Late at night

So unfortunately, it is very late so I will keep this brief. Colin Powell's recent endorsement of Barack Obama really meant a lot to me, not because of his political endorsement itself, but because of how he said it. He mentioned the anger and hate preached by the McCain campaign, the anger fostered by both sides in this presidential debate, and the further extremism we have seen on the right in the United States. 

I honestly do believe that this country is more polarized now than it has been since the Civil War. The Vietnam Era here in the U.S. was obviously filled with strife and anger, but it was vented, the outrage was expressed through protests, shootings, and other such things. Instead now we see a similar situation to the lead up to the Civil War where a series of compromises are cobbled together to suppress the anger without really addressing the fundamental differences in society. Because these divisions keep deepening, we are in danger of creating a situation where a single spark could ignite a civil war, an ethnic cleansing, and extreme violence. I don't know who is to blame for getting us here, divisive political campaigns have certainly played a role, it benefits the winner, but it truly polarizes the nation and prevents true understanding.

There is no single divisive issue as there was in the Civil War, but there are echoes of the same sort of extremism on both sides. People are defending a way of life, whether it be small town values, which are apparently better than the values I hold as an individual, or liberalism, so-called "secular humanism." I personally feel that inflammatory evangelical christian preachers have a lot to do with our current crisis, but I doubt that is fair or completely accurate. I think we have all contributed. People have fundamentally failed to see themselves in others, instead they have defined others against themselves in an effort to establish themselves as better, more right. 

I don't necessarily know what to do about this either, politicians really hold few answers. Even Barack Obama, who I truly believe will be an amazing president in this time of crisis, cannot possibly fix things. He can perhaps put salve on the wounds that have been opened up, but there can be no healing until each side acknowledges its wrong doings and decides to contribute to a better tomorrow. 

That said, I am looking forward to this election being finished, either way, I am sick of the political showboating. 

DC roadtrip

So, I’m on my way to DC with two friends, it is currently 930 at night, and we just got on the road. It’ll be a long night, but whatever, as a young college graduate I have the energy for that, where others would not. In addition, we are arguing about music, which is not unusual for this crowd. I will report on people watching as I do it in DC. I brought my camera, so it should be an interesting weekend.

 

On a side note, I want to talk for a second about stories. I think that stories can be the most compelling things people experience. Obviously others agree with me as well, given the success of the movie industry and publishing.

At the same time, I think it’s important to realize that stories lose their meaning when they are told too many times. I used to think that this was because they simply lost detail, or lost something in the telling, but I don’t know that that is really true. It might be that they simply lose some of their meaning in a true form. When everyone thinks they know the meaning, they are less inclined to examine the story for true relevance. Take for instance the bible. It’s full of depth and meaning, but everyone already thinks they know what it means, when in reality they totally have it wrong. I think it is hard for a story to keep its meaning through so many retellings, and reinterpretations. It also doesn’t help that people are constantly told what the bible means, and not left to interpret it for themselves, but that’s another story.

It’s a shame that stories lose their meaning, but I think it’s the driving force behind human creativity as well. People are really always telling the same stories, but their ability to find new ways to tell them is quite extraordinary. A tweak here, a different character there, and you have a completely new experience unfolding in front of you.

Storytelling has evolved pretty dramatically over the years, but I think people often fail to make the connection between modern story-tellers and those in the past. Movies and books are our modern forms of stories, instead of just one man retelling events, or a group of actors re enacting an event, we now have an entire ensemble of actors, directors, writers, and special effects gurus working to create something worth showing to thousands of people.

Storytelling has also become quite a profitable industry, people literally make millions, and create fame for themselves, by acting in stories, or directing them. That’s impressive, but the monetization of storytelling does remove some of its meaning, I think. 

The Rise of Satire

Each generation of Americans has embraced a unique comedic style, which often reflects the values and culture. In the 50’s we had the straighlaced Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, The seventies had George Carlin, with his complete willingness to cross the line. All of these comedians and performers have pushed the limits, yet they have done so in a way unique to their era and political climate.

