Untitled Finale

            Yeah, it’s a cheesy title, but we have made it this far.  This semester has been an eye opener for me with this English course.  I have always been “that guy” in class, the guy who doesn’t need to pay attention to lectures and never studies but still coasts by earning a B.  But with this class I actually needed to open my book and pay attention.  At first, I thought this was just a giant nuisance, especially with all the work that was required, but as the semester rolled on, I found that the work was not overbearing in nature; there is just a lot of work to be done in this class. 

            With the proper time management that I was able to figure out a few weeks in, the work became doable.  And with the work that we did for the course came a sense of community with the other students as well as with Jennifer.  We were instructed to comment on blogs and work together in groups on projects and correcting essays; and this brought a sense of community in the class that rivals and even surpasses “in class” classes at the college.  The comments that were posted on the blogs were interesting.  I never thought that people would actually want to read my rants on the topics at hand, but it turns out that many of the fellow students agreed with my opinions. 

            As I mentioned last week, I was never big on the self-confidence in my academic writing.  But with all the positive feedback that I have received this semester with my blogs, essays, and group discussions, my confidence level has gone way up (falling somewhere just below overly-confident and cocky).  I have learned that the weary felling that I feel as I write my essays and blogs does not show through to the reader, and the way that I present myself is actually confident with a strong view on many of the topics.

            I have grown to like a few of my fellow students in an academic way.  Many of them are in the same boat that I am; trying to get through the Associate’s Program here at AVC and possibly carrying on and continuing towards a Bachelor’s Degree in the future.  Some of them seemed to have a firm understanding of how an online class normally works, but there were a few that had to learn on the fly.  Fortunately, the students that have done this before were more than willing to help answer any tech questions relating to the layout of the course.

            Some of the members of the class were able to show me some things about the music that I did not know before, and seeing different perspectives on a song or artist that I am already familiar with is always a good thing.  With so much information being crammed in such a small window of time (which is normal for college courses), it was nice to be able to work together with other people and collaborate on the discussions and forums; get a new idea on an old topic.  If the rest of my online classes were set up like this course, that would be fine by me.  To all my fellow classmates for English 101- Congratulations, we made it to the other side!

PS- For all of those who wonder where I get my blog titles from, they are all song titles from my iTunes library.  Most of them are even good songs.

Listen, Do You Smell Something?

    

            My English 101 class with Prof. Gross has let me expand my writing skills exponentially.  I have always felt that I was a weak writer in the academic world, but that has changed over the past 15 weeks.  I now know that I can write a purposeful, intriguing essay with only minor hurdles in my way.  I realize now that my writing has always been strong; I just was never able to realize it because I was always a shy writer that was not confident. 

            The single largest influence in my writing style would have to be the group work.  Everything that we students did in groups helped me realize my potential, from the Peer draft Reviews of our essays to the comic strip group projects; the groups allowed us students to collectively examine the work and brainstorm ideas together.  It also helped that the groups that I was a part of were filled with like-minded students who focused on the end result.  We wouldn’t attack each other for ideas that seemed different from our own, but rather request an explanation on the idea, and usually this would present a new point of view that could add a little diversity from the norm.  The groups were also a big part of the essay writing process with the Draft Reviews.  There was no tolerance for flaming or mindless destruction of character, but rather constructive criticism that usually led to better flowing papers and stronger evidence presentation.

            The discussion forums were an open community that felt like a discussion that was in class.  While this may not have been a place to really improve writing style, it was a challenge for me to write my thoughts on the topic without sounding too conversational.  The forums helped me develop a writing style that was casual enough to use with friends or colleagues but not too informal to where the reader brushes the message off as immature.  

