Day 1: Hellacious Flights

I could barely contain my excitement this morning as I finish packing and getting ready. Last minute of course. We arrived at the airport at 9:45am to check in our luggage and go through security. I am always that person that gets stopped when going through security. It doesn't matter how much I prepare myself so that I don't get stopped, I still get stopped. Going through security they swab the handle of my carry on, I'm assuming to see if there is any bomb residue because I look like that kind of person. We boarded our first plane that would take us from OKC to Washington DC. Hello amateur pilot! This was probably my roughest flight as we were preparing to land in Washington DC we suddenly dropped God knows how many feet, which left everyone's stomach somewhere in mid air. Not to mention we were on a little CRJ-700, I'm terrified of small planes. After a very rough landing we make our way to our next gate, losing some students at various airport restaurants. As we board our next plane I was surprised at how spacious it was compared to the little 700. I had never been on such a big plane, let alone a plane that had tv's in every seat. Before we took off the guy next to me switch with a girl from India. She seemed nice and said she would sleep the whole way there, so I thought to myself "awesome I won't have to talk to anyone on the way there." About 3 hours into our 6 hour flight we hit turbulence over the Atlantic. Okay I've seen every movie that involves a plane crashing so I was already terrified. The girl next to me jumps up in her seat and starts telling me we are all going to die. "If we weren't going to die the pilot wouldn't of made the flight attendants sit down and buckle up." Need less to say my anxiety level at this point was through the roof. She finally calmed down enough to attempt to sleep and I put in my headphones and proceeded to watch Tangled to calm myself. Before I knew it the flight attendants were serving breakfast and we were an hour away from London's airport. We landed in London around 6am, collected our luggage, and went to find our bus. Our bus driver was something else, 30 minutes into our drive to Wales he stops to get himself some breakfast. We all got off the bus and ventured through the rest stop. We got back on and 3 hours later we arrived at our hotel in Swansea Wales. A few went to explore the town, but as for me I chose to sleep the day away after the drama I had on the flight. We woke up and had dinner at the hotel. My options were lamb, chicken, or roast beef. You can never go wrong with chicken, it wasn't half bad. Tomorrow we get to be real tourists and see what Wales has to offer. 

Norton House

Norton House; where we stayed.

Spring Break isn't long enough.

I realize that this is meant to be a blog about music in the OKC area, but it is relatively hard to just discuss the shows I attend. Especially since I just got back from being out of the country. However, bare with me because I will begin to blog about shows again, but first I want to share my experience of my first time leaving the country. I was a part of the Wales/London group that crossed the Atlantic for Spring Break 2011. It was such an amazing experience. So stay tuned as I will blog about my days in a foreign to me country.

A week before Wales, what could go wrong?

EVERYTHING would be a proper answer to that question. I'm not going to rant, just simply explain my week and the fact that I am so behind in preparing myself to leave the country for spring break. I think it is the lack of proper organization at the Brawlers first home game that threw me off because I am a major perfectionist. But for fun we will just leave that story for another time.

Monday morning I woke up with a sore throat and sinus headache, I just assumed it was allergies and it would go away...it didn't. So Tuesday I woke up feeling worse, but knowing that I had so much that needed to be done by Saturday I didn't have time to lay in bed so I went to a TMJ appointment in Norman, came back and started buying stuff for Wales. At lunch after so many people jynxed me about losing my TMJ splint in Wales, I ended up throwing it away..this device costs about 500 dollars to replace so I'm not very happy. All of that stress brought on a stomach ulcer and a fever of 100.1. I ended up at the doctor diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, stomach virus, and sinus infection. What else could go wrong right?

Today I wake up with 3 days left until I board a plane to venture off with Dr. Nelson and the rest of the crew, not very much was accomplished yesterday needless to say. I'm attempting to pack, do laundry, and finish homework before it's too late. I know this is quite the complaining post, but I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just sharing so for future reference to anyone else about to travel...don't wait till the last minute. Start getting stuff early for your trip incase you do end up getting sick, like I have. I just hope that it will be gone by Saturday. Crossing my fingers. I get to go back to Norman tomorrow to have a TMJ splint made so I can leave without worrying about back tracking on my progress of the last 4 months.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe spring break. :)

E-mit is fantastic.

I know my title is a bit bias due to the fact that I have been friends with the keyboard player of Emit for the last 5 years or so. Last night after a long day of interning I ventured over to Norman to see Emit perform and also Jesse Alan Horn. I've never heard of Jesse, but I was very intrigued by his style of music. His lyrics were phenomenal, some serious and a couple that were meant to be funny. His drummer Julien can be described in one word....amazing. He is definitely one of the best drummers I have heard. 


