11/27/07

Every single one's got a story to tell...

Once upon a time, I was 10 years old. I went to my piano lesson as I did every Monday, not expecting such daunting news being told to me. My piano teacher had found out about a contest on a local station that was holding a contest called "Oh Say Can You Sing?".

Pretty much what it was is you sent in an audition tape and then it was judged. If you made it, you were sent to a newsstation to sing the song in front of a greenscreen. The backdrop was the american flag, something I would have highly protested against nowadays. The rest was like American Idol: All our performances showed up on TV, and people called in to vote. If you got the most votes, then you were singing at a New Hampshire Fishercats game (minor-league baseball team).

A couple weeks after I sent in the tape, I found myself at the news station. I distinctly remember rolling up to the station and seeing how bland and isolated it was from the rest of the city. It was eerie. The finalists and I waited for what felt like hours. We were given parting gifts to ease the wait. My parting gift was the game Karaoke Revolution (everyone else got crap prizes, but I, being the only under 18 participant got a kick-ass game).

After minutes that felt like hours of waiting, I was sent into the newsroom and brought to the greenscreen. First to go. Before we even started, the butterflies in my stomach felt I was being eaten alive. After a couple of last-minute preparations, it started. As the camera (that looked an awful lot like a camcorder, had the quality of one as well) started rolling, I merely stared at it wondering what the hell to do. Someone actually yelled "Cut!" and gave me a couple of words of advice.

"When the red light goes on, start singing. And when it goes off, stop singing. OK?"
"ok."

Take 2 went much smoother and I was in and out of the room in 10 minutes. A sigh of relief rushed over me as I left the building, the eyes of all the other finalists gazing at me. I had the cute factor, it's almost as if I was a shoo-in to win.

A couple weeks later, the performances showed up on the station (WNDS, the crappiest channel of all time... it's since been replaced with "MyTV"... don't know which is worse) and people voted. We got a call a couple days after that saying that, with half the votes (6 out of 12, as I said before, it's the crappiest channel of all time), I won the competition. I was playing at the Fishercats game whether I liked it or not. To be honest with you, I was virtually forced into doing this. My parents and my teacher asked me if I wanted to do it, and of course, I accepted. I was 10.

Fast-forward to July 18, 2003. It's a rather sunny day in Manchester, although I'm a thunder storm internally.

"My heart is pounding faster, then it ever has before. My lungs are being crushed and my throat is sore"- Internal Clock. Yes, that is what this song is about.

After travelling through several confusing pathways, almost like an underground system, I found myself in the dugout of the Fishercats. There was no one in there but me. The announcer called my name. I went onto the field. Cheers, although no one knew who I was. It was scary. Strangers were praising me. The mic was already screeching out feedback. Several seconds of awkward silence. I was afraid to start. Eventually I did. I had no idea what "mic technique" was, so I started with the mic being too far away. No one heard the first few words. Thinking quickly and without stopping, I moved the mic up to my lips and then I could be heard. The nerves threw my voice off-key, but I kept pushing forward. I had to get it done. I was afraid to stop. And then halfway through...

"And the r------------- are"
"--------burs------n----"
"Gave proo---- through the -----"

The mic was going out on me!!! Scared, I kept going, on tempo, off key. To compensate for the mic going out, I started virtually screaming the song. My face was flushed red as soon as I noticed. Embarrassed beyond my wits (although it wasn't my fault, it was the f'ing sound guy), I forgot a couple of words.

During the last line, the sun literally erupted from the clouds, beating down on my red face. My voice came together, my embarrassment dwindled, the mic stopped being a bitch:

"AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!"

2 seconds of silence. The crowd goes wild. Nearly crying, I run off the field to my parents. After hugs and all, we sat down with some friends and enjoyed the game. After the game was over, I saw the attendance light up. 3,017. The mic went out in front of 3,017 people.

