Rhythmic Symphony

Journal #16 - Mowing the lawn naked and using the ladies room

Justin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:42:55 +0000

It’s always fun to come home at night and find yellow “Do-not-cross” police line attached to your house. Luckily it was only attached to my house so that it could rap around the neighbors house, and fortunately it wasn’t anything too terrible. He assaulted a door to door salesman. He’s gonna be spending some time in jail now. The funny thing is that when the officer told me what was going on I wasn’t really suprised. He’s a little… crazy. This isn’t his first run in with the cops. He’s been in trouble before for keying cars that park in front of his house, cranking his stereo to the max at odd hours in the morning, and mowing his lawn naked. I guess what they say about postal workers is true (no offense to all you postal workers).

Anyway, what I really wanted to post about is a law that Colorado legislatures recently passed. If you’re a man and you dress like a woman or say you’re a woman then you can now use any women’s bathroom in Colorado. It took me a little off guard since I didn’t think Colorado would be the first to pass this kind of law. But we are so here we go. This worries me, and before you get all worked up and start spouting off stuff about equal rights hear me out. What worries me is how far we are willing to go in the name of making things fair. I’m not worried about the average transexual who wants to use the womans bathroom so he can feel like a real woman. I’m worried about who can take advantage of this law. Any sexual predator can hang out in the girls bathroom now and say he’s a woman to get away with it.

In the interest of fairness plenty of boys are molested by men every year, but girls are far more likely to be victims of sexual predators (http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims). I believe in fairness, but we have to find some sort of balance between fairness and practicality. I worked at a preschool for over a year, and I was the brunt of all sorts of discrimination because I am a man. If a child needed to change for any reason I wan’t allowed to help him/her. If the kid really needed help I had to go get a woman. I put up with this sort of thing because I knew that men are far more likely to be sexually abusive and it is better for the preschool to safe then sorry, meaning making a no exception rule made sense to me. It wasn’t really “fair,” but I knew that if they made an exception for me than would make it even more unfair for every guy that comes after.

It’s also unfair in the way that I am not naturally gifted with skills that make good money in today’s economy. If it was fair we would have communism. And I’m not saying this jokingly. I’m truly upset that no matter how hard I try I never make the money or get the promotions that this guy over here gets because I’m not good with computers or people or being a complete meglomania jerk (i.e. manager). But that’s what life has dealt me, and I have to ask how far we should go in trying to make things fair. For almost every food there is an someone with an allergy to it. Does that mean that all restraunts and displays of public eating should be outlawed? What if the only thing that made a guy happy was to deface private property? Should we make it fair for him too? The reason you say no is because it’s too great an incovenience for everyone else for you to except. I think we’ve been slowly inching the acceptable line of harm that is caused to the general public farther and farther becasue nobody has stopped to ask how far we should let it go in the name of fairness.

Life can’t be fair for everyone. It just can’t. I don’t even think it’s ever been completely fair for anyone ever. If that’s true then I think we can say that everyone gets their fair share…. whatever life deals them. We can try help each other out, but making laws that make it “fair” for a man that thinks he’s a woman but have potential to do great harm to everyone else is insane.

Journal #15 - I just “know” it’s true, man!

Justin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:30:45 +0000

How many of you believe in a multiverse?… Let’s see a show of hands. Hmmmmm….. yeah, now put your hands down. You’re freaking people out.
I’ve heard of this theory from so many different people that I just assumed that it must have some sort of evidence behind it. I’m sure most of you are familiar with it. The idea that there’s an infinite amount of possible universes out there, and in each one a different version of reality is playing out. I’m sure I’m butchering it in someway, but that’s the genreral idea. Anyway, it’s kind of a fun idea, I’d be pretty stoked if it was true, but how plausible is it? The last Leiahdorus album (Parallel Universe), which was very worth the money btw, Opens with a sort of monologue on the theory, and in the end even purports that the theory is pretty much proven. This got me curious so I started asking more questions about it to people I thought would know. They didn’t. Strangely, the more I look into it the more I find a lot of smart people just kind of believeing it because everyone else is. After doing some research it pretty much comes down to this: It is only a hypothesis that arose more from science fiction than from actual science, but was adopted by parts of the scientific community to help compensate for problems mathermaticians were having with quantum fluctuations. There are a lot of very reputable scientists that say that the theory has very little to do with science, mainly because it can’t be tested, and is more metaphysics than anything.
Now, I want to clarify that I’m not just attacking this idea because it bothers me or I don’t wanna believe it. I think it would be pretty cool if it’s true, but I don’t appreciate being told something is fact when it simply isn’t. It’s a great example of a bunch of people wanting something to be true so badly that they eventually just label it as an undeniable fact. I kept hearing that it’s real and proven, but then no one could tell me how. If you wanna decide to believe it on faith then go ahead, but don’t try and tell me that you know it’s the truth.
So, I’m sorry that I didn’t site (sight?) anything. But I have a feeling it wouldn’t really matter. If someone out there knows more about this and would like to enlighten me, please do.

