Wow, it's been a while since I posted here.
Classes started, and we're almost at mid-term..... SOOO CLOSE TO BEING DONE!
Other than classes, I've been writing a lot more music. Partially for my composition classes, partially for the hell of it. I tried to get an internship at a local recording studio a couple of weeks ago, but they turned me down because I was only going to be here until January and they wanted a full year or so. But, at the end of the interview I asked if there was anything I could try writing for them, and the owner said I should try writing a jingle for the Odom corporation, and if they like it the studio will produce it and pay me for it.
So, I wrote a rock sort of jingle, made a demo at home, and the head of the studio really likes it. We had a meeting about it Friday where we went over the lyrics and changed some stuff around to make it more "advertisey", and then I brought up the idea of doing a country version of the same tune - which the guy flipped over (because country is one of the most popular genres up here). So, I was up until about 2am producing the country demo - but I like it a lot.
Hopefully the Odom corporation will buy it - they say the composer usually gets paid anywhere from $800 to $1000 for the songs. I don't know if that's for the whole tune, or each arrangement, but we'll see. Anyway, I'm just psyched at the possibility of getting paid for my songwriting!
Other than that happening, not much is going on. I turned 28 last Monday. I ended up just staying in and watching a movie with the GF. Although, she did get us tickets to go see the Lion King last Sunday as a pre-birthday gift. It was a lot better than I was expecting - the costumes were amazing, and the woman playing Rafiki had an amazing voice. She even spoke a little !Kung in the performance.
Anyway - that's about all that's new up here. I can't wait to leave for California in January. Back to where the sun shines and the snow isn't looming on the horizon.
Classes started, and we're almost at mid-term..... SOOO CLOSE TO BEING DONE!
Other than classes, I've been writing a lot more music. Partially for my composition classes, partially for the hell of it. I tried to get an internship at a local recording studio a couple of weeks ago, but they turned me down because I was only going to be here until January and they wanted a full year or so. But, at the end of the interview I asked if there was anything I could try writing for them, and the owner said I should try writing a jingle for the Odom corporation, and if they like it the studio will produce it and pay me for it.
So, I wrote a rock sort of jingle, made a demo at home, and the head of the studio really likes it. We had a meeting about it Friday where we went over the lyrics and changed some stuff around to make it more "advertisey", and then I brought up the idea of doing a country version of the same tune - which the guy flipped over (because country is one of the most popular genres up here). So, I was up until about 2am producing the country demo - but I like it a lot.
Hopefully the Odom corporation will buy it - they say the composer usually gets paid anywhere from $800 to $1000 for the songs. I don't know if that's for the whole tune, or each arrangement, but we'll see. Anyway, I'm just psyched at the possibility of getting paid for my songwriting!
Other than that happening, not much is going on. I turned 28 last Monday. I ended up just staying in and watching a movie with the GF. Although, she did get us tickets to go see the Lion King last Sunday as a pre-birthday gift. It was a lot better than I was expecting - the costumes were amazing, and the woman playing Rafiki had an amazing voice. She even spoke a little !Kung in the performance.
Anyway - that's about all that's new up here. I can't wait to leave for California in January. Back to where the sun shines and the snow isn't looming on the horizon.
Edited to add:
I just found out one of my favorite professor's wife just died on the 1st. Micky Belden had a brain tumor that she had been struggling with for the past couple of months. She was just diagnosed a little while ago, too. Dr. Belden is the Music Theory and Composition teacher at the university, so I spent a lot of time getting to know him, and she was always hanging around the school - she was a voice instructor and a great singer. She'll be missed.
I haven't updated in a long while, so here's a quick rundown of what's up:
1) Summer courses are a GO! So I'm doing a retardedly easy Geology course, a Composition independent study, and an Orchestration independent study. YAY MUSIC! BOO SCIENCE!
2) My GF is in Japan for a month, studying with a Taiko troupe and hanging out with family. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I miss her
it's just not the same snuggling with my friend Dan... he's not as soft... and doesn't smell as nice.
3) My Dad is in town (whom I haven't seen in 3 years!) along with the rest of my family from down in Cali, so we're hanging out for a couple of weeks. In fact I just got back from hanging out with them at Alyeska where they're staying for a couple of days before we all head out to Homer and Talkeetna for a week.
4) I dislocated my shoulder again tonight while swimming.. I got a little carried away with doing an underwater backflip and popped it out of socket. Don't worry though, it's back in its rightful place after a quick shove... but it means I gotta take it easy for a couple of days. One of these days I might get my rotator cuff fixed, but it'll probably mean surgery- and I can't afford that to the max - so whatevs.
