Category: Entertainment Industry Thingies
“Do You Believe In Miracles?” available for viewing here
I have referenced the HBO documentary “Do You Believe In Miracles?” for years in my time blogging. The most prominent being the 2014 piece that tried to pour water on those suggesting Team USA’s win over Russia in 2014’s Winter Olympics was comparable to the cultural event or Lake Placid when Team USA beat the Soviet Union.
“Do You Believe In Miracles?” shows you and tells you pretty clearly what made the event so big. It’s history in sports, it’s history in the United States.
At any rate, I round the documentary posted in full on YouTube. I post it here.
Lyrics calling foe Unity in America in a Time of Division
Taylor Swift or staff who work for her will never read this tweet, let alone the lyrics or “Unity (We the People)”… Yet what kind of message would it send if such a figure turned the words to vocals in song?
I had to try…
Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2019: The bands of Tampa Bay
The annual Best of the Bay reader poll/survey for Tampa Bay residents is out and will be active during the month of August. A lot of subject-maters and items are covered within the survey/poll, which is divided up into four sections (“Goods and Services”, “Arts and Entertainment”, “Food and Drink” and “People, Places, and Politics”).
While I usually go first-and-foremost to the “People, Places and Politics” section because of my affinity and involvement in sports, I went to “Arts and Entertainment” firstly this time around in order to quench a curiosity that I have. A curiosity in music, sweet music…
It’s not news for me to mention I’m running a local-theme Spotify playlist. What is an issue is me actually looking for and finding more artists to put on the playlist (not like anyone actually listens to that thing though :-/) I also wonder about the local scene and performing artists (of original nature) that are out there.
There are many.
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Movies, Men of Service, and Near Suicide
A very random question tied to two highly different films of the 1980s
I wonder how bad it would have been if Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson, Lethal Weapon franchise) crossed paths with Frank Slade (Al Pacino in The Scent of a Woman)?
Read MoreBackground music to chill to can be round on this playlist
Do you want an extensive playlist of liter tunes to listen to while you’re at work or perhaps while you are studying? Want a playlist of music that you can pipe in as background music during a social engagement (that doesn’t DISTRACT)?
I’ve been putting together an extensive stream of music on Spotiy for the last yea-and-a-half or so. It’s almost entirely indie artists covering the genres of rock, pop, country, blues and folk among others. There is no explicit content either.
It’s chill music, plain and simple.
Read MoreHow America of the moment is ruining America of song and principle
I have a political question but it’s a music/entertainment tied one. Especially relevant because of a song that was at the top of the charts 38 years ago, which was aptly tied to the forthcoming, annual U.S. holiday:
Has Neil Diamond said anything on-the-record in the media regarding what’s ongoing in the United States with immigration? The last mainstream news of Neil I heard was a year ago as he ceased touring due in part o health reasons.
This song, “America”, is painful to hear right now — that’s not a critique, that’s noting how it contrasts with the moment in United States history when the government tries to stop people from migrating to America and treats many who do cross into these United States, with a maliciousness that is not what the nation is built upon.
I was introduced to this song as a toddler; my father had it on radio stations he tuned to and played the song on record and tape recorder. It was just one tune that introduced me to music and I stood by it (and 1980’s American Pride and national history) for so many years. Between this song and the Don Blooth film, An American Tail, And other pieces of American history in school and in general pop culture, immigration and the multitude of cultures, ethnicities, colors, and creeds was hammered home. We’re different but America is supposed to provide us all with a chance.
And now…? With what is going on where cruelty is being enacted by the country? It contrasts what this nation has stood as: The land of the free; the land of opportunity.
There are more words and viewpoints to share that are my own, but this post wasn’t published due to wanting to share my words. It’s about knowing the thoughts of aa musical artist who belted out a number that made citizens take pride in what the United States is supposed to stand for.
Where is Mr. Neil Diamond and what does he have to say to both the citizens of America and those seeking asylum within?
A summarization of weather conditions in Tampa Bay through the title of a classic tune
We’re in the dry season, to say the least, at the moment. The one tradition of a Florida summaer is vacant at the moment and… well, Blind Melon’s 1992 alt/indie rock classic fits the situation in title:
A touch of rock history as an indie music radio “Experience”
I hear a lot of small-time, unknown artists on Lonely Oak Radio. I’ve been listening to that Internet streaming radio station for two and a half years now and while I’ve taken to some of the tunes and the performers that I’ve crossed on the station, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to someone of even moderate fame.
That changed today when I heard a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member early this afternoon.
Read MorePoll: Does listening to Spotify Playlists lead you to buy music?
