Listen while you read . . .
http://youtu.be/sUl8GsmnKQI
Hello everyone,
So this is my new Blog page about everything Music. Writing about music has been a newer passion of mine other than creating Art. Sometimes it seems that it holds my interest with more depth because I dont have to answer to anyone but myself, the discoveries I find, and to reflect on all the various musics I was raised with since 1963.
PLEASE realize that I am a "nobody". I play Guitar (improvisational) but am not in a Band, but I'd like to think I have good ear, an eye for Art (I'm a Conceptual Designer/Storyboard Artist and have worked in the Video Game Industry 10 years, (Indie) Film for 7+, and have 5 Album Covers/Logos published) but not a trained writer or musician. I am a FAN of the Arts, Entertainment Industry and various musics, especially Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal and super interested in its rich History.
Anything I write is not for any "Glory or Fame", if I could make a living at it, please let me know how because I think that would be a great thing to do. Because I enjoy writing about these eclectic musics, and like to share my experiences as if we were talking and hanging-out over a cup of coffee.
I'm not a "Reviewer" though, far from it, because many bands people like, even in the categories I enjoy, I am critical of. But who am I to tell them their tastes are bad? So I may critique an album here or there, but it will be from my personal take and taste about it. But I'd rather talk about the music we love in general. WHY does a particular song or group move us?
BUT . . .
when it comes to the "muzak" on the radio, that has everyone fooled because theyre million sellers selling the latest trendy flavor with gimmicky hooks to the Top 40 Pop masses that feed on the hype but not the music/musicianship. That these "Performers" are judged by their greatness on Record Sales ~ DONT tread on the music I LOVE unless you have the ear, the variety of music tastes and the words to defend your point of view. You can dislike and like what you like, but dont use the word "Suck" and not be prepared to state why in a constructive intelligent way without the rhetoric and cliche's.
We can agree to disagree or simply state;
"MY opinion is just a Point of View, and YOUR position, is the other side".
Though the more extreme and progressive musics are my main interests . . .
I have lived through every incarnation of Heavy Metal, seen it all grow and split into sub-genres. Followed those who invented the sounds and went backwards and forwards in their catalogues. Through Progressive Rock and the seeds of Prog Metal. And where Punk crossed over and Thrashed. The Guitar Shredders, the Neo-Classical, the Jazz/Fusion musicians who inspired and influenced, the Classic AOR Rockers, the Folky's, the Crooners, the Contemporary Vocalists and Alternative/New Wave, New Age and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Country before it was watered down, as well as R&B, Soul and Funk before it was Disco'd to death. But where the Blues still holds on to the past. I was taken to the emerald isle of Celtic Rock and the Black Forests of frost from Black & Folk Metal and various continents of World Musics. There may be a few musics I dont enjoy, but bits and pieces may be found in the various musics that I do. For those who are maligned or cherished, or thought they invented the wheel, someone always came before to inspire and influence.
So take a trip with me and sojourn into its rich history, of those who took music to new heights, new levels and outside the box. May it be High Art, Avant-Garde, Classical triumphs, Virtuostic, Complex, Epic! or simple, melodic, to One Hit Wonders and the British Invasion. Lets enjoy all they had to offer, and lets see where those roots and branches of the Tree takes us. In the Black soil (yes, thats a metaphor) rich for its seeds to grow.
. . . WELCOME to the music that moves us, challenges us, and makes us think, ponder and wonder. Thinking outside the "Box" and believes no music has rules, if they do, they are meant to be broken. With soul, spirit and a bit of imagination, with extremes, enlightenment, with anger, with love and truth. May it all find its way into your heart like it has mine.
I do believe these are "Divine" gifts given to those who enter our ears and moves each one of us in our own way, to interpret a unique vision if lyrics are provided or imagined - it speaks to us all, provided we really listen.
PLAY IT LOUD and TURN IT UP!!!
Your host who's got nothing better to do,
- Marco A. Velasquez III