{"id":292,"date":"2022-11-29T01:13:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T01:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dontdragmedown.com\/?p=292"},"modified":"2022-11-30T15:07:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T15:07:44","slug":"goodbye-to-alex-blue-morales-of-normandie-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dontdragmedown.com\/blog\/goodbye-to-alex-blue-morales-of-normandie-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye to Alex Blue Morales of Normandie Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week we lost a Raw Travel<\/a> & PunkOutlaw<\/a> family member and a friend. Alex Blue Morales<\/strong> of the band Normandie Blue<\/a><\/p>\n

Alex was one of the first artists on Punk Outlaw Records and contributed a lot of music that many of you will recognize from Raw Travel. He was a VERY TALENTED MUSICIAN and a funny, brilliant guy. Compared to his many friendships, we didn’t hang out that much, mostly over a period of two years when I lived in Los Angeles, but when we did, it was always a fun time.<\/p>\n

Alex was featured in Raw Travel Episode 110, Mexico City.<\/strong> He guided me to the El Chopo Market on camera and helped us immensely behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

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Alex showed me around the El Chopo Market in Mexico City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to hanging out in LA and Mexico, Alex and I made a road trip from Los Angeles to Vegas for one of the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Conferences.<\/a> Alex disappeared for a few days until it was time to return home. However, I knew he was still around because people were telling various funny stories about something he’d JUST done and I’d JUST missed. I don’t remember what we discussed on the drive home, but I remember the multi-hour drive flying by thanks to the stories Alex and I swapped back and forth. He was an intelligent, heart-warming, and entertaining guy, in and out of music.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that’s because Alex had a remarkable life outside of music, serving in the military, living in NYC, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and often traveling to Mexico, his love, where he had many amigos.<\/p>\n

Though he was a consummate independent musician, I always felt he deserved way more than I could ever do for him at Punk Outlaw Records. We mostly worked with talent from outside of the USA trying to break them to a US audience. Alex was our first and only US-based artist (though some did move to the USA later).<\/p>\n

Like his personality, Alex’s musical and songwriting talent was immense.<\/p>\n

If you doubt it, give a good listen to “It Is What It Is”<\/a> and note the moving lyrics, crazy guitar solos, and haunting melodies (my favorite is “Never Too Late” – video further below). Though the song feels like it’s about love lost, I’ve used it as an anthem for a life of lifelong learning.<\/p>\n

Alex was an underrated talent, and Punk Outlaw Records<\/a> could never do him justice. But somehow, that was enough for Alex. He either didn’t understand his own talent or simply didn’t care. He cared about his fans and wanted to get music out to them. He asked me to do a vinyl record because fans “liked music that they could touch and get excited about” like in the old days. We didn’t have the budget, but Alex wasn’t wrong.<\/p>\n