Awesome poem by Jack Kerouac. If you’ve ever heard of the band Railroad Earth… this is what they got their name from.
Passing the Torch
This is an amazing conversation between Kevin Garnett and Celtics legend Bill Russell.
Just watch.
Home for the Summer
Sorry I haven’t posted anything for a while. I’ve been a little out of it since I moved back to Ipswich for the summer. So far everything is going good, except for the fact that I don’t have a job yet. Oh well, I will get one sooner or later.
Besides that, I’ve been lucky enough to catch The Brew a couple of times over the past week. I drove up to Portsmouth, NH to see them play at the Muddy River Smokehouse. After driving in circles around Portsmouth, I finally got a parking spot and made it over to my first 21+ show! The Brew put together two solid sets of music that kept me moving the whole show. When they played The Book and Whos the Boss early in the first set, you could tell it was going to be a fun night. Second set picked up right where they left off and ended with a smoking Radio Swiss. One thing I love about The Brew is their choice of covers, and on this night we got a little David Bowie “Let’s Dance”, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Burnin’ for You” as well as the Indiana Jones theme song, at which point the crowd collectively lost it.
Another thing I love about The Brew is the community of phans that make it to the shows on a regular basis. I have met a bunch of cool people through Brew shows and it’s always nice to see them again.
So on my way home from the show, I realized I need to catch The Brew as much as humanly possible this summer because they really have one of the best things going. One of the best kept secrets as far as music in the Northeast goes if you ask me.
Anyways, I made it out to Earthfest this morning and caught The Brew’s set on the local stage. I wasn’t really sure what to expect because I talked to Joe before the show and he said they were running on very little sleep after playing on the Cape the night before and having to be in Boston at 7am. That being said, they killed it! It was very interesting to sit back and watch more and more strangers get pulled in by the tasty grooves the band was pumping out. They definitely picked up some new phans, which is always great to see.
Here’s a couple pics from the show as well as the setlist.
Earthfest - Boston, MA 5.24.08
Faces
Ride the Valkyre >
Machine >
Looking Down
Groovin’ High
Seen It All
Chance Reaching
Who’s the Boss
Hunter’s Moon
Bill O’ Losing It
That guy is completely nuts.
Colbert had such a good response when that video leaked. Check it out…
Music
Probably the strongest force on this planet.
And easily the single most important part of my life. It’s served a lot of different purposes over the years, and it has always been there for me to fall back on. I think my Dad is responsible for the enormous impact music has had on me. I remember when I was young, we had a stereo and a TV in the living room. There were times when the TV would be shut off and we would listen to something on the stereo. I can’t thank him enough for this. Sometimes I will hear a particular song that will take me back to my childhood. And I’ll start thinking, why does this tune seem so familiar?
Music has that ability to bring you back to certain points in your life. I guess smell can do the same thing, but not to the extent that music does. One of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood is dancing on a pull-out bed with some of my friends at a summer cottage while my parents and their friends hung out and listened to a Moody Blues album. Now, I don’t particularly care for the Moody Blues, but hearing their music today just gives me a comforting feeling. Music definitely has healing powers, and I’m so grateful that I understand that and take advantage of it.
So much of my life is dedicated to music. Whether it’s going out on the weekend to catch a show or just listening to an album on my headphones while I do school work, it’s always there. Even when I’m not listening to music, I will often sing a tune out loud or imagine a song in my head. I think it’s safe to call it an obsession.
Oh well, there are a number of worse things out there that I could be obsessed with.
But like I said, music has always been there for me to fall back on. I know when I got arrested and it seemed like my life was falling apart, I kept listening to a particular Grateful Dead show (3/23/74) and it served as therapy to help me get through all of the drama (which was much more effective than the actual therapist, ha!). And while music can help you get through the tough times, it can also serve as an exclamation point on the high times. There are way too many tunes to mention that have done this for me, but here’s one of them…
That’s a tune called “Hunter’s Moon” by The Brew. The lines “so much for expectancy, but I think I’m where I’m supposed to be” and “just be glad that you’re alive and free” basically sum up my whole life, and the music fits it perfectly. And that’s just one example. There are so many other tunes that have the same impact on me, and I am constantly discovering new ones.
I can’t imagine my life without music, and I feel bad for those who don’t take advantage of what it has to offer. I am really hoping that I can find some type of music-related job when I graduate next year. I keep thinking of that quote “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Well that’s what I want. I would easily sacrifice a good income to be able to experience music as a full-time job every single day of my life.
There’s no way to know what the future has in store for me, but I’m comfortable knowing that music will be there to get me through it. Thanks Pa!
Almost Summer
I can’t wait to get out of here!
