Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Now THAT is Music

Just about everybody has an opinion on music. Everybody has a favorite and a least favorite band. Everybody has a song that just reaches their core and pulls their emotional strings as far as they can stretch. On the opposite side everybody has a song that from the first note just disgusts them and their insides just groan in agony from having heard it. It is difficult, if not impossible, to judge what is good and what is trash with something so subjective as music. All we have are individual's preferences. Sure we can try to quantify it by #1 hits, record sales, harmonic complexity, or the test of time, but using those arguments hardly convinces anyone to change their preferences. How do we know what's good? I don't know, but I'll tell you what I think is good.

I now live in an area where there is a multitude of radio stations to choose from. Sadly, I mostly stick to two. I listen to the classical station and the jazz station. I could throw in the sports radio station that I occasionally listen to but that doesn't have much to do with music. This morning the first piece of music I heard was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. What a way to start the day! Later on I heard Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor. Even when I reached my destination I just sat in my truck and listened to it until the final movement was done. It was magnificent! It was played by Sir James Galway, the second greatest flutist I've ever heard live. The greatest was my own girlfriend, of course. The other day I heard Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 The Pathetique. Yesterday I heard the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2. in C minor. After all these pieces of the music I just said to myself, "Now that is music." It is so deep, so complex, and yes, it has withstood an adequate test of time.

If you read my last blog you know I do have my favorites in the genre of pop/rock. But what I hear when I'm flipping around mainstream radio today is awful. Even most of what they play on retro radio stations does not please my ears. There is one station that says, "tired of listening to the same boring radio? Tune in to us...". I tried that and found out that they're just like the rest of them that I don't like. Almost everyday I try to listen to the popular radio stations and I hear a song that I like maybe 10% of the time. That's probably stretching it. Why is that? How come what mainstream radio wants us to listen to is so bad? Is it the bell-shaped curve principle? Like I said, I don't know. But its okay, the world can keep American Idol and I'll keep listening to the classical and jazz stations along with a handful of other people.

Friday, September 18, 2009

A Collection of Souls

Several months ago, but not too many blog posts ago, I wrote about all the trumpet players that I have seen in concert. If you are not a trumpet aficionado you probably would not recognize most those names. I have also, however, seen many bands in concert whose names you probably will recognize if you pay any attention to pop culture (which I do not condone, but sometimes it's inescapable!) Anyway, here is the list: Counting Crows (2x), Goo Goo Dolls (2x), Gavin Degraw, Lifehouse, Augustana, Maroon 5, Colbie Caillat, Josh Ritter, and Jamie Cullum. I could write individual posts for each one of these concerts if I ever run really low on material. The point of all this is that just a few weeks ago I added a few other bands to this list.

On September 2, I had the privilege of seeing Ryan Star, Black Stone Cherry, and the headliner Collective Soul. I was not familiar with Ryan Star but he is most famous for writing the song "Long Train Home" which was featured in the movie P.S. I Love You. He also wrote the theme song for the Fox television show Lie to Me called "Brand New Day". He put on an energetic show and displayed a wide range of vocal prowess. His tune "Psycho Suicidal Girls", though the title may suggest deep seeded angst and resentment, was catchy and fun.

Next up was Black Stone Cherry. I had heard of them before but I didn't know what to expect. Out came four guys with 1970s-esque long hair, clothing that looked like hand-me-downs from Lynyrd Skynyrd, a vibe that was primed to rock, and a sound that was rooted in an earthy mixture of blues and classic rock. Their set began in rip-roaring fashion, with fast guitar riffs, heavy drum kicks, legs flailing, and hair exploding like fireworks. Their lead singer's voice was blues-inflected, powerful, and just throaty enough to reveal the band's southern roots. The band backed off the accelerator with each song and eased into a ballad of sorts called "Things My Father Said". They kicked it up again at the end and finished with an in-your-face rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child". I was really impressed with Black Stone Cherry, a band from the small 1500 person town of Edmonton, Kentucky. They really shook the place up and delivered a strong punch to my thoughts that real hard rock 'n' roll was dying. It may still be but Black Stone Cherry is at least the respirator trying its best to revive it. Here's the official video of their hit "Please Come In" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKtpyeWb3jg

As the main attraction approached the crowd slowly began to multiply and my friend Shane and I were gradually getting pushed to the front, which was fine by us. Then Collective Soul entered the room and the crowd erupted. Collective Soul got their name from the Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead where the phrase collection of souls is used to indicate a threat to the main character's individualism. Lead singer Ed Roland, son of a Southern Baptist minister, has pointed out that they chose the name not to make a statement about objectivism, egoism, nor because the works of Ayn Rand had any influence on his life. "We just dug the name," he's been quoted as saying. In their career, which catapulted with 1993's hit Shine, Collective Soul has had seven mainstream #1 hits, and five certified platinum albums. Needless to say, their performance lived up to expectations. I have always liked the band, but there were many people around me who surpassed my fandom. There was the overweight, balding up front flowing out back haired man with pork chop sideburns to my right who from the first note just closed his eyes, threw up two rock on signs with his hands, and just emersed himself in the music. There was the tipsy, middle-aged woman behind me who claimed to have seen Collective Soul in Morocco and preceded to tell me what a great guy lead singer Ed Roland was in person. There was another woman to my left who nearly fainted when Roland looked her way in the middle of the concert. They put on a high energy, diverse show that featured many of my favorites including, "December", "The World I Know", "Heavy", "Run", "Gel", and of course "Shine". I walked away more than satisfied with that musical experience. For a taste of a Collective Soul concert check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKROlUWkbsQ

I consider myself lucky to have seen some of my favorite bands in concert. I'm not done yet, though, as my sights are set on catching a John Mayer or Matchbox Twenty concert in the future. I'm hoping that the concerts I've seen thus far are just the beginning of a multitude of musical listening endevors in my life.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Driver's License Fiasco

As promised I will now expound on a car accident and subsequent bad luck that occurred a little less than a month ago. Below is a copy of the letter I sent to the Denton Police Department.

