The Year 2011: In Review

2011.  What happened?  A lot of stuff.

I seem to remember things fairly well.  But, it’s tough to remember all the things you’ve done throughout the year because you were overwhelmed with so many awesome things.  Here are some highlights, hopefully you were a part of them in some way!

• Hangovers
• Karaoke (which could very well be the reason for the hangovers)
• The Get Up Kids releasing a new album
• Becoming a part of The Minnesota Brass Inc. family
• My face forever becoming immortalized in Rochester Magazine’s April edition
• Finishing 5th place in “Independent Marching Open” class with Minnesota Brass Indoor Drumline at the Winter Guard International’s Percussion World Championships
• Jam sessions
• Teaching phatty drum beatz
• Seeing The Get Up Kids live (for the fourth time) and talking to Matt Pryor at the merch booth
• Weddings/dressing my best/traveling/drinking/dancing/eating good food/making new Wisconsin friends/Hennessy/witnessing love
• My “Band Jammin’ Jamboree Birthday Bash Extraordinaire” also known as my 23rd birthday
• Growing out my mustache
• Leaving my position at The Kahler Grand Hotel (possibly related to growing out my mustache)
• Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps taking 1st place at the Drum Corps Associates’ World Championships
• Seeing friends that have been away from my life for far too long
• Having someone I haven’t seen in many years throw up on my favorite blazer
• Seeing friends that are always near
• Moving to Minneapolis
• Getting a bed for my empty room
• Starting a new job/bartending in Downtown Minneapolis

I look back at my Facebook photos for the past year and it’s filled with pictures of me carrying a snare drum.  And that makes me very happy.

Minnesota Brass is definitely one of the greatest things I’ve ever been a part of.  I’ve made so many friends and countless memories with only a year of being a part of the group.

My favorite memory of the entire year was when Minnesota Brass traveled to Rochester, New York to perform in the DCA World Championships.

The entire season playing in Brass was actually very stressful.  At least once a week I would have to travel a round trip of 3 hours for rehearsal.  On certain weeks with weekend rehearsals, I would have to make the drive twice, plus sleep on a couch over the weekend.  Because I was on the road for so long, I always ate smelly fast food.  So all of the gas for traveling and greasy food did not make my wallet feel very full.

There was actually a point in the season I wanted to quit because I felt like I was the worst player in the entire ensemble and I felt like dead weight.  Luckily, my superiors thought differently and encouraged me to stay.

During the summer rehearsals, I would simply hate my life.  Instead of being a typical young adult that can be lazy and drink a bunch of booze, I would be carrying a heavy drum, under the hot sun, marching, getting yelled at, and doing push ups for all the mistakes I made because I was thinking about drinking a cold beer rather than executing my music and formations correctly.

The drumline had a lot of drama and we were actually pretty bad.  But with about three weeks left of the season, we finally had a good show and the momentum started rolling.  Along with that, our confidence finally came.

Our main rivals within the activity was The Buccaneers from Redding, Pennsylvania.  Before the finals competition, they were undefeated for six years straight.  This was the year our organization felt that we had the best chance to beat our rivals.

So on the preliminary competition night, we beat them by less than a point.  We heard the news while we were getting our group picture taken.  Excitement mixed with yelling filled the skies.  At the end of the night when we returned back to the hotel, we were greeting by all the other drum corps folk staying in the hotel with applause and cheering.  All I could do was smile and wave to everyone.

So on the night of the finals competition, we were warming up past all the other group’s equipment trucks.  It was the first time we had a big crowd watch us warm up and it was a great feeling to feed off that crowd.

After our warm up, we got into full uniform and got into our marching formation that would lead us to our performance gate…

All that backstory leads up to this memory…

As we were marching to the gate, every single drum corps, every single group, every single person that was in a uniform stopped while we were marching by and cheered for us.  People clapped, whistled, whopped, hollered, and gave their praise for us.  People who I have never seen, let alone talked to, wanted the same thing I wanted.  Everyone we passed wanted the same thing that we were fighting for the entire season.

To win.  They wanted us to win as much as we wanted it.

Every time I heard someone yell “Go Brass!”, I was filled with pride.  Every time I heard someone yell “Give ‘em hell!”, I felt like I belonged to something that was going to be big…

Every time I heard someone yell “Beat The Bucs!”…

…All the moments I had throughout the season that I hated…  All the complaints I had…  All the drama…  All the sweat…  All the money…  All the push ups I did for messing up…  All the thoughts about wishing I were home drinking a cold brew…  All the hours of sleep that I loss…  All of the negativity…

It all went away.  And I was damn proud that I went through all that difficulty and hardship to wear that blue and black uniform and fight to create a new and beautiful history with an organization that I can call a family.

