Making His Band ep03: teamwork

Count Diddula working on his vocals

[Contains Spoilers]
Back on the scene after last week’s back to basics catastrophe. To be honest, I’m not as committed to this show as I am to others but I’m watching it so you don’t have to (or so that you know you’re not the only one!). Anyway, let’s get to this week’s recap.

Where last week was about the individual, the musicians were put into groups tonight to focus on programming, playing as a team and sonically reproducing the feel of Last Train to Paris. While it’s apparent that many of the musicians weren’t formally trained or know the fundamentals, they’re here now because they’ve taught themselves or have a natural ear for music. Broken up into 4 bands, the musicians had three days to three songs (Point of No Return by Expose, Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson and Take On Me by A-Ha).

Out the gate, Brockett was hype. “Once we get the sounds right… there’s nobody gonna play with the kinda feel I can play on these records. Trust me,” he proclaimed. I liked that kind of confidence and from what we’ve seen so far, Brockett can really back up all the tough talk. He can afford to run the keys all he wants in his group though, because he’s the only keyboardist there.

In the next group, Lynnette was on keys along with Jason aka J-Sweet and they weren’t meshing quite as well as they needed to. Everyone cannot be the leader/music director but at this point, with it being a competition and all, I don’t think that’s an easy concept to swallow. Hence, discord. I really like Lynnette though. I feel as though she’s hella talented and humble which is a rare combination. What I’ve noticed is that J-Sweet has a very negative and defensive attitude. Every time Lynnette says something or asks a question, J-Sweet gets super condescending and patronizing. Ew. It’s not the way to rally a team if you ARE the leader. To be fair, I don’t think Lynnette should react by running away.

part of the problem

Post-Gazette

We have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that the barbaric treatment of women and girls has come to be more or less expected.

We profess to being shocked at one or another of these outlandish crimes, but the shock wears off quickly in an environment in which the rape, murder and humiliation of females is not only a staple of the news, but an important cornerstone of the nation’s entertainment.

– Bob Herbert, “Women at Risk” NYT Column, 8/7/09

checking in/NOLA

I’m disgusted with my blogging self. While I didn’t set out for this to be any particular genre of blog, it has evolved into what the folks over at the Black Weblog Awards might call a “personal blog”. It’s most definitely not a beauty blog, celebrity blog or music blog, although I occasionally do post on those things. As of late, however, it’s looking a lot like a reality tv blog. While the reality posts have always generated a lot of site hits, I don’t want to get away from what I’ve been doing all along: which is bringing you stories, ideas and links that I feel are funny/important/newsworthy. Can’t forget about the personal rants and updates either. That being said, I’m trying. It’s just that I got tired of doing those woe is me posts and to be honest, I’m still feeling that way 90% of the time. When something post-worthy comes along, I’ll get on top of it.

Now, as for the other 10% of stuff going on in life, I just got back from New Orleans a couple of days ago. I was down there to be part of the Domestic Violence Awareness Project’s [DVAP] Advisory Group. Joining advocates from anti-violence orgs (i.e. NCADV, NRCDV), activists (i.e. Kevin Powell, NCAVP), and PR/communications folk (NNEDV, FVPF), I spent two days discussing strategy and messaging for DVAP and Domestic Violence Awareness Month (traditionally observed in October). While I won’t go into the details of what was discussed (issues are still being considered), I will say that I felt good about the group’s progress. I also felt good about getting away for a little bit and remembering what it felt like to be busy, to have your opinion heard and thoughtfully considered, and to be around other smart and professional people caring about anti-violence work. As a bonus, I think I may have come up with an idea that may develop into something (or at least contribute to the development of something) big for DVAP. :)