I got Jevette's new album just a few weeks ago. Awesome. If you like Tracy, you'll love her. I'm hoping to help her get an mp3.com page soon.
3/18/2000 09:01:26 AM | link to this post

Fisher news! Their song "I Will Love You" is gonna be played during the season end episode of WB Network's "Jack and Jill." Also the band will soon be recording for their next CD. It's being produced with the help of Farmclub and is slated to be released this August.

Yes, I'm a fishfan. =)
3/18/2000 10:10:04 AM | link to this post

Guess what just came in the mail from CDNOW? Well how could you guess? I know, stupid me. I ordered the album "Part of Me" from the band 40 Miles Out. They're a local Texas band with a crisp, light and delicious sound, similar to the Eagles or the Doobie Brothers. Awesome album. I heard "Keep On Running" and "Summer Rain" at their mp3.com artist page and just had to check it out. Twelve songs for eleven bucks. Good deal. I was hoping to catch these guys live, but they still don't have any gigs listed at their webpage. Besides, if they're anything like Kickstand they only play on the weekends, when I'm working. I really need to get me a real job..
3/18/2000 08:20:59 PM | link to this post

Okay. So ChatterVox is on the web after all. So sue me.
3/17/2000 01:34:33 AM | link to this post

Been back from SXSW2000, but haven't had a chance to put anything here in the music log. And I'm still way behind with my mp3.com stuff. Lotsa people still writing me every day asking me to listen to their stuff and I just don't have time. It's frustrating. I wish I'd been able to talk to Michael Robertson during the conference. Find some way of convincing him to put me on the payroll so I could critique mp3 music full time. However, he was too busy showing off the technology. I only glanced at his presenation on Tuesday, but it was the same routine I'd already seen in the real player files he put on the website. I mean his presentation was nothing new, and it was just him talking. This would have been a perfect example for Robertson to let other people tell him what they thought of the technology, but no he had to run at the mouth for a half hour. As I left the room, this other guy was shaking his head. Then he looked over at me and said how Michael Robertson just gave him the creeps. "He's so whitebread," the guy said. "The future of music in those hands? I don't think so." And someone else mumbled about how mp3s were already outdated technology anyway. I dunno. I like mp3s. I love the art and talent using the technology. However, no matter where I look it always seems like the revolution, in its many forms, eventually gets spayed and neutered by the commercial economics of the very powers that the rebellion is trying to squelch. It's like watching snakes getting defanged. Mp3 claims it wants to revolutionize the industry, and maybe it is, but Michael Robertson doesn't present himself as anything more than just another guy in a suit. Is it just appearances? Is it just jock vs geek? I can't tell anymore. I just know that even a company like mp3.com which claims to have its hand on the pulse of the music youth, doesn't. And I've yet to see any corporate entity out there honestly know what's going on, or how to address the consumer without somehow losing a resemblance of humanity. Am I making any sense? I want to support independent music. I just feel like it's spinning wheels going nowhere. There's so many forces repressing the revolution.
3/16/2000 10:40:24 PM | link to this post

We're going about this all WRONG people!

The music industry has lied to us and continues to lie to us every day. We fell for the scam hook, line and sinker. You know what? Let RIAA lobby the government and the courts and get their way. LET THEM kill Napster because you and I both know it'll just get replaced by something even more resistant to legalities, like mp3's Beam-It program (which when you look at it is bulletproof, unless RIAA buys off the judge). Let RIAA find some way to enforce the illegalization of copying their crap from their labels and their musicians. We don't NEED them. Riffage, MP3.com, Dallas' own EtherStream! Go to where the mp3s are legal. Mjuice. World Wide Bands. Epitonic...

Go where independent artists have given their permission for their music to be heard by the masses the way music was meant to be heard and not bartered like merchandise. Something that Rhett reminded me of the other day. This CD you hold in your hand? It's a piece of plastic. It means nothing. What really matters is the performance.

