Two of Ten: Eric Clapton

I was just talking to someone about Eric Clapton, so I thought now would be a good time to talk about his impact on my life.



There is no possible way I can recount Eric Clapton's life. Read his book. It's a great book.

For a guitarist, I don't have that many guitar-influences (as stated in a previous post). The only one that really comes to mind when I'm asked who I listen to is Eric Clapton. That says something. Most people I know list off players like it's nothing. The only name that drops from my mouth instantly is Eric Clapton.

I didn't start off as a blues player. I started off playing a lot of stuff by the Ramones and AC/DC (Angus Young was probably the first guitarist I ever really paid attention to). I become a Led Head for a while between 8th grade and freshman year. I also was heavy into Nirvana. Then towards the end of my freshman year, I discovered Eric Clapton (and every other band I listen to today really). He was one of my portals. Eric Clapton (and the Rolling Stones, more on them later) showed me the blues. And for the first time, I really listened and felt something.

My whole world changed. I no longer cared for much else but playing guitar and I became infatuated with Eric Clapton. My mom had one of his many best-of CDs. I learned Cocaine, After Midnight, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Sunshine Of Your Love, and Layla shortly after (not necessarily in that order). The first solo I ever remember transcribing by ear was the one in After Midnight.

I was bitten by the Clapton bug. There was no escape. I bought tons of his stuff. I still don't have all of it today--that will change, I promise. Derek and the Dominos, Cream, his solo work, etc...I couldn't, and still can't, get enough of it.

Probably more so than anybody else (again), I want Eric Clapton's career. He's been in so many incredible bands, and up until his solo career, he only sang when he wanted to. He just wanted to play guitar, and look at where that got him. He's the only person in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame three times (Derek and the Dominos, Cream, and solo), and he can go on tour on a moment's notice--with Steve Winwood.

My favorite era of Clapton is with Cream. This past summer I went from being a big Eric Clapton fan to an obsessed Cream/Eric Clapton fan. I learned like..Fifteen Cream songs in a month. I'm So Glad, Badge, Sunshine of Your Love (again), White Room, Crossroads, Born Under A Bad Sign, Politician, Sleepy Time Time, We're Going Wrong, I Feel Free, Spoonful, Sweet Wine, Strange Brew, Tales of Brave Ulysses, Outside Woman Blues. I was consumed by Cream. I still am. I'm listening to the now.

There's something about Eric Clapton's playing that I can't quite articulate, but if you're a fan, you know what I'm talking about. It speaks to me. There's so much passion in it. It can be a driving force or it can be a gentle lullaby. He can do it all like no one else.

I don't think--I know I play the guitar the way I do today because of him. I use so many of his licks every day, you can't even count them. I had a jam tonight, and we played six or seven songs, including two Cream songs. I play at least one Clapton song every day. Be it Bell Bottom Blues, Crossroads, Layla, Forever Man, Cocaine, Badge...You get the idea.

Not a single day goes by that I pick up my guitar and I don't play a Clapton song. He has become such a big part of my life that if I were to not play a song of his, it would be like not drinking water that day.

One of Ten: Tina Fey

(Note: These are in no specific order of influence. Tina Fey is the one that inspired me to do these posts.)


I love my life. I do. I'm incredibly comfortable in my own skin and abilities, but there are some days where I just want to be Tina Fey. She's probably my biggest role model, and easily one of my favorite celebrities. I can't think of anyone I have more respect and admiration for than Tina Fey. She's worked incredibly hard to get to where she is today.

For those of you that don't know Fey so well, here's a recap on her life:

-She graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 with a BA in Drama
-After graduation, she moved to Chicago to attend classes at Second City. Two years later, she was part of the cast.
-In 1997 she became a writer for Saturday Night Live (SNL), and in 1999 she was the show's first female headwriter
-In 2000 she became a co-anchor on SNL's Weekend Update sketch with Jimmy Fallon. She hosted the segment until 2004
-Not only did she write (one of my favorite movies) "Mean Girls" in 2004, she also starred in it.
-She left SNL in 2006 to write, produce, and star in her own show 30 Rock
-She has seven Emmys, two Golden Globes, 3 SAG Awards. She was one of Barbara Walters' 2008 "10 Most Fascinating People" along with a whole slew of other accolades (including being one of People's 50 Most Beautiful in the World)

Look at that. All of this before she's 40 (she's 38).

Tina Fey is brilliant. She got in from the inside of the business. She went from writing the scripts behind the scenes to being the star of the screen--while still writing the scripts. She's also the producer of 30 Rock.

