I'm going to see The Happening today.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I was happy like Harold Melvin when...
There is a line from "Miss You" from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes when the cat says something about his friend having seen his ex-woman and commenting that she was still looking good. The dude says "That made me happy." Funny line from that song other lines. GREAT song!
I am rambling because that is what I do. But I wanted to share a scathing review with you...
Not really. It’s actually a pretty swell one.
I know that I hardly post on here (it’s just too much to keep up with), but here you go...
(I go around googling my name on the interweb until I find something I like. I report all the other stuff for offensive content.)
Adam’s World
One Journalist. One Pen. One Crazy Life.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Blue Note Meets Lee
"No flash photography or video filming of any kind is allowed during the performance. Put your cells phones away, too," boomed the God-like voice over the speakers at Blue Note New York only moments before The Square Egg’s songwriter and vocalist, Lee, was to hit the stage for his first of two performances on Monday evening. Although I had plans of getting part of his set on film I relented and put my camera away lest the imposing voice find me. Suddenly I realized the "up close" seats I had were far less necessary than first thought, but this wasn’t an evening about my neck’s comfort, this was a night for the unveiling of Lee’s solo work, his first music without The Square Egg, and despite suffering from a cold Lee made it a night to remember.
Now, calling Lee’s set a "solo" set is an exercise in stretching definitions. Yes, Lee wrote and both sung and rapped all the lyrics, and yes, he arranged almost all of the music, as well, but Lee has to be the only person I know who has a ten piece band (The Square Egg), but still finds a way to have even more people on stage with him during his "solo" set as no less than twelve musicians graced the stage alongside him, including one heck of a saxophone player who wowed the crowd with some freestyle play mid-set. Though it might seem odd, it’s actually completely appropriate that Lee have so many people on stage with him to perform his solo work as his album, Meet Lee, is all about being multifaceted and what better way to express that than through a multitude of sounds?
The bulk of Lee’s set focused on Meet Lee and the music from it. The theme of the night was love and God as some of the more revolutionary songs on the album took a backseat to Lee’s want to create a happy and positive vibe for the packed house of fans. Donning a tan Lee brand button down shirt, a shirt I am convinced he bought so his name could be right on his chest, almost like a nametag (heck, I’d do the same thing if there was an "Adam" brand), Lee joked with, inspired, and even cried with the crowd. It was a full on display of emotion, which is rare to see anywhere, let alone on stage in front of an audience. Lee clearly means it when he says he wants you to Meet Lee.
Musically, Lee’s solo work is a mixture of Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop with a lyrical emphasis on individuality, love, and being true to, and standing up for, oneself. His baritone vocals are accentuated by his flow, which allows listeners a chance to actually hear and understand what he’s saying. Though his cold didn’t allow him to do all of the singing he would have liked to have done, and as he explained this to the audience one of his violin players hammed it up for him with a little "world’s tiniest violin" piece, Lee proved he belonged on the Blue Note, and quite frankly any other, stage.
After his hour plus long set, which included personal favorites "Letter From You" and "All U Need," was completed I flipped through the booklet the Blue Note puts out that’s filled with info about all the artists they have performing there each month. I went to the 31st to check out what they had to say about Lee. As I read the first paragraph I had the strangest sensation that I had read it somewhere before. When I recognized the second paragraph I knew something was up. Suddenly I realized why it seemed so familiar. I laughed out loud. I hadn’t just read it before, I wrote it.
Running to catch my train I felt good and I think that’s the true measure of greatness of any live show, how one feels afterwards. Do you feel sated, like you’ve had just enough of a fantastic meal? Do you feel inspired? Do you feel good? I felt all of these things, even as I looked at my cell phone to check to see how fast I was going to have to run to catch the 10:22pm train home. With that in mind one can’t call Lee’s performance anything less than a rousing success.
http://adambernard.blogspot.com/2008/04/blue-note-meets-lee.html
Related LinksLee: whoislee.com
The Square Egg: thesquareegg.com
Adam’s World: Artist Of The Week - TSE (7/06)
RapReviews: The Square Egg Interview (9/05)
I am rambling because that is what I do. But I wanted to share a scathing review with you...
Not really. It’s actually a pretty swell one.
I know that I hardly post on here (it’s just too much to keep up with), but here you go...
(I go around googling my name on the interweb until I find something I like. I report all the other stuff for offensive content.)