Face to face meeting your public. Singing your songs and playing your instrument and making a connection with other souls. That's where the magic happens. That's where the dreams come true. The fame and money come on their own after that. IF you're good.

The thing is, you gotta get the world to want to beat that path to your door. They won't do that unless they know how you sound. THAT's where independent mp3 technology factors into the future. Before now, musicians had to go through this obnoxious and painful system: a corporate machine of topheavy middlemanagement. A disgusting display of the worst humanity has to offer. Jealousy. Backstabbing. Dirty Deals. Fine Print in the contracts. Paybacks. Overhead. And that was just to get the guys in suits to buy the band coffee.

Not only will mp3tech erode the big music CD industry, but it will also level the playing field and allow the CONSUMER to decide what is good music. Today, the music industry tells the public what is good and what is not. Mp3s let people find the truth out for themselves. Now, the middleman is downsized. The musician plays the music. The consumer listens. If the consumer likes it, he buys it. Say goodbye to mister suit and tie.

Did you know that when you look at all the media entities in the US, accumulatively they are owned by less than two dozen corporations? When you follow the paper trails back through holding companies or just look at them on spec, that's what the picture is. There are no successful 'mom and pop' media outlets anymore. Any smalltime newspaper or radio station that was even remotely successful has been bought up like real estate for a shopping center. Everything is corporately controlled now.

So when Entertainment Tonight and Larry King and Oprah Winfrey and your local news report and People Magazine are all telling you that Madonna's latest CD is a must-buy, should you really listen to them? Even if you've liked Madonna in the past, shouldn't you be just a little sceptical?

Music wants to be FREE dammit! And Mp3 tech is very legal despite what some people think. If a musician (or a corporate entity that the musician foolishly signs off their rights to) refuses to allow permission for copying, okay fine. I'll go with that. I'll go one further and never listen again to any artist who insists on that. If I hear Billy Joel make an official statement like that, as much as I love his music I will personally take every CD and cassette of his that I own and throw them right in his face.

From now on it's only independent artists for me. Only cybersaavy artists that I want to support. Only artists who know that it's just a piece of plastic and it doesn't mean anything in the final analysis. The music is what's important. The music is where the true value lies, and if you're really good, people will want to support you. And if the "big name star" musicians of the recording industry know that it's the music that's important, they'll tear up the contracts they signed to those suits and join the true revolution.
3/11/2000 02:11:00 AM | link to this post

A long long time ago, Dallas had two big newspapers. The Dallas Morning News (which I affectionately call the DeMoN) and the Dallas Times Herald (known sadly as "the one that got away.") DeMoN effectively killed the Herald, and claims to be the one true newspaper for Dallas. If not the world. It somehow falls short. It's also owned by a company called Belo, which is a corporate behemoth that owns many newspapers and other media news organizations throughout the country. A small (at the time) upstart free weekly known as The Dallas Observer took up the fight, and last I checked still runs a weekly column called "BeloWatch" which regularly takes a bite out of the DeMoN, and has even become a bit of competition for it.

What does this have to do with music? Well.. Dave Marsh is doing to the RIAA what the Observer does to the DeMoN and Belo. Marsh writes a regular column at Riffage.com that calls RIAA onto the carpet. And he doesn't pull any punches. This just further verifies what I was saying earlier: The RIAA and those assholes in suits who operate as the middleman between you and your favorite artists are NOT operating in the best interests of musicians. They are operating in their own best interests and fear mp3 tech because it threatens to topple the unethical money machine that RIAA and its ilk have built up over the decades. They've between you and your music and they refuse to budge. Stop supporting them. Stop buying anything that is produced by Time-Warner-AOL, Seagram's MCA, Bertelsmann's BMG Sony and Capitol-EMI.
3/11/2000 09:40:12 AM | link to this post

[edited repost from ZachsMind]
I was just reminded by Jim Scott, bass player for The Touch, that the CD Release Party for Chattervox is gonna be tomorrow night. I didn't want to miss that! (but I'm seriously considering going to Austin for my weekend for SXSW) I preordered a copy of their latest CD and haven't gotten it yet. I was gonna pick it up whenever the release party happened. Plum forgot about it. Dayam!

