Slappin Da Bass (Weekend Edition)

Okay, cue the music. It's time to get the weekend started.

"Slappin da bass mon"

I've recently noticed that my musical adventures have become a sad ritual of standing in the middle of my living room and cranking the stereo until the amp fans kick on and it's near the point of overload. This is usually mixed with air guitar/drumming and the consumption of a weeks worth of coffee.  As a former drummer in a long list of actual bands, this makes me sad. I need to PLAY music, not just playback music.

Now that I have this studio and it's full of everything I need to drive my neighbors crazy, you'd think that I'd be all over that on a daily basis. The dream, right? Well, unfortunately, most of the action my gear has seen in the last few years has involved a dust rag the occasional tuning. SAD. STORY.


Where my bros at? Where my homies at? (just before at)

How did we all* allow this to happen? (*you know who you are)


The good news? This is an easy fix. A time machine and a little practice and we'll be right back in the hunt for early 2000's music stardom. Or maybe we'll just settle for playing a few shows a year and be happy with getting out of the house for something other than a grocery or hardware store errand. Yeah, probably the second one. Okay... that too might be a stretch.

I guess that's not really a fix at all. Hmm. Anywho...

It's time to play some music. An hour here or there, maybe a day on the weekend. Let's just play something.

I'm tired of my musical adventures looking like the above but feeling more like this...

"Slappin the mon with a bass"

Happy Weekend! 

Topics of insanity...

(This is my second attempt at this post. Blogger apparently thought that my first attempt was too awesome and forgot of its existence(and previous saves) once I hit post.)

Anywho...

You totally clicked the link and you may as well stay for the "story".

I'm finding that words are easy to come by. The hard part? Finding the photos in my "library" that will aid in a greater explanation of my ramblings.

"I'll have that photo for you in jiffy, Mr. Nealis"

You see, I kind of have a problem with hoarding data. This has compounded over the years and now I'm left with a myriad of hard drives so full of unorganized data that I'd probably have better luck drilling a hole through the earth with a spork than actually being able to attain any one file at a moment's notice. The bright side? I know that I have at least three copies of everything.

"I think I've found the folder"

So what does all of that actually mean? It means the greatest stories ever told by mankind are going to be delayed a little. Why should you care? You shouldn't(and don't) and you can go about your merry way.

Future topics will include:

- You finally finished the studio!

- And... fatherhood.

- Are you going to restore that thing or what?

- I thought your wife bought you a beer brewing kit?

- Are you addicted to buying speakers?

- Sega Genesis vs SNES (I'll need some helpers for this one)

- Did I hear that you used to play in a band?

- Fun with Cheese

- Whisk(e)y

- Have you always hoarded electronics?


Excited yet? Me neither. Just smile and nod.

Empty Promises...

So about that time I created a blog and did nothing with it for three years, yada yada yada...

Here's a quick update. I'm older, I've seen a lot more of the World, I've had a few more jobs, Minecraft, and I'm a Dad. I'm probably leaving out a few details, but I'll get to those. This little corner of nowhere will now hopefully be filled with random stories and tidbits from the last few years and slowly work its way into the present.

Excited yet?

Hold on to your hats, kids. It's going to be an exciting ride through history... or not.

I think I'm going to write a book after the first week of May entitled, "How to prep for a half-marathon in 30 days" or "How to make one's body collapse in complete exhaustion". Either will probably work. I guess we'll find out.

I just hope I won't look like this guy...

I'm going to stick with it, for real this time

This is my pre-New Years resolution. Starting today, I'm actually going to start blogging my daily thoughts on here rather than facebook. Stay tuned...

I've got worms... sorta.

Okay, I'm gonna be a little lazy with this post and take the easy way out with a reference link.

Today, I have a song stuck in my head. Yesterday, I had a song stuck in my head. Tomorrow, I'll probably have a song stuck in my head. Reason why? It's called ohrwurm, which translates from German to earworm. Yup, that's right boys and girls, I have a worm stuck in my ear. Apparently, it was placed there at my birth. Here is a section of the linked article:

"A more promising line of investigation in my opinion is to focus on the earworminess of particular songs. Una contacted the office of James Kellaris, a professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati who’s styled himself “Dr. Earworm” after years studying the subject, to learn more about a theory of his known as “cognitive itch.” According to Kellaris, “certain pieces of music may have properties that excite an abnormal reaction in the brain” — in other words, your brain detects something extraordinary or unusual about the music that compels attention. Your brain tries to process the itch by repeating it, which only makes things worse — not unlike an epidermal itch. Kellaris finds the music most likely to cause an earworm has one or more of three key qualities: repetitiveness, simplicity, and what he calls incongruity, often an unexpected rhythmic variation." - Full article here

The last line of the above paragraph seems to best explain my current situation. For the last two weeks I've had this song playing over and over in my head, headphones, Youtube, and Google searches. It has even managed to infiltrate my dreams.

The song?

Frank Zappa's Saint Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast.



This song, for me, pretty much has everything. It has a funky and catchy beat with a lot of difficult changes. The actual music is just too much to even try to explain. It's just Zappa. That should say a lot. It's a breath of fresh air from what most of us would consider the norm. It's also doing a fantastic job of sending my already somewhat obsessive Zappa habit to a new "redonkulous" level.

Honestly, I love that this song is stuck in my head and my secret/dirty/hidden at the bottom goal today was to get it stuck in yours too!

Enjoy!

Friday, Best day of the week?

Friday. It's the day of the week that a lot of us look forward to the most. Well, unless you're a retail employee. Then it's the day you probably fear the most. For the rest of us it is the day that marks the end of the work week and the beginning of freedom. Like being released from prison. Now, I don't care if you love your job or not, it's still something that you have to do while the weekend is yours to make all your own. Monday through Friday I'm an IT guy, but on Saturday and Sunday I can be anything I want. I can become a sloth-like creature that consumes thousands of calories worth of Pringles while watching dorky 80's movies. I can become proactive in the community and help others who are less fortunate. I can even become a rock star(in my basement). It's all up to me.

But why pick Friday as the best day? Why not Saturday or Sunday? For me it's because Friday is the magic day. It's both the day of release and the day of planning. It's a fresh start and you have a whole evening to plan it, unless it's this week.

This week I'm lucky enough to get two Fridays. That's right... It's 5:00pm on Thursday and I'm officially off work for the weekend.

I think I'll call it Frursday!