Jared Bentley has been writing some terrific new original songs lately and together with Slow Motion Trio and the talented Jeremiah Nave with East Coast Mobile Recording, we’ve just completed ten new songs.

The new music is in addition to the five songs we recorded back in the winter and represent the new sound and textures that we’re molding with the band. Ranging from reggae to soul, rock to country, the music is very different from the original mix.

Over the past several months, we’ve been culturing these songs at several performances and it’s been fun listening to them evolve. It’s also satisfying to have them recorded and part of a complete package. The best part is that we can now pass them along to our friends.

It was great fun to record these tracks at Lance Williams business in the hills of Hampton. They were recorded Tuesday, July 21 – Thursday, July 23rd.

The sessions were unique and didn’t require a lot of effort thanks to the magic and expertise of Jeremiah Nave. He’s an incredibly talented engineer and real pleasure to work.

His recording studio is in the back of a large panel van that he uses to record live concerts all over the Southeast. He’s been at some of the best festivals on the East Coast and comes to the console with an excellent ear for music as he multi-talented on several instruments. More importantly, he’s a wiz behind the knobs and completely patient with the performers at all times.

These recordings are still in their rough mixes and we hope to do a final mix-down and mastering here in the next few weeks. Until then, we offer these up to our friends and hope you enjoy them.

Below are links to the five new songs. Click to download them in their Mp3 formats.

Heaven - a new song Jared wrote for his daughter
WindChill - a song written about studies of the Civil War
All His Might - nice reggae toe-tapper and hip swagger
Wash- love this country outlaw flavor…we like to call this one “worsh”
Lucky One – a favorite among several of our closet friends

My new friend Shelly Van Wye came across this wonderful quote by ‘On The Road’ author Jack Keroauc and it’s made my week!

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…”

Jack Kerouac.

Earlier in the week, Mark Ray one of our designers at GoTriCities finished a couple of new cartoons and caricatures for the Buzzcutz Podcast Crew with Tom, myself and Jared (far right) in this new graphic which we will be promoting in our newspaper ads and other marketing materials for the new show. I love Tom’s sneer and Jared never looked better. I dig my oblivious, but triumphant image.

Earlier in the year, the Simpsons Movie had an online promotion where you could create your “Simpsons” cartoon and here’s what they came up with for me.

The new Buzzcutz Podcast is on Itunes now and you can subscribe to the weekly programming for free by clicking this link.

If you don’t have Itunes and just want to download the show in an Mp3 format, click here to download the file.

We just finished our third podcast with a live interview from a local metal band called ‘If Looks Could Kill.” Originally from Bristol, this band recently signed a record contract with Harlot Records and are getting ready for a long tour.

We’ve got plenty of new shows planned for the coming week too and we should some continued growth from this show. It’s a bit risque and in-your-face, but Buzzcutz is a distinct niche product and we’re delighted to be a part of the show. I’m having a great time with my buds promoting local music and we have more fun each week we do the show. What the blog for regular updates.

Here’s another option for the graphic. Mark called this one…”Hosts in Black.”

More to come.

It’s rare that you hear such a great description of the mountains of East Tennessee and North Carolina. Mark Peacock over at Appalachian Treks has one of the best natural websites about the region complete with spectacular photography and reflective commentary on the hikes and natural elements of our region.

The other day, I caught this image of his view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and was inspired by the poem below.

These thousand hills roll ever on
In footprints of a Mighty God
They bring me to my knees in praise
Amazing love, amazing grace
–Third Day, “These Thousand Hills” from the album “Offerings” (2000)

This is a view of the Hominy Valley near Asheville, NC taken by Mark on his website at Appalachian Treks.

Last week, Time magazine named their annual “Person of the Year.” s This announcement always interests me and I believe it was last year that they named Bono and George Bush for a tie, but this year, it’s not a celebrity, politician or Nobel prize winner on the cover of one of the nation’s most respected news magazines. The Time Person of the Year, this year…is Y.O.U. and that means me too!

There’s a great quote in the opening paragraph too that states, “The “Great Man” theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.”

