Sunday

StreetcredMusic: Rita Castor, The Music 'Business'.

First off thanks to my friend, Pete Carma, for again opening up his blog to let us speak out, when, and take it from me...nobody else will.

Pete likes to be brief and to the point on this blog, so here it is.

 My name is Rita Castor, no wait that's a lie. I work for a music corporation. So for me to be on social media as my 'real life' self, would lead to gosh knows what.
I have been selling, promoting, producing and working hand in hand with musicians, singers, songwriters, and wannabe's for 11 years...under the corporate structure.

Me, 1982
I call it the music 'business' because if you think you are an artist, especially if you are indie, think again. It is a business like all others, I like to think of it as selling shampoo, you may have great hair, but who will see it, who will by your shampoo?

My goal here is to follow Pete's idea when he created this blog, and always be positive.
But as he and I talk all the time, I see so many young people aspiring to get ahead by, if you excuse the Wharton, spending more than they earn. This is a no win situation in so many ways.

Here are a few: and keep in mind, if you have a day gig and make a great salary, and music is a hobby or a pastime...stop reading here.

If not, think about this...if your expenses are too high, like paying a manager, a publicist, producers, mixers, and the return on all that is less then the cost, you are operating at a loss ( business sense) not only in money...
you are probably living in a place not suitable, not being able to play the non paying gigs, because you have to pay your band, so getting 'out there' is a problem...your creativity suffers when you have to take work that takes you from what you love...to PAY OTHERS!

I'll be writing again here on Streetcred....but let me leave you with this thought, cause I have to be brief... Pete Carma had his butt sitting down with three CEO's of record factories, two years ago, and he never wrote a song, or performed anywhere, what he did was believe in the women he was trying to help break out...so I guess he believes in some of you more that you believe in yourselves????
No?
...then stop paying people who say they can help, for a part of the income you don't have to spare...get a subway pass and knock on some doors. Send emails, but get in the face of some people who can help. Jump over the PR expense, I know! I do this for a living, and if someone contacts me directly, I will give them a shot, I will listen to them.



Grow a pair, for every gig, make phone calls, send emails, NOT FORMAL PRESS RELEASES, personally plead you case to get the people you want to see you to your show!!

Not a bad idea to greet people on their way in and out, instead of hangin with your friends who got in free and will never buy your shit!!

Bye.





Friday

The Missing Links Part II. Cezara Lucia Vladescu, Jade Simmons

She calls herself the missing link between classic and jazz. and "The face of the new era"
I agree.  Cezara Lucia Vladescu
She is a breath of fresh air in music, outspoken, creative and beautiful.

"They were coming towards me. Looking worried. I didn't understand "why". Obviously they all knew the answer. So why worry when you know. My worriedness suddenly became pleasant. I guess one can always fight the unpleasant by having bigger worries.
Bigger worries became the key to all my problems.
Thank God I have a lot of those. "

 Cezara Lucia Vladescu
 GR8 video, Enjoy this wonderful musician:: 'It Looks Like Rain'

                           *************************************************

Jade Simmons  Entrepreneur, teacher, writer, motivator, mom, amazing pianist. Her latest project in music is 'Rachmaninoff to Rap'.

"We're only human. We have a ton of excuses. Just do your best to constantly misplace them so that you can never find them when you're most desperately looking for one"

'Superwoman' Jade Simmons
        GR8 video, Enjoy::'Boss's Nova'


          Check out......  Missing Links Pt 1

Follow, Cezara Lucia Vladescu:: HERE           Follow, Jade Simmons:: HERE


follow me:: Pete Carma

StreetcredMusic: Photo of the Year 2014

This is it, my choice for best photo of 2014.

>My photo of the year?? Every year it's the photo with the most meaning, time and place, people involved and the significance it had on the blog...Emotion is most important, the quality of the photo is secondary.

............AND the winner is:

Me and Greta Panettieri, Rockwood Music Hall, Nov 2014
 This to me is who we are. Eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder. For five years we have worked together, and been friends. We have had things fall apart, plans that we made, but we always made them turn out better in the long run.

Whether her messages started out 'bad news' or 'top secret', we were always on the same page.
She's one of those people who 'get' life. She inspired me to do this blog and as a result I have helped two hundred or so artists. We have always supported each other.....and most of all this blog never would have gotten off the ground without her contributions.
         That's just a few of the many reasons this is my
                  ............ 'Photo of the Year' 2014.
                                            Grazie di tutto, mia stupenda amica
                    **********************************************************

Here's her: FB page  give her a 'like' and tell her I sent you!

Photo by: Sam Teichman

follow me:: Pete Carma

Tuesday

StreetcredMusic: Three Final Pics, for Photo of the Year 2014

Got it down to 3......... the three photos in the running for StreetcredMusic's Photo of 2014.
Chosen by me. I'll choose the winner in a day or two.

