empathetically yours,

Update to how things are going

2009-07-12T20:53:00.002-04:00

I did not know that I could have two separate blogs under the same name.

But I can!

So I'm going to put the Album Reviews and Live Concert Performance Reviews under a separate blog

http://vexlireviews.blogspot.com/

This blog, Empathetically Yours, will stick to more personal things.

...and by personal, I probably mean stupid/not always music related.
Thank you!

In memory of Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T10:58:00.003-04:00

This is not going to be some heart felt page of dribble.

Yes, I am absolutely a Michael Jackson fan, and for my own personal remembrance I will be playing Michael Jackson music all day.

However, if I was taught anything in my life, it is to take something to heart but not be afraid to laugh at it.
Keep in mind that I do not believe that Michael Jackson was guilty of ANYTHING other then simply being a bit odd. I feel the man had nothing but good intentions.

So for this post jokes regarding the late Kingof Pop!

Coming soon however will be a post regarding the death of Michael Jackson, the definition of Tragic (in my opinion) and a list with stories of some of the most recognizable young deaths in modern Music.
(No, I do not agree with all the jokes, considering that obviously most of them deal with the child molestation controversy, however there is no harm in laughing if you still find the joke funny, and when I was young I was taught that anything can be funny if you let it)

But now for the jokes!
(Yes, as with any collection of Michael Jackson jokes, some will be....innopropriate)

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Apparently, as he was 99% plastic, they are going to melt him down and make Lego bricks so that the children can play with his bits instead!

On another note, apparently Michael Jackson didn’t die of a heart attack, he was in the children’s ward having a stroke…..

All Michael Jacksons future dates have been cancelled, including those with Josh aged 5 and Ryan aged 11

Jockeys at tomorrows race meeting will be wearing black arm bands in respect for Michael Jackson who successfully rode more three year olds than anyone else in history.

Gary Glitter is going to speak at the eulogy about some of Jacko's greatest achievements, it's hoped he'll touch on his music career also.

Rumour has it that MJ's dying wish was to have his ashes put into an etch-o-sketch. He hoped that this way kids could continue to fiddle with his knob long after his death.

In memory of Michael Jacksons death, McDonalds have released the new Jackson burger.
It’s a 50yr old bit of meat between 2 ten year old buns

When Farah Fawcett died, she got to heaven, and was granted one wish......she wished for all the children in the world to be safe

He wasn't going to do all those O2 concerts anyway.
He said he wasn't coming to the UK when he found out the '£2000 for a 10 year old' actually referred to the car scrappage scheme.

So so sad. Michael Jackson touched me in ways only a Chatholic priest would understand.
(this one almost made me lose my Sprite)

Michael Jackson, a life fo opposites

Born a poor black boy
Became a rich white woman.

A boy in a mans body and
A man in a boys body.

Q: Did you hear about Michael Jackson's latest record?
A: "Feel the World."

Q: Did you hear about Michael Jackson's latest song?
A: "Don't let your son go down on me."

If you play thriller backwards, you can hear Michael confessing all the names of the boys he touched. That's why it is 14 minutes long.

Q: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and Neil Armstrong?
A: One was the first man to walk on the moon, and the other f***s little boys.

Q: What does Michael have in common with NASA?
A: It's been 25 years since his first moon landing.

It was reported the other day that Michael Jackson wants to be one of the first civilians to travel into space.
A spokesperson for NASA said, "We're fine with the idea but the only problem is Jackson insists on coming back".

Q: What is Michael Jackson's favorite holiday?
A: Christmas because he gives the well behaved kids a special gift...

Knock Knock*
Who's There?
Not Michael Jackson, he's in the recycling bin

Q: Where's Michael going on holiday?
A: He's off to Tampa with the kids.

Q: What's white and in Michael Jackson's pocket?
A: His other hand.

ok, that is quite enough now.

As you can tell, jokes are getting repeated with different phrasing.
if you need more to help get over the loss you can always google for jokes...and find the same 5 jokes over....and over... and over... and over... and over... and over...and over... and over... and over... and over... and over...and over... and over... and over... and over... and over...and over... and over... and over... and over... and over...

Empathetically yours,

Jeff

P.S.
Coming soon will be a new blog about the meaning of Tragic, other tragic deaths in modern Music, and how we lost them.

A shot update

2009-06-03T12:17:00.001-04:00

From my last post (which feels like forever ago) I would just like to share something else.

I enjoy pickles now. Something else I "forced' myself into liking, and have been trying to since I was about 4?

I think I'm onto something here

Forced liking

2009-03-16T23:11:00.003-04:00

If there is every anything I want to like I force myself to.

