Since I've done 20 of these things already, and they are on 2 different blogs, I thought I'd make it easy for people to find them all. I'll update this whenever I post a new one, and throw a link up in the sidebar.
Oh, and I'll include links to some of my favorite channels I found.
I don't normally feature YouTube covers on the home page anymore, but you can read yesterday's blog to find out why I'm doing it today. Enjoy Craig Bevan & Natalie Holmes covering a Bryan Adams & Tina Turner song.
After the first 10 "YouTube Treasure Hunts", I went back & featured all my favorite YouTubers that I had found. These weren't people who had 1 good song, but people who I subscribed to because they consistently put out quality videos. (Best Of The Best #1) The first 10 hunts were done every week. The second 10 hunts were done monthly, and the rules were altered a bit. I think I like those changes, because it made it easier to find higher quality videos. It was tough to narrow down my favorite 7 YouTubers from YTTH's 11-20, but my selections are below. If you're looking for new talent to sub on YouTube...these people are a good place to start.
Good Morning Sleepyhead by Natalie Holmes One of my favorite YouTubers from the first 10 YTTH's asked me if there is anyone I would like to see him collab with. I ended up giving him a long list of people ranging in talent, styles & fan base. One of the people on that list was Natalie. She's only 17, but she's AMAZING nonetheless. When I first found her channel she had 1,220 subs, and is currently at 2,118. Expect a new collab from Natalie sometime later today...I'm actually very excited about it. (EDIT: New Collab with Craig Bevan)
Smile Out Loud by Danna Richards I actually stumbled onto Danna back when she had only 14 subscribers & featured her in YTTH #14. At that time she didn't have a huge catalog on YouTube, but she had started a "Song A Day" project. Like Jonathan Mann, she was writing & uploading a new song every single day. She was only on song #24, and I didn't subscribe at that point. I kept seeing her name pop up when doing my searches, and later I ended up featuring her again in YTTH #18. Things had changed for her by this point. She had gone from 14 subscribers to 9,129, and she was on song #129. She's currently on song #188 sitting at 8,614 subscribers, but I'm sure that number will start to grow again soon.
Where I Can Sing by Paul Larson The original account I found with Paul's videos was run by a third party...not Paul. Apparently it was a friend of Paul, and he uploaded videos on a regular basis. I JUST found out that all the videos of Paul were removed from that channel, and there are a couple other channels featuring Paul. I'm not totally sure what is what yet, but from what I can tell this video is from Paul's new personal YouTube channel. I could be wrong, but I've sent out a couple messages so hopefully I'll know soon. Paul's music is beautiful no matter what channel it's on, and his voice is very soothing. (EDIT: Paul recently retired from teaching, and decided to start putting videos on his own channel. The channel linked to below is in fact run by Paul.)
OK Stupid by Jenny Katz Shortly after finding Jenny on YouTube I started the songwriting contest SpinTunes. I decided to ask Jenny to join in, and to my delight she did. She completed 2 songs in the first SpinTunes. In round 1 the challenge was: "Write a song from the point of view of a super hero or super villain." Jenny wrote "Blofelds Beginnings", and if you're a James Bond fan you'll love it. In round 2 the challenge was: "Write a song where the choruses are a different time signature than the verses." Jenny wrote "Miss You", and even though I loved it, the judges voted her out at this point. As long as this sexy voiced jazz temptress keeps making music...I'll continue to be a fan. She had 9 subs when I first found her channel, and currently has 242.
Not My Life by Drew Tabor She cranks out a lot of covers, with a new original once is awhile as well. She's another youngster at 17, but that just means she'll be getting a lot better...and she's already good. I'm not sure how many subs she had when I first found her channel, but she currently has 7,488.
The Accidental Truth by Ryan Welton Ryan is another person from the YTTH's I asked to compete in SpinTunes. In round 1 (superhero challenge) he wrote "Underdog Blues", and did pretty well. For whatever reason Ryan failed to enter a song in round 2, and was eliminated via a DQ. He's still making videos though, and he uploads A LOT of original material. He had 484 subs when I first found his channel, and currently has 588.
If Time Goes Away by Brent Brown Brent puts out a lot of videos. Originals & covers...I've even seen a couple raps & a poem. He had 207 subs when I first found his channel, and currently has 2,821.
I almost picked lionwell9 aka Jen O'Sullivan in my top 7, but she doesn't have a lot of videos up yet. I love the limited amount she has up at the moment, so if you're wanting to check out just one more channel it's worth a look.
A few of my online friends have started an online radio station. (The Force 925) In a recent show Julia Sherred interviewed Jeff MacDougall. Both of them have been SpinTunes judges, and the topic does come up around the 1:46:20 mark. You can download the entire INTERVIEW if you're interested.
