I'll bet you didn't know David Copperfield used to sing metal

I kid of course. But the singer in this week's anthem looks a lot like him. The singer even has that "I don't look like I belong in a metal video" look. Much like the look David Copperfield would have in a metal video.

This week's anthem is a song by one of the best arpeggaic guitar players ever. His name is Yngwie (pronounced "ing-vay") Malmsteen. Most of his work is instrumental, but he does have singers on occasion. As many of you already know, the videos I post are of the cheesiest in existence. This video is no exception. It looks like it was directed by the same guy who did Dio's videos. Complete with the unnecessary sword-spinning Viking in the beginning. Cheesy as it may be, one cannot help but notice the musicianship by the band. Even the singer as out of place as he looks is solid.

So here you go - Yngwie J. Malmsteen's "I'll See the Light Tonight".

A show of hands---one more time

Three years ago, I played my last live gig. With the exception of the crowd-pleasing rendition of The New Kids on the Block's "Hangin' Tough", it was an utter flop. This has left me with an overwhelming bitter aftertaste that I thought would disappear over time. This turned out not to be the case. After one last failed attempt to get a band together, I decided to drop any ambition for musical projects. This kind of mentality has gotten me through the last year and a half or so, but I find myself more and more wanting to get out there and play shows.

I am happy to report that I have at least one more show forthcoming. Mike (Bahr, linked at right) and I have decided to dust off our acoustic guitars and play a show for one of his work functions. Apparently, there will be somewhere around 3000 people at this event. This is three times the size of the largest audience I have played for to date, and even then, I was in high school when I played in front of these sizeable audiences. I am sure he and I will sound better than my high school bands did. Who knows where this will lead? He and I have a very cohesive vision of the type of project we would like to do ideally, so this could be the beginning step of a bigger project. Personally, if I ran into a solid drummer or lead guitar player, I wouldn't mind checking that avenue out. This is of course sometime down the road, and as it is, I am just fine with the acoustic thing too. We already have some songs on deck that we want to play, so the ball is rolling. We will have our first practice tomorrow. The gig is currently scheduled for sometime in early April.

So Mr. Seppy, you may yet get to see me play a show sometime. I, for one, don't see any reason why this would have to be a one-gig deal.

Enlightenment

Though it has been about a week since the seminar with Brett Varnum, I did want to post some thoughts on my experience. It has been years since I last trained with a senior instructor of any kind. What I do remember was that a lot of these seminars were conducted by individuals who didn't really care about the individual student. What they cared about was how much money and brown nosing they were getting from those of ranks lower than themselves. God forbid they actually actively associate themselves with those common kyu ranks or first couple degree black belts. Now, people who know me understand that I appreciate the capitalistic side of any venture, and I certainly believe a senior instructor's seminar is worth top dollar, but if that is the only reason they are even teaching anymore, they have lost sight of the point in teaching.

Mark Twain said it best when he said that true happiness comes from finding something you would do for free, then find someone to pay you for it. When a person takes on the role of a martial arts instructor, their mind should be more on the teaching. If they are good at it, the money will follow.

The feeling of clear separation of instructor and student has been my experience with some (not all) of my seniors within the Bujinkan. For the last few months, I have been assured the opposite of the top practicioners of To-Shin Do (again, this is a system that comes from the Bujinkan) care about each person who cares enough to get involved in the art. When Mr. Varnum walked into the room Friday night, he either introduced himself to those of us who have not yet met him, or he greeted those he had met by name. By the end of the first night, he knew all of our names, and this really made us feel important.

Oh, but it gets better. Saturday night after the day's sessions we all met at Red Robin for dinner. When he arrived, he sat at a seat on the other side of the table from Mr. Stinson. I testify unto all who are reading this that this never, ever would have happened in the Bujinkan. In fact, the dinner itself would not have happened. As we dined, he entertained all of our questions. He was legitimately pleased by our hunger for the art. He is devoid of the pretentious behavior that plagues many martial arts organizations.

One of the many things I took away from the seminar was the overwhelming sensation that this man cares very much about how we as individuals progress through this system. He truly sees the Phoenix Quest Center is a part of his lineage. With Mr. Stinson as his personal student, we benefit from Mr. Varnum's attitude and teachings every day.

Another thing I took from this experience was a ninety minute dead arm. It turns out, when an arm doesn't want to bend a certain way and it is held at the threshold of breaking for more than three minutes straight, the nerves turn off. Then you get pins and needles for hours afterward. Totally worth it. It kinda looked like this (it's not me underneath, but I was in a very similar position):

Time Passages

I should fully make that song this week's anthem. But I will spare you.

Today is Kristin and my 9th wedding anniversary. We kept it relatively low key. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for some (you guessed it) cheesecake, and then caught a movie. We saw National Treasure. It was a good movie. Not great, but entertaining. It was just nice to get away from the kids for a couple hours.

The anthem is going up early this week because of pressing school issues combined with a weekend-long seminar with one Brett Varnum. He is a 6th degree black belt in our system and one of the senior instructors. This should be a good time.

In other news, Mike Bahr (linked at right) and his wife are going to have their baby this weekend. Her induction is scheduled for Friday and unless her labor is 72 hours long, this baby is coming in a couple short days. So a huge congratulations goes out to them. It will be probably a month before I see Steph again as it is a bad idea for too much exposure to outside people. I do look forward to meeting little Ali (that is what you all will be calling her, right?) when the time is right.