That's about it.... My friends Dan and Tiffany are moving to LA in August, so I'm looking for cheap air fare to come down and help them look for a place we can all live at once I'm done with school.
Hope everyone's great!
I just found out one of my favorite professor's wife just died on the 1st. Micky Belden had a brain tumor that she had been struggling with for the past couple of months. She was just diagnosed a little while ago, too. Dr. Belden is the Music Theory and Composition teacher at the university, so I spent a lot of time getting to know him, and she was always hanging around the school - she was a voice instructor and a great singer. She'll be missed.
I haven't updated in a long while, so here's a quick rundown of what's up:
1) Summer courses are a GO! So I'm doing a retardedly easy Geology course, a Composition independent study, and an Orchestration independent study. YAY MUSIC! BOO SCIENCE!
2) My GF is in Japan for a month, studying with a Taiko troupe and hanging out with family. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I miss her
it's just not the same snuggling with my friend Dan... he's not as soft... and doesn't smell as nice.3) My Dad is in town (whom I haven't seen in 3 years!) along with the rest of my family from down in Cali, so we're hanging out for a couple of weeks. In fact I just got back from hanging out with them at Alyeska where they're staying for a couple of days before we all head out to Homer and Talkeetna for a week.
4) I dislocated my shoulder again tonight while swimming.. I got a little carried away with doing an underwater backflip and popped it out of socket. Don't worry though, it's back in its rightful place after a quick shove... but it means I gotta take it easy for a couple of days. One of these days I might get my rotator cuff fixed, but it'll probably mean surgery- and I can't afford that to the max - so whatevs.
That's about it.... My friends Dan and Tiffany are moving to LA in August, so I'm looking for cheap air fare to come down and help them look for a place we can all live at once I'm done with school.
Hope everyone's great!
rar... I think I'm getting sick
I don't know, my throat's really sore and my sinus(s?) are all painful and mucus-y.
So, we had 2 shows with the band this weekend, one good, one not so good.
The not-so-good show consisted of us driving for an hour out of town to get to the joint, then hassling with the people at the front to let us in because we were one of the bands (and not have to pay the $10 cover). Then once inside, we realize it's a metal show with a bunch of 15 year old metal kids in the audience (I don't know why we were booked on the same ticket
)
Then, once the metal bands were done, the amazing audience of 20 halved itself, presumably to go home, or to the mall, or wherever kids in the valley go - then, over the next 2 band's sets, the audience continued to trickle out until we were left playing to a crowd of 4 people. So, we played 3 songs and got the fuck out. Waste of my damn time.
However, the Saturday show was awesome! Plenty of people, and 2 free pitchers of beer for every band. Plus, I was the one who organized it, so it felt good to see it not crash and burn on me. The only small hiccup was the owner not remembering he had booked a show that day, but apparently he forgets that shit a lot, so nobody cared.
PICTURES!:
Me being awesome.
Dan, the lead singer
More of Dan, with Erika in the back
I love this picture.
Dan's GF Tiffany!
More of me.
Erika, my GF and drummer. Notice the traditional grip on the sticks - she's a jazzy kinda' gal.
More of her.
If you want to see the larger versions, go onto our Myspace Music page at Lonesome Cowboy Bill
I don't know, my throat's really sore and my sinus(s?) are all painful and mucus-y.
So, we had 2 shows with the band this weekend, one good, one not so good.
The not-so-good show consisted of us driving for an hour out of town to get to the joint, then hassling with the people at the front to let us in because we were one of the bands (and not have to pay the $10 cover). Then once inside, we realize it's a metal show with a bunch of 15 year old metal kids in the audience (I don't know why we were booked on the same ticket
) Then, once the metal bands were done, the amazing audience of 20 halved itself, presumably to go home, or to the mall, or wherever kids in the valley go - then, over the next 2 band's sets, the audience continued to trickle out until we were left playing to a crowd of 4 people. So, we played 3 songs and got the fuck out. Waste of my damn time.
However, the Saturday show was awesome! Plenty of people, and 2 free pitchers of beer for every band. Plus, I was the one who organized it, so it felt good to see it not crash and burn on me. The only small hiccup was the owner not remembering he had booked a show that day, but apparently he forgets that shit a lot, so nobody cared.
PICTURES!:Me being awesome.
Dan, the lead singer
More of Dan, with Erika in the back
I love this picture.
Dan's GF Tiffany!
More of me.
Erika, my GF and drummer. Notice the traditional grip on the sticks - she's a jazzy kinda' gal.
