Cheap Thrills #2: Create a Fake Band

In general, fun stuff is only as fun as you make it. So it's probably best to suspend any pooh-poohing that might be lurking in the corner of your soul before you try this one. Otherwise, you'll probably just have a terrible time. So shut up and grab a pen!

I ended up doodling Chad's album cover 

while he was composing his salsa/trip-hop 

number on GarageBand.

1) Get your Band Name
Go to Wikipedia and click on "Random Article" on the left-hand column (or you could just click here). The header of the article that comes up is your band name. Mine was "Gandaki Zone".

2) Get your Album Title
Go to The Quotations Page and click on "Random Quotes" on the left-hand column (once again, you can just click here). Scroll to the last quote. The last 4 or 5 words of that quote is your album title. Mine was "Being Left 50,000 Pounds".

3) Get your Album Cover
Go to Flickr and click on "Explore" (magic link here). The 3rd picture is your album cover. Mine, perhaps appropriately so, was a picture of some hip-hop dudes making the peace sign.

4) Now What?
Get your creative juices flowing by writing a couple lyrics to your fake band's award-winning song. Or if you're a muso, try pumping out a couple of measures from your album (GarageBand is kind of fun for this).

This activity gets some extra hype if you do this with someone else. Along with the strange feeling of being five again, both of you will probably bust out into some "I'm-so-embarrassed-we're-doing-this-thing-but-it's-actually-kind-of-fun" giggles at some point in time. And nothing brings people together like shared vulnerability!

Do You Dance?

I've often heard people say, "I don't dance". After last week, I don't believe them anymore.

Chad had a jazz gig at the zoo and I went, lured partly by the chance to see him solo it on his sax and partly by the proximity of animals. What I didn't count on was the entertainment provided by the vast amounts of kids there. And trust me, I'm not normally entertained by small human beings, so this was an unusual occasion.

Every time a song would start, the kids would rush up close to the band and start swaying and prancing to the beat. Some were more coordinated than others. Some were even executing some promising ballet moves. And then some others were just bobbing in their diapers, having not mastered the art of walking yet.

I was hard-pressed to find a single kid who wasn't physically responding to the music. And it told me something. People are born to dance. Whether it looks refined and elegant or like a body being defibrillated is beside the issue. Music wasn't meant to be only experienced through your ears. It was meant to be a physical experience as well.

Having said this, I am disappointed to say that I did not join the sea of bobbing juveniles. I wish I could have. But something wouldn't let me make a fool of myself. And because of that, I'm not entirely unsympathetic to those who say, "I don't dance". But I won't go so far as to say that I don't dance. Because I definitely do. I dance in the shower. I dance in my living room. While doing housework or cooking or even in the snatches of time when I'm in public but no one's watching, I dance.

One day, I hope to have the courage to dance in plain sight. But until then, I hope this drawing captures all my fascination with the beauty of someone who can fling themselves into a beat without a second thought.