The Dodos Do Do Good Music

Last Saturday, Kelsey and I saw The Dodos perform at the Echoplex. If you are already familiar with The Dodos, you will not be surprised to hear the show was amazing: very strong delivery, good stage presence, a fantastic set. Needless to say, this group has been getting a lot of play around my apartment, if you know what I mean.

Here is a bodacious music video from The Dodos.

...

Phobia - an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.

Homophobia - an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to homosexuals.

As beautiful as last night was, we could not help but taint it with the passing of Prop 8. We do need better education in our schools. We do need to raise our sense of self-efficacy, and abolish the strong insecurity in our people, so that they feel it is not necessary to tear others down before they make progress.

This is our generation's time to fight the good fight. To pioneer for rights. To pass the torch on to future generations fully lit, not dim. We have proven to be blind to history, and deaf to anything but our own insecurity.

We will fix this, and we will shame those on the wrong side of the fight. We will shame those same people who believe that they are in any way more special than anyone else. The same people who would have voted against civil rights of minorities and women years ago. The same people who would incarcerate masses of people on the premise of religious denomination.

Shame on you who voted to set back societal progress, tolerance and civility. I am so disappointed. Does that make me a homosexual?

I think it makes me a homo sapien.

Homo Sapien - Latin, literally a "wise man".

Proposition 8

Proposition 8, to me, might be the pinnacle of our American ignorance, possibly worse than the re-election of Goerge W. Bush, and Mormonism put together. There is so much research done on homosexuality that it is shameful how many people choose to remain uneducated on this subject. Lets start with some facts:

• Homosexuality is not a choice, it is a permanent orientation rooted in the physiology and socialization of the person. In other words, their biological make up in conjunction with how they are raised (which according to research, tends to be related to overbearing and absent parents) are the pivotal determining factors.
• Homosexuals do not tend to raise homosexual children. It should go without saying that straight couples raise the vast majority of homosexuals. Homosexual are just as, if not more, likely to raise a straight child.

There are some other cop-out excuses people have been making to justify the prejudice and bigotry of Prop 8. Here are more things that are not true:

• Allowing gay marriage does not mean it will be taught in schools. You have to be dumb as fuck to believe that. Were you taught about who to marry in school? You may have thought you wanted to marry someone during school, but no class anyone has ever taken, has had "marriage partners" as part of its curriculum.
  THAT IS WHY THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CALIFORNIA ENDORSE NO ON PROP 8.
• The events that took place in Massachusetts were not about teaching homosexuality (which would take much more than reading one book to turn a kid gay). It was about tolerance. TOLERANCE.

Finally, I would like to say that I will not willingly be associated with anyone voting yes on this proposition. It is disgusting and shameful. Allowing gay marriage is not going to make you, your family, and your future generations any more gay than they would have been otherwise. Mind yourself and treat your kids right, and all will be well.

WOOT WOOT!

Election day is right around the corner. Its going to kick ass.

Yesterday I drove out to Coachella Valley with my younger brother to visit some family for the afternoon. On the way we took an interesting detour, thanks to our faulty GPS system. During said detour, we were stopped at a light where at two corners there were Prop 8 protesters with signs for and against the proposition. I of course gave thumbs up to those against prop 8, and thumbs down to those for it. I also did something else that made me feel quite good. I rolled my window down as I drove through the intersection, pointed at a large group of Pro-8 protesters, and yelled, "Fuck you bigots! BIGOTS!" It seemed to get their attention. I can only hope it ruined their day and changed their minds.

Intolerance is soo 1860's .

The Economy

A lot is going on these days. Is that too obvious to need mention?

The economic crisis has been my interest of choice lately. Some key terms I encourage everyone to look up (in depth) because they will do you good:

• Laissez-fair - The general perspective held by big business that says government should stay out of our capitalist ongoings.
  
• Credit Defualt Swap - The central cause of our economic crisis (if casinos are gambling for adults, this is gambling for giants).
  
• Phil Gramm - Economic adviser to McCain, "kicked off" campaign due to scandalous remarks. (major supporter of previous bills that perpetuated the non-regulation of credit default swaps)
• Hedge Fund - Insurance for potential losses, something a lot of people gambling U.S. investor money did not do very well.
• Bailout - What we are doing to save everyone that fucked up. Hopefully they will end up paying big as they deserve, however for now we have no choice, and additionally, they will be the first to reap the life saving benefits of the bailout.
  

