I wasn’t sure when I wanted to write about this decision, but after putting up a poll on my Instagram account, people voted for this over the other option (more on that later). Because of how soon I am writing this, this may be the first in a series of “updates” on how I’m doing with going pescatarian. And in case the title wasn’t clear enough for you…

By the time this post comes out, it has been just about a month since I have eaten any burgers, steak, chicken tenders, KFC buckets, taco meat, or any kind of meat that isn’t seafood. My decision to do this was not so much a difficult one. It was more of me just going, “Alright, let’s see what happens.” With no end goal and after doing some research on how to obtain protein, I made up my mind that on February 1^st, I was gonna stop eating meat, or at least red meat and poultry.

There are a couple of factors that play into this decision. One factor was that I just don’t really crave meat all that often. Chicken and turkey were usually my go-to protein options, but that would only be when I would go to restaurants. Pork was also a rare treat for me because other than some breakfasts and grill-outs, I didn’t eat a lot of pig products either. Red meat was probably the easiest to cut out by far. Unless the food is to die for (shout-out to Kopp’s), I don’t wanna engorge myself in greasy burgers whenever I get the chance. With all of that in mind, I figured I might as well just cut it all out completely since I’m 90% there.

Another part that played in my decision was that I don’t know how to cook a lot of things. It’s not the biggest reason why I went pescatarian, but I guess it helps a little bit (?) Plus, the stuff that I already know how to make don’t contain meat products in it. Meat can also be costly in the long run, both in your wallet and in your arteries, and in today’s society where we have plenty of other ways to get protein (i.e. beans, tofu, tempeh, “Beyond Meat” products), why not invest in your health? Pescatarian/vegetarian recipes can be just as fun to make as they are to eat! (Wow that sounded better in my head.)

The third factor in all of this was that my taste buds have been rapidly changing as of recent. When I was a kid, I only ate a total of six things, By the time I was a pre-teen/teenager, that amount increased rapidly, and now, as an adult, I have become more open-minded to so many foods that it’s ridiculous! Fifteen years ago, I would not have touched two thirds of the fruits and vegetables that I enjoy today, let alone any other way to get protein besides beef or poultry.

Which brings me to the only challenge that I had going into this. It was one that had been staring me in the face ever since I was a kid: fish. Those of you who have known me for a while know that I do not like a lot of seafood. I respect any opposition to my opinion, but shrimp is gross, and you’re wrong. That being said (and this might contradict my statement a bit), I have come to find out in the last year or so that I would much rather have raw fish (i.e. sushi) instead of cooked fish. Weird, right? Funny how these last two points go hand in hand.

Of course, I needed so time to prepare myself and set some boundaries. I did research on ways to get protein without eating meat, asked friends who were also non-meat eaters, and then I jotted all of those notes down onto a piece of paper called my “Protein List.” It’s hanging up on the corkboard in my room as we speak. Examples include: eggs, beans, nuts, tuna, tilapia, tofu, chia seeds, quinoa, lentils, edamame, salmon, Morning Star meatless products, and a few more.

Along with the types of fish, you’ll notice that eggs are on there, as well. One of the things I realized when I stopped eating a lot of meat before my ultimate decision was that I do not have the will power to give up eggs, honey, or most kinds of dairy products (I have switched over to almond milk full-time, though. It goes in my coffee every morning). I give props to anyone who eats a vegan diet, and I am always up for trying any vegan options if presented to me, but in my everyday life, I just can’t do it. I feel like I would forget to take all of the necessary vitamins and supplements every day, too.

My family, friends, and girlfriend have also been very supportive of me, which I am very thankful for. In fact, my girlfriend has been stricter about it than me at times! We were recently at Highland House in Mequon for a friend’s birthday party, and instead of me being okay with breaking the streak, she made sure that I had something to eat as she told me, “No! You’ve been doing so good! I won’t allow it!” Thanks, darlin’.

I was also scared to tell my mom at first, which was why I didn’t start until February first. Both my sisters stopped eating meat for the most part, as of recent, which shocked her a little bit. But after she found out about me wanting to join in on the fun, she’s been supportive ever since. I posted something about not eating meat on Facebook in the middle of January, and after she (obviously) saw it, she texted me asking, “When were you going to tell me you were going to stop eating meat?!” I replied, “As soon as a found a way to tell you in person instead of on social media. Obviously, I was too chicken.” She didn’t appreciate that pun.

