Originally from my Tumblr blog 'Tucker's Tertiary'
If you are interested in Indie music (or alternative, Punk, proto-punk or what ever other tag you declare your music), I highly recommend listening to The Big Take Over Magazine’s Radio Show this week and next!
Actually you should listen every week and subscribe to the best music magazine ever, yes ever, created. The magazine has been dedicated to the indie music scene for over 30 years with great writing, interviews and reviews of bands you only see there first.
Back to the shows - it is Jack Rabid’s (the publisher of BTO) year in review shows - in two Parts! How could I have missed so much good music?!
Putting out the presents with a little different X-mas music. "ENOUGH with the #@$%ing Lite FM songs! Thousands of songs from the Mississippi blues to shred metal and all they can play are the same 20 songs!? Sheesh.
Originally published on rAVe Pubs December 16th, 2011
"If you want to destroy this sweater - Just pull this thread as I walk away...”
- Weezer
Go ahead 'n' pull, you might get what you want or a surprise worth waiting for, depending on your point of view. With the music business still in disarray and profits bleeding out like a moonshine still at the wrong end of a ATF shotgun, the pundits have declared, yet again, Rock’s demise.
A recent article on CNN discussed the rise of (pop) Country Music sales and radio play as other genres are waning, which *of course* was accompanied buy the hackles of "Rock/ Rap is Dead/Dying.”
There is no denying that modern country music has been on the rise for some time. Hell, NYC has had at least two successful country radio stations. I have nothing against country music -- well, I do have a lot against country pop, more on that below. I am a fan of the true roots hillbillies like Hank Williams, the current alt rock decedents of Hank - Lucero and the rockabilly revivalist Reverend Horton Heat. Unless you want to get caught up in a day long discussion of music history and Situationist aesthetics don’t even hint at asking me about my Jan Dek fetish.
I do not dislike pop music because it is so prevalent but because it is too easy to like. Top 40 songs are genetically engineered to draw you in and crash your mind on to the rocks of the island of the Sirens. These songs do not ‘stimulate the little grey cells’ - as Hercule Poirot would say- rather they lull them into a catatonic state suppressing the desire for challenging compositions. Admit it, you have caught yourself humming along with the muzak in elevator.... and if alone, enjoyed it. Oh yes you have, and I’ll bet a dollar bill that you tapped your foot, too.
It is undeniable that mainstream rock and rap sales have been in decline recently, but I would not go so far as to start dusting off and updating the obituaries. These genres have been pushed into smaller spaces - off into the anterooms. I find this to be an opportunity.
Unlike many I am quite comfortable in small space, the constraints actually promote more creativity by forcing new angles of thought on how to get around them (more about this in my next post). I could emulate William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch Story telling or Jan Dek’s (I told you I am obsessed) musical interpretations and smash the boundaries à la the 1984 commercial. Yet, even these follow strict rules and delineation -- just not the ones we have been previously accustomed to.
Smaller spaces or musical communities can generate more heat - (canned heat?) - confined as they are, once things get cooking. Underground or regional collectives who have been pushed to the out-lands can grow in what seems a blur and wind up creating some remarkable sounds and genre bending without the need to seek a more global acceptance. These tight collectives can also be incestuous and regrettably, (or thankfully depending on how macabre your persuasions are) produce the musical equivalent of the Blue Fugates.
A well known Alternative/ Punk pioneer often stated that he professionally looked forward to Republican administrations as it stirred up the emotions of the bands and fans (who would often go on to form their own bands). The message? Constrictions, or the appearance of, can generate incredible bursts of creativity. It also generates an exponential explosion of distinct sub-genres. This would seem counter-intuitive at first unless you have an appreciation for Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tailand the theory of "a thousand true fans."
The Long Tail upturns a few of the ‘standard models’ of business by showing that a good deal of money can be made in producing not just a few select items, but an entire swath of niche market items, each with their own community of dedicated clientele.
The theory of a thousand true fans postulates - Just how many fans paying (x) amount to you per year would you need to survive and produce your art. Many independent artists are experimenting with some form of this Kevin Kelly-promoted idea, from Radiohead to Thomas Dolby (have you see his new performances, wow, just wow) to the newUnderground Rap movement. Think about this for a moment: if you were able to garner a thousand fans who paid you $75 dollars a year, or $75,000, would this be enough? $75 sound like too much? How about $40 a year, plus concerts/appearance fees. Would this be enough to give you the freedom to create content and access and live comfortably?