It's almost that time of year again. Time to write an entire album of 14 songs in only 28 days. For people who need deadlines, and need a motivator to write music, FAWM could be for you. I know a number of Song Fighters have participated in this challenge (like Ross Durand), but I've not really followed the site closely. If any of the SpinTuners plan on participating this year, let me know so I can follow along.
If you just don't have the time to spare this month, you can always try the 50/90 challenge. That's 50 songs in 90 days...but you can start this anytime.
Ok, this easily makes it into my top 10 list of "Best Musicals Ever". It's just a FUN movie. If you're ever in a bad mood, this is the type of movie that can turn your whole outlook around. Lots of catchy songs, some incredibly athletic dancing & interesting (although not very complex) characters. The movie stars Howard Keel & Jane Powell. Howard's character strolls into town looking for a wife, when he falls head over heels for Jane. Keeping his 6 brothers a secret, Howard takes Jane to his home in the mountains where comedy ensues. It doesn't take the 6 brothers long to start pining over girls of their own, and in the end they literally steal their own women.
As good as this film is, it could have been even better. It was shot in only 48 days, and money was an issue since MGM didn't have high expectations for the film. There were A LOT of continuity problems & goofs that made it into the film. I only caught 1 of them myself, but IMDB lists A LOT of them. Seems that about half the actors were dubbed, and that kinda stinks.
Besides the 2 main stars, there were a couple notable names in the film. Russ Tamblyn shows off some of his gymnastic ability as the youngest brother, and Julie Newmar also makes an appearance. (Catwoman FTW!) I was able to find all the musical numbers on YouTube, but the quality of some of the clips aren't great, and a couple of them have embedding disabled (like "Wonderful, Wonderful Day"). But you can watch the movie TRAILER, and some of my favorite clips below...that should be enough to make you seek this film out if you haven't seen it.
Barn Dance
Bless Yore Beautiful Hide This clip shows 2 takes. This film was filmed in widescreen & normal ratio.
Goin' Co'tin'
Sobbin' Women There's a Higher Quality version that I couldn't embed.
June Bride There's a Higher Quality version that I couldn't embed.
Soul Tree Records uploaded the 2010/2011 GIFT OF MUSIC the other day. If you aren't familiar with this project, it's basically musicians doing requested covers to raise money for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Each year money is given to charity, and individuals get the gift of having a song of their choice covered by an artist. And of course the songs are all uploaded for anyone to download for FREE. You can find MORE INFORMATION about the project over on the website.
I'm not going to review all the songs entered, but I will list a few of my favorites. It's kind of hard to review & judge people when they all had very different songs to cover. You should head over to Soul Tree Records to find your own favorites though.
Spin's Top 4: (Right Click "Save As" on the song title for a MP3 of their entry.)
Unfortunately this is not a "Spintown Interviews..." video, but recently my favorite ASL cover artist (Allyson Townsend) was interviewed by ABC. She's an amazing person, doing amazing things so it's cool to see that ABC decided to feature her. Last time I heard from Allyson she had half of the Spintown video done, but then I never heard back. She was just starting that teaching job shown in the ABC spot, and was fairly busy. At this point I don't expect that interview to ever happen, but you never know. I can't embed the interview, so you'll have to click the LINK and watch it on Yahoo.
You can visit Allyson's YouTube channel to see more of her. I'll embed a couple of her videos below.
Ok, I'm convinced the only role Bing Crosby can play is a priest. I've never liked him as an actor (love him as a singer), but he does alright with the crap he was given here. A lot of things bug me about this movie. Debbie Reynolds (is the only reason I watched this) plays a goodie goodie church going young lady who is trying to earn money for her sick father. She takes a job working for a man who has no redeemable qualities...but still she's attracted to him? Robert Wagner plays the scum bucket she falls for, and he really is a rat (until the last 10 minutes of the film). Not only does he play a jackass, but the acting & dialogue suck donkey dick. So whenever he appears onscreen you instinctively pick up the remote & want to change channels.
"One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell."
I can understand how this movie made their list...although I'm sure I've watched 50 worse films. I'll embed a couple clips of Debbie below...but save yourself the pain of watching the entire movie. Oh, and I saw Joe Besser in the movie. He ruined the 3 Stooges...so having him attached to another bad product isn't shocking.
