Diary of the Insomniac Musician

Musical Catch-22

2010-11-17T17:02:00.000-08:00

Hello my friend(s - I hope). I write to you tonight on the edge of my seat with nerves. This Sunday at 7:30pm is the UMBC Symphony Fall concert. It's featuring a performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. This piece has been brutal to my face every rehearsal and I am quite nervous about being able to sustain through it and survive. It's ironic that I would use the word survive with this piece. Shostakovich was trying to do just that when he composed the work. He was trapped in the most outrageous story of a musical catch-22 of which I have ever heard.

I guess I should explain what I mean by a musical catch-22. Musicians, especially those who make a career of it, are always in an on-going battle between playing or writing what they like against playing or writing what will make them money. So you can be happy and broke, or miserable, and not quite as broke. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. For example, I hate playing church services normally because the music is drab, the directors tend to take themselves and their choir of ten old people way too seriously, and the pay is then low because they try to make you feel guilt for charging a church for their services. But it's pay. (To churches like that, remember you hired me, not vice-versa. You'd pay my brother to fix a clogged toilet so you pay me to make people not sleep during your sermons. Anyways, this is about to break my rule of no personal feelings so I better stop.) Last Christmas, I had come close to finding that happy medium. We had decent pay, a cool director and we got to play some of our own arrangements. That was a bit of luck on our part. Shostakovich fixed his musical catch-22 with with a stroke of genius, and a slight shot of luck. Here's the brief background to this piece.

Shostakovich's previous composition, an opera, was a real stinker to the Soviet officials. See, even the arts were monitored in Communist Russia. If a piece was seen as insulting to the Russian people, it was struck down, and sometimes even the composer would vanish. So Shostakovich had a major patron, a guy paying him to write music. After the opera, they tagged a leaky treason charge on the guy, and before he knew it, he was in front of the firing squad. Shostakovich's friends had also started to disappear after meeting with some government officials. So, here is Shostakovich, who loves to write cynical parodies of Nationist marches and incorporate them into his work and insult the Stalin regime. He needs to write a piece that doesn't do that so he doesn't find himself in Siberia, but he can't compromise his artistic integrity and feeling that as a human, he has the right to speak out. He also has to write to make money, but also to not just disappear. So he now has the granddaddy of all musical catch-22's.

Shostakovich at this point, even has fellow composers watching over his compositions and assisting him. This is where he demonstrates his genius (besides when you hear the performance this Sunday at the UMBC Recital Hall). He starts looking back at the music of one of his heroes, Gustav Mahler. Shostakovich was being told to simplify his music. Mahler was the master of taking something extremely simplistic and growing it into a massive work of majestic proportions. So, Shostakovich takes this concept, and mixes it with ambiguity. He establishes a simple theme of minor sixths that even reduces itself in a few bars, to three short repeated notes, reminiscent of Beethoven's Fifth. This simple motif of repeated notes carries you through the whole symphony. Shostakovich works in his march parodies, but they are more subtle. The Communist regime hails them as great Nationalist marches while the audience hears a march that is almost childish. The Communists heard Shostakovich rebuilding himself as a "Soviet Composer" while the public heard his rebirth as a more subtle satirist and related to the pain the government had put him through. He had done it. Not only did he write a successful piece that both sides liked, he didn't find himself in the goulag after writing it.

In no ways do I think any of us could ever relate to Shostakovich's amazing tale of thumbing his nose at Stalin and making Stalin like it. But I feel his pain. This performance leaves me in a catch-22 of sorts. Every other day, while on the treadmill, I burn calories to this amazing piece. I listen to a recording I got from the library of Leopold Stokowski pounding the London Philharmonic through this piece of ambiguous satire. I listen to their brass and strings both duel the incredibly challenging parts. I almost think Shostakovich wanted to put the performers through the strife that he was facing. But I listen, and I hear the big money maker pros make mistakes. This piece, in itself, asks the performer to make a deadly choice. Do you go for perfection, or do you go for energy? The piece is forty-five minutes long and the brass gets the third movement off. But the demands when playing are very high. The parts are intense, and normally extremely important. I know a lot of you would be asking, "Well Rich, all orchestra trumpet parts are like that, why is this one so critical?" My answer isn't going to be clear. Just know that it is very different. When looking at the part, and listening to the piece as much as I have, you can tell Shostakovich knew exactly what he wanted. How do I sound triumphant, yet mocking, but precise, bold, and chilling? This piece, unlike the marathon that is Tchaikovsky's 5th, or Howard Hanson's virtual horn and trumpet concerto that is his 2nd symphony, it requires a trumpet player to play with almost reckless abandon. You need to just put your sound out there. You can't take a single second of this symphony off. My stand-partner and I are trading some parts back and forth to avoid complete exhaustion, but this piece was written to exhaust. When I'm not playing I still have to follow along as if I am playing otherwise the ideal of the piece is lost. This is the first piece I've played in symphony that I learned more about from listening, than rehearsing. The London Philharmonic didn't get all the right notes. Neither did the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting. But this is the great catch-22 that Shostakovich created when he wrote the piece that solved his own problem. And it makes you ask yourself as a musician, what do you hope to achieve in your playing when posed with the choice? Right notes or the right feeling? All the recordings I could find of this piece are live. None of them made in a studio. What does that portray to you? That the audience is needed? The energy required to convey this piece can only be captured in the concert hall? One music critic said that the piece unifies the audience and then takes them on a collective emotional wave. I think it does that for the performer as well. In this case, what do you really do? You can only rehearse the tough parts so much before they kill you. The rehearsals have the brass section frothing at the mouth for the conductor to not stop us in rehearsal. I think this means we're ready to make our choice. You may ask what my choice is in this situation? Well, for the struggle that Shostakovich endured to give the world this magnificent piece, I'm going to give him everything I've got. I'll meet the rest of you on the lower right hand side of the page.

Bring the Boys Back Home

2010-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hello my strong, devoted, loyal reader. I am writing to you yet again. As my previous blog entry had mentioned, Melanie and I were attending the 10/10/10 performance of "The Wall: Live" tour with Roger Waters. This is quite a ceremonious entry as it is my 50th. It is also the 30th anniversary of my favorite album, "The Wall" and I am extremely tickled I get to write about a live performance of the album in this historic (only for myself) entry.

I must immediately start off with "WOWEEE OH MY GOD THAT CONCERT WAS AWESOME, I NEVER WANT TO GO TO ANOTHER SHOW IN MY LIFE" kind of statement. At straight face value, this concert was a spectacle of epic proportion. The backing band for Mr Waters was quite proficient and talented. My only real gripe with them was the lead guitar tone was a bit too harsh, as I am used to Mr Gilmour's more mellow tone. The stage effects and projections upon the 200 foot wall were dazzling and enthralling. The real thing that made the concert so moving though, was the deep, personal connection the performer has with the material. Roger was sharing with us his childhood, his political and social beliefs, and his struggle. It is rare to find a musician to be so blunt with his expression and truly wear his emotions on his musical sleeve. He smacks you in the face with the realities of being a child of a soldier and his battles with social pressures and authority, and his conflict with his fame. This piece is about nothing but anti-establishment. To imagine an artist with the courage to perform such an anti-government, anti-commercialism work in the nation's capital is quite courageous.

With that said, I of course have to call Mr Waters out. I spend $70 for a tour program and a tour t-shirt. Mr Waters was selling his tour shirts for $45 and the program for $25. Live Nation is selling these items on their website for $10 less. If I knew he was using this money to feed the starving Africans projected on his wall, or to put the poor crying child reunited with their G.I. father through college, I'd have no issue paying these prices. I stood in line to purchase these items with the rest of Mr Waters' "iSheep", clamoring to get my hands on one of the five male t-shirt patterns. Mr Waters also was selling three female shirt patters, a hoodie, a demin shirt, coffee mugs, two styles of hats, a music CD, a tour program, and a book on the making of the tour. Also, key-chains and metal pins were available. These items being sold by the man who hated the commercialism of music and fame. Who, in the films shown, placed iPod earbuds on dictators and victims with terms such as "iHate" and the previously mentioned "iSheep" on the screen.

Along these lines, but in a deeper sense, the basic concept of the concert and album is the band building a barrier between it and the audience. The lyrics have issues with fame and fortune and glitz of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. The group spends one hour of music building a wall to shield themselves from us. Then after intermission they do two numbers from behind the wall, and suddenly there's Mr Waters before us, walking in front of the wall. It seems to me now, that Roger has come to terms with his fame and fortune and cannot pull himself away now from his crowd. Why else would one build such a large wall, bash the concept behind fans spending money to see him in the first place, just to then stand in front of the wall as if now one is proud of their creation, and sell outrageously priced, yet very diverse tour merchandise? I feel now that Roger Waters is a changed man. In no way is this a criticism of the musicianship or the showmanship demonstrated in this performance, but just a moral dilemma that plagued me on the long metro ride home, and all this following Monday. If he truly hated the stuff he preached against in his music, why would he present it? Why would he charge for it? Why would he make such a production of it? Why would he create it to begin with? My humble opinion is he simply created a monster that took control of him, and he felt presenting it would help.

These things could be the root cause of the divide between him and David Gilmour. This album was really the starting source of contention between them. With Roger now taking "The Wall" on tour again, and presenting it in such a way, I am left with several questions. Has Roger woken up and accepted his fame or is he trying to live both sides of the fence, and is it possible he always has tried to live with both teams of being anti-establishment but in reality is a big part of the establishment? And if Roger has changed and is doing this tour just to celebrate the wonderful music, gripping story, and fantastic concept, why can't he admit David was so important to it, and reunite with him and Nick Mason? At this point why keep the quibble going? Why not tour together? Who would be hurt by a simple mutual apology around some coffee, get the managers talking and plot out a mega tour? Would Gilmour possibly feel like he's submitting by playing "The Wall" again? This concert had such energy, I literally teared up about 5 times during it, and actually lost control and began to cry a little during "Tear Down the Wall" and "Outside the Wall". Why can't these two men of incredible talent tear down their wall? I am in no means saying that it is a fan's right to have their band together at all times. I'm a musician, I know what it is like to professionally disagree with someone so badly that you can no longer stand playing with them, yet you drink a beer with them after. I am simply posing the question of who wouldn't benefit? The fans get one of the most influential art rock bands of all time back together. The agents and merchandising people make millions. Roger Waters finally has his music performed exactly how he wants. Don't forget he credits himself as writing "The Wall" and "The Final Cut" and having it performed by Pink Floyd. As a fan you see that as pretentious but musically, that means he chose them for his piece. He wanted them to perform it. As a composer I can see Roger's point. I can't see what is in it for David Gilmour except for maybe coming out of the decision as the bigger man, willing to forgive Roger for his actions, and play the music of which so many of us fans just can't get enough. So for us, music history, and yourselves, bring down the wall, end the war, and bring the boys back home.

In The Flesh

2010-10-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

Greetings, my loyal reader. I won't insult you with an apology for not writing. I write tonight because I finally feel inspired to write again. A bunch of things have happened to me in my musical universe that should be shared, and my opinions are blossoming into fertile flower beds of statements that don't really matter, nor will anyone really care about, but this comes with the territory of having a blog.

So, some major things have changed in my life. I have lost a significant amount of weight. I know in the manifesto of this blog I said I would never mention personal life issues, but this has affected me musically. Mainly, my trumpet playing, I feel, has improved dramatically. I have less resistance and my upper register doesn't sound so strained. My endurance has increased as well. I have dropped 135 pounds of weight off my lungs, torso and upper body. Before, holding the trumpet up was enough of a stress. This has led me to successful performances of Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony, a long production of "The Secret Garden" and currently great rehearsals of Shostakovich's 5th symphony.

The weight loss has also made attending concerts and performances much more bearable. I was able to attend my first Broadway show. Melanie and I saw "The Addams Family" starring Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kevin Chamberlin. All three we spectacular, and although catchy, the musical was a bit cliche. With such a great and flexible and outlandish medium as the Addams Family, I thought it could have been a bit more "out there".

Also, with comfortable seating, Melanie and I (noticing a theme? She has become quite the little concert goer herself) attended two symphonic multimedia concerts. First, we saw "Planet Earth Live". The Baltimore Symphony partnered up with George Fenton, who composed the soundtrack to the amazing documentary series, to present clips of the show, with their accompaniment played live. Mr. Fenton conducted and narrated the program, explaining how he was moved by certain footage to inspire the music that he composed. We definitely enjoyed the polar bear segment. His music at times would make you laugh, or just well up with tears. The second multimedia symphonic concert we attended was "Star Wars: In Concert". This concert we straight up didn't like. Narrated by Anthony Daniels of C3PO fame, this concert didn't really teach you anything of the inspirations for the soundtrack but merely retold the story of all 6 movies with a series of movie trailer footage mash-ups and selected medleys from the soundtrack. It would have been much better if they took direct full scenes from the films and played the soundtrack to that scene. We only became interested at the end when they began showing behind the scenes footage from making the films, such as artist sketches for different character concepts. Frankly, the subway ride with Boba Fett and Obi-Wan was more fun. Also, I was pretty amused by the line that had a solid 200 people in it, just to get an autograph from "Darth Vader".

Now, also during this time off from the blog, I attended concerts of previously two of my favorite live bands to see: AC/DC and Iron Maiden. We revisited AC/DC on their second stop to the Verizon Center in Washington, DC simply because I had the money and Ticketmaster offered me seats up close, almost floor level. They are a totally different experience up close, as opposed to in the rafters. Melanie and I of course donned the flashing red devil horns and screamed our heads off. AC/DC this time sounded a bit more fresh, and played more classics and less from their new album, which was definitely welcomed. Sadly, though, when seeing Iron Maiden this past time, they did the exact opposite. I barely recognized anything from their setlist. They perfomed songs from their new album, which at the time hadn't been released. Dream Theater opened for them. Little did I know that it would be the last time to see Dream Theater play with Mike Portnoy for quite awhile as he has now left the band. The saving grace of this show was my weight loss, as the Wicker Man Iron Maiden tour shirt I purchased fits me.

Just a few weeks ago, I had an experience that really refreshed my musical spirit. I participated in the Rusty Musicians program with the Baltimore Symphony. I won't make this sound impressive, as all I had to do was be one of the first like 30 trumpet players to e-mail the symphony, but I will say that it was immensely rewarding. I got to have 40 minutes on stage in a rehearsal atmosphere with two trumpet players of the BSO, and conductor Marin Alsop leading a group rehearsal of Brahm's "Academic Overture". The only way I can explain this experience to non-musicians is that imagine your boss at work acted as if they were a partner and was in the situation with you, but also could clearly in one sentence, tell you exactly what they want you to do, how to do it, and make you feel like you're the office hero for doing it. It was so rewarding, and I got a nice compliment from one of the pro's to "play louder". In trumpet speak that's a compliment. It invigorated me to want to play more, and for a second made me think I could actually play in a symphony orchestra of that level. Again, without the weight loss, I would have never even taken the initiative to send the e-mail to get to have this amazing chance.

Melanie has also gotten me to loosen up about pop music as I have now become an official fan of Lady gaga and Florence + the Machine after watching the Video Music Awards on MTV a few weeks ago. I have to admit Lady Gaga's character, plus catchy hooks could make her a big landmark on American music if she can keep the creativity up. Though, I do still hate Auto-Tune. I'm looking at you Justin Bieber. And as a quick note, thanks to Melanie, I have began listening to the Beatles after a 18 year hiatus. Happy Steve?

To wrap up this very lengthy, and self gratifying blog entry, I predict that this weekend I will see a concert that will change my life. This weekend, Melanie and I are seeing Roger Waters' "The Wall: Live" concert at the Verizon Center. This is as close as Mel and I will ever get to see Pink Floyd. Though, I am sad that him and David Gilmour couldn't have buried the hatchet for this tour, my wallet thanks them for not doing so, because I'm sure the ticket price would have been double. "The Wall" is my favorite album by my favorite band. The tension between the band mates rings through in the album as the album deals with the band's inability to handle fame, yet also has a deeper message with hatred and war. This show should be unbelievable as they construct the wall.

This blog entry itself has been about me tearing down my wall of sorts and shedding the barrier that has been keeping me from enjoying life and music for so long. I have my regrets of not doing this in college when I was still competitive in my music and could have gone to grad school. But at the same time, it took help to tear it down. I needed the accomplice to help break a hole in the wall so I could escape the prison my own thoughts and weight had formed. A few years ago, I was saying Good Bye Cruel World, and that I was Comfortably Numb. But now, after The Trial, I'm Outside the Wall.

Crazy Concerts

2009-08-09T20:32:00.001-07:00

As I drove my girlfriend home tonight and daydreamed (at night) of the upcoming vacation to Maine and Boston, I thought of all the crazy stuff I've witnessed. Though I'm virtually a noob still at concert attending, I've seen a decent share of crazy fans, and crazy performers. So without further ado, here's the top 10 crazy things I've seen.

10. The Smoker - AC/DC
During "Back in Black", while everyone is going crazy, this dude just came up and sat next to me, lit a Marlboro and just sat on the step and just nodded along, like all is right in the world. Security didn't care because too much insanity was going on down on the floor.

9. The misguided Drunk - Rush
So Rush is wrapping up their second set at Nissan Pavilion with their famous instrumental, "YYZ". This drunk guy wandered over towards us and we all learned that apparently, there are lyrics to this wonderful song. Then proceeded to try and become our friend, and flirt with Beth.

8. King Kong guitarist - Airborne
I was hypnotized by the volume and power these guys brought, but somewhere between the hippy girl's seizure like dancing and the beer being sprayed on the audience, the lead singer and guitarist climbs the 9ft tall speaker tower on the side of the stage at the Recher and released a hellish solo on to the masses.

7. The Nazi in a trench coat - The Killers
There we are, an icy night in Fairfax, Virgina, rocking out in the Patriot Center. In the middle of a song, this guy climbed on stage wearing shorts, a trench coat, and to finish of the insanity plea, a black Nazi combat helmet. He takes the stage and begins dancing. Since no one acted on it we assumed it was some abstract weird happening the Killers put together, since they tend to be a more of a European phenom than American. Brandon Flowers stops singing to say "Do we have security in this place? Anyone know who this is?" Security promptly sweeped in, landing a devastating shoulder block and dragging the guy off stage.

6. The Monster Mosh - Motorhead
So to make a long story short, during Motorhead's set at the Metal Master's Tour at the Nissan Pavilion, about 1/3 of the lawn area turned into a massive mosh pit, involving what looked to be up to 300 people at one point. It was a breath taking scene, that was scary, yet fun to witness.

5. Body Count - Metal Masters Tour
Long story short again, Beth and I were keeping a count of the people being thrown out by security from the pavilion. We stopped counting around 30 or so. An all around insane show. Never mind the two friends who were on the blanket next to us who were hugging and laughing during Motorhead, but by the time Heaven and Hell hit the stage, they were throwing punches at each other. MMmmm Alcohol.

4. Dude in the Diaper calls the shots - George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic
My girlfriend and I attended this show, which was incredibly long, and incredibly awesome. But something magical was going on. We were watching a Jam band with just a leader calling what to play. This leader was not George, but a dude wearing nothing but a diaper and some Nike's. Mel and I had both scoped him out on youtube, but never realized how important he was. The music was so groovalicious, I could barely walk out.

3. Boob Cam - Ozzy Osbourne
So while Zakk Wylde was soloing away at the Verizon Center, the camera for the big screen basically panned and scanned the audience for bare chests of women to broadcast on the big screen. They would zoom in on a hot chick until she would expose her self. According to one innocent soul I told of this, "Thats illegal".

2. Pot Chimney - Aerosmith
So the blanket in front of us on the lawn at Nissan never really seemed to be paying attention to the show, having never stood, or anything. They just sat in a circle, and as the show went on, a thicker and thicker plume of smoke came from the "stew pot" of hippies. Before I knew it, I had a heavy duty contact high and felt as if I was 10 feet tall, and I was pretty hungry.

