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FamiliarizeYourself.com has big things ahead.

Need legal advice?  Check out this webinar.  Yeah, I said Webinar.  It’s short for “web-based seminar.”  I didn’t know such thing existed until I found this thing.  Basically, it’s an online seminar, but not to be confused with a webcast.  Webcasts are one way – the people talk at you and you watch.  But webinars are interactive.  You have the ability to give, receive and discuss information in a webinar.

The ARTS & BUSINESS COUNCIL of Great Boston is putting this webinar shenanigans together.  Unfortunately, there is a fee of $20, but hey, cheat the system.  Just have five friends come over, and then you only pay $4 each.  Not bad, eh?

Description:

You know that works are protected by copyright law, but you keep hearing the term “fair use” but you aren’t sure what this term means or how it applies to you. This seminar is aimed to help you understand more about what fair use is and how it applies to copyright law.

Presenter: SHERI MASON

Sheri Mason joined Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) as Director of Legal Services in September 2007. Prior to joining the VLA, Sheri worked as a Project Manager at a pharmaceutical training company where she managed the development of training curriculums and materials for pharmaceutical companies.

As Director of Legal Services, Sheri administers the legal referral programs, conducts legal research, and assists clients with their cases. Sheri graduated from Suffolk Law School in 2007 with a Concentration in Intellectual Property, with distinction. She received her B.A., with high distinction, from the University of Rhode Island. She is a member of the Boston Bar Association, the New York Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.


REGISTER HERE:
https://www.bostonknows.com/webinar/webinardetail.php?webid=45&code=

CONTACT:

(617) 350-7600

sheri@artsandbusinesscouncil.org

URL:

http://www.artsandbusinesscouncil.org/articles-items/what-is-fair-use.php?p=5&gr…

devanmarie

devan@familiarizeyourself.com

Danish quartet Mew tugs at the heartstrings and digs deep into the emotional pit of yearning for love with Frengers. Mew has crafted a beautifully fragile album, defined by vocalist Jonas Bjerre’s high falsetto crying out melancholy lyrics and held intact by triumphant instrumentation. The optimistic music contrasting with the somber lyrical themes evoke an ironic sense of loneliness and fulfillment in their songs.

Mew instantly captivates listeners with “Am I Wry? No” An attention commanding bass drum and quick cymbal open the album and are counterbalanced by a welcoming guitar riff. Drummer Silas Graae pours heavily into his quick paced offbeat drum pattern and Bjerre’s ethereal voice complains, “Indifference is killing me!” As they segue in and out of chorus, verse and bridge the band appears to have no reservations changing time signatures, a trick that can be heard several places on the album.

In “Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years” Bjerre’s gentle vocals echo the fragile childlike coo of Stina Norderstam’s voice. She makes a perfect accompaniment to this love song as they ping-pong the lyrics “If I could look you in the eyes/ I couldn’t let you go” back and forth at each other. It’s a tender and hopeful song breaking up the sorrow that embodies the others.  On the aforementioned and on “Symmetry,” featuring 14-year-old Becky Jarret, Bjerre’s vocals come across as more masculine than heard anywhere else on the album due to the female accompaniments.

Wrapping up the album is “Comforting Sounds,” a gorgeous nine-minute lullaby that opens with a soothing guitar melody before Bjerre’s high falsetto plaints, “I don’t feel alright in spite of these comforting sounds you make.” Despite the distress of the lyrics, the song itself is relaxing and remains quite calm before building into an explosion of bass, drum, keys, and guitar with Bjerre’s moan soaring high above in his otherworldly manner. Though this song is longer than the rest of the pieces, there is never a moment in which it feels like it is dragging and it has the effect of leaving listeners desirous of more.

Enjoy.

^{photo courtesy of Beartrap PR}

I’ll be honest I think this recent trend of pop punk/hardcore crossover music that has taken over in the past year or so is pretty terrible. I mean I loved New Found Glory as much as the next guy, but for every rare, good band within the genre like Fireworks or Set Your Goals, there are a thousand crappy bands whose creativity is highlighted by the fact their names are simply Saves The Day song titles. So, it is refreshing to get a band like The Wonder Years every now and then that breaks the mold a bit in a genre that is so water-downed by the lowest common denominators.