More of her.
If you want to see the larger versions, go onto our Myspace Music page at Lonesome Cowboy Bill
I'm so tired of school... rar.
Working on a research paper about John Cage this weekend. Interesting dude - look him up.
Also, I've got to study for my Anthro test on Tuesday...
I think I've got a case of senioritis. I can't make myself care about school no matter what. Every assignment just makes me angry and feels like busy work before I can get out of here.
I guess the sad thing is once I start working on stuff I actually enjoy it, but getting myself to start is really hard.
Anyway - that's about all that's happening.
Am I the only one that's noticed that the commercial for "Zoobooks" hasn't changed since the 80s?
p.s. AWWWWWWWE
Working on a research paper about John Cage this weekend. Interesting dude - look him up.
Also, I've got to study for my Anthro test on Tuesday...
I think I've got a case of senioritis. I can't make myself care about school no matter what. Every assignment just makes me angry and feels like busy work before I can get out of here.
I guess the sad thing is once I start working on stuff I actually enjoy it, but getting myself to start is really hard.
Anyway - that's about all that's happening.
Am I the only one that's noticed that the commercial for "Zoobooks" hasn't changed since the 80s?
p.s. AWWWWWWWE
Another show coming up. I've been on the phone yesterday and today trying to set up more and more shows. I just got tired of waiting for another band to put one together and then trying to piggyback on their gigs. Time to get pro-active!
So, I think we've come to a consensus
WE"RE MOVING TO L.A.!
That's right motherfuckers! We're done with this place.
By "we" I mean the lead singer Dan, his girl friend Tiffany, and myself. I'm really trying to convince my girlfriend to come along with us, but she's still on the fence about leaving Alaska and not working for the school district up here like she's always planned on doing. Which I can totally understand. She's been planning on being a teacher up here since she first went to college, and has just now realized that she doesn't HAVE to stay up here. But she's scared of moving away to a new place where she doesn't know anyone.
As for my school situation, here's the plan so far. I need 20 more credits to "graduate". So, I take 7 credits as independent/directed studies over the summer, move to LA in August, get an internship that will give me more credits, and also do more independent studies as distance courses.
Problem solved - and I don't have to change my plans that much!
YAY!
oh, and I still havent' seen the street fighter movie... nobody wants to see it with me.
WE"RE MOVING TO L.A.! That's right motherfuckers! We're done with this place.
By "we" I mean the lead singer Dan, his girl friend Tiffany, and myself. I'm really trying to convince my girlfriend to come along with us, but she's still on the fence about leaving Alaska and not working for the school district up here like she's always planned on doing. Which I can totally understand. She's been planning on being a teacher up here since she first went to college, and has just now realized that she doesn't HAVE to stay up here. But she's scared of moving away to a new place where she doesn't know anyone.
As for my school situation, here's the plan so far. I need 20 more credits to "graduate". So, I take 7 credits as independent/directed studies over the summer, move to LA in August, get an internship that will give me more credits, and also do more independent studies as distance courses.
Problem solved - and I don't have to change my plans that much!
YAY!
oh, and I still havent' seen the street fighter movie... nobody wants to see it with me.
OH MY GOD!
I just saw the trailer for the new Street Fighter movie (the legend of Chun LI)
I'm totally going to see that tomorrow. I wonder what the first showing is.
This will be the worst movie of all time.
So, I got my first film to score. It's a 9 minute piece about this guy who's stranded at a rest stop and steals a wallet from this jerk, only to accidentally kill him when the guy tries to beat him up for taking it. It's really well shot for the most part, and the notes from the other composer seem like they'll help me out a lot.
Oh, and I decided I needed to upgrade my computer to use the new sample libraries, so I just got a new Quad Core cpu, which should let me use a lot more instruments simultaneously for my compositions. Now I just gotta get the hardware to work properly.
I just saw the trailer for the new Street Fighter movie (the legend of Chun LI)
I'm totally going to see that tomorrow. I wonder what the first showing is.
This will be the worst movie of all time.
So, I got my first film to score. It's a 9 minute piece about this guy who's stranded at a rest stop and steals a wallet from this jerk, only to accidentally kill him when the guy tries to beat him up for taking it. It's really well shot for the most part, and the notes from the other composer seem like they'll help me out a lot.
Oh, and I decided I needed to upgrade my computer to use the new sample libraries, so I just got a new Quad Core cpu, which should let me use a lot more instruments simultaneously for my compositions. Now I just gotta get the hardware to work properly.
