Friday, November 20, 2009

011 excited



It's not 18h55, and I am fairly tired. I spent about 3 hours today in the deepest regions of our library looking through 30+ years worth of journal articles searching for something that might be related to the research I am doing, but all I got out of it were dirty hands, a weird taste in my mouth and about 5 articles that may or may not be usable. Yeah! I guess it is not so bad though because I think after today I can finally say to myself that there are no articles for me to use, and now it's time to get down to writing.

Anyway, that is too work-related, but really after doing that all day, that is about the only thing on my mind; I feel quite spacey actually, and I can see why after many years of such activity we have terms like the mad professor or the mad scientist. Who wouldn't go mad after ingesting dust for two hours? But seriously, I kind of like it, being amongst old books for extended periods of time. I have often said that I would like to have my own study filled with books, but alas, technology is killing the book, and it is only a matter of time, albeit a long time still, I hope, but nevertheless, I can see one day when Where's Waldo books will be displayed in a museum and children will be asking their teacher, 'What's that?' and the teacher not knowing really what it is will ask the caretaker for the answer. On the plus side though, we would be saving a lot of trees, but as we all know, that is only one of many things we have to do to save our planet, but I won't get into that because, well, I am sure there are more informed blogs out there on such a topic, and I am not that informed.

So, moving along, tonight's song (Oh yeah, I just remembered that I still have to talk about my influences...well, let's leave that until another time, shall we?). I have to say that I like writing these really short numbers, with very simple lyrics. Of course, if I were to play them live, which I have thought about recently, I would have to try to add to them, but then again, perhaps they are OK as they are, and I shouldn't add anything because I could end up ruining the song if I did. It would be interesting to hear people's opinions on me playing 1-2 minute songs. Of course, there have been 1-2 minute songs, but every song only 1-2 minutes. Hmmm...maybe some punk bands come to mind, but even bands like The Ramones had longer songs, didn't they? Let's see...


I wanna be sedated


2:26 minutes. Well, a little longer than 2 minutes, but, who's complaining? It's The Ramones!

I also just noticed Ed the Sock in that video. Any Canadians reading this blog should automatically know who he is/was?, but he was a host on MuchMusic in the 90's. I think he even had his own talk show at one point, but I don't really remember. If you're interested, here's a link to his bio:

Ed the Sock (Sorry, only in English)

OK, I must be tired because this is the third time writing about tonight's song. I was going to post another song, you see, and so in the title area, had written the name of that song, but then I changed my mind and posted another, but forgot to change the name in the title section and so as a result, and of course due to fatigue or dusty spaciness, I deleted what I had written first, which was actually for the correct song, then rewrote it for the imaginary one, and now I'm back to square one, and I think I am tired because I think this paragraph is somewhat ungrammatical, but I'll let you decide. Anyway tonight's song is one that I'd like to open a set with. It's a very simple song, but the lyrics are sort of dark. Definitely worth working on.

Cheers,
alexander

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

010 the light is gone



It's now 20h13, and I really should be going home. I started posting today on another blog - yes, that's right I have several in fact - and it took a little longer than expected. Who would have thought that pronouncing the name Abdullah would take so long? Anyway, here is the link if you are interested,

The Wonderful World of Words or How many words do you know?

Actually, this is a second attempt at this blog because back in the summer I was posting, but on wordpress. However, unfortunately, wordpress does not have free audio and blogger does (Yeah for blogger, boo for wordpress!), so here I am. At first, I was considering simple text and leaving it at that, but finally decided to record the posts, mainly so that I could have the chance to practice the pronunciation of the new words I come across. Yes, that's right, the blog is pretty much a vocabulary notebook for me, but I think anyone interested in vocabulary, especially the more uncommon words, may find this interesting. I also started this blog in order to improve my own vocabulary because let me tell you, I really need to, especially if things work out next year.

I guess I should just come out and say it because, nah, I won't just yet. Suspense, you got to like it, eh?

However, I have to say that having all these blogs can be a little risky because they can get time-consuming take today's wonderful world of words post for example, but I think that once I get used to recording the blog it will get better and besides, not every sentence will have complicated pronunciation. Of course, it's not that the pronunciation is difficult, but I am somewhat of a perfectionist, so I did not want to mess up on the pronunciation of Abdullah, although in the end, I probably did. Sorry!

