BANDFEST.

Watching a show with a half dozen amazing marching bands is the kind of thing that might happen in the morning and leave you wondering what to do with the rest of your day. Every year Pasadena City College hosts a band show of all the marching bands that have had the honor of playing in the Rose Parade bestowed upon them by a guy with kind of a funny name. Over the break I went to one of these "Bandfest" shows to check out the scene. And what a scene it was. Not only did the bands have a significant audience, but I don't doubt that all of them deserved it. From Homewood Alabama to Pasadena City College and all sorts of places in between, and even the national honor band of top musicians from around the nation, we had entertainment all over the place. I noted some particularly unusual things as far as bands go that grabbed my interest. The band from Science Hill high school with their clarinet soloist in a Gershwin tribute, the Patriot band from Homewood with 3 drumsets in the the pit and a fantastic Rockettes esque dance line, and which band was the one that played California Dreamin'? Let us not forget the band of America and their Latin guitarist, garbage can percussionists (undoubtedly MASH drumline wanna-bees), string ensemble and dancing sousaphones. I suppose it was humbling to say the least. From a band point of view, our band is good and we have a lot of fun but couldn't possibly be playing at that level anytime soon. From a personal point of view, I don't think I've ever seen that many sousaphones in one place. Have I even seen more that one or two together? Our band barely even has any low brass! It was still an amazing show, and there is no doubt that I'm more inspired than ever to be the best musician possible. Enjoy the pictures!!

Naturally, 300 of the most talented high school musicians from around the country can be difficult to get into one shot. This is about half.



Just figured I'd put a picture of us in here to. 'Cuz we are still pretty awesome.

The City of Angels

I'm in Los Angeles man! How sweet is this? You should all be jealous. I will just try to recap what has happened so far without being completely overwhelmed by awesomeness.

One of the first big adventures we went on was a covert operation to buy a family game for the grand-parentals. My dad figured Target would be our best shot, and there was one in Culver City, another in West Hollywood. Hmmmmmm.

Driving through Beverly Hills, the most faaaaaaabulous neighborhood in the entire country was as humbling and exciting as it was ridiculous. The lavish lifestyle of fancy architecture, gates, security cameras and Cadillacs was fun to look at, but obviously presented the messed up priorities of the inhabitants. I mean seriously, somebody had an entire zoo of animal statues on their front lawn. While this whole scene seemed a bit enticing at first, (especially to my name-brand sister) our dad has known this place in a more realistic sense for longer than we have. He said that he'd gone to school with many of these kind of people, and despite the lifestyle that they lead, they don't seem any happier or more positive than the rest of us. And with that we drove our big-ass rental car out of Beverly Hills.

But the excursion through LA LA land had not finished there. Sunset Boulevard absolutely had to be driven down in order to reach our destination. And what a boulevard it was. While I was not being distracted by the live car show that was racing up and down the streets, there was plenty of scenery to be admired. It is interesting to think that although expensive Aston-Martins and Bentleys are great entertainment (at least for me), the mountains that run up and down the coast are still priceless, beautiful, and completely natural part of this modernized and man-made city.

And its going to be 65 degrees warmer.....

This week, Monday is Friday. And every day after that is going to be Saturday. I am going with my family to Los Angeles, California over winter break. As soon as I start packing, that is. So many ridiculously awesome things are gonna go down in the CA that I cant possible begin to give you any details. But since I like you, I will be sure to access my social networks (possibly), send Twitter updates (maybe), text message my friends (occasionally) and write blogs about my travels (if I don't get to distracted). Of course I can't do any of that until it is at least 65 degrees, and it cant be even close to that until I get on a car/plane/train/hot air balloon and make my way across this soon-to-be great nation of ours. Which may take a while. This brings us to my official playlist for my trip over the break. Here we go....

1. Going to California- Led Zeppelin
2. California- Joni Mitchell
3. California Girls- The beach boys
4. Hotel California- The Eagles
5. Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers
6. City of Angels- Ozomatli
7. If we'd all been living in California....-Frank Zappa
8. California waiting- Kinks of Leon
9. California Dreamin'- The mamas and the papas
10.California Love- Tupac

Another trip to NYC!!!

