My Sullied Flesh

J. Michael Dolan's "The Box" Are you in or out?

This post called "The Box" comes from J. Michael Dolan's blog for Artists and Entrepreneurs. Living outside the box can be scary but, living inside the box can be death. Are you in or out? 

http://www.jmichaeldolan.com

The Box (Read time 0:33) Inside The Box: where the “known” lives. Outside The Box: where “uncertainty” lurks.  Inside The Box: the “right way to go.” Outside The Box: frowned upon by the others.    Inside The Box: common sense at work. Outside The Box: nonsense at play.  Inside The Box: withheld expression. Outside The Box: full self-expression. Inside The Box: requires conformity. Outside The Box: requires courage. Inside The Box: incarcerated. Outside The Box: liberated. Inside The Box: where the Caterpillar dwells. Outside The Box: where the Butterfly soars. While others insist on “tried & true,” artist & entrepreneurs get anxious and antsy when confined to any kind of regular routine. And while it’s the destiny of the others to maintain the status quo, it’s the destiny of artist & entrepreneurs to climb out of the box and report back to us what they find—through their lyrics, screenplays, art, books, music, movies, websites and extraordinary products and services. So, are you in or out?

 

Queens new vocalist, Amazing!

Queen has found a new vocalist to replace Paul Rodgers. He should be arrested with that much talent. Amazing!

You’ve Arrived When You Realize the Journey Never Ends

Another good article about the ups and downs of being a musician/Artist/creative.

Musical Mastery: You've Arrived When You Realize the Journey ...

www.notreble.com3/7/12

Push through those periods that are difficult, learn what gets you going again, and keep applying that to your life and routine. Above all, never, ever give up. You may just wake up one day feeling like you have arrived. But I'm ...

Musicians, What Keeps you going?

Artists, What keeps you going? Anyone with a dream or a vision, what keeps you going? Answer= Create or Die!

Musicians: What Keeps You Going? | DIY Musician

diymusician.cdbaby.com3/19/12 

 Musicians: What Keeps You Going? We've all heard Edison's famous words: “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.” For every success we experience, we've been given a thousand ...

Bill Evans on the Creative Process

Bill Evans on the creative process – Arts Anatomy

www.artsanatomy.com3/20/12

Jazz great, pianist Bill Evans talks and gives musical examples of how he approaches the creative process.

www.ArtsAnatomy.com

Bruce Springsteen explains his musical roots at SXSW 2012

What a great speach Bruce gives at SXSW 2012. Bruce talks about his musical roots in a very humble way.

I love that he talks about the Animals influence on his music. He sings a couple Animal's songs and says "That's every song I've ever wrote". Awesome!

Bruce Springsteen - SXSW - Keynote Address - HD

"The Boss" himself delivered an inspirational keynote speech in front of a packed convention center crowd. Springsteen talks about his influences, how he still practices his rock n' roll poses in his bedroom mirror, and he even picked up the guitar t...

Where is Orchestra Rock Today?

Where is Orchestra Rock today? | Orchestra Rock

www.orchestrarock.com3/2/12

Where is Orchestra Rock today? Like most genres, Orchestra Rock is constantly evolving . Some new bands combine art rock, experimental and orchestra rock to make a very interesting blend of genres.

Lyrics, lyrics, lots of lyrics.

Lyrics, lyrics, lots of lyrics.

I have posted all the lyrics from the soon to be released "The Sullied" album as well as all lyrics from the Meltdown album. They are available at http://TheSullied.com/lyrics.  

 You can start listening to songs from the new album at this link Free Download.

Become a Friend of The Sullied and You can purchase CD's at a discount in January from http://www.thesullied.com 

            
         

   http://www.thesullied.com

My favorite Drummer Paul Motian dies at 80.

Drummer Paul Motian passed away on Tuesday. A sad day.

 His work has been a huge influence on me, from his days in the Bill Evans trio to his many recordings as band leader of the Paul Motian Trio.