 >My photo of the year?? Every year it's the photo with the most meaning, time and place, people involved and the significance it had on the blog...Emotion is most important, the quality of the photo is secondary. The three remaining are:

Yula Beeri at the CD release extravaganza, for Kiss Slash Crooked Smile's 'Ethereal Dance'

               
Photo by Erin Pellnat

Me and Greta Panettieri, when she returned to New York City, 5 years after we first met.
     ...At the place we met Rockwood Music Hall. November 2014.

Photo by Sam Teichman


....and last but not least, a selfie, no story here, just friends.
                       ...me and Yuli Beeri

Photo by Yuli


follow me:: Pete Carma

Thursday

StreetcredMusic:: Tessa Lena, Strange Love in the Time of Kali Yuga.

Tessa Lena, my friend who writes so wonderfully, and has amazing insight that is really hard to find in young artists today, shares this with us::

Tessa Makes Love
Strange Love In The Time Of Kali Yuga::

You live until you are a fully developed, grown-up. And then you start asking questions.
Like, why do I believe in things that I believe in? All those things: love, society, religion, money, death?
Pause it for a sec. I was so smart, so carefree and so lucky, how did pain happen? No, seriously. To me? To me. No.

When my parents paraded their wounds and taught me that life was hard, I laughed. My life was easy, I knew all the answers. They warned me that I should get my head out of the clouds. I laughed.
I moved all the way across the ocean to get away from their gloom, their unfulfillment. Life is full of irony – I repeated many of their mistakes. I turned out to be their daughter.


And when I faced real fear and real loneliness (the type that doesn’t go away after you mutter “Om, Om goddamit!”, my parents’ fears were ever so happy to re-unite with my own. Then I understood.
Through pain, I learned that everything came at a price. I learned  that my freedom was a very expensive thing. I should’ve known that it wasn’t just a metaphor.

So many things have happened since I ran away and into my future. My future has started a long time ago. A simple enumeration of my life’s facts reads like a Hollywood movie – as if I did it on purpose, and it freaks me out. I didn’t.  It was not supposed to be me. My life was supposed to be smooth and easy. Is it the way it works for… everyone?
Wait, God. Why did my parents parade their wounds? And my parents’ parents? And so on, like a Russian doll? From one generation to another, passing a bowl of poison with the best intentions in the world?

My parents… Were they happy when they were younger? Did they also assume that their lives were going to be different? I don’t even want to think about it. I know the answer and it is giving me chills.
“Break the spell,  – I whisper to my heart. -  I should be fearless. I should break free. I will bite, I will love, I will love and I will bite. Because without love, nothing makes sense. And if they try to steal my strength, I will bite like a street dog. I am all worked up. You can unpause...

You live until you are a fully developed grown-up. And then you start asking questions.
Like, why do I believe in things that I believe in? All those things: love, society, religion, money, death? And suddenly, facts hit you like a fist of steel.
You realize that most of the things that you have taken in with your mother’s milk, are a collection of folklore. Random approximations, inaccurate statements seeded with a possibility for love.
Kali Yuga is not a joke.

Your heart is visibly bleeding as your perfect self is absolutely calm and unshakable. You look around. You keep a tally:
Religion::: tampered with.
Society:::a sum of individual dreams and fears. A drive for respect. Beautiful people. Largely clueless, and often envious.
Love::: photo shopped.
Sex:  medicated.

>>And there you stand, agape and alone, as a thousand commercials for panaceas for broken people are trying to invite themselves to the party.
This is not good, you think. And you realize that you are your own god, in addition to the one above. But even that, even that – you have already heard that somewhere, and the privilege cost you $1,999 plus hotel.The speaker was charming.

...And you realize that you are your own god, in addition to the one above. That you are one, and you are all. That you know nothing and it’s a promise.
                              **************************************************

 Tessa Makes Love, is #1 on the Reverb Nation Experimental music charts in NYC.
To view all Tessa's articles here on my blog, type 'Tessa Lena' in the search box above.

Photo credit: D. Sharon Pruitt

follow me:: Pete Carma

StreetcredMusic. I'd like you to meet, Susana Raya, Songstress

 'Wind Rose' is the new project of the Spanish singer and guitarist Susana Raya.

Pete, thanks for your support.
 "I have been learning, touring and making music around the world for the past 15 years. Now I want to share my own songs, influenced by all the treasures I have found on my way"
                              *************************************** 

Considered by the jazz critic and historian Ted Gioia as “the Andalusian Eva Cassidy”, Susana Raya is a songwriter, classical trained on guitar, European awarded winning jazz singer and jazz guitarist, a graduate of the  Conservatory of Amsterdam.
 
