djkoob's Friends
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends View]
Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
[ << Previous 25 ]
| Monday, December 21st, 2009 |
thosquanta
|
2:16p |
hey milwaukee, see ya wed night. ...not that anyone reads LJ... ...stupid selective websence... |
not_eurotic
|
12:47p |
|
| Friday, December 18th, 2009 |
voland
|
4:12p |
|
| Thursday, December 17th, 2009 |
voland
|
11:02a |
Pitchforks
A 12% increase on property taxes, in the middle of a depression, after cutting my salary, FUCK YOU. |
not_eurotic
|
10:19a |
|
not_eurotic
|
8:53a |
|
| Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 |
strangemodegirl
|
11:37p |
Record plea...
Dear friends, I am looking for a particular record. Online it goes for quite a bit more than I can afford to spend. If any of you happen to own this and want to give it to me, or if you happen to see a copy somewhere for less than $30, please buy it for me and I will send cash. The record I am looking for is Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting", on vinyl. Thank you in advance. Love, Amy Current Mood:  cold |
billicious
|
10:30p |
You know what's really weird? Tonight I'm feeling kinda reclusive and wanting to be left alone. But there's nothing wrong, I'm not sad, there's no drama, etc. I'm just wanting some private time to myself. Most people feel this way somewhat regularly, but I never really do. I actually take it as a very positive sign in my personal growth. I think I used to seek out people somewhat neurotically, because if I was home by myself with nothing to do, I sat thinking about all the problems I didn't have solutions for. Life sure has changed. And so now, Chelsey is going to bed and I'm having some time to myself. And it's great :) |
not_eurotic
|
3:49p |
|
flightofscarlet
|
1:04p |
CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER
Newest Alice in Wonderland trailor-->omfg! DArk & cReepy; just how I like my stories *grins* I soooo must have an Alice-style tea party one of these days. Hmmm, maybe for my b-day I shall make it Alice themed ;) ...and only the mAd invited! 'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat:
`we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.' |
| Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 |
suibhne_geilt
|
11:14p |
Time for the quarterly meme again?
So. The "Ask me five questions" meme has been going around again. A couple of weeks ago, I asked a couple of people for a few, and since one of them asked about the biggest differences I've noticed between WI & RI, I figured I'd actually live here a bit longer before I went ahead and answered my questions. So here's the really embarrassing part. I accidentally deleted the comment email from whoever asked me that... So, if it was you, it's probably a comment I made to a post you'd made about Nov. 23rd, give or take a few days... However, I still have two sets of the questions answered. ( From chemical_laser )( From bleaknimue ) Current Mood:  okayCurrent Music: DJ Koob live set from the Inferno |
eevilyounggirl
|
8:55p |
|
thosquanta
|
11:05a |
more for my reference than anything, tracks we've got for the next album: 1 pedipol (done) 2 castle (or 36 wallace or whatever we call it. done) 3 three (done...tho the remix is not mastered) 4 paper dolls (done) 5 alstas? (maybe not include, done) 6 8080 (this is all written...we haven't messed with it in a while tho) 7 song in a (unno if we'll use) 8 karma (which needs some heavy cutting, but there may be some ideas in there) 9 "intro noise" (3/4 country tune...music is done, needs jen vocals...and a title) 10 metal (need burny bass and vocal rerecord.) 11 jesus and women (heh. rockabilly! will be added to live set tomorrowish) 12 president (working on the live version...) 13 intervention (we've got the live version pretty well hammered out, i'd say.) 14. torroid (probably nixing the opening and keeping the more synthpop part...needs a chorus...else could be split into 2 tracks.) 15. history (just needs my vocals recorded.) and theres a couple other ideas on the sequencer as well... we should really find a damned label one of these days. |
| Saturday, December 12th, 2009 |
nulldevice
|
1:43p |
The Fine Art of the Presskit
Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there. The band press kit or one-sheet is like the band photo – it’s a necessary evil. You’re gunna come off looking like a douchebag no matter what, but you still need to do it. It’s a lot like a resume in that you can’t get a job without one, you can’t outright lie on it, but you have to polish it to make your accomplishments sound kind of awesome, and you have to walk that fine line of polishing without insulting the intelligence of the reader. In the end, you want to have a passable press sheet, since it’s going to be your first foot forward to promoters and if you’re consistent it’ll be the basis for your web presence, press reviews, etc.
I’ll admit know that I’ve written some bad ones. I’ve certainly read some bad ones, and some even worse ones. I have also read some good ones, and what follows are some tips I’ve gleaned from those. I don’t know if I’ve written a good one yet, but I’m trying. I’ve written a lot of resumes, though and the same sort of tips apply.
