Here’s “Texture N°6”, the sixth piece in my ongoing series of textural music. To create the quiet, introspective vibe that the track has, I drew on a bunch of different styles/sounds — everything from folk guitar to 80s synths. Definitely happy with how the track came out, and I might end up subtitling it something like, “A Moment of Peace”. As always, thanks for listening/watching!
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Jamie Bonk | “No Tuition”| Episode #4 – Interview With Ron Scott
Episode #4 of “No Tuition” features musician/painter Ron Scott. We chatted about Ron’s artwork, his compositional process, his love of looping and his work on TV shows such as “Corner Gas” and “Antique Roadshow”. Ron was kind enough to perform a number of examples of how he uses his looper in a live performance setting. Even though I’ve known Ron for over 20 years, this interview gave me a deeper insight into both his music and his painting.
Bob Dylan – “Chronicles (Volume One)”
Sometimes your expectations can play with you. That certainly was the case when I started reading Bob Dylan’s Chronicles (Volume One). I figured with the book titled Chronicles I would be reading a mostly point A to point B, story of my life biography. Well, I figured wrong.
Chronicles certainly has its fair share of “and then and then and then”. Most biographies have at least some degree of that sort of thing. But Dylan also leaves significant gaps in his story line. Gaps big and odd enough that I actually went back and looked to see if I had missed something. Or whether there were missing pages. The book also follows a circular structure – early life/career – middle life/career – early life/career. Couldn’t help but think of Pulp Fiction and how the film used a similar method to tell a story. Maybe Dylan was thinking about that too. Or maybe not.
It’s no secret that Dylan is a good songwriter and musician. Chronicles gives us a glimpse into just how well studied he was. He read, listened to and watched just about everything. He learned song after song after song. Played loads of gigs. He worked hard.
I learned a lot from reading Chronicles. Dylan has a brilliant way of looking at something and shifting perspective. Quite a few times I was left thinking, “Now that’s a unique way to think about that.”
Happy I read Chronicles (Volume One) and hoping for Chronicles (Volume Two).
Late 80’s Video Shoot
In the late 80’s, after I graduated music school, I did all kinds of different music related things. I played freely improvised music, wrote and recorded guitar based fusion and I did studio work for a number of Toronto artists. I would generally play/record all of the instruments on a track (guitar, keys, program drums etc.) and occasionally a video would be made of a particular song. The photos below are from one of the video shoots I was lucky enough to be involved with. And no, I’m never growing the hair back.
Want to play better? Part 3 Play without tension.
Ken, this is a fantastic post! You’re right — if you care, you will be nervous.
Shelly and Kelly | Don’t Be Late | Lyrics and Music for Children
Here’s “Don’t Be Late”, a song from the first episode of the animated children’s series Shelly and Kelly. I had huge fun working on this track and can’t wait to write more music!
Victory against Grooveshark shows music industry has upper hand on sharing sites
Good article on the shift in the digital music world. I’ve had my own music on Grooveshark and haven’t seen a penny from it.
CBC Music
CBC Music just added “One Idea Leads To Another” from my new album “Necessity” to their Smooth Jazz Station!
Henry’s School of Imaging — Ed Robertson Hosted Series
Henry’s School of Imaging has been gracious enough to use my music for their new Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies) hosted series. Each episode in the series shows Ed learning (with one heck of a sense of humour!) how to take deeper control of his camera. Henry’s chose to use “Boundless” (featuring the one and only Jeff Oster) from my album 5 for the first episode of the series. Thanks Henry’s!
Great interview from a mastering master!