MR

....when you first got into Music - or wished that you did?

When I was studying Voice, one of the big tours at the time was Pink Floyd, in 1987:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAMnqZqn6RI

I saw a series of videos from this time period, and said to myself:

"I wanna be a Pink Floyd Backup Chick!"

(I'm watching the "Division Bell Tour" right now....memories of that time came flooding back...so, that's why I started this topic.)

Nowadays, I'd like to substitute "Steve Perry" for "Pink Floyd", but hey....who knows, right?

So...what were your first BIG dreams?

I wanted to be a singer and songwriter in a "Journeyesque" band, and make my living as a recording artist.
Still do!!:)

tragchk wrote:....when you first got into Music - or wished that you did?

When I was studying Voice, one of the big tours at the time was Pink Floyd, in 1987:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAMnqZqn6RI

Wow Nora, that's a great clip! Wasn't into too much of their stuff, but that was one of my favs, my ex was sooo into Pink Floyd, saw them in Edmonton once years ago, it was a good show.

As for singing, I couldn't sing to save my life. But I sure do appreciate listening to somebody that can!

When I first started playing flute, I wanted to be in the Boston Pops orchestra. shoulda stuck that out. gr

then, in high school, I wanted to be a Joni Mitchell and play acoustic folk guitar. shoulda stuck that out. gr.

in college, I just wanted someone anyone to listen to our Christian hard rock band and not tell us we were Satanists!! grgrgr should stuck that out. where are those tracks we recorded??? grgrgrgrgrgr

2nd time college go 'round, to sing an aria in an opera. nah.

the last few years, I lived vicariously through my students and wanted them to be all state qualified band students, and get superior marks on their solos. ( I had to play all that C*** with them--no kudos for me- dangit!!)

now, I just want to get paid to play!!! bwahahahaha! I really still wanna be a singer in rock and roll band. Christian rock, praise and worship. maybe teach kids how to do it.

Great question! kinda hurts tho'.

How 'bout Journey writes us in as back up singers on the next tour?? just a song or 2....

When I was a kid ,I wanted to play piano like Liberache, I know he is gay,Then when I got older I wanted to play a Hammond B3 and play for Deep Purple,then I was into Elton John{another gay dude}Im not gay I swear.Once i heard Journey I wanted to sing like Steve Perry, and play the piano like Friga.I am getting the piano parts down, {close} but Who and the hell can sing like Steve Perry?

GirlLikeYou wrote: ( I had to play all that C*** with them--no kudos for me- dangit!!)

...

Crap??

Great thread Nora. Can't sing, can't dance well, just love to listen. A friend of mine plays guitar in a band and I never miss a show. He keeps trying to get me to sing with them, but I don't want to run off their fans.

I always pictured myself playing the git in a hard rockin party band...running around the stage and jumping off the drum riser etc.

Funny thing is, when I finally pursued my music, it came out as kind of mellow acoustic tunes! And when I got onstage I found out that I am really shy and kind of in control rather than all over the stage. I guess you cant go against your true nature but I still love to dream about destroying a stage someday

www.cdbaby.com/ericnelson

E

When I was 14, I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen. Thankfully, the only thing that I now have in common with him...is that we both are ALOT suckier players than we used to be...

I always dreamed of being a singer and something like 20 years ago I searched for ways of getting in the industry and record,but I've met the wrong people and I gave up.A few years after I began my radio & TV career and married a rock singer.So,yeah,I lived my dream vicariously through him,but along the way I discovered that more than singing I loved being in the studio at the mixer...Working on an album,dealing with all the details,all that magical technology fascinated me more than anything.

I ended up on stage,tho... not as a singer but as a rock show/festival/music contest host.Been doing that for 15 years,besides the media jobs I have and I just love it!
It's really true what musicians say - nothing can compare with the energy you can get from a great audience,it can give you a "high" feeling like nothing else!
All in all I'm perfectly happy with what I do,I don't think I'd like to be a pro singer anymore...Too hard,too painful.

What I regret tho,is that I haven't had the time to learn to play an instrument.Guitar or piano - my faves.

