retroblog.net

a colleague of mine owns a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle which he drives to work every so often. The Beetle has been nicely restored and maintained over the years and always calls attention to itself whenever it’s parked out front in the company parking lot. my friend swears by this website called BFY Obsolete Parts which has helped him immensely during his Beetle restoration process. the website specializes in Volkswagen and Porsche replacement parts. whether it’s for the engine, the interior or even an accessory, BFY Obsolete Parts has the part that you need. yes, the old Beetle rides rough, is a bit loud and is extremely slow to accelerate but there’s just something about the Beetle that just puts a smile on everyone’s faces when it drives by.

I recently purchased Virgin Mobile’s Super Slice for my dad. Since he doesn’t use a cell phone enough to warrant a regular monthly plan, I thought a prepaid service was the way to go. An interesting thing happened when I tried to activate the phone for him. I couldn’t activate the phone through their website. When I called up customer service they told me the phone’s serial number (ESN) was already assigned to another account. wtf??!! It’s a brand new phone from best buy and YOUR telling me I can’t use it b/c SOMEHOW the serial number has been stolen off the phone???? well the guy couldn’t exactly tell me how this mix up came to be but there wasn’t anything that they could do on their end to get the phone activated. I had to go back to best buy and exchange the phone for a new one. brilliant. definitely doesn’t bode well for the phone or the service. hhhmmmmm….

I was over at a friend of mine’s place who plays bass and is also the musical director of a house band at one of the local venues here in town and he was showing me some of his latest work. he works up his own demos using Reason and ProTools like most musicians but he also prints out all his arrangements using Finale® music notation software. He’s pretty thorough and demands precision when his live band learns his new songs and obviously writing out all the parts for his musicians helps out in that department. I personally haven’t used the software but I could imagine if I had to teach my band some complex jazz-fusion type parts, Finale® would come in handy. From what he was showing me, I was pretty impressed with what you can do with it. Not only is it a great music engraving tool, it can also incorporate audio as the score is shown on the screen. it’s not as labor intensive as it could be if it was all done on paper so it’s definitely a great tool to use when writing out your music.

with all the extra time during the holiday break, I finally got a chance to sit down and view some of my recently purchased music DVDs like The McCartney Years. I was pleasantly surprised while viewing the 2004 Glastonbury footage on disc three. in the past I was never really that fond of Paul McCartney’s recent touring band comprised of Abe Laboriel Jr., Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray and Paul Wix Wickens. But the Glastonbury footage changed my mind to all that. the band rocked. they sounded so much better than they did on the limp 2002 live recordings. I’m sure it’s tough as a musician to rise above the shadow of those Beatles songs and watching the Glastonbury show, it seemed that Abe, Rusty, Brian and Wix finally came into their own. I’ve been partial to the 1990-1993 McCartney band all this time but now I think this incarnation just might be my new favorite.
check out the Sgt. Pepper/The End clip on youtube for an example. watch Abe as he beats those drums into oblivion and then watch Rusty and Brian let loose during the ending guitar solos. cool stuff.

with limited opportunities to get any airtime on radio or even MTV nowadays, bands and artists alike are finding new alternative means to reach the general public. One method that I’ve seen work for musicians recently is in fact TV advertisement. It’s really a no brainer since you can reach a wider audience through television than on any other medium. and marketing your music directly on TV is pretty widely accepted now since artists like the Goo Goo Dolls, Elton John and even Paul McCartney have all done so in the last year. There’s even a company called HawthorneDirect.com that is geared specifically to help people market their products on television which includes producing their very own infomercial and/or commercial spots. So bands and new artists no longer have to worry about cracking into radio rotation or a spot on TRL. Just market to music fans directly on TV!!

I’ve been listening to James Taylor’s latest live release One Man Band over the holiday break. There’s something about Taylor’s voice that just feels like home to me. Plus, the tried and true song selection keep the listening experience safe within the “all things familiar” category. Yes, you probably have heard me whining a number of times in the past about artists recycling their old hits and playing it safe but every once in a while during uncertain (and/or stressful) times, listening to something old and familiar can be just what the doctor ordered. Taylor’s performance is top notch here on the CD and he masterfully breathes new life into his old classics. His One Man Band is a keeper. personal favorites include: Steamroller Blues, Copperline, Never Die Young and Shower the People.

I’ve had to move my recording facilities several times in the last couple years. you may have noticed I didn’t say “recording studio”. As with most musicians and bands nowadays, I do my recording where it’s convenient at the time. It could be a garage, some vacant office space, an apartment or a spare room in someone’s house. Thanks to today’s technology, I don’t have to worry about moving gigantic recording consoles or delicate 24-track tape machines. All I have to do is round up some friends, rent a truck from a Self Service Moving company and move a couple racks of sound equipment, some computers and a bunch of musical instruments. I’d rather use the money I save from not using some full service moving company to help upgrade my existing recording equipment. That just seems more practical to me. and with websites like homebulletin.net, finding and obtaining quotes from self service moving companies is now easier and faster than ever.