the days are pretty much runnin' together now. i think it's saturday, but i could be wrong...
i'm sittin at a starbucks in nassau, where i'm using the internet for the first time in like 4 days or something like that? it's weird how quickly i lost track of time and days of the week.
thangs have been pretty good for me. i've met a ton of new and mostly cool people. i've actually done surprisingly well at remembering most of their names too. i'm learning that a ship is really just a small community floating in the ocean and people generally look out for each other.
i got off the boat yesterday in freeport and ventured to a resortish place called port lucaya. i tagged along with the musical director, will, and the sax player from our band, erick. after a somewhat terrifying cab ride that nearly ended in a head on collision, we visited some restaurant that served steak and ale pie bc will is from england and was craving a taste of home. he's a pretty funny guy. while we were waiting for our food he used his watch to shine a ray of light in some guys face who was sitting across the room from us. he did so for a good 15 minutes, laughing the whole time as the guy was trying to figure out where it was coming from. he eats really fast too. him and colin would probably be best buds.
musically things have been okay. we played 3 shows yesterday, the last two of which were clicked and tracked production shows. they were long shows and hung in the upper register for the most part, but i think i hung in there okay. it was kinda sad, though, to hear the other horn parts in the track and realize that these boats used to have much larger bands. i heard some pretty cool bass bone parts... i asked will and he told me they used to hire 3 trumpets, 3 saxes, and 2 bones. now it's one trumpet, one sax, and one bone.
welp, i think that's about it for this post. starbucks is gettin' pretty crowded now and i should probably give up my seat as i've been here for a while. i kinda feel like roamin' around anyways. thanks for readin'.
love,
james
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
day whatever (4?)
Day 3
Part 1
Sittin at the Miami aiport in the boarding area for my flight to key west and felt like writin’ a little bit. I have no internet and am typing in word, just incase you’re wondering about the unusual amount of capital letters in this post…
So yesterday went as planned. I basically watched tv, practiced, and played a little poker. I gotta tell ya, football is much more tolerable if you mute the tv and have an instrument in your hand. I don’t mind watching football, but the commentators can be so annoying. I also saw some of the bewitched movie with will ferrel and Nicole kidman. I didn’t even know it existed until last night. Did anyone else see this? It was a total chick flick but I didn’t care because will ferrel is just that amazing. I also saw parts of a lord of the rings movie and walk the line.
Well, the lady at the front desk thing just warned me that “they” are famous for not getting luggage to key west with the passengers… awesome. So I’ll just show up without my tux then? That’ll go over well don’t ya think? I sure hope she’s wrong. I guess I’m a little nervous though because I had to go back out through security to get to this concourse, and it was quite a trek, which means my bags probably have a ways to travel too. F.
Well, I see people coming off the plane I’m supposed to board so I’d better wrap it up. Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting things to write about in the next few days. Not sure when I’ll have internet next so this post may be a little dated by the time I get it posted.
Love,
James
Ps –I’m gonna smack all 5 of these chads sitting next to me if they don’t quit being so chaddy. And if I hear Kenny g destroy another Christmas song in this airport, I’m probably gonna puke.
Part 2
Well, I made it to the boat. The plane I took from Miami to key west was a little bigger than my car with no overhead compartments. There was no door or even a curtain between the cabin and the cockpit, so I could see out the front window from where I was sitting. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pilots were younger than me. I was a pretty fun flight because we over a bunch of swamp looking land, then we flew by the nasa launch pads, then finally over the ocean to the keys. It was a beautiful day too. The key west airport was the smallest thing I’ve ever seen. There was one little carousel for the luggage and like one rental car place. I found a taxi to the boat and enjoyed a nice ride through what my driver told me was ‘old key west.’ It was a pretty cool lookin’ neighborhood.
Getting on the ship was relatively easy. Luckily I had luggage with me and the people in charge could tell I was boarding the ship for the first time and directed me where to go. After some paper work the musical director, Will, came down to meet me and show me around. He plays keyboard and is from England. Seems like a nice guy so far… when he was showing me around the boat all I was thinking was, ‘yeah, I’m definitely gonna get lost a few times before I figure this out..’ and I did. As soon as he showed me back to my room, my roommate took me up to this place where I could get some food. He explained to me that the staff was only allowed to eat in this certain restaurant at certain times and that I should bring my food down to the crew mess hall. I found a slice of pizza and basically walked around with it for a good 10 minutes before I figured out where the hell I was. Yeah, so imagine being a guest on the ship and seeing an employee wandering around with a slice of pizza on a plate, looking completely lost. Not only did I feel like a complete idiot, but I was afraid some high ranking officer or whatever was going to see me and ask me what the hell I was doing. I did manage to find my room and just ate my pizza there instead of in the mess hall, probably breaking yet another rule.
So I hadn’t been on the ship for even an hour until we had our first rehearsal. We have two shows tonight, one at 8:30, one at 10:30 and had a quick run through at 3:45. The guys in the band seem cool from the little time I’ve interacted with them. It was a relief to finally get the horn on my face and realize that I’m going to be just fine on this stuff. I’m actually more worried about getting in trouble from breaking some silly rule than I am about screwing up my parts.
Well, I may end up writing a part 3 after the shows tonight, but right now, I gotta go get some food. Some guys from the band just stopped by my room so I’m gonna go try to sit with them while there’s still room. It get’s pretty busy in the crew mess hall from what I hear.
Laters,
James
Day 4
Sheesh. Where to begin? Guess I’ll start with the shows. Basically, they were a lot of fun. We played for an entertainer named Tia Thompson, a comedian, whose name I forget, and a little schtick the cruise director did. The music was pretty straight forward and my parts didn’t go too high (which I guess is kinda my main concern, bein’ a bass trombone player and all…) we played “I Wish” for the walk on and walk off of the comedian and it totally felt like I was in a late night show band. I didn’t have a part, though, so I had to read off the trumpet player’s music, which was luckily just a C treble clef lead sheet. I’m sure I would have been okay if I had had to transpose, just because that’s a tune I already have in my ear, but it was nice to have that added pressure. The only other difficulty I really had on the gig was seeing the MD (musical director). I sit on the end of the horn section so he’s directly down the line to my left and there’s very little room for me to move to a place where I can see him. I think I only missed one cue last night because I was able to pick up on the fact that he was watching the performers on stage, so if I did the same, I’d probably be right.
In the second show, when the comedian was kinda telling the audience about himself, he mentioned that he did his undergrad at Eau Claire. Every ounce of me wanted to scream ‘gooooo blugolds!’ making a complete ass of myself, but I refrained. I want to be myself and have a good time out here, but there’s so many f’n rules and etiquette and crap that I haven’t yet figured out what’s okay and what’s not, so my default is to just keep my head low and not attract any attention.
Now writing from a starbucks in Nassau…Gosh I hope my roommate was right about the boat leaving at 9pm….
So it looks like I get cell service here? Hmm….hopefully I’m not being charged a million dollars a minute. I best figure this out.
Ok, so after the shows I went to the crew bar to hang for a bit. I didn’t stay long cause I had to get up and be at some safety thing at 9 this morning. Safety thing basically consisted of me finding my way to this room I had been shown once, walking into this smokey office where some officer with a really thick accent of some kind made me watch a video. I now know what to do when drunk people fall overboard, which I guess is good because there are a lot of drunk people from what I’ve seen so far. One thing I hate, though, is not being able to understand all the accents. Hopefully it’ll get better the longer I’m here but it sucks to look so confused all the time and ask people to repeat themselves constantly because I couldn’t understand them.
Well, I this post has become waaaaay too long so I’m gonna stop it here. No idea when I’ll get internet again, but I’ll probably have more to say by the time that happens. Miss you all.
Love,
james
Part 1
Sittin at the Miami aiport in the boarding area for my flight to key west and felt like writin’ a little bit. I have no internet and am typing in word, just incase you’re wondering about the unusual amount of capital letters in this post…
So yesterday went as planned. I basically watched tv, practiced, and played a little poker. I gotta tell ya, football is much more tolerable if you mute the tv and have an instrument in your hand. I don’t mind watching football, but the commentators can be so annoying. I also saw some of the bewitched movie with will ferrel and Nicole kidman. I didn’t even know it existed until last night. Did anyone else see this? It was a total chick flick but I didn’t care because will ferrel is just that amazing. I also saw parts of a lord of the rings movie and walk the line.
Well, the lady at the front desk thing just warned me that “they” are famous for not getting luggage to key west with the passengers… awesome. So I’ll just show up without my tux then? That’ll go over well don’t ya think? I sure hope she’s wrong. I guess I’m a little nervous though because I had to go back out through security to get to this concourse, and it was quite a trek, which means my bags probably have a ways to travel too. F.
Well, I see people coming off the plane I’m supposed to board so I’d better wrap it up. Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting things to write about in the next few days. Not sure when I’ll have internet next so this post may be a little dated by the time I get it posted.
Love,
James
Ps –I’m gonna smack all 5 of these chads sitting next to me if they don’t quit being so chaddy. And if I hear Kenny g destroy another Christmas song in this airport, I’m probably gonna puke.
