Reflection: Where did all the jamming go?

Whoever's out there still reading my blog must be wondering where all the jams went. I'm disappointed to say the aspirations I had at the beginning of this semester have shriveled up like a raisin in the sun. It's nobody's fault; you can only say that these things happen.

For this class blog, I'm required to write a reflective essay to comment on my experience so far as a blogger. This is NOT that assignment. But this is a reflection on what has transpired in my hopes to start a legitimate band with my friends at 1474 Tremont St. in Boston. The jam band we had going got derailed this past month, due to outside elements and things that were, well, simply more important than music. It's not what I expected and I am truly disappointed in what we've been able to accomplish, but nobody's at fault. Sometimes things need to be put ahead of musical endeavors and pipe dreams.

It started off amazingly, with everyone participating and playing extremely well. We had a few covers lined up. We had the basement expanded to make more room for us to play. Some of us even had new instruments to try out! So what exactly went wrong?

In my case, the first big domino to fall was my amplifier. It broke over a month ago, and it is still in the repair shop (that reminds me, I should give them a call!) That severely hampered my ability to jam with everyone, although we still had two amps. One of them was a regular Fender amp that was not suited for live shows or jam sessions with drums, so whenever we played with drums it would have to have been one guitar and a bass player. With myself and Justin both primarily being guitar players, this had trouble working.

November was way more hectic than any of us imagined. Mike was coming up with some great stuff on the piano, and still is, but illnesses took over his life in October and November. He came down with mononucleosis (commonly known as "mono"), which rendered him unable to do, well, anything, for an extended time. Then he had to have his tonsils examined shortly after, which made him more like a ghost these months. He's thankfully recovered from these illnesses and you can find him blogging at the Reality Distortion Field blog.


Justin, James and I all focused more on acquiring a co-op position in November than anything. I had about 8 interviews and I had to get there on my own every time. This often took up entire days just going to and from places to interview. I had to skip some classes just to make these interviews. Gladly, I ended up with a position I actually wanted, at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. James has a position with a small financing firm, and Justin unfortunately still remains jobless. He is confident, however, that he'll land a position at the offices of Gillette in Boston. We had some jamming time mixed in between this crazy month, but not enough to make significant progress.

The worst news of this semester by far was the news that Tyler would be moving away to Colorado. He's transferring to Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO, in January, where he'll keep his major at Mathematics. So now, if we even want to think about having a band, we'll need to find a new bass player. Tyler will be selling his bass and amps to us, so we can have them at our disposal. It was a shock to all of us that one of our closest friends, who lived in New Jersey his whole life, would suddenly move out west, but it's a family thing. Tyler will be missed, but I'm sure this won't be the last time we see him. We're already planning a spring trip to Colorado.

I plan to continue this blog as a guitar commentary vehicle, which I've been doing for the past month or so. "Guitar Spotlight" will continue on, including this week. And whenever I get some jam time in, I'll let you all know how it went.

Until next time...

New Blogs Preview; ScreenDreams; Co-op News!

That's not a typo in the title. My next blog will be entitled ScreenDreams, to satisfy my need for a cinema-related blog topic. I am hoping to make some very low-budget shorts in the future, and I plan on documenting the process...At least the interesting parts! I will provide reviews to movies I see, and I plan to approach each type of movie differently. I'm not going to look at serious dramas the same way as slapstick comedies. Different movies with different aims deserve different types of criticism, positive or negative. I plan on being as objective and open-minded as possible with each viewing. And knowing myself, it's likely I might have to admit I need repeated viewings to fully appreciate certain films. I may also create podcasts for this blog as well. Spotlights similar to "Guitar Spotlight" will be shown on certain films and filmmakers I find to be particularly great and noteworthy. Plenty of topics I plan to cover definitely give me some writing to do for the future.

