New Ideas for Live Entertainment Shows
For the past several years, I have attended the Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill in Chicago. I like this sort of thing because you have various people come up on stage and entertain people by reciting poetry. I have made it a performance outlet for myself, because I enjoy writing and performing rap. This seems to go over well with the audience, and I feel good about that.
What I would like to see is another type of show similar to the poetry slam, except that the participants all perform rap. Years ago, I got an email advertising a "rap battle" show that was supposed to be "just like 8 Mile." I didn't get a chance to attend the show because it was at a distant location, but I wonder if such a show exists anywhere. If it is anything like 8 Mile, you would have a DJ bring up a rap beat on his DJ equipment, and you get 45 seconds to do a rap. Of course, I wouldn't be doing a true "battle" where you have to throw insults at someone in the form of rap lyrics, and they do it back to you, but it would still be fun to get up there and do a rap along with other people who rap about various topics.
There is another concept I have for a show, and I don't think I have ever seen it done anywhere. I call it a "parody show." In this day and age, if you write your own lyrics to a song, you can perform it very easily by finding a karaoke track on YouTube for the background music and singing over that with your original lyrics. It would be cool if this idea were turned into a live show where everybody comes up on stage and performs a parody. You check in with the DJ, telling him what karaoke track you need, and possibly giving the title of your parody. Then when your name is called, the DJ pulls up your track on YouTube, and you rock the mic with your parody lyrics. For example, I wrote my own lyrics to the Billy Joel song "A Matter Of Trust." I would tell the DJ to bring up that Billy Joel karaoke track and sing my own lyrics to a parody I wrote called "Give Other Guys A Try."
If a "parody show" really existed, it could include a "featured act" like the Uptown Poetry Slam does. The show could have someone like the Great Luke Ski perform his famous parodies.
So, perhaps if the Green Mill has an off night, we can establish a rap battle show or a parody show, and get a crowd there. Let's go for it!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
MSNBC Lockup
In recent years, I have been intrigued by the MSNBC documentary called Lockup. It is a series about life in various prisons and jails throughout the country, and it makes law-abiding citizens like myself appreciate how good we have it in the Free World and not want to do anything to get sent away to a lockup facility.
After some pondering, I have come up with 7 things to avoid to keep yourself out of Lockup.
In recent years, I have been intrigued by the MSNBC documentary called Lockup. It is a series about life in various prisons and jails throughout the country, and it makes law-abiding citizens like myself appreciate how good we have it in the Free World and not want to do anything to get sent away to a lockup facility.
After some pondering, I have come up with 7 things to avoid to keep yourself out of Lockup.
- Weapons
- Violence
- Drugs/alcohol/substance abuse
- Fraud (including stealing)
- Vendettas (If you try to get back at someone by "taking the law into your own hands," it's usually a crime)
- Gangs (where someone might tell you to do something to get yourself locked up)
- Harmful mischief (That would cover acts like vandalism, crank-calling, or perhaps shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater)
Thursday, March 26, 2015
What's Wrong with the Academic System?
Although I am gainfully self-employed and have enjoyed my life after college, it still bums me out sometimes that school was such a difficult road to travel when I was young. Even though everyone goes through it and most people probably have the same problems, it puzzles me why some simple things aren't fixed about the "academic system." I think that teachers and administrators have unreasonable expectations of kids, and there are some simple things that just need to change so that more kids have a chance to succeed in life.
The first thing is the practice of having an overabundance of work and not enough demonstration of concepts. Many types of lessons in school will show you a simple example of something, and then have twenty or thirty exercises which run the gamut from the very simple to the very complex. When kids try to do these exercises without seeing more examples of how things are to be done, it can be a very daunting task. Many exercises can have wrinkles to them that a kid just can't figure out, and overwhelming kids with work without having more examples to study will only cause them to feel like they can't accomplish anything, and that will lead to burnout somewhere along the 17 years of school that someone needs to go through. Then that will lead to a downward spiral and a very bleak future.
The next thing that I noticed happening a lot in school is that there is an overemphasis on expecting a student to deduce information from a large body of text, often without that concept being directly stated. I recall a reading selection called "The Gift Of Going Without." I was assigned this selection when I was only ten years old, and when asked what this "gift" was, I had no idea. It turns out that the use of the word "gift" is a figurative one that the reader has to figure out through inference, and I didn't get introduced to the concept of inference until 2 years later. It isn't until one would have heard someone make a reference such as "Back in my day, I had to trudge 5 miles in the snow to get to school every morning, as we didn't have a bus to take us there" that it may be possible to infer what this "gift" is, namely that you gain an appreciation and understanding of life before the evolution of modern conveniences. But how can a 10-year-old figure that out, and what benefit does a ten-year-old gain by just being asked the question and not being taught the concept directly? There were many such reading selections with inferences that went over my head, and I felt like it was pointless to belabor these selections without having the inferred concepts explained to me directly so that I would actually learn something.
