It becomes easy at times to dismiss hip-hop as trite and image-driven, with the average lyricist caring more about his cars and jewelry than actually speaking to the listener.
The counterbalance to this is that one does not have to dig too deep into the underground to find a wellspring of intensely creative and personal work.
In Philly, you need only to look at Reef’s new album, The Lost Cauze, to find the just how far indie hip/hop has come. And Reef wears his indie creds like the 82nd wear their airborne wings.
With only his skills and Stress (The White Boy) as back up in a dual role as producer and DJ, Reef takes on the world to make his place in it. Both proud and defiant, Reef admits he may take his licks, but always comes back stronger.
As a bonus, the album dispels the belief that hip-hop does not translate well to the live stage, with the last ten tracks on this 23-track album taken from live shows. These tracks show the power the Reef hurls through his live shows.
The Lost Cauze is released on Creep Records, and potentially could be the first in a series of albums produced by Stress, titled The Stress Files.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 1:38 pm. Add a comment
By Rob Nagy
For jazz guitarist Dirk Quinn life as a professional musician has been a liberating yet exhaustive climb to create a niche in a sea of talent vying for notoriety. Now, more than two decades after strapping on a guitar, Quinn has experienced the high and lows of a struggling artist while honing his guitar skills and creating a style that sets him apart from the rest of the pack. Currently fronting the Dirk Quinn Band, Quinn has most recently released his sophomore effort “Quinntet”, featuring nine fresh compositions from an artist whose career is on the rise with his best work still to come.
Quinn grew up in the rural Philadelphia suburb of Green Lane, located near Quakertown. Latching onto music at a young age, Quinn’s mother taught him his first guitar chords and he was off and running. Sacrificing the social temptations of a teenager, Quinn spent all of his free time mastering his
self taught guitar skills. Influenced by guitar greats Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour and Jimmy Page, he was determined to make his way as a professional guitarist. Following high school Quinn earned an engineering degree from Penn State University landing a job as a computer programmer, something that paid the bills but didn’t feel right to Quinn as he soon grew tired of the corporate world opting to focus his energy on playing guitar. “One day I realized that I was committing nine hours a day to a job that was making
someone else lots of money”, recalls Quinn. “I thought that if I commit nine hours a day to my own career there is no way I can fail. So that’s what I did, I just quit with no back-up plan to pursue the guitar.” Quinn
sold his car, slept on friends sofas and started his own band playing long hours barely making ends meet. “I started hustling playing music people wanted to hear”, recalls Quinn. “So I fell into this trap of playing cover
music when what I really wanted to do was play originals. I did it for five years. It just killed my soul when I started seeing people come to the shows and we would get requests for only cover songs. This is not what I
wanted to do so I quit and turned to teaching guitar.” Quinn spent the next ten years giving lessons while performing live with every opportunity. “This was a great move”, recalls Quinn. “Teaching really pushed me to get my own act together. You can’t just be like ‘I really don’t know what I’m doing?’ you have to have it internalized. This is when my eyes were opened and I realized ‘Wow there’s so much to learn about music.’” Quinn’s efforts did not go to waste as he continued to master his instrument. In 2007 Quinn made his long awaited recording debut releasing his self titled CD. “It took me over a year non-stop every day to record this CD”, recalls Quinn. “I wanted to be able to put it next to anything that was out there. I would
retake and retake solos. I’ve since learned that perfection doesn’t mean every note is in the right spot that is the human side” Armed with an impressive CD, Quinn now had the invaluable promotional piece to share his
guitar skills with the world. Working the club and coffee house circuit, Quinn became increasingly in demand over time playing as many as two gigs a day anywhere and everywhere while getting the occasional call to share the stage with a variety of more established jazz artists. With each performance Quinn won over more fans doing what any great artist would do, building a fan base one by one on his own merits, a philosophy that continues to pay off for Quinn. “I’m really hustling”, says Quinn. “It gets better every month. It most certainly gets better every year. I can’t complain. I am better off than I was last year and, hopefully I can
continue the momentum.”
Most recently Quinn has released his follow-up CD “Quinntet, offering a collection of vibrant and uplifting originals that show the diverse talent and gift of artistry that Quinn provides. Every track is flawless and
beautifully produced taking the listener on a musical journey that flows from one song to the next with the precision of a seasoned veteran. Particular standouts include, “Evil Birdman of Funk”, “Money Bus”, “Emaj7th
Jam”, and “Good Ol’ Fashioned Gospel Throwdown”. “I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing retakes like I did on the first albums”, says Quinn. “I wanted first takes not overdubs. I felt like the live recordings said
something the first album didn’t and I think we achieved it with this second album. It has a live quality to it.” With two releases under his belt and an extensive run of on-going live performances, Quinn is at a crossroads as he now looks to take his career to the next level. “I need somebody that can put me in front of audiences”, says Quinn. “Somebody that is great at the business part and knowing where I fit and knowing the demographic that I should be playing for so I can concentrate on the music. I feel like I’ve found my art and I want to devote as much time to that as possible. In a year I would like to be hitting the east coast hard” added Quinn. “Hitting as many festivals as possible and getting some sort of recognition nationally.” To learn more about Dirk Quinn go to www.dirkquinn.com or http://www.myspace.com/dirkquinn
The Dirk Quinn Band plays Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville, PA. on
Saturday 11/22/08 at 8:30 P.M. Joining Quinn on stage will be Anibal Rojas.
