Sigh...

...like a baby bird, I now tweet.

HERE!


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Aw...

This morning I awoke to the following email. How lovely!

've been wanting to tell you guys this for a long time.
Your self-titled album “Moke” is a masterpiece, one of my favorite albums. 
It starts with great songs and impresses in that the songs are all so different lyrically and musically and yet the album as a whole seems (in my opinion) to be loosely thematic. The rhythms at times are beautifully unpredictable and each of your performances (which I've enjoyed studying) show profound maturity as musicians. 
Each song not just one song, but several. Nice!
The engineering and mixing are dead on. I can only imagine the degree to which you guys labored to make this perfect. I hope that it still makes you happy after all these years.
Hearing you guys were playing together again made me smile even though I couldn't be there.
Wish I was still hanging out with you all in the back room at the Saint in Asbury Park even though the place is a hole. Good times.
Just want you to know that there's a guy in New Jersey who has “Moke” in slot #1 of the CD player and blasts it a few nights a week until his ears bleed.
Cheers!




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Beautiful...

...and very sad.







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Ooh...

...who'd have thought!?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18278037




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Britain's answer to The Meters...

Last summer, the soundtrack that accompanied me on most journeys was The Meters' Greatest Hits. A fantastic collection of songs, which ALL musicians working within popular music should own. If you want to develop skills to do with rhythm - timing, syncopation, pushing & pulling feel and generally developing a kick arse sense of groove, you really can do no better than listening to the fabulous, fabulous funky Meters. In particular...

* Just Kissed My Baby
* Jungle Man

and




I particularly like the break at around 2m57s, where the drummer reverses the pattern of kick and snare for half a bar or so. Magic! This then got me thinking about whether British bands can 'do' funk. And the answer is of course they can. 


Ian Dury and the Blockheads immediately sprang to mind. An extraordinary blend between funk and music hall. Norman Watt-Roy is one of my favourite bass players, without a doubt. I'm delighted to see that The Blockheads are still at it and are heading out on the road from June - Dec this year, as part of their 35th anniversary celebrations. Here's a recent track. 







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Thank you for the music...

This made me proper chuckle today!



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This is...

...what my face looks like today. I have been criticised for this.

I am sorry. It's just my face.


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Katie Malco...

...this is my friend Katie. I may or may not have mentioned her before, I don't remember. This is possibly a consequence of turning 40 last week. Perhaps I'm having my first "senior moment"? Anyway, Katie has just been on tour, playing an assortment of gigs. What I love about this is that a Katie Malco show could be anything from a solo acoustic performance, to a full on proper LOUD concert with band. VARIETY which, as we all know, is the spice of life. The performance beneath is somewhere in between.

Check it out ya'll...






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Spoon...

I'm very much liking this band today.






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Peculiar...

...there can be few things in life more peculiar than being in a Bryan Adams tribute band. And stumbling across The Bryan Adams Experience earlier today, it prompts three questions.

1. Why?

2. WTF...why?!?

3. Who goes to see them?!!!!!!?

That said, when touring the lovely West Country many years ago, a pissed Devon DJ slipped on Summer Of '69 and I remember catching Johnnymoke drummer's eye and nodding in tacit, begrudging agreement. At 2am, in Coombe Martin, when full of cider, it's a hell of a tune.

I probably shouldn't have shared that, should I...


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Two blimeys...

...blimey one. Two posts in one day! Blimey two...the clip of the performance beneath would have no doubt confused some people at Coachella. So lifelike!!! And to think I thought it was clever when the Gorrilaz did it with Madonna at the 2006 Grammys, also worth a watch here. Hologram technology is getting pretty amazing and it makes one wonder what the future holds with regard to performance. A dead supergroup - Jimi on lead guitar, Janis on vocals, Johns on rhythm guitar and drums (Lennon & Bonham). Joe on keyboards (Zawinul). I'm just trying to do a dead band using the letter J. And it's turning out to be quite a line-up.



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p.s - I used the word "one". NICE!

Five musical minutes....

...in the life of Alex Evans, Monday 16th April 2012.




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Ja bitte...

...I'd love to go and see this. The headline is brilliant (well done BBC) - Beach Boys With Machines. But as they're only playing eight nights, all tickets have sold out, and the fact that I live in London, England means it's unlikely I'll catch a show. Ah well.




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Ooh!

I'm liking this. It's a bit prog in the chorus, but we're on the safe the side of the fence, so that's ok then!




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Website building...

...is doing my head in. I've been struggling with coding all day today, apart from when I escorted Opal class to their Sport Relief event. Which. Was. Fab. But coding, Lord alive, it's all HTML this and ONBLUR that. And don't even get me started on the > / { symbols, but I'm finally starting to get my shit together. I'm also delighted to announce that the Keynote Address at my conference is to be by the rather wonderful Sandie Shaw.

Here's a sneaky sneak preview of my website...




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The keyboard player...