So what does Post-millennial comedy say about my generation? Currently I think it says that we’ve had enough. Where other generations have had George Carlin and Richard Pryor, we have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Where other generations have had slapstick, and witticisms, we have intensely satirical television shows that mock the government and our leaders in no uncertain terms. It is admirable that in the United States we have the right to engage in such dissident activities, but the popularity of this style of comedy is telling as well.

So why is satire such a popular style these days? I personally think it’s because when you can’t cry anymore, you have to just laugh. Laughter is a complete release, of worries, of tensions, of everything. It’s therapeutic and cathartic. It is nice, as an American, to step back from the big picture and just laugh at you’re political leaders. It’s nice that someone is pointing out how stupid they often sound, but it frustrates me that no one gets outraged. It’s as if we’ve come to accept it, or feel that we are powerless to change it.

Maybe it’s a hangover from the 60s and 70s. Our parents where so convinced that they could make the world a better place, but I’m not convinced that they did, and truthfully I’m a bit disappointed that they’ve made such a mess for me and my peers to try to clean up.

Satire is fundamentally an intellectual style of comedy; we are laughing because we understand what is wrong, but don’t know what else to do. Poking fun is not a way to cause change; it’s an escape from the harsh realities of our predicament. The mortgage crisis (and debt crisis) may not go away, we are overcommitted in areas of the world where we have no control, we aren’t any safer at home that we were before September 11, 2001, but the government has more control and our civil liberties have been eroded.

As Jon Oliver, an actor on the Daily Show put it, you have to forgive us Americans for laughing so hard at Jon Stewart’s jokes, it’s all we currently have. I admire Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart for having the courage to confront anyone, anytime, with satire and mockery, and to embarrass themselves and others. They tell the truth; they present the clearest picture of the state of the nation, whether they mean to or not. Jon Stewart often speaks of the desperation he feels regarding the United States, and American politics. I have to concur, I am desperate for honesty and candor in the media and in politics, and unfortunately, I am not finding any.

In 2006, Stephen Colbert got up in front of the entire White House press corps, the President of the United States, and a huge television audience and mocked the president. He didn’t make anything up, he just told the truth. His jokes fell flat, but that wasn’t the point, it was political commentary at its most forward and I found it incredibly refreshing.

I have nothing but admiration and respect for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert; I consider them two of the greatest political commentators ever to grace television, and I hope that they continue in their quest to mock everyone. They hit hard, they hit home, and they tell the truth, but most importantly, they make me feel like I’m not the only one despaired by the state of the nation, and that at least we can commiserate together. 

Jon Oliver's Essay on "The Daily Show" is available at: http://www.mrjohnoliver.com/

I've got another attempted photo edit for you guys. This is the view from my office in Queens, but I was bored on the train ride home, so I decided to have some fun with it. I tried using layer masks originally, to edit different parts of the picture differently, but it didn't really work out, so I ended up just setting up four different jpegs, and merging them at the end when I was done changing them. My favorite part of the picture is the lower left corner, I used a gray photo filter, and I really like how it sharpens the contrast.

Not Ready for a Black President?

So an article in The New York Times today featured a graphic entitled "Racism and the Race," which featured a survey asking questions about race in the upcoming election. There were a couple obvious statistics that make me very uncomfortable, such as 5% of people would not vote for a black candidate in the upcoming election, and 19% thought that most of the people they know would not vote for a black candidate. 

While both of those statistics disturbed me, I didn't think they were the most telling in the survey. One of the other questions, however, really had me asking if perhaps this was actually the most important, and revealing. 24% of people don' think America is ready for a black president, apparently. That disturbs me, because I really think it means that 24% of whites don't feel that they are ready for a black president, ultimately, which probably means that they won't vote for him in the upcoming election. 

