#stuffaboutminneapolis

[samuelandthewilburbots]

Drone Footage from the Mississippi this Fall!

[gregador]

stuffaboutminneapolis replied to your photo “Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum, birthplace of the Model T. More.”

I've been there! (stumbled across it after exploring the old Packard Plant)

Excellent...it sounds as if you had one incredible day in Detroit!

[shinypapercrowns]

So good to have this back and open again #stuffaboutminneapolis #somethingsold #somethingsnew #somethingsborrowed #somethingsblue http://ift.tt/2sgBfDE

[nofxshrinkwrap]

Minneapolis stuff. Meet me at 7th Street.

[this-is-an-unoriginal-url]

How are your cats doing?

My cats are doing great! They are very happy to have me home more often, especially Fritz! She's usually hanging out in my room with me while I'm doing school work! I like to joke that she's also working on her master's degree! Liz likes to yell and complain more now that there is someone home to listen to him... but he's cute and old so he can get away with it!

Thank you for asking about them! I'm happy to share more stories and pictures of them any time!

[hmmm071]

Lake Harriet bandshell

[samuelandthewilburbots]

One Year in Music: Week 8

Howdy Folks, 8 weeks down, only a few dozen more to go. Nothing like some good music and a few snow emergencies to pass the time. This week’s song is called: Sunglasses Emoji. Why you ask? Well, when I started writing this song on May 16th, 2014 I saved it in my voice memos on my phone as 😎. I liked the idea of an emoji as a song title, but I eventually changed it to the written form of the emoji just to be pretentious. I do like the sentiments behind the 😎 emoji, to me it represents putting on a facade as if everything is going to be fine, when deep down we are filled with doubt (but we look cool as hell with our shades on).

Process:

I believe in creative energy. I believe combinations of people can really benefit the creative process and some can really hinder it. As an educator, we talk a lot about building a safe and positive learning environment for our students. The same can be said about music and writing of any kind. I have a friend named Bryon, and when he is behind the drum set, and I have a guitar or piano, we can build worlds. He has a youthful enthusiasm and love for the game that is contagious, and we can create rock operas without communicating. He anticipates changes before I even know I’m going to make them. He knows when to build tension, he knows when to get quiet, and he knows when to rock his own face off. We do this all without speaking a word, just a nod of the head, and a smile. It is truly magical. I have many recordings on my phone of 20 minute long jam sessions that appeared out of thin air, and whenever we stop, we just laugh, because we are exhausted and because we can’t believe what just happened.

I remember learning in psychology about the “flow state.” It is when you get so immersed in your activity you become hyper focused and alert, and you  operate at a higher proficiency than normal. When someone is in flow state, they typically lose their grasp of time and space. In sports, they call this being “in the zone”. While I have never experienced it on the court, I have definitely experienced it in a musical space. I have had musical moments of hyper focus, where I could do no wrong, every note I hit would be at the right time and the right place, I would perform beyond my normal skill level and create new and exciting music. This magic was almost always impossible to re-create in the recording studio because you are too aware of the recording process, and it’s too hard to get lost. People play too self consciously because they perceive something is at stake. When you are paying money for time, it is hard to get lost in it. That is one of my biggest frustrations with music, how can you ever capture the full magic and energy of a song, a song that comes from your soul?

That being said, my pal Bryon and I started this song one spring night in my rehearsal space, then he moved away (sad face emoji), a year later he came back to visit and we revisited it, and I came up with the bridge to complete the song. Then even more time passed, and I finally sat down with it, wrote lyrics, and recorded it myself. Then even more time passed, and I added on to it. Now today it is fished (ish). 5 Years in the making. I know I didn’t capture all the magic without Bryon, but that’s why I put on my shades 😎 .

Favorite line of the song: And all the time before you’re born will feel the same as when you die, no sense of what has come before, or what is after afterlife.

Lyrics

If you want to last You gotta wait your turn Don't return to the past To Make up own words Why is every night the same as the one before how'd this life end up as such a chore

You lied to confuse me You tried to lose me

This could be the end of the road for me I grab my bag and step out in the street

So where was I supposed to go to the afterlife or to the one before

Then you lied to confuse me You tried to lose me

I'm not ready to go I gotta say good bye to my children and to my wife But they will know where they can find my body's soul I left behind

You lied to confuse me You tried to lose me

And All that time before you’re born will feel the same as when you die die die No sense of what has come before or what is after after life, life, life

You lied to confuse me You tried to lose me You died to lose me You tried to move me I'm not strong, I'm not here very long I'm not strong, I won't be very long

See you next week. Let me know what you think of the song!

[samuelandthewilburbots]

MPLS: Along the frozen Mississippi River