My drum progress, Recordings made with Soundcorset

Hello Musicians and Muzak Fans,

So I started playing drums back in August, at the end of the summer. I've always wanted to play drums as a kid and often spent a lot of time in the classroom trying to play a beat with a pen in one hand and a pencil in the other. I bought a cheap plastic/wood Kibaga snare drum practice and got some black painted ziljin thin sticks and got to practicing. My coworker told me how to play a basic rudiment and I got started from there. 

Now it's November so I've been playing and practicing for three months. I've been recorded various drum solos at guitar center on their three thousand dollar Ludwig kit all this time as well as playing at home with a snare drum and cymbal that I got from this rock and roll guy who wanted me to be his drummer. These are all recorded with an Android free app called Soundcorset, it's very cheap, as in free. 

But I digress, here are the recordings, enjoy. Arranged in order from earliest to most recent. Thank you in advance for showing interest and curiosity.  

https://soundcorset.com/r/A0kVQeM6Gh?fbclid=IwAR2p6rVdRFoG-785xgc_gvHWDqm5Ix9bu28hv4tYiFxhvO8pirq8zZ_ZPs4 [Drum Solo No.4]

https://soundcorset.com/r/AvXQoK6pCp?fbclid=IwAR2lODFdEWXAxyTQzrLYRuPp46wUVdZLdIChL2fnSSXb3IpIDlnviEsIb9E [Drum Solo No.5]

https://soundcorset.com/r/hd1hMqvf3e?fbclid=IwAR1LJIvJ_5OdxQ-DZE2_0I3dte7bjqDwV58sRhyF4H-1B6aABk9N82toC58 [Lied vor der Arbeit, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YY1EV9Ca9v?fbclid=IwAR3EGlq8YUy8RS5CD-uQ5y_pN_8dHPB8ZVlJE-RnYuCw59hvBg8SFrA5oic [Heavy Blues, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/9h-WEVEeqY?fbclid=IwAR16sa_MTa_bTMNB1QB4OHp_xNf_IdH4gM1G9pJ2HSx5p2I4JP-ewoQC4_g [Speculation Band, Orlando Drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/xYrrAAMYzj?fbclid=IwAR3VQLFUG1s4TYwTQ5F2hpqfEYRDNtKZEF61AEzN1iXa7p9SZ-_CBRUhvUY [Johnny B Goode, Orlando drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/7G3QFABqpH?fbclid=IwAR2D_p8xWSDmkZ3GFn-mFQxoUbHMHeFu8nEACLfpBMtM78CnmSyvHC-H-T8 [Drum Solo No.6]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YD6jYoTvHY?fbclid=IwAR133ioMCOqmhwupUJ2dx_7nmIqRgqhxr-9hMpjI-nvX_HUb4Q4Pl6HGFYo [Drum Solo No.7]

https://soundcorset.com/r/wv-fdYamiA?fbclid=IwAR3xxxCtf60UwdXrL4KkPAR23ndtGvGFZfVCFe40_LvCTJ7k4Ae7v4tpefM [Drum Solo No.8]

https://soundcorset.com/r/SPu6MIMlIP?fbclid=IwAR0TvY_2mnwx8FPefmPBfYLVpvFSfIZ-tVQAcoqAdO5hKfVnOA95TCejBWI [Drum Solo No.9]

https://soundcorset.com/r/1c5NoDpC3s?fbclid=IwAR1gVYHefRTtI5BegNW1x_MZ0I9_KkTRdlF2HZCOhmB3yy4xQy_zwE0fWCA   [Drum Solo No.10]

https://soundcorset.com/r/J8UoWUwkXo?fbclid=IwAR0oW-ABFdVeeKtcq-0XFwY36MhMBUNK8QVxsLDtGniU1jqh4rWFokqyZZY [Drum Solo No.11]

https://soundcorset.com/r/4jPHRMv-BY?fbclid=IwAR3AnGuyh8OTxxVggJisiYTMzu2qXiKPUgN8oD6_5orL0LToBNm8pDw6q6M [Drum Solo No.12]

https://soundcorset.com/r/CFSBQa8QrM?fbclid=IwAR25qpVKJqY6zDvl8EBg_lLmXlmMVidjmOZcBKnpUxo1eA5XcQGuL67fNT4 [Drum Solo No.13]

