Poppa K

The Carolina Union Activities Board recently put on the third annual Air Guitar Competition. The object of the competition is to pantomime playing playing guitar and to get into rocker character and go crazy. There were about seven participants, two of which were PMA brothers. They competed under the names "Mystery Meat" and "Prisoner 2013100" (Prisoner 2 for short). In the first round of competition, the contestants performed a 60-second bit they had rehearsed and prepared. For the second round, they were given a clip they had not heard beforehand and had to play along.


In the small group that showed up (it was snowing that day), most people were aware of an older couple in the audience who seemed to be having just as good a time as the students. They were... I'm guessing in their sixties? Anyway. After the last round of the competition, the emcee asked the couple "So... do you guys have a kid here or something?" The man responded no. "You just walked in off the street?" Something like that. "Do you wanna give it a shot?" Of course! "What's your rocker name?" A brief pause... then the man replied:

"My name. Is Poppa K."

He got up on stage, took of his shoes, picked up his invisible guitar and strapped it over his shoulder. He gave the cue to the sound guy and the music began. Where the other air guitar players had gone wild, Poppa K took it slow and worked the guitar soft and smooth. The song was a sort of fountain of youth for him as he got more and more into it. The crowd went wild; college kids always love seeing people their parent's age doing the dumb shit they find fun! The song drew to a close and in a brilliant flash of youthfulness, Poppa K surprised everyone by jumping off the three-foot stage toward the judges. As he landed, the thud echoed through the stunned silence in the room. Once the crowd realized he had not been seriously injured, they cheered and applauded and went crazier than they had for any of the other participants!

"Did you hurt your foot doing that?" asked the emcee.

"Oh hell yes I did!" Poppa K responded as he limped across the audience to his wife.

At the end of the air guitar competition, they played 'Free Bird' and invited everyone to air-guitar along.

Mystery Meat won the competition, the prize for which was a $100 check. I gotta say, Prisoner 2 gets special kudos for staying in a very difficult character for a period of about three hours, much of that time being spent in a straight jacket! Myself and three other PMA guys helped Poppa K get to his car after the competition. He said that if he could have done it again, he would've jumped off the stage again, too. He had a blast - and you know what? I did too. Here's some pics I lifted from Facebook:

Mystery Meat

Prisoner 2

The Emcee, Paul, Me, Stanley, Poppa K, and Mystery Meat rockin out to Free Bird

Words of Wisdom From Severine Neff

Today, I went to talk to a professor about my performance in her class. I had not been doing as well as I know I could have been, and because I often ended up coming to class late or turning in homework late for various reasons, I wanted to apologize. I went to her office and explained there had been some complicated things happening this semester and that she really was one of my favorite professors (I've even mentioned her in my blog before!)

She seemed surprised, and hadn't recognized any of the problems I was apologizing for; in fact she thought I was looking a lot better than the beginning of the semester when I looked exhausted and worn out every day! She said that it was clear that I understood the material and that's what she cared about most. She said things happen in life, and you just go on, it's nothing to worry about. As you get older you just get better at handling them... or not even, you just learn to handle them and life goes on. Then she said something very powerful - I'll do my best to quote: "Things in life often don't make sense... that's why we study music theory, because it can't be explained." This was so powerful to hear from someone who I think is so incredibly intelligent about music, and I just had to write about it so that it wouldn't be forgotten.

Rent

Today I saw the musical "Rent," performed by Company Carolina at Forest Theater at UNC. Members of the cast included my community director (boss) as Mark, a friend as Joanne, and a fellow RA as well as a Phi Mu Alpha brother in the ensemble. The production was amazing, and yours truly even began to tear up at a few places!! It was performed in an amphitheater - I was uncertain of the quality of the show when I heard the venue, but it ended up working very well. Sometimes the audio was a bit off; the band had a tendency to overpower the vocalists.

Earlier today was the last home football game of the season. We defeated Miami - I would tell you the score but quite frankly I'm there for the music not the football so I don't even remember! It was fun, and going to see Rent was a perfect way to end the day.

Shalom!

Such Great Differences

Hey! This is a paper I just wrote for my Intro to Rock and Roll class. Enjoy!

Such Great Differences

Background sounds and music play a crucial role in the perception of what they are accompanying. The weight this phenomenon can be experienced by muting the television during an epic battle scene, or during the climactic kiss of a romance movie. Without the music that guides our hearts through our ears, the intense potential for powerful emotions dies into uncertain monotony. Another example of how much music affects perception can be found in the original and cover version of the song “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service and Iron & Wine respectively. Each group applies different music to the same poetic lyrics to create unique performances with different meanings.

