For sheer impact on the music community as a whole, I have to go with Jimi Hendrix. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see Hendrix live, but I have seen many recorded concerts. I also have a very extensive collection of bootleg concerts and interviews. He was one of those musicians who, when he was ripping a solo, would go to another level of being; a whole other place. His impact on music and the guitar-playing community is unmistakable. Virtually every great modern guitar player mentions Hendrix as a major influence on their own playing. His innovation on guitar and in the recording studio will live on forever.

For pure virtuosity of playing, I’ll go with Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was a pleasure to witness this man playing guitar…usually with your jaw on the ground. I was fortunate enough to see SRV a couple of times; both times were absolutely remarkable. When he went into a solo, it was impossible to look away. I found myself fixating on his fingers as he climbed around the neck of 1963 Stratocaster. Pure genius! He too seemed to go to some other place when he was shredding. I once heard Eric Clapton refer to SRV as a channel…music just flowed through him and erupted out of his fingers. At times, I felt sorry for the rest of Double Trouble as they tried to keep time and keep up!

For total innovation on the six string, I’m going with Eddie Van Halen. The first time I saw him play with both hands on the neck, I was completely blown away. What was this dude doing? Where is his pick? I’ve seen VH many times and watching Eddie perform his guitar solo is well worth the price of admission. In my opinion, he brought the use of two hands on the neck to rest of the world and into the mainstream. Many modern guitarists added this style to their repertoire, but nobody perfected it, or plays it better, than Eddie.

I could easily go on and on about great guitar players. After all, there are so many phenomenal ones to talk about. From the likes of Django Reinhardt through Les Paul, great guitar players have spanned the generations. Other modern guitarists who easily deserve mention are guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Tom Morello, Jeff Beck, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen…somebody stop me! Let’s all enjoy these guitar virtuosos as they shred their six string things.

The source for the awesome Eddie Van Halen photo is here!

We as humans are always ever revolving. Our minds cannot be in control, but only our inner being and spirit must be in control. The ego can be a detrimental thing if it’s not understood. In order to stay committed to uplifting our lives, we must know who we are. No confusions or uncertainty. We must stay positive and keep looking onward. It’s hard to escape from the past when those choices you made affect you today. There is so much to look forward to, and there are many things that we want to accomplish. We really should put ourselves out there and do all the things we have dreamed of. There is no reason for us not to. It’s time, people. There is a life that most of us have envisioned for ourselves ever since we were little, and it will come to pass. Do less of looking to materialistic things and more digging into yourselves. I am learning that life comes from the inside. Look inside for health, creativity, confidence, and just for life. Take that step now, because you will begin to glow inside from knowledge, from living each day.

Most successful artists, composers, playwrights, dancers, businessmen, and even politicians go through this process. This is a sure way to rebuild and stand firm on your beliefs. What are you passionate about? What is your calling to life? Are you a musician? Do you love to write lyrics or scenes from experiences you have encountered? Follow that little voice inside of you. What I want us to figure out now is what do we want from this life? If we want to be successful, are we willing to make the necessary sacrifices and put in the work to see results? Are will riddled with guilt and fear or freedom and courage? Some of us have been stuck in a rut for ten or more years. Where and when is the breakthrough coming? God provides more than enough for us to succeed and conquer.  We can be weak, at times, as humans. Looking inside to our inner being seems like the last thing we want to do, instead we drink, eat, smoke party, sleep, watch TV and waste our years of living.  It’s time for a new beginning and a new way of thinking. I would like the opportunity to challenge ourselves to step up to the challenge of change. Sometimes life forces us onto the path that we must go, because we would have never done it otherwise.

We are each here for a purpose and we must seek it out daily. It’s not just one thing, but a mirage of things over the course of our days here on earth. Life is a credit, because we definitely have to pay it back. As Cornel West said, “we are on borrowed time, nothing is promised.” Every day, seek out the best opportunities and do your best to challenge your inner self to do things you would never do and to say things you would never say. YOU WILL SUCCEED!!

]]> http://www.meandthestereo.com/2009/10/27/let%e2%80%99s-begin-to-look-inside-ourselves/feed/ 0 http://www.meandthestereo.com/2009/10/26/why-there-will-never-be-another-rock-star/ http://www.meandthestereo.com/2009/10/26/why-there-will-never-be-another-rock-star/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:06:19 +0000 Neto http://www.meandthestereo.com/?p=877

I’m hanging out with some friends:  They are all musicians and we’re philosophizing about the future of music.  This may have something to do with the various substances that are being passed around.  They’re all talking about the artists who influenced them and the rock stars they would like to be like when it hits me.  That’s impossible.  We have come to the end of the rock star era.  There will never be one again.

