more than I needed to hear

When you told me that was a possibility, I shrugged it off with a smile, but really, I felt very uncomfortable.

retrace

I'm one of those people that gets in trouble for being too ambitious. I need to learn that the feelings of others should come before anything else. Lately I've had this wave of inspiration and ambition to start a new project, but for the past two weeks, nothing had come of it. I had started to get a bit irritated, but quite frankly, that was wrong of me to be that way. I'm confident that everything will be resolved and we'll all move on productively and cohesively.

In the meantime, I want New Year's Eve to kick ass this year, so a couple of friends and I are probably going to be planning something awesome. I want to have something at my house, but we'd have to compromise on the alcohol, which probably won't go too well with my peers. We'll figure it out.

I'm finishing up my portfolio for English class. I have like one thing left to do on it, and it's going to be complete chock-full of bullshit. I never bought the book. I sold the books I did buy back for $150. Awesome. I want a video camera. I can't wait for christmas. I can't wait until the third weekend in February so I can get away from it all...again. Uhhhh....brain fart.

Cheers

Thanksgiving breakage

This is awesome. For the second Friday in a row, I was hanging out with my best friends hanging out, drinking, playing cards, board games, whatever we could find to keep us occupied until the early morning hours. Up until recently, I've been discouraged by the fact that people will come and go in your life so for the past couple of years, I've done my best to not make strong friendships with people. Doesn't that sound strange? I mean I know I'm not the life of the party, but I do enjoy being around people.

Example, I had a lot of friends growing up. A LOT. I've typed out this sentence before, but a lot of them are people that I was close to and now it's been years since I've seen them. Well just last night I was talking with a good friend of mine and we decided that this has to stop. We're all still friends for sure. If we make plans, we're going to see to it that they go through and not fizzle-out. We are all turning 21 this year. About 20 of us, if not more.

They say that high-school is the best four years of your life. Up until now, I agreed with that sentiment, but now I feel like the best four years of my life are the next four right ahead of me. I know I'm going to see some old friends again, and hopefully the lasting distance that's been between will only make all of our friendships stronger.

This blog reeks of cheesiness.

yes, I was THAT guy.

This has probably been one of the best fall seasons I've experienced in half a decade or so. Nothing is perfect, but I'll take away all of the memories and think to myself "I've had it good." I'm just trying to keep the glass half-full. The bar has been raised, so let's see what happens next.

I dislike wednesdays.

I woke up this morning at 6:15. I made myself a bowl of Cheerios and a glass of orange juice. I brushed my teeth. I drove to school. The two classes of the day were photoshop and english. Photoshop is 4 hours long, and in that time, only an hour of it was spent doing anything productive. English is 90 minutes long, and in that time, none of it was spent doing anything productive. I like how I'm an audio major and I haven't even opened up pro tools, touched a microphone, made my sure my levels weren't too hot, or anything else of the sort. At least I'm getting A's.

where was I at 2 AM??

I think it's rather comical that I see friends from Virginia more often than I see friends from home.

another fresh start.

Holy crap, do I love New England Tech. It's so nice to be going to school, doing well, learning, and not being bogged down with useless work and stress. I do not miss RIC one single bit (except for the few friends I have there). I am going to Pennsylvania on Saturday with some friends to go see some other friends, that it seems like I see way more often than the rest of my friends. Nothing wrong with that, but it's the truth.

Cheers

uh

I haven't posted in a month. So for what it's worth, I'll just say that my band is playing a show on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to it a bunch. For me, there has not been a better feeling than performing on stage. With the way things have gone, I never know when that next time will be, so I'll take every chance I get to perform seriously. Sometimes it brings out the worst in me, but when it's good, it's phenomenal.

Cheers

reasons unknown

I have been a complete scumbag for the past three days.

Cheers

Breakdown, is it ever gonna come?

I had one of those moments today.

I went over to my Dad's house. I hadn't seen him nor my stepmom since the day after my birthday. We exchanged stories from what we had been up to for the past month over a glass of lemonade and a box of cookies. And then things got tense. He asked me why I hadn't started saving money for college yet like I said I would (I even mentioned this a few posts back). Then he went on telling me that I didn't keep my options open, I didn't do my research, and that I probably wouldn't get a job after school. I did both of things, and I'm aware that getting a job in my field is rare and risky. Then I asked him, "would you rather see me doing something I love and having to pay more for it, or having me do something I hate and paying less for it."

No Answer. Because I was right.

I left home discontent and a little bit pissed off, and then when I got home, I sat in my room and did something that I haven't done in a long long long time.

I cried.

My fuckin' eyes out.

Cheers

Six Flags pt. 2

I went to six flags again today, this time with my mom, stepdad, and stepsister. Hey, I bought the Six Pass, so use the free admission while I have it right?

It was a rather fun day overall. I did the usual things, but I'll fastforward to my last ride of the day which was Superman. If you go to six flags when it's open late, make sure you get in line for Superman at like 8:20. You probably won't get on the ride until at least 8:40, and by then the sun has almost completely set. Making that ascend parallel to the Connecticut River was beautiful with all of the lights shining in your face. It was a Vegas-like nightlife glow swimming across the entire park. Also, because I think they wanted to squeeze in as many people as possible in a short amount of time, they added another 15mph or so to the ride. It was friggin' fast.

That's all for now. I'm trying to upload a video on myspace, but it's being slow.

Stoked for The Dark Knight.

Cheers

Awesome

Apparently Transformers 2 won't be the next movie I wear my autobot shirt to. XD!!!!

hesitation

I need to learn to be more open minded and I also need to learn how to break out of this shell I'm stuck in and take more chances. What's the worst thing that could happen? Everyone's doing it.

