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Showing posts from July, 2016

How to Make a DIY Fretless Electric Bass Guitar

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This is an experimental home made instrument. It's design is inspired by the regular electric bass and the contrabass.

MTSU Gets Trove Of Live Bluegrass Recordings

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This rare 1963 single by �The Weedpatch Boys,� is part of a the bluegrass audio collection donated to MTSU�s Center for Popular Music. Listen to the radio version of this story here A rare collection of live bluegrass recordings has a new home at Middle Tennessee State University. The Center for Popular Music on campus will use a $19,537 grant from the Grammy Foundation to sort and digitize the songs, which have an unusual origin story. The recordings were gathered by Marvin Hedrick, an Indiana musician, electronics repairman and hobby folklorist. Hedrick captured �priceless� recordings from the Bean Blossom Music Festival near his home, but also roamed to backstage jams and even hosted impromptu sessions in his repair shop, according to the center . In all, Hedrick�s surviving sons provided 167 open-reel tapes and other recordings to MTSU. They include Bill Monroe and other pioneers playing from the 1950s through 70s. The collection will join the centers 1 million holdings ...

Whiskeydick Jamming The Track "Barn Burner" at Behind the Barn Productions Woodshop In Tetonia, Idaho

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The Greeting Card that Plays a Vinyl Record

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A record player contained inside a birthday card. See how/if it works in this video. If you want to surprise someone with a Recard, you can buy one here. http://www.recards.co.uk

Scientists: Here's What Listening to Slayer Does to Your Mind

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  According to a new study from the Journal of Psychology of Popular Media , metal music helps its listeners to deal with their own mortality. The study divided a group of 30 individuals into two groups, assigning one group to listen to an audio book, while the other group listened to Slayer classic " Angel of Death ." The conclusion - listening to Slayer raises self-esteem and makes you less afraid of death. The research team noted: "Heavy metal music is often associated with death and dying by non-fans whereas members of this subculture report that listening to metal music is their escape from depression and even helpful against death-related thoughts. "According to terror management theory, self-esteem and cultural worldview serve as a symbolic, two-component buffer system working against the fear of death. "What remains unclear in recent research on terror management theory is if (a) the presentation of cultural goods directly after mortality salience is e...

Hank Williams: The Lighter Side of The Godfather of Country

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Williams lived fast and died young but in 1951 he was able to do radio broadcasts at 7.15am, where the wisecracking improvisor showed his mastery of music. Hank Williams: more than just a tortured soul. Photograph: Supplied B y now you�d think we know everything there is to know about Hank Williams . He had a short life, dying New Year�s Day 1953 aged 29 in the back of a car parked at a gas station in rural Virginia. Three years earlier he had made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry , launching a body of work that would serve as one of the definitive blueprints of modern country music. A definitive box set in 1998 claimed to house every note Williams sang. Not so fast. This month marks the reissue of a 15-CD set called The Complete Mother�s Best Collection ... Plus! unveiling 142 lost performances by the country music star in an unvarnished setting as the featured performer of an early morning radio program in 1951. The recordings, rescued from acetates salvaged in the 1970s and...

10 Incredibly Bizarre Painters and their Weird Techniques

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1-The man who paints with his penis Australian Tim Patch is an artist who uses his pecker to paint. That's right, this guy has traded his paintbrush in for a tool that he always has on hand, and has affectionately named himself �Pricasso� (a title that, surely, the talented and self-tortured cubist artist Picasso would approve of). Pricasso uses his bum to paint in the backgrounds since it would take too much time to use his other tool and it looks better. Pricasso takes his work on the road and appears at various sex trade shows, putting on live painting demonstrations for passersby. The truly funny part is that his work isn't half bad, I mean, considering what a limiting (and possibly limited?) tool he has to work with. The video bellow is obviously NSFW: 2 - The painter who uses vomit Vomit painter Millie Brown creates, what some people call, art, by drinking colored milk and regurgitating it onto a white canvas or even her own dress. She has mastered the art of ...

Debbie Harry on punk, refusing to retire and sex at 69

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Forty years after Blondie found fame on the New York scene, Debbie Harry is still waving the flag for women in the music business � of every age  Debbie Harry at 69: 'You have to keep new influences coming in'   Photo: MIKE MCGREGOR In 1980, during a tour with Blondie, Debbie Harry hosted a tea party at a London hotel, gathering together many of the women prominent in music at the time. Chrissie Hynde was there; Siouxsie Sioux ; the Slits guitarist Viv Albertine ; Pauline Black from The Selecter; and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex. Chris Stein, Harry�s boyfriend at the time as well as the other half of Blondie�s creative core, published pictures of it in his recent book Negative, a collection of his photographs from the early years of their fame. It looks as though there was a lot of laughter. This was a different time for women in music. Two years earlier Kate Bush , who was invited to tea but didn�t make it, had become the first female solo performer to reach numbe...

There's a Freaky Painting Under This Normal Portrait

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Blake Neubert is fascinated by the complex nature of truth.

Stump Tail Dolly 2016 Summer Tour!

