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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

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How copyright filters lead to wage-theft

Last week, "Marina" - a piano teacher who publishes free lessons her Piano Keys Youtube channel - celebrated her fifth anniversary by announcing that she was quitting Youtube because her meager wages were being stolen by fraudsters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcyOxtkafMs

Marina posted a video with a snatch of her performance of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," published in 1801. The composition is firmly in the public domain, and the copyright in the performance is firmly Marina's, but it still triggered Youtube's automated copyright filter.

A corporate entity - identified only by an alphabet soup of initialisms and cryptic LLC names - had claimed Ole Ludwig Van's masterpiece as their own, identifying it as "Wicca Moonlight."

Content ID, the automated Youtube filter, flagged Marina's track as an unauthorized performance of this "Wicca Moonlight" track. Marina appealed the automated judgement, which triggered a message to this shadowy LLC asking if they agreed that no infringement had taken place.

But the LLC renewed its claim of infringement. Marina now faces several unpleasant choices:

She can allow the LLC to monetize her video, stealing the meager wages she receives from the ads that appear on it

She can take down her video

She can provide her full name and address to Youtube in order to escalate the claim, with the possibility that her attackers will get her contact details, and with the risk that if she loses her claim, she can lose her Youtube channel

The incident was a wake-up call for Marina, who is quitting Youtube altogether, noting that it has become a place that favors grifters over creators. She's not wrong, and it's worth looking at how that happened.

Content ID was created to mollify the entertainment industry after Google acquired Youtube. Google would spend $100m on filtering tech that would allow rightsholders to go beyond the simple "takedown" permitted by law, and instead share in revenues from creative uses.

But it's easy to see how this system could be abused. What if people falsely asserted copyright over works to which they had no claim? What if rightsholders rejected fair uses, especially criticism?

In a world where the ownership of creative works can take years to untangle in the courts and where judges' fair use rulings are impossible to predict in advance, how could Google hope to get it right, especially at the vast scale of Youtube?

The impossibility of automating copyright judgments didn't stop Google from trying to perfect its filter, adding layers of complexity until Content ID's appeal process turned into a cod-legal system whose flowchart looks like a bowl of spaghetti.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/12/fairy-use-tale/#content-id

The resulting mess firmly favors attackers (wage stealers, fraudsters, censors, bullies) over defenders (creators, critics). Attackers don't need to waste their time making art, which leaves them with the surplus capacity to master the counterintuitive "legal" framework.

You can't fix a system broke by complexity by adding more complexity to it. Attempts to do so only makes the system more exploitable by bad actors, like blackmailers who use fake copyright claims to extract ransoms from working creators.

https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-strikes-now-being-used-as-scammers-extortion-tool/

But it would be a mistake to think that filterfraud was primarily a problem of shadowy scammers. The most prolific filter scammers and wage-thieves are giant music companies, like Sony Music, who claim nearly *all* classical music:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/22/crisis-for-thee-not-me/#filternet

The Big Tech companies argue that they have an appeals process that can reverse these overclaims, but that process is a joke. Instagram takedowns take a few seconds to file, but *28 months* to appeal.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/17/cheap-truthers/#robot-sez-no

The entertainment industry are flagrant filternet abusers. Take Warner Chappell, whose subsidiary demonetizes videos that include the numbers "36" and "50":

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/annemunition-bizarre-copyright-strike-youtube-random-numbers-1317750/

Warner Chappell are prolific copyfraudsters. For decades, they fraudulently claimed ownership over "Happy Birthday" (!):

https://consumerist.com/2016/02/09/happy-birthday-song-settlement-to-pay-out-14-million-to-people-who-paid-to-use-song/

They're still at it - In 2020 they used a fraudulent claim to nuke a music theory video, and then a human being working on behalf of the company renewed the claim *after* being informed that they were mistaken about which song was quoted in the video:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/05/warner-chappell-copyfraud/#warnerchappell

The fact that automated copyright claims can remove material from the internet leads to a lot of sheer fuckery. In 2019, anti-fascists toyed with blaring copyrighted music at far right rallies to prevent their enemies from posting them online.

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/23/clever-hack-that-will-end-badly-playing-copyrighted-music-during-nazis-rallies-so-they-cant-be-posted-to-youtube/

At the time, I warned that this would end badly. Just a month before, there had been a huge scandal because critics of extremist violence found that automated filters killed their videos because they featured clips of that violence:

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/06/people-who-document-evidence-of-violent-extremism-are-being-shut-down-in-youtubes-crackdown-on-violent-extremism/

Since then, it's only gotten worse. The Chinese Communist Party uses copyfraud to remove critical videos from Youtube:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/27/literal-gunhumping/#communist-bandit

and so does the Beverley Hills Police Department:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#bhpd

But despite all that, the momentum is for *more* filtering, to remove far fuzzier categories of content. The EU's Terror Regulation has just gone into effect, giving platforms just *one hour* to remove "terrorist" content:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/eu-online-terrorism-regulation-bad-deal

The platforms have pivoted from opposing filter rules to endorsing them. Marc Zuckerberg says that he's fine with removing legal protections for online platforms unless they have hundreds of millions of dollars to install filters.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/25/facebook-has-a-facebook-problem/#played-for-zuckers

The advocates for a filternet insist that all these problems can be solved if geeks just *nerd harder* to automate good judgment, fair appeals, and accurate attributions. This is pure wishful thinking. As is so often the case in tech policy, "wanting it badly is not enough."

In 2019, the EU passed the Copyright Directive, whose Article1 7 is a "notice and staydown" rule requiring platforms to do instant takedowns on notice of infringement *and* to prevent content from being re-posted.

There's no way to do this without filters, but there's no way to make filters without violating the GDPR. The EU trying to figure out how to make it work, and the people who said this wouldn't require filters are now claiming that filters are fine.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/11/protocols-of-qanon/#no-filternet

Automating subtle judgment calls is impossible, not just because copyright's limitations - fair use and others - are grounded in subjective factors like "artistic intent," but because automating a flawed process creates flaws at scale.

Remember when Jimmy Fallon broadcasted himself playing a video game? NBC automatically claimed the whole program as its copyrighted work, and thereafter, gamers who streamed themselves playing that game got automated takedowns from NBC.

https://old.reddit.com/r/beatsaber/comments/bi9cp5/beat_saber_stream_blocked_by_jimmy_fallon_show/

The relentless expansion of proprietary rights over our virtual and physical world raises the stakes for filter errors. The new Notre Dame spire will be a copyrighted work - will filters block videos of protests in front of the cathedral?

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190425/09282042084/why-your-holiday-photos-videos-restored-notre-dame-cathedral-could-be-blocked-eus-upload-filters.shtml

And ever since the US's 1976 Copyright Act abolished a registration requirement, it's gotten harder to figure out who controls the rights to any work, so that even the "royalty free" music for Youtubers to safely use turned out to be copyrighted:

https://torrentfreak.com/royalty-free-music-supplied-by-youtube-results-in-mass-video-demonetization-191118/

We need a new deal for content removal, one that favors working creators over wage-thieves who have the time and energy to master the crufty, complex private legal systems each platform grows for itself.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/04/content-moderation-broken-let-us-count-ways

Back in 2019, Slate Future Tense commissioned me to write an sf story about how this stuff might work out in the coming years. The result, "Affordances," is sadly still relevant today:

https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/affordances-cory-doctorow-sf-story-algorithmic-bias-facial-recognition.html

Here's a podcast of the story as well:

https://ia803108.us.archive.org/3/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_314/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_314_-Affordances.mp3

Meanwhile, governments from Australia to the UK to Canada are adopting "Harmful Content" rules that are poised to vastly expand the filternet, insisting that it's better than the alternative.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bill-c10-user-generated-content-1.6007192

#pluralistic

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canvaswolfdoll · 4 years

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CanvasWatches: Carole & Tuesday

A charming SciFi anime focusing more on the cast’s day-to-day lives than some major sociopolitical conflict that requires laser gun diplomacy? Set on a Terraformed Mars with brick and mortar solarpunk aesthetic? I can get into that.

The fact that Carole & Tuesday is a science fiction story came as a surprise, as most of the buzz and promotion that crossed my social feeds focused on the street performance aspects. Then, surprise! Tabletop fast food ordering and pizzerias that grow their tomatoes in house![1] Which is the sort of speculative fiction I’m enjoying nowadays: normal life with the fantastic acting as seasoning to spice up the world around them.

I’ve never paid special attention to music. I listen to music obviously, but rarely in any sort of analytical capacity. It’s pretty sounds that help fill in the background while I write, or to convey emotion in a musical, or to mark the start and end of a show I’m watching. I’ve never sought out music to listen to when looking for entertainment, it’s always a byproduct of whatever media I’m engaged with at the moment. Heck, these days, when I’m too lazy to set my car radio up to play a podcast, I just drive in silence.[2]

I sometimes feel I’m missing something by not engaging with the art form in a more conscious manner, and I only recently became aware that albums are a carefully curated thing instead of a collection of the performer’s most recent songs, so… yeah. Kind of a cultural blindspot.[3]

This tangent doesn’t even end with a neat little note of how Carole & Tuesday had inspired me to consume music in a more deliberate and contemplative manner. The soundtrack includes plenty of insert songs I happily threw on my background noise playlists,[4] and what few albums I seek out are video game and anime soundtracks.[5]

Carole & Tuesday was chiefly directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who’s name was made with the Jazzy Space Epic Cowboy Bebop and Hip-Hop Samurai Series Samurai Champloo. It was probably inevitable he would produce an anime where music took front stage instead of informing tone.

Carole & Tuesday takes inspiration from Pop, but is unafraid to feature and mix other genres, such as Opera and Rap.[6] What’s really exciting is the decision to have the insert songs performed in English.

Historically, when diegetic music is present in anime, the song is performed in Japanese, and most dubs make the smart decision to leave the japanese audio and subtitle them. I may prefer dubs for my various reasons, but I wouldn’t dare ask for the policy on subbed music to change. Carole & Tuesday took an international view to its production, and thus used the most widely spoken language when no one (reasonable) would begrudge the use of Japanese performers.

Netflix picked up the show as part of their continued haphazard attempts to seize the genre with an attitude out of the early 2000s, and the company tapped to record the English dub did an admirable job matching voice performances believably similar to the singing voices.

Which may be the first time that speaking actors were hired to fit the singers.

The story takes place on Mars in the future year of… 50 years after humanity started migrating to Mars. I cannot find a year cited, which is the smart and wise choice and I am super annoyed I’m not going to be able to make jokes about the production's attempts and failure to predict the future.

50 years after starting to migrate over to the red planet, humanity has terraformed large swathes of Mars into a Solarpunk paradise. Earth is apparently not in a great state as refugees are desperately making their way to the planet, but Earth remains offscreen for the entire run. Fortunately no one has any giant robots,[7] so the two planets aren’t at war. While Mars has been made hospitable enough, the atmosphere does occasionally mess with the genetics of residents.

That’s just background details, however. The story is really about the titular duo. Tuesday is introduced fleeing the mansion of her politician mother, hopping onto a cattle train like Kiki, and riding off to Alba City with only a quitar and robotic luggage to keep her company, where she stumbles upon Refugee Orphan Carole busking with a keyboard. The two have a jam session and decide to become a musical act.

Meanwhile, famed child star Angela Carpenter[8] is setting to transition from a modeling career to an exciting career singing. Her mother pulls strings and utilizes her connections to team up with Tao, a genius of Artificial Intelligence Design who is willing to use his technology to provide Angela with computer generated music and lyrics.

Thus we have the start of a sci-fi John Henry Tale where the battle is not hammer and steel but instruments and voice.

I say ‘the start’ because while the two teams utilize different methods to produce their music, their methods are never weighed against one another. In fact, there’s barely a one-sided rivalry, as Angela is jealous of the titular duo’s ability to enjoy their career, and our two heroes take only a polite, professional view of Angela’s rising career.

Carole and Tuesday are both weighed down by a common problem with anime protagonists: they’re just nice. There’s a certain fear when writing protagonists, especially females, of accidentally making them off-putting that the writers overcorrect and don’t let the hero make mistakes or have much personality, to the point that Carole and Tuesday have very little agency.

Instead, it’s Gus, the ex-rock star manager the duo acquire, that does the leg work and takes risks while Carole and Tuesday just sing nice songs then sit back while the plotlines orbiting their rise to success are resolved by the men.

The show also can’t choose a lane, playing with several story threads that could carry full 24-episode stories by themselves, but instead are dealt with as lightly as possible.

We start with the story of a run-away from decadence and a refugee bringing their world views together, but that instead goes into a tournament arc disguised as a talent contest, then the drama of navigating the music industry, before ending with the presidential run of Tuesday’s mother causing public unrest. Carole and Tuesday don’t make a meaningful choice that affects any of these stories.

Meanwhile, Angela gets a story of asserting her identity while already in public view, facing dangers both external and internal on her journey.

Surprisingly, this is the first show in a while that I didn't resent for transitioning out of the episodic, playing with the premise portion. While Carole and Tuesday were attempting to get their big break, bopping around misadventures trying to get contacts, gigs, and filming a music video, Angela looms in her plotline, building up to the inevitable rivalry.

Angela is introduced just before her mother, Dahlia, starts reworking Angela's career from modeling to singing, hiring Tao, renowned AI designer, as Angela's producer. Angela experiences mild paranoia from Tao's standoffish nature, machinery, and making a holographic simulation of Angela. So Angela had a more consistent narrative during the first arc.

Introductions out of the way, it's time for everyone's favorite trope: the tournament arc! In the form of ‘Space!'s got Talent’ Generic Brand Named into Mar's Brightest. The main duo meets their rival, backstage drama ensues, some very good music is performed, and things are set up to technically give both Carole and Tuesday as well as Angela a win at the end.

With publicity achieved, Gus starts getting to work preparing the girls' debut album and booking appearances, as well as meeting other artists and (briefly) Carole’s father. We learn about Gus’s past client, Flora, who dropped Gus as soon as she found success, then found herself without a support base and spiraled into depression and addiction. Carole and Tuesday remain upbeat and optimistic.

Meanwhile, Angela starts getting harassed by a stalker and feeling helpless and poorly supported by those around her. Tao takes point on stopping the stalker when the police fail, ultimately taking him down before the stalker could pull a Mark David Chapman.

The story bleeds into the final act, as the presidential campaign of Valerie Simmons, Tuesday’s mother, moves forward in prominence. The AI algorithm Valerie is utilizing suggests she take an anti-immigration stance, which the woman follows in an attempt to further her career. Musicians are getting harassed by law enforcement, Tuesday’s brother Spencer is becoming uneasy with being an accessory to the campaign, and starts meeting with a reporter with information that Valerie’s campaign manager orchestrated a terrorist attack to villainize immigrants. Spencer and the reporter argue over how many chances to give Valerie, and agree on Spencer taking the evidence to Valerie, and if she doesn’t back down, then they’ll leak the scandal. Valerie, seeing the crimes committed for her benefit, gracefully renounces her candidacy. It’s very heart warming.

