Nothing To See Here

I just came back from seeing Michael Miller and company put on a really nice (albeit short) set at The Derby. It was part of the DIY Music Festival, for which Michael took Best Song honors. I got there a little too early and had to endure a terrible band. The good part about it was that I was with a couple of friends who were equally annoyed at the tasteless display. I mean, look, there are a lot of really bad bands out there, and I’m not trying to pick on this one band at all, but they brought something to the front of my mind that I wanted to put down on paper.

It’s no secret that I fancy myself a music snob. I’m prone to whining about music that sucks, maybe even a little more than I rave about music that doesn’t. In any event, the band that I saw this evening made me think about what actually goes on when they practice. Do they *really* think they are good? Just because their girlfriends and some people that went to high school with them show up for their gigs, they think they’ve got something compelling going on? Please. I’ll cheer anyone on for getting up and doing their thang. It’s not like I’m up there with my guitar singing to people. I know I suck! I have nothing to share in that area. Where do these people get off thinking they are good at what they do? I’m baffled.

There was a part of one of their songs where the lead singer did this annoying thing with his voice to make it sound like it was a record being scratched by a DJ. I just had to wonder how he brought that one to practice.

‘I know we don’t have a DJ in the band (yet), but what do you think about this… [insert human voice trying to mimic a DJ scratching a record]‘

‘OH YEAH!’

‘Ya think?’

‘Dude, we don’t need a DJ. Just do that. No one is doing that.’

Yeah, and you know why? BECAUSE IT’S STUPID AND IT SUCKS! Again, I don’t mean to single out this defenseless band, but they represent everything I don’t like about music. Everything from the stuffed-up nose vocals to the “keyboardist” standing in the front acting like he knew what he was doing, who also harmonized on every single chorus of every single song, to the fact that they all had almost the same facial hair. Oh, and don’t get me started on lead singers that don’t play an instrument. Sure, there are exceptions, but the guy was no Bono.

Because of the hosting costs involved with Jeans And A T-Shirt, I figured it would be smarter to consolidate, so consolidate I have done. Truth be told, not many people really read bradbarrish.com, so I figured moving it wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, you found it, right? And yeah, since it’s not bradbarrish.com anymore, I’ve changed the name to something a little more appropriate. There are still a few kinks to work out, but I’ll fix them as I hear about or come across them. The bradbarrish.com domain still exists, but it’s basically just to hold the domain at this point, in case you were wondering.

I’ve been a lot more inspired lately, so hopefully more frequent updates will happen (or not). This job thing takes up a hell of a lot of time and budgeting [time or anything else] is still something I am learning about. Speaking of budgeting, I had absolutely no business purchasing one of the new Apple 20″ Cinema Displays, but I did. It sure is purdy. Having good credit will get you such things. My older CRT display has been flickering and popping and being otherwise annoying, so it was time for a new monitor and I have been drooling over the Cinema Displays for a while.

I’ve finally gotten around to reading this great electronic magazine that Vince and Laura were raving about. This dude Max can write, and he’s got some great things to say. Download, read and distribute.

Issue 01

Issue 02