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November 24th, 2008 On the FlipSide. Tryin' to reason with Holiday season, that's where BMB is right now. As we slide into Thanksgiving it gets a bit more difficult to focus, to arrange our schedules and to make the effort to keep on keepin' on. But that's what we do. I notice we have only one more scheduled show and I really need to book something into the new year Any suggestions? The economy's still wreaking havoc with our favorite bars and venues, forcing some to stop offering live music and others to think about closing their doors. Man, that brings me down. One of those places that might have to close is The FlipSide in Clayton. Cliff and Jodi at The FlipSide have been very good to us over the years. They've always welcomed us to perform and they've treated us most excellently, not like the help, but as friends.
We played at The FlipSide on Saturnight November 15th. We had a great time and the place was packed, despite the crappy weather. We got to party with Marbleheads Jill, Jill and Tracy, Randy and Judy, J.C., Stephanie, Rhonda, Pam and Amanda. The band was loose but tight and we segued between songs we'd never performed before, just because we could. We're back to that point we can just look at each other and know what to do. It's a wonderful feeling.
Thanks to Cliff and Jodi and all the staff at The FlipSide for their wonderful hospitality.
Wait, the place was packed and they might have to close?
Yeah, it seems a strange dichotomy. The FlipSide is doing pretty well on the weekends, but their weekday/weeknight business is way off. That kind of hot and cold running cashflow makes it hard to guarantee you can pay the rent.
So last Saturday, November 22nd, we and eight other bands went back to play a rent party for The FlipSide. A rent party's an old musical tradition that has its roots in early 20th century Harlem. Folks who were in danger of not making their rent would throw a party and charge admission. Most likely a jazz band would play as an added attraction.
The FlipSide rent party was a bit non-traditional. The bands donated their performances and no cover was charged, allowing more people to attend and more monies to be collected toward the rent. The event got a lot of attention from local media and word of mouth. And that was really the idea in back of the whole thing, not merely to raise some money to help out some friends, but to raise awareness that The FlipSide is an integral part of downtown Clayton and an irreplaceable asset to the local music community. They are open for lunch, dinner and entertainment on weeknights, too, and it would be helpful if you've never been there but on the weekends to pay them a visit or two during the week. Tell 'em BMB sent you.
So, our set was four to five pm. It was a groovy time and we had a lot of fun. Our old friend and former bandmate, Mike Davis, sat in with us on some old reggae songs. We brought the wallflowers to the dancefloor and a lot of really great memories back to mind. After our set we got to party with EG and Kevin and Jill and Shannon. Good times. Good times.
We've been having some more good times in the studio as well as on stage! We're sitting atop a pile of music that, once we shake it all out, will be five newly recorded songs:
- Shut Up and Dance
- Dime el Sabor
- Waiting in Babylon
- Way Down Inna Hole
- (Come Get Some of) This
November 8th, 2008 12:02am. Just got home from our show earlier this evening at Carrboro's Century Center. We played the November installment of the Jam Session Series. We always dig coming to Carrboro. Thanks to Robin for booking us. Thanks to Gerry for recommending us. Thanks to the Marbleheads in attendance including Stephanie, Kathryn, Evan and Karen and all the others. -Ski
November 5th, 2008 I don't usually do this in this space, but I need to say these things. God bless America and guide President Obama. And thank you for giving us John McCain back. I've missed him these past months. Please heal our divided nation and let us once again be instruments of your will and your peace. Amen. -Ski
October 13th, 2008 October surprise! Last Thursday (10/09/08) we were the featured artists at Victoria Axelrod's first Open Mic Night at MVP's. Victoria taught EVERYBODY who hosts an open mic in Raleigh how to do it. She makes it look so easy that all those other guys thought they could do it, too. Well, after several years' hiatus, Victoria's back to show everyone how it's done again and we got to be there when it began! Thanks to all those who started their weekend a rainy night early! Thanks to Marbleheads Eamonn and Leslie, Neal D, Mark and Erica (for delivering the drums), Stephanie, Frankie and Nick, Lance, Frank, Shelby and Stevie Rae, Kevin (for running sound) and Susan, Barney the Dinosaur, John (the bar owner), MVP's bartenders, Neil, Rob. Thanks, most of all, to Victoria for hosting the event and for having us perform. We dig you like no other! Overheard after our set at Victoria's open mic: "Why aren't these guys famous?!" I thought we were!
And last Saturday (10/11/08) BMB played Mia's Birthday Blackout Bash at Slim's in Raleigh. Once again, we got the folks dancing at Slim's and premiered our new song, Dime El Savor. It's a trumpet-centric little latin tune. Fammon provides the lead vox en Espanñol because Spanish is such a sexy language. It's so sexy you could sing about nearly anything and still knock the chicas out. Julio Iglesias, watch out! Here comes Fammon!
Thanks to all Marbleheads in attendance including Jill, Tracy, Melissa, Kevin, Tony, Angelo, Carlos, Nancy, Gary, the hot chicks going up and down the stairs who distracted the rhythm section, Abe, Victoria, Mike, Mia. And thanks to the fine folks at Slim's for having us back again.
Overheard after our set at Slim's: "I love this band!"
Then on Sunday I got a note from Steve, the owner of The Blue Horn Lounge in Chapel Hill. He said that starting on Hallowe'en they'd no longer be featuring regular live music at The Horn. Ugh. We were scheduled to play November 1st.
