So my computer interviewed me...

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Rod Kim
Birthday:	09/03/82
Birthplace:	Kokomo, IN
Current Location:	NJ-DE-MD-NY-PA
Eye Color:	Fake Blue
Hair Color:	Black as night
Height:	5'10"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right
Your Heritage:	Korean
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Cherokee (Work Shoes)
Your Weakness:	Good music...and Scarlett Johansen
Your Fears:	Forgetting what I'm living for...
Your Perfect Pizza:	Basically a supreme pizza without the livestock show on it...
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Put the Rod music machine in full motion...
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	yeah-hehe-haha
Thoughts First Waking Up:	OMG WHERE AM I?
Your Best Physical Feature:	I've been told my fake eyes are cool...
Your Bedtime:	Thursday...
Your Most Missed Memory:	Greenville College
Pepsi or Coke:	Diet Coke
MacDonalds or Burger King:	McDonalds
Single or Group Dates:	Both...I like a balance, I never want to be that weird couple that no one knows where they are...
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Lipton
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Coffee, straight up and black...
Do you Smoke:	nope
Do you Swear:	Occasionally...
Do you Sing:	Working on it...
Do you Shower Daily:	Sometimes twice...
Have you Been in Love:	Yeah
Do you want to go to College:	Been there, done that, loved it and want to do it all over again...
Do you want to get Married:	I guess, but I never really can tell in the end what I really want.
Do you belive in yourself:	Yeah
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Only in high speed and multiple direction situations...
Do you think you are Attractive:	I don't lust after myself in the mirror if that's what you mean...
Are you a Health Freak:	Getting there...
Do you get along with your Parents:	Post-high school, yes...
Do you like Thunderstorms:	Yes, just as long as they aren't directly overhead...
Do you play an Instrument:	Piano, little guitar, some strings and brass...
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	Yeah
In the past month have you Smoked:	Nope
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	Nope
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	Nope
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	Yeah
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	Nope
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	Nope
In the past month have you been on Stage:	Yeah
In the past month have you been Dumped:	Nope
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	Nope
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	Nope
Ever been Drunk:	Not that I can remember...oh wait...hehe
Ever been called a Tease:	Nope
Ever been Beaten up:	Asian + Public School = Bodily Harm
Ever Shoplifted:	Nope
How do you want to Die:	Remembering the journey past and gradually slipping away with those thoughts in mind...
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	Happy
What country would you most like to Visit:	Germany...Europe in general
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	Blue
Favourite Hair Color:	N/A
Short or Long Hair:	Longer
Height:	About my height
Weight:	Lesser than me...
Best Clothing Style:	Unique, but not scary...
Number of Drugs I have taken:	none
Number of CDs I own:	too many to count, probably over 1100
Number of Piercings:	none
Number of Tattoos:	none
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	1
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

Andy did you hear about this one...

So I've been reading the "Andy Kaufman Revealed!" Andy's biography...finally, my friend Cory gave me this book about 6-7 years ago...wow, I just realized how long ago that was. Anyway, somehow the book stayed with me moving from every state, through college and here to the east coast. See, back in 1999, the movie "Man on the Moon", an unrelated biography also about Andy was the favorite movie of myself, Cory and my best friend Jeb. I think we memorized that movie and sang all the songs R.E.M. wrote for it...Cory got the book and then passed it along to me and until now, I've had no real interest in reading it...possibly that I haven't had interest in reading in general. Since leaving college though, I find myself really interested in books...especially life stories...so I started reading a few weeks ago. I'm about a third of the way through (not bad considering I read minutes at a time or while at the gym). I really admire the courage Andy had and how he missed the mark so many times in comedy, but learned from those misses and got closer and closer to his hits. Someone I almost admire more is his best friend, Bob Zmuda. Actually, this book seems more like a story about him that happens to mention Andy alot. I guess since he wrote the book, it works. Zmuda really lived so much of what I journeyed through the last few years - living on the streets, apartment hopping, and boarding with kind families while making his way through the world.

Something I've noticed from not only this book, but also the memoirs of Margaret Cho, "I'm the One that I Want" is that life happened to them and journeys were defining moments for them they didn't realize they were missing. The goals they aspired to reach were very pale in comparison to the path they took to get there. Margaret had a very strong goal of being a TV star and worked so hard to get her own sitcom. She finally got it and it was a great thing, but it seemed like she was just not impressed with it as much any more because of the years of work it took to get there seemed so much more amazing. Andy wanted his own TV special and to be a star, when he became a star, he was bored with it and constantly tested the public. Although I admire Andy, I'll have to admit I think if I actually knew him personally I'd be constantly frustrated with him.

