Good Music

So much of today’s popular music is labeled as so because of how much it is advertised, or rather, it becomes so because of how much it is advertised.  Additionally, I think most of this music is of rather terrible quality, and deprives the general public of a deserved sensory experience. Therefore, to make it easier, I’d like to recommend a number of relatively unknown bands to whoever reads this. Please look into these bands, I promise you’ll find something you enjoy; all you really should need to do is go to youtube.com or google and type in the band’s name. Keep in mind, though, if the recording is live, then the quality may be different.

To start with, anyone who enjoys acoustic guitar should check out this guy. John Butler, or his band John Butler Trio, are a band with roots in Australia and South America just to name a few; however, their structure is similar to many American bands, being composed of a guitarist, a bassist (who will also play the didjeridoo simultaneously), and a drummer.  John hand picks a 12 string guitar with 2 of the strings taken off, allowing him to solo easier, in a very unique style, which I think many people will enjoy.

To see him playing by himself at Rothbury (the most incredible festival in recent years), go to youtube, and type in “John Butler Rothbury” and the first video should be of him playing a song called “Ocean.” It is incredible, especially around the six minute mark or so (I’m not too sure when it is exactly, but you’ll know the moment I’m talking about if you watch it - best example of an unexplainable mass ascension in energy from music).

A good band from New Orleans that doesn’t usually receive the credit they deserve is a band called Dumpstaphunk. Sometimes billed as Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, the band is comprised of two members of the Neville family (the most accomplished funk musicians from New Orleans), Ivan Neville and Ian Neville (Art Neville’s son), who play the organ and guitar, respectively. Adding to the funk, Raymond Webber plays drums while Nick Daniels and Tony Hall both play bass (although Tony will sometimes hop on guitar, as does Ivan). This is seriously the funkiest band in New Orleans right now, definitely worth a listen.

Toubab Krewe is another band that deserves a lot of credit for the music they create.  This band plays a mixture of African influenced music with their own style, creating an interesting mix of instrumental jams that are hard to describe.  An interesting aspect of this band is that they incorporate several African instruments into their music. These instruments include the kora (a 21 string African harp) among others.  For great quality and good music, go to google and type in “iclips.net Toubab Krewe Jam Cruise.”

Another great artist is Xavier Rudd. He’s an incredible multi-instrumentalist from Down Under. He plays slide guitar (on his lap usually), harmonica, didjeridoos, and other instruments usually simultaneously.  Go to youtube and search “Xavier Rudd Let me be.” It’s great music, acoustic based and kind of a beachy feel. It’s very up beat as well.

Lastly, I’d like to point out a few bluegrassesqu bands. First and foremost, Leftover Salmon is   an amazing band that blends Cajun music with Bluegrass and really creates an incredible musical experience.  They’ve had incredible influence on some more recent bands of a similar genre, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth. Both of these bands warrant a listen if you enjoy any kind of country music or really if you just have good ears....

I really hope someone takes the opportunity to look into these bands, they really are some of the best bands of today. Unfortunately, they haven’t necessarily “sold out” or latched onto a particular market group, etc. Please, please give one of these bands a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

Quitting Cigarettes

If you don't want to read the blog, that's cool. But honestly, if you or anyone you know smokes cigarettes, then Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking is a book that made quitting smoking for me easy. I don't know how to fully explain how, but I'll try.  It really is an easy way to stop, it's been over three weeks since I've had a cigarette and the entire process was easy, and relatively craving free. Honestly, it was kind of fun.

For the past four years of my life, I smoked about a pack a day, consistently. Then, after reading a book, I was able to stop. I know it sounds crazy, but here's really what happened.  Rarely did I ever manage, in that time frame, to ever go more than a day without a cigarette.  I found it difficult to cut down, difficult to quit, and continually frustrating as I knew that it was the worst part of my life.  It really was.  When I think about it now, it confuses me to no end.  It had been over a year since I had taken any pharmaceutical medication, not even so much as an Advil, yet I continued to smoke a pack of cigarettes daily.

Then, as weird as this sounds, I came across a file on my computer that had "quit smoking" in the name, and I decided to open it.   It was about 2 AM, and I didn't have anything else to do, so i started reading it.  The file was a PDF file of a book called "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking." I was pretty interested right away and read about 60 or 70 pages of the book before I turned off my computer.

 The most interesting part about this book was that he didn't focus on why cigarettes were harmful, etc. Nor did he focus on how much money you would save, etc. These were all aspects of the book, sure, but his focus was on why it's difficult to quit. Essentially, he explains that we become brainwashed into thinking quitting is hard, etc. and explains the truth behind many aspects of smoking. I know this sounds kind of like a hypnotist thing, but I promise, it isn't.

Also, he encourages you to continue smoking as you read the book, because once you have finished the book, you'll have grasped the concept and no longer want to smoke cigarettes, and quitting will now be easy.  I know that sounds crazy, but really, what the book does is allow you to have a conversation with yourself (and I guess Mr. Carr) about cigarettes, and really reach the truth, which, once you realize, will make cigarettes the easiest habit to quit. Think of it this way, running a 4 minute mile is hard, you have to train for it, etc. But quitting cigarettes is easy, all you have to do is not do something.