Part 2
Well, I made it to the boat. The plane I took from Miami to key west was a little bigger than my car with no overhead compartments. There was no door or even a curtain between the cabin and the cockpit, so I could see out the front window from where I was sitting. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pilots were younger than me. I was a pretty fun flight because we over a bunch of swamp looking land, then we flew by the nasa launch pads, then finally over the ocean to the keys. It was a beautiful day too. The key west airport was the smallest thing I’ve ever seen. There was one little carousel for the luggage and like one rental car place. I found a taxi to the boat and enjoyed a nice ride through what my driver told me was ‘old key west.’ It was a pretty cool lookin’ neighborhood.
Getting on the ship was relatively easy. Luckily I had luggage with me and the people in charge could tell I was boarding the ship for the first time and directed me where to go. After some paper work the musical director, Will, came down to meet me and show me around. He plays keyboard and is from England. Seems like a nice guy so far… when he was showing me around the boat all I was thinking was, ‘yeah, I’m definitely gonna get lost a few times before I figure this out..’ and I did. As soon as he showed me back to my room, my roommate took me up to this place where I could get some food. He explained to me that the staff was only allowed to eat in this certain restaurant at certain times and that I should bring my food down to the crew mess hall. I found a slice of pizza and basically walked around with it for a good 10 minutes before I figured out where the hell I was. Yeah, so imagine being a guest on the ship and seeing an employee wandering around with a slice of pizza on a plate, looking completely lost. Not only did I feel like a complete idiot, but I was afraid some high ranking officer or whatever was going to see me and ask me what the hell I was doing. I did manage to find my room and just ate my pizza there instead of in the mess hall, probably breaking yet another rule.
So I hadn’t been on the ship for even an hour until we had our first rehearsal. We have two shows tonight, one at 8:30, one at 10:30 and had a quick run through at 3:45. The guys in the band seem cool from the little time I’ve interacted with them. It was a relief to finally get the horn on my face and realize that I’m going to be just fine on this stuff. I’m actually more worried about getting in trouble from breaking some silly rule than I am about screwing up my parts.
Well, I may end up writing a part 3 after the shows tonight, but right now, I gotta go get some food. Some guys from the band just stopped by my room so I’m gonna go try to sit with them while there’s still room. It get’s pretty busy in the crew mess hall from what I hear.
Laters,
James
Day 4
Sheesh. Where to begin? Guess I’ll start with the shows. Basically, they were a lot of fun. We played for an entertainer named Tia Thompson, a comedian, whose name I forget, and a little schtick the cruise director did. The music was pretty straight forward and my parts didn’t go too high (which I guess is kinda my main concern, bein’ a bass trombone player and all…) we played “I Wish” for the walk on and walk off of the comedian and it totally felt like I was in a late night show band. I didn’t have a part, though, so I had to read off the trumpet player’s music, which was luckily just a C treble clef lead sheet. I’m sure I would have been okay if I had had to transpose, just because that’s a tune I already have in my ear, but it was nice to have that added pressure. The only other difficulty I really had on the gig was seeing the MD (musical director). I sit on the end of the horn section so he’s directly down the line to my left and there’s very little room for me to move to a place where I can see him. I think I only missed one cue last night because I was able to pick up on the fact that he was watching the performers on stage, so if I did the same, I’d probably be right.
In the second show, when the comedian was kinda telling the audience about himself, he mentioned that he did his undergrad at Eau Claire. Every ounce of me wanted to scream ‘gooooo blugolds!’ making a complete ass of myself, but I refrained. I want to be myself and have a good time out here, but there’s so many f’n rules and etiquette and crap that I haven’t yet figured out what’s okay and what’s not, so my default is to just keep my head low and not attract any attention.
Now writing from a starbucks in Nassau…Gosh I hope my roommate was right about the boat leaving at 9pm….
So it looks like I get cell service here? Hmm….hopefully I’m not being charged a million dollars a minute. I best figure this out.
Ok, so after the shows I went to the crew bar to hang for a bit. I didn’t stay long cause I had to get up and be at some safety thing at 9 this morning. Safety thing basically consisted of me finding my way to this room I had been shown once, walking into this smokey office where some officer with a really thick accent of some kind made me watch a video. I now know what to do when drunk people fall overboard, which I guess is good because there are a lot of drunk people from what I’ve seen so far. One thing I hate, though, is not being able to understand all the accents. Hopefully it’ll get better the longer I’m here but it sucks to look so confused all the time and ask people to repeat themselves constantly because I couldn’t understand them.
Well, I this post has become waaaaay too long so I’m gonna stop it here. No idea when I’ll get internet again, but I’ll probably have more to say by the time that happens. Miss you all.
Love,
james
Saturday, December 15, 2007
day 1
hello from jacksonville, fl. yep. i missed the boat. the short version of the story is that i was delayed out of indianapolis and it all went downhill from there, resulting in the boat leaving without yours truly. the good news, however, is that carnival has put me up in a nice hotel and is paying for my meals until they can fly me to key west to meet up with the ship on monday.
so how's the weather down here you ask? well let me show ya...
tornado watch till 'bout 8am is what the tv says. i'm pretty beat, so i'm sure i'll just sleep right through it.
not sure what i'll be doin' tomorrow but it will probably involve tv watchin', practicing with my mute in, and wasting time on the internetz. gonna be a busy day, better get some rest.
g'nite,
james
so how's the weather down here you ask? well let me show ya...
tornado watch till 'bout 8am is what the tv says. i'm pretty beat, so i'm sure i'll just sleep right through it.
not sure what i'll be doin' tomorrow but it will probably involve tv watchin', practicing with my mute in, and wasting time on the internetz. gonna be a busy day, better get some rest.
g'nite,
james
Friday, December 14, 2007
bon voyage
welp, in about 12 hours i'll be on an airplane to jacksonville where i'll board the carnival ship 'celebration' for 2 1/2 weeks. i don't have my plane ticket yet, but they assured me it'd show up in my e-mail along with some other transportation details sometime before my 6am flight tomorrow. yeah, so right now i'm sitting in my lonely apartment in bloomington, in, blogging on my computer while some clothes dry and at this time tomorrow i'll be somewhere out in the atlantic, cruising to the bahamas...needless to say, i'm a little anxious, but excited. i've talked to a few people about the whole cruise ship experience before, but i still feel like i have no idea what to expect. if nothing else, it should make for some interesting blog topics right?
today my quartet recorded a christmas cd which we hope to give to our family members as inexpensive christmas gifts. it was a lot of fun but wore out the chops fairly quickly. we had only played some of the music before the session so after rehearsing a piece and then trying to get a couple takes of it, the face was pretty tired. hopefully it'll turn out well and i can post a track here that won't be completely embarrassing.
ok, so i gotta run to target for toothpaste and shampoo, return a movie to blockbuster (so glad the stupid film musical class is over!), put my netflix dvd in the mail, pack my clothes, tidy up the apartment, play my ultimate game at 11, and get 3 hours of sleep. no problem.
oh, and i hope you all have wonderful breaks/holidays with your families. this will be my first christmas without my family, and i'm definitely jealous of all the people that get to be with theirs.
love,
james
today my quartet recorded a christmas cd which we hope to give to our family members as inexpensive christmas gifts. it was a lot of fun but wore out the chops fairly quickly. we had only played some of the music before the session so after rehearsing a piece and then trying to get a couple takes of it, the face was pretty tired. hopefully it'll turn out well and i can post a track here that won't be completely embarrassing.
ok, so i gotta run to target for toothpaste and shampoo, return a movie to blockbuster (so glad the stupid film musical class is over!), put my netflix dvd in the mail, pack my clothes, tidy up the apartment, play my ultimate game at 11, and get 3 hours of sleep. no problem.
oh, and i hope you all have wonderful breaks/holidays with your families. this will be my first christmas without my family, and i'm definitely jealous of all the people that get to be with theirs.
love,
james
Saturday, December 01, 2007
some recent awesomeness
it was a pretty rough week for reasons i don't really feel like talkin' about, but the last two days have been f'n sweet.
last night was my first game of winter league ultimate. for those who don't know, i'm a nut for ultimate frisbee. i've always wanted to play in a league but have never had the time. well, finally my prayer was answered because there's a winter league here that plays at 9pm on friday nights at an indoor sports complex. nothin but parties on friday nights, so i can pretty much go to every game. and ya know what else? there's only one other guy in the music dept that plays and he's not on my team. i love music people, but an hour a week surrounded by nons does a body good. anyways, our first game was last night and i had a blast. the play was pretty competitive, something i'm not used to, but it's sooooooooo much fun. i suffered a minor injury when a guy i was marking pivoted and stomped on my left foot. it seemed fine during the game, but afterwards my big toe was hurtin' pretty bad. we wear cleats cause the field is this turf type surface and mine are really old and probably not protective enough. as long as i'm all good for the next game, i don't really care.
