Shan Lee Cook

Bellview Clocktower - the Four Suns

2012-02-02T00:19:00.000-05:00

'Bellview Clocktower' is the instrumental track from my sci-fi concept album the Art of War. It's not the first instrumental song I've ever written, but it's by far the best. I used a bunch of old soundbites from ancient tv and radio shows to paint a picture of a tragic attack in the home town of one of the main characters of the album.

The Four Suns - Electric Light

2011-08-18T12:20:00.000-04:00

The Four Suns - And I Love Her (Beatles Cover)

2011-05-15T14:33:00.000-04:00

The Art of War - (The Four Suns)

2011-02-19T14:33:00.001-05:00

This is the first song off my upcoming album 'The Art of War'. The song is of the same name. It's a pop rock song you can dance to.

Looking back on my first album, Blazing Son, I feel like all of the songs are a little slow. Good, but slow. So when I was writing the music for this album my main focus was making it more upbeat and energetic. This song might exemplify that more than any other track on the album.

I hope everybody enjoys it. (And shares it with their friends!)

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

2011-02-18T11:49:00.000-05:00

I've listened to the new Radiohead album and all I can think is "they could pretty much do whatever they wanted and their fans would eat it up." And that's pretty much what they did.

There are a few decent songs on the album (Little by Little, Give Up the Ghost) but nothing that good really. All but one song on the album run over 4:30 and each song is pretty much the same endless loop for that entire 4 minutes.

The vocals have almost no melody at all. It sounds like a long drawn out drone listening to Yorke wallow incoherently. It does feel like he's emotionally connected to the music, but I'm not. And I didn't come here to stare in awe at his amazing power to become that self-involved. I came to be entertained.

I may not be the right person to ask about new Radiohead music, though, considering I haven't been a big fan since The Bends and OK Computer. But $9 for 8 average songs isn't worth it to me.

Beady Eye - The Morning Son

2011-02-14T18:22:00.000-05:00

Noel isn't the only one in the Gallagher family that can write a great fucking song.

I've been a fan of Liam's song writing for as long as he's been writing songs. His earlier songs with Oasis didn't match his brother Noel's work, but the more he's written the better he's gotten.

That's clearly evident when you start listening to the new Beady Eye album. (You can find every song off the album on youtube from either BeadyEyeMusic or BeadyEyeVEVO) The writing on the album is split pretty evenly between Liam, Andy, and Gem, but so far I'm liking Liam's songs the best. Andy's songs are pretty fucking good too. Especially 'The Beat Goes On'

I was a huge Oasis fan and I fully expected to like this album, so trust me when I say I honestly didn't expect he album to be this good.

The Bass Is Important

2011-02-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

I've read a lot of blogs and forums lately where people have described the bass as an instrument that's "main purpose" is to basically aid the drums. These arguments have ranged from "the best thing to keep in mind while playing bass is to only hit notes timed to the drums" to almost cryptic posts like "the purpose of the bass is to emphasize the drums."

Posts like that are idiotic and a major clue that the person telling you this shit probably has no idea what they're talking about and their own music probably sucks. If the Bass was that limited in it's purpose, it wouldn't be such a major part of rock bands.

Imagine 'A Day in the Life' with a simple little bass line that just followed the drums... It wouldn't sound the same because a major part of the song is the incredible bass line. Another great Beatles song that gains a lot from an amazing bass line is 'Rain'. Try to picture that song without the bass line (if it's even possible)

Sometimes it is a good idea to just use a simple bass line that just repeats the root, but if you get into a habit of doing this on every track you're music is gonna start to sound the same on every song. It's just as important to experiment with the bass as any instrument. Don't be afraid to try something different.

Football Picks: SUPER BOWL!!

2011-02-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

Season total: 222-145

(Winner in green)

Steelers at Packers

I think at the end of the day, the AFC got a lot more credit than it deserved this year. Everybody was praising the Jets, then praising the Patriots and the Steelers ended up being the team to come out of that conference.

On the other hand, I guess the same could be said for the NFC. First it was Vick and the Eagles offense, then the Bears, then the Falcons... But one NFC team beat all three of those teams in the playoffs this year; The Packers have been on a roll this postseason. So that's why I'm picking them.

The Four Suns - Electric Light

2011-02-03T16:07:00.000-05:00

'Electric Light' was originally written as a remix to 'Revelation Dream' but with a more elaborate chorus in place of 'Revelation Dream's refrain and an organ piano thrown in it took on a live of it's own. I still think the song is a little slow, but it's a great song either way.

The Four Suns - Shattered Mirrors

2011-02-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

'Shattered Mirrors' was an attempt to write a 50s ballad. The music captures an older feeling perfectly. The lyrics are a little more advanced than the typical 50s song, though.

Update Time!

2011-02-03T04:04:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty busy lately working on a new rock album for my virtual band The Four Suns. It's a concept album that's a little more ambitious than Blazing Son. On that album, I just used the concept of the virtual band itself be the concept of the album (basically). This time it's a little different.

The title of the album is 'The Art of War' and every song takes place in an alternate reality caught up in World War III. But it's still not a straight up rock opera. It's somewhere in between. I'm also using a lot more electric guitars on this one.

