No, I will not stop talking about local music in a brutally honest kind of way…

A lot of people would like me to stop. A lot of people would mistakenly think it’s wrong, but I’m not gonna stop. I’m not gonna stop talking about local music in a brutally honest kind of way. Why, you may ask? Ask yourself, these questions. Is this music scene really so lovable and positive that everyone mistakenly thinks it is? Are musicians really musicians, around here? Can you trust everybody you meet? Do people actually like you when in reality, they don’t? Do musicians act professional at the shows? Do they promote and market themselves online, right? Are people in charge of the booking at gigs friendly and professional acting? How strict is the booking of shows around here? Are there any real venues to play anymore? Do you really have to make friends with other musicians in the scene to create a community? Do you think a band’s talent is worth putting your money toward to? I can keep going with the list of questions.

I would like to believe in this music scene more in a positive direction and would like to appreciate it more, but how can you? They call this area, Smallbany for a reason. There’s honestly no music scene here, to be honest with you. There are too many bands & solo artists struggling to get gigs, and get recognition. Why? Because all there is to play around here are bar rooms and nobody really goes to shows anymore. Think why the Albany music scene, has an obsession of musicians supporting other musicians, and they don’t get much people supporting their music. There are only very few bands around here where a lot of people go to their shows and EBJ is one of them, they got very very lucky!

The reason you have to be honest and real about music ’cause it actually helps your own music career. You must do what’s best for yourself and your music. Also, if you want the scene to get better, you must be real about the local scene. People mistakenly believe it’s wrong to be real about stuff in the scene, but like I said repeatedly, it’s actually a pretty professional thing to do. Why be a fake? Like most people are around here? Being real about yourself is a good thing to do. This is why I do what I do. I’m doing what’s best for myself.

My music gets treated in a negative direction quite often and I get so much misinformation about me from all over, so I have to.

For example, people are always saying I don’t have a lot of fans or they accuse me of not doing much, in my local music career…but I have done quite a lot. Usually when people say that stuff, chances are, they haven’t seen me live at a show or don’t know much about me. Before accusing me a bunch of things, you should see me live at a show, and then you’ll see immediately see that I can be a somebody in music, right away. I had a pretty good musical run. It may not be good to everyone else, but to me it was good. I’ve played almost every venue in the Capital District, played everywhere as much as possible. I played everything from no crowd to small crowd to larger crowds. Yes, I played successful gigs before, that were a packed house. All my gigs were years ago, maybe that’s why people today think I haven’t done anything, but that’s okay.

I guess that’s what happens when you take a lot of time off from music, that’s when people will start seeing you in a negative kind of way. If you want people to believe that you can be successful and be something, you gotta keep going, and that’s what I’m planning on in the near future. Next time I get myself back out there, I’ll try to gig on a full time basis, year round. I am doing some writing and going to start learning new covers again. I’m planning on making new originals and new covers so I can have a completely different song repertoire than the last time. I’ll try to book myself a gig when the Holidays are over. Might set something up in Feb. Hopefully, open for EBJ again.

Back to the topic, yes, people will think what I’m doing is bad behavior, but do I give a flying two fucks? NO. I love the controversial and negative reactions. Doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s why I keep doing this. It lets me know people are paying attention. I’ll write what I please. Not only that I do this for what is best for me and the music scene, I also do it for fun. Seeing mixed responses on my local band rants is just entertaining as hell! Yes, it’s addicting.

I’m never offended at what people write or think about me. Who cares. Like I said, the trick to keep going in music and surviving in the scene, is not giving a shit about anybody whatsoever. It ain’t the end of the world. I’m no different in my songs. In my original songs, they’re full of rants and honesty. I’m going to try to make my next round of original songs less controversial though. I want everyone to enjoy them.

This is my last write up about this for now. I got better things to post.

Kev

Alright, last thing…

The only way I can prove to people that I have a fan following and have supporters, is that I need to book myself another show and I’ll prove it that way. Believe me, people will come out and you have to see it to believe it. I’ll get myself back out there soon. Hopefully after the Holidays are over with.

Edit to add: If you need more evidence that I have a following, I do have several live videos in youtube with people cheering me on, in the background. Go have a look and tell me what you see.