Minnesota Brass won the 2011 Drum Corps Associates World Championships that night.  The first time ever in the history of the organization.  And on that night, on that football field, in the middle of a storm, wearing the gold medal…

It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

—

2011 was a great year.  But 2012 already looks amazing.  The new Minnesota Brass season starts in a couple of days.  A new music project with a bunch of wonderful musicians and friends is getting put together.  And best of all, I’m in The City of Lakes now!  I hope you had a wonderful 2011 and I hope this year brings you limitless happiness and joy.

-Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect
Latana

For All We Know. Minnesota Brass 2011 Snareline.

Let’s see what you wagered…

I’m back in my hometown at this moment.  It’s kind of my weekend.  Although I did have to do some contracted work and attend a dentist appointment, yesterday and today were my days off from my main job.

Teaching season in my hometown has started up again, that’s what the “contracted work” is.  Whenever I want to not sound like a freelancing musician being worked to the bone, I like to classify what I do as being “independently contracted”.  Really, I’m just commissioned for my knowledge and passing that on to youth, but however you see it or whatever you want to call it, I love doing what I do.  I get to drum and influence people to drum.

Luckily whenever I travel back, I get to meet up with a few friends and relax over a few drinks or a tasty meal. It’s very heartwarming to hear the laughter of people you don’t get to see very frequently.  It’s kind of like that quote:  ”The more things change, the more things stay the same.”  But digging a little bit deeper, it’s more like knowing that however far and however long you’ve been away, you’re always welcomed back into someone’s life with smile.

I always see it as very fortunate that I am frequently surrounded by people who care about me and on the flip side, people that I care about.  But I’m realizing that I’m in a very peculiar and at least for me, an odd situation.  I’m in that midway stage of being a “young adult”.  It frightens me sometimes when I see some of the kids I teach and to know that I’m a decade older than them.  That’s ten years. In a couple of years, I’m simply going to be considered as an “adult” and I’ll probably be in the classroom with people that are still in their late teens.  I get advice from those people who are older than me that tell me to “take advantage of it” meaning my “youth”.  But then I get scolded by others that ask me, “When are you going to grow up?”  Should I live fast and die young or try to find the formula for immortality?

I recently read an interview from Tim Allen (Yes, that is THE Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor).  And there was this statement he made that he hates seeing people his age acting like kids.  Even though Tim Allen may not be at the popularity that he once was at, he still is a successful individual and he especially has accomplished and overcome a lot more than I.  So I have very little authority to simply dismiss his words just because he doesn’t have a prime-time sitcom anymore.  I thought about what he said and I have to agree with him to a certain degree.

I get frustrated with people that seek out attention as if it’s still some high school competition.  Actually witnessing slap-stick humor in front of my eyes makes me worry about that individuals health and well-being in a couple of years.  People that gossip just to gossip and talk down about people increases my blood pressure and gives me a headache.  I wonder how some people can drink multiple servings of soda without thinking of the amount of sugar entering their bloodstream?  I believe enough years have passed where common sense and courteousness should be applied to nearly everything that happens.

I don’t want to work as a server or in customer service when I’m reaching my “mid-life”.  I want a job where my knees aren’t swollen because of standing all day. I want a “grown up” job honestly where I’m surrounded by other “grown ups”.

But then I think of another quote that kind of goes like, “The problem with people these days is we’ve grown up too fast.”  For years I’ve believed that and I still do.

The moment when I realized I’m at an age that being a “responsible adult” is expected was quite recent.  It happened after thinking about these two things…

1.  People are getting engaged and married now.  And it won’t be considered young or foolish anymore.

2.  People are actually deciding on having children and it’s not by mistake anymore.

I think that the reason why that slightly frightens me is because I haven’t grasped that those two things are acceptable yet.  I still need a couple of years before it becomes a standard occurrence.

I hear someone go “Hey Mike!  Have you met my wife?” and in my mind I’m like, “Wait…  People can be associated by wife and husband right now?”

To think that I can stop by a friends house be like, “Oh look, there’s your kid right there…”  That is still odd for me.  There is definitely nothing wrong with it, but goodness gracious…  That’s a baby!

Obviously, one reason why it’s strange is because I do not have any of those things in my life.  I don’t have a relationship nor do I have a kid.  I think the bitterness of being single for a few years is leading me towards a life that will be filled with many stray cats and a crazy personality.