Adam’s World
One Journalist. One Pen. One Crazy Life.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Blue Note Meets Lee
"No flash photography or video filming of any kind is allowed during the performance. Put your cells phones away, too," boomed the God-like voice over the speakers at Blue Note New York only moments before The Square Egg’s songwriter and vocalist, Lee, was to hit the stage for his first of two performances on Monday evening. Although I had plans of getting part of his set on film I relented and put my camera away lest the imposing voice find me. Suddenly I realized the "up close" seats I had were far less necessary than first thought, but this wasn’t an evening about my neck’s comfort, this was a night for the unveiling of Lee’s solo work, his first music without The Square Egg, and despite suffering from a cold Lee made it a night to remember.
Now, calling Lee’s set a "solo" set is an exercise in stretching definitions. Yes, Lee wrote and both sung and rapped all the lyrics, and yes, he arranged almost all of the music, as well, but Lee has to be the only person I know who has a ten piece band (The Square Egg), but still finds a way to have even more people on stage with him during his "solo" set as no less than twelve musicians graced the stage alongside him, including one heck of a saxophone player who wowed the crowd with some freestyle play mid-set. Though it might seem odd, it’s actually completely appropriate that Lee have so many people on stage with him to perform his solo work as his album, Meet Lee, is all about being multifaceted and what better way to express that than through a multitude of sounds?
The bulk of Lee’s set focused on Meet Lee and the music from it. The theme of the night was love and God as some of the more revolutionary songs on the album took a backseat to Lee’s want to create a happy and positive vibe for the packed house of fans. Donning a tan Lee brand button down shirt, a shirt I am convinced he bought so his name could be right on his chest, almost like a nametag (heck, I’d do the same thing if there was an "Adam" brand), Lee joked with, inspired, and even cried with the crowd. It was a full on display of emotion, which is rare to see anywhere, let alone on stage in front of an audience. Lee clearly means it when he says he wants you to Meet Lee.
Musically, Lee’s solo work is a mixture of Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop with a lyrical emphasis on individuality, love, and being true to, and standing up for, oneself. His baritone vocals are accentuated by his flow, which allows listeners a chance to actually hear and understand what he’s saying. Though his cold didn’t allow him to do all of the singing he would have liked to have done, and as he explained this to the audience one of his violin players hammed it up for him with a little "world’s tiniest violin" piece, Lee proved he belonged on the Blue Note, and quite frankly any other, stage.
After his hour plus long set, which included personal favorites "Letter From You" and "All U Need," was completed I flipped through the booklet the Blue Note puts out that’s filled with info about all the artists they have performing there each month. I went to the 31st to check out what they had to say about Lee. As I read the first paragraph I had the strangest sensation that I had read it somewhere before. When I recognized the second paragraph I knew something was up. Suddenly I realized why it seemed so familiar. I laughed out loud. I hadn’t just read it before, I wrote it.
Running to catch my train I felt good and I think that’s the true measure of greatness of any live show, how one feels afterwards. Do you feel sated, like you’ve had just enough of a fantastic meal? Do you feel inspired? Do you feel good? I felt all of these things, even as I looked at my cell phone to check to see how fast I was going to have to run to catch the 10:22pm train home. With that in mind one can’t call Lee’s performance anything less than a rousing success.
http://adambernard.blogspot.com/2008/04/blue-note-meets-lee.html
Related LinksLee: whoislee.com
The Square Egg: thesquareegg.com
Adam’s World: Artist Of The Week - TSE (7/06)
RapReviews: The Square Egg Interview (9/05)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Back 2 Love
I've been super busy (which is good) with coordinating the release of this record as well as my personal life.
I was out in Texas for a few days last week at a winter formal for my daughter. Fake debutant nonsense, but we will discuss that later. After that i flew back home to NY for a quick repack trip together things to take to Florida with me for a week. I am here with Stian Roennining working on a video.
So there is my personal life, coordinating the release of this album in a few months and doing a video. All of this is on very little sleep. Murphy's Law also gets the best of you whenever it can. So it is what it is.
I don't have as much time to blog as I thought I would and that's actually okay. I will try to write more when I get back and keep an actual journal with photos or something. Not that anyone cares. But whatever.
I need a nap. Talk to you soon.
The Dub
I was out in Texas for a few days last week at a winter formal for my daughter. Fake debutant nonsense, but we will discuss that later. After that i flew back home to NY for a quick repack trip together things to take to Florida with me for a week. I am here with Stian Roennining working on a video.
So there is my personal life, coordinating the release of this album in a few months and doing a video. All of this is on very little sleep. Murphy's Law also gets the best of you whenever it can. So it is what it is.
I don't have as much time to blog as I thought I would and that's actually okay. I will try to write more when I get back and keep an actual journal with photos or something. Not that anyone cares. But whatever.
I need a nap. Talk to you soon.