So I went to New York City (or "The City" as New Yorkers call it) with the music department. Which was pretty darn amazing I gotta say. We rode on this giant Anderson bus that had cushy seats and armrests and personal footrests and air conditioning. This was probably a good thing since the ride was nearly 10 hours. So there was lots of hanging around, listening to music, watching movies and just general merriment. And plenty of sleeping to go with it. Personally, I played about a bajillion games of Texas hold 'em on my Zune, which now features that and other addicting games. Another one is Hexic, which is also very fun online (although it features obnoxious noises that cannot be turned of and are currently interrupting Charlie Parker). But the point is, we eventually got there. Which as you all know is half the fun. Our first stop was Battery Park, where we spent a few seconds to meet up with a friend from camp who lives in the city and buy a knockoff purse or two. Dinner was at the movie equivalent of Hard Rock cafe, the fun was in and around times square, and the show was at radio city music hall. Really, the show was called "The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular". I really cannot think of a word to describe it. But afterwards one of the directors shouted some random street numbers as we left in all the hustle and bustle, and I managed to get to 51st and 6th (or whatever it was) with a group of friends that I happened to be with at the time. And what do you do once you get back to a hotel in New Jersey after a whole day of driving and watching musicals? HAVE A PIZZA PARTY!!! Indeed, in the city we truly rock and roll all night and party every day. Or maybe it was the other way around....

The next day was to full of doing stuff I cant even recall anything in a specific order. We had free breakfast. We went to 5th avenue. Shop windows on fifth avenue are like car shows of the fashion world, there is all sorts of nice expensive stuff that is fun to look at, but nobody is really going to buy or use it. Also, when its as cold as it was and you ever go to Starbucks, don't get a cold drink! The only thing i recognized on the menu was vanilla frappacinno. So I ordered one. I was chilled from the inside out, but it was totally worth it! We had hot dogs from a street vendor. HAIRSPRAY WAS AMAZING!!!! lots of excitement and energy there. And when we where outside the theatre after, Harvey Firestein (Edna) walked past our group. And I totally saw him in person (sans dress and fat suit)!! I speculated that if the extremely good-looking dude who played Link had just happened to leave the theatre at that time, half our group would have attacked and raped him. I mean they were swooning big time man! Anyways, I got a nice fedora, and ice cream later, and managed to get other people to donate some of their food. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince the guy in that one store to give me a tie for less than $25 (I only had $20!). I guess bartering is just for the creepy dudes outside. So it was very fun. And there was some fail. And food. And a really funny-smelling handbag. And lots of drunk people dressed as Santa. We truly can be amused by anything. After all, it is the music department.

NYC Trip!!!! Goin' to the city....

I'm just writing in this blog entry real quick before I go to sleep. Tomorrow (Friday) morning I will be waking up bright and early (5:30 AM) to get on a bus with a bunch of other crazy kids from the music department of my high school and we'll haul off to NYC. I guarantee you that I will be taking many, many pictures (500+) and having many good times, inside jokes, and FAILs to go with them. I will try to account as much of it as I can. Though I may not be able to get to blogging from my cell (I'll try!), I will definitely have Twitter updated often, so keep an eye on that!------>

Peace out! Catch y'all later!!

_Sutter_

Polar Bears and Tailwind: Shenanigans @ District Jazz '08

I got out of school before lunch yesterday and got in a van with the band director and a few other musicians to audition for District Jazz in Youngsville, PA. The ride there was not quite two hours long and involved a lunch stop in Edinboro where we met up with some students from other schools who were auditioning. After lunch we went our separate ways, even though we were really all headed to the same place. Driving there involved much hilarity, discussing random subjects and often making even more random statements that would lead any normal person to believe that we are completely crazy, which is partially true. When we finally got there (and by "there" I mean a school in the middle of nowhere), a fairly large line of people had formed to sign up, and the group of just four from our school looked small in comparison to some of the other schools' groups.

But we fared well. After hanging out in the auditorium while the last few people signed in, they announced which instruments would be auditioning in what room, and directed us to follow a specific person to that room. Me and eleven or twelve other percussionists stood in a classroom while one of the adults who was auditioning us explained what we were going to be asked to do, and described exactly how old and beat up the drumset they had was.

Then we all got sent outside and stood against the wall or sat on the ground waiting for our turn. I was close to the beginning, and the whole thing went very well, the audition piece sounded good to me and I thought I played some fairly convincing rock, swing, and latin beats.