Carole and Tuesday write a protest song, and gather friends to sing it. This protest song has no observable impact.

Meanwhile, Angela learns she’s adopted, and her mother suffers a heart-attack shortly before Angela is set to win a Martian Grammy, and Angela spirals into depression and prescription drug abuse, to the point of collapsing at the end of her Grammy performance, being rushed to the hospital and missing her mother’s passing and funeral. Angela is adrift. She has no family, no support, and is just lonely.

Tao, who was working to sabotage Valerie’s campaign and burning as many bridges as possible after being targeted for refusing to assist the campaign, appears in Angela’s hospital room to drop a bomb: both he and Angela are designer babies, and though Tao must go into hiding now, he does intend to look out for his little sister.

Angela joins the performance of Carole and Tuesday’s protest song.

If it’s not already clear, I feel the story of Carole and Tuesday themselves was pretty lacking.

So, how would I rework this? Step one: we’re either cutting Carole and Tuesday, or combining them into a single character and making Angela the second. With the second option, Angela can maintain her backstory, but take Carole’s introduction of fleeing her family mansion and attempting to strike out on her own, meeting up with Carole and forming an act. To maintain the final arc, Carole would need to be reworked into the abandoned daughter of Tuesday’s late father, making her the half sister of Spencer and something to be hidden by Valerie Simmons’ campaign.

We then intermingle the two plotlines: Gus maintains his managerial position, and eventually convinces Angela to use her connections and mother to get her career jumpstarted, Ms. Carpenter still brings in Tao to write music, and now we can lean more into the AI-written music versus human compositions subplot as well as creative differences, which can lead to an arc where Angela and Carolday split to attempt solo careers, each taking a different manager.[9] Dahlia still has her issues and passes away, Angela her depressive spiral, but now Gus gets pathos by being there to help his client out of self-destruction, and the final number can also be a reconciliation of the main musical duo. The song can even be a combination of AI and human composition.

Carolday, meanwhile, discovers her relation to the anti-immigrant candidate and has to decide if she wants to finally have a family with Valerie and Spencer or stand up for her beliefs and assist a politician in bringing the campaign down. The resolution of the political plot can remain a happy compromise, but Carolday gets a slightly more active role in it.

The animation and world-building is great, and Angela’s arc is very strong. But the writing was too afraid to let either Carole or Tuesday dip into unlikeability that they become props to their own storyline, which is made further unfortunate as their supporting cast that do make decisions are mostly men.

The series is also riddled with a lot of good starts. Many short vignettes or minor details that could be made into full animes by themselves. Show more of Carole and Tuesday’s attempts to break into the music industry while also trying to pay bills and put food on their table. An expansion on the other competitors at Mars Brightest.[10] Heck, expand the roster of the competition and dig more into backstage drama. Carole’s father, who was sent to prison and found his wife dead and daughter sent to another planet upon his release, could carry a story of his own on his back! Valerie’s presidential run and the plight of Earth immigrants given more attention. Heck, even the story of how Earth, the origins of the human species, fell into being a third-world planet people are desperate to leave.

I’d even watch a series about the solarpunk pizzeria that grows their own tomatoes.

The music is really good, however, featuring many artists and styles, and those by our main duo wouldn’t sound out of place on a car radio or licensed on a primetime television show.

It’s a good show, but not an eternal classic. Maybe a second choice for someone digging deeper into anime. However, if its placement on Netflix means it’s someone’s introduction to Anime, that wouldn’t be terrible. Give it a watch if you want something to wind down for bed, or want inspiration for your own speculative fiction.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Solarpunk’s neat. [2] Mostly because I lost all my preset stations last time I took my car in for fixing, and I don't actually know any to punch in. Also, I use youtube for music when writing. [3] Also means I’m wholly unprepared to find music when I finally get a podcast project off the ground. [4] The soundtrack is very present on Spotify, which is nice. [5] I am finding myself increasingly intrigued by vinyl records, however. Probably a bit extravagant, and difficult considering my narrow interests. [6] Presumably to annoy fans of both. [7] Bam! Gundam reference! Anyone have Bingo yet? [8] Though I could swear they never use her last name on screen. [9] I’d find it amusing if Angela takes Gus and Carolday teams up with Dahlia, but the rest of my outline works better if Angela remains with Dahlia. [10] Though this one’s not a major loss. Typical tournament arc stuff.

#CanvasWatches #carole and tuesday #anime #CanvasReviews

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weddingphotographyme-blog · 5 years

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Where does the quick development of photography abandon us?

Photography is advancing, and it's going on quicker than the greater part of us might want to concede. Recently, I was at a wedding taking a gander at the astonishing photographs being taken on people groups new Samsungs ect from a similar occasion. The nature of the photographs were high, they were promptly accessible in the wake of being taken, the channels "improved" the estimation of the photographs (to those taking them), and the way that a large portion of the photographs were on facebook minutes in the wake of being taken: are only probably the most widely recognized reasons why 'distinctive' photography is likely going to vanish. Be that as it may, I for one don't trust this, or possibly I would prefer not to. I was one of two individuals with a hand held camera taking photographs. As I type this they are right now being stacked onto my PC for audit and altering and as of now the best candid wedding photographer like a minute celebrated and passed, and I'm just barely preparing to supply photographs to the couple. This isn't an extraordinary scene and all things considered is by all accounts what proficient picture takers dread will be the business executioner.

To start with, I'd like to address something which emerges, unmistakably more significantly to me, than the eventual fate of photography and its industry. To me, what appears to be undeniably all the more concerning is as we pack stuff into our day by day lives, we appear to move past minutes quicker, and practically more proficiently sometimes. This is mostly because of the devices we have accessible, yet more so because of the speed at which life is happening around us. We attempt to pack more in, become more acquainted with more individuals, remain as associated as conceivable crosswise over unlimited alternatives of correspondence applications. It asks the question — are we attempting to do an excessive amount of too rapidly with expectations of racking up enough "educational experience" focuses before we kick the pail?

This prompts me approach I don't get that's meaning for the minutes we experience? Also, how would we abstain from weakening them into a pack of favorited photographs on our different instruments and applications? All things considered, this conveys me back around full hover to the activity of the picture taker and why I don't trust portable innovation will be a knife to the expert photography scene. It's just plain obvious, the vast majority can take great photographs. Yet, those photographs have a great deal of coding behind them (new iPhone X, XR and XS can take pictures that hope to have been taken at f/1.8, yet truly are machine mastered coding changes to the manner in which the pixels act). So the photograph is great, however it's not incredible. A picture takers job is to take extraordinary and even past incredible photographs of these exceptional events. This is the reason I figure the art of expert photography won't be surpassed by the iPhone. You can code in as much highlights, channels and instruments as you like into the iPhone. Despite everything somebody needs to set the scene and press the catch to take the photo — which is the reason we will dependably require picture takers. The better you are at arrangement and quality, the more significant you will remain.

The intriguing thing about this is the issue picture takers face is indistinguishable to the issues Journalists, Graphic Designers, Publishers and Printers ect are facing — and the reality stays in their industry as well. On the off chance that the work is quality, individuals will see it, read it ect. There are a lot of documentaries, case throws ect all conversing with this subject, but then our interest for accommodation, speed and quality keeps on staying high. So where is photography headed?

Not long from now, I'd be shocked on the off chance that anybody was all the while utilizing a DSLR truly. I figure mirrorless innovation will turn into the standard and DSLRS will be the new film camera. From that point, I figure most picture takers will work with cameras that right, fix and detail their pictures through the locally available processor and presets, and I'm notwithstanding eager to state that dimensions of AI may show up in the camera innovation which enables us to record geological subtleties in three measurements. Facebook has just discharged an emphasis of this when you transfer photographs from specific telephones. In any case, none of that issues if the picture taker isn't there to snap the picture.

So what does the future picture taker resemble? Do we simply expect it's everybody that has a very amazing telephone camera in their grasp? We see a ton of real camera organizations collaborating with versatile organizations to enable them to improve and sharpen their innovation, so I wouldn't be astonished if the present saying of "everybody with a cell phone is a picture taker" is unmistakably progressively present, however it's not to say that the open doors will stay constrained. Only, it's simply going to be much harder to create one of a kind work that is unmistakable. The two actualities of value and sythesis continue as before be that as it may.

One of the greatest oversights I think numerous picture takers make isn't understanding their job and what they do. Photos are records of light. How you control and present that record is up to your inventiveness, which leaks through and reclassifies the records to your will. Best pre wedding photography , a road picture taker produces road photography as craftsmanship, ect ect.A photographic artist sharpens his abilities through improving their quality, connecting with their imagination and for the most part improving both of the aformentioned resources. Realizing your camera capacity and setting scenes up are optional as I would like to think. Your meaning of value so imperative in this example, I can't state that enough. So the picture takers job is snapping a picture and making it into a passionate record, which separates a decent photograph from an extraordinary photograph, particularly a photograph which envokes endless responses from the general population who see it. Building up the aptitudes to do this successfully requires some serious energy and exertion and one serious parcel of training. This is the thing that will constantly set aside a picture taker and somebody with an iPhone.

For the future, I trust that anybody not sharpening their specialty in the business will be abandoned. I see this is as a characteristic type of wearing down, and again this is indistinguishable to some other industry. The business is soaked with picture takers effectively, huge numbers of which end up careless and afterward get got rid of by the regularly developing network of skilled individuals. It's the cell phone industry and the simple access to cameras and altering instruments and instructional exercises which should keep on testing the craftsman to improve their specialty and to convey better and progressively uncommon minutes that other individuals with an iPhone can't. Staying aware of the speed at which individuals live there lives will be the greater test of things to come picture taker. Not the innovation accessible to us.

At this point — the patterns and mechanical upgrades have rolled out no significant improvements to the business, other than soaking the world with pictures. Be that as it may, this is indistinguishable to the music business in it's creations of melodies for instance. Ideal models will move and change, yet the procedure of creation remains exceptionally your own. Guaranteeing quality and your very own sound comprehension innovative voice will guarantee, at any rate, your photography will stay important as the occasions change.

#wedding photography in Delhi #candid wedding photographer #Delhi Wedding photographer

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makistar2018 · 6 years

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Taylor Swift Stands to Make Music Business History as a Free Agent

Come November, the superstar will be able to sign a new deal for the first time since she was 15. And it's sure to be a big one.

By CHRIS WILLMAN AUGUST 27, 2018

Talk about your blank spaces: Taylor Swift is about to have one in the spot where her label affiliation goes. In less than three months’ time, she’ll be a free agent, as the first anniversary of the release of her sixth album, “Reputation,” marks the official expiration of her obligation to Big Machine Records and its founder/CEO, Scott Borchetta, who signed Swift when she first came to him as a country-pop teenybopper of 15.

Now 28, and among the most successful female artists in modern music history —not to mention a savvy businesswoman in her own right — Swift has already been free to negotiate with rival companies, though she couldn’t sign any new deal before November. Her reps are known to have preliminary discussions with the major label groups, along with talks about returning to Big Machine, the Nashville-based , Universal Music Group-distributed indie that became a powerhouse with Swift as its flagship artist.

She could hardly be in a better position to attract suitors: Swift still sells albums in a post-CD age (prior to the triple platinum “Reputation,” her first five albums were all RIAA-certified for selling between 6 to 10 million copies, a starting streak no other artist can claim). She’s heartily embraced paid streaming, after a standoff in which she was the face of the resistance to free. And Pollstar reports 100 percent of tickets sold in the first 18 cities on her 2018 stadium tour — grossing $5-9 million a night in venues with capacity from 47,000 to 62,000 — providing vindication after some initially suspicious press over the variable pricing model.

But key to the future business of Taylor Swift, Inc. is ownership of her master recordings. Swift will almost certainly keep the rights to her masters in her next deal, but it’s no secret that, like a lot of superstars, she’d like to negotiate to own her previous albums, which currently remain in the hands of Big Machine. The label derives about 80 percent of its revenue from Swift’s music, says a person with knowledge of the business. (Big Machine declined comment, as did Swift’s camp.)

Potential auctions like this don’t come up every year, and the numbers could be historic. Several music business insiders note that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Swift could command $20 million per album.

“There’s no precedent to look to regarding the top-selling artist of the digital era becoming a total free agent,” says The Davis Firm’s Doug Davis, one of the music business’ top lawyers. “Taylor Swift is at an extraordinary point in her career where she can write her own ticket in regards to the commercial terms and deal structure. If she is seeking to break financial records and extend with a major, she could have the biggest artist deal of the century so far. If she wants to be creative and choose an alternative structure for capitalization, she could create her own business model. It’s very exciting.”

Variety spoke with high-ranking label insiders and industry experts about how things might shake out for the “Shake It Off” singer, and came up with these four scenarios:

The post-major-label DIY model. Does she even need a “real” record company anymore? “Really, what the labels do anymore is radio and international,” says one former major label chief, “and the rest is all bullshit, if they’re not developing an artist. She might still want the security blanket of a label. But she could do a great distribution deal anywhere, hire a few more people, and pay for some services that the streaming platforms will have soon but don’t have yet.” Breaking this ground might be hard to resist for someone who already handles most of the duties a label would — from A&R to album design to publicity to most of her videos — with her own in-house team.

Signing with a non-Universal major. Any major label group would jump at landing someone who’s inarguably one of the three or four biggest music stars in the world. The complications would only come in as various imprints are considered. A Sony source notes it’d be tricky to sign her to Columbia, where she’d have to share oxygen with a couple of those other biggest heavyweights, Beyoncé and Adele… but she’d be the undisputed champ at any of Sony’s other labels, not to mention over at the Warner Music Group. One high-ranking Sony insider would like to see a deal with his company but believes their chances really depend on what Borchetta is willing to do, saying “it’s a nonstarter for us” if Big Machine decides to give in on the masters.

Leaving Big Machine but staying within the Universal Music ecosystem. Some see this as the likeliest scenario, since there’s been some strain with Big Machine but Universal has more to lose than just bragging rights by not being in the Taylor Swift business anymore. “[Universal Music chairman] Lucian [Grainge] will do everything in his power to make sure she doesn’t go away,” says a label insider. “Bear in mind, UMG is looking to sell 50 percent of the company. If someone offers her $100 million, he’ll go to $120 million.” And the Republic label would be the obvious place to go within UMG, since they’ve had a hugely fruitful relationship ever since she went pop and needed the help of a Top 40 radio promotion department that Big Machine didn’t have. “This is the team partly responsible for making you one of the biggest stars the world,” says a UMG source. “To change that up midstream is a risk.”

Welcome (back) to the Machine. Borchetta has signaled in the past that he’s not inclined to surrender what may be the company’s biggest single asset: Swift’s masters. That there’s apparently no breakthrough in sight on that point suggests neither side wants to give in… which might leave Big Machine in the position of giving up a piece of Swift’s future in order to hold on to a bigger piece of her past. “The onus is on [Borchetta],” says a well-placed source. “Does he want to be in the Taylor Swift business going forward? If he does, he needs to do something.”