The Postal Service’s original version of the song begins with an electronic intro, presumably played on a synthesizer. The timbre of each note is almost a plain sine wave, heavily panned either to the left or right, immediately grabbing the listener’s attention and creating somewhat of a futuristic pop sort of feel. While this synthesizer part reoccurs later in the song, it does not clearly define the chord structure of the song and ends as soon as the vocal part begins. When the singer belts out the opening lyrics (0:41), his strong and confident tone quality seem to reinforce the futuristic and youthful nature of the song.

In contrast to the energetic electronics of The Postal Service’s original introduction, the cover done by Iron & Wine begins with a finger picked guitar playing the same part and chord progression it will play for the duration of the song. When I first heard this song, the soothing guitar instantly reminded me of the soft lullabies my father used to play to me as a child. While my own specific personal experiences are no doubt unique, the cover introduction is unquestionably much more relaxed than the original. This lullaby feel is further enhanced by the singer’s mature voice that sings almost as soft as a whisper, but just loud enough to have a pitch.

There is a special emphasis in both versions of the song on a particular set of measures in each of the verses; the first example of which is heard on the lyrics “mirror images” (TPS-0:46, I&W-0:32). In The Postal Service’s original, the note doesn’t fit into the chord structure of the song and jumps out to the listener like a weed in an otherwise clean-cut yard. In the Iron & Wine cover version, the very same phrase is smoother, yet the singer not only uses a more chordal pitch but also employs melismas and other pleasing musical devices that aren’t heard anywhere else in the song. Both versions produce significance to the very same phrase, but the ways in which they go about doing so create a different kind of importance to each.

As mentioned above, The Postal Service makes much use of electronics and studio technology. In fact, the phrases of the verses overlap by a beat, forcing the singer to sound two pitches at once. For example, in the line “…when we kiss they're perfectly aligned/and I have to speculate…” (0:49) the word “aligned” happens on the same beat as the words “And I.” Therefore, these phrases could not realistically be sung by one person in a live setting. Iron & Wine changes the rhythm of these words slightly so that this is not a problem for a lone singer; however despite the seeming intention to stick to the bare acoustic basics it is clear that overdubbing was used because a breath is audible during the word “aligned” (0:39). A small detail, yet an easy recording studio fix. This inclusion was probably intentional, perhaps a foreshadowing of overdubbed harmonies yet to come.

Both versions of the song have staggered instrumental entrances, but the effect is more prevalent in The Postal Service’s version. The song begins with the synthesized blips, soon underscored by a bass line (0:21). The drums begin to fade in (0:25) – an uncommon entrance for any percussion – while the blips fade out, leading way to the vocal entrance (0:41). In the Iron & Wine cover, the vocal entrance (0:20) is the only obvious entrance of sorts, with the exception of the mandolin solo at the end. Closer listening will reveal vocal harmonies layered into the cover as the song progresses, the first of which enters on the second phrase of the first verse (1:01). It is interesting that Iron & Wine would choose to include these harmonies in their acoustic cover, because they are not present in the original. The harmonies are soft and gentle and seem to give the voice an almost dreamy, angelic quality; as if the listener is drifting off to sleep and the harmonies are part of a dream. This makes the lyrics seem to be about flying to “such great heights” in a dream world rather than a futuristic one. As the dream continues the harmonies become more and more involved until they become a whole new instrument (3:43) is embodied by the dream in the form of a mandolin.

Cues for how to interpret the songs can be found in the music videos that the bands produce. The Postal Service’s music video for “Such Great Heights” depicts moving robotic parts and a male and a female astronaut. Based on initial impressions, one might think that this is a word play on the title and nothing more. On closer inspection, many of the scenes seem to have a strong sexual connotation: various robotic insertions and pulsations (0:43, 1:21, 1:28, 2:17, 2:55), subtle crotch shots (1:02), and machine parts that oddly seem to resemble human breasts (0:45) are only a few of the sexual suggestions within the music video. By contrast, Iron & Wine does not have a music video available. This could be due to a lack of funding, but is not likely as the group Confide has a music video for their cover of the song, even though their version is much less popular than the other two. Perhaps Iron & Wine chose not to produce a music video in order to maintain the dreamy, imaginative quality that makes their version so unique. While the material in these videos cannot be experienced solely by listening to the song, it suggests what the artists might have had in mind when they wrote and recorded the songs.

Although both songs use the very same lyrics and almost the same melody, the musical accompaniment drastically changes the meaning of each song. The Postal Service’s original is a ballad of youthful euphoric love, while the stylistic differences in Iron & Wine’s cover turn the same song into a dreamy lullaby. This was achieved by a variations in methods including instrumentation, melody, and vocal qualities. Each artist took the same poetic lyrics and by changing only the musical qualities, created such great differences.

Severine Neff

I just want to write a little bit about how much I appreciate my music theory professor, Dr. Severine Neff. Dr. Neff is one of the nicest professors I have met at this campus, and her passion for music and teaching it to others is very apparent through her teaching style. She plays piano beautifully, but only plays when necessary to illustrate key points in the lesson. She is very patient, and is open to trying new things to help us learn the concepts - something that cannot be said of many. After spending three semesters with her, Dr. Neff has completely changed the way I write and listen to music.

