Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Last Stretch
There are only about three weeks of school left, but I've got about three months worth of work to finish, and it feels like I've only got three days to do it. After last night's jam (lackluster at best, one of those nights...), there are only two left and we're trying to go out with some noise. Foster is doing his recital next Saturday and I'm supposed to be helping with that, Lesilee is doing her recital this weekend and I'm supposed to be helping her too. I've got a project to finish for prof. Yarling (I'll start it by this weekend...), and one I'm just really starting for Dr. Yaklich, and a whole lot of French journals I'm behind on (beaucoup de travaille...). In retrospect, this semester has been too intense and dynamic to just say "in retrospect..." so I'll come back to that.
Still don't know what my plans are going to look like for the summer: I've spoiled myself by not working (thank God for small favors), but I might be too broke to go to school, and I doubt my peoples will let me just mill around the house practicing and writing all summer... Still, it looks like D.C. is a go with the church in July, and then after that I'm trying to go to Montreal to study French through the school exchange program. My cousin Misha will be coming down for about a month in May, and then if I'm afforded a small miracle, I'll get to South America at some point to experience Uraguy firsthand.
The Breeze might be dispersing to regather in Gainesville, but it will be minus an electric bass (myself) and it might be minus a drummer as well, but its definitely been a fun run. We just played a show on Saturday, and it was hardly our best, though not nearly our worst (or if so, than our worst isn't really all that bad...yeah I know I'm biased, but I'm still honest!) I think its due mainly to the fact that for the past few weeks our efforts have been aimed at recording the demo and getting the individual parts down one at a time, as opposed to rehearsing as a full band with the intent on performing live. We've got a couple more shows before John should be heading North so hopefully we'll go out with a boom... It figures, I finally bought a bass amp, I'm THIS close to buying my own bass finally, and we break up....
Anywho, I gotta get ready to get to class...
holla back world
Still don't know what my plans are going to look like for the summer: I've spoiled myself by not working (thank God for small favors), but I might be too broke to go to school, and I doubt my peoples will let me just mill around the house practicing and writing all summer... Still, it looks like D.C. is a go with the church in July, and then after that I'm trying to go to Montreal to study French through the school exchange program. My cousin Misha will be coming down for about a month in May, and then if I'm afforded a small miracle, I'll get to South America at some point to experience Uraguy firsthand.
The Breeze might be dispersing to regather in Gainesville, but it will be minus an electric bass (myself) and it might be minus a drummer as well, but its definitely been a fun run. We just played a show on Saturday, and it was hardly our best, though not nearly our worst (or if so, than our worst isn't really all that bad...yeah I know I'm biased, but I'm still honest!) I think its due mainly to the fact that for the past few weeks our efforts have been aimed at recording the demo and getting the individual parts down one at a time, as opposed to rehearsing as a full band with the intent on performing live. We've got a couple more shows before John should be heading North so hopefully we'll go out with a boom... It figures, I finally bought a bass amp, I'm THIS close to buying my own bass finally, and we break up....
Anywho, I gotta get ready to get to class...
holla back world
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Okay, as the world turns.....
There's a lot of good news, Moms got officially re-married on Saturday. I was a short & sweet ceremony, just immediate family, but it was very nice. She was beaming the whole time. (Congrats Mamman!) After the ceremony everybody went to eat, but I had to jet early b/c I had a gig that night. Of course, I could've stayed because we went on late, but it was cool I caught the end of Meg's set, she's always a crowd pleaser. The bonus was that I got to borrow my friend Alaina's bass amp (SWEEEEET!!!!!!!!!! That thing is a monster!!!!)
I'm used to playing on a little crate amp about the size of a bowling ball, and this thing had 4 subs, and was like half as tall as I am (although that might not be saying much, you get the point...) The problem was though, my bass cut out on me at the end of the second song so I sat out for the third and then borrowed the bass from the band playing after us for the rest of the set. The show was actually pretty horrible for me, my bass broke, I wasn't at all used to the type of bass that I borrowed, and they cut our set short since everybody was behind schedule. Our set sucked but the night on a whole was pretty cool. My sister Tiffany finally came out to see us and my friend Nat was out in the audience too! We hung out afterwards and just breezed (Breeze! That's the name of my band get it? LOL!)
