All posts by Kev Brock

I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.
Local music

Whether or not you’re an established act in music, I’d say who cares… just play and enjoy!!!

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In local music, there is always this never ending debate on whether certain musicians & bands are established acts. Established – meaning being well-known and recognizable. Sometimes people would debate this toward my own music as well. There is usually this argument on whether or not my online web presence is more popular than my music or whatever. Whether or not that claim is true… I don’t really care. The last thing you wanna do is care whether or not you’re an established act in your area. You don’t want to call yourself an established act ’cause that would make you look arrogant and a bit egotistical. You want to let the people tell you that. There are too many delusional musicians thinking they have made it to the point where they are successful and “established” when technically, they are nothing

Even if you’re not established and successful, who cares. Just play and enjoy. That’s all you need to worry about — not being desperate for popularity and fame. Just be appreciative of what you have now. Just never take yourself seriously and just play for the love of music. Don’t worry about chasing dreams and moving forward. It’ll be nice to play the bigger stages and play in front of thousands of people but those dreams should be secondary. Your first priority is working on your music.

Even if you’re still playing the small clubs and craphole bar rooms, you should still feel appreciative for that.

In reality, though, all of us musicians are successful at what we do. If we’re playing our music… writing it, recording it and performing it… that’s being successful in my book. Not playing the bigger stages and performing in front of thousands of fans.

We’re in this day and age where all local musicians want to become big stars. You see all these big and successful local bands being marketed and heavily promoted everywhere while all the unknown bands & artists continue to struggle to get recognition. That’s a huge part of why I think this local music scene is getting so bad. It’s getting tougher for musicians to get in the spotlight.

What I’m trying to say in this post is that you don’t want to look like that you’re trying to move forward and become successful. You want to look like that you’re enjoying the love of music and being passionate about it. Not caring about success or fame. Even if you do get success or some fame… don’t embrace it. Don’t acknowledge it. Just continue to act like you’re a nobody. People will give you a lot more respect if you don’t realize your success.

If you call yourself an “established” act and thinking that you’ve “made it”; chances are, this musician is a huge egomaniac who all they do is jerk themselves off with their accomplishments. That’s not the kind of attitude you wanna have.

I may not have made the cover of Metroland yet or opened for a national act but that’s fine. I’m not worried about it. Sure, those dreams maybe fun and glorious… don’t get me wrong but I don’t give a shit to get there.

I just wanna play my guitar and write songs… that’s all I wanna do. Although, I do appreciate getting supporters and fans myself. Being the big star to me is kind of silly. I don’t need that kind of attention.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

How to become a confident man…

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The message that this guy sends in this video is so good that I felt that it was worth passing along. This guy who’s name is Matt has a dating channel that’s called, “33 Secrets” but he just made a new channel that is designed to teach men how to be Alpha Male’s. This guy’s new channel is not just about giving dating advice, it’s about Alpha Male stuff. That’s one thing that I need to get improved on is learn how to be an Alpha Male.

If you’re too lazy to watch this video, this guy explains that in order to be a confident man, you should detach yourself from judgements and opinions about you from other people. Like if people are judging you, slandering you, hating you, bashing you, etc.You don’t ever wanna listen to those people. He also says that when you get a lot of people judging you and saying all kinds of opinionated stuff about you, it’s not making you weaker, it’s actually making you a much stronger person and I agree. If so many people are talking about so much shit about you, that’s gotta say something, right? It probably means that there is something special about you and people are hating it.

I get people judging me and saying all kinds of opinionated bullshit about me all the time and I still get that crap today. It used to bother me about criticism from other people but it don’t really bother me anymore. I just learned to ignore all criticism about me and continued to be myself.

I think jealousy have to be the no. 1 reason is why people talk shit about you. There’s gotta be something that they are jealous about. If they weren’t jealous then they wouldn’t have been talking about you in that way.

I get so many people telling me how much of a loser I am and I get so many people telling me how bad of a guy I am. The last thing you wanna do is listen to them and don’t ever let them control you until you satisfy them. Like I’ve said, I’ve had way too many people over the years who thought it was okay to change me. So because other people are telling you that you are a loser or a bad person, I’m pretty positive they are no different. Nobody’s perfect even though some people think they are.

