Aaron Gillespie and the birth of inter-rock

Rock music is dead.  Okay, maybe not dead, but definitely on life-support.  When I think of rock, I visualize bands like The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, and Nirvana.  Those were bands that had a command of their instruments, and control of any crowd that dared to enter one of their shows.  Where are those bands today?  Do fans really want to label Panic! At the Disco and Incubus as the proverbial “saviors of rock?”  I don’t think so.

I’m sure as you’re reading this you’re shouting at the screen:“You idiot! What about Foo Fighters? U2? Green Day?”  Yes, those are great bands, but how often do you see them on MTV, or hear them on the radio?  Do they have the same cultural impact as rock bands from the ‘60s, 70s, and early 90s?  Bands like U2 and the Foo are the last remnants a forgotten religion.

Thanks to the Internet, however, rock has evolved.  One should be hesitant to call it an “underground” movement since modern day bands are able to reach the ears of so many fans.  Yet, modern rock cannot be labeled as “mainstream” or popular, since it no longer attracts a great deal of media attention.  The sound of rock is faster, edgier, and the voices of many frontmen are gritty and young.  These are the sounds preferred by those who have rejected mainstream acts while refusing to be confined by underground subcultures.  Today’s rock is an entity powered by chat-rooms, You Tube, and Pure Volume.  It’s something that I like to call “Inter-rock,” or rock that is powered by the Internet.

One of the bands leading this movement is The Almost.  Fronted by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie, The Almost were pushed into popularity with Internet assistance.  They combine the hard line of a heavy metal band with pop-sensibility, creating a sound that perfectly encompasses what rock has become, and where it is likely going.  A little over a year ago, Gillespie took a few moments to reflect on the current state of rock and how his new band will play a role in the genre’s progression.

1) Even though The Almost has experienced a fair amount of success (reviews, sales, etc.) many would still label the group as “underground.”  Would you agree with this label, and do you feel that more attention is being directed towards the underground?

I DON’T THINK UNDERGROUND MUSIC EXISTS ANYMORE.   EVERYTHING IS MARKETABLE AND FASHIONABLE.  BEGINNING IS A BETTER TERM, AND [THE ALMOST] ARE STILL NEW.  [WITH THE INTERNET] IT’S THE NORM TO HAVE A BAND, AND IT’S NOT SPECIAL ANYMORE.  OBVIOUSLY IT CAN BE. TODAY MOST BANDS PLAY MUSIC JUST TO DO IT BECAUSE THE CHICKS ARE GOOD AND THEY GET TO WEAR TIGHT PANTS.  THEY DON’T DO IT FOR A REASON.  WHAT RACE, RELIGION OR CREED DO IT FOR A REASON? PEOPLE DO IT BECAUSE IT’S THERE. IT KIND OF TAKES THE PASSION OUT OF THE CRAFT.

2) In an interview with AP magazine you said that the genre The Almost is a part of would eventually be forgotten.  Do you think that emo/ rock is dying out?  Do you think rock needs to be reinvented?

I DON’T THINK IT WILL BE REINVENTED.  WHAT I MEAN IS, LOOK AT ALL OF THESE BANDS THAT WERE HUGE, AND THEY’RE NOTHING NOW. IN THE EARLY ‘90S, WHEN I WAS REALLY GETTING INTO STUFF, HEAVY METAL WAS DYING, AND THEN NIRVANA CAME ALONG AND GAVE THE PROVERBIAL MIDDLE FINGER TO ALL THOSE BANDS.  THERE WERE ALL THESE THROW AWAY BANDS.

NOW, THE AUDIENCE GETS YOUNGER AND YOUNGER.  THE AVERAGE AGE IS 16. WHICH I GUESS IS GREAT, BUT IT’S MY FEAR ABOUT CREATING A GREAT CRAFT, SO YOU SHOULD TRY YOUR HARDEST TO MAKE SOMETHING REAL.

