Im Moving to TUMBLR

TO keep up with the times my Blog is moving to

www.RickySans.Tumblr.com

I will keep my blogspot up, seeing as theres a bunch of past posts, with lots of stories and pictures from the past couple years of my life....so feel free to go back and look around and get caught up to date, but for new stuff www.RickySans.Tumblr.com

Love
Rick

For The Best ?

Tonite, my friend asked me if I personally believe that, in life, do things happen for the best? Meaning, even if at the time something seems like a let down, rejection, fail or disapointment - THAT moment actually ends up leading to a better place and that place couldn't have happened without "let down".

Just something interesting to think about. I immediately think, how can I believe things happen for the best, when in Darfur, some poor child, is far from ever going to experience a "for the best" moment. And I believe humans are all created equal, so I that if ONE person in this world isn't born into a life of the opportunities for a "for the best" moment, then maybe it just doesn't even exist. I also think thats something that can't be determined until later years in my life. When you can look back on everything and see how the dots connected. Because what if it goes from worse to BEST but then back to another worse! So For The Bests COULD actually be FOR the Worsts haha....

But at this point, do things just happen? How DO you explain those moments. SO what I think it comes down to is, humanity and compassion. My friend brought up the point that, yes, while someone is suffering in another country, and someone like Brad Pitt is only having a more and more fortunate life, may seem to put this whole thing to bed, people like Brad Pitt make ridiculous amounts of contributions in all sorts of ways to people that need it. So someone elses For The Best, is now someones Best moment.

I guess it all just comes down to perspective and sharing. This world runs on a universal balance.... which is sad. EDIT - its not sad... haha its just the way it is...I guess what i meant by saying its sad, is i wish everything could be perfect and happy for everyone....

Which leads me to a whole new question to wonder - Can Good only exist because of Bad? Can fortune only exist without unfortune? Can Life only exist if there is Death? Is perfect harmony capable of ever being just that?

What do YOU believe.... do you believe things happen for the best?

LOVE
rickY

Strangers

I’m a dreamer, I’m a spiritualist, I’m a believer of the unbelievable, I would like to think that in this world we are provided with little quiet moments to remind us that we are not the only beings in this world and we should not take any creation for granted. We are only a small part of this greater world and we have to remember that we can find meaning and life anywhere and in anything.

With that being said -
Take a moment and look into the eyes of someone next to you – whether you know him or her or not. Look deeply into their eyes ... Go ahead, don’t be shy, look....
This can be a very emotional moment full of power to look into the eyes of another person, especially if you do not know him or her. After all, as the proverb says, "The eyes are the window to the soul". Yet sometimes, when we are forced into such an exceptional moment with such strong emotions, we try to laugh it off or make a joke to return ourselves to a comfortable and easy place.

Maybe strangers are taken for granted. Maybe we're all best friends and lovers and just don't know it. Maybe theres a greater meaning in the eyes of a stranger.

hmmm just thinking out loud

RIcK

Death

Throughout my life, I've always been a thinker (overly at times haha)...always wanting to understand, to know, to figure out whats underneath the rocks of life when you turn them over.

I dealt with death in my early teen years, with the loss of my grandparents, both of whom I was very close with. I remember, being in the hospital the nite my grandfather passed away, watching him hold my grandmothers hand. And just kinda knowing. The evening was spent outside, by myself crying - not being able to grasp what it was, what it all meant, and why it happened. All I knew was it hurt, and I guess in a way, made me mad at life. A lot of other things were going on that will remain private, but it all revolves around loss. Which throws you for a loop in life. And when you experience loss you can sometime become spiteful of life, which I had felt.

That was the last time I had felt death - until recently. Human life is tricky - we get sressed, we get consumed, we worry, we do the wrong things, we make mistakes - of course balanced by doing all the right things and being the best person we can be. But recent events which will remain private, really shook me back into that mode of trying to understand death and how it relates to life. (I am disregarding any sort of after life, religious affiliation, etc, though I do have faith, I am just talking about the gift of living, breathing life, and the moment our heart stops)

This also comes from the economic turmoil that our country is going through, a sense of unity, and a hard slap in the face, to force many people what is really important in life (not money, not material - but family, friends, love)

The Little me that was outside crying in shock the nite my grandfather passed away, is now matured and an adult - full of life experience and worldly perspective. I can feel what it must be like to be dying - have become empathetic in the most spiritual way of others that suffer and are sick as well. Now day by day, in the back of my head there is an old me that is dying, reminding the fully alive me, to take advantage of every little detail that I have the ability to enjoy - because I never know when it could just be taken away from me in a blink of an eye.

