Music that makes you dumb!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

My brother in law showed me this article today in which a college student in california mapped out chart showing the SAT scores of a bunch of college students. Now the interesting thing is that when interviewing the students he also asked them what kind Musical artist(s) or band they enjoyed listening to the most. According to the chart, the "smartest" students liked listening to Beethoven while the "dumbest" students listened to Lil' Wayne. It was awesome to see that among the "smartest" alternative bands was my Radiohead! (woot woot). Read the entire article here.

There are quite a few bands on this chart, I enjoy (some I'm not particularly proud of) but overall I guess I could consider myself a pretty smart music listener. 

Does intelligence choose the band? Or does music define how smart we become? Where do your favorite bands appear? Do you think that music can make you dumb? Does rap rot your brain?

Project Complete!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, I finished fixing up my new bass. Here it is. I will be playing it this weekend at church. 

I replaced the pickguard with a black one and changed the volume and tone knobs. I also added some strap locks to secure my strap. 

The "Love" sticker was included in a sticker pack I ordered from TWLOHA a while back and I haven't been able to find a good place to put it....until now at least. I think it looks pretty cool. What do you think? 

Keep it or lose it? 

My new project!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

So a friend of mine called me yesterday to tell me he was interested in purchasing one of my guitars (The one in the header on the left). Being that I am not really much of an electric guitar player and my friend has played it more than me, I decided to sell it to him. I immediately thought of a bass I had seen at a pawn shop near my house a few months back. I had fallen in love with it when I saw it but didn't have the money to pay for it. Well now I do so here it is. 

 

For those of you who know about guitars/basses and know me, you know I have been wanting this particular model for quite a while. I do, however, have some work to do on it. It needs some hardware replaced as well as some cleaning up. I really wish MAE was open this late so I wouldn't have to wait for tomorrow to go get the parts. I won't go into details but I'll post the picture of the finished product when I'm done. Peace for now!

P.S.

GO TENNESSEE AND GO FINS!

Fighting!

Hello Fellow Bloggers... 

I have spent all this week fighting and fighting a cold. It hit me right on Sunday morning last week and hasn't left ever since. I have taken tons of medicine, fruit, liquids, vitamins and it has not gone away. Today it finally seemed to settle down a bit. However, this weekend is the first weekend I play acoustic guitar and lead a song at my church in the main service. I have been pretty excited yet worried that I worried I wouldn't be able to sing due to my sore throat. Well, I made it through today but I cannot talk anymore and my throat is once again killing me. As I write this I am drinking fresh squeezed lime juice and honey to help soothe my throat. All I can do now is go to sleep, pray, and hope that I'll wake up with a voice. Goodnight Blog world!

Anyone like Impressions?

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, today I did something new. I went to the Audiologist (that's fun to say) to get impressions of my ear canal. Why you ask? I have finally decided to order my first pair of custom fit IEM's or IN EAR MONITORS. Recently, I have been finding myself using in ears alot, especially at church. Now custom molded EIM's generally can run anywhere between $400.00 - $1200.00 so it's not really something I have been able to do, however, last time Anthony Evans led worship with us, he told me about some that he uses. They are much more affordable and according to the reviews I have read, they sound and feel great. Getting the impressions done felt wierd to say the least. It was like someone shoved play dough into my ears and I couldn't hear a peep for 5 minutes until it hardened. I absolutely cannot wait to get them in. I'll let yall know when they come in. 

Did I really just use the word yall???

"Locos"

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, it's about 1:30am, I just took a shower and am about ready to hit the sack. I am dead tired. Today I got a really cool opportunity to help out my brother in law, Carlos with a gig he had today. You see Carlos is the sound engineer for a local latin/funk/reggae/cumbia band called "Locos por Juana". He goes everywhere with them. He has been to Virginia, New York, L.A. and many other places. Thankfully, I get to help him out sometimes when he has local events with the band and today they had an showcase event at the Seminole Hard Rock. The band is signed with Universal and it was a private event with about 5 really good bands. Actually this was the first time a Latin band is invited to play at this type of showcase event for Universal so it really was awesome to be able to be there. It wasn't too long of a set and I got to mix the last 2 songs (see video below). For the most part, however, I served as guitar/bass tech and helped with set up. 