I REMEMBER GETTING UP AND SEEING THESE GREAT BANDS, BUT KIDS ARE SO IMPRESSIONABLE. YOU CAN MAKE THEM BELIEVE, MAKE THEM THINK, AND IF YOU DON’T DO THAT YOU’RE STAINING THE WORLD. WE’VE BECOME A WASTE OF A GENERATION. THE IMPRESSION WE MAKE ON THE GENERATION COMING UP BEHIND US IS WHAT BANDS NEED TO FOCUS ON, AND NO ONE CARES.  THAT’S WHY THE GENRE’S DYING.

3) How would you describe the current state of music?

I THINK PARTS OF IT ARE SUPER ECLECTIC AND SOME ARE SUPER COOKIE CUTTER. YOU HAVE BANDS THAT ARE MAKING GREAT QUALITY MUSIC. THEY MAKE THINGS THAT THEY KNOW ARE CORRECT.  THEN THERE IS MUSIC THAT IS MADE TO MAKE MONEY.   MUSIC SHOULD BE THERAPUTIC, AND SHOULDN’T ALWAYS AIM FOR THE CATCHIEST CHORUS.

IN THE ‘80S WE HAD ALL THESE BANDS THAT SOUNDED THE SAME, NOW EVERYONE’S TRYING TO SOUND THE SAME AGAIN.

3a) Do you think The Almost can be the band that saves rock in the fashion of Nirvana?

I DON’T KNOW IF WE CAN BE THAT BAND, I’D LIKE TO SAY YES, BUT I DON’T KNOW IF WE’RE THERE YET.

I DON’T KNOW WHERE MUSIC IS GOING BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY BANDS ON THE INTERNET AND EVERYONE’S DOWNLOADING. UNLESS WE START DOING SOMETHING FOR A REASON, UNLESS WE START BELIEVING IN SOMETHING, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, NOT BECAUSE IT’S COOL.

IT’S A WASTE [TO MAKE MUSIC WITHOUT THAT GOAL]. THE WORLD KNOWS THAT [BANDS] MEAN IT WHEN [THEY HAVE A MESSAGE]. WHEN YOU SEE THEM LIVE YOU CAN FEEL IT.  YOU’RE INSPIRED.  IF I CAN’T DO THAT, THEN I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE.  I’D RATHER WORK AT SUBWAY.

4) It’s widely known that you’re a religious individual, and the music circuit doesn’t exactly reflect religious values.  Can you describe the struggles, if any, that come with touring and trying to remain true to your values?

I’M NOT RELIGIOUS.  RELIGION TO ME IS WHAT MAN HAS MADE OUT OF SPIRTIUALITY. THOSE ARE ALL DIFFERENT SECTS OF THE CHURCH. BUT I DON’T BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN’T HAVE LONG HAIR, WATCH RATED-R MOVIES, GET TATTOOS, AND DRINK. IF YOU’RE AN ADULT AND YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE AND YOU KNOW YOUR LIMITS, THEN THOSE THINGS ARE FINE.

IF YOU READ THE BIBLE, CHRIST WAS IN THE STREETS HANGING OUT WITH BUMS AND WHORES. I’M AFRAID PEOPLE ARE GOING TO LUMP ME UP WITH A PERSON WHO VOTED FOR GEORGE BUSH. AND THAT’S NOT TRUE. CHRISTIANS DON’T HANG OUT WITH ONLY CHRISTIANS, WE DON’T SLEEP IN THE CHURCH.

IT’S LIKE ANYTHING ELSE: LIFE IS ALWAYS HARD. IT’S A DAILY BATTLE TO KEEP THOSE THINGS REAL. IT’S CONSTANT WORK, YOU’RE ALWAYS TRYING

[CHRISTIANS] HAVE A LOT OF APOLOGIZING TO DO. WE HAVE TO BE HONEST. WE DO A LOT OF DUMB THINGS.   PEOPLE THINK THAT WE THINK THAT WE’RE PERFECT, WE SHOULD STRIVE TO BE, BUT ONLY JESUS WAS PERFECT.