1. Get off my boyfriend - Iron Maiden
After the show, walking out amongst the bikers and metal heads, a fist flew past my face, and into the back of the neck of the guy in front of me. He then turns and looks at me, but I quickly duck as the dude behind me admits to throwing the punch. But, before the guy can retaliate, this thick, butch woman jumps on the dude's back and puts him in a sleeper hold, better known as by old school WWF fans as, The Million Dollar Dream. She then begins screaming "Get off him! Don't you touch him, Back off!" But it didn't much matter as the dude was turning red, then purple, as his eyes closed. From the dialogue, it was obvious that it was the dude's own girlfriend beating up her boyfriend to spare him an "ass whoopin'". We rolled out quick after that, as we watched drunk and stoned headbangers try to find their car in the field. I did overhear this nugget of a line "Why don't we just call the police and ask if they have seen your car?" "Yeah, that's a great idea, I'll tell them I can't find my green Dodge Neon with the Deceptacon logo sticker on the trunk. You're a genius."

Well folks, that's my list, I hope you enjoyed it. It felt good to write such a light-hearted entry for once. I didn't feel compelled to write about Michael Jackson, being that about 6 months ago or so, I had wrote, almost forecasting his death, how he would be this generations great loss to music.

This list is why I go to these shows. Its all about the music and the people and sharing it with them. Good night. Thanks for reading.

Somewhere Everybody Should Be

2009-05-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hello my great and loyal reader(s)! I hope this entry finds you well. I am writing with the world blocked out by some lovely AC/DC vinyl plugging my ears from the outside world and a decent sized grin on my face. This past weekend and week has been pretty spectacular so far. There was a broad spectrum of performers and yet another wonderful shopping experience.

Friday night, I attended the stand-up comedy show of Louis CK. I know that this blog is about music but I feel stand-up comedy, whether clean or dirty, is all about the proper delivery and timing, much like music. Louis is a master of this. He starts the show with material you wouldn't think would be good to open. He avoids the tacky "How are you guys tonight?" start. He opens with an awkward joke that forces you into his world right away. Much like an established rock band will start with a song the fans know, but not the big hit that you would close with. Louis works the audience into a frenzy of laughter driven tears by the end by just piling on the pressure with more and more outrageous stream of thoughts. Unlike older comedians, you have to pay attention to Louis to tell really when one joke ends and another begins. Before I move on though, I must thank him for stopping the show and checking on my safety when the folding chair I was in gave way and I hit the floor. I was still laughing, for the win.

Sunday, I made my way to Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore to see the Wilson sisters: Heart. After having fun in the Hard Rock Cafe looking on John Lee Hooker's guitar, and complaining about how more mainstream, modern metal groups turn their bass up too high to appeal to those who like Hip-Hop, we got our prime spot on the lawn in the front, dead center to hear the opening act, Danielia Cotton. I really wish I had not heard her. Her band was mediocre at best, and her singing a bit too over the top. A bit too screaming for me. I call it "fake" pipes. Screaming is different than the high note you're going for and frankly, it was the first time at any rock concert I had wished for ear plugs. My ear drums were ringing quite bad. I was quite glad when she was done.

I should mention this is my dad's first rock concert without it being a cover band. He was in awe watching the roadies switch the stage in minutes for Heart. But his real look of awe came when Heart actually came out and brought the house down. They didn't sound quite as good as they did last summer, but I chalk it up to three factors:
1. Saturday night they did a show in Niagara Fall, NY, so they were on the road for 8 hours the night before to get to Baltimore.
2. Pier Six does not have the sound system that Nissan Pavilion has.
3. Cheap Trick is a much better opening act and removes some of the pressure.
So with that said, Heart still tore it up. They did a bit of a set I didn't expect, with them doing a few Led Zeppelin covers, including "Angels of Avalon", "Going to California" and "Immigrant Song". Fear not though, Heart still hammered home "Magic Man", "Barracuda", and "Crazy on You". This was pretty much the craziest I had seen Pier Six. I feel though that a lot of people who wanted to go were scared by the cheapest seat being $30. They didn't consider that Pier Six isn't a stadium, its not big. Its an intimate venue and can provide some gems by allowing you to see your favorite groups up close and personal.

Tuesday began with a lovely lunch and then a second trip to Trax on Wax. The owner, Gary, was again friendly and very welcoming and thanked me in person for my blog entry. No need to thank me though, its my obligation to write and share my experiences in the music world. Since it was before pay day and there was a concert that night, I had to be a little tight on the wallet, but still walked out with the previously mentioned AC/DC record. a very nice, practically mint condition original pressing of "High Voltage", which is my second favorite AC/DC album and my favorite with Bon Scott. This album though definitely was remixed when moved to CD. The album is rough, and sounds like it was recorded in a bar, which just adds to the flair of AC/DC being your bad-ass bar band. I also grabbed "Sabotage" by Black Sabbath. This is the sixth album by Black Sabbath. This album is a bit softer than the usual Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne fare. I feel lucky though that I got a version of it from the early pressings that included a 23 second secret track at the end of Ozzy goofing around in the studio. Quite entertaining!

The second half of Tuesday included taking the subway into DC with my pal Beth to see Keane. Keane is one of the very few modern pop groups that I like. I am not fond of them no longer being a trio, but I cannot complain. They bring a prime show to you. Keane's lead singer, Tom Chaplin, has a killer voice, and is the only singer I've seen that could possibly fill Freddie Mercury's shoes, vocally. This band brought a wave of positive energy over the crowd I've never seen. Keane was accompanied by two opening acts, Helio Sequence and Mat Kearney. Helio Sequence is a duo of drums and guitar. They didn't really introduce themselves, and kind of assumed everyone already knew who they were. They also seemed hung up in having lots of synth backing tracks which took away from what skills they were presenting to us. It also caused their songs to sound identical to me, at least in a live setting. Mat Kearney followed them and he really wowed me. Hes not my type of music but he brought a stage presence which was quite nice. My only gripe is that he has a 4-piece band backing him. Come up with a band name and give them credit, considering you're playing rhythm guitar 3 and singing. There were two other guitarists there, both with nice voices, bass and drums. Let them in and come up with a name. Other than that, dude you are golden and going to make lots of money.

Keane though really rocked Constitution Hall, which is not suited for this kind of show at all. Kean brought a simple stage set up with no screens or anything like that. They didn't need it, the whole band is charismatic. They were just straight up fun to watch. I was transfixed much like my father was during Heart. In 72 hours I went from seeing a band a bit past its prime, just doing shows for fun, to seeing bands that are still fresh, young, and having to fight for fans. Might I add that initially at the Keane show, I felt old and out of place. Then I noticed a 40-something man singing his heart out the next section over, and below me a 40-something woman basically doing her impression of Joan of Arc from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" throughout the whole show. This made me feel better.

Nothing against my friend Beth at all, but the tickets were initially to be for my girlfriend and I to attend, with Keane being one of her favorite bands. I did find myself enjoying this concert a little differently due to company. Beth is a great concert partner and always will be. This was to be my girlfriends second concert; her first was the George Clinton mega-show. I think I would have seen this show through fresher eyes, had I been with a concert noobie and a really big Keane fan. Beth found herself enjoying the groups and discovering them the same way I did. The concert really isn't just about who is playing, but with whom you are sharing. The music is an experience and Keane was one of the first things my darling girlfriend and I shared. It would be a slight if I didn't mention this point in this blog entry. I'm truly grateful Beth came along, as it would have killed me to waste a ticket and Beth is always a lot of fun, and open minded and flexible to whatever we're going to see. But I cannot deny that I was thinking how the show might have been different to me if Melanie had attended.

With that, I sign off for the night. "High Voltage" has played out and the arm on the old Pioneer phonograph has retracted. I leave you tonight with a video of Keane from DAR Constitution Hall, doing my favorite song by them, "Somewhere Only We Know". Have a good night. This one's for you ;-) Enjoy the girl singing terribly out of tune at the start, but who cares, everyone in the building was on cloud nine by this point.

Trax on Wax

2009-05-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

hello all. This is just going to be a quick plug for the new vinyl record store that has opened in Catonsville. I Just visited this place and give it a full endorsement. With an incredible selection of used vinyl available for extremely reasonable prices, this place was a breath of fresh air to me. I now have a new place to continue my vinyl collecting. For $20, I was able to get "Odds and Sods" and "Who's Next" by The Who, "Magical Mystery Tour", and "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles, Steve Perry's solo album, "Escape" by Journey, and "Spirit" by Spirit. Clearly a great mix of stuff for great prices. There was no hassle from staff, and plenty of space to browse. The entire collection is alphabetical order, to where you feel like you must put an album right back in its place. The best part is a turntable available for public use, so you can test the albums before you buy, but unlike Record and Tape Traders, everything looked to be at least in playable condition. They will also convert vinyl to CD for you, I'm sure for a charge though. This is also to announce that I am going to give the Beatles another chance, thus why I bought those two albums. I will keep you posted on the result!

I beg you in the area to give this place a check. Buy something too, the owner is nice as anything!

On another note, this week, I will be taking Mom to go see Heart. Lets hope they're as spectacular as they were last summer!

Good night friends!

It's Hard

2009-04-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, I'm sorry I have not written lately. This blog entry though is just going to be some observations and an update of musical events going on.

First off, the UMBC Symphony concert is this weekend, which will again feature my brass quintet in the lobby playing for guests waiting for the doors to open. We decided that it would be fun to add a drummer to the mix since we decided to do an all rock set this time. I'm very excited to debut the arrangement of the Overture from "Tommy". We are also doing "Under Pressure" by Queen, and "More Than a Feeling" by Boston.

The Symphony concert itself is only utilizing me for the Triumphant March from Aida, which is a lot of fun and a whole lot of playing. I'm going to miss having my Tuesday nights occupied by music. This problem is exaggerated by the fact that my summer musical has been canceled. I really won't HAVE to touch my trumpet again until September, but you know that won't happen.

On the arranging front, I have been on a Who kick with "Happy Jack" and "Behind Blue Eyes" now under my belt and in the quintet binder. While on this exploration of The Who, I learned that they really enjoy the key of D, and really how important Keith Moon was to the group. His complicated, and stream of conscious style of drumming really highlighted the rhythmic pulses of the group and is evident as the back bone of the compositional style of the group. This is easiest heard when listening to the album, "Its Hard" which featured Kenney Jones on drums since Keith had died. This was their second album without Moon. The sound of the band is still pretty good, but its missing a dynamic and the group sounds much more conservative. After listening to this album, I decided to put on "The Who by Numbers", which was the next to last album Keith Moon played on before his death. The entire album just has this pure energy that is generated by his rumbling toms and a budding anticipation of a massive fill happening at any time. I discuss this because I also learned today Mike Myers (of Shrek fame) will be playing Keith Moon in an upcoming biopic. I fear this could be terrible and not work at all. He kind of resembles him but I am in no mood to hear Mike Myers' terrible english accent for 2 hours in a serious manner. I can't even stand the Austin Powers stuff. I don't think he has the acting chops to portray the deep and complex battles Keith Moon had with chemical addictions. What would be next here? Casting Seth Rogan to play Roger Daltrey because of his curly hair? This smells of a terrible idea, but you know I will go see it to pay my respect to one of the best bands ever and the best rock drummer ever.

Good day my friends. I leave you with a video of Eminence Front with a much better drummer, Zak Starkey. He's the son of Ringo Starr, and former student of Keith Moon

Funk You Very Much

2009-02-22T20:16:00.001-08:00

Greetings friends. I am back from a short break due to not having a computer. I write to you tonight about the last two concerts I attended.

First is the concert put on by The Killers. They are touring currently to push their third album (Sawdust was a collection of unreleased tracks), "Day & Age". My feelings for the album was that it was very synth heavy, and I wasn't sure if it would work for a live show. I was very wrong. The Killers now how really put together a great, top class, live show. Brandon Flowers has developed a great front man persona, a mix of Springsteen, Bowie, and a hint of Mercury. The only hang up is that they only had three albums from which to perform. Due to this, their set list was a bit predictable, but always enjoyable, as I really can't think of a song by them I don't like. The show was your routine opener for 45 minutes, then The Killers played for 2 hours.

The opener, M83, was pretty good. Their stage presence rubbed me the wrong way as neither vocalist faced the stage. Their songs with lyrics weren't very entertaining. This band really shined in its instrumentals, especially with the beast they have on drums!

The second concert I attended was with a concert virgin, and she lost her cherry the best way possible. We saw George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. They were hot. I can't describe it much more than that. The opener, Let the Monkey Go, played for an hour, then Parliament came out and played for four hours! FOUR HOURS! Four glorious, groovilicous, galactic funk oozing over the celestial spirits jiving all at once. GC and P-Funk hit all their big hits; "Aquaboogie", "Flashlight", "Stomp", "Atomic Dog", plus just letting the band go in these jam sessions that were inspired by some chemical stimulation. With massive solos, especially in "Maggot Brain" played by Mike Hampton on guitar, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy for hours without a break. It was the first concert I left early. I couldn't take anymore. They exhausted me. The party was intense! I was disoriented when leaving Ramshead Live to where I had to lean on the wall to put my jacket on. Mind you, I had nothing to drink. This was my first concert at Ramshead, and I have to say I was impressed with the venue. Good sound, simple layout, great views. My friend ended up having the time of her life. She got to see Gary "Starchild" Shider (dude in a diaper) in person. What's amazing about him is he wears a diaper and Nike's on stage. Strange this is, you don't find it strange. He calls the shots in the band, he calls out the sections and the solos. You can't question his authority and his choice of apparel. You basically say to yourself "Dude in the diaper is the head honcho, that's that."

I have currently started working on a new musical, "Big River" which opens March 13. I get to play some country music, which is a fun change. Also, this Sunday, UMBC Symphony performs at 8pm. Hear me play Rimsky-Korsakov!! Check these things out.

I'd like to take a moment to just apologize for not writing as much in my blog. Things have picked up for me in other areas of my life which has made me not as prolific. But on the horizon, theres the Keane concert and potentially seeing Twisted Sister and Extreme. Don't think I've forgotten about you, loyal reader. There's plenty of fun on the horizon. As for now I wish you good night, and that you don't miss your vocal cues.

Don't play those bars, I'm going to do an impromptu solo

2009-01-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. I do apologize again for the long break, but the holidays and a last minute production sucked away all my writing time, and also my creative juices. I am back though to write some of my recent thoughts on prior musical events. I will start with the most negative.

I just finished playing in a pit for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum". Well, not really finished, it wrapped up two weeks before Christmas, but you know what I mean. This was probably one of the worst run musicals in which I've ever participated. From a cast that didn't have one single singing voice, to a musical director with very little experience, and stage director who could only say "Make it more Broadway" as her only criticism, its a miracle that every night sold out the 80 seat theater space. I must make this statement because its terribly true, but please do not take it as a homophobic remark, but the show would have made much more sense if the courtesans for the house of Marcus Lycus had been portrayed by drag queens. Really, the worst decision of the whole production was to put the "orchestra" (I put quotes because it was a violin, cello, drum kit, piano, trumpet, trombone, clarinet/sax, and flute, that's it. This is a Sondheim show, he writes big) in a catwalk in the back of the hall, in a corner that was acoustically dead. This means they could not hear us, and we could not hear them. So pitch, tempo, concept of the whole show was just about lost, except for violent, and loud pounding on the synthesizer piano. The lack of a conductor for proper cuing was also a poor choice. It was hard to hear vocal cues which is essential for every orchestra member to hear if there's no conductor. I cannot complain too much because the show was successful overall and people were working hard and doing their best to pull it off, and I did make the most money I've ever made playing trumpet from this production.

So onward to other topics. I watched the poor lip sync'ing inaugural concert on January 19th on HBO. The only performer who did not lip sync and should have was Bono with U2. Some highlights of the show though was when Stevie Wonder made Usher and Shakira, and just about everyone else involved look like amateurs, Pete Seeger trying to lead people in a sing-a-long but people failing to grasp how that works, and Bono doing a one-liner about peaceful Palestinians that made everyone seem a little uncomfortable. The low lights were many, such as James Taylor singing with four other people who were indistinguishable, John Mellancamp walking 20 feet away from the microphone and not playing his guitar, yet playback sounded like he was still doing both, and Garth Brooks. All of Garth Brooks. First was Garth Brooks being set up as "The Sound of American Radio". Then was Garth Brooks singing American Pie, but avoiding the really fun and artistic verses. Then the topper. Garth Brooks performing "Shout" by The Isley Brothers. Again, a disclaimer as I'm not racist or anything, but Garth Brooks, you're not black. You should not have gone within a fallout radius of that song, or any other song published by an R&B or Doo-Wop group ever. Snoop Dogg would never sing "Ring of Fire", you don't sing "Shout". I happen to know Ronald Isley is very much alive and performing. Why could he not do his own song? I'm sure you call him and ask him, he'd do it for a fair wage. I had to stop watching the concert once Beyonce came out to sing "America, the Beautiful". Because her and Josh Groban both suffer from the "I can't sing a note on down beat of one" syndrome. They always, ALWAYS go silent on beat one and ciondense the first syllable to fit on the and of one. Whats wrong with letting the melody stand and letting your voice carry the tune? Nothing, and I think it can be taken as a weakness in your performance.

On a personal front, I'm looking at a light orchestra set up for the next orchestra concert. This I'm kind of happy about. I need a bit of a break from the duties. Its sometimes nice to not need to be so necessary in a group, and be able to just show up, contribute, and then leave.

My current missions in purchasing music consists of completing my Who discography, and the harder challenge of doing the same for Journey. Journey's older albums seem to be going out of print on CD as most people just want the Greatest Hits album and the Escape album. I've been having better luck with finding them used on vinyl. And of course, you know I have no issue with that, considering Steve Perry's voice is magical on vinyl. That reminds me that I'm trying to get as much of the Who on both mediums, of CD and vinyl. I am still always looking for Pink Floyd on vinyl as well.

Well my friends, I sign off on this entry and promise to keep you all updated on my musical musings in this world. I hope the new year has been gentle to you so far!

I leave you tonight with this video of The Isley Brothers doing their famed song "Shout" just so you can try and see why Garth brooks made me so angry!

Who Made Who, Who Made You

2008-11-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings my friends. I hope this entry as usual finds you in good health and spirit. This blog entry is a recap of the weekend plus an update on future musical happenings with me so it could get a little lengthy.

Saturday night, after enjoying a cheeseburger and a fine German-style märzen microbrew, Laura, Sarah Jo, and I stumbled our way over to the sold out Verizon Center, in Washignton, DC for the AC/DC "Black Ice Tour". I heard the mumblings of the opening act while in the tee-shirt line. "The Answer" didn't sound too bad, so no harsh review from me there. I would have liked to hear them but I conceded with the ladies to head over late and then once I saw the shirts, I just had to have one...or three.

So AC/DC starts the show with an amazingly well crafted, witty animation of the band on a train and its speeding out of control, with none other than a demonized Angus Young piling the coal into the boiler, followed with a brief spot of implying Brian Johnson receiving oral sex on the train. I was proud of the parents who brought their seven year old sons to this show, who were in front of us. Anyways, no moral commentary, we're here to rock. So as the train powers its way to its climax, the screen splits and a giant replica steam locomotive explodes onto stage with pyro and fireworks, and of course, devil horns.

AC/DC runs out and slams into "Rock 'n' Roll Train" from their new album. From there, it was just relentless. Angus's striptease to "The Jack", a crowd sing-along to "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Back in Black", I was glad I stayed sober for this show as I think they would have killed me. This was again, a highly emotional show for me. I can't tell you how much I like these guys. They never changed their sound, they played their cards right business wise and after 35 years, 28 with Brian Johnson singing, are still kicking ass. "Let There Be Rock" accompanied an extensive solo by Angus Young, where we were treated to see his amazing one hand playing technique, where he holds the fret with his index finger, and strums with the middle finger. I also took a solo on Laura's leg at this point. HA! After leaving stage, and a solid 3 minutes of crowd roar that was just as deafening as the band, a trap door opens and red smoke puffs out, and slowly rises from it is Angus, wearing his trademark devil horns. Once out of the pit, he slams into "Highway To Hell". The crowd, now frothing at the mouth practically, gets a glimpse of 6 cannons lined up across the stage, they just showed up there. You didn't see them roll out or anything. We're totally aware now with what they intend to close the show. "For Those About to Rock! FIRE *insanely loud cannon fire and pyro* We Salute You!". Just an insane set closed with the rock anthem that defines the band. They give back to the audience exactly what they are given. An amazing show. That's all I can say.

So this brings me to the appeal of AC/DC. Its not like the lyrics are deep, but its the composition style, and the fact that they are one of the last blues and riff driven rock bands left. Their composition style always starts with the guitar riff, then the bass, then the lyrics and melody. They build in a different way, and can be an acquired taste. This blues basis, though sometimes not seen due to their powerful playing is reflected in the fact that before they started playing, they were playing old blues recordings from the 1940's and 50's. All with dominant guitar riffs. Just more proof of my theory that bands define themselves by the music of others that they play before performing.