But as human nature, its difficult for us to keep that perspective at all times. I know that I go in and out of this new perspective all the time - I just want to encourage myself and others to do all that you want, to help all you can, to love, picture yourself in your last moments - are the trivial fights with friends worth it, was stressing out over something silly worth it - most importantly, was being sidetracked, in any sense, from actually LIVING worth it.

At this point in life, I will strive for dying with no regrets. Again, we are humans, we arent perfect and all the challenges, all the hardships, are a part of living, they help us grow, help us understand, and for me, my struggles have gotten me to a point where I can LOVE life. It's the consumption one must steer from. You never know when life could come to an end, and thats something we need to remember - there is death and sickness all around - For those who are healthy, as entities with souls and hearts are there to help out the less fortunate than ourselves - in all aspects just not health. This is humanity. SO we must go all out - Embrace life for all that it has to offer and live it the best you can...

That is what I wittnessd - that nite, letting go, an understanding that he did the absolute best he could in his life. So much so, that here I am now, still learning from him and I know that makes him so happy.

Love
Rick!

Understanding yourself and others better....

So my friend's Sara and Sheena turned me onto this. Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs Typology test. Try it out and see what type you are. read all the qualities of the others, and it'll help you understand why the people you know do the things they do, and maybe better relationships and understand them. And you can understand why you do the crazy things you do!

Go here to take the test! - http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Plus its fun to call yourself and others out on other moments when you do a typlical "ENFP" thing etc. haha. slight dorky, but interesting!

I'm an ENFP - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving
(Extraverted Intuition with Introverted Feeling) - Read here if you want to understand me more - http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFP.html

HAHA i sound like a new age hippie, but seriously its fun!!!

Comment your type to this blog! I'm interested in knowing what others are!

Rick

Back to the Blog Future

So besides the fact that I've been meaning to start blogging again, my friend Janelle really helped motivate me to start again. It's so weird and difficult with so many social and voyeuristic websites out there, to choose which one to pay the most attention too, so then you end up getting spread thin and pay no attention to any of them!

But now with Myspace on the downhill (sadly) it seems Facebook is good for networking and Twitter consolidates everything in to a much more efficient site. Which makes my life easier, and there fore able to blog!

Mostly, we've been so deep, deep into creating songs, I lost sense of reality for a second, and am finally finding my grasp. I know it sounds weird, but a mentor of ours told us that to really create art that will matter, one needs to reach that breaking point and search into our deepest, darkest, most hurtful part of our souls to get out the songs that need to be written. I went back and like a Rolodex relived every memory I had lived - from the most happy to the most sad, and was able to somehow start to make sense of how all those little moments growing up factored into who I am today. And that was a lot to swallow. It's full of regrets, happiness, failure, success, loss, pure bliss, sadness, personal interaction defining moments, Best friendship, life altering advice, innocence, Death, guilt, anger, growing up too fast, disbandment, brain imprinted childhood visuals, unconditional love, fear, confusion, pride, true love for family,friends and lovers, Over heard words - every little thing that built the me into who I am right now. I reached that point, and on top of plenty other on goings in my personal life, worldly turmoil and economic downfall, which EVERYONE is experiencing, has made this a bit of a climb (not to quote Miss. Cyrus haha...but kinda). This is not me complaining but rather me understanding, finally, that there are always others worse off than the next, and always others better off than the next - for me, I just feel that I reached an empathetic state of truly understanding everyone and everything around me, those in the most suffering, painful places to the blissfully, worry free and all the in between - I now strive to consistantly, learn, grow and improve myself so I too can fit somewhere in at least one persons understanding of how we are all connected in this crazy world. Oh, and for my own sanity as well haha. But then again, this is just how I feel right now, it might change in a few hours haha. It's really hard trying to figure out every little detail to life, and I dont know why I insist on doing so. Oh well!

