D209 - The Wanda Hunt Band

This evening at Lock4 in downtown Akron The Wanda Hunt Band was performing and they blew it out of the water. Wanda has an incredibly soulful and powerful voice and the band was spot on with all the music. After the performance Ms.Wanda let take a few portraits of her while the stage was being broke down. Using the light from the floodlights, used to illuminate the stage, to capture a few fun moment with Wanda. Side note: The Wanda Hunt Band has been performing together for the past 15 years.

Enjoy.

*If you don't know The Wanda Hunt Band, You do now.

 Check out their rendition of Proud Mary/Nutbush City Limits

D182 - Summer Fun

When my siblings and I were kids we did two things in the summer religiously, go to the library to get books for the yearly summer book club and spend time at the Akron Art Museum. Between the arts and crafts area in the basement and the art work on the upper floors we went everywhere in the building. I'm even convinced the staff knew us all by name. Our mom used to take us around to see the art and ask us what we thought the art work was or meant. The abstract art was the hardest to figure out, but fun to guess at. Now, some 20 plus years later, Sara get to guess at artwork at every museum we visit. Also, the Akron Museum has  Downtown at Dusk where they have local bands play from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on Thursdays with activities for kids and adults alike. It's free and fun, as you can see from the second picture with Sara.

Can't beat summer fun.
Enjoy.

Ja Mata! Brian

D139 - What moves you

Just as important as the conditioning, having the right gear, and being on the right diet, is having the right playlist to run to. With a short run coming up I am getting my music together to get me through the 5K. For me, what is funny is I'm having a tough time organizing my list because I want to listen to so much but will only be running for about an hour. Or it will be tougher than on the treadmill and I will be there running for a lot longer. Hopefully I don't 'Last Place The Olympics' during this run, which is training for a whole year to show up at the Olympics and come in last place. You could do less training and still come in last place, with a even less impressive time of course. One day and counting.

Onward.

Ja mata minna san, Brian

D80 - The Mbira + Memories

Many years back, I bough this item at The National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, it's a Mbira or as on the tag a 'Mini Sanzu' from Africa.The Mbira still works well after all the years, it's a miniature so the sound is limited, but love the tones that come from it (Sara does too). Besides being fun to break out every now and then, just having it take me back to the times I spent in Japan. This is why I kept the price tag on it, I think I bought this in 1999 or 2000. It's fun to step back and look at the things we hold on to over the years. Well as long as you don't get like those hoarders on TV, Yikes, but a healthy bit of 'Pack-Rat-ness' never hurt anyone. Yet.

What are you holding on to from years past?
   Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

D47 - Music

What makes good music?  The beat? The lyrics? Both would be my suggestion. As we all saw on the Grammy's, Adele went home with big wins and as she said it all came from a "rubbish relationship".  When I write lyrics, there are two approaches to getting in my zone. The first is have a concept in mind without a track to write to. In these cases, I would start alibiing about the topic and figure out where I want to take it, making a rough draft. The next step would be to go back and fill in the remainder of the verse by moving, adding and subtracting lines until there are 16 bars. This can be fitted to a track at a later point in time, but will require more fine tuning and of course finding the right music.

The other option, which I prefer, is to have the track upfront and write what I feel the mood of the music is emoting. The best songs are ones that express a feeling, motivation, story, or cause over music that compliments it. Music is incredibly powerful. Take horror movies, the build up to a big scene is always accompanied by an underlying score to help bring you to the edge of your seat. Try to Google a few movie scenes and mute your speakers, without the ominous music it's just words and a scene. Oh, well if your speakers are muted then it's a silent movie, hmm, I'll have to rethink that test.

So speaking of music in my current rotation:
DJ Ozone Rudeboy Kulcha vol 15 mix
Marco Polo + Rustee Juxx  - The Exxecution
Elzhi - Elmatic
Adele - 19 + 21 
Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack

Enjoy.Music!
---What are you listening to?---

Ja mata,
Brian

D19 - Play along

This is a toy Violin we bought for Sara in Mexico, funny thing is she played it like a guitar for the longest. Once she finally got the hang of playing it correctly she broke the bow. Felt this capture was fitting after yesterdays capture and post.