Tag Archive for 'Scott Reitherman'Page 2 of 3

Throw Me the Statue Music Video (Lolita)

published
on June 6, 2008
by
ACtual
in genres, music, and video
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Our pals in TMTS have gotten around to putting out a video of their song “Lolita,” which can also be heard in the Rhapsody television commercial. It’s been a long trek from the pouring Texas rain of Elephant Blend’s “Texas,” to the Baskerville Hill release of Moonbeams, to the re-release on Secretly Canadian and now to some very solid national exposure and a music video on MTV. Just where will Scott Reitherman lead this merry band of music makers is yet to be seen, but the folks of MixMatchMusic, CSU, and the SMC are excited to see one of their own starting to take flight. Without further ado, “Lolita.”

Throw Me the Statue at Bottom of the Hill

published
on April 28, 2008
by
ACtual
in concert reviews, genres, and music
. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Found out about this show super last minute. Always good to see Throw Me the Statue coming home, and this time they graced the nicely intimate setting of the Bottom of the Hill, a venue I saw Ratatat play in a few years back. The band continues to evolve, and the sound is coming along quite nicely now. The pieces are all well rehearsed, the band’s chemistry is good and they continue to do interesting live changes, especially when it comes to “Young Sensualists.” The group’s energy on stage is excellent, although in some cases can be a bit over the top. For the most part, Goldman’s back up vocals and instrumentation are excellent, but there are moments where it feels a bit out of hand and in need of a sedative. That aside, Throw Me the Statue continues to grow as a group, and every concert leaves me happy, not just for knowing the band and being happy for their success, but because the music is just plain good. Here’s the setlist…

“Groundswells,” “Take It Or Leave It,” “Boyfriend’s Car,” “Lolita,” “Young Sensualists,” “Written In Heart Signs, Faintly,” Yucatan Gold,” and “About to Walk.”

The SanFran MusicTech Summit: Rockstars, Lawyers, Nerds and Me

published
on March 5, 2008
by
Sandra
in culture, music, nerd, startups, and technology
. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Last week, a few of us attended the SanFran MusicTech Summit to worship learn from some of the innovative leaders in our rapidly evolving and still young(ish) industry. After nearly breaking off my big toe during a confused jog through Japantown, I limped into Hotel Kabuki armed and ready for note-taking, question-asking, and hand-shaking.

The group I found there was a rather predictable (yet lovable) mix of demographics including your standard socially awkward tech geeks (my favorite), the token I-was-born-for-networking (and my-Rolodex-is-bigger-than-yours) schmoozers, some badass rocker chicks turned marketing gurus, the young and fearless CEO/CTO/COO/founders of countless startups, the smartypants intellectual property attorneys (bless their souls – I’d rather be forced to listen to Mariah Carey* on repeat for a year while locked in a windowless room than be in their shoes), career musicians and producers, and a smattering of randoms. Each hour we had the choice of attending one of two panels or general schmoozing in the lobby.
* To be fair, I think she has an amazing voice, I just hate her music. A lot.

Halfway through one of the panels I noticed someone on their laptop twittering. Of course! I thought. Twitter! This is the perfect time to twitter. (Until then, I had only used the service a few times to say mundane things like “sore from working out” or “yay iPhones” or some such nonsense, and when you only have two people following you that seems pretty pointless). Suddenly it was starting to sink in how Twitter can be a very powerful tool. I quickly logged on and found the SFMusicTech live feed which, to my pleasant surprise, was filled with commentary ranging from concise updates about the panels (helpful for those not at the summit or just in the other room) to snarky comments about the speakers. It felt like a cross between real-time news coverage and anonymous chatroom blather.

When I twittered later in the day noting that most of the food on the snack table was yellow, someone promptly reiterated my observation and wondered if there was a hidden symbolism we were missing. Later one of the panelists messaged me directly and thanked me for quoting her earlier. That’s when I suddenly felt like part of some sort of cozy little invisible family. Want to join my twitter family? Follow me here.

