that’s my new blog site//esa es mi nueva página

thx

Tengo el placer de comunicarles que esta noche (sábado 27 de noviembre) saldrá al aire la entrevista que me hizo GLOBOVISION en su excelente programa “Sábado En La Noche” entre las 10pm y las 12am…

Muchas gracias a Melisa Rauseo y a todo su equipo de producción. Es para mí un placer estar en este show.

Gracias a todos por su interés y apoyo.

—

Hello

For my non-english speaking readers… I recently got interviewed by a very important TV station here in Venezuela and the show will air tonight.

thanks for the support… in either language

d

Hola, muchísimas gracias por tu interés!

Estamos organizando los horarios de las clases, por lo que voy a nacesitar lo siguiente:

· Nombre completo, cédula de identidad, número de contacto y edad. Si son menores de edad, por favor dejarnos los números de sus padres o representantes con sus respectivos nombres. UNICAMENTE COMUNIQUENSE VIA EMAIL a:

clasescondemian@rock.com

Con esa información en la mano, recibirán un e-mail con los horarios de las clases, ya que cada clase es personal, no grupal, por lo que es importantísimo que se confirme la asistencia. En esta primera etapa, el costo de la hora de clases (45 minutos, hora académica) será de 200 Bs.F. El sitio está por definirse.

Muchísimas gracias por su intereés.

Rock.

d

My idols growing up were soccer players. My current idols are still soccer players but things have changed.

I remember when I was a kid I wanted to grow up and be like Ruud Gullit, not only because I thought his hair was cool but cuz he was an incredible player, one of the best ever. Later on I adopted other idols such as Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Alessandro Del Piero, Andrea Pirlo, Zidane and of course O Fenómeno, the REAL Ronaldo. These men seemed so old and adult, like gods when you are a kid.

Those players only get older and so do we, the fans that idolize them but of course that isn’t the nature of the game… the sport gets younger, faster, smarter and younger again. I first got a glimpse of this during the 2004 season when Arsenal started playing 17 year old Cesc Fabregas… wow, i was blown away by a kid who couldn’t even legally drive and much less drink in the United States due to his age.

Today my favorite players, people responsible in large parts of my mood for the rest of the week post games, are younger than me, a lot… and it find it extremely interesting and borderline pathetic that what used to be men you looked up to are now kids you look up too. Don’t get me wrong, some of the most important people in my life are my students and they are a huge inspiration but I know them and work with them all the time, its different.

Wesley Sneijder, Leo Messi, Cesc, Van Persie… these are MONSTERS and i’m older than them…

times are changing.

d

Tengo el privilegio de compartir con ustedes una entrevista que me hizo E! Online Latinoamerica!!!

Pueden leerla aquí

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Hello!

I have the privilege of sharing with you an interview that E! Online Latinoamerica did on me.

To read, please click HERE

Thanks to Juan Pablo Fernandez Feo.

d

We all have them, and they drive some of us to do what we do and eventually leads us to some of the most gratifying moments in our lives. I will not get too deep into this specific thing BUT I was listening to Anthony Robbins the other day and he mentioned that veeeery few people even know what their dreams are and sadly, even when knowing, many people don’t do anything to accomplish that goal… they don’t even believe that they can reach it.

As I mentioned on another post, since music is my life at the moment and its what i think I do the best, my goals are naturally related to this field. Dreams I always had have become reality after years and years of hard work… oh yeah and more years of hard work. And there are others that, due to decision I made in my life, i never thought would be anywhere near possible.

I love sports, will all my heart. I’m a fanatic… and I played highschool soccer, went to soccer camps and played with my best friends all throughout my llife… now the fact that I am nowhere near as good as them is NOT the point so let’s leave it at that… hahahaha.

Another sport i love is Baseball and this past summer I got to experience things not only that I always dreamed of, but those dreams where nowhere near what I actually lived thanks to The Road Dogs… the softball team we had while on the road. Simply put I will never ever forget this whole experience, it really boggles my mind that we actually got to do this and play sold out shows later that night… it’s ridiculous… it’s criminal… it’s the best ever!!!!!!!

Imagine walking into an amazing baseball clubhouse with your professional uniform hung there for you, jersey, pants, clean cleats, wrist bands, hat, belt… everything… all those imagines I saw from MLB teams celebrating, training there, interviews, etc…all came back to me and I was THERE!! Gum… sesame seeds, icy hot, band-aids, medical tape… eeeeverything…

Also the team vibe was the coolest thing… we all were fully aware of how cool this whole thing was, all of us and I can assure you we all valued it and never took it for granted.

