Quick Thoughts on the World of Music

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on July 7, 2007.

I love music, but any time I’ve actually contemplated it, it strikes me as an unusual thing.  When you think about it, it’s a series of sounds put together in such a way that we actually derive enjoyment from those sounds.  There is some music that truly affects your emotions.  That can be both good and bad, and it may be in the form of energy and excitement to a stirring of the soul that is hard to explain.  I find music so enlightening and unusual, that I personally view it as a proof of God’s existence. 

Our family is immersed in the musical world, which could be considered a bit unusual since neither my wife nor I pursued it in any way in our education or as a profession (other than in high school when I was sure our rock band was going to make it big.  Unfortunately, there were approximately 800,000 other bands that thought the same thing, and most were better than we were). 

Over the years, we’ve ebbed and flowed with our musical participation, practice, and utilization.  But I’ve kept you all up to date on the CD I am working on.  The music is officially done, and the master has been finalized.  We now wait for the graphic design before reproduction can take place, so hopefully in a month or so I have s finished product.   Both Wendy and I are involved in a group called “Crossroad.”  Basically, it’s a band with people mostly from our Parish, and tonight we have our annual gig at the Church festival.   It’s our chance to learn a few songs, practice, play in a band and have good time.  It’s also outside in a tent that is going to be about 100 degrees.

The music continues on with our kids.  They all enjoy listening to music.  ByTheBook is proving very proficient with the piano, and at age 11 can play a number of classical pieces by memory.  Sheesh…  I can’t do that.  She is also doing well at the violin, and also wants to learn the guitar.  SweetTooth is proving the contrapositive of the old adage “practice makes perfect,” though.  She has talent and does well when you can get her to practice, but she’s not the most motivated.  She wants to take flute.  We’ll see…

 But that notwithstanding, she can sing very well and loves music, as do the other kids.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Yes, I’m Still Here…

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on May 30, 2007,

Way back when, a few months ago, when I started a blog, I read somewhere that if you hope to establish a widely read blog you must find subjects of interest to others, find a niche, and be committed to writing every day.

Not one to follow the rules, I decided to write whatever i wanted to write about, cover nearly any subject imaginable – both on public matters and personal matters, and take extended vacations.

Now, I’m not saying I have a widely read blog.  In fact, I know by my view count that I don’t.  Apparently, my approach isn’t working. 

 Oh, well.  I guess it takes a special kind of narcissism to keep a great blog going.  This would be opposed to the kind of narcissism that starts a blog that isn’t great.  I’m not sure there’s much of a difference, unless you consider one kind of narcissism the successful kind, and the other kind some weird mental sickness that drives a person to write things that few people will ever read.

Armed with that preface, I’ll catch you up on a couple things.   You see, I do have some reasons for my laxity.  The primary reason is the CD I had mentioned in my last post.  You know, the one where I was really excited to be “done.”  Well, that post was the kiss of death.  Oh, I was done all right…  until I started listening to the master I put together. 

Maybe it’s me being overly perfectionistic for a CD project that almost nobody will ever hear, but I just didn’t like the way the vocals came out, and the music mix needed some work.  This drove me to purchase a studio compressor microphone, which in turn has driven me to re-do at least half of my vocals.  In addition, I have really spent a great deal of time mixing the music and applying all the necessary effects, and mastering each song to the desired sound.  This is no easy task.  The whole process takes hours for just one song.   You wouldn’t think it would take that long since everything’s already recorded, but it does.   For one thing, one mistake during the mix necessitates starting over.  For another, I’m only working with 16 tracks, and four effects that can get applied.  For yet another, I have found that I don’t like the sound of an entire mix with the vocals with mastering effects applied to the whole mix.  So, I’ve now been mixing the music as desired, then mixing the vocals as desired, and then doing a final mix where mastering effects are applied to the music, but not the vocals.

If all this sounds confusing, just nod your head and say, “I see.”

Anyway, the whole point is that I was NOT done.  It’s a bit frustrating, I guess, but I would rather take the time to get it as right as I can, given the time I’ve put into it.  I’d kick myself forever if I’d listen to something and know that it could have been a lot better had I just spent a couple more hours here and there.

So, tonight I finished the master mix of the tenth song.  There are five more to go.  I’m getting there.  And I’ve listened to these songs enough to believe I have them the way I want them.  There is one song I may re-mix again, but 9 out of 10 ain’t bad.

