One of my best friends from childhood, David Pichard (shout out!), is in a band called Slow Gun Runner, based out of Juneau, Alaska. This video was made by their drummer, Chris Lambertson, in conjunction with independent filmmaker, Jarrett Thomas, and features their recently recorded song, "Pretty". Hope you like it!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Recap: Music & Arts Festival
Went to the 1st annual Mesa Family Music & Arts Festival this past weekend. Had a lot of fun, even though the crowd was quite small. Mel and I decided to take our two biggest kids along, but we left the twins at home, for what I believe to be obvious reasons. We went to the afternoon concert which featured Jordan Bluth, Eclipse, and Peter Breinholt.
I had never before heard of Jordan Bluth, but he has a very nice voice, although his choice of material doesn't really suit my fancy. It was mostly show tunes, although he did impress me with a beautiful Italian operatic piece from...well, I don't remember. Overall, his voice was quite good, but he didn't really impress me until he hit that one piece, and then he proceeded to lose me again when he returned to the show tunes.
Eclipse was awesome! I have listened to their stuff a lot over the past 3-4 years as my group, MC6, has worked to emulate their sound somewhat, but this was my first time seeing them live, and they blew me away. Very energetic sound and stage presence. MC6 could really take some lessons from those guys, although I can think of for sure 2 if not 3 of our guys, right off the top of my head, that I would not want to see try some of the dancing that Eclipse was doing on stage! They have a very tight sound and really keep the audience on its toes throughout their performance. I was impressed before with their recordings, but now they've really got me.
Peter Breinholt was great as usual. He did not travel with his band, The Big Parade, this time, but instead enlisted a few members of Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband to play with him. He's such a down-to-earth guy and a fantastic performer. Melanie got to speak with him after the show, and told him all about how his 1995 De Jong show was our first date, and he was so excited b/c apparently those early Utah campus shows are what propelled his career to what it is today. He even gave us a free copy of his new CD just for being loyal fans over the years. Cool guy, that Peter Breinholt.
Unfortunately for all involved, the turnout for the festival was anemic at best. For the Eclipse/Peter Breinholt show Melanie counted about 100 people in attendance. I heard the morning and evening shows were about the same. Pretty sad, really, b/c these were good shows. The organizers simply did not promote it very well. I hope they work to bring it back next year, though. It's a great idea and realistically could be very well-attended and self-sustaining in the future, but people need to hear about it for it to be successful. I only knew about it b/c I was performing at it.
So, my group, MC6, performed as well. Mel's cousin, Kelly, has given a ringing endorsement of our show, albeit a bit slanted toward my own part in the show. (Thank you, Kelly. Really, it's very flattering!) We had about as many in attendance as the paid show we went to earlier in the day (ours was free, yes free, as we do not yet rate with the sing-for-hire crowd.) We had a lot of fun, and the audience was great. A number of people I invited actually came as well, so that was cool. We sang a couple of new songs. Peanut Butter & Jelly (thank you Inside Out) and The Lion Sleeps (thanks, N'Sync). Both came off pretty well, so we'll likely keep them in the repertoir.
All-in-all, it was a fun day. I'm sad that more people didn't come out to enjoy the sights and sounds and to rub elbows with their favorite LDS recording artists (they were all very accessible after their shows for meet and greet sessions - very cool gesture), and to support such a great family entertainment opportunity. As I said before, I hope they work to bring it back next year, not only for my own selfish reasons, as I'd like to perform there again, but also for the other performers and for the quality entertainment that it brings to the area.
I had never before heard of Jordan Bluth, but he has a very nice voice, although his choice of material doesn't really suit my fancy. It was mostly show tunes, although he did impress me with a beautiful Italian operatic piece from...well, I don't remember. Overall, his voice was quite good, but he didn't really impress me until he hit that one piece, and then he proceeded to lose me again when he returned to the show tunes.
Eclipse was awesome! I have listened to their stuff a lot over the past 3-4 years as my group, MC6, has worked to emulate their sound somewhat, but this was my first time seeing them live, and they blew me away. Very energetic sound and stage presence. MC6 could really take some lessons from those guys, although I can think of for sure 2 if not 3 of our guys, right off the top of my head, that I would not want to see try some of the dancing that Eclipse was doing on stage! They have a very tight sound and really keep the audience on its toes throughout their performance. I was impressed before with their recordings, but now they've really got me.
Peter Breinholt was great as usual. He did not travel with his band, The Big Parade, this time, but instead enlisted a few members of Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband to play with him. He's such a down-to-earth guy and a fantastic performer. Melanie got to speak with him after the show, and told him all about how his 1995 De Jong show was our first date, and he was so excited b/c apparently those early Utah campus shows are what propelled his career to what it is today. He even gave us a free copy of his new CD just for being loyal fans over the years. Cool guy, that Peter Breinholt.
