I wouldn’t ever in a million years say I’m a bad son… though I don’t call my Mom nearly as much as some people call their Moms and it could definitely never be enough for me, I’d talk to my Mom all day long if I could, she’s so amazing… but these days I just don’t get to talk to anyone every single day.
I’m lucky to be as busy as I am right now, there were times where I’ve had nothing… I mean, less than very little and the only thing worse than that is having nothing and nothing to do, because all you do is sit there and wish there was something to take your mind off of the nothingness of everything. Oh come on, I’m not being dismal, I’m just explaining that I’ve accepted the idea of not having tons of “stuff” and made the trade for life experience. I looked in the mirror and said “Dude, get over it, you’re not a money guy, you should try that adventure thing out…”
It seems these days, I’m communicating with the world, and not as much with some of the people I know. I’d like to openly apologize for this and offer a glimpse of where I’ve been when you call… I do love the people in my life more than they could ever understand. I hope wherever we are we are thinking fondly of each other and sharing our best “selves” with those that we meet… When we get see each other we will cherish the time and share what we’ve experienced with each other.
Oh and Mom… I love you, I promise I’ll be home soon.
I left for Utah… I always meet amazing characters at Sundance.
[Fly Right]
“I wasn’t on a mountain, when it came to me…”
[Land in Utah]
Caffeine, yes. Caffeinated beef jerky… um, no.
[Perky Jerky]
I DJ’d this thing with my buddy DJ EQUAL. First of all he’s a really good DJ, I like watching him work. Second, he dances kinda like a drunk toddler, but somehow he makes it look cool… I guess because everything he does just seems pretty “on accident cool”… quality dudage here.
[EQUAL]
This poor guy… this was taken at about 4pm. I’m guessing freebie cocktails + schmoozing + high altitude =’s not good times.
[Yux broheem]
Why is water in a bag? I dunno but it was interesting looking to me and tasted great.
[Ice Rock]
I got the opportunity of a lifetime… and I took it.
[Snow gear]
A friend of mine asked if I wanted to spend the afternoon riding up into the mountains through the snow… on a snow mobile. Going 50 miles an hour while snow falls non-stop is incredible.
[All Snow]
My DJ pal Sam French came along too… he got stuck in drift and was almost left behind at one point. Sorry buddy.
[Sam French]
After that, we went to Bruce’s party in a crazy lodge, with a tunnel driveway that goes through the mountain… It was one of those places where they asked people to take their shoes off. I saw these kicks…
[Dirty South]
I’m weird okay… I got this mustache kit for my brithday, with all these different mustahces, and I decided to wear one all night long. I’m a guy who doesn’t mind being called Luigi… if people get a laugh, then we all have fun.
[Luigi]
I DJ’d an Oakley party where a bunch of buddies, Kelly James, Shwayze, Mike Posner, performed… John Legend sang happy birthday to someone in the middle of my set, have you ever heard his voice it’s “like a cross between Fergie and Jesus”… and Oh, I see you Mr. McCassy a.k.a Sir P90X, haha
[Oakley Party]
The next morning it was time to leave Utah. It’s always fun to play the game of “Take an exploded carry-on and cram it all back in to itself as fast as you can…”
[Leave Utah]
Scenario: Window seat. Sleeping middle & isle seats. Gotta go to the bathroom… you’re stuck.
[Trapped]
I land in San Diego and realize that sometimes, just sometimes, it might actually be okay to tattle.
[Call]
A hand full of days practicing on the compound with my band mate Charles…
[CH]
On the West Coast, after a long day of rehearsal, meetings and other random stuff, we end up having group dinners… at one of these dinners 3H, the guy in that red sweater over there, bet me 500$ that I couldn’t eat 100$ of Denny’s food in an hour… It’s all going to be recorded as I win this bet in the very near future.
[3H]
Got some good hang time in with one of my main heavy hittin’ San Diego players Grant a.k.a G-Money a.k.a “where’s my green Lego dude” a.k.a The Littlest Lo Head. My man keeps it so real… we’re looking at a strong 2010 and beyond for all of our business ventures.
[The Littlest Lo Head]
My friend J.S. from Maryland started this company called Music Skins, they make covers for stuff and the difference is, you can switch the covers out because they aren’t stickers or whatever… it’s some smart technology or something like that. I sent them my logo and they made me one of my own!
It may seem kinda self involved from an outside perspective, but it makes it easy, so you’re not answering the “What’s your DJ name?” question all night long while you’re working…
[Madden]
I always fly first thing in the morning to- and redeye home… it allows me to have a full day on both sides of my trip, but the result is that I’m pretty tired… on the way home I had 3 seats, fell asleep before we took off and woke up to a crazy sideways turn, just before landing. If you click on the picture you can clearly see the street below… asleep on a wing.
[Flyhome]
It’s weird, go away for a few weeks and come home to new stores in my neighborhood… My sister Sarah is gonna bug out, there’s a new Gluten-Free Bakery on my block. I can’t wait for her to come visit so we can get gnarly over there.