I have not had too many positive experiences as a musician :)

Musical Breakthrough/Violent French People

I just had one today when looking at... a song that doesn't have a title know that I think about it... that's a first. At the end of the song it just dives from the key of D major to A minor and then finishes back in D major. I'm not sure how it's that much of a musical breakthrough, but I just feel like there's gonna be even a bigger one later on. I'm excited, there's gonna be something big.

In speaking of musical breakthroughs, the band has pretty much officially reformed. We're already planning a song for the talent show next spring and we've worked on it a couple times. It's an original, and it sounds really good. No name yet, no lyrics, but we have the music.

ARTICLES DU JOUR:
Rampaging youths in Paris turn the city of light into the city of crazy rioting youngsters smashing cars into buildings.

Th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

Edit: That song that I was talking about at the beginning's called Unity. I'm so stupid for not even realizing that I mentioned it in an earlier post...

~-~

11/22/07

At Random:

"Sometimes it feels good to just relax. Just sit in your seat and let your autopilot take hold and just drift off into a black universe."



Thanksgiving vacation is upon me right now and it feels great. I'm starting to realize that it's only one more month until Christmas and I'm amped to get what I think I'm gonna get: theflip.com. I hate to say it but it'd probably drive this blog into the obsolete.

I've really wanted to start making vlogs for a while now instead of just writing blogs. It'd be seen more often and I wouldn't have to force myself to post. Vlogs would come so much easier. If I'm lucky enough and the mic's strong enough, I could put up some music on YouTube. That's probably asking for too much, but it's good to dream...

I'm obviously gonna keep this blog. It'd be really awkward if I just made a video of me reciting random thoughts and lyrics. That'd be creepy, not entertaining.

Um um um um um...

I can't necessarily confirm anything yet but I think that the 'Usual Suspects' are in the reformation process. I think there's been enough recovery time for us to start up again and get going. Hoping for a jam session this weekend.

A singer or drummer would be nice, but will we get one? Probably not, unless god graces us...

In speaking of God-graced talent, check this guy out: youtube.com/musicfromblueskies. He's done some REALLY good covers.

"Desire to see things as they are."- George Orwell
~-~

11/21/07

Tricked Tenfold with Tentative Tongue-Twisting Titles...

My day today:

12:00 PM: I finally wake up.

1:00 PM- Eat breakfast, head downstairs, start working on a song called Unity while eating toast.

2:00 PM- Intermittently watch TV and work on Unity. The song's already starting to come together, it takes the form of not having a form. Realize the first riff sounds like the second half of Lounge by Modest Mouse off their first album. Leave it as it is, it sounds good.

3:00 PM- Main lyric comes to my head: "It's time I become a drifter, wander in the desert for a while... it's time I become a wandering frog prince, drift in the open brown sea for a spell..." Frantically write it down along with the lyric "She said she'd be fine without me"

4:00 PM- the song's done and I eat lunch.

5:00 PM- I blog it.

11/19/07

the92

I could tell you I have a new song
I could tell you I'm making a new video
I could tell you I'm busy with something
I could tell you that I'm pleased with life
I could tell you that I just finished writing an essay
I could tell you my christmas list.


Butmusicisfillingmyearsandblockingmyconcentration.

11/18/07

STuCKoNaLiNE

1.
We're alright inside
But nothing's safe outside

2.
We all get rewarded
Some more than others

2b.
I'm too lazy to change anything

3.
We got something we should enjoy
But now there's no time for enjoyment

3b.
I don't want to waste energy on complaints

The rest is filler.

~-~

11/14/07



Stop idling: Save the world.

11/13/07

Dream/Nails:

For once in my life, I've had a nightmare.

The only nightmares that I vividly remember were from when I was 3 or 4:

1. I was stuck in a videogame where the setting was in Hell (age 3...weird huh)
2. Whenever I counted to ten in the dream, a new nightmare started. (age 4)

This one was so weird. In my dream, I was just going about my regular business when all of a sudden I saw a meteor flying towards where I was. I just stared at the meteor and almost felt this beautiful, euphoric swell come to me as it hit. When it did hit, I found myself 1,000,000 feet in the air (there was an altitude gauge on the right for some reason), out in space. And then I fell down and landed softly on African soil. From there, I found my way out of a small desert and came to a school, which appeared to be unphased from the meteor. That's where the dream abruptly ended. It wasn't really much a nightmare as it was a really nervewracking dream. Usually when you see a meteor coming in one of your dreams, you wake up before it hits. In my case, I stayed asleep throughout my fictional fate. I don't know what spawned this dream, except for maybe a piece of writing I wrote that was somewhat similar to the dream. I'm not going into the story, that's another post...

