Veni, Vidi, Dormivi

2010-09-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Everything is just a big distraction from what you love.

2010-09-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

If you were cool in high school
you didn't ask too many questions.
You could tell who'd been to last night's
big metal concert by the new t-shirts in the hallway.
You didn't have to ask
and that's what cool was:
the ability to deduct
to know without asking.
And the pressure to simulate coolness
means not asking when you don't know,
which is why kids grow ever more stupid.

A yearbook's endpages, filled with promises
to stay in touch, stand as proof of the uselessness
of a teenager's promise. Not like I'm dying
for a letter from the class stoner
ten years on but...

Do you remember the way the girls
would call out "love you!"
conveniently leaving out the "I"
as if they didn't want to commit
to their own declarations.

I agree that the "I" is a pretty heavy concept
and hope you won't get uncomfortable
if I should go into some deeper stuff here.

2010-08-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

This song is best listened to at 1:30 AM in complete darkness with headphones.

2010-08-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

I recorded a song. Just a simple vocal/guitar/harmonica folky arrangement. I've listened to it about 10 times back to back just before writing this post, wondering if I actually want someone to actually listen to it. There are parts where I feel like words are pronounced in the most stupid and weird ways (ie: "Missouri to New Yawrk"). Maybe it's just an inherent problem with songwriters, but I've always been pretty self-conscious about showing my work to others, let alone singing in public or showing someone else a recording of my own voice. That's probably why I'm putting it on this obscure little blog of mine, because I'm sure no one really reads this thing :)

I also want to get some recordings together to send to the local indie station, KDHX. I have nothing to lose. Maybe I'm so eager to do it because I know that, if i ever get any feedback, it can only be positive. Otherwise they just wouldn't respond, I guess. If I send anything in I'd need to get an album cover for everything and burn it to a disk. I have no idea what I'd do for a cover. I have some artistically inclined friends who I might ask to make something. I might try to do something with the header image of the rainbow sheep eating a mushroom.

Now, for the music:

Think of Me

Aw, heck. I'll post the link to the other song. I'm extremely happy with the instrumental arrangement, but I wanna redo the vocals. I sound so bored and flat, methinks. I shudder when I listen to this recording because of the vocals.

Steel Strings

And I'm considering calling the album "Stolen Strings." It was the original title for "Steel Strings" because I felt like I stole the acoustic guitar picking style and the slide guitar idea from Pink Floyd's "A Pillow of Winds."

Radical Face

2010-07-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

I broke out Ghost, my newest Radical Face album again. I just need to get this off my chest: this album is the greatest audible piece of artwork since Radiohead's Kid A. I just need to put this out here.

2010-07-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm working on another song. It's very heavily inspired by Devendra Banhart's "Lover." I have no idea how it's exactly going to end up or what I'm going to call it, but I might show it to some friends and see what they think. I might be able to record the entire thing on my own in my little studio; all I need to do is borrow a tambourine and a my friend's bass. I'm always so dissatisfied with my lyrics. Everything comes out looking so amateurish to me. Sometimes I wonder if I should just leave songwriting for when I get to college and on, and just focus on developing my technique for now. It amazes me how obscure and spontaneous people like Devendra Banhart can be with their lyrics while keeping such a perfect flow.

I've been a-waiting here

For another day or year

For when I won't need to say

That I know who I am, and that's ok

And I know that I don't cost too much

And with everything I see I think I think too much

I think I think I think and then It's always the same

Another day is lost, and that's ok

Hold on, and show yourself

I want to see you smile and nothing else

There's no question. I am going to get this bass soon. It seems absolutely perfect. Danelectros have always looked so odd and awesome to me:

Danelectro Dead on 58 Longhorn Bass

One of these days, these days will end

2010-07-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

I would love to find someone else who can appreciate this song. Everything about it; the vocals, the chords, the lyrics...it's all perfect to me. I was reading about the singer/songwriter's relationship with his father, Richard Berman, who is apparently the food and alcohol industry's weapon of mass destruction, dedicating his entire being to telling the world that obesity and tobacco is not damaging to health. The singer in that song decided to dedicate himself to music and poetry, attempting to fill the world with beauty and art in the wake of destruction left by his father. He has recently retired from music to move to film, with his reasoning being that he would never be able to dent the evil spread by his father; and because of this he feels too ashamed to continue a career in music.

It's an interesting and almost heartbreaking story. He called his father "evil", a "human molestor", an "exploiter", a "scoundrel" and "a world historical motherfucking son of a bitch." He concluded this rant with saying "I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage."

I took a look at David Berman's (the son) poetry. I loved Self-Portrait at 28.

2010-06-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

I just love this crazy bastard.

2010-06-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I went through and wrote down all of the upcoming albums that look promising.

June 15

We Are Scientists- Barbara

June 29

STS9- Love King

July 13

Sting- Symphonicity

August 3

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

August 24

Eels- Tomorrow Morning

TBA

Belle & Sebastian

Fleet Foxes

REM

Rush

The Shins

Neil Young

More than anything, I'm most anxious for the Eels and Arcade Fire albums. I admit it, I'm a sucker for anything Indie. Maybe I'll give them a listen and review them once they come out.

Something that caught my eye in the TBA section was the arrival of the upcoming Rush album. I have been extremely disappointed with their recent releases. For some absurd reason, the trio has decided to move away from their trademark originality of 10-15 minute epics like "Xanadu" and "2112," the Alex Lifeson-style riffs and unorthodox solos, and the instrumental expressions of technical perfection as in "YYZ" for more radio-friendly 5 minute productions of "Working Them Angels" and "Far Cry."