How valuable to Big Machine are the masters for Swift’s past albums if they hold onto them? “Streaming catalog is at a peak — a bubble peak perhaps, but nonetheless a peak,” says industry analyst Mark Mulligan. “So any label would perceive retaining ownership of masters of majorly successful albums as a priority.” But licensing synch rights to her older music wouldn’t be possible without Swift signing off on that usage, which would be within her rights as a songwriter, hampering Big Machine’s ability to do much with the music besides stream it.

Will Swift and Borchetta work it out? The odds on that vary depend who you talk to: One label source believes the differences are truly irreconcilable, but another close to both sides says “it’s like family” — strained family — where blood could yet prove thicker than competition.

Variety

#taylor swift #big machine #variety #2018.08.27

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crewcebr · 6 years

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Do you know you.will.knovv?

Post by hiphople about you.will.knovv. [original]

Trans by Club Eskimo Brasil.

“Do you know Kimchi?”, “do you know Bulgogi?”, “do you know Psy?”, “do you know Yuna Kim?” are embarrassing questions that Korean reporters make when they meet foreign celebrities. These days, they’re used as a satire of moments when is demonstrated exaggerated nationalism. BTS, which accomplished great popularity in the Anglo-American region, has become the most recent target of those questions. In this moment when, given the diplomatic matters, the country receives worldwide attention, the question becomes more relevant. So who will be the next protagonist of “do you know”? A variety of things, from food to characters, would be candidates; In the music scene, among the most popular at the moment, you.will.knovv could become this protagonist. They’ve been in full movement since the half of last year, but their true purpose has yet to be revealed. Members already presented to the public are DEAN,Rad Museum, MISO, Jusén, chekparren, 2xxx!, RE:ONE, entfnun, aw__boy, REI, TABBER. It’s possible that new members come about, being it interesting for idols in which Club Eskimo has interest to show up as the next you.will.knovv members. There is not much information, since many things are still in secret. So we’ll take a look at what we have so far about you.will.knovv

#1 ALBUM

There are only two albums in which the name You.Will.Knovv appears. One of them is Rad Museum’s ‘Scene’, which brought a new impact on the R&B scene, and the other one is producer 2xxx!’s first EP ‘life’. Firstly, let’s take a look Scene. As the title suggests, each song recalls a different scene. Different genres were added to the point in time and vibe of a scene. There is a variety of subgenres like a Lo-fi tone in “Dancing in the rain”, or Jazz Rap in “Birthday”. He also presents a rebel side, like in “ㅗ매드키드ㅗ” (Mad Kid), where a Rock&Roll vibe is noticeable. The feeling of solitude and emptiness in offonoff’s “Homeless Door” is just the tip of the iceberg. Rad Museum, with whom the words “Shining loneliness” match well, is surely a rising star this year. Abiding the same format is the album “Life”, of artist 2xxx!, who participated in producing most of Scene’s titles/songs as well as composing a few songs together with Dean. This album is a compilation, like in a movie, of conversations between the Club Eskimo members about their daily lives, particularly the ones participating in each song’s creative process. Making use of daily sounds such as a doorknob, they create, in a natural way, sound results for both the songs and their interludes. As these sounds are veryquotidian, a message of living itself is conveyed.In that ��manner, different aspects and scenes of life are transmitted and many people can relate to it. Although it’s questionable whether the albums actually had any profound impact, both Rad Museum and 2xxx! showed themselves to be visibly trustworthy through them.

youtube

#2 SYNERGY

The two pieces mentioned weren’t just results os the capacity of each artist. We’ve gone over this already, but most songs were created from collaborations between you.will.knovv members. They already worked together before revealing themselves as you.will.knovv, and because of that you can feel a solid chemistry, synergy coming from many of their songs. One of the most publicly acclaimed songs with the participation of youwillknovv is “Instagram”, which took Dean to the top of the charts at the end of last year. In the credits, a different name appears; “HighHopes” is a group that consists of MISO, checkparren and 2xxx!. The name also appears in DEAN’s “넘어와” (come over), Suran’s "1+1=0” and various titles in the competition Show Me The Money 6. In Jusén’s case, in Scene, his participation had as much importance as that of 2xxx!. Of course since there aren’t many results of you.will.knovv as a whole, we can’t say much about its synergy. However, it is interesting to observe in their official and soundcloud releases what kind of combinations have happened so far.

youtube

#3 ALL-ROUND

The members of you.will.knovv are very versatile. Rad Museum acts not only in the musical aspect, but also contributes with visual art under the name “Campergraphic”. He directed Scene’s Teasers through live sessions made by himself. Miso was the first Korean woman to be selected for RBMA (Red Bull Music Academy), as well as having appeared in many Club Eskimo shows as a DJ. Chekparren is also one of the members who participate as both producers and DJs. Meanwhile, with their keen and unique fashion senses, DEAN and aw__boi (who even attended, actually, in London Fashion Week) are presumably the members in charge of style in the group. Once, there was a post on you.will.knovv’s instagram account about selling a work of art. At this rate, wouldn’t it be possible that, with the passage of time, an image of a group that transcends music, reaching other arts as well, establishes itself?

youtube

#4 WORLDWIDE

You.will.knovv is not only in Korea, but in stages all over the world. As a representative member, Dean was the first to achieve an international debut, releasing the single “I’m Not Sorry” simultaneously in the US and UK. Just like Eric Bellinger which collaborated in the creation of this title, DEAN has collaborated with a diversity of international artists including Mia J, Anderson Park, Syd and Esta. Although they chose the name Club Eskimo, the various performances done by MISO, 2xxx! and Saay did outside of Korea can’t be disconsidered. They performed in Canada, USA, Paris, Berlin and Bangkok with an impressing number of attendance. They also performed under the name you.will.knovv in the dates of march 18th and april 28th in London, England, and Amsterdam, Holland. At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to refer to the tour as worldwide. At the same time they won over the scene on the internet, they also grew local and nationally, crossing borders.

#5 NEW CONTENTS?

DEAN said in an interview that ‘Just like Soulection, I wanted a team that shared music through means like radio or soundcloud, which are different from the conventional way of the Korean industry’. Although no special activity has been manifested so far, as DEAN’s words indicate, we can expect interesting things for the future - even more so knowing that the members are individuals constantly searching for innovation. If the promises and expectations around you.will.knovv are fulfilled, it’ll be a matter of time until they gain a great amount of worldwide attention. Maybe a day will come when you find yourself making the question “do you know you.will.knovv?”

#Dean #Rad Museum #2xxx #2xxx!#Jusen #Miso #Saay #Club Eskimo #you.will.knovv #Fanxy Child #Entrevista

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mi5016ikepearson · 3 years

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CAREERS IN ANIMATION - “PLANNING A POTENTIAL PATH”

I’ve known what I’ve wanted to do with my life since i was 6 years old. to make my series, have a good time, and disappear quietly one day.

however, it’s not all as cut and dry as all that - I’ve become a bit of a caricature, to the people who know me - spending every spare second I had in school sketching, always carrying a notebook around with me, etc. all this time spent drawing - I’ve never stopped loving what I do.

sure: there were times I suffered from burnout, or got bored of doing certain projects I set myself (the sixth season of my series being one of the longest of these experiences...) but no matter what - I never stopped pushing for what I wanted to do: transferring from making comics, to self producing music, scripts, animation tests - shaping myself up to be a one man band for the production of my series~

but looking more into the industry standard, there are so many roles beyond just

“animator”

it threw me completely off balance: what sort of role do I want to have, in the production stages of projects - my own, and other’s, depending on where I land working..?

I figured I’d make this blog post to explore some of my other options, to see if I can at least narrow down my choices, a little - and see not only what kind of job, I would like to have in the future - but to hopefully aid others going through similar situations, with this blog’s existence.

WHAT KIND OF CAREERS ARE THERE?

to understand what kind of role I’d like to fit into, I think looking into what kind of jobs there are out there is as decent of a place to start, as any.

I feel i definitely haven't given enough thought to what I’d like to do, beyond what i “wouldn't mind doing”, ever since deciding I wanted to pursue animation, at a young age.

there’s quite limitless possibilities, when it comes to figuring out where you could possibly end up - and that can be intimidating

but using this website, as a base - I’ve found out what roles are typical of the animation industry, and researched further into the roles they provided to see how viable of an option it is: with the options I find interesting, and have things to say about being included on the blog~ whereas certain roles, I’ve looked into - and can rule out, under the belief that my skillset isn't in the right area, and that the roles in general just aren't the sort of fit for me; I’ve left unmentioned.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

Raises the funds to create an animation, hires the team and organises the pipeline

to be a part of the production management team is the same as most managerial positions, in the sense that it is your responsibility to ensure those below you, are being commanded effectively

most people, in their professions want to be in higher positions: due to the salary increase for more meaningful work - in creative industries: i think it more has to do with the thrill of being given more control over the creative output as these positions usually mean having less restriction, if any.

as well as the pay rise... of course - that’s just a bonus!

DIRECTOR “Directors hold the creative vision of an animated film or TV series. They work out the style of the animation; its mood, how it will look and how it will sound. They share the vision and get everyone working towards it.”

producers need to have a large amount of experience and understanding in the business management sides of the animation industry, as well as the production process.

and i think it’s important to note that to get on route to become a producer is to start as a writer, then move to become a director, and then a producer. as well as becoming established in the industry, and grow in seniority and experience within an animation studio until you can get work as a producer.

You need to have and demonstrate a good capacity for organisation, whatever route you may take.

PRODUCER “Producers have overall responsibility for an animation production. They manage the director and all the other departments to ensure a project’s delivered on time, within budget and to the best creative brief.”

i think, to quote Uncle Ben: “with Great Power comes Great Responsibilities”

Having creative control over my own project, is something I’d love to have one day - as directors are seemingly responsible for every aspect that builds up the quality of the final piece.

but with that, comes to a level of pressure, that can be intimidating.

I, however think I’d thrive in such a situation - having responsibility over things, gives me a drive to push myself and achieve the best outcome i can. I mean, heck - if you’re looking for proof, just have a look at these blogs: I pour every little bit of myself into them, I can - to bring the most effective experience for the audience reading it!~ (special thanks to you, for being the audience.)

RUNNER an entry level position, that does mostly administrative work; generally working under the direction of a producer and other production staff to do basic tasks such as:

answering the phone,

taking notes in production meetings,

distributing reports to the appropriate people,

Organising and logging incoming and outgoing materials

Maintaining databases and spreadsheets for tracking work progress and workflows,

Dealing with script preparation and printing for voice recording sessions,

Doing general office jobs like answering the phone,

filing paperwork,

entering dataBooking travel and accommodation,

etc.

Runners are usually employed by animation studios on a short-term contract - which makes it the ideal starting position, for someone like myself with little to no experience with companies.

it seems to be the ideal environment to make connections with companies, and have them maybe bring you back for full-term employment one day.

definitely something I’m looking into when I leave, to build up my portfolio before going to pitch anything.

DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Comes up with the ideas for an animated film or TV series, both the story and the look

despite only offering two positions - I find the development department to have two of the most interesting roles in the creative process, in my opinion.

CONCEPT ARTIST Concept artists come up with ideas for the look of the animation. They draw the very first sketches. Their artwork is then used as a reference point for animators and background and character designers further down the line.

Concept art is the earliest exploration of looks and ideas and is often used as part of a pitch to sell a project, film or series, before production is underway.

I’ve always found producing a range of artwork for a brief to be one of my few strongsuits; with myself spending years developing my visual style to become adaptive and allow me to draw in a multitude of ways to see what works.

I feel most of the difficulty in this position would be from a lack of clear communication, of whats being asked by the client to understand what they want: as you’ll have to go back and redo designs several times - no matter how happy you are with one; to ensure that the client is happy with the outcome.

WRITER Animation writers develop story ideas and present them in the form of scripts. Their scripts are used by storyboard artists and directors to work out the visual art style of a project.

Writers either work on an original idea or contribute to an existing project, such as a TV programme or series.

They come up with a story, and then an outline of what happens in each scene. Finally, they write the full script, including dialogue and action. This gets pitched to a producer or animation film studio.

I consider myself a bit of writer - I’ve done a few written series, alongside my comics, and animation however, animation writers are more descriptive than writers on live action projects.

In live action, it’s up to the director to interpret what the action will look like and how the characters will act, whereas, in an animation, the writers put in all those details.

For example, in a live-action screenplay, a writer might put: “a girl comes round the corner and bumps into a boy.” In an animation, a writer would write: “a girl rushes round the corner looking panicked, arms flailing, and collides with a boy. They both fall to the ground with a thud and the papers he is carrying fly into the air and flutter around them.”

PRE-PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

Works out the detail of the story and the design, plans the shots and characters

CHARACTER DESIGNER Character designers visualise and create the look of individual characters. They work from descriptions given to them by the director. These might include notes on a character’s personality as well as physical traits. Character designers take inspiration from the script and concept art to design characters. They communicate the characters’ personalities through artwork of facial expressions and physical poses.

HEAD OF STORY Heads of story are in charge of turning the writer’s words and the director’s vision into a visual representation of the narrative. They produce series of panels to plan the action, staging and camera choices in 3D digital shots or 2D animation frames. They also work to ensure continuity between animated scenes.

MODELLER / MODEL MAKER Modellers or model makers build the digital or physical versions of everything that is seen on screen in an animation. They translate concept art, character designs and environment designs into models ready to be animated.They work in-house at an animation studio. In bigger animation studios, there might be modellers or model makers dedicated specifically to character modelling or prop modelling. In smaller studios these are more general roles.In stop-motion animation the role is known as ‘model maker’. In 3D computer-generated animation, it’s usually known as ‘modeller’.

STORYBOARD ARTIST Storyboard artists help the head of story create a visual representation of the animation’s narrative. Storyboard artists translate the script and the director’s vision into pictures. They produce a series of panels of images to plan the shots and ensure continuity between them. These form the basis for the animation in the next stage of production.

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

Creates the layout for each shot, the animation, the lighting and puts them together

ANIMATOR Animators create still images that are played in a rapid sequence to create the illusion of movement. They are artists, actors and storytellers. They know how characters show emotion and a have a good, technical understanding of the way things move. They make a believable world through the blend of realism and artistry. Animators take a visual brief from a storyboard and a verbal brief from a director. From the brief, they create the drawings, models or computer images in a way that gives the illusion of movement. This ability to translate the brief into movement is at the heart of all animation.

POST-PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

Adds the music and sound effects, creates different versions, and overall edits the production

DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT

Gets the production in front of an audience, whether that be through a broadcaster or cinema

I’ve never had much interest in the stages beyond post production, personally -

COMPOSER Composers write original music for an animation. They write music to reflect and communicate the atmosphere, character's emotions, and the story. A film score has to work with the film, rather than as a standalone piece of music.