By the way, Chattervox isn't online yet, but they're a group of four supremely talented women, each with a generally similar taste in folk music but dramatically different tastes in how they each approach that genre. Man, if they had a website on the 'Net I could point them out to you. Great music! There's a fiddle that underlines most of their songs. Then three of the four ladies alternate with different instruments from classic guitars to flute to electronically amplified mandolin - I shit you not! Hrm... maybe I should be posting this information to my ZachsView music Blog?

The album is gonna rock. They're great fun live, and know how to get an audience electrified.
3/11/2000 11:16:36 AM | link to this post

"There's a crack. Somewhere. In this cup that I keep trying to fill. And I can't stop."
3/10/2000 03:59:29 AM | link to this post

Was just sniffing around GoGirlsMusic.Com. Nice. A bit rough around the edges and spartan in places. Heart's in the right place. It's based in Houston Texas. My question: is the music industry still a "bed of testosterone" impossibly restricting women artists from success? It seems everywhere I look there are opportunities specifically for women, or minorities. If such organizations developed for white males, they'd be quickly squelched. I'm beginning to wonder who is truly being repressed now. I wish someday it wouldn't matter what gender or color or whatever you were. I wish the only question would be, "can you play?" No discrimination. Isn't an all-grrrls group just as discriminatory as a boys club? At what point do we say the playing field is level and fair?

I've been working with artists here in Dallas to create a Dallas Area Music organization with the intent to help any serious artist in the north Texas area. I was at Fat Ted's in Deep Ellum the other day and noticed a banner for DallasMusic.Com. Are we repeating efforts better done elsewhere? Is DAM really necessary? The more I do my homework, the more I realize I could never do enough homework.
3/10/2000 04:25:38 AM | link to this post

South by Southwest

Well this is cool. Guess who else is using Blogger? Austin music fans attending the South by Southwest conference next week. Wish I coulda made it now. I have to work weekends. It's really cramping my style. ..Am I right in reading that it's March 12th to 14th? Sunday, Monday and Tuesday? If I headed down there immediately after work Sunday morning, I could live out of my car i guess for a couple days... Maybe get a hotel room..Maura's gonna be there? And Derek? Matthew Haughey? Ana? Shauna Wright? Lance Arthur?? Damn, why doesn't this kinda shit ever happen in Dallas?? Hrmm... this is very tempting...
3/10/2000 05:02:29 AM | link to this post

A friend of mine just recommended Moxy Fruvous, comparing them to Oingo Boingo. I can hear the comparison, but I think they're closer to Rockapella or They Might Be Giants. Of course if you happen to be familiar with any of those bands you know the genre we speak of here defies comparison. You just have to hear them for yourself.
3/9/2000 08:57:35 AM | link to this post

I was entertaining my ladyfriend the last day or two and haven't gotten a lot done, admittedly. Not that I'm complaining. =) After she left I did take an opportunity to play with a new software proggie I bought. Acid Pro 2.0 allows me to add background music to some Spoken Word stuff I've been doing for my MP3.com - ZachsMind Artist page. I just uploaded a new version of my Yellow Jackets piece it to mp3c. If everything goes well, it should be available for public consumption there in a few days.
3/8/2000 06:48:13 AM | link to this post

Ricci OReilly from E-Mates just wrote me about what I'm doing in here. There's a song on that page about the Internet called, appropriately enough, The Internet Song. They hail from British Colombia. And to everyone who's emailed me, I'm still trying to get to everyone. But there's a lass sleeping in my bed and well, I really should get off this damn thing and go join her, even though I'm still not tired. *smirk*
3/7/2000 05:20:22 AM | link to this post

Sunday Night at Deep Ellum Pt I

God I am so exhausted. Did a whole shift at work. Came home and dorked on this thing, as you can tell from the previous entries. Then called Jim Scott from The Touch and was reminded there was a MusiciansDFW meeting that I didn't want to miss. It was this past afternoon. So I drove to that. Met two members of TarryTown and let them borrow my copy of The Touch's CD. Then Jim and I checked out local music stores. I bought a new microphone and a preamp so I can make better mp3s for my artist page. Also bought Acid Pro which is a cool software proggie, so I can make background music for the Spoken Word pieces. THEN instead of getting some sleep, I came home to change clothes and take a shower cuz of the Club Dada Open Mike Night.

