Personal

i love it, it’s perfect, now change

August 12, 2011 by krisis

As I gave Gina and Jake my third “we only have to change this one thing” note on a song last night, I wondered if they were starting to hate me.

I’m always the one giving the most notes in rehearsal, whether it be with AC or Filmstar, so wondering if people hate me isn’t unique just to rehearsing with AC.

Why do I do it? It’s not that I have the best ears – Gina and E are much better than I am. It’s also not that I’m the one not making mistakes – I make plenty, sometimes the most! And, I love getting notes – I’d be happy to get some.

So why am I the one Simon Cowelling at the end of every song?

Mostly, because someone has to do it. That’s not to say that every song requires a critique, but they at least all require a moment of consideration before moving on or else rehearsal turns into going through the motions. If you hear things to tweak while rehearsing and don’t tweak them then you might hear the same thing against next time.

Tweaks aren’t always bad things. Jake plays a lot of high, melodic bass lines in counterpoint to my rhythm guitar work and my backing vocals. Last night I realized this was my “problem” on “Real End” – our parts totally matched, but after years of playing with Gina I wasn’t used to the new harmony they created. The fix is simply us both playing our parts with confidence so they’re distinct from each other.

However, I think the real reason for my litany of notes is that my musical super power doesn’t lie in melody or blend, but in being a fan. I make music that I love to hear. Just like you would know if someone singing your favorite song at karaoke sang the wrong melody, I notice when a song doesn’t sound like itself.

I might not be able to articulate what’s wrong (though I certainly do so better than Randy “Pitchy” Jackson), but that’s why I have bandmates to help me! I simply know when something’s up.

I’m pretty sure that Gina and Jake didn’t leave my house hating me last night, just like I know we managed to make improvements on almost every songs in our repertoire.

How many of those improvements came from my notes? Possibly none, but would we have improved without the notes?

I don’t know.

#FollowFriday: @SarahCooley

August 12, 2011 by krisis

Today I’m highlighting @SarahCooley as my #FollowFriday. #FollowFriday is a way Twitter users point out their favorite folks to follow.

Sarah went from someone on the periphery of my social media scene to one of my best digital friends, which to me is what Twitter is all about.

@SarahCooley

Why follow Sarah? On most days she tweets a friendly good morning, she’s an expert in community management and blogging platforms, she’s a vegan with great recommendations on NYC eateries, and she had a full-time career in social media before she had a quarter life crisis!

(Also, she helped to kindle my unhealthy addiction to fashion scarves.)

But, enough from me – let’s hear from Sarah!

@krisis: How do we know each other?

@SarahCooley: Wow, this is a long story ;) But I first met you at a planning meeting for #BlameDrewsCancer.

[What Sarah declines to mention is that she was part of our Ground Control team (along w/@amanda_nan) when I went skydiving in 2009.]

@k:How do you use Twitter?

SC: I use it for business and for personal. Lately I’ve really been enjoying that so many of my non-techy friends are using Twitter.

It has been helpful to me in two ways. #1, so that I can see how people that aren’t early adopters use Twitter, which helps me to be better at my job. #2, because now my friends understand so much more about me and what I do, since they use Twitter too.

@k: What’s the coolest thing that’s happened to you because of Social Media?

SC: I don’t know if I can pick just one story. So many different things have happened to me because of social media, but I am the most thankful for how it has shaped my career. [Read more…] about #FollowFriday: @SarahCooley

Gina’s Bachelorette Adventure, Pt. 2

August 11, 2011 by krisis

When I left you hanging a month ago I was planning my best friend and bandmate Gina’s bachelorette party with two of her other best friends, and we were all determined it had to be the best party in the history of all parties.

On a Rt. 36 trolley during the actual bachelorette party, as shot by Kelly's partner Gudrun. Wondering what the pins are and what our shirts say? Keep reading. (Oh, and is that Gina in the background? What is that thing she's wearing as a hat? Hmm...)

One month out from the event we were still trying to piece together dozens of ideas for an Amazing Race-style event when I had an epiphany: Gina’s party would be a video game. Here is my actual verbatim pitch to fellow BFFs-of-Gina Kelly and Mikki:

I know I am completely insane and you can say no to this, but what if the way we put a wrapper on the entire day is not that it’s Amazing Race but that it is a giant Gina-themed video game, a la her lyrics in “Fisher Price”? It wouldn’t change any specific task, but it would give us a way to theme the events. We could even make up a little “Strategy Guide” to give to her at the beginning with hints and stuff :)

Or, I am insane.

Even if I was insane, Kelly and Mikki are equally so, and they immediately bought into the idea without a moment’s pause and continued to fire off increasingly more ridiculous plans for the day, such as:

I was thinking it would be fun to get gina a labcoat for the chemistry [demonstration]…decorated and bedazzled of course.

Kelly's party favors, all based on 8-bit video game graphics. I have one of these pinned to my book bag and I still have not the slightest idea of how they were assembled or how Kelly worked out the patterns.

While I was excited that they liked my idea, I was also terrified that I now had to transform a day wandering the streets of Philadelphia with 20+ guests into a live action video game. Not just any video game, but a decidedly retro one that would click with a group of people who grew up on classic Nintendo – and, for many of them (including my co-planners), hadn’t played a video game since!

It was at this juncture that I pulled out my Nintendo and SNES and started skimming through instruction booklets.

Most old-school video games share a basic architecture. A character has to accomplish something (return home, free the princess, kill all the zombies, etc), defeating increasingly difficult challenges (monsters, puzzles, etc) along the way. Their victories yield rewards (points, items, etc) that serve to increase their sophistication (levels, powers, etc).

Gina’s journey was clear – she had to complete all of the previously disconnected Amazing Race challenges to move through the city. We were lucky to have a starting point on South Street and an end west of the city, making a sensible (if not linear) world map.

