The leaves have come out on the big tree just above my back porch. The queen palm that I planted is higher than my head. There’s a nest of crows in the live oak & they’re cawing away. They are very beautiful; when I’m walking from my car to my house one of them perches on my neighbor’s crape…
Come on! Help get the word out.. Alexandra needs and deserves our help.
Today I received notice that Paula Cole’s Kickstarter version of her new album Raven was available for download for those of us that supported her Kickstarter project.
Of course I promptly downloaded the MP3 version that was available. I’ve just finished listening to the album. I am very happy.
Paula has really hit a home run with this album and I do hope that she gets the attention for this project that she deserves. I’ve been a fan of hers since I first heard her on Peter Gabriel’s SO tour when she sang the Kate Bush part on “Don’t Give Up” and seriously impressed me with her range, power and emotion. Being a HUGE Kate Bush fan, impressing me like that was a tall order, to say the least.
This is the second Kickstarter project I’ve gotten involved with, the first being Amanda Palmer’s recent success that brought in over a million dollars and has been a shock to the music industry akin to a shot heard round the world. I can’t say how pleased I am to see these artists having great success in bringing the process of creating their art to their fans.
It’s so much more satisfying when you can be a part of the project. We’re all so used to someone putting it all together and then just buying or consuming the product. This is different…. this is something that you become an integral part of. You are part of the process, from start to finish and then forevermore. There’s really nothing like it.
For the Paula Cole project and the Amanda Palmer project, I opted in for the vinyl release. I haven’t yet received Paula’s package, but Amanda’s was simply put, an art piece in itself. These are very special releases and something that will be special forever.
I’ve just recently donated to another project for a dear friend, Alexandra Scott. It’s on a much smaller scale than Paula Cole’s project and certainly Amanda Palmer’s but is no less important and equally compelling. Alexandra’s project is not on Kickstarter, but a similar site, Indiegogo. Alexandra is a true independent and hasn’t had the luxury of ever having a record deal with one of the standard big labels, but she’s an exceptional talent and a true artist. She’s also very real and terribly sweet.
Alexandra’s project is moving along but needs help. You can be a part of something that you’ll value greater than so many things and you’ll get access to some pretty special music. For as little as one dollar, you get to be a part of something special and the album. I can’t think of a better deal right now.
We need to support people like this. They put themselves and their art out there and we need to be supportive and help them in any way we are able. Do your part. Be part of something special. Help spread the word! Go see what Alexandra is doing right here Alexandra Scott Indiegogo Do what you can. You will not regret it.
It’s been four days since we launched my Indiegogo.
(it’s here if you haven’t seen it:
I was more nervous the morning of the launch than I was on the morning of my wedding day & all three of my knee surgeries combined. I didn’t sleep the night before (maybe all…
Alexandra Scott needs our help. You probably don’t know her but I’ve been listening to her music and corresponding with her for many years now. I’m a HUGE fan and would love to see her get more exposure. She however, is not one to self promote any more than she has to.
I wouldn’t expect everyone to like her music as much as I do, but you should do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
She recently lost her dog, Jack who was very special to her as most pet owners will understand. In trying to extend his life, she pretty much exhausted all the funds she had put away to make the record she was planning to make. She needs our help and it’s a win win for everybody. She gets the funds she needs to continue her art and YOU get some very special music.
Please visit her Indigogo campaign and if you can spare just $5, you will make a lot of people very happy including Alexandra, me and most importantly, YOU. If you can spare more, please do. I understand she makes some pretty incredible brownies.
For about the same money you’d pay for a crappy Latte, you can have access to some rather special tunes from an incredibly talented person that will appreciate your help from the bottom of her heart. It’s not every day you get an opportunity to spread love like that.
So go visit, ask her anything.. listen to her music. Tell your friends and even tell your enemies. Reblog this or write your own, but do it… please…. it’s really really important.
Life is so damn hard sometimes. It’s everything we can do just to make it through the day. What makes it even tolerable to me though is music. Not playing it, but listening. I figured out some time ago that I was just average at playing instruments, though I do continue to play bass guitar and played trombone and sax back in High School. I am, however, a very accomplished listener and have an esoteric sense of what I like and don’t like.
I’ve never been much for Pop music, leaning more towards the fringe, so to speak. In my youth, bands like Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, King Crimson and Yes were some of my favorites. Then came Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Dead Can Dance and such. Todd Rundgren has always had my number and for Pop, Hall and Oates and Prince filled the bill.
I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo, always looking for something new and different. I don’t dwell on what’s been done. I’m always looking for something that’s unique and fresh.
This obsession with new and different has led me to several outlets that deliver this for me and one such has been The Society of Sound offering high quality downloads of a couple of selections a month curated by none other than Peter Gabriel amongst others. I’ve been introduced to some really good music that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Ilya, Ed Harcourt, The Portico Quartet, Samuel Yirga and Jesca Hoop are some highlights.
Tonight I got to see Jesca Hoop perform. She was at the Hotel Cafe here in Hollywood, CA which if you don’t know is a spectacular venue that only accommodates about 200 people. It’s kind of like having a concert in your living room.. yeah, that intimate.
