2/19/07

JazzTube

Just got a link to this site today from a friend of mine. It is exactly what the name implies - a jazz specific site powered by YouTube. Lots of performances by a whole slew of jazz greats (I was disappointed to see that all of the Jaco footage was unavailable - what a tease!). Now you don't have to search and search on YouTube for footage of the greats - they're all right here!

Here's a rare gem I found there today.






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2/5/07

Sound Waves Make Salt Form Pattern

Wow! I have never seen anything like this. I wanna try it.

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The Amen Break - Most Significant Drum Sample Ever.

We've all heard it a thousand times whether you know where it came from or not. I only realized where it came from a few months ago and was amazed because I instantly realized just how much this sample has been used. It is thee hip-hop/jungle groove - literally its epitome.

The creator of this video plays the original cut and goes on to site example after example of its use. He also goes talks about the fact that the original artists (The Winstons), or whatever label owns the rights, have never sued for copyright infringement as well as creative commons licensing and how it doesn't necessarily negate a market for a product.

It's a long video and the imagery is very static but the information is well worth it.

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2/4/07

Artists Aren't Starving Because of Piracy

This is a great article debunking the common idea that piracy is the main reason for artists losing money. It is in fact the RIAA's unfair business practices that have taken most of their money. In this day and age it's just ludicrous to be a part of those industry practices. Artists involved with them should spend their time getting free of those practices and not turning on people who download/share their music.

Buy directly from the artist or through a specific channel that they point you to.

Here are the rest of my thoughts from the comment I posted to the article:

Buy music directly from the artists. If you buy it somewhere else, assume the artist is ok with selling it there, they have agreed to do so. If you signed a contract with a label that you're unhappy with that sucks but wise up! Business is about making money and big business is about making big money. If you think the entertainment (or any other business) is about anything else you have been misled.

The RIAA and the rest of the entertainment industry/media have also created all this celebrityism that is rampant today. Everyone wants to be a star. Everyone thinks they have an equal chance to make lots of money from their craft. If you love doing it do it. If you can make a living from it make it.

The real value in anything great is the sharing with others. Make a good living but don't lose site of the point which is the process of getting it out of you and/or sharing it with others. The money is just to enable you to spend most of your time doing your thing.

Do good work. Share a little for free. Offer the rest for a reasonable price. If people like it they will buy it. Otherwise find some other way of making a living. The only reason business should mix with art is for the sake of making a living. Not getting rich or becoming famous - both of which make life worse, not better.

Quit whining and do something worthwhile!


Enough said.

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2/3/07

Sandbox: The Music of Mark Sandman



I just found about this release today and I'm so happy to have it. I listened to it this morning and while I was listening I felt like I was getting a much broader sense of Mark Sandman's musical personality. There are some great quirky and unusual tracks here much like 1997's B-sides and Otherwise but it also seems to include a variety of random recordings from different times in Sandman's career.

This is definitely not for the casual fan but very worthwhile for any hardcore Morphine fan. I just really appreciate having new songs to hear Mark Sandman sing. I miss his voice! Morphine will remain one of my all-time favorite bands.

Kudos to Dana Colley and Billy Conway for getting this collection out.

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2/2/07

The Best James Brown clip I have seen



I know we've all seen a lot of James Brown lately and this post is a bit late on that tip but this really is the best James Brown clip I have seen yet. Seems like it's when Popcorn was still a fresh hit.

Enjoy!

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2/1/07

Hum a tune and Midomi tells you what it's called.


Neat!


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