I think that Thursday is going to be interesting. I won't be there to see how things go, and IF EVERYTHING ISN'T SPELLED CORRECTLY I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.
It's just so annoying to keep finding spelling errors after all this time. Maybe I SHOULD take it upon myself to read every story myself. But I'm not going to be there at the next layout night, so someone PLEASE do me a favor and make sure the grammar, spelling, and punctuation is correct! RAWR!
Anyway, I'm kind of bummed out that I won't be able to be in newspaper production next semester. Everyone is really cool and fun to be around, and I hope I can still help out somehow. That would really be cool. I guess we'll see what happens.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
This isn't the exact version that went in the paper, but it's good enough, right? Hahah.
To kick start the holiday season, Cabrillo Jazz Instructor Ray Brown and his Great Big Band will perform tonight in the College Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
The band consists of mostly All Star musicians from San Francisco, accompanied by some former students and Ray's brother Steve Brown, who will be playing guitar and drums.
Throughout this afternoon, there will be various clinics available to all students specializing in saxophone, trombone, trumpet, rhythm, and improvisation. For more information, please contact the cabrillo music department.
For 33 years, Ray Brown has been educating Cabrillo College students about jazz improvisation, theory, and arranging.
Brown was hired in 1975 by Lile Cruse, who was looking to expand the jazz studies program at Cabrillo. After being on the road with the Stan Kenton Band for a year and a half, Brown taught part time in New York, and finally found what he was looking for here at Cabrillo.
“This was a complete jazz job,” said Brown. “Which were few and far between at that time. …There were very few places, if anywhere, that had a full-time jazz only position. So this was very special.”
Brown's experience with the hiring process was difficult, but definitely worth it.
“It was a long day,” said Brown. “I played at a wedding the night before from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am and I took a 6:30 am plane out of Kennedy, flew to San Francisco and then came [to Cabrillo] to run a rehearsal and play and I had interviews and so on and so forth. Then I got back on a plane and got back to New York at 7 in the morning and made it in time to teach my class at 9:00 in the morning.”
But Brown didn't always plan on being a teacher, “Up to my senior year in high school, I was going to go to Cornell for Hotel Administration. I was going to run a hotel, and the reason was so that I could have a jazz club in it that I could play in. In January of my senior year in high school, I realized the musical abilities that my parents had given me. I just thought everybody could do what I could do. I could do a lot of things, but it wasn't anything special, because in my family, I was the worst one. I never realized that other people couldn't write charts and improvise and stuff like that. I thought everybody did that. And only then did I realize how advanced I was from other people. Because in my house, it was the norm. At that point I decided to go into music. I really wasn't sure, but within a year I realized I was in the right place. From that point on I knew what I wanted to do.”
Brown went to Ithaca College in upstate New York, and studied classical music theory. As a junior he ran the Jazz Lab Band, which, he says, benefitted him greatly. He was able to learn how to work with his friends, but run a great band at the same time.
However, most of Brown's education came from his father, who started jazz education in America in 1944. Glenn Brown had elementary jazz bands, junior high jazz bands, and high school jazz bands in Long Beach, NY, and Ray's biggest influence has come from his experiences as a kid.
“Whatever I teach my students comes from how my dad taught me,” said Brown. “My whole curriculum is based on what I learned from him.”
Aside from what Ray learned at home, he gained playing experience in his father's jazz camp at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
“We had classes in arranging, copying, and improvisation. We rehearsed every day for an hour, and we had sectionals every day. After about two weeks we would go out and play four or five nights a week at all the camps around the lake.”
“That was an unbelievable education for me,” said Brown. “Nothing I could have gotten anywhere else.”
After graduating from college, Brown went into the army. He and some friends joined an Army Band, knowing that it would guarantee them the opportunity to play, and after one year, Brown found out that the army started a jazz band. Modeled after Glenn Miller's Big Band, the Airmen of Note, the Army's Studio Band was formed, and Ray found a way to join the band.
“I don't know how I did this, but they only had four trumpets and I convinced them to go to five.”
Ray became the jazz trumpet player for the band, and he was also a writer. He was able to rehearse the band and again find himself working amongst his peers. With this experience he learned that he was on the same level as some of the greatest players in the world, which he had not known when he was growing up.
When it came time for Ray to leave the band, he had made friends with these great musicians, some of whom had played with Stan Kenton. Two months after leaving the service, Ray received a call from Stan Kenton, asking if he would play with his band. To which Ray says, “Of course I said yes.”
Ray toured with Stan Kenton's Band for a year and a half as the jazz trumpet player, and ran all of the jazz improvisation clinics they held, which provided him with plenty of practice with teaching and running classes. He traveled and played in every club and major performance venue in the world.
