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Kitty and the Can Openers on BalconyTV
You can download their full E.P. on the band’s website.
Not long left to vote for the band on SlicethePie
Show me things I don’t or won’t understand, things that will be strange to me. Beautiful things that make me want to be better and horrible things that that I can’t watch, things that make me want to be worse than I already am.
Show me your thoughts and my own, and show me your expression as you watch me compare the two.
Show me things so that I can think about them and associate them with other things.
Show me a pencil to write that down with.
Show me things that don’t make sense, that don’t exist but show them to me anyway because if I can think about it, it must be.
Show me how to fix parts of me that are broken, whether its my head, my heart or my knees.
Show me how to care less so I can care more for more important things.
Show me how to take my own amazing advice.
Show me the hybrid creation of the mixed DNA of Lord Voldemort, Miss Trunchbull and the Wicked witch of the West and let me keep it in a box.
Show me where more ends.
Show me how to be smart so I can use that smartness to convince other people of my own obvious intelligence.
Show me how to re-find places where I felt safe.
Show me how to forget the things that haunt me.
Show me a spider that actually wants to come and get me.
Show me why I just cant get over it.
Show me a montage of all my stupidest moments and make me watch it over and over… will I learn anything?
This Saturday the first Creative Camp Belfast takes place at Blick Shared Studios (beware, your browser may resize and ears exposed to annoying bell sounds).
CreativeCamp is a self-organised “unconference” - made up of open, participatory workshop-events where the participants are responsible for setting the agenda, deciding on topics and generating the content. CreativeCamp Belfast brings together technology and creative enthusiasts who want to make things happen with web, mobile, open source, new media, music and design.
The event is free to attend - food, drinks, projectors & wifi will all be made available. More information on the workshops, discussions, talks and portfolio presentations will emerge as people sign-up to take part.
So far 75 people have registered to attend and of those 18 people have promised talks. All of the planned talks sounds very interesting with topics such as music licensing and sustaining NI music scene, co-working, raising cash, micro-short filmmaking, future/current music industry models, etc.
Saturday 6th September
Blick Shared Studios
51 Malone Road, Belfast (map)
The legal age to buy tobacco in Northern Ireland has risen from 16 to 18 today.
The Eiffel Tower is going eco.
In South Belfast there are 116 sex offenders living publicly.
Add friends’ birthdays to google calendar or ical from facebook.
NIPodcast is now on episode three. An unoriginally titled music podcast from NI and ROI.
Some words of wisdom from Alexia.
Coolsites.ie was launched today by Michele Neylon:
I plan on posting a site every day if I can, so if you know of any nice, cool or simply interesting sites that I should mention please let me know via email to submissions@coolsites.ie. I’d strongly recommend that you use the subject line “coolsites.ie submission”, as it will get lost in my inbox otherwise.
Another great web app for Twitter from Cork; Tweetrush monitors overall twitter stats and those for individual users. Heres a snipet from mine:
The “iPhone girl” who put photographs of herself on a phone in the factory identified and said to be scared of the media.
Lots of little leprechauns, all in a row.
After being reminded of Sarah Silverman’s hilarious “home video” of how she’s been fucking Matt Damon, I found this:
Every so often a ‘Battle of the Bands’ pops up on the radar, each one to be better than any before it. Last Standing with its emphasis on war rather than battle, may prove itself to be stronger than its predecessors of the genre of musician competitiveness.
Last-standing.com Is a social networking site for Northern Irish bands; trying to build networks between bands in NI to strengthen our collective position in the music industry. Also runs a Battle of the Bands which is open to entrants right now, heats are on around NI to to determine the finalists, the finalists will then battle for a chance to win £2000’s worth of prizes, including:
- cash prize
- demo recording at Shabby Road studio
- 100 copies of the demo
- expert advice from those in the music and promotion business
- mentoring
- high profile playing opportunities
Today, Saturday 30th August 2008, the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh is the venue for the first heat in the WAR.
At the same time, though, they state that this is “not so much a competition, more a series of events with a really big event at the end.” Intended to encourage bands interact with each other, link up with others in order to promote their music.
The next heat is to be held Down Art Centre, Downpatrick on 13th September 2008, followed by one in Belfast on 30th September.
200 orgasms a day is probably not cool after while, but what about collapsing every time you laugh? Or actually being allergic to modern technology, that’d be a bit shit.
Some cool kids furniture, not so sure how practical the accordian dresser is though.
Some stunningly beautiful motion blur photographs.
Common sense is just plain lacking in some people.
Hot Chicks with Douchebags. This is what the internet is for.
Canon 50D specs leaked, then announced. I cannot afford any of this but its still fun to ogle.
Banksy’s opinion on advertising.
A very relatable comic, thanks noclarity.
A very cool optical illusion. Just a bunch of squares.
Ubiquity looks like a very cool app. I need to read the tutorials though.
Lots of pretty rainbow colours.
I actually think I’ve been neglecting photography on this blog lately, so don’t forget I do post a new photograph every day on my photoblog.
This is incredible:
The french are just so horny:
The Summer Experiment play Auntie Annies on Wednesday 27th August. Then disappear into the night. Never to be seen again.
They said it better than I could
What happens when a band is faced with its own end before it even gets off its feet? Would this knowledge change their plan of action? Could it change the band’s dynamic? Could it even change the music? The Experiment is exactly this: a ‘band’ in its dying days from before you had even heard of them….it is what it is…no strings attached…just creativity. Doing what you can while you can. This is what we decided to make of Summer 2008 and we hope to remind everyone of the amazing things that happen when artists just allow themselves to create.”
