<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d3640593\x26blogName\x3dHugo+Stop\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dSILVER\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://hugostop.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://hugostop.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-2903925045748676271', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

 



I am a Los Angeles-based twentysomething. I have a profession, and I have a secret life in music, and this blog isn't about any of that. I like Blogger because I can't read what you're thinking.

I Approve Of These Links

- A Blog Supreme
- AdamRiff
- AdFreak
- Hermitology
- Losanjealous
- Piano Jazz

Thursday, November 19   >>

'ELLO, MA'E, 'OW AHHHH YEEEUUUUUUWWWW?

Texting with The Girlfriend, No. 291
HUGO: So this British lady just called me and was referred to me for piano instruction by one of my other clients.

THE GIRLFRIEND: OMG! I bet the boy is a Beatle.

HUGO: It's a 12-year-old girl.

THE GIRLFRIEND: OMG! I bet the girl is going to be Amy Winehouse.
That would be.

So.

Awesome.

----

The Univision gig I've been part of for the past two months-ish is coming to an end on Friday night and I am absolutely bummed. A group that I thought would be ultimately gay ended up being one of the tightest groups I've ever played with, and whose members were some of the nicest people ever. And it ended up being fun. And Shakespeare got paid, son.

To cake onto the sadness, the dress rehearsal last night for the big Friday event (brought to you by Univision and some autistic kids foundation) had a bunch of parents of autistic parents pretty much thanking us to the heavens for our set. Sounds lame, but providing some hope to people is worth more than making money.

Unfortunately, providing hope doesn't pay the bills Unless, of course, you're black, and you're running for president.

----

And the musical journey continues. I don't even know how to start a band. The ones I've been in have always been an accident of friends getting together and saying, "HEY, WAIT A SECOND, THIS IS ACTUALLY PRETTY DECENT." But from scratch? Err...

And without any musical friends left? This is the hardest shit ever. The shitty part is that, for me, music is a catch-22: If I'm not in a band, I'll go crazy. If I'm in a band, I'll still go crazy. I really don't get how people get this right.

I always cite Nickelback. Nickelback are a horrible fucking group, atrocious to culture, really. But they didn't back down despite all the shit talking. And they recorded several albums after what I'm sure were hours upon weeks upon months of rehearsing the same 25 songs to get them right. And, when they went to track, I'm sure they didn't bring their girlfriends or their other friends into the studio. And, when they were on stand by, I'm sure they didn't go to the lounge room to play XBOX and dick around with cue sticks. They were crafting their batch of 25 songs, all in neighboring keys, and with virtually identical chord changes and devices. And no matter how much you hate their music (even more than I do), you can't take away the fact that they did it. They fucking did it. They wrote it. They rehearsed it. They tracked it. They released it. They promo'd the fuck out of their shitty EPs and LPs and they fucking made a life in creating music.

Think about that next time you hear a Nickelback song. Ask yourself, "Have I ever worked as hard for anything in my entire life as much as these guys have worked in creating this piece of shit single that I'm listening to right now?"

REAL TALK.