The Dub
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Back To This...
Sooo...
I am admittedly late on most things. I have to say. My daughter was playing the Travis Barker mix of Crank That Soulja Boy when she was here over Turkey Day. Now don't get me wrong, I had heard the song and all. But I was not aware of how much of a phenomena it was.
I heard Scarface from the Geto Boys make a joke that he wanted DeAndre Ramone Way (that's what his momma dem named him) to maek his website and do his promotions. I saw 50 Cent hanging out with him on YouTube and all that stuff. I learned of his song being on Entourage and just the wave of publicity and notoriety that the songs gets. I did some background and this Soulja Boy thing is the blazing out of control. All of this was done via the internet (MySpace and YouTube) which are interesting considering the choke hold that Corporate America has on the radio and television.
I can't help but wonder if people are REALLY that into it or is it just like watching a train wreck.
One thing I do know is that my man Spencer told me when he was here a few weeks ago that the revolution would not only not be televised, but he said it wasn't even going to happen. Black folk ain't gonna fight for nothing as long as we can "Superman that ho." It's a wrap.
DeAndre gets a lot of praise from me in that he has done this on his own. But what becomes problematic is watching Interscope jump in and cash in on his hard work. It is also problematic that it is viewed as a trend in the industry. Wikipedia writes, "Critics and hip-hop figures such as Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Jermaine Dupri cite Soulja Boy as artistically typical of contemporary rap trends such as writing for the lucrative ringtone market, and the ascendence of "Southern hip hop", emphasizing catchy, mindless music that discards rap's traditional emphasis on message." That is frightening considering the economic state that we are in and how lacking our educational system is at the moment. If the trend is towards "mindless music" I fear what is next.
I was on the phone earlier with a friend - well, person that I know from another country who told me that she liked the song and thought it was cute. I explained to her in my standard method that if she thought dancing monkeys was "cute" then I could see that. This person in particular is the same individual who praises the brilliance of such artists as Zion I. I was met with a sigh of disgust. I went on to explain that as someone who hangs out with Black and ironically exclusively dates Black men I would hope that she understood the greater issue at hand when presented with Soulja Boy vs Zion I. Surely they can coexist, but why does one overshadow the other.
The conversation went a bit further before I decided that I needed to go. I didn't want to be "cute" myself so I went back to address my thoughts on the world wide interweb in the hopes that I would get 23 million people to care about what I had to say - along with others - and maybe buck the trend.
There is room at the table for everyone. Ike Turner died a few weeks ago. Will Soulja Boy replace him with a greater musical legacy for Black music?
Like I said, I am proud of the young brother and happy that he is making his. But I just wonder if the market would have responded as well if he was actually saying something. And if not, why? That is the question we need to be asking consumers. Because it can no longer be blamed on record labels or the artists. The consumer has the dollar-power to shape the market and they should be responsible as well as the rest of us.
www.whoislee.com
I am admittedly late on most things. I have to say. My daughter was playing the Travis Barker mix of Crank That Soulja Boy when she was here over Turkey Day. Now don't get me wrong, I had heard the song and all. But I was not aware of how much of a phenomena it was.
I heard Scarface from the Geto Boys make a joke that he wanted DeAndre Ramone Way (that's what his momma dem named him) to maek his website and do his promotions. I saw 50 Cent hanging out with him on YouTube and all that stuff. I learned of his song being on Entourage and just the wave of publicity and notoriety that the songs gets. I did some background and this Soulja Boy thing is the blazing out of control. All of this was done via the internet (MySpace and YouTube) which are interesting considering the choke hold that Corporate America has on the radio and television.
I can't help but wonder if people are REALLY that into it or is it just like watching a train wreck.
One thing I do know is that my man Spencer told me when he was here a few weeks ago that the revolution would not only not be televised, but he said it wasn't even going to happen. Black folk ain't gonna fight for nothing as long as we can "Superman that ho." It's a wrap.
DeAndre gets a lot of praise from me in that he has done this on his own. But what becomes problematic is watching Interscope jump in and cash in on his hard work. It is also problematic that it is viewed as a trend in the industry. Wikipedia writes, "Critics and hip-hop figures such as Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Jermaine Dupri cite Soulja Boy as artistically typical of contemporary rap trends such as writing for the lucrative ringtone market, and the ascendence of "Southern hip hop", emphasizing catchy, mindless music that discards rap's traditional emphasis on message." That is frightening considering the economic state that we are in and how lacking our educational system is at the moment. If the trend is towards "mindless music" I fear what is next.
