Here’s Randy Johnston, and his Pursuits Unknown playing “Fool’s Paradise.”
“Fool’s Paradise” was written by Mabel Cordle, Jerry Fuller and Robert Geddins.
Banjo Jim’s is a great musicians hang as you can see.
Posts Tagged ‘Arts’
Randy Johnston’s Pursuits Unknown at Banjo Jim’s
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Looptracks
Thursday, March 4th, 2010If you’re ever bored, or, in the mood for something cool then check out Looptracks, an interactive music video.
You hit the page, get a few colored squares that end up turning into a logo and then you’re off to start (or read information).
All the music, visuals, and programming are by Conor O’Boyle.
Just check it out. If you don’t then you must not be too cool.
“If I Can Dream” on Hulu – straight to web redux
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Since broadband internet became the status quo, content producers have been itching to use the web as a primary distribution vehicle for video.
For the most part, however, there have been some bright spots with a lot of limited success. There was LonelyGirl, which landed the creators a production deal. That being said, since LonelyGirl, the creators have had trouble landing the type of national success they had garnered originally.
There was also Quarterlife, where the original creators of My So Called Life created a web series, then were successfully were bought by NBC, and then was cancelled after one episode on TV. Essentially, everyone is still trying to figure it out.
Basically, there is the success of syndicated TV online at Hulu (like 30 rock), then the success of pure user generated content on Youtube. Those successes, however, have been few and far between, with the UGC content not being properly monetized and the Hulu content, struggling to recapture the advertising dollars they have on TV. “If I can Dream,” created by Simon Fuller of American Idol acclaim, is another attempt to prove that direct to web distribution can be the gold mine that everyone hopes it can be.
This reality show focuses on three aspiring actors, a musicians and a model, and is a strong attempt to figure out the conundrum of how to monetize video online. Check out the first episode or maybe even you should audition yourself online.
I’m a skeptical if it will catch on, especially when there continue to be hit shows being created by major content producers on broadcast TV, but we’ll see how it does. At the least, it can provide some fodder for gossip blogs and the like. Here’s the first episode, courtsey of Hulu.
“The Music Studio”
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Go to ClubCreate.com and you’ll find a collection of web apps to compose your heart away. I happened to play with “The Music Studio“. There are more web app options to choose from, so after reading you can check them out here.
About ClubCreate (via ClubCreate.com):
ClubCreate stands at the intersection of music, technology and culture providing free, web-based music creation tools for the masses. ClubCreate breaks down the barriers to music creation providing Brands with unique ways to engage new customers. We have worked with top global brands such as Microsoft, MOG, Myspace and Vodafone to create these unique experiences that help promote brand awareness via music.
I’ll talk about the good first.
There are a lot of loops and options. I could take a loop and add reverb, delay, reverse, flanger, phaser, 3 band EQ, normalize, and distortion if I wanted to. You can also edit pan and volume by inserting nodes and moving them around. I also had the ability to solo and mute.
Working within the app is really easy, just drag and drop. You can’t cut a loop (I couldn’t find an option), but you can add or delete the loop by clicking on a ‘measure’ (simply put).
The Music Studio is actually a lot of fun, but I had some odd experiences. For example, I’d add the same loop a few times, then delete a couple of them and the specific track would no longer work. I don’t know why, but after clicking a whole bunch of times, it eventually worked again. My biggest frustration, though, was when I saved the project and came back to it. The whole project was a mess. Everything was in it’s place, but a lot of the tracks, more specifically tracks with effects, did not have the appropriate sounds. It was really annoying and after awhile I finally (or hopefully) got it back to the way it was supposed to sound. You’ll notice quickly what I’m talking about when you watch the video I created compared to the widget they offer to play your track in. You’ll notice that a lot of the sounds are just straight up wrong. I found the program unreliable.
You don’t necessarily have to be very creative to make something cool. That said, if you want you can get creative with what you have available. I found that with the limitations I was still able to change the project to my liking.
Check out the video to see/hear my demo ‘composition’, then listen to the widget track. You’ll have to skip ahead in the widget track because I had a few measures in the beginning I couldn’t get rid of. You’ll quickly notice the difference.
Anybody up for throwin’ a rhyme on top of the beat?