Seriously, this to this? What are you thinking, Geddy?

Roll Bus Roll

2010-06-06T11:47:00.001-07:00

Holy shite, this is just mind-blowing. I should start reviewing albums or something.

2010-05-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Yay! All of the electronics (Texas Special pickups and all of the other hardware) have arrive. The next big step is to solder everything together, a step that will probably require the assistance of some more tech-savvy friends of mine. I hope to put all of the images I've taken together in the end in an instructables post or something.

Confessions

2010-05-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

That's right, I finally built the courage to put lyrics I wrote on the internet. Keep in mind that simply reading the lyrics without any knowledge as to the tempo or melody tends to give the wrong idea about how the song is supposed to be heard. I'm pretty curious to see how people react to it without having heard the tune. It was one of those songwriting cases in which the words came to me about some obscure situation, one that I have yet to realize what it is about and how it might relate to me. The words are in that odd format 'cause I pressed "enter" according to the chord change.

When you

think about me

do you

Think you want to leave

from Missouri to New York

Where I hope that we'll feel free

Do you

think about me

When you

Want to feel free

I can't blame you if you dont

But if not me then please you'll see, dont forget me

I know

There hasnt been much said

And I worry

about what lies ahead

And I admit it always

looked so right in my head

Sometimes

I feel my head explode

And it falls

And gets left on the road

And I can feel my life erode

To the bone

Dont forget

The good times we never had

The days are longer

And so are the nights but I'm still sad

They say

The end is a beginning

But I think

It's all the same wheel spinning

I guess the song I wrote is similar to this in the fact that it is a simple finger-picking acoustic- guitar-con-harmonica arrangement.

2010-05-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

[Yeah, that cat image was supposed to be a hilarious GIF that didn't work out and I can't delete it. Just ignore it :) ]

I finished painting the guitar and applying the varnish, so now it looks all vibrant and sexy. I'm extremely anxious to see it develop further. Tuesdays suck. It is not only the time when you realize that you still have 3 more days of school until the weekend, but it's also the hardest day for me to stay awake through the entire day. I can't say why, but Monday nights are always the hardest nights for me to fall asleep. Tuesdays are almost as bad as Sundays. At least I have my guitar lessons on Tuesdays. I also need to ask someone to prom. Having social anxiety disorder, this won't be easy. We'll see. I'm going to a wedding this weekend. One of my cousins that I absolutely never see, and don't currently know the name of, is apparently getting married. It'll be me, my family, and Memphis for the weekend, with only my ipod for comfort.

Also, I am getting close to having enough courage to get some of my original songs (that require singing) on the internet.

My posts are becoming very disorganized trains of thought. I'm surprised I didn't throw "My mother is a fish" in there somewhere.

Baww

2010-05-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days spent exclusively at my house. Most of the day was used painting the guitar, as of now I just need to sand it down to get that Pollock-esque look (I don't want to explain why sanding is necessary; when I post the pictures it will be obvious).

I don't have much to say, so here are some pictures:

I didn't think these would be so depressing. Sorry! Here's a happy song with an awesome video to make up for the pictures:

Sigur Ros: Hoppipolla

2010-04-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight I worked more on the pick guard. I think it's going to look perfect. This whole guitar project is really making me anxious. I also had band practice with some friends, and after an hour of playing we decided to go hang out at the guitar store, all carpooling in one car while leaving all of our other cars and our instruments/equipment at the house we practiced at. While at said store, a freak hurricane of a storm hit the area, most severely damaging the exact area of the house we practiced at, almost deliberately knocking down trees on the street right before and after the house, forcing the police to completely block out the entire street, leaving not only my car at the house but all of my guitars and my amplifier locked away. The kid who lived at the house can't even go into his house. Midwest weather just sucks.

Also, these lyrics came to me recently. Let's wait and see how the rest of it turns out:

My life is a flowing stream
An incandescent glowing dream
Of innocence and poverty
And everything that's in between

2010-04-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

I finished sanding the guitar completely. Now I'm working on painting the pick-guard and body.

I have this floral design I wanna work on for the pick-guard. I scratched it up with sandpaper and drew it on, now the hard part is getting the airbrush frisket to cooperate. I'm also working with some "test" blocks of wood to perfect the painting technique. It seems like it's extremely easy to botch. I'm so anxious to see how the whole thing turns out! I also decided on getting some Texas Special pickups to install. I'm also looking for a nice and cheap laminated maple neck. I'm shooting for the perfect blues guitar.

Also I was the first comment on a Zach Braff photo. I felt badass.

Lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy

2010-04-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

I still think that there should be a law requiring everyone to listen to the 59th Street Bridge Song once every day.

2010-04-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is one of the better songs I've ever heard. I love that specific video because of the energy at 2:45, and the comments people have left on it are great.

I feel like such a hippy when I use words like "energy." But I can't really find any other word to associate to the feel and emotion they put into that performance. Dylan's performance of Like a Rolling Stone after the infamous "Judas" comment has the same ambiance.

"Play it fucking loud!"

2010-04-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sheet music for Yes's album Fragile came in the mail. I ordered it for the song "Mood for a Day" as I hope to perform it (along with "Clap," also by Yes, or "Since I've Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin) for the Berklee audition. Right now the whole experience terrifies me.

I also completed my writing of two songs, both being folky guitar-and-harmonica arrangements that I might try to record soon or tape for youtube. I really hope to get together 7 songs or so I've written and make an "album" to send to people. I'm trying to collaborate with a keyboardist/bassist friend who I've known since early grade school to put all of my ideas into real recordings. Summer, you cannot come fast enough.