"Locos por Juana" has gained popularity really quickly and they have worked hard to earn it. They are featured artists on MySpace Latino, have been featured on MTV TRES and were even nominated for a latin grammy last year. 

check them out here

 

Me Mixing

Here is the Rig we used

I Caved!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Sorry I have been gone for so long. I hope there is still someone alive out there in mindofbert land!

So I finally did it and I caved and bought the bass I have been wanting. Check it out.

It is a Fender Mike Dirnt Precision Bass!

For those who don't know, Mike Dirnt is the Bassist for Green Day. If you don't know who Green Day is then I can't help you. Now I am not even a little bit of a Green Day Fan or much less a Mike Dirnt fan and I have seen this bass many times but didn't really fall in love with it until I saw Deon Rexroat playing it. Deon is the bassist for a band called Anberlin who I absolutely love! I researched it, played it and it sounded even sweeter than it looked. It has been on my wish list for quite a while now but I couldn't resist any longer. Fortunately I had some money left over from my stimulus check (Thanks George Bush...I think). So I called up my good friend Jeffrey D. and he hooked it up. Thanks man!

I have this poster hanging in my room. My friend Martin gave it to me a while back. He said he got it because it had the bassist I love, the Bass I love, the band I love and it advertises an organization I love

Heredes insists it needs an Heredes.com sticker....ummm we'll talk later, H!

I sang on a Hillsong United Album!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Last week, I finally went and bought the new Hillsong United Album entitled "The I heart Revolution: With hearts as one" The album was inspired by the I heart revolution movement and is a complilation of songs recorded all around the world. I have had this CD for about 5 days now and I can't get enough of it. The beauty of this album is that unlike their previous "live" albums this one is truly raw and live. No overdubs, no mixing whatsoever (not as clean sounding). This album has alot more crowd participation and also has some talking. Basically it is the closest one can get to experiencing hillsong united worship in person. Listening to this Album made me feel like I was at the conference again and it got me even more excited about this year's conference.

As I mentioned earlier, the album has songs recorded all over the world inluding 2 songs recorded at last years Hillsong United Conference in Orlando I attended. The songs are "Mighty to save" and "More than Life". In mighty to save there is a part about a minute into the song where Reuben Morgan backs away from the mic. and the crowd sings the chorus "Saviour, he can move the mountains. My God is Mighty to save, he is mighty to save". So there you have it folks. I have officialy sung on a hillsong United Album. I can't wait for the DVD to come out.

Seriously....if you haven't checked out this album, you must. It also features the musical stylings of Olivia, Miguel, Gerson, Pepe, Ian, Rebecca, Carolina, Pamela, Danny and Willy...among others.

Radiohead Recap continued...

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Ok I got a hold of some more Radiohead photos (These were actually taken by us)

We ran into Radiohead's drummer, Phil Selway by the merchandise stand. You can tell by looking at the background that not many people recognized him. (lucky us!)

It was hard to smile with my sister's head crushing my lung

This was the view from where we were

During the final song

Weekend Re-cap

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

- I hurt my back pretty badly on Thursday while playing football with some co-workers. At first it was just a little pain but by Friday morning, I literally could not even stand. I ended up staying in bed all day Friday and all Saturday morning and was on some pretty powerful drugs. I am much better now.

- This weekend I got to play keys at my church. It's been quite a while since I have played keys but was very fun nonetheless. Here is a picture of the rig I used. Special thanks to Heredes for loaning me his Fender Rhodes for the weekend. I got alot of comments on how awesome they sounded...and looked.

Music Discovery

Hello Fellow Bloggers...and thanks for sticking around...

Well a few posts ago, I shared my itunes shopping cart with you guys and there were 2 songs in there by a group named Meg and Dia. I discovered them a while back when I was looking through the list of bands that were going to be playing in the Vans Warped Tour. I looked them up on itunes and liked the 30 second previews of the songs so I added them to my cart. Well, I purchased the songs and I must say it is good stuff. I don't want this to be perceived the wrong way but I am not really into chick bands however these girls know how to rock. The music is absolutely awesome and the lyrics are poetic and edgy(Not Christian). I'm totally hooked on the 2 songs I bought and I am considering buying the whole album! Check em out here!

