February Challenge

Sometimes I like to consider myself a musician. I have been playing some sort of instrument since I was 8. I've done piano, saxophone, guitar, toy accordion, a little bit of drums, and even done a little bit of electronic music. The problem is... I've never really been good at writing songs. Other than a couple funny songs and Christmas presents for my sister, I've hardly even made a valid attempt at writing music.

I have decided to change this.

There were a couple factors involved in making this decision. First of all I have been inspired by the RPM Challenge which challenges musicians to write and record 10 songs or 35 minutes of music during the 29 days of February. Second of all I have been thinking more about why I suck at writing music and I've decided that its because my first draft almost undoubtedly sucks. After I hear what I've written I get disgusted with myself for making something so crappy. I don't do this with anything else I do creatively, but for some reason writing a song is different. So what I have decided to do is give myself permission to write crappy music. By the end of February I will write at least 10 songs. I make no promises to share what I make, but I will make it... crappy or not.


Final goal in this vein of my life is to play a concert with this kind of energy:

This just blew my mind

I guess this is as good a post as any to start with on the new blog. I saw this on current.com (one of my favorite online media sites), and I really could not believe it. Why would dolphins do this? Were they taught to? How the heck does that ring of air stay like that? My mind is going to explode.



Dolphin Play Bubble Rings - video powered by Metacafe

The New Blog

Due to recent events I have changed my blog. I will now be posting things here from now on. I know I get lazy at posting, but if you want to know what I'm in to you should subscribe to my starred Google Reader items. You can see them listed on the right side of my blog or just click on the link below.

Dean's Starred Items