Plain White Snakemilk Tour - Day 3

Hyannis, MA

I'll just cut to the chase and say that this was definitely the most fun show all week. If you're that curious, just feel free to ask me, but here are the highlights:

- An empty front row.
- A child asking me for an autograph.
- Being introduced to The Office. I can't believe I never watched it.
- Free food and drinks backstage. Many thanks to Mr. Dave Elkins for the "photo passes" which turned out to be all access credentials. lolz.
- Just witnessing the comaraderie (sp?) and friendship of everyone on tour. Each and every one of these experiences opens my eyes up to something new and I'm blessed to have spent the majority of my time with all of these people for the past few days.

I'm EXTREMELY exhausted and I have a minor case of the munchies. Goodnight everyone.

Cheers.

Plain White Snakemilk Tour - Day 2 (technically 3)

Newport, RI

Lame. And it's not because 4/5ths of Mae were late and only got to play 6 songs. Those things happen, and I understand.

Teh crowd couldn't rawk. Half of the clientele to see the PWT's had to be in middle school. There was definitely no rock show vibe at all. Like I'm sitting in my seat 3 rows back, and no one besides me and like 2 other people were doing anything. It was like a room full of mindless zombies. When Delkins finally got the crowd to at least stand up, some little kid behind me was like "can we sit down now?" You've got to be kidding me.

I actually wanted to get kicked in the head a bunch of times by crowdsurfers. You paid $35 to get into the show, at least PRETEND that you're happy to be there.

Setlist this time around was Futuro, Susp, Brink, Embers, This Time, and JLG, and then they were done, which was kind of a pisser. I don't know this to be true or not but it just seemed like the venue staff was just slow to get everything set up.

And I REALLY have underestimated the popularity of the PWT's.

Tomorrow is in Hyannis, and it's going to be awesome. I hope.

Cheers

Plain White Snakemilk Tour - Day 1

Hampton, NH

I woke up this morning at around 9:30 and finished packing for what has been, and is going to be a great vacation. I left Uxbridge at approximately 10:30 and made the trek North on 495. Two hours later, I parked my car behind the venue and grabbed lunch at the only place that looked familiar, and I will regret this later: McDonald’s. I know what you’re thinking. You’re on friggin’ vacation and you still can’t get away from that place. It’s like a disease. Anywho, the scene surrounding Hampton Beach is incredible. There’s a street that runs parallel to the ocean and it is bustling with children playing carnival games, teenagers soaking up the sun on the beach, and everyone else just getting a glimpse of what the beach life is about.

Doors opened at 6 and the interior of the venue was GIGANTIC to what I initially imagined. It was just a big massive space with multiple snack bars and vendors. The stage was equipped with some of the finest light and sound gear in the industry today. The first band, The Kung-Fu girls put on an interesting and eclectic set of music that really made me change my opinion of what I had thought of them before. Mae came on shortly after and did as well as they usually do. Futuro, Suspension, Brink, On Top, Anything, Just Let Go, Soundtrack, Summertime, and SEA was the setlist, as it will be for the next two shows that I’m going to. That was really the best part of the whole night. They finished playing and I thought to myself, “That was a fun time. Let’s do it again on Monday.” And so we shall.

Right now, I am parked in a service plaza alongside route 95 which I think I will make my home for the night. More to come soon!!

Cheers


*EDIT* - Yeah so I tried to sleep in that parking lot....wasn't happening. I drove home.

Waiting

This week is moving rediculously slow, but it's going to get a lot better. After I leave work tomorrow, I'm going to play some indoor mini-golf with friends. I don't know what I'll do Friday other than pick up my pay check, wash and clean out my car, and pack things for the weekend. On Saturday, I'm going to take I-95 up to Hampton Beach for night 1 of what I've nicknamed the "Plain White Snakemilk Tour." The past few shows have been fun seeing a lot of familiar faces. I have no idea what's up for Sunday yet. I might go home, but the whole point of this vacation is to avoid being home...but we'll see. I'm driving to Newport on Monday for night 2. That town is just absolutely beautiful with it's gigantic mansions and waterfront atmosphere. Night 3 (Tuesday) is taking place in Hyannis under a tent. Woo!! Then I go home and babysit my sister while my mom and stepdad get floor seats for Bon Jovi. -_-

It's going to be fun. I'm going to take a lot of pictures granted my camera doesn't shit the bed like it has been the past few times I've wanted to use it. I picked up a new battery and memory card for the occasion, and I'll have my laptop on me as well. Hopefully these venues have wi-fi.

Cheers

crazy dream last night

So I'm in the middle of some city. I think Providence, but any city USA will do fine. I'm walking to my car which is parked in a parking lot in front of what looks like an apartment complex/hotel. So I'm getting into my car when a few friends that I hadn't seen in a long time pull up in a Geo Tracker. Funny thing is, I know people that own this vehicle, but those people never made an appearance in this dream. So we're talking and catching up on things when not too far after, some dude in a black Hummer H2 pulls in, and starts setting up a giant PA system in the parking lot.




This is where shit starts to fuck up:

This dude who goes by the name "Inferno" starts playing like Slayer, or some horrible death metal through the PA.

He puts on a pair of aviators in lights up a cigarette.

He then takes out a flamethrower and all of a sudden, everything is engulfed in flames. Not just the cars in the parking lot....EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE!!!

I start running. I run into the hotel, but everyone in there is evacuating and running for their lives. I keep on running until a man and his wife help me find refuge in what appears to be a janitor closet. We wait. We hear sirens, screams, running, and that music getting louder and louder with each passing second.

It stops.

It begins to rain.

I go outside to see what's up, and everything is black ash and coal. Most devastation I have ever seen. I go to where my car was parked and it is burned, but for some reason, I decide to open up the arm rest between the two seats. Everything in the little storage bin is fine. My camera and bluetooth were in there and they work perfectly fine. I'm like "What the fuck happened here??"





And then I woke up.

Cheers

My room is a mess...

...and I usually try to keep it really clean, but what are ya gonna do? It's fine.

My birthday was yesterday. The typical birthday the past few years has included some kind of party where 30 of your best friends are just hanging out and having a good time. This one was a little bit different.

