Sunday, January 31, 2010

Welcome to Snoozeville the Grammy's are on

I don't know about you but I am going to be watching the best thing on TV tonight, the X-Games. I think I would rather stab myself in the hand than have to chose between the Pro Bowl and the Grammys. Both are a lame excuse for self congratulations.

My biggest qualm with the Grammys is that I do not listen to the style of music they reward. Truth be told, this is not the award show's fault. I simply think it is a major flaw that as an artist you have to be on a major label to be rewarded. To me, it is as if the Grammys are saying that if you are not on a major label than you do not matter. Case and point Death Cab for Cutie. They had put out 4 albums with Barsuk Records before signing with Atlantic. Included in those 4 is Transatlanticism which many consider their best. In their 4 fantastic albums with Barsuk, they received zero Grammy nominations. Now they are on Atlantic and have received nominations for the 2 lps and 1 ep they have released. What a joke! The Grammy formula seems to be let's take the most popular artists and see what they have released. Good or bad we will nominate them for Grammys. There is no creativity or surprises when it comes to the Grammys. Pick out the same 10 artists every year add one or two and nominate them.

Until the Grammys open up their judging process, I will do what I do every year. I will watch something more meaningful.

Friday, January 29, 2010

White Denim Pics



Here are a couple of pics I took from the White Denim Show at Larimer Lounge. The article should be posted soon on www.gratefulweb.com. It is kind of funny that I write for for a hippie site but I am not one. Have a good weekend. Sorry there are only 2 pics.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Getting Old

You ever feel like you are Danny Glover in every Lethal Weapon movie? I am too old for this. I notice that I hear myself saying this more and more. The sad thing is that I am only 28, soon to be 29. I am going to a show tonight to review the band White Denim at the Larimer Lounge. It should be a real good time but I noticed on the Larimer Lounge website that White Denim does not go on until 11 PM. Back when I was in college and could sleep until noon, 11 was no big deal but when I have to be up for work at 5:30, 11 is a bit daunting. Granted I am still youthful enough that I can run on a good 4-5 hours of sleep from time to time.

This makes me chuckle a bit. Lately I have noticed that things that start super late, I am less apt to do, especially on work nights. Someday I will be able to make this a job and having a real 9-5 will not get in the way of my decision making. In all seriousness though having the headliner not go on until 11 makes little to no sense to me. Especially when you consider the show is 21+. Most 21+ I know work. I realize that they want to keep their bar busy all night but why not put the headliner on at 10 and have them play a two hour set. Instead the band will probably take the stage by 11:15 and will play a 45 minute set. I hope I am wrong in my estimate but this is how I have seen shows go over the years. Either way, I know I will have something exciting to report back in the coming days. Until then Take care.

Monday, January 25, 2010

John Mayer the Money Maker

I read an article last week on John Mayer in Rolling Stone. I know two quick strikes against me. Please keep reading before you judge. It was interesting because he sounds totally broken and out of sorts. The main stream media always associates money and power with happiness. He simply sounded lost.

Reading the article lead me to a conversation with my wife about the relationship between music and headcases. Not that music has a higher rate but it seems that the more musically brilliant one is the more demons they have to wrestle. I think there are two major contributors to this occurrence. The first being that creating music has a lot of similar elements to writing. Writing, whether it is music, an article or even a blog seems to draw things out of an individual that other activities do not. It is almost as if you need to have issues to create great music. That is what makes bubble gum pop music so disposable, there is no connection or staying power.

The other reason I think issues haunt musicians is that many songwriters use music as escapism. It is a vehicle to temporarily take a break from the world around oneself. Sometimes the only thing in the world that can truly understand what you are going through is a song. I realize this sounds ridiculous but it is true. The escapist side of music can be dangerous. It can allow people to not completely address their issues. The issues then boil over when the musician looks in the mirror and wonders what they have become. By avoiding their skeletons in the closet, they do do not recognize themselves.

It is sad. With the way the record industry works you have a lot of people who only see music as money. Sure they say they like music but do they truly like music. Does it pulse through their veins. These people take musicians who deeply care about music and chew them up and spit them out. John Mayer sounds absolutely broken in the Rolling Stone article because he is love song hit maker for Columbia. No more no less. Columbia does not care about his musical talent. They just want him to keep writing songs like "Your Body is a Wonderland." That way everyone can pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves except Mayer.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Blogging

When I decided to start a blog six months ago, I did it because I was selfish. I wanted to be big and have a spotlight on me. I figured getting a blog and writing would be easy. Day 1: Start a blog, Day 2: 1000's of people will want to read you musings. It was a bit idealistic but I never realized how tough it would be to write sometimes. What makes it all the more difficult is that the theme is my life. If there was a more consistent theme such as donut of the day, I would not have to work so hard. I could just say, "long-John" or "double chocolate glazed" and I would be set for the day.

Finding things to talk about in my life is hard. One of the big mistakes I made when starting this is I told friends and family about it. Now that they occasionally check it, I feel like I cannot post some of my more personal feelings. I do not mind a group of total strangers thinking I am a little iced tea short of an Arnold Palmer but not people I converse with regularly. My few pieces advice for those out there who are thinking of starting a blog.

