I was able to see him perform last Sunday, it was awesome. Truly awesome. He’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever seen live. Very fortunately Jan 15 was the version of Music and the Spoken word just before Martin Luther King, Jr. day and they did all spirituals and gospel music. So much fun, it was great. I’m not able to embed the entire show, which is a shame but I found one of the songs they did on you tube:
And here’s another that was kinda fun:
Also I sat by a guy from BBC! He was there because they were covering Mit Romney and wanted to know more about the Mormons. I asked him if he knew Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear and he said “I see him around the office”. Ha! Oh man I want to go to a filming of Top Gear so bad.
I haven’t blogged in forever- that explains the lengthy length of this piece. I was reading my friend’s super rad blog again and I got all motivated to write.
This post is about the people who have shaped who I am. If I could be more like the following list of wonderful people I would be some kind of all-knowing super hero that shoots lasers out his nose into the sky, illuminating the world and spreading baby unicorns and peace roundabout the land, for the good thereof.
Here they are in order of appearance; besides the last two
Ammon Parker
My older brother has been my hero pretty much since I can remember. He’s never been afraid of anything and is always looking for his next adventure. As kids we were all over the place. We sledded of our roof, mooned innocent bystanders, caught snakes, grasshoppers, and praying mantises. We built countless model airplanes and cars, we blew these models up with illegal fireworks, set stuff on fire, and were never afraid to discharge a firearm whether doing so was a smart or thought-out thing. Home-made silencer. Enough said.
Ammon has always been such a baller. he lead the way on all these adventures and sometimes I felt a little like Chuckie from Rugrats thinking “I don’t think this is such a good idea” but as long as Ammon was there I pretty much felt safe and wasn’t worried.
Teenage years brought a little more gusto to the mix. By this time we had motorcycles that would triple the speed limit. We used to drag race them which was awesome. He then went into the Army to find some more adventure. I didn’t go with this time but I thought it was cool that we were fighting battles simultaneously, I was on a mission and he went to Iraq. While in the Army Ammon ninja threw a huge black guy trying to beat the crap out of him on his birthday, and did a cage fight. A little later he rode a bull. Yup. Here’s the cage fight:
Holy crap that video still gets my adrenaline pumping. He’s the one that wins. Chokes the dude out.
Two days ago Ammon and his wife had their first baby and Tate the Tank was 11lbs 4oz. The doctors said he was pretty strong for a baby and he already thinks he can roll over and hold his head up ha ha.
Hugh Gregson
In the Missionary Training Center Hugh was my branch president, or bishop. He is 6′ 8″ and not small in stature. When I first got into the MTC he said “Your mission has STARTED” and everything changed for me. He finally made being active in the church cool for me. For some reason I never really felt I had met a compelling example of gospel obedience up to that point. People in the church always seemed pretty nerdy or two-faced to me. Hugh was different. He had loads of self-confidence and knew exactly who he was and what he wanted at all times.
Knowing him caused me to re-evaluate what I wanted out of life and make some changes. I decided that I was going to be active in the Church and live what that really meant. I decided to read the scriptures which I had never done with much consistency up to that point. I felt that this was such an important thing that I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning pretty much my entire stay at the MTC reading. I finished the Book of Mormon then read through the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament for the first time. It was great. I really felt like a new man.
Hugh was part of the biggest turning point in my life up to now.
Janie Thompson
Janie is one of the most amazing, talented, hard-working, inspirational, loving, listening, aware people I have ever met. She is simply a wonder. To know that people like her exist really makes me feel better about the planet and life itself. It’s also motivating. I have a whole topic on this blog about her. Here’s how we met. She started BYU’s Young Ambasadors and Lamanite Generation, now known as Living Legends. Early in her life she sang with Tony Bennett and personally knew Mickey Rooney. She also served on the Young Women’s General Board for 16 years.
Seriously one of the coolest people ever. She called me today and it was so great to hear from her, I usually go visit a few times a month. I have so many great memories of Janie since I’ve lived here in Provo and consider her one of my closest friends.
