[LAU] LAM annual Best of mix 2009

[Ken Restivo]

On Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 02:54:15PM -0500, Mike Mazarick wrote:
> 
> > Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> > I'm pleased to announce that the latest Annual Best of Mix for 2009 is
> > now up for your listening pleasure.
> > 
> > http://djcj.org/audio/lam
> 
> Thanks, Patrick for this !!
> 
> And to think this was all done with an old Radio Shack boombox and Audacity!
> ;-)
> 
> Actually the truth is a bit more complicated, so I'll give you guys an
> overview.
> 
> My brother and I have been talking for years about throwing a 'Recognition'
> party for an old jazz trumpet/flugelhorn player from Fayetteville, NC named
> Ray Codrington that all the jazz heavyweights in the area know, love, and
> have played with.   You may have heard some of his recorded work because of
> his recordings in the mid-60s with Eddie Harris, Stanley Turrinetine, and
> others.   He recorded what later became the 'jazz standard' called 'Freedom
> Jazz Dance'.
> 
> Well, my brother's wife got tired of hearing us go on and on about what we
> wanted to do and told me to 'make it happen'. 
> 
> It was easy, because Ray has a lot of musical fans and everyone was getting
> tired of getting together every decade or so for someone's death or because
> of some other severe crisis.   We ended up holding the event in the upstairs
> above a local woodwind repair shop.   The owner (Rodney Marsh) is a jazz
> player and has fixed up the upstairs to look like a nightclub so that the
> aspiring jazz players who take lessons at his shop will have a place to
> play.   A classical musician may aspire to a concert hall, but all a jazz
> guy is looking for is a gig in a nightclub.  What Rodney has created is a
> 'faux' nightclub because he doesn't have any liquor licenses (and there
> aren't any nightclubs around here suitable to play in).   There were about
> 120 attendees of the party over the 4 hours, and the place was always at its
> capacity of about 80.  Rodney is also a gourmet chef and only got to play a
> little bit during the evening.  He's played the flute lead on 'Night in
> Tunisia'. 
> 
> It was recommended by someone else that I use a local sound guy who had
> recorded Nine Inch Nails, American Idol, Matchbox 50, etc.   He is all about
> ProTools and he has an elaborate sound setup which included putting 5 mics
> on the drums, a $6k Neumann 'head' mic at the back of the room, etc.   As
> part of the deal, he captured the sound he mixed and gave me a download (on
> my disk) of the 16 tracks of raw WAV files.
> 
> After a lot of noodling around, I took a few selections from the 4 hours of
> music and put them in Ardour where I got a rough mix and eventually
> converted it to an MP3 so it would be small enough to download.  I hadn't
> figured out how to use the effects on 'Night In Tunisia' and I never figured
> out how to use the automation on any of them, so I would just 'set it and
> forget it'.   I'll eventually figure all of it out, and post some more
> stuff.   I've just got to find a block of time to do this.   You would be
> surprised at how 'unaware' the jazz guys are of basic recording.   They
> often wandered around on the stage and one string bass player literally
> refused to plug into the DI box for some reason (which means about 30
> minutes of the recording doesn't have a direct bass input.
>

Funny. Great story, great music, great pictures!

> Here are a few pictures of the event:
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/groups/1143697@N22/
> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054294&id=66106565&l=096dd86c33
> 
> 
> Just so you know, the 'which B3 clone is this?' is actually a real B3 and
> leslie.  If you listen carefully, you can hear when the tube went out,
> taking out the upper keyboard.  It was being played by a monster keyboard
> player named Chip Crawford.   Here's a YouTube of one of his performances:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSadt0OYsNw


Awesome, thanks for this!

> The singer is his wife Eve Cornelius.   She's a real 'diva' and both of them
> believe it is very important that I get a 'release' from everyone who
> performed because of her recording contract (a near impossibility and by no
> means worth the effort).
> 
> Which leads me to what my evil plans are...
> ;-)
> 
> April Fool's is coming.   You can get in on this joke if you want to.
> 
> Even though all these guys are at least in their 50s and many have been thru
> this at least once, all of them are convinced some record company is going
> to recognize their innate talent a give them a gazillion bucks for a
> recording contract.  They all still have stars in their eyes.
> 
> Here's the deal:
> I need somebody (else I'll have to figure out how) to write an email message
> to me telling me that their recording has had 25,000 downloads and is very
> popular with the Rave crowd in Prague and Poland.   Naturally, the eastern
> European promoters want to know if someone can perform live for about
> $10,000 plus travel expenses for a show or two, with a concert tour likely.
> The email message must have kremvax somewhere in the header and be released
> at 12:01 AM April 1 Prague local time.   They will want to know if I have
> releases for this to make sure it can be promoted properly and meet the
> European Labor commissions standards so that visas can be issued.
> 
> Later on April 1, I will need to get a second email from ASCAP stating that
> anyone who has signed a release is personally liable for the $.05/copy
> 'mechanical rights' for the 25,000 downloads and asks me will I forward the
> names of the people who have signed releases so ASCAP can deduct the
> royalties from their pay.
> 
> Maybe at this stage the European promoters become angry and withdraw from
> the deal, but ASCAP still wants to be paid...
> 
> ...
> 
> Around midnight after this dialog with the 120 people is finished and
> everyone is stirred up properly, we'll have to put out a giant 'April Fool'
> from Kremvax.
> 


I think that's be mean. Kind of like teasing a starving dog: "here, I got food for ya... naw, I don't!!"

That is one fscked-up industry. I have heard horror stories like this over and over again, and they still occur, though perhaps not as often as they used to. Your proposed stunt would be a totally believable scenario, which is sad.

-ken