Say One For Me by Debbie Reynolds & Bing Crosby
The Girl Most Likely to Succeed by Debbie Reynolds & Robert Wagner
The last challenge over at Song Fight was titled "Looking At The Sea", and I predicted that Titus would win...and he did. Well he tied for first...with the person I had ranked 2nd (heine). What's even better is that the people I had ranked 3rd & 4th...tied for 3rd. I must be getting good at pickin' winners. :p There's a whole new batch of songs over at Song Fight, so I suggest you go pick your favorite songs for the current round. My picks are listed below:
Voted For: (Right Click "Save As" on the artist's name for a MP3 of their entry.)
Jon Wilson - (pause) Dude! I've only finished the 2nd chorus, and already I'm depressed & want to shoot someone. (play) ..... And done, this is the saddest song I've heard on Song Fight thus far. At first I wasn't going to vote for this (fuckin' depressed me), but I figured you achieved your goal better than anyone else in this fight...so you're my top pick this time.
Schlimminy Cricket - What the hell is wrong with you people? Fathers raping little girls, and now your killing people & serving them up to eat? Fuck you all if you think I'm ever coming to a Song Fight Live event. (Laughed my ass off...well done.)
John Kloberdanz - Musical comedy? In Song Fight? Cool! I know it's not the first of it's kind to be entered into Song Fight, but I really do wish there were more entries in this genre. The refrain was pretty catchy, and I didn't dislike any of it. However I do wish the rest of the song was a little more peppy...it just slows down too much between refrains. Excellent entry though.
Derictello - BAM! I really enjoyed this. The end was cool with the Julia Childs audio, but come on...where's the Swedish Chef?
Berkeley Social Scene - You made me hungry...and I'm on a diet you asshole. Since you made me cheat on my diet, I shouldn't vote for this...but you earned it.
Paco del Stinko - Cute. There was a lot of variety this round, and this almost gets lost in the fight. I happen to like cute & silly songs, but this barely gets a vote.
Others: (Head over to Song Fight to listen to these songs.)
bgm - This took a couple listens before I could make up my mind about it. It's a bit depressing (as I'm sure it supposed to be), but I'm more into upbeat stuff typically. I do like the song though, and I'd probably quit my job after listening...but I'm already unemployed.
Duke Vector - I hate it when this techno/8-bit/synth stuff is entered, and there aren't any lyrics or anything that suggests that the title of the challenge was even considered. This ISN'T my cup of tea...but at least you didn't just say "Fuck the title, I'm doing my own thing." Props for that.
The HATE Noise (featuring Fatty Matt Triangle Boy) - Wow...I think this is the first entry from you I didn't hate. I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics in this. I usually don't like rap that refers to women as bitches, glorifies violence & stuff like that. I can let a little go, but this is just too much for me.
Rapehorn - Stupid name. After the first 10 seconds I didn't think this could get any worse, but you proved me wrong...congrats.
Side Notes: This fight was a blast to review/pick my favorites. Just a ton of variety & a lot of neat stuff. Well done to everyone...except Rapehorn.
Alright, I've been thinking about this for awhile, but I've been too lazy to actually do it. I'm thinking about doing a monthly U-Stream broadcast in which I play some of my favorite songs from that month. The music would include stuff from songwriting contests (Song Fight, Nur Ein, SpinTunes, etc...), music videos I feature on the blog, original songs from YouTube (+ covers) & other stuff I happen to stumble onto online.
What you won't hear: 1. Lady Gaga or Kanye West 2. Most things you hear on radio.
If you are interested, in what would probably be a 1-2 hour broadcast at the end of each month...let me know. No point in broadcasting if nobody is going to be there after all. I could start this month, but it'll probably start next month. I won't set a date yet, but I would like to try to set a schedule eventually. Like the last Monday of each month or something.
Do You Love Me? (1946) is a good movie for Dick Haymes & Harry James fans. Other than that it's a bit of a bore. Maureen O'Hara is the lead, and she plays the dean of a music school. She takes a business trip to New York, and 2 men (Dick & Harry) fall in love with her. Not to mention the fact that she is already engaged, and her fiancée thinks yet a different man is in love with her (Reginald Gardiner). Maureen just seems wasted in this role. It's a light hearted film with no substance, and it's not all that original. All Maureen does in this picture is serve as eye candy (she is good at that though). This is just a vehicle to showcase music from Dick Haymes & Harry James. The main song ("Do You Love Me") is pretty catchy, but they keep coming back to it way too often. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I heard the song at least 4 times. Most of the music from the film can be found on YouTube...but I did the finding for you if you're interested.