These are just off the top of my head right now. If you actually get into reading up on these things, you are sure to gain a much greater understanding (i.e. frustration) over this whole messed up situation. You will feel like more of a sheep and tool than you ever have seeing that our laissez-fair system just does not work that well, because our nation has bred a greedy people, thirsty for self advancement, and blind to the idea of a "great" greater good.

About Religion. Actually, just Mormons...

I have been doing some more studies on religion lately. Particularly Christianity, Hinduism, and Mormonism. Mormonism considered a legitimate religion yet? I do not know.

Some people that know me will be rolling their eyes at this. I very highly resent the Church of Latter Days Saints. It is just so baffling and frustrating because of how many good people I have known (and do know) who are Mormon, and believe these outrageous lies. They fall into the grasp of the church with its guilt and scare tactics, and are used for the entirety of their lives without knowing any better.

Today I was reading some good testimonials on this site, www.exmormon.org. That church does some very shitty things to people. If you are Mormon and happen to read this, look at that site. No, it is not on your church's list of "approved" readings. In other words, it will make you smarter, not dumber.

About Politics.

I have not posted anything new on here for a while. Updates take to long, so I will just post thoughts.

The election has been getting me excited. I do not understand how the country is so close in this election though. Our lazy American outlook has made us so unbelievably ignorant it is ridiculous. The only explanation I can find is a discrepancy between candidates values, which I certainly hope is not a determining factor in this election.

People voting in this election based on personal values, particularly religious values, I am sorry to say I just feel are horribly greedy. To let something as unimportant as, lets say abortion, sway your opinion amidst the state of our country (and world) is just silly. Abortion is not an issue that is on the table right now, nor will it be in the next four years. What is important right now is the economy, alternative fuel/energy, exit strategy, and not making our country look like the ass of the earth.

McCain and Obama both have websites. After spending a considerable amount of time on each site, I have to say that Obama's is considerably more accessible. Not only does he provide far more information about his views and plans, but he also gives specific details about those plans. I encourage everyone to LOOK AT HOW SHITTY JOHN MCCAIN'S WEBSITE IS.

Please take note at how vague most of his "Issue" summaries are. Example (From the "American Energy" page:

John McCain Believes That The U.S. Must Become A Leader In A New International Green Economy. Green jobs and green technology will be vital to our economic future. There is no reason that the U.S. should not be a leader in developing and deploying these new technologies.


...thats it. Under the next heading on the same page.

John McCain Will Commit $2 Billion Annually To Advancing Clean Coal Technologies "... Some believe that marketing viable clean coal technologies could be over 15 years away. John McCain believes that this is too long to wait, and we need to commit significant federal resources to the science, research and development that advance this critical technology."

...why? We have plenty of other clean energy alternatives that already work, why do we want to try and figure out the one that doesn't? Sorry McCain, I think you are just dumb.

Face Up

School has begun again and fortunately music is everywhere in my life right now. I am taking a few music related classes this semester: Music & Film, Music Technologies and Choir. Work has also been good, although some of the logistics are becoming slightly annoying. I cannot complain though.

My new car (a VW Golf GL, 2-door) has been amazingly gas efficient. Yesterday was the first time I needed to stop for gas in the two weeks I have had it. The fuel gauge was not even on empty yet, and I was over 400 miles on the trip odometer. On top of that, it cost only $50 to fill up. My 4-runner was guzzling $70 a week, easy. $50 every two weeks is a much more savory trade off.

The Obama campaign has been exciting me as well. Anyone who watched his whole speech at the DNC would understand why. I think there are good things coming for everyone.

Today is Friday

For the first time in a long time, I am glad today is Friday. Boys & Girls Club has made the week quite long. I have been working full-time over the last couple of weeks. Monday will start another long week. I cannot really complain about my work though.

I have become much better at ping-pong. My appreciation for professional table tennis has grown tremendously. One of my fellow staff members at the club is particularly good and playing him has helped me improve a lot in a short period of time. I am super down with ping-pong.