I still haven't decided how often I will post, but ideally every evening would be nice. It would force me to read more, and since it is vocabulary practice, learning 5 or so words a week would be reasonable considering my schedule. As for the music blog, which I should get back to, I am hoping for twice or maybe three times a week, maybe Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Well, I was going to talk a little bit more about my influences, but the other blog kind of took my time, so I won't go into that tonight, but I must say I was surprised to hear, and I apologize for being so behind in the news, that Aerosmith and Oasis are both without someone vital to the group, Aerosmith's vocalist Steven Tyler, and Oasis's guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher. Pretty crazy, eh? I never really listened to Aerosmith though, but one of their songs that I like even today is one of their older ones, Dream On, a great song that I recommend you check out if you haven't heard it. Let's see if I can get a link:

Dream On

As for Oasis, I think I first heard them when I was working at home. I think it was the year I took off from university, and that summer I was working on a website or something, I don't really remember, but Definitely Maybe and What's the story, morning glory? were awesome albums. After those, I kind of stopped listening, but some of the songs on those two albums that I really liked were Slide Away, Live Forever, Hello, Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger, She's Electric and Champagne Supernova. Here are some links for your listening pleasure:

Live Forever

Wonderwall

Don't Look Back in Anger

Champagne Supernova

I am not sure if I learned them all, but I definitely remember learning Slide Away, Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova. Unfortunately, I would not be able to play them now if you asked me to, or maybe that's not so unfortunate. Honestly, I prefer originals any day than covers.

Well, OK, I have to stop here because I just noticed the time and I have to go. Tonight's song, 'the light is gone' is actually quite Oasis-like. Whether that is a good thing or not, that is for you to decide. I think this song may be nice as well as an opener - I find it difficult to write good opener songs as most of them seem to be better suited to ending a concert. Hey, maybe I could start a trend of ending the concert multiple times! Hmmm, maybe not such a good idea.

Cheers,
alexander

Friday, November 13, 2009

Don't leave or Work it out? Which do you like more as a title?



It's 17h33. It's really windy outside, and I think it calls for rain, so I shouldn't stay here too long because I didn't bring my umbrella this morning.

Well, I can't believe it, but this is my second post this week! I hope that this will continue, but like all things in life, one can never be sure. What I need to do in order to make this work is set a day or days when I post and try to stick to those days. That way I can develop a schedule and not be so sporadic with my posts.

In my last post, I listed some of the bands that have influenced me and my music over the years. I thought that today I would pick one of those groups and talk about the album that affected me the most musically, and I think today I will talk a little about Pearl Jam. It seems that where I am, most people don't know who they are. Well, I won't go into their history because it would take forever and would involve some background research on my part, so instead here are some links that may help.

Pearl Jam - Wikipedia (Japanese)

Pearl Jam - Wikipedia (English)

Pearl Jam - Official Site

To be honest, it's been a while since I listened to them. The last album I bought was Yield, so that can give you an idea. I don't know why, but for me, after Yield, I just couldn't get into their new sound, if that's what you could call it. However, I have recently listened to their last few albums and I think there may be some renewed promise, but for me the albums that really affected me would be Ten, Vs, Vitalogy and to a lesser degree No Code and Yield. Definitely, the first three were amazing for me. I still remember when I got Ten. I had joined a music club, BGM or something like that, and had received my 10 free cassettes, and if I remember correctly, there were some really nasty choices in there, which I don't remember or choose not remember and will never reveal to anyone. Needless to say, Ten was the diamond in the rough, and almost every evening, I would sing along to songs like Deep, Once, Black or Even Flow. They were all amazing. Then Vs came out and it was crazier with songs like Daughter and Rear View Mirror, and finally Vitalogy with Better Man, Corduroy, Last Exit, Spin The Black Circle, Not For You, Tremor Christ and Nothingman, a beautiful song that probably was one of the most influential for me melody-wise. While No Code and Yield were not as exciting for me, Lukin was and still is awesome to listen to, and Who You Are was really atmospheric, really cool.

Of course, there were other songs that I really liked especially State of Love and Trust and I got Id and The Long Road from the Merkinball single. Actually, here is the link for I got Id,

I got Id

OK, well I could go on, but it's getting late and I should get going, so here is the song for today. I am not sure what to call it as the title shows, but I think both could work. The song is quite mellow I think, and could even be an opener for a concert. I can imagine starting with that one and then following it up with something really heavy. Well, it seems that I spent all my energy on Pearl Jam because I feel I have nothing left to say except enjoy the links and enjoy my track and until next time, take care!

cheers,
alexander

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wide Open Skies



It's 17h59. I haven't been outside yet, so I don't really know what the weather is like, but this morning it was pretty cold, and I forgot my mittens!

