SoN Of ThE BlueS

The Land Of The Lakes

2009-08-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

There has just been a brand new release from the Great Lakes Crew, an unsigned Hip Hop group from
the Mid West.
17 new bangers, perfect mixtape for the summertime.
The Great Lakes Crew began performing in Toledo, OH in 2001.
This disc is a follow-up to their 2006 release, "Sing Along With the Great Lakes Crew,"
critically acclaimed and heralded by the Toledo City Paper as the year's top Hip Hop release.
Having opened for national acts such as Wale, Big Sean, One Be Lo, Digable Planets,
and Afroman, the Great Lakes Crew is well known as a staple of underground hip hop in
the great lakes region.
Often described as a "Happy Wu-Tang Clan" the Great Lakes Crew
brings energy to their performances, mixing influences of backpack and acid rap.

Track Listing:
1. Rich and Famous
2. Little Bit
3. Ball Till I Fall
4. Ninja (interlude)
5. Walk on By
6. Get it in Ohio (Interlude)
7. Cataracts
8. Hip Hop Symphony
9. Summertime
10. Disposition (Remix) w/ The Sleeps
11. Fitted Caps
12. The Other Side
13. One Gig Kid
14. Thank God (Remix) w/ Chip tha Ripper
15. Drug Years
16. Yesterday's Hero
17. Land of the Lakes (outro)

Free download available at link below...
http://www.greatlakescrew.com

How the Mighty Fall : What Not to Do

2009-05-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

HOW THE MIGHTY FALL

Bob Lefsetz on the new book - "How The Mighty Fall" by Jim Collins, and how it relates to the music business.

MTV and CDs. The combination of these two delivered a plethora of profits.

Name the great acts of the MTV era. Sure, we've got Michael Jackson and U2, but both Mr. Jackson and the band from Ireland predated MTV. Michael Jackson was famous for eons. Ultimately his "Off The Wall" album made him a solo star, but not a superstar. That was dependent on MTV. And all those videos.

During the era of "Off The Wall", MTV didn't even play black music. But once the public saw Michael moonwalk on that Motown TV special, and he danced in both "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" on MTV, suddenly, he owned the best-selling album of all time.

Was "Thriller" that much better than "Off The Wall"? Actually, many consider the latter to be better. But "Off The Wall" sold a fraction of what "Thriller" did, because it lacked TV exposure.

I just upgraded my Mac to 10.5.7. Took an hour, what with repairing permissions, using the combo update and repairing permissions again. While I was waiting, I read magazines. First "Entertainment Weekly", then "BusinessWeek".

One of the business book gurus is Jim Collins. He wrote "Good To Great", which I never read, but have observed in the best-seller listings. Normally, I'd skip over an article of this depth, but not knowing how long it would be until I had my computer back, I decided to read.

Mr. Collins was brought to West Point, where he chaired a discussion amongst military men and civilians. Had America lost its greatness, was it in decline? The attendees were split as to America's future, half optimistic and half pessimistic. But what fascinated Mr. Collins was the observation of the CEO of one of America's most successful companies during a break. This gentleman stated: "I've been thinking about your question in the context of my company all morning. We've had tremendous success in recent years and I worry about that. So what I want to know is: HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?"

This question engendered Mr. Collins' analysis, it formed the basis of his new book, "How The Mighty Fall".

The record companies were quite mighty. But they broke the first rule of Mr. Collins' book. Which he labels Stage 1: "Hubris Born Of Success".

"Stage 1 kicks in when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement, and they lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place."

Bingo! MTV and CDs.

The record execs actually believed they were geniuses, who'd found the golden formula. From now on, hit acts would all sell ten million copies, there would be untold profits!

Rather than questioning their success ("We might have been just really lucky/were in the right place at the right time..."), they believed they were entitled to it. And ultimately blamed the decline of their fortunes on P2P theft.

Make no mistake, P2P has impacted the major labels. But not as much as the decline of music on MTV, the lessening importance of radio and few good tracks on overpriced CDs.