We're all experiencing tough economic times and Steve just can't afford to give up the space that a half dozen people enjoying liquid refreshment might occupy for the bands to set up and play in. If you've never been to The Horn, that might sound like an insignificant amount of space. The Chapel Hill Fire Marshall only digs 40 peeps in The Horn at a time. It puts the I and I in intimate. The Horn's got a beautiful vibe. It's a comfortable room just to be in and it's just dang fun to play a packed house.
The last couple times we played The Horn, the staff working the door was letting folks in only as other folks walked out and we had 'em queuing up for a block down Franklin St. Dang. I'm gonna miss playing at The Horn, but I think I'd miss drinking there even more, so I'm cool widdit.
And I'd made such a great poster. Yes, Chico and Harpo are wearing Obama buttons. Groucho and his squeeze are sporting McCain buttons.
-Ski
October 6th, 2008 "Hey, I heard ya missed us. We're baaaaack!" We've been back a little over a week and it feels good. Mark the date of BMB's return as Sunday September 28th. We played a short set at the 2008 Carrboro Music Festival and we had a blast! All the doubts, the fears, the questions are gone. We premiered our new lineup including Donald and Dewey. We premiered a new song, Waiting In Babylon (yes, you longtime BMBlog readers saw the lyrics for that song years ago and this was the first time we ever performed it in public).
It's that concentric/tangential orbit of life thing I talk about so often. We played on the very stage on which I lost my gig bag a couple years ago, too. Yes, this year I collected it before I walked off.
Thanks to all the Marbleheads who showed up to cheer us on like Damond, Eric, Jessica, Luke and Holden, Jill and Taylor, Emma, Madeline and Nathaniel, Karen, Kathryn, Evan, Janice, Ray, Rebecca and Matthew, Dilip, Stephanie and all the others. Thanks to Gerry and the fine folks in Carrboro for having us back again at this year's festival.
Did I mention we're back?
I can't believe we'd been off the stage since January. Fate can be cruel. Losing three hig-profile shows in September just prolonged the cruelty. We all feel new, purified by fire and ready to play a fall tour that will take us back to all the old haunts. "Hang on to your butts!"
-SkiSeptember 13th, 2008 Cancelled shows. Ugh. We've done a lot of work over the past few weeks since D-dub joined the band. We're pumped up and primed for action. And had things gone as planned, by Saturday we'd've played three shows together as The New And Improved Blue Marble Beat. Had things gone as planned. All three of those shows have been cancelled out from under us in the last three weeks. I'm telling myself we're not jinxed. And I'm saying it really loud! We'll see you in Carrboro in just over a fortnight. -Ski
July 26th, 2008 I'll get you, my pretty. And your little dog, too! I feel like Dorothy Gale waking up from her trauma-induced visit to Oz. It's been about four months since I last regaled you with my wit and charm in the Blue Marble Blog. I've had no dearth of material for a hunnerd'n'twenny days. I just haven't known how to approach it, questioning sharing it altogether. I feel like it's all been a crazy dream, the last 16 weeks. And now I'm awake and home and I realize (wonder? fear?) it was all in my head. But you were there. And you. And you, too. I've written before about life being not a linear journey but one that circles concentrically and how those paths sometimes meet tangentially, if not actually cross. That's happening again. Those of you astute enough to notice and curious enough to check this forum periodically saw a new name in our lineup this past spring. Donald McDonald joined the band a couple months ago. He's another Dread34 alumnus and he's here to blow trumpet for you. Dollo, as we call him sometimes, is a comforting presence like Bodhi (Saxa, Clark, Wind Eagle, whatever the CIA tells him his name is this week). It just makes me feel good to know he's around. We were all glad to have him join BMB. Donald came on board at a time when I think most guys would've run screaming from an invitation to join a group that was likely at its nadir creatively and emotionally. He has yet to set foot on stage as a member of BMB but he's helped us to sort out some creative and personal differences and helped us to move on with things. No doubt, we were very conflicted about the music and about each other. We'd moved through denial. We'd tried bargaining. Finally we accepted that things had to change drastically if BMB were to continue. To shave a few gorily tedious chapters off the story, Theo decided that it would be better to leave the band. I considered the same alternative as I've spent the last eight years, a third of my musical career, standing next to Theo's snare drum. A good relationship between a bass player and a drummer is tough to lose. My right arm's been amputated. So I've been a little on edge, recently. I think we've turned down more shows in the last few months than most local bands are offered in a couple years. My confidence was shot and every second I wondered if the inevitable would happen the next second, or would it be the one after that? So, the inevitable happened. There's a certain amount of freedom you get when you're forced to start over. Everything becomes an opportunity. Every choice becomes viable. The only thing you *have* to do is make a decision. So Dollo, dB and I decided to audition drummers. It seemed daunting at first. None of us wanted to rush into anything. We wanted the fit of a comfortable old shoe, not one we'd have to shoe horn ourselves into just for the sake of taking a stage again asap. I wrote a brutally frank and honest, if not short, classsified ad that ran on Craig's List and RMC. To shave off another gory and tedious chapter in this story, the ad's paid off. The guys who answered knew what to expect from us and we knew what to expect from auditioning them. And I'm glad to tell you that we have a new drummer in BMB. Dewey Walsh joins us from two locally respected bands, Creedmoor and Back Porch Rhythms. Dewey's a musical workhorse and I'm confident he'll fit in with us perfectly. Why? Well, let me just be cryptic and say Dewey knows where our song Filter 9 got its title. He's an accomplished producer as well as a performer and a nice enough guy. I'll be happy to get to know him well enough to be able to write a better bio paragraph for him and post it to this site and our MySpace page. So, more on the concentricity of life. Say, Novemberish, maybe. The folks at The Flip Side will know what I mean. All things old are new again as Dewey and Donald will be adding their stylings to a bunch of Blue Marble Beats you've grown to dig. All things new are tingly with the electricity of immense potential. Look for a lot of new music to premiere at our upcoming shows. BMB is back. We've a new lineup and a new attitude. We'll see you soon -Ski