I posted a poll on Twitter on my Music Twitter account, it’ll be running until the evening of May 9th. It’s aimed at Spotify users, asking a bit about habit:
Updated status of The Softer Side of Indie 2019 Playlist on Spotify
Back in December, I announced intentions to launch a playlist specifically of 2019 music of a chill variety — soft rock, adult contemporary,m ballads, blues, folk, alternative, pop. Songs released after December 15, 2018, are eligible for placement on the playlist.
At this time there are 36 songs on the list with most discovered on Reddit.com’s indie music subreddit. Others were found while I was checking on other songs by artists who were queued for the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist. And in one lone instance, I had a PR firm reach out to me so that a major act found it’s way onto the list. Yeah, unlike “Underexposed”, I’m not limiting this to underground acts… While most of the songs are by the Do It Yourself indie variety, there’s at least two by acts who have some hold on the mainstream in their alt/indie variety. Some of the DIY indie acts have more exposure and success online than acts I tend to highlight on the other playlist.
Read MoreIt certainly feels like networking – indie music promotion on Twitter
I love how networking can go and what it can show you – about yourself and your colleagues.
Read MoreHulk smash!…with an intellectual approach few employ when angry
Via Facebook. It’s (at least) 7 years old, but still funny:
Without a job and without a path forward
I’ve got a conundrum.
In the business world, it’s not a problem really: Long-time veteran of a field of business leaves said-field for two full years and then gets an inkling to re-enter as issues faced personally or an attempt to find a career in a new field hadn’t pass muster. This ambiguous jargon makes it seem plain and simple, don’t it?
It’s not that simple. Not for me.
You can see in a couple of recent blog posts I’ve done that I’ve been touching on my old forte in hockey blogging. I am one of the original hockey bloggers, having founded Boltsmag.com in February 2004, running it independently for five years before being recruited by my long-time colleague James Mirtle (who started his own writing career independently at Blogspot) to SB Nation where I founded Raw Charge. I blogged about the Tampa Bay Lightning and NHL for 12 and a half years before resigning due to burnout (a burnout which also seen as symptoms of a surprising health issue that almost killed me).
Blah, blah, blah… Maybe I should ge back in? I’ve got nothing else going for me.
Read MoreMorning Song by Babe Rainbow (music and lyrics)
By the Australian Alternative/Indie group Babe Rainbow, “Morning Song” was released last week and I crossed it by chance… It’s had me hooked with its mellow sound since. Have a listen via the official music video and read the lyrics below:
Call him “Roy”; Jeremy Sande’s pitch to play John McClane in the 6th Die Hard film, “McClane”
In October 2017 I wrote an immediate reaction to the bare-bone synopsis of the next Die Hard film. It’s not that I’m not a fan of Die Hard or Bruce Willis/John McClane, it’s more about the fact that I’ve seen the franchise move away from the wrong-place-wrong-time, fixed location presentation. By way of it, the franchise was getting away from John McClane and what made the character a draw in the original film and early sequels.
Here it is, a year and a half later and I’ve been wondering casually what the deal is with the film tentatively titled (at the time of my original write-up) Die Hard: Year One. The bare-bones synopsis that came out with the news of the sixth film said that the movie would be a prequel/sequel hybrid that Willis would be involved in. Yet casting news, filming news, it all slipped by without actually being news… or so I thought because I haven’t heard or seen shit.
In some ways, it’s understandable that the movie hasn’t moved forward – those “some ways” being the merger of 21st Century Fox (20th Century Fox) and Disney. Unlike when Walt Disney Pictures took control of the Star Wars franchise, there’s a hell of a lot more to organize and oversee with the acquisition of the entire 21st Century Fox motion picture studio (and more holdings of various sorts). Moving forward quickly with the Die Hard movie (that’s to be helmed by Len Wiseman and titled McClane) may have been slowed by the sale logistics or other various things, I wouldn’t know for sure.
I was updated a touch by a surprise email a few days ago. This blog isn’t one that tends to get PR email or press contacts (whereas my days writing for Raw Charge has added me to alot of hockey-related and Tampa Bay-area PR stuff). The contact wasn’t from Fox, not Disney, or a third-party agency or talent firm, but from a would-be Officer John McClane.
Read MoreSongs in the queue for Spotify Playlist review
I’m approaching a year as a Spotify playlist curator, having started the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist in May of 2018. While the playlist has amassed 107 followers in the time it’s been active, I don’t know how many of those “followers” actually listen. I’ve already talked about that downside of Spotify though, so I’ll move on.
