A sweaty but polite shaking of hands (Image by Aidan Jones)

Our parents had to typewrite, if not handwrite, their resumes. We “mail” them off with the click of a button. Technology, always further expediting the way in which we communicate, has pleasantly made the tedious affair of applying for jobs a bit less like a job in itself. But, as a result of its digitalization, the job application process has also become deceivingly effortless, and one of the most important steps to seeking employment—the cover letter—seems to have become a lost art. You might have asked yourself: Why take the time to explain to an employer who you are, what you’ve done, and what you’re capable of, when they can view all this information on your profile page? And you might have asked yourself later why you did not get the job. In the modern world, there may not be a practical reason for God-bless-yous, for instance, but we still like them. So let there be no doubt about it: Employers still like cover letters.

Take for instance, the handshake. Nowadays you might be at a loss looking for reasons as to why, time after time, we automatically offer our hands to one another at business meetings, parties, and family reunions. There actually hasn’t been a practical reason for it for centuries (for ancient Greeks it was a way of showing others that you weren’t brandishing a weapon). But even if the handshake has lost this primitive functionality, this sweaty union of hands is a small but essential part of forming a relationship. It is a telling gesture to offer your vulnerable palm to a stranger and say, “Nice to meet you,” if not, “I come in peace and I’m not concealing a dagger.”

The seemingly meaningless ritual of the handshake is often the first impression we make on one another, and it’s a lasting one. Whether it be too firm, too weak, or even a little moist, your handshake is an indicator of who you are, and the standard by which those you meet will, in varying degrees, judge you.

In the jobs world, your cover letter is your handshake.

Applying for a position without writing a thoughtful cover letter is like asking someone to let you move into their house before even shaking their hand. It may seem like an outdated practice, inherited from the days of paper, ink, and envelopes, but it is still an essential way of connecting with your potential employer, and it can make or break your chances of getting the job.

For some insightful tips on how to apply your next handshake, refer to Susan Adams’ helpful how-to at Forbes.com.

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Prince is a remarkable musician, and a huge influence on my own personal creative wanderings, and so it was a pleasure to stumble across this documentary of his early years and rise to super-stardom available to stream below. With my not being born until his career was well underway, it is great to hear some stories of the recording and experimenting processes of the first few LPs, as well as the various reports of regional Minnesota acclaim, lagging global sales, hometown influences and willingness to use technology in new and wonderful ways.

The pint-sized pop starlet first crossed my radar around the time of the Purple Rain movie and soundtrack. Who was this flamboyant, motorcycle-riding, wailing purple person? Was he P-funk or rock? Was he black or white? Was he male of female? His music did everything to muddy the waters further, and thankfully he embraced his own unique flair for many many albums to come.

This documentary not only goes into the background on Prince’s own singles and albums, but also his songwriting skills for other artists. Sinead O’Connor’s epic ballad ‘Nothing Compares 2U’ and The Bangles hit ‘Manic Monday’ are both part of his wealth or work, and further display the depth of his writing.

Be it the stripped-back sparse tension of ‘Kiss’, the power and drive of ‘Purple Rain’, or the pure fun feeling of ‘Raspberry Beret’ and dozens of others, Prince simply “stole the 1980s”, and in my opinion, deservedly so.

Watch the full documentary here.

by Lee Jarvis.

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(Image licensed via Creative Commons, courtesy of Shad Bolling)

I came across a very interesting (and slightly amusing) video piece recently covering the birth of Hip Hop. Back in 1981, ABC ran a news piece on their long-running 20/20 show called ‘Rappin’ to the Beat’, which tried to grasp the new sounds, sights and styles that were crossing from ‘underground’ to the mainstream media. Partially citing Blondie as helping this crossover with her hit ‘Rapture’ also made me think about the way that Hip Hop evolved from the music of the late 70s, with the help of artists, producers and DJs such as Grandmaster Flash, The Sugarhill Gang and Afrika Bambaataa.

The explosion of Hip Hop recording and performing was partly aligned with the technology boom of the time. Turntables and radios became portable; synthesizers, samplers and drum machines were born; breakdancing, beatboxing and graffiti joined the mix of music to create an entire lifestyle choice. DJing became an art form of its own, with beat juggling, scratching, cutting and blending all adding to the party vibe of the music and earning the term ‘Turntablism’. DJs such as Kool Herc would flicking between the break, which would often be solely percussion driven, on two copies of the same record, giving the dancers something to really get into and the MCs a beat to rap over. Eminent examples of this were Chic’s ‘Good times’ (later used to create ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by The Sugarhill Gang) and Kraftwerk hits such as ‘Trans Europe Express’ and ‘Numbers’ (which would both heavily influence the production of ‘Planet Rock’ by Afrika Bambaataa). MCs evolved a little later than the DJs, but essentially helped to spread Hip Hop on a global scale, and labels such as Sugar Hill would go on to sell millions of records around the world.

