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Tilly’s High School Nation Tour

On October 3, 2012, I attended the Tilly’s High School Nation Tour. Around eleven o’ clock, I headed down to Peabody Stadium at Santa Barbara High School, where the stage was set up and where I would soon begin one of the greatest times of my life.

As some may know, music is a big part of my life. I love music and everything about it. I love listening to music- it doesn’t matter if its vinyl, tape cassette, CD, or mp3; I will give it a listen. I love to play music- I play the piano most every afternoon and I play music with my friends whenever possible. I love to talk about music, especially with other musicians- whether it’s the time signature, tempo, treble and bass, verses, or choruses. My love of music combined with my newfound love for photography made this experience quite memorable.

The show began with a musical act called Camryn. At the beginning, I was reluctant to venture to the front of the crowd to take pictures. However, as I grew used to being “the guy with the camera”, I became adapted to the setting. I even brought myself to take advantage of my confidence and proceed backstage to get even better angles. (I was lucky enough to have a backstage pass from my photography class and from being a part of the school newspaper, The Forge.)

Next up on the lineup was STAMPS The Band. I had listened to this group music before so I was excited to hear them play live. I was able to talk with the guitarist and the bassist prior to their set. I became friends with the two of them and I was even able to jam with them in their tour bus afterwards.

After STAMPS, came a solo act by the name of Bryce Avary aka The Rocket Summer. I was able to talk with him before his set as well and he seemed like a really chill dude. The highlight of his set, by far, was when he invited my friend, Griffin, on stage to beatbox and freestyle rap alongside him.

To finish up the show, a band by the name PK performed. PK easily had the biggest crowd and performed to the crowd quite well. I was familiar with PK because they had played at my school the year before.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience and I hope that a similar event happens again soon. I loved being able to converse with the musicians, as well as photograph them while they were in the spotlight.

Bla Bla Blog

Hello to you, kind stranger!!!

You probably have not heard but I have a new blog for your viewing pleasure!!

On this snazzy new blog, you may enjoy the photography of yours truly, all the while contemplating the curious captions.

If you are intrigued and wonder where you may find this intrepid blog that you long to behold, look no further!!! Simply, click here to visit the site.

That is all,

-Sky

(P.S. If you find the “here” to be to small to properly press, you may click skyulep.wordpress.com instead.)

No Nukes

I haven’t listened to a record for a while and I feel like I’ve strayed from the original plan I had. However, today I will be listening to an album. In fact, this album is a collaboration between some of the most influential musicians of the 70’s.

This album, No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future, was released as a triple live album in 1979 and contains music from the No Nukes Festival that happened in Madison Square Garden. The event was organized by an organization called MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which was founded by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The album itself includes music from groups and solo artists such as James Taylor, The Doobie Brothers, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash.

Just last year on August 7th, MUSE had another concert to reunite many of the musicians from the 1979 No Nukes show including all of the founders of MUSE. Held in Mountain View, CA, at the Shoreline Amphitheater, this show also included artists such as Jason Mraz and Tom Morollo from Rage Against the Machine.

One reasons I love this album is because I like how famous musicians perform together. It’s amazing enough to see one of your favorite artists in concert, but to be able to see many of your favorites at one show is out of this world.

What are some of your favorite artists? Have you ever seen any of these artists play together? If you could see any collaboration of musicians, who would it be? Comment below!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

So as I mentioned Tuesday, The Red Hot Chili Peppers were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012. Along with RHCP, other bands such as The Beastie Boys, and Guns N’ Roses were inducted as well.

To celebrate this achievement, The Red Hot Chili Peppers have recently released an album consisting of six covers by other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members. This album is called Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Covers EP and includes songs by The Ramones, David Bowie, and Neil Young.

I was stoked when I found out that RHCP was covering a song by Neil Young! This song, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, was released in 1969 and was Young’s second studio album. (Fun Fact: “Cinnamon Girl”, “Down by the River”, and “Cowgirl in the Sand” were all written for this album while Young had 103° F fever). Neil Young has been inducted into The Rock and Roll hall of Fame twice; once in ’95 for his solo career, and again in ’97 for Buffalo Springfield.

Almost all of the most famous bands and solo artists in history have been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some musicians have even been inducted more than once! Neil Young has been inducted twice; once in ’95 for his solo career, and again in ’97 for Buffalo Springfield. Other artists to have been inducted more than once include: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Paul Simon. Eric Clapton is the only person who has been inducted three times.

What do you think about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Who are some of your favorite artists who have been inducted? Is there anyone who you think should be inducted? Comment below!

