Was ist das princip?

Rock Camp Benefit Concert at the Sebastiani Theatre
This Friday, August 8, Sonoma Music Arts School will host a concert at the Sebastiani Theatre. Opening the bill are The Sea Cows of Doom, the young band (ages 11-13) from Sonoma Music Arts’ August Rock Camp. Local bands The Ducks and The Whiskey Thieves will also perform. The show starts at 1:00PM and there is a $10 suggested donation at the door. People may also get tickets in advance by calling or visiting the school at 996.7661 with your donation.

Teen Camp for Singers (A Girls Music Empowerment Camp)
Brought to you by Youngdahl Music Studios and Sonoma Music Arts School. This is a four-day teen camp for beginning singers. There will be a free voice placement consultation. Students will record a CD with a variety of modern styles in four days. The camp runs between Monday through Thursday, August 11-14, from 1:00PM to 6:00PM. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to sing in a professional recording studio setting with a pro singer, instructor and producer.

Open House on August 21
Sonoma Music Arts School is having their Fall Open House to welcome parents and students to the new School Year. Come on in and meet the faculty, tour the facilities and catch some live music. There will be refreshments and raffles of great prizes to attendees. The Open House starts at 6:00PM on Thursday, August 21 (a day after the start of the School Year).

Youngdahl Music Studios and Sonoma Music Arts School Announce Partnership
Sonoma Music Arts School is proud to join forces with Youngdahl Music Studios to bring Real World Training for singers and instrumentalists. The new partnership is presenting a series of new performance and recording workshops designed to develop world-class musicians and singers. Come learn more about the exciting new offerings of this partnership at the upcoming Open House (see above) on August 21, starting at 6:00PM.

Brodie turn me on to artist Nate Harrison’s documentary about the Amen Break. The “Amen Break” is an important building block of electronic music. It’s cool syncopation, dry, crisp sound and relative obscurity made it a natural for 1990’s experiments with loop-based music. In fact, Mr. Harrison and others claim that entire genres of electronica are based almost exclusively on the relentless repetition of these two bars of 1960’s drumming.

After you absorb its simplicity, head on down to Chris Millilo’s blog, where he notated it for the world’s drummers to study.

I wrote this article entitled “How to Buy a Guitar”, and put in on a “Page” in this weblog, as opposed to a “Post”. I am writing this “post” to link to the “page” because I want to receive comments, feedback, etc. on the article and you cannot make comments on a page, but you can on a post. Pretty convoluted, if you ask me, but read the article, and leave your comments here.

Remix Magazine exists. I signed up for its Mbox 2 giveaway, because, you know, I think it can come in handy.

An online museum of old Wax Cylinder recordings, with a great timeline of the development of the first medium for distributing recorded music.

We had our first Open House on Friday, December 9th. Most of the teachers were able to attend and mingle with the prospects. Of special note were Jon, who played his heart out in the Jam Room, Diego and Christine, who played an almost clandestine duet in the piano room and Brodie, who worked the crowds and played his beats at the end of the night.

Attendance was good. There is a buzz starting, and I hope it keeps building up in January. So make that resolution to get into music and give us a call.

This came out in the Sonoma Valley Sun/Sol, one of our our local newspapers. Read the full story. Tim wrote a very nice article about us, even if he misspelled “accordion”.

Today, I did my first ever radio appearance. I had a generous 20-minute spot in our Community Radio Station’s (91.3 KSVY) Mornings in Sonoma with Mike and Veronica. I was nervous at first, but Mike and Veronica sure are pros at their thing. Mike was riding the faders and keeping things lively at the same time. Not bad. Played the basic structure of the Polo Margariteño on the cuatro (hampered by a wounded thumb, courtesy of a Mandolin accident). Later, I was allowed extra time to come back (thanks to Matt Ogaz, their tech correspondent -thanks, Jon), so I came back with the Berimbau and proceed to literally tear down the house. The studio was quite small, so I knocked down Mike’s coffee cup (fortunately, it was parked outside the studio). Then, on my way out, I knocked a track light and burned the bulb. Seeing as all was lost, I saw fit to withdraw as quickly and unobstrusively as possible.

Two new people walked through the front door today. The first one inquired about rehearsal space. He was gracious enough to tune the drum kit for us while I installed Pro Tools. Gabriel came in today with two of his friends from school and they made a quick drum circle (using the culo’e puya drums) . I guess they showed that other guy (or something). A second gentleman asked about group classes. He runs the copy shop two doors down from school. After everyone left, the young ones sat and enjoyed the newly tuned kit. . A third prospect called to inquire about piano classes for a young child. All this from a press release in the city tabloid. A reporter from the paper also called to do a write up on the school. He’ll be in tomorrow with a photographer. I need a haircut.


Will someone remember Burning Spear?
Will someone remember me?


Veremos, dijo el ciego.