Zach, Jayce, and myself went to Chipotle in Warwick for some burritos. I'm so glad that I got introduced to that place because I'm hooked on it. I think it kicks the crap out of Qdoba, and yes Qdoba is still really good. Then we went to Guitar Center because I wanted to pick up a metronome that can do tap tempo. The one I wanted was made by Korg, but I didn't see any, so I took a look at the Boss model that did the same thing.

"Is this going to be all?" Asks the sales guy.

"Yeah, I guess so." I reply thinking this is going to cost me no more than $30 and change.

"$85.92 please."

"Fuck that."

I did eventually find the cheaper model that I was looking for and all was right with the world, but I think it's rediculous that Boss can charge $50 more than their competitor whose product does the same thing. That said, I am still a huge Boss fan and utilize 3 of their products on my pedalboard right now.

My mom got me cargo shorts and my dad got me and external hard drive. Swt d00d.

I guess that's all for now. I'm going to have a lot of fun next week with it being Six Flags on Monday, 4th of July, and then following 3/5ths of the Mae tour. It's looking good so far.

Cheers

goodbye teenage years.

I'll be 20 tomorrow.



This scares the ever living crap out of me.

You Don't Mess With the Chihuahua's

I went out Thursday night to go see the "Zohan" movie. You know, the one that Adam Sandler plays an Israeli soldier who wants to move to the States to be a hair stylist. It was alright I guess considering we got to pay the children's price. The one thing that caught my eye was a cardboard cutout movie poster advertising a new Disney movie called Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I called my Mom as soon as I saw it only because we have a pet chihuahua in the house. Lived with "it" for close to 7 years now and it still hates me.

I guess one could say I'm enjoying the summer so far. I only have 8 more days left as a teenager. Mae tour in July. NEFPO. TIFG shows. Summerfest. World Wide Moment. Warped Tour. So much going on.

Cheers

I honestly can't wait to go to the beach tomorrow :).

I woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning to go to Guitar Center for the big 8 AM Memorial Day Sale. I saw a Bag End speaker cabinet for $100 and a Mesa/Boogie speaker cabinet for $250. I bought neither. Instead, I bought Presonus' version of a control surface, the "faderport." It's a pretty cool little device once you get it to work properly. That was the bitch end of the whole deal. Nothing like digging into your operating system's registry to find duplicate files of old drivers to delete and being afraid you'll delete the wrong thing and fuck up your computer for good. That's always fun. I got it to work though so I'm pretty pleased with everything now.

I've come across a new favorite pasttime (or is it pastime) that I'm slowly becoming good at: Mini-golf. I've gone 3 times so far and I'm 3-0. The first time, I shot 2 over par. That's pretty freaking good for not being an avid golfer. I must get that from my Dad because he golfs all the time. I tried legit golfing before. I was alright I guess, but nothing special.

Last night was weird, but I ended up going to Longhorn Steakhouse. That place never makes me unhappy. The Celtics/Pistons series has been close and entertaining, and the 2008 Red Sox seem to be the streakiest team in baseball. Lose 7. Win 7. Lose 3. Strange how sports works.

I'm done for now. I'm going to the beach tomorrow, although I bet it's still wayyyy too cold to be thinking about jumping in the ocean. I'll just bring my camera and try to be artistic.

Cheers

summertime

Summer is finally in full swing. I finished this past semester with a 3.0 GPA, so I pretty much stayed consistent throughout the whole year. I guess it's a good mark to go into a new institution with. Strange observation I made: classes that I played alto sax: C. Classes that I played electric bass: A.

You make the determination as to which is my "primary" instrument now. Not like I didn't try to do well at sax, but I feel like RIC tried to change who I was. I play rock, funk, reggae, blues, and the like. I don't do classical, and I don't care for classical, baroque, or anything else I can't put some feeling toward.

I stayed up at FSC on Thursday night. Jayce, Zach, and myself went to Bill's Bar on Lansdowne Street across from Fenway Park to see KidNapKin, as well as pick up their newest release, Hush Now. While waiting to get into the venue, I noticed the construction going on renovating the Avalon/Axis next door. Now, I already knew that it was being torn down and rebuilt into a brand new venue, but I got upsetting news about the job:

House of Blues.

Hooray for chain companies buying out everything these days. In my opinion, there was nothing too much wrong with the Avalon, but if it ends up being a better venue, then I'll be content, as long as I can bring my camera.

I really want to record more music and I'm stoked about my first 40 hour paycheck that I'll be getting on Friday.

That's all for now? I'll probably do another post after the TC/ST/BH/SH show on Thursday night. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Cheers.

fin

70/70.

Ain't it about fuckin' time.

No more classes. Just three more finals and I am done with Rhode Island College forever. Good riddance. I don't care. I am going to flunk my sight singing final. In the big scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. Talented people and people with perfect pitch can do these kinds of things. I can't. I am just a normal human being that likes music for the hell of it. I never knew that it would get this shitty. I never knew that I would hate studying music. Just three finals. Done. I'll be a fuck-up. I'll get scolded for not being able to sing a perfect fourth up. It's totally fine. Because I don't care. Did I mention that I don't care?

one or the other, and accepted!

I can't do wakes. I can do funerals perfectly fine, but I can't do wakes. I don't know, there's just something about the awkward socializing of distant family members while a corpse is lying lifeless in a casket that freaks me out. At least there is structure to a funeral. Speeches are spoken, a procession drives on, a casket is lowered and that's that. Well I was at one tonight for about 20 minutes because that's all that I could handle...or however long I could stay interested. I didn't even know the person that passed on, I think it was my aunts grandfather or something. At any rate, I said hello to the people I did know, carried on typical conversation, and made my merry way home.

I got the offical acceptance letter from New England Tech tonight in the mail. It was straight and to the point without any bullshit. It just said:

"Congratulations. You're application has been approved for entrance into the Associates Degree program."

That's perfect, almost like a perfect phone call. Point made.

I officially have one more day of school left before finals. I will be finished by Thursday afternoon, albeit I have a lot of "studying" (more like practicing) to do before then.