While the old school business models may be struggling with a smaller real estate footprint, some are finding opportunity. Just look at what Louis CK did by providing a $5 DRM-free product and wound up earning $200k in less than seven days.
My sweater may be undone, but I still have a stitch in time to create. Knit one, Purl Two.
LinkedIn gets cute with a winter solstice themed profile "connection"
If you are a regular user of LinkedIn you have no doubt seen the little box to the right which shows you how many people have viewed your profile in the last 15 days. The box also invites you to click on it and see who. This, of course, is a clever way to entice you into purchasing an upgrade package, which then allows you to see everyone who has tapped your profile -( the 'free' version provides a handy graph and a list of five or six people. Often this is masked as 'Someone who hires people like you for big, we mean BIG salaries. Upgrade NOW or lose out in being Rich beyond your wildest dreams!"
Well, every so often, LinkedIn gets cute in this game. Today I was told that Snow E. Mann - an independent Snow removal management expert - viewed my profile. Clicking the link brought up a very nice holiday greeting.
Still think LinkedIn is just a stuffy resume site?
Hello, my name is George and I am Maker Virgin. Hello George!
I have spent more of my life as an audio visual installer/ programmer and professional live event person than I have not; yet I am intensely interested in the folks who spend months of their personal time creating ‘extreme Christmas lights’ and the Raymond Scott like creations of Circuit Benders.
(No, this is not me)
I have to admit that my first exposure to the electronics DIY community was a mix of emotions, it intrigued me but I was of the opinion that it was amateur hour stuff - like the folks at bars on New Years eve. The Christmas lights were cute and sometimes impressive, but I had “real work” to do.
My opinion reflected that of many in the home AV business - a look down the nose dismissive shrug - and frankly many took the attitude that the DIY market was either a simple annoyance or a place to find new work fixing/ replacing a failed attempt.
What I (and many of my associates) failed to see was the quality of work, the dedication and sophisticated ability to create ‘a product’ from building the circuits to synchronizing the sequences. Many of us missed the rise of the Maker movement - Just how could have we done that? Well ProSound News did not .
When I worked as a technical support manager for a major Manufacturer of home automation systems I found many of the techs were, in fact, huge DIY/ Maker folks- and why wouldn’t they be? Nearly all AV techs entered the industry because they loved to get their hands on these amazing systems. We love to solder, design and program - we did it prior to our official employment, why would we stop now?
Some would argue that we as a group had access to some of the most advanced home AV and automation gear in the industry and would therefore stop playing with toys. Ahh but there is a great and natural pleasure with crafting something with your own hands. The satisfaction of building from the ground up a system that operates how you KNOW it should be and doing things that no other product on the market does, well there is no matching that feeling.
I wrote a blog post for RAVE Publications on this subject entitled ‘I Say a Dirty Word’ advocating for a more aggressive outreach from the ‘Professional’ community. The response was amazing - a few detractors spoke up but overall the Pro community said ‘yes, yes, yes and yes again’.
Here we found the genesis for the DIY show on AVNation.tv. The first episode is posted and you have generated more hits for the show in a single week than any other show we have produced so far. I am awe struck at the positive reactions from folks at DIYLightAnimation and Do It Yourself Christmas.com and at Maker Magazine . We hope to have fine folks from these forums on the next show, scheduled to post on January 11 (and then second Wednesday of each month afterwards. ).
We want your voice too! Are you interested in being a panelist on the DIY show? contact me here or on the show page!
Charles Bradley - ‘The Screaming Eagle of Soul’ - and his band the Extraordinaires, Best Musical Find of 2011
I posted this on the Audyssey’s Facebook site in response to a question about the best find of the year. Up until two weeks ago I would not have even known Charles Bradley’s name (i most likely would have thought someone meant to say former NBA player and odd ball personality Charles Barkley or band Narls Barkley ).
Charles Bradley’s performance on WNYC’s local music show ‘SoundCheck’ featured an interview and live performance with the man and his voice. It is just stunning. Breathtakingly so.
Take my advise - cue up this video, and crank it loud (yes, to 11 wise guy). If you have crappy speakers get a good pair of cans on your head, (I highly recommend Sony MDR-V6’s), and prepare to weep with joy.
Yeah, it’s that damn good.
