The Best Laid Plans...

You can't say that I didn't have good intentions. You can't say that I don't have the skill or the desire to create. But you can say that I don't have the absolute go-getter attitude that gets things done.

In my post, It's About Time To Let The Music Flow, I mentioned on online course that I was pretty excited about that I was sure was going to get the music flowing once and for all. Honestly, it started out great. I spent the first 2 weeks jamming out a half hour of ideas everyday. With the Garage Band running I just played, not really thinking about what I was doing just basically going with the flow and letting my unconscious mind send those notes down to my fingers to be played and recorded. It was a little frustrating at first but as the sessions added up the ideas became more complete and more interesting.

By the last session I was feeling good with the amount of original material I created as well as the quality of that material. But when it came to listening back and picking out those ideas the momentum quickly faded. Those ideas that I was so excited about were few and far between and even the ones that I was most interested in still seemed dull and overall uninteresting. At that point I felt like the last 2 plus weeks had been wasted and the album that I was going to have to show for all that work wasn't even one song closer to being in existence.

Since then, things have changed a bit. I've continued to write like I always have before, letting the ideas come as they do and building them slowly into a somewhat cohesive piece. I currently have 2 or 3 songs stuck in that oh so common phase of mine that involves me playing what I've completed over and over again until it makes me sick only to be perpetually stuck without a bridge, a solid ending or an interesting enough hook.

It seems to be my curse and overall I feel like it comes down to confidence and the lack of drive to just sit down and get things done. I so badly want these songs to be completed and see the light of day. I want to share them and be proud of them. I want to jam with some other musicians and turn these songs into a complete composition. How I do that is the question of the century.

I'd really like to take a lot of these principles from the course and run with them. I already know that they have a major difference in my songwriting by the quality and number of ideas that have been arising even after I kind of gave up on the program. I know I've probably said it a hundred times but I just need to do it, as insanely hard and idiotically simple as that is.

It's About Time to Let That Music Flow

Yes, it's about time for some music creation to hit the front burner. I've always wanted to be super productive and create music that I'm proud of and people will enjoy, but I've never really put in that true commitment. Now is the time. I'm taking an online course that is going to jumpstart this brain of mine and the music will soon follow. I can't wait to get rolling.

One of my first exercises is to fuel my unconscious brain. To do this I've simply been listening to music. For starters I stuck in my favorite album "Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace. I strapped on my Bose headphones, laid down on the couch and pressed play. It's an amazing feeling to just lay back with nothing else on your mind but the music that is pumping into your brain. You notice all of the little details that you might never have noticed before. You feel the emotion, you picture the raw sound behind your closed eyes. Such a great feeling, especially when it's your favorite album. You truly get lost. It was like Raine was pouring out that signature falsetto just for me and as Big Dumb Rocket had it's turn, it took all of me energy to stay relaxed and lay there, just appreciating my favorite tune and not rocking around the room belting the lyrics.

Next I picked another album from my cd shelf. I dug a little deeper for this one. I searched for a disc that I hadn't spun in a real long time but still had that way of tugging at my internal rock strings. I came across "Lemon Parade" by Tonic and knew I had to give it the treatment. Man, was it worth it. You tend to forget sometimes how good music is when you haven't listened to it in a long time. As Open Up Your Eyes, Mountain, and Wicked Soldier blasted through my headphones and drove it's way into the pleasure centers of my brain I was taken back to high school when this album was on constant rotation in my cd player. The heavy guitars, full acoustic strums and soaring vocals had me floating in musical bliss. No offense to Tonic, but I was so relaxed I even fell asleep for half a song. Considering how loud it was in my ears I see that as a compliment anyway.

The third and final album of this exercise is going to be something a little different. It's going to be an album that I've never heard before from a genre that isn't usually my cup of tea. I combed through Grooveshark for a few minutes and decided on "Hands All Over," the newest album from Maroon 5. I enjoy their radio singles for the most part but their music has never really driven me to keep listening. Hard rock has been my thing ever since I picked up "Sunburn" by Fuel and "My Own Prison" by Creed back in my high school days. But I'm excited to give it a shot and feed my brain with something that I would never listen to otherwise. I'm hoping moving to another genre and taking in the music for the experience of doing it will truly be a good step in making my own music that much better.

So now it begins. I can't wait to get this program going and get some music pouring out of my head, hands and throat and out into the world. I don't think I've ever wanted anything so badly in my life and there is no stopping me now. I mean come on, if my current homework is just chilling and listening to awesome music how can I complain? I can't, that's why music is so incredible and I'm itching to make some of my own. I look forward to giving updates of my progress.