In other news, I was very recently introduced to a musician named Sufjan Stevens. His song "Chicago" is equally as awesome as this.

Sanding, sanding, sanding

2010-04-17T16:06:00.001-07:00

I spent a complete three and a half hours today sanding. That's right, I finally convinced myself to start working on my guitar project again. I took the time to become acquainted with my new Jens Lekman CD and worry about how the next few months (and years) will turn out. I hope to work again on sanding (I just need to finish the sides) this Friday and painting on Saturday.

Photos here, here, and here

Yesterday my day was spent at the Loop. It began at my service project which involves assisting a third grade teacher in teaching about 15 kids who are all below the poverty line. It sounds good, except for the fact each child is absolutely demonic. I confiscated three notes with each being a colorful arrangement of words including "fuck," "bitch," and "slut," spent a good half hour chasing three boys around the school because they escaped from class, and broke up a single fight. Afterwards I went to see the movie Greenberg and immediately after to see a free Jailbox concert at Vintage Vinyl (greatest store ever) with some friends. I also saw a five neck guitar. Awesome.

Beautiful.

Look out, look ah-ha-ha-ha-out

2010-04-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to refrain from posting so much, but I really can't help myself.

I just love the atmosphere that comes with the whole folk-punk experience: an intimate concert in which the audience is apart of the performance in screaming incredibly honest lyrics from the bottom of their candid and intoxicated hearts. I can't imagine how anyone can listen to the mainstream music that so strongly insists on supporting materialism and hollow relationships.

Be kind to those you love

And be kind to those you don't

But for God's sake you gotta be kind

And respectful because we're all one soul

Be the best fucking human that you can be

How to Write a Folk Song

2010-04-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Original Article written by Christopher Miller

Since you probably haven't jumped any boxcars or participated in union rallies recently, pick a hot contemporary issue that you feel deeply about. This can range from a war abroad or your best friend's haircut. If you don't represent your generation now, you will soon. Even if the times aren't changing, you can convince people they are.

Step 1
Because folk songs are written for the people at large, ask yourself why this issue would matter to a large demographic. For example, your best friend's haircut might remind you of the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Write this down in the simplest terms possible.

Step 2
Find a pair of jeans, T-shirt and sweater that you can live in for the next couple of months. Locate a mirror and look deeply into your soul for at least two or three minutes. Use that. Put back on your sunglasses and don't take them off, even if you are inside

Step 3
If you don't know how to play guitar by now, get your hands on one and start strumming. Don't worry if you are musically disinclined. What matters is the message of the song and the two or three chords you might choose. If you can't play guitar, don't worry either. Just find a friend who does and is willing to let you have the spotlight

Step 4
Find the nearest public square or fountain and belt it out, stopping occasionally for cigarettes or to talk with the pigeons. Try to incorporate your observations into your song. Remember, folk songs are amorphous adaptable things that shift according to your needs.

Step 5
Respond coyly to requests for interviews. When asked questions about your past, tell them to listen for it in the wind.

Step 6
By now you are probably playing shows and asking yourself why you even started this in the first place. Now it is time to go into hiding, only to emerge twenty years later for various benefit concerts and film cameos. Your kids are old enough now to exploit your name. Try to remain happy for their success.

Tips & Warnings
Don't choose song titles that have already been taken. Traditional folk songs are fine, as long as they point back to some mysterious and unrecoverable sadness.

Try to keep the language as simple as possible. For example, love rhymes very well with dove or glove.

If you are going to write a break song, cloud your object of endearment in metaphors. A lot of people have written great songs about "lovers," but how about washing machines as lovers?

--
"That's another way of writing a song, of course. Just talking to somebody that ain't there. That's the best way. That's the truest way. Then it just becomes a question of how heroic your speech is. To me, it's something to strive after."
-Bob Dylan

I wanted an Anarchy Heart on my wall in my room where I record, so I put it there. Right between the Woodstock and Grateful Deal posters.

2010-04-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

The world needs more honest musicians.

"No. They've got enough. They've got way too many. As a matter of fact, if nobody wrote any songs from this day on, the world ain't gonna suffer for it. Nobody cares. There's enough songs for people to listen to, if they want to listen to songs. For every man, woman and child on earth, they could be sent, probably, each of them, a hundred records, and never be repeated. There's enough songs. Unless someone's gonna come along with a pure heart and has something to say. That's a different story. But as far as songwriting, any idiot could do it. If you see me do it, any idiot could do it."

-Bob Dylan

Long Live the Queen

2010-04-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Yay for sad songs. Not that wallow-in-self-pity depression crap. Real "Tears in Heaven" sad songs.

All in all, you're just another brick in the wall.

2010-04-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I took the ACT test. Five hours straight of giving an administration a chance to analyze my mind by answering questions irrelevant to anything I will ever do. Not that it's supposed to be relevant, but still. It's boring. It isn't like a regular test in school in which you feel a sigh of relief from the knowledge, regardless of how well you think you did, that you at least have the matter of that test at rest (rhyme!) and that you will not need to worry about the information at all until the exam. The ACT is not so forgiving. The stress is multiplied when I'm told that whatever college I go to will be affected by the score, and doubled with the knowledge that (regardless of the score) I will be taking it again.

The education system undermines creativity. Sir Ken Robinson said at his TED talk that an enormous aspect of creativity is the ability to allow yourself to make mistakes. The logic behind this is simple enough. The creative minds (not exclusive to the arts) really belong to those who excel in the world; to the ones who are creative enough to rearrange the current pieces of the systems and begin something new. Paul Allen and Bill Gates took what was available and created the Windows operating system, Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Rose created websites that would almost revolutionize the international human network, and the Wal-Mart guy made Wal-Mart.

