WEXT, the station where I spun My Exit show last spring, was playing the top 100 Bob Dylan songs yesterday, as voted by their listeners. They kicked it off with the song, "Duquesne Whistle," off his latest album Tempest-- his 35th! Now that's some body of work... I tuned in here and there throughout the day, and I can't say it all grabbed me, but there's a lot of variety... I love the early, early stuff, and Blood On The Tracks... other times his voice is a little rough, the music a little harder to find the patience for. I listened to a few tracks off the latest album, including a tribute to John Lennon. I like some of the jazzy rhythms, but it's hard to imagine it's the same singer from those '60s folk/rock classics...
The station has also been playing some new music from veteran reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. I remember seeing him perform during the broadcast of this year's Coachella Festival, and was impressed with the energy... he even teamed up with Tim Armstrong, the lead singer of the band Rancid (who I enjoyed back in the 90s), for a cover of "Ruby Soho." It turns out that Cliff's newest album, Rebirth, was produced by Armstrong, and sounds just as fresh as his classic material. I like this latest single, "One More":
No doubt it is hard to live up to your own legacy, so you have to give credit to artists like Dylan and Cliff... they don't seem to be resting on their laurels, but exploring new territory, continually adapting and honing their craft. That's what being an artist is all about, right?
Related Links:
"Jimmy Cliff on Career 'Rebirth' and the Nature of Success," NPR, August 4, 2012
"Jimmy Cliff's 'Rebirth' Gives New Life to Vintage Reggae," NPR, July 17, 2012
"The Rage in Bob Dylan's 'Tempest,'" The Daily Beast, September 3, 2012
"Bob Dylan Strikes Back at Critics," Rolling Stone, September 12, 2012
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The "It" Factor
Continuing on the thread of the last post, it looks like the six-week graphic design course I have been eyeing is ON! I'm very excited-- I have been wanting to take a course on the subject again for some time (I had started college focusing on this and illustration, but moved away from it). In some ways I feel like graphic design has been a missing element needed to advance my work.
Of course another thing that would be helpful is a new camera. We had a TV crew stop by the Museum yesterday to work on an upcoming Christmas special, and the cinematographer (JP Lipa) was using one of the famed Red cameras. I was envious... not only of the work, but the equipment. There are a number of options for shooting high definition video nowadays, with using a Digital SLR camera being one of the more interesting. I have started doing some research, but it's going to take some money. I do think it would be wise to upgrade soon though, as I have been getting several inquiries about helping out on various projects in the coming months.
One of the higher profile works that Lipa had been involved with was shooting rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson's This Is It. Cool for me to hear about his experience, being the music obsessive and documentarian that I am (although my preference for the artist is concentrated from the Jackson Five to Thriller days). Sounds like MJ was quite interested in learning about more about the camera equipment being used. Lipa also told me about how in the weeks leading up to the musician's death, Jackson seemed extremely frail offstage, but could still "bring it" once he took the stage (he said that MJ weighed like 85 pounds during filming-- is that possible?). Some of this rehearsal footage made it into the final movie, which shows the process of Jackson rehearsing for the tour he never had a chance to complete. I'm not sure how intimate of a portrayal it could be (knowing how reclusive Jackson was), but I bet it is interesting. That reminds me... I still need to learn these moves:
Zombies... now that's interesting (and hip)!
Of course another thing that would be helpful is a new camera. We had a TV crew stop by the Museum yesterday to work on an upcoming Christmas special, and the cinematographer (JP Lipa) was using one of the famed Red cameras. I was envious... not only of the work, but the equipment. There are a number of options for shooting high definition video nowadays, with using a Digital SLR camera being one of the more interesting. I have started doing some research, but it's going to take some money. I do think it would be wise to upgrade soon though, as I have been getting several inquiries about helping out on various projects in the coming months.
One of the higher profile works that Lipa had been involved with was shooting rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson's This Is It. Cool for me to hear about his experience, being the music obsessive and documentarian that I am (although my preference for the artist is concentrated from the Jackson Five to Thriller days). Sounds like MJ was quite interested in learning about more about the camera equipment being used. Lipa also told me about how in the weeks leading up to the musician's death, Jackson seemed extremely frail offstage, but could still "bring it" once he took the stage (he said that MJ weighed like 85 pounds during filming-- is that possible?). Some of this rehearsal footage made it into the final movie, which shows the process of Jackson rehearsing for the tour he never had a chance to complete. I'm not sure how intimate of a portrayal it could be (knowing how reclusive Jackson was), but I bet it is interesting. That reminds me... I still need to learn these moves:
Zombies... now that's interesting (and hip)!
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