Sutter Speak.

Need I remind everybody that my band Conspiracy Theory has some pretty sweet videos up on YouTube that you should show all your friends?

2010-09-05T14:49:00.003-04:00

So basically I'm asking you very very nicely to go to Conspiracy Theory's YouTube page and take a look at some of our videos.... we do some good work and I think people will like it, and we're pretty seriously in need of a wider, more appreciative audience. Also, we totally love feedback! So, please do go to our page and have a quick look around, and if you hear something that is pleasing to your ears, let us know, and more importantly, let your friends know. You are all fantastic fans! And here is the magic address.... http://www.youtube.com/user/theconspiracyband

Thanks again!

In other words, marching band tomorrow is gonna be freaking sweet!

2010-09-02T19:35:00.003-04:00

The first week of school so far has been pretty successful. Let me just say that I am seriously psyched for our first football game tomorrow. We've been working very hard, and it is by no means perfect but there isn't a doubt in my mind that it is gonna be a great night. But the really cool thing is that we are working on the percussion feature and it has been going quite well, so I'm naturally quite excited for our first band show when we'll get to perform it. And the second half.... well I will just say that its jamming right along. So I will leave you with that and return to my statistics homework. Peace!

Working on the drum feature and pretending school isn't starting this week.

2010-08-29T16:41:00.001-04:00

It has been true for most of the summer that I've not been accomplishing quite so much as one would hope to have accomplished by, say, the beginning of one's senior year of high school. By the time I had less than two weeks to go, I realized that I should probably plan on doing nothing all day but practice and work on AP English until the end of summer. Writing the second part of this drum feature has also become kind of important. Ahhh, yet another item for the "Finish before school starts" list. I tried to be all organized about it and plan to work on that crazy-loud-samba-party-mess that is our percussion feature a little every day. But as it turns out, the process of writing notes on a staff simply cannot be given a schedule tantamount to the process of writing notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Composition seems to be a much more complicated endeavor that occurs in short (or long) bursts of inspiration and thoughtfulness. It is at these random times of day in which I will listen to the clave pattern that will the basis of our samba groove and try to imagine what I might hear in a Brazilian drum circle (imagination is required here only because I've never actually been part of a Brazilian drum circle). If you just spend enough time processing the foundation of the song, that "dut, dut-du....dut-du", it can lead in all sorts of different directions. I can then take those different directions and string them all together, using lines, arrows, numbers, and circles, then eventually put it all into the Finale Allegro computer program that replays it note-for note with MIDI sounds. The hope is that this will result in what I call Habanero 2, the little hyperactive and fun-loving Brazilian cousin of my original drumline piece, Habanero. Yes, our theme this year is "Hot" and I felt the need- nay, the obligation to do something spicy. The outlook is l out looking well so far, and I hope it all lives up to expectation. Only time will tell! DUN DUN DUUUUUNN!!!!

Has another summer come and gone in a flash?

2010-08-26T14:15:00.002-04:00

I'm afraid so. The real question is, why haven't I blogged all summer? Aren't I supposed to be lounging around for hours having absolutely no idea what to do with myself? Unfortunately (fortunately?) such was not the case for this kid during these few months of freedom and humidity. When I wasn't away at some camp up in New York City or Boston, I was down here working with the marching band or practicing by myself. I've also got some AP English summer reading that is unlikely to be getting done all by itself. Anyway, I feel kinda bad about being unable (and just a bit unwilling) to report on these exciting events as they happened, but I must redeem myself by giving a bit of a recap on my vacation madness before the school year starts. After all, you don't want to be following the story before you've read the prequels, right? Because I shouldn't have any shortage of things to talk about this coming year (though a potential shortage of time to talk, which I'll work around). And henceforth, I do swear unto all six of ye dedicated readers that my exploits involving all things that carry the suffix band shalt find themselves documented here on this very blog!

Is it the end of the year already?

2010-06-11T10:10:00.003-04:00

Despite a great deal of confusion, reorganization, misinterpretation, and stressful situations, my junior year actually turned out to be pretty good. Since seventh grade, something has been forcing me to take whatever classes are the highest for each year. I never knew exactly why, but I've always somehow managed to get myself into Honors This or Accelerated That. In hindsight that was a good thing, as many of the classes do get more interesting in high school, and of course they are the ones all your friends take anyways. But this year was different. I was so proud of myself to be finally breaking free of the must-be-the-best-at-everything mentality. I seized the opportunity to pass up such outrageous course selections as AP U.S. History and AP Chemistry. And man, was it worth it. With that little bit of extra space, I was able to focus more my music, and relax a little at the end of the day (Don't get me wrong, I still had a couple classes here and there that required plenty of extra brain power). For my senior year, I am even going to pass over the science credit all together. Though I am very interested in Physics and would've loved to take AP, the calculus requirement and high difficulty level of the class put together would be too much for somebody who will be practicing for waaaaay to many college auditions next year. But I'm looking forward to AP European and AP English next year, and there's no doubt that I will have plenty of space in my schedule for band and orchestra.

MASH Marching Band brings the heat..... And Meadville drumline supplies the spice.

2010-06-05T17:25:00.004-04:00

You may know that I've asked my band director if I could write the drum feature for next year's show as my senior project. She graciously accepted the offer. As of now I have a good section of it done and revised, even played it for the drum section. But of course I must endeavor a bit further than that. Following the regular corps-style section of drumming, there will be a break into an entirely different funky Latin section. Or shall we say, Spicy (the theme for next year is "Hot"). The problem is that I'm a white guy living out in the country where there is a hoedown for every 10-gallon hat and a metal mosh for every pair of skinny jeans. But Latin? It's a dead language to everyone else, and here it might as well be a style of music that never even lived in the first place. A tad frustrating, but I am determined to watch videos on YouTube and practice what Salsas and Mambos I can on the drumset until something comes into my head that will get the Friday night football crowd onto its feet. 'Cause we're pretty sure the football team wont be doin' it..... OH SNAP!!

11th grade- A year in famous last words.

2010-05-29T10:10:00.006-04:00

"This year is gonna be a really productive year." "Let's just get marching band season over with, then I can really get working." "Better be prepared for the IUP honors band audition, we wouldn't want to mess that up, would we?" "Ah heck, looks like we messed that up after all. But district jazz is coming up soon, so we have a chance to redeem ourselves." "When I'm done with all these district music festivals, I will have plenty more time." "Oh, but now I have to practice for regions, so as soon as I'm done with that I'm good to go." "Hmmmm, now I have a bit more time, but the All-State festival is coming up, so I probably should be getting ready for that." "Woo hoo all the festivals are over! Victory is sweet! Now I can practice whatever the heck I want!" "Before I get too much into this practicing whatever I want thing, I gotta remember that the middle school and high school spring concerts are coming up. For once I may get stuck playing music with regular people." Mrs. Manning: "Hey, wanna play the Tube on this song?" Me: "Sure, but I really don't know much about the tuba, so I'd better spend as much time practicing as I can!" "Now, I just have to go to a whole bunch of combined rehearsal before the spring concert, then I'm home free!" "That went well, but don't forget the memorial day parade." Mrs. Manning: "Want to play tuba in the brass ensemble?" Me:"I'm a little better now, why not?"
I will never cut myself a break, will I?

Zune is the bomb!

2010-05-09T12:20:00.003-04:00

Now folks, if you've ever read anything that I've written you probably know that I'm a big fan of Microsoft and Zune. Well now I'm an even bigger fan, because for my seventeenth birthday (!?!?!?!?!?) I upgraded to the Zune HD, a 16 GB, wireless-enabled, super-thin, super-awesome portable mp3 device created by Bill Gates and company in Redmond, Washington. I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the new touchscreen trend that seems to be sweeping today's gadgets. I went to great lengths to avoid it in my new phone, and Dear Apple iPad: Please cease and desist, neither print media nor computers with buttons deserve to die by the tip of your extra-shiny tech-sword. But I digress. The Zune HD has most of the traits of a heavy duty competitor to apple's iPad mini (read: iPod Touch), but with the benefit of using the ever-improving Zune software instead of Apple's convoluted and low-resolution iTunes system. Surprisingly, I dig the touchscreen and the applications that take advantage of it. There are many different ways to organize and search your music collection, and so far I haven't pressed anything by accident. I've even downloaded a few songs and a music video in honor of the occasion. Hopefully some of my smarter acquaintances are down with Zune, because I am looking forward to sharing songs and info with them via the Zune Social system. As more exciting things, or any kinds of things happen, I will find some time to write some stuff. Any ideas/suggestions/rants/miscellaneous time wasters? Hit me up! sutter.hellwarth@windstream.net .... Peace!

The Bongo and Steel Drum Band is here to ruin your walk in the park.

2010-05-02T14:07:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I was supposed to play at a benefit concert in the park in the afternoon after a morning already occupied by taking the SAT (again). I'd have to say that the Scholastic Aptitude Test went rather well, which one could only hope so after taking it twice, but that is beside the point. The real events were supposed to start during early afternoon. Our band's plans for the day had already been scaled down due to an absent rhythm guitarist and a bassist whose bass playing was excellent, but was unable to sing because of sickness. Then, the only other voice in the group had to take a rain check, claiming illness and allergies. At this point, we had to call it quits and cancel the gig. It was clear that hanging around in the park and watching the other bands play would have to be a sufficient compromise.
At loose ends, I decided to go hang out with some friends who were, amusingly enough, working to raise money and awareness for a different charity just across the street from diamond park. A great many cool kids are in their church's youth group. Somehow, one of them materialized later that night with a rather wonderful steel drum that he claims to play in his school's steel drum band (I still don't believe it). The other thing that made me quite happy was that for some reason somebody produced a very entertaining basket of miscellaneous percussion instruments. Now I must admit that a "drum circle" with a bunch of Unitarians who rarely go south of the border and know little about grooving tends not to be extremely successful (sorry guys, you know I still love you). But steel drum jamming, on the other hand, is a unique experience. Playing some out-of-tune bongos to a funky beat with some sweet steel drum (and intermittent cowbell) late at night while no doubt annoying any passerby is an opportunity every aspiring musician should have. Too bad they are quite expensive, otherwise a steel drum would be an excellent addition to my basement equipment and musical repertoire. Anyways, that's how I spent my Saturday, which was, I must admit, more than I do on an average Saturday. Let's keep on jamming!

My Sweet Senior project is Finally Getting on (kind of) a Roll

2010-04-28T19:55:00.003-04:00

So here is my first real attempt at composition..... Our marching band director has let me compose the drum feature for next year's band show. This is going to be very exciting and quite difficult. She insists that I mustn't make it to difficult for this young percussion section. I agree, so I am working on using space together with notes, and stick to simple rhythms. Not entirely sure how this is working so far. The plan is to have a very rudimental and structured first part of the piece with heavy accents and straight, driving rhythms, resembling something a drum corp may do. The second half should be a complete contrast when the music transitions into a funky, syncopated latin jam! This part is gonna be sweet. But I'm still on the first part, seeing as that is going to be quite a bit harder to..... well... not make to hard.

