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Brian arts, podcasting, technology

Technology & the Arts: My new endeavor

OK…the podcast isn’t ready yet, but it will be by next week, so I’m ready to announce on this blog the start of an exciting, new chapter in my life.

My friend John LeMasney and I have launched Technology & the Arts, a blog and podcast dedicated to exploring the connections between…well…technology and art.

The podcast is going to be a fun, informative 20-30 minute program. The first one should be ready by the middle of next week.

Please help spread the word. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

Brian Uncategorized

Only in Philadelphia…

So when is a smoking ban not a smoking ban? When it’s in Philadelphia, which I have decided today is the most messed up city in the USA. Don’t get me wrong…I still love Philly…but it’s still a really f’d up city.

OK…here’s the deal…Philadelphia City Council recently passed a smoking ban, but it allowed smoking to continue at outdoor cafes and restaurants. Well, some members of City Council thought that didn’t do enough so it decided to close that loophole.

As is customary in these types of things, that required a trade-off…so another part of the smoking bill was widened to allow a few more smaller neighborhood taprooms to permit smoking.

Well, yesterday, City Council hammered out the adjustments, which are scheduled to take effect January 8, and sent the bill to Mayor John Street for signing. However, there’s a catch. Once Mayor Street signs the revised smoking ban, the entire ban will be basically off the books throughout the city until it kicks in again with the adjustments January 8.

In other words, it will be smoking season again in Philadelphia…and just in time, too, because nothing spreads holiday cheer faster than second-hand smoke.

Here’s an excerpt from the article…

Philadelphia City Council tweaked the smoking ban yesterday, widening one loophole for neighborhood bars but closing another that permitted smoking at outdoor cafes and restaurants.

If signed by Mayor Street, the bill also would have the odd effect of sending smokers a little holiday gift: re-legalizing smoking in all bars and eateries until Jan. 8, when it is scheduled to take effect.

The adjustments have been in the works since June, when Councilman Frank DiCicco helped win the votes needed for the original ban by introducing a companion bill that would make the exemption for neighborhood bars permanent. It was the companion bill that Council passed yesterday, 15-2.

I just hope Mayor Street does not sign the bill today because I will be eating at a restaurant in the Northen Liberties section of Philly and going to the My Morning Jacket show at The Electric Factory tonight. It’s bad enough it’s going to be windy and raining outside…I don’t need to be spending my time indoors in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

Brian arts, Brian Kelley, Music, podcasting, technology

Expect big news from me shortly

Well, an idea for a podcast I have had in my head for quite some time has taken a huge step forward in coming to fruition. John LeMasney, my friend and former colleague at Rider who is also a very talented artist and instructional technologist, and I have arranged to collaborate on this podcast, which I think is going to be very engaging and informative for all those who work with technology and art in all its forms.

Once we are ready to launch, I’ll put an official announcement up on the ol’ blog. For now, enjoy what might be the theme song for the new endeavor. It’s a short, instrumental number…sorry about the closing sound cutting out like it does. The final version will have a cleaner fade out, but I didn’t get a chance to fix it yet.

Enjoy…

TechArts (Theme #1)
Written, arranged, performed and recorded by Brian Kelley.
© 2006 Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved.

Brian baseball, Philadelphia, Phillies, Ryan Howard, sports

Ryan Howard wins NL MVP!


Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard has won the 2006 National League Most Valuable Player Award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced Monday.

Howard, who turned 27 on Sunday, earned the MVP award in the season after capturing NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2005. Of the 32 ballots submitted by two baseball writers in each league city, Howard was listed first on 20 and second on the other 12 for a total of 388 points, based on the tabulation system that gives 14 points for a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, eight for a third-place vote and on down to one for a 10th-place vote.

The Phillies’ slugger led Major League Baseball in home runs with 58, runs batted in with 149 and total bases with 393 while batting .313 for the Phillies, who were knocked out of playoff contention on the second-to-last day of the season.

Howard’s 58 homers set the Phils’ franchise record for home runs in a season, topping Mike Schmidt’s 1980 record of 48. Howard also equaled Jimmie Foxx’s Philadelphia baseball record for most homers in a season. Foxx hit 58 for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932.

