Doing Something Nice For Someone More Stressed Than Me: A Heartwarming Non-Music Related Blog Post

I wish I could say that I did nice things for people more stressed than I without being assigned by my Technical Communication teacher, but more often than not I cannot say that. Let me give some background on this story. My younger sister recently became engaged. She's getting married in only a few weeks. She's also hoping to pass all her classes so she can graduate this semester. In addition to all that, she works at a shoe store and has an internship at a fitness center half an hour away. Needless to say, she is more stressed than I. Oh, I forgot, she also just wrecked the crud out of my dad's beloved car and has no car of her own to drive. And I should mention that her fiance goes to school in another state. 

So, I took it upon myself to help her out a little. She was in need of transportation from school to work. So, in the spirit of the holiday season, I took some time out of my busy schedule to pick her up from the mall and take her to her class. 

I felt good about giving her a ride, but in my heart I knew I could do more. She needed something sugary and fattening to comfort her in her troubled times. So, later on that night, I hopped in my classic 1987 Mazda RX-7 and drove to the Mecca of sugary fat cravers, Krispy Kreme. I purchased one dozen assorted doughnuts including some delightful pumpkin spice cake doughnuts and a couple festively frosted ones. After paying my eight bucks or so, I hopped back in my classic 1987 Mazda RX-7 and headed to my sister's apartment. Now, I can't say that my intentions in giving the doughnuts were entirely altruistic as I was also hoping to score some points with my sister's roommates. After all, I didn't expect my sister to eat all twelve. 

So, I knocked at the door and set the doughnuts aside on a nearby bench. When my sister answered, I gave her a brotherly hug and then grabbed the doughnuts. She asked, "Brother, why did you bring me doughnuts?" in a puzzled yet pleased sort of way. Now, she happens to be in the same Technical Communication class as me and I saw the wheels turning in her head. The jig was up. She caught me being nice to fill the assignment. But she and her roommates were appreciative anyway. Mission accomplished. 

Viva La Vida Tour at Energy Solutions Arena

I had a perfectly worded review of the Coldplay concert that I had almost finished writing a couple weeks ago. I left it on my desktop and it was lost forever when my computer's battery died. So, this one's not gonna be as good. Well... I'll try to recreate it the best I can. 

Great rock concerts are like Christmas morning to me. Each song played is like a beautifully wrapped gift that's been sitting under the tree with your name on it. The thrill of finding out what's inside and then playing with your new toy for a little while only builds as you unwrap each consecutive gift. Such was the Coldplay concert on Nov. 22nd in Salt Lake City. 

Before I get to Coldplay's setlist, let me say a couple things about the opening acts. First to take the stage was Sleepercar, an "alt-country" group from Texas. I was out buying an awesome shirt during their first couple of songs, but when I got back to my seat I really liked what I heard. Definitely more alt than country. I think I'll add them to my Pandora. 

We were lucky at this show to get two opening acts. The second was Jon Hopkins, co-producer (or something) of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. He was an electronica guy who got some sweet sounds and beats out of a nice lookin' synth. I thought it was really cool how he added on layer after layer of sound to each song, but I don't think it really made for a good live performance. I'll probably add him to my Pandora as well because I like that kind of stuff. 

After watching the tech dudes set up for Coldplay for what seemed like forever, the lights went down and we heard the beginning of Life in Technicolor. Oh what a glorious feeling. Rather than give you the song by song reaction, which would take too long, I'll just give you the setlist and then mention a few things that I found to be especially noteworthy. 

 Life in Technicolor

 Violet Hill

 Clocks

 In My Place 

 Speed Of Sound

 Cemeteries of London 

 42

 Fix You

 Strawberry Swing 

 God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (techno version)

 Talk (also techno)

 The Hardest Part (Chris Martin solo)

 Postcards From Far Away (Piano solo)

 Viva La Vida

 Lost!

 The Scientist (acoustic from platform in the crowd)

 Death Will Never Conquer (same place with Will singing)

First Encore:

 Politik

 Lovers In Japan

 Death And All His Friends

Second Encore:

 Yellow

Hearing a song live, even if you just listened to the album version on the way to the show, brings back all sorts of memories associated with that song. When they played Violet Hill, it took me back to a hotel room in West Virginia where I downloaded the song from the internet and first listened to it. I put the song on my iPod and probably listened to it once every hour for the rest of my road trip to DC to work for the summer. 

When I heard Speed of Sound, I remembered a similar experience. A friend and I were on a road trip to California for the Coachella Music and Art Festival, where we'd hear songs from X&Y right before the album was released. The only new song we'd heard was Speed of Sound because we were able to download it from the internet. Good times. 