On the evening of Thursday, August 20, 2009 I witnessed a car accident at the corner of W. University and N. Ruddell. I fulfilled my civic duty by pulling over, getting out, and assisting in any way I could. The first officer to the scene asked for my driver’s license and told me that they would get my testimony shortly. I waited for about 30 minutes until accident investigator Gary Craig got my contact information and received my witness testimony.

He then looked for my driver’s license and could not find it. He said the officer I gave it to had given it to him and he must have misplaced it. He told me that he may have accidentally sent it with the ambulance but that he would find it and bring it back to me at my apartment that evening and gave me his card. I did not hear from him that night so I called the number on the card multiple times and finally left a voicemail. My call was returned the next day by someone else saying that I had the wrong extension, despite it being the number that was on the card. I then went to the police station that afternoon and asked for Gary Craig. The clerk had me wait for over an hour and then told me that he did not come in until 6:00 that evening.

A little after 6:00 I called the non-emergency police line and was told that Gary Craig was not in yet. I called again later and was told that Gary Craig was not in because he worked the day shift. After contesting that based on what the clerk told me earlier that day, the person who answered the phone said they would give Gary Craig a message and he would call me back. A few hours went by without hearing from him so I called the emergency line again. After explaining my situation again the person on the line stated, "I don’t know what to tell you, I already called him and left a message." I asked that he call again and finally later that night Gary Craig called me back.

He told me that he could not find my license anywhere, that he had lost it, and that he would email his boss, tell him the situation and his boss would contact me to tell me what they would do. I was never contacted again. I went ahead and after waiting in a line for over an hour had a replacement license made at the DPS. The license was $10.00 plus a $2.00 ATM fee since I could only pay for it with cash or check and did not have my checks with me at the time. I then emailed Gary Craig and called multiple times to tell him that I had a replacement license made and inquired on how I could be reimbursed for it. Neither my email nor phone calls were ever returned.

This situation has been an enormous inconvenience as I was in the process of registering for graduate school at UNT at the time and needed my driver’s license on multiple occasions. I was dealt with extremely unprofessionally by a few members of the Denton Police Department. I would like to get this resolved once and for all before I must take further action.

Thank you,

Jacob Tucker

The Denton PD responded to this letter by leaving an envelope with $12 in it at their front desk, which I of course had to go pick up. They also emailed me a justified apology. Justified apology is my term for when someone apologizes but also excuses his or her actions. In this case it was something along the lines of, "We're sorry but....I assure you this was not intentional.....he's a very busy man....the schedules fluctuate....that depends on what the word is is.....it was a wardrobe malfunction....."

That is my story of the great driver's license fiasco. Now it is public domain and I hope the Denton PD is prepared the civilian backlash that will ensure courtesy of my thousands of readers.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I'm Back

Wow! It has been a loooooong time since my last blog. Relatively, at least. It's literally been over five months so in the course of the earth's existence, which I believe to be about 4.6 billion years, that's not too long. But since my entire blog is only about nine months old, a five month hiatus is a substantial amount of time. Much has happened since my last blog. Let me explain.

I graduated with my bachelor's degree last May and then moved into an apartment for the summer. I didn't have internet access at the apartment which contributed to my blogging delinquency. Since I was only going to live there for about three months I didn't bother setting up internet access. In this day where most have a near infinite amount of information right at their fingertips at any given moment, I guess you could say I was "roughing it" for those three months.

Then at the beginning of August I relocated to Denton, Texas where I began working toward my master's degree at the University of North Texas. That's gone pretty well so far. I got a job as a reseach assistant and have my own office complete with desktop pc, one way mirror, and crickets. I like Denton. It's got a plethora of restaurants and places to shop. It has a lively music scene as well. One thing I will complain about though is the drivers. My hometown of Brownwood is known for many things, one of which is the bad drivers. However, in my 14 years of living in Brownwood I witnessed only one moving car accident and a handful of near misses. Within my first three weeks living in Denton I witnessed two severe car accidents (ambulances, stretchers, and neck braces involved) and witness a handful of near misses weekly. I will have more on one of those accidents in a future blog. This is not to say that it is a myth that Brownwood has bad drivers, but in my experience Denton's drivers are even worse. But overall, I have enjoyed my time in Denton thus far.

As you can see I now have the internet. I'm thankful for this because it keeps me up to date on important, necessary, influential current events that shape our perspective on the state of society. Like Kanye West's little episode at the VMAs. I will not expound on this, if you don't know what I'm talking about just look it up. My favorite part about that whole incident were President Barack Obama's subsequent comments. Off the record, prior to an interview, the President and some people from CNBC were engaging in some casual banter when the Kanye West incident was brought up. Someone asked, "Why would he do [that]?" Obama's response - "He's a jackass." That will probably be one of the few statements of Obama's that I agree with over the next four years.