Who are you, really?

[jcwillia]

I was on my walk from the train to my office today (I work in downtown Chicago) when it occurred to me that I am very strange bird. I write (mostly bad) electronic music and yet I am a married father of two (soon to be three) kids in a nice suburb who works as a Finance manager at a Fortune 500 company.

And oh yeah, I attend a relatively progressive Christian Church that actually supports all this craziness that we do with Live. In fact, were it not for my church, I would probably never heard of Ableton Live.


So I got to thinking - what do the rest of the forum guys do with their "real" lives?

Please, indulge me.

[Aequitas123]

I work in Marketing during the day and attend the church of Satan at night. Come to think of it, i probably wouldn't be into Ableton if it weren't for Satan either!

[aisling]

I am a balding unemployed looser with 2 kids and 2 college degrees I never really used because I thought I'd make it in music.......

So much time has elapsed since my "education", that it is easier to tell a "prospective" employer that I did 10 years in prison rather than say "I had a dream" and I followed it......and it never worked out (I have been in more bands than I can count, trying to get a shot, and so many other attempts). Fortunately, I have contracting skills that bring in some $, and a wife, who I think believes in me.....I am dusting my self off, and trying to get into nursing school. I recently became an EMT. I volunteer for meals on wheels as a way to contribute to my community.

I dig Jesus, but equally find buddha, Mohammed, the jewish prophets, Malcolm x, Gandhi, Joseph Campbell and MLK just as influential.....

[smutek]

I got into skateboarding, partying, punk rock, hip hop, electronic/industrial and other "underground" music in the mid-eighties.

In the early 90's, after 8 years of excessive partying I finally slipped (jumped/dove?) off the deep end. Following in the foot steps of some of my counter culture loser/heroes I immersed myself into Baltimore's underground heroin sub culture. I spent 5 years shooting heroin, living in the ghetto in East Baltimore and earning my money by stealing, stick ups, burglaries, and robberies.

I got clean in late 1999, 9 months after getting out of jail, and haven't drank or done drugs since.

I'm not a religious person, but I have my own sense of spirituality.

Met my wife in 2000, started Djing in 2000 after a good friend of mine died of an over dose and his Mom passed his turntables on to me. Got interested in trying to make my own music in 2002 and purchased reason. Went back to school studying graphic design, got married and purchased Live in 2003.

Continued staying clean, put on weight, got better at graphic design and continued sucking at music.

Bought a house in 2007.

Today I still suck at making music but not quite as much, and still enjoy it just the same.

Still clean, still happily married, and the wife and I are working on a baby (scared shitless over that).

Work days as a graphic designer doing t-shirt graphics for a little company in west baltimore and work part time doing design for a local non-profit arts advocacy group that targets at-risk youth and generally tries to uplift the community using music and the arts as the tool set. I still go to school and still play with my music when I have time. Oh yeah, and and I'm getting back on my skateboard this weekend after 5 years off of it.

I post under my real name (excepting the occasional use of an alt) and don't really care much if people judge me over my past, I'd rather focus on my friends and the people I can help with my own experience.

That's a bit about who I am.

[scott nathaniel]

I was on my walk from the train to my office today (I work in downtown Chicago) when it occurred to me that I am very strange bird. I write (mostly bad) electronic music and yet I am a married father of two (soon to be three) kids in a nice suburb who works as a Finance manager at a Fortune 500 company.

And oh yeah, I attend a relatively progressive Christian Church that actually supports all this craziness that we do with Live. In fact, were it not for my church, I would probably never heard of Ableton Live.


So I got to thinking - what do the rest of the forum guys do with their "real" lives?

Please, indulge me.

So, you're a Christian, you live in the suburbs, you have kids, you work in the financial industry. Yeah, you're really out there. Next you're gonna tell me you drive an SUV. Compared with your outta-the-box livin, I'm quite the dud. So, Hi, I'm dud and I collect strange birds for my aviary, glad to find you.

[Emissary]

I fart on average once every 5 minutes (they never smell)
My B.O. Smells like Chicken Tika
I have birthmarks on my balls
I have grown a new ass cheek due to an abscess
I have a big mole with 3 long creepy hairs coming out of it
I fall in love with women constantly just by making eye contact, and then set out an entire future with them while i sleep at night. I never see the women again.

[aisling]

I fart on average once every 5 minutes (they never smell)
My B.O. Smells like Chicken Tika
I have birthmarks on my balls
I have grown a new ass cheek due to an abscess
I have a big mole with 3 long creepy hairs coming out of it
I fall in love with women constantly just by making eye contact, and then set out an entire future with them while i sleep at night. I never see the women again.

let me guess, your Lemmy from Motorhead???

[scott nathaniel]

I fart on average once every 5 minutes (they never smell)
My B.O. Smells like Chicken Tika
I have birthmarks on my balls
I have grown a new ass cheek due to an abscess
I have a big mole with 3 long creepy hairs coming out of it
I fall in love with women constantly just by making eye contact, and then set out an entire future with them while i sleep at night. I never see the women again.

let me guess, your Lemmy from Motorhead???

Do all male Brits have testicles on their cheeks?

[aisling]

Do all male Brits have testicles on their cheeks?

I think just the really talented ones.......

[starving student]

hi, I'm politicaly correct.

[UKRuss]

I think you'll find you aren't as strange a bird as you think. What you describe sounds very, very normal to me. (Apart form the church thing which is really a minority hobby here in the UK)

Smutek, how accurate was The Wire from your experience of actually being involved in that scene? We totally loved that programme me and the Mrs!

Prop Joe, East Side Mutha Fukaz!

[smutek]

Smutek, how accurate was The Wire from your experience of actually being involved in that scene? We totally loved that programme me and the Mrs!

Prop Joe, East Side Mutha Fukaz!

I wouldn't be able to relate to all of the experiences of the vast range of characters obviously, but it was an extremely accurate portrayal of what the drug scene and the scene on the streets in Baltimore is like, in my opinion.

I thought it was as damn near to perfect representation of the darker, real side of Baltimore and it's definitely my favorite TV series as a result.

You might also check out "the Corner" if you haven't already. not nearly as powerful as the Wire, but definitely worth looking into.

And yeah man, Prop Joe was the shit, I was bummed when he got got.

My only gripe with the wire was the final season when Omar seemed to be elevated to almost super hero status - like when he took a dive out of that window from like 8 stories up and limped away down the street.....


other than that one little thing, yeah man, the wire is on point!

[Jekblad]

I'm a bad-a** in real life.

www.jeffekblad.com has the bio

[ewistrand]

Basically the same thing I do here. I'm a consultant for various software companies and local studios, and I play live every once in a while to keep it all in balance.

@ smutek- more power to you. Recovering alcoholic (38 years since my last drink) and crackhead (11 years clean) here.

ew

[smutek]

Basically the same thing I do here. I'm a consultant for various software companies and local studios, and I play live every once in a while to keep it all in balance.

@ smutek- more power to you. Recovering alcoholic (38 years since my last drink) and crackhead (11 years clean) here.

ew

Right on man!

10 years C&S here this coming November!