Contemporary Madness

Whose Line is it Anyway? - Greatest Hits

2010-03-24T00:31:00.002+00:00

The first Greatest Hitts that aired in the States.

Funny stuff as usual

Do you think it's funny?
If so, please comment, digg, retwitt...

Cheers!

Contemporary Portugal III: Rui Costa

2010-03-21T15:50:00.000+00:00

Football for some soccer is called the king sports here in Portugal, in spite of my aversion to the notion of one sport getting all the credit and support, it's undeniable that it's one of the driving forces of our country, making people sad or happy beyond belief (really I can't believe it!).

Anyway this guy Rui Costa nicknamed "O Maestro"( "The Conductor"), he is our Steve Nash, our Tom Brady, Magic Johnson...you get the point, he is the guy organizing the game.

He started is professional career in Benfica (my club), he then went to Fiorentina and after that A.C Milan, both being Italian clubs.
After is very successful career in Italy he return to Benfica to finish is career in the club he loved.!

He also enjoyed a very fruitful International career with Portugal National Team, he was a member of the golden generation that won the Junior World Cup in 1991, he actually scored the deciding penalty kick.
At a senior level he completed 94 caps and scored 26 goals, and was one of the most charismatic players on the team alongside Luis Figo.

He was also in the FIFA 100, a list made by Pelé with the best players of the first century of official football.

This is my favourite goal ever:

All in all my favourite player ever!

Please comment, digg, retwitt!

Cheers!

Great Musicians (Unknown) VI : ortoPilot

2010-03-17T22:12:00.003+00:00

Matt Hutchison know in the world of music by ortoPilot is a musician from Manchester in the UK, I would put him in the singer songwriter type artist (whatever that means).
He uses his guitar has his main instrument but uses others on occasion. He also does all the back vocals, and all the instruments in his songs

He spreads is music in YouTube where he already has loads of videos(I didn't have the courage to count).

Here is one of my favourite covers Muse's "Time is running out"

And an original "Driftin' "

You can follow him here:
YouTube Channel
Twitter
Facebook
Official Site

Also you can buy his music on iTunes here (i will soon).

Hope you enjoy is music!
Please comment, dig, retwitt...

Cheers!

p.s: He is going to be at the acoustic festival of Britain, a festival Matt Stevens, whom I wrote about in an earlier post, will also attend!

Contemporary Madness helping awesome yet unknown musicians since the 28 of January. Not much tough, maybe one or two more fans, but oh well...

Moving images that take up way too much of my time

2010-03-15T23:12:00.003+00:00

House - A medical show where the medicine is not important, that can't be right.
Yes it can, if you have a good story and amazing actors.
Hugh Laurie is just brilliant, and Robert S. Leonard(Wilson) also compliments him well.
The rest of the team also does a good job of course!

The Big Bang Theory - Or as Craig Ferguson puts it The Jim Parsons Show.
It's undeniable that Jim Parson(Sheldon) carries the show, and that if he was out there would be no show, also I think that it 's one of the best\crucial casts in recent years.
I think I just beat the world record for most compliments in a row!
But anyway they are all brilliant, even Kunal Nayyar who plays the silent Raj!

Greek - Or as I like to call it Cappie with a bit of Dale on the side.
Take away Cappie there is no show, take Dale I am going to be mildly pissed.
This my guilty pleasure, but who hasn't dreamed of being the guy who manages to be in College for 20 years!
The funny thing is that the main Character is not Cappie!

Moving images that shouldn't take up anyone's time!

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Or "How to steal a show just by crying"
Because of this guy I don't get to see Conan here in Portugal, so please let's boycott the show and get him out of there!

Give some feedback!
Cheers!

My Guitar Journey I: Learning Freight Train (Version 1)

2010-03-12T17:57:00.024+00:00

Finally my first Guitar Journey post.

If you read the Big Announcement post you know that I am learning "Freight Train" as taught by
Heronymusic.
This is the first version of four, and in each version something will be added to the song.
I am on tight schedule so I only did audio, i will try to add video the next time.

