Monday Motivation

"Hi There"
Peter Gabriel

"The place where I come from is a small town, They think so small, They use small words" Big Time, Peter Gabriel

Lately Imagination has been on my mind. Why you may ask? Well since I have been laid up post bunion surgery I have a lot of down time (can't wait until that is over) thus I have been doing more writing.

"Yes" I am writing things hither and yawn, meaning today's Monday Motivation is Imagination. Imagination is something you use to create anything pretty much. Yep Imagination, it's not just for writing. It can be something you use to get you through a day at the office, it can be used to solve problems and it can propel you into alternative universes.

While there are many fanciful things I can think of to illustrate this I chose the video for the song Big Time off of Peter Gabriel's great album So. It came out in 1986, I was two years out of High School (insert old guy comment here,) the visuals in the video are so cool and full of Imagination that even if you didn't like the song you stayed for the visuals.

Not to mention I had a crush on Gabriel back when I used to find musicians hot (still do on occasion, but from a distance) I actually even dated one at a point and juncture, but I'm saving that for the book. 

So let's get this Monday Motivation started Big Time! Check out the video after the jump - 👀

Sell Naama Kates Your "Souled"

Last night I attended the record release party for Singer/Songwriter Naama Kates third outing Souled.

It was an awesome evening of fun, friends and most of all music by Naama and her band on a way cool outdoor stage under the stars at Mount Cyanide.

Naama and I have known each other since her amazing debut CD The Unexamined Life.  Upon hearing it and seeing her perform I instantly became a fan.

Souled to me is her best effort to date, Naama has really hit her stride as an artist. Last night she really brought it as a performer as well, I felt like I was watching a star declaring themselves. With visuals that perfectly complimented the show, courtesy of Michael Allen, and a band that was top notch. Not to mention great music supervision by Naama's producer Cyrus Melchor, it was a complete feast for the ears and eyes.

Souled is out now. If you haven't done so, c'mon, go ahead and sell your "Souled" to Naama Kates. I promise you will enjoy the experience.

Have You Ever Been "Souled?"
Photo: Lynn Tejada 

Naama Last Night Under the Stars
Photo: Lynn Tejada

Get "Souled" to Naama at: 

https://www.facebook.com/NaamaKates

http://www.naamakates.com/

https://twitter.com/naamakates

That Rogue Romeo Has Been "Rebuilt"

That Rogue Romeo aka Kevin Stea has gone out and, thanks to technology been "Rebuilt".

Here to tell us about his latest incarnation is That Rogue Romeo himself Mr. Kevin Stea...!

"REBUILT,"is an amazingly successful experiment in which I took the original music from Machine and Magic and commissioned remixes to see if the music held up. It is 19 tracks featuring remixes of the songs of the debut album Machine & Magic.

What I realized is that these songs are pretty solid. I told the various remixers (Djnb, Ap, F3tto, Cr3) to let go of structure. They did not have to stay attached to the original song structure. I enjoy creating something new from the visions of many. I wanted to give these remixers room to play; but I did want this album to have a club feel, however, and make people dance. I wanted to see if my tracks could in fact play in clubs. Are they danceable? That was the bottom line. I realized my goal creating dance music that has lyrical impact. I want to bring lyrical content to the club. You can dance and jump around and still something meaningful.

"Go Rogue"

I have video concepts for every song I have (written). Once I’m done writing it, I instantly switch into visual mode, which is the way I conceive the song to begin with. My songs come from a space of visualization already. I imagine entire scripts and themes for everything. So it was natural to release the official music video set to the "Machine and Magic" remix with the remix album REBUILT. This video is definitely different than any other video I’ve done. Also, I look a little closer to Kevin than That Rogue Romeo in the video. I’m hardly in make-up. This is a dance video. It’s not super high concept.

The video is the first video shot from a successful Kickstarter project to create three music videos. It is directed by superstars Brian Friedman (X-factor, Britney Spears, AGT) and Chan Andre (ID Entertainment), and features ex-PCD Carmit Bachar and 12 of LA's top young dancers (Whyley Yoshimura, Judson Emery, Jon Burdine, Zack Venegas, Malik LeNost, Ryan Ramirez, Stephanie Sy, Britt Stewart, Yoori Kim, Niesha Smith, Deana Brickley, Mason Cutler), with choreography by Tessandra Chavez, and is styled by Emmy-award winning Marina Toybina".

"Special thanks to all the Kickstarter Contributors!!!!"

Check out the official "Machine and Magic" video after the jump...!

Get "Rebuilt" on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rebuilt/id674817792

View more videos by TRR at: http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinstea

Become a fan! : https://www.facebook.com/ThatRogueRomeo

Reel Life: The Summer of Massacre

Tis’ the season to scare the s@#t out of yourself! So I am happy to alert you to one of the hottest horror features out there right now: The Summer of Massacre …Yeah!

OK, so it helps that I am actually in this freaky horror opus by director and writer Joe Castro - (and yes, I can prove I am, it is on my IMDB page…. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4466735/)

This fun/scary/diabolical horror movie has been making the rounds to film festivals all over the world and has won plenty of awards - as in best horror feature and best visuals (trust those visuals are AMAZING!)

Congrats to Joe Castro and his team, Steven Escobar and Schroeder, not to mention a great cast of characters (including me) that clearly had a blast in making this gore epic.

With a body count that would make Guinness proud, keep up with where the next film festival this massacre will be slashing it's way into and making an award killing. Be Afraid: It just may end up in a country or state near you...prepare to scream...!

Get your "Massacre" on at:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/thesummerofmassacre

http://www.thesummerofmassacre.com/