I’ve learned a ton through this whole thing.  I have learned that perseverence pays off.  I have learned that if you have some good equipment with a capable punch-in button, you can be a subpar musician in real life and sound like a professional “on tape.”   I have learned that even the songs you write, and songs you think are really cool at the beginning, you will start to hate after hearing them for the thousandth time.   I have also learned that spending 4-6 hours a day with music blasting into headphones will give you a constant ringing in your ears that you pray to God will not affect you for the rest of your life.   I have learned that it is easy to forget Who gives us our talents, and it is easy to take credit for “our” creativity.

The Project I Thought I’d Never Finish

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on May 1, 2007.

Not that millions of people out there follow my blog, but for those of you who check in every now and then, you may have been wondering why I haven’t posted lately.

 Laziness would be a reasonable guess.  It would also indicate that you know me well.  That, however, is not the reason.   Work would be another likely culprit.  And while it has been busy at work, that also is not the reason for my absence.  Thankfully, it is not health related, either.  And my dear old Dad is recovering slowly but surely from heart surgery (and he didn’t want all that many visitors anyway) so it wouldn’t have been a big deal to throw out a post here and there.   Surely, six little rugrats and family life is to blame, right?   Well, as much as I’d love to say that I am Superdad and have spent all my waking moments trying to re-create “It’s a Wonderful Life” at my house, that would be a lie.

So, what would it be that has eaten up all my free moments?

The answer, my friend, is burning right now.  Not making smoke burning.  Making a CD burning.   As I am wont to do, allow me to elaborate with the history of the project that has now come (mostly) to fruition, and of which I am – as the youngsters say -”like, totally psyched!”

About 8 years ago (yes – 8 years!) my sister, Cyndi, approached me about doing a CD.  You see, Cyndi has been a singer (a darn good one at that) for as long as I can remember, but she never really put together a professional music project.  I am a songwriter in my spare time (as if I have “spare time”) and she enjoys the music I write.  And so, after some discussion, I agreed that I would do this and she would sing vocals on the music I wrote.  We both agreed that we wished to make it a Christian CD.  However, this would not be typical “easy-listening” Christian style.  I simply don’t write that kind of music.  I go with what I like, and while I will write some toned-down material, I’m an 80s rock guy-slash-keyboard player.  Basically, there were no rules about what I was to write.  I do what I want, and it’s just our little project.  So, it’s admittedly kind of weird telling people that you have been working on a Catholic/Christian Rock CD.  But it is what it is.

 And so I began on my 6-track cassette recorder.  But obviously, a professional project requires something fancier than that.  Should we rent studio time?  That is not inexpensive.  After further discussion, Cyndi decided to purchase a Roland VS-1680 in home Studio.  This was given to me, in return for the promise of a future CD.

Well, at that time we had two children.  We now have six children.  I took an actuarial exam and passed last year, which takes a ton of time.  Between more responsibility at work, more kids, a wife, life in general, outright laziness, and any number of other things, this project went forward in fits and starts.  I’d go strong for a period of time, then things would interrupt the project, and pretty soon it would be back on the rear burner.

Well, I never let that weight fall off my shoulders.  Cyndi had purchased this Studio, and I felt an obligation to make good on my promise.  One of my issues is that I can’t help but be a perfectionist.  I spent a lot of time trying to get these things just right.  Now, keep in mind that I’m pretty much a schlub who doesn’t necessarily know what he’s doing.  It’s not as if I’ve ever produced music before on a professional basis.  And so, trying to get things perfect when you aren’t familiar with all the tricks can be difficult.  I will not claim that it all came out as perfect as a true professional’s recording, but I did what I could.  Also, I’m mainly a keyboard player.  Yet, I programmed all the drum parts, and played all the other instrument parts, including the guitar.  What do I know about drums?   Pretty much zero.  How good am I at guitar?  All I can say is “Thank God for the punch-in button.”   So, being a perfectionist and trying to accomplish all this, you may well imagine that it took me a lot of time and effort to figure out how to get this right.  And you would imagine correctly.

To make matters worse, I kept writing more songs.  I should have made this a ten song project.  It ended up being a 15 song project, and I haven’t added it all up yet, but I don’t think all the songs will fit on a single CD.  Yes, I also write some long songs.  Hey, it’s my music, I can do what I want!

