3 posts from 2009

So I started off getting an easy classics book.  I had forgotten how hard it was to sight read.  But practice makes perfect, and that's all I really can do... practice.  I never really did get a good handle on sight reading.  I believe it's something I need to do to get me to the "next level", whatever that is.  Anyways, I'm making good on my promise.  The M-Audio semi-weighted 88-key doesn't feel so great but it's all I have at the moment.  But I have to do more with less!

So for the last seven years or so, I haven't really been making any progress with music.  Perhaps several factors are to blame.  First and foremost, I don't have a piano.  I sold a Kurzweil weighted 88-key keyboard awhile back and have regretted it ever since.  So I've basically been stuck with my guitars.  I'm not saying that I don't love my axe but for some reason, I can't write songs on the guitar.  Actually, I'm not much of a songwriter at all.  Well, maybe I'm not a lyricist.  I can write music to lyrics so maybe that makes me a composer.  In that respect, I've been successful as a composer in the past.  But only on the piano.  With the guitar, I'm more of a glorified cover artist, and I haven't even been covering many artists lately so that leaves me stagnant.  I was watching an interviewing with the young Bob Dylan recently and he mentioned that he writes his songs on piano, not guitar.  "Gutiar is too hard".  That kinda baffled me.  I guess not everyone can be a Jack Johnson.  Damn you and your clever sense of melody.

So anyway, I recently purchased an M-Audio 88-key midi controller.  Yeah, I know... it's a midi controller.  But "given the economy", that's all I can really afford at the moment.  So in a nutshell, I'm going to re-acquaint myself with the ivories and see if I can once again reconnect with the enjoyment of playing the piano.  Fun! =)

As uneducated as I am about the subject, I turn to wiki for a quick review of events leading up to the current dispute in the Middle East.  From a much broader perspective, the war for the Holy Lands is still very much alive and well.  It's just strange that the media is portraying Israel as the power hungry nation driving this entire attack.  Every headline, to some effect, reads "Israel attacks...", "Israel takes offensive...".

So listening to Rush on the way to work yesterday... (Don't worry, I'm not an extreme right wing conservative.  I'm more of a moderate or independent conservative.  I try to listen to the entire spectrum of views: conservative = talk radio and liberal = all other media.)  Anyways, Rush makes light of the fact that Israel's offensive stance is basically a defensive response.

This begs the question, why is the media (and in saying media, I mean "liberal media") portraying Israel as the bad guy.  To my understanding, the relationship between the United States and Israel is generally a strong one, no?  Is this basically an accompaniment to liberal media's disdain for the war in Iraq and President Bush in general?  And if the media is trying to gain support for Palestinians, then by effect the media needs to portray Israel as the bad guy, which is currently being done (back to square one, see first sentence of this paragraph).  And isn't there prominent Jewish influence on media or is that only in Hollywood?  I'm sure there are close ties between media and Hollywood, as the majority of the Hollywood elite enjoy sharing their political views with the public which, by coincidence, swing a little farther than moderate left.

So what gives?  I personally have no strong opinions on the current Israel-Gaza dispute but I just find the media reaction in the US a little perplexing.