I've completely finished four songs for the album and completed the instrumental arrangements for just about every song. I've got about 30 songs all together, but I'm gonna cut it down to around 14 for the album. Hopefully it'll be finished by the end of February.

The Four Suns - Pumpkinhead

2011-02-03T03:53:00.000-05:00

This track is called 'Pumpkinhead' from the 'Blazing Son' LP (by The Four Suns)

The Four Suns - Blazing Son

2011-02-03T03:52:00.000-05:00

I've been putting all of the tracks from the Blazing Son LP on Youtube. This is the title track.

The Four Suns - Eclipse

2011-01-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

Football Picks: NFL Conference Championships

2011-01-23T11:27:00.000-05:00

Season total: 220-145

(winners in green)

Green Bay at Chicago

NY Jets at Pittsburgh

Football Picks: NFL PLayoffs

2011-01-15T15:36:00.000-05:00

Season total: 218-143

(winners in green)

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

Green Bay at Atlanta

Seattle at Chicago

NY Jets at New England

Football Picks: NFL Wild Card

2011-01-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

Season total: 213-137

(winners in green)

New Orleans at Seattle

NY Jets at Indianapolis

Baltimore at Kansas City

Green Bay at Philadelphia

Football Picks: Bowl Games Jan 3-10

2011-01-03T14:40:00.001-05:00

Season total: 213-137

(winners in green)

#4 Stanford vs. #13 Virginia Tech

#6 Ohio State vs. #8 Arkansas

Middle Tennessee vs. Miami

#11 LSU vs. #17 Texas A&M

Pittsburgh vs. Kentucky

#15 Nevada vs. Boston College

#2 Oregon vs. #1 Auburn

Football Picks: NFL Week 17

2011-01-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

Season total: 208-132

(winners in green)

Pittsburgh at Cleveland

Oakland at Kansas City

Miami at New England

Tampa Bay at New Orleans

Jacksonville at Houston

NY Giants at Washington

Dallas at Philadelphia

Chicago at Green Bay

Tennessee at Indianapolis

St. Louis at Seattle

Football Picks: Mew Year's College Bowl Games

2010-12-31T12:04:00.000-05:00

Season total: 203-127

(winners in green)

NEW YEAR'S EVE

South Florida vs. Clemson

Notre Dame vs. Miami

Georgia vs. #25 UCF

#20 South Carolina vs. #23 Florida State

NEW YEAR'S DAY

Northwestern vs. Texas Tech

#16 Alabama vs. #9 Michigan State

Florida vs. Penn State

#21 Mississippi State vs. Michigan

#5 Wisconsin vs. #3 TCU

Connecticut vs. #7 Oklahoma

Football Picks: Bowl Games Dec 27-30

2010-12-27T17:20:00.000-05:00

Season total: 196-123*

(winners in green)

Air Force vs. Georgia Tech

#22 West Virginia vs. North Carolina State

East Carolina vs. Maryland

Illinois vs. Baylor

#14 Oklahoma State vs. Arizona

Army at Southern Methodist

Kansas State vs. Syracuse

North Carolina vs. Tennessee

#18 Nebraska vs. Washington

*does not include the NFL Week 16 Monday Night game or the Eagles/Vikings game.

Football Picks: NFL Week 16

2010-12-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

Season total: (I don't have an update because of a few games that haven't been played yet)

(Winners in green)

Thursday Night:

Carolina at Pittsburgh

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Dallas at Arizona

Sunday:

Washington at Jacksonville

San Francisco at St. Louis

Tennessee at Kansas City

NY Jets at Chicago

Baltimore at Cleveland

Indianapolis at Oakland

NY Giants at Green Bay

Seattle at Tampa Bay

Minnesota at Philadelphia

Monday Night:

New Orleans at Atlanta

Football Picks: Bowl Games Dec 21-26

2010-12-21T17:42:00.000-05:00

Season total: 187-118

(winners in green)

Southern Miss vs. Louisville

#19 Utah vs. #10 Boise State

Navy at San Diego State

#24 Hawaii vs. Tulsa

Florida International vs. Toledo

Football Picks Dec 20

2010-12-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

Season total: 186-118

(winner in green)

Chicago at Minnesota

Football Picks Dec 19

2010-12-19T07:47:00.000-05:00

Season total: 180-114

(winners in green)

Cleveland at Cincinnati

Washington at Dallas

Houston at Tennessee

Jacksonville at Indianapolis

Kansas City at St. Louis

New Orleans at Baltimore

Philadelphia at NY Giants

Atlanta at Seattle

NY Jets at Pittsburgh

Green Bay at New England

Football Picks Dec 18

2010-12-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

Season total: 178-113

(winners in green)

Brigham Young vs. UTEP

Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State

Ohio vs. Troy

Football Picks Dec 16

2010-12-16T14:51:00.000-05:00

Season total: 177-113

(winner in green)

San Francisco at San Diego

Football Picks Dec 13

2010-12-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

Season total: 176-112

(winners in green)

NY Giants at Minnesota

Baltimore at Houston

Football Picks Dec 12

2010-12-12T03:16:00.000-05:00

Season total: 171-108

(winners in green)

Cleveland at Buffalo

Tampa Bay at Washington

Oakland at Jacksonville

Seattle at San Francisco

St. Louis at New Orleans

Miami at NY Jets

Kansas City at San Diego

New England at Chicago

Philadelphia at Dallas

Football Picks Dec 9

2010-12-09T20:19:00.000-05:00

Season total: 170-108

(winner in green)

Indianapolis at Tennessee

30th Anniversary of John Lennon's Death

2010-12-08T01:47:00.001-05:00

Today is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death. I wasn't even a year old at the time. He's without a doubt the most influential person on my life and I get chills watching this. The world would be a very different place if this never happened.