            The best part of the course would have to be the blogs.  Blogging allowed me to vent my thoughts on a number of topics that I would normally bite my tongue on in class.  I have always enjoyed speaking my mind on a topic that I felt strongly about, but I never like to step on people’s toes; the blogs allowed me to openly vent about the topic and not have to worry about offending someone in class.  The blogs took me back to an old friendship that I had where I would get into political arguments with a friend for the fun of it.  We would never attack the other person; rather focus on the argument at hand.  Although the blog is a little different setup than a one on one debate, the same principles held true to me.  I was able to use my blog as a place to fight for my position on the topic and gave readers the chance to challenge my view on the topic.  In the end I feel that my writing has improved drastically and my confidence has shot through the roof, but not in an overly cocky way.

The Theft

            Sampling is used by just about every artist out there nowadays.  Basically, sampling is the use of another artist’s work in a song.  Sampling can either be a good thing or a bad thing, dependent on the amount of sampling done, and if it is done in a tasteful manner.  There are some songs that use sampling that I think are passable as decent, such as Eminem’s “No Love,” but the overall list of songs that I enjoy that use sampling is fairly limited. 
            I am not against sampling by any means, but I do feel that it does have a tendency to take away from the overall creativity of the artist in question.  There are many bands that use sound clips from other mediums such as television and film in songs, but I would not call that true sampling.  The band Dr. Acula uses bits from the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, A Day to Remember uses “fight” from mortal combat, but I would not classify either case as “sampling,” but rather just using a sound bite from another source.  The line between sampling and creative use can become blurry though, and it often takes a keen ear to hear the difference.  The way I see it is if the sound bite is used repeatedly throughout the song, then it is a sample, but if it is used once, then I see it as no harm, no foul. 

            Sampling almost seems to be a last resort (or at least it should be) to get something interesting into a song that otherwise is lacking.  I am all for new music and originality, but if there is a band playing at a local show, and they need to have an iPod ready with a sound clip, or have a laptop on stage to play a backing track, then I will likely not give them any time.  It pains me to say that, as I am a huge believer in supporting the up and coming bands that are in the local areas and scenes, but they have to be original.  The band that I am in currently is trying to decide a song that we should cover in order to get the crowd motivated to listen to us, play something familiar; but that doesn’t mean that we are willing to use sound clips from the original song and simply play our instruments over them.  We want to do our own spin on the song, while keeping it recognizable enough to be known what song it is.

            After writing this blog, I can say that I have somewhat changed my view on sampling.  In the beginning, I thought it wasn’t that bad of a thing overall, but after getting all my thoughts out here onto the great black abyss that is the web, I can see that I feel differently about the topic now.  I now realize that I feel strongly that sampling music is a show of lack of talent and desire to come up with something original and creative.  I still feel that I am open to new types of music and new bands, but if the band has some sampling in there that is fairly strong, then they have their work cut out for them to win my affection and support.  
Support local music!

It's Complicated

           With the looming Research Paper that is due in only a few short weeks, I am really starting to feel the pressure.  I have an idea of what I want to discuss in the paper, I just don’t really know where to begin.  I am still tripping over the thesis statement for crying out loud!  Realistically though, as soon as I can get that one statement done, the rest should go pretty smoothly from here on out.  I realize that the main idea behind a research paper is to uncover new ground, perhaps about a topic that you may already be familiar with, and this one should do just that.

Now, without a working thesis, I am in a way stuck with nothing to write, but I am slowly working out that kink.  I know I am going to discuss the relationship between the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and the song “Let Me Put My Love into You,” by the rock group AC/DC from the Back in Black album.  The PMRC built a strong case against the song in the nature of the lyrics, and how the lyrics are taken as offensive and explicitly sexual.  But at the same time, there is another point of view that can be taken with the song, one of sharing a passion with another person.  It seems like I spend a majority of time on the computer, so with the research that is needed for the topic, I can finally put my time to good use instead of mindlessly scanning face book and you tube.