Do You Love Me by Dick Haymes with Harry James And His Music Makers
Moonlight Propaganda by Dick Haymes with Harry James And His Music Makers
I Didn't Mean A Word I Said by Dick Haymes with Harry James And His Music Makers
As If I Didn't Have Enough On My Mind by Dick Haymes with Harry James And His Music Makers
The More I See You by Dick Haymes This clip is from "Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe", but it is also sung in "Do You Love Me?". In this clip Dick is singing to Betty Grable, and Betty Grable actually makes a cameo in "Do You Love Me?" at the end. She was marry to Harry James at that time.
The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) is an alright western. It has a twist at the end that I really didn't see coming. It had me thinking 1 thing, and I was completely off. The big star in the film is Glenn Ford, and he is joined by the hotness that is Jeanne Crain. As with the last film I reviewed this is NOT a musical. I'm posting about this film only because of 1 scene in the movie. It's a dance routine by Russ Tamblyn, and it's one of the most athletic routines you'll ever see on film. It's honestly pretty amazing, but it seems completely out of place in this film. I guess I can forgive the director since the routine is so good, but the rest of the movie is so...unmusical...? You can watch the TRAILER for the film if you like, and I'll go ahead and reccomend watching it if you happen to catch it on TV.
PS: PS: IMDB had an interesting fact I wanted to share... "Both the tombstones of Harrold and Kelby are dated November 7, 1889. This is just after church and after the gunfight. November 7 1889 was on a Thursday not a Sunday." I just want to know who the hell has time to go back & catch that fuck up? Amazing...
Barn Dance by Russ Tamblyn This is the scene from the film that I mentioned was totally out of place...but excellent.
Since there was only 1 musical number from this film...how about a couple Russ Tamblyn moments from other pictures.
The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm Russ Tamblyn & Yvette Mimieux performing the Gypsy Dance. I think we now know where Harry Potter got his cloak.
Ok, this is just going to be a little update about something new you might have noticed here. If you look in the sidebar you're going to notice an ad, and there should be one below today's blog post as well. Those spots have actually been there for a few days now, but the ads just got activated yesterday. I know you see ads almost everywhere you go online, so those ads shouldn't really be a big deal. However...I've stated for about 4 years, that Spintown is an ad free website & that it'll stay that way. So what made me change my tune or sell out? Well the money obviously. It's not like these ads are going to make me rich by any stretch, but I'm not well off financially at the moment, and it would be stupid for me to turn down even a small profit. When times are better again, maybe the ads will disappear. For now, the ads are out of the way & not too distracting. (no pop ups, and no audio) You don't have to click them, I'm not going to ask people to click them, but if someone wants to...they're there.
I will be looking into adding ads onto SOME of my YouTube videos. Probably just the interviews, I don't plan on adding them to things I don't own completely. All of the songs that were created for SpinTunes 1 & 2 are still going to be available for FREE download...that will never change. On to topic #2...
I got a really awesome message on YouTube the other day, and a neat comment on the blog the day before that.
your blog was the biggest waste of my time. horrible color combo and graphics with arrogant reviews - blog comment
Now I simply agreed with this, and thanked the anonymous person for their comment. But the next message was more entertaining...
Your channel and you
It's no wonder that you were fired/discharged/terminated/canned from your job a a P.E. teacher. You doubtlessly were too clueless, incompetent, and wimpy (a terrible attribute for a gym teacher, and totally obnoxious to continue in that position. Too bad! My sympathy is only exceeded by your pomposity and my contempt for you! The poor students that had to put up with you! I know that you're mentally challenged, so I'll type very slowly.
How can you, a stolid, talentless, imbecilic, moronic, ungrateful biped, not to mention worthless protoplasm, judge anyone's uploads, hold a songwriting contest? To do so (or attempt to do so) requires effrontery tantamount to Michael Vick opening a humane shelter for dogs. Such hubris, you truly nauseate me so, figuratively, not literally. If feces were asphalt, you'd be Route 66. You are so out of your element, in trying to hold such a contest! Why not do all YouTubers (and the world) a favor and discontinue it immediately? Obviously, you cannot songwrite or sing, or else you'd have posted videos of your singing and/or originals. Those that teach, teach; those that can't teach administrate, and those that can't logically and systematically (largely due to stupidity and absence of talent) hold a songwriting contest (unfortunately, in YOUR CASE) try to hold one anyway. How ironic! A deracinated, addled, incompassionate, over-inflated "person" such as yourself should steer clear of such ventures in the present and the future. One who knows that he/she doesn't know is wise. One who doesn't know that he/she doesn't know is a fool. You are in the latter category.
