So I realize that I haven't been keeping up with my blogging duties lately, but I have a reason why and I thought I'd share it. For the past month or so I've spent a lot of my free time working on my DJ skills for a Halloween party this weekend. Yes, you read that correctly - William Howard is working on his DJ skills. Let me share with you how this all came about.
I've mentioned before in my blog that I'm a big fan of music and of the skills good DJs possess. I remember buying Fatboy Slim's "We've Come a Long Way, Baby" CD my freshman year of college and wearing it out because I listened to it so much, and then purchasing a few of Fatboy Slim's continuous mix CD's and listening to those non-stop while in my car. Well, after our most recent trip to Vegas, while watching a few DJs perform at a club, I thought to myself that would be fun to learn to do. Most DJs these days use a laptop and mp3s, and I have a decent collection of music on my laptop, so I'd just need to purchase some additional hardware and software.
After doing some research, I found the DJ hardware/software option that was best for me (since I was just wanting to mess around with it at my house - not wanting the professional-grade setup) was Virtual DJ software and a Hercules DJ Console RMX mixing controller. FYI - most of the professional DJs use Serato Scratch Live! software and USB-enabled Technics turntables (or similar brand) and a mixer.
Now that I had my setup, I started playing around with it at night after the family went to bed or on my days off from work. I have to admit, it's pretty addicting. I can spend hours just playing around with it, seeing what songs mix together well and just playing songs I like. Me, my wife and my brother will all take turns mixing with it when we're hanging out at the house together, and it's fun to hear the music each of us plays. It was never my original intention when getting into this new hobby to DJ a public event; I thought it would just something new, fun and challenging to do at the house.
Well, after word got out to friends and family that I had a new hobby (or they saw the setup at the house), I got a few requests to play music at a few house parties. I was a little nervous because I don't consider myself a real DJ and I didn't want people to think I was trying to be a real DJ. I prepared an hour or so worth of music to mix and I think overall it went pretty well. I realized a few things while playing at a party: as long as the music isn't too loud and you don't play something horrendous, people don't really care what music is being played, as long as it's continuous background noise and not too "jerky" (a slower song played between fast songs that brings the tempo to a crawl); most people will just ignore you.
Now to the haunted house - my sister-in-law works for the North Kansas City School District as a Media Specialist (new technical name for librarian), and they are having a Haunted House this year at the library (the library is also the public library for that area of town) around Halloween after a home football game. It costs a few dollars to go through, and the proceeds go to the library for new books, etc. I guess it's expected to gather quite a crowd because tickets are sold in the middle schools and high schools in the area the week before. The library is also right across the street from the football game, so they are expecting a lot of kids to hang out there after the football game. Anyway, my sister-in-law asked if I would play some music outside the library/haunted house to keep the people in line for the haunted house entertained and also to gather attention to the haunted house to passers-by attending/leaving the football game . Now this will be something totally new, different, and a little scary for me, for a few reasons:
1. We all know middle school and high school kids are the cruelest, most judgmental people there are. I'm not a big fan of having kids make fun of me if they're not liking what they're hearing. Please understand that I don't care what middle-school and high-school kids think of me, because let's be honest, the type of kids who would openly make fun of someone playing music outside of a haunted house are most likely going to turn out to be losers as adults. I know that's a horrible thing to say about the youth of America, but come on. We all know this to be true.
2. I'm old - I realize this. I don't listen to the music that kids listen to these days. I don't want to be "that guy" that tries to relate to kids by listening to Top 40 radio for ideas and then playing all of those songs, along with Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers & High School Musical tracks all night. I also don't want to go too far the other way and just play music I like, because I'm pretty sure that middle-school and high-school kids haven't even heard some of the music I like to listen to; it was before their time. I also don't want to just play Halloween -themed music all night like "Thriller", "Monster Mash", "Ghostbusters", etc. and sound like one of those Halloween sound effects CD's people play at their house on Halloween night while kids are trick-or-treating.
3. They would like the music to start around 6:30PM in order to get the attention of the football fans who are walking from their vehicles to the football game. I've estimated that based on the size/power of my speaker system and the average walking speed of adults and children that each person will hear approximately 2.5 - 3 minutes of music as they pass by the library on their way to the football game. What that means to me is that I've got to be mixing in a way that people will be interested enough in what they hear within those 2.5 - 3 minutes that they will want to come by after the game to see what's going on.