Just imagining being involved in the growth of music experimentation and expression at that time is a very exciting idea. The way that artists and musicians would mash-up, create, remix, borrow, steal, regurgitate and do whatever they wanted proved to spawn a hugely important part of musical and cultural history. Maybe without the boundaries of copyright or the fear of legal action from major labels, musicians would experiment and create more freely and give birth to a whole new genre (/sub-sub-genre) of music. Maybe that is already happening; keep your ears open

by Lee Jarvis.

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Revolution

The official videos from last month’s SXSW Music conference are starting to feed out. One in particular caught my eye; Bob Geldof delivered an epic and memorable keynote, regarding his concern of music as a voice of the people being diluted, of how rock and roll as an art-form has struck back against society many a time in history, and yet there is currently a void awaiting a new revolution. Does your music deliver a message? Does it educate as well as entertain?

Geldof raises a valid point, about how we can look back at movements of the blues or Elvis or punk and see that they run parallel, intertwined, with important cultural changes, and yet in this current global climate, that of turmoil, inequality, manipulation, greed, poverty, lies and all the other wrongdoings we (music as an art) are lacking a voice of disagreement.

The creativity is there; technology has aided that also, but the distinct movements that have served society in the past are missing. Where is the ingenuity (and often, guile) of artists to combine their passion for music with the voice of the people? The same combination of knowledge, talent, cunning and courage that spurred Louis Armstrong’s “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue”, Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” or Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”? Some might say that The Dead Kennedys’ “Stars and Stripes of Corruption” deserves a modern day ode. Either way, watch Geldof’s thought-provoking piece below…

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Image via Wonderlane on Flickr. Creative Commons Licensed.

Decompressed from the game? Caught up on all the commercials on Youtube? Good. Time to discuss the abysmal excuse for a live music performance we were subjected to this past weekend then…

The Black Eyed Peas are without a doubt one of the most popular acts in the world today. However, the last few Super Bowl performances have come from The Who, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul McCartney. Once you get over the initial disappointment of that, there was the performance itself. Whilst the TRON-like outfits may have been eye-catching and kinda groovy, I think someone forgot to practice the performance itself. And also forgot to learn to sing.

At a press conference in Dallas before the event, band member Fergie said it was a “huge honor” to be picked as a halftime performer. Which I’m sure it is. But if you are a weak singer who relies one effects and autotune, then singing live to 100,000 people whilst jumping around onstage will require some pre-recording and some miming. Treating the huge honor with the respect and attention it deserves should be paramount.

Think I’m being a bit harsh?

Estimates came in that this Superbowl was the most-watched single program show in US TV history, around the 169 million viewers mark. This map below is taken from ESPN, who took a survey asking people to grade the Black Eyed Peas performance, from A to F. All 50 states came out with an average of F.

(interactive map, showing breakdown of voting by States)

On top of all this, the cuing and levels of each performer’s microphone was appalling, and flipped all over the place. Maybe they needed one of our own Sound Engineers?

by Lee Jarvis.

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Today while catching up on the latest music industry news, I literally put my face in the palm of my hand and shook my head in dismay. As I was just glimpsing over the headlines on Billboard.com it quickly came crashing down on me how ridiculous these supposed “newsworthy” items were.

Here are some of my favorite disappointments of the day:

Justin Bieber to Star as Himself in 3D Biopic
Really? We need a Justin Bieber movie? And in 3D? Justin Bieber apparently has taken over the world and the minds of not only the music industry moguls, but has also now succeeded in capturing those of the film industry. I think 2012 just got a lot closer to becoming reality… The end must be near.

Bret Michaels To Co-Host ‘Miss Universe’ Pageant
Bret Michaels was the choice to host “Miss Universe” this year – this washed up artist is starting to pop up everywhere. Yes people liked him on the Celebrity Apprentice, but really does he have any business hosting a beauty queen pageant? There used to be class in the Miss Universe pageant – I remember watching it growing up and it was the event of the evening, but Bret Michaels? I have no more words…

Dee Snider Keeps It Real on ‘Growing Up Twisted’
This is what we need: another reality show about another washed up musician and his crazy family. Hopefully Dee and his wife beat the curse of the reality show divorce rate. Maybe this one will be different, but all the rest have reminded me of a train wreck happening in slow motion before your eyes.

Will.i.am Doesn’t Support New Michael Jackson Album
(more…)

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Last week, on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night TV show a music video premiered that was a collective creation by rapper Drake and Jimmy Kimmel. The video centers on the idea of writing Drake’s next hit, which Jimmy comes up with the “genius” idea that it should be made up of tweets. The video is too good to be missed.

According to Billboard, “‘Tweet Tweet’ is a catchy duet in which Drizzy urges fans to “follow me, follow me/ Tweet, tweet” and quotes other celebrities’ frivolous Twitter musings. Among the more notable faces quoted are Larry King, Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. The two also sport matching white suits (and Drake wears a doo rag!), dance and emulate Twitter’s signature Bluebirds for good measure. “Why write a song yourself when celebrities are tweeting so many great things?,” Kimmel asks Drake. Why, indeed.”