So now with no rock concerts until January with The Killers, we focus on some more tame topics. I have agreed to take on a production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum" at Howard Community College. This is the first time I've done a musical for this much money and it has me a ltitle worried but you know, I just have to have faith in my talent and experience.

This weekend is also looking busy, as the quintet will be playing in a benefit concert for cancer at a church in Pasadena, MD, and then playing in the UMBC Symphony Concert. It will be a chop busting weekend witht he potential to be the most rewarding musical work I've ever done.

I will be going to see "Dr Atomic" by John Adams this Wednesday night. It will be a rebroadcast of the Met's production. Which reminds me, I went to see "Norma" by Bellini this past week. It was so sad, I didn't expect an early Romantic Italian opera to hit me so hard. I almost cried in front of Sarah Jane. Crying in front of a girl at an opera could be disastrous.

And to close up, again, the work party planning committee has commissioned me write up the musical entertainment for the night. Sigh. Gone are the days of just attending and enjoying the company.

Also friends, check out Orange Album Project on iTunes!!! Its been released! Keep an eye also for a review of the new album by Killers.

Well good night friends, and as Bon Scott once said "Lets there be lights, drums, guitar...LET THERE BE ROCK!"

I Can't Explain, but I Kinda Can...

2008-11-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Hello loyal readers, thank you yet again for tuning to my little piece of the Internet. This entry will obviously be about the life changing experience that was Monday night that occurred at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

When I bought tickets to see The Who back in July or so, whenever they went on sale, I felt they were overpriced for an old band, but was a band important for me to see and hear as I continue to explore the roots of rock. So of course I was excited, and since I had no takers from friends to reimburse me for the $80 ticket, I gifted it to my mother. She hadn't been a headliner concert since seeing and meeting James Brown in the mid 1960's. Her friend's husband owned a strip club James Brown frequented in Charleston, South Carolina. Anyways, back on topic.

My mother didn't quite understand the importance of seeing The Who. I tried to explain to her that they were the innovators of modern rock. Before them everything was blues based. The Who invented the power chord. The Who invented the rock opera with "A Quick One While he's Away" from the album "A Quick One". They were one of the first bands to include synthesizers in their music. The Who even changed equipment practices. They were the first to use stacks of Marshall amps, John Entwistle helped develop the Rotosound guitar string, and even a new type of amp using higher wattage had to be invented for them. The list of things are countless. They were the cutting edge of rock. They were the definition of rock. They ripped the future of rock right out of the hands of Elvis Presley. Personally, I feel they are more influential than The Beatles.

With that said, I still did not expect much from the show. I knew they were aging, I knew Roger Daltrey's voice was fading, and I knew Keith Moon and John Entwistle were no longer with us. Pete's brother*, Simon, playing rhythm guitar, Ringo Starr's son, Zack Starkey playing drums, Pino Palladino on bass, and John Bundrick tickling the ivories. How good can this concert be?

Let me tell you. The Who were the second loudest band I experienced. They were louder than Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Ozzy, and Airbourne. The first power chord slammed into our bodies with them opening with "I Can't Explain". They then proceeded to play "The Seeker", "Relay", "Fragments", "Who Are You", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Real Good Looking Boy", "Sister Disco", "Baba O'Riley", "Getting in Tune", "Eminence Front", "5:15", "Love Reign O'er Me", "My Generation", and closed with "Won't Get Fooled Again". I remembered this set list pretty well this time. But if one looks at that list, you'll notice a disturbing absence. Not a single song from the iconic album by The Who. "Tommy". Where was it? Why? How? What?

After a solid five minutes of screaming and cheering, Pete Townshend sneaks out on stage and they play "Naked Eye". The crowd still not satisfied, still no "Tommy". They were chanting just to hear anything from the album. Never have I been to a concert where people chant for an album, not a certain song. The band stumbles around the stage a bit and look at each other, then the lights drop and and single spotlight illuminates Pete, and he hits that first minor seventh chord of "Pinball Wizard" then stops. Half the crowd realized what was about to happen, and of course, due to owning that album in 2 different formats, I know the chord. Pete then proceeds to play through the opening progression slowly, then whips into tempo with his brother* hammering the loud distortion entrance. The crowd explodes! Finally, something from "Tommy". They play through "Pinball Wizard" but they don't stop. They do a medley of the album, featuring full performances of "Amazing Journey", "Sparks", and "See Me Feel Me". After the crowd cheers itself hoarse, the backing band leaves stage and Pete and Roger close the show with a lovely duet they wrote, "Tea and Theatre". They then wished us good night and received a rousing cheer as a small chant was traveling for Pete to come out and bust his guitar. He did not of course.

So here I am 48 hours after the close of the concert. I reflect on it. Its changed how I listen. In the music of The Who, especially live, you can hear the birth of so many musical sub genres. The synth work from songs like "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" inspired progressive rock, the hammering down strum of power chords and melodic drumming was the birth of metal, the fast strumming of power chords and screaming fast and rebellious lyrics birthed punk. The long solo sections wandering their way back to the head influenced jam bands and psychedelic bands. I won't be able to listen to Pink Floyd in the same light, nor AC/DC. I listened to "Who Made Who" by AC/DC and all I could hear were the walking power chord progressions, pioneered by The Who. I can't explain the change in my life this concert presented, but I now understand those before me, and I understand the draw, and just how awesome and powerful this music can be. I understand their ability to move people. I am going to be honest and three times during this show I got chills to the point I shed a few tears. This was the first band I've seen that completely left it all on the stage. They left exhausted, they left us exhausted. There's not many more words I can use to explain this. My mom even understood after the concert now what I was talking about.

I must discuss the opening act though, Inward Eye. This band has a great potential, just if they learned control on stage. Their guitarist just jumps around too much to where it affects his playing I feel. I enjoyed the vocals and the drumming quite a bit. They had a real punk feel to them without being just obnoxious, except for the jumping. His jumping even knocked over a mic on the drumset. They were victims though of the sound guy making sure they didn't sound too good. I listened to their stuff on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/inwardeye) and I enjoyed it quite a bit more. I do believe they have a release soon on iTunes and I do intend to purchase.

In honor of the topic and for my friend Stefanie, h-h-here's the f-f-f-famous clip of The Who on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Watch the end where Peter Townshend nearly dies.

Good night my friends, I leave you with the lyrics The Who left me with in honor of this being the 40th blog entry:
"All of us sad - lean on my shoulder now
The story is done - 's getting colder now
A thousand songs - still smoulder now
We played them as one - we're older now

All of us sad
All of us free
Before we walk from the stage
Two of us
Will you have some tea?
Will you have some tea
At the theatre with me?"

*Thanks Anonymous for catching my error! (11/6/08)

Marriage of Convenience

2008-10-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

Good evening friends, I hope things find you harmonious tonight. This secular musical missal will be on the topic of the new AC/DC album, "Black Ice". This is their newest album, just released last Monday. It was a Walmart only release though I did see a few copies being sold in Record and Tape Traders.

The album starts out with their new single, "Rock 'n' Roll Train". I like this song quite a bit. Standard AC/DC fair. All the songs on here are standard AC/DC. Never leave the formula because it works too well. But there is a glaring issue with this album.

The album is 15 tracks long. AC/DC albums are normally between 5-10 tracks. They are normally concise and they pack a harder punch. I can't but help blame Walmart for this. I can't imagine Walmart saying we want the exclusive rights to your album, but you can make it however you want. I believe Walmart told AC/DC to stretch the album to be over an hour, otherwise they won't sell it for the already low price of $11.88. Some of the guitar licks aren't strong enough to carry an album. I imagine the original album looked like this:
1. Rock 'n' Roll Train
2. Big Jack
3. Anything Goes
4. War Machine
5. Smash 'n Grab
6. Stormy May Day
7. Black Ice

Then Walmart saw that was only 45 minutes and said "Oh no no no, we're about giving our customers value!" and thus AC/DC, to keep the massive distribution machine that is Walmart on board, went back in the studio and wrote and recorded some songs that are almost cliche versions of the band's style. This really broke my heart. I knew there would be something fishy with this album, but with how good the last Journey album was, which was a Walmart exclusive, I had hopes for the AC/DC album to potentially be a reincarnation of "Back in Black" or "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". but instead its a really strong AC/DC album with pop filler mixed in.

When compared to other AC/DC albums I don't think this one is as strong, but simply because its watered down. Based on the tracks above only, I'd rate it this way:
Uniqueness: 9 - no one can sound like AC/DC
Composition: 6.5 - They're missing an epic anthem, such as For Those about to Rock or Let there be Rock
Vocals: 9 - Brian Johnson drops out of his howl a few times to sing and have a more smokey, jazz voice. Its refreshing.
Instrumental: 7 - You have to wait awhile before you get a guitar solo in this album
Value: 10 - I can't argue with $11.88

But with the album in its current released, bloated state, I'd rate it like this:
Uniqueness: 6 - the style gets a bit dry.
Composition: 5.5 - some sound like they were written to fill time, not our mind
Vocals: - 9
Instrumental: 5 - You have to wait even longer for a guitar solo
Value: 6 - I'd take fewer tracks for a better feeling of completion at this price.

There you have it, the long awaited review of the new album, "Black Ice". In one week I will be seeing The Who. I know you're jealous. I'll be sure to write all about it.

Be good my friends. In the spirit of upcoming events, I quote Roger Daultry with, "Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
And don't try to d-dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my generation)"

Be good to yourself.

The ways of the young trumpet in the symphony

2008-10-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. I hope you all are well as I write to you at an earlier time than normal, as I finally have some peace and quiet to concentrate with my Tomita CD of Debussy classics playing, creating an atmosphere perfect for (pro)creation.

This entry is a bit to let off a little steam from orchestra rehearsal this week, as I learn more and more not to trust the dynamic markings from the composer. We are currently working on Beethoven's Seventh symphony, as I have mentioned in previous entries in this blog. Beethoven is an interesting beast to try and tackle for the young trumpeter in a symphony. All dynamics are normally forte or fortissimo yet most of the time you shouldn't be heard above a whisper. Never mind, the first parts are normally fairly high. He lets you play out a little more than Mozart does but never really to where you feel comfortable or confident. So here's a chart I devised to translate Beethoven's dynamics to trumpet:

fortissimo - mezzo forte at most, you're part of the collective timbre, keep your bell in the stand, don't project
forte - mezzo piano, not important, you're keeping the time and place, keep your bell in the stand, don't project
mezzo forte - why bother playing, the conductor won't be able to tell if you are or not.
mezzo piano - ditto
piano or pianissimo - This means the part is soft over all and its probably more exposed than you wish and you're going to screw up this part. Also you're probably in unison with tympani, better pray they can count. Don't forget your horn is cold from sitting there for 600 bars while the strings saw their way through the development of the sonata. That section is in another key that the trumpets of the time couldn't play in. You are wishing for those days to come back.

On the other side of the spectrum, we are also working on Finlandia by Jean Sibelius. This we almost can't be too loud. My only fear is that I'm playing second, so I'm trying not to over step my stand my stand partner so she can learn to build up her volume and power. Shes got it, just needs to not be shy about it. So heres a chart for Finlandia:

fortissimo - as loud as you can be to blend with the trombone, looking for a pipe organ sound
forte - is the signature fanfare that repeats, tastefully in the front
mezzo forte - not existant
mezzo piano - n/a
piano - n/a
pianissimo - Only there once, so you can crescendo to fortissimo in 4 beats to fortissimo with the low brass.

Well as I sit here on the eve of AC/DC's new album and a quick jaunt to the beach by myself to get my wits together, I'm now listening, to Keane's new album. I'm a bit disappointed as I don't like the 80's pop sound their new producer gave to them, I liked their older more raw piano and drums sound. They have a fuller sound to them now. But don't get me wrong, I still like them and I like this album, and I'm glad Tom Chaplin seems to have gotten his life back together after his stint in rehab. The thing though is I have a feeling these guys are a little younger than me, so I am doubting they are old enough to have experienced 80's music when it happened, and I think that is where the rub is with this album. I'm not saying I am old enough either, since I was born in 1980, I was like 3 with Michael Jackson's Thriller, so I couldn't do an 80's sound either without it sounding more like a mocking. This album puts me in fear with the Killers new album considering they hired the same producer and will also have an 80s touch to it. Though the Killers did pretty well, I think, with the Springsteen inspired "Sam's Town".

Have a good weekend my pals, and I will catch you on the other side of my mini vacation.

Album of Arbitrary Time Period

2008-09-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hello my good friends. I hope this entry finds you in a good time in your life, health and spirituality. This entry is going to be pretty short as I covered so much in the last entry. I am writing because I did pick up the new album by Dragonforce. "Ultra Beatdown". Dragonforce is one of those guilty pleasures, thanks to their uplifting yet power metal sound. The easiest way to describe them is if Journey and Slayer formed to make some sort of super group.

This album showed a most definite progression in the band. Sure they still play fast but there's a lyricism in it now as the group matures. The keyboards are bit more prominent and another excellent metal ballad (a forgotten art these days, the power ballad) graces this album. Overall, I think they still have a lot of room to grow, composition wise, as their songs still sometimes sound the same. If you're looking for a happy album, but still want to get your metal on, Dragonforce's "Ultra Beatdown" is the way to go.

Summary
Uniqueness: 8
Composition: 7
Vocals: 8
Instrumental: 9
Value: 8
OVERALL: 8.5

Just as a side note, also on that shopping trip, I picked up Rock Band 2 and some vinyl. Rock Band 2 is of course, cool. Great song selection. And if you own Rock Band 1, you can download just about all the tracks for $5 from the original disc. Also all your downloaded tracks still work in Rock Band 2.

As for the vinyl I bought, I found some great stuff, as I bulk up my AC/DC and Journey vinyl collection. I even found my favorite Journey album, "Frontiers" which features "Separate Ways" and "Open Arms". I also found Queen's "Jazz" album. Very cool. I love Bicycle Race. Its interesting that the cuts on that album are slightly different than the ones on the Queen's Greatest Hits album.

Alright my friends, I wish you a good night. Please, October 5th at the Catonsville Library, 2pm. The brass quintet will be rockin' the house! No cover. We'll have treats! Let me know if you need directions!!!

Fall is the new Spring

2008-09-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal readers. I hope this blog finds everyone in good spirit. This entry is about how I find myself surrounded in all sorts of musical happenings this time of year.

The UMBC Symphony has started up again. On our first concert it appears we will be playing Beethoven's 7th, Finlandia by Sibelius, and Selections from Carmen, and Mother Goose Suite. A lot of work, especially the Beethoven which is surprisingly chop busting. The good thing is that so far, its got my transposing chops back in shape! Beethoven is Trumpet in D, and Finlandia is Trumpet in F.

On the quintet front, I finished an arrangement of Money by Pink Floyd which will work nicely to demonstrate the concept of a head sheet in jazz. Our set for October's library Jazz gig (October 5th, 2pm you better be there) is shaping up to be very diverse, with a nice surprise ending. We plan to be educational and entertaining like our Christmas show, which we aren't booked for yet!

On the rock concert itinerary, things are very exciting as I will get to scratch two more acts off my list of "Bands to see before I die". Here's that list, by the way, with stars next to acts I have seen or tickets to see them. Please remember this is of all time so some acts could already be deceased.
10. Miles Davis
9. Queen with Freddie Mercury
8. Maynard Ferguson *
7. Dave Brubeck
6. Iron Maiden *
5. Journey *
4. Ozzy Osborne *
3. AC/DC *
2. The Who *
1. Pink Floyd

So that's right, if you've been paying attention to the Baltimore/Washington concert schedule, AC/DC and the Who are both coming to town in November, and I have tickets to both shows. This Saturday morning, after a very close call, I did score some tickets to AC/DC in the upper deck of the Verizon Center. I am already excited for that show. Luckily some friends had promised that no matter the price, if AC/DC came close, we would go. For $92.50 plus fees for each ticket and relatively short notice of the concert, we are lucky to have seats. Also to add, as a general rule of thumb, the ticketmaster "best available" search does not lie. The Who tickets I bought as a knee jerk reflex. I had no one to go with, I just dropped the $80 plus a piece and decided I'd either find a friend willing to repay or take my mom, as she has not been to a real rock concert since James Brown in early 60's. Mom is super excited to say the least. We've been warming her up on Several Species, a local Pink Floyd tribute group.

There's also some new albums on the horizon. AC/DC, The Killers, Keane, and Queen all have new albums due out in October or November. I'm not pleased that AC/DC is a Wal-Mart exclusive, but that is the trend in business, and I will be there October 20th, probably after work, to pick up my copy. The single, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", is definitely good, and really doesn't sound like they've dropped a step. The Killers and Keane have both teamed up with famed producer Stuart Price to produce their new albums. This definitely got me a little too excited for such pop rock. I love the Killers semi-retro sound, and I just love Keane's driving ballads and lead singers fully, billowy voice. The Queen album, I am nervous about, as I am not a fan of Paul Rogers' voice. I still miss Mr Mercury to this day, but I can't hold it against Queen, and I will certainly buy the album, to hear the instrumental work alone.

The immediate future holds the Renaissance Faire in Crownsville, MD. There's always plenty of interesting music acts at this thing, and normally at least one hidden gem, such as E Muzeki, who was doing covers of classic rock on traditional Greek and eastern instruments. If I find anything I'll report back of course right here.

Well my friends, enough rambling from me. May your ticket convenience fees be low! Good night.

The battle of Minor vs Major

2008-09-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends. I come to you this week with the first of a segment I'm going to title "Album of the *insert arbitrary time frame here*". This entry will be a review of a newly obtained recording of Beethoven's 5th symphony. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I did not have a recording of this piece. I took this a personal insult to myself as it is my favorite piece in the classical repertoire. I am also under the belief that every brass player in an orchestra should have their symphony cherry popped, so to speak, with this piece. It is the birth of brass as a major contributor to the group and of Romanticism. This is the first symphonic piece to include the trombone. In their mighty debut in the 4th movement, you can hear them saying "I am a trombone". You can sing it, seriously.

The recording I chose to pick up is a 200g virgin vinyl pressing from the original tape recording of the never released recording of Pierre Monteux conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1965.

Right away this recording draws you with a full, dark, rich sound on the now almost cliched "G-G-G-E flat". The interpretation is aggressive and in your face. The tension holds through not just the first movement, but the first three. The pacing of the second movement is very methodical and withdrawn. Though the movement is long, it does not feel it as it stays exciting and pompous. It holds the energy at stasis that was built during the first movement.

I flip the record and get to the real treat, of the third and forth movement. The third movement is firmly in minor and brings back the motif of the first movement, but in slightly different rhythm. After a fugue, the rumblings die down and an incredible crescendo builds to the the attacca forth movement.

HELLO BRASS! The fourth movement opens with a grand release of the tension from the last half hour with a C major arpeggio so loud that it knocks C minor out of your head. Its an emotional moment. Its cathartic and this performance is that. You can hear the trumpets more than normal in the first and second movement but they become a whisper in the third movement, only to take full control of performance in the opening four bars of the forth. A soaring horn sound so dark and rich that it brings chills, and of course fond memories of a friend. Chills at this point are running down my spine.

I truly believe this is probably as close as you're going to come to hearing this symphony as Beethoven desired for it to be heard. Violent, chaotic, good vs evil battle, packed with emotion. This record is full of suspense with masterful production quality. You can feel the orchestra. At the end of the first movement you can hear a collective sigh of relief from the group, as they probably can't even believe the intensity they just captured.

From what I can tell this was only released on vinyl. There are CD recordings of Monteux conducting Beethoven's Fifth, but I don't think they are the same as this one. The link to amazon for this product is here. It is a bit of a steep price but I would have paid $100 easily to have heard this live, so $33 with shipping and I can hear it over and over again is a bargain to me. Be warned though, if yo look up a photo of Monteux, he does look like Wilford Brimley. you be the judge:

Vinyl Fetish

2008-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends, hope everyone has survived the oh so terrible Tropical Storm Hanna. This entry is geared about the new stereo system I obtained from my grandmother. She was kind enough to set me up with a Pioneer receiver with a laser disc/5 CD disc changer and two Marantz 45/450 floor speakers. My dad then gifted me his old Pioneer direct drive turntable, that was just in need of a new cartridge. After a new cartridge purchased from Internet giant, Amazon.com, and a crash course in turntable maintenance, I had a sweet vintage turntable.