I am going to bring the anthem this week home. Phoenix metal band Flotsam and Jetsam (Jason Newsted's pre-Metallica group) did a fantastic rendition of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting". Considering what I am about to go through this weekend, it seemed fitting.

Se Habla Ingles

This week, I have heard the funniest advertisement since the "I'm a Pepper" campaign waged by Dr. Pepper. I am not sure who remembers this campaign from the 80's, but Dr. Pepper had this whole "I'm a Pepper" thing. The ad isn't funny domestically, but I remember the fallout when they tried to run the same slogan out in the UK. In Britian, a "pepper" is slang for prostitute. That is through the roof funny.

Stratosphere funny comes from the latest ad from Food City. For those of you not here in AZ, Food City is a grocery store that primarily caters to our rampant illegal Mexican element. The stores are almost always near a barrio. To their credit, they do sell the best vanilla you can get here in the states, so I do go there for that. They do sell a lot of what you would find at a Fry's (or Giant for you east-coasters), but the entire center portion of the store deals in Mexican imports. Now that you have the background, the ad they are playing to bring in Americans with some actual money basically states: "Yes, we speak English". I know. You Arizonans are probably spinning in your seats at this revelation. Anyway, it is hysterical. In fact, the guy in the commercial that finds out about the bilingualism os Food City acts shocked followed by a laugh track. At least Food City can laugh at themselves.

It is Thursday. Anthem time. I didn't do one last week. oops. This Wednesday is Kristin's and my 9th wedding anniversary, so I am going to tribute that with the song I wanted her to walk down the ailse to...just for the shock value to the attendees. It is a good inside joke for the female and I. It is not a hard rocker, but the guitar solo work is a solid example of why Neal Schon is one of my top 4 favorite guitar players. He never, ever plays an empty solo. All of his solos seem to say something. So here you go, this is Journey's "I'll Be Alright Without You". Oh yeah, the bass player is who he looks like. None other than Randy Jackson. You know, the "Yo dawg" guy from American Idol. Many contestants try to woo him by singing Journey in their auditions. This is why Journey gets such a massive representation in their preliminaries. Anyway, here you go:

Skipping a grade

Friday night was a belt graduation night for the boy and I. The graduation ceremony started as they typically do. The whole group performed striking techniques first, then while the adults sat around the mat perimeter, the younglings showed the material they have been working on for the last three months. The boy did very well, and has done me proud. Afterward, the kids sat around the perimeter and we adults performed our material of the last couple months. Once this was done, it was time for those with a black striped belt to do their demos. This is where it got interesting for me. I was wearing a solid yellow belt. I thought I was going to graduate to my yellow/black belt, so imagine my surprise when I was asked to put on an impromptu demo. I was expecting to do the demo at my next graduation in three months. After my demo, I did some blind rolling. This means that I closed my eyes, and three of the black belts pushed me around and I had to roll in the direction they pushed me. It was very dizzying and disorienting. Fun though.

At the end of all this, the black belts and instructors all go into the office to compare the notes they were taking while we sit and wait. During this time, I turned to my favorite uke, Paul, and asked if I was mistaken in my assumption that I just did a demo. He agreed with my instinct. Within five minutes of deliberation, the instructors and company came back out, and new belts were awarded. The boy got his camo/blue belt and instead of getting a yellow/black, I recieved my blue/white. They skipped me up a belt. Before Michael wrapped it around my waist, he explained to the students and the audience that I was being skipped ahead because of my technique combined with my previous experience of having "already worn a few belts in the ninja arts". My initial reaction was "are you sure?", but as soon as the thought entered my head, it occured to me that maybe I should just trust in the judgement of my superiors. Humility is good sometimes, but by second guessing the decision, it would show an utter lack of respect for Michael's opinion. So I accept and embrace the decision. And hey...that is 3 months less time before I obtain my black belt. Not to mention the ego boost.

Last night, I finally got over to Mike's place for an evening of MTG, food, games, and Rock Band. I was drummer for most of the experience. All I can say about the game is "wow". Though my wrist hurts something fierce from all that drumming, I look forward to doing it again. The evening would have been amazing just based on that game alone, but it got even better. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I know I have mentioned the name Christina on more than one occasion. Christina is an amazing cook. Her food is so good it makes me want to turn and slap someone. She made lasagna and brownies. Needless to say, the pans on which the aforementioned comestibles were prepared were picked clean in a very short window of time. Later in the evening, Mike and John joined me at the range so we could put a cable up on a lane. It had been down all day and I am sure the wait was particularly long because of it. My thanks goes out to Mike for his assistance.

I have also decided to publicly make an announcement on a project not even my wife is aware of. For the past two and a half years, I have been working on a book. Initially, I started it because I was dissatisfied with the lack of interesting subject matter in fiction. Since then, I have discovered some good historical fiction of various genres, but my sights are still on for the work in progress. I started writing while I was living in Salisbury, Maryland, but I had a computer crash somewhat recently that lost all of my work. Minor setback, right? I am more careful now in that I know to backup important information. What is the book about? Well, as I have stated before in regards to other subjects, I am not in the habit of giving too much away on a public forum like this, but what I can tell you is:

- It is a historical fiction
- The setting is in ancient Egypt

That is all you get for now. Once I learn more about the law and protecting my ideas, I will hold off on giving any more away. I can tell you that the majority of my progress is dialogue. I wanted to get my characters developed before I described too much in the setting. That part will come as I format the book.

In retrospect, I probably should have told Kristin about this. I am far too secretive even with her...