[Tully's]
Went up to the new Ben Sherman offices to visit… How did I not know about this Madness collaboration? WHAAAATT!!!
[Madness]
They keep LARGE samples in the showroom because they know I’d find a way to get these out on there if they were smalls… Everything looks so RAD!
[Ben Mad]
My friend Ian and his lady Emm flew all the way from England just for the weekend, it was Brain Fallon’s birthday so they surprised him… that’s just the kind of radical people they are. I was lucky enough to spend a while with them, catching up, laughing, sharing some stories. I want to go visit them in the U.K. soon hopefully.
Ian still claims he’s “Numba one”…
[Ian "From England"]
Emm is the boss, and Ian is like a teenager, it’s a good pairing… one day, one day I’ll have a “boss” to keep me in line, haha.
Em still claims he’s “Numba chooo…”
[Emma "From England"]
My friend Sarah also has an English boyfriend… who got her these HUGE shark mittens for Christmas… what’s up with all this Anglophilia? Nah, but for real, my Brits are some of my favorite people. Whenever I get the chance Sarah and her boyfriend a.k.a Craig Daaayyy-vid take me to Benny’s where we sit for hours on end…
[Sarah]
Last night I DJ’d a crazy private party at this crazy nice place for this crazy group of people wearing crazy masks… it was like Happy “Eyes Wide Shut” Birthday… nothing freaky happened, but a lot of freaking went down. Happy Birthday Nikki.
[New York Birthday]
A few weeks ago my friend Stas took my picture. This is probably my favorite of the ones he took. I tried to pull an In MacKaye in front of some important looking books at Dan’s house. I remember this because I had spent all day listening to Minor Threat and Youth of Today and I was thinking about the song Sometime Good Guys Don’t Wear White.
[Stas takes pictures]
In summary, I’d like to again, apologize to my patient friends and family as they call, text and e-mail… I’m off somewhere meeting a new couple hundred people, in the air, working on some new project… really all I want is, eventually to have the means to fly around and see each and every person I know for a few days at a time. I take pictures and write, not because I’m good at either… I was just always convinced that I needed to have a life that was all “One way” or all the “Other way” and I’m here to tell you it’s a choose your own adventure. It’s a crazy time right now, it seems like every aspect of the world is going through a re-generation/re-configuration all at once, to many to list. I can tell you, traveling around and getting to see it all happen is a real amazing experience. I hope I get the chance to meet everyone…
Until then… see you on the road.
*click pictures
**leave me love notes
Posted in: Inspiration | New York City | Photography
Comments
Well Luigi I think the only thing I wanna say about this is that I want those shark gloves! haha.
And I enjoy getting a peek into all your adventures. Reminds me I should probably turn off the computer now and go explore myself.
As always thanks for sharing with us. Always interesting and inspiring.
i know that we have never met, and i clearly dont know you. but i just wanted to say that i enjoy reading all of your posts and appreciate your outlook on life. perhaps one day our paths will cross <3 madalyn
I’m glad I got to meet you. Living your life the way you want to live it constantly inspires me.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joshmadden: http://joshmadden.com/2010/02/please-leave-a-message-after-the-beep/...
man, i so get that feeling of having nothing and nothing to do.. i’m going through that shit right now, and it really gets old quick.. i just have this feeling that i’m wasting my life, sitting here and staring at the walls.. but i still got the hope, that there’s something out there for me, i just need to find it.
anyway, i love your blog posts, i always read em i just don’t always have the words to comment. keep them coming! 
SheenaDee x
i’m sure your mum and your friends are cool about you flying around everywhere even why you don’t call her (; a long as your happy and we all see how much you love what you do, and you really inspire me to go after what I want in the future, not what my parents or anyone else say I should do. Thats one thing you Maddens have taught me, and thats to go with your heart, not with the crowd, and I am SO grateful for that.
thanks for the blog joshy, and keep them coming
(and I agree with you, us brits are the best 
ahaha)
What a interesting & exciting life! Sometimes it’s so hard to make time for everyone when life gets in the way. It’s nice that you take the time out to acknowledge the people you love and care for. Personally I enjoy reading your stuff, I think it’s visually stimulating but most of all you have a story to tell… Or rather something to SAY!!! Thanks for always being so positive. This morning I was thnking bout how we are just fragile beings who want to be loved . All of us .
pretty good Ian MacKaye I’d have to say.
Hi Josh,
Cherish your Mom. My Mom died about 18 years ago and my Dad died coming up 11. So if you can’t talk to her just send her a txt to tell her you love her.
Wonderful blog mate
Maz
next time youre around, i’ll take and develop your portrait- one with the ’stache one without
Every time I read your blog I feel like ‘Wow.’
And every time I read it I want to tell you how much I love your blog posts, how they always make me smile, and how they make me appreciate the little things in life like you do.
But I never know how to put my feelings into words, maybe it’s because my English isn’t so good. Maybe it’s because you write so well.
So I’ll just leave you a love note.
