...and I'm playing at it!
Not sure I had mentioned this in a previous post (probably not as I haven't been very good at updating this blog lately), but I am traveling to England in a little under three weeks to meet up with Judy Buy and her family to play a benefit gig for Amyloidosis that she is hosting. It's a great opportunity that sparked interest many months ago over a Facebook conversation with Judy after she had learned of my song "Hello, Amy" and my connection with the disease and the foundations over here. After a few exchanges involving our then fantasy of my oversea journey, I turned to Mary O'Donnell at The Amyloidosis Foundation, my friend and contact for fundraising efforts and longtime supporter of The May Fund and my creative endeavors. She took it upon herself to gather up some resources and ultimately give me the go-ahead to make the trip to England to not only support Judy and her cause, but represent Amyloidosis on this side of the pond. It's a FANTASTIC opportunity, one that I jumped on immediately upon receiving the financial support from Mary and the anonymous donors that helped with the expenses (Thank you, whoever you are..).
I cannot wait to meet Judy, her family and friends and share my music with Reading, England. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and video of the trip. More to come!!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Abroad101 Features "Electric Candle" In Video
There's a new promotional video for Abroad101.com that features the instrumental part of "Electric Candle" in the first part of the presentation. Check it out!
Study Abroad Overshare Disorder Video
Study Abroad Overshare Disorder Video
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
"ONE DISEASE. MANY VOICES"
Well things are certainly set into motion. It's been a while since I have written in the blog and that is due in part to a lack of eventful reporting! Sure, there has been a little development in the fundraising efforts for the WTKLG physical CDs; there has been some potential interest in sponsoring the entire project and I have made some attempts at "kickstarting" the project by setting up an online, time-sensitive, fundraiser through Kickstarter.com. However, news has been slow overall and frankly I have been too preoccupied with my illustration and design projects as of late. Additional, my empty wallet has kept me far away from the late-night, booze-infused open mic events down at The White Mule, putting my performance endeavors on hold and leaving the blog pages void of any cool stage photos and/or reviews of any shows.
But I digress...as usual! Here I am about a month after my last post to report a very exciting side project in the works. It has always been, at least in the last few months, a big ambition of mine to release "Hello, Amy", previously released on WTKLG, as a single and be available for sale to help raise money for the awareness and research of the disease that the song talks about. What I didn't expect, however, was this little project to grow in such an ambitious and peer-supported way. Originally, I had thought of including an alternate version featuring Alyson McKinster on piano and back up vocals, providing a more somber side to the song. A few days ago, I was talking with Chad Macomber about a future project he is working on and it dawned on us to include yet another alternate version that would feature his ukelele-picking, "campfire" style. So the CD had grown to three. Very cool.
But it wasn't long after this that I thought- why stop there? Why not offer up the song to a number of different bands and musicians to diversify the CD as much as possible; to have the artist cover "Hello, Amy" in a way that is unique to them and their style of music; and to allow their voice to speak the story of Amyloidosis, ultimately strengthening the awareness potential and spreading the word over audiences of many different musical genres. With this newly evolved concept to the "Hello, Amy" single CD, it only makes sense for me to withdraw any of my own previously planned contributions to the alternate versions, such as the piano cover with Alyson. I want each and every added song to be created entirely by the respective artist/band. It is my hope to build a musical "army" to support a great cause and to my delight, there has already been a great response in the last couple days. I hope to hear back from each and every artist I have contacted, as they all have a very different sound that would be amazing for the project.
In the coming weeks, look for a more definitive list of contributing artists as well as a web site launch for the project. Thanks goes to those who are already working hard on their cover songs and especially to Mary O'Donnell at The Amyloidosis Foundation. She has been instrumental in the last month or so in my creative endeavors and I couldn't thank her enough for her support and sponsorship of the "Hello, Amy" single CD. This will be a beautiful project that I hope will generate a lot of buzz and awareness of the disease.
If you are a musician and would like to be considered for the compilation CD, please write me at music@dylanduncan.com.
But I digress...as usual! Here I am about a month after my last post to report a very exciting side project in the works. It has always been, at least in the last few months, a big ambition of mine to release "Hello, Amy", previously released on WTKLG, as a single and be available for sale to help raise money for the awareness and research of the disease that the song talks about. What I didn't expect, however, was this little project to grow in such an ambitious and peer-supported way. Originally, I had thought of including an alternate version featuring Alyson McKinster on piano and back up vocals, providing a more somber side to the song. A few days ago, I was talking with Chad Macomber about a future project he is working on and it dawned on us to include yet another alternate version that would feature his ukelele-picking, "campfire" style. So the CD had grown to three. Very cool.
But it wasn't long after this that I thought- why stop there? Why not offer up the song to a number of different bands and musicians to diversify the CD as much as possible; to have the artist cover "Hello, Amy" in a way that is unique to them and their style of music; and to allow their voice to speak the story of Amyloidosis, ultimately strengthening the awareness potential and spreading the word over audiences of many different musical genres. With this newly evolved concept to the "Hello, Amy" single CD, it only makes sense for me to withdraw any of my own previously planned contributions to the alternate versions, such as the piano cover with Alyson. I want each and every added song to be created entirely by the respective artist/band. It is my hope to build a musical "army" to support a great cause and to my delight, there has already been a great response in the last couple days. I hope to hear back from each and every artist I have contacted, as they all have a very different sound that would be amazing for the project.
In the coming weeks, look for a more definitive list of contributing artists as well as a web site launch for the project. Thanks goes to those who are already working hard on their cover songs and especially to Mary O'Donnell at The Amyloidosis Foundation. She has been instrumental in the last month or so in my creative endeavors and I couldn't thank her enough for her support and sponsorship of the "Hello, Amy" single CD. This will be a beautiful project that I hope will generate a lot of buzz and awareness of the disease.
