John Oszajca

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!!!

2006-11-13T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, so this blog has been moved to http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=13300097 . Sorry for the long address. You will be able to Link to it from the Home page of my site shortly. Lot's of good things in the works. A new Record, a new Label, new videos, music, blogs, vlogs, and more. So go there, subscribe, post a comment, get drunk (wait what?), and have a gay old time.
Cheers,
John Oszajca

Elephant Graveyard

2006-11-09T23:48:00.000-08:00

Well it’s getting late and I’ve been staring at the computer for so long that I think I may be going a little insane. Things are getting busy already as the wheels start to turn for the set up of record number three, “Elephant Graveyard”. From getting the album art together to designing the dozens of little web banners, web site layouts, and getting the video files together for the new phenomenon of the entertainment industry – you tube, you can expect a lot more “stuff” than you’ve seen from me in a while in conjunction with Elephant Graveyard. The plan is to launch an aggressive grass roots web campaign and that means lots of bonus tracks, videos, pictures, web chats, live shows, etc. If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog, and be sure to sign up for my email list by sending an email to oszajca@gmail.com with the heading “subscribe” in the subject box. I am always at a loss for what to write in these things so by all means, send me an email with any questions and I’ll make it a subject for a blog entry.
Cheers…
J

On The Road Again

2006-09-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the courtyard of the French Market Inn on Decatur St. in New Orleans, LA, about a third of the way through what is my first time across the country for reasons other than touring. A few weeks ago, conveniently following the close of my last favorite bar, Daddy's, my favorite recently unemployed (and pretty damn hot I might add) bartender, and myself packed up a rented van and headed off toward the Atlantic.

From Los Angeles it was up on to Route 66 all the way into Arizona (Sedona, Four Corners, The grand Canyon), then on to Colorado (Mesa Verde, Durango), down in to New Mexico (Taos, Roswell), East through Texas (Fredericksburg, Austin) then finally Louisiana where we have held up for the last few days smack dab in the center of the French quarter. From here it is on towards the Carolinas and then who knows. Well, It's nearly check out time. Gotta go. Check back soon for more pics. There should be some news about my next release as well as a new special project in the works upon my return.

Been a While

2006-05-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, so sorry it's taken me so long to update this thing. I have been fairly busy with performing, traveling, writing, and all the other nonsense that makes up a life. he show on April 15th was a blast. It was my first "real" show in Los Angeles in quite a while and it was nice to get back up on the stage in front of many faces, both new and old. In addition to record number three, I will likely have some news about a new project I have in the works before to long so check back and I promise I'll try to be better about updating this thing. Cheers!

Pics from Washington

2006-03-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

Had a blast up in Washington with Hearing Red and bicycle. Here is a shot from the Celebrity "Snow Jam" at Snoqualmie summit. It was very very cold. I should have more shots to post in a few days.

Live in Seattle

2006-03-01T00:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you in the Seattle area I will be performing solo acoustic this coming Friday, March 3rd at The Sunset Tavern at 11:30PM located at 5433 Ballard Avenue, Seattle WA, with friends “Bicycle”, and “Hearing Red”, as well as Sunday, March 4th at the 2006 Celebrity Pro-am, at approximately 1:30 PM at the Snoqualmie summit.

For those of you who haven’t picked up a copy of my recent Warner Brothers release,“First Sign Of Anything”, be sure to pick up a copy on Amazon.com, itunes, or at your local record store.

Gone Surfing

2006-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the posts on this thing, been busy trying to get the word out about the new record, getting the new Hawaiian Internet radio station up and running (if you haven't checked it out be sure to go to www.hawaiiliveradio.com), and, well... surfing.
It's a bit cold but I thought it time to get back in the water and start getting back in shape. Here are a few pics taken the other day near Malibu with good friend, and Eve 6 front man, Max Collins. Check back soon for news about upcoming shows.

Suicide Girls Radio

2005-12-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

Merry Belated Christmas and an early New Year. Here is the MP3 of the show I sat in on with the Suicide girls over at 103.1 the other night. Hope you enjoy. And to any of you who still haven’t ordered the record… get to it!!!

New Record Available Now!!!

2005-12-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well today’s the day. It sure took long enough. I wanna just say thanks for all of the kind emails from friends and fans who went out and picked up or ordered the record and for all the continued support over all of these years. I promise it will be but a mere fraction of the time before record number three (Elephant Graveyard) is on the shelves. And to those of you who haven’t yet purchased the record… get to it!

