Archive for May, 2004

“Music is like magic, there’s a certain feeling you get when you’re real and you spit and people are feelin’ your shit”

Thank you, Mr. Shady. I couldn’t agree more with you more.

Recently music has hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve always loved music, but in the last two years I’ve gotten 100x more into it. I can’t get enough. I just got back from kicking ass on my science speech, skating across campus with my headphones on, listening to Jurassic 5. Took my headphones off, and put on Fall Out Boy here in my room to post. I’ve always admired musicians and performers, and now I’m in the beginning stage of becoming one. It’s such a weird concept – I’ve always dreamed of being up on stage, rocking out and have a great time, but the dream was always so distant from real life. Yeah, I think I’ll be a rockstar, but I know I’ll end up doing web design or something, right? Right? Maybe not! I’ve been the lead singer of this band, To The Rescue, for about 3 weeks now. I already wrote 3 songs and we ran into the studio to record them before the end of the year. It’s really weird to hear myself and my close friends coming through my speakers. That’s me singing, that’s Jon and Jon playing right next to me. What the hell? It’s just happening really fast, and if this is what we created in just a few weeks of being together, I just can’t imagine what next year will bring. Just practicing them is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my life. I want to rock with them all the time. And then we’ll go to Burger King or something and talk about the song we just worked out. And then go back to the rehearsal room and rock some more. I hope everyone listened to the demo and let me know what you thought of it. While I do hear our(especially my) mistakes and stuff, I’m still very pleased with the results. I hope the people we’ve given the demo to are as well…
Jon and I saw Zebrahead on Wednesday nite… needless to say, they brought the rock like we knew they would. I burned a copy of our demo and wrote a note to Ali thanking him for emailing me back and taking our demo and stuff. I saw Ben the bassist before the show and told him that Ali was expecting our demo and to please give it to him before the show so he doesn’t lose it. He said no problem and was impressed at the Digital Vinyl CD-R I bought for it. During the show Ali totally recognized me in the front row and said “Hey buddy” and high fived me during the second song. I was pumped and it made the whole show awesome. After they rocked everyone’s face off, we hung around and talked to all 5 guys in the band for about 20 minutes each. I walked up to Ali and asked him if Ben gave him our demo and he was like “Oh YEAH! He totally gave it to me earlier, I’ll definitely give you guys a listen, dude. The CD is in my bunk right now.” What a nice guy. Zebrahead, ya know? They’re all about the kids. So we hung with Ben, Greg, and Ed for a little while and as we were leaving, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to talk to Justin(the lead singer). Then as we were walking past the tour bus, who turns around? Justin! Hell yea! We talked to him for a while about our demo and about all of our favorite standup comedians. He really sounded interested in our demo, even if he was faking it, he was really a good guy. What a show, what a show. They all have my email address and stuff, so I’ll let you Gees know when I get a letter from them.
Last nite we saw The Matches and Matchbook Romance. They too, brought the rock like they were born too. Jon used to play in a band with Matchbook’s tour manager, so we got in free and got backstage the whole time. Remember last time I saw Matchbook? We had dinner with them after the show. That didn’t happen this time because they didn’t even stay – they just drove off into the night to go to Omaha. We hung out with all of them a bit after the show, they’re all so genuinely nice dudes. I know To The Rescue will be that cool to people after shows.
I’m working on some new songs, primarily one about admiring rockstars up on stage… it’s called “Stagedive”. Should be rockin’. School is almost over – I’m excited and sad to go home. I love it here, but I also miss home and I can’t wait to see my parents and new puppy.

Listening to: Fall Out Boy – Grand Theft Autumn

Listening to: Gees giving me feedback on the demo. Keep it coming =D

We got a puppy we got a puppy!!! As many of you know, our beloved Hershey died a few months ago and there has been a void in our family since then. It’s just not the same without a golden retriever running around the house, keeping everyone happy. Luckily I was here at school when Hershey was put down, so I hadn’t seen her for a while and it was less painful to let her go since I wasn’t present when she died. Ever since then my parents have been researching golden breeders all over the country and finally found one that they think is the best. The breeder sent us weekly pictures of the litter’s growth and progression (I call them “pupdates”) with pictures of all the little pups running around their house, getting bigger by the day.
I’ve talked to my parents on the phone several times since they picked up my fluffy little sister, and they keep telling me what a sweet happy little angel she is. She’s happy, playful, friendly, ready to wag and lick around everyone, and very smart. As you can see, she is also cartoon-cute. She’s so perfect and fluffy she looks like a freakin’ stuffed animal. I can’t wait for school to end so I can drive home and play with her all summer. My cousin David brought his golden Macy over this weekend, and Auggie was very happy to have a playmate. She threw herself at Macy over and over until Macy finally gave in and played with her until she was pooped. I’m so pumped to go home to a playful pup!! You can see all the pictures here.
I’ve always been way into music, now more than ever. I like all kinds of music, from pop punk to hip hop to r&b, rap metal to country(just a little), it’s all good. Dan and I have been writing and recording songs together (over the internet, he’s at Notre Dame) but since we’re not together, it’s kind of tough to help each other out and write together and stuff. We’re definitely going to take the world by storm from every angle, but for now we’re developing our writing and musical skills. Well, Jon and I have started a band. We’re called To The Rescue (thank you thank you, I thought of that kick ass name). He drove me to the airport at the beginning of Spring Break, and we were playing Relient K, and I was singing along in full force. He turned it down and went “Dude, that sounds awesome. After break, we’re gonna find some other kids and we’re starting a band.” I immediately said hell yes and after break, we found Jon B(guitar) and Pat (bass) and Jon plays drums like a madman. We freaking rock. I’m really happy to be in a band, especially one made of kids that I really like that just wanna rock. At our practices, we work on the songs that I’ve written and just jam and freestyle whatever we want. It’s incredibly fun and we get to rock in the basement of the music building where Jon has his drumset and we get amps and mics and everything so it’s as if we’re playing live. It’s one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, I absolutely love it. Next year, Jon and I are suitemates, and Jon B lives in the same building so we’re just going to rock all the time. I can’t wait. When Jon B and I record an acoustic version of our first song, I’ll post it. Until then, stay tuned.

Listening to: Jamie Cullum – Frontin’

Holy crap. Today my sister sent me this link, said that she had never heard of the band Nickelback but thought the link was great. I know and dislike Nickelback, I’ve always thought they sucked for a few reasons but could never pinpoint exactly what made them just so damn sucky. Well, here you go:

http://www.nintendorks.com/brandon/archives/000475.php

Click that, read it, download it, and listen. And I give you permission to die laughing at the ridiculous amounts of suck coming through your speakers.

Listening to: Nickelback – Someday You Remind Me