GUESS WHO'S BACK!!!!

2010-04-25T14:38:00.002-04:00

Hey dedicated readers!!!! I know I've been pretty busy as of late and unable to randomly blab and rant on this funny little blog. But now that I'm done with All-State orchestra and am free to do whatever I want for now, it is high time to get this blogging experience rollin' again in a whole new way. Two things.

1) I will soon be putting videos on YouTube on behalf of myself and my band, pertaining to our music, my music, and the events surrounding these events. I'll admit that past attempts at this have come up short, but now I am fully capable of making this work due to a recent acquisition of a camera that makes videography significantly quicker and more convenient.

2) One of the things that makes this blog so tricky is my lack of a unifying theme to write things about. The problem with this is that it's even trickier to think of a good unifying theme of things to write about. So my new semi-official and easily adjustable basis for writing will be as follows.

Living with big plans in a small town can have its negatives and positives. Regardless, I can't deny the fair amount of exciting things that I've been able to get into with the help of a few great friends, teachers, and parents. I couldn't possibly find time to describe all these things in detail, and I'm not entirely sure anybody would enjoy it even if I did. So instead this blog represents a stream of consciousness regarding rockstar fantasies, music communities, practice regiments, indie bands, (numerous) unusual characters, a little bit of luck, and a kid with a weird name in a place that nobody has ever heard of. In other words, Sutter Speak.

Lets talk about U2 for a sec....

2009-09-27T15:58:00.004-04:00

I just need to take a moment here to discuss the awesomeness that is currently traveling around the world in the form of U2's 360 tour. In so many ways, one cannot even describe what goes down at a U2 concert, and I cannot possibly do it justice in the little time that I have. In a nutshell, we were somehow allowed to get inside the circle around the stage that all the band members run around on, and couldn't believe that we were actually there. They had set up a gigantic space station sort of thing with a 360 degree screen hanging from the top and lights all down the middle, attached to each of the four spiderlike legs and all over the stadium. It was an amazing thing to watch, as the larger-than-life musicians appeared on stage through mist and beams of light, uniting the 60,000 people in Rogers Centre with their universally recognized music. They played for over two hours, playing all kinds of tunes from their early days to the recent release "No Line on the Horizon". There is not much more to say about this, other than nothing else compares to the U2 experience. It is a concert that sticks with you for a very long time, and leaves giant crowds of very happy people in its wake.

This is causing some problems

2009-09-16T23:46:00.001-04:00

This is causing some problems as you may have seen, but hopefully my new mobile blog approach will prove more effective.

2009-09-16T23:17:00.005-04:00

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2009-09-16T23:17:00.003-04:00

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2009-09-16T23:17:00.001-04:00

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Football games.

2009-09-13T15:31:00.005-04:00

I'm sure its no secret how much I dig playing in the marching band. I will skip that whole speech this time. Instead I was hoping to simply go over a few awesome things that happened to myself and the MASH Marching band during the first couple weeks of the season. Friday was the first home game, and there was a pretty good showing of fans despite the questionable weather. After our band winning/team loosing romp in Oil City, I'd say we were all pretty fired up, despite the fact that we didn't expect to win. It would appear that our band has developed a tendency to battle other bands that we run in to. On this particular occasion, the Warren band though it would be funny to try and one-up some of our stand tunes. They even tried to out-dance us. Our drum major made absolutely sure that didn't happen. With a lot of help from the basses. Yes, believe it our not, we have a surprisingly fun-loving bassline. By the end of the night, we all felt as though we had played better, moved more, and had more fun than anybody else. And the football team even won! That just iced the cake for one fantastic night.

But we weren't about to stop there. Oh no, because we had in fact been asked to perform at the Allegheny Gators' football game the very next night. And even if the Meadville fans had gotten nearly as excited about the band as the band had, it would have been no comparison to the loud, rockous appreciation that we received from the gold-clad gator fans at Bender Field. After our well-played but poorly-marched halftime show, the drumline and our trusty backup dancers made a pilgrimage to the student section of the bleachers. We played some crazy cadence jams, the band was dancing, and they ate it up. Those college students couldn't get enough, they were so energetic and into it that it made me feel like some sort of rock star. The MASH band moved to every groove from Soul Man to Jump On It. And of course the dancing bassline didn't fail to impress. I think it was a fantastic opportunity for all of us to give the show our best in front of an unfamiliar (and thankfully quite accepting) crowd of people. And the Gators even won the game!!! Everybody could see that the players were enjoying the band just as much as the crowd, and I personally believe that our team spirit helped the blue & gold Gators win out.

A couple of updates

2009-09-02T16:19:00.004-04:00

To start this off, the first day of school went better than I though. It looks like I may have a chance of making some sort of a minor comeback presuming I don't get screwed over by any other situations beyond my control. I am especially excited to have an independent study in band class four days a week, which means a lot of potential progress in mallets, timpani, and other things that I can't access at home.

In other news, you gotta check out my YouTube channel!!!!! Its brand new and crazy cool!!! Its even called SutterSpeak!!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SutterSpeak

Any other youtube channels our URLs that you may have heard now cease to exist. Thanks!!

Last day of summer....

2009-09-01T19:39:00.003-04:00

In honor of Summer's last day I feel compelled to say something here. Hopefully you all have some sort of an idea about how much fun I've had since the end of 10th grade, both while exploring opportunities in other parts of the country and discovering more about myself and the place where I live. It is just a bit scary to think about how important it is to not screw up this year so that I may have a chance of going to a big college in the west with a hella tight division 1 marching band. At least getting a chance to go somewhere that really interests me and has well rounded programs and students. The really scary thing is how easy it is to get off track. I learned this last year, which truly was not that difficult, but I was unmotivated and I'll admit that I pretty much blew it. I suppose that means I can only improve from here. There is really no other choice in the matter.

And by the way, this year's marching band season is gonna rock!! Stay tuned!

Jason Mraz is the man

2009-08-19T10:06:00.007-04:00

So I am pretty much an avid concertgoer now. I know my way around Americas stages and stadiums. I went to see Jason Mraz on Monday. Anybody who knows a thing about me knows that I'm real tight with my man Jason. I've known this guy since "The Remedy" first got radio airplay and I have pretty much memorized all of his recorded work since then. The first time I saw him was down the street from my house at Shaffer auditorium at Allegheny College. This time was at the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater in Cleveland, Ohio. With a few friends and a whole bunch of snacks in our "party van", we headed to the city tickets in hand, ready to have a good time. The only major disappointment was that I made the mistake of ordering general admission tickets, which seemed to be a good move at the time based on my prior knowledge of the seating arrangement at TWCA (when I saw the Killers, there were no seats). But alas, they had rearranged the seats to that the people who were generally admitted could only stand in the far back (behind rows of seats) or on the sides, not even under the tent. After being deeply saddened by the situation in the far back, we sought a bit of redemption around the sides, leaning over the fences and looking past the beams and pillars that held the great tent in place. This view was a bit better, quite suitable for the opening acts, but since we paid nearly as much as those with the seats, we generally felt as though we deserved to be a bit more involved in this party. The thing to do was to go around to the other side. And lo!! A gap in the fence did appear!! I was on the inside by the start of his third song, found a seat for myself, and later, the rest of the group. We were practically making small talk and joking around with the guards while they checked others' tickets. The quality of the experience increased dramatically. Jason's energy and enthusiasm was extremely engaging (alliteration!), and of course hearing the music live somehow made me appreciate it even more. With the addition of operatic interludes, lyrics translated into other languages, and freestyle rap (featuring Jason's opening artists K'Naan and G.Love), even the most recognizable of his repertoire became something completely new. Not to mention the brass section that was smokin' all night long! And to top it all off, Jason presented a new view on the customary encore performance, running through the crowd onto a smaller stage in the center of everything, nightclub style. And guess who snuck in to the very front of that little ordeal? Me. Though I was on the very outside, I somehow made a move that got me within a few feet of the man himself without much trouble. It was as if it was meant to be. His final songs were some of the best, and nobody in the audience could doubt that a fantastic time was had by all. So here's to you, Jason Mraz, in the hope that you will continue to make great music and put on unforgettable performances, you are the man.

Second week of band camp

2009-08-15T10:50:00.002-04:00

I think most of my bandies would agree that the second week of band camp was even more exciting than the first. We got to take the gong and the large concert bass drum onto the field so that we may hit them as hard as we possibly can and create some epic amazingness for the beginning of our show. Then we got to working on the rest of the show. It was impressive how much we got done, at least some days. Other days were not so productive, spending most of the morning on a few sets of our opening song, nobody really focusing or thinking clearly. But for the most part the whole band did very well. By the end of the week our director was very excited about how well the show was going and I think most of us agreed with her. I personally feel that once we get the drumline tightened up and more in sync with the rest of the band, it will be a huge step towards making our show great. Then of course there was the annual band pool party, which was more fun this year than any other year I can remember! Not only was there some great chicken-fight action, plus we threw lots of people into the pool, one of them got nearly three quarters of the way across!! Another one of them happened to be the band director. Everybody was totally worn out the next day, but a fantastic season kick-off party has got to indicate a fantastic season to come.

Let the marching begin!!!

2009-08-08T14:40:00.003-04:00

So I'm finished rocking out in Los Angels, through gallivanting around the bay area, done being puzzled by classical music in Oberlin, and am now back in Meadville for the remainder of the summer. What happens now? Marching band is what happens, of course. Yesterday marked the last day of the first week of band camp, a five hour a day marching extravaganza in which we aim to finish all of the drill for our show and learn the music along with it. This is often exciting, and never fails to be thoroughly tiring as well. This first week was a serious workout, but we are well on our way to finishing the first two songs and it is all looking good so far. Being the section leader of the drum section, I was especially concerned about how well the line was holding up with so many new people. I am happy to say that we are off to a good start. With much help from drumline guru Duane Banks, we have made it quite far in a week and will keep progressing all season. I am especially excited for next week because so many people have been gone this last week, and they will all hopefully be coming back for the end of band camp. There is no way that we'll pull everything together and make the show look great with nearly half our members missing on a daily basis. This is one problem that the MASH band still needs to overcome this year and in the future. One thing I know for sure is that the entire drumline will be present and ready for action next week, and I can wait to perfect our cadences and learn some sweet moves to put in the show. I know its gonna be big, loud, and rocking!

Oberlin Percussion Institute 2009....

