A Music Jones
Friday, November 26, 2004 | comments (1)
A couple of months ago, I started playing keyboards in a blues-rock band called 'The Jones.' It feels great playing music again. The last time I played in a band was in college. We called ourselves 'Fifth Beat,' and we mostly played jazz with some blues. I also had a weekly solo gig where I played for a couple of hours each night at a bistro in town called 'Harbs.' All that was 8 years ago. Since then, I haven't really done what I call 'playing.' It's more like I just sit at my piano every once in a while and try desperately to remember the stuff I used to play.
My first couple of practices with The Jones, I spent a good deal of time simply trying to get my feel for the keyboard back. My hands used to naturally fall into certain chord combinations and I found during my first practice with The Jones, that I had to really think about where my hands were and what they were going to do. This was pretty frustrating since I was also trying to learn all of the band's original songs, figure out what part I could play, and how I might be able to solo. It's kinda like I was learning to ride a bike again, while at the same time trying to do wheelies and jumps.
The mechanics of what I used to know has come back, for the most part. My fingers are again assuming chord positions without me giving too much thought to it. But the songs I used to know have still not come back to me, mainly because I've been spending most of my time learning The Jones set list. We've been at my in-laws for Thanksgiving and they have a nice-sounding grand piano which I like to doodle on when we're all just hanging out. The depressing part is I can only play about 5 songs of my old 'repertoire.' And even those 5 I remember are shaky at best. If I'm going to do this, I've got to spend more time re-learning the standards. That way when people ask me, 'Do you know such-and-such, I can hopefully do more than shrug my shoulders at them.
So yes, I'm in a band and we're called The Jones. Over the next several weeks (maybe months) I'm going to be working on revamping our Web site. I want to give it a facelift, but also we need to get some updated content on there. Stay tuned!
link to this | comments (1) | File: Music
My first couple of practices with The Jones, I spent a good deal of time simply trying to get my feel for the keyboard back. My hands used to naturally fall into certain chord combinations and I found during my first practice with The Jones, that I had to really think about where my hands were and what they were going to do. This was pretty frustrating since I was also trying to learn all of the band's original songs, figure out what part I could play, and how I might be able to solo. It's kinda like I was learning to ride a bike again, while at the same time trying to do wheelies and jumps.
The mechanics of what I used to know has come back, for the most part. My fingers are again assuming chord positions without me giving too much thought to it. But the songs I used to know have still not come back to me, mainly because I've been spending most of my time learning The Jones set list. We've been at my in-laws for Thanksgiving and they have a nice-sounding grand piano which I like to doodle on when we're all just hanging out. The depressing part is I can only play about 5 songs of my old 'repertoire.' And even those 5 I remember are shaky at best. If I'm going to do this, I've got to spend more time re-learning the standards. That way when people ask me, 'Do you know such-and-such, I can hopefully do more than shrug my shoulders at them.
So yes, I'm in a band and we're called The Jones. Over the next several weeks (maybe months) I'm going to be working on revamping our Web site. I want to give it a facelift, but also we need to get some updated content on there. Stay tuned!
link to this | comments (1) | File: Music
A Cool Music Site
Friday, November 12, 2004 | comments (0)
Wow! This guy's site is pretty cool. I like how he sings along with the song lyrics when you play a song.
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Word Count
Thursday, November 11, 2004 | comments (0)
This is pretty nifty tool that tracks how we use language on the Internet. It's interesting to find what words wind up grouped together. Thanks to it's creator!
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Spoon-fed Nation
Friday, November 05, 2004 | comments (0)
I can't say I completely disagree with this.
Yes, I can hear undertones of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) in Fight Club: 'Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.' Just substitute 'advertising' with 'Karl Rove.'
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Yes, I can hear undertones of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) in Fight Club: 'Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.' Just substitute 'advertising' with 'Karl Rove.'
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Oh Canada!
Thursday, November 04, 2004 | comments (0)
What am I missing here?
Wednesday, November 03, 2004 | comments (3)
I think living in the District for the last year has lulled me into a false sense of the mindset of this country. I mean, if you compare election results for the various states, you'll find that DC has the widest margin of support for Kerry: 90% support for Kerry vs. only 9% for Bush. Even Kerry's home state of Massachusetts has Kerry at 62% and Bush at 37%, certainly not a slim margin, but nowhere near that of DC. So yes, I live in heavily democratic, heavily anti-Bush area, for sure. When you drive around DC, you see anti-Bush propaganda on cars, on t-shirts, on sidewalks. When you talk to people in the streets, in bars, in the line at the grocery store, you realize that these are people that do not like what Bush has done for our country. And I guess I've felt at home because I tend to belong to that group.
But what is so disturbing is how obviously different this reality is from the rest of the United States. How quickly I've forgotten this fact. I mean before DC, I lived in Texas, and I remember how it was, (though I'm trying hard to forget.)
Now with the rest of the votes being counted in Ohio and Kerry honorably conceding his defeat, I'm left a little dazed at what just happened over the last six months, the money that was spent, the time and effort put into trying to set this country back on its feet. What has been different about these last several months is that I've managed to feel something I haven't felt in a while: Hope. I'm definitely going to miss that sense of optimism - that tingling feeling in my gut that things might change. Now I'm left feeling despair, not only because we have four more years of this president, but because I live in a country that voted for him.
So my question is this: how can I (and so many others who live in the Northeast and the Northwest be so out of touch with the rest of the country. How come when I look at that map of the United States on CNN, I see all that red? (And I don't just mean in the figurative sense.) Who are these people, these 'fellow countrymen,' and how can they not see that the last four years have been a terrible disaster.
The answer seems to be 'values.' Exit polls seem to suggest that people who voted for Bush did so because they agree with his 'values.' I guess they agree with irresponsible tax cuts, misguided wars, alienating other nations, and job loss. I guess they like watching capitalism destroy our democracy.
I'd like to be able to say something funny or clever here, but I'm just baffled. I do not get it. I do not understand.
link to this | comments (3) | File: Politics
But what is so disturbing is how obviously different this reality is from the rest of the United States. How quickly I've forgotten this fact. I mean before DC, I lived in Texas, and I remember how it was, (though I'm trying hard to forget.)
Now with the rest of the votes being counted in Ohio and Kerry honorably conceding his defeat, I'm left a little dazed at what just happened over the last six months, the money that was spent, the time and effort put into trying to set this country back on its feet. What has been different about these last several months is that I've managed to feel something I haven't felt in a while: Hope. I'm definitely going to miss that sense of optimism - that tingling feeling in my gut that things might change. Now I'm left feeling despair, not only because we have four more years of this president, but because I live in a country that voted for him.
So my question is this: how can I (and so many others who live in the Northeast and the Northwest be so out of touch with the rest of the country. How come when I look at that map of the United States on CNN, I see all that red? (And I don't just mean in the figurative sense.) Who are these people, these 'fellow countrymen,' and how can they not see that the last four years have been a terrible disaster.
The answer seems to be 'values.' Exit polls seem to suggest that people who voted for Bush did so because they agree with his 'values.' I guess they agree with irresponsible tax cuts, misguided wars, alienating other nations, and job loss. I guess they like watching capitalism destroy our democracy.
I'd like to be able to say something funny or clever here, but I'm just baffled. I do not get it. I do not understand.
link to this | comments (3) | File: Politics
The Jones
Tuesday, November 02, 2004 | comments (1)
Next gig for the The Jones: Friday, November 12, Midnight, at Staccato.
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