Leave it to Syd

Well the news of Syd Barretts death was pretty shocking and of course depressing, but with bad news comes good news (Hopefully.) A close friend of the band has released this statement to the Daily Telegraph: "They didn't want to let Syd go without a huge send-off." Apparently this "huge send-off" is supposed to be a tribute show. Of course this may just indeed be another wishful thinking rumor floating around the internet but on the contrary it may be the one issue that can draw them back together. The rumors have been hitting heavy the past few months, there have been numerous occasions where some band members have been pushing for a comeback but the problem seems to lie with David Gilmour. Gilmour who is currently touring seems to be a bit hesitant on a reunion but Waters the once outcast of the band appears to be embracing the idea of a reunion with open arms. The most exciting comments regarding the reformation are from drummer Nick Mason who has previously said "I have to say I'd love to do it, and Wright probably would and even Roger (Waters) is sort of more open to the idea. ut perhaps it's rather a good thing that just occasionally people won't do things for large sums of money." If you think that statement sounds good, listen to this one "It's got to be done because people really want to and think they can do something better." Only time will tell if Floyd will come back together, in the mean time Floyd fans will just have to stay glued to their computers waiting for the next rumor to appear. If there was one member that would bring them back together Syd would have been the man.

A New Blog Will Be Born

So thanks to all of the encouraging comments saying go for creating a new blog dedicated to reviewing albums I will soon be making my new blog. Unfortunately I probably won't start it for another two weeks because on Saturday August 5th I will be going on a week long vacation so I won't be using the computer during that time. During that vacation I'll try to think of a good title for the blog, and maybe (which I doubt) write up a few reviews. Thank you all for the encouragement!

One other thing I wanted to bring up is a great post on the Heavy Metal Time Machine, and the post can be found here "Music Blogs." It's a great post appreciating Music Blogs and what makes them so great opposed to music magazines. He really could not have made the post any better than it was, a basic rundown basically says that the wonderful thing about music blogs is that the people who write them are true fans and the material they write is raw and unedited opposed to music magazines where the material written is "fluffed" and edited. Anyway, definitely worth a read!

Two Things to Note

Today I went for an interview for a new job with the US Attorneys Office for the district of New Jersey. I really wanted the spot because this would be the first politically oriented job that I would have and for those who do not know Political Science is my major and I wish to have a career with the government. I took the train up and was all prepared and even went over some common interviewing questions, I wore my suit and tie and was all ready for my interview. Once I got there they brought me in to be interviewed after filling out a bunch of paper work and then I was hired on the spot "tentatively" until they review my background and such so in October I should be ready to start my new job at the US Attorneys Office.

The second thing I wanted to say was that lately I have been playing around with the idea of opening a second blog for myself dedicated strictly to reviewing albums. The reason I don't want to just review albums on here is because I sort of want to keep this blog more of an "essay" type of blog if you know what I mean. The only problem I have with having two blogs is that I'm afraid it will detract me from posting on each one as much as I wish. I am going to fool around with the idea a bit more and if I do indeed decide to open up a second blog then I will post about it here right away!

Music and Drugs are Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

Does music need drugs? While listening to Tool’s song “Third Eye” which opens up with a comedian joking about how drugs have done good things for the world and goes on to say if you don’t believe it than you should throw out all your records and CD’s because the artists who made those albums were really high on drugs, I wondered just how true this is. Unfortunately this fact is pretty hard to dispute, the greatest musicians of our time used drugs, a matter of fact probably 99.9% of the greatest musicians of all time experimented with drugs. When thinking about my favorite bands over the years I think of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Nirvana, all of which dabbled heavily in drugs. How can it be that all of the greatest bands in music history used drugs? Seeing that I am one who abstains from both drugs and alcohol I cringe thinking that maybe drugs are indeed the key to creating great music. The great John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan delved in drugs like it was their job and what did we receive from them (Besides a short life)? GREAT MUSIC! It’s pretty difficult to actually think of bands that don’t or did not use drugs while creating music. Maybe I am thinking about this all wrong, maybe it is just the whole rock scene which drives the drugs to the artists and regardless of if they are drug users or not the music will still be great based on their talent. The problem with this is when looking at bands or artists that did not initially use drugs when creating music usually became better upon starting to use them, for example The Beatles. Now The Beatles were always a great band but to say that albums like “Meet the Beatles” and “Please Please Me” are better than albums like “Sgt. Pepper” and “Abbey Road” is a crime. Bands like Pink Floyd and The Doors experimented with drugs before their musical debut and for both Floyd and The Doors we had incredible debut albums, The Doors created what would be their best album and Floyd created what is arguably the best psychedelic album ever. This argument certainly seems to side with the fact that drugs create better music, I hope that this is not true because one, we just may be missing out on a lot of great music thanks to the lack of drug use compared to the 60’s and two, is the human mind just incapable of being that creative without the help of mind altering substances? Let’s just hope that grand and bombastic ideas can be assessed properly without the use of drugs, and if not then we just may never hear albums like “Tommy” and “Brain Salad Surgery” ever again.