A few months ago, I had noticed Record and Tape Traders had just about all of AC/DC's albums on brand new virgin vinyl, on what seems to be about 180g vinyl for $15 each. Very intriguing. So needless to say, the moment I got this stereo set up, I headed for the ol' R&TT. I immediately burned that $15 gift certificate from Sarah Jo on "Back in Black". While digging through the used albums, I did come across "For Those about to Rock". Both came home that day, along with a "Best of Mountain" album. None of these disappointed as I have now become charmed with the full warmth of the vinyl sound. A second trip to the store found a better stocked vinyl room. This trip produced several Journey albums, Queen, and the jewel of the find, "Moving Pictures" by Rush.

Next stop was my basement. In the basement was stores some real gems, including "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Umma Gumma" by Pink Floyd, "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra, "Switched on Bach", and multiple 45rpm singles. I have a pretty well stocked and rounded vinyl collection considering how little time I've had a record player. Next was the Internet again.

I ordered off the web "The Pines of Rome" by Respighi and "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. Both albums phenomenal. Its amazing to hear classical music on vinyl. Analog recordings allow you to hear other things going on with the performance. You can hear the conductor and the strings giving themselves breath cues. You can hear the feet shuffling of the brass section in the quiet sections. It really causes a feeling of actually being at the performance. At this point now, I have to admit that I am in love with vinyl. I find myself in stores now seeing if I can find an album on vinyl instead of CD, even though CD allows me to add it to my iPod. I could even see myself in the future just buying albums in both media, even though this Hi-Fi system has even made my CD collection sound better.

The amount of vintage recordings still available on vinyl is quite amazing, and I look forward to my friend Steve bringing over his vinyl. It is quite nice to have such a sound system to spoil my ears, and today's digital age has made our ears so forgiving to poor production and compression. Give yourself a treat, find a Hi-Fi with a turntable and give yourself the pleasure of listening to some classical or jazz, or even many rock albums on it and hear the difference. Relax your ears and take in the sound. Have a good night my friends.

The Year in Review

2008-08-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends, I wish you a hardy "How ya doin'?". Tonight's blog entry is basically a recap and a listing of the best and worst shows and artists seen this year. I immediately preface that this blog is again strictly of my own opinions, and void of emotional feelings. These concert reviews are not influenced by the company kept by me at these events. Alright, now with the political disclaimer out of the way, lets get to the nitty-gritty.

First catagory is going to be best bass players. I saw quite a bit of talent this year on the bass, and heres my top five.
5. Ross Valory (Journey)
4. Justin Street (Airbourne)
3. Lemmy (Motorhead)
2. Geddy Lee (Rush)
And the winner should be no shock, as I went to see this band mainly to hear him.
1. Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. Steve was phenominal, and is one of the tightest and melodic bass players you'll hear in rock.

Next catagory is worst opening act. There were some good ones and some real bad ones seen this summer.
3. Testament (Metal Masters Tour) They weren't that bad but had a major miscue on stage.
2. Lauren Harris (Iron Maiden opener) She is the daughter of Steve Harris. She wasn't that bad but seemed confused and scared. Her backing band sucked
1. Endeverafter (Airbourne) These guys were just plain bad, from ripped off guitar licks, and acting like guitar hero wanna-be's, I had little patience for these guys.

To Follow up, here are the three best opening acts seen.
3. Testament (Metal Masters Tour) I know I listed them as third worse, but they weren't bad except for the onstage missed entrance and actually showing frustration over it.
2. Stone Riders (Airbourne) These guys pretty cool and seemed kind of original
1. In This Moment (Ozzy Osborne, Rob Zombie) This band has the most hardcore chick you'll ever see on stage. I know they have been touring with Ozzfest and stuff, but really, these guys tore it up. Probably the most professionally sounding opening band I've heard.

Next up is best drummer.
5. Mike Bordin (Ozzy Osborne) He really showed he was listening when he was adjusting tempi to keep with Ozzy who was having monitor issues
4. Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
3. Mikkey Dee (Motorhead)
2. Deen Castronovo (Journey)
1. Neil Peart (Rush) Neal is a drumming God. I can't describe what it was like to watch him and hear him play. Hes a percussive symphony orchestra.

So the next category is what I call "The Most Bang for your Buck". This is what concerts I considered the best bargains.
5. Rob Zombie/Ozzy Osborne, $39 (before fees). The seats we had were just off the floor, towards the back, and rocked hard, considering they had the best opener, and amazing multimedia presence of Rob Zombie, then Ozzy with Zakk Wylde. The caliber of talent in the building was amazing for that amount of dough.
4. Rush, $29 lawn seat. Rush was probably the most sound and solid band I heard this summer, with amazing virtuosity. $29 for a lawn seat and two full sets of Rush. Couldn't ask for much more.
3. Metal Masters Tour, $17.50 lawn seat. Testament, Motorhead, Heaven and Hell (Which just about completed my Black Sabbath fun pack), and Judas Priest. Amazing, long, tight show from four veterans of the metal universe.
2. Airbourne, $10 general admission. $10 to see and rock out to the next AC/DC. These guys rocked hard. Their antics and stage presence looked like these guys had been doing it for twenty years.
1. Cheap Trick, Heart, and Journey, $25 lawn. Every one of these bands made you theirs. All of them tight, fresh, and inspiring. What a good time this show was.

Next catagory is the best lead guitarists heard this summer
5. Nancy Wilson (Heart)
4. Tony Iommi (Heaven and Hell)
3. Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
2. Neal Schon (Journey)
1. Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osborne) This guy is just bad ass, and his bluegrass banjo upbringing brings a level of technical skill never seen on electric guitar.

Up next is what I call the achievers category. These are the bands or members that I gained the most respect for after seeing them live.
3. Motorhead - I had heard Ace of Spades before of course, but after seeing their act live, I really found I enjoyed their other works too
2. Neal Schon - Journey never really had a prominent guitar voice in their mixing, but after their new album and seeing them live, Neal Schon can definitely shred. I understand now why his parent slet him drop out of high school to play with Carlos Santana
1. Rush - I was mainly going to this concert as a gift for my friend Steve. I mean I had recently come to respect their style, and interesting voicing. But seeing them live and hearing the intricacies of songs like Tom Sawyer, Limelight, and YYZ, I consider myself a major fan of Rush.

The next category up is best set construction.
5. Judas Priest - Nice retro, Flash Gordon looking two tiered stage
4. Heaven and Hell - Smoke, Trees with Gargoyles, and insane lighting
3. Rush - Simple flat stage, but amazing video clips tying into the music to complete the sensation
2. Rob Zombie - B movie clips, dancing girls, drumming robots and a giant alien attack Zombie himself.
1. Iron Maiden - There was pyro, there was changing backgrounds for album covers of songs, two-tiered stage with plenty of room for Bruce to run around. Bruce donning costumes, and top it all off, a 30 ft tall Eddie with glowing eyes.

Next is best set list
5. Airbourne - Did everything from their one album, plus an encore track thats only on the import version of the album, not to mention its a cover of AC/DC. Melt your face.
4. Ozzy Osborne - Can't go wrong closing with "Momma I'm Coming Home" and "Paranoid"
3. Journey - great mix of old and new, but why close with "Anyway You Want It"?
2. Heart - The cover of Love Reign O'er Me still rings in my ears, along with the encore of "Crazy On You"
1. Rush - They did all their big songs in a tasteful order, programmed two sets perfectly building to Neil Peart's massive drum solo. Not to mention, no other band I saw has the courage or talent to do so many instrumentals in a set, including ending the encore set with one (YYZ).

Best lead singer witnessed.
5. Arnel Pineda (Journey) - Arnel is the new sound of Journey, that allows them though to keep to their great hits of the 80's. Arnel's voice needs to do a little more maturing and gain a bit more experience, and he will rival Steve Perry one day.
4. Ozzy Osborne - The Prince of Darkness is always going to be on this list.
3. Geddy Lee (Rush) - His unique stylings were initially my criticism of Rush, but after further analysis, I can't hear any other styling of his voice to carry "Tom Sawyer".
2. Ann Wilson (Heart) - A beautiful and powerful voice, that is incredibly versatile. She can charm you into a hypnotized state, or make your toes curl with passion and energy, just with her pipes.
1. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) - Bruce. Wow. I said it before and I'll say it again. He's the Freddie Mercury of Metal. There's nothing this man can't do, and nothing he can't sing. (As a side note, the Cheap Trick Greatest Hits Album I bought yesterday was produced by none other than Bruce)

I am going to refrain from picking a favorite concert, as I enjoyed all of them so much and I saw so much talent, I can't compare and contrast, and rank the entire shows. My final list for the night though will be the top ten songs that need to be witnessed live.
10. Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden)
9. Crazy On You (Heart)
8. YYZ (Rush)
7. Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)
6. Breakin' the Law (Judas Priest)
5. Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden)
4. Stand Up for Rock 'n' Roll (Airbourne)
3. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Journey)
2. Love Reign O'er Me (Heart)
1. Momma I'm Comin' Home (Ozzy Osborne)

Well my friends, that pretty much covers my personal opinions of the shows I saw this summer. I hope you guys had as much fun as I have had this summer. Thank you readers for being loyal, and thanks to those of you who went to a concert with me this summer. Music is a very intimate part of my life. With me, there are actions, emotions, and music. Thank you for being willing to share something so personal to me as witnessing the creation of music. I hope to continue to write to you about my music life and hope you will keep reading. Good night.

Be Good To Yourself

2008-08-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Good day friends, I come to slightly overhung and under the weather, but happy. I hope you're feeling good too. Last I attended a concert for the ages. This was the highly anticipated Cheap Trick, Heart, and Journey "trifecta from heaven" show as I was calling it to myself.

This concert showed up early on the radar, and boy was I glad we bought tickets early. Nissan Pavilion on this dreary, drizzly night was packed to the limit. After making excellent time there, we of course did some light tailgating with some rum and cokes, and some beer. We then shuffle into the show.

We find a solid good spot in the center of the lawn. Cheap Trick hits the stage. They do their normal carrying-on, introducing themselves repeatedly to the point that its comical. Lets not forget their entrance, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the best band in the world, CHEAP TRICK!!!" Cheap Trick hit us with their line up of "Dream Police", "If You Want My Love", "Surrender", and "I Want You to Want Me". Along with the great songs, they pulled out their marvelous gimmicks including Tom Petersson's 12-string bass and Robin Zander's 5-neck guitar. Though gratuitous, its amazing. And to top off Cheap Trick's set, Deen Castronovo* and Jonathan Cain of Journey came out and did a song with them.

After about 15 minutes and time to get a drink and t-shirt, the lights dropped and out came Heart. Don't be fooled by the soft name, or the beautiful two front women, Ann and Nancy Wilson. These chicks will rock your fillings loose. This is the first performance at a rock concert that gave me goosebumps. I got chills when they covered "Love Reign O'er Me" by The Who. Ann has "the pipes". Her voice can bring you to your knees. Recordings and videos do no justice to the power they bring to you in person. After a powerful and moving set, the crowd was electric and rowdy demanding an encore. After making us wait close to five minutes, they came and delivered an encore version of "Crazy on You". One more thing that helps is that these women, even at their age are good looking, then with the talent they bring, I'm not going to lie, are drop dead sexy to me.

At this point, I'm already starting to suffer fatigue. Heart brings such a well rounded, almost perfect music production to the stage, its hard to fathom that they were not the featured act. They were coming up. There was a rarely experienced sense of energy and anticipation in the air as Journey was being set up on the stage. So much energy that before Journey hit the stage, "Back in Black" by AC/DC is played on the PA and everyone stood up and danced, as if AC/DC just took the stage.

Finally, Journey hits the stage hard with "Never Walk Away" from the new album, "Revelation". The first three notes sang by the new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, demonstrated that he was for real, and that Journey truly is back strong and not going anywhere. Journey's set was a mix of new songs, including "After All These Years" and "Where Did I Lose Your Love" and old hits like "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Open Arms". A big highlight was hearing "Separate Ways" performed live. I won't lie, with the assistance of the alcohol and the adrenaline boost from Heart, I went nuts, absolutely nuts, for this song. Journey also did a song that no one seemed to recognize, something about being a secret agent. It was pretty cool, but the crowd kind of took a breather for it. Journey closed the set with "Be Good to Yourself". They did come back out for an encore for which the hoarse crowd was chanting. "Anyway You Want It" slammed into our ear drums and drove everyone into a frenzy never before seen. I will admit this is my least favorite song by Journey, but live, and a little tipsy, the song contains a ton of energy that is hard to believe coming from a band that just did a seventy minute set of vocally grueling songs.

One of Journey's secret talents in the band, is their drummer, Deen Castronovo. Not only is he a great drummer, that has helped bring Journey's sound into modern times with his heavier style, his backing vocals really help support Arnel's lead vocal efforts. Many times you could hear Deen's voice belting through and its definitely nice.

Neal Schon, former guitarist with Santana, was of course amazing, and definitely on his A-game in his soloing this night. His performing has to be seen live. He is in the top tier of guitarists I've seen live now. The order of preference of guitarists I've now seen live would be:
1. Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osborne)
2. Neal Schon (Journey)
3. Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
4. Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
5. John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
6. Chris Scholtes (Several Species)
7. Nancy Wilson (Heart)
8. Joe Perry (Aerosmith)
9. Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest)
10.Phil Campbell (Motorhead)

Well my friends, I think this blog entry has become long enough. In a few days I do plan to have a ratings entry for all the acts seen since January. True, I do have at least two more concerts planned for the calendar year, one is a three-peat and the other is "The Who". That one gets to stand on its own. Have a good weekend, friends.

*Thanks Anonymous for catching that error. Too much partying I guess ;-)
**Yes, I edited my guitar player list. I kinda forgot about John Petrucci, who is amazing

No "lite" matter

2008-08-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Good evening my friends. I hope you all are all happy, healthy, and well. This entry will be about a topic that can make me grind my teeth with fury some days. This topic is so dear to my heart and many others, and I'm sure will only be voicing the opinion of many of you. This subject of course is the horror that is "free" radio anymore. Baltimore's radio has become full of conglomerate, pre-recorded, no effort radio. Stations like Jack FM, which touts a huge playlist still tends to lean towards mediocrity and contains no DJ art form. Spinning records for a radio station and programming is a true lost art. No longer can you call a station and get the DJ, nor will you hear a DJ talk about a song, or talk in a song. These days are over.

This leads me to the specific point...Lite FM stations. I'm sur eyou have unintentionally listened to these same 30 songs over and over again. This station prides itself on not letting those generic, run of the mill songs from slipping through the cracks. Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, with a little bit of Journey sprinkled in. Disco still lives on in this universe. This is the only station I know though that will play those genre-less stars and hair metal (More Than Words is by one of the must under-rated hair metal bands, Extreme, which refers to my last blog entry, if you like that song, you like Metal, thats right, your aunt singing along at the doctor's office is now a metal head). So lets get back on topic.

I like Journey, probably more than I should. Journey is Lite FM's saving grace for me. We listen to it 8 hours a day at the library in the work room. No one truly likes this station, but its the one we all hate equally and tolerate. I like to put ont he classical station but I can't because one coworker says "This is what I get my teeth drilled to" and another one claims that it actually gives her a headache. I don't understand this. I can't handle musical ignorance in that respect. I can't take people insulting art really. I will never bash any performer, I will just say I don't care for what they're doing.

The most mind numbing part of it is that its the same songs, over and over again, every day. You can set your watch to "I don't wanna wait for our lives to be over" and "Don't Stop Believin'". I really ask myself everyday, what DJ in their right mind at that station enjoys that music and enjoys only hearing that music over and over again. And my answer to myself is none, and they pre-record themselves saying the station ID. There is no way I could be in that studio for 8 hours and not go, "you know I'm supposed to play 'I Will Survive' right now, but I think I want to hear 'For Those about to Rock' by AC/DC right now...FIRE!!" And I do think I'd be fired. My blood would curdle though. Radio DJ is one of my dream jobs, but not in this format at all. Every station seems pre-programmed. I wouldn't even play my favorite stuff all the time or over and over again. I'd try to put on something exciting and new every day. This repetition though isn't just on Lite FM, or "free" radio. It occurs a bit on Satelite radio stations as well, but not quite as badly. Frequently though the DJ at least is in the studio with the tape playing.

This blog lately has been fairly negative. I don't like that, as music is a positive and pretty much the best thing in my life, and always will be. On a positive note though, I went to hear Kristen's punk band, Type 53. They were quite good, very tight, and solid. They truly carry the punk attitude. They did mostly their own songs but also threw in a few covers of The Clash, and they're trademark that they avoid is a very skilled cover of "Airstrike". kristen, I doubt ya read this but, nice damn job tonight!

On that note, this is Sig signing off.

A Lesson in Metal

2008-08-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and thanks again for reading. Its hard to believe I'm already at 31 entries. Tonight's entry is touch again on the topic of Heavy Metal. This is because of two reasons. The first was this past Thursday, some friends and I attended the second stop of the Metal Masters Tour. The second reason is because several people lately have made some insulting comments about metal, and my taste in it. These people though are, well for a lack of better wording, ignorant, in what metal is and its roots.

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that came out of the rock and blues movement in the US and UK. Its defined by virtuosic guitar solos and driving beats. It developed out of the progressive psychedelic rock area. Some of the earliest metal bands are Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Iron Butterfly. That's right, so if you like Kashmir, Paranoid, Smoke on the Water, or In-na-godda-da- vita, you like some metal. These bands spurred off bands such as AC/DC which drives the blues aspect of metal, Judas Priest who dropped the blues feel and pushed the power chord and epic sound, and Motorhead, who added the element of punk rebellion to metal. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest developed the epic metal and the concept of British Steel. In the 1980's glam-rock was a cover really for metal bands such as Guns n Roses, Motley Crue, Dokken, and countless others. Metal gets a bad rap because of the sometimes dark or rebellious tones of the songs. The problem is that a lot of the imagery used in the darker metal comes straight from the book of revelations in the bible, from famous works of literature( Rime of the Ancient Mariner used by Iron Maiden), or right from society and the history books. At no point have the mainstream metal bands every sung for you to kill yourself, your mother, your dog, your neighbor, or your goldfish. If anyone really wanted to pay attention they would realize that most of the lead singers of the big metal bands are quite educated and are extremely fan oriented. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden is a trained airline pilot and a historian. Rob Halford of Judas Priest has a three and a half octave vocal range. Ther'es serious skills there and amazing song writing occurring in metal. The only demonic, hate-filled music in metal is being made by the white supremacists or the dark, too serious for their own good thrash metal bands.

With that out of the way, I go into the Metal Masters Tour show last Thursday at the Nissan Pavilion. The line up was Testament (an American Thrash metal band from the 1990's), Motorhead (British metal band, some times referred to as biker metal or punk metal, formed 1975), Heaven and Hell (a reunion of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio), and Judas Priest (British metal group, formed in 1970).

I must say Testament sounded a bit rusty but they started to get themselves going by the time their half hour set was up. I wanted to hear more of them. Not much else I can say about them.

Next up was Motorhead. I've not heard much of Motorhead, but I respect Lemmy (Lead vocals and bass) to no end. Motorhead came out and rocked the house and thats when the first bit of crowd behavior started becoming an issue. Motorhead put a solid hour long set together, featuring their big song, Ace of Spades. This is when things got loud.

The next band was Heaven and Hell. Their staging was quite elaborate with demons in the trees breathing fog and red eyes. Also lots of lighting effect, including turning Dio completely red. Tony Iommi, lead guitar, totally still tears it up after all these years. They chose to call themselves Heaven and Hell for this tour instead of Black Sabbath to not cause any confusion with the fact that Ozzy is doing a solo tour currently (which I attended back in January).

Judas Priest was the headliner and the act I was most interested to see. They have been in existance since 1970. Rob Halford is one of the biggest and most famous lead singers in rock, not just metal. They were smart and did the a song from the new album first, and then went digging into their back catalog. They even had Halford ride out his big motorcycle and sing Hell Bent for Leather from the back of the bike. Way cool. My only gripe was that they did Breakin' The Law early in the set and Halford did not sing the chorus even once. He had the crowd sing it. Sure thats fun, but damn it, I am there primarily for you to sing, not the drunks in earshot. Over all a great show.