I have not said anything about music for a while. Writing has still been better than ever. A few things I have found over the last couple of years to be true have helped with this:

• Depression transcends mood alone: being depressed for a long period of time created a huge block in my motivation as well as ability to write, practice, and learn music. I literally did not touch my instrument for weeks to months at a time. Easily the lowest point in my life.
• Exposure yields inspiration: listening to a large variety of music and actively listening regularly is guaranteed to give you some ideas. The search for new music is a good way to stay busy too.
• Solitude yields production: being alone for a long period of time will force you to produce something just because there is nothing else to do. A great way to find a sense of self discipline as well as self truth.
• Being liberated is not just doing what you want, it is truly not caring what other people think. It is not feeling so insecure that you are plagued to mindlessly follow the ebb and flow of trends forever. It is feeling alright all of the time, and realistically knowing that once you truly free yourself, you will not be motivated to impress others, but to appease yourself.
  

Tooting the Ryan Horn

So once again I have let a long period of time pass since my last post. I am not going to write a ton of detailed updates like before because that is just boring, so I will sum it up. Everything is good, like always.

Performing at Portfolio's coffee shop the last couple of weeks has been nice. I took some time off for my summer classes and traveling, so it was nice to go back. Last week I played my song that has no title, but every knows as "Father Said" or "Mother Said". A lot of people were talking to me about it last week and this week too when I went back. I have felt quite a boost of confidence lately and have been able to sing much more confidently over the last few months. I am very excited about direction my songwriting is taking these days. Hopefully there will be lots of recording soon! I have plenty of songs to document now. I think I have improved drastically since my first song in this series of solo acoustic songs I have written.

My program at the Boys & Girls Club is underway and has been a big hit so far! Tons of kids have signed up and my boss and Long Beach administrators want my program design to be the template for all of the clubs now. Will see in the end how well it works out in practice.

I have written quite a bit as it turns out. I'll save the rest for another entry.

Correction: Pleasure = Guilty As Charged

So I listened to Scarlett Johanson again. I wrote in a previous post that I was on the verge of calling her music good. Well, I have determined that it would be the wrong choice to do so. Her choice of Tom Waits covers is cool and all, but really, her voice is not good. I just don't know what I was thinking. Do not like Scarlett Johanson(for her singing).

The Peacock and Juno

A PEACOCK once placed a petition before Juno desiring to have the voice of a nightingale in addition to his other attractions; but Juno refused his request. When he persisted, and pointed out that he was her favourite bird, she said:
“BE CONTENT WITH YOUR LOT; ONE CANNOT BE FIRST IN EVERYTHING.”

-Æsop

The Boys & Girls Club has been great so far. I am at the end of what has essentially been my first week there. My program is coming along and I have been getting to know the staff and some of the kids better. Everyone there is great so far. It is interesting to be an ethnic (cultural) minority too. The big opening of my room is this Thursday and it is going to be a close finish. Hopefully everything runs smoothly. I am going to be speaking to a large group of businessmen who will be potential funding for the club.

Music has been going very well. I have solidified a lot of things this summer with my understanding and approach to recording. My writing has really come along too. I have been finding it easier and easier to get ideas. New songs are happening quite consistently now. I am really hoping to get something recorded this weekend, just to update what I have on the internet right now. I have no idea when a full production might take place though. There is so much going on with school and work right now that time is going to be hard to find.

I have been reading a lot more lately and coming up with a lot of crazy ideas. For now I can only make them into songs, but it would be really fun to write a book (I think I am one of those people who will say they plan on it and never do it). I will start out with short-fiction and work my way up.

Music is sounding different these days. I am not going to talk about it right now though.

Life is Getting Gooder

I keep waiting too long to write about what is going on.

I got the job at the Boys and Girls Club! I officially hold the title of "Music Director". It is very exciting and I am looking forward to having spending money again.

I have been writing some different new music lately. Some of my new songs were performed at the show I played a couple of weeks ago at Joe's house, which went very well. Once things are rolling smoothly with the new job I will plan on setting aside some time to crack down and pump out some recordings. I feel ready, particularly in my recording abilities after taking my classes at LBCC. I have been learning at lot.

I took the train to see Kelsey in Cambria last weekend, which was super fun. It went by too fast though and really want to go back again. It is such a pretty environment with so few buildings and people. There is something about the clean air and trees that feels so organic. It is beautiful and contrasts with the city so much. Very refreshing I think.