Tickets are $12 adv./ $15 DOS./ Don’t miss this amazing night of Jazz!
Photo by Rob Nagy
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 10:56 am. 1 comment
By Rob Nagy
On the surface it would appear that former Beatle drummer Pete Best is the most unfortunate man in the world. When delving deeper into his psyche there couldn’t be anything further from the truth. While Best has certainly had to overcome the stigma that has been attached to his name for too many years, he has worked tirelessly to reinvent himself while continuing to experience a life and music career that has been more than gratifying on a personal and professional level. Now more than four decades after his abrupt departure from the fab four, Best is thriving on his own merits. Approaching his twenty first year fronting his own band, Best is taking nothing for granted while looking to the future with his latest release “Hayman’s Green”.
Pete Best first caught the attention of the Quarrymen, the original incarnation of what would become the Beatles, in the summer of 1960 while playing drums for the Black Jacks, one of Liverpool’s many local bands at the infamous Casbah. In need of a drummer the Quarrymen asked Best to join the band as they were about to embark on their inaugural visit to Hamburg, Germany. Best jumped at the chance, joining John, Paul and George for a two year run that would last until 1962, giving Best the distinguished and lasting title as the Beatles first drummer. He would go on to play on some of the Beatles earliest recordings setting the tone for the impending “Beatlemania” craze that would eventually take over the world. In June of 1962 the Beatles auditioned for future Beatle producer George Martin, at the now legendary Abbey Road Studios, resulting in Martin taking the band under his direction. It wasn’t long before Martin chose to replace Best with another local drummer Ringo Starr. Both Best and the many Beatle fans were stunned by the news. While a definitive answer as to why he was fired has never been completely known, with rumors circulating that he wasn’t proficient enough on the drums or that he was taking the attention of female fans from other members of the band, there is one thing that is certain, Best was the victim of a bad break that most would have found difficult to rebound. By 1962, with Best out of the picture, the Beatles were creating a huge buzz in Liverpool and beyond. One year later they made their historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show playing to millions of TV viewers. Overnight the Beatles became the toast of America and soon the rest of the world. At any given time a Beatles song could be heard on numerous radio stations. Their faces were plastered on magazine covers as well as every possible souvenir item publicists and marketers could muster. Best now had to contend with the stigma of being an ex-Beatle and he was routinely approached as to the reasons why he was replaced. He continued with his drumming for a period of time before calling it quits and moving into a variety of career directions that found him first earning a living as a baker before settling into a civil servant position. Best moved into the shadows of a post Beatle world choosing to remain silent in an attempt to live a normal life. In time any bitterness that Best harbored began to dicipate as he began to give interviews, writing a book about his time with the Beatles and even serving as a technical advisor for the TV movie “Birth of the Beatles”. All of this led to Best’s eventual return to the stage, in the 80’s, as the leader and drummer for the first incarnation of the Pete Best Band. In 1995 the surviving members of the Beatles released their anthology, which included a number of tracks featuring Pete Best on drums. Best received a much deserved and substantial financial gain from this release, however he was still shunned by the living Beatles when he was not interviewed for the accompanying book and documentary. Even his picture was visibly cut out of the cover photo and replaced with one of Ringo Starr. As the years passed Best continued to go about his life while the other Beatles continued to grab fame and fortune at a staggering rate. In 1988 Best played a concert in Liverpool, his first in many years. Expecting this to be a one shot deal he decided it was time to get back into show business. Tours and recording sessions soon followed and Best was now gaining much deserved attention for his drumming skills while being publicly acknowledged as an integral part of the Beatle movement.
Twenty years later Best now finds himself very much at peace with his life and career performing concerts all over the world as well as producing music documentaries. Over the past two years, In between family obligations and being on the road, Best has finally released his long anticipated solo album “Hayman’s Green”. Featuring eleven original songs showcasing the talents of a very diverse and still viable band, “Haymans’ Green”, is a treat for any music or Beatle fan offering up the best works of Pete Best to date. Standout songs include “Step Outside”, “Run and Around”, “Gone”, “Everything I Want” and the title track “Hayman’s Green”. “This record is very special to us”, says Best. “It’s the first album with this particular line-up of the band, which has been together for about seven years now. In a way it’s my life story in music so to speak so it’s very important that everything was done the best it could be. So far it has been received with great acclaim. People have been asking us for years”, added Best, “Do you have original material? And we said ‘Yes’ but there has to be a time and a place for it. So it’s great to actually stand up and say ‘Here is the original material you wanted.’” While Best could have taken advantage of his Beatle connection years ago, he has built a solid career on his own efforts “it’s been fantastic for us”, says Best. “There’s lots of family who have stood by me. Great band who knows the type of music I want. They all know my story. So when you got that going for you, you got the appreciation of the audience whose recognized what you are trying to do and are aware of what you’ve done. Hopefully we stand tall for many, many years to come.” For more info on Pete Best go to www.petebest.com www.myspace.com/thepetebestband
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 2:47 pm. Add a comment
Matt talks with Michael Biddison about his unique art work being displayed at Earthmart through the month of November
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 7:49 am. 1 comment
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