There's alot going on with the band now too while we're on the subject.... We were going to break up because John (guitar/vocals) and Blaine (drums) were going to move up to Gainesville in May, but then John decided he was gonna stick around. Meanwhile, Blaine doesn't really like the people down here so since John wasn't leaving, he was thinking about moving back to Maryland. Everybody's sticking around now and we're actually picking up alot of gigs now (but there's no money for original bands down here until you make it big, only cover bands get any bread) John's girlfriend's dad('s babysitter's cousin's uncle's nieghbor....) is donating the money for us to record our demo so we started that on Monday. We all went in, but only Blaine laid his drum tracks, I'm going in next to lay down the bass parts, John's gonna lay down the guitar next, and then we'll throw on vocals and be done. What's sucks for that is, I might have to play a fretted bass, and that's the type that I'm not at all used to. We'll see though, hopefully I'll have my bass back tonight (cross your fingers for me!)
I think I'll stop there for now, I'll give ya'll the update on my music production excursions, Colin's roadtrip, and my travel wishes for the summer next time.
Till then,
Holla back world!
There's a lot of good news, Moms got officially re-married on Saturday. I was a short & sweet ceremony, just immediate family, but it was very nice. She was beaming the whole time. (Congrats Mamman!) After the ceremony everybody went to eat, but I had to jet early b/c I had a gig that night. Of course, I could've stayed because we went on late, but it was cool I caught the end of Meg's set, she's always a crowd pleaser. The bonus was that I got to borrow my friend Alaina's bass amp (SWEEEEET!!!!!!!!!! That thing is a monster!!!!)
I'm used to playing on a little crate amp about the size of a bowling ball, and this thing had 4 subs, and was like half as tall as I am (although that might not be saying much, you get the point...) The problem was though, my bass cut out on me at the end of the second song so I sat out for the third and then borrowed the bass from the band playing after us for the rest of the set. The show was actually pretty horrible for me, my bass broke, I wasn't at all used to the type of bass that I borrowed, and they cut our set short since everybody was behind schedule. Our set sucked but the night on a whole was pretty cool. My sister Tiffany finally came out to see us and my friend Nat was out in the audience too! We hung out afterwards and just breezed (Breeze! That's the name of my band get it? LOL!)
There's alot going on with the band now too while we're on the subject.... We were going to break up because John (guitar/vocals) and Blaine (drums) were going to move up to Gainesville in May, but then John decided he was gonna stick around. Meanwhile, Blaine doesn't really like the people down here so since John wasn't leaving, he was thinking about moving back to Maryland. Everybody's sticking around now and we're actually picking up alot of gigs now (but there's no money for original bands down here until you make it big, only cover bands get any bread) John's girlfriend's dad('s babysitter's cousin's uncle's nieghbor....) is donating the money for us to record our demo so we started that on Monday. We all went in, but only Blaine laid his drum tracks, I'm going in next to lay down the bass parts, John's gonna lay down the guitar next, and then we'll throw on vocals and be done. What's sucks for that is, I might have to play a fretted bass, and that's the type that I'm not at all used to. We'll see though, hopefully I'll have my bass back tonight (cross your fingers for me!)
I think I'll stop there for now, I'll give ya'll the update on my music production excursions, Colin's roadtrip, and my travel wishes for the summer next time.
Till then,
Holla back world!
Monday, March 14, 2005
Testing Testing 1,2,3
What's up world? Sorry for the long wait... I'm trying to commit to ideally, one post a week, @ bare minimum one a month, but bare with me. One of the things that's made it difficult to keep up with this website, is the fact that I'm now required to do a journal for my French class as well, and I just haven't mustered the discipline to maintain both as of yet.
School has been progressing forward very steadily, I've worked a total of 8 1/2 this semester and I find I still facing the same time constraints, amazing....But not unexpected.... We're starting the record label up, we've recorded a live concert of the touring gospel choir, and will be doing the overdubs, mixing, and mastering starting next week. That CD will be the maiden voyage for the record label (Alliance Workshop), and we will function on multiple levels. We will have a management office, a booking agency, a publishing company, production company, and we will be able to record projects; to top it all off, it will student run to really ensure that we can put what we learn in the classroom to practice before we graduate. I would like to put together a hip-hop show next fall and showcase local talent. I'm planning on being able to pay all the performers in addition to recording the show and releasing a live CD. Keep you posted.....
I've been writing still, but I'm spending most of my time trying to polish up and finish songs that I've already started, I haven't started to many new ones but I finally found my inspiration and started writing my cousin's song. Working on two orchestrations right now, and starting a screenplay, doesn't look like I'll make it to the islands this summer, but I'll have enough to keep me busy anyway.
