http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/cl-et-vanhalenfeb23,0,932790.story?coll=la-home-entertainment
Read it and weep, if you will. Some fine journalism regardless of your opinion.
Could it be that God is punishing Van Halen for kicking out Michael Anthony? (I have mixed feelings about Eddie's son playing bass- it's a strange mixture of family sweetness and pure rockstar dysfunction, and it ain't VH without Mike.) Or could it be that Eddie's impetuous personality has finally caught up with him?
Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Finally new music...
Well, here's what I choose to do in the middle of finals weekend: finally update my Myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/nickfederinkosolo
I have been informed by several people that the wait for new material has just been unbearable, so even though I was kind of waiting to knock everybody out (yeah right) all at once with four finished songs, I will put up two things I have now so everyone can get a hint of what I've been up to.
And I'm going back to my studio at home in less than a week so I should be finishing up the things I was waiting on...they'll be up soon :)
For now, I present to you "654" and "The Overpass Song". The first, "654", was literally the first thing I created in the year 2007 (aside from "creating" a piss first thing in the morning). I got back from New Years, spending the night at the Radisson in K-town and crashing a "James Bond" tuxedo affair....in my jeans and baseball cap. It was a fun experience that was rife with imagery of glamour, glitz, and shallow decay disguised as expensive alcohol. I used my new Roland Jazz Chorus amp and banged out a jazz progression that came to me pretty fast. I played all the instruments on this song on my Protools setup. I sought to capture the feel of John Lennon's later material mixed with Pink Floyd, and I ended up with a sweet Steely Dan guitar solo after like 20 takes.
I also play everything on "The Overpass Song." This is currently just an instrumental demo of a bigger idea I have (hence the lack of downloadability, so it can't come back to haunt me), but I think it's a fun little ditty so I'm putting it up. The big snare and overprominent bass drum were supposed to rip off the Killers, but my mom said it reminds her of the Who. Still an excellent group to rip off.
Please offer up any feedback you have. I hope I've brightened your day, warmed your soul, made you look to the sky and think of higher things, or at least given you something to do. Stay cool, America.
Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed
Have you ever heard James Earl Jones read the Bible?
I have, on my Ipod (which used to be my dad's IPod until I fried my IPods batteries, and I asked him why he wasn't using his), the Bible as read by Darth Vader. It's pretty intense. That booming voice...it's like having the toughest preacher ever.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
NO CLASS TODAY!!! SNOW DAY!!!
Snow Day in college!!!
It is windy and biting out there. This was a nice surprise as I was getting ready to leave for my 9 o'clock and wondering how I was gonna squeeze my work in between classes.
Thank God for small favors.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Thank God I didn't watch the Grammys....(MURDER OF HOTEL CALIFORNIA)
Even though I was told the Police reunion was solid, I read something in the news today that made me so happy I didn't watch the Grammys.
Rascal Flatts covered Hotel California.
Let that sink in for a second. Hotel California- one of the greatest epic rock songs ever written, for both lyrics and music- was covered by Rascal Flatts- a midtempo pop-country band shallowly adored for their clean cut good looks by pretty much any attractive girl. (Nine times out of ten, if you ask an attractive girl whether they like Rascal Flatts, they will answer "I LOVE Rascal Flatts!". Disclaimer: quote is not statisticaly significant and is instead utter bollocks.)
What blasphemy! This is like having a live TV special with Hinder covering "Stairway to Heaven", or Lil Jon covering Tupac's "Changes", or Nickelback covering "Hey Jude" **.
You can't fuck with the classics, especially if you are nowhere near the level of the original artist. If a band with "classic" status covered a song with "classic" status, it'd be a bit more forgivable- for instance, if someone like U2 or Pearl Jam did such a cover, it wouldn't be bad, because these artists have earned credibility. But Rascal Flatts, daring to touch one of the greatest songs of all time?
No respect.
CLARIFICATION- If a small, local band is covering a song like "Hotel California" to get people grooving at a bar, it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. You're playing for the joy of playing, and possibly to get drinks and/or a hookup. The problem with Rascal Flatts is that not only are they very successful with their own material (unlike a small local band) and not in need of flashy covers, but they did this cover on TV in front of millions. If they did it at one of their concerts, where people paid to see them (and their own style when they play both their own music and others' music), this could even be acceptable. But for a very new popular band to cover "Hotel California", on TV, to an audience of millions, endorsed by the Grammys, is unacceptable.
Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed
**I'd make a snide comment about Shinedown covering "Simple Kind of Man", but I will admit to the guilty pleasure of loving their singer's voice on that cover.
