Groggy morning. I was fortunate enough to be up late to catch the opening of Star Wars Episode III last night. But before I get to that…
I got a review in the latest issue of the Music Connection Magazine. I received some kind words and a total of 7 out of 10. Quoting from the Music Connection:
“Whitesides is a singer/songwriter whose performances and material show lots of skill and craft without scrificing heart or conviction. the lyrics for All The Things and Days of Our Lives have a knack for depicting the imagery of everyday life in interesting ways. Electric guitar licks lend a hard rock backbone to the tunes, while the artist’s soulful voice acts like fine-grain sandpaper that gives his rough-hewn subect matter some compelling contours.”
Not too shabby eh?
I want to say thank you to everyone that has been using the new ePostcard feature I’ve added to the website. I really appreciate it. All I can say is, keep on sending.
Movie Pick of the Week: Star Wars Episode III ‘Revenge of the Sith’. Ok, call me a geek. Although I’m not the most hard core Star Wars nut, I certainly can hold my own. This time around, I’m fortunate enough that my girlfriend was able to get myself and a friend into the opening night! I felt like a giddy little kid. There were people there that actually had costumes and light sabers, hey it’s Star Wars. The lights went down and Lucasfilm LTD came on the screen and the room filled with cheers. Lucas has certainly gone for the more-is-more is better in this movie. He threw the kitchen sink into tying up the entire story line. Obviously we all know what happens by Return of the Jedi. But the real questions became, how did it get to A New Hope. How did Darth Vader become Darth seems to be the biggest question. In terms of cheesy-ness, there was one scene that was so bad that it made people laugh, outside of that, it’s standard Star Wars fare. I’d have to put this on the level of the Empire Strikes Back which is my favorite episode. The special effects are certainly cool. Knowing how things came to be for A New Hope was gratifiying. Although I came across three flaws in the story-line, based on things said in episodes IV, V, & VI, it’s still a great closing chapter. Overall, if you’ve seen all the other Star Wars movies, you’ll want to complete your saga.
Good Monday Morning to ya!
It’s going to be an awesome week. But before I get to much news. I have to tell you that I’ve found a way for you to help spread the word about my music. I call it an MP3 ePostcard. You might be asking yourself, what the hell is that?!? Well, it’s a nifty little eCard like you’d get from Hallmark.com only different. Check out my new ePostcards and see what I mean. Have fun spreading the word. Oh, and the best part is, it’s totally free – can’t beat that!
Now, I got wind from the Music Connection Magazine that I’ll be getting a review later this week, booyah! The show in Hermosa is going to kick major ass. And to top it all off: STAR WARS III coming in mere days!
Have a great day!
Jody
Ok, someone shoot me. I was down promoting for my next show in Hermosa Beach and I swung by a friend’s house. I got suckered into watching a little bit of American Idol. I guess I fail to see the appeal. But I did end up liking one of the performances. I had been hearing how mean the judges supposedly were, but I was shocked by how complimentary they were. Then finally Simon said something right on the money about one of the performances – which could be construed as mean, but it was truthful.
I got a phone call from Music Connection Magazine. I’ll be getting a review of some songs from Practical Insanity in the next issue. I’ll be sure to post about it here next week.
Movie Pick of the Week: Crash. Do yourself a major favor, SEE THIS MOVIE! Beside the all-star type cast, I don’t want to say much other than it is a must see. But be warned, it will test your tolerance.
Did everyone have a good mother’s day? Actually, did your mom have a good mother’s day? I know I sent my mom a card, did you send one to your’s? Better yet, did you get to spend time with her? My mom is actually out of the country in Turkey so I was unable to speak with her. :: sigh :: Mom’s. Gotta love ’em.
Getting excited about the show coming up on the 20th. We’re really gonna be in top notch form!
Oh, I almost forgot all this talk going on about the American Idol. What’s his name? Oh yeah, Correy Clark. Gotta love T.V. Here’s a cat who’s had a few minutes of fame, then gets his record finished and figures out that he now needs publicity to make it sell. Personally I don’t think he chose to the correct path to getting that publicity, but hey as I’ve written it in a song “Good news, Bad news, it’s all fake news… I’ll need lot’s of, Publicity!” From the E.A.R. CD. Well, he’s certainly getting it now, but it’s not centered on his music. Instead its centered on Paula. Great for her, maybe great for him. But certainly not likely good for his career. The Kiss and Tell thing usually happens after you’re famous. Anyway, if you’re a listener of Frosty, Heidi and Frank in Los Angeles, then you likely heard me on Thursday when I called in to the show and asked Heidi if she’d do a scandal like that for their “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” segment. She played along and we got a good little laugh out of it. It didn’t hurt that they remembered who I was. If fact, if anyone actually taped that portion of the show, please send me an MP3 of it. I was actually on the road out of town when that happened.
Movie Pick of the Week: Kingdom of Heaven. At first I figured how bad could it be for a knights in armour type of movie. Well, I suppose I could have done more research on it before seeing it. I didn’t realize it was all about religion. Once you get around the religious beating over the head and just watch it for the adventure, then it’s pretty cool. Though it is a bit long and drawn out. However, I imagine battles like that would be. I actually liked Orlando Bloom. I think he’s coming into his own as a leading actor and did a great job. I also liked how the King was uncredited and actually played by Edward Norton (or maybe it was just his voice). Either way, if you can stand knights and battles and some head trippy religious spouting, then you’ll be able to love this movie. Otherwise, it’s an ok way to fritter and waste of couple of hours without feeling bad about the money.
Ah a fresh Sunday morning, being that it’s May 1st, that means a new Contest for this month in the Clubhouse.
To recap on my abscence of updates in the past couple of weeks. I’ve been holed up in the studio finishing the edits on the old catalog of songs for licensing. I was contacted by a music licencing company, so I wanted to get it as close to finished as I could before I sent them anything. I’ve also been contacted by some Podcasters as well.
I had a quickie of a writing session with a friend of mine, Jody Gnant. She flew in for a few hours so that we could write a song possibly for her next album. Her style is Bohemian Geek Soul music if I’m not mistaken, and it just so happened that I had a really cool little chord progression in a feel that seemed to fit it quite well. We also discussed the concepts in my business plan and finding an investor- she’s got a great mind for bouncing ideas off of. She gave me some great ideas for getting the story of it out too the press, which I’m already putting into place. Remember, if you know of an investor, send them to the link above.
The band and I are working on the tunes for the show coming up in May. We’re adding a few covers by Green Day, Prince, The Rolling Stones, and T. Rex. It’s cool because we’ll have a very strong 3 hour show. And by the time we book the House of Blues in Vegas we’ll have a 4 hour show. Man, I almost feel like Rush or U2 or something, by having that much original material. We’re also working on booking more shows and I’m starting to put the feelers out for a booking agent. We’re already looking in to Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, etc… scouting the west for the next couple of months. Stay tuned for more shows.
Movie Pick of the Week: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m a big fan of the books. Yes, in case you didn’t know the movie is now here. When I saw the first trailer I was super excited to see this movie. It took a little getting used to how they portrayed the story in the movie. It was much faster paced than I expected. In reality though, it was spotty. The story had holes all over the place, and if you didn’t know the books, yes that’s books plural, you’d be lost. I think they scraped to many different parts of the books together. They also changed some things that would have been more funny had they kept them the same as the book. Despite the shortcomings of the supporting cast, and the story holes, Hitchhikers does have some really good laugh out loud stuff to it. Provided you enjoy british humor.