I’ve seen a facebook meme going around sometimes that says, “Before you judge me, make sure that you’re perfect” and it’s true. I mean think about it, right. People are always saying all kinds of crazy things about you… thinking they know everything about you when in reality they don’t know shit. When they judge you… you should ask, “Okay, name one thing that is perfect about you?”. I bet they won’t be able to come up with anything and they’ll be silent after that. I’ll say it again, that when people are telling you that you are a loser or a bad person, they are no different. Chances are, they are losers themselves and you know, they will never admit it.

No matter what people think of me, I’m not a loser or a bad person. I’m living life and enjoying it. That’s being a winner, in my book. That’s probably why people hate on ya ’cause they don’t like the fact that you’re happy and enjoying yourself. When people talk shit and judge you, chances are… they might have a lot of problems in their personal life.

Simply put don’t listen to other people’s bullshit and drama. Just continue to be you. Live your life the way you want to and fuck everybody else. That’s how you become a confident person. The more you live under this attitude, the more people will respect you for it and you can make new friends this way.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

The only way to become a master improviser on guitar…

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My goal as a guitarist is to become a master improviser. I wanna be that kind of guitarist where I can play anything that comes up in my head. I wanna be able to jam along with other musicians without sounding out of key and not being told what to play. Just play what you feel and hear.

However, you don’t learn to become a master improviser by reading guitar instructional books or learning from DVD’s, you master the art of improvising by listening.That’s pretty much it, really. There’s no other way around it. When you want to learn improvising you can’t expect it to happen right away when completing an instructional book. The key to mastering improv successfully is ear training and perfect pitch. Memorizing the sound of each note and each key.

Sure, learning music theory helps but all that is it’s just a tool. To get great at improvising… you have listen to as much music as possible. Try to play your favorite songs by ear. Download backing tracks from the internet to jam along to. Jam along to your own guitar playing or practice jamming with other real musicians.

That’s why I downloaded the “Ninebuzz Guitar App” for the Ipad ’cause that’s an app that allows you to play guitar along with different backing tracks. I downloaded that app a couple of months ago and it’s great.

Just this weekend, I downloaded several backing tracks from Itunes. Not full albums of backing tracks, just individual tracks. I wanna practice modal jamming so I downloaded a few backing tracks from Itunes that focused on the modes. Playing along with backing tracks is a great tool to spice up your lead playing. As you can see, I have taken lead guitar very seriously. I wanna take it to the next level and get even better.

From this point on when I learn new cover songs, I’m never looking at guitar tab ever again. Everything is gonna be figured out by ear. You wanna become a master at lead guitar… STOP looking at guitar tab and just play your favorite songs by ear.

There are too many guitarists that ignores the art of improvisation and ear training. When cover bands learn new songs, they rely on guitar tab. No offense but when all you’re gonna do is rely on guitar tab to learn new songs… you’re not a real musician, in my opinion. Figuring songs out by ear is definitely the way to go. Sure, I understand that people get frustrated trying to learn new cover songs so they end up looking at tab to help them but if you don’t give up figuring out the song by ear, YOU’LL GET IT. Yeah, it gets annoying as hell playing the song on your stereo over and over trying to figure out every guitar riff or guitar solo but trust me, you’ll get it if you don’t give up and the hard work will pay off.

My 2cents on how to memorize the sound of the notes and keys in your head singing them in perfect pitch. Even if you can’t sing and don’t have a good singing voice, you must do it anyway if you want to master the art of improvisation.

I’m not a pro at improv yet but I’m definitely getting there. I wanna master improv ’cause I wanna rock out and jam if I ever get my own band going. If I ever get a band going, I wanna do a lot of soloing. I’m just taking my time for now.

When you master the art of improv, that’s when you’ll know that you’re a real musician. That’s what it takes to become a virtuoso.

Maybe soon I’ll videotape me jamming on some lead guitar with backing tracks for youtube. It’ll be fun.

Kev

movies

Movies to see for the rest of the year… my final list…

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Welp… 2014 is almost up and there’s a few months left. What movies in theater do I plan on seeing for the rest of the year?