Football Picks Dec 6

2010-12-06T19:24:00.000-05:00

Season total: 169-108

(winner in green)

NY Jets at New England

Football Picks Dec 5

2010-12-05T05:38:00.000-05:00

Season total: 163-105

(winners in green)

New Orleans at Cincinnati

San Francisco at Green Bay

Jacksonville at Tennessee

Denver at Kansas City

Cleveland at Miami

Washington at NY Giants

Oakland at San Diego

Atlanta at Tampa Bay

Pittsburgh at Baltimore

Football Picks Dec 4

2010-12-04T04:53:00.000-05:00

Season total: 155-105

(winners in green)

Rutgers at #24 West Virginia

Utah State at #11 Boise State

#17 Nevada at Louisiana Tech

#2 Oregon at Oregon State

#1 Auburn vs. #19 South Carolina

#21 Florida State vs. #15 Virginia Tech

#9 Oklahoma vs. #13 Nebraska

Connecticut at South Florida

The Four Suns - Hark The Herald Angels Sing

2010-12-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is my first Christmas song. It's from an album of 7-9 songs that I'm working on right now. This is the only instrumental on the LP and it's also the longest track on the record too.

Football Picks Dec 2

2010-12-02T18:05:00.000-05:00

Season total: 154-102

(winners in green)

NFL Thursday Night:

Houston at Philadelphia

NCAA Thursday Night:

Arizona State at #23 Arizona

NCAA Friday Night:

#25 Northern Illinois vs. Miami

Illinois at Fresno State

Football Picks Nov 29

2010-11-29T20:05:00.000-05:00

Season total: 154-101

(winner in green)

San Francisco at Arizona

Football Picks Nov 28

2010-11-28T03:37:00.000-05:00

Season total: 149-97

(winners in green)

Green Bay at Atlanta

Jacksonville at NY Giants

Minnesota at Washington

Tennessee at Houston

Kansas City at Seattle

Miami at Oakland

Philadelphia at Chicago

Tampa Bay at Baltimore

San Diego at Indianapolis

Football Picks RIVALRY WEEK

2010-11-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

Season total: 138-92

(winners in green)

Friday NCAA:

West Virginia at Pittsburgh

#2 Auburn at #11 Alabama

Colorado at #15 Nebraska

#21 Arizona at #1 Oregon

#4 Boise State at #19 Nevada

Saturday NCAA:

Michigan at #8 Ohio State

#10 Michigan State at Penn State

Virginia at #16 Virginia Tech

#5 LSU at #12 Arkansas

Northwestern at #7 Wisconsin

Florida at #22 Florida State

#23 North Carolina State at Maryland

#18 South Carolina at Clemson

Georgia Tech at Georgia

#13 Oklahoma at #9 Oklahoma State

Notre Dame at USC

The Four Suns - If There Is A Day (lyrics video)

2010-11-25T09:34:00.000-05:00

This is the last new video I'm posting today. This is a completely remixed version of If There Is A Day. The original version is here if you want to compare the two versions. The biggest change is that the new version adds an electric guitar, the first chorus loops a second time and the middle section is completely different.

The Four Suns: Scarecrow (video)

2010-11-25T09:28:00.000-05:00

This is the updated video for Scarecrow. The changes for this might not be as noticeable on computer speakers as the remastered audio from Revelation Dream, but if you get the free download from Bandcamp you'll definitely notice a difference when you play it on a real stereo. The bass is deeper and the kick drums are improved. The vocals are a little louder too, which gives them more clarity and makes them sound 100x better.

The Four Suns: Revelation Dream (Lyrics video)

2010-11-25T09:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the updated lyric video for Revelation Dream. I finally got my head around the mixing process and you can tell when you listen to th new audio.

Football Picks THANKSGIVING SPECIAL

2010-11-25T00:15:00.000-05:00

Season total: 134-92

(winners in green)

THANKSGIVING NFL:

New England at Detroit

New Orleans at Dallas

Cincinnati at NY Jets

THANKSGIVING NCAA:

#17 Texas A&M at Texas

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL:

Gobbleville Turkies vs Star City ME!

I don't know why the NCAA is playing a dozen games on Friday and only one on Thanksgiving. I guess they don't see a point in trying to compete with the NFL.

As far as that Thanksgiving Special Match-up goes... Oh yes! You can bet on that. I give it my money-back guarantee!

