WWII

I was just reading about the blokes who jumped out the planes on D Day... reading the stuff they went through is amazing. It makes my life seem pritty pathetic though. I don't think anyone who is around my age group will ever in their lives achieve anything as amazing as these blokes did 60+ years ago. They deserve more respect then what's given.

The thought just came across my head so I thought I'd share it.

Steve

My New Band

Last week it was finalised that my last band Cheap Dirt is no more. Due to the lack of guitar players who can play rock n rock we chose to call it quits. It's a real pitty but our rhythm guitarist just didn't seem up for it anymore.

Luckily for me, my services was hired by a fellow musicians and friend who previously played for the well known local band Open Air. We have been in talks about starting a band for a while now and we should be having our first "jam" tomorow. On bass we convinced my sister to fill in and prey something will come of it.

If anything comes of this group tomorow I'll update it in my blog :)

Steve

Photo Walking

Today in our Web Blogs class we tried out Photo walking. This basically involved walking places and taking interesting photos int he space of half an hour before we returned to class and this is what we found...










This is the first thing that certainly caught my attention. Signs like these are usually focused on the driver of the car saying things like "You should not speed" but when I look at this I can't help but think that the kid should of used a zebra crossing.













A group of smoking sheep. This picture I really like because of the originality. The point of the picture is good as well but I love the originality of smoking sheep.











Now this picture was also my idea. Why?! To be honest I took it because it's one of the ugliest corridors I have ever seen in my life. The use of colour is disgusting and the wallpaper is worse. It's probably made to be like that but for me, it's horrible. What amazes me is the contrast it has with the other half of the corridor...










If you look closely to this picture the other half of this corridor is grey and white. Now, I don't know about you but WHAT WERE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?!?!?!?!

It's like The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy walks out her Black and White house into a beautifully over the top techno colour world. I'd really like to know why they done this.













Now we travelled down "the Land of Oz" to find this elevator. Why I did I take the picture of the buttons?! Well I don't know really. The lights are pretty and it's shiny.










On the 6Th floor we found this... it was funny and colourful so I thought it was worth taking a photo of.
So now we decide to take a travel up to to the 7Th floor and see what kind of weird discoveries we can make.











Unfortunately all the buttons were pushed by someone so it took us an unfortunate amount of time to get there.









We have arrived. We are now back to the white and grey look of the corridors... there's no place like home. The group started looking for some groovy snap shots and we found...










THE STAIRS!!!!

This photo is quite good because you don't notice how high up this college goes until you see something like this. It's a long way down when you think there's 5 or more floors below these 2 sets of stairs.

So we travelled down to the ground floor and found...











This corridor is rather nice and cosy don't you think?! Nicer then Kansas upstairs

This is where we took pictures like this:




















and...













Now I took a picture of this plant because it's famous. In case you didn't know this plant had a previous acting career. It made his claim to fame appearance in Leonor Nemoy's music video "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Mr Plant is feature in a seen where they recreate a battle Bilbo once took battle in. Unfortunately due to a reoccurring leaf rash the plant had to retire and settle for a career in college.

Unfortunatly I have run out of time to type... I will update my blog later :)

Steve

Work

So this past month I've worked some interesting events and met some interesting people. I worked a Mcfly concert which was quite good. They played a highly energetic set which involved a great light show and a stunning amount of pyrotechnics. I also witnessed an amazing show called War Of The Worlds. The show was a full orchestra accompanied by a rock group recreating the classic double album from the 70's.

If you don't know I work for Rock steady which is a company that provides popular events (Such as concerts) with Event Stewards who are better known as security.

I've been working this job for a year now and have worked at nearly every pittodrie football match since November 6th last year. Usually you find me in the cold and run down South Stand. I enjoy working with the locals there because they always seem to give the most work. They're usually quite tongue in cheek so it makes my cold football days a bit more interesting then they should be. Here I take up jobs like taking people to their seats, taking any possible weapons off of people, keep anyone from running onto the pitch and just try to stop any bad behaviour in general.