So why are we taught to be terrified of making mistakes? There is no questioning that the people listed above relied on mistakes and serendipity. Despite this, we are told that mistakes could ruin us. We are educated out of our creativity, sentencing the majority to jobs that have no connection to any passion (passion that often goes undiscovered, too).

Gillian Lynne underperformed in school. She probably had what today would be called ADHD. Her mother brought her to a psychologist, who told her to immediately bring Lynne out of normal schooling and enroll her in a dance school. Gillian Lynne eventually became internationally known for designing the choreography of acts such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Today, they would have thrown her on some medication and told her to sit down like everyone else.

As my freshman math teacher pointed out, "When you make mistakes, people die." To me, it's obvious that everyone has an enormous amount of creativity that only needs an outlet. Once the correct outlet is discovered, mistakes must be allowed.

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. "
-Pablo Picasso

Seven

2010-04-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

In English, after a quiz, I jotted down seven things I want to do before I die. Obviously, some are more realistic than others.

Attend a NAMM convention

Go to a TED Talks conference

Learn to not be terrified of everything

Make a career out of music

Perform a show in the Royal Albert Hall

Go to a Glastonbury festival

Play at a Glastonbury festival

Also, a friend who I've known for many years told me that I should stop being "such a hermit who only plays music." Psh. Yeah right.

The Fairest of the Seasons

2010-04-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided to sit in the corner of my room and listen to Nico and Simon and Garfunkel for the remainder of the school year.

Scrubs.

2010-04-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say. This week has been really dreadful. Hopefully my Noah and the Whale CD will arrive tomorrow.

The Office

2010-04-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

I found an awesome website where you can watch every single Office episode online for free. Some videos have the audio a few seconds out of sync, but its better than paying for it. I'm too cheap to act legally.

And in case it isn't obvious, I have something of a compulsive feeling to let people know what I'm listening to at any given moment.

Where is my mind?

2010-04-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Stop.

Acid Trip Art

2010-04-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was killing some time and fell upon a very interesting website. Supposedly, as a government experiment, a man was put under the influence of LSD and drew portraits on timed intervals. The results give something of an insight into what the chemical does to the mind.

While we're on the subject, let's listen to some music induced by LSD

You gotta look past the faces, man.

2010-03-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

That problem that automatically redirects this page to that ad website is fixed. Apparently it was rooted in a realtime counter gadget I was using. I had to manually remove the HTML for it because whoever designed it made it so that it couldn't be removed through the dashboard thing. Ha.

Belmont was awesome. I got a good taste of what their songwriting and music business majors entailed and I'm pretty sure the only other college that has as good of a music program is Berklee. I got a pretty detailed tour of the on-campus recording studios (probably the highlight of the visit for me), during which I got to watch a recording session of this Dylan-esque student who's performance really consisted of only him, a harmonica, and his guitar. I also really loved the atmosphere of the campus; every hundred feet or so was someone sitting in the grass playing an acoustic guitar. The atmosphere of Nashville itself was really something. I will always have a burning hatred for country music, but being able to be in an area that held music of such high esteem is comforting. Every single house I drove by had had the basement converted into a commercial recording studio, publishing company, or record label headquarters.

After the college visit my dad and I took a tour of the Ocean Way Recording studio and the RCA Studio B studio. It was almost surreal, being able to stand in the same room where legends like Elvis and Chet Atkins recorded almost half of their catalogs. I was even let play ("quickly touch" would be a better way of describing it) Elvis' favorite piano. I'm not much of an Elvis fan, but I know well of the extent of influence that piano may have taken part of.

Go

2010-03-25T19:36:00.001-07:00

So you think you've found the one

And she knows just how you feel

And you say that she's for real and she's fun

Well, that's all well and good

That's just the way it should be

To understand and be understood is to be free

So I think that you should go

Go on ahead

Take her in your arms and be wed

Go go go go you restless soul, you're going to find it

Yes, life's a bowl of cherries

You can have as many as you can carry

And someone once said that life is like a cow

But I don't know how that applies

But anyhow here we are all on this planet

Taking everything for granted

But I think you've caught on to something

Don't let go

Go go go go you restless soul, you're going to find it

Oh, yes you did, you found it

[3/28 edit]

I think that Daniel Johnston wrote this song because it is what he wished someone would tell him; he wished that every verse applied to him despite the reality that it almost certainly didn't.

Tuesday Tuesday, so good to me

2010-03-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tonight's been one of those nights where, despite my best efforts, any attempt to complete homework has end up with me picking up the guitar or going to Facebook; any assignment that should only take a half hour stretches out to an hour or more. With my weekdays being caffeinated and sleep-deprived blurs, I find the simple idea of focusing on any work at all pretty insane. Luckily, this is the last week until Spring Break, which will start with my dad and me driving up to visit Belmont University and will end up with me confined to the basement recording and playing Xbox by my lack of a social life.

If you happen to have 31 minutes of spare time on your hand, I highly recommend watching I'm Here: A Love Story in an Absolut World. It's a short film about two robots who fall in love, a bizarre but incredibly touching story. It was written and directed by Spike Jonze, who also wrote and directed Where the Wild Things Are, so you know it's a masterpiece.

Also, very few things amount to the excitement of realizing you are on to something when writing a song; that single minuscule instant of inspiration when you can see everything the song has potential to be. The hard part is capturing that instant again once it leaves your mind and fingers.

