Happy New Year 2009!

I did this funny (I hope) video to commemorate the passing of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. May all of you have a Happy New Year!

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, ka-ching!

Classic!

Feliz Navidad

Feel free to sing-a-long.

Christmas of '89

Next to my birthday, my favorite day is Christmas day. I take that back, Christmas is my favorite. Most, if not all of my happy memories have been during Christmas vacation--either from school or work. Christmas of '89 is one of my favorite Christmas memories. During the summer of '89, I moved to the U.S. from Mexico. That was a very stressful time for me, first, because I didn't speak English, and second, because I had left all my friends and family from Mexico behind. A few months after that, during Christmas vacation, I went back to Mexico. Once again, I was amongst my family. That Christmas was the first of many, where I would spend Christmas vacation at my aunt Olivia's house.

There are many stories which I will eventually write about. But there is one that I'd like to share today. Every Christmas vacation, from about Christmas '89 to '91, my cousins: "Checo," "Junior," "Picky," and I, would get together at my uncle's church and played and recorded music. It was the best! We would set up in the sanctuary, which was usually very cold, and we would play and record for the longest time. It was so cold, that my cousin "Junior" would play the bass guitar wearing knitted gloves. We called ourselves "Grupo Primitivo" or Primitive Band, because we were very primitive, both in our instruments and recording equipment; which included nothing more than a cassette recorder. I enjoyed those "recording sessions"--if they can be called that--like nothing else. Getting together to record music became something we did every Christmas until some of us got girlfriends, or got married, or moved away. Eventually all those things that you enjoy doing as a child, disappear one by one.

All this time since then, it has been my dream to get together again. It has never happened, and I'm not sure it will ever will. So, this Christmas I wanted to record a Christmas song. Although, my cousins were not with me this time, all that racketing we did back then, inspired me to record a song for this Christmas.

I've always liked the lyrics to the Christmas song "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." So, I made an arrangement which was inspired by Rebecca St James' version of this song. It took me two weeks, recording only during the evenings. The hardest part was the singing, because I'm not a singer. Usually I would spend more time working on a song, but I had a late start; I waited until it was December to get into the Christmas spirit. Because of this, the song is still kind of rough, and I will not make any changes to it. I want this song--as is--to be a reminder of those memories that started back in Christmas of '89.

Please take a moment to listen to this song which is listed on my music player on the left side of this blog.

Merry Christmas!
December '08

Christmas Tamales

My mom made some tamales over the weekend at my house, and I wanted to shoot a short video of the experience.  Enjoy!

Ruta Maya

It's 6:20 PM on Thursday November 6th.  I'm sitting typing this blog at Ruta Maya in downtown San Antonio.  We've discovered this place, and has become a regular hang-out on Thursday night.  So, if you'd like to meet me, or enjoy a good cup of coffee (and food), please drop by next week.  You can find more information at www.rutamayariverwalk.com. We started coming here because my friend and I started working on something other than music.  I can't say anything more at this point, but it's going to be exciting.  That's also the reason why I haven't posted new music, or new videos...or new short stories!  But hopefully, once this thing we're working on rolls out, you'll be glad I spent all this time working on that.  

Back to Ruta Maya.  I don't know much about the history of this place, but I do know that they roast and distribute their own coffee.  I believe they import coffee beans from the Yucatan peninsula (which I have visited by the way), and they roast it in Austin TX.  I had bought their coffee beans at a local grocery, and was impressed by the coffee.  Then one day while looking for a hang-out place to start working on my secret project, my friend found out that they owned two coffee bars, one in Austin, and one in San Antonio.  We kind of fell in love with the place, so here I am, at Ruta Maya in downtown San Antonio, getting ready to order a Mexican Mocha, some food, and start working on my secret project.

See you next week...at Ruta Maya!

Waiting To Breathe

I was going through my records and I found this little jewel of a song.  I produced and mixed the song for Ashburn--now not longer together.  You can listen to this song by using the music player on the left side of the blog.  Enjoy.

It Is Dark

by Jesse Acosta

It is dark
The moon smiles at me
It is quiet
The leaves whisper in my ear

Light has abandoned me
Where have they gone?
Where have they gone?
Where have they gone?

