Jammy

Friday night was one of the more profound musical experiences of my life thus far. Me 'n a friend decided to have a jam session, him on the acoustic gui-tar (which he rocks at), and me jamming on piano along with him.

Conclusion: Acoustic guitar and a grand piano do not rock very hard together.

Conclusion: Acoustic guitar and cello gel extremely well together.

After a bit of experimenting (including a semi-failed attempt to play a cello guitar-style), we finally realized that acoustic-cello improv sounds awesome.

If you hear of a band called the "Kaetan-Jon Connection" or "The G String" or something like that that involves a really talented guitarist and some random cellist improving, it's probably us. Go check us out, future people.

Cello Rock

Well, I play cello. And I love to play cello, which you can tell by going slightly earlier in the posts and finding out that I recently played in Carnegie Hall, which rocked. But, y'know, as far as classical music goes, I can play it, I can appreciate it... but it's just not something I'd listen to on my iPod.

Enter Cellofourte, a cello quartet of epic proportions. A friend of mine at UPitt pointed them out, and from what I've heard, this is crazy stuff. Warning: This may not be for you.

Check it! It's their first music video: Combustion

They don't seem to have any digital releases yet, so I'm looking into getting a hard copy CD... somewhere... But, if I get any of their songs, I'll definitely pass 'em along.

Skymall and Carnegie Hall

Alright, Roryx and I are off to play Carnegie Hall on Monday, leaving for NYC on Sunday. So, you won't be hearing from us for a few days. To fill you in: Carnegie Hall is sickly famous, 'n I'm going with my high school elite orchestra as the only male member. Rockin'.

Wish us luck: We're competing in the National Band and Orchestra Festival! Seriously, we're gonna kick ass, though.

In the meantime, to keep you amused while I still have you here, check out this useful Public Service Announcement/freakish cult following on SkyMall!

Roryx the Chem Stud

Well, congratulations to any and all who read this blog. Since the beginning of the blog, you've managed to vote in the poll a phenomenal 12 times! Wow!

The results say that my cello's name is now Ishmael, by a vote of 6-5-1. However, my own opinions have prevailed, and thus, he shall be known as Roryx the Cello now and forever. I needed to name him, though - I'm playing in CARNEGIE HALL in New York this Monday with the high school orchestra elite, and I am pumped.

On that note... check out this vid:

A friend of mine made it. I knew he was white before, but this confirmed him as the whitest guy in Pennsylvania.