Catch Me on Indie 103.1

2005-12-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Catch me this Sunday night on Indie 103.1 on Suicide Girls Radio at 12 midnight till ?
If you are not in Los Angeles you can tune in on line at www.suicidegirls.com/radio or go directly to http://indie103.fm . If you miss it live I will post an Mp3 of the show on my blog in the coming days.

Order First Sign Of Anything now!

2005-12-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

Order my new release First Sign Of Anything on Amazon.com by the 20th of Dec. and receive it just in time for Christmas.

Hawaii Live

2005-12-15T14:59:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the last post I am in the process of starting an internet radio station called Hawaii Live. It is a Hawaiian music station (with a bit of reggae/Jawaiian) but will eventually feature talk and other specialty programs, all relating to Hawaii. Hawaiian music is not likely everyone’s cup of tea but I wanted to invite everyone to check it out and listen, give me some feed back, etc. The music is certainly not the kind of music I currently write or perform but it is the music from the place and culture that I am from.

The web site, as well as the station, is in the most infant beta stages so not all of the links work yet, and the content is very basic and often flawed. The goal is to turn this into a business with ads and sponsors and all that crap, a much more professional player, look, and feel, and perhaps branch off into other genres but first things first. For now I’m just trying to get a shell up and running.
Check it out. Tell me what you think. Let me know if there are any problems.
Feel free to listen as much as you like as the more listening hours I can report the better. And if you do listen please remember to vote (a perfect ten of course) and add the station to your presets. All of this is done on the live365 player itself.
Go to http://www.hawaiiliveradio.com/
Hope you like it.

Just Cuz

2005-12-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

Nothing all that exciting to post but I didn’t want to just fall off completely. Just readying for the release of the new record (Dec 20th), planning shows, etc. the weather is getting cold and the heat is still not on in my new pad. I just can't get with that whole, we'll be there somewhere between 11 am and 5 pm thing.
FYI, I am in the process of starting an Internet radio station. Of all things a Hawaiian oriented station. The site is under construction now and with luck there will be a beta station up by the end of the year. More on that soon.

John Oszajca's Golden Christmas Classic

2005-12-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving is over and if the department stores, shop windows, and the flood of junk mail that I have started to receive are any indication it would appear that it is time to bring on the Christmas. I was going through some old recordings recently and came across this Christmas track that I wrote a few years back and recorded with old friends and producers Nic Jodoin and Chris Johnson (aka the Dairy-Airs. No one will get that but them). It is perhaps a bit early but I thought I’d post the track here for shits and giggles and in the name of the holidays. Enjoy.

New Album Available Soon!!!

2005-11-25T16:55:00.000-08:00

Finally after a ridiculously long wait I am very happy to announce the release of my second album “First Sign of Anything”. The album will be released This December 2oth on Warner Brothers/The Record Collection. My apologies for so many months and even years of promises of an impending release but the label change was the reason for so much delay and for such a lack of explanation. I will post details as they come as to the how, what, when, and where’s of the whole thing but for now rest assured (famous last words) that the record will be out by years end. Thank you all for being so patient and supportive over the long wait. And of course a happy belated Thanksgiving to you all.

Home?

2005-11-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I’m slowly coming back to life back home in LA. It was another long day of moving and unpacking my belongings into my new apartment. It’s a pretty nice place I suppose. Much larger and more grown up than I am used to. Quieter too. Not sure what I think about that. Well it’s back to work. Getting ready for the upcoming release. Will be making a release announcement soon.

Palm Springs

2005-11-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

After playing Lestat’s last Thursday night Liz and I went on to Palm Springs to attend the wedding of our mutual friend, fellow Whiskey Breath Traveler, and former roommate of mine/POPism guitarist Rick Royale and his new wife Paige Moss.

We pulled into town Friday night, just in time to make it to the eat and great Barbeque dinner where I got a chance to catch up with many old friends and partners in crime that I don’t see as often as I probably should back here in LA. Liz and I jumped up in front of a make shift microphone and PA in a somewhat failed attempt to get a hootenanny of sorts going amongst the many talented musicians amidst the crowd. It wasn’t all for not as Liz, myself, and a few others did get off a few decent tunes, the highlight of course being when the groom to be jumped up and did a short set. The remainder of the night was soon lost to the nearby casinos, drinking with the old gang, and a ridiculous argument about knee bones, to which I am still thoroughly confused.
The wedding was held, of all places, at Frank Sinatra’s old pad. A beautiful house set around an eye catching Piano shaped pool, the Palm Springs home was the perfect place for one of the nicest wedding ceremonies I have attended yet. Followed, of course, by a night of yet more drinking, eating, dancing, gathering around the piano for some boisterous butchering of old classics, and the gushing of love for old friends that always seems to happen when alcohol mends the absence between old friends. It was a great time.