Here are some highlights from the day:

  • During the “Future of Radio” panel – major trends include personalization and recommendation (think Pandora and Last.fm) and mobility (internet radio integrated into your car stereo, tabletop devices, on your phone, in your stereo etc).
  • During the “Creator’s Perspective on Technology” panel – Creeper Lagoon‘s Sharky Laguana talked about a cool service he created called MixPal. MixPal allows you to upload your music, choose the price, place a “MixLink” anywhere online (website, blog, MySpace, whatever) and you keep almost all the proceeds (they get 10% commission). Look at how their pricing compares to iTunes and Snocap. Since they’re non-exclusive you can use them in addition to any other service you use. MixPal is simple, straightforward and all about letting the musician decide.
  • Also during “Creator’s Perspective…” – panel moderator and summit co-producer Shoshana Zisk commented that now in the music tech industry “People don’t have to learn the language to speak music”, which resonated with me because that is very much one of the things that MixMatchMusic is facilitating – allowing non-musicians and music fans to participate in the creative process too.
  • During the “Social Networking and Music” panel – Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike, noted that they DO compete with MySpace Music. He recommended that artists keep a MySpace presence, but also use iLike because they will find far more fans on the latter.* Also interesting – apparently, people who use iLike purchase 250% more music online than people who don’t! I bet the ringtone companies love them… Toward the end of the panel, Ali asked with a note of exasperation in his voice why there isn’t just a “buy this” button anywhere and everywhere that you find music?? Excellent point. Anyone know if this is a realistic expectation in the future?

*Are you a musician who has a profile on both iLike and MySpace (and/or other sites)? I’d be curious to hear where you feel you’ve established a larger fan base. Leave a comment or email me.

  • During the “Business Models That Work…and Those That Don’t” panel – moderator Andrew Stess, CEO of Music IP, mused that someone should build a choose-your-own-price service for concert tickets a la Radiohead. I so agree. In the meantime, Inticketing, one of the summit sponsors, has a great online ticketing system and event management solution (not to mention a green business) with clients like Burning Man, the Great American Music Hall (where our buddy Scott recently performed), Yoshi’s, and Victor Wooten.

After the panels ended, we were unleashed into the boozing and networking portion of the event, which also included a performance by singer-songwriter Samantha Murphy. Though I had to run off to my own weekly musical endeavor, in the hour or so I was there I met some interesting people. One musician/student I was chatting with about MMM emailed me later to say he was delighted to see that I had blogged about the Bubblegum Sequencer. Turns out he is one of the Berkeley students that made it! Small world.

Overall, I found the Summit to be helpful and inspiring. What struck me was how nobody really knows where the music industry (especially the online music industry) is going. Licensing, copyright, distribution…these areas are rapidly being dismantled and slowly rebuilt without any concrete blueprint. Or vague guideline for that matter. All I know is that I’m excited to be riding the wave that is technology and I can’t wait to see what kind of distant exotic shore it dumps us on.

Social media, which wikipedia says uses “the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to connect information in a collaborative manner” is redefining the way that we interact with technology, one another, and our environment. I think this is especially true for those of us who are building something online (a fan base, a website, a blog, a clientèle, an identity) or those of us who simply enjoy being a prosumer/producer/content creator/participant (via blogging, twittering, digging, social networking, posting YouTube videos etc) rather than just a consumer. Passivity is so…well, passè. But it’s not just a matter of getting involved. Once you’re involved, you have to participate. And regularly. Let’s face it – no one is going to read a blog that you update once a year.

Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity put it best when she said: “New media is like an endless garden – you can’t just plant it and walk away”.