1. Pick a theme. Really any theme works. Then on the days you are lazy you do not have to try so hard.

2. Keep it as secretive as possible. That way your family and friends will not figure out that you are the weirdo with the blog dedicated to Happy Meal toys

3. If you are going to make it about yourself pick a simple formula, like this person here has done. Sorry I am really into this blog, so concise and simple
http://thehigh5.tumblr.com/

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

YesterYear

When I was in college I got a video camera for Christmas one year. I proceeded to do what any college sophomore would do with a video camera, I filmed everything. To be fair not everything. Most of the footage I have is from when we returned from the bars and were acting as typical college males do, immature and drunk.

When I originally filmed, I thought it would be hilarious to watch how stupid everyone acted and that the events would be comical. I watched the footage for the first time tonight in 8 years. There were definitely parts that made me laugh but what jumped out at me the most were the little things. The photos and posters that covered my dorm room walls served as reminders of my interests. There was not a bare space on the wall. A few years ago I was going to trash all of the footage. After watching it, I realize that it is not all about the few embarrassing moments but a reminder of the close knit friendships I had in college. The nostalgia that I took away from the footage is that we were a bunch of strangers coming together and becoming real friends. The best part about video is that it gives you a real sense of what you were like in that phase of your life. Photographs are great but they do not tell the whole story.

To the dismay of my friends, I have decided to keep the footage not because I want to relive college but it is a piece of me. Who knew that something that was supposed to be for making throw away junkie films turned into something more personal.

Friday, January 15, 2010

My Brightest Diamond: Shark Remixes

When I first heard the word remix I was a bit skeptical. Many of the remixes I have listed to over the years have been nothing more than a cheap and easy way for the record companies to make money. Throw down some new backgrounds and you have yourself a remix. My Brightest Diamond’s Shark Remixes are the furthest thing from sounding budget.


My Brightest Diamond’s Shark Remixes
Shark Remixes is a textbook example of the elements that go into creating a high quality remix. You take strong vocals and pair them with a new accompanying sound to create an entirely new song. What makes this remix unique is that the listener gets four remixes by four separate artists. Each artist has their own volume. The four artists are Alfred Brown, DM Stith, Son Lux and Roberto Carlos Lange. Although the remixes are different, they work well together in a set. The common element in all of them is Shara Worden’s strong vocals are pushed to front on all of the tracks. Her voice jumps out of the speakers. All four remixers were good at creating a sound that complements her vocals.


If you are a fan of My Brightest Diamond, I would say this set is a must have. All four volumes offer a little something different. Volume 1 (Brown) has Worden’s vocals paired with a classical orchestral arrangement. Volume 2 (DM Stith), my personal favorite, has more of a dance background with elements of funk laced through it. Volumes 3 (Lux) and 4 (Lange) sound a bit softer with random ambient sounds creating a complex layered background. In the end, the strength of this album is evident when considering all 4 volumes are incredibly well crafted.

Finding My Way

Sorry for the delay. I have not had a lot to post about music wise. I will post my latest review after this.

Something that I have learned is that no matter how comfortable you become in your relationship, there is always room for improvement. My wife and I get along really well 95% of the time. Sure there are things that we both need to work on. I have learned that I need to do a better job listening, communicating my plans and work on a number of smaller things. The other thing that I have really learned is that I am a pleaser. The other night I was trying to help my wife out and offered to go to the store for her so that she would not have to go after work. I am not sure if it is because of the cold weather in the south but buying fruit was insanely expensive. I wanted to please my wife so I swallowed hard and paid the inflated prices.

Here is where the problem lies, the entire time I was thinking to myself that I was being ridiculous for paying so much. Unfortunately everything blew up in my face when I returned home. This happened for 2 reasons. First, I more or less insisted upon going to the store to help out. Second, I showed a complete lack of commonsense by overpaying because I thought I would make my wife happy. I was illustrating the two things I listed above that I need to work on. Not only did I not listen to her very well but I also tried to please her with things she did not want.

2 big strikes and the third one came when we argued. I am a terrible arguer. Too many movies characterize men as callous bastards when it comes to arguing. I on the other hand am super emotional. I feel like fights with my wife always end with me in tears. The issue is I am fatalistic. My mind runs wild. I cannot stop it. It gets itself into a frenzy over what the future of my marriage will hold and the type of person I have become. There is way too much going on. If a 6 dollar bag of grapes. poor decision I know, is going to be the demise of my marriage, then I am in trouble.

Am I the only one who does this? I need to learn to take my foot off the gas and let my mind slow down a bit. Then I can focus on the issue that has presented itself. Sometimes it is not necessary to connect all of the dots. The thing that I have learned in the early years of my marriage is that you can always change and improve yourself. My problem is that I have become complacent and have not put the time into changing the things that I need to change. As long as there is always that fire inside my body to want more, I will be fine.

Sorry for the long post. I am not sure where it went but I needed to vent a bit.