Sympathy for Who?

"Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones

                                                 "Sympathy for the Devil" by Jane's Addiction

            One of my favorite songs of all time is “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones, who are also one of my favorite bands. It just so happens that another band that I really enjoy is Jane’s Addiction and they made a cover version of “Sympathy for the Devil”. It is hard for me to pick which version of the song I like better. There are a lot aspects of songs that contrast each other making each of the songs very different.

            The first difference that someone will probably notice is the instrumentation and organization of the song. The Rolling Stones version has many more instruments and layers to it than Jane’s Addictions version does. By doing this, the Stones add more distance to their songs. The Stones start out with the drums, shaker, piano than the base guitar. The electric guitar does not come into the song till the bridge for a solo and does not come back until there is another solo. For Jane’s Addiction there are not nearly as many layers. There are drums, tambourine and two guitars. Jane’s Addiction replaces the piano with a guitar. In their version they keep all the instruments in the whole time, they do not bring instruments in and out like the Rolling Stones do.

            Another difference between the songs is their speed. The Rolling Stones version starts out moderately slow and gradually increases to a moderato tempo. Jane’s Addiction’s version is much faster. However, the rhythms of the songs are the same. They are both in 4/4 tempo. Although the two songs tempos are the same, the versions vary in their timbre. Jane’s Addiction uses a lot more distortion and their tonal qualities are not as crisp as the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones do not use many effects on their instruments if any are used at all. The guitars, drums, and piano all have very crisp, natural sounds to them.

            One thing that is exactly the same between the songs is the lyrics. Both versions use the exact same lyrics that Mick Jagger wrote. I feel that if Jane’s Addiction changed the lyrics, the song would lose a big part of what it is. I’m sure everyone who has heard the song recognizes the rhythm of the bongo drums but I think that the lyrics really make the song what it is. Who does not love the opening line, “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste.”

            If I had to choose which version “Sympathy for the Devil” I would have to pick the Rolling Stones’ version. I think what I like most about it is the simplicity of the way the song is organized. The same bass line, drum rhythm, and piano arrangement is used throughout the whole song which allows the lyrics to take center stage. To me the lyrics make the song what it is. The first time I heard it I did not that it was being sung as if he was the devil. But after listening to it more times it is quite obvious to me. I feel the arrangement Jane’s Addiction uses is a too complicated for the song and takes away from the lyrics. You just can’t beat the original.

Songs Me and Ryan Created

For our newest project in class each group had to create two songs in which they kept one listening aspect the same in each song. For our songs we decided to keep the tempo of each song the same but we ended up creating two completely different songs. Here they are.
Tony's Song
Ryan's Song

Soundscape

Here is the soundscape the Kramer and myself did. Our word was Agression. ENJOY!http://www.box.net/shared/tq2v2byifo

Finding Your Howl

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl

Jonathon Flaum’s article is a great article about overcoming obstacles or stages in your life to move on to new ones. The article consists of two stories. One is about a red wolf trying to find his howl and the other is about a tiger that is trying to escape from the zoo. The tiger plans his escape for days and one night he leaps out of the top of the cage. He wakes up though and finds that he is in another cage in another zoo. So the tiger escapes again at night but wakes up again in another cage. This happens to the tiger over and over again and he never escapes. In the story the tiger uses his surface skills but doesn’t look around for any other tools to help him. The moral of the story is that in order to move out one situation we have to fully embrace the one you’re in before we can move on to the next. You have to move through one situation before you can move on to the next.

I also have one last gift for you guys. I've included a recorded bit about my favorite "Howl". It's a quote from the book Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik. If you've read the book you may recognize it but if not I hope you enjoy. Just follow the link below.

http://www.box.net/shared/qa88dz6uta

Where do I get my creativity?

As a creative person I take my influences from many different places. For my future career I want to work with sports like shooting football games, basketball games, baseball or working for ESPN. Anything along those lines is what I would like to do. Naturally as someone who wants to work with sports I get a lot of my inspiration from the stuff ESPN does. As I mentioned before though, I get my inspiration from many places not just sports. I’m a big movie fan and get out lot of inspiration from work some of my favorite directors. I also get a lot of inspiration from different musicians too.

One of my biggest influences is Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam. What inspires me most about him is that he is not afraid to pour his soul into his lyrics and the music fits perfectly with the emotions that he is trying to convey to his audience. To me the best example of this is the song “ Alive”. In this song he the text is about Eddie finding out when he was 13 that who he thought was his dad wasn’t at all. The whole song has a kind of relaxed mellow tempo, nothing to heavy or fast but I gradually builds and creates some tension for the listener. At the end of the song after a very calm guitar tone that is very soothing, they break into a fast heavy solo jam session that offers a release, both for the tension of the music and the lyrics. I hope that in my work I can convey these emotions to my audiences and I really respect Eddie Vedder for doing this.