Eric(just plain,lol),I want to congratulate you for the great music you are doing!Just listened to a few songs and I am very impressed!
Tim Ellis is on guitar I guess?Very good,and you have such a soulful voice,love it!

Thanks so much! Ive been in a slump lately so I appreciate your comments. And yes, Tim Ellis is a brilliant musician here in Portland.

E

Just_Plain_Eric wrote:Thanks so much! Ive been in a slump lately so I appreciate your comments. And yes, Tim Ellis is a brilliant musician here in Portland.

E

You both did a great job!
I just love this genre of music,so I'm thinking of adding your CD to my collection!

The best of luck to you,you sure deserve the best!

Amazing how your priorities change as you get older. In chronological order, here's where I always thought I wanted to be:

Age 10-15: Just enjoyed singing. Never gave any thought to even performing publically

Age 15-16: Wanted to move to Tampa and be in a heavy metal/thrash band, was in an original band based heavily on the musical stylings of Exodus and Megadeth.

Age 17-18: Role as Jesus in JCS turns career path heavily toward musical theater, had genius idea of going to music school and going on broadway.

Age 19-26: Realized most musicians/singers subsist on ramen noodles and Old English 800. Music degree impractical as I didn't know the difference between a circle jerk and the circle of fifths (choir practice was not pretty), so settled down with sexy to focus on finishing college and getting a job.

Age 26-30: After career was on track, focused on writing and recording originals heavily influenced by the likes of Shawn Mullins and Peter Gabriel. Reviews of self-released CD read something like "sounds like someone was locked in a room with a drum machine, acoustic guitar, and a recording of "don't stop believin'" playing over and over." Killed time in cover band trying to convince bandmates that people would actually pay to listen to a whole evening of Journey music. Finallly sold everyone on the idea of a Journey tribute band in 2002.

Presently, I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else than where I am right now. On weekends, I have the luxury and ability to go out in front of hundreds of people across hundreds of miles, and have people show up and pay money to hear me perform in some of the best rooms on the east coast. During the week, I have a great job with an expense account and a beautiful wife (& family on the way).

All in all, I'd say I was never focused enough in my career in music to reach that one definitive career goal, but because of my diversity of interests, it's brought me to a place I can be happy & successful, so I wouldn't change a thing.

Great story Jeremey. It sounds like you found a way to have the best of both worlds.

Very good question !
I all-I'm new over here
I was performing since I was about 6 years old. Singing - acting for the family. When I hit highschool we moved my sophomore year to a new school. I joined the chorus and drama club. I was a drama geek. After that I started performing heavily in theatre & musicals. I was planning to move to NYC and see what happened. Then I let my family talk me out of it. I went to work at a universary and got to go to school for free where I studied american sign language. I became an interpreter in 2001 and I love it. I do a lot of theatrical interpreting, musicals, comedians and hopefully someday interpret for a Journey councert. Once can always hope .
I still do theatre myself (occasionally) & sing as often as I can.

Thinking about that story made me wonder if there was any remnants of my earlier project from 1999 still online anywhere (a project called Madding Crowd)....I actually found this old review of my CD! Anyone wonder why I gave in and just decided to start a Journey tribute band need only read this review of my music which sounded NOTHING like Journey....I remember this review and at the time it pissed me off big time, but after 8 years (holy shit), I think the guy makes a lot of great points....Read on if you dare...

___________________________________________________________

madding crowd
genre: electronica

madding crowd describes themselves as "jane's addiction meets nine inch nails" yet i don't see this at all in the music - it's much more rock oriented than electronic and doesn't seem to contain many elements from either band. this actually is a good thing because i enjoy a fresh, new sound rather than something similar over and over - but personally, i do not particularly care for the rock/techno combination and i felt that madding crowd could use a bit more work on programming techniques and equalization.

