Got Music?

So I'm back in the states now and it's great to be back. There's a lot back home in Bangkok that I'm going to miss but I'm positive that things are going to roll smoothly.

My trip over was pretty insane, and it started off right after Faye saw me off at the airport. So I had checked in and expecting a normal security check, I walked right up to them, with my guitar in my hand. For some reason they were in awe that this Caucasian male had a guitar with him and they decided to ask me questions. "How long have you played? Who is your favorite artist?", annnnnd... "Do you sing?" So, of course, I said yes. But right after they actually asked me to sing for them, and completely thinking it was a joke, I started to walk through the metal detector laughing. But one of the ladies actually stopped me and stated that she wouldn't let me through until I sang them a song... Oh by the way, there were about 12 employees there just staring at me waiting. So I obliged finally and sang... yes, you got it, "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. My signature song after a few drinks if I may. But it was all in good fun and they loved it! Totally the first time I've ever done anything like that. The funny thing is, the lady I met on the flight to LA asked me to sing to her when we landed... and I did! She was this awesome neurological doctor. Once I finally got to Dallas, two best friends of mine from Dallas, Tyler and Sami came and picked me up from the airport. Tyler was my roommate in Dallas, before I bailed on him to chase my dreams ;) Love you bro.

As for now, I'm on a road trip with my roommate in Boston, Dunk. And it's been pretty awesome so far! We're currently in Memphis, Tennessee after the first day of driving from Dallas. Memphis kicks ass. The music scene here is simply unbelievable! Dunk and I arrived here pretty late, but decided to go into the downtown area, specifically Beale Street- The Bourbon Street of Memphis. The Hard Rock Cafe satisfied my hunger, then we just walked up and down the street a couple of times. There were a lot of drunk people, I'm not going to lie, but the atmosphere and life of the place is something else. I got this awesome sign for my room in Boston that says: "Got Music?".

Tomorrow, we're off to Virginia! Time is not exactly on our side, but we should be fine visiting the people we want to see. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings. Dunk and I split for a video camera so we've been taking a lot of videos. We'll edit them when we get to Boston and I'll get em posted for sure. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Finally, as a lot of you saw on facebook, I had my first headlining concert in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago. It went phenomenally well and the turn out was great! I just want to thank everyone who came once again, and if you couldn't make it, no worries at all! There will be plenty to come in the future :)

Now, it's bedtime. It's 1:45am and I have to wake up at 8 so we can get on the road again. Exciting, but truly tiring. Goodnight, world.

Live with passion and love.

Oh! And I think I'm going to try something new. At the end of each of my posts, I'm going to list down some music that I've been listening to so that you can check it out. I'm not sure how many of you are fans of rap, but I've recently become a huge fan. I really respect lyricists who can improvise and freestyle on the spot, so I've started listening to more and more rap. Today I bought Eminem's new CD "Recovery", which came out this summer. All the tracks are great, but one that really caught my ears is "Almost Famous". Listen to it and feel it.

Think +

Hey guys,

So I'm actually determined to post on my blog weekly. And I will.

About being in Greece, I'm going to an island called Paros on Thursday, and I can't wait! We've been building a house on the beach for the past... well... no one really knows how long, and it was supposed to be done by this month, but they just started putting the doors and windows in. So staying there is not going to happen this summer. I've been writing a lot since I've been here and playing A LOT of guitar. New stuff is definitely on the way. I know it's been a while since I've posted on youtube, but I'm going to make a new video in Paros, and considering how fast the internet connection will be, I may or may not post it until I get back to Bangkok in early August.

As for now, I'm about to go off to the center of Athens to get a physical done for... Oh yeah, I'm playing college soccer next year!!! I was put on the pre season roster for the Emerson soccer team, a partner school with Berklee, and I have to get a physical done for it. I'm so excited to be playing for a school again!

So I'm off to Syntagma square, where the Acropolis (Parthenon) is. I'm taking my camera, so I'll take lots of photos and post them. Meanwhile, here are three pictures I took and my girlfriend Faye edited.

Hope you like them :)



This is a photo of one of the redshirts (wearing a blue shirt) during the semi civil war in Thailand. My dad and I decided to go out and take pictures, and this was my favorite of the day.



This one was shot at Siam Square in Bangkok. I really enjoy shooting long shutter speed shots and I'm obsessed with the colors that came out. Props to Faye for bringing them out even more.


This was taken about two days ago here on my Aunt and Uncle's balcony in Athens. I'm really happy with how it came out!


For now, live with love and passion.

Awakening.

Hey everyone, I'm back from my blog hibernation! I truly apologize for waiting way too long to write another post, and I'm not a man of excuses so I'll just leave it at that.

So much has happened since my last post, it's amazing! My life is changing in so many different ways- let me fill you in.

First of all, for the past few months I've been back in Thailand with my family living the good life. I came back in December of 2009 and I've been here ever since. Christmas and New Year's were great, having all my high school friends back visiting, but I do really miss all you guys back in Dallas... y'all. I'm going to visit soon, I promise!

