Tag: Music

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 3, 20157:11 am

Flickr a Day 62: ‘To Breathe as One’

When making today’s selection, I chose culture over photography. The image isn’t representative of Mait Jüriado and his skills shooting portraits. The pic is one of 107 in his album “Estonian Song Celebration 2009“. He is from Suure-Jaani, Estonia, but lives in Tallinn, which is 149 kilometers north off the Gulf of Finland.

The amateur song festival takes place every five years, and the 2009 event marked the 25th celebration. Typically 25,000-30,000 singers perform, and there is an accompanying dance festival.

Storytelling by Joe WilcoxFeb 22, 201511:05 am

Road to Jericho

Spring 1985 in Washington, D.C., the cherry blossoms adorned the streets. I was 25, feeling virile and wanting to write something different. My lyrics typically tell tales of women, which interest me as a heterosexual man. By contrast, “Road to Jericho” is the hero’s story—man fighting against other men and weakness within himself.

I am no scholar of Old Testament stories but admit with some certainty that the tale this song tells isn’t in the Biblical record. Being unfamiliar with the historical period when writing 30 years ago, armaments aren’t right either. So I take poetic license, for which I ask your pardon if someone of Faith.

Critters by Joe WilcoxFeb 14, 201510:20 am

Cries by Day, Cries by Night

For Valentine’s Day, I present a sad song of lost love written in early 1979. Lyrics are same, but I made an alternative melody in 2014 that is lighter than the original’s more somber tone.

I wrote this song back in my cat-despising youth. If you asked why, I could present no answer for the attitude. Regardless, it is what inspired the verse, to which I soon after put to melody. I knew little about romantic love and nothing about loss then.

“Cries by Day, Cries by Night” is the fifth lyric posted since the new year. The others: “Dank Deep Eyes the Darkness“, “Disco Queen“, “Empire State“, and “Surrealistic Pillow“. More will follow.

Storytelling by Joe WilcoxFeb 9, 20156:56 pm

Dank Deep Eyes the Darkness

Some days creativity is like the California drought. I sit down to write, and no rain falls. But wanting to post something, I reach into my personal, secret archive of treasures, which for 2015 opens publicly. Sporadically, over the past six weeks, I posted lyrics to three songs: “Disco Queen“, “Empire State“, and “Surrealistic Pillow“—all written in the late 1970s. Today’s contribution is quite a bit newer but still not recent: March 27, 2004, finished at 12:30 a.m. ET. Others lyrics will follow over the months ahead.

This verse stands without melody and, honestly, lacks reading rhythm that would make a good song. Like most of my lyrics, the subject is a young woman—no one I know, and from none inspired. The only inspiration here is the dusty basement office where I worked, where unwelcome late-night pests came out of hiding.

Music by Joe WilcoxJan 25, 201511:15 am

Disco Queen

Following up sharing lyrics to my songs “Empire State” and “Surrealistic Pillow” is another from my more prolific lyrical writing youth—before prose became my profession. I wrote the first verse and melody some time in 1978. The Disco Queen refers to Donna Summer, who suggestively moaned in her hit song “Love to Love You Baby”, which released three years earlier and reached No. 2 on Billboard in 1976.

I tend to write lyrics in complete form, but words with melodies often start out and languish. I didn’t come back to finish “Disco Queen” until November 2003. In posting today, I remove the third stanza and ask commentary about whether or not to keep it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 16, 20157:08 am

Flickr a Day 16: The Darlingtons

Today’s pic is such startling contrasts that two universes stitch to produce the scene depicted in this other-worldly concert photo shot by Jason Parrish, on July 13, 2014. Look at how the bright, partly cloudy sky meets the canopied stage like mistaken halves forming a misbegotten whole. Then there is the people contrast—the crowd of oldsters moshing before the three young musicians.

Judging by the blue-and-white football—eh, soccer to Americans—jerseys, they are parents to the few kids low down to the stage and fans of the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. Jason shot the photo at Owls in the Park, Sheffield, United Kingdom. So there you go. In another universe, The Darlingtons still play together. But in this one, the foursome broke up about three weeks after the performance.