Two years ago when the Writer's Guild of America went on strike, Tina was out in front of Rockefeller Center picketing with her fellow writers and actors (on a side note, I tried to get my mom to go to New York during the strike so I could go hang out with Tina and the countless other actors and writers. It didn't work).

On top of all of this, Tina is still normal. She handled coming out of the writer's room very gracefully. She went from being moderately famous to one of Barbara Walters' most fascinating people (thanks to the GOP's VP candidate) in what seemed like a matter of minutes.

From SNL to Mean Girls to 30 Rock to being Sarah Palin, Tina Fey's got it all.

Here's a quote from her interview with Vanity Fair:

Everybody wants to be Tina Fey, I tell her. Who do you want to be?

“I don’t want to be somebody else,” she says.

And why would she?

Delay

My apologies. I was without the Internet for a few fantastic days in New York City.

I am going to do a series of posts on people that have influenced me. I used to not want to talk about my influences because the second I talk about how much I love Billy Joel you will immediately hear the influence in my music. I can't hold back any longer. I'm bursting.

So here's a list to satisfy my own needs:

(They're in alphabetical order)

The Beatles
Eric Clapton
Tina Fey
Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/The Rolling Stones
Billy Joel
Alicia Keys
Seinfeld (as in the TV show)
Bob Thompson
U2
The Who

I'll start with those ten. They may change, but that's not likely. If anything, I'll add more.

Anyway, I'm back at Berklee, and there is work to be done and some cleaning to do. In ten short, beautiful days, I will be back in New York City with the Business Club, and I can't wait.

Ten days to accomplish easily twenty days of work. I feel a song coming.

My mind is all over the place these days. More on that later.

Warning:

Dear Valued Reader,

In the next few days, you will be experiencing many posts on many topics because I do not think there is one possible way to squeeze it all into one post.

However, there will be a string of posts all relating to one topic: Influences. The rest is up for grabs.

Be ready.

Yours truly,

Amy

A Doozie Of An Update

I suggest getting something to eat or drink as you read this. You may be here for a while.

I don't even know where to begin... Actually, I should begin by doing my Arranging homework or my College Writing homework, but if I don't do this now, I never will. Or I'll screw up the facts because after a while things get jumbled in my brain.

I'll start with Monday.

I don't know what it is about dictation in Ear Training that I can't grasp. If you ask me to play a rhythm or a melody back on guitar, I'll get it after one try. When it comes to writing things down, I get lost. I'm find with intervals and chords, and even rhythm, but melody...Melody kills me every time. I know I didn't get an A on my dictation midterm. I did pretty good on the singing part. Just a few slip ups. I'm determined to get an A on the next quiz/test/final. My teacher, Paul Stiller (easily one of the best teachers at Berklee), said I've made a lot of progress from my last quiz. I'm getting there, in more than one area.

My Guitar Lab midterm went well. I played "Forever Man" by my man Eric Clapton. I made a few mistakes, but it was fine. Got an A on that one.

Let's move on to Tuesday.

Tuesday's my easiest day. I have Harmony 3 with Eric Byers in the morning, and my lesson at 6. I played a song I wrote called Doubt (there's a very rough recording somewhere on the blog) in my lesson this week. So that was cool. I'm often asked who influences me as a player, and the truth is, oddly enough, I wouldn't say I have any really strong guitar influences. Or they're not who you think they would be--other than Eric Clapton. I love Hendrix, I went through a pretty big Hendrix phase last year. Stevie's great, too. But the people that have influenced me the most are Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Pete Townshend. One of the reasons I have a Telecaster is because of Keith. I used to (and still do to a degree) want to be Keith, minus the drugs. When I saw the Stones a few years back, I went nuts when he came out playing "Jumpin' Jack Flash." I'm more influenced by songs and songwriters than I am by guitarists. I tried to get heavy into playing, but then I said to myself, 'You're always going to love Billy Joel more than Buddy Guy so just get over it.' I do love Buddy, but not the way I love Billy.

So after my lesson I went to see Ann Coulter and Bill Maher give speeches and debate each other. They decided to participate in Boston's 2009 Speaker Series. After a while, I had to stop listening to Ann Coulter. I just couldn't take it. Bill Maher was hilarious, as usual. I must have been in the Ann Coulter fan section because no one around me was even laughing at Bill. Some hecklers got thrown out, and some guy in the balcony started yelling at Bill Maher and Bill let him have it. It was great. It was a cool thing to see.

Moving on: Wednesday.