2009-07-29T20:04:00.007-04:00

I went to the OPI summer camp in the hopes of learning a bit more about percussion in classical music. There is no doubt that I learned many important things about marimba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, etc. in a classical context. What I also learned quite quickly was exactly how much everybody else already knew about such things. It was overwhelming to encounter so much knowledge among my peers in so short a time. Partially this just made me angry. But fortunately it also encouraged me to work harder. At least it will at some point.
The campus is a beautifully empty place in the summertime, the few students that wander here and there in small groups don't exactly translate to the surprising amount of activities that are actually going on when school is not in session. Walking a couple long blocks down from our dorm, plus jaywalking diagonally across a four way intersection got us to the conservatory every day. This was a trip we made several times within a 24-hour period, having to return for lunch, dinner, etc. The main percussion studio was where we all spent most of our time, a cavernous rectangular space with a towering, messy set of cabinets at the far end that block the view of what is probably more space. The room is a percussion mecca withing a fortress of classical music at its finest. It houses at least two massive five octave marimbas, several xylophones, sets of bells, hanging chimes, bass drums, snare drums, several timpani sets, a vibraphone or two, and who knows what else. Every day, the folding chairs were arranged in some different configuration to accommodate whatever clinic or master class we would be attending that day. Everything from the style of four mallet marimba to the precise art of the triangle, that room was clearly where it all goes down. And I must admit that the majority of these classes were very interesting and much more in-depth than what I am used to. I rarely have the chance to study technique used specifically for orchestral snare, and the man who taught us, Tom Freer, was exceptionally skilled and undeniably engaging. I had a great deal to learn from him, and even more to practice afterward. But as all you drum set players should understand, I don't often practice or perform while standing up, which is the most common method among orchestral percussionists. Even his discussion on the precise art of the triangle (as I mentioned earlier) were very enlightening. The other teachers provided equally unusual and useful insight. The head of the percussion department lead a cymbal clinic and a demonstration of putting a calf head on a drum, among other things. There was also a timpani expert who assisted many of us with the technique used to get the best sound from these large, expressive instruments. All of this was infused with eccentric stories about the escapades of the teacher and/or their colleagues, which were always amusing and mostly related to what was being taught. And you cant end an experience like this without having your mind blown, it just wouldn't be right. There was an end-of-the-week performance given by Percussion group Cincinnati, of which one of our teachers is a member. The night's repertoire consisted of pieces that ranged from cheerful and melodic folk songs played on the marimba to their rock solid conclusion which John Cage's Third Construction, which was so intricate, complicated and precise that it absolutely must be heard to be believed. If brains could explode, my brain would have definitely exploded by the end of the week.

Down by the Bay Pt. 2

2009-07-16T19:08:00.010-04:00

The house we stayed at with my dad's old friend was just a hop, skip, jump, and a few very sharp turns from the train station, in the Berkeley hills. I never though I'd see buildings on such steep inclines, nor with such twisted roads going around and about them. Right near Berkeley was Pixar Animation Studios, where one of our friends works and was kind enough to give us a tour. Their campus could be a college, with everything from a food court to lecture halls and art studios. The amount of work that goes into making one of these movies was readily apparent. Each movie starts as a series of black and white sketches, and progresses across various easels and whiteboards, onto clay models, through a multitude of computers, not to mention going in and out of the brains of everyone from painters to software engineers long before you even see the trailer on YouTube. I gained quite an appreciation for what Pixar does, and really how well it gets done.
The very next day (if I remember correctly) my dad and I took the subway-metro-train thingy to the amazingly amazing city of San Fransisco. What a day it was! As soon as we got out of the station, what did I get to see? Sutter street!! The greatest street in America!! I was so psyched that we just had to take a bunch of photos of me whenever we got to a Sutter Street sign. I took many pictures that day, Chinatown was such a scene, but really there was something happening anywhere where anything happened to be. And since wherever something happened to be there was something happening, I happened to be in many places where many pictures could be taken, which happened to make me very happy. But I was baffled by the dramatic changes in altitude that took place from one end of a street to the other. It was like one minute we were riding donkeys into death valley, and the next we were on an expedition with Sir Edmond Hillary! Northwest PA is a bit hilly, but San Francisco is mountainous. I pity the fool (or tourist) who unknowingly drives into that city without knowing what is waiting for them.
But lets talk about Berkeley for just one more second. Visiting the campus was quite exciting. There are many great old buildings, each with its own odd personality. I got a feeling that things were happening, even in the middle of summer, still many people milling about. We couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy a jaunt down Telegraph Avenue, still a mecca for counterculture and weirdness after all these years (though maybe not quite as much now). We investigated classic locations such as the Cafe Mediterraneum, claiming to be the birthplace of today's cafe latte. Personally I was a huge fan of Amoeba Records, with an out-of-this-world music collection ranging from shred metal to big band, and reasonable prices throughout. All these kinds of things served as more than enough to boggle the mind of an easterner such as myself, and I'll quickly admit to the unparalleled levels of awesome that can be found down by the Bay.

Down by the Bay Pt.1

2009-07-10T19:30:00.008-04:00

Hopefully you have heard by now about the epic-ness of my days at Musician's Institute. I filled everybody in on the other various events during the first week of my stay. Well that wasn't it my friends. I had the good fortune to get an opportunity to fly from LA to Sacramento with my dad to go visit his sister in Davis. This was exciting because I hadn't seen my aunt in a while and hadn't been to the Bay Area since I was four. The first day we walked around the campus of UC Davis where my aunt works. And what a walk it was! Davis is a massive place, and we must have spent hours exploring the various lecture halls, classrooms, dorms, gyms, trails, pools, sidewalks, cafeterias, shops, grassy knolls, trees, students, passing cars, clubhouses, Starbucks, empty fields, libraries, bicycles, street signs, and bridges that cover the vast college area. The Starbucks helped a lot. That is basically the gist of Davis. It's getting late so I'll move on. The next day was Sacramento, just a short jaunt down the highway and we were in the capital of California!! (Everything seems much closer once dad and I jacked my aunt's car) Our first order of business was to walk around the old town for a bit and check out the old west style architecture that has maintained (sort of) since back in the day. The railroad museum was also an interesting experience. Getting to see how it is possible to have so many gigantic machines in a building was entertaining enough, but the stories that accompanied each vehicle were also enlightening. For some reason I could especially appreciate how the main room was set up in a certain way so that each train car could be rolled out through these big doors and spun around on a giant disk, then there is a whole system of tracks outside......Although I cant image that anybody tries to move those trains around particularly often. Since looking at trains takes so terribly much energy, we hadn't a choice but to eat a large lunch. It was of such an impressive size that I really could have just taken a nap for just a bit afterwards. But we decided to go on a bike ride instead. It was a place just around the corner, and the bikes were the nicest rentals either of us had ever seen. The bike path was converted from old train tracks, it crossed a couple grand old bridges and ran along the river for quite a distance. It was a beautiful day and a great deal of fun to take in some new scenery and get some exercise. I hadn't been on a bike in a while, an riding along the river in Sacramento was an outstanding way of getting back into it for sure. The Jamba Juice we had after was a nice addition as well. Our final stop had to be, of course, at Sutter's Fort, a very well-named structure in the middle of town. We took some great novelty pictures of me in front of the wall, contemplating the sign, and knocking on the large wooden doors of my historic building. All in all there was much fun to be had, though we unfortunately soon found ourselves boarding a train to Berkeley, saying goodbye to my aunt and the city of Davis, wishing them both well. Not that there is anything wrong with being on a train bound for Berkeley, I might add.

Rocking out at Musician's Institute

2009-06-28T01:51:00.007-04:00

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....

2009-06-19T16:41:00.003-04:00

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!

Recording

2009-06-18T12:47:00.004-04:00

Needless to say, all of my band mates and I had a great time recording demos for our original songs. Our first studio venture wasn't in a real studio, that would be far too expensive and un-smalltown-like. So instead we recorded in my basement, a far more suitable atmosphere. Our main goal was to make recordings of the four originals we know well before I left for Musician's Institute in LA. Since I am still here, it is evident that we succeeded. But I believe that the success was more than just finishing four songs in just over a week. In a way, we discovered a bit more about our musical styles individually, and as a group. Since recording, not unlike live performance, is a musical skill that can only be mastered by repetition, our next session will undoubtedly be better than our last. I am sure of this because when we next record, the drums and bass will go down first followed by guitars and vocals. Don't forget about the piano, brass, strings, and extra percussion that will be added to enhance the sound. Eventually there will be a good EP that we can sell at our shows, and I really want to pull out all the stops. Nobody really knows what is gonna go down though, we just hope for the best. In the meantime go to our band myspace and listen in to what we have done so far. Feedback is always appreciated, and thanks a lot for the support
!

Parties (Team Us vs. Team Them)

2009-06-13T18:33:00.005-04:00

What would the beginning of summer be without parties? Not quite the same of course. After the fantastic kick-off at a friends house (note the previous entry), it could really only get better. A few days later I had some friends over to celebrate my very-belated birthday. Due to unforeseen circumstances of outrageous busyness, it was impossible to have a party in the same month as my birthday. But that doesn't mean we are not gonna party!!! So I chose a random day and was all like "you guys should be here on this day" and actually a lot of people came! We started off by hanging out for a bit while put on some tunes and amused myself with the Xbox (its complicated). Once we got everyone mostly in the same place, mom busted out the game of Things. The game of Things is a pretty hella tight game in which a card is chosen with a "Thing" on it, and everybody writes their response down on a small strip of paper. Theses "Things" can range from "Things you shouldn't doodle on" to "Things to do in a blackout". Whatever the card, responses are hilarious and memorable. Of course we then had some food. And what would a party be without Ultimate Sport Disk? NOTHING! Because Ultimate Sport Disk is the bomb!!! One of the most fun parts of playing the game is getting to the field, in this case by cramming into the party bus for the short trip to Robertson. Once the second Ian arrived, we naturally split up into teams and started running around, ultimating it up, and having a great time. Initially, Team Us was doing very well against Team Them with our power players John, Ian, and Claire, and in fact everyone was doing quite excellently under the scheming direction of Coach Zanie. But, tragically, both teams lost some of their players and after some negotiation we were forced to give up the massively tall Ian to Team Them. Although the new Team Us was still an excellent group, Team Them won over in the second half despite valiant efforts by Kevin and Claire to score and inspired attempts by John and myself to overcome Ian's tallness. Finally, Team Us made an agreement with Team Them to unify into one team and get in the party bus to return home and play Rock Band. All of you should know that there are few wins more epic than playing Rock Band. I would say that the most significant sign of progress that day was how we moved out of playing the original Rock Band in to Rock Band 2. This brought a whole new realm of fun that occupied the remaining party goers much longer than I expected. But whatever, it was a wonderful time and quite a success.

