TheCapitalClinic

There are rumors of a mind-boggling “forward contract” in the works between Madonna and Live Nation [with a possible counter-offer by a major label] involving a pre-payment of future cash streams, largely touring and swag [and some recording] in the range of $100 million to $180 million. If true, this deal is another benchmark [among several recently discussed in various blogs at this site about how artists can make a living] of a fundamental shift in the music business from recorded music...

Rock & Roll as the encompassing theme covering all genres of music creativity and appreciation in the modern era might be productively seen in the following light: 1. It is a good thing to be cool. It is also a good thing to be hot. 2. Both Artists and Fans want to be cool. Some also wouldn’t mind being hot. 3. Rock is hot. Roll is cool. Thus, music in the modern era is hot and/or cool. 4. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between what is cool and what is hot because...

I undertook to T-Cub that I would read this week and comment here on Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-awarded The Road. This is the much discussed post-apocalyptic tale of father-son on a journey, carrying the fire in a world where, indeed, the ironic framework of the Social DK that T-Cub sings about in his song of the same title, has reached a logical culmination beyond irony to a desolate world bereft of humanity, save only for the love of parent and child, to each onto each other...

As I understand the current state of the art of the Fuzz site, every time you create a new blog on your My Fuzz page, everyone who has added you as a "friend" on his/her page but not everyone that you added as a "friend" on your page [and, of course, as expected and appropriate, these respective lists are not always the same], your new blog shows up on the default tab of that other person's own My Fuzz page [blogs of your friends]. This function conveniently operates...

Today a talented musician, Darrell Deese, raised a whole boatload of important questions in his blog "nothing happening" that may or may not have shown up on your Fuzz radar depending on how you set up your own page or surf this site. These questions, which must be foremost in the minds of many artists, relate to how one makes a living creating music in the new environment. My quick response for now, pending more input from others, was as follows: [TCC's Comment to DD's...

An article that I read in the 40th Anniversary July 2007 edition of Rolling Stone Making of Sgt. Pepper in the now characterized epoch-defining “Summer of Love” (1967) got me to thinking that, if the premises are true, I may be having the rare opportunity (i) to experience forty years apart two defining periods in “the history of rock and roll” [a description that I use for modern music of an entire generation of disaffected youth in the broadest sense of both of these terms] and, more...

I noted the intriguing label and action in the "Recent Activity" tab which prompted me to do some research on Wintersun while looping the group's [single] upload to guide me through my surfing. In the process, I came across an instructive description of Wintersun's work-in-process, written by Jari who said in part in a news entry on April 17, 2007 [emphasis mine]: "All the drums, bass and all guitars (rhythms/melodys/solos and acoustics) has been recorded (probably...

I listened to all of your tracks, some several times. Each time, I thought that the instrumentation and the "machine" were getting in the way of a voice that should be heard if you let it develop its own distinction without trying to do what you think others are looking for. If you want to understand what I'm trying to say here, check out the unique sound of Zaman 8 here on Fuzz. Although this group comes out of the much-overused "world music" scene, they work the...

I just picked up something interesting about the Fuzz platform and community that is being developed here as a result of reading and thinking about Joe Shockley's latest blog on "SMD Believe they can teach us to Hustle to the BEAT!" that I think you should definitely check out, if you don't link to JS directly [you should]. The SMD/Wichita_Recordings videos JS posted are, to me, instructive in many regards as follows: [My note to] JS, What I learned from these videos is...

I wrote the following note to KU after viewing the latest Vajra/KU [hip-hop, rock, jazz, R & B] video that he just posted. It got me thinking, more generally, about the move underfoot to create a different, and in many ways, more robust, hybrid composite in music that may be more in sync with our technologically driven times. What do you think? [KU, although I am not well-grounded in the hip-hop scene, I have been getting the feeling of late based on my own exploration of the genre as well...

Uzi’s blog, “Repost [of Bottom of the Hill head soundman, Paul’s]Open Letter to A.F.I. (Written in 2003)”, speaks eloquently to the hazards of the artist’s life, particularly as musicians move up the “ladder of success” from intimate basement gigs to arenas holding thousands. It is instructive and, seen in one light, pretty depressing. Indeed, it is all too reflective of the “social DK” that results from lack of civility, self indulgence, and many other human short-comings...

Don't know how I missed you the first time around. Dr. Edge just asked us to check you out at Fuzz. When he does, we hear and obey - and I'm glad I did. Launched my player with AFK and now I have a loop of voice, guitar, drumbeat, and a summer in Abaddon in my head. Catchy melody and lyrics, great beat that makes you want to come back to a summer in Abaddon again and again, wherever and whenever. Can't hear anything dark here, but that's me. It's OK to miss...

Jul 08, 6:56 pm TheCapitalClinic said: In writing a TCC review of Phil Dutra's "body of work" to date, I did some homework on his bio, available uploaded songs, and in particular the original and remixed versions of his notable contest-winning piece, "She Walks Away" and couldn't decide which "sound-engineered" production I liked better. My chain of thoughts on the issue of original works and remixes in their infinite variety in the digital era led me...

I thought I would share with the readers of my own blogs [whoever and wherever you are], my recent musings about the ongoing Fuzz dynamic, based on my exploration of the Fuzz site and the action of a multitude of participants to date. This is essentially a response to a new user's first positive-spirited blog [timgoshi from Kahuku] - "...another one" [As if myspace wasn't enough, right?!...] as follows: Tim, Welcome to Fuzz, Stage 2. Here is my take on the comparative...

For all you lovers of music and seekers of "truth-values" across the socio-political spectrum, as well as you bemused by-standers just watching the unfolding show at Fuzz Country. While the issues addressed by Fuzz participants that are reflected in the Fuzz profiles and blogs [such as Tom Morello, T-Cub, Silverback, MichelleM, La Jill, and many others] are exceedingly complex and sometimes [not surprisingly] in conflict, I find that diversity, passion, and the possibility of...