Blogs are seemingly taking over the internet. The biggest question you must ask yourself when considering subscribing to a new blog is, "Can I trust this author to provide me with credible sourcing?" Far and away the biggest critique of blogs is that they are ruining investigative journalism by allowing anyone (literally anyone) to publish subjective content. Pressure to satisfy those thirsty for accurate information falls squarely on the shoulder of the blogger.
If you're new to the blogosphere, how do you go about searching for usable, credible, and accurate content? Try your hand at Regator, a revolutionary tool for scanning and analyzing the blogosphere, complete with a premium iphone application. Regator eliminates the cumbersome process of weeding through potentially unworthy blogs by placing the web's top sources literally at your finger tips. It is personally curated by a former magazine writer, and offers subscription capability, video viewing, recommendations of related posts and keyword searches for specific topics. Much like the service offered by Digg, you can also view the most popular posts from other Regator users.
For the company's sake, I hope they do a good job of picking out the best searchable content, otherwise the $2 price tag for the app might seem a little inflated.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wolf Trap Summer 2010 Shows On Sale Tomorrow at 10am!
Members had their chance, now it's your turn. Tomorrow at noon, the general public can purchase the best available seats for 42 distinct performances presented by Wolf Trap for summer 2010. Of course, these shows only reflect a small percentage of the entire season, as we'll be announcing several more throughout March, April and May.
Tomorrow starting at 10am, you can purchase tickets for the following shows at our box office at 1551 Trap Rd, Vienna VA. (this options saves you the service charge), online at http://www.wolftrap.org/, or via phone by calling Tickets.com at 1.877.WOLFTRAP.
Can't think of a better holiday present for the live performance lover....
Tomorrow starting at 10am, you can purchase tickets for the following shows at our box office at 1551 Trap Rd, Vienna VA. (this options saves you the service charge), online at http://www.wolftrap.org/, or via phone by calling Tickets.com at 1.877.WOLFTRAP.
Can't think of a better holiday present for the live performance lover....
- 21st Annual Swamp Romp
- Beach Boys
- Irish Tenors
- The Temptations and the Four Tops
- Smothers Brothers and the Kingston Trio
- The Ultimate Doo-Wop Show
- Cats
- Legally Blonde The Musical
- MAMMA MIA!
- Paul Taylor Dance Company
- Riverdance
- The Mikado
- A Prairie Home Companion
- Cirque Dreams – Illumination
- RAIN – A Tribute to the Beatles
- The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Winter Wolf Trap Artist Honored by NPR as Producing One of the"50 Most Influential Recordings of the Decade"
I inherently believe that no one should be judged, scrutinized, or conversely, applauded or praised for their preference in music. What we choose to listen to and appreciate is such a subjective thing for each person, that's I think it's near impossible to deem what is the best, and what is the worst, (although there are a few exceptions to this rule...let's face it, some music is just flat out terrible). As a natural extension of this credo, I'm not a huge fan of ranking pieces of music in any sort of capacity, but I definitely do pay attention to the variety of "best-of" lists published by NPR, Paste, Spin, and Rolling Stone, to name a few.
Earlier this week, NPR's "All Songs Considered" published a list highlighting what their journalistic team considers to be the "50 Most Influential Recordings of the Decade", and to our delight, The Bad Plus' 2003 record These Are the Vistas was honored as one of such!
The following blurb written by Patrick Jarenwattananon describes the influential nature of this recording:
The fact that most everybody in the stratified jazz world was talking about this record in 2003 is evidence enough of its importance. But the real coup lies in the fact that it got people outside jazz to listen. That'll happen when you play covers of Nirvana, Aphex Twin and Blondie as an acoustic piano trio. But there's far more than novelty appeal at work here:The Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and Dave King reverently used the tunes as frameworks for distinct, original improvisation, aided by knottily textured originals, nutso percussion and bass that would challenge a car's Alpine subwoofer. Love it or hate it, it was impossible to ignore -- and the musical ideas had staying power, too.
The Bad Plus arrive for a headlining gig at The Barns at Wolf Trap on Wednesday, February 10. On the heels of this recognition, I think it's likely the trio will perform a good chunk of material from These Are The Vistas. If you need further convincing to attend this show, you only need peruse this list of accolades from some of the nation's most reputable music publications.