in addition to playing ultimate last night, i got to go rock climbing today. i hadn't been in quite a while, and today i realized again how awesome it is and how i need to go more often. my friend matt, who is an undergrad trombone music ed major who's starting his student teaching next semester, and i went to this indoor place called 'hoosier heights.' it was in this old steel wharehouse type building in the middle of nowhere. they don't heat the place, so it was a bit cold in there, but once you got climbing, it wasn't so bad. i started on a 5.6 (fairly easy) and then climbed a 5.7, 5.8, and a 5.9, all without falling. i basically decided i was gonna keep going up in difficulty until i got to where i couldn't get to the top without falling off the wall. i met my match on a 5.10. i think i fell off about 5 times before getting half way up. it was pretty challenging. my forearms are wicked sore right now too.
i hope you are all enjoying the snow you're receiving as i type this. i'm pretty jealous, i'm not gonna lie. those with digital cameras should probably send me pictures of it, or at least post them on facebook. i miss snow and just northern winters in general. and since i'm not gonna make it home for christmas, i could use some photographic reminders of what it looks like :-)
ok, as always, i hope you all are well.
love,
james
last night was my first game of winter league ultimate. for those who don't know, i'm a nut for ultimate frisbee. i've always wanted to play in a league but have never had the time. well, finally my prayer was answered because there's a winter league here that plays at 9pm on friday nights at an indoor sports complex. nothin but parties on friday nights, so i can pretty much go to every game. and ya know what else? there's only one other guy in the music dept that plays and he's not on my team. i love music people, but an hour a week surrounded by nons does a body good. anyways, our first game was last night and i had a blast. the play was pretty competitive, something i'm not used to, but it's sooooooooo much fun. i suffered a minor injury when a guy i was marking pivoted and stomped on my left foot. it seemed fine during the game, but afterwards my big toe was hurtin' pretty bad. we wear cleats cause the field is this turf type surface and mine are really old and probably not protective enough. as long as i'm all good for the next game, i don't really care.
in addition to playing ultimate last night, i got to go rock climbing today. i hadn't been in quite a while, and today i realized again how awesome it is and how i need to go more often. my friend matt, who is an undergrad trombone music ed major who's starting his student teaching next semester, and i went to this indoor place called 'hoosier heights.' it was in this old steel wharehouse type building in the middle of nowhere. they don't heat the place, so it was a bit cold in there, but once you got climbing, it wasn't so bad. i started on a 5.6 (fairly easy) and then climbed a 5.7, 5.8, and a 5.9, all without falling. i basically decided i was gonna keep going up in difficulty until i got to where i couldn't get to the top without falling off the wall. i met my match on a 5.10. i think i fell off about 5 times before getting half way up. it was pretty challenging. my forearms are wicked sore right now too.
i hope you are all enjoying the snow you're receiving as i type this. i'm pretty jealous, i'm not gonna lie. those with digital cameras should probably send me pictures of it, or at least post them on facebook. i miss snow and just northern winters in general. and since i'm not gonna make it home for christmas, i could use some photographic reminders of what it looks like :-)
ok, as always, i hope you all are well.
love,
james
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
back to it
thanksgiving recap:
went home to duluth
saw the fam
saw the dog
saw some snow
ate some food
the end.
it was pretty uneventful. i guess the weirdest part about it was that it was relaxing, but i didn't really feel like i needed that. when i think back on the weeks leading up to the break, i really should have needed a break, but i just didn't. instead it now feels like i was gaining momentum in a lot of things, then i had a week off, and now i feel lost. kinda like i forgot about all the things i had been working on and along with it, the motivation to work on them. hopefully it all comes back to me soon.
so i get to leave in about an hour to go get a physical. yay. i guess the cruise ships want to make sure you're healthy before you get on their disease infested ships. i'm kidding. i'm sure they're not disease infested, but the stigma is out there at least. i guess it's like how you can get sick when you fly because there's people from all over in a confined space. my dad told me that i had better get a flu shot before i leave. yeah, cause those are fun...
welp, all this writing (cause i've written so much...) has made me hungry and that leftover pizza in the fridge is calling my name so i'm gonna go shut it up.
love,
james
ps - i really need to quit eating pizza and get back to going to the gym...
went home to duluth
saw the fam
saw the dog
saw some snow
ate some food
the end.
it was pretty uneventful. i guess the weirdest part about it was that it was relaxing, but i didn't really feel like i needed that. when i think back on the weeks leading up to the break, i really should have needed a break, but i just didn't. instead it now feels like i was gaining momentum in a lot of things, then i had a week off, and now i feel lost. kinda like i forgot about all the things i had been working on and along with it, the motivation to work on them. hopefully it all comes back to me soon.
so i get to leave in about an hour to go get a physical. yay. i guess the cruise ships want to make sure you're healthy before you get on their disease infested ships. i'm kidding. i'm sure they're not disease infested, but the stigma is out there at least. i guess it's like how you can get sick when you fly because there's people from all over in a confined space. my dad told me that i had better get a flu shot before i leave. yeah, cause those are fun...
welp, all this writing (cause i've written so much...) has made me hungry and that leftover pizza in the fridge is calling my name so i'm gonna go shut it up.
love,
james
ps - i really need to quit eating pizza and get back to going to the gym...
Friday, November 16, 2007
lunch anyone?
i know this is a long shot, but i'm going to be hangin' in the mpls airport for a while on monday afternoon waiting for my dad to pick me up, so if anyone is around and wants to meet up, i'm game. i'm gonna pack as light as i can (hopefully just my horn and one suitcase) so i could possibly try finding the train that takes me to the mall of america. my flight arrives at 12:45 and my dad probably won't get there till 3ish so if you're in town and are hungry, lemmeno. otherwise, i'll probably just sit on my lappy and blog about how i wish i was having lunch with someone.
oh, and if anyone is going to be in duluth or wants to come up to visit, i'll be there till saturday. i probably can't travel too far to see people since i haven't been home since christmas and i'm not going to be home for christmas this year. mom would probably be upset if i left town. so would the dog. anyways, hit me up if ya wanna hang.
love,
james
ps - i guess it could be possible for me to grab a bite on saturday before my flight back to indiana if i got to the cities early enough. my flight is at 7 something so if that's an option for anyone, let me know :-)
oh, and if anyone is going to be in duluth or wants to come up to visit, i'll be there till saturday. i probably can't travel too far to see people since i haven't been home since christmas and i'm not going to be home for christmas this year. mom would probably be upset if i left town. so would the dog. anyways, hit me up if ya wanna hang.
love,
james
ps - i guess it could be possible for me to grab a bite on saturday before my flight back to indiana if i got to the cities early enough. my flight is at 7 something so if that's an option for anyone, let me know :-)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
whoops
i think i mentioned in an earlier post that i'd be taking an audition for carnival cruise lines and possibly sailing over my winter break. well, that audition happened today, and i must say, i'm quite embarassed. basically what happened was i played about as well as an 8th grade girl and they offered me a job. colin won't tell you how bad it was because he's a nice guy, but it was bad. they e-mailed me the music an hour before the audition and i practiced it and got some of it sounding okay, but by the time they called, i was a little fatigued and hadn't gotten some of the high stuff worked out. when i was playing i was missing a lot of partials and when that happens, there really isn't much you can do to get the notes and rhythms. i think i'm sailing on the carnival ship 'pride' from dec. 17 - 30 or something like that, which, according to their website, travels from la to the mexican riviera and back.. i don't have a contract or anything but i think that's what he told me. anyways, i've got a hella ton of work to do before i fly out for this thing. i know it's a heavy reading gig and i seriously have to get my act together in order to not be fired. colin told me afterwards that i probably would have played a little better on my bass (and i think he's right), but still, that sh*t was unacceptable.
speakin' of gettin' it together, i really should head off to practiceland. i'm reading some quartets tomorrow morning with ellefson (one of the trombone profs), a doctoral student, and another masters student and i know some of the music is written in tenor clef for me. note: don't write tenor clef for bass trombone players because we don't like it. damn you telemann.
alwighty... hope you all are well and happy.
love,
james
ps - did i really just say colin was a nice guy???
speakin' of gettin' it together, i really should head off to practiceland. i'm reading some quartets tomorrow morning with ellefson (one of the trombone profs), a doctoral student, and another masters student and i know some of the music is written in tenor clef for me. note: don't write tenor clef for bass trombone players because we don't like it. damn you telemann.
alwighty... hope you all are well and happy.
love,
james
ps - did i really just say colin was a nice guy???
