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For those unaware, Twitter is the latest social networking phenomenon. The main difference between it and any other social tool is that it’s based around what you say, in 140 characters, rather than how pretty your profile, your vast array of cool bands you like or all those super arty movies you like plus a love of hugging, stars, star tattoos, boys with emo hair etc. Nor does it matter how many “friends” you have.
What are you doing?
So how on earth do you get friends, or “followers” as they are called? Through interaction!
Twitter is more of a mediator between other platforms. Not so much finding friends from scratch but using platforms already established to interact with the friends already made, often on a more personal including one-on-one level.
Updates can be sent and received in a number of ways; on the website at twitter.com, through one of the many of the twitter clients (Twhirl, Twitterrific), via txt message on a mobile phone and now theres something about having your voice transformed into a pretty little twitter message for the world to see courtesy of Twitterfone (currently invite only).
In my opinion Twitter can be best used for making announcements; news reports, keeping fans and followers up-to-date with related issues and news, as putting out ideas and suggestions to those interested in certain topics. Currently enjoying popularity within the technology and web sectors, as with many new technologies, I feel Twitter has a great potential within the music industry.
Twitter as a means of promoting music
As I have found, Twitter is best for making announcements, asking questions and often getting quick responses, organising meetings and gatherings (photomeet dublin?) and shouting out ideas - it can only be useful to music promotion.
Fans can be made aware of Twitter through the usual pre-existing methods; Myspace, Facebook, website etc. Bands can therefore use Twitter to to update fans on their progress and gig dates.
Texting about gigs by local bands and promoters is seen as a good way of attracting (and reminding) friends about a gig, normally done on the day or a few days before.
By simply sending a message to one number rather than multiple numbers cuts cost, time and has the potential to reach many more people.
Twitter may not seem to be anything ground breaking, in fact almost backwards, but its through the simplicity, ease and uncluttered nature of this platform which has allowed it to grow as quickly as it has.
Tonight Kitty and the Can Openers subtly relaunch their self-titled EP at the Empire Music Hall, Belfast.
Recorded in Dec 07/Jan 08, the finely produced CD contains five superb tracks, which often find themselves slipped into the the set list whenever they grace the stage.
When the EP was first printed the band were unhappy with the album sleeve and so it was back to the drawing board. Now, 2 months later the newly printed sleeve and CD are ready for general sale at various gigs and events, and soon to be available from their website, which is in production.
So if you are free tonight get down to the Empire and get yourself a CD!
It’s been a while since I went to a club and drank many alcoholic beverages into the early hours of the morning. Having had a taste of just that the other night, not so much in the alcohol consumption but in the atmosphere and drink consumed by the free spirits all around me - including the occasional fantastically attractive female.
Those nights are always nice. It’s fun to go a bit crazy every now and then, though right now it seems I’m not able to do it, or in the mood quite often. It feels great to be busy, sometimes it feels great to be tired, because it’s tiredness from doing what I love.
It’s the weekend. Go nuts!
Recently I’ve been working with local promotion company Moving On Music, who specialise in classical, traditional, world, rock and jazz music.
MOM are putting on a mini-festival in the Black Box from today, 26th March, to Sunday 30th March, encompassing many great musicians, as well as film screenings before each show.
In the Café, however, a selection of my photographs, taken at Moving On Music events, are on display throughout the festival.
If you are in Belfast it would be great if you could stop by and have a look, maybe even get a bite to eat - they do a good lunch.
For full details on the festival programme click here
I first listened to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album a few weeks ago. I tried hard to like it, but I just couldn’t. Each track has a story, more often than not quite a sad story, but the style of the album isn’t for me.
However, that doesn’t really matter. What is important is that each of the ten tracks from the album were performed brilliantly by ten local artists/bands.
the line-up was as follows:
Nebraska - Robyn G Shiels
Atlantic City - Ben Glover
Mansion On The Hill - Bap Kennedy
Johnny 99 - Jonny Black
Highway Patrolman - Rachel Austin
State Trooper - Boathouse
Used Cars - Desert Hearts
Open All Night - Matt McGinn
My Father’s House - Pixie Saytar
Reason To Believe - Brian Houston
My personal highlights were Rachel Austin’s intense version of Highway Patrolman and Boathouse’s unique take on State Trooper.
(more on flickr!)
Show 6 of Imeall Geal - Irish language music and culture show. I didn’t spend any time in the studio during recording so I can’t comment on how it went, or how much crap they talked in the links - all I know is that the two acts who performed are superb.