Journal #14 - Melting CD cases and our new performance mode

Justin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:41:47 +0000

Ahhhh, beautiful Colorado summer is here. All the cd cases in my car are melting, so i leave my widows open, and then 10 minutes later there’s a torrential downpoun into my car. No, I really do love it though.
I’ve been fervishly looking for a way to make RS more interesting for you all because becoming a fad is every musician’s dream. So from now on our performances will consist of us duct-taping our instuments to our bacon-grease-lathered bodies and playing emo covers of Disney theme songs as we attempt to not be eaten by starving black bears. Matt and I wil be wearing mascara on our arm hair and Amber will be doing an interpretive dance about rock, paper, scissors.

Journal #13 - Recording, the novel, and species fascism

Justin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:52:33 +0000

Well… it’s been over a week since we started recording, and we’re still stuck on the first song/chapter, The Beckoning. I’ll never figure out how it is that I came to love electro music so much since electronic things seem to hate me.
I’ve made much progress on the Novel though. I have a new job that pretty much gives me insane amounts of time to do whatever I want while at a desk with a computer. So I write. I’m tempted to post the prologue for some of your more curious types, but I think it would be jumping the gun a bit, so you’ll just have to wait.
There’s not a whole lot else going on, except me thinking about meat. I think I’ve blogged about it before, but what the heck, I want to write about it anyway.
…….. As far as we know there is only 2 ways fuel our bodies and stay alive.
1) Killing other living things and consuming their flesh for energy and assimilation, or…
2) Maiming other living things to do the same.
Either way I’ve heard it defined as species fascism. The funny thing to me is we can’t survive without taking what isn’t ours. Even if you just trim some leaves to eat, that plant didn’t grow those leaves for you to eat! It grew thoses leaves to sustain itself! Who are you to decide what living organisms have the more rights than others?! If you could cut off cow’s limbs and they would grow back would you do it? What it comes down to is it’s a cutthrought world. Eat or be eaten. There’s no way around it.
Now, I did think of a way that I could be wrong…. It seems to me that berries and some other fruits are grown specifically to be eaten. As if they’re made so that we’ll go “Oooooh! Shiny, colorful, juicy! I want to eat it so that I can then distribute the seeds wtih fertilizer around the world!” But if you know I’m wrong please correct me. Berries and some fruits are the only things that I can think of that might actually “want” to be eaten. But can you live off of only berries and fruits? C’mon people! Share your intelligent come backs with me!!!