Well, things are pretty much back to normal; I am referring to my cold, high fever, sore muscles from not playing sports enough and then my bicycle accident and broken bottle of sake. I have had three bad things happen to me, so there should be something positive to come, and I think I may have already received one - the deadline for my paper has been extended to the end of March, so I will have a lot more time to work on it than expected. I won't go into too much detail because for many of you who may be reading this it gets quite technical, but my paper will focus on modal auxiliary verbs and futurity, and whether the structure Modal Auxiliary + Have + -ED is acceptable or not in a future context, especially the modal auxiliary should. However, despite the extension, it may be in my best interest to get it finished as soon as possible because if things work out as I hope they will, I will become considerably busier in January, so I really should clear my schedule as soon as possible.

Anyway, enough about that, this blog is not exactly for me to talk about my life per se, but rather to introduce to you the Internet my music while keeping a record of my music samples, because so far that is what I've been posting here. Speaking of which, the song for today called 'Wide Open Skies' was another of many of spontaneous melodies that just came out of the sky so to speak. I forget what I was doing at the time, but I think I was recording something else when this caught my attention. I have to say though that it sounds a lot like Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, one of my early influences. Actually, I was thinking of doing this later, but hey, what the hell. Here are some of my influences, and I will try my best to put them in order.

Pearl Jam
Nirvana
Oasis
Blur
Foo Fighters
Dave Matthews Band
Ben Harper
Rufus Wainwright
Radiohead
Coldplay
The Strokes
John Mayer
Jazz

I know that there probably have been many more. Also, Jazz refers to a countless assortment of musicians, ranging from Stan Getz to Django to Chet Baker to Duke Ellington, just to name a few. Also, and I will leave this for another day, I was not influenced by all the music that each of those groups produced, but rather at different times in my life, certain albums in particular stood out for me. Honestly, and this is probably a little strange considering I love playing writing and playing music so much, I don't listen to much music now. I sometimes hear things on Youtube or other sites, but really I do not listen to music as I used to.

Well, I think I'll leave it at that tonight. I hope you all like the song. If you want to leave a comment in Japanese, English or French, here is my address:

sneakergroove(a)hotmail.com

Cheers or Tchao, as they say in French.
alexander

Sunday, November 1, 2009

song 20



It's 6h02 and it's very cold outside. Winter is definitely on its way.

Well, I won't be writing too much today because dinner is almost ready, but this week has definitely been a hard one physically. Monday to about Friday, I was sick, Tuesday being the worst day with me spending the whole day drugged up on cold syrup in bed. I did get to watch Lord of the Rings, something I hadn't done in a while, so it was not all bad. I even got to take a couple of days off work, so I suppose that wasn't too bad either. Yesterday, however, I was on my way home when I had an accident. I was about to cross the street when I somehow, I still don't know how I managed to do this, brought up in a drain grate with the result that I ate pavement hard. Unfortunately, the bottle of sake did not survive, nor did my pants, nor did my right knee and shoulder, but on the bright side, I was able to save a third of the bottle of sake, the rest, well, soaking my bookbag, something else which surprised me because the sake was in a plastic bag, and the plastic bag looked intact, so how did the sack end up in the bottom of my bag is beyond me. My knee has healed quite nicely although the road burn I got well stings a little even now. My shoulder, although I did not go to the hospital, seems better, but is still quite sore and I am waiting for the bruise to appear. However, what surpises and relieves me the most at the same time is the fact that I did not hit any cars. The drain that I brought up in was located between the sidewalk and the road. I saw that the light was flashing so figured I had enough time to cut between the sidewalk and the car to the crosswalk, when my bicycle just stopped and I went flying landing on my shoulder. I got up and walked my bicycle to the sidewalk, but not once did anyone come up to me saying that I hit their car. How I was able to avoid any cars is beyond me, but definitely the bright point of the evening because as the cars were stopped, it would have been my responsibility if I had scratched someone's car.

Well, I am sure that next week will be better because after this past one, it cannot get any worse. I do feel 90% recovered from the flu or the cold or whatever I had so it is now just the arm and knee, but it's really the arm that worries me more. I just have to be careful from now on.

OK. Due to having the cold this past week, I have not had the voice to record anything decent, so here is a piece from a while ago. I still have not been able to think of a proper title for it, so I went with 'Song 20'. It's kind of catchy, more of a relaxed song, but I can't help think that it reminds me something that John Mayer might record if he were missing a G-string. Let me know what you think.

Good night
alexander