4. I don't want to seem like a hack and play the same song more than once during the evening. This may sound like an easy task and not something I should worry about, but let me break this down for you another way. The haunted house/party goes until 11:30-midnight. I start playing at 6:30. That's 5.5 hours that I will be DJ'ing. Since it's a party on a Friday night for mostly teenagers (and for the parents who are with the younger kids), you want it to play fast tempo music to give it that "party" vibe (no slow songs or "hangin' out" music). You also want to play songs that the general public will recognize. I like to mix in and out of songs rather quickly, playing at most the chorus and a verse of each song, then transitioning into the next song. This equates to each song playing for around 1 minute each. That means that if I mix continuously from 6:30 to midnight, I'd be playing approximately 330 songs.Now I have well over 330 fast-tempo songs in my music collection to play, but not all of them mix mix well together and some songs have explicit content and should not be played at a function sponsored by a public school. I realize that I can just let more of each song play, but I don't' like doing that because I want the crowd to realize that it's a DJ playing the music, and not just an iPod on shuffle that's playing each song in its entirety.
I realize that DJ'ing a haunted house at a high school library is a minute, irrational thing to worry about and I'm blowing it way out of proportion. I just want to do a good job and not embarrass myself (or more importantly embarrass my sister-in-law) and for people to have fun. My whole goal for the night is to have people like what they hear and want to hang out to see what song will be played next, and if they were to be like "Oh snap!" when they hear some of the transitions and mixes I've put together, that would be cool as well.
By the way, if anyone has any suggestions of songs they'd like to hear or could picture hearing while waiting in line at a haunted house on a Friday night after a high-school football game, suggestions are definitely welcome.
Song of the day: "Sgt Pepper's Paradise" by Beatles vs. Guns N' Roses. The easiest way to hear this song is to go to www.grooveshark.com and enter in "sgt. pepper's paradise extended" (without the quotes). I'm a fan of mash-ups that are well put together, and this is a good one. You can't help but get up when you hear the opening guitar riff of "Paradise City" and the drum beat, and then when the vocals start you're just like, "Oh snap!"
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Insert random lyric or movie quote here
A husband and wife are walking down the street and they see a parrot in a pet store window. They stop to admire the bird and the parrot says to the husband, "Your wife is really ugly." The husband is furious so they immediately leave the store. The next day the couple sees the same parrot in the window and the parrot, upon seeing them, says to the husband, “Your wife is really ugly." The husband goes inside the pet store and demands to speak to the owner. The husband is livid and yells at the owner and threatens to sue the store and have the bird killed. The store owner apologizes profusely and states that bird has been a problem for a long time and he’ll take care of it. He tells the husband that he will make sure the bird never says anything negative about his wife again. The couple leaves, and the pet store owner takes the bird in the back room and proceeds to rough it up in order to teach it a lesson. The next day, when the couple walks past the store they see the parrot sitting on his perch, but this time the parrot has a black eye, his feathers are ruffled and one of his wings is in a cast. As they walk past, the husband looks at the bird, waiting to see if it’ll say anything. The parrot looks at the husband from its perch in a cocky manner and says, “Ain’t nothin’ changed.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
My better is better than your better
I am not a runner. I’ve never claimed to be a runner. I didn’t run in school, and I don’t really enjoy running now. With that said, I ran in the Kansas City marathon last year. That’s right, 26.2 miles. I definitely didn’t set any records, but I did finish. Let me bridge the gap for you from me not being a runner to running a marathon.
I started exercising in 2006 after my doctor told me I needed to change my lifestyle in order to lower my blood pressure or I would need to start taking medication to lower it. I didn’t want to be a 28-year-old on blood pressure pills, so I joined the gym at work. I started jogging on the treadmill a few times a week and started paying attention to my diet. At my 6 month follow-up the doctor said my blood pressure was much better and I should continue with the exercising to maintain my health.
After being able to run a couple miles on the treadmill I signed up to run a 5K. I’d never run a race before, so I thought it might be fun. It was harder than I thought; I hadn’t run outside, and 3.1 miles outside is harder than 3.1 miles on a treadmill. After my first 5K I started running outside and did a couple more 5K’s. I wanted to do the fun ones, such as one where you run inside a cave, one that was at night, and one where you run around a jail. During this time my brother also ran a few 5K’s in Chicago, so we would try to beat each other’s time. I think he won with a time of 23:37 at a race, whereas my best time was 23:40 (although he had a friend with him who ran all the time and set a pace for him so he could beat me. I’m not saying that wasn’t a smart thing to do; I just wish I had a friend who is fast and could help me out). I had originally wanted to run a 5K in under 20 minutes (because that’s what Tito Ortiz said he did while training for a fight up in Big Bear), but I realized that I can’t run that fast for 3 miles. The people who run that fast are the people at the races with the super short shorts and 0% body fat. You see those people when the starter pistol goes off, and then you never see them again because they sprint the entire 3 miles and never break a sweat.
