Tee Shirt Design Contest

we're making shirts! Now you, too, can be an
official member of the Rum Syndicate. It wouldn't be exciting without getting you involved somehow... so... shirt designs! We want retro, islandy, vintage-y, dark, drunk, flowery, argh!

Winner gets a shirt (duh) and a cash prize! In
essence, we wanna buy a shirt design from one of our talented fans. It just sounds more fun if it is a friendly competition. Post your pictures/ideas on our facebook page.
If you need the fonts we typically use let me know.
Then we'll make an album and have you cast votes with "likes."

So, you get monies, schwag, and your art featured publicly with your name for all to see
and the notoriety that cones with it. Pass this along to other artists! It's a great way to get your art seen internationally!

The Music in my Soul

I love making music and listening to music.  It has always been such a part of me. From growing  up singing, violin lessons, practicing on my mom's bass in middle school, singing on scholarship (classical voice) in college amd finally picking up my electric guitar... it has always been one of my many outlets. Sure, I leave it from time to time, but I always come back. It's like a drug: euphoric, melodic, sensory in so many ways. The tactile sensations, auditory stimulations, the freedom.

For a while, I didn't even want to play the guitar I got so many years ago. More than twelve years later and it is road worn and scarred. Now, I can't imagine NOT owning it. It is too much a part of who I am. I may not be great, but I have fun and I have heart.

It has always been a constant in my life. Music is a universal language. It is math in all its glory. It crosses millenia and continents. It really is an amazing thing.

Now, I find myself in another band playing a genre I have always loved and finally get to create. Good old fashioned rock and roll. Roots American. Rockabilly, if you will. Songs that make me dance and tap my toes and make me feel young. It seems strange that I can vary my musical tastes so wildly and still find so much pleasure in all of it. Next up? Maybe a salsa band? Perhaps a tribal drum group? Roots reggae? Whatever it is, I will rock out and have a ball. I will do it as only I can: with passion.

Breaking a Sweat

I have been in a great mood lately... A mood called "motivated." It has me doing a lot more than I used to; think staying in bed as long as possible and not wanting to leave the house. Now I do things on my own and I have been exercising to aerobics videos on YouTube. It's been great. My heart is happy and healthy to be getting so much oxygen again.

I will let you in on a secret, though: my body isn't aerobics coordinated. I can salsa and merengue all night long but aerobics moves leave me befuddled. I end up jumping around like a crazy person with my arms flailing just to keep my heart rate up until they get to something I can do as well.

This got me thinking I can just jump around like a lunatic anyway and do it to music I actually like. Yeah, I know... I am a genius. I never said I was fast, okay? I have been in a bit of a rut lately so things are finally giving me "duh" moments and I am running with it.

So today's Musical Mayhem is music I can jump around to like a convulsing penguin. First track up: Rebel Yell by Billy Idol.


Go ahead and dance. You know you wanna.

What songs get your heart rate up?

Barbershop Quartet Fun!

Today is officially Barbershop Quartet Day! In honor of this crazy holiday I will post three of my favorite barbershop style songs.

#3 is this scene in Music Man. Oh yeah, ice cream.

#2 is one guy doing his own four part for a cool version of Nickelback's "Rock Star" aptly done as "Barbershop Star."



And taking the NUMBER ONE spot is Bieber Barber Shop! For Lesbian Bieber look-alikes spoofing on the Bieber in four part harmony!



Happy harmonies!

Some Music: Jeff Buckley

I am a pretty big fan. His music makes me happy and sad and frustrated and that whole big gambit of emotions only real artists can make you feel and something I work on a LOT. He died in 1997 in a drowning accident when he was only 31 years old. You can find out more about this amazing musician here.

This particular song speaks volumes to me. It's called "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" and is one I have never played out but play for myself a lot. It's too sad for me. There is a line that gets me every time : It's never over, a kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder. I love good songwriters. The lyrics follow the fold.

Living MY Life

This isn't going to be a fancy post with lots of pictures or anything. This is just a post about things I need to voice and record in the off chance I forget how I feel right now. 

For the first time in a long time, I have control over me. It is an odd sensation because for so long I had to think about how my actions and decisions would affect someone else. Now, I only worry about how they will affect me. It's so raw and exposed and free. It's akin to dancing naked in the breeze. 

