Remember-If you are a local musician or in a band (or know of one) and would like to get the word out about upcoming shows, releases or projects, drop us a line.
You can follow and contact us on twitter @ playgroundpc, or send a message to our Facebook page administrators: Ford Seeuws or Justin Weathermon.
LOCAL ARTISTS
Sam Weigle
Sam was born and raised here in Panama City, beginning his music career with piano lessons at a young age. It was footage from the Eagles' live concerts that inspired him to take his music to another level. At about this time, he had begun practicing five hours a day on the piano, and his parents suggested that he take up guitar.So at 16, he joined the legion of aspiring guitarists out there, and because he realized he was getting a bit of a late start, Sam's competitive nature drove him to practice hard and be the best he could be. He went to college for engineering, but switched to music while at Memphis where he both recorded and performed regularly.
Armed with a number of years of teaching experience in varied environments, a certificate from Berklee in music production and a studied command of the fretboard (see him featured in this week's Youtube Talent segment below), Sam returned to Panama City and is now a sought-after teacher and performer in Panama City's growing music scene.
Though difficult for him to pin down due to his wide appreciation for various styles, Sam finds his musical center somewhere between classic rock and heavy metal. He cites the following artists as having the most profound influence on his style of playing the guitar (long list!): Joe Satriani, John Petrucci/Dream Theater, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Van Halen, Kirk Hammett/Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, The Eagles, Collective Soul, and Dave Matthews.
For the aspiring musician, Sam recommends a well-rounded approach:
Being a teacher, I'm always full of advice, for better or worse! Most obviously, practice. A lot. And not just songs you like, but techniques and exercises. Practice learning by ear. Learn to read music even if you think it's a waste of time. Learn at least a little bit of music theory--for some reason people think theory is boring and takes the fun out of music. That's stupid. It's fascinating and it will make both listening and playing a more fulfilling experience. Don't let anybody tell you you'll never amount to anything with doing music. There's a lot more jobs in this biz than you would think. Just decide if it's something you love only as a hobby, or you want to do for a living, and then stay that course.
One day he hopes to run his own recording studio, but in the mean time he is teaching lessons, performing at Margaritaville with his band Twice Daily (he is in the market for a bass player by the way), and posting some great guitar tutorials on Youtube.
- Twice Daily's MySpace.
- Sam's Youtube tutorials and other guitar goodies.
LOCAL NEWS
* In Issue 3 we did a profile on the Carolinas. To see what they are up to now, check out their July Update. They've got some cool stuff coming including what sounds like a pretty big opportunity with the Gap. They also landed a solid review on music review blog The Fire Note.
* Last week we mentioned that Anthony Peebles was going to be opening for Coolhand Luke and Save the Ship's show on August 7, but he has just informed me that the remainder of his band The Dukes of Appleton will be back in town, so he won't be flying solo that night. This is going to be a great show (details below)!
LOCAL EVENTS
The News Herald has a great page listing weekly summer music events.
Check it out: Summer Concerts Will Have a Backstage Twist.
Individual Events
Cool Hand Luke, Save the Ship, Lily White and The Dukes of Appleton
Friday, August 7
6:30 pm
Lynn Haven United Methodist Church - 4501 Transmitter Rd.
$7
Check their Facebook Event Page for more info.
The Carolinas, Lily White, and The Bookends Live at the Rabbit Hole
Friday, August 14
6:00pm - 9:00pm
The Rabbit Hole on Harrison Ave.
$5
Check their Facebook Event Page for more info.
Ongoing Events
Backstage Pass Concert Series
Legacy (R & B/Funk) Performs Tonight!!
Dark and cool speakeasy atmosphere. Show up early and tour the backstage area. Local bands and you on stage!
Friday Nights from July 24th-August 28th
6:30 - 8:00
Marina Civic Center (Stage Entrance at Northeast corner of building)
$5
Tickets are available in advance - online at www.marinaciviccenter.com and at Civic Center box office window.
More information on their Facebook Event Page.
Live in Concert at the Martin Theatre
Sundays from now through Sept. 13
The Martin Theatre Green Room
3 - 7 p.m.
$2
This week featuring Gileah Taylor.
Details:
3 to 4 pm is a meet and greet with the artists,
at 4 we begin recording the show for WKGC.
Come and be a part of the show. 5PM to 7PM is music and more music.
Every week Lucky Mudd opens up the the afternoon of music for a different musical guest.
For more details visit Emerald Coast Studio.com.
Jazz Jam at the Granite Cafe
Every Wednesday
The Granite Cafe (on the corner of Beck Ave and 10th St. in St. Andrews)
6 - 10 pm
FREE
Bring an instrument and a bit of rhythm and join the jam!
FEATURED PRODUCT
This week we take a look at Crafter's TRV23N-a great compact guitar for travel.
YOUTUBE TALENT
* A chef mixes beats:
Thanks to sTuFF i wANna SaY for the find!
* Sam Weigle shreds through Dream Theater's newest single (start @ 2:53 to see the blistering solo):
* We've started a little discussion on Playground Facebook page regarding the future of Post Rock. If you aren't familiar with the term, check out one or two of the following examples and join in the discussion (or if you already have an opinion, let us hear it on our Facebook Page):
LINKS/NEWS
* Students have been known to exploit teachers' hearing loss by using ring tones at too high of a frequency for the teachers to hear. Noise Addicts has a cool little app that allows you to test your ability to hear higher frequency tones. Mine cuts out at 16 Khz, while Justin was able to hear quite a bit higher. Try it for yourself: Noise Addicts' Hearing Test.
* CBC reports that new Mozart works have been discovered. (Thanks to The Daily Swarm for the link)
* Wired has a story covering the new app making it possible to use your iphone not just to play music, but to make music: Best Ways to Produce Music on an iphone. (Thanks to Daily Swarm again!)
* Having passed the mid-year mark, All Songs considered has revealed the results of a poll it conducted of its listeners cncerning their favorite songs and albums of the year thus far. The results are at All Songs Considered.
* Pandora Radio has to be one of the best radio innovations in recent years. It's not perfect, sure (I had a baroque station that kept insisting on playing fiddle tunes-nothing wrong with fiddle tunes, mind you, but not quite sure how the musical genetics of fiddle and baroque could be considered similar), but it is a breath of fresh air to those of us who tire of radio as usual. Pandora has just opened its second poster design contest for all you artists out there. Grand Prize gets 500 bucks, so if you're a quick draw (yuk, yuk) give it a shot.
* At the end of 1978, after Star Wars had achieved box office dominance, someone thought it would be a good idea to make a holiday special that has since been shunned by all parties involved (see Wikipedia's Entry on The Star Wars Holiday Special). The following clip was taken from that special, which is worth a look just to see Chewbacca in a goofy-looking gown, but the real reason it's being posted here is because Princess Leia sings, and not only are the lyrics the stuff of rejected first drafts of the cheesiest nursery rhymes, but they are sung to the tune of Williams' famous score. Brings whole new meaning to the term "epic":
TOTALLY RANDOM
* While we're on the subject of Star Wars, might as well throw this one in. Classic. The creator's description is below the video...
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
My friend Amanda had never seen a whole Star Wars film. When I asked her if she wanted to watch the original trilogy she said that she would, but that she already knew what happens. So I took out my voice recorder and asked her to start from the top.
I then created some very basic animation in Final Cut to go along with her narration.
www.fishrockit.com
Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Posts
Keep it coming dude, great stuff!
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