Speakerheart

Enjoying Next Big Nashville, Speakerheart Style

Friday night could be described as one of great music.  Next Big Nashville has taken over the city, and we started out at the Rutledge to see David Condos perform backed by a full band.  Condos rocked out and the songs felt as tight as the album.  The cello was a great touch and provided a cool dynamic on stage.  He concluded his set with what is becoming his trademark song "I Should Be Lost Without You", recently featured on Barnes & Noble's Sunday Music compilation.  I particularly enjoyed the harmonies on the live version of the song.

Next we rushed over to 12th and Porter to catch the end of Brandon Young's set.  Young sounded great and looks ready for his upcoming studio time in October.

After 12th and Porter, it was off to Cannery Ballroom for Butterfly Boucher, followed by Jeremy Lister.  Jeremy put on a great performance, as expected, complete with a duet with Katie Herzig.

Once Jeremy's set concluded, we walked next door to hear Brooke Waggoner.  This is the first time I've heard Brooke live and I was blown away.  It was refreshing to hear a set of keyboard, cello and violin, and Brooke nearly silenced the crowd at Mercy Lounge with her intimate stories and grace reminiscent of a Regina Spektor performance.  I picked up her recently-released EP Fresh Pair of Eyes and it doesn't disappoint.  This is the type of album I hope to see on Speakerheart as we approach our full launch.  The night concluded with Paper Route putting on a memorable performance to a packed house.  We have a great podcast we captured of Paper Route a few months ago that we can't wait to debut.

There's more great music to be enjoyed tonight, including Matthew Perryman Jones and Gabe Dixon Band.  Jones will be part of our Pies and Pints showcase at Christopher Pizza on September 26th.  Speaking of Pies and Pints, join us this Wednesday for a fantastic lineup as The Music Society Nashville and Speakerheart present Josh Doyle, Natalie Prass, David Condos and Patrick Coman.  The doors will open at 8 p.m. and music starts at 9 p.m.  See you there.

ddub

Live from Exit/In: BarCamp Nashville

I must admit it's a bit odd to be writing a blog from inside Exit/In, let alone have my computer open, be connected to the internet, be in a slightly work-directed mindset and have my laptop bag beside me, but the occasion is BarCamp Nashville.  It's hotter than a rock show, at least temperature-wise.   I'm currently listening to the presentation "Design for the User" by Matt Reed of Nashville design firm Cabedge, first reminding us to think about the designer, client, user and Google.

In other news, CMJ picked up our latest and greatest yesterday complete with a catchy title.  Speaking of CMJ, we hope to be in NYC for the Marathon in mid-October.  More info on that to come.

Chris Wage of CentreSource gave a nice overview of what Web 2.0 is and isn't earlier, the core of his message being that it is participatory, has open communication (two-way), decentralized architecture (less monolithic), includes social networking and is evolving into a semantic Web.

Well, back to networking for now.

dw

Late Night Music

It was a busy week for the Speakerheart team. After writing code and marketing plans for the first couple days, Lee, Cedric, myself and the "consultants" decided to hit up the Music Society of Nashville show at Christopher Pizza.We're going to be sponsoring every Wednesday in September, so we thought we would do a test run..good music, just can't beat that.

Somehow the night was quickly extended instead of ended. Although the smart bets were on going to bed, some of us (me and Cedric) decided to check out a late night picking party on the porch of some of the Speakerheart early adopters, Tyler and Kyle, and Zach from Futureman's Black Mozart Orchestra. They were excited about the upcoming launch and showed us some footage of the "Orchestra" performing on PBS. Can't wait to get that loaded up on our site. We were late getting to work, but as the boss put it "Someone's got to do it".

Thursday...Sleep. 14 hours of it as a matter of fact.

Friday, had a day of Speakerheart planning of digital takeover....Friday night, back at it with a birthday party of an assistant from the William Morris Agency. The party was full of agents, assistants, interns and musicians. It went to wee hours of the morning with the group talking about the future of music, and how to band together to make everyone's job more worthwhile. This was of course, after the disco party...

The common denominator was that people do not want to settle for average or good, they want to be the best and will do whatever it takes. Even if that means staying after a party to get to know someone by helping pick up.

bill@speakerheart.com

all things global

"What we have here is the Nashville version of Epcot World Showcase, but it's done in food form for the consumers." - Josh Doyle

Listen closely and Josh will actually divulge some relevant and factual information in addition to helping you through various world delectables. 

Former front man of the UK-based Dumdums, Doyle is well on his way to breaking out from Nashville with a batch of fresh, relevant and timeless songs that transcend well beyond pop music.  From his site:

In 2006 he played rough acoustic demos of new material to rock producer Joe Baldridge (Beck, Family Force 5), who agreed to produce his album without even a record deal or management. As he stepped into the studio, he also played his first solo shows in four years in Tennessee supporting Imogen Heap.

His new songs impressed so much that he scored international management from Showdown in the USA  (Creed, Mute Math, Paramore, Family Force 5) and Radius in the UK (Imogen Heap, Dumdums). The story wasn't quite over...

So in 2007, from the tradition of American middle class-angst literature comes Josh's debut solo album. With a central character reminiscent of Kevin Spacey's Lester in "American Beauty", It is a concept rock record by Josh featuring his brilliant new band following the lead of Pink Floyd, Bowie, and Radiohead. Still in his twenties, and freed from the pop-punk boundaries that limited him before, write Josh Doyle off at your own peril.

 

A great cup of coffee

There is something inspiring about coffee done right.  The Starbucks world that we live in can often feel a bit mundane.  It's not that Starbucks is not consistent, which it certainly is, but Starbucks is certainly not invigorating.  I'm not inspired while doing work in a corporate environment; in that regard, perhaps Starbucks is a bit too consistent. However, enter King's Road Cafe in Los Angeles:

Perched on a prime corner of Beverly Boulevard, Kings Road packs 'em in on the weekends. This blaring coffeehouse comes complete with a charming pet dog and a smoker-friendly patio tailor-made for reading the Sunday Times and quaffing giant bowls of coffee. Breakfast offers such standbys as poached eggs and crumpets, while lunch and dinner vary from ahi tuna with sweet potatoes to linguini with spicy chicken sausage.

The Coffey is killer.  Simple, stimulating and pleasing - as should be most things in life.  However, more often than not, people seem to accept mundane experiences that don't push the boundaries on aesthetics, design and creativity. 

At Speakerheart, our intention is to provide such an experience for artists to express themselves easily and intuitively.  A site to complement pleasing experiences elsewhere.  A site that goes perfectly with a killer cup of coffee.

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