Mikki's stencils, corresponding to our various city challenges. Note the mix of incredible realism (the amazing camera, the pig silhouette, the Kanye glasses) with pixelized video game ephemera. Click through to see a larger version of her handiwork.

I drafted an intro to Gina’s game booklet as a sort of proof of concept of merging 80s video game hyperbole with our shared pithy sense of humor:

Gina F____: Chemist By Day, Rock Star By Night – The Almost Married Edition! is an epic adventure that will take our hero, Gina, on a journey from one end of Philadelphia to the other to transform her from Chemist By Day, Rock Star by Night to Chemist By Day, Rock Star By Night, And Also Bride!

In GF:CBDRSBN-TAME!, Gina will visit key locations of power to defeat challenges, level up, and energize her POWERFUL BRIDE POWERS. Along the way, complete special tasks on the TABLE OF PERIODIC ELEMENTS OF GINA & WES board to complete her special WESLEY QUEST.

Gina won’t be able to defeat GF:CBDRSBN-TAME! alone – she will be abetted by friends and buoyed by special power-ups during her journey.

Powers? What powers?!?

This is where my cohorts saved me from writing our event to death with their amazing creativity. While trying to dream up rewards, Kelly thought of making a grab bag of pixelated party favors. Meanwhile, after hearing Kelly’s idea for the favors, Mikki began to design a series of elaborate stencils. The idea was that each one was based on one of our challenges, and could be sprayed onto the shirts we planned to give to all the guests.

With a cohesive visual interpretation to tie the video game concept together, the layout of our game was suddenly much clearer. Now I simply had to figure out how Gina could play this game along with twenty of her closest friends.

Tune in next time to hear about my concept of gameplay as our preparations became increasingly frantic with less than two weeks until Gina would take the controls of her own personal video game!

Things To Do In Philly, 8/11 Edition

August 11, 2011 by krisis

It’s back! My totally biased, totally nepotistic list of the most awesome stuff you can entertain yourself with in the greater Philadelphia area over the next week.

Take note: though these are events from my favorite artists, you have to be pretty awesome to rank on that list at all. I’m not going to send my dear readers to anything sucky. Or, at least, if I am I’m going to be clear that it might be sucky.

First, I must plug the thing that actually involves me, which I have the most power over making un-sucky:

Saturday 8/13
Who: My acoustic duo, Arcati Crisis, plus bass!
Details: 6pm, FREE & BYOB, All Fired Up, 602 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood NJ
Why? Arcati Crisis habitually enjoys a summer hiatus, but we’ll make a rare appearance outside of our rehearsal cabana to play three-ish hours of acoustic music in this awesome pottery arts studio. That’ll include the entire AC repertoire, plus a few special solo tunes. Plus wine. How can this possibly go wrong?

Now, on the rest of the next week…

Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise-Roberson
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? It physically pains me that I cannot attend this show due to rehearsal, so you should go in my place. Alexandra Day is one of my favorite songwriters in Philadelphia. I know I say that a lot, but how many other people did I ask to play the first dance at my wedding, hmm? Alex has a voice like red wine and an utterly riveting stage presence at the piano. She’ll be backed by a band on this co-bill with Samantha Rise-Roberson, a phenomenal vocalist who I highlighted on CK way back in 2008. This show is a must-see.

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Balkan Dance Party with West Philadelphia Orchestra and the Electric Simcha
Details: 10p, $5, Tritone, 1508 South, Philly
Why? WPO crosses demographics to unite street punks, hipsters, and U-City intelligencia into a frothing crowd of folk-dancing fiends. This is their monthly dance party, with special guest “Hasidic punk band” the Electric Simcha.

Friday, 8/12
Who: Mieka Pauley and Dwight & Nicole
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? You may recall a certain Cosmo-contest-winning alt-folk troubadour Ms. Pauley playing in my dining room for CK’s 10th Anniversary Concert last year. There is video evidence to prove that (a) she was here, and (b) she is 100% awesomesauce. I have a whole live album of hers to mix down and release any month now. Until then, catch her in a rare Center City appearance.

Friday, 8/12
Who: York Street Hustle at World Cafe Live w/DJ Apt One
Details: 9p, $7 advance, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philly
Why? Spend less than $10 on a Friday evening dance party with a Motown-fueled 10-piece cover band fronted by one of my Philly vocal crushes, Aaron Brown. Shall we watch them sing my favorite Marvin Gaye song? Yes, let’s:

Better (excerpt) – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

August 9, 2011 by krisis

I keep crowing about how we have a new bass player in Arcati Crisis, but what I have been slightly mum on is that Jake the Bassman is also a formidable singer. He was the other baritone in our erstwhile professional acappella group, and one of my go-to companions for heading out to open mic nights.

Gina and I being the hardcore harmony freebasing addicts that we are, it was only a matter of time until we used Jake to upgrade one of our duets to three-part harmony.

Behold, our first successful attempt on “Better,” with harmony as arranged by Arcati Crisis with the help of my dear wife, E:

When I first started learning to play music I had a free guitar tab notation program, and I would spend endless hours entering my favorite songs into it. In many cases I was notating them in ways that would be unplayable by one, two, or even three guitars.

I didn’t care. I wanted to hear the harmony. I would set the midi patch on “vocal oohs” and pretend that a group of singers were crooning the song back at me. How amazing, I thought, that people could make chords with their voices like I do on my guitar.

(This perhaps explains my obsession with acappella groups.)

That version of Peter barely knew what notes were portrayed on a treble clef, and couldn’t hit one if his life depended on it.

Fifteen years later, three part harmony, exactly like my speakers sang to me back in the 90s.

I love making past versions of me proud to be grown up :)