On a side note, I must ask what is the appeal of going to these concerts with the purpose to get drunk? You pay good money only to drink and get in a fight, or ruin someone else's experience. I only say this because we had a group next to us that didn't recognize the area we had staked. We were staked at the front edge of the lawn, right before the 70 degree slope down to the sidewalk. The group next to us kept moving over and stood right in front of us, forcing themselves to keep balance on the hill. It almost seemed intentional, and appeared it was when one member of the group got his wish and found himself in a fist fight with one of his own friends, a guy he was hugging 5 minutes prior to the fight. Now I'm not saying there shouldn't be alcohol. Sure, have a drink or two, dance to the music in your own area, but why the violence? The music doesn't call for it, not even inspiring for violence. I guarantee Lemmy would say "Bloody hell, whats this fuckin bullshit mosh pit?" These bands come out and bow after their sets, they hug kids near the front and give out their drumsticks? You think they want you beating the crap out of each other? The true fans go and listen, have fun and appreciate. You look like an asshole, and a good bet is you are an asshole. Notice I don't even care if you smoke your weed or whatever there, none of my business, and I haven't seen a pothead try to punch his best friend for what seems to be for standing within ten feet of his woman. I have seen a drunk do that. Immature and useless.

Well my friends, I wish you good night. To quote Lemmy "We are Motorhead and we playing fucking rock n roll music, good night!"

A trip to Whoville and the jungle of Nool

2008-08-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Good evening readers. Tonight's topic is to summarize this summer's musical experience. I had the joy(?) of playing in the orchestra for a local production of "Seussical". For those of you not familiar, the musical "Seussical" was written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens which some aid by Eric Idle. The show was basically a broadway flop. Opening in November of 2000 and closing in May of 2001 after only 198 performances. After closing, the books were taken back and were reworked to make the story an hallucination.

The story operates similar in the fashion as the "Fantasticks" and "Pippin" operates. There is a narrator guiding characters through various plot devices and eventually having them all cross paths. Its kind of a Quentin Tarrantio approach to musicals. In the case of "Seussical", the narrator is the Cat in the Hat, who not only is guiding and interacting with the audience to take them through the story, but guiding the young child Jo-Jo into the world of Dr Seuss. Jo-Jo first meets Horton the Elephant int he jungle of Nool as Horton hears a dust speck screaming for help. Then Jo-Jo is transplanted into being a citizen of Who (the speck Horton hears is the planet of Who). Who is in trouble of course, torn over how to put butter on your bread, and Horton is accused of being insane, but one bird believes him. The animals in the jungle want Horton locked up and his dust speck on the clover destroyed. On top of that, this floozy of bird got herself knocked up and seduces Horton to sit on her egg, and Horton ends up in a circus. The story never really explains how Horton escapes the circus but that's not important, because everyone is singing.

Musically, the score is a dream for the orchestra. The songs almost never stop. There's no downtime. Every song forwards the plot and if the show isn't over in two hours, you're doing it wrong. Faster to the bar, faster to being happy. The orchestration is bit cramped though, as each reed book (three total) appear to require four instruments for each player. The brass books had been condensed into two trumpet parts and one trombone part. Which results in not the fullest sound on the brass side of things. A french horn part and even a second trombone part could be used. Especially considering the screamer style the first trumpet book is written in. Support voices would definitely help.

The show does move at a frantic pace and left me exhausted after every performance. There are thirty-one official songs of the show, but many numbers are split into long sections that segue to each other for ten to fifteen minutes at a time.

So now that the story and element of the show are set, lets get to the meat of the entry. This was the first show I had done in a while that I felt good about my overall performance. I thought I had a good ratio of right notes, and not too many bricks. I was also very happy to get my friend and hetero musical life partner involved in the production by covering the drum set. He read the book like a champ and learned the ropes of community theater fast. He learned not to necessarily trust watching the conductor, that he's in it with us, and that the singers will make us look bad but we can't make them look bad. Also the fact that you must either fit in or sink with the musicians involved. It's just as important to get along socially as it is to be responsible for your part and talent. Stevie, if you're reading, I'm proud of you and I hope you don't regret agreeing to do it even in the tough times you're having.

Alright enough of the sappy crap. So the cast was pretty stereotypical. A few pieces of talent, the rest raw meat just making our lives in the orchestra a living hell. The best way to explain it was a few songs I got seasick from the tempo fluctuations. There was the funk tune sung by some monkeys. I can't explain to you but, imagine if Isaac Hayes was an eighth note slow singing "Shaft", every time. They were hesitant, almost like they were waiting for some audible cue that was never there. Now imagine the frustration of the brass section with horn pops on beat four, and its clear the singer isn't supposed to be singing on beat four, but you can still hear him. Add to that the drummer hanging on for dear life on his stereotypical sixteenth note beat on the high hat. Dead in the water my friends, every night, without fail. The cue line for the song?

Cat in the Hat:"Hang on Jo-Jo, things are about to go wrong!!"

"How true, how true" said the sad kangaroo and the young trumpet player in the pit said "Meee tooooo!".

Only one more complaint and again its a tempo issue. The curtain call is a big band, Benny Goodman/Gene Krupa salute to "Green Eggs and Ham". The cast just is dying to come out clapping to it. Here's the problem, they see the music is written in 4/4 time. The song is too fast for that and is played in cut time. So they clap on the after beat instead of the back beat. Crash and burn my friend, crash and burn. So with their clapping off, their singing of the song is off too. Hang on again Jo-Jo, the orchestra is going into phasing metric modulation hell!!!! Especially when you're the loudest and highest voice in the pit and you are the one punctuating the "Four - One" feel. Lets not forget that everything except an eight bar section of this song is above the staff. It's an exhilarating and nerve wracking experience.

I have to admit, "Seussical" is one of my favorite shows to play, and was a fun way to celebrate my ten year anniversary with Liberty Showcase Theatre of Baltimore, Maryland. Its been fun and every show, though bitched about, has been fun to play with them. Every year I get better and learn more about musicals, and I get to know the orchestra better. I feel blessed really to continuously be called back year after year with a group as talented in the orchestra. I've never been asked to audition, I've just always been trusted to learn the part and try to help in any way I can. The help this year included putting together an arrangement of the Muppet Show theme for the orchestra to play before the Entr'acte. I couldn't have been more honored, and I learned how to write for strings and for saxophones. Thank you Ted, Elisa, Joe, Erica, Lisa, Matt, Steve, and Jonell for the memories and I hope for another ten years with you folks there.

This blog entry has been far too sentimental for this time of the night, and I must sign off. This entry rambled itself out quite well. Right now the sky is turning pink, and when figuring out what will happen next, I'm asking you, What do you think? All the thinks I can think have been thought, and when making the telephone, Bell asked, "What hath God wrought?". God gave us a musical where all the lines rhyme and just needs a twist of lime.

Good night.

The Chicken Dinner, Rushed

2008-07-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Compatriots, I come to you bearing good news. I hope this news finds you all in good spirits and health. I am writing with a bit of a concert review. This past Saturday, I attended the "Snakes and Arrows Tour 2008 - An Evening with Rush" at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia.

I will first off hit you with some of the fun of going to a concert. I attended with Beth, and my hetero-musical life partner, Steve. We've been musically courting each other officially now for about 3 weeks. Steve and I are very similar in that we want to be early, we don't want to miss a thing, we never head to the parking lot early after the show either. So we got there shortly after the parking lot opened, popped out some hot dogs, chips, and some beer, and we had at the feast with a little Pink Floyd playing in the background. This is where the tee-shirt spotting began.

I like to observe the culture at each concert I go to. The easiest way to do that is simply by the tee-shirts people are wearing. I must say, at this concert, there was no trend really, except people felt there wasn't a need to wear a music oriented shirt. Most shirts were of Rush, which I don't like, for some reason it screams "Pathetic" to me, wearing the shirt of the band you're there to see (the only exception seems to be with Iron Maiden, where its more than acceptable to wear your Iron Maiden shirts). The shirts seemed to reflect though the diversity of what people hear and find in Rush's music. There was a fair share of the "Prog" music fans ( a term Steve and I both don't care for as it is used as a catch all), metal fans (Steve refuses to acknowledge Rush's link to metal) and just general "Happy Go Lucky, its Saturday night, lets party and listen to good music" fans.

So on to the music. I must immediately say, Rush tickles the musicality side of my enjoyment. They are creative, ingenious, and skillful songwriters. The use of poly-meter, syncopation, and harmony is impressive. Add to that, their virtuosity and showmanship and you have one of the best live shows you can imagine. They are the most well balanced rock trio's ever. The sound and complexity that they're capable of is simply amazing. My favorite part is that even with today's music being lyric focused, they were not afraid to do three instrumentals in their set, including YYZ as the end of their encore.

This concert, two sets of all Rush, no opening act, was probably the best rock concert I've attended musically. They played hits like "Tom Sawyer", "Limelight", and "Subdivision", along with some stunning photography and witty video intro's featuring Jerry Stiller. Random, but awesome. The funniest thing is that Geddy (bass, synth's and vocals) has replaced his amps, or "appliances" with large chicken rotisserie's that were being tended to by a roadie dressed like a chef. With smoke, lasers and some tasteful pyro, Rush brought it all and bowled over the crowd. Neil Peart did an incredible solo on his massive drum set, utilizing everything he had available to him, and even crossing genre's by ending his solo with a sweet swing tune. Just amazing. His drum solo was more than just playing fast and demonstrating technique. He put together a composition for the crowd.

Well my good friends and loyal readers. I wish you good night.

Jonell

2008-07-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. I write to you tonight with great sorrow. I know I had promised not to get too personal in this blog but, I cannot help it in this situation. This Sunday, my good and dear friend Jonell Lindholm passed away from a long fight with cancer.

Jonell was an extremely talented French horn player. Jonell was one of the most active musicians in Baltimore area, playing with anyone, anywhere, for any amount of money, even gratis. I worked with her in the UMBC Symphony, Liberty Showcase and Glyndon Players, Columbia Symphony, and of course in The Usual Suspects.

Jonell taught me all the tricks of playing in a symphony; write in the tough transpositions, look over the clarinet player's shoulder when playing Beethoven in case you get lost in the long rests, play loud and confident no matter what, don't be afraid to count out loud and on your fingers, and brass players stick together. Jonell never criticized anyones playing, except for Stan. But then she was never really mean.

Jonell was great to do chamber music with. She always had positive criticisms and was willing to try and play anything, no matter how crappy the arrangement. Of all the situations, I will miss her from our quintet rehearsals. She would always bring the group back on task, and chime in with a proper timed, Michigan accented "Oh brother". Her musicianship was second to none. She was always professional. Always with a pencil and ready to learn.

I don't think I can talk much more without getting worked up again, so I say, "Here's to you Jonell. May all the parts in heaven be in F already. I loved you and loved working with you." Good night.

Taking Inventory

2008-06-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Salutations to all my readers this evening. Tonights topic is more of just an observation on my music purchasing habits. As many of you know I am about to take a trip to the Greater Boston area. One of the great music towns in the United States and the World. So many great bands, such as Boston, Aerosmith, and of course, Dreamtheater, all started there. Not to mention their world class symphony that has been home to many of the worlds finest conductors, and defined the standard for a pops orchestra with Mr Arther Fiedler and his relation with Leroy Anderson. So needless to say, I'm excited.

In preparation for this trip, I have put in a rush job of getting just about every CD I own on to my iPod. This of course causes me to go through my CD collection and I noticed a few patterns.

First pattern is change. My CD collection has changed from being classically oriented to being rock oriented. I own more Pink Floyd than any other band, with a tie between AC/DC, The Killers, and Boston's own Dreamtheater. I must admit my connection to the public library is where a majority of my music on the iPod has come from. Which is why I actually have almost every AC/DC album on my iPod, and my dad has been the source of the Pink Floyd albums I don't personally own. For the record, between him and I, the only non-compilation album by them we don't own is Atomic Mother.

Second observation is that with a couple bands, I have copped and simply own "Greatest hits" albums. I am embarrassed that the only album by Judas Priest, Queen, and Nightwish that I have is a "greatest hits". I also own Journey's Greatest Hits and their newest album, Revelation. I am proud though these are not bands known for concept album work, so its not like a Pink Floyd greatest hits album that makes you pretty much miss the actual message of the band. I would consider these bands to be more fluff content, though very enjoyable.

The third thing that caught my attention was the size of my jazz collection currently. I have more than I thought, though again, a lot of it are bargain bin compilations, such as Sinatra's Capitol Record's years, and the greatest of Cab Calloway. I do own "Kind of Blue" but I have never listened to my copy of it. Theres a good chance I never will. I also owned "Time Out" at some point by Dave Brubeck Quartet, but I can't find it. I must say I have a taste for the latin jazz, as the genre shows up the most, with The Best of Perez Prado (the guy who wrote the real Mambo no. 5), Tito Puente "Live at Grossinger's", and Jesus Alemany's "Cubanismo".

The fourth and final main observation for the night is an odd one. My classical collection has some quirks. The most owned time period is actually French Impressionist Orchestral works. Saint-Saens, Dukas, Satie, namely. The next is actually the 1812 Overture, specifically. I have about 5 different recordings I believe, including one recorded with period muzzle-load cannons. The brands of choice are Deutsch-Gramophone and RCA Victor. My iPod though will probablt be the only one you find though that contains at least one Mahler symphony, and two Bruckner Symphonies. I love the brass. My most prized recordings are vintage re-masterings of the Dvorak's New World Symphony by the Chicago Symphony with Fritz Reiner at the helm, and the Pines of Rome with the same set up. Both are awe inspiring albums and every brass player should listen to. Every musician should take a listen, its something to aim towards one day.

I wish you kind folks good night and I leave you with this sad last short observation of my CD collection. I have at least one CD that has "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy (of Family Guy fame) but I do not own a single recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in C minor. Sad.

Good night.

A Real Trooper

2008-06-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hello folks. I hope this entry finds you guys in good spirits and the humidity hasn't gotten you yet for the summer. We all know what summer means for me. Musicals and outdoor rock concerts. Life doesn't get much better than that, and this summer opened with a big metallic bang. IRON MAIDEN. I must admit this was one of the most intense musical sensations in my life. Yes, in my LIFE.

The concert opened with Steve Harris' s (Bass-Iron Maiden) daughter, Lauren Harris. She has a band put together of what seems to be generic studio rockers putting on a stereotypical metal look for her. Their performances were nothing to write home about. Lauren Harris, I am not sure about. She has skills, and her stage presence is an Ozzy Osbourne derived "Stand and Deliver" style. The issue is that she hasn't settled on a style and I would have preferred her to be a screamer (hehe). She sang very low, in a tenor range. If she sang like an alto, even in falsetto, she would have been killer. In the range she sang it would have worked for her to go country, which would be a shame since shes a Brit. I mean, Iron Maiden's male lead singer sang two octaves higher than her at times. It was the first time I really felt bad for an opening act. The girl is very good looking and has talent and her songs weren't bad, just I think her vocal range needs to be thought about and she needs a real band with whom she has a bond.

After about forty-five minutes since Lauren finished, and the sun has gone below the horizon, the lights go out. A video clip of the members of Iron Maiden boarding their private Boeing 757 (thats right, I can recognize some different models of commercial jets, my grandfather worked for the airlines), then a camera shot through the window of the cockpit and there sits none other than Bruce Dickinson, lead singer, airline pilot, DJ, and historian. Bruce Dickinson this evening demonstrated some amazing front-man skills, of keeping the crowd entertained while the set changed and the guitarists changed guitars or re-tuned. Combine that with one of the most recognizable voices and you have a Freddie Mercury of metal. Those of you who know me and read this, know how high I regard the late Queen lead-man. This is big for me to compare him. Bruce's voice was right on for being a live performance. A lot of bands, understandably, change the vocal lines some from the album for live performances. I heard maybe, MAYBE three instances of this at the concert. Very impressive considering they just played the night before in Philadelphia.

This concert was very special since Iron Maiden was not pushing a new album on this tour, and only had 14 shows in the United States on this massive world tour. The theme of the tour is "Somewhere Back in Time". They are basically touring their greatest hits from the years 1980-89. This means the set included hits like "Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills", "The Trooper", and their 13-minute masterpiece based on Samuel Coleridge Taylors famous poem, "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". They were coming to rock, and melt your face. The shredding along with the pyro just did exactly that. After playing a set with those songs plus about 7 others, they leave the stage. The audience already running only on adrenaline and alcohol, screaming for more. They come out and perform three more songs as an encore, ending with their title song "Iron Maiden" which includes a giant walking and dancing Eddie (the zombie alien that appears in all the Iron Maiden logos and art). This was very amusing as the guitarists (all three of them, not including the bassist and band leader, Steve Harris, who is one of the best bassists in metal) formed together to battle Eddie with their guitars.

After three encores the audience seemed defeated, just rocked into surrender. Even after the lights came up you had to just stand there and catch your breath. This concert was a barn stormer and will be tough to beat, but with a line up of Rush on July 19th, The Masters of Metal Tour, featuring Judas Priest, Motorhead, a reunited Heaven and Hell, and Testament on August 7th, Journey, Heart, and Cheap Trick on August 27, and Several Species on September 20th, there will be ample opportunity for others to turn up the heat. Its going to be a hot summer. I leave you with a clip of "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden, performed live at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was at this performance and I feel the clip demonstrates what I was talking about! I wish you guys peace and nimble fingers for your board tapping in your massive solos.

Never stopped believin'

2008-06-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Friends I write this blog to you in the light of the new word. This word is of Journey, the new lead singer Arnel Pineda, and their new album Revelation. I did not think this band would ever bring themselves back after Steve Perry leaving ten years ago. His voice and song writing skills were almost on a Freddie Mercury level. With Neal Schon now doing most of the songwriting, the guitar is a little heavier, and their sound has made the jump to the new millennium but they're still 100% Journey at heart. I found myself on the second listen singing along. The CD is a great investment as well. Disk 1 is new material, Disk 2 is Arnel singing classic Journey songs, and then the concert DVD. The DVD is an hour long and contains the new line up performing new and old Journey hits.

On a totally unrelated note, I did attend my first opera about 1 month ago. I saw the Baltimore Opera Company put on Madame Butterfly. I have to tell you I really enjoyed the multimedia experience. I have listened to many operas on the radio and CD but never seen one performed. Its quite an experience. But with that I must present my review.

I enjoyed the overall presentation. They used projections instead of a mostly real set. The projections went from being abstract, pseudo-Japanese art prints (tacky flowered wallpaper), to being overly blunt ( a ship sailing straight at the audience and Butterfly belts her heart out). I will not bash the end of the first act fading to a starry night as Pinkerton completes his seduction of Butterfly. The use of projection was not wise, though. The projections were projected from the house, meaning anyone who stood on the stage were covered by the images, wiping out the quite nice costuming. There were also numerous technical difficulties with the projector, which is not good considering its the last dress rehearsal before they charged ($125 I believe was the cheapest seat) people to see them.

The orchestra, overall, was quite good. There were times where the phrasing could have been slowed for dramatic pause and more chances to allow applause would have been nice. Some tempi seemed rushed. I also had huge issue of only one intermission. They took the intermission after act 1, but not after act 2, and they proceed to still play the prelude to act 3, which felt like an out of place intermezzo for 15 minutes of serious music. It took me about 6 minutes into it to recognize that this is what they did. I did not like that at all.

The blocking of the production was quite awkward as well, sometimes there were extras on stage you couldn't quite understand what they were still doing there and looked bored on stage. Then you had off stage singing when the character should have been on stage. Worst of all, Butterfly tells her son to go play in the garden so she can kill herself. He goes to the opposite side of the stage from Pinkerton's American bride who is waiting in the garden. He then proceeds to walk in a circle waving an American flag while his mom kills herself with the same sword her father used to kill himself. It was very uncomfortable to watch.

Though my review sounds negative, it was a positive musical experience for me to witness how an opera is put on live and the singing, overall was quite nice. Just a lot of the issues I had were things that a group with such high standards should have taken care of, since they charge so much. This isn't a community group putting on Gilbert and Sullivan, this is a city's representation and contribution to the arts. I may have too high of standards since i do like to watch the Metropolitan Opera on public television.

I must discuss one more thing. The other night I was giving my close friend Steve a ride home from a party and he asked me a very difficult question, which in the 10 minute ride home I could not fully answer. Since Steve recently embarrassingly admitted to reading my blog, I feel I should use this space to answer him.