Going to the Virgin Festival!

I heard about the Virgin Festival by Virgin Mobile about a week or so ago and once I saw the lineup I was dying to go but didn't think there would be any way for me to get to Baltimore so I basically wrote it off as something I would have to pass on. Today my roommate from college calls up and asks me if I want to go and I jumped at the opportunity, apparently his friend goes to college in Maryland therefore I would have a place to stay. Today I hopped online purchased myself a ticket and cannot wait for the event.

The Lineup Is As Follows:
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Who
The Killers
Flaming Lips
The Raconteurs
Gnarls Barkley
Scissor Sisters
Keane
Thievery Corporation
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
New Pornographers
Drive-by Truckers
Kasabian
Brazilian Girls
Wolfmother

Although the excitement is so incredibly high I find myself in quite the predicament, two days before this event I have tickets to see The Who at my nearby venue. What I'm trying to figure out is if it is worth it to see The Who two times especially when I paid nearly $100 for a ticket. The one reason I think I should keep the tickets is since this is a festival their set list is bound to be shortened compared to seeing them play by themselves. I really could use the money though because I am strapped for it to say the least, especially once I enter school. So these next few days will be spent on figuring out whether I should sell the ticket or keep it, I'll post my answer once I arrive to it.

Anyway now about the festival, the cost is $100 which I think is pretty good considering I am seeing so many acts that charge at least $45 a show. The bands I am most looking forward to seeing is obviously The Who as well as The Flaming Lips, Wolfmother (my new found love) and The Racontuers. I have seen The Killers before because I guess they are a guilty pleasure of mine, and this was another one of those shows that I took my girlfriend to as an anniversary present and I was extremely disappointed mainly due to their INCREDIBLY short set which didn't even last an hour with no encore; when charging $45 a ticket I expect at least an hour and a half even though I think that is cutting it short. This looks like this will be a great time and probably the best music festival I've ever been to certainly topping Lollapalooza back in 2003.

Just No Respect

OK, I'm not going to lie, last night I went to see Ashlee Simpson at the PNC Banks Arts Center in New Jersey. The reason I went there was because I purchased tickets for my girlfriend for our three year anniversary. I told her if she didn't have anyone to go with then I would go with her, and in the end I was the one chosen to go. I didn't really have a problem with going because I'm more or less willing to see any concert regardless of who unless it is some boy band or something. Now the opening act for Ashlee Simpson was Ashley Parker Angel and he pulled off the one major no no you don't do on tour. He walks out on stage and screams "What's Up Jones Beach!", keep in mind we are at the PNC Bank Arts Center, and not only does he do it once but later on he goes on to say something along the lines of Jones Beach hasn't changed since the last time I was here, it's just like I remember it. After the second time his guitarist slaps him on the shoulder and right before the end of his set he realized that he was in New Jersey not New York, he continued to apologize for awhile but I don't think that makes up for that huge disrespectful mistake. The fans didn't mind one bit for his mistake, not one boo or anything along those lines, they completely embraced him which I found a bit disappointing but I guess it is just that type of fan base. I figured this was worth posting, it is definitely reminiscent of a Spinal Tap moment although I don't think even they pulled that off in the movie. I guess while I'm talking about the show I will give a little overview of Ashlee Simpson's set. I was pretty surprised of how good of a show she put on, and I'm sure many of you are wondering, was she lip synching? I can't make an official comment on that but I'm pretty sure she wasn't. She played for about an hour and a half and went through a few costume changes which is something new for me because I have never been to a show where the singer actually had to go off stage several times to change their stage attire. The stage was designed very nicely with a somewhat gothic look with old fashioned lamp posts going up a set of steps. The best part of the show was her looks, she was looking very sexy on stage with her various outfits. In the end she sounded pretty good and I had a good time, I guess I don't think her music is all that bad.