April 11th, 2008 Caesura. It's all good. We're still here. Just retooling, getting used to some new gear, writing, recording and generally chilling under the pressures of everyday life. We'll be back out and about soon. Thanks for your concern. -Ski
Just one hour later, March 17th, 2008 More you're a pinhead email. I didn't know so many people read this blog. Okay, lemme try and explain this anecdotally. I sit at a bar next two two guys who call each other the N-word. I share neither their ethnicity nor their cultural background. If I lean over and call either that same N-word, they both kick my ass. Or this, maybe. One of the band's female MySpace friends handles herself as Bitch Get$ What $he Want$. If I call her a bitch, she slaps me. Neither of these reactions should come as a suprise to me. In each situation I would have crossed personal boundaries dictated by the society on which I consider myself a savvy and regular commentator. It's the same with Elvis and Sir Elton. If I were in Britain, I would not disparage Her Majesty, even though I consider royalty anathema. She might be Elvis's N-word (though I doubt it), but she isn't mine. So when Sir Elton gets down and dirty with my political process, it's my bitch, not his. The boundaries are crossed and these guys should be savvy enough and repsectful enough to recognize the crossing. Just to prove this isn't political I haven't mentioned I think that the Clinton campaign should have found an American musical act to pimp, nor the potential fallout if they don't recognize that I'm not the only American that would consider Sir Elton an interloper. I haven't mentioned that the lawyers have couched the event so that the individual ticket fees are reported as political donations by the people in the seats, not the gross sales as a donation by the performer on stage nor the promoter in the front office. And for me to not bitch about performers' pay or promoters' shenanigans, well, you know I'm holding back. Feh. I got tracks to mix. Y'all be cool. -Ski
A little later, March 17th, 2008 It's been only two hours since I posted the below and I've already received feedback to effect of, "Hey, pinhead, you promised not to use your band's blog to push a political agenda!" It's true. I made that promise. Lemme just say I'm seeing this as an issue of manners, not one of politics. -Ski
March 17th, 2008 STFU and GBTW, Sir Elton. Elton John should shut the f*ck up and get back to work, in my humble opinion. He's playing a show all of whose proceeds will go to fund the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. This is wrong. Very, very wrong. You'll remember a few months back I castigated one of my heroes, Elvis Costello, for denigrating President Bush. I thought his comments tactless from a guest in our country. I'm neither a Clinton fan nor am I a Bush fan. I have a real problem with dynastic rule in America and Sir Elton needs to quit meddling in the internal political affairs of my country. Hey, Reg, if you want a say in who occupys the executive mansion, become an American citizen and vote like the rest of us. Until then, you're welcome to your opinions, but quit trying to influence the outcome. It's not yours. And it's not because he's supporting Hillary that I'm torqued. I wouldn't feel differently if U2 were playing a concert for Obama or if Led Zeppelin were playing a show to raise funds for McCain (as if). Sir Elton's got no more right trying to influence the coming American election than George Bush or I have to influence any sovereign nation's elections, neither of us being a citizen of that nation. John's Clinton fundraiser is just plain wrong. Oh, and happy St. Paddy's Day. You might've noticed we've another new tune in rotation on our sites. Serenade @ Gunpoint. You can dig it on our listening page and on our Burnjam and Social Media pages. This song was (mostly) recorded at Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills last December. Here're the crucial details:
Thanks for listening! -Ski
- Lyrics: dB
- Composition: dB, Theo and Ski
- Programming: dB
- Drums: Theo
- Sequencer: Theo
- Bass: Ski
- Keys, guitar, vox: dB
- Engineering: Vinton Fountain and dB
- Production: Vinton Fountain and dB
February 23rd, 2008 Rims And Bass. dB's finished producing another Blue Marble Beat, Rims And Bass. You can dig it on our listening page and on our Burnjam and Social Media pages. Tracks were recorded in The Bunker and El Laboratorio Negro. Here're the crucial details:
Thanks for listening! -Ski
- Lyrics: dB
- Composition: dB, Theo and Ski
- Programming: dB
- Drums: Theo
- Sequencer: Theo
- Bass synth: Ski
- Keys, guitar, vox: dB
- Engineering: Theo, Ski and dB
- Production: dB
February 16th, 2008 New music! Well, a newly produced version of a song you've heard us play live for years anyway. Dig Anthem on our listening page and on our Burnjam and Social Media pages. We recorded the basic tracks for this way back in October of 2006 at Volume 11 Studio in Raleigh. This song required a lot of post production as we were a bit anxious in the studio and forgot to play the second chorus! So for the last several weeks dB's been cutting and pasting the tracks into a more than reasonable facsimile of the way we play this song live and that's what we have here for your listening pleasure.