Follow the link below to check the video out for yourself.

Drake and Jimmy Kimmel have created their own music video together – and it can’t be beat.  Tweet all about it.  The images of celebrities physically tweeting like the Twitter bird is pretty ridiculously awesome, and just further hits home the point of how status updates are now all the rage – and being that much closer to a celebrity’s every move somehow continues to intrigue us…

In any event, the video is yet another hilarious production and will definitely crack you up.

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The new Lady Gaga video with Beyonce came out last week, and I was just now able to sit down and watch the whole thing – the explicit version, which I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into by clicking the little play arrow.

I’m still not sure what I think of the whole thing. Shocked, that’s the first feeling that comes to mind. I know MTV no longer plays music videos, and the whole music video idea seems to have faded out to some extent. But what Lady Gaga and Beyonce have done is much more than simply a music video; It’s a short film. It’s nearly ten minutes long to start, and I’m kind of left thinking about their motivation for the project.

Billboard had the following to say about it: “Lady Gaga and Beyoncé unveiled the video for their “Telephone” collaboration on Thursday night (Mar. 11), and it more than measures up to the hype. Directed by Gaga’s “Paparazzi” video helmer Jonas Akerlund, the “Telephone” clip is chock full of intrigue, prison fights, makeout scenes, mass poisoning and plenty of skin-baring versions of what you might call “outfits” (if strategically placed caution tape counts as such).”

(more…)

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John Mayer: what can you say. Personally he drives me nuts and I would rather do almost anything else than have to listen to him. However, in addition to the sound of his voice making me cringe, Mr. Mayer has made a few very public missteps as of late.

“John Mayer did some damage control on his Twitter [recently], apologizing for controversial statements he made in a “raw” interview with Playboy.” (Rolling Stone)

He got explicit with Playboy magazine, using some choice metaphors when speaking about his sex life with Jessica Simpson, as well as some dirty details regarding his preference for white women. He also described a “make out” session with Perez Hilton that he initiated. Enough said about that, though the two kinda seem made for each other…

However, the worst was still yet to come. In the interview that John gave with Playboy he continued on to reference a “hood pass” and renamed it using the ‘N’ word, which did not go over well at all.

It was that last statement and its fallout that had Mayer backpedaling. “I am sorry that I used the word. And it’s such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged,” Mayer tweeted. He added, “I think it’s time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews… It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it’s gotten out of hand and I’ve created somewhat of a monster. I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don’t have the stomach for it.” Mayer also apologized during his concert last week in Nashville, which is available on Ustream.

(more…)

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Oh those Superbowl Ads…

There was quite an eclectic group of musicians and songs appearing throughout the Superbowl ads this past Sunday.  Looking back on it I was really shocked to find out just how many high profile artists and their songs were featured. In this BillBoard article you can see all of the commercials again that we’re about to talk about, as well as the full article.

“In between the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl and the Who rocking the big halftime show, a few good commercials featured quality music or cameos by our favorite artists. Check out some of the best ads below, and visit Adweek for the full Super Bowl commercial lineup, quarter by quarter.”

I had a few personal favorites of course… Being a Chicagoan and remembering as a child (barely), the Chicago Bears winning the Superbowl in 1986 – the Boostmobile ad featuring some of the original members of that winning Bears crew, and a new twist on the original Superbowl Shuffle was quite funny.  Hey – I’ve still got the original on VHS…

Back to the major artists featured: There was Kiss featuring Mini-Kiss.  It was awesome to see Mini-Kiss with their counterparts while singing “Calling Dr. Love” was pretty ingenious.  How many tribute bands get to rock with the originals, and in such a high profile manner.  Mini-Kiss just got some serious exposure. The VW commercial was quite catchy too, and at the end when Stevie Wonder also spots a red VW as it drives by and gives Tracy Morgan a punch is priceless.  Go VW – I kinda wanna drive one now.

The car theme continues with Kia as they used Heavy’s “How You Like Me Now” showcasing the Sorento with Yo Gabba Gabba characters’ party trip.  Honda featured Kool & the Gang’s “Funky Stuff” while advertising the Honda Accord Crosstour. Audi, not to be outdone, joined the ranks and featured a revised version of Cheap Trick’s “Dream Police” as “Green Police;” to introduce the eco-friendly Audi A3 TDI.

Beyonce even joined in the fun on a commercial for Vizio. I really enjoy seeing all the artists or their music being reinvigorated through these ads.  The ads are a ton of fun themselves, and are primarily why I watch the Superbowl, but seeing so much of the music included in these ads this year, really made me stop and think.  It’s interesting that this idea of placing your music in advertising outlets or on TV shows used to be taboo – you were a sell out.  Now it’s readily acceptable as a means to get your music heard and/or as a way of creating another revenue stream for the business side of your art.  I’d much rather see these originals come back out than cruddy library tracks that don’t really make the connection or keep your attention like these tracks do.

All in all, I thought these were all great. Which ad was your favorite?

T.Lynn

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