7 - ohio-post college

chapter seven.

so you can say this whole period begins with the advent of kirby's decision and abrupt departure from columbus to florida for film school. the year... 2005, and it was summer. thats when i first met up with damien rob and lauren. they were my second band that i found looking through the net. i met vivek before kirby shipped off, and the three of us all hung out for that final summer. then kirby was out. after he moved, and i think he stayed the summer, i moved into a new house, out on frambes. thats where i spent a good portion of my time, til vivek passed away in april of 06. but rob got ahold of me through the net and i met damien there at his place. lauren showed up at some point. i played with them for about three months, and rob dropped out. then damien and i continued for awhile longer. but by around new years it was all over.

i recently met up with damien rob and their band playing with jason rory and their band and in the crowd stood lauren and myself with anita. and it was interesting. jason and rory were bandmates of viveks from a band called asthmo and it was cool. they were the cd that vivek handed me when i met him in '05. basically he handed me cakewalk and i used that for all my recordings after. then he took me to the studio and that was my first experience withthat. i also had my first open mic, and my first show with a band in front of a crowd. lots of firsts. also vivek got me into the local music scene moreso than anyone else. he was the first to show me that as well. and vivek was also a general all round cool dude too. so that was always a plus for the kid. and as i was explorin the music of the town as per viveks uirgings i ran into lauren damien and rob and formed a band of my own snowdens silent canvas.

jason was the guy that vivek used to collaborate with. the two of them wrote all the songs as i understood it. when vivek passed jason reformed his band and took rory with him. they formed nuclear children, and ive since been to many of their shows. jasons a cool guy and we talk often about vivek. he's got a record label co-op thing going called champions of the arts. it never makes much money but he seems to be building a community of people. but he's still down about the death, and i used to be as well, until i just came to the realization that it was noones fault but viveks what happened. in the sense that we cant call ourselves responsible for viveks actions. and back then we dont really know how to help people with addiction and the like, nor did we really understand the dangers behind the drugs we were taking. so we were all colelctively naive and just generally young. vivek was wise too though and i believe he chose his friends wisely in that they wouldnt bother him with what he did.

but yeah i had a band of my own snowden's silent canvas. and it didn't last very long but it was fun none the less. damien rob and me. and then we had lauren there so often she must have basically been considered a fourth. we recorded i still have many of them, and lauren and i had a fling. so it brought me not only a band, but friends, and a girlfriend. but things fell apart after about six months, rob lost interest after about three, damien and lauren about six. damien and lauren had started living with each other and three became too many.

after vivek died, which was a shock to us all, i moved soon home to dayton. my lease ended that summer anyhow. but i think i might've come home early. but i was miserabl eand without direction, i'd followed people everywhere and i didnt know what it was to just kinda chart my own map. i kinda picked that up more at home. for about three years i had many breakthrough conversations with my folks with much emotion expressed about the past, our immigrations, the lack of them at home, and the problems i faced in the town. we came to better understandings, so much so that they dont bother me with my girlfriend downstairs in the basement of their house today. i tried going back to columbus in 2008 fall but i dropped out soon after enrolling at osu. i met anita about a month later in the music scene, and we've been together for about a year now. im thinking of trying agani this year with a new town, boston this time, and with three community colleges to pick from.

i was very creatively active during this period writing the bulk of my songs to date as well as many pages of text. beyodn that many photographs and... many performances wracked up to date as well. a fourth band has been together about a year my longest creative partnership with my girlfriend. ive done two studio bouts once with vivek another of my own making three years after. many of these guys knew each other, kirby had met vivek and damien rob and lauren, and lauren knew vivek and had of course met kirby, as rob and damien had also met vivek.

while i was home i didnt write much, most of my writing took place whilst i was in columbus while working with vivek and / or damien and rob. but years later beginning around 2007 i began recording again and have steadily written new material monthly since about new years 08. i often brag about having written over 2,000 songs, and its true, i have, over 2,000 unique recordings, although not all have words, but im sure im geting close to that number as a true count of songs with words recorded on pc's all unique.

moments of greatness

lately ive been talking about moments of greatness, so i figured i'd go down the list.

being on the stage in highschool as a senior playing hit me baby one more itme in front of a crowd and getting a standing ovation.

so a little bit more info on that one. basically i was out there, playing my song, i'd had my acoustic, and basically it was a senior thing in the school the miami valley school more or less near oakwood in the dayton area in central ohio in the midwest of the united states. i was at the school from fall 98 to summer 03, when i finished my secondary education at the age of seventeen. so i was kinda like into this moment because basically i was not like used to getting an applause at all. i think it was the first time anyone from my senior class really gave me a hand at anything. and i guess they saw i had something i really enjoyed and i was really glad to get the applause. i was nervous, i could hardly see the people with the lights in my eyes. i was nervous. but i was super energized when everyone started to sing along with me. i had a great time and i had adrenaline shooting through me by the time i made it to the finish. i was brilliantly happy.

another key moment was the show that vivek and i did in the shisha lounge with he and i for his friends going away party

so basically its become wewll known in columbus ohio usa that at the well known hookah spot that live shows just arent allowed anymore. but this was years before, when the shows were allowed, and the place was hipper. i was there because of vivek, and he was there because of his friend. so it was weird for us to get into this place. but we managed it, and it was amazing. the place was packed and i just went through many of my songs, alot of these guys had never seen me but they were salivating for music. and basically so many folks joined in we had like maybe six or so people out there playing with us. it was amazing.