So this past week, USA celebrated Thanksgiving. This meant that on thursday, there was food in store.
Said and done, me and Scott packed our stuff and went to Valencia for Thanksgiving dinner. In short, I can say that American food is interesting. Not all of it was tasty, but it was enlightening to have tried alot of what they had to offer. The courtesy of our hosts (which was not A and C, Scott's family) was remarkable though, I'm grateful to have been invited into their home and being part of their Thanksgiving.
Since Thanksgiving is a national holiday, I've been off school from thursday until monday. The weekend held nothing but rest and easy living pretty much.
Now for a week of hard work! I can feel that I've lost a bit of steam, but hopefully it'll be back soon.
This week I'll be doing Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Some say guys shouldn't cry. That it's unmanly and a complete turn-off. Luckily, I don't care. Whenever I hear a certain type of song or image that makes me think of certain things, I bawl like a baby. I know that I'm not alone!
Just now I listened to this song and opened up like a waterfall. Not because I'm sad about anything, I've dealt with that part of my life already. It's also not because I miss home, because I speak to my family regularly and feel content with that. I just find it so beautiful along with the imagery and the song's simplicity.
I'll also point out that I'm not a religious man, even though this band is.
Have a good day and evening everyone! Finding a positive spark in every day is what makes life worth living!
Remember I was doing that LPW on Journey? Well it was a raging success apparently! As usual when I feel comfortable with a song, I was having alot of fun.
During stagecraft, which is pretty much a very spontaneous and improvisation class, we were handed lyrics for different popular songs. I ended up with Green Day's "21 Guns". After this our resident pianist, John Rosenberg, laid down a very nice and mellow rhythm and we had to come up with a vocal melody but using the lyrics we were handed. Let's just say that 21 Guns sounded far from rocky and very much like some semi-soulful ballad.
The piano performance with the song "I'm Sorry" was also alot of fun to perform. Definitely a more serious and heavy feel. Got critiqued on not being expressive enough and I can definitely agree. Was pulling myself back since I had gotten comments about being VERY expressive in the past. Vocally I felt really good, and the piano playing was beautiful (Our resident pianist is named Karen, a fantastic lady with terrific skills).
Thursday:
This was the day with the different version of "21 Guns" was taking place. At the end of the day, we had Artist Showcase Performance, so the class where I had performed "I'm Sorry" prior. Afterwards, my classmate Dani (Daniel, South American from Honduras) suggested we go grab a drink at Snow White. Snow White is a local bar situated right opposite of MI. They have huge pitchers of beer at cheap prices and we had a small party of people up for a peaceful evening in the company of friends.
Turns out, Snow White had been closed down due to violations against the health and safety regulations in California. We had to improvise, and luckily there was a bar nearby named Pig'n Whistle. Let's just say that at the end of the night, people were getting properly hammered. I had a light buzz going and didn't have to buy a single drink myself, one of the guys in our party offered to buy us all drinks which we were really thankful for. I felt obliged to proclaim that the next time the group went to a pub, the man would get his free drinks and shots back.
In other news:
Still working hard on picking up different accents. Have found good resources for it as well. I hope everyone back home in lovely Sweden is ok and that you're all having a good time. Now I'm off to practice and also visit the gym.
"Life is like a box of cigarettes, you enjoy it for awhile and eventually it kills you."
- Johan Westberg Laudahn
Ok, so maybe that's being very cynical. Admit that it was fun though!
The past week has held some rehearsal and as you know, midterms. The midterms have all gone well. Just today I got the test from my theoretical class "Vocal Technique" and had scored 97% correct, that was definitely one load off my chest. Tomorrow we'll probably see the results for harmony&theory and eartraining.
The past week I performed the song Second Chance. While my vocal performance wasn't flawless, I was still satisfied and got thumbs up from my peers. Vocally I am finally nearing 100% again, although I'm still suffering from alot of mucus in my throat.
I've been practicing alot with a couple of other swedes, preparing for tomorrow's LPW which will be Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
And here's a cover version I found which is pretty amazing. This is from a TV show called "Glee". I know my family will love this one:
I also experienced my first ever jamming session with these guys. That was a very educative hour indeed. Thanks for the immense amount of fun, D, D and C!