The Underexposed playlist is at 137 songs, it’ll keep growing as time goes by, as will the Softer Side of Indie 2019 playlist as I cross songs that fit the angle I’m going for with that list.
How do I find the songs, though? While I’ve crossed some posted on Reddit’s Indie music community (which have tended to fit the Softer Side 2019 playlist most often), the majority of the songs I’ve posted on the Underexposed playlist have come from my listening to Lonely Oak Radio and other indie stations (Only Rock Radio, Catorweb, and Indie Star Radio primarily). When I cross a song that might fit the bill of the playlist, I put the name of the song and the artist into a txt file queue of songs to potentially add after review.
Read MoreFor those on Reddit and who enjoy the Adult Contemporary class of music, join me on /r/AdultContemporary
Soft rock, easy listening, and love songs…nothing but love songs. This is a seven year old subreddit that has long been mothballed. I’m trying to get it going.
Simply click on the title for a redirect to the subreddit.
Questions and would-be stories for Truman Burbank’s Life After Seahaven
When you’re sold on a movie or a movie character, it’s not foreign to think about things in the film and come up with angles of the story that flesh out entirely different stories that could drive a movie. For example, the Tom Hanks film Cast Away has a story unto itself that isn’t shown in the film: What happened to Chuck Noland (Hanks) as he gets rescued from the South Pacific? It’s not a 1-2-3 thing but a process and a tale on its own. It wouldn’t be the movie by itself but there are various acts and deeds that he had to undertake that would have been interesting to see.
I was thinking about that Cast Away stuff which turned me to the ending of another film; a flick that had more to show because the ending was a gateway to a new adventure for the main character who was followed along closely for the entire film. This picture wasn’t a direct adventure but more a character piece, so an immediate sequel wouldn’t have been fitting.
At this point, more than twenty years after Truman Burbank bid the set of Seahaven “good afternoon, good evening and good night” and entered reality, there are stories that could be told and shown in a framing that compliments what was The Truman Show, or at least some of the elements as they were presented in the 1998 movie.
Peter Weir’s film was a play on reality television, with a single life filmed and the world around him manipulated to give Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey in a role that defied the over-the-top comedy he was known for) regular story and drama to entertain the viewers of his television channel. And Truman didn’t know about this – how he was being filmed and the man-made control over his life.
As Truman was taken care of by those in control, he was a prisoner, prevented from exploring and knowing the world. His world was the set of Seahaven in Burbank, California. The events of The Truman Show touch on his life, the actors/actresses and off-screen aspects and la-de-da, building up to the movie’s finale, Truman’s escaping the set.
The escape itself, passing through a door into the darkness of backstage, opens up a new world of events for Truman. It opens up a story to tell in reflection. So, consider this a pitch called “Life After Seahaven”.
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Retelling the tale of True Love and remaking The Princess Bride
I won’t lead with a ramble here. If you saw that title and got curious, that’s nice. If you read the title and got confused, upset or pissed off that someone could even contemplate something like this, you’re where I am with the film industry in general. Rebootts, retellings, remakes? It’s like the studios can’t come up with something original and just go with properties that already made them money. To do that with the 1987 Rob Reiner classic? Oh God, ugh!
My idea is not like that, but it is like that. It’s like a sequel, but it’s the original film too.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a baby boomer or one of the later generations (Generation X, Y, Z, a millennial, whatever), The Princess Bride has its own place in cinematic history. It’s something fun to watch and savor. So why the hell can I have a thought that the film should be redone?
The answer is Fred Savage.
See, there’s a second story in The Princess Bride that happens to be the way we ever get told the story of Princess Buttercup, Wesley, Inigo Montoya, Count Rugen (the infamous Six Fingered Man), Prince Humperdink and all the various other characters in the story about True Love. The second story that enables the film is about a sick grandson played by Fred Savage. He has the story of The Princess Bride told to him by his grandfather played by Peter Falk.
Spotify playlists and the follower flaw
There’s a downside to me trying to push indie music on Spotify. It’s not the fact I spend time trying to find tunes through radio streams and online sites curate the playlists accordingly, it’s not when people approach me with music – sometimes fitting, sometimes not – to consider for the lists. It’s the common habit with Spotify that people might follow a playlist, it doesn’t mean the people actually listen.
Read MoreSoft rock, easy listening, adult contemporary and the Tampa Bay music scene
With the growing and growing and growing and growing nature of the Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist on Spotify and me crossing work on the Music Tampa Bay playlists that embody the underexposed moniker and yet are also aging with some artists missing in general from social media, I’ve been compelled to start a new soft rock/adult contemporary playlist.
