Back from the pediatrist

If you didn't know already, I have a walking problem. As in I walk in-toed, like a pigeon. After my mother suffered many years of frustration with my walking, I finally got to see a specialist. They told me that I will need to get orthopedic shoes and that I should become more athletic. More athletic as in roller-skating and running. I figure I can use this disability as inspiration for my new music. Concept album? The Pigeon Toed Roller-Skater and His Search for Straight Feet or PTRSHSSF if you want to be cool.
First song: Boy realizes that his feet are messed up.
Second song: Boy goes to pediatrist. Boy realizes he needs to fix his feet. He gets friends to help him do this.
Third song: Boy get shoes. Starts Roller-Skating. He realizes he sucks and get sad. His followers comfort him.
Fourth song: His followers leave him.
Fifth song: Instrumental. Expresses much sadness.
Sixth song: Boy sits in sadness. He tries to roller-skate. He succeeds.
Seventh song: He finds happiness. He sees his followers and they're very not happy. He offers to help them.
Eighth song: His followers come back. They're all happy.
Ninth song: Reprise of song #3
Tenth song: Instrumental version of track 7.

That sounds like a plan. Now I have to write it...

Opening night tomorrow?

I may not have mentioned this but I'm in the Springfield Little Theaters production of Pinocchio. We've been rehearsing every night these past few weeks and it has been tiring but we open tomorrow. I'm a boy who then turns into donkey, though I don't actually get to turn into a donkey on stage. That was a bit of a disappointment. My costume is basically a british school boy's outfit. I've thought about stealing it from the theatre and wearing it to some of my shows. Or maybe just making one like it. 
The play is finally coming together, compared to where we started at with it. Hopefully dress rehearsal is perfect tonight and opening night is great. But every performance I've been in, something goes wrong opening night. That's the beauty of theatre. Hopefully it's nothing too severe... 
So if you live in the area, come to the Landers Theatre either this weekend or next. You can stop by the box office and buy tickets or you can go online to springfieldlittletheatre.org. 

My thoughts on private/independent schooling versus public schools

I wrote this as part of writing class so it sounds a little forced... Oh well. Here it is.
        Students can go to either the public schools paid for and sponsored by the government to provide a bare minimum education, or they can pay to go to a private school owned by local organizations and often affiliated with churches of the area. After seven long years of living through a collection of various public schools, I recently made the switch to a private school (or more specifically an independent school) of the area and my opinion of public schools will forever be changed because of it.

        While in public schools I was unaware of the many opportunities available to me. I was used to not asking questions, working at the speed of others, and going by the curriculum provided by “the man.” In other words, “the man”, was always holding the students back from achieving more. This was all so that they could work with the students that were having difficulties. Everything was dumbed down so that students of all brain capacity would be able to learn fast enough, and to complete every task listed in the curriculum. Learning was a chore and seemed unbearable for me. If I ever felt that I wasn't understanding something, I was ignored. As long as I was passing their class, they didn't care if I was understanding or not. I wasn't aware of the flaw until I had reached middle school age and by then it was too late. 

      When I made the switch this past year to a private school, I was shocked at the flexibility in classes (not to mention the small sizes), shocked by the patience and willingness to work by the teachers. It was the school I had dreamed of during those painful hours of waiting in public schools. We, as students, were treated less like slaves and more like a son/daughter. In the seventh grade there were only 5 students, and in some grades even less. We took all the same classes that public school students normally take but, we were doing work that was normally two years ahead of what they were doing. If we had a problem we were all treated equally and most likely, we all had the same question because we all all thought so similarly.

        With only 20 kids in the upper school (6^th -10^th grade) the classes were able to be held in different locations. We weren't restricted to just 4 walls, pencil, paper, and a prominent figure instructing students similarly to a dictator. There was no strict curriculum for the teachers, and they were able to teach things in ways that the students enjoyed and learned well in. It was my perfect learning environment (and still is) and it was for many others. The options and flexibility made learning enjoyable for students and for the most part teachers too. What all of the public schools lacked, it made this school enjoyable.

        I would recommend and encourage any student/family wanting to switch from public schools to go to a private or independent school. There aren't as many problems socially amongst students, teachers can adjust classes to fit needs of students, there are very few things limiting the school from doing things educationally fit, and the overall learning environment is better. These have been my opinions on private schools from the perspective of a long time member of public schools recently making the switch to private schools.

Robeo and Julietech: The Musical!

During the past few months, our school has been writing the script for our end of the year musical. The story: Romeo and Juliet with robots, set in the future. I've had the honor to help write the music for the production along some of the other students. The middle school and high-school (only 20 students) will be creating every aspect of the musical including performing it on May 27th. It should be pretty impressive to see but most likely not as impressive as this (put link to A Very Potter Musical).
The auditions are going to be March 2nd for all of you Springfielders. They will be held at the Vandivort Theatre from 7-9. You will need a prepared vocal solo if you plan on having the role of Robeo or Julietech. You will also need to know how to dance if you want any role. There are 5 speaking characters if you want to get to act. Email me at joe.flea2b@gmail.com for more info.

Recording...

I'm sure most of you know me as a member of The Scribbles, a band of three 7th graders with ukuleles and glockenspiels. Well after more than a year of playing shows and selling merchandise (right now it sounds like the band is breaking up but it's quite the opposite), we are going to be recording a full length album! Fellow Scribbler, Olivia Bacon, has a photographer father and owns a gallery where producer Justin Woods works. Justin owns Monarch Studios where the Scribbles originally recorded The Robot Song. He was generous to give us a screaming deal to record somewhere from 9-12 songs.

Hopefully we will start recording sometime in April and or May. Right now he is finishing up the New Monsters Collective record. The whole process will be rather exciting to be a part of. I've always been interested in the different aspects of recording. There are so many different things you can do now with all the technologies available.

I'll try to keep you posted on all the details and when we finish it. If possible, I will try to video tape the process and post on this web-log. Check my twitter too for more updates.

A Blog Dedicated to David Bazan...

Thanks to a $10 gift card from Mitchell Johnson, as repayment from all those days I paid for his mudhouse smoothies and muffins, I was able to buy the new Bazan solo album. The album is great but different musically and lyrically when compared to his earlier Pedro the Lion work. He was known as a christian artist and payed in many christian music festivals (though still an alcoholic) but this new album is all about changing and questioning his religious beliefs. The opening track starts with synthy experimentation and a bit of piano. Then it builds into his lyrics describing the story of Adam and Eve and how it's "hard to be a decent human being." The song goes on to question the logic in how this evolved into the culture we have now. Most of the other tracks take concepts of christianity and question his faith in them. He also hints at his alcoholic ways and how different his family has made him. If you have ever loved Pedro or any of Bazans other work, I would highly recommend this album to you.

Upcoming Shows

Feb. 5 7pm @Park Central Library w/ Say Yes! To Michigan! (the artists formerly known as Jubilee Jews) Free

Feb. 6 7pm @Randy Bacon Art Gallery w/ The Scribbles and SSLYBY $7

Feb. 9 6pm @Landers Theater as part of Youthfest (I will be playing bass with some kids who will be singing a song from Wicked). $?

That's my February show list.

I'll post more leading up to the event or if any of the information changes. Hopefully you'll be able to make it out to some of those.