Fast forward to the spring of 2008. I was in a real funk. I was never happy and the usual jovial William was nowhere to be found. Some people thought I was either crazy or depressed, or maybe a little of both. The main reason why I was so unhappy was that I hated my job. I understand that a person shouldn’t find his/her self worth in their employment and it’s only a job, but someone should enjoy what they do at least some of the time. My work wasn’t challenging anymore and I was basically a babysitter to others. I hated being at work and I let that affect my personal life. I needed something to focus on to take my mind away from my job. I liked working in IT at my company; I just hated the team I was on. I had found another group that I really wanted to work for within the IT department, but their team wasn’t going to have an opening until the fall of 2008 at the earliest.
I decided to set a goal of running the Kansas City marathon. I read somewhere that less than 1% of the world’s population has finished a marathon, so I thought that’s something I could do and be proud of. I didn’t know anything about running a marathon, so it gave me something new to research and it provided goals and benchmarks to motivate me. I would run a few miles 2 or 3 times during the week and then do a long run on Saturday mornings. It was nice because it got me out of the house and kept me active (I tend to just sleep or lay around when I’m depressed). The 2+ hours of running on Saturday mornings also provided time for me to think about my life and what I want to do with the rest of it. On a side note, I could also eat anything I wanted to while training for the marathon and not worry about gaining weight, which was really nice.
About 2 months before the marathon an opportunity at work arose sooner than expected for me to join the team that I had wanted to join. I pursued the opportunity and moved to the other group. I now had a new, challenging job on a good team. I realized that I didn’t really need the marathon anymore to make me happy; I was happy with my job once again. I decided that I had trained this hard for months so I should go ahead and run the marathon, although I had no desire to do it. The marathon went ok; I hurt my knee on mile 11 but I wanted to finish because I had put in so much time training and I wanted to finish it and be done with it (this was not a wise thing to do – because of my decision to continue running the marathon I damaged my knee enough to require knee surgery in December). My finishing time wasn’t what I had hoped it would be, but at least I finished. It was cool to run in my own town and the Kansas City marathon is nice because it takes you through Westport, the Plaza, Waldo, and downtown.
I learned a few things while training and running the marathon: One is that once you can run 7-8 miles, you can keep running all day (at a slow pace). All you need to do is keep your fluids and energy up with GU (or any other type of running energy supplement) and water. The other thing I learned is that people run marathons for a lot of different reasons. Sure there are some people who enjoy running and run marathons for the fun of it, but there are also a lot of people who run a marathon because something is wrong in their life and training for the marathon is a way out. If you ever hear someone say that they ran a marathon and they don’t seem like a runner to you, I challenge you to try to figure out what their motivation was to run the marathon. What was wrong in their life that they thought running a marathon would help? Divorce/bad breakup, mid-life crisis, stay-at-home parent who needed a challenge, maybe they needed to lose weight, or maybe they were like me and hated their job. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that anything is wrong running a marathon to help with your mental and/or physical health. I think it’s good that people take control and try to do something to fix their life. I did it, and it helped to get me through a rough spot.
I have no desire to run another marathon. I may do a half marathon someday, but I don’t feel that I need to do another one. I still run a few times a week at work during lunch to keep me in decent shape, but I still don’t really enjoy running, and I’ve never experienced that “runner’s high” that real runners talk about. If I could be healthy and never exercise again I would choose that.
Song of the day: “True Love/Star of Bethlehem” by Angels & Airwaves. It’s actually 2 tracks from their I-Empire album, with the first track being the intro to the second track. This song reminds me of my long, Saturday morning training runs for the marathon. This was always the first song I’d listen to while warming up and running that first mile. A lot of the time it was still dark out when I’d start and I’d hear this song while watching the sun come up while running.
I started exercising in 2006 after my doctor told me I needed to change my lifestyle in order to lower my blood pressure or I would need to start taking medication to lower it. I didn’t want to be a 28-year-old on blood pressure pills, so I joined the gym at work. I started jogging on the treadmill a few times a week and started paying attention to my diet. At my 6 month follow-up the doctor said my blood pressure was much better and I should continue with the exercising to maintain my health.
