Life and Times of Tommy Kong

Performance Enhancing Drugs

tommykong — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:21:48 +0000

I’ve been in a few bands over my lifetime. None have gone anywhere. Egos aside, what else could kill a band?

I’ve been in and out of a punk band that can’t seem to keep a consistent lineup for years. Why do I keep going back? One, I am fond of the songwriter and his ability to play. Two, I have nothing else going on. Three, I love playing. We’ve had the ego issue, but worse off we recently are coming across a member and his performance enhancing drugs. Haha, he doesn’t say it like that. Shit, he is probably too far out in his own freaking world to face the fact that he is a dope, but I coined it for this use due to the Roger Clemens crap in the news lately.

He is wicked talented, but all that talent is put to shit because he is never in the mood to play music. Do musicians really think to themselves that the drugs are going to help them become better writers or something? Drugs don’t make you creative! Also, if you love music so freaking much than why would you need drugs to get you into it? Is it wrong of me to conspire against this individual because I don’t approve of his drug use?

Well I don’t care if it’s wrong or right, and further more I’m sick of wasting my time.

Change Is Good, Right? Maybe Not.

tommykong — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:31:00 +0000

Early Beatles vs. Later Beatles? Sometimes is feels weird listening to a band that played with a particular sound only to flip it inside out in their later years to sound like a completely different group. Then again, sometimes, it just feels perfectly natural.
Possibly it was because I was caught up in the Beatlemania of my generation (The Anthology), that the Beatles changing their style over the years had no effect on me. Or maybe it just felt natural that a band would musically mature over the years that I paid no attention to the fact that I went from wanting to hold your hand to Strawberry Fields. I wonder what it was like to be a young adult in the 70′s who listened to the Beatles as a teen, only to hear what they had become in your early twenties. I can maybe relate, but not on that scale. It must’ve just worked for the Beatles, because they went from pop stars to real artists. Then again they did it in such a short time period, which because of my ages plays no part in my view towards them.
A friend brought it to my attention that he is sick of bands changing their sound. He told me that they should just change their name if they are going to drastically change. I agree and disagree. The band he was referring to is the Dillinger Escape Plan (DEP). Listen to Calculating Infinity and then listen to some of their later albums, Miss. Machine or Ire Works, or possibly Option Paralysis (I haven’t bought it, because I’m not really much into them anymore). If more than 50% of your original members are no longer with the band, are you still the same band? The Beatles lineup changed, but not after achieving commercial success. It was the same four guys, the Beatles. However, a band like DEP changed their line up numerous times, probably most notable would be Dimitri leaving the band to be replaced by Greg, that completely shifted the sound of the band. So in this case I would have to agree with him.
Last Saturday I was in Cambridge to see Cave In and Boris; two great examples of bands constantly changing their sound. Now with Boris, you have a band that can switch from a punky rock to a drone, but for the most part they have the original band members, so it always sounds like Boris. Cave In on the other hand, changed many of their members, but no matter how much their music changes they sound like Cave In. I guess what it boils down to in the long run is, how the band maintains their signature traits while experimenting. If your lead singer is someone who can’t really be replaced without sounding like a new band, maybe you should change the band’s name, or maybe it’s none of our business wtf the band does.

Super Heroic Delusional

tommykong — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:26:35 +0000

I Wonder, did anybody else think that the Beach Boys were superheros and the Beatles were alien supervillians when they were a kid?

Video Game Music

tommykong — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:55:36 +0000

I play a lot of video games. I always have, and probably always will. One of my favorite things about Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past is the music playing during the ending credits. I used to beat the game once a day (clearly I saved right after I blew a hole in the top of the pyramid) just to listen to the closing music. However Zelda is not the only game that had great video game music, a lot of old school video games have great music. If you love 8-bit Nintendo music I suggest checking out the Advantage. Their covers of 8-bit Nintendo songs are phenomenal. Another band that realized the greatness of video game music is the Minibosses, The Minibosses cover 8-bit Nintendo songs much like the Advantage, but the band lets you download their music for free from their website - how cool is that?!? I happen to dig the Minibosses Zelda covers a little more. The NESkimos do a bad ass cover of the Zelda Dark World from Link to the Past, and not only do these guys reinvent the songs but they make it past 8-bit songs! The Megas are obviously a Megaman inspired band that add original lyrics to the songs. Normally I would say “boo!” to this, but I love Megaman music, and these guys do rock! Last but not least is Powerglove who are all out metal, and flat out awesome!

I love the fact that these bands are covering video game music and think, and hope to hear some of these bands on future video games.

I’m Boycotting Video In Cars!

tommykong — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:33:37 +0000

I was watching Dora the Explorer driving down RT. 135 today, and the show isn’t half bad with Pet Genius playing in the background. All this really made me start to wonder; is the video player in the automobile someday going to push away the radio? What are my kids going to think when I refuse to let them watch cartoons on a car trip, because I am too busy rocking out to Danzig?

The DVD in the back of the seat has been around for a while now, and are becoming more affordable like a radio is. 10 years ago my mom’s car had a tape player, now CDs are a standard. Maybe in the near future every car will have at least one video screen in every car. It’s bound to happen, but I will opt out of it when given the opportunity. I love cruising down the street blasting my radio, I can’t picture it any other way. I don’t know what I will do if my kids expect me to use the video player that comes with the car. Smash the screens probably, not like I’ll be able to watch anything anyway!

Hello world!

tommykong — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:59:41 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!