It's the first of several alternative mixes we have planned and we'll share the others as they are ready. Stay tuned! -SkiAnthem liner notes:
- Lyrics: Ski
- Composition: Ski, Theo and dB
- Programming: dB
- Drums: Theo
- Sequencer: Theo
- Bass guitar: Ski
- Keys, guitar, vox: dB
- Engineering: Nate at Vol11 and dB
- Production: dB
February 11th, 2008 Wayback Machine. My brother Curt died a couple Fridays ago. Curt was the first musician I ever knew. My parents gave him a bass guitar when he was a teenager and encouraged him to learn it and play it. That may be the reason why their encouragement of my own musical pursuits was somewhat less intense. Curt ditched a lot of school to play music in the bars of the university town in which we lived. He was a multi-instrumentalist, playing bass and keys. I was not much more than a toddler when I used to get in the way of Curt's band rehearsals, trying desperately to jam with the musicians I'd already begun to idolize. I'd never heard of people being named crazy things like Pineapple and I thought it was really weird how the guys in Curt's band called him Ski. Curt gave me my first guitar. And my second guitar. And my third and fourth guitars. Curt let me borrow that bass Mom and Dad gave him when I was thinking I might like to play four strings as well as six. For those of you who didn't know, I tended to be a rhythm guitarist in most of the bands I was in until about 18 years ago. For some reason, several of those bands had trouble keeping bassists and the responsibility for providing the bottom end tended to fall to me for the interim in which we'd audition new bassists. Those interims grew longer with each iteration till I just hung onto the bass as my primary instrument. Curt only saw me play once, back at the Emerald Isle Trailer Park on a Saturday evening just before their famous beach music festival. It was in 1988, back when my buddy EG Peters and I played in a band called Total Eclipse. By that time, Curt had eschewed music for a set of more sedate hobbies including collecting vintage firearms, building Cobra race cars and rebuilding Russian fighter jets. I was playing that fourth guitar that night. I still own that axe and I have no plans to part with it. As I sat in Munden's funeral home and listened to the chaplain eulogize my brother, I remembered how much he had really given me. Curt was certainly directly responsible for my love and pursuit of music, but he gave me more. He gave me my first car. It was a real fixer-upper, but I learned to be a mechanic, to troubleshoot complex systems and to find creative ways of fixing problems while my father found ways to pay the insurance. And all that really defines much of who I am. Except for my parents, there was no other person who had as much influence on the outcome of my growth into adulthood as my brother Curt did. I was feeling nostalgic in several ways and did a bit of egosurfing this week. I found this from RaleighMusic.com, 7/15/2005:
After four years of spreading level vibes to diverse audiences across North Carolina, reggae-rockers Dread34 will play their final show Saturday September 25, 2004 at the Flip Side of Clayton, NC's Coffee Mill. Keyboardist/singer Derek Brinson feels blessed to have been a part of Dread34. He describes their experiences together as a time of personal and artistic growth. "I dig the co-frontman dynamic that Dread34's created. That's very special to me and quite novel, too. It's the kind of thing I think I'd like to see from a live band," he says. That ability to showcase three different singers throughout a single performance immediately became a Dread34 hallmark. Adding the clarion call of a full horn section and the groovy backbeat of a rock-solid rhythm section, the Dread34 sound became unique among bands in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. "We've been able to introduce reggae and ska music to local bar audiences who didn't typically go out of their ways to hear those genres," says Dread34 bassist Thomas Szypulski. "We've also been fortunate to share large concert venue stages with reggae heavyweights like Burning Spear and Israel Vibration. I feel that's legitimization from more typical reggae audiences, too. Dread34's been able to walk with equal comfort among diverse crowds and, out of Many, make One." Dread34 will complete their summer tour, which includes several shows in Chapel Hill, Emerald Isle and Raleigh, before performing their Clayton swansong in late September. Brinson adds, "We've gone a long way in a short time. I really value the working relationships and bonds we've built along the way." "Dread34's parting at the top of our game and on good circumstances," agrees Szypulski. "It's not out of the question to consider infrequent reunion performances to support special causes or even just to hit a stage again together once in a while. These guys are more than just friends to me. I want to continue that relationship."And also from RaleighMusic.com, 7/15/05:
the-nerve: Raleigh, NC's Multimedia Techno-Acoustic Soul Collective (cleverly disguised as a band) by Mark Winston It is refreshing to see a band that understands the importance of dynamics. the-nerve creates an interesting blend of funk, soul, and rock. Headed by the poetic Derek Brinson, their tunes explore contemporary issues with a sensuality/sexuality theme, often combined with a dynamite multimedia presentation. The Nerve is Derek Brinson on Guitar & Lead Vocals, Mike Richardson on Bass Guitar & Vocals, Mark Duncan on Electric Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer & Vocals, and Jeff Lindsey on Drums. Jeff was unavailable for this interview due to a family emergency. They are one of my favorite local bands, so I wanted to see what we could learn about the craft of performing. MW: How long have you been together with Mikey. Is he cofounder? dB: Yep. Mikey Hype is the Funk. MikEHype: Uhhhh... What he said... dB: I've got almost 25 years in that hammerhead. We were really just kids, playing in rival bands when I met him. I moved away, bounced around for about 15 years or so, but never too far from home for too long. So, we kept in touch, shared this fascination, as the internet kinda blossomed. A few years back, I got a real job that brought me back home where I bumped into him somewhere. We chatted for about 10 minutes. We still shared the same interests - it was pretty much on from there. You gotta be a badass man to be my coach. That's Mikey Hype. We threw together some very loose skeletal structures, plans, goals and timetables that have slowly but surely materialized. It's like we envisioned a glass, then we started looking for the right liquid to fill it. When we started out, we had some very rigid and particular ideas, and some very loose ones, about how to put it all together. For example, we decided that neither of us wanted to rehash any of our old