That's all, hope everyone has a safe cinco de mayo!

Cheers.

5,4,3,2,1.

65/70

Last night's practice was mental therapy a.k.a. fuggin' awesome. It's really cool to actually be able to see and hear the improvement the three of us have made from just a year ago. The new jams are gonna be sweet when they're done.

We might play at the palladium on the 17th, but the more I look into this show, the less cool it seems.....it's essentially asking $450 from people to play 20 minutes at the palladium. I bet I'd have more fun playing an hour in a backyard............actually I would have more fun doing that.

Not much else to say tonight because I want to shoot myself after finishing a paper for my american pop music class. Only 5 more days to go then finals then DONE WITH RIC FOREVER!!!

take a picture on 08/08/08 at 8:08 GMT which is actually like 8:08pm EST on august 7th but it's cool.

summer's gonna rawk. I hope the plain white snake milk tour is still goin' down cause that will be the best week of the summer if it does.

Yeah, I'm done. Pork.

Cheers.

Almost home.

60/70

My friends are the best. Just two more weeks, and maybe a couple days straight of sleeping, and I will be back to normal again. My decisions lately have been rash. My behavior has been even worse. I have said at least one thing each day for the past week that I would love to take back. I am blaming everything on end-of-semester stress.

To my friends: Please don't hesitate to slug me in the mouth when I act like an idiot. I'll love you for it, and I'll probably end up a better, more aware person because of it.

I am still stoked for the future.

Cheers.

www.worldwidemoment.com

STRESSED OUT!!!

Ok. Deep breath and count to 10.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10...


...ok. As I've mentioned before, I'm transferring out of Rhode Island College and will be attending New England Institute of Technology next year majoring in Audio/Video Production. That's awesome. What isn't awesome is the cost of tuition for this school. $64,000 for four years worth of school. Now that number will go down a tad because of course transfers and diagnostic exams that I hope to ace to decrease the number of classes. I'm expected to provide an estimated $18,000 which I think is reasonable. If I save 50% annually, I can do it. I may have to work full time during school, but I will be able to do it. Student loans will cut that down too, granted I have to pay those back. Thing is, I have NO money. I have an ailing vehicle that needs a brake-job. I would LOVE to get that done NOW, but I have NO money. So as soon as I'm out of school for the summer, I am going to begin saving. 100 bux a week for 180 weeks. That seems like it will take forever to do, but I am determined to do it. My future and the stability of my future depends on it.

Hey Zach: welcome to real life.

good day.

55/70

You know it's a good day when the following events take place.
-Drive up to Dunkin' Donuts drive thru
-Order food (in my case, a bagel and hot chocolate (not a coffee person))
-Pay for food...with a $20
-Receive change... $4.80something would be like $15.20something in change...I got like $25 bux back in change.

Now the moral nice genuine human being in me would have gone back and told the disgruntled woman working in the drive thru that she gave me the wrong amount of money and she would be short some money in her drawer. I've been through that myself.

Nope. I'm poor. Money = mine.

I went to the Red Sox game last Thursday, and let me tell you this: watching Papelbon come out of the bullpen and the crowd's reaction to this is worth the price of admission itself. Here's what goes down:

-Pap warms up in bullpen. People sitting in the first few rows behind the pen watch greatness at work.
-Tavarez gets pulled from game, Papelbon comes out of the pen to the tune of "Wild Thing." Crowd isn't enthused, but applause is present.
-Papelbon gets introduced. Dropkick Murphys is heard at like 120db throughout Fenway Park. The crowd doesn't cheer....the CROWD GOES FUCKIN' CRAZY.
-Papelbon gets out of an 8th inning jam. Crowd continues to go fuckin' crazy.

My band is playing at the BVT battle of the bands on Friday. This is funny because none of my bandmates ever went to BVT, nor are any of us in high school. I also don't get why it's called a battle of the bands, because there's no "battle." Band sets up, plays 4-5 tunes, and so on and so forth. I'm looking forward to it because I expect a packed house and the fact that our style is VASTLY different from any of the other performers. It'll be interesting to see the reaction from people who are seeing us play for the first time.

RIC still sux. I'm meeting with an admissions officer from New England Tech on Thursday. I really hope things pan out for me in this direction. I took a tour of the school. They have 13 ProTools HD systems, 2 of the big digidesign console/control surfaces, a full-out television studio with top notch editing gear, a computer lab full of Macs, a radio station, and all sorts of other stuff that made me wish I had started my education there instead of at RIC, but life goes on I guess.

That's all I have for now.

Cheers.

