Haven’t really posted most of the day, because entertainment news was slow, so I decided to spend the day doing better things. I did my cardio workout, jogging for 30 minutes outside. Then I played a little bit of Duke Nukem, watched a few episodes of “Lost – Season 6” and catch up with some reading on “Storm of Swords”. Of course, I played a little bit of guitar as well.

These are the kinds of things I do. I like to entertain myself and be inspired with different forms of entertainment.

This is another reason I got into fitness & bodybuilding is just so I can prove that I’m not a lazy person and can be active. I wanted to find something new I can  do that is more important than music, movies, video games & TV. A lot of people are into playing sports, fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities. I’m not really into that stuff and found that fitness was meant for me to do.

I never cared to get a career in bodybuilding, I wanted to get in shape for myself. My passion for fitness has never stopped and this is my third year I think? People don’t have to like my physique, and if all kinds of women, don’t come after me, that’s fine with me. I just want to feel good, be happy and enjoy fitness for myself. Fitness is my passion and I will never give it up no matter what happens.

Back to the topic of movies, I ordered, “The Superman Motion Picture Anthology” Blu Ray set through amazon this week and it should be delivered at my house this weekend. If not this weekend, then sometime next week. Can’t wait to get “The Superman” Blu Ray set, I’m excited for it..

I’ll try to catch up with the blog tonight.

Kev

Not only that I’m trying to get better at guitar, I’m also trying to get better at singing. I would admit, that I was never really professionally trained vocally…but that’s okay. Most singers out there aren’t professionally trained, they just do it. Many of my favorite singers were never professionally trained like Neil Young and Kurt Cobain for example. I learned that if singing is what you want to do, then go ahead and do it. It doesn’t matter if your voice sounds good or not, it’s the songs that mattered, in my opinion.

Now I’m not looking to sing like Robert Plant or Barry Manilow or anything like that, I am still look to improve my singing some. My goal is that I would like sing high notes which is what I can never do. I am practicing and learning though. I’ve been working with “Metal Method’s Vocal Power” DVD and it really works. That instructional vocal DVD really does help make your voice a little stronger.

Singing is fun. I enjoy it. I learned that if you write your own originals, you sing ’em yourself. To me it doesn’t make any sense when people write lyrics and have someone else sing them. If you create it, you do the job yourself. I sing every day just like I play the guitar every day.

I know I’m not the best singer in the world. I just do it for fun but I would like to become better though.

Kev

Here’s the video of my new adventure. Enjoy.

Kev

Along with my Cape Cod vacation, I also took a full week off of working out in fitness. You gotta have those once in a while. At least a full week off of fitness for at least once or twice a year. Some bodybuilders workout a full year with no breaks, but honestly, it’s not really good for you. The reason is, you don’t want to burn yourself out. You need to find more time to rest & heel. Recharge yourself and start over again.

Don’t worry. A full week with no exercise at all, you will NOT lose muscle mass in a week. Just by continuing to eat good nutrition and keeping your protein going, you will get much stronger and get more muscle mass. I have gotten a little more with my week off of fitness. On top of that. I just needed a break from exercise. Get away from it for a while, but I continued to eat healthy food and eat proteins. Of course, when you’re on vacation, there’s always a time where you get forced to eat bad nutrition and it had happened a few times. I don’t mind. Doing all that walking in Cape Cod helps burn it off anyway.

For shopping, I didn’t buy too much. Just a couple of music CD’s: Weird Al’s new album “Alpocalypse” and “The Book of Mormon – Broadway Musical” (Comedy created by the guys from “South Park”). I picked up Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” hardcover book at a Used Bookstore that costed me only 5 bucks. I also picked up a Korg Metronome MA-30 from a musicians shop called, “The Drummer’s Store”. I needed a metronome so I finally bought one. I plan to play guitar with a metronome from this point on, so I can play better in time.

The video footage that will be coming. I visited President John F. Kennedy’s hometown of Hyannis, Mass. where he lived and grew up. I’ll have the video tomorrow. Didn’t feel like messing with it today.

Edit to add: Btw, the weather was shit in Mass most of the time. Mostly clouds and rain. I would have went swimming in the ocean if there was sunshine, but there wasn’t sunshine at all in Cape Cod.

Kev

To those readers who were wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been on a few day vacation from Cape Cod, Mass. I did film some video, so I might work on it tonight. If not tomorrow. I got a lot of news to catch up on in this blog.

Whitey Bulger captured, Peter Falk being dead, a few new Superman castings, Gay Marriage being legalized in NY, James Spader might be the new boss for “The Office”, etc. Lots of stuff to catch up on. I’ll get to it right now.

Kev

A lot of guitar players obsess with effects pedal, better known as stomp boxes. A lot of guitarists would collect a shitload of them. Not me. Why? I’ll tell you why I don’t collect stompboxes too much. Simply the answer is stomp boxes is a cover up of a musicians bad playing. Effects make your playing sound better. That’s how I feel about them. The only pedal effects I would touch are overdrive and distortion pedals, so I can get a rock sound out of an electric guitar.

I would stay away from other effects pedals such as wah, delay, chorus, fuzz, etc. All that is pretty silly, in my opinion.

I’ve always liked to play pretty clean when playing electric.Effects are overrated. If I wanted a pedal collection, I would’ve started a long time ago, but I only own very few pedals. Not too much. I do own a wah pedal but don’t use it a lot.