archived ideas. We wanted all new songs and a new sound. We had a weekly open house at El Laborotorio Negro, (the PC-studio at my old apartment), every single Tuesday night for about a year. Seems like everybody rolled up in there before I moved to my new spot. But DJ Krazerock, Willie (from Tread), and Neil (who taught me how to write songs, and introduced me to Mike & Willie way back in the day), my man, Uncle Ghee, and Bongo John were all really instrumental in creating our original riffs. So, after about a year of hacking at that raw multi-track data, overdubbing and test-driving different lyrics, and stuff, Mike & I were listening to some mix downs one day. We looked at each other and said, "OK... Now we sound like a band." So, Mike and me just learned the songs like they sounded on disc... and plah-doonk! We had a Dirty: 30 set list. We started trolling the open mics, lugging around a big-ass TV set and a DVD with some canned beats for the eye candy; it was really weird how just the right musicians joined us at just the right time, to help us pull off the live stuff. That made it pretty easy to put together more songs that sounded like the ones we already had and before we knew it, kah-boomp! We had a Live: 45 worth of material that we thought was really, really strong. So, by the time we developed our Power Hour set, Mike said "aiight... I'm ready to rock!" MikEHype: Time to rock, bruh.... dB: So, we set out to really solidify and more rigidly define our line-up. We had to find our live voice, in the same way that we found our studio/songwriting voice. MikEHype: Then, it all broke loose... dB: Yeah, at that point, it got a little harder. We suddenly had more heads to feed. Folks feel invested into the project with different requirements and different opinions about where the bands should go, and how. Not everyone is committed to the patient, low-impact approach that Mike and I have taken. Not everyone will play (mostly) for the sheer joy and satisfaction of being in the baddest band in town. But every band goes through that kind of stuff, and somehow we manage to gather up new material. It's a bit slower, now, though. I guess that's a good thing. I don't remember sleeping for those first couple of years trying to put this thing together. We're still so charmed, as just the right peeps join us at just the right time. At first, we were all seated on bar stools when we played live. Eventually, Mike was ready to completely abandon that presentation, to turn the corner, to stand up and be a "real band". So, he got with Mark Duncan (with whom, at the time, I was also playing with in my other band, Dread34). Somehow, and I'm not quite sure exactly how, they found Jeff. Which brings us to the band you see today. MW: How do you feel when you are onstage? dB: tall MikEhype: Like I'm surrounded and insulated by family Mark: Relaxed MW: You connect well with an audience. dB: nah. I have no more choice in the matter than any circus monkey. When things are going well, an audience connects well with us. The truth is, when the band is really on - and everything just clicks - I kinda lose myself in that space. Mentally, I'm not really onstage as much as I'm the most obnoxious asshole in the audience. Sometimes, Mike has to reel me in, with his "a-hem... get your monkey ass back on stage!" look. MikEhype: Sometimes, sometimes not. I usually can tell as soon as I walk in a venue if I'll connect or not. The walls in a place give up a lot of information about the people they have held and what they have seen. Ya just gotta know how to listen to the room. It'll tell ya all you need to know. Mark: I don't think that I do. DB is our circus monkey, so hopefully the people who look for that sort of thing get what they need from him. I have never enjoyed that aspect of the craft. MW: Where do you like to play around town and why? Mark: The Brewery was nice. For me, it comes down to how good the sound system is and the professionalism of the sound technicians. There are very few of those kinds of venues in our area. MW: What tips would you give other musicians about creating their stage presence? dB: As P-Funk put it, "Take it to the stage and let the people decide." Find a way to get onstage; if need be, build your own stage and find a way to get people around it. Keep at it. It's truly an on-the-job-training proposition. Surround yourself with people that don't make justifications/excuses for not doing it. Study others that do well in the kind of environment in which you might be trying to function. Watch 'em closely. Take note of what works and what doesn't. Then, try to figure out why. Most importantly, don't imitate - incorporate. Become the Borg, in that way. Force yourself to take in stuff you don't really like... figure out why others like it. MikEhype: I think presence, "stage presence", is not created but already there. You either have it or you don't. If you've ever been close to a "star", you can actually feel it emitting. I believe that these people had it before they were "stars". But, at the same time, I do believe you can improve on it but it has to be natural to start with. Imagine this -- If you took the Brittany Spears, The Boy Bands and the likes, disguised them and walked them in a room full of people, no one would notice. If you did the same thing with the Steven Tylers, the Princes and such, it would be a very big difference. You can FEEL presence. Mark: Just do what you do. No one act will ever be liked by all people, so you might as well stick with what you are comfortable with. MW: I love your multimedia approach to the show. What was involved? Give us the insider's viewpoint. dB: ah... The-eyecan-d - I'm so glad you're feeling that. For me, it was one of the non-negotiable foundations of the project. I have been hacking at this whole idea for a very long time, even trying to sync my MIDI files with a Betamax back in the early 80's, like I was the black Thomas Dolby, or David Byrne, or somebody. That whole Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" tour/movie really changed my approach/benchmark as it concerns the way I looked at live music presentation. While I was doing other things, musically, all the while, that "Petting Zoo TV" presentation (synchronous graphic reinforcement for song lyrics/themes - in a non-stadium venue) was my brass ring. Finally, as the technology became more attainable, I became more determined to grab at the ring. The funny paradox is now that we are stable enough to score some of the gear, there's hardly any time left over to learn how to work it. Mikey and me are self-taught Flash heads. I also picked up Premiere. Mikey also woke up with the fever - now, he shows me neat little Premiere shortcuts, all the time. He's got a camera, so you might expect to see "found live footage" in our future eye candy. I'm still talking to several local visual artists about