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BLACKGUITARIST101
Age: 19
Location: where my ancestors are from, South Africa
Joined On: Jan 17, 2006
Occupation: songwriter, guitarist, and student
Website: myspace.com/blackguitarist101
Hey guys my name is Ezekiel Bell and Im an interesting guy once you get to know me. I graduated in 2007 from Belton-Honea Path High School and I am currently attending to Tri-County Tech for an Associate degree in Radio/TV Broadcasting and trying to be certified in Graphic Designing. I started Radio/TV broadcasting in tenth grade and I thought it would be cool to take it as a career. I also like graphic designing because it focuses on art and the media.
I used to be heavily involved in soccer and baseball for four years, and I found interest in music and the arts. I currently have two music projects called Timothy Bell and the Runaway Slaves and The Ezekiel Experience .
That's all i can think of for right now, but you can hit me up on myspace anytime. i always respond to comments. my address is (www.myspace.com/blackguitarist101). GodXBlessXYou.
The Appetite for Construction Tour (ft. Switchfoot, Relient K, and Ruth)
I don't know how the Upstate of SC pulled this one off, but I just got home from the best concert in the world. At first I was thinking about going to the Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Plain White Ts, and Cute Is What We Aim For concert (which is tomorrow in Clemson), but I changed my mind at the last minute (man, Tim is a huge procrastinator). Well, my procrastination paid off yesterday when I bought my ticket the day before the show. The original ticket price was $23. 50 but I got it on sale for $18.50. For buying a ticket at the last minute I really got a good seat (section 114, row C, seat 8). Well, since you can't see where I sat at let's just say I was really close to the stage.
I really didn't know what time the concert started (because some people said the show started at 6, 7, or 8 o'clock), so I left extremely early (2:30 pm) so I wouldn't have to wait in line so long. I bought my all my Switchfoot and Relient K album booklets (just in case they were signing) and some money for my gas and a parking permit. Once I arrived at the Bi-lo center around 4 o'clock I was the first guy to show up at the door.
Well, I waited at the door for like twenty minutes and I didn't see anyone else at the doors, so I walked around downtown Greenville to kill some time. I was really hoping that I would bump into one of the members of the bands but I had no luck. While I was in downtown, I stopped at this Ice cream parlor to get my favorite cheesecake ice cream with Oreo toppings. I was really hungry and I didn't want to be starving (to death) at the concert. So after I got my ice cream I walked backed to the Bi-lo Center (while eating ice cream) and as I walked closer I noticed that there were people waiting at the doors. I was really happy because I didn't want to wait at the doors by myself again. The doors were open twenty minutes later and the show started an hour after that.
So while the people were coming in to get to their seats the band called Ruth started their set. I really didn't much about this band except that they are on Tooth & Nail records (bands like Underoath, Showbread, Mxpx, and much more). They played four or five songs and I thought they were really good. If I could describe their music style(s), I would say they are an Indie/Folk Rock/ Rock band. After they played their set, they described how it was touring with Switchfoot and Relient K.
10 minutes later, Relient K came up on stage. Of course I screamed like a little girl when they came up. They played "I So Hate Consequences" first. I don't know the order of songs they played but here's the list of the songs they played.
"Sadie Hawkins Dance", "In Love with the 80s (Pink Tux to the Prom)", "Be My Escape", "High of 75", "I So Hate Consequences", "Which to Bury; Us or the Hatchet", "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been", "I Need You", "The Best Thing", "Forgiven", "Must Have Done Something Right", "Give Until There's Nothing Left", "Devastation and Reform", "Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care", "Sleigh Ride", and a cover song for Tears for Fears.
