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.
Random/off topic posts

Improving my guitar playing and musicianship…

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As I said before, I know I’m not the greatest guitar player in the world. Other professional musicians have told me I’m pretty good and they said I know what I’m doing in music, but I’m not afraid to say that I still have a lot of work to do. I still have a lot of theory stuff to learn, still learning timing & rhythm patterns, and I need to train my ear better. All that stuff. I’m trying to learn to play more professionally, that’s my goal. I want to get better with my ear in music, ’cause I want to jam. I’m a huge fan of guitar solos and long 10 minute to 20 minute guitar jams, and that’s the kind of stuff I want to do when I get my own band. Not necessarily be a jam band, but a rock n’ roll band who loves to rock out. I kind of want the band to be similar to Led Zep or Hendrix but with my own style and sound. Someday I would like to start jamming with real musicians just so I can test out my skills and that’ll be great ear training that way.

When playing rock guitar, I don’t like to use too many effects. I just use overdrive, so I can have a little crunch. Have a natural rock sound, and not have too much distortion. You’ve heard me do it before. I like that old school 70’s rock sound ’cause I listen to a lot of 70’s classic rock. That’s where most of my playing influenced from. Yes, I do listen to newer and current music, but I am more of a classic rock guy more than anything. I don’t care to make party music or hit singles, I just make music, that’s it.

I will get a band going someday, when I’m ready. Whenever I say to people, I want to form a band, people either think I can’t do it or they just don’t care. Yet, they respect other bands and other talent more than my own music. I’ve been trying my very best to be accepted as an actual musician, and I believe I’m just about there. I just need to work a little harder.

I’m getting the hang of things too. Music theory isn’t that hard and ear training isn’t that hard either. The key to having a good ear in music is memorizing the sound of the notes in your head and to get better at it is sing along to every note you play on the guitar. Memorize that sound. It maybe hard to do at first but with practice you’ll get it. Recording your own chords and jamming leads over it helps too. I’m trying to become better at lead guitar. I do want to be a great lead guitar player someday that will melt people’s faces. That’s the kind of guitar player I want to be. And I will get there someday, trust me. I’m learning scales and all that stuff. It’s awesome learning guitar.

Kev

Crazy stuff

The Royals win battle of nude photos, of course they would!

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I stand corrected on the things I said that all this was the Royals fault that all of this happened. Even Donald Trump, knows what he’s talking about and I totally agree with him! The Royals are already winning this legal battle of the nude photos, and of course, they fucking would! They are rich and powerful people. What they want is what they get! Money and power will do that.

Of course, I’m seeing that people around the world are feeling sorry for this couple and giving them support about it. Really?

You don’t see Prince Harry whining about his nude photos from Vegas, he moved on, took responsibility about his actions, and got deployed to Afghanistan. If Kate wanted to get naked, she should have kept it inside behind closed doors. Plus, she’s the world famous lady, and like the Donald said, who wouldn’t take photos of her and make lots of money off of it?

These things can happen to anybody, not just famous people. If you’re going to enjoy some private times with your loved ones or get naked partying, you gotta expect that others from outside are going to see. It gives others the freedom to be a peeping tom. I can’t blame the photographer for taking those nude photos of Kate. Simply because she’s a hot piece of ass like I said before. You can’t be saying stuff like, “Oh no, they’re such a beautiful couple, this shouldn’t have to happen for them”, when they brought all of this upon themselves, ya know?

If you don’t want this to happen to you, keep clothed. Of course, there are some people that do obsess with getting naked outside or in public and they don’t mind getting photos taken of them ’cause some of them love that kind of attention either men or women. This isn’t for everyone, some like it, some don’t. Depends on the person.

The Royals can ban publications of the photos all they want to, the fact is, the photos are never going away. They are made public forever, once they are out there. People will always find a way to bring them back. They never win.

Kev

music

RIP Jimi Hendrix, who died 42 years ago today…

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Jimi Hendrix was one of the guitar greats and my heroes who made me for what I am. A guitar player. Other than Jimmy Page being the big inspiration who made me for what I am, Hendrix is right behind him.