My Story

Music 2004 - Present

It was my freshman year of high school when I started to play music with other people outside of school. The first band I was ever in was a punk/ska band called "The Pajama Theory." It consisted of myself, Andy Leighton, and Sean Gendron in the horn section; Corey Fyfe, Sam Verla, and Mike Verla rounded out the rest of the band. We played a total of two shows. The next band I was in was called From Scratch, and it was with Jayce, Mike Graham, and Zach, and it consisted of repeatedly playing "A Favor House Atlantic" by Coheed, and various Blink 182 songs. Dan Croteau and Kyle Levassuer were present at a couple of rehearsals. A recording of Dan Croteau and lead vocals still exists on tape somewhere. I was playing guitar at the time. That band formed and reformed again numerous times throughout the next four years. Later on in 2004, Jayce and I were at a one time rehearsal with Tony Langone, Jon Beaudreau, and Matt Chamberlain. I was lead vocals/screams. That band lasted only one night. There were two days in 2004 that I remember quite vividly: 6/19/04 there was a party at the Levasseurs and I played dodgeball and watched people breathe fire. 6/23/04 was my birthday, the last day of school, and I got in trouble because I went to Franklin with K-dogg, Greek, and Bishop. We went to Taco Bell for dinner and browsed around Strawberries. I bought this CD by this band MAE called "Destination: Beautiful" I popped in K-doggs car, listened to it and was like "wow this CD blows." I put it away after, but then that night, I walked from my dad's to my mom's with my walkman listening to "embers and envelopes" and the rest is history. In 2005, I was in the school's drama club where the play we worked on consisted of a rape victim and a rock band. The members of that rock band (called THE HAWKS) were Tony, myself, Jon, Rebecca Hammer and Kelly Rice. Around that time, I was in a band with Tony, Jon, and Jon's older brother Dave called Artemis. We wrote Uxbridge's biggest screamo hit for that year and performed it at the Talent Show. After the talent show, I left Artemis in favor of a reggae/funk/pop band with Jesse Coutu on drums, Fyfe on bass, MikeVerla, and Kelly Rice. We named the band Hammerton after our music teacher. We had moderate success, most notably in the Attleboro area where we played at the now defunct Jarrod's Place like 12 times or so. We played a couple of other clubs in the area as well and recorded a few tunes. When school started the next year in the fall of '05, I was involved with that, and the other band that kept forming and reforming. It was in a Gov't class with Mr. Paradise I was in with Muscle and Wop that we decided to do something for the upcoming talent show. We decided on a Guns N' Roses tribute because at the time, all of us were dead set on the fact taht Wop sounded like Axl Rose. So for the entire month of October and into November, I would find myself in the basement of Jayce's grandparents playing bass for "Welcome to the Jungle" "Sweet Child O Mine" "Knockin on HEavens Door" and "Night Train." There were practices that we'd play our set in front of 10-15 people crammed into that basement and those were some fun times. The actual show in November was unforgettable. The crowd and costumes made it one hell of an experience. The rest of that year was spent with Hammerton, and playing a bunch of cover tunes with my bros. I graduated from high school in 2006, but still managed to play tunes with my friends. That continued at the Uxbridge Talent show in the fall of 2006 when we covered a tune by Jimmy Eat World, and I forget the other songs. We attempted to continue to make music with myself, Jayce, Wop, and Muscle, but with Muscle going to school in Boston, that made things difficult and for some reason, writing material was way too hard. Everyone went on a month hiatus after New Year's Eve '07. At the very end of January 2007, I was asked by Jayce if I wanted to go over to his house to listen to some recordings that he and Wop had recorded on a cheap tape player. I liked what I heard. A couple hours later, "The Brownfag sessions" were recorded on tape and Foreverless was born. We played like 5 shows under that name and a year later we released our first EP "Rock Forever" and changed the name to THIS IS FOR GLORY.

crapping out at the finish line

50/70

My band practiced for the first time in nearly 3 weeks last night, and to my and Jayce's suprise, Zach showed up with a lot less hair on his head than the last time we had seen him. It was shocking. The practice went well taking into consideration that the songs we play well, we're playing at our next show...so no worries? (4/18 @ BVT, BE THERE!!!). I am going to an open house tomorrow evening at New England Tech, where I expect to continue my education, majoring in Digital Recording Arts. I get to learn how to use ProTools, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and all of the little gadgets and software that are the industry standards in their respective fields. With this in mind, I'm finding myself just wanting to drop out of RIC immediately because these past two years have ended up being the biggest waste of time, and I haven't gotten a single thing out of it that will be useful to me in the future (except some transfer credits). The job situation has subsided a little bit in the past week. I'm giving this dude two months to show everyone that he's not a douche before I do decide to find another job. And the good news now is that my car insurance went down a lot! Like $50 less a month! That's awesome considering gas prices and that I'm barely making enough money as it is to fill up my stomach and my car every week. I guess that's all I can really contribute to this "blog" as of now. So until next time...

Cheers.

a couple weeks later...

I'm proud of the final result. The entire thing. That right there is the project that I've most invested my time in. Hours upon hours of tracking, mixes, frustration, and that's what came out of it and I couldn't be happier. Please buy one at a show if you feel so inclined.

productively unproductive

45/70.

Here we go. The home stretch. The final lap. Get through April and everything will be OK. I am sitting at my desk with the itunes open, and I'm in the middle of listening to 3 albums that I haven't listened to in their entirety since probably sophomore year in high school: Tell All Your Friends by Taking Back Sunday; Second Stage Turbine Blade by Coheed; and Emotion is Dead by The Juliana Theory. Since then two of those bands have gone mainstream and the other bit the dust. I cleaned my room up big time yesterday, getting rid of unwanted schoolwork, old clothes, cardboard boxes, and the like. There is still no room to move in here. School is officially a useless drag at this point. Music "Theory" should have its name changed to Pointless Music "Facts." One funny thing that did happen was that someone politely asked "can you go over the difference between an inversion and a retrograde again?" Teacher says "No." I wanted to laugh, as I'm sure a few others did as well, but nobody gave in. I have nothing else of relevant interest to add right now, except it's supposed to be a mild 60 degrees tomorrow. Shorts and flip-flops? Perhaps.

Cheers.

Hey, Eddie! Fuck You!

I have mentioned time and time again how much I hate my boss, and how much of a chronic liar he is, and all the excuses he makes, yadda yadda yadda. He got transferred to manage another store in our precinct this week, so my first reaction was something along the lines of "SCORE!!! =D"

Let me say this: I would give anything to have him back running the store I work at.