Well, despite all these imperfections of mine and the hurdles I put up for myself,  I finally reached a point about two months ago where I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.  This really energized me.  And with that energy came somewhat of an obsession to finally get this thing finished.  My poor and saintly wife has endured endless hours of me at the studio recording music, mixing music, mastering music, and sending my hearing south in a hurry.

But tonight, the time has finally come.  The music is done.  I am recording a version with my vocals, and that is done.  Everything is mixed.  Everything has been mastered.  I have now started the CD burning process.  I am thoroughly excited.

Now, a couple caveats here:  Cyndi still needs to put on her vocals, and so the actual project as originally defined is NOT completed.  And once we get near the end of that, we still need to decide what the heck we’ll actually do with it, if anything.  Do we order copies and make a nice cover and try to sell it and all that stuff?  Or is it just a personal project?  A final caveat is that I am not even ready to declare my version finished until I have a chance to listen to the mastered CD and see how the EQ comes out and all that.  I may even re-mix things altogether if I feel it’s necessary.   But all that said, an initial final version is complete (if that makes any sense) and I feel a huge weight off my shoulders.  It’s now up to Cyndi to find the time to put on the vocals, which takes the pressure off me.

So, anyone who is interested in hearing some music, let me know.  I’ll figure out something so you can check it out.

Reviewing the American Idol Elite Eight

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on April 11, 2007.

So, a few more weeks have gone by since my compelling critiques of the American Idol contestants.  Since many out there are clamoring for words of wisdom on this ever-important subject, it would be a near-capital offense for me to not comply to the will of the people.  As such, the following discussion takes place as a public service to the masses: those who cannot get enough good information regarding this bastion of entertainment that we refer to simply as “Idol.”  Sorry, Billy.  Move over.

Since we last discussed this continuing television event, a few things have transpired.  Chris Sligh and Gina are gone, but most notably, Sanjaya has remained.  There has been controversy surrounding his non-departure.  Predominantly, there is a web site which will not be linked to here that encourages its followers to Vote For the Worst.  That site chooses who it considers to be the worst participant, and then tells everyone who wants to sent American Idol into obscurity and meaninglessness to vote for the worst performer.  Apparently, the web site’s owner claims to have nothing personal against AI, while at the same time telling everyone that the show is a joke that preys on the poor, innocent, helpless, participants.

Now, far be it from me to claim that AI is innocent as charged, but let’s try to interject a dose of reasonableness into this discussion.  It may well be true that the winner of American Idol will not get as good a contract as they would in the open market.  But, on the flip side, if it were not for AI, none of these people would be in any position to negotiate any kind of a contract, period.  The show discovered them and makes them stars, so it’s a little disingenuous to turn around and say that “these people are now stars, and they’re getting screwed.”  In addition, it’s not like the people who try out for the last number of seasons haven’t had plenty of opportunity to assess their willingness to get taken advantage of by the evil empire of AI.  Finally, the singers on the show are not the fault of any AI sins.  Unfortunately, they are the most immediate victims of getting booted, while someone less deserving sticks around.

And so, one must really conclude that this whole campaign is out of some kind of immature spite.  When Howard Stern jumps on your bandwagon, it doesn’t exactly lend credibility to your crusade.

Be that as it may, Vote For the Worst can do whatever they want to do.  It’s a free country.  In my opinion, if AI truly wishes to nip this in the bud, they can have a one-night change in voting where the callers vote for their least favorite.  It’s their show, they can do what they want.   On the other hand, bad publicity is better than no publicity.  So, when there is controversy, it’s good for the show.  So, I’m guessing they’ll happily keep Sanjaya around, hoping that he leaves in the final 4 or 5, after the novelty of the situation has completely run its course.

Now, all the bad pub around Sanjaya took a funny turn last night.  The kid actually did a nice job – I’d even say he was middle-of-the-pack-ish.  That being said, ridiculous past performances still indicate that he should go.  But he probably won’t.

My observation of Latin Night is that it is not conducive to determining the next American Idol.  They’ve done this in the past, and I’ve thought the same thing.  It’s a very distinct type of talent to pull off many of these kinds of songs, and it just didn’t play well with me – nor, it seemed, the judges.  I don’t necessarily fault the contestants on this one.  Let’s face it – not every good performer is great at every genre.  I can only speak from my personal non-great experience, but I think I’m a pretty capable singer/musician.  Any time in my life I’ve attempted to do Country anything my wife laughs and shakes her head, as if to say, “My poor lad.  Can’t you see that you cannot do this?   You are so cute when you try, though.”   (I added the part about being cute.)  In addition, does nobody but Melinda realize there are more than 4 songs in this genre that the females can sing?   Nothing like just stepping outside the box on the song selection with “Conga,” “Rhythm is Gonna Get You”, etc.   At least the guys did something a little different.