Ms Raya has a new creation, and we all can be part of it::
 

Susana Raya
This wonderful project (album) is being funded here:: 'Wind Rose' by Susana Raya

We will be posting more on Ms Raya, for sure..         follow her here: Susana Raya FB page
 
follow me:: Pete Carma

Saturday

Tessa Lena, The Past and Future of....The Music Industry.

 Tessa Lena,
...my friend, who writes with a wit and an intellect that I love...here is her, 'Past and Future of the Music Industry'

If I hear another mid-level marketing professional claim expertise in “the future of the music industry”, I am going to have a fit. Then again, if I were selling colored pasta, I would definitely go to every conference and talk about how colored pasta is the future.
Yesterday, I wrote a massive blog on the subject that is still unfinished. In the meanwhile, here is a brief, cursory overview of the “past of music industry” that, I believe, sheds light on how limited and, let me say this out loud, masturbatory, those conversations about the future are.


“Because I think” (bwahahahaha).
1877. Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. He figures that a good way to create a demand for his devices is music records. He doesn’t credit musicians on his records because he thinks it’s not about musicians but about his technology. Initially, there are three big manufactures of devices of this type (although technically, they are different devices using three different types of record). Each manufacturer has a “record label”. They use music because music gives regular people a reason to buy their devices.

Then radio becomes a thing. People who sell radios start competing with people who sell record players, both use music as an incentive to sell their devices. Eventually, two broadcasting companies (i.e., people who sell radios) buy two leading manufacturers of record players, while Thomas Edison goes out of business.
Radio people also figure out to make money on ads while attracting listeners with music.


 In the meanwhile, vinyl becomes a thing. People who sell vinyl start competing with people who sell radios. Then tape recording devices, then CDs and CD playing devices, then Apple, then developers of torrent technologies, then streaming companies. Seems like throughout recent history, every single technology used music simply to sell their shit. To every single one of them, artists are a “resource”. Bigger artists are a more expensive resource. Artists with less clout are a faceless mass.
Spotify. #thatsongwhen campaign. Awwwww. Bullshit! They try to leech on the idea of freedom and fuzzy feelings, too, while they have absolutely nothing to do with generating it. They are a DEVICE. A MACHINE. A ROBOT.

(I am not touching publishing and other income streams here because it would take me another day to type. But seriously.)
Reason I am taking the time to state the obvious?
For one, I believe that the world is not in its best state, and it can be made better, and secondly, I believe that in order to fix any problem, one needs to get to the bottom of it and address the way things are talked about. Anything can be justified with words: abuse, environmental pollution, disrespect, genocide, dehumanization. Masters of the words are masters of the business models. It’s been done since the dawn of mankind, and the only way to resist verbal predators is to not budge.
Bad language creates fog. Stating the obvious in simple language removes fog, it’s as simple as that.
The naked emperor is not very strong.
                              *************************************************

 Tessa fronts the experimental band: 'Tessa Makes Love'
...........they are currently #1 on Reverb Nations Experimental charts in NYC.

follow me:: Pete Carma

Monday

'Artists in New York', Part XV, Songstress, Keren Botaro

My 'Artists in New York' series...Part XV
Some of the wonderful women in my 'Artists in New York' series, I tracked down after seeing them on youtube, or seeing them live...some have contacted me as a result of them seeing my blog. And some, I have met under circumstances that just seemed to be fate.

This wonderful songstress fits the 'fate' scenario. When you walk in to a kitchen and there she sits,
that's fate!

 Keren Botaro

I can usually tell within 8 seconds if someone is cool or not, she not only passed the 8 second test, but the jackpot for me is her music. She has the voice, and the style that I love. She's a 21st Century songstress with just enough ole school brashness to make it all work!

                                                   'Artists In New York'
Keren Botaro:

Pete... here's my story:
"Israeli girl, moved to Boston after my family relocated from Israel (I joined them two years later since I was on tour in Europe at that time), after about a week in Boston, and because I visited Time Square a year before and vowed to come back, I decided to move to New York City, so I packed a suitcase and got on the bus. Thirteen years later I'm still here, singing, writing, performing (A lot) and living all kinds of versions of the dream I had when I first moved here".
"Living in NYC, this melting pot of art, culture and people, brought me experiences that led to so much growth both personally and artistically. I was able to go on tour with Alicia Keys as an opening act, I was introduced to acting and took a 2 year conservatory with the renowned William Esper, which influenced my entire singing and songwriting style". 

Keren Botaro
"My music is a mash of so many styles because I've lived in two different countries and traveled a lot, so my musical influences are very eclectic. I love blues and soul, classic rock and jazz (I front a 17 piece Big Band orchestra), and so I try to combine as many of these styles as I can in my songs. 
To me, the emotional component is the most important aspect of a song so I always start with that.