So, one month in, everything is okay on my end! For the most part, I really don’t miss eating meat too much. That being said, I think I got a good eating regimen going right now. As stated before, my attitude towards this is very much “we’ll see how this goes.” I don’t have an end date in mind, but at the same time, I didn’t automatically think I’m going to do this for the rest of my life. That’s why I want to do another “update” at some point, but maybe not for a while. Who knows?

Just to recap: I was originally a music major at UW – Milwaukee. I started out as a percussion performance major, but if you read part one of this tale, you’ll understand why I left that dream behind after a few weeks. I’m going to specify this again: I have nothing but admiration and respect for the faculty and other classmates that wanted to go into being a music major, especially a Comp & Tech major. You’ll understand why I included the last part in a second.

After quitting the percussion program, I figured I’d try something else in the music department. The only problem was I didn’t know how to play any other instruments. Teaching music was out of the question, because I have never wanted to go into that field of study. I knew how to kinda, sorta read and write sheet music, so I discovered the Music Composition and Technology department at Peck School of the Arts. How did I have to get in, you ask? Submit some recordings of pieces of music that I had written. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any. Fortunately, I was able to bullshit some guitar and piano snippets based off some ideas I had back when took AP Music Theory in high school. I checked out an audio recorder from the campus library, and voila!

I sent those recordings to music theory professor that I had at the time. He really liked what he heard and suggested that I meet with one of the heads of the Comp & Tech department. For the sake of keeping her name out of this (because I’m sure that somehow the teachers I’ve had in the past will go digging up on the internet because they wonder what the music major drop-out was doing nowadays), I shall dub her with the pseudonym, Debbie. She was very soft-spoken when I met her, even though I had heard mixed reviews from my peers. Some didn’t like her teaching methods at all, some thought she was alright, some thought she was hilarious. My overall opinion of her will come near the end of this post. Let’s get to what happened for me first, shall we?

Full disclosure: I had absolutely NO idea what the program was all about. I figured since it had the words “composition” and “technology,” we would be learning just that. Writing pieces of music (not songs — professors make that very clear for you right off the bat) and learning about recording technology would be a given. What I found out was that the answer to that question was somewhat yes, and a whole lot of NOPE.

Yes, it was true, students who become Comp & Tech majors would study how to compose pieces of music for any instrument. What no one told me beforehand was that anything would be considered an instrument. A deck of cards, a plastic garbage bag, and a yo-yo ball were all just as important as other standard instruments such as…I don’t know, a fucking piano? Trumpet? Anything that regular concert bands play? Oh yes, those “regular” instruments could be used, too, but it was how you played with the instruments was how you create “art.” And believe me, I had no way to do that at all. But that’s what I was there to learn, right? Well yeah, but was I good at it or did I like it? Hell no.

The same rules applied for the technology part of the Comp & Tech program. You got to learn how to work with recording programs, but were we going to record instruments at all? HAHAHAHA NOPE. What did we do instead? Learn how to play with noises. You heard me right: noises. High and low frequencies of notes that were either preprogrammed or, better yet, we could create on our own! Huh? Does this sound like what you think of when you hear the words “Composition & Technology?” No? Didn’t think so.

If you hadn’t figured out by now, the program essentially teaches you how to become a noise “musician.” An expert in the Avant Garde arts, if you will. The goal of the program is to shape you into a person that takes the rules of conventional music and chucks it right out the fucking window. Was this what I thought I signed up for? If you said “no,” then once again, your answer is correct! I have never had any previous experience with noise music or anything of that bullshit nature in my life, so naturally, I had no interest in pursuing it for my musical future. I get that you can’t really teach conventional music composition because you probably get taught that if you take a couple of music history and theory classes. The same goes for recording, as one of the professors that I had pointed out to me. He noted that if there was a class on strictly recording, it would only be one class. Why? Because that’s all you need. I totally understand that because there are schools out there that people go to and spend whole semesters picking apart very minute aspects of recording which could be simplified better in one class. And did I want to go to those schools? Meh. It would’ve been cool, but it would not have gotten me far in the real world.

