My evolution in musical taste has been quite interesting. I really started listening to my own choice of music around fifth grade. Since I was just getting started with my exploration of the musical genres, it was easy to start with classic music, classic rock. I asked my mom to buy me my first album, “Back in Black” by AC/DC. I listened to that album on my room’s loud speakers continuously for about a month. I loved Angus Young’s energy on the guitar and often would invite friends over merely to bump our heads to the music. Not much later I started watching “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” The intro rap that Will Smith did really got my ears popping. I knew every word to the rhyme and in search of similar music I purchased “Big Willie Style” and “Willenium” both of Will Smiths first two albums. After a couple of my friends heard me listening to Will Smith as my choice of rap I quickly got introduced to the real stuff, Tupac, Biggie, and Dre. The only rap I continue to listen to today. In High School my obsessions began. I was introduced to The Beatles, the greatest musical group of all time, and I stayed fixed on their music for nearly an entire school year. I read two different biographies, bought every album and anthology they ever produced and packed my bedroom walls with their posters. Then came on my obsession with jam bands centered around live performances, something that I continue to love, and perhaps be moderately obsessed with today.

I’d say I’m a moderately interesting person. I grew up very much interested in sports and athletics, playing soccer and basketball throughout middle and high school. In high school I began getting really into guitar and music as a whole. I began doing independent study of music theory. The artsy side of me was beginning to emerge from beneath my varsity jacket and before I knew it I was wearing Beatles shirts to school. I expanded my group of friends to include a bass player, drummer, and anybody else with a similar interest in music that I had. For some reason, I also learned to juggle at the time, play Frisbee golf, and I began getting borderline obsessed with jam band music. The Grateful Dead, Phish, The String Cheese Incident, bands like these were drawing my attention on their ability to improvise and play together on stage in front of thousands of people and make it look like it was nothing. It also happened to be that this past summer was the greatest time for my interests to hit their peek as Phish, The Dead, and String Cheese were all reunited and ready to jam all summer. I saw Phish play three times, and managed to get out to both a String Cheese and a Dead show throughout this past summer and have not been able to stop attending any possible good show since.

Live music blog addresses the happenings of all the greatest live music performances around today. From indie, rock, jam, and top hip hop performances, the blog discusses past tours and shows and posts the top tours and shows to come. The main writer of the blog, Justin, takes many different approaches in his entries. Sometimes, he is merely informative, notifying his readers of upcoming shows, cancellations, or rumors of possible reunions. Other times, he is merely a fan, commenting on his favorite performances and encouraging others to witness themselves. About how others would react to the closing Bonnaroo set, “Call me an idealist, but I really thought some of the indie kids would feel the crossover pull of one of the most innovative and interesting bands this world has ever seen.” He also likes to comment on how music moves him, and how he thinks other will be moved by it, “I mean, come on…who really would not like seeing this jam live? You’ve got to be a friggin’ zombie if this doesn’t get your ears perked up, your head bobbing, and your feet moving.” Justin is passionate about his music but understands the wide range of musical taste, and how there can be many different types of great live performances.

One main writer manages the Coventry blog, but he has four other friends that help him write. Entries are published after every live show that one of the five friends attends, most of which are Phish shows. Every writer has an alias name for themselves and often refer to the other writers by their alias as well. The blog is a critique of the show they just experienced and the writers always present themselves as experts on the topic. Since all five of the writers have been going to live shows since the early nineties, it is definitely acceptable to consider them seasoned experts on the quality of a live performance.

The entries are very informal, often using curse words and slang throughout the writing. I believe this is appropriate however because that is the language you hear at live performances, and it is nice to hear about the show from people who write in the manner that people talk when you are at the show. The writers usually focus on the quality of the music. They analyze every instrument and musician and talk about their strengths and weaknesses that night. They also tend to focus greatly on the atmosphere that was created during the show; how pumped the crowd was, how loud they were, the response they had to specific sections of songs or antics done by the musicians, really allowing the reader to fully grasp the quality of the live performance.

http://phishcoventry.blogspot.com/

It is very hard to find something that sixty thousand people are greatly attracted to, almost to the point of obsession. One single thing that every person in a temporary music city have a strong passion about, and choose to go through great measures in order to experience it with other people just like them. To consider yourself fully part of such a large group of people because of a simple common interest, like music, is even harder to imagine. However, this Halloween, I was amongst these people and my understanding of their incredible passion came full circle with what I experienced.

After waiting all day in the concert grounds with nothing but a blanket and a bottle of water, it finally came time to enjoy the show in the very front. Sixty thousand people were behind me, nearly willing to kill to be standing in the spot, the patch of lush green grass right in front of Trey’s spot, and it was almost time. When they came out it hit me. I understood why Phish music makes their fans feel they way they do. It’s the energy and passion that they have towards their music that rubs off on their fans and since then, has been completely rubbed off on me.

The writer comes off as very melodramatic, nostalgic of the years of teenage angst and anxiety, “The last winter of the noughties is coming. Oh well, more reasons to stay in and listen to sad music.” Although I am not aware of his age it appears he writes in a stage of adolescence. Very aware of his place in society and his identity, he appears sensitive to his wishing to return to the days where "hearts were worn on sleeves". It appears the writer uses music as a way to cope and identify different emotions inside him. By writing about the music, he is therefore also writing about his feelings and emotions.

The writer writes a wide range of reviews on different types of music giving him credibility because of the depth of his experience with different musical styles. The writer then gains authority by conducting an interview with an artist he often speaks of, adding consistency to his writing. The humor felt throughout his writing allows him to critique different aspects of the music he’s writing on without sounding as if he is an unknowledgeable critic. “If were walking around campus with this track on my iPod, I would have to resist the urge to raise my fists to the sky and shout along: "My body's a zombie for yoooooooooouuuu!", as that would be the equivalent of committing social suicide, I think.” A perfect portrayal of the writer’s adolescent personality that he writes with, and the sense of humor felt throughout his writing.