Melinda.   Oh, Melinda.  Am I allowed to be a little mean here?  Honestly, I don’t want to be, but I have to be honest.  This whole attempt at “sexy” just didn’t work.  Man, I hate to go here…  All right, I’ll just say it.  You are not pretty.  You can sing your hinder off, you have a boat-load of talent, you seem like a beautifully warm, nice, sincere, and loveable person.  But it was a little awkward to watch you trying to come across as “sexy.”  You’re not.  Sorry, that’s just how I see it.  That said, I love ya. 

Lakisha.  Lakisha can sing the Diva stuff and the gospel stuff without compare.  Strong, on pitch, great voice.   But I am really struggling with the personality here.  I see her as someone who has a great career ahead of her for a certain genre, but it is probably not going to be the pop-artist genre.  And despite some criticism I received in my last review, Melinda and Lakisha are very similar in style, and are strongest in the same genres.  I know what was being implied with the criticism of my opinion.  (Hint: skin color)   Sorry.  The data suggests I’m right.  They have both been strongest on the same nights and weakest on the same nights.  Coincidence?   I think not.

Chris.  I admit that I don’t get it.  Oh, there have been nights where he’s performed and I’ve said “Hey, that was pretty good.”  But he always sounds the same to me, has a weak lower register, and does this thing with his neck and head at the same time he crooks his mouth, and I just think “seizure.”  I can’t get past it.

Blake.  I was a bit slow to warm to Blake.  Part of the reason was because I thought he had a couple average performances early on where the judges nearly proclaimed him the Messiah.  I thought they were stretching things a bit, and perhaps trying to influence the audience instead of just being honest.  But lately, when everyone else is average, Blake does seem to rise to the top.  I’ve come around now and agree that he is far and away the best male performer.  Last night, I really thought he was the only one to give a completely legitimate showcase of his talent.

Jordin.  I really, really like Jordin.  She can nail it.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  Last night was probably her worst evening in a while, and I’d argue it was still the second or third best of the bunch.  And unlike Lakisha, she just has a personality that you root for.  A happy, bubbly kid who just seems to be having a great time.

Phil.   Sigh.  I like Phil.  I think he has a good voice.  But I have to admit that it’s probably getting close to his time to go.  Lately, he just hasn’t nailed much.  Now, I thought he really did great a few weeks ago on “Every Breath You Take.”  That was easily his best performance.  But the last couple weeks have been nothing special, and competition is just rising above his level.  It doesn’t help that if you painted him with make-up and took a black and white photo, he could pass for being part of the Muenster family.

Finally, we come to Haley.  I’ve read suggestions that Simon was cruel with his comment about Haley only being there because of her lack of clothes.  Sorry, I cannot agree.  Haley hardly reacted as if she disagreed.  Five (or whatever it is) weeks in a row of showing a bunch of leg means that you think you’re on to something.  Everyone watching knows what she’s up to, everyone voting for her knows why they’re voting for her, she knows it, the judges know it, and the producers know it.  Sorry, Haley, but behind Sanjaya there is no more obvious choice to leave the show based on vocal talent.

Simon as much as admitted that it’s not just a singing competition by pointing that out.  It’s more accurate for him to say that “This should be a singing competition.”  I agree with him, but the reality is that the whole package gets voted on: singing, stage presence, appearance.  In fact, he contradicts himself every time he comments on what a person is wearing (or not wearing) or a person’s dancing, or anything else that does not relate to actual singing.  I’d even put negative comments about a song arrangement in that category.

But then, he can say what he wants.  After all, he’s Simon Cow.

My Review of American Idol. Because I care.

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on March 15, 2007.

You can finally dispense with all the e-mails now.  I’m about to finally give my opinions on this year’s season of “American Idol.”   You people have been very impatient.

Before I critique the actual singers, let me put a few comments on the table.  I am a musician.  I am a singer.  I am not, and have never been in the music industry, and therefore am just an everyday clod with an opinion. 