I lasted about two years as a music major and had already switched programs in the music school. I figured by switching to Comp & Tech, it would make my life a hell of a lot easier because I wouldn’t had to worry about practicing in the toxic environment that Spud had created for me. Turns out, I was wrong. I was horribly, horribly wrong. I will stress this out right now: it is not the faculty’s fault. It was my own. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I felt like a fish out of water in a school full of fish out of water. I didn’t really interact with the classmates I had that were in the program with me, much to the dismay of the professors who told me to “get out more” and “be amongst my peers.” Nope. Not gonna happen. Not when I feel like I’m already too stupid to be a part of the program in the first place. Granted, I still think there were good people in the music program, but at the same time, I did not fit in at all. That was what I felt like by the end of it all.

So now the question at hand is “where to turn to?” If I can’t do music in school, and if I hate every other subject, what am I gonna do with my college education? The answer: be an English major. It was the one class outside of music that I was pretty good at, so why not? But now I had to do same thing I did the first time. That very thing was to leave the Comp & Tech Program and leave the music school — this time for good. It was honestly way harder than leaving the percussion department. I think in hindsight, it’s because all of the faculty was actually nice to me, unlike Spud. I was scared to tell Debbie that I was leaving. I was so scared that I actually almost didn’t get the words out. When I did, she completely understood where I was coming from. She knew that the program wasn’t for everyone, and it obviously wasn’t the first time someone dropped. Hell, a friend of mine who was in the program upped and left before the start of a group class one day. Now I wish I followed him out when I had the chance.

I ended up telling the other faculty members during a portfolio review at the end of the spring 2016 semester. They all knew I was leaving, but they all said it was a pleasure having me as a student and that I’ll succeed with whatever I wanna do in life. So my overall review of Debbie and the rest of the professors? They’re some of the nicest people I’ve had as teachers.

I do feel like I owe some gratitude towards the music program at Peck School of the Arts. Without me fucking up in that program, I would not have discovered that I didn’t want to be a music major after all. Again, most of those who know me know that music is what I live and breathe. Do I want to make a career out of it? Absolutely. But I want to do it on my own terms, and I want to have fun doing it. And without me switching majors not once, but twice, I would not have formed Second Charm, let alone make friends with people in the local Milwaukee music scene or form Nobody’s Fault. So thanks, music professors. Keep doing what you’re doing, and I won’t go near it.

Funnily enough, the very first song I wrote right before/after leaving the music program was a Second Charm called “Major Switch with a Major Change.” Nice play on words, right? Click the link below to listen to it, and you’ll get what I’m singing about.

https://secondcharmwi.bandcamp.com/track/major-switch-with-a-major-change-2

PS: This post as well as part one are dedicated to my high school music teacher, Mr. Brett Dimmer, the music teacher who believed in me first.

I graduated from UW – Milwaukee on December 16^th, 2018. I finally obtained my BA in English/Creative Writing, and boy, oh boy, it was a messed up four and a half years to get it.

For those of you that don’t know, I did concert band/orchestra pit/marching band/jazz band for three years in high school. I was the music geek, and I’m very proud of that fact. My main instrument was percussion, only because I didn’t know how to read any other kind of sheet music — and still don’t. According to my band teacher, I was a really good player and that I should try majoring in percussion. I thought, “neat! I could go to school for music. Thank god!”

Before I go any further, I should specify: I spent my first two years of college as a music major at the Peck School of the Arts. It is a tremendous place, and the professors there are some of the nicest and supportive people I have ever met. I also have a bunch of friends that were either music, art, or film majors that have graduated with degrees in those fields. This post is about my time as a music student and how it affected me personally. Those that want to get a degree in music or some form of the arts, props to you for wanting to stick with it. Everybody good? Yeah? Okay, good. Moving on…

To become a music major, you must show off your skills and audition with a couple pieces of music in front of the teacher for your main instrument. For percussion, I believe I did a couple of xylophone pieces, a snare drum piece, and maybe a timpani piece (I honestly don’t remember). I auditioned for the main percussion professor, who I will refer to as Spud. Two reasons for the nickname: first is obviously because I don’t want to use his real name, even though he probably won’t read this, and the second reason is because he was bald, and I’m not that creative with nicknames anyway. He was very nice to me in the audition, and he gave me some notes and tips on how I was executing the performance. In the end, I got the gig, and I was ready to become a percussion major…or so I thought (dun dun duuuuuuuuunn).

Long story short, I only lasted a week in the percussion program. There are specific reasons for this, and it all had to do with Spud’s teaching methods. Firstly, although he seemed nice at first, he had his moments of frustration. If any of you have seen the film Whiplash, Spud was a toned-down version of the jazz teacher that J.K. Simmons plays. He never physically harmed me or the other percussion students in any way, but man, he had a way with words. He would throw around the phrase “you guys suck” at us like a Sunday brunch after church. Obviously, we were all adults no matter what our student ranking was, but you’d think that you’d want a teacher to encourage you instead of discouraging you, right?