Rock on!

Guest Post: Norwegian Black Metal Unveiled

The article written by Guy Barnes

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind relays the story of how Norwegian black metal, and black metal in general, came to be. The story begins by describing all the early attempts to record a more satanic sound on an album. Bands like Witchcraft Coven and Black Widow dabbled with satanic imagery and lyrics on their albums, but it never went any further than that. Venom then came onto the scene and released their landmark album Black Metal. From there, bands came out of the woodwork boasting about satanic allegiances. Soon, the craze emerged in Norway. However, the youth of Norway would take their allegiances to much further levels, levels that would end in church arsons, bloodshed, and murder.

The book is essentially the biography of a movement. It features interviews with some of the major players in the Norwegian black metal scene. The book also throws around theories as to why fascism, Nazism, racism, and paganism would end up being such prevalent aspects of the Norwegian black metal scene. All in all, Lords of Chaos is a well researched and well-written account of the early history of black metal. A movie based on the book is in production, and I hope I can see it on satellite television that I got after researching Dish tv vs DIRECTV , my other favorite pastime.

The Necessity of Music In The Car

I know there was a time when cars were simple. An engine, wheels, seats and a steering wheel used to be all that was needed. Maybe if you wanted the Model T tricked out edition you'd get a couple of windows thrown in. Nowadays, you get everything from GPS and 10 cup holders to seat warmers and auto parallel parking. Cars today are nothing short of homes on wheels. But setting all that crazy new technology aside, one thing that is now an absolute necessity in cars today are car audio receivers, or in layman's terms, the brains of the car stereo.

Really, where would we be today without music in the car? Traffic would be even more agony than it already is. Long road trips would be minus a soundtrack. Behind-the-wheel singers wouldn't even exist. You know those people. Kind of like the ones that pick their nose thinking that no one can see them as they drive down the road knuckle deep in the left nostril but instead, they are belting out every word to "If You Wanna Be My Lover" by the Spice Girls as if they were Posh Spice on speed. (Guilty.)

I know people listen to radio outside of their box on wheels, but radio as we know it would go the way of the VHS or Furby if not for people listening as they drive home from work or on their way to the grocery store. No more request lines, and free prizes for being the 9th caller. No more catchy radio jingles that get stuck in your head all day and no talk radio with outrageous political rants that offend and entice. Without that car stereo, I probably wouldn't find much use for CDs anymore. I wouldn't have that pleasure of driving home from the the local music store and blasting my new purchase with the windows down and the pedal to the floor.

Even though it only takes the simplest of car audio receivers to listen to the necessity that is radio in the car, it's hard not to drool over the new technology that's out there. It is the generation of in-the-dash everything isn't it? Especially when it's getting close to the holidays I can't help but browse sites like become.com which has an endless catalog of car tricking bliss with that all that crazy technology I can't come close to understanding. I even tend to wander from car stereos to iPods and even voice recorders. (I've always wanted something like that to keep by my bed or in my car's glove box so I don't miss those moments of songwriting inspiration.) 

Overall, without music in the car, I feel like driving would be a chore. And the day driving becomes an absolute pain in the butt while stuck in silence, letting the boredom build and the road rage to boil over, is the day I cut my license in half and start taking the bus. No joke.

A Career In Music Production?

Ever since I started playing guitar, joined a band, and made music an everyday passion that I can't live without, I've thought about what it would be like to make music my career. Who doesn't think about turning their love into something that could make them money and become their livelihood? It's almost like living in a dream world to imagine a life in music production, whether it be writing songs, performing them, dabbling in video production, or even in the broad scope of things, taking a try at voice acting. (I'd say that would be kind of a stretch for me but it still sounds interesting.)


All those thoughts multiply after I stumble on sites like that of production company Studio Center. Their services cover everything from audio production, video production, and voice over work to jingle writing. Basically everything you would need to make your company stand out in the world of broadcast advertising. Really, the whole idea behind Studio Center's business falls pretty close to what I spent 4 years of my life learning about; marketing.

I attended college for business and a lot of the curriculum focused on advertising and overall marketing of everyday businesses. We even had the opportunity to take a stab at tv commercial production in the process of creating a product's complete advertising campaign. Around the same time I was truly discovering how important music was to me and I wrote a song about the issue of price-fixing in the airline industry which I performed in front of class in a crazy get up. I even wrote a jingle for my parents' business. (With moderate success.)