At first I was really hesitant about the new way my life was going. Could I do it? Was I capable of surviving this? Would I find happiness on my own? The answer surprised me: HELL YES.

I didn't know I could do it. I was so lost and scared. Now, though, I see it. I am more than capable of surviving: I am THRIVING and it is fantastic. I am doing well in so many aspects of my life all of a sudden. New found friends with amazing lives of their own fill my head with warm and fascinating and inspiring stories. They have all helped me be more attuned to the creative side I had put away for so long. 

My music has become less technically minded and more an expression of me. Anyone can sing a pretty note, but to convey raw emotion is such power.

My art will be so different now. Canvases that I had started and planned now I look at with a totally different end product in mind. 

My laugh is finally free. I smile. A lot. Since when? When I was little, my mother always told me to smile more. Hey, Mom, I'm smiling and I have been doing it a lot lately. I knew I was always a happy person. I just needed the right amount of light to grow and show my true colors. I am not living in some shadow anymore. I can feel the sun and it feels amazing.

Toe Tapping

I know that I write about music a lot, but I can't help it. I am an addict, it seems. I just wish I were better at making time to practice it. I know I can be good, but alas, I don't practice enough. Shame. I know.

I even bought a new (old) bass, but alas, the frets are bigger than my teeny bass. :(

I can make it work, I think.Until I can find the time (i.e. NOT at work) I will satisfy myself by pretending and listening to GREAT music. Like today's earworm:





What are you listening to today?

More Songs and T'ing

In case you all haven't figured it out, I'm sort of surrounded by music. Between being in a band and working at a radio station, saying I have music around me sometimes would be a definite understatement.

In case you didn't notice, I even have pages dedicated to all the nonsense that has to do with music. The links are right above the posts here on Roogoodoo. Musical Mayhem is updated with whatever stupid song is in my head. Like today's great song by Travie McCoy:



Feel free to post things you think I should listen to and be careful, while I usually post things I like, more often than not, what is stuck in my ear is pretty bad. There was a day in February, for example, when I had Good Charlotte's "Last Night" stuck in my head. Ugh.

There is also the Happenings page, which lists any events I deem important that are coming up. Usually music or art shows, this is where I let people know what I'm doing with what little free time I have.

What's new with you?

Art or Something Like It

The poster for part 2 of the event

Steve Rockstein is one of the most amazingly talented people I know and I am honored that he has allowed me to participate in what is sure to be an outstanding event in our community. His photography exhibition— aptly titled STEVE ROCKSTEIN: PHOTOGRAPHY 1971-2011— is his life’s work in every sense of the expression.

The exhibit will showcase more than 100 of Steve’s photos and covers every type of photography from photo-journalism to nature photography to portraits… whatever genre you want to put it in, the fact is it is all truly artistic. He cuts right to the core of the subject matter and really brings out the essence of what the subject (or his rendition of the subject) is attempting to portray. Steve’s shots all have a rawness and almost candid feel to them. He has an unapologetic take on photography that I would love to call “refreshing” amongst all the scores of people with expensive digital cameras and auto-focus that have websites and consider themselves photographers, but I can’t. It is just who he is.

He has taken pictures this way for far too long for me to call his take “refreshing:” it is simply genuine. It is provocative. It is introspective. You are sure to find a piece that will make you smile, make you wonder, make you reminisce, make you turn away, make you sad. His images invoke such an array of emotions every time I am fortunate enough to look at them. I am duly honored that I can even consider such a talent a friend as well. Luckily I know his awesome wife or she may wonder at my praises. It’s the artist in me: I can’t help it.

One of the most nerve binding views and he captured it perfectly.

Part One of the exhibit is at Oceana in French Town and Part Two will be at Seven Minus Seven in Subbase. Both parts take place on March 18th from 5-8pm and 9pm-midnight, respectively. I am honored that my band UncovereD will set the musical backdrop for a show that is not to be missed. If you can’t make it for the opening, the show hangs until April 15th.

Things You Learn Being in a Band Part 2

If you think you have enough extra  _________ you should bring one more (or refill or whatever).