While I almost want to called these Philly natives a guilty pleasure because of the sometimes cheesy lyrics (“I’m drowning myself in Lucky Charms and soy milk”) and the fact that I did not care for their stuff up until this record, the band has seemed to hit their stride on The Upsides and it is truly worth a listen. Unlike many of their peers, the record doesn’t spend 30 plus minutes whining about lost high school crushes, have any forced tough guy, hardcore breakdowns, or bore you with generic pop punk song structures. What The Upsides does have is hyper-melodic pop vocals, catchy as hell choruses, and a soaring rhythm section that should draw the attention of a wide spectrum of music listeners. Seriously, I’d recommend these guys to fans of anything from older Fall Out Boy to Motion City Soundtrack to Polar Bear Club.

Fresh off the January release the quintet’s latest album, the group has been logging a ton of miles on the road, and should be seeing the entire US by on various tours before the summer rolls around. If you have the means, I’d highly recommend making the trek out to their upcoming show at Mad Maggies in Elgin, IL in April with Set Your Goals, Comeback Kid, and This Time Next Year.

Over the past six months we have introduced you to many of Chicago and Columbia’s finest rock bands. After scouring the campus one more time, we found a whole other genre at Columbia featuring Chicago’s finest performers. The hip-hop scene in Chicago has always been huge, and for a young producer who moved to the city from St. Louis, it opened a new door to endless opportunities. In our latest installment of artist of the week, meet Orie.

You’ve been producing for about 8 years now, how did you first get into producing? What did your first songs sound like?
I actually started with rapping back in middle school. My mom used to always tell me that I should get into producing, cause that’s where the real money was at. I ignored her for a couple years, and after seeing my friends producing some of the tracks I originally wrote in my middle school rap/r&b group “Rising Image,” I became fascinated and started from there. My songs were always very lyrically driven, often called “conscious” rap, but from the perspective and vocabulary of a 13-year old.

Was the transition from the St. Louis music scene to the Chicago scene difficult? What are the major differences between artists you’ve met here and artists you worked with in St. Louis?
Very different. I love my city, but I’ve gained access to so much new music being in Chicago. I’ve never been exposed to House music before I came to Columbia for school. If you’re not making a dance/club record back home, it’s hard to get any attention from the radio. Chicago is similar in a lot of ways, but there are so many other outlets and ways to get exposure, such as clubs, events, and major Chicago blogs.

Can you explain more about lifestyle marketing company, D.E.M.O.? What you do to brand yourself and your future clients?
D.E.M.O.’s (Defining Everything Musically Oriented) goal is to establish itself as the premier music production & lifestyle marketing company by providing an array of services for Generation Y who are interested in music, art, film, and fashion. Right now, I’m focusing on promoting and planning events,music production, and very recently I just got into photography. I’ve already partnered with brands such as Jugrnaut, I-Amaze-Eyez, Made Monarchs, & Iamme Collective on collaborative projects. In the future, I’d like to partner with more brands and help them creatively expand themselves and take their brand to the next level through marketing plans, special collaborative projects, etc. 5 years from now, I’d like to think I’d be working on marketing campaigns. The Nike SB “Today Was A Good Day” commercial and the current Ryan Leslie & Lexus campaign, are great examples of something I’d like to do later down the line.

As far as myself, I’ve always had a lot of ideas. I take these ideas, and I use them to create a lifestyle around myself as an individual, or as an artist. I’m very particular about my brand, and I won’t do something or become involved in something if I wouldn’t attend it myself, outside of business. I’ve constructed concepts for photshoots, promotional videos, and graphic design concepts such as my mix-tape cover for “What A Black Man Wants.”

I saw ads for “What A Black Man Wants” on your facebook page, is this a free mixtape? How many songs is it and how long did it take you to create?
Yes, “What a Black Man Wants” is completely free, and available for download on my website. The project was influenced by a piece that Frederick Douglass wrote called What the Black Man Wants. I wanted to touch on subjects that either 1) aren’t talked about often in my race, or 2) or misrepresented by the media. This included religion, love, and even appreciation for African-American women. There are a total of 17 tracks on the mixtape. A lot of the tracks I had already produced, but hadn’t finished writing to yet, but a few tracks got added along the way, such as “L.O.V.E.” the song I wrote about my aunt who passed last October from breast cancer. Overall the project took about 5 months.