Thursday, November 08, 2007
ya know what's annoying?
so i get up this morning and hop in the shower, only to realize that the new bottle of shampoo i bought was actually a bottle of conditioner disguised as a bottle of shampoo. f.
oh well. happy thursday everyone.
love,
james
ps - colin, i used your shampoo this morning.
oh well. happy thursday everyone.
love,
james
ps - colin, i used your shampoo this morning.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
gene kelley gets funky
i posted this vid on facebook, but it's so friggen sweet, it bears repeating on the ol' blog.
oh, and if you haven't seen the original, it's f'n amazing. so go find it.
anyways, i haven't written in a few days so i figured it's time to give the people what they want. let's see, what's new?
this friday colin and i will be going to chicago for a blues/blackhawks game. i'm really looking forward to it. not only do i get to leave b-town for a bit, but i get to road trip it with my favorite boy and see a sweet hockey game. i haven't been to a hockey game probably since high school, which is completely unacceptable. i only wish a decent team were playing, like detroit, but oh well.
also looking ahead, i've got an audition coming up with carnival cruise lines next wednesday. i'm hopin' all goes well because it'd be nice to try something like that. i mean, it 100% blows that i wouldn't get to spend christmas with my family (and my dog :-( ) but i need to make some money, play my horn, and put myself back in a situation out of my comfort zone. wish me luck!
i guess that's about it in the world of james for now. school is going well and if i can just get my butt back to the gym, i will have recovered from my insane week of recitals/concerts.
hope ya enjoyed the vid, and until next time, refrigerators, bunny rabbits, and coffee beans!
love,
james
oh, and if you haven't seen the original, it's f'n amazing. so go find it.
anyways, i haven't written in a few days so i figured it's time to give the people what they want. let's see, what's new?
this friday colin and i will be going to chicago for a blues/blackhawks game. i'm really looking forward to it. not only do i get to leave b-town for a bit, but i get to road trip it with my favorite boy and see a sweet hockey game. i haven't been to a hockey game probably since high school, which is completely unacceptable. i only wish a decent team were playing, like detroit, but oh well.
also looking ahead, i've got an audition coming up with carnival cruise lines next wednesday. i'm hopin' all goes well because it'd be nice to try something like that. i mean, it 100% blows that i wouldn't get to spend christmas with my family (and my dog :-( ) but i need to make some money, play my horn, and put myself back in a situation out of my comfort zone. wish me luck!
i guess that's about it in the world of james for now. school is going well and if i can just get my butt back to the gym, i will have recovered from my insane week of recitals/concerts.
hope ya enjoyed the vid, and until next time, refrigerators, bunny rabbits, and coffee beans!
love,
james
Friday, November 02, 2007
thewheelsonthebusgoroundandround
feelin' a lil better today. last night was round one of the concerto competition and i was really happy with my performance. i didn't advance, and i didn't even get 'honorable mention' but i dunno, i guess it doesn't even bother me because of how great it felt to play the way i did. it was for sure the best performance since i've been here and it's not even close. the nerves decided they were gonna stay home and watch 1930s musicals while eating cucumbers and banana bread instead of come to the performance class and mess with my head. for that, i thank them. as for not advancing or even getting the slightest hint of recognition for playing well, i just don't give a damn. i know i played the hell out of that concerto and i had fun doing it and that's really all that matters. can i play it better in the future? sure. but last night i exceeded my own expectations and it feels awesome. so yay.
why else do i feel better today? because its as;ldkfj'n friday! i'm pretty sure friday was the best day ever invented and mr. friday should get honorable mention for thinking it up. i just got back from my only class of the day and the only thing i have to do tonight is play at my teacher's recital. when i got back from class i tried to wake colin up to go to bob evans but he wouldn't budge. colin, you suck. i'm hungry and you need to wake up. it's f'n 11am and my belly wants a delicious bob evans omelette and you are depriving it. congratulations jerk. i hope you're having an awful dream with lots of bears attacking you.
i'm just kidding. but not really.
okay, i guess i'm gonna go make some oatmeal and watch the new episode of the office on my lappy. happy friday everyone.
love,
semaj
why else do i feel better today? because its as;ldkfj'n friday! i'm pretty sure friday was the best day ever invented and mr. friday should get honorable mention for thinking it up. i just got back from my only class of the day and the only thing i have to do tonight is play at my teacher's recital. when i got back from class i tried to wake colin up to go to bob evans but he wouldn't budge. colin, you suck. i'm hungry and you need to wake up. it's f'n 11am and my belly wants a delicious bob evans omelette and you are depriving it. congratulations jerk. i hope you're having an awful dream with lots of bears attacking you.
i'm just kidding. but not really.
okay, i guess i'm gonna go make some oatmeal and watch the new episode of the office on my lappy. happy friday everyone.
love,
semaj
Thursday, November 01, 2007
if you're gonna spew, spew into this
warning, this post will probably contain nothing positive.
you know you're having a rough day when it feels like your stupid internet blog is your best friend. i remember back in high school when i had an amazing friend, matt, who i could tell anything to and he always could either cheer me up or at least sympathize in a way that made me feel okay about whatever it was that was bothering me. between him and the girl that i was dating at the time, i was never without someone i could talk to.
things seem quite different now. i definitely feel like i'm all on my own. i know i have friends, and i know a lot of them care about me very much and if i told them i really needed someone to talk to they'd be there for me. i guess it's just those rare people that have a way of making you not ask for someone to talk to that i'm missing right now. like my blog. my blog isn't asking me if i need someone to talk to. somehow, it just knows that today is not james' happiest day ever and it's gonna let me spew all my problems onto it without making me feel bad about spewing.
i mentioned the other day that my horn is no longer doin' it for me. well, my teacher reminded me of that again today during a dress rehearsal we were having for his recital. colin and many others have said it as well that i sound so much better on this other horn was playing. if i wanted to put a positive spin on it, i would say that it's a good thing that i can sound much better by simply playing a different piece of equipment. the negative side, and the more daunting side of this whole problem, is that i seriously have no money for a new horn. new bass trombones are upwards of $5000. if i sold my car and my current horn it would still not cover the cost of a new instrument. so, it's not like i'm helpless right? i just need to find a way to afford this. yeah, but the hard part of this is that everyday i don't have the money for a new horn, i'm playing on my current one, knowing i could sound better on something else. and not only do i know it, but so do the people listening to me. it's hard to play music with those thoughts going through my head and it's hard to get those thoughts out of my head. alsdkfj;asdlkfja;lfkj
yeah, so, i'm pretty realistic about life and i know that music isn't everything, so obviously i'm not going to let that whole thing bring me down everyday on it's own. other things have been eating away at me too.
i really just need to go play frisbee or take a walk or something...
thanks for reading.
love,
james
you know you're having a rough day when it feels like your stupid internet blog is your best friend. i remember back in high school when i had an amazing friend, matt, who i could tell anything to and he always could either cheer me up or at least sympathize in a way that made me feel okay about whatever it was that was bothering me. between him and the girl that i was dating at the time, i was never without someone i could talk to.
things seem quite different now. i definitely feel like i'm all on my own. i know i have friends, and i know a lot of them care about me very much and if i told them i really needed someone to talk to they'd be there for me. i guess it's just those rare people that have a way of making you not ask for someone to talk to that i'm missing right now. like my blog. my blog isn't asking me if i need someone to talk to. somehow, it just knows that today is not james' happiest day ever and it's gonna let me spew all my problems onto it without making me feel bad about spewing.
i mentioned the other day that my horn is no longer doin' it for me. well, my teacher reminded me of that again today during a dress rehearsal we were having for his recital. colin and many others have said it as well that i sound so much better on this other horn was playing. if i wanted to put a positive spin on it, i would say that it's a good thing that i can sound much better by simply playing a different piece of equipment. the negative side, and the more daunting side of this whole problem, is that i seriously have no money for a new horn. new bass trombones are upwards of $5000. if i sold my car and my current horn it would still not cover the cost of a new instrument. so, it's not like i'm helpless right? i just need to find a way to afford this. yeah, but the hard part of this is that everyday i don't have the money for a new horn, i'm playing on my current one, knowing i could sound better on something else. and not only do i know it, but so do the people listening to me. it's hard to play music with those thoughts going through my head and it's hard to get those thoughts out of my head. alsdkfj;asdlkfja;lfkj
yeah, so, i'm pretty realistic about life and i know that music isn't everything, so obviously i'm not going to let that whole thing bring me down everyday on it's own. other things have been eating away at me too.
i really just need to go play frisbee or take a walk or something...
thanks for reading.
love,
james
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
i think it's a joke...
so i just got done with my presentation in that film class. the teacher loved it, or so it seemed. and ya know what i did to prepare for it? hardly a thing. i went to bed last night early (12:30, which is early for me) because i was pretty tired having only watched the movie and done nothing else in preparation. so i set my alarm for 5:30 so i could wake up and figure something out. well, i snoozed it until about 7:30 (class was at 9:30), took a shower, sat down at the ol' keyboard, turned the movie on, quickly transcribed the melody of 'honeymoon hotel' from busby berkley's 'footlight parade' and decided i was going to talk about how the song could pretty much serve any kind of spectacle you wanted to put on the screen. it really has no defining melodic or harmonic movement or rhythmic characteristics but serves really well as 'scaffolding' for which pretty much anything can be built on top of. i thought it was a pretty bs point but the prof liked it so that's all that matters. seems like the less effort i put in, the better grade i'll get. fantastic. (i actually think it's sad)
anyways, i really don't have time to be writing right now. i really need to practice my concerto competition piece before my orchestra rehearsal cause immediately after that i'm rehearsing with my pianist. and immediately after that i'm going to a concert, then to a help session for my improv class which gets me to 10:30 and the day is over. tomorrow is no better. neither is thursday. a;lsdfjkals;dkfj
hopefully you all aren't as busy as me this week, cause it's bummin' me out. if you are, then yay, we can commiserate together. have a good week!