♥
Josh I was having breakfast this morning wondering when you are going to post another blog. This is the affect you have on us. So I was so pleased to go to Twitter and see one.
Life experiences help shape who we become and you are without a doubt a wonderful son, brother, friend, DJ, designer and Blogger. If my sons end up being half the man you are, I will go to my grave a very happy mum.
Always a pleasure Josh!
I’m not a bad Daughter either! just my mom kick me an my dad out when i was 13 never let us come back even tho we was without a home for a year but it was the best time of my life bonding with my father and growing into a woman Now my dad is married to my step mom and we have a nice little home and i have started the next branch on the family tree!…..But i loved this post josh! amazing!
This is actually amazing.
Mountain<3
And I totally see some Ian MacKaye in that photo
*BEEP* Hi Sweetie its me HAHA, Having nothing to do can make you a hermit and then you can develop agoraphobia where you cant do things you want, so adventure and being busy is good, Sundance I have been waiting to hear about and WOW I am so happy you had such a wonderful time, one thing I agree about perky jerky yucky no, that is so awesome and you are totally right an opportunity of a lifetime getting to ride up the mountain while it snows all day that must of been so beautiful, heehee your not the only weird one haha I always do things to weird out my family at Christmas I wore this necklace that lit up at different times wrapped up in my hair my aunt didnt get it for the longest she stared at me and then I had to tell her it was so funny, I mean the lights blinked you would think she would of got it but oh well enough about my weirdness haha, Yes, I have heard John Legend sing not in person but he has a voice on him and its a beautiful one, Never bet my sweetheart (love note) :O) on anything YOU WILL LOSE HEEHEE :OP, I want a Josh Madden logo Music skin please dont have mac, windows 17inch screen HAHA, I only have one question about those shark mittens how does she pick anything up wearing them? They are really cute though, You have to love English friends except I have a problem once I talk to mine for awhile I start picking up the accent and then I realize I am having some weird California/England accent and I laugh at myself again I am weird, Oh la la freaky deaky Dj’ing birthday party heehee, call text e-mail hmm one sounds familiar from one end lmao, just given ya a good time lol, so many things going on such an adventure so happy for you, I am so happy you are having amazing experiences and I hope they continue for as long as you have the energy to run around. Never say you are not good at taking pictures and writing because you draw so many people in with your writing why do you think people ask you if you ever thought of writing a book? It’s because people are drawn to what you have to say to what your opinions are and if they feel the same way its gratifying, you do inspire people whether you think you do, or want to, you do, I know you dont like compliments its hard for me to take them too, but I am not just telling you that to, lets see butter your butt,(kiss your butt), I am telling you that because its true, You do a lot of good just by writing and taking pictures everyday or when you can Josh look at what people tell you, and I think its a beautiful thing. Writing and Pictures and Dj’ing and Music and now Adventures = Life and Love and your living and your loving everything your doing and you even want more now adventure to spice it up to travel around and meet new people and know the world and not many people get to be as lucky. You are the best Josh and dont let anyone ever tell you different and dont you ever feel differently because you are. Well my love note must come to an end sometime one more thing Will you be my Valentine? hmm :O) XOXO Love you bunches and bunches Josh love, b
I was wondering when you were going to blog again And here it is!
I love reading long blog posts like this, where you actually read stories and life experiences. You have such an exciting life. I wish I lived such an active and fast-paced life.
Your family must be very happy for you; you live your life the way you want to, without ‘neglecting’ the people who supported you in the first place and that’s incredibly important. And admirable. And awesome.
You do a lot of good.
Very inspiring post Josh.
Take care. ♥
good luck with your mind. no one can say what you can do. just yourself.
be happy
xo
I would love to be able to just pick up and go like you do… until i get the ability/money to do it… i’ll settle for reading about your adventures… and plan my own soon.
March i’m heading to Denver… for a few days on break from class… i’m actually hopeing to take a year after i graduate and travel… i just hate traveling on my own…
being in the window is a curse and a blessing. for me, i can curl up and sleep in a ball cause i’m short, no problem. but when you have to get up, you’re beat. but i’ve also been the sleepyhead on the isle and been climbed over by an older korean lady. one of the most awkward things to wake up to, asian lady strattling you.
p.s. those shark mittens would be awesome in platypus.
Loved reading this. And you know..the family loves you as much as you love them and they are probably (most likely) VERY understanding that you have been busy.Love the photos and reading about your adventures. I have to admit that I don’t like snow but riding one of those things would be fun. Noticing your laptop with your name and plane on the front. Thats awesome. The water in the plastic is very interesting..and would come in handy when traveling. You don’t need a lot of money to have fun. And you have more then money. You have family, friends and health. Thats more important then monetary riches. Thanx for another interesting blog.
P.S. I would HATE being in the middle seat with no way to get up and go to the bathroom. That would be pure torture for me!!!! 
lol And the ’stach’? CUTE!
You know, sometimes when we are so concerned with our lives, we lose sight of what really matters. There’s nothing wrong with being still.
i want one of those ben sherman/madness shirts.
Do they come in ladies size?
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