This new guy whom I think is named Eddie, not sure and don't care, is a total flake. Dumbass. Lazy. Intrusive. All of the above. Our first encounter with each other was not pleasant. He told me to go shave (we're not allowed to have beards, but I tend to get away with it), and I proceeded to give him the "Who the hell do you think you are?" face. A few hours later, and he's trying to give me and this other girl that's worked at the place for years a lesson on what we're supposed to do. I HAVE BEEN WORKING HERE FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS!!!! I KNOW WHAT TO DO, YOU FUCKING GOOK!! (too far? nah.) I DIDN'T GET EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH THREE TIMES BECAUSE I'M A LAZY ASIAN CUNT LIKE YOU!!! LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!!!!!!!

sick of ric

40/70

I'm not going to Rhode Island College next year. End of story.

rock show

Here is my expanded synopsis of the happenings of March 21, 2008. I had one class that morning, and so I was free at 9:00 AM. With nothing better to do with myself, I decided "Screw it. I'll go up now." I pahked my cah in the pahking grahge on Froynklin Street abowt a half moyle from the club. Between roughly 11:30 and 3, I did the following: escaped a giant homeless man looking for food, went to Dunkin Donuts, browsed a record store that only sells vinyl, browsed a bookstore, went to Wendy's for lunch, went to the Middle East box office to see what was up with will-call, hung out in the LeMeridien hotel fancy classed-up lobby, browsed the Star Market grocery store, attempted to nap and kill time in my car, and walked maybe 10-15 laps around Central Square. As I was walking down Mass Ave on one of these laps, I caught out of my peripheral vision a silver van towing a white trailer. This peaked my interest when I thought I saw Virginia license plates. I walked the Mass Ave-Brookline St circle again, and five minutes later, I find myself assisting band and crew members unloading a packed trailer full of road cases with "MAE" stamped on the majority of them. I had never seen so much gear move from point A to point B at a high rate of speed considering the small narrow staircase that served as the load-in point. When that was done, I went along my merry way and by now, it is 4:00pm-ish or so. I went to a McDonald's across the street for dinner, completely passing up the opportunity for a chicken wrap from the Middle East, which is delicious. No, Mickey D's it was. Immediately after began the waiting process. Three hours in unbearably windy and below-freezing temperatures. The five of us that got there early to experience the cold were dead-set on a Mae acoustic performance roughly an hour before doors opened (after all, that was what we all read). 7:00 went by. 7:15 went by. By 7:30, we all figured that either a.) we missed it, or b.) there was none. I was on the brink of hypothermic disaster by the time doors opened, so I was pretty stoked to finally get out of the cold. The Middle East lets people in 5 at a time. I was number 1. I got a pretty got spot, visually, in the place as you can depict from photos and various youtube videos that have been posted. 8:15 rolls around, and whaddaya know, 3/5ths of Mae come out to do an acoustic set. The setlist comprised of "Going to School," "Ready & Waiting to Fall," "Home," "Sun," and "Tisbury Lane." I looked like a complete idiot during Going to School, but that's another story for another time. Showtime.

Farless - not gonna lie, they lacked presence on stage. I dug the music.
Between the Trees - too much presence on stage. I dig the music, and these kids look like they should still be in high school.
The Honorary Title just gained another fan. Enjoyable performance.
This was my 8th time seeing Mae, and they sounded better than any other time I had seen them. People wouldn't shut up because I guess they couldn't hear Dave, but I knew that was going to be the case right away when they ditched the floor wedges. You can't blame the band in that situation, it's just that the Middle East has a strange way of setting up their PA system. If you're standing in the front row, you're essentially standing behind the mains, so all you really hear is what's on stage. People are just too ignorant to realize that and needed something to complain about so there was a lot of "TURN UP THE VOCALS!!!" Sorry, I'm sure it sounded good in the back. Blame the venue, not the band.

During "The Everglow," the crowd was split in half like Moses splitting the sea and this one belligerantly drunk fella stormed the stage, shoved everyone out of the way, and continued to look like a complete douche. Another dude tried to push me out of the way, but I gave him the ol' elbow shove, pushed the kid back like 15 feet, gave him the dirtiest look I could muster, and retained my focus on the stage. I stayed around for a few minutes after the show and made some short conversation with Jacob and I think a southern comfort-influenced Zach. I picked up an old-school globe shirt on my way out and drove the hour from Boston to Uxbridge. I went to sleep at around 3:00 AM and had to be in for work three hours later. Needless to say, I was exhausted.

mixed feelings.

35/70 (halfway there)

CD Release show = suck. Everything that went wrong was out of our control. Blame the venue. Bands play at the living room every single night. They make a lot of money due to cover charges, and alcohol sales.

They don't maintain/update their sound system.

I was setting up, and I usually bring my own microphone. I exchanged an SM58 that looked as though it had been rammed up a goats vagina, if goats vagina's were in the shape of an octagon. I know Shure is notorious for making the most sturdy gear, but please...that microphone just looked horrible. Soundcheck went OK and I'll give them props for the cool LED lights they installed.

Our show starts and Zach's got a bad mic cable so all I can hear through my floor wedge is BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Dumbass sound guy exchanges the cable "OK you should be all set now dee dee dee." BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ. No dice. Vocals didn't kick in all the way until our set was past halfway over. Major bummer, but there's nothing we could do about it. Other things happened that kind of just added onto the whole clusterfuck that was our show tonight. Thank you to all that came. Come out to BVT on April 18th and see what we can really do, because I can guarantee you that what you saw tonight was in no way indicative of what this band is capable of doing.

PS. Fuck the Living Room.

pull over to the station and fill up on fuel

I have seen the headlining band on this tour 7 times. As a result, I've gotten to establish some minor acquaintances with those dudes, whether it be 5 minutes after a show, or taking a 3 hour joy ride around Worcester. That said, I don't think I've been this excited for a show in a long time.

blast from the past

I got reacquainted with some old friends of mine. I didn't realize how much I had missed them. I miss a lot of people, however it's safe to say that some of those people who I haven't spoken to in person in a long time, should not be spoken to again...at least for a few more months. I also figured out many more benefits to playing to a click track during live performances. Eh, that's all for tonight, nothing else really worthy of jotting down here.

playin' the blues.

My approach to music has been wrong in the past. Before, I would try to force something out that I felt would mass approval. I'm trying to achieve the same results, but I'm going to go about it in a different way. I have a lot of musical ideas in my head, but piecing them together and making something out of it has been difficult. I think by having a week off from school, I'll be able to sit back and write some damn good tunes, and have fun doing it at the same time.

can it be summer yet?

