I usually don’t like Mr Bean (I know many of you could “boo” me now, but hey, it’s my blog, I have the right to an opinion) but this thing is amazing!

Not an air guitar show but an…air drum show! Enjoy!

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A couple of days ago, a 12 years old girl jumped out the window while her mother was there with her and, of course, died. She left a good bye note, sign she was determined to do this and it was not a spontaneous act. The girl was an “emo kid” and fan of Tokyo Hotel band.

OK. I see them on the streets every day, with their dark, rebel hair, with a strong and black makeup, with dark clothes and that semi-goth look. At first I smiled, it must be a trend. I remember me fighting with my mom over my long hair and scattered jeans, over my skull t-shirts and metal music. Ah, yes, and I won’t tell you how hard it was to wear ear rings. At first 1, then 2 large ones. I was cool with my red and black leather jacket, long hair and ear rings. I was I guess 19-20 years old and loved metal!

But I didn’t jump, and most of all, I have never thought about anything like this. I even remember telling my friends once that if by any reason they will find anything like this about me, they know I DIDN’T DO IT MYSELF! I love life! I loved it there too. I loved life in every single aspect of it. I loved rock music, distorted electric guitars, long hair, screwing everybody who was pointing at me for one reason or another!

2 days ago it was this late night TV show here caused by this 12 yo kid who jumped. There was a psychologist invited, a rock music critic, 2 emo kids and others that I don’t remember. The theme was clear: why did she jump?

I watched a part of the show then, the next morning I have seen a news in an e-newspaper and I followed a link there to a site that preaches emo culture.

I can tell you I had an impression of a large gap. A gap between me and these kids. I am 31 yo, remember? I am not that far away. I can not imagine how would it be to be 55 yo and to face such a situation. If you are 55 yo, then you probably feel the gap even worse than me and you probably couldn’t understand it either, the way I do it now.

These kids are not 12, these kids there look, feel and act like 20 yo. They look sad. I haven’t seen a single smile on their faces on that site. How could you not smile?!! How could you be sad at 12?!! WTF is wrong with you, emo kids?

I read on that site that is the site of emo community in Romania, as they say:

“these persons have the tendency to hate themselves, to feel inferior to the others, to be very hard on themselves, all these leading sometimes to suicidal tendencies!!!”

Man, could this be right? I don’t believe in censorship, I believe in freedom of expression, but CAN YOU POSSIBLY write on a web site that leads the flag of a community of teenagers that the teenagers that are part of that particular community hate themselves?! You can not grow inside them the feeling of inferiority and most of all you can not tell them, yes, man, you have suicidal tendencies, pay attention, we all here have it, well, it’s not that bad, if you think about it!

Am I crazy? Have I lost it or what? Shouldn’t we grow inside kids and teenagers the feeling of security, trust, the feeling of being on the right way, to make them feel good with themselves? Is this emo culture an anti-social one or what?

They were speaking about Tokyo Hotel as being one of the musical leaders of this emo culture and they were accusing one song, named Don’t jump as being part of the problem, being the favorite video of that girl who jumped. The psychologist said that the message in the video is understood exactly the other way by a listener. Don’t jump!! Now you get it the other way, if you want!

I must admit I was not familiar with Tokyo Hotel and their music so I tried a couple of songs. I can tell you that the music was not that bad, don’t blame me for that appreciation, a part of me likes this style. It is that crying music that has roots in punk, alternative, etc. They say it’s new. The rock critic invited to that show was pissed off for this and I understood him why. I watched him a lot of times on TV, he had a late night rock show, metal oriented, man, I loved it, his name used to be associated to late nigh metal.

So, he spoke a bit about this music and I also listened it the next morning. How could it be new!? Listen closely! Remember Radiohead’s Creep?! Creep has the same idea, it is released in 1993 and it is alternative. Nothing new on this earth right? Also, how about Nirvana?! People should ask Tokyo Hotel’s composers where do they get their inspiration from. Nirvana must be one of the sources, in my opinion.

