Tilby's Top Ten Things (2009) (in no particular order) (subject to change)

1.  Favorite new food:  Onion rings.  Has the world forgotten?  Has the potato finally edged out the onion once and for all?  I protest.  Please, reconsider the onion ring.

2.  Favorite Mexican Place:  Jimmy Johns.  Man, that's a good torta.

3.  Favorite way to find music:  Pandora.  Sometimes, I feel like nobody knows me like Pandora, my dear friend.  I told you never to call me here!  What's that?  I love you too. No, she can never know...

4.  Favorite place to record:  My spare bedroom.  I know, I know - what gear?  What vibe?  What acoustic treatment?  Well, consider this:  playing in your underwear.  Top that.

5.  Favorite instrument:  Givens Mandolin.  This is its seventeenth year with me, and I think we are finally getting each other.  It likes light notes, big intervals, and we finally agree on a pick.

6.  Favorite band:  Karate ('Unsolved' is a good album to start with).  Something to say, a cool way to say it, a trio (bonus points in my book), and Geoff is a helluva guitar player to boot.

7.  Favorite band:  The Bad Plus ('For All I Care [with Wendy Lewis]' is a good album to start with.  Amazing feel, interpretation, killer ideas, and Reid Anderson is a helluva bassist to boot.

8.  Favorite Podcast:  Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.  One of the few things in life that just makes me laugh out loud, now that W. is out of the lime-light.

9.  Favorite New Gear:  D.R. "Jonas Hellborg" signature piano-wound bass strings.  Kinda tough on the fingers, but they sound killer and the tension is perfect on a short-scale bass.  Plus, his name is Hellborg.

10.  Aspirations for 2010:  The photo accompanying this entry is pretty much the happiest thing I could think of.  I think the world will most likely look like this by the end of 2010.

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I decided when I was young that people are basically good, and to operate on that assumption unless I had a pretty good reason not to.  With very few exceptions, that has been the right way to go.


Unfortunately, one of those exceptions was just recently, an instance which has no real relevance to this journal entry other than this:  It made me sit and think for a while about what I assume about people, and whether or not I should keep assuming it.


First, there’s the whole “people are basically good” assumption.  I’m sticking to it, in spite of the fact that there appear to be people in the world who are basically bad.  Those people are the smallest possible minority, and unfortunately receive a large portion of the lime-light, based, I believe, on the fact that the “basically good” people have a strange fascination with the “basically bad” and reward them with inordinate amounts of attention (cough, cough, main-stream-media-cough).


The second thing I regularly assume about people, often to my detriment, is that they know what they’re talking about.  I’m starting to believe that less and less as I get older, and don’t ask me to put a percentage to it, but I’m working on a rough ratio:  The more someone insists they know what they’re talking about, the less they probably do.  In my experience, the people who know the most about whatever it is they are talking about, say the least.  I like that “take-it-or-leave-it” approach, and if it’s not a big thing, I like people who say their piece and then let me work it out for myself.  It seems I prefer to learn most things for myself anyway (i.e. the hard way).


On a related assumption, I often assume that other people want to know what I think, and based on how much of what other people tell me is of interest to me, I’m gonna have to say that I probably talk too much.  I’m working on that. Well, not so much that I’m not writing this journal entry, but working on it nonetheless.


Another common assumption seems to be that the louder someone’s opinion is, the more correct it must be.  Without pointing fingers at “conservative” “talk” show “personalities”, I’ll say this:  Being louder does not make you right. I’m not saying you’re wrong, by any means, I’m just saying your wrong-or-right-ness is independent of your volume.  Incidentally, I believe it’s the listeners duty to fact-check what you hear.  You wouldn’t believe what people will say, and what the rest will believe.


One of my biggest heroes is best known for His peaceful, understanding, quiet approach to instruction, and I’m a big fan of that.  Maybe that’s just me.


Let’s see, what other awkward things can I say…


 I assume that if other people were educated on the things I like, they would like them too.  That holds mostly true for music, which is why I’m always suggesting listening material to my friends.


The trick seems to be this: other people liking or not liking, agreeing or not agreeing, heeding or not heeding, is all independent of whether or not we can get along and be friends.  The magic seems to lie in being a good person, and doing your best to help your fellow man, because odds are, they are basically good.   Or at least so I assume.