Emit has been jamming out for the last 6 years. Brian Collins, the lead singer and bass player, has fantastic hair. It can be described best by saying it is simply identical to Carrot Tops fro times two. It is huge. His cousin, Caleb Collins, is the guitarist, phenomenal musicianship. Austin Brimacombe is the bands driven drummer who also has an incredible style that he brings to the band. And last, but not least pardon me while I brag on my friend, Mr. Benjamin Killebrew who has the most incredible keyboarding skills I have ever seen and I've seen a lot in my time of when I played piano and went to contests. Lets put it this way...this is a rock/indie band and he has velcro on the bottom of his keyboard. It was quite the show. Unfortunately there were too many complaints about the lights because they had some awesome lights that would probably cause everyone in the place to have a seizure just by being in the room. 


I didn't want my blog about them to be completely my opinion so I turned to another lover of music to get her opinion. When I asked her what Emit's style reminded her of:
"They have an excellent sound. Very Kings of Leon/30 Seconds to Mars sounding, perhaps even Copeland-ish."


I definitely agree with her, I also thought their sound was very similar to the band Muse. Either way they are phenomenal and I am unsure why they haven't been signed. When I asked band member, Benjamin Killebrew, he stated that they aren't right now and not really sure why, but maybe in a few years they will be. 


So keep an eye out for any upcoming shows if this sounds like a group you might find interesting. They will be playing March 26th at the ACM Performance Lab downtown OKC at 8pm. To learn more about them and experience some of their music check out their website.


emitrock.com

My First Press Conference

Have you ever walked from the Cox Convention Center to the Bricktown Hooters in heels? Well it isn't a very fun experience, especially when it is hot outside and you're in all black. After this journey to Hooters where the plan was to have a Press Conference...it didn't happen. The media wasn't informed in enough time so therefore the players, coaches, dancers, and staff showed up basically for some free wings and went back to work.

So far my week as an intern for the Brawlers has been fun, but very stressful. I have been learning a lot and get to write game notes for our upcoming game on Sunday. Tonight we have a party for our season ticket holders where fans will be able to meet the players, dancers, and staff and enjoy amazing mexican food from Abuelo's. I love feeling included in this company, I'm more then just an intern. :)

Emit

"They hit the streets playing at the hottest and most visible venues at an early age, and now with years of stage presence have given rise to a rock act any audience gravitates towards. Their tight knit synchronization is evinced by their combined efforts in playing and writing their music. Emit has proven to be progressively maturing all along their six year history. Each of the musicians have studied and prepared by being musically trained at the most respectable colleges around today."

The above is taken from the band Emit's website emitrock.com. This is what I have to look forward to on Thursday night as I venture to Norman to watch Emit perform. Notes and pictures are to be expected. Not only is Emit performing, Jesse Alan Horn will also be there. It should be a very exciting night.

UCO Prop 1

So here is a surprise, UCO would like to charge an additional $10.75 per credit hour to our Student Activity Fees. That is fine if you are an athlete or a part of Greek, for the rest of us that are in school to learn and get a degree, less for the social aspect that comes along with college...this is a terrible idea. UCOSA have many files discussing the proposition..there is a file titled "Why the SAF Increase Legislation is Not Amendable." It argues that the proposition can change where particular funds can be distributed, but it also states where the funding will go during this fiscal year.

"My point is, though UCOSA can change in the future how the SAF funds are distributed, it should only be done if there is great need, it should only be done very cautiously and after much research, and, preferably, with the advice and consent of all parties involved (students, Student Affairs, and Athletics)."

From high school to college it never changes, athletics are always the most important. Being a band nerd for 9 years it has always been a pet peeve of mine when all of our funding revolves around athletics. I understand that they are trying to better the college experience with this prop, but many of the students at UCO don't have time to attend the concerts and other events, they shouldn't have to pay more on top of what they already have to pay to get an education.

"For Athletics, better facilities and more scholarships will attract more athletes. The SAF will get more money when we recruit more students to come to UCO whether they are athletes or not. These student athletes will be paying the SAF, so everyone from student organizations to athletics will have more funding. However, having more student athletes mean that Athletics will have to carry health insurance on them. This is a mandatory cost required by the NCAA."

Charge the athletes, charge the sororities and frats, charge those that have come to college for the social experience. Leave the rest of us alone, we are poor enough.