Props to you, Dr. Neff!

Vision

Today in my RA class, we discussed the differences between visions and goals and how each of those are different in each other's lives. As an exercise, everyone wrote down thier vision in marker on a sheet of paper. This vision could be something we wanted to change at the university level or nationwide or globally. We taped these sheets of paper on the wall, then everybody got the chance to read the visions and give feedback by writing things down on post-it notes and placing those on the wall next to the visions.

I wrote that my vision was to "spread advocacy and awareness about Tourette Syndrome, changing the stereotype." After class, I looked through the notes people had left on my vision. I waded through the various notes, all of them positive and one or two that were illegible. One post-it stood out to me. It said: "Your story is being used to change the lives of others. Very encouraging to me!"

I don't know who in the class of fifteen wrote this note, and I don't know if they know me or know my story at all. But, the note touched me because it reassured me that what I'm doing is not going unnoticed. That my blog actually has a purpose, that the hardships I go through now will translate to less stressful situations for others in the future. I taped the post it onto my laptop right next to the touchpad so that I can see it everyday.

Beginning of the beginning of the second quarter of the way through college

Summer is finally wrapping up and Resident Advisors (RAs) like myself are beginning to move in to campus. It's great to see campus coming back to life after a summer of camps and frat boys. I was lucky and was able to live during the summer in the same room that I will live in during the school year. Basically, I don't have to worry about moving in on move-in day! I spent the day helping friends move into their respective dorms. It was really great to help people get settled in their new homes and to see old friends again. A few highlighs:

While I was in what is the first building of UNC (built in 1793), a friend and I happened upon a way to peek out from the roof. I got the following shots from my camera phone:

New East, and the Alumni Place parking lot.

Columbia street and Playmaker's Theater.

The lights in the background are Hamilton Hall and Davis Library.

Earlier in the day, Noah, Dirk and I were helping my buddy Bruce move into his new RA room on south campus. When we pulled up there was a seemingly abandoned car seat sitting at the edge of the parking lot. It was kinda (ish) near a dumpster so presumably left as trash, even though it appeared to be in perfectly useable condition. It even had two cup holders attatched to the side of it. It was the perfect chair to play video games in, so naturally Noah and I grabbed it and took it up to Bruce's room.

Noah and I went back to the car to get more stuff while Dirk and Bruce wrestled with the carpet in the room. When we got to the parking lot we saw a van parked next to our car and a confused and somewhat upset family of three standing next to a it, the father of which was staring intently at us. Immediately realizing what had happened and what awkwardness was about to ensue, Noah and I went with our first instincts: avoid eye contact and act natural!

As we drew closer the man asked us "did you guys see a van seat sitting here? We put it right in front of this parking space." Noah stepped up to the plate and boldly replied "um... I don't know..." From that point on, both parties knew exactly what happened, but the intricacies of social interaction got in the way of us fixing the problem. Noah and I mumbled that there was a chair that we though belonged to a buddy of ours, so I "went to the room to see if he had picked it up by mistake." By "went to the room," I mean really mean that I went around the corner of the building (I had no key) while I frantically called Bruce (twice) and told him to bring it down.

When I returned to where Noah was, the family had just opened the van door to show him what the seat looks like. "Yeah, that was it!" he said, with a pretty good attempt at acting surprised. Not knowing what exactly Noah had said to them and not wanting to contradict the story he may or may not have told them, I said the most vague thing I could: "They're bringing it down."

It was pretty quiet between everybody as we waited for Bruce and Dirk and Seat. Once the finally arrived, Dirk hit the nail on the head when he quietly sang "aaaawkwarrrd" in a high falsetto. The father looked kind of like a policeman taking stolen goods from criminals, while we felt like dumsterdivers who found out they weren't actually in a dumpster at all. And basically... that's what happened.

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Hello!

This post marks my first attempt at bloggage. If you're reading this I guess that means you're at least a little bit interested in me; therefore, I'll tell you a bit about who I am!

My name is Michael and at the time that I'm writing this I'm waiting to begin my sophomore year at UNC Chapel Hill. My mind and body are filled with a passion for music, butI am majoring psychology with a minor in music.

In my junior year of high school I randomly developed Tourette Syndrome (I'll talk more about that in later posts). After developing this, I went to UNC to study chemistry and then go on to med school and become a neurologist specializing in Tourette Syndrome (TS). This plan promptly changed upon my first chemistry class! I reevaluated things and realized that my clinical psychologists had provided me with much more real help than the neurologists did. They tought me how to live and deal with my Tourette's in a way that the neurologists couldn't. Now that I've decided on clinical psychology, I find myself much more interested in the subject matter than I ever was in neurology.

So that's me! I'm sure I'll be blogging more as time goes on. Thanks for visiting!