Soledad.

Good day today all around. But I'm not feeling my best. Kaileen and Becca unexpectedly showed up at my house this morning. It was a very pleasent surprise and I thank them for it. We didn't really know what to do so we just got in the car and left. We were going to go to see John is his place of work but Kaileen drove past it and didn't stop so I was kind of confused but didn't question her divine wisdom. So we kept on driving and we were going in the direction of Taylor's house so we decided to go there. So after a while of making fun of Becca (I dont remember exactly what happened but Im sure there was some of that involved) we headed to the Daily Grind, then I proceeded to go back to Taylors.

Ryan showed up alittle later and we drank tea and had a laugh. Well that didn't exactly happen, I wish it did though. After some conversing (about two hours worth), I made my way home by way of my pops and some funny stories of his about alcohol. And now I dont feel so great.

Upon further analysis I think I know why I feel this way. When the two unmentionables stopped by earlier I was interrupted from my practicing. This has happened before. If I dont get an adequate amount of practice time or listening time to myself then I dont feel like myself, resulting in mild depression. Also if that happens and I get a facefull of something that I dont usually listen to it doesn't help the matter. Like today, I was when I was at Taywa's, alot of Dylan happened to be played. Now it's not that I dont like Dylan, in fact I enjoy him, but only in small doses. So not hearing any of what I normally do and hearing mostly stuff that doesnt sit right with me most of the day kind of puts me in a weird mood. When I say it doesnt sit right I mean it's just very lyric based and I cant just focus on that, and the music itself doesnt interest me so Im kind of cornered. Anyway, I know the remedy for it, so off with my bad feelies.

Jam session with Gary and Niles part 2 (part 1 being nine months ago).

Tonight marked the second jam session with Gary and Niles. We had a good time all around. Got some good things out of it. Gary said about 20% is usable for mixing and sizing down to use as some pretty decent material for actual individual peices. But the real highlight of the night for me lies within the talk Niles and I had after Gary left.

You see, Niles has gone through a plethera of musical experiences, good and bad, so he has alot to offer in nearly every realm. So he shared quite a bit of what he had to offer with me. He kind of ventured back to his earlier days when he was just starting to play, all the way to now, and the points in between where he became very cocky (he's completely the opposite now though, although he knows what he has). There are far too many aspects of the talk for me to get into, one, because I would have to think for quite some time to get even half of them in the forefront of my mind, and two, because I'm sure most of you wouldn't be all the interested. But he spoke alot about when he began to realize different ways of going about certain ways of playing and helping to lead a chior and whatnot. But the main things that stuck in my mind was the way he said he feels that Im alot like he was when he was younger. He described pretty much exactly what Im going through musically, better than I could, about improvisation, melding with others, and the different stages of which a musician goes through in his or her life, if they have the will to. How you build so many little goals or steps, and when you get to a certain point you surpass them all, but that's just one stage. Even if it seems like you can go no higher, there's many many stages which you can hit. Most never reach the final one, at least whatever would be the final for them personally, because if you have the will enough to do it, then it is attainable, it's just a matter of if you choose to make it your ambition. To be at that level that is perfect for you and those who you play with and those that hear. My highest gratitude toward him though is because he could put myself on his level, and actually say he sees himself in me now musically will stick with me for a loooong time. Unfortunately Im pressed for time and I cant write any more. I could've said alot more but I may save it for another day when I can fix my thoughts in an acceptible order. But I couldn't possibly do justice to the talk earlier and I've destroyed it as is so you wouldn't get anywhere near of what it was even if I had the time to try. Good news is we may have another jam sesseion tomorrow. And we're gonna try to get Ralph Stone in on this one. Big Papa Ralph as I like to call him.

Goodnight.

Azucar.

I'm in a good mood. Why? Because I had one of the best listening experiences of my life on sunday night. I picked the album up on a whim (I did/do have prior knowledge of the artist before hand, it wasn't just a blind buy) when John, Dave, Ang, and I were at borders when John was picking up something for his woman (Katie, as I'm sure you normies call her). I didn't expect much but I should've. There's not a whole lot I can go on about with it, for it's still fairly new to me. But it was inspiring. It was pretty different from what I usually listen to, so it caught me on a different level.

In other news, I found myself watching Gilmour Girls a few times this past week. And I realized that it's all Taylors fault. He was watching it when I went to his house once not too long ago and I got ever so slightly attatched to it at that moment. Then I forgot about it. But those damn girls, those damn lovable girls have seeped there way back into my mind. And I fear I've grown attatched to sweet Lorali and Rori. Oh well, nothin like alittle mother daughter action. Am I right? Huh? Of course not.