Then there was some waiting to be done. Jake (trumpet player) and I circled the halls a couple times and met up with Demarius (Saxophone player) while everybody else finished. We got a change to meet up with Mrs. Manning (Director) again in order to acquire keys to the van. Once we had those, we could all play cards and eat food while the directors finished tabulating the scores.

The announcing part was the most stressful. They started with band 4, calling names by section. They announced saxes, trumpets, trombones, bass, guitar, drumset....not me. DAMN! Then, "Auxillary percussion, from Meadville...." That WAS me! YYEEAA! We were told earlier that the drummer placed fifth would be given auxillary percussion for all four bands, meaning that five drummers would be accepted in all. I remembered this when they called up my name again for band 3. By now I'm pretty pumped. I'll be getting plenty of music and be able to play with some really great musicians, even if I'm not on a set. Then they announced band 2. "Auxillary Percussion...." Some guy from McClane? WTF??? I was calling shenanigans on that one, for some reason they took another drummer.

It turned out that for some reason, they took six drummers, giving me two bands worth of congas and vibes, and putting me in sixth place. Not to bad, and I must have done something right for them to fit me in anywhere, when I wasn't supposed to get a part based on what was originally said. My trumpet playing friend grabs 3rd chair in band one, and it was an exciting day for all.

Reactions??

SO I have just added a new element of awesomeness to the blog that should ensure accurate feedback from my fanbase of 3-5 readers (love you guys!). There is now a small reactions section beneath every post, for you all to say exactly what you think, and see what others have voted. I have given a broad range of reactions for you to choose, including WIN, FAIL, Huh? and Other. I am looking forward to see what you all think, and it only takes the press of a button!! WIN!!

New band of the week!!! Finally....

So pretty much I found this crazy awesome band that is gonna be the band of the week this week. They are like this crazy punk-funk alternative rock group that has all these awesome grooves and stuff that's just tons of fun to listen to. Ladies and Gentlemen, THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!!

SNOWTF? Pt. 3

There seems to have been quite a lot of "SNOWTF" going on recently. School was canceled today, and unfortunately so was enrichment, which was what I hoped to do instead of school (Ballroom Dancing!!). But alas, I'm just chilling in front of the fire and around the house, hoping not to have anything to do with snow. Also, this week has been appointed the WEEK OF SKIP, due to the excessive absences of me and a couple of my friends. Band practice was also canceled do to unnaturally and unnecessarily large amounts of precipitation. Fortunately, I have a recording studio in my snow-free basement, and if you have a recording studio you don't need a band!! Getting to work!!!

SNOWTF Pt. 2!!

ITS SNOWING AGAIN!! Now we cannot go outside or do anything useful besides sitting around and jamming all day. Oh well....

The Week of FAIL

Happy week of fail everybody! I hope you all had a good time, regardless of whether or not you actually realized that you were all in the midst of a great fail week. But looking back, I'm sure you will know what I'm talking about. In honor of the impending conclusion of this failful, failicious, failative week, I have prepared a list, in some sort of approximate order, of the great fails of the week. Don't Fail to ENJOY!

Monday
1. Gym Class selection fail! (weight Lifting)
2. Sarah Palin fail
3. Day of the week fail
4. Falling asleep in class fail....twice
5. Failure to keep a tempo
6. Failure to waltz

Tuesday
7. John McCain FAIL!!!
8. Prop 8 Fail
9. CNN hologram fail
10. Playoff date fail
11. Champagne fail
12. Hair Fail


Wednesday
13. Trying not to fail FAIL
14. Parachuting man FAIL
15. Baseball player fail
16. EPIC PLAY REHEARSAL FAIL
a. Flower drop fail
b. Failure to waltz, again
c. Uncontrollable laughter fail
d. Distraction fail

Thursday
17. Going to wrong class fail
18. Chemistry lab FAIL!
19. More sleeping in class fail
20. Speling an gramar fail..
21. Internet fail

Friday
22. Time of day fail
23. Football FAIL!
24. Memory fail
25. Football on TV fail
26. Thursday fail
27. French fail
28. Wet turf fail
29. Cell fail
30. 34-14 fail
31. Watching the director fail
32. Stand music fail
33. Kevin dancing fail
34. Late bus fail
35. Attempting to waltz fail...again.