I was on the phone earlier with a friend - well, person that I know from another country who told me that she liked the song and thought it was cute. I explained to her in my standard method that if she thought dancing monkeys was "cute" then I could see that. This person in particular is the same individual who praises the brilliance of such artists as Zion I. I was met with a sigh of disgust. I went on to explain that as someone who hangs out with Black and ironically exclusively dates Black men I would hope that she understood the greater issue at hand when presented with Soulja Boy vs Zion I. Surely they can coexist, but why does one overshadow the other.
The conversation went a bit further before I decided that I needed to go. I didn't want to be "cute" myself so I went back to address my thoughts on the world wide interweb in the hopes that I would get 23 million people to care about what I had to say - along with others - and maybe buck the trend.
There is room at the table for everyone. Ike Turner died a few weeks ago. Will Soulja Boy replace him with a greater musical legacy for Black music?
Like I said, I am proud of the young brother and happy that he is making his. But I just wonder if the market would have responded as well if he was actually saying something. And if not, why? That is the question we need to be asking consumers. Because it can no longer be blamed on record labels or the artists. The consumer has the dollar-power to shape the market and they should be responsible as well as the rest of us.
www.whoislee.com
Monday, December 17, 2007
My $.02 on the Trying Times in the Music Business
I’ve been making music for some time. I consider myself not only to be a talent, but I am also a fan of music. By that I mean I have the capacity to appreciate what is good about any form of music I hear simply because I actually have an appreciation for the craft and the work that goes into making good music – no matter the type of music it is. I think most music – at its core – has redeeming values that dial into some base part of who we are. A good punk song is going to insight the same feeling in you as a head-banging hardcore rap song simply because – well, in the technical sense I think the tones and vibrations are the same. But I digress. Ultimately I like a lot of music and would run a radio station if I thought people would listen to it.
So here we are nearing 2008 and folks are getting laid off left and right. The industry is I a frenzy trying to figure out how to catch up with the world wide inter-web and how to get sales to keep flowing so that folks can stay in business. The funny thing is that everyone is crying about piracy. Everyone is trying to run internet radio out of business. Everyone is blaming this that or the other. But I take a step back and I look at it all based on how it relates to me.
See I never sold platinum status. I never had a million dollar budget for this that or the other. As far back as I can remember I have been recording in my house. I mean, this goes back to the days or Tony and I on a 4-track Tascam or whatever. I have been in a few studios, but even those were at someone’s house with Protools or Digital Performer set ups. The one time I went into a full on studio with an SSL board to track anything was when Brian called me and my band at the time to come in so that he could teach the kids at the Art Institute how to record. So we received free recordings from it while they got to play assistant engineers. Now the one things that hasn’t changed over the years was the ability to write songs.
The project at the time was a rock/ rap thing I was doing. This is pre-Limp Bizkit and all that stuff. This is way before Cop Killer and all that stuff. I just wanted to work with a band so we did a fusion of jazz and rock. It was pretty interesting. The band was called Brink. Give me a shout and I will shoot you an mp3 or something.
Today I turn on Soulja Boy and whatever else is on the radio. I can see the appeal for kids. I won’t lie. Regardless of the misogynistic context I can see where they might like it. But the main reason is that they have no clue what it means to “Superman a hoe.” But that is another story.
The problem is that record labels make songs for kids nowadays. Not adults. By that I mean that the entire disposable income world is fashioned around kids. I asked my daughter just this past Thanksgiving holiday if she had Mims in her iPod still and she said no. I asked her if she has Backstreet or Britney Spears and she said she wasn’t into them anymore.
She played the Travis Barker remix of Crank That and I asked her if she had heard of Travis Barker and knew the band he was I and she said no. I found this all to be a bit confusing because I remember that whenever Prince put out a record or worked on a project my friends and I could recite to you every detail of what he did and when he produced and wrote for the Bangles and we could tell you that the singer for the Family was also the keyboardist for the Time. We could tell you everything you wanted to know about the new album and when it was coming out and all this stuff. We knew the six degrees of separation and we knew who was on tour where and what European versions or dance versions of a song were out and who produced it and what engineer worked on that album. And all that was because we were into it. It wasn’t the flavor of the month. So not only do labels promote one song by an artist, but they do noting to build the artists career these days.
But I went a step further and told my daughter how the Rolling Stones made Satisfaction and not Britney Spears. I told my daughter how the song she likes no in her iPod was a rip from a Led Zepplin song. I explained to her that Fergie was using stuff from JJ Fad and Afrorican. I recently told a friend of mine how Will.I.Am’s song is a sample of Save a Prayer from Duran Duran. And it hit me.
