Thursday, April 30, 2009
First Night
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Goodbye
Kadang-kadang gue juga gak tega banget, kalo inget pas baru masuk dulu (sekitar bulan juni 2007), masih ingusan (namanya baru "Lulus"), suka dimarah-marahin ama DS di kantor (gue kan bego, tapi gak bego-bego amat ^^).
Terus terang proses resign gue cukup singkat (akibat sesuatu hal...but it doesn't matter now), gw sendiri gak nyangka bakal secepat ini, but life is all about choices right?it's now or never!!
Gue bakal tinggal di desa, jauh dari kehidupan "Hedonis" yang biasa gue alami di perbankan. Yang bakal gue liat tiap hari bakalan hutan, rumput, tebu (heheheh)....sapi kali ada yaa...jauh dari keluarga itu pasti....ini semua pilihan gue sekarang, gue harus konsisten....chayyoooo yoga!!!!
Satu hal yang akan sangat gue rindukan di kantor yang lama....makan nasi uduk di pantry tiap pagi, trus dibikinin kopi ama Alenois (OB di kantor gue), abis itu set "Limewire" buat donlot film "Heroes " ama "Smallville"...berantem ama Credam di kantor, gara-gara gak mau ke bookvault trus reviewnya lama...bergunjing ama Ce Meily (i'll be missing u Mbak Mei), ngobrol gak jelas ama Ryan (saiki plesetan ki wis ra "Muksin"), ngajarin Mona (siap mon!!!), benerin komputer di kantor ama Mas Uwoh (sory mas, sekarang benerin sendiri ya...heheh), Wahyu (tq, atas gambaran GMP-nya, i'll find your brother there heheh...), Mas Doddy (Om Dodi kali ya...heheh), Mas Yuf (tq banget atas nasihatnya), Mas Wiwid (yaaa...gak bisa liat officer baru ni), Mas Ciknan (tq atas bimbingan dan wejangan selama di kantor), Mas Hendro (my DS, thx mas atas pengertiannya selama ini, saya masih jadi om-nya Vina sama Vendra kan mas...heheh), kok mata gue jadi "Berkaca-kaca" yaaaa....kyaaaa...oh no....^^I hope PT. Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk will always be the best, walaupun saya tidak sempat menjadi saksi hidup sampai proses merger Niaga-Lippo selesai...at least saya sudah pernah menjadi bagian dari keluarga Bank CIMB Niaga, dan saya "Bangga" akan hal itu. And for my new office...PT. Gunung Madu Plantation...here i come!!watch out!!another "Freak" is on the leash....
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Secondhand Serenade
John Joseph Vesely formed Secondhand Serenade in his home town of Menlo Park in California, USA, in 2004. Vesely was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a musical family and as the son of a professional jazz musician father, commenting that "getting into music was a natural thing" for him. He spent 8 years playing as a bassist in local bands, featuring in a number of acts ranging in style from ska and hardcore to rock and pop.[3] After years of playing bass, he opted for an acoustic guitar and began writing his own songs when he met his wife Breanna Russell. She had wanted him to play a song and "serenading her with a bass guitar was out of the question", he has admitted he found his "true calling" when he picked up the guitar.
The pseudonym Secondhand Serenade is a reference to the way in which his songs are 'serenades' sung to his wife. People around the world are merely getting to hear the songs 'second-hand'.
In 2005, Vesely released his debut album titled Awake. It was recorded as a demo, after booking a few days at a San Francisco studio earlier in 2005, "using just an acoustic guitar and his multi-tracked vocals". The album was promoted through the Secondhand Serenade Myspace page and by playing local shows. The CD's were originally sold through mail order with a PayPal account by Vesely, eventually he signed up with distributor TuneCore, making Secondhand Serenade's songs available on music portals including iTunes. The album experienced tremendous online support, and by the end of 2006 Secondhand Serenade had received millions of plays on Myspace He sold over 15,000 copies of the album on his own, and on the strength of these sales and the support, naturally, the labels came knocking. Secondhand Serenade was signed by longtime label executive Daniel Glass, on his new label Glassnote Records, which is distributed through Warners Independent Label Group. In 2006, Rolling Stone announced Secondhand Serenade as #3 in the magazine's reader's poll for Best Myspace Artist. and had been the social-networking site's No. 1 Independent Artist for months. Financially, he was said to be bringing in up to $20,000 a month from downloads and merchandise sales out of his home.
Awake re-release
In early 2007, Awake was reissued by Glassnote Records with an additional two songs. It was released on February 6 and gave Vesely his first chartings, debuting at #16 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. Added success lead to it peaking at #164 on the Billboard 200, #3 on the Top Heatseekers and #19 on the Top Independent Albums chart.
In support of his first label release, Vesely was featured on MTV's You Hear It First, AOL Music's Breakers Yahoo! Music's Who's Next? and appeared on talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He also played numerous shows, including tours with the likes of Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects and at music festivals South By Southwest and along side My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park at Bamboozle.
Secondhand Serenade released only one song as a single from the debut album, "Vulnerable". The song spawned a music video, which was created by Frank Borin who was responsible for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for hit single "Dani California". "Vulnerable" peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, #64 on the Pop 100 and #56 on the Hot Digital Songs charts.
A Twist in My Story
A Twist in My Story was released on February 19, 2008 and features songs from Awake such as "Maybe" and "Your Call," but reproduced with a full band. The bulk of the album however is a list of new songs written by John Vesely and recorded with a full band. Two tracks on A Twist In My Story were produced by famed producer Butch Walker, while the others were produced by former Nine Inch Nails member Danny Lohner. The first single, "Fall for You," was released January 21, 2008. The album was leaked, and was made available for download one month before its official release. On January 28, 2008 the music video for the first single from the album "Fall for You" premiered on the popular MTV show TRL. In support of the release, Secondhand Serenade spent most of March and April touring with American bands Making April, Automatic Loveletter, and The White Tie Affair. Members of his touring band include John Harvey on bass guitar, Lucas Vesely (Vesely's Brother) on keys, Alex Sier on lead guitar, and Tom Breyfogle on drums.
In November 2008, the album's first single "Fall for You", was certified Platinum by the RIAA. As of December 5th 2008 Fall For You was still #13 on the American Top 40 songs in the country. http://www.at40.com/song/692/index.html
The "Your Call" video premiered on FNMTV on December 5th. It can be viewed on the FNMTV website.
A Twist in My Story (Deluxe Edition) was released on February 3, 2009. It contains 5 bonus tracks including "Fall For You (Acoustic Version)" "Like A Knife (Acoustic Version) and the Coldplay cover "Fix You".
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Heat | US Indie | ||
| 2007 | Awake | 164 | 3 | 19 |
| 2008 | A Twist in My Story | 44 | — | 6 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US Pop 100 | US Digital | CAN | AUS | U.S. VideoClip | |||
| 2007 | "Vulnerable" | 83 | 64 | 56 | — | — | — | Awake |
| 2008 | "Fall for You" | 21 | 8 | 14 | 36 | 19 | — | A Twist in My Story |
| "Your Call" | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | ||