This ad is not quite a fully Apple commercial, but it should be. In 1977, Oklahoma computer seller High Technology, Inc. made what’s likely the first TV advertisement for the Apple II computer. It’s a quick journey into the abilities of computers back then, with visual effects that Apple still uses today. Ha! Just kidding. It looks like a million years ago.
How A Mistake With The Tape Recorder Gave Johnny Cash His Biggest Hit
In Cash: The Autobiography, Johnny Cash said that he purchased a reel-to-reel recorder “with savings from the eighty-five dollars a month Uncle Sam paid me to fight the Cold War.” A mistake actually caused his song to be the classic we all know now.
I was on the eleven-to-seven shift in the radio intercept room one night, listening in on the Russians, and when I got back to the barracks in the morning I discovered that someone had been messing with my tape machine. I put on a Barbarians tape to test it, and out came the strangest sound, a haunting drone full of weird chord changes. To me it seemed like some sort of spooky church music, and at the end there was what sounded like somebody saying “Father.” I played it a million times, trying to figure it out, and even asked some Catholics in my unit if they recognized it from one of their services (they didn’t), but finally I solved the puzzle: the tape had gotten turned around somehow, and I was hearing Barbarian guitar chords played backward. The drone and those weird chord changes stayed with me and surfaced in the melody of “I Walk the Line.”
A mistake isn’t a mistake until your next move.
25 Facts about the Science of Music
On this mental_floss List Show, John Green shares some little-known facts about the science of music.
Seth Rogen’s Insane Tiger Story
While on The Graham Norton Show, Seth Rogen talked about two bizarre experiences that came out of making The Interview: his security guard and the tiger they needed to use for the movie.
Steve Albini on artists respecting the creative impulse
It is imperative for an artist to be honest, to respect the creative impulse, wherever that may go. Anything less is just decoration or inconsequential humming. Sometimes the resulting art is repugnant, but I believe the world is better for it, that it is made richer by having those thoughts explored. Essentially any theme or subject could trigger memory of trauma depending on the context.
The reason we value art is its ability to move people, its ability to be larger than itself and engender a greater experience, an experience that can inform an entire lifetime. In some cases that greater experience is unpleasant or insulting, but it is there.
-Steve Albini, in Listen
The Beach Boys’ Isolated Vocals For God Only Knows, Sloop John B, and Wouldn’t It Be Nice
With one of the most in demand concert outings of the year, music legend Brian Wilson is extending the final performance run of his Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour and announcing a slate of new North American show dates for 2017 to celebrate and perform the iconic album Pet Sounds for a final time. Currently on the road and performing his last shows of the year, the tour will pick up again in the spring with an initial 37 new dates added to the Pet Sounds: The Final Performances tour run. VIP ticket presales begin today with general onsale beginning Friday. A full list of tour dates is below with up-to-date ticketing, show information and more at www.brianwilson.com.In addition, fans everywhere can now purchase the autobiography “I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir” (De Capo Press), available at retailers everywhere.
So, a good enough reason to take a listen to three songs of isolated vocals and endless harmony. Released by The Beach Boys in 1966 on their Pet Sounds album, all three tracks were produced by group member Brian Wilson.
Want to build a career in music? Get this book.
A follow-up to the successful A Career in Music: the other 12 step program, A Career in Music: building your inner circle focuses on how to build your team as an artist. “A Career in Music: building your inner circle” answers the questions: How do I get a manager, a booking agent, a record label, a publisher, a producer and other important people and companies to help my career? How do these business relationships work? What do the contracts look like?
This book will help aspiring recording artists to surround themselves with the right people and companies to move their careers forward.
After over two decades in the Canadian music business, Bob D’Eith has learned a lot about how independent artists have succeeded or failed. This book delves into the basic tools that every independent artist should have in today’s complicated and ever changing music industry. More than ever before, artists are being expected to develop themselves. That means understanding many parts of the business both traditional and cutting edge.
Record Label In A Box has everything you need to set up and run a successful record label as a business
Record Label In A Box is a kit that comes with everything an artist or an upstart entrepreneur would need to start their own record label and dive head first into the music industry. The product comes in an actual physical box, as the name would suggest, which contains a notebook, a few pieces of paper and a USB stick. It may not look powerful at first, but the information stored on that thumb drive and online, is where the true value lies.
Depending on which package a consumer opts to buy, one of these boxes contains access to business services and online resources, all of which are necessary to creating a new company right. Buying into Record Label In A Box comes with ISRC codes needed to sell music legitimately, help distributing an album to hundreds of digital storefronts, contracts that have been drawn up by legal teams and that can be signed without the need to hire a lawyer, an online site that shows up-to-date analytics about how certain tracks or collections are performing, the ability to register for the Billboard charts, calendars and lists of opportunities, and plenty of other valuable features. Ditto can also register an LLC if needed, and the company follows up on all customers once a month to see how the record label is progressing and to see if anything else is needed to help the business succeed.
Turntable sales will hit $194 million in 2016, up from just $19 million in 2005
When the digital age hit, turntables took a back seat to compact disc players. Later, MP3 players and smartphones hit the scene. But the comeback of vinyl records has led to a renaissance for record players.
Mat Weisfeld runs VPI, a high-end turntable business his father started in 1978. Sales were sagging a few years ago, Weisfeld told CBS News’ Kenneth Craig, but today things have turned around — and sales are booming. “I’d say it’s easily doubled if not more,” Weisfeld said.
The Consumer Technology Association predicts turntable sales will hit $194 million in 2016, up from just $19 million 11 years ago.
We the North Pole: Drake-Inspired Ugly Christmas Sweaters Are Out
Started from the bottom, now we cheer! RetroFestive.ca has got a reputation for itself now, being Canada’s leading Ugly Christmas Sweater and Suit emporium! New for 2016 are “We the North Pole” Ugly Sweaters, featuring a Drake doppelganger taking a break from the CN Tower for views from the North Pole. Retro Festive also offers “We the North Pole” t-shirts with a depiction of Drizzy wearing a Santa hat.
Another slam dunk for any Christmas list are Toronto Raptors Ugly Christmas Sweaters in Men and Women’s styles. These fun and festive sweaters keep Drake and Raptors fans warm when they’re running through The Six in the snow.
In addition to its flagship store in Oakville, Retro Festive will host a booth at the inaugural Holiday Fair in Nathan Phillips Square December 8 – 22, 2016 with an assortment of ornaments, stocking stuffers, apparel, and other festive finds that are also available at RetroFestive.ca.
In 2007 Tyler and Jordie Schwartz of Oakville, Ontario founded Retro Festive to meet the growing demand for holiday movie collectibles and Christmas kitsch. Tyler is the author of A Christmas Story Treasury (Running Press) published in 2013 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of America’s favourite Christmas movie and recount it’s humble Canadian beginnings. For nearly a decade, Retro Festive has made shoppers of all ages feel like a kid at Christmas!
