Happy Birthday Quirky NY Chick!

At 12:31 AM on this day, October 15, QuirkyNYChick.com was born.

When I started this blog, I dived in head first on a bit of a whim. I like to write and I like music. It made perfect sense for me to combine the two so I did. Thankfully, the water wasn't shallow and I didn't hit bottom and knock my quirky self out!

I claimed my little corner of the Internet and ran with it. I gave the blog a logo, a logo that has had more than one person say, 'the one with the big purple L' when I mention my blog name while out and about. So, I guess I chose something memorable. A good thing, right? I've learned a lot about putting together a blog and I'm still learning. With an enormous amount of anxiety and feeling completely out of my depth, I accomplished my very first Q & A. Thanks to James Love of Hot Seconds for helping me learn to swim in those waters. I guess that makes him my human equivalent of water wings. Also, thanks to those friends who talked me through the anxiety! My camera and I found ourselves crouched down in Irving Plaza at an Arc Angels show for my first official photo pit experience. As someone who has always loved concert photography it was exhilarating and terrifying and I couldn't wait to do it again. I headed to Newport, RI for QNYC's first official road trip to take in the 50th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival. It was exciting, surreal and a wee bit daunting but an awesomely fun experience.

Here I am, a year later, continuing to dish out info and talking music in my oddball, or I suppose I should say, quirky way. I still like to write and I still like music. What's different? A year ago, I thought only my friends and my Mom would stop by once in a while to read. Imagine my surprise when I discovered otherwise! I've been challenged, overwhelmed and proud ... often all at the same time. I've tried to keep it interesting. I've tried to keep it fun. But, most of all, I've tried to keep it me.

It has all been a tremendous amount of fun and I often ask myself why I didn't do this sooner. I've met a lot of interesting people and I've seen a lot of great live music. Thanks to all of the artists whose work allows me to do what I do. Thanks to all of you who have dropped by to visit. To make my first anniversary a little more special, I discovered that QuirkyNYChick.com has been listed on ClickitTicket.com's "Top 20 Music Review Blogs on the Web" ... flattering and especially so for a blog that was a complete unknown just a year ago.

With one year under my belt, I say, "Cheers! Here's to many more years of discussing music in my own delightfully quirky way!"

L. R. Adams
October 15, 2009

Vivian Darkbloom At Pianos This Thursday!

Boston band Vivian Darkbloom will be taking the stage on the LES at Pianos this Thursday, June 25.

For those unfamiliar with Vivian Darkbloom, they're an indie band made up of brainy guys. Founding members Rob Morris (vocals/guitar) and Brian Skerratt (bass/vocals) met at Princeton and are now doing the whole graduate degree thing at MIT and Harvard, respectively. They are joined by Cristiano Castellitto (drums) who's probably a brainy guy too. Anyway, I mention this not as a negative, but because it ties in with their music.

You see, Morris has used his braininess to created this crazy thing called the Wii Guitar. He's mounted a Wii remote onto a guitar and by pressing it's buttons and moving and gesturing with his guitar he's able to produce all kinds of insane sounds. You obviously can't get these sounds by just playing a guitar the old fashioned way. The guitar communicates with a computer running software Morris wrote and viola, you have on your hands, a mad scientist with a wicked cool guitar. Ok, Morris probably isn't mad but, I've always wanted to use that term. You can read a more detailed description of his invention in an article from The Boston Phoenix HERE.

Have a listen to Vivian Darkbloom's new single, "Cold War" from the EP of the same name.

The Wii guitar in action ...

So, if you're in the New York area on Thursday, drop by and check them out. I hear everyone who goes, gets a free "I Love VD" button. Well, look at that, good music, cool inventions and a sense of humor. These are all good things folks!

www.viviandarkbloomband.com
www.myspace.com/viviandarkbloomband
pianosnyc.com
thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/82943-Inventing-the-Future/

Chinese Democracy, Not An Urban Legend After All

I was tooling around iTunes earlier seeing if they had anything that caught my eye. I discovered you can pre-order Guns 'N' Roses' Chinese Democracy now. WHAT?! You mean to tell me that record's not just an urban legend, like the kid whose stomach exploded from eating Pop Rocks? Who knew? The expected release date is November 25. I might buy it. Then again, I might not. Maybe I'll wait 17 years to buy it ... took 17 years to make ... it only seems fair!

Misplaced Oscar?

I was doing a little online browsing when I came across a story titled "The Case of the Misplaced Oscar" over on www.jazzwax.com. Well, my curiosity was peaked. How do you misplace an Oscar I wondered? The only way to find out was to read the story. So, I did!

It turns out that this isn't a case of 'I put my Oscar in the attic and now I can't find it' or 'it was misplaced when I moved.' This is a story of how someone was mistakenly given credit for the work of someone else and got an Oscar in the process!

What's the story and how did someone get an Oscar that should have gone to someone else? Long story short, Charlie Chaplin did a movie called Limelight back in the early 50's. Composer and arranger Russell Garcia did the arrangements for the movie. Some 20 years later, Limelight gets released in the U.S. and its score nominated for an Oscar. Chaplin was asked who arranged the score. He said Ray Rasch who had worked with him at the time. Apparently, symphony orchestra arrangements weren't his thing and Garcia landed the gig. The Oscar folks asked Rasch's widow who else had arranged the score. She said, 'someone named Russell.' The only Russell that came to their mind at the time was another film arranger, Larry Russell. The Oscar folks asked Russell's widow if he'd done the job and she said, 'he must have' and Oscar's were given to Rasch and Russell.

Garcia never put up a fuss over the situation and the whole thing seemed to have been forgotten about. That is, until Jazzwax's Marc Myers was doing research after interviewing Garcia who still isn't interested in putting up a fuss. Garcia seems content allowing his work to speak for itself. Would he like to have his Oscar after all these years? Probably, awards are nice to have. But, in the scope of things, getting a pat on the back in the form of a shiny piece of statuary isn't a big deal. Are the Oscar folks going to give Russell Garcia his Oscar? I hope so.

You can read the story at the following link: http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/09/the-case-of-the.html