New Song Compilation coming to you

Well, I know it's been a long time in coming but I am announcing the release of "Remakes 2", this is the sequel to "Remakes and Remixes". I tried to redo only ones I haven't redone before, but I ended up with "Solace from the Pain" again, sorry but I can't seem to stop recording that one.
This version is raw, or "live". I recorded the vocals and the guitar at the same time, so I am calling it "live". I did the same with "She Brings that to Me".

Today I am finishing up the "Artwork" for the cover and remixing one of the songs. So I should have this out by Week's end.

If you are anxious to hear some of the songs they are available on my podcast, which is now on "itunes" Go to podcasts and search "Andrew Scott Frost" and you will have to subscribe to it and there you go. I think the songs show up around podcast 2-6. Podcast 6 is on there but itunes hasn't updated it yet, neither has Podcast.net. They must not work over the weekend.

My two favorite remixes on this new CD are, "I am Lost" and "Home" I like the guitar work on these two. On "I am Lost" I sped up the tempo just a bit and used as many as 4 acoustic guitar parts, giving it less of a country feel and more of a, I can't say "Jazz" but it has a different feel to it. You also swear that there were drums on this mix but there isn't, I was really getting into the second guitar part and was tapping the guitar. I was hoping to have Michael Greenberg on this song with me, but we never seem to be able to get together, he lives about 10 hours away.

I will have more in depth accounts of the songs listed on the website if you are interested.

Another Day Another Age...

So another 12/25 went by and now I am 46, been here for 46 years, Mom and I were talking about how fast it goes by, and I said "no it goes by just at the right speed" I think we start forgetting more as we get older so those cherished times of our youth are forgotten and it's like waking up and "poof" it's gone. Well I am refusing to let that be true, everything has happened and gone by just at the right pace. After all, I lived this life already, I am just remembering it now...
Being born on Christmas means nothing really. Mom was great in that she would celebrate my Christmas birthday on Dec. 24th eve. that way I could open up birthday presents that night, and then wake up and open up Christmas presents on the 25th.
That was very good for me. It doesn't work that way now as I am older but La Resa is good at making sure I am recognized on my Birthday, she contacts the local press and it's usually front page of the "Oregonian" after all it is really big news!

Work is work, we have to clean up all of our messes, and get on with business. That is all i am going to say about that!

Thanks for the cards, and well wishes, the phone calls and the "text" messages. Thanks for taking a moment to make contact with me on the 25th of yet another December.

13 days of Christmas..

Was the 13th day of Christmas and My True Love Gave to Me.. another day at work and a Customer that won't let me be...
I think only my fellow Managers can know what I am going through right now, I think it's called apothy, or I don't give a sh__.
I am so tired of stacking appliances, walking through my store looking at at the super structures, walking through the stockroom looking for a Bissell Sweeper in the hopes that some wayward husband might think it's the perfect gift for the love of his life, unlocking the key to the valuable room/cage hoping that that walgreens 9 volt battery holds enough voltage to inspire some lonely housewife to "buy me" cause I am on sale 3/$1.00 and like it really would last long enough to power up the Radio Controlled Battery Operated Remote Control High Speed Blender that will mix all the Chaos of my holiday cheer into a Swhirling Bottomless box of emotional bliss that when I check out, finally, I find the key to life and an elixir worth mixing and sharing with a gathering of well conceived bossom buddies and a tabernacle of emotionally deficient high schoolers attending a pre-prom gathering hosted by not only all of the people who attended the first day of kindergarten with but also the last day of boy scouts and the first day of college. Now if you don't understand that then you haven't had enough coffee and haven't answered enough "customer service calls line one" or code 30 in the pharmacy, or IC3's, and you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. Tomorrow is another day and I love my Job!!! Only 2 days left. Can I possibly show up and know what the heck I am talking about. We'll see, oh and by the way, enjoy your Christmas day, it's the only day off you will have in the month of December, but be there bright and early on the 26th it's an important day of doing absolutely nothing but cleaning up the mess of all the people that were there on the 25th who absolutely had no foresight to plan on buying everything that they might have needed for that all important 25th of December. Who's birthday is it really anyway.. oh yeah MINE!!!

