GWU Festival of Lights

Each year GWU holds the Festival of Lights, which is a concert celebrating Christmas on the GW campus. You can read more about it here. It is on Thursday December 3rd. I love this concert because like most other human beings I love the holidays. I love being with family, eating good food, opening presents, singing Chriatmas songs, the whole nine yards. This concert is kind of a kick-off for Christmas for those who attend. I am excited about the music we will be singing in the concert choir this year. We have some good stuff, so everyone should come out and join us.

American Idol... Competition past the Competition

The month of November proves a big month for the top 3 finalists on the last run of American Idol. All 3 of them have album's dropping this month. I'm not quite sure who I think will win the most records sold. Although Allison Iraheta is very good, I am sure she can't beat out Kris Allen or Adam Lambert.
I am looking forward to listening to all three and comparing. I was partial to Kris Allen while the show was airing but all three are amazing performers.

Taylor Swift..

So last night at the CMA Awards T-Swift won Female Vocalist of the year. (To see entire list of winners click here.)
I don't like this at all. She is a great entertainer and markets herself almost perfectly. When it comes to her vocalizing... she struggles a lot. Even in her performances on the CMA Awards she hit a few really sketchy notes. She also won entertainer of the year which I completely understand. She is a phenomenal entertainer.

Lambert... what are you thinking?

Really Adam Lambert, really?? This album cover is slightly ridiculous, at least I think so. I mean come on now. This looks kinda scary in my opinion. We know you are "Glambert" and all but this is just too far.

POMPLAMOOSE!! please watch.

Ok... so I was surfing YouTube as I do pretty much everyday for about an hour and I descovered these two people who go by the name of Pomplamoose. They are pretty much ingenious. There music and mixing is great and their videos are funny and VERY well made. Please give this a listen. It could very well make your day.

Garth Brooks... Again??

I am a Garth Brooks fan. I like most of his music and added his greatest hits album to my CD collection just last year. It came complete with a collection of his best music videos and I like it. There's no denying the fact that he was a country music superstar who sold millions of records. Word on the street is that he will be coming out of retirement... for the 2nd time. If you remember the last time he did this he reentered the music world as a creepy, rocker alter-ego named Chris Gaines. FAIL. Hopefully this "coming out of retirement" experience will do him more justice. Keep your fingers crossed for Garth. I feel like he may need it. See Brooks as his weird alter-ego below:

Club Mixes

So many pop songs today have club mixes. I like them sometimes and sometimes they are just really bad. This just happens to be one I really like:
the original:

the club mix:

In this case I like the club mix better than the original. But props to Black Eyed Peas for a great song!! I have a feeling this song might tear up the charts!!

Mixing Genres

One of the biggest songs in the nation right now is Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say". His song really is great and extremely catchy. But, it is so catchy because the chorus is ripped from another great song that isn't quite as popular, "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap. Before this song was released Heap was an Indie artist who few people were fans of. My bets are that this song will put her on the mainstream map and we will be seeing much more of her in the future. Listen to both songs below.


What a smart move by two relatively unknown artists... blend their music and make a hit single.

If you can't sing live.....

DON"T BE A MUSIC ARTIST!!!
It is so frustrating to me that very many artists these days can't sing well in a live show. Sure, give me a tone-deaf singer and some electronics. I could make a masterpiece. But what happens when the singer has to sing it live?? Sometimes they crash and burn or get out of it by lip-syncing.

Divine Romance

So.. This is a song by Phil Wickham. "Divine Romance".

This song is amazing because between the amazing lyrics, Phil's soulful voice and the awesome subject matter it really gets me going. As I have said before, I am a sucker for acoustic "love" songs.... This song is acoustic, about love and not only love but God's love. I mean who could ask to listen to something better. I would highly recommend you listen to this and if you are a fan please check out his other stuff. He is a great artist with a genuine, raw talent.
The video is also very interesting to me because they made the setting very intimate. By using the soothing, neutral colors in the background it sets a very calming atmosphere. Add the candles and you've got yourself one romance waiting to happen. It is as if God is sitting right in front of him and he is singing to Him in the same manner a 14 year-old boy would be trying to woo his first crush, with an innocent, charming presentation.
Learn how to be more romantic here.