After being able to run a couple miles on the treadmill I signed up to run a 5K. I’d never run a race before, so I thought it might be fun. It was harder than I thought; I hadn’t run outside, and 3.1 miles outside is harder than 3.1 miles on a treadmill. After my first 5K I started running outside and did a couple more 5K’s. I wanted to do the fun ones, such as one where you run inside a cave, one that was at night, and one where you run around a jail. During this time my brother also ran a few 5K’s in Chicago, so we would try to beat each other’s time. I think he won with a time of 23:37 at a race, whereas my best time was 23:40 (although he had a friend with him who ran all the time and set a pace for him so he could beat me. I’m not saying that wasn’t a smart thing to do; I just wish I had a friend who is fast and could help me out). I had originally wanted to run a 5K in under 20 minutes (because that’s what Tito Ortiz said he did while training for a fight up in Big Bear), but I realized that I can’t run that fast for 3 miles. The people who run that fast are the people at the races with the super short shorts and 0% body fat. You see those people when the starter pistol goes off, and then you never see them again because they sprint the entire 3 miles and never break a sweat.
Fast forward to the spring of 2008. I was in a real funk. I was never happy and the usual jovial William was nowhere to be found. Some people thought I was either crazy or depressed, or maybe a little of both. The main reason why I was so unhappy was that I hated my job. I understand that a person shouldn’t find his/her self worth in their employment and it’s only a job, but someone should enjoy what they do at least some of the time. My work wasn’t challenging anymore and I was basically a babysitter to others. I hated being at work and I let that affect my personal life. I needed something to focus on to take my mind away from my job. I liked working in IT at my company; I just hated the team I was on. I had found another group that I really wanted to work for within the IT department, but their team wasn’t going to have an opening until the fall of 2008 at the earliest.
I decided to set a goal of running the Kansas City marathon. I read somewhere that less than 1% of the world’s population has finished a marathon, so I thought that’s something I could do and be proud of. I didn’t know anything about running a marathon, so it gave me something new to research and it provided goals and benchmarks to motivate me. I would run a few miles 2 or 3 times during the week and then do a long run on Saturday mornings. It was nice because it got me out of the house and kept me active (I tend to just sleep or lay around when I’m depressed). The 2+ hours of running on Saturday mornings also provided time for me to think about my life and what I want to do with the rest of it. On a side note, I could also eat anything I wanted to while training for the marathon and not worry about gaining weight, which was really nice.
About 2 months before the marathon an opportunity at work arose sooner than expected for me to join the team that I had wanted to join. I pursued the opportunity and moved to the other group. I now had a new, challenging job on a good team. I realized that I didn’t really need the marathon anymore to make me happy; I was happy with my job once again. I decided that I had trained this hard for months so I should go ahead and run the marathon, although I had no desire to do it. The marathon went ok; I hurt my knee on mile 11 but I wanted to finish because I had put in so much time training and I wanted to finish it and be done with it (this was not a wise thing to do – because of my decision to continue running the marathon I damaged my knee enough to require knee surgery in December). My finishing time wasn’t what I had hoped it would be, but at least I finished. It was cool to run in my own town and the Kansas City marathon is nice because it takes you through Westport, the Plaza, Waldo, and downtown.
I learned a few things while training and running the marathon: One is that once you can run 7-8 miles, you can keep running all day (at a slow pace). All you need to do is keep your fluids and energy up with GU (or any other type of running energy supplement) and water. The other thing I learned is that people run marathons for a lot of different reasons. Sure there are some people who enjoy running and run marathons for the fun of it, but there are also a lot of people who run a marathon because something is wrong in their life and training for the marathon is a way out. If you ever hear someone say that they ran a marathon and they don’t seem like a runner to you, I challenge you to try to figure out what their motivation was to run the marathon. What was wrong in their life that they thought running a marathon would help? Divorce/bad breakup, mid-life crisis, stay-at-home parent who needed a challenge, maybe they needed to lose weight, or maybe they were like me and hated their job. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that anything is wrong running a marathon to help with your mental and/or physical health. I think it’s good that people take control and try to do something to fix their life. I did it, and it helped to get me through a rough spot.
I have no desire to run another marathon. I may do a half marathon someday, but I don’t feel that I need to do another one. I still run a few times a week at work during lunch to keep me in decent shape, but I still don’t really enjoy running, and I’ve never experienced that “runner’s high” that real runners talk about. If I could be healthy and never exercise again I would choose that.
Song of the day: “True Love/Star of Bethlehem” by Angels & Airwaves. It’s actually 2 tracks from their I-Empire album, with the first track being the intro to the second track. This song reminds me of my long, Saturday morning training runs for the marathon. This was always the first song I’d listen to while warming up and running that first mile. A lot of the time it was still dark out when I’d start and I’d hear this song while watching the sun come up while running.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
You’re not that pretty and you’re not that special
When did The Weather Channel start trying to be a real TV channel? Why doesn't The Weather Channel just show the weather forecast anymore? When I'm watching TV and I turn to The Weather Channel it's for one thing - a quick update on the current weather. I don't want to watch "When Weather Changed History”, “Storm of the Century" or some other show about the effects of a hypothetical massive tidal wave hitting the coasts. I just want the Local on the 8's that will show me the current weather, local radar, and 3 day outlook. I realize that they still show Local on the 8’s during these shows, but it’s only scrolling at the bottom and they don’t show the radar.