Matt Thiessen picked a few people from the crowd to come up on stage to finish playing "Sadie Hawkins Dance". It was pretty cool. I was frustrated with the people with floor seats because they just sat down there and clapped their hands. I think I was more frustrated with the people at this show than the people at The Click Five and Relient K show. After Relient K played, we had a twenty minute intermission before Switchfoot came up. During that time I was looking at the high priced merch and the food that they had in the stadium. Of course I was too poor to afford anything, so I walked backed to my seat and I talked to a girl that I knew from high school. I talked to her for awhile and another girl came up to me to talk. She said that she saw me rocking out and she wanted to give props. I talked to both of them 'til the concert was about to begin again.
All the members of Switchfoot came up on stage with suits on, and began rocking out the intro of "Meant to Live". After they played the intro they went on to play their new single "Oh Gravity". Once again I don't know the order of the songs they played but here's the list of songs that were played.
"Meant to Live", "This is Your Life", "Ammunition", "Dare You to Move", "Gone", "Adding to the Noise", "The Beautiful Letdown", "On Fire", "Twenty Four", "Stars", "Oh! Gravity", "Dirty Second Hands", "Rebuild", "Awakening", "Head Over Heels (In This Life), "Redemption", and Beyonce's "Crazy in Love".
In my opinion, Switchfoot was one the best live bands I've ever seen. They went way beyond than just jumping to their songs. For example, Jon Foreman (lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist) took one of Chad Butler's cymbals (during a song) and started spinning in circles while crashing the cymbals with a broken drumstick. Also, Jon took disconnection his microphone and plugged it into a cord that lit up like Christmas lights. He jumped off the stage and started walking to the crowd and hugged them 'til he stopped where he wanted to be.
Also, they were very visual with their songs. The lights were flashing along with "Meant to Live" and other songs as well. They did the intro for Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" (and yes they did the singing part too), which led to their song called "Gone". I thought that was genius. Also they had their logo flashing with different colored lights as well. No wonder it took twenty minutes from them to get their stuff set up.
Oh yea, the members of Ruth and Matt Thiessen (from Relient K) came up on stage to do a song with Switchfoot. The song was called "Rebuild" and it was inspired by Habitat for Humanity (and Relient K's tour bus that caught on fire before this tour). The song was more of Ruth musical style because they had harmonicas and other stuff. It was great. (Note: you can go to switchfoot.com to download this song)
After the band finished they walked off the stage. The crowd wanted more, so Jon Foreman played "Dare You to Move" with his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band came in just in time for the chorus. Man that was a good show. Well, I got to go crash and get enough sleep before I go to church.
P.S. Please don't forget about daylight savings. Set your clocks back one hour.
Rising Music Artist (Pt.3)
Well, it has been awhile since I've wrote a blog about what's happening in my music, so I decided to give you an update. There has been a tremendous amount of change in my music since the last blog, and I'm so excited about what is going to happen for me in the near future.
I have started two music projects within the last five or six months and I'm getting a good amount of plays, comments, and kudos. Timothy Bell and the Runaway Slaves' (MySpace account) have been around since May (2007) and right now it has over 1200 plays. I really never thought I would have that amount of plays because I don't have lyrics or vocals added to the songs, but thank you so much for showing me love and the support for my music.
I also started a side project (or whatever you want to call it) called The Ezekiel Experience and it's coming along pretty well. I really have not promoted it like the way I wanted it to but I have at least 200 plays within the month; so pretty much I'm a happy guy right now. I'm planning to start playing shows in January and hopefully I can do a self-release in the spring or summer of 2008. This album will be under The Ezekiel Experience name but it will contain songs from Timothy Bell and the RS and songs from The Ezekiel Experience. All together it contains 19 songs and I think I will the set the price for 5-8 bucks. The album includes snippets and demos of Timothy Bell and The RS, four songs of the Ezekiel Experience, and jam sessions with Evan Tripp and Al. Most of the songs will be instrumental, but it's really good (I promise).
Also I've done a lot of songs, banners, and designs for the music projects. I sent a lot of songs to D.C to get them copyrighted and I hope I can get a response from them pretty soon. With all honestly most of the songs are really bad but there are a few songs that I think are well worth recording. These are songs that I started writing since age fourteen, but let's face it..everyone has a bad beginning in songwriting. I put an (*) on my songs that I consider are the best to me. Well, here's a LONG list of the songs I sent to get copyrighted.