It is nice to think about working for a company like Studio Center, turning music into money for not only myself but other people, and actually using some of that knowledge I gained from college that I currently seem to be wasting printing t-shirts and being super uncreative. Not that it couldn't be possible someday, but unfortunately, the important thing now is making the dough. Writing jingles and making music videos can be a creative way to pass the time and keep my brain working but for now I'll leave the media production to the pros.

Rock on!

Steven Tyler Living A Little Too Close To The Edge?

This is NOT a funny story by a long shot, I don't want to make it sound that way by the punny title. (For you Aerosmith fans out there, I think you see what I'm getting at. Living On The Edge, anyone?)

On August 5th, Steven Tyler fell off the stage while performing on Sturgis, South Dakota and according to the NY Times article posted at the bottom,"sustained a broken shoulder and received stitches to the head," forcing them to cancel the rest of their summer tour. It makes you wonder what Tyler did to anger the rock gods or whether it's something that's just bound to happen when you've been rocking shows for almost 40 years. (I'm leaning toward the latter.)

Watching the video below makes me cringe a little, not only from the fall itself, but the reaction of the crowd, who you can tell knows something is up. (You can hear an obvious, "Hell no!" near the end.)

That's the scary thing about show biz, not only does stuff like this happen every once and a while, but it's usually bound to get caught on tape in the process.

Read the full details in the article here >>>

Music Weekend To Remember

It's been a while since I've had Internet and it feels good. Better late than never I guess. We're finally settled into our new apartment, well, sort of. There's still boxes here and there and we don't have a home for a bunch of stuff but it'll get there.

We officially moved last weekend after being in limbo and living in three different places over the past couple of weeks. Of course, moving weekend not only happened to fall on one of the most scorching days of the summer, but also on one of the busiest and best music weekends I've had in quite a while.

I've mentioned before that going to more shows, along with doing more writing, is a top priority in my music world. Last weekend was a good kick in the butt. After a long day of moving, my girlfriend (KJ) and I, went to downtown Lawrence to check out one of the great places that makes up the music scene here in town, The Replay Lounge.

Also, as I've mentioned before just about everyone that I work with is in a band or was at some point and we finally got a chance to see one of those bands in action. Two of my co workers make up half of a band called The Gleaners. After quite a long wait (we got there a bit too early for an 11:00 show.), the show rocked. The acoustics were better than I had expected for the little club that consisted of a bar and wall of pinball machines, you could hear every piece of the band like you should, and my ears weren't even ringing by the time the 40 minute show was done like they always used to back in my band's days. I look forward to hitting some more shows down there soon, and hopefully getting to see The Gleaners again at some point too. Check them out at their Myspace, it's good stuff.

To top off the weekend, the following afternoon, KJ and I drove to Kansas City, Kansas to visit the brand spanking new Best Buy and watch a small acoustic performance by the band Rev Theory. They are currently on tour as part of the second stage with Motley Crue and Crue Fest, but since the Sprint Center in KCMO isn't big enough or have the capability for that stage, they set up an intimate acoustic show to compensate.

They set up in front of the Musical Intsruments department, something I didn't realize that Best Buy was in to. The whole section looked pretty intense with the guitars hung to the ceiling and it made a good back drop for the short show. After wading through the Monster Energy drink girls (short shorts anyone?), the crowd of about 100 or so ended up on the floor as Rev Theory rocked out 5 acoustic versions of their hit songs which included Hell Yeah, Light It Up, Wanted Man, Far From Over, and their next single to be, Broken Bones.

From our view point with our backs against $30 Blue-Ray copies of Trading Places starring Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy, it was definitely worth the trek, exhausted from the late night and the hectic moving in. We were tempted to stay for the autograph session and the signed guitar raffle, but the line was pretty daunting and we didn't have the patience or the energy. (Even with an endless supply of energy drinks in the place.) Instead I gave one last glance toward the Monster Energy girls (how could I not, come on) and drove home to the mess that is our new apartment, even a week later.

But it's good to have a new home, it's good to have the Internet, and I can't wait to get to a good comfort level where I feel like I can play my guitar without bugging the neighbors. (I always have that feeling when I move in to a new place where I don't feel 100% comfortable playing, it just takes some time getting used to.)

I've been thinking more and more about getting with someone to do some jamming on the acoustic guitars, it would be good to get a new pair of ears on the songs I've been milking for the past 2 years. With more music weekends like I just had I'll definitely be feeling the motivation!