All I want to do is dance...

Okay, I don't really have a reason to title this Blog "all I want to do is dance" but I seem to have that song in my head, it's an "Eagles" song I think or at least Don Henley sings it..
All of us Managers at work are going on day 7 out of 13 in a row before Christmas day, but the other way that we look at it is we only have 1 day off in 21 days. It used to be worse, it used to be that we had Thanksgiving day off then that was it till Christmas day, sooooo it is much better, but it still is tough, we are losing patience, are a bit testy, and may I say slightly "pissy".
I am working on the new CD but I am at a standstill right now because of work, I have been playing my guitar but I haven't had much energy to actually record.
On Tues. I drove down to perform at "Haven" coffee house but when I drove by, they didn't have anyone there playing and they didn't have the sound system set up, so I think they aren't doing open mic night for the winter season. I am going to call and see what's going on. I was really kind of looking forward to playing, oh well. I am thinking about the "Green Room" for Monday night but that takes a little more preparation, mentally, for me.

Oh the weather, well "Baby it's Cold Outside", it's been very chilly in the Pacific Northwest this week. Speaking of that song, if you haven't heard James Taylor and Natalie Cole singing "Ooohh Baby it's cold outside" you are missing a great rendition of that song. If you like I can send you an MP3 of it, just drop me an email ... I think that may be illegal sharing a song like that, oh well sue me!

My Life is settling down a bit, I have written a few good songs lately and am hoping to get 4 more new ones so I can release the new CD. "It's lovely when it Rains" so far I have 6 new ones. I am also due to send out a new podcast. I will try to do that before the end of the week, even though this is the biggest weeks of the year. Oh and did I say, I am ready to retire...

Nuffa Dat,

talk to you soon,

Andy

The Christmas Season...

Does anyone really know why we do this thing we call "The Holiday Season"? It seems so pointless.. I don't really want to rant about this and I know what I say isn't going to be all that creative or funny. I can also so that this is one of the calmer Christmas seasons that I have had, it is in a new work location, and I have a lot more space to work with where I am this year, which initially is tougher to set up, but once it's set up it's easier to maintain, less time stocking the shelves, you can set certain time periods earlier than most other locations so you can stay ahead of the game, also you have more space for your customers so there is less stress for them in their shopping experience, with all that said, I guess I don't have a lot to complain about other than the fact that people are so negative this time of year, they are struggling so hard to buy something that is going to make themselves happy, you know, that particular ornament that reminds them of their child hood, or a particular "Lamp" that they just have to have, "I have to have that" why?? One thing I can't figure out is why do the masses of people all decide to shop on a particular day at a particular time. People shop in clusters, if you watch all of the stores in a "District" or "Market" we are all busy exactly on the same day.. or we all are slow on a particular day. How is the state of consciousness of the human race all linked in that they would all shop exactly at the same day same time in all retail locations? It's amazing to observe this, and I think that most people aren't aware of this. It's most notable when people shop your pharmacy on the same day at the same peak time and they want their prescription at that same time, "right now!" Leaving no room for the understanding that there is someone in front of them which a much more serious need, nope! it's all about me!!! I can't change this I just wish more people could observe this and take a deep breath, calm down, it's not like you are in Iraq! It's 5 o'clock on a Monday in Downtown USA, relax, you have it better than anyone else in the world right now, yeah I am sorry we are out of the 39 cent scotch tape you are looking for, I know.. we did it to you on purpose, we knew you were coming so we purposely sold out before you got here because it was you, oh did you hear, 10 marines got killed today??? how many of the scotch tapes did you want? 3? okay, I am so sorry...

my email...

Sorry if you receive several copies of this email.

I am not going to be using the afrost59@comcast.net email address anymore,
I am only going to be using this, afrost59@gmail.com and my cold cut
recording email address andyfrost@coldcutrecordings.com

I am getting a huge amount of spam on comcast, and they aren't doing
anything about that so I am not going to use that account anymore.

Thanks,

Andy Frost

I'm Back...