EDITOR Editors shape the whole animation. They craft the telling of the story from the start of the production to the finish.At the beginning, they work with the writer, director. and producer, discussing the script and storyboard. They plan the different scenes and shots. They work out what will need to be animated and how scenes will be pieced together.

Once the animation work has been done, they arrange the final footage and prepare a rough cut, making revisions for the final cut which must be approved by the producer. Editors then oversee the incorporation of audio into the film, collaborating with sound designers and music editors.

Editing an animation is quite a different process to editing a live-action film or TV show. Animation is expensive and labour-intensive, so no footage is produced that hasn’t been precisely planned. In live-action, editors work with existing footage in post-production, choosing between a variety of shots. In animation, the whole film, including each of its scenes and their order, is planned out beforehand. So essentially, in animation, the editing happens first.

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delamitrinews · 6 years

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From Changing Everything To The Here And Now - an Interview with Del Amitri

Last November Del Amitri surprised fans with the announcement of their long-awaited return to the stage - four years after their first UK dates for more than a decade. A hint about new material has appeared on their blog, but since they put the band on ice in 2002 the music industry has gone through drastic changes that have had huge repercussions for how music is now recorded and consumed.

In this exclusive interview for the Del Amitri Fans Facebook account and Twitter feed - run for the fans by fans - Justin Currie and Iain Harvie tell Rhiannon Law about the past, present and future of the band.

It’s an uncharacteristically balmy afternoon when I sit down with the two founding members of Del Amitri at Justin Currie’s Glasgow home. As both men get themselves settled - facing each other across a coffee table with mugs of coffee and a plate of rather delicious ginger biscuits - the beginning feels like the best place to start. So, what are their earliest memories of meeting each other? “The first two guitar players that I’d gone to school with had buggered off to university” explains Currie, recalling the need to recruit new members to the band, which had already played a dozen or more gigs by that point. That incarnation of Del Amitri had also put out the ‘Happy Birthday/What She Calls It’ flexi-disc (alongside The Bluebells). Following an advert placed in McCormack’s music shop, the interview process began for anyone who could play anything.

“So for two weeks we just met all these really rubbish people,” says Currie of the many “deeply insecure” wannabe lead singers that approached him. “And then Iain came in and it was just a completely different ballgame - a proper person who was interested in music and really into writing as well.”

“I’d only been in school bands and bands that had played covers in social clubs,” recalls Harvie. “So I just had this perception that there was no way I was gonna get into this band because they were just so successful...but it was quite quickly shattered!”

Once the two bandmates have stopped laughing, Currie explains that the Del Amitri rehearsal space at the time was a small janitor’s flat in the basement of a Victorian school. They then moved into an even smaller room next door on the basis that they didn’t have to share it with anyone and could lock their gear up. Despite being the size of a toilet, it proved to be enough space to do the rehearsals for their first album.

“It was always key to us to have our own space because none of us really wrote songs separately,” says Currie. “We all wrote collectively and that was very time inefficient. There was a lot of time spent in rehearsal rooms just staring at each other going ‘do something!’ So, it was really important to have your own space rather than just renting a room once a week.”

Following the release of the first album - and due in some part to some arrested funds - the band took off on a self-funded tour of America. This is a concept that many young bands would be familiar with today, but something that was quite radical for the late 1980s. “The last money we had we spent on the air tickets, so we had no money in our pockets when we got there” recalls Currie.

I’m told that the plan was to become pen pals with fans in America and then enlist their help to put on gigs and to crash on their floors. “It was a kind of pre-internet social networking,” says Harvie. However, despite the best-laid plans of their manager at the time, the tour didn’t go quite to plan. “The first gig was a financial disaster” Currie admits, “we did the whole thing and we got round by basically begging and borrowing.”

Luckily that initial experience of touring didn’t put them off for life and our conversation quickly shifts from the past to the present. Del Amitri will shortly be heading out on their first UK tour since ‘The A-Z of Us’ tour in 2014. “We really enjoyed 2014,” says Currie. “We didn’t know if we would enjoy it or not. We were very apprehensive about it, but we loved doing it. So we thought we’ll probably end up doing this again at some point and it just seemed like the right time. And we got offered the [Edinburgh] Castle again and we thought that’s quite tempting.”

The lack of an album to plug offered the band the chance to go on the road for the first time without the pressure of doing additional promotional work. Although Currie is quick to point out that promotion was always part of the job and something they were happy to do in the most part, he adds that the lack of this in 2014 was refreshing. “We’re getting paid to eat nicely catered food every day and play to really enthusiastic audiences and we don’t have to do anything else, we’re just doing the gigs. So that was a bit of a revelation, that this is great fun.”

When I ask if they still get nervous, or at least apprehensive, before shows, Currie responds almost instantly with an emphatic nod “yeah”, whereas Harvie smiles. “I never really got nervous particularly,” he says. “Even if things were going colossally wrong on stage, I’ve never really suffered from nerves. But maybe at The Hydro I was expecting to be quaking in my boots before we went on stage.”

Both bandmates concede that the size of the Glasgow venue, which has a 13,000 capacity, had potentially caused a few jitters. “I remember clearly going behind the stage at The Hydro and just thinking ‘who are all these people’?” exclaims Harvie. “There’s like hundreds of people. There are ambulance guys at these stadium shows and then there’s all the local crew and there might be like twenty of them all waiting to get the support band’s gear and then there are TV guys. So you come out of the dressing room and there are fifty people you’ve never seen before hanging around - all working. And they all kind of defer to you. They all just get out of your way and don’t make eye contact with you and you think ‘oh god this is weird’.”

But it was the response of the crowd at The Hydro that helped to calm any unease at the situation. “The audience all got up on their feet and they didn’t sit down,” says Currie “and that really helped us because we didn’t feel like we had to get them. They were just all over us from the start.”

Despite audiences clamouring for more after the 2014 tour, the band still express surprise at the reaction to the 2018 dates. “Oh, they’re still there!” Currie gives a little laugh but there is a hint of relief in his voice. The response from the fanbase to the tour announcement was to turn-out en masse, with many Edinburgh Castle tickets being sold on the first day of release.

“The weird thing is that people are so into going to these sorts of concerts now and we’re basically selling more tickets than we ever did really, it’s quite bizarre,” says Harvie. “We’re not going to do so many shows, but the venues that we’re playing at are big, if not bigger, than the venues we’d been to in 2002 when we stopped. It’s quite mad.”

I wonder aloud if this could be put down to the fact that fans are concerned that each tour may be their last opportunity to see Del Amitri live? “We never suggested in 2014 that we wouldn’t do it again because we didn’t really know” asserts Currie. “I mean it’s a possibility that we won’t do this again - it might not be feasible, we might not want to do it. For us, four years seemed like kinda the right amount of time. If it had been two years since The Hydro and all that sort of stuff it would have just felt a bit like we were trying to milk it.” He pauses for a few seconds before adding “Who knows what we’ll be doing in 5 or 10 years? Maybe we’ll all be dead!”

I mention that there has been a bit of criticism on social media regarding the prices for this tour, with some tickets costing £75. “Personally, I think that’s too much,” says Currie. “We don’t put on our own shows, we don’t have that kind of manpower. If we did we could control ticket prices. With the dawn of the music-is-free era, most bands main, or only, income is from live performance. I’ve watched ticket prices creep up, seemingly inexorably. I think that’s really unfair on those fans, like me, who still pay for their recorded music rather than streaming it all on YouTube. The most galling thing for me is the insultingly low fees that opening bands receive on my solo gigs especially. We will often subsidise that on a small scale to ensure we get the acts we want. That needs to change.”

So, will we get to hear any new Del Amitri material on this year's tour? Currie sounds positive in his response. “We’re thinking about doing new songs, like maybe one or two, on the tour.” However, he is more uncertain when it comes to the question of whether an album will follow. “We were sort of thinking about doing a record...we’re just humming and hawing about I guess.”

“We need to get back into the rehearsal room and get things moving again and see where that takes us” Harvie agrees.

There nearly was a new record a while back, as it turns out. Harvie went to Currie with some ideas for an electronic album - something radically different to anything they had released before. “Iain at that time was into programming stuff and writing things on the computer and I thought it was a great idea,” says Currie. “We did a few writing trips and wrote a ton of stuff that we really liked, but there was never any great impetus behind it. Our manager didn’t particularly like it. It didn’t sound like anything Del Amitri had done before, but we thought it was Del Amitri because it was me and Iain writing all the tunes and it was all quite melodic.”

However, they were advised not to release it as a Del Amitri album and it is apparent that this caused them concern. “We just couldn’t see a way for Justin and I to release a record that wasn’t going to be a Del Amitri record” explains Harvie. Hearing them reflect on it now, it seems like the advice from their manager, John Reid, was sound. “I don’t think I was aware until after we stopped touring that Del Amitri had acquired a kind of identity that wasn’t necessarily my identity, or even our identity.” Harvie continues.

The electronic album would not only have potentially been a step too far away from the Del Amitri identity, but it would also have been released at a time when the music industry was in complete turmoil. Both agree that it would have been a crazy time to reinvent the band. However, it’s clear that they loved the material and when they talk about this unreleased music it’s as though they are still coming to terms with the fact it didn’t happen. “We really liked it. We were dead into it, you know.” Currie enthuses.

It’s Harvie that notes the difficulties it would have caused for future tours. “I think it would have been odd to do these shows now if we had gone off in another direction, which is why I think John was maybe quite astute.”

I note that adding an electro section to a Del Amitri set would be a tricky proposition from a practical point of view and Harvie agrees. “That would have been a bit rubbish,” he says, “as if we’re like Spinal Tap on a sort of jazz odyssey.”

So, they’ve avoided the potential pitfalls of releasing something radical at a time when they would have needed a big promotional machine working for them, but what do they think about the current trend of releasing crowdfunded music? “I’ve avoided raising money from a fanbase because to me that makes you, psychologically at least, beholden to their expectations and I think that’s quite dangerous,” explains Currie. “When Del Amitri made ‘Change Everything’ I found it quite odd because for the first time ever we were making a record that had an audience expecting it out there. For me, that was a completely different way of thinking about what we were doing and I found that quite confusing. And I think I would find it quite confusing if a hundred people gave us an amount of money to make an album. I would be pretty sure what those hundred people would be expecting and I think that would limit us in where we felt like we could go.”

Harvie agrees “It seems a bit cheeky from our perspective to crowdfund a record. If you want to make a record, go and make a record and then sell it to me”. That said, both are quick to acknowledge that it can be a useful way for those starting out to get a project off the ground in this way.

Currie and Harvie have both had their own projects in the years between the pause button being pressed on Del Amitri and the 2014 and current tours. Currie has been making solo records for more than ten years, with his fourth album ‘This Is My Kingdom Now’ released last year.

Harvie’s most public-facing work was a project called ‘Aliens’ that he explains was done with a neighbour. However, what many people may be unaware of is that the majority of his time has been - and is being - spent on scored music. He did a masters in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and is now in the middle of doing a three-year doctoral level composition project at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. “I think it has given me quite a lot of insight into what we did in the past,” he says before Currie interjects with “Yeah, you don’t want that, insight” and laughs.

I’m keen to understand how they know when a song, or a riff, or just the seed of an idea is for Del Amitri or for something else. “Recently I went away on a wee writing trip on my own with a sort of Del Amitri head on, rather than a Justin Currie solo head on and it’s definitely really different,” says Currie “If you put yourself in the headspace of writing for a specific thing you will write different things. It’s quite odd.”

Harvie goes back to the idea of an identity that has been created. “It’s quite a coherent body of work and that’s kind of how people recognise the identity,” he says. “There is something in there that you can tune back into and refocus. We were probably doing it sort of subconsciously at the time.” Currie agrees, saying “We did try and do something different on every record but, as Iain’s saying, there was a sort of cultural expectation or framework around the band that we probably didn’t go outside of.”

With the tour fast approaching, I ask how they choose a set list from the substantial Del Amitri back catalogue. “It was kind of easy last time because the concept was ‘The A-Z of Us’, so we knew we were going to do at least something from the Chrysalis album and try to cover all bases. We don’t really have a concept this time.” Currie confesses.

“You can’t really get away with leaving certain things out,” Harvie acknowledges. ”And from our perspective, you might think ‘well nobody wants to hear that again’, but that’s not really the case. But that’s going back to that identity thing. Would it be Del Amitri if you didn’t do ‘Kiss This Thing Goodbye’ or ‘Always The Last To Know’ or ‘Roll To Me’ or ‘Nothing Ever Happens’ or ‘Be My Downfall’?”

There’s a bit of nervous laughter as they realise just how close the tour is and that the set list will soon have to be confirmed. “We’re feeling our way into how we make it different from 2014, but it is essentially still the same thing because we’re not selling a new record,” confirms Currie.

“There’s a few wacky ideas going around, but we can’t share them with you yet,” says Harvie, despite my best efforts to get some more detail. “Actually it did cross my mind that we could cover the new Abba song that nobody’s heard yet.” From the raucous laughter that follows his comment, I gather that an Abba medley is off the list.

There are many fans who will be hoping to hear some of their less well-known album tracks and b-sides on this tour. However, Currie is quick to note that they have a varied audience - many people may be coming to see them because they’ve got the greatest hits album or because they saw them once years ago and just fancy seeing them again. “You’ve just got to be aware that you don’t want to be being too specialist,” he says. “Commercial success creates expectations and you need to be really smart to subvert them and get away with it.” Both agree that a venue like Edinburgh Castle would not be the place to try to do that, although there is a hint that the Barrowlands dates may provide the opportunity to do something a bit different.

Despite their achievements, Del Amitri have always maintained they were “never hip”. I’m interested to know if that has helped them to return to the stage. “If you’re never relevant, you can’t suddenly become irrelevant! Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true” Currie agrees. “And also, if you’re not selling yourself on some sort of cutting edge hip thing then age is slightly kinder on you as well, to a certain extent.”

“It sounds an odd thing to say but we did want to make timeless rock and roll,” says Harvie. “What a dreadful cliché, but we were very much in that idiom where it was two guitars, bass and drums. It was a totally classic format. We were deliberately trying to be not of the time. We didn’t perceive it necessarily as being retro or being timeless...I wish I hadn’t used that word, but I think it’s probably the right word.”

Staying true to this format has meant that the band has had to stick to their guns over the years, particularly during the making of ‘Waking Hours’ when there was pressure to go against their ethos and use lots of shiny new production techniques. “It was quite a brave thing to do at the time,” Harvie says. “It does put us in a position now where we can do exactly the same thing and it still sounds right, which isn’t the case if you’d got into that whole 80s production thing.”

While the band has been away there has been plenty of Del Amitri related activity - organised, mostly, by the fanbase. The ‘Pasted Beyond Recognition’ Del Amitri covers album and concert raised thousands of pounds for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland. Harvie notes that he really enjoyed the concert and “found the whole thing quite touching.”