I don't even know anyone who watches these other shows on The Weather Channel anyway. Does anyone know of someone who plans their evening around watching these shows, or sets their DVR to tape these so when they get home from a long day they can pop some popcorn, get a drink and sit on the couch to catch up on all of the Weather Channel’s intriguing programming that they’ve missed? I don't think so. If these shows were that interesting then other real TV channels would be showing them.
Please stop trying to be dramatic Weather Channel and just give the people what they want. Show the current weather while playing light jazz instrumental music. It’s a simple concept; stop trying to church it up.
Song of the day: “Bring ‘Em Out” by T.I. No reason – it’s just a good song. Swizz Beatz knows how to make a beat.
I don't even know anyone who watches these other shows on The Weather Channel anyway. Does anyone know of someone who plans their evening around watching these shows, or sets their DVR to tape these so when they get home from a long day they can pop some popcorn, get a drink and sit on the couch to catch up on all of the Weather Channel’s intriguing programming that they’ve missed? I don't think so. If these shows were that interesting then other real TV channels would be showing them.
Please stop trying to be dramatic Weather Channel and just give the people what they want. Show the current weather while playing light jazz instrumental music. It’s a simple concept; stop trying to church it up.
Song of the day: “Bring ‘Em Out” by T.I. No reason – it’s just a good song. Swizz Beatz knows how to make a beat.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The record always spins on the trails we blaze
For those that know me, you know that I've never really been a big sports guy - the only sports I really follow are UFC and a little bit of college basketball. Sure I keep up with the Royals and Chiefs so I can relate to conversations at work, but I'm not passionate about sports like a lot of guys. My passion has always been music. I've always enjoyed listening to and learning about all types of music, from pop to rock to country to rap - you name it.
I've always got music playing around me - at my desk at work, while exercising, driving in the car, and at home. I've been known many times to have music playing while watching TV (the TV has closed captioning on). I can remember when I was young listening to the radio with my Dad in his car and at home and hearing music from such artists/bands as Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Ronnie Milsap and Bachman Turner Overdrive. I never did really listen to kids music per say, and I appreciate that I was exposed to real music so early in life. I've tried to do the same with my son; he listens to children’s CD's with his grandmother and at school, but when he's in my car he listens to whatever I'm listening to. He already has favorite songs he requests to hear - "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, "Sedated" by the Ramones, "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police, and "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga. Andersen's mix isn't too bad.
I'm always curious as to what music other people are listening to as well - it's always fun to trade iPods with others to see what they have in their playlist. I routinely check iTunes music store to catch the new Celebrity Playlists and read the descriptions from the celebrities as to why they picked each song for their playlist. To me, people's music choices say a lot about who they are and where they're coming from.
Because of my appreciation for and interest in of all types of music, I've always liked listening to and watching DJ's perform. I think it's fun to see what songs are being mixed together, and how the DJ transitions from one song to another (by the way, I know this sounds snobby, but if you're not mixing songs together to have a constant beat/mix, then you're not a DJ; you're just a guy with a playlist hooked up to a speaker system. I'm sorry, but just selecting music and playing it in a certain order doesn't make you a DJ – an iPod could do your job). The last time we were in Vegas we hung out one night by the DJ booth at a club and watched the DJ's perform for hours. I've always been amazed when DJ's have the skills to transition songs smoothly and keep the party going without interruption.
With all of that said, I am sincerely saddened by the sudden death of DJ AM. I was shocked when I read online last Friday evening that he was found dead in his apartment because I've been a big fan of his for some time. I felt like I could relate to him because he was a white guy in his mid-thirties whose musical taste spanned genres, like mine. I know this is going to sound really corny, but I followed his Twitter activity, I've seen all of his videos on YouTube multiple times, I downloaded his mixes when they were released, and I also frequented his website (www.djam.com) for updates and to check his performance schedule. Checking his Twitter page and searching YouTube for new DJ AM videos was part of my nightly internet ritual. To me he was the best performance DJ out there and was levels above other professional DJ's. He was the celebrity that I would’ve liked to have been if I could trade lives with anyone. His DJ skills were ridiculous; from his mash-ups to his seamless transitions, he played songs that the average person would recognize and he made it fun. It's fair to say that I had a man crush on DJ AM. He obviously had issues in his personal life, but that shouldn't take away from his incredible talent at his profession. It's sad that someone so talented will be regarded by the public as a B-list celebrity who died of an overdose and will be forgotten quickly.