So, people listened this music long before emo kids were around, nothing new. Then, why this suicidal ideas? Where is it coming from? Tokyo Hotel is a produced band, has composers hired just for them, the look, the songs, they are all “artificially produced”. While I don’t argue that in music it is a marketing way of doing it, like for ex the T.A.T.U. thing. Here it was big, 2 Russian girls with lesbian image singing in semi-erotic outfits. Who cared about the music?!! It faded away…

It is the same thing now with emo, IMO. Somebody created this culture from scratch, gave the leading lines and said let it grow and spread. Then, we’ll sell things like music and clothes to them…

Man, how about coffins? Little ones, they are only 12, remember?

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These last days we tried to put up a couple of songs for tomorrow’s show. Once a year there is this show in our city, Retro Rock 70, where people who used to play in a band 20-30(?) years ago meet again and play for a big public.

While it is not our case (I mean the part with 20-30 years ago), we are invited there every year to be part of it. I remember one year I was also the hired gun for the show, because, as you may imagine, it is difficult to have all the members of 30 years ago meet together, in the same shape, so a solo guitar player is almost all the time needed, so, depending on the situation of the moment, one of the guitar players available is asked to fill in for here and there. A couple of years ago I was the one and I can tell you I had a lot of fun playing songs like All right now or Get back along with guys of the same age with my parents.

I remember what somebody (70 years old), told me once: it is just the body that gets old, not the spirit! Inside we are the same! Man, how right he was! This line stayed in my head till now and each time I see these guys on stage I remember it.

These guys make me laugh, really! Not in a bad way! I respect them because I see myself in about 20-30 years. It is fun to look at them and see how they joke with each other, like one guy trying to nail a song and playing a lot of flat notes, saying to the others, wait, I will figure it out, I will remember it, and one of the band members saying back yeah, like you ever did while everybody laughs!

Drinking a beer, that position with their eyes on the guitar neck, bend over the guitar cause they don’t remember too well where’s the damn fret!! And then one week later, after a couple of rehearsals, they are beasts released on stage! Man, I love this! This happens every year here since 7 years I think and tomorrow will be that day, again.

We put up a couple of songs because ourselves we took a break and we’ve got together after a while, this time with a new band mate, a long time friend, and we needed to work a bit together.

But tomorrow evening everything will work as a charm and we will have a lot of fun, I have no doubt about that! In the end, isn’t this the idea when making music ?

PS: The picture is taken at one of those shows, like 2 years back, I think. And yes, it’s us!

Later edit: I have just received a call that the show is postponed until next month due to the fact that local elections take place. Well, let’s wait until next month.

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(photo credits RedBison) Yesterday I have decided to start selling some advertising on my blog. I didn’t want to do it sooner, because I intended to have a steady readers base and a relatively steady traffic first. At this moment, I have decided to start taking advantage of my traffic and PR since everybody’s got to live on his own, and this blog doesn’t make any exception. This blog has to pay the rent, and parents decided to teach “him” a lesson: earn your money, you are old enough to pay for your expenses!

So, if any of you is interested in rates and stats, please see this page and contact me for details, I will be happy to answer you.

For the moment, prices are low because I am in the beginning, but are subject to change, depending on how things go. If you purchase a 3 months package you will have the advantage of a price set in the beginning, no matter how high the price for one spot will go.

So, spread the word around and why don’t you take advantage of the low prices and purchase one of the 6 4 available spots right now?

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Indeed, seems that people started a whole industry around electric guitars (and I am not speaking only about directly related things such as guitar strings, amplifiers, picks, stompboxes) and they never cease to amuse and make me wonder where could we go next?!!

Because Jon of GuitarNoize.com and Gary of Thumbrella pointed to a few interesting electric guitar related gadgets, when I found this I knew I had to show it here, so here it is: the Fender Telecaster mouse pad! Very cool thing to own, don’t you think? My current home mouse pad has some nuclear plant related drawings and graphs on it and the one in the office has cats on it…

Later edit: Jon asked me if they come in Strat version. Well, here’s the link to the original Tele model and here’s a Strat model.

Well, how’s that for a gift, IG?!! Huh?!

