Cabo after Lightroom

I've started playing around with Adobe Lightroom and my first chance to really see what I could do came after our trip to Cabo. Check out the results.

Sunset on our first day

A road to nowhere near a locals beach we found.

A bee in a sunflower at a really fun farm restaurant that we stumbled upon.

Time to grow up

Nothing forces us to grow up faster than having a kid.  Until one has a kid they have the option (whether they take it or not is a different story) to live on their terms and shirk responsibilities.  In those times the choices you make and how you handle yourself in situations only really affects you.  For example, if you are driving and someone cuts you off causing you to experience road rage, assuming no one gets hurt, the only effect is the emotional toll on yourself.  This all changes along with your perspective when a kid is brought into the picture.  What if the kid sees you acting like a rage fueled maniac?  With KB on the way I have completely reevaluated my decision making process.  One of the first things I think about is, "would I do this if I had a kid with me?"  I have started to question my intentions and the space from which I come.  I want to be able to choose my battles carefully and if possible not have battles.  I have a very vivid memory of my dad and I driving in a mall parking lot near where I work when someone cut us off.  They might have run the stop sign or something.  I remember my dad pulling up alongside the pickup truck and cursing the driver out.  The driver responded with an equal measure of curses.  What I remember most is the driver challenging my dad to get out of the car.  This terrified me.  Naturally nothing came of it and we drove off.  I'm not saying whether any part of this was right or wrong, but it's the type of situation that makes me wonder how I would react.  Another example on the other end of the spectrum was the HyWy and her little brother were in Atlanta years ago walking down the street.  There was a homeless man and he was behaving erratically.  The HyWy recognized this, but instead of reacting with fear to promote the idea that something was wrong she offered the simple explanation to her brother that he must be having a hard day.  As I recall they even gave him some food.  These are the opportunities that will soon present themselves in our lives and now is the time for us to grow up as we our decisions will help shape someone else.  

On sampling

Recently I watched a documentary on a very influential hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest.  The documentary looked back on the history of the group and at the same time on what is often thought of as the golden age of hip hop.  Watching the film I realized how hip hop has devolved.  At it's peak it was an art form that was rooted in sampling, but today it's based in beatmakers and drum machines.  That's not to say that sampling doesn't happen anymore.  However, sampling today is entire recognizable parts of older songs instead of being the snare and high hat from one song with the bass line from another song.  The result is songs that are very familiar to the older generation, but with new lyrics or garbage added on top.  The king of this approach is an individual (note I didn't say artist) named Flo Rida.  He has sampled significant parts of songs such as the 80s anthem "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" or "Something's Got A Hold On Me" by Etta James.  Sampling methods aside I think the other reason hip hop has devolved is the rise in popularity of sampling and production software.  Now anyone with a computer can create their own beats in a matter of minutes.  Arguably that is more creative than the sampling approach, but the result is that everything sounds so similar.  Today one prolific beatmaker can create countless of beats for dozens of artists and sell them thousands of dollars.  The role of a DJ has been eclipsed by a beatmaker.  I'm not sure where this will go in the future, but in the meantime I long for the artists of the 80s and 90s.  

A musical icon you have never heard of...

Chances are you have never heard of Alan Lomax, but he has almost certainly affected the music you listen to.  The root of American music whether it is hip hop, rap, rock and roll, or even trance can in my mind be traced back through the influences to blues, R&B, soul, and jazz.  Alan Lomax and his father John Lomax though not musicians helped shape the musical fabric of American history.  They were folklorists that traveled the country and eventually the world in search of folk music and artists.  They then recorded these musicians, because they felt that folk music represented culture and all cultures deserved to be recognized.  One of the most famous examples is the Lomaxs' "discovery" of a then relatively unknown imprisoned bluesman who was residing in the notorious Angola Prison in Louisiana.  They traveled to Angola and recorded Lead Belly who went on to become one of the great bluesmen.  He influenced everyone from Led Zepplin to Bob Dylan to the White Stripes.  The thing that stands out to me the most about Alan Lomax is that he was able to learn about and track down musicians who often lived in the middle of nowhere without devices that we take for granted.  This was a time when the phone was not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today.  On top of that Alan traveled with the latest in recording gear and evolved his equipment as the technology evolved.  I can't imagine dragging hundreds of pounds in equipment on a train to record someone that may or may not be where I think they will be.  In the end the gift Alan and John have left us in the digital age is thousands of hours of recordings.  Interviews, performances, outtakes, etc. which have recently been made available to anyone for free online.  I've only barely scratched the surface of archive, but if you are interested take a look for yourself.

Nut Brown in honor of Baby Brown