Damien Rice

Damien Rice is an indie artist. His music is sometimes very strange, but original and unique. No, it is not for everyone. He often pairs with female singers who have smooth, breathy, pure-sounding voices. Much like in his song "9 Crimes":

American Idol: The Latest

There is no denying the power reality show American Idol has on the music industry.

Last year's winner Kris Allen has just recently released his new single "Live Like We're Dying" (you can listen below), Paula Abdul really isn't coming back to the show and Ellen DeGeneres is replacing her. The media buzz surrounding the Paula/Ellen situation is amazing. It has been everywhere since the announcement. Everyone seems to feel the need to give their opinion on the situation.... so here goes mine!! I have been watching "Idol" since the very first season. I have skipped a couple of seasons along the way, but in general I am a frequent watcher of the show. I really REALLY liked Paula on the show. She was like the breath of fresh air among a panel of boring, sometimes heartless, judges. Ok, so maybe the other judges weren't as "heartless" as Kanye, but that's a completely different story. Anyways. I like Ellen DeGeneres, but I don't know that I like her for American Idol. Let's face it, right now Ellen is one of the biggest people in the entertainment industry. I don't understand why should would even do the show when she has her own. She is funny but I am afraid her jokes and sarcastic comments will become the spotlight of the show instead of what should be. The point of the show is to find America's raw singing talent, not exemplify a comedienne's already established career. That's enough of that.

Listen to Kris Allen's new single and let it inspire you to "live more, laugh often, love much":

MTV & the up-and-coming

MTV is a huge outlet for up-and-coming artists these days. One way an unknown artisit can have a little more spotlight is by having their song featured on one of the many MTV "reality" shows like The Real World or The Hills. By going to the show's website on MTV.com you can find the music played in the episode's soundtrack under the link "songs from the show".

Patrick Swayze - She's Like The Wind

So yesterday Hollywood lost a huge actor, Patrick Swayze. He was most-known for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Ghost and Road House. No, he was not a very accomplished singer, but he did sing one of the song's from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which is one of the best film soundtracks of all time.
Here is "She's Like the Wind":

Choral Music... what?

Well, this weekend was the GWU Concert Choir retreat. The retreat is a two-day, intense rehearsal. We cram as much music as we can into our brains so that we can spend class time working out the "kinks". This year's reterat was a huge success. I am choir president this year so I am especially glad it went well.
As a choir member I am ecstatic that we have the most people we have had in several years, 41. In the past two years we have had from 25 to 30 members. Last semester we had only two guys singing bass and this year we have 9.
It saddens me that many people have little appreciation for choral music, especially college students. This is a video of the concert choir singing in the Washington Cathedral in 2008, which was my freshman year:

The song is "Ubi Caritas". It has beautiful chords and lyircs. The text is in latin but tranlates to this in englsh:
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

These words are beutiful and they clearly represent what Christians are called to do.

GLEE

So.. there is a new TV show on this fall. GLEE.

It is a show based on the life of a high school glee club teacher and the actual glee club. Being a former member of a high school show choir, I know that the show is an extreme exaggeration of life in a high school choir. Nevertheless, it is very VERY entertaining.

Here is a clip from the show:

Ron Pope

So... I discovered a not-so-known artist recently. Ron Pope.

I really like his sound and thought I would call your attention to him. Browsing through his songs on iTunes I fell in love with his music, so I purchased pretty much all that I could. I am a fan of the acoustic sound. Actually I am one of those people who likes the acoustic version of any song better than the original.

My favorite song of Ron Pope's is A Drop In the Ocean.

One thing about his music is the fact that the lyrics are so nice. I feel like so many people overlook the lyrical value of so many songs. The songs with the best lyrics are the ones that don't get the media attention. Hopefully you will look at, or I guess listen to his music and give the lyrics a chance.

Visit his Myspace, website or twitter.

First time...

Welcome to my blog.
This is my first time blogging.

This blog will be about my favorite music, music that is up-and-coming and music events covered by the media. The media covers music so excessively. It is important as a musician to maintain a healthy relationship with the media. If a musician doesn't have a good rep in the media their career could be at stake.
I want to introduce you to my favorite kinds of music and hopefully get your attention on some musicians that aren't necessarily in the media right now....
That is the point of my blog.

Just for fun and as an introduction, this is a video of me performing Grace Flows Down last year in Gaffney, SC. (Music starts at about 0:38)

Vocals: Brandon Carter (me) and Rosalee Johnson
Piano: Tucker Dupree

Direct link to video here.