My favorite influence as a movie director is Martin Scorcese. I’m a giant fan of all of his movies and I love the work that he does. The movies Taxi Driver, the Departed, Casino, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas and Raging Bull are among my favorite movies. Scorcese uses a lot of complex camera moves in his movies as well as big twists. In most of his movies he will spend the whole movie building up tension, for example the ending of Taxi Driver, to make a huge release. Scorcese also uses a lot of contrast throughout his movie. He is known for his Italian-American gangster movies which always include a lot of blood. He often makes the blood look as red as possible to contrast with the background. By doing this he always makes sure to emphasis violence. I’ve included the ending of Taxi Driver with this to show what I mean. Throughout the whole movie, the audience knows the guy is absolutely crazy and at the end he finally snaps and snaps big. He goes down with guns blazing and a ton of blood. I admire the way that Scorcese is able to put everything together to make fantastic movies.

Another influence of mine would be Kanye West. Kanye has changed the way rap has been made and in a way is a revolutionary. Before Kanye most if not all rap songs were behind heavy bass beats but Kanye has introduced collaborations into rap which other people wouldn’t have thought of. He has added synthesizers, pianos, guitars pretty much anything. This has gotten away and influenced a new breed of rappers such as Kid Cudi and B.o.B. With Kanye’s music, I’m sure a lot of people thought that the beats that he uses would contrast with rap but it has done the complete opposite. Kanye has created an affinity between his beats and his lyrics. Kanye has also made his more recent songs very didactic. Not necessarily in his older songs but in his new CD he is teaching lessons about being, for lack of a better word, an asshole. I’ve included the song Runaway with it to show the combination of piano into rap. This song is also a perfect example of him trying to teach a lesson that he’s learned.

14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas - Mitch Ditkoff

changethis.com/manifesto/show/49.06.14Ways

Mitch Ditkoff begins his article “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas” by explaining how CEO’s are constantly looking for innovation to improve their businesses and get ahead. But what is it that inspires innovation? There are two schools of thought, the Western, which is based in Rene Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” which means that ideas come from within. The second school of thought is Eastern which focuses on feeling and is the opposite of the Western. Ditkoff goes on to say that most people are a hybrid of the two schools and in the rest of his article goes on to give fourteen suggestions on how to jump start our innovation and activities for you to try.

1. Follow your fascination: If you’re fascinated by something, let it grow.

2. Immerse: Once you have an idea immerse yourself in it. Make sure you put away time to focus on your idea.

3. Tolerate Ambiguity: When there is a setback do not look at it as a setback but as a learning experience

4. Make New Connections: Look for connections in some seemingly unrelated things.

5. Fantasize: Imagine the impossible.

6. Define the Right Challenge: Come up with a breakthrough question before the breakthrough idea.

7. Listen to Your Subconscious: Don’t discard dreams or random thoughts. Allow time for daydreaming.

8. Take a Break: If you’re stuck take a break and focus on something else.

9. Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends: Don’t accept existing trends, challenge them to find the next big trend.

10. Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People: Hang out with people outside your normal group of friends. They’ll challenge your thinking, seeing and acting.

11. Brainstorm: Two brains are better than one, but pick the right people to brainstorm with.

12. Look for Happy Accidents: Some of the biggest breakthroughs have happened by accident. Get rid of your expectations and assumptions and get curious.

13. Use Creative Thinking Techniques: Use some aids to help spark your inspiration.

14. Suspend Logic: Suspend judgment, evaluation and your addiction to the practical.

Ditkoff’s suggestions all sound like very good ideas to jump start innovation but there are three that really stuck out to me and sounded especially helpful. The first one is Fantasize. Many times I will think of ideas that seem just absurd but I usually discard them. But after reading this article it made me think that the whole idea could be crazy but there may be some tiny bit of an idea that could spark that breakthrough.

The second idea that stuck out was Take a Break. I am a pro at taking breaks but often for the wrong reasons. Not because I’m stumped but I’m bored or tired of doing work. I know that when I am stumped on something taking a break will take my mind off it and when I go back I will often see something that I overlooked that can make solving the problem easier.

The third idea that I really liked was Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People. Most of my friends I’ve known for years and I hang out with them all the time. But because we’re friends we have many of the same ideas, beliefs and hobbies. But by broadening my horizons my eyes will be opened to whole new worlds of thoughts.
Finally, I’m going to try one of the activities at after one of the suggestions. I’m choosing the one after Make New Connections. It states: Make three parallel lists of ten words. The first list? Nouns. The second list? Verbs. The third list? Adjectives. Then look for intriguing new connections between them. This one looks fun so I’m going to give it a shot.

Dogs         Play       Lumpy
Music       Climb     Sleepy
Table        Judge     Cold
Couch      Drink      Wet
TV           Watch     Large
Cup          Tickle     Tiny
Car           Jump      Vast
Chicken    Sleep      Thick
Trash        Throw     Black
Suit           Attack    Moldy

At first look I don’t seem to see any connections. Perhaps a better cup that keeps things cold. Maybe some kind of large play area for dogs to play with each other is an idea. Or may even some kind of car that will drive for you while you’re sleeping could be possible. None of these ideas will probably be the next big breakthrough but this was a fun activity that really got me thinking. I will have to keep trying it.

I think that “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas” is a phenomenal article that can be extremely helpful to anybody. I know that I am going to implement these suggestions into my life. Be sure to check out the link above to read the article for yourself.

First Blog Entry

Today I have finally been introduced to the blogging world. I will begin with this adorable video of kittens.