I have been meaning to hear more of Foy Vance’s music other than the two songs on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack; Gabriel and the Vagabond and Homebird. Both incredible songs. I have wanted to see him playing for some time now. Unfortunately while at the recording of Imeall Geal yesterday afternoon I was not able to be there at the time he was playing, though being the super-nice guy that he is he agreed to a quick photo shoot.
I returned to the Arts Centre a couple of hours later for lots more coffee and reading of the Sunday Times magazine and other top notch reading material. Then of course there was Foy’s beautiful 4-year old daughter who was running around writing down the names of everyone who was there, telling us about her cat - which it turns out she doesn’t have - and generally being a very cute and entertaining.
Final piece to the show was the performance by The Flaws, I should have asked them what song they played as I could only hear them from outside the studio, though it sounded great. I saw them when they played Auntie Annies in Belfast over a year ago now, having just released their single Out Tonight - such an energetic song, one which has always gotten me in the mood for going out.
Once they got their stuff in the van we did a short shoot in the ‘Green Room’ - the only thing green was the chairs.
The Flaws are currently touring North and South of Ireland, finding themselves in the North on 26th March for a show in Sandinos in Derry (with support from a brilliant Dublin band Saccade) and Auntie Annies in April.
This show goes out on Thursday evening at 10pm. Or watch it via the BBC iPlayer as I will.
That time of year once more. Lets ignore it.
Thankfully there is plenty going on in Belfast this evening to keep me occupied.
The Knights of the Round Table are holding their usual jam packed night of fun with music from Kitty and the Can Openers, Serpentine Smile and Autorun plus plenty of extras including light electronica, poetry, “groovy” art displays, a local film and rice krispie valentines delights for the first fifty people through the door.
The Winding Stair are headlining Gifted at the Empire along with Eoghan Colgan, Ursula Burns and Dolbro Dan. A great acoustic lineup..
If you head a little further into town Olympic Lifts are releasing their new single ‘I Am Cursed’ which is available now to download. Well worth checking out.
With a lot of choice of gigs and music, I guess there’s not much reason to be alone tonight. x
I haven’t seen the limelight as packed for a local band as it was on Thursday night. 360 325 paying punters. Although I did hear the turnout was similar at Kowalski/And So I watch You From Afar/Cutaways gig in December. The lineup this time around was A Plastic Rose, Panama Kings and Fighting With Wire. The entire venue was filled with lots of kids screaming at each band out shear love and devotion.
At 22:05 A plastic Rose made their way to the stage. Gerry Norman began by calling everyone close to the stage - and they did. Filling every space. By 22:30 the venue was already full.
Singing/shouting along the crowd joined in in the ways the knew how, even shouting requests for the ‘classics’. This band know how to rock and rock they did. They have gone up 100 times in my estimation since seeing them a few months back in Lavery’s Bunker; it was either the fact that it was the Limelight, or they have just improved dramatically.
After a short break the Panama Kings came to the stage and began pumping those memorable riffs and drum beats along with lead singer Niall showing them all how to be a rock star; he has the look and the attitude and certainly the voice.
For a band who only began gigging at the end of 2007, the Panama Kings have come a long way in terms of large fan base and tight sound - including some excellent recordings available for download on their myspace. Hot Hot Heat comes to mind when I listen to their tracks, particularly in the vocals, and also a hint of Modest Mouse. As is apparently the norm, Neill gave out his own house address for the after-party. I heard it was just as sardine-packt as the Limelight.
To end what was possibly the most photographed gig in Belfast, Fighting With Wire showed everyone in the room how to ‘dance’ in the form of lead singer and guitarist, Cahir O’Doherty throwing himself across the stage to bring extra life to those extra-ordinary animal-like songs. Many of which I’m sure can be found on their recently released album Man Vs Monster which I hope to get my hands on at some point.
Two Step have done it again - they put together a great line up.
Tomorrow Belfast band Mary’s Great Idea will be on the new Irish language chat and music show from BBC Northern Ireland called Imeall Geal, which translates as ‘Bright Edge’. Last Sunday they performed in front of a live studio audience in Newry’s Sean Hollywood Art Centre along with Dublin band Director.
The idea being that each week two bands perform, one an unsigned band from Northern Ireland and the other a bigger name band from throughout Ireland. Other acts to perform in coming weeks include Ruby Colley, The Delawares, Olympic Lifts, Henry McCullough, Foy Vance, and The Winding Stair.
