Amoeblog

Multiple Personalities

promo sticker gallery
A few months back I got a real chuckle out of friend who has years of experience working some big time gigs at a couple of major labels. He thought the sticker blog featuring multiple Janet Jackson stickers was a riot.  He had helped with the albums design, including the stickers, but really didn't recall designing different stickers for it.  Here's a whole gallery of sticker variations, none of which are as fun as the Janet example, but they do provide anecdotal details regarding the chronology of hits, attempted hits, awards, milestones etc...





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Posted by Mr. Chadwick on June 17, 2008 at 10:25pm | Post a Comment

If Dreams Came True.....

a job as amoeba security awaits the warrior.
Posted by Amoebite on March 6, 2008 at 01:36pm | Post a Comment

S-s-s-s-s-soundtrack of sh-sh-sh-shame

PART FIVE
I thought it would be difficult to find songs I was ashamed to love. Fact is, it’s much more challenging to keep my attention span with this series, so, I’m going to wrap this “soundtrack of shame” up with a grand finale. Cringe with compassion.


LITTLE RIVER BAND “Reminiscing”

Little River Band had a gift for recording songs that would one day become a staple of grocery stores’ piped-in music. It might surprise you to know they had 13 American, Top 40 hits, despite the fact that their “sound” is akin to a waiting room lobby in a retirement home.

This song got a lot of radio play in Hawaii when I was growing up there – learning how to body surf and not learning my times-tables – so I associate it with childhood and a dark, iced tea that you could always buy at Kailua Beach.

This video is a perfect example of what “boring” means. I mean, even the lead singer brought a book to read during the bridges! I was surprised to see a 30-something-year-old Cousin Oliver as part of the band.




MARY COSTA “Once Upon a Dream”

I think animated Disney films are pretty swell, provided they were actually produced by Walt Disney himself (the last of which was “The Jungle Book”). Something happened in the 1970’s when the Don Bluth posse was still working at Disney – something gross feeling. I’m not saying Bluth is a bad man, but (with the exception of “The Secret of NIMH”) every movie he worked on, post-Walt, makes me crazy. And not crazy in a rad, Spuds Mackenzie way. Crazy in a “Christina, bring me the axe!” sort of way.

Posted by Job O Brother on February 5, 2008 at 11:55am | Comments (1)

IN CELEBRATION OF THE DRUM: PART SIX, TWO DRUMMER BANDS

When rock bands incorporate two drummers - each on their own kit



Q:  In a rock band what could be better than hearing the drummer banging out a killer rhythm?
A:  How about two drummers.

Most popular with groups formed in the seventies, the phenomenon of  bands with two drummers - each with their own full drum kits set up in live and/or in recording sessions - have included the Allman Brothers with drummers Jai Johany Johansen & Butch Trucks, the Doobie Brothers, the Grateful Dead with Mickey Hart & Bill Kruetzman, .38 Special,  the Outlaws, Genesis (post Peter Gabriel as in above clip from 1976 with dual percussionists Bill Buford and a bearded/pre vocal pop sensation Phil Collins), (for part of their career) space rockers Hawkwind,  King Crimson (in the nineties), Foreigner, Yes, Adam & the Ants, and the more contemporary rock group Modest Mouse. Note that some of these only occasionally/sporadically utilize the two drummer set up.
               















The advantage of having two drummers varies on who you ask. In fact many believe that it is just plain unnecessary - that if one drummer is good enough that he/she can do an adequate job alone. But of the many reasons given for two drummers, they include that together two drummers can create a more full big beat sound and groove, that they can switch up types of drums each play, and that together they can really speed up the tempo.

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Posted by Billyjam on January 23, 2008 at 09:00am | Comments (1)