as the rest my fellow countrymen but I’m not. Debt and a deferred life plan, as Tim Ferris calls it are not the way. I mean, kill yourself in some fucking Cubicle or under 10000 cars or doing whatever, only to retire and enjoy the good life when you are 65???? Fuck that! Who knows if you are going to make it to 65? The Kids today are so fat, out of shape, pre-diabetic and unhealthy they say they could be the fist generation to be outlived by their parents!! That is so messed up and deserves an entire Blog about the subject on it’s own! Also, you think you are going to retire at 65 and do all the things you deferred all those years so you could be working? Think again. The numbers doing work out when you adjust for cost of living and inflation. Even if all the pensions doing get sucked up by the financial meltdown, even if somehow you are the .001% of people who actually save any money and even if you think you will be alright the reality is that IF you make it to retirement age, you will have an income that will be barely allow you to subsist. Think you’re going to travel? Ha! Plus, if you make it, you probably can’t hike the Inca trail or dive the Great Barrier Reef at your advanced age and shitty condition you are undoubtedly in….Anyway, you get my point. This whole society plan that’s been propagated on us is utter bullshit. I’m calling it out now and you should too. It’s a fantasy and I hope some of you wake up to it before it’s too late. Read Vagabonding! Get a dream, get excited! Read the Four Hour Work Week! Stop Wasting your lives! Life is now.

Sean Mormelo /Mike Gorder @ Taproot Cafe Friday July 18th

mormelo — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:19:43 +0000

Tap Root Poster

Originally uploaded by SVENTVKG

We’ll probably start around 9 and will feature a special guest opener. Mike is a gifted songwriter and one of Anchorage’s best known too boot! We’ll both be showcasing new songs from upcoming releases and the Taproot is now in my opinion Anchorage’s Premier life acoustic music venue! For more info Email me.

Anchorage All Stars Show July 10th @ The Avenue

mormelo — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:16:04 +0000

Anchorage All Stars Show Poster

Originally uploaded by SVENTVKG

This is the Show of the summer that you will not want to miss! We’ve got so much talent packed into one night that it’s almost insane to contemplate! If you miss this one you can catch Gorder and I at the Taproot Cafe on Friday July 18th!

Like a Rolling Stone

mormelo — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:29:53 +0000

Oh yea, that phrase certainly fits me to a T. I’ve finally rolled back home to Alaska for the summer and I couldn’t be happier. I have very little work booked, very little Money (because I spent it all) and nothing on the agenda other then music and fun. That’s the way I prefer it. I don’t like all the other myriad distractions in life. It all basically pisses me off and deflects me from my true pursuits which are art and beauty in the form of good music. Fuck everything else I say! Today Is my first day home and I must say, it was so great seeing my cats again after almost 5 months. Contrary to what some people have said cats do not forget their owners after a few months. Mine were extremely happy to see me and I was overjoyed to see that. I’m not planning on being gone quite this long anymore. A couple a months at a time is better even if it cost me more to shoot home for some R and R after an 8 week European Run. That is the plan for next time and next time is going to be starting on September 14th out of Stockholm. I’ll do 2 weeks on the Victoria again then 3 weeks on another ship out of Turku Finland which runs between there and Stockholm. After that is over on October 19th I’ll run down to Copenhagen and do 3 weeks or so before shooting back home. At that point I’ll probably chill until just before Christmas then run down to FL for a spell. I might take Yoga Teacher training which is something I have been wanting to do for a long time so I’m going to try to ease back into practicing yoga a bit this summer while I’m home. After the new year if things align for good $$ in Europe I will go back for another run..That’s the basic outline of what’s up but anyone who knows me knows it’s all subject to change at a moment’s notice and that’s the way I like my life! Why be Bored? Sometimes I still am though. See ya.

Florida Pics…The Old Gang!!

mormelo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:20:20 +0000

Been hanging here in Florida for the past week now and having a blast chilling with friends and family. Basically and uncharacteristically, i’ve been pooling it during the day getting a bit of sun and then going to see friends play at night. Mostly they are people who I’ve played with in various bands over the years and I’ve been jamming a bit as well. Hacking would be more the correct term as for some reason I’m having a tough time playing anyone elses electric guitars with slinky strings on it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been on acoustic for the past 5 months exclusively but all I know is I was on top of my game in Europe and not it seems down here on electrics..Oh well..Will practice on mine when I get home in a little over a week!

I am having fun though blowing off steam and recovering from a serious working sting in EU. Here are some pics of the gang from this week. Enjoy!