Welp, that's about it for me. I could've written more, but my stomach calls for nectar. Cereal nectar of course. Goodnight all.

Budo.

So I realize that speed isn't for everyone. Heh, you probably thought I was talking about drugs, but I wasn't. Anyway, so I realize speed isn't for everyone. In fact some think it's just an excuse to show off your chops and that it isn't "real" talent. In some cases this my prove true, but in others it's very very different. I found one that is very very different in that respect. I could tell you what it is, but I'm going to keep you in suspence. Taylor knows though seein as how I downloaded all the songs from his computer and burned a cd of it as well. But anyway, back to the point. The peices on this particular album are all intensly fast. Blistering in fact. One of the impressive things is that it's all acoustic guitars. Just three acoustic guitars and nothing more. It's almost entirely flamenco or flamenco influenced with some jazz passages scattered throughout.

Now some people merely listen to the speed only, which could be very difficult not to if you dont care to know what is truly within it, so if you didn't then I dont know why you'd bother listening to it in the first place. But there are some players that often do choose to just play fast licks and fast solo's for no reason aside from just showing off what they can do. And when they're stuck up about it? Well forget it then, they aren't worth your time. But when it's done so elequently that when you pay attention to each little run, no matter how fast, you can find a whole seperate melody, then that's worth your time. There are certain hights that can only be hit when there are two or more guitarists communicating through their playing (especially ones that are so talented and experienced that when they're playing by alone it can make your head spin) to where it reaches a point of clarity in your own mind about the way to look at certain styles of playing or the players themselves. I'm not sure why I'm writing any of this, first of all I'm not explaining it well at all, and secondly I really doubt this will prove useful to any of you, or if you'll even care. The point is I suppose is that if you look into any music intently, you will find something of value and importance to you, or at least you should be aware that it is of value to someone else, probably in a much deeper way than you think.

God I hate when I write anything. Why haven't any of you killed me yet?

They call it Stormy Monday...

Not feeling well this morning. I hate writing about the way I feel on this because it seems stupid to me after I finish it and read it again. So I just end up erasing it every time. But today feels different than other days where I've woken up not feeling too well. As of late I havn't felt as much like myself. I doubt anyone can see that if they were around me, but it's just not the same as other things. And what do you know? I'm gonna stop writing now cause I already hate where this is going.

I went to see a show with my music theory teacher, Greg (whom I've mentioned before) last Friday night. He knew the band personally, and it was a small gig so I figured it would be time well spent. The show took place in an old brewery, but it was fixed up as a resturaunt/bar&pub. So all the old giant beer tanks were still there, it was fun. So anyway, when we got there we were the first people there, aside from the band members and a few sound tech guys. So he introduced me to the lead singer who looked rather familiar, and then I saw the guitarist who I knew I saw somewhere. And so we were introduced and before I had a chance to say anything he said "Yeah I've met you before", and other such things, and I remembered that I actually jammed with him once with Niles at a coffee house before he and the lead singer played a few songs (he was big and jolly looking so that only made the experience all that more delightful), and I, who sucks, said maybe two words and looked around awkwardly cause I dont know how to talk to anyone. But it was cool cause he sat down at the table we were at while he was warming up his fingers before the show started and talked with us a bit more so I'm sure I didnt seem like a total asshole. So the show started off a bit rocky, but it got better as it went on. Kind of funny actually. I kept waiting for the next song to be alittle worse than the one before cause the one before was really good, but they just kept getting better. So then at the set break we saw a guy from a magazine called 'Progression Magazine' (it's a progressive rock magazine in case you didn't figure that out). I would've said something to him cause Greg and the band members talked to him, but I've never read a single word from that magazine so I would've felt dishonest. So then the second set started and it was about 15 minutes into the first song (being a prgressive rock band they tend to have a number of lengthy songs) and Greg leaned over and told me that we should get going, and I asked if we could wait till the end of this song cause I figured it would be over in a minute or two, but he said "Well we'd have to wait about twenty minutes", and I laughed, thinking it was a joke cause they have some lengthy songs, and he said "No I'm serious, Mike (the guitarist) told me the first song would be about 35 minutes long". So I laughed again, because each section of the peice was farely difficult and thought out, so the fact that they would make it 35 minutes long was impressive to say the least. Anyway, so we stayed a few minutes longer and then left cause there was about an hour and a half drive back to Bridgewater. Anyway, enough of that.

Anyone do anything for the superbowl? because I sure as hell didn't. I practiced alittle, or attempted to, and I realized that I was intensly tired and I sucked at playing at that time so I stopped. Which reminds me, I need to change my strings. Good day.