some kind of hybrid art showing-like presentation, but it's really hard to explain to them what we have in mind, until they actually see a nerv-us show. Most recently, I fell into G-Force, for the live presentation. Mark is particularly gifted, as his thought processes seem to be well suited for scripting languages (as it works in G-Force). Maybe he's just not as intellectually lazy as I am. Anyway, I boosted some of his G-Force scripts and expanded even further - using some "found web graphics" along with some of our own animations, and such. For now, our goal with the eye candy is nothing more than steady and tangible progression and improvements. I hardly ever forget adaptors and converters, anymore; but we're really just waiting for that perfect VJ-type to fall into our laps. That's how things normally work for us. So far, this band leads quite the charmed life. A nerv-us performance looks easy and fun because, for the most part, it really is. But all and all, the eye-can-d is getting there. It's still a work in progress. There's a long way to go, but it's a long way from where it started. Heck, you saw the-nerve when it was just Mikey Hype a DVD and ME. MikEHype: What he said.... Mark: It is a challenging aspect of what we do. Let's just say that sometimes it's better than other times. MW: What's the current songwriting process like in The Nerve? Mark: Mike, Jeff and I riff, record it and DB listens to it in his car as he writes lyrics and melodies. MW: Goals/desires? dB: I'm too jaded and cynical for illusions of arena rock superstardom. Plus, I'm already living the dream. On a regular basis, I get to drink free likker with my best friends, sing my songs and jump around until I feel sore for the next few days. I'd do that for free, but we usually get a coupla dollars, for it, too. I mean how cool is that? And occasionally, a whole lot of people party with us, too. Nothing better than that. The one thing I'd want on top of all this, is to re-create that atmosphere that facilitates writing and producing more new music. I recently reset El Laboritorio Negro in the new crib, so we'll see what falls out. And of course, more money! If I was in it for the money though, I'd be doing something else. At the very beginning, when Mikey and me were discussing the dynamics and the logistics for what eventually became the-nerve, we were talking about how we were both notorious RMC lurkers. We noticed how many folks were whining about a lack of support for local music. We translated that to mean "Ain't nobody coming to see my band." We determined through our discussions that when a band plays to the walls, there are only two possibilities: 1) Folks haven't heard of you 2) Folks have, and prefer to do (e.g., "support") something else So, we decided to put ourselves to the test. Could we do something that we both liked (aesthetically) and that other people could support? We decided that any dingaling could make a CD that he and his 20 best friends could listen to. We decided to see what would happen if we really tried. We decided that money would be the measuring stick. So, for us, more money means we're doing something right, something a bit better, even if it's only a little more money. We still play to the walls now and again -- everyone has off nights. On the whole, I feel really confident about this thing, and where it's headed. It's still unspeakably rewarding and joyous for me. For more about the-nerve, check 'em out here: www.the-nerve.com Editor's note: In the time between when Mark Winston recorded this interview and the time it was edited for publication Derek Brisnon's other notable project, Dread34, announced its own impending end. Here's a small addendum regarding dB's thoughts on that and how it will affect the-nerve: RMC: What was your greatest achievement with Dread34? dB: First, I'm just so proud of being a part of Dread34's run, itself. We went a long way in a short time. I really value the working relationships and bonds we built along the way. My other most treasured achievements with Dread lie in the realm of personal growth and self-management. I'm much more of an adult about a lotta stuff now. It's kinda weird. The coolest accomplishment, musically, would have to involve me finally finally becoming comfy with this front man thing; wrapping my head around the idea of live performance as a craft in and of itself. For the first time in my entire life, I refer to myself as a singer... with a completely straight face. I dug the co-frontman dynamic that Dread34 created. That was very special to me. And quite novel, too. It's the kind of thing I think I'd like to see from a live band. RMC: What was your greatest challenge with Dread34? dB: Mostly, interpersonal issues. I'm just not a people person. And I still struggle with the subtleties between being carefree and careless. As an avowed bachelor-for-life, it's easy to fall into a mode where one operates as if one were in a vacuum. But the boy-in-the-bubble modus operandi isn't really conducive to being a part of an 8-piece band. It has been a huge challenge to re-access what I thought has worked well for me all these years, but may not necessarily be so true. And I'm still shocked to find out how stuff I have completely taken for granted, deeply affects people around me - sometimes, what I say and do really matters... whoa. Worse yet... well, errr more challenging yet, there's the challenge of sustaining working relationships between folk that have diametrically opposed worldviews. I choose to live life by the seat of my pants. And frankly, I really enjoy a life of improvisation... some have called me lucky... charmed... I prefer blessed. But the real challenge comes with the interaction between of personality types that view life from a 180 degree angle from my own. Personalities that prefer a more errr scripted existence, are usually adamant about it. Where there's often no room to accommodate less scheduled entities, nor compromise, it becomes a real oil and water mixture. Just keeping things positive and productive was a huge challenge. Sometimes, just minimizing the misery and ill-will was the best we could hope for. That's one part about this whole thing that I really won't miss. RMC: What's next for you? dB: Me? In a word, I'm going home. Primarily, that means the-nerve. I've been remiss, whereas my main project, my more autonomous singer-songwriting entity, has received less of my attention than my side project. Consequently, now I desperately feel the pull, the need to become a songwriter, again. And recreating that type of proper environment is at the top of my what's next list. Last year, I was going to grad school, in addition to Dread and all my other stuff. I had to take a semester or two semesters off, but I'll most likely re-up in the Fall. I'm so looking forward to substantially cranking down the touring schedule... Re-charging the