Anyways, I'm wide awake at 5 am, which is unfortunate, seeing as I was almost fast asleep several hours ago. I suppose its the jet lag, or maybe excitement/nerves for finally starting on a new Melee album. All I know is neither of those options will matter in the morning when I'm super tired haha.

I must say though after being on tour for even only a week, with constant stimulation (which I had the time of my life in Jakarta and Bali) it's really nice to just lay in bed in the wee hours of the morning in peace and solitude.

Ok, this was a good first post back I feel. Better stop now before I wake up in the morning and reread this and feel like I made absolutely no sense. haha

Nite Nite world
Rick

Hey Gabe!

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT OUR NEW SONGS! DAMN DAMN DAMN!

And I miss Gabe! My bday was this week, thanks for all the messages on my Facebook. SO NICE! I had a fun day/nite with family and friends.

But I found out my favorite Pho restaurant had burnt down, which I believed, they might have done themselves so they could collect the insurance, since business has been declining. BUT I found a new place, that's even better!

My Family and Friend's had a fashion show on Sunday, which me and Chris attended. Good times, it's always nice to see people live out their creative dreams. Any dreams for that matter. Li Cari. Is the name of the fashion line. Check it out.

I'm also, insanely jealous of, which seems to be ALL my friends who are at SXSW.

Chris and I have just, again, been insanely busy writing.

So here's the new songs we have -

"The World Keeps Turning"

"Before Too Late"

"Blow Up Your Heart"

"Get Outta That Wedding Dress"

"Sing Me A Song"

"Through Forever"

-All tentative titles of course.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/meleerocks

PEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
rick

tired

Hangin out at my freinds house with Chris. She's baby sitting a dog named Billie, whom Chris and I have given the nick name "bill". So not a pet name. Pretty funny. Chris and I put in a 12 hour work day writing and recording. Good stuff. Really enjoying collaborating with Mike Daly.

Went to eat Mexican food for dinner at "el compadre", but I didn't make it to the entree. Chips and salsa got in the way. Such good food. I've definitely come to the conclusion that if there is red leather, stained glass lamps, and plastic, textured cups, then most likely the restaurant is amazing! Got a hand made stuffed lemur named Thomas for my bday from my fellow twinlets! Then the lady trying to push roses on guys on first dates, chewed us out.

fmylife.com is pretty funny.

Peace
rick

YO!

I made a melee Twitter page. Add it. www.Twitter.com/meleerocks

Sadly, I forgot the password, and username, but once I retreive that info, we'll be updating it haha.

This week was super busy again.

worked on a track with Stacy Jones and Bill Lefler, A new Melee song called "Before Too Late"

It's been so much fun working with those guys.

Also, wrote with Jimmy Messer, on a new Melee song called "Blow Up Your Heart". Getting together with him tomorrow to finish the demo. He's also going to teach us how to surf! woo!

Met up with Mike Daly as well, jammed with him, an untitled song so far.

I think we're nearing 30 songs now. SO SO excited for this album. We're doing everything in our power to make it FLAWLESS.

Going to jam with Mitch Alan and David Hodges this week, REALLY looking forward to that.

Hopefully I can go see Raphael Saadiq tomorrow at House of Blues Sunset!

OK IM TIRED. TIME FOR BED

RICK

hola mundo!

This week has been fun.

Chris and I met up with some cool people this week. Producer Josh Abraham, who we will be spending some time with pre recording of album. And we had a good jam sesh with Stacy Jones and Bill Lefler. We're actually going to be cutting a track of a new song with them on Monday. Looking Very forward to it.

Ryan and I went to go see As Tall as Lions the other nite. If you haven't checked them out yet, they're AMAAZING.

Ok well thats it for now

peace
rick

Hello World.

We have been writing and writing and writing like mad men.