I encourage everyone who likes music to listen to one of DJ AM's mixes (Fix Your Face vol 1 is good - I had it as a Song/Album of the day previously) or watch a video of him on YouTube (here's one of him performing at Rain nightclub at the Palms in Vegas) to see how good he was at his job.
Song of the day: "Digital Love" by Daft Punk from their Discovery album. This is the same album that had the tracks "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (sampled by Kanye West for his "Stronger" hit) and "One More Time" on it. DJ AM was known to use at least one Daft Punk track in every one of his mixes. This Daft Punk song has lyrics and the melody is catchy.
I've always got music playing around me - at my desk at work, while exercising, driving in the car, and at home. I've been known many times to have music playing while watching TV (the TV has closed captioning on). I can remember when I was young listening to the radio with my Dad in his car and at home and hearing music from such artists/bands as Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Ronnie Milsap and Bachman Turner Overdrive. I never did really listen to kids music per say, and I appreciate that I was exposed to real music so early in life. I've tried to do the same with my son; he listens to children’s CD's with his grandmother and at school, but when he's in my car he listens to whatever I'm listening to. He already has favorite songs he requests to hear - "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, "Sedated" by the Ramones, "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police, and "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga. Andersen's mix isn't too bad.
I'm always curious as to what music other people are listening to as well - it's always fun to trade iPods with others to see what they have in their playlist. I routinely check iTunes music store to catch the new Celebrity Playlists and read the descriptions from the celebrities as to why they picked each song for their playlist. To me, people's music choices say a lot about who they are and where they're coming from.
Because of my appreciation for and interest in of all types of music, I've always liked listening to and watching DJ's perform. I think it's fun to see what songs are being mixed together, and how the DJ transitions from one song to another (by the way, I know this sounds snobby, but if you're not mixing songs together to have a constant beat/mix, then you're not a DJ; you're just a guy with a playlist hooked up to a speaker system. I'm sorry, but just selecting music and playing it in a certain order doesn't make you a DJ – an iPod could do your job). The last time we were in Vegas we hung out one night by the DJ booth at a club and watched the DJ's perform for hours. I've always been amazed when DJ's have the skills to transition songs smoothly and keep the party going without interruption.
With all of that said, I am sincerely saddened by the sudden death of DJ AM. I was shocked when I read online last Friday evening that he was found dead in his apartment because I've been a big fan of his for some time. I felt like I could relate to him because he was a white guy in his mid-thirties whose musical taste spanned genres, like mine. I know this is going to sound really corny, but I followed his Twitter activity, I've seen all of his videos on YouTube multiple times, I downloaded his mixes when they were released, and I also frequented his website (www.djam.com) for updates and to check his performance schedule. Checking his Twitter page and searching YouTube for new DJ AM videos was part of my nightly internet ritual. To me he was the best performance DJ out there and was levels above other professional DJ's. He was the celebrity that I would’ve liked to have been if I could trade lives with anyone. His DJ skills were ridiculous; from his mash-ups to his seamless transitions, he played songs that the average person would recognize and he made it fun. It's fair to say that I had a man crush on DJ AM. He obviously had issues in his personal life, but that shouldn't take away from his incredible talent at his profession. It's sad that someone so talented will be regarded by the public as a B-list celebrity who died of an overdose and will be forgotten quickly.
I encourage everyone who likes music to listen to one of DJ AM's mixes (Fix Your Face vol 1 is good - I had it as a Song/Album of the day previously) or watch a video of him on YouTube (here's one of him performing at Rain nightclub at the Palms in Vegas) to see how good he was at his job.
Song of the day: "Digital Love" by Daft Punk from their Discovery album. This is the same album that had the tracks "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (sampled by Kanye West for his "Stronger" hit) and "One More Time" on it. DJ AM was known to use at least one Daft Punk track in every one of his mixes. This Daft Punk song has lyrics and the melody is catchy.
Monday, August 24, 2009
If you’re havin' girl problems I feel bad for you son . . .
I recently shared one of my more positive memories from my youth, so I thought today that I’d share something from the other end of the spectrum; one of my most embarrassing moments. Off the top of my head I have 3 moments that I would erase from time if I had the opportunity. This is the first.