If you are a musician and would like to be considered for the compilation CD, please write me at music@dylanduncan.com.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Matt Koelsch Music
Recently I have had the pleasure of working on a venue poster for Matt Koelsch, a musician I have never met in person yet he sings on one of my songs on What To Keep & Let Go. Anyway, to gather inspiration for the tone and emotional evocation I'd need to come up with an appropriate visual, I started listening to his music more. I have to say, he is one of my favorite independent artists out there right now. His songs are infectious, hooky and well-produced. "Against The Night" and "Fall Away" are two of my favorite, while "Vomperbach" helped inspire the waterfall/river aesthetic in his poster.Please be sure to check out Matt's music. And if you happen to be in NYC on July 23rd, go see him perform.
Thanks again Matt for your help on "Circles"! Hope to work with you again in the future!
Performer Magazine Spotlight Piece by Julia Rose DeStefano
I first started talking with Julia Rose DeStefano back around 2007 when I was living at Chad's house in Marblehead, MA. I recall penning away such songs as "Electric Candle" and recording rough demos like "Hello, Amy", while in the background my small TV was lighting up the tiny attic space I had called home for a year and a half. I was recording video journals of my thoughts on Amyloidosis while at the same time struggling to figure out where to go from where I was.
These are just some of the many memories I hold close to me from that time period. But I will also never forget talking with Julia and being so inspired by her creativity, her musical knowledge and writing aspirations. I am very drawn towards people with similar crafts and ambitions. So it's no surprise that nearly four years later, we have once again connected and fused our artistic passions into her writing.
I used to always tell Julia: "I want you to review my CD when it's complete." At the time, Julia wrote, and still writes, for Boston's rock and roll magazine "The Noise" and I knew I'd always keep this creative connection in my mental rolodex for when the time came. So when "What To Keep & Let Go" was completed, I pulled out her contact info and requested she review the CD like we had talked about so many years before. Being the great supporter of the arts that she is, Julia accepted. But it was better than I expected: She was going to feature me in a Spotlight piece in a different magazine that she contributed to. Performer Magazine, another of Boston's musicians' resource, ended up playing host to a very thoughtful, well-written piece by Julia, describing not only my musical history, influences and goals, but my "Healing Power of Music" and the effect that my writing has on ultimately aiding in my personal therapy. The article came out great and I couldn't be happier to have kept contact with Julia so it could finally become a reality. As all the creatives that come into my life, I hope to work with her again.
Thank you again Julia for such an amazing article! Your support for my project has always been very appreciated.
For more on Julia's artistic side, you can check out her website here. And be sure to pick up the July issue of Performer Magazine, on sale in the Boston area. For now, I have attached a screen shot of the article.
These are just some of the many memories I hold close to me from that time period. But I will also never forget talking with Julia and being so inspired by her creativity, her musical knowledge and writing aspirations. I am very drawn towards people with similar crafts and ambitions. So it's no surprise that nearly four years later, we have once again connected and fused our artistic passions into her writing.
I used to always tell Julia: "I want you to review my CD when it's complete." At the time, Julia wrote, and still writes, for Boston's rock and roll magazine "The Noise" and I knew I'd always keep this creative connection in my mental rolodex for when the time came. So when "What To Keep & Let Go" was completed, I pulled out her contact info and requested she review the CD like we had talked about so many years before. Being the great supporter of the arts that she is, Julia accepted. But it was better than I expected: She was going to feature me in a Spotlight piece in a different magazine that she contributed to. Performer Magazine, another of Boston's musicians' resource, ended up playing host to a very thoughtful, well-written piece by Julia, describing not only my musical history, influences and goals, but my "Healing Power of Music" and the effect that my writing has on ultimately aiding in my personal therapy. The article came out great and I couldn't be happier to have kept contact with Julia so it could finally become a reality. As all the creatives that come into my life, I hope to work with her again.
Thank you again Julia for such an amazing article! Your support for my project has always been very appreciated.
For more on Julia's artistic side, you can check out her website here. And be sure to pick up the July issue of Performer Magazine, on sale in the Boston area. For now, I have attached a screen shot of the article.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
WUSC Radio Interview
Back on April 22nd, I had the pleasure of visiting the radio station over at USC to meet with Lauren Williams and Tyler Price to promote my show with Danielle Howle. I had a great time with the interview, sharing my musical influences, album process and even a little live rendition of "Hello, Amy". I hope to stop in again soon!Here's a photo of these great radio DJs. Thanks again, Lauren and Tyler! Had a great time.
The Beauty of Darkness
Lately, I've realized just how valuable bad things can be. It's absurd to cast aside such times and hope for only the good. They need each other to push against, to exist so the other can too. Call it the yin and yang notion to life but I refuse to see it as so black and white. It's full of mixed color and different shades of gray that can be the most beautiful thing in your life if you let it.
So the next time I am flooded in darkness, as I have been recently and sure to be again, I will keep my eyes open, squinting to seek out that tiny dot of light that is slowly finding its way back to me. It will once again surround my life and I'll take it in like an old friend, not being afraid to say goodbye when the time comes. Because I know it will return. And all the while, I'll hold onto the beauty of this process.
So the next time I am flooded in darkness, as I have been recently and sure to be again, I will keep my eyes open, squinting to seek out that tiny dot of light that is slowly finding its way back to me. It will once again surround my life and I'll take it in like an old friend, not being afraid to say goodbye when the time comes. Because I know it will return. And all the while, I'll hold onto the beauty of this process.
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