love,
james
anyways, i really don't have time to be writing right now. i really need to practice my concerto competition piece before my orchestra rehearsal cause immediately after that i'm rehearsing with my pianist. and immediately after that i'm going to a concert, then to a help session for my improv class which gets me to 10:30 and the day is over. tomorrow is no better. neither is thursday. a;lsdfjkals;dkfj
hopefully you all aren't as busy as me this week, cause it's bummin' me out. if you are, then yay, we can commiserate together. have a good week!
love,
james
Saturday, October 27, 2007
who are you people?
remember that time when i was a freshman and i thought i knew everything? like how i thought edwards bass trombones were the best horns out there and absolutely nothing would sound better than them? yeah, well, turns out my horn sucks and it's taken me this long to realize it. basically, the gist of the story is that i sent my horn out for repairs and while it was away, i played one of the school's instruments and found out it was better than mine. i sent mine away because my valves leaked and my slide wasn't so great. while it was gone, i played on the conn 62h that the school owns. at this time, my lessons started going really well and my playing was improving. many people were telling my that they were noticing a huge improvement (and most of them didn't even realize i was playing a different horn). my horn finally came back and i was anxious to figure out if i was actually improving or if the school horn was the reason i was sounding better. to my sadness, it was, in fact, the horn. i guess i should have prefaced this by saying that i'm a firm believer that the instrument doesn't make the musician. i by no means blame my instrument for holding me back or anything stupid like that, but wow, is there a difference between these two instruments. and ya know what really sucks? i have no money to spend on a new trombone. time to save my pennies i guess... if any of you win the lottery and have a soft spot in your heart for the bass trombone, lemmeno.
ok, end trombone talk.
time to tell you about that time strangers came into our apartment...
(so) i got back to the apartment after going to the gym today and i was in the kitchen makin' my protein shake (yummy!) and i noticed a car out in the parking lot that i didn't recognize with two women in it. i say i didn't recognize it bc our parking lot is really small and all the cars look familiar now. anyways, they were looking up at me through the window so i kinda stepped behind the refrigerator as i was not wearing a shirt. why wasn't i wearing a shirt you ask? because i had just gotten done at the gym and i like to take it off and admire how huge my muscles are after working out, obviously. actually, the real reason is because it was a lil warm in the apartment and i was about to take a shower. but i digress. after getting out of view of the window i hear a knock at the door. i have no shirt on and colin is sitting at the table in his boxers (yeah, come visit us sometime...) so i yell, 'be right there,' run to my room, grab a shirt, and open the door to find a lady who seems just a bit younger than my mom standing there. she explains to me that she used to live in this apartment like 15 years ago and was wondering if her and her friend (who was her roommate in this apartment) could come in and see the place. awkward, but, okay, whatevs. so they come in and are lookin around and talkin' about how the carpet was new when they lived here because they did something to the old floor and how there used to be a really bad cockroach problem and yadda yadda. then, they go into my room... at this point, it hits me, what the f is going on? colin is still sitting at the table in his boxers and i'm in the kitchen and there are two middle aged women in my bedroom. then it gets interesting when one of them starts talking about what she did in that bedroom, which then prompts the other to start talking about what (and by what, i mean whom) she did in colin's bedroom. after a few awkward laughs they realize how creepy they are being and leave. congratulations bloomington. just when i thought the weirdness was coming to end you send those people to our door. awesome.
i'm sure colin will tell you all about it from his point of view in his blog.
ok, i'm done now. and what have you learned from all of this? hopefully nothing.
love,
james
ok, end trombone talk.
time to tell you about that time strangers came into our apartment...
(so) i got back to the apartment after going to the gym today and i was in the kitchen makin' my protein shake (yummy!) and i noticed a car out in the parking lot that i didn't recognize with two women in it. i say i didn't recognize it bc our parking lot is really small and all the cars look familiar now. anyways, they were looking up at me through the window so i kinda stepped behind the refrigerator as i was not wearing a shirt. why wasn't i wearing a shirt you ask? because i had just gotten done at the gym and i like to take it off and admire how huge my muscles are after working out, obviously. actually, the real reason is because it was a lil warm in the apartment and i was about to take a shower. but i digress. after getting out of view of the window i hear a knock at the door. i have no shirt on and colin is sitting at the table in his boxers (yeah, come visit us sometime...) so i yell, 'be right there,' run to my room, grab a shirt, and open the door to find a lady who seems just a bit younger than my mom standing there. she explains to me that she used to live in this apartment like 15 years ago and was wondering if her and her friend (who was her roommate in this apartment) could come in and see the place. awkward, but, okay, whatevs. so they come in and are lookin around and talkin' about how the carpet was new when they lived here because they did something to the old floor and how there used to be a really bad cockroach problem and yadda yadda. then, they go into my room... at this point, it hits me, what the f is going on? colin is still sitting at the table in his boxers and i'm in the kitchen and there are two middle aged women in my bedroom. then it gets interesting when one of them starts talking about what she did in that bedroom, which then prompts the other to start talking about what (and by what, i mean whom) she did in colin's bedroom. after a few awkward laughs they realize how creepy they are being and leave. congratulations bloomington. just when i thought the weirdness was coming to end you send those people to our door. awesome.
i'm sure colin will tell you all about it from his point of view in his blog.
ok, i'm done now. and what have you learned from all of this? hopefully nothing.
love,
james
Friday, October 26, 2007
thesis? who needs it?
so i just got done reading the 'model paper' my professor posted for us all to read. definitely no thesis in that opening paragraph. i dunno, i could go on about what i thought of it but what good does that do anyone? probably none. i'm not the quitter type, but i think i'm gonna surrender and do the educational thing and just kiss ass more in this class. i clearly wasted a copious amount of time studying the score in the library, doing research, and thinking about my paper way too much. i have a feeling i also wasted quite a bit of time preparing for my presentation, so i'm done doin' that. for the remainder of the semester, every ounce of effort for this class will come straight out of my ass in the form of bull shit. wait, that'd have to come out of a bull's ass wouldn't it. damn. i lose again.
well, what do you want to hear about now? hmm...
oh, i know, you want to hear all about how much ass i kicked in sight singing today. yeah, i got done singing this thing all by myself and the teacher literally stood up from the piano, threw his arms in the air, and cheered. yeah. i rule. oh, and it wasn't because it was the first time i sang something correctly but because i was the first person in 5 groups he had already heard that morning that sang it right. so go me. does that sound braggy? i hope so, because it's supposed to. i'm the f'n man. actually, if i was the f'n man, i would have passed the entrance exam in the first place. whoops.
ok, i've got a rehearsal in half an hour followed by another rehearsal after that with some super famous conductor fella. his name is herbert blomstedt and i think he conducted san francisco at one time. he's supposed to be amazing so i'm looking forward to it. i love brahms 2 as well so it should be fun as long as the strings don't decide to be bishes.
hope all is well with y'all.
love,
james
well, what do you want to hear about now? hmm...
oh, i know, you want to hear all about how much ass i kicked in sight singing today. yeah, i got done singing this thing all by myself and the teacher literally stood up from the piano, threw his arms in the air, and cheered. yeah. i rule. oh, and it wasn't because it was the first time i sang something correctly but because i was the first person in 5 groups he had already heard that morning that sang it right. so go me. does that sound braggy? i hope so, because it's supposed to. i'm the f'n man. actually, if i was the f'n man, i would have passed the entrance exam in the first place. whoops.
ok, i've got a rehearsal in half an hour followed by another rehearsal after that with some super famous conductor fella. his name is herbert blomstedt and i think he conducted san francisco at one time. he's supposed to be amazing so i'm looking forward to it. i love brahms 2 as well so it should be fun as long as the strings don't decide to be bishes.
hope all is well with y'all.
love,
james
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
a quick one before i go to the gym (that's what she said)
ok, i just felt like writing something real quick before i scamper off to the gym. my goal for this workout session will be to release some aggression i'm feeling towards one of my professors. basically, i just got back from a 'how are you doing in my class' one on one meeting/session thinger and i'm quite frustrated with the way he interpreted my midterm paper. you see, i'm not a schooly, and typically i don't get upset about grades or anything (i'm actually not upset about the grade he gave me), but the way he's been running the class preceeds my being frustrated today. having spent 3 semesters with dr. peters, i feel like i have a pretty good grasp of how a paper should be written. the way i remember it, you're supposed to make an opening thesis and hint at how you plan on backing this thesis up. then you make your points in a logical order and recap what your original point was. well, apparently they don't do it that way in canada (which is where he's from) because he complained that i just wrote a bunch of paragraphs each with a separate point (which all served to back up my thesis) instead of, i dunno, rambling incessantly? my favorite part of our 'talk' was when he said 'for example, you give a great analysis of the music in your first two pages, but my question for you is, so what?' so what? (he actually wrote 'so what' on my paper) did you read the rest of the paper mr. canadian professor man? did you read my opening thesis? if you did then you'd know so what. as;dlfkjasd;lfkj
he plans on posting a couple of the papers that he thought were really good. i really don't mean to be cocky or anything when i say this, but i really think colin and i are two of the more intelligent people in this class (which i guess isn't saying much) so i really look forward to reading these.
oh yeah, and how do you give a paper that doesn't make a point a B+ anyways? silly canucks!
end rant. begin workout.
love,
james
ps - i really don't hate canadians. just professors who are vague.
he plans on posting a couple of the papers that he thought were really good. i really don't mean to be cocky or anything when i say this, but i really think colin and i are two of the more intelligent people in this class (which i guess isn't saying much) so i really look forward to reading these.
oh yeah, and how do you give a paper that doesn't make a point a B+ anyways? silly canucks!
end rant. begin workout.
love,
james
ps - i really don't hate canadians. just professors who are vague.
