Hey

Good morning.
I want to share this song called "Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor.
It reminds me of Julie and my Dad.
Maybe it's because my Dad looks like James Taylor and plays guitar like him.
Julie for obvious reasons.

Knife control?




In this day in age a knife is nothing more than a weapon to an overwhelming majority of people. Who is to blame for this? Blacks? Wrong answer.
I don't know who is to blame. Everyday since I was in high school I've carried a Swiss Army knife.
Today I still carry the same knife. Occasionally i swap it out for my S&W Black OPS, but recently that has proved to be impractical. Too Big!
Oh well. Good thing I don't respect other people's opinions.
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Now playing: Bright Eyes - Easy/Lucky/Free
via FoxyTunes

Phone Calls From [Dale]

Why can't we be in the top eight? Bullshit.
Anyways.....

Me and Kristen (Kris G./KFace^2/Tits/whatever) are studying for Jazz. What I mean by that is that she is studying and I am on my computer contemplating why I didn't do this paper yet. We have a bunch of shit to do for music in the next week. 8 page paper on a jazz concert and 10 page paper on "The Preacher". Why did I take this? We don't even go. har har

I was trying to think of the most controversial/offensive thing to say to a granola eating hippie douche bag today. I decided that euthanasia on whales would probably be around #1. I'm sure that will come in handy next time that bitch with lesbian parents tries to take me and Sean Humphrey out for our political beliefs.



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Now playing: Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me
via FoxyTunes

I'll be seeing you....

Few precious days remain in Amherst before Thanksgiving break, and the end of this semester. To me that means the end of first semester, sophomore year. It's crazy to think that I'm almost half way done with college. As most people have one or two concrete emotions concerning their progress at school, I don't know how I feel about leaving here and beginning life. I have regrets about college that bother me every day. I don't put the effort into my schoolwork that it deserves and I haven't since Mrs. Connery's class in 5th grade when I got a C+ because of a week of missed school; I was never absent up until that point, I think I had bronchitis. After I got that one C, I stopped caring. To me, high-school was a joke. I liked Jazz Band, and eventually came to love Chorus even if chorus didn't love me.
Coming to college was a blow to the head. I realized as soon as I stepped into Grinnel Arena that I wasn't the drummer that people had been telling me I was for years. I'm a better drummer now, but I still lack experience. I need to get some time in doing serious exercises out of a book. Listening is going to become very important too, I just need to find the time for all of this.
Freshman years was a rush of blood to the head. I found joy in independence that I had always held close to me, was amplified. From step one, I overloaded myself, took too many risks, and too many credits. Some of the risks paid off, I am not playing bass guitar for the Minuteman Marching Band, and MASS Marimba Band II. I love playing with educated musicians, there is nothing like it.
Today Russ told me that he still looks up to me the way he did when he was in 9th grade after I confessed to having little actual talent as a musician beyond confidence. He will never know how much that means to me. I sat down with the new Wild Theory a couple weeks ago and they are good, really good. Russ and Ben are the greatest pockets of talent in the band; they lack experience, but in time they will see what what they need to do to grow as musicians. All they need is more exposure to talented groups of musicians like themselves. I don't remember the new pianist's name, but he is a breath of fresh air for the band. This kid knows his stuff, and he doesn't try to derail practices and gigs. I met the bassist during a substitute teaching position at the school. I choose to reserve judgment on him for now. Ryan Peterson is a good kid and a talented musician, It's in his blood.
I am stressed physically and emotionally, but I cope. I am calm and there is some structure to the way I work that I vaguely recognize.

I am sane in my insanity.



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Now playing: Bright Eyes - Soon You Will Be Leaving...
via FoxyTunes

You don't know shit about sleep deprivation.

Jim Barabe doesen't sleep. How do I know this?
From a 1st person perspective, I can see that he (3rd person) is awake at 3am waiting for D.P. Dough and about to take a shower. Also, he didn't sleep last night. In fact, he didn't sleep the night before either. It seems as if young James has been awake for about three days straight on caffeine and the will to live.

I hate it when girls (guys don't do it) talk up at the end of sentences as if everything is a question. If you are going to talk like that you should eliminate periods from your writing for consistency between speech and scripture.

Listen to "7 Days" by Sting.

Night Lighting

1 Part Espresso
1 Part Moonshine
1 Part Awesome (Substitute with F.E.U. for Brutality)

Ya... I'd drink that.