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There are really very few reasons to watch TV these days. Reality shows are officially the most annoying thing in the world at this point, right next to little yappy dogs in sweaters and anything related to Jon & Kate. If you don’t know who they are, I congratulate you on skipping the saddest exploitation of kids for money that I’ve ever seen (except for maybe Octomom, again, if you don’t know who that is—I envy you). I think it has gotten so bad that we all collectively expect people to sell their innermost personal life for a quick buck. Is nothing sacred anymore?

 

I read the other day that 57% of food commercials on TV are advertising junk food. So a large percentage of TV viewing involves people trying to sell you things that you don’t need that are bad for you. No wonder I start to feel worthless after watching TV for too long- it seems to permeate into my living room and suck the life out of me after a while.

 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some shows that are amazing: The Office, The Unit (too bad it got canceled, what a shame), and Intervention are my 3 favorite shows at the moment. But, overall, I don’t know that TV adds much real value to life. It starts to mess with your sense of what is important in life when quick take editing is constantly shoving product placement shots in your face. I don’t think life is meant to be thrown at us in barrages of rapid-fire sensational imagery, I think life is supposed to unfold at a slower pace, so that you can pay attention to detail, savor the moment, really live. I watch how my kids play with one toy for hours, inspecting every detail, trying to manipulate it in every imaginable way, learning as much as possible from the experience—and I compare it to sitting on the couch watching TV. At moments like this I think my kids have a lot more wisdom than I do. And I want to throw the TV off the balcony.

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It all started with the sounds of the accordion. I remember my mom playing the accordion on certain occasions around the house. Little did I know that she played in a band called " the Twilighters" in the early 60's. She is currently playing with a group called " the Accords ".

My Dad, whose parents were big into jazz music, played the trumpet in college for 2 years. He studied jazz. He always kept his vinyl records by the record player with the likes of: Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Both of my parents are currently huge fans of Neil Diamond.

Once upon a time, at Salem Elementary, I remember carrying my desk chair to an assembly in the lunchroom. I sat in the back because the grades were seated in order of age. Kindergarten in front and I was a fifth- grader so I was in the back.

The curtains opened and a musical group took the stage. I paid close attention to the music being played and noticed a young person playing the guitar. I didn't know why I was so intrigued but I knew right then, that I wanted to play the guitar.

I usually rode the bus to and from school but that day, I didn't walk home, I ran. With the biggest desire in my heart, I went to my Mom and asked her if I could play guitar.  She said yes with no hesitation.

Being part of a folk band class at school, taking private guitar lessons and learning Bluegrass style music, led me to where I am today.

Here is a list of music groups that I have played with:

 

1986 Mount Nebo Express

1987 Sunrize ( Vanessa Rich, Rich's )

1988-90 String Fever ( Craig & Curtis Miner, Joey Jensen )

1991-93 String Fever ( Rob Ricks, Tara & Daron Shupe )

1995 Battle Creek ( the Sckows )

 

1996- ?  Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand -  The band I am currently performing with. I have learned and grown so much in this band. Everyone in this band and that have played in this band, have helped me achieve a level of ability.

 

2008-? Forever Blue- This is a project that I have started with my wife. All-original tunes. My wife is a talented songwriter and gifted Scottish Dancer.

 

My musical journey continues. I am excited about it. I am ready to Rock It.

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TWO Wasatch Front Christmas shows to choose from!

12/10/09 - Orem
This year the annual RubberBand Christmas Extravaganza has been moved next door to the wonderful UVU Ballroom!  The show will be just as, if not more, awesome, with special songs, special gifts, and special visitors.  Craig has been good all year, Roger has been writing letters to Santa for months, and Tilby is doomed to a lump of coal.  Please come!

12/15/09 - Salt Lake City
Same show, but in the wonderful Rose Wagner Theater in downtown Salt Lake.  If you haven't caught a concert here, treat yourself.

Please see the Tour page for more information.

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Where I choose to live, as with most places I’ve ever chosen to live, we have our own fair share of eccentricities.  Cultural, political, religious – I fully embrace all of them, and think that to a large degree our “imperfections” are what make us interesting, engaging, and human.  But language is my favorite local oddity, especially because of how varied it has been from town to town. 

Here I have compiled a list of local words, gleaned from actual conversations, of words I hear (or use) on a regular basis that I think are funny.  (The “usage” sentences are altered to protect the innocent.)