Rosalind Hall
I met sister Hall in January of 2007 when I was fresh off the mission. I saw Men’s Chorus do a dress rehearsal of some Disney songs and it totally rocked. 200 very talented guys rocking it out and having tons of fun. I tried out for the BYU Men’s Chorus. After getting past the graduate student screening it was time to meet my maker, the Welsh-accented lovely sister Hall. I was nervous about auditioning so I had my friend Kip give me a crash course 2 days before. Under “experience” on my application I put “one hour with Kip from Singers” to which she replied “what makes you think you can sing in the Men’s Chorus???” ha ha. I looked her square in the face and said “because I want to”. She said “do the University Chorale (an unauditioned choir class) and come see me in the fall”. That’s exactly what I did. Oh yeah and did I mention I was extremely sick for that first audition? Yes I was.
Men’s Chorus was an amazing experience I wouldn’t trade. I got to hear from her 5 days a week which was like a motivational speaker mixed with an LDS general authority every day. I also got to sing in General Conference in April 2008. Look for the guy on the end with a wicked sun burn from snowboarding. Men’s Chorus totally rocks. Here’s them doing a flash mob. I wasn’t part of this but you get the idea.
Nerd power. Men’s Chorus rocks, if you’ve never been to one of their shows it’s a must.
Mike Zevallos
Winter semester 2007 I was taking a Spanish class and a couple kids came in asking for volunteers to mentor kids. They espcially needed people that spoke Spanish to help out with the kids whose parents spoke Spanish. I was feeling really lucky at the time because I was able to quit a crap telemarketing job because of some financial from my sister. I needed to study extra hard so I could get into the accounting program at BYU. I decided to be a mentor.
I worked with a kid over the summer then got paired up with Mike in September. He was 9 years old and super cute kid. His biological father left when he was 3 and passed away in prison when he was 7 years old. His step father who pretty much raised him had three more children with his mom and they split up when Mike was 8. You wouldn’t know it from getting to know Mike, though. He has always been a very happy, smart, and motivated kid. I feel lucky to know him.
We try to see each other every week and do something fun whether it’s play frisbee, soccer, get Jamba Juice, go to a football/basketball game, or go on an unexpected crazy snow hike. Mike has greatly enriched my life and I’m so grateful for him. He’s the closest thing I have to a son and he has made me look very much forward to having children of my own.
Last and anything but least are my parents, Don and Tish Parker.
They are amazing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to raise 6 children. Three boys, three girls, and we’re all doing great raising our own families or preparing to do so. My mom and dad are super cool. They have certainly allowed me to make my own mistakes and be free but at the same time have given much-needed guidance at the right times. I owe them a ton. They always paid for sports I did as a kid and came to all my games. They paid for me to serve a mission, too, which is something not all parents can do. Since I’ve been at college they always came to my choir concerts and come down here often to do fun stuff or take me out to dinner and buy me groceries and things like that. It’s awesome. Couldn’t ask for better parents in college. It’s kind of nice that they moved up here to Utah from AZ, too. And nice that my dad introduced me to the joy that is late model BMWs, ha ha. Theirs is way cool and they let me drive it a lot when they first bought it. Yea, even to LA where my brother and I left for our super sweet cruise last summer.
I shant leave out my other siblings. My younger brother Eric has been my best friend for a long time now. We share a ton of interests and no one can make me laugh like him. We were in a band together, rode motorcycles together, and have been roomates for the past 3 years. Eric rules. It’s his birthday soon! My sisters rock, too. Emily is fun because we can talk about BYU and music and stuff. She’s brilliant and I love her personality, she funny, too. Ahlena is like Yoda. She’s a great listener and she’s always very interested in what you are doing and what you have to say. If she gives advice it’s always from the heart and is timely and usually needed. My youngest older sister Anna is super cool, too. She owns a dance studio and is always lotsa fun. Her daughters are super funny and I love hanging out with them. I got to go there earlier this year for a trade show, soooooo nice to stay with them and see them instead of staying in some lame hotel. They might be moving out west some time soon which is super exciting!! It will be awesome to have Anna and her family nearby.
Love change! Don’t you? It’s good stuff. The change this time is a new computer and a new phone. Fun times. The new devices are faster, hold more information, and more powerful. The phone has a pretty bomb camera and the computer has video editing capability only matched by super villains. Looks like I’m getting a macbook pro 15in and an iPhone 4S. The straw that broke that camel’s back was that both of my current devices (macbook and iPhone 4) ran out of disk space.