And If It Rains... Hold Your Head Up

So last night I went to see Ringo Starr and his All Star band and all I have to say is what a shock! In my last post I wrote about what band surprised me the most with their excellent show and this one is right up there. These old men can still play, they may have lost a bit from their voices but their talent with their instruments has not faded one bit.

The lineup is as follows:

Ringo Starr - Drums, Tambourine
Sheila E - Drums
Rod Argent - Keyboards
Richard Marx - Guitar
Billy Squier - Guitar
Hamish Stuart - Bass
Edgar Winter - Keyboards, Saxophone, Drums

Now as I said the talent these members possessed completely shocked me, now I knew that they were a talented group of individuals but I figured with age they would have lost a step or two. I saw the show in the PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ, my seats were General Admission which is all the way in the back of the venue. With this venue the front half is covered by a ceiling and the back side which is General Admission is completely outdoors. When the show began it was beautiful outside, earlier in the day it was about 100 degrees and Ringo cracked a few jokes asking where the heat was. As the night progressed the wind grew stronger and the air became a bit more brisk, and probably an hour into the set a torrential downpour began. Luckily for my friend Ryan and I we were able to sneak down into the seating area where we were covered by the ceiling, the security guards there were really easy going and let everyone from the General Admission down into the seats since it wasn't too crowded but those who didn't get under in time were completely soaked. What made this rain even worse was that it was so incredibly windy that it was even felt in the seated area.

Now a bit about the show, they had a pretty lengthy set which lasted about two and a half hours, I was extremely pleased by the length of the show not only can these old men (and a woman) play well but they can play for a long time. The highlight of the night was a little more than halfway through the set where Edgar Winter pulled out "Frankenstein", he did an amazing job with the song and it turned out to be a great ten minute jam session where he played three instruments, interchanging between the keyboard, drums, and sax. At one point of the song he had a little dueling drums session with the incredible Sheila E., and might I add she was looking pretty good tonight. Another great moment in the night was when Rod Argent played "Hold Your Head Up". He played extremely well on the organ with some very impressive solos, his voice sounded great, and during the instrumental section he even found the time to get up and run around the stage asking for everyone to get up and scream "Hold Your Head Up", the fans ate it up and joined right along. The most talented member on the stage must have been Billy Squier, his soloing was fantastic and I feel people often forget how great of a guitarist he truly is. The rest of the band was great as well and Ringo provided us with some nice comic relief as he always does and it turned out to be a really fun night. I definitely think I will be going to see Ringo and his All Star band more often.

Left in Awe

This post is going to propose the question, What band most surprised you in concert with their talent? Most shows I go into I am expecting a lot from and quite often the bands live up to my high expectations and often the bands don't do as well as I wished but still put on a great show. One band for me that I didn't expect to be as phenomenal as they were was The Mars Volta. I absolutely love the band and I even think they are one of the best bands around right now but boy I didn't expect to be as delighted as I was. For those who don't know the band they have a progressive sound with epic songs that even stretch past the thirty minute mark. Going into the show I was excited but not to the point as if I was going to see U2 or David Gilmour. Leaving the show I think my jaw just may have been touching the ground. Between the fantastic musical compositions and jams to the incredible stage show I was left in awe. Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala does tricks with the microphone that you would probably think aren't possible, he would flip the who Mic stand in the air as if it were easy, not only his tricks with the Mic but his eccentric dancing certainly makes for a great stage presence. Now the excitement doesn't stop there but instead continues with guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, he too dances all around the stage and flips his guitar around all over the place. Hands down no band has surprised me more than The Mars Volta, with a staggeringly long setlist that I believe lasted three hours and incredible jams I must say this was one of my all time favorite shows. So once again I will pose the question, What band surprised you most with their incredible live work.