Saturday
36. HOLY CRAP ITS MIDNIGHT FAIL!!!
37. Raking fail
38. Wet hair fail
39. Sister fail
40. High School Musical FAIL!
Act 1
a) Cheerleader Fail
b) Staging Fail
c) Backdrop fail
d) Offstage Mic fail
e) Guitar fail
f) Bad aim fail
g) Intermission fail
Act 2
h) Curtain fail
i) hand-holding fail
j) Choice of song fail
k) Tambourine fail
l) Tempo fail
m) Piano fail
n) Backdrop fail pt. II
o) Line fail
p) Karaoke CD fail
q) Mallet fail
Cast Party
r) Seating fail
s) Cappy & Jayme fail
t) Entrance fail
u) Jonny Rick fail
v) Noise pollution fail
w) Video fail
x) Hardcore show fail

SNOWTF????

Alright everybody, prepare yourselves. So I get up this morning much earlier than usual and get downstairs before anybody else, open up the front door and what do I see? There is snow on the lawn! Like a whole lot! It was perfectly fine the night before! And all day it gets colder and whiter and worser and....ahhhh! Halloween is tomorrow for us. So I fall to my knees and beg for mercy from the good lord, yelling "WHAT IS THIS CRAP???"


This is us right now.

Check out my Bass-ment photosynth!

The photosynth program is Microsoft's method of giving you a whole new way to think about digital photography. This system combines many photographs into what is nearly a 3D model of a subject, room, or landscape. There is plenty to say about it, but I would rather you just look at my very first photosynth! This is my basement, the room in which I do all my music. Enjoy!

Q Cubed double feature!!

Exhibit A: A list of words that Sutter uses all the time in writing, even though he can't spell them.

Althogh
Rediculous
especally
evidentlly
obivously
Preformance
ocasionaly
Magnanimous (not really)
neccesarily
hilarios


Exhibit B: A really awesome, entirely unrelated vedio. Enjoy!

Its all my fault

I am not entirely sure how this came about, but a couple of my friends decided that this month is "Blame Sutter Month", and came up with a highly inventive list of things that I should be blamed for. I was so greatly amused by this that I decided to post it. My own personal additions are in Italics. Enjoy!

Stuff I am blamed for

1. Modest mouse not playing around here more often
2. lack of mechanical pencils in Erin’s house
3. snakes on a plane
4. uhn tiss, uhn tiss, uhn tiss
5. Jason Mraz addictions (this could actually be my fault)
6. Jason Mraz rehab centers being non existent
7. Jayme’s recent lack of creativity
8. Bush’s presidency
9. the word “Magnanimous” (I don’t even know what that means)
10. The annoying cut on Jayme’s finger
11. cracks in the sidewalk
12. Erin’s dad snoring on the couch
13. it getting dark at 7 PM
14. it still being dark at 7 AM
15. Global warming
16. The ice age
17. dead wollybear caterpillars on the road
18. rap music
19. dragonforce being popular
20. gangstas , especially white kids who think they are gangsta
21. Jayme getting burned at Vo-tech
22. Stanley Meyer’s circuits not working
23. rednecks
24. Union city people
25. Darfur
26. PETA

26. Bad sushi
27. Country music (What? My girlfriend broke up with me then ran over my dog, and I felt the need to sing about it. Several times.)
28. The Jonas Brothers
29. Miley Cyrus
30. Hitler (Ouch. Definitely not my fault)
31. Drugs
32. Music being expensive
33. the bruise on Erin’s leg
34. Jayme not having clean clothes
35. Dean’s party being cancelled
36. Zune’s being underestimated
1. Jayme’s bad punctuation, as seen above
37. the poor hobos on the street
38. Porn Zune (LOLZ!)
39. No one giving Placebo a chance
40. Justin not calling Jayme back
41. being so damn comfortable (Guilty as charged)
42. Reverse raves ( Katie and Demarius were involved)
43. Erin’s knee being messed up
44. Life being confusing
45. Not having a Starbucks in Meadville
46. Having a Walgreens
47. Jonny Rick calling people “Dear” all the time
48. Losing the game
49. The Rolling Stones being alive still
50. Thirty year old men hitting on Jayme
51. Having two number ‘26’s

This list is dedicated to Jayme and Erin, who blame me for everything. Sorry, guys.