Summer gigs

I've certainly enjoyed the outdoors gigs we've had so far this summer. We've got another this Saturday at the Brunswick Arts Fair in Brunswick,  Maine. I wonder what it's going to be like once we start playing indoors with all that "wattage" the guitars usually let loose!
The waitresses are not going ti like it!

Optimism (How I Stopped Listening to Myself and Got on With Success!)

Henry Ford once wrote "Don't find fault, find a remedy". Applied to ourselves, it might be stated as; Stop being pessimistic and be more optimistic! But how exactly does one go about being more optimistic when you're lying in bed at 3:30 in the morning assaulted by the problems you face? Telling yourself that "I'm going to be more optimistic" about such and such a situation just doesn't seem to work at times like these. The old "power of positive thought" is a pep talk that no longer carries weight and was little use to me. So if I can't talk myself into being positive without my mind drifting back into problems what was I (and possibly you) to do?
Stop talking negatively to ourselves. What is needed is an interruption to the flow of negative thoughts that run through our mind without restraint. However, to do this we must first be aware that they (our thoughts) are negative in the first place. Price Pritchett, author of "Hard Optimism: How to succeed in a world where positive wins" states "probably 70 percent of your negative thoughts slip past without your consciously perceiving them as being negative". So recognizing negative thinking when it occurs becomes the first exercise that we need in place. And the earlier the better as Pritchett states, "It's far easier to protect against negativity in its early stages than to overcome it successfully later on". This was originally an "a-ha" moment to my thinking, "I'll catch my mind talking myself down and out and that will be that", mistakenly thinking that now that it was something I was "aware" of, that would be the end of it. Not so, I soon discovered that negative conversations that I had stopped came back to life minutes, sometimes seconds later! This was and is, definitely going to be more work that I had originally thought.
All bad habits take work to get rid of, and this was going to be no different. The seed had been planted though, and I began regularly catching myself in a negative dialogue and ceasing it when it began popping up. In effect I was replacing a 'bad habit' with a good one. This effort must be relentlessly carried out if we're to allow room for constructive thinking. And this is just the beginning in dealing with a problem that can hold us back from a more creative, happier life. Put this first step into practice and you'll find that the body responds as well. No longer tensed up over difficult situations or people, it is more relaxed and unworried, avoiding the effects of stress and giving our mind the opportunity to entertain solutions to our problems. To start your path to a more optimistic life I recommend " Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life" by Martin E. P. Seligman. You can also enter the following phrase in your favorite search engine; recognizing negative thought patterns.

Now is the time to put an end to that "negative Nellie" haunting your thoughts. You spend more time talking to yourself than anyone else, so stop beating yourself up with pessimistic thoughts and make room for optimism in your life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Keyser

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7411649

An eye for inspiration

This past week I had accompanied my girlfriend to her annual convention of Maine Counties. Well, actually my band was hired to play after one of the dinners but I was there helping (a little) and enjoying the final days of summer. It was all pretty tiring but we made it to Friday, which was the free “Lobster Dinner” we were promised. Since it was at a park along Boothbay Harbor I brought the camera that I had remembered to pack. I had been thinking lately of doing some new creative work and I wanted to make a point of owning as many of the pictures that I use as possible ( avoid paying for someone Else’s work). So down to the waterfront I went with my old Sony 4mega pixel camera (one that I had bought five years ago to shoot images for eBay sales).

I must say that there was a wealth of imagery to shoot. The Sun was darting in and out of light cloud cover and it presented a good amount of light and shadow. I’m interested in the idea of repeating a image over and over in a piece of work (something I learned in my old design class), so I sought out some rock and sand formations. Along the way I spotted some nice shots so I snapped a couple.
The real fun came though when I started playing with the after effects in Picasa 3, Google’s free image software. I hope you enjoy these. Oh, and if you’re wondering what this has to do with playing drums, remember that I said my band did play one of the nights. I’ll talk about that in another post!

Cruising with the Grass Roots

Circa 1967 All rights reserved.

I have many a fond memory of my teenage years cruising listening to the "Grass Roots". Memorable songs like, "Midnight Confession", "Let's Live For Today", and "Temptation Eyes". So naturally they came to mind when I had the opportunity to play some "oldies" in a couple of bands. The bonus was that these songs are in my "range" and I could sing them as well as play drums. What a rush!

But, I didn't count on them being a problem for the instrumentalists to figure out the chord progressions. They had proved anything but easy for the band to do. Maybe it was because there were horn parts and they (guitarist and keyboardist) had no experience with charts for those instruments. Thus, they could not "cop" the riffs. At least not in any way that sounded right!
Just goes to show you that musicianship was pretty high "back in the day" and that we shouldn't assume because it's an "oldie", that it's a piece of cake to fake.

Would you play electronic drums at a jam session?

