Jonathan Ramsey

Music

Music26 Aug 2010 10:38 am

The 9th Annual TOCO Family Music Festival Takes Jellystone© by Fun!

Note that I am not performing at TOCO Festival, this year, but I fully support them and recommend attending!

Over 40 Musical Acts on 4 Stages, Art, and Activities for the Entire Family
Benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation© and TOCO nfp.

Saint Louis, Missouri– For the 9th consecutive year, the TOCO (Tapestry of Community Offerings) Family Music Festival offers an amazing array of activities including Music & Camping, Art, Food, & Beverage Vendors, plus a Campsite Decorating Contest, Collective Arts Project, Kids’ Concerts & Party Zone, Playground, Mini Golf, Game Room, Swimming, Hiking, and Floating. The 2010 event takes place at scenic Jellystone Park Resort© at Six Flags St. Louis (5300 Fox Creek Rd. Eureka, Missouri 63025) Friday September 10th and Saturday September 11th. With camping options ranging from primitive to deluxe, there is a choice for every kind of festival family member.

The gates of fun open at 3pm on Friday and close at 3pm on Sunday. Over 35 local and regional musical acts including Vitamen A, Spoonfed Tribe, Aaron Kamm & the One Drops, Bottoms Up Blues Gang, EarthSol, Fattback, Following the Water, East End Girls, Auset Music Project, The Sparrows, Pepperland, Sully, Red Headed Strangers, Rodney Branigan, and many more, will perform on multiple stages throughout Jellystone Park©. Don’t forget Sunday Brunch with Pik’n Lik’n! In addition to the great kid friendly attributes the venue already has to offer, TOCO Family Festival also features a Kid’s Play Party Zone offering kids of all ages the opportunity to participate in hands-on creative activities.

To purchase tickets or to find out more information including great camping options and complete band line-up, please visit www.tocofestival.com or call 618-257-TOCO (8626).

For charitable & educational purposes, TOCO (Tapestry of Community Offerings) organizes family-themed events to raise awareness and financial support for regional families and children in need. This year, proceeds from the TOCO Festival benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation© and TOCO nfp. Both TOCO & Make-A-Wish© share the belief that life should be measured in memories, not years! Come make some memories with your family this year at TOCO Family Festival.

Music12 Jul 2010 07:04 am

Ariel’s Music Success in Nine Weeks: Week 1

Last week, I started through Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks. It’s a great guide for improving communications and relationships with your fans.

Week 1 walks you through some basic concepts, and then concentrates on looking at the positive things you do daily to improve musically, and in life. As such, I’ve been writing down 5 positive things I’ve accomplished each day. It’s opening my eyes to what I’ve doing. Like most people, I find it easy to summarize my day, mentally, by seeing most of the things I did not complete –or begin. So, this is an important step for me.

The heart of Week 1: Goal Setting. I love writing goals. Since I was a kid, I’ve written lists detailing the things I wanted to achieve. So, you might imagine this is a fairly easy part for me. It is. The part where I lose ground is turning those goals into some sort of implementation plan. How am I going to book that Upper Midwest tour? What do I do to set up an Ireland trip?

That said, I know that, moving on, I’ll need to work hard to stay focused. I’m very good at laying groundwork, then losing focus when distractions arise. So, follow-through for the next 8 weeks is important. If I’m to get past my comfort zone of goal setting, and endless list-making, I need to keep my head down as I walk through each week, paying attention doing the smart things that will help me to reach my goals. So, I’m jumping in and will keep you, my friends, fans, and family, apprised of my progress each week. I’ll share the easy bits, as well as the speed bumps I hit.

Cheers!

Music17 Jun 2010 12:04 am

Sunday Scratch Track #1: “My Face”

Sunday Scratch Track - Image "DJ Cassette Scratch" from http://www.mixcrate.com/news/4634/hip-hop-ingenuity-cassette-tape-scratching/

Source: Mixcrate

Sunday Scratch Track “My Face” is available for listening and downloading. This is the first of many tracks to come, rough, first take, tracks from my home studio. I’ll clean them up later, but, for now, enjoy the scratch!

Listen to “My Face”, and let me know what you think in the comments. Also check it out on Facebook or Myspace.

Please comment and let me know what you think.

Music13 Apr 2010 07:40 am

Eliza Dushku: Tri-athlete for Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital

Everyone at our house loved Eliza Dushku as Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Tru in Tru Calling, and as Missy “The Poo” Pantone in Bring It On, and we hate it when we miss seeing Echo in Dollhouse. Sunday, she and boyfriend Rick Fox have completed a half-mile swim, four-mile run, and 19-mile bike ride in the 3rd Annual Nautica South Beach Triathlon, Miami, raising money for Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Continue Reading »

Music25 Jan 2010 08:54 am

More Cleanup, More Writing, 6 Days Remain

Ardour - Open Source Recording Software

Over the weekend, I did much more cleaning and moving of stuff in our lower level. This included some rearrangement in the studio, as well. I’m not ashamed to post photos of the mess, but I’m afraid it would be confusing to anyone looking at photos of the studio to make out what’s in it! HA!

