Mark's Media

Great Recylcing Videos

2009-09-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

Great Recycling Videos

Retro Cool Mr . Rogers esq trip to the recyling factory; great melton aluminum viedeo footage.

Lead Belly "Black Girl" AKA In The Pines

2009-08-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Covered by jerry garcia, Kurt Cobain, and countless others, "Black Girl" accurately epitomizes the sad bluegrass ballad. i love this song!

The Southgate House in Cincinnati Ohio

2009-05-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Yo! I have danced in many a venue and there is not a finer venue that The Southgate House in Cincinnati Ohio.

Dan Deacon and the monster Bromst tour

2009-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

41 Shows in 46 days!

A Dan Deacon show is an experience that is like a firework show striptease, high energy work outs with a genius team leader. Yeah, a Dan Deacon show is hard to describe but is my favorite show of late and he is kicking off his ruthless tour tomorrow; Dan Deacon's tour is one of the most pressing and hard core tours I have ever seen and considering the high, super high energy of his shows I don't know how he does it. Check out these tour dates:

April 2nd - New York, NY @ NYU Kimmel Center
April 3rd - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
April 4th - BALTIMORE, MD @ TRANSMODERN FESTIVAL: H&H BUILDING
April 5th - Williamsburg, VA @ The Little Theater
April 6th - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
April 7th - Knoxville, TN @ Catalyst
April 8th - Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
April 9th - Athens, GA @ 88/cp
April 10th - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (note venue change)
April 11th - Tallahassee, FL @ FSU/Club Downunder
April 13th - New Orleans, LA @ Tulane University (note venue change)
April 15th - Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
April 16th - Houston, TX @ Orange Show
April 17th - Austin, TX @ Emos
April 18th - Fort Worth, TX @ Fort Worth Modern Art Museum
April 20th - Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse
April 21st - San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe w/ Wavves
April 22nd - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
April 23rd - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
April 24th - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
April 25th - Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
April 26th - Vancouver, BC @ Richards on Richards
April 29th - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
April 30th - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
May 1st - Kansas City, MO @ Pistol K.C.

May 2nd - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club (early and late show)
May 4th - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
May 5th - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
May 6th - Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club/Club Void
May 7th - Chicago, IL @ Metro
May 8th - Mount Pleasant, MI @ CMU / The Wesley Foundation
May 9th - Detroit, MI @ Contemporary Art Institute
May 10th - Toronto, ON @ The Deleon White Gallery
May 11th - Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
May 12th - South Burlington, VT @ HG Showcase Lounge
May 13th - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
May 14th - Providence, RI @ RISD Market Square (FREE)(11:30AM-1:00PM)
May 14th - Mouth Place, ZX @ FABULOUS CAKE MOUTH (LATE SHOW)
May 15th - Brooklyn, NY @ Todd P Show
May 16th - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
May 17th - Washington, D.C.
@ 9:30 Club

Dan Deacon is an a N i M a L !

KRS-ONE and BassNectar

2009-03-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yo, "big beat dub" meets "Knowledge Reigning Supreme Over Nearly Everyone". NYC's KRS-ONE is, in my humble perspective, one of the greatest hip hop artist, if not the epitome of hip hop itself. His conscious lyrics demonstrate the true personal value that freestyling and hip hop can have to empower the individual's ability to become aware, fearlessly express themselves and experience life's emotions and thoughts; while deepening their understanding of these emotions and thoughts.

"Big beat" is a term that represents the "old school" style beats; simple, heavy, generally in two-four rhythm; the big beat laid the track for early rap poets. (Run DMC "Dum diddy dum diddy diddy dum dum"!)

"Dub" is a term coined for a type of reggae heavy on the bass; Dub Reggae can be hypnotic, sorta like reggae ambient.

BassNectar is considered "Dub" because of his heavy hitting bass beats.
KRS-ONE in the beginning of this video uses the phrase "Heavy Weight Dub". I like that, if you have been fortunate to be live with Bassnectar you would feel why KRS-One drops the nod to this "heavy weight dub champion!"