People by Joe WilcoxJan 12, 20156:52 am

Flickr a Day 12: Tribos Bar

Tight describes the playing of great rock bands. It also applies to the photos Alvaro Sasaki takes of them—in Brazilian clubs, cafés, and bars, where getting the shot means close quarters, big crowds, and hostile lighting. His best photos pull you into the performance. You can taste the sweat in the room, breathe perfume and liquor, and tremble to the vibration of music and stomping of the crowd.

The image above isn’t my first choice but the second, and I started with an unusually large initial selection—about a dozen, which is the most for any photographer in the Flickr-a-Day series. Alvaro’s musician performance pics are that good. I chose the audience shot because of the entire album set—Mestre Ouriço @ Tribos bar; 26 photos.

Music by Joe WilcoxJan 6, 20152:31 pm

Surrealistic Pillow

I am quite possessive about my songs, in part because lyrics and singing are natural, but playing musical instruments is not. Posting “Empire State” and now “Surrealistic Pillow” is an exposing experience. But since both will be part of forthcoming serialized vampire thriller My Blood, now is as good a time as any to share them. Coincidentally, this one, like the other, is 1979 vintage.

Every lyric tells a story, but “Surrealistic Pillow” has one, too.

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 31, 201411:03 am

Five Tech Products Changed My Digital Lifestyle in 2014

Looking back on this last day of the year, I wonder how my daily tech changed so much since the first. On Jan. 1, 2014, my core computing comprised Chromebook, Nexus tablet, and Nexus smartphone. Midyear, I switched out to all Microsoft—buying Surface Pro 3 and Nokia Lumia Icon. While commendable the effort, Windows poorly fit my lifestyle. Today, I’m all Apple—13-inch MacBook Pro Retina Display with 512GB SSD, iPhone 6 128GB, and iPad Air 128GB. I can’t imagine using anything else.

I abandoned my Google lifestyle for numerous reasons, with my desire to create more content rather than consume it being primary. Google gives great contextual computing, with respect to information that is relevant to where you are and even what you want. But Android and Chrome OS, and their supporting apps, aren’t mature enough platforms for consistent content creation.

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 29, 201410:22 am

I Hear No Evil in Beats Music Exclusives

Someone save me from the nonsense. My BetaNews colleague Brian Fagioli’s “Apple’s rumored iTunes and Beats Music ‘Exclusives’ plan is potentially evil” is top-placed story at the site today. I messaged the day editor (who hasn’t yet replied and may still be off for the holiday): “If it racks up any significant amount of pageviews, I am changing professions. The number of comments is disturbing enough”. Should you want me to stop writing for BN, and some readers do, by all means click, click, click Brian’s commentary.

I have two fundamental problems with the post: Sourcing and its point. Brian refers to New York Post story “Beats Music lining up talent for exclusive releases“. I tell reporters: “Write what you know to be true”, which can’t be when sourcing someone else’s news gathering. For the record: I trust the newspaper’s general reporting accuracy, so Brian stands more solid than if quoting a blog. That said, he and I write for BetaNews not BetaBlog. See my four-and-a-half year-old analysis “The Difference Between Blogging and Journalism” for a primer on why one isn’t the other.

Living by Joe WilcoxDec 25, 201410:03 pm

Vinyl is Vogue

Four days before Christmas, my 20 year-old daughter texted: “Out of the `60s, `70s, and `80s, which was your favorite?” That question, her reason for asking (“been listening to lots of Beatles”), and presents’ preference (“just like vintage things, haha—and music”) led me to make a last-minute purchase: Crosley turntable, from Urban Outfitters for 20 percent off. I also grabbed The Beatles “White Album”, which will be returned December 26 for full refund.

Vinyl is vogue right now. Nielsen SoundScan’s midyear report put vinyl record sales at 4 million units, a 40-percent increase over the same time period in 2013. The pace remains fairly constant, with sales approaching 8 million for all 2014—259,000 units over Black Friday weekend, a 50-percent year-over-year increase. In a time when online music purchases are easy and selective, vinyl’s tactile experience of holding the disc and setting the needle to it feels authentic; more intimate. In the not-so-distant future, some people will feel the same about caressing the printed page, when ebooks have displaced boundbacks like CDs did vinyl.

Living by Joe WilcoxNov 9, 201412:04 pm

Sunday Morning Playlist

In another life I was a music deejay. Many years later, my tastes are eclectic and rock/pop punk current. Working on any weekend requires just the right mixtape to flush creativity from aging synapses. Classic […]