Productions in a Pandemic Webinar Is FREE and Is A Must-Watch
Join CIMA as theyhave invited recording engineers and producers discuss best practices in the world of recording during today’s unconventional times. What has changed in this climate, or has it remained the same? Are there creative workarounds, workflow solutions to minimize sacrifices and/or compromises? Join CIMA and top recording engineers and producers as they discuss their viewpoints on today’s recording world.
This free webinar is targeted toward Labels, Artist Managers, Producers and people who represent an artist. Artists can represent themselves as well. These are for people interested in learning how engineers and producers are working through this pandemic and what they’re doing to get the job done. What are the sacrifices, if any?
Check out what Eric Ratz, George Seara, Annelise Noronha, and Jeff Dalziel has to say, and it’s going to brilliant. It happens on October 1, and sign up here.
Ani DiFranco Releases Powerful, Timely Anthem And Video “Do Or Die”
oday, singer/songwriter/feminist/activist/author DIY icon Ani DiFranco releases “Do or Die,” a poignant statement about our society as we head into a landmark election. The lead single from DiFranco stays true to what she started nearly thirty years ago, speaking truth to power. With “Do or Die” DiFranco implores her fellow citizens to vote to maintain democracy during these historically unprecedented times. Vote like our lives depend on it, because they do. DiFranco came out of isolation during Covid to record “Do or Die” with talented musicians Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Brevan Hampden, Matt Douglas and Van Westerland in Durham NC. Later her touring partners Terence Higgins and Todd Sickafoose added finishing touches to the track. DiFranco created the “Do or Die” video in collaboration with Dancing Grounds and New Orleans Dance Collective, local organizations in her residence of New Orleans.
About “Do or Die,” DiFranco says, “Nothing will stem the tide of suffering from COVID-19, economic crisis, police brutality, mass incarceration, endemic poverty, entrenched white supremacy and misogyny, deportation and detainment, gun violence, fire, flood, disease, pollution, irradiation, exploitation, forced reproduction, gender and sexuality-based violence and oppression, dis-information, propaganda, corruption, and greed… short of a functioning democracy! Let’s harness our outrage and vote. We can do this, if we try, if we do this like it’s do or die.”
Widely considered a feminist icon, Grammy winner Ani DiFranco is the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. While she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica and even more distant sounds. Her collaborators have included everyone from Utah Phillips to legendary R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker to Prince. She has shared stages with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Greg Brown, Billy Bragg, Michael Franti, Chuck D., and many more. Her last studio album Binary was released in June 2017 on Righteous Babe Records. Her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream was released in May 2019, and DiFranco released a No Walls Mixtape alongside the book, offering a new take on songs related to the memoir.
Mick Fleetwood Releases New Music and Video For “These Strange Times”
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer Mick Fleetwood released today a new recording and video for Mick Fleetwood’s Da*da*ism “These Strange Times,” available on Rhino Records. Originally released on Fleetwood Mac’s 16th studio album Time in 1995, the song was re-recorded adding thirty seconds of Peter Green’s “Albatross” to the end of the song and set to a brand-new video.
Inspired by an eighteenth-century painting, the newly released video and accompanying single artwork are centered around the idea of something greater than us, which lies at the core of our very human struggle to be our best selves.
“The project is about the energy of choice, of deciding if you want to be a part of the dark or the light when push comes to shove, which seems very apropos at this moment in history,” Fleetwood says. “It’s about how you read things, which is very important today. Everyone needs to be carefully paying attention to the information coming our way. There is subtext to everything and we need to be aware of that. When I first encountered the painting that inspired the photoshoot, it was a soul-searching exercise that I was driven to do but I didn’t know when would be the time to release it. Now I know why: the when is now.”
The spoken-word poem at the center of the song finds the narrator, Fleetwood, questioning his feelings and his thoughts, as he has found himself stuck between the dark and the light. The video is meant to be as thought provoking as the song is hypnotic, as the lyrics detail the struggle of the narrator.
“I hope the song conveys that life is about choice,” Fleetwood says. “God is everything, no matter what your belief system is. Being in love is God, no matter your creed. There’s a rejoicing at the end of the song when the narrator chooses the side of the light. The song is about all of us making that choice ourselves and the relief we feel when we are no longer caught in the middle.”