I cannot stop listening to this song no matter how hard I try.

Study Hall

2010-03-09T13:30:00.001-08:00

[Written during study hall]

Right now I should be studying for history or something. Did you know that Oliver Hudson Kelly was the guy who created the Patrons of Husbandry, an educational organization for farmers, more commonly known as Grange? I didn't care either. I instead listen to my new Jeffrey Lewis and Where The Wild Things Are CDs and let my mind drift to more important things: Worried Shoes. The Man With the Golden Arms. What will my guitar teacher teach to me tonight? Nazi Zombies. What notes make up the A Dorian scale? Yesterday I made this awesome beat on my drum machine (it's very similar to Radiohead's There There beat) that would go perfectly with this other riff I've been working on. Maybe tonight, seeing I won't have any homework, I'll try to get some tracks completed. Also, I found some contacts I might send some demos to. Olive Juice Records, a record label, and Steaming Hot Coffee, a proprietorship music managing company, are both very small and independent companies that deal very exclusively with independent artists and mostly the antifolk genre. I won't get my hopes up, seeing that I'm just some starry-eyed seventeen year old kid, but maybe this summer I'll try to get a demo together and send it in. I don't have anything to lose. I'll do it for the lulz. I just need to work on my voice more, something I've been trying to do since summer or so. Why can't we all have great Robert Plant or John Lennon voices? Hell, give me Bob Dylan. I shan't be picky.

Ch-ch-changes

2010-02-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

I found Tumblr, another blog hosting service. I'm going to try it out for a little while and compare it to Blogspot. Changes are that I will dedicate blogspot to conspiracy stuff and Tumblr to more personal posts relating to music and art. Or not. We'll see.

http://knoxrox167.tumblr.com/

Somewhere there's a feather

2010-02-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

It's nearly midnight on a Thursday night, and to combat my boredom I've decided to post an update for anyone who happens to read this.

For the guitar, I have contacted the guy who designed the SG in my earlier post. He's been surprisingly helpful in telling me what to do and what to buy. From what he's said, he put on about 5 layers of Montana Gold aerosol paint, each layer atop another and a different color. He then put on different colors in random spots. To get the gritty Pollock-ish look he sanded through each layer in different spots to different degrees. I'll be sure to document every step to be put on here to make it a little more easy to understand.

So, after a quick trip to Art Mart (the greatest store in the world) I'll have the Montana Gold colors I need. I just need to motivate myself to be able to dedicate 3-4 hours of my weekend to sanding. I also have the design for the pick guard almost done. Finished photos should be up relatively soon.

The Great Guitar Adventure: Disassembly

2010-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I posted that I plan to "remake" my Squire into a better and unique guitar of my very own. I have recently taken the first steps: disassembly. I've completely taken it apart. The neck, bridge and pickguard have all been taken off. The wiring has been left in with the intention of removing it once I get some proper materials to desolder all the parts that are holding it all in place. I put all of the screws and small pieces into labeled plastic cups, as shown in the photos. I also made some videos with my phone of me taking specific parts apart so I have a reference of how everything goes together after the body is painted and I attach everything back together. The next step is to completely strip the body of its paint, though how that will happen I'm not completely sure of. I'll either strip it chemically or sand it down. Maybe even both.

Anyway, here are the photos of post-disassembly:

The Great Guitar Adventure

2010-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

I've had this Fender Squire for about 5 and a half years now, since I first started playing guitar. It's probably worth $75 by now. I've decided, on behalf of my ambition to make my own guitar, to completely take apart the guitar and rebuild it from the basic parts. The neck, pickups, bridge, and possibly the wiring will be replaced with higher-grade parts that are more in tune with the tone and look that I want.

This is, hopefully, the first post of a series documenting the steps and techniques used to get the unique guitar I would love to have. I will be mainly using ProjectGuitar.com to guide my building the guitar, along with an Instructables post.

I've had my eyes on this David Gilmour pickup set as well as a Stevie Ray Vaughan sounding Texas Special pickup set. While I'm not very concerned with the neck, I am counting on getting one with a maple laminated fretboard. Hell, I might just keep the current neck just so I can experiment with scalloping. Oddly, I've found that I'm much more concerned with how I plan to repaint and finish the body more than anything else. I don't want any typical solid color or burst, not that a well-done sunburst isn't freakin' awesome. Living up to my Thoreau obsessions, I want a design unique to myself. A Steve Vai swirl would be perfect, but having run into some problems in getting it to work (I've multiple times to get a swirl effect on test pieces of wood), I'm not so certain that a swirl finish is the right finish to try. This trippy SG finish (be warned, its a marijuana forum) would be fantastic, but I have no idea as to how that person got that effect.

If anyone has any suggestions for me, especially with what to do with the finish, please let me know! I'll have some more developments posted soon.

Shameless Self Promotion

2010-01-21T19:59:00.001-08:00

Now that I have all of my 2012 related posts out of the way, I will begin to sway the topics of this blog into ideas and subjects that relate more personally to me.

www.myspace.com/alexjuddmusic

Yeah, that's where I'm going to post all of my original music. I'm trying to sort out a little problem with my microphone, so right now I'm on a little pause in my recording music. Take a look if you want, let me know what you think, and please try to friend me if you have an account. I know it's a little hard to judge based on one simple demo, but please bear with me!

[1/26/2010]

I recently got some fantastic condenser microphones along with an old drum machine from my guitar teacher that will allow me to record anything I want to my hearts content. Music is on the way!