I know some people get mad at stuff like this, but I rather enjoyed reading it. Even told the guy to write me anytime, that I would be happy to hear from him again. The guy is all over the place with his criticisms. He assumes I was fired from a P.E. job, when I've never been fired from any job. He knows how good I was at my job, based on a completely unrelated blog & YouTube page. He claims I can't sing or write songs, when I've never claimed to be able to do either. (I can't...don't care) As for the contest & reviews stuff...I'm happy with how SpinTunes has gone thus far. My reviews...well I'm the first to tell you they suck. Heck most of the time I wouldn't even call them reviews, it's just me picking my favorite songs from various rounds in contests. Sure sometimes I'll write something not so nice, but it's just 1 persons opinion...and that person flat out tells you he knows next to nothing about music. Well it's my blog...my opinions will continue to be posted, and I encourage more people to send me messages like this. Come on, that "if feces were asphalt" line was awesome.
PS: Songs are due by Saturday for the SpinTunes side project. I'll post LP info soon.
Macao (1952) kinda sucks. Robert Mitchum & Jane Russell are the 2 big stars, and they play their roles alright, but it's just a poorly written film. It's a mystery that isn't all that big of a mystery, and has a few plot holes that proves this just wasn't all that well thought out. Gloria Grahame plays a supporting role, and I didn't really think highly or poorly of her efforts. But I did read something on IMDB that made me want to go back and watch her parts again.
"When Grahame asked to be loaned out to make George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), Hughes turned down her request and forced her to make this movie (she reportedly dryly told her then-husband and uncredited director Nicholas Ray, who she was in the process of divorcing, that she wouldn't ask for alimony if he could get her out of this movie). Grahame later stated that she intentionally over-acted out of hatred for Hughes." - IMDB
This really isn't a musical, but Jane Russell did sing 2 numbers in the film...which is why I'm mentioning it. The best moment in the film is when Jane sings "You Kill Me". She does a good job with the song, but the DRESS she wears in the scene is AMAZING. It's probably the best I've seen Jane look in any picture. I don't suggest you watch the film, but if you're so inclined you can watch the TRAILER.
The time has come for me to once again dig through YouTube to find unknown YouTubers with talent. So I typed the words "Original Song" into the search bar, set it for today...and apparently YouTube thought I typed "Original Sin". I say this because I must have done something horrible for YouTube to have put my ears through the hell they went through on this search. Honestly I did this 3 or 4 times over the course of a couple weeks until I found enough talent for today's blog, and in all probably spent 2 hours listening time. I should be getting paid for this shit...but I did manage to strike gold a few times.
As you know I only feature 7 people each time I do these hunts. Sometimes I'll end up finding more than 7 people though. So over the next 5 days I'm going to feature 1 person each day that did not make the cut, but who I thought had potential. I'll include that 1 person with the daily post on the "Songs Of The Day" page...starting TODAY.
As for the people who did make the cut...well I think it's a pretty good batch this time. So please give these 7 original songs a listen, and if you like what you hear go subscribe to the artist on YouTube.
The last challenge over at Song Fight was titled "Susan", and I predicted that Ross Durand would win. I had deetak as my 2nd pick, and that's who ended up winning. There's a whole new batch of songs over at Song Fight, so I suggest you go pick your favorite songs for the current round. My picks are listed below:
Voted For: (Right Click "Save As" on the artist's name for a MP3 of their entry.)
Titus - You need help in the chorus, like another singer. But I enjoyed the beat, the flow, the rhymes, and the story. Best rap I've heard here in months. Come back...often...this place needs you.
heine - I liked the sound effects...waves, wind & birds...all sounded great in the mix. The vocals weren't great, but good enough not to distract me too much. I thought the chorus could have been stronger, it just wasn't all that catchy for me. Overall I thought this was a very good entry though, and think it could be improved even more with a few tweaks.
Jeff DeSantis - I usually get excited to see this name in a fight, and this entry will do nothing to change that. It was very pretty & relaxing, but it feels like it's about 30 seconds long...and it IS a short track. I hope you plan on doing more with it at some point, because this really starts to pull the listener in...
Others: (Head over to Song Fight to listen to these songs.)
Kris Miner - Not really my type of music, but the longer I listened the more I got into it. Don't think it'll ever be my thing, but I'll give you a "well done" in this case.
John Kloberdanz - This ain't bad, it's just not grabbin' me either. It's just catchy enough to make me want to hear more from you in future fights, but not enough to get a vote yet...so try again next time. #Close #VeryClose
Sockpuppet - HA, I love songs that I can fit into a single tweet on Twitter. Maybe you didn't have time to produce something good, but at least you didn't waste much of my time...I thank you.
backward binoculars - I liked the concept you came up with for a story, but the music was so bland that I lost interest in less than 10 seconds.
Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs - I'm guessing this was written last second on a drive home from work or something. It was very brief, but I did chuckle a little, and with something so short & simple that's about all you can hope for.