After his experience with Stan Kenton, Ray got his master's degree and married Sue Brown, who is also a music instructor at Cabrillo. The two freelanced in New York for about two years before moving to California for Ray's position at Cabrillo, and after about five years, Sue was hired to run the strings and chamber music program.
Brown can now write and play for whatever he wants. When he was a freelancer he had to take every performance and job he got called for.
“That's the kind of stuff that teaching allows me to do on the side. That's what's really been cool about being here. As well as the students I've worked with; there have been a number of great players and it's been a pleasure to work with those people and see them go around and become major forces in the music world.”
To kick start the holiday season, Cabrillo Jazz Instructor Ray Brown and his Great Big Band will perform tonight in the College Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
The band consists of mostly All Star musicians from San Francisco, accompanied by some former students and Ray's brother Steve Brown, who will be playing guitar and drums.
Throughout this afternoon, there will be various clinics available to all students specializing in saxophone, trombone, trumpet, rhythm, and improvisation. For more information, please contact the cabrillo music department.
For 33 years, Ray Brown has been educating Cabrillo College students about jazz improvisation, theory, and arranging.
Brown was hired in 1975 by Lile Cruse, who was looking to expand the jazz studies program at Cabrillo. After being on the road with the Stan Kenton Band for a year and a half, Brown taught part time in New York, and finally found what he was looking for here at Cabrillo.
“This was a complete jazz job,” said Brown. “Which were few and far between at that time. …There were very few places, if anywhere, that had a full-time jazz only position. So this was very special.”
Brown's experience with the hiring process was difficult, but definitely worth it.
“It was a long day,” said Brown. “I played at a wedding the night before from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am and I took a 6:30 am plane out of Kennedy, flew to San Francisco and then came [to Cabrillo] to run a rehearsal and play and I had interviews and so on and so forth. Then I got back on a plane and got back to New York at 7 in the morning and made it in time to teach my class at 9:00 in the morning.”
But Brown didn't always plan on being a teacher, “Up to my senior year in high school, I was going to go to Cornell for Hotel Administration. I was going to run a hotel, and the reason was so that I could have a jazz club in it that I could play in. In January of my senior year in high school, I realized the musical abilities that my parents had given me. I just thought everybody could do what I could do. I could do a lot of things, but it wasn't anything special, because in my family, I was the worst one. I never realized that other people couldn't write charts and improvise and stuff like that. I thought everybody did that. And only then did I realize how advanced I was from other people. Because in my house, it was the norm. At that point I decided to go into music. I really wasn't sure, but within a year I realized I was in the right place. From that point on I knew what I wanted to do.”
Brown went to Ithaca College in upstate New York, and studied classical music theory. As a junior he ran the Jazz Lab Band, which, he says, benefitted him greatly. He was able to learn how to work with his friends, but run a great band at the same time.
However, most of Brown's education came from his father, who started jazz education in America in 1944. Glenn Brown had elementary jazz bands, junior high jazz bands, and high school jazz bands in Long Beach, NY, and Ray's biggest influence has come from his experiences as a kid.
“Whatever I teach my students comes from how my dad taught me,” said Brown. “My whole curriculum is based on what I learned from him.”
Aside from what Ray learned at home, he gained playing experience in his father's jazz camp at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
“We had classes in arranging, copying, and improvisation. We rehearsed every day for an hour, and we had sectionals every day. After about two weeks we would go out and play four or five nights a week at all the camps around the lake.”
“That was an unbelievable education for me,” said Brown. “Nothing I could have gotten anywhere else.”
After graduating from college, Brown went into the army. He and some friends joined an Army Band, knowing that it would guarantee them the opportunity to play, and after one year, Brown found out that the army started a jazz band. Modeled after Glenn Miller's Big Band, the Airmen of Note, the Army's Studio Band was formed, and Ray found a way to join the band.
“I don't know how I did this, but they only had four trumpets and I convinced them to go to five.”
Ray became the jazz trumpet player for the band, and he was also a writer. He was able to rehearse the band and again find himself working amongst his peers. With this experience he learned that he was on the same level as some of the greatest players in the world, which he had not known when he was growing up.
When it came time for Ray to leave the band, he had made friends with these great musicians, some of whom had played with Stan Kenton. Two months after leaving the service, Ray received a call from Stan Kenton, asking if he would play with his band. To which Ray says, “Of course I said yes.”
Ray toured with Stan Kenton's Band for a year and a half as the jazz trumpet player, and ran all of the jazz improvisation clinics they held, which provided him with plenty of practice with teaching and running classes. He traveled and played in every club and major performance venue in the world.
After his experience with Stan Kenton, Ray got his master's degree and married Sue Brown, who is also a music instructor at Cabrillo. The two freelanced in New York for about two years before moving to California for Ray's position at Cabrillo, and after about five years, Sue was hired to run the strings and chamber music program.
