Music [3]

Honestly I'm not a fan of Hip Hop or Rap in any way. I used to love Run DMC and 2 live Crew back in the day but anything out in this generation I just can't get into at all. I  love R&B and soul music, Love jazz and modern age easy listening stuff, Most Rock music I enjoy, and modern country(even a bit of George Jones and the old school country too) but i can't get into Pop music like Beyonce or lady GaGa I truly despise when someone claims to be a musician and yet can't play an instrument and relies on someone else to write the majority of their music and lyrics for them. Good looks to me is not the only reason  someone should be making music and I am appalled by lip syncing and autotune. If you need to do those things to put on a show get out of the business IMHO... My favorite is Hard Rock and metal music although I appreciate so many other forms of music. I am a stubborn SOB when it comes to my opinion of music so I try not to weigh in on the subject too much

Your tastes overlap mine to a large degree, Sin, though I think popular music has improved immensely since the dark years of the 90's where it was all Britney and Gangster rap.  There's some really good stuff coming out nowadays, perhaps the internet allows the independents to get a showing.

Lady Gaga btw is a bonafide musician.  Here she is before all the stupid makeup and clothes:



here's some sweetness of the type you used to never get to hear unless you hit one of 'em hippie coffee houses.  I think all the musical talent is still out there, it's just the big shows that get the buzz.



And yet, though Eldo may strenuously argue that hip-hop was a major advance in music, we've never had anything to match the blues, or classic 70's hard driving rock .... or even doo-wop.

halfwise wrote:Beyond storytelling, I think there's a very strong case to be made that country aims for humor FAR more often than any other genre except folk music (likely not a coincidence), and of course parody doesn't count.  I also sometimes get the sense that in the constant references to thematic material (hats, boots, trucks, beer) that they are winking and poking fun at themselves, sort of like setting the scene for a joke makes it funnier.  I don't think any other genre does that.  Except maybe the Norwegians....  

I get what you're saying. My step-mom is a big country fan and she introduced me to "the perfect country and western song" which cracked me up (the last verse, specifically).

Sinister71 wrote:Honestly I'm not a fan of Hip Hop or Rap in any way. I used to love Run DMC and 2 live Crew back in the day but anything out in this generation I just can't get into at all. I  love R&B and soul music, Love jazz and modern age easy listening stuff, Most Rock music I enjoy, and modern country(even a bit of George Jones and the old school country too) but i can't get into Pop music like Beyonce or lady GaGa I truly despise when someone claims to be a musician and yet can't play an instrument and relies on someone else to write the majority of their music and lyrics for them. Good looks to me is not the only reason  someone should be making music and I am appalled by lip syncing and autotune. If you need to do those things to put on a show get out of the business IMHO... My favorite is Hard Rock and metal music although I appreciate so many other forms of music. I am a stubborn SOB when it comes to my opinion of music so I try not to weigh in on the subject too much

Run-DMC is the bomb. The Beastie Boys are great too; I can only imagine what their tours together (with Public Enemy too, no less!) were like.

I don't listen to a ton of pop music, but there is some that I really like. I think it's boundaries are even fuzzier than most musical genres. A lot of the stuff on current Top 40 radio I'm not a fan of, but the radio is always a terrible way to try to experience the best of a genre. Some of Beyonce's stuff I really like, especially her Destiny's Child period. I don't generally care enough to investiage whether someone is writing their own music. I respect those who do, of course, but the ability to sing and perform is a talent in and of itself.

Perfect country song:

see that is where i am anal about music... being a guy who plays multiple instruments I like to see talent. Not that singing isn't a talent it surely is, WHEN your not using autotune to put your vocals on key or smooth them out. To many popstars do that. I took 3 years of opera lessons and have been singing for 25 years in rock bands the day i need autotune I hang it up... My wife saw Lady Gaga and said she lip syncs, it was obvious I guess however someone like Pink (whom I love and find hot as hell) was 100% live when we saw her. I have read interviews and articles about her writing her own stuff, granted with other musicians but she gets in there and helps write the tunes. So not all pop is bad I love the Monkees and that's all they were was a manufactured pop band the differences is they all became musicians and wanted to play all their own stuff which led to their downfall. The closest I get to modern rap is kid rock but again he is a well rounded musician

3 years of opera lessons!  I took 1 year, and if you don't continue you're ruined for anything: all you can do is sing loud and bad.  I wish either I had continued so I had something to work with, or learned a different and gentler technique.  

I'm guessing you have enough training that you can blast out rock lyrics without ruining your voice.  Must come in useful.