Boy it's been a while since I have been here, hope you all didn't forget about me. I think I have forgotton about me also. I have not been myself lately, it's been a rough month. I haven't played out in public in a bit, and I am missing that, I am thinking that my nerves are going to be back in full swing when I finally get back out there.
I have been on a roller coaster of emotions for some reason, maybe it's because I am 45 and 46 is just days away. Nothing really happens when you turn 45, it seems quite harmless but then that year goes by fast and all of a sudden you say, "Is this it? is this all there is?" What you do with the answer to that question can go either way. I guess my resolution of that conflict isn't quite over, I wish it were, and I wish I didn't just go through that, think I would have been better off not going through that questioning, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, "everything happens for a reason" whatever!! Unfortunately those that you love have to suffer through this also, let's not forget about that one.
Sorry this is gloomy, wish I had something fun to talk about.
Well I can say this, for all the times that people have come to me with a heartache and I didn't understand and I didn't help you out, I appologize, my feelings are now wide open for you, I will be there for you next time for certain, and I will know exactly what you are going through and feeling.

Interesting week

I try to keep my work out of this, for 2 reasons, I am sure it's boring to everyone and also I don't want people to figure out where I am, you know people who don't really know me, not that I am paranoid or anything.
Let's see, what's new, mostly unfortunately it's all work related, the economy is tight so work is tightening up on expenses which means payroll, so we are cutting back and the stress level is very high.

On the music front, I took a week off and didn't appear (play) anywhere, but I am working on the latest CD, actually working on two CD's at the same time, a new one, which is currently called "It's Lovely when it Rains" and the other one is kind of a "Remakes and Remixes II", I haven't really figured out what I am going to call it, but I will keep you posted. I wrote a new song this week that I think is really haunting, even though haunting is probably not the most accurate description, I sent it to those who have high speed internet access, and I will probably put it on a "podcast" sometime this week.

I am glad you are reading my blogs, and I know this isn't as personal as a personal email, but for some reasaon it's more fun because I can put in some pics and select an interesting background etc.

I have a new friend, that I have been having some good email conversations with, it's acutally someone that I would probably call my new "biggest" fan, I won't mention their name here, to protect the privacy etc. Of course Mom is probably my biggest fan but that goes without saving. Some nice doors have been opened up for me since I have been playing in public lately, have met some really nice people.

Nuffa Dat',

Andy

GregoryLygon.com :: Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, Teacher, Performing Artist, Recording Engineer, and Voice-Work Artist based in Culpeper, VA

I belong to a "Breedlove" guitar users group on Yahoo, and one of the posts I put on recently included a link to my blog. In response to this post I got the email, shown below, from Gregory Lygon. Very nice compliment concerning my Podcast 4 "She brings that to me"
I responded to this email, very casually and didn't think too much about it but then I went to Gregory's website and was floored when I listened to his music..
what a great compliment from a great musician! I will have to thank him a with a little more compasion.

Andy,

Concerning . . .

****************************************
Check out my latest blog!!

http://frostfamily.blogspot.com/

****************************************

Very pretty tune! I was listening to "Cold Cut Recordings PodCast 4 (Sep 19, 2005)" (She
Brings That To Me).

Can you tell us about the guitar and small-condenser mic you used?

Of soul, spirit and song,

Gregory Lygon
Ravenwood Music Services, LLC
http://www.gregorylygon.com

AAA/Contemporary Folk Singer Songwriter
Nominated "Best Instrumentalist" Contemporary Folk by WAMA, 2003

Played a lot this week!

This week in update, well it was pretty busy at work, we had a "big wig" in town so we all were scrambling to get it all "right", I am sure you know how that goes.

On the personal side, Tues night I went back to "Haven" coffee house and performed. There were a lot of great performers that night, it seems like when I first go to a place to check out the talent, there is a slow start to it, but then within a couple of weeks the place is just crawling with great musicians. I think everyone must be doing the same thing I am doing, out there searching for places to go, once they find it the word spreads and the place just grows and grows.

This week went much better than the first time. I am still having a bit of stage freight, can't quite loosen up to the full extent that I am at when I am playing at home... this is my ultimate goal.
By the time I got up to perform there were so many people there and the line behind me to perform was pretty long, so the host asked me to speed it up just a bit, so I chose to do only two songs. I did "She brings that to me" and "Solace from the Pain".