Be easy world, I ain't forget about ya'll!
It's love, and I'll post the song I just wrote, I want to do it with the rock band. I've got lyrics, but no melody or music yet.
School has been progressing forward very steadily, I've worked a total of 8 1/2 this semester and I find I still facing the same time constraints, amazing....But not unexpected.... We're starting the record label up, we've recorded a live concert of the touring gospel choir, and will be doing the overdubs, mixing, and mastering starting next week. That CD will be the maiden voyage for the record label (Alliance Workshop), and we will function on multiple levels. We will have a management office, a booking agency, a publishing company, production company, and we will be able to record projects; to top it all off, it will student run to really ensure that we can put what we learn in the classroom to practice before we graduate. I would like to put together a hip-hop show next fall and showcase local talent. I'm planning on being able to pay all the performers in addition to recording the show and releasing a live CD. Keep you posted.....
I've been writing still, but I'm spending most of my time trying to polish up and finish songs that I've already started, I haven't started to many new ones but I finally found my inspiration and started writing my cousin's song. Working on two orchestrations right now, and starting a screenplay, doesn't look like I'll make it to the islands this summer, but I'll have enough to keep me busy anyway.
Be easy world, I ain't forget about ya'll!
It's love, and I'll post the song I just wrote, I want to do it with the rock band. I've got lyrics, but no melody or music yet.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
What´s up with Madrid bih?
What´s up world?
I am currently in Madrid and its the 27th. Christmas was interesting to say the least, we did a secret santa celebration in the hotel lobby at noon, and then we kinda just put our feet up until the show. Nothing was open except for the Mc Donald´s and a chinese restaurant, so my Christmas lunch was leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner (gas station goodies) and Wanton soup. We played our Christmas day show in Barcelona and we got to watch the group before us which was a Russian ballet troupe. The show was nice but they ran late, so we went on late and people we starting to come in while we were still sound checking. The concert went pretty well still, it was our best to date, and afterwards we were supposed to have a big dinner down at the Hard Rock Cafe, but they closed the kitchen just before we got there so we all wound up eating our Christmas dinner at Mc Donald´s. We were supposed to play a show tonight (but I forget in what city), but while we were on the roads it started snowing and they closed the road we needed to take to get there, so after they decided there was no way that we couldvé made it to the show, we just started to head here to Madrid (we don´t have our concert here until tomorrow night) and we have today to ourselves. So, in a nutshell, Christmas dinner sucked, but I got to see snow for the first time in years so I can go home a happy man now!
One love,
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Nueve Ano (I dont know if that´s how you spell it...)
Holla Back!!!!!
I am currently in Madrid and its the 27th. Christmas was interesting to say the least, we did a secret santa celebration in the hotel lobby at noon, and then we kinda just put our feet up until the show. Nothing was open except for the Mc Donald´s and a chinese restaurant, so my Christmas lunch was leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner (gas station goodies) and Wanton soup. We played our Christmas day show in Barcelona and we got to watch the group before us which was a Russian ballet troupe. The show was nice but they ran late, so we went on late and people we starting to come in while we were still sound checking. The concert went pretty well still, it was our best to date, and afterwards we were supposed to have a big dinner down at the Hard Rock Cafe, but they closed the kitchen just before we got there so we all wound up eating our Christmas dinner at Mc Donald´s. We were supposed to play a show tonight (but I forget in what city), but while we were on the roads it started snowing and they closed the road we needed to take to get there, so after they decided there was no way that we couldvé made it to the show, we just started to head here to Madrid (we don´t have our concert here until tomorrow night) and we have today to ourselves. So, in a nutshell, Christmas dinner sucked, but I got to see snow for the first time in years so I can go home a happy man now!
One love,
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Nueve Ano (I dont know if that´s how you spell it...)
Holla Back!!!!!
Friday, December 24, 2004
Feliz Navidad Bonnes Festes!
Hola!
What´s up world? So I actually DID make it out to Spain....(but it´s still as disorganized as I thought it would be) I´m out here in I think Catalonia, Sabbadel about an hour outside of Barcelona. We´ve made the trip pretty enjoyable, but the promoters have done nothing yet to impress us. But I´ll start from the beginning:
Our flight over went pretty smooth, we flew out of Miami to San Juan, then from there straight out to Madrid. When we arrived in Madrid, we only had about half our luggage, and 1/3 of our music equipment. (As it happened, the rest of our luggage somehow wound up in Mexico...) So we arrive at the hotel on Friday night, but most of us didn´t get our luggage until Saturday morning. Also, for some reason, people´s bags came back wet (????) I didn´t get my bags until Saturday either, but luckily all my stuff was intact and dry.