Journal #12 - Cleavage… HAHAHA, not really… no but seriously, cleavage

Justin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:45:20 +0000

Well, before I dive into all that cleavage stuff (…………….) I want to say something that actually has to do with music. WE HAVE FINALLY STARTED RECORDING THE ENVARYAN CHRONICLES! Aron form Invisble Asps came over on Saturday and helped me get over my Cubase block. So, it has begun. There’s still all kinds of bugs I need to figure out, like why everything I record is 1/4 second behind the track I recorded before, which btw will melt your tendons if you listen to it. So, no idea when it will be done… but it has begun.
Now, there’s something I feel ought to be said after something that happened to me today. A woman walked up to me to say something and I unconsceincely, and to my dismay, glanced at the boobs hanging most of the way out of her shirt. She faltered a little in what she was saying and placed her hand over her chest. I felt like I should say I’m sorry, for I truly regret it when my eyes wonder to a girl’s bosom, but c’mon! I’m not trying to look! I’m trying not to! But if you launch them out there like a couple of torpedoes its bound to draw some attention!
So, I’m proposing a rule for body parts: If you don’t want people to look at it KEEP IT COVERED! Y’know that stupid thing that girls say when a guy is staring at their chest?… “I’m up here”
Actually, SUPRISE, it’s all you. Not just your eyes, not just your face, but its all you. So from now on I’m going to assume that anything that’s not covered up is okay to look at and/or talk about in open conversation.
So that’s it for now. You’ll know how my new philosphy went by wether or not my next post is from a unemployment office.

Journal #11 - A nerd among nerds

Justin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:53:30 +0000

I am not a nerd…. I am not a geek. This is a revelation to me, and it’s not something I’m excited about. Maybe 20 years ago if someone had looked at me they could’ve said “Oh yeah, he’s a nerd.” But as I’ve realized when I hang out with people of like interests, wether in person or on online forums, I’m sadly lacking.
I should be a nerd or even maybe a geek. I play too much video games, I’m a full grown adult and yet I read more comic books and manga than novels, and I’d take sci-fi over reality television anyday. But when it comes time to flex my nerdy muscle… I’m still a scrawny, pastey-white guy. I haven’t played every Final Fantasy, and I’ve never even tried WoW! And all my cosoles are outdated. What kind of gamer am I? And when it comes to graphic novels, manga and sci-fi, yeah I love ‘em, but I get talking with other fans and without fail I’m always the guy going “Huh, I didn’t know that. No… no I didn’t go to the con and meet Neil Gaiman. No… huh uh, I didn’t know that was his phone number and address…. No, I somehow forgot to memorize every issue… word for word.”
So I’m kind of in this weird inbetween world. I REALLY don’t want to talk about sports or musclecars, but I kinda feel like I’m outta my league with the nerd community. I love watching episodes of Firefly or Farscape, but I’m not into buying little collector Creighton figurines or memorizing Serenity’s bluprints.
Oh, well. At least I can always feel at home with philosophy. Maybe I should be hanging out with Socrates and Nietzsche….

Christian Music

Justin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:01:34 +0000

I get so many questions about this, and then confused looks when I try to explain it, that I thought I should just write a post about it and clear up all the confusion…….. or multiply the confusion by 10.

Is Rhythmic Symphony “Christian Music?” I feel like the question is as silly as asking if my meals are christian meals, if my job is a christian job, and if my vomit is christian vomit. All of these things I do (hopefully the last one not as often as the others) but it’s strange to me to slap the label “Christian!” on them because I am a christian (boy, when you say that word alot it kind of starts to sound like a meachinical blade moving back and forth against steel). Every member of Rhythmic Symphony believes that the Bible is true and that Jesus is the Son of God. We believe that there is a Heaven and that tha path there is solitary (not the game solitary… geez). The Bible (GASP, he said it!) says that as disciples of Christ everything we do should reflect Him, and if your REALLY believe and follow what the Bible says then that is inevitable. Everything you do will reflect Jesus in some way. I suppose in that way we do make Christian music.

But why do we have to label everything we do as Christian? My life should echo Christ to people, but I don’t go around saying I have a Christian job. I have a job because I need to make money, and because its part of my life I reflect Jesus as much as possible in my job. But its not a Christian job. I make music because I love to and I love to share it, and I reflect Jesus in it as much as possible, but that doesn’t make it Christian music. It’s an uneccesary label.

Some Chistians ask me how come I play for secular crowds, and some secularists ask why I play for Christian crowds. Honestly I started out playing for the Christian crowd, but the problem was there was nothing “crowd” about it. Very few in the Christian crowd wanted to have anything to do with it. It was too odd for them. It was electronica…. but not techno. And there was no guitar and no overused, ripped-off, impersonal lyrics. It wasn’t worship music (…well it was, but it didn’t SOUND like worship music). They didn’t understand it. Rhythmic Symphony was an anomily that didn’t fit into their grid. So I finally got frusterated and went elsewhere. I found people that accepted me. People that accepted my music and really enjoyed it. They saw it for what it was worth. They saw me for what I was worth. I sill try to set up “Christian” shows, but they’re rare and not much has changed since back then. I still believe in the Bible and try my best to seek God, but I don’t feel as welcome in the Church as I once did. It would be absolute foolishness to turn my back on God because of the Church. I think that Church today has some serious problems, but that’s because they’re people. People screw up…. a lot.