30/70

Today was a pretty good day, except for -$3 disappointment in the Smithfield D'Angelo's today. I ordered a chicken caesar wrap and it was delicious. However the idiot spanish looking dude that was at the helm of the cash register jipped me $3in change. I guess I'm the idiot because I didn't realize until I had long since gone that there should have been more money in my wallet. That further solidifies my theory that the only jobs that scumbags can get are in the fast food industry. They make the intelligent workers, such as myself, look bad because of their stupidity. Hell, one girl that I work with can't even make out 94 cents in change. 3 quarters, a dime, a nickel, 4 pennies. Easy.

Moral of the story: Stay in school.

unexpected

I got a phone call from an old friend today. The funny thing is, he didn't intend on calling me. He was looking for another kid named Zach, but nevertheless, it was good to catch up. Hearing familiar voices after a long period of time does a mind good.

I'm sitting here doing analysis of the Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Why? I don't know. I guess it's pivotal that I know this kind of thing if I want to be a "real" musician. Not that I don't like theory...I love learning new things about music all the time. I just don't think it's necessary that I know that the chord on the first 8th note beat of measure 2 is a B7b5. Big deal. Honestly.

nothing relevant.

25/70

I did my taxes today. woop-de-doo. I don't get much sleep anymore.

Cheers.

bad luck

Today was a day where I probably experienced every mood in the emotional spectrum. I got invited to take part and observe a recording session with some friends of mine in one of Berklee College of Music's sweet studios. It was from 2am - 6am....while I should be sleeping. I decided to against my better judgement and make the hour trek up to Boston at 12:30 in the morning. When I walked in there, I was totally blown away. Not that I should have been because it was the typical run-of-the-mill recording studio, but it makes my setup look like chump change. The SSL mixing console was the coolest thing I've ever laid my hands on. Drums and bass were tracked for two songs, and I left the studio right after 6.

Guess what....








....my car got towed.

I still made it to class on time at 8 in the morning.

short-term future.

20/70

I have a lot to look forward to next month

3/10-Spring break
3/17-I'm playing at The Living Room in Providence. 8:15pm, $8. All Ages. It's likely to be my band's CD release.
3/19-I'm playing with my Jazz combo group in Sapinsley Hall at RIC. 7:00pm. Free.
3/21-MAE.
3/25-Band-business related shizz in Framingham somewhere.

in due time

I've contemplating transferring schools, but the fact of the matter is, I would be setting my graduation process back by doing so. Right now, I'm right on pace to graduate in four years, and I don't want it to take any longer than that. I am nervous about what happens after college. Job...?...move out?...band?...? What am I going to do with myself? I remember a conversation I had with an old friend a year or so ago. It was simply a statement of "go for it and don't look back." I am at a point in my life, personally, financially, and socially where I have nothing at all to lose and everything on this planet to gain. It would be foolish of me to have finished school, and to not experience every single place that is significant to this country we live in. I want to see Florida again. I want to go to LA, Seattle, back to Colorado, Chicago, Ohio. So many places.

Zach's my name, don't wear it out.

15/70

I'm only blogging tonight for the sake of consistency. My grades in school are significantly better than they were at this point last semester...and I finished that off with a GPA over 3...so I guess things are looking up in that end. On the downside, I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. I'm not going to schedule myself any classes until after 10 or 11 AM next year. I desperately need to catch up on some rest. Perhaps my lack of sleep is contributing to my frustrating writer's block, as well as a number of other things. Spring Break (or Summer break for that matter) can't come soon enough.

Cheers

the nostalgic emo kid

I don't know what it is that drives my music making skills, but I seem to lack the ear for the abstract. Contrast that with my strong ear for writing generic pop-rock tunes with sappy nostalgic lyrics, which for some reason I'm just good at. Nostalgia is a great source of lyrical material no matter how cliche it gets. Why not take advantage of those resources? I'm writing one right now because I got some strange strong influence from a photograph of a certain female.

Getting over it.

10/70.

The pats were winning with 2:42 left in the game. They lost it on two plays: the should've Manning sack, and the lack of Hobbs defending Plaxico. If those two plays went in the Patriots favor, we'd be saying 19-0, undefeated season. Hats off to the NYG for beating NE.

Another getting over it issue:

"When you hear your voice recorded for the first time, it isn't usually something that you enjoy. It is a shock. Some wonder, "What's wrong with this equipment." Others are just stunned and flabbergasted.

It is actually quite a simple phenomenon though. How we think we sound is different then how we really sound.

Under normal circumstances our hearing is due to the sound waves on the air reaching our ears, "banging" our ear drums (yep that was a bad pun), vibrating the bones of the inner ear, stimulating the hair cells within the cochlea, changing into electronic signals which are then sent to the brain for interpretation. It is an amazing process, but the interpretation of sound is all based on sound waves.

There are a few things that can alter sound. For speaking purposes, the reason your voice sounds different when you speak then when you hear a recording of yourself is simple, it's all in your head. Not that you have gone crazy or anything, but the tissues and bones of your head effect the sound you hear. Your cochlea is stimulated by sound waves through the normal process, but also by the vibrations of your bones from the action of speaking. It causes you to hear yourself in two parts, the first out in the air through sound waves, and the second within yourself as vibrations.

The answer is simple, it's all in your head, literally!"

I found that article online. It's made me ponder the reasons that when I'm singing live, I feel great about it. Play it back and I think it sucks. It's just something to get used to.

Movies

Some of the most graphic bloodshed and violence I have ever seen within an hour 1/2. Stallone is just absolutely lethal. Worth the $7.50 (children's price XD ) ticket to go see.




This one looks moving, and truthful. Has my interest anyway.

2nd semester so far

5/70. Five days out of the total seventy that are considered the regular part of the semester, excluding finals week. So far it's been a good one. I don't feel overwhelmed and stressed out like I did last semester, and I think cutting my hours at work was a good move. It will give me more time to focus on my school work and also give me a little bit more time to relax and stay sane. The one thing I need to work on so far is managing my homework. I'm trying to get myself to not be up until midnight every night, but so far that's been the case. I'll get through it though. The biggest challenge is theory/sight singing, which after 1 week, I'm averaging a B+. With all of this said, I'm very much looking forward to summer break.

