MyndJack Radio Blog

I has a sad. A very big sad.

Wagner will not be on the show tonight, however he sends his best regards to the MyndJack Nation and is looking forward to joining us in the Fall. We will go into the details of what happened, but it is totally not Wagner’s fault, he was looking forward to joining us tonight but management put the kaibash on it.

Still, no hard feelings, the situation is completely understandable and Wagner wants us all to know that he appreciates us and looks forward to joining us on the air in the Fall.

“I am the one who thanks you for the invitation. Please tell [the MyndJack Nation] that Wagner will be coming soon and my deepest apologies.” -Wagner

So, tonight is still gonna kick major ass because not only is it MIX and MASH week, but Melinda Green from Top Idol will be joining the judges panel as well as a surprise special guest judge! Who could possibly be as cool and full of LOVE as Wagner? You rrrrrrreaaallly wanna tune in for this!

He has gone by many names….Mr. No-Slave-Tract, Mr. Nasty Time, or the guy who almost ruined American Idol according to Ken Warwick. The MyndJack Nation knows him as the soulful Ju’Not Joyner. Tonight, he will be stopping by to be our very special guest to drop his latest tunes, including his new single “A Little U and Me,” like ear-candy and filling us in on what he’s been up to since he was last with us.

Also, he will be sitting down at the judges panel next to Deb, Professor Kast, and DJ Slim from Idolbloglive.com as your Top 7 take the stage and perform the greatest R&B hits of all time! Tune in tonight LIVE at 9pm EST for a SOULFULL two hours of eargasmic entertainment!

Nation, you’ve seen a lot of Kick-Starter campaigns that we’ve been behind and they have all been awesome. We want you to now take a moment to check out our good friend Felicia Barton’s Kick-Starter and how she is giving back to you based on your donation.

In addition to being a part of her new solo project, involving the hit “Lost Words” played (sorta)EXLUSIVELY here on MyndJack Radio, you get the BIG PAYBACK for your donation. Even $1 can help out, but how about being named Executive Producer on the album? Or a special Birthday Greeting from Felica herself? Or even a private one-on-one vocal coaching session via Skype with Felica?! You might even get a hug (that’s worth $5k right there!)

So, MyndJack Nation, dig deep for our girl Felicia and let’s get her some serious and long-overdue pimpage out there in the music industry! You KNOW you love you some Felica….prove it!

A special message from Felicia:

Click here to get started and be a part of something AWESOME!

This year will be an amazing one: not only is it Alex Nester’s official release of her second album, it is also the 10th Anniversary of her being cancer-free!

To celebrate, Alex is hosting #BurnItDown …To Rise Above It! …a benefit concert to share her music with you held at the world famous Troubadour…and all proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society and the Marcelle Erian Foundation! And as an added bonus everyone in attendance will get Alex’s new album “#BurnItDown” as a gift for their generosity!

It’s going to be a night of music, fun, giveaways and celebrating our successes in the fight against cancer! You could even win a TRIP FOR TWO TO THE BAHAMAS!! This is the concert event you don’t want to miss, with all the proceeds going directly to fighting cancer. Celebrate Alex’s 10 years of being cancer free with the MyndJack Nation and the entire world!

Deb and Myndrunner will be in the LIVE USTREAM Chatroom during the concert and running the LIVE Auction including Tito Jackson’s Autographed Guitar, Conan O’Brien’s Band Autographed Drum Lid, collectors T-Shirts, CDs, and rare surprises that you can’t get anywhere else! All donations and bids are graciously accepted to go towards the fight against cancer.

Click here to enter the USTREAM and click Chat to join the viewing party!

Tonight at 11pm EST – 8pm PST!!!

My advice, first, is DO NOT DO KARAOKE!! Which, for this purpose I will define as performing ‘straight’ any song originally recorded by a performer whose vocal style or aesthetic resembles your own in any way. That person has already been there, and done that. You doing it again, no matter how ‘well’, is redundant.

All of the group two ‘good singers’ fell into the same trap of obviousness and imitation. (The ‘kid’ does ‘Over the Rainbow’? Sorry, but no.*) So did Ann T. How can she seem like anything but an ersatz Joan Osborne singing a Joan Osbourne song? Now, if she was singing an Ozzy Osbourne song in the style of Joan Osbourne, that might be interesting…

Hmm, why didn’t I make that connection last night? Four Horsemen… “War Pigs”!! Seriously. But a woman wouldn’t want to imitate the Ozzy vocals, but rather bring a ‘woman’s emotional perspective’ to the song – the cannon fodder of imperialist wars now include both genders, and if the combat soldiers are still mainly men, they do have mothers, sisters, daughters, wives… (This is just an example. I wouldn’t ask Ann T. or anyone else to do something they did not themselves find interesting in some way…)

So, how do you ‘make something your own’ using karaoke backing tracks designed to mimic the original as much as possible? (Unlike Daughtry or Cook, you can’t find innovative covers by other out-of-the-main-spotlight artists and have Ricky Minor copy the arrangement for you…)

1. EVEN IF YOU STAY WITHIN GENRE, DON’T PICK A SONG RECORDED BY ANYONE WHO SOUNDS LIKE YOU. The women, for example, should look for songs associated with men, and vice versa. If you have a clear voice like Joanna, do a song by someone who had a rough voice (Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner…) and make it work for your gifts to the point where we say ‘It should have been that way in the first place.’ (I once heard a pop-rock bar band do a great cover of ‘Respectable’ where they smoothed it out, took out all the grit, and made it kind of bubble-gummy. It was fast, kitschy, fun and entertaining as hell…)

2. WRITE NEW LYRICS. And as I said, they don’t have to be funny. Turn a cheezy lyric into a genuinely passionate love song, or refit a love song with Alanis/Trent Reznor lyrical angst.