Brown can now write and play for whatever he wants. When he was a freelancer he had to take every performance and job he got called for.
“That's the kind of stuff that teaching allows me to do on the side. That's what's really been cool about being here. As well as the students I've worked with; there have been a number of great players and it's been a pleasure to work with those people and see them go around and become major forces in the music world.”
Sunday, November 23, 2008
So I wrote a profile on Ray Brown for Issue 5.
I'm totally stoked about it; I mean obviously it could have been a lot better, but I'm learning a bunch of new things here and there.
This guy has my dream job though [aside from writing movie scores], I mean seriously, so awesome. All jazz all the time. That's the way to live, for sure.
Anyway, it was interesting process, writing this article. It was significantly longer than my past articles have been, and it was cool to have a page all to myself. I learned a lot just from the interview in general. I mean, when you tell people you want to have an interview, they don't think you're messing around at all. I mean seriously! It's like, people I've spoken to in the past, that I can make jokes with and have conversations with on any regular day, just don't want to deal with it during an interview. It's like they want to get it over with, without saying anything "bad", and then just be on their way. It was really odd dealing with that.
But with this, I learned that I need to work on my "professional" image.
Honestly, I don't really have one, and I lack the skills necessary to develop one. Or, better term, I lack the knowledge of how to develop one.
I don't own nice clothing, I'm not well-tempered, and I feel like, whenever I'm in a "professional" situation, I'm being completely fake. I feel like I'm not being true to myself, and that just bothers me. I don't like portraying someone I'm not just to be "approved" by someone's stupid standards.
However, if I ever want to get ahead in this world, I should probably start learning how to kiss ass.
I should probably dress nicer, care about my appearance, at least slightly....and, I don't know, be more...polite? Timid? Butt-kiss-y?
I don't feel as though I'm not a successful person....on paper I'm fantastic. I have good grades, lots of awards, I've done community service....but when people meet me they just get immediately turned off.
I'm too loud, or too obnoxious, or too weird. I don't know, I don't fit in with the majority of society, and I guess that's something I'll need to work on when I get out into the "real world."
Any ideas?
I'm totally stoked about it; I mean obviously it could have been a lot better, but I'm learning a bunch of new things here and there.
This guy has my dream job though [aside from writing movie scores], I mean seriously, so awesome. All jazz all the time. That's the way to live, for sure.
Anyway, it was interesting process, writing this article. It was significantly longer than my past articles have been, and it was cool to have a page all to myself. I learned a lot just from the interview in general. I mean, when you tell people you want to have an interview, they don't think you're messing around at all. I mean seriously! It's like, people I've spoken to in the past, that I can make jokes with and have conversations with on any regular day, just don't want to deal with it during an interview. It's like they want to get it over with, without saying anything "bad", and then just be on their way. It was really odd dealing with that.
But with this, I learned that I need to work on my "professional" image.
Honestly, I don't really have one, and I lack the skills necessary to develop one. Or, better term, I lack the knowledge of how to develop one.
I don't own nice clothing, I'm not well-tempered, and I feel like, whenever I'm in a "professional" situation, I'm being completely fake. I feel like I'm not being true to myself, and that just bothers me. I don't like portraying someone I'm not just to be "approved" by someone's stupid standards.
However, if I ever want to get ahead in this world, I should probably start learning how to kiss ass.
I should probably dress nicer, care about my appearance, at least slightly....and, I don't know, be more...polite? Timid? Butt-kiss-y?
I don't feel as though I'm not a successful person....on paper I'm fantastic. I have good grades, lots of awards, I've done community service....but when people meet me they just get immediately turned off.
I'm too loud, or too obnoxious, or too weird. I don't know, I don't fit in with the majority of society, and I guess that's something I'll need to work on when I get out into the "real world."
Any ideas?
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
So tomorrow is layout night...hopefully it will be less stressful than it was last time. Meh.
I am learning a lot through this whole process, though, so that's nice.
What's hard for me right now is trying to figure out how to write a decent story out of something mediocre and possibly boring.
I keep writing about the Democrats Club, and I think it's great, but it just seems so BORING, and I lack the skills to make it exciting. Maybe I'll be able to figure it out soon...
I am learning a lot through this whole process, though, so that's nice.
What's hard for me right now is trying to figure out how to write a decent story out of something mediocre and possibly boring.
I keep writing about the Democrats Club, and I think it's great, but it just seems so BORING, and I lack the skills to make it exciting. Maybe I'll be able to figure it out soon...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
OMG Today was so f%^@ing stressful.
I finished my page but I didn't have the photo, because we had to do all this shit to it before we could send it in to get printed.
I had to wait like 2 hours to get the damn thing, and so did a few other people.