We played our first concert in Barcelona in a beautiful concert hall, at least 1000 people in attendance. Gospel music is foreign to the people out here, but they love (LOVE) "Oh Happy Day" (think Sister Act 2)! The crowd had given a very warm reception, but when we played that song at the end, they went crazy! It turned into a straight Baptist Gospel Concert! Everybody was standing up in their seats clapping and dancing...I would´ve never imagined anything like that happening, but we did three encores before we got off stage that night. We were pulling people on stage to dance and everything!
The vibe out here is really ill, the weather, the people, the food (the FOOD!) everything out here is beautiful! Everybody has a dog, but almost none of them are leashed, they are all really well trained, I even saw dogs in the department store today. The people are nice out here for the most part, but sometimes on a whole they seem pretty rude to me. Today is Christmas Eve so the stores are packed and people are always in eachothers way or bumping into eachother, but they don´t say "excuse me" or "perdona me", not even to eachother... Still I would definitely come back (just not with s.l. promotions). The Food is definitely one of the best things about being out in Spain so far, we have yet to go up into any clubs or anything, so it might change....but probably not. (Omigosh the food is off GLASS!!!)
Our second concert was pretty decent also, we were alot more comfortable than we were at the first one so we made a lot of little silly mistakes, and alot of the tempos were too slow, but still, the crowd loved it! (O Happy Day, killin´em!!!) I was deathly ill for that concert though I had a sinus cold up to here! My eyes felt like they were swimming in my head, but somehow I still made it onstage and the saxes did our thing! We still have some tightening up to do, but I think our concert tomorrow should really start to pick up the slack that´s still left.
Tomorrow is Christmas, so merry Christmas to all my fam and all my peoples! I will be missed, I know, but I´m in Spain y´know? LOL It´s going to be different tomorrow, not being around any family and being in a totally foreign place for Christmas...but it should still be pretty live (I mean c´mon, I´m in Spain!!!)
So that´s it for now, keep it peace and keep it safe!
Happy holidays
holla back world!
What´s up world? So I actually DID make it out to Spain....(but it´s still as disorganized as I thought it would be) I´m out here in I think Catalonia, Sabbadel about an hour outside of Barcelona. We´ve made the trip pretty enjoyable, but the promoters have done nothing yet to impress us. But I´ll start from the beginning:
Our flight over went pretty smooth, we flew out of Miami to San Juan, then from there straight out to Madrid. When we arrived in Madrid, we only had about half our luggage, and 1/3 of our music equipment. (As it happened, the rest of our luggage somehow wound up in Mexico...) So we arrive at the hotel on Friday night, but most of us didn´t get our luggage until Saturday morning. Also, for some reason, people´s bags came back wet (????) I didn´t get my bags until Saturday either, but luckily all my stuff was intact and dry.
We played our first concert in Barcelona in a beautiful concert hall, at least 1000 people in attendance. Gospel music is foreign to the people out here, but they love (LOVE) "Oh Happy Day" (think Sister Act 2)! The crowd had given a very warm reception, but when we played that song at the end, they went crazy! It turned into a straight Baptist Gospel Concert! Everybody was standing up in their seats clapping and dancing...I would´ve never imagined anything like that happening, but we did three encores before we got off stage that night. We were pulling people on stage to dance and everything!
The vibe out here is really ill, the weather, the people, the food (the FOOD!) everything out here is beautiful! Everybody has a dog, but almost none of them are leashed, they are all really well trained, I even saw dogs in the department store today. The people are nice out here for the most part, but sometimes on a whole they seem pretty rude to me. Today is Christmas Eve so the stores are packed and people are always in eachothers way or bumping into eachother, but they don´t say "excuse me" or "perdona me", not even to eachother... Still I would definitely come back (just not with s.l. promotions). The Food is definitely one of the best things about being out in Spain so far, we have yet to go up into any clubs or anything, so it might change....but probably not. (Omigosh the food is off GLASS!!!)
Our second concert was pretty decent also, we were alot more comfortable than we were at the first one so we made a lot of little silly mistakes, and alot of the tempos were too slow, but still, the crowd loved it! (O Happy Day, killin´em!!!) I was deathly ill for that concert though I had a sinus cold up to here! My eyes felt like they were swimming in my head, but somehow I still made it onstage and the saxes did our thing! We still have some tightening up to do, but I think our concert tomorrow should really start to pick up the slack that´s still left.