3. The next idea would require MJRI to loosen the rules for theme weeks, but people could also write lyrics for songs that were done as instrumentals, segments of classical music, or jazz: ‘Green Onions,’ ‘Rumble,’ a little Mozart or Bach, Ramsey Lewis, anything!

4. Since a couple contestants went a cappela, and have voices strong enough to do that, that really opens up opportunities for changing the arrangement – altering tempo, rhythm etc. (For a somewhat cheezey example of how a song can be reworked keeping the same words and melody, think of Neil Sedaka’s two versions of ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’.) Along this line, I would encourage the folks that have the vocal skill for a cappela to learn how to multi-track with Audacity or some other simple sound editor, so they can create duets with themselves, and develop altered arrangements simply using their voice.

NOTE: Greatest cover record of last 10 years – minimalist (re)-arrangement, totally outside of obvious genre definitions, totally “made it his own”: “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. Could have been done a cappella, or with just a guitar…

Check out the latest artistry from Griff Heartfield at his new website here!

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“The David Martinez Band is slowly, but surely becoming the hottest Americana Indie Rock & Soul performance group to rise from what’s the evolution/revolution of the music industry in the Lone Star State! Their music is already being aired on 4 dozen radio stations across the USA and internationally!” *from his site on sonicbids*

Tonight, David Martinez will be hanging out with us for the latter part of our show to tell us about his music, his band, and who the hell knows what else. He’s a really cool cat and his latest single, “Hey Mary” is quite catchy. Catchy meaning can get stuck in your head for hours. We’ll play that and maybe a couple more of his tracks from his last album but you can check him and his band out here at his website.

Funny story about this guy, I discovered him because I follow Jackie Tohn and Jes Hudak on Facebook. You know, those mild mannered singer/songwriters who somehow have a direct social link to Powerfox and Ponymane? Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, they can’t possibly be the same people. I mean, seriously! Powerfox and Ponymane wear BLING! HELLO?! Jes and Jackie don’t!

Anyways, I commented on an uploaded pic of Jes and Jackie standing next to David after playing a gig in what looked like Home Depot. I made some stupid irreverent comment in the middle of the three of them mutually praising eachother’s talents. I realized I was that guy! You know, that guy who ruins a good moment by butting his way into your conversation with what he believes to be witty banter. That was ME!

So to make up for what seemed to me (and maybe only to me) as a huge social media blunder, I went and downloaded his new single “Hey Mary” from iTunes. Turns out, its a damn good song! Sure, I tell a lot of our guess that, but I’m serious, its a hit song.

So tune in tonight, or to the podcast if you are somehow reading this years later and missed the show, and check out our chat with David Martinez before he and his band become the next DMB!

Friend David on Facebook here!
Follow the David Martinez Band on Twitter here!
What? You still use MySpace? Ok fine, here ya go, grandpa!
The DMB Youtube (yes, I called them DMB!)

Podcast from tonight’s episode is posted! Click here!

PAAARRRTTYYY!!!!

Our very special guest Andrew WK joins us as the Ringmaster for the circus that is MyndJack Radio! The AWK will discuss his new double-album available on iTunes, the awesomeness that is the Warped Tour, his passion for cult movies (SPOOOOON!) and his philosophy of party till you puke! Don’t miss this epic chat this Tuesday at 9pm Eastern!

Also, the Top 3 of MyndJack Radio Idol will perform for your votes! Who will make it to the FINALE? Dr Lulzington, Dee Teufel, or Chazz Timmer? YOU will decide who will be your MyndJack Radio Idol!

…….and when its time to party, we will always PARTY HARD!!!

Hey gang, check out this awesome video from our friends at VFTW produced by Duke De Luca starring Alex Nester! This girl can SAAAAANG!! Thanks Duke n Scotty for the awesome footage!

Alex Nexter “Live On The Sunset Strip” from Mike on Vimeo.

Alex Nester is the real deal! Watch how the mic disconnects and she still keeps on singing….she doesn’t need one with those pipes! Also, listen for the Deb shout out at the end!

Thanks again to Duke De Luca Productions for making this video possible. Just don’t ask the Duke for a dollar!

Check out Alex Nester’s interview with us and her judging the Top 10 on MyndJack Radio Idol!

Click here for her chat with Dave, Deb, Sean, and Slack on VFTW Radio this past week!

Verity in Stereo will be at the Saint in Asbury Park performing at Almost There’s CD release party; however, there is one small problem that Kiirstin would like to share. Still, the show must go on!

A Message from Kiirstin of VIS

In our 69th show, dance/R&B singer, model, executive producer, and terminally pretty Kimberely Locke! Her new dance single “Strobelight” dropped on iTunes today and she joins the MyndJack Nation to tell us all about it! Don’t let the voice fool you, this multi-talented multi-tasker is her own brand name. To find out more about everything K-Locke, including her involvment with Camp Heartland, go to www.kimberleylockeofficial.com and DOWNLOAD your copy of Strobelight NOW!

Also, we hear from Sketter Sonic who has advice for lonely singles, we continue our Music Appreciation in the Cunservatory, HAWT SAUCE NEWS, and Manny goes DIVING for CLAMS! Click here to listen!