My Window To The World…

It has been claimed that by writing a checklist, you are more likely to memorize what you are writing down.

Whether I go out to play the drums in a studio or at a live gig, I always make sure that I have the following items in my bags:

- Drumsticks
- Music Charts / Scores / Notes
- Writing Paper & Pencils
- Roland SPD-20 Drum Pad
- Roland SPD-20 Drum Pad AC Adaptor
- Roland SPD-20 Drum Pad Mounting Kit (incl. Screws & Tools)
- Laptop
- AC Adaptor for Laptop
- Firewire Cable
- USB Cable
- External USB Mouse (in case the trackpad malfunctions)
- M-Audio USB Sound Input/Output
- Headphones
- Spare Headphones
- Headphones Extension Cable
- Chinch to Jack Adaptors
- Jack to Chinch Adaptors
- Gaffer Tape
- Tuning Key (for Drums)
- Spare T-Shirt
- Towels
- Custom Earplugs (not the cheap ones from the Pharmacy)
- Flashlight

For gigs I like to add:

- Laptop’s Operating System on CD
- Software I am using (Ableton Live) on CD
- CD or Harddrive Backup of all (Audio/MIDI) Data needed

The list might seem kind of crazy, but experience shows that most things listed can come in handy at one time or the other.

I have had my laptop “go crazy” on me before. Re-installing the operating system as well as the application took care of it. (It is best to have no data on the harddrive that has not been backed up yet, so one can just format the HD and start re-installing.)

Another time the laptop’s harddrive stopped working an hour before the gig. Luckily, one of the VJs had a spare laptop. I installed the application, copied the data onto his harddrive and was (more or less) ready to go by the time we hit the stage.

Since I oftentimes play with backing tracks, I cannot survive without headphones. I usually have some left/right channel splits happening, so the headphones must work 100 %. The spare one has saved my life more than once.

The custom earplugs I also want to mention again. The volumes we are often exposed to on stage are nothing but poison for our hearing, so it needs to be protected. No hearing = no music!!!

Technorati Tags: Drummer Survival Guide, Drummer Checklist, Live Gig Checklist, Rehearsal Checklist, Drums, Drummer

Interesting article in the Times Online today, entitled “Money, Music and The Web”.

Both websites introduced there sound very interesting (SellaBand and Slice The Pie.

However, I feel nowadays bands can very well do without such services. Both organizations try to take on the role of the record company. But nowadays the money made from music should go to one (group of) person(s) only: the musician(s).

Not unlike many of you, I guess, yours truly is also still struggling when it comes to productivity.

And clutter is all part of it…

Clutter in the living room. Clutter in the bedroom. Clutter on the office desk. Clutter in the brain, etc. etc. etc.

Merlin Mann (the guy behind 43 Folders) has a great new and inspiring series: “War On Clutter”.

Go check it out and let Merlin’s words kick you up the [censored].

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Unclutter, Merlin Mann, 43 Folders

No… have not run out of ideas yet… Au contraire!

Just been way too busy…

Will start posting again soon…

P.S.: Happy birthday to my little bro’, to my friend Dani, and to Boy George.

Let us expand the horizon a little.

Let us go classical.

No, none of the boring, fit-to-be-played-in-the-background stuff… but something that was a huge influence on Mister Frank Zappa - and countless other musicians/composers: Monsieur Edgard Varèse. A composer, most people would say, but he preferred to call himself an “organizer of sounds”.

His orchestral pieces are mind-blowing, a true experience, whether on CD, or live. Though live it is one of the best sonic experiences ever.

My first exposure to Varèse was “Ionisation” - today’s choice.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Edgard Varèse, Frank Zappa

Today’s Top Tune, Round 018.

Another singer who has been a favourite of mine for many, many years: Marc Almond.

Of course I always enjoyed hearing Soft Cell, but the first album that I bought by Marc Almond was “Mother Fist And Her Five Daughters”. To this day, it does occupy a special place in my heart.

One of my favourites by him is “Live At The Royal Albert Hall”. Off of that album, I totally love his version of Jacques Brel’s “Jacky” - today’s choice.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Marc Almond, Soft Cell, Jacques Brel

Today’s Top Tune, Round 017.

Time for another freebie.

Nannue Tipitier has been mentioned on these pages before.

He was the producer of the excellent “My Day EP” by Bangkok-based trio PRIM.

Most of his excellent productions he makes available for free download on his website.

Grab his stuff, scrobble it, add him to your MySpace friends, and ask him to officially release his material.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Nannue Tipitier, PRIM

“If someone is not humane in spite of being human, what has he to do with music?”

© (Confucius quote) Oxford University Press.

Technorati Tags: Confucius, The Analects, Confucius Analects, Food For Thought, Philosophy

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Today’s Top Tune, Round 016.

Today I’ll give you something a little different… a little harder… a little more aggressive… and extremely energetic…

The band is called NoMeansNo.

They are from Canada and have been around since the 1980s. They did release great stuff, then had an awful time in the late 1990s, but (according to online sources) are back on track.

My favourite album by them is “Wrong”. I am recommending track 2 “The Tower”. Believe it or not: it goes so well with tracks 1 (”It’s Catching Up”) and 3 (”Brainless Wonder”) - you should listen to all three… and while you’re at it, keep going until the bitter end… you won’t regret it! (The album is unavailable at the moment, according to Amazon, but the re-issue should be easy to obtain.)

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: NoMeansNo

Today’s Top Tune, Round 015.

While also occupying a very high position on my list of all-time favourite musicians/singers, I must admit that I did not really get into Johnny Cash’s stuff until a couple of years ago.

The film they made about his life, “Walk The Line”, was fantastic.

His autobiography was a very interesting read; except for the parts where he felt he had to explain his Faith/Christianity.

Many of the cover songs he recorded before he passed away are very touching. So today’s choice is his version of “I Hung My Head”.

It is available on his release "American IV: The Man Comes Around".

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around, Cover Songs