I have never understood racism, like the idea that you could judge someone based solely on the color of their skin. I realize it's a big issue in this country, and it really saddens me. I grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly Asian-American, and when to high school with Asians and Hispanics. Not a ton of black people around, but they were there. I had never really heard anyone make racial jokes until I got to college, and I didn't really understand what discrimination was until I got to college. That's not to say that I was discriminated against in college, I wasn't, I just talked to people, and explored the topic.

I don't think that most white people know what it's like to be discriminated against either, they think that they do but they don't. Here's an example, when a white person gets pulled over on the freeway, their first thought is probably not about the cop searching their car, their first thought may be about a traffic ticket, but they aren't necessarily worried about getting beaten, or about showing the cop that they don't have a gun in their hands. 

On the other hand, this is something that black men, particularly young black men, really need to worry about. Part of it really is the fact that some black men are a real danger, drugs, guns, that sort of thing. Certainly not the majority, however. And yet, they all get treated with extreme caution by police. 

Or how about this example, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for powdered cocaine, which is primarily used by white college students and stock brokers, is 5 years for 500 grams of cocaine. 500 grams is a lot, it's like..... over 500 doses, it's definitely intent to sell. That said, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for crack cocaine is 5 years for as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine. While crack is more dangerous, there is no way around the fact that this type of law targets minorities and poor people who can't afford powder cocaine. 

Part of the problem with white privilege is that most whites don't understand how easy they have it, or how difficult it is to be a minority. They dismiss very real problems as misunderstandings, or circumstantial, when they aren't. They refuse to recognize how much easier, more pleasant, and advantageous their life as a white person is. 

This is why I am not against affirmative action, blacks, and other minorities, have been absolutely trod on for so long in this country, why not let them have a hiring advantage? Or an advantage getting into schools? They obviously need it, not because they are less qualified or less intelligent, but because racism is so deeply ingrained in white americans, and institutionalized in American society that 24% of white Americans don't think that the country is ready for a black leader. 

So this is my first attempt to mess around with Photoshop. I took this picture outside the Holland Tunnel, waiting in traffic. I probably looked like an idiot, sticking my head out of the window with my little camera. So it was taken on an Olympus SW 720, in standard mode with no adjustments, so I don't know what aperture settings and whatnot that is, but I can replicate it. Please don't use this photo without letting me know (not that anyone will want to anyways)

I mostly used the levels and color adjustment settings on photoshop, but I did do some dodge and burn stuff in the lower left. Unfortunately my photo printer isn't very good, but if you want a print let me know and I can find a way to get one for you. 

a change of heart

So I'm not just going to write about music anymore. I have a lot more than just music to talk about, so I feel like limiting myself would be a bit silly. I will hopefully post more often, about relevant topics. 

New Music

So it's been a while since I posted, and the font may be off, because I'm posting for the first time straight from the blogger website. I wanted to comment on a few things that I've noted about the music industry. 

For one thing, since all pop music sounds the same anyways, I think it's interesting to note that there's been a distinct shift from really base heavy, slower rap songs to more fast paced, dance oriented rap music. I mean to call it rap is almost disrespectful to the idea of rap music in general. I guess rap music can never be pop music, because real rap will never be mainstream. But groups like the Pussycat Dolls, who are very much pop artists, have much more electronica sounds to them. They use more synthesizers to accentuate their vocals, and their songs have much faster tempos than say... the popular hip hop and pop music of the late 90's and early 2000's. Britney Spears' new hit single, for instance, is much faster than her older singles. I mean good times, you know, it's easy to see why this is currently popular; everyone likes a song they can work out to, run to, do something fast-paced to. That's easy listening, that's background music. It's easy to see why it's popular, and it's easy to see why it doesn't have any real staying power in the market. This is the kind of music that gets played several decades later at themed parties. Just like I spent my college career at parties featuring 80's music, future college students will party listening to music from the turn of the century, that is 2006, 2007, and 2008. Very cool, right?