Nails is a new song that I wrote, it's a lot more clear in the message compared to my other songs...

lyric:

We've been sleeping on a bed of nails
And we are too lazy to get up
We've been sleeping on a rusty bed of nails
And the infection's starting to take hold

"The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude"

-George Orwell
~-~

11/12/07

Below Quota

Midway through the month and only... gasp. 4 posts?

Usually by now, I'd have something like 12-15, but I will admit. I have been slacking.

I'm actually even surprised I'm posting tonight. I just got off a 4 hour writing assignment and it's now almost 10:00 on a school night.

Anyways...

I don't have a lot of new stuff. I'm finally slowing down into a comfortable zone with my music where I can't dispose of it as easily as I used to. And even some of the songs I've written in my faraway past are resurfacing and moving into my practice rotation.

Nothing's getting done with Hoax*, and at this point, I'm doubting if it's even gonna show up on the internet. It sounds so good! The beginning's so disorganized, and then the drums and piano suddenly fuse together in the bridge. My vocals are still something left to be desired, but I think that's slowly becoming just my opinion. Maybe it's the fact that my teacher's virtually brainwashing me into thinking that my voice is good. Damn her. It's working.

I've been slowly listening to less Radiohead and more Rage Against the Machine. Sort of a large contrast musically, but lyrically, they're a lot alike. Rage is a lot more fun than Radiohead, but Radiohead's a lot more structured with their music.

Wow. That took 3 minutes to write?
~-~

11/9/07

Guitar Hero III: My First Review

The second one will come after I get the game for Christmas and actually beat it.

This time around, I played the songs that I wanted to play at a friend's house and I gotta say, I'm contemplating whether it's as solid as its predecessors. I figure maybe a review will help me settle my decision.

FIRST TRIES:

~32% Knights of Cydonia- It's like the Misirlou of this game only it's longer and harder. And I actually like the song in the first place.
73% One- 6 minutes in is absolute suicide.
~82% Cult of Personality- people were impersonating 'New York' so I broke down laughing and stopped playing.
1% Through the Fire and Flames- 0_0

But hey! I passed Cherub Rock, Suck My Kiss, and Bulls on Parade on my first try!

QUALITIES:

Animation: 4/10- to make a long description short: the singer is more detailed (and simultaneously uglier) than the guitarists, the bassist hasn't changed all that much, and the drummer... oh the drummer. He looks like a frickin' automatron. You can't expect that much from Neversoft though.

Songs: 10/10- This time around, they've dropped the classic rock image and have thrown some newer stuff in the mix. Although I don't understand how the Strokes, Bloc Party, Matchbook Romance, and the Killers fit under the slogan "Legends of Rock"... not that that matters. At all. The fact that most of the songs are master tracks sort of make the game lose it's live feel, but it's for the better. Now we don't have to listen to that guy that sang Woman anymore. (sigh of relief)

Difficulty: 9/10- if you make more than 10 mistakes in a row on Expert, you're pretty much restarting the song. I can see myself struggling through this game. Yay! A challenge!

Wirelessness: 2/5- More portable, but needs more fine tuning before I'll get a new guitar. There are some notes that didn't register that I knew I hit.

Battles: Bad gimmick. Lame. 0/5. Moving on.

Replay value: 10/10. This game will be played through by me more than 5 times. I'm limiting myself to five songs a day though, so I don't get completely sick of it. (A mistake my friend is making and that I made with GH2.)