“WHAT? That’s like buying new clothes because you haven’t done laundry!” Yup. At least on the surface. Think about it this way: It’s a miracle that you can still sell my 3-year old computer for the ballpark of $600. Show me ANY PC that holds its value that well. My current computer still works great after 3 years and I should count my lucky stars for that and sell it while it’s still worth a lot. Kinda like the Jetta. It should hurt a little bit to sell it. At least then you know you can get a good chunk of cash for it and put that toward something you want that works well. Like an ‘06 vibe.
So here’s the auction on my computer. eBay is fun. Good times. Maybe I’ll sell my phone, too. Who knows. I was sort of thinking of keeping it just to have a backup or another camera. We’ll see.
Change change change. Also last night I did an open mic night at a local music venue. It was so fun. Oh man I miss being a band or otherwise musical group more than I thought. Last week I jammed twice with some friends and it was amazing. I LOVED it. I really feel alive when I’m rocking out. It’s so natural and happiness-causing.
Provo has concerts on the roof of a parking garage in the summertime. They are AWESOME. There was this band called The Vibrant Sound there that totally rocked. MAN. They did some Michael Jackson covers and even a Marvin Gaye! I was impressed by how together and blended they sounded live. Vibrant they were. Their originals were great, too. I knew a couple people in the band, which always makes it a little more fun. Met some cool people there, too.
Here’s the Gaye cover:
Tonight my ward had an activity where Eric and I made tie-dye shirts. This is what they look like in a plastic bag. We’ll see how they turn out in the morning!
I moved into a new place last week! It’s great, I love the change. This apartment is WAY better in so many ways. It’s bigger, newer, has laundry inside, and I get my own room. The closet is pretty bomb-diggity as well. You walk into it and there’s all this space and things belonging to you. Love it.
Man I love that new piano. When I was 13 years old I saw a Ben Folds Five song come on MTV and I thought “Hey! I could play that!” so I sat down at our piano and sounded it out. For years all I knew was that first little part until today when I looked up a ‘how to’ you tube video.
Here’s the song:
Man I can’t wait to learn more stuff. A while back I had a friend teach me Claire de Lune one little bit at a time until I had the whole thing memorized. It pains me that I’ve lost so much of that song but it’s coming back little bits at a time. Great song.
Eric bought a brand new Sony laptop costing $1700 recently. I thought it looked a little stupid for being such a supposed high-end machine. Another surprise was that the trackpad for mousing about felt really dumb. It had an awful texturing. Yet another unhappy surprise was when you picked it up with one hand while the computer was running the screen would freak out and show nothing but garbly garble because the garphics card would disconnect as a result of the computer frame flexing. Piece of crap!
Man what a drag. Eric called Sony and after frustrations with an individual hard of speaking English he requested a full return.
It wasn’t 2 hours later that we were back at the house with a new 13.3″ Macbook Pro 2.7Ghz duo 500GB hard drive wonder machine with 7 hours of battery life. Yup. It’s a tough transition to go Mac but golly there are some things about those fruit-puters that are high quality and convenient. I bought mine in 2008 and I’ve had no probelms with it. I’m still using it now! The thing is still worth like $700, too! That’s truly amazing for a computer. Usually stuff is outdated and crap within 18 months. I dare you to take a look at the resale value of any other computer.
And get this- the apple was CHEAPER than the Sony!
That being said there’s no reason for the mac superiority complex. They don’t do everything right and are in need of scrutiny to keep the quality up.
Me likely music. I just discovered the joy that is Pandora for iPhone! It’s so awesome! It plays the music you like for free and even finds new stuff for you.
On a semi-related note my last two trips have had official theme songs. Song of the Trip in New York was Shiver by Coldplay. Don’t know why but this song was stuck in my head the whole trip and it was relevant in some cosmic way.
Not a bad tune. So I just got back from Chicago and Song of the Trip there was Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. It’s a girl artist and it’s a little more on the happy slappy side but whatever. For reasons unknown it was stuck in my head the whole trip so I had to listen to it over and over. The video is a little odd.
In other music news I got a piano!!!!!! AHHHHHH!H!H!HH!H!H Oh man I’m so pumped and I love!! It was roughly 1/2 the price of a new one but works perfectly! Gosh I’ve wanted a piano so bad for so long this is fantastic. Can’t wait to learn how to read music. And yes it’s the same one I posted about a while ago. It’s wonderful and now sits in my office. Mmmmmmmmm. I’m currently writing this blog post on my piano because I’m about to learn some musics from you tube and play them.