Rock on!

Abba-Zaba: Taffy, Peanut Butter, Music In Food

I'm still rockin' this sinus infection so I didn't get much sleep last night and it got me thinking...about Abba-Zaba bars. You know, the chewy taffy with the peanut butter center. You may not agree but I feel that is truly music in food form.

If you've never had an Abba-Zaba you're truly missing out. It's known for it's famous yellow and black checked wrapper and I've read that they are mostly found west of the Rockies. But you can find them at specialty candy stores and sometimes grocery stores all over the country. I'm pretty sure I found my first one at a Shaw's Supermarket in Maine. (That's a complete guess.)

The first time I remember seeing one was in the movie Half Baked when young Thurgood Jenkins (Dave Chappelle's character) and his friends get high for the first time and as they decide to go on a munchy run he pulls a gigantic weed hallucinated bar off the shelf. (Enjoy the clip here.)

KJ got me one on her trip to Kansas City yesterday and I couldn't have been more excited. It's been quite a while since I enjoyed the "long lasting fun" of an Abba-Zaba. It truly was music in my mouth. If you know me or have followed this blog, you know it's hard to go wrong with me and peanut butter, hence "The Peanut Butter Cup Analogy", my fave piece of clothing being a bright orange shirt bearing the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup logo...and oh yeah, I just ate at Fluffernutter sandwich.

(I hope you're following me in this post. First Abba-Zaba, now Fluffernutter. A lot of people don't know what a Fluffernutter sandwich is. An east coast thing as far as I know. It's basically a peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwich, Fluff being marshmallow creme.)

Yeah, this barely has anything to do with music but I get excited about little things. That's how compelling my life is that moment. With that and being sick it's the smallest things that bring me the most joy. Do yourself a favor and find yourself an Abba-Zaba. Warning to those without strong teeth, it takes some work but it's well worth it.

Rock on!

It's A Wonderful Guitar Case

There was a point in time when my guitar case was a sticker virgin. A young, innocent hunk of plastic and metal unaware of the sins of the world with one important job, to protect Siggy (my acoustic guitar). I wanted to keep it nice and clean, scratch free as possible and as in good condition as the guitar inside it. I guess I didn't see the point of all that graffiti on my pristine case and in some ways I didn't want to be a follower, because isn't that what every rock star wannabe does; cover their guitar case with needless and random stickers? (Some even plaster their guitars with junk stickers, no way!)

I take pride in my belongings the same as I do in the work I do and the songs that I create, and since my guitar case was one of my most public belongings, especially in college, I felt it represented me.

I even freaked out quite a bit when I had to hand over my precious to the airline attendant before a flight to Florida from Maine. Sure, most of my concern was for Siggy who laid inside helpless to those airline employees' dirty and somewhat untrustworthy hands, but I still didn't want to see a single ding on that case when it came around in the baggage claim after the flight.

But, sometime in the past couple of years a switch flipped. It was during one of my many moves when I came across a pile of stickers that I had collected over the years, a couple from shows I attended, a couple from the Now Transmission days, and a few from who knows where. As I sorted through the junk and tried to weed out the things I wanted to trash, I decided these stickers needed to serve their purpose and make their true home upon the blank canvas that was my acoustic guitar case.

The case is still pretty bare as you can see from the picture above. The other side doesn't have any stickers at all but it's something that I'll have to remedy as I collect more of those random stickers that will have no home otherwise.

Instead of seeing it as ruining my once perfect guitar case, I see it as a collection of memories, much like a traveler will do to commemorate their trips around the world, just like George Bailey never got the chance to do. ("I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum...")

So my guitar case is my "traveling case" and if in 10 years that case is still as sparsely covered as it is now, I haven't done my share of "traveling". I haven't hit enough shows, I haven't listened to enough tunage and I haven't done enough musical living.

It turned out alright for George and Clarence ended up getting his wings but as much as I would like a Hollywood happy ending, how I get there is the most important part. (If you don't get my movie reference here I feel very sorry for you.)

By the way, if you ever see me carrying my electric guitar case around stay away from me. That thing is mint, I'm not getting any dings on that baby. As I'm sure you know, the saying doesn't go like this: "Every time a case dings an angel gets its wings."

