There was a day this week where it was 72 outside. I think Punxsutawney Phil is a dirty liar because spring must be on the way if it's that warm in February.
Next week begins the final countdown to my showcase here in Nashville. I am nervous about attendance so expect to hear plenty more about every artist as I scramble to ensure ticket sales.
Jane Channel Skeleton Run - really been enjoying watching Skeleton Run's (new or old) but there's a surprising amount of THINGS that get in the way. This athlete is hit by a broom on her way down. How?! This guy runs over some paper that a fan dropped. Ridiculous. Still, very entertaining.
Take Time with the Road - a new music video from D. Striker, a country western artist that only performs on Friday the 13th, whenever that may be. I can't explain it but I find this extremely entertaining.
BitConnect Pictures - this is a great example of weird Internet. I've no context and it's entirely weird throughout, then completely ruined by the tag at the very end. Really a perfect encapsulation of the Internet.
Downhill Ballet Ski - as recently as 1992, there was an Olympic competition that combined downhill ski and ballet moves. Here's 10 minutes of it.
Whistle Stop (1974) - the video is mesmerizing and the song continues to deliver in the weirdness department.
Several years ago Lacey Micallef launched Big Bud Press, a repository of brightly colored, delightful, pins. She's launched several lines of exclusive pins and patches designed both by herself and in collaboration with others. I own a great deal of them and have a gigantic patch from them adorning my favorite jacket.
Over time they've been sourcing and creating their own line of shirts, jumpsuits, jackets and backpacks. They recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them take that production to the next level. They are laser focused on creating their entire line with US production and have an inclusive mindset on ensuring their clothes look good on all body types.
Maybe this is oversimplifying things but this feels like the beginnings of the Good Version of American Apparel. Whereas AA was run by a oversexed maniac with a penchant for bad behavior and clothing that really only looked good on the smallest of body types, Big Bud Press is run by delightful people with a mission to have their clothes look good on everyone. Like I said, maybe that's oversimplifying but everything about Big Bud has a refreshingly positive vibe to it. I suggest giving the campaign a read over and heavily considering backing them, as they are a company that's worth your dollars.
Self-professed "weird musician" Dan Burns recently launched a Subscription over on his Bandcamp as a means to motivate himself to create something new and unique every month. While I don't expect any reader to immediately start shelling out a monthly fee to an artist they've never heard of, I would love for anyone encountering this to take the time to give some of his music a listen.
I suggest starting with Kinda Tinny, a 28 second tribute to Kinda Funny Games that gives an accurate representation of the kind of instrumentation and fun vibe that Burns is going for. From there, dive into any other release, you can't go wrong. Here's a great one:
Burns attitude towards making music for the sake of expressing whatever inspiration strikes him is refreshing and I, personally, really love the vibe he's putting out there.
The official Presidential portraits for Michelle and Barack Obama are causing a "stir" because they buck the trend of the standard. Seriously, take a deep dive into the full gallery of previous presidents and it's clear why the Obama's choices are understandably "shocking." Fortunately, the commissioned pieces are superb and stand as a testament to the Obama Presidency being different from the norm.
Michelle's portrait was created by Baltimore painter Amy Sherald and is much more subdued in comparison but still no less unique. This New Yorker piece goes into great detail about the painting, the process and the intentions behind it - I suggest giving it a read.
Sadly, there is controversy surrounding both pieces. Lots of racist comments on the Wiley post and just a generally depressing reminder that our country is filled with a lot of hateful, ignorant, awful people - who really like to express themselves on the Internet. But I'll eschew stewing on that and just simply state that I love these paintings.
Cruise on over to Cecil's Youtube Page for a collection of classic rock songs playing in very specific, and oddly effective, scenarios.
Most of the tracks are either presented as "Playing in an Empty Shopping Centre" or "From Another Room" but there's something undeniable about their appeal. Here's a few I enjoyed:
I hate to admit it but I recently succumb to the allure of a video entitled "The Lost Zelda Game | The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets." In the 11-minute piece you are educated on Satellaview, a Famicon add-on that received Broadcast games that only worked during that specific hour of transmissions. Interestingly enough, the games featured familiar graphics but a much richer audio experience. Full voice acting and very rich soundtracks were present, a rarity at the time.
One such game released during that time was the aforementioned BS Zelda (that's Broadcast Satellite Zelda). Since it was only available during specific hours and few people had the technology at the time to save the game data, it was thought to be lost. Of course some pioneering Internet sleuths have found a way to revive the game and make a fully playable emulated version.
For me, all of that background info is strangely fascinating but the fact that the music was fully orchestrated really makes for something special. Listen to the Overworld theme for a rich experience or Toy Music for some vocoder and background story, akin to something The Protomen would do.
I can only imagine what other strange attempts videogame companies at the time were making to try and out-tech the other guy but this odd niche experience is one I'm happy to know a little more about.
Bandcamp just published their 2017 Year In Review and it seems things are still going strong for the direct-to-fan giant. I wish they'd publish some more distinct numbers for the year* but, regardless, it's good to know that, all time, they've paid out $270 million to artists on the platform. The summary piece also takes some nice jabs at the streaming platforms and their dropping stream rates.
Bandcamp turns 10 this year and really helps to fuel both yk Records and We Own This Town, so I thank them for their service.
* EDIT: Brian points out that they do provide more numbers in another post but I just wasn't paying attention. Regardless, I'd love a more distinct breakdown of income for BC and artists within the given year, not all time.
Happy to announce a new, limited, podcast on the We Own This Town network. Vidalotry is a ten part series from Ryan Breegle that explores the wit and wisdom of famed intellectual Gore Vidal, in his own words.
The show's teaser gives a good overview of what to expect from the show; namely the range of controversial topics that Vidal was not shy about speaking on publicly.
The first of ten episodes will be available on Monday, Feb 19th. So fire up your podcast apps and start subscribing now. Ryan has done a phenomenal job of exploring a vastly interesting human being that I've always wanted to know more about.
We're about two weeks away from A Night of yk Records 2, a celebration of my little label taking place over at the Mercy Lounge here in Nashville, TN. Tickets are on sale and you can always RSVP on the Facebook. All that being said, you should know the bands performing! So, here's a handy sampling of tracks from the artists performing.
Several of the artists - Jasmin Kaset, Tower Defense, Quichenight - will be playing tons of new material, others - Patrick Damphier and New Man - are new to the scene and everything will seem new from them. All that, coupled with the hilarious hosting of Ashley & Jamie from Hott Minute will make for an enjoyable evening.
So, please, get your tickets and help me rest easy about throwing a big show.
Thanks to Charlie, I ran across this great Frank Chimero piece on Everything Easy Is Hard Again, a transcript of a talk he gave in Berlin on the changing nature of the web. Specifically, he speaks on the ever growing complexities of getting started making websites and the near-futile nature of trying to read modern day source code.
I wonder if I have twenty years of experience making websites, or if it is really five years of experience, repeated four times. If you've been working in the technology industry a while, please tell me this sounds familiar to you.
This does sound familiar to me. I'm in roughly the same boat as Chimero (in terms of tech, he is clearly far more successful) as I started with simple HTML, learned CSS, learned Javascript, learned PHP and then had to re-learn them all again as progressive enhancements were made. I find many of these new tech tools to be wonderful but also feel myself up against a barrier occasionally as learning something like React is not as simply as learning how Flexgrids work.
While I don't think his insights apply to people working at a small scale (you probably don't need a package manager or a robust framework of backend tech if you're just building a simple website), I do think it's a solid read for anyone that works on the web. His desire for the web to be an accessible, and legible, place is irrefutable, especially as someone that learned most of what they know from View Source.
