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Archive for March 2006
I was out looking for a new magazine a while back and I was flipping through some goth magazine (because my heart is black) and there was an article about post punk. I read through it and one band caught my attention, probably because they weren’t overly gothic like most of the other bands mentioned and probably because they were an 80s Brooklyn band which is the hipster’s cream (because my pants are tight). But mostly it was because the sound described seemed very similar to Joy Division. So I stole a pen and wrote down a web address (because I wasn’t gonna buy the magazine). This is the website where I learned about Redex and you can, too. There are also some more mp3s there, including some live at CBGB’s tracks.
A guillemot is a sea bird found mostly in the UK. It nests on sheer cliffs and makes a loud whirring sound. So does the London-based band. Make a loud whirring sound, that is. I have no idea where they nest. But that loud whirring sound… it’s kind of annoying. So is the beginning of this song. It sounds like a party with people talking as if you’re supposed to play the song at your own party and the conversations at your party will mix with those on the song. I actually recorded one of my parties last year. I can’t remember what we listened to, but when you’ve got people doing flips into your bushes and you yourself have had four Sparks and are shotgunning your fifth you need some music that will piss off your neighbors. From The Cliffs (the album) won’t do that.
Instead From The Cliffs will somehow put you in a good mood. Perhaps it’s the horns or the random little beeps or something. But it’s probably the lyric “I love you through sparks and shining dragons, I do” from Made Up Lovesong #43.
There’s like…four of them.
Whoa
The Star Spangled Banner
(The Defense of Fort McHenry)
September 20, 1814
By Francis Scott KeyOh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Fortunately for me, though, it was about 150 degrees in the club last night for the Jazzanova vs. Bugz in the Attic party, featuring two of my favorite crews of DJs and producers in mortal combat. Opening the proceedings was Seattle-based Sun Tzu Sound System, seamlessly mixing glitchy house with more organic, percussive jazzy business as the room filled up. Then it was on to Bugz members Daz-I-Kue and Orin ‘Afronaught’ Walters, who dropped broken-beat favorites from over the years in true West London fashion: reloads galore, Motet bigging up the crowd, divas Bembe Segue and Eska Mtungwazi sitting in on the mic — a feast for the ears. Next up was Jurgen Knoblauch from Berlin-based Jazzanova with a more eclectic and technically impressive mix, incorporating everything from jazz-dance to downtempo to more of the broken stuff. The Bugz boys returned to close things out, including a three-rewind caning of recent single “Sounds Like”, a two-rewind presentation of Daz-I-Kue’s mind-bending rework of Lil Kim’s “Lighters Up” and a hands-in-the-air broken remix of John Legend’s “Ordinary People.”
I’m about to head down to the conference hotel to register and start schmoozing. I hope to hit the Stones Throw 10th anniversary party later this evening, and maybe catch a party called “The NY Tradition of Dance Music,” featuring former Paradise Garage resident Joey Llanos and famed NY club promoter Richard Vasquez (who founded The Choice, which followed legendary club The Loft) along with DJ/producer Dennis Ferrer and a host of others. Soulful ish, no doubt.
It’s true. If you’re at the DeSoto Civic Center on Saturday Night for the final Riverkings game of the season, you’ll hear yours truly belting out the Star Spangled Banner before the game. The first 1000 visitors get a free Riverkings t-shirt, nope I don’t have any free tickets, and I hope some of you will be there!`
The executive summary provides the gist: That Congress screwed up when it passed the DMCA in 1998. The courts were busy establishing a framework for intellectual property protection amid technological change, but then the legislative branch — led by Big Media lackey and recording artist-in-his-own-right Sen. Orrin Hatch — stepped in with an unwieldy, anti-consumer, anti-competition statute.
Realizing that Hatch was the sponsor of DMCA reminded me of when the senior Utah senator suggested destroying the computers of those who download illegally. Then it turned out he was using unlicensed JavaScript software on his official Web site. The man is a maroon.
Hat tip to InstaPundit, an intellectual property law specialist himself.
I am working on this Fox pilot and everything is going great. People that I am working with are very professional, a lot of fun, and this whole thing looks like it will be really cool. I can’t spill any details, but I hope it turns out as good as it looks when they’re shooting it. Mind you, I’m not working on the set on this project for the first time ever. I actually enjoy the work, the people I’m working with, and the project. It’s great.