I received an invite for a jam session at the last minute yesterday. Since I'm now making an effort to get out and play as much as possible I quickly agreed. They always seems to come up at the worst times though, like when your weekend is already overbooked, over scheduled, or otherwise too busy to begin with. The players were people that I have worked with in some capacity, some more than others. I figured it be a jam with simple songs in a ABAB, AABB, or similar format. But I quickly learned that was not the case and I'd have to "work it" and not just sit back and listen to typical blues progression solos. The guitarist hosting the session is a Berklee Graduate and a veteran of the Boston version of  "Blue Man Group" (Core Redonnett).

As such, Core took us on a musical excursion of some of his compositions and I felt compelled to give it my best shot. It surprised me somewhat that I had to work that hard, as I had not played with that caliber of guitarist in some time. Core and I played in our church band together but obviously, well, you get the point.

What became a challenge for me was that I was using his Roland V- Drums when I'm pretty used to playing acoustic drums live. I do have a "built" electronic set that I use for practice, but don't find it very expressive to play on. In this case I had to deal with hard cymbal pad that were tiring (the mesh toms are fantastic) and a bass pedal that kept floating across the carpet. I also found myself kind of lost as the sound system for the drums was slightly ahead of me, off to each side. It did have plenty of power, though I hesitated to turn it up too much as I could not tell how loud it was for the rest of the players.
Eventually, I wised up and put on the headphones for the kit. Well, one ear anyway, and left one side off. This gave me the balance I was looking for. I also spent too much time "dialing" all the different kits and finally came to rest with the basic kit setup sans any fluffy sounds.

The next time out I hope to bring some real cymbals and a couple of acoustic snare drums. This, I'm sure will give me what I need to get the job done.   

Are there any drummers in the audience?

I live in Mid-Coast Maine, where there are certainly clubs and bands to play them. But for those of us (older) folks who want to get away from the bar scene it can be difficult to find a niche to play. Enter the "coffee house" scene, which has really taken off here in Maine. How can you go wrong? Coffee, free music (mostly) and perhaps a pastry or two.

The best part about this scene is that you can get home at an early hour, especially if you have to work the next day. The only thing I find wrong with this scene is the idea that you don't need a drummer. Sure, I understand, "we're not set up for it, man". Meaning, they don't want to deal with any kind of real P.A., a sound man, and getting yelled at by the waitress who can't hear her orders.
I'm still determined to get into the scene as a drummer though. And no, not as the tambourine player!
The Cajon drum is just what is needed. low volume, acoustic, and low profile. The benefit of this drum over other forms of hand percussion is that you can get a real snare/ bass groove going because of the low/high construction and the internal snares.
At this point I haven't seen too many (drummers) use them yet, so I want to break some ground here.
Don't get me wrong. You don't have to be a drummer to play one of these. But it certainly helps if you have rhythm!

Yard sales as an indicator of entertainment media trends

"All discs are 50 cents each or 3/ $1.00"

It may not be obviously  unless you're in retail music, but yard sales are a excellent indicator of music (and video) physical media treads. Think about the yard sales you've been to in the last year and the year before. Remember the VHS tapes occupying a lowly place among other "treasures" with a box sign that says "50 cents each". (It's okay to admit that you may have scooped up a handful, for that VCR that still occupies a space in your A/V rack).



Fast forward to last summer, where you could find DVDs for $1.00 to $3.00 each, with most selling for the former. Now, they're almost all but ignored (except by the folks who are a generation or two behind in technology). How long do you think it will be before Blu-Ray discs are found on your neighbor's front yard tables? It's likely that you've already pasted some by, without a second thought.

What has happened to the once proud disc? Think Cloud. There is now almost no need for physical media. There are a variety of cloud services available to the consumer like justcloud.com , soundcloud.com, mixcloud.com, and a wealth of others.  Wal-Mart will upload your discs to the "Cloud" for a minimal fee and you probably already have an external drive loaded with music and movies that you could move there as well.

Recently, I've seen tons of compact discs everywhere for 50 cents each and good stuff too. Music services like iTunes, Spotify, and Pandora have everything we want, so why bother? Well, at 50 cents you should buy discs you like and archive them. After all, who know what will happen after we break the bonds of plastic discs and are at the mercy of our cloud masters. (Well, I don't really believe that but there is no denying the sound quality of a compact disc recording versus an mp3). There are music file formats superior to standard mp3s, but we'll leave that for another discussion.

The only exception to all this upheaval seems to be that mystical sphere known as the vinyl record. Long play record albums to be exact. They're still being hoarded by vinyl junkies everywhere, myself included. Apparently there is something primal in us that's touched when the needle drops down on a vinyl disc. Much of the time I find myself in constant competition with others wherever there is a catch of these jewels. Of course, I'm referring to copies that have emerged from private collections unscathed by the ravages of outdoor flea markets, and not your dad's beat up copies siting in a box in the basement!

So which do you buy the next time you happen across a good yard sale? Well, that depends on your usage. Are you a young person (with lots of time) loading thousands of discs and songs to your iTunes account or someone who just wants to kick back on the sofa with a John Coltrane record lazily spinning on the turntable? As they say, "it's all good".