As myself and my co-pilot, Drew Gibadlo, crossed through the northern sector of Arizona to get to San Francisco and start our company expansions last week, we decided to check into a hotel for the evening to catch some rest. However, once settled in our temporary room with the heater on full blast and untouched snow sitting outside of our window, we were somehow inspired to bring in 1/3rd of our studio equipment from the car and begin tracking a song that I wrote for our band, Livid Ends, a few weeks ago entitled “Method Actor”.
I did all of the midi creation, guitaring, and scratch vocals in Apple’s GarageBand using a midi keyboard/ drum pad and the ZOOM H4N just a few weeks prior to our trip. Once we established all of our setup in the hotel room, Drew began tracking our new vocals in the previous GarageBand session using a MacBook Pro and a makeshift sound booth made of pillows, curtain backings, and a “proliferation diffuser”… aka- a long sofa mattress.
The next morning, as we drove onward towards San Francisco, Drew spent the majority of the afternoon mixing “Method Actor” in Apple Logic, using his laptop and my car’s AUX speaker system.
The outcome was definitely great! This is a song that will absolutely catch on with our fans as it’s more of an evolved version of our past musical styles.
We’re one song closer to completing the Livid Ends album, LeCartney! As we finalize our new studio setup in San Francisco, we’ll be knocking out the rest of our jams in the next month, as well as shooting our music video.
Can’t wait for you guys to hear and see the new stuff!
Steve Jobs died today.
At apple.com you’re directed to an immediate page of a tribute to him, and at the bottom of the page, there is a link to email and share a thought or memory of one of the most innovative men of our time.
As a former Apple employee, I couldn’t help but share this brief moment that I had with Mr. Jobs on the Apple Campus in Cupertino, CA:
To the memory of a good man,
As a former Apple employee, I just want to share my one experience that I had indirectly with Mr. Jobs:
I was fresh in Core training at the Cupertino Campus back in August of 2009. My group and I had been through the first day of Apple Campus orientation and were on our way to eat at the wonderful Mac Cafe.
As we sat down outside to enjoy the beautiful Fall afternoon and indulge in some super fresh lunch, the one and only Steve Jobs popped out of the Cafe with none other than Mr. Johnny Ives as well!
Starstruck and remembering the fact that the first rule on Apple Campus is “Don’t talk to Steve, since he doesn’t want to feel like a celebrity”, I had to bite my tongue. But this all became even harder as he decided to take a seat DIRECTLY NEXT TO where myself and my fellow “Creatives in training” were eating.
I’ll never forget that as I was trying my hardest not to pay attention to the fact that my technological miracle making CEO was sitting next to me, I couldn’t help but take a glance at him, just to burn that moment into my memory as one of the coolest people I’ve ever been around.
As I shifted my eyes over, he suddenly glanced up at me from his salad and iPhone of a lunch and quickly shot me a smile. Nervous that he caught me, I immediately darted my eyes back to my half eaten sandwich and turned bright red.
Yikes. The master of Apple just smiled at me.
That’s the basis of this entire story. But I’ll say that in experiencing this moment and exchanging that quick smile with Steve, I felt as if he were gleaming into my soul and saying, “Hey man. Welcome to Apple. Glad to have you. You’re on the right track.”
I guess what I’m really trying to say is… RIP Steve Jobs, you ridiculously inspiring and absolutely innovative man, you.
-Jonathan Acosta