How has the atmosphere and community in and around Columbia College helped you as an artist? Have you found a talent pool on campus and do you collaborate with your fellow students very often?
I think sometimes the community at Columbia has spoiled me. I’ve really used a lot of my resources here, and met a lot of people that I definitely plan to stay in contact with after graduation. However, when I step outside of this Columbia atmosphere, I often forget that the rest of the world isn’t like Columbia, but it just makes me want to work even harder. I’ve been blessed to say the least. Not sure if you remember, but it was because of you (Ashley Brown) that I found my first internship at ASCAP. The most important thing that I’ve learned is that just because people say “I Do This” or “I Do That” doesn’t mean that they will, or that they are serious. But despite the challenge to always find consistent people to work with, I’ve been able to find a few to collaborate with on a consistent basis.

Be sure to download Orie’s “What A Black Man Wants” for free at http://demostl.com & follow me on Twitter @orietheproducer

On the eve of Cursive’s 1-year anniversary for their latest release, Mama, I’m Swollen, Cursive swung through Chicago to play one of my favorite venues in the city, the Metro. Playing two sold-out shows with Alkaline Trio and the Dear and Departed, this is the first time we have seen Cursive in the windy city in over 6 months, and the first time we have seen them not in the headlining position of a tour. Before the show on Sunday I had a chance to catch up with bassist Matt Maginn, a man who majored in environmental science but was quickly whisked away into the life of a touring musician.

FYW: Two years ago I caught your performance at Subterranean where you guys previewed your newest album to the crowd before it was even entirely recorded. Is this something you try to do with every release?

MM: Anytime we can we try and do that- we did it with Mama quite a bit. We did it with Ugly Organ, but with Happy Hollow not as much. Ideally yes, but with every record we don’t have to. Mama was the most thorough we’ve ever [road-tested the album]. We were playing songs live that we’d never even recorded. That’s good and bad, because then there’s a few fans out there that heard it, or have a YouTube clip of it and they’re like “you guys are jerks, why didn’t you put that song on the record?”

FYW: Will we get a taste of any new material tonight?

MM: Uh, no (laughs), we haven’t had any time to write anything. We’re hoping to do that this summer. I would bet it could be a year and a half or longer before a new release. Just knowing that Tim’s schedule is getting real busy and I have some stuff that I’ll be doing.

FYW: What is your day job when you’re not involved with Cursive?

MM: I work with Team Love Records out of New York, and there’s only three of us so I do a little bit of everything. We’ve got The Felice Brothers, Tilly and the Wall, we did the first Jenny Lewis solo record, we did a Shudder to Think live record, and then lots of new up-and-coming bands.

FYW: You’ve been with Cursive for more than a decade, what advice do you have for new artists just emerging out of college that are trying to make a living by doing something they love? Does it make more sense to seek out the labels or to produce the product on your own these days?

MM: I don’t know since it is so different now. I would say first of all don’t try to make a living off of it. And then second, I would try to encourage doing everything yourself until you realize that you’ve limited your knowledge, or your knowledge has limited you, and then therefore you need outside help or influence.

FYW: Did the record label make sense back when you first started? You teamed up with Saddle Creek pretty early in your career.

MM: Saddle Creek was a label that we founded together with the guys in Bright Eyes and the Faint. So it wasn’t like we went to a label, it was still us doing it. I don’t feel like we’ve quite ever gone to a record label. [Saddle Creek] has changed now, there’s a single owner and they’re a full functioning label, but at that time, that developmental time, until 2002, they weren’t doing anything more than producing and releasing. You didn’t have that extra influence, they did a good job, but now it’s just different.

Cursive at the Metro

FYW: Now that you’re actually involved with a label do you find that it’s helpful to tell some of these new bands what to do, since a lot of these bands are entering the scene with absolutely no idea how the real world works?

