In a world where Virgin Megastore and Circuit City are closing their doors, it seems the answer of whether or not the CD is a dying technology is just around the corner. No longer can these big box stores afford to stock CD's because they just aren't selling. In 2008 the top selling CD Lil' Wayne's "Tha Carter III" sold 2.88 million albums (June 6 release). In comparison in 2000, NSync's "No Strings Attached" with 2.4 million albums sold IN THEIR DEBUT WEEK.
The power of television in music has changed greatly as well. TRL once seen as the ideal jump off for up and coming artists went filmed its final show in 2008. While MTV has moved away from music VIDEOS, there is still plenty of music within the shows it airs. Shows like the Hills and Real World have soundtracks that have helped to break artists. One show that has done this greatly has been Grey's Anatomy. As music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas and Chop Shop Music Supervision has perfected the art of pairing images with sounds. Since her days working on The OC, Patsavas has been a divining rod for some of the most talented acts around. Their placement in some of the country's hottest TVs with scores of consumers watching has provided a key portal for these artists to break into the mainstream.
One such band that benefited greatly from television placement is the Fray. In 2002, Isaac Slade and Joe King got together and started performing and writing together. The band filled out with Ben Wysocki on drums and Dave Welsh on guitar. The band first broke into the scene after "Over My Head (Cable Car)" was played on Denver radio station KTCL. The single was later released on their debut album How To Save A Life in the fall of 2005. It was the albums title track however that made its way into the second season of Grey's Anatomy and the fifth season of Scrubs. Even though it was yet to be released as a single, these two appearances resulted in "How To Save A Life" entering the Billboard Hot 100. It was later released as a single and used in the promotion for the third season premiere of Grey's Anatomy.
The Fray's "Look After You" and lastest single "You Found Me" have also been feautured prominently on television and movie soundtracks. "You Found Me" is the debut single from their latest self titled studio effort to be released on February 3, 2009. In preperation for the album's release the band did a small club tour of which I was able to attend the Boston show. (Thanks Stephanie, you rock)
The show took place on Wednesday Jan 14, 2009. It was the first time I had ever been to the Wilbur Theater and I was pleasantly surprised. The show was sold out at 1100 and the floor was standing room and had enough space that I didn't really feel crowded. I found a spot about center audience 20 or so feet back from the stage and settled in. The stage was covered in lamps of all different sizes and shapes and there were even a few chandeliers. It provided a really cool ambiance for the room (which is almost 100 years old). The band came out and went right to it. On the first song Isaac's vocals were a little muddled, but it didn't take long for the sound engineers to straighten that out. They cranked through some of the new songs and a majority of the songs from their debut albums. Hit "Over My Head (Cable Car)" made an early appearance and a few songs later "How To Save A Life" was given an acoustic treatment, and dedicated for a friends birthday. "You Found Me", "Syndicate", and "Say When" were all played of the new album and can be previewed on their Myspace page.
Overall it was a great show and I'm sure will mean success for their new album. Whether that success will mean number 1 on the charts or even a million albums sold? Who really knows, but almost every date on the promotional tour sold out, I"m sure a full blown spring/summer tour will do the same.
-Sh
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
You're not gonna believe this, but Rod Stewart is white!
I'll eventually get around to writing about The Fray show I lost night, which was excellent, but right not it's kind of too cold to think so instead I'm going to regurgitate some great quotes from the one and only Little Steven. Quotes come from an interview in Esquire magazine by Ryan D'Agostino. Enjoy.
Raised on the Jersey Shore, the E Street Band guitarist played Silvio Dante on HBO's Jersey-based The Sopranos.
You gotta have cinnamon in your coffee. Pour it on.
The Super Bowl — they ask us every year, literally for twenty-five years. Since Born in the U.S.A. You can only do it once, I guess. You want to save some things.
Here's the wonderful thing that Bruce Springsteen and David Chase are capable of: Those two guys have the remarkable talent of transporting you to their own time zone, to their own rhythm, and slowing things down. That's an extraordinarily important talent these days, when everything is temporary and disposable and going by at a hundred miles an hour. In the old days, they would have been called wizards, because they control time.
Scandinavia is another planet. They get health care, education, there's no homeless, they barely have a prison system. We joke about how they're overtaxed, but it's the same fucking 50 percent I'm paying.
