~C4Chaos

Arnel Pineda Tours with Journey

Speaking of Charice Pempengco, this just reminded me that another Filipino singing sensation, Arnel Pineda, is already currently on tour with Journey promoting their new album, Revelation. Looking forward to check out this album. Journey is also scheduled to make a TV debut on Ellen DeGeneres. Hataw na naman!

To those who still doubt that a Filipino can pull off a live Journey concert, doubt no more. Here's a proof. Check out Journey at the Great Chile Festival Concert 2008.

Thanks to Youtube, a dose of serendipity, and awesome talent, the Internet is leveling the playing field for discovering world-class performers. Expect more Filipinos to pop up on the international scene. Don't stop believing, mga kababayan!

Music Transcends the Borders of North Korea

Music Transcends the Borders of North Korea

Last night I watched Christiane Amanpour's Notes from North Korea. In her own words, it is the "holy grail of assignments."

"...when CNN asked me to cover the historic trip of the New York Philharmonic to Pyongyang at the end of February, I jumped at the chance. After months of negotiations, the North Korean government agreed to the orchestra's demands for playing Pyongyang, which happily for us included bringing in a large contingent of journalists. I was under no illusion that we journalists would have free run of the place -- far from it. However, any access is better than none, and any time is better than never, even in the dead of freezing North Korean winter."

The reporting was tightly controlled but it was still fascinating peek at a country and its people under communist rule. My favorite part of the program was a feature on New York Philharmonic's  historic concert in North Korea. The music and the emotional reaction of the performers and audience sent shivers up and down my spine.

Here's a video of the historic concert. New York Philharmonic rocks!

 

Music is indeed a language that transcends barriers. Hopefully, this is a good start at breaking those barriers as well.

First Filipino Album Released Under Creative Commons License

Congratulations to DRIP for releasing the first full-length album in the Philippines under Creative Commons license.

"DRIP's 2nd album launch - IDENTITY THEFT - makes a CREATIVE COMMONS historic first - as the FIRST full-length ALBUM released in the PHILIPPINES under a CREATIVE COMMONS license...

"This album introduces a first in the Philippines—the enhanced CD contains shared files of some of the song’s elements that DJs and remixers can use to create their own remixes of the songs. The DJs and remixers from all over the world can now use these songs in their sets and can claim them as their own remix provided that they provide a share-alike attribution to the original DRIP songs that they are remixing." [read more]

Hataw! Wishing you more trip hop hits.

Now check out DRIP in action.

Kaki King: Goddess of Cool

Rolling Stone magazine calls her the first and only female "Guitar God." I agree. Kaki King is the only female (and guitar tapping virtuoso) on my list of gods of cool. If you haven't heard of Kaki King, then you better. Watch her and weep in adoration.

Supernatural Superserious is Supercool

R.E.M. is back! Supercool than ever!

via ReadWriteWeb: "R.E.M. today released 11 videos for the first song from their forthcoming album, all in MP4 format in HD and under an open source license.  "Supernatural [Super]Serious," is the first single from the band's next album, "Accelerate," due to be released April 1st." 

"Viewers are encouraged to remix the videos and share them on the song's YouTube page. The band will not be doing a Radiohead and offering the album for free, but this is an interesting twist somewhere in between that approach and the standard industry practice."

Journey Welcomes Arnel Pineda With Open Arms

Filipinos are hopeless romantics who love music. That's why ballads are big hits in the Philippines. Journey is one of the biggest bands in the Philippines when I was growing up. I remember listening to Journey songs on the radio, in restaurants, in buses, tricycles, and jeepneys. I bet people could still hear Journey songs playing in the background if they take a bus from Alabang to Lawton. Journey songs are that ubiquitous.

That's why when I've heard that Journey's new lead singer is a Filipino, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give it a shout out. Hataw!

Here's the inspiring background story: Arnel Pineda is the lead singer of the band called THE ZOO. They do Journey cover songs in their gigs and have their videos posted on Youtube. One day Journey's guitarist Neal Schon was on the look out for a new lead singer. In a Blabbermouth article, Schon said:

"I was frustrated about not having a singer, so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found THE ZOO and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, 'he can't be that good.' But he is that good, he's the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn't sound synthetic and he's not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter."

Stereogum calls it as "the cheapest audition ever." I call it serendipity.

For those of you who are too young to know Journey, here's the Wikipedia entry:

"Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco, California. The band has gone through several phases since its inception by former members of Santana. The band's greatest commercial success came in the late 1970s through the early 1980s with a series of power ballads and songs such as "Don't Stop Believing", "Any Way You Want It", "Faithfully", "Open Arms", "Separate Ways" and "Wheel in the Sky"."

To all teenagers out there, "Open Arms" is not a Mariah Carey original :) It's my favorite Journey song.

Here is Arnel Pineda doing a cover.

Expect more Filipinos posting their karaoke sessions on YouTube.

Congratulations to Arnel for a well-deserved gig. Can't wait for the new album.

Kick ass on stage, tsong. You've got a fan here.

~iBlues: V-Jam with Norah

I woke up this Tuesday morning feeling a bit bluesy. So I fired up my friend's BOSE system and listened to my Norah Jones Live in New Orleans DVD. I felt inspired by the bluesy mood of Comes Love so I grabbed my MacBook PRO, started up GarageBand, and did this virtual jamming (v-jam) session with Norah Jones and her handsome band.

If you listen closely at the end of this recording you will hear a brief angry knocking on the door. That's my friend's neighbor. I think I woke her up. Can't blame her because I did this thing at 6am in the morning. This puts a whole new meaning to ripping, mixing, and burning.