DJ Venetian Blinds - You were the biggest waste of my time this round...congrats. Don't be afraid to use words...maybe form a sentence or 2 even.
On Moonlight Bay is one of Doris Day's biggest hits. It was even popular enough to get a sequel (By The Light Of The Silvery Moon '1953'), which I actually saw before this film. Gordon MacRae & Doris have chemistry...as usual, and the supporting cast is perfect. I enjoyed the sequel, but as with most movies, the original was a little better. Unfortunately I couldn't find many videos that I could embed from this film. So I thought I would do something a little different, and feature covers of the songs from the film or other recordings. I did find a montage of all the musical numbers from the film (ALL SONGS), but embedding was disabled. My favorite number was probably Love Ya by Doris Day & Jack Smith. Tell Me if you like me posting alternative versions of the songs, or clips right from the film. This time I had no choice really, but in the future I could do either.
"The Turkey Trot was a dance made popular in the early 1900s. The Turkey Trot was done to fast ragtime music. It lost favor to the Foxtrot in 1914. The basic step consisted of four hopping steps sideways with the feet well apart, first on one leg, then the other with a characteristic rise on the ball of the foot, followed by a drop upon the heel. The dance was embellished with scissor-like flicks of the feet and fast trotting actions with abrupt stops. Irene and Vernon Castle raised its popularity by dancing the Turkey Trot in the Broadway show The Sunshine Girl. There were news reports of dancers being fined because "their Turkey Trots were interpreted by the courts as disorderly conduct." In another instance, fifteen working girls were fired from their jobs with the Philadelphia song publisher Curtis Publishing when they were caught doing the turkey trot; even though the dancing took place during their lunch break." - YouTube video description
Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag by Lew Dite
Cuddle Up A Little Closer by Andrew Wheaton
Cuddle Up A Little Closer by The Fabulous Heftones
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (1919) by Albert Campbell & Irving Gillette
Aside from running SpinTunes yall know I also follow other songwriting competitions. Well Charlie McCarron (one of the SpinTunes competitors) has started a new project that I'll be following. It's more of a collaborative project than competitive, but sounds interesting. I'll try to explain, but you can get a better idea of what's going on by visiting the website Charlie created for the contest (Frankensong).
Charlie created 5 teams of songwriters consisting of 4-5 people. Each of the teams will be given the same beginning bare bones track to work with. During the first week of the contest 1 member of each team is allowed to create a track to layer onto the beginning track. During the second week someone else on the team gets to create a layer. In the end everyone on the team will have added a layer to the track. The final stage is mixing, and then a listening party on U-Stream. Since it's not really about competing there won't be any prizes other than a couple titles. The most important one would seem to be "Dr. Frankenstein Award" for the best overall track (Charlie's favorite).
Charlie picked Team Captains & Recording Order randomly on YouTube. The teams were created AutoDraft style (for those into fantasy sports, you know what that means) by lists the captains made up.
I made a Frankensong Twitter List of everyone in the contest...or at least everyone I could find on Twitter that's in the contest. If you're one of the competitors, and I missed you...hit me up with your @TwitterHandle.
I'll be reviewing all the songs when this project is over & picking my favorite entry. Just for fun I thought I'd attempt to guess which would be my favorite before the contest even starts. After reading the individual bios & looking at the teams it's hard to say who will get the Spintown Seal Of Approval. I'm only familiar with 1 person on Team 2 & nobody on Team 5...so those are kinda toss ups. I think my pick for favorite to win will be Team 3. They have the SpinTunes #1 champion & Chris Cogott who was a beast in SpinTunes #2. Along with a strong captain & 2 other talented individuals...that's going to be my pick. I'll list the teams below, but I suggest you go to the Frankensong website to learn more.