Earlier this week, NPR's "All Songs Considered" published a list highlighting what their journalistic team considers to be the "50 Most Influential Recordings of the Decade", and to our delight, The Bad Plus' 2003 record These Are the Vistas was honored as one of such!
The following blurb written by Patrick Jarenwattananon describes the influential nature of this recording:
The fact that most everybody in the stratified jazz world was talking about this record in 2003 is evidence enough of its importance. But the real coup lies in the fact that it got people outside jazz to listen. That'll happen when you play covers of Nirvana, Aphex Twin and Blondie as an acoustic piano trio. But there's far more than novelty appeal at work here:The Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and Dave King reverently used the tunes as frameworks for distinct, original improvisation, aided by knottily textured originals, nutso percussion and bass that would challenge a car's Alpine subwoofer. Love it or hate it, it was impossible to ignore -- and the musical ideas had staying power, too.
The Bad Plus arrive for a headlining gig at The Barns at Wolf Trap on Wednesday, February 10. On the heels of this recognition, I think it's likely the trio will perform a good chunk of material from These Are The Vistas. If you need further convincing to attend this show, you only need peruse this list of accolades from some of the nation's most reputable music publications.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Time Spent with John Eaton
Yesterday afternoon, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Mr. John Eaton, the erudite and consummate jazz revivalist/expert interpreter of the American Popular Song catalogue. In an effort to strengthen video content available on Wolf Trap's members-only website (My Wolf Trap), I have started working with our development team to produce occasional artist interviews designed to give viewers a further glimpse into our artist's creative process. Thus far, it's been an absolute blast, having had the opportunity to speak with singer/songwriter Luke Brindley, NSO conductor Emil de Cou, and of course, John Eaton.
My experience with John was a huge treat, as we delved into a one-on-one discussion about his wide variety of musical influences, his American Popular Song recording series, all of which are recorded here at Wolf Trap, his take on the "Fabulous Fifties", and why he stays away from commenting on contemporary popular music.
John returns to The Barns on November 28 for another masterful installment of his yearly American Popular Song series with Where it All Began—The Glorious Songs of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. And what a sweet man he is, even going as far to compliment me on my interviewing style once we had wrapped. The raw footage looks good on the camera, and hope to have the piece edited and finalized within a couple weeks. It will hit our members-only site first, followed by an eventual post on YouTube, Facebook, and the blog.
Unfortunately, I’m inhibited by the fact that most of our artists aren’t local, precluding the opportunity to produce a video, but recently came upon a personal call recording software package which I hope to use to record audio interviews with spring Barns artists.
My experience with John was a huge treat, as we delved into a one-on-one discussion about his wide variety of musical influences, his American Popular Song recording series, all of which are recorded here at Wolf Trap, his take on the "Fabulous Fifties", and why he stays away from commenting on contemporary popular music.
John returns to The Barns on November 28 for another masterful installment of his yearly American Popular Song series with Where it All Began—The Glorious Songs of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. And what a sweet man he is, even going as far to compliment me on my interviewing style once we had wrapped. The raw footage looks good on the camera, and hope to have the piece edited and finalized within a couple weeks. It will hit our members-only site first, followed by an eventual post on YouTube, Facebook, and the blog.
Unfortunately, I’m inhibited by the fact that most of our artists aren’t local, precluding the opportunity to produce a video, but recently came upon a personal call recording software package which I hope to use to record audio interviews with spring Barns artists.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
New Video Series - This Month at Wolf Trap
This year I began managing Wolf Trap's multimedia internship, taking the reigns from Chris who left in early summer to ramp up his mobile food market. Managing this recent group of extremely talented individuals has been very rewarding, as we've been able to spearhead and collaborate on multiple video projects, some that I've resurrected, and some that are making their 2009 debut.
One of those debuts is my current intern's monthly project, which she has appropriately titled, "This Month at Wolf Trap." As you might expect, TMAWT is designed to be a compendium of events from the previous month, showcasing the breadth of Wolf Trap's programs, classes, and concerts. Jasmine (my intern) recently completed her debut effort, which I've included below. I'll be posting these every month as they are finalized. This one came out great, so please check it out.