Rascal Flatts covered Hotel California.
Let that sink in for a second. Hotel California- one of the greatest epic rock songs ever written, for both lyrics and music- was covered by Rascal Flatts- a midtempo pop-country band shallowly adored for their clean cut good looks by pretty much any attractive girl. (Nine times out of ten, if you ask an attractive girl whether they like Rascal Flatts, they will answer "I LOVE Rascal Flatts!". Disclaimer: quote is not statisticaly significant and is instead utter bollocks.)
What blasphemy! This is like having a live TV special with Hinder covering "Stairway to Heaven", or Lil Jon covering Tupac's "Changes", or Nickelback covering "Hey Jude" **.
You can't fuck with the classics, especially if you are nowhere near the level of the original artist. If a band with "classic" status covered a song with "classic" status, it'd be a bit more forgivable- for instance, if someone like U2 or Pearl Jam did such a cover, it wouldn't be bad, because these artists have earned credibility. But Rascal Flatts, daring to touch one of the greatest songs of all time?
No respect.
CLARIFICATION- If a small, local band is covering a song like "Hotel California" to get people grooving at a bar, it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. You're playing for the joy of playing, and possibly to get drinks and/or a hookup. The problem with Rascal Flatts is that not only are they very successful with their own material (unlike a small local band) and not in need of flashy covers, but they did this cover on TV in front of millions. If they did it at one of their concerts, where people paid to see them (and their own style when they play both their own music and others' music), this could even be acceptable. But for a very new popular band to cover "Hotel California", on TV, to an audience of millions, endorsed by the Grammys, is unacceptable.
Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed
**I'd make a snide comment about Shinedown covering "Simple Kind of Man", but I will admit to the guilty pleasure of loving their singer's voice on that cover.
Friday, February 9, 2007
INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE WEEK!
Read up on this guy...a mathematical genius beyond anything we could imagine, and all because of epilepsy and the disorder of synthesia- where the senses mix together (i.e seeing music as colors). Here, Daniel Tammet is able to solve incredibly complex math problems and calculate Pi to thousands of decimal places because he can visualize numbers as colors and mix them.
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/danieltammet.html
Wow. What does this say about what our human minds are truly capable of?
Peace and God bless,
Nick
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/danieltammet.html
Wow. What does this say about what our human minds are truly capable of?
Peace and God bless,
Nick
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Why Live Theatre Is Incredible
Opening night of our 1960s adaptation of 12th Night, and it went outstandingly well. Small crowd, but a very engaged one, and it fed the energy of the show.
One of the most exciting moments of the night actually was an accident. At one point, Sir Toby Belch (played excellently by our good man Robert) hits a button on an eight track player, and "Get Off Of My Cloud" is supposed to be cued and a wild dance number ensues. Tonight, he hit the button, and nothing happened. As the silence grew longer, the uneasy feeling that something had gone wrong sank into those in the pit.
Toby Belch (Robert) looks over at us and asks us "You guys got anything?" I tentatively hit a quick note and stop, unsure of what to do. Our bassist and bandleader Greg, sitting behind drums for a bit while our drummer had a percussion ensemble commitment, starts a rough, raw, fast beat much like the one of the planned sound cue. I come in, trying my damndest to play the chords of "Get Offa My Cloud". BJ stars playing lead on his acoustic. Our director, Lloyd, sitting at the piano, flips through his charts trying to find out what sheet music we're playing. A few seconds later, the cast starts dancing as planned. Robert climbs on a table and belts "Louie Louie" over the groove. All is well with the world.
Our stage manager, Marci, gives us an exaggerated Buddhist "bow of honor" and a huge thank you. We play out the first half of the show...and when we walk off into the green room, the cast is waiting to give us a round of applause and thank us for "pulling something amazing out of our asses." The warm feeling of success, creation, musicality, and improvised well-execution rushes over me.
I remember in high school we did a production of Anything Goes (the first show where I played guitar in the pit) and one character played by my good man John H had a machine gun that he first refers to as "Putt Putt Putt". One night, another character knocked the gun onto the floor and it fell apart. John H, without missing a beat, yells "You broke Putt Putt!" The audience was in stitches, and so was the cast- it was easily one of the most memorable moments of the whole run.
It is this delicate, fluid quality of live theatre that is so incredible. And it's not just the possibility that something doesn't go as planned- it's the possibility that something unplanned can actually work out better, having the desired effect on the audience, and also bringing an indescribable rush of joy to those who know, and appreciate, the contrast between what sucessfully happened and what was supposed to happen.
