The Power of the Voice

The human voice is an extremely underrated instrument.  As a pure instrument, it may be the most versatile one we humans possess.  Yes, the guitar has many effects that people have used throughout rock music, but the human voice has been able to replicate many of those tones.  The voice can also imitate a bass, or the drums.  Add on the fact that it is the easiest method of conveying your story to your audience, you have a pretty versatile instrument.  I may have my biases because I have been a singer for a long time, but that just gives me more of an appreciation and understanding of what the voice can do.

Beatles Hate...?

I don't get some of the Beatles hate, especially from those that truly appreciate music.  I get some of the arguments why people don't like them, though I don't agree.  "They are overrated", "they are just pop music", "some of their stuff all sounds the same", "they are just not my style".  Those are all opinions and I respect other's opinions but any true connoisseur and student of music, how its made, and its history comes to respect the Beatles.  They undeniably have an enormous influence on music, arguably more than  any other band.  They pioneered in many of the things they did, down to even how they recorded.

Jimmy Stewart: Hollywood's All-American man

This is a tribute to Jimmy Stewart, the All-American man of Hollywood.  Throughout his career, he always played your classic protagonist.  Its hard not to love Jimmy Stewart because not only was he a great actor, but he played characters who it was often very hard to hate.  As an actor, he brought a great deal of Pathos to his roles and made them more sympathetic than they already were.  Its not by pure coincidence that his roles were always sympathetic, the passion and charisma he brought out in his roles just made you fall in love with every one of them. 

Pearl Jam: Undervalued Grunge

Well, forgotten may be a slightly exaggerated term but Pearl Jam often doesn't get their due when it comes to good Grunge music.  When people think of grunge now and when they talk about the innovation involved, its always Nirvana.  They were the first Grunge band to make it big but Pearl Jam was right on their heels.  Some will say that Pearl Jam would never sold as well as they did if it wasn't for Nirvana but its just not true. Nirvana definitely helped their popularity, but you cannot mention what grunge did without mentioning Pearl Jam or Nirvana.