This is all an amazing revelation at the same time I realized parts of my journey. I say sometimes, "Urban Derivatives was such a waste of time on the way to what I really wanted to do...or Josh's project was such a waste since it foiled right before it was to break." Well, today I found out a band of many good friends "Pennington" had disbanded forever. It was kind of a shock, but not a complete surprise. I guess just being close enough to the guys I could see pieces coming undone. But they posted on their website that "We believe Pennington has run its course" and that really stuck with me. I remember all those Pennington concerts and the album being recorded and Jesse writing songs and running down the hall at 2am in his underwear to show me a new song idea. In retrospect, it feels like I was part of history. That band reached out to so many people and made them happy. It didn't matter that it wasn't Aerosmith: Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Pennington, it was all the same...it was a band of serious touring musicians that had great music and put their mark on the world. Somehow I was fortunate to be a part of that. Then my mind dug deeper. There was "Urban Derivatives". That band is metaphorically six-feet-under, but I got to manage a great band, briefly got to be their keyboard player, produced two whole albums for them, co-wrote some material and even lived with the band and toured with them running sound, etc. That was a rockstar time in my life. Though that band put me through more stress than I could ever create for myself, in the end, I was a part of history. It was a great band, with great songs, with great talent...even the short stint with Josh was an extension of "Urban D"...so three bands later, I've gotten to live a rockstar life in less than 4 years...just like in my dreams...wow...and as for the bands all dismantling...well, even the Beatles broke up, Elvis died, and Michael Jackson lost his mind...life happens, the lifetime of anything on this earth will run its course and life moves on. I was FORTUNATE to get to be directly invloved in some very great pieces of history...and I don't doubt I will be a part of many other pieces of history. Just as long as I'm not so caught up in the end that I miss the happening...

Well, it is really late, so I will write more later...TCGBGN...
-Rod

Story Of My Life...

So amongst the dreams and heros I've rediscovered over the past couple weeks, I've been waiting for my time. I'm still waiting, but finally, the big idea came...I realized after rediscovering Elvis that I would be great someday. This is the big idea that will fuel that. Here's the story:

I started work 7am Thursday through the busiest couple of days of work ever, I didn't get to sleep until Saturday at 9pm. I was SO TIRED...when I'm tired, I dream...I usually don't have dreams, at least those that I remember...but this time I had the mother of all dreams. I wrote songs, I lived lifetimes, I met people and just had an amazing time...I woke up and it was all there. I wrote and wrote and drew pictures and charts for hours. This movie, this screenplay, the songs, the story, it's all there...this is it...I don't know how to explain it, but this...this is the beginning of my greatness...

Someday, hopefully, I'll be able to share what I experienced to the world and anyone reading this will understand what I am babbling about right now...

Anyway, it's getting late and I'm watching "Garden State"...but until later...
-Rod

Rediscovering Elvis

So it's Friday the 13th (dum dum dum!) and today was cool. I kind of had a laxed day at work and then spent a few hours at the gym. Afterwards, Nick and I got some food and headed to a Wal-Mart in Maryland. The past week I had really noticed bits and pieces of inspiration to keep pushing forward in music. Today, at Wal-Mart, the final piece came...I saw a CD with a photo of Elvis I hadn't seen before. I thought maybe it was another remix album or something that was just released. But when I looked at it, I saw that it was the 50th anniversary release of his first #1 hit single..."Heartbreak Hotel". I grew up listening to this Elvis vinyl that my dad had that was Live Via Satellite from Hawaii...I guess that was the first musical spark that really set the fire. I was so amazed by the things he was doing with his voice and how everyone loved him. So when I saw the rerelease of "Heartbreak Hotel," I grabbed it and checked out. Inside, there were photos of Elvis first signing his record contract with RCA Records back in 1956. I looked at the photo and thought, "You have NO IDEA what the years are going to bring to you!" Then I read the brief write-up underneath the photos that noted he had 3 days to record 5 songs with his band and one of those first 5 songs was "Heartbreak Hotel," that year the single went #1 on the Billboard Top 100 as well as top of the country charts and then hit the top of the R&B charts! I was listening to the song and thinking, "I want to do that." The SAME SONG charted on charts across totally different genres and it was just him playing one of his songs with his band in the studio...music, and people responded to it. Sometimes you need a goal to focus on, and I found it.

I don't know how, but I'm going to write the best songs I can and pull together the best of the past and make this happen. If anyone out there knows an investor that's willing to fund a 5 member band touring, let me know! I think it's time for the website to have another update. Expect the layout to change soon...

Someday, I want another aspiring musician to see a picture of me shaking hands with someone and drive them to follow their dreams too...

Thanks, Elvis, for the reminder...

My Date With Drew

So I went to Best Buy yesterday when me and Nick were driving home from work and Dex called. We met up there and I had a coupon for DVDs and so I was browsing and picked up "My Date With Drew". I watched it twice in a row. For those that don't know, the film is a very indie movie with a camera this guy buys with credit at Circuit City and has to return in 30 days. He wins $1100 in a game show. This same guy has been dreaming since he was 8 to get a date with Drew Barrymore. So that sets the plot, he has 30 days and $1100 to ask Drew Barrymore on a date. I know everyone wants to skip to the end, but this is truly a story of a journey. I got so inspired...it was a little deeper than just that date he was trying to get. It was about him and his friends making a movie, pursuing it together, and just risking it all for a month in his life (since he was also broke and unemployed in Hollywood) to pursue a dream.

I sat back and thought, what are my Drew(s)? A lot of them are being met as we speak and a lot have been met. It makes me feel very fortunate. There are still some I look forward to and some I need to discover, but I'm not going to settle for a boring life...I've only got one.

On Jan. 2, I sat down and wrote my resolutions...I told myself this year I'd risk it all to conquer these...then I remembered, I have risked it all every step of the way...going to Greenville, moving to Nashville, moving to Connecticut, looking for apartments in Texas, living in Jersey now, hanging out in New York...the list goes on...so here I go, for another year of risks, failures, successes, and...life...

Take care, God bless, goodnight...

-Rod

Tuesday: Moving on..

I think I did something good today... :)

Now available on Amazon.com!

Hey everyone, I just want to let everyone know that "Live from LaDue Auditorium" us now available from Amazon.com.

Click here to buy!