5) Now the only other drummers, who I can remember anyway, who were able to make successful transitions to the front of the stage were Phil Collins and David Grohl.  Has the transition been difficult at all?  How is being the frontman different from being the drummer?

IT’S AWKWARD AT FIRST, I SING A LOT IN UNDEROATH.  SO IT’S EASIER FOR ME. BUT UP FRONT THERE’S [NO DRUM KIT] TO HIDE BEHIND.

6) Does The Almost have a different type of audience than Underoath?

YEAH, DEFINITELY.  AT UNDEROATH SHOWS AMUBLANCES ARE EVERYWHERE.  AT ALMOST SHOWS EVERYONE SINGS ALONG. I GUESS IT’S LIKE IF YOU WENT TO SEE SLAYER AND THEN YOU WENT TO SEE FOO FIGHTERS.  THEY’RE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TYPES OF BANDS, BUT I LOVE BOTH EQUALLY.

Ma, I'm on TV

Last week Shirley, Claire and I did our first TV interview on Ottawa’s A Morning show.  We were scheduled to be on at 7:40 so picked Shirley up at 6:45 and Claire 6:55.  It took us 15 minutes to get to the George Street studio in the Market  (it would have been sooner but the apparently there are NO more left turns on King Edward and I had to make a few U-turns). We arrived at 7:15 and were ushered the 10 steps from the door to the couch by someone who introduced himself as our the floor manager .   Shirley was excited to see the free Tim Horton’s Coffee and Donuts. I was not since I was fasting for Yom Kippur.  We sat on the coach for what seemed like a long time until our interviewer, Bill  asked us for a copy of the book to read. He came back and said something cute about the reference to Compound Interest. Soon we found ourselves wired to Mics and on the couch with a big screen going 10 – 9 – 8.. I quickly asked what questions he was going to ask and he said he wasn’t sure…4 – 3 – 2- and we were on Air.

It was fun and went by fast. Shirley started to tell a story about Roasted Chickens and was cut off by the host and I when I was talking my face was turned towards Shirley’s so my profile got a lot of airtime!   Claire was great.  I really didn’t know what to expect so all in all I think it went well.

Claire, Shirley, myself and our Host Bill

Me on TV

Longing, Love, and Death: Interview with BGSU

            Prize-winning BGSU writer seeks to convey life’s ‘terrible beauty’
  Longing, love and death—the trajectory of a life—are themes explored by Creative Writing faculty member Theresa Williams. She has recently been recognized for her writing with a 2006 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
Theresa Williams

Williams received the top prize of $10,000 in the highly competitive process. Honors are given in recognition of the “exceptional merit of a body of work that advances or exemplifies the discipline and the larger artistic community,” according to the council. The awards are designed to support artists’ growth and development and are not tied to specific projects.

The author of a novel, short stories and poetry, she has been a finalist for a Pushcart Prize for fiction, an Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize and a Paterson Fiction Prize for her novel, The Secret Of Hurricanes, published in 2002 by MacAdam Cage. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and literary reviews.

Williams came to BGSU in 1987 as a Fellow in the Creative Writing Program, studying with Dr. Philip O’Connor, now Distinguished Research Professor of English, and Dr. Richard Messer, now a professor emeritus of English. She received her master of fine arts degree in 1989 and now teaches writing as well as courses in women’s studies, literature and composition.

“I came here because my creative writing teacher at East Carolina University, William Hallberg, had gotten his MFA here, and I loved his stories about BG,” she said.

After receiving a master’s degree in English from East Carolina, she was accepted by the writing programs at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and BGSU. “I chose BGSU after visiting the campus and meeting Mary McGowan and Howard McCord,” Williams said. “I like them both very much, plus the campus spoke to me. It seemed very quiet here, very simple, and I was intrigued by the flat landscape.

“I moved to Bowling Green with my family in the summer of 1987. At the time, we had three small children. I remember I used to promise the youngest that if he’d be very quiet while I wrote, that I would get him a big bag of candy if and when I published one of the stories I’d been working on. He did end up getting that bag of candy, but not until 1994 when one of my stories came out in The Chattahoochee Review. That story was eventually expanded and revised into my novel, The Secret Of Hurricanes.”

