June 3rd, 2009 - Journal
Hello everyone I know I've been away from the journals for sometime. So
here I am back to share at the request of some who have been missing my
life stories. Today I went down to one of my favorite vacation areas
Solomon's Island MD which is where my wife and I plan to move this year.
It was a bright and sunny day so on a whim I just decided to hop in the
car and go do some fishing. When I got near my favorite fishing dock I
wasn't paying attention and looking down at my phone when all of a sudden
I hit a curb and blew out both tires on the right side of my car.
I
decided rather than waste such a good fishing day dealing with my tires
that I would just take care of them later and head on down to the dock. It
took about five or ten minutes for me to get all four of my rods set up
and ready to fish. I casted three of them out in the water and before I
could get to the fourth, I already had fish hooked on two of my other
rods. Needless to say the bad luck I had with my tires wasn't rubbing off
on my fishing. Believe it or not In five hours of fishing I never got to
bait my fourth rod.
I caught about 20 spot, 15 croaker, 8 or 9 perch and 3
Rockfish in that time period. I later met up with my friends
Greg,Kathy,Joe,and Amy from the band Hydra Fx and they helped me with my
tire situation. I Thank those guys so much for with out there help I would
have been stuck. After my car got fixed we went to Joe's house where I
cleaned and cooked the fish and we filled up on my awesome harvest. So all
in all it was a pretty sweet day . "Till next time America" Take care
Russ
February 4th, 2009 - Organic vs. Processed
Usually when these two words are mentioned it has to do with food and in almost every circumstance organic is the way to go. Associated with the word organic are words like fresh, home-grown,healthy, farm raised and chemical free. The cost for organic foods are usually higher than that of processed foods. Yet processed foods are mass produced and almost always have sales that the average person can afford.
When it comes to music I believe the same corporate mind set that causes processed foods to be mass produced instead of organic are used to make music these days. In my opinion music is only great when it's organic and coming directly from the heart. Although for some reason we now live in a world were "American Idol" decides who is worthy of being in this music industry. I mean do you think Joe Cocker, Bruce Springstein, Dave Matthews, Kurt Kobain,Neil Young, Otis Redding,Bob Dylan etc. etc. could have made passed the 1st round "I don't think so". Yet we continue to support this way of thinking in the music world. Don't get me wrong I think A.I. is entertaining but it's the mindset that is destroying todays artists.
As musicians we find ourselves stuck in this conflict of whether we should mold ourselves to what the music industry says we should be or stay true to our own heart. I believe, as in most things the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Unless your as lucky as "Radiohead" and are able to have major record sales and win grammys without having the pressure of a major label. You pretty much have to find a happy medium.
The songs you create should have structure simular to songs that exist today but should also remain fresh,homegrown and "chemical-free". If you find yourself squeezing the life out of your artwork then you've crossed that line. So I vow to never again completely ruin my artitistc creativeness to impress the "evil" rulers of the music industry.
Russ
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December 30th, 2008 - HOPEFUL For The NEW YEAR
As December ends and we enter into a
new year, a new presidency, hopefully a "working" economy. I am hopeful that
we as human beings can work together on any issues we face as a nation and
on a global level, without harsh decisions. I am hopeful that our troops
overseas will be able to get home and see there families more often. I am
hopeful that the music industry will start to rely more on artistic
creativity and less on danceclub marketiblity. I am hopeful that the hopes
and dreams of all who are suffering will be fufilled. For 2009 let's just
say I'm hopeful.
Rusty
December 27th, 2008 - Christmas
This past week I was happy to spend time with friends and
family that I don't see everyday. I was especially grateful to see my
Grandmother (who is 88yrs old) still smiling and enjoying life. My
fiance (Rebecca) and I wanted to spend the holidays with both sides of the
family. So we started off Christmas eve at Rebeccas parents house . We had
an excellent dinner prepared by my mother-in-law and spent the evening
talking,exchanging gifts, and listening to the fiance play organ. Christmas
day we headed up the road to my house in Laurel with A quick stop in
Kensington to see my other family the Marinos. At my house we got to see
aunts, uncles, cousins from in and around the Charlottesville area . We gave
all the kids presents and had a great dinner. The day after we decided to go
down to Solomons island as that's where I'll be moving in the next year or
so and my fiance needed to see whether she likes it or not (she loves it).
While in Solomons I met up with my good friends Joe and Greg from the band
HydraFX and they asked me if I would sit in with them at there acoustic show
that night so after walking around the island awhile we headed to there show
where we played and drank into the wee hours of the morning.
Rusty