From my admittedly limited experience on the stage, I can unequivocally state that all the people on American Idol are very good singers.   What’s that, you say?  Sanjaya is awful?   Hey, not so fast here…

You see, we all heard the auditions.  And then the judges heard everyone during Hollywood Week.  These people can sing.  However, just as a well-trained opera singer would sound awful singing a Diana Ross song, what happens is that these people with very good voices just may not be able to translate an otherwise good voice to a pop stage.   It doesn’t mean they are terrible singers, but it may mean they are terrible in that setting, in which case they are not cut out to be the American Idol.

The other reason I point this out is because the judges and us are really overly critical of generally good performances.  The nature of the show is to set the bar high, and it is what it is.  But just because not everyone is Kelly Clarkson or Fantasia or Clay or Melinda doesn’t make them terrible.  This is live performance, for crying out loud.   As a case in point, I dare you to say with a straight face that the majority of guests that they have had – generally legends in the industry – ever outperform more than a handful of the idol contestants.  They don’t.  If you were listening to Diana Ross or Kenny Rogers or Donna Summer on this show for the first time, and thought they were a contestant, you’d wonder what the judges had been smoking when they decided to put them through to the final 24.

Finally, but connected with the idea above, if anyone has ever sung on stage you will know that there are times where you can’t hear everything as perfectly as you’d like.  Whether it’s your own voice or the instruments, not hearing the right mix can send you off-key, and it can be hard to recover.

I felt that backdrop is important.  Because now I move to critiquing the contestants in the context of them competing to be a star. 

The final twelve consists of six men and six women.   Let’s be honest.  The men just don’t cut it this year, relative to the talent in the female pool.  A couple guys could make it as an artist, I think, but just don’t jump out as that one star that is head and shoulders above the others.

We’ll start with Brandon, the first of the Final Twelve to get booted.   What was he thinking?   The guy wasn’t phenomenal, but he could sing.  But nothing about the song “Can’t Hurry Love” is a good vocal choice for even the best singer.  He has himself to blame for the song choice.  Now, that said, Diana Ross music night is a disaster for any number of contestants.  I know the show has always done it, and I guess people like it, but if they are seriously trying to find America’s favorite new pop star, why are we presented to two hours of music from 30-40 years ago, in a music style that nobody listens to any more, in music styles that eight of the twelve participants would never, ever do?   It really makes no sense, but again, it is what it is.

Next to go should be Sanjaya.  OK, enough of the hula-hooping, exotic hair, and female persona.  I’m not being mean here, just honest.  It’s grating.  That all aside, he is simply not cut out for the big stage and pop performance.  He just isn’t.

I can’t figure out why Phil keeps getting beat up a bit.  Of all the guys, I put him as the best vocalist.  Maybe he just doesn’t have the appearance?  Don’t know.  I’m a guy who doesn’t typically pay attention to those things, unless it’s someone with exotic hair and earing dancing like a girl, but isn’t a girl.

Chris Sligh – good vocalist.  But it’s just goofy watching him on stage.  If I close my eyes, I’m with it.  Then I open it to see some really big guy with poofy hair singing “Endlesslove” twice as fast as it should go, and I lose the connection.

Blake – definitely cool with the whole voice-percussion talent.  And he really can sing.  Not my style, but I appreciate it.

The other Chris.   Do you guys get it?  Seriously?  I don’t.  I’ve seen seizures that appear more comfortable than his on-stage twitches, which I think are supposed to be “moves” of some sort.   And vocally – average at best.

So those are the guys.  A couple deserve to go a ways, but none deserve to be the next Idol.

As for the women, it should be a couple weeks before any are at risk, but I guess you never know.

Haley: Wendy really likes her, but I don’t see much there.  A good, nice vocalist, but if not the weakest of the bunch, she’s right there.

Stephanie: Similar to Haley.  Just not all that memorable, but a real solid singer.  Actually, all the women are really solid singers, so at this point you nitpick reasons why they should go.  Steph should go because her style is similar to 2-3 others who are better than her.  At the very least, this would bring some diversity.  In this respect, she should probably go before Haley.

Gina – OK, I’m not a big fan of dyed hair, and if my daughter ever comes home with a pierced tongue, I’m going to punch a hole in the wall.  But she can actually sing.  Not in the top tier, but of all the contestants she is closest to the music I enjoy, and she does a nice job.  It at least adds a different flavor, and she should stick around a bit longer.