Williams describes the novel as “an exploration of adolescent confusion and heartache.” Her next project, a collection of short stories, deals with middle age and a dramatic life change undergone by the main character.

What began as a trip purely for pleasure last summer has become the impetus for Williams’s next large project. She and her husband and their dog traveled the length of the Ohio River on a 22-foot, 1978 sailboat.

“The Ohio River has huge mythical implications that I would like to capture,” she said. “In mythology, there are many flood myths, and these myths emphasize the dual force of water: it gives and it takes away. Water reminds us that death is necessary for change and growth.”

The final shape of the river project is still evolving, she said, but a number of poems have already come out of it. She expresses the flavor of the river experience in the following short poem:

We Proceed On

toward Gallipolis.
The world shrinks until
it fits in our boat: the husks
of mayflies
maps, thoughts.

In her poetry, Williams says, “I look for a core that reveals the terrible beauty of things, and I want to slay the reader with that beauty. When I say ‘terrible beauty,’ I mean a force like the Ohio River, which can be placid and lovely, but which can also sweep you away and tear down your house. Another way of saying this is that I am searching for a way to express an experience of the sublime, which doesn’t just mean beauty but also fear and awe.”

Healing with the Masters met Alison Armstrong

Als ik het hem moet vertellen dan hoeft het al niet meer!   Dat zeggen vrouwen vaak, zegt Alison Armstrong in het eerste gesprek van ‘Healing with the Masters’ van Jennifer Mclean, over de cadeautjes die ze van hun mannen willen ontvangen als ze jarig zijn.  Terwijl wanneer we het niet vertellen, het niet goed kan gaan. Mannen hebben niet hetzelfde instinct als vrouwen. Mannen willen graag weten waarmee zij vrouwen het gelukkigst kunnen maken, dan winnen ze. Het ze wel vertellen maakt dat alle partijen winnen.   Alison vertelt over de verschillen in de chemische huishoudingen van mannen en vrouwen en hoe we door kennis en oefening de ‘geest’ over de materie, in dit geval de hormonen en zo, kunnen laten schijnen. Spirit over chemie.   Net als Claire Zammit praat Alison over de prachtige kanten van mannen, hoe mannen hele goede redenen hebben om te doen wat ze doen. Mannen doen graag dingen, zeker voor vrouwen en het is fantastisch dat vrouwen alles zelf kunnen alleen we zouden eigenlijk veel los kunnen laten.   Een mooie tip voor de vrouwen is om niet meer tegen mannen te zeggen dat iets niet goed voelt. Het antwoord van mannen is vaak dan, ‘Voel dan niet zo’. Ik hou heus wel van je.   Wanneer we zeggen, ‘Het lijkt (als je dat doet) alsof het jouw niets doet’, of iets in die trant, dan komt er iets heel anders uit de man. Gelijk een hele andere situatie waarin er weer gesprek en begrip mogelijk is.   Erg veel verhelderende informatie door het hele interview heen. Erg humoristisch ook. Nog 24 uur online om te luisteren.    

Fame - Interviews - Musical - 2009

i really enjoyed Naturi Naughton’s voice and I hope she makes an album because she has a killer voice.
I love her name too, so cool.
Found some interviews with the cast from Fame 2009.
Asher Book almost reminds me of Adam Lambert when he sings.
The clear vocals and stage prescence.
I could also picture Adam Lambert doing his part in this movie.

So many stuff and information for free to use.