So this was only part of it…

Now imagine walking out to thousands of screaming fans, just like the pros do! Signs, screams, music… all of them cheering us on the whole game. It was insane… i never thought I would experience something like that and the rush I got was completely different than the one I get when I perform.

The guys on the team where incredible. Nick, joe and Kevin were of course the fuel behind us, and its awesome! They all led by example specially Nick… he’s so serious about this, and determined and its contagious.

We had great games and not so great games… played against a few celebrities. One amazing game was vs ESPN!!!! played against personalities including Mike Greenberg from Mike and Mike in the morning, Matthew Berry and many more… other games featured Kenny Smith and MITCH WILLIAMS!!!!!!!!! you might not know who he is but every single Toronto native surely remembers the home run Joe Carter hit off him to win the World Series.

Now, I won’t tell you how the whole thing went down… all i can say is that it was FILMED in its entirety and a summary or episode of every game can be see in HD  HERE !!!!

Best summer ever.

d

Once again i’m delighted to post tour dates. This never EVER gets old and its such a great feeling!!! I cannot believe we get to play in the River Plate Stadium… DREAM COME TRUE!!!!!

10.15.10 San Juan , PR Coliseo de Puerto Rico

10.16.10 Santo Domingo , DO Palacio de los Deportes

10.21.10 San Nicolás , MX Estadio Universitario

10.23.10 Guadalajara , MX Estadio 3 de Marzo

10.24.10 Mexico City , MX Foro Sol

10.26.10 San José , CR Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

10.28.10 Bogotá , CO Parque Simón Bolívar

10.30.10 Lima , PE Estadio Monumental

11.1.10 Quito, Ecuador Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa

11.4.10 Santiago , CL Estadio Monumental

11.6.10 São Paulo , BR Associação Portuguesa de Desportos

11.7.10 Rio de Janiero , BR Est. Celio de Barros (Maracana Complex)

11.10.10 Porto Alegre , BR Ginásio Gigantinho

11.13.10 Buenos Aires, Argentina Estadio River Plate

For tickets please click here!

d

This will be extremely long so consider yourself warned! I will be talking about what my life has been like both in detail and in vague manners, completely on purpose respectively. Why would I talk about my life you ask? Well, I just lived some of the most incredible days of my life, one after another, i’ve met some of the most amazing people i ever have and I feel its necessary and therapeutic to share these moments with whoever reads them and of course this is a vehicle for me to express my gratitude.I always talk about being grateful and I couldn’t be more grateful to life and every single musical note i’ve played and listened to which brought me to this point and time in life.You guys have asked me numerous questions on Twitter, Facebook and Formspring and I will try to respond to some of those in this post. (Version en español vendrá pronto…)

Here we go…

This whole adventure started once I got the call from John Taylor, the musical director of The Jonas Brothers and asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for the band. 32 shows later here I am writing this so I think I got the gig Meeting John, Greg and Ryan was fantastic, really amazing guys personally and killers as musicians. I had met Jack a couple of times before since he also recommended me so of course I have to say thanks to Jack for that!

We moved the rehearsals to Peoria, IL, a tiny town a couple of hours away from Chicago where we carried out our production rehearsals. I won’t get into many details but I will say the following. Getting to that Arena, seeing the video wall, the lights and all the people involved in the stage, etc was unreal, and add to that walking by the stage and seeing all my rig ready to go. I must give a special shout out to Toca Percussion, Vater Sticks and Evans drumheads for hooking it UUUP! I will post pics soon of these amazing instruments asap. Also I couldn’t forget B-rad, my tech along with every other crew member! You guys work incredibly hard and as the old cliche goes “i couldn’t do any of this without you.”

Another treat was getting to see Demi Lovato and her band rehearse… I could write a whole blog about her talent but I will just say that I love her voice, her performance and of course her band who I now consider friends… killer musicians and backup singers, amazing. I saw every single show they played from different spots in the amphitheaters we played at and they were killer every night, no exception.

If you know me you know that I don’t dance. There’s many reasons but aside from the obvious fact that I lack amounts of self-confidence in the dance floor, i also see it as something intimidating, its an art form and as an artist i don’t like to do anything half-assed. I know i can’t be a dance artist like these people, at least for now haha, and I say this not because I don’t think I can but because all the dancers are absolutely phenomenal… they do things I could only dream of doing, and no effort at all it seems… I think its safe to say among our crew we had some of the best in THE WORLD at what they do… They worked so hard, rehearsed so much and the most impressive part of all was their upbeat, positive attitude not only during rehearsals but throughout the entire tour. I became friends with them and they are simply amazing, all of them, love those ladies/dudes… ok I love the ladies more!!!! Of course the cast of Camp Rock 2 were on point every night and I loved seeing them perform every night.

