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.

Report: Dwayne Johnson admits to having a violent past as a kid…

As everyone knows Dwayne Johnson, the former wrestler turned movie star, grew up most of his life in Miami, Florida. While promoting his new action movie, “Faster”, Dwayne tells the press that he was violent and had a short temper when he was a kid. He admits to being a bully and picked on other kids but later become friends with them.

Read what, the Rock, have to say, here.

It is no surprise to me that Dwayne might have had a violent past and it turned out to be true after all. Just so you know, Dwayne’s entire family revolved around professional wrestling. Both his father and grandfather, were professional wrestlers, and pretty much his whole family. That’s probably where the young Dwayne influenced the violence from, it came from his wrestling family. Then Dwayne ended up getting into professional wrestling himself in his early days because of it.

Hope Dwayne has plans in returning to WWE for a little while. The wrestling community misses you Dwayne!

Kev

Thought: Musicians in facebook really do have interesting social skills!

I know I talk quite a bit about how musicians and bands communicate with people in their facebook pages, but I’m the type of guy that is not afraid to be real about things. I have a personal facebook page and I do keep an eye on what they post in their statuses, so I know what I’m talking about. Facebook really helped exposed the egos & delusions of musicians in the social networking community.

Not only that bands & musicians think they are bigger than people who are not musicians and how they think they are talented, I am also noticing a lot of other weird things. Notice when they have a show coming up, they get all excited. When a gig comes up, bands will act like kids at an amusement fun park, it’s like, “Oh goodie, oh goodie, I have a show coming up, can’t wait!!!”.  Really? I know it’s great to have a gig, is it cool for bands to act like that? When I used to gig, I didn’t have that kind of attitude. Of course, I look forward to playing gigs, but I don’t get all that excited like it’s the best thing ever, if you know what I mean. Be an adult about these things. That’s part of being a professional.

It is also not cool that bands just want to play shows just to party and get drunk after. That’s just my opinion. Bands go, “Oh man, I’m going to get drunk and loaded at this show. Can’t wait!” It should be about the music. Not for the drinking. That’s part of being a professional.

Promotional material, bands seem to be going crazy over promotion and doing it wrong. Bands will keep posting shows in their statuses, more than once, trying to shove the show in people’s faces. Try to be careful bands, that people don’t like over promotion. All you need to do is post your gig in your status once. People aren’t stupid, they can read. Sending out a facebook invite is what that thing is for, so you don’t spam with advertisments that people don’t like. That’s part of being a professional.

Voting contests. Bands seems to be obsessing with these in their facebook pages as well. When a radiostation or some kind of online website has some type of voting thing where a band is entering something, they’ll beg their fans to vote more than once. Nothing wrong with asking people to vote for your band in hopes of winning a certain contest, but the contest begging is a no-no. It makes it look like you’re a kid asking your mother for a candy bar or something. That’s part of being a professional.

Bands should be using their facebook pages to promote stuff or just interact with your fans. I know of a few bands who run their facebook pages the way it should be done but most bands do it pretty lousy and amateurish. I could go on all day about this topic.

Kev

Learning music theory, scales & modes…

For the past several months, I have been heavily studying music theory, also scales & modes. I’m getting really serious with this stuff. I want to become a better guitar player and become a little more professional. If you’re going to play music and write songs, I think theory is important. If you play in a band, and the other musicians tell you what key to play in or what chords to play and not know what the notes or scales are, then you’re screwed. I’ve been carefully doing some reading about theory through instructional books. Theory is not that hard to learn, it’s actually very easy, it just takes a long time to memorize. Knowing what notes are in chords and how they work with scales & modes, all that stuff. Just want to improve my playing. When you know music theory well enough, you’ll have a better ear and you’ll be able to play everything. That’s my goal in the music world. I keep myself busy with music and fitness both at the same time.

Kev

Having a ripped body is a good feeling!!!

It is an amazing feeling when people give me feedback on my physique, when I don’t even realize how ripped I am. You know you are successful at bodybuilding when you get so many people giving you positive feedback. That’s the cool thing about fitness. People will give you nothing but respect and positivity everywhere you go. Lately, I’ve gotten more people saying to my face with feedback such as, “Good job”, “You’re looking more defined than ever, “You toned yourself up, great work”, etc. The more people keep saying good stuff about what I do, the more it makes me want to keep at it and never give up. I now understand why bodybuilding became so mainstream and so popular these days. It’s because people become addicted to it. People love the feeling of their bodies changing and being more healthier.

My only complaint about fitness is that I wish healthy food wasn’t so damn expensive. That could be the reason obesity is a problem in the USA ’cause healthy food prices are way high. I don’t care though. I must do what I must do, to get the body of my dreams. My goal is to get as big and muscular as I possibly can, it’ll take several more years for me to get there, but I’ll do it. More progress pics to come!

Kev

Report: Willie Nelson, not on the road again…

It’s no secret that Willie Nelson loves weed. He’s a party animal for sure. I’m sure he’s already smoked pot with Johnny Cash many times before and other fellow country singers. I’m pretty sure he’s got arrested for this many times in his life, so he’s used to getting busted. He would think this is no big deal to him. He’ll walk on this one and will be back on the road again.