Next: Go and Buy his album. He may very well blow out his voice before the end of next year - enjoy it while you can. The original Sound Check interview can be heard here.
I rather despise moderated comments, especially on major sites like Fast Company. I do understand the reasoning though, I mean it IS the wild n' wolly Internet. True, I am a bit Sybil on this.
Fast Company has an article on the new remote, comparing the histoical content provider (Dish, Cable, etc) supplied units with the new gleaming consumer app driven tablets and smartphones. Granted I did refer to an old post of my that touches on this subject, exepct mine rejects the newy for the old and makes reference to weighted gain knobs as influenced by Miss September 1963.
This or the comments monitor does not like to counter all the corporate market quotes.
Alas - here is my commet, for the record.
I must take a, somewhat, contrarian view to this article. While there is a certain allure to the simplified remote and the titanium encased tablet am I alone in feeling that the iPad is well, soul-less in comparison? I am troubled by the frictionless gloss of icons, I miss the tactile feel of a physical interface.
Perhaps it is simple nostalgia but I long for the clickty-clack-clunk of an 8-track tape, the solid mechanical ka-chunk of open reel tape decks, and the tactile feel and response of weighted gain knobs. I am not sure just why I love these knobs so much, the sheer pleasure of them in my hand – they just feel right, perfectly balanced in my fingers and against my palm. something the smartphones and tablets just do not recreate.
Do not trust the device manufactures to come up with a dramatic method or control experience. Despite claims by the very same that it is the content providers ( Dish, Cable, etc) who are restricting new interfaces by churning out millions of ‘clunky’ remotes into the hands of users - (who have become ‘accustomed’ to it via muscle memory) - no real alternatives have come out. Does everyone forget the disaster of the Sony Commander? No wonder we stick with tactile response devices provide.
This is astonishing news that has serious implications to our understanding of where life could be, has been or might be supported in the future (i.e. Human colonization). Not that we should be surprised; this has been predicted, almost to a T in a science fiction story.
If you have been following the Science Channel's "Prophets of Science Fiction" series you are well acquainted with plethora of predictions made by science fiction writers. One writer in particular, Arthur C. Clarke, author of the story -The Sentinel - which became the movie 2001, actually invented the communications satellite.
But we weren't talking about satellites, no, we were looking at the (most probable) discovery of a large body of water just below the surface of Martian mountain range. The author who predicted this is not yet one of the fine writers featured on the Science Channel show, it was one Chris Gall and the story is one of my boys favorites, (along with 'Theo and the Blue Note and a reprint of a 1900's version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' -(yeah, we read it all year round))
There's NOTHING to do on MARS" (by Chris Gall) is the tale of one Davey Martin who, with his family, have sought out the quiet and isolation of Mars. Davey's parents are content but the Boy is bored with no friends but his trusty dog and no beaches to swim in. In addition both the Martins and the Marians have no water to bathe in, that is until Davey and his dog polaris climb a very unique looking mountain and unleash a bottled up ocean.
Yup, this gorgeously illustrated kids picture book predicted just how Martian water would be found. Pretty much.
I am thinking of starting a petition to the Science Channel demanding this book/author be included in next seasons offerings.
I also suggest that you check out Mr. Gall's site - I am digging his other works and have a few more books added to "The kids just need these under the tree' list.
As you may know Bobby Valentine, former NY Mets manager and one of the kookier baseball personalities, is being considered for the manager position with the Boston Red Sox.
Listening to the Michael Kay show interview Al Liter about Bobby V’s possible career move and how Al thought of him as ‘entirely different level of baseball knowledge’ and how he waxed rhapsodic about Valentine’s intelligence. Suddenly I had the craziest thought - a connection equal in impact to the discovery of a (time traveler?!) using a cell phone in a 1920’s Charlie Chaplin film
Then the thought struck me- Is Bobby V the reincarnation of Moe Berg?
If you are unfamiliar with Mo Berg, he is one of the odder individuals to play the game. A backup catcher who never hit over .234 for his career yet was part of many international all star games rubbing elbows with the likes of Babe Ruth. Why? Mo Spoke Japanese, Russian, German and a host of other languages as well as having a scientific background and an uncanny understanding of the game of baseball. (Starting to sound familiar?). Moe Berg was also the subject of a book and PBS NOVA show entitled - “The Catcher was a Spy”…
It’s about the fate of the free world my friend; the fate of the free wolrd!