In this interview with the Dick Cavett show, Cavett told him that he’s one of the greatest guitar players in music, and as you see in the video Jimi embarrassingly said, “Oh no”, and then admitted he’s not the greatest, he just wanted to play for the love of it.

That’s where I come from. I don’t think I’m a great guitar player or songwriter either, I just play, but there are people out there who say that I’m good all the time, whatever. It’s weird how music is. Back in the 60’s and 70’s was where the real talent was at. Today’s music is nothing but manufactured pop music which is sad.

Enjoy this little video.

Kev

Books

Book Review: “The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe” by Donald H. Wolfe…

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Today, I finally finished the book, “The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe” by Donald H. Wolfe. Yes, I know, my Marilyn obsession continues. I also know that there are way too many biographies published about M.M. but most of them aren’t true and accurate. This one is. While this book here is a biography, it does talk about her childhood, all the way up to her death, this book mostly focuses on her death. It mostly focuses on what happened before she died, hence the title.

This book did a good job on proving that Marilyn’s death could have been a possible homicide or murder. The facts were backed up and researched pretty carefully. The writer did his homework for sure. Some may think that Marilyn had a good life, but she did not. She had a difficult life before her death. Her death has always been mysterious, and I’ve always believed Bobby Kennedy had killed her in some way. There is no way to prove that he did it now ’cause he is dead too obviously. A lot of people like to believe that the Kennedy’s were good politicians and good people, but they weren’t. Both Jack and Bobby Kennedy were assholes. They were the ones who shut Marilyn out of their lives shortly after she sang “Happy Birthday” to Jack at MSG.

Her death has always been looked at as a suicide for years, but it couldn’t have been. She was going to finish “Something’s Got to Give” and she was going to work on another musical film with Frank Sinatra after, a film that never got made. I enjoy reading about Marilyn and her history. I enjoy watching her films, and her story and life, is just inspiring to me. She was never considered a train wreck. She was no Anna Nicole back in those days. Marilyn has always been likeable to everyone. She never wanted to be looked at as a sex symbol. Marilyn was an entertainer who had a lot of personal problems.

Even though Marilyn is gone, I already feel like I know her, which what makes her pretty powerful. It almost makes me wish I was around when she was alive. This is a very good book and it’s recommended reading. Probably the best Marilyn biography out there, and this is the only one I’ve read. It’s a pretty new book too. Just came out earlier this year.

Kev

Local music

Brock gives two thumbs down to the new competition, “The Exit Factor”, and calls it a pay to play scheme…

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I have a pure dislike to band competitions and contests around this area. Competitions and various contests have always been a big part of the Capital District of local music, and I refuse to be a part of all of them for a few reasons. #1) You don’t need to prove yourself how great and talented you are by entering these things, when all you need is just make your music and play your gigs. That’s it. No need to take yourself seriously. #2) I don’t want to come off looking desperate or being pretentious. I don’t need that kind of attention, and I don’t want to be recognized like that with my music. It’s not that I know, I will never win these things, I know I won’t. It’s just all these competitions and contests are, a popularity contest. Most likely the voting is rigged, and broken, anyway. I’ll never be a part of SPAC’s Battle of the Bands, radio station contests or any other singer/songwriter competitions. I want to be able to see if I can get successful my own way without being a part of these things, know what I mean? Prove that you can get popularity and recognition on your own, ’cause I believe entering competitions and contests is cheating to get recognition. You can get recognition and become more established, just by making the good music alone. You don’t need to be a part of these things.

On with WEXT’s “Exit Factor” contest where a grand prize winner gets the opportunity to open for Capital Area Indie Fest at the Egg, sounds like a nice idea, but do you really want to pay $50, just to enter this thing? It’s a pay to play scheme for sure. I don’t think this competition will be getting that many well known bands entering this thing ’cause they would know this is a ripoff. The only bands I can see entering it are the young bands who are just starting out, so hopefully they don’t make that mistake, which is why I made this post, hoping they would change their mind and not enter this contest.

While, I’m no fan of SPAC’s “Battle of the Bands” either, I still give it credit that it doesn’t cost anything to enter.

I hope bands and solo artists would think twice before paying the $50, entering “The Exit Factor”, and I also think it’s lame naming a competition after a reality show, hoping that will get people excited.