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Stump Tail Dolly is back on the road for the summer! If you didn't catch the the first half of their tour, here's your chance to see if they're coming to your town!

Does Music Sound Better on Vinyl Records Than on CDs?

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Paul D. Lehrman, a lecturer in music and director of the music engineering minor program, weighs in on the debate Vinyl is back, no doubt about it. Sales of vinyl records have been soaring, although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry�s revenues: about 2 percent in 2014. Is this growth because, as some respected sources breathlessly state�I�m looking at you, Wired magazine�vinyl sounds better than digital media? Or is there some sort of retro-hype going on? It�s true that some digital media really don�t sound very good. Low-bit-rate MP3 makes compromises in fidelity, as does low-bit-rate AAC, the higher-tech successor to MP3 that is used by iTunes and YouTube. Low-bit-rate AAC files are also what you typically hear on Pandora, Spotify and SoundCloud, and on your phone. While they are OK for casual listening in the gym or the car, many people can hear their limitations in a quiet environment. But what about compact discs, which some claim compromise...

New Ontario Vinyl Plant Aims to Be 2nd Largest in North America

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Precision Record Pressing plant expects to manufacture 4 million units in first year A massive upswing in record sales has led to a new vinyl processing plant in Burlington, Ont. (CBC) Southern Ontario is reaping the benefits of a worldwide vinyl resurgence, with a massive new record production plant set to open next month in Burlington, Ont. The operation's new dulcet analog tones come courtesy of a partnership between Canadian music distributor Isotope Music Inc. and Czech vinyl manufacturer GZ. But getting the new 20,000 sq. ft. Precision Record Pressing plant operational wasn't without obstacles, vice-president Gerry McGhee told CBC News. Streaming music: a villain or saviour for local labels? Vinyl records make comeback with younger music fans McGhee had to scour the world to look for someone to sell him vinyl pressing machines � which is difficult when most processing plants are running at full capacity on 40-year-old machines, trying to keep up with a...

Watch PBS� 11-Minute Segment On The Ramones From 1978

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The Ramones played the State Theater in Minneapolis in 1978. Here�s a great 11-minute segment from the local PBS Station, KTCA, where the band talks about the punk scene in England, with a few scorching moments of performance.

Whiskeydick Tour!!!

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We're pleased to announce that Whiskeydick has released their latest album "Bastard Sons of Texas," an is currently on tour!  If you didn't catch them July 1st in Chicago, at Moonrunners Festival , then check out the dates they will be on the road with Gallows Bound ! The second half of the tour will be with Archer Nation , and kicks off in August!

Who Plays Where, When and Why: Explaining the Mysteries of Live Music Booking

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A crowd watches Doomtree perform at First Avenue. (Nate Ryan/MPR) The process by which bands are booked into venues is, for the casual music fan, opaque. It may even be mystifying � especially if you just can�t understand why your favorite band is playing your least favorite venue. Booking, say local pros, is both a science and an art � and like the rest of the music industry, it�s built on relationships. �It�s basically the relationships between the buyer, who would be me,� says Tamsen Preston of Sue McLean & Associates, and booking agents, �who would be the representatives of the artists.� Most touring bands work with booking agents: people whose job it is to help the artists maximize their financial success on the road while also helping to ensure that the shows are accessible to fans in terms of ticket prices, location, and atmosphere. �We discuss different artists [that agents] represent, what they�re looking for coming through the market,� says Preston. �My job i...

New York Lawmakers Pass Tax Credit to Boost Music Production in State

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The Empire State Music Production Tax Credit, which proponents believe will attract more music production jobs across New York State, passed in both the Assembly and Senate on Thursday in Albany. If signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the bill will provide a 25 percent tax credit for eligible production costs downstate (NYC), and a 35 percent break for upstate music businesses. The program is capped at $25 million per year. To be eligible, costs must be related to job creation, rental fees, session fees for musicians/engineers, etc., mixing and mastering services, transportation, or for music video production. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Martin Golden and Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, received widespread support from the local music industry, which has been looking for ways to keep jobs and productions from shipping off to places like Canada. "For too long, we have all watched as iconic recording studios, retail outlets and other businesses necessary for a healthy Ne...

Lexington Resident Turns His Living Room Into Music Venue

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In memory of his wife Virginia, Lexington resident Robert Schwartz brings intimacy and accessibility to the music scene. �Partly in honor of my wife and to continue the thread I wanted to start a series where people locally can come and hear live music not at symphony hall, but in an intimate venue,� said Schwartz, of Patterson Road. During the past year, Schwartz turned his home into a 40-seat concert venue bringing three professional music performances to Lexington. He is preparing for another set of performances, which he calls Musical Chairs, to start this fall. The point of the smaller venue is to give audience members the chance to get up close and personal, according to Schwartz. �One of the advantages of a house concert is it�s the way it was done during the Renaissance,� said Sheila Beardslee-Bosworth, whose band Concordia Consort plays Renaissance-era music. �In a house concert, everybody�s sitting there in an informal setting, and even though we treat it as a pro...