First three days of summer

2009-06-07T11:31:00.003-04:00

Wednesday was the last day of school. I had a band practice and went to my drum lesson. My drum teacher gave me a whole bunch of music for the percussion camp that I will be going to in Oberlin later in the summer. But there were a lot of mallet pieces that I cant practice at home. So I texted the band director and asked her if I could borrow the band's marimba for the summer. The next morning, we picked it up, wheeled it around the school, and somehow managed to fit it into our van. It was quite a feat of engineering. Of course I love nothing more than to add insturments to my collection, if only temporarily. It was not two days ago when a friend of my mother's lent me one of his mandolins, to my great amusement. But the Oberlin percussion institute is serious business and I must get to work. Then again, another band practice was necessary in order to prepare for the next day's gig. Lets talk about that for just a second. A nice freshman girl asked us to play at her annual end of school pool party, not particularly far from our house. Once we tracked down Jay (a trick we've been getting quite good at), the show started out pretty well. We got through a number of more mellow tunes, and then started the more exciting ones as I had planned. But we barely got through "Mary Jane's last dance" before a policeman showed up in the driveway asking us to turn down. It was our very first time having the cops called on us. And in the middle of the day, too! We couldn't help but be proud of ourselves. I even wanted to take a picture of us with the policeman for our scrapbook. We never actually did, but there was another opportunity when he showed up for the second time in the middle of "Dancing Shoes". Apparently this girl has some seriously sore neighbors. I took the opportunity to go to my next appointment, after having packed up and left the scene before it was to late. A friend's graduation party was the place to be, for sandwiches, cake, and hanging out with music teachers, at least for a little while. I might have stayed longer but there are always more plans to be made. I headed off to another end-of-summer party. Myself and a bunch of friends were toasting marshmallows, taking pictures, playing games, and making bad jokes all night long. At one particular point, the entire party wandered up the road to a nearby playground, then through the woods on a trail that happened to lead to my front yard. But there was absolutely no way of getting into the house, short of scaling the wall and climbing through the upstairs window, a method which has failed many times in the past. Unfortunately my crazy dance party would just have to wait. We walked up the road, down, around, and, after a few other prepositions, found our way back to the official party location. That was when the bad jokes and ridiculous games really begin. It is a given that we must run around in the dark, or in my case just fall in the dark. I honestly fell so many times it was out of control. There was sliding, hopping, tripping, jumping, half-flipping and a bit of face planting. It was amazing that I made it out alive, and it was 1 in the morning at that!

Tally Hall

2009-05-31T11:37:00.004-04:00

Have you ever heard of the band Tally Hall Well I hadn't either until one day when a friend from Rochester sent me a message about going to see a band he really likes in Pittsburgh. Of course, I was immediately interested and soon found myself on Google and YouTube checking out these mysterious "Tally Hall" people. And I was in for quite a treat. This group knows no genre boundaries, with hip-hop jams and country tunes, both equally effective. So, in short, I was like, "yea, this show is gonna be sweet!" It was a Wednesday afternoon when myself and two friends from Rochester crammed into the back of their Prius and took off to Pittsburgh. Considering that the back seat of a Prius isn't entirely fit for three teenage boys, it was somewhat of a long ride, but still fun. When we got there, it was absolutely necessary to wander through a labyrinth of hallways to find the theater entrance, with was undoubtedly one of the more obscure places I've ever been too. We sat through not one, but two opening acts before Tally Hall took the stage. Mercifully, the third didn't show up. Tally Hall's show was just as eclectic and unusual as I figured it would be, but what I didn't expect was how darned funny it was. From randomly interacting with audience members to the "technical difficulties breakdown", the show was as amusing as it was entertaining. The five members of "The Hall" wore their classic uniform, white button down shirt with black vest and dress pants. Each one of them has their own color tie. I beleive this references their hilarious and unusual web show, "Tally Hall's Internet Show", which can involve anything from clay-mation music videos to dancing with a man dressed as a gorilla on a street corner. After the show, I purchased their album, "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum", and noticed the excellent cover art and how each member had their own page in the liner notes. When the band came out to greet their fans, I asked each of them to sign by their names. They were all quite nice and just as funny as onstage. The ride back was cramped and I was super tired the next day, but it was totally worth it. Tally Hall is now one of my new favorite bands. You should check them out!!

The Killers

2009-05-29T15:46:00.009-04:00

This is getting ridiculous. I'm going to be doing tons of crazy awesome stuff and nobody will know about it but me. So lets get caught up, shall we?
I went to a couple awesome concerts this month that I really need to talk about.
The first was on my birthday. That's right. The Killers came to Cleveland on my freaking birthday!! It was the best thing ever. We got there just on time to be early and had a fancy birthday dinner of pizza, chicken tenders and french fries from one of the concession stands at the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater. My friend Jay tried to get as far up front as he could (before people started getting severely angry). Jayme and I had no choice but to chase him, and we ended up dead center and about 10 yards from the stage. Hooray for us! First we waited for a little while, then watched the opening act, Chairlift. They were very different and had an interesting sound, even though they only had three people and the drummer had to keep switching to bass. Next was the super exciting part!!!! We stood and waited for hours. Like a really long time. Fast forward to when they finally got on stage and the rain stopped. Brandon Flowers and his crew had a commanding stage presence and got the whole crowd into it almost immediately. The lights were incredible, and the sound was almost overpowering at certain parts. In fact most of their stuff either lit up or was reflective, including the monitors and the amps. When they stared shooting sparks that was really cool too. Of course, they played some of the best songs that had been recorded in recent history. Certainly the best concert I've been to so far. But I'll be going back to the Time Warner Cable Amphitheatre to see Jason Mraz this summer!!!

Band Trip (sorry I'm so behind on this one)

2009-05-07T15:33:00.006-04:00

If you haven't noticed, I have been doing a lot of pretty awesome stuff as of lately. In an effort to not get too far behind on blogging this awesomeness, I present to you The Story of the MASH Band's Trip to Virginia/DC, abridged.

Lets just say it was a really long bus ride. A fun bus ride, but still a long one. And the band bus is unlike any other buses that anybody rides on at any time, because the people on it are just that cool. I would say the most fun part is when we attempt to play card games between two rows of seats. Fast forward to our arrival at the parade that very same day. There was much rushing around to unload all manner of uniforms, hat boxes, and insturments from the lower compartments of the bus. After warming up we set out on the long journey to the beginning of the parade. On our way we saw a lot of other cool bands, some of which had way more stuff than we did, some sounded way better than we did, some just looked better than us. But not all of them. By the time we made it to the start we everyone was more than ready to get going. I was fairly impressed by our overall performance. We made straight lines, our turns looked good, and naturally we sounded quite good as well. Of course, the drumline was tight and precise the entire time. By the end everybody was significantly tired out, and we all celebrated by drinking cold water and changing out of our uniforms upon reaching the bus. Then we drove aimlessly around the Virginia countryside until we found the hotel.

Friday Night

2009-04-24T23:17:00.003-04:00

I went out to dinner with my dad Friday night. It seemed like It'd be just a usual trip to the local Mexican restaurant. But considering it was on the nicest day Meadville had seen all year, and the College students were partying in full force, I should have known that normal wouldn't exactly be on the agenda. After we had easily taken care of a chicken fajita, and I was part way through my fried ice cream, I saw Jayme, Justin, Erin, and Megan walking by the window. Who would have thunk? I decided to finish up my fried ice cream, leave my father to his own devices and roam the 'Ville with my people. We went and picked up videos and candy, then walked back up the hill. This was where all the crazy college students were partying. Apparently a few had previously asked Jayme and Megan to come join them, but were embarrassed to discover how young they were. Fortunately, the students left us alone on the way back, because otherwise Erin probably would have smacked some suckas. The road to Erin's house was infested with college students and beer. They were in big clumps that were randomly dispersed up and down the roads. And there was easily much more noise than I would ever expect to hear coming from any part of Meadville. It seemed like a hilarious idea to present "The Sutter & Erin Show" for the party goers. I was trying to think of really good ways to screw with them (and in fact there were some people who heard us this time!). My big line was "Attention! This is god!". But of course since I randomly had I'm on a boat stuck in my head, I added some of the song on to the end of that. It was quite amusing. Then I walked briskly home. Since neither my sister or mom were there at the time, I got to practice drums even after 9:30. It was tight!!! Peace Y'all. Party on.

May I take this opportunity to.....

2009-04-22T18:20:00.003-04:00

may i take this opportunity to direct you to some videos of my band playing?? I really thing you will enjoy this! We've been working really hard and have come a long way. Check it out!! This is the YouTube Channel.

BUT if you are to lazy to go there yourself, here are some embedded videos that are a lot of fun!

Its the 300th post!!!

2009-04-19T11:36:00.004-04:00

MAN AM I PUMPED TODAY!!! Why? Because I logged on to blog about my awesome weekend, and upon loading the home page, I saw that this blog had 299 posts. And you know what that means! It is time to celebrate post #300! I remember all the good times that were had in and around this blog....

-Like when Jayme and Erin made a list of things that they blame me for
-When I decided that if anybody has a question about anything, they should ASK MO!!
-Going to NYC with the music department last spring...
-The quest to form the world's greatest Rock Band band
-The quest to form the world's greatest rock band!!!
-"What the heck is a Q anyway?"
-The YouTube top 10, which only goes to #5 I think...
-When the New York Giants BEAT THE PATRIOTS in the Super Bowl!!!(and how they did it)
-INSIDE JOKES!!! "Chillax, man! If you wanted some, all you had to do was ask!"
-The differences between drummers and everybody else (I like this so much I'm giving you the link)
-Recording Studio!!!
-My amazing trip to Netherlands/Germany
-Band(s) of the week
-SNOWTF!?
-Band Camp and the greatest shows ever played
-Me taking various trips to California and bragging about them...
-The music department's second trip to NYC
-Week of FAIL!!!
-Randomly yelling at passerby out a window (The Sutter & Erin Show)
-And MUCH MUCH MORE!!! Stay tuned!

Of course you want to listen to the Sutter & Erin show! Do we give you a choice?

2009-04-11T18:07:00.004-04:00

So I was hanging out at my friend Erin's house the other day and we were just chillaxing and thinking of stuff to do. Her room in on the top floor and has a very nice view of the surrounding area through a large open window. Coming down from that window is a conveniently placed ladder, the climbing of which is very difficult to resist. But anyways, we were discussing the various ways a person could be entertained while looking out this window (other than climbing out of it). I ask her, "do you ever feel the need to randomly yell at passerby? Because this would be a perfect place to do it from!" I mean there are people we know, people driving cars, drunk college students, a whole array of potential targets. It would be even better if we had a megaphone. Not long after, I noticed a bass amplifier in the corner of her room. I asked if by any chance she had a microphone. She did. I plugged it in. I propped up the amp right by the window. It was loud. It was good. We started yelling stuff, telling jokes, reporting on the few and not very exiting things that happened within our realm of vision. Oh, but we made them sound so very exciting. We eventually progressed to this very unorthodox setup that allowed both of us to broadcast music using this amp. Although it was really just my Zune turned up to 20 connected to Erin's large pair of headphones which we put up close to the microphone, I still felt like a DJ. Talked like one too. We don't know for sure if anybody was listening, or if anybody was enjoying it (besides the woodpecker), but that didn't make the Sutter & Erin show any less entertaining. This is one of those cases when the audience was not important. But feel free to call in and make a request next time!!! We hope you will enjoy the Sutter & Erin show!! PEACE!