I have written a few research papers in the past, so the research is not intimidating to me, nor is the actual writing of the essay.  I have always had a difficult time focusing my thoughts on paper though; I have a tendency to wander of in an unintended direction.  The hardest part of the academic writing is going to be staying on point.  This may be caused by the fact that I never really liked to write an outline for any work.  It seems as though with the weeks ahead, we will be compiling all the research, citing sources, crafting outlines, and building up slowly to the full paper, so that will help.  Maybe that could help me with staying on topic as well.  If I have a layout of where I need to go with my argument, and a set structure for the paper, then there will be fewer chances me to drift off into oblivion, losing my readers in the process. 

In the past I have had to rely on friends and family when it came to daunting English assignments, and I may have to do that again this semester with this paper.  I am always very careful with how I word things (that may come from customer interactions at work) to get the point across without being offensive.  In past argumentative papers, I have been told that my point is not pressed hard enough, although the points that I state are strong and easily accepted as valid, there is not a strong enough push to have the reader side with me on the topic.  I hope to get past that weakness with this essay, I want everyone to agree with me, because frankly, I am right.

Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates

Internet piracy in the music business is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen.  It is happening every day, but there is nothing that anyone can do about it.  Piracy is the unlawful taking of ideas (music, art, theses, etc.) without proper compensation.  In the music world, it is usually illegally downloading of the songs or albums.  I am all for the digitizing of music, I love my iPod, but I am not for the blatant theft of music.

Musicians put heart and soul into the songs that they create.  Sure, they may have chosen music as their career, but that doesn’t mean that they should all be working for free.  Most artists already don’t have any sort of insurance (health, dental, vision, or life), so why would we want to take away from the small amount of income that they do earn by selling records?  There are arguments that the album sales are not the main source of income for the bands, but they are still a product that has costs.  For instance, on a very low budget record, there is the studio costs (usually about $1000- 3000), the production costs (about $1000 for very low budget pressings) and the marketing (anywhere from free to a few thousand).  If the album can be sold for $5 per copy, then there are at least 800 copies to break even.  Keep in mind that these figures are estimates for small local groups; the numbers for national or well-known acts can jump even higher.

The only good that comes from piracy is the fact that it gets the music out to crowds that maybe can’t afford the albums, or just people that are cheap.  Some say that this can bring fans to the concerts and create revenue for the bands.  But one has to realize that the people that are stealing the music probably won’t want to pay to go to a concert or buy merchandise, so I feel that is a dead point.  Theft of music does nothing productive or helpful for the music industry.

The stealing of music hurts the bands in other ways as well.  Record sales can indicate to labels and promoters the profitability of the groups.  If everyone is downloading the album rather than buying it from a store or online vendor, then the sales may show only 20,000 fans instead of the actual millions.  If the promoters only see that there are 20,000 nationwide fans, then there is not going to be any support for a concert tour, which then takes away from the ticket sales profit and the merchandise profit.  Downloading ruins the profitability of the bands in all three categories- sales, tours, and merchandise.

The only thing that I ask of you, my reader, is to think about this the next time you are about to download a song or album online.  A single fan cannot make a difference, but if you can relay the message to two friends, and they pass it on, and so on, then there can be a difference that can be seen.  Go spend the $9.99 to buy the album, go to your local tour date, buy a T-shirt, and support the music and the bands that you enjoy listening to.  Your $10 lets the band know that there are still fans out there, and they will stay motivated to write, and tour and love you back.  Just about everyone wants to have fans, for the fans are what drive the musicians to keep putting themselves out there.

Island in the Sun

            In the show Survivor, the game is played to see who can outsmart and outlast everyone the longest.  To be successful, the player either needs to be the absolute best and win every challenge and gain immunity each round or sit back and not say too much and hopefully slip under the radar of the other players.  Is someone is seen as too strong, but fails to win the immunity challenges; it is possible that person will be voted off the island and out of the running for the million dollar prize.  This is probably the shortest way to summarize the show Survivor, but it is simply to be familiar with the idea of the show that dominates prime time television.