“This is something I wrote many years ago,” Fleetwood says, “and I want it to be nothing more than thought provoking. I want people to see and hear what they will in it. My hope is that by sharing these thought-provoking moments in my world that I can somehow open the eyes of others to things in their world and to the existence we all share, which is more and more endangered with each passing day.”
My Next Read: “The Big Life of Little Richard” by Mark Ribowsky
Little Richard blazed the trail for generations of musicians―The Beatles, James Brown, the Everly Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Prince . . . the list seems endless. He was “The Originator,” “The Innovator,” and the self-anointed “King and Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll.” When he died on May 9, 2020, The Big Life of Little Richard―a nearly-completed book―was immediately updated to cover the international response to his death. It is the first major biography of Macon, Georgia’s Richard Wayne Penniman, who was, until his passing, the last rock god standing.
Mark Ribowsky, acclaimed biographer of musical icons―the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding―takes readers through venues, gigs, and studios, conveying the sweaty energy of music sessions limited to a few tracks on an Ampex tape machine and vocals sung along with a live band. He explores Little Richard’s musicianship; his family life; his uphill battle against racism; his interactions with famous contemporaries and the media; and his lifelong inner conflict between his religion and his sexuality.
The Big Life of Little Richard not only explores a legendary stage persona, but also a complex life under the makeup and pomade, the neon-lit duds and piano pyrotechnics, along with a full-body dive into the waters of sexual fluidity.
By 2020, eighty-seven-year-old Little Richard’s electrifying smile was still intact, as were his bona fides as rock’s kingly architect: the ’50s defined his reign, and he extended elder statesmanship ever since. His biggest smash, “Tutti Frutti,” is one of history’s most covered songs―a staple of the pre-Invasion Beatles―and Elvis pivoted from country to blues rock after Little Richard made R&B’s sexual overtones a fundament of the new musical order. Even Hendrix, the greatest instrumentalist in rock history, toured with him before launching a meteoric solo career.
Whenever someone pushes the music and culture of rock to its outer borders, one should turn to Little Richard for assurance that anything is possible.
Video: John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones Perform “Boogie Chillen'” In 1989
Known to music fans around the world as the “King of the Boogie,” John Lee Hooker endures as one of the true superstars of the blues genre. His work is widely recognized for its impact on modern music – his simple, yet deeply effective songs transcend borders and languages around the globe. Each decade of Hooker’s long career brought a new generation of fans and fresh opportunities for the ever-evolving artist, and he regularly toured and recorded up until his passing in 2001.
Harry Styles’ Isolated Vocals For “Watermelon Sugar”
Tastes like strawberries on a summer evenin’
And it sounds just like a song
I want more berries and that summer feelin’
It’s so wonderful and warm
Photo Gallery: Dean Brody with Sacha at Toronto’s OLG Play Stage
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
You Need This Ukulele Cover Version Of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”
Check out Overdriver Duo’s impressive ukulele rendition of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
Anna Sofia Reveals Spellbinding ‘Broken Perfection Garage Session’ EP
Canadian 17 year old rising singer-songwriter Anna Sofia has cemented herself as an artist to watch for this year and beyond, gaining acclaim from the likes of Wonderland, IDOLATOR, American Songwriter, CLASH and more for stellar indie-pop showcase, Broken Perfection.
Today, Anna Sofia continues to showcases her otherworldly ability with the reveal of the Broken Perfection Garage Session, a wonderful stripped back version of the Jeff Hazin produced EP.
At just 17, the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has won critical acclaim, millions of streams and legions of dedicated fans for one simple reason: she’s being herself. Her music is not the result of focus groups, marketing or following trends. There’s no hindsight and no lecturing. She’s just an artist living in the moment, reflecting life back to the same people coming of age and navigating the drama of becoming an adult – with sophisticated but immediate indie meets R&B bangers that are totally free of pretense and bullshit, singing directly from the heart of the Gen Z experience.
While determined to reach as many people as possible, Anna Sofia has no manifesto or mission statement – just to stay true and speak to others. “I don’t have a message. It’s just real life,” she admits. “One day, I hope to fill stadiums all over the world. I want to have fans everywhere and have some way of helping them or guiding them through my music. My confidence comes from being myself and connecting with people.”