The end of this semester has been much crazier than past semesters, and I could definitely use a break from my roommates. In a few weeks I’ll probably be stressed out in the middle of a Friday night rush at Riverview, but right now that actually sounds good. I can’t wait to start making some money!
Anyways, I just finished my last week of classes, and I have a few finals this week. No crazy tests to study for but I have a bunch of projects that I’ve been finishing up this weekend. Luckily, in the middle of the chaos, I got a call from The Brew’s agent about Jam for Johnny. We finally figured out a solid date (Friday, July 25!) and now it’s just a matter of me signing some contracts. This came as a huge relief.
I guess it shouldn’t have been such a big surprise, but I’ve always had this feeling in the back of my mind like “Oh this is going to fall apart somehow.” It hasn’t yet. I guess last years failures are still bothering me, but we have a great night lined up for this year. The day after I heard from the agent, I got in touch with the owner at St. Lawrence Hall and booked the venue. It’s pretty crazy that you can wait months to get a show set up, and then have it all taken care of in a 24 hour period. I guess that’s just how it goes.
I let all of the people in the Jam for Johnny facebook/myspace groups know about the confirmation, and everybody seems really excited. I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the amount of people wanting to volunteer, but I guess that’s a good problem to have. I’m determined to make this more than just a small, local concert. John was an amazing kid and he deserves at least one special night for his friends and family to remember him.
I’m not going to lie, putting together a show (even on a small scale) is a lot of hard work. There is so much that goes into it. Phone calls, decisions, fundraising, stress, patience. But there has been one thing that has kept me going when it seems like the show just wasn’t going to work…
The night before I left for my first day of college freshman year, I had been partying with some friends around a fire somewhere in the woods. John was there. I took off pretty early because me and my mom had to leave around 6am to drive up to Vermont the next day. I guess I forgot to say goodbye to John before I left. Anyways, I make it home and go to bed. Around 2am, I hear someone banging on my bedroom window. I get up to see who it is. It was John. He walked all the way over to my house just to say goodbye to me. Unfortunately, this is one of the last memories I have of John, but it just shows how good of a friend he was.
So whenever I feel unmotivated or start to think that I can’t do this, I just remember that night and keep pushing on. I think this is why I was so disappointed when the concert didn’t work out last summer. This time around, I’m even more motivated to put the show together and silence everyone that said it would never happen.
And now look. I have one of the best young bands on the planet coming to play a show in little Ipswich, MA.
I couldn’t be happier.
Katt Williams - Weed
For the most part I think Katt Williams is wicked annoying, but this stand up is hilarious! Check it out.
My first recording
So my first experience with taping went pretty well. I was able to get a patch into the soundboard (rca male > 2 1/4″ female > Zoom H4). I got a nice clean recording. Unfortunately some of the horns weren’t mic’d as well as others, and the vocals on a couple of the tracks were really loud. This actually helps me with my project. For my presentation, I am going to play the initial recording, and then play a mastered version and talk about how I made it sound better. I’m not going to post the recording on here because the back of the program read “…audio recording of this performance is strictly prohibited.” Woops!
Overall I had a great time taping. I’m going to have to add the Zoom H4 to the list of things to buy once I save up some extra money. Here’s what it looks like…
Taping my First Show
I’ve been wanting to get into taping shows for a while now, but it’s a very expensive hobby and I’ve never had the extra cash to pick up some recording equipment.
I just recently found out that the media center at my college has a Zoom H4 digital recorder that they let students sign out. So today I went over and picked the thing up. I was amazed how good the quality was for such a cheap piece of equipment ($250). The internal mics sound a lot better than I expected.
Anyways, I am heading over to campus tonight to record the school’s jazz band. It’s not exactly what I had in mind for my first show, but it’s a good place to get my feet wet. Did I mention this whole experience is counting as my final project for one of my courses? Pretty sweet. The professor is an awesome guy. He knows more about Audio and Video than I probably ever will. I’ve just been trying to soak up as much as I can.
The plan for tonight is to get a soundboard patch which will give me a much cleaner recording than just using the internal mics. If the recording turns out good and I get permission to share it, I will post a link on here later this week. Wish me luck!
Big Game Tonight
There’s no way the Celtics should have given up two games to the Atlanta Hawks. I mean, come on. We beat them by 20 points every time we face them in the regular season, and now we meet in the playoffs and they tie the series 2-2?!? I’m interested to see how the boys respond tonight.
We are either going to get this straightened out and make a run at another title, or we are going to get bounced by the 8th seed just like Dallas did last year. If you have any interest in Boston sports, you better be watching tonight! This video always gets me pumped up for the games.
I had chills when I saw this opening night. You knew we had something special. I just hope we don’t blow it.