Do note that this fills the keyboard requirement in my life and not necessarily my full piano requirement. Though the 88 VERY nicely weighted keys are beautiful to handle, I pine for a Yamaha baby grand and will own one some day. Either that or a Steinway. Whatever works.
It came and went. Have you seen the movie though?! It’s awesome. Talk about a theatrical masterpiece aimed at improving the human condition. My roomate was watching it on netflicks last night and I couldn’t help but join. Can you imagine living the same day over and over like that? I think a lot of us would go through the same cycles as our friend Phil.
At first he succumbed to his most base instincts. Because he knew there would be no consequences he ate tons of sweets, smoked, drank, snubbed his friends, and seduced a pretty lady using information he gathered the previous day. He messed with people and was a slave to appetite.
Stepping up from the purely physiological to love and belonging, Phil then tries to convince his co-worker Rita to like him. He learns everything about her day by day and does well impersonating a perfect gentleman. This only leads to a stream of disparaging shut-downs. In agony Phil kills himself every day for about 2 weeks, each time waking up at 6am in the same bed to the same song.
I think it’s cool that he decides to improve himself after all that. I love how he changes in the movie. Cliche or lame or whatever I could watch it again and again. By the end of the movie he really cares about people. He learns Piano, French, ice-sculpture, and how to dance. Sooo way cool. Makes me want to get a piano.
I want this piano!!!
Yeah. New birthday preference for sure. This one is similar to the piano my sister had in Houston, TX. I loved that thing. It could make all kinds of different sounds plus it had drums built in and everything. Wannawannawanna. It could go in my kitchen in front of our whiteboard. Booyah.
Post Script: You must understand that my true and living desire is for a real piano. Yes, I realize this is really a glorified “keyboard”. I know, I know. Worry not, though, for a long long time I’ve wanted a black Yamaha baby grand. But somehow I’d be willing to do the Steinway thing if circumstances dictated, hmm.
Here’s a friend I made at a mini-convention on campus Parker Planners attended at BYU yesterday. It’s likely we’ll be working together in coming months.
Not too bad! Considering it’s one take and live, gotta give him credit.
This “morning” I woke up and knew that I had a big meeting with a regional president of Zion’s Bank and hoped it wasn’t really Friday the 13th as my blurry morning vision could have suggested. You don’t want to have an important meeting on that day. So this meeting came about from the Utah Student 25 event that transpired back in November. I got a letter from the CEO of Zion’s Bank congratulating us on our performance and said to contact him personally if I ever needed anything. Hmmm. CEO of a bank offering his services? Yes, please.
I emailed him and he got back to me surprisingly quickly. The very next day. He then put me in contact with a guy who has a sweet office at their brand new very nice building here in Provo. The meeting went well and I got to tell the whole Parker Planners story. I was surprised at how interested he and the other guy in the meeting were to hear my story. It was a confidence booster for sure. I kept thinking “why do these guys care about a planner company?” but whateva, it was good times. They were very helpful in answering some questions and Zion’s may just help Parker Planners get to the next level.
I then hung out with Mike. It was awesome as usual. The last few times have been better than ever. It almost feels like he’s my son sometimes, kinda weird but fulfilling-weird. He’s so sharp and mature for a 12-year-old. We went to Denny’s and got hot chocolate and pancake puppies- fried donut holes made of pancake. These were blueberry with white chocolate chips and they came with warm syrup- yes, as good as it sounds!!
Their hot chocolate is re-fill-able and I think I had like 4.
Afterward we stopped by my office so we could pick up a planner. Mike wanted one because his school planner is too big and he likes Parker Planners. We agreed on a price of $0.50 and it was a fair deal. He was in luck because we just got some samples from China, brand new improved version!!
Guess I should have got a pic with he and the planner.
After that I rocked out with my new roomate Andrew and we ate some chili I made from scratch. It came out great. Chips and chili is what I make when I want to pretend I eat healthily. I like to eat it with white corn chips and lots of cheese, salsa and a little tobasco.
Then it was inner-tube water polo time!! It sounds a little crazy but it’s ridicu-fun. It’s an intramural team and I love it. Rocks. We unfortunately forfeited but got to play for-fun game anyway.
Then I went to a western-themed birthday party and it was a dandy. Night y’all.