Here’s a short list….

In October:

“Fury” the new war film with Brad Pitt and Shia Labeouf. This looks like a good one. I’m a huge fan of war flicks so I’ll see this one.

In November:

“Interstellar” the new Christopher Nolan outer space movie with Matt McConaughey. Looking forward to this one.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” I’m definitely seeing the newest installment to the Hunger Games franchise.

In December: 

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” The new Ridley Scott film starring Christian Bale. I was pretty impressed with the trailer so I will be in theater for this one.

“American Sniper” the biopic film that tells the story of Navy Seal Chris Kyle and also based upon the book. This film comes out Christmas Day. Not sure if I’ll see it on Dec. 25th but definitely the week after!

That’s pretty much it. I’m skipping the new “Hobbit” movie and will wait for rental on that one. I didn’t like the last “Hobbit” movie… pretty let down with “The Hobbit” franchise and I think Peter Jackson is ruining it.

Kev

music

Avenged Sevenfold doesn’t suck, in fact… they freakin’ kick ass!!!

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The metal band, Avenged Sevenfold, have gotten some mixed criticism over the years. This band is very popular and successful but this is another one of those bands that you either love or hate. My question why all the hate? I just listened to their latest album, “Hail To The King” this morning and I didn’t hear what is so bad about them. In my opinion, these guys fuckin’ rock. \m/

I was impressed with their latest album, “Hail To the King” and now it makes me want to buy their previous albums pretty soon. They only have like 5 or 6 albums in their discography so technically they’re a pretty new band. I really dig this band, though. There’s nothing wrong with this band at all.

The way I heard them, they are thrash metal kind of like what you hear in the 80’s. They are like Metallica and Maiden put together. I think the guitar playing in this band is great. They come up with awesome riffs and guitar solos. I also dig the singer’s voice whose name is, M. Shadows.

Before badly judging the band, you should actually listen to them first. It took me a long while to get into this band but now I understand them and believe in them. I think they’re great. This is one band that deserves to become the next Metallica/Kiss but like Gene Simmons said though, the way this industry is going these days the legendary status will never happen for A7X sadly.

You should give A7X a chance like I did.

Kev

movies

Look like there’s gonna be more “Twin Peaks” after all, David Lynch teasing us about it…

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I knew there is gonna be some kind of continuation. They need to explain Dale and the Black Lodge. I hope they bring Kyle back as Dale and they probably will. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Laura Palmer as well.

Will there be a new season? Mini series? Big screen movie? We’ll wait and see.

Rumors of a Twin Peaks continuation have been going on for years now but David Lynch denied that every time. He claimed there are no plans of a continuation but never say never. I think he’s being secretive about it and not trying to give away surprises. A sequel of some sorts is probably gonna happen.

I’m glad Lynch is gonna bring us more Twin Peaks which didn’t surprise me since they released that BluRay boxset.

Kev

movies

Film Review: “Gone Girl”…

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Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosemund Pike, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris

Directed by: David Fincher

Today, I just went and saw the new David Fincher film, “Gone Girl” and here is my review:

Plot/Synopsis: On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports that his wife, Amy, has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?

So far, out of all the movies I’ve seen this year in 2014, “Gone Girl” is definitely the best film of this year. David Fincher does it again! This is an edge of your seat kind of movie and you’ll be hooked to this film right from the start (Fincher does this with all of his movies). I thought this film had the best writing I’ve ever seen. The script was perfect. It was smart and intelligent writing. The story was unpredictable and had plenty of twists and turns. The film does a great job keeping the disappearance of Amy Dunne mysterious.

I know Ben Affleck isn’t everyone’s favorite actor but it seems he’s getting better with his acting as of late. Affleck was actually pretty enjoyable in this film. Affleck’s character seemed pretty realistic and he had personality. I was most impressed with Rosemund Pike who played, Amy. I think Rosemund Pike is gonna get an Oscar nod for this role. The entire cast did a great job. Neil Patrick Harris (formerly known as Doogie Howser) even did a great job even though his role was short.