This applies to just about everything: drumsticks, rolls of duct tape, guitar picks, beer for a party, gas for a road trip, underwear for a vacation, sunblock for a beach day... you get the idea.

Guitar strings are notoriously manipulative like that. You will have sets for months, but being the good little guitar owner you are, you change your strings. You get down to the last two spare packs and even with new strings on your axe you break two B strings in one show! What the heck?!?!? Now you have new strings and 2 new incomplete sets! Should have brought an extra set.

Fig. 1 The picks I use mostly. See duct tape post for proof.

Guitar picks are the same, too! It must be a familial thing. You are great about not losing your picks. You get rid of them only after you have worn them down. You still have five and that should be enough, EXCEPT this show is particularly sweaty and the playing is a little more aggressive and the picks start flying. Like crazy. Should have brought a few more, buddy. And don't even get me started on the plight of drum sticks, snares, 1/4" cables, extension chords, 9V batteries... The list goes on.

Real life examples abound as well! Let's say Jedediah gets invited to a swanky party and all he has to bring is ice. He brings two bags and half of one gets dumped on the deck accidentally and there are way more people than were expected. Way to go, Jedediah. You should have bought one more bag. Seriously, they're like, what, $2?

I suppose the moral of this similar to the girl and boy scout motto: be prepared (or always ready or some derivative thereof). Even when you think you are prepared, just remember, you might just want to reconsider that one last roll of film that you unpacked (yes, some of us still enjoy film) and just stick it in your camera bag.

Be prepared.

Stuck in my HEAD!!!!

This song has been stuck in my head all day. I don't even know where I heard it or how! I had to Google the lyrics just to figure out the darn name of the song and now it is stuck. Badly. Like a splinter in my eardrum or a worm that is winding its way through my cochlea. Horrid. It won't stop and it won't go away. I think I really like this song. How did I not know it existed?

A Song and Dance

I honestly cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted anything anywhere! My life is in this bizarre state of flux and I am waiting for it to stabilize but right now I feel the desire to type. So I am. I started by thinking of how drastically my life has changed in the past few months when my posts started to die down. New living situation, new job, social revamp, new hairdo, missing my doggy... it has been insane. How I have managed to survive is beyond me.

Somehow through it all I managed to maintain my sanity. Well, I maintained what little of it I had to begin with. The holidays were a bit not what I expected, but it seems ok now that I am on the far side of things. I loaned my tree to a much deserving friend. I feel more like myself than I have in a while and more alone than I have in a while. I guess that is to be expected.

In the end, though, I am lucky. I still have my studio, although I seldom visit. I have a good paying job so I count my blessings there. I still have my health, although I am a bit sniffly now. I still get to play music with some pretty amazing (albeit occasionally drama infested) musicians. Aren't all bands drama? I guess I kind of like it though. Keeps me on my toes.

Speaking of toes, every time I say "my toes" I think of mitosis. It's the science geek in me. "Mitosis" cold! Ok... maybe I am the only one who thinks that is HILARIOUS, but I do. Like my super cool math shirt... if you have to explain it, it's not so funny. Oh well.

On to yet another tangent. I would really love it if someone, ANYONE, would give me some advice on some great recent albums to buy, I think the last time I bought an album the year it came out was "The Beekeeper" and I do have some (SOME) more recent ones than that, but I bought them like 2-3 years after the fact and I still have no clue what's current. What's good, guys? Give me some feedback. I need some ear candy badly. I am craving something different and new. Who better than an audience spread the world over

to give me something different to listen to, right? There is something really cool about listening to people tell you why they love such and such album. So much of music is how it speaks to a person and how it moves a person. It can be just the rhythm that gets you dancing or in a trance. It can be vocal harmonies that send shivers down one's spine. It can be a lyric that pierces your very soul. Whatever it is, I want to hear it. Really.

Anyway, this little note seems to state nothing of importance, and I am still trying to figure out why I posted this random picture, so what is new and exciting with you?

TOGA!

I'm really excited that our bands next show is a toga party. It is right during the peak of Carnival festivities so I am hoping someone comes! Carnival is one of my favorite times of year here and I am hoping this years doesn't disappoint! Parades, pageants, food, and concerts abound this time of year so the competition is rough. I hope we can compete! Any excuse to wear a sheet usually gets people out though.