It’d be cool if someone rapped over my mix. Surprise me! Let me know and I’ll add it to this post.
Fun With Nostalgia
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
To be clear, I don’t feel any nostalgia towards Hanson.
Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club, of the Onion, just started a series on the Now That’s What I Call Music discs that I know I’ll be following.
Throughout college, every couple of months, my roommates would go through iTunes compilations based on individual years of pop music, sampling the huge hits of yore, mostly from around 1997-1999.
Rabin’s piece is making me reflect on the pure ecstatic joy of listening to these catchy, sometimes awful, always signature tracks.
Here’s my thesis: In the late 1990s, songwriters and big-time pop stars could craft huge hits by relying on
1. snippets of common and catchy musical vocabulary
2. vocal timbres that are expressive in a brutally simple way
For 1, take the the pre-chorus to the Fastball hit, “The Way,” you know the part that goes Where were they going / without ever knowing / the way. If you ask me, that’s a pretty deliberate sounding musical phrase. What do I mean by deliberate? I don’t know. I guess I really mean that those notes, quarter-note triplets making their way down a minor scale from the 5th (dominant?) scale tone to the root (tonic?) seem like they came straight-outta somewhere else.
For 2, let’s think about someone who gets the pop music nostalgia probably better than anyone, and that’s Trey Parker the co-creator of Southpark. Think about the Team America: World Police soundtrack. There’s a style of singing popular in the late 1990s that Parker gets. And he implements it throughout his TV and movie efforts–it’s any vowel sound altered slightly by the “r” consonant sound. I’m thinking especially of ”Only A Woman,” on the Team America soundtrack. It’s like if you took Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, Matchbox 20 and a cowboy, shook them up and spit them out–that’s some serious emotion.
Rabin’s great current post about the Now series has a few great examples of #s 1 and 2. Can’t wait for the rest of his series to unfold.
Today via New York Times ArtsBeat
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
I got a grill I don’t need to get my tooth fixed.
The Tooth Fairy would retire if I lose it.
-’Lil Wayne, “How You Like Me Now”
This just in: Weezy F. Baby has a grill, AND needs to get his tooth fixed. http://nyti.ms/989lII
Fresh Funky Tuneskees
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Solos from John Wriggle on bone, Fred Fielder on trumpet, Charles Lee on tenor sax, Randy Johnston on geetar.
Next Ex Caminos gig you ask? See them at the Shrine with the Funky Fritters for the Jumbo Gumbo Mardis Gras Party on Saturday Feb. 13th at 8 pm.
More Freshness/Passion from Saturday Night
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Here’s Crosby debuting “Deja Vu” in Greenpoint.
And “Over My Head” from perennial GigMaven favorite, Sean Allen Fenn. Look out for his twice/month Wednesday DJ party happening tonight!
Marketing Tips for Musicians and Venues
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Scott Perry, who produces the great New Music Tipsheet also has a sister site, MKTGideas.com, that is definitely worth checking out for marketing tips that I believe can help musicians and venues get the word out. Here are some samples from the site:
How GET BUSY COMMITTEE is Using Kickstarter to Raise Money
How NETTWERK is Using the Blog Platform to Empower Publicists & Bloggers
How FAMILY OF THE YEAR is Using Personalized Postcards to Raise Money
How EINSTEIN BROS Gained 340,000 Facebook Fans in One Week
How AMERICAN APPAREL Started a Fan Picture Campaign to Boost Site Traffic
How the GRAMMYS Leveraged Social Media to Mesh with Music Fans
What’s it like to be a rock star
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Some people like the fame and others don’t, but being a ‘Rock Star’ has it’s perks.
For example, you can relate to cool movies like Spinal Tap or ask that all the W’s in the M&M’s be thrown out.
Leave a comment with the coolest perks of being a performing and/or touring musician. Too many times we hear about the starving musician or the venue that cuts your set in half and doesn’t pay you. Let’s stay positive, there’s gotta be more to this right?
I’ll start off. Stage Diving is totally cool, as long as someone catches you. If you haven’t done it, it’s an experience that’s totally worth it. Just be safe.
Also, if you are a GigMaven user leave your link so everyone can check you out.