The Who On Tour

The news of the The Who going on tour came out a few days ago but for those who aren't aware here is your chance to see them. I sure know that I won't be passing up this opportunity to see one of the greatest bands of all time who put on a spectacular show. Townshend appears to be quite excited to tour America and had this to say "For the first time in 25 years we are returning to the USA with great live music -- the entire catalogue of our old stuff -- and new music," "We have a great new video show, a new Mini-Opera and plans to do some special shows with special themes. Our European shows are warming us up, and we will be in great form when we start the tour in September," said Pete Townshend. "I don't think I've ever looked forward to a tour as much as this one. Roger and I are both fit and well, ready to rock." Sounds like America is in for a great tour, only of Keith Moon and John Entwistle were still here.

Here is a list of the dates:

09/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center (on sale 7/17)
09/13 - Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach Theater (on sale 7/17)
09/15 - Boston, MA - TD BankNorth Garden
09/16 - Ottawa, Ontario - Scotia Place (on sale 7/17)
09/18 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden (on sale 7/17)
09/21 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center (on sale 7/17)
09/25 - Chicago, IL - United Center (on sale 7/17)
09/29 - Clarkston, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills
09/30 - London, Ontario - John Labatt Centre (on sale 7/17)
10/03 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre (on sale 7/17)
10/05 - Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome (on sale 7/17)
10/06 - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place (on sale 7/17)
10/08 - Vancouver, British Columbia - General Motors Place (on sale 7/17)
10/10 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden (on sale 8/5)
10/11 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena (on sale 8/5)
11/05 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl (on sale 8/5)
12/04 - Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre (on sale 7/17)

An Ode To Syd

Yesterday the news of Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett's death struck the musical world. Many will forget about the importance Syd had in both Pink Floyd and in the whole music industry. Syd truly was a pioneer in the psychedelic genre from his work with Floyd to his solo albums. Unfortunately Syd will always be put on the backburner when regarding Pink Floyd but what the majority of people don't understand is that he was the driving force behind Floyd. Roger Waters will always receive credit for the creativity of Floyd but without Syd there just may have been no Pink Floyd. In the early years of Floyd Syd was the genius and although his time was short he did deliver a phenomenal album "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" which stands at the forefront of top psychedelic albums. Syd's obscure and grandiloquent ideas can be tied in with his heavy LSD use which would eventually lead to his demise. Following Floyd's debut album Syd's drug usage became excessive and after Floyd's second album "A Saucerful of Secrets" he was replaced by David Gilmour. Syd went on to record some solo work and fell deeper into a hole of demise, he started to suffer from mental illnesses which is normally believed to have derived from his intense use of LSD. He fell completely out of the public eye and fell into complete seclusion moving back to his hometown. Syd is said to have died of diabetes on Friday July 7th. I've always held a place for Syd Barrett in my heart for some unknown reason, "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is not my favorite album by Floyd but I do hold it in high regard and many songs on that album are some of my favorites especially "Interstellar Overdrive." One idea I had within the past few years is that I wanted to create a movie about my search for Syd Barrett (A joke but would have been interesting if I actually followed through with it.) I'm not sure if I came up with that idea by myself or with a friend but regardless Syd has always fascinated me with his surreal and interesting music and I feel that I must pay proper homage to him. Syd, you will be missed by all who love music and even more by those who love Floyd and psychedelic music!

Syd Barrett

1946-2006
The Original Voice of Pink Floyd


Tomorrow I will pay tribute to this incredible artist!

Musical Isolation: Coming Soon To Fox

No, this is not a real show but just hear me out. Have you ever wondered about what it would be like if a band wasn'’t influenced by any other musicians before it? Basically this is impossible now and days where music is played all over, if anything it is indeed impossible to go about your daily life and not hear music. The only true way a band can not be influenced by other music is by completely isolating themselves from the outside world, which leads me to an experiment that I would love to perform.