This isn’t open to all and any musicians; this is open to artists in the Tampa Bay metropolitan region. The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay currently has only nine musicians on it, but a number of songs from each:
- Ed Woltil
- Four Star Riot
- Fowler’s Bluff
- Gypsy Star
- Rebecca Zapen
- Robert Andrew
- RosewoodCreek
- Steve Dockendorf
- Swearingen & Kelli
There are more groups and artists in the region with worthy content than this. This is, in part, why I’m posting on my blog: Hey! Tampa Bay musicians with calmer tunes! Share’em with me and potential listeners online please!
You might want to listen to the list as-is to get an idea of the sound I’m going for. I don’t know if hip-hop would mix in, or a bass/beat heavy dance/pop number with wailing vocals. Explicit content is also frowned upon. Seriously, I’m not calling it “The Lighter Side of Tampa Bay” because of the sun.
Feel free to suggest artists or songs to me through comments or directly to me through the site contact form. I’ve also got a music-specific Twitter account or my Facebook page where I can be reached at.
Music Tampa Bay’s 2015 Top 100 list is now a Spotify playlist
Music Tampa Bay, the St. Pete-based radio station and online streaming station that highlights music from Tampa Bay and West Central Florida musicians, is known for having an annual Top 100 list. The list is a compilation of 100 songs from the previous year that had received the highest vote tallies on weekly Top 40 lists/polls featured on the station’s web site. The Top 100 ran from 2008 up until this year.
I’ve done a service for featured artists on that list of putting together a link-to-the-works listing three times – 2008, 2016, and 2017. The whole rationale is because graphic lists of songs don’t give people (not just station listeners) the chance to actually hear the songs, or find out about the artists. Not all of the songs are available online as the artists didn’t necessarily use distribution companies that went that route.
In more recent months, I’ve put the 2008, ’16 and ’17 lists – what songs I could find – into Spotify playlists. The listings all have just over half the 100 listed songs.
That said, I’d like to announce the addition of the 2015 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 list (well, 53 of the Top 100) as available on Spotify.
Read MoreWhen life immitates art and the 45th President of the United States
I’ve already blogged an entertainment comparison of the Presidency of Donald J. Trump to the 1993 movie Dave. Dave Kovic, the character that Trump is compared to, is a caricature figure put in a very serious position.
With the ongoing US government shutdown and ongoing issues with Trump’s demeanor (on more than just his demands for a Mexican border wall), there’s another caricature character that Trump seems to be more than just a little similar
The one where Kevin Pollak answered a question of mine on Reddit
Kevin Pollakalways interests me. Usually, it’s been his side-characters that popped up in cinema that piqued my interest, and he’s been in a hell of a lot of roles not just in movies but television series’ too.
The first time I remember crossing him on-screen was as Rool in Ron Howard’s Willow in the late 1980s. Pollak’s stand-up comedy has always been ever so worthwhile,
(My favorite part is when he turns Scotty into Dudley Moore/Arthur Bach, It’s not a party down here, Captain!)
A couple of years ago, I caught the stand-up showing the above Trek piece is part of on HBO…and then coincidentally crossed Kevin doing an Ask Me Anything interview session on Reddit.
Read MoreIntroducing The Softer Side of Indie 2019 Spotify playlist
I’m running a playlist on Spotify trying to highlight soft rock and easy listening by indie artists that aren’t well known. The UnderexposedSoft Rock and Easy Listening playlist is just shy of 6 hours in length as of this writing and the sound holds consistent with some songs going a little stronger than others. That’s been soft rock radio for decades though, hasn’t it?
That playlist compiles songs from over recent years of the indie and small label variety. I’m announcing a new playlist that will focus squarely on 2019.
While the intent is to take a variety of songs and offer them to the public for listening – and that’s a catch: actually having people listening to the playlist — one thing I’m not looking for is the “chill beats” sound with drumming/rhythm-section driven. I’m looking for the more traditional sound of music. I’m also not looking to add a multitude of foreign languages; if what you have isn’t in English, it’s not appropriate to submit it as a song.
I’m also not looking for songs with explicit lyrics. Think of it as a general-audience appeal I’m going for here, not the 18+ year old adult segments who accept that stuff.
I’m posting the playlist itself below. It’ll remain barren or mostly empty for I-don’t-know.
If you want to submit a track for consideration, please use the contact form. Make sure the subject reads “Softer Side 2019 Submission”. If you’re on Facebook, you may also try contacting me through the Johnny Fonts Facebook page.
