Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. The Crossroads... Just looking at the word makes you feel like you're standing right in the middle of that lonely intersection, dusty roads in four directions as far as the eye can see, a breeze blowing your hair back, and sunshine beating down on your skin. That sense of adventure offered by a crossroads hooks us every time. There is a somewhat sinister undertone as well; we know we could sell our souls to the devil in exchange for our deepest desires if we wanted to. The weight of responsibility sets in. We know to take great care when we come to a crossroads because once we decide which way to turn and we start going, there is no way back. This fateful temptation both compels and unnerves us. I've been thinking about this topic for a few days. A band I perform with recently learned Made Up Mind by the Tedeschi Trucks Band. In this song, Susan Tedeschi sings about being sought after. She gladly loses her seeker at th...

Ahoy! Over the past ten years in the music business I've found myself consistently playing gigs and doing so with a diverse cast of bands. While it has been rare that I have multiple gigs a week for several months in a row, it's also been rare that an entire month goes by and I don't play a gig at all. Part of it is due to the constant demand for capable bass players in all genres. I don’t claim to be amazing, but I do play both upright and electric bass and am confident in my ability to play a successful gig on either instrument. As a result, it’s rare that I turn a gig down. In my career, especially early on, I made it a point to say “Yes” to everyone. As the years have moved on I am a little more particular but I still find myself playing with many groups in several styles. I bring this up not to brag but to introduce the topic of what it looks like to be a musician today. The music business is actually booming and there are now more layers to it than ever. Havi...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. If you've been following along, you will remember I pledged to keep a journal of the songs that were stuck in my head for one week. I made some interesting observations while being mindful of these earworms. To be honest, I've never paid so much attention to the songs in my head. Some were surprises while others made complete sense to me. Let's look at the findings before we start getting all psychological. Skip past the list to the bottom if you want to get straight to the psychoanalysis. Disclaimer: I tried my best but I know there were songs I failed to mark down. I did not realize how much music goes through my head. Also, I tried to only count the songs that were true earworms, not just songs that I started to think about. _______________________________________ Day 1 - October 16th 1) Dixie Chicks - You Were Mine  - the bridge: "she's two and he's four and you know they adore you" 2) John...

Ahoy! The past two weeks we’ve been discussing the difference between music as art and music as entertainment. Because these labels aren’t exactly black and white I thought it might be helpful to look at some live performances. We’ll be watching performances from Between the Buried and Me (Btbam), Katy Perry and Pink. We’ll begin with Ms. Perry who is strongly in the “music as entertainment” camp. Katy Perry- Roar (From “The Prismatic World Tour Live”) As I watch this video there are some things that stand out right away. First there's the major stage prop; the giant prism-thing opening with Katy Perry standing in the middle as it unfolds. Everyone sees this. It’s part of the show. I also notice the dancers dressed in strange costumes behind her and I notice that they all start doing the same dance move as the intro music is playing. Again, I’m sure everyone notices this as it’s a part of the show. The biggest thing I notice, which many people probably don’t...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. On this fine #throwbackthursday, let us take a moment to reminisce about that classic cult film from the eighties, Beetlejuice . There are seriously so many things we love about this Tim Burton work; the actors, the costumes, the sets, the spin-off cartoon on Nickelodeon, which my sister and I watched everyday when we got home from school (and would still watch today, unashamedly, if it was on any of the channels!), Michael Keaton's delivery of those oh so quotable one liners, and how about that soundtrack? Can we give a nice round of applause for Harry Belafonte and Danny Elfman, please? To be honest, the Sandworms freaked me right out: See what I mean? I could barely watch those scenes. But I loved Michael Keaton because he was Batman, I loved Catherine O'Hara because she was funny, I loved Lydia's character because she was an artsy introvert, and I loved the music! In fact, it keeps getting better every ti...

Ahoy! Last week we began the discussion about music as entertainment versus music as art. Music as entertainment is easy to describe as it’s what most of us are exposed to. It’s the top 40’s radio hits, the music you hear without trying to and the artists you see in the news. Music as art is a little trickier to describe. Art music, as I see it, is not tied to any specific genre. Certain genres will inherently have more of it, like jazz and classical, however it doesn’t mean there isn’t a watered down pop version of those genres as well. Some genres have very little art music, like rock n’ roll, however it doesn’t mean that there is no depth to be found in that style. First and foremost: Art music is written without consideration for how well it will sell. The entertainment industry looks at everything from a money point of view. If record executives don’t think it will sell it won’t be created, no matter how novel an idea may be. Art music drops this consideration. Every d...

Greetings from the Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. This week's post serves as an open letter to all earworms. Dear Earworms, Hello! How are you doing today? I'm The Wonderfish, and I'm doing just fine myself, however, I have a bone to pick with you. Being an earworm, you are informally defined in pop culture as such: a catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind. You certainly are an impressive creature, aren't you? You are stealthy and sly. You are poised to strike at any time. Sometimes, you are a song that we hear and just cannot get out of our heads for the rest of the day. Other times, we have not even listened to music yet and you pop into our brains, a relentless, unforgiving loop of a melody, of a beat, of a solo, or a chorus. Why? How? What are you?! The rumors I hear about you are incredulous, by the way. It's been said that if you are constantly in our brains, then a form of insanity must be at work. I heard th...