PRESS ROOM

  LEVEL 1 = PEACE OF MIND is American Zen's first album of their 8-level spiritual journey
produced by Richard Del Connor on Shaolin Records.

AmZen eNEWS February 2006
Official newsletter of American Zen

The Day I Was Born

I have many theories about life. I change them as I learn more.

What is a day?

What is a year?

What is a lifetime?

My answers to the above would all be circumstantial.

So I had to come up with something more divine.

What is destiny?

What should I accomplish in my youth?

What should I accomplish in my adulthood?

What should I accomplish with my life?

Unfortunately, these answers also come out circumstantial. I've been fighting and striving to accomplish unusual goals and learn unique skills, but circumstance and finance seem to determine the outcome of my efforts--more than I want them to.

I need a computer. I need my recording studio. I need my digital businesses. I need my websites.

So now, my destiny and fate have been detoured to North Hollywood where I'm realizing I'm "wasting my time?"

How do you waste time?

Look around. Find someone who makes good use of their time and their life. They're out there. But mostly you'll find couch potatoes, lazy, and selfish people.

As a young rock star, I used to resent the stars of the previous generations taking up radio airspace of me and my fellow young artists. Instead of listening to worn out rock stars trying to immitate themselves, you should be listening to the new music from the new artists who are at their peak and representing a new maturing reality of youth...

That's what I used to think. Then The Who, or The Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin will do another reunion tour. Then I realize I was right.

Why am I stuck in the sixties?

That's the other part of this equation. The new upcoming fresh young talented artists of the current generation REALLY STINK!

Yeah, they really stink and they are getting stinkier by the year.

The world is growing away from talent. We are becoming a world of mediocre talents and limited abilities.

So that's the kind of artists we nurture and support: mediocre talents with limited abilities.

I don't always like being right.

That's why I'd rather watch those old dinosaur fart bands TRY and play their own songs, instead of going to a club to see this or that band that sounds like this or that band that was a real hit like this or that band with a sound just like this or that band...

Wow. I think I just stumbled on my successful failure. People are always saying that American Zen DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ANYBODY ELSE. Maybe a little like The Kinks, sometimes The Rolling Stones, sometimes The Beatles, sometimes Led Zeppelin, sometimes Jethro Tull, sometimes The Doors, sometimes Jimi Hendrix, sometimes The Who, sometimes The Beachboys, sometimes Donovan, sometimes...AMERICAN ZEN OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ANYBODY! And that's been our marketing downfall?

Yep. It has.

When Capitol Records chose between The Knack and The Rich (pre American Zen name), they chose The Knack because all their songs sounded similar and were arranged similar and performed similar and they dressed similar and they acted similiar...

Us, The Rich, a powerpop trio living in a 3-room home in a Mexican Barrio of Venice Beach, California: we were hot. We were a "musician's band" of musicians. Bill Stewart was and still is, one of the best drummers I have ever seen or played with in the world. He was a genius with perfect control and the hugest Ludwig drumset in Los Angeles. We had his kick drum custom made 28" with 8 plys of maple...

Vinnie Lauria of THE RICH, was also as good as you can get. He was later hired by Mel Bay to write/create guitar manuals in the eighties. He was also one of the first people in the world to get the Roland Synth guitar. It did some amazing stuff. It's on some of our early THE RICH recordings. He also performed with my Rickenbacker 12-string. That's the guitar we always used on, "Other Girls," a song about lesbian love.

Then me, Richard Raunch, singing bassist of The Rich. My ego drove me to be as good as all my idols on bass, but not to rate myself with them, even if I deserved it. So it took a few years for me to accept that I had mastered the bass and become one of the best. What really impressed people and especially other bass players, was that I could sing really well, while playing intricate bass lines with conflicting rhythms and melodies. Yeah, I'm a great bass player and I like recording in the studio for other people too... but to me, it's more of a "trick" than a "skill." I practice and practice and practice until I can play my bass parts in my sleep. I also practiced a lot with Bill Stewart, just bass and drums. That brought my talent up another couple notches in 1979 and 1980. Then while playing my bass on "autopilot," I could sing and focus on the lyrics and story of the song as my fingers worked away--like taking a walk.

I don't know if anybody will see this. I'm still without a computer, so I can't send these Press Releases and newsletters out.

Anyway, hello out there!

If you like me, I love you. If you dislike me, I'll ignore you.

Have a great destiny!

Everybody at Shaolin Records (currently inactive...)

FEATURED
PLACE TO PURCHASE your personal Zen

iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=7403335&s=143441

MORE PLACES TO BUY OUR CDs:

shaolinCOM.com Shopping Cart:
http://www.shaolincom.com

Shaolin Records online:
http://www.shaolinRECORDS.com

TOWERrecords.com
Shaolin Records doesn't have distribution yet, so our records aren't in every record store -- yet.
However, you can order our record from their ONLINE TOWER RECORDS STORE:
http://www.towerrecords.com...(editor: Tower Records Stores closed operations and no longer exist.)
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HOT LINKS

The LEVEL 1 website begins here:
http://www.americanZEN.org...
(click the "FORWARD" buttons to proceed from page to page of the story.)

The LEVEL 2 website begins here:
http://www.americanZEN.org...
(click the "FORWARD" buttons to proceed from page to page of the story.)

Album website of LEVEL 1 = Peace of Mind:
LEVEL1peaceOFmind

Album website of LEVEL 2 = Christ Killer:
LEVEL2christKILLER

To order American Zen's first album, "LEVEL 1 = Peace Of Mind" go to our shopping cart:
http://www.shaolincom.com...

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Enjoy your journeys elsewhere and here.

Sincerely,
Richard Connor
Producer, Shaolin Records

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“AmZen_eNEWS”
is the official newsletter of American Zen, "America's First Buddhist Rock Band.™"

The AmZen_eNEWS is published monthly and sent to
fans, friends, and anyone wanting more information on the FOLK ROCK band, American Zen:
featuring:

iTunes AMERICAN ZEN albums
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American Zen is an exclusive artist of Shaolin Records: http://www.shaolinRECORDS.com

American Zen homepage: http://www.americanZEN.org

American Zen’s MySpace page is: http://www.myspace.com/americanzen1

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If you wish to be REMOVED from the AMERICAN ZEN email list,
please follow the link below:
emailremoval@shaolin...

Publisher-Editor: Richard Connor
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Copyright 2006 Shaolin Communications.
All rights reserved. ASCAP

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