  The record that changed so much about how I personally think about music was Paul Motian's Trio record "Monk In Motian". I am a huge Thelonious Monk fan and spotted this record when it was first released in 1988. As a guitarist I was obviously blown away by Bill Frisell as well as saxophonist Joe Lovano, but it was really what Motian was doing on the drums that intrigued me the most. I think I was almost through my first listening of Monk In Motian before I realized there was no Bass player. He used a deep tuning on his kick drum and it always covered the bass part. You always heard the melody and song form in his playing even when it was more abstract. Just a very musical player.

  I really heard his playing as a very complete painting that set the foundation for Lovano and Frisell to further abstract and color upon. One of the great ones! RIP Paul Motian.

Here is the link to the New York Times article.

Paul Motian, Jazz Drummer, Is Dead at 80

By BEN RATLIFF

Published: November 22, 2011

Mr. Motian, a drummer, bandleader, and composer of grace and abstraction, was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the last 50 years.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/arts/music/paul-motian-jazz-drummer-is-dead-at-80.html

Oh Yeah!!! Black Sabbath, the Iron Men of Rock, to Reunite.

Oh Yeah!!!!  Black Sabbath to Reunite. We will see if they get er done. Look forward to giving it a spin.

 

ArtsBeat: Black Sabbath, the Iron Men of Rock, to Reunite

By By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

Published: November 14, 2011

The four original members of Black Sabbath have announced they will reunite next year to put out their first album of new songs in three decades with the original lineup and to do world tour.

Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler and drummer Bill Ward 

 

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/black-sabbath-the-iron-men-of-rock-to-reunite/

Musical Instruments as Carry-On Luggage

Attention all musicians & friends of musicians,

If you are a traveling musician or someone who has ever carried an instrument on board a airplane, you know this can be tricky. Carrying on an instrument is  necessary for many working musicians, especially with the high prices of checking bags on most airlines. Instruments are fragile, personal and very expensive. Instruments are a musicians livelihood. Please take a moment to help musicians and support this legislation that will  help insure that musicians can continue to carry on their instruments. Honestly traveling with an instrument has gotten much better over the last 5 years but there was a time not to long ago where different airlines had different policies toward musicians and there instruments. It was frequently left up to the mood of the flight attendant as to whether or not you would have to gate check your instrument.  Lets not go back to this policy!  Thanks, Matthew Sully  The Sullied

LEGISLATIVE ALERT - ASCAP has been involved in the quest for a uniform policy supporting airline carry-on provisions for musical instruments since shortly after 9/11/01. This quest has grown into a coalition of organizations representing over a million musicians, songwriters and composers. There is currently a Senate FAA reauthorization bill that needs your immediate support to give you the right to carry your musical instruments safely On Board. Click this link for the details and to send Senator John Rockefeller an email of support for this bill.

 

Balanchine Black and White week at Kennedy Center.

 

 Went to The Kennedy Center last night for one of the three programs being performed by the New York City Ballet this week for Balanchine Black and White Week. Awesome!

  An amazing night of dance set to great works by composers Corelli, Vivaldi, Webern and Stravinsky. The New York City Ballet never disappoints. NYC Ballet is performing so many great works this week with the NYC Ballet Orchestra for Balanchine Black and White Week. I only wish I was not traveling this week so that I might see all three programs. There are still some tickets left at good prices. Check it out!

NYC Ballet at The Kennedy Center

Mixing The Sullied's New Album.

Mixing tracks 7,8, and 9 of The Sullied's new record this week with Producer/Mixer Jim Ebert at Cue recording studio in Falls Church VA. 

So great when all the pieces of the puzzle come together and the sound in your head comes to fruition.

 I will be giving away some downloads in the coming weeks as well as discounts on the CD prior to its April public release. Sully

The Average Age of a Top-Touring Artist: 46...

Some very interesting research done on age and the state of touring acts posted on Digital Music News by Paul Presnikoff. I would be very interested to see the age average of ticket buyers for some of these acts such as Kings of Leon. I'll bet the audience is older than the band.