Click here to view a short interview with Mary’s Great Idea.
Imeall Geal is on BBC Two Northern Ireland each Thursday at 10pm
The day I had been looking forward to for 2 years arrived on Friday; my photographs framed and exhibited in a public place. Friday was the launch; the first day of the exhibition, and the ‘Out to Lunch’ festival which is running until 27th January. I was down early to clean a few of the frames, and generally get things organised.
Rachel, who had helped me hang them, turned up first shortly before 6, followed by Ronan and Ciara of Kitty and the Can Openers, who, after technical difficulties and three different sound guys trying to work out the problems, played a few songs towards the end of the night in front of an intimate crowd.
There was a wine, some mingling, the parents - oh the parents’ with their (well mother’s) “hasn’t he gotten so tall” comments to people that I don’t really know that well, but there wasn’t too much embarrassment thankfully, ok except maybe on my own part after the family left and the wine kept flowing.
My friends were there and that’s the most important thing, besides just a few who couldn’t make it for reasons such as not being in the country or suffering severe jetlag/being in a zombified state…
For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to go to McHughes afterwards, when the only sensible thing to do at this point could only have been to go home. After getting knocked back at the bar for having no ID, then having to get a friend to buy me my one drink of the night, we walked home, in the ice which remained from the snow on Thursday night.
The snow on Thursday was great. I happened to be in The Apartment at the time with Rachel when it started to snow and ended up thinking as I was looking out, that it’s quite a romantic scene with the City Hall and the amber tint of street lights and people talking photographs with flashes. Of course it only lasted for 5 minutes, and had stopped by the time we left and got to Auntie Annies, where we met Ben and Mike.
When we left, after 1am, there was 5 inches of snow (my bro said he measured it outside my parents house - not too far away), and Ben got naked on University Avenue, which was like a scene from Narnia - with added nakedness.
Disappointingly, I didn’t manage to take any photographs of the snow over the weekend, now all that’s left is ice scattered along the footpath.
On Saturday I awoke with quite a hangover. But, onwards. The Black Box was the venue, once again for Astral Weeks Revisited as part of the second day of the Out to Lunch festival. I was looking forward to seeing Foy Vance as I have yet to see him play live though when I got there I heard that he and Bap Kennedy pulled due to “management reasons”. Having an idea about the background of the problem, I don’t know if I can understand it, it is just unfortunate.
Personally, I don’t like the album myself, having listened to it a few times in the last week, though the covers played in the Black Box at 2pm, and again in the Oh Yeah Building at 8pm we’re all astonishing. Running order was:
Astral Weeks – Brian Houston
Beside You – Cara Robinson
Sweet Thing – The Four Of Us
Cyprus Avenue – Matt McGinn
- interval -
The Way Young Lovers Do – The Winding Stair
Madame George – Ursula Burns
Ballerina – Duke Special
Slim Slow Slider – Tom Mc Shane
Each version was excellent, though extra praise has to go to Matt McGinn, who got the call that Foy had pulled out at 12:30pm that afternoon - 2hrs prior to the event, and played Crypus Avenue like he’d been playing it for years. Also to Ursula Burns who was brought in at the last minute too.
After a very sold out Black Box gig, in which the audience got very into the music, roaring with delight after each song rather than simply clapping. The gig was such a success that everyone was looking forward to the evening show in the Oh Yeah Building around the corner, I was just looking forward to getting some food: McHughes’ chicken goujons and a pint. Beautiful.
The Oh Yeah was equally as good as the one before. I’ve never had an opportunity to experience different reactions from two different crowds at the same event, it was interesting. At certain things that Stuart Bailie said in his introduction the crowd at the Black Box laughed where this crowd did not, and vice versa. It was also being recorded in the Oh Yeah Building for broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster in the near future - I just hope that none of the clicking of my shutter got recorded.
I think this is a great idea, having local artists cover a well known “great” album, whether I personally think so or not isn’t really relevant. First there was ‘Oh Yeah Computer‘, another Oh Yeah Project endeavour in July ‘07, which I didn’t manage to get to, but heard went down extremely well, with artists such as The Jane Bradfords, Amy McGarrigle and Driving By Night doing great covers, from those which I have heard.
Stuart revealed that there are plans for another in the series, this time Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska to be held sometime in Feb as part of the Belfast Nashville Festival - check www.ohyeahbelfast.com for more.
More photographs can be found on my Flickr stream.
I had a great weekend, surrounded by great people.
Thank you
:D