I knew In My Place was a great live song, but I was surprised by 42. There had to be at least a full minute of instrumental rocking out. I loved it. Right after 42 they played Fix You. I thought if the all the equipment exploded and the show had to end there, I would still be happy. But the equipment didn't explode and the show went on. 

On the X&Y tour it was a big thing to have all of the members of the band singing together on Fix You. This time they all sang on a lot of the songs and it sounded awesome. I was surprised that they played all of the songs from the Viva La Vida album except one (Yes). A bold move for a band with so many "hits" in their repertoire. But, they are Coldplay. 

Adjectives fail me in describing the first encore. Chris Martin played a short solo piano piece after Politik, millions of paper butterflies fell from the ceiling during Lovers in Japan, and there was plenty of rocking out during Death and All His Friends. I couldn't have asked for more. 

But there was more. They came back out and busted right into Yellow. And then I went home happy. Well worth the exorbitant amount I paid for not-that-great seats. 

Another Show for the Innominate Band

    So, shortly after we played our last show at the Raintree, Brett (he's the bald singer) sent out a text saying he'd been asked to have us play at a ward activity for the Orem College Singles Ward. With this new goal, we went back to practicing, worked on some new songs (not any new songs written by us, of course), and brushed up our stage presentation. 

    After a number of weeks and several practice sessions, the night of "Show Numero Dos" came. I was quite impressed my bandmates' ability to fit the drums, speakers, microphone stands, guitars, and other equipment into their cars. When we got everything set up, we did a couple runs through The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" to set levels and to make sure we had the song down. Brett decided that he wanted us to play that one only a few days before the show. I, of course, wholeheartedly agreed. By the time we were finishing the song for the second time, people were starting to come in for the ward dinner before the show. 

    I had that weird feeling in my stomach that usually happens before a show, so I didn't feel like eating anything. I sat at a table and talked with Todd, our drummer, who was feeling the same way I was. 

    Anyway, lemme get to the music. Dinner ended, a few more people showed up to hear us play, Brett and Kyle (Brett's younger brother who is our bass player) played "Storm" by Lifehouse acoustic, and then the official show started. We started, and this was my idea, by playing the theme song from The Office. When I hit the last note on the piano, Kyle and Todd started up with the intro to "Starlight" by Muse, which we happened to be playing in the same key as the Office song (G). It was a pretty sweet transition. During the first few songs, "Starlight," "Good" by Better Than Ezra, and "Run To" by Emerson Hart, the crowd was a little quiet. Mostly, they just sat and listened from their seats at the tables quite far away from the stage. We also played Brett's song, "Mr. Lightning" or "Any Last Words" and had a guest singer, Sam Strong, come up and sing "Breathe" by Anna Nalick. Then, we tried to get the crowd into things with "Song 2" by Blur (that's the woo-hoo one). Kyle sang, Austin (normally a guitarist) played bass,  and I played a very messy distorted guitar. By the time we had started "Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol, some people had started to come up and sit right in front of the stage. I was playing rhythm guitar on this one, a fairly simple part. As I was strumming away at the three chords, I had a great idea. At the climax of the song, I was going to jump off the stage down to where the crowd was. I checked my wires as the song went on to make sure that when I jumped I wouldn't knock a mic stand into the back of Brett's head or anything. I moved over next to where Kyle was playing and where my cord wouldn't get caught on anything. More people had come to sit close to the stage during the song. Brett sang "Tell me that you'll open your eyes" for the last time before the bridge and I jumped. From where I was on the floor, I couldn't hear the monitors or the mains, so I didn't really even know what I was playing, but I tried to make it look cool. I think we must have repeated the bridge a few times before I was able to hop back up on stage and finish the song. Now we had the crowd into the show. It was the perfect time to play "All These Things That I've Done." I had the electric guitar on my back and started on the piano for this one. I had a little bit of trouble coming in with the opening lead guitar riff after playing the piano, but hopefully nobody noticed. Everybody was on their feet and singing along. I got to sing backup on this song as well, which was a thrill for me. Right when we got to the part where everything drops out except for the guitar, we heard a pop from the amp behind me and the sound from the electric guitar was gone. We scrambled and had Todd play a solo while we tried to figure things out. The amp was blown and I ended up just grabbing the acoustic guitar. Our momentum hadn't entirely died out, and Brett had a little sing along with the audience on the 'I got soul but I'm not a soldier's. When the song was over, the audience wanted more. I pointed out that the amp was blown, but that didn't stop them from loudly requesting an encore. We decided to play our old prom theme song, "Always" semi-acoustic with me on the piano. After that Brett and Kyle did some more acoustic numbers. 

   As I've said before, "What's a show without some mishaps?" They definitely seem to be a theme in our shows. In spite of that, I thought the show was a success and certainly a lot of fun. There might be some videos and photos on Facebook for those of you who missed it. 