This past summer, when all the celebrities were dying, everyone was writing about the end of the “monoculture.”  The monoculture is the pop culture that everyone has a shared consciousness of, whether or not they are fans of it.  I don’t agree that is necessarily true.  In twenty years, I think everyone is going to remember being obsessed with LOST and their iPhone apps.  I do believe that it’s true about music though.  I think in 20 years, when people are talking about the music they liked now, they are more likely to get blank stares in return.  And you can already see this happening, now.  I have to admit, until this past summer, I had no idea who Lady Gaga was, which was way later than anyone else.  How did this happen, though?

The beginning of the end for rock stars came with the advent of The Real World.  The MTV show was among the type of programming that eventually led to MTV not showing anymore music videos.  While the M in MTV is meaningless now, it used to be where people who enjoyed all types of popular music turned to see what was playing.  For college students in the 90’s, it was constantly on in the background.  And whether you liked Rap or Metal, there was a show for you to watch on MTV, so everyone was constantly aware of what was popular among everyone else.  But that is not there anymore.

Another reason for the death of the rock star is the Internet.  The Internet opened up the world of music in ways that no one could have ever imagined, and the recording industry is still recovering from this.  From Napster to Myspace Music, fans of music have been able to sample more artists than ever before.  So, more diverse types of music are getting a fanbase in more places.  This also means that more people are finding things that they enjoy, but no one else around them does.  This stops being shared with a large group of people.

And the final reason is the rise of the iPod.  Specifically, its the effect the iPod has had on radio.  Everyone knows radio is dying.  It used to be that whether you liked the music or not, at some point during the day you would probably listen to the radio.  Even if you had some CDs in your car, at some point you would get tired of the music in your collection and put on the radio for a little while.  This would give you a taste of what everyone else who was listening to the radio was listening to at the time.  These days, with the library of music that people carry in their iPods, its far less likely that they will get tired of all the music they have available to them.  If someone feels like listening to something they don’t usually listen to, they just queue it up on their iPods.

Because there’s no more channels for everyone to experience what everyone else is listening to, and because there are a lot more different types of music, there is a smaller chance of a nation-wide shared musical culture.  Since there won’t be any more acts that are universally popular, there won’t be anymore rock stars.  So what do musicians have to look forward to?  My drunk friends and I talked about that, too, but I’ll save that for next week’s article.

Here’s the source for the wonderful sunrise above! Don’t agree with Neto? Let him know in the comments!

Can cause Murder?

Many musicians and rock songs have made mention of recreational pharmaceuticals. Whether it be an overt declaration or a discreet revelation, these substances have made their way into the lyrics of songs of most every genre for many, many years. But one recreational substance is mentioned very frequently. Can you guess which one it is? From bammy to zambi and ganja to weed; cannabis by any other name is still cannabis. And it is the old faithful of recreational drugs…at least according to music.

From the time Stephen Tyler declared he’d be “…sleepin’ late and smokin’ tea!”, MJ has been referred to hundreds, if not thousands, of times in musical compositions all around the world. Although, some songs I find more entertaining in their use and description than others.

There is a great song from Sublime called ‘Smoke Two Joints’. It makes me laugh every time I hear it. There’s one line in particular that cracks me up…it goes something like this: “I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints, and then I smoke two more”. Instant classic! Okay Brad, did you see any foreshadowing here? Apparently not, but we didn’t listen to this song for formal education. We listened to it for the ecstatic celebration of the singer’s favorite substance to abuse.

I see what you did there...

Another great one comes from our friends in Cypress Hill. The song is called ‘Hits From the Bong’. It is just as entertaining as the previous song I mentioned, but this singer openly declares his love for this pharmaceutical. He even provides a mini-lesson: “…And then take that finger off that hole, plug it, unplug it, don’t strain! I love you Mary Jane!” I wonder if Mary was blushing after that heart-felt assertion? No surprises; these dudes are insane in the membrane!

