I’ve been trying to write songs, or pieces of, lately. I thought it was going pretty good. I had three chunks of songs stubbed out and kept playing & modifying them until they were sounding pretty good, in my opinion. Then, one day I was listening to Atreyu and ‘Lip Gloss and Black’ came on. It seemed awfully familiar… too familiar. So, chunk#1 was an Atreyu song. That leaves 2 chunks. Well, the a day or two later I was listening to From Here On Out, and yep .. chunk#2 is a FHOO song. So, now I am left with one chunk. I guess it’s only a matter of time until I figure out which song I figured out unknowingly. Being able to learn most songs quickly, by ear, is cool at parties .. but sucks when you’re actually trying to come up with something original. Argh.

And in other news, bands you don’t know .. but should:
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It’s weird how certain songs or albums can remind you of particular events or times in your life, no matter when they happened or how often. At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command always reminds me of rainy drives down Woodward into school. For some reason it was always raining when I listened to that CD. I listened to it today, and yep — it was raining. Back in my freshman year of college, I would drive in listening to the Duran Duran Tribute Album. Any time I hear that, I remember calming my nerves with some Deftones- and Goldfinger-style Duran Duran before going into my speech class. Whenever I hear Berlin - Take My Breath Away, I’m reminded of a Wisconsin(?) camp ground, during a tornado. That song was playing, and we were getting ready to go to the big barn and not get sucked up by a tornado.

I’m excited about this weekend. I get to road trip to Chicago for a FIRST regional competition. I get to meet up with my new friend Special A, my homie Amanda, David, D.J., and many other FIRST people who I only get to see a few times a year, but talk to a lot on the forums. Gooooooood times.

I usually don’t do things like this, but I thought it would be something quick & fun to do. Well, it turned out to be really hard, and took like 2 weeks to get done. It was fun, though. Anyway, click read more to see:

The Soundtrack to My Life…
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The State of Michigan was kind enough to contribute to the purchase of a new acoustic guitar Thursday night. That was sure nice of the state. That purchase accounts for the irresponsible part of my income tax return; the rest goes to prior debts.

But anyway, the guitar: I ended up getting myself a Yamaha FGX04LTD Limited Edition. It’s got rosewood back & sides, and a spruce front. It is an electric-acoustic folk guitar, so I can plug it into an amp and have crazy awesome amplified sound.

As for new music.. click read more for info lots of new bands & cds.
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