Secondly, the practice schedule that he wanted us to be on was basically a 25-hour day, 8 days a week schedule. We had to live, eat, drink, sleep, shit, and shoot ourselves in the arm with the music we were to practice and perform. That doesn’t necessarily work when you are a freshman who has other classes and homework to worry about that aren’t music related, but hey, 2.5 hours of sleep per night never hurt anyone, right? I remember having a conversation with him about the practice log that he gave me and how I was keeping track of my practice times. It wasn’t as crazy as he would’ve liked, but I thought it was manageable considering the other schoolwork I had. Guess that wasn’t good enough for him, because once again, he would tell me that I was sucking in our one-on-one lessons that we had because of me not practicing as much as he would’ve wanted me to. Pretty sure I cried after leaving that lesson.

Thirdly, and this is another pet peeve I had with him and some other teachers outside of music, he gave off the impression that he was WAY more focused on performance technique than he was about us hitting the right notes or getting the rhythm right. You know how you have a math teacher that teaches you one way to solve an equation without showing multiple, and potentially easier was to solve the equation? And when you can’t figure it out that one way and try it a different way the teacher explodes in front of your face? That’s what would happen when Spud didn’t like what he saw. I am a very firm believer of finding a way to do something that best suits your individual needs. I feel that a musician’s first priority should be this: DON’T FUCK UP THE NOTES YOU’RE TRYING TO PLAY! Obviously, the teacher and I didn’t see eye to eye on that concept.

I lasted about a week in that percussion program, and I remember the day I quit vividly. It was while we were taking a break during the group lessons, and I asked Spud if we could talk privately. He asked what was up, and I essentially told him that I wanted to leave the program. Of course, I knew he was going to be upset. If a student gives up on something you’re trying to teach them, you have every right to be upset and disappointed. He started to tell me that he knew it was hard and all that jazz. I honestly don’t remember much of what he said, but I guess he knew where I was coming from. I do remember him asking me a yes or no question, which I believe I answered yes (maybe it was about his teaching or something? Again, I don’t really know), and then he straight up said, because I answered yes, “Okay well now you really upset me.” It was something along those lines, but I remember him not being happy at all by the end of the conversation. We said our goodbyes, I packed up my stick bag, and I was out the door. Never took another class with him again.

Thankfully, the other percussion majors that I was hanging around with understood exactly where I was coming from because they had the same issues with Spud as well. I was still taking a university concert band class that semester, and while I was waiting in the building, Spud was conducting another band class in the same room. After his class was done and packing up, and while I was unpacking, he comes up to me and says, “Eddie! How’s it going?” In my head, I immediately thought, “Ah, shit.” However, I was polite towards him, and told him that I was still doing music and had changed to a Music Composition/Technology major (which I will get to in a part two of this, because right now it’s getting a little long). He thought it was cool and he was glad that I was still doing music. I do remember him saying that he and I should catch up sometime soon, and although I was all like “sure that would be cool,” my brain said “fuck that and fuck you.” I haven’t seen him since, and I intend to keep it that way.

Epilogue: not too long after that conversation, he ended up being fired by the university. Why? No idea. None of the other percussion majors would tell me, and I’m pretty okay with that. I don’t really need to know the details, and I already heard enough rumors. I also think I put him on blast enough in this post, anyway. As stated before, this is going to be part one of a two-part post because I didn’t think I would be writing this much at first. So, thanks for reading, and tune in next week for more on the nonsense that is me changing majors!

I’ve been a part of the Milwaukee music scene for a couple of years now. The first house show I ever played was with my band Second Charm. December 10th, 2016 to be exact. I somewhat remember how the show went, but I remember the events before it very well.

I should specify: for the first two shows, the very first official lineup of the band included me on guitar and vocals, my friend Stephen Jensen on guitar, my other friend Dayton Hamann on drums, and Alex Hrupcin on bass. The reason why I specify this is because those that have followed this band in the last year or so know who’s currently in the band now (it changed completely in the summer of 2017), and Alex H. plays a key role in this story, but we’ll get to that later.