Solar powered stages

2009-02-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Solar powered stages match the ambiance of outdoor music festivals, community organizational gatherings, and natural settings by providing all the energy needed to supply the amplifiers and lights on a stage quietly. There is nothing worse as a producer than being able to hear a generator from the soundboard! Or, as a fan having to walk by a generator at a festival. The solution! Solar powered stages. A company from Texas called Sustainable Waves have built, maintain, and operate several self contained solar stages as well as secondary festival attributes like festival tents, lights, and more solar panels. Definitely worth checking out their solar powered stages, portable solar set ups, and festival tents,they have cool photos of their portable solar powered stages at thier site. This company has a bright future and the right ideas.

Goa Trance Psychedelic Culture Magazine

2009-02-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

Goagadar Magazine, Psychedelic Online Magazine!

Psy trance culture has a magazine, and a name, in the true fashion of the psychedelic mind the zine is ahead of its time and all tripped out. Figure it!
Psychedelic Culture Online Magazine Online Zine
Psychedelic Culture Online Magazine MySpace

Bluegrass in Cincinnati

2009-02-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

Tale of two cities

Cincinnati Ohio is on the Mason Dixon line, the very real line that separated the North and the South in the United States Civil War. Walking across the beautiful Roebling Suspension Bridge can feel like walking into a separate country still today, no matter which way your walking. The distinctive Appalachian Kentucky dialect can be summed up by the words on the water tower in Florence KY which reads "Florence Yall" (pronounced "Floornce Yaw"). Bluegrass music was born in the bluegrass state's steep hills, rocky ridges, and thick hollers and Cincinnati, OH still benefits as being the largest metropolitan area attracting some of the most authentic bluegrass musicians to date.

Cincinnati Bluegrass Scene

Today there is a strong love and exquisite talent like Moonshine Drive and The Rumpke Mountain Boys that is driving a thriving bluegrass scene in Cincinnati Ohio. Moonshine drive is as authentic bluegrass talent as I've heard for years; trained talent that combine picking melodies with chorus harmonies. They have the pictures of the holler on their website to prove their (R Than City)authenticity, not that their music doesn't prove it.

The Rumpke Mountain Boys humorous name comes from the huge mountain north of Cincinnati that has formed in just over fifty years. Collectively known as Mt. Rumpke, Cincinnati's massive landfill, the Rumpke dump, was recently capped off and I've heard that plans are in the works to convert the mountain into a ski slope! Oh, what Ohioans will do for hills. The Rumpke Mountain Boys bluegrass stems from the jamm, Deadhead, Phish, style but is still definitely rooted in the spirit of the bluegrass hills quality of quick steppin dance and good times.

Band of the day is Moonshine Drive and The Rumpke Mountain Boys. Goodnight folks

Moonshine Drive Bluegrass Band from Cincinnati Ohio

The Rumpke Mountain Boys Bluegrass Band from Cincinnati Ohio

The Be Good Tanyas

2009-01-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

The Be Good Tanya's great bluegrass harmony caught my ear, and as soon as I heard I just knew they were from Kentucky. Yep, Sur-nuff, the trio hails from Louisville, Kentucky but like most talented acts from the area they have left to populate other areas of the world filed with Midwestern talent transplants. Might proud of these girls and hope to see them live sometime soon. They hint a feminine strength of secrete seductive natures and healing vibrations.

A short video featuring Greta, the dog, and Sam, the boy. The song is "Dogsong" by The Be Good Tanyas.

Ray's Music Exchange, Paul Hogan and "Mad Dog"

2009-01-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Paul Hogan and "Mad Dog" Michael Mavridoglou were two of the 8 members that made up Ray's Music Exchange, a band of music graduates from Cincinnati, Ohio. Ray's Music Exchange blended jazz into jamming funky grooves creating unique orchestrated songs and funky dance rhythms. They created so many varying rhythms that the entire atmosphere filled with rippling waves of sound for the dancer to groove to; rhythms that even the ricochets and echoes were in sync with each other.