            There is so much appeal to this show because of the simplicity behind it.  The cast is packed full of everyday people from all walks of life that come to compete for a $1M grand prize.  This season alone there is an ex-CIA agent, two ex-football players, a girl from Acton, CA, and a farmer.  This eccentric cast proves that anyone can land a spot on the show and win 15 minutes of fame; all someone needs to do is submit an audition tape and hope to get picked.  The challenges for immunity from being voted off the island are simple enough that the viewer at home sees the challenges as something that he or she could do (usually better than the players) but tricky enough to actually be a challenge and create entertaining television.

            The venue for the show changes each season, but the one thing that is held constant is the fact that the competition is held on an island.  This is most likely due to the fact that viewers (males) would like to watch the female contestants run around in bikinis rather than parkas and hoodies if the show was filmed in a colder climate.  The location of each season is selected carefully to make sure that there are places to make adequate shelter for both the contestants and the crew, food is somewhat plentiful, usually fish and small game, and there aren’t too many natural or native dangers waiting to overtake the people involved in the show.

            Americans love to watch the show because of the challenges for immunity, the locations, and the drama, for some reason, we love drama.  The challenges are interesting to watch, as there are usually multiple plans of attack that would work to complete the task, but it is interesting to watch the different ways contestants play the game.  The locations, as I have mentioned before, are beautiful, the beaches, the wildlife, the natural beauty of the whole thing can be breathtaking.  And then there is the drama.  This season alone there have been attacks on intelligence, and physical capabilities, and non-racist remarks taken as racist.  None of this talk and drama is off-limits though, as it is part of the game; it’s even right in the slogan of the series: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, this is Survivor.

Cross Town Traffic

            Crossover appeal can mean a number of different things when it comes to music.  It can stem from the style of music that is played to the race of the fans, black and the white, red and the brown, the purple and yellow.  In this blog I will be discussing how the actually style or genre of the music that is played by an artist can open up more fans to the artist.  Clapton is probably one of the most well respected guitarists of our era, if not ever.  He is able to play everything from blues, to rock, to country and does it all so effortlessly.

            The original fans of Eric Clapton will remember that he was originally the guitarist for the group the Yardbirds.  This single group started the careers of guitar greats Jimmy Page (future guitarist of Led Zeppelin) and Jeff Beck.  This was a very early version of rock and roll, mostly based on blues riffs that took over Europe and trickled over to America.  A popular song that you may know from this group would be “For Your Love.”  This was a big hit for the group that got the name out there.

            Then came the Cream years, with a little more blues, which was Clapton’s idea as he left the Yardbirds due to the creative differences.  Some of the songs that became hits for the group were “Crossroads,” “I Feel Free,” and “The White Room.”  I have yet to meet anyone that listens to music that has not heard at least one of these songs, even if he or she cannot name the song, the song is familiar.  Something to keep in mind however is the fact that “Crossroads” is not a Cream original, it is actually a re-imagining based of the song “Crossroad Blues” by Robert Johnson, first recorded in the late 1930s.  So far, Clapton has acquired fans based on the Pop section of music with the Yardbirds, and the immense Blues fan base from Cream, but there is still a whole other section of his musical career.

            This brings us to the solo department of Clapton.  This time brought us hits like “Layla” and the “country-inspired” song of “Lay down Sally.”  This time, Clapton had hung up Blackie (his favorite Fender Stratocaster electric guitar) for a bit of time, and start strumming on the acoustic.  This single step allowed him to write songs with more feeling, and a more intimate approach that connects the writer and the listener with a lack of cables and amplifiers; it is just the singer, the guitar, and the listener.  This may be the style that most people today know of Clapton without really looking into his musical career, which would be a grand mistake.

            With all the different styles of music that Mr. Clapton has played throughout his life, he has been able to rally fans of blues, popular music, country, and good ole acoustic genres.  But the thing to remember is that Clapton did not simply move on from one style to the other, he continued writing and playing songs in all the genres, and this is what has given him the crossover power of drawing a fan base from all walks of life with all types of musical preferences.