-ChurchGoer


Nice Idea Neil

MASS Marimba Band Concert is DONE!

I had a rough time getting up this morning. It wasn't due to alcohol or drug abuse, but it was due to me being tired. I missed a bunch of calls from Julie so she didn't know how to find me when she got to UMass. I eventually found her walking next to where my car was parked and it blew my mind how easily she came to me after I had searched for the greater part of an hour.
It was nice to see my parents as well as Julie. It's really nice to know that there are people that care enough to drive 3 and a half hours to see me play. Our show went really well so I am happy that we didn't fail to impress.
I wrote an essay about Red Sox Nation for my english class in the morning. I am still working on a draft of the essay that is due in the morning. Problem is that I haven't done any research yet and that should have been done about a week ago. So much for staying on top of this assignment. Other things I have to do this week include re-submit my garage band for Jazz, study chapters 1-12 for a Latin test on Friday which will determine whether or not I pass the class, and learn a new chart for Marching Band.
Next semester I'm going to take about 15 credits so that I can get back on my feet. This 20 credit thing isnt cutting it for me. I don't have enough time for any one class so I get stressed out and fuck up all my classes equally. Maybe I'll take 12, I have to choose in the morning so it should be interesting. If I can't get an internship with State Representitive Jeff Perry this summer I might drop my PoliSci Major in search of something else.
Julie is here so I am going to sleep early without finishing this draft. I feel guilty sometimes because I don't give her enough time. I hope she knows how much I love her and rely on her support. She is really good to me. :-)

bleh

I am very tired. Last night I got absolutely no sleep. The funny thing is that I don't remember what I did last night besides talk to Arif about UMass Dartmouth. That's a very weird thing to remember. Oh well.....
I'm recording with Wild Theory this Saturday in Marstons Mills at 1pm. Hope all goes well, I've been taking a look at some of the music. For clarification, Wild Theory is Russjack on sax, Ben Vachon on guitar, and myself on the drum set; there are other people including a pianist and a bassist but I have never met them. This should be fun. Were a jazz combo group from the Cape and we play a lot at New Seabury and Starbucks. It's a great time and an easy way to make some money. Comes see us.

..word

LAN just won LAN!!!!!

Missed Marimba Band rehearsal today. When I showed up for the rehearsal tonight I threw down and shit wasn't as bad as I thought.
I'm writing a paper for my English Writing 112 class on Socialized Healthcare. Good times. I should have chosen a topic I care about but its all good.
Drank coffee at 9:45 a few minutes after I got out of Marimba Band. Mocha Latte. Rao's has me covered. Right now I'm downing a bottle of sparking cider. Let the good times roll.
Go UMass!

Word at making Hoop Band!

Marimba Band

I feel like all I've been doing lately is playing bass. Drumline stuff is coming to a close, and most of our new music (excluding the chart we're getting Thursday) has been pretty simple. Marimba Band on the other hand is kicking my ass. Today Hannum unexpectedly showed up for our rehearsal and apparently my hard work has paid off because I didn't get my ass kicked. There were suggestions on every piece but at no point was I told that I had no idea what the fuck was going on, which is what I was ready to hear.
I have a paper to write tonight about Nationalized Social Healthcare. Neil is hopefully going to help me structure it because my teacher is a bizzitch. Word!

Charles Manson

Anyone wonder what my fascination with Charles Manson is?

I have been told that with a beard and long hair I resemble him.
He is crazy and says things that are completely mind blowing.
I would not join his family or actually endorse his release.
As Tim Kelly has said, he wrote some sick charts.



That's about it.

Watch this.

Minuteman Mambo

Blog... word
I'm practicing a piece for Marimba Band II, which I am playing bass for. It's four pages long and not that hard except for the solo. Some guy named Brian Nozny apparently composed this for Marimba Band I but they didn't have time to learn it so we got it instead. Fun piece.
I looked like an asshole the other day because I suck at music so Kyle said "You know this is our major, don't you?" and I pretty much just said. Ummm ya, sorry. I don't know how to play bass.
I've been working out the solo for about an hour now, it's only 8 bars. Music is written high above the staff and the intonation on my bass is horrible because the truss rod is broken.
Oh well, concert is next Monday night at 8. Be there or be an asshole.