Lestat's

2005-11-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

So San Diego was fun. Just a short set in a small joint with my good friend Liz. Got to hang with my brother, his wife, and my good friend Alex as well. Did I mention alcohol? Yeah, there was alcohol in there somewhere as well. At least I think there was. I can’t remember. Then it was off to Frank Sinatra’s house for a wedding. I’ll post more on that later. Till then here are a few pics from the show.

Liz Clark ladies and gentlemen. (www.lizclarkmusic.com)

Alex as Liz and I pour beer down from our third story hotel room and he tries to catch it in his mouth. Well, what would you do?

Upcoming Show

2005-11-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

I will be performing a last minute show this Thursday, the 1oth of November in San Diego, CA at Lestat’s with Liz Clark (Lizclarkmusic.com) and the Whiskey Breath Travelers. Lestat’s is located at 3343 Adams Avenue in the heart of Normal Heights (619) 282-0437. Go to www.lestats.com for more info. Show starts at 9:00 PM.

My little Grass Shack

2005-11-05T23:31:00.000-08:00

Only one more day until I head back across the pacific to my new, all be it empty, apartment in Los Angeles. The work on the house is progressing nicely and the weather has been particularly humid with many mild showers, though that is pretty common place in Hawaii. The rain is coming down one second and the next the sun is out shining brightly. Ironically I have spent most of my time indoors trying to learn the many nuances of podcasting and blogging rather than frolicking about in the sun and sand as one might expect of a vacation to Hawaii. But then again, to me, it's just home.

Don't Be Like That

2005-11-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

As part of my new obsession with all of these exciting new toys in the tech world (blogs, podcasts, streaming audio and video, etc.,) I am posting a song that I recorded with producer David Darling in an early session of the "First Sign Of Anything" recordings. Ultimately we went in a heavier direction and the song was left to forever rest in my "my music" file awaiting a potential EP or B side. That is of course until now. I always liked the song and it is quite different from the already varied sound of both my first and second record. Hope you enjoy. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Technical Difficulties

2005-11-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm an idiot. You were going to find out sooner or later. Somehow I managed to delete my entire blog. I don’t really have it in me to repost every single entry but I have reposted the last 5 or 6 entries (I will post the pictures later). If anyone wishes to be able to get access to any particular blog entry that didn’t get reposted just email me so I can suggest something better to do with your time. Cheers.

Back In 1999

2005-11-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't yet seen it, here is a copy of my old Back In 1999 Video. More videos are posted on the music page of JohnOszajca.com.

Note: This is version 1 of the video. It was version 2 that made it to Mtv. To be honest I am largely posting this to test a new program but I hope you enjoy.

All Hallows Eve

2005-11-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Once again, Happy Halloween to everyone. Mine has been fairly uneventful. No trick or treating for me, I still haven’t gotten Saturday night out of my system yet. Literally.
I'm off to Hawaii tomorrow to visit my soon to be for sale house on Oahu for what is likely to be the last time.
Check back soon for exciting news on the upcoming release of the new record.

Happy halloween!

2005-11-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween y’all! I’m going as a Republican. Even scarier to most of you... I actually am one.

Boo!

Popism

2005-11-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Many of you have written emails asking just what exactly POPism was. Well, that’s a bit of a long story. I suppose if ever the phrase “you had to be there,” applied, it would be in regard to POPism.

POPism, (a name inspired of course by the Andy Warhol book/pseudo philosophy by the same name), was a performance art/rock band founded by myself and friend and former roommate Rick Royale (www.rickroyale.com). One night out in Hollywood way back in 1997, in what was at the time the newly opened “Goldfingers”, only days after making my move to Los Angeles, Rick, based on the success of his prior band the Rattled Roosters, was asked if he wanted to take on a residency at the new bar. Rick and I, both at a bit of a “funny place in our lives,” jumped on the opportunity at once and, to put it mildly, lied our way into a resident Tuesday night gig at the new Hollywood Hot spot. We told the manager of the bar that we had a Velvet Underground-esque, New York- glam rock inspired new band and that we would be ready to play in two weeks. All of this was of course complete fiction. The whole idea was inspired partially by Ricks love of the Velvet Underground, partially by the fact that there was a piano in the bar (an essential element of that old NY sound), and partially by a recent double date Rick and I had gone on dressed in drag in a failed attempt to shock the girls we were meeting (basically we liked the way we looked in lipstick a little too much).

