Bruceville

Category: Music

  • Ace’s Band Plays in the Concert for Haiti

    6 musical acts got together to play in a fund-raising “Concert for Haiti”. Ace’s band was one of them. Because there were so many acts, they only got a short time each, but they made the most of it. Andrew played vocals, keyboard, and even played accordian live for the first time.

    Ace on keyboard at The Concert for Haiti Ace on keyboard at The Concert for Haiti Ace on accordian at The Concert for Haiti

  • Ace’s Show was Great!

    Ace Armstrong at Opening BellAce performed in his first show ever on May 21, 2009. It was at the Opening Bell Coffee Shop at Mosaic in Dallas. Ace did a great job and got lots of good feedback. If you click this YouTube playlist link, and click “Play All Videos”, you’ll feel like you were there. My aging camcorder didn’t handle the low light very well, but the sound came out pretty good. Be sure to leave comments on YouTube. Thanks!

    There’s also a photo gallery available here.

    Aaron B's photos of Ace on stage-3 Ace during sound check A portion of the crowd

  • Ace’s First Show in Downtown Dallas

    Ace and a pink flamingoHe’s really gonna do it! And it’s only a week away.

    Next Thursday, 5/21/09, Ace will be on a stage alone with a mic, an acoustic guitar, and 20 minutes to entertain the crowd. The name of the club is “Mosaic” and it is at 300 North Akard, Suite #300. Here’s the Google Map. Make sure to click “Street View”. Looks like a cool area.

    To get a taste of his tunes, check out his MySpace music page: http://www.myspace.com/acezbeatz. My favorites are “12:09”, “Lyrical Love”, and “Just Dance”. Lately “gdntbby” is starting to grow on me.

    He’s been told to do 3 or 4 originals and 1 or 2 covers. He’s been working on a really cool version of Gary Jules’ version of Mad World. If you plan to come, be there early, because I believe he’s the opening act.

    To get the official scoop, you can check out the promoter’s site here: http://artists.aftonlive.com/. Click “Calendar”, then locate Texas on the map and click it. Now scroll down to the “Dallas” section and finally, find May 21st. If that’s too convoluted, here’s what you’ll see:

    May 21st
    MOSAIC
300 North Akard Suite #300
Dallas, TX 75205
Show Time 6:15 PM
All-ages & Bar w/ID
$8.00 Adv Tix, $10.00 Door
    Bands:
Ace, Faction, The Brighter Side, Brian Shuck, Mental Dentist, Close Enough, Zeal

  • Death Cab for Cutie at the Nokia Theater

    Our neighbor Ed got us tickets to the Death Cab for Cutie concert at The Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. We were in the Nokia luxury suite and it was a heck of a show. The photos are terrible because the only camera I had was my cell phone and it doesn’t handle low-light situations very well.

    Holly, Kasey, and Andrew in the Nokia suite before the show Kasey-and-Holly-in-the-box-seats Finale-lightshow

  • Corinne Bailey Rae

    Corinne Bailey RaeI’ve found another excellent musical artist via SNL: Corinne Bailey Rae. I loved her two performances on SNL and was very pleased to receive the CD as a Christmas gift. I’ve listened to the full album several times, with no hints of getting tired of any of it.

    I’m not sure exactly how to describe her style, but there are definitely elements of Soul, Jazz, Blues, and R&B. My first thought was “kinda sounds like Nora Jones”, then I thought maybe Alicia Keys, and even India Arie or Sade. I’ll definitely be putting a mix together with all these other ladies, but right now, Corinne Bailey Rae is by far my favorite.

  • I joined Amazon’s Referral Program

    After realizing just how many links to Amazon I had on the site, I decided to join their referral program. So if anyone clicks on a DVD, CD, or Book I have listed, and eventually purchases it from Amazon, I receive a small referral fee. The same is true if you click the Amazon.com banner at the bottom of the page and end up purchasing something.

    I don’t expect much to come of this, but maybe after a few years I’ll get a $5 gift certificate or something.

  • How do I discover new music?

    How do I learn about new music these days? Aside from the fact that Dallas radio absolutely stinks (unless you’re a country fan, I guess), I almost never listen anyway. My most frequent radio-listening spot used to be in the car on the way to work, but since I almost always work from home, that no longer happens. And forget MTV for music.

    The new music I’ve been turned on to for the last couple of years has come from two places: Video games and Saturday Night Live. Back in 2000, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 set the standard with what I think is still the best soundtrack ever for a video game. Since then, I’ve discovered lots of new artists via video games. These days, racing games like Burnout 3 and Burnout: Revenge have turned me on to the following artists:

    • Franz Ferdinand – There are at least 3 excellent songs on their self-titled CD, and several other good ones.
    • The Von Bondies – Maybe a one-hit wonder, but man, I sure dig that hit: C’Mon C’Mon.
    • My Chemical Romance – “I’m Not Okay” is the song that was actually in the game. “Ghost of You” is a better song, and has an excellent video.
    • Motion City Soundtrack – I liked about 2/3 of “My Favorite Accident” on Burnout 3, but “The Future Freaks Me Out” is fun all the way through.
    • CKY – I already knew about “Camp Kill Yourself” via Bam Margera and his Jackass theme “Quiet Bitter Being”. When I heard “As The Tables Turn” on Burnout: Revenge, I listened to it 5 times in a row.

    More recently, several of SNL’s musical guests have caught my attention. Here’s a list from this season:

    • Franz Ferdinand – I was already a fan and it was neat to see them live.
    • Korn – Interesting performance (and interesting microphone stand), but it didn’t actually make me seek out any of their new music.
    • James Blunt – Pretty good. I guess I can see what the hype is about.
    • Shakira – Holy Smokes! I’ll just keep quiet in case Michelle reads this.
    • Death Cab For Cutie – These guys came out of nowhere from my perspective (I’ve since learned they’ve been around forever). Their album “Plans” went straight onto my Top 10 list. 10 of the 11 songs on that CD are great. It is safe to say that I am a super-fan of these guys.
    • Prince – Obviously not a new artist, but his performance of his new song “Fury” blew me away. I’d forgotten what a guitar wizard he is. I can’t bring myself to delete this episode from my PVR because I watch that one song so often.
    • Fall Out Boy – Holly and Andrew had already turned me on to these guys’ hits “Sugar We’re Going Down” and “Dance, Dance”. This is a fun band and I think they’d be pretty good live, but it seemed like they were having technical difficulties (audio levels) on the show.
    • Arctic Monkeys – I’d never heard of them before they were announced as SNL musical guests. Now I’ve listened to “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not” over and over again. By far the coolest bass grooves I’ve heard in a while! These guys have knocked DCFC off the top of my “currently playing” list. Back to SNL: At first I didn’t know if I’d fast-forward past their songs or not. The first song “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” held my attention, then their second song “A Certain Romance” knocked my socks off and got stuck in my head for a solid week. This performance was notable also because at one point the lead singer pointed at someone in the audience and shouted “That man just yawned!” Google that to see what kind of Internet reaction it caused.

    I should also mention the oddest place I’ve found a new song lately: An Olympic figure skater’s performace music. A Japanese skater skated to a song so mesmerizing that I had to seek it out. It was incredibly tough to find. We thought it seemed like something out of a Miyazaki movie, but I finally learned that it was from a 1983 Japanese war movie called “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.” I found a surprisingly good MIDI version you can listen to by clicking here.