 

1.     “arready”: (already)  Usage:  “Dang, BYU arready lost seven games!”

2.     “mmmm-bye!”:  (goodbye)  The “mmm” varies in length, depending on social status and the degree of insincerity involved in the farewell.  Usage:  “Uh-huh… O.K.!... Mmmmmmmmmm-Bye!”

3.     “ecpecially” or “ek-specially”: (especially)  Usage:  “I like all there players, ecspecially Bronco Rugercolt!”

4.     “pichure”: (picture)  Usage:  “I got a pichure of Bronco on my wall at home!”

5.     “tempachure”:  (temperature)  Usage:  “She’s got a tempachure, so I gave her some Coke.”

6.     “melk”: (milk)  Usage:  “The Coke didn’t help, so I gave her some melk.”

7.     “maaanaise” (mayonnaise)  Usage:  “Slather a sum’more maaanaise on there, will ya?  More.  More.  A little more.  That’s good.”

8.     “pellow”:  (pillow)  Usage:  “My pellow got Coke spilled on it; I’m headed to Cos’co for a new one.”

9.     “sell”:  (sale)  Usage:  “You like that?  Picked that puppy up at a garage sell down the street!”

10.  “acrosst”: (across)  Usage:  “No, not that garage sell.  Acrosst the street.”

11.   “dill”:  (deal)  Usage:  “They’re out? What’s the dill?”

12.   “probly”  or “provly”:  (probably)  Usage:  “They’re probly gonna run it a lot, Utah has a heck of a defense this year.”

13.    “fal”:  (foul)  Usage:  “This maaanaise must be expired.  It’s totally fal.”

14.   “moun’ins”:  (mountains, or any word with an “nt” combination in it)  Usage:  “I live in the shadow of the moun’ins in the valley of the everlasting hills!”

15. “Evingston”:  (Evanston)  Usage:  “Yeah, gonna run up to Evingston to buy parts for my Pontiac.”

16. “whole nother”:  (another)  Usage:  “Oh, you’re talking about their 2007 season?  That’s a whole nother dill.”

17.   “supposively”:  (supposedly)  Usage:  “Yeah, supposively these three huge guys just appeared out of nowhere and cleaned, butchered and jerked the whole deer!”

18. “bolth”:  (both)  Usage:  “Black or Pinto beans?… I’ll just have bolth.”

19.  “Is what we’re gonna do is…”:  (What we’re going to do is…)  Usage:  “Is what we’re gonna do is stop at Old Navy and buy thirty-seven matching blue t-shirts!”

20. “figger”: (figure)  Usage:  “Dag-nab it!  Lost to Florida? How do you figger that happened?”

21. “mel”: (meal)  Usage:  “Welcome to Café Rio! Enjoy your mel!”

22. “olny”: (only)  Usage:  “What the crap?  They olny gave me one thing of salad dressing!”

23.  “trells”: (trails)  Usage:  “Oooh, take your moun’in bike.  St. George has some awesome trells.”

24. “then”: (than)  Usage:  “No way, BYU totally has a better English program then Utah State.”

25.   “lussin”: (listen)  Usage:  “Lussin, you don’t even know what your saying!”

26.  “offen” or “offenthenot”: (often)  Usage:  “Shur, I shop Cos’co pretty offen!” alt: “…more offenthenot!”

27.  “shur”: (sure)  Usage:  “Hand out free BYU mini-footballs?  Shur thing!”

28.  “eltz”: (else)  Usage:  “Me, wearing a red shirt?  Must have been somebody eltz.”

 

Honorable mentions:  Enyways (anyway), pacifically (specifically), nutten (nothing), all most (almost), and zak-ely (exactly).

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I was sitting in my office and looked over and saw my plant sitting there and started thinking... I've had that plant for a long time.  I'm not sure what kind of plant it is.  It's just one of those green wide leafed trailing plants that can continue to grow in almost any condition and can't be killed.  I cut off a little piece of plant, from a plant my mother had, when i lived at home... way back in junior high or high school time.  This little piece became my new plant.  I decided that i wanted a jungle in my room for some reason and so i started growing this plant in my room.  Soon after, I got another plant and I would string the plants from the ceiling and started creating my own personal jungle.  It grew for years until the room was covered with plants.  That's one way to create your own personal jungle.