As a musician I always strive for the most rewarding experience. Playing with a top, famous artist is considered a real accomplishment and most people consider it as a validation of all the hard work you’ve done that as a matter of fact people don’t even imagine. Sometimes we have to play with artists we don’t like because its a good opportunity, etc you know the deal. I have to say that working with this family is a life changing experience for me in so many ways. Out of respect of the artists I won’t talk more about it but Kevin, Joe, Nick are some of the most professional, hard working, committed, driven, humble and warm people I  have ever had the privilege of working with. There is not surprise in my eyes  that they are as famous as they are and as successful as well, they deserve it. Plain and simple.

Every show was an incredible experience. Performing in front of 15-20k screaming fans is something that I can’t really describe… you have to experience it for yourself and even then it never gets old to me. There were a few memorable shows that stick out in my mind for personal reasons more than anything and I will talk about a couple.

I spent many years of my life in Boston, and that city is truly special to me and my family. My father went to college there and so did my sister and myself, but I also went to highschool there, Brookline High Represent!! Conan O’brien went there … nice fact for you. Aaaaanyways while in Boston I went numerous times to concerts at the same venue where we played! Now, this might not seem like a big deal since we did many shows before and after but here’s why. First of all I had my dear friend and mentor Eguie Castrillo come with his daughter. Eguie has been monumental in my development  of my musical and professional career and getting to play for him, things he taught me, at the level he always knew I could get to was more than special. Another special guest was Pablo Bencid, one of my favorite drummers of all time, a fellow Venezuelan and one of the nicest humans you’ll meet. I was more nervous playing in front of them 2 that 25k people in Tinley Park on our first show!!!! Thanks for coming guys! Oh yeah, the rainy Jones’ Beach show was a show i will never ever forget. INSANEEEE!!!

Another reason why this was a special night for me was because this venue was the very same place where I saw my first Megadeth and Dream Theater shows… my favorite bands. I also saw Sting, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Incubus, etc etc etc and it was the first ampitheater I had ever played where I had been an audience member in previous occassions. It was just unreal and it was a reminder of how hard work, dedication, help of friends, a positive attitude and being proactive make dreams come true. A full circle of sorts. The show itself was epic. Dallas, Houston and West Palm Beach were the stage for other reunions with family and friends… and I’m thankful to all those friends who came and saw our concerts and sat next to all those loud, beautiful and loyal fans!!

FANS!!! wowwwwww! I can’t even put into words how thankful I am for all the kind words, welcoming messages, tweets, RT’s, facebook messages, signs at shows, etc… I had 400 followers before rehearsals started, i’m a little over 9500 as i type this. Its incredible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will thank all the Venezuelan fans and latin-american fans in due time when I write this whole thing is Spanish, don’t get mad!!

Another thing you know or should know about me is that i’m a HUGE sports fanatic, and when i was asked to be a part of The Road Dogs I felt like a child! so stoked. As i’ve said it in the past, all the musical goals are due to me to accomplish but my sporting dreams I felt were left back in High School when I decided to pursue music full time… I can go on forever to talk about it but if I were you just surf over to Cambio’s Road Dogs site right here and see all the amazing clips please. This was as amazing as the shows themselves and we went through hard times, tired times, low times and we got ourselves back up and won the very last game in dramatic fashion.

I can only finish this entry by saying THANKS to everyone who was part of this, special mention to our wardrobe ladies who make me look way better than I do night after night haha. Seriously though, thanks to every single person who made this possible: security personnel (who doubled as softball coaches hehe), stage hands, sound crew, lighting crew, catering, wardrobe, management, etc etc etc. THANKS for being there and making this the most amazing experience I could have ever imagined.

I couldn’t have picked a better group of people to spend these past months with, even if I picked them one by one. best part?? We have toooooooons of shows to go!!!

Thanks once more to The Jonas Brothers and their whole family and team. I’m honored.

translation to follow… i need some more black tea for this though.

d

——

Hola,

Esto va a ser extremadamente largo asi que ya estan advertidos! De antemano les pido perdon por la cantidad de horrores ortográficos que encontrarán. En este post estaré hablando sobre lo que ha sido mi vida recientemente tanto en detalle como levemente y será a propósito. Se preguntarán por que siento necesario hablar de mi vida  y la respuesta es que he vivido muchos de los mejores días de mi vida uno tras otro en los últimos meses y este blog es un vehiculo para expresar mi gratitud, mencionar a gente importante, compartirlo con ustedes y también es terapéutico para mí. Cada nota musical que he oído y que he tocado en mi vida me han llevado a este punto y no podría estar más agradecido. Ustedes también me han hecho muchísimas preguntas via facebook, twitter y formspring y trataré de responder esas incognitas.