It does but I've lost a bit of it I'm training my self to get back. I can'y hit all the high notes I used to be able to. still have the power and the vibrato but I started singing a bit grittier and that took its toll on the range.. At first I thought I would just take a few lessons to expand my range but after I started taking them I realized how much they helped (even singing rock music) and once I started getting more and more gigs they had really paid off. Then I switched to something a bit heavier and aggressive which required gravelly vocals and the range dropped. Then I quit altogether for 10 years after getting disgusted with the music industry about 3 years ago I started playing guitar and singing again and about a year after that I was in a really bad car accident which left me physically unable to play guitar again. Vocally I've been building it back up over the last 2 years but still not where I was. But I try my best. Guitar wise I might have to hire a guitar player but I am writing again and have at this point 15 or 16 songs that are great. I play them rather sloppy but the idea is there. My voice is almost back in great shape (others say I sound great, I however am my own worst critic) and by this summer I plan on being in the studio recording my first album with all original material. And releasing it via the internet, cd's and vinyl, I have a roster of friend who are professionals working in the business that have offered to play parts for me on it. So I am really keeping my fingers crossed even if it only leads to playing gigs on a limited basis...

Well, if you can't play guitar anymore, suddenly you are the automatic front man.

I can play just not as good as I used to... Not a good thing for a perfectionist. A lot of people who have heard me play say I sound fine but I hear every little screw up and it gets to me. I have been a guitar playing front man since I was 15. No big deal I love being the singer and front man but i feel more comfortable with that guitar between me and the audience. i know it sounds silly but I have always thought of it like a shield in many ways.

the Dr has told me there is no nerve damage but after about 30 minutes of playing my hand cramps up and gets really sore down the middle and thumb area of my hand. My hand was actually crippled up for about 2 and a half months after the accident, reminded me more of a chicken claw than a hand. I've been told I have a cyst in my wrist as a result of the accident but it wouldn't do much to remove it. So it remains.

I guess I'm just used to being a very clean rhythm player and now I'm pretty sloppy but getting better. I'm just limited to thee amount of time that I can play comfortably. maybe someday I'll be playing like I used to. I practice a few hours a day but have to take several breaks in between

Just a couple pics of me and my studio

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Nice. I need to get myself a decent 12-string at some point.

Ben's my friend. I quite like this song. It tells a nice story. #bensmyfriend

the hat makes the ensemble.

I got a thing for hats... I own several.. My wife hates that one but I like it

This song.. #dies

Well I'm glad you like it!

That synth-pop percussion though!
I remember a friend of mine from school gave me a CD once with some Postal Service songs on it; I didn't much care for them then either.

Sinister71 wrote:Just a couple pics of me and my studio

Smile Sinister, no need to look so grumpy!

Forest Shepherd wrote:

Sinister71 wrote:Just a couple pics of me and my studio

Smile Sinister, no need to look so grumpy!

rock on dude

Forest Shepherd wrote:Well I'm glad you like it!

That synth-pop percussion though!
I remember a friend of mine from school gave me a CD once with some Postal Service songs on it; I didn't much care for them then either.

Hehe. Well, I've heard a total of three of thier songs. Which is the three first on their only album. I love the first one, that one, think the second one is good, and the the third one a bit meh.

I totally get what you're saying about the production, though I just found it quaint and charming for some reason.

I actually came across them here.

The other night I went and saw The Postal Service
Ben's my friend but getting there was the worst
Trying to park and getting up the hill
And find a spot amongst the drunk kids staring at their cells
Standing at the back with the crowd of eight thousand
I thought of Ben when I met him in 2000
At a festival in Spain
He was on the small stage then and I didn't know his name
Now he's singing at the Greek and he's busting moves
And my legs were hurting and my feet were too
I called him after, said I'll skip the backstage hi/bye
But thanks for the nice music and all the exercise

And we laughed and it was alright
And we laughed and it was alright
And it was alright

There's a fine line between a middle-aged guy with a backstage pass
And a guy with a gut hanging around like a jackass
Everybody there was twenty years younger than me
I'll leave with this, not my fondest memory
I carried my legs back down and then I gave
My backstage passes to two cute asian girls
I drove to my place near Tahoe
Got in my hot tub and I thought well that's how it goes
And it was quiet and I was listening to the crickets
And Ben's still out there, selling lots of tickets
And though I’m contented, there’s a tinge of competitiveness
But Ben's my friend and I know he gets it
Then in a couple of days my meltdown passed
Back to the studio doing twelve hours shifts
Singing a song about one thing or another
Another day behind the microphone this summer

Forest Shepherd wrote:

Sinister71 wrote:Just a couple pics of me and my studio

Smile Sinister, no need to look so grumpy!

I really don't smile much... I'm in constant pain cause of my back, and if I'm by myself there isn't much to smile about.... I mean look at that face, something only a mother could love