Writing Prompt: Go to a concert and write about your experience...

​Throughout my years of life I have been lucky enough to be presented with amazing music. Thanks to people like my family and friends, I have learned different tunes and genres that have taken effect on me in a very positive way. Overall it's very hard to pick my favorite tunes so far in my life - even harder condensing it to my top 5. So keep in mind that these tracks I've picked according to how meaningful they've been to me, not how "good" they are. So nevertheless here are my top 5 tracks:

​I think the first real band that made a huge influence in my life was Blink 182. I don't really remember exactly how I came upon discovering them, but the fuel kept burning thanks to my cousins and my dad. My dad once gave me his portable CD player with 2 Blink 182 albums, in which I spent hours listening to. Apart from that my cousins were Blink 182 addicts and they still are. I remember going over to house countless times and spending the day watching Blink 182 music videos. We found their humor amusing and the energy from their music great!

I had a lot of favorite tunes by then, but I couldn't really name my favorite until I got a little older. It made me really appreciate the punk scene and how incredible Blink 182 managed to build it up. I think "Josie" did the trick in really bringing out the "Blink 182 vibe" into me. It's my favorite tune to play when I need to get pumped or when I'm looking for something punky. It continues to be a classic to me until this day.

​For all my life I've always been a "rock" type of person. Since I was a small child, I was brought up listening to countless rock records and it's been overall what I enjoy listening to the most. Now that I'm a little older, I've been slowly exploring other genres in search of good music as well. Daft Punk was the big key in my transition into electronic music. From the first tune I heard by them ("Robot Rock"), I was hooked by their mysterious mask, but kick-ass tunes. I really came to appreciate the French House genre and the achievements it brought to music.

The first time I got to discover Daft Punk's 'Discovery', it was amazing. I had the privilege to listen to their record when I was a little older, so I really sucked everything in. Straight off the bat "One More Time" became my favorite dance tune of all time. I had the song on repeat for days and days without any mercy. I couldn't rap my head around how Daft Punk came to produce this tune throughout sampling and arrangements. It really inspired to try to create tunes for myself.

​I think for the most part every teenager has come across a Smiths tune here and there. For me it was the total bliss I was looking for in my life. It was exactly what I was searching for it terms of "rock music" and 80's music too. Johnny Mar and Morrissey together created what seemed the ultimate dreamscape music that I needed in days when life seem a bit to "blue". I loved hearing the amazing and complex harmonies and rhythms Johnny Mar created with his guitar. Morrissey wrapped it all together with his relatable lyrics that brought back nostalgic memories of the best teenage years.

"Barbarism Beings At Home" became my favorite Smiths track because I believed it brought the best of each Smiths member out into the song. It had a catchy bass riff, pumping groovy drums, a beautiful guitar rhythm, and amazing singing. Apart from that, the more the song progressed, the more amazing it became.

When I was around 12, I got myself my a classic IPod full of music imported already. Most of the artist on the IPod I already knew, but there were a couple that kept me wondering. I first ran into the Arctic Monkeys thinking they were some kind of old rap group. I ignored it a couple of months, not really bothering to even give them a listen. It was until my curiosity won the best of me and I gave their tunes a try. What happen next was I believe to be a sort of musical miracle for me. I fell in love with their tunes... all of them. They were the ultimate band I needed in my life and the ones I could relate to the most. For the most part they became "The Beatles" of my lifetime and I spent the whole year obsessed with them. I ended up buying all their albums and found love for they're musical journey throughout their career. 

"Fluorescent Adolescent" became the track I was obsessed with in the beginning of my "Arctic Monkeys discovery". I found the song so relatable and catchy as well, that it spoke to me on another level. As of today it still remains one of my favorite Arctic Monkeys tune, but it's way to hard to pick my favorite song by them. I have respect, love, and appreciate for each one of their track, that it's way to hard for me to label something as my favorite by them. 

​It shouldn't be a surprised that The Beatles remain my number one in terms of anything musical. These guys have earned my respect and love, big time! Since I was a small child, I already had a sort of love for The Beatles and me growing up really helped take my appreciate for them to a whole new level. Their music has changed my perspective of life and influenced it for the better. Their music inspired me to become a musician and grow a passionate for it as well. It's hard for me to explain how important The Beatles have been in my life in a short paragraph, but I hope most of you can understand that these guys have done a lot.

If I had to pick a favorite Beatles song, then I would tell you a whole album instead because everything they made is pretty much gold. As a child my dad would sing "Yellow Submarine" to me a lot of times, so that can be consider one of my favorite tracks, but "Don't Let Me Down" is something different. I guess it's the first track I really sat down as a young teenager, gave it a listen, and decided it's my favorite track. It's pretty hard considering I'm not really good at making up mind, especially for music, but I was able to do it. So up to today, "Don't Let Me Down" remains as my favorite song.

Writing Prompt: Conduct an interview...

Throughout my senior project I felt as if I was missing goals that can be meant through hard work and dedication. These goals would have proved to really show my growth and evidence throughout my senior project. I was stuck on many ideas such as; building a record player, creating a visually new blog, or just building a guitar of some sorts. These were all fun ideas, but I didn’t really feel they would help improve myself in any aspects relating to my blog.

Thanks to my Mentor (Dr. P) we were able to think of creating writing goals to further push myself in writing musically. I was a great idea and I had the resources to find these writing prompts throughout my senior project. My mentor was able to hook me up with his own copy of “How To Write About Music” by Marc Woodworth and Ally-Jane Grossan, that provided different unique writing prompts. One these prompts really surprised and kind of scared me until a couple weeks ago. It was to conduct an interview...

I didn’t really know who to interview in terms of music blogging, but yet again my mentor helped me get of hold of Chris Richards. Now before I get started about my conversation with Chris, let me just say that he’s an amazing guy. Chris really brought out his knowledge and past experience into our conversation which really struck home to me! Anyways, I was able to get a hold of Chris and do a phone interview one mid day Friday. ​

We started out our conversation talking about how he got to the position he’s in right now (Music Writer for the Washington Post). It was very interesting getting to learn how Chris was able to write for his school’s newspaper and overall grew up writing little punk magazines. What was even more surprising was how his job kind of came as an accident. He was able to become the editor for a magazine in New York City without any kind of experience, in which he was fired after 6 months. His writing mentor ended up changing position in the Washington Post and told Chris to apply to take his position, in which he got.

Apart from talking about his past experiences; Chris was able to give me a lot of good advice about being a music writer. I remember him saying, “We are one in a million, everybody has their own voice about music.” It was very inspiring and uplifting for him to really encourage anybody to write about music. Chris described it as our own way of living and feeling part of the world’s music. It’s way to build connections regardless of how good you are at writing.

I can honestly write a whole book about the different topics Chris and I talked about during our 30 minute phone call, but it would take forever. I added the clips down below for download; which I highly suggest everyone listens to. Chris was amazing individual to talk to and provided some amazing advice. So once again, thanks a lot Chris!

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