A Few Zen - Music, Fusion, and Life

This works every time I have ever had any type of hiccup.

1) Fill a nice big glass with water.
2) Start drinking the water slowly.
3) Slowly tilt the glass bringing the water level up to cover your mouth.
3) Breath in and out through your nose this whole time while drinking the water and not breathing in air through your mouth. Breathe IN, OUT, Don't stop drinkin the water.
4) Do for at least 40 seconds. Repeat.

For some reason if you keep your mouth swallowing water and taking in no air, when you breath through your nose it corrects that.

Eventually you'll just be able to breath thru your nose and when u stop, the hiccups are gone.

Discovered by accident BY ME. Worked every time I had 'em. Sharing it for your health and NOT FOR PROFIT.

Posted by JJ at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out these little buggers! D RAD !!!!!!

These lil' germs can repair themselves, survive in the harshest climates, and also grow the things we like! We found this bacteria in the Earth's harshest environments, and grew it, and broke down it's code. So they are going to send this shit, with our astronauts, up into space to other worlds. And scientifically, if that bacteria starts dying around you in space, it tells you conditions have changed! We discovered bacteria a long time ago. Now we are bringing it with us to the stars. Tight in my mind.

5 out of 5 brains.

Posted by JJ at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's sad that this isn't a more exclusive holiday. I don't have it off work (but I know some do). Of all the people's holidays I get off of at work, this is the one I think I should have off. Of all the days we celebrate in America, this man's is the most important because he had a message, a dream. Other political people in America have made change that earned them a holiday, but their lives were nothing of an example for people to live by. Most of it motivated by greed and power. In other words, not motivated by love. MLK was an American prophet of the truth. In my books he's right up there with Jesus (and Gandhi too). But he walked our streets, and influenced the world. I never saw Jesus in his lifetime so this is the closest person I have to that experience with a deep man. An American philosopher, poet, preacher, and prophet. He preached so many things that deep down we all knew to be true. He is still remembered because no one can deny the truths he put before our eyes. It got him killed. Why do the people that seem to know "the truth" get killed before they could ever lead this world to a better place? Too powerful were the things that he was saying. He believed in "The Golden Rule" and he preached it. I don't know what else is true in this world, but deep down I know that the golden rule is right. Anyways, I don't want to be too preachy. The world should celebrate this day though.

"Let's kiss, not fight. Try to do what's right tonight. Make love, not war. What the hell are we living for?"
Andre 3000

The King Center

Posted by JJ at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, the boys from The Strokes have graduated to stadium rock. The garage scene has passed. This new album shows that this band has matured. Still talking about relationships and the irony of losing your mind at a young age, Julian Casablancas has a much stronger voice on this album. He really gets into his grittyness and really let's loose. This album sounds more intense than any of their others. Both musically and emotionally. Real upbeat hard songs. Real quiet pretty songs. Quirky funky ska-ish tunes. And "artsy for the sake of being artsy" ones. I'd say half the sound is like the classic Stroke's albums but the other half has moved on and up. And yes, finally some jazz fusion from them (hell yeah, during "Vision of Division",is that an indian raga jam?)! There are also moments of hard rock jamming that I never heard them try before. The 2 guitars are working it. The drummer and bassist sound better than ever. Different elements of syncopation and dynamics that are unusual, but welcomed. Now I can hear how they say bands have ripped off some of their sound. But there are parts on this new album where the band is trying things that remind me of bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, the Sex Pistols, the Beatles, and U2 (all of which aren't bands they typically sound like). Jim Derogatis from the Chicago Sun-Times had a great description of the Strokes' current sound: extremely tuneful garage-rock minimalists with a sleek and streamlined sound capable of erupting into inspired bursts of controlled fury or taking subtle and unexpected detours into other genres. Yeh, what he said. But they still have a lot of soul and rock left in them. They tried a different producer on this (David Khane) of Sugar Ray fame (also add in Tony Bennett and Cher). I thought Sugar Ray? But this is what Julian (lead singer of the Strokes) had to say, "I think (Khane is) really cool. I think when you first meet him though, you can get caught in the façade. He has a very technical knowledge and he'll be very quick to casually spew it out. You might think he's just some serious slick hit-maker and that he doesn't care about music, but that's what he's all about: music. He cares about it so deeply that if you change a little part, and you're hurting the song, he'll cry." Another quote from J, ""We were figuring stuff out, but after three or four songs I was thinking in my mind that 'I can't believe we're finally sounding the way I want us to sound'." This album is good. If you liked the first two Strokes' albums then you will also like this one. It is growing on me. It's so short (like the last 2 albums!) I can relisten to everything quickly. Check it out.

5 out of 5 thumbs.