Here is the video\audio:

Difficulties:
Wrapping the thumb around the neck to play the F base note.

The Lesson

I need all the feedback I can get to improve.

Critics, suggestions even insults...are welcome!
Please comment, dig, retweet...

Cheers!

p.s: I expect great challenges on the next version...

Whose Line is it Anyway? - Cops & Ducks

2010-03-11T23:43:00.000+00:00

One of my favourite shows, Whose Line is originally from England but has been adapted in the USA.
In this game two audience members are randomly picked from the audience two provide sound effects for the actors.

Comedy will ensue!

Sound Effects: Cops & Ducks

This guys are masters of improvisation!

Quack, Quack, Cheers, Quack!

Contemporary Portugal II: Mariza

2010-03-09T21:17:00.001+00:00

The Portuguese traditional music genre fado!

Mariza- "Rosa Branca"("White Rose")

Hope you enjoyed it!

Please comment. digg...

Too much work to post!

2010-03-08T23:27:00.001+00:00

I have had some papers to deliver so i haven't been able to post.
For now i need to rest, but tomorrow I will post!

Also the first audio of my guitar journey will be up this weekend!

Thank you to all my readers!

Humour Sketch IV: How to Irritate People

2010-03-04T23:44:00.003+00:00

From the series "How to irritate people" this is the Airplane Sketch with three future Pythons.

Someone should do this for real...
...as long as I am not on the plane!

Hope you enjoy it!

My Guitar Journey: Big Announcement

2010-03-04T00:01:00.001+00:00

The big announcement:

I'll star posting audio(maybe video) of the songs\skills i learn on the guitar.

My guitar bio:

My father bought me one of those special small Classic Guitars when I was about 12, but I didn't play it much. When I was around 17 I started listening to Fingerpicking (Tommy Emmanuel, Doyle Dykes...), but still didn't pick up the guitar there, mainly because I though I could never do that.

A year ago, give or take, one of my best friends(Hi Carvalho), told me he wanted to learn the guitar, I restarted the process with him. I started get really into it, and after a while I bought a new guitar(this time I bought an Acoustic), because my first guitar is too small for my fingers now.

So, thank you Carvalho (Unfortunately he isn't playing anymore, but I still have faith!).

Early Struggles:

My biggest struggle was the rhythm. I am not very gifted musically, so it took me a while to get the hang of it.

Where I am at:

I have a learn a lot of rock\pop songs, or as Marty Shwartz likes to call them camp-fire songs.

Now I learn something a little bit more challenging, so I decided to learn the song that Tommy Emmanuel recommends as the starting point of a fingerpicker,"Freight Train".

Who is teaching?

Jeroen from Holland, or if you prefer Heronymusic from YouTube!

He has a great method, he teaches the song in phases each one adding something to the song.

In this particular case "Freight Train" has four phases.

First Plans

I expect my first four posts to be on the different phases of "Freight Train", I will post audio and maybe video if I overcome the shyness!(doubt it)

After that I have no idea what will happen.

Final Words

I will appreciate all the critics good or bad.

Even the ones with this format: "You Suck and you are ugly!".

Those are always helpful.

I hope you follow my Journey and help me trough it!

Cheers!

p.s: Also check out my online teachers.

Where can i follow this madness?

2010-03-02T23:59:00.000+00:00

Are you interested in following this contemporary awesomeness?
Hum?Hum?
Probably not, but I will give you some options anyway, here they are:

Facebook Fanpage
Twitter Account
FeedBurner

Hope you follow me and enjoy my blog...

Cheers!

Donnie Marple's Drum solo

2010-03-01T23:22:00.000+00:00

Donnie Marple is the drummer for elmwood (already made a post about them here) he has also won the 2007 Guitar Center Drum Off.

Here is on of his solo performances

Hope you enjoyed it!
Please comment, digg, retweet...

Great Musicians (Unknown) V : Loren Allred

2010-03-01T00:29:00.000+00:00

Loren Allred is from Pittsburgh and she attended the Berklee College of Music(I think she isn't there anymore but I am not sure).

She already posted around 15 videos on her YouTube Acount lorenallred.