Jordin – I like Jordin.  Seventeen years old and a killer voice.   It bugs me a little that she gets left out of a lot of the discussion, because in her own way she’s as good as the other two that get discussed (Lakisha and Melinda).   L and M sing in a certain genre, but truth be told, Jordin is probably the best vocalist in the actual pop genre.  She deserves to make the final three if not the final two.

Lakisha and Melinda – let’s just lump these two together.  You watch them both and they are just natural.  It comes easy.  Both are awesome.   Both are similar in style.  Lakisha probably has the bigger voice of the two, but I give the nod to Melinda for personality and stage presence in addition to that vocal.

Now, some final thoughts:  Did anyone else smell hypocrisy this week?  OK, so I wasn’t necessarily crazy about Blake’s arrangement or Chris’s arrangement of the music, but come on…   How many times have we heard comments like “You didn’t do anything to make that song your own.”   So, a couple guys decide to take a song and make it their own, and they get hammered on because they messed with classics.   Make up your mind already.  Not to mention, Chris’s review was all about the arrangement of the song, with nary a comment on the vocal.  Isn’t Simon always lamenting with the words “This is a singing competition”?  Critiquing the arrangement is fair game, but at least tell the guy what you thought about the actual performance.

Finally, a comment on the voting.  I’m a math guy, so maybe the results aren’t as big a surprise to me, but think about it for a moment, and it makes sense why the “wrong” person is voted out occasionally.   The reason is because we don’t vote anyone out.  We vote to keep people in.   I guarantee that if America were asked to vote against people instead of for people, the worst people would more consistently get booted.   Now, I’m not saying that makes more sense, because in the end the order doesn’t really matter all that much and the final three are usually who they should be.  There just may be some bumps in the road getting there.  But just keep in mind when Sanjaya stays, that it’s because he’s got a bunch of 16 year old girls voting to keep him around for some reason.  If we were asked to vote against him, all the rest of us would.  Different methods – different results.  It sorts itself out as the field dwindles.

By the way, I’m not a voter.  I think I’ve maybe felt compelled to call a couple times.  I just like to watch and critique.

Thank goodness there are enough people with enough spare time on their hands who actually care enough to vote, so I have something to keep watching.

A Tip of the Hat to the Homeschool Dancers

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on February 20, 2007.

This last Saturday evening I had the distinct honor and privelege of having presided over what could only be described as an unmitigated disaster from a technical standpoint.  But before I get into that, allow me to take this opportunity and provide a glimpse of my personal history for all my loyal fans (you know who you are, you two).

Back in the days when I had some hair and didn’t huff and puff after climbing one flight of stairs – those dandy high school and college days – I was in a rock band.  Not just any rock band, mind you.  I mean, we were gonna make it big!  As an investment in my future, I purchased some Yamaha speakers that were the size of a small oven, and weighed approximately eight tons, and we collectively purchased a power amp.  The sound wasn’t all that great, but that hardly mattered, because they were loud.  And loud is what matters when playing rock and roll (that is more important, in fact, than playing correct notes).

Well, I also collected a lot of music.  To feed my hunger for more and more music,  I started using this little system to DJ.  It was a perfect scheme.  DJ a gig, get paid, go buy a bunch of music so I can DJ more gigs, etc.  I basically netted zero, but the music was not looked at as an expense in my eyes.  It was gold (I admit to harboring an irrational attachment to my music collection).  Eventually, life forced my to cease and desist DJing, but I held on to my system.  And it may be apparent to those paying close attention that our rock band never hit the big time.  For the last few years, my speakers and amp collected dust.

Fast forward to a month or so ago, when my wife came home and told me she volunteered me to DJ a Father-Daughter dance for the homeschoolers.  Now, this is funny in and of itself.  A bunch of Moms thought it would be great to have Dads and Daughters share an evening of dancing together.   And I’m not disagreeing that it’s a nice thought.  But I don’t think the Moms understand the genetic coding of the typical American male.   Through the grapevine, I heard some of the conversations the guys had with their wives.  “I don’t know if I want to go there and sit around and talk to a bunch of guys I don’t know that well.”   (To which I responded, “I thought the idea was to spend time with your daughter.”)  Another comment was “Do I need to talk to people?”   Ah, yes.  Clearly, us men have an issue with the whole communication thing.  The funny thing is, when we’re all together, there really isn’t a problem.  It’s the whole leading up to the date and thinking about needing to say something to somebody that leaves many of us in a cold sweat.  Not to digress too much, but that’s why men consider watching a game in silence with other guys a pleasant evening, while women look at us and think that we’re being unsociable.

