I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE GREAT GAMBLE-Book One (2012).

My friend Matt has worked at a school in Pennsylvania for years. He wrote to tell me that a few kids who graduated from his school had formed a band and have released a CD.  It’s streaming (and downloadable) on bandcamp at their site.

I have lots of friends in bands, and I’ve listened to lots of demos, so I wasn’t expecting very much.  But the first thing I noticed when I listened was how good this sounds–professional and, yes, like a “real” album.  This isn’t just a bunch of guys jamming in their garage.  What makes this even more striking is that the music is heavy progressive metal–not something you just whip out in a quick take.  This is complicated, interesting music.  I’m hearing a kind of Dream Theater meets King’s X vibe going on.  And man, it’s really good.

This is multi-step heavy rock (complete with a synth player/violinist!). The only song that is less than 9 minutes is the 90 second introduction called “The Marketplace.”  Otherwise, we’ve got three songs over ten minutes and one over 16!  Who even knew young bands did stuff like this anymore?

Al Joseph plays lead guitar and sings lead vocals.  His guitar speed is very impressive and his vocals sound not unlike Dug Pinnick from King’s X (noticeable on the opening track, especially) .  Matt Weaver plays violin and keyboards.  The keyboards offer more than just a fuller sound.  On “Release the Kraken” they provide some cool sci-fi sound effects.  At about five minutes in, “Release the Kraken” slows down to a quiet middle section that really showcases Steve Michael’s drums.  And then comes the blistering guitar solo.  It’s followed quickly but a slight diversion and then a wholly different style of solo.  It’s really something.

If “Release the Kraken” wasn’t a good enough prog rock title, how bout “Legends of the Symmetria.”  This one has a very Dream Theater feel for the opening.  But the vocals sound very different–dual vocals with great low harmony.  There’s a cool pre-chorus (I guess) at about 3 minutes.  This song is definitely a heavy one.  At about 4 minutes, the song slows down into a pretty classical guitar section,where Chris Joseph on plays bass gets to show off a bit (although he seems to be the most understated of the 4 players).  There’s some great drumming at the end of the song, too.

“The Ghost of Three Reflections” is a slow builder of a song.  There’s some quiet parts (with beautiful harmonies) and a guitar solo that sounds clear and perfect (I’m hyping the production so much because it sounds so good).  The guitar solo section in this one strikes me as something that might suit two guitarists better–maybe two more different styles of soloing, but he pulls it off well, especially when by the end, he has shifted to a very different style, and the music changes along with it).  I love the bass section at the 8 minute mark, which reminds me of something Rush might have done back in the mid 70s.  The song kind of merges into “Breach At Fort Mycenae” which opens with the same kind of staggered sound as the end of the previous song.  The violin gets an airing in the middle of this song and it’s a cool treat.  I could definitely use more violin in these songs, although maybe little bits are a treat.  There’s a few times when I don’t like the production choices–maybe there needs to be a bit more music behind some of these solos so it doesn’t just sound like two players soloing against each other.

The disc ends with the big one, the sixteen minute, “The Sleepwalker Pt. 1 – Tears of Dagon” [I love that it’s a Part One and it’s 16 minutes long].  When the vocals kick in at about 3 minutes, the harmonies are gorgeous.  I love the bass guitar break at 5 minutes.  Although there’s something about the keyboard sound that I don’t like–maybe they’re not big enough?  But I love the crazy guitar solo at the 9 minute mark of this track (I’m a sucker for dissonant scales).

This is an amazing debut CD and I hope these guys go far (they’re going from Scranton to Boston for school, but I hope they can go further than that).  They are tight as a drum, stopping and starting perfectly, keeping all of the rhythms and time changes perfectly.  They really have done their prog rock homework.  The only gripe is as I’ve said, some sections don’t feel “big” enough.  If you’re going to write a 16 minute song, you don’t want sections that sound small–you want your backing guitars or bass guitars to be a little louder so it sounds like the song is still going.  But other than that, there’s not much room for improvement.

I downloaded their CD, (and yes, I paid for it…that will help with college, eh?).  But my real complaint is that on the computer, the album cover is awesome–if you look at it from an angle, there’s a whole scene behind the large logo (try it, it works here too).  But when you print it out, you lose all of that.  The images are there, but the effect is gone.  This is a band that calls out for full color packaging and maybe even a gatefold sleeve!  (The bottom of the cover says Ο υπνoβάτης which means The Sleepwalker).

Good jobs guys!  You’ve done NEPA proud!

[READ: May 15, 2012] Drop Dead Healthy

Sarah got me this latest A.J. Jacobs book for my birthday.  At first I didn’t think I wanted to read it because I feared what a book all about being in good shape would be—nagging, obnoxious, making me feel bad about my vices. But I should have leaned from all of my A.J. Jacobs experience that he is completely NOT about that.

Jacobs occasionally enters into preposterous forays of Self-Improvement.  In the first book of his I read, The  Guinea Pig Diaries, he tried various weird experiments to see what it was like to be a woman, radically honest, a unitasker, etc.  His other books have been about self-improvement.  He read the encyclopedia from A-Z, he did a year trying to live like out of the bible (I will get to these eventually).  In this book, he is on a quest to be the healthiest person in the world.