The indie music scene and Lonely Oak Radio
Are you into the independent music scene or do you have curiosity into what’s currently going on in that music realm? Perhaps you’d like to discover a new flavor of rock/alternative/pop music? I’d like to recommend a radio stream for such.
I’ve been listening to Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening playlist (Note: Don’t take that as a sign everything Lonely Oak plays is on the softer-sound side because it’s not, its only a fraction of the sound cache the station produces). Not many of the acts on the station are widely known, that’s the life of the indie artist – the chase for exposure
This link will take you directly to the radio stream of the site. No, it’s not a bare-bones audio stream tool but shows the song currently playing as well as the artist and the next artist. There are links to AmazonMP3.com so you can get the song playing if you’re interested in as much. It’s just really integral to have knowledge of what’s playing (without a DJ yammering at length before and after the song plays). It’s also integral to actually hear music without having to deal with advertising (or pay a monthly fee for ad-free radio).
If you’re an artist, you can submit your music to Lonely Oak Radio here. If you’re a fan or supporter of an artist featured on the station, you can donate money to Lonely Oak Radio to get a song to play a few days in a row (the quirk is knowing if you’ll actually catch the song on-air, but I digress).
There are more indie stations out there than I know of, providing more music y little known artists they world over… This stream is just one sampling of what’s out there.
“The Playlist Exchange” is a promotional avenue for content on Spotify
Just a heads up for musical artists who are looking to promote their tunes on Spotify as well as for people running niche playlists who want to promote that list, there’s a place for that.
The Spotify Community is a message forum area devoted to the Spotify platform, covering a lot of areas of the field including playlists. The Playlist Exchange is the specific forum in the community where playlists are promoted and curators look for new songs to add to their lists. Many music genres get covered, but so do many niche areas such as topics, moods, musical arrangements and what have you.
Mind you, the Exchange may be an avenue for promotion but it doesn’t guarantee songs getting added to playlists or people actually following a playlist you post. I’ve submitted music by little known groups to playlists (songs by artists I am not associated with, I’m just a fan of) and got passed over while I’ve also posted my Underexposed Soft Rock and Easy Listening list with little gain.
Marketing is a chore. The Playlist Exchange is simply a potential contributor to goal achievement.
Like all history, this “Revolution” remains relevant
The world has changed quite a bit in 50 years but a song has regained immense relevance. It’s a song that societies around the world and pop culture has found relevance time and time again during its existence. Sometimes it’s just figuratively relevant while other times it’s very much directly relevant.
In the United States of America in the fall of 2018 we’ve seen mass shootings (several times) with political ideological history tied to the gunmen. That’s not as literal as the #MAGABomber that attempted assassinations of political and public figures through mailed pipe bombs.
That’s what makes Revolution by The Beatles extremely relevant at the moment.
For the record (and those who don’t know history), “Chairman Mao” is a reference to Mao Zedong, former Chinese emperor.
With the 2018 election having set in just days ago, the requests for a contribution has been common (a norm in US politics). All-too-common for this election cycle was ”minds that hate” looking for cash.
There’s a healthy form of politics and then there’s what is occurring in America at the moment. Political ideologies always contrast, but it’s when society works in cohesion that America can thrive. Society thriving isn’t the driving factor of “Make America Great Again” and those using death and destruction to show support toward it are proving it.
Both sides of the political fray should take some comfort in the chorus of “Revolution” though it seems distant at the moment. You don’t need to go extreme, life works its way out:
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right
2017 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 — now a Spotify playlist
Music Tampa Bay‘s annual Top 100 lists (which ran from 2008 through 2017) featured a wide swath of music — we’re talking genres and time-of-publication. Some of the songs were relatively new releases, some were much older. All of them were from artists derived from the Tampa Bay and west central Florida area. I use that as a lead-in to the 2017 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 playlist on Spotify because only 54 of the 100 songs were on Spotify (or at least that’s the amount I found).
While some of the songs are very much available online, others aren’t and some are on select sales and streaming avenues and not on Spotify. Another issue I’ll cite here is that the Top 100 list for 2017 was hindered with thanks to Hurricane Irma’s effects on the Tampa Bay area. While that has nothing to do with only 54 songs on this list, it does explain why some of the songs on this list were also part of the 2016 Top 100 list (…a playlist with only 57 of 100 songs).
I very much intend to add the 2008 Top 100 listing to the Spotify playlists, but if these more recent lists are getting just over half the list songs, I don’t expect 2008 to do better. We’ll see about that.
One other thing — if you’re a Music Tampa Bay listener or a musician featured on Music Tampa Bay, I encourage you to donate to the station. They are a non-profit station trying to promote music created by local musicians. It costs to broadcast and stream online, though. Every bit of supportive income helps.
