Over the years of my blogs, you’ve seen me bashing and criticizing local music award competitions… stuff like battle of the bands, radio station voting contests, local award shows that are kind of like the Grammy’s (aka The Cammy’s), etc. you get the deal here. You see, I don’t give a shit how shady these competitions and contests are. I don’t give a shit how they are all done behind the scenes either. I just disagree with local competitions or band award shows overall. Why?

Well, here’s the thing… I disagree with competitions, contests or award shows ’cause simply put… ready for this??? I simply don’t need a pat on the back for anything. Yep, that’s pretty much it. I don’t need to win awards of any kind ’cause I don’t need a pat on the back for anything. My ego is not all that big. Really it isn’t.

I don’t play music or write songs to win awards. That’s not what I do this for. If that’s what you’re into this for is to win competitions, then I feel that you’re playing music for all the wrong reasons, in my opinion. Like I always say, I don’t look at my music as a career like many do around here. To me, music is a way of life for me and just something I enjoy doing it for fun. I don’t really care to get recognized for what I do. Don’t get me wrong, more recognition for my music would be great but I’m not that desperate. I just play music for me and enjoy it for me. That’s all I wanna do, ya know?

Band competitions and award shows is happening more and more around this area. I look at all of this and think to myself, is this area that desperate for that kind of attention??? I know that musicians and bands are proud of the music they make so they feel that they deserve some kind of “respect” and “recognition” in return for it… I get that but if that’s all you’re playing music for is to win awards and prizes, all that’s doing is showing how desperate and egotistical you really are.

Just be humble with yourself and don’t take yourself so seriously, ya know? Winning awards, in my opinion, means nothing. It doesn’t make you better than everyone else. I understand that local bands and artists enter these competitions and award shows hoping to get some recognition around this area, but you don’t need to win awards and prizes to get more recognition.

You can get more recognition and respect toward your music on your own without entering band competitions and award shows at all. Just play your music, get it out there, play your gigs and that’s all you gotta do. You wanna feel rewarded for your hard work and get more respect with your music? You’ll get all that when your fans support your music by listening to your songs, going to your shows and buying your music if they like it. To me that’s more rewarding than winning some silly trophy or some stupid prize to win studio time or open for a national act. You should be more focused on your fans supporting your music instead of focusing on winning silly awards.

Whenever I talk about stuff like this, musicians would usually get angry and become all defensive. That’s okay… let ’em get upset ’cause they don’t like the truth getting told. When playing music, they just don’t get it, and they never will. Playing music to me is about the love and the passion for it. I don’t really care to become a big star… I just write songs and play guitar for fun. I don’t take myself that seriously.

I don’t need to pat myself on the back for anything. I just like to make music that I’m proud of and that’s the end of it, ya know? I just wanna make music, get it out there and hopefully get people to listen to it and give me feedback on it. That’s pretty much what I do this for.

Winning awards and prizes is just silly, ya know? Just my opinion and sticking with it. It’s all delusions of grandeur. I think musicians and bands get into these things as an excuse to give their fans something to be proud of them about, a “pat on the back” kind of thing. Once again, I don’t need a “pat on the back” for anything.

I just feel proud and happy just taking my guitar, recording a few songs at home and that’s all I need. I don’t get myself involved with any cliques or any type of community… I just wanna play music and that’s all I care about.

Kev

When I talk about shred vs. playing a few notes, some mistakenly believed that I thought that playing a bunch of fast notes in a song is pretty silly. Taking out of context… like usual. I never flip flopped on shredding. I’ve always said shredding was “cool” and it’s an important part of music, all I said in the past was that you shouldn’t do too much of it. Like Al Di Meola said, you wanna have the ability to do both and that’s what I’ve been trying to explain all along. I’ve never neglected “shredding” on guitar whether on acoustic or electric. As a matter of fact, that was the whole reason I picked up the guitar in the first place so I can play like my heroes Jimmy Page, Satriani and Hendrix. To be able to play like those guys requires a little bit of “shredding” somewhat.

I’ve always liked shred guitar music. I’ve listened to guys like Joe Satch and Al Di Meola. I also listen to a lot of metal and prog rock which also has shred guitar in the songs like Dream Theater and Megadeth. Shred guitar was a big deal in the early 80’s, that’s when it all started. I think it all started with Eddie Van Halen obviously who is also one of my favorite guitarists.

Shred guitar was accepted in the early 80’s but in this day and age, nobody cares for it anymore. Whenever somebody wants to play fast notes on the guitar, people in this day and age are like, “Eh, he/she is just trying to be a show-off”.

Shred guitar music is still around… still alive and well but it’s not as popular anymore like it used to be in the old days. Only other guitarists listen to that type of music nowadays which is sad.

I appreciate any guitarist that plays fast and does it well. It takes a lot of skill and practice to get there. If you’re getting a lot of negative criticism toward your guitar playing, consider that a good sign. Take that stuff as a compliment. If too many people are shitting on your playing, it doesn’t mean they are right. If people are mad, then you’re probably pretty good. That’s the problem with the internet. If your guitar playing is creating controversy and mixed criticism, that’s gotta say something about your musicianship.

That’s the problem with the internet. Too many people who think they are “honest” and they have to shit on talented artists in such a negative and hateful direction. To many hateful pieces of shits on here, for sure. You just gotta ignore the critics, trolls and haters. Whatever you wanna call ’em.

If you wanna shred your instrument to death… go for it. People play what they want to. Play whatever makes them happy. If it sounds good to you, then that’s all it matters. You don’t play guitar to please everyone… you play the instrument to please yourself and that’s what it’s all about!!!

Kev

The internet is all over this Chelsea Handler topless horseback riding thing today so I thought I would give my brief thoughts on it. I’m not a big fan of Chelsea Handler… as a matter of fact, I can’t stand her really but for this one time, she’ll get my respect.

I can absolutely see the message that she is trying to send with that photo. I believe that she is trying to make a point that, “If men can go around topless in public, why can’t women?” I believe that’s the message she’s trying to get across. So she posted a topless photo of herself riding on a horse to make fun of Vladimir’s topless horseback photo.

She posted it on instagram and they took it down a couple of times when she tried to bring it back up. This happened with Bruce Willis’s daughter, Scout Willis when she tried to post up topless photos of herself walking the streets of NYC in instagram.

You see, I’m not an instagram user yet but it looks like that instagram has a strict rule in their TOS (Terms of Service) that nudity/pornography is not allowed in their social networking site. Twitter allows nudity/porn but when you want to view the pic, they give you this option on whether or not you want to “view content”.

Yes, a lot of people are gonna accuse these women being desperate for more attention but I disagree. These two women Chelsea Handler and Scout Willis are trying to fight for “equal” rights. Trying to fight “sexism” in America. That’s what this is about.

I agree that women should have all their right to go topless in public all they want to. It’s their bodies — they should have the right to do what they want. Women going topless in public is already legal in some areas in the United States like NYC for example but I think it should be legal everywhere. I don’t see anything offensive about women’s “breasts” and can’t understand why they are considered, “private parts”.

I give credit for Chelsea for being brave and having some balls. All this is proving is that she’s one of those women who is not afraid to show it off and thinking it’s no big deal. Women getting naked is no big deal and I can’t understand why a lot of people make it a big deal.

When women fight for their rights like this, it really is powerful and inspiring. Keep it up, ladies!!!

I know that as soon as I make this post public, it’s probably gonna be the most viewed post on my site. I’ll just wait for it. Once again, I would post the topless Chelsea Handler photo but I can’t post porn on wordpress.

Kev