If you aren’t familiar with the Red Bull Music Academy, you should be. This week-long, annual event takes place in dreamy locations around the globe and welcomes a carefully chosen group of less than a hundred musicians, producers and industry insiders for an all-expense paid vacation where they’ll get the opportunity to network and incubate with their musical mentors and the most well-connected folks in the game. Honestly, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime and this year, it’s happening in New York City from September 30 - November 2, 2012.
If you’re a musician of any sort from any genre and you want to learn more about this incredible opportunity, stop by the Nashville preview session on Saturday, March 24 at 4pm at 12th and Porter and check out all the details at RedBullMusicAcademy.com as applications are now being accepted.
Oh, what a night we had last Sunday at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The glitz! The Glamour! SEACREST! Where do I begin?? Chillin’ with Lil’ Wayne…meeting Cyndi Lauper’s adorable mother…the complimentary blinking Coldplay bracelet…..much too much to recap. It’s really is still a bit of a blur. But, if there’s one thing that I remember VERY clearly, it was accepting the Grammy for Best Rock Performance…and then saying this:
“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”
Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey……I’m a drummer, remember?
Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil’ ode to analog recording has. OK….maybe Kanye has me on this one, but….Imma let you finish….just wanted to clarify something…
I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5…..I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn’t matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician’s personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and…..human.
That’s exactly what I was referring to. The “human element”. That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became “bad” things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily “fixed”. The end result? I my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.
And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell…I’m not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really fucking hard so that I don’t have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that’s what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.
I don’t know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that’s badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the “craft” is equally as important, I’m sure. I mean…..if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?)
So, don’t give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape.
Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn.
Stay frosty.
Win tickets to Bye Bye Liver: The Nashville Drinking Play during Yelp Drinks Week!
It’s that time of year again - time for the 10th Annual Nashville Lifestyles Single in the City party. Come mix and mingle with the city’s most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes featured in the February issue of Nashville Lifestyles magazine. Enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and live music. Plus, bid on amazing date packages through a silent auction that benefits the Oasis Center.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 7 PM - 9 PM
LOCATION: SAMBUCA $30 IN ADVANCE; $40 AT THE DOOR
So proud of my friend, Ruby Amanfu, who does an amazing job on this track and looks gorgeous in the video.
Jack White- Love Interruption
(Source: jackwhiteiii.com, via venomoustart)
Rising star Sara Jean Kelley preps for the release of her new album and an appearance at the Country Thunder Festival
Most artists hoping to make it big in country music move to Nashville instead of away from it, but not Sara Jean Kelley. She grew up right here in Music City, born into a family of musicians that encouraged artistic expression and never hesitated to jump in the car and head across the country for the opportunity to perform in front of an audience.
Sara Jean could hardly wait to set off on her own adventure, and just days after graduating high school, that’s exactly what she did, loading up her car for a long road trip that would inspire her next move in life. A gal has a lot of time to think while behind the wheel, hours upon hours of asphalt flying by underneath, and what started as a simple vacation turned into a two-year sabbatical spanning the west. She reveled in the vast Colorado wilderness that would become a temporary new home and soaked in the inspiration that surrounded her, never forsaking her Southern roots.