Unfortunately for all involved, the turnout for the festival was anemic at best. For the Eclipse/Peter Breinholt show Melanie counted about 100 people in attendance. I heard the morning and evening shows were about the same. Pretty sad, really, b/c these were good shows. The organizers simply did not promote it very well. I hope they work to bring it back next year, though. It's a great idea and realistically could be very well-attended and self-sustaining in the future, but people need to hear about it for it to be successful. I only knew about it b/c I was performing at it.
So, my group, MC6, performed as well. Mel's cousin, Kelly, has given a ringing endorsement of our show, albeit a bit slanted toward my own part in the show. (Thank you, Kelly. Really, it's very flattering!) We had about as many in attendance as the paid show we went to earlier in the day (ours was free, yes free, as we do not yet rate with the sing-for-hire crowd.) We had a lot of fun, and the audience was great. A number of people I invited actually came as well, so that was cool. We sang a couple of new songs. Peanut Butter & Jelly (thank you Inside Out) and The Lion Sleeps (thanks, N'Sync). Both came off pretty well, so we'll likely keep them in the repertoir.
All-in-all, it was a fun day. I'm sad that more people didn't come out to enjoy the sights and sounds and to rub elbows with their favorite LDS recording artists (they were all very accessible after their shows for meet and greet sessions - very cool gesture), and to support such a great family entertainment opportunity. As I said before, I hope they work to bring it back next year, not only for my own selfish reasons, as I'd like to perform there again, but also for the other performers and for the quality entertainment that it brings to the area.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Festival of Trees
Along with my "band", MC6, we had our first show of this year's holiday season at the Festival of Trees fund raiser at the Banner Gateway Hospital in Mesa. The crowd was, well, sparse (see below)
so we decided to use this as an opportunity for a dress rehearsal. If you'd like to see a clip of the show, please check it out at the MC6 blog at http://mc6acappella.blogspot.com/. On the clip I sing a lovely rendition of Eclipse's "This Year".
so we decided to use this as an opportunity for a dress rehearsal. If you'd like to see a clip of the show, please check it out at the MC6 blog at http://mc6acappella.blogspot.com/. On the clip I sing a lovely rendition of Eclipse's "This Year".
Thursday, October 18, 2007
My "band"
OK, so I'm in an a cappella performing group. My wife calls it a boy band. So be it. It's a hobby. However, if you happen to come see us perform and you are expecting some sweet choreographed dance moves and thousands of swooning teenage girls throwing their lingerie at us, well you'll be gravely disappointed. Dance moves are pretty much non-existent - we don't even let a couple of the guys snap (think "The Jerk", starring Steve Martin) - and the only girls swooning over us are our wives and daughters - and Mom. My wife, Melanie, does still harbor illusions of teenage innocence (see her blog : http://minipearls.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-could-still-pass-for-17-right.html) and my daughter, Kate, is barely 4, so I'm not sure if the swooning on my behalf is genuine fan adoration or simply family loyalty. I'll accept the cheers however they come! (Side note: still no sign of lingerie at any of our shows. Mom, keep yours on.)
We do have a lot of fun with it, however, and we actually have a few shows coming up:
On Nov. 19th, we'll be singing at the Festival of Trees fund raiser at the new Banner Gateway Hospital. On Dec 1st, we're headlining the City of Chandler Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. And on Dec 16th, we're performing at the Mesa, AZ Mormon Temple Christmas Lights concert. So, if you want to check us out, please stop by at any of these public gatherings.
As for us being a "boy band", I have some issues with that moniker. Now, I will admit that we do have the one bad-boy guy with facial hair, a couple of pretty boys, a sporty guy, and a quiet brooding type, but that's as far as it goes.
First of all, we all do have to shave regularly, and secondly, none of us, to my knowledge, has ever dated J-Lo. We don't (and can't) dance, and I'm pretty sure we're all straight. So there you have it.
We do have a great sound, though, and we're in the process of cutting a CD, so please check us out if you get the chance. We're called MC6, and we have a blog at http://mc6acappella.blogspot.com/.
We do have a lot of fun with it, however, and we actually have a few shows coming up:
On Nov. 19th, we'll be singing at the Festival of Trees fund raiser at the new Banner Gateway Hospital. On Dec 1st, we're headlining the City of Chandler Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. And on Dec 16th, we're performing at the Mesa, AZ Mormon Temple Christmas Lights concert. So, if you want to check us out, please stop by at any of these public gatherings.
As for us being a "boy band", I have some issues with that moniker. Now, I will admit that we do have the one bad-boy guy with facial hair, a couple of pretty boys, a sporty guy, and a quiet brooding type, but that's as far as it goes.
First of all, we all do have to shave regularly, and secondly, none of us, to my knowledge, has ever dated J-Lo. We don't (and can't) dance, and I'm pretty sure we're all straight. So there you have it.We do have a great sound, though, and we're in the process of cutting a CD, so please check us out if you get the chance. We're called MC6, and we have a blog at http://mc6acappella.blogspot.com/.
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