My favourite place to work is definitely the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre (AECC). Here is where they hold the big concerts such as Status Quo, Lionel Richie, McFly and Westlife to name a few. My job here is literally the same as the football with a few extras in the place we like to call the pit. The pit being the area between the crowd and the stage. This is where we tackle stage divers, crowd surfers, drunks and generally annoying people. It's quite a fun place to be. If I'm unlucky I get positioned at a fire exit where the only thing to do is get cold.

I really enjoy the job. I get to meet lots of different people, who always have something interesting to say. There's also the fact that every now and again you get to see parts (or all) of a fantastic show (Like Lionel Richie).

Tonight I'm going to the AECC to work Madness. I've been told they've got quite a fun, enjoyable crowd so I'm really looking forward to work.

Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield on April 1913 was an American blues musician known as "the Father of Chicago blues". He is known as one of the great blues musicians of all time and apparently a big influence to Britain's music "boom" in the early 60's.

Waters was born in Issaquena County, Mississippi in 1913. He was brought up by his grandmother at an early age when his mother died in 1915. Waters started out playing music on the harmonica but quickly move onto the guitar where he started playing at parties emulating his favourite Blues artists.

In Muddy Waters early career he began recording in the Summer of 1941 Alan Lomax came to Stovall, Mississippi, on behalf of the Library of Congress to record various country blues musicians. He recorded two sessions which were eventually released on the Testament record label.

In 1943 Muddy moved to Chicago to become a "professional" musician. He played clubs as the support act for Chicago blues maestro Big Bill Broonzy. In 1945 Muddy Waters received his first Electric Guitar from his uncle which apparently paid off as he could finally be heard over the loud crowds. In the next year or so Muddy recorded for a couple of record labels which weren't released at the time. However one of his songs became very popular and continuously played which lead to his popularity in clubs to reach a new heights.

By 1952 Muddy Waters was playing with what he considered to be his best band yet. This band involved such musicians as Little Walter Jacobs and Otis Spann on Harmonica and Piano. This time period Muddy released some Blues classics like "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I want to make love to you". These two songs charted respectively at Number 8 and Number 4 in the R&B charts. One hit he had was responsible for giving one if the greatest rock bands their name. The song was titled "Rolling Stone" which was a smash hit. With the next few years he continued to have mass success in the charts and also had a famous rival with another Blues God, Howlin' Wolf.

By 1960 he had moved to England and recorded his first live LP titled "At Newport 1960", this album broke him into a whole new generation of music lovers to Waters' sound. The next few years Muddy Waters returned to America and recorded more music. He then returned to England to play with Rory Gallagher and other great musicians.

In 1977 fellow Blues guitarist Johnny Winters convinced his record label to sign Waters. Muddy Waters released his "comeback" album "Hard Again" soon after. The album was recorded in two days, was awarded a Grammy and was a return to the routes of his Chicago blues that he was well known for 25 years previous.

Muddy Waters' comeback continued with a release of his live LP Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live which carried his popularity for the next few years. Unfortunately Muddy died of Cancer in his sleep in 1983. He was 70 years old.

November rocks 2007

Last week my band "Cheap Dirt" played a gig in Portlethen called November Rocks. It's a concert run by Portlethen Academy teachers to raise money for the school and charity. This is our third year playing this concert and we had a ball doing it.

This year we only played three cover songs because A. people asked for them and B. we hadn't played together since about June. The songs we played were Steam hammer's Juniors Wailing, Elvis' Jailhouse Rock and the classic Chuck Berry tune Johnny B Goode.

We went over really well despite the fact we were really rusty. It was a huge relief considering last year was such a disaster. From this we are looking for more gigs and possibly playing The Moorings Bar in a few weeks.

For more info considering my have a look at Cheap Dirt's webpage and listen to some of our stuff.

Now back to college work... hahaha!!!

Two posts in one day!!!