The Touch opened at that venue tonight, and man they were tight! There was some level problems. Their vocals were a bit lost under the guitar, but their drummer Ken was out of sight tonight. I'd never heard their percussion so vibrant. Towards the end of the set, the face on Ken looked haggard and down, then half way through the third to last song, it was like an angel whispered something funny in his ear and he suddenly lit up and smiled and found that second wind. I couldn't believe he was still going! Fuckin' energizer bunny! ANIMAL. With everything he'd channelled into those skins up until that moment, just when I thought he'd pass out, his chest heaved and the hands flew into a flurry and he was right back into the rhythm. Amazing!

Some of the tunes were written by Jim Scott the bass player. And naturally he gives himself a kickass bass riff. I mean he wrote it, right? But after one particular song, he had to step back for a second. He took off his unbuttoned overshirt, leaving just the T-Shirt, and rubbed his forearms for a second before they jumped into the next tune. Now, both Ken and Jim have forearms that you'd swear were taken off Popeye. Big guys in the upper body. Jim had put so much into the music that about halfway through it was starting to noticably hurt. Pace, guys! Ya gotta pace yourselves!

Though Lee's vocals were hard for me to make out, his guitar work was impeccable. He switched guitars at one point, and there was some feedback, but then they kicked into their own variant on the cover Come Together from the Beatles and the slight feedback in the silence actually accomodated the song and made it more powerful. Walls Of A Playground was not one of my faves of theirs before, but tonight there was something special about it. Can't put my finger on it but I see it in a new light now. I think it was something Lee did with the lead guitar, but I couldn't figure it out. And they got a new (well old reworked) piece called Passion Play that I hope makes it on their next album. They've been putting some hard work into their practice sessions. Their taking the music in a less dark, more energy driven direction and it shows. More party-driven and fun. All three of the guys were putting everything they had into it. Afterwards Jim Scott showed me the blood blister on his finger from the bass. Ouch! They rocked though, it was worth it.

Well, I can say that. They're gonna really be feelin' it in the morning, I'm sure. =)

THEN! What a treat! Jevette showed up to play some tunes! I didn't even know she was there and I couldn't help but smile when I recognized her. She's a delicious folk artist. She just walks into the room and it lights up. Her music is like a seductive woman massaging the stress out of your temples.

If you like Tracy Chapman? She's right up your alley. If you don't? She's right up your alley. She has this tune called I'm Not Tracy that's funny and adorable. My fave tune of hers is Tender Roni Baby. It's about a woman coming across a man who's basically jailbait. She has a sense of humor that's endearing and a heartwarmth that increases the temperature of the room.

Just go listen to her she's amazing. She has a presence on stage that is so... she's a true Texas treasure. There was this one song (You Took My Love Away, i think) where at a point she took one syllable from the song (the word Heart, i believe. Yeah that's it I'm hearing it on her album now) and her vocal just soared into the silence of the room. She left the audience spellbound. People were talking at the beginning of her set but halfway through all eyes were on her. Breathtaking. Her CD is called Everything begins with One and yes I own a copy. I heard her once before play at the Gypsy Tea Room. She hosts a Diva Showcase semi-regularly: the best female performers in North Texas. Jevette's a great treat and a precious jewel of Deep Ellum.

[yes Jevette. I'm listening to your album now. For the second time. Just got tired of your CD staring at me. *smirk* Love track 8.]

And THEN! As if that weren't enough!