Here she is singing "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera

On this next video she sings something really amazing, I just don't know it is.
My usual methods of finding the names of songs don't usually fail so I am beginning to thinks it's an original.
If anyone knows the song please tell me!

The rest of the video consists mainly of bloopers!

you can also follow her on twitter @lorenallred
Her Facebook fan page.

Hope you like her Music and follow her...
Please comment, digg, retweet...

Contemporary Madness helping awesome yet unknown musicians since the 28 of January. Not much tough, maybe one or two more fans, but oh well...

Contemporary Portugal I : Ornatos Violeta

2010-02-28T04:04:00.001+00:00

An alternative rock band formed in the early nineties, they released their first album "Cão!"(Dog!) in 1997.

The band achieved its greatest success with their second album "O Monstro Precisa de Amigos"(The Monster need Friends).It was released in 1999 and is considered by many (myself included) the best Portuguese rock album ever!

The group split in 2002.

One of their songs from the last album.(It's in Portuguese but I hope you can still appreciate it)

"Ouvi Dizer"(loosely translates to "I heard a rumour")

Cheers!

How your website sounds like...

2010-02-26T23:29:00.001+00:00

How your website sounds like.

What does it mean?

How can a website have sound?

How can you know what is that sound?

Simple!

You take away all the letters that are not in the musical scale(The music scale is A to G) from the body of your website, and the letter that is used the most is the key of you website.Also if the letter appears an even number of times its because it's in the major pentatonic scale if not its in the minor pentatonic scale.

Based on the number of characters the site will be awarded a synthesiser.

The drums will be determined by dividing the number of characters that are music note for the total.

At least that is what CODEORGAN about page said!

Did you think I made all that up?

I don't have that kind of imagination.

Anyway I know that CODEORGAN is kind of pointless, but it's kind of fun for a few minutes...

...for instance my website is in the key of CMajor, and has Horns synthesiser, the drums you have to ear it for yourself, just copy-paste the link to check it out...

Hope you enjoy, the sound of your websites!

How to make a video with no money- A Lesson By Gomo

2010-02-25T23:57:00.000+00:00

This video-clip is from a Portuguese artist called Gomo, i think his voice is kind of annoying that is why i won't put him in the Great Musician series.Nonetheless he has some great videos.

Like this one of the song "Feeling Alive":

Hope you liked it!
I think it was a good idea...

Cheers

Stand Up Act II : Rob Magnoti

2010-02-24T23:31:00.001+00:00

Rob Magnoti is my favourite

Check it out

What was your favourite impression?
Do you have stand up comedians you recommend?

Cheers!

Great Guitarists IV: Matt Stevens

2010-02-23T23:05:00.002+00:00

I promised myself that the next "Great Guitarists" post wouldn't be about a fingerpicker, so i thought about making a post about one of my very first readers.

Matt Stevens is a guitarist from North London, he uses a technique called Live Looping, which basically means that he plays something while recording it, then the recording his played over and over while he plays and maybe even records other layers of the song.
He controls all this using a pedal.

The most basic example of this would be to play the rhythm while recording it, then playing the solo on top of it.
Hope I didn't mess up the explanation. I am sure Matt could do it better!

I have never tried even the that basic example, so I can only imagine the concentration needed and precision needed to do the trick stuff Matt does.

He already has one album with great reviews called Echo.

This one is called "Flies in The Basement"

You can buy his album Echo on his website.
His Blog.
On his facebook fan page you can find all his links.

Good Luck Mr."One man wall of sound"!

Please Comment, digg, retweet...

Contemporary Madness helping awesome yet unknown musicians since the Twenty-eight of January. Not much tough, maybe one or two more fans, but oh well...

My online Guitar Teachers

2010-02-22T22:35:00.001+00:00

This guys have been teaching me guitar for a year, and thanks to them despite the limited time I have to practice, I have made some progress.
Here They are:

Marty Shwartz:
guitarjamzdotcom ----Technical stuff
youcanlearnguitar ----Technical stuff(doesn't post here anymore)
martyzsongs ---- Songs

Justin Sandercoe (Probably the most famous guitar teacher in the world):

JustinSandercoe ----Technical stuff

JustinSandercoeSongs ---- Songs

Jason Liles:

tallie7487 ---- This guy only has Lessons on "The Swell Season" songs

Hope you can learn from them as I have been learning for the past year.