High school football games were a big deal when I was in high school. Being from a smaller town meant that everyone went to the games. It was my freshman year and I was going to the game with a few of my friends. Now, during my freshman year my whole goal was to just try to blend in and not bring any attention to myself. At the football games all of the high school kids sat in the same section of the bleachers. My friends and I sat down in this section and pretty soon some girls (who were either juniors or seniors) came and sat next to me on the bleachers. I can’t remember if they were “crazy hot” or not, but they were older than me and at least decent-looking because I remember that I wanted to make a good impression. My friends and I had already discussed that we wouldn’t do anything stupid or immature while we were sitting with all of the other high school kids. We’d just sit there on our best behavior, talking quietly amongst ourselves. So during the first half of the game the girls sitting next to us ignored us, which was completely expected; we were freshman boys. My friends and I sat there, watching the game and having a good time. I think it was during halftime, after the marching band had performed, that the girl sitting next to me turned and said, “Hey, what’s your name?” It caught me completely off-guard. I could see out of the corner of my eye that it had surprised my friends as well because they were just looking at me, waiting for me to respond to her question. This was huge; a junior or senior girl wanting to know my name. You know how you have so many thoughts go through your head in such a short amount of time? Here’s the internal narrative that I remember having the few seconds before I replied to her:
High school football games were a big deal when I was in high school. Being from a smaller town meant that everyone went to the games. It was my freshman year and I was going to the game with a few of my friends. Now, during my freshman year my whole goal was to just try to blend in and not bring any attention to myself. At the football games all of the high school kids sat in the same section of the bleachers. My friends and I sat down in this section and pretty soon some girls (who were either juniors or seniors) came and sat next to me on the bleachers. I can’t remember if they were “crazy hot” or not, but they were older than me and at least decent-looking because I remember that I wanted to make a good impression. My friends and I had already discussed that we wouldn’t do anything stupid or immature while we were sitting with all of the other high school kids. We’d just sit there on our best behavior, talking quietly amongst ourselves. So during the first half of the game the girls sitting next to us ignored us, which was completely expected; we were freshman boys. My friends and I sat there, watching the game and having a good time. I think it was during halftime, after the marching band had performed, that the girl sitting next to me turned and said, “Hey, what’s your name?” It caught me completely off-guard. I could see out of the corner of my eye that it had surprised my friends as well because they were just looking at me, waiting for me to respond to her question. This was huge; a junior or senior girl wanting to know my name. You know how you have so many thoughts go through your head in such a short amount of time? Here’s the internal narrative that I remember having the few seconds before I replied to her:
“Alright, I knew sitting here and acting mature would get us noticed. She must have noticed me sitting here next to her and wants to get to know me better. She probably smelled my cologne and my pleasant breath and was intrigued. Maybe my freshman year won’t be so bad after all. I’m glad my stupid friends followed the plan. I knew it was a good thing we discussed our behavior beforehand. Who knows, this might actually turn into something and I might even get to go to
Prom as a freshman guy. How cool would that be? Of course she’d have to drive, but that shouldn’t be a big issue. I’m sure we’d probably rent a limo with 25 of her closest friends and all squeeze in there like it’s a clown car at a circus anyway. Of course, then there’s the pressure of the post-Prom hookup. It’s no big deal, that’s months away. I’ve got time to research; I’ll talk to a good female neighbor friend of mine to get some pointers on what chicks like and I’ll also read the Cosmo & GQ magazines the next time I’m at the grocery store (this was pre-Internet) – they always go into good detail on what’s “in” in that arena. Ok, so now, just respond by saying your name. Try to not let your voice crack, but don’t say it in too deep of a voice like you’re trying to be Barry White. Remember; make eye contact with her when you answer her and while she’s talking; that shows that you’re confident and not a typical shy freshman boy. But don’t do that creepy staring thing where it looks like you’re trying to steal her soul through her eyes. Ok, answer her before she thinks you’re slow.”
I responded with, “My name’s Will.” I said it and my voice didn’t crack. Things were starting off well; I thought we were beginning to build a rapport. What she said next was something I wasn’t expecting at all. She said, “Well Will, you’re sitting on my coat.” That sentence completely deflated me. I guess she wanted to get up and go to the concession stand or somewhere else and couldn’t because there was a random freshman boy sitting on her coat. I must’ve sat on it sometime during the first half of the game. I promptly apologized and got off of her coat. Her and her friends left and did not come back to sit next to us the rest of the game. My friends had a good time with this little exchange they had just witnessed; I heard about it for a long time.
Although it could’ve been a lot worse, it was still plenty embarrassing. I think what made it so bad was the momentary hope that I had built up internally so quickly after she had asked for my name, which was then immediately crushed with her response. Hopefully that temporary hope wasn’t obvious on my face. Oh well.
Song of the day: “This is the Thing” by Fink. I heard this song on an episode of the TV show “Friday Night Lights” (a great show by the way; not your typical high school drama). This would be a “hanging out” song, not a “partying” song.
