Cool-but-not-Funny stuff on the Internet

[RGMike]

and speaking of record producers... this very interesting piece from Slate.com about the current europop hit factories. Some of his facts are a bit fudged (Stock/Aitken/Waterman didn't "launch" Bananarama, they revived them) but worth reading. And anyone who hates Diane Warren deserves to be cut some slack...

http://www.slate.com/id/2123747/

yeah! what elizabeth said (about diane eve)!

oops, I didn't realize it was "she" and not "he" :wink:

[princessofcairo]

and speaking of record producers... this very interesting piece from Slate.com about the current europop hit factories. Some of his facts are a bit fudged (Stock/Aitken/Waterman didn't "launch" Bananarama, they revived them) but worth reading. And anyone who hates Diane Warren deserves to be cut some slack...

http://www.slate.com/id/2123747/

yeah! what elizabeth said (about diane eve)!

oops, I didn't realize it was "she" and not "he" :wink:

that's ok. i tried to correct my mispelling of her name (should read: "elisabeth") before i submitted the post, but i ended up typing her name with a "z" after all.

[Gazoo]

and speaking of record producers... this very interesting piece from Slate.com about the current europop hit factories. Some of his facts are a bit fudged (Stock/Aitken/Waterman didn't "launch" Bananarama, they revived them) but worth reading. And anyone who hates Diane Warren deserves to be cut some slack...

http://www.slate.com/id/2123747/

yeah! what elizabeth said (about diane eve)!

oops, I didn't realize it was "she" and not "he" :wink:

that's ok. i tried to correct my mispelling of her name (should read: "elisabeth") before i submitted the post, but i ended up typing her name with a "z" after all.

Here's to Respectable Songwriting!

FWIW, I have nothing inherently against artists who don't write their own material.  Indeed, y'all have heard my bleatings for Three Dog Night's inclusion in the R&R Hall of Fame, and they never composed more than a B side.  But weve horribly lost the notion of *interpretive* reading of material in recent years.  When's the last time you heard a dramatic *reimagining* of a song hit the charts?  "It's My Life"?  "The First Cut Is the Deepest"?  "Listen to Your Heart"?  We, collectively, as a society, have utterly failed to take advantage of the amazing wealth of material we've composed in the past 25 years.  We've caught ourselves in an awful conundrum: We've convinced ourselves that the only valid performers are those who write their own material, and when it takes them more than three years to write an album's worth of material, we bemoan the time lapse and argue that they should have opened to one of the countless hands that lay before them.  Can't win that bet, alouette.

May I humbly propose that further reviews of contemporary artists be a little more cognizant of their songwriters and their role, and judge by more understanding criteria (This includes accepting Neil Sedaka's straight songs as straight, appearances to the contrary, unless he presents himself as a Lothario, in which case all bets are off)?

[Alicat]

Gaz: Maybe you could telecommute! As posted on Craigslist.

Paid Marketing Internship (palo alto)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: stacy@leahmusic.com
Date: 2005-08-09, 3:38PM PDT


Earn credit hours and extra money contributing to a new music service. Start up located in Palo Alto (near University)is looking for internet savvy folks who love community groups, music, and blogging. Hours are flexible and free concert tickets can be yours as well.

more info...I was curious to see who/what the company is. Some guy in Hillsborough:

Domain name: leahmusic.com

Registrant:
   Bill Nguyen (3YCDH) amanda@onebox.com
   915 Hayne Road
   Hillsborough,    CA    94010
   United States
   Phone: (650)3444585 x

[Gazoo]

Gaz: Maybe you could telecommute! As posted on Craigslist.

Hunch is that they want to replicate MySpace, a wildly successful Net community builder that was recently acquired for $560MM by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media.   I checked it out, and unfortunately, (a) leahmusic.com is "under construction," and (b) anyone using a onebox.com (or yahoo, or gmail, etc) email address is less than legit in my book.  Call me paranoid and/or arrogant, but if your company isn't big enough to handle HR under its own domain name, it can't afford to have me on board.

But I remain all ears to opps on the horizon, as my own efforts have come up Zilch (Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina).

Thanks!
Gaz

[ggould]

Gaz: Maybe you could telecommute! As posted on Craigslist.

Hunch is that they want to replicate MySpace, a wildly successful Net community builder that was recently acquired for $560MM by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media.   I checked it out, and unfortunately, (a) leahmusic.com is "under construction," and (b) anyone using a onebox.com (or yahoo, or gmail, etc) email address is less than legit in my book.  Call me paranoid and/or arrogant, but if your company isn't big enough to handle HR under its own domain name, it can't afford to have me on board.

But I remain all ears to opps on the horizon, as my own efforts have come up Zilch (Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina).

