Hip-Hop Zelda

18 08 2010

Literally last Saturday (as in 4 days ago) my old college roommate Dan got married yet he still makes time to send me ridiculous emails.  That being said, last night (as in 3 days after his wedding) he made a point to email me a link to a YouTube video where MF Doom was mashed with Zelda music.

Turns out there’s an entire album of this type of music with Busta, Aesop Rock, Common, Jay-Z, Clipse, and more…

There are so many horrible mashup albums out there, but this works somehow and I love it (with the exception of the Dr. Dre track).


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Categories : Album Review, Creative Music Marketing

My family friend Kenny has grown up

29 07 2010

Kenny Hoffpauer, who lives around the corner from my parents in Philly, came over to my house when he was 16 saying he was serious about being in music and was going to try out for American Idol.  Well he ended up making the top 50 on AA, so I figured the kid was at the very least marketable.

3 years later, he’s 19 and is over the bubblegum crap he thought he needed to do to get a name for himself.  Kenny is growing up and figuring out his style.  That being said, my Mom called me this morning and asked, “have you seen Kenny’s new videos that I emailed you.  The Frank Sinatra one is pretty good.”

So, if only for my Mom to stop calling me about it, I checked them out.

Kenny is not a mob-connected lounge singer or a politically active Black soul singer, but he pulls off both above average showing a lot room for potential.  However, we’ll see if he’s able to translate that into creative and thoughtful pop music of his own…only time will tell.


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Categories : Live Music, Random

Backyard Brunch Sessions Episode 2: Team B with special guests (plus recipe)

19 07 2010

A couple comments people had about the last episode:

  1. I was barely in it (I know how much you folks love me)
  2. There wasn’t a proper introduction and ending
  3. There was no recipe listed

Soooo I took a larger roll in this one for the cooking aspect.  However, we took the second comment in consideration when filming the third episode with Person L and The Courtesy Tier.  As for the third, I don’t do recipes, but I can give people a list of ingredients and a rough estimate for quantities for every episode from now.

But first, here’s episode two with Team B (featuring sous chef Kelly Pratt) and The Luyas.  Also, you can find the audio for Team B on nyctaper.

Fish Tacos (feeds 10-12 people)

Fish:

  • 3 lbs of mahi mahi (alternatives:  tilapia or red snapper)
  • 1 lime
  • 1 large red pepper
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Guacamole:

  • 4 avocados
  • 3 jalapeno (2 inside guac and 1 on the side for extra hotness)
  • 4-8 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicy you like it)
  • 1/3 cup of chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 onion
  • 3 limes
  • heavy drizzle of olive oil
  • sea salt and cracked pepper to taste (not necessary, but it does help balance the flavors)

Mango Salsa:

  • 3 mangos (or one 24 oz bag of frozen mangos defrosted)
  • 10 oz of frozen corn
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • light drizzle of olive oil
  • 1 cloves garlic

Auxiliary  items:

  • grated cotija cheese (Mexican parmesan)
  • hot sauce

Cooking tips/notes:

  • Cook fish in frying pan and put it on extremely low heat and cook it for 15-20 min to make fish juicy and tender, but cooked through.
  • Blending the guac makes it too mushy.  However, if you don’t have legit mortar and pestle, use a knife and fork to cut into the ingredients.
  • I made brown rice and red beans for the vegetarians to replace the fish

If you have any questions about the recipe, I can go into more detail, so feel free to email me.


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Categories : Backyard Brunch Sessions, Live Music

Getting your first gig…

16 07 2010

…is a matter of thinking from a talent buyer’s perspective and making promises you can keep.

Reach out to a venue that makes sense (aka if you’re an indie band, don’t reach out to a club that does world music) that’s also within your reach. Don’t reach out to clubs that are huge.  Find a venue you can fill because packed small club is overall better than empty larger club especially if you’re able to turn people away.

In an email from one of my readers, he asked how he can get an artist he manages their first gig.   I sent him the following short response:

Less is more.  Think from the buyer’s perspective.  He/she doesn’t want to know everything about your guy nor do they give a shit.

Send the talent buyer the following in an email:

  • link to the artist’s music
  • 2 sentence description of the music
  • date(s) you’re looking for
  • how many people you can draw
  • what you’re going to do to help promote

This is where thinking from the talent buyer’s perspective comes in.  They’re inundated with scores of emails from every band trying to get there first gig who thinks they’re music is amazing (and some will irrationally dub themselves as the next Beatles, but that another pet-peeve of mine).  There are a lot of bands, so being brief will get their attention.  They’ve heard the song and dance of how bands can guarantee 23456432 people, so if they’re not an idiot, they’ll know whether you’re full of shit or not.  So don’t lie or make empty promises.  Execute on anything you promise and it’ll benefit you in the long run because talent buyers and venue staff will like you.

The other key factor is that they want someone who has moderately good music that can bring a crowd who will buy booze.  Booze keeps the light on, so please don’t forget that.  That’s it and if you think anything differently then you’re kidding yourself.  You may say that this takes the art out of live music, but it’s a harsh reality.  However, that’s not to say that playing good music isn’t important, but as far as getting the first gig, it’s less of a factor.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.


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Categories : Career Advice, Live Music

THE FIRST BBS EPISODE IS DONE!!!

9 07 2010

Thanks to Nicole Atkins, her drummer Adam, and her sister Courtney for helping me cook as well as Barbara and Michael (aka The Spinning Leaves) for taking the Bolt Bus from Philly for the afternoon to play 4 songs before Nicole.

And a big thanks to Eric and Dan for handling the production for the day.  I’d be lost without them.

Check out the video below and if you enjoy, feel free to comment, share with your social networks, embed it on your blog…or all three!


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Categories : Backyard Brunch Sessions, Live Music

SuperGlued to Kick Off the New York Summer Music Junkie Contest in July

6 07 2010

Just because I’m consulting on something doesn’t mean I can’t talk about it.  After all, I wouldn’t assist a company or band if I wasn’t into it (which is a blessing and a curse), so I thought I would share the press release for Summer Music Junkie contest with you folks:

SuperGlued, the community for live music lovers, will kick off the New York Summer Music Junkie Contest on July 11. The contest will be the first of its kind in aggregating and rewarding concertgoers for all the things they do before, during and after shows. Participants will earn points for activities such as Twitter updates, FourSquare checkins, blog reviews and photo and video uploads. Points earned will be tracked on the SuperGlued leaderboard and top scorers will earn weekly prizes throughout the summer, including CMJ Music Marathon badges and tickets to some of the biggest shows of the summer, such as The XX, The Morning Benders and Belle & Sebastian.  The biggest music junkie of all wins the grand prize package, which includes a Brooklyn Bowl 365 pass and a guest DJ spot on the Seaport Music Show on East Village Radio. The Brooklyn Bowl 365 pass provides the music junkie and a friend free admission to shows at Brooklyn Bowl for one full year. More details on contest rules and prizes will be released shortly.

Current sponsors and partners for the New York Summer Music Junkie Contest include Brooklyn Bowl, CMJ, Deli Magazine and Seaport Music Festival.

New York music fans can get ready by joining SuperGlued at www.superglued.com. They can then connect to their Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare accounts, and download the free iPhone app to get local show listings and real-time updates. Members can also link to other popular services such as Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger so that content from shows throughout the summer can easily be shared.


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Categories : Creative Music Marketing, Live Music, Music Tech

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