Everybody listen....Beacuse this is Sutter Speak!!!

2009-04-05T17:24:00.003-04:00

Yes, my name is Sutter...its kind of a funny name, but an adequate one never the less, because this is my blog after all. The NEW URL OF THIS BLOG WILL BE www.SutterSpeak.blogspot.com in at least....5 minutes ago. I like this new address because it is easier to say and quicker to remember. See?? I'm always thinking of you guys when it comes to user-friendly blogging. And with this new name comes the dawn of a new era of web communications (in my mind). SO TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS about Sutter Speak and check back soon for more awesome-ness. I am hoping to also be doing more with my YouTube channel.
Wait....did somebody say You Tube???? Then you gotta check this out! Its the official Conspiracy Theory channel on youtube.com!!! Which means that you have NO EXCUSE to be watching. PEACE.

This weekend was crazy awesome

2009-03-24T23:09:00.006-04:00

I have been doing so much cool stuff over the past couple weeks that I haven't even had time to write about any of it. But I better get to it soon, lest my activities become to awesome for words.

So on Friday I totally went to see "Stars on Ice" in Cleveland. We had some awesome food and then walked over to the "Quicken Loans Arena". We all brought jackets, but it was really warm!!! We were so close to the ice you could.... you could see the skaters...very well. But the point is that they put on such an incredible show I couldn't even believe my eyes. There was just so much mad skill and unmatched strength out there on the ice it was almost causing my brain to explode (if brains could explode). What was even better was that my sister's skating coach is like super-incredible and knows everybody and got us into the after party where we met some of the stars (the ones that were on the ice). And took pictures with them. And got them to sign our programs. And made small talk. Good times.

The next weekend were our performances of "The King and I". Although my part was not extremely exciting (its just drums, after all), the show was a lot of fun, and both the pit and the actors/actresses did an excellent job. Of course I have pictures somewhere.

Hope you all are enjoying your weeks as much as I am!! Be sure to check out My band's YouTube Channel!!!

So I've been thinking.....

2009-03-19T23:30:00.003-04:00

......Why not mix up the stuff on my site just a little bit?? Now it may seem like I change my blog more often than Katy Perry changes clothes, but I must keep up with the changing times. And also my changing email address (stupid Windstream!!) SO BE WARNED..... I like the name Sutter Speak, or Sutter in Song, or Sutter Saying Something. Alliteration much?? STAY TUNED!!

UNPLUGGED!

2009-03-18T21:59:00.003-04:00

Update: "Conspiracy Theory" (the awesome indie band that I am in, which you should totally know about by now) played unplugged at a local bakery a mere week after kicking but at Battle of the Bands. We knew very little, but we played a lot. It was good fun, and the afterparty was quite hilarious. BUT ENOUGH WORDS!!!! Let the music speak for itself.....

And by the way......

2009-03-08T21:55:00.003-04:00

Here is a video from battle of the bands!!!! This is the last song we played at the show, Sunshine of your Love by Cream. It features John on Bass/Lead Vocals, Sutter (Hey that's me!!) on the drums, Ian on rhythm guitar and Jay on Lead guitar. The quality isn't great (it was dark and such...) but I still think its a cool video. Thanks to my dad for being the cameraman! Enjoy!!

Conspiracy Theory plays "Sunshine of your love"

Bandfest? Band show? Band of the week? No! Band Battle!!!

2009-03-08T10:29:00.003-04:00

My band "Conspiracy Theory" totally rocked battle of the bands last night in Saegertown. We hadn't really played any other shows, so this was very new, and it was the first time there had even been a battle at this random place on the edge of nowhere. When we got there, it was raining and muddy and we unpacked our outrageous amounts of stuff into a back area of the dance hall. There were about 9 drum sets all set up against the wall, which makes sense because there were 9 bands there. And the people started coming in pretty soon. And there were plenty of people there. Lots of our friends, and lots of people that I think nobody recognized. It was cool though, because all our friends were there and they would all get so see us play for the first time. Then it got sort of uncool. Because we had to play seventh. And all of our devoted fans had to wait through a LOT of really unusual stuff (at least unusual for them)in order to hear us. AND THEN WE GOT BUMPED BACK by some freaking thrasher band from Ohio so we had to play EIGHTH and wait around even longer!! Plus, everybody was taking forever even though there was supposed to be a 20 minute limit, everybody seemed to think that they had 20 minutes just to set up. so we went waaaaaaaaay late, but it was all worth it because we played a good show, and everybody loved it, and we won!!! Hopefully people will want to come see us at the creative crust next Saturday playing unplugged.

District Jazz heck yea!

2009-03-02T17:42:00.008-05:00

Me and my friend Jake should be appointed to the official council of things that the band should get. On Thursday after school we left for Titusville to attend the PMEA district 2 jazz festival. The high school in hepatitusville (I didn't just say that)was surprisingly nice, and quite large, which I learned the hard way. Plus, the band director is a drummer, so they must be pretty good. Anyways, we went off to our respective bands and began rehearsing Thursday night. I was of course merely the auxiliary percussionist, so my parts were not to complicated, but getting it all together was one heck of a task!! First I moved the set of vibes that had wheels, which was fine until the motor nearly fell off. Then I grabbed the congas, which have the most outrageously broken stand so that it takes two people to carry the darn thing ten yards. Then I grabbed the only music stand available, which was clearly not meant to be used due to the fact that it was broken.
Thursday was a mere introduction for the jazz bands, Friday was a crazy day-long rehearsal extravaganza. This is when I learned firsthand how big the Titusville high school really is. I mean I was hauling equipment back and forth between the band room, auditorium, and board room, all of which were as far apart as physically possible while still being in the same state. If I haven't mentioned it yet, the auxiliary percussionists get the honor of being in two bands. So we practiced for thirteen hours straight and got real good for Saturday's show.
The best part was that I got to play a solo. An honest-to-god vibraphone solo!!! How do I do it?
The show on Saturday went quite well. Me and my congas don't always seem like the most exciting thing, but the vibes solo made it all worthwhile. Especially since it was on one of my favorite songs, by one of the greatest vibraphone players the world has ever known, Milt Jackson. And my friend Jake up in band 1 (yea, he is pretty good) was not only rocking the trumpet parts, but also the flugel horn. THE FULGEL HORN!! That was pretty freaking cool I would say. I'll get the recording soon, very excited to hear how it turned out.
So where was I? Something about the official council of things the band needs to get. Oh I remember now. Our band director is very good about getting things that she thinks the band needs, but sometimes it can be tricky trying to get her to think just the right thing. That is where me and Jake come in. We play something, and if its good, she most certainly should get it for the band!! Things recently added to the list....
1) Vibraphone
2) Flugel Horn

It's a Conspiracy....

2009-02-23T18:11:00.006-05:00

MY FELLOW ROMANS!!! I've just been chillaxin' here and figured I'd check in with you before I get waaaaay to busy. So even though my digital recorder is sorta broken and I am having trouble convincing the band director to let my band practice in her room during school, all is not lost just yet. This week I'm going to the District 2 Jazz festival in......TITUSVILLE!!!!! (where?)
That's right, all the way out into the middle of nowhere is right where I will be headed come this Thursday to bust out my mad vibraphone, conga, and other incendiary auxiliary percussion skills for a couple days of jazzin' out! I will have to bring another set of clothes as well as a nice suit, practice with a bunch of people I don't know on insturments that I have never played before, and even stay at some other house....not entirely sure I can handle it, but I'll be gettin' back to you.
In other news, I am also in a rock band, and instead of getting together once year at some random school in the middle of nowhere (like Titusville), we get together in my basement every weekend. And we're pretty awesome. We even have our own clothing line (a sure sign of awesomeness). You should check it out RIGHT FREAKING NOW!!!!

Thats all. Actually I'm not quite done yet.
As you can imagine I do not always have good things to write about. I need I-deas. Got an good idea? Got a crappy idea? Send it to quow@windstream.net and I will dish out some wisdom on whatever randomness you can throw at me. Bring it on!!!!

New Microphones!!

2009-02-14T23:01:00.003-05:00

Got new microphones at World of Music today!! Some seriously good timing: We go up to see my drum teacher's senior recital, and there happens to be a ridiculous sale at World of Music. And I had it all planned out anyways. It was a perfect opportunity to pick up a pair of Shure SM 57s that are so well known in the music industry as excellent instrument mics. Normally these would be close to 100 bucks each, but everything was 15% off! Now I was totally prepared to pay for these with my hard-saved cash, but my mom thought it made more sense to just pay for it with my college education fund.......
Cool.
And I have no idea where the money came from to get my sister a new baritone saxophone, but that is exactly what they did, and now we have a gigantic case sitting in our living room. And my, does that thing sound cool! Not the case, the saxophone. I mean its pretty much almost as tall as her.
SO hopefully I will soon get myself together to use these great mics and lay down some sweet drum tracks for the awesome songs that my band plays. I'll let you know when it all gets a workin'!

I'm a rich man....

2009-02-08T19:20:00.002-05:00

so according to this website, my blog is worth $5,280,279. I'd say thats pretty freaking sweet.

Here is the Icon to prove it:

$5,280,279

Check yours?

Now I am not sure what kind of fuzzy math is being practiced here, but we can still all be fairly sure that I shouldn't be needing a federal bailout anytime soon.

Band of the week- Grammy edition

2009-02-08T15:28:00.003-05:00

In honor of the 51st Grammy awards that are happening tonight, I have decided to do a special Band of the Week section with some of my favorite nominees. Here is the lowdown.

Coldplay- I do believe that this is the year's most nominated band, hoping to win in categories such as Album of the year, record of the year, best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals, and more. Most of these nominations are for Viva la Vida, as an album or a song. I believe that Viva la Vida is one of the slickest and most interesting albums in recent years, certainly coldplay's best yet. But they should absolutely NOT win song of the year, for a reason I will state soon.

Jason Mraz- He is the reason that Viva la Vida should be denied song of the year. Mraz has been a favorite of mine since his debut, waiting for my rocket to come, and his more recent we sing, we dance, we steal things is even better. Plus, everybody has got to love "I'm yours". Come on now!

Radiohead- With nominations including album of the year and best rock vocal performance, I'd say the band that epitomizes alternative rock in the 21st century should get a bit of recognition.

The Jonas Brothers- JONAS BROTHERS WTF?