So I finally got back to college, writing two blogs in one day hoping to not get into too much trouble with the tutors. :P

This week has been pretty tiring due to college and baby sitting. I have learned some funky stuff in some of my classes though. So it's not going too much to waste! I'm currently worried about my attendance because I've been off for abit. But It's been a pain in the soup can trying to keep with it.

I've got a gig to play in Portlethen tonight. My band haven't played since June so it's rather worrying not knowing whether or not it'll go well. I don't know, we'll see. It couldn't be healthy trying to predict the future anyway.

I've ran out of things to say now!!!



Steve

What I did on my holidays... (except missed two weeks of college)

3 weeks ago I disappeared to turkey (lucky me) and completely neglected my college work. I do regret that but the holiday was worth it despite being last minute and extremely stressful. I'll try to keep this short but to the point

Right so getting to the airport was fun... MEGA BUS!!! It wasn't that bad, it was a nice relaxed bus trip. I really enjoyed it. Now comes about 3 o clock when we got to the airport, that's when the fun started. I tell you, travelers are so horrible and rude I'm surprised people can fly constantly with the way these people were. People were walking into each other, cursing, swearing... there was even a wife beating her husband with her bag (poor him). Anyway we spent all day in this giant concrete block to be placed on a giant metal tube full of dentist chairs. This is what the plane looked like to me. It was filthy and smelt sooo bad.

The flight was groovy, it was my first time flying. I loved the rush of taking off, that was quite fun. The general flight itself was dire... I couldn't be bothered forking out for headphones to watch Shrek The Third (which isn't that good anyway.)

So we arrived at 4am and got automatically chucked onto a bus. Sat and travelled in the dark for 2 hrs to arrive at Marmaris' Club Turquoise. Lovely little hotel with a pool and a bar. Not big by any means but definitely very nice. Next thing I done... SLEPT!!!

Right so the next few days there was nothing to report. I sat at the pool side getting to know the staff and toasting in the sun. Met some lovely guys called Joseph, Ozzy and Senol. They be my friends for the next two weeks ha ha.

So in the weeks I was away I went to this cool market place in the marina. People haggling for clothes, food etc. Interesting experience having 20 Turks in your face trying to sell you the same thing for different prices. Also discovered a booty kickin' rock bar called... *drum roll* ROCK BAR! Great service - songs and cheap drinks! :D

Now for the highlight of the two weeks. EPHESUS!!!

We took a 2 day trip up to see the ancient city of Ephesus and the white cliffs of Pamukkale. This trip was great. We had a far out tour guide called Sam who's a history nut. He's quite memorable for the way he rounds up the tour group he's leading. He loves to get every ones attention with the words "Water Fall!!!". He learned how to talk through an American and actually sounds like one. The more he talks, the more American he sounds and the more he shouts "Water Fall!!!". Don't ask. Anyway onto my trip.

Ephesus is a beautifal scenery of an excavated city. We got to see some fantastic sites like the public library (which was huge), the Theatre and of all things... an ancient Brothel. Sam took us round this great place and gave us a long detailed (and very interesting) historical talk about the sites, statues and buildings we were coming into contact with. Fantastic place. After a few hours of this place we went onto Pamukkale. Have a look in this website here Ephesus website

Pamukkale is a popular tourist drop off in turkey but it's worth it. Apparently (According to Sam) they like to call the place "the white cliffs" because, well they're white as snow. The reason behind this is the water that stream down it is full of calcium and when it dries apparently it goes real hard and very white. I don't know much about this but if you go to this website. this will show you pictures and everything you need to know. It's worth a look or going to see. it's also round the corner from an ancient place called Hierapolis. It's what Sam said is a "place where the Greeks hung out!". It's got some ruins, a huge theatre and some old pools (one I swam in). Anyway I could go on forever about this place but I'm cutting this down short.