(Photo credit: Rusty Kennedy/AP)

Brian Brian Kelley, Music, Never Too Far

Sort of new songs and other things

Well, here’s an update on things.

First…I am no longer working at Rider…and I don’t plan on going through the whole thing again here.

Second…this was a very bad sports weekend for me…Rutgers football loses at Cincinnati, ending the Scarlet Knights’ perfect season and national championship dream…and the Eagles lose to the terrible Tennessee Titans while Donovan McNabb suffers a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will be sidelined eight months to a year.

However, the free time has allowed me to work on a couple of musical ideas…

Never Too Far (demo w/ partial vocals)

This is an update of a song I originally wrote when I was 18 or 19 years old. The first version was a synth-based, “new age” piece featuring pan flute and calliope sounds. This new version features piano, but I included a more traditional flute sound in a nod to the original. The bridge section has also been changed…hopefully for the better. I tried my best to remember the lyrics. The first verse and the choruses are intact, but I couldn’t remember the words to the second verse so those are still incomplete. The lyrics in the bridge are obviously improvised and will be changed at some point.

Brian Brian Kelley, Music

The other musical idea (from post above)

Here’s the second of the two somewhat new songs I mentioned in the post above (I decided to split up the songs in individual posts for podcasting purposes)…

Untitled 2006-11-16

This is an extended version of what was “Happy Birthday, Katie.” Even though I wrote that little song in a few minutes, I kept on listening to it and thinking that I could do something more with it. So I added a bridge the other day and came up with this. I don’t have any lyrics for it yet…and I’m obviously not going to keep the “Happy Birthday, Katie” lyrics.

Brian concerts, Genesis, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks

It’s official: Genesis “trio” to tour in 2007

As I said in the previous post, Genesis had announced it would hold a press conference today to make an announcement (yep…one of those “let’s announce we’re going to announce something” press conferences…love those).

Well, today, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks announced they are indeed reuniting for a tour of Europe and select U.S. cities next year.

The promising thing is that Tony Banks mentioned that one of the reasons for the reunion is that Genesis is usually only mentioned in the mainstream press for its more commercial material of the 1980s and ’90s, and that the band wants to remind people that there is another side to the band…

“Genesis has a rather more complex side of music to it,” said Banks. “One side gets slightly more attention than the other. We are trying to reacquaint people. Genesis is not particularly a group that is mentioned very much these days in the papers I read anyhow and I just like to remind people we did do a lot of things.”

This article from E! Online also includes this paragraph…

The three musicians have already spent two weeks rehearsing in New York for the tour, which will see Collins also get behind the drum kit at various points during a show that will draw on all eras of the band, particularly songs and instrumentals dating back to 1973, delighting hardcore fans of their early sound.

Hey…as long as I don’t hear “I Can’t Dance” or “Jesus He Knows Me,” I’ll be OK with that.

Also, as I said in my earlier post on the Genesis reunion, I’m still holding out hope that Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett get on the bandwagon and join Phil, Mike and Tony on the road in 2008. This whole reunion talk started with the five members getting together in a series of meetings to discuss going out and restaging the “Lamb” tour. But Peter backed out because he wants to finish his solo CD and tour on his own next year (which, in itself, is awesome news) while reserving the right to change his mind after 2007.

Once Peter passed on the reunion, Steve would have been the odd man out because he had only been with Genesis for two albums after PG left the group. So it was just decided that Phil, Mike and Tony would get back together.

However, the other part of all this Genesis reunion news is that EMI is reissuing 14 Genesis studio albums…but note the release schedule…

To coincide with the Genesis tour, EMI Records will be re-issuing 14 Genesis studio albums in three stages during 2007. All the releases will be SACD/DVD double disc sets featuring newly re-mastered 5.1 surround sound and stereo mixes. The release schedule is as follows:

March 2007: A Trick Of The Tail (1976), Wind & Wuthering (1977), …And Then There Were Three…(1978), Duke (1980) Abacab (1981)

June/July 2007: Genesis(1983), Invisible Touch(1986), We Can’t Dance (1991), Calling All Stations(1997)

Late 2007/Early 2008: Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972 ), Selling England By The Pound (1973), The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway(1974)

Hmm? I wonder why the early 1970s stuff including Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett would be released in late 2007 and early 2008. I really think there is a good chance of the classic, five-man version of Genesis reuniting and touring in 2008.