1. Lose Control*
2. How I Really Feel
3. I Can't Believe You're Gone*
4. What's Going On?
5. Around We Go*
6. This Year*
7. Everything
8. Let's Go Away
9. Take It All Away
10. The Enemy
11. Hard to See Better Days
12. This Time It's Over
13. Dance All Night (Reggae/ R&B/Rap song)*
14. When a Hero is Dead*
15. What a Beautiful Day
16. Mediocre Girl
17. The Adam Nickels Song (yes, that's a real guy)
18. Don't Open the Door*
19. Blue-Eyed Girl*
20. Boy Meets World (Not the Girl)*
21. There She Goes Again
22. My Next Neighbors Are Gypsies
23. Never Wake Up Again*
24. What Was I Thinking?
25. Please Don't Tell Me*
26. Hello, Goodbye, and Farewell
27. She Needs
28. Here and Now*
29. Pulling Strings
30. Here It Comes Again
31. Break Up Letter of the Year*
32. Confessions of a Dirty Man*
33. 15 Minutes of Fame*
34. In Our Hearts
Also, I have another batch of songs that are not done and I think it will take more time to finish these songs than the other songs that are listed up above. I have a problem of starting songs but never finish them. It's really becoming a hassle to keep up with all the paperwork. So here's another list of songs that are "in progress".
1. Riding the Ocean Waves
2. Running Away
3. It's Too Late
4. Time to Shine
5. Love Songs Make Me Cry
6. My Past in Living Color
7. B.E.T Girl
8. The Last Kiss
9. Stupid Guys and Stupid Girls
10. Last Place
11. Can We Still Be Friends?
12. Cross The Line
13. Turning Up the Radio
14. High School Sucks (When You're Around)
15. My Very First Paycheck
16. Fantasy :: Reality
17. This Is Who We Are
18. You're Just As Fake As Hollywood
19. This Will Be The Song You'll Hate (But You'll Sing It Anyway)
20. If Only The Record Store Had A Drive-In
21. I'm Letting You Go
22. My Sweet Lady (Reggae Song)
23. Winter Night Tears
24. Body Language
25. She Doesn't Date Black Guys
26. All That I Need
27. Road Trip
28. This Is the Story of the Knife, the Gun, and the Broken Heart
29. Stealing Car Tags
30. Save the Heartache
31. End this Way
32. I Don't Want To Be Emo
33. I'll Be Late For My Own Funeral
I also probably have a lot more songs that are not finished but like I've said it's hard to keep up with paperwork. Once I get my songs officially copyrighted, I want to put it on a lyrics website so you guys can get the gist of what kind of songs I write. So thank you and the music artists (Last Year Portrait, Rachel Loy, Almost Aces, Free for All, Tosh Sargeant, Josh Heirs, Ocean is Theory, Luz the Beast, With Silence Favor Me, Mishal Moore, The Spacepimps, Sever Your Ties, and Eleventyseven) for giving me love, support, encouragement, tips, advice, money, and helping me out in so many ways. I couldn't do any of this without you guys. Thank you so much for everything.
Im So Hot That Im About To Have A Heat Stroke (NOT!!!)
Right now I feel like I'm the ugliest guy in the world (and I'm being dead serious). To tell you the truth, I've feeling like this since the beginning of time. I mean I had those "phases" where I thought I looked "decent" enough to get a girl or two, but there's always at least person to pop that "feel good bubble".
Ever since that "feel good bubble" has been popped, I just look at girls as friends and I'll talk to them like I talk to guys. I think that created a problem too because the girls I considered as a "potential girlfriends" ,some of them ended up liking me and I had no clue until it was too late. (Note to Tim: YOU SUCK!!!)
