Hi everyone!
Just as I did with music, I'm going to give you a bit of my background when it comes to reading and books before I delve into my first review.
I started reading early, before kindergarten, with McGuffey's Eclectic Primers being the foundation. Well, unless you count me parroting back to my mom and dad the Dr. Seuss they were trying to read me to get me to go to sleep.
I started in one school, but was moved to another because the "old" school kindergarten class was just learning the ABCs, and I was already reading. I read for fun, mostly because there were no other kids around my neighborhood that were my age.
My interest in books really took off when I was in 5th grade. The school had a deal with Scholastic Books where we could order books out of a catalog. I saw one called "Mystery of the Coughing Dragon", in "The Three Investigators" series. I was hooked, and read all I could from that point on.
In 4th grade I was reading at an 8th grade level. In 8th grade, I was reading at an 11th or 12th grade level. In 11th grade, I was reading at college level.
I was first introduced to science-fiction/fantasy in junior high by a good friend of min, Mike. He started me off with "On a Pale Horse" by Piers Anthony. He also introduced me to the Dungeons and Dragons computer games (another post, folks, sorry). From there, I got into the "Forgotten Realms" novels and the "Dragonlance" novels.
My library is immense, and growing constantly. I have two of those 5 shelf bookshelves, and each shelf is double, triple, and in a couple places quadruple stacked. My collection is mostly sci-fi/fantasy, but I have some mystery, history, and action sprinkled about to make it interesting. My main fixation right now are the "Warhammer 40,000" novels put out by the Black Library publishing company.
My passion for reading has grown so much, that I take at least one book with me wherever I go, including work. I just feel lost without one.
All that being said, I'll review mostly sci-fi/fantasy, but I'll post some from other genres as well to keep people guessing.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Musical background
Before I launch into my first music review posting, I'd like to share with you my musical background. I started listening to music at a very young age, but my first memories are back when AM radio actually played music. Today, it would be called "Easy Listening": John Denver, Barry Manilow...things like that.
I don't exactly know how I started getting into "Rock", but I remember listening to Yes, Tears for Fears, and Motley Crue (Theater of Pain era) on the local rock station. This was when I was in about 5th or 6th grade. At that time, I started playing violin, then upright bass through school.
I was in the junior high and high school orchestras, along with the Seattle Little, Junior, and Youth Symphonies. I also picked up the bass guitar in high school and was in the school jazz band. In late junior high and into high school is when I really got into rock: Guns n' Roses, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc. I was still in the symphonies, orchestra and jazz band, but had moved away from ONLY listening to that music. In late high school, I also joined a local chamber group and an operetta company for a couple seasons.
I auditioned for, and was accepted into the Navy School of Music after high school. Problem was, I had to learn how to play the tuba and march in a band...neither of which I had done before. I didn't learn it well enough or fast enough, so was dropped from there and went to an A-6 squadron (but that's for another post).
In the 20 years since graduating, my musical library has grown to damn-near 1000 CDs, and I'm proud of the fact that I have every musical genre represented: country, rock, classical, metal, easy listening, rap, jazz/swing, gospel...the list goes on.
My ultimate favorite musical genre is metal, and I'll review a good chunk of albums from that category. However, I will also throw in some classical, world, jazz, and others in once in a while for flavor...and so that no-one gets bored from just one thing.
I don't exactly know how I started getting into "Rock", but I remember listening to Yes, Tears for Fears, and Motley Crue (Theater of Pain era) on the local rock station. This was when I was in about 5th or 6th grade. At that time, I started playing violin, then upright bass through school.
I was in the junior high and high school orchestras, along with the Seattle Little, Junior, and Youth Symphonies. I also picked up the bass guitar in high school and was in the school jazz band. In late junior high and into high school is when I really got into rock: Guns n' Roses, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc. I was still in the symphonies, orchestra and jazz band, but had moved away from ONLY listening to that music. In late high school, I also joined a local chamber group and an operetta company for a couple seasons.
I auditioned for, and was accepted into the Navy School of Music after high school. Problem was, I had to learn how to play the tuba and march in a band...neither of which I had done before. I didn't learn it well enough or fast enough, so was dropped from there and went to an A-6 squadron (but that's for another post).
In the 20 years since graduating, my musical library has grown to damn-near 1000 CDs, and I'm proud of the fact that I have every musical genre represented: country, rock, classical, metal, easy listening, rap, jazz/swing, gospel...the list goes on.
My ultimate favorite musical genre is metal, and I'll review a good chunk of albums from that category. However, I will also throw in some classical, world, jazz, and others in once in a while for flavor...and so that no-one gets bored from just one thing.
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