Archive for December, 2009

A year ago I set myself some goals for this year in this video. Time to make up the balance.

• Be awake MORE – Probably a succes, judging by my crankiness and sore muscles.
• Be MORE – I definitely biked more since I got a job on the other side of the city, but if that’s the activity I was looking for…
• Do MORE handstands – Fail. Never done one since that vid.
• Play MORE guitar – Fail. I think it got even less than before.
• Make MORE noise – Maybe in some fits of rage. But no, no increase in amplified rawk here.
• Play MORE piano – Haven’t touched the thing in months.
• Write MORE hit songs – Well, ‘The Geeks  Are Out’ got over 6000 hits on YouTube, that’s a hit, isn’t it? At least a small succes.
• Visit MORE concerts – Definite fail. Don’t know if I even want to. I don’t like crowds. Paul McCartney was great though!
• Read MORE books – The one in the video is the last I finished…
• Listen to MORE good music – I’m halfway through publishing an essay on my failure in that department now on this very blog… keep coming back for the rest of it.
• Watch MORE quality movies – Nah. I just saw some blockbusters. Avatar was pretty neat.
• Have MORE sex – let’s just say this was the same as last year. No news isn’t always good news.
• Meet MORE people – People scare me or vice versa. At least I didn’t succeed here.
• Do MORE things I’ve never done before – Another ‘face your fears’ thing. But I kept safely to my comfort zone. Comfort zones are boring.
• Run MORE – The last time I ran was February 1st. Now I’m back to crawling again.
• Do MORE sports – Can I play the ‘biking to work’ card twice? Please? Thanks.
• Clean house MORE – Well, after VAGED I guess I kinda kept the house a little cleaner. I’ll give myself that.
• Spend MORE time with my friends – Nah. Stayed in, staring at my screen.
• Spend MORE time with my family – Nah. Stayed in, staring at my screen.
• Take MORE photos – I might as well have bought a video cam. The beautiful still cam I have I use almost exclusively for making videos.
• Be MORE succesful with my band – Having some fun at the Oerol festival was pretty much as far as it got. Postponing, postponing, people.
• Earn MORE money – Well, at least I get to keep the money I get on my account now. It’s salary, not a loan. But it’s less than last year.
• Get MORE subscribers – Nerdfighters are awesome. However, I’m not satisfied. I want more!
• Make MORE 5-star rated videos – No complaints in that department – thanks again to the nerdfighters.
• Get noticed MORE – well, I got slightly more noticed on YouTube this year. But I’m not satisfied yet.
• Eat MORE healthy food – muhahahaa McDonald’s ftw!
• Go out MORE – Nah. Stayed in, staring at my screen.
• Buy and wear MORE different clothes – from whose money?
• Go on MORE holidays – from whose money?
• Have MORE fun – I had some fun, but not more than before. And I definitely need more fun.
• Sing MORE – For a singer, I almost never sing. At least not enough to my liking.
• Dance MORE – Me? Dancing? What was I thinking? All I can do is jump like a madman. Which I haven’t done a lot, no.
• Play MORE – Define play?
• Live MORE – I’ve definitely got the feeling I have lived way less this year. It’s become less every year.

So yeah, that sounds pretty depressing. And it is. I am pretty depressed right now. And kinda embarrassed. Which is why I won’t publish my goals for 2010. I’ve got them, sure. But I’m not going to tell them. That way I at least won’t have to write such a depressing blog post next year. Happy fucking 2010, people!

And thanks everyone for sticking with me so far. You don’t know how much value you add to my life. Thanks a lot!

The Beatles kept coming up on radio and TV in that period. The Anthologies came out. That made me discover English music magazine ‘Q’. I still remember the cover saying ‘Threetles’, with a picture of the three remaining Beatles smiling into the camera. Can’t believe I threw that out, it was monumental. So there was a fresh, new channel through which I could gain information about music. I started to buy it regularly, mainly because of the next big thing that was happening.