Life has been very busy and exciting for me over the last few weeks. Things seem to be getting better and better. I have been finding time to do more of what I love, such as reading and playing music, and finding time to enjoy my friends and family more also. I just do not have anything to complain about. I am realizing more that truly, I have never had anything to complain about.

New News

I have not posted anything in so long, but there has been lots of new news! To much to into detail about in one post, so I am going to make a list.

I started dating a very beautiful person named Kelsey. It is awesome!

I went on a fun road trip with my friends up and down California. It was awesome!

I have started my audio engineering classes at Long Beach Community College. They are awesome!

I have been asked to go in for an interview today with the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach for the position of Music Director. I hope it goes well. The job pays very well, and for me it would be awesome.

My dad is officially a citizen of the United States of America!

Everything is just better for me right now. I have been writing lots of new music and feeling very good about myself, my relationships and my hobbies. I think I have a very good life.

Rydin' Durty... and Slow

The other day I made the 65.4 mile trip from my parent's house in Newbury Park to my apartment in Long Beach. I left at 7:15 pm and set the cruise control at 55 mph when I got on the freeway. I drove the entire way home at 55 mph, and arrived in Long Beach at 8:30. Not bad at all. Driving about 20 mph slower only cost me about 20 more minutes on my drive time, but saved me two thirds the gas I would have used!

The purpose of my little experiment was to see just how much gas I could conserve by doing this, and it totally paid off. Not only did I save significantly, but I also enjoyed the drive a lot more. I just relaxed the entire way and listened to music. It was great not having the stress of being behind cars slower than you or having to dodge cars as you pass. I am all about driving slow everywhere now, and I recommend the same for everyone.

I have come to realize that there is really no need to be in a hurry anymore. I used to have a complex with time, feeling like there is just not enough time in everyday to do all I would like, but now that just seems wrong. Technology more than compensates for the limited time in our days. This can apply a few different ways.

The speed at which we can obtain information and anything else we could possibly need is remarkable. Technology also enables us to live much longer. So, in multiple ways, technology has given us far more time than we care to acknowledge. I never did agree with the phrase, "Live Fast." Thats just dumb. If I am going to have a lot of time here, I would rather live well and slow.

Dean Kamen: Segways Etc.

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, has now invented a new prosthetic arm that ways just as much as a real arm, and essentially functions exactly like a real arm. Here is a short video obtained from Yahoo.



There are some things I think are funny about this video. For one, the interviewer uses the phrase, "Modern-Day Willy Wonka". Dumb. The Segway is probably the most glorified useless invention ever. It rolls, like other things you can ride with wheels, except eliminates any effort whatsoever on your part. You lean in your preferred direction, and go there. In other news, chronic obesity in the United States is still a mysterious epidemic. When will we solve that problem?

I also like that the "government" knocked on his door and said, "Hey, were are losing a lot people's arms and if you could fix that, that'd be grrreaaaat." They do not want to stop what they are doing to lose those arms, so it has be fixed this way. Its kind of like saying, "I like swimming in the pool but I don't like getting wet, so if you could just invent something to keep me from getting so wet and I can keep swimming in the pool... thanks. I am not about to stop swimming to not get wet..."

It is good to see Kamen redeem himself by creating something purposefully functional. Arms are good. How well could you play guitar with one of those things. Someday our only virtuosos will be cyborgs.

Guilty Free Pleasure

I am just going to come out say that for some reason, I like Scarlett Johansson's music. I watched some videos of her performing with her group. I do not know if its her cuteness or the imperfect quality of her voice that I find so appealing, but I think I like it. I should probably listen to more of her stuff.

Her music has a very folky influence for a celebrity singer such as herself. So maybe, more than anything, it is refreshing to see an actress turned musician making something different. Her voice just does not sound right to me, but at the same time, I really like that it does not. So, give S.J. a chance. You might like it, and you may or may not feel guilty about it.

Dave Brubeck Quartet

The Dave Brubeck Quartet is one of my favorite jazz groups of all time. Dave and company were so far ahead of their time with their unconventional time signatures and kick ass everything. Take Five is probably one of my all time favorite songs. Dave Brubeck is the name most widely associated with it, but few people know that it was actually Paul Desmond, his sax player, who composed the piece. I think what really made The Dave Brubeck Quartet perfect was the drummer, Joe Morello. Check out his solo in this flashback gem.

