Head of Music Dept. celebrates his status as Aluminum Alum

Peter Gordon, the head of the music department for the prestigious C.A.T. Program of Bloomfield College, was recently revealed to be a member of of the New York City downtown scene and a participant of the wildly popular Aluminum Nights at the Kitchen. Not familiar with the infamously rocking Aluminum Nights, you must have either been living under a rock or had the disadvantage of being born in the last 25 years or so.

"In June 1981, The Kitchen threw itself a behemoth tenth birthday party-cum-fundraiser at aTimes Square megaclub. Dubbed Aluminum Nights, the marathon event saw a capacity audience of many hundreds —including, all seem to recall, Mick Jagger backstage — enjoy a diversified array of the downtown sounds being nurtured at the crossroads of The Kitchen’s music program. In 2011, as part of its 40^th anniversary season, The Kitchen presents a distilled refraction of the Aluminum Music performed over that memorable weekend.

On Friday, April 15, Industrial music pioneer Z’EV demonstrates his hypnotic, ritualized solo percussion music on a shared bill with cherished No-Wavers,Bush Tetras. Saturday, April 16, features the pairing of former Kitchen Music Director (and Aluminum Nights co-curator) George Lewis’s electroacoustic anthem Homage to Charles Parker (1979) featuring Amina Claudine Myers(piano/organ), Reggie Nicholson (percussion), Matana Roberts (alto saxophone), and Richard Teitelbaum (synthesizers) with the epic disco-minimalism of PeterGordon’s Love of Life Orchestra, featuring contributions from Kitchen alums Ned Sublette (guitar) and Peter Zummo (trombone).Curated by Nick Hallett."

Still unsure of what is actually happening this weekend in New York City that is such a big deal? Well obviously the humble Mr. Gordon's cover was blown when the Wall Street Journal did something it likes to call investigative reporting and put a spotlight on this historic musical event. I wouldn't take my word for it, instead you should dig further and see what the world's leading financial publication has to say about this! Click here for the WSJ article on this raucous party and look below for more information and see history live with your own two, 'cause seeing is believing right? Or is it hearing????

On Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, The Kitchen presents Aluminum Music, two nights of music to celebrate the organization’s 40th Anniversary season, one of several special events to be held in 2011. This weekend is inspired by Aluminum Nights, a marathon of music, video and dance hosted by The Kitchen in June 1981 to commemorate its tenth anniversary.

Box Office Information: 212.255.5793 ext. 11 Tue-Sat, 2-6pm

The Kitchen 512 West 19th Street New York, NY 10011 www.thekitchen.org

By the way are you aware of who the real Peter Gordon is and was?

Peter Gordon formed the Love of Life Orchestra (LOLO) in 1977 to perform his heady mix of minimalist compositional practice and popular forms, bringing together musicians and artists from diverse genres and backgrounds. A recent retrospective on the DFA record label recalls the disco- oriented material from this period. Working with LOLO—which has ranged in size from a trio to over a dozen of New York's top musicians—Gordon has performed hundreds of concerts internationally. A string of commissions in the mid-1980s, including the score for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Secret Pastures (BAM) and the video opera with Kit Fitzgerald, Return of the Native (BAM) solidified Gordon’s reputation for bringing “the street into the opera house” (New York Times), in addition to earning him Obie and Bessie awards.

What do Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Eminem, and Kanye West have in common???

They are all under the Universal Music Group umbrella! Continuing on with our series of posts concerning internships I suggest that you check out Universal Music Group and apply for a summer internship or a fall internship. For more information click here

The Debut of Minor Motion in NYC

Why wait until Capstone in May to see and hear the amazing group Minor Motion for a major performance in New York City. What else do you have to do on a Friday other than party and bullsh#t like the great late Biggie Smalls???? So head over to Manhattan and bask in the bright lights in the big city and enjoy your fellow CAT Majors at Parkside Lounge!

It is a 21 and older occasion but only $5 at the door which is wallet friendly in this economic climate!

A note from the band:

Minor Motion - New York City show on 4/8/11 (Friday), an interesting timing at 12:30 a.m., BUT, the city never sleeps and neither do we.
Finally after recording all parts to the album it is absolutely time for exposure into the city lights.
Nothing planned? Curious about our masterful sounds? Come out, end of story.
$5 at the door.
Car pooling will be available in a limited amount.
Of course, drinks will be plentiful and are much affordable -http://www.parksidelounge.net/ - is the bars website for more information.
Feel free to contact any of the lads for more information, we're sure you know how to get to us.
Cheers to those who come, and to those who don't, you'll get yours, (in an album).
This message has been brought to you by Minor Motion.

WHEN: Friday 12:30am

WHERE: Parkside Lounge 317 East Houston Street, New York, New York

Minor Motion

MTV Internships

As we bring the spring semester to a close(yes it's almost over that quickly!) I suggest that all students, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and graduating seniors should apply to internships in their chosen discipline. As a student(here at Bloomfield College!) I had 3 internships that exposed me to different aspects of the business. I was lucky enough to intern for a production team, SoulDiggaz, in their studio and gained valuable real world experience.

The biggest mistake some students make is to wait until they take the internship class and have to find a position in the beginning of the semester. Most companies that internship programs start taking applications the semester prior. With that in mind I have posted the deadlines for ESPN on two post earlier and today we follow that trend with the link to MTV. Click here and read the instructions carefully and good luck.

