My Freshman Year & Music

Coming into high school was a little scary because I was not use to the building and was a little intimidated by the older students. I was defiantly quiet and did not talk too much but I was really looking forward to taking guitar class. Just thinking of the fact that I can play my guitar at school was mind blowing. Every day at lunch I would go into the band room and play my favorite songs and soon enough people knew me by that kid who could play guitar really good. I would have random people compliment me in the halls; it was kind of weird. I was upset though because I haven’t even played out in public. I would always think about the band Mock Turtle at the teen center and Caldara, I wanted to be like them, because we were all about the same age and they were playing gigs since grade school. As freshman year progressed I just really focused on playing guitar and started writing my own music. Most of my originals sounded heavy and the lyrics usually told a story, most of them where tragic. Sometimes I would write about dreams I had or girls I liked stuff like that. I was not a smooth talker and just flat out shy, I only talked to the people I knew best. I always refer my freshman and junior year to be the worst high school years. Freshman year I was getting to know people outside my grade and junior year because of all the tests you have to take.

my first gig

On the day of my first real gig I was very excited and anxious to play. All that day I tried to think of a way to top the other bands playing with us and I had a crazy idea to smash a guitar. My friend had a junk guitar that would never be fixed so I soaked it in gas because we could light it on fire and smash it to pieces. We all met at the park and our singer wanted me to pick up the gear at my house but I didn’t even have my driver’s license but I drove it anyways. The other members of the band and I went across town to pick it up. My parents were not home so I wanted to hurry up and load before they could notice I was driving. As soon as it was loaded we left and I looked in the mirror and seen them pull into the driveway; it was close. Once the equipment was loaded we sat and watched the band. We were getting mad because they kept playing the same song over and over because they didn’t know much stuff and they had to fill a larger time slot than us. Once it was our turn it was dark and the temp probably dropped ten or maybe even fifteen degrees and I could see my breath. I fired up my amp and everyone gathered around the pavilion to check out the new band. We rocked so hard it’s not even funny! People wanted and encore and everything. On the encore we played and original called jam number six and our singer smashed that guitar in one swing! The crowd went wild and the smell of gas filled the air. We decided not to light it on fire because we might have burned the pavilion down. That was one day I’ll never forget.

Hippie daze

Well after driving my car for awhile back in my sophomore/junior year I wanted some new and exciting, plus my dad needed a good gas saving car to drive to work. I made a deal with him; I’ll give you my car if you buy me a new one of that value. He agreed and the next thing I was hooked on was Volkswagen vans. I wanted one so bad. I would check the paper all the time to find a great deal. Finally I found one in St. Louis so we checked it out. It was pea green and came right out of the seventies. I liked it because it was basically a hippie van so we bought it. It was running like crap but when we got closer to home it ran good. The inside was a camper. It had a fridge, stove, cabinets, and even a little table. My favorite part was the top would pop open and there were bunk beds. One of the coolest and new things to me was its transmission. It was a four speed stick and I loved it so much. Well I guess old vans can’t drive every day so it started to break down on me a lot. I would be on the road and it would die for no reason. It would make me so mad. Well it got to the point where I didn’t have the time to fix it up so I decided to sell it. then I had to get used to the gas hog truck my dad had at that time until i got my next car.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday I was playing music with my band No Solution up in Du Quoin and the time out bar. It used to be a church, funny isn't it? When we started playing our first set the bar had a unusually amount of people which was great for us. I noticed a few older couples sitting at a table listening to us having a good time and then all of a sudden i hear this drunken voice yell at the end of the song, "YEEEAAAAH!!!, WHHOOO YOU GUYS ROCK!" and everyone in the bar was probably thinking, "wow this guy needs to go home and sleep it off." No, he wasn't about to sleep it off, his night just begun. after every song it seemed he cheered and made request for us to play a skynyrd song, which is very common. Personally i didn't mind it because I'm all about having a good time but this guy was wasted, he tried to get up and dance and when he did i noticed he had a knee brace that when down to his ankle. I couldn't believe it, this guy is dancing, drunk, and wearing basically a full leg brace, just when i thought I've seen it all. Afterwards we played a slower song and he sat down in a chair, i guess to cool off, then he fell asleep. I noticed he was out while we were playing and i looked over at our singer lukcan and said look at that guy, he smiled and nodded his head back at me. After the song i told him to say something on the mic for someone to check on him. He said, " hey, someone check that guy to see if he's still breathing." As soon as he said that everyone looked over at him and he fell out of his chair and spilt beer all over the floor. then a few people when over there to check on him and he through his hat on the ground and put his fists up in the air ready to fight. The people were like no, no, we don't want to fight its just time to go home. He said,"ooo ok." then spun around, confused a few times and then pissed himself. His pants were drenched as he stumbled out of the bar. That was the highlight of the night last Saturday.

my idea

My idea for my subculture is boaters. I think this is a type of people that is more common than we think yet not many people talk to them about why they do what they do. what ill be researching is what types of boats are out there and how do the people differ between each type of boat? What are safety requirements and regulations on the water and how are these requirements enforeced? There is many different ideas that this subject can cover, even modern boating technology like dept finders and fish finders for fishermen, also i can even go in depth about how fishermen "know the water" as in high and low spots or where stumps are. Another idea that no one wants to talk about is accidents. What happens to rescue injured after a wreck? Can you get a ticket for causeing an acident? My plan is to find out all of this info my reserching goverment sites, going to local marina's and talking with local fishermen. I find this interesting and i have lots of questions to ask them and most boaters are kind and i feel they will be very open with me so i will be able to deliver very detailed answers. I do know the boating culture somewhat so i do have a idea of what im getting into. My grandparents have a pontoon boat and every time we pass people they wave and we wave back. Awhile ago there was a commersial on t.v. about getting people to boat more and it was a family walking through a store and they would wave at every one and the people would look back at them as if they were crazy and then thay got on their boat and waved at people and the other guys would wave back and they felt at home, i thought  it was so funny.

Guitar

Ever since i was little i wanted to play guitar. My dad played and he would always let me strum the guitar while he freted the chord when i was 4 or 5. He told me i could keep time when i was 3! i dont believe it but thats what he said. When i was in 5th grade i saved all my birthday and christmas money which was a little over 100 dollars, which i think was alot for a 11 year old on 2001. and i told my dad i wanted a guitar and he was all for it but my mom was trying to talk him out of it because she thought it was a waste of money. HA well i told her it was my money and i wanted to buy what i wanted. So dad and i went and got my first guitar and he taught me all he knew. Then i went to high school and took guitar class and everyone knew me as the freshman who could play really good. I'd walk down the hall and and someone would say who is that? and the person next to them would say thats the new kid that shreds. All this talk made me really stuck up and i'd always show off at lunch in the band room and people would go in there just to watch. At the time i was in a band and we got a show at pops and everyone flipped out that a red bud band got a gig there. Teachers and our friends bought tickets and we actually sold around 85 which is actually really good and we got first call on our time slot. That was a great experience, we played there a few times and other small bars in St. Louis. That band lasted about 2 years then we got mad at eachother and we broke up. I played drums in a band for a year or so with a few close friends and slowly we stopped playing and i got into this new band im in, No Solution and we just took off. its crazy. We have been in the local paper so many times, been on the radio, and even working on recording a full lengh cd.