That said, there are definitely real artists out there, but as my younger brother so aptly put it, "they fly under the radar." I honestly believe that quality artists are simply much less likely to get signed to big deals on big labels in this climate, the record companies want a sure thing with a reliable sound, so they sign artists that all sound the same, that they know can make a reliable hit and sell records. They don't want to sign unusual sounds for other reasons as well; people who like unusual sounds tend to be the ones savvy enough to get it for free. 

Speaking of getting it for free, it just occurred to me that the internet is really a two-edged sword for record companies. It gives them the opportunity to market individual songs directly to consumers, and has changed the game that way. In addition, it gives the chance to try out singles, and their success, prior to recording an entire album with an artist. While radio ratings and song ratings that are linked to them are a bit abstract, the number of times a song is downloaded or listened to online is hard data that can be verified and analyzed. I wouldn't be all that surprised if albums were intentionally leaked by the record companies to see how they fare on P2P and bit torrent sharing sites before they go to all the trouble of pressing a ton of CDs and LPs.  Leaking an album early allows record companies to do a test run, especially if the album they leak is poor quality, or has other noise intentionally embedded on it, as a lot of it does. As we've seen from recent album releases, records can still sell, despite the availability of online music. I think for record companies, success will come from controlling how music is downloaded, as opposed to their current strategy, which is to simply prevent downloads at all costs. 

Mash-ups

So a recent musical phenomenon that I have grown quite fond of is the idea of the mash-up. This is when a kid with a computer, or possibly two or three kids with computers, take several pop songs, and mix them together so that they sound good. The three relatively successful mash-up DJs that I know of are Girltalk, the Hood Internet, and Norwegian Recycling. All of these guy’s works have a slightly different tone, and they all obviously do it for different reasons. Girltalk is party music; all of it, at least all of it that I’ve heard. He usually takes several high energy songs, and mixes them together, with the lead vocals usually coming from a very prominent pop song. He usually only uses one song’s lyrics, as opposed to several, but he often uses more than one pop song for the background, the bass and the rhythm. I’ve actually heard that Girltalk puts on an amazing live show. It’s just this guy with a computer on stage, but he really has a good time, and sometimes crowd surfs. Solid.

            The Hood Internet does the simplest mash-ups. They usually take two pop songs, usually rap or hip-hop songs, and mix them together. It’s great work out music, a lot of fun to run to, or mountain bike to, in my case. It pumps you up, and some of them are really quite good. My personal favorite song by the Hood Internet is a mash up of “all my love,” by Led Zeppelin, and “scrubs,” by TLC. It’s really well done, the timing is perfect, and it’s just a really cool sound. I like the Hood Internet, they consistently provide music I can work out to, or just listen to if I’m in the mood for something quick and amped. They make safe choices regarding the songs that they mix, and they work 99% of the time. It’s not as inspired as Girltalk or Norwegian Recycling, but it’s still fun.

            This brings us to Norwegian Recycling, who happens to be my favorite of the three. This guy is ballsy, he takes two, four, sometimes even eight songs and mashes them all together. He doesn’t just take lyrics from one and music from another, he usually puts several different choruses and verses, from each song, into all the songs he creates. He takes big risks, and granted sometimes his songs don’t come out perfectly, the timing might be a little off, or you can tell that he messed with the pitch significantly. When it works though, it works. He has this amazing ability to find these songs that really compliment each other, and the music he creates with it isn’t just for partying, it isn’t just for working out, its for anything. He doesn’t just match the songs in terms of sound, but also tone. He takes sad songs and pairs them with sad songs, he takes fast songs and reinforces them by adding other quick songs. It’s really a great ability, and he makes good music. He obviously spends a lot of time on it, and I have to applaud his effort. Most of the stuff he’s made has really worked for me, I listen to it a lot, and I haven’t gotten tired of it. Norwegian Recycling has retained the musical complexity that makes a really great song.

