Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Maturity Compromising Wants over Needs

Please note that I took my VP hat off hours ago. And I write this post in the most personal and bratty of ways. I really don't conduct myself like this in the office. But right now is my free time, in the solitary isolation of my apartment. So I will just speak freely.

This post is neither good or bad. It's just a download of what's on my mind before I end my day.

It was a good work day again today. No huge issues at the office are considered good days, in my opinion. Everybody was generally in good spirits again like last Monday; with the exception of two people. One of them doesn't really care because everything has always been more than provided for him without exerting any effort for it. And the other, in gaming industry terms, is voluntarily trapped in a persistent virtual world with a peak CCU of 1; totally unaware of different other worlds/perspectives/paradigms (Yes, I have specifically made this statement vague on purpose).

Today, I had to give up and/or accept things in the name of my job. When I see those two people I mentioned act so immaturely, it makes me wonder why I can't just do the same. I had to cancel on my band's gig in Naga this coming Friday, much to my bandmates' disappointment. A client with a very important deal on the table is coming over to visit our office this coming Friday. Despite my over-eager anticipation for a break from work, and to revel in a shared passion called music, I had to choose between passion and occupation. Of course, professional maturity spoke the loudest, and I chose the latter.

This isn't the first time that I had to miss out on a gig because of my job. But it just kind of disappointed me, even though I know I made the right decision. I make personally disappointing decisions in the name of my work. But yet see other people not conduct themselves with at least close to the same level of professional maturity.

My need (job) trumped my want (music) in this instance.

Of course, any musician (even one as noobish as myself), yearn to have a convergence of passion and occupation in the form of rock-stardom. Doing what you love while making truck loads of money for it. But in all reality, of course that is not possible in my situation. Despite having only very little skill in percussion, the music industry just isn't lucrative in this country. Well, it's like that in any country, but even more so in this country. So a compromise needs to be made in order to come close to passion and make decent money. Hence, my current job. Working the gaming industry is closer to passion for me compared to my previous call center occupation.

It's 30+ minutes past 12:00MN here right now. And I "need" to hit the sack because I have an early meeting tomorrow. I'm grasping at anything that would result, at the very least, in a good ending to my day. Something to at least balance out the disappointment.

I was watching Battlestar Galactica Season 4 when I got home because Blizzard decided to have maintenance on all their World of Warcraft servers. Unfortunately, I forgot to download the very last episode, which happens to not only be the season ender, but the series ender as well. Like I said in Twitter, Geeky Sadness.

My last recourse now is to tire myself out by playing and singing a few songs on my guitar before getting some shut eye. I might opt to not even do it.

Bratty-ness (If that's even a word). I figured I can be mababaw/bratty for a change. Just this one time. I am being immature right now about making a mature decision earlier today. How ironic is that?


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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Enjoy the Silence...

I've been listening to a lot of Lacuna Coil lately. I first found out about the band because I inadvertently watched their music video of "Swamped" some time last year. I ended up checking out all their albums and absolutely loved the last two recent ones. My favorite is their 2006 album entitled "Karmacode". Their songs sport heavy guitar and bass riffs but are softened just a tad by the female vocalist's ethereal sound. So it's just perfect to listen to while I'm stressed at work without letting the music get me more riled up (apparently listening to KoRn and Disturbed rides and amplifies the stress and frustration I feel when I listen to it).

My good friend Euri sees Lacuna Coil as a goth rock band. I suppose they are. But I like their music nonetheless. I'm pretty open to most genres.

The last song of Lacuna Coil's Karmacode album is a cover song originally done by Depeche Mode. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that cover version of the song because I already took a liking to Lacuna Coil and I love Depeche Mode to boot.

I found the music video of their cover song on YouTube, of course. Below is the MV along with it's corresponding prose.



Enjoy the Silence
Covered by Lacuna Coil
Original by Depeche Mode


Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world
Painful to me
Pierce right through me
Can't you understand
Oh my little girl

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

Enjoy the silence
Enjoy the silence
Enjoy the silence
Enjoy the silence


As always, I have to find a live version of the song in YouTube as well. The male back-up vocalist kinda bugged the shit out of me in this live performance. But the female vocalist is still good. Here's the video below.



Okay, I admit I got pretty obsessed with the damn song despite the lyrical meaning of the song having zero relevance to my life currently. I went looking for the original version of the song on YouTube. And to my surprise, I found it. Below is the music video of Depeche Mode's version of the song.



Then I searched for a live version of the Depeche Mode original. Yes, continuing the obsessiveness, I know. Depeche Mode likes changing their live renditions of theirs on any give gig. I always find that cool about bands. Here is a bootleg video of one of their live performances below.



Just to finish off the obsession about the song, my friend Liz noticed from my YM status that I was seriously crunching over this song. She sent me what I think is the best version of the song. The video below is a remix done by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.



This version just put me over the top about the song. Although, I'm kinda irked with Mike Shinoda's rapping in Linkin Park songs (Chester Benington is awesome though), I'm pretty impressed with what he did for this Depeche Mode song. He gave the original song more edge to it in true Linkin Park fashion.


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Thursday, March 5, 2009

Anger Management

Walk through the door of your home.

Slam the door shut behind you.

Give off the loudest roar your lungs can muster.

Put on some heavy music.

Turn the volume up loud.

Headbang in the solitary confines of your room.

Sit on your bean bag.

Take the deepest breath your lungs can take.

Light a cigarette.

Cup your legs close to your chest.

Cry.


END OF LINE...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Driven to Tears

So the title of this post is a little too emo than what it's really about. Although I have been feeling a little down the past week or so, this is more about how I miss having awesome gigs where I'm in the zone while I'm playing.

SunDownMuse has been known to do mostly originals and maybe 1 or 2 covers. But when we do pick a cover to do, we make sure that it's a great song and our rendition of it does the song and the artist justice.

This particular song I wanted to share with everyone is from The Police. My bandmates and I can never get enough of The Police and Sting (I see them as two completely separate styles of music even though they both involve Sting).

I found a video of the song performed live back in 1986 on YouTube. You gotta love YouTube. It gives you the benefit of seeing artists of the past perform even though you had little or no sense of music during the time these artists were performing. Check out the video below and its corresponding prose.



Drive to Tears
by The Police

How can you say that you're not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction?
What should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced
To a shallow, meaningless party
Seems that when some innocents die
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine
Too many cam'ras and not enough food
'Cause this is what we've seen
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Protest is futile
Nothing seems to get through
What's to become of our world?
Who knows what to do?
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears


Years later, the Police got back together to do a Reunion World Tour. I personally have the 720p HD copy in my PC of their live concert in Japan back in 2007. Below is a video of them performing the same song in Madrid. I can decisively say that years of experience in music has definitely developed their sound to a more mature and awesome aural treat. They seem to be able to fill up an entire concert hall with their music for just a 3 piece band.



Last, but not least, below is a bootleg recording of my band playing our rendition of Drive to Tears. We play a more rocked out version, mind you. This particular bootleg recording was made during our Bar 42 gig about 2 years ago at least. Damn, I miss gigs like those. I really felt in the zone with my playing that night. Hopefully we'll get more gigs like that in the immediate future.



Damn, I just love it when it all comes together when my bandmates and I play like that. I miss that shit.


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