In other news, I have landed my co-op position for next semester! I'll be working in the external relations department at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. I'll hopefully be fulfilling all of the job responsibilities listed in the job description, given my previous experience working at the Sports Information office right here at NU. My responsibilities will be to keep track of our coverage in the media, as well as writing press releases when we need to make ourselves public. I'll hopefully also get a chance to help update the website as I help with the event planning team. I've also hear on slow days I can even stop by the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, next to which my office will be located, to see what's going on that day! Sounds like an exciting environment to be a part of. I also got a job offer from Sun Life Financial, but I accepted the position at MCCA as soon as it was offered to me. Getting a second offer was still very encouraging to me, especially from a company I would have liked to had a job with. I think I had more of an advantage than I thought before with my first co-op already under my belt. I may even get a blog going to document my co-op experience- something I think could be very useful for fellow college students pursuing a career in my field!

Guitar Spotlight: Jason Becker

Unfortunately, in real life the heroes aren't always the victors. Strange, unexplained and horrible things can happen to even the best of people. The world of rock music and rock guitar players is no stranger to such tragedies. Jason Becker, co-founder of the short lived rock group Cacophony, came along in the mid-1980s as a true master in the art of guitar shredding, only to have his incredible talent taken away from him. Becker was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), popularly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," in 1989 at the age of 20, but his talents were already evident. It's a shame that a guitarist with such a high level of skill would not only be robbed of his gift, but go largely unnoticed in the world of rock music and even among fellow guitar players.



This video from Youtube is an excellent piece of evidence for showing the precision and speed Becker demonstrated on the axe. Here he's covering his own transposition of Paganini's 5th Caprice at an incredible tempo. Back in these days, there were very few guitar players who could effectively shred on guitar at this level. He picks every single note and I'm having big trouble trying to find where he misses one. It's quite a remarkable performance in this video. As a craftsman of his instrument, he could be put on par with Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert for his era.


Becker came aboard David Lee Roth's solo act to be a part of his band. It looked like he was well on his way to becoming a worldwide rock hero. We've seen what being part of a popular singer's act can do for guitar players, like the previously covered Randy Rhoads and now Zakk Wylde with Ozzy Osbourne. It was around this very time, in 1989, that Becker began to feel familiar symptoms of a degenerative muscle condition. Not too long after being diagnosed with ALS, Becker lost his ability to use his arms and legs, and eventually speak. Upon initial diagnosis, he was given three years to live. Remarkably, he was able to finish his first studio album with Roth, which went gold. And thankfully, ALS only affected his muscles and not his brain. He still communicates with his eyes through a system developed by his father, and not only is still alive today, but is still composing music. His last album, Blackberry Jams, was released in 2003. He has a website at jasonbecker.com.


Like every guitar player I spotlight in this blog, I urge viewers to check out as much as they can on Youtube of this exceptional guitarist. The fact that he has not only lived nearly 20 years after being given three months, but continued creating music without the ability to move or speak, is truly remarkable. I am doing all I can to make sure this incredible person doesn't go unnoticed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thought I'd check in after a 5-day absence, that okay with you? In all seriousness, it's been yet another hectic week full of job interviews and serious work deadlines in some classes, including a midterm paper and one final exam. I have, however, have had some time to play guitar, and I'm hoping to put a version of Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" up on Youtube sometime this weekend.

This month has been more about increasing my library of song knowledge than creating my own works. The guys at 1474 Tremont have been going home a lot on the weekends, too, which has hampered our ability to jam on a regular basis just like last month. We did set aside some time last week to jam, though, it was myself, Justin and Mike. It was a pure acoustic guitar jam, which can be really fun if we get on a roll. Justin and I still have great chemistry playing together, and it was no different as we jammed for about 45 minutes straight. Mike laid down some nice tunes on the piano, which I plan on covering for my final project in JRN525 really soon. His talent is at a very high level and he's acquired it in a pretty short amount of time. When I interviewed him he had a little trouble taking it seriously at first (we're close friends), but once he realized how seriously I was taking it he went along with it. Be prepared for some audio samples to go along with pictures of him playing. He is a talented player who deserves notice. You can check out his videos on Youtube, just search for "Mike Tibaudo."

That's all for today. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and now we can look forward to the holiday season and December vacation!