Football Picks Nov 22

2010-11-22T18:49:00.000-05:00

Season total: 133-92

(winner in green)

Denver at San Diego

Football Picks Nov 21

2010-11-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

Season total: 126-88

(winners in green)

Washington at Tennessee

Arizona at Kansas City

Green Bay at Minnesota

Houston at NY Jets

Oakland at Pittsburgh

Cleveland at Jacksonville

Tampa Bay at San Francisco

Seattle at New Orleans

Atlanta at St. Louis

Indianapolis at New England

NY Giants at Philadelphia

Football Picks Nov 20

2010-11-20T10:20:00.001-05:00

Season total: 118-85

(winners in green)

#7 Wisconsin at Michigan

North Carolina State at North Carolina

#6 Stanford at California

#9 Ohio State at #20 Iowa

#16 Virginia Tech at #24 Miami

Illinois at Northwestern

#13 Arkansas at #21 Mississippi State

Army vs. Notre Dame

#8 Nebraska at #19 Texas A&M

#14 Oklahoma at Baylor

#25 Florida State at Maryland

Football Picks Nov 18

2010-11-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

Season total: 115-83

(winners in green)

NFL Thursday Night:

Chicago at Miami

NCAA Thursday Night:

Georgia State at #11 Alabama

UCLA at Washington

Air Force at UNLV

NCAA Friday Night:

Fresno State at #4 Boise State

Football Picks Nov 15

2010-11-15T14:01:00.000-05:00

Season total: 114-83

(winner in green)

Philadelphia at Washington

Football Picks Nov 14

2010-11-14T03:39:00.000-05:00

Season total: 113-77

(winners in green)

Minnesota at Chicago

Houston at Jacksonville

Cincinnati at Indianapolis

Tennessee at Miami

Kansas City at Denver

Seattle at Arizona

New England at Pittsburgh

Arcade Fire - The Funeral of Music

2010-11-14T01:06:00.000-05:00

Rock music is in decline. It doesn't chart, it's overshadowed by pop princesses and overrated corporate packages like Kanye West. There's no doubt about that. Why? Because of shit bands like Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon.

Nobody wants to listen to flat beats with even flatter vocals. It's boring and unimaginative. Modern rock bands have lost the sense of melody and it's killing the genre. The Rock N Roll bands of the late 50s and early 60s were hugely popular because the music had life. It was upbeat, energetic, and it had melody. Something sorely missing in the "flat-line" rock of today.

A few years after Rock N Roll became huge there was the folk-rock period of 65-67 where Paul McCartney wrote some of his most popular melodies. The Byrds played some amazing and influential guitar riffs that felt fully fleshed out. Compare that to Arcade Fire... See what I mean by unimaginative and boring? It's flat by comparison.

After folk-rock (with a little overlap) came the Psychedelic period that's arguably the biggest turning point in rock's history. Here again McCartney wrote some unforgettable melodies, Lennon wrote songs that felt like they came straight out of a dream. Pink Floyd could put you in a trance with songs that managed to be laid back and yet still full of energy. Bands like Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon just put you to sleep and make you dream of a more melodic song.

And I'm not just saying "the 60s were better." There's also the Punk Rock era and the Grunge and Brit-Pop years of the 90s. In fact, I'd say the 90s were almost equal to the 60s in terms of quality, influence and longevity. What's the best mainstream song I've heard in the last several months? Bring The Light by Beady Eye

The Brit-Pop legends of the 90s, Oasis (minus Noel) playing a throwback song that sounds like it came straight out of the late 50s, early 60s. Is it the greatest song in the world? No. Does it advance music? Not according to hipsters, but if you consider the fact that rock is dying of boredom and needs a jolt of energy then yeah, Bring The Light advances rock away from the abyss and back to where it should be.

Rock needs more of that and less Arcade Fire.

Football Picks Nov 13

2010-11-13T07:19:00.000-05:00

Season total: 102-74

(winners in green)

#13 Iowa at Northwestern

Miami at Georgia Tech

#24 Kansas State at #17 Missouri

#14 Utah at Notre Dame

Georgia at #2 Auburn

Penn State at #9 Ohio State

Texas Tech at #16 Oklahoma

#20 Virginia Tech at North Carolina

#19 Mississippi State at #12 Alabama

#23 South Carolina at #22 Florida

#10 Oklahoma State at Texas

USC at #18 Arizona

Clemson at Florida State

#21 Nevada at Fresno State

Football Picks Nov 12-13

2010-11-11T15:42:00.000-05:00

Season total: 100-71

(winners in green)

NCAA Thursday:

Pittsburgh at Connecticut

East Carolina at UAB

NFL Thursday:

Baltimore at Atlanta

NCAA Friday:

Ball State at Buffalo

#4 Boise State at Idaho

Football Picks Nov 8

2010-11-08T18:03:00.000-05:00

Season total: 99-71

(winner in green)

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

Football Picks Nov 7

2010-11-07T06:38:00.000-05:00

Season total: 92-70

(winners in green)

Tampa Bay at Atlanta

Miami at Baltimore

San Diego at Houston

Arizona at Minnesota

NY Giants at Seattle

Indianapolis at Philadelphia

Kansas City at Oakland

Dallas at Green Bay

Football Picks Nov 6

2010-11-06T06:21:00.000-04:00

Season total: 90-64

(winners in green)