battery, for a bit. Re-establishing contact with my peeps; re-kindle old flames, ya know? I had no idea how grueling this gigging schedule was going to be, and how much it would sap me. I'll miss it in a way, but right now, I really miss being home regularly on the weekends. I wanna clean off my coffetable; do my taxes... And I think perhaps the church might be calling me... My home church... It's so hard to just be there on Sunday, when one is usually out and about and outta town until 5 or 6 every Saturday... I'm beginning to think that I may have some more overt songs of worship and praise in me. Who knows? On the other hand, there's a lot of talk about a project that will continue to deliver the best parts about Dread's live presentation; I have to seriously give that a look. Now that I think about it, I'm actually looking at a couple of terribly intriguing, flattering musical possibilities and project invites, but of course, all that stuff just depends... Right now, it feels like the world is my oyster... and that feels real good. But first and foremost, I just wanna go home, rest up and take inventory... ahhh... Home... Home, again... I like to be there when I can.If you're still reading this, let me suggest you cut back on the caffein before bedtime. Or at least let me thank you for allowing me to unload on you for a while. I figure you just learned an awful lot about how I came to be me and an awful lot about how BMB came to be BMB. I also want to thank the wonderful folks at Blue Horn Lounge for their patient condolensces on the death of my brother. Thanks to Steve for understanding when we canceled our Saturday night show on Friday evening and thanks to folks like Josh for their notes of encouragement. Thanks also to all the fine folks at Slim's in Raleigh. We played there on Saturday January 26th. Thanks to Joe for continuing to book us. Thanks to Mikey for all the technical help and an amazing amount of patience while we set up the eye candy. Thanks to Stephanie, Vivi, Mike, Jem, Mokade, Patrick, Erin, John, Emily and Nichole for partying with us at Slim's. We had a great time. -Ski
January 16, 2008 Equilibrium. That's a word that has several meanings. Most people would expect equilibrium to have a pleasant connotation, but I'm using it in the strictly physical (as in physics) sense. So, all the forces pressing upon me are in equilibrium, but all are rather strong and if any increases I'm likely to go spinning off into infinity like a whirring top. I was recently explaining this very state to a trusted and valued Marblehead. It was last Friday night during a break in our show at Blue Horn Lounge in Chapel Hill. I'd been explaining how the stresses of working the day job and actively participating in family life have seemingly slowed my contributions to the publication of any new BMB music. I added that I felt like a juggler with all his plates spinning. Little did I know that at that very moment my daughter was breaking out in chicken pox. Ugh. I've managed to keep my metaphorical plates aloft and maintain my shaky equilibrium at the expense of the feelings of those closest to me and I'm a shit for that. I'm sorry. So I've spent some late nights this week editing music files, updating websites and making booking connections. Thanks to the Internet all of those are a lot easier than they used to be. That sounds stupid, doesn't it? "...updating websites is easier thanks to the Internet." No shit. I'm getting mean and stupid. Bear with me a little while longer. A couple weeks ago BMB began a new recording campaign in our rehearsal space. We've got the toys for a credible diy effort, so we agreed, let's do it. We set up the mics, tuned the drums, multitracked the rhythm tracks and ran up against a latency issue between the recording software and the harddrive onto which we're recording the music. We're working to solve that issue and one of the tactics in achieving our overall strategy is editing out the latency-induced pops and skips on the tracks we've recorded. Remember the late nights I mentioned above? That's been part of the tedium. I've noticed from doing this kind of thing for 20-some years that if I mix with particularly tired ears, I don't like the result when I review it in the morning. So my nocturnal musical existence over the past few evenings has been ruled by the law of diminishing returns. Diminished returns mean slow progress. So, I've slowly progressed to handing a stereo submix of drums, a compressed bass guitar and an edited sequencer track to dB. He'll trade me back a vocal and guitar track for our song entitled This. Then we can all three sit down together and apply the final digital polish to the project. I'm pretty excited about the results thus far. This is a song we recorded with Nate at Volume 11 more than a year ago, but it was wine before its time. Hearing what we committed to tape (harddrive) led us to make some significant changes to how we perform This, significant enough that we couldn't use the Nate sessions as a foundation to build a new recorded version of the song. And This is one of those songs that have become as close to a signature BMB tune as any can be. We almost always begin the guitar set with This, so if you've seen us live you know the song. Soon you will hear the record. More on that Blue Horn show. Thankfully, the weather was as unseasonably warm as our previous Horn show's had been unbearably cold. There's nowhere on Earth, or at least on the parts I've trodden, like Franklin Street on a warm evening. It seemed all of Chapel Hill was out and about and the free entertainment was abundant. Steve kept the door wide open and our contribution to the free Franklin Street entertainment led to a packed house and a line to get in. We had a great time performing in front of a lot of familiar faces. Thanks to Marbleheads Stephanie, Vivi, Mike, David, Dana and Andrew for partying with us. Thanks to Steve, Marshall and Doug for having us back again and treating us like rock stars. A number of cool things are happening and as they become a bit more definite I'll share them with you right here on this blog. Stay tuned, Marbleheads! See you again soon at Slim's. -Ski