It is cold
The night embraces me
It is lonely
Solitude sings a lullaby to me

A Tooth

by Jesse Acosta

A tooth has given me trouble
A tooth has given me pain
A tooth has brought me down
A tooth will make me faint

A tooth will be extracted
A tooth will cost me change
A tooth has been the reason
I wrote this stupid thing

Morning Habit

I shot this movie based on my friend's idea.  Many times we do stuff we don't like to be doing, but somehow they become a habit on us.  That was the idea for this mini-movie. Enjoy.

Dexy's Midnight Runners

I was reading my own blog earlier today, and I found a blog posting from one of my favorite feeds.  The name of the blog is Monitor Mix.  She posted some videos of bands from the 80's and this was one of them.





Why can't people create good songs like this one anymore?

Random Thought #1

There's no such thing as "Working Under Pressure." All that means is: How do you work when other people (or even you) are not doing their job?

Thoughts?

Moments of Frequent Modulation

The good news:  Someone from Hawaii is selling on eBay a CD I produced back in 2004 . That means that somehow, my CD made it all the way over there.

The bad news:  It's only $1.99 plus shipping. :(

The first person who buys it gets a surprise from me.  Here's what to do:

Take a photo with it, send me a message by clicking on the Contact button above, I will give you an email address where you can email your photo and then I'll post your picture on this web-site.  On top of that, I will send you an autographed copy of my first production called "Surprise" by the band formely known as PG-13.

Why am I doing this?  Because I really want you to listen to that CD.

The race is on!!

P.S.  I'm willing to ship internationally!

Broken English Podcasts Added

Hi, I've posted my old podcasts by popular demand.  Enjoy them!

Jesse

My New Toy

Epiphone Thunderbird

Cheers!

Jesse

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

RThis video was one of the winners of the Radiohead animation contest.  I can't wait to see the full version.  Congratulations to Radiohead for choosing a great video and for recording one of the best songs ever.

View From My Room

Sweet Bread Crisis

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Nueva Rosita --my home town in Mexico. I had an unusual experience. On the day I arrived, I went to visit my grandfather. My grandfather is 92 years-old. I can almost say that he is in better shape that I am. I’m not sure what is the reason of his longevity but it could be his genes – his grandfather was 105 years-old when he passed away. One of the reasons why he is 92 years young could be, that my grandfather used to take long walks on a daily basis. He has kept his health in much better shape than his grandfather, so he could very well go past 105.

My grandfather is quite the character. He always has a story to tell. Like when he told me about the time he got put in jail for 5 days in the U.S. because he didn’t speak English; in the end it was all a misunderstanding. Or the time when he told me he used to skip school by asking his teacher permission to go to the restroom. He said he would jump the fence and run to his house. His mother would ask him “You skipped school again, uh?” but she didn’t do anything else. A good student he was not, but he was a hard worker.

After we said our hellos we talked about family, work and amongst other things, his recent trip to the sweet bread shop. In Mexico is very common to buy sweet bread for your afternoon merienda or afternoon snack. A family usually gathers around the table to enjoy the afternoon and to reminisce on the events of the day, this is done best with a hot beverage and something to eat. Hot chocolate and coffee are the beverages of choice at the merienda. The sweet bread options include conchas; a round hamburger-bun-type bread with sweet hard paste on top, there are also bisquetes which are the typical buttermilk biscuits. Making the list are marranitos; a ginger bread in the form of a pig, and also campechanas; these are crunchy layers of baked bread with caramelized sugar on top – they are known to fall apart when you bite into them. Finally we have my grandfather’s favorite; roles de canela; or cinnamon buns. My grandfather is known for keeping fresh bread year-round. At any given day, he has a container full of sweet bread. Most of the time he has merienda by himself but on rare occasions-- when we go visit-- we share a cup of coffee and sweet bread with him.

He was telling me how he spent most of the afternoon on the phone, calling the sweet bread shop to find out when the freshly-baked bread would be coming out. He was getting a busy signal over and over. Then he put the phone down and walked over to the shop. He walked about half-a-mile. When he reached his destination he saw the shop attendant on the phone smiling. My grandfather then asked the attendant why he didn’t pick up the phone; the attendant responded by saying that he was on the phone with his girlfriend. My grandfather said, “But I’m an important customer." To that comment, the attendant replied: “I know, but you can’t give me what my girlfriend gives me.”

Fortunately for the shop attendant the bread had come out.

Jesse Acosta

August 3rd 2008

Picture of the Month (Aug'08)

I'm definitely going back!!