To make a long story a little less long, within two weeks we had formed a band, hiring our dominatrix neighbor (Vylette) site unheard to front the band, our heroin addicted friend (Mish) to play bass, something that she was about as proficient at as she was at showing up on time (no offense), and a piano player (Billy Burke aka Billy Cool) whom we had met at the bar the night prior to our first rehearsal and who only showed up because we rehearsed and performed right across the street from his house. In that short time we had written an entire set of songs, all focusing around the subject of sex or drugs of course, and literally scripted out a concept for our characters; who they were, how they acted, etc., and we wrote a fictitious back story for our band; and a fictitious description of our weekly club at Goldfingers, which of course didn’t even exist yet. The club quickly became the scene to be seen at. Before long the place was packed every week with boa and glitter clad patrons, people literally dancing and once even fucking on the bar, randomly taking their clothes off on stage, and just plain getting freaky. For a while there Rick and my’s lives (my’s lives? Not quite sure how to say that) became pure pop art. We had wanted to see if we could take a ridiculously awful band and sell it purely on aesthetic, to see if we could convince people we were great simply because we said we were and because we looked the part. It was a little frightening how well it worked. I of course became “Gay Johnny” (the mock heroin addicted, alcoholic, sexually ambiguous drummer), a name that I took from an old canned vegetable label that a friend had given me as a joke and that had hung framed on the wall, and one I will never live down I might add (but it was just too funny not to use).

As is often the way of rock bands, it wasn’t long before we had let hour ego’s run crazy with our success and we started taking the whole thing way to seriously. Thus the whole thing inevitably collapsed in upon itself and the days of POPism were over.

That’s why it’s better to be a solo act.

For more information about POPism go to: http://www.rickroyale.com/popism/

Jeremey Fisher

2005-11-04T20:04:00.001-08:00

Had the chance to catch an old friend the other night at the Hotel Cafe. Sony recording artist Jeremy fisher was in town recording a track for his upcoming release. Jeremy and I once road our bikes, as in bicycles, 500 miles (from Bellingham Washington to Eugene Oregon) as support acts for our mutual friends band Bicycle. A band that, hence the name, is known for touring by, well, bicycle. Jeremy has been known to tour by bicycle as well. If I'm not mistaken he has ridden across the continent several times by bike. Gas guzzler that I am I'm not sure why they even hang out with me. But the experience was a great one to say the least. I got a chance to stop by the studio as well and check out Jeremy and producer Greg Collins work in progress, and sing a few back ups I might add. Check out his stuff it's great.

http://www.jeremyfishermusic.com

Blah Blah Blah

2005-11-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

So I really don’t have much to say here but I figured that I had to post something as not to give the much promised impression that I have fallen off the face of the earth. It was a pretty unexciting weekend. It was Daddy's for drinks with friends on Friday, Saturday, and oh yeah, Sunday... and I've been cutting down (sigh). Beyond that it was any other weekend. Warm, sunny California as usual, Breakfast at two in the afternoon, bedtime at four (AM of course). I’ve been searching for a new apartment. That's kind of interesting... not. It's pretty amazing how expensive things have become in Hollywood. I just looked at a loft for $2200 a month. For a one room concrete box... with no parking! It was a really nice concrete box and all but damn. So lets see what else... hmm, oh yeah can't forget poker. I played a lot of poker. But that's nothing new. Curse the day they invented online poker. Speaking of which I've gotta go, I’ve got pocket Queens.

Really?

2005-11-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Really? A blog? I guess I'm finally going try this blogging thing in the hope that it is not just another one of those ideas that I get all into for a week or two and then drop completely, leaving one more waste land of a web link on my site, furthering the impression that I have completely dropped of the face of the earth.
So I have no idea what it is exactly that I am supposed to do with this thing. I can’t really recall ever actually reading a blog, but nevertheless have finally succumb to the many requests, suggestions, and advisements to add a blog to the site in the hopes of rallying friends, fans, and whomever else in the name of future record sales.
So here goes. I'm still not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do with this thing. I'm told "online diary," is basically the idea. Though why anyone would be interested in the fact that I finished off a box of Cheerios, or did my laundry, or slept till one in the afternoon, or whatever other mind numbingly uninteresting thing that I might do during a given day, is beyond me. Shit, maybe this means I'm going to have start living it up, desperately hoping to impress all seven of you that are likely to be the ones reading this on any regular basis. Man, what am I doing? Oh well, so here goes. Worse comes to worse I suppose I can always just abandon this silly thing in a week or two. Enjoy.

technical difficulties

2005-11-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

sorry guys, the blog is down temporarily but will be back up very soon.