Kaki King - LoveStoned (Justin Timberlake cover)

Wow. Kaki King performing Justin Timberlake's LoveStoned. If you are unfamiliar with the original, check it out. This is an amazing cover.

Kaki King

I am outstandingly embarrassed to announce that I am for the first time experiencing Kaki King. Of course, we all have our first times for everything. I think I am more upset by any of my friends that have known about her and not forced me to listen to her yet...

The album I am currently listening to is titled, "Legs To Make Us Longer". It is absolutely majestic in virtuosity and makes me want more than ever to become a better guitarist. She has what I like to refer to as "it". "It" consists of the following: everything and nothing in particular.
She has a solid style and is an amazing player. Her style is very percussive and reflects classical and jazz influence. But the beautifully dark and addictive melodies she incorporates make her music extremely accessible I think. On rare but extremely pleasant occasion, she will grace you with her silky smooth voice (which I find to be the epitome of heart-melters). I do not have the words, nor the credibility, to elaborate further on this artist. She is an absolutely astounding white female version of wes montgomery playing a much bluesier, country-esque style.

Alright, I think I am getting carried away with this now. Just know, she is fantastic and everyone should listen. Particularly fans of post-rock, classical guitar, jazz guitar, and just damn good guitar playing. I will possess her entire catalog in the near future.

Headhunters

My goodness, I love the album Headhunters by Herbie Hancock. It is a classic and I do not know that I will ever be tired of it. Every few months it finds its way into the CD player of my car and does not come out for at least a few days to a week.

If I ever had to say any type of music was cool to show-off with an absurdly loud stereo, it would be this album. If you happen to listen to this album (which I obviously recommend), I would also recommend another Herbie album, Thrust. It is basically a continuation of Headhunters, and it is all genius.

Summer Resolution

This summer is going to be great. For the first time I taking a break from "real" school and really concentrating on my personal interests. Here are my plans:

I will be taking recording techniques and pro tools techniques at Long Beach City College. This is awesome since it is a nice program at only $20 per unit. My two classes will only cost $80! On top of that, I will have access to the studio at LBCC all summer. Who needs Musicians Institute when there is LBCC? I expect to learn a lot and get a lot of recording done.

I have been working on a lot of new concepts as far as music theory and jazz studies goes. I hope to greatly expand my jazz repertoire as well as my understanding of harmony.

I love reading yet never seem to have time when I am most motivated to read (and write for that matter). I would like to set myself to a strict reading schedule so that I can actually finish the handful of books I am halfway through...

Music is really the top priority this summer. Writing and learning is on top of my agenda. Next semester I have a good schedule lined up as well. I am just feeling very refreshed about the near future right now.

LiSunday

Sunday is a good day for listening to music. I hate it at the same time though because I am usually supposed to be doing school work on Sunday's as well.

I usually spend a solid couple of hours listening to music in the morning, and then I will have it playing in the background for the rest of the day, which makes for a good distraction from everything else I should be doing. Music has become so enjoyable for me over the last few months, which has really been transformation for me.

Last year I hardly listened to music outside of being in my car. I chose not to listen to music while studying/doing homework because of what poor attention I have when it is playing, and I studied all of the time. Even when I was not studying, I was still not really listening to music though.

I feel like listening more has taught me a lot, although I am still not exactly pumping out much more music than before. I wish I could do that sometimes: just be able to compose and finish songs or pieces with no problem. I am not that prodigy though. Everything I finish takes so long, and usually then I am not completely satisfied. I have the feeling that this will be changing for me soon though. I am just going to keep listening to music until that happens.

Much Too Much

I have such an absurd amount of music now that it would take me over 166 days to listen to all of it in one sitting. I have completely abandoned Pandora for the time being because I am finding all sorts of new music in my own collection still. I will probably never listen to all of it. I have listened to a lot of it though. There is so much music that I still want right now too! Do I have a problem? Perhaps. My goal is to listen to every song in my collection. Realistically, that will take a minimum of five years... without listening to anything twice. How many lifetimes of music do you think exist in the world? Yikes.