NO OFFENSE, to WEXT or the Capital Area Indie Fest. I’m not knocking them. I’m only pointing my fingers at, “The Exit Factor” competition. I’m noticing that Crumbs didn’t even say the entry fee for musicians to enter, but when I went to the website to see for myself, for my own amusement, I was like, “Wow, really, $50 for entering?”

Not only that I want nothing to do with these contests or competitions, I’ll NEVER do pay to play events. If you want this to be successful either lower the entry fee or make it free. Don’t get me wrong, I think playing at the Egg would be a fantastic opportunity, I would want it myself, but when a pay to play scheme is involved here, no thank you.

Of course, some bands won’t take my advice. They would do just about anything to get recognition even if means paying money to get it. Hell, maybe most musicians around here, would totally agree with me. Playing music around the Capital District area, seems to be about making money these days, which is sad to see.

See the link, here, so you know what I’m talking about.

Kev

music

Cool Video: The mighty Soundgarden unleashes “King Animal” trailer!

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Soundgarden, one of my favorite bands just released a teaser video of their upcoming new album, “King Animal”, which I will get the album. I really hope this is a good album and it won’t disappoint. I’m hoping it’ll be heavy rockin’, and not another “Down on the Upside” sounding album. I like, “Down on the Upside” but wasn’t their best album. I thought “The Superunkown”, “Badmotorfinger”, and “Louder Than Love” were their best records. I’m looking forward to hearing what Soundgarden has in store for us for their next record.

Enjoy it, here.

Kev

Stallone news

Cool Photo: Sly watches NFL football with brother Frank and “Sons of Anarchy” star, Chuck Zito!!!

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Frank Stallone just tweeted this nice photo of him chilling with his brother Sly and actor/former boxer, Chuck Zito, watching an NFL football game. Without saying where they are, Frank said in the tweet, “Somewhere in Hollywood”, for their protection. Well, if Sly is the one with the remote control, then they are probably at Sly’s home, I bet.

Enjoy the pic, here.

Nice to see Sly looking good, I know he’s going through some hard times ’cause he had two family deaths recently (his son Sage and his half sister).

Kev

Local music

Punk rock & glam bands have the most pretentious fans ever, not naming names…

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I appreciate all fans and supporters of music of all genres, but the kind of music fans that bother me are the ones who support punk rock & so called glam bands. It is my opinion that they have the most pretentious and evil fans ever. Just my opinion, and I have the right to rant about it. What makes them pretentious is that they pretend something that they are not or being expressive of their self importance, things like that. The fans of the punk rock and glam genre, can be just as ego driven and childish as the bands themselves can be. Which to me is no surprise that they act this way ’cause a lot of them are hard partiers. Either alcoholics or drug addicts. Pretty sad since most of them are adults who forgot how to grow up. They think they’re special people. Dressing up to fit the genre of music, and all that stuff. Weird hairdo, and tattoos. They also try to be funny in social networking sites with all their friends ’cause they’re bored losers with nothing to do.

Again, I appreciate all fans supporting music, but not all of them are cool people. And that’s the point of my post. Some music fans can be cool people, you just gotta find the right ones. Fans of punk and glam rock, love the attention they get ’cause they just want to amuse their favorite band that they support. This post is not aimed at anyone or any band in particular. I just had to be real about this. This post might ruffle some feathers a little bit, but it had to be said.

Kev

movies

“Project X”… brief review…

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Last night, I watched the movie, “Project X”, a Netflix DVD rental. I never saw this one in theater ’cause I was skeptical of it at first, so I waited for DVD. After I watched it last night, to my surprise, it turned out to be a great comedy. I liked it a lot. The film was pretty entertaining and enjoyable all the way through.

It tells the story of three high school guys who are seniors, and one of them named Costa, wants to throw a huge birthday party for his best friend, Thomas. Costa, Thomas and JB get together to throw this party at Thomas house. It’s not just an ordinary party that these guys are planning. They want it to be a wild dance party with hot girls all over the place, hoping for the three of them to get laid. The party started going off good at first, but things got way out of control as the film went along.