#21 Baylor at #17 Oklahoma State

#3 TCU at #5 Utah

Hawaii at #4 Boise State

#6 Alabama at #10 LSU

North Carolina at #24 Florida State

#8 Oklahoma at Texas A&M

#18 Arkansas at #19 South Carolina

#15 Arizona at #13 Stanford

Football Picks Nov 4-5

2010-11-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

Season total: 87-63

(winners in green)

Thursday night:

Georgia Tech at #22 Virginia Tech

Buffalo at Ohio

Friday night:

Western Michigan at Central Michigan

UCF at Houston

Football Picks Nov 1

2010-11-01T17:05:00.000-04:00

Season total: 86-63

(winner in green)

Houston at Indianapolis

Football Picks Oct 31

2010-10-31T01:06:00.000-04:00

Season total: 85-57

(winners in green)

Jacksonville at Dallas

Green Bay at NY Jets

Tennessee at San Diego

Tampa Bay at Arizona

Minnesota at New England

Seattle at Oakland

Pittsburgh at New Orleans

Football Picks Oct 30

2010-10-30T08:53:00.000-04:00

Season total: 80-55

(winners in green)

Tennessee at #20 South Carolina

#5 Michigan State at #18 Iowa

#6 Missouri at #14 Nebraska

Texas Tech at Texas A&M

#25 Baylor at Texas

#2 Oregon at USC

Michigan at Penn State

Football Picks Oct 28-29

2010-10-28T17:13:00.000-04:00

Season total: 80-53

(winners in green)

#16 Florida State at North Carolina State

West Virginia at Connecticut

Football Picks Oct 25

2010-10-25T17:24:00.000-04:00

Season total: 79-53

(winner in green)

NY Giants at Dallas

'Revelation Dream' Is Available FREE

2010-10-25T15:04:00.000-04:00

'Revelation Dream' is available as a free download on Bandcamp

Football Picks Oct 24

2010-10-24T08:51:00.000-04:00

Season total: 74-51

(winners in green)

Washington at Chicago

Philadelphia at Tennessee

Jacksonville at Kansas City

Pittsburgh at Miami

Arizona at Seattle

New England at San Diego

Minnesota at Green Bay

Football Picks Oct 23

2010-10-23T05:25:00.000-04:00

Season total 69-48

(winners in green)

Notre Dame vs. Navy

#6 LSU at #4 Auburn

#13 Wisconsin at #15 Iowa

#16 Nebraska at #14 Oklahoma State

#8 Alabama at Tennessee

North Carolina at Miami

#1 Oklahoma at #11 Missouri

Air Force at #5 TCU

There are a couple undefeated match-ups this week and a good chance for another undefeated team to fall (Oklahoma State)
LSU and Auburn is a tough game to pick. Either one could be a viable candidate for the title game.
Oklahoma/Missouri, on the other hand, is not as tough a match-up.
Oklahoma State has had it easy so far this season compared to what they have left on their schedule.

Football Picks Oct 21-22

2010-10-21T19:31:00.000-04:00

Season total: 67-48

(winners in green)

UCLA at #2 Oregon

South Florida at Cincinnati

Football Picks Oct 18

2010-10-18T20:03:00.000-04:00

Season total: 66-48

(winner in green)

Tennessee at Jacksonville

Football Picks Oct 17

2010-10-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

Season total: 59-47

(winners in green)

Miami at Green Bay

Baltimore at New England

New Orleans at Tampa Bay

Atlanta at Philadelphia

Kansas City at Houston

NY Jets at Denver

Dallas at Minnesota

Indianapolis at Washington

The Four Sons - Blazing Son

2010-10-17T02:20:00.000-04:00

I finally got a Bandcamp site for my music. And I finally got a band name too! 'The Four Sons'

I know there's only one of me... but the album, like most of my music, is heavily inspired by the 60s sound. And I've always loved all of those old bands with names like The Four Tops and The Four Seasons so I figured I'd go with something like that. Besides, just using my screenname (Shanny Boy seemed a little confusing. It sounds more like a rapper's nickname than a rock band/musician.

Then there's the whole "virtual band" aspect. The Blazing Son album was written as a concept album about a band of fictional characters in a fantasy world, so why not just make them the band?

Football Picks Oct 16

2010-10-16T06:54:00.000-04:00

Season total: 56-44

(winners in green)

Boston College at #16 Florida State

#21 Missouri at Texas A&M

Texas at #5 Nebraska

#12 Arkansas at #7 Auburn

#15 Iowa at Michigan

#1 Ohio State at #18 Wisconsin

Football Picks Oct 14-15

2010-10-14T18:44:00.000-04:00

Season total: 54-43

(winners in green)

Thursday night:

South Florida at #25 West Virginia

Kansas State at Kansas

Friday Night:

Cincinnati at Louisville

More Scarecrow Paintings

2010-10-13T18:24:00.000-04:00

I've got a few more Scarecrow paintings. The figure ended up being a little skinnier than I wanted.

This one is probably my favorite.

The same one with a different color effect:

And this one is the same inks at a different size and different colors:

Football Picks Oct 11

2010-10-11T10:39:00.000-04:00

Season total: 54-42

(winner in green)

Minnesota at NY Jets

Football Picks Oct 10

2010-10-10T05:02:00.000-04:00

I'm 51-39 on the year. (Winners in green)

Kansas City at Indianapolis

Green Bay at Washington

Denver at Baltimore

NY Giants at Houston

Tennessee at Dallas

Philadelphia at San Francisco

Football Picks Oct 9

2010-10-09T05:50:00.000-04:00

I'm 47-37 on the year. (winners in green)

#1 Alabama at #19 South Carolina

#17 Michigan State at #18 Michigan

Pittsburgh at Notre Dame

Clemson at North Carolina

#12 LSU at #14 Florida

#23 Florida State at #13 Miami

Alabama is playing their 4th Top 25 opponent of the season (so far) They're really not afraid of anything. They've got no reason to be.
I think the Michigan/ Michigan State game is gonna be one of the closest of the week.
Let's hope Florida loses it's second game in a row!
I have to pick Miami (fuck!) but I want FSU to win this game bad!

Football Picks Oct 7-8

2010-10-07T14:52:00.000-04:00

(Winners in green)

Thursday Night

#7 Nebraska at Kansas State

Friday Night

Connecticut at Rutgers

#22 Oklahoma State at Louisiana-Lafayette

Football Picks Oct 4

2010-10-04T17:43:00.000-04:00

I'm 44-36 on the year. (winner in green)

New England at Miami

Scarecrow Video

2010-10-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a new slideshow video for my song Scarecrow. The slideshow is made up of a bunch of paintings I did of the Scarecrow character from the virtual band on Blazing Son

Football Picks Oct 3

2010-10-03T02:22:00.000-04:00

I was 7-1 in my college picks yesterday. I'm still a little surprised that Texas lost for a second straight week. I've got a lot of questions about how this will affect the polls, but first my NFL picks. (winners in green)

San Francisco at Atlanta

Denver at Tennessee

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

Washington at Philadelphia

Chicago at NY Giants

The Broncos/Titans game features the #1 passing offense (Broncos) against the #5 passing defense, and the #8 rushing offense (Titans) against the #10 rush defense.
I'm not a fan of big defensive games with little to no scoring... and that's exactly what the Ravens/Steelers game will probably be.
The big game of the week is the Redskins/Eagles game... at least as far as the storyline goes. As far as what to expect on the field... I can't see the Redskins defense doing much about Vick. Then again, the Eagles defense hasn't been as good this year as it was the last DECADE!

Now back to the college polls...
FSU was ranked at the beginning of the year and, after losing to Oklahoma, fell completely out of the Top 25. (They're currently unranked)
Virginia Tech started the season ranked #6 in the coaches poll and #10 in the media poll. After losing their opener to Boise State, they fell, but not far. But after losing for the second straight week, they fell completely out of the Top 25 (they're currently unranked)
And that brings me to Texas. They've lost two straight now, including a loss to Oklahoma. You see where I'm going with this now? It'll be interesting to see if the sports media holds Texas to the same standard as the ACC teams...

Football Picks Oct 2

2010-10-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

Look at all those Top 25 match-ups! (winners in green)

Florida State at Virginia

#21 Texas vs. #8 Oklahoma

#11 Wisconsin at #24 Michigan State

Tennessee at #12 LSU

Virginia Tech at #23 North Carolina State

#7 Florida at #1 Alabama

#9 Stanford at #4 Oregon

#22 Penn State at #17 Iowa

When was the last time Texas lost 2 in a row?
NC State is ranked? Sports media...
Who the hell cares about the Stanford/Oregon game?
Anybody but Florida
ANYBODY BUT FLORIDA!

How To be A Better Songwriter: First Impressions

2010-09-30T14:24:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been listening to a song that starts off with some long drone or a quiet background noise that just carries on and on? It sounds like the song is building up to something really great... but it never happens. You keep waiting for the song to start but it never seems to. It drives you crazy and you change the station or skip to the next song, don't you?

That's because it sucks! It's annoying and people don't generally like it. Some people may approach this discussion from an artistic perspective and try to defend the artists with something like "well people just have a short attention span" or something like that... but that's not really true. It just sucks. Plain and simple. And most people won't sit and listen to something they don't like. Don't make excuses.

So when you write your own songs, don't do it! If you like the mellow, ambient, droning sounds to set the mood for your laid-back, mellow song... hurry up and get it out of the way. Trust me - dragging it out isn't gonna change anything. If it doesn't work within the first few seconds, it's not gonna work in the first minute and a half either.

Football Picks Sept 30 - Oct 1

2010-09-30T14:11:00.000-04:00

These games don't look all that exciting. (winners in green)

Thursday Night

Texas A&M at Oklahoma State

Friday Night

Brigham Young at Utah State

Football Picks Sept 27

2010-09-27T08:51:00.000-04:00

Had a terrible day with my NFL picks yesterday. 35-29 on the year now. (winner in green)

Green Bay at Chicago

Football Picks Sept 26

2010-09-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

I went 5-1 in college picks yesterday. I'm 32-24 on the year. (winners in green)

Tennessee at NY Giants

Dallas at Houston

San Francisco at Kansas City

Atlanta at New Orleans

Philadelphia at Jacksonville

San Diego at Seattle

Indianapolis at Denver

NY Jets at Miami

Tennessee is statistically the best pass defense in the league through the first two weeks... but they've only played Oakland and Pittsburgh, so it's not a very reliable stat.
Houston has been really good at stopping the run, but Dallas is a passing team. This could be the big shoot-out of the week.
Vick is the Eagles' starter. Now the question is how good will they be?