Trent Reznor killed it with the score again. Trent played incredible music for “The Social Network and “Dragon Tattoo” but I think the music he did with “Gone Girl” was the best of the Fincher movies. It makes me want to get the “Gone Girl” soundtrack soon.

They tried to make Amy look like a sweet innocent young woman who deserves to be found but once you watch the actual movie, you may think differently. The ending is a real head scratcher and will make you say to yourself, “Huh?”. When the film got over with and the credits started rolling… I noticed that the people in the audience (which was half full) didn’t stand up from their seats to leave the theater right away. It took them a little bit to leave the theater ’cause I would think they were pretty stunned with the ending like I was. I won’t spoil anything, of course.

This really was an amazing film as I predicted it would be. David Fincher always makes good movies so it doesn’t surprise me at all that this film turned out good. This movie is definitely worth the money and you should definitely go check it out. I’m definitely getting the BluRay to this film when it comes out. I haven’t read the book yet but probably will soon.

I’ll give this movie a perfect 5 out of 5 score as in “excellent”.

Kev

music

6 album purchases this week…

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So today, I decided to hit the mall for something to do and check out the film, “Gone Girl” which I will review right after this post. I purchased 6 music albums both digitally and on physical CD.

Here’s the list of albums I purchased this week:

  • Robert Plant “Lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar” (physical CD) – I told ya before I was gonna get this album and I did. I really enjoyed his “Rainbow” single and that was good enough for me to want to get the album. Even though I haven’t heard the album yet, I’m sure it is amazing.
  • Avenged Sevenfold “Hail To The King” (physical CD) – It took me a long while to get into these guys. At first I didn’t like them but over the years, I’ve read so much about this band through various music magazines. Mostly through Guitar World since this band is hyped a lot in that magazine. Chris Jericho the wrestler also talks about this band a lot so I figure eh, maybe I should have a change of heart with this band and actually listen to them? So I listened to a few of the band’s songs in youtube and ended up liking them a lot. I ended up buying their most popular album, “Hail to the King”. I’m sure it’s a good one.
  • Slash and Myles Kennedy “World on Fire” (digital) – I’m a huge fan of Slash’s solo career so I got the new album by him. I’m sure it rocks like always. I’ve been a huge fan of Slash’s guitar playing for years.
  • Joe Bonamassa “Different Shades of Blue” (digital) – I’ve been interested in Joe Bonamassa’s music for a long time and finally getting into him too. He’s one of the great blues players left these days. He really is a brilliant guitarist. Can’t wait to listen to this album which I will soon. Joe is coming to perform for us in Albany pretty soon which should be a kick ass show, I’d like to go to that show but won’t be able to.
  • Yes “Heaven & Earth” and “Fragile” (digital) – I’ve heard their songs on the radio over the years but never bought their albums. I’ve read a great interview with Steve Howe in Guitar World recently and that was good enough to make me want to get the new Yes album, “Heaven and Earth” so I bought it and downloaded it from Itunes. Along with it, I also bought their classic album, “Fragile”.

I’m planning to give all these albums a listen this weekend.

Kev

Politics/war

Liberalism shouldn’t be the center of attention in America, it’s quite sad really…

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I’ve said it before and will say it again. During the Bush administration, I had no problem with the Democrat/liberal politics until Obama got elected. These days, it seems that American politics is all centered on the liberals/democrat side. Liberalism is definitely taking over. Barack Obama definitely made the democrat/liberal side a lot worse and he’s definitely trying to make that party bigger. It was him who was successful at making democrat/liberal side look good while he was successful at making the conservative/republican side look like bad guys.

Conservatives should get treated with equal respect. Liberals claim they are all for “equal” rights and all that stuff but it is not equal “rights” when all they’re gonna do is hate on conservatives. They don’t like conservatives ’cause of our views on gay marriage, gun control and they don’t like conservatives ’cause of our criticism against Obama.

Obama being responsible for crimes like Benghazi and Operation: F&F are true… they’re not conspiracy theory at all… it’s just that some people refuse to believe Obama is responsible ’cause those stories haven’t been reported in the liberal biased media like (CBS, CNN, ABC, The Washington Post, NPR, etc.). They refuse to believe anything that’s reported on FOX News.