A new Spotify playlist of Tampa Bay musicians and music
In spring of 2017, I took to the task of taking aMusic Tampa Bay Top 100 list of 2016 post was an attempt at exposure for the artists and their work that went further than the hyper-local radio broadcasts and its online music stream.
I’m taking things a step further though I don’t know if this will lead more people to check out this music or what. I’ve created a Spotify playlist of the 2016 Music Tampa Bay Top 100 list.
In trying to aid the exposure of the artists and their music, I don’t know if it did the job so much. Let’s see if a Spotify playlist can help things along.
From my experience researching three different Top 100 lists, I’ve learned it’s a tradition for not all the songs to be available through online streaming. In this case, only 57 of the Top 100 songs from the listing were available… They represent a mix of music genres: Rock, Reggae, R&B, Folk, Pop and Country. The performers herald from the Tampa Bay and west central Florida area and while their sound may be taken as unique, they are all very much of the genres they are derived from in music.
I have intentions of also posting the 2017 Top 100 list and perhaps ones that came before it too. That’ll come in time. Right now, first things first and the 2016 list is here.
Wishful thinking: Rebooting a classic piece of TV without the cheesy comedy
Right now, a modern retelling of a 1960’s television show is on my mind and yet modern retelling limits it unless it’s done right and framed properly. That, in itself, is a tough task.
Before I move to that and the show on my mind, let me touch on a show that was going to have a “modern” retelling 20 years after its airing in the 1960’s: Batman. Warner Brothers wanted to do a cinematic version of the caped-crusader show from the 60’s and from one of the original casting plans tells you everything about original intent on the movie: Bill Murray as Bruce Wayne/Batman. That should not be taken as “could you imagine how dark Tim Burton’s film would have been if…?” as so much “Bill Murray vs. Adam West, who wins in a Batusi dance-off?” The film that Burton made (and set the stage for modern comic book movies) was intended by the company to go campy-comedic a-la the original series on screen.
There’s another show that was exposed to the masses over the decades by way of original airings on network television and syndication in later decades after the original series ended. It’s had television-movie continuations of the series and parodies in other television shows over the decades. It was campy, it was comedic, and it was the tale of chance.
Gilligan’s Island is only known for ha-ha-ha. An idiotic-but-lucky first mate, his father-like/older brother-like Skipper, and the five passengers who were fellow castaways when the S.S. Minnow wrecked on an uncharted desert island. Read More
Wordiness and a would-be song; “Cool Dude, Loose Mood”
Poetry and I are not strangers, the evidence is here on the site in the “Creative Writing” section and elsewhere if you look around. I’ve been penning prose of one variety or another since the 1990’s.
Yeah, I’m old. Deal with it.
There are some that have inspired musicians to actually put the words to music. That’s a longer story than I can tell at this time (wink wink, nudge nudge) but my point is that songwriting is something I’m dabbling in. It has created a plight, though.
See, early in the summer I had a friend send me a guitar riff he recorded. He was looking to build a song around it. Now, this idea was garage-rock in caliber. Do-the-job, verse-chorus-verse simple and straight. The riff is the base and the center for the song in melody and what has to be done is to give it some words to finish the product. The problem there was… well, maybe I’ve been exposed to too much Alternative over the years or maybe I’ve seen too many rock songs that have been larger tellings than Keep It Simple Stupid? Then again, maybe I’m a poet and lucky if my words ever go to a finished song… Read More
Spanning the world and united in melody, the music of Lucy, Racquel and Me
The Internet is the land of opportunity for musical artists. Any artist/group of any music genre from any location who has access to the Net can communicate with producers and other artists to hone and refine their work. You can see this playing out daily on Reddit’s WeAreTheMusicMakers subreddit message board. They’re able to offer their art to the masses with thanks to distribution companies who will place finalized music copies on major digital-sales web sites (such as Apple Music, Amazon MP3 and Google Play) along with putting the tunes on streaming services utilized by the general masses (Spotify and YouTube).
Indie music can be an art form in itself with thanks to the basic element of the Internet in the form of communication. It’s like I already said – you can talk to others in music, hone and produce songs with others from all over. And certain recording artists are just that – groups comprised of elements from different places. They may have never personally met and yet they’ve created by working together.
An example of this is the pop music c work of Lucy, Racquel and Me. Read More
Underexposed indie soft rock and easy listening playlist on Spotify
This is an ongoing playlist build of songs by indie musicians that are unknown or not widely known of in pop culture. It’s also a variety of music – pop and rock of a more casual variety – that doesn’t get the kind of exposure it once did in music.