Team 1: 1.Bryce Jensen - Recording due Jan. 16th 2.Graham Porter - Recording due Jan. 23rd 3.Bram Tant - Recording due Jan. 30th 4.Joe Covenant - Recording due Feb. 6th 5.Denise Hudson - Recording due Feb. 13th (Captain)
Team 2: 1.Ryan Ruff Smith - Recording due Jan. 16th 2.Matt Schubbe - Recording due Jan. 23rd 3.Robert Carmichael - Recording due Jan. 30th 4.Stripes on Stripes - Recording due Feb. 6th 5.Reese Mankenberg - Recording due Feb. 13th (Captain)
Team 3: 1.Chris Cogott - Recording due Jan. 16th 2.Kevin Savino-Riker - Recording due Jan. 23rd 3.Gorbzilla - Recording due Jan. 30th 4.Jason P. Schumacher - Recording due Feb. 6th 5.The Boffo Yux Dudes - Recording due Feb. 13th (Captain)
Team 4: 1.Edric Haleen - Recording due Jan. 16th (Captain) 2.JoAnn Abbott - Recording due Jan. 23rd 3.The Offhand Band - Recording due Jan. 30th 4.Gweebol - Recording due Feb. 6th
Team 5: 1.Brett Thompson - Recording due Jan. 16th (Captain) 2.Matt Mahler - Recording due Jan. 23rd 3.Nick Syman - Recording due Jan. 30th 4.Andy Price - Recording due Feb. 6th
The last fight that I reviewed over at Song Fight was titled "Look At The Sky", and I predicted that Something Happy would win. Something Happy ended up taking a strong 2nd place, and the person I picked 2nd (Ajl Anderson) actually got the win. I didn't review the last fight called "I'm Eating A Wasp (part 1)", and that was mostly because the title was stupid. I'll mention my favorite song from that fight after I review the current fight titled "Susan". I suggest you go pick your favorite songs for the current round. My picks are listed below:
Voted For: (Right Click "Save As" on the artist's name for a MP3 of their entry.)
Ross Durand - Emotion filled vocals, with a touching story. Pretty typical of Ross, which is a good thing considering he's typically great.
Others: (Head over to Song Fight to listen to these songs.)
deetak - Couple of lines where I would change a word, but I enjoyed the song. Vocally it was rough at times, mostly when you went higher. Overall, well done.
noah mclaughlin - The updated version of this that is linked to in the forums is better than what was entered into the fight. I enjoyed the performance a lot, and if the new mix had been entered in time I might have voted for this.
Berkeley Social Scene - I really liked this, the only problem I had was the vocals. They weren't terrible, but better vocals could have this song on my MP3 player. I could hear all of them, but I really had to concentrate to do so. Besides that the singing just didn't impress me all that much.
I'm Eating A Wasp (part 1) This fight was lame. The stupid title didn't help matters. The only song I liked was from The Real Sign. Johnny Cashpoint did make me laugh with his entry, but it's not something that held any replay value for me. Chekhov's Raygun deserves a "Nice Try" as well, but it's just a stupid topic for a song...which made most things tough to listen to. heine ended up taking the victory for this fight. I imagine winning this fight was like winning a game of roshambo. You may have won, but in the end nobody wins who plays roshambo.
There's a site out there uploading my new videos right after I upload them, and claiming them as their own. I've made a couple copyright claims, but thus far nothing has come of it. The only way to really fight this if YouTube does nothing is to spread the word of my original upload as fast as possible. I've been pimping all morning just so the copycats don't take a huge chunk of my views.
I would really appreciate people spreading the word about MY YouTube copy of this video. Especially to sites like GorillaMask & Phun.
These videos generally do pretty well in terms of views over time. I have 4 others on YouTube at the moment, and one of them has well over 380,000 views, another over 110,000 views, and the other 2 are around 70,000 views. I also have some on Metacafe, and 2 of them on that site have well over 100,000 views, with 6 others in the 10,000-70,000 range. If you are interested in covering my theme song, or writting a featured track for a video, it will probably be heard by a large number of people. So contact me if you're interested.
Ok...with all the Christmas stuff I've been posting around here, I haven't had time to mention any of the musicals I've watched during the past month. So today I'm going to give my thoughts on a few movies, and share a few highlights.
Love Laughs At Andy Hardy (1946) I love me some Andy Hardy flicks. Seriously if life ever seems to get too complicated & stresses you out...just watch an Andy Hardy film. Most of the usual cast of characters is back in place for this film. No Polly this time, but Mickey Rooney of course falls in love. Not only that, but he wants to get married! Unfortunately for him, things don't go as planned. In the process of trying to win his girl, he meets 2 other girls. That's where the musical numbers come into play. You can watch the Entire Film on YouTube if you get the notion.
Jitterbug Dorothy Ford makes an entertaining dance partner for the rather small Mickey Rooney.
Dance A Polka Hand-In-Hand Lina Romay trying to catch the eye of Mickey.
I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much) Lina Romay finally catching his eye.
All Ashore (1953) I couldn't find much of anything about this film online, and that's a shame. It's one of the few Mickey Rooney movies I've enjoyed in which he didn't play a kid or college aged student. The movie is about a sailor (Mickey) who is constantly being taken advantage of by 2 of his friends. After getting a weeks leave, he decides to take the dough he's saved up & take a vacation to Catalina. His 2 'friends' are broke due to some unlucky gambling, and end up using Mickey for a fun night out in which he gets his money stolen. His friends try to make it up to Mickey by finding creative ways to get to Catalina & getting room & board. Most of their idea just end up with Mickey taking odd jobs & having a crappy time in general. When one of his friends steals the girl Mickey is interested in, he decides to ditch his friends & go back to the ship. Before he makes it there a fortunate accident has him stranded with a pretty girl in the middle of nowhere. Mickey then saves the day, and finally starts having a good time. It's really a fun little movie, with a few numbers I wish I could share. I recommend you watching this if you're ever lucky enough to catch it on TV.