Monday, August 17, 2009
“You scared?” “You suicidal?” “Only in the morning.”
What’s up with the recent fascination with vampires? The Twilight series books and subsequent movies are huge right now, HBO’s True Blood is really popular, and now there is a new TV show called The Vampire Diaries scheduled to air this fall (which is based on a different teen vampire book series). I don’t see the appeal of vampires or wanting to be a vampire. Sure you can fly/jump high, but I think the negative aspects of being a vampire far outweigh the benefits. Here are just a few thoughts I had about what it would be like to be a vampire:
1) Once you get bitten by another vampire and become "undead" you’re stuck being your current age and having that look forever. I don’t know about you, but most of the people I know (and me) are rarely really happy with how they look. They either want to lose a few pounds, change their hair, get a tan, etc. Just imagine if you were bitten by a vampire right now – this is the look you’d be rockin’ for eternity.
2) What do vampires do for money? Not all of vampires can be Counts like Dracula and own a castle and be independently wealthy. You’d still have to work to pay your mortgage, transportation, and have money for vacations, etc. (I’m assuming your food bill is taken care of by sucking the blood from stray cats, dogs, etc. and the occasional homeless person if you’re ok with doing that). I guess you could use your "vampire seductiveness" to lure wealthy older ladies/men into marriage and then kill them or just outlive them. But not all vampires can be equipped with the skill sets to do this; I’m sure there are a lot of vampires that don’t have the social skills to marry into money at will. These vampires would have to work for the next 30 years to pay off their house, then I guess try to buy up land/real estate and hope that investment continues to pay off so they’re not working for the next 150 years just to get by.
3) There’s the obvious paleness that is just not pleasant. Getting a tan is something I look forward to every summer. There’s also the sunlight restriction. I love going to the pool, beach, water park etc. Most of these things aren’t open at night, and even if they are they’re not as fun.
4) No reflection in the mirror. This one is a deal breaker for me. I can’t pass a mirror without stopping to make sure I’ve got my sexy right. I can’t judge the outfit I’m wearing just by looking down at it; I need the full head-to-toe.
I get that Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson make being a vampire look sexy, but we all know that in reality most of the people who would be interested in becoming a vampire are those weird people at your work who eat lunch by themselves and quickly minimize the Internet explorer windows on their screen when you go to their desk.
Song of the day: "I Kissed a Girl" by Jill Sobule. This is not the Katy Perry song from last year; this song is from 1995. When I first heard it I thought it was Sheryl Crow (how hot would that be to have Sheryl Crow singing about kissing a girl?), but after I found out that it wasn’t her I still liked the song. It’s catchy and fun.
1) Once you get bitten by another vampire and become "undead" you’re stuck being your current age and having that look forever. I don’t know about you, but most of the people I know (and me) are rarely really happy with how they look. They either want to lose a few pounds, change their hair, get a tan, etc. Just imagine if you were bitten by a vampire right now – this is the look you’d be rockin’ for eternity.
2) What do vampires do for money? Not all of vampires can be Counts like Dracula and own a castle and be independently wealthy. You’d still have to work to pay your mortgage, transportation, and have money for vacations, etc. (I’m assuming your food bill is taken care of by sucking the blood from stray cats, dogs, etc. and the occasional homeless person if you’re ok with doing that). I guess you could use your "vampire seductiveness" to lure wealthy older ladies/men into marriage and then kill them or just outlive them. But not all vampires can be equipped with the skill sets to do this; I’m sure there are a lot of vampires that don’t have the social skills to marry into money at will. These vampires would have to work for the next 30 years to pay off their house, then I guess try to buy up land/real estate and hope that investment continues to pay off so they’re not working for the next 150 years just to get by.
3) There’s the obvious paleness that is just not pleasant. Getting a tan is something I look forward to every summer. There’s also the sunlight restriction. I love going to the pool, beach, water park etc. Most of these things aren’t open at night, and even if they are they’re not as fun.
4) No reflection in the mirror. This one is a deal breaker for me. I can’t pass a mirror without stopping to make sure I’ve got my sexy right. I can’t judge the outfit I’m wearing just by looking down at it; I need the full head-to-toe.
I get that Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson make being a vampire look sexy, but we all know that in reality most of the people who would be interested in becoming a vampire are those weird people at your work who eat lunch by themselves and quickly minimize the Internet explorer windows on their screen when you go to their desk.
Song of the day: "I Kissed a Girl" by Jill Sobule. This is not the Katy Perry song from last year; this song is from 1995. When I first heard it I thought it was Sheryl Crow (how hot would that be to have Sheryl Crow singing about kissing a girl?), but after I found out that it wasn’t her I still liked the song. It’s catchy and fun.
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