Well, in the end it was realized that there was some resistance to this whole Dads-only idea, and in addition a few guys had a men’s retreat that weekend.  So, it became a family affair (which turned out to be a great decision). 

Now, for those of you who don’t DJ, it may seem as simple as just playing some music.  And a DJ today purchases equipment to make life a lot easier than the old days.  A good system today could be run from data files on a couple hard drives and CDs would be ripped to files.  But since I don’t do this for a living, and haven’t done it for a long time, and since this was a volunteer activity, I had to go old-school.  My 25+ year old P.A. system was to be used with a CD player and a tape deck.  Two days of pulling and sorting and setting music (and listening to lyrics to make sure all songs were appropriate) would be done.  It is not simple, and it is very time consuming to prepare all the music – especially when you haven’t gone through your collection.  I cannot tell you the blessing that the database was that I posted about a few days ago!  Check that post out to see what I’m talking about.  (http://personaldiatribes.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/the-music-database-none-of-you-care-about/)

But then, the events which would cause much angst and heartache ensued.  My CD player froze the afternoon of the dance.  It would not play anything.   This forced me to go to Best Buy two hours before the dance started in order to buy a new one.  I was hoping for a simple, one-CD, bare bones component.  Apparently these simple items are not even worth stocking these days, because the cheapest and simplest version was a 5-CD changer, that just isn’t all that great for DJ purposes.  And it cost me twice what I wanted to spend, but I was kind of stuck, so I took it.

I arrived, and set up the equipment.  On the test run, I noticed that the music sounded “tinny.”  The woofer in one speaker was not working.   The other speaker was distorted because it was compensating for the other.  I was forced to go to one speaker.  OK, it’s a homeschool crowd, not huge…  we’ll live with it.  Or so I thought.

As testing continued,  suddenly the music cut out.   After multiple tests and different cords and switching outputs and inputs, I realized that the problem was inside the amp.  There must be a short or something.  But the show must go on.  I announced that there may be some occasional outages, and please bear with me.  Meanwhile, I’m getting upset that all my equipment seems to be dying a slow and painful death. 

Soon after that, however, every song was cutting out.  It was terrible.  Nobody could finish a dance.  It was so bad that I finally had to bring out my boom box and use that.  People were dancing around a stupid boom box, struggling to hear the music.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  

 Oh, but it doesn’t end there.  Supernatural forces were clearly at work on this night, because when I tried to play a tape in the boom box, it ate the tape.   I was now relegated to playing music on a boom box using only the CD player.  It was an absolute disaster of a night.  It couldn’t get any worse.

Except for one strange thing…  while it may have been a system and technical disaster, it wasn’t a disaster of a night at all.

God bless these fine homeschoolers.  Had all these things happened with most groups – yes, even as a volunteer – I am sure there would have been disappointment or even anger.  After all, this was to be a special night.  Everyone dressed up, the gym was decorated, people had set aside the night on their calendars, and it would have been easy to let all these mishaps bring the mood down.  (I must confess, I am a perfectionist when it comes to music – and my wife will vouch that it’s the ONLY area where I am a perfectionist – and I was angry and frustrated throughout the night)

These wonderful people not only continued to dance and have a good time, whether it was music from the P.A. or from a simple boom box, but they even made me have a good time despite everything that was going wrong.  Instead of complaining about my failed equipment, they thanked me profusely for the effort and for providing the music.  With this crowd,  the glass was seven-eighths full instead of two-thirds empty.  

I can only speak regarding our homeschool group, but I have been in a number of social circles, and I can tell you that these are special people.  These are Catholic homeschoolers (and I should not fail to mention other wonderful friends who are not homeschoolers that had the invitation extended to them as well) and they are teaching their kids the faith, scholastics, and providing a daily example of how to live as a child of God on a daily basis.  They are an inspiration, and I value their friendships. 

They put me in such good spirits that when my tape-case zipper broke at the end of the evening as I was putting my equipment away, I was forced to laugh.  It was a fitting end to a memorable night.