Stage 2 of Mr. Collins' theory of corporate decline is "Undisciplined Pursuit Of More". Here we have the Tommy Mottola/Clive Davis paradigm. If TV sells CDs, let us find the most telegenic performers and craft their acts for TV consumption! Mr. Mottola ultimately lost his job and Clive was pushed aside. Neither of these consequences would have taken place if the numbers were good. But they were not. Despite massive spending, there were many fewer CD sales.

Stage 3 is "Denial Of Risk and Peril"

That's the beginning of this century. "Those in power start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility". It was the damn Internet, IT RUINED OUR BUSINESS!

But what WAS the label's business? Manufacturing overpriced two-dimensional product for sale on television and Top Forty radio?

Stage 4 is "Grasping For Salvation". "The critical question is: How does leadership respond? By lurching for quick salvation or by getting back to the disciplines that brought about greatness in the first place?"

We've got Universal investing in the Farm Club and MP3.com and now Vevo. Is that their core mission?

We've got Warner investing in concert promotion and online distribution with LaLa.com.

And we've got the whole industry suing its customers.

All to protect a model of overexposure of limited product to reap giant rewards. But MTV moved on from music because it was no longer generating ratings. The industry was pissed that Viacom got rich and the labels did not... But once again, what was each entity's core mission? MTV was made to expose. The labels were made to..?

MAKE!

That's what labels do. Find and nurture talent. That is their core competency. That is their defining MISSION! But that got lost in the shuffle of incredible profits during the eighties and nineties. Labels weren't selling music, they were selling overpriced DISCS!

Stage 5 is "Capitulation To Irrelevance Or Death". That's where the major labels are today. "In some cases the company's leader just sells out; in other cases the institution atrophies into utter insignificance; and in the most extreme cases the enterprise simply dies outright."

How long until a major label is sold for its catalog value? Before one of the Big Four gives up new music production? EMI already has stated it's not going to spend big bucks to sign and promote new talent.

Irving Azoff's Front Line is more powerful than any label today. By far.

What is the future?

Not the past.

"Never give in. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even shutter big operations you've been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company."

It's clear. PERFECTLY CLEAR! A record company needs to be about MUSIC! Everything flows from the tunes. It's all right to take a percentage of 360 degrees of revenue, so long as it's not a land grab, but a reasonable compensation for services rendered.

You can't sign an act based on whether you can get them on television or radio, neither of those deliver enough profits. You've got to sign an act based on whether it's GOOD! The iPod was a product seen as overpriced and unneeded, and then Apple rode it to one success after another. The iPod not only dominated its sphere, which blew up and became dominant, computer music rules, it also delivered sales of Macs and iPhones. In other words, your business won't deliver its future based on the Pussycat Dolls, but something seen as unneeded at first, which is so great its audience bonds to it and delivers revenue over a period of years.

Instant success on MTV ultimately rendered instant irrelevance. The wheel had to be reinvented time and again. Sure, you could break the first album, but you couldn't count on making money on the fourth and fifth, frequently not even on the SECOND (can you say Chumbawamba?) The execs lost sight of what business they were in. Ahmet was concerned with greatness. Mo too. Today's execs are just interested in tonnage. They could be selling ANYTHING! They are not NECESSARY!

That's what you need to survive..."to build an enterprise that makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches (and does so with such superior performance) that it would leave a gaping hole - a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution - if it ceased to exist." This describes XL Recordings, but not Interscope or Atlantic or Columbia. Everyone knows the real bands are on indies. That's commercial crap on the majors.

And maybe the majors won't survive. Maybe Doug Morris rides the train to complete irrelevancy, if not bankruptcy. But whoever takes Doug and Universal's place will be focused on finding unique talent and nurturing it. Artist development isn't finding more people to buy the first album, it's a creative arc, over a period of albums, wherein the act grows and more and more people come along for the ride. "Sgt. Pepper" sounded nothing like "Meet The Beatles". The Beatles couldn't have made "Sgt. Pepper" the first time out. There's experimentation, there's a learning curve. It's not just finding the same hack songwriters to write fodder for good-looking people.