January 1st, 2008 Happy new year! It's strange that starting a fresh calendar hasn't really had much of an impact on me since I stopped writing a lot of checks. Even then, the impact wasn't much greater than having to scribble out the last two digits of the date and ink in a couple different ones. Let's hear it for digital banking! Woot! Most things digital have been a boon to me over the past few years, enabling me to do more in less time. Just don't ask about the blog. I guess I could blame the holidays for my recent silence on these pages, but it'd likely be more accurate to blame my own mood swings. Maybe I could blame my mood swings on the holidays? I've had some ups and downs, an ebb of inspiration and a crisis or two of selfimage, so the last month hasn't really seen me in back of a computer in any kind of creative role, at least not in the capacity to which I'm used. BMB had a good time at our Blue Horn gig, Friday December 7th. It was cold, really cold, on Franklin Street that night and we didn't get the kind of walk in attention we usually get playing at the Horn. What made the show great, though, was the fact that we recognized most every face at the bar that night. It was like playing for family -- very comfortable and relaxed. The usual suspects were there. Thanks, as always, to to Steve, Marshall, Doug, Rose and Mike for making us feel at home. dB and Theo resolved the eyecandy issues we'd had at our last Horn gig. We played some new music and dressed in layers to keep warm. That same day a nice little article about Blue Marble Beat appeared in the coastal entertainment section of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
Blue Marble Beat brings a sound like no otherOur Outer Banks Brewing Station debut on Saturday December 15th was a blast. At the point of loading in, quite literally. I just don't know what it is with BMB gigs in December bringing extreme weather, but the OBBs show was as meteorologically significant as the December Charley Brownz gig a few years back. It was just freakin'weird. The three of us rode to the beach together and noted that it grew dark by 4pm. We walked into OBBS for dinner and I was chilled to my core. I kept ordering cups of hot tea that I didn't drink, I just held them close. It seemed as cold as Chapel Hill had been a week or so before and just as we began to load our equipment out of the van, it started raining. Then it started raining diagonally. By the time we'd set up on the stage, it was raining horizontally. The wind was whipping around from several different directions. Just like Charley Brownz, the stage at OBBS backs up to a large window, so I could watch the nor' easter blow through as we played. And when we loaded out it had stopped raining and was 75 degrees. Just weird. We stayed oceanfront that night and slept with the windows wide open. I gotta say a few words about OBBS. You know I'm a beer snob if you've ever talked to me or hung out with me at a bar. You also likely know I try to keep to a vegetarian diet. I could eat at OBBS! I could and did eat WELL at OBBS. Their menu was freaking excellent and it didn't stop with the food. The beer was most excellent as well. You know how some microbrewers think hops are the be-all-end-all of beer? How they raise hops almost to the almighty to the detriment of the other primary (necessary) ingredients and totally blow that all-important balance resulting in hops-flavored Kool-Aid? The brewmaster at OBBS doesn't do that. The beers all rock. Those of you who know BMB personally know that we have three very different personalities and you could really tell by the brews of choice we drank at OBBS. dB enjoyed Santa's Little Sledgehammer, Theo partook of the Olsch and I lovingly nursed several stouts through the evening. I was also taken with the friendliness of the staff at OBBS. They really welcomed us. In fact, most of the dinner crew came back after they got off work to hear our show. So lemme go ahead and thank Dorothy, Chris, Alyssa, Vinton and the rest of the staff, indeed all our new Outer Banks friends, for helping to make our beach trip so much fun. Wait, there's more. Vinton recorded our show at OBBS. We walked out with a CD of each set and have been reviewing the performances. I hope to be able to share some of the music from that gig with you very soon. I was taken with the palpable energy when I first listened to the show. dB's a bit more reserved in his assessment. He's concerned that we shouldn't release music merely for own ego gratification but only if it's significant, otherwise. Theo's indifferent so far. But it's just like our beer selections. We each have a different perspective and sometimes it slows down our process, whatever process it might be. It's kind of a reaction to where we were a few years ago with BMB v1.0. We were in such a hurry to develop music that we'd literally learn four new songs at any given rehearsal and perform three of them at our show the following weekend. That built us a large repertoire quickly, but there was always that nagging feeling that we might could do better with a little more concentration. So we'e developed a different way of doing things, much more deliberative, much more introspective, much more collaborative. Another way to look at it is checks and balances. Everyone in this country depends on that being a good system for government and it seems inarguably the best, most especially when the system breaks down from internal pressures. Sometimes I'm the executive and dB's the legislative. Sometimes it's the other way round. Theo tends to be the judiciary, more often than not. Blue marble gridlock seems better than thrice offering Caesar the crown, if slower. So just keep asking us all about the new music. Keep prodding us but be patient. I think 2008 is going to be a big year for BMB. We're glad you're riding along with us! -Ski
by John Harper "We don't think we sound like anybody else," says Thomas "Ski" Szypulski . He's the 42-year-old bass player and keyboardist in the Raleigh-based trio Blue Marble Beat, which is making its local debut Saturday, Dec. 15, at Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills. Szypulski, in a telephone interview, staked his claim by labeling the band's music as "psychetronic dub and soul." Translation? It's trip-hop and electronica, with techno beats, rhythm and blues, reggae, trance, disco, funk, jam and acid jazz. "The only comparison we ever hear is, maybe, the Police and Stevie Wonder," he said. The Beat is led by singer/guitarist/visionary Derek "dB" Brinson , who Szypulski describes as "unpredictable" and "engaging." To illustrate the characterization, he talked about the "Pop Wheel of Fortune," a segment during shows when Brinson ad-libs his way through a 12-song set. "It might be a Britney Spears tune in there, maybe Black Flag. Bob Marley, Lynyrd Skynard; it could be anything. We just try to keep up." Drummer/vocalist Theo Boomhaurer rounds out the trio, which also has a wealth of original material, ranging from the atmospheric "Dream Deep" to the reggae-infused "Love Today." Subject matter includes world peace, brotherhood and untied shoes. Another thing that sets the 8-year-old trio apart is its video presentation. Behind the band on a giant screen are nonstop flashing psychedelic colors, archival news clips and images of iconic figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon, all synched to the music. "It's like having a music video to dance to all night long," said Szypulski, a software engineer by day. "And people always dance, whether it's a dance club or not."