The Strokes' Website

Posted by JJ at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This album has been out since March 2005, and I should have been listening to it since then. Silent Alarm is one of the top 10 albums of 2005!!! I haven't yet turned it off since I got it. And usually I burn myself out on a band really quickly (overplaying them). This is a band from the UK who are unlike anything I have heard in awhile. I can not yet dissect where their musical sound comes from but it's somewhere in between Radiohead, the Cure, U2, the Clash, Franz, Blur, and the Police. Lyrically and vocally I'm not sure who this singer sounds like. He sounds like a snobby white British teenager (but not a John Lydon). But suprisingly he's the one black guy in the band. The band is a mix of an asian guy, a black guy, and two white guys ((Kele Okereke (vocals, guitar); Russel Lissack (guitar); Gordon Moakes (bass guitar); Matt Tong (drums)). The music is diverse. But it doesn't seem to draw from before the late 80's musically. Bloc Party has ate the best music from the 80's and 90's and coughed it back up in a new millenium form. The "who's-who" of British Indie rock. They sound both retro and highly modern all over the place. Very cool. Very upbeat. Fast. Unpredictable. Nice harmonies. Pretty slow songs. Distorted quick psychedelic uptempo songs. If a band is only as good as their drummer, this band is GOOD. Non-stop breakbeat and uptempo drumming leads the way for angular radiohead type guitar, followed by a typical proto-reggae upstroke popular with today's garage rock bands (or "grit rock" as my bud jf says). As their 1st and only album (they did allow a techno remix album by other artists) this one kicks ass! They said that they love the electronic music scene so they let dj's remix this album. But it's SOOOOO techno! And techno is the least creative of electronic music in my mind. Tell that to most of the rest of the world though (techno is huge everywhere but the US). But I like their ideas. They should have gotten Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow, Automator, Squarepusher, Prefuse 73, DJ Spooky, and the likes, to remix it though. A truly original band. Whoever they are influenced by, they break it up enough where it's all theirs' now. One lyric has been stuck in my head since I first deciphered it, "I drink myself by eating glass". As an artist myself, this lines speaks to me for some reason. Think about it. There's 14 songs on the album and so far I really like about 12 of them so I highly recommend this album to anyone who likes rock from the last 10 years. 5 out of 5 thumbs.

Bloc Party's Website

Posted by JJ at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wish a most happy new year's to all of my devoted followers. It's been a tough year but I feel MUCH better about next year. I promise to review more, still be skeptical, and inform you all about everything I can think of to get YOU ahead. I will also Podcast like nuts next year to make my name. Stay with me. In general try and follow these steps this new year:

1) Workout more.
2) Stop eating late in the day.
3) Stop watching TV and read/write/draw/sing instead.
4) Stop smoking cigarettes.
5) Buy organic meat and farmer's market vegetables.
6) Listen to the stuff I tell you I like.

Posted by JJ at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For anyone who doesn't know, there is a concept around called Web 2.0. It refers to a future of the internet where everything is stored online, as opposed to your PC's. Put your photo galleries, your music, your songs/stories/dance routines/jokes online so YOU can access them ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. Your PC crashes, no worries (Irie mon), it's online. In the future this will replace our hard drives. You will have a handheld device....like a cell phone/blackberry around to access it anywhere. The Web 2.0 isn't here yet but it is coming. People do not understand the potential of this idea/construct (well, alot of us nerds do, and hopefully we'll get it out!) Just think about it as everything moves onto online and off of your PC.

Posted by JJ at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My buddy hipped me to this site and I have been happy ever since. This site is a scientific experiment with music and music exposure. As a scientist by day....this intrigues me. I love genetics and this site tries to break music down into genes. It's hard to describe this to you, but it's very avant-garde! The human body is completely made up from 48 chromosomes. Every strange facet about your mind and body is pre-programmed into these chromosomes. Chromosomes are comprised of genes. 4 different amino acids groups for humans, in some combination, creates everything about you. Pandora uses this as a metaphor in their dissection of music. They break every song down into so many parts that they can group songs you like based on the different styles of everything. Making some sort of lifeform from the pieces of music that drive you. Be specific though. If you just list an artist, this program adds every style in every part of every song of that person into your mix. Try to pick just songs you like and try to think of other songs you like that sound like that song. Or what you like about it. Or add an artist if you really like ALL of their stuff. Pick any artist you like. Pick a song you really like. Pick and album you really like. It starts pulling from the way they have examined the songs. They have dissected them in every which way. The first shuffle I saw better than the iPod because it plays music I don't own. But they link to iTunes so they got it hooked up. Please get iTunes off of my site if you do not have it yet. There is a tab for "a million songs..." on the right hand side of my webpage. Pandora is free if you can deal with their amazon ad in the corner of the screen (I can). It also saves your stations and you can access them from any PC. This site is awesome. If I am on the net, I am using this as my player. You can type in any songs that have been stuck in your head, at any point, and have this service mix up you request in ways you never thought, and like it. It works best if you rate the songs it plays because it will not play them much again if you diss it. If you say you like it, it knows and proceeds. It works off of you, SO USE IT!

5 out of 5 thumbs.

Passport to Pandora.....

Posted by JJ at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)