End of the Line album credits for American Zen read:
The Hippy Coyote: vocals, rhythm guitar, flute
Rory G: lead guitar
Tom Calder: bass
Steve Hixon: drums and percussion
Using a 4-track digital recorder, Zoom 4Hn, (a 2013 Christmas present from his Kung Fu students), record producer Richard Del Connor recorded the End of the Line classic rock album by American Zen in his Tacoma truck. The engineering credit is Don DelaVega, but this is another pseudonym of Richard Connor. Using a couple dozen AA batteries to power his professional compact recorder, the truck was used as two studio rooms: the shell and the front cab.
The rhythm guitar of The Hippy Coyote was cut in the back shell. This purple fiberglass truck shell is also Coyote’s home on wheels so Coyote had to nestle into the back corner, behind the driver’s seat, and position himself at an angle to play his guitar. This only leaves a few inches of movement from side to side or he’d knock his tuning keys out of tune on his 1984 Fender Stratocaster with tobacco finish and Floyd Rose bridge. Plugged into another Christmas present from his Kung Fu students, a new Pandora Stomp Box, Coyote’s rhythm guitar was given an amp-like sound. Coyote explains, “I’m used to playing my Marshall amp, and when I do, I use volume and attack to create different sounds from the amplifer tubes. Although this doesn’t work with the digital amp effects, I do perform differently with sustain than just listening to my unamplified guitar.” This entire album, except for the first two songs from Las Vegas, was composed while Coyote sat on the tailgate of his truck singing and playing to his North Hollywood neighbors from March to September of 2013.
With the rhythm guitar tracks cut on all songs, Coyote put his Strat into storage and bungee-chorded his 1957 Rickenbacker 4000 into the back of his truck. After a couple of days of practicing, Coyote recorded the bass tracks for the entire album in the back shell of his truck. This was more difficult than the guitar because the bass has a longer neck and larger tuning keys that would bump into his drawers of clothes. Tuning problems were fixed using the built-in tuner of the Pandora Stomp Box.
The vocals were recorded in the front cab of the truck using his green sleeping back to cover the interior of the front and passenger windows. Coyote sang through a black round wind screen on a gooseneck into a professional condensor mike with 48v phantom power supplied by the Zoom recorder, mounted to the microphone stand wedged into his backpacks of Kung Fu clothing and music supplies.
“It would take 8 people to do all the things he did to make this album. It’d take decades to learn to play the bass and guitar like that, let alone playing flute like Tull and being his own engineer. Now that's a master!” texted Calista Carradine after previewing the entire album on headphones at the North Hollywood Library. She kept singing along and tapping her feet so loudly that she got several complaints from the librarian while listening to the album. Calista is the daughter of David Carradine, a Tai Mantis school brother of Shifu Richard Del Connor. Richard is also known as Buddha Zhen (publishing spiritual journal, Supersoul 13 -Discovering the Soul of God, under the name, Buddha Z), who studied under the same Shaolin Kung Fu master and technical advisor/choreographer of the Kung Fu television series, Grandmaster Kam Yuen. Buddha Zhen (pronounced, “Jen,”) also studied under Grandmaster Kam’s instructor in San Franciso at the San Francisco Chin Woo Association where Grandmaster Wong Jack Man (who beat up Bruce Lee in 196?) certified Buddha Zhen in 1995 as a “Shifu,” the honorary title of a Kung Fu master capable of teaching the ancient Chinese martial arts.
Feature Story Themes:
AMERICAN ZEN: (Was folk rock but now rock and hard rock and blues rock).
Homeless life in Los Angeles. (Story can be localized).
First album recorded in car? (Richard Del Connor = record producer).
New law in Los Angeles allows Coyote to legally sleep on street in his car. (Can be localized).
Coyote is acting out all 4 members of American Zen.
Coyote is a one-man band pretending to be 4 musicians.
(playing drums, bass, guitars, vocals, and flute better than most famous musicians).
American Zen is “America’s first Buddhist rock band™” with Kung Fu / Tai Chi / Zen Buddhism.