Steve asked me, basically, why do I listen to what I listen to? With my odd taste in bands, what draws me to them and not others. Why metal? why progressive symphonic metal? Why AC/DC? Why Journey? There is no simple answer to this complex question and I know he understands this. I will try my best to explain. My love of metal is connected to my love of Romanticism and virtuosity. There is a certain virtuosic thing in symphonic metal combined with a composition level not found in much of pop music. Prog and symphonic metal satisfies the classical music lover in me in a rock 'n' roll way. I hear Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler in the long compositions of Dream Theater and Rush. My enjoyment of AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, and those types of acts, such as Ozzy Osbourne, comes from the ability to listen and enjoy myself without the analysis stage of listening occurring. They're fun acts that have some exact musical influence that hits me deep. For example, AC/DC's guitar riffs are straight out of standard blues riffs but are put in a straight, in your face chest thumping way, along with a very distinct vocal style. Judas Priest touches on the rebellious spirit that I find myself also relating to in the music of The Clash and The Ramones. There are also bands that I listen to because I feel a certain member's talents combined with excellent songwriting skills makes them a must listen. Journey, with Steve Perry's "pipes", as my friend Andy has dubbed them, combined with their song writing and expansive chordal vocabulary makes them a group that you must at least own their greatest hits album. Iron Maiden's bass player, Steve Harris, is a fantastic bass player and does some really cool things you won't hear in other rock bands, such as small bass fills and even sections where the bass is busier than the lead guitar. That combined with some really kick ass lyrics with an in your face approach and beat, and some epic composition skills, makes them worthy of listening and mild fanaticism. These reasons I listed cover pretty much why I like every band that I do like. So to finish that off I will list for you my top 10 favorite bands, in order, for now at least.

10. Judas Priest
9. Black Sabbath (with Ozzy and Dio, but preferred Ozzy)
8. Ozzy Osbourne (solo, with Randy Rhodes, and with Zakk Wylde)
7. Iron Maiden
6. Dream Theater
5. Journey
4. Queen
3. AC/DC
2. The Killers
1. Pink Floyd
Honorable Mention: The Beatles, UFO, The Ramones, The Clash, Deep Purple, Rush, Airbourne, Avenged Sevenfold, The BeeGees, Boston

Another thing I do take into consideration is the use of concept albums, and in my opinion, Pink Floyd combines that with all the items I mentioned above; great composition skills, overflowing virtuosity, driving beats, with a rebellious and independent spirit. And as a side note, on that list, after this summer, I will have seen 6 of those top 10 bands live. I just had to rub that in.

With that my friends I bid you a good night. Remember your blanket for those lawn seats and enjoy the second hand pot.

Concert Etiquette

2008-04-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends. I come to you this evening to discuss a couple things. Both topics are spurred by the music events I attended this weekend. I witnessed incredible violations of concert etiquette and experienced some horrendous musical theater cliché. Lets start though with the etiquette. Here are my rules for concerts:

1. Respect the Performer
2. Respect the Performance
3. Know the rules of the performance - e.g. if it is a classical concert, do not clap between movements, clap for the concert master, conductor, and solist everytime they enter the stage.

This past weekend, me and a lovely friend of mine attended a performance of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. The group performed the "Armenian Suite" by Richard Yardumian, Piano Concerto no. 1 by Sergei Prokofiev with Yuja Wang on piano, and closed with "Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz.

The BSO has matured quite a bit under the new directorship with Marin Alsop. The performed all three pieces with intensity and precision. They presented a concert of such passions that it made you have to move. A man a few rows in front of me was getting into the concert and was doing some small conducting of his own in his seat. This is not unusual especially at a concwert with such rhythmic and all out primal feels such as the Armenian Suite and Piano Concerto (Soloist at one point got so into it she pulled a Jerry Lee Lewis and stood while playing for a bar or two). The man in the seat between me and armchair conductor is getting ore and more agitated for some reason. You must understand that the guys seat was not rocking and hitting his legs, his arms weren't blocking a view and he wasn't making any noise doing this. When the concert finally ended and everyone jumped to their feet to give the group and its conductor a standing ovation, especially the percussionists who were incredible, the man directly in front of me, grabs his wife by the arm, gets in the enthusiast's face and says "He's the conductor not you, and now you know for the next time". He then proceeded to storm out of the hall, not giving the orchestra his respect. Never mind that this is taking place 4 rows from the stage, on the side where the conductor enters. The conductor made multiple nods down to us and could clearly see the scene. I was furious, I was embarrassed for music lover in me. The upset man simply didn't get the passion of romantic music. In his own maneuver to punish a man loving music in demand of having a concert the way he wants, he forgot the key thing that its about the performer and the listener and nothing else. This man was not listening and experiencing the music and in that he disrespected the performer, which violates the first rule and second rule. I had to tell the faux conductor that I appreciate his passion and that you have to let it out. He was so friendly we practically made a new friend on the way out of the concert, with him and his daughter. We walked out together and the jerk was forgotten. The group performed so well and its sad it had such a bad audience. I heard at least 10 cell phones ring and there was a woman two rows back that I swear had tuberculosis. It was gross and rude, and she never excused herself. I could only imagine the level of embarrassment her guests had.

If you've ever been to a classical concert with a soft section you know that coughing spreads like a plague. People have no control or concept that everything in the hall projects and your cough is as loud as a trumpet to someone concentrating. I don't understand why you would come to something like that sick. Also these coughs are normally just throat clears done without covering the mouth or muffling in anyway and its just gross and distracting. COUGHERS OF THE WORLD, HEAR ME NOW WHEN I SAY GET A HALLS, A COUGH DROP AND GET UP AND LEAVE THE HALL UNTIL YOUR THROAT IS CLEAR. Stop punishing us who can control ourselves.

Now that my rant is done, I must bid this post farewell. Thank you for reading, let your meter be simple and cadences be perfect.

A Return...to Rock \oo/

2008-04-08T19:52:00.001-07:00

Hello my friend(s) who may still pay attention to this blog. I wish a warm welcome. This blog entry is intended to bring you up to speed on some things lately. Recently, the UMBC Symphony presented a strong, almost professional caliber performance of the 3rd and 4th movement of the Symphonie Fantasique by Hector Berlioz. I was particularly proud. My brass section got a standing ovation. The corwd started standing once we were told to stand alone for applause. One of the best honors I've ever received playing. Also before the concert, the quintet knocked the lobby crowd out with Irish Tune from County Dairy by Percy Grainger, Ashokan Farewell, from the Civil War miniseries by Ken Burns, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles and Springtime For Hitler from the Producers. Big time hit. The group right now is working on the 5th movement of the Berlioz, and the quintet is working on Open Arms by Journey and Brain Damage by Pink Floyd.

Now to the subject above. I was recently blessed to hear an up and coming power rock band from Australia named Airbourne. I first heard them on the airing of the WWE Royal Rumble. I purchased their CD and it was love. They have all the power, sound, skill, and quality of a young AC/DC. I consider myself lucky to have seen them live, in an intimate setting like the Recher Theatre in Towson, MD. The place only holds 700 and its standing room only. I was also there for another Several Species concert but I had to leave early due to throwing my back out breaking the fall of a guy who blacked out. But, I digress.

The two opening bands were quite...interesting. For $10 to see Airbourne was quite a deal, but we know for $10, the openers were going to be rough. The first band, called Stone Riders. They were pretty good. Sounded strangely like a mix of Zeppelin and Rolling Stones but its missing the technical proficiency. The second band, Endeverafter, sucked big time. They did nothing play fast, guitar licks that sounded strangely familiar with bad lyrics and really my friend Pat and I thought were trying to audition for Guitar Hero. We were convinced when the guitarist did a name that tune section that included "Rain of Blood" by Slayer (Guitar Hero 3), and "Cowboys from Hell" by Pantera (Guitar Hero 1). Their music really sounded like nothing but copy and pasted licks from the video game. No passion, no soul, little skill. I should have known better when the bassist from the band was warming up by playing other peoples music (he warmed up on the bass line to Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Now you all know I heart Journey the Steve Perry years, but still this is a clue that the group you're about to hear sucks. Besides an on stage warm up, totally unacceptable if you're not a symphony, or in a venue so small theres a parking lot and a stage, and its raining in the parking lot).

So that brings me to Airbourne, where they opened with "Stand Up for Rock 'n' Roll" (thats right I wasn't baked or drunk enough to forget the set). This song has a very similar feel to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, except for a massive accelerando, that immediately lets you know this band is going to be in your face for the next 90 minutes. They did every song from their album "Runnin' Wild" but in a more concert appropriate order, closing the set with "Too Much Too Young Too Fast" and "Running Wild". Then for an encore which was demanded so fast they barely got off stage that was about 10 minutes long and was insanely loud because the front vocalist/guitarist turned his stage amps all the way up, which sounded amazing. The song was something lightning. I didn't get the exact title through the screams and his grovely Aussie accent. But rest assured the song kicked my ass, my friends ass, and every ass in there that stayed for the encore. We were pumped. The concert was pure testosterone and adrenaline. I witnessed first hand my first mosh pit, and stage diving. I will definitely be paying attention to their tour location to see them again.

Well my friends I must sign off for the evening. my pals and I are currently in search of more concerts to attend, which I will write about. I apologize for abandoning my blog for so long and I hope you will continue to come back. I will try not to be so distant. Let your Rock be rollin' and your bass drum pedal be double, Rock on dudes. To quote the genius(sic) lead singer and guitarist of Endeverafter, "You are the fuck. Metal is the fuck" Good night

Just...what the hell is it?

2008-01-17T19:58:00.000-08:00

Greetings and salutations my good friends. I hope this blog finds you in good health and spirits. The rainy and snowy Baltimore has somewhat isolated me to the indoors, providing for some quality time with the Xbox 360 and some lovely listening choices. Well besides maiming fellow geeks and 13 year old children who insist on screaming in the microphone with their mouth filled with hardware, I took time to listen to two CDs.
The first of which I won't spend much time on it as it was somewhat covered before. This CD is Rob Zombie's new release, "Live". Which is just that, a CD of a live performance. The liner has no location or date listed which makes me sad. I like to know things like that. The thing is metal works so much better with a crowd. Not that I don't enjoy the art on a recording, but the audience reflects the energy and really brings it out. Not to mention, a band can't do a fade out on a live album, so we get to hear them fully composed out. As some of you know, the fade out, in my opinion, is a huge cop out. The hardest part of composing is the ending, how to finish your idea. Too many bands just let it go and fade out on a loop. This is lame. Anyways. This CD had lots of energy, and the standard primal rage feel the Zombie packs into a show. It was great to recover the fun of a few Saturdays ago with a CD. It is practically the same set.

The second CD that I listened to was by a band I never heard of before. It was recommended to me by my branch manager and friend, Bob. He had heard them on NPR. The group is called "Over the Rhine". It is hard to describe them. The library cataloged it as "Rock". I would put it more in popular. The core of the group is a duo, of a guy on piano and a lovely female vocalist (appearance and voice wise). They add on an unusual combo including bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and some others. The arrangements for the instruments are quite good. They have a New Orleans brass band kind of sound to them, with very smooth, complex chord progressions. The lyrics are very deep, yet simple and have great movement to them. The words themselves are part of the melody, the syllables flow wonderfully. So this brings me to the title. Just what the hell would you classify this music?

Theres a clip of them. Are they jazz? Are they rock? Are they blues? I can't tell you, but they hit something in me. I haven't been excited by a newish band like this since "The Killers". Their flow is something to be envied and studied for my lyric writing in the future.

With the sounds of the Trumpet Child, I end this blog entry with wishes of your A's be 440, and your Allegro to be brisk but controlled. Good evening

All aboard the Crazy Train

2008-01-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

Alright, hello again music fans. I am here and still alive after the 12 days of Christmas. I almost didn't survive.

The topic of this entry will be the Rob Zombie/Ozzy Osbourne concert I attended on January 5th in Washington, DC.

Before I go into the musicality, I must say I am disappointed in parents and the "straights" who showed up to the concert, behaving kind of like its a piano recital at Carnegie Hall. there were children there. Parents brought their kids, to hear Ozzy Osbourne, the "Prince of Fucking Darkness". Rob Zombie showing his gore fest, naked lady B movie clips while playing, and never mind the chicks in the crowd flashing the cameras for the giant screens in around the arena. Bad idea folks. I saw many parents taking their kids out. Good job wasting that money. Take them to Hannah Montana.

Anyways, the music. The first band to go on was the opening act of "In This Moment". good metal group. Four goth looking guys then one pretty blond lead singer who dresses like little bo peep. She skips around the stage then starts screaming. But don't let the scream fool you, shes got some pipes on her for some real singing. I was impressed.

Thats a clip of them from Ozzfest.

Rob Zombie was everything as expected. His stage presence, presentation, and performance were all tight, and well synchronized. Puppets, costumes and all were amazing. Not to mention the Rob zombie feel of always pushing the tempo, in your face, primal pulse really surges through you and rattles everything in your body. Plus, the dancing girls he always has, which is a trademark, were really good, and good looking. "Dragula" was amazing live. He really puts on a multimedia experience.

During the break I enjoyed watching the roadies go up the rigging and such, and thought it was interesting they played AC/DC over the PA system. That was cool. It reminded me of the DreamTheatre concert where they actually played string quartets.

So Ozzy hits the stage and immediately begins cursing and then the first song tears it up. It was from his new album, so a good way to warm people up before he hits them with Crazy Train and Mr Crowley back to back. This is where Zakk Wylde was owning everything. His solos were tight, original, and technically sound. Ozzy was having hearing issues, so the monitors were turned up causing some feedback. Ozzy was recovering from the flu so he was probably on cough syrup, and had clogged ears. Ozzy sadly only did one Black Sabbath song, Paranoid, and it was his encore. The cool thing was though it was an extended version with tons of Zakk Wylde solos. During "Mamma I'm Comin' Home", Zakk broke a string during a solo. He walks over to Ozzy who bends over and breaks off the string completely for him and Zakk doesn't miss a beat or note. It was quite impressive.

Overall this concert was amazing. I can't imagine a better musical experience in this genre. The opening act was actualyl able to put me into the trance, which is a big thing, and then the rest of the concert locked in. It was three and a half hours of pure metal joy, and it felt like 15 minutes to me. Just intense and fun.

So here I am at the end of this fun entry. Let your metal be hard, and your double bass pedal quick and even stroke.

A long Overdue

2007-12-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Hello again, thanks for tuning in. I know it has been quite awhile since I've written and I apologize. It is the holidays and is causing chaos as expected.

First of all, the big stresser is out of the way, with the Holiday Brass Quintet gig at the library being over with. We were well received, and the quintet sounded strong. Some issues surfaced in my arrangements, such as Carol of the Bells being a nightmare to count. We had about 70 show up, and this made me really happy. The research I did so I could talk between the pieces was extremely well received as well. I sense that the library will definitely be willing to hire us again.

This weekend is the Baltimore Tubachristmas, to which I'm looking forward to. On the 1st, I played the first Bel Air Tubachristmas, which was fun. It was cool being in a group of only 27, instead of the 250 that show up to the Baltimore one. The conductor of the Bel Air one was a bit of a jerk. He conducted us like we were the "Philadelphia Symphony" playing "Mahler's 5th". He said this but he never made any actual musical statements or used musical terms. It was very frustrating. Not to mention constant insults of expecting bad players to show up, and not thinking we could handle certain arrangements. Combine that with the 2 hour rehearsal, we got a little punchy and luckily found an Irish pub to drink and eat during the hour break. The concert did result in fun. Though a horrible thing happened, a trombone...A TROMBONE, as in non valved, cylindrical bore instrument showed up and was allowed to play. This made me sick to my stomach. I may be a trumpet player, but I make sure to bring a member of the tuba family to this. A trombone is not a member of the tuba family, and should not have been allowed. I had no say though and thus they were permitted. I don't think I could do the Bel Air one again after that.

I leave you tonight with a crappy video of the quintet playing at the library. I will probably not have another entry before Christmas, so have a merry one!

Its the time

2007-11-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Well first off, Merry Thanksgiving to you, my loyal readers. I do know its been awhile since my recent publishing but you must understand holidays, family stress and videos games have taken a toll on the time I can dedicate to this blog. Never mind the endless preparation for Christmas gigs.

So this entry will be scattered as usual as it will cover a couple issues these past few weeks have brought up. First off, the UMBC Symphony concert last Sunday went incredibly well. The group pulled off almost professional level performances of Stravinsky, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Strauss, and Mozart. I must say this concert left me quite winded due to the recent dietary changes I have made. Less calories = Less fuel for a performing. I cracked a few notes but overall I felt good about my playing. The quintet also played before the concert in the lobby, and as usual people enjoyed my arrangements. They especially liked the arrangement of the Godfather theme for tuba, and Good King Wenceslas. So lets say it was a success.

In the mail today, I received my copy of Jekyl and Hyde Concert Tour. This is PDQ Bach's newest CD. It was recorded live at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills, MD. I was lucky enough to attend this concert for a bargain of $11. It was quite interest to witness how these sessions work. The string quartet that was there was able to pick up in the middle of phrases, and actually sound like they had played all the notes before it. Almost like a live "drop the needle". At this concert I was also blessed to meet THE PDQ Bach himself, Professor Peter Schickele.

With that photo I must say good night and take care, and may your turkey left overs be tender and moist.

Explorations

2007-11-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hello friend(s). I write to you with fond greetings and a grasp at being entertained.

In my quest to find myself entertained, I took a journey to the local Super Walmart which just opened its doors to my Baltimore suburb. It is a bittersweet thing. As much as I despise walmart for censoring song lyrics on albums, thus making me go to a local record store to get my new copy of the Avenged Sevenfold CD. But they did happen to have, set up in demo mode, "Rock Band".

"Rock Band" is a new game coming out from the original designers of Guitar Hero, that not only allows you to play guitar, but drums, bass, and even be a vocalist! I played this demo for an hour, mot of it with a complete stranger on guitar. We became an amazing band. It will be coming out for PS2 on December 11, so I have started saving my pennies already. I may even...trade in....Guitar Hero III to help pay for it.

As I mentioned above about having to go to a local record store to pick up a CD. Thanks to the Walmart policy of censoring, it helped me rediscover the coolness of the "Record and Tape Traders" store in Catonsville. A whole section dedicated to metal. I'm in heaven. While picking up Avenged Sevenfold's new CD, which is incredible, as they continue what they did last album with amazing arrangements, and great vocals, with wonderful lyrics. Its a must buy. Back on topic though, I was able to also pick up another Dream Theater album, and an actual album by Dragonforce. This store not only had the albums I wanted and uncensored, but the CDs were a dollar cheaper. I spent 45 minutes in this little store just browsing. I was never bothered nor did I get odd looks for browsing metal, or buying the groups I was buying. It was a great shopping experience. Not to mention that the CDs I bought, all three of them, stellar.

Well my friends, I hope you find your drum heads tuned and your fills even and intriguing.

The Modern Legacy

2007-11-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

With the recent passing of Robert Goulet and Lucianno Pavarotti, my brain has been working overtime on a single question to which I am at a loss to come up with an answer and hope my loyal readers can assist me with. The Question is this:

Who will be the legendary performers, that when they die, will truly be missed and be the defining voice and music of this generation, my generation?

Before we can approach this question, we must ask how an artist would reach that level. The obvious answers are they must sustain their popularity, they must be prolific, and of course, a smart agent and label that knows how to get them to the masses quickly.

The 1950's obviously gave us the "Rat Pack", led by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Frankie Blue Eyes made it in the 40's but was able to keep performing and recording into the 1980's carrying that generation from adolescence pretty much all the way to death. The same with Dean Martin, but the days then required them to be more than music personalities but stagemen and movie stars. They were also supported by a cast of lesser known musicians. Paul Anka and other songwriters, along with the bands of Al hirt, Tommy Dorsey, and others helped these talented vocalists obtain superstar status.

The 1960's changed this whole thing. Singer/songwriters took over as the folk movement pulled musc out of the nightclubs and theaters and put it in any long haired hippie with enough money to buy a guitar and get to San Francisco. The Beatles, holy moses were they big. John and Pauls songwriting charmed just about every ear in America, as Rock n Roll was being brought to forefront on the variety shows popping up on TV as the appliance was found in almost every living room. The birth of multimedia meant that you not only had to sound good, you had to look good. This idea was HUGE in the 1980's with the birth of MTV and later, VH1. A whole channel dedicated to music, and the art of the music video.