There is also the forthcoming book ‘These Are Such Perfect Days: The Del Amitri Story’ by Charles Rawlings-Way. “We gave him as many contacts as we could and then electronically introduced him to people that would be relevant, to be part of the story,” says Currie. “I’m really chuffed that he’s done it and it feels like all that information is of no great import and the story is of no great import, but at least it’s all in one place and, having read it, it’s all true”.

“It’s interesting in that he started off with a specific thesis about the band that he thought would make a good book but in the process of talking to everybody that thesis sort of reversed” Currie continues. “I like that. I like that we confounded him.”

Currie also notes that, coincidentally, the ‘Rip It Up’ exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is also opening on the 22nd June and some Del Amitri memorabilia will feature, including a tartan guitar. “We don’t have a record and we’ve never intended on having a record, but there’s other things happening so it makes you feel like there’s a reason to be doing everything this year,” he says.

To conclude our conversation before the coffee runs dry and the biscuits are just crumbs, I ask the question that I know they will be dreading: what does the future hold for Del Amitri? “We’re trying to write new songs and we’ll see where that goes,” Currie confirms. “I don’t think we ever thought we made a killer album. There was always something slightly wrong with every album, in some cases more than others. There were better songs on albums that didn’t sound as good as other albums that had worse songs on them and that kind of thing. So there’s an opportunity there to try and rectify that, but if we didn’t feel like we were getting close to rectifying that I don’t think we would put anything out.”

“We’ve never had to do anything in a world where people don’t actually buy music!” Harvie exclaims. “But that’s quite interesting because it changes things. In 2002 the change [in the music industry] was perceived as being brutal and negative, but I don’t know if it necessarily has been in the long run. In a sense, we’re kind of feeling our way back into that and seeing if we might be able to do something useful.”

The music industry has changed. The way people consume music has changed. The concept of an album has changed - Harvie calls it a “romantic idea” and “slightly ludicrous” in the current climate. So what does the future hold for Del Amitri beyond the tour? “We’re going to reinvent the music business in our own image in an effort to preserve the identity of Del Amitri,” says Harvie with a playful smile.

A lot may have changed since the band took their extended break, but talking with them today the enthusiasm for playing their music obviously remains and the excitement for the forthcoming tour is clear. Whatever the future may hold, for the time being, Del Amitri are a band very much focussed on the here and now.

(Words: Rhiannon Law)

Del Amitri 2018 UK tour dates

July 20 - Newcastle City Hall July 21 - Edinburgh Castle July 22 - Manchester Apollo July 23 - Birmingham Symphony Hall July 25 - Nottingham Royal Concert Hall July 26 - London Hammersmith Apollo July 28 - Glasgow Barrowlands July 29 - Glasgow Barrowlands

#delamitri #justincurrie #iainharvie #interview

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mamacleo · 3 years

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The investment is paying off

CW: Negative behavior, introspection, confession, happy ending.

Miss Piss is on her way out.

Mom and her beloved bride had a big, BIG day. For the last few days I've been paying the monthly dues for admission to the club, and let me tell you, anyone who says trans women do not get periods can go jump. I may not get the visit from Aunt Flo, but damn. My fibromyalgia goes nuclear. Remember what I said? About it being pinched, but in every sensate cell of your body? It was worst yesterday. Bedridden. Terrible. Plus headaches, fogginess, loss of memory, much more irritable.

Today, it's over, and I heard the same from the sister I'm in sync with. This was good because today was our second vax, and we had a doctor appointment before that and after, we had to go to Walmart. Our provider has been an absolute gem, the one we only wished we had, and she carted us around and even went over her time. But by the time we got back, I was exhausted. WAY exhausted. And I hurt.

A little later, we got an Amazon box with a stand that needed put together. It's going to complete our bedroom and Callie has been waiting for it. She wanted to put it together right away and she wanted to do it herself, but she wanted me to guide her and help if necessary. Otherwise, she was going to do it. and I explained that I was tired and hurting and would be happy to help tomorrow, but please, not tonight.

So, yeah, she's excitable but impatient and started it right away. Enter Miss Piss. Heaving sighs, snatching the instructions from her. But.

Let's go back a few days. This is a thing I wanted to write about right away, but I thought that I would wait until I would be calmer, more reasonable, less triumphant. I wanted to put it in perspective, make sure that a few days wouldn't see me reverse. Tonight told me that the path I am on, and have been all my adult life, has taken another, better turn.

I'm going to talk about reflex. Some people call it habit. It's really any activity you learn that becomes so much a part of you that you can use it without thought. Anything: throwing a baseball, using a wrench, painting a landscape. Or writing. It's a thing you do without thought, without direction. It's a thing that "just happens," only that belies all the time and effort and determination it takes gets forgotten.

And that in itself is funny. You do forget. This reflex, after it happened, I examined it and looked--not too closely--at everything that went into it. Like a barrage of memories that all came at once. All these things that took hours of thought and emotional labor, things through which I cried, raged, condemned, tore down, rebuilt...

I did it all, all of it, for this. For this night. Because I was lying in bed sick the other night and started closing in on self-pity. I've learned not to call it that, because it is despair. It's not self-pity. I know what that is. This was despair. "Must I live the rest of my life in this pain?" I asked no one. "Is it going to be worth it?"

Which brought me to the next signpost in this journey. A thing I have said often to my beautiful bride is that if someone came to me and said, if I knew that she lay at the end of my journey, would I do it all again? The answer has always been, of course. I will always be ready in case that impossibility ever actually happens. Sure.

But this night, thoughts came together. I've been framing struggles differently, trying to put them in perspective that brings me more understanding. This time, that preparation paid off in a single coin of inestimable value. "You would relive your whole life for her? Really?" I asked myself. "Then why aren't you willing to live the rest of it for her?"

And so things changed.

The same night, something bothered me and triggered a BPD episode. I have been saying for years that I was resigned to them. That they are beyond my control. That they are hardwired into me. That I can no more prevent them than I can prevent breathing. But not tonight.

I saw what was happening and did the best possible thing: removing myself. I went into the bedroom, lay in bed. Then came the strategy. I've been considering this strategy. Letting it ferment, letting it work, letting it simmer. It's been years in the making, years. As I told my boy Auggie later, I created the environment. Into the bedroom. Beautiful, calming music. Surfing some positive, fun things. Reaching out to help a couple of people, giving support. And it happened. It happened because I gave it the environment and the space to do reflexively what I have been teaching myself for decades. It went away.

Please understand the urgency to which I attach this. I have been able to conquer the episodes with much work. Conquering the episodes in itself isn't totally new. What was new is that I employed the strategy, and reflexively, it finally happened. It's like riding a bike. It just happens. One moment, all your concentration is on the task, and the next, your muscles take over. You never forget.

That night I marveled at the change because my capacity for astonishment for what happened matched the significance of the moment. I have been working for this all my adult life. This moment. THIS moment. The moment it all came together. Forty years in the desert, and it paid off. In moments, the monster I could only defeat for moments was resolved, and I knew I could do it again. This was no fluke.

My boy Auggie told me he knew how momentous this was. He saw the shift. He knew exactly what I was talking about. My wife knew what was going on. She saw it happen.

I've had a couple of opportunities since to divert a couple of small anxieties and confirm that the strategy works. Tonight, Miss Piss came out again with my beloved bride right here with me. I knew immediately my behavior was really shitty, to be honest, and...I hopped on the bike. My brain knows what to do now without my even trying. I let it happen.

So in maybe a minute or so, I got off my high Horus and started being constructive. I started doing what was helpful. After I apologized to my wife for being an ass, which she cheerfully accepted, and I described the process to her. I said I got pissy (she did tell me, pointedly, that snatching something out of her hand is a thing to Never Ever Do Again Not For The Rest of My Natural Born Life), then realized I was wrong; I brought myself to a place of being helpful, and then moved on to constructive; I brought myself to a place of pleasantness and then moved on to enthusiastic; and then we arrived where we needed to be, which was fun.

All that took was about five minutes of shepherding emotions in the subconscious mind. I can do this now, I said to her. I can do this any time I need. Think about how Miss Piss was tonight, I said--she went away really fast, didn't she? And hasn't she been going away a lot faster? And now, think about it, think about it--doesn't that portend a whole lot of good? Now dare we think about it, dare we consider, that maybe the day will come when we never see Miss Piss again? A year ago I would have said that could never be. I would have said that in October. Shoot, I would have said so in early April. But not now. It's no longer just possible. It is now inevitable.

I told her, and here is where we come full circle, that her investment is paying off. I said, you invested not just a lot of hope, but an entire lifetime, in the promise that I would be a better wife. Look at the last year, I said. Look at where things were. Look at where they are. See the difference. See the growth. See what profound change you've had on me. All of this--the family, this home, our future--none of it would have happened without her. None of it. Your investment is paying off in multiples.

My mom--not the egg donor, my *mom*--told me that Callie and I aren't soulmates, we're lifemates. We go through life having adventures in separate lives, but we always come together and have a wonderful life. We both like that. We truly enjoy the roles we play in each other's lives. Tonight she wanted to be industrious, she wanted to be productive, and she wanted to DO something almost entirely on her own, with only the most necessary help. She wanted not a wife, but a guide.

A guide. The last person in my orbit who needed a guide got the guide who prepared her for her journey into the next world. I like the role.

So I guided her--okay, put your finger here, that's where you put the screw through. This has to line up like this. So on. But letting her do the work. Letting her discover things. Letting her use the capabilities she knows she has. I couldn't have done this even a few years ago. Too much the control freak. Things are different. My girl? She has the bedroom looking much more the way she wants it--almost perfect. She is worn out now, overheated, tired, but as the old cliché goes, it's a good kind of tired. Things look good. Healthy. Fun.

#trans #trans woman #transgender #home #married life #goals #wedded bliss #shadow work #borderline #borderline personality disorder #mental health #mental illness #depression #for your sake i love the rain

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revlyncox · 3 years

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Re-Energizing

This Platform Address was written for the Washington Ethical Society and presented on September 27, 2020.

Growing is very hard work. Whether we are talking about growing flowers, or growing in our understanding of living an ethical life, or growing a movement for justice, or nurturing young people as they grow, it’s very hard work. Whatever growing we happen to be in the midst of, a lot of what we’re doing is transforming one form of energy into another. In the garden, the nutrients of soil and water and the energy of the sun transform the impossibility of a seed into food and flowers and abundant life.

Ed Ericson, one of my predecessors here at the Washington Ethical Society, wrote that Ethical Humanism is “a single integrative process of creative spiritual growth having religious, educational, and social consequences.” Something we know about growth is that the energy has to come from somewhere. As we are looking at adapting our personal growth and our community’s growth for the year ahead, what energy are we drawing from? How do we renew and re-energize our ability to act as a community headed toward moral growth, beauty, joy, and ethical action?

Part of what Ericson meant by that process of creative spiritual growth is the human capacity to make meaning and to find purpose, using as our raw materials the experience of living in relationship with each other. Whether we find joy or sorrow, and usually a mix of both, we are energized for moral and intellectual growth with our direct experience. He wrote, “as human beings we are capable of transforming our pain and grief into sentiments that provide solace and healing and that bring deeper insights into the meaning of life.”

Here’s what I think this means for what we are facing today: We have a number of challenges before us, some of them unique to our time and some of them perhaps not as unique as we might hope. Adapting to the pandemic brings us challenges in our daily lives and in WES’s community life. Our challenges in dismantling oppression and keeping the ideals of democracy alive are many. Some of us have challenges getting through the day, finding transportation, caring for our loved ones, filling our prescriptions. Yet the difficulties we face, our way of making meaning from them, and the relationships that keep us committed to facing them, are some of the sources of energy that will carry us through this chapter of our lives.

On the other hand, despite the difficulties around us and among us and within us, beauty and love persist. These, too, are sources of energy for the transformative work that is ours to do. We must keep these things alive in our minds and hearts, because they help us to stay committed, and because we cannot have a complete picture of the world as it is without beauty and love. When we can perceive what’s right, what’s growing, what’s giving life -- as well as perceiving obstacles and threats to liberation and abundant life -- then we can come together with a whole strategy for change. That’s true whether the change is in our own minds and hearts, in our community, or in the world beyond. When we can see what is growing, we can make a plan for supporting that growth. Through all of this, we find energy by keeping care at the center; care at the center of our goals, and care at the center of how we behave in community on the way to our goals.

In other words, here are three ways we can re-energize for the months ahead: 1. Observe and treasure the impossible as it happens. When beauty and love and joy make themselves known, celebrate. 2. Plan and improvise support for what is growing and giving life. Plan for structures that can keep growth healthy, and also be ready to respond in the moment with support when delightful surprises sprout up. 3. Put care at the center. The way we treat one another and ourselves matters. Let’s live as if we believe that people are ends in themselves and are worthy of care.

Observe and Treasure the Impossible As It Happens

Observe and treasure the impossible as it happens. In this morning’s story, “The Garden” by Arnold Lobel (description here), Toad plants some seeds. It seems impossible that a tiny seed can grow into a flower, or a vegetable, or a tree. Yet that’s exactly what happens every time a plant grows. If it doesn’t seem impossible, that’s only because the evidence is overwhelming, but even so, the dramatic difference between the seed and the plant is worth a moment of awe and wonder. Thank goodness for Frog, who helps Toad to wake up and bears witness to that first inkling of success. We can be Frog for other people, and we can ask people to be Frog for us, lifting up occasions for joy rather than letting them slip into mundanity. When those sprouts do poke up, when the needle moves, when the data comes in, when the the city council considers your group’s proposal, when the student grasps a new concept, celebrate that.

Sometimes, we get to observe the impossible as it happens in social change. I never thought there would be widespread acceptance of the need for treatment and community care for people with AIDS. I never thought marriage equality would be the law of the land. Maybe some of you were born into a world that doubted the possibility of women leaders, or of voting rights for African Americans, or of the decline of the coal industry. Our current agenda for justice, equity, and compassion is long. We want safe communities, free from police violence and the cancerous growth of the prison industrial complex. We want racial justice, and an end to white supremacy. We want just immigration policies, and compassion for all who migrate. We want gender equity. We want to see swift and science-based climate action. The list goes on. We will not complete that list in a single lifetime. But, one step at a time, the impossible has happened before.

Plan and Improvise Support

A second source of energy is when we plan and improvise support. When we anticipate growth in all senses of the word, when we observe what is alive and what is going well, we can build structures to support future success. Sometimes we are delightfully surprised by what is working beyond expectations, and we respond in the moment with improvised support. That process of creativity and responsiveness and adaptability can, itself, bring joy that fuels future activity.

Some of you have heard me talk about my hobby as a clueless gardener. I try things, and sometimes they work out, and sometimes they don’t. The process of failure and discovery interests me, and so my cluelessness leads to curiosity, and this gives me the energy to keep going.