25 things about me

2009-01-29T22:33:00.003-05:00

25 things about me.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(This was a thing somebody tagged my in on facebook so I decided to do it and realized that it made a good blog entry as well. Enjoy!!)

1) I just figured out how to snap my fingers earlier today, but only with my left hand

2) I am on the internet way more than I should be, but I'm learning to manage my time better

3) My sister is obsessed with overpriced designer clothing and it makes me want to puke.

4) I have had long hair ever since I can remember and I intend to keep it that way

5) The band room at MASH is my second home. I don't know what I would do without band.

6) I was born on May 6th and 6 is one of my favorite numbers....besides 42 of course

7) I'd really like to hang out with people and get together more often but I am really terrible at organizing. On occasion one of my plans will actually succeed, but usually it just falls apart

8) Also, I don't get invited to do anything as much as I would like. But when people do ask me to do something it makes me very happy :D

9) I have a cell phone and it is almost always on, and I almost always have it. But I'm not incredibly good at talking to people on the phone. It really depends, and I try my best, but most of the voicemails I leave are at least slightly awkward. Text me?

10) I am taking french because I went to France on a family trip when I was younger and it was absolutely amazing

11) I dont like to use apple computers. I am not saying that they suck and I understand that they preform better in some situations, but I just think Windows is more versatile.

12) I like it when people talk to me, but I am not a very good conversation starter

13) Playing drums is the most amazing thing I think I will ever do, and I'll never be satisfied with just being good enough.

14) Which is why I have 3 different drum teachers, 2 of which I see on a weekly basis and the third who is more of a mentor and I only see him from time to time

15) I am generally very good at being tolerant and accepting of other people. I just don't find it that much fun hating somebody and talking crap about them to my friends behind their back.

16) So if I have decided that I don't like you, it probably means that you are either extremely obnoxious and ignorant or astronomically annoying. This is true of few people.

17) Jason Mraz is one of my favorite artists. I saw him in concert a few years ago and know all his albums backwards and forwards, in several different keys.

18) I am amazed at the effect music can have on a person, and want to be as much a part of it as possible.

19) I like to learn to play musical insturments. I dont even know how I ended up with the violin/ drums combo, but i have since been working on bass, guitar, and vibraphone (and singing if that counts as an instrument). I want to learn a wind instrument like the saxophone but its pretty disgusting if you dont have your own beacuse you have to almost make out with the freaking thing.

20) I honestly feel as though I should have been the section leader in the marching band for the last two years. But it doesn't really bother me so long as i get to play.

21) I have not been officially trained in any type of singing, and i don't exactly plan to be (no offense, but I find that many people who focus on voice end up with bad rhythm....but its not their fault). Still, for some reason I'd like to be in a musical at some point. Hopefully before I graduate. It looks like fun.

22) I cant help but try to impress people. Its so awesome knowing that others are getting enjoyment from me doing whatever it is that I do.

23) I love jazz music, listening to it, playing it, discussing it, etc. There is nothing like a good swing. It is my salvation.

24) Sports drive me crazy. Of course I cant complain to much because our marching band wouldn't be quite the same without football. BUT if all those other sports just disappeared, nobody would really be hurt. More members and funding for the one true source of awesome that is the marching band. I tried playing soccer in 9th grade and it was the most outrageously epic failure since somebody took a picture of the car that was sticking out of the roof of somebody's house and posted it on failblog.org. I mean it was terrible. Now I just kick back and enjoy the music, which is frequently interrupted by the compliants of those unfortunate souls bound to physical activity. I dont think I have ever heard somebody saying something positive about having to practice for any kind of sport. "oh god I dont want to go to soccer practice"...."oh how I dont want to swim today"...."oh how football is a waste of time". Me? I get to go bang on drums after school. I am the entertainment. They sit on the bench. I pity the fool.

25) Before I must go to bed, I should say that a lot of the problems I mentioned in earlier numbers (before I got into all that musical stuff) probably have something to do with all the neurological disorders (thats the fancy term) that I have. Ask me about it sometime.

Peace!!!

SNOWTF!? Pt. 5- The bus ride from Antarctica

2009-01-28T19:42:00.008-05:00

The ride home from school today was so perilous that I decided to write about it. First of all it started snowing like the wrath of god during 6th or 7th period today (Deja Vu?) and by the end of the school day we were practically buried. Everything was canceled. I mean EVERYTHING. They even said everything was canceled over the school's PA. Then they said that everything that all those canceled activities had been re-canceled. And what might one do instead of going to the after-school activity that had just received a double dose of cancellation? All of those things are canceled too. Was anybody planning to dance? Nope. Swim? No. Wrestle? No way. Play basketball? Nay. Band concert? not even close. How about some shoveling?

And of course the snow's final curse was the inevitable cancellation of everybody's ride home. We were standing out there like penguins watching the empty road behind the school remain empty for way to long. Some lucky people got their bus reasonably on time, but of course I don't get home late enough on a regular day. The principals actually started herding us inside to continue waiting. When bus 172 finally showed up (after I'd seen buses 173, 171, 175, 170, 171.69, 154/6x+2, 170.com, 172-3, 1-800-not-172, 17%, $17.20, 42, and so many more), I looked at my watch. "Hmm, I am usually at home by now". Oh well, sometimes you just have to be patient. While I was being patient, bus 172 was taking its good ol' time in the crazy conditions. Getting up one particular street involved pulling more than halfway up, running into a snowbank, hearing sounds I had no idea a bus could make, then painfully backing up down the street to try again (can you back up down a hill? Does that mean you back down going up? I'm pretty sure it should be the other way around). Once this process had been repeated a couple of times, the requirement of nearly running down a pedestrian had to be met. Apparently, my friend Rachel (who lives on the street that we'd just been stuck on for half an hour) fell in to a snowbank that just happened to be right next to an out-of-control school bus that I just happened to be on. She had the living fershizzle scared out of her, but fortunately lived to send my a text message about it. Then when we finally got up, down, around, over, and through to my stop, I faced some snow of my own. I'm used to trudging through the woods to get home, but I was not expecting to have to vault over the Berlin wall at the end. But I did, and ended up kind of wet. Could have been worse, though.

An assignment

2009-01-17T19:55:00.003-05:00

I finally get to record a piece for a dance studio! My old english teacher and current dance teacher has a song for one of the dances that is not long enough. I'd been bothering her about recording something for her, and since the song had such a good beat she said that she'd let me do an intro so the whole thing is long enough. The song is very scaled down, mostly drum and bass with the vocal lead. I'll definitely do a heavy backbeat, probably layer in some other complementary rhythms and a bass part.Thinking I'll even use brushes and stuff. But I am a whole lot better with rhythm than melody, so I don't know how much I want to go for any other insturments. Some guitar would be nice though. Just easy filler. Violin maybe?

SNOWTF!? Pt.4 - Sledding edition!

2009-01-11T09:35:00.004-05:00

So normally I'm not a major fan of snow. Its wet and cold and can be quite annoying when it inevitably finds its way into your boots, up your sleeves and down your neck. But more recently I have had a new found appreciation for snow. Being now in possession of a fancy camera, I am able to photograph the snow and admire its beauty. And since I am not being forced to interact with it, I can choose if and when I ever even want to be in the snow. And last night I chose to go sledding.

Let me tell you how perfect it was for night sledding in Meadville yesterday. It stayed light after 10:30. We're not sure why but it probably had something to do with the moon. I came out to Robertson field (the hill at Allegheny's athletic complex) and met a bunch of friends, some of which were in college. But the point was that the normally annoying snow brought us epic sledding awesomeness. There where some crazed college kids there who made a human ramp out of two guys holding sleds next to each other. That caused serious fail at the beginning , but by the end they were getting impressive air as well. Our personal sledding successes involved making a chain, going face first, forgetting the sled (Caitlin!!) and SURFING!! Towards the end I started heading down the slopes snowboard style standing on the sled. I lost balance and would put my hand down, then end up falling onto the sled and ending up hitting the bottom in a tangle of my own limbs. Each time going down would get me a little bit further. By the last run, I stood up all the way to the bottom of the hill, then promptly flew off and landed on my face. That. Was. EPIC!!!

BANDFEST.

2008-12-31T12:37:00.012-05:00

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

2008-12-28T13:04:00.003-05:00

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.....

2008-12-22T16:45:00.004-05:00

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!!!

2008-12-19T22:04:00.003-05:00

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....

2008-12-11T20:42:00.004-05:00

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

2008-12-04T17:48:00.005-05:00

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??

2008-12-01T15:46:00.002-05:00

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....

2008-11-30T22:24:00.001-05:00

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

2008-11-21T17:29:00.002-05:00

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!!

2008-11-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-07T23:44:00.005-05:00

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????

2008-10-29T15:53:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-25T14:57:00.002-04:00

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!!

2008-10-25T08:03:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-19T12:44:00.003-04:00

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

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

Bad sushi
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.)
The Jonas Brothers
Miley Cyrus
Hitler (Ouch. Definitely not my fault)
Drugs
Music being expensive
the bruise on Erin’s leg
Jayme not having clean clothes
Dean’s party being cancelled
Zune’s being underestimated

Jayme’s bad punctuation, as seen above

the poor hobos on the street
Porn Zune (LOLZ!)
No one giving Placebo a chance
Justin not calling Jayme back
being so damn comfortable (Guilty as charged)
Reverse raves ( Katie and Demarius were involved)
Erin’s knee being messed up
Life being confusing
Not having a Starbucks in Meadville
Having a Walgreens
Jonny Rick calling people “Dear” all the time
Losing the game
The Rolling Stones being alive still
Thirty year old men hitting on Jayme
Having two number ‘26’s

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

An experience in the band, a coelo usque ad centrum

2008-10-05T12:33:00.007-04:00

Friday and Saturday were both very long band days. Although I was hot, tired, and sore by yesterday afternoon ( playing quints rarely makes me sore these days), these beautiful days of music-ness remind a person that they are alive like little else. There is no event quite like a Friday in the Fall, when the leaves start to turn orange and red, a cool breeze blows the subtle scent of pumpkin through the air, and marching band is on the mind. I would be the first to admit that I am not the only person who looks forward to Fridays. Though most simply want to sleep in, I am a person who doesn't hope for Friday because it is pizza day, or because the day after it is Saturday, or because the day after that is Sunday. No, Friday is my day because it is game day. Because it is my day to wear a red band shirt, put on that funny looking hat and white feather plume, to take the field cast in halogen light under the banner of Meadville. One thing I can appreciate about the band it something we have that nobody else has. We have the singular ability to bring down the house, no matter what the weather, who the opponent, or which side the coin may land on. Balls may be dropped, games are won and lost, but the Marching Band always controls the field. And nobody of any skill, no group of any size, no well-funded program or well-paid coaching staff can take that away from us. I hope our team goes to playoffs. Its not looking quite as good now as it did when we were 4-0, but it can certainly still happen. I am sure that it'll be worth the extra practices and slightly longer time commitment to show up at one or two extra games and rally our team, who will quite possibly be the underdogs. Not to mention, the massive scheduling conflicts that the postseason games would involve. So be sure to listen for the drums on Friday night, the eternal heartbeat of the dedicated band geeks who make it worth the 3 dollar entrance fee.