Most of the songs I write come from personal experiences and actually become a piece of my life, like a photo you can come back and look at. I love performing and I do that a lot here in NYC. Connecting with people in a live setting is my favorite thing to do".
                                              Enjoy, Video:: Keren: 'The Only One'

I ask two questions of all the artists in this series>
1. If you were leaving Earth and could only take one album with you, which would you take?
Keren: 'If I had to leave Earth and were allowed to take only one album it would probably have to be "These Songs For You, Live" by Donny Hathaway. It is an amazing live album by one of my favorite artists and it completely changed the way I approach songs.

2. If you could work with anyone, who would you choose?
Keren: If I could perform with anyone it would be Johnny Cash. I don't know why but I just love him!! I mean, besides the fact that he is no longer living on this planet (small, minor obstacle), ever since I discovered him and his music I was transfixed. I feel his earthiness and his truthfulness and his simplicity and pain. so yeah...Johnny Cash. 
                      *******************************************************
Keren has a couple of gigs coming up:: Thursday Dec 11th, 2014
                        Rockwood Music Hall, NYC  11PM
                                          
               and::       Sunday December 21st, 2014  9 PM at the Shrine, in Harlem 
Keren also performs with her band 'Keren and the Sugar Daddys' and with New York Big Band!

Get her schedule on::  Her FB page, here 
Or her web site;  Keren Botaro, HERE

 My thanks to Keren, for letting my readers get to know another of the great talents NYC  has to offer!
..................and stay tuned here for more from this 'Artist in New York'

follow me:: Pete Carma

                

Sunday

StreetcredMusic: Tessa Lena, On Derogatory Words.

Sometimes you go about your day and do normal, everyday things, and then there is a sudden crack in the context and you think, wtf?


Like, a juxtaposition of that trashy Nicki Minaj video I quoted recently, and a print ad inside a philharmonic program: "Luxury holiday crafted for travelers with a passion for the arts, music, conversation, and theater". And how is class warfare a conspiracy theory?

While the ghetto folk (quote) "sit on their big butts and stare at the titties", the sophisticated folk are having gently curated, vanity-flavored conversations. Both are mercilessly leeched and guided into impotence. 
Yikes!

On a side note, if I were a hypothetical, sci-fi evil tyrant filled with contempt for nature and indigenous, non-Roman cultures, I would be very pleased with celebrated individuals of African descent publicly jumping up and down like lobotomized clowns and calling themselves "RICH NIGGAZ" and "BOSS NIGGAZ" (that be a quote from Nicki Minaj's official lyrics video). Just saying.
                              *************************************************
Tessa Lena:: Tessa Makes Love is #1 on Reverb Nation's Experimental Music Charts in NYC!

Follow Tessa:: HERE

Follow me:: Pete Carma

Friday

Great Book From, The Maestro, Cidinho Teixeira

The book: Brazilian Rhythm on the Keyboard is from Cidinho Teixeira

....if you are familiar with the Jazz scene in New York City, or if you are a musician this book is a must have for you.

...I met Cidinho through my friendship with Greta Panettieri, the one and only, 'Diva'.
...Just this last week in NYC, they were united for two sets at The Zinc Bar, where they were residence for years on Sunday, 'Brazilian Nights'

...at 72 Cidinho was brilliant as ever, a great show.

The book is an invaluable source of the genius and experience of a master, Cidinho.

link to,  BOOK


..here is a sample of their work at hand...Vocals Greta, Keys, of course, Cidinho Teixeira,
Itaiguara Brandao, bass, and Mauricio Zottrelli, drums.

 Here is a video of the maestro::  Cidinho

You can get the Book Here


                                                            

StreetcredMusic, Introducing, 'Fond Of Rudy'

I came across a band from the UK, this week, 'Fond of Rudy'.
I thought they would be a good fit with what I do here, support young independent artists.
So, here they are::

 'Fond Of Rudy'

Matt Ahwal: from the band...
  "Okay sooo 'Fond Of Rudy'…between the four of us, we mix together a blend of Rock, Indie-Pop and slightly Alternative music. We're a band of four members (Matt, Paul, Tom and Billy) and every individual draws different musical influences to the 'Creation Station' let's call it…haha.

Billy's drums and Tom's bass provide a solid cement for our music, which is layered with further live percussion and synthesized samples.   (All of our own work of course!)

Once described as "Wolf like" vocals with a hint of reverberated harmonies, breezy riffage and keys are placed on top of the rhythmic base, which creates a unique sound for our music. Although saying this... what genre our music can be best placed in, we leave down to listeners…we don't particularly know ourselves! 

Already in motion are plans for the release of our debut EP, with a campaign for the release 'TBA' and kicking off shortly…watch this space! 