Art is not a luxury.
I remember when flying was fun. When did we become a Third World country? What day was that?
February 8, 1964, there was not one single rock 'n' roll band in the country. February 9, the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. February 10, everyone had one. In the garage. "Garage rock" is traditional rock 'n' roll. If you think of it as the early Stones, you're fine.
My life began on February 9, 1964.
To have impact in two minutes and thirty seconds — that's very hard to do. It's much easier to write Pink Floyd's The Wall than it is to write "Louie Louie."
The history of rock 'n' roll is the history of America in the twentieth century.
Bruce wasn't gonna get a third shot. His first record did like ten thousand, second one did like twenty thousand, and they were just done with him. And somehow, by sheer willpower, that song got done — four or five months recording one song. Turned out to be worth it. They sent it out without the record company even knowing, and a couple of big rock stations picked up the song, the "Born to Run" song.
People got upset when we'd start playing bigger places. But you can either play sixty nights in the club, or you can play the arena. Hmm, let me think.
I modeled the role on The Sopranos after my real role in life with Bruce. You'd see Silvio have to deliver bad news, Tony Soprano would get totally angry, and guess what? That's part of the job of being the consigliere, or being the best friend in real life. The main job of a producer is telling the artist the song's not good enough yet. You try to be as truthful as you can be without being insulting. And then you get past it. I enjoy doing that.
Every successful person needs to have at least one person in their life who's not afraid of them. That you gotta give Bruce credit for, because it's easy to surround yourself with people who don't know your character flaws and you can pretend to be God.
Nebraska was written and recorded as a demo. He played it for me, and I said to him, I think you should put it out as is. He said, What are you talking about? It's just demos. I said, Because you didn't intend to put it out makes it extraordinarily intimate. Eventually, he agreed and they put it out.
We have no place for greatness in our society anymore. Is there no talent, or is there no infrastructure to support talent?
I remember a kid running into band rehearsal one day, in '68 or so, and saying, You're not gonna believe this, but Rod Stewart is white! We said, Get outta here. We didn't believe him. There was just not that many places you could see pictures of people. There wasn't MTV. And we never heard any white person sing like that. We knew he was black.
Immediately upon working for fifteen years to make it, as soon as we make it, what do I do? I leave, right before the Born in the U.S.A. tour. Everybody bought houses off that tour. I'm in Africa with an eleven-piece that I'm paying for, using my little money to keep a band on the road talking about politics.
I learned everything I know from leaving the E Street Band. And of course, one of the things I learned is, I never should have left.
The Beatles were a band, which we had never seen before. Four guys working together. Brothers. I had no interest in being Elvis Presley. We thought the Beatles were best friends. We thought the Stones were best friends. We bought the illusion, and it's the illusion that matters sometimes. That's what makes art work; that's what makes religion work.
Believe me, your parents would have preferred that you be a criminal — anything more respectable than a rock 'n' roller.
We are all suffering from a terminal time-deficit disorder. What'd you do today? I don't know, but I had no time for it.
I believe that hundreds of years from now, history will be divided into pre-1960s and post-1960s. Questioning things as a regular part of normal life — that didn't exist for my father's generation.
I ran out of money every year for the last thirty years.
Little Richard opens his mouth, and out comes liberation.
In Europe, everybody in the audience has the new record before they come to the show. Why? Because that's the script of the stage production they're about to see and participate in. They come, and they all sing every word of every song. They don't move, they don't go to the bathroom, they don't order hot dogs.
I've had offers through the years to write a book, but I don't feel that I've quite done enough yet. I got some big ideas left.
Interviewed by Ryan D'Agostino, August 12, 2008
Raised on the Jersey Shore, the E Street Band guitarist played Silvio Dante on HBO's Jersey-based The Sopranos.
You gotta have cinnamon in your coffee. Pour it on.
The Super Bowl — they ask us every year, literally for twenty-five years. Since Born in the U.S.A. You can only do it once, I guess. You want to save some things.
Here's the wonderful thing that Bruce Springsteen and David Chase are capable of: Those two guys have the remarkable talent of transporting you to their own time zone, to their own rhythm, and slowing things down. That's an extraordinarily important talent these days, when everything is temporary and disposable and going by at a hundred miles an hour. In the old days, they would have been called wizards, because they control time.
