Here’s news of the anti-music movement in America:
Last night at a gig in Montgomery, Vermont, the liquor contol people show up. They decide that there are too many drunk people in the bar, and they tell the bartenders that they have to stop serving alchohol. The place empties. One patron, when confronted by the cops about his drunkenness, replied that he lived right across the street, and was walking. No matter; it is actually illegal to be drunk, period. A local said that there had been an increase in funding for such law enforcement activities under the aegis of “Homeland Security”.

2/16/08
I spend a tremendous amount of time looking for new music. Time that might be better spent practicing, I know. So let me share some of my better finds with you, in hopes of increasing the value of that time spent.

First, this guy’s phrasing is my main inspiration lately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g753Sv9sUM&feature=related

Meshell Ndegeocello - The World Made Me the Man of My Dreams
I’m not sure if Meshell is crazy, or if she’s toying with her listeners’ minds, or if she’s just writing songs that don’t quite make sense. There are strange religious themes, and futuristic scifi lovemaking. I can’t quite tell what the messages of her songs are— if they have messages— but they manage to be provocative, slightly disturbing, and soothing at the same time. There are incomprehensible languages sung over incredible grooves. Some of the grooves flirt with incomprehensibility, but remain potent and sensual. Her bass playing is goooood. Beautiful synthesizer parts. Incredible musicianship all around. This is Future Music.

1/29/08
I’m still feeling overwhelmingly positive about the Pulse Prophets, our new CD “Breathe”, and about music in general. We have a good media buzz happening, and people are thrilled about the CD. Our new publicist has started working for us, and I think the timing is perfect. Higher Ground called us and offered us a headlining gig on a weekend, but we had to turn it down because of vacations. Last Saturday’s gig in Montgomery was to a full house, and we brought the energy higher than ever before.

We’ve been playing more percussion at our shows, and we usually go into an all-percussion section. I’ve been bringing a cheap set of bongos and playing them with sticks, but they broke (cheap hardware). So I’m looking for another option, with more oomph. Possibly timbales. Possibly bigger bongos. Anyone have any ideas? Got some old drums for sale?

1/20/08
The Pulse Prophets’ CD release party for “Breathe” was great! Maddub opened up for us. I hadn’t heard them in over a year. They’re playing less of the reggae vibe these days, and more live techno… it was a rave, y’all! Then we played to a full house, and tore the roof off!

People seem to like the CD alot, too. I think I do, too. Yeah, I think It might be really good.

Seven Days has a review of it, which says a few nice things, but misses the point completely:
http://www.7dvt.com/2008/pulse-prophets-breathe

“Breathe” is available on CDBaby as a download or CD.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/pulseprophets2

12/11/07
For the last month I have taken a break from playing the piano. No gigs, no rehearsal, not even my own practice. I played the drums daily.
Back on the piano, now. I recently got together with the trio. Very pleasant, relaxed, and creative, and adventurous. I am renewed and inspired.

12/01/07
I saw Hadestown at the Barre Opera House two nights ago. Go see it while you can. Seriously.
It’s playing in Johnson on 12/6. In a really nice room, Dibden Center for the arts.
http://www.highergroundmusic.com/calendar/show/2727/
there are a couple other dates too, but you have

11/6/27
October was an intense month. It was packed with gigs and driving, not to mention alot of new students. Both the performing and teaching brought me much joy. But man am I glad to have the next two months (moslty) free of gigs.

Here’s the music you should hear in the meantime:

Sat, Nov 10: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. They’re at Higher Ground, in the small room. I think it’s going to be exceptional. And possibly under-attended, unless we show up with the love. The music is funk and soul, and the band has an old-school sound. The same band backs up Amy Winehouse. $14 in advance— cheaper than a CD, and infinitely better.

10/28/06
With the demise of Oink, I have been searching for new sources of music. The problems that face me are three:
1. it’s difficult to find good music amidst the preponderance of crap that is pushed by the big record labels.

2. I have resolved not to support RIAA member labels, which is almost all of them (most smaller lables are owned by one of the “Big Four”), by buying from them.

3. The bitrate (quality) of commercially available MP3’s on the internet is very low compared to what one could get for free on Oink (and to a lesser extent, can still get elsewhere).

Here is a helpful site for solving problem #2, whereby it is possible to determine if a given album was released by a RIAA member.

10/3/07
I still haven’t found anything worthy of replacing the last entry on the first page: Love and humility. Not only is everyone happier if we act out of love and humility, but I believe it is also the best way to get what we want out of almost any given interaction. I’m not pretending to be enlightened in this sense— I still find myself getting angry for no good reason when I’m driving my car, but it helps to remind myself of this.

Ok, Back To the Music:
I have recently gotten the latest albums from three bands that I always look forward to hearing: Michael Franti and Spearhead, Zap Mama, and Jill Scott. I’m noticing a disturbing trend in the production and the mastering— in the overall sound of the cd’s. I’m not talking about the songs themselves, or the perfomance, but in the things that are done to them after all is recorded. In a nutshell, all three sound like they could be played on 95 triple-x (the local top-40 station). Jill Scott sounded kind of like Britney Spears— she’s been Britnified by the automatic harmonizer and pitch correcter. This is particularly disturbing because Jill is the exact opposite of Britney in every sense— a very large black woman with musical skills, soul, post-feminist awareness, and a real live band.

10/3/07
I still haven’t found anything worthy of replacing the last entry on the first page: Love and humility. Not only is everyone happier if we act out of love and humility, but I believe it is also the best way to get what we want out of almost any given interaction. I’m not pretending to be enlightened in this sense— I still find myself getting angry for no good reason when I’m driving my car, but it helps to remind myself of this.

Ok, Back To the Music:
I have recently gotten the latest albums from three bands that I always look forward to hearing: Michael Franti and Spearhead, Zap Mama, and Jill Scott. I’m noticing a disturbing trend in the production and the mastering— in the overall sound of the cd’s. I’m not talking about the songs themselves, or the perfomance, but in the things that are done to them after all is recorded. In a nutshell, all three sound like they could be played on 95 triple-x (the local top-40 station). Jill Scott sounded kind of like Britney Spears— she’s been Britnified by the automatic harmonizer and pitch correcter. This is particularly disturbing because Jill is the exact opposite of Britney in every sense— a very large black woman with musical skills, soul, post-feminist awareness, and a real live band.

8/23/07
The Pulse Prophets’ new CD just came back from the mastering house! Mastering is a somewhat arcane process. I’m not exactly sure what they did to it, but it sounds really good. Knowing what an important step it is, we shelled out big bucks for a fancy New York mastering house, Scott Hull. We originally found his name just by looking at albums we liked, and then our recording engineer coincidentally recommended him.

So far I’m pleased with the CD, though I already feel that the tunes and our playing have evolved drastically since we recorded. And of course, nothing matches the energy of live performance. Still, I think we succeeded with this one (I’m still not so sure about our first CD “Madhouse”).