MTV started the overflow of bands. This overflow really led to the groups getting wilder and wilder, with the long hair, bright costumes, and really the virtuosity on electric guitar. If the Beatles were around in the 1980's they would have hair to their butt, wore leopard print pants and make up to make you kind of think they were girls so they could survive this era of you have 4 minutes of air time to hook teenagers with your crappy song to sell a million albums. GO! This really continued through 90's. If you ask someone to name a great band from the 1980's everyone will disagree. Everyone liked Sinatra, Deano and Sammy Davis Jr in their hayday.

The new millinium really brought this market saturation to a new level, with broadband music sharing. Everybody with a synthesizer and a microphone has a myspace music account, every band has a separate release date for iTunes and stores for hard copies of their music. They put demos on the net. Someone actually showe dme a band that was really good, bu they don't even have an album out yet! Just 4 tracks on myspace.

So with age of oversaturation (notice I'm not saying mediocrity, because there is some really great stuff going on) how is our generation to recognize an icon of their time when we no longer have them? The segregation of genres as well these days can cause a loss of focus. There is no Rock, Rap, Folk, Jazz, Classical anymore. Its not that simple. There are atleast 4 different types of metal these days. I can't tell someone I like Heavy Metal, I have to say Progressive/Symphonic metal. To which they say, "What the hell is that?" And I say, "Groups like Dream Theater, Symphony X." "Who the hell are they?". "They have a great guitarist, drummer, and synth players." "Oh, thats cool." We can't discuss music anymore without leaving one person completely clueless within two sentences. My grandfather though could talk for hours comparing Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra to my great uncle, Ralph Sigwald, who was a famous singer for awhile in the 1950's. He was known as "The Caruso of the South."

So really this brings up the backside of the question of, does our generation care enough? The only artist I can imagine my generation and people a few years older and younger than me really caring about when his time comes is Michael Jackson. But I hope its for his amazing dancing and his partnership with Quincy Jones that made him bigger than Elvis. Elvis, I always like to think that if he was still alive, he'd have one of those every night shows in Vegas in his own theater. He would atleast make Celine Dion shut up. Maybe she wouldn't even have her own show.

On an unrelated topic, i bought tickets yesterday to go see Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie. ALLLL ABOARD THE CRAZY TRAIN HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

The Ebb and Flow

2007-10-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have always found it to be true that as the bad happens, the good also counters in some form. This is especially true in my musical life. As some may know, the vocal icon of Robert Goulet left this world Tuesday while waiting for a lung transplant. Goulet was a fabulous singer who got his lucky break from a very tragic happening in this country. Goulet was becoming a vocal sensation on Broadway in the musical "Camelot" in the early 1960's. When President Kennedy was assassinated, Jackie Kennedy was quoted saying how much Mr Kennedy was a fan of the score and the famous line, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." At that point Kennedy's administration was associated with Camelot, which was associated with Goulet's voice, and copies of "If Ever I Should Leave You" flew off the shelves.

I was a fan of his role in "Man of La Mancha" singing "The Impossible Dream". For some reason that song always gets to me. Its not just the words of Dream the Impossible dream, but the optimism and the flow of the melody just suck me right in. Quick side note, Maynard Ferguson made a wicked good recording of this song as well. Goulet's smooth voice though always charmed my ear and listening to the Standards station on Sirius radio, without looking I could pick his voice out with just one word. I will truly miss Robert Goulet.

And on this theme, with the loss of Robert Goulet and the quintet frustrations, I have found myself another band to that of which I will be a "fanboi". This band is called "Dragonforce" They have a modern progressive metal sound, but very classic, mythical, triumphant lyrical pattern, with that great open 4 part vocal sound that "Queen" used to great fame with "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Princes of the Universe". Their lyrics remind me very much of "Princes of the Universe", and "Who Wants to Live Forever", the later "Queen" hits. The "Dragonforce" hit "Fury of the Storm" has been made popular on youtube via "Guitar Hero" custom songs. "Through the Fire and Flames" is also featured in the recently released "Guitar Hero 3" (another positive).

This band uses a someone rare set up, of two lead guitarists, both of them solo, and both of them are pretty cool. Heres their music video for "Through the Fire and Flames".

One of their guitarist has a cool little trademark of his solos: he mimics 8-bit video game sounds.

Well my friends, may your hammer-ons and pull-offs be even, and your strings strong. I wish you peace, and another fond farewell to Robert Goulet.

An Oasis amongst the sand

2007-10-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

As some of my loyal readers know, I took a little vacation a week or so ago to get my head back together, collect my thoughts and come back swinging. Due to poor preparation, I found myself musically isolated for a week. I was trapped in Ocean City, MD with nothing of quality on the radio, no CDs and my iPod left comfortably on my computer desk. There wasn't even VH1 on the hotel tv system, and the hotel restaurant during breakfast played nothing but canned jazz. I struggled to find any source of rewarding sound, not even expecting music. I cruised every ad I could for hopes of a local bar having a band, an outdoor festival, anything. I found none of these, for i was in a resort city off season.

The sound of the ocean, calming, rewarding, at night with a slight wind almost sang like a soprano to me and charmed me. It relaxed me to the point of my insomnia almost was cured. Coming home and back into the stressful environment of my life, dragging me away from the cliched siren song of the sea, sent my sleep back into peril. It threatened the existance of this blog even. But I am back to writing and I apologize for the delay.

This has been an interesting weekend. I went to a house warming party and was re-united with one Nate Knauer. He was a someone who I kind of looked to for inspiration early in my college music career. He was one of the first people that made actually feel like I belonged with the musicians and that I had ability. One of my first recitals was actually performing a piece of his on his junior composition recital. I had not seen this guy in about 5 years. He immediately remembered that he still had two CDs of mine and the demo recording of my old brass quintet. We talked for a good hour getting caught up on each others musical activities. It was refreshing to know I still had a connection there and someone was genuinely glad to know I was still involved in music.

My quintet has me a bit nervous and concerned. They seem to not be paying attention to the calendar. Acting kind of lax about a gig being in 2 weeks and we have no set list, and a gig in 6 weeks, 4 actual rehearsals before it, that we haven't read any of the music for yet. Today we did read through the new Christmas carols and they really liked them, but again, we were short a member and rehearsal started 2 hours late. It was incredibly frustrating. I tried to delivery my worry and urgency without being a jerk. I don't want to cause the group to break up, which it felt like it could be close to doing.

This past week, the moment I got home, I banged out two new arrangements, when idea of doing Beatles songs came to me. So Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and When I'm 64 will be added to our catalog.

Peace and even triplets to you all.

Pumped

2007-10-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Good evening and thanks for tuning back into my little page where my word goes. Theres been a couple things that I have been wrapping my mind around. Now I think its a general consensus that attending live performances are key to developing musicianship. My question is though, does it matter what type of concert? Does the performer need to be further along in their path of musicianhood? (I made that word up) I ask because as you readers have read, I have been mainly exploring the world of rock, mainly acid rock and metal. I have found this has changed my approach to performance. I wanted to be a front man for today's concert for our quintet. They let me, and I tried to be charismatic and really bring out the uniqueness of our group. I think the gig went well. I was excited to take the stage and I energized. I psyched up and ready to go. The feeling of exhaustion didn't hit until I got home, when the adrenaline wore off. I haven't had that much of an adrenaline charge to perform ever.

Anyways, I have never been to an opera. I have caught a decent amount of flak over that because being a classical musician, I've been to a metal concert before an opera. Just operas are expensive, and really, I love opera, and appreciate the art, I fear my attention span causing an issue, and the opera house here is very uncomfortable if you're taller than 5 ft tall. I am not sure if I'm supposed to be upset about this, if it makes me a crap musician, a phony even. As always. I don't think it does, but thats my own ego, and I'm sure other musicians around me don't like me because of some reason, but is it because I've never been to an opera, or is it because I like Dreamtheater and been listening to a Best of album of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy?

On that note, I strike a chord with you and must settle into the coda of this entry. Good night, peace, and I will write again when I return from my trip. Peace to you, and you.

Shining On

2007-10-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not having blogged in a few days. The music has been hectic and is dictating my time these days. A quick synopsis of what is going on though. I have began work on a third polka for my quintet, "The Chicken Dance". No matter your opinion, every band must have a version of it to play. Kids love it, and I love it, so yeah, I'm a kid. I also have began work on "I Saw Three Ships". This is yet another challenging christmas carol due to its lack of substance. It was hard to come up with 4 part harmony, yet we're a 5 part ensemble. So I need to put the nose to the keyboard and come up with some interesting counter melody, maybe a descant of another christmas carol.

The problem of "I Saw Three Ships" was solved thanks to a little Jack n Coke. There is a British dance from about the same time period as this folk song called the Dargason. The Dargason is in 6/8 time and has identical chord progression to "I Saw Three Ships". Fellow band geeks would recognize the melody as the 6/8 melody from the Fantasia on Dargason, which is the final movement of both "Second Suite in F for Military Band" and "St Paul's Suite" by Gustav Holst. Holst loved to spread English folk melodies through his pieces, and since Holst was pivotal to the acceptance of Brass instruments in a classical setting, why not pay homage to his style by offsetting the traditional Christmas song with the Dargason melody.

So the subject line of this entry is referring to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd. I have come into possession of "The Wall" and "Wish You Were Here". Both albums are amazing. I've always liked "The Wall" with its storytelling of rebellion to English Society. The improvisational and composition skills of this group truly is mind blowing.

I have come into a rut with the brass quintet. We are all so busy and we have a gig coming up this weekend, that I am nervous about. I think we're all nervous about it, and its straining the group some I think. Its time for another group get together probably, to just try and chill. After this gig we need to immediately start work on the Christmas gig. I have a ton of new carols for the group to read through. It should be exciting. I think we all need to take a deep breath and realize this concert on the 14th isn't the best situation for us. We were hired only three weeks ago and asked to prepare a 45 minute set. Thats a good challenge! We'll hit it though and we'll have fun and that will reflect on the audience. Hopefully we'll get a good review.

Peace to my readers, and may your chords be major. I leave you with these words of wisdom: "We're starting at D, as in Don't Screw Up" - Dr E. Michael Richards

Piano: Social Drug

2007-10-01T12:21:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is, but new musical instruments excite me more than any other material object in this world. Even if its an instrument I really can't play, I love them. I mention this because my good friend Melanie purchased a new piano this week and on Sunday invited me over to "jam" with it. Now I must tell you I am no pianist, but again I love new instruments, so how could I resist. It is danger though to put me in the same room as a piano. I will either figure out songs that are stuck in my head to share the torture with the others, or I will make up silly little songs about the people there or n my head. This was no different. I rolled up on her piano and her and I laid down a track, titled "Stefanie's Song".

Needless to say, WOW! The good news is Stef really liked the song as she was feeling bad.

I find myself doing stupid things like this all the time with my friends piano's or pump organs (My good friend Ted has a peddling pump organ, its circus music with a good cardio workout).

I will just say the wekeend contained the piano work and a lot of polka. Very crazy. I hope this blog finds my loyal listeners in tune and in time. Peace

Evolution...?

2007-09-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

On my way to work today I was listening to a brand new recording of Anton Bruckner's 4th symphony. I was able to hear the first movement before having to shuffle my way into the branch. The first movement is filled with lovely Austrian undertones and ethnic melodies, with deep Romantic themes. After all, it was premiered in 1881 in Vienna and was Bruckner's first taste of success and placed him on the symphonist map. His first three symphonies apparently were flops and he took 7 years and three revisions before he allowed this one to be performed. If you ignored that this was an orchestral piece, you would think I was discussing a great film and its director. Its hard to imagine people back then actually keeping tabs on composers and looking forward to premieres of pieces. That kind of thing is unheard of in music these days. The closest to it that we have is with movies. The closest draw to the Bruckner story I can think would maybe be Peter Jackson. Peter Jackson spent much of his early directing years making pretty crappy horror movies. Then suddenly word gets out hes making an epic film based on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I mean I remember watching "making of" trailers my freshman year of college in 1998. The first of the series came out in 2001. People back then just got into it, symphonies were the movies of their day. According to legend, Stravinsky's debut of the ballet "Rite of Spring" caused violent outbursts by the audience, including keeping time on someones head. That had to hurt, with how rhythmic Stravinsky is. His primitivism was able to bring out the primal beast in man. Amazing. Similarly, some of you might remember when "New Jack City" came out. This movie caused fights and rioting to break out in urban areas that it was shown. I just find it interesting how over time, our main stimulus for emotion has changed from audio to visual. Music can still make us cry and laugh, but its not an immediate reaction like a photo, not to mention a lot more people are going to find humor in an Adam Sandler movie these days than a PDQ Bach audio CD. Sad, but our society has "evolved".

On a little side topic, have you ever popped in a CD you hadn't listened to in a long time, and just thought to yourself "Why do I not listen to this every day?" This happened to me the other day when I decided to put in "Sam's Town" by The Killers. I am definitely a fan of the Killers and I loved this album, the newer of the two. But it had been maybe 2 months since I listened to it, after listening to it every day, singing along to it loudly, and then I decided I should be sick of it and stopped. But I put it back in and I immediately was grabbed by their sound again. Just hooked, reeled me right back in. This CD has a little gem in it that is titled simply "Enterlude". The song is repeated and developed some for "Exitlude". The songs lyrics sound like a simple child's poem, but are incredibly optimistic and are placed with simple straight piano chords that can't help but to make you smile. I can't help but to get excited about the Killers almost every day. I like them, can't help it. A lot of people didn't like the Sam's Town album, but they are the ones that thought Hot Fuss was nothing but a pop album, and not one telling a story. Sam's Town continues in telling a new story.

Peace and good intonation to you all

Back To The Future

2007-09-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

I must preface this blog entry by letting you know that this will be an entry primarily about about CDs and the Renaissance Festival. It will be very scattered as the pickings of CDs this past week or so has been very diverse.

First off the Renaissance Festival here in Baltimore never falls short of providing me with entertainment and music issues, whether good or bad. Lets start with the bad. Pyrates Royal, one of the most unprofessional group I've seen perform for money, still didn't fix their problems. Talking to each other out of character during songs, loud enough to be picked up on mic's, inconsistent performance standards, and a flare of arrogance that makes you want to cut the brake lines on their car, continue to stagger me with this group. During a song last year, mid verse in fact, stopped to tell someone to get their kid away from the stage and vamped the one bar over and over until the mother came up to get the child. Thats right, the kid wasn't on the stage with them, just was dancing near it.

So I saw the Pyrates Royale twice on Saturday. The first show they were pretty sober, somewhat tight, but as usual can't hear the singing at all. The sound system on this stage is horrible, but you see, every other act pretty much brings its own body microphones and plugs into the system. They do not. In a way I'm glad they don't. The women have voices that are like cats birthing. Now before you start in with well they're supposed to be pirates. I know that, but see they present themselves as an actual band. They sell CDs while they play. One of the women prides them self as a dulcimer player. Remember this is a Renn Fest, theres dulcimers everywhere. She really should be embarrassed for bringing it with her and taking it out. Her hammering was inconsistent, and it was out of tune. In fact, everyones instruments were out of tune. No joke, they took their guitars out of the cases and just started playing. Never mind the humidity and heat, and the rapid temperature change that took place during the day. This is not how you operate as a musical group. I was embarrassed as usual seeing this group. Next year, I do not plan to attend one of their performances.

Now for a good thing out of the Renn Fest; the duo of Jenny O'Connor and Mark Varelas. They presented a very professional appearance, and highlighted their strengths. Mark was very skilled on various lutes, particularly the Bouzouki. His tremolo strumming was accurate and tastefully done. They did two amazingly well done covers. One was The Victor by Dick Dale, who Mark admits to being an influence in his playing. Rare to hear a folk musician say they were inspired by a rocker. The other, along those lines, was Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. This was also amazingly done. Jenny was very skilled on the violin and her extended techniques and pitch bends were done quite well. This was the first group I had ever seen get a standing ovation at the festival. I had to purchase their CD. I had to have it. We even listened to it in the car on the way home. It helped us all relax after a hard day at the fair(e).

This week I made some interesting selections from the library on CD. The Pixies "Doolittle", the Clash's "London Calling", Ozzy Ozbourne's "Black Rain", and Within Temptation's "The Heart of Everything". Not many people know that punk music holds a special place in my heart, because of its free spirited-ness and its ability to just destroy music's conventions. You don't need to have a good singing voice, virtuoso on guitar, or a great lyricist. You are doing it because it feels good. This past week I spent some intimate time with "London Calling" by The Clash. Its an amazing composition. Its three chords and the same melody over and over again. and the melody doesn't even cause tension with the chords. Its just E minor and A minor back and forth, the bridge is in B, then its right back. The "guitar solo" is nothing but a distorted E. Yet this song is one of the most beloved in the world of rock. On the same level, this is why The Pixies appeal to me. I can't stand their sound, but I can't stop listening at the same time. Its just so different my ear falls in love with it. Ozzy, he just flippin' rocks. On "Black Rain" Ozzy seems to to go back to the raw power and sound of 70's metal. A clean, dry sound on bass, and little guitar distortion, and Ozzy's nasal voice just culminate into an amazing sound that no other band in rock can bring. The tight solos by Mr Zakk Wylde are amazing. This weeks wildcard was the band "Within Temptation". I had only heard them mentioned by the lead vocalist of the band Nightwish, which is another great metal band that of which I am fond. I was not familiar with them, but a symphonic metal band with a female vocalist, just couldn't miss. I did like this band, but I am a big fan of guitar solos and transition sections, of which there weren't many. The band has a good power sound and her voice is clear and ethnic sounding. Of all the prog/symphonic metal bands I've heard, they do the best in solving the problem of getting the vocals to fit the heavy style of the music, but they did that by making the styles so far opposite of each other, it is a refreshing sound. I do love this album, and added to my iPod, like everything I mentioned above, but I will not be purchasing my own copy of the CD. I think they have a lot of room to grow and the next album, if they keep with it, will be the polished gem they need.

I hope this blog finds you having a great musical experience and peace.

I walked that way while comfortably numb screaming I love rock n roll

2007-09-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Well Where do I start??? I guess I should go in chronological order। Saturday night started this weekend off with a laser light show at the Pier Six pavilion with the Pink Floyd cover band "Several Species", named for "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict", a piece of music concrete by Roger Waters.

This band prides themselves for accurately re-creating the sound of Pink Floyd. This they should be proud of, they were dead on. Several times, I closed my eyes took a deep breath of the pot smoke from the row in front of my dad and I, and BAM!!, Floyd was there. The group hit most of your standard Pink Floyd songs, and their first set included "Time", "The Man/The Journey" Suite, and "Shine On you Crazy Diamond". After a brief intermission to stretch your legs and get the second hand pot buzz to go away, the band comes right back out. The second set was kind of a highlight run of the album "The Wall". This included a rousing sing-along to "Another Brick in the Wall" (one of my personal favorites). Cleverly, they had the audience sing where the London Boys Choir sang. At this point if you weren't feeling this band, go the heck home. Several times I found myself close to tears simply due to their amazing ability to not just play Pink Floyd note for note, but in the jam sections they would lock into identical groves and even played on the same parts of the beat. The term "detail oriented" doesn't come close to describing the effort and the manner this 11 piece ensemble operates. The encore of "Comfortably Numb" and "Wish You Were Here" were quite wonderful. by this point, three hours of this left my ass comfortably numb as well.

So That wraps up Saturday Night. Sunday night, WOW. Sunday night had a double billing at the Nissan Pavilion in rustic Bristow, Virginia. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts opening for none other than Aerosmith. Now I am not a huge Aerosmith fan, and I like Joan Jett a lot, she looks good in leather, kicks ass, and seems like a chick who will sit down with you at the bar and pound a few back with you, then have your back when the jerk at the end of the bar looks at you all funny. Never mind the fact Cherry Bomb and Bad Reputation are just kick ass songs. Sitting out on a blanket on a cool mid-September summer evening, the Blue Ridge mountain foothills in the background and of course a nice beverage. But back on to the hottie in the black leather. Joan and her Blackhearts come out in traditional punk style. Dressed down, fresh from either bed or a fight, no intro, just hit right in on the music. They do Bad Reputation, Cherry Bomb, and one other song, before she takes the mic and simply says "Thanks, we're the Blackhearts from New York City". Straight up punk. I love it. Its all about the music. The cover of "Crimson and Clover" is what got the dancing going, though the crowd, seemingly uneducated about Joan Jett just wanted "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and she gave it, and kicked some ass, though its so not her best song. She went out with "I Hate Myself for Loving You". Awesome show so far. the first smells of marijuana appeared during the "Crimson and Clover".

