Drums and Music

This quiz will grill you on your Beatles knowledge. Can you get all their lyrics right? Beatles Lyrics Quiz This one is about the QUEEN smash hit song- "Bohemian Rhapsody." I got 100%- see how you do! BoRap Quiz Here are some highlights from Phife Dawg's career. The legendary rapper from the hit group A Tribe Called Quest recently lost his battle with diabetes and died. His influence on hip hop can not be overstated. Phife Dawg

CNN on iTunes I would just like to add that mixtapes are still possible, it's called "burning a CD." You select songs from your iTunes library and put them into a playlist. Then you burn that into a CD. You hand that CD to a friend and wa-la! You have shared a personal mix of music with a friend. All quirky tips aside, it's a great article that captures the excitement of those early iTunes days. Photo Gallery- Ways to Listen to Music I just love this. From cassettes to CDs to vinyls and beyond, it's all basically here. Do you prefer vinyl? Do you think that the digitizing of music has cheapened the process or hurt its sound quality?

Good morning, everyone! Here is a clip from the Late Late Show with James Corden. Bandleader Reggie Watts brings in a very special robot guest for a jam. This video will CHANGE YOUR LLLLLIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFE! BB 8 + The Late Late Night Band

I just found this today- it's just fantastic. Mr. Mooney's hip hop class gets a special visit from Kendrick Lamar. I think the concept of people studying modern text in this way is refreshing. The way that Kendrick relates to the students, who obviously did a great job of analyzing his art, is wonderful. He has respect for them, and they clearly respect him. They went crazy when he promised to return. "These Walls", Live on Ellen This clip is of Kendrick performing his song "These Walls" on the Ellen show. It's just fantastic. The song and performance convey a very positive, creative message. As Kendrick is rapping, there are dancers, and a painter sharing the stage with him. I think that Ellen's comments are very complimentary. She was obviously very excited to talk to him about his career and being a positive entertainer.

Introducing The Xylopholks! These guys are amazing. The first performance is in the Union Square Subway, and the next is at a studio called the Soundcheck. They are fantastically skilled, and their music is a treat. Check it out. Union Square Gig Sound Check

http://www.buzzfeed.com/spotify/20-things-that-affirm-led-zeppelin-is-the-greatest-band-to-e#.vav3293m9 This article highlights some of the things that make Led Zeppelin one of the most influential and powerful rock bands in history. Some of the topics include them benching the single and instead releasing albums (and still scoring hits,) the secret weapon of John Paul Jones, and two members being crowned royalty. http://www.buzzfeed.com/przshly07/did-john-mayer-really-help-preserve-a-dying-art-fo-8ttl This explains the story of the John Mayer album cover Born and Raised. http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/best-john-mayer-lyrics#.gkqJvRJQR The folks over at Buzzfeed shared some insightful John Mayer lyrics, just in time for his 37th birthday. http://www.buzzfeed.com/alivelez/watch-a-bunch-of-kids-perform-an-amazing-led-zeppelin-cover#.qq89oYLEy Watch this one! I love this group. The kid playing kit is fantastic.

A few thoughts about musical heroes and influences: - everybody has them. Any artist you enjoy, they have heroes and influences that they look up to. -having them helps you grow. You will hear thought provoking, new ideas. -they can come from anywhere. -they can be any genre. -it doesn't have to be what you play. You can be inspired by anyone. -you will learn as you listen. -having heroes and influences will give you new ideas and sounds. -learning about musicians, their sounds and ideas, is enlightening.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been an influential, front and center band for over twenty years. They first formed in 1984. They fused hip hop, rock, funk and punk together in a unique, volatile blend that no one had tried before or could recreate since. Five of their albums are certified multiplatinum in the US (rockhall.com). The current lineup is of Michael Balzary AKA Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer. I'm compounding a list of some of their best songs as an introductory playlist to those who have not discovered their particular music mojo. All the songs are by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and though the list spans quite a lot of time, it leans more towards more recent releases. I hope you enjoy it. 1) Yertle the Turtle 2) My Lovely Man 3) Funky Monks 4) The Zephyr Song 5) Road Trippin 6) Breaking the Girl 7) Charlie 8) Scar Tissue 9) By The Way 10) Californication 11) Dani California 12) Aeroplane 13) Soul to Squeeze 14) Can't Stop 15) Ot

Another one! I just thoroughly love, love, love this band Atoms for Peace. Their sound is just so unique. No one plays quite like them. Theirs is a balanced dynamic musically. You can always hear the bass and the drums, coupled with the ambient noise in the background, but that never overpowers the vocals or the overall clarity of their songs. This music video is a creative, sprawling, ominous art piece. I won't try to crack the code here, but just say that I enjoy it. I think it is unique lyrically, with singer Thom Yorke playing prophet as he points out that something is coming, and it'll be "before your very eyes." Spooky. We see colorful fluid flooding sky scrapers as they collapse, before the camera goes down a massive hole in the ground. Stalactites and stalagmites meet, and the ever present singing head is giving a body in free fall. Amazing.

"Keep you in the dark you know they all pretend- keep you in the dark and so it ends." Cryptic lyrics aside, if you pair the song with the music video, the band's intent becomes clearer. They want to send a message: question everything. Initially, it's just the Foo Fighters playing in a big, empty warehouse. But then, a confrontation becomes imminent as a lone SWAT police officer is joined by a huge line of supporters. The band continues to play, and their music "explodes" over the SWAT team and the Foos emerge unscathed, and victorious. Best music video of all time.

As I mentioned in the introduction, I will be sharing musical playlists. I'll first write the name of the song, then the band, and then the drummer/producer. There are also going to be groups within the playlist. 2 Part Songs Consolers of the Lonely- The Raconteurs- Patrick Keeler 42- Coldplay- Will Champion Lovers in Japan- Coldplay- Will Champion You and Me- Damon Albarn- Jerome O'Connell (steel drums) Richard Russell (percussion and drum tracks) 3s and 7s- Queens of the Stone Age- Joey Castillo Tighten Up- The Black Keys- Patrick Carney The Millionaire Waltz- Queen- Roger Taylor Gnarly Rock Songs 2112- Rush- Neil Peart Good Times Bad Times- Led Zeppelin- John Bonham If 6 was 9- Jimi Hendrix- Mitch Mitchell Wait Until Tomorrow- ' This is Your Life- The Killers- Ronnie Vannucci Jr. Computer Blue- Prince and the Revolution- Bobby Z. Charlie- Red Hot Chili Peppers- Chad Smith Animal Bar- ' Soldier Jane- Beck- Harvey Mason/Joey Waronker (dr

Alrighty. It's time to throw this out into cyberspace after I put my name on it. I'm Spencer Ericksen, and I will be regularly blogging about music. I am trying not to discount any ideas that I'll have in the future, but my main interest for this platform is in the drumming aspect of music making. I want to talk about the production side of music, as well as share tunes that I enjoy. I will share bios and interviews, and hopefully find the means to get into that on my own as well. I will make playlists of my favorite songs, and put together some "how-to" videos about drumming. I'm a student at Southern Utah University, which is located in Cedar City, Utah. I'm studying Communications, but I am also thinking a lot about music. I live in an apartment here in college town with my wife, Shelby. We met in a newspaper writing class at SNOW College a little over two years ago. While serving a two year Mormon mission in Lima, Peru, I grew to admire people w