Introduction to "To Remember"

Recently I have been wanting to write more. And seriously, since I've started doing it, I've felt really good. The more I write, (music and/or stories) the better I feel. Like some of you know, I've been writing music -- there are currently about 10 or 11 songs in various stages of production. But for a while there, I couldn't come up with any new music. That changed last week. Phew!

I've also worked on a short movie and I currently have 2 ideas in development for short documentaries like "Don't Drink The Water (A Short Film)." I've also started to write a short story currently called "To Remember". The title might change once the story is finished.

So I wanted to give you an introduction on how I plan to write the short story. Here's how it's going to work: every time I finish two parts, I'll post the first one on this blog. For example, when I finish part two, I'll post part one. When I finish part three, I'll post part two and so on. Now, since I have a full-time job, a part-time music studio, and part-time everything else, don't expect all parts to be done in a week. So please keep visiting the blog for updates.

Also, if possible, please post your comments on the blog. Your comments might affect the future parts of the story. I guess that's it for now. Cheers!

Jesse

Making the Short Film

Well, the movie has been a hit. So for the 3 of you that watched it, here's some behind-the-scenes information.

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Nueva Rosita, a small town in the state of Coahuila in Mexico. Coahuila is located south of Texas, and the town of Nueva Rosita is located about 2 hours from Eagle Pass TX/ Piedras Negras border. Nueva Rosita was once an important coal mining city, today, not so much.

During my visit I would pick up my video camera and shoot different things, many which have become small video snippets on YouTube. On one particular day, my cousin asked if I'd join him to go get water as they were running out. With camera in hand I started shooting his bi-weekly routine. Not knowing that I would be making a movie, I kept things simple. Most of the stuff I shot was filmed as the action was happening. There was only a few shots were I gave my cousin any direction.

When I got back to the US, I worked on some of those video snippets to test out effects and to test out my editing software. After 5 or 6 videos, I stumbled upon the footage of my cousin getting the water. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with it, it was just random footage of a person getting water so at one point I considered not doing anything with that footage. Then I did a search for information on water resources in Mexico. I found an article, its headline read "Mexico is currently 2nd place in bottled water consumption." Immediately I incorporated that statement as the first scene on the movie, and the rest just worked itself out.

I feel there's a good combination between the dialog-less scenes and the words on black background, it feels like a contemporary silent movie. I know that doesn't make sense, but think of a silent Charlie Chaplin movie if it was shot today. The music, written by Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias, provided the right feeling for the movie, a combination of dramatic and melancholic themes. The information on the article and the music drove the editing of the movie. Before editing the shots were long and few. I used quick cuts or edits to separate long shots, and I think that worked quite well. I've learned over the years, by listening to DVD commentaries (yes, I'm a DVD geek) that, less is more. So I tried to get to the main point of the scene fast and then move on to the next scene. Finally I did a freeze frame on the last frame of the movie to have the viewer cogitate or ponder on the movie while the credits rolled. The music here, created a better mood that I could have imagined. A long fade ends the movie. While the fade keeps on going, the music, along with ambient sounds taken from the movie, are layered on the soundtrack. This created an organic mood and helped the viewer cogitate on the movie.

That's my take on it. What's yours? What do you feel about the movie, what could have been better, what could have been taken out? Help me make better movies, please leave a comment.

Jesse

Don't Drink The Water (A Short Film)

Recently I shot this movie while in Mexico. Enjoy.

[Title goes here]

I have officially diagnosed myself with writer's block, musically speaking. Nothing is coming out, maybe an idea here and there but nothing worth pursuing. I either need to commit to it and go through these moments of failure or give it up for good. I guess I'm just frustrated because I've been working on a song for two days. Some people take years to complete a song, but I'm just frustrated because although I've worked on songs for months, I just can't do anything with this particular one. Maybe I should just throw it away and move on. But what if the same thing happens with the other songs? I hope not. Who's reading this blog anyway?

Jesse

Things to do for your Birthday

1. Take time off from work. Check
2. Watch multiple episodes of "The Office" late at night. Check
3. Make some sushi. Check
4. Go shopping. Check
5. Get a No. 2 haircut all over...your head. Check
6. Make some more sushi. Check
7. Write a new post on your blog. Check

Of all these things, you might regret #5 if: a) you're a female or b) you just had a hair transplant.

-Jesse

The New Blog

Hi guys, long time no write. Here's my new blog, I'll try to give you at least a weekly update on whatever is that I'm doing. Thanks for dropping by!

PS. Please check out the songs on my music player.

Jesse