Aerosmith comes out with a lackluster little fake newsreel about their current tour. The moment it ended the lights and a massive kick hit and they were off and rocking out. By this point I've lost track of what was playing, and what songs were being played and just focused on the task at hand, shaking my rotund self to some sweet tunes. The marijuana smell now strong from the blanket in front of us. I do know Aerosmith hit a lot of their big songs, such as "Sweet Emotion", and "Walk This Way". It is an odd thing that happens to me at music concerts. I tend to go into a trance of sorts and just not care about whats going on around me and can ignore things, even chicks wanting to dance, though I did partake in that a few times. I'm not completely out of it. Just when it happens, be careful. I truly have began losing myself in the music again. I hadn't been able to do that in a long time. I think I'm coming out of the college overload finally. It happens to some music majors, to where they lose the joy of music because they must micro-analyze it. Its a fun party trick, but makes you a huge loser at these things. I credit the start of this blog in helping me get out of it.

Anyways, Aerosmith does a two hour set, which included a kick-ass theremin solo by Joe Perry. That sent me crazy, as I am a very amateur theremin player myself. He even used the same one I own. I felt proud. Dumb reason to be proud, but I finally related, instrumentally to a band I am seeing. That was big, I hadn't been to a concert that involved a trumpet, that wasn't my trumpet on stage, in a long time.

That concert was worth the wait, cost, headache and distance from driving in Virginia.

Anyways there you have it, the review of a big big big weekend for music. I'm worn out, but my quintet just booked itself another gig for October 14, so we need to get our act together and rehearse tomorrow night, before the second symphony rehearsal of the year. This gig suits us well too, they want off the wall, and I told the guy, "We can do off the wall, we're not your mom's brass group."

Peace to you all

There is hope in the Reformation...

2007-09-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

By glance of the title, you may think I'm about to break my rule and discuss religion. WRONG! Fooled you. This entry is actually about a 2 hour rehearsal with the newly reformed UMBC Symphony. It was the first under the baton of Dr E Michael Richards, of music theory 5 and music history II fame. Dr Richards and I go way back. I remember when he was hired and my good friend Stef and I had to gather information to present for his consideration for tenure. I've been to his house a few times for birthday parties even. I had never worked with him though in a large ensemble. I have to admit I am not 100% in playing, I can't support like I normally can so I was relying on strength tonight and not so much technique and form to play well, so I didn't play that well. We spent 2 hours tonight working simply on the last movement of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5 in D major "The Reformation". Now the trumpet part isn't terribly loud, or high but I was beat mentally. I never had such an intense orchestra rehearsal, and the group never sounded so go. I had performed this piece a few years ago, my handwriting is still on the score. I can say that it sounded better tonight, after one rehearsal, than it did when we performed it. Nothing against the old conductor, him and I were pals, he was my trumpet teacher. Dr Richards has the group re-energized, and is working the group mentally, pushing everyone to their limits. It was quite exciting. I can't really explain it. Its going to be a hell of concert if the group can mentally mature and keep the intensity.

I checked out a new CD today, 8-bit Operations. Its the music of Kraftwerk played on nothing but sounds from 8-bit video game systems. Very interesting stuff, and definitely creative and inspirational. I would recommend giving it a listen. Just in case no one has heard of Kraftwerk, heres a link to their wikipedia entry. Kraftwerk. Heres a video of my favorite song by them, "Pocket Calculator"

Well I think thats enough for this entry. Please keep reading, those who do, and tell others to read! I appreciate it and peace.

Amazing Multimedia

2007-09-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

So today I found myself home from work due to back issues and a lovely panic attack. So I took an afternoon solace in some arranging. Todays targets were Frosty the Snowman and Silent Night. I have to admit that I love Christmas music so arranging these songs brings me comfort. Some people find peace in a special place, a special food, favorite tv show. For me, its music, especially Christmas music. It reminds me of Tubachristmas, friendly people, crowded malls, and get-togethers with friends.

Anyways, I know for most of you its too early to talk Christmas and its meanings for you, so its cool. I understand. Its just been a hard year and I find my peace in that season, and its music. Like I said last entry, musicians start now and sometimes I have had to start back on July5th.

But back to the topic I started with, Frosty the Snowman and Silent Night. Frosty the Snowman is not very tricky of a carol, which is what makes it hard. I know thats hard to follow, but really think of the song we all know and love about the rotund snow person. Its either a march or an extremely cheesy swing tune. I have to admit I'm not a fan of swinging, jazzy chamber music, it doesn't sound natural, since theres no rhythm section. But I remembered back on some of my fond Christmas memories, which always included a trip to Hershey Park a week or so before Christmas. Cold, sometimes snowy, and running from store to store. Every dash outside though, the main sound you could hear was the orchestron on the historic Hershey Park carousel. My favorite song the out of tune automatronic (yes I made the word up, it sounds so...Vaudevillian...) orchestra would play was Frosty the Snowman. I would stand out in the 10 degree weather and start singing along and doing a jolly little fat dance. Sometimes people would join in singing, but most were bah-humbug and would laugh. Anyways, back tot he brass arrangement. So for this arrangement, I put the trumpets in almost non-stop thirds with the main melody. The tuba is of course...oom-pa'ing away. The horn has the awkward harmonic after beats to sound like that calliope on the carousel painfully a tad sharp from the bitter cold. Trombone is on every down beat with awkward harmony with the tuba. It should be interesting to hear on the actual instruments. I'm excited about it. All its missing the fire bell ringing to let you know the ride is starting/ending.

Silent night is difficult. No if, ands, or buts about it. The melody stretches across an octave and a half causing some serious voicing issues. It forces melody to stay on trumpet, because on french horn, where it sounds the prettiest, it goes either too high or into trombone range and gets muddy. This arrangement I wanted to make it sound not so straight forward, wanted a little modern, while preserving its old, peaceful feeling. So it opens stretching its basic chord progression to the limit with appoggiature, and moving over stationary chords. I then stripped it down, to just single trumpet, trombone, and tuba. No counterpoint, just straight harmony, while still stretching the harmonies a little. The second verse, I put it into 4 part harmonies with full counterpoint, then at the appropriate time, bring tuba back in for a 5 part harmony, and a full, 3 octave spread, and settle it back in on a calm I chord.

This weekend, I sat down and watched the Dream Theater live from Radio City Music Hall DVD. 3 hours of just kicking ass. Amazing group, amazing concert. It confirmed for me though, their keyboardist, Jordan Rudess actually reads sheet music during their shows. That blows my mind, with how intricate their playing is that hes reading notation for it. Wow. I plan to watch the DVD on the Killers I bought at the same time. I don't think it will be as interesting but I love The Killers and it will be neat to know their backgrounds.

I leave you this week with a tubachristmas warm up

The Holidays come early for musicians

2007-09-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Not many people realize that musicians start preparing for christmas gigs roughly in late July. my quintet was no exception. Being the main arranger of the group, this means I had to get cracking! Since our quintet is doing a little holiday concert thing, and our collection consists of mainly just arrangements made for background music, there was a large task ahead of me. Christmas carols always come off as simple songs when most are quite the contrary. You run into multiple issues when you arrange for a brass quintet. Most chords are only three notes, so you have one voice with melody, but you still have 4 voices to spread those notes, so you have some doubling, which changes the structure of the chord. Take the carol Joy To The World for instance. First chord is the I chord, and you have the melody starting on the root as well. The style of the song also requires the chord to be in root position, so tuba is now on the root of the chord. So you have three voices to duel over the remaining last notes. Assuming, for style reasons, you start with the melody in the 1st trumpet part, you can't have the 2nd trumpet on 5th of the chord. This would result in an open 4th between the same voice. Your best bet is to put the 5th on french horn, in the alto voice, so its displaced by an octave and is in a different timbre. Now you have two instruments to deal with, and only one note in the chord left. You can't give the trombone the 3rd of the chord because then its only a third above the bass, resulting in muddy sound andif you take it up an octave you have a large gap in the voicing and an odd interval between horn and trombone. So you put the third on second trumpet, down an octave, to form a lovely minor 6th, and you put trombone in octave with tuba. Ok, so time for beat two...

I decided we needed a hanukkah song if we're going to perform in a public place like a library. What better option than the Dreidel song. I was concerned though, I was only familiar with the 4 bar section "Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made you out of clay...". Little did I know there was a fast dance like section before it in D minor (the part I referenced before is in G Major). Now this is where it gets interesting. I frequently use midi's as reference for my arrangements. It helps me visual chord structure, and hear the accompanying rhythm better. Having just a chord progression to go off, doesn't help unless it sa church hymn, because the accompaniment rhythm is just as memorable as the melody, sometimes even more. So anyways, here I am confronted with a section of ethnic music, not familiar with at all. I want a klezmer sound so I always fall back on the open 5th and afterbeat patterns. So i work out the D minor section and come up with a real exciting, clap your hands, "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" thing. Then it hits me...Crap...I need to get from D minor to G major...A Folk tune doesn't normally require a transition like that, it has to happen fast. So I fell back on a modulation technique from theory 3 in college. D is the 5th of G major. The melody ends on D, so I have the melody voice hold the D, while a solo fanfare starting on D mimics the opening, which fanfares on A, which is the 5th of D, so the D fanfare reminds the ear of the opening, and the next tonic you expect to hear is G. So in two bars, I'm able to make a transition to the major 4th of the original key. I was happy. It fit the style and all. Crisis avoided.

A thought or two...

2007-09-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well I must start off this blog with a RIP to Luciano Pavarotti, and hopes of peace and patience for his family and friends. Someone I work with was a friend of his and basically feels after having dinner with him last year, she is glad he no longer is suffering. Pavarotti is an inspiration to me, not just because of his musical skills, but his ability to bring the art he loved so much to the forefront of popular culture. Him, with the Three Tenors, brought a kind of cool to the opera style singing. Of course, one of my all time favorite recordings of him is the duet of My Way with Frank Sinatra. I'm sad about his passing, even though I am not a singer. But as it always is, the art is bigger than the man and the music will never go away.

And the music goes on with me and the brass quintet. The quintet has officially been hired to play at the library on December 8th. I am scrambling to get some more christmas arrangements done in time to rehearse them. So far, Carol of the Bells, Good King Wenceslas and Joy to the World are done. I want to work on the dreidel song, I'll start tonight I think. This will be the groups first headlining show, so it should be exciting.

CD Review - Symphony X

2007-09-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

As my musical tastes expand and become more public, I had decided to review CDs in this blog. This is the first one.

Symphony X, a progress and symphonic metal band, recently released "Paradise Lost". I was initially drawn into listening to this album by admiring its incredible album art while processing new A/V at the library. The art is stunning and moving, I cannot describe it more than that.

I took a listen to it last night. Very good stuff, I highly recommend it. Very clean section transitions are highlighted with some of the most bad ass shredding on lead guitar this side of Slash. A few tracks in the middle commit musical suicide (fade out instead of a composed ending...I don't like that) but overall, everything is powerful. The album starts off with an instrumental composed by their guitarist, Michael Romeo. His ability to orchestrate is quite impressive. He may want to even think about trying his hand at classical composition, due to his great ear for timbre. This band, which was no shock of mine, is about to go on a European tour with who else, but Dream Theater. I definitely plan to take a listen to their older albums. This band is very odd I think in promoting the solo efforts of its members as well. I think thats commendable. So I give this CD an 8.5 out of 10. They could have gotten higher if they played a little bit more on top of the beat to create a better driving feel. Most of their songs are played on the back end of the beat like rock and swing, but this CD was a definite welcomed surprise.

I started work on an arrangement of Good King Wenceslas. It kicks too.

Soundtracks of life

2007-09-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

So I was reflecting on a question I was asked a few years back which was kind of odd, "If your life was a movie, who would you have do the soundtrack? what type of soundtrack would it be? Would it be pop music? Original score? A Mix?"

At the time I took this question as a weird way to ask about your favorite music and performers. I have kind of thought about it though. I think my music would have to be a mix of original score and popular music. To answer this question accurately, you have to make an important life decision. Is your life going to be a comedy or a drama in the eyes of the audience. Is it an adventure? Who's directing your life? Is it an independent "film"? Is it a dark movie? Would Tim Burton be involved in the project? If So, you're going to have to hire Danny Elfman. So how epic has your life been? Will it require a full orchestration to support your story? Or is it more personal and a simple piano score would get the job done?

This question though is an odd one for musicians, because music is part of their life, so their own performances and pieces would have to be included in their story. So with all this being said lets break it down.

I'm a fairly solitary person, socially, so I can't see a full orchestra being needed, and considering I live a pretty unique life path, John Williams definitely is out. So is Howard Shore.

I have quite stretched musical tastes, very diverse, so I will need a music supervisor to pick music from the musicals I've done to convey different periods of my life. Some favorite musical music includes Secret Garden, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, Seussical (laugh all ya want, theres some fun brass parts), and Gypsy. Some symphonic works will have to be included due to playing in an orchestra, so I would have to have some Beethoven and Howard Hanson quoted. And since I've recently started going to rock concerts, some 80's Hair rock will have to thrown in. Pretty artsy movie we got so far.

Being a pretty unique person, you can't have too much already made music in the soundtrack. Most of the track will have to be original score. I am thinking Thomas Newman, of American Beauty and Shawshank Redemption fame to put together the score for my movie. I think his music would be able to put some sense and feeling into what I do with myself. I would be interested in who you people would pick for yours and why. I think my soundtrack would have to include one track by the Killers though, simply because I'm a fan. Also some Queen, maybe even get the DT involved. Oh, and of course, Orange Snowball.

So lets summarize:
The original score would be for small ensemble, composed by Thomas Newman
It would contain tracks from OAP, DT, Killers, and Queen.
Some moments of Beethoven and Howard Hanson to include my classical work.
Maybe a song or two from Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, Secret Garden, Fiddler, or Seussical

Man I think that really sums up my life by analyzing my musical tastes...crazy!

Peace and hope everyone had a good three day break.

The In-depth view

2007-08-31T11:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend I have a brass quintet rehearsal, sadly we will be missing our second trumpet, so it will be a quartet for the day. Which just isn't as much fun. I do plan to try out the new flugelhorn though. I want to hear how it blends in a brass section. I have to adjust to its not as aggressive playing style, like cornet. I have been playing on my trumpet for so long, I'm not used to a horn that works best when you back off. For those wondering (none, I know) my roster of horns now is:
B flat Stomvi Elite (their old elite, which is now called the Master), large bore
B flat Ryton (Bach Strad knock off, medium bore)
A/B flat Amati 4 valve piccolo (Czech piece of junk, waste of money, sounds like its plastic and probably is, all I know is that its neither a long bell or short bell picc) I have never performed on this horn, thankfully
B flat Besson 700 Cornet (I love this horn, its so much fun to play, such a velvelt tone and free blowing. Besson only made a few hundred as a prototype to demonstrate at a show, Baltimore Brass got ahold of them, sold them for $400 each. Was a steal)
C Bach Stradivarius, reversed lead pipe, large bore, 29 gold/brass double walled bell. This horn is really great. I'm not in love with it, but I haven't played another bach, or C trumpet in fact, that felt as good as it does to blow on this thing in orchestra.
B Flat JZ Flugelhorn, the recent acquisition
B flat Flugelhorn, unknown brand, but autographed by Maynard Ferguson. It plays like crap, I should turn it into a lamp
B flat Bundy student model, its held together by wire ties. Real classy
Vintage 1960's Besson Euphonium (Made at the London factory)with 4th, noncompensating valvue. Satin silver finish, its gorgeous and in amazing shape, not bad for free...

So Thats the line up. I have recently lent out the Ryton to a coworker who is in high school and is thinking of upgrading. I told him this is an inexpensive way to obtain a professional quality horn and see how it feels, if he thinks its for him. I also offered him lessons. He seems more willing to learn than my current student. He hasn't figure dout you have to have good tone, the correct rhythm and pitch, all at the same time. It is so infuriating that he hasn't gotten any of those skills down to being natural.

I am currently going through an embouchure change. I have realized I curl my lips in when I play, especially when I get tired, which reduced the the vibrating area, killing sound and making me even more tired. I was able to get the adjustment to playing on more of the inside of my lip comfortable enough to use for the orchestra re-audition. I really had a bigger sound with this adjustment. It has resulted in the gap for air to pass through to be a little bigger, which should allow me to get more air out, improving range (I hope). I still ned to do a lot of work on it, but my work schedule isn't cooperating. Even though I am an insomniac, staying up til 2-3 every night, I live in a rowhome, so no practicing normally after 9.

I am wanting to arrange a song for me to use my flugel with the quintet, to get a little bit more unique sound for the group. So it would be a Flugel solo with a quartet accompaniment. It will be time to listen to the radio and the CD collections, and some mp3's for a song to write out. Some more late nights staring at Sibelius lie ahead. I think the quintet book is almost overflowing with my homebrew arrangements.

I still have "Nothin' But a Good Time" blasting in my head. Peace friend(s)

Opening Remarks...

2007-08-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hello. First of all, thanks for traveling to my little hole on the net for the discussion of my journey through life as a musician with insomnia. I'm 27 and from Baltimore, Maryland. I plan to keep this blog free of political discussion of any views. This is not a forum for it. This blog will be for you to track my growth as a musician and I feel this time is right to start the journal.

I am a trumpet player and with that, a perfectionist, which means I think I suck. Others disagree but its not up for discussion. I was just able to hold on to the principal chair of the local community symphony after a conductor change. I am a member of a brass quintet called the Usual Suspects. They consider me their resident arranger because on those nights of not sleeping, I sit staring at scores in Sibelius. My friend and I also have just finished recording an album (I do not play trumpet on the album, I am the main lyricist and vocalist) that we have applied for copyright on, so we can then order our first copies to send to companies and give to friends, and sell to our few local fans. I work for Baltimore County Public Library. I am on a committee called "Non-print Evaluation". Its fancy for I help pick out CDs for the library system to carry. They placed me in charge of jazz and new age. I also play a lot of community theater productions. I think this has set the tone of me.

I felt this was a good time to start this blog because of some major musical things happening in my life. I have now, within two weeks attended my first two large scale rock concerts. I saw Dreamtheater on August 14. I am a fan of theres. Their technical skill and compositional skills are a great attraction to me. This was my first metal concert and it blew me away. I went without earplugs, and gladly paid for the physical "pain". I could feel my hair vibrating, it was glorious. Their setlist was quite remarkable, but I'm bad with song names, just, lets say, lots of Petrucci guitar solos, and some fantastic keyboard solos by Jordan Rudess, and solid playing by Mike Portnoy and John Myung. I am not a fan of Labries' singing. He was solid at the concert though, and I must say, it was life changing for me.

Yesterday, August 29 was a big day. Early in afternoon I scored a win with buying a flugelhorn. Its a nice solid sounding horn with a great response and a nice full tone, and has great intonation. It was a real steal at $400. I know...$400 for a great horn. The thing is, the chinese and Japanese have done a clever thing and started releasing horns made exactly like the big name companies of Bach, Courtois, LeBlanc, Buffett, and Stomvi, and producing them to such accuracy that the parts are interchangable. They are also selling them for 1/3 of the price. I already own a regular B flat by a company called Ryton, that plays just like a Bach Strad 37, that I paid $350 for. My friends can't tell the difference. This flugel is made by JZ. I never heard of them, but this horn feels and sounds like the Courtois flugel I had been dreaming to buy for years, which had recently gone off the market in the US. That is why I say this was a score.

Later that day, I met with some of my lovely coworkers and went to the Ratt/Poison concert at Pier Six Pavilion. After a couple beers at the Hard Rock and Hooters, we rocked out to some of the best glam rock from the 80's. Hell yes. It was nothing but a good time! I was not a huge fan of either band, and I'm still not, but you can't ignore the general awesomeness of a group of people getting together for a party with some fun ass music blasting. Its an amazing feeling. I have always been kind of uptight about my music tastes and it has just been recently that I have let the guard down so to speak.

I will post more. Peace to you all