I’m not a gear junkie like a lot of musicians are. I would like to start a big guitar and amp collection someday, but I can’t afford it right now. I do have a few guitars and amps around the house. I do plan on buying a new acoustic guitar though. My Ibanez acoustic/electric is busted and it’s not worth the money getting fixed. Next time I’ll buy a regular acoustic guitar without the electric plug-in, ’cause regular acoustics are better. That’s why I play my Ibanez Hollow Body electric guitar instead.

I just want to play guitar that’s all. I’ll buy a new guitar if one of mine gets busted and I have busted a few guitars over the years.

I’m very happy with my Ibanez Hollow Body Art Core electric, it’s an amazing sounding guitar, and I hope to keep it for a very long time. I do plan on buying a solid body electric guitar down the road with a whammy bar someday. I want to try experimenting with whammy bar techniques sometime.

Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day today. Hope you spent some time with your father’s and family members. I did. Had a nice lobster dinner.

Today I went to Whipple City Days Festival in Greenwich to see a Johnny Cash tribute band perform, Harold Ford and the Cash Band. They were very good, they played old and new Johnny Cash covers. Everything from “Folsom Prison Blues” to, “I Hung My Head”. I’m a big Johnny Cash fan, that’s why I went.

Last night, I watched “The Boondock Saints” movie on Netflix for the very first time and it was one of the best action movies I’ve seen in years. Review coming up soon.

Kev

If you wonder why I’m strict at reviewing comments before posting here in this blog, facebook, or youtube, and if you wonder why I brush off the haters of any kind, it’s because I don’t have time for negative bullshit on the internet. I just want my life to be as positive as possible. Life is too short for negativity and hate.

People know they have no reason to write negative shit about me online, it’s just some people have nothing else better to do than hate, hate, hate. Like the saying goes, I can’t please everyone. If people don’t like what I do, that’s fine. I’m just being myself.

I like dealing with people who are happy, positive and joyful. If you treat me with respect, like how you want to be treated, then I’ll treat you the same way. Simple  as that.

I’m a pretty happy dude, because all I want to do is play my music and workout in the gym. Just want everyone around me to be positive that’s all. I try to keep my world as friendly as possible.

Kev

A lot of musicians are assholes. There are plenty of ’em out there. Why do musicians act this way? It’s because a lot of them love themselves. It’s an ego thing. All musicians are different. Some musicians can be nice, friendly and down to earth. Some can be assholes. When you try to talk to musicians at gigs, some just don’t care to talk to ya or just downright rude. Musicians can be assholes online as well. Life is too short to be an asshole and I don’t understand why people need to be one.

It doesn’t make your career better. Being an asshole in music, doesn’t make you new fans. You can also lose fans & supporters. Venues could ban you from getting booked there again. This is called, “karma”. It will get you later.

I was never an asshole in music. I only called out the ones who acted like an asshole. That was all I did. Having a bad attitude in music doesn’t do you any good. There are too many musicians that are critical of others and they just need to shut their mouths and keep opinions to themselves.

When you want to have a successful career in music, you can’t be an asshole. Period. You have to be a 100% professional 24/7. This post isn’t aimed at anyone in particular, this post is aimed at all musicians.

Kev

I’m always trying to find ways to become a better guitarist. I’m always learning different things all the time. What are ways to become a better guitar player?

Here are some simple tips:

• Practice things you don’t know – You don’t want to be practicing the same old basic chords and pentatonic scales, all the time. You want to learn more complex stuff than that. Learn as much unique chords and different scales as you possibly can. Learn scales & modes as well.
• Practice with a metronome/click track – This is important if you want to play in a band. Gotta lock in with time along with the drummer and other musicians. I’m just starting to practice with a metronome more often.
• Play musical things – Seriously, people just don’t want to hear you noodling around on your instrument. It’ll annoy them. Play musical rhythm and lead guitar as well. Being musical is what draws people to your playing.
• Learn from other guitarists – Get tips from other guitarists who are better than you or even jam with them just for fun. Learning from other guitarists is also very helpful!
• Learn music theory – I’m no music theory expert yet, but I know some here and there. When you master music theory, you’ll be able to play anything!
• Play a wide variety of music – To be a better musician you must experiment with all genres. I have done pretty much that. I experimented with blues, country, folk, some classical, and a little bit of jazz music. I even played heavy metal and progressive music. I would like to try to learn jazz more. Whenever I form myself a band, I just won’t play hard rock all the time. I’m going to be like Neil Young and switch different genres.
• Practice – A lot of musicians say they don’t practice but practicing is important. I practice on the guitar every day. Learn new chords, riffs and lead guitar solos. I’m always learning things.
• Learn to play guitar by ear – Jam along to your favorite songs. Jam along to your own recorded playing. Learning to improvise will help you get better and this is the thing I’m trying to work on, improvising. Improvising is not that hard, all you got to do is memorize the sound of the note in your head. I feel I improved a little on this as well.

That’s it, I believe. Hope it helps.

Kev

I’ll be hitting the stage at the Alcove Marina at 8 p.m. tonight, so I’ll be there at least around 6:30. Yes, I will be there tonight to perform my set.

Check out the facebook invite, here.

If any of you readers plan on coming, hope to see you there.

And no, I’m not nervous at performing. I’ve been doing this for so long, I’m a very confident performer. You have to see it to believe it. I should be able to nail my set without any mistakes. I shouldn’t mess up lyrics or mess up guitar parts. If that happens, feel free to boo me off the stage or throw tomatoes at me.

Kev