No discussion of burning a blunt would be complete without mentioning the quintessential song about the leaf that is loved (or hated) by so many. I’m talking about the song from Black Sabbath entitled ‘Sweet Leaf’. This song probably has one of the most distinct opening lines: Ozzy coughing in an endless loop until Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi come crushing in with a kick-ass, sludgy guitar riff to get the song moving. Ozzy declares his love for pharmaceuticals in this way: “My life is free now, my life is clear, I love you sweet leaf, though you can’t hear!” Ah, unrequited love. Poor Ozzy. What’s a man to do when he declares his love, but gets nothing in return? No wonder he’s ‘Flyin’ High Again’.

I neither condone nor condemn the use of recreational pharmaceuticals. I stand before you neutral on the subject. But there is no denying the celebrated obsession with this activity in music. From the psychedelic 60’s to the grungy 90’s, it seems many musicians found comfort in dating Mary Jane.

Image is a huge factor in rock music.  For lack of a more articulate term, I typically observe musicians and performers constantly attempting to appear “cool.”  Why bother?  It seems like being a talented musician and performer should be effortless once the musician is confident in his or her career.  Why are people not just comfortable being themselves?

Rock musicians are only suffering on a bigger scale from what we all face.  When we talk to other people, are we constantly thinking to ourselves, “what does this new person think of me?”  The image we project becomes the part of our personality that will be the first impression.  So we try to perfect this impression, and end up sometimes agonizing over it.  We are control freaks who want absolute control over our image.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing or controlling what others’ impressions of us will be.  So instead of dropping the whole idea, we hyper analyze and obsess.

I was watching a video promoting a certain band’s new live documentary of one show.  The members of the band are fantastic musicians.  And yet, all the editing is clearly geared toward making the band members look as absolutely good and polished as possible.  So the video ended up making me suspicious of what the editing is covering up, and also feeling an urge to see rock musicians stop caring about image.  Of course, anyone who is able to live in the public eye comfortably must have nerves of steel or something; a certain confidence that isn’t born overnight.

As a society, we trip ourselves up when we demand perfection from others.  If we all forgave others’ awkwardness and mistakes and didn’t expect a flawless show all the time, we would be easing the pressure on ourselves too.  Part of something appearing cool is that it tries to appeal to others in a certain way.  In this commercial, consumer-oriented society, we want our personality traits to appeal to others, and we want to only see what is appealing in front of us.  This type of vision leaves a lot of important factors about life out.  In my personal, ideal world, individuals would be comfortable and effortlessly be themselves, even when there is an audience.  I think as a society we can demand more:   Not more perfection, but more acceptance of imperfection.

The source for the first image is here. The source for the second image is here!

Cover Songs.

I was on the road the other day, and I heard a cover of ‘Hey Joe’; you know, the Hendrix tune. But, it was Deep Purple actually performing the song…and not incredibly well either. I was a little put out by this because I like Deep Purple and I am a rabid Jimi Hendrix fan, but I consider it blasphemous that anyone would cover a Hendrix tune and do it in such a poor manner. That’s not the worst of it; ‘Hey Joe’ has been recorded over sixty (yes, 60!) times since it was first penned and recorded in 1965 (by a group called The Leaves). Say it ain’t so! I haven’t listened to all sixty versions of the song, but I bet that each cover is at a different level of quality. In recent memory, I think the worst version of a song I have heard is Avenged Sevenfold covering ‘Paranoid’; the old Black Sabbath tune. Have you heard this? I think it was recorded for a sound track. Not only is it a piss-poor version of the song, but who told M. Shadows he could sing in the first place.

Just awful!

Of course, not all covers are bad or performed poorly. I thought that Guns N’ Roses did a pretty good job with ‘Live and Let Die’. And their cover of ‘Hair of the Dog’ was decent. I recently heard a cover of ‘Born to be Wild’ that was performed by The Cult. I was never a big Steppenwolf fan and I have always walked the fence on whether I liked this tune or not. But to hear Ian Astbury belt out the vocals and Billy Duffy crush the guitar riffs, I found myself singing that version of the song for the rest of the night! Another great cover that comes to mind was ‘Come Together’ done by Aerosmith. Man, that was a great cover of a great song! No problem with that performance at all. Oh yeah, and how about Stone Temple Pilots cover of Zeppelin’s ‘Dancing Days’; very well done. My all-time favorite cover is…drum roll please: ‘Cross-Eyed Mary’ performed by Iron Maiden. If you can find a copy of this, put it on and crank it up. This version will rock your socks off. It was recorded on one of Maiden’s many EPs, probably some obscure import; I don’t remember. Jethro Tull could never come close to sounding like this! I think Ian Anderson would promptly put his flute away and go back into retirement after hearing this version of his classic.