As far as music schools go, well, I had a list of schools that I was going to apply to, but there's no need for a list anymore. I got into Berklee!! No, not UC Berkeley like most people think, but Berklee College of Music in Boston.

My Berklee audition was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 24th, the day before my birthday. I had a blast and the judges were so much more chill than I thought they'd be. Before the audition, a lot of people including myself were wondering how the audition worked, so I'll tell you exactly what went down.

Firstly, I walked in, introduced myself and immediately made friends with the judges. One of them was from Argentina, and we started talking about soccer, and I think that really helped.

We talked for a bit, then they asked me to play my prepared piece. I played "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray for them and I really nailed it! If you want to hear my version of the song, check it out on my youtube channel- www.youtube.com/AlexSypsomosMusic.

After I played my piece, one of the judges stood up and walked over to the piano. He played notes on the piano and asked me to sing them back. That went well, so after he said "Let's jam for a little bit." This was what I was looking forward to most! He told me that he was going to play a jazz progression, and when I was ready, he wanted me to sing about what I was feeling on the plane from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur. Some freestyle singing if I may. I was really feeling it and I got the judges to start laughing, so it was definitely a good time.

Then, the part I dreaded the most- sight reading. I've never actually been able to read music, let alone sing what I'm reading. During my 15 minutes in the practice room before the audition, they gave me the piece and I tried learning as much of it as I could from my limited musical knowledge. But when I had to sing it in front of the judges, I completely choked and messed it up. Oops...

Finally, the audition finished and I made my way upstairs to have my interview. I felt like I was talking to an old friend rather than an interviewer, so you could imagine that went pretty damn well. All in all, I had a blast during my audition and interview and was extremely confident with how I did!

As for now, it's summertime and I just got to Greece. I have just recently begun the voyage of a romantic relationship with my gorgeous girlfriend Faye, who is unfortunately 8000 kilometers all the way back in Bangkok. It's beautiful though, and I'm extremely happy.

I have so much more the talk about, but I'll leave it for another time. I promise that I'll continue to update this blog with some juicy stuff, don't you worry.

For now, live life to the fullest. Defy the odds.


Live with love and passion.

The Beginning...

It's ironic really; it's 4 am and I'm supposed to be writing a five page music history paper on the 4th movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4. Truly one of the most exciting things ever. But instead, I find myself constantly thinking about the extreme change of direction I've pointed my life into recently, and wanting to share it with all of you. After a lot of thinking, I've decided to pull out of university and go to music school. The cliche "Chase your Dreams" story if you will.

Here, let me fill you in from the beginning. There's a lot, but hang in there.

Let's start from the 4th grade. I had just moved to Thailand the year before and life was great. I had already made really close friends, I was playing soccer (my other passion) every day, and there was no drama in my elementary life. But this was the time in my life when I was starting to be more curious about girls. And yes, there was one that I liked. The only thing was that she was in a different class than me and I never got to spend time with her. Learning that she was taking a group violin class after school, drastic times call for drastic measures, and I decided to join the same class. I had never mentioned or even thought about music, and yet somehow I talked my parents into buying me an expensive violin. Finally, my plan was just about in the works. The only thing wrong with the whole situation is that after the first class, I found out that I HATED violin lessons... with a burning passion. This was not good. I don't know how I did it, but I made it through the semester without dropping the class. That was my first experience with music.

As I got older, my friends started to try out new instruments, yet I was still never really interested in music. Sports were more my thing- especially soccer. But as time went by, I began listening to music more and more. I joined the middle school choir in 7th grade, but discontinued the next year. Instead, I was more curious about the guitar. A lot of my friends were starting to get good, and it looked like fun, so I decided to try it out in 9th grade. Ever since then, I've been hooked. Funny story, the first song I learned on the acoustic guitar was "Romanza". I was so excited that I had learned my first song so I came home and played it for my dad, very passionately of course. He almost started to cry... The first thing he said was "that song was played for my grandmother when she was on her deathbed." Oops... another fail between music and me. But I kept playing, and playing, and playing. I was obsessed. And at about mid freshman year, I realized that I actually have a decent voice! Could this be the start of something new and big?

For the Christmas of my junior year, I got the only thing I wanted, drums! My friends came over more and we eventually started a band named PANANAS. Don't ask why, just accept it. Whenever the occasional talent show or concert came up, we would play in it. And we sounded good! There were five guys originally in it and I was the singer. Music was beginning to play a large part in my life. I would come home from soccer, rugby and track practice to play guitar or drums instead of finishing my homework. In class, I would write songs or think about playing big performances. I never enjoyed actual classes in high school and was just looking forward to what classes would be like in college. The funny thing is, they're exactly the same, except with four times the amount of people.

I love college, but I hate listening to teachers talk about things I don't really care about. I'm attending Southern Methodist University right now and I've made some amazing friends. I'm in a fraternity, I'm playing soccer for the club team and I try to jam with friends as much as I can. But school seems to always get in the way. I feel like it's about time to finally take a leap in the direction I want to go- music school!

So now, what I'm planning to do, is to blog my transfer into music school and see where all this goes. Will it lead to huge things? Nobody knows, but it's only the beginning.