My daughter doesn’t listen to my music the way I listened to my parents. I listened to what they played because I had no choice. I had to know Rick James, Bohannon, Parliament, Prince, etc. I had no choice because I didn’t own my own iPod. We shared a stereo and from time to time they would let me play my little records. But in the meantime I got some richness and history when hearing the Commodores and watching my parents act a fool.
See, when I got older their Prince was not my Prince. Michael Jackson was mine and we both could have the Jackson Five. When Phil Collins remade You Can’t Hurry Love I knew it was the Supremes. Parris doesn’t have that luxury, as most kids don’t. They are missing out on richness of musical history and culture because they turn on the radio and Clear Channel says they are going to play and “ol’ school joint” and its’ Tupac from 2001. That’s’ old school?
Labels suffer because they market music to the whims of children. They market it to adolescents who have such major life-changing things occur daily such as whether or not they like the kid in the homeroom class. These are who you think the tastemakers are?
I say do what they did when I was a kid: sell records to the adults and the kids will follow suit. I did. And I know that everyone 30 and under who longs for “the ol’ days” did as well. The artists that appeal to us are the ones that remind us of ourselves. I simply can’t relate to “getting’ tipsy in da club.” And the funny thing is that I can’t think of a 15 year old girl or boy who can either – see they aren’t in the clubs to begin with.
Songs about life. Songs about being real people. Those were the songs that had the back of every white girl in America plaster their doorframes with Steve Perry from Journey. Young and old could relate to Faithfully. But I simply can’t get down with being “in love with a stripper” and I don’t know how my nieces can either.
Now don’t get me wrong, they love the beat. They love it because it’s on the radio everyday. But even to that I add what happened to falling in love with the song and its meaning. When the music because more important that the words we are in a world of trouble. A series of blips and bleeps are replacing chords and music. And don’t call me an elitist. there is room for all of it. But what happened to people communicating with words? What happened to expressing emotions and just being real? When you take that from a society and leave the next generation with no way to connect you destroy that society. Simple and plain. At this rate we leave behind no culture.
Aliens will come to Earth and say that we were a people with no culture. Judging by the news, radio and television all we do is party and fuck.
Sit your children down and let them hear what you are listening to. Oh, they can still have theirs. But not having the choice is a crime.
A “producer” simply should not be the highlight of a song. When Nile Rodgers worked with David Bowie and Duran Duran they worked together. When Quincy worked with Michael it was a perfect marriage. Don’t talk to me about a “hot beat” when you can’t even notice the vocal performer. That’s what Jan Hammer is for.
So if a exorbitant severance package executive wants to really fix the business that he is in instead of jumping from label to label wasting more money and ruining more careers they should start there. Also cut back on $900,000 studio albums (Bob Brockman told a panel of people one that Biggie’s Ready To Die cost that to record). Let musicians make music and let the business be separate.
I have argued that if Interscope Records wanted to put $1 million behind a record of me belching they could make it sell. So why not do that for good songs? Why not stop wasting money and then crying when nothing comes back in return? Seems smart enough business to me.
Now I just gotta figure out how to get my daughter and the rest of the world to care more about me that when some dude “Spiderman that hoe.”
(Man, I could do this blogging thing all day long, Adam!)
So here we are nearing 2008 and folks are getting laid off left and right. The industry is I a frenzy trying to figure out how to catch up with the world wide inter-web and how to get sales to keep flowing so that folks can stay in business. The funny thing is that everyone is crying about piracy. Everyone is trying to run internet radio out of business. Everyone is blaming this that or the other. But I take a step back and I look at it all based on how it relates to me.
See I never sold platinum status. I never had a million dollar budget for this that or the other. As far back as I can remember I have been recording in my house. I mean, this goes back to the days or Tony and I on a 4-track Tascam or whatever. I have been in a few studios, but even those were at someone’s house with Protools or Digital Performer set ups. The one time I went into a full on studio with an SSL board to track anything was when Brian called me and my band at the time to come in so that he could teach the kids at the Art Institute how to record. So we received free recordings from it while they got to play assistant engineers. Now the one things that hasn’t changed over the years was the ability to write songs.
The project at the time was a rock/ rap thing I was doing. This is pre-Limp Bizkit and all that stuff. This is way before Cop Killer and all that stuff. I just wanted to work with a band so we did a fusion of jazz and rock. It was pretty interesting. The band was called Brink. Give me a shout and I will shoot you an mp3 or something.
Today I turn on Soulja Boy and whatever else is on the radio. I can see the appeal for kids. I won’t lie. Regardless of the misogynistic context I can see where they might like it. But the main reason is that they have no clue what it means to “Superman a hoe.” But that is another story.
