I’m pumped to announce availability of Rock Show 2.0.  This is the first version of Rock Show that works on the iPad and both the iPhone and iPod Touch.  A lot of fixes and tweaks are in this version of the application, along with some new posters as well!

Two articles are up about the release, Padgadget is hosting one item and a second can be found at IntoMobile.  For a full low-down and updated info on the app, visit its page: http://www.rockshow.fm

Aaron Fechter the President of Creative Engineering, Inc has been reprogramming a working animatronic bear-band set up.  It looks like the company created it for a line of restraunts similar to Chuck E. Cheese.  He’s currently taking cash bids to do syncing or “choreography” for the band members.

The way the performance is filmed and presented are awesome.  Shakey prolonged shots, quick pulls outward.  The overall video quality is low and the colors look a bit washed out.  Everything is blurry and the bear with the guitar has a spooky shadow.   Great media.

I showed Dave a print of an owl in a suit I bought at  Crafty Wonderland barely touching on variety in the vendors and size of the crowds out that day to explore the local fare.  I remember walking among the booths, looking at a velvet painting of Michael Jackson and hearing The Thermals playing overhead.  It was Portland art celebrating Portland art.

Something I’ve noticed through an array of networking and business meetings I’ve set up is that Portland has attracted a powerhouse of technological and artistic talent.  There aren’t a lot of jobs, but there is a creative class of people ambitious to combine creativity with entrepreneurial behavior to produce amazing things. This is starting to attract publicity.

James Mercer, The Shins and Broken Bells

What does all this have to do with Broken Bells? Let’s take a look at the context around the release.  James Mercer, frontman for The Shins, decided to move to Portland a few years back. Recently keyboardist Marty Crandall and Drummer Jesse Sandoval were replaced by by Fruit Bats’ bassist Ron Lewis and Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer.

Mercer suggested in May that a new Shins album could come in early 2010, but then in September announced a collaborative project with Brian Joseph Burton aka Dangermouse titled Broken Bells. The release of the first single off Broken Bells, “The High Road” on the 21st of this month was quickly overshadowed by what some are calling the “best Christmas present ever,” the complete leak of the album.

One listen and it is clear that Mercer aimed for and delivered a dashing mix of phonics and verse, doing well to combine his creative style with a bang up set of instrumentation from Burton.  When the album makes its official debut it is certain to be a hit.

In light of this new work it seems hard to believe a new Shins album will be dropping any time soon.  And to celebrate Broken Bells as a Portland achievement hold less water than to simply say it is heavily in association with the city.  The idea that Portland would influence the creation of an effort like Broken Bells seems to jive with what I’m seeing on the ground.  There are no doubt wonderful things yet to come from this city and I’m excited to see what else shakes out.

Some friends on Facebook noticed that for a few days this past week Britney Spears was on my list of ‘favorite music.’  The music section of the Info Tab on my profile is usually limited to a select group of artists I would feel comfortable having a clear argument for recommending them to a stranger.

Example artists include:  Beirut, Cat Power, David Byrne, Jandek, Kraftwerk, Thom Yorke, Wilco, Joanna Newsom, and Lupe Fiasco.  Each of those artists makes list through a combination of the following:

• Songwriting
• Performance
• Influence on their genre or music in general
• Personal character and mystique

David Byrne is a four star example.  He still writes some fun songs and his work with the Talking Heads has had an undeniable influence on bands from Phish to Radiohead.  Having seen him perform at the Oregon Zoo, and knowing he tagged his last blog entry with “Anthropology/Sociology, and Current Affairs” is enough to convince me that his performance and personal character are well in order.

Britney Spears suffers in all categories.  She has songwriting credit on two of the sixteen songs on her newest album, Circus. A cadre of talent created the rest, including Arnthor Birgisson, Wayne Hector and Shelly Peiken.  Her past performance ability is probably her strongest suit today. My friend Zakiya toured as a backup dancer with Britney and has described her as very hard working in this regard.

But it is difficult to say that Spears herself has been influential because most if not all of her artistry is the work of other people’s efforts.  Ann Powers of the LA Times said explicitly:  “Musically, she turned a corner with 2004′s “Toxic,” when she fully matured into her role as a vehicle for other people’s experiments.”

Her lack of personal character and mystique are probably her biggest downfalls.  Her public behavior and dim interviews leave her without much.  All of this points to why she should never have made it  onto my Facebook profile.  Packaged assets for the Jive Records are not my “favorite music.”

<Fun side note: I was at a holiday / 30th birthday party last night and spoke with someone working at the photography company with a division specializing on photoshop.  Their company processed photo of Britney on the album cover for Circus.

I was told that normally the editing group does three to four review cycles before the client signs off on the work.  Apparently there were fourteen review cycles before the label would sign off on the editing of Britney for the album cover. />

On with the Guitar Tab

“Britney’s” songs can still be fun and the phonics can still be addictive.  I’ve taken particular interest in the song “Out From Under,” and decided to have a hand at producing an acoustic rendition of it for the guitar.  As long as my interest holds, I’ll improve the following guitar tabs and chords, updating the blog entry as appropriate.

If you can help me improve the guitar tab and chord list for Spears’ Out From Under, please post in the comments and I’ll incorporate your changes and give you proper credit.  Thank you.

“Out From Under” from the album Circus (credits)

Lead Vocals: Briney Spears
Written by: Arnthor Birgisson, Wayne Hector, Shelly Peiken
Produced by: Guy Sigsworth  (Seal, Alanis, Madonna, Bjork)
Guitar: Andy Page
Keyboards: Guy Sigsworth
Strings: Guy Sigsworth
Background vocals: Haywood, Leah

Guitar 1:
——————————–
——————————–
——————————–
——8——8——8———–
–13—–13—–13————-
——————————–
Breathe you out, Breathe you in…

Guitar 2:
———————————
———————————
———————————
———————————
—6–8–9—-9—6————
———————————
Breathe you out, Breathe you in…

Chord to Chorus
—6——————————
—7——————————
—6——————————
—8——————————
—x——————————
—x——————————
…I try to put it in the past…

Chorus
———————————
—7-7—6-6–4-4————–
—-8-8—8-8–8-8————-
———————————
———————————
———————————
I don’t wanna dream about

This is just a start at this point on tabbing this.  I think that the chorus needs the two guitar parts separated still, although I’d like to create a rendition for a guitar soloist.