How come the media haven’t been aggressive on Obama and why they refuse to hold him accountable? It’s because this administration is controlling the media. They’re being told what to report and what not to report. If you want proof of that, most people who work for liberal news media are either married, friends or family members to different Obama admin. officials. I’ll look it up and will post the link to prove my point.

Their job is to make the administration look good and that’s exactly how Obama is getting away with his crimes. That’s why liberals in America refuse to believe that Obama is nothing but a criminal. They only believe what they see in the news which is mostly liberal biased.

There are only very few real and honest journalists left like Sharyl Attkisson who I follow on a regular basis. I enjoy her work. She’s not afraid to report realistic and honest things about this administration. Things that liberal media refuses to report.

The news shouldn’t be centered around liberalism. I could have sworn that the news used to never be this way until Obama was president. Before Obama was president, the news have been reporting stuff on both sides liberal and conservative equally. That’s how it should be in America. Being honest on both parties but nope.

American politics wants to make democrats/liberals look good. If the media would stop protecting Obama and his administration, then Obama would have been gone a long time ago for sure.

If you think all news reported in liberal media as “credible source” then you’re delusional. The last thing you wanna do is believe the media. I don’t watch the news anymore for that reason. The news have been way too liberal for me ever since Obama got elected in 2008.

The conservative party needs to be strong and powerful again. “Right wing” politics will come back and I think we will come back strong in the Nov. elections. We’ll get our Senate back.

This is how Obama is getting away with his bullshit. The media is helping to protect him and cover for him. When Obama’s exposed for his crimes, not only his administration needs to be arrested, I think the journalists in the so called media needs to get arrested too for being involved in the cover-ups for crimes like Benghazi, Operation: F&F, IRS, etc.

It really disgusts me how liberal politicians are never held accountable for their crimes but when conservatives are caught breaking they law, they get punished easily and quickly like Dinesh D’ Souza and Gov. Rick Perry for examples. Liberal politicians like Hillary, Elijah Cummings, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are still standing and they broke plenty of laws.

We can’t have this in America. Liberals making themselves look good while conservatives are being disrespected. It should really be the other way around.

I know conservatives are being disrespected ’cause I got into some trouble over my Obama criticism over the years. I got hollered at by people, some people blocked/removed me in facebook and all kinds of bullshit drama by the left.

I don’t understand why people in America get so obsessed with defending Obama and acting like he’s never in the wrong. It pisses me off, honestly. No matter how much bullshit I get from the left over my Obama criticism, I’m not stopping. I’m just standing up for what I believe in for my country and my home. I’ll stand up and defend America even if I’m the only one standing. I’m not resting until Obama is held accountable for his actions and until America wakes up about him. Defend him all you want to but nothing is shutting me up. I’ll tell the truth about him, no matter the consequences.

Conservatives really need to step up if we want to get big again. We will in the Nov. elections and the 2016 elections. I think we’ll get a conservative president next time around ’cause we really need one pretty badly.

Kev

movies

Adam Sandler to star in 4 Netflix exclusive films…

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I used to be a big fan of Adam Sandler. I used to watch him on SNL in the earlier days and used to watch all of his earlier comedy films like “Happy Gilmore”, “Billy Madison”, “Big Daddy”, “Airheads”, “Bulletproof”, “The Waterboy”, “Punch Drunk Love”, “Anger Management”, etc.

I haven’t been liking him too much anymore ’cause he haven’t been choosing good movies lately. The latest movie I’ve seen of his was “Funny People” and haven’t seen anything else after that.

Netflix have officially teamed up with Sandler to make 4 movies exclusively for Netflix streaming. The titles and plots of those 4 movies are unknown at this time but I would imagine they will be mostly comedies. Sometimes Adam Sandler would do a different genre like he would try to do a drama once in a blue moon. When these movies arrive on Netflix, I’ll check ’em out.

In the beginning of Netflix, I had already predicted that they were gonna start making their own TV shows and films and I was right. Netflix is making history here so good for them.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/10/02/adam-sandler-netflix-movies/16600401/

Kev