Wellington – The Blue Note Sessions

Potential cover for Wellington's forthcoming jazz album.

Wellington’s First Snow

Here is a trendy look for winter! Wellington is wearing a Martha Stewart Parka and Disposable Booties from Simple Solution.

Yesterday’s storm was Wellington’s first ever experience with snow and ice so we wanted him to be fully prepared. Welly took to the snow and ice in full inquisitive Dachshund manner; stomping on the frozen crunchy grass, investigating ice patches on the sidewalk and of course, eventually rolling around in said ice patches. After the excitement, he happily returned to his customary spot in front of our space heater.

That’s Entertainment

Part of the business of entertainment is taking advantage of the inexperience and narrow frame of reference of youth by presenting things to them as unique and exceptional when they really have been done a million times before and don’t require much talent to produce.  The reason why the vast majority of media is marketed towards the youngest of all demographics is because they are not nearly as picky and discriminating as adults.  An adult has much more discretionary income than a teenager, but that same adult is typically more difficult to entertain; simply because he has lived longer, experienced more and has a much greater bank of wisdom with which he can compare and contrast what one is selling.  Therefore, the smarter business move is to market to the less informed demographic where chance of monetary success is greater.  As each generation ages a few years and acquires more knowledge of the world, they usually figure out that much of the things they enjoyed weren’t really as good as they once thought, and this realization not so coincidentally occurs right around the age they are leaving the target demographic.   When unique high-quality entertainment does occasionally emerge on the scene, older generations gravitate to it like a well in a desert.

The older one gets, the less easily one is impressed.  If you are finding it more and more difficult to be entertained, don’t worry.  You’re just growing up.

The Oldest Objects Ever Seen

This photo is a piece of what is known as the Hubble Deep Field. It was a 9 day exposure of what appeared to be a small empty piece of night sky. Almost every light you see is a galaxy. There are over 10,000 in the full picture; the faintest of which are over 13 billion light years away. These galaxies formed shortly after the big bang, and are the oldest objects ever seen.

Let’s Go to the Movies

I don’t watch a lot of  movies.  When I do, it is usually at home and I must stumble upon it on television while channel surfing.   I almost NEVER go to the theater to see  a film.  In fact, in the past six years I had been to two movies (“Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” both at AFI) until the other night.

Several weeks ago, I promised my wife we would see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” She has read all of the novels (one of the many reasons I love my wife – she reads a lot) and we needed a date night to ourselves after the chaos of the holidays. Below I have listed a few observations from my movie going experience.  I believe my lack of participation in American cinema over the past decade may provide a unique perspective (comparable to a company that hires an outside consultant to tell them things they can’t or don’t want to hear.)

First, I know a night at the movies is expensive.  I have always been prepared for this.  That being said, I couldn’t help but laugh at the Hollywood hustle this time around.  Two movie tickets, two drinks and one popcorn cost us $41.00.  The prices at the concession stand are even higher than at sporting events, and at least those serve alcohol to numb the pain of being extorted.  Prior to going to the movie, my wife and I had dinner at a restaurant across the street. The total bill, with drinks and tip, was $31.00.  Until last night, I have NEVER paid more for a movie than I have for dinner on a date.  With prices being what they are, it is easy to see how a movie like “Avatar” could shatter box office records.  In the past, if I didn’t like a movie, I laughed and walked out.  But for $22.50, I would seriously consider requesting a manager and asking for a refund.

Second, movie previews are the most cliché thing in the world.  Each one starts with an ominous A or E Minor orchestral chord, with a couple of lines of calm dialog.  The music suddenly stops and there is a lead suspense phrase.  Then, the music picks up intensity as pieces of action sequences are cut between more aggressive pieces of dialog (usually arguing, yelling, witty banter etc.) As the music builds to its crescendo, a piece of dialog is played foreshadowing the critical consequences of the lead character’s failure. At that moment, the music suddenly stops once more, and the suspense catch phrase of dialog is cut in.  The music returns to the A or E Minor suspense chord and either fades or cuts abruptly as the movie title appears on-screen.  I saw four previews that followed this exact formula.  The only one’s that didn’t were comedies, and they have their own recognizable clichéd pattern (which I’m sure you can figure out just by analyzing one the next time you are at the movies.)