Tomorrow is Christmas, so merry Christmas to all my fam and all my peoples! I will be missed, I know, but I´m in Spain y´know? LOL It´s going to be different tomorrow, not being around any family and being in a totally foreign place for Christmas...but it should still be pretty live (I mean c´mon, I´m in Spain!!!)
So that´s it for now, keep it peace and keep it safe!
Happy holidays
holla back world!
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Spinning Out of Control
Okay, I'm not too proud to admit it, I need to stop. I have way too much on my plate right now. My body is trying to catch up with my abuse, so I have to literally force myself out of bed for the past week and a half (and I STILL haven't made it to class on time). Ya'll forgive me, I'm just gonna vent real quick. I'm too tired too often, I like most of the people that I work with, but for the most part, I hate my job, I have no time to practice, I no longer have a car, but I have the same amount of responsibilities and commitments -I take that back- I have a growing number of responsibilities and commitments, I can't practice, I can't write, I can't arrange, I want to practice, I want to write, I want to arrange, and I don't want to have my attempts at relationships end up completely botched, or if they do, I don't want it to always be my fault.
Aight, I've wallowed in self-pity long enough for this post...
What's up world? This is T, I'm still alive, I still going to Spain, I'm still going to London, I'm still in one of the illest local rock bands, and ladies I'm still single! It's like that!
Holla back world!
one
Aight, I've wallowed in self-pity long enough for this post...
What's up world? This is T, I'm still alive, I still going to Spain, I'm still going to London, I'm still in one of the illest local rock bands, and ladies I'm still single! It's like that!
Holla back world!
one
Monday, October 18, 2004
The world seems to be getting back on track..
Wow, almost another month and no updates....but check it out:
Talib just dropped an album, Mos Def just dropped an album, Crown City Rockers just dropped an album (formerly Mission:), so hip-hop is here!!!!! I went to catch a jazz benefit concert last week in West Palm Beach (off glass ya'll!!!! there's so much talent down here its disgusting!) and the jam session we host at the school have been jumping off like crazy (1nce again, off glass, there's so much young talent down here its disgusting!)
I'm still writing, I've got to finish the songs I'm working on now (all jazz charts...) and then I want to start working on some classical pieces, I've got a lot of ideas in my head for some movie-score style pieces. Also I'm getting back into my rhythm with the whole hip-hop vibe (alive and kickin!!! let's keep it that way!) lot of ish going on at once, but what's new right?
My trip to England was postponed, but now I get to go to Spain for Christmas so take that! The school is going over to do some Gospel and some R&B concerts and you can't have a show without musicians.... so I'm looking forward to that. Actually, I was going to cancel on it, because my cousin was in a car accident and she got pretty banged up ( she's in one piece and she'll be fine!). So I was going to visit to go visit her for Christmas, but my mom went to visit her this week and she's doing really well so I'll probably swing through on her next year.
My spiritual life is expanding on a couple of levels now, some very big changes are in store, but I'll put ya'll up on that as it develops.
Holla back world!
Talib just dropped an album, Mos Def just dropped an album, Crown City Rockers just dropped an album (formerly Mission:), so hip-hop is here!!!!! I went to catch a jazz benefit concert last week in West Palm Beach (off glass ya'll!!!! there's so much talent down here its disgusting!) and the jam session we host at the school have been jumping off like crazy (1nce again, off glass, there's so much young talent down here its disgusting!
I'm still writing, I've got to finish the songs I'm working on now (all jazz charts...) and then I want to start working on some classical pieces, I've got a lot of ideas in my head for some movie-score style pieces. Also I'm getting back into my rhythm with the whole hip-hop vibe (alive and kickin!!! let's keep it that way!) lot of ish going on at once, but what's new right?
My trip to England was postponed, but now I get to go to Spain for Christmas so take that! The school is going over to do some Gospel and some R&B concerts and you can't have a show without musicians.... so I'm looking forward to that. Actually, I was going to cancel on it, because my cousin was in a car accident and she got pretty banged up ( she's in one piece and she'll be fine!). So I was going to visit to go visit her for Christmas, but my mom went to visit her this week and she's doing really well so I'll probably swing through on her next year.
My spiritual life is expanding on a couple of levels now, some very big changes are in store, but I'll put ya'll up on that as it develops.
Holla back world!
