First Impressions?

Ron:

“They are who we thought they were!”

Sound familiar NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals? Those words were infamously spoken by your former head coach but it certainly doesn’t apply to this 2008 team. I mean, you lose four of the last six regular season games and finish 9-7. OK. So where did this post season defensive effort come from? Larry Fitzgerald... five post season touchdowns? Seriously? You guys will have your hands full with the Steelers in the Super Bowl but please….don’t “let them off the hook!”


Kurt Warner - divine intervention?


I guess the same could be said for me and my music. Perception can be everything.

Locally, I’m perceived as an acoustic artist. I’ve been playing solo acoustic gigs around Jacksonville since 2002 so it seems natural. Mostly it was out of necessity. I went a long time without playing in a band and solo gigs were easy enough to come by.

However as a musician, I have a wide range of musical interests…. sounds, style and instrumentation. For 2009, I’m conscientiously moving away from that sound in my original music recordings, to bring out a more hard rock sound for people to sample. I hope to develop that sound in a new song I’m currently working on. The song is being built in stages. Over the next few blogs, I will attempt to explain the process of writing and recording this song.

I started with a chord progression that I’ve had lying around for about four years now. It was originally inspired by the song “Lady Picture Show” by Stone Temple Pilots, if you know the song.

Here are the different sections of the song:

1st section:
D / A/C# / G/B / A7

2nd section:
F# / G / D/ A

3rd section:
G/B / A/C# / D / G

4TH section:
C / D / C / G / D



That’s the framework I’m building the song from. I’ve titled them “sections” because lyrically, I’m not sure what will be a verse and what will be a chorus. Digital technology allows me the option to move sections around on the fly. I’m building drums tracks right now, working mostly from what I hear in my head. I have a general idea of where the different rhythm accents are in each section. Once I’ve built “skeleton” drum tracks, I can start tracking the guitars. I have the ability to go back and tweak each drum track later depending on how the song develops.



Game over Washington.


Regardless of political affiliation, there’s no denying history when it knocks on your door. That is what our nation is living today with the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

History. Change. Can you believe we’re going to have a black president?

It hasn’t really struck me that he’ll be the first not because I haven’t thought of the weight and significance of the event but mostly because his race is less of an issue to me than whether he can deliver on his promise of change.

In the end, will it really matter what color he is if he can’t turn our economy around? This is a proud moment in our nation’s history, don't get me wrong. The past two days have been a celebration… from King to Obama; from “The Dream” to reality. We've come a long way and today we celebrate.

As a person of color (mostly brown), I’ve been privileged to have had close relationships with both Caucasians, African Americans and everything in between. I guess I don't perceive race as sensitively as maybe some do. For that, I am fortunate for my life’s experiences. I guess it’s a reflection of my life as a Filipino American.


"Help us Barack Obama. You're our only hope."