Differences between drums and the rest of the music world

2008-09-27T16:25:00.008-04:00

The topic of today's blog post is, I believe, and interesting one. Being in the drumming business for a few years now, I have naturally notice many differences in the musical lives of drummers, from what is required of them to how they are treated. I am sure that most other musicians have at least a couple times thought something like "what is up with those drummers?" or "why are they doing that?", among other things. So I have decided to bring to you this list, as not only a drummer but a musician and a listener. Hopefully, this list will continue to grow as time goes on. Observe, absorb, consider, and enjoy, my friends!

-Drummers have to fight for the main position in a band. Everybody else can sit down easily with several other saxophones, trumpets, violins, or any other instrument and all play at the same time. If you are not the best drummer in the room, you are probably going to be waiting around for a while.

-Drummers have a lot of stuff to worry about. If we are the last ones ready (which is often the case), it is because we are switching instruments, adjusting equipment, and fussing with music.

-Is it your tempo? Nope, its our tempo.

-Everybody can hear the drums. Most other musicians have a safety net of people playing the same thing all around them to cover their mistakes. A drummer plays something entirely different, usually by him/her self, and often quite loudly. Don't mess up.

-The drummer usually has to play the crappiest instrument. All you other musicians can bring your fancy Selmers and Suzukis from home, but we have to deal with some piece of junk somebody donated to the school 20 years ago, and has been overused and unappreciated ever since.

-With the previous note in mind, the main difference between drums and other instruments is that when a drum is broken, you can still play it.

-There is proof that drums is the most awesome instrument. Have you ever heard of anybody who hangs around the woodwind section asking to play their clarinets?

-You can tune a drum to whatever note you want.

-If the drummers are screwing around in the back of band class, its not to make anybody angry or to get attention, but because they have been resting for 67 measures and are bored.

-We gotta improvise. Making up the music is not a form of rebellion or a way to revive a boring piece, but a finely honed skill that is invaluable to drummers everywhere.

-Don't forget about the rest of the rhythm section! The main reason that other rhythm instruments (bass, piano, etc) are so difficult to play is because they sometimes have to improvise like drummers. In the right key.

Some things that non-drummers should know. Important!

- Our instruments are NOT your tables. Tables are cheap. Percussion instruments are expensive.

-You are not a drummer. Lots of people can hit drums. Just because you can hold a stick improperly and read music does not mean you can join the ranks of the elite. Please stop trying.

-We love you guys, but you don't know a darned thing about rhythm. Its okay, if drummers had to learn about pitches and key signatures as well, we might not have learned a darn thing about rhythm either. Just make sure you listen to us.

-Drummers are not born being more awesome than everybody else. We work really hard to earn that right.

- This next note is especially important for marching band. Your instrument weighs about the same as one of our drumsticks. We still stand most of the time (I know I do). Quit complaining.

Twitter Feed on the blog!

2008-09-23T19:02:00.002-04:00

So I told you that I could be found on Twitter, remember? Remember? Well I did, and you don't have to take my word for it, because now I have stuck that ol' Twitter feed right onto the blog (hey its better than advertising). So although I have little to write essays about what is going on in my life, I can sure give it to you in 140 characters or less! And while we are at it, you should add Twitter as well! Its good fun and I would love to have some online buddies to send Twitter messages to! And hopefully I'll get back to you with the full blog entries in a couple months when I have time to think/move/eat/sleep

band show

2008-09-14T10:24:00.003-04:00

Hooray for the marching band! We rocked the house last night like crazy shiz!! Although the rain forced us to play inside, everybody had gotten there hours early, so we made it work. The drumline was grooving and as loud as it could be in the gym, and there was not a soul in the place who didn't hear us coming. We did some "dirty deeds", and blew the audience away with our exellent musical skill. The drumline feauture "stinkin' garbage" was very successful, and I could not have had it any other way considering how much time we spent on it. Also, props to the trumpet players who ran up in to the audience with their mad solos on "dirty laundry". And there was a crazy fun after-party that could have gone on all night. Thank you to all that came, and long live the band!

Updates- Where to find me!

2008-09-09T18:01:00.003-04:00

As you may or may not know, my various endeavors have brought me to many different parts of the web used for communication, and other things. Let me give you an overview, in case you haven't been keeping up.

Facebook & Myspace....
www.myspace.com/SutterStreet

This blog- theQcubed.blogspot.com
Spread the word!

Twitter....
www.twitter.com/SutterH

Instant messengers....

AIM- Xyranne
MSN- quow@alltel.net
Skype- Xyranne
Gmail- X.xZauron

Emails.....
Quow@alltel.net
X.xZauron@gmail.com

My band's Myspace....
www.myspace.com/theconspiracytheory08
(this might change so stay tuned!!)

Spreadshirt shop....
www.ConspiracyTheory.spreadshirt.com

I think that's all.....plenty of reasons to stay in touch!!

Something to remember....dancing in September...Never was a cloudy day

2008-09-07T14:23:00.003-04:00

Well, the air smells of fall today, officially marking the beginning of school, and ultimately the end of any reason or opportunity to go outside for the next 6 months. But it could be worse. I have to say that I am actually looking forward to some crunchy leaves, chilly (but not snowy) air, hot apple cider, Halloween parties and Friday night football. Especially Friday night football. The MASH Marching Band is coming off our first 2-0 start in 13 years, and we're going to be working in overdrive this coming week in anticipation of our "Fall Classic" band show on Saturday. Mrs. Manning & Company will be busting out the entire 5-song show with all the frills. If you are in town, I would highly recommend you dropping by. My other endeavor, the home recording studio, is coming along rather well. The band I have gotten together, with the assistance of Jay Byham, has great potential, especially for a band with no name. Once we have decided on a name, there will undoubtedly be some marketing going on. THAT I am looking forward to for sure.

This year.

2008-08-27T20:01:00.000-04:00

At least it is better than last year.

last day of summer......

2008-08-26T09:47:00.003-04:00

Wow well its the last day of summer and that really went quick. But there was so much awesomeness crammed into it that I believe it would be only fitting to reflect for a moment. Or make a list. That works to.

1 Band camp heck yes! Playing in the drumline is insane
2 Creating Landscapes was the best. I sang an incredible song with Rachel and Jack (love you guys!!) AND John Hyatt taught me how to use his recording equipment.
3 High School Musical. No, seriously. I was invited to play in the pit at the Academy Theater with a couple other guys I knew. Although it caused much chaos being at the same time as Creating Landscapes, it was still a great deal of fun to be rocking out in the pit, and the cast members where very nice!
4 Mo's party! Seriously that was off the hook. And I even remembered my pants.
5 Performing at the creative crust with "the other band" required a great deal of organization skills that I don't actually have, but it was well worth it and a lot of fun.
6 The rain in Maine during my amazing trip to Maine! It did not rain that much, but there was a great deal of kayaking, good food, and hilarity. And a new word.....Fukus!
7 Recording studio YEA!!!
8 Going to a crazy awesome Modest Mouse concert in Pittsburgh with my friend Jayme, then drinking a Vanana milkshake afterwards
9 My sister's Bat Mitzvah, which was inspiring, and the after party, which was crazy stuff!
10 Watching the Olympics, especially Usain Bolt who is my hero

The Rain in Maine.....

2008-08-18T11:17:00.004-04:00

Here is a link to the photo album from my trip to Maine!! I hope to get more pictures up soon, but they are on a different camera, so stay tuned!! Enjoy!!

The Rain in Maine...

The Qdio is up and running!

2008-08-14T19:38:00.002-04:00

Hey Y'all!!!!!!! I just received the rest of my recording studio in the mail, and it is in my bassment , up and running. I am playing an acoustic gig at the creative crust bakery this Friday at 6, but after that we are going to plug in the instruments and really get rocking! Soon you'll be able to listen to the band's preview tracks online from anywhere. Prepare yourselves!!

This is a freaking mobile

2008-07-31T23:48:00.001-04:00

This is a freaking mobile blog entry! You are all jealous. Look for some more of these when i'm in maine!

oh just BTW....

2008-07-31T22:56:00.002-04:00

the band of the week this week is the Jimi Hendrix experience. Experience it!!

Recording Time!

2008-07-28T14:20:00.003-04:00

Its been so long! I am a busy man, but finally have time to tell you dedicated readers that....
I AM GETTING A RECORDING STUDIO!!!!

I ordered it of the internet a couple days ago...
Fostex MR-16 HD/CD Digital multitracker
MXL 992 Condenser Mic
(and I mic cord and stand)

I am looking forward to dedicating this blog to the recording studio!
First project- A Rock Opera?

Band of the week!!!!

2008-06-30T10:23:00.002-04:00

The band of the week for this week is..........
MODEST MOUSE!

Because I get to go see them tonight in some arena outside of Pittsburgh, I am going to give you some info on this super-cool alternative rock group!

Since their first album, the band's overall sound had remained unchanged, but they are constantly improving. The distinctive voice and unusual lyrics of lead singer Isaac Brock make this band difficult to mistake for any other. Some of their elements include strange background noise, intricate and unusual vocal styles, the drummer often using brushes, smooth and subtle transitions from one song to the next, and uncommon instrumentation that involves an occasional banjo, violin, etc. I would strongly suggest you take a look at my video bar to see some of their hits!

Q Clothing

2008-06-25T16:42:00.001-04:00

You might know that I have a music production group, but did you know that I had a clothing line that goes with it? Well now you know! I am now in the process of designing some really sweet shirts and other sorts of things. The production group is called Q. so a lot of the stuff on the shirts is based on that. Here is the address, feel free to browse!

www.Q.spreadshirt.com

Acoustic Basses

2008-06-25T14:31:00.000-04:00

Dude. Acoustic basses are fun. Yea I was just rocking out a second ago. I mean, the thing is pretty large compared to the electric so its gonna take some getting used to....but its certainly going to be worthwhile since rocking out is also tons of fun when acoustic. Maye I shall even post a video. My friend Nathan will soon be coming from CA and he is a video master so look forward to that definitely. And my sister is having a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday so we are going to have plenty of friends and family over. I will most likely fill in on that asap. Peace!

Inside jokes of the year: Pre-Release

2008-06-16T22:47:00.002-04:00

Warning: here is the first draft of the best inside jokes of this year. It has not even yet been seen by outsider's eyes, and therefore has not gone through the necessary peer-review process to be in official publication. BUT I have the first draft right here for you, and hope to have it soon seen by the other members of the inside joke board. This information is sensitive, so try to keep it on the Just-tell-everyone-you-know.