https://soundcorset.com/r/C377XapOKq?fbclid=IwAR3QP0ZJHA6l4ktscExanaAMKvBGTvHv9A0TUataYSduK3MAdnA0YlR1pBs [Drum Solo No.14]

https://soundcorset.com/r/-8jaSCZnW3?fbclid=IwAR3-Qp56bHGzIByZ82ZzJZ8NU7oT9PWkueNxOiVPpz_SF9uv2vpAozp_oJI [Drum Solo No.15]

https://soundcorset.com/r/QPlLp2yXoB?fbclid=IwAR06W3w9tnhjM_5GURYYOBshDVLzlHPygq-SibqRAJ2qCLRoMazGnsmu5rM [Drum Solo No.16]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeIJ94gG3js [Live Jazz jam session 12/15/22]

https://soundcorset.com/

image ai generated with stable diffusion 

Speculation Band Rock and Roll Jam

Hello rock and rollers, 

Check out this list of recordings I made on my android phone. The quality isn't the best but its true to the rock and roll spirit. I met a guy at the checkout line at work that wanted to jam with me and this is what we got out of it. I played guitar a bit and played drums a bit, apparently, I'm a drummer too now, and even occasional piano. I do it all, I can even sing while playing drums, super hard sometimes. 

The guitar bits with me on guitar are with Jim's Signature Eddie Van Halen guitar, which he says he got personally from Eddie himself. Well, him telling me that did make me play much better. Check out it. 

https://soundcorset.com/r/lIwPlA-HNs?fbclid=IwAR0MSTg4xQw-1o7RsW6Y2USTP-5mTBjuCOYNT4VJPtFyEAWRk-G-tzj03ag [Speculation band Orlando guitar and Mike on drums/spoken word, played with the signature EVH guitar]

https://soundcorset.com/r/xYrrAAMYzj?fbclid=IwAR2GV6OeZg9rdt3nQK2SqXzCmlykbxhz8u2hS11Lk6UfxnYu214wSsd3U8w [Speculation band Johnny B Goode Orlando drums Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/Qz7I2VzWUL?fbclid=IwAR2-n7VOVIaCcyFZ07NmeFT6BFCMb_3avnsRmx-MekDSNOTtB6hj2GrjNbE [Speculation band metal Orlando guitar, Mike drums, with the EVH signature guitar]

https://soundcorset.com/r/9h-WEVEeqY?fbclid=IwAR16sa_MTa_bTMNB1QB4OHp_xNf_IdH4gM1G9pJ2HSx5p2I4JP-ewoQC4_g [Speculation band Mike guitar/vocals, Orlando drums]

https://soundcorset.com/r/AvXQoK6pCp?fbclid=IwAR2PtgQbUL340Bgs-VYF7Y7_yuAQqYSElWqpg2GZza82xaLT0cXOnzoBL_k [Orlando drum solo]

Keep on rocking in the free world! 

verändert sich durch Sein und Zeit

Gute Abend, 

Things are changing so much and so rapidly it's almost as if time itself is a blur. In the blink of an eye, we are born, we grow, we live, and we die. 

Mortality and fate are intertwined, although the moderns have never been able to quite explain or understand it no matter how far they get in doing so. The Ancients had an easier way of trying to understand it, but they too failed in this fundamentally human question. 

I've lived in Los Angeles for ten years, have had a great life, made some friends, partied and chilled with a lot of people, became a better musician, and even became a part of these rock and roll after hours parties by playing Hendrix for drunkards and druggies. 

Life is good. But fundamentally I realize I'm right back where I started when I first got here. Trying to make it in Los Angeles through music, my own wits, and whatever talents I may have in any other areas. It's rough. It's rough for anybody out here. 

The pandemic made life for a lot of people much worse. Their children have become stay-at-home malcontents that can't handle working, or worse, they just do drugs and alcohol and have no hope of ever succeeding in life, let alone holding onto a job without switching every 2-4 years. 

There are new strains of corona out there and there's more of the threat of respiratory diseases for infants and young children. Politics have become embroiled and republicans are content to make fun of Pelosi's husband pretty much getting murdered. 

To be alive in the bitter sea. 

What's a guy to do?

Run the changes again. 

Play the same old song but in a different way. In order to live in this decline of western civilization, you must learn to find a new way to live. 

For everyone, this will mean something different. For me, I had to learn to stay away from problem people and their problems, and stay focused on my job, music, reading, eating better and losing weight, and maintaining, making, and improving relationships. None of it is easy. In fact, it' grueling and mind-numbing. 

