Songs fulfilling unrequited lovers — Many writers on Medium have shared their love of music, and it’s delightful reading about the musicians and songs they cherish. Still, many of those songs are from North America, with a few songs from other countries. I wanted to share a band from my Mexican heritage, Camila, to break…

Recapturing ’50s B movies for 21st-century filmgoers — I miss rental stores. Before ‘Hollywood Video’ and ‘Blockbuster’ went defunct, my parents and I fancied the rental shop. My folks rented all kinds of movies my adolescent mind couldn’t grasp, as everything scared the living daylights out of me. So, compensating for their movie, my parents would rent me…

Composing your idiosyncrasies — Writing music-centric pieces for a year now, I learned about different song structures and signatures. I've learned what an artist does to get a particular sound that sounds chromatic to the ears. A single note isn't sufficient to produce a specific sound in a composition. …

to any one of us — It’s become the new norm of barbequing on the weekends. Every weekend, my family and I look forward to grilling. Since I’m Latino, my folks always grill carne asada (beef) and riblets. Of course, beans, rice, salsa, and tortillas aren’t out of the equation. I take comfort in the family…

It’s a merry-go-round your head awake, asleep, alive, or dead — A vocalist did the worst thing they could do in the early ’90s: they joined another band. Many viewed it as a betrayal, but for Mike Patton, it was another job, a project he could work on before he made another LP with Faith No More…

The year music found meaning — “It’s going to be huge,” I said on my last day of high school in 2015. I had the belief I’ll become a renowned entertainer—a trendsetter. Lift people with what I created. I wish I still had said mentality. Reality’s mighty hand struck me down and showed me what it…

Another ’90s attempt to make a fad into a TV show — My parents weren’t the wealthiest people growing up. Being an only child then, my folks would muster any money to entertain me. When my mom shopped at the 99 cents store, she’d let me get a VHS film. Since the movies were dirt cheap, I amassed a collection of forgettable…

It’s ours for the taking — I wrote an article about the best (spongiest) SpongeBob SquarePants episodes a couple of months back. The list, of course, had the episodes every fan and first-time viewer of SpongeBob would enjoy, yet I forgot to include one episode; one I’m a shame I didn’t add. I could go back…