To download or not to download?

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

It's been about 3 years since I decided to start actually purchasing my music rather than "limewiring" it and I am so glad I did it. I have become pretty accustomed to regularly purchasing like 2 or 3 songs a week from itunes. I like purchasing my music little by little for 2 reasons.

• Reason #1 - I'm broke
  
• Reason #2 - I have found that I appreciate the songs more when I only have 2 or 3 new songs to listen to rather than 20. (unless I buy an album)
  

So check it out. Below is my itunes shopping cart and I can't decide which songs I should buy. To be honest, there are a few songs in there that have been in my cart for a loooong time and I probably will never end up purchasing them because I just like listening to the 30sec. previews. But nevertheless, I can't decide. 

Any suggestions?

Bass Debut!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to look up song covers of my favorite bands as played by other people. I literally can sit in front of the computer for hours playing song after song. I have found that it's good practice and a great way to learn songs. Well, yesterday I was searching YouTube for a bass cover of a mute math song called typical. I had no luck, so I decided to be the first. So without further due, here is my YouTube bass debut. Enjoy!

            

               

News Flash

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Today I got some extremely great news...and I would like to share it...

RADIOHEAD IS COMING!!

That is all...

more info here

"The Big Lime Green Bass"

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

As most of you know, I am a multi-musical person. However, one of the instruments I enjoy playing the most is the Bass. Well, this past weekend was absolutely awesome. I got to play one of my favorite Hillsong United songs on the Bass and got to lead "Mighty to Save" on the acoustic guitar which reminds me....I would like to send my most sincere apologies to the Collins Family. During, our rehearsal I accidentally wacked our awesomely talented singer Benay Collins in the mouth with my guitar and chipped a little piece of her tooth off. Benay, If you are reading this, I know I said it a million times but once again, I'M SO SORRY!!!

Well, apart from the beat downs I gave with my guitar. something quite unexpected happened to me on Saturday night. I was walking back to the green room after greeting a few people in the lobby in between the 5:15 and 7:00 Services, when suddenly a lady stops me and smiles. She said,"excuse, can I tell you something?". I didn't hesitate and said, "sure, what's up"

Now allow me to pause there for a second. I don't want to sound egotistical or big headed because I am not, but usually when people stop me like that I'm used to them saying something like, "you guys did awesome", or "That song was great", or "where can I find that song?". However, what I was about to hear was no where near that.

She started by saying "That lime green bass guitar...". I expected her to say that she thought it was nice looking or something, but nothing could have prepared me for what she was about to say. She simply said, "IT'S WAY TOO LOUD!!!", which I have heard plenty of times, so I was like ok whatever. BUT THEN!!!.....she began to tell me about how it's way to loud for everyone, and that her entire small group ended up leaving the church because of my lime green bass guitar. At this point, I was stunned!!! Should I apologize?? Should I get mad???So I just smiled and said, "I'm sorry to hear that, I'll try to be more careful". I smiled and walked away, but was still very shocked. I mean, what do you do when someone tells you that people are leaving the church because of you. (She didn't say that directly but you know what I mean). Well, needless to say, I meditated alot on it and prayed about it too and God gave me alot of peace about it. Ultimately, we cannot "please" everyone and I'm sure there are people at church who think the bass isn't loud enough (myself included). During the remainder of the weekend, I had alot of people approach me saying that the worship was very powerful and It really did touch them alot. Just one comment like that totally makes me forget the original not so good comment. To know that God could have chosen me to take part in something that touched someone's life is absolutely awesome. And if that isn't enough, on Monday I was extremely bored at work, and I was reading my usual blogs I subscribe to. Occasionally, I will go back to the archives of blogs and re-read old posts. Well, this time I decided to check out Heredes' old blog posts. What I found ended up hitting home. I found a post called Change Seats. (Check it out) That was enough confirmation for me!!! Thanks H!!