25 Comments
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Christina Koning's avatar

‘Blue… How much time is left?… Blue…’ That is the question.

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Justin Kolodziej (maybe Ann)'s avatar

Nobody really knows until it's zero

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Justin E. Schutz's avatar

BTW, Brian Eno gave the start to my high school pal Bill Laswell's musical career. You joined a good class.

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James Vincent's avatar

Wow! Definitely in good company.

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Justin E. Schutz's avatar

Thank you. Bill Laswell is very sick and unable to work and has been for over a year. He has been maintaining his lease on the Orange Studio for other artists who he has always made the sturdio available to. There is a fund established on Substack for Save Orange Studio. Any, really any donation is appreciated. This fund is not for Bill, who has managed to pay his rent and medical bills, but for the other artists. On behalf of my old friend, please help his effort to help others keep making great music.

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Justin E. Schutz's avatar

Stating the obvious; Demo-itis, demo it is, de mo it is... , de moit is, dem o i tis, demoit is,

sit i om ed, now give me the clave and the tumbao. I tried, you did much better, but it was fun. Thank you!

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James Vincent's avatar

Brilliant!

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Justin E. Schutz's avatar

clever maybe, brilliant-i don’t know, but thanks! hopefully your class is going well, btw, Bill Laswell has been very sick and unable to work, he is trying to keep Orange Studio going for all those who use it, Keep Orange Studio Going is on Substack, any! donation is appreciated ( not for Bill, for the studio rent)

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Eamonn Vincent's avatar

Which card from Eno's Oblique Strategies pack set you on this path? And I don't mean the one to the mountains of northeast Brazil.

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Ashley J.'s avatar

The song sketches approach reminds me of something I heard Mac Demarco say about how he puts together an album. It really makes songwriting & recording feel a little more approachable - even as something like a private artistic practice.

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James Vincent's avatar

Yeah, it's been really liberating to just share this sketch, rough as it is. The response has been both surprising and heartening. Thanks for listening.

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Ashley J.'s avatar

Thank you for putting it out there

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Karl Berger's avatar

I want the AI version

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James Vincent's avatar

This is the AI version.

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Lori Quakenbush's avatar

You have a beautiful voice.

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James Vincent's avatar

Thank you, Lori.

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Barbara Andree's avatar

I'm happy you mentioned and gave kudos to Joni's Blue. Hers is the high bar.

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James Vincent's avatar

She's the greatest.

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John Hammond's avatar

That’s a beautiful song. I have a question. I’ve tried to post songs I’ve written and recorded as voice memos on my phone, but Substack won’t let me copy & paste it into my post. What am I doing wrong & and how did you post your song?

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John Hammond's avatar

Thank you, James. I’ll try using Spire. Since I have voice memo songs recorded, I’ll try to find a way to convert them to MP3 format.

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James Vincent's avatar

Thank you, John. That's very kind.

To answer your question, I record to an iPhone app called Spire. From Spire, I upload the song as an MP3 and share it to my laptop via email or Google Drive. I made this an audio Substack post, which people usually use for podcasts, I think. Hope that helps solve your problem.

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Anna's avatar

So beautiful, so inspiring. So much expressed in just a few lines. I can’t wait to hear your year of songs. And I think Joni would really dig this too.

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James Vincent's avatar

Thank you, Anna.

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Lura Bowling's avatar

I liked it. Just in a moment you achieved your class assignment. And it's actually unintentionally relatable to us whom are witnessing the fires. As well those whom had/have escaped their homes and communities, I'd just before finding you and your song had finished reading Holly McKay Dispatches with Holly McKay,"Grief, Lost to the Fire" Your words "..How many are here..Blue, Blue . etc.." As I listened to your voice, this song resonated with her pargraphs 2-5, as I read them,.."about the fragments of a life that never can be recovered". Thank you both for sharing.

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James Vincent's avatar

Thank you for your kind words, Lura. Truly shocking to see the scenes coming out of California. I can only imagine how devastating it must be to be in the region. My thoughts are with all those impacted.

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