Out With The Old, In With The New...Strings That Is

So step one is complete. Like I wrote in my earlier post, "These Old Strings", it was about time for a string change and for good 'ol Siggy (Yes, my guitar's name is Siggy.) to get some much deserved tlc. So, last night, while watching an old episode of "How I Met Your Mother" I peeled off the old strings one by one. The first thing I managed to do as I pulled #6 E off was to jam the end into my finger and send the blood gushing. I think it was Siggy's way off getting back at me. I definitely deserved it.

So after bandaging myself up, I continued, only taking three strings off a time. I applied some of Dr. Stringfellow's fret board conditioner, rubbing the rose wood to it's glorious luster and in the process scrubbing off the dirt from 6 months of my grubby hands.

I also took my soft yellow cloth and gave her a good rub down for old times sake. After stretching out the strings and tuning her up she'll sound like new again. Well, aside from that occasional buzz, but that only gives her character. I mean, give her a break, she's 31 years old!

Step two will be putting her in action once again. Laying down some tracks and letting the world hear what she's made of, and hopefully what I'm made of.

On a side note, my finger still hurts. I stuck that string deep! I might have hit the bone!

New Year, New Goals, New Tunes?

So, somehow it became December 31st, 2008. The last day of the year and as of the writing of this post only 9 hours until 2009. (Central Standard Time, of course.) I'm always of the mind set that the new year is a time to start fresh, to take inventory of what the whole year was about.

So what happened in my world in the year 2008....let's see, I started some online collaborations, I waited for the feet of snow to melt, quit my job of 3 years, moved 1500 miles from home, struggled to find a job, suffered a long bout of writer's block, started working online, started this blog, flew home twice, celebrated my first Christmas in Kansas....eh, doesn't seem like much. I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of stuff as well.

But when I look back, what did I really accomplish for myself over the last 12 months? Quite a lot actually, but in retrospect not even close to what I wanted to accomplish. That's the way it always is I guess. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Honestly, out of all the things that I've done or not done, I only regret one thing. And that's not putting the energy toward my music that it really deserves. Creating and playing music has been my release and the creative outlet that I really feel like I can be proud of.

What am I going to do about it? I'm going to make a commitment to work, work, and work on my music. I probably made that same "resolution" last year, so what makes this different? It's different because I'm posting it right here and right now, in front of all my readers that I will honor that commitment. This blog has finally gotten my creative juices flowing and as I sit here typing, cranking the new Shinedown album (Very good by the way), I want to write more than ever and create music that I'm proud of and that people want to listen to.

This new year stuff makes me all sappy. You'd think I was all emo or something. But listen for yourself what I'm striving to create more of in the player on the top right. As 2009 rolls along that list of tunes will only be getting longer.

The Rock Star Rider

*Flashback*
Date: April, 2004
Place: University of Maine, Orono, Maine

Ahhh, the college years. Though not as campy and short lived as the "Saved By The Bell" crew's romp through higher education, it was still memorable and well worth the $20,000 I drown under now and for years to come. (Or so I'm told.) My junior year in particular was less about fighting with my former football player R.A. (Mike, played by Bob Golic) and dealing with the shenanigans of an accident prone and perpetually smart, yet dumb best friend (a la Screech), but more about hanging in my apartment which smelled rich of Subway sandwiches from the restaurant below, doing as little school work as I could (text books are overrated), and rockin' with my band Now Transmission as the stunning and oh so talented lead singer that would have made Kelly Kapowski look twice. (It's my blog, you gotta let me exaggerate a little.)

This particular spring was a big one for the band. We were pretty well known across campus, played quite a few shows around the area and in Portland (THE big city of Maine if you're unfamiliar), had a quick tour of New England, and garnered the popular vote to play the school's now defunct big music festival, Bumstock, as the campus band headliner to play two slots before SoCal rockers Eve 6.

It was incredible to be able travel around and play the songs we created with assorted covers to please the drunkards. (Sorry, no Freebird!) It wasn't very glorious, we rarely got paid enough to cover the gas, let alone a meal, but it was really all about the rockin' and having fun.

When we did have that rock star moment, it was definitely memorable. That's where the "rider" comes in. If you don't know what a rider is, it's basically a list of requests by a band of what they want the night of a show for them and their crew. Items will include anything from certain foods to accommodations. You name it, it's probably been on some big bands rider. I actually stumbled on the backstage section of a site called thesmokinggun.com which is an archive of band riders. I recommend starting with Foo Fighters '08, it's hilarious.