Scandinavia is another planet. They get health care, education, there's no homeless, they barely have a prison system. We joke about how they're overtaxed, but it's the same fucking 50 percent I'm paying.
Art is not a luxury.
I remember when flying was fun. When did we become a Third World country? What day was that?
February 8, 1964, there was not one single rock 'n' roll band in the country. February 9, the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. February 10, everyone had one. In the garage. "Garage rock" is traditional rock 'n' roll. If you think of it as the early Stones, you're fine.
My life began on February 9, 1964.
To have impact in two minutes and thirty seconds — that's very hard to do. It's much easier to write Pink Floyd's The Wall than it is to write "Louie Louie."
The history of rock 'n' roll is the history of America in the twentieth century.
Bruce wasn't gonna get a third shot. His first record did like ten thousand, second one did like twenty thousand, and they were just done with him. And somehow, by sheer willpower, that song got done — four or five months recording one song. Turned out to be worth it. They sent it out without the record company even knowing, and a couple of big rock stations picked up the song, the "Born to Run" song.
People got upset when we'd start playing bigger places. But you can either play sixty nights in the club, or you can play the arena. Hmm, let me think.
I modeled the role on The Sopranos after my real role in life with Bruce. You'd see Silvio have to deliver bad news, Tony Soprano would get totally angry, and guess what? That's part of the job of being the consigliere, or being the best friend in real life. The main job of a producer is telling the artist the song's not good enough yet. You try to be as truthful as you can be without being insulting. And then you get past it. I enjoy doing that.
Every successful person needs to have at least one person in their life who's not afraid of them. That you gotta give Bruce credit for, because it's easy to surround yourself with people who don't know your character flaws and you can pretend to be God.
Nebraska was written and recorded as a demo. He played it for me, and I said to him, I think you should put it out as is. He said, What are you talking about? It's just demos. I said, Because you didn't intend to put it out makes it extraordinarily intimate. Eventually, he agreed and they put it out.
We have no place for greatness in our society anymore. Is there no talent, or is there no infrastructure to support talent?
I remember a kid running into band rehearsal one day, in '68 or so, and saying, You're not gonna believe this, but Rod Stewart is white! We said, Get outta here. We didn't believe him. There was just not that many places you could see pictures of people. There wasn't MTV. And we never heard any white person sing like that. We knew he was black.
Immediately upon working for fifteen years to make it, as soon as we make it, what do I do? I leave, right before the Born in the U.S.A. tour. Everybody bought houses off that tour. I'm in Africa with an eleven-piece that I'm paying for, using my little money to keep a band on the road talking about politics.
I learned everything I know from leaving the E Street Band. And of course, one of the things I learned is, I never should have left.
The Beatles were a band, which we had never seen before. Four guys working together. Brothers. I had no interest in being Elvis Presley. We thought the Beatles were best friends. We thought the Stones were best friends. We bought the illusion, and it's the illusion that matters sometimes. That's what makes art work; that's what makes religion work.
Believe me, your parents would have preferred that you be a criminal — anything more respectable than a rock 'n' roller.
We are all suffering from a terminal time-deficit disorder. What'd you do today? I don't know, but I had no time for it.
I believe that hundreds of years from now, history will be divided into pre-1960s and post-1960s. Questioning things as a regular part of normal life — that didn't exist for my father's generation.
I ran out of money every year for the last thirty years.
Little Richard opens his mouth, and out comes liberation.
In Europe, everybody in the audience has the new record before they come to the show. Why? Because that's the script of the stage production they're about to see and participate in. They come, and they all sing every word of every song. They don't move, they don't go to the bathroom, they don't order hot dogs.
I've had offers through the years to write a book, but I don't feel that I've quite done enough yet. I got some big ideas left.
Interviewed by Ryan D'Agostino, August 12, 2008
Friday, January 9, 2009
"Maybe this year will be better than the last" - Counting Crows "A Long December"
Wow. Where has the time gone? It's 2009. It's been a month since I've last updated which is good, because it means that I've been busy and I've been happy and I've been focused. It's not a bad thing that I'm writing again, don't worry. I've been under the weather this past week and today I woke up with a renewed energy and have been blasting through a ton of stuff at work, but thought I'd take a few minutes to blog.
