#Randon - Philly 360 and SXSW

Philly 360 made it all the way down to SXSW to show the Philly take over! Take a look at their recap filmed by Rashid Zakat.

FUN Fridays!

So ... A great way to start off the weekend was having Karmin stop by for an office visit. If you don't know who they are, you should get familiar. Graduates of Berklee Amy and Nick were discovered from covering some of their favorite songs on YouTube. Their most notable a lyrically packed "Look at Me Now" cover. Now they are signed to Epic records and recently released their own single "Brokenhearted." I'll be looking out for their project which should be coming around May!

Check out their performance from SNL.

#Random ... Someone Like You Cover

So someone posted this video on Facebook and I took the time to watch. This kid murders this record. I love his inflections and interpretations of the record! Take a minute and check it out.

I was just thinking ...

“...even if you're doing what you love, there will be times when you don't want to do it anymore, wish you could take a break, or otherwise just get a little tired of it. That's completely normal, and don't let it convince you you're on the wrong track.”

This is a quote that was shared me by my good friend and co-worker Caitlin Vivian and it couldn’t be more on point.  Sometimes I feel like I clearly will never find that one thing that is just satisfying all the time. The best thing about this quote is that it can be applied in all areas of your life. Whether it’s your career, relationship, whatever … sometimes you just aren’t going to want to do it. But how often do we take that as a signal to quit? Being great at anything quite frankly takes a lot of work! I have to remind myself that while pursuing my songwriting endeavors. This business is so not for the faint at heart. When people say you will hear a lot of NOs before that special YES … it’s TRUE! But I know that when I complete a song, my soul smiles. It’s a feeling that I am willing to strive for the rest of my life. We work at jobs for the security and healthcare, but the love of something is what makes it all worth it. I know that I can’t continue to work a “job” for the rest of my life because without the love I’m sure I will be quitting for the rest of my life. With love comes endurance and this quote is a great affirmation of that. 

Adventures in Vocal Lesson ...

So I recently embarked on taking vocal lessons at Deliverance church in Philadelphia. And really I’ve gotten way more than I bargained for, in a good way. If I’m being honest, I started out taking the class because it was less than the vocal lessons I was looking at, at Temple. But after settling into it, I realized that I might grow much more in a church setting. Well right from the first day, I appreciated how the teacher just made us sing! No fear! I usually spend a lot of time complaining about how much I don’t want to sing before I actually do it, But I could tell there was going to be no room for that in this class. The greatest part about the class is that it’s so much bigger than “learning” how to sing. It is really about the anointing of singing and how to use singing as a tool. She talks about the importance of singing and how singing can pull you through battles. It took away a lot of the shyness I was feeling about my voice. There is something about singing songs for God that makes the importance of the notes fade away. And in that, you end up singing better because you’re not thinking so hard about it. I know a lot more about music than I give myself credit for. I often deal with insecurity in writing music based on the fact that I haven’t had much formal training. For so long I just wanted to understand the music that I hear in my head and be able to translate those musical ideas better to those that can execute it. So what I find in my voice class is not so much that my voice is getting better than it was, I am just gaining more confidence to use what I already had. Don’t get me wrong … reading with sheet music and singing with the piano is still very helpful ear training for me. I can be all kinds of flat and sharp and I am really trying to wrangle in my ear. I’m looking forward to getting in the studio and seeing the difference in my recording.

Dope Writers - Andrea Martin

I have never been a big Melanie Fiona fan. I think that she is a good singer. But quite frankly I never felt like her songs were that great. I couldn't really connect. But then I heard "Gone and Never Coming Back" This was the first Melanie Fiona song that I could actually vibe with and I ended up really digging it.

Recently I stumbled upon the writer of that record, Andrea Martin. Turns out she has written so many hits dating back to early Monica and SWV. Always nice to see women with great catalogs! Men can seem like they dominate the charts sometimes.

Congrats to Melanie on the two GRAMMY wins. Check out Gone and Never Coming Back!

Dope Writers - R. Kelly

Say what you will about R. Kelly in his personal troubles. But one thing remains, he is one of the most talented musicians of our time. R. Kelly is one of those people you just always hoped got it right. He seemed to always be struggling with his spirit and his flesh. I hope that in the wake of such the sudden death of Whitney Houston that many of us will start to choose the spirit.

This song really didn't stick to me until now. I don't think at the time it was released that I really even thought about it as a spiritual record. But in the wake of all the buzz with Whitney's death, I turned on the radio one day and this was playing. It just meant something completely different to me now. Just a beautiful record! And it was written by R. Kelly. I really wanted to hear him kill it at her funeral, but I understand he was emotional. I hope that one day I can hear a version of R. singing this. I feel like it meant a lot for him to do this song with Whitney.

Anyway, Check it out here.