I think the book “The Little Prince” impacted my life a little too much.  Because even though there is a typical societal growth that is “expected”, I really don’t want to be a part of it now.  I don’t want to talk to people about dress ties and their different knots.  I don’t want to talk about cuff links.  I don’t want to talk about socks with designer patterns on them.  I don’t want to talk about how my luxury car is better than your luxury car.  I don’t want to talk about the thread count of my bed linens.  I don’t want to have more than one suit or a tuxedo.  I don’t want to talk about investments or stocks.  I don’t want to talk to someone that owns a yacht.  I don’t want to be looked down upon when I open up a bottle of Premium or a can of PBR.  I don’t want to have more dress shoes than sneakers.  I don’t want to have more buttoned-ups than t-shirts.  I don’t want to call it a night at 10:00 because I need to be in bed by 10:30 if I want to get a full eight hours of sleep and have enough time to cook breakfast.

I think there is a time for all of that, but for me it’s not now and it’s not in the near future.  Right now, I still follow underground rock bands and schedule my life around their tours.  I still use the word “dope” to describe something that is awesome.  I still get excited over really cool stains, paint jobs, and finishes on drums shells.  I still want to get hungover. I still want to have shaggy hair.

Am I afraid of growing up?  I think so.  But it’s not really the aspect of growing up and gaining all those responsibilities of adulthood that scares me.  I’m excited for the day that I will start to live my life for someone I love and for the family that I will have and starting silly traditions and watching “the game” with the guys over a few brews and grilling some big pieces of meat and for having an imperfect life but not wanting to change it for all the money and power in the world.  That is going to be so “dope” when that happens.

But I see so much deceit and falsehood with this world that is associated with growing up.  I see all these business professionals or people that are viewed as successful and see how their lives are fueled with ways to “fit in”.  Impressing others with their ties, cuff links, suits, dress shoes, and designer socks.  Buying Audis, BMWs, Lincolns, or Lexus just because people you know own those things.  Owning beach houses, summer houses, condos, or apartments you live at only for part of the year just to tell your co-workers you stayed at your beach house, summer house, condo, or apartment for part of the year.  Watching shows like “Dancing With The Stars” so you can keep up with “it” and have water-cooler talks with other people.

I turn on the TV and see commercials for products and I think about how some marketing company paid actors, created an environment, and wrote a script to make the viewer believe in its authenticity.  I open up magazines and see advertisements for fragrances and there are models that are supposedly what people aspire to look like.  I see people who will only wear certain designer clothes to be associated with whatever that brand represents.

What I see when I look out into the world that has been created by these “grown ups”, business professionals, and successful people is the opposite of genuineness .  I see people who have lost one’s self.  And that’s what I’m afraid of when these years pass before my eyes is that the core of my self is going to be replaced with something other than a funny and caring guy that likes to drum.  It’s going to be replaced by materialistic goods and shiny things made to impress and gather attention.

I’m spewing out a lot of negativity.  But  I suppose what I’m trying to do is showcase the importance of never forgetting who you are.  As the moments fly by, there are always going to be experiences that challenges us, morphs us, and changes our ideals, but we can’t forget about the moments of how we came to be.  Those are the moments that we’ve cried tears of pain, cried tears from laughter, rejoiced, shouted in rage, felt comforted in belonging, reached out to shelter someone, dedicated so much work to achieve a goal…

Those are moments where we are human beings simply living.  Those are moments where you are simply you rather than a brand or a marketed demographic.

When you’re fighting for you and not a place to fit in this rat race of societal progression, you’re fighting for an honest belief.  Whether that belief is a personal challenge, to prove the legacy of mommy and daddy, to showcase the love for your significant other, to provide laughter to close friends, or whatever, it’s a honest belief that hasn’t been told to you by some marketing firm.  And when someone achieves success in defending that belief, that is a true accomplishment.  In essence, a feeling of pure happiness.

I suppose a lot of this comes down to happiness.  And not that false gratification, I’m talking about that pure happiness.  This world is so clouded by thugs and con-artists, it’s overwhelming at times.  But after we fight through all that sludge and filth and actually get to that pure happiness, we’re rewarded with that glorious sight of seeing the world in a beautiful light.  You understand why you are who you are, what you believe in, and most of all, you understand why you fight for what you believe in.