The problem is that record labels make songs for kids nowadays. Not adults. By that I mean that the entire disposable income world is fashioned around kids. I asked my daughter just this past Thanksgiving holiday if she had Mims in her iPod still and she said no. I asked her if she has Backstreet or Britney Spears and she said she wasn’t into them anymore.
She played the Travis Barker remix of Crank That and I asked her if she had heard of Travis Barker and knew the band he was I and she said no. I found this all to be a bit confusing because I remember that whenever Prince put out a record or worked on a project my friends and I could recite to you every detail of what he did and when he produced and wrote for the Bangles and we could tell you that the singer for the Family was also the keyboardist for the Time. We could tell you everything you wanted to know about the new album and when it was coming out and all this stuff. We knew the six degrees of separation and we knew who was on tour where and what European versions or dance versions of a song were out and who produced it and what engineer worked on that album. And all that was because we were into it. It wasn’t the flavor of the month. So not only do labels promote one song by an artist, but they do noting to build the artists career these days.
But I went a step further and told my daughter how the Rolling Stones made Satisfaction and not Britney Spears. I told my daughter how the song she likes no in her iPod was a rip from a Led Zepplin song. I explained to her that Fergie was using stuff from JJ Fad and Afrorican. I recently told a friend of mine how Will.I.Am’s song is a sample of Save a Prayer from Duran Duran. And it hit me.
My daughter doesn’t listen to my music the way I listened to my parents. I listened to what they played because I had no choice. I had to know Rick James, Bohannon, Parliament, Prince, etc. I had no choice because I didn’t own my own iPod. We shared a stereo and from time to time they would let me play my little records. But in the meantime I got some richness and history when hearing the Commodores and watching my parents act a fool.
See, when I got older their Prince was not my Prince. Michael Jackson was mine and we both could have the Jackson Five. When Phil Collins remade You Can’t Hurry Love I knew it was the Supremes. Parris doesn’t have that luxury, as most kids don’t. They are missing out on richness of musical history and culture because they turn on the radio and Clear Channel says they are going to play and “ol’ school joint” and its’ Tupac from 2001. That’s’ old school?
Labels suffer because they market music to the whims of children. They market it to adolescents who have such major life-changing things occur daily such as whether or not they like the kid in the homeroom class. These are who you think the tastemakers are?
I say do what they did when I was a kid: sell records to the adults and the kids will follow suit. I did. And I know that everyone 30 and under who longs for “the ol’ days” did as well. The artists that appeal to us are the ones that remind us of ourselves. I simply can’t relate to “getting’ tipsy in da club.” And the funny thing is that I can’t think of a 15 year old girl or boy who can either – see they aren’t in the clubs to begin with.
Songs about life. Songs about being real people. Those were the songs that had the back of every white girl in America plaster their doorframes with Steve Perry from Journey. Young and old could relate to Faithfully. But I simply can’t get down with being “in love with a stripper” and I don’t know how my nieces can either.
Now don’t get me wrong, they love the beat. They love it because it’s on the radio everyday. But even to that I add what happened to falling in love with the song and its meaning. When the music because more important that the words we are in a world of trouble. A series of blips and bleeps are replacing chords and music. And don’t call me an elitist. there is room for all of it. But what happened to people communicating with words? What happened to expressing emotions and just being real? When you take that from a society and leave the next generation with no way to connect you destroy that society. Simple and plain. At this rate we leave behind no culture.
Aliens will come to Earth and say that we were a people with no culture. Judging by the news, radio and television all we do is party and fuck.
Sit your children down and let them hear what you are listening to. Oh, they can still have theirs. But not having the choice is a crime.
A “producer” simply should not be the highlight of a song. When Nile Rodgers worked with David Bowie and Duran Duran they worked together. When Quincy worked with Michael it was a perfect marriage. Don’t talk to me about a “hot beat” when you can’t even notice the vocal performer. That’s what Jan Hammer is for.
So if a exorbitant severance package executive wants to really fix the business that he is in instead of jumping from label to label wasting more money and ruining more careers they should start there. Also cut back on $900,000 studio albums (Bob Brockman told a panel of people one that Biggie’s Ready To Die cost that to record). Let musicians make music and let the business be separate.
I have argued that if Interscope Records wanted to put $1 million behind a record of me belching they could make it sell. So why not do that for good songs? Why not stop wasting money and then crying when nothing comes back in return? Seems smart enough business to me.
Now I just gotta figure out how to get my daughter and the rest of the world to care more about me that when some dude “Spiderman that hoe.”
(Man, I could do this blogging thing all day long, Adam!)