For years and years I used to be content to sit in my room and play video games, not caring about anything going on outside my window. Then the pandemic kicked in and somehow I became more serious. I realized how fickle life can be. 

I started taking music more seriously, deeply trying to understand everything I read, rather than just reading for pleasure. I started learning languages like Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. I learned how to play jazz guitar so I could get out of my rock guitar virtuoso lizard brain. I started playing piano and drums and even singing. I even did a lot of open mics where I was playing electric guitar plugged into a PA, and singing along to my guitar. Scary! 

Today, I took the bus to guitar center and bought a pair of drum brushes, brushes, used to play more mellow soulful jazz patterns and ballads, even swing.

So there you go. Find your way to live. The meaning of life is that it is meant to be lived. 

You got this. 

[photo is ai generated, created with stable diffusion, android playing jazz saxophone] 

Siegfried comes to save Los Angeles

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

It's been a long time. Hello world. 

I've been okay. C'est la vie, as the French say. There's a lot going on in today's rapidly changing world. A lot of it is terrifying, especially for a 33 year old American male, but really, for anybody, the times they are a-change-in. 

We just came out of a terrible presidency by one of the worst people on the planet and Americans are still supporting him even to this day like he's God's gift to woman. America is becoming more and more totalitarian in every way, shape, and form, and believe me folks, its not just republicans who are Attila the Hun fans, it's democrats too. My work has cameras locked onto every cashier and in every aisle to make sure nobody steals anything. Sound familiar? 

On top of that there's record inflation, soaring gas prices, we can't afford rent, we can't afford groceries, our kids are continuously getting gunned down by madmen in schools, we can't afford children we already have, the climate has gone to the dogs, and the white people have decided to ban abortions but secretly allow their women to get abortion pills and stuff like that. Don't forget climate change. 

Covid isn't going away, and rather, is evolving faster than we can create vaccines for. The workforce doesn't quite know it yet, but they've been decimated by long covid and we don't know the full extent of the long term symptoms but one of them is being tired all the time and continuous brain fog. These victims can't even read a book, I'm afraid, they wouldn't have the attention span. On top of that, other countries are taking more control over the world and America has become a lesser. Trump made our country weak and Biden couldn't fix it. And now we're stuck. Interesting times. 

Companies are becoming less and less employee focused, even Union shops, and rather, instead, they've become more like sweat shops. Ironically, more like China. This has been happening since the American early days of the robber barons. 

Welcome to America, we're the gestapo now, and we support Atilla the Hun, and my name is Siegfried, I have blonde hair and blue eyes.

But seriously, what can one do with a mess like this one? 

There's nothing you really can do except vote Democrat for the Mid Terms. They're the lesser of the two evils, they at least attempt to do the right thing, although they're no angels either.

Part of the problem is that everybody is living in a separate world in this moment of time. Nobody reads the same news, nobody watches the same tv shows, nobody plays the same video games, nobody reads the same books, nobody can agree on anything, and most people aren't smart enough to take news, facts, and information and think for themselves, rather they believe what they hear and just naturally assume that's the way it is, that it is truth, that everything they see and hear is a fact. What happened to thinking for yourselves? 

I told my friends I take the bus in LA. They said, "Be careful! There's criminals on the bus who will rob you."

I said, "What criminals? Where? Did somebody rob you on the bus?"

They said, "No, but I just heard about it on the news."

Are they all really that scared? 

That's beside the point.

What we really need is a remote coalition government that isn't controlled by government, republicans, democrats, libertarians, socialists, communists, or our parents. We all need to come together to vote Democrat, a New Great Society, but only the true believers in the good are allowed in. Are you one of us? 

The end of the beginning. More work to be done tomorrow! 

Live Jazz! Guitar and Saxophone! 10/6/2022!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Km9rjsh8w&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

Featuring Jason Tomas on alto saxophone and Orlando Figueroa on guitar

Improv most of the set, and Blue Monk by Thelonious Monk

Live Jazz Trio! 9/14/2022!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4eRvDbS88&t=218s&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RhMMStW7-8&t=1715s&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

Live Jazz Trio, recorded live from Facebook on 9/14/2022

Feather Robley on percussion

Jason Tomas on alto saxophone

Orlando Figueroa on 7-string guitar 

Thank You

Live Jazz! 9/9/2022!

Listen to it or be square! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq57g1C2fWA&t=868s