The Ben Brooks - Comic. Rocker. Papa.

My friend recently took his 4 year old son to a pick up soccer night in Santa Monica.  The idea sounded great: you arrive, they split the kids into two teams and play. Apparently not.  The person in charge started off the evening by dropping down cones and running drills with these kids, shouting out commands and directions to make sure they were DOING IT RIGHT. More than half the night was focused on this. At the end of the night, my friends son told him he didn’t want to go back as he “really didn’t like soccer”.

This situation is one I’ve encountered my whole life.  Putting the lesson before the love, is what I call it.  It didn’t take too many piano lessons for me as a child before I felt like I “really didn’t like piano”.  Which was foolish.  I didn’t know anything about it!  I hadn’t had the time to play and explore, note by note, listening to the pitch, the resonance, even the feel of the keys beneath my fingers. I was subjected to an esoteric language that had no connection to anything I understood.

Now, years later, I DO love the piano, though admit I can’t read music.  However I love the sound and feel and have enjoyed it enough to teach myself a great deal and I compose on it regularly.

This unfortunate scenario happens daily in our schools, on playing fields and even at home, reinforced by our sports ‘heroes’ our ‘music icons’ and perhaps well-meaning parents.  Well, here’s the bad news moms, dads, teachers, and coaches.  Those kids, the ones you’re beating the curiosity out of with your premature drills and focus on technique – are NOT going to be famous.  At least 99.9% of them wont.  And due to you, they will then be left without the joy of music and sport in their lives for their entire lives, because they simply feel it wasn’t for  them.

Let kids explore and discover on their own.  Let them kick a ball around and beat a drum before explaining what 4/4 time is.  The eager kids, the driven kids and those with a natural talent will be drawn regardless to what they love, and for the rest of the kids, they will grow having the joy of music and sports in their lives, for their whole lives, in a real, meaningful and FUN way!

Peace.

What the hell is Tweet In?

What the hell ISN’T Tweet In!

Tweet In is a new born baby, covered in goo, waiting to be spanked, and hoping to do its own spanking. Tweet In is like college radio, without the college, or the radio. It’s like Twitter in 3D. It’s like a beacon of light, shining forth, uniting Tweeters… (did that just say bacon?) It’s live, it’s interactive. It’s at home, it’s on the go and there’s always a 50/50 chance some idiot will interrupt the whole damn thing with a phone call.

Ben Brooks says about Tweet In, “I always wanted to do a show. Drunk. In my underwear. Tweet In is that show.”

Tweet In features guests, music, comedy, chat and tweet. In it’s most ambitious moment, Tweet In strives to make the world a better place, confident in the knowledge that what the world truly needs is another t-shirt.

Click in, turn on and Tweet In.

Peace
@thebenbrooks

To participate in Tweet In
Follow @thebenbrooks on Twitter. Look for show links and #TweetIn
head to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thebenbrooks
To chat on the show, log in to your Twitter account on Ustream.

Well, I finally got a show!

More accurately, I realized that I already HAD a show. And today, on roughly the 1 year anniversary of my time on Twitter, I’ll be giving more form to the show.

Expect show guests, links, reader questions, contests and of course, live Tweeting.

This WILL be a work in progress, but if you care to taste the madness, Tweet In and turn on!

Show starts at 12PM pst – runs until 1pm

Peace!
@thebenbrooks

LOS ANGELES, CA. In one of the most innovative and effective cost cutting measures ever seen, the Los Angeles School Board has decided to eliminate learning from all district classrooms.

“This truly is a magic bullet,” said LAUSD superintendant Ramon Cortines. “With this decision we’re able to cut literally millions of dollars in teacher salaries by removing the need for teachers.”

Additional savings will also be realized as the need for books, supplies and even new classrooms vanishes.

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who is struggling to balance the city’s budget, beamed at the news. “Learning has long been a divisive factor in our school systems, creating a glaring line between those who ‘know things’ and those who ‘don’t know things’. I’m very excited by this move.”

Students were positive about the changes, saying it would relieve huge pressure to achieve and succeed on tests, projects and of course the dreaded standardized testing.

Education guru Sir Ken Robinson who now resides in Los Angeles was a critic of the measure. “How will America compete on a global stage if we’re not teaching the students anything?” Superintendant Cortines responded, saying, “A, we simply can’t afford the luxry of ‘learning’ anymore, and B, we WILL be competitive on the world stage, but now just in kick ball.”

Advertising isn’t bad.

“Apples for sale! $2″

That’s advertising.

Marketing is the problem.

“Haven’t been laid in a while? Maybe it’s because you’re not eating enough apples?”

Capitalism is supposed to be supply and demand. Things get fucked when marketing enters the picture and we get artificial ‘needs’. We saw this on a grand scale with the US auto industry. Unlike Japan, where Honda made the number of cars they knew they could sell, GM and the others made as many cars as they could then worried after the fact how to con, cajole and coerce people into buying them. Didn’t really last did it.

I’m looking at a box right now. It’s a box for a pair of shoes I bought from Zappos. The box says, “100% Hybrid”. Huh. So, in essence it means the shoes are 100% made from 2 or more things. It doesn’t even make any sense, like a great deal of marketing, simply little word turds, thrown out there like so many shiny objects.

“Free with price of admission!”

OK, I’ll buy it, IF you Mr. Marketer admit you’re an idiot.