Football Picks Sept 25

2010-09-24T23:23:00.000-04:00

I'm 27-23 on the year. (winners in green)

Virginia Tech at Boston College

#1 Alabama at #10 Arkansas

#16 Stanford at Notre Dame

#12 South Carolina at #17 Auburn

#24 Oregon State at #3 Boise State

#22 West Virginia at #15 LSU

I'm taking Notre Dame as my upset pick of the week.
Auburn over South Carolina could technically be considered an upset, but it's not really.

New Demo: Destiny Song

2010-09-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

This is just an acoustic demo and the sound quality isn't studio perfect. It's just me with an acoustic playing the rhythm and singing the lead vocals.

Football Picks Sept 23-24

2010-09-23T18:28:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday's college picks. (winners in green)

#19 Miami (FL) at Pittsburgh

#4 TCU at Southern Methodist

'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' cover

2010-09-22T06:56:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted any of my recent cover songs on here in a while, so here are a few. The first one is this CCR cover.

How To Be A Better Songwriter: Pick Up The Pace

2010-09-21T05:32:00.000-04:00

The last songwriting post I wrote was about how long a lot of unsigned/indie artists' songs are. One of the less obvious reasons for that is the tempo.

A lot of unsigned artists write songs that move so slow it puts you to sleep. Part of that is because the songs are meant to be slower which just ends up being melancholy and boring, but I'm not gonna talk about that specifically here.

I've listened to several songs by indie artists that should be more energetic than they are because the tempo is just a few beats per minute slower than they sound like they should be.

If you're an indie artist and you're familiar with audacity (which you more than likely are) take a .wav file of one of your favorite band's tracks and put it in audacity. Now go to "change speed" and slow it down about 2 or 3 percent. The difference may not seem that big at first, but if you play the two different speeds back to back a few times you should start to notice that the slower track doesn't sound as good. That's because it's not.

Now go through some of the songs you've written and recorded and re-evaluate the BPM and consider speeding it up. You'll probably want to re-record the song, since just speeding it up in audacity can actually change the key of the song and make your voice sound drastically different.

After reading this, keep in mind that most people prefer upbeat songs to sad songs on an average day.

Football Picks Sept 20

2010-09-20T12:27:00.000-04:00

This is a no-brainer.

New Orleans at San Francisco

Football Picks Sept 19

2010-09-18T23:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what my season total is right now. I'm 3-3 with the Notre Dame/Michigan State game in overtime and the Iowa/Arizona game just started, so I can be 5-3 or 3-5.

Here are tomorrow's NFL picks. (winners in green)

Pittsburgh at Tennessee

Miami at Minnesota

Baltimore at Cincinnati

Seattle at Denver

Houston at Washington

New England at NY Jets

NY Giants at Indianapolis

I don't like Tennessee's RB, but he's good.
Minnesota should look a lot better against an easier opponent.
I wanna see the Dynamic Duo get about 300 combined yards against the Ravens... I also wanna see a million dollars in my bank account!
The Jets/Pats game may be the most important game of the week...
...But the Colts/Giants match-up is the one I'm looking forward to the most.
(That and what Mike Vick is gonna do to the Lions defense)

Football Picks Sept 18

2010-09-17T00:42:00.001-04:00

If I have another bad week because of my ACC picks I may not pick another game with the ACC in it all year. (winners in green)

*UPDATE* I'm 2-3 so far and it looks like Texas is gonna win, so that'll move me to 3-3, and Michigan State just tied it up so I may get that one too.

#12 Arkansas at Georgia

Maryland at #21 West Virginia

Georgia Tech at North Carolina

#10 Florida at Tennessee

Brigham Young at Florida State

#6 Texas at Texas Tech

Notre Dame at Michigan State

#9 Iowa at #24 Arizona

It's a little disappointing to see only one Top 25 match-up after so many big games last week.
Georgia fell out of the Top 25?
BYU has never impressed me - this year is no different.
One of Florida's top wide receivers was apparently arrested and charged with stalking his girlfriend or something like that. I don't think it'll affect the game (I'm still picking Florida), I just wanted to point that out... because I hate the Gators...
Only one Top 25 match-up and it's Iowa vs Arizona?

Football Picks Sept 16-17

2010-09-15T22:37:00.001-04:00

I need some wins! (winners in green)

Thursday Night

Cincinnati at North Carolina State

Friday Night

Kansas at Southern Miss

California at Nevada

*UPDATE*

NC State won so I'm up to 17-13 on the year.

How To Become A Better Songwriter

2010-09-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

Before I begin I have to get this out of the way: Most music sucks. There's no sense in making it worse, so stop.

