buffalo
Wow, two updates in the same month!
Last night was Good Friday service at church. I had been asked to play drums for it, and usually I just glance at the music the night before and if I haven't heard one of the songs I'll listen to 30 second of it to get a feel for what it's like. I can get by doing that just fine.
Well, this service was actually a pretty big thing. It was a play/musical. I didn't know this until a couple days before, and I didn't realize how big of a deal it was until I arrived. There were like 15 songs instead of the usual 5, and some of them I had never heard of before. It was set up where the audience was on the outsides of the room and the stuff was going on in the middle. We even had costumes. I got there a half hour before showtime. It was enough to ask someone what was going on, and then quickly scribble down which songs I decided to play drum set, and which congas. And then it was go time.
It was actually really really cool. It showed the story of Jesus' death, and it was well done and very emotional. It was a strange feeling, all of a sudden I was in this big production that they had spent weeks on, and at the same time I was seeing it how it was meant to be seen, for the first time. That's so rare. I always wanted to be able to watch a movie I made as someone with no idea what was going to happen next. And this was almost like that. I was able to watch and play, having no idea what was going to happen next.
I played well, and could follow along easily. Afterwards a lot of people invloved told me how good it sounded. They had been rehearsing with no drums, and it really does make a huge difference. I'm 1000x better at set that I was a few years ago, so I really wasn't even nervous about playing with zero practice and not even knowing some of the songs for a big thing. I'm glad I got to be a part of it.
And now, for a rant about the band "fun.". Fun used to be The Format, and they were amazing. I found out about them the month after they broke up. They became Fun a few years later, and put out a great album in pretty much the same style as The Format. A few songs were even played at our wedding reception. Really great stuff.
Last month, they put out a new album. And I can't even begin to describe my anger towards it. It is an obvious attempt to try to be cool, and to get them popular. It worked, and they're huge now, but the album is so bad at parts that there are some songs I refuse to listen to again. They overloaded it with auto-tune. I'd be cool with one song, but it's almost all of them. Really really bad auto-tune, too, and it ruins his otherwise amazing voice. Dumb lyrics and really bad style. It's like they sat around and said "Let's write an album that will make high schoolers and middle schoolers think we're the coolest band ever", and then they did it.
It has a couple good songs. One great one. But the rest just piss me off. Some bands do a great job with changing styles from album to album. mewithoutYou, Islands, TMBG, Sufjan Stevens. But a change so crappy and so obviously motivated by the desire to make it big... that just blows.
Speaking of Islands though, it's going to be hard for someone to top their new one for my "best of 2012" list. It's amazing.
Other things. Hockey playoffs are about to start. I've been so crazy-involved with it this year. I don't know what happened, I just love it now, and am slightly obsessed.
Been married for 10 months now. It's been awesome. I feel like it's just always been this way. In a good way, not like it's old, but like it's just the way it should be.
Well, that's enough for tonight. Happy Easter to the one person that reads this.
Last night was Good Friday service at church. I had been asked to play drums for it, and usually I just glance at the music the night before and if I haven't heard one of the songs I'll listen to 30 second of it to get a feel for what it's like. I can get by doing that just fine.
Well, this service was actually a pretty big thing. It was a play/musical. I didn't know this until a couple days before, and I didn't realize how big of a deal it was until I arrived. There were like 15 songs instead of the usual 5, and some of them I had never heard of before. It was set up where the audience was on the outsides of the room and the stuff was going on in the middle. We even had costumes. I got there a half hour before showtime. It was enough to ask someone what was going on, and then quickly scribble down which songs I decided to play drum set, and which congas. And then it was go time.
It was actually really really cool. It showed the story of Jesus' death, and it was well done and very emotional. It was a strange feeling, all of a sudden I was in this big production that they had spent weeks on, and at the same time I was seeing it how it was meant to be seen, for the first time. That's so rare. I always wanted to be able to watch a movie I made as someone with no idea what was going to happen next. And this was almost like that. I was able to watch and play, having no idea what was going to happen next.
I played well, and could follow along easily. Afterwards a lot of people invloved told me how good it sounded. They had been rehearsing with no drums, and it really does make a huge difference. I'm 1000x better at set that I was a few years ago, so I really wasn't even nervous about playing with zero practice and not even knowing some of the songs for a big thing. I'm glad I got to be a part of it.
And now, for a rant about the band "fun.". Fun used to be The Format, and they were amazing. I found out about them the month after they broke up. They became Fun a few years later, and put out a great album in pretty much the same style as The Format. A few songs were even played at our wedding reception. Really great stuff.
Last month, they put out a new album. And I can't even begin to describe my anger towards it. It is an obvious attempt to try to be cool, and to get them popular. It worked, and they're huge now, but the album is so bad at parts that there are some songs I refuse to listen to again. They overloaded it with auto-tune. I'd be cool with one song, but it's almost all of them. Really really bad auto-tune, too, and it ruins his otherwise amazing voice. Dumb lyrics and really bad style. It's like they sat around and said "Let's write an album that will make high schoolers and middle schoolers think we're the coolest band ever", and then they did it.
It has a couple good songs. One great one. But the rest just piss me off. Some bands do a great job with changing styles from album to album. mewithoutYou, Islands, TMBG, Sufjan Stevens. But a change so crappy and so obviously motivated by the desire to make it big... that just blows.
Speaking of Islands though, it's going to be hard for someone to top their new one for my "best of 2012" list. It's amazing.
Other things. Hockey playoffs are about to start. I've been so crazy-involved with it this year. I don't know what happened, I just love it now, and am slightly obsessed.
Been married for 10 months now. It's been awesome. I feel like it's just always been this way. In a good way, not like it's old, but like it's just the way it should be.
Well, that's enough for tonight. Happy Easter to the one person that reads this.