And the award for worst marketing goes to… (Taken with instagram)
Hey I’m on instagram, so now I have to take pictures of buildings or I’ll die. (Taken with instagram)
Career Advice, Vol. 2
Q: I just made a demo CD. What should I do with it?
A: Nothing. Do nothing with it.
Q: Really?
A: Well, not really. There are a couple things you could do with it. If you’re getting a band together, give it to your players so they can learn the tunes. If you’re looking for a producer to work with, a demo is pretty useful as well.
Q: That’s it, though?
A: Yeah. What else did you have in mind?
Q: One of my heroes is touring through town next month. I’m thinking about giving them a copy. Is this a bad idea?
A: If you give your hero a demo CD, there is no way that will pan out well for you. The artist receiving your demo may benefit from it, but that’s pretty unlikely.
Is this the 50’s, or 1999? (Documenting the Saxophone Renaissance)
Has anyone else noticed what’s been going on with the saxophone and pop music this summer? There seems to be an abundance of it. I’m not saying this is necessarily good or bad, but it is a thing and I do think it’s important to spend some time discussing it. This is because I’m a trivial person, and I’d rather not expend mental energy thinking about our busted economy.
Before we look at the present, however, lets look to the 80’s, the golden age of pop saxophone. Here are a few seminal moments from the decade of the sax:
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
‘Termination Notice’ by The Roof Beam Carpenters.
I had the honor of singing some background vocals on this track off their new EP “Occupation” which you can get on ye olde iTunes.
iTunes Release! Liner notes!
Friends,
You can buy the new Roof Beam Carpenters EP at the US iTunes store, here: http://tinyurl.com/occupationiTunes
The Digital Booklet with lyrics and liner notes can be downloaded here: http://occupation.theroofbeamcarpenters.com/digital_booklet.pdf
You can stream the whole EP on the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/therbcarpenters
More blog posts with actual writing are coming soon, I promise.
-TRBC-
Stairway Keyboard Riffs
A couple months ago I was hanging out with my pal Troy. After a few high-alcohol beers, we found ourselves staring at the electric piano he kept in the corner of his place. Troy walked over to it (it was a Wurlitzer), flicked it on, turned up the tremolo, and started hammering out the intro to Beck’s “Where It’s At.” It felt right.
This experience made me realize that all keyboard players have their own stable of riffs of the “Stairway to Heaven” variety, the ones that people play in spite of themselves. They’re the riffs your friends roll their eyes to, the stuff you hear at Guitar Center when some piano nerd is trying to impress no one in particular.
Here are my favorites. Each one comes with some helpful information:
Title - This is pertinent.
Artist - Also pertinent.
Instrument - I actually did research for some of this crap.
Sister Guitar Riff - A completely arbitrary assessment based on any number of dubious criteria. You may or may not agree.
Difficulty - Rated 0-4. Yes, I’ve learned all of these. “0” means I could teach it to anybody in less than 5 minutes. If you can play a “4,” then rock piano has nothing on you.
So, I’m playing live again.
This Sunday, April 17th, I’ll be playing a quick solo show at the Hotel Cafe in glamorous Hollywood, CA. My good friend and colleague Jason Kanakis will be playing that evening as well, so if that doesn’t sweeten the pot a little, I don’t know what will (hot dogs?).
This is a chance for me to dust off my live performance chops and show off a couple songs from my upcoming EP (more on that later). If you’re around you should totally come out. My set is 25 minutes and starts at 8pm sharp. I’m not doing the “undershoot the time by 30 minutes so you’ll catch the whole thing when you stroll in fashionably late” thing. This is straight talk, people.