The point of all of this, is that the movie industry has been out of ideas for quite some time.  You see this in the tired concepts and ideas which they continuously re-hash over and over.  The previews look the same because the films are.  Visually, American films are stunning, but the story lines are rarely unique and come across as stale.  Why anyone with any sense would patronize a theater on a regular basis is beyond me.  Especially when one can now purchase an 82 inch flat screen for under $2500, build a home theater set up, then rent the films from Red Box for a $1.50 in under 90 days from when the film is released.  The investment pays for itself within 18 months versus going to the theater and seeing a movie every weekend.

All this being said, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” wasn’t bad.  Wait for the DVD though.

My Resolution

The average urban music career is one and a half albums. The average attention span of a modern music enthusiast is about a second and a half. Add these two things together and it is easy to see why so many of the artists I work with have no idea that I was one of them not so long ago. In fact, they would be fortunate to have a career where they made the money my crew and I earned, sold the records we sold, toured the places we toured and broke the ground that we broke. We had videos before there was a Youtube. We were featured in The Source and scores of magazines that have been gone so long one probably hasn’t heard of them either. We were on WPGC when we were in high school.  Our records charted on CMJ and Rap Attack for a decade. Much of our music was available online; in the sense that one could order it from an online record store on vinyl, cd or cassette. (Side note: In 1999, I signed an online distribution deal with a company called CDuctive. We received a $2000 advance for the rights to distribute our catalog. That company was later aquired and then they were aquired until one day, they became The Orchard.)

If you’ve never heard of my crew and our work, I don’t take it personally. A hip hop generation spans about 3 or 4 years. That generation is usually only aware of the generation that immediately preceeded their own, and the one that follows. With the exception of my “Mister Wise Album” which came out in 2010, all of my records as an artist were released independently between 1996 and 2004. Only the few scholars of the current generation know about the Depth Charge label, the Lower Life Forms and the Team Demolition projects (but I digress at the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney.)

Fortunately, there are many from in and around my generation who do remember.  It is the demand of these individuals that drive up the price of our early out of print vinyl and who post our old music on web sites that are designed to spotlight the works of an underground era.  It is these people who have sent me a number of requests to make available our old catalog and unreleased tracks.  And it is in part, them who have inspired to make my New Year’s resolution to do so.

My company only released a dozen or so 12 inch singles and a half a dozen albums in our history.  However, that represents just a small fraction of the material we produced and recorded.  In the early 90s, we recorded our music on 4 Track tape.  I still have the working machine and all 62 tapes which contain more than 250 songs, (most of which never made it to market.) I also have more than 85 sets of ADAT tapes containing our music that was recorded between 1995 and 2003.  We are still cataloging these, but I estimate there are 300-350 songs on those tapes.  I am personally going to be spending my spare time dumping and archiving all of these tracks from both of these formats to hard drives over the next several months.  From there, I will restore, re-mix and re-master all that I find redeemable, and make as many of them available as I can.  I also have plans to take some of this material and re-work it.  (Vocals placed over new music, lost beats remade or completely remixed etc.)

When all is said and done, I believe those who do hear this anthology of sorts will enjoy the creativity, passion, unique ideals and honest artistry my crew represented.  If a youngster wants to have a listen, have at it, but I’m not doing this for them.  I’m doing this for myself.  The digital age allows me to preserve for both posterity and enjoyment, that which was the central focus of my life for a dozen years.  Doing so allows me to truly close that chapter of my life, and have a ton of fun in the process.

New Year’s Morning

Wellington face down after a long night of getting drunk & chasing bitches.

Basking in the Majesty of the Cosmos with Neil Degrasse Tyson & Stephen Colbert