FARA ENCLAVE lands at Westminster Hall via Space Elevator

Fara Enclave, a collective of Producers and Musicians, is celebrating the release of their new concept albumSpace Elevator with a FREE performance Thursday 3/31 at 8pm in the Westminister Gallery.

Bring your O2 and your imagination and join the Enclave as they take you on a fantastical Journey through space and time that Captain Kirk would envy!

This collective have elevated past student-hood and have risen into the artist-sphere! Come experience the journey as they open their Galaxy to you!

Bloomfield College

Westminister Art Gallery

Freemont St and Franklin St

Bloomfield, NJ

Internships!!!! Get a jump on the Fall Semester

Do you love sports? Are you a music tech major? Do you want an internship?

Then check this blog weekly for opportunities in music and music tech related fields.

The key to job hunting and finding an internship is being prepared and staying aware of listings as they come up. Check out this link for ESPN internships for the fall.

Free Plug-ins

Just before the break Prof Dave Bokil brought to my attention that the vaunted Massy Plug-ins are available for demo without intermittent white noise or any of the other annoying devices companies use when they make plug-ins available for demo, so I went to the site and checked them out and was impressed by what was available. So a great big thank you to Dave for this which triggered a search over the break for more free plug-ins that are available. I found more than I thought and proceeded to download them and some are already available on the workstation in room 210 and in the TDM. I know its hard for students to afford quality plug-ins so I thought this would be great and I will install most of them on our computers in the lab so that it makes it easier to mix at home and bring projects in and continue to mix.

First up we have IKMultimedia's Sampletank 2(this won't be on the computers in the lab but available in room 210)

The BlueCat Freeware Plug-in Pack (100% free) - this will be available on all machines

The Massey Plug-ins demos(they never expire, beep, or mute!) these will be on all machines

The Izotope Vinyl (a nice lo-fi simulator) this will also be available on all machines

These are just a few but there are plenty more for individuals to check out, I can't have all of them on our machines but feel free to expand your plug-in library! Have fun!

Check this blog that has a healthy list of freeware and demo plug-ins:

PTnewbie.com

Sound Design Opportunity

I would like to thank Prof. Zalben for keeping us abreast of all opportunities for our CAT Majors, and so I am posting yet another great opportunity for students who are interested in Sound Design. This is for credit only:

Short documentary needs sound mixing, 12 min long, playing at a
festival next month. Some very light sound design is also needed over
one scene, mostly ambience.

The director's email: "Liz Lo" : elizabethx.lo@gmail.com

The film is called "The Hunt"

LEARN TO WRITE HITS - CAT INDUSTRY DAY MARCH 26

Hi Music CAT People,

I strongly encourage everyone to come to the CAT INDUSTRY DAY, next Saturday (March 26.)

We will have a very special guest, Alex Forbes, a chart-topping and platinum-selling songwriter. Alex will be giving a presentation on writing hit songs and getting them published.

I strongly recommend showing up for this. Alex will be presenting at 11 am.

Below is Alex's bio and a link to her website:

http://www.alexforbesmusic.com/

With numerous Billboard-charting singles, over 75 releases, and millions of album sales under her belt, Alex Forbes's songs range from Rock to Dance to straight-ahead Pop. Her specialty is writing instantly catchy melodies and lyrics that capture the essence of life in strikingly vivid ways.

Recent successes include “Melt Away,” featured in the Denzel Washington film “Déjà Vu,” and New Zealand superstar Hayley Westenra's recording of“You Are Water” on her Billboard-charting Classical/Pop album, “Odyssey.”

Many of Alex's newest songs are "on hold" or recorded and awaiting release dates. The artists include the Dutch singer/songwriter VenVelzen, Australian club music act The 808's, and American artists Jessica Clemmons, and Bloom. One of the Bloom songs, "This Is The Life," was recently featured on "The Hills."

Alex's first hit, the now-classic dance song “Too Turned On,” performed byAlisha, still receives abundant airplay many years later. This initial success led to a series of hit singles including Taylor Dayne's massive hit “Don't Rush Me” (#2 Pop, #3 AC, #6 Dance, multi-platinum album, ASCAP Pop Award), Rockell's classic freestyle version of “In A Dream,” (#6 Dance, #72 Pop) and Joey Lawrence's Top 20 Pop hit “Nothin' My Love Can't Fix,” the latter of which Alex also co-produced.

High points also included collaborating with Cyndi Lauper on a song for her film, “Off and Running,” and co-producing Martha Wash, whose powerhouse voice was featured in the Weather Girls and C+C Music Factory, and who recorded Alex's “Leave a Light On.”

Alex's songs have been placed in many feature films, while others have appeared in TV shows and an Off-Broadway show. Overseas, Alex's songs have been hit singles for Fan Club (New Zealand), Indra (France), Patti Day(U.K.), Papa Dee (Sweden) and Marie Frank (Denmark, Gold Album).

Over the years Alex has worked with some of the music world's most renowned writers and producers, including Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Morrissey), longtime collaborator Jeff Franzel (Shawn Colvin, Josh Groban), Steve Addabbo (Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega), and DJ Gomi(Mariah Carey, Madonna).

Alex received a Creative Writing degree from Stanford University, and was mentored in the art and craft of pop songwriting by the legendary Doc Pomus ("This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance For Me").

RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY

How To Apply For The Red Bull Music Academy from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Click the link and check out the site and download the application. This year it's held in Tokyo. The application deadline is April 4, 2011.

This is a very open and liberal program that accepts: musicians, producers, djs, beatmakers, etc

Please Apply, because you never know!