2008 The Year That Was.
The title might suggest that 2008 was bad and that I want to forget it, but in fact 2008 was a good year. In fact it was a great year, I only hope that 2009 will top it. 2008 marked the end of my college career. I graduated with might not seem like a big deal, but for me it was a great accomplishment (and yes Northeastern is a pre-determined five year plan.) I also got my first real job out of school and not only was it a job, but it was a job that is perfect for me. I get to listen to music for a living. What could be better.
2008 also saw the sale of Deli Plus. It's a weird thing when something you've known your whole life is just gone. I mean it wasn't really a surprise, it's not like I didn't it was for sale, and even when it was 'sold' it didn't sink in. Then I went home and went to grab bologna from Grandma's and it was from Price Chopper. Then for Christmas time we had to go grocery shopping to get all of our snacks. But change is good.
Speaking of change, change became the motto leading up to the Election and 2008 saw the election of the first black president. Barack Obama rose up as a beacon of hope for the sinking ship that is the United States. While he has a huge task in front of him and we may see some immediate change, it will be several years before we see some of the major changes that come with a 'regime' change. Most importantly though he is a symbol of change and that alone should help the morale of this country.
2008 saw my first Bruce Springsteen AND the E-Street Band Concert, the Giants Super Bowl win, the Celtics championship. It saw the price of gas hit $5/gal in some places and then drop to almost $1. It saw the market take a nose dive and the first signs of a long and possible deep recession. Travis Barker and DJ AM survived a plane crash John Mayer came to Berklee and scored some quality time with Jennifer Aniston (and a few other ladies in between). Heroes lost their powers, islands were moved in time, the beginning of the end at Chicago's County General. There were a ton of Big Losers, some Real World situations in Hollywood, and people Survived in Micronesia and Gabon.
As a whole, 2008 was a pretty solid year. There were a lot of changes and at times it was extremely overwhelming. But it was refreshing, and new, and never dull that's for sure. I'm looking forward to 2009. I anticipate that there will be more changes and more bumps in the road, but it's the ride that makes it all worth it. For it's cruising along and hoping those Giants repeat!
-Sh
2008 The Year That Was.
The title might suggest that 2008 was bad and that I want to forget it, but in fact 2008 was a good year. In fact it was a great year, I only hope that 2009 will top it. 2008 marked the end of my college career. I graduated with might not seem like a big deal, but for me it was a great accomplishment (and yes Northeastern is a pre-determined five year plan.) I also got my first real job out of school and not only was it a job, but it was a job that is perfect for me. I get to listen to music for a living. What could be better.
2008 also saw the sale of Deli Plus. It's a weird thing when something you've known your whole life is just gone. I mean it wasn't really a surprise, it's not like I didn't it was for sale, and even when it was 'sold' it didn't sink in. Then I went home and went to grab bologna from Grandma's and it was from Price Chopper. Then for Christmas time we had to go grocery shopping to get all of our snacks. But change is good.
Speaking of change, change became the motto leading up to the Election and 2008 saw the election of the first black president. Barack Obama rose up as a beacon of hope for the sinking ship that is the United States. While he has a huge task in front of him and we may see some immediate change, it will be several years before we see some of the major changes that come with a 'regime' change. Most importantly though he is a symbol of change and that alone should help the morale of this country.
2008 saw my first Bruce Springsteen AND the E-Street Band Concert, the Giants Super Bowl win, the Celtics championship. It saw the price of gas hit $5/gal in some places and then drop to almost $1. It saw the market take a nose dive and the first signs of a long and possible deep recession. Travis Barker and DJ AM survived a plane crash John Mayer came to Berklee and scored some quality time with Jennifer Aniston (and a few other ladies in between). Heroes lost their powers, islands were moved in time, the beginning of the end at Chicago's County General. There were a ton of Big Losers, some Real World situations in Hollywood, and people Survived in Micronesia and Gabon.
As a whole, 2008 was a pretty solid year. There were a lot of changes and at times it was extremely overwhelming. But it was refreshing, and new, and never dull that's for sure. I'm looking forward to 2009. I anticipate that there will be more changes and more bumps in the road, but it's the ride that makes it all worth it. For it's cruising along and hoping those Giants repeat!