I always thought about how great of an idea it would be if you were to take four people basically from birth, stick them in a house where there is no possible way of hearing music. In this house there are a set of instruments, let’s say maybe a guitar, drums, bass, and piano or keyboard. Without giving them any music lessons because that will bound to lead them into some direction when regarding musical style (Maybe just show them how to make chords), lets see what they would create. Would all three of them work cohesively as a group each playing a different instrument? Would they put words to their music? What would be the length of their songs? This has always been a large fascination of mine, with absolutely no influences driving them to a certain genre what kind of music would they create and just how would it sound? The big problem I see besides the moral and ethical issues of performing such a test is that without having any other human contact besides the four of them how emotionally connected would the music be? I'm sure there would be some emotional attachment especially when regarding loneliness but if we go and say that all four of these people are the same gender would there be feelings of love and jealousy? The questions are endless and all of which very appealing but these will have to be left as mysteries.

As I said before this experiment would be seen as betraying a moral code because of the cruelty due to the fact that you are completely isolating someone from the outside world but none the less it would be quite a creative one and very interesting. A matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised of some ridiculous TV show was created where they take a child away from birth and just stick them in a house where they are completely separated from the rest of humanity. In the end I wouldn‚’t want to see this ever happen just for the sake of those being tested on but the idea will always plague my mind in interest.

If It's Not Broke Don't Fix It!

So what do you get when you add Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, a hint of White Stripes, and the year 2006....? Wolfmother! The new band hailing for the great nation of Australia. Back in April or so I was reading Rolling Stone and saw Wolfmother as the band to watch out for in 2006, I decided to check them out and what I heard didn't quite do it for me, but clearly I must have been out of my mind when listening to it. The other day when heading to the beach I was heard the song "White Unicorn" on the radio by none other than Wolfmother. The riff was infectious sounding like something from Led Zeppelin "IV" and the voice sounding like a mix of Robert Plant, Ozzy, and Jack White. Very rarely do I really get into songs I've never heard of but this song I just had to blast and head bang (I think I needed a neck brace after I heard it.) The song was incredible, I felt like I was listening to something from thirty years back, so that night I immediately got their selftitled CD and boy what a great choice that was. I just may have listened to this album ten times from last night to now, I went as far as depriving myself from sleep because I couldn't get enough of it. So many songs sound like they belong on some of the best albums of all time for example "Apple Tree" which sounds like it was ripped off The White Stripes' "White Blood Cells" with the heavily distorted guitar and rambuncious singing similar to Jack White's, then the opener "Dimension" which sounds like it came from Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" with the voice like Ozzy and intensely distorted metal riffs.

This band is exactly what music needs right now, has music ever been in such a rut as it is now? Wolfmother is taking advantage of the Classic Rock revival by creating a modern Classic Rock sound, now Wolfmother will tell you that they didn't listen to much Zeppelin or Sabbath but if you ask me that is just a ploy to keep their music sounding more unique. Whether or not they did listen to Zep it just doesn't matter because I have never gotten so excited about a new band since A Perfect Circle back in 2000. Some may try to put down Wolfmother saying that we are not supposed to repeat musical history and instead move on, but what Wolfmother is doing is modernizing the perfection of Classic Rock. They have a very raw sound which I love in bands, creating that feel like they are playing in your house. They rely heavily on riffs which is something we have been deprived of in this musical era. Wolfmother has their focuses on the right aspects of music and therefore are creating the perfect recipe for success.

This band is it, and when they do start getting heavy airplay the world will go nuts (I sure hope my prediction will stand true.) Their one and only full length album did reach the Top 40 in May but I think with a bit more time they will take over America, I just can't see a band with this much creative vision and talent not being huge but of course this happens all the time. I would just like to end saying that this album is probably going to be the album of the year even outdoing my precious effort from Tool "10,000 Days" and maybe even better than the upcoming Mars Volta album set for release later this year which I am highly anticipating. All I have to say is that if you do not get your hands on this album you will be doing yourself a huge injustice!