The Average Age of a Top-Touring Artist: 46...

 presnikoff 

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Is it any wonder that younger fans are leaving the building?  The latest figures show a mass exodus of 12-to-24 concertgoers, thanks partly to recessionary effects.   But even in good times, $100+ seats are tough to stomach, and the biggest grosses often belong to older artists.      

How old?  We did a canvas of the top 50 grossing tours of 2009, using Pollstar data, and researched the age of every front-line performer.  So, the Jonas Brothers - ranked 9th with a gross of $96.6 million that year - came in at ages 18, 21, and 23, while Simon & Garfunkel - 50th at $25.8 million - clocked 69 years each.

And the average age? 46... and getting older!  And just for kicks, the average ticket price on the top 50-grossing shows?  $76.44. 

Indeed, the largest-grossing acts are typically closer to a Garfunkel than a Jonas.  The list of over-performers included U2 (the top-grossing band that year, late 40s/early 50s), Metallica (late 40s), Cher (64), No Doubt (now in their 40s), Bob Dylan (69), and Kiss (hitting 60s).  On the other end, some youth was coming from tours like American Idol 2009 and Miley Cyrus (18).   

Here's a breakdown of who was performing on stage...

Average age of a top-touring artist, 2009.  Based on the top 50 grossing worldwide tour ranking as calculated by Pollstar.

The Pollstar ranking is here.  

And, here's the breakdown of every artist's age.  

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/112910averageage

Spinal Tap on Jazz.

 

 

HDtracks of classic Jazz albums? I wonder.

Verve Music has announced it is making available recordings at 96/24 HD quality sound. This includes "many of the world's chart-topping and seminal jazz recordings". This is a huge jump from your standard CD rate of 44.1/16. While this sounds really exciting for new recordings, I wonder how effective the conversion from tape masters to HD quality sound will be. I have been on jazz sessions recorded at 88.2 and I must say there is a audible difference in quality. You can hear the individual quality of the bass, the shimmer of the cymbals, the air moving around the instruments. With an acoustic band this is wonderful. I just question the validity of creating HD recordings of Verve's classic catalog. I already own these recordings on LP & CD and other than the once convenience of the CD and its lack of skips and pops, this digital upgrade in my opinion added little if any improvement to the recordings. In fact to my ears it just highlighted the limitations of the recording process of the era. 

  So as for this announcement I see two things happening.

1. A whole lot of noise reduction.

2. A label trying to sell the same catalog for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th time.

78, 33 1/3, Mono, Stereo, Cassette, CD, MP3, HDTrack. 

Verve announcement 

Some tracks from "Meltdown" and more!

I've posted some tunes from my last CD "Meltdown" The Sullied. Getting close to having new tracks from the new Sullied CD. Very excited to have it all coming together just like I heard it in my head. Hope you enjoy these selections.  Thanks, Sully

Getting close! Seven more tunes done for next Sullied CD.

I am in the studio again today recording drums and will have seven more tunes done for the next Sullied CD. Hopefully I will be able to get them mixed in the near future (budget permitting). Very pleased with the tracks. Drummer Jay Nichols has done an amazing job with some very challenging tunes. They are coming together just like I heard them in my head. That is a great feeling!

I have been living out of my suitcase on the road for the last two months and not posting to my blog very often. I return to the DC area this week and will be posting regular updates, including some over due reviews and new tunes. Thanks for checking out my blog.

Great interview with Ed O'Brien of Radiohead.

Here is a link to a great interview with Ed O'Brien of Radiohead about the groundbreaking release of "In Rainbows". He discusses the artistic empowerment they realized from the digital release as well as there unique marketing technique. Very inspiring!

Interview with Ed O'brien of Radiohead

Reminded of a great quote by the late Hunter S. Thompson

A friend of mine and fellow musician just sent me this great quote by Hunter S Thompson.

This has always been one of my favorites.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S. Thompson