01/19/10
No, this article has nothing to do with the Ben Stiller movie of the same name. Last Saturday our local museum held a nostalgic display event featuring the rock and roll bands that originated from my hometown and the surrounding areas between the fifties and the eighties. A few weeks prior to the event most of us musicians received emails asking us to submit photos, thoughts, memories, memorabilia and even some vintage gear that they could display for the public. We all got name tags, which was a good thing since NONE of us looked like the photos on the wall that had been blown up to giant poster size.
Permalink09/14/09
Since Cybermidi’s inception more than seven years ago, I’ve been contributing not only this column, but a lot of the song/artist facts you see when you click on the latest demo on the home page. I’ve been too busy lately with the column and my own musical career to contribute to demo descriptions of late, but perhaps this column will make up for my absence. Here are some more behind-the-scenes facts about some of Flash’s sequences.
08/22/09
A lot has been written about the music of The Beatles. Critics and fans alike have analyzed and interpreted and picked apart every note they ever recorded until there’s nothing left to say, nothing new to learn about the music that changed the rock world beginning in the early 60s. However, in order to make that incredible music, The Beatles relied on four instruments that became the voice of the their music. Let’s take a little look into the background of the four most famous guitars in the world, shall we?
07/01/09
As you may already know, The Beatles wrote a lot of their songs about real people who had come and gone from their lives over the years. Some I don’t need to explain, such as The Ballad of John and Yoko. It’s obviously about John and Yoko. But it also mentions Peter Brown, Brian Epstein’s personal assistant, who knew the whereabouts of all The Beatles at any time. There were many more people immortalized within the lyrics of their music. Let’s talk about some of the other names mentioned in Beatle tunes, such as:
05/01/09
When I play with my duo we do a song by The Righteous Brothers called “Unchained Melody.” Not particularly one of my favorites, but my partner can reach the notes, so we do it. It’s my job to create the lyrics sheets with additional information that we can share with the audience. When I researched this song I found that this version was considered the best, although not the first…or second…or even third or fourth. Nope, The Righteous Brothers release was the fifth version of this song. That got me to thinking about other such occurrences, such as:
03/24/09
In past columns I’ve told you about my own personal experiences using MIDI files as well as some of my experiences playing for the past 43 years. I’ve shared with the Cybermidi readers some playing and sequencing tips I’d picked up here and there. I’ve described various hardware and software that has helped me with my solo performing jobs. Well, what you’ve gotten so far from me was just from my point of view. Suppose you could pool the information from dozens of solo performers and reap the benefits at one site. Well now you can. Here’s how.
03/01/09
2002 was a good year for me in a lot of ways. That year I left a job that I wasn’t really crazy about, I bought a new guitar, I split off from my duo to do a solo act and Cybermidi began operation on the web. Now, these last three events were linked together quite well. My solo act required quality MIDI files and Cybermidi fit that bill perfectly. SO, just to be silly for a moment, let’s imagine all the tunes Flash could sequence, if he had a mind to do so, and tie them in with anniversaries. How about…
01/01/09
I was a teenager in the sixties so naturally I’d have a fascination with The Beatles, more so than, let’s say, someone ten to fifteen years younger than myself. Occasionally I’ll run into one of these people and the conversation will roll around to The Beatles and their contributions to the music scene. They’ll usually say something about how The Beatles were overrated or hyped beyond reality or some other comment meant to minimize the accomplishments of these lads from Liverpool. Well, being the Beatle enthusiast that I am, this is one topic where I can debate intelligently with just about anyone. Just so we can put this subject to rest once and for all, I’ll present this column to all you naysayers so you will have the facts before you try to put down the most successful rock group of all time. For example…
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