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Influences
Music: They Might be Giants, Frank Zappa, Jello Biafra/Dead Kennedys, Stuart Davis, Mike Patton, Marlee Macleod, DIY, Paul Simon, Dan Bern, Diseased, Saul Williams, Weird Al Yankovic, Joni Mitchell, Bad Religion, Karaoke, Josh Garrett Davis, the Simpsons, Van Morrison, country songs, Ani Difranco, Ween, others...
Heart/Brain Food: Eckhart Tolle, Noam Chomsky, Socrates, Michael Moore, Salvador Dali, George Carlin, The Twilight Zone, higher education (expensive!), Ken Wilber, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Rogers, Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Buddha, Thoreau, you, Mitch Hedberg, Woody Allen, friends, family, strangers...
Hi, people. I'm Ocho. I'm a human being. I make it a personal goal to love all living creatures.
That includes you...
I grew up in Pierre, SD, USA, a small government island on an ocean of dry grass that Lewis and Clark called the Great American Desert.
At age 16, I started writing and performing music with a political grindcore band called Diseased (myspace.com/diseasedband). For a while we were the only band in town. In 1995, we and some other groovy kids started a successful underground music scene in that town (myspace.com/pierrerockshows). The scene (totally) and the band (to some extent) still thrive. 12 years and three cities later, I love that place and those people more than ever.
It was back there that music really became meaningful to me. Some seem to act as if it's about knowing the right people or making money or getting wasted...Those things are good as far as they go, but I've found that putting my energy into that is distracting from more important things.
Here's a secret: Music changes people--one by one and in large groups. I grew up out in the sticks with no record stores and no internet (It wasn't even invented yet...). My exposure to music was really limited, and I was always looking for the most obscure and/or rebellious music I could find. My friends and I had to drive to a town three hours away to find anything that resembled underground music. I remember the first time I heard Rage Against the Machine and the Dead Kennedys. Someone would get a cassette and pass it around. The message in that music taught me that I don't have to accept the world as it is. I can make up my own mind. I can DO something about it. This message was so powerful to the kids out there that we looked for it even when it could scarcely be found.
In 1998, I moved to Minneapolis for college. I started trading mix tapes with my friend Josh Garrett-Davis (myspace.com/joshallages), who fronted the OTHER band in Pierre. One day he sent me a tape of some acoustic songs he'd written. It blew me away. He also introduced me to more folk musicians like Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Plus I found some on my own, like Cat Stevens, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. It's a different medium than the punk and metal I was used to...Still, the messages are similar: I am an independent person capable of making social change. I can ALSO change mySELF, my own life, my relationships, and my inner being for the better. I have the power. And what else am I doing with my time, really?
So I started writing songs on the acoustic guitar and moved to Mankato, MN in 2001. I hosted open mics for a couple of years, met some more beautiful people and started my own variety show with other folks in the area. I released 2 CDs, "How to Make Everything Perfect" (2004) and "Chicken Soup for the Chicken" (2003), and toured the midwest a few times. I studied Psychology at Minnesota State, and got my bachelor's in psych in 2004.
Then I moved to Ashland, OR. I lived there for two years. I hosted an open mic and a poetry slam, toured the west coast, met a whole bunch more beautiful people, and got my master's degree in mental health counseling. I also recorded my third CD, "Gorillabuddha!" In August of 2006, I left to go on my first extended U.S. tour. For a year, I worked my tail off. I settled back in Mankato in 2007, continuing to make my living playing music, providing mental health coaching services, and counseling families.
I encourage anyone who wants to improve their life to Email me for a free coaching session. My basic philosophy on this is simple: if you have any problems at all, we have work to do. Generally, it's a lot less work than you think. Life is meant to be fun and refreshing and easy. If it's anything other than that, ever, we can talk.
Even if we never talk, know this: This is happening right now. Life is unfolding. For real. Right now.
Hey Ocho, just checking out your schedule, I am planning on checking out professor's tomorrow night, see you there. Keep warm, I am loving this crazy winter storm!!!
Hope you're having a good month,man. I'm in St.P for the next few days, then playing in Sioux Falls on Wednesday. Give me a call if you'd like, we can play some C chords.
I don't really know since I am not too hip with the scene (if st. cloud even has one) just trying to lure you up here i guess;) it really is low key and wouldn't be a huge career booster or anyting.
hello-there is open mic night every tuesday (accept the third tuesday of the month) at the corner bean on university and 9th here in st. cloud. do you ever make your way up to this neck of the woods? my little 8 year old even got up once to sing once...she loves to sing.
I suppose I could swing it :D It would have to involve blacklight...maybe tie-dye. But it's completely your vision...maybe some rotoscoped cartoon Ocho y Sammy....?
Seems like you're playing a lot! I would be more than happy to place an Ocho-widget on any one of my social networking sites for promotion of your furthered success.
Let me know when you're in Oregon, then I shall traverse with my commune and we will take video of the whole wonderful escapade!
Hey, thanks for writing that song. I recently saw you at the Coffee Hag, and that song was stuck in my head for a day. I hope to catch your show again soon!
Hey, fella. Just wanted to say it was good to see you the other night -- you look good, sound great. You put the joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts.