I don't think I was imagining things but as soon as I started to play the place got very quiet, I noticed everyone was listening, even the people in line to get coffee and the person who owns the place also. This was probably the best compliment that I could get. Finished the first song, got a big round of applause, then I did Solace, and the reaction to that song was tremendous. I think my mellow stuff is more appropriate for coffee houses, I think that is what people like to hear there.

There was a guy who played cello with another guitarist there who really wants to do a string arrangement for solace, so he gave me his email address.
There was a person who talked to me and when we were done he said to his buddy, "were meeting a lot of great musicians in Portland" nice compliment.
Then there was a lady who was sitting down where I was sitting who thanked me for my performance (always one of the nicest compliments to get) I made eye contact with her during "solace" I could sense her reactions to that song.

and finally when I was leaving the owner of the coffee house thanked me for coming down to play. She is very nice and went out of her way to call me over to her before I could sneak out the back. Didn't want to be rude by not staying to watch the final acts. I had to stop in at work for preparation to the "Visit"

The week was topped off by my performing at Kim's house for a select group of friends and their families.
That was an absolutely wonderful way to finish the week. I played for over an hour to a really great audience of friends, the response was great. I pretty much stayed mellow, mixing it up with a few "bluesy" type songs , just to break up the mellowness of it.

I made a mistake of telling the story behind the song "Sometimes" which made it very tough to play.. I almost lost it during the song.

anyway, the food and atmosphere was great, I liked doing that and it was great of Kim to host that event, again. I hope she realizes how much I really appreciate her doing that for me.
I would go into a lot more detail on what transpired at Kim's house but I already have written the longest blog that I have ever done at this point.
Let's just say, it was great to be so appreciated by people I really can call my friends.

One last thing, I can't tell you about the new guitar I got, I am already in hot water over that.

Andy

Another Open Mic Night

I went out and played this evening at another open mic night. It was much more difficult than playing at the green room. I think it was because of the small room and people right there in front of you. At the "Green Room" they have the lights shining in your eyes, you are up and away from the audience, it's a little less personal.
I don't think I did all that well this evening, I did okay but I wasn't loose and relax, and I made more mistakes. I seemed to be more focused on my distractions and my nerves rather than letting it flow smoothly etc.
I think it went over well, I believe that the people who were still there by the time I played enjoyed what I was doing.

There was a very good group of musicians playing tonight. It seems to be that way every time I decide to play.
The evening started out with this 10 year old girl who was absolutely impressive. She was playing a full sized guitar and playing bar chords. She played 3 songs that she wrote, she wasn't even nervous, here writing was great. She was about where I was when I was 20 years old.

The second person was extremely deep and very good, can't remember her name. I won't go on with all of the details.
I think I will go back next week for the practice of playing in front of people again, it was good, even though my hand was shaking, and I forgot the words to one of my songs that I have been singing for 20 years... geeshhh! I think it may have been humbling karma.. which I think I needed, I was getting a little cockey! and had no right to be.

See you soon,

Andy

Not much activity on the home front....

...and not many emails coming around. I am not sure about anywhere else but here in the Pacific Northwest, it was almost instantaneous the change of weather when it actually turned Autumn/Fall. We in the Portland area have gotten a heck of a lot of rain in the past 3 days. It seems so gloomy and it definitely affects people, but, I still kind of like it when it goes into rainy mode.
I am sitting in the nook looking out into the back yard and off into the distance, it's dark because of the clouds but the greens are shimmering from the dampness and some of the colors that are starting to turn to their harvest oranges and browns, are quite pronounced, the contrasts and blendings are quite nice to see.
Some of the differences in looking out in to the distance now are the amount of houses that have gone up around our location in the last year. The changes are staggering, anyone who has visited would be amazed. In one spot relatively close to us thy have literally "moved a mountain", and quite honestly it doesn't look safe.
They have changed the beautiful natural face of many of the areas around here.
We knew it would happen eventually and luckily we are in a neighborhood that is pretty much set. The houses behind our house and in our main view have been there for quite some time, I am supposing that nothing will change there until the people there know leave the earth and their houses to their children who will then sell them to some land developers.. and then hopefully by that time, we will be ready to move or do something.

