DEAFJAM

The End is Near Here

2010-09-08T19:43:00.005-04:00

Yes, unless you are now living the life of a hermit or have lost track of time playing Halo non-stop all summer, you know that the new school year has arrived. But fret not, because we're all graduating this year! Oh wait, that's just me and the other seniors. Oh well, sucks to be the rest of you.

Anyway, lots of new additions to the site. I have added pages at the top for the trip and other events during the year. They don't have much right now, like I've said a billion times, we will hopefully have a band meeting soon that will change that. I've also added a poll on the left side of this post. You might have a problem viewing it depending on what browser you use (seriously, if you're still using Internet Explorer, switch. NOW.).

And on your right, you will see these super cool looking buttons, and you probably have no idea what they are for. From top to bottom they are:

My Twitter page
My deviantART account
A really easy way to email me (Please tell me who you are in your email)
The RSS feed for the site

The first three are pretty self explanatory (if not, see the contact page), but I will explain the last one. RSS is a way to look a the posts I have on the site without actually having to go there. This is a really helpful tool if you follow a ton of different sites and blogs. With RSS, you can look multiple sites at once. The link that I have to the right takes you to to FeedBurner, where you can subscribe to the feed using various methods (I use Google). Or, if that confuses you, you can just look the site (http://tbadeafjam.blogspot.com/) up on Google Reader and click the subscribe button. Most of you probably won't use it, so I wouldn't get too worked up over it.

And if you guys have any comments, suggestions, complaints, hate letters, or lawsuits, just email me and I'll see if I can help. Oh, and I know that I've made comments about how you guys probably don't know anything about all of the computer stuff, but that's only because in my experience, no one in this town does.

Most of the posts seem really boring right now, but I promise that they will get more exciting, even if I have to make up stuff!

Playlist One

2010-09-01T23:30:00.005-04:00

If you've been reading the date stamps at the top of each post (which I doubt you have), you will know that this is my second post today! You can't see it, but I've added a music player to the site. It's at a bottom of the screen because it doesn't fit anywhere else. Cool, you got some Miley Cyrus? Maybe some Justin Beiber?

Wow, before I throw up, let me just say, NO. Every once in a while, I plan on putting a completely random assortment of songs, and giving you a little background info on each. So, here we go:

I'm Waiting for the Man by The Velvet Underground: If you have never listened to them, start now.This song was first released on their 1967 album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The song is about a man purchasing 26 dollars worth of heroin in a Harlem brownstone near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, the "man" in the song's title being a drug dealer.
When You Sleep by Cake: Before you ask, no, the trumpet player isn't Paul DeRitter. This song is off of the album Prolonging the Magic. Every song in the album features a different artist, auditioning to replace guitarist Greg Brown.
Walkin' After Midnight by Patsy Cline: This is probably Patsy Cline's second most popular song, right after Crazy (a song that I'm not really crazy for). It was her first hit, which is ironic, since she didn't like the song, and said it was "just a little old pop song." The song got to No. 2 on the country chart and No. 12 on the pop chart, making her one of the first country singers to have a crossover hit.
Hey Jude by The Beatles: Now, don't get mad at me, I know that is not Paul McCartney singing. I couldn't find the song on the site I got the music player from, but this one is the version on my iPod. This might be my favorite Beatles song. McCartney wrote it for John Lennon's son when Lennon and his wife were getting a divorce (I don't understand what he saw in Yoko). It was originally titled Hey Jules for Julian (Lennon's son), but it wasn't easy enough to sing.
The Fatalist by Robbers on High Street: I honestly don't know a lot about this band, and I actually had to look them up to tell you about them. The band formed in 2002 by two friends from Poughkeepsie, New York. They still seem to be doing well, with a new upcoming album.
The Song is You by Frank Sinatra: This was not the song I wanted to show you guys (seriously, if anyone finds a better music player, tell me). Anyway, Frank Sinatra was, well, as Elton John said when he died, "simply the best - no one else even comes close." His parents were both Italian immigrants, his father a Fire Captain, his mother the runner of an illegal abortion clinic. Sinatra basically relied on his singing career, since he was expelled from high school after 47 days for "rowdy conduct." He recorded over 950 songs in his lifetime.
19th Nervous Breakdown by The Rolling Stones: This song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1965. The riff Brian Jones is playing during the verses pays a tribute to Bo Diddley's song "Diddley Daddy", Diddley being a major influence on the Rolling Stones' style. The song is also well-known for Bill Wyman's so-called "dive-bombing" bass line at the end of the song. The original was only released in mono sound, but private and bootleg copies in stereo are available.

If you have suggestions for the next playlist, or you find a better music player, send me an email!Also, if you haven't figured it out yet, the player restarts every time you go to a new page, so I would suggest that you use the pop-out player.

The Gods of Construction Hate Us

2010-09-01T15:51:00.005-04:00

What do you mean they hate us?! Are we going to die?! Will they make fire fall from the heavens and end Facebook for eternity!?!

Uh, no. But as of right now, the new band room won't be ready before the first day of school. I've been told that we will be stuck in the chorus room until it is done. I was planning on having someone beat the construction workers up, but our nonexistent insurance policy doesn't cover that sort of thing.

Anyway, none of the other officers felt like doing anything this summer, so most of us didn't accomplish anything. I already knew that July would be pointless because some people had Upward Bound, and most of August was a bust since one officer had surgery (as far as I know). So hopefully we get something done this month.

As to the site, I've added a few things since my last post. There are some pages at the top for you to check out, and I'm planning on adding a few more like a page for the band trip and a list of events for the year. Also, I've noticed that the site sometimes won't load. So far I have only had this problem in Firefox. It doesn't happen often, though, so don't freak out if it does. I think that if you add the site to your favorites, it should work fine.

Why You're Reading This

2010-07-23T16:27:00.007-04:00

Hey guys! This is Cassia, writer of the new band blog. But wait Cassia, you wonder, why do we even need a blog? Well there are a few reasons:

To tell you what's going on (concerts, band trip, etc)
To bring up ideas and issues in the band
To talk about music
And to show examples of how Mr. Waldron beats Chuck Norris (don't say I never did anything for you, Dean)

If you don't understand that last one, you obviously aren't in the band, and should probably leave now.

Like I said, this is the best way for the band officers to inform the band ~~peasants~~ public about various happenings within the band. Unfortunately, since we have to take actual classes in school, we don't have enough time for regular band meetings. So, this is a great way for you to find out what's going on!

Hopefully, by the time you read this we will have already had a band officer meeting. Until then, I probably won't post much, except for how you can contact me. For now, you can find a link to my Twitter account on the right sidebar, along with various ways to subscribe to this post.