Letter from a Norwegian Politician

2009-10-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Through the months a lot of people have asked me about the “Letter from a Norwegian Politician” concerning 2012. I’m not certain, but it seems as though the text originated here.

BlessedOne333 was the first person to put the article into a video on youtube. Thankfully her account was suspended for whatever reason, stopping her insanity from spreading any further.

The letter is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to 2012. It does what every 2012/NWO video or article is sure to do: Make the reader feel “above” the rest of the world for knowing the supposed secret knowledge, create an intense feeling of fear or helplessness, and create anger towards some higher power, usually NASA or the government.

Firstly, the set-up for the article is very suspicious. They admit “we cannot attest personally to the information given here,” showing to us that there is really no reason at all to take the letter seriously. This disclaimer is all I need to stop reading right now and call it a hoax. They then reveal that they cannot reveal the name of the person or show any photos. Is this because they honestly want to protect someone’s privacy? Or is it because they have no name to reveal? They have yet to show a single reason why any of us (the readers) should take them seriously.

For the actual letter, I will disregard the huge amount of grammatical errors even though it was supposedly translated. In the second paragraph the writer offers his only evidence, the photographs. In a convenient twist for the writers of the website, the photographs cannot be shown. He then goes on to describe the underground bases that will be used to store 2,000,000 Norwegians, which he calls the NOAH 12 railcars.

After Planet X crashes, he describes what the government plans to do with any survivors.

“Later the army will purge the rest of the survivors and they have a shoot to kill order if there is any resistance to bring them into the camps where every one will get marked with a number and a tag.”

Here, I assume that they are trying to say that survivors will be rounded up by an army and forced to live in camps with any resistance being stamped down by force. Not only that, but the survivors will be tagged like animals. This quote is just proof that the writer was desperate to put in a Bible reference. Not only is this scene completely unrealistic and almost fantastic, it is just another factor of trying to scare the reader into belief.

Again, I write this because so many people have asked me about it. It is maddening that people are twisted enough to write such filth, with their only intention being to create fear and attention.

I must admit, I do applaud them for their slight Bob Dylan reference at the end.

THINK.

2009-08-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

In all of the scientific and factual fallacies of the 2012 doomsday myth, there is a single grand logic error that I fail to see many people realize. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of supposed situations that are to take place on December 21, 2012: “The sun will shoot a flair at Earth, a new dimension will open up, a new consciousness will sweep humanity, the star/planet/meteor (depending on what version of this myth you have hear) Planet X will crash into the world, aliens will invade civilization,” etc. I can go on for a few different paragraphs on the many different theories. After the theories we get to the people STARTING the theories: Nancy Lieder, Zecheria Sitchin, David Icke, that guy from YOW Books, and the rest of the “starseed” children or whatever they call themselves.

Why so many theories? Why so many people spouting different and very contrary ideas yet calling themselves “Experts” and “right” when in reality none of them have any credentials at all? It can’t be that they are just all WRONG, is it? How is it illogical to believe that the NWO will reveal themselves, a new dimension will open up, Planet X will hit the earth, some mass of charged particles will hit our atmosphere, our poles will shift, and that a sun flair will hit us all in the same instant on the same day?

I really wish people would just THINK. When they watch a video concerning 2012 or the alleged New World Order, just take a step back and THINK. Really. Ask why you should believe them; what evidence do they offer? What sources do they have? If they don’t have any reliable sources, do they have any credentials? Some videos are trickier to catch in the act of misinformation. I am specifically referring to Loose Change, Zeitgeist, that 2012 documentary on the History Channel, and that freemason documentary on Discovery. Actually do research when you watch them: Look up the names of the people those documentaries quote or interview. Make sure they are credited and that their quotes weren’t twisted at all or taken out of context.

I didn’t expect this to become such a rant, but I do feel that it all needs to be said. I know that there are some incredibly biased people out there who will read my blog and just shun it all out and assume I am either “not enlightened” or an advocate of the Illuminati. No matter what I say I will never be able to sway their ignorant opinions. Please try to convince me wrong. I will be happy to debate with anyone.

Take the Nibiru Challenge

2009-08-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

As time wears on I begin to see some hope for humanity. There are more and more individuals and groups like myself who are dedicated to clearing the interwebs of the filth that is conspiracy theory.

At http://nibiruchallenge.blogspot.com/ there is a contest being held to any individual that can prove Nibiru exists. That’s right, if any person can show indisputable evidence that Nibiru exists you will get a hefty cash prize of $5,000 to put in your pocket. For any 2012 supporters out there, I highly urge that you try to go for the prize. According to you, there s a helluva lot of info to prove that blog (and myself) wrong, so why not? The world’s going to end anyway, so what do you have to lose?

I really do like the blog. They post the supposed evidence and debunk it right there, for the world to see. It is very well worth the read even if you don’t believe anything will happen. Who doesn’t like to watch people being proved wrong?

People are idiots.

2009-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Before I introduce the topic of this post, let me put this little diddy of information out there: there are stupid people, there are stupid people, and then there are freakin’ idiots. If you spend more than a few minutes every day on the internet you are way ahead of me. At this moment there are thousands upon thousands of people preaching the supposed agenda of the Illuminati or warning us of the impending collapse of all civilization in 2012; offering nothing but obviously faked photographs and the words of pseudo scientists as evidence. The amount of people who buy in to these scams is very surprising yet depressing. What’s even more depressing is the fact that these people (who I will introduce in a moment) are being taken seriously! There is a huge amount of fear being spread by these 2012 and New World Oder myths; and an even bigger sum of cash being made. Any given website warning us of 2012 will, without a doubt, have a huge resource of books and other merchandise to buy (not to mention the upcomming blockbuster movie depicting what “should” happen) that only prove my point further that the people putting forth these claims do not believe anything will happen themselves.