In other news:
I have been hard at work researching the New York accent (there are several, I am basing one of them on Denis Leary in the series Rescue Me) and also Scouse (broad term for the local accent of Liverpool inhabitants, very melodic and fast).
You might have noticed that there are a few more blog links here now. I am collecting them mainly from friends so that people can read something besides my lovely rambling about life in LA.
The mission I have set out for January is to procure some decent studio equipment (mic, preamp and that whole shebang) so that I can get to work on that bit at home as well.
This multi-faceted blog post was brought to you by: Jonie!
Have a great day/week/month/year/life everyone! Cherish those things that make life worth living!
Ohai derr! Before you start, it's a microphone, guys! Not a sex toy.
Life is still hectic with alot of stuff going on. After new year's, there will be alot more!
Currently I am the busy bee at school with one performance after the other, along with learning as much as I can on voiceover stuff.Luckily I have a lovely teacherat school named Delbi Smart who is also an avid voiceover coach. Those who know me, know that I have a slight obsession with picking up and learning different accents. I have the scottish and australian accents pretty much nailed down and am currently hard at work on developing jamaican english, cockney english, "valley boy speech", irish and also attempting scouser (local accent of Liverpool). One positive thing is that Delbi consistently wants me to come back and keep working on them, which is a good sign. A teacher wanting you to come back may mean that you have things to work on, but that's what being at school is all about anyway! Having a teacher saying nothing is worse than them saying:
- Oh yeah, I really want you to come back for open counseling so we can keep working on this.
Yeah Delbi, stroke that ego!!
In other news:
Scott has been giving voice coaching for people and is becoming increasingly busy with it. Today he went to see his own vocal coach, Roger Love, and came back saying that Roger will probably employ him in the near future. One of the reasons for this being that Roger himself is a very popular vocal coach and is very busy. GOOD FOR YOU, SCOTT!!
Currently I have had two midterms. One in piano accompaniment and one in my vocal technique theory class. Tomorrow holds two more midterms in the form of harmony&theory and eartraining tests. Am fairly confident on both, we'll see how it plays out.
Seeing as I'm not a piano player, I decided to take on what I will say is probably one of my most daunting tasks ever, next to having to learn how to walk again. The task I have set before me, is to learn how to play the piano and sing the following song:
The following weeks will be even more hectic. For week 10 I have to perform a set of four songs. One song accompanying myself on a piano and singing (see the video), two blues songs (Route 66 and San Josè) and one song where we have the instrumental track, but have to figure out a melody and lyrics of our own. It's a monumental challenge, but I'm motivated and fricking psyched to beat this challenge and put on a good performance as well.
PS: I've also managed to get two nicknames while being here. The first being "Number 2" since there are two Johan in most classes and I am always the second one to be called. The second nickname being "Yoni" or "Joni" coming from a classmate of mine. I thought it sounded cute enough to actually not protest their choice of nickname.
Live well, guys! Life is meant to be enjoyed! /Joni
Still alive, don't worry. (You did worry, didn't you?)
I was sick through the weekend and only started feeling good enough to meet people on monday. Sky called me up and said that some friends of hers were playing before Steel Panther at The Key Club. For those who do not know Steel Panther, they are a parody on 80's glam metal bands. They're known for their energetic, hilarious and very 'dirty' shows. Being on the guest list for one of the opening bands meant we got in for free. The band we were there to see, Assemble The Skyline were playing at 9 and Steel Panther went on at 12.
I love watching Steel Panther, this being the second time I saw them. The only problem for me was that I was still feeling the effects of having been sick. Thus, I was tired as all hell.
Here are some videos of Steel Panther with random celebrities (a common occurrence during these shows).
During the week, I've been feeling abit tired and worn out. Haven't been able to sing as well due to coughing and wreaking havoc on my vocal chords that way. Next week is midterm week, which means it is a week of having a few exams.
Short story on one of my favourite subjects:
On fridays I have voiceover workshop, a class that focuses on the recording of voices for commercials, animated characters etc. I am a complete sucker for this and am enjoying that class like nothing else. Currently I am heavy at work on a jamaican accent, cockney and a heavy New York accent (think italian gangster type in a movie). I have so far gotten alot of praise for my irish, scottish and australian. Stroke my ego, teacher! STROKE IT!!
On monday I will be performing Shinedown - Second Chance at the modern rock LPW
That'll be all for this time, hope life treats you well