Aquí vamos…

Toda esta aventura empezo cuando John Taylor, el director musical de los Jonas Brothers me llamó y me preguntó que si yo estaría interesado en audicionar para la banda como percusionista. 32 conciertos después aquí estoy escribiendo esto, así que creo que me aceptaron ahaha. Conocer a John, Greg y Ryan fue excelente, gente increible además de ser excelentes músicos. Ya había conocido a Jack varias veces y el fué una de las personas que me recomendó asi que estoy sumamente agradecido con el.

Pasamos los ensayos a Peoria, IL, un pueblito en las afueras de Chicago, donde llevamos a cabo todos los ensayos a full, con luces, bailarines, etc. No voy a entrar en detalle sobre todo esto pero si cabe la pena mencionar lo que fue llegar a un Arena como ese, ver el video wall, las luces, la tarima, todo el crew trabajando sin parar, gente guindando del techo instalando cosas, fue surreal! Además caminé por el sitio donde iba a estar todo mi equipo y ya estaba montado a la perfección por B-rad, mi técnio. Ver todos esos instrumentos increibles, puliditos, reflejando luces, etc fue increible. Ojo, SIEMPRE me siento asi, sea un gig gigante o un show en un bar, nunca se pone viejo cuando alguien te monta tus instrumentos jejeje. Tengo que darle las gracias a las compañías que me patrocinan: Toca Percussion, Vater Drumsticks y cueros Evans.

Otra cosa cool de todo esto fue ver y conocer a Demi Lovato y ver los ensayos con su banda. Podría escribir otro blog sobre su talento pero sólo diré que amo su voz, su performance y como lo da todo cada noche en la tarima y por supuesto su banda los cuales considero amigos… tremendos músicos, cantantes y como gente también son buenísimos. Vi TODOS los shows tanto desde el sidestage como en varios lugares de los anfiteatros y tocaron animal cada show, sin excepción.

Si de verdad me conocen saben que no bailo, lo siento chicas! jajaja. Hay muchas razones y además de ser sumamente inseguro con eso también lo veo como algo que se debe respetar. Como artista (no uso este término como “famoso” sino artista como tal) no me gusta hacer NADA a medias, de hecho es algo que siempre he criticado. Se que tendría que pasar años practicando para poder bailar remotamente parecido a como lo hacen los bailarines que tenemos en el tour. Varios de ellos tienen que ser de los mejores del mundo en su estilo respectivo… osea Ashlee y Shorty son increibles…. Todos y todas trabajando extremadamente duro todos los dias, ensayando como locos y siempre estan llenos de optimismo, buenas vibras  y buen humor, cosa que es admirable para mí. También tengo que mencionar a la gente de Camp Rock 2, también super buena gente e igual de profesional, excelente ambiente.

Como músico que soy siempre busco y lucho por conseguir la experiencia más satisfactoria. Tocando con un artista super conocido es considerado como un gran logro y la mayoría de la gente lo ve como que esto valida todo el trabajo duro que has hecho. Muchas veces tenemos que tocar con artistas que no nos gusta mucho porque es una buena oportunidad etc ustedes saben como es. Tengo que decir que trabajar con esta familia ha sido algo excepcional y me ha impactado de muchas maneras. Por respeto a ellos como artistas y amigos no diré mucho pero Kevin, Joe y Nick son 3 de las personas más profesionales, trabajadoras, respetuosas, humildes y humanas que he conocido en mi vida y por supuesto de las mejores con las que he trabajado. A mi modo de ver no es ninguna sorpresa que sean tan conocidos y exitosos porque estoy convencido que se lo merecen totalmente, son un ejemplo a seguir para tantas celebridades.

Todos los shows fueron impresionantes! Tocar en frente de 15 o 20mil fans que no paran de gritar, cantar y llorar es algo que no puedo describir justamente…. es una de esas cosas que tienes que vivir tu mismo/a para entenderme y nunca se hace cotidiano, nunca, es un recordatorio constante de todo el esfuerzo y tiempo que he invertido en la música. Sin embargo hay un par de shows que valen la pena resaltar por motivos personales más que nada y  les explicaré a continuación.