My friend Keith Smith is an electric and creative soul that goes way back in my time on this planet. He and my brother were on stage in high school and had some of the best chemistry of two people that I’ve ever seen on stage. Over the years, we’ve all kept in touch and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Keith on a number of projects from his studio in the old Dairy Barn or live sound performances. He’s truly one of the best too. His stages at Rhythm and Roots this past year were by far the best audio productions I heard all weekend.

I think he’s found a new calling though…and who knows where this will lead, but it will be interesting to watch this project blossom. I love the concept. It may be a bit too strong for some folks out there who read my blog, but nevertheless, I give it a standing applause for originality and hope it continues to deliver more. I’ve posted in several locations and look forward to watching the traffic grow for the “Art Critic.” Bravo Keith!

If I had three wishes, I might sneak in a selfish request- more creativity.

It’s my belief we all are intoxicated by creativity, the manifestation of our individual ability to create and express our thoughts via a variety of media.

One of the editors of Wired magazine, Daniel Pink wrote a book last year titled, ‘A Whole New Mind.’ This treatise was an idea that suggest today’s most successful people are those who can balance the proverbial right brain/left brain construct – creatives vs. analytical.

Pink’s book is thought provoking and that’s why his byline in the July 2006 Wired. Near the back of the magazine, there’s an editorial and layout of the Seaurat painting, ‘La Grande Jatte’ and seated in front with his mug to the camera is economist David Galenson.

It’s almost close to 30 years now that I’ve been involved with local media from my hometown in Kingsport and yesterday was a well-rounded day as the multi-tasking reached a new landmark. By the end of the day, I had created a newspaper ad for The Kingsport Times-News, recorded a radio commercial for WQUT and WRZK, shot digital video for a client for the web and created a new Internet site – all in an eight hour day from my desktop computer.

That’s a good thing I guess for a media junkie like me, but it was also a testament to how far the tools (hardware and software) have come as all of this work was accomplished from the desktop computer in my office.

I got in the office early and had to record a new radio commercial for the upcoming GoTriCities Sunset Rock Showcase. I used my Mac G5, Garageband, a small mixer and a microphone to layer three soundtracks. I created a 30 second commercial in about an hour and emailed the mp3 file to the radio station before 10am. From there, I modified a half-page process color advertisement using InDesign and Photoshop and made a PDF and emailed it to The Kingsport Times-News.

After lunch, I came back to modify a new video for Mike Faulk using a Canon Mini DV camera, Imovie and Flash to create a nice little file that looks pretty good and before the end of the day, all of this material was on the Internet ready to publish for the world.

I guess its come full circle now and my media ego was thrilled to think how easy this has become. You still gotta have the know-how, but it’s all there for those who want to find out more.

Here’s a copy of the new radio commercial for the SunSet Rock Series. I’m no longer a DJ, but I still have fun playing with the toys.

This week, Leo Laporte and his Podcast panel at TWIT participated in an intriguing interview with many of the original inventors and enthusiasts who worked in their neighborhood garage to bring about the Apple Computer (pictured above from The Smithsonian). (Click here to see the print ad).

It’s an interesting story too as Bill Fernandez, Andy Hertzfeld, Daniel Kottke, Randy Wigginton, and Steve Wozniak gathered with Leo, citing their Apple Id badge numbers (1,3,5,7) and remembering the incredible time they had together as Jobs and Woz worked with their home-brew computer club to bring computing to the masses.

Early in the interview, Leo (who always gushes about Apple -rightfully so) suggested that Apple’s 30th Anniversary is more than just the birthday of the product, but in many ways, it represents a defining moment in computer technology and the birth of the ‘personal computer.’

The ghost of Brenda Ueland speaks immortal from the pages of her book – “If You Want To Write – A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit.” It may be hard to imagine a book written by a writer, editor and teacher could be so liberating to your creative instincts, but this is one you’ll want to read again and again, especially when you think you can – do anything.

In many ways, this book plays out as a book about confidence, but I believe she really began the work to cultivate a light for specifically writers and it does, but along the way she introduces much more including ‘the murderers of dreams’ and the mystic incantations from William Blake.

It’s an encouraging and soaring book for anyone who wants to write and deserves renewed attention for anyone who enjoys improving their personal creative freedoms.