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Twenty-one years I've been alive and kickin', and I still don't know how to work out smooth beginnings in any aspect of my life. That includes blog posts. I guess I'll start off by saying, it's way easier to say I'm gonna use this blog more often than it is to actually use this blog more often, but here we are! It's been quite a while since my last post, and so much has happened since then.
I've been doing a ton of work with two old friends of mine, Ross Owen and Georgi James. We were students together at Lakehouse Music Academy years ago, and we recently began working together again, which has been incredible! Ross brought us both onboard as the "house band" for his solo material, but following the release of his second album we plan to embark on some collaborative creativity together. Now that we've tightened up playing-wise on the material, we're giggin'! So far, aside from a few open mics, we played the TEDx Auditions at the Paramount Theater, made it through round one in Rock To The Top at the Stone Pony, and have a few gigs booked at the Brighton Bar and the Chubby Pickle. The musical chemistry is tight, and I look at Ross and Georgi as family. I'm very happy in this band and excited to explore what we'll do next!
Pluckin' and pickin' on the strings in Channeling Cornell, are our new members: guitarist Mike Roman (No More Pain, The Mason Ray, Shadow Box) and bassist John Moroney (No More Pain, The Mason Ray, Shadow Box), and it's been great working with these guys! Since they joined, we've headlined the Stone Pony, opened up for Dark Sky Choir at the Starland Ballroom, and in April we've got our first out-of-state show at Connolly's in New York City!
Although this isn't music related, (and probably warrants its own post), I just HAD to include this. After finishing my Associate's Degree in Music at Brookdale Community College, I spent a week and a half of my winter break visiting a friend of mine in the most incredible of our fifty states, the largest of 'em all, The Last Frontier, the great state of Alaska! It's the vacation I never knew I wanted until I was invited to go, and once my friend showed me pictures of her home state I immediately knew this was the perfect place for a person like me to visit! I got to experience Alaskan culture, and I must say I had a wonderful time up there. Alaska is a very warm, welcoming, and family-oriented place. The air, towns, cities, villages, buildings, and nature are all very clean, the coffee and pastry shops are family-owned, the food is fresh, and the views are breathtaking! Overall, it's a very peaceful environment, providing the space and break I'd been needing for a while. It was the most in-touch with myself I'd felt in a long time. Oh, and if you're a coffee fanatic like I am, be sure to check out Kaladi Brothers Coffee!
I stayed with my friend at her home in Wasilla, and it's truly a beautiful town! Everything we needed was close by (well, by Alaskan standards), and here was where I got most of my Alaskan-living experience. I think my favorite place in Wasilla was this really good pastry shop called Donut King, where I was treated to THE BEST MAPLE DOUGHNUT IN ALL EXISTENCE.
I've never been a very adventurous person, but I got to try all sorts of new things during my time in Alaska. If you're in need of an adrenaline rush, look no further than sliding down one of the state's snowy mountains! Select stage: Hatcher Pass. Weapon of choice: sled. Survival: successful. I've also never really been one for seafood, but if there's any place capable of changing my mind it's Alaska. The halibut, shrimp, scallops, crabs, and eel are to die for (I didn't get to try the salmon, but maybe next time). Also on the Alaskan menu were caribou burgers and moose. If you don't live somewhere where these are readily available, and you get a chance to try them, do yourself a favor and try them. Oh, and I should also mention, Alaskan pizza is incredible! A lot of folks back home didn't believe me, but as an Italian man from New Jersey, I promise I have no reason to lie about this.
The scenery in Alaska is unlike anything I'd ever seen before. This photo was taken on the Turnagain Arm Trail, voted the sixth most beautiful highway drive in the world!
This shot was taken in the swampy area behind my friend's house. In the winter time when it freezes over, it's a great place to take a hike. This is about as high as the Sun gets during the winter. We had sunrises between 9:30 and 10 AM and sunsets between 4:30 and 5 PM. It's not a lot of time to see where you're going, but it actually helped with pacing the day so we could go do Alaskan things, and then had the nights free to relax, binge both Lord Of The Rings trilogies and all of Sherlock, and get some reading done. And when you've got clear skies at night time in a place with very little light pollution, my God, does the sky light up with stars!
I also really enjoyed the Alaskan wildlife! This was the first time I've ever seen an owl outside of captivity, and of course I was lucky enough that it was my favorite kind of owl, the hawk owl! This guy was perching on a branch in my friend's backyard in between hunting trips one morning.
There were lots of great tourism places to visit in Alaska. We took a drive up to Talkeetna to get a view of Denali / Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America (about 150 miles north of Talkeetna). According to my friend, most tourists to Alaska don't get to see Denali because it's often obscured by its own clouds, even if skies are clear where you are. When I took this photo, we had a perfect view of it! It's worth noting that on the drive up, we almost got into a vehicular snafu with a moose who forgot to look both ways before trotting across Route 3. We missed him by (I'm not exaggerating) about one foot! Gotta watch out for those guys; they're much bigger up close than you'd think!
If there's one word to describe Alaska, it's "extreme." This is the place to go if you desire intense experience, and this was probably the most intense day of them all. When we went to hike the Matanuska Glacier in Sutton, temperatures dropped to about -20º F. I was well-prepared with thermal sweats, thermal socks, a thermal shirt, a thermal hoodie, a thermal hat, thick winter gloves and snow boots, and even a scarf for my face, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a cold unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. However, to the surprise of all my friends, I loved every second of it! It really put my definition of cold into perspective. After that, I don't consider it cold until frost is building up in my nostrils and on my beard.
I'm going to end the Alaska section of this on what was, for me, the highlight of my trip, as it's been on the top of my bucket list for as long as I can remember. We took a drive through Willow, found a pullover spot on the highway to park, turned all the lights off, sat, and waited. It started as a hazy glow, took on a greenish-hue, and suddenly ignited in a vibrant green strip across the sky. I speak of none other than the Aurora Borealis! Since we're currently in the least active year of the eleven-year cycle that the northern lights operate on, I'm amazed we got to see them at all! By us, they only lasted about ten to fifteen minutes, but I'm told they lasted for hours up in Fairbanks that night! Seeing them at all, however, was the experience of a lifetime to which I don't think anything can compare. Even if cold, mostly-night-time, spacious, and mountainous places aren't your first choice for vacation, let the northern lights be your reason to brave the elements anyway.
That concludes the section on Alaska! Upon returning to New Jersey, I've since started pursuing my Bachelor's Degree at Monmouth University as a Music Industry major and Psychology minor, though I'm considering upping that to a double major. Jumping back into the swing of things, I've been doing tons of work with Channeling Cornell, Ross Owen & The Tribe, and some occasional sit-ins with my mom's band Strumberry Pie. Up next: my buddy Oskar Dhurán is doing some work on his second album, for which I'll be recording the drum parts. With all these exciting things happening, I'm looking forward to what 2019 has to offer!