The night before (12/9/16), we had played Frank’s Power Plant and made our live debut as a band. The show that I was more excited for was at Skater Boi Mansion, the house made famous by the band Honey Creek. We got asked to play their EP release show along with them, Aiming for Average (RIP), and HoneyBee. I had been a fan of both HC and AFA for a while, so admittedly, I was a little starstruck. Gear in tow, the four of us in Second Charm head over to the house ready to rock. We get to the house, which is on South 24th St. We used Google Maps to get to the place and didn’t have much trouble getting there. I think we made one wrong turn, but we figured it out. We had friends coming to the show including my then girlfriend and another female friend of mine was tagging along with her. When I showed my girlfriend the Facebook event page, which had the address on it, we had to figure out how she and the other friend would get down there. Fortunately, we found a bus route. Unfortunately, it was not the right one at all, as they found out later that night.

So, my bandmates and I get to the house, meet the guys in Honey Creek, and set up our instruments. About ten minutes into setting up, my phone starts going off. I was getting a call from my female friend. I step outside the house into the snowy weather and answer, “Hello?” All I could hear on her end was fast talking and crying. Instant panic hits my body. As it turns out, the bus that they got on took them to North 24th St. instead of South 24th St. When they got off the bus, they were a little weirded out. Naturally so, because shows usually don’t happen in the area that they got to. When they got to the house, someone had answered the door and told them there wasn’t a show happening that night. What happened after that was they started walking to where they think the next bus stop is, when suddenly, a truck full of guys drives up to them. They start catcalling at them, and the friend of ours takes off, trudging as fast as she could in the boots she was wearing, and my girlfriend was practically left in the dust (or rather, snow). That was when the friend called.

When I got off the phone, I ran immediately back into the house, grabbed Alex H. and said “You’re coming with me. Now.” He was the one who drove us to Skater Boi, so the both of us used his car to come to the rescue. I explained the situation and called the girls back. This time, I called my girlfriend’s phone to talk to her instead of the other friend. I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was very much angry at the other friend because of how she ran off. I don’t blame her one bit. Alex and I are back on I-43 at this point, with me keeping both girls on the phone. I was not going to hang up on them while they were hiding from any potential danger. They had found a nearby school that had an entry before the entry to the hallways (I don’t know the correct word for it, but it’s where kids wait inside for their parents to pick them up), so they stayed there until we came to get them. I can’t remember if the truck came back around again or not, but if they did, they probably figured that they couldn’t get into the school.

We finally get back to the show with some time to spare before our set was supposed to start. As we’re walking back into the house, I ran into the singer of Honey Creek. I apologized to him for running off like that and explained the situation to him. He said it’s all good and that a few other people went to that wrong house, too. Turns out, when you click on the address in the Facebook event, Google Maps messed up and gave people directions to North 24th St. instead of South 24th St. At least my friend and girlfriend weren’t alone in that regard. HC jokingly asked the crowd that during their set, as well.

I should’ve cleared something up in the beginning of this post: because of how long ago this event took place, and because I wasn’t there with the two of them, what I have written out in this post from my recollection and point of view. I will say that I don’t blame either of them for reacting the way that they did, as they have told me both their sides of the story later on. Either way, I wish that none of that happened in the first place, as it was partially my fault because I was the one that gave them the house’s address in the first place. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened since with any Facebook event that I have either seen or helped create. And I hope it never happens again.

Well, that was probably the wildest thing that happened before playing a show. I hope you enjoyed this first post!

My name is Eddie Ahrenhoerster, and this is the Sunday EDitorial. Get it?

I’m a musician who’s been in multiple bands (my current one is called Nobody’s Fault), and I host a music podcast called “Music Sucks” where I interview local/Midwest musicians. Recently, I graduated UW – Milwaukee with a BA in English/Creative Writing. Since obtaining that degree, I haven’t done much writing outside of my own songs. This blog is a way to help me get better at writing as I take you through my own anecdotes/opinions about life!

Those that do know me know how much music means to me, but a goal of mine for this blog is to not write solely about music. There will definitely be stories involving my band experiences, but I want to write about other topics as well. All while I try to incorporate my sense of humor in writing…so bear with me on that. If you groan, I don’t blame you one bit (but go ahead and blame my father, because that’s where I get it from).

Another goal of mine is to try and post as regularly as possible. At the time of this writing, I’m still undecided as to post weekly or bi-weekly. Only time will tell. Either way, you can expect me to post on Sundays for your entertainment. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the show!