Nuffa Dat!

see you all soon,

Andy

Well I did it!!

Well, I did it!

I went to the open Mic night at the "Green Room" Monday night and performed in public for the first time in years, and really long years because I really only played one song at a time at a major seminar.

I will try to recap the evening but keep it short...

Let me start out by saying every week that I have gone there have been mostly okay performers and a few that are a bit rough around the edges, so, the night I choose to give it a go, everyone was very good to great! I was so laughing about that... figures huh?

In the line up I was number 6. The first guy was Brandt something, he was awesome, had a great sound and wrote some great stuff, great voice, wow!
The second guy I can't remember his name, but he was weird but extremely talented, I think his name was DJ, that's all I have for a name . I don't know if he had original stuff or not, but if he was singing his own stuff, he was and extremely great song writer.
There was a guy/gal combo that did well.
The person before me was kind of esoteric, which doesn't always bode well in a "Bar" environment, soooooooo

When I got up there I was a bit nervous but it took a while to get set up, which is good for a distraction of my nerves. The first song I played was Michael Greenberg's "I'll Tell You Goodbye". I really stretched out the intro, to get my fingers time to loosen up. I then played "To Be with You Tonight", and then "The Other Guy".
I only played the 3 songs.

It's kind of a tough crowd because most of the people there are the other musicians and I think they feel like you are the competition, but the people who I considered real good, seem to be listening to me, in fact the first guy, Brandt, came up as he was leaving a gave me a "great job" comment, which I wish I had been able to give to him.

I was noticing that I had some people's attention, I think playing my "Bluesy" upbeat stuff paid off because it wasn't being played by others. 3 older guys, probably a few years older than me, occupied the seats in front of me and to my left, they seemed to really appreciate the music, they alone made my night worth while.

All and all I was really relaxed, I made a lot of eye contact, I didn't stare at my hands. It was good and I feel pretty good about it. I called Tina a couple of minutes before I was leaving to let her know I was going to play, I felt like I needed a little bit of moral support, she was very excited and didn't hesitate to come along. I really appreciated her coming. Tina is always a good supporter, I think it was great that she was available to come at a moments notice, I really appreciated her being there.
I think I would like to do the coffee house thing next, a little mellower.
But also, Stephanie and I are going to work up a set so that we can go to the Green Room and perform.

That's basically it!

Thanks for reading.

Talk to you all soon.

Saturday off

This is the first saturday I have had off in a long time, it seems, and therefore I have the weekend off. This blog won't be very interesting. I am sitting on the love seat right now and La Resa is in the chair talking about how bored she is right now. It's about 7pm and we don't have any plans for the evening. Today I slept in then got up and went to Selea's soccer game. Her team was badly beaten, which doesn't really matter since they don't keep score, however Selea scored a goal! It was quite exciting, she is so little but she really does a good job at soccer, unlike last year.

I got my guitar back from the dealer and it's all wired up to be plugged in. I ended up spending more money than I should have and bought a Fishman "Aura", if there are any guitar players reading this, I think it's highly worth it to get this if you are plugging in your acoustic guitar and wanting it to sound like an acoustic guitar, it gets rid of that terrible sound of the pickup under the saddle of your guitar. If you are interested, go to http://www.fishmanaura.com/
and check out the sound samples they have there.
Nuffa Dat!

Was supposed to have visitor's this weekend, the Miller's from Salt Lake City were supposed to be in town but their young one got sick. I had a big chunk of time set aside for them. Highly dissapointed they were unable to make it.

Okay, boring this time, will try to make it up to you next time

More stuff about stuff

Hi ya'll,
Okay so Stephanie and I went to the open Mic night at the Green Room, it went about the same as the previous week, a few different people about the same caliber.
The first girl leading off had a very nice voice but it was difficult hearing the words that she wrote, I could tell it was nice stuff, she was a new writer I believe, but if she keeps up with it she will turn out to be pretty good, can't remember her name.