Finally, there were some lessons that had ambiguous language that made them difficult to understand. There was a lesson on prime numbers that sticks out in my mind. It says that if you have a number of tiles, you can "make only one rectangle" if the number is prime, and you can "make more than one rectangle" if the number is not prime. What I didn't get is whether that meant splitting the tiles into "rectangular" groups, or if it meant that you would try to make a rectangle out of all the tiles in more than one way. It turns out that the math book meant the latter, and not the former, but again, how can an 8-year-old figure that out?
So, if school were done in such a way as to teach more by example and not turn kids loose to do work too soon, not leave one's understanding of a reading selection or lesson to chance, and be more precise in how explanations are phrased, maybe kids would grow up smarter, and we wouldn't have so many of them forced to take low-wage jobs, end up homeless, or go to prison. Those are crisis situations that are all too common in this country, and it all starts with the "academic system" and its many flaws.
Although I am gainfully self-employed and have enjoyed my life after college, it still bums me out sometimes that school was such a difficult road to travel when I was young. Even though everyone goes through it and most people probably have the same problems, it puzzles me why some simple things aren't fixed about the "academic system." I think that teachers and administrators have unreasonable expectations of kids, and there are some simple things that just need to change so that more kids have a chance to succeed in life.
The first thing is the practice of having an overabundance of work and not enough demonstration of concepts. Many types of lessons in school will show you a simple example of something, and then have twenty or thirty exercises which run the gamut from the very simple to the very complex. When kids try to do these exercises without seeing more examples of how things are to be done, it can be a very daunting task. Many exercises can have wrinkles to them that a kid just can't figure out, and overwhelming kids with work without having more examples to study will only cause them to feel like they can't accomplish anything, and that will lead to burnout somewhere along the 17 years of school that someone needs to go through. Then that will lead to a downward spiral and a very bleak future.
The next thing that I noticed happening a lot in school is that there is an overemphasis on expecting a student to deduce information from a large body of text, often without that concept being directly stated. I recall a reading selection called "The Gift Of Going Without." I was assigned this selection when I was only ten years old, and when asked what this "gift" was, I had no idea. It turns out that the use of the word "gift" is a figurative one that the reader has to figure out through inference, and I didn't get introduced to the concept of inference until 2 years later. It isn't until one would have heard someone make a reference such as "Back in my day, I had to trudge 5 miles in the snow to get to school every morning, as we didn't have a bus to take us there" that it may be possible to infer what this "gift" is, namely that you gain an appreciation and understanding of life before the evolution of modern conveniences. But how can a 10-year-old figure that out, and what benefit does a ten-year-old gain by just being asked the question and not being taught the concept directly? There were many such reading selections with inferences that went over my head, and I felt like it was pointless to belabor these selections without having the inferred concepts explained to me directly so that I would actually learn something.
Finally, there were some lessons that had ambiguous language that made them difficult to understand. There was a lesson on prime numbers that sticks out in my mind. It says that if you have a number of tiles, you can "make only one rectangle" if the number is prime, and you can "make more than one rectangle" if the number is not prime. What I didn't get is whether that meant splitting the tiles into "rectangular" groups, or if it meant that you would try to make a rectangle out of all the tiles in more than one way. It turns out that the math book meant the latter, and not the former, but again, how can an 8-year-old figure that out?
So, if school were done in such a way as to teach more by example and not turn kids loose to do work too soon, not leave one's understanding of a reading selection or lesson to chance, and be more precise in how explanations are phrased, maybe kids would grow up smarter, and we wouldn't have so many of them forced to take low-wage jobs, end up homeless, or go to prison. Those are crisis situations that are all too common in this country, and it all starts with the "academic system" and its many flaws.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Fantasies Fulfilled
Ever since I was a little kid, I discovered many things that caught my fancy for various reasons, and I would often daydream about things I wanted to do based on those things. In particular, my early discovery of computers, music, and TV game shows has paved the way for things I ended up doing in my adult life.
Back in 1978, my discovery of computers started with a book my mother got me out of the library. The book didn't cover any particular type of computer, but it covered BASIC programming and applications that could have run on any sort of computer. I remember enjoying reading the book, and I somehow ended up in a Radio Shack store trying out the BASIC programming I read about when I got to play with a TRS-80 computer. Over the next few years, I ended up reading about the TRS-80 BASIC and DOS, learning about how it all worked, eventually getting a TRS-80 computer to work with at home, and I knew I wanted to be a computer programmer.
When I was in high school, I discovered various types of text-based communication systems. Bulletin Board Systems, as well as chat systems, really fascinated me. I remember daydreaming about building a "BBS & Chat" system with TRS-80 computers hooked up with a "multiplexer" to a hard drive I saw advertised in 80-Micro Magazine. I also thought it would be cool to have my equipment housed in my grandmother's condo down the street from me, since she wasn't using it, but I didn't know I'd have to pay her rent if I did that.