The Summer Experiment taking place in Auntie Annies, Belfast on the 27th of August marks the end
of the three month project undertaken by the Summer Experiment Quartet. Through this period the ‘band’ has worked towards a handful of gigs to be rounded up with The Summer Experiment itself this week in Auntie Annies.
The Summer Experiment is not just another band playing music at you from the stage. It is not just another gig with some bands you might have heard of before. It is a chance for you to take part and become part of the histo
ry of The Summer Experiment.
There is no aim, method, result or conclusion. The arrangement of fixed sonic material may be based around theories of metric structure, perception of events, evolution and mistakes. There are no white coats or microscopes however there will be unfair tests conducted in uncontrolled environments with no safety goggles. There may be lab rats.
The Summer Experiment will be performing live experiments. These will be administered without anaesthetics and there will be no refund for unexpected results.
Attempting to bring audience participation and collaboration to a gig, The Summer Experiment will be the greatest band that never wanted to be…
John Baucher launched his Ttv (Through the Viewfinder) exhibition ‘Old meets New’ last week. The exhibition runs in the Black Box until 16th Sept. Here is a shot he took of me outside the venue:
10 yrs on, too much Google? Still doing no Evil?
They have amassed more information about people in 10 years than all the governments of the world put together. They make the Stasi and the KGB look like the innocent old granny next door.
Google’s tentacles are everywhere. It runs services for blogging, email, instant messaging, shopping and social networking. It offers a suite of word processing, spreadsheet and other tools to rival Microsoft’s products in the workplace. It is building a software platform for mobile phones that may challenge Apple’s iPhone and others. It has just launched Knol, a peer-reviewed encyclopedia to take on Wikipedia. In America, Google Health enables users to maintain their own medical records. The company is also working on language translation, speech recognition and video search.
Eight people actually bought the ‘I am Rich’ iPhone App: Six people from the United States, one from Germany and one from France dropped a grand for the gem in the first 24 hours it was available.
Some pretty surface pattern designs.
Orbitrunner: Try to keep the planets orbiting the sun in the allocated time, without going outside the given space. It’s bloody difficult.
Wired Up have some good band promo tips.
The Guardian does LOLBush.
A robot with the ‘brain’ of a rat.
Is this not taking the digital age a little too far?
Some incredible shots on the Pix.ie blog from the Guiness Storehouse photowalk last weekend. I so wish I could have gone.
Unfortunately racism is still rife in Belfast.
What is SlicethePie?
Slicethepie is a web based artist financing engine that raises money for artists to professionally record an album. It enables users to invest in, profit from, and trade in artists’ success by turning every music fan into a talent scout and investor.
On Slicethepie:
Artists can raise money directly from their fans to professionally record albums
Fans can become emotionally and financially involved at all levels of the music industry - scouting, breaking, investing in and influencing real artists
Investors can gamble on, trade in and profit from the success of these artists
Artists who secure finance pay Slicethepie a small royalty on album sales but keep all their copyright and publishing rights.
Essentially, Artsits join an Arena and once the arena is full (up to 1,000 artists) the Scout Room opens. The 20 highest rated artists from the Scout Room go forward to the Showcase.
In the Showcase fans vote for and finance artists by buying Backstage Passes. Fans buy Contracts that entitle them to a return based on the number of singles and albums sold by the Artist over a 2 year period.
The Artist receives the money (non-recoupable) and goes off to record the album, keeping in close contact with Backstage Pass holders in a private area of the site. The Contracts become fully tradable on the Slicethepie Exchange, fluctuating in value depending on the anticipated number of album and single sales.
The album is released and Slicethepie receives £2 royalty on every album sale. The Artist keeps all their copyright and publishing rights and remains free to sign a record deal at any time.
Kitty and the Can Openers are one of only 16 bands in the current Showcase. If they get plenty of votes they will win £15,000 to put into recording an album. I would like to ask you to vote for Kitty and the Can Openers, the only Irish band in the current Showcase, and help them win this! It would mean a lot for this band. Don’t forget there are some free MP3s to help you make up your mind on their website!
All you have to do is sign up to the site (you have more than one email address you say? Why not add a few more votes!) and vote for the band on this page!
Thanks!
My brother who has started using MSN messsenger was recently hit by this scam that has been spreading over the last few months by ‘TST Management’. I think the advice here, like always, is never log into a site from a strange url. Bastard scammers.
in 2008 40 men will die from a lightning strike, 6,812 from brain cancer, 1062 from falling down steps and 270 from alcohol poisoning. How will you go out?
“Even worse, the growths were wiry, untamed and white. And if you really want me to be frank, the hair was essentially pubic.”
You mean Bigfoot isn’t real afterall? Wasn’t expecting that at all.
Unusual kitchen furniture anyone? This one reminds me of a doctors surgery.
Tracks from U2’s forthcoming album ‘No Line On The Horizon’ have been leaked online after a fan over-heard Bono listening to the tracks and recorded them. If anyone finds them, I even want to know about it.
Chinese police use force on Media, despite pledging to allow foreign media to do their work.
A decade of the iMac; I never did like the ‘Lamp-Mac’ or the colourful toy-like Macs, or… wait I didn’t like any Mac until the one I have right now…
Will this man ever go away? Hoffspace? Seriously?
Visions of the future in MS Paint.
Former astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell Kerrang DJ that we have been visited by aliens, Roswell (and others) are real: