From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V12 #177 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Sunday, December 2 2007 Volume 12 : Number 177 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse [William Steffey Subject: Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse Hey Kara, In the interest of fairness I should point out that NARAS only put me on the ballot for consideration, which was somewhat selective. I'm not sure if the final nominees have been announced, but I highly doubt that I could ever hold ranks with the likes of Little Mermaid, Ronald McDonald, Pepsi and Coke. On that tip, I saw a band last night play a cover tune with this verse: "Someone always playing corporation games Who cares they're always changing corporation names We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage They call us irresponsible, write us off the page Marconi plays the Mamba, Listen to the radio Don't you remember?" This well-executed & blistering attack of the music industry was very deliberate on the part of the artist last night, but as far as the giggling crowd was concerned it went over as just another campy 80's cover (hmmm.....) It's not a fox and grapes story, I'm ambivalent about the world of the Grammys & major distro. The low/no overhead apps and opps of the net make it a whole new world. I am a little nonplussed about the difficulty of commercial airplay however. Ah. Needed to get that out apparently. Thanks Kara! :-) - -William J. Kara Laidlaw wrote: > William made me snicker when he wrote, > > >> From: William Steffey >> Date: 2007/11/26 Mon PM 03:14:54 CST >> To: alloy@smoe.org >> Subject: Alloy: good thing I'm not a cake designer >> >> >> Can't tell which is worse, the fact that I mistyped 'birthday' or that >> my lazy nature was revealed due to my cut and pasting four times! Take >> two: Happy birthday, Mary. >> > > ````````````````````````````````````````````````` > Nuts...I didn't see Merujo's and William's wishes for Mary until today--my > outdated computer frustrates me so much that I only rassle with it every three > or four days. Happy belated birthday, sweet Mary!!! :^D And William, lots of > people say 'brithday' just to be silly! ;^) Furthermore, hey, what the heck-- > do what ya want, Mr. 5-Grammy-Nominations Steffey!!! :^D > > Love to everyone, > Kara > ```````````````````````````````````````````````` > - -- http://www.williamsteffey.com http://www.myspace.com/williamsteffey ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 15:03:38 -0600 From: William Steffey Subject: Alloy: 9.8 meters per second per second Hello again everybody, Just wanted to let you know that after 48 downloads from ws.com and 483 plays on myspace, I'm going to be taking "Weightless" down from both sites on Tuesday. I'm really happy with the way the track ended up and the attention it received. I've covered a handful of tunes over the years, so I figured Weightless would be just another little project. Not so. First off, how do you improve on a song that's already brilliantly written and produced? Also, whenever I approach a cover, I have to make it my own style. This presented a bit of a paradox because my production, chord voicings, and even aspects of my vocal style are boldly influenced by TD! So, it really made me do a little artistic soul-searching. All good stuff. Oh, furthermore, you guys are all nutty audiophiles, so I had to make the production a zinger as well. Granted, I had an edge because the tools available in 2007 on my LAPTOP blow away what was available when the original was recorded around 1982. I want to thank Thomas again for allowing me to put the cover online, and ALLOY for pushing me to a production level from which I can't retreat. Cheers, William - -- http://www.williamsteffey.com http://www.myspace.com/williamsteffey ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 16:26:55 -0600 From: "J. Kara Laidlaw" Subject: Re: Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse Whew! I'm glad William got it off his chest when he wrote, > From: William Steffey > Date: 2007/12/01 Sat PM 02:41:20 CST > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse > > > Hey Kara, > In the interest of fairness I should point out that NARAS only put me on > the ballot for consideration, which was somewhat selective. I'm not sure > if the final nominees have been announced, ``````````````````````````````````````````````` So it's more of a *consideration* for nomination thing, hmm? Oy, technical- ities. ;^) > but I highly doubt that > I could ever hold ranks with the likes of Little Mermaid, Ronald > McDonald, Pepsi and Coke. On that tip, I saw a band last night play a > cover tune with this verse: > > "Someone always playing corporation games > Who cares they're always changing corporation names > We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage > They call us irresponsible, write us off the page > Marconi plays the Mamba, > Listen to the radio > Don't you remember?" > > This well-executed & blistering attack of the music industry was very > deliberate on the part of the artist last night, but as far as the > giggling crowd was concerned it went over as just another campy 80's > cover (hmmm.....) ``````````````````````````````````````` Yeah, that song was originally done by Starship in about 1987, I think: "We Built this City". Google, shmoogle, I remember a lot about music. :^) But I've heard that song called one of the worst ever written...by people who don't understand what the songwriter was trying to say, probably! Or by record-label PR people, ha ha... ;^) Ack, the &%$%&#* recording industry--what a rat's nest! I'm not an insider, but I'm an 'outsider' who loves music. I need music the way we all need air, and I wish like hell musicians like yourself could be respected for your artistry and dedication and talent, instead of practically being ignored because you haven't licensed your music to sell running shoes or something. Yeah, it's all about publicity, isn't it: how in heck are independent musicians supposed to get radio airplay??? There's definitely a lack of what I would call a framework for getting excellent, heartfelt music like yours played on radio, so people could hear it, love it, and call the station to find out who played that *gorgeous* song. Do you remember hearing about the whole 'payola' scandal in maybe the 1960's, in which deejays were paid to play certain songs on the radio? Well, these days, 'payola' is probably better known as 'front-row concert tickets'. You can't buy' em, you have to win 'em, by being the ninth caller, ha ha. Ohhhhhhh, I have a big thing about injustice. I guess you noticed that. ;^) But anyway, the way I look at finding music by independent musicians is this: one has been told that in one house on one street, there's a gifted musician selling his CDs. But one doesn't have the street name or address!!! Musicians have websites, but how are people like me supposed to know where they are? Through following a few different musicians' careers, I've found out about CD Baby and Audio Lunchbox, so I know where to find all of the high-quality music I could ever want (currently hampered by lack of money, sigh). But most people just buy CD's by whoever's on the cover of Rolling Stone this month. *If* they buy CD's at *all*, and that's another topic altogether. *I* sure buy CD's, as I like to see the lyrics and the credits and stuff. Boy, we may have opened a huge can of worms here! And I don't think this is particularly off-topic because TMDR is an independent musician now...or should that be boat-renovator? Ha ha...hopefully he will end up as inspired as he thinks he will! :^) That's all I'll say about that, unless someone else picks it up. ````````````````````````````````````````````` >It's not a fox and grapes story, I'm ambivalent > about the world of the Grammys & major distro. The low/no overhead apps > and opps of the net make it a whole new world. I am a little nonplussed > about the difficulty of commercial airplay however. > > Ah. Needed to get that out apparently. Thanks Kara! :-) > -William > http://www.williamsteffey.com > http://www.myspace.com/williamsteffey ``````````````````````````````````````````` Glad to have helped! Peace and postive thoughts, Kara ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:18:08 -0600 From: William Steffey Subject: Re: Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse I'm (very) glad Kara wrote, >There's definitely a lack of what I would call a framework for getting >excellent, heartfelt music like yours played on radio, so people could hear it, >love it, and call the station to find out who played that *gorgeous* song. and also that she wrote, >Do you remember hearing about the whole 'payola' scandal in maybe the 1960's, in >which deejays were paid to play certain songs on the radio? Well, these days, >'payola' is probably better known as 'front-row concert tickets'. You can't >buy' em, you have to win 'em, by being the ninth caller, ha ha. Alot of times record labels will pay a radio station's program director a "consultation fee" so they can 'assist' the label is choosing which single 'might perform best' on the given format. Again, I don't get down about this. I've got many many djs across college/uni radio that genuinely dig what I do (and I don't even have to pay them!). I just got a myspace message from a happy fan in Isreal (have no idea how he heard about me) and a girl in the UK wanting to know when I'm touring. So, without leaving my apartment's second bedroom, via a little box with green flashing lights on it I'm able to reach listeners everywhere. Which brings us to the Dolby question. How is our man Thomas going to market his next album now that he's got the mad funds? Will he be content with the audience he's been continuing to build with smaller venues by himself and larger festivals with BT? or will he invest some of that capital in attempts to expand his fanbase by venturing deep into the pop-culture machine once again? The future is roses! - -WS J. Kara Laidlaw wrote: > Whew! I'm glad William got it off his chest when he wrote, > > >> From: William Steffey >> Date: 2007/12/01 Sat PM 02:41:20 CST >> To: alloy@smoe.org >> Subject: Alloy: cake design / pastry abuse >> >> >> Hey Kara, >> In the interest of fairness I should point out that NARAS only put me on >> the ballot for consideration, which was somewhat selective. I'm not sure >> if the final nominees have been announced, >> > > ``````````````````````````````````````````````` > So it's more of a *consideration* for nomination thing, hmm? Oy, technical- > ities. ;^) > > >> but I highly doubt that >> I could ever hold ranks with the likes of Little Mermaid, Ronald >> McDonald, Pepsi and Coke. On that tip, I saw a band last night play a >> cover tune with this verse: >> >> "Someone always playing corporation games >> Who cares they're always changing corporation names >> We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage >> They call us irresponsible, write us off the page >> Marconi plays the Mamba, >> Listen to the radio >> Don't you remember?" >> >> This well-executed & blistering attack of the music industry was very >> deliberate on the part of the artist last night, but as far as the >> giggling crowd was concerned it went over as just another campy 80's >> cover (hmmm.....) >> > > ``````````````````````````````````````` > Yeah, that song was originally done by Starship in about 1987, I think: "We > Built this City". Google, shmoogle, I remember a lot about music. :^) But I've > heard that song called one of the worst ever written...by people who don't > understand what the songwriter was trying to say, probably! Or by record-label > PR people, ha ha... ;^) Ack, the &%$%&#* recording industry--what a rat's nest! > I'm not an insider, but I'm an 'outsider' who loves music. I need music the way > we all need air, and I wish like hell musicians like yourself could be respected for your artistry and dedication and talent, instead of practically being > ignored because you haven't licensed your music to sell running shoes or > something. Yeah, it's all about publicity, isn't it: how in heck are independent musicians supposed to get radio airplay??? > > > But anyway, the way I look at finding music by independent musicians is this: > one has been told that in one house on one street, there's a gifted musician > selling his CDs. But one doesn't have the street name or address!!! Musicians > have websites, but how are people like me supposed to know where they are? > Through following a few different musicians' careers, I've found out about CD > Baby and Audio Lunchbox, so I know where to find all of the high-quality music I could ever want (currently hampered by lack of money, sigh). But most people > just buy CD's by whoever's on the cover of Rolling Stone this month. *If* they > buy CD's at *all*, and that's another topic altogether. *I* sure buy CD's, as I > like to see the lyrics and the credits and stuff. > > Boy, we may have opened a huge can of worms here! And I don't think this is > particularly off-topic because TMDR is an independent musician now...or should > that be boat-renovator? Ha ha...hopefully he will end up as inspired as he > thinks he will! :^) That's all I'll say about that, unless someone else picks > it up. > ````````````````````````````````````````````` > > >> It's not a fox and grapes story, I'm ambivalent >> about the world of the Grammys & major distro. The low/no overhead apps >> and opps of the net make it a whole new world. I am a little nonplussed >> about the difficulty of commercial airplay however. >> >> Ah. Needed to get that out apparently. Thanks Kara! :-) >> -William >> > > >> http://www.williamsteffey.com >> http://www.myspace.com/williamsteffey >> > > ``````````````````````````````````````````` > Glad to have helped! > > Peace and postive thoughts, > Kara > - -- http://www.williamsteffey.com http://www.myspace.com/williamsteffey ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V12 #177 ****************************