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~C (for Creative bluesy v-jamming)

---

P.S. I'm well aware that I might get in trouble with copyright police just by posting this mashup. I'm no legal expert, but IMHO, I think this qualifies as fair use due to the following reasoning:

- I own the Norah Jones Live in New Orleans DVD.
- I've recorded the original track in low quality.
- I'm actually promoting the Norah Jones DVD by posting this and linking to it.
- I'm not selling the mashup.
- I just wanted to jam with Norah and her handsome band because i think they rock. I heart you Norah! ahem.
- My lead guitar playing sucks.

Having said those, I'd still be more than happy to take this down once I get a cease and desist threat letter from the publisher or music label. If that happens I'll prove my point that the (traditional) music industry really suck BIG time. But nevertheless, I'd still remain a Norah Jones fan.

So Norah, if you're reading this, email me. You like Thai food or Japanese? I know just the perfect place....

The Super Colossal Experience

"With every song there's a story, a lot of love, a little neurosis, a little glimpse behind the curtain, where you see the madman pushing the buttons and making it all happen. All of it comes under the umbrella of rock & roll – but that's a big umbrella." – Joe Satriani

Tonight I'll be watching Joe Satriani's Super Colossal Tour here in the Emerald City.

I've been practicing my voice for the Crowd Chant (aka "Party on the Starship Enterprise") for the past couple of weeks since I got my Super Colossal CD.

This night will rock!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my first-hand account of the concert.

~Omni-Peephole: Ottmar Liebert Live @ Seattle

Ok. I'll stop boring you with my crappy guitar playing. Now here's a Zen Master Guitar Slinger doing the real thing. Check out this cool video of Ottmar Liebert Live in Seattle.

As good as this video is, it only captured a small piece of magic of that evening. I hope Ottmar does it again.

I also think this video would kick more ass on YouTube.

Thanks Matt!

Wisdom of Crowds Chant

Just got back from Barnes and Noble. I suffered from impulse-buying again. I understand that I could've bought them cheaper online but I just can't wait to get my hands on them. Like I said, stupid impulse.

Anyway, I have no regrets because I've wanted to read James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of the Crowds for a long time, and now I can assimilate it good while lying on my airbed. Also, the latest Joe Satriani album, Super Colossal, sounded super coolossal so I couldn't resist owning this CD by one of my gods of Cool. So there.

And here's another serendipitous anecdote: I immediately knew that this combo is uber-deadly because when I looked at the track listing at the back of the CD, there's a track entitled, Crowd Chant (go ahead, check it out and listen to some samples). These serendipitous things are just killing me softly! LOL.

Will post reviews once I finished assimilating these two. In the meantime, it's time for me to hit the gym and hyper-eat some sushi and wasabe! Now that's haaaawwwwwwt!!!

I've Got a Lot of Voodoo Dolls

stu @ tractor tavern
Originally uploaded by coolmel.

For the past few days I've been listening to Stu's yet unreleased destined-for-mainstream album. To be honest, after my first pass of listening to the album, my reaction was, "huh?! where are the trademark Stu songs that i've grown to love? howcome these tunes were not as catchy as those?" But I just kept on listening to each track again and again. And the more I listened to them the more I liked them and the catchier they become. Right now, I can't get the ripping acoustic guitar riffs and captivating lyrics of Voodoo Dolls and Good Weird, the haunting melody of Easter, the retro feel of Parker Posey, and the soothing harmonics of Murder Suicide off my head. I feel good about this album too. Can't wait to have it floating around on iTunes. But no mattter how great this new album is, it's no substitute for a live Stu experience. Hugs are free.

Godspeed on finding the most compassionate label and publisher, Stu. Thanks for the copy. There's no need for voodoo.

[check out the Good Weird video. is that Marci?]

The Innocent Can Never Last

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

I just saw Green Day's latest video, Wake Me Up When September Ends. It's one of my favorite tracks in their American Idiot album. I love this album so much I added it to my Insomniac Blues Selections. At first I thought the video was cheesy, but then... just check it out (note: the site uses Flash. to get to the video click on the "latest news," or just click on "videos" to see all their cool videos). Can't wait for the Give Me Novacaine video. This band continues to impress me. They've matured a lot since Dookie.

[props to ebuddha for the heads up.]

Beyond Giving

Going the distance
Going the mile
Going beyond giving
Going beyond the high
Leaving oneself
Becoming the other
Going beyond giving
Till all of us pull through

A bodhisattva vow or lyrics to a commissioned song? Doesn't matter. It's still music to my ears.

Shanti Groove @ Nectar Lounge

shanti groove @ nectar lounge
Originally uploaded by coolmel.

Just got back from the Nectar Lounge. Cool cat Jair and Shanti Groove (with Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon) are in town. Those guys rock the bluegrass funk! (see photoset).

Mainstream Dhamma

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above
- No Such Thing

John Mayer had sneaked in a Buddhist philosophy in one of his hit songs, but Dhamma Rap can take it further. So does this mean that the dharma will be free for everyone to rip, mix, and burn? Stay tuned for Dhamma Rock, Dhamma Metal, Dhamma Grunge, and Dhamma Pop. (via Ottmar)

U2 LIVE

Bought two CDs yesterday to add to my Insomniac Blues Selections. U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Live's Best of CD: Awake. U2's album is cool, blasting with Vertigo on track 1 and continuing with the usual love themes and Christian-influenced poetics. I like the new album but I dig All That You Can't Leave Behind more. But the Live CD, man, that's a kicker! It rocked my gross, subtle, and causal. Both CD's have bonus DVDs, but the Live album has 22 videos more! Very fluffy Ed! Very fluffy.