TO BE CONTINUED...
3/6/2000 04:00:30 AM | link to this post

Sunday Night at Deep Ellum Pt II

This guy's a hustler. You have no idea. An unassuming presence with a soft confidence that is not conceited but is truly engrossed in the music that pours forth from him like expensive wine. Or vodka. I drank a lot of vodka tonight.

He came in tonight wearing just a pullover shirt and jeans, carrying what looked to my uneducated eyes like a regular acoustic guitar, but I later found out it's one of those kindsa guitars that other musicians drool over. No pearl inlays or fancy stuff. Very unassuming appearance but a wholesome, full and rich sound. And he just walked up to the stage and set up. Very quiet voice. Head bowed down solemnly. I wasn't expecting shit from this guy. I've heard some acoustic artists in Club Dada. It's usually when I get a chance to go pee before the next full band. And I HAD to go pee, but something about his very matter-of-fact and inconspicuous ways kinda perked my attention.

Then he started to play. After his first song. He introduced himself and said simply in a very quiet, almost scratchy voice, "all I ask is that you watch the guitar, and let yourself spin." And I did.

If you haven't heard this guy play, you do not appreciate the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the things in your life that you take for granted. Your very life will be realized to you. I mean stuff you do every day. Simple things. Stuff that's always been there. Suddenly it'll be like something came along and tapped you on the shoulder and said quietly, "see that? That's cool isn't it? You do it all the time, but in its own small way, it's really neat isn't it? You should appreciate that for a second. You should just acknowledge the quiet precious things in your life that you don't normally see."

His music is like stopping to smell the roses on a busy day. His name is Rhett Butler. I shit you not! Remember this name. Kinda hard to forget. Get this. It's hard to explain this. Seeing him live is just outstanding! Why? Okay. You know how 95% of the guitarists in the world just hold the guitar by the neck with one hand and hold down the strings for chords, then the other hand strums right at the round hole near the bottom of the guitar? Regular routine stuff right? All guitarists do this, right?

Rhett Butler TAPS the NECK of the guitar. At times it's like hearing two different guitars simultaneously. He uses the hand that normally just holds down strings for the chords, and you can barely see it, but he almost strums the strings with those fingers, and the result is a breathtaking sound that keeps changing. I was just staring wide-eyed at his finger work, like a kid trying to figure out how the magician does his tricks.

Early on, for one song, he left the neck for a moment and played the guitar like normal. Now, later I talked to him about this and he says he just does that to get the different sound. He likes to change it up and keep things interesting. However from my perspective looking at it while he was playing, it was like he was nonverbally saying to the audience: "See? I can play like everybody else does. I just choose not to." Then he went from the classic way of playing back up to the neck with this almost whimsical elven smirk on his face.

This guy had the entire room in the palm of his hand. The entire ...everybody there! Wrapped up in his swirling magic. Like he was some wizard's apprentice toying with forces just barely in his control, with this almost dangerous sensation that any moment everything can go wrong. Occasionally I thought I heard him hit an offbeat chord and everything was about to falter, but he just smiled and kept on playing and it all unfolded perfectly like a lotus blossom. I can't think of enough similie and metaphor to properly convey this!

At times I thought for sure I was listening to a synthesizer. At other times it sounded like a bell ringing, or a bass drum, or someone mischeviously running and sliding on a patch of ice on a cold winter street. He'll tap the higher strings while treating the lower two like a bass, so it's like there's two or three guitarists playing together. If you closed your eyes you'd swear it was more than one person making these sounds. And remember. I had to pee when he started his set. I couldn't leave cuz I didn't want to miss anything. So I'm sitting there and the vodka's going straight to my bladder and I need to pee but I just can't leave! Now THAT'S a sign of an artist who keeps your attention!