It’s an impossible task.  And, frankly, a foolish one.  But he decides he will take two years and focus on individual parts of his body one month at a time.  I’m going say right up front I feared that this book would make me feel bad about all the things I don’t do for myself.   But well, a) Jacobs is a funny writer, so at least you’re laughing.  b) Jacobs is either in bad shape or plays up his badshapedness so that the average person doesn’t feel too bad off.  c) He is so over the top in his quest that no one would ever think about doing all of the things, but we can take what he learned and apply little bits to ourselves.  What is nice is that he tries to get two if not balanced opinions then perhaps fringe opinions to balance out–trying one extreme then another to see which work.

He Breaks His Categories Down thusly: stomach (eating right, the perfect food), the heart, the ears (the quest for quiet), the butt (avoiding sitting too much), the immune system (germs), genitals, nervous system, lower intestine (better bowels), adrenal gland (lowering stress), brain, endocrine system (removing toxins), teeth, feet, lungs, skin, inside of the eyelid (sleep), bladder, gonads, nose, hands, back, eyes, and skull.  Each category is designed to be a month-long workout of that organ/item–some things he keeps doing after the month is over making his workout regime something like 5 hours a day.  And at the beginning of each month he lists the stats for what he accomplished.

I’m not going to talk about all of his body parts, but I will mention a few that i enjoyed the most.

Obviously the quest for the perfect diet is a major part of this book.  Jacobs was worried about his body fat (he’s what’s called skinny fat).  He tries a raw diet, he tries a beer and chocolate diet, he tries a no carb diet.  I enjoyed the information from a scientist called Steven Bratman who is worried about people with “orthorexia”–an unhealthy obsession with healthy foods.  If you are unduly fixated on eating healthfully [my note–he correctly uses healthfully not healthily!–that’s one thing that no one ever gets right], you’ll stress yourself out.

I was intrigued by his quest for quiet.  I know I am never in a state of absolute quiet, and I wonder if that would drive me crazy.  Those noise reducing headphones seem like a good idea, but I don’t know….

The one I think about the most is The Butt, in which he says that sitting is bad for you.  And that sitting at your job is terrible for you. He proposes (and buys) a treadmill desk.  I think it’s a great idea.  He walked over 1,000 miles while writing this book.  I wonder if my company would go for it.  Many years ago I was trying to conceive of a desk-based cycling gadget so you could sit at your desk and do exercise a the same time.  I should have marketed it–I’d be a millionaire.  Or maybe a thousandaire.

Jacobs is a germophobe, as are many people.  I am not.  So I didn’t really care too much about his quest for removing germs.  Although he disabuses the idea that I share that Purell and antibacterial soap are making us more susceptible to germs in the long run.  The Lower Intestine was an enjoyable chapter, especially the contraption that he uses so you can squat to go to the bathroom–the picture is hilarious, but evidently it works.  I’ll not be trying that though.

The Endocrine System is one of the chapters about his Aunt Marti.  Marti is a health-nut.  She lives a toxin-free life.  She came to his house to tell him all the things he needed to get rid of.  She’s one of those people who purify their life of everything bad for you.  A summary of her findings:  antibacterial soap is a poison; after smelling Mr Clean, she recoils and then dabs oregano oil (which she carries with her) on her wrists to counteract it; Having a microwave is like having a loaded gun; American cheese is child abuse!  He balances her attitudes with a man who works for the American Council on Science and Health (and later FOX News) and he is very much against the nanny state, saying the government needn’t regulate anything.  And they wonder why Americans are confused.

The teeth.  How could Jacobs not floss?  The bladder section (and everything else I’ve read) leads me to believe I should be drinking more alcohol).  The Feet.  I bought a pair of Vibram five fingers after reading this chapter.  I will even try to run in them this week.

Sleep–he really makes me want to do a sleep study.  I have noticed I often get a terrible nights’ sleep, and yet I feel rested, so I guess that’s okay.  The Nose section also makes me want to do the smell test (it cracks me up that he failed so miserably, although i don’t know that I’d be much better).   I love the section on finger fitness, and rather wish I was still playing guitar as much–my fingers could be more nimble too  But these videos of Greg Irwin are very cool.  I’m also trying to add more human touch in my life.

The back–I’m already trying to improve back strength so this was useful.  I also appreciated finding out that blueberries are not a superfood.  And that there is a surgery you can have to change the sound of your farts.

For a book about health (and for a funny book) there is a lot of death in it.  Of course, the premise is  to stave off mortality so that makes sense.  His grandfather who was in his 90s died while he was working on the book.  By the way, his grandfather was an amazing man with an amazing history.  It was through his work that Barack Obama’s father (and other Kenyans too) were able to study in Hawaii.  So, in theory without his work, Obama would not be president.  Jacobs should write a biography of him next, as that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what he did in his life.  But back to death.  Jack LaLaine died while A.J. was working on the book.  And then there’s the surprise in the Epilogue:

SPOILER: I don’t want to give anything away, because it was very moving, but it’s also really important to the book as a whole.  His Aunt Marti, the detoxifier, the clean and healthy woman who was all-natural, had developed leukemia.  And he talks about her different methods of treatment.  I feel like that was perhaps as important to the book as anything Jacobs himself did–cancer is pretty arbitrary.  You can reduce risks of things, but in the end, you never know what is going to get you.

So this was an excellent book.  I learned a lot, I’ll take some of his advice to heart and I’ll feel better about all the crackpots out there (on both sides of the issues).  And yes I’ll try to be more healthy in general, but I won’t be going cold turkey on anything.

Oh, and as Sarah points out in her review of the book (we’ve both decided to read his book on going Biblical soon), his wife is a capital S Saint.