Call Me Mister (1951) This film stars Betty Grable & Dan Dailey...unfortunately for them. I spent most of my time hoping this would end or hoping Danny Thomas had a bigger part in it. I normally like Dan Dailey, and I have to admit he plays a good 'wolf'. Normally in this type of role the character redeems himself at the end in some fashion, which helps the audience deal with some of the less ethical choices the character may have made. This movie doesn't really do that, instead the character is given a get out of jail free card without having to DO anything. Forgive the lack of detail, but this film isn't worth the time to lay them out. Just know that Dan Dailey's character annoyed me, and that there wasn't much worth watching anyways. 10 points to anyone who can spot Dick Van Dyke's future neighbor in an unaccredited appearance...
Japanese Girl Like American Boy Too Much This is the only number I could find worth sharing. Betty Grable does a good job, and it picks up around the 1:25 mark.
Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) Shirley Temple tries out for a radio part, and nails the audition. But because of a miscommunication, she ends up walking away from the job thinking she didn't get it. The movie is about Randolph Scott & his assistant Jack Haley trying to find the little star that got away. When they do find her, they find she has went to live with her aunt who HATES showbiz. Nothing too complex, and not the best of her films, but it's worth watching. Bill Robinson does a couple numbers with Shirley & Slim Summerville is entertaining as Randolph's butler. Most of the videos I found had the embeds disabled, but you can watch the Trailer or the Entire Movie (Part 1 of 8) on YouTube. I'll link to all the musical numbers below:
Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers They were famous partners for a reason. Enjoy this Shirley Temple & Bill Robinson routine.
Fun Facts: - Bill Robinson visited Shirley Temple at an exclusive and restricted hotel to rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" number for this film. Temple later recalled, "I asked Bill what cottage he was staying in. He told me, 'I'm staying in the chauffeur quarters above the garage.' It wasn't until years later that I understood why." - IMDB
- The original script calling the sponsor's product "Crackly Corn Flakes", was met with objections by the Quaker Oats Company, with whom Shirley had a tie-in deal for their Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice cereals. They thought that the sponsor's name sounded too close to Kellogg's Corn Flakes, a rival product. In the finished script, the product was re-named "Crackly Grain Flakes". - IMDB
Stowaway (1936) Another Shirley Temple film, and yet again she's an orphan. This time she's stranded in China, and befriends a rich playboy (played by Robert Young). Most of the movie revolves around Robert Young & Alice Faye falling in love, even though Alice is already engaged to someone else. In the end they get married so they can adopt Shirley, and save her from having to go to an orphanage. You can watch the Entire Movie (Part 1 of 9) on YouTube.
You Gotta S-M-I-L-E To Be H-A-Double-P-Y I bet you can't not smile while watching...
Goodnight, My Love Shirley Temple singing herself to sleep.
That's What I Want For Christmas Happy endings...ALL movies need them.
Happy New Years! 2010 was a good year for Spintown. Not only did I start a songwriting contest (SpinTunes), but thanks to the wonderful people who participated it went over better than I expected. I look forward to starting up the 3rd edition of the contest sometime in June 2010.
The "Pain For Laughs" series is still going strong. The last video had over 100,000 views in less than a week, and I've got another PFL video ready to upload Monday or Tuesday.
"Spintown Interviews..." continues to be a favorite project of mine. I hope as my total number of viewers increase, I can promote some of those people a little more. I'm very grateful to everyone who has done a interview up to this point. I don't interview anyone I'm not a fan of, so it's fun for me to do those.
The rest of the blog is doing alright. The views on the home page is pretty steady even if they aren't coming in swarms. The lame music reviews, "YouTube Treasure Hunts", and other projects will hopefully continue throughout 2011. I think the new format has went over well, but there could be more tweaks in 2011...we'll see. I do like the fact that something is getting updated every single day now. Even if I don't have anything for the home page one of the other pages gets updated. The home page will probably be updated every day for the next week, but look for things to slow down a bit after that.
2010 Rap Up: The Year Of WTF Sean Ireton did a great job with his 2010 rap up rap.
Top 25 Pop Songs Of 2010 Mashup Individually I'm not a fan of most of these songs, but they sound better in this mix.