A Sunset for Snow Patrol?

  "A Hundred Million Suns" is, as far as I can tell, Snow Patrol's fifth release. Most people are familiar just with the stuff since 2004's "Final Straw." I enjoyed "Final Straw" as well as "Eyes Open," their release from 2006. So, I was quite excited for this album, and have been listening to it since I bought it a couple weeks ago. Now, I bought it and listened to it knowing that I'd be writing this blog post. Did that change my listening experience? I don't know. My opinion of it, however, is that though it has a few really great songs, the number of merely mediocre songs made the album somewhat of a disappointment. 

  So, here's the basic Snow Patrol song structure: a soft simple intro followed by repeated vocal and lead guitar riffs, as layers are added with every verse and chorus, the song builds to a climax and then quickly ends. Think "Open Your Eyes" or "Run." I happen to like this pattern. It's easy to follow and Snow Patrol usually has some pretty good rock-out moments at the climaxes. Most of the songs on "A Hundred Million Suns" follow this same pattern with maybe a little more production than on past albums. 

  The album opens with one of its best tracks, "If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It." With its catchy riffs, great chorus, and another climactic rock-out moment, this song is as good as any Snow Patrol song out there. The unique vocals in the chorus are definitely something to pay attention to. "Crack the Shutters" comes next. It has everything necessary musically to be another good song, but the lyrics make me want to barf. They're too, I don't know, "cute." Track 3 (I could write another entire blog entry on the importance of track 3 on an album), "Take Back the City," is a very good song, but not a great song. The same goes for "Lifeboats," number 4. "The Golden Floor" is interesting at first, with its different rhythm, but it soon gets boring. "Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands," track 6, is my second favorite on the album (after track one). As another upbeat song, I like it for most of the same reasons I mentioned for the first song. "Set Down Your Glass" (7) and "The Planets Bend Between Us" (8) are both ballads. I really like track 8, while I found track 7 to be kinda boring. Track 9, "Engines," is just another okay song that doesn't seem to go anywhere. "Disaster Button" is another good upbeat song and even has a cool guitar solo, but I can't recommend it without some editing for content at about 0:30. The last track is a sixteen minute song in three "movements" called "The Lightning Strike." The idea is a cool one, but only if by the end of the first movement you're left wanting more. This song just doesn't quite pull it off. Almost, but not quite. 

So, don't take my negative comments to mean that I regret buying this album. It's a good album, but not a great album. I worry that singles from this album won't be as successful as those from earlier albums and will cause Snow Patrol to be forgotten. I'd recommend that you faithful readers (I'm still pretty sure you don't exist) spend half as much as I did on the CD and buy only some tracks off iTunes, or wherever you legally download music from. 

Top Ten Guitar Moments from Mikey's iPod

 This post is a little overdue. It's been sitting on my desktop for almost a week now. I had to narrow some of these guitar moments down and I was afraid that I'd forgotten some. It was hard as they're all so precious to me. I might have to make a sequel with some of the leftovers and the forgotten. Here goes: 

 If you're me, or like me, there are some moments in songs that just make you want to pull out your air guitar and let the fingers of your left hand fly up and down the air frets. Some bring a tear to your eye while others inspire you to crank the volume up until it hurts your ears and doesn't even sound good on your speakers anymore, still others make you wish you had a girlfriend's hand to hold while listening. Some are all of those at once (ooh, I just thought of another one). These ten aren't in any particular order other than the order that they came to my mind. They also aren't all "solos." The glory of some (or most) of these guitar "moments" involves more than just one guitar track. If there are some here you haven't heard, I'd recommend downloading them. They're all worth 99 cents.  

1. Solo from "Right Now" by Van Halen - As far as face melting electric guitar solos go, this one, with its syncopation and runs up and down the whole range of the guitar, rocks the hardest. I just wish I could play it. 

2. Solo from "Crown" by Collective Soul - It's fitting that such an emotional song by Ed Roland about his father should include an emotional solo. Ross Childress' playing on this track leaves nothing wanting. The emotion builds as the ringing notes from the guitar move up the scale and lead right into the final chorus.  

3. Riff from "Moses" by Coldplay - This song was only released on the Live 2003 album. So, not as many people are familiar with it, which is a shame as it's one of my favorite Coldplay songs. The riff I'm talking about here is the lead one, not the rhythm, thought that one is good as well. It's those high range ringing notes that get me every time.

4. Intro to "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 - This is another excellent example of high range ringing notes. Also an amazing use of the delay effect. I don't know how The Edge comes up with this stuff, but I wish I could too. 