Hewlett Packard vs Washington Mutual
And so I have I am having a problem with HP (Hewlett Packard) and I call them in to get repairs. Turns out that the product is no longer under warranty. Okay. I know that from the last time I had an issue. So what I need to know is how to go about getting it fixed.
I finally succumb to allowing them to ream me and overcharge me for repair and they do a pretty quick job of getting everything back to me. Simple enough. But what I notice on my bank statement is that I have been charged for the repair twice. Whoa!
I started out calling HP on Saturday at 11:00am and was not done arguing my point until about 2:15pm. In all this time I was sent around the world and back, given about 6 different numbers to call. The last person I spoke to gave me a number to call and said that he was sorry that no one had told me before that the department I need to contact for my refund was closed until Monday. They aren’t open on the weekends at all. Okay. Whoa!
Anyway, Monday at 11:00am I call and get 3 more numbers until finally I get the department I need. This is 3 hours into the day as well. The thing is that the department that repairs doesn’t do billing so they can’t credit me back. But the department that does billing insists that I have to speak to the repair department because they made the error. It’s really the Keystone Cops at their best sprinkled with some who’s on first.
Finally after loosing my sh%$#t someone gives me a main number to call. The main number looked up my repair, but only showed one from 2006. After further investigation he showed that I was charged once and told me to inspect my bank statement in more detail because I was probably wrong about being billed twice. Whoa!
The corporate representative told me the only way he would credit me was if I faxed over my bank statement to him so that he could see the charge because their system only showed one charge for repair.
We move ahead and I tell him this is ludicrous and how I find it odd that I had to call India to get his number and now he is asking for my bank statement. I was a few seconds from just calling my bank and registering the entire incident as a fraudulent use of my card and letting HP deal with collecting monies from me. But the problem there is that I would have to change my card in all my records where I have drafts set up and it world take 5 days to get a new bank card.
So I printed the item detail and headed out in the 40 degree weather to send a fax for $6.25 to this dude.
He got the fax. He never called back. An hour later I called him. He didn’t answer. Someone else took the call and said that even though there were clearly two separate transacts ions they weren’t’ going to refund me because they still only showed one linked to my credit card in their system. He told me that my bank made a mistake – not HP.
So basically 6 hours on the phone with HP, a walk in the cold weather and an additional $6.25 brought me no resolution. Back to the drawing board and contacting my bank.
Turns out after waiting on the phone for 2 separate calls (first one got disconnected when the representative put me on hold after I got through) for a total of one hour and fifteen minutes all I needed to do was tell my bank and they would credit me and go get the monies from the merchant. So contrary to what the nice young woman at the Washington Mutual call center in the Philippines had told me my card would not be cancelled. It was a dispute and not fraud. WAMU would just settle up with HP and I could go on my way.
All of this is important to me for several reasons. In the process of all this calling I spoke with people in call centers as far away as the Philippines and India. I also have the equivalent of tennis elbow on my fingers from all the automated buttons I have to push. My ear is like a boxer with that cauliflower ear from having my phone pressed against my face. All of this is because some politicians who campaign each year about how they care about Americans and the middle-Americas saw it fit to save their bottom-line a bit by outsourcing to call centers in other countries.
Now I am not a xenophobe or crazy American patriot by any stretch. I just say that if you are shipping jobs overseas you are not only shitting on the people who live here and need work, but you are also exploiting those other countries. So to Senator so and so I say screw you and your big house and your Ivy League-educated children. The rest of us are trying to get by and going at each other’s throats and micromanaging our bank accounts for fear or losing a nickel here or there while our pockets stay fact to save a buck in the name of a “global economy.”
Funniest thing in it all is that when HP transferred me to another extension once I actually ended up talking to T-Mobile. So not only was I in India, but I was at a random clearinghouse for all these deep-pocketed corporations. But we keep laying people off because there is no money to be made. Our economy falters because no one has money to spend.
Universal in Interscope are cutting employees daily. If they sold a better product (music) and kept people employed (workers) our economy would be just fine. But if you sell a crappy product you can’t complain when people don’t buy it.
HP has given me a new warranty that lasts 90 days. Just like the last one that broke on the 91st day. Welcome to the American Dream.
Saturday I vowed to never purchase another HP product again. And I may start keeping my money under my mattress.
I finally succumb to allowing them to ream me and overcharge me for repair and they do a pretty quick job of getting everything back to me. Simple enough. But what I notice on my bank statement is that I have been charged for the repair twice. Whoa!
