A brief post before bed:

I put together the flyer for Friday's show tonight. It came out well and I'll post it tomorrow. I started writing a new song with a sort of Latin/Muse-influenced feel. It's pretty cool so far, but I don't have any lyrics yet. We'll see how it comes out.

I'm still in shock at the shooting at Virginia Tech that took place this past morning, April 16, 2007. At least 31 people died, including the shooter. It's a great tragedy, the likes of which I hadn't expected and hope not to see again.

I hope and pray that we can support each other : the families, the students, the outsiders, and even the gunmen themselves. We are far from peace, but we need it above all else. May God grant it to us, and may we be responsible to love others.

-Rob.

P.S.
Stephen Colbert is the Greatest Living American.

What do you live for?

So it's 2:34 and I can't sleep.

Maybe it's the chocolate I had before bed.
Maybe it's the fact that I've been on a really weird sleep schedule lately.
Maybe it's that I can't shut my brain off, because The Nova Ray is playing our first show tomorrow.

Whatever the reason, it's kind of annoying. Also, it's kind of hot here in my bedroom at my house, and the thermostat is in my parents' bedroom, so I can't change it. (and yes, on the weekends I drive the whopping 20 minutes from my dorm to stay at home for most of the weekend. I have my family with brother and grandparents, a studio, and a lot more room than my dorm.)

It's been an interesting couple of days. I'm realizing that I made some scholastic mistakes and didn't take my classes seriously enough, so i'm gonna have to buckle down lke mad to pull out of this semester with the GPA I want. Jack and I covered "Whole" by Pedro the Lion this week and I'm definitely excited about how it turned out.I started recording an acoustic EP of some songs, but I'm gonna have to postpone that for now.

I wrote most of a new song yesterday and today. Let's see if I can finish up the lyrics here...

************************

A simple question --
But one with so much meaning underneath.
A cold confession
To stumble out from quiet, clenching teeth.
An intervention
To cast away the selfishness and fear.
A strange ascension
From everything that's low and dirty here.

What do you live for?
What makes you come alive?
What do you live for?
Is there anything that matters in your life?

Your ears are ringing
With every clash of confidence and doubt.
Devoid of meaning,
you wonder if this life's worth living out;
And pain is clinging --
The grip of iron and the weight of lead.
The sound of singing
can't even bring your heart to love your head.

What do you live for?
What makes you come alive?
What do you live for?
Is there anything that matters in your life?

Respect, attention, devotion, or love
The thrill, the power, what do you dream of?
New hope, lost peace, a broken-down wall
Pleasure or purpose or nothing at all?

What do you live for?
What makes you come alive?
What do you live for?
Have you found what really matters in this life?

**********************

-Rob

Let's see, since I last posted...
-I was on Easter Break
-I hung out with CPA friends who were back in town
-I ate some great sushi
-Will and I tracked some pretty cool drums for Indie Anna and Darkness Falls
-I saw Grindhouse with GJ (really fun movie!)
-Easter Break ended
-School happened

It was a good break, and one that I definitely needed. Very refreshing, and it was great to see the gang again. Summer is so close and yet so far away.

I'm really itching to finish my album, but there's so many other things I still have to do. We'll see how it comes together.

In other news, The Nova Ray is playing our first show this Sunday in the Kennedy courtyard! We're very excited about our debut, and hopefully a good number of people will show up.

Anyway, that's good for now. I'm out.

-Rob.

Easter Break: Day 1

It's been a busy time since I last blogged. I've had school to deal with (the end is near and it's starting to be crunch-time), projects to finish, and basically just a lot of little things I've had to do (from room-cleaning to getting my hair cut).

Anyway, I'm enjoying Easter Break now. I've done some more demo work in prep of the recording I'll be doing for Fender Bender this week. Tomorrow DJ's coming over to help me mix Austin's songs and some other stuff, record some things for my album, and get drums ready for recording. Will's coming in on Saturday to lay down the beats and I think we'll try some different mics and setups for the heck of it.

Meanwhile, I've been doing some re-writes and changing some instrumentations, and trying to catch up on some regular old fun times as well. I got to watch 24 (great stuff going on), listen to some great music on my newly replaced iPod, and hang out with my dog and family. It's good, and I'm glad I took today to relax, since I'm about to launch into studio work mode.

A fun idea I had that i may try tomorrow morning is to take my macbook, m-audio box, guitars, and a mic with stand out somewhere and record. (Thanks, Garageband!) I won't need any plug sockets and my batter ought to last for 2-3 hours if it's fully charged, so that'd be fun. Maybe out in some parking lot, a park, or in my backyard. who knows? I'm excited to give it a try.

Anyway, I have a couple things to finish up for the demo CD i'm gonna be giving Will later tonight, so I'm out for now.

-Rob.