HUD: 9/10. More refined in comparison to the 1st and 2nd games, but the star power set up's pretty weird. I don't even know if you can whammy to get more star power. It's sort of weird. I also like the way it tells you when you have a certain # streak.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So it gets a 73. Not too bad. The first and the second ones would have gotten a higher grade, but this is still going to be a rip-roaring good time once I get it. And there's a 95% chance that the grade's going to go up once I get the game.

[' -'[

11/5/07

I am the Keymaster.


It's a Long Ways Down...

So we won't jump.

2 new songs in the mix: 1's called Children, the other Irony (No Jokes Please).

'Children' only has 4 lines in it, the rest is instrumental. It's done, but I'm still experimenting with the structure of the song.

'Irony (No Jokes Please)' is a song i wrote just a couple hours ago, and once again, i'm still messing with the structure. It's a fun one. It's cheery. The lyrics aren't... but the rest is.

Children:
The sky is glowing orange
The tarmac's growing hot
So lock up all your children.
Cause they're all that we've got.
Left.

God Hates You
Verse 1:
The park ranger started a fire
The fireman kindled the flames
The winner who never won
Put the loser to shame
There's blood on the walls
And I don't feel responsible
There's blood on the walls
And I don't feel responsible

Bridge:
You think it's monotonous
But it's not
You think it's monotonous
But it's not
You think it's monotonous...

Chorus:
It's a long
Ways down
So we
Won't jump
Verse 2:
I don't even know why I wasted these notes on you
I don't even know why I wasted these notes on you
Bridge
Chorus
Instrumental Break
Coda

The latter is spawned from a hatred of the Westboro Baptist Church. It's not half about them, it's ALL about them. For once, my lyrics are directed at something.

~-~

11/2/07

I Survived the Talent Show!

Ahh... this time I did not actually play in it. I deeply regret it. The talent show was plagued by pop song after offkey pop song. Here were some of the acts:

1. 2 girls singing Everytime We Touch by Cascada (long instrumental breaks make for very awkward "um we're on stage and we don't know what to do" moments :) )

2. Guitar Hero, Freebird, Expert Co-op (they passed and got 5 stars but I wanted them to fail so bad, no prize awarded)

3. A kid that solved a Rubik's Cube in 3 minutes. (Would have actually worked had he not pointed out that he messed up, no prize awarded)

4. A 'comedian' (and I use that term unbelievably loosely). Here was one of her jokes:

Knock knock.
Audience: Who's there
Boo.
Audience: Boo who?
...................................you know the rest.

Of course it was not HER that was making these jokes, it was her puppet assistant named Fred.

Another fantastic joke, here's the setup: the girl asked the audience who wanted to be made fun of. Clearly scripted, a girl stood up.

Unfunny girl: What's your name?
Poor girl: Tia.
U: Mia?
P: No, Tia.
U: Bee-a?
P: No... Tia.
U: Beehive?
P: ...Tia.

This went on for about 5 minutes before it finally f'ing ended. I had no sympathy for her and I booed.

5. Roughly 10 performances (all girls, all in junior high, (our school's a junior/senior high), all in duets) were off-key and unprepared. I spent this time to talk with my surrounding peers...

Anyways... here were the top 3:
3. Heather Demello- interpretive dancer
2. Two tap dancers
1. Mikey Lang- the ONE person that sang on key the WHOOOLLLE time. It wasn't even his strongest performance, and he won.

Throughout this whole show, I was thinking: "How cool would it be if I did Analyse by Thom Yorke and just stared at the audience like he did at the Mercury Awards?" I chuckled to myself... Anyways, to sum it all up: It was the biggest waste of 3 hours of my life, I want those 3 hours back and I want to be paid 5 dollars for watching it.

Other news: 2000 words into Nanowrimo, I'm finding myself falling behind already. By now, I should be roughly around 3750. I would be writing, but I'm not THAT determined to get it done. (sighs and looks out window...)

I took that 2 hour to live video down already because I discovered that it was very creepy and wouldn't produce answers. Sadly... but true.

Well I'm gonna go see if I can post nasty comments about those "God Hates Fags" people somewhere.

~-~