So, I’m hoping tonight will be a turning point for such, and I’ll post some photos of my studio. Maybe I’ll post one with the remaining rubbish showing, and some with it covered so the important bits are more obvious.

Writing continues, as well. I’ll likely include some songs written during the month of February. If I post scans of my drafts, it’ll become obvious that I really do write mostly whilst riding buses and trains.

Six More Days! Yea!

Music and Shows and St Louis Irish Music16 Sep 2009 11:16 pm

Arthur McBride at Felix’s in Dogtown (Saint Louis, MO)

C’est moi, at Felix’s in Dogtown. It’s a small moment in Saint Louis Irish Music History, folks. Okay, it’s a song.

Check it out.

Music and Other Musicians You Should Check Out and Saint Louis and Shows17 Jun 2009 09:12 pm

Saint Louis Music: Genre Wars at Felix’s Friday, 19 June

This Friday, join me as I host the opening of the Genre Wars 2009 Pre-Party at Felix’s in Dogtown. Don’t think “Battle of the Bands”, that well-worn elimination gimmick. In Genre Wars, bands of various genres –metal, blues, folk, Irish, Tuvan throat song, what have you- perform songs from outside their respective genres. The audience gets to vote for their favorites. It’s great fun, of course.

Felix’s is a great place, in one of Saint Louis’ most exciting neighborhoods. When I played there in May, I had a great time, and met a lot of nice people. While it hosts many rock bands, it’s also a very intimate setting, allowing a lot of great interaction between the artists and the audience. You’ll feel like you’re in your own private show. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and ready to take care of you, whether you need food or drink, or help getting a taxi.

Along with Dave Jordan, I’ll host beginning at 9PM, playing a few short sets. In between, Josh Timbrook (post-modern experimental folk), Dyadic Effect (experimental, instrumental rock), and Stupid Dreamer (4-piece rock) will perform their own sets. It’s sure to be great fun!

Genre Wars
Friday, 19 June 2009 9PM – 1AM
Felix’s
6335 Clayton Ave
St Louis, MO 63139
(314) 645-6565
Get directions

Be sure to join in on the comments. I want to know what you think. Have you been to Genre Wars? Do you already have an idea which band you think will do best?

Friends and Music and Shows and St Louis Irish Music18 May 2009 08:40 pm

Saint Louis: Ten Mile House 29 May 2009 with Blue, Brian Hoehn, and Double Take

Ten Mile House w/ Blue, Jonathan Ramsey, Brian Hoehn, and Double Take. A night of acoustic music.

29 May, come out to Ten Mile House for a very special show with Blue (of Morning Vision Blue), Brian Hoehn, and Double Take. The show starts at 9PM.

This is

Mania that Pervades Jonathan's Soul and Music01 May 2009 03:36 pm

Protect Your Earbud/Headphone Cords Properly

iPhones, iPods, Zunes, Archos, and the many other portable music and video players have lots of things in common. One of the hottest things, though, is earbuds. All of us who carry devices and their earbuds have the same problem, too. How do you safely store your earbuds.

DIY sites on the internet host thousands of tips on cheap, easy ways to stow those earbuds, but, invariably, the advice is bad. The most commonly touted “clever” solution I’ve seen is the old “wrap the cord around a credit card” trick. Please don’t wrap your cord around a credit card. A credit card is the worst thing to wrap your cords around. Any time you bend a cord, you put stress on those bend points. Doubling a cord back on itself around a credit card, a library card, or a piece of cardstock is a horrible idea. What happens when you repeatedly bend a paper clip back and forth? It wears out and breaks. It may take several times. It may take several hundred times, but that’s a shortened life for an earbud cord. Wrapping around your hand or your iPod itself is better, but it still puts stress on the cord. So, what do you do?

The best way to wrap a cord is in a circle, the bigger the radius the better. You could wrap some duct tape around a toilet paper tube, a short piece of PVC pipe, a 6oz water bottle.

If you don’t feel up to making your own, you can always purchase the ready made type. Some of these are merely cases, but you can neatly roll the cord up into a circle, and place it gently within.

Cable Turtle ($4.00 and up in different colors), iBeatle (how cute and only $6.49 at time of writing), and JLab JBuds Case (around $10 and several different colors). All available at Amazon.com.

Sometimes, though, I just roll up the cord and place it neatly into a freezer “zip” bag (Glad, ZipLock, Target, etc.)

Mania that Pervades Jonathan's Soul and Music and Podsafe and Recordings06 Feb 2009 12:41 am

RPM/28-in-28: Mein Hut er hat einen Pickel

Okay, here’s the real numero uno, the big cheese, the first one I did, a few days ago, and should have posted on Sunday.

Well, yeah. It’s a rough mix of “Mein Hut er hat einen Pickel”, a little “folk” tune that I’ve plagiarized a genuine folk tune to create.

Anywho, this is a little something that’s been bugging the dark places in my brain for a couple of years. It will have an animated video to go along with it.

Mein Hut er hat einen Pickel Play