Throw Me the Statue at the Great American Music Hall

published
on February 29, 2008
by
ACtual
in artist/album reviews, concert reviews, genres, and music
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Scott Reitherman of Throw Me the Statue In their first return to the Bay since the Bimbo’s 365 show, Throw Me the Statue performed at the Great American Music Hall last night as part of the week-long city-wise Noise Pop event. Sharing the stage with Birdmonster and Stellastarr*, TMTS put on a very solid show, despite the absence of their rhythm guitar player. Taking the stage around 9, they started out with a very tripped out version of “Written In Heart Signs, Faintly.” While the album version of this song is very simple and melancholy, this new stage version has brought in other elements including a drum loop that amps up the energy, while still allowing an eerie feeling through Reitherman’s words and Goldman’s backup vocals. Following this, the crowd was applauding, but not sure what they were about to see. A good portion of the crowd had come for Stellastarr*, so this Throw Me the Statue stuff was new to them. And with that rendition, they weren’t quite sure what this band was going to be about.

They follow the opener up with obvious radio favorite, “Lolita.” This had the audience dancing as they played a tighter, more energetic version than can be found on the TakeAway shows. Goldman goes nuts on his xylophone-like instrument, and I question if he knows what notes he’s playing at that point. Reitherman has an interesting way of bringing his voice up towards the end of the chorus in the live versions of this song, varying the sound from the Moonbeams rendition. “A Mutinous Dream” comes next, and is pretty much spot on to the album version. Following this, they go into a very tight sounding version of “Take It or Leave It,” which I could see being one of two or three songs on the album that should be follow up singles to “Lolita.” The wall of noise portions of some of these songs really bring out the front man in Reitherman as it’s the moments where he seems least aware of the audience and most in tune with his music. “Young Sensualists” comes next with an amped up exuberance that really brings more life to the song than on the album version. The guitars drive a bit more here, and Scott’s vocals trail off nicely each time before the drums hammer in again. It’s a definite head nodder and this is the point where I look around and see a lot of people dancing.

It’s after this song that a person near me yells out, “Who are you?!” and I realize that they have yet to introduce themselves to the crowd. Before an answer can come out, the band is on to “This Is How We Kiss,” admittedly one of my least favorite songs on the album, probably due to the chorus. But it still has the makings of an indie favorite for others, so it’s really just my opinion that I’m not a fan. After this song, he says they’ve got two left and asks if the audience has any questions. Again the “Who are you?” question comes out and seeming to have forgotten to say it, he says, “oh, right, sorry, we’re Throw Me the Statue.” They play “Girlfriend’s Car” before finishing up with another one of my favorites, “About to Walk.” Again, Scott’s relaxed stage presence comes out at the end as he invites the audience over to the merchandise booth with, “hey, come hang out, let’s chat.”

After the show, it’s an interesting juxtaposition as Scott is approached by girls from the audience talking about how much they liked the set, old friends from high school giving him a hard time about various things, and his parents who seem happy just to see him doing so well, and of course, what parent wouldn’t be? Always nice to see the El Granada/San Mateo kid come home, and get a nice sized gig at the Great American. Here’s a short clip of the opening to “Lolita.” Please excuse the quality as I was hiding from security guards at the time.

Throw Me the Statue Take Away Shows: Lolita/About to Walk

published
on February 22, 2008
by
ACtual
in culture, genres, music, video, and website
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Odds are that if you noticed that I continue to pump Throw Me the Statue and longtime high school/MixMatchMusic friend Scott Reitherman of El Granada and Crystal Springs Uplands, you’ve probably come to the realization that I’m not going to stop now. As hinted at in “Take Me Away,” three Take-Away shows by TMTS and hosted by La Blogotheque were released yesterday. “Lolita,” the reigning choice for first single, “About to Walk,” and a Guided By Voices cover of “My Valuable Hunting Knife” were all released. I think the simplistic style worked both positively and negatively in these videos…it helped bring the persona of the band and the laid back attitude they carry to the masses, at the same time it’s a bit less polished in the performance. But what do you expect acoustically on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound? And they’ve all already blown up…close to 1,000 views of each video within 24 hours. Be on the lookout for Scott and TMTS at the Great American Music Hall next Thursday, the 28th, in San Francisco.

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