Kev

More on negative people…

The one thing that people seem to enjoy doing, is that they “think”, that telling the truth about me, is putting me down. Some like to tell me how I’m not liked by a lot of people. They would tell me stuff about the hateful videos in youtube aimed at me, the google search engine, and all the Brock hate  you see on the internet. People would also tell me about my past about the way I posted on forums over the years. It’s not like I haven’t heard all that stuff before, and people has repeatedly said this stuff to me for years, but quite frankly, I don’t give a shit. I get called a lot of things like egomaniac, attention whore, troll, hypocrite, etc. All of those things. Just to correct you on one thing, that none of this hurts or upsets me. So stop acting like you guys are better and tougher than me ’cause you’re not.

I’m just being me, and there is no crime in that.

I learned that if you want to go forward in your music dreams, you must ignore the bullshit completely, and I’m learning to do better. Yes, I know that when I get myself back out there musically, I’m probably going to get even more haters, but that’s fine. One thing to keep in mind though, that just because there’s so much negative publicity about me online, doesn’t mean a fanbase doesn’t exist. I have a personal facebook, and the people in that page backs my music, all the time. That’s how you can tell you have supporters. Not just the internet, people have told me in person that they think I’m a good musician as well.

You have to believe in yourself, not listen to negative people who want to doubt you and destroy you. Deep down, they’re probably jealous, nothing more. I’ve dealt with all kinds of negative bullshit throughout my musical life with other musicians and people in the scene, but that’s still not stopping me from doing what I love. I’m a musician, and that’s what I do. Play music. That’s kind of the tough part about being a local musician ’cause you’re always going to get people shooting down your dreams and take it away from you. The trick to keep going in music, is not give a shit about anybody. Period.

Like the old saying goes, “Haters are gonna hate”.

Kev

 

I don’t need to explain myself…

… I just know that I have supportive people out there who have my back toward my music. My “fanbase” may not be as big as EBJ, but I have supporters out there. I still have fans who supported me from my gigs years back and they stayed loyal to this day. Again, it maybe hard for everyone to see, I can understand why some would think I’m crazy, but I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes supporters just randomly discover me on the internet as well. I’m not being an ego-maniac, here. I know my music gets treated in a negative direction quite often, and sometimes people would write in, saying how much they like my music. It’s letting me know that some still have my back.

I put a rant about negative feedback about my music in facebook the other day, a few replied, and several gave it a thumbs up. A few said, I’m good at what I do musically (they weren’t musicians or family members either). It’s just that the local music scene finds it’s difficult to see that I am a talented artist.

One day, I will get the recognition I deserve with my music. Somehow, I will get there. Just wait and give it time. There’s a lot of musicians around here who think I have potential, and there are plenty of musicians around here who have my back as well.

I know it. I get a lot of “haters”, but I do have my share of supporters. I like the mixed reactions. It doesn’t bother me. I think my next round of songs could potentially give me that respect I deserve. I’m just like every other musician, ya know? I want to be accepted. Liked by as much people as possible, and want a lot of people listening to my songs too.

Btw, in my blog, I don’t mean to delete comments or close ’em, I just want positive replies on here, that’s all. I don’t have time for trolls or haters, I just try to keep my life a good one as possible. I don’t deal with negative people, remember that.

Kev

Led Zeppelin interview on David Letterman last night…

I stayed up to watch the Led Zeppelin interview on Letterman, and it was pretty funny and humorous. The guys in Led Zep have a good sense of humor. Of course, Robert and Jimmy did the most talking, though. Jonesy stayed quiet throughout most of the interview, although, he did crack a few jokes. They talked about the stuff that I predicted the other day with the interview. Just the Kennedy Center award, the career of Led Zeppelin, and the Celebration Day release. David Letterman, didn’t ask the band any upcoming reunion questions, which is weird. Letterman must have been told by the band that he couldn’t ask upcoming reunion questions. Which is understandable, the boys in Led Zep must be getting sick of the reunion questions, already! It was still a great interview, though. The dudes in Led Zep, seem like they’re very good guys.

Led Zeppelin has more interviews coming up, as they will be on Charlie Rose soon which  I don’t know the date they’re gonna be on yet, and I just found out this morning that Led Zep will have an interview for the next Guitar World magazine, as  they will be on the cover for the next one.

With all this hype of the Celebration Day release and Led Zep refusing to talk upcoming reunions, it’s giving me this feeling inside that another reunion might actually happen after all, and I’m sure it’s giving other fans this feeling too. Maybe the band is just waiting for the right time to announce it?

Kev

Edit to add: Here’s the video of the interview from last night, to those who missed it.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” teaser poster released…

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To those who don’t know who that is, that is actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the main villain for the new Star Trek movie, “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, directed by JJ Abrams. A lot of speculation on which villain it is. Everyone’s saying it’s either Khan or Gary Mitchell.