So the fright of growing up may be a part of my life, to know so many people are out to get me, to change my mind, to tell me to buy this, and to tell me to look like that.  But I know that within the years, there is a path that will lead to a beautiful and fulfilling life as long as the belief in myself is always there.  You can never forget who you are or what you fight for, because if you do, you not only lose your individuality…  But worst of all, you lose your sense of beauty.

Life is truly what you make it, so create beauty.  Create a beautiful life.

-Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect
Latana

Treat yo self

The transition from living a sheltered adult life from the basement of your parent’s house to living in a big city to fend for yourself has been…

Surprisingly easy.

I was a little worried that I was going to get crushed underneath all the weight of responsibilities and finances.  But I figured out that when I’m bored, I shouldn’t just stuff my face with $50 meals at ritzy restaurants and buy bottles of expensive liquors.  After that, I realized how one lives financially responsible.

I’m living in a nice house with like-aged individuals and we get along fairly decently.  I work a job that isn’t very stressful.  I have a ton of time to practice and work on my jazz and Latin drum beats.  And the awesome thing is…  I can still buy decent booze!

I remember when I really started to feel settled into the new surroundings, my roommate/good friend and I went out on a Sunday night to get a bite to eat and watch the end of a football game.  We both had different reasons on why we actually moved to where we’re at right now and our paths in life were drastically different.  But for some strange and fated reason, we seemed to have stuck together in the past years and we both made the move to “The Cities” together.  As we finished our meal we decided to explore the area a little bit to grab one more drink before we called it a night.

Obviously three hours later, a slightly drunken state of mind, and a decision to trespass and climb onto trains, we called it a night.  But somewhere after the drinks and before the urban exploring, we sat down on a bench.  In front of us was the Mississippi River and beyond that was the skyline of Downtown Minneapolis.  While we were sitting down on that bench and talking to each other, I had my eyes fixed on that horizon and it hit me.  I turned to my friend and said…

“We made it…  We FINALLY made it!”

We finally made the transition out of our hometown and it was all done without the help of mom or dad holding our hands through the whole thing.  I mean, this wasn’t my first move, I went down to Iowa for a few years but then found myself back home.

But this move meant a lot more than just moving my bed from one home to another home or leaving the coziness of your parent’s warmth.  I love my parents and my home a lot and I had a really good music gig teaching kids.  My job at the time was bearable and there were few musical performing opportunities if one looked hard enough.

The move signified a closure of a chapter in my life and the beginning sentences of something that I feel is going to be a lot of hard work but a beautiful goal at the end of everything.  I spent a lot of time and energy is the past years dealing with fantasies and stupid small details.  I’m sure people call it a lot of different things like “growing up”, or “learning from your mistakes”, or (my personal favorite) “Not giving a fuck”.

I think through all the messing around, tallboys of PBR, and morning-afters with whiskey dried in my mouth, I would gradually grow a little bit wiser and filter out all a lot of immaturity and bad ideas out of of body.  Perhaps my liver has some magical power that breaks down not only alcohol but stupidity as well…  Or maybe I’m just making an excuse for my awesome partying habits…

But all joking aside, to me the best part about growth is learning what really matters to you and learning how to care for those things that you cherish with your heart.  Besides the facepalm and embarrassment, I enjoy looking back at my past self and thinking about all the foolish and small things I took way too seriously.  I look at myself now and see how little an impact those small things actual had in my life and feel that weight lift off of me.  And now all that time and energy spent on something that doesn’t really matter can be spent on the things I love.

During the past few months, I’ve gone through quite of bit of existential crises.  Typically I’d sulk a bit and crawl up into a little ball hoping things would just go away.  But not anymore.  It’s a new chapter and instead of letting things just happen, I’m going to write this one out…  You know that, “take the bulls by the horn” analogy.  I’ve kind of scared myself into making sure I take advantage of the opportunities and abilities I have and not just sit around on my butt watching television shows that showcase stupid videos of rednecks shooting each other.

I’m starting to see a change in my behavior and habits.  I’m starting to take care of myself a bit more by running, eating better, and limiting a bad tobacco habit.  I’m reading a bit more and challenging my mind so my brain isn’t a pile of useless mush.  I’m drumming a lot more and making a lot of progress on my drum beats.  And the biggest change?  I’ve decided to fully commit myself to finally returning back to school and getting that diploma.

Is all of this stuff just wishful thinking and a short episode of enlightenment?  I’m confident that it’s not.  I’m confident that this is the beginning of that goal of achieving something “Big”.

Well now, it’s Thanksgiving night and I haven’t seen my cat in a long time.  Even in a time of personal greatness, there’s always time to rub a cat’s belly.

Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect
-Latana