Jody Whitesides

Category: Out And About

  • Valentine's Day Adventure

    Valentine's Day Adventure

    It’s getting near that time of year again when there’s a little bit of madness in the air about expressing how you feel to someone else. Some people are really good at it. Others, not so much. I tend to fall in to the not-so-much category, but I do have a bit of a Valentine’s Day adventure that I can share.

    A couple of years back I was making a hearty attempt to do something for someone on Valentine’s Day. I went so far as to write a song, as well as create a card for this woman. Attempted to make plans for the 14th and as such got minimal response. The play-it-by-ear response.

    That evening came and went to no answer from said woman.

    Around 9 p.m. I got a call from a friend inviting me out to watch a live music performance at the Farmer’s Market at the Grove in Los Angeles. Having been soured by earlier events, I agreed to hop in the car and head on out to the show. Of course with such a late start to the show my friend Stew and I got there for the last song. Our musician friends were happy to see a couple of extra faces despite being so late to the show.

    As we were helping them pack up, an invitation was extended for us to shoot up to the “hills” for a Valentine’s Day party. Then the side debate started amongst a few of us. Should we, should we not? I was game for it. Eventually those of us who agreed all piled in a car to head to the party.

    It started with an address and some poor directions which lead us to a strange road in the hills of Los Angeles above Studio City. Clearly the driver was lost. Out comes the iPhone and looking up the address on the map there took us through some more winding roads until we finally found the true destination. A spot on a very tight section of road where there was difficulty parking. Meaning a need to park a ways away and then walking to the party.

    At the front door of the house we’re heading too I’m finally told that the house belongs to Lucinda Williams. I knew about her and her music thanks to my dad. He happens to be a big fan of hers. My friends knock on the door and a moment later it swings open.

    My friends filter in first being greeted by Lucinda herself. Turns out several of them already knew her and visa versa. Bringing up the rear of the group I’m eventually greeted by Lucinda who takes me by the hand and looking up at me declares “I know you!” I stood there wondering to myself – really?!? She proceeds to tell me we’ve met before and I have to laugh. Reality was, we had never met until that point. Yet she was convinced that she knew me and I knew her. After a few moments of suspending reason and belief, she let me pass into the party to mingle amongst the other guests.

    There were quite a few interesting peeps in attendance, including known rockstars, actors, actresses, and even other people of note. One woman I met happened to be the reason the song Afternoon Delight was written.

    I’ll leave the uber juicy details of people there to my biography. Until then, I’m extending an early Happy Valentine’s Day and may it be a cool adventure.

    p.s. – more song updates are coming very soon.

  • The NAMM Experience

    The NAMM Experience

    You might be asking yourself, why the hell hasn’t Jody posted anything about the last four songs?!? It’s a very valid question and my response would be: The NAMM Experience.

    In January of each year there’s a rather large convention that happens in Anaheim California (a majority of the time). That convention is known to the outside world as: NAMM. To us musicians it’s known as “The Giant Candy Store.” Meaning it’s like being a kid in the world’s largest candy store of musical gear. It’s a great place to geek out. If you’re into musical gear stuff that is. I am.

    The other plus to NAMM is it’s a bit like a huge family reunion. Where many of us who are busy creating music often don’t get to see each other until NAMM. Yikes. My buddy Robert Navarro said in passing this year: “I know a lot of people. But Jody seems to know everyone.” It’s a bit of an overstatement. However it was funny to hear.

    Let’s dive in to a little picture recount of some of it.

    A great performance The pic is from a solo performance by a Doobie Brothers member doing great renditions of their songs in the Taylor Booth.

    Rockin at NAMM The show can’t be complete without posing with the BadCat freak of the year.

    trem king This is by far the greatest tremolo system ever invented for guitar. I’m not kidding – it’s perfect.

    badge The mandatory badge shot…

    raven For the inner child of mixing engineers everywhere: The Raven by Slate Audio. The coolest touchscreen mixing console.

    quartet Wanna know where audio recording is heading? To smaller devices. Namely iOS devices. Apogee is leading the charge with their mobile lines and the new king of that is: The Quartet.

    A Wheel Harp The award for most unique instrument of the show is: The Wheel Harp. I can’t even explain it. But it’s very cool, with a very distinct sound.

    Tired at NAMM Essentially we all hit it. The NAMM wall. Wherein you’re tired and somehow I managed to get a shot where there were relatively few people around. Feet hurt from being walked on for hours on end.

    There is the little slice of what has kept me from getting to the rest of the songs. I will be diving right back in extremely soon after I finish up another interim song and a couple of things for some placements. Stay tuned.

    Here’s my parting shot:

    glasses

  • GDC It's A Wrap

    My first trip to GDC has come to an end. What a trip it’s been. Having never been to GDC before, I really didn’t know what to expect. I would consider myself a veteran of conventions that gear strictly around music. GDC breaks that mold. Here are some of my thoughts via my GDC It’s A Wrap feelings.

    First is that the Moscone Convention Center is a little unconventional. That’s an oxymoron right? Unconventional convention… Hmmm. Why do I say that? My usual convention examples are things like NAMM. Where you’re almost entirely in one building. One enormous building. In terms of actual floor space, I believe NAMM is very well larger. In terms of sprawl, I have think that GDC is larger.

    Second, I may be wrong about this, I felt there were a lot more people at GDC. Despite that, the crowds were easier to move around in. That was kinda weird.

    Third, there is a totally different sense of community. Maybe it’s been a state secret, but there’s a whole different mentality with the music community that gathers in the video game market. In film, it’s very cutthroat. In TV, it’s very cutthroat. In the world of the Major labels it’s very much a mentality of, we’ll take everything we can from the creator and then chew ’em up, spit ’em out and leave out in the desert to die. In video games there’s a huge sense of camaraderie. I think that has to do with the market being newer, easier to move in the new digital era and the fact that it takes a large number of people to produce the product over a course of time. I like that vibe.

    Fourth, the businesses involved are very open to new people approaching them. This is very different from my list of people in remark three. There’s a very interesting thing at GDC, they’re very open to people coming up and putting it out there they want to work with you. Here’s something to think about. They had people at each business dedicated to talking to those who are in school and wanting to work with that business. They also had people dedicated to talking to professionals looking to branch out. The school lines were usually long. The pro lines were generally very short. Made it really easy for me to walk right up and talk to a lot of people.

    Like any convention, there’s always a few nut cases. GDC is no exception. See below:

    God Hates Game Designers

    I’m happy I went. I met a great deal of new people. Thus I have a lot of new possibilities planted for music. That is a wonderful thing. Plus it doesn’t suck that quite a few people were asking about my music as an artist and not just a composer. Bonus!

    I look forward to going next year. I’m hooked.

    p.s. here’s a shot of me sitting in a game consul that costs $15,000. Was it cool? Yeah, it was damn fucking cool for a video game. Very realistic race car driving game. The only thing missing from it is the G forces you’d feel.

    Awesome Race Game

    p.p.s. here’s another shot of me sitting on a throne for the game Game of Thrones.

    King Jody for Game of Thrones

    From San Francisco, say see ya GDC it’s a wrap.

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