Deets Fo Sho

So I have just been added to Show 1 of the Garage Tour going on in the Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks/Moorpark region. Friday, May 2, at Kenny Mcmahon's house at 6:00 pm, I will be playing just a few new solo acoustic songs. The lineup will include who you see on this flyer:

Record Store Day Era Ayer

So yesterday was official Record Store Day, which I just found out about. I was fortunate enough to find out just in time to celebrate it by seeing Limbeck play a free set at Fingerprints yesteday, as part of the Record Store Day festivities. It was great! I would have liked them to play a little longer, but it was a good solid set that mixed up oldies and newbies. If you were not there, you are jealous.

I am actually making this a bigger deal than it really was. Some people are still going to be secretly jealous though.

FOTC News!

The Flight of the Conchord's full-length LP is going to be coming out Tuesday, April 22 on Sup Pop. The album is going to consist of primarily songs from the first season of their HBO series. Speaking of which, they are going to start airing the second season January next year. Crap, that is a long time... However, it is relieving to know that a second season is coming. Lastly, anyone who is a fan of the show should check out Mel's Blog. This picture of them is amazing.

Know More Noise...

I think that Know More Noise is just becoming no more. I realized yesterday that I had been ignoring it over the last few weeks whilst distracted with everything else. I do not know that I continue to think of legitimate assignments for the blog at a rate of one a week, its hard! I do not know what I am going to do. Maybe if someone wants to help me out with it, it will not seem so hard. I need to figure out a viable way to do studies on composers or songs. Does anyone know of a way to post a playlist of songs that you can upload onto? I just started this thing, I do not want to give up yet!

Holy Flip Remix

So everyone knows about Radiohead posting the audio files for "Nude" in order for it to be remixed. I heard my first remix today and it is so good. Here is a link to download it via Stereogum. Click here!

Js2B+JV=OMG!

WOW, I cannot believe this show happened. This is the kind of show that could only take place in my dreams, John Vanderslice and Jets to Brazil together! If only this could happen again...

What is coincidental about this poster, is that Numbskull Productions put this show on. Shortly before my first band from high school broke up, we happened to meet Eddy Numbskull himself randomly at the mall. He wanted to book us, but of course were never able to do any of his shows before we stopped playing. If only I were my age now about five years ago. I may have met Eddy Numbskull then and been able to open for this show... right? In my dreams.

More Jets to Brazil...

To add to the last entry, you can stream every Jets to Brazil song for free on the official Jets to Brazil fan-site. Here is a link to free Jets to Brazil enjoyment. If you find yourself short of time, and need to pick and choose which songs to hear, my top 5 picks are the following (in no particular order):

1. Cat Heaven (take notice of the subtle but well implemented string arrangement)
2. In the Summer's When You Really Know
3. One Summer Last Fall (the first song of theirs I ever heard)
4. Psalm
5. Perfecting Loneliness (they sample the moon landing at the end; genius)

What I think I love most about Blake Schwarzenbach's style is his use of parallelism and rhyme in his writing. Very passionate and intelligent.

Listen

I cannot stop falling in love with Blake Schwarzenbach or John Vanderslice. No matter how much I listen, I do not get tired of them. Both are beautiful lyricists and pop music composers who have been immensely influential on me. As far as classical music goes, I am in love with romanticists Mahler and Chopin. Beethoven's romantic work is great as well, but I am currently more biased toward his progressive classical work. What am I saying in this entry? Listen to Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, John Vanderslice, Frederic Chopin, and Gustav Mahler. Beethoven is pretty cliche now, so I will say it is a given that you should listen to him.

Mexicanoness

So my cousin Omar, who lives in Mexico, has been two for two on introducing me to some awesome Mexican groups. So, I am recommending them to anyone who trusts my judgment. The first is Austin TV, a post-rock band out of D.F. For fans of Explosions in the Sky, El Ten Eleven, and Mogwai. Pretty good I think. The second is called La Baron. The best description I can give them is Mexican Nada Surf/Notwist. Pretty good. The albums I have of each are Austin Tv - Fontana Bella (2007) and Le Baron - S/T EP (2007). Check it out!

Break

This spring break has been outrageously busy. I am having fun though. These are new things.

Matthew and I drove up to Chico to see Charlie. It was a fun weekend. However, I managed to get a ticket on the drive home (which will be contested).