Monday, October 22, 2007
helwo blog
welp, i think i'm gonna start spendin' some time on the blog and less time on the book of faces. seriously though, where did they get the name 'facebook?' i understand that people put pictures of themselves on their profiles and it's common for that picture to focus mostly on your face since it's not that big, but 'facebook?' sounds like it could be the title of some really creepy scary movie where the villain makes a book out of people's faces. or maybe that'd be a comedy? like, you walk into a room and all of a sudden your face turns into a book. i wonder what book my face would turn into... it'd probably turn into a blazhevich or similar etude book. how depressing.
anyways, yeah, facebook is getting old for me. i think i've tried many times to return to more substantial means of communication, such as telephone, e-mails, and actual hand written letters (i know, i know, i still owe you a letter hayley), but i'm gonna try even harder this time. i just think it'd be a lot more interesting to hear how a dude is doing from the actual dude himself. ok, for atleast the rest of this month, i'm not going to login to bookface unless someone has sent me a message of some kind. and if you decide to be a smartass and send me a message just to make me login, i'll probably just ignore you and not give you the pleasure of knowing you got me really really good. on the other hand, if you send me a message by other means, i'll probably think you're really cool and respond letting you know how cool you really are. deal? deal.
guess what. i just realized that i've written two paragraphs already and haven't started a single sentence with the word 'so.' i'm awesome. oh, and pat, i'm fully aware that i don't capitalize. i find it unnecessary and even uncool. if you want to be really cool, you need to rely less on capital letters and more on correct punctuation and sentence structure. you also have to rely on liking things such as turtles and cows, both of which i find to be amazing creatures.
ok, let's recap -
things that suck = spaceface, capital letters, and movies made about said spaceface.
things that rule = phone calls, e-mails, letters, non-capital letters, turtles, & cows.
got it? good.
with much sweetness and love,
james
post scriptum: is there something out there that automatically lets you know when i've updated my blog? i mean, really, i haven't written in this thing in months and i get 3 comments the next day. how's that happen?
anyways, yeah, facebook is getting old for me. i think i've tried many times to return to more substantial means of communication, such as telephone, e-mails, and actual hand written letters (i know, i know, i still owe you a letter hayley), but i'm gonna try even harder this time. i just think it'd be a lot more interesting to hear how a dude is doing from the actual dude himself. ok, for atleast the rest of this month, i'm not going to login to bookface unless someone has sent me a message of some kind. and if you decide to be a smartass and send me a message just to make me login, i'll probably just ignore you and not give you the pleasure of knowing you got me really really good. on the other hand, if you send me a message by other means, i'll probably think you're really cool and respond letting you know how cool you really are. deal? deal.
guess what. i just realized that i've written two paragraphs already and haven't started a single sentence with the word 'so.' i'm awesome. oh, and pat, i'm fully aware that i don't capitalize. i find it unnecessary and even uncool. if you want to be really cool, you need to rely less on capital letters and more on correct punctuation and sentence structure. you also have to rely on liking things such as turtles and cows, both of which i find to be amazing creatures.
ok, let's recap -
things that suck = spaceface, capital letters, and movies made about said spaceface.
things that rule = phone calls, e-mails, letters, non-capital letters, turtles, & cows.
got it? good.
with much sweetness and love,
james
post scriptum: is there something out there that automatically lets you know when i've updated my blog? i mean, really, i haven't written in this thing in months and i get 3 comments the next day. how's that happen?
Saturday, October 20, 2007
a homecoming miracle
so i've taken a few hiatuses from this blog and every time i come back i say something like 'so it's been a while since i've posted' and then give some stupid update trying to recap everything that's happened since i posted last. well, i'm a graduate student now, so i'm gonna up my standards and write a better 'first post in 9 months' post and just pretend like i never quit writing. you can help by leaving comments that have nothing to do with the fact that i haven't written in this thing in forever. comments like 'glad you're writing again' or 'hey james, it's good to see you back on the blog train' are highly discouraged. in fact, you're gonna get negative points if you do such a thing. you've been warned.
so this weekend is homecoming weekend at IU and let me tell ya, it's been a special one. last night the girl (colin) and i went to this sweet irish pub called 'the irish lion' and drank the beers with some of the cooler undergrad trombone students here. i had two half yards of newcastle, an irish car bomb, and two bowls of coddle. it was amazing. when i got home i ate a cookie and passed out watching the new episode of the office. i hope they go back to making fun of dwight soon instead of making us feel sorry for him.
anyways, after a rehearsal this morning, i'm back at the apartment layin on the couch with all the windows in the apartment open because it was so amazing outside doin' random crap on my laptop when i hear this dude outside yelling. i look out and he's standing just across the street screaming into his cell phone. i quickly alerted colin, who instinctively grabbed his camera. the rest can be seen here.
warning: if profane langauge offends you, or you are in a place that profane langauge shouldn't be heard, don't press the play button. otherwise, enjoy the hilarity.
good stuff huh? i gotta be honest, it's a pretty standard occurrence down here to see people being so awesome at life. i guess maybe i feel sorry for him just a little bit, but c'mon man, if you've got problems, maybe the best place to solve them isn't outside the apartment of colin and james.
as i write about all the excellence down here i can hear cars racing around outside. so many winners.
yeah, so there ya have it. another post to the ol' blog. i'd tell you that i plan to write more often but that would mean admitting that i haven't written in a long time which totally goes against what i talked about earlier.
so tomorrow = 3 rehearsals and a concert. thank you sunday, for being just another busy day in my week. you rule. i do get to play brahms 2 and la gazza ladra though. that'll be fun. guess i should think about gettin' some sleep, though.
thanks for reading.
love,
james
post scriptum: the goal for my next post is to not start any sentence with the word "so." i can do better. i will do better.
so this weekend is homecoming weekend at IU and let me tell ya, it's been a special one. last night the girl (colin) and i went to this sweet irish pub called 'the irish lion' and drank the beers with some of the cooler undergrad trombone students here. i had two half yards of newcastle, an irish car bomb, and two bowls of coddle. it was amazing. when i got home i ate a cookie and passed out watching the new episode of the office. i hope they go back to making fun of dwight soon instead of making us feel sorry for him.
anyways, after a rehearsal this morning, i'm back at the apartment layin on the couch with all the windows in the apartment open because it was so amazing outside doin' random crap on my laptop when i hear this dude outside yelling. i look out and he's standing just across the street screaming into his cell phone. i quickly alerted colin, who instinctively grabbed his camera. the rest can be seen here.
warning: if profane langauge offends you, or you are in a place that profane langauge shouldn't be heard, don't press the play button. otherwise, enjoy the hilarity.
good stuff huh? i gotta be honest, it's a pretty standard occurrence down here to see people being so awesome at life. i guess maybe i feel sorry for him just a little bit, but c'mon man, if you've got problems, maybe the best place to solve them isn't outside the apartment of colin and james.
as i write about all the excellence down here i can hear cars racing around outside. so many winners.
yeah, so there ya have it. another post to the ol' blog. i'd tell you that i plan to write more often but that would mean admitting that i haven't written in a long time which totally goes against what i talked about earlier.
so tomorrow = 3 rehearsals and a concert. thank you sunday, for being just another busy day in my week. you rule. i do get to play brahms 2 and la gazza ladra though. that'll be fun. guess i should think about gettin' some sleep, though.
thanks for reading.
love,
james
post scriptum: the goal for my next post is to not start any sentence with the word "so." i can do better. i will do better.
Monday, April 09, 2007
read this
it's long, and i was just about ready to pass out for the night, exhausted by one of my longest mondays ever, but, i couldn't stop reading this article. it's beautiful.
