Evan Jacobson

Posts Tagged ‘itunes’

Pictured above:  My 9-year-old Espresso machine, frothing pitchers, mugs, and the actual hi-quality, originally mastered CD.

Creating original music is an art and takes time. It’s not possible to teach someone how to be original. Similarly, teaching “voice” in my English Class is challenging. Voice represents something fresh and original; Moreover, voice is the character and narrator speaking to the reader. I don’t have a magical formula for voice, but I can show examples of it…The same analogy holds true for music. I’ve been a musician for almost 3 decades. During that time, I’ve practiced my drums to the best of my ability, attended hundreds of live performances, watched many instructional videos, taught private drum lessons, and ACTIVELY listened to every musical genre. Generally speaking, active listening is becoming a dying art, but it is a way to develop voice. People seem to be more stimulated by visuals, distractions, and overkill. More specifically, I have about 12,000 songs on my ipod. I’ve listened to most of them; I know they are embedded within my ears, DNA, right brain, and hopefully feeding my creative juices. Ipods are great, but the ability to overload them with tons of lesser-quality recorded music is problematic for me. Perhaps, I’m old school and really cherish my elaborate stereo system comprised of separate components. When comparing vinyl or CD to a compressed MP3, the quality on my stereo system is surreal–naturally, that is coming from my objective opinion. Many of my friends have incredible stereo systems, but it requires quality time to sit down, pay attention, and actively listen. In contrast, the ipod is cute, transportable, convenient, and ingenious on many levels–a shout out to Apple…
What does this have to do with voice and creating original music? When I’m not teaching English, I’m always listening and creating music. Inspiration comes from a myriad of places, many of which I mentioned earlier. At other times, inspiration can come from a dream. Ironically, I believe that Trevor Rabin of the legendary group, YES, developed the riff for “owner of a lonely heart” while he was in the bathroom–TMI perhaps? My inspiration for my song “GIMME CHAI COMMA YO” came from my love of CHAI TEA (a popular Tea in India, a little spicy, and made with Cardamom) and teaching comma lessons during my English Classes. Starbucks sells Chai Tea either hot or cold.  I usually order it with frothy Soy and No Whipped Cream. It comma works like this: “Can you get me a glass, Tommy?” In the classroom, it is taught like this: “Gimme back my ipod yo!” It should be: “Give me back my ipod, yo (comma yo)! I’ve been teaching this lesson for years. A comma usually appears before a subject/person’s name prior to the end of a sentence. This rule was being butchered so much by my students that I decided to roll with it, and then the musical inspiration occurred… I’m not a fan of rap music (another tangential blog TBA), but it seemed like the perfect vehicle to deliver my message. I recorded all of the tracks in 2006 on a Tascam 24 track machine:

I wrote the lyrics, my awesome friend Kenny played the bass line to anchor the foundational groove, and Johnny G., played both guitar parts.  Additionally, I played all of the drums and percussion, mixed, mastered, and produced it.  It took several days and over 20 hours of time to squeeze out the final product.  It sat in my basement for awhile, and then people convinced me to get it going on itunes.  By the way, connecting all of the creativity was challenging, but I had FUN, especially singing or rapping the lyrics;  it was a labor of love.  I needed some kind of band name–I decided to use the moniker:  BREADLESSinJERSEY.  Don’t ask! Ed Levy, the Broadway guitar guy, bought this shirt for MY 40th Birthday:

Just tilt your head to the side to see the tour dates…

The title of this blog is:  Getting Rich With Music, NOT!  I love creating music and that does not always=money.  Get the Breadless reference… In fact, I made a total of…wait for it… 70 cents profit.  So, here’s the part where I beg people to download it from itunes to support your hard-working teacher, chef-wanna-be, drummer and musician.  PLEASE SUPPORT ME IN MY MUSICAL ENDEAVORS. I know you’ll enjoy the High Quality tune tremendously, and get a few laughs…  Here is how you do it:

My premiere MP3, Gimme Chai, Yo! can be purchased at any of these 3 sites:

http://www.itunes.com In the search box, type “breadless” and the song “Gimme Chai, Yo!” will appear.

http://home.napster.com/ns/music/artist.html?artist_id=12842768

http://www.emusic.com/album/BREADLESSinJERSEY-Gimme-Chai-Yo-MP3-Download/11531428.html

Thank you so much for supporting newer music.

The following picture is the last session in the NJ recording studio.  I’m so proud that

my final moments were recording with an excellent friend and musician, Kenneth

Glass.  Check him out on Facebook and go to the Scottish Widow’s gigs…

July 2010 update: I just finished recording 3 cover tunes for Kenny’s group, “Scottish Widows.” They are currently gigging in the NYC area and sporting tunes such as “The Seeker,” “Shapes of things to come,” and ”Two Tickets to Paradise,” by Eddie Money.  They have a page somewhere on Facebook.  When you find it, please let me know!  :)

On July 26, 2010, I played my final gig at MS424 with my Principal, Dr. Hughes (Bronx’s famous Johnny Seven group), Kevin (PS48), and Jose G. from the infamous Save Room.  I’m currently trying to remix the live show and will be airing those mixes very soon.  We performed:  Wipe Out, All Along the Watchtower, Wooly Booly, La Bamba/Twist & Shout, Gloria, and Johnny B.  Goode.  The gig was awesome and the students loved it.  It’s time to do some mixing magic…

I finished recording drum tracks with Antagonist/Premonition, 2009-2010. The final produced mixes will be available shortly...Check for all of these updates on Myspace. The links are provided on my page... Meanwhile, Jeff pays homage to Dio (RIP), Pete is way too serious, and the flash was too bright for my eyes to handle, but thank god for coffee!

Visit Antagonist at myspace and try not to get too offended, as our master creator has serious issues… Premonition is the alter ego of Antagonist, and the songs are much more challenging.  My double-bass playing, for example, has gone from sluggish to light speed.  Again, the final mixes are coming soon.  Thank you for your patience.

“Gimme Chai, YO!” by BREADLESSinJERSEY (my moniker) IS AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW for purchase on itunes. For 99 cents, you get to experience a very groovy, catchy tune, and chill out with Chai.  The song is also available via Napster.com Testimonial:  ”Chai is the wave of the future.  The drink is awesome and you get a grammar review to boot…” Please don’t deprive yourself any longer.  Treat yourself to a Chai– It’s really about you!

As of this writing, I made 70 cents, thanks to Tunecore.  If 3 more people buy the track from itunes, then I will have made a buck!   C’mon people–HOOK ME UP!

Meanwhile, 5 of my CD tracks (breadlessinjersery) are mixed and others are still in the works… I’ll release a CD/MP3/ASAP when I finish the remaining tracks.  Again, thank you for your patience.

Big Time Shnorrer
After the Shed, Opus 69
Wrath of the Accountant
Valet Parking

In the summer of 2008, I recorded 3 mixes for a Kiss cover band, “ALIVE.”  We recorded Cmon & love me, Parasite, and Deuce.  I think they are still together?

The final wrap up: If you want to contact me about playing drums, filling in (drummers do that), doing live sound, producing, and recording, please drop me a line: evanj31drum@hotmail.com