            So now that I’ve talked about a few of my favorite mash-up artists, I want to just say a few things about the music they make in general. Mash-ups are cool. They’re kind of post-modernist in that they are purely aesthetic, in most cases. It is very difficult to retain any kind of theme, or poetry of lyrics, when you’re creating a new song from two old ones. That said, most pop music doesn’t have a whole lot of substance anyways, so I see no problem with mixing it all together and making a new sound. Plus Mash-ups have an automatic advantage in terms of listenability. People tend to like songs that they’ve heard before, so mash-ups are very easy to listen to because they’re usually two songs that the public is familiar with, as opposed to one. It’s basically a new way to listen to old music. It shouldn’t replace musical creation by legitimate artists, but I don’t think there’s any danger that it will. 

Justin Mckee

Hey all, and welcome to the second entry of my music blog, which no one may ever actually read. I’m going to apologize in advance for several things. Firstly, I’m sorry if my grammar is not always perfect, and I don’t always seem organized and whatnot. I’m primarily doing this for fun, so I’ll do my best to edit stuff, but it’s going to be imperfect. Secondly, I’m going to apologize for the length of this particular post; I have a lot to say.

            I want to give mad props, in the words of my youth, to Justin McKee for his work; I went to high school with this guy, he’s working on his second album and while he is a little rough around the edges, the music is good. He tells you his story on his website, so I won’t bore you with the details here. Suffice to say, he’s making pretty interesting music considering he’s had very little formal musical education. His first album is entitled Entelechy, which, according to Wikipedia, means “having the end within itself,” and denotes actuality and reality as opposed to potential. Thank you Wikipedia.

            Entelechy as an album is very…. Sing/songwriter. It’s fully of deep lyricism and deep, resounding chords on the piano and guitar. The rhythm section almost seems to take a backseat to the bass in many of his songs. The focus is not on the guitar, but on the bass and vocals. He pounds on the piano, and plays a hard base, but there are no upbeat, catchy rock riffs that you would expect from a child of the 90’s. This is not to say that the album is in any way slow, or that it lacks power. It doesn’t. While it isn’t what you would call upbeat, it definitely conveys emotion in a powerful way.

            I enjoy the entire album, but I have several songs that I favor over others: “Livin’ Lady,” “Cover,” and “Maya.” “Livin’ Lady,” is for me a very exciting song, mostly about growing up. Justin sings about being with someone, when it is convenient. It discusses the change that occurs in relationships both in the real world, and as you become more comfortable with someone’s presence. “She lets me in the room when she’s still looking in the mirror,” is perhaps my favorite line from this song, as it reminds me of my own experiences dating and in relationships. Often times your presence in the other person’s life is taken for granted, and the only noticeable difference between how you are treated and how others are treated is the fact that you get to see all sides of a person. While it’s an enormous privilege, it can also be painful to be relegated to this place. Justin conveys the pain of growing up, with the excitement in brings.

            The song “Cover” has similar subject material, although it isn’t as explicitly about a girl. It’s more about leaving yourself exposed, leaving shelter and attempting to strive out on your own, either in love or elsewhere. Leaving yourself exposed, and outside of your comfort level can be a very difficult thing to do. The last song I want to talk about is called “Maya;” It is similar to his other songs in subject material. It’s a (relatively) upbeat song and waxes poetically about love, life, and leaving your heart open to others. In this song, as in Justin’s others, the driving force of the music comes from the pairing of the piano and Justin’s voice. They complement each other nicely, Justin’s voice is not very deep and in the majority of his songs he pairs it with a deep piano or bass guitar. The effect is cool, as he has created powerful songs that in some ways mimic hip-hop, but with 90’s rock subject material and vocals.

            Justin’s newest EP is available on his myspace page, which I will link to, but is markedly different. My new favorite Justin song is entitled “All the girls in Brooklyn,” and pairs the traditional McKee deep bass line with a more complicated rhythm section. This song is more complex than his other works, but while it threatens to become overly complicated and crowded, it never does. The focus, despite all the other things going on in the song, remains Justin’s voice and the poetic lyrics he relates to us.