Pearls Before Breakfast
Can one of the nation's greatest musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10
Pearls Before Breakfast
Can one of the nation's greatest musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
news release
i'll be in the cities this weekend for a gig at the Church of the Annunciation Catholic Church in south minneapolis. i have a 7:30p performance on saturday night and a 9a performance sunday morning. i'll be getting in sometime friday night, most likely late, but will have some time saturday before the gig for breakfast, lunch, coffee (cept i'll drink chai or hot chocolate cause coffee is gross) or maybe a drink and a game of darts. shoot an e-mail, call, text, leave a comment, or send up smoke signals if you're intersted in hangin' at all.
love,
james
love,
james
Saturday, March 31, 2007
why hasn't james written in so long?
i dunno. just haven't been feelin' it lately i guess.
things have been really good here lately, minus that one day my car was stolen... jk, it was only mistakenly towed. yeah...remember that time i didn't notice that my car was missing for an entire week? pretty scary. apparently the dudes in charge of towing non-permitted cars out of our lot didn't see my permit clearly displayed in my windshield and towed my car 5 miles out of town where it sat for an entire week without my knowing.
wow, i didn't see this post starting out like that...weird. anyways, things have been good here. my bone playing is FINALLY improving and i FINALLY have figured out what Prof. Lenthe has been trying to get me to do all year long. it had been a long time since i had been stuck in a rut like that and the feeling that i am slowly climbing out of it is a huge relief. i'm sure that someday i'll look back and recognize that it was a pivotal point in my playing career because things are coming to me so easily now after wrapping my mind around the one concept he was trying to make me understand and employ. i still have a long ways to go, but the feeling of the tiniest bit of progress is a good one.
so the weather has been amazing these last two weeks. i don't think it has failed to get up to 70 degrees yet. i'm a northerner, and enjoy the cooler weather, but i gotta admit, this is nice too. i didn't know that trees could bloom before the end of march. amazing! with nice weather comes lots of other nice things too....like ultimate frisbee. i've played two games so far and will probably play again tomorrow. it's mostly music students that play, but the cool thing is that we barely talk music at all. there are some good players and we usually talk about frisbee or other random stuff. my ai for my aural theory class plays and after playing last sunday, he decided to kick off class on tuesday morning by excitedly telling everyone how great of an ultimate frisbee player he thought i was and how he thought i schooled everyone. i was laughing pretty hard as half the class probably didn't even know what ultimate frisbee was and the other half didn't care. he's a funny guy.
last night i organized a trip out to the movie theatre to see blades of glory, the new will ferrell movie. there were about 9 of us that went and we had an amazing time. the movie was hilarious. more hilarious, however, were the times that the high school girls sitting behind us would sigh during what was supposed to be a sad part, or would gasp as someone was about to get hurt. colin and i were laughing our asses off as the rest of the theatre was pretty quiet, which only made me laugh more. i was pretty tired from laughing so much once it was all over. if you like will ferrell like i do, you'll love the movie. if you're not a fan, it's probably not worth going to in the theatre.
ok, i think i'm done rambling for a while. i have a recital to go to in an hour and i should get some practice time in. can't promise that i'll write anytime soon, but we'll see.
love,
james
things have been really good here lately, minus that one day my car was stolen... jk, it was only mistakenly towed. yeah...remember that time i didn't notice that my car was missing for an entire week? pretty scary. apparently the dudes in charge of towing non-permitted cars out of our lot didn't see my permit clearly displayed in my windshield and towed my car 5 miles out of town where it sat for an entire week without my knowing.
wow, i didn't see this post starting out like that...weird. anyways, things have been good here. my bone playing is FINALLY improving and i FINALLY have figured out what Prof. Lenthe has been trying to get me to do all year long. it had been a long time since i had been stuck in a rut like that and the feeling that i am slowly climbing out of it is a huge relief. i'm sure that someday i'll look back and recognize that it was a pivotal point in my playing career because things are coming to me so easily now after wrapping my mind around the one concept he was trying to make me understand and employ. i still have a long ways to go, but the feeling of the tiniest bit of progress is a good one.
so the weather has been amazing these last two weeks. i don't think it has failed to get up to 70 degrees yet. i'm a northerner, and enjoy the cooler weather, but i gotta admit, this is nice too. i didn't know that trees could bloom before the end of march. amazing! with nice weather comes lots of other nice things too....like ultimate frisbee. i've played two games so far and will probably play again tomorrow. it's mostly music students that play, but the cool thing is that we barely talk music at all. there are some good players and we usually talk about frisbee or other random stuff. my ai for my aural theory class plays and after playing last sunday, he decided to kick off class on tuesday morning by excitedly telling everyone how great of an ultimate frisbee player he thought i was and how he thought i schooled everyone. i was laughing pretty hard as half the class probably didn't even know what ultimate frisbee was and the other half didn't care. he's a funny guy.
last night i organized a trip out to the movie theatre to see blades of glory, the new will ferrell movie. there were about 9 of us that went and we had an amazing time. the movie was hilarious. more hilarious, however, were the times that the high school girls sitting behind us would sigh during what was supposed to be a sad part, or would gasp as someone was about to get hurt. colin and i were laughing our asses off as the rest of the theatre was pretty quiet, which only made me laugh more. i was pretty tired from laughing so much once it was all over. if you like will ferrell like i do, you'll love the movie. if you're not a fan, it's probably not worth going to in the theatre.
ok, i think i'm done rambling for a while. i have a recital to go to in an hour and i should get some practice time in. can't promise that i'll write anytime soon, but we'll see.
love,
james
Saturday, February 17, 2007
random stuff
so if you're at all curious about the kind of experiences colin and i are getting down here, i found a podcast from an opera i performed in last semester. the opera was humperdinck's 'hansel and gretel' and the podcast is from act ii. it's pretty easy to download and the quality is really good. here's the link to get you started; http://www.music.indiana.edu/iumusiclive/authorize/podcasts.shtml
if you get a chance to check it out, be sure to post a comment and let me know what you think. i think there are a couple spots where yours truly can be heard in the bone section :-) the singers are really good and the scenery is amazing. i really think you'll enjoy it.
what else to talk about?
colin and i are planning a trip to nyc for spring break (we'll be travelling from mar 9th-14th). if you're free you're welcome to tag along :-) i think we're going to try to check out a couple club dates and maybe a broadway show. if spamalot is still running that's probably what we'll do. whoa...i just had an amazing idea...as soon as i'm done typing this i'm going to see if conan will be taping at all that week. i looked at the ny phil calendar and it looks like they're just doing some crappy pops concert. i'm going to find out what the philadelphia orchestra is playing and see if there is some cheap form of transportation to get down there. you see, the main point of this trip is to get the hell out of dodge and get inspired (atleast that's why i'm doing it...guess i shouldn't speak for colin). ofcourse i'm going to try to spend some time with george flynn while i'm there too if he's in town. i e-mailed john rojak (teacher at julliard and bad ass bass trombone soloist) and it seems as though i've picked the worst week to get a lesson with him, which is a damn shame. i respect that man's playing so much, and he's a good teacher too. there's a shred of hope, though, as he said that 'maybe' he'll be around on the 12th. i'm going to cross my fingers.
another nice thing about this trip will be that i get to see my girlfriend for a couple hours. yes, i know, this is the first time i've made mention, but i assumed a lot of people already knew. but, incase you didn't, her name is katelyn and she's one of the coolest girls i know. only problem is that she's currently dancing on holland america's ms noordam so i basically never get to see her. she'll be in port on the 10th. if you're going to die of curiousity, i think there are a couple pictures of us on facebook. she's pretty :-)
academically things are going very well. so far in my music history class i have two As on my quizzes and a B+ in the books for my first test. i didn't get off to this good of a start by this time last semester so i think this will make the remainder of the semester a little less stressful. i plan on getting an A on my quiz on monday as well. aural theory is going well and i don't think i've gotten anything less than a B on any quiz or test there either.
trombone is going well. my lessons are usually pretty intense, but that's why i'm here so it's a good thing. i just got involved in a trombone trio that i think is going to meet twice a week. if you didn't already know this, chamber playing is one of the greatest things you can do to help your playing as an instrumentalist. i'm excited.
tomorrow i'm playing 2nd trombone on igor stravinsky's mass. it's a really interesting piece written for choir, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 oboes, 1 english horn, and 2 bassoons. it's typical stravinksy with lots of 'crunchy' harmonies with the occasional P5 thrown in here and there. we've had two rehearsals on it and will perform it tomorrow night. i love the way things get rehearsed around here!
well, i'll quit the rambling now. remember to leave some comments if you get to check out the podcast.
love,
james
if you get a chance to check it out, be sure to post a comment and let me know what you think. i think there are a couple spots where yours truly can be heard in the bone section :-) the singers are really good and the scenery is amazing. i really think you'll enjoy it.
what else to talk about?
colin and i are planning a trip to nyc for spring break (we'll be travelling from mar 9th-14th). if you're free you're welcome to tag along :-) i think we're going to try to check out a couple club dates and maybe a broadway show. if spamalot is still running that's probably what we'll do. whoa...i just had an amazing idea...as soon as i'm done typing this i'm going to see if conan will be taping at all that week. i looked at the ny phil calendar and it looks like they're just doing some crappy pops concert. i'm going to find out what the philadelphia orchestra is playing and see if there is some cheap form of transportation to get down there. you see, the main point of this trip is to get the hell out of dodge and get inspired (atleast that's why i'm doing it...guess i shouldn't speak for colin). ofcourse i'm going to try to spend some time with george flynn while i'm there too if he's in town. i e-mailed john rojak (teacher at julliard and bad ass bass trombone soloist) and it seems as though i've picked the worst week to get a lesson with him, which is a damn shame. i respect that man's playing so much, and he's a good teacher too. there's a shred of hope, though, as he said that 'maybe' he'll be around on the 12th. i'm going to cross my fingers.