Most lasting successes to not happen overnight. Because the public is not ready to consume the product/artist. Hipsters need to glom on, mavens need to spread the word, to ultimately reach Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point". And once you've caught fire, you have to protect the essence. If the act is tied up with corporate endorsements/commercials, how honest can its music be? If the act works with the same producer as everybody else, how unique will the sound be? If you're not allowed to fail, how can you stretch yourself and succeed?

Labels demand singles. Won't release the album until they deem it ready. Which is about commercialism more than artistry. Instead of multiple albums in a short period of time we've got an extended selling period of the same damn collection to the point where the core audience abandons the act. And if you've lost your core, you've lost everything!

We're in the music business. The greatness of the major labels was that they sifted through the available talent and found the gems, and then helped the quality acts grow, both artistically and commercially. That's not the business of the majors today. Today it's about finding cookie-cutter stuff and yelling at the public to buy it, all the while bitching that they're stealing it. This is a recipe for disaster. This is why the recorded music industry is failing.

Maybe recordings do not generate as much revenue in the future as they did in the past. Rather than whine, be the company that MAXIMIZES revenue, that accepts reality, that notes change and adapts to it. That does not mean charging huge upfront fees for anybody who wants to sell or stream music online. Those are your partners, they're the ones who are going to make you money. You control the essence, the music. That's what lasts. No one wants the remnants of Friendster, but they do want the music of yesteryear. Especially those classic rock hits. Bands that tested limits and developed, all at the same time, the ones selling tickets to arena shows today. "Purple Haze" is so good, you want to hear everything Hendrix ever did, it never grows old. You might want to listen to "Ice Ice Baby" as a novelty, but you don't want to hear anything else Vanilla Ice does, and only a small coterie want to see the guy perform live. But the Stones? It's not only "Satisfaction", but "Midnight Rambler", and "Under My Thumb" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". "Brown Sugar" was deep into their career, there's a cornucopia of greatness. Which is lacking in quantity and quality today.

Visit his archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz

OV Wright - 3/4

2008-10-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I come through with some new shit.....

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Y2o4blRnaFJxRTJ4dnc9PQ

Colors OF Fall

2008-10-05T19:33:00.001-07:00

You Were Missing

2008-10-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

This beat is called "Missing" it is 128 bars of straight drums!

http://www.zshare.net/audio/199255084500d72e/

The Cross Roads

2008-09-22T17:32:00.001-07:00

The CrOssROAdS

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1924043983a37450/

big up to ALLHAILS on Flickr- from whom I borrowed this photograph

Paycheck for Radio

2008-09-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1885277683e7de04/

Return of Steve G.

2008-09-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.zshare.net/audio/18623873b13eaf38/

Lost and Found

2008-09-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.zshare.net/audio/18442730419d1024/

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1844257430d6212a/

More For Steven G.

2008-08-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.zshare.net/download/17318967e7282bd1/

Cute Girl & Cute Dog

2008-08-11T16:55:00.001-07:00

White Trash Bash - 2008 (10th anniversary)

2008-08-11T16:33:00.001-07:00

New Orleans - July 10th/11th

2008-08-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

Listening for the Trip - Fat's Domino - Whole Lotta Loving

Flying In to New Orleans

The Rumbling Mississippi River

Eating @ Emeril Lagassi's Nola in the French Quarter

(Mark had deep-fried duck livers)

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee - Delicious

World Famous Burbon Street - 11 PM
Not quite booming yet but growing

Bourbon Street - 12:30 AM - Random Jazz Ensemble

Day 2 - Bourbon Street gets a bath and it starts all over again

Day 2 - Jackson Square - St. Louis Cathedral (learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Square,_New_Orleans,_Louisiana)

Beignet's (pronounced ben–YAY, from the Middle French word for "bump") @ Cafe Du Monde - Served with Chickory Coffee - Great Start to Day 2

Fats Domino's House - Lower 9th Ward - Need I say More

Lower 9th Ward - July 11th - 2008

I recommend renting or buying the documentary "When the Levees Broke" by Spike Lee to get an understanding of the post-Katrina floods

For Steve G.

2008-08-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

Random messing around tracks -

these are for Steve G.