Peace and God bless,
Nick
One of the most exciting moments of the night actually was an accident. At one point, Sir Toby Belch (played excellently by our good man Robert) hits a button on an eight track player, and "Get Off Of My Cloud" is supposed to be cued and a wild dance number ensues. Tonight, he hit the button, and nothing happened. As the silence grew longer, the uneasy feeling that something had gone wrong sank into those in the pit.
Toby Belch (Robert) looks over at us and asks us "You guys got anything?" I tentatively hit a quick note and stop, unsure of what to do. Our bassist and bandleader Greg, sitting behind drums for a bit while our drummer had a percussion ensemble commitment, starts a rough, raw, fast beat much like the one of the planned sound cue. I come in, trying my damndest to play the chords of "Get Offa My Cloud". BJ stars playing lead on his acoustic. Our director, Lloyd, sitting at the piano, flips through his charts trying to find out what sheet music we're playing. A few seconds later, the cast starts dancing as planned. Robert climbs on a table and belts "Louie Louie" over the groove. All is well with the world.
Our stage manager, Marci, gives us an exaggerated Buddhist "bow of honor" and a huge thank you. We play out the first half of the show...and when we walk off into the green room, the cast is waiting to give us a round of applause and thank us for "pulling something amazing out of our asses." The warm feeling of success, creation, musicality, and improvised well-execution rushes over me.
I remember in high school we did a production of Anything Goes (the first show where I played guitar in the pit) and one character played by my good man John H had a machine gun that he first refers to as "Putt Putt Putt". One night, another character knocked the gun onto the floor and it fell apart. John H, without missing a beat, yells "You broke Putt Putt!" The audience was in stitches, and so was the cast- it was easily one of the most memorable moments of the whole run.
It is this delicate, fluid quality of live theatre that is so incredible. And it's not just the possibility that something doesn't go as planned- it's the possibility that something unplanned can actually work out better, having the desired effect on the audience, and also bringing an indescribable rush of joy to those who know, and appreciate, the contrast between what sucessfully happened and what was supposed to happen.
Peace and God bless,
Nick
Monday, February 5, 2007
this ever changing world in which we live in
Had to start with a Paul McCartney quote. How else to start anything on the right foot?
So my mom, in a bout of her usual Internet paranoia, decided to go to this site and look up registered sex offenders in our neighborhood. Pretty scary, to say the least. Looking at the pictures of the offenders, it makes you shudder; you can see in their eyes and face that something just isn't right. Something has snapped inside and these people have become consumed with horrific, evil desires to do things that are far below humanity.
I've read statistics, I've seen bits of the MSNBC "To Catch a Predator", I've spoken with our resident expert on crime, Dr. Durkin....but I can't make up my mind as to the level of fear I should hold. Clearly there are lots of twisted people willing to do horrible things out there. That can't be denied. (The question of "Why does God allow this stuff to exist in this world?" is one for another day...)
But how much can you worry, or rather, how much can you turn a blind eye? To one extreme, you can totally shut your eyes. You can pretend this kind of evil doesn't exist, turn up the happy music, and live in denial. To the other extreme, you can see yourself as a warrior, always having to be on guard, always fighting to protect yourself from the worst kind of evil, being overly cautious and paranoid, and never going outside alone for fear of what might happen.
Shit happens in this world, no matter how prepared or "aware" you are of it. Tragic accidents, violent crime...these things happen to people who fear it and to people who don't expect it. May God grant that none of us ever are faced with the horrible kind of evil these offenders represent.
You can't prevent awful things from happening, but you might also be able to take steps to avoid them. But what steps are too far? Let's return to our two extremes: You could never get in a car for fear of crashing, never talk to new people for fear they might be a psycho killer (fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa), never enjoy a nice solitary walk outside for fear of being attacked...or you could blindly assume everyone you see is safe and that "nothing will ever happen to me". Two extremes. Where is the balance?
The problem with a "moderate" stance, as with anything in the middle, is that there's no clearly defined answer. I guess one just has to try their damndest to be cautious without being paranoid, be outgoing without being unaware of potential danger. I also think we have an instinct, a way of picking up "vibes" from people. Brian Wilson sang about "good vibrations", and we can also pick up bad ones; that uneasy feeling you get seeing a picture of a rapist tells you something on a primal level, that on some subconscious level something is not right. This instinct can be a useful thing. Oh yeah, and you should probably ask God for guidance too, of course. He knows. Everything.
Thoughts?