Jesca is a NoCal girl that is currently residing in England and is quite the unique talent. I’ve never really heard anything like her before and that makes me happy. She performed more or less solo with Nicole Eva Emory singing on most of the selections along with her. The symmetry of the two voices was rather amazing and surprising as I was wholly unfamiliar with Nicole, but duly impressed none the less.
Suffice it to say that it was another very special evening at the Hotel Cafe as I got there early to hear another excellent SoCal band, Pebaluna. It was the first time I got to see and hear them. I got a sense of Cowboy Junkies and Lauren’s vocals were dynamic and soulful. I’m really excited to hear more from them hopefully very soon.
I’m just really happy that there is music in life. I can’t imagine how mundane life would be without this art form that can make you laugh, cry, dance and everything in between. I mean really, could you even imagine what it would be like? I really don’t even want to.
To all those musicians out there struggling to make the next gig or even the next meal. Don’t stop what your doing. We need you. We really do.
Back in the 80’s, musical artists like Thomas Dolby were icons, giving us unique, electronica gems like “She Blinded me with Science” but unfortunately, most people stopped there. I, however, continued to listen to pretty much everything he ever did, including his latest work, “A Map of the Floating City” which is amongst his best work. If you haven’t heard it, I suggest you treat yourself.
After happening upon a performance of his at B.B. King’s in Manhattan one evening some 6 years ago, I started keeping closer tabs on Mr. Dolby’s work. That performance made it clear that he was still vital and was still creating unique and beautiful music. No, it wasn’t the stuff we used to “pogo” to, jumping around like the coked up fools we were back in the day. This was far more poignant, including horns and of course all the special electronic keyboard treatments that permeate everything he’s ever done.
A few weeks ago I received an email sent to those of us that follow him on his website, http://www.thomasdolby.com, with a special invitation to screen a new film he has been working on, “The Invisible Lighthouse”. Of course, within a matter of minutes after receiving the email, I had secured a ticket and marked Sunday, March 10, 2013 prominently on the calendar. I had no idea what to expect, but opportunities like this just don’t come along every day. Tonight was the screening and though I can’t say that much about it as he asked that we don’t, I would highly recommend you keep an eye out for the premiere sometime in the Fall of this year.
It was a very special presentation of a personal and special film. At the end, he received a well-deserved standing ovation.
He has no plans to put this work in big screen theaters, but instead will be presenting it in small film houses all over the country which will make the event even more intimate. I’m excited for him and excited to see the final work when he tours next.
I feel privileged to have been able to see this work at this stage and wish him all the success he deserves for a lifetime of musical bliss he’s given us.
Thank you Thomas Dolby for doing what you do. We appreciate your unique genius.
Laura Marling played for us tonight at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood.
Every once in a great while you come across a special talent that makes you stand up and take notice. Laura Marling is just such a talent.
She is a subtly stellar performer with charisma, beauty and soul beyond her years. I was completely impressed and smitten at the same time. It was just her and her guitars but everyone there was transfixed… she was an angelic figure as you can clearly tell from the photo above.
Her music speaks of deep experiences and loves lost. I was just amazed at her depth. I can only imagine what she’ll offer us in the years to come.
If you have the chance to see her, don’t miss it. It’s a unique and memorable treat to say the least.
Thank you Laura…..
In my years of investigative research I have likened this reality to a large and heavy Mirror hanging on the wall. The picture is super clear, and you think you can see everything going on; but there is always a backside to that mirror, and it will always take significant effort to see.
I’d…
The secret is there is no secret. We’ve been trying to wake you up since 2003. We have been trying to take you away from your misery, we’ve been shaking your zombiefied mind constantly so you can finally come back to your senses and see the reality.
We do what we do because we enjoy doing it. That’s why we say, we do it for teh lulz. But the truth is our collective consciousness makes us do it because our collective conscious is far more wiser than anyone of us at any given time. It wants you to wake up, feel the air and water around you. It wants all of us to live in brotherhood and leave this life that most of us are so used to, which most of us have exchanged for our freedom and dignity. We’ve traded our REAL life with the REEL life which we see buzzing on our TV and read it on fancy magazines that we buy. We’ve made fiction our reality and reality our fiction. NOTHING IS REAL. EVERYTHING IS MADE UP. It is telling us to shake our heads, get out of the matrix and live like free birds flying across a clear blue sky.
After all, who doesn’t want to be free? What freedom means to you right now is not the same freedom after you are out of the matrix. It is far more simpler. Far more elegant. We encourage you to see it.
11:11 | Reality Hacking | Question Everything
”Anonymous
(via anoncentral)
Joanna and Nick are amazing as Ilya.. buy this album, you will not be disappointed.
” When fascism comes to America it will not be labeled “made in Germany”; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, “Americanism.” … The high-sounding phrase “the American way” will be used by interested groups intent on profit, to cover a multitude of sins against the American and Christian tradition, such sins as lawless violence, teargas and shotguns, denial of civil liberties … “
- Halford E. Luccock