So that’s the story. If you wanna label us a Christian band then go ahead, I don’t really mind. It’s an accurate label, but a silly, uneccesary label.

Journal #10

Justin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:31:46 +0000

Well, the Dark Arts Festival was awesome. Lots of great music and I truly enjoyed the art. We played in the sanctuary at the Church nightclub….. and it was awesome. I don’t know how to describe the church other than it’s over a hundred years old and very gothic and very big. I bought myself a piece of hand made chain mail for my hand, trying to bring more silver into my stage outfit. The shirt is a black long sleeve thing that I cut slits of fabirc out of and will be putting silver fabric underneath…. someday. I’ve already put a massive shiny, silver fabric down the middle (kind of looks like a cross) with rivets. It’s pretty cool, but I need more silver with the outfit still.

The shoes I got are probably the awesomest part of the outfit. They’re platforms, big ones, maybe 4 - 5 inches, and black and shiny silver with all kinds of little straps. I bought some extra hardware (screws, brackets, stuff like that) and put it on just for a more industrial effect.

…….. unfortunately they’re trying to kill me. At CDAF I fell down on stage…. twice….. and then when I was trying to get my massive synth off the stage I fell again, dropping my 700 pound Roland on top of me. I felt dumb. My shoes just laughed as I was being crushed to death.

CDAF 2008

Justin — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:45:44 +0000

So, Rhythmic Symphony, as well as some of Colorado’s finest, are playing this year’s Colorado Dark Arts Festival in Denver! The event runs all day, at 12 noon on Sunday May 25th, at The Church nightclub (where we’re playing) and Cafe Netherworld. Should be a lot of fun, with not just great music but all kinds of artists and they’re art to enjoy.
The Church
1160 Lincoln Avenue
Denver, Co

We’ll be going on @ 2pm, but here’s the complete lineup.

God Module - www.myspace.com/GodModule

Die Brucke - www.myspace.com/entartetemusik

Torso - www.myspace.com/Torso

The New Waveforms - www.myspace.com/thenewwaveforms

The Siren Project - www.myspace.com/thesirenproject

Elete - www.myspace.com/denverelete

Kubix- www.myspace.com/kubixband

Obcission - www.myspace.com/obcission

Rhythmic Symphony - www.myspace.com/RhythmicSymphony

Plasmacrash - www.myspace.com/plasmacrash

Journal #9

Justin — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:45:46 +0000

Well, it’s been a while.
Not a whole lot of really exciting stuff has happened. I went to see Voltaire play, which was fun. He’s a talented guy, a little hioty toity, but I suppose when you achive his status its expected. Plus we got to see Die Brucke who recently joined the Section44 family. They put a great show. Lot’s of fun.
I also had the opportunity to see Kraftwerk…… but didn’t. Not by choice though! Well…. sor to f I guess. I’ll just tell the story. A friend of mine, Adrian from Rustcycle, had an extra ticket and wanted me to come along, but I didn’t get his message until it was way to late. I was pretty ticked. Pretty upset. Ripped dolls heads from their fragile, shattered bodies. Oh well.
RS progress is coming along veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly. As some of you know The Envarayn Chronicles have been done for sometime, but I’ve been so busy with work and school and video games that I haven’t kicked my butt into gear to do the midi drop from my synth to the comp, a very tedious process. Anyway, my last final is on Tuesday, so sometime soon Aron from Invisible Asps and I will be getting together to do the midi drop.
Aside from that I’m meeting with an independant video game designer to talk about writing some toons for some of his firms upcoming video games. I hope to write a lot of stuff for video games in the future, whether for or just for fun.
Anyway, that’s about it. We’ll be getting the new band photo soon so all of you can order wallet sizes so you can look at us every day.