Calista Carradine:
Student of Buddha Kung Fu,
Cast in the Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie1 as “Waitress,”
Recording American Zen songs for a nonprofit organization fundraiser,
Richard/Coyote = Kung Fu brother of David Carradine, teaching traditional Shaolin Kung Fu.
Richard was fan of Kung Fu series, now teaching the same Shaolin Kung Fu and Praying Mantis.
Buddha Zhen teaches Combat Tai Chi = traditional Tai Chi as martial art: “Ultimate Power Boxing.”
KUNG FU COWBOY ROCK & ROLL MOVIE 1: (screenplay by Richard based on true story of Richard)
Kung Fu Cowboy in covered wagon packaging Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 for $20mil
Stung by scorpion working Brad Paisley concert as stagehand causes SCREENPLAY rewrite with ghosts
BUDDHA KUNG FU: (Richard = Buddha Zhen. Teaching Shaolin Kung Fu / Tai Chi since 1984)
Teaching Shaolin Kung Fu and Yang Tai Chi (Disciple of Wong Jack Man who beat up Bruce Lee)
Richard is school brother of David Carradine and certified as Chin Woo Athletic Association school.
Chin Woo = Chinese government subsidized after WWI: (see movie of Jet Li: Fearless)
RICHARD DEL CONNOR: (Record producer, poet, screenwriter, Mr. Mom 15 years, movie producer, actor)
Richard Del Connor is a modern Socrates, living for virtue, righteousness, and “cowboy chivalry ethics”
Richard Del Connor becomes Executive Producer of Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 after another executive producer pulls “off-shore money stunt”
Founder of:
Shaolin Chi Mantis 1992: Traditional Shaolin Kung Fu, Yang Tai Chi, and Northern Praying Mantis
Shaolin Communications 1984: Book publisher
Shaolin Music 1984: ASCAP music publisher
Shaolin Pictures 1987: Kung Fu/Tai Chi videos, music videos, feature films
Shaolin Records 1984: Indie record label
Reference Links: (END OF THE LINE album by American Zen)
Album page at shaolinRECORDS.com (song by song explanation of album with song samples)
http://www.ShaolinRecords.com/RecordStore-R/AmZen_EndOfTheLine.html
Lyrics at band website: americanZEN.org (click compass-image link to progress through all pages)
http://www.americanzen.org/LEVEL_4/EndOfTheLine/END-01.html
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For more information contact:
Richard Del Connor at 858-717-7074
Shaolin Communications, PO Box 632, Verdugo City, CA 91046
Journalists and Feature Writers/Editors can request press kit: “End of the Line EPK”
Richard Del Connor / The Hippy Coyote phone and video interviews are being scheduled for August 2014.
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“PR-shREC”
is a PRESS RELEASE published by Shaolin Communications
to promote the artists of Shaolin Records.
FEATURE EDITOR NOTE: Richard Del Connor is The Hippy Coyote is Buddha Z and is the Shaolin Communications Press Agent while being the promoted talent. Hopefully he will be able to afford a real press agent soon. This one-man enterprise conglomerate strives to enlighten and entertain.
American Zen - “America’s First Buddhist Rock Band™”
Buddha Kung Fu - “School for building Buddhas™” - founded 2008
Buddha Z - Shen-Lang Zhen, Buddha Zhen, Spirit Wolf of Truth
Coyote, The Hippy - Was The Coyote until 2007 when I became The Hippy Coyote
Kung Fu Cowboy - Western Virtues with Eastern Philosophies - nickname since 2003
Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Gongfu and Taijiquan - founded 1992
Shaolin Communications - book publisher, marketing, distribution
Shaolin Music - ASCAP music publisher
Shaolin Pictures - Movie production company
Shaolin Records - Indie record label production company
Tai Chi Youth - 501(c)(3) founded 1996
Zen Buddhist Podcast of Shaolin Zen - over 500,000 downloads 2007 to 2010
Visit our PAST PRESS RELEASES of Shaolin Records:
http://www.ShaolinRecords.com/press