Will Get Back On Track Soon

Well my mind has been just about everywhere and one place where it hasn't been is on my blog and music. The past few days I have been very busy dealing with personal matters with my next door neighbor/childhood best friend who died at the age of 21 on Sunday. Anyway, now I am going to start coming back and devoting more attention to my beloved blog. Because I don't really have much to write about I will talk about my guitar playing expedition. I've been playing for nearly a year now and have finally started to feel the motivation to write my own songs. I've come up with a few ideas for songs and wrote some songs without the lyrics. Although, I am almost finished with my very first song which is about the Rwanda Genocide. For me I find it very hard writing solid lyrics, not so much actually writing them but actually building up the motivation to write. I feel like I don't care quite enough about anything to write a song about it, which isn't exactly true because I have many deep passions but when it comes to writing about my passions I find myself with writers block. To me I figured the easiest thing to write about would be about my girlfriend Chelsey whom I've been dating for over three years, I know everything about her and nothing in the world means more to me but yet when it comes to write a song about her or our relationship I just cannot do it. I think the problem is that I'm trying to be a perfectionist, I don't want to write anything that will be sub-par or anything that will even be just alright. I want to write something that will be great and if it isn't great than I don't want to write it. Maybe that is a good thing but I also find it as crippling because I lose the motivation to write. I guess in the end I just don't want to do an injustice to the things I care about most. When I do indeed finish writing my first song maybe I'll post the lyrics on here and if one day I ever build up the confidence to post the actual recorded song online maybe I will. So before I end this post I would just like to ask the question, has anyone else here written their own music (Neo I know you are a pretty accomplished song writer, also click on his name to see his great blog) and also if you have did you find it was difficult at first?

On a side note, I realize this post was a bit all over the place but I think I discovered why I have such a hard time writing songs. Maybe I should write my problems out more often and then I can come to bottom of them...

Bootlegging: Creating the Strongest Musical Bonds

For me growing up in the age of the Internet it is hard to imagine a world without it. When I need to find an answer to a question, find out exactly why my back hurts, read the most current news, or listen to music the Internet is always there never letting me down. Now it is clear that the Internet has completely changed all we know about the recording industry in just about every aspect, but one aspect that may probably go unseen is the bootlegging industry. What many may not know is the intensity of bootleg traders, their sheer dedication and love for doing it. Bootlegging has been around far before the Internet came around as most of you know quite well but the Internet has changed it the most amazing ways.

To say the bootlegging community is a tight knit one would be an understatement, but what created this extreme bond between bootleggers must be associated to the Internet. The bootlegging industry was once an industry mostly used for profit, whether you were going to your low level record store or buying them from some guy in the streets bootlegs were there but of course with a price. Now the times have changed, making people pay for bootlegs is now unacceptable.

When I first discovered the bootlegging community I immediately wanted to join but right from the bat I made a few terrible mistakes. Traders have very strict rules, they want the quality of the show to be exactly as the recording so they do not want you to convert it into lossy formats which degrade the sound like MP3's and they also prohibit paying for bootlegs because what is trading if you have to pay? The first mistake I had was getting my hand on that very first bootleg, in the bootlegging community it is not all that difficult to get your "first" bootleg, in fact all you have to do is just ask someone apart of that online community to make a copy of one for you, all you have to do is just send out an envelope and postage and there you have it. What I did to get my first one which was a Pink Floyd show from 1974 was I actually gave someone my self titled Dylan album. Now becoming more of a veteran in bootleg trading I have come to realize that doing that was wrong, in fact what I did was lost a perfectly good album I purchased with my hard earned money and some what corrupted trading. The second mistake I made was when I actually learned how to download bootlegs I converted them to MP3's (So I could listen to them on my MP3 player) and then traded them in MP3 format. To put into perspective why converting them to lossy media is wrong is think about it in terms of a family recipe for cooking, if one person changes a few of the ingredients and passes that down the quality will be different, but yet that newly revised recipe will forever be handed down and the original will be lost forever.

What makes bootlegging even more interesting is an artists view of it. It seems like the majority of artists embrace it with open arms seeing it as a positive. Bands like U2, The Grateful Dead, and The Mars Volta actually encourage the recording of their shows and why shouldn't they? Being discontent with the illegal downloading of recorded material is understandable in absolutely every right but what we have here is a recording of an unreleased entity. By creating a large and hassle free bootlegging collection of your shows you are in return creating a larger and more intense following for that very reason of bootlegging. To me bootlegging is a wonderful thing, I myself have never actually bootlegged a show but have been involved with many trades with people from all over the world, I never though I would receive mail from people in Europe! My collection of bootlegs has far surpassed 100 and I would love for that to keep growing, once the bootlegging bug bites you can't run away!

