Moments that Changed Rock History

For me, one event changed the face of rock n' roll forever. It was the Monterey Pop Festival, held at the fair grounds in Monterey California in 1967. It was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival in history, and it paved the way for many other large festivals like Woodstock. It kick started the famous "Summer of Love" bringing the counter culture of hippies and rock n roll to the public spotlight. The Monterey Pop festival was the stage for the first major American performances for Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. Without the success of the festival, it is very probable that the more famous Woodstock festival would have never taken place. Perhaps the most famous moment of the festival occurred when Jimi Hendrix ended his show with a cover of Wild Thing, where he placed his guitar on the ground, knelt before it, soaked it in lighter fluid and set it aflame, before smashing it onstage. This performance single handedly launched Hendrix's career in America. The festival was also a kind of changing of the guard for British music in America. The Who's performance helped them grow in popularity and take over the crown of lead British group in America from the Beatles.

Talking About Drugs

There are many different viewpoints on drugs, and people can argue for hours about them, but one thing that can be agreed on is that drugs pose a huge presence in college. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing some kind of drug use and abuse. From my experience, the drugs used by the most people in college are alcohol and tobacco. To a lesser extent marijuana is also used, but not in the numbers as either of the two. Alcohol is by far the most accepted drug in my social circle. Tobacco is seen as a bad habit to some and a necessary evil to others and marijuana divides into ardent supporters and detractors. Caffeine is also used by almost everyone I know, but it isn't viewed as a drug by anyone I talk to. Anything "harder" than those drugs is taboo to most of the people I talk to. It is surprising how easy it is to get drugs in college. Someone can get anything from Ritalin to LSD fairly easily and cheaply. To me, drugs seem like a way for people here to escape the stress of college. They work all week and then on the weekend inebriate themselves with their drug of choice to help forget the week. It is hard to tell if this is helping or hurting them.

Music List 4

Best songs to study to:
Mare Mortis - The Appleseed Cast
Arc Lamps, Signal Flares, A Shower of White - Thursday
When Water Comes to Life - Cloud Cult
Water Curses - Animal Collective
Welcome Ghosts - Explosions in the Sky

All these songs are just instrumentals, without lyrics, so they help to give some ambient noise in the background without being too involving to distract me, perfect for studying to.

Senior Interview

For my interview a senior project, I interviewed my roommate’s older brother, a psychology major graduating in the spring, and his girlfriend, an English major also graduating this spring. One thing that I found interesting in both interviews is that both of them changed their majors at least once since they started going to San Jose State. Daniel, my roommate’s brother, was originally biology major before he decided to change and Christina was chemistry major, then a psyche major and finally decided on English. Something that they said took a while to get used to in college was the freedom from parents or other adults telling them when to do things. For the first time in the lives they had complete control of their lives and what they did with it, and the first semester of freshman year was hard to pass because they didn’t do any homework and just had fun. The biggest advice they had for me as a freshman was that it is important to get good study habits going early and to not skip classes, so that you don’t fall behind right off the bat and have to play catch up.

Scholarly Journal Article Summary

For my scholarly journal to summarize, I chose an article from the June issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies. The article was entitled "A Complete Loser: Masculinity and it's Discontents in Elvis Constello's My Aim is True and The Year's Model." I chose this article because I am a fan of Elvis Costello and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about him that what I have learned just from listening to his music.
The article began with a quote from Costello, where he states that he knows only two motivation points for writing his songs: revenge and guilt. Costello's music was described as a shot against femininity in the '70's. However, the write of the article suggests that Costello wasn't a chauvinist, and instead challenged what masculinity meant and creating his own new persona. Costello was the first artist to self-examine his own preoccupation with masculinity, which confused listeners in the beginning into thinking Costello was a one-trick pony who only wrote about getting revenge against ex loves. However, his songs were the first in rock where the man was admitting total defeat at the hands of a woman, and they were without self-pity or macho revenge.

MUSE Workshop

For my first MUSE workshop, I went to a workshop called "Making Learning Styles Work For You." In this workshop, the instructor taught us about the different learning styles, and how we can find what our learning style is and how to use it to our advantage. There are 3 major learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learners learn through seeing. These learners need to see the teacher's body language and facial expression to fully understand the content of a lesson. They should use visual aids like diagrams, have a clear view of the teacher in class, and visualize information in their head to help memorize it. Auditory learners learn through listening. They learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to what others have to say. They should read the text aloud while reading, create mnemonics to help memorize, and use a tape recorder during lectures to listen to later. Kinesthetic learners learn through doing. Kinesthetic persons learn best through a hands-on approach. They should take frequent breaks while studying, exercise while studying, and use bright colors to highlight material.
In the workshop, I learned that I was a visual learner, and since then I have been employing the study tips that the teacher gave out, like visualizing whatever I am studying in my mind, and it seems to be helping.

Study Tip #3

If you begin studying before you think you need to, you can go at a more relaxed pace, increasing the possibility that you’ll retain what you learn. Because the stress can make it more difficult to remember certain facts, avoiding the stress of cramming can help you learn more efficiently. If you do most of your studying in the same place, you not only reduce the risk of losing important papers, but you can condition yourself to be more ready for learning when you sit down there. Be sure to pick a place that’s quiet, distraction-free, and clutter-free.