Pete Majia
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6/11/2010 1:55:09 PM
---- Updated 6/11/2010 1:57:06 PM
Hi Im Pete, Its a pleasure to meet you!!! A SHORT STORY please come by
Hi everyone, Its a pleasure to join you here at Iac.
Im Pete, I am 27 years old, I have been playing music since I was a young kid. I grew up listening to the greats. Elvis, Motown all the golden oldies as well as Country. The later years I started branching out into other genres of music. I now enjoy all music I can get my hands on, I am in love with talking to people. I love to hear peoples' stories and music as well.
I have had ups and downs in my music career as Im sure we all have :)
When I was 15 I joined my first band playing a guitar my parents had bought at a Flea Market when I was about 7 years old. As a child, I remember turning up Elvis as loud as I could jumping on my couch bed, and strumming my guitar wearing a green jumpsuit that looked like it belonged to an mechanic in Antarctica, it was hilarious. I did not know how to play except for one little basic blues riff my dad had shown me, but I will say I never played it well lol.
By the time I decided to start a band that guitar was so old in the first place I was instructed to "get a new guitar Pete" lol
I took only 4 guitar lessons, we didnt have much money so I had to quit the 25 dollar a month lessons. So basically I took lessons for about 3 weeks. I didnt stop playing though, I can remember getting sick to my stomach when I realized I wasnt going to be able to take lessons anymore. It was the worst feeling in the world. My previous love was martial arts but I couldnt return to that because we lived in a small town and had to drive 15 miles to the gym where I was gettting free lessons, and they moved to Dallas so there was no way. We didnt have the money for gas to drive the 36 miles so I had to give it up.
I continued practicing both martial arts, (watching films and old ninja movies lol), but my new passion had already filled me. I kept playing the guitar and it was just natural to me. I began playing at an accelerated level very quickly. I was 15 and in love with the sound of distortion so like alot of other kids I studied the works of Metallica. Which eventually led me to classical studies. I did all of this in a little bitty hallway that my parents converted to a "back" room for me.
In my small town there was a band that had been pretty poplular in Dallas at the time and they needed a guitar player, well one day the singer approached me and asked me to come play at a practice. The word got around of my playing so when He approached me I was startled, It was amazing to me to be in that kind of experience. I. was 17 when I was approached by a man named Aaron Headley. An electric engineer with a recording studio. I was in love with a girl named Amanda. I was in Plano Texas at one of the cities biggest recreational areas in front of all of the joggers, kids playing, just alot of people. I was making this gigantic heart on the ground with flowers and sticks and making the most elaborate gesture I could to proclaim my love for my teenage sweetheart lol, it even had the whole P+A in the middle :) Aaron saw that and thought "wow" this 16-17 year old kid is doing this huge romantic thing for his girlfriend in front of all these people and I guess it hit a string with him, we began talking and he mentioned he had a studio and I was sold. From then on I would be making the hour long drive 2 times a day for about a year just to see Amanda and record.
I stopped playing around 18 and fell into the world of Drugs. I smoked pot, pretty much tried everything but one thing kinda of got me, I abused cocaine for what felt like an eternity and after ending up in the hospital I stopped automatically. I didnt need rehab, I knew I had to stop, or that would be the end of ,well it all, and it was.
I was getting a reputation for being in the drug world and eventually the eyes were watching me. I soon realized I couldnt do that anymore. I moved to Plano and quickly changed my life. I got back to recording, I moved into Amandas' house and I enrolled in college. The few years I had spent doing drugs was now over.
I started listening to music again and fell in love with the GOO GOO DOLLS, and thats when my love for acoustic music began. I would soon learn alternate tunings and with my classical background that was it. I was hooked again. I started writing music song after song after song.
Now I had played shows before, all metal shows but always being a guitar player never a front. Well I taught myself how to sing and started hitting open mics anywhere I could find one. Now, my singing wasnt the best but it was growing, I becoming a regular at a place called "The Prison" that held an open mic every month on the 2nd Wed. It became pretty popular and they started playing every week and asked me back.
The word got out on all the talented people that would show and it eventually got moved from Mckinney Texas to Plano Texas at a venue called Ivys'. There were 4 main people who played but over 15 talented artists. Since there was a time restriction and they wanted new Plano talent they handpicked who would be a regular. They were all in there 30s' and me still only 19 they picked me. I started drinking, the whole lifestyle was fun, I loved it but with an addictive personality it would soon catch up with me.
I ended up drinking alot dropping out of college and getting arrested for possession of marijuana. I was released on bond and my parents pretty much made me stay at home until court, which came a year later.
Since we were somewhat poor, they had to put up collateral for my bond, so If I would have messed up it would have cost them. I spent 9 months inside my bedroom, I didnt leave my house for 9 months, NOT AT ALL, not even with friends.
During this time I started drinking heavily I would get it brought to me to drink, and eventually I lost the most important thing in my life.
Amanda
After our breakup, I was devastated crying on my moms lap, couldnt eat, then gained weight, still drinking, and finally I put down the guitar and started hitting my singing. HARD
After court was all over, I graduated Bartending School, started bartending, and eventually falling into the lifestyle again, drinking and doing ecstasy and a falling out happened with a close friend and I HAD HAD ENOUGH!!!
I moved to Albuquerque New Mexico, got straight and 2 years later, at 22 moved back to Texas and hit the studio with a new lease on life.
I worked and worked and worked in the studio, moved into Aarons house to record 24/7 and starting touring the United States landing some big gigs, getting airplay, finally doing it right,
5 years later...Im working harder than ever, my new album "A Butterfly Diary" has been scheduled for Fall 2010 and is scheduled to be in stores across America.
Sorry for the long story, I want you to know me a little, there is more to the story, I tried to summarize for you lol, there is alot more, if you wanna know anything else
come by and say hi,
Im Pete, its nice to meet you
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jingo
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6/11/2010 9:45:48 PM
Hello Pete. I am jingo, the small and meek (although I sometimes grow large enough to smash buildings). I enjoy it when people actually take the time to WRITE SOMETHING. Thank you.
I am not a musician or artist of any stripe, just a "listener" so I have no merit here (and yet I am a king). I outweigh you by about 20 years, but don't let that concern you because I am stuck in a perpetual wonderland of psychotic childhood. I'm 18 with 30 years of experience.
I am also from the Dallas area, but not from high toned Plano. I grew up running the streets of Pleasant Grove, back when freaks ruled the earth. Scyene, Buckner, Bruton, Jim Miller all knew the mighty reach of my Stingray bike (with a slick on the back, ape hangers and a sissy bar). Lost boys with lion's mane and scars in their eyes were my companions in the darkness. Now, I am a quiet, tame middle manager with shiny shoes and a button down collar (fuck ties). However, my heart is chrome and burns in the night like a beacon or pyre (take your pick). I am generally invisible, but awesome to behold (and don't mind hyperbole) (and love paranthetical asides). Over the top is a good place to be in my book, beats the view from six feet under.
I listened to your track (it's what I do SOMETIMES when people aren't boring as all get out). Nice work.
Nice to see a hometown guy here. And, once again, thanks for taking the time to write something.
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