After bumbling through high school, college, and several programming jobs, I'm very happy that I ended up doing a voicemail system that includes bulletin boards and chat rooms, so I ended up living out my teenage fantasy of designing such a system, and it's doing very well for me.
But that's not all.
When I was as young as 5 years old, I would often catch game shows on TV. There was Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, Match Game, The Cross Wits, Pass The Buck, Whew, and many more back in the 70s. Although I couldn't answer the questions, I enjoyed the gameplay, music, and sound effects. I would sometimes have dreams about being a contestant on some of the shows. In recent years, I discovered Home Game Enterprizes, a group of young guys that put on simulated game shows at conventions in Los Angeles. I have had an opportunity to "be on" just about every game show I had ever watched as a kid. I'm still waiting for them to put on Whew, but I know they will someday.
Another thing I enjoyed doing ever since I was a kid was playing the piano by ear and writing original music. I have written a number of songs over the years, and three of them are what I consider my best work:
"New York Girl," a song that was inspired by Narada Michael Walden, the record producer for Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin
"Stuck Up Girl," inspired by Hall & Oates
"Lisa (You Don't Have To Surf The Net)," inspired by Def Leppard and other hard rock groups of the 80s.
I had always wanted the artists that inspired my work to perform my songs, as they could really do them justice. Although that hasn't happened yet, I did get a Def Leppard tribute band to record Lisa, and they did a wonderful job on it. Also, I have been attending Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp, and they may be getting Narada Michael Walden to do a future camp, and I would love to present "New York Girl" to him. John Oates almost made it to Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp, but he canceled, so I hope he makes it there at some point.
So, the bottom line is that I'm very happy that I have explored so many of my creative outlets and fantasies, and many wonderful things have happened in my life. Of course, I have many untapped fantasies, and I am optimistic that I will continue to have those fantasies fulfilled in the future.
Back in 1978, my discovery of computers started with a book my mother got me out of the library. The book didn't cover any particular type of computer, but it covered BASIC programming and applications that could have run on any sort of computer. I remember enjoying reading the book, and I somehow ended up in a Radio Shack store trying out the BASIC programming I read about when I got to play with a TRS-80 computer. Over the next few years, I ended up reading about the TRS-80 BASIC and DOS, learning about how it all worked, eventually getting a TRS-80 computer to work with at home, and I knew I wanted to be a computer programmer.
When I was in high school, I discovered various types of text-based communication systems. Bulletin Board Systems, as well as chat systems, really fascinated me. I remember daydreaming about building a "BBS & Chat" system with TRS-80 computers hooked up with a "multiplexer" to a hard drive I saw advertised in 80-Micro Magazine. I also thought it would be cool to have my equipment housed in my grandmother's condo down the street from me, since she wasn't using it, but I didn't know I'd have to pay her rent if I did that.
After bumbling through high school, college, and several programming jobs, I'm very happy that I ended up doing a voicemail system that includes bulletin boards and chat rooms, so I ended up living out my teenage fantasy of designing such a system, and it's doing very well for me.
But that's not all.
When I was as young as 5 years old, I would often catch game shows on TV. There was Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, Match Game, The Cross Wits, Pass The Buck, Whew, and many more back in the 70s. Although I couldn't answer the questions, I enjoyed the gameplay, music, and sound effects. I would sometimes have dreams about being a contestant on some of the shows. In recent years, I discovered Home Game Enterprizes, a group of young guys that put on simulated game shows at conventions in Los Angeles. I have had an opportunity to "be on" just about every game show I had ever watched as a kid. I'm still waiting for them to put on Whew, but I know they will someday.
Another thing I enjoyed doing ever since I was a kid was playing the piano by ear and writing original music. I have written a number of songs over the years, and three of them are what I consider my best work:
"New York Girl," a song that was inspired by Narada Michael Walden, the record producer for Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin
"Stuck Up Girl," inspired by Hall & Oates
"Lisa (You Don't Have To Surf The Net)," inspired by Def Leppard and other hard rock groups of the 80s.
I had always wanted the artists that inspired my work to perform my songs, as they could really do them justice. Although that hasn't happened yet, I did get a Def Leppard tribute band to record Lisa, and they did a wonderful job on it. Also, I have been attending Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp, and they may be getting Narada Michael Walden to do a future camp, and I would love to present "New York Girl" to him. John Oates almost made it to Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp, but he canceled, so I hope he makes it there at some point.
So, the bottom line is that I'm very happy that I have explored so many of my creative outlets and fantasies, and many wonderful things have happened in my life. Of course, I have many untapped fantasies, and I am optimistic that I will continue to have those fantasies fulfilled in the future.
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