Zecharia Sitchin is a self-proclaimed expert who claims that the Sumerian civilization was taught and governed by the Annukai alien species. While never actually taking a real course in Semetic languages, Sitchin has translated for us many murals, seals, and words which seem to support his views. In reality, he has made very basic and fundamental errors in his teachings, ranging from blantant misinterpretations to simple grammar mistakes.

Here Sitchin's most important piece of evidence will be debunked by information given of Michael Heiser's website www.sitchiniswrong.com . Heiser is more than credited to speak against the words of Sitchin, being a scholar in ancient semetic languages.

Let’s take a look at the VA 243 Cylindrical seal:

Look at the top between the two figures walking up right on the left. We see what Sitchin claims to be our sun surrounded by eleven “globes.” According to Sitchen, these globes represent our nine plants and th earth’s moon. The eleventh planet, according to Sitchin, is Planet X, the planet undiscovered by modern scientists but known to the Sumerians. This seal is Sitchin’s proof that Planet X, or Nibiru, exists. After reading Michael Heiser’s website Sitchin is Wrong I was pointed to very important facts that Sitchin (conveniently) grazed over. Not only does any of the surrounding text fail to mention anything at all to do with astronomy, but Sitchin was wrong on calling the mass of globes our solar system. Compare the confirmed Sumerian symbol for the sun with the symbol in the seal (google "sumerian sun" to find images of it in actual sumerian text) :

It is obvious that Sitchin made a misinterpretation. The symbol in the seal simply represents any given star or celestial mass- NOT the sun of our solar system. Not only did Sitchin misinterpret the Sun symbol, but he made the claim that the Sumerians knew of the entire solar system, which is a complete impossibility:

"There is not a single text in the entire corpus of Sumerian or Mesopotamian tablets in the world that tells us the Sumerians (or later inhabitants of Mesopotamia) knew there were more than five planets. This is quite a claim, but is demonstrable through the work of scholars who specialize in cuneiform astronomy." (Heiser)

Not only did the Sumerians never discover "Planet X," it would have been impossible for them to do so. This is only a brief look into the world of Zecharia Sitchin’s factual fallacies. I urge you to look more into Michael Heiser’s website that goes in incredible depth in the debunking of Sitchin.

Sitchin's Errors

Below is a link to Part 1 of NowhereToRun1984's video series debunking Sitchin:

Sitchin is Wrong

2012 debunked (video into text)

2009-08-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

On my videos debunking the 2012 doomsday theory and the moon landing hoax, I get many comments with people complaining about the apparently "hard to read" text. Even though I suspect it is a mere excuse to not watch the videos, I have put all of the text into an easy-to-read blog post for your convenience. As time goes on I will post some more articles concerning 2012 and conspiracy theories that will not be posted as a video on my youtube channel.

My sources will be listed first in case you are just a lazy ass who wants to see my sources and take my word that nothing will happen in 2012. And yes I know that ProjectStorm got his channel frozen (thanks to yowbooks, the coward) so I will just list the sources he used as well.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/29dec_magneticfield.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm

http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/nostradamus.asp

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/eris.html

2012 Debunked

This is an attempt to help extinguish the fear spread by the 2012 hoax. I am going to provide the facts about pole shifts, nodstradamus, planet x/nibiru, the sumerians, and the mayans, Then you can decide for yourself whether or not the 2012 doomsday theory is a hoax.

Part I: Pole Shifts

Doomsdayer: A pole shift occuring at 11:11 pm Universal Time will result in a complete reversal of the north and south poles and thuse a disappearance of the Earth's magnetic field. This will cause numerous natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.

Actually, according to NASA, that is completely bogus:

"They've also learned what happens during a reversal. Reversals take a few thousand years to complete, and during that time- contrary to popular belief- the magnetic field does not vanish. "It just gets more complicated." says Glatzmaier. Magnetic lines of force near Earth's surface become twistid and tangled, and magnetic poles pop up in unaccustomed places. A south magnetic pole might emerge over Africa, for instance, or a norh pole over Tahiti. Weird. But it's still a planetary magnetic field, and it still protects us from space radiation and solar storms."

So, the Earth's magnetic field does NOT disappear. It simply becomes more complicated but as strong as ever. It still protects us from solar storms and radiation just as it always has.

A pole shift also takes 5,000 years to complete and "comes at irregular intervals of about 300,000 years." So far we are 780,000 years overdue. www.dailycommonsense.com has an interesting quote on this:

"They come at irregular intervals averaging about 300,000 years and it has now been 780,000 years since the last one. Then we’ve been due for 480,000 years! Where I’m getting at is that your parents generation was also overdue, your grandparents generation was overdue and since the start of civilization on this earth it was overdue. Even the Mayas were overdue. What I’m trying to say is that it could’ve happened way before that and that it can happen tomorrow or in 100,000 years so don’t worry too much about it. Again, the process takes 5,000 years to complete so I bet you won’t notice it too much."

Also from Daily Common Sense, with the doomsday theory in bold and the facts in regular text:

A pole reversal will happen in 2012. False, it will happen but we don’t know when yet. I’m pretty sure the NASA would be able to confirm if it was even a 2012 possibility.
A pole reversal would decrease the strength of our magnetic field to near zero. False, it would still be there and as strong as it is now, just more complicated.
A pole reversal would have terrible impact on our planet. True, but the process takes 5,000 years to complete. It doesn’t happen just like that when you wake up one morning.
We’re overdue for a pole shift. Maybe, but we’ve been overdue for the past 380,000 years. Our little 2,000 years of history is pretty small in that. Do you believe we don’t know when it’s going to happen?