But anyway, I digress. In April '04, before the big Bumstock show we were given the opportunity to open for one of my favorite alternative rock bands, Fuel. (This is before Brett, the lead singer left the band.) They were going to play on campus at the Maine Center For The Arts, the big performance hall on campus which seated somewhere around 1,500, give or take. Anyway, it was going to be the biggest crowd we ever played for. (But that's another story for another day.)

For such a big show, and because their budget apparently allowed it, we were offered a rider. This was a lot of pressure. I'm supposed to be a rock star yet I have no idea what I would want for a rider. We were provided a nice dressing room, cool. We were opening for Fuel, incredible. What more could I want?

Of course, their budget for us was probably meant for some drinks and a few snacks, maybe even a towel, so I didn't want to go overboard and look like an idiot. And I certainly wasn't going to go all Van Halen, making sure there were no brown M&M's or demand "real knives, forks, spoons, plates, and napkins" with the only exception being Solo cups like the Foo.

So you know what I asked for? Nutty Bars and Gatorade. I love Nutty Bars and they sure hit the spot. And how can you wrong with free Gatorade? You can't. The other guys settled for some of their favorite snacks and we enjoyed every ounce of free rock star goodness.

Was it very rock star of us? Maybe not. I'm sure the Zack Attack, the Zack Morris led supergroup would have outdone us, but we rocked the show just the same. We got to meet Fuel, watch their show from the back stage area and pretend like we were a big deal for a whole night. And it was spectacular.

Here's the real question. What would you include in your rock star rider? We're assuming that you're a small, but successful act. You're no U2 but people sing along to your songs that have made it to the airwaves. Let's hear it.

Photos courtesy of Holly Barber: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbhocusfocus

Guitar Hero or Guitar Loser?

About a month ago, I couldn't help but run out and hunt down the new Guitar Hero World Tour for my Wii. If you're not aware, this new Guitar Hero comes complete with drums, a mic, and a guitar, allowing you to rock it, full band style like Rock Band introduced.

Also, from my previous post "Rock Out Or Get Out", you'll realize my obsession with Guitar Hero in the first place. I take my music very seriously, so when it comes to my music based video games, you don't even have to ask. But, as far as GH World Tour is concerned, I was insanely excited about getting the chance to rock the drums.

In the past couple of years I've acquired this desire to learn to play the drums. It never even crossed my mind while I was in a band for 4 years, but I was always intrigued by how intricate a skill playing a full drum kit really was. Back in the day, it was hard enough for me to control my fingers on the fret board of my guitar while I strummed and sang along. I still have that problem sometimes. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be doing so many things at one time, all while keeping the beat.

So, almost 3 years after the band broke up and a couple of years of wanting to learn the drums, I was getting my chance to be a drumming rock star with GH World Tour. I've read that playing on the most difficult level would be like the playing the song on a real kit, so I was pumped when I ripped open the box and started playing along.

I got a decent start, but easy was just too easy. It didn't feel like I was playing the drums at all. But then came medium. I started hitting multiple pads at the same time, adding in the bass drum. I could feel the rhythm, I could see the crowd in front of me as I slammed away to "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. At that moment, I couldn't wait to progress to the next difficulty because I knew I was on my way to becoming the next Neil Peart, right there in my living room.

But I didn't have a chance to get that far. It was 2 days ago when my dreams of becoming a master drummer by playing Guitar Hero were dashed. I stumbled across the video posted below on YouTube. It humbled me as quick as a double bass smack to the gut and knocked me from the clouds that my mind was swimming in. At that moment I became a Guitar Loser. I knew no matter how good I became on those Guitar Hero drums, nothing could replace the real deal.

So until I can go out and buy my nice shiny new 18 piece set, with a glorious midnight blue finish and my name printed on the bass head with flames surrounding the print, then spend 8 years perfecting my master stick work, I'll settle for rocking out in my living room and pretending that John Bonham is looking down at me from heaven, holding up a set of rock horns with his left hand.

Welcome LinkReferral friends and beyond - New stuff coming soon!

I'm slowly working on getting some new content up here. I'm sorry I haven't been consistent but I'm trying to get in a habit of posting at least once a week.

Read up and let me know what you think. I'm always looking to get better so I love feedback. I'd also love to talk to any songwriters out there to see how you tick.

I'm also looking to get some new songs finished, recorded, and posted via my ReverbNation widget. The songwriting process has been tedious lately so that'll probably be a bit further in future beyond my next post.

Let me know what you think of my blog and my music. And feel free to contact me, I love meeting new songwriters, music lovers and internet freaks! Rock on!

Frye