It was just obnoxious because I guess that photo teacher guy was showing people how to do it, and he took FOREVER.
Chad showed me how to do it in like five minutes.
I just wish that we would have been able to manage our time better.
I have so much to do, and I thought I would be done a lot sooner than I was. Buh.
We ALL need to learn to work on the pictures, and it's going to be SO NICE to get those new computers...that will hopefully ALL have PHOTOSHOP!!!
Ugh, I know I'm just complaining, so I'm sorry for that.
I probably pissed some people off today. I got so stressed at the end there.
Sorry......
I finished my page but I didn't have the photo, because we had to do all this shit to it before we could send it in to get printed.
I had to wait like 2 hours to get the damn thing, and so did a few other people.
It was just obnoxious because I guess that photo teacher guy was showing people how to do it, and he took FOREVER.
Chad showed me how to do it in like five minutes.
I just wish that we would have been able to manage our time better.
I have so much to do, and I thought I would be done a lot sooner than I was. Buh.
We ALL need to learn to work on the pictures, and it's going to be SO NICE to get those new computers...that will hopefully ALL have PHOTOSHOP!!!
Ugh, I know I'm just complaining, so I'm sorry for that.
I probably pissed some people off today. I got so stressed at the end there.
Sorry......
Second Article
Meeting every Monday at 2:20 p.m. in the East Wing of the Student Activities Center, the Cabrillo Democrats Club debriefs on the past week's activities, and plans for what lies ahead.
The Cabrillo Democrats Club are active advocates for the Obama-Biden campaign, canvassing and calling adults in nearby swing states to help gather support for the potential President and Vice President. Four members of the club traveled to Reno, NV last weekend to canvass and nearly 2,000 people in Reno alone registered to vote.
"It's hard to say why we're all voting for him, because everyone has a different reason," said Sophia Forde, the club's President. Two major factors are that Obama has "listened to young people" and that "as much as [they are] inspired by Obama, [they] are also driven to support each other."
The Democrats Club is also responsible for holding viewings of the recent Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates. Over 70 people attended last week's viewing of the debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. Cabrillo Professors Michael Pebworth, Bill Hill, and Dan Rothwell attended last week's debate and participated in a discussion with students about their thoughts and questions.
The club has also held what they call "Phone Banks" for the past three weeks. Cabrillo and UCSC students, along with members of the Obama-Biden campaign in downtown Santa Cruz call residents of Nevada and New Mexico to find out who they are voting for, why, and how they can help. Nearly 1,500 people have been contacted, and there is a running tally of undecided voters that have pledged to vote for Obama.
Members are empowered to go into the community and encourage everyone to vote. They attend Voter Registration Training Sessions and have a table set up in the quad to register Cabrillo students to vote. They also meet with local politicians to learn more about what's going on in our community. The club arranged a meeting with Planned Parenthood to learn more about Proposition 4, which prohibits minors from getting abortions until after a parent or legal guardian has been notified.
"Internet activism is huge," said Forde, of ways that students and clubs can get involved in campaigning.
The last day to register to vote is October 20th, and this year's election is November 4th. Every vote counts, so make sure your voice is heard!
The Cabrillo Democrats Club are active advocates for the Obama-Biden campaign, canvassing and calling adults in nearby swing states to help gather support for the potential President and Vice President. Four members of the club traveled to Reno, NV last weekend to canvass and nearly 2,000 people in Reno alone registered to vote.
"It's hard to say why we're all voting for him, because everyone has a different reason," said Sophia Forde, the club's President. Two major factors are that Obama has "listened to young people" and that "as much as [they are] inspired by Obama, [they] are also driven to support each other."
The Democrats Club is also responsible for holding viewings of the recent Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates. Over 70 people attended last week's viewing of the debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. Cabrillo Professors Michael Pebworth, Bill Hill, and Dan Rothwell attended last week's debate and participated in a discussion with students about their thoughts and questions.
The club has also held what they call "Phone Banks" for the past three weeks. Cabrillo and UCSC students, along with members of the Obama-Biden campaign in downtown Santa Cruz call residents of Nevada and New Mexico to find out who they are voting for, why, and how they can help. Nearly 1,500 people have been contacted, and there is a running tally of undecided voters that have pledged to vote for Obama.
Members are empowered to go into the community and encourage everyone to vote. They attend Voter Registration Training Sessions and have a table set up in the quad to register Cabrillo students to vote. They also meet with local politicians to learn more about what's going on in our community. The club arranged a meeting with Planned Parenthood to learn more about Proposition 4, which prohibits minors from getting abortions until after a parent or legal guardian has been notified.
"Internet activism is huge," said Forde, of ways that students and clubs can get involved in campaigning.
The last day to register to vote is October 20th, and this year's election is November 4th. Every vote counts, so make sure your voice is heard!
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