I’m sure everyone knows who Khan is, but who is Gary Mitchell? Gary Mitchell is a villain from the original Star Trek series, and he would be seen in the episode, “Memory Alpha”. Gary Mitchell worked for Starfleet on the Enterprise with, Kirk and the gang. More info, on Gary Mitchell, here. I’m sure, some of you remember that episode now.

Or it could be a totally different villain. We’ll have to wait and see the film. Another film I look forward to next year. A lot of you know, I’m a pretty big Trekkie!

Kev

New “Man of Steel” image released from Warner Bros. today!!!

This is an official still from the upcoming new Superman movie, “Man of Steel”, directed by Zack Snyder. Some of you may ask. Why are his hands cuffed in chains and what is he being turned in for? Well my belief, is that since “Man of Steel” is taking a realistic approach to Superman, if there was a real life superhero who tried to fight crime himself, he would either be arrested or killed. That’s what I see going on here, in this poster. Superman could probably break out of the chains and escape easily, but he doesn’t in this image ’cause he is respecting the law.

Or I could be totally wrong and it could be a different reason in the actual film itself. I’ll have to wait and see.

I was honestly hoping that Warner Bros. was going to release an official photo of Michael Shannon as General Zod, but they haven’t shown us yet. I’m sure they will show us the new General Zod, in the next trailer, that will be shown before, “The Hobbit”. I can’t wait for “Man of Steel”, it’s one movie I most look forward to in 2013. I hope it doesn’t disappoint at all, and hope Snyder redeems himself this time.

Kev

Dustin Hoffman… his ten BEST roles in his career…

Dustin Hoffman, another Kennedy Center honoree, is another star that is deserving of this. In celebration of his Kennedy Center honoree, I thought I would name my top ten favorite Dustin Hoffman, films. Films that I thought were his best performances.

  1. The Graduate
  2. Straw Dogs
  3. Kramer vs. Kramer
  4. Tootsie
  5. Rain Man
  6. Dick Tracy (he wasn’t the leading star in this film, but his character, Mumbles, was the shit)
  7. Sphere
  8. Wag the Dog
  9. Moonlight Mile
  10. Runaway Jury

Congrats to him too. He too is well deserving of this honor.

Kev

EDIT TO ADD: Damn, I forgot, “Marathon Man”, that is also another classic, and a great film!

Cool Video: President Obama’s great speech on Led Zeppelin…

While I hate President Obama, this is a great thing he’s doing for a change. Honoring, a band who created American history, and inspired so many lives in this country. Especially mine. Led Zeppelin is the reason I play guitar. See? Even Obama himself is wondering if the 02, 2007 performance will be their last gig ever. Obama said, “The last time the band performed together was in 2007, perhaps, the last time ever but we don’t know”. How about that? I’m being positive on Obama for once!

Kev

Believe it or not, I do have a pretty big following with my music…

It may not seem like it, but I do have a pretty good following with my music. I still have plenty of people who still have my back and stayed loyal to me. I think it seems this way because I haven’t gotten much press in the music scene myself, and feel I have been one of those overlooked artists in this area. Yes, there are people that really enjoy my music, and I’m not just talking about other musicians or family members. I probably won’t give up the singing. I’ll just do my best to improve my singing, which is what I’m working on. Practicing vocal exercises and teaching myself vocals lessons, on my own. I’m trying to work on singing every word clearly too, and I believe that is improving a bit.

There’s going to be negative people that will want to act like your music career is nothing, but don’t listen to those people. You want to believe in the people who support you. I wouldn’t still be doing this if it weren’t for my true fans. This is why I’m working out a comeback for 2013. I will definitely try to gig a lot more often that year.

That’s the funny thing about being a musician. You can never tell how many people actually like you out there, and believe me, there will be people out there who enjoy your music. You just never know how many is listening!

I took time off from songwriting to improve my talent even more. Gonna have to start writing lyrics again. I want to make a professionally made full band album with a CD cover, with great sound quality, and all but that’s gonna take some time and money. As soon as I get a job (still job hunting), I’ll start saving money for studio time and CD pressing/duplication. Making my first real album has always been my dream, it’s the budget that’s the problem.

Thanks for the true support. I promise, I’ll get myself back out there. I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer for a Brock comeback.

Kev

The Official Music Website of Kevin Brock – Brocking N' Rolling