Private Video Release Event!
A special music video pre-release viewing will be held at HABERDASH in Chicago's Old Town District. The event is invite only for everyone (both cast and crew) involved in the making of the video! Sorry for having to limit it. Wish you could all be there! I will be doing a rare performance with Mike Gallagher with a few unreleased songs.
Info:
Thursday May 21st
HABERDASH, 1350 North Wells Street, Chicago, IL 60610
8:30 PM - Please feel free to bring one guest!
We recently were taking a close look at all of the services where you can purchase tracks from AOTPR artists. Of course, there is iTunes, AmazonMP3, Napster, and Rhapsody but we also wanted to take a look at some of the more innovative services to get a feel for them. The most intriguing had to be Emusic. They only sell from indie labels which means most of the major label garbage is automatically filtered out. Yay!
First off, Emusic is a subscription service that gives you a set amount of downloads per month. The price per track is a very reasonable (it can vary from $0.25 to about $0.40 depending on the package you choose). Plus you can get a free trial going that gives you 25 DRM-free downloads at zero cost. We figure you can get all or some of our tracks there for free. You have to give a credit card to sign up but if you cancel there will be no charges incurred.
Click here to get the special 25 free MP3 trial!
Johnny and I decided to sign up for Emusic to make sure we wouldn't be linking to a less than great service. Johnny will post his experience later. Mine are after the break.
The music video preview event was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support. I had a great time performing for all of you and FINALLY getting to show the video. So many people put many hours of work into it and it came together so well. Thanks to Adam and Phil at Haberdash. It is truly one of the hippest stores in Chicago. A special thanks to Ty Bentli for coming out and being a part of the whole process. He is one of the best things to happen to Chicago radio in such a long time.
Just got confirmation from Rajah about the show with Stanley Clarke’s new group SMV at The Country Club Hills Theater: It’s Saturday, June 20. The Country Club Hills Theater is a 5000 seat outdoor theater that has become a major venue for some of the best national R&B and Jazz tours. This summer’s schedule includes shows by Babyface, After 7, War and Lalah Hathaway, to name a few. I thought this would be the ideal time (and person) to launch a new series called “3Q” that will serve as a little introduction to some really good people to know about.
The Chicago radio story comes to life in D. Jeremy's new music video "Loser". Written for the girl who deserves better than what she has, its a club scene reminder not to settle for less. Theres someone out there who will treat you right.
This is my probably my favorite track from last year. I thought I'd share it and recommend the entire album.
Dance Chicago begins its unique month-long presentation of dance performances, and on Thursday, November 3, the first of the New Moves series will go on at Stage 773. Following up on last month's very successful run of their full length show What Is Home To You, Renegade Dance Architects will present two works: Ginger Jensen's Search Me and Amy Williams' Here They Come. For more info: Stage 773.
As challenging as it is to express an artistic vision, only slightly less difficult is trying to get anybody to pay attention when you do. One of the important artistic aspects of Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances series is that all of the best critical voices in the city take the time to see the works and write about them. Here's some of the coverage for New Dances 2011 -- enthusiastic, engaging, and like most criticism, multifaceted:
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Zachary Whittenburg, Time Out Chicago
Laura Molzahn, SeeChicagoDance.com
Hay Perro's Record Release is at Quenchers, Friday March 11. Thunderunderus and I Love Rich! are there too, starting at 9PM. A great chance to check out what The Illinois Entertainer called "the sound Hay Perro has crafted during its five-year existence: intricate heavy-metal — dual-guitar harmonies everywhere — played with madcap punk-rock ferocity." If you want to, you can look up some of our other stories on Hay Perro while you're waiting for the show to start.
South By Southwest runs March 11 through the 20th in Austin, and Black Light Saints will be there to play Cedar Street Courtyard on Tuesday the 15th, after which they head to San Antonio for a show at Limelight on the 16th. Their Impossible Picks album is getting heard alot in alot of places --- I just listened to it again when Britton Wetherald and Dan Agosto stopped by Heart & Soul to do a podcast, which we'll have in a day or so. There's a new release from the band at dopecouture.com called "Research The Obvious" (along with a great write-up) if you can't make Austin or San Antonio.
The new planetclaire.com is live. The relaunch coincides with the release of Claire's latest project, her Hearts and Minds EP. It's a great artist site, mixing the new --- "A Long Goodbye" and "Winds of Change" (written and produced with long-time writing partner Tommy G), and "Wouldn't It" (produced by 'ohana Dreamdance bandmate Johnny Nevin) --- with some classic video from pop legend Tami Show. More from us about Hearts and Minds in a few days, but you can get it now at cdbaby and at iTunes. Even more of Claire's music is at the very cool Planet Claire.
Thodos Dance Chicago's Winter Concert March 4 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, like the performance February 19 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, was a breakthrough success. Hedy Weiss, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, said of the Winter Concert: "It is a must-see for anyone intrigued by Chicago history, by the power of dance to spin a story, and by the sight of a dance troupe clearly in the throes of a major breakthrough." For a closer look at the choreography of the current Thodos Dance Chicago repertory, you may want to have a look at these:
Ann Reinking, Melissa Thodos and "The White City"
Francisco Avina and Stephanie Martinez-Bennit and "Quieting the Clock"
Melissa Thodos and "Getting There"
Wade Schaaf and "Dancer, Net (Solo 1)"
Ron De Jesús and "Shift"
Pittsburgh Connections is the widely respected annual choreography series presented by Point Park University's Pittsburgh's Playhouse. This year's performance premiere's November 12, and runs through the 21st. You can find more information on the shows, which include new works by Dionna Pridgeon, Kassandra Taylor, Gina Patterson and Justin Myles, at Pittsburgh Playhouse. For the first installment of the podcast with Craig talking about his return to Point Park, check out Craig Kaufman's Return to Point Park University, and for more on "A Path Home", here's the full article: Craig Kaufman's A Path Home Premieres.
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Here's a really short podcast that traces the development of the "Wouldn't It" production. It starts with the intro from the final release, but then shows five different stages of the song's development, playing different progressive versions of how the arrangement and production of the track changed. Each of the versions is from the same section of the song, the second verse and chorus, until the podcast closes with the rest of the song from the final release. If you've got a few minutes, take a little trip through the process of how a singer/songwriter and her producer find the track that they want to make from a beautiful song.
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Here's a first listen to three excerpts from Black Light Saints' new EP Impossible Picks ---- "What Happens Next", "Baby Girl" and "Cattle Skull". The record is already getting talked up a lot, both because everybody who's heard it is so into it, and because of the high profiles of the members --- Ephraim Cuellar, Britton Wetherald, and Alex Brandi, not to mention the production by Dan Agosto. More from us in our story about Black Light Saints and from them on their Facebook.
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