So - lots of crap has been going down. All sorts of crap.
Let's recap:
1 - I applied for graduation a couple of weeks ago, and I just received my degree audit. All of it seemed fine - EXCEPT a small sentence at the bottom that says: Your degree requires a total of 120 credits, 42 of which must be upper division. You currently have 142 credits, 20 of which are upper division.
WHAT THE FUCK! So I checked with the head of the music department today, and apparently my academic advisers HAVEN'T DONE THEIR FUCKING JOB! Because I'm getting ready to graduate MISSING 22 FUCKING CREDITS! Now I have to make up those credits OVER THE SUMMER. Yeah, I probably won't be graduating this semester like I thought.
Fuck this school. They waste my time and money - and then have the audacity to fucking tell me I gotta do it all over again because THEY fucked up. Yeah - real great guys. Thanks for wasting a year of my life. Assholes.
</rant>
2 - So I've been posting some on craigslist in LA and NYC looking for short films from directors who wouldn't mind me using them as practice for my film scoring. As of right now I've gotten about 5 people who've agreed to let me try it. So yay for me. Then, today I got a letter from a working film composer, who's offered to sort of tutor me for free!
So, now I decided I needed to upgrade my rig for composing, so I just picked up a sample library that'll allow me to write really high quality orchestral scores. I'll try posting some examples once I get set up.
Anyway - I'm tired. See you all later. I've got to contact graduate programs tomorrow - I might be able to convince them to let me in early and maybe knock some of these upper division credits out while also getting some credit toward a masters degree.... it's a long shot, but I'll try anything if it means getting out of Anchorage sooner.
Let's recap:
1 - I applied for graduation a couple of weeks ago, and I just received my degree audit. All of it seemed fine - EXCEPT a small sentence at the bottom that says: Your degree requires a total of 120 credits, 42 of which must be upper division. You currently have 142 credits, 20 of which are upper division.
WHAT THE FUCK! So I checked with the head of the music department today, and apparently my academic advisers HAVEN'T DONE THEIR FUCKING JOB! Because I'm getting ready to graduate MISSING 22 FUCKING CREDITS! Now I have to make up those credits OVER THE SUMMER. Yeah, I probably won't be graduating this semester like I thought.
Fuck this school. They waste my time and money - and then have the audacity to fucking tell me I gotta do it all over again because THEY fucked up. Yeah - real great guys. Thanks for wasting a year of my life. Assholes.
</rant>
2 - So I've been posting some on craigslist in LA and NYC looking for short films from directors who wouldn't mind me using them as practice for my film scoring. As of right now I've gotten about 5 people who've agreed to let me try it. So yay for me. Then, today I got a letter from a working film composer, who's offered to sort of tutor me for free!
So, now I decided I needed to upgrade my rig for composing, so I just picked up a sample library that'll allow me to write really high quality orchestral scores. I'll try posting some examples once I get set up.
Anyway - I'm tired. See you all later. I've got to contact graduate programs tomorrow - I might be able to convince them to let me in early and maybe knock some of these upper division credits out while also getting some credit toward a masters degree.... it's a long shot, but I'll try anything if it means getting out of Anchorage sooner.
So, I've been keeping busy, which is why I haven't updated in a while.
My band's playing more shows, which means I've been having to write a lot more songs. I'm pretty pleased with the new stuff so far, but the more I write, the less I like the old stuff I wrote. We're getting closer to defining our sound, but that means having to toss out or retool some of the older stuff to bring it up to speed.
Other than that I'm playing classical guitar for the Anchorage Opera's production of The Barber of Seville. It's a nice gig, especially since I only play for about 10 minutes the whole show, and that's all in the first act - BUT I STILL GET PAID THE SAME!
That's really about it. Oh, and I applied for graduation.
anyway, back to studying for my Music History test.
My band's playing more shows, which means I've been having to write a lot more songs. I'm pretty pleased with the new stuff so far, but the more I write, the less I like the old stuff I wrote. We're getting closer to defining our sound, but that means having to toss out or retool some of the older stuff to bring it up to speed.
Other than that I'm playing classical guitar for the Anchorage Opera's production of The Barber of Seville. It's a nice gig, especially since I only play for about 10 minutes the whole show, and that's all in the first act - BUT I STILL GET PAID THE SAME!
That's really about it. Oh, and I applied for graduation.
anyway, back to studying for my Music History test.
We're playing a show on Saturday. Opening up for Milwaukee Rapper Juiceboxx!
Very few of you are in town, but still I'm excited!
Very few of you are in town, but still I'm excited!