-Sh
Monday, December 1, 2008
No Shave November Final Numbers
So here we are at our best (or worst you decide). The month went by really quickly and while I'm looking forward to a cleaner face tonight, I've kind of grown to enjoy my beard. Saturday night however I had to provide 4 forms of ID to prove that I was 21. Apparently I just don't look like my 16 year old license picture anymore. Anyway, the final numbers are in and we raised just over $400 for the Greater Boston Food Bank. On behalf of the Food Bank, Steven, and myself, THANK YOU for your generosity.
If you haven't donated or if you haven't made your payment to me yet, you can mail it to me or make it directly to the Greater Boston Food Bank online. Let me know either way so the money is accounted for.
It's December first and its time to start fresh again. Cleaned my room and downloaded some new tunes. The sun is shiny after a really crazy, rainy day yesterday. Working for the majority of the day then off to the gym for the first time in probably a month.
Home was a much needed escape from Boston. It had been way too long (3 months) since the last time I was home and sometimes its nice to just be with family, even if it means sleeping on a couch or two.
-Sh
"I'm in a New York state of mind"
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Day 8 Update
Participants - Daily Pledge - Pledge Total:
Shawn Wolfgang - $1 - $8
Steven Adams - $1 - $7
Sponsor - Participant - Daily Match - Match Total
Wolfgang - Steven Adams - $1 - $7
Rebecca - Shawn - $1 - $8
Chris Adams - Steven - $1 - $7
Mom Wolfgang - Shawn - $.25 - $2.00
LaToya Moore - Shawn - $1 - $8
Brooke - Shawn - $1 - $8
Jul - Steven - $1 - $7
Deanie - Shawn - $1 - $8
Grandma Wolfgang - Shawn - $1 - $8
Theresa Shear - Shawn - $1 - $8
According the GBFB, "Every $15 donation will help us provide a family with a 12-14 pound turkey this holiday."
If you would rather make a one time donation in lieu of creating a pledge or sponsoring a participant you are more than welcome to:
Martin Hough - $15
Jessie Goldbas - $50
Grand Total: $151 (Updated 11/8 1:08PM)
# of Turkeys: 10
Steven fell off the wagon for a day to interview for coops but is back with us.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
UPDATE: No Shave November
Okay Steven on Day 4 and me on Day 5. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Here's the money totals to date:
PARTICIPANTS DAILY TOTAL
Steven Adams $1 $5
Shawn Wolfgang $1 $5
TOTAL: $10
SPONSOR PARTICIPANT PLEDGE TOTAL
Shawn Wolfgang Steven Adams $1 $5
Rebecca Millette Shawn Wolfgang $1 $5
Chris Adams Steven Adams $1 $5
Mom Wolfgang Shawn Wolfgang $.25 $1.25
LaToya Moore Shawn Wolfgang $1 $5
TOTAL: $21.25
DONATIONS:
Martin Hough $15
Jessie Goldbas $50
TOTAL: $65
GRAND TOTAL: $96.25 which is equal to 6 Turkeys.
Congratulations to Barack Obama for making history! Let's see the change you promised.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
No Shave November...Donate NOW!
Okay. So I haven't blogged in a while because I just wasn't feeling it, but now I have something to say. What started out as an innocent email forward from Marty to Steven to me has now become a challenge, and a challenge for charity. Here's the concept:
For the entire month of November Steven and I will not be touching a razor. They will sit quietly in the bathroom while we attempt to grow what some may call facial hair. Here's where we got serious. In an effort to be good people, and to help out our good friends at the Greater Boston Food Bank, we will be donating a dollar for everyday that we successfully go with out shaving. We are also asking for your help. You can help us by sponsoring us. $.25/day $1/day whatever you want. At the end of the month you can send us the check and we will deliver the grand total to the food bank. I'm going to keep everyone updated here and for you younger folks on Facebook there is an event that you can visit to see our progress. I know its a tough time of year for everyone and a tough economy, but if we are struggling imagine the people on the street. $1 donated is equal to $4 spent by the food bank.
Totals:
Steven $4
Shawn $4
Sponsors:
Shawn sponsors Steven
Rebecca sponsors Shawn
You're Next!!!
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