I started out calling HP on Saturday at 11:00am and was not done arguing my point until about 2:15pm. In all this time I was sent around the world and back, given about 6 different numbers to call. The last person I spoke to gave me a number to call and said that he was sorry that no one had told me before that the department I need to contact for my refund was closed until Monday. They aren’t open on the weekends at all. Okay. Whoa!
Anyway, Monday at 11:00am I call and get 3 more numbers until finally I get the department I need. This is 3 hours into the day as well. The thing is that the department that repairs doesn’t do billing so they can’t credit me back. But the department that does billing insists that I have to speak to the repair department because they made the error. It’s really the Keystone Cops at their best sprinkled with some who’s on first.
Finally after loosing my sh%$#t someone gives me a main number to call. The main number looked up my repair, but only showed one from 2006. After further investigation he showed that I was charged once and told me to inspect my bank statement in more detail because I was probably wrong about being billed twice. Whoa!
The corporate representative told me the only way he would credit me was if I faxed over my bank statement to him so that he could see the charge because their system only showed one charge for repair.
We move ahead and I tell him this is ludicrous and how I find it odd that I had to call India to get his number and now he is asking for my bank statement. I was a few seconds from just calling my bank and registering the entire incident as a fraudulent use of my card and letting HP deal with collecting monies from me. But the problem there is that I would have to change my card in all my records where I have drafts set up and it world take 5 days to get a new bank card.
So I printed the item detail and headed out in the 40 degree weather to send a fax for $6.25 to this dude.
He got the fax. He never called back. An hour later I called him. He didn’t answer. Someone else took the call and said that even though there were clearly two separate transacts ions they weren’t’ going to refund me because they still only showed one linked to my credit card in their system. He told me that my bank made a mistake – not HP.
So basically 6 hours on the phone with HP, a walk in the cold weather and an additional $6.25 brought me no resolution. Back to the drawing board and contacting my bank.
Turns out after waiting on the phone for 2 separate calls (first one got disconnected when the representative put me on hold after I got through) for a total of one hour and fifteen minutes all I needed to do was tell my bank and they would credit me and go get the monies from the merchant. So contrary to what the nice young woman at the Washington Mutual call center in the Philippines had told me my card would not be cancelled. It was a dispute and not fraud. WAMU would just settle up with HP and I could go on my way.
All of this is important to me for several reasons. In the process of all this calling I spoke with people in call centers as far away as the Philippines and India. I also have the equivalent of tennis elbow on my fingers from all the automated buttons I have to push. My ear is like a boxer with that cauliflower ear from having my phone pressed against my face. All of this is because some politicians who campaign each year about how they care about Americans and the middle-Americas saw it fit to save their bottom-line a bit by outsourcing to call centers in other countries.
Now I am not a xenophobe or crazy American patriot by any stretch. I just say that if you are shipping jobs overseas you are not only shitting on the people who live here and need work, but you are also exploiting those other countries. So to Senator so and so I say screw you and your big house and your Ivy League-educated children. The rest of us are trying to get by and going at each other’s throats and micromanaging our bank accounts for fear or losing a nickel here or there while our pockets stay fact to save a buck in the name of a “global economy.”
Funniest thing in it all is that when HP transferred me to another extension once I actually ended up talking to T-Mobile. So not only was I in India, but I was at a random clearinghouse for all these deep-pocketed corporations. But we keep laying people off because there is no money to be made. Our economy falters because no one has money to spend.
Universal in Interscope are cutting employees daily. If they sold a better product (music) and kept people employed (workers) our economy would be just fine. But if you sell a crappy product you can’t complain when people don’t buy it.
HP has given me a new warranty that lasts 90 days. Just like the last one that broke on the 91st day. Welcome to the American Dream.
Saturday I vowed to never purchase another HP product again. And I may start keeping my money under my mattress.
My 1st Blog
So this is my first blog. Adam Bernard says that musicians/ artists should have blogs not related to MySpace. So here you go.
This blog will consist of random things happening - but it will mostly be related to my music I suppose. Maybe it will give some insight to what we do and how it is to be an independent artist in today's apathetic world. At least as it applies to anything related to art and culture.
So whatever. Here we go. And stay tuned...
Actually sometimes I will rant about stuff that happens in my life. I will never use Hewlett Packard again. But that is another story for another blog for another day.
This blog will consist of random things happening - but it will mostly be related to my music I suppose. Maybe it will give some insight to what we do and how it is to be an independent artist in today's apathetic world. At least as it applies to anything related to art and culture.
So whatever. Here we go. And stay tuned...
Actually sometimes I will rant about stuff that happens in my life. I will never use Hewlett Packard again. But that is another story for another blog for another day.
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