One of the highlights of Carnival every year for me is the food fair. Food is good. Rising Stars Steel Pan Orchestra is better. These kids are the only reason I go. Imagine a double decker open air bus filled with kids from age 6 to 16 all jammin' and swinging' and playing steel pan with a few adults thrown in for supervision. It is a sight and sound to behold and I can't wait!!!!

If you happen to be on the Rock for carnival these are your two best odds of finding me. Either that or I will be tramping it up at the village and maybe dancing until my feet bleed for j'ouvert! Gotta love Carnival!

Radio Time

Very exciting for my band is the fact that we got featured on our local morning show the day of our last concert. I didn't pick the song, but we did the best we could at 6:45 am. I had to drink a LOT of tea. Part of the reason I am so fidgety is the copious amounts of tea I had consumed that morning to aid in the warming of my vocal chords. Fun times! I hope you all enjoy it! If you haven't noticed in past posts... I am pretty excited about the music I get to make now. I am still doing lots of science on Potspoon!, but between the band, my art business, and other things, I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. Sorry. I hope all is well with all of you.

My buddy posted some great picts of my band at our last show. We are so high energy normally that this picture really stood out. Tom and I look so mellow and in sync in this photo. Kudos to iPhones apparently.

HECTIC!

I was writing my calendar out for the next two weeks and I realized I am pretty much done for. The closest thing I have to a day off coming up is the day after a concert I am doing. I think I may be able to sleep. Sheesh. Really, I should do laundry that day. I should also maybe paint stuff. Oh well. I am going to be a slacker and take my day off as I can. I don't really have one til sometime in April! Who knew this could be such a busy time of year?

How are you guys holding up?

Rockstar

Ok, so I'm not really a rockstar, but I definitely am pretending to be. Aside from the crazy amount of painting and shows I have been doing, which are going great by the way, I auditioned for a hard rock band. Very different from the chic rock, folksy stuff I do on my own. One person in the band was pretty sure that he did not want a female in the band because he did not want the band to be "chic rock."

Well, I must've done something right because I have gone to two practices already and the band is very excited. We all have a lot of positive energy and agree on a bit, which is really surprising. I'm finally using my electric. When you are a one person show, doing metal songs alone is silly, so you do campfire acoustic sessions. Having a band makes such a difference. The band website is here. We are reworking a bit on it. I hope I can keep up though. The guys are such awesome musicians, but I already see myself improving my knowledge of guitar. It's so nice.

The art shows are doing great as well. It's kinda funny, because when I was really young, I told Mom that I would live someplace beachy, do science during the day, art for tourists, and play music on the weekends all in cutoffs and flip-flops. Well, I do write about science on Potspoon!, I definitely do art for tourists, and now I do music too! Oh yeah, and I live in paradise. Not the EXACT dream I had, but, this is pretty close to living it, I must say. Now all I need is a Vespa and I'm set! ;)
So that is what's keeping me busy, well, that and Floyd... What's new with you guys?

She Could Be Dancin'...

Many of you may not know this about me, but I love to dance. A lot. An absurd amount. I dance to music I don't like and music I love. If there isn't music playing, I'm humming, singing, or dancing along with the voices in my head. I dance while I sweep. I love any excuse to go out with the girls and dance. Go out with the hubs and dance. I even had a dance for kids at the Butterfly Farm to help kids memorize the life cycle of the butterfly. I'm pretty sure my butt has a mind and will of it's own. I won't even notice I'm wiggling until my husband starts to chuckle.

He dances with me in the house and Floyd tries to join in. She will stand up on our arms while we attempt to salsa. When the hubs and I first met, he did not dance. At all. Now he's a dancing machine, too! We dance in the shower, while we do laundry, mopping, doing dishes... whatever. My favorite types of music to dance to are old school R&B (think Motown, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and the like...), 80's house (Stevie B. rules!), and salsa. I mean I can dance to anything... well, almost. I find myself having dificulty dancing to many Danzig songs. Haha. My butt really moves with good dancehall and soca. Very island music. However, to buy and listen to repetedly there are only a few. Most are salsa.



This is just a small sampling of the albums I LOVE to dance to...
Do you like dancing? What are your favorite danceable albums?