For example, if you would have asked my opinion on Jazz music 2 years ago I would have told you something along the lines of
"Honestly, I think it's boring. I don't get it. I know that its technical and difficult to play, but it just bores me"

I am currently in a Jazz combo hosted by my school, will be playing in a separate jazz combo at the end of this month for 2 hours as background noise for a fundraiser, and currently playing on my computer is a Herbie Hancock album.

Has anyone else ever done this?

However I just made a breakthrough for myself.

A little background information, first.

I am a guitar player primarily, followed by a violinist and violist.
However as a music major my primary instrument is guitar.

When I started playing guitar I just wanted to play Punk Rock, which was fine at the sime especially since it is a simpler style, which definately helped build confidence.

The man I took (and continue to take) lessons from brought in a Stevie Ray Vaughen album and we worked on Pride and Joy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIpIsM4KTLc for the song if you do not know it.

From then on I was hooked on the blues.
Blues scales and pentatonic scales became my best friend, and I quickly learned to love the art of improv, usually on top of Stevie Ray Vaughen tracks.

With the increased difficulty in the material I played I found a certain infatuation with metal, specifically from the 1980's in which it was a battle to see who had the fastest and most technical guitar players.
I wanted to be one of them.
So my guitar playing became much more serious.

I picked guitar as my primary instrument years later when I was accepted into Seton Hill Universities music program.

While here I was asked to play Jazz, and so began my quest to enjoy jazz music.
It started when I found a song by Andy Timmons, except in a live performance he played it in a very Bossa Nova style jazz sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIAaAXBtwwI - The original, very shreddy (thus I liked it when I first found it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe-QZTMiIws - the Bossa Nova version

This started my Jazz kick.
I found something I liked, and used that to feed my liking for Jazz.

After this I found a cd with Bossa Nova style covers of Guns N' Roses songs.
Again, I used this to feed my liking for Jazz.

Before I knew it I was learning all the chords needed for Jazz and signing up for a Jazz combo.

...and looking for a guitar to play mostly Jazz with.

Let us go back though.
Remember, the point of all of this is about a breakthrough for myself.

At Seton Hill as a guitar major I take guitar lessons.
The downfall is that the instructor plays classical.

For nearly 4 semesters now I have tried to enjoy the style of classical guitar, but with little luck.
Everytime I held my classical guitar (which I bought my first semester) I felt awkward and out of place.
I needed an electric in my hand to feel at home.

I finally decided to truly take action against this distaste of the instrument and style.
I bought an Andrew York cd (Andrew York is one of the premier modern classical guitar players and composers of today)

I've been listening to it.

about an hour ago I pick up my classical to practice

I fell in love.

So what have you done?
What do you think you could do?

Learning to like something can never be a bad thing.

Men Vs Women: The Battle of Lack of Logic

2009-03-11T23:30:00.004-04:00

A typical concept of women's logic can be summed up with a quote from my mother. A quote I hear quite frequently, might I add.

"But I want it to do that."

This usually is mumbled during moments of technologic frustrations.
Take, example, my mother setting up her MP3 player (and by my Mother setting it up, I do in fact mean "me" setting up "My mother's" Mp3 player for her)

"I want this song on here twice though, it keeps saying that I can't have the same on twice"
"Because it doesn't want you putting the same on twice"
"But I want it to do that."

Granted this specific scenario was easily fixed by changing the filename of a song, but the point remains the same.
My mother was determined to make an MP3 player do something it simply can not do.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be a common thought concept from women (I know of a few close friends who use the same or similar phrases).

...and this is something I've found amusing for quite some time.

However the other day it was pointed out to me that men have a similar phrase that lacks actual logic.

"Because I can"

I realized this when at Walmart with my girlfriend and I stared in aww at an Acer 20 inch wide screen computer monitor. I already have an Acer 19 inch widescreen monitor (the same style, just one inch smaller).
My girlfriend took notice of my lustful gaze and asked me the typical question:

"Do you really need that? You have a nice monitor already."

The following conversation took place

"I know I do, but I want that one too."
"Why?"
"So I can have both!"
"Why? Really, Jeff, is that necessary?"
"no but... I want two monitors."
"Why?"
"Because I can!"

It hit me.

As I stood there listening to myself talk the poetry fell into my head.

Women want to things even though they can not be done. They want to see things capable of more than they really are.
Men want to do things simply to bring out the full potential of what something is capable of.

It all deals weith capability.
Just two views.
-Want things to be more capable
-Want things to reach full potential even when partial use is enough.

Not sure why I'm so interrested in this.

Would you believe it?

2009-03-10T00:24:00.000-04:00

I have a blog again.