A big old rethink to our outlook and performance has been ongoing over the past year with some exciting new sounds being produced as a result. We hope to portray these new sounds to new/old/live audiences with the release of the EP. ...One step at a time. For our next challenge…a campaign and the studio!"
                       ************************************************
 That's the 411 so far, now enjoy their music, and as Matt said, you'll be seeing more of them here!
       
                                        Fond Of Rudy, video:: 'To Be Mine'

follow: 'Fond Of Rudy' HERE

follow me:: Pete Carma

Tuesday

Tessa Lena, On Rebellion?

 We gave them the idea that consuming is an act of defiance.” These words from The Target Shoots First are burning in my blood, making me desperate that I am here on this Earth, face to face with a million awful and lovable zombies. A couple of days ago a friend posted on his Facebook, “I am a Rock’n’Roll rebel”. When I read this I became angry, because rebellion has been sold to the rats. Please, honey. Shopping at Trash and Vaudeville is not rebellion

 'Tessa Makes Love'

 I grew up in the Soviet Union and I remember the slight feeling of danger associated with alternative clothing or non-government music. But here on the East Coast, a rocker outfit is not a risk factor. What rebellion? Co-branded liberation is an oxymoron. Those bastards set a profit margin on everything including love and punk rock! What do I do?

It feels like I’ve lived for a hundred years. I’ve seen this story so many times…shiny eyes, early college, do the band thing, cool friends, face reality, need money, get a job, realize that the band thing was just a fun thing to do, and be totally cool with it. I am all grown up, I don’t think there is anything wrong with this story because it only means that they can live without it for now but…

But zombies!
When I hear high school kids bring up fashion rebellion, I see a boring marketing room and cynical people talking about zombie strategies and a tasty bottom line.
No, honey, you are not a Rock’n 'Roll rebel. You are a sweet child who has been lied to.

 Follow:: Tessa Lena    and on :: Facebook

follow me: Pete Carma

Wednesday

The Missing Links, Classic/Jazz and Rachmaninoff/Rap ~Cezara Lucia Vladescu, Jade Simmons

SheSaid/SheSaid..Two of the best at what they do...worlds apart, but music knows no borders.

Cezara Lucia Vladescu, from Romania, has called herself the 'missing link' between Classic and Jazz.
...and if you watch the way her compositions flow from one to the other, you have to agree.

 
Cezara Lucia Vladescu
I love watching her...
Here is my favorite composition of hers to illustrate, that 'Missing Link' Enjoy 'EPA'  

                           88888888888888888888888888888888888888888

...............if we move some 6,000 miles east, back in the US of A....One of America's best Ambassadors, Jade Simmons who's current project (and it's difficult to keep up with what all she does) is another wonderful 'bridge' she is building...'Rachmaninoff to Rap'.

Jade Simmons
...enjoy Jade with Rachmaninoff Prelude C- sharp minor

Jade has played at The White House, and if memory serves me she played Rachmaninoff's piano in Saint Petersburg, Russia, while she was there as a commentator for the Tchaikovsky Competition. 

Here is: 'Missing Links' Part II

Follow Jade Media: HERE                          Follow Cezara Lucia, HERE


follow me::  Pete Carma


Tuesday

StreetcredMusic: Let Me Introduce, Bonnie Legion.

A new exciting artists from the Left Coast, Bonnie Legion.


Bonnie:: Hi Pete...
"My name is Shavon, I started out making music about seven years ago, under the name, sounds like Shavon, doing primarily original acoustic material, I won several online contest and hooked up with several groups and producers creating music in various genres.  Through a long struggle trying to find my sound and place I made a big jump, and switched to the Alter Ego Bonnie Legion.    Bonnie for me represents the rebel, fitting inside no box or single genre, Legion representing the army of emotions and voices in my head.   I work in genre's such as Deep House, progressive house, trip hop, Hip Hop, Grime, Contemporary Piano, Pop and more...Traveling around the world and working with artists and labels from all over such as MB Sak, Luca Grignaffini, Uedra, Chrisville, Qrittx, Paul Oakenfold, Musical Noize, Perfecto Records and more....I just recently signed a track with Sony Records Mexico, Ultra and Armada's sub label Starlight Records.   Music is an everyday thing for me, its my life, the way I choose to express my deep feelings and emotions toward just about everything.   I'm full of empathy, and wide ocean of emotion, like a sponge I soak up everything around me and music is my outlet for release. My songs are full of hope, love, fear, exploration and freedom, on a journey toward Liberation from a hard past.  
 