Fingers crossed.

(Photo and “Turn It On Again Tour” graphic courtesy of Genesis-Music.com.)

Brian concerts, Genesis, Mike Rutherford, Music, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks

Genesis to reunite in ’07…sort of


Well, the long-awaited Genesis reunion will be taking place in 2007. An official announcement is expected Nov. 7 on the band’s official Web site regarding what will be reportedly (and, if correct, appropriately) called the “Turn It On Again” Tour.

Right now, though, it looks like the lineup will consist of the modern version of Genesis with Phil Collins on lead vocals and drums, Mike Rutherford on bass/guitar and Tony Banks on keyboards.

According to this BBC report, Peter Gabriel has sadly said no to joining the reunion…for now. In true PG doublespeak, he throws this out there…

“It’s not that I’ve ruled it out, but I’ve got some new material that I’ll be working on.”

So he hasn’t ruled it out. Ugh…why must PG be so frustrating. He will always be my favorite artist, but he really needs to do this. There are a bunch of people out there like me who were born too late to witness the greatness of Genesis with PG at the helm…and I really want to see that once in my life.

I haven’t checked out PG’s site in a few weeks, but he supposedly posted something there saying that Phil (who is getting over his latest marital breakup), organized a jam session earlier this month with Mike and Tony.

Anyway, another site tracking Genesis reunion news and rumors going around cyberspace says guitarist Steve Hackett also will not be participating.

So instead of getting a tour of “Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” “Back in NYC,” or “Supper’s Ready,” we’re going to get two hours of “Invisible Touch” and “Jesus He Knows Me.” Yeah!

😦

UPDATE: This is just my speculation, but maybe–just maybe–there is hope for a “classic” Genesis reunion. I was looking further down that reunion news and rumor page I mentioned above and there are a couple of interesting tidbits…

22nd May 2006: Yet another new information from the Collins Tarzan-Interview-Marathon: Phil told the Chicago Broadway World that the first plan would still be to reunite the classic line-up in a couple of years, which might be hard to realise due to all commitments of the five guys. But Phil also said that he could imagine doing something with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford instead, in case Peter is unavailable. Also, Phil revealed that the “Genesis Trio” has scheduled studio time in October for jam sessions. No further plans are made, though. >> Discuss this in our FORUM

13th May 2006: Once more a statement from Phil Collins. In a recent statement at 6Music in New York City (USA), Phil explained that a reunion is still likely. Nevertheless, due to other commitments Peter has until the end of 2007, a Reunion won’t happen before 2008. Collins told the Toronto Star, that the five original members of Genesis are “moving toward the possibility”.

20th April 2006: Alan Hewitt has recently interviewed Steve Hackett and this is what Steve replied being asked about the SACDs and a possible reunion: Unfortunately I’m not in a position to…I comment on things and I think that masses of the stuff has had a fantastically good job done on it and one or two things are still in a state of conjecture but I have no idea when that stuff is to be released……and of course the ideal time would be if there was a band reformation but I don’t think anyone is any the wiser. The band isn’t any the wiser than the fans are and so with regards to that we have all given our pitch and let’s just say that most of us are hoping it is going to come off. I would love to be able to say ‘Yes, I’ll be there on Thursday!’ It is the question on everyone’s lips, including mine. If it doesn’t happen, I won’t be to blame.

18th April 2006: Good news again: Phil Collins revealed in a recent radio broadcast on KGO NewsTalk that the band met in November 2005 and that they have discussed a reproduction of the live show of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. This would be “for a limited run of shows” and these shows would be “recorded and filmed”. Collins also said that the band is “very enthusiastic about the idea” and that they will try to find the time to realise it. Go to the Downloads-Section to download the snippet.

OK…piecing this together, it is quite possible that because of PG’s commitments through 2007, Phil, Mike and Tony will do their “Turn It On Again Tour” in 2007…with PG and Steve Hackett joining them in 2008 for a “classic” Genesis tour reproducing the “Lamb” live show.

I would like for the official announcement on Nov. 7 to include some hope of that happening…but I guess it won’t.

Still…there is hope…and Phil, Mike and Tony in 2007 are better than nothing.

(Image from Genesis-Music.com)