Almost (Try 1)

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01HWmdsSWgzeUpFQlE9PQ

(PreSence of The LoRd)

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01HWmduTmF0NjlFQlE9PQ

Poppa Was a Rolling Stone!

2008-07-09T04:13:00.001-07:00

Chicago Blues Fest Weekend

2008-06-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Pirate Bar

2008-05-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Great Lakes Pirate Society and the Fellowship of Lake Erie Trust were drinkin Pyrat Rum again on Friday night....

Primitive Science

2008-05-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

For Steve G.

http://download.yousendit.com/AF8170851B93F5F9

2008-03-25T15:45:00.001-07:00

FUN WITH 12" COVERS (CONCEPT 1)

2008-03-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

A Fresh Start

2008-02-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Yo I swam eel river
medicine man
drinkin vodka like I struck Liver
on the docks feel the breeze of the glass river
the lake effect motherf***n too cold
to make a mother***n coward quiver
yeah I used to work at frickers
and quench thirst with malt liquor
work late hours for lame figures
to avoid lame bicker
flicker like a spark though
linger like a narco
at night in some dark clothes
phantom of the glass
fire burnin in a flash
one strike of the match now its spreading like a rash
the power of attraction
for those thats slow
means your mind is a magnet
your attractions controlled
shit
Im in the lake so deep
only pain I feel is zebra muscles come and scrapin my feet
poseidon gave me the beach
Im like a navy seal
I gotta keep an open eye when i sleep
its real

framez is the name
pins rearrange
if i knock down 7
i can fit 3 in the range
cuz i gotta swoop Mo
salt on the windshield
speedin through the snow
beats hittin dave winfield
smurf puma lunatic
shirt dotted stripes
slender yet his presence seems larger than life
the smaller the dog
the harder the fight
the higher the proof
the harder the bite
151 and call it a night
win lose or fail
im'a flow from the heart
for my cousins out trail
cuz they know that im smart
and the feel me like brail
comparable to art
framez michaelangelo
doin 80 Im'a antelope
burnin up the road
livin learnin from the road
takin turns to and fro
where will end up i donno
fear not though
a wise man once said if you attempt to scale a mountain then God will give you wings

cougars born to chase
and fish born to swim
livin in the lakes dust blowin in the wind
life is a dice game
go and get your luck up
get knocked down i'm sorry just get the f**k up

now what does it mean for ones self soul to never let go of all the hate and evil
now what does it mean for ones self soul to never let go of all the hate and evil

The 1 Gig-Kid

2008-02-09T09:49:00.001-08:00

http://rapidshare.com/files/90453830/bobbytears2.mp3.html

Sulla

2008-02-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

I was thinking of Sulla's power today - and I revisited the intro to my May 2006 Roman History Final Essay paper - I think this pretty much sums it up

"He had a natural talent for creating allies and enemies alike, gaining monumental devotion and loyalty, and achieving a monstrous amount of power. Not since the monarchy had anyone simply created his own perfect settings, eliminated all opposition, and gained complete military and political control of Rome."

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

“ No friend ever did me a kindness, no enemy a wrong, without receiving a full requital ”

Up Real Late...

2008-01-22T23:35:00.000-08:00

got another exciting meeting tomorrow!

heres an amazing photo... artwork compliments of Brad OZ - o.Z. DeZigns

just got the amy winehouse from Mo (i know i am way behind the world) and I don't really see any possible competition for the Album of the year... unless Herbie Hancock pulls out some tricks - other than that, I don't feel Vince Gill, Kanyeezy or Foo Fighters can fuck with it!

Sunday Beats..

2008-01-20T21:21:00.001-08:00

I made this track with the time I had planned to spend reading...

please let me know what feelings it evokes...

RANDOM TRACK #102

Pissed about the Packers....

2008-01-20T20:39:00.001-08:00

Dirty Maumee River Water Running Through my Veins Tributaries.....

Where is The Love?

2008-01-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

This track "Go Back Home" by Allen Toussaint is one of the spookiest songs I have ever heard. It was sampled by the worlds greatest chopper DJ Premier to build the track "D'evils" which is my favorite Jay-Z song ever.

LISTEN