I also managed to bust the window in my apartment while trying to break in yesterday. What a waste money!

I met a very nice girl.

I am playing drums for my roommate Mike's band on Sunday at the Verity Room in Conoga Park, which should be fun.

Music has become really fun/distracting lately. I do not know what I am going to do about that. My grades are going to start slipping if I cannot get it together.

I am definitely not unhappy right now.

Good Things

So, some good things have happened recently. I played a new song of mine at Portfolio open mic last Wednesday. Everyone showed up and it was a lot of fun. I then proceeded to get the song recorded over the weekend, which is now posted on my myspace page (myspace.com/ryanserrano). It is acoustic guitar and vocals. I am happy with the guitar and moderately happy with the vocals. I plan on doing a full band version of the song though, complete with electric guitars, drums, and other little treats...

I was happy to even do some recording for once. I was pleased with the quality of the acoustic guitar, which up until now has been my nemesis. Listening to it now, I feel like it needs some better EQ work, but, the raw audio is satisfactory for once.

Also, Mahler's 3rd symphony is very good.

William Fitzsimmons...

Was first recommended to me by my good friend, Ryan Scott. Fitzsimmons has become an obsession of mine as of late and I have decided to purchase his entire catalog. Everyone should check him out. Particularly for fans of Iron & Wine and Ben Gibbard. He does fantastic work.

In other news, music trading has been happening a lot lately and I am getting all sorts of new music! Its awesome sooo, if anyone wants to trade some music, let me know. Holla at mah boys Scott and Ricky!

Also, the Know More Noise blog is on its way... I think. Check it out and tell people about it and play music. www.knowmorenoise.blogspot.com

Heima

Heima is a film of the band Sigur Ros. Set completely in Iceland, it documents a number of performances by the band and the beautiful country of Iceland itself. Read more about the video on their site or on YouTube. You can watch it in its entirety (which I highly encourage) for free.

Kite Runner the movie was bad because...

It will make you feel shitty for multiple reasons. Aside from all the shitty things that happen to the least deserving characters, the main character who is supposed to be coming of age, never actually does. Can't a white man git sum sense of resolution around here!

In other news, CSULB Library is a sweet place for getting lots of good, free music. I have begun to burn their entire collection of classical and jazz. So far my favorite grabs have been Pat Metheny - On the Way Up, and Chopin's first seven symphonies. YEAH!

Pandora

I have been using Pandora a lot lately. It is a fantastic way to discover new music, and for those of you who are not frequent users, I would highly recommend it. I am posting a link to my radio stations on here.

the deed is done

So I decided to follow through with the project. I created a whole new blog for it, and decided to call it Know More Noise. I just spent sometime creating the page for it, and I think it turned out pretty cool. I am excited to see how people will react to it. We will see. I have not posted any assignments yet. I am trying to determine what is too easy or hard for people to do. Obviously I will aim to do both so that everyone can take part, but what is a good first assignment?

learning to love music more

Learning to Love You More is a website you should check out. The premise of the site is to, "guide people to their own experience." Participants voluntarily complete the assignments posted on the site, simply for the sake of completing them. The reward is the experience. This has inspired me to design something similar.

I would like to develop a project based on this idea of doing things simply for the sake of doing something new for yourself, but with music. The idea would be that musicians could complete assignments based around studies on, for example, specific composers, photographs, emotions, genres, instruments, etc. Obviously not everyone would have the means to record and submit the projects like they do on LLYM, but, they could no doubt try to complete it for themselves.

I think I am going to start this project soon. Perhaps I will see what some other musician friends of mine think about it first... If anyone would like to give me feedback on this idea, please give it.

solitude and silence

I found a new poet tonight whose work I like a lot. I cannot seem to find anything about them though. There is quite an extensive collection of her work on poemhunter (i assume it is a she after reading a some poems). This is one of her pieces.

Solitude and Silence

All I have to offer
is solitude and silence.
No accomplishments to speak of,
having never finished anything
worth finishing
except bad relationships
and good friendships
I now regret not keeping.

Those I feel closest to
are the furthest away from me
while I keep myself distant
from those who are near.

If all you seek is solitude and silence,
this I can promise you without breaking.

I only ask in return, to be allowed
my silence and solitude
from you.

Juge Sopczak