So my mom, in a bout of her usual Internet paranoia, decided to go to this site and look up registered sex offenders in our neighborhood. Pretty scary, to say the least. Looking at the pictures of the offenders, it makes you shudder; you can see in their eyes and face that something just isn't right. Something has snapped inside and these people have become consumed with horrific, evil desires to do things that are far below humanity.
I've read statistics, I've seen bits of the MSNBC "To Catch a Predator", I've spoken with our resident expert on crime, Dr. Durkin....but I can't make up my mind as to the level of fear I should hold. Clearly there are lots of twisted people willing to do horrible things out there. That can't be denied. (The question of "Why does God allow this stuff to exist in this world?" is one for another day...)
But how much can you worry, or rather, how much can you turn a blind eye? To one extreme, you can totally shut your eyes. You can pretend this kind of evil doesn't exist, turn up the happy music, and live in denial. To the other extreme, you can see yourself as a warrior, always having to be on guard, always fighting to protect yourself from the worst kind of evil, being overly cautious and paranoid, and never going outside alone for fear of what might happen.
Shit happens in this world, no matter how prepared or "aware" you are of it. Tragic accidents, violent crime...these things happen to people who fear it and to people who don't expect it. May God grant that none of us ever are faced with the horrible kind of evil these offenders represent.
You can't prevent awful things from happening, but you might also be able to take steps to avoid them. But what steps are too far? Let's return to our two extremes: You could never get in a car for fear of crashing, never talk to new people for fear they might be a psycho killer (fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa), never enjoy a nice solitary walk outside for fear of being attacked...or you could blindly assume everyone you see is safe and that "nothing will ever happen to me". Two extremes. Where is the balance?
The problem with a "moderate" stance, as with anything in the middle, is that there's no clearly defined answer. I guess one just has to try their damndest to be cautious without being paranoid, be outgoing without being unaware of potential danger. I also think we have an instinct, a way of picking up "vibes" from people. Brian Wilson sang about "good vibrations", and we can also pick up bad ones; that uneasy feeling you get seeing a picture of a rapist tells you something on a primal level, that on some subconscious level something is not right. This instinct can be a useful thing. Oh yeah, and you should probably ask God for guidance too, of course. He knows. Everything.
Thoughts?
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Philosophy, Superbowl, Theatre, Courtesy Vans....
Wow, that title is a mouthful. I basically wanted to do seperate blog entries for each item, but I've been really busy (and my soul will be consumed by Twelth Night for the next week) so I'm gonna write a little bit about each item. But first....some heavy stuff.
-Today I ordered Padrones' breadsticks with Marinara sauce. Delicious. I did the usual thing of dipping in the sauce before each bite...and then I took a bite of plain bread by itself. I was struck by the warmth of the dough, its softness, the grease on my fingers....I realized that although the sauce adds something, there's also a benefit to isolating a specific small thing and appreciating it as it is. It should be like that with all of life. We tend to fill up with so many different obligations and activities, creating a crazy "mix" of "flavors"...but do we ever appreciate the small things? How much do we fail to appreciate even the things we hate like walking in the wind or climbing out of bed? Let the web of implications unfold....
-Speaking of the web of implications, I've been working with BJ and Greg from the famous Enough for our performance of Shakespeare's 12th Night. We're basically performing the original Shakespeare, but in a 1960s setting with a backing band, and some sweet new original 60s style songs by Jon Negus. He's actually flown to ONU to help us with the material. It's been really busy but it's also a blast. When I was in our first long rehearsal on Saturday, I remembered why I love the theatre. People hanging out and wisecracking and doing whatever they can to survive extensive rehearsals. It's always a great time. Now if only I could act...
-Ah, the Superbowl. What can be said? I didn't get to see much of the game because of the aforementioned rehearsal. I'm a Bears fan, but I knew realistically the Colts would dominate them. Great defense or not, Grossman's inconsistency was gonna be the death of Da Bears eventually. Oh well. We made it to the Big Game, for the first time in a while, and now we're prepped to go again next year! The only bad part is now I have to hear the Colts get sucked off by the press (and their fans) this whole week.
-One thing our school did re: the Superbowl that made me smile was our cafeteria menu. They had two lines, Bears (Chicago-style chili dogs) vs. Colts (country chicken + mashed potatoes). I also got a fuzzy feeling today when I read our school was offering courtesy vans that you could call to take you from your dorm to class, avoiding the freezing wind. Our school is so heartwarmingly nice sometimes. I love this place.
If music be the food of love, play on!
Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed
Nick Fed
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