these are the days contains some very nice guitar work- both rhythm and lead. the vocals remind me of journey, and the structure of the song is very predictable and rigid - almost as if they were scared to break out of a rock cliche. regardless, this song is techincally pretty good although the bass parts that arose during the choruses should have been toned way down, they were obviously much louder than anything else, including the vocals. alien bob begins with an old, hip-hop sounding breakbeat, with some nice acoustic melodies layed overtop. again, the bass in this song is too loud and should sit near the back of the spectrum, carrying the song along in a subtle manner - something you don't really notice unless you specifically try to find it. madding crowd needs a little more experience in equalizing their many different sounds. many people are fooled into thinking that they can merge guitars, vocals, and electronic elements without any problems... but it just doesn't work that way. it is much harder to achieve a balanced spectrum with so many different elements. again, this song is fairly rigid although noticeably better than the previous track. i must give props to the smooth guitar playing. here i am still is labelled as rock, and it is, no doubt, though it has many electronic elements. nice synth pads and the electronic drums give this song a darker and more varied feeling, something i found quite refreshing after the last two rigid tracks. once again some very nice guitar work is displayed, and i felt everything melded quite nicely in this piece. i am not really taken to the vocals, it sounds like a mix between journey and candlebox... yet the nice musical aspect of this song takes away from the somewhat outdated feeling of the vocals. one more is exactly like here i am still in that there are some very interesting things going on, but the vocals detract from the atmosphere. i felt if madding crowd wanted to make a techno song, or something atmospheric and electronic, they should have dropped the vocals, at least for one tune - and this would have been a great instrumental track. that said though, this song is solid and showcases some nice and promising talent. at least madding crowd is adventurous to involve several different musical elements into their product so i give them a lot of credit for that. the last track i reviewed, breaking the last line, begins with a nice background acoustic melody, with acoustic and electric leads layered over this. the drums are somewhat familiar (on the edge of breakbeat, had they been faster and more chopped up) and the same vocal techinques are used. but surprisingly, i was impressed by this song - i don't usually like rock music (as this was labelled), but the melody and structure to this song set it apart from normal rock musicians. again, the vocals were not too my liking, but a nice musical effort.

i have a very mixed impression of madding crowd after this review. they obviously have talent and could definitely get somewhere far with their mix of mainstream and unusual elements. i, personally, am not really drawn to the rock/techno crossover... it seems like just another style of music that is implementing electronics because "it's cool" or because it's just the modern thing to do. so, it was pretty hard for me to get into this music, but i can still respect the talent and potential involved here. solid effort and a very mixed approach to a relatively new style.

reviewed by fabrik nos on 1999-07-26

Kimterp wrote:Very good question !
I all-I'm new over here

Hi Kim, welcome.

strungout wrote:

Kimterp wrote:Very good question !
I all-I'm new over here

Hi Kim, welcome.

Thanks!

Hi Kim. Nice to meet you.

Is Terp a Maryland reference?

Kimterp wrote:Very good question !
I all-I'm new over here
I was performing since I was about 6 years old. Singing - acting for the family. When I hit highschool we moved my sophomore year to a new school. I joined the chorus and drama club. I was a drama geek. After that I started performing heavily in theatre & musicals. I was planning to move to NYC and see what happened. Then I let my family talk me out of it. I went to work at a universary and got to go to school for free where I studied american sign language. I became an interpreter in 2001 and I love it. I do a lot of theatrical interpreting, musicals, comedians and hopefully someday interpret for a Journey councert. Once can always hope .
I still do theatre myself (occasionally) & sing as often as I can.

Welcome, fellow chorus and drama geek!

Hi Kim,welcome to MR. Saw you on the JSS Forum,big fan,eh?

You have a cool job,and I really like that pic of Jeff showing the "I love you" sign! Learning something new everyday!

tragchk wrote:When I was studying Voice, one of the big tours at the time was Pink Floyd, in 1987:

TOTALLY forgot about this guy, until I surfed and saw "Learning to Fly ~ Live"

The Percussionist: Dude is having a BLAST!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozk8IlHb ... ed&search=

That's my new endeavor: I told Mark I wanted to learn Timbales....LOVE them.

So, if I can't be a Backup Singer, Choice #2 is Percussionist.