Go Pats!

Maybe.

What happens when a computer's CPU bites the dust?
What happens when an automobile's engine blows up?
What happens when food expires?
What happens when a gear on an analog clock breaks?
What happens when a CD gets scratched?
What happens when a pen runs out of ink?
What happens when a vital component to anything decides to malfunction?

The part ruins the whole, and the whole is no longer the same.

recording shmording

Ok, as a few of you close to me might know, I'm in a band. Our band has seen many technical difficulties over the past year, however few of them have been from my stuff.

Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.

Let me explain. Technology has come a long way. What took the Beatles months to do can be done in a few days. Home recording studios are becoming abundant, big and small. It's easy to do....so how come it never works for me?

Here's the lowdown: I have a pretty damn good laptop for recording with, which I didn't even realize until I began doing it a few months back. It's an HP that has an 80 GB harddrive, Intel Centrino processor, and came with 4 USB ports and a FireWire port.

Hardware: Presonus FP10, commonly known as the FirePod. 8 mic preamps, S/PDIF, and MIDI. Works awesome. Other gear includes KRK monitors, Sennheiser headphones, and mostly Audix and AKG microphones. Pretty solid gear. Nothing spectacular, but enough to get the job done.

The issue has come with the software. The Firepod came with a cheap version of Cubase that I've thrown aside. I've acquired two Multi-track programs, Sonar 6 Producer's Edition, and the infamous Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (Licensed to Peter Quistgard). The latter is a popular download on many P2P services i.e. Kazaa, Bearshare, Limewire, etc.

Sonar: seems like a pretty good program, however not compatible with the on-board soundcard on my computer. It accepts the Firepod, however clicks and pops are abundant in the playback...but playback the same mp3 files that are recorded with it, and there's no clicking. Stuff sounds like platinum.

Cool Edit Pro: easy to use program, but has its limitations. Accepts the firepod, but fucks it up in the actual recording process (specifically, for every two channels on the pod, adds up to one track on the software. So, inputs 1 & 2 end up being track 1. better example, kick and snare are on the same track). Shitty to record with.

I've since found myself recording with Sonar and then copy and paste everything into Cool Edit. This is a royal pain in the testicles as you have to literally puzzle-piece every part together so that it sounds like music. Ok, it sucks but I'll deal. I have 10 songs recorded, and they all sound pretty good so far.

Latest obstacle in the road: why did one of my bass tracks suddenly, out of the blue, turn into a mixture of every other track and horrible static? It didn't sound like that this morning, why does it now? And furthermore, is this going to keep happening just when it feels like it?

Like I said, technology has come a long way and the way I'm doing things now is absolutely rediculous, and I shouldn't have to put up with it. I plan on running ProTools in the very near future. No joke.

You know you're up late when you're listening to D&C on the commute home.

Monday night, I went up to Wachusett Mtn. for the first time in what seems like ages ago. The snow was pretty sloppy up on the summit, but better toward the bottom. The terrain parks were pretty cool, but the asshole people chillin on the kickers made them uncool. Half-pipe looked bigger than I've ever seen it before. Overall, it was nice to get back to doing what is probably my favorite winter pasttime. Without it, winter would just suck more than it does now.

After the whole skiing business was done, I recorded bass for 10 songs cause I'm a machine. I got done at around 6 in the morning and drove home. I brushed my teeth at the same time as my sister, however she was headed for another day at school while I was headed for bed. I woke up from my slumber at exactly 3:06 pm. I ate a muffin for "breakfast." I drove up to Guitar Center and then back to McDonald's at around 7:30 pm for "lunch." I then proceeded to park my ass in the producer's chair and watched Zach record vocals for 7 songs. My turn is on Thursday, which means I need to finish writing lyrics for 3 songs. By finish writing, I mean change all of the lyrics so they're not so cliche and sappy. I think I'm headed in the right direction. We finished the latest session at around 1:30 am on Wednesday. 16 minutes, I find myself blogging about the whole week to date.

School starts on Tuesday. I'm fucked.

Cheers.

ignorance is bliss

"Hi, welcome to McDonald's, our soda machine is broken, may I take your order?"

"Yeah, I'll have a double cheeseburger, large fry, and a medium diet coke."

"Our soda machine is broken."

"So can I still get a diet coke?"

"No."




This scenario happened on multiple occasions today. Now I know it can be irritating when overexpensive equipment malfunctions, but are people really this ignorant all the time? Jeezus.

Here's to the future.

I remember waking up on the final morning of our hike and it was just above freezing outside. Some may find this kind of weather unpredictable for the stereotypical heat that New Mexico presents, alas, I was in pants and a jacket with my hat and mittens on. We would start the final hike in the dark before the sun would come up. We would hike down the mountain and see base camp in clear veiw, getting bigger and bigger with each pass, but each pass felt longer than the last one. When the gate into camp came into clear view, I couldn't help but sprint full-speed toward it, regardless of the 50+ lbs I might have been carrying on my back (it wasn't that much, as most of the food was gone by the final day). We were done, and we had done it successfully. 16 days of no outside communication. No running water (besides the river). No showers. No bathrooms. No television, ipod, radio, newspaper, computer, or anything of the sort. Lying on a thick mattress on a wire cot that night felt like the best broke-in bed in Jordan's Furniture. The point? Perserverence and success. Any one of us could have quit in the middle, but the challenges and comaraderie of friends made those thoughts dissappear immediately.

I can say I went through that ordeal twice. I loved it both times.

Whenever I feel like giving something up or finding something new to begin, I can always look back at those weeks in New Mexico. They serve as a reminder to me to keep the sails going. 2008 has been great so far (sans this horrible cold that has given me the most sore throat in recent memory). Just four days into the year, I feel as though I'm going to find more open doors, more roads to travel, and more people that may or may not have a significant impact on my future. 2008 is going to be a good one.