1)“Chillax, Man...If you wanted some, all you had to do was ask!”
2)Double K-dar, + 2 reasons Nikki wants your pants
3)The Rave Button + The Rave Song + The Rave Virus + Rave in general
4)Life-size stuffed giraffe, the guy in the window, and anything else that happened in New York City between April 11th and April 14th.
5)Bass-Off!!! ( See also: Freebird-off)
6)It sounds dirty, but is not really: “I’d tap that”
7)“Get In the Closet”/ “Coming out of the closet”
8)Love Fest
9)"John."
10)Porn Zune?
11)Pirate Handshake
12)Anybody’s nickname
13)Time for a mad Ukulele solo! (on my electric ukulele)
14)Cowbell.
15)Ultimate Sport Disk!

New iPhone 3G to make millions of past models obsolete

2008-06-09T23:11:00.004-04:00

ATTENTION IPHONE OWNERS!!!!! Steve Jobs recently announced, at the Worldwide developers conference, a revolutionary new way to make iPhones obsolete. Called the 3G iPhone, this supposed New addition to the iFamily is projected to make the over 5 million 1st generation iPhones worth significantly less than what they where originally bought for. Although the most celebrated feature in the new phone is its uncanny ability to make your current iPhone worth up to 1/4th less than sale price 36% faster than the N95 and Treo 750 , there are also many other new additions that make this product so important. The other major part of the iPhone 3G is the integrated GPS, allowing you to pinpoint those suckers that still have the 1st generation iPhone with speed and accuracy, right from your touchscreen. Also, Apple has become even more open to the addition of 3rd-party apps to the iPhone 3G, boasting an expanding application store that should be accessible from anywhere. The store is expected to grow to thousands of apps for anything, from sports score apps to apps that keep track of, say, the declining resale value of the 1st gen iPhone. The possibilities will be limitless! The real kicker of the announcement was the price range, though. Apple plans to sell the iPhone 3G for as low as $199 for the 8GB version. This low price will make the new iPhone access able to more people than ever, thereby increasing the supply-and-demand cycle that will soon make your 1st gen iPhone worth $38.75 on ebay. And since its going to be simultaneously released for the same price in 22 countries, so Americans will be even less likely to get a good price for their old iPhone, even from somebody overseas. W will all be looking forward to the release on July 11th (and try to get a job before then, that iDebt is not gonna pay itself off, you know).

FIRST DAY OF NOT SCHOOL!!!!!

2008-06-09T10:31:00.002-04:00

Okay, so Saturday was officially the first day of my summer, but I would not have been at school then anyways. So today is Monday, the official first day that I would be at school if it where not summer! But it is, and that fact MUST be celebrated. I believe that the best way to do that is to compile all the inside jokes from the year and make a list!! I am on this now and must organize my thoughts in order to bring the world a list of the best inside jokes of all time!!! STAY TUNED!!!

And the magic number is.....

2008-06-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

17 hours 31 mins 40 secs baby

ONE MORE DAY!!!!!!!!

Things to come

2008-05-31T13:44:00.002-04:00

There is only

6 Days 1 Hour 9 Mins 50 Secs

Left until school ends!!!

After that, prepare yourselves for some more crazier QQQ action over the summer, including...

Inside jokes!
Bat Mitzvah!
Band Camp!
Jamming in the bassment studio, A.K.A The Qdio (get it? GET IT?)
Recording sessions in The Qdio
More Inside Jokes!
Gettin' the Game on (Halo 3)
Rock Band bass-off!
New Fashion blog- "50 Cents Per Yard" (maybe)
RAVE!!!!
Cubic Fashion- "QBique" (maybe)
DRUM SOLOS!!!
And Yea. I'm totally looking forward to it. Peace!!!

QQQ's "What you want" part #.......shoot I lost track

2008-05-28T17:56:00.002-04:00

The Q cubed says What you want is........

"School to end and me to not have to take that damn Biology final!!"

8 Days 21 Hours 4 mins 20 seconds......Werd.

Its about time....

2008-05-19T23:37:00.001-04:00

I'd say that its high time to begin the "End of school" countdown!!!

Lets start it off now!

17 Days

15 Hours 23 Minutes 41 seconds

NYC Pix, Baby!!!

2008-04-18T15:20:00.002-04:00

Alright, since you all seem so interested, I will hook you up with the best of those 550 pictures I took on the way to, in, and on the way back from New York. Since there are so many, instead of uploading them individually I am going to simply post a link for a the photos, which I have already uploaded in a different location. This should not be a problem for anyone, but if it is feel free to email me or leave a comment on this post, and I will deal with it in whatever way possible. Enjoy the photos!!

Photos Here(largest album)
Here are more(Second most)
Another album (not so many in here)
Some from Battery park area (just a few)
And finally, a bit of randomness from the Bus ride

New York Trip, Again

2008-04-18T14:57:00.002-04:00

I've been back from News York since last weekend, but have been busy, and....oh yea, the Numbers. Right. Here are the numbers.

Days: 1.5
Nights: 2
Bus Hours: 16+
People: 53
Cameras: 53
Cell Phones: 52
Guys in a room: 5
Beds: 3
Movies: 6
Spilled Drinks: 5
Crazy pizza parties: 1
Creepy dudes in windows taking pictures of us: 1
Louis Vuitton handbags per window display: 1
People in group: 3-5
Groups in group- 1-6
Least stuff brought: Me*
Least stuff bought: Me*
Latest shower-taker: Me
Earliest Shower-taker: Me (same shower)
Last to get food: Me
Scary people selling knockoff/stolen merchandise: 36
Homework: None
Photo Ops: 6
Shopping stops: 4
Musicals: 1
Italian dinners: 1
Free breakfasts: 2
Outdoor Ice-skating Rinks: 1
Starbucks: 1**
Jamba Juice:1**
Soft Pretzels: 4
Lunches: 1 less than was needed**
Photography-related injuries: 3**
Inside Jokes: 64

Oh yea, and......
I brought 1 camera
I used 1 memory card and 4 batteries
I took 550 pictures in a day an a half.
Werd.
Not to mention taking group pics with other people's cameras.... often holding more than one at a time.

* I am very sure of this
** These are personal statistics. Info on the entire group is unknown.

Goin' to New York!!

2008-04-10T20:32:00.002-04:00

Huzzah!! I'm gonna get up real early tomorrow (Friday) morning to get on a bus and head out to the great city with some peeps in Meadville high school's music department! We are gonna walk around, shop (of course) and see a musical! Among other things. Its gonna be awesome. Stay tuned Monday afternoon for a ridiculously large amount of pictures. I will see you all later!

Drum Notes....3/30

2008-03-30T20:14:00.000-04:00

This morning I was trying some new drum sounds.I've read that keeping the bottom heads looser than the top heads on the toms will make the sound more clear and sharp. I took this to the next level, just for fun, loosening the bottom heads on all four toms until they where nearly falling off. What I got was a really cool ringing timpani-y sound that worked great with fast patterns. Using mallets dulled the sound further, but kept the acoustic ring of the bottom head. This was especially cool on the Floor Tom, and I hope to work it into some sort of composition.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tested out the new kick drum in Jazz band today... very cool and useful. Might need another pedal in honor of it, though, I had to adjust the currently used one for best sound. I could use a chain-drive anyway, they are much easier. Forgot the tom, but am going to need to figure out the setup at some point. When I put the single tom rack on the new kick, it did not cooperate well. Maybe it will be fine, I'm not sure.

2008-03-30T10:06:00.003-04:00

Oh Snap, I got another Hat!!!
it has an "H" on it.....but I am not sure what it stands for
The mysterious "H" is on an orange star, and the hat reads "1965" on the back
Also, it came with a shiny MLB sticker if that is any help.
If anybody knows the whereabouts of this letter, feel free to email me or leave a comment!!
Otherwise, I will just have to Ask Mo!

Peace!

YouTube Blogger Channel......???

2008-03-25T21:00:00.003-04:00

I Have recently attached my blogger URL to my YouTube account, Xyranne, and was told that it would allow me to create a video blog. I have a webcam and am excited to create a Vlog (is that what its called? It is now.), but honestly I'm not exactly sure what the youtube folks where talking about. Soon enough I will find out and there will be plenty of videos to go around. Looking forward to.....whatever it is that I will be able to do!!!

HEY!!!! Maybe I should Ask Mo!!!

What The heck is a Q anyway?

2008-03-18T14:15:00.002-04:00

What is the whole point of a Q blog?? To have people put their ideas on a website specially designed for people with random ideas! Specifically, a Q is a type of blog post based on an outside source not associated with the blog's author. This can usually be in an email copied on the the blog. It makes for great blog browsing, and a more widespread Internet community. Please join by sending your crazy ideas, even photos, drawings, or videos! If I like you I might even let you become a co-author. The revolution starts with the Qcubed!! (hopefully).

HTTP 404 Not Found

2008-03-18T14:10:00.002-04:00

ERROR:
I there will not be many blog posts for the next week, because I will be in CALIFORNIA, CHILLIN' WITH MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although I will be busy most of the time, I will try to fill you in on my good times. I hope you enjoy your break as well!!

Welcome all!

2008-03-11T20:45:00.003-04:00

I would just like to remind dedicated fans from the Nothing Else Better To Do era that there will still be plenty of good stuff to do when you have nothing to do, but in a way that will hopefully expand the audience, and also Incorporated. When was the last time YOU where a part of one of your favorite blogs?? Probably never!!! So keep on reading!!!

P.S. The reason i did not give more warning is that i was paranoid somebody else would take the address. I had already gone through a few good ideas that have been used.
WAIT A MINUTE????? HOW CAN YOU CUBE A Q????? MAYBE MO KNOWS!!!

Big News!!!! Its The Q Cubed!!!

2008-03-11T20:04:00.003-04:00

Far better than Just one "Q", my current blog shall be converted in to a limitless pit of knowledge supplied by the people. Hopefully, the people in question will PAY ATTENTION to the blogosphere and size this once-on-a-website opportunity. Broadcast your ideas! Get opinions! Ask questions! Find answers!! The sooner word gets out the more broad the input will be. Help me out with this, people! The days of leaving your ideas stranded on obscure message boards and Comments sections are over! Take it straight to the source and help start a revolution!
HOW?????????
Email whatever you have to say to Quow@alltel.net, and I will post it ASAP!!
THEN, bookmark the blog and tell all your friends about it!
SOON TO BE CHANGED TO THE3Q!!!
SOON TO BE CHANGED TO THE3Q!!!
SOON TO BE CHANGED TO THE3Q!!!
SOON TO BE CHANGED TO THE3Q!!!
SOON TO BE CHANGED TO THE3Q!!!
(Please?)