- Be direct. You’ve got a page, tops, to say who you are, what sort of music you make, maybe a few press clippings. If you spend half of the page exclaiming that you’re the most awesome band ever before anybody has a clue why they should even care, you’ve lost.
- Good grammar costs nothing. Seriously, people, do you want the primary representation of your musical endeavor to read like it was written by a 7th-grader? You may be tempted to pepper it with l33tspeek or try and sound like PsychicTV by using “thee” and “ov.” Don’t. It’s not cute anymore. It might be genre-appropriate to use some colloquialisms or slang – if you’re a dubstep act, using the word “wobble” is fine, for example, or if you’re Dizzee Rascal, you can occasionally use the word “wiv.” Still, it’s dodgy. Some promoters and the general public may catch on, others may just think you can’t use a spell-checker.
- You are not a genre-defying, uncategorizable, one-of-a-kind band. Nobody, nobody believes that when they read it, so don’t bother to write it. Even if, on the off chance you are a genre-bending totally unique act, it’s just not something you can come out and say. You are not redefining anything, recontextualizing anything, or reinventing anything. You can describe what you do. If you can describe your sound well, that’s a stronger advertisement for your work than any “reinvention” BS.
- Nobody cares who mastered or engineered your last album, or what gear it was recorded on – unless of course those people or gear are coming with you on tour or are always going to be working with you. This is a reasonably new development, and I’m not sure where it came from. I’m starting to see a number of acts who spend far too much time detailing exactly what sort of mixing board or synthesizer or producer or engineer was involved. Trainspotters like me may think it’s cool, but unless it somehow contributes to the overall perception of your band, it’s not worth the space. The rare exception to this is the producer, since they can have a direct impact on your sound, but even then they have to be established enough for it to make a difference. For example, if your producer was, say, Brian Eno or someone of that stature – those guys don’t need your money, they have to like you first.
Basically, you don’t sell your house by listing the plumber.
- An aesthetic is a tricky thing to work with. If you’re a band with a specific visual identity, you have a tough line to walk. What a band looks like won’t sell records, and while a stage act may bring bodies to a show, it’s really hard to sell that line to a promoter who’s only got a demo CD and a single photo to go on. It’s even harder if your look doesn’t match the music – if by design you’re a techno band that dresses up in 14th-century Italianate costumes, well, that may be your thing but an unfamiliar reader is going to just see “schtick.” Some descriptions are going to sound played-out or bandwagon-y no matter what you do, or no matter how true they are, too. It’s best to leave that for later.
- Who you’ve opened for needs to be relevant – and true. If you’re going to say you’ve played with U2, you’d better have opened for U2 and not just played the “Bob’s Grocery Local Talent Stage” at the same enormous music festival as them. It’s ridiculously easy to look this stuff up, and if someone can call bullshit on any small part of your presskit, the whole thing gets tossed. Similarly, even if you did open for someone reasonably respected, it should likely be something that has some cache – opening for the “Pet Sounds” Beach Boys is a vastly different thing from opening for the “Kokomo” Beach Boys, for example.
- If you’ve been a dick to someone, leave their name off your presskit. If you played a gig with another band, if you didn’t get along or they wouldn’t remember you, don’t namecheck them. Unless we’re talking about the Rolling Stones, a promoter in your genre is probably going to have the ability to call up and check. “Hey, yeah, Tom…these Null Device guys…oh, they’re asshats? Thanks.” Or worse “Hey, Tom, these Null Device guys…Null Device. With an N. No, Device. So you don’t remember them? They claimed to have played with you…huh. [click].”
- Be consistent. A well-written onesheet can serve as a promotional tool in a lot of situations. If you use the same, or at least very similar, language and content on your website, your myspace, your facebook, your demo, etc, you’re going to put forth a nicely professional and hopefully well-thought-out image. Obviously certain media will require some tweaking, but the point is simply that tying it all together means you don’t ever have to worry about contradictory or confusing information anywhere a promoter, label honcho, distributor or even a fan might look. It also saves you a lot of work.
- A little informality is okay. While this is like a resume, this isn’t a resume. You don’t have to write it like an insurance policy. That said, you don’t want to go too far in the other direction. You’re still trying to sell something, in this case your music, you’re not trying to get a pen pal.
- Try to focus on the now. This is a tough one, since by definition your previous glories are what are making you attractive to a promoter or label. There is, however, a limit. It’s one thing to talk about your last album, or your last two albums. To reference something you did 15 years ago? Unless it was something massive that still has repercussions today (or this is a comeback tour for a band that was huge in the 80’s) it’s going to give the distinct impression that you’ve not done much noteworthy since.
- Edit. Edit, edit, edit, edit. Pretend this is your final term paper in high school. It’s got to be spot-on. Check it over a zillion times. Have a friend read it. Get opinions from people you trust. Anything awkward-sounding, or poorly-written, is going to jump out and distract the reader. There are still enough grammar fascists and orthography tyrants in the world that there’s a not-insignificant chance that one of them may be on the receiving end. A misplaced comma or [gasp] quotes used for emphasis instead of facetiousness is going to jump out and be the Thing That They Remember.
- Don’t expect everyone to know what the heck you’re talking about. While you can assume a certain level of commonality and familiarity on musical genres, if your references and definitions are so obscure or bleeding edge – or worse, you un-ironically coin a genre name for yourself – you’re going to get the promotion equivalent of a blank stare. It’s the trickiest part of writing up self-referential press; you know what you do, but you have to write for the perspective of someone who has no idea who your references, influences, and baselines are.
- Go easy on the comparisons. A few are alright, and in fact probably necessary if you’re just starting out. It’s okay to say you’re influenced by Depeche Mode or Kraftwerk or the Beatles or whatever. But don’t go nuts. This is still about you, so a paragraph of your influences is probably overdoing it. If your sound-description is clear enough, you can reign back even further – everyone can pretty much take an influence to kraftwerk as read if you describe yourself as making minimal techno. Too much and you’re wasting space that could be used for your own stuff, and additionally it could be setting the distinct impression on the reader that you’re just not that original.
|
| Friday, December 11th, 2009 |
voland
|
12:59p |
Evey year like clockwork. The imbeciles that run Madison fail to do their job, and use environmentalism as an excuse for being mental midgets. My tiny rural hamlet did a better job cleaning the roads then Madison. What is the carbon footprint of the artificially created gridlock, that results for the idiocy of Madison city government. Salt the goddamn fucking road you fucking assholes. |
not_eurotic
|
7:28a |
|
suibhne_geilt
|
12:02a |
Why I miss home...
So. On account of being homesick, I check the one of the Madison news sites daily to see what's going on. Sadly, there's been an unnerving sudden spate of killings (for the non-locals, some cockbiscuit killed his girlfriend & their 2 y/o daughter, then went and killed his ex girlfriend and their 23-month old daughter, then offed himself. And a couple of days later in a town near Madison, an off-duty cop at a bar grabbed some dude's ass, which led to a fight that got the cop & her boyfriend shot to death...). But there's still the fun stuff that reminds me of why I'm going back home as soon as I'm done with this project. Like a bona fide account of somebody bagging a tirdy-point buck. And, Wisconsin is considering being the first state in the union with an Official State Microbe - good ol' Lactococcus lactis, which is used in cheesemaking and other dairy products. Oh. And it snowed like a motherfucker, and then got bitch-slapping cold. Which I don't miss much. But I do feel bad for Ms. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bleaknimue for having to deal with shoveling all of it while I'm out here. Current Mood:  amused |
| Thursday, December 10th, 2009 |
strangemodegirl
|
11:29a |
This is hilarious! I am going through some boxes, trying to do some cleaning and organizing. I found all my Mom's old writings. Notebooks, printed pages, all her poems and stories. Most are too dirty for me to read because you know, my MOM wrote them! But, I will keep them forever. Anyway, here is a poem she wrote that I think some of you may enjoy. My Mom was a pot smoker pretty much my entire life. ( Smoker's Lament )This was written sometime in the late 70's or very early 80's. I am guessing around '79 or '80. My Mom ladies and gentlemen, a real corker. Current Mood:  amused |
| Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 |
flightofscarlet
|
5:17p |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIOLET_BAYOU!!!!!! A few thoughts on today: 1. omfg, the city of Madison shut down for your birthday! 2. I wish we were back @Anna Marie(?) beach today!! &/or somewhere oceanic! 3. The song winter springs to mind; for the snow and for you!!! When you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I doxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo http://vodpod.com/watch/1367738-tori-amos-winter-full |
not_eurotic
|
6:48p |
|
flightofscarlet
|
4:17p |
|
not_eurotic
|
12:19p |
|
sleepingzebras
|
12:29a |
|
| Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 |
not_eurotic
|
9:30p |
|
thosquanta
|
4:55p |
SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOW! |
[ << Previous 25 ]
|