TMZ, reports.

Kev

Cool Photo: Even John Travolta gets into Black Friday shopping…

Do you think a rich guy like John Travolta doesn’t care about cheap deals when out shopping for things? Do you think a guy like John Travolta hires someone to do the shopping for him? Nope!!! None of those things.  There is John Travolta in the background in this photo shopping at Macy’s for Black Friday in his hometown of Ocala, FL where he lives. He just went there by himself. No bodyguards, no family.

Of course, John got mobbed by fans and he politely chatted with them, signed autographs and took photos while he waited in line with them.

What a good man, he is! 🙂 The guy is a celebrity and an icon, but he doesn’t act like one. Awesome!

Kev

Brock doesn’t agree with the Black Eyed Peas performing halftime Superbowl this year…

The Black Eyed Peas for this year’s Superbowl, really? Are they fuckin’ serious? I can’t stand this group. I never got into them. Their music doesn’t get to me. It’s boring and a bit overrated. Fergie’s actually going to be there too. How can the Superbowl go from Springsteen to Tom Petty to the Who to the Black Eyed Peas? That is pretty messed up in my opinion.

I would prefer acts such as Eric Clapton or Neil Young or maybe even the reunited Soundgarden should have gotten the gig. Anybody but the fucking Black Eyed Peas.

If they wanted a pop act this year, I’d prefer Justin Bieber, Kanye West or Rihanna. I could deal with them than the Black Eyed Peas. Black Eyed Peas is nothing special, I don’t see how people can get into that kind of music, not my thing. The Rolling Stones doing the Superbowl this year would have been great too. Lady Gaga would be another great choice. She’ll get her chance for the Superbowl soon.

Kev

Cool Photo: Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and kids goes to Disney World…

What did the Douglas’s do for Thanksgiving? Look like they spent their Holiday at Disney World in Orlando! Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones here posing with Mickey and Minnie along with the kids. That’s cool!!!

If you’re diagnosed with cancer, might as well have all the fun you can get and stay happy and positive as ever ’cause you never know when you’ll hit the death bed. Not everyone stays home for Thanksgiving, some people like to go out and do things.

How cool would it be to hang out at Disney World and then you run into Michael and Catherine? They aren’t hard to recognize. If I was there and saw them walking around, I wouldn’t approach them for an autograph or a photo, I’d just leave them alone. Let them have their fun and peace. The family might have bodyguards with them so they won’t be bothered by people anyways.

He’s looking good though and getting old too.

Kev

Cool Video: Did Matt Lauer and Kanye West quietly bury the hatchet behind the scenes???

Everyone knows about that heated feud between Matt Lauer vs. Kanye West on the “Today Show” that one morning. Well, Kanye showed up performing one of his new songs. He was obviously lip synching, but singers have to lip synch ’cause it would sound like shit if it was sung live outside. Matt was the one that gave Kanye the introduction, so Matt obviously had no problem giving him the introduction. If Matt still hated Kanye, Matt wouldn’t do it. So I think this is good enough proof that Kanye and Matt did indeed bury the hatchet privately.

Kanye looks like he’s having fun up there. Isn’t it weird how the public didn’t boo Kanye or throw bottles at him?

Kev

Top 5 Bands/Artists that deserves a comeback in the music business…

With the legendary Soundgarden being back, what are other artists and band’s that have either retired or have taken a hiatus that you want to come back? I can easily think of 5 artists/bands in the major label industry that deserves a comeback.

Here is the list:

1. David Bowie
(Bowie is my no 1. pick. He hasn’t released a new studio album with new material since, “Reality” in 2003. After that, he haven’t been doing any new music, no touring, no nothing. He just keeps releasing live albums, b-sides and re-issues of older albums, nothing new. Come on back, David, we miss you!)

2. The White Stripes
(Jack and Meg haven’t released a new album since 2007’s “Icky Thump”, they are a talented duo and I would like them to come back. I love their music but never gotten around to buying their records, will start getting their albums soon. They only released six albums in their career. It is rumored they’ll be coming back soon, but I’ll believe it when there is a new album on the shelves of record stores.)

3. Garbage
(Another band who haven’t released a new album since 1995, they have vanished and gone. They were a talented group, I liked Shirley Manson’s singing and the band wrote good songs. A comeback for them would be appropriate.)

4. Jimmy Page
(Ever since the iconic Led Zeppelin reunion at the O2 in 2007, all the guys in Led Zep kept working on projects but Jimmy Page. Robert Plant went to work with Alison Krauss. Jason Bonham went back to work on other projects. John Paul Jones went to work for Them Crooked Vultures, but since the 02 reunion Jimmy hasn’t announced a new project for himself yet at all. Jimmy needs to do something musical again soon. Hope Jimmy has plans in doing a solo album ’cause that would be pretty cool.)

5. Billy Joel
(I’m a huge fan of Billy, admired his music for years. He hasn’t done a new album since 2001’s “Fantasies & Delusions” which was a classical instrumental album. After that, he still constantly tours around the world performing hits from his past, touring with Elton John and all that. If he is able to tour still and perform all his hits on stage, I’m sure he is capable of writing new material for new songs. Come on, Billy, get your shit together and get back to writing new songs again!)

Kev