This year, I thought I would try pole beans companioned with corn. As you may recall, we had a cold and wet spring, such that it was June before it was warm enough to put beans and corn in the ground. Thinking I had to rush, I went against the conventional advice and I planted the corn and beans at the same time rather than planting the corn first and waiting two weeks. Since the corn wasn’t going to be tall enough to support the beans, I put a 6-foot bamboo stake by each pair of plants. I had some doubts that anything would grow, but it was worth a try.

Well, some things did grow. VInes spread out, beyond what I imagined. I became concerned that I wasn’t seeing any blossoms, just a lot of vine growth. I worried that I had made a mistake and wouldn’t see any beans at all. Then, in late July, there was a bean! And then a few more. Then about a dozen. I added more support. The vines kept going. One week, we put away about nine pounds of beans. Now that it’s fall and the first frost is coming soon, the beans are slowing down. Looking back, I’m glad I put up supports, in case something might grow. That support mattered, though it wasn’t perfect and I needed to adapt later. It has all been very surprising.

When we are doing something complicated together, we want to plan support as if success might happen, and we want to be ready to respond when something grows unexpectedly well. That means we need to be aware of what’s working, not just what’s broken. And it means there are times for sweeping the floors, making the copies, writing the letters, making the phone calls, and sticking with it through very long meetings. There are times for journaling, daily practice, and data collection. Whether we’re seeking new insights for our own ethical development, starting a new social group at WES, or building power for affordable housing in Washington, DC, there are plenty of everyday actions that strengthen and re-energize our efforts. They may seem boring or routine. The habits of support create a strong foundation so that, when things do grow, when the impossible does happen, there is space to thrive.

Put Care At the Center

Before we close, I want to say something about putting care at the center of what we do, both in the way we formulate our goals and in the way we treat ourselves and one another on the way toward those goals. There is a lot we want to learn, a lot we want to work toward for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our planet. Another world is possible. It may seem sometimes that urgency to the point of exhaustion is the only way to operate when one crisis follows another. I’d like to suggest that we prioritize kindness, not only in our individual interactions, but also in the way we make space for difference and vulnerability in our community expectations.

Again, this morning’s story provides us with an allegorical role model. Toad realizes that his shouting is not conducive to growth, and he attempts to make restitution through a practice of care. He provides light in the darkness, companionship in the rain, beauty of all kinds, the gift of his musical talent, and genuine concern. This might seem whimsical, but researchers have found that talking to and playing music for plants makes a difference. How much more do those of us who know we are self-aware, who use words to communicate, need that kind of care in order to grow and mature?

I was reminded profoundly of the ethic of care this week upon learning of the death of Elandria Williams. Elandria was an activist and a powerful community organizer, having spent many years on the staff of the Highlander Center before moving on to The People’s Hub in 2018. Elandria was a Unitarian Universalist from childhood, was a national volunteer leader since youth, and just completed a term as Co-Moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association; that is, the UUA’s highest governance officer. E was also my friend, someone who encouraged me when I felt like giving up, saw something worthwhile in me when I couldn’t, and wouldn’t let me off the hook when I needed to hear the truth. Elandria died this week at the age of 41.

In one of Elandria’s recent video dispatches, E spoke about caring for ourselves and each other as part of the practices of liberation. Caring for our loved ones and our communities is part of liberation. Learning to care for people we don’t know so that everyone can get free is part of liberation. Being mindful of our actions and taking care, because our actions affect others, is part of liberation. And, E reminded us that honoring our own worth as people, apart from whatever we think productivity or effectiveness looks like, is part of liberation.

Elandria dropped wisdom at every turn, generously and spontaneously. And people received that wisdom because Elandria had a gift of relationship. E’s friends and loved ones and colleagues had unshakeable confidence that E saw them and honored them for their - our - whole selves. There are memes turning up on social media already with some of Elandria’s wisdom. Here’s an excerpt:

We are worthy

Not because of what we produce

But because of who we are

We are divine bodies of light and darkness

You are not worthy because of what you offer, not because of what is in your mind, not for the support you give others, not for what you give at all

We are worthy and are whole just because

I could go on, but I want to make sure we have time to hear from you during the Community Sharing. That Elandria was a Unitarian Universalist may not be relevant to you, but as members of a society that affirms the worth of every person, I hope that E’s words resonate.

What I’m trying to say is that practicing care is one of the things that will re-energize us. When we regard each other with love, and our reminders to each other of our community agreements are rooted in love, and our demonstrations of care and concern and support for each other are rooted in love, and our appreciation of each other is rooted in love, we are practicing the world we hope to manifest. This is how we remember what we are on the way toward, this is how we sustain ourselves and each other on the way there.

Be the person who offers seeds. Be the person who wakes up your companion to celebrate when the impossible is in progress. Be the person who reads a story in the dark, or recites poetry, or plays music to encourage someone to grow. Be the person who chops wood and carries water, everyday practices to support abundant life. And be the person who offers that same love for your own wellbeing. Put care at the center.

Coming to a Close

We strive through our relationships to elicit the best in the human spirit. We work for a world in which love and justice cross all borders. These are not easy goals, and these are not easy times in which to live. We can do this, together. As we consider where we might draw energy and direct energy for the mission we have accepted, let’s remember the garden.

1. Observe and treasure the impossible as it happens. Causes for awe and wonder are all around us. 2. Plan and improvise support for what is growing and giving life. That may mean routine practices and unglamorous architecture. It may mean being fully present, rain or shine. It definitely means taking note of when something is going well. 3. Put care at the center. You are worthy. Your neighbor is worthy. The people we don’t know are worthy. Let us learn to lead with love. May it be so.

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sciencespies · 4 years

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This is how many people you'd need to colonize Mars, according to science

https://sciencespies.com/space/this-is-how-many-people-youd-need-to-colonize-mars-according-to-science/

This is how many people you'd need to colonize Mars, according to science

So you want to colonize Mars, huh? Well Mars is a long ways away, and in order for a colony to function that far from Earthly support, things have to be thought out very carefully. Including how many people are needed to make it work.

A new study pegs the minimum number of settlers at 110.

The new study is titled “Minimum Number of Settlers for Survival on Another Planet.” The author is Jean-Marc Salotti, a Professor at Bordeaux Institut National Polytechnique. His paper is published in Scientific Reports.

Obviously, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to having any kind of sustained presence on another planet. How will people organize themselves? What equipment will they bring? How will they extract in-situ resources? What kind of skills are needed?

These questions have been addressed before, of course, and in this report Salotti says that: “The use of in situ resources and different social organizations have been proposed, but there is still a poor understanding of the problem’s variables.”

This study mostly focuses on one question: how many people will it take? Salotti writes: “I show here that a mathematical model can be used to determine the minimum number of settlers and the way of life for survival on another planet, using Mars as the example.

A lot of thought has gone into colonizing Mars. SpaceX says their proposed interplanetary spacecraft could carry 100 people to Mars. Elon Musk has talked about building a fleet of them, so that there’s a constant flow of resources to Mars. But is that realistic?

Illustration of SpaceX’s Interplanetary Transit System. (SpaceX)

“However,” Salotti writes, “this is an optimistic estimate of the capability, the feasibility of the reusability remains uncertain and the qualification of the vehicle for landing on Mars and relaunch from Mars could be very difficult and take several decades.”

A similar dynamic hovers over other parts of the Mars colony discussion. Many researchers have thought about in-situ resource utilization, for instance.

Gases could be extracted from the atmosphere, and minerals from the soil. In-situ resource extraction could provide organic compounds, iron, and even glass.

Even if we grant the feasibility of these ideas, “the complexity of the implementation is poorly understood and the number of items that would remain to be sent each year would still represent a tremendous challenge,” writes Salotti.

The problem of a colony is bewilderingly complex.

Illustration of Mars colony. (NASA)

Salotti worked on a mathematical model that he thinks could serve as a good starting point for thinking about a self-sustaining colony.

Central to his idea is what he calls the sharing factor, “which allows some reduction of time requirements per individual if, for example, the activity concerns the construction of an object that can be shared by several individuals.”

The starting point of the settlement is critical to the rest of the work. What resources will be in place? If there’s a large amount of resources and technological tools in the beginning, that will affect the rest of the calculations. But in some ways, the starting point might not be as critical, for two factors.

The complexity, expense, and feasibility of interplanetary travel is one. And the lifetime of the equipment that settlers start with is another. Every piece of equipment has a lifetime.

“For the sake of simplicity,” Salotti writes, “it is assumed here that the initial amount of resources and tools sent from Earth will be rather limited and as a consequence will not have much impact on survival.” In essence, building a model that relies on easy re-supply from Earth wouldn’t be that helpful.

So, granting that the initial state of the colony is viable, Salotti moves on to two variables which will have a huge effect on survival:

The availability of local resources. Basically, this means water, oxygen, and chemical elements. Those resources have to be easy to exploit.

Production capacity. Think of it as a list of things that have to be produced, like tools, and if enough of them can be produced in the appropriate time frame.

What Salotti is working up to here is an equation. Things like resource availability and production capacity are variables in that equation.

But Salotti’s idea always circles back to the concept of the “sharing factor.”

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Imagine an isolated individual in a colonizing situation on Mars. They would have to perform all task themselves. They would need to build and/or maintain their own systems to acquire drinking water, oxygen, and to generate power. There wouldn’t be enough time in each day. The burden on a single person would be enormous.

But in a larger colony, their technology for things like getting drinking water, oxygen, and for generating power is used by more people. That creates more demand, but it also spreads out the burden.

The effort it takes to build and maintain all those systems is now spread out among more people. That, in essence, is Salotti’s sharing factor.

It gets better.

As the number of people increases, there’s room for more specialization. Imagine a colony of only 10 people. How many of them would need to be able to repair and maintain the drinking water system? Or the oxygen system?

Those systems cannot be allowed to fail, so there would be pressure for a large percent of those people to be able to operate and understand those systems.

Artist’s impression of SpaceX’s proposed Mars Base Alpha. (SpaceX)

Salotti writes: “If each settler was completely isolated and no sharing was possible, each individual would have to perform all activities and the total time requirement would be obtained by a multiplication by the number of individuals.”

But if there are one hundred people, how many people need to understand those systems? Not everyone. So that allows others to specialize in something else.

“A greater number of individuals makes it possible to be more efficient through specialization and to implement other industries allowing the use of more efficient tools.”

Salotti argues that this sharing factor can be calculated, and estimated with different mathematical functions. Math-interested people can check that part of the paper out for themselves.

(Salotti, Scientific Reports, 2020)

Above: Figure from the study showing that annual working time capacity is greater than the annual working time requirement if the initial number of individuals is greater than 110.

There are some constraints and starting points for the sharing factor, of course. “The sharing factor depends on the needs, the processes, the resources and environmental conditions, which may be different depending on the planet,” Salotti writes.

This leads us to Salotti’s description of “survival domains.” Salotti outlines five domains that need to be considered in these calculations:

ecosystem management

energy production

industry

buildings

human factors/social activities

These are mostly self-explanatory, but human factors refers to things like raising and education children, and some amount of cultural activities like sports, games, perhaps music.

The five survival domains that need to be considered. (Salotti, Scientific Reports, 2020)

Now Salotti turns to Mars, the primary planet when it comes to this kind of futuristic figuring, and the planet that Salotti addresses in his paper.

Salotti doesn’t start from scratch when it comes to Mars. There’s already been a lot of scientific thinking into building a sustained human presence on that planet.

“The specific utilization of Martian resources for life support, agriculture and industrial production has been studied in different workshops and published in reports and books,” Salotti explains.

Obviously, this is a complex problem, and some assumptions have to be made in order to think about it. For any solution to have merit, those assumptions have to be honest. No place for science fiction here.

The basic assumption Salottti uses is that for whatever reason, the flow of supplies from Earth has been interrupted, and the colony must sustain itself.

He borrows a scenario from a contest organized by the Mars Society, where participants were asked to define a realistic scenario for setting Mars.

Working time requirement for one (left) and 110 individuals (right). (Salotti, Scientific Reports, 2020)

Basically, Salotti’s equation comes down to time. How much time is required for survival vs. how much time is available. For Salotti, the effective number of people required to balance the time equation is 110 on Mars.

“It is based on the comparison between the required working time to fulfil all the needs for survival and the working time capacity of the individuals,” he writes in the conclusion.

Naturally work of this nature makes some assumptions, which are spelled out in the paper.

“This is obviously a rough estimate with numerous assumptions and uncertainties,” he writes. But that doesn’t diminish its usefulness.

If there’s ever going to be a human colony on Mars, at some point in the future, then we need to develop working models to guide our thinking and our planning. We have a lot of sci-fi talk, and flowery announcements from people with large Twitter followings, but that’s not real work.

“To our knowledge, it is nevertheless the first quantitative assessment of the minimum number of individuals for survival based on engineering constraints,” Salotti says.

“Our method allows simple comparisons, opening the debate for the best strategy for survival and the best place to succeed,” he concludes.

Let the debate begin.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.

#Space

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mearnsblog · 4 years

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“The Little Mermaid” (1989)

The history of Disney could honestly be split into pre-“Little Mermaid” and post-“Little Mermaid.” That’s how important an 83-minute kids’ movie was to the future of animated storytelling. The decades prior to its release had some hits, but none struck their audiences quite like this one. Almost instantaneously, Ariel vaulted into the pantheon of Disney princesses and the movie industry had its new modern model for how to warm the hearts of families everywhere (all while making bank at the box office, too).

I’ve been trying to think of what makes “Little Mermaid” so freaking good, and a large part of its success was its willingness to show its protagonists’ flaws. Unlike, say, Cinderella and Snow White, Ariel doesn’t arrive on our screens fully-formed as a flawless heroine. She’s the daughter of a king and thus ensconced in privilege, naive and a little careless of her actions. (Her pal, Flounder, is also put in danger on multiple occasions during her ocean travels.) King Triton and to a lesser extent, Sebastian, are not perfect, either. They see their lives as the only possible path for future generations, fear becoming more worldly, and are outwardly xenophobic to humans. Triton is also just a bad father, prone to angry outbursts that damage his relationship with Ariel, even before he destroys her collection.

It’s this capacity for growth that allows “Little Mermaid” to flourish. Ariel learns how her short-sightedness blew up in her face and threw the fate of the ocean into peril when Ursula leverages Ariel’s freedom to get Triton to sign his power away to her. Triton learns that his rage went too far and that he can’t close his daughter off to the world just because of his own biases. Sebastian gradually understands this too, resolving to help Ariel win over Eric since he realizes that an immediate return to the ocean would just make her miserable for the rest of her life. The only hero who doesn’t seem to have much to learn is Eric himself, but at least he’s a better-developed prince than any we’ve seen before in a Disney movie. Plus he has a good doggy! Max is the real hero, IMO.*

*Hey, if he wasn’t so insistent on finding Ariel wherever she happened to be, Eric wouldn’t have found her! Plus, he knew that Ursula in disguise was bad news. Bless him.