Back then I thought that getting girls at high school was difficult, but chicks in college are like team mates from major league baseball or something. Every time I go to class (or somewhere else) I see a herd of hot girls, but all I can do is just look (of course when they're not looking) because I know that I do not have a chance, and that brings my self-esteem even lower. The worst part about all of this, I see the ugly/nerdy guys with better game than me. I don't have courage to talk to any girl (yes that includes the ugly ones too). It seems pointless to talk to them because they're not interested, have a boyfriend or girlfriend, engaged, bi, lesbian, nun, mother of three, or just plain out weird.
Now it is just like I don't dress to impress anymore, I'm not very social to girls (like I use to), I'm not caring about how I look (like I use to), it's kind of like I've given up on myself, dating, and love altogether now. I might as well become like the first black monk (in the world) because I'm not getting any luck with girls.
What's wrong with me? Am I that ugly or something and people are not telling me? I mean I do get that "you look good" comment from family members, old women, ugly girls, and girls that I could be old enough to be their father (not really), but those comments don't count for me. I want to hear it from girls who are down-to-earth, closer to my age, (somewhat) attractive, easy to talk to, like me for me, and who are not drama breathing dragons. I mean is that too much to ask for?
Well, I'm going to set up an account for E-harmony, and if that doesn't work, then I'm going to a website to get a mail order bride. I hope they take money orders.
Rising Music Artist
hey guys, i am totally glad to announce that i am gonna be a music artist. i'm about to record my songs in a couple of weeks or whenever i get new guitar strings for my beautiful johnson guitar (rebecca). the songs are "this is the story of the knife, the gun, and the broken heart", "this year", "i can't believe you're gone", and "she doesn't date black guys". i'm taking a class called radio and television and using the recording room to record my songs for FREE!!!!! and you know black people love free stuff. i am gonna to have a music profile on myspace and a purevolume account when i am finally finish doing all my songs. i am doing rock songs on an acoustic guitar and being a rap artist at the same time. yea, i know i'm too multi-talented....but of course i give all thanks to God.
If You Are A Skalcoholic (Read This)
(Note: First off, I want to pat myself on the back for making up my very first word "Skalcoholic". And if someone in this world made up this word up way before me (without me knowing), I don't care because no one around me used this word before. so I'm good.)
Anyway I was on Wikipedia.com because I was bored, and I wanted to figure out the differences between first -wave, second-wave, and third-wave ska (because I'm a sucka for music), and I came across a list of third-wave ska bands and I think this list of bands will help me and everyone else (who likes ska) to broaden their ears to more ska. Here it goes!!! Enjoi.
Against All Authority (AAA), Area-7, Athena, Big D and the Kids Table (personal favorite), Bim Skala Bim, Buck -O-Nine, Beer 7 (ska punk band from Beer Sheva, Israel), Capdown, Choking Victim, Citizen Fish, The Clash, Common Rider, CUBAN B, Crowned King, Culture Shock, Dance Hall Crashers, Farse, Five Iron Frenzy (R.I.P), Goldfinger, Harijan, The Hippos, The Insyderz (R.I.P), I Voted For Kodos (R.I.P), Leningrad, Leftover Crack, Less Than Jake, Link 180, Long Shot Hero, Mad Caddies, Mojiganga (ska punk band from Colombia), The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Mustard Plug, Operation Ivy, Pilfers, The Pietasters, Planet Smashers, Rancid, Reel Big Fish, Rx Bandits, Save Ferris, Shootin' Goon, SKA-P (from Spain), Skabba the Hutt, Skankin' Pickle, Solabeat Alliance, [spunge], Streetlight Manifesto, Sublime, Subsonica, Suburban Legends, The Suicide Machines, The Super Pineapples, The OC Supertones, The Taj Motel Trio, The Toasters, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Weightloss, and Le Cri du Slip (French band)
Of course they're hundreds of ska/punk/reggae bands out there but this is all I have from Wikipedia. If you have any ska bands you listen to (that are not listed), please tell me so I can add it to the list.