MM: We try to always give the best advice we can. Usually it’s shit they don’t want to hear, like you can’t wait for your friend’s band to take you out on tour to book your own tour, or you can’t wait until you find a booking agent to book your own tour. I try to encourage none of the waiting that people are very comfortable doing. Managing expectations is another big one. Just speaking from experience, we obviously wanted things to go great, but we were realistic in setting really small goals and then we would increase them overtime. Just trying to allow bands to know that it’s not going to happen quickly and easily, or even profitably, it’s just not possible. Not going on tour because you’re not going to make any money is a reason that you shouldn’t even be in a band I think. You’re not going to make any money [touring]. I sound like a salty old dog.

FYW: Your albums are filled with emotion and intensity. Each album seems to be a different chapter in your lives. My first exposure to Cursive was your 2000 release, Domestica, how do you think your sound has evolved over the decade?

MM: At that time that album was a very DC/North Carolina area influenced place that we were coming from. That’s still inherent to what we do naturally, but I think we just tried to get a little more challenging and experimental, as much as we can.

FYW: If you could go back is there some stuff you wouldn’t do again?

MM: Not really, I think we’ve just followed our heart and done what we found interesting at the time. There are definitely songs that I don’t find interesting anymore, but at the time they were. And we were working towards whatever full composition we were trying to create, whether it was Burst and Bloom or Ugly Organ, or Happy Hollow, or Mama. Now I feel like I really want to take more risks, just to keep it interesting and exciting for us. Looking back it’s the riskier things that turned out to be what we still enjoy and what we get into. There are times that you think you’re being extremely risky and no one notices, from the layers of instrumentation to lyrical content.

FYW: How did this tour with Alkaline Trio come about? Were you guys pretty close before?

MM: We’ve had friends in common for years and we’ve followed the band since the late 90s. They released their first record a year after we released our first record. We existed in the same generation and we never really had the opportunity [to tour]. They are a larger band, and they were kind enough to ask us this time. We rarely get the opportunity to support somebody that we liked, and we were happy to join.

Alkaline Trio at the Metro

FYW: Your current tour with Alkaline Trio is pretty intense, you go almost 15 days straight without a day off, is this because you are seasoned professionals and aren’t afraid to wear yourselves out? Any concerns on straining your voices or exhausting yourselves sick?

MM: It was a concern since we usually travel by van. I think we did 19 shows in a row last time and that almost wore us out. This tour I think we do 20 [shows] in a row, but we’re on a bus so you get a lot more sleep. With the van we were realizing we were getting 3-6 hours of sleep max. I think we’ll be OK. We drink a lot of Emergen-C and it works! If you feel a cold coming and take a bunch of vitamins it will knock it back, then a week later it will try and get back in.

FYW: Who is the coolest act you have opened for, played with? The Cure tour in 2004 must have been amazing, any good stories from the road with Robert Smith?

MM: I always have to default to that, they were an extremely nice, super hospitable band. We had the opportunity to just hang out and talk with them. The only story I guess would be when our drummer, Clint, was getting his photo taken with Robert, they put their arms around each other and he leans over to Clint and whispers, “Look Depressed” and then immediately puts on this super depressed face for the camera.

FYW: What are you listening to these days that our readers should be familiar with?

MM: I’m listening to a lot of this guy, AA Bondy, he’s pretty dark and sort of folky. He’s a pretty awesome lyricist and great melodies.

exclusive

Photo: © Lauren Cohen

Monochromatically lit in alternating colors, Portugal. The Man warmed up the crowd with a long instrumental as smoke machines pumped enough fog that the stage took on a mystical quality from my vantage point in the balcony. When bassist Zachary Scott Carothers was spontaneously lit with red, blue and green polka dots and singer John Baldwin Gourley began crooning in unison with the enthusiastic audience I knew I was in for a spectacular night.

With five keyboards (played by Ryan Neighbors) and three vocalists (Grouley, Carothers, Neighbors) even the breakdowns were fully engaging and kinetic. Meanwhile, drummer Jason Sechrist delivered striking beats at the most opportune moments, leaving me wanting more every time. You can tell by watching them together that no member of the band wants the spotlight himself; their live show is a solid group effort and an example of incredible musicianship. Grouley faced stage left – not the audience – as he sang softly into his microphone in a way that blended flawlessly with his bandmates’ instruments. This emphasized the point that for Portugal. The Man a live show isn’t about hoarding attention; it is not about the people playing the music but rather the music itself. That is not to say that they don’t make a personal connection with their audience; their music pulls you in in a way that makes it personal whether you want it to or not.