Bonnie's Video::UEDRA
Bonnie Legion
I think of myself as a musical chameleon able to hear a track and find something completely unique and perfectly fitting to that feel or production vibe. This ability has given me great success over the past years, a rapidly growing fan base, and so many projects collaboration requests I can hardly keep up anymore.   My goal is to reach a wide audience of people, inspire folks to never give up, believe in themselves, stand up and fight for who they are and there beliefs.  I want to make people feel, I want to make people think.  I want to make music for the rest of my life".   
 
 

Bonnie's...web page here                 Bonnie's FB... page here:
Latest releases::: HERE! 
Youtube:: Page Here!

My thanks to Bonnie for letting my readers get to know her, I'm sure there will be much more coming from this wonderful songstress...

follow me:: Pete Carma



Monday

The History of New York City, by Me, Pete Carma

Summer 1944, I was born in Bronx Hospital. Fulton Avenue, 169th Street.


1955, 'Doo Wop' music was what life was all about for a kid in the South Bronx. Singin in hallways, hallways that were all marble, built turn of the 20th Century. Of course Tito Puente, and the Latin bands were still cool too. We knew nothing of white music, the Perry Como's, the Doris Day's.
We had access to WADO Radio out of Harlem, something the NBC's and CBS's of the world feared most, a break through of minority music. Their sponsors would not hear of that.
Our heroes in music were never heard on national radio, and TV, no chance.

VIDEO:: "The Teenagers"

The neighborhoods were all changing in the 50's...The Italians, the Jews, and the Irish were taking flight to Long Island, and Westchester County, and some to Florida....(and NYPD cops walked a beat, alone.) Me, we were not financially able to relocate in the 50's.

The Bronx, and Brooklyn where I spent lots of time were going through changes that did not sit well with a large majority of older folks. The exodus of the middle class also caused the city to go into a state of dysfunction. Schools, business, were starting to run down, because they would not respond to the integration, they resisted. You could still at this point in time, in some newspapers or Jet Magazine, yes in NYC 1950's read about lynchings in other states.

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
Alan Freed came along and had a radio show on WINS, and guess what he played?.. music we could identify with, black groups, and a guy named Jackie Wilson.

Then came the 1960's. The decade aside from the 1860's when the Civil War was fought, that changes America more than any other. Young people had...had enough. We did everything we could to rebel.
Smoked weed, did acid, walked barefoot, the women went bra less, everyone had long unruly hair, and we campaigned for candidates that also wanted change. Bob Dylan lead that fight.

The words of Dylan

Bob Dylan

In the 60's New York City lost it's self esteem. Empty apartment buildings, vacant businesses, an administration that refused to clean the streets, police the parks and subways...this all lead to a crime ridden city of Wall Street, Fifth Avenue and a series of Ghettos.

Alphabet City, the area of Avenues A.B,C,D from Houston Street to 14th Street, had a patrol of Missionaries that went through each morning to pick up corpses that had OD'd or been shot the night before. It was a haven for the drug dealers from Columbia and Cuba.

Young people were to blame!! That's what the establishment position was. Well, the young took it to them. We occupied, Universities, police stations, parks and streets, in a peaceful attempt to get change. To the youngsters of today, nothing you can read, can ever explain the total changes that took place in the 1960's..it was truly a 'movement' lead by young people, a feeling, a calling.

Occupy Columbia U 1968
Ahhh, but then came the 1970's. The yuppie class who had moved to Yonkers, Long Island, Connecticut, now realized the after the gas purge of OPEC, and the price of gas tripling and over population causing massive traffic on their routes to and from the 'golden goose' of Manhattan, AND the railroads they might use as their alternate mode of commuting were so out dated and dilapidated
they were wasting 20 hours a week getting to work, and the cost of it was now making a difference. Hmmm they needed a solution. Soooooo...

In the 80's the money makers and the politically connected purchased whole blocks of the vast ghetto areas, and the city bent over backwards for them, to lock up the tax revenue they would bring.
This was the dirge for the neighborhoods that we knew in Manhattan. The candy store, the local grocer, the TV repair guy and all other 'Mom & Pops' could not pay the corporate rentals and carry the insurance they were compelled to carry:: They were forced out. The family of three or four being able to afford an apartment in Manhattan was gone. This was the start of a time you could live in a building and not know or ever speak to anyone else in the joint. I grew up knowing everyone for a two or three block area, this was a sad time for me...I moved back to Las Vegas.


For real, that's what the subway looked like.
...and the city you see now, is the product of all that...Whole Foods, Starbucks, you know the deal, just whip out that credit card and get in line.
When I was a kid, the grocer, Mr Feldman, had a black composition notebook, I would go in, buy groceries, he would add it up and put it in the book....and Friday my dad would go in and settle up for the week...
YEAH, in my lifetime...OK that's NYC History as I saw it.....Hey you better go put some money in the parking meter....1980.

