In a conversation today I was reminded that Nat King Cole was a great pianist who later got fame for his vocals. So here are some clips of Nat King Cole on piano.
Clip above is Nat King Cole piano blues.
Here he is playing Tea for Two:
David Foster’s 10 tips for songwriters from his speech upon accepting the BMI Icon Award.
Barbara Walters interviews Cirque Du Soleil founder Guy LaLiberte.
“One of the things that makes billionaires successful is their reaction to failure.”
- Robert Frank, Wall Street Journal
That is such a great quote. Maybe not in the context of billionaires, but in the context that to be successful there is usually a lot of risks and with that comes occasional failure. It’s how we react and use those failures that can help propel us to each new chapter and goal.
Great interview with Danny Elfman on his music scoring of the Cirque Du Soleil show “IRIS” showing at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
Conrad Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects released October 17, 2011.
- Amazon.com – Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects
- Itunes Preview – Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects
This was a very fun, exhausting and scary project to work on. The fun part was I improvised a lot of different creepy pipe organ, harpsichord and piano music to create a feel I liked for the different Halloween themes. My favorite part was playing a lot of JS Bach style pipe organ bits interspersed with the expected Halloween tritone movements.
Cirque Du Soleil ZAIA Performance on China TV. This was a promo excerpt shot for Chinese television -- it is not a live shot from the ZAIA theater in Macau.
Email question received:
Hi Mr. Askland,
I am trying to break down the storytelling structure of Fiddler on The Roof.
I would like to talk to you, briefly, about who is the antagonist. What is
Tevya’s want. What’s his need. What you think the filmmaker’s statement is.
Norm Jewison said Fiddler’s about trying to maintain traditions in a
changing world. Do you think he’s saying that it is important or that it’s
not important to maintain traditions in a changing world.
Kind regards,
Glenn
Original organ improvisations by Gaylord Carter for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. If you’re into vintage theater organ improvisation I think you’ll really enjoy this video.
Learn how this man created the spooky organ music in the Ballroom of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Find out how it was made, who wrote the music, who played it, what organ was used, and hear the first version that was never used.
My projects are getting larger in ProTools 9 and my MacBook Pro was starting to strain a bit. (2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB ram 1067 MHz DDR3 on Mac OS X Version 10.6.8). Here’s info to optimize your Mac laptop for Digidesign Pro Tools 9. Probably works for optimization with ProTools 8 and below and other Mac computers as well.
Email question received:
hi i’m joseph i’m just intersting to know what is a music producer, what are
there jobs and what do they do
My Answer:
Hi Joseph,
Direct answer to your question is that a music producer produces music. I’m not being a smartass when I answer that. A music producer needs to produce music. And actually I think for many up and coming artists that doesn’t really sink in or connect.
This is a music video about a Chinese love story. I’m sure I have bits of this story wrong but this is how I remember it being told to me:
Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show promotional video released September 2011. Zaia is the resident show that opened in August 2008 at the Venetian in Macau (SAR) China. Acts in the video include Straps, Trapeze, Hand to Hand, Gypsy, Skate, X Board, Aerial Bamboo, Lion Dance, Firedance and of course Zaia’s dragon. Music composed by Violaine Corradi.
August 28, 2011 was the 3rd anniversary of Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show in Macau (SAR), China. Above is one of the new promotional posters. You can click it for a larger view.
Cirque Du Soleil ZAIA band
Maria Elena Medina (cello, viol), Olivier Milchberg (guitar, plucked strings, flutes), Gabriel Cloutier (singer), George Manz (key 2), Conrad Askland (bandleader, key 1, accordion), Rose Winebrenner (singer), Darrin Johnson (drums), Eduard Harutyunyan (percussion), Justin Wilman (violin, recorder).
I’m working on a theater piece and developing plot points between scenes and characters. It’s like being a detective going through the dramatic arcs of a scene and bridging the scenes together. Then matching motivation and obstacles so they are balanced and realistic.
I think most of us know about the Kindle reader from Amazon.com. It’s a portable reading table and you can download books from Amazon to read on it. What I didn’t know is that you can read Kindle downloads on your computer (or cellphone).
What an incredible video. It’s sublimely beautiful…
And check out this mosaic photo of a center region of the Milky Way:
http://www.astrosurf.com/sguisard/Pagim/GC.html
Email received:
IS THE BOOK READY ? I DO WANT ONE .I KEEP TRYING TO GET PICTURES OF HIM RECEIVING HIS AWARDS ,BUT THERE SEEM S TO BE NONE ,I GET THE FEELING THEY BEGRUDGED THEM ,HE WAS GREATER THAN ALL THEM ,HE SANG FROM DEEP IN HIS HEART ,I AM THE SAME AGE AS HE ,I WISHED I COULD HAVE KNOWN HIM,WHEN I FIRST HEARD TESRDROPS ,IT GRIPPED MY HEART ,IT IS SO TOUCHING + NO ONES SINGS IT LIKE HIM .WAS THE LUMP ON HIS THROAT ,THE CAUSE OF HIS LUNG CANCER YOU THINK?
I HADNT EVEN HEARD HE HAD DIED UNTIL 2 YRS AGO OR LESS.HE WAS AN ALL AROUND SINGER “RE SAILS IN THE SUNSET”,HE ;S GOT IT ON THAT. PLEASE ANSWER ME BACK
OK ,I WROTE YOU BEFORE,
JOANNE
Email received:
I’m wondering how do I set up a raping audition.
My reply:
First step would be to install spell check on your computer because I think you meant to say “rapping”.
Oriental Land Co., Ltd.
Cirque du Soleil Theatre Tokyo
“ZED” to Close
URAYASU, CHIBA—Oriental Land Co., Ltd. and Cirque du Soleil have reached anagreement to indefinitely close the Cirque du Soleil Theatre Tokyo, located in Tokyo Disney Resort®. Performances of ZED will end on December 31, 2011.
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