every time she makes a point i make a counterpoint
this is an awesome little ditty that i found in the 'rants' section of the SM site:
better, late, never, you know the cliche
so i’ve written a small stack of rants that i’ll never post as each one tops the last in its cheese factor. i do want to say something, however, about the last (and coincidentally our first) show, despite this being the eve of our second show, the follow-up show, the show where we take what we learned and what made us cringe the first time around and learn from it, slowly whittling away something that will leave no concrete evidence of its own existence besides a spot in people’s memories and (hopefully) their hearts, if how we felt after the show is any indication of a similar feeling amongst the good people that congregated on livingston campus on that tuesday night. (how’s that for a run-on, mrs cheskin?)
i’d be lying if said i expected more than a handful of curious spectators waiting for us (late as usual, only this time the penalty is a missed soundcheck, which can be hell on earth when you can’t make out the sound of your own voice on a stage) at rutgers. the crowd was unbelievable. completely unexpected and a shock (the good kind) as well as another cause for anxiety. you see, my idea was we book a random weekday night in a bar somewhere under a fake band name to get the kinks out. by kinks i mean the technicalities of playing in front of people (as opposed to playing for my cat and, much to their displeasure, my unfortunate neighbors) as well as the kinks that tend to develop in the digestive systems of musicians about to walk onstage. so these kinks were amplified tenfold by the fact that our teething as a band would be witnessed by about 450 people, most bringing expectations higher than my self esteem could pole vault, let alone meet eye to eye.
so that was the setup, that was the blessing we were granted as well as the curse dropped onto our laps. i can’t quite claim that i was proud of how we played. not a single member of the group could hear more than what turned out to be a tidal wave of noise. we played on instinct, like a lifelong musician who just lost the ability to hear; hoping the sounds that came out of the main speakers was better than that coming out of our stage monitors. move this finger here, make this shape with your lips, etcetera. chris told me after the show his monitor was off and he was taking cues from the rise and fall of my strumming arm. hardly the ideal sound situation, but we did what we could with what we had.
and here’s the twist: the show was amazing. fucking incredible. only it wasn’t our show. as cliché as it may sound it was a product of a roomful of people, a mob of love and energy that rose above the concept of a band onstage. it was like one big being, one big sweaty, singing, dancing ball of passion. i don’t think i’m exaggerating when i say it was in a way spiritual, at least to us. you guys knew the words better than us. when the “here’s to life” line in the song by that name came up i nearly shat. it was like the conquering scream of an invading army. i could only imagine a random student walking back to their dorm from the parking lot, accosted by the sound of a couple hundred people screaming “here’s to liiiiiiiife!” coming from the livingston student center. blood curdling, in the good way.
so i have to go now, get some sleep as part of a two month long attempt to stay healthy for the shows (i’m notorious for being cold-prone). i have so much more i’d like to say, and i will, soon. but know this: thank you.
- posted by tomas at 11:16 PM on 12.19.03
ugh. i wish i was even HALF as eloquent as that. here's some cute/funny ones:
making this site nicer since 2003
me: popup, get your ass in the center!
popup: yes, sir!
me: daaaaaamn straight.
- posted by tomas at 11:22 AM on 11.27.03
uhm, hello, notice a pattern here?
they're called lowercase letter chris, everybody's using them. duh.
;-)
- posted by tomas at 01:03 AM on 11.28.03
duh dan
you don't have to sign your name after your entry, the software does it for you.
dumbass.
-tomas
- posted by tomas at 09:18 PM on 12.01.03
...
...shit
- posted by tomas at 09:18 PM on 12.01.03
note to self:
1) breathe
2) remember lyrics
3) do not vomit on people in front row
- posted by tomas at 05:19 PM on 12.09.03
fuckin a, man, i need to get to bed!
better, late, never, you know the cliche
so i’ve written a small stack of rants that i’ll never post as each one tops the last in its cheese factor. i do want to say something, however, about the last (and coincidentally our first) show, despite this being the eve of our second show, the follow-up show, the show where we take what we learned and what made us cringe the first time around and learn from it, slowly whittling away something that will leave no concrete evidence of its own existence besides a spot in people’s memories and (hopefully) their hearts, if how we felt after the show is any indication of a similar feeling amongst the good people that congregated on livingston campus on that tuesday night. (how’s that for a run-on, mrs cheskin?)
i’d be lying if said i expected more than a handful of curious spectators waiting for us (late as usual, only this time the penalty is a missed soundcheck, which can be hell on earth when you can’t make out the sound of your own voice on a stage) at rutgers. the crowd was unbelievable. completely unexpected and a shock (the good kind) as well as another cause for anxiety. you see, my idea was we book a random weekday night in a bar somewhere under a fake band name to get the kinks out. by kinks i mean the technicalities of playing in front of people (as opposed to playing for my cat and, much to their displeasure, my unfortunate neighbors) as well as the kinks that tend to develop in the digestive systems of musicians about to walk onstage. so these kinks were amplified tenfold by the fact that our teething as a band would be witnessed by about 450 people, most bringing expectations higher than my self esteem could pole vault, let alone meet eye to eye.
so that was the setup, that was the blessing we were granted as well as the curse dropped onto our laps. i can’t quite claim that i was proud of how we played. not a single member of the group could hear more than what turned out to be a tidal wave of noise. we played on instinct, like a lifelong musician who just lost the ability to hear; hoping the sounds that came out of the main speakers was better than that coming out of our stage monitors. move this finger here, make this shape with your lips, etcetera. chris told me after the show his monitor was off and he was taking cues from the rise and fall of my strumming arm. hardly the ideal sound situation, but we did what we could with what we had.
and here’s the twist: the show was amazing. fucking incredible. only it wasn’t our show. as cliché as it may sound it was a product of a roomful of people, a mob of love and energy that rose above the concept of a band onstage. it was like one big being, one big sweaty, singing, dancing ball of passion. i don’t think i’m exaggerating when i say it was in a way spiritual, at least to us. you guys knew the words better than us. when the “here’s to life” line in the song by that name came up i nearly shat. it was like the conquering scream of an invading army. i could only imagine a random student walking back to their dorm from the parking lot, accosted by the sound of a couple hundred people screaming “here’s to liiiiiiiife!” coming from the livingston student center. blood curdling, in the good way.
so i have to go now, get some sleep as part of a two month long attempt to stay healthy for the shows (i’m notorious for being cold-prone). i have so much more i’d like to say, and i will, soon. but know this: thank you.
- posted by tomas at 11:16 PM on 12.19.03
ugh. i wish i was even HALF as eloquent as that. here's some cute/funny ones:
making this site nicer since 2003
me: popup, get your ass in the center!
popup: yes, sir!
me: daaaaaamn straight.
- posted by tomas at 11:22 AM on 11.27.03
uhm, hello, notice a pattern here?
they're called lowercase letter chris, everybody's using them. duh.
;-)
- posted by tomas at 01:03 AM on 11.28.03
duh dan
you don't have to sign your name after your entry, the software does it for you.
dumbass.
-tomas
- posted by tomas at 09:18 PM on 12.01.03
...
...shit
- posted by tomas at 09:18 PM on 12.01.03
note to self:
1) breathe
2) remember lyrics
3) do not vomit on people in front row
- posted by tomas at 05:19 PM on 12.09.03
fuckin a, man, i need to get to bed!