MoeCAST Episode 003 – Frogg and Jaycatt

I had a fantastic time with these two gentlemen and can’t wait to perform with them at SLCC.

Episode 003 – Frogg and Jaycatt
6pm SLT, Wednesday, June 6, 2007 – MoeTown

Download.mp3 (50.1 MB)

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Upcoming MoeCASTs:

Episode 004 – Smily Raymaker
5pm SLT, Thursday, June 14, 2007 – MoeTown

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Episode 005 – Astrin Few
5pm SLT, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 – MoeTown

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Episode 006 – jueL Resistance
6pm SLT, Wednesday, June 27, 2007 – MoeTown

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America’s Got Gimmicks in SL

I was notified of a talent competition in SL, so I decided to enter, thinking I could perform an original track while my avatar stood there with his instruments. Maybe the visual experience isn’t very stimulating, but the audio experience would be. After all, I took the last two days out of my life to work on a KILLER audio track to perform for them. Of all the facets of SL, one would think that musical performance would constitute as a legitimate source of SL talent, right? Wrong.

Apparently they want to prevent any RL kinds of talent from entering the competition – sorry to break the news to all of you basket weavers. To me, this whole competition is only using 3 dimensions. What do i mean only? Well, we have the building axis (3D), then we have audio (another dimension all together), and video, which adds two more axes to the collection. That means they are using three out of six available dimensions from SL. This competition should be called “America’s Got Half-Assed Talent in SL.” If they wanted to make this a building and scripting competition, they should have called it that!

From this video, it looks like people are going to make their avatars do circus tricks and whatnot. There’s music playing in the background, which kind of threw me off too. Is this what they are looking for? A bunch of SL gimmicks? “I can multiply my avatar and make Flaming Moe 1-5 go get coffee at SLbucks while Moes 6-10 build a house, 11-15 make a HUD radar, and 16-3000 play SLingo.”

I was hoping this was it – this was a lucky break. I should have known better. It was too good to be true. They don’t care about promoting real, useful talent. They want to promote Second Life to draw more attention to it.

Second Tense: America’s Got Talent in SL by NBC and IVM

The MoeCAST Premiere – Cylindrian Rutabaga

Episode 001 – Cylindrian Rutabaga
5pm SLT, Wednesday, April 4, 2007 – MoeTown

Download.mp3 (35.4 MB)

Tonight is no ordinary night when event searching becomes old and
tedious, you think you have seen everything, and a regular Second Life
performance won’t do. This is no ordinary performance.

Tonight marks the start of something fresh with my very lovely and insanely talented guest Cylindrian Rutabaga. Her presence in Second Life has created a high standard for vocalists, pianists, and guitarists alike because she plays all three incredibly well. I will be interviewing Cylindrian, from Buffalo, NY to Atlanta, GA, asking her about her past and the music that has inspired her, while getting to listen to her perform some of it. Who knows, maybe she’ll let me sit in? You’ll have to come see for yourself at MoeTown Productions in Bali Hai.

 

http://gfolkymusic.com

http://www.moetownproductions.com

Saxophonist Chad Scholl

A few days ago I was able to catch up with on of my best friends and classmates from Baldwin-Wallace, Chad Scholl. Chad is a prospering saxophonist residing in the Cleveland area. His studies include lessons with Dave Schiavone, Jack Lis, and Greg Banaszak (sound familiar?). Check out this sample from a CD recording that is currently in production.

 

People turned away from Second Life due to the amount of sexual content

The following two blogs, the first being a video blog, makes everyone who plays Second Life look like a pervert.

Fox News – check out the first video

Second Life: Non-Impressions « pΘtshΘt

Brad Mehldau got to me…

I’ve desperately been wanting to sleep tonight, but I can’t due to the fact that I can’t stop practicing piano and listening to Warner Brothers recording artist, Brad Mehldau. He has totally consumed my musical concentration for the past week, and tonight I have finally confronted him.

One thing I don’t do enough of is transcribe – on saxophone, piano, or any other instrument. I have always believed that true improvisation should be untainted by preconceived ideas and technique, although learning someone’s language is also important. I believe each musician has their own language, despite the fact that there is such a thing as bebop language.

Brad is one of those freaks of nature that can clearly say what he wants to on his instrument, using an immeasurable amount of contrapuntal voices at the same time and a complexity so far beyond what I can hear. It’s technically difficult, impressive, maybe even a bit showy, but it’s so clear that you are able to hear everything that goes on. Included in this blog is a sample of his version of John Coltrane’s “Countdown” from his album Art of the Trio: Volume 2 – Live at the Village Vanguard. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: brad, mehldau, jazz, piano, village, vanguard, john, coltrane, countdown

Anna Nicole or Die

Inside Edition – Latest on Anna Nicole’s Death

Who else out there is sick of hearing about Anna Nicole Smith? Good God. It’s very sad she died, and all of the stuff surrounding her death is very unfortunate, but if someone like jazz legend Wynton Marsalis died, the media would cover it for a day and soon enough, it would be old news. It pays to be a big breasted blonde, so drugged up she can’t be taken out into public. Although, I’m sure Wynton has more sex scandals than half-a-dozen presidents combined and also has a brilliant history to be told.

I’m waiting for the series of Anna Nicole movies and all of their sequels, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and miscellaneous paraphernalia.

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Cylindrian Rutabaga

I must confess, I am not the world’s most active blogger, nor am I much of an active music critic, but I have to tell everyone who my new favorite musician in Second Life is – Cylindrian Rutabaga/Grace Buford. She’s been around for quite a bit, but I really haven’t had a good chance to catch her and I dig her stuff.

She has a crystal clear voice that has a depth to it I can’t begin to explain, her guitar playing is IN TUNE (very hard to find people that can even tune their guitar, let alone play it), and she also plays piano very well.

These few aspects are hardly the main focus here, because they pale in comparison to her wonderful personality. If you ever get a chance to meet and talk to Grace/Cylindrian, you’ll know, for some cosmic reason, why her musicality shines straight through her beautiful nature to bring you some of the most soulful, heart wrenching, and touching music you’ll ever get to hear.
Her websites:

http://gfolkymusic.com

http://cylindrian.wordpress.com

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