 

In any case, I eventually had to move and cut down the plants... some of the plant vines we almost 30 feet long.  Needless to say, they got a little pruning and i took them to my new house where they hung from the 10 foot high ceilings and grew quite nicely near the windows.  No problems in this house.  They then survived another move to the house I live in now.  I also hung them by the windows from the ceiling and they were quite happy there as well.  So up until this point, the plants had lived really sun filled happy carefree days.  But this was about to end.  I then got married and kicked out the roomates, moved in all the new stuff and in the shuffle the plants were put out on the back porch in the hot sun.  As a joke, I always accuse my wife of trying to kill the plants at this point in their life's.  In any case, out in the hot sun without water for a while they were soon on death's bed.  luckily these plants are very resilient and, like i said, would take a lot for them to die.  So i took them in, pruned them down to the barest amount... a long way down from their jungle room heyday.  So, to help them out, I planted them in new pots and fed them well.

 

    Now, a few years after "the incident" they are alive and well.  Two very green healthy plants who sit by the windows again and enjoy their easy going lives.  They are probably about 70 years old in human years.  They started our small, grew into a massive jungle, lived stately lives, looked death in the face, and then came back to live in my office.  Wow!  That's Incredible!

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Ladies and gentlemen, the band is heading into the studio this week to start the next album! These songs have been kept under wraps for some time now, and it's almost time to unveil them.  No release date scheduled yet, but check the website for updates, video, and sneak previews of the impending awesomeness!

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.. People Watching should be a sport. If you define a sport as something that A) is fun, B) is good for you and C) teaches you something. One of the best things about people watching is it teaches you that there is infinite variety in the world. Literally every person that you meet is totally unique. I think that people watching is a lot like enjoying nature for that reason. Nature is also nothing but a display of unlimited uniqueness. Everything that you see in nature is unique. As the saying goes, no two snowflakes are the same.

Why is it that a jagged landscape on the horizon looks beautiful, but a row of cookie-cutter manufactured homes all painted the same color looks ugly? There is something so compelling about this. Something in us craves uniqueness, maybe it is because it is the natural state of all living things on the Earth. Maybe we inherently look for things to match the uniqueness that we all have within us. Whatever the reason, I’ve noticed that, for me at least, truly beautiful things are unique.

Nothing supports this thought more than having a child. Now that I have two, I am amazed at how totally different they are. Of course our first is a boy and our second child is a girl, so there is an obvious difference there, but the differences go so much further than physiology. They come to Earth totally and completely distinct, unique individuals. There is really nothing more beautiful in this world than seeing a perfectly unique new little life come into the world. It instantly makes you realize that we are all a part of a big picture and the drama that is playing out in our lives is a long string of irreplaceable, distinct, unique experiences.

This is one reason I love music so much. I love that every time I play I am participating in something completely unique--a moment in time that will never return. I feel lucky to have a lot of unforgettable moments playing music.

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..

I remember back to when I was a sophomore in high school. It was the very first day of school and the halls were flocked with people wearing new clothes and shoes. It is pretty much the most important day of school year. It’s the time when if you want to get noticed, that day was it.

            That morning, just before the classes were to begin, I was walking around the halls in the school. Seeing friends and acquaintances that I haven’t seen over the summer break. I was feeling pretty good. I was excited about the new year.

            I decided to go ahead to my locker and drop off some stuff and get ready to goto my first class. My locker was in senior hall so that was really cool. Walking down the hall, I felt someone’s hands grab my sides and lift me into the air. I was held in the air for about 10 seconds until I was finally let down to the ground. I was shocked and immediately felt embarrassed. Standing there, not being able to move, my legs were being held by this person, while an outside observer assisted in wrapping my ankles with duct tape. The taping went up my legs until my waist. My hands and arms were behind my back tied together with this stuff  called duct tape.

            They left me there standing in the middle of senior hall, all tied up . I remember students walking by laughing and with looks of amazement written on their faces. I never felt so embarrassed before in my life. I saw one of my friends from church and he came and pulled me aside. Helped loosen the sticky duct tape from my arms and hands. I had enough strength to just pull apart the binds from my ankles. I was set free free in minutes. I picked up my books from off the floor and proceeded to my locker.

            I knew that I was scarred for life with having this experience. The next couple of weeks were of students asking me how it was being duct taped. I told them it sucked. It sucked bad!

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