So onto the next few days I didn't do much. I sat at the pool side and had some memorable nights out with the guys from the hotel. I got bored to the point where I went in search of a Tattoo artist. I found one in the name of Wish (cool name huh?!). He's a fantastic artist. He shown me some of his work which was amazing. Unfortunately I couldn't afford these ones so I chose a smaller one. He redesigned it for me and drilled it into my arm. He done a great job to say the least.

Unfortunately for me this was my last hours spent in turkey and a few hours I was flying back to Scotland (Booooo!!!!).

THIS is what I did on my holidays. Fantastic Essay isn't it?! :P


Steve

Something that I've done this week.

This week has been very uneventful so far. I've spent Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (today) in college. I've learnt some cool new stuff in my classes but overall I really haven't done much this week.

The only thing eventful about my week so far was the Scotland rugby game down in Edinburgh. My current job is working as an event steward for Rock Steady. We do security and safety at football, concerts and many other events round Scotland. It's quite enjoyable working these big events because I get to meet alot people and also climbing the stairs is great for much needed exercise!!!

Later on tonight I'm working an AFC football match and babysitting so maybe my week might get a little more interesting.

Steve :)

The Bob Marley Clip

The first thing I can say about this first clip is the band are extremely tight. They rip up the stage with a really addictive reggae groove. The drummer doesn't miss a beat with the bassist not far behind him. The rest of the musicians are also tight and you really can't fault.

Mr Marley the frontman well, this man has a strong voice. He really lets go during this clip with some fantastic audience participation. Lyrically the song he's singing is dam clever and sounds well thought out. I can't fault this performance what so ever.

No Woman No Cry - I love this song!!! Again the band are extremely tight with like most Raggae groups the bass and drums really hold a fantastic groove. There's also some lovely organ in the backdrop. Again Mr Marley holds his own, fantastic frontman and a smashing voice.

I've never been a fan of this man or his music but I love him for what he does in music.

My favourite album.

hey everyone!!!

For my next blog I was told (by my tutor ofcourse) that I had to write a blog about my favourite album and tell you all about it. My album of choice has to be (without a doubt) Def leppard's Hysteria.

Why do I chose this album?

It's simple really, this album was the reason why I started playing drums. This album was the return of their drummer after a serious car accident which cost him his left arm. This to me was a big influence on my playing and style as a Hard Rock Drummer.

Many rock musicians, metalheads especially dismiss this album because it's too "pop" but musically this is the reason why I love it. Their are so many catchy vocal harmonies, melodies etc which remind me of great pop acts like The Osmonds and Abba which I freely admit to loving. The fact these musical features are mixed in with heavy drumming and over the top guitar licks of their past heavy metal efforts makes the album even more desirable.

The album also features one my favourite music producers, Mutt "Mr Shaina Twain" Lange. He worked on another favourite of mine, AC/DC's Back in Black album. He is well known for producing a rich, clear, tight sound on this album aswell as helping the "Lep" gain success with their previous 2 records Pyromania and High 'n' Dry.

That to me is enough reasons for me to love this album. If you lot disagree then tough! ;)

Steve

steve987

Heeey baby! I'm Steve and I'm awesome!

I'm 21 years old, born on the 8th of may 1986 (who says Jesus was cool!). I do nothing but listen/play to music, play computer games and sit in The Moorings Bar.

I'm a drummer who plays in the Aberdeen local band Cheap Dirt (check us out http://www.myspace.com/cheapdirt). We play an unhealthy mixture between old fashion rock n roll and heavy metal. We're quite like Status Quo in style but like them live, we have a right heavy sound.

My favourite bands at this moment in time is Status Quo, Judas Priest, Nightwish and AC/DC. I love all different kinds of music. Specially things with a groove ie. funk and soul. But classical music and Dance also interests me. Always keep your mind open I always say. Groups like Pet Shop Boys and The Corrs also take my interest, can never go wrong with a good dance tune!

So like right now I'm sitting in college, my chest feels heavy and i think iv got a cold bleeh!!!!

Anyway we're away to stop so byebye everyone.

Long live rock n roll!!! :D

Steve