About a month ago I was selected for jury duty. Not only did I have to report, but I ended up being selected as one of the eight to serve for a civil trial. As with most people, I was not necessarily looking forward to the idea of spending a week or two in court with complete strangers. But on the other hand, as someone who watches a lot of crime dramas on TV and movies I was also somewhat interested by the opportunity to experience these things in real life.
For the integrity of the judicial process, I am not going to get into what the trial was about, nor the results. For the purposes of this blog, they are inconsequential anyways. But what came of this experience for me were several things.
The first is that the jury process, for as much of an inconvenience as it is for most people, works. What I saw and was so impressed with was that eight people from all different backgrounds, ages, sexes, races, and careers could take the responsibility set upon us seriously, get along and work together, and also ultimately form just about the same opinions after seven days of testimony. This is all you can hope for if were to find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being in court yourself one day, to know that the people in charge of your fate are doing their best to do their job to the best of their ability.
The other thing I took out of this experience was that this group that was assembled because of it's apparent differences and balance ended up meshing so well. On the outside we couldnt' have been more different, but yet in the time we spent in the jury room while the judge and lawyers worked out issues (which was A LOT), we all became very close. We shared stories of our lives, our families, our jobs, our sports teams. Because we could not speak about the case until testimony was over, we had to talk about anything and everything else, which we did.Several people once we reached the end how if even just one person had been replaced how it could have potentially changed the entire dynamic and atmosphere, and this was very true.
Given all these things, the most important thing that came out of all this was that the jury system works. We were lucky to have been assigned to a judge and court reporter who were very well-natured and helpful, us jurors all got along well, and most of all we took the task given to us seriously. Not to mention, I don't think I am alone in feeling like I made some friends for life...
Monday, April 29, 2013
5 Albums that Changed My Life
So one thing about me is that music is a huge part if my life, always has been. I remember as a child my parents always had records playing of Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys, and Michael Jackson. On long trips in the car up an down the eastern seaboard listening to oldies on the radio. As I grew older I would play various wind instruments in school, and eventually picked up the guitar.
So listed here are 5 of the most influential albums TO ME. This in no way is a reflection of what I feel are the best albums ever, or necessarily my favorite. They are simply the ones that had a significant effect on me both musically and emotionally:
1- Master of Puppets (Metallica): Could possibly be one of the top albums not only in metal history, but in history all together. The speed and technicality of the songs is second to none. This took the shredding that was on their first two albums, and harnessed it into more precise songs, and added a groove that made my blood pump. The lyrical content touching on various social and interpersonal issues. Just all together struck a cord in me and made me want to shred on my guitar and also to start writing lyrics of my own.
2- Nevermind (Nirvana): I can still remember the first time I listened to this album, and being totally immersed in it and thinking that this was something I had never heard before. It took the haunting melodic sway into loud crushing choruses. They were simple songs that somehow carried a swagger. You could feel the pain and discomfort that Kurt Cobain carried with him through his words and guitar, and the violent drum beats of Dave Grohl kept the head banging throughout.The fact that Nirvana has such a limited catalogue has lead to a lot of overplayed songs, but whenever I go back and listen to this CD from start to finish it is as exciting as it was back then.
3- Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine): When a friend of mine first played this album for me, I was floored. When he then told me that it was just a four-piece with no keyboards or synths, and that all the odd sounds and screeches I heard were Tom Morello playing his guitar through a single effects pedal, I was in total disbelief. Rage Against the Machine created something completely different, mixing rap vocals with funk and metal grooves, adding in heavily politicized topics. This was an album that rock and metal heads could head bang to, and rap fans could sway to. It was, and still is, an album like no other, and they were truly originals.
4- Dirt (Alice in Chains): This album is pretty much a diary or the struggle with which Layne Staley had with substance abuse, a struggle he eventually would lose. The haunting tone in Staley's vocals through out strike a nerve, and you can tell how cathartic is was for him to tell of his use, abuse, and disgust of what he had become. Add to that the vocal counter-melodies of Jerry Cantrell, as well as "Rooster", a song about his father's battle with life post-Vietnam service. Again, an album that I can listen to start to finish, and every time I get totally immersed in it.
5- Ashes of the Wake (Lamb of God): I was big into metal in high school and shortly after, and then kind of lost touch with a lot of the newer metal in the years after that. But about 6 or 7 years ago I started to get back into it, and the one album that was responsible for raising my adrenaline levels and the hairs on the back of my neck was Ashes of the Wake by the band Lamb of God. Their third album, it is their first, in my opinion, that had true direction and top notch production. Most of the songs focusing on political distrust and displeasure with the wars overseas, the album is full of passion as well as some of the most precise and technical guitar and drum work you will find on any rock or metal album. Ashes of the Wake reminded me of why I had become a metal fan to begin with as a teenager, and has once again struck that nerve in me in my thirties.
So listed here are 5 of the most influential albums TO ME. This in no way is a reflection of what I feel are the best albums ever, or necessarily my favorite. They are simply the ones that had a significant effect on me both musically and emotionally:
1- Master of Puppets (Metallica): Could possibly be one of the top albums not only in metal history, but in history all together. The speed and technicality of the songs is second to none. This took the shredding that was on their first two albums, and harnessed it into more precise songs, and added a groove that made my blood pump. The lyrical content touching on various social and interpersonal issues. Just all together struck a cord in me and made me want to shred on my guitar and also to start writing lyrics of my own.
2- Nevermind (Nirvana): I can still remember the first time I listened to this album, and being totally immersed in it and thinking that this was something I had never heard before. It took the haunting melodic sway into loud crushing choruses. They were simple songs that somehow carried a swagger. You could feel the pain and discomfort that Kurt Cobain carried with him through his words and guitar, and the violent drum beats of Dave Grohl kept the head banging throughout.The fact that Nirvana has such a limited catalogue has lead to a lot of overplayed songs, but whenever I go back and listen to this CD from start to finish it is as exciting as it was back then.
3- Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine): When a friend of mine first played this album for me, I was floored. When he then told me that it was just a four-piece with no keyboards or synths, and that all the odd sounds and screeches I heard were Tom Morello playing his guitar through a single effects pedal, I was in total disbelief. Rage Against the Machine created something completely different, mixing rap vocals with funk and metal grooves, adding in heavily politicized topics. This was an album that rock and metal heads could head bang to, and rap fans could sway to. It was, and still is, an album like no other, and they were truly originals.
4- Dirt (Alice in Chains): This album is pretty much a diary or the struggle with which Layne Staley had with substance abuse, a struggle he eventually would lose. The haunting tone in Staley's vocals through out strike a nerve, and you can tell how cathartic is was for him to tell of his use, abuse, and disgust of what he had become. Add to that the vocal counter-melodies of Jerry Cantrell, as well as "Rooster", a song about his father's battle with life post-Vietnam service. Again, an album that I can listen to start to finish, and every time I get totally immersed in it.
5- Ashes of the Wake (Lamb of God): I was big into metal in high school and shortly after, and then kind of lost touch with a lot of the newer metal in the years after that. But about 6 or 7 years ago I started to get back into it, and the one album that was responsible for raising my adrenaline levels and the hairs on the back of my neck was Ashes of the Wake by the band Lamb of God. Their third album, it is their first, in my opinion, that had true direction and top notch production. Most of the songs focusing on political distrust and displeasure with the wars overseas, the album is full of passion as well as some of the most precise and technical guitar and drum work you will find on any rock or metal album. Ashes of the Wake reminded me of why I had become a metal fan to begin with as a teenager, and has once again struck that nerve in me in my thirties.
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