HEAVY METAL FOR SENIOR CITIZENS 101



                                  Jacob "The Destroyer" Williams

I became involved in helping my friend Jacob

promote his death metal band. He has a day job like most people while he pursues his dream on weekends and at night. He is very intense in his guitar picking and is the epitome of the agony and the ecstasy of being an ax man.

Death Metal, a sub-genre of metal  is an acquired taste kind of thing.  Either you like it, let it grow on you or you hate it and get ill thinking about headbanging.  I had not listened to very much metal music let alone known the difference between one kind or another and I still don't. I have learned to appreciate the music and the effect it produces.

Being at a live show was more satisfying than just listening to the music a on a cd, mp3 or even watching a video of it. There was an energy I have felt before that is more like communion, a tribal rite. Headbangers were cutting  loose in irratic bursts of intesity in the mosh pit. It was great fun! They were all plugged into the cosmic cable network on that music and  into one another and so was I. The roaring and chanting had us all hypnotized awash in the energy that is Burial of Terra or BOT as known to its fans. 

                                                                                     

Burial of Terra, is a very talented group of young men from Bandera Texas, they play in San Antonio. There are five members in the band ranging in age from 14 to 23. They have been invited to play again at the White Rabbit, a popular venue for the metal genre in San Antonio. I have been documenting their progress as they move through the process of becoming a metal band. Will they go on tour, will they record in the studio? If and when they do I will be there to catch it all for them and posterity.

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Burial-of-Terra/108176269241241




I am utilizing my digital imagining skill to design a cd and dvd cover for the band. I have also made a video of one of their songs.  It is a somewhat crude and gritty production, but it conveys the energy I wished to capture in a more "arty" way. I call it a video painting.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHoxRK8dMi0

Some people say metal incites violence, but you have to admit headbangers bouncing off each other IS kind of comical. The kids don't take it seriously. They think if they get smacked in the head or cut a lip it is even funnier!  Many people do not appreciate metal because they say they can't understand what the singer is saying. I had no problem with that because the beat and the singer's tone told me it was ok to feel primal like a wild animal  and lose control for a few seconds. I yearned to dance with the kids, but I am past my prime. Letting the energy pass right through me and vibrate with the music was plenty for me. It was a virtual thrill from the safety of the sidelines.

“Digital Dreams Can Come True, It Could Happen To You”

Ever want to make a music video or an animated cartoon or something really ambitious like your own movie? Or how about publishing your own book or opinions?  I wanted to since I was a child and saw it might be possible in the far, far future, but far, far away in LA or New York. I really didn’t want to go that far, so I waited.  And waited. The years went by and technology advanced from analog to digital. The prices dropped steadily and opportunities for self expression soared on the interne,t which is widely believed will eventually replace broadcast television and movie theatres. There is no censorship; so far. Anyone can post whatever they want pretty much for free.

My first video camera: Pansonic SVHS circa 1993

The only real video production job I had that did pay really well on a steady basis was as a deposition videographer. Now talk about dry and boring.  So many hours of whiplash, slipped discs and professional malpractice testimony, no creativity involved just point and shoot. Tort reform killed that golden goose.  Out of towners paid well and I had lots of gigs hauling other people’s gear as a video production assistant.  Lots of public access TV, too.  A stint as a switcher and camera operatore at Catholic Television was another boring, but educational experience.  I came to loathe Mother Angelica, but I learned how broadcast television worked. My heart and mind yearned to create and it was a disappointment to learn that most commercial video work would not offer me any creative opportunities;I would have to make those for myself.

Time at Public Access: "Did You Know" Show.

                                                                                

Creating multimedia no longer requires millions of dollars and knowing the right people and not even that much talent. Heck, most high end cell phones like my EVO have a camcorder that shoots decent video if there is enough light.  I recently read of a guy in Japan who is making a movie shot on a cell phone. And as for distribution it just a few clicks away on YouTube and Facebook. No agents, no deals, no lawyers or documents to sign. Every genre has its niche and like minded individuals can congregate with people who share their interest. The digital frontier is wide open and anyone with a dream or idea now has the power to become rich, famous or notorious even if only for a short time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mcarroll8000

Today, anyone with enough imagination and a minimum of equipment can become a musician or video producer or publisher.  You can buy an HD video camera for under one hundred dollars, a laptop for under five hundred. Software of all kinds can be had for free. My production company now fits in a backpack instead of a van and a spare room at my house is my studio.  The only thing that limits people from achieving their digital dreams and expressing themselves is a lack of imagination because it sure isn’t because the technology is not available. For me, digital multimedia has become more of a means of expression and communication than a hunt for a job. I now do what I love. Sometimes, I even get paid for it. 

The Phone Is Mightier Than The Sword

Revolutions used to be very expensive in terms of both lives lost and maimed and collateral damage. As technology has progressed, revolution has evolved from mass death/casualty and structural damage to cyber warfare and a digital battle for hearts and minds.  Civilian access to mass communications has changed the balance of power from the hands of a very few to anyone who has a cel phone.

From Julian Assange’s “Wikileaks” to the recent successful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, technology, not guns and tanks, not political ideology or religious persuasion, seems to have become the great equalizer.  In Tunisia and Egypt there were far fewer casualties as compared to if a civil war had ensued. Jordan Yemen and Saudi Arabia seem to be next in line for popular uprisings spurred on and organized by people who have discovered the power of the cel phone.

Some people are concerned that these events might cause the Mid East to explode into more chaos and war, the demise of Israel and the flow of oil to the West. Once oppressed people experience a taste of freedom they cannot unknow that taste. I think people can learn to live in peace and prosper. Freedom trumps all ideology and as people become more educated and have access to information they will see there are other ways of being.

While I was watching a live feed of the Freedom Square in Cairo, I noticed during a night view there were thousands of small glowing dots on the screen. When the camera zoomed in I noticed all those glowing “dots” were the screens from celphones.  It was amazing.

We must never give anyone the power to shut down phone service or the Internet. I worry about the US Government’s desire to give the President the power of having an Internet “kill switch. The Egyptian government shut access to the Internet down for a few days yet information still flowed out to the world. Tyrants keep their power by having many secrets and keep their secrets by limiting access to information. It looks like the days of secrets are numbered.

One thing I would like to see is some of these hackers and computer experts follow the money trail of greedy dictators and help recover and return it to the people it was intended for.  Wishful thinking on my part, not at all. We live in a brave new world where the phone is indeed mightier than the sword and the internet is leveling the playing field.

Mother Nature Kicked My Digital Ass!