Rocking out at Musician's Institute

its late and I'm a bit tired from rocking out (or watching others rock out) all day, so i will try to make this quick, and please excuse any errors. There is no doubt that I've had a fantastic time at Musician's Institute this week. From the open jams to the guest artist concert, even the technique classes, it was all worthwhile. I basically want to run through a few cool things that have gone down here so that we don't get too far behind. Surprisingly, the first day of camp was the least hectic. The process of registering was a bit hectic, but when that was over we got to chillax and watch Dan "the man" Gilbert and a bunch of other MI teachers rock out in the concert hall. It was an excellent show and an appropriate way to start off the week. We transitioned smoothly to the first couple of classes and visited the registrar more than enough times in order to get schedules sorted out. The very next day I got to meet my band! I was a bit worried because all those changes may have put me in a band with people of unfortunate musical persuasion (bad taste. Metalheads.). Luckily, I ended making a connection with a couple of great characters, two friends from Barbados who were more into alternative rock and wanted to play something more on the complicated side. SCORE! We were joined by a seriously shredding Italian and slightly older dude from the LA area. When we began rehearsing Radiohead's Paranoid Android, the others seemed to immediately appreciate my style. This made me happy. The next few days got a bit more complicated. We began checking out the various seminars and jam sessions that were happening at the Institute. I was suddenly quite busy, ironically there was barely enough time left to find a practice room. At the end of the week, every group formed during the camp got a chance to perform in the professional grade concert hall. What excited me most about this was that (other than the fact that my group was killer) the advanced lighting and screens on both sides could make one feel like a true rockstar. I have a feeling that the crowd loved us as well. Can't wait to get the DVD of our performance to show the friends back home! Unfortunately, I must conclude this so that I may pack for my flight to Sacramento tomorrow, but email me or text me if you want to know any more of the rockin' details! PEACE.

You 'aint seen nuthin' yet....

I bet some of you out there are thinking that there is nothing left to say about Summer 2009. I bet you are figuring that all my exciting activities are over and there will be nothing going on for the next couple months save for band camp. WRONG! You 'aint seen nuthin' yet my friends. It just so happens that on this very day I will be departing from the small town of Meadville to travel across the world (actually just the country) to Los Angeles where I will be attending a 6-day drum school at Musician's Institute. "Summer Shot" is a condensed summer camp version of MI's full year graduate program in Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keyboard, or Vocals. The same five majors are available for study during summer shot. I will form a band with other instrumentalists attending the camp, and we will learn and rehearse a song throughout the week for the concert on Saturday (though I don't know quite as many people in LA as I do in PA, all my relatives will be invited to attend). There will also be open counseling sessions, private lessons, and other classes available throughout the week. Admittedly I am not entirely sure how it will all go down, but I'm hoping to get into a band that will play a good jazz or funk tune that will be more difficult than I am used to. And did I mention that this whole think takes place on Hollywood Blvd? Right on! There will be plenty of rocking/jazzing in the near future for me and I promise to keep everybody updated. Peace!

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.