Part II: The Mayans

Doomsdayer: The Mayans were very advanced when it came to science and astronomy. They predicted the end of the world or a new conciousness (depending on what version you heard) to occur with a galactic alignment on December 12, 2012.

This theory comes from the fact that the Mayan calendar ends on that date. But there is no evidence to point out that the Mayans predicted anything to happen:

For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle” says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Fla. To render Dec. 21, 2012, as a doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.” (USA Today)

Scholars are also in great doubt in the idea that the Mayans were even able to predict a galactic alignment:

Astronomers generally agree that “it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that” says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What’s more, she says, “we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point. (USA Today)

So the Mayans didn't predict anything to happen. If I said that I thought the world would end on December 31, 2008 at 12:00 pm simply because it is the end of our calendar I would have just as much evidence as anyone who believes in the Mayan 2012 hoax.

Obviously, Both ideas are nonsense.

Part III: Nostradamus

Many people think that Nodstradamus predicted the end of the world in 2012, 9/11, and the French Revolution. He was also used to help support the Y2K doomsday theory (which was false). To put it simply, Nodstradamus never predicted any of these. All of his alledged predictions were very vague and twisted by the internet to mean something different. For instance, here is the more popular Nodstradamus prediction about 9/11:

"In the year of the new century and nine months,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror...
The Sky will burn at forty-five degrees
Fire approaches the great new city...
In the city of york there will be a great collapse,
2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos while the fortress falls
great leader will succumb"

This is the one spread by email and comspiracy threads on the internet. Its pretty scary if you take it to heart. But here is the original prediction, from Nodstradamus' own quill:

"The year 1999, seventh month,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror
To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols,
Before and after Mars to reign by good luck"

Almost laughingly different. According to Snopes.com, this whole thing came about in 1997 with a student at Brock University in Canada. Neil Marshall twisted the real thing using abstract and vague words to point out that they could be read to seem to have predicted any event.

And I'm not sure if the fake prophesy in the previous slide was the right one. At last count I had found three different fabrications.

Part IV: Planet X

This is probably the most prominant and popular 2012 theory. It states that, in 2012, the legendary Planet X (aka Nibiru) will crash into the Earth and kill everyone. This was started and spread generally by Zecharia Sitchin, someone who had no previous classes or studies in Sumerian culture (whom he claims predicted Planet X's return)

And before I say anything I would like to point out that all information was taken directly from vidos by ProjectStorm and Trayen11. I will provide the links to those videos in my description.

The Sumerians are believed to have seen and predicted the supposed Nibiru to crash into the planet Earth in 2012. While they did believe that Earth was created after a fight between Taimat and Nibiru, those were both GODS, not planets or stars. Sitchin created the myth that the Sumerians believed the Gods to be planets. The Sumerians were not even interested in astronomy.

Another theory is that Planet X caused the original continents to drift apart. I actually laughed when I read that people believed this. Its called "continental drift" and it is almost a proven fact. I learned about in in 3rd grade! It is the fact that the continental plates are constantly moving. They were moving when the Earth was created and are moving now.

And yes, something huge did slam into our planet 4.5 billion years ago. There weren't even single celled bacteria around then. The event is also believed to have created the moon. And since there were no organisms back then how could the Sumerians have known?

Some people also believe that the Sumerians were in contact with an alien race...need I say more? There is not a single shred of evidence to even hint that this might be true.

And yes, 3,000 years ago something terrible did happen. But that was a volcano, not Planet X.

True, for many years astronomers did believe a 10th planet existed, but thanks to our modern technology we now know that this is false. We also know that "there is nothing strange about the orbits of outer planets." And this applies to the theory that a mass extinction occurs annually: thanks to modern technology we know that this is indeed false.

Many "pictures" of Planet X have surfaced, and so far all of them have been something like a distant galaxy or a simple photoshop. And there is no such thing as the supposed "Norlock Project."

Also, there is the theory that NASA spotted Planet X and renamed it Eris. Wrong again. While (According to the majority of 2012 believers) Planet X is supposed to be 2/3 the size of our planet, NASA calculated Eris to be only a little bit larger than Pluto. Also, the closest Eris will ever come to Earth will be in 2255 with the distance of about 4 billion miles.

There are many other theories that those rascly conspiracists come up with, but so far every one I have seen is false, and I have no reason to believe why any upcomming theories arent false either.

I hope that this video will calm some nerves and that many people will come to see the truth. And I know that many people will say either "dont listen to the facts. Listen to your heart" or "you dont know what will happen in 2012 so how can you be sure you are right?"

To the first argument, I can't really say how stupid you sound. Life isn't a Disney movie. There are facts that are proven that that's that. Say I have an apple and you call it an orange. I say that since it is res and has the features and seeds of an apple I call it an apple. But you say that I must "listen to my heart." I am pretty sure I am right. You have no evidence whatsoever to back up your silly myth. Give it a rest!

And to the second argument, I admit that I have no idea what will happen in 2012. But based on the facts I fell pretty certain when I say that the world won't end as a result of Planet X, a pole shift, or the predictions of Nodstradamus, the Mayans, or Sumerians.

And if you believe that a pole shift will happen, a planet will crash into the Earth, a new conciousness will begin and a new dimension will open up all in the same day...

you are gullible enough to believe in anything.