To any and all of you who were there, a big Shout Out from me to you.  We are motivated by your example in our own homeschooling and child-rearing efforts.  And to those others out there who are also homeschooling and trying to live and grow in your faith, bless you in your efforts!   And to those who are not homeschooling, but find it important to raise children in a way that is contrary to a culture that says it’s all about self, then God bless you as well, and may you be successful in battling all these influences around us.

As a final note, this evening brought the end of an era.  The speakers and amp have been permanently relieved of their duties.  I donated them to a local music store in town.  I feel like I just donated a kidney, but that soon shall pass.  At least that’s what my therapist says. 

For more information on our trials and tribulations as homeschool parents, check out my wife’s blog at www.thebluehouse.wordpress.com.   You can also see our wonderful family at that site: http://thebluehouse.wordpress.com/our-family/.

The Music Database None of You Care About

Originally posted at http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on February 9, 2007.

It is entirely possible that nobody will care about this post. This may be an example of me just having a journal entry. Despite this fact, I will nonetheless forge ahead and attempt to break new ground in the blogging world by announcing the completion of my music database. Whoa! Hey! Settle down a little bit. Relax.

Allow me to recap the history here, which should give you some insight into why I’m an actuary. I’ve been known to have a certain desire for organization on certain things. Mind you, this is not an attribute that apply across the board. For example, if I have a pile of clothes in my closet, I can live with that. For three years now, our bathroom has had paint peeling on the walls. I’ll get to that someday. But when it comes to other extremely important things, it drives me crazy to have a lack of order. One such thing is my music collection. And so it has been since my youth.

I love music, and I started collecting it back in Junior High. My first tapes (CDs did not exist) were from 6th or 7th grade, I would guess. I used to tape songs off the Weekly Top 40 with Casey Kasem every week. Those were the days! Anyway, I never would get rid of any of the songs, just buy more tapes. Eventually I started expanding to LPs and the such, and before you knew it, I couldn’t keep track of what songs were on what tapes. More importantly, it was a pain in the proverbial neck to try and continually re-alphabetize everything. And so, in my pre-teen ingenuity, I developed a record-keeping system. Amazingly, this system would serve me for over 20 years, through my high school, college, and DJ years.

Here is that system: Assign every tape a number. This is the Tape ID Number. Write it on the tape. In a notebook, in numerical order, write down individual songs on the tape if it was a variety of songs. If an LP was on the tape, simply record the name of the LP. In a separate notebook, assign each LP a numerical ID. Write the names of each song for each LP in the notebook, along with a cross-reference of the tape number on which you can find the LP. Finally, in an index-card holder, by alphabetical order according to artist, list any LP owned by that artist along with the LP ID number.

For something developed as a youngster, it worked pretty well, although whenever I tried to describe to someone what I was doing when I was trying to locate a song, they thought it sounded too complex, and that I needed to get a life. Keep in mind that computers did not exist in those early years.

Well, there was one great drawback to the method. When I wanted to find some random song, it was difficult to do in the event that it appeared on a soundtrack or variety LP, or if I wasn’t sure of the name of the artist. This would sometimes happen with DJ requests when someone would request a song. I had so much stuff that I had no idea if I really owned it. Even if I did know I had it, but wasn’t sure which album it was on, I’d have to check under multiple LP ID song listings to find it.

Well, a few years ago, I decided the time had come to create a music database. Every song would be typed into an Excel Spreadsheet (with its own song ID, of course), and I would immediately be able to find it through sorting, or searching for it. The database has, with each song, the location of any tape or CD (both of which have an identifying number) as well as the name of the LP it is found on, the artist, etc. This may not seem like a huge deal, but here are the numbers: 1700 cassettes, nearly 600 CDs, and almost 19,000 unique songs later, I am done! Woo hoo! This pinnacle of accomplishment occurred 3 days ago.

Two nights ago, ByTheBook wanted to listen to Fur Elise, because she is learning to play it on the piano. I went to the database, hit CTRL-F, typed in “Fur Elise” and in microseconds had the information I needed: Location on tape #951. With a victorious cry, I screamed, “Look at the time this saves me!” (This ignores the countless hours spent typing in all the information, but please just let me have my perceived victory, OK?)

And so, one major project ends. From now on, of course, any new CDs will need to make their way into the database, but that is not a major ordeal – certainly no more difficult than entering the information in two notebooks and on an index card. I feel a major sense of accomplishment, but there is also this lingering question bouncing around in my head. “How am I going to waste countless hours now that the database is complete?”

I’m sure I’ll come up with something.