            I sincerely hope that Justin keeps creating music for a couple reasons. He is obviously not at his peak, musically, and I want to hear what it sounds like when he works out all of the kinks in his style and presents us with a mature finished product. It’s also just really cool to see someone from my high school, that I played water polo with, become successful. I like everything Justin has created so far, and I hope he continues to make music, I’m very interested in hearing what he has to say.

I said at the beginning of this post that it would cover two different things, but I’m flagging, I’ll have to finish it up later. I hope anyone who reads this can forgive my grammar, and the presentation, I’m new at this but I’ll figure it out. 

My first post

So this is my first entry in this blog, and I wanted to tell everyone a little bit about myself and my intentions first. I am a recent graduate of Colgate University, where I majored in History and minored in Middle East studies. That said, I love music; and I intend to write primarily about music. I want to profile new music, discuss old favorites, and provide a forum for the discussion of any music at all. 

    My musical interests are pretty eclectic, to say the least. I listen to a little bit of everything, and I listen to music pretty much constantly in life. I listen to music when I drive, when I relax, when I exercise, when I’m studying or doing work, like I said, all the time. I’m always open to trying new kinds of music, and I do my best to seek it out. My taste in music is always changing, so hopefully everyone can find something here that they like.

    So in this first post, I want to talk about one of my personal favorite bands, Third Eye Blind. Stephen Jenkins, the lead singer, lives in San Francisco, near where I grew up; they’ve been on the scene for quite some time, since about 1994. So they’re old, and they haven’t put out a ton of music lately, but I grew up with them, and I’ve never stopped listening to them. One of my favorite things about Stephen Jenkins is that there is this unbounded energy in all of his songs, no matter the subject material, it is always put out there in the most emphatic manner. He pours himself into singing these songs for you, his voice strains, the tempo of the songs are fast, and the lyrics are clever and poignant. I enjoy pretty much all of their songs, but I have a few personal favorites. 

    The first song by Third Eye Blind that I truly enjoy is from their first, self-titled album, released in the mid-nineties. The song is entitled London, and is upbeat, energetic and directed. Jenkins is telling the story of following a girl to London to be with her, but realizing upon arrival that she’s not in London to be with him, but rather to pursue others and lead her own life. It’s about a relationship gone sour, with it’s members changing in ways that fail to accommodate each other. It’s full of leftover feelings, desires and jealousies. It’s not a conventional sad sap song though, which is what makes it interesting and exciting. Instead, it’s a fast paced, up-tempo song, the raw emotion is evident in Stephen Jenkin’s voice, as he fights his way through the verses. It’s a unique approach to expressing unhappiness in song. Songs like this are, for me, what make Third Eye Blind unique. They are unconventional, and break the traditional mold of expression. It’s a sad song, fundamentally, about the end of a wonderful thing that made someone very happy. But it’s not purely a song of mourning, nor purely of anger. It runs the gambit of emotions that we all feel at the end of a relationship like that, from anger, to disappointment both in yourself and your partner, and finally sadness and acceptance of the situation. It’s a truthful song, it doesn’t idolize the relationship, it doesn’t simply express anger at the other person. It’s full of resentment, but it’s not necessarily all directed at the ex-girlfriend. Stephen is obviously also upset with himself for ignoring his instincts and following the girl to London. It’s a complex song, conveying a lot of different emotions all at once, without mixing the message. It’s not an organized song, which is precisely why it works. 

    For me, this is what makes Third Eye Blind so talented; they convey emotions without prejudice, without pride, and without holding anything back. They truly mastered the art of being honest with their audience. They don’t hold anything back, they tell a story, without hiding how they feel, they bare their feelings for their fans. Anyways that’s all I’ll talk about for now, hopefully you guys enjoy it, I’ll try to post some music by the band later on.