Interview with a GenX Snowboard Mom

KoNTRoLlED KhAoS is an avid snowboarder, tomato farmer, martini mixer, mom, and true friend. She’s a gadget geek, always near her blackberry and iPod. Like all Gen X’ers, KhAoS did not grow up blogging, but has become a frequent user of social sites over the last couple of years. This interview explores the allure of an online presence.

Q: Where did you post online first?
A: MySpace

Q: Why were you first interested in posting a MySpace page?
A: I started out while planning my 20-year high school reunion.
Many people had moved and changed their names, so I set up a personal space and a Chesapeake High School space so that people could find me easily.

Q: Which social media sites do you use now?
A: MySpace and Facebook, and I Blog on Reunion.com, Classmates.com, and my high school’s social site, chesapeakehighalumni.com.
Even a year after the Reunion, I still check all of them periodically. It has totally allowed me to keep in touch with people who I wouldn’t otherwise keep in touch with. Sometimes it’s tough to talk on the phone. The best thing about chatting online is you can’t hear my kids screaming in the background (grin).

Q: Between MySpace and Facebook, which do you like better?
A: I have preferences for both. MySpace is more fun because you can change the background, post music – it allows you to project your personality. Facebook is a more mature site. You don’t get all those bells and whistles. It seems there are more mature people on Facebook.

Q: Are your pages open or closed? Why?
A: Open. I have nothing to hide.

Q: Is there anything that scares you about having the open page?
A: No. I don’t post my kids’ names or my address. Nothing personal that would allow someone to find me. People can email me.

Q: Have you had contact from anyone you don’t want?
A: No. I’ve had people hit my page who were creepy, but you just don’t respond and they go away.

Q: How would you feel about your kids using social sites? A: My kids belong to Webkinz, which is a kid’s social site, but I only allow them to communicate with eachother. My daughter is also on Barbie.com, but I don’t let her communicate with other people on that.

Q: At what age would you allow them to use other social sites, unsupervised?
A: They would need to be 11 to 13 before they are able to use other sites. They will never be unsupervised. Too much crap can happen.

Q: Are there any particular sites you will disallow?
A: I don’t love YouTube because everything should be R and under, and they are too young for that.

Ok – the snow and wind have stopped, so it’s time for us to get back to riding the slopes!

Let’s Write a Sawng

Rivers Quomo, best known as the front man of Weezer, has studied the scientific process of songwriting, using himself as the subject of analytical experimentation. On NPR’s Fresh Air, he described this method, which may not seem to deviate much from what one would imagine a rock star’s creative process might be. However, Mr. Cuomo diligently recorded every step of his method, “intentionally varying individual elements to see what the result would be.”

One experiment went like this:
Step 1 – Take a Ritalin pill.
Step 2 – Take three shots of tequila.
Step 3 – Sit in a chair in the backyard.
Step 4 – Close your eyes and imagine the song.
The result of this particular routine was the song “Hashpipe.”



Rivers’s analytical approach to songwriting elaborates a process that most would consider a songwriter’s mystery – one that relies strictly on creative intuition. He has taken his methodological approach a step further by introducing his fan base to the process.

In March, 2008, Rivers Cuomo began posting instructions on YouTube, coaching his fans through the songwriting process to create a collaborative piece. He hopes Weezer will pick up the song for production in their seventh album, coming out next year. He estimates that at least 20 people will be listed in the credits for this collaborative song.
(NPR Fresh Air featuring Rivers Cuomo, 21-January, 2009 available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=99636767&m=99646414)

Rivers Cuomo’s collaborative process is paraphrased below:

Step 1 & Step 2: Start with a general attitude: fun and “poppy” but tough at the same time. Create a song title.

Step 3: Create a chord progression that captures the “vibe of the outcast character” represented in the chosen song title, “80’s Radio.”

Step 3b: Second round of chord progression – faster tempos, 115 bpm at least.

Step 4: Develop arrangements – use a loop of the chord progression that brings in the “tough, fun spirit.”

Steps 5 & 6: Write lyrics, try to include the word “radio” in the lyrics, but it’s not necessary. Compose a tune over the musical track.

Step 7’b: Refine the materials – bring together the lyrics, melody, and music.

Step 8: Development – take the song to your instruments, come up with a bridge or solo, and finish the song out. Make the song “pick up energy as it goes along… make it rock!”

Step 9: Revise the chords in the chorus to start on a D chord.

Step 10: Revise the bridge lyrics from “Take this all the way” to something that says more.

Step 11: Tighten the track on the sound file so it has a steady beat and crisp sound.

Step 12: Polish – Gather the “wish list.” Tell me what you think would make this track better.

Step 13: Lengthen the chorus for “lyrical substance.”

Step 14: Revise the bridge lyrics again – use more background vocal, don’t use “turn it” in the bridge, and create a spontaneous message within the bridge.

Step 15: Update the chorus to eliminate cliché in “Let the Good Times Roll” and “Tell me Go To School.”

Step 16: Final cuts
The most recent version of the song is in Step 14, at about 2:50 minutes.


My final thoughts – this is a very fun, catchy tune. I think it’s better than most of what we hear on the radio. The most important thing to consider is that, while it was a collaborative work, it had an experienced, decisive producer in Rivers Cuomo. He chose the best of the best and gave it his edge.This leads me to the biggest question – Is this really our song? Or is it his?

There’s No One as Irish as Barak Obama.

Over the course of the campaigns for the US presidency, many satirical songs pop up around the globe. Although this is a long-lived tradition, social sites like YouTube fueled the fire in 2008.

A single example is the catchy tune written by The Corrigan Brothers from Limerick, Ireland, called “There’s No One more Irish than Barak Obama.” In an interview, band member Ger said “We put the song up on YouTube and it has gone from having 25 hits in its first week to well over five thousand hits now about a month later”
(http://www.nenaghguardian.ie/news/puckane-born-band-in-line-for-us-presidential-performance-1365192.html)
The version released on YouTube is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xkw8ip43Vk.

Adding to the popularity of the song was another advent of the “Open Source” age. Shay Black, who hosts the Irish Tunes session in Berkley, California, was allowed permission to add verses. His YouTube posting is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek.

Before Web 2.0, the process to release a pop song internationally, even a “one hit wonder,” involved agents, managers, recording contracts, tours, and quite a bit of time. I couldn’t find any albums released by this band, and their 2009 tour is entirely centered on this single song. This song was posted on YouTube in April, 2008. By Inauguration Day, only eight months later, the band was playing in the Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington DC.

An MP3 download is now available on Amazon.com for $0.99. http://www.amazon.com/Theres-One-Irish-Barack-Obama/dp/B001NJUBBA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1232729369&sr=8-1

What does this mean for the music industry?

Surely, Obama’s international popularity and ultimate election drove the media acceptance of the Corrigan Brother’s song. Also, Obama’s followers are largely known to be in the Web 2.0 space; his campaign used the social web to generate funds and spread information. This may mean that the success of the Corrigan Brothers was specific to this song, and the rest of the music industry has nothing to fear from Web 2.0.

There is great opportunity for artists online. The web space allows people to generate excitement, and to collaborate on projects. In the future, it may also mean less agency and management and more control (and more money) for artists.