another nice thing about this trip will be that i get to see my girlfriend for a couple hours. yes, i know, this is the first time i've made mention, but i assumed a lot of people already knew. but, incase you didn't, her name is katelyn and she's one of the coolest girls i know. only problem is that she's currently dancing on holland america's ms noordam so i basically never get to see her. she'll be in port on the 10th. if you're going to die of curiousity, i think there are a couple pictures of us on facebook. she's pretty :-)
academically things are going very well. so far in my music history class i have two As on my quizzes and a B+ in the books for my first test. i didn't get off to this good of a start by this time last semester so i think this will make the remainder of the semester a little less stressful. i plan on getting an A on my quiz on monday as well. aural theory is going well and i don't think i've gotten anything less than a B on any quiz or test there either.
trombone is going well. my lessons are usually pretty intense, but that's why i'm here so it's a good thing. i just got involved in a trombone trio that i think is going to meet twice a week. if you didn't already know this, chamber playing is one of the greatest things you can do to help your playing as an instrumentalist. i'm excited.
tomorrow i'm playing 2nd trombone on igor stravinsky's mass. it's a really interesting piece written for choir, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 oboes, 1 english horn, and 2 bassoons. it's typical stravinksy with lots of 'crunchy' harmonies with the occasional P5 thrown in here and there. we've had two rehearsals on it and will perform it tomorrow night. i love the way things get rehearsed around here!
well, i'll quit the rambling now. remember to leave some comments if you get to check out the podcast.
love,
james
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
awarding some much deserved pointage
so it's been brought to my attention that i owe you guys some points. so here's the current standing:
josh h. - 7 points
angie h. - 1 point
if i'm missing anyone, tell me which post of mine you earned points on and i'll look it up and update.
and now an opportunity for more points...
i was making breakfast this morning and read on the orange juice bottle that i was drinking "100% pure squeezed orange juice....from concentrate." "what the frick does that mean?" i asked myself. 2 points goes to the person that can tell me what that means. if you don't know, i'll give you 1 point for making a humorous attempt at explaining it.
and, incase neither of those opportunities excite you, i'll give you 1 point if you can tell me which dominant functioning chord has scale degree 4 in the bass. you'll earn one more point if you can tell me which chord it most commonly resolves to. c'mon joe, i know you know this one.
well, that's gonna be it for this post.
love,
james
josh h. - 7 points
angie h. - 1 point
if i'm missing anyone, tell me which post of mine you earned points on and i'll look it up and update.
and now an opportunity for more points...
i was making breakfast this morning and read on the orange juice bottle that i was drinking "100% pure squeezed orange juice....from concentrate." "what the frick does that mean?" i asked myself. 2 points goes to the person that can tell me what that means. if you don't know, i'll give you 1 point for making a humorous attempt at explaining it.
and, incase neither of those opportunities excite you, i'll give you 1 point if you can tell me which dominant functioning chord has scale degree 4 in the bass. you'll earn one more point if you can tell me which chord it most commonly resolves to. c'mon joe, i know you know this one.
well, that's gonna be it for this post.
love,
james
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
yeah...i know....
....it's been too long since i've updated. sorry.
so i'm in the 2nd week of my sophomore year of my masters degree. here's how the semester looks.
monday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
1:30p lesson with Lenthe
6:30p masterclass
tuesday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal (yep, i said band, i'll explain below)
wednesday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band
4p orchestral rep section with colin & Lenthe
thursday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal
friday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band
inbetween all of that is practicing, going to the gym, eating, sleeping, and, oh yeah....studying.
so far i haven't missed a single 8am class, which is more than i can say for last semester. our music history teacher is, to put it nicely, hard to follow at times. she's a very nice lady, but at 8 o'clock in the morning, the 500+ "ums" and "uhhs" i endure distract the learning just a lil bit. i try to spend class making note cards for the upcoming quizzes and tests. it worked for the first one because i got a 30/29. i could have gotten a 31/29 but somehow missed out on a point somewhere in bs-ing of pergolesi's "la serva padrona." (3 points for the person who can remember what that opera is about.)
aural theory is pretty kick awesome, believe it or not. the teacher is really cool and good at what he does. dare i say he's dr. smith good. if you know who dr. smith is you get a point too. i'm actually surprised at how well i can hear things now. i never used to be this good at aural theory but it's coming quite easily now. i'm pretty sure that if i took that entrance exam today i'd pass with flying colors, just based on what i've brushed up on in these two weeks. it's okay that i didn't pass, however, because i'm actually enjoying this class...which is more than i can say for almost everyone else in there.
so i mentioned above that i'm playing in a band. i also mentioned nothing of an orchestra. that's because i completely blew my audition and did not place in an orchestra this semester. that's the bad news. the good news is that i'm so incredibly motivated to practice right now that my face feels like it's going to fall off at the end of everyday. honestly, a fire has been lit under my ass and i almost feel that same motivation i felt when i was a freshman at eau claire. those of you who knew me then know what i'm talking about. i don't think yardlebot (damn i miss sean solberg) will come back in full force, but i'm definitely back to the grind.
ok, so colin is watching family guy in the other room and i'm havin' a hard time concentrating on what i'm writing. i also have an aural theory quiz tomorrow at 8a and should try to get some rest. sorry for the lack of an interesting update. i'll do better next time.
love,
james
so i'm in the 2nd week of my sophomore year of my masters degree. here's how the semester looks.
monday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
1:30p lesson with Lenthe
6:30p masterclass
tuesday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal (yep, i said band, i'll explain below)
wednesday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band
4p orchestral rep section with colin & Lenthe
thursday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal
friday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band
inbetween all of that is practicing, going to the gym, eating, sleeping, and, oh yeah....studying.
so far i haven't missed a single 8am class, which is more than i can say for last semester. our music history teacher is, to put it nicely, hard to follow at times. she's a very nice lady, but at 8 o'clock in the morning, the 500+ "ums" and "uhhs" i endure distract the learning just a lil bit. i try to spend class making note cards for the upcoming quizzes and tests. it worked for the first one because i got a 30/29. i could have gotten a 31/29 but somehow missed out on a point somewhere in bs-ing of pergolesi's "la serva padrona." (3 points for the person who can remember what that opera is about.)
aural theory is pretty kick awesome, believe it or not. the teacher is really cool and good at what he does. dare i say he's dr. smith good. if you know who dr. smith is you get a point too. i'm actually surprised at how well i can hear things now. i never used to be this good at aural theory but it's coming quite easily now. i'm pretty sure that if i took that entrance exam today i'd pass with flying colors, just based on what i've brushed up on in these two weeks. it's okay that i didn't pass, however, because i'm actually enjoying this class...which is more than i can say for almost everyone else in there.
so i mentioned above that i'm playing in a band. i also mentioned nothing of an orchestra. that's because i completely blew my audition and did not place in an orchestra this semester. that's the bad news. the good news is that i'm so incredibly motivated to practice right now that my face feels like it's going to fall off at the end of everyday. honestly, a fire has been lit under my ass and i almost feel that same motivation i felt when i was a freshman at eau claire. those of you who knew me then know what i'm talking about. i don't think yardlebot (damn i miss sean solberg) will come back in full force, but i'm definitely back to the grind.
ok, so colin is watching family guy in the other room and i'm havin' a hard time concentrating on what i'm writing. i also have an aural theory quiz tomorrow at 8a and should try to get some rest. sorry for the lack of an interesting update. i'll do better next time.
love,
james
Friday, January 05, 2007
good stuff
so i'm on page 41 of The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success
and i must admit, this book is pretty damn sweet. below is an excerpt that has had me thinking all day long. check it out;
"Imagine that five years have passed and your life is now perfect in every respect. Imagine that all your goals have been achieved, all your problems have been solved, and you are living the life of your dreams.
Imagine that your income, bank account, relationships, family life, health, work, and career are ideal in every way. What would they look like? What would you be doing? Who would you be with? Who would you no longer be with? How much would you be earning? What sort of lifestyle and family would you have? What kind of home, car, clothes, and level of physical fitness would you have?
Describe your future vision for yourself in complete detail by writing out everything you could ever imagine wanting to have on your Dream List"
there's a similar excerpt that asks the question "What would you most want to do if you absolutely could not fail?"
well, i think i'm gonna leave it at that for now. i may try to answer some of those questions for myself in the next post, which may be fun to read ;-)
had a great time seein' all you eau clairians the last couple weeks. you guys really are super.
love,
james
and i must admit, this book is pretty damn sweet. below is an excerpt that has had me thinking all day long. check it out;"Imagine that five years have passed and your life is now perfect in every respect. Imagine that all your goals have been achieved, all your problems have been solved, and you are living the life of your dreams.
Imagine that your income, bank account, relationships, family life, health, work, and career are ideal in every way. What would they look like? What would you be doing? Who would you be with? Who would you no longer be with? How much would you be earning? What sort of lifestyle and family would you have? What kind of home, car, clothes, and level of physical fitness would you have?
Describe your future vision for yourself in complete detail by writing out everything you could ever imagine wanting to have on your Dream List"
there's a similar excerpt that asks the question "What would you most want to do if you absolutely could not fail?"
well, i think i'm gonna leave it at that for now. i may try to answer some of those questions for myself in the next post, which may be fun to read ;-)
had a great time seein' all you eau clairians the last couple weeks. you guys really are super.
love,
james
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