Now, there are other artists who do this. Eddie Van Halen made it famous, I'm told. During and after Butler's set, I was sitting there with guitarists: people who are highly skilled in their own right, and they were comparing this guy to names that escape me now, but they're big talented artists. Big names in the industry. Jim Scott was saying this guy wasn't just a guitar player. He's a virtuoso. Someone who's devoted several years to making the guitar sing. They were comparing Rhett Butler to guys who tap the neck of the guitar, but most of them do it to electric guitars. Rhett Butler does this acoustically. He uses a normal looking guitar that's mic'd at the hole and plugged into an amp. He's got an album called Solitaire that I just got done listening to twice back to back [before I put Jevette's in *smirk* ].

In this country, there might be a dozen people who can tap the neck like this on an acoustic guitar. And maybe they're better than Rhett. Rhett's very humble about it. He thinks he still has a long way to go to be as good as he thinks he can be but I think he could stop now and... I mean shit! Perhaps out of SIX BILLION people on this planet, there's MAYBE FIFTY people who can do this. That's how rare and precious this is!

This was a rare and precious night! Thank you Touch, Jevette and Rhett for a very precious and memorable evening.

You haven't lived until you hear Rhett Butler play. His inspirations and influences are so diverse! At times he's using the guitar like a slide guitar. Other times like it's a bass. Still other times there's percussion.. At one point I swore I heard a heartbeat. It just stirs raw emotions inside. I was spellbound. How can anyone do this to a guitar!? I swear what he does to that thing must be illegal in some states. And occasionally he has this almost euphoric expression, mouth agape, eyes closed and face aimed at the ceiling. It's like the soul of Jimi Hendrix is with him, and he's practically making love to that guitar! Outstanding work!

He's got mp3s at his website, but nothing compares to watching his craft live. You'll listen to the mp3s and you'll swear there's another guitarist there with him, but it's just one guy and one guitar. Simply mesmerizing. I'm telling you, the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex has scores of incredible UNTAPPED talent just waiting to be discovered.

Anyway. Beautiful night! I walked away from Club Dada tonight and took in the sounds of the streets and marvelled at the beauty of women who walked by (except for this one person who Lee and I swore must have been a man in a dress), stared up into the night sky... Damn but it's great to be alive!
3/6/2000 04:01:52 AM | link to this post

Here's hoping I've done this right. This'll be my second Blog. The intent here is to create a place where I can post my thoughts and opinions about the best music available on the Web. And I won't be wasting my time with artists you've already heard of; artists already getting more than their share of attention in mass media. In most cases these artists featured here are predominantly available via the Internet. Most of them are operating from a grass roots perspective. Churning out their CDs using their own funds and accumulating status and popularity the old fashioned way: they talk to their fans and they play their music in local live venues throughout the world. You may not know it, but there are artists in your own home town that I bet you'd go gaga over, moreso than any artist you see on television or hear on the radio. You can find them on the 'Net and I'll help show you where to look.
3/5/2000 10:16:37 AM | link to this post

A rundown of how I have the links in the upper right organized at the moment. Texas Tunes features artists from my home state. And I choose them not just cuz they're local, but because they shift my nads into third. Must Hears A-Z consists of artists I love just as much. They're just not within driving distance of me. Then there's Eargasmic which is for websites that contain software you'll need or they offer access to mp3s and other information about this revolutionary new medium for music. STOP listening to the radio, man! Start listening to the Web!
3/5/2000 10:29:24 AM | link to this post

Two years ago, in May of 98, I wrote what amounted to be my first online review of an independent band. You can read it here. Apples and Oranges is still a great band, and although they still haven't made it mainstream, they're still one of my favorites. I highly recommend them. Not sure how long this review will be on the 'Net. I didn't renew Facing the Mask because I didn't think I'd ever need it again. Parts of FtM may eventually find their way here, or I may break down and renew it. Provided Ryan is still speaking to me. =)
3/5/2000 11:48:22 AM | link to this post

Zach Garland is a 33 year old red blooded american male living in Dallas Texas USA who is terrible at describing himself (myself) so this time we'll just delete the old and replace with absolutely nothing whatsoever. You'll just have to guess what I am. Animal, vegetable or mineral?

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