Video:::NYC 4AM

follow me:: Pete Carma


Sunday

StreetcredMusic..wants to tell you bout 'Livestream'

A friend of mine, a wonderful creator, artist, thinker, illustrator, and lovely person, Liz Emirzian asked me to help get the word out on something new in New York City.
Something that is right up my alley, helping young artists.

They will help you get you creations of music, art, sculpture or what ever else you are involved with..'out there'.

They call themselves Livestream Public .

Livestream, 195 Morgan St. Bklyn.


Liz Emirzian:
Hey there,
Here's a short description about the space:
Livestream Public is an event and educational space located in Bushwick, inside the Livestream NYC Headquartrs. We hold events, meetups, conferences, performances, shows, focusing in showcasing interesting events and people. We have a stage room equipped with livestream production equipment, as well as classrooms and a larger performance space. We offer food and beer through Fitzcarroldo our independently owned on site restaurant, complete with inside and outdoor seating. We are excited about collaborating with talented and innovative people to create unique experiences for our community! 
 
 
Livestream
     
             ********************************************************************
 
The adjoining restaurant:: Fitzcarroldo..
 
 
 
195 Morgan Street, Bklyn
 

 
So there you have it, people who 'get it'. Hold your event and have the option to 'Livestream'
 
 
 
follow me:: Pete Carma
 

Monday

StreetcredMusic..'SheSaid~~SheSaid' Greta Panettieri---Zap Mama, 'Parole'

Parole Parole: The song was originally performed by Mina and Alberto Lupo.
 The lyrics were written by Leo Chiosso and Giancarlo Del Re, the authors of the Italian Teatro 10 series of TV variety nights. The music and the score were by Gianni Ferrio, the conductor of the "Teatro 10" orchestra. In Spring 1972, the song was the closing number of all eight of the "Teatro 10" Saturday nights.

Now 42 years later, here is Greta's Bakery featuring Greta Panettieri with the tune and video, from their album that has sold out in Italy, 'Non Gioco Piu'

Enjoy this great video: 'Parole Parole' HERE

The Amazing Diva, Greta Panettieri.

                       ***************************************************

.. The song's theme are hollow words. It intertwines the female singer's lamentation of the end of love and the lies she has to hear, while the male actor simply speaks. She reacts and scoffs at the compliments that he gives her, calling them simply empty words – parole.

Now enjoy the wonderful interpretation by  Zap Mama
 'Parole' watch video HERE, Zap Mama

Zap Mama, Marie Daulne

 
Marie Daulne, (Zap Mama) the daughter of a Belgian man and a Congolese woman, was born in  East Zaire. Daulne's music has evolved over the years from an acapella quintet to a lead voice accompanied by instruments. "I’m a nomad. I like to discover my sound with different instruments, different genres.

             Two great 'Diva's' hope you enjoy my 'SheSaid~~SheSaid series.


follow me:: Pete Carma



Thursday

Clara Lofaro's New EP 'Air Lift Me' ...is now available

'Air Lift Me' is the latest album from New York City's favorite songstress, Clara Lofaro
...it's now available!


A video message ...   From her HERE

Get 'Air Lift Me'...HERE

 The EP includes the title tune, 'Air Lift Me'...a remixxx of her Bilboard Top 20 Hit
 'Born To Love You'....'Lightning Bolts'....and a show stopper, 'Real Love'...

 ...and the featured tune, which Clara has made into a lyric video for us, 'Slow Burn'.

This is the tune that satisfies the 'mandate' that Clara's fans ask of her. They look for the tune that I would refer to as a cleanser.  This is the one where she let's it all go, from the gut. Her body and soul, a very personal lyric, put to the always unforgettable melodies she just seems to release time after time.

Enjoy the video:::  'SLOW BURN'

The album is available::: Air Lift Me..HERE
         follow Clara on ::  Facebook HERE


follow me::  Pete Carma




Friday

Artists In New York, Part XIV, Mariana J. Plick.

Just recently, I had the opportunity to finally spend some time getting to know a young woman I had seen perform with Yula Beeri several times. Her name is Mariana J. Plick.

                              
Mariana J. Plick   Cirque Squelettique
Music, the Punk Music of Yula &the eXtended Family is what brought all of us together, well here,
as I like to do for my readers, I'll let Mariana (Annie) tell you her story::

       Hi Pete,
I'm a circus performer and director. After residing in Philadelphia, then New York City, I moved to Montréal. While practicing in New York City, I enrolled in a professional program at Circus Warehouse, a circus training facility which trains acrobats. TheHiveNYC is my artistic home.

The Hive is resolution. In New York City, a casino of dreams, artists habitated for decades in a mecca of creativity. With an expensivity incline, higher priced housing, and the foundations of capital enterprise, such people now find an inhospitable economic environment there. The natural environment itself in New York suffered losses, trees dying amidst concrete body bounds in sidewalks littered by refuse and vomit.