Here’s what I learned from this job before I ever started: I never thought that jobs which pay so little and are frequently so thankless as Production Assistant could be the fodder for political moves and positioning by people with no functional understanding of the business we are working in. Thanks to the people who have given me their honesty, I have come to realize that the fear that other people face in being honest with themselves and one another spill over into their professional decision making. I’d rather hang with the people who tell it like it is, make things actually happen, and are part of the creative process. I’m a friendly person who is geniuinely interested in the people that I interact with, so if you think that means I’m kissing your ass you should think again. I don’t get paid enough to kiss your ass.
If the idea of a friendly ambitious guy who gives 110% of themselves in order to get the job done rubs you the wrong way then by all means…feel free to kiss my ass. There’s a reason why success, particularly the longer it takes, is much sweeter for those who obtain it — because truly successful people have to work for their success and thereby appreciate it more. People who are given everything in life never appreciate anything.
Don’t misinterpret any of this as upset with the job I’m currently working — quite the opposite. When I learn something, even from the best of times, it’s important to talk about it. I gotta get back to work though. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
This new collection of Radiohead covers, “Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads,” is by no means the first crack at covering material from the band’s bravado ’90s output. In fact, albums like “OK Computer” and “Kid A” seem to be entering the standard repertoire: witness jazz pianist Brad Mehldau’s interpretations of “Paranoid Android” and “Exit Music (For a Film),” the namesake of this album.
For this effort, Rapster Records assembled artists who have recorded for the BBE/Rapster family or who are associated in some way with the edgier, more progressive wing of the urban music community. If you’re previously disposed to artists like spiritual-house producer Osunlade (with Eric Roberson aka Erro on a dubby, samba-fied “Everything in Its Right Place”), hip-hop deconstructionist RJD2 (a twisted electro rub of “Airbag”) or Platinum Pied Pipers honcho Waajeed (a pimp-limping “Knives Out” with Monica Blaire), you’ll like what’s here. The Bilal version of “High and Dry” in particular is magnificent.
The remake artists mostly play straight the memorable melodies of these tunes, while flipping the arrangements via their recognizable personal styles. The shaggy-hairs — and many of those for whom these songs were the soundtrack of their ’90s lives — might object strongly. But if you’re like me and dig both Radiohead and, say, Matthew Herbert or Cinematic Orchestra, check it out here.
I’ve chosen to present a version of “Just” by Mark Ronson, son of longtime David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson and a huge DJ on the commercial hip-hop scene. This isn’t what you’d expect if you know Ronson from his remixes of Outkast and Jay-Z. It’s a greasy funk side that reminds me a lot of the Bristol, England, new funk scene (like Nostalgia 77 and the Quantic Soul Orchestra). Happy listening!
There is something unique about the way people in our town like to do business. Many of them, particularly the ones who own their own businesses, seem to have a “devil-may-care” attitude when it comes to accepting your business. I don’t think it’s always intentional — people get busy, things slip minds. But it’s almost an affront to the idea of getting ahead in this world to sleep on opportunity when it knocks.
I’m working for a production that, at it’s peak, will have 110 full-time employees. Those people are visiting our city. They have needs. You have services to offer that can fulfill their needs. You can make some money while they are here. Wouldn’t it be to your benefit, when that phone call comes in, to remember to take the call? To return the call if you’re busy? Wouldn’t it be nice to have that additional money in your pocket and have a new, satisfied customer?
I guess what it comes down to is that people are afraid of success because it means they might have to do some real work. People would rather be lazy because it’s easier to be lazy in this world than to succeed. If you’re lazy, you don’t have to answer to people. You can set your own hours. People will ignore you. You can make enough money to get by.
If you want to succeed, you can’t sleep. Well, you can, but you can’t sleep as much as the people who aren’t trying to succeed.
The choice, Memphians, will always be up to you. I know it’s a new concept, a successful, focused Memphis where things get done and people make things happen and you’re able to enjoy opportunities only available in other places. But this doesn’t happen if you don’t want my business when I’m calling you to offer it to you.
After all, it’s not my money. It’s the Man’s. And not many times in this world is the man just gonna call you up and give up the money.