Photo: © Emily Dyan Ibarra

When they finally did launch into a vocally-focused song, “The Sun”, Grouley’s high tenor, which is captivating and touching, shone through beautifully. The set as a whole was varied between rock ‘n’ roll and blues, in most cases overlapping. After I’d already made note that their style reminds me of Cold War Kids they slipped an impressive rendition of “Weekend Wars” into the middle of an original. They also covered the Beatles’ “One” during their encore, right before closing with their own “Chicago.”

I go to a lot of concerts just to dance carelessly, but this performance reminded me why I started loving music. It is not just for the fun that I can have with it, but for the feeling it causes in the pit of my stomach when songs are created and performed with the heart and soul of those who created it. It’s bands like Portugal. The Man who do just that, and in doing so keep me in love with music.

Their latest release, The Satanic Satanist, is their fifth album in four years. The album that preceded it, Censored Colors, was named one of AP Magazine’s 10 Essential Albums of 2008. Of releasing albums at lightning speed, Gourley says, “Honestly, I think we should be putting out more music. It keeps you thinking, keeps you growing and progressing. If you stop and let it sit for too long, I feel like you start to lose track of where you were going.” Well, wherever this band is going they are on the right track.

I’ve got a an event coming up here for you guys and gals to check out.

I couldn’t make it out to the last AT WORK: Touring Tips forum through the Cultural Center, but I heard it was pretty good from my colleagues who made it there.  So I’m going to tell you about the next one coming up since this stuff is legit.

This FREE event is great for musicians and bands in limbo.  But it’s not only for those guys and gals; if you’re a music business major or getting some sort of an arts management degree, you should go, too.  It’ll help you see what it is that artists and musicians are looking for, and help you get the upper hand when looking to manage them.

This forum is a panel discussion [only an hour and a half – you can handle it].

Date:
March 15^th, 2010

Time:
6:00pm – 7:30pm

Location:
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.,
Chicago, IL 60602

Admission:
FREE

devanmarie

dmarieperine@gmail.com

^{Photo: © Evan Perigo}

With his touring band, composed of bassist Andy Snyder, drummer Travis Rountree, and of course a computer that supplies all the fun extra sounds that a live band of just 3 can’t always create, The Ready Set put on a powerful performance that begs you to dance along. They just got off a tour opening for the Friday Night Boys during which they stopped at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen, and are set to perform a showcase with label mates Hey Monday at SXSW. Catch them at Cedar Door in Austin, TX on March 18 or on the upcoming Bamboozle Roadshow which stops in Chicago on June 12. In their own words: “The music – it’s all for you. So turn it up and dance your heart out.”

Check out The Ready Set’s newest song, “Drain Notes”, below:

No Photo Credit Found

If it isn’t easy to tell by the majority of the content on this site, we are indie music fans. BUT, I am proud to say that none of the writers on this site limit themselves to one genre, even when it comes to stepping outside of our comfort zones to check out a show. Sometimes you surprise yourself and discover music you would never listen to twice online. This was the case with Los Angeles’s own People Under The Stairs when they headlined Chicago’s Subterranean rock club last week, entertaining a sold out crowd of music fans that love underground hip-hop.

Rock bands have it easy. They can hide behind their instruments and leave the audience with the sounds of guitar rhythms and drum beats. It is MCs like People Under The Stairs’ Thes One and Double K who leave it all on the stage during their performances. With nothing to hide behind except a microphone, Thes One and Double K took the stage with only turntables as their backdrop, and instantly broke into a set that included high energy tracks “Trippin At The Disco,” “Hang Loose,” and “San Francisco Nights.” Keeping the crowd involved throughout the performance, the boys from P.U.T.S. lead the “Chicago” chants and animated the crowd by asking which side [of the city] was best represented (NORTH SIDE!).

The nearly 60-minute set wrapped up when P.U.T.S. invited their female fans onto the stage as the group danced along to one of their most noteworthy tracks, “Hang Loose,” off of O.S.T., a 2002 release. It is clear to see People Under The Stairs are a group that have earned their faithful underground hip-hop following. With over a decade worth of material to perform, People Under The Stairs are far from reaching the peak of their musical career.