The music from Howard Ashman* and Alan Menken is outstanding. This is the greatest soundtrack since “Jungle Book,” and maybe even the best through 1989. “Under the Sea” gets the most attention and is still a banger. There are not many villain songs better than “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who said it was No. 1 for them. “Kiss the Girl” is a wonderful lovey-dovey ballad. Both “Les Poissons” and its sequence in the movie are hilarious. For me, “Part of Your World” takes the cake. It seems inconceivable that there was a debate about whether it should be cut from the movie. It represents its entire thesis! Bonus points for the people who fought to keep it in, and to the directors for later showing scenes on land where Ariel’s mentioned dreams from the lyrics become reality.

*Ashman would later contribute to “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” before AIDS tragically took his life. This was his magnum opus, and what a work of genius it was.

One more thing: the animation also did an admirable job creating the aquatic world. Through painstaking effort, they brought Disney underwater and it looks incredible. I can’t imagine how much of an arduous process it was to get all the bubbles and oceanic settings to look just right, but they did it!

My only regret is that Ursula was defeated so swiftly. All it took was Eric steering a broken ship’s spar into her when she was enormous? I salute his athleticism, but she goes down like a punk and probably deserved something better. This is just me spitballing, but I like the idea of humans and the creatures of the ocean joining together to take her out. Maybe we see some merpeople guiding Eric’s ship? I don’t know. Although we get some of that with them disrupting the wedding, that’s small peas compared to what Ursula ultimately makes herself.

Anyway, that’s not a big problem. “Little Mermaid” is an inner-circle Disney classic and definitely enough to overtake “Cinderella” for the current No. 1 spot on my list. I respect it so much.

Best song: “Part of Your World”*

*Please listen to the recent Halsey cover because holy cats, does she nail Ariel’s character in 3 minutes.

Updated ranking

1. “The Little Mermaid” 2. “Cinderella” (review) 3. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 4. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 5. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 6. “The Jungle Book” (review) 7. “The Great Mouse Detective” (review) 8. “Fantasia” (review) 9. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 10. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 11. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 12. “Pinocchio” (review) 13. “Robin Hood” (review) 14. “Oliver & Company” (review) 15. “The Rescuers” (review) 16. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 17. “Bambi” (review) 18. “The Aristocats” (review) 19. “Dumbo” (review) 20. “Peter Pan” (review) 21. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 22. “The Fox and the Hound” (review) 23. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 24. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 25. “Make Mine Music” (review) 26. “The Black Cauldron” (review) 27. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 28. “Melody Time” (review)

#disney

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theteenagetrickster · 4 years

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Job Interview: Producer Troy Taylor consults Mayor of R&B, Career-Defining Songs, Whitney Houston & Extra

Three-time Grammy Award-winning Songwriter, Report Developer & Vocal Arranger TROY TAYLOR that commemorates 30 years in the popular music field this year has teamed up with everyone fromBoyz II Men, Brian McKnight ,Tyrese,Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie , Aretha Franklin,

Mary J. Blige,

The O'Jays, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton , Trey Songz to Jacquees to call a couple of

. I overtook the hit-making tremendously developer to review the experience, his advocate Mayor of R&B, career-defining tracks, Whitney

Houston & even more ... TERRANCE: This year notes your three decades in the popular music industry. What has the quest felt like hence far? TROY TAYLOR:&It's been actually interesting I would certainly point out in a feeling. I went by means of a separation when I was forty and also I must additionally make that Trey Songz Ready album in the method of going

with that divorce, to ensure that was actually one of the most difficult aspect of it. I began as a partner in a developer duo gotten in touch with The Characters. In 2002, I ventured off by on my own and also started a manufacturing firm,Songbook Amusement.

It is actually been testing but because I enjoyed it so a lot, I've found out how to adapt to transform with the moments. TERRANCE: You have actually an initiative gotten in touch with Mayor of R&B. Speak about that and also the goal. TROY TAYLOR: So I developed this Mayor for R&B as a campaign to dedicate my encounter, my love for music, my affection for R&B to devoting it back to plans, arrangements, bridges. All the traits our company do not listen to in songs today, thus when I place it as a campaign, it just simply suggests dedicating on my own to this age group to reveal them the market value of these changes that creates R&B have the sense that we understand it to become. TERRANCE: What was your innovative involvement in K. Michelle's latest cd,

All Monsters Are Actually Human!.?.!? TROY TAYLOR: Well, some years back I made some of her Gold single people contacted"Can not Elevate A Guy "however ever since, it's resembled one of those points that, K. Michelle recognize that there's certainly not as well many individuals than may control her as well as pull the most ideal away from her without her intimidating all of them off therefore I'm none of those individuals she scares off simply or even in any way. It enables me to pull the very best out of her as well as so she often tends to finish up calling me since she knows I would certainly be able to obtain the most effective out of her.

TERRANCE: Talk about the brand new Dru Mountain single you produced gotten in touch with "What You Need". TROY TAYLOR: So I really Executive Produced the entire cd as well as our experts have a lot of incredible songs

."What You Need"is actually a tune that they experienced would be actually a good tune to start off along with simply off of it possessing the initial Dru Hill type consistency and also audio and it is actually a great track to blend in along with their extremely initial tune"Inform Me". Collectively, they as a matter of fact mix it belong that track, so it is actually just something they experienced will be excellent to start with. I performed a considerable amount of tunes on the project.

TERRANCE: What was it like dealing with Kevin Ross on his singular"Trait Got in touch with Passion". TROY TAYLOR: Well, Kevin is among my proteges actually. He utilized to become my artist when he was authorized to Motown as well as our company simply permitted him vacate, as well as permit him spread his wings out a little bit of bit extra to venture out and also do his very own trait, but he as well as I possess a friendship at the same time, so whenever he needs me I am actually regularly mosting likely to sympathize him. He possessed the tune, however with the method he videotaped it, I thought his vocals needed to be

stronger. TERRANCE: As a recognized Songwriter & Producer in this particular sector, what creates a song great? TROY TAYLOR: What makes a song excellent to me, is actually a tune that has the capability to take you no matter where you require to be when you require to go. If you wan na be actually satisfied, it may make you pleased. A good song ought to create you feel the emotional state of whatever it is actually claiming as well as it should have the capacity to be a soundtrack throughout your day to express whatever emotion you believe. TERRANCE: What are your five career-defining songs you possess created and/or produced? TROY TAYLOR: Certainly not in any type of certain order, it would be actually, of training program"Sugary food Lady"by Tyrese."Neighbors Know My Call"through Trey Songz, considering that there's no track in the background of songs keeping that title."The First Noel ", a Xmas tune that I created for Whitney, considering that it arrives each year. "Merely Came Right Here to Chill" through The Isley Brothers, due to the fact that Ron Isley is actually like some of my beloved, preferred

."Your Passion"by Boyz II Males, since that song was supposed to be actually for my album and also when I heard all of them vocalize, I provided it to all of them. TERRANCE: Which years in popular music you would claim determined you one of the most and why? TROY TAYLOR: It's gon na be actually a cross between the 70's as well as the 80's along with the

80's probably initially given that a bunch of music I grew on in the 70's I remember, however didn't analyze until the 80's. In the 90's I discovered just how a lot I found out coming from the 70's. TERRANCE: Where perform you see R&B entering the future? TROY TAYLOR: I believe it's gon na come back. It's visiting definitely be extra efficient, because the millennial age group is actually growing up currently, so they wish a lot more out of music. They're heading to manage it a little

better, since it is actually going to stand for exactly how they think currently.

TERRANCE: What are your ideas when you believe you do not receive the debt you should within this electronic songs age? TROY TAYLOR: It's worse right now than ever before, considering that there are no CD's or inlays to consider and also read. Thus now I have to turn to performing tags and as much as I do not like tags, I perform understand right now the usefulness of it, is for individuals to know that I worked with that song. I do not essentially like it, yet it's what I need to do. It is actually all portion of transforming along with the moments. TERRANCE: Everybody have their viewpoint of what excellence is actually. Exactly how would certainly you describe it? TROY TAYLOR: Results to me is actually when you're at

the factor where no concern exactly how challenging it acquires, you still discover a technique to smile. That is actually effectiveness. Given that when you can not, no issue when it obtain difficult as well as you can not locate a technique to grin and also to always keep progressing, then you're certainly not effective. When you possess something that you really love and also you are actually productive at it, when hardships come as they perform with everything, you tend to be attracted in the direction of the thought and sensation of results, you know?

I can't allow this break me, to ensure to me is what effectiveness is. TERRANCE: What was the experience like to win Dove Awards for your recent deal with Donald Lawrence & Koryn Hawthorne? TROY TAYLOR: That's amazing considering that I didn't see that coming given that I am actually an R&B fella, despite the fact that I grew up in Congregation. I carry out, do Gospel music however I still wouldn't have actually anticipated that to happen, to ensure that was

definitely, really excellent. TERRANCE: What was it like teaming up along with Whitney on" Unashamed "for the Merely Whitney ... album? TROY TAYLOR: Well, that was actually a definitely, really exciting track for her if you listen closely to the lyrics. It was a little bit of in advance of it 's time I would state. I likewise teamed up with her on her Christmas time venture which was incredibly

fascinating considering that I was able to audio document while I was partnering with her. I possess a great audio of our team communicating along with one another while I was actually collaborating with her which was actually tremendously funny to hear her in her aspect, only being absurd as well as only being Whitney. The very most essential and also most reputable thing is that it is actually for me only and also nobody worldwide possesses it, therefore in my masterclasses that I do around the globe, I have a segment where I play those sounds for individuals to listen to how she was. TERRANCE: One of my preferred Kenny Lattimore cds is Weekend break. What was it like teaming up with him about that task? TROY TAYLOR: Kenny is my individual. He's one of my closest pals in this particular songs field. Carrying out that venture was actually really excellent since it stretched him vocally. I performed like six tunes on that particular cd. I managed to really, truly, definitely press him right into little a lot more edgier functionalities as opposed to the smooth singing that he is actually made use of to.

" arial", "helvetica", sans-serif;'> TERRANCE: You teamed up with the late Tony Thompson formerly of Hi-Five back in '95 on his solo debut album Sexsational. Why do you assume that cd didn't live up to it is actually possible? TROY TAYLOR: I presume a ton of it concerned his psychological health and wellness. Mental health and wellness had not been a major package in the past, yet he was definitely enduring and had some psychological health issues that decreased him below performing each of things that he required to accomplish to advertise it as well as to be all that he needed to be.&That is actually from my viewpoint coming from at that time from what I observed. I just found an unhappy person that had not been actually right into it as he might've been actually. TERRANCE: One of the exciting points concerning the remake you made for Brownstone got in touch with "I Can't Inform You Why", is actually Maxee performs the lead vocals on the cd model and Nicci performs the top vocals on the single version. What led to that switch? TROY TAYLOR: That is actually an amusing one considering that I seemed like if you know the original Eagles song, it's a rather smooth song and it's rather relaxed. I performed an R&B variation of it, I seemed like Nicci is precisely the diva but I felt like Maximum's vocal fitted better. It became a little bit of political because in order for it to become a solitary as well as to have the Brownstone audio, Nicci will've needed to be actually the lead performer on it consequently for the remix they exchanged all of them out.

TERRANCE: There is actually an SWV gem you produced named "Shock Me". Refer to that. TROY TAYLOR: That is actually a song where I had each one of the group sing on. Of program Coko performs the lead, yet they all possess parts in it, you recognize what I mean? I thought that if you are actually a group as well as you could possibly all sing, then you must all of have parts. The track could finish along with the top vocalist taking it residence, yet despite having like Boyz II Men. Commonly Nate or Shawn would certainly begin it off as well as either will go next and Wanya would deliver it home. To me, that's what a group carries out. TERRANCE: And also talking, exactly how performed you associate with Boyz II Guys? I recognize you dealt with them on their Cooleyhighharmony and II cds. TROY TAYLOR: Once Again, I was an artist on Motown at some aspect dealing with my job. When I met them, I chose I failed to desire to be a performer given that it was extra delightful to become behind the scenes as well as performing what I really love, somewhat to become in face consequently after finding their effectiveness I determined I really did not desire to be a performer any longer. TERRANCE: Are actually there any forthcoming tasks that you are actually working with that you can tell our company regarding? TROY TAYLOR: Well, I'm always cleaning performers. I'm still a large follower of Performer Progression, so I constantly have performers under me who I am actually brushing and also focusing on. The following approaching point is the Dru Mountain job. I have actually been actually dealing with Queen Naija and also I'm operating along with Pink Sweat $, to ensure ought to be awesome. There is actually a tune arriving along with Lil Duval featuring Storage tank & Jacquees and it is actually heading to be actually super hilarious as well as it is actually a truly great R&B file and also gon na be actually really suitable for R&B. TERRANCE: Exists anything not reviewed you would love to show your fans, fans & the audiences? TROY TAYLOR: I 'd claim follow me as well as ready to elect me as your Mayor of R&B. When individuals inquire, what does that indicate? That only simply suggests to help me assist the original elements of what R&B popular music should possess. The reason why it's certainly not in a lot of popular music today is actually due to the fact that the kids do not know just how to accomplish it. They do not recognize how to make improvements. They do not recognize any kind of idea, so they just usually tend to keep it repeating given that it's secure.

This content was originally published here.

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themousai · 4 years

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Q+A: The Deadnotes

Your second album ‘Courage’ is out tomorrow on 14th February, so how are you feeling about people finally getting to hear it as a whole? We’re SO excited for people to hear the record. We worked so hard on this one over the past two years and went to our limits so many times in the process of writing, recording and releasing this record. Feels really good to finally put it out! Also really excited about playing the new songs live. Still a lot to rehearse though! Haha.

You released ‘Never Perfect’ as a single just recently, in which you talk about overcoming the hurdles that coincide with mental health issues. Does the rest of the album convey the same self-reflective message or is it just a small part of a bigger picture? The discussion about mental health is something that’s really important to us. We already dealt with mental health issues, depression and anxiety on our last record ‘I’ll Kiss All Fears Out Of Your Face’ (2016) however I think we weren’t really aware back then of how much it actually influenced us personally and our songwriting. In 2015 and 2016 we played nearly 120 shows a year, recorded the album too and had to face some private changes and challenges. In early 2017 we found ourselves totally burned out but didn’t really talk about it until the band was nearly breaking up. That was the time when I wrote ‘Never Perfect’. Writing this song felt like taking a huge load off my mind. This was like a trigger that made us wanna talk more openly and get our message out there more directly and most of all made us wanna go on and look forward!

Mental health is not the only thing we want to write about because there’s so much going on that moves us. We wrote an album about the ‘Courage’ of overcoming fears whether they’re political, social or emotional nature. Mental health is a part of the bigger picture and it’s a very important part for us!

What was it like recording the album at Crooked Rain Recording Studio in Leeds? It sounds like you had some great people involved! Hell yeah, that’s right. It was a completely new and different experience for us recording the album so far away from home. The UK has a really strong and big music scene and the way people work there is completely different compared to Germany. We recorded the album together with Bob Cooper who is such an amazing, precise but also very experimental producer. We’ve never before been able to try out this much in the studio, get wild with guitar pedals and arrange every little detail. I think this gave the songs a completely new depth compared to our earlier releases.