If you’re going to cover it, play it right! Perform it well. Execute it with gusto! I’m not whole-heartedly against bands covering other bands’ songs. In fact, I’m a big fan of the ‘tribute’ albums that were popular a few years back. Not all of them were good, but I think they’re done with good intention…sort of a cool way to honor a band. And I think one of the best ways to get some air play is to cover a ‘famous’ song. Remember Marilyn Manson doing the Eurythmics tune? Whether you liked their cover or not, you definitely noticed it! If you’re going to do it, just do it right!

Maybe it’s just me, but people seem to rely on music to unleash some of the emotional neediness that arises in everyday life.  We interpret as we please, and seek reassurance in the cryptic lyrics.  The haunting melodies evoke either energetic times or sorrowful times, pensive times or forward-moving times.  We chose what we listen to, but maybe we can’t always control how exactly a particular song will affect us on a particular day when we listen to it.

When I listen to Mates of State, I feel a lot of energy from the upbeat piano lines and drum rhythms.  I want to feel enthusiastic about something when listening to Mates of State.

When I listen to The National, I want to be thoughtful in a dramatic way.  It’s funny that just the lead singer’s deep voice can lend extra elegance and seriousness to the music.

When I listen to Sleater-Kinney, I want to be a brave, strong woman who is not afraid to wail lyrics, and play heavy bass and guitar riffs.

Listening to Radiohead, life becomes a mournful state, very bleak, on its way to some type of post-apocalyptic destruction that is too depressing to fully express.

These disembodied voices and instruments, due to the recordings of excellent production quality, feed a sense that there is a way to reach true perfection.  Life is shrink-wrapped and hygienic, plastic with easy-to-read instructions.  When my own perspective is messy and disorganized, I hold it up to an unreal ideal that is created by the way society wants everything certain, safe, attainable, glossy-surfaced.

So there is always a disparity that somehow demands improvement to close the gap.  Music allows us to take three minutes to feel caught up in the moment.  A good song can seem to hold your hand and help you continue on your journey.

A large leak...kind of...

It has been a big couple of weeks for leaks.  Radiohead and Weezer both experienced song leaks last weeks with varied results.  Radiohead’s song, “These Are My Twisted Words”, was a very good song reminiscent of Kid A, which is my favorite Radiohead album by far.  Weezer’s leak a few weeks ago was less successful musically.  “The Girl Got Hot” was just more run of the mill Weezer from the Green Album rather than brilliant Weezer from Pinkerton (will we ever see that Weezer again?).

More telling than the quality of the songs, though, was the reaction to the leaks or the almost non-reaction.  Leaks have become almost commonplace these days.  Its the price of doing business in these modern times.  And both bands seem to have come to terms with that.

It would be understandable for a band to want to control the material that is released by them.  A release of a track that hasn’t been polished or is unrepresentative of the album they are about to release could damage them.  And if their best work is released before the entire album is complete, it could take some of the shine away from the album when it comes time for it to be reviewed.

Don't blame the fans! Blame Bono!

But you can’t blame the fans of a particular band for wanting to hear everything that is released.  A few years ago, my brother and I were debating this very issue.  One of his then favorite bands’ message board moderators had begun kicking people out who shared leaks of the band’s upcoming album.  My brother was one of those kicked out, but he was taking it in stride.  I was arguing with him that the fans, such as those who frequent a message board devoted to a band, should be the last people you punish for trading leaks with other fans.  The word fan comes from fanatic, which means that you are going to show such devotion to the band’s music that you don’t really care about the rules.  It may be only Rock ‘N Roll, but we like it, damnit.

The better way to approach the problem is to do like Weezer and Radiohead just did.  Both bands have always been more enlightened when it comes to their material so their reaction to a leak is not surprising. Weezer has always had extra material floating around that is sometimes better than the albums themselves.  Radiohead has found great success by giving their songs away and letting their fans pay what they want for them.  When their songs leaked,Weezer just accepted it and moved on.  They released a different and better song (thankfully) as the first single for their new album, Raditude.  Radiohead has embraced and started to offer the leaked song as a high quality, free download on their site.  They have embraced it so much that most believe that they are the ones behind the leak.