5. Solo from "Invincible" by Muse - There were so many Muse moments that I wanted to include, but this is the one I decided on. If you've ever seen it played live you might know why. Matt Bellamy is one of the most talented guitarists in today's music. This solo is the most beautiful and impressive combination of hammer ons and finger tapping that I know of. 

6.  "Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston - If my English teacher even reads my blog entries, he might fail me if I didn't include Boston in this list. If I ever made a list of top ten organ or keyboard moments, this song would make that list as well. I can't even pick one part of this song for my "guitar moment." From the two and a half minute intro to the several rhythm and lead solos, this song is guitar bliss. 

 

7. Acoustic Rhythm Guitars in "Carriage" by Counting Crows - It was about time I included something on the soft side in this list. The acoustic guitars in this song seem to dance around each other and through the chords. They provide the perfect layer for Adam Duritz's vocals as well as a beautiful trumpet solo to float over. 

8. "The Bucket" by Kings of Leon - Rhythm guitar that is more than just the same old chords always catches my attention. This is just a great song to turn up loud and rock out to.  

9.  "Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes - The guitar riffs in this song have such a fat, juicy sound that you can almost taste. I don't know if it's an octave effect, doubling, or just overdubbing that makes that sound, but I love it. 

10.  Solo from "When I Look At the World" by U2 - I tried to keep only one entry from each group, but this one just had to be here. Edge also employs the delay effect on this one, but also uses a slide on his electric guitar. The result is as close to audio euphoria as I have ever come in my sojourn on this Earth. 

There you are. I hope I've inspired some music downloads. iTunes gives me 15%. 

                   -- Mikey 

One You May Not Have Heard Of

 So, I remember back when I started this blog I said I was going to be doing some album reviews. So far I've done one. I think another is due. I haven't bought any new albums lately, so I was mentally browsing my collection looking for something that would be interesting. I ended up choosing one that my dad gave to me after winning it at a company golf tournament. The album is called "Holy Dogs" and the band is called Stir. 

 Holy Dogs, which came out in 2000, is the second release from this St. Louis based band. As far as I know it's their last release as well. Their sound can be compared to other 90's pop/rock groups like Collective Soul, Third Eye Blind, Live, etc. If you were a fan of the days that american rockers topped the charts, you'll probably enjoy this album. It's unfortunate that this group never really took off as this album has some strong tracks. I heard from some friends that "New Beginnings" got some radio play when it was released, but it didn't stay in the rotation very long. 

  The band rocks hard on numbers like "Superstation," "New Beginnings," "Stop Killing Me," and the album's title track. "Spaceman," "Grounded," and "Clear" are a little more ballad-esque. Definitely worth a listen. 

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Now, I just realized that it might be kinda cool if I had some sort of rating system. I think that rather than giving a grade, or a number of stars (guitar picks, bananas, etc.), I'll take a more practical approach and tell you what I'd pay for this album. If you can find Holy Dogs used for less than seven bucks, it would be well worth the purchase. As for the Coldplay album, go to your closest music store, Wal-Mart, or wherever and pay whatever they're asking. 

    

Rockin' the Raintree (or Something)

  This past weekend my band played a little show at the Raintree apartment complex. It was the first time I'd played with a band in front of people since my high school days. We set up right on the grass in the middle of the buildings and under some trees. Luckily, it was a really nice day; warm enough, no chance of rain, still light enough outside, etc. We told people that we were going to start playing at 5 p.m., but we kinda got a late start setting up, so we didn't really get started until after 5:30. It was just as well, though, as we only had our singer's family and my roommate there right at 5. By the time we were ready to play we had a decent sized crowd gathered. I'd say at least thirty people. 

   Right before we started, I started to get a little jittery. It had been a while since I'd played in front of people and I forgot what it felt like. The first song we played was Starlight by Muse. I was on the piano. The drums and bass started it off. Then I came in with the awesome piano riff. The crowd all recognized the song and cheered. Our little show was off to a good start. 

   I won't say it went perfectly. Far from it actually. I made my share of fairly noticeable mistakes and we also had a little bit of interference from Mother Nature (a bee started attacking our singer during one song). The high points of the show were Good by Better Than Ezra, Yellow by Coldplay (I played the lead guitar on that one), and a song our singer Brett wrote called Mr. Lightning. When we'd played all the songs we'd planned on our fans still demanded more. So, we pulled out our old high school prom theme song we wrote so many years ago and tried to shake the dust off of it as we played it for our encore. I was surprised how well I remembered the guitar solo. The former Timpanogos High School students who were there especially enjoyed that one. 

   I had a lot of fun, and we had a lot of girls come up and talk to us afterwards. So, I think we accomplished the purpose of our show: have fun and impress the chicks. I'm kinda hoping we do it again soon.