The other day I stumbled upon this quote by Jim Jarmusch. Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal [...]
Yesterday I took in a concert by the Sam Roberts Band. I immediately noticed 2 things: The quality of the instruments played The choice of each instrument, amp, and effect I am not a huge fan of Mr. Roberts, but I was impressed by his attention to detail. Every amp, every guitar, every pedal, and [...]
Before The Beatles hit America they wanted a breakout hit. They knew the power that a crossover hit had, so they sat down and wrote I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Coldplay wrote Yellow, Radiohead wrote Creep and Nirvana wrote Smells Like Teen Sprit. All of these bands needed that first big breakout hit. None of [...]
Since it’s The Beatles week, I wanted to point out another important player in the success of the band. Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, was able to recognize talent early on and guide a bar band into a cultural juggernaut. The Beatles wouldn’t have been what they were without Brian Epstein’s attention. He put [...]
I’ve been watching The Beatles Anthology. It is quite a unique journey. I’ve just hit the 4th and 5th episodes, around the Rubber Soul/Revolver era. In it, The Beatles speak about the influence that Drugs had on their music. There is no question that drugs affected them. But what they’re talking about is not hard [...]
Since Hoover posted about Noel Gallagher yesterday, I though I would let you know what the real McCoy has to say about songwriting. This is an excerpt from the book The Rolling Stone Interviews: In a rock band you have to make singles; you have to keep writing them… I was in Kenwood and that [...]
I received an email from a friend with this video link. If you are working towards your vision/dream then I would strongly recommend you watch it. In the video Malcolm Gladwell speaks about the career of Fleetwood Mac. Gladwell offers insights into the roots of creativity and genius. It’s eye opening to say the least. [...]
Well it’s not, but in case you haven’t heard, vinyl is making a comeback. In the U.S, 1.88 million vinyl records were sold in 2008. That’s a 89% increase from 2007. Not too shabby. Most of the sales were from independent stores making it even cooler. In Rainbows was number 1 (25,800) which makes sense, [...]
I’ve developed a theory about the state of music in the 21st century; Music is suffering because people are distracted. The reason Bob Dylan and The Beatles were able to be so successful at such a young age was that there was little to distract them. They had their own music, some radio, some records, [...]
The Beatles Hamburg Invasion of 1959
Hypebot posted a link of Malcolm Gladwell speaking about the success of The Beatles. Once again he is talking about the incredible work ethic that molded The Beatles from a band that by all accounts was not that good, into the world’s greatest rock act. Malcolm Gladwell has gotten some flack recently. Some folks have [...]