One of those debuts is my current intern's monthly project, which she has appropriately titled, "This Month at Wolf Trap." As you might expect, TMAWT is designed to be a compendium of events from the previous month, showcasing the breadth of Wolf Trap's programs, classes, and concerts. Jasmine (my intern) recently completed her debut effort, which I've included below. I'll be posting these every month as they are finalized. This one came out great, so please check it out.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Debut of Album Club
Before I begin the official topic of this entry, I'd just like to briefly comment on the Andrew Bird/St. Vincent show at 9:30 club last week...
I've seen Andrew Bird 3x before, and this was by far the most exceptional performance of the four, not only because of support from Annie Clark and the thunderous St. Vincent (who I thoroughly enjoyed as openers, but I think you can get the same overall experience by simply listening to their records), but more so because of Bird's palpable, and extremely odd combination of lethargy and raw, unchecked emotion on display while performing beautifully orchestrated songs from his now very deep catalogue of recordings.
Additionally, he had re-arranged a few of his tunes since the last time for the better, and his acoustic performance of "Oh Sister", with Annie Clark was very moving, despite the synchronized lyrical screw up which caused them both to curse in unison, which actually proved to be very funny. It was a great evening of music, as Andrew Bird continued to prove why he is considered one of the best all around musicians performing today.
Here is another review from my buddy Jay, who lives in Columbus and writes a music blog titled, "You Remind Me of TV Show".
Onto album club...
A co-worker's husband recently approached me with the idea of spearheading an album club, where each participant would listen to a pre-selected musical body of work, and casually report on their findings and observations as a part of Sunday evening roundtable discussion. I had been wanting to do something like this for a couple of years, so am glad Mark (co-worker's husband) put this idea into action. Last night was our first meeting, and our album of reference was More Songs About Buildings and Food, the sophomore Brian Eno produced album by none other than the legendary Talking Heads.
We weren't quite sure how to approach the evening at the onset, but once we popped in the album and let it unravel, we suddenly found ourselves engaged in discussion rife with poignant, well conceived musings about David Byrne's lyrics, track sequence and the reasons for, the band's pioneering sound and how many modern day indie bands exude such an obvious Talking Heads influence, and a Talking Heads reunion, just to name a few. It was a fun, and very educational debut experience, one that would probably only appeal to music nerds, but I am already looking forward to next month, where I hope to discuss the forthcoming record from Them Crooked Vultures, the most recent brainchild of Dave Grohl.
Any one else engaged in something similar to our music club? I'd love to hear about any additional approaches to this type of activity so we can improve the process for next time.
I've seen Andrew Bird 3x before, and this was by far the most exceptional performance of the four, not only because of support from Annie Clark and the thunderous St. Vincent (who I thoroughly enjoyed as openers, but I think you can get the same overall experience by simply listening to their records), but more so because of Bird's palpable, and extremely odd combination of lethargy and raw, unchecked emotion on display while performing beautifully orchestrated songs from his now very deep catalogue of recordings.
Additionally, he had re-arranged a few of his tunes since the last time for the better, and his acoustic performance of "Oh Sister", with Annie Clark was very moving, despite the synchronized lyrical screw up which caused them both to curse in unison, which actually proved to be very funny. It was a great evening of music, as Andrew Bird continued to prove why he is considered one of the best all around musicians performing today.
Here is another review from my buddy Jay, who lives in Columbus and writes a music blog titled, "You Remind Me of TV Show".
Onto album club...
A co-worker's husband recently approached me with the idea of spearheading an album club, where each participant would listen to a pre-selected musical body of work, and casually report on their findings and observations as a part of Sunday evening roundtable discussion. I had been wanting to do something like this for a couple of years, so am glad Mark (co-worker's husband) put this idea into action. Last night was our first meeting, and our album of reference was More Songs About Buildings and Food, the sophomore Brian Eno produced album by none other than the legendary Talking Heads.
We weren't quite sure how to approach the evening at the onset, but once we popped in the album and let it unravel, we suddenly found ourselves engaged in discussion rife with poignant, well conceived musings about David Byrne's lyrics, track sequence and the reasons for, the band's pioneering sound and how many modern day indie bands exude such an obvious Talking Heads influence, and a Talking Heads reunion, just to name a few. It was a fun, and very educational debut experience, one that would probably only appeal to music nerds, but I am already looking forward to next month, where I hope to discuss the forthcoming record from Them Crooked Vultures, the most recent brainchild of Dave Grohl.
Any one else engaged in something similar to our music club? I'd love to hear about any additional approaches to this type of activity so we can improve the process for next time.
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