Tune-In Tuesday: “Stadium Arcadium; A Mirror To The Moon”

redhotchilipeppers.com

As you may have heard, last month The Red Hot Chili Peppers were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To commemorate this award, I have decided to dedicate today’s Tune-In Tuesday to one of my favorite songs by RHCP, “Stadium Arcadium”.

There are many things that I love about The Red Hot Chili Peppers that are exemplified in this song. First of all, as a songwriter and poet, I am always listening for interesting lyrics and words that make me wonder how the song was created. This song illustrates this idea with lyrics like: “Alone inside my forest room; And it’s storming; I never thought I’d be in bloom; But this is where I start”. I find songs with metaphors and imagery to be mesmerizing, as many of RHCP’s songs are.

Another aspect of RHCP’s music that I love is the use of catchy riffs, licks, and bridges. The chord progressions that this band uses are quite inspiring to a musician like myself.

“Stadium Arcadium” is found upon the album Stadium Arcadium: Jupiter which was released May 9, 2006. In 2007, the album recieved seven Grammy nominations and won five of them including the award for Best Rock Album. One of the band’s most famous songs, “Dani California” spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and is one of three songs in the history of the chart to debut at #1.

Give Stadium Arcadium a listen!

 

What do you think about Stadium Arcadium? What are some of your favorite songs by The Red Hot Chili Peppers?

School Of Rock

Today, I ‘ll be talking about The Rockshop Academy. Located at Mike’s Drum Shop in Santa Barbara, California, The Rockshop Academy is a year-round program that teaches  aspiring young musicians (ages 18 and under) how to rock the stage. (For more information on The Rockshop Academy, click here!) The Rockshop Academy is headed by former Dishwalla drummer, George Pendergast. George is the perfect man for the job because he knows what it’s like to be in the music industry, and what it takes to get there.

Dishwalla is an alternative rock band best known for their 1996 hit “Counting Blue Cars” on their debut album Pet Your Friends. Best known for its line “Tell me all your thoughts on God (’cause I’d really like to meet her)”, this song won Best Rock Song of 1996 and remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 48 weeks.

(To listen to “Counting Blue Cars”, click here!)

Today, there will be a show at this venue starring many bands that have come out of The Rockshop Academy, as well as a group of Rockshop-ers who have been practicing after school this year.

(For information about this show, click here!)

What do you think about The Rockshop Academy? Your thoughts on Dishwalla? Comment Below!

Blunderbuss Is Wondrous

This weekend, I went to my friend Adam‘s house. Adam is an interesting fellow. He loves to listen to Classic Rock just as I do and we share some common interests in music. For example, we both love The Beatles, as well as many other Classic Rock artists.

This week, Adam has been engrossed with Jack White’s new release, Blunderbuss. As I wrote about in last week’s post, Blunderbuss is Jack White’s first solo album and was released on April 24 (To see Jack White blog post, click here). Because of Adam’s newfound interest, he has bought the vinyl version of this album of which I have been lucky enough to listen.

I myself have always been a Jack White fan as well. Although I have never been the fanatic that Adam has been, I love listening to The White Stripes or The Raconteurs. I dig the fact that Jack White has decided to release a new album.

Some of my favorite songs on this album include: “Sixteen Saltines”, “Love Interruption”, and Adam’s favorite “Freedom at 21”. One thing I love about this album is the fact that it flows quite smoothly. Each song blows your mind with its lyrics and guitar licks, but no song is terribly different from the other. Jack White has really outdone himself this time and I can’t wait to see what he has in store.

What do you think about Blunderbuss? Comment below!

Tune-In Tuesday

gadgetsteria.com

Today I will be starting Tune-In Tuesday. Every week I will be sharing a song that is on my mind at that very moment. It might be a line that’s been stuck in my head and I can’t stop humming, a rhythm that seems to be pulsing through my veins to the beat of my heart, or maybe even a mesmerizing melody that makes me ponder life as I know it. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoy my simple song selection! Maybe it will even become your theme song.

To start off Tune-In Tuesday, I thought I’d share a song that’s been stuck in my head for about 2 weeks now. This song comes from a band by the name of Switchfoot and is called “Selling The News”. This song is from the group’s most recent release, Vice Verses. I found this album a few weeks ago while writing my blog post about their vinyl release for Record Store Day (to see this post, click here). I was quite pleased when I heard this song for the first time. When I find a really cool song, I tend to listen to it over and over until I find a new song that appeals to me. As of now, “Selling The News” fits the bill.

I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do!

 

What do you think of this song? Comment what you think!