Wednesday was a very special day in Boston. U2 came to town to play a "secret show" at the Somerville Theater. The tickets were given away through radio contests, and U2 had their own guest list for the show. I did get into the theater, but not the show. I bought a ticket to the movies. You all know how much I was dying to see "He's Just Not Into You" right? I mean, I could not stop talking about it haha!

I missed the band at the Ritz that afternoon. There was no way I could have made it there in time, so I went straight to Davis Square to try and catch them before they went inside. I missed that, too, but I heard soundcheck! So that was cool. My movie was at 7, so I went in around 6.45. I have never seen so much security for such a tiny place! There were about 10 security guys in the lobby (which is about the size of my room)! There were about 12 of us at the movie, all with the same idea: sneak into U2's show. Well, none of us got in, but I did get to hear the first song ("Get On Your Boots") and the last song ("Vertigo"). I caught a few glimpses of the band at the Q&A thanks to a security guard that Tom (known as @BostonTweet for Twitter users) knows.

I decided to head back into Boston, and hang out at the Ritz Carlton, hoping that U2 would come back before I had to go back. Their entire crew did, but they were in Davis Square for a good portion of the night. The T sadly stops at 12.30ish so I had to get back to the Berk before then. On the bright side, I found a new cool hang place: the Ritz lobby. It's intimately spacious. The staff is great. There's a fire place, and it's quiet. I also finished up some work before heading back to my neck of the woods around 11.45 or so.

So today was also an eventful day. After my Harmony midterm, I went back to the Ritz to see if U2 was still around. If they were, I didn't see them. I was only there for 45 minutes because I had to go get in line for the Paul Simon clinic! I ran into my friend Tom (his blog is here) outside of Berklee, and we waited in line, chit-chatted, and ate scones outside the Berklee Performance Center for 45 minutes or so in the cold waiting to go inside for the clinic. Paul Simon's a character. It was a really relaxed atmosphere. We were able to ask questions, and he played us a few songs. It was a lot of fun.

After the clinic, I had my Legal Aspects class. We got our midterms back. I got a 97! I was pretty excited. That was only the first half. He said the second half is much harder than the first. I'm determined to keep that 97, though. I will be one of the few that manages to do so by the way he made it sound.

My class ended at 6. I bolted back to my dorm, grabbed my digital recorder and my iPod and headed over to Tom's (blog, website)show at the All Asia bar in Cambridge. The show was great, and I met some cool new people, too. I didn't get to stay for the next act. My friend Jordan and I had to finish a case study for MEISA, and I had an essay to finish. I actually just finished it up, yay!

So now I'm watching Seinfeld and relaxing. I did a lot of running around these past few days. I'm looking forward to a lot more relaxing in the next few days coming up.

Ear Training

Something about Ear Training midterms scare the shit out of me. I never feel like I'm prepared enough. I could practice 18 hours a day every day and still feel unprepared.

I've spent a good three or four hours working on it today. I'm giving myself a chance to watch some TV and finish my other homework before I drag myself back down into a piano room for two hours working out the melodies again.

I want all A's this semester. Badly. As of right now, I would guess that I do have all A's, and I want to keep it that way.

That being said, time to do some homework, and watch a little TV. Then I'm off to a room with 88 teeth chomping at the bit for me

March Madness

For most college students, March is a very hectic month. Between midterms, spring break, and possible apartment hunting, it can get pretty crazy. I have a very busy month. At first I wasn't super excited about having a week off. I was, but I wasn't super stoked. My feelings have since changed. I cannot wait for break. I'm thinking about my March schedule, and it is not pretty. I didn't utilize my snow day to its full potential, but I did get a free pedal board! Thanks again, Alvaro!

I've got a very busy week and a half ahead of me. I have two sizable homework assignments in Harmony and Arranging due Thursday, part one of my Legal Aspects midterm also on Thursday, and a paper due Friday. I have my Guitar Lab midterm to prepare for, I don't know if I have a midterm in Essentials of Songwriting (I should probably find out), the dictation portion of my Ear Training midterm on Monday and the singing portion of it on Wednesday, my Harmony midterm is on Thursday, as well as my Arranging midterm and probably the second half of Legal Aspects, and then I'm done. I think that's it. I really hope that's all of it.

I should get to work now. I've got stuff to do. There's always stuff to do.

Snow Day Number Two!

Since I'm from Maine, I understand the New England weather. It's okay for it to be 60 degrees one day, and then two days later it's a blizzard. I just shrug it off. No biggie, except for the fact that it might be global warming.

I am going to be extremely productive today. There is so much to be done. I may only leave my room for a few hours today, but that's okay because there's a Red Sox game at 1. What's better than listening to a baseball game in a blizzard?

Now I'm off to conquer the day. Wish me luck!