Click above to go to the playlist. If you are an indie musician who would like one of your own tunes considered for the list — either leave a comment or contact me and send a link to your work. You have to be listed on Spotify to get included on this list (though another version of the playlist is on YouTube).
How should "Underexposed"songs be seen on Spotify?
Wishful thinking: A cover of a song that can never happen
Two aged songs and performances in music have crossed my mind this morning and then blended together to make me think what if? It’s not the music exactly that gets me wondering as-so-much a performer and how a song would be covered if said-performer got a go at it.
Both songs are classics and stories of their own. Both performances I’m thinking of and linking together are classics too. One from 30+ years ago (that gets little focus at this time) and the other from 25 years back. Read More
Florida’s Fox Sports Net stations are up for grabs
I could kvetch here about conglomerates and how mega companies merging – even entertainment companies – is not ideal in many ways, but I just shared my opinion of that and should move on to the point of this post…
Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox. No, not all holdings but tons of them in film and production. The one aspect that Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and Florida Panthers fans need to be aware of and keep an eye out on is that the deal forces Disney to get rid of some of those holdings…Like Fox Sports Net’s 22 affiliate stations around the country.
This is where two plus two should have clicked and you gotten the idea that the Fox Sports Net stations in the Sunshine State are up for sale. How this will effect broadcasts now or after their acquisition is a puzzle.
It’s not just the who of acquisition that is a puzzle but what will happen that changes or shifts the networks? There’s no telling if everything remains regional alone or if broadcasts from other markets will be aired on the stations to fill air time… Then again, it might all remain status-quo with the stations re-dubbed as NBC Sports or Spectrum affiliates, or another party (Sportnet as an international sports network, perhaps, though law may prevent that).
Comcast and Spectrum are the two key players cited in this article about the situations. Comcast (the communication company that owns the National Broadcast Company and it’s co-branded affiliates such as NBC Sports and MSNBC among many others) or Charter Communications and the Spectrum network. Spctrum has become a player in Tampa Bay of recent as they’ve acquired cable holdings. They do own and operate sports stations elsewhere in the country as-is and do hsave an interest in expanding their holdings.
Broadcasting shouldn’t be affected really; if the sale of the affiliates does not happen by the end of September, the failure will be on the Fox acquisition by Disney. If and when affiliation changes happen though, it’s tough to gauge if and how things will eventually shift on both networks.
Discovering the Best Releases by Local Bands nominated in the 2018 Best of the Bay poll
Creative Loafing’s annual Best of the Bay is here for the 2018 season. I won’t tell you what to vote for and all that jazz (I’m not a nominee, nor is this blog. Not like that would have happened anyway). What I would like to provide here is a little tool of hyperlinks for specifically one voting list.
The Best of the Bay Arts and Entertainment section has quite a few music related categories and voting opportunities. There’s general band listings, rock, hip-hop, country, bluegrass, blues, etc. The category that’s leading to this post is “Best Release By A Local Band”. Read More
The relevancy of Ben Stein’s boring teachings in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Tariffs are on the scene in many ways and that is being discussed in many places — factual reports and opinion pieces and such. The world is affected, United States product costs are affected. Farming is affected. The Trump administration continues the plan, with the remedy being everything will be internally produced… or so it seems.
All of this made me think of the pop culture classic comedy film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. One scene, one class, it shows how society reacts to learning about tariff effects on society and states clearly the historical relevance of tariffs on the United States economy. Read More
Radio Airplay: A review of Jango’s backend service after 2 years use promoting music
If you’re an indie musical artist or even one under a label and looking for exposure, you may see Radio Airplay, which powers the Jango music streaming service, as an option. Indeed, it is an option to get heard around the world by music listeners who listen to stations aligned with specific performing artists that you align your own music with.
As a legit means of service, though, you have to pay. Oh, do you have to pay…
Read MoreThe art of the movie character cameo
The subject of cross-movie cameos has been on my mind for a few weeks… actually it pops up often and I bring it up with friends and they don’t usually cite much nor have anything in mind on the topic outright.
It piques my interest and amuses me when it happens though: A character from a movie shows up at random in another film. It’s just a passing moment for people who don’t know or who haven’t seen many movies. It’s a laugh or amusing for others who know movies and cinema.
When fiction becomes (attempted) reality
Space Force? Why? Is that a progressive attempt by an administration whose actions and deeds are too commonly regressive in ethical, moral, and social standards? No, no… It’s a distraction. Nothing more.