 Not all of the city embodies this view, but a lot of the terrain speaks exactly to such dystopian visions. Those for whom creativity evolves of empathy and emotion encounter difficulties for such to flourish while crammed into a metal subway car in direct proximity to several drained individuals, whose vision for their lives in New York bespoke something so far from what they've managed to find there. 

Mariana with Yula&XFM, at Rockaway Beach.
In such a place, The Hive embodies a safe space to create art and relationships. In a small space of time I watched it grow into a beautiful theater, through which many aspiring artists of New York found ground to grow their visions. I met Yula through friends in the punk/music scene between Philadelphia and New York. My friend Kriss Marchena was managing Yula and the eXtended Family for a time, and they invited our friends from Philadelphia to The Hive to meet and discuss how to link our ideas together, reinforcing the dendrites between us so as to support one another. At the end of the night Yula played piano, which is always the most inspiring sound to hear.

I met Jason Yellen while at the Hive, on a day I made a video with Yula, Sarah Zar, and some others. He had actually read poetry at the first event I produced/directed in Philadelphia, called The Elegant Skeleton at Bookspace, an eccentric concoction of circus, poetry, and music. I began a mini Hive in Philadelphia at Bookspace for a Summer with the help of some friends, but once I moved to New York it was absorbed back into the ensconces of the city.

Ahhhhh, Mariana at The HiveNYC
One particular aspiration that The Hive supported: Cirque Squelettique. The project simply would not have existed without The Hive. Cirque Squelettique collects ideas and transports them into the corporeal. I wrote a movement narrative, Cirque Skeletique, which embodies the first full length incarnation of these ideas. This show grows through the lens of post-modernist critiques on bio political engineering, security culture, fascism, and other oppressive forces in societies such as New York City. The skills involved ranged from sword swallowing, belly dance, shurikan card/knife throwing, freak show, aerial acrobatics, contortion, illusionism, juggling, break dancing, and more. The show ran for three nights at The Hive, and one night in Philadelphia. My goal is to create commentary on how I see these things affecting us, and to traverse the terrain between the voiceless and unvoiced, to the public.

These ideas are still formulating and won't be tangible to the extent I would like for a little while, but I plan to focus much more on trees. 
                             ***********************************************

Amazing....another wonderfully creative spirit who calls TheHiveNYC 'home'.
...my thanks to Mariana for her words about 'Artists in NYC' and The Hive, and the amazing founder of it..... Yula Beeri...and it's life's blood, Jason Yellen.


follow:: Mariana at:: Cirque Squelettique

.........to see all the others in this series, type  'Artists in New York' in the search box.

follow me:: Pete Carma



Sunday

A Distinctive Coma...StreetcredMusic, Pete Carma

dis·tinc·tive~
adjective: distinctive

characteristic of one person or thing, and so serving to distinguish it from others.


 The topic of conversation on a trip to New York City about a year ago, as the vino was flowing, it was the cheap stuff, in a bar of no importance. 


"If you were in a coma, could music help you OUT"...well I don't know if it would help me out but...


I know there are three voices I could hear that I would certainly respond to. Voices that will make my emotions, if you have any in a coma, respond to. They are truly the most distinctive to me::



Mary Travers



Mary Travers the unbelievable sound of  depth and protest of my youth. I Can never shake that sound that 'Rang Out' through the 1960's. Standing tall as a singer and artist and a civil rights giant.


Investigated by Nixon and the House Un American Activities Committee, never stopped her from speaking out. 


   Video~~                             
They had a hammer, and used it.



Another voice I would hear and maybe respond to:: A guy who went from a tenor to a who knows what..but surrounded himself with the best musicians on the planet, and had the best arrangements written by the best at what they did, and recited the American Song Book as no other.




 
Francis Albert Sinatra


 ...he gave the audience what they clamored for, great music with class and respect.


                  Sinatra:: here with Count Basie/Quincy Jones....'Fly Me To...'


                                     *****************************************




Last and by no means least, If I really were in a coma, and this is a binding document here, this is the voice I want you to play~~Who else?? The Diva....Greta Panettieri   



 
Me and Greta NYC, 2012

  What she does with music is take it to a level where it is more than just for the ear. 


She sends out messages of happiness, and a visual of sheer joy. A phenomenal women with a musical talent very few can claim. 

 Here is her latest, there are so many I wanted to show::this is from her new CD..'Non Gioco Piu'
which has sold out in Italy..This is a 21st Century revival of a Mina tune from 40 years ago.

ENJOY:: 'Parole Parole'  

......That's it my 'Living Will' before you pull the plug give me a shot of Greta Panettieri  

.........make it a 'double'.





for now you can follow me here::Pete Carma