Viví muuuuchos años en Boston y esa ciudad es sumamente especial para mi y para mi familia. Mi papá estudio en esa ciudad al igual que mi hermana y esta persona quien les escribe. Por cierto estudié en el mismo colegio que Conan O’brien jeje. Cuando vivía ahí tuve la suerte de ir a muchísimos conciertos en el mismo sitio donde toqué con los Jonas Brothers en esta gira. Puede parecer que no es la gran cosa debido a que cuando llegamos a Boston ya había tocado en numerosos anfiteatros, pero este show fué especial. Primero que nada una de las personas más relevantes en mi formación como músico profesional y profesor mío en Berklee fue al show con su hija, y su nombre es Eguie Castrillo. El ha sido una influencia más que positiva en mi vida y tocar en frente de el cosas que me enseño al nivel de este show, un nivel al cual el siempre supo que iba yo a llegar fue muy especial para mí. Otro amigo en el público fue Pablo Bencid, uno de mis baterístas favoritos en el planeta, es venezolano también y siempre me ha apoyado, tremendos seres humanos ambos. Creo que estuve más nervioso tocando en frente de ellos que de las 25mil personas que fueron al primer show…. Otro show que cabe la pena mencionar fué el 2do show en Jones’ Beach en la lluvia!!! jamás olvidaré ese show, fue una locura.

La otra razón por la cual el show en Boston fué tan especial para mí fué porque en esa misma tarima vi los primeros shows de mis bandas favoritas: Megadeth y Dream Theater, ahi también vi a Sting, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Incubus, etc etc etc y fué el primer anfiteatro en el cual tocaba donde ya había sido parte del público un tiempo atrás… surreal de verdad y de nuevo sirvió para recapitular en mi mente todo el trabajo, dedicación y por supuesto ayuda y motivación de mis padres, familiares y amigos; claro que el optimismo y ser pro-activo ayuda más que nada en el universo para lograr tus metas y vivir tus sueños.

FANS! ok, se que no muchas de las que leen esto en español fueron a los shows asi que no hablaré mucho. Les doy las gracias a las que fueron y llevaron afiches con mi nombre a los shows, a los juegos de los road dogs, etc. En cuanto a las fans en general me quedo corto de palabras para agradecerles. Antes de la gira tenía 400 followers en twitter, ahora tengo 9500 aprox. es increible!!! TODOS los mensajes de bienvenida, buenos deseos, optimismo, respeto, en fin, son increibles todas ustedes y les mando un beso a cada una. La mayoría de las que me escriben son de Venezuela y les mando un saludo especial a ustedes!

A muchas de ustedes las voy a ver muy pronto en esta gira que se aproxima y para todas las fans de Venezuela les repito que yo no tengo NINGUN poder para llevarlos a Venezuela, está completamente fuera de mi alcance. No fuimos a Minnesota por ejemplo, Ryan es de ahí y tiene más tiempo en la banda y no fuimos para allá… Por supuesto que me encantaría ir a Caracas a tocar, sería más que un sueño pero si no está pautado no está pautado, lo siento mucho pero de nuevo, si fuese por mí los llevo. Yo voy en Diciembre a ver a mi familia y a mis amigos en Caracas. También trato de responder a todas las preguntas por formspring y por twitter pero no tengo tiempo suficiente para hacerlo, pero creánme que hago el mayor de los esfuerzos para estar al día con todas ustedes. Les pido paciencia y les doy las gracias obviamente por el apoyo y por el interés.

Podría hablar mil horas más sobre la experiencia con The Road Dogs pero dejaré que los videos hablen por si solos, así que hagan click aquí.

Sólo puedo terminar este blog dandole las GRACIAS a cada una de las personas que forman y formaron parte de toda esta experiencia inolvidable! En especial a las chicas de vestuario, haciendome ver mucho más bonito de lo que soy jajaja. En serio, gracias a cada una de las personas que trabaja en este espectáculo por hacer esta una experiencia inolvidable. No pude haber elegido a un mejor grupo de personas para llevar a cabo esta aventura.

La mejor parte de todo sin duda es que ahora es que nos falta!!!!!!

Gracias de nuevo a la familia Jonas, es un honor.

d

Gracias Luis!

d

I will be very extremely brief, for now. This whole touring and personal experience has been so incredible I find it truly difficult to sum it up with words.

Every single person involved in this tour is absolutely incredible and I feel so honored to be a part of this incredible show.

All I can say is that i’m grateful and i’m enjoying every single second of this.

See you on the road.

d