Also Beau Burchell from Saosin mixed these songs in the US. It’s a real honour to have so many great people involved who really care for our music. Due to the time difference between the US and Germany we received the first mixes at around 3 am when we were out in a bar in Hamburg after a show. We convinced the bar keeper to blast the songs through the stereo of the bar and we were blown away!

‘Courage’ is going to be released via your own label 22Lives Records, which you have just recently established. What made you decide to start your own label, and what has it meant for this album cycle? It was kind of a logic consequence after nearly 10 years of playing in this band. We’re all rooted in the DIY scene and always trying to do most of the band related work ourselves. Really boring answer but it’s also just super efficient regarding finances. It’s easier than ever to start your own label since the music industry has changed a lot through digitisation.

Of course this means a lot of extra work and leads to to the fact that right now I’m literally working between 10 - 15 hours a day in my bedroom office now getting into the hot phase of the release. Wouldn’t want to change it for the world though!

Do you have any plans to grow 22Lives Records and help other musicians release work as well as your own? We would love to put out releases from other bands in the future! That would be really cool! At the moment we’re only approaching this slowly because our main focus is our own release which simply takes all our capacities for the time-being.

Having formed The Deadnotes at just 14 years of age, you three have really grown up together! Has your creative process changed much in that time? Have you gained any new musical influences over the years that you think effect your overall sound as a band now? Yes, of course it has! And I think our songs always reflect and incorporate the music we are currently into. The creative process changes over time. Some songs on ‘Courage’ were written in two, three days and for some others it took us ages to finally figure out arrangements or how things should sound etc.

You can’t really describe that whole creative process in a few steps i guess. but what I have noticed is that we’re getting more routine in that whole process, or at least we’re trying to!

With an almost month-long tour across Europe and UK coming up in April, where are you most looking forward to playing and what should we be expecting from your live show? I’m simply super excited to be touring our new album ‘Courage’, playing the new songs live and seeing so many good friends again. The headline shows in Germany will be our biggest to date, we’re doing quite well in France and it’s always a blast to play shows there. Can’t wait to cross the channel again and be back in the UK in April. I’m expecting every show to be an absolute highlight. We’ll try to play as many new songs as possible and get wild!

Lastly, what do The Deadnotes have in the works for the future? We’re constantly working on a lot of The Deadnotes related projects parallel. We have a huge festival summer coming up, part two of our album release tour later this year and so many more plans that I still can’t talk about yet. Stay tuned!

youtube

Quick Fire:

The one song I wish I wrote is… Better Oblivion Community Center by Dylan Thomas.

Three things I can’t live without are... Record player, friends, google drive.

Phones out, or phones away if you’re watching a band live… Actually we just joked about the idea of a backdrop with nothing on it but only a huge QR code which leads you straight to our website!....honestly: Phones away!

Three adjectives that describe my life are... Dreamy, loud and expensive.

If I held a world record it would be for... Loading incredible amounts of back line and gear into a small french car!

My first memory of loving music is… Not a real memory but there are videos of me going completely crazy, headbanging and jumping around to Swallowed by Bush at only about one year old! There are also videos of our drummer Yannic and me in elementary school playing air guitar to Confessions on a Dancefloor by Madonna. He fooled around all the time and I got super pissed that he didn't take the performance seriously already back then. Still pretty much the same in in our band nowadays sometimes haha. I really do love music!

The song of mine that I am the proudest of is… I think every song we've ever written means a lot to me and is truly something special on many different levels. No need to beat around the bush. I‘m terribly proud of our new record ‘Courage’!

My favourite venue I've ever played is… Oetinger Villa in Darmstadt, Germany. It‘s literally my favourite place to play in Europe and it's basically a huge old villa with a chimney and a chandelier. Great and loving people, incredible vegan food, awesome stage and sound, accommodation upstairs in the venue itself. Already can‘t wait to be back there soon. Really something special!

The ideal environment for me to create music in is… On long drives all alone in the car trying to imagine new songs and lyrics in my head. I think that‘s how the first ideas to ‘Never Perfect’ came to me. Maybe that‘s the reason why the new album is so much ‘poppier’ than our first record because I've been listening to shitty pop songs on the radio on long drives a lot. A LOT haha.

If I could tour with any two bands, they would be… ...hopefully booking a female* artist as their support next time instead of us. Pretty cynical, but I think we really need to make changes here and strive to create more diversity. If it helps that our band takes a few steps back, we‘ll be really glad to do so. Take a look at current festival line-ups. It‘s a really good year for white men, always a good year for them/us!

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Interview by Scarlett Dellow

#the deadnotes #interviews #dellow #emo #pop punk #music interview

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emilielouizides-csm · 5 years

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Further Research (and new blog update!)

A little while back, Cecilia Mezzi, a journalist and CSM graduate with a background in storytelling studies who, as part of her master’s research, found a way to design the novel of the future by translating the emotional arc of narration from her Facebook profile into music came to give a guest lecture. Over the course of her lecture she covered many topics that were new to me.

Cecilia spoke about futurability which is the actual possibility that something might happen in the future, future forecasting which is also known as predicting what will happen in the future, sentiment analysis which refers to the use of natural language processing to systematically identify and study affective states and subjective information, three fundamental concepts: possibility, potency and power, and diverse knowledge and the capacity it has to open our eyes to the new and undiscovered, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and meet new people. Each topic felt so relevant to my research at the time Cecilia gave the lecture and now, even though the focus of my research has shifted dramatically. Since she spoke I’ve kept the ideas of future forecasting and futurability in mind and I’ve happened to come across a book called “A Brief History of The Future” which I’m planning to begin reading this week. I’m hoping it will inform my research.

After enjoying such an inspiring and stimulating lecture I asked Cecilia if we could meet one on one. I wanted to hear more about her master’s research and tell her about my own. We met the day after I carried out the “I’m a man and...” intervention (see post from July 10th). Cecilia commented on the uniqueness of my idea to have an open conversation with individual men and encourage them to share their thoughts in the form of a lipstick-written declaration on a mirror. I spoke to her about what I learned from doing the intervention and specifically shared how surprised and pleased I was that none of the guys I interviewed made mention of the fact that they were using makeup to express themselves.

Cecilia cited an article written by Martin Robinson, Editor and Founder of The Book of Man. Robinson’s article is titled “Tested on Men: Lab Series BB Tinted Moisturizer” and it tells the story of his struggle to define his own identity of being a man who’s begun to wear makeup to work everyday, even though he’s only applying a tinted moisturizer, a product that most people wouldn’t ever notice. His discomfort and defensiveness still remains, all because of the preconceived notions surrounding makeup. The article begins with Robinson quoting himself, saying, “It’s not make-up” which coincidentally echoes the words of one of my tutors who suggested I use that as a slogan and a method to help straight men warm to the idea of wearing or engaging with makeup. If it’s not makeup then it has the potential to be more.

The way Robinson seemed to make his peace with the idea of wearing makeup everyday was by recording a tutorial-style video of his young child applying the BB cream on his face. A male coworker of his also made a video. The whole thing was just meant to be a bit of fun but it wound up normalizing makeup for men.

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My project is no longer centered on straight men being the only people to engage with makeup but if I encounter any resistance going forward I’ll be sure to share the photos of my lipstick and mirror intervention to showcase makeup being used in an unconventional way and on an unconventional -- yet still recognizable and classic -- canvas. I’ll also show Martin Robinson’s video to demonstrate that if a man does wear makeup on his face it really doesn’t have to be a big deal.

At the end of our meeting Cecilia suggested that I start a separate learning log; a sleeker, more refined version of this log that I can present to potential employers along with my professional portfolio. She told me this was what she did when she was on the course and that it landed her a job at Dazed as a journalist. My website with my makeup work has a blog feature, which I’ve had disabled for a long time, but I’ve just written and published a post to introduce this project. The bulk of my research work will remain in this learning log while my second learning log on my website, emilie-louizides.com, will have catchier titles and a more uniform look that will go with my style and help to paint a clear picture of who I am as a makeup artist and an academic. The new log will also exclude and replace words that are specific to this course that potential employers might not understand (ie: intervention, stakeholders, etc). Please feel free to follow along with my new learning log!

Cecilia commented on how interesting it is that I’m a makeup artist using my craft to help people better understand each other and improve their communication. Makeup brands like MAC have worked to make the world a better place by introducing Viva Glam, a red lipstick that was sold to raise money and awareness for HIV/AIDS. I cite campaigns like these to support and defend my own work in order to prove that makeup can be powerful. I’m excited to become a new force with a new goal in the exciting industry that is beauty by introducing research and action in the form of conversation.

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haulix · 7 years

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So you want to work in the music business...

Here’s something you don’t want to read: Your dreams might not come true. In fact, it has famously been said that many live lives of quiet desperation, longing to be the things they never got the chance to be. I have tried and tried to understand why things don’t always work out, but the reasons many fall short of their goals are as varied as the people themselves. There is no one way to find success, just like there is no one way to fail.

If everyone got their way all the time the music industry would look nothing like it does today, and I mean that both for better and worse. Those who find success are able to shape the industry for future generations. Those who do not are left to attend shows, stream music, and remain lifelong fans. What separates those two groups is often their willingness to fight, and make no mistake - if you want a career in this industry you will have to fight for it.

People often ask me what it takes to make it. I often respond by saying it’s as simple and as difficult as being yourself. You never know for sure how others will react, but you have to believe in yourself before you can expect anyone else to do the same. After the person talking to me replies that such a vague response does not offer much help, I follow-up my thoughts with these words:

Everyone is fighting this battle in their own way.

Everyone hoping to do anything in this business wakes up with the prospects of going to war. It doesn’t matter whether it should or shouldn’t be like this because the fact of the matter is it is the way things are at this point in time. The boom of access through technology and the internet happened much faster than the music industry was able to adapt. Even if the industry were able to see the changes the internet would present in advance and had ample time to prepare it’s hard to imagine a world where there are anywhere near enough reliable full-time jobs in the creative area you want to work in to allow everyone a place of there own guaranteed. That’s not how life works and it’s not how music works.

The best you can do is to wake up every day and put action to your dreams. Start today. If you want to write the next song that is going to change the world, it’s probably time to take mastering your instrument and songwriting seriously. If you want to manage the next big band, find a band you give a damn about and do whatever it takes to make sure me and everyone else feels the same way this time next year. If you want to pitch Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, XXL, or anyone else, learn how to form a good pitch and start sending emails. If you want to be a publicist, find an artist you believe in and make the rest of us feel the same through any means necessary. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

You’re going to fail, but there’s another upside: Everyone Fails.

Everyone fails a lot, in fact. More bad songs are written every day than future classics, just like more bad press releases are sent than those that make people who receive hundreds of press releases a week actually read what they wrote. It’s not about a single try and it’s not about a single day, week, or month. Building a career of any kind in any field in the music business is an ongoing series of trial and error where you and everyone you know hopes to succeed in some way more often than not. We take our chances and we take our bruises. We complain about the way corporations have devalued music while making billions of the art that musicians create while hoping streaming payouts really do lead to the bright future we were told would come. We claim we found the next best band in the world when we really just heard a good song on the internet. We put our faith in people that turn out to be nothing like we expected and we in turn sometimes surprise ourselves.

Some failures hurt more than others, but that’s okay. You learn to take the good with the bad because you remember that hope only gets you as far as you’re willing to fight in this business and that everyone else has ups and downs too.

Be honest with yourself and others. You cannot do everything. In fact, some things you probably shouldn’t do, and that’s perfectly okay.

To attempt anything is to accept the fact you may fail. Everyone fails, as we mentioned above, but if you find yourself failing again and again without ever finding a sliver of success you may need to take a hard look at your goal and ask yourself whether or not they can be achieved. The hard truth of the matter is that only a very small amount of those who dream and strive to work in music every actually make a career for themselves in this business. If you are not one of them it does not mean you are a failure. You rose above being a failure the moment you decided to try and chase your dreams. You wouldn’t believe how many people never even take the first step towards getting what they want. If things are not working out after a long enough period of time you need to consider the possibility that there may be other fields and areas of expertise where your particular set of skills could be of value. The world needs motivated souls, and you are one. Find a way to make existence a bit better for others and do that thing. Music will always be here, and you will always have it in your life, even if it isn’t what pays the bills.

You are never alone, though it’s going to feel like that sometimes.

When you’re working with others in any capacity you begin to realize your individual performance really does influence their ability to pay their student loans and cover their share of rent in the apartments they more than likely share with anywhere from one to six, seven, or even eight people depending on the metropolis they were forced to move to in order to take their time in this business ‘seriously.’ (You don’t have to do that, by the way. Be the biggest thing you come out of your spot on the map, and don’t forget to thank the internet - and this author - for your success down the line.) You, like them, were once just a kid who really loved a particular band or sound and that somehow turned into a career where you’re now responsible for doing something (or more than likely, many things) in exchange for money. Compared to the way most people approach finding a career in something, that’s crazy! We’re all a little crazy and we many of us deal with the same stresses and bouts of self doubt that you may experience from time to time. We’re strongest when we work together, and that means being open and honest with one another. Recognize that we are all crazy fans deep down inside and we all know of the power music has to impact lives. We are all working toward the same thing, and that is to lift up the art that gives us the ability to wake up every day and fight.

There is power in numbers. Work together.

As much as my individual drive and talent has helped me make a way in this industry, all my greatest accomplishments were the direct result of projects I worked on with people I believed in. Surround yourself with like-minded people who fight for the things they want and understand that real work that lies ahead. This may be the friends you know now or it may be a group of strangers you meet only after you take it upon yourself to start chasing whatever it is you want to do. The bonds you form with these people will last a lifetime, and they will come to mean more than any paycheck possibly could.

Commit.

There is no denying that finding a career in music is often driven by networking, but even the best connections still require commitment. Music is considered one of the easiest industries to get your foot in, but no one ever stops to tell you everyone and their brother currently has a foot in the door of this business. It takes nothing to do the bare necessities required to claim to have a presence in music and that is a beautiful thing. It’s also a litmus test of sorts to separate the truly driven from those who will eventually turn to a more reliable and suitable (and arguably sane) career. If you want to do anything you have to make yourself known, and it’s both as easy and as hard as committing to working towards your goals every single day. To borrow from Nike, “just do it,” and soon things will begin to fall into place.

James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and a 10-year veteran of the entertainment business. James has spoken about careers in entertainment and how to achieve them at festivals, conferences, and college campuses across the United States, and he is currently working on his first book on that very topic at this moment. If you like what you have read here, please make it a point to follow him on Twitter. If you have questions about this or anything else related to working in the entertainment business, please email him: [email protected].

#music business #advice #editorial #2017 #how to work in music #how to get a job in music #music jobs #marketing #confidence

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