Today, I have a strong desire to not do any work. Today, I would like to do as little as possible. Today, I shall trawl YouTube endlessly, unearthing little gems such as the first minute of the clip beneath.

CAUTION - the song that follows thereafter is best given as wide a berth as possible.



I like this keyboard player for the splendid way he chooses to end his solo. That and the fact that he existed at a time when it was OK to be fat and old, look like someone's Dad and STILL be a rock star! Excellent.


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The 21st Century Musician...

...survival skills for making music in the 21st century. The above is a music conference that I'm currently in the process of organising. And let me tell you, organising a music conference is not for the faint hearted.

Firstly, you need to think of a topic, themed around your area of research. I would recommend something that motivates. Something you feel absolutely 100% compelled to do.

Who would you like to participate? Bear in mind, people are busy and the music industry is a strange old beast at the best of times. It can be extremely difficult to get people to commit to things.

Finding an appropriate venue can also be a nightmare. Ideally, it should be central, so that it's well serviced by public transport, as well as fit for purpose. Internet availability? Power requirements? Lighting and projection? And as this is a music industry-meets-academia conference, complete with musical performances, somewhere with a bit of pomp doesn't hurt either. Oh, and if there are no immediate neighbours that helps too. The last thing you want is your performance shut down due to complaints about the noise. So that's central, with great transport links and no neighbours. Hmm...

Have you considered how you'll market your conference? How about a website? Is a domain name available and what's your knowledge of html like? Then consider the content of your website. You don't want too many mouse clicks, but all the relevant information should be there. A timetable of the day should be outlined, as well as abstracts of the papers to be presented, artist biogs and a contact page for enquiries. Conference delegates should also have the ability to be able to book their attendance at the event online too. And what about a logo? Some sort of branding is useful, particularly if this is something you think has legs, i.e. could the conference run for many years to come?

Back to your speakers at the event; they need to be accommodated too, and ideally somewhere that is (a) local and, (b) nice. That's nice. Not just cheap or clean, which are not necessarily related. Can you negotiate a corporate rate as some of these people are academics and as such, earn an academic's salary?

Funding. Let's not go there right now, for my sanity's sake. You will have to go there though.

So far, I've been doing OK with all of the above. TOOT TOOT, he trumpeted!!! The good people at the HEA have helped with a small grant, my speakers are booked and this morning I've bought a domain, made a logo and built a very basic temporary website. I plan to have this finished by the end of the week. Plan to...

All in all though, I'm hoping it will be a fun day that will link the music industry with academia. Personally, I'm looking forward to it, not least of all because once it's done it'll herald the start of a very much-needed and welcome break!

But for now, onwards...


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Chameleon...

HELLOOOOOOOOOO!

It's been a while since I last posted anything, but with me, this seems to be a pattern, so let's all live with it, OK? Grrrrrrreat!

I've just had the weirdest dream. I was playing in a band at an important concert and the band comprised old school friends, none of whom are particularly musical. Our performance was due to take place in my old school hall. We had two halls at school. Park Hall, which was posh, and Hertford Hall, which was rather gloomy and had definitely seen better days. This concert was in Hertford Hall. The band decided to play a cover of Herbie Hancock's Chameleon. Now I love the original Headhunters version. It's a timeless performance of a great piece of music and as such, an oft covered track. Walk into any jazz club worth their salt and the chances are you'll hear it performed at some point during the course of an evening. Unfortunately, though it's usually played with great enthusiasm, the interpretations can be dreadful. Disastrous. Despicable! See what I'm doing there, gettin' alliterative and all that!

In the dream, I'd clearly been drafted to play with the band against my better judgement, but had gone along with it anyway - they were friends after all. The hall was packed with an assortment of parents, well wishers, and for reasons perhaps unknown to anyone other than himself, Herbie Hancock. So no pressure then.

Just before we started to play, I asked the key of the song and was told C#. I was playing keyboards and it has to be said, this isn't the easiest of keys for a pianist, but then, I've played keyboard instruments of one sort or another pretty much most of my thirty nine years on this planet. C# is no biggie.

We started to play and...it was just TERRIBLE. The tune was far too fast, so any sense of groove was quickly lost. Also, the keyboard I was playing only had thirty six keys and where I'd started playing the riff was at too high a register. This meant I was splitting an iconic musical motif across two octaves. The first half was played high up on the keyboard, the second half lower down as I had run out of notes in the first register, thus dividing the riff and rendering it a dilute and unrecognisable shadow of its former self. After struggling gamely along for two minutes, I did the most sensible thing I could. I stopped the band and walked off stage.

So I awoke this morning in somewhat agitated state and felt compelled to come and relay this to you. And what does it all mean? A dream theorist would no doubt have a field day, but I think it just means I hate not being prepared for a performance. That, and the fact that there are just too many bad versions of Chameleon being played around the world every day. To remind us all of how it should be done, I'll leave the last word to Herbie.

Nice!


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