Quick post because i need to rest, just re-started class and i am not in the rhythm yet.

Tomorrow i will post something with more substance...

Hasta!

Portuguese Humour I: Smelly Cat

2010-02-21T23:41:00.001+00:00

Smelly Cat -The inspector who doesn't know how to ask questions

Do you thinks it's funny?

Please comment,dig, tweet...

Hope you enjoyed it...

Great Musicians (Famous) II : Pearl Jam

2010-02-20T23:26:00.000+00:00

Pearl Jam, a rock band formed in 1990 in Seattle. They played an important role in the Grunge movement of the 90's, with bands like Nirvana.

Since then they have recorded nine albums, the first being "Ten" and the last "Backspacer" with memorable songs like "Betterman", "Alive" and "Ledbetter" just to name a few.

The current members of the band are(with wikipedia links):
Eddie Vedder(vocals,guitar)
Mike McCready(lead guitar)
Stone Gossard(rhythm guitar)
Jeff Ament (bass guitar)
Matt Cameron(drums)

My favourite song of the new album "Just Breath":

I am going to see them for the first time this summer, in on of the best Portuguese Summer Festivals "Alive!" .
Can't await!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Please comment, dig and\or tweet...
...if you like it...

Cheers!

Quick Post due to time constrains...(Shout-out to partners)

2010-02-19T23:18:00.005+00:00

Since I have to figure out my schedule for the next semester, I am just going to give a shout-out to my partners.

Del Handley» Personal Blog of Del Handley
Really cool blog, with the personal views of Del Handley on all sorts of subjects

Ignorante Universitário (In Portuguese)

From a friend, to tell you the truth it's a terrible blog but check it out anyway...(he is going to be pissed)

Seema Blogs
Also really good personal blog, if you want to know more about Germany you should check it out!

And Introducing:

Freshly Scented

Very good blog on Entertainment stuff(films, music...). Great reviews in this one!

Hope you enjoy their blogs!

The coolest Memorial Service ever!

2010-02-18T23:55:00.003+00:00

The memorial of Graham Chapman

I hope to have a memorial like this, with people laughing...
...not like ahah is dead...but ahah good fellow...

Thank You Britain for Monty Python

Great Musicians (Unknown) IV : The Swell Season

2010-02-17T23:32:00.001+00:00

Glens Hanslard (also in The Frames) and Marketa Irglova are the The Swell Season since 2005.

They both stared in the movie Once where they rose to prominence, and received and Oscar for Best Original Song "Falling Slowly"

They have released three albums, The Swell Season, Once soundtrack and Strictly Joy.

Not sure if they should be in the Unknown category, but they are not as famous as I think they should, so...

Here is my favourite song "Lies":

Here is their official site.

Hope you enjoyed it please comment, dig, tweet if you like.

Contemporary Madness helping awesome yet unknown musicians since the 28 of January. Not much tough, maybe one or two more fans, but oh well...

Great Guitarists III: Joe Robinson

2010-02-16T22:36:00.000+00:00

Joe Robinson or Smokin' Joe, was born in Australia on the twenty-fifth of May.

He won "Australia's got talent" performing Tommy Emmanuel's arrangement of "Classical Gas". In 2009 he won the World Championships of Performing Arts, becoming the youngest person to do so, and also the first instrumentalist.

In 2005 he released his debut CD called Birdseed, and in 2009 he released his second album "Time Jumpin'".

Here is my favourite song:

His YouTube Channel: 7680joe
Official Site

Please comment, dig, tweet, stand up, sit down...joking...except for the comment, dig, tweet part, you should spread the word if you like him.

Contemporary Madness helping awesome yet unknown musicians since the Twenty-eight of January. Not much tough, maybe one or two more fans, but oh well...