If that’s true, then Radiohead has finally discovered how a properly motivated fanbase, and a well placed leak can do for your work.  Even if its just a publicity stunt, its one that worked:  It got people talking about Radiohead during a summer with no new Radiohead release.

Here’s the source for the first photo done by Matthew Bowden! And here’s the source for the second photo!

I can’t say I ever feel comfortable or at ease on stage.  But I still value music performance, because I believe it is an opportunity to share.  I spend a lot of time working on songwriting in the privacy of my own living room with a notebook and a guitar.  The process is not really complete until I share the song with a few listeners.

I played cello in youth orchestras in middle school and high school.  I became comfortable with performing to a certain extent; i.e., with a group on stage.  It is still very difficult to face the silence of a stage, with just your cello or just a piano.  One time, as a youth, I made the mistake of wondering whether or not the audience was bored while I was performing, and that taught me a lesson.  From then on, I decided to imagine playing for the audience members who are enjoying the music, whoever those people may be (you really can’t tell).

At a certain point, I just became confident enough on piano that I didn’t mind playing in front of people.  I felt confident, and I didn’t need anyone’s approval of my playing for my ego, because I already had an idea of my strengths and weaknesses.  When I graduated from college, I began playing with different bands.  I found that even my mild skills on cello were an asset, so I hauled my cello around with me and started creating cello parts to accompany the music I heard.

Singing in front of people is another fear to get over.  One’s singing voice is really a source of ego obsession and pride for a while until you stop and think of it as another instrument to add to the mix.  As a part of the band The Raspberry Campaign, I had to get over my doubts about my voice in order to feature my songs at their best.  Sometimes, you have to go out there and perform, without the best mic or the best reverb on your voice.  The little places we would play rarely had any real sound technicians.

I have no room for ego with my guitar playing, because I have only been picking at chords for a few years.  I can strum chords, but have no greater guitar skills.  So I can find the chords I need for songwriting, but I can never show off on guitar.  But this works out, because I can’t really attempt to compare my guitar playing to anyone else’s.

I keep talking about performing in terms of ego and pride.  I think the best performers in music set those elements aside.  They bring their honesty and skills as a musician instead, and decide to share what they can with an audience.

The source for the 2nd image of the empty stage is here.

There are some “9 – 5” workers who might not take you seriously if you say you want to make a living off of singing, acting, painting or dancing.  Artists are often made to feel like second class citizens in a world that favors people with concrete jobs.  This could be crippling to an artist’s identity, but never the less, they must succeed. Looking within and being true to your dream is the only way to do it. The actor, dancer, painter, writer, and singer were put on earth to express and stimulate the emotions of their audience. This is such an important task for an artist to embark on.

Being in Los Angeles for these past three weeks has shown me the meaning of faith and dedication to one’s craft. I have been to an actor’s workshop at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, concerts in the streets, clubs and even at Spiritual Centers. Everyone that I have seen and spoken to has extreme passion and confidence in what they are doing. How else are you supposed to live in this world without doing and creating what you love? It does not matter how old you are, where you live or what you ultimately want to do, as long as you follow your journey.  There is always a way out of ‘no way’. Use all the resources you have in your community, seek guidance from the internet, authors and classes. There is always information available for your craft.

Being a musician myself, I have experienced family members and friends telling me that at some point in my life I will have to give up my dream to come into the “real world”.  As a result of this, I began working a full time job, leaving less and less time for what I truly desired. The land of Hollywood has definitely changed my outlook on who I am and will aspire to be.  This is a good place to be if you want to pursue your artistry, because there are thousands of people out here trying to accomplish the same thing, but you can ultimately do that from just about any location.  Surround yourself with people who believe in you and what you are trying to do.

I have had the extreme pleasure in viewing great artists such as John West and bands like UltraLove that have a simply amazing sound.  They are able to be free as performers on stage and really connect with the audience. The songs they write about have meaning in their life and inspire their listeners. Would these artists have been able to come this far if they had listened to the negativity of other people? Well, you already know the answer to that, so if you are an aspiring artist in this land of infinite possibilities, please continue to follow your chosen path.

Just follow your dream!

Check out some of these artists:

John West on Facebook!
John West on myspace!
UltraLove on myspace!

This is a wonderful poem for all of you creative people out there:

© 1984 Jan Phillips