For a while now I have been following the work of Joe Vitale. I saw him in (the first edition of) the movie ‘The Secret’ with Esther & Abraham Hicks.  What Joe Vitale is doing with his new book “Attract Money Now!” is fantastic. He is giving the book away, online, with a series of video’s full off tips and advice, and he says, when people have money they will buy the book. The shiny hardcover one.   I’ve been saying for years, all the information flies around, open and free, when we want to know. Gratis and for nothing (;) dutch expression). I found out myself because I have been doing money shortage  for a long time. Masterful.   Recently I see, feel and experience really the gift in it. I have been learning so much, so many discoveries, so much growth, so much insight, ‘getting to know’ myself this deeply. That’s a real gift. I see creativity now. It’s a process of years where I started feeling ‘rich’ before any extra cent came in. Studying myself a lot, my sub-conscious patterns , thoughts and the feelings I got used to. Changing step by step, everything. Still am.   Joe Vitale talks a lot about online businesses. As Bob Doyle, also from the movie They both give wonderful tips away and are very inspiring people.
As time went on I saw clearly that Joe, Bob, and Bob Proctor too, are men and express about action in a male way. I felt frustrated because it seemed to work different in me, as a woman, a mother. Fortunately after that I came across Sasha Xarrian. Without ever buying anything from her she still is a giant inspiration for me. And then I listened an interview with Helene Hadsell. Woman, mother. A great inspiration too. And Jeanna Gabellini and Eva Gregory. Meanwhile my basis was, and still is,  Abraham Hicks.   Today I watched the  Video Answer 1, by Craig Perrine of Joe Vitale’s Awakened Millionaire Secrets. It is about starting something online,  ’Website or a blog?’. I’m learning so much about doing things online. I posted a reply there from which I think it can inspire people to start also. All these people inspired me, I started doing (something) (and with a small detour ), with them as an example and Abraham as coach. Now I’m telling happily my story here as one more example.       

Thank you!
I have been in the ’self-development business’ for quite some time now.
The problem was, there didn’t come any money in. To really make profit I thought I had to have a practice with lots of clients and I couldn’t and didn’t want that.

I had (still working on it) a great idea about an e-book. I only never wrote before and hardly knew anything about the technical stuff. I did start the book only I still felt low on self-esteem, things got complicated.  

So I thought I start a website. Still working on that one too. It got complicated.

The real thing I wanted is what I normally do verbal, sharing everything I learn throughout my life and the lots of reading and studying I do. My plan was first the website as a basis, than the book and than blogging. What I really wanted was blogging though.

I have been writing for some time now and slowly feeling sure about it and comfortable.
The way I thought was the way to build my ‘business’, didn’t work and when I sort of frustrated started blogging (I didn’t know anything about that too, found wordpress by ‘accident’, started and found out it is not difficult) things got rolling.
The beauty is by starting that what I really wanted, in a week or two now things go fast.
lol I knew that (great how I can still feel and act stuck in some places even though I know)

I started in dutch. I was born in the Netherlands, Amsterdam, still live here. I did it for myself. I just wanted to get out all the information because I love to do that.
In all the complications I can’t get to my email list so I didn’t even tell anybody about it. I kept on thinking, stay at the little steps approach, stay with the fun and let it be.
I started translating my writing in English now.
I am feeling great, I am doing it. Learning a lot. I understand now much more about building my site only because I started blogging. And I am very grateful for this video because now I know I can make my site on wordpress too! That I can do!
Really looking forward to hear the next video and learn more.

Thank you again!
Anita.

    PS. Today is the free tele-seminar of the Morelli’s en Marci Schimoff! First Happy then the money. They are all three millionaires and know what they are talking about. You can sign up here.

Lloyd Goes In On Ciara, Calls Her A B*tch

MediaTakeOut.com:

Can you say DUH-RAMMMMMA!!! MediaTakeOut.com’s pals over at Hip Hop Weekly interviewed R&B singer Lloyd and he had some CHOICE WORDS for fellow singer Ciara. Here are his exact words:

I don’t f**k with Hollywood b**ches and she’s like one of the chicks that’s just changed along the way with the fame and the money and all of that.

“I don’t really get down with her anymore on some real s**t. The truth hurts, but it will set you free. But I wish her all the best.

How you gonna call the woman out her name like that dude … FIFFFFFTY … This dude is talking crazy about your chick!!!