Saturday, May 22, 2004

Review: David Byrne at Berklee Performance Center Byrne offers a brilliant, joyful journey of sound. David Byrne is one of the few stars of the rock era who is both genuine eclectic and deep musician. During a dozen years with the Talking Heads he masterminded the group's exploration of art-funk, New Wave minimalism, radio-ready guitar pop, and intricate world beat. Byrne's 10 solo albums -- the latest is "Grown Backwards," for Nonesuch -- have been ... [Boston Globe -- Living / Arts News] 10:28:15 AM

Ottmar on His New Recording 'La Semana' - Via Metastar Weblog CD Baby. Music: La Semana Mood: amused Also, OL, I found this picture around online...where is it from? http://www.cdbaby.com/covers/o/t/ottmar.jpg - Adam Solomon ? 5/21/04; 11:43:59 PM Adam, Adam, Adam, I always have to worry about you or Carol snooping around the web and digging up stuff. : ) That is a picture of an advance CD cover I typed up myself a few weeks back. I have been trying to get my new music onto iTunes for about a year. Sadly iTunes does not respond well to artists - either that or I have a bounty on my head and don't know it. My split with Epic Records/Sony Music was completely positive and I doubt that anything was "requested" by them. I believe this is more likely due to Apple's incredible arrogance. Anyway, when the Apple Audio Marketing Manager came out to see Canton's set-up at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga last year, I thought I had it sewn up. He gave me a name at iTunes to contact, which I did right away. I was then sent a PDF form to fill out and fax back to iTunes with all the information about myself, about the album (nouveaumatic) and about SSRI. When I had not heard back in a couple of weeks, I followed up with another email. I found out that the person I had contacted was no longer at iTunes. What happened to the fax I sent, I inquired. Probably in a pile somewhere, was the answer. Good to know that my data is safe! Then I contacted the new person in charge of independent labels at iTunes. No answer. Soon I received another name at iTunes from a friend whose friend worked at Apple. This should be easy they said, here is what you have to say.... - you guessed it, no answer. I don't like being ignored, so I made a last attempt and another friend gave me yet another name at iTunes and a magic line to use in my email. This will work 100%, as this person works with this person and knows this person and xyz is a big star. OK, another email, mentioning all of the magic words and names - and no answer.... Since iTunes did not to respond to me, I was seeking a different way to get my new music onto all of the different music download sites and CD Baby seemed like the solution. They are now acting as my "Digital Distributor" in return for 9% of the revenue. Not just for iTunes, but a long list of music download sites they work with. Unfortunately CD Baby has a strange system going. You can only get Digital Distribution from CD Baby if you send them 5 CDs for sale. One CD goes to their library and they use it to rip into all kinds of formats, the other four get sold. They deliver the music in whatever file format a site requires on Hard Drives they sent out. In order to get "La Semana" online with a bunch of the music download sites by the time June rolls around, I sent CD Baby 5 advance CDs that were not meant to be sold. Their work-around was to set a ridiculous price for those CDs. Well, hopefully CD Baby will get the new album onto iTunes and all of the other sites by the Summer.... Once the official "La Semana" DigiPak edition is done, and we are only a week or so away from getting those copies, it will be available from CD Baby as well as directly from us. The LImited Edition will only be available from us, of course. I have to say trying to work independently is difficult. From the refusal of iTunes to talk to me, to the refusal of Billboard Magazine to review albums because they are "not in traditional stores"... It has been a very hard year for us and frankly, if "La Semana" doesn't bring a turn-around, I will spend 2005 to think of something new to do with my life. Maybe become a resident guitarist in a hotel on the coast of Mexico? But, to end this post on a positive note, it ain't over until the fat lady sings, and we have many weeks of touring ahead of us and much could happen before 2004 is over. NF sold a lot of copies on the strength of word-of-mouth and while "La Semana" is a more sophisticated album than NF, I also think it is a deeper and richer album and could spark something in the general public. PS: The "La Semana" bio is up on our site. [Ottmar Liebert] [Metastar] 10:23:27 AM

George Lucas' THX 1138 THX 1138. I am shamed to think that I have never seen this movie. I intend to resolve this. George Lucas' first feature film is coming back to theatres to promote the DVD Release. In 1971, a visionary filmmaker named George... [The Movie Blog] 10:10:21 AM

Accept No Substitutes Still no substitute for the Who. The Who's standing as one of rock's most influential and enduring acts is without question. The band has suffered the loss of two founding members, drummer Keith Moon in 1978 and bassist John Entwistle in 2002, yet it has soldiered on to build on its legend status. All of which made the more human aspects of the group's ... [Boston Globe -- Living / Arts News] 10:00:18 AM

Shades of Expressionist Fab / EFC - Bela Lugosi's Dead (MP3) And Bauhaus. Bela Lugosi's Dead [MP3, 8.7MB]. [The Cartoonist] 9:47:45 AM

Via The Cartoonist / Via Things Primary Colours. De Stijl. Edited by Theo van Doesburg, Leiden, 1917-1932. 8 Volumes (90 numbers). Via the incredible things. [The Cartoonist] 9:34:21 AM

Seattle's New Public Library Seattle's new Public Library. I have mentioned this Rem Koolhaas design before. What a beauty. Great article in the Seattle Times. [Ottmar Liebert] 9:32:02 AM