This is a found footage movie. Another one of those hand held video camera films. I was also surprised on how realistic this movie really was. I’m sure we’ve all had similar experiences in our high school years. Going to wild house parties, with alcohol and hot women all over the place. I’ve had similar experiences. Yes, I used to be a hard partier when I was younger, believe it or not. I don’t do that stuff anymore, though. I grew out of the partying lifestyle. In the past, I used to get into partying ’cause other family members and friends from school, got me into it. I didn’t party all the time back in the day, just occasionally. Why did I get into partying back in the old days? I just wanted to see what the partying crowd was like. I also wanted to become a little more sociable and meet people. Hoping to meet more friends and stuff. That’s why I got into it a little bit. I don’t party anymore though ’cause I don’t drink anymore, and don’t enjoy being around too many drunk people. I also find partying, stupid and boring now. I still do party and have fun once in a blue moon, don’t get me wrong, but when I do want to have fun, it’ll be at a local band show or at special occasions like weddings and stuff. I still like to party but I won’t drink at them. I just don’t like being part of the alcohol crowd anymore ’cause those people can be too whacked for my taste. It’s why I don’t go to the bar scene much.

Back to “Project X” it was interesting movie and funny. T-Rick was the villain of that movie and he was a funny character, so was the Angry Little Person. This film was definitely better than, “Superbad”. I might get my own copy of “Project X”. Thinking about getting it on Blu Ray sometime down the road. Thumbs up for this flick, definitely check it out.

Kev

WWE news

The Top 15 Best WWE feuds of all time…

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Well, we had the top 15 worst wrestling angles of all time, here are the ones that I thought were the best. These are just my opinion. The storylines in wrestling that I thought was very well done and were pretty amazing.

Here’s the list in no particular order:

  • Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon – Indeed. I had to list this one first ’cause this is the greatest rivalry of all time. Nothing else would come even close.
  • Andre vs. Hulk Hogan – Back when Hogan “used” to be something special. Back then was true Hulkamania. Now Hogan is a washed up loser.
  • Bret the Hitman Hart vs. Owen Hart – This was one of my favorite feuds ever. Owen made a badass heel too.
  • Mankind vs. Undertaker – Everything about this feud was amazing, especially their classic Hell in a Cell match, which made Foley for who he is today. This is one of the best feuds in WWE history for sure.
  • Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan – Their unforgettable match at Wrestlemania 6 is a childhood classic for every wrestling fan.
  • Mankind vs. The Rock – Another great Foley feud but with the Rock, back in the attitude era. Loved everything about it!
  • Cactus Jack vs. Triple H – Yes, another great Foley feud with Triple H. Their Hell in a Cell match at “No Way Out – 2000” was phenomenal. Foley would have the greatest matches.
  • Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, Flair vs. Shawn Michaels at WM-24, Flair vs. Randy Savage – A three way tie for Ric Flair. Flair had many great wrestling rivalries but those three were his best.
  • John Cena vs. Randy Orton – As much as I’m no fan of John Cena at all, I’ll admit that he had some excellent matches with Randy Orton over  the years.
  • The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan – This was when Vince McMahon made the debut of nWo in WWE, they ended up feuding with the Rock, Hogan turned into a babyface ’cause of it. While the nWo angle in WWE didn’t last long, it was a beautiful storyline. Felt like Hulkamania all over again too. This feud will be looked at as a classic for sure.
  • Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit – I probably shouldn’t list Benoit on these lists, but I thought the Guerrero vs. Benoit was one of the greatest rivalries in history, such a shame what Benoit turned out to be though.
  • Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar at WM, Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels – WM 21 – Tie for Kurt Angle. Please come back. We miss the “You suck”, chants!
  • Nexus takes over the RAW set – This was one of the greatest things to ever happen in the PG era of WWE. I don’t think WWE will be able to top something like that. Nexus became lame after that though.
  • The Rock vs. Stone Cold – Another unforgettable feud back in the attitude era.
  • nWo vs. WCW – I love the nWo take over of WCW. It lasted for a long time back in the day, pretty long feud. The nWo kept going, adding way too many members. I liked Hogan being the heel back then too. The nWo were my favorite wrestling stable. I think they’re gonna come back in the PG era somehow.

There were many great feuds, storylines in WWE, is just hard to list them all. I’m probably forgetting plenty.

Kev