Rest In Peace

Earlier today around 11:00 AM my childhood best friend and next door neighbor Jimmy died on his motorcycle, he was only twenty one years of age. When I found out the news I was traumatized and just could not believe it although he was one who loved to live his life on the edge. He was a very accident prone person because he always tried to take things to the next step and this tragically led to the end of the road. He was such a kindhearted person and I highly doubt anyone can deny that, I somewhat feel all his life he was looking for acceptance and tried to pursue that by taking things to the next level and going above and beyond what everyone else was doing. As time grew on we slowly drifted apart but that never decreased the way I thought of him. When I think back on his life the one thing I will remember about him is that he just may have been one of the nicest people I've ever met especially if you get to know him really well. This tragic accident was terrible in its own right but what makes this situation even worse is both his mother and sister had to watch him go in such an unexpected way, and just four years earlier Jimmy and his sister had to watch their father pass away from a brain tumor. So now the mother is left without a husband and son, and the sister is left without a father and brother. I just ask that you keep all of them in your prayers because they surely need it.

This brings me to a separate note thinking about how fragile life truly is. Everyone around the world gets so carried away with the hussle and bussle of ordinary life, pondering on their future and jobs. We rarely think about cherishing each and every moment we live and being kind to all those we are around because we hardly ever wonder if each second is going to be our last. I hate to speak on such a negative topic but it won't leave my mind. I want to think that maybe it is a waste of time thinking about the future because who knows if I will even cease to exist. I realize that not focusing any attention on my future would only harm me but maybe I should spend more time focusing on the now opposed to what may be. Each choice in life is a gamble and who knows where it will lead me, I can only hope that I will be alive and healthy and living strong at a nice old age, so as of now I feel I should spend more time thinking about what is going on in the present opposed to where I end up in the future. Sorry for writing on such a depressing topic but it is hard to let go...

Getting to Know One Another

Well it isn't too often that I ask people personal questions opposed to just their opinions on various topics. So today I am going to change things up, what I am going to do is just ask a series of random questions and I would love for all readers to respond with answers. I really cherish everyone's opinion and it means so much to me knowing that people continuously come back to read my blog. Now it is time to learn a little bit about who is reading my blog.

1) What are your favorite hobbies?
Listening to Music and anything that is related to it, Surfing, Politics, Sports and Playing Guitar

2) Who is your favorite band / song / album?
Pink Floyd / King Crimson "Epitaph" / Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon"

3) What is your favorite book?
The best book I've ever read was probably "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo, a story about a man who fought in World War I and lost all of his arms, legs, eyes, ears, basically being nothing but just a mind. A great story showing the consequences of war and ones difficulty to connect with the outside world.

4) What is your favorite Movie / TV Show?
Tommy Boy / Curb Your Enthusiasm

5) What is your favorite kind of food?
For me it is Mexican without a doubt, I love my food extra spicy!

6) Have you or do you play a musical instrument?
I've been playing acoustic guitar for nearly a year and although it has been a short amount of time it has been so incredibly rewarding. Nothing is quite like learning a song to completion and being able to sing along while playing it. Although not a part of the question Neil Young songs are my favorite to play, they are mostly simple but Neil Young songs are very distinct even with the simplicity.

7) Lastly how long have you been blogging for and do you ever see yourself stopping in the future?
I have been blogging since September of 2005 and I would have never thought that I would become so in love with it. The blogging community is fantastic and it is such a great feeling knowing that you can voice your opinion and people will actually read it, I once thought that I would need to be an acclaimed writer to accomplish that. I also do feel that I will continue blogging for a long time, I know this may sound a bit childish but I one day hope to become a skilled writer when it comes to writing about music and hopefully one day some world renown music magazine will hire me upon reading my blog. I'm not aiming for a career in music journalism let alone any type of journalism, I am aiming for a career in Political Science but music is my passion and to have a career which includes the thing I love most would be a dream. With more time I have to believe that I will improve my writing as well as my ability to write about music.



On another note, do you find it rather strange that Blogger doens't recognize the word "Blog" in its spell check?