Here are the song titles we are playing with:

What Good Is Love (Without You)
The Amazingness of Heart
Falling Out Of Love
Addiction
Casting Spells
Ice Princess
White Roses
Far From Gone
Cali Son
The Leiden Road
Strangers In The Rain
El Dorado
Last Hurrah
The Best Has Yet To Come
All The Same
Love Remains On Holiday
Betty
Femme Fetale
Dirty Dogs
Down To Sea
Los Angeles
Sea Song
Sun Down (We've Come A Long Way)
Hotel Room

MY BEST FRIEND RYAN MALLOY GOT ENGAGED. Thats the best news of all.

The Watchmen is A CRAZY MOVIE. Still can't decide whether I liked it or not. Think Natural Born Killers meets The Dark Knight. Slumdog Millionaire was of course the BEST movie of the year. And I still want to see Paul Blart, but no one who is willing to dumb down and see it with me.

Let's see, new music I like:
Raphael Saadiq
The new Kelly Clarkson
The new Eminem
MGMT
The new T.I.
Kings of Leon
Kevin Rudlph
Kardinal Offishall

OK Happy Valentines day!

Rick

a thought

Thats what I experienced...
It was infinite nothingness for a brief moment
-It was really really weird....
I was there but I wasnt...
It was like I didnt exist but I did.....
but everything was beautiful and there was nothing to worry about or be afraid of...
I still have no idea what that was....
maybe home is love...

I dont share it with many people cause its hard to explain without sounding a little bit crazy or like im on drugs.
but I came to a point where I realized that who I am-
is what ive experienced.
we leave imprints on peoples lives.
I started having flashbacks of how others thoughts and opinions became my own without me even realizing it-
and it went all the way back to before I could even talk-
then all of a sudden it just happened...
and after that my mind completely opened up and I understood things I had never been taught...

seperated from the rest because I just watch the world around me and realize that its an illusion in a way.
I can tell so much about people-
Ive just become an observer most of the time...

hello.

so. tonite was the second nite of hanukkah.

And, if you haven't yet checked out Melee's new Hanukkah song "When is Hanukkah This Year"...then do so, soon at -

www.MySpace.com/MeleeRocks

And, Stereogum.com has posted the song I played guitar on with Rivers from Weezer and Jermaine Dupri

check it out here -

http://stereogum.com/decomposed/performance/rivers_cuomo_cant_stop_partyin.php

lets see what else is going on...hmm....I watched a movie the other nite called "Slumdog Millionaire". Very Very uplifting. It definitely gives you an amazingly warm feeling, much like the one you get at the end of "Love Actually"...Maybe even more...

Alot of my friends left socal to go back home for the holidays..and alot came back to socal for the holidays as well. I've been enjoying time with those friends, and going to holiday parties, and spending time with family as well.

Today the band got together and started demos on two more new songs. So we're definitely getting closing in on 20 new songs.

Ok, and whats up with the freeezing cold weather in Southern California!??!?!

ok!

Happy holidays!
love
rick

The world has turned and left me here...

So today was a pretty amazing day....made the insane rainstorm not so bad.

I was fortunate to be able to go into the studio today and play guitar on a song for Rivers Cuomo and Jermaine Dupri. A cover of his song "Can't Stop the Partying". It was a session for a Rivers special feature on the website, StereoGum.com

Also, along for the jam was Ryan from Yellowcard, Derek from Alkaline Trio, Sean from Reeve Oliver and Jose from Ozma . Definitely one of the most surreal/crazy days of my life...

Heres a little video I made from the day, along with some pics.

Time to go work on demos with Chris!

Peace and Love
Ricky

the holidays

Hello.

I spent a long weekend, at several holiday parties and events in LA. Also, spent some quality time with a couple friends who were going back home for the holidays. Oh, and also battling a bad cold. I ran five miles on Saturday. I got my hair cut too short as well. Words are short today for some reason. hmmm.

We started recording two new songs today - "Ice Princess" and "Far From Gone"

Love
Rick



Chris' make shift mic stand



Chris and Ryan talking about important issues



Ryan working on beats



Our new influence. those are my toes



Mike recording drums



View of the sunset - wb holiday party



went to a party at an adventure park, open bar, food, go karts, laser tag, video games. adult disneyland, pretty much. haha.