Ethan
ps my sister sent me this link. Yes it’s a Miley Sirus song but you gotta give the guy credit for his talents. He’s got a few others that are very good, too.
In going through old stuff and organizing/throwing away, etc I came across some studio recordings from 17 North, the band I was in for a couple years as a teenager. It’s fun to remember those times. We practiced once a week and performed about twice a month. We recorded a 10-song original album and actually made some money. I played bass at first and then lead guitar at the end. We played at Hard Rock Cafe once.
I googled 17 North but not much came up. I did, however find a video of “The 17 North Band” that wasn’t us. Random. Something else that is weird- way back in 2002 I was in a Best Buy with my friend Patrick and he found this album:
We almost died laughing. I couldn’t believe that # 1 someone else’s band is named after a freeway!! (we all lived by I-17 in Phoenix) and # 2 they were GANGSTA RAP. Wow.
This post is a tribute to all bands with numbers and directions in their name.
There may be 17-North posts in the ‘music’ tab of the blog at some point.
And of course I’ll leave you with The 17-North Band in all their glory.
Hey all hope you’re ready for more silly. My ward had a “service auction” recently where people do acts of service for one another and give the money paid or cans of food donated to charity. The service I put up for auction was to write a rap for someone. The buyer was a musical friend named Hannah. I did a short interview to get to know her better and wrote/sang/animated this. She really likes Lady Ga Ga and Moose.
Here’s the 4th installment of Parker Planners’ attempt to generate online sales through an interesting story about a guy running a planner company. Wooo!
I had this thought yesterday in church and wanted to write a post. In pop music, presentation can make up for content. In fact, you might say that’s the definition of pop music! However, most worthwhile music as we know it was once a beautiful poem, or even scripture. Parts of Handle’s Messiah, for example, come straight out of Isaiah. Pop music, on the other hand, is repetitive, shallow, and in many cases depraved of anything that can be considered valuable content. For example:
Can’t read my, can’t read my
No, he can’t read my poker face
(She’s got to love nobody)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(mum-mum-mum-mah)”
Yes. Exactly. Let’s all repeat that one to our kids! Or not.
See the contrast in a song by James Taylor:
“
“Now my mind begins to wander
To the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me
Swinging on his arm
I can hear my granddad’s stories
Of the storms out on lake eerie
Where vessels and cargos and fortunes
And sailors’ lives were lost
Yes, but it’s my life has been wasted
And I have been the fool
To let this manufacturer
Use my body for a tool
I can ride home in the evening
Staring at my hands
Swearing by my sorrow that a young girl
Ought to stand a better chance
So may I work the mills just as long as I am able
And never meet the man whose name is on the label
It be me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
And the rest of the afternoon
Gone for the rest of my life”
He tells a story and teaches a lesson. That’s great!
Ecclesiastical talks and lessons are one place where presentation counts for very little. The Mormon church has chosen to present it’s message to the world in the same way for over 100 years. Calmly, cleanly, in semi-formal attire. Yes we now have technology to record and broadcast the message but it’s the same as it always has been. One thing about teaching the good word is that no matter your presentation, if you don’t live what you’re teaching your words will have no power to touch people.
Here’s a video from last Friday. I went to an overnight training for a service organization I belong to. They had a little talent show and I probably wouldn’t have participated but they said the prize was $100! “Well shoot dang” methinks, “why don’t I give it a go?!”. I didn’t win but it was still tons of fun. You may remember the wig from Antoine Dodson’s infamous appearance on the interwebs. I didn’t know a girl from the audience was filming this and she kindly emailed me the footage. That explains the incompleteness.
I didn’t decide exactly what I was going to do until about 20 min before I went on stage, the wig and bandanna thing was pretty much improv.
You got it, the love that is music. Everyone loves some kind of music. Eric and I rocked out for a couple friends tonight and it was so fun. It’s been a while since we’ve jammed so heartily. Love that stuff, really makes me want to perform again. There are local gigs to do around here, I’ll just have to dust off some of the songs I’ve written and it’s off to the races. I wonder what I could do musically if I put a few hours a day into it.
Ethan
“Yaggo make me lose my mind; up in here, up in here.
Yaggo make me go all out; up in here, up in here”
These famous lines from a contemporary musician and thinker pose one question: Who is Yaggo? How does he possess such influence as to affect this man’s behavior and grammar?
Parker Planners