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A very practical observation: be careful when listening music while driving, it can be dangerous! It happened to me, more than once, to sing what’s been playing on my CD player and due to the rhythm to step on the acceleration pedal more than needed or…to have guts to “force the entry” of an intersection…Not good! Trust me!

I am not a reckless driver, no way, I like to think I am a “defensive” driver, meaning I let you pass if I consider it is better for the situation and I don’t have that “me first” complex. But when listening to a high paced song, a “driving song”, man, I lose it sometimes!!! And I become mean!!! Ha, ha, ha!!! Me first, me first!!

I guess it is the same with everyone of you, right? Once you turn up the volume on your auto CD player and a song that gives you wings comes on, you become an other you, right? A meaner you, with way more guts! Look, mom,I’m king of the road!!

A few songs that drive me wild on the road: Highway to hell (AC/DC), Balls to the wall (Accept), Hard times come easy (Richie Sambora), Youth gone wild (Skid Row), etc. Actually, I think a driving song needs 2 a few ingredients : a steady, “easy to feel” beat (4/4), with balance, a good melody and, in my opinion, a positive attitude.

Even love songs will do. Here’s a Romanian band, (Holograf) and a song that really makes my day when I am behind the wheel. It is my favorite Romanian band (about 30 years of playing) so you get the chance to taste a bit of Romanian culture (again)! The song is called Romeo and Juliet, please make an effort to listen to it even if you don’t understand the lyrics.

So, let me hear you!

What gets your engine started when behind the wheel !?!

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These last days have been kind of slow for me. Slow, from the point of view of blogging, otherwise they have been crazy. We celebrated Easter (I am Christian Orthodox by religion, like probably 90% of the people here) and these last days me and my wife visited every possible relative because, of course, everybody was inviting and expecting us. Which is a wonderful thing, just that a bit demanding after a while…

And of course, the guys from the band asked their share, so, Costin, the lead singer, called to invite me to a barbecue at the rehearsal location (I don’t dare to call it room, cause it is not just a room, it is a building with a big yard). After 2 visits that day, I took my wife and my guitar and went to the rehearsal studio.

I can only tell you that I was part of the “team” handling the mixed grill (my wife says I still smell like smoke after taking like 4 baths) and Costin was part of the “team” handling the lamb cooked over the fire (which is way more difficult than cooking the mixed grill!). There was beer, music, food and a lot of fun! Everything was again organized under the same conditions as last time.

Everything ended up after a lot of playing the guitar, jamming and singing, around 1 o’clock AM, I think, when we decided that it was a busy day and we should all go home and take some rest. I know I needed it!

I have more stories to tell, but really, I find so little time to spend in front of my computer these days, but I will be back soon…

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I’ve found via Dr J’s blog about a Seth Godin’s post, that I consider to be quite an interesting one. I used to read Seth Godin’s blog everyday some time ago, not that often lately, but still…

I will try to summarize here the main idea of Seth’s post, but in a guitar oriented way: what you do everyday helps you improve your playing or musical knowledge or is just “playing around”?

Personally I love to take my acoustic guitar and play a bit when I get home in the evening, it relaxes me, I think I am some kind of Einstein playing his violin in the evening. OK, I am not an Einstein, but I like the comparison…

So, when you pick your guitar, you just play whatever comes to your mind, or you play scales, try to work on some stubborn lick or just love the sound of your guitar? I know that this is heavily dependent on many things, that must be considered, like the mood, how tired you are,etc, and nobody says it’s wrong to play for relaxing in the evening, heck, I love to do that, so I couldn’t argue my own habits, you know…

But how about you? When you pick your guitar, do you practice or play?

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That is right, I dare you again to guess the guitar player in the left image. Somehow looks like him today so there may be a great chance to guess right.

Well, what do you say?

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At least that’s what this short quiz says!

If you regularly read this blog you know that it doesn’t quite fit my music taste, but I do respect the man and his influence upon guitar music. So I won’t contradict such a result, because it goes well in my guitar playing CV, right?

Now, let’s see who feels like arguing with me on this blog, I will only ask one question:

Who did you say you are?

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