Music | ReallyRedding

October 14, 2008March 14, 2012

New music player

Clicking on the widget above plays a 17 minute piece, tentatively titled Sobriquet, that Craig Padilla and I whipped up a while back. Not really sure where it was going, or if it would ever be finished and released. It’s more of a sketch, like a painter might sketch out a piece that ends up leading one in another direction entirely. These musical sketches languish in the studio. I thought I might post a few here and there because…well, just because. I like hearing them now and again myself. It’s good music for working on projects, at least for me. Your mileage may vary! Nokia’s Ovi music player widget is pretty cool. If you like what you hear and simply must have it for your iPod, let me know and I’ll point you to the MP3 file online. You can also click on the “envelope” icon and share it with friends.

I would recommend listening to it on an MP3 player because then you will be able to listen to loads of other files too, one after another, without having to fiddle with the device. If you want, you could find podcasts, songs, and whatnot on youtube and use a youtube to mp3 con to convert them into MP3 files. This way you would always have something to listen to!

September 21, 2008March 14, 2012

17th annual Blues by the River

September 20, 2008

Shoegaze

Hre’s a link to the MySpace page of Chico shoegazer the Soul’s Release. I love the name of this genre, shoegaze. I imagine young emo’s staring at their shoes earnestly.
http://www.myspace.com/thesoulsrelease
Anyway I like the music. There are a few tunes availalble on the page and you can download it from iTunes if you are so inclined. Ran across the page on Craigslist, looking for a vocalist. Maybe you?

In a slightly unrelated matter, I hope to see you at today’s Blues by the River. And unrelated to that, here’s a photo of the base of Whiskeytown Falls I took a few weeks ago, but never uploaded. Suitable for shoegaze soundtrack (Fallsgazing?)

September 17, 2008March 14, 2012

Rich Wright 1943-2005

“I know we’ve made some great songs and great music,” … “but I can’t tell you why we’re so popular” Richard Wright, keyboard player for Pink Floyd. 1943-2008

Fellow keyboard player Craig Padilla called me and told me the news. It made me terribly melancholy all day yesterday. As a musician, one is influenced by others. There are a number of keyboard players that have influenced me, but maybe only Richard “Rich” Wright had the most profound impact on me. I saw Pink Floyd’s live show at the Hollywood Bowl in 1971 (I was 16) and it was such an amazing musical event that it in some ways shaped my whole artistic life. They seemed magic. His understated style fit the music perfectly. They had a grasp of something so far ahead of other bands of the era, it was like they came from another world. I can still remember the event well. The audience was electrified. (It was Quadrophonic!) The memory sends shivers. I saw them several times since then, traveling far to catch their shows over the years. I could go on and on.

When I sit down to play, it was always that undefined magic I hoped to achieve. I’m not comparing myself to Richard, but he had that to which I aspire. When Craig Padilla and I try to describe our style of music to others, we often say it has some similarity to the instrumental parts of Pink Floyd. We also did a tribute of sorts at our live show at Turtle Bay last summer, working the keyboard intro from Wish You Were Here into one of our songs. It’s hard to explain. His impact was large. I can hear his playing in my head. Like it’s part of my DNA or something.
Somebody on another blog said “I’m not sure about this old age thing. People are dying!” Too true.

Remember when you were young
You shown like the sun
Now there’s a look in your eye
like black holes in the sky
Shine On you Crazy Diamond!

Wish You Were Here ends abruptly in a Major Key. So did you. RIP Rich. You live on in my spirit. My condolences to your family and bandmates.

August 28, 2008March 14, 2012

One of my favorite bands -Tunng

Tunng. Or an official Tunng site at the link.

The first link is to their Myspace page. It’s called Folkltronica by people who like to put music and things in categories. You can listen to their music there. They also have links to their videos on the page. The “Woodcat” video is brilliant. “Bullets” is moving, and I can’t really say why. Check it and see. And hear.

Will Folktronica become a bigger genre? Hope so.

Hey, note the similarity to my photo:

Okay, only remotely similar. I used this image in past real estate marketing materials, but more than one person said it looks “evil” somehow. Another said it looked like the book cover for Twilight! Ugh, maybe I should get a real estate SEO marketing company to do my marketing for me.