A milestone, incidentally bought on its release date

My dad (again) had mentioned that there was a new English band that sounded a lot like The Beatles. Turned out he had heard Oasis’ ‘Married With Children’ on the radio. It was my brother who became the first to eventually buy their debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’, after ‘Whatever’ had become their first Dutch radio hit. In the end my dad didn’t like the album because the rest of it sounded quite different from the lovely little ballad that closed it. To be honest, I didn’t like it at first either. I couldn’t really hear through the massive walls of guitars that filled every song. But after hearing ‘Bring It On Down’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ a few times, I started to get into it. I happened to be in the CD store on the day their second album ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ came out. I didn’t know that at the time, but I thought: ‘Hey, I don’t know that one yet.’ So I instantly bought it. And was hooked.

Finally I had found…

For a year or two I followed everything that happened on the radio. In the beginning I was just looking for stuff I could recognize from my parents’ records. But soon enough I couldn’t help starting to pick up contemporary music. Valensia probably resonated with me because of my love for Queen. Late at night in bed I listened to the ‘TROS CD-show’, which played obscure album tracks from start to finish. With a pause of silence between the song and the quiet voice of the announcer! Great for taping and for getting to know the more interesting tracks behind the hits. I discovered that the pop song with a hook, which I got to love so much through The Beatles, hadn’t died out yet. Through all the lifeless muzak (let’s face it, we’d just left the Eighties behind us), some gems started to shine.

Yes, this was pretty loud indeed.

Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ really hit me in the guts. I didn’t know English well enough at the time, so I couldn’t really understand what it was about. Still the emotion probably got to me. I loved it. And it was kind of edgy because he used the word ‘fucking’. And that word was still very taboo for a thirteen-year-old Christian boy. But I guess the honesty in it grabbed me. Still, it took me a few years to grow brave enough to buy such a ‘loud’ album. For that’s how I perceived ‘Pablo Honey’ at the time. It was a first step towards creating an own identity. A raised finger to the Christian moral that I started to find very limiting. Also, it was the soundtrack to the breakup of my first serious relationship. You know how that goes. You’re fifteen, your girlfriend dumps you and instantly you stop being a child. It ends right there. And adulthood begins.

The Beatles kept… (ctd. tomorrow)

Me holding a CD with a guy holding a CD

So one day, I read that this Paul McCartney chap of The Beatles was not only still alive, but also still making music! That made me leap into the present and kept me cluttered to the radio for hours to hear his single ‘Hope Of Deliverance’. That was around Christmas 1992. I had to buy his album ‘Off The Ground’ on tape, because we didn’t have any CD players in the house yet.

But in that same year, my brother obtained one of those magical devices, so we could finally play those wonderful small silver discs. Mind you, I had to be careful. My brother was like a tiger protecting his territory when it came to his room. And he would attack you viciously if he caught you touching his stuff. But, after some sneaky recording sessions I managed to copy my first CDs to tape. They were, incidentally, the red and blue Beatles compilations, which I had won in a contest on the radio.

For a year or two… (ctd. tomorrow)

My first album

In 1993 I bought my first CD. It was one by a Dutch artist called Valensia. A very nice artist who created Queen-like orchestral music. Loved it. I had heard it on the radio. I had just obtained a minuscule radio of my own, a little cube that came  free with some book club order. I had to hide it and put it on very softly because otherwise my dad would come staggering up the stairs, telling me to ‘turn it down!’ But it was a connection to the real world. The outside world of that time.

Before that my world had just been wherever I set foot. So mostly my parental house. Musically, all I listened to were my dad’s records. Some were my mom’s, but most of them were dad’s, and I mainly liked my dad’s taste. And from that selection mainly The Beatles. My dad owned most of the Beatles’ records and many of their separate solo efforts. I loved them all. He also had ‘A Night At The Opera’ by Queen, which made a great impression on me as well.

So one day… (contd. tomorrow)