There were a few people that seem to be regulars, that people knew and/or went to see.
I have to say that I had a really good time.
To make this a short blog, the last guy that played, and I don't have his name, was amazing. Going there for 2 weeks was worth the wait.
I could tell by the way he was holding his guitar, and plugging it in that he was going to be good.
I have a new theory, if you play the guitar and are right handed, if you tilt your head to the right when you are playing you most likely a "so so", if you tilt your head to the left or keep it straight up, you are more experienced. I tested this theory on Monday night with Steph's help and it was pretty much true.

Anyway, if the last guy has a website or anything I will post it here, because he was worth watching, he played a jazz chord style, had great writing and great lyrics and a great voice!! Wow!!!

That's it for now.

Talk to you all soon,

Andy

Podcast.net - The Podcast Directory

Podcast.net - The Podcast Directory

Trying to blog this link..
if you click on the above link it should take you to my podcast.

Thanks to Dad for all of the hard work.

Podcast.net - The Podcast Directory

Podcast.net - The Podcast Directory

This is where to go for my latest podcast...
hopefully this works for you.

Andy

The Green Room Pub

The Green Room Pub

this is where I am, confidence willing, going to try to play at an open Mike night
in case you want to check it out.

Okay, I just spent a good 20 mins with a new blog, and I hit preview, then the back button and it was gone!! talk about frustrating, I had some good stuff there, and it was my longest blog ever... who cares?? MEEEEEEE!!!!
I am so pissed!

Nuffa Dat!

I am totally going to type something that I didn't type, if you want to read the other it's on the ASTRAL plane it's called "The Blog that Got Away"
Goggle now has a blog search engine, it's pretty cool, if you go there and search "Andy Frost" it actually has my 2 blogs as the first hits. That's neat, there are many Andy Frost's out there but I guess they don't blog like I do.

Well today I wanted to tell everyone that I am pretty close to going out into public and playing my guitar, I obviously can't do it until I get my guitar back from the guitar store (read earlier blog if you want to know what happened)

I went to a local portland place called "The Green Room" last monday to check it out.
Tina and I went. We had a pretty good time. I went there mostly to see if it's the kind of place that my stuff would fit in. There was an eclectic mix of performers there. I actually enjoyed the evening, there was some good and some bad. I won't go into detail, suffice it to say. I think I am a bit above the average there, so my confidence was raised a bit. It's been a long time since I have done any public stuff, and I really remember not liking it too much, it's very unrewarding quite honestly. But now since I am not trying to gain anything out of it at all, even in my wildest dreams, I may actually have a good time doing it.

Stephanie and I are going to go check it out tomorrow night (the 19th of Sept) mostly for something to do, and also for me to gain maybe a little more confidence. I think when I do it finally I am not going to announce to anyone that I am doing it, I will go by myself and that way I won't have as many nerves twitching my belly..

This blog was a lot shorter than the previous lost blog..

see you all soon,

Andy

Spam Blam what a sham!!

Spam sucks, I am getting so much crap in my emails now. I think we should bring back the old days when horse thieves were hanged!! "Hang the spammer!! Hang em' high!!"
I now will never buy a rolex, take any online rx's , try to "enhance" my size, try to win over hundreds of babes!, or even try to make over $5,000 a month without leaving my home. If anyone ever falls for this shit, I think they should take away their driver's licenses and their right to vote. It's like when I am behind a car on a freeway exit/entrance and I see them handing a $ over to the person who is standing there for a handout!! It's like OH MY GOD, "don't feed the pigeons"!! Why would you want to see that same person everyday, over and over and over. If you give him bucks he will stay there forever. It's a scam, don't shave, don't shower, don't wash your clothes, we will pick you up at 3pm and you can go to this exit, I will go to this exit, we will form a beggars union and make hundreds of tax free dollars, and never have to work, and the very least someone will give us some food, let's never work again, better yet, you do the exit thing I will pick you up around 6:30pm and I will be home spamming, tomorrow you can spam and I will stand out there!!

I am more pissed about spam than I am about my car stereo being stolen, okay well maybe at least as much.
I was just spammed on this blog also.
It was then brought to my attention that I can prevent that so I made the necessary changes.
By the way y'all! you can leave comments on my blog site, no.. really you can, I want you to. I know it's not fascinatin' stuff but it is there for you to add on to, and don't feel like you have to just lettin' you know it's okay.

Sorry about the rant! but you know I had fun venting.

Andy