I've been listening to my recently created Last.fm radio station and as an unsigned indie artist, most (read all) of the similar artists that get played on my station are the same. *NOTE* I don't choose who the "similar" artists are on Last.fm - they do all of that. So when I listen to the radio station, I'm hearing all of these bands for the first time. And most of them suck.

The first thing I've noticed is that most of the songs are well over five minutes long. I don't have a single song that I've recorded that's five minutes long. Because that's too long. There is a reason why radio stations don't play a lot of long songs, and it's the same reason most big labels don't usually let their artists put out long tracks as their lead singles. That reason is simple: People have a very short attention span.

If you're writing a song that's five or six minutes long you better change things up a lot. I mean Stairway To Heaven a lot, or Paranoid Android a lot. When people sit and listen to the same riff playing over and over it becomes more annoying than anything else - especially if it's not a very good riff (and most indie songs don't feature a lot of great riffs)

The radio stations don't want their listeners to change the station because the same song has been playing for ten minutes. They also don't want to play a single song and then have to go to commercial break because the song took forever.

It doesn't really matter weather you're talking about an FM radio station or an internet radio... people's short patience for songs that drag out doesn't change, so keep it short and simple please.

I could go on forever about this (which would be ironic) but there's a football game on! And besides, if you don't get it by now I can't help you.

Football Picks Sept 13

2010-09-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

My NFL picks has been a lot better than my college picks so far. Let's hope that holds up.

(winners in green)

Baltimore at NY Jets

San Diego at Kansas City

The Ravens/Jets game is a tough pick. I have no idea who's gonna win that one.
The Chargers/Chiefs game is a pretty easy pick. (And not a very good match-up for the first Monday Night of the season)

Football Picks Sept 12

2010-09-12T02:07:00.000-04:00

I had a terrible day yesterday. Fuck you, Virginia Tech.

Week 1 of the NFL. (Winners in green)

Carolina at NY Giants

Atlanta at Pittsburgh

Indianapolis at Houston

Miami at Buffalo

Cincinnati at New England

Green Bay at Philadelphia

Dallas at Washington

Blah blah...
Blah blah blah...

Football Picks Sept 11

2010-09-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

It's week 2 of the College Football season and we're just a day away from week 1 of the NFL season!

I'm not doing as good as I expected so far, and with all the big match-ups on Saturday I'm gonna have to be on my game to stay above .500. (winners in green)

#22 Georgia at #24 South Carolina

#17 Florida State at #10 Oklahoma

Michigan at Notre Dame

#12 Miami (FL) at #2 Ohio State

#18 Penn State at #1 Alabama

#7 Oregon at Tennessee

#25 Stanford at UCLA

South Carolina has been slowly building momentum since Spurrier took over. When I say slow I mean slow.
This is Fisher's first real test as head coach at FSU. It's been so long since they were a real contender, I'd do just about anything to see them win this game... anything.
I'm a little surprised that neither Michigan or Notre Dame are ranked. Especially Notre Dame.
As an FSU fan, I don't like Miami. (I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to like them), but I really don't like OSU, so I'd love to see Miami pull off the upset here... but I don't see it.
Bama is pretty much unstoppable. The only real threat to their repeat hopes is Ohio State, If OSU holds on the the #2 spot, they could give Bama a good fight. But if OSU falters and Boise State moves into the #2 spot, as weak as their schedule is, they're not letting go of it. Which would mean Bama wins the National title in a blow-out.
My big upset picks are Tennessee and UCLA.

Football Picks Sept 9-10

2010-09-08T21:50:00.000-04:00

It's time for some new picks, and time for the big boys now. That's right, the NFL opening game! I'm gonna go ahead and make my picks for Thursday and Friday's college games. (winners in green)

NFL:

Minnesota at New Orleans

NCAA:

#21 Auburn at Mississippi State

#23 West Virginia at Marshall

I think Minnesota has had a lot of time to think about their playoff loss to the Saints. I'm confident they'll get it right this time. (they weren't exactly blown out in that game, either)
The Thursday (and Friday) night college games aren't usually that big, but a lot of them turn out to be good games to watch. I'm hoping these games will be close.

My Cover of 'Death Of A Clown' by The Kinks

2010-09-05T19:59:00.000-04:00

I've got one more cover song to post today. This one is 'Death Of A Clown' by The Kinks. I know the Kinks have seen a kind f resurgence lately, but even with that I think they're one of the most underrated rock bands of all time.

I've always loved this song, even though it's not one of my favorite Kinks songs.

If you listen carefully you can start to hear my voice about to go out half-way through the song. I was really shouting on this one.

My 'Child Of Nature' Cover

2010-09-05T19:52:00.000-04:00

'Child Of Nature' was a song that John Lennon wrote during the White Album sessions. The band ultimately decided to scratch it. Lennon eventually re-recorded it with new lyrics and it became 'Jealous Guy'.

This is my cover of the original 'Child Of Nature'. I know it's not as good as Lennon's version, but I still like it.

My 'Bad To Me' Cover

2010-09-05T19:47:00.001-04:00

'Bad To Me' was a song that John Lennon wrote for Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Their version is ok, Lennon's is better.

This version is me. I'm playing the composition a little differently. I don't have a camera so I had to make a video of the lyrics instead.