"The Zappa System of jamm"

This was no accident, one random night at a Cincinnati music scene called Topcats Live they were in a great groove, like two tornadoes spinning opposite of each other. I was healed of all human thought while the air was undulating in pulsating rhythms, they suddenly stopped cold. Like a light bulb loosing its electric my heart thought it should stop as well and I almost had a reverse heart attack! That is when Paul Hogan, the verifiable leader of the band, the man who would call the song's close and who always seem to be making hand signals to everyone, came out from behind his keyboard to the front of the stage.
"Do you all like what we do?" he asked with proper English. Most folks in Cincinnati would ask "DuYall"
"Uh, of course. Yeah" I said still entranced that the air was somehow clear, less dense, that the music had substance, had a physical weight to it.
"Well, here is how we do it." Paul said.

I don't know why they thought they should tell us, I don't know if anyone knew their system already, I know I didn't. Paul proceeded to tell us that the band incorporates a system invented by Frank Zappa. That the band is grouped in many subgroups within the eight members of the band. The drummer and base is a group and has a hand signal. The rhythm section and conga player are a group and have this hand symbol. the drummer and keyboard are a group and have this hand signal...and on he explained the groups. Each group inside the band then establishes 5 varying tempos and rhythms between themselves. Thus, the first hand signal signifies a group inside the band, and the second hand signal signifies what tempo that group should play. Paul was mathematically orchestrating the band from behind the keyboard!

Mathematical Orchestrated Jazz

Then he asked the audience, "who wants to orchestrate the band?" Ray's music exchange was letting people orchestrate the band! This is one of the greatest acts of all times. I personally regret not taking the reigns, but at that time in my life it took courage for me to even dance in front of people, and I get down! Several people took the helm and the band made it happen to whatever the people wanted. I am in awe of this musical feat even as I write this ten years later. It was the greatest music I have ever heard and the greatest showmanship I have ever seen to date.

Stage Fright

The feat was replicated later that year at the Peach Melba Gathering in Athens, Ohio, a super line up of a show graciously hosted by the band "Peach Melba". Again, after they explained their jamming system they announced that anyone could come up and lead the band, I could not do it. I remember a local promoter got up and led the band and afterward promoted a different festival from the stage. I was upset at myself for being defeated by my fear and allowing that to happen, "I was supposed to be there" I thought to myself. I felt like I let the band down in some way. I know I could not get on stage though, I would have frozen. I pissed myself on stage in a comedy production for school that I wrote and acted in, I mean, I seriously had an issue with crowds. Thank gowd I was wearing black pants because in an attempt to cover swelling piss mark with my hand everyone thought I was holding myself!

Dissolving Crystals

That summer I was on the road dancing to as much music as I could. I had told my touring friends about Ray's Music Exchange all summer and how stoked I was that they were playing at the Berkshire Mountain Music festival in Mass. Unfortunately, at their show, I was informed (by the guy who asked me to get up and lead the band months earlier) that Paul had left the band. I was in shock. Sometime after that the stellar kit drummer, Jason Smart, left the band and joined Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and "Mad Dog" Michael Mavridoglou joined the Jazz Mandolin Project.

Paul Hogan, already an intrepid jazz pianist with a fantastically talented and successful band, went to NYC and "back to school for his Masters?" Some of his projects are available at Paul Hogan's Music. His band "Frances" has recently released their album "Kettle" and currently performs live in NYC.

"Live Ray's Music Exchange show Cleveland 2000-03-11 @ www.archive.org

Mark Stegman, Jan 2009

Daily Music Updates

2009-01-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

mad mark’s media offers daily music updates, discovered bands, upcoming shows, cool people, and other music related articles, grab the feed too get your daily dose.

madmark is a dancer / production manager world traveler searching for where energy comes from; as far as he can tell, energy is created wherever music is enjoyed.(also in laughter) Enjoy!
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