Thanks!
Gaz

I have a couple of gmail addresses, and the choice to use these kind of addresses can have little to do with a companies resources, and more to do with avoiding long-term spam accumulation.  There may be other reasons to pass, but don't let that be one of them.

[princessofcairo]

Here's to Respectable Songwriting!

FWIW, I have nothing inherently against artists who don't write their own material.  Indeed, y'all have heard my bleatings for Three Dog Night's inclusion in the R&R Hall of Fame, and they never composed more than a B side.  But weve horribly lost the notion of *interpretive* reading of material in recent years.  When's the last time you heard a dramatic *reimagining* of a song hit the charts?  "It's My Life"?  "The First Cut Is the Deepest"?  "Listen to Your Heart"?  We, collectively, as a society, have utterly failed to take advantage of the amazing wealth of material we've composed in the past 25 years.  We've caught ourselves in an awful conundrum: We've convinced ourselves that the only valid performers are those who write their own material, and when it takes them more than three years to write an album's worth of material, we bemoan the time lapse and argue that they should have opened to one of the countless hands that lay before them.  Can't win that bet, alouette.

May I humbly propose that further reviews of contemporary artists be a little more cognizant of their songwriters and their role, and judge by more understanding criteria (This includes accepting Neil Sedaka's straight songs as straight, appearances to the contrary, unless he presents himself as a Lothario, in which case all bets are off)?

wow. those latter two paragraphs would make any established music critic drool with envy. how do you write like that? brilliant, mr. dobolina.

i agree that more credibility is due to performers who do not write, but have a knack for interpretation (give me a "c!" give me a "dion!"). however, i understand the knee-jerk reaction to cringe at the thought of hit factories. people like diane eve warren (and rbert tepper) made quite a mess of things in the 80's.

[ggould]

i agree that more credibility is due to performers who do not write, but have a knack for interpretation (give me a "c!" give me a "dion!"). however, i understand the knee-jerk reaction to cringe at the thought of hit factories. people like diane eve warren (and rbert tepper) made quite a mess of things in the 80's.

Eva Cassidy comes to mind.

[mshray]

Excellent argument, to which I have two thoughts:  First of all it is Ironic that Hollywood has the exact opposite problem, "No remake is not worth doing".
 

Second, whose cover of "The First Cut Is the Deepest" are you refering to? Sheryl covered Rod covering Cat, remember?

[princessofcairo]

Eva Cassidy comes to mind.

yes, indeed!

and i hope no one is EVER referencing sheryl crow's "version" of "first cut." eck, eck, eck.

[Gazoo]

Excellent argument, to which I have two thoughts:  First of all it is Ironic that Hollywood has the exact opposite problem, "No remake is not worth doing".
 

Second, whose cover of "The First Cut Is the Deepest" are you refering to? Sheryl covered Rod covering Cat, remember?

I was criticizing Sheryl's by-the-numbers cover.  It was listenable and vaguely pleasant, but terribly unnecessary.  If she, or anyone else, is going to cover a song, I want her to make it *necessary*.  But that takes a lot more courage than painting by numbers for the easy cash-in.

(I don't know if Rod's version diverged from Cat's at all, having never heard the latter; it's the fact that I never heard the original that legitimizes Rod's having done the song in any fashion.)

[urth]

Excellent argument, to which I have two thoughts:  First of all it is Ironic that Hollywood has the exact opposite problem, "No remake is not worth doing".
 

Second, whose cover of "The First Cut Is the Deepest" are you refering to? Sheryl covered Rod covering Cat, remember?

I was criticizing Sheryl's by-the-numbers cover.  It was listenable and vaguely pleasant, but terribly unnecessary.  If she, or anyone else, is going to cover a song, I want her to make it *necessary*.  But that takes a lot more courage than painting by numbers for the easy cash-in.

(I don't know if Rod's version diverged from Cat's at all, having never heard the latter; it's the fact that I never heard the original that legitimizes Rod's having done the song in any fashion.)

These days a lot of songs get covered simply for use in film soundtracks. Cheaper than licensing the original, and lots of struggling artists are willing to do them to get the exposure (see also: that guy who covered Laid for the American Pie XXVII soundtrack).

China kept a-calling on the meter.

[mshray]

(I don't know if Rod's version diverged from Cat's at all, having never heard the latter; it's the fact that I never heard the original that legitimizes Rod's having done the song in any fashion.)

I've got Cat's on my British Invasion box set.  It's good.

[Gazoo]

China kept a-calling on the meter.

Hooray for people knowing "Zilch"!  But at the risk of mondegreening myself, I've always thought it was "China Clipper calling Alameda," as in a signal between two boats.

[Gazoo]

Stumbled onto this great investigation of backmasked lyrics in rock songs ("Fire on High," "Stairway to Heaven," et al):

http://www.textfiles.com/music/backmask.txt