There is a progressive argument for something like this, but the idea of taking warfare off the planet simply amounts to throwing money away and an attempt at shifting focus away from the ethical, moral and social misdeeds by Current Occupant.
That said, the entire concept and the entire direction of this administration has me thinking of a film I saw once and didn’t care for. It’s fictitious circumstances, and yet seems oddly fitting for the picture of society in the film.
Starship Troopers, anyone?
Regarding Music Tampa Bay Top 100 posts for 2008 & 2017 [UPDATED]
Due to server issues created by me over-doing music embeds and such, I’m going to have to repost the Top 100 lists of songs from Music Tampa Bay’s top 100 for 2017 & 2008.
Originally, the lists (which are both divided into several parts) worked okay and everyone had access, but it would seem my hosting company has tightened standards on the shared-server hosting system.
When the lists are reposted, they’ll simply be a text-and-link based list, a-la the 2016 Top 100 list.
UPDATE June 19, 2018: Both the Music Tampa Bay 2008 and 2017 Top 100 lists are now operational again. It required some changes to this web site on eh back end but things are working at the moment. All media that could be found was linked to while we sites or social media accounts representing the musical groups (that could be found) were also linked to.
Finding relevance today in a 1978 television theme song
Do you ever get a television theme song in your head? Y’know, earworm type deal? Yet you go further, looking at the lyrics, and suddenly they take a new weight to them or just seem fitting for the moment in time that you (or life around you) are in? That’s my morning… Read More
Regarding “Missing piece of history — Jim Morrison in Clearwater”
In 2005, I penned a blog post that was inspired by the then-St. Petersburg Times had written an epic feature regarding the days of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, had spent living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Being a Morrison fan and living only a handful of miles away from locations mentioned in the piece, I was blown away. I had known about Morrison having been born in south Florida but I didn’t know about this.
Part of what inspired the blog post was the fact social media wasn’t then what it is today. Not that writing a blog post was going to necessarily draw eyeballs. Yet to this day, Missing piece of history – Jim Morrison in Clearwater still draws web traffic because of Morrison’s romantic interest (and song inspiration) Mary Werbelow.
At any rate, to get to the point, the now- Tampa Bay Times has basically failed with how they treat their archives online, which now hides the articles on a for-profit site (…unless the Times plans to fix their “Page Not Found” issues on archival articles). Between this and my old blog post failure in being more direct and obvious on the link to the feature section from September 25, 2005, finding the feature reading is next to impossible.
Well, was.
Underexposed, softer sounds from rock and pop artists
I’ve assembled a playlist on YouTubbe (and I may try to copy it at Spotify but no guarantees on that) of songs that I’ve heard from various artists through various sources that I consider “soft rock”. They’re not all rock songs, they’re not all adult contemporary, and they’re from a mix of years within the 21st century (not all recent releases but mot are from the past decade).
One thing is for sure though: They’re underexposed numbers that will likely never explode in popularity. Independent artists don’t get that kind of exposure from the mainstream media or at least it rarely happens. Yet, that’s a truth for all music out there — even if people catch your tunes on the radio or at a live show, there’s only a chance that it’ll click with them and gain an ounce of popularity.
The underexposed soft rock playlist has only 29 songs at the moment but my intention is to keep growing the list as time goes by. It just depends on when and where I cross the music and if I feel it fits or not. Mind you, it’s the arrangements that make me add the songs to the list. The lyrics may or may not fit.
If you’re a performing artist and have a song that you think might fit in, or if you’re a listener who knows of a song by a small-time act that doesn’t exactly have a huge audience checking out one of these lighter songs, you’re welcome to contact me through the site form with a link to the song’s YouTube page. I can’t guarantee submissions will get added, but it’s worth a shot.
I also suggest to artists to consider submitting their music to Lonely Oak Radio, it’s the most straight-forward indie music submission site. It’s not Pandora or Spotify in open-listener popularity but it is a unique mix of songs from various artists out there.
Update May 11, 2018:
I’ve been made aware by Europeans that not all tracks on this playlist are accessible.. While this playlist is crafted by an American with access to everything, I have no control over what is not accessible for those overseas. It may put more weight on me trying to re-create this playlist on another platform (Spotify).
update May 13th 2018:
The Spotify Version of the playlist is now up. Not all of the songs are on the list and not all of the songs are able to be added (such as Grease Fire by the Pretty Voices or Arms Around It by Ricky Wilcox) because those tracks aren’t on Spotify. Others aren’t included because I haven’t gotten to them yet, but they will be added and likely others.
How should "Underexposed"songs be seen on Spotify?
