Edmund's Entertainment Corner

Entertainment: It's a Business
Becoming a Professional Recording Artist

As a recording artist and record company owner, I feel it is necessary to share some of my knowledge with up and coming musicians and fellow artists looking to break in to the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry has many barriers to entry and is full of many people and companies ready and willing to take advantage of others trying to achieve a dream. I hope this series gives people some needed info. I will not only focus on the music industry, but other facets of the entertainment business as well. Being a recording artist myself, I will of course begin with music. Make use of this info, because not too many will give it to you for free.

Before you embark
First and foremost, know yourself. Regardless of the type of music you want to make, recognizing which aspect of your personality you want to channel will help you determine the type of artist you want to be. After you get yourself together, nurture your creativity by surrounding yourself with creative people. Seek out the community of artists in your area and make organic connections. This is not the time to be in a networking frame of mind where you make connections strictly for business and career purposes. This is the time where you are in a learning frame of mind; making connections that will help you grow as an artist. Be an observer. Go to open mics, and performances from other artists within and outside your genre. The more you interact with other creative people, the bigger network pool you will have-and will be more meaningful and lasting because the connections were born of honesty and not greed. Before you know it, you will have a pool of people to select from for team members. Those team members will be vital in helping and guiding you to become a professional in the music business.

It is my opinion that regardless of being a performer, producer, or songwriter, you should be able to write a song. I believe it will give you an insight  to the mechanics of a song, which you would not have if you just focused on being just a performer, producer, or songwriter. During your observation and learning time you should also write everyday. The big misconception here is the thought that it has to be a full song or verse. Writing one line or a concept for a song is sufficient and will be beneficial in the long term. Keep in mind that everyone creates differently. This is why it is important to be in a community of artists. You can glean from them what works, how they deal with writer's block, and possibly some inspiration. Write about something that relates to you directly or indirectly. All your music does not need to be about self reflection and insight, or specifically about events in your life. If you want to write about the circus then write about the circus. Far too many writers over think and get caught up in trying to be witty, or prolific, or appeasing their audience. Writing should be simple, not to the point of nonsense where it seems you don't care, but with integrity and will. In the next segment I will discuss performances and recording a demo.

Ellison a.k.a Edmund Starbanks

Edmund's Community Corner

September 22nd in History

2008: Adjei Matthew Sarbeng is born @ 12:59 pm
2004: LOST premieres on ABC (This is also the date Oceanic Flight 815 crashes!)
1997: Elton John releases 'Candle in the Wind '97', his tribute to Princess Diana
1996: Nolan Ryan pitches his last game at age 46
1991: California University announces Dead Sea Scrolls find
1986: L.A. Dodger Fernando Valenzuela is first Mexican to win 20 games, 35 countries sign Stockholm disarmament treaty
1985: The Cosby Show, Tyne Daly, & Cagney and Lacey win at the 37th Emmy Awards
1980: John Lennon and Yoko Ono sign to Geffen Records
1971: U.S. performs nuclear tests in Nevada
1950: Ralph J. Bunche is the first black recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1915: America's first Black Catholic College, Xavier University, opens in New Orleans, LA
1911: Cy Young beats Pitts 1-0 for career victory number 511 in his final game
1908: Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire
1903: Italo Marchiony is granted patent for ice cream cone (one of the most heavily disputed inventions to date)
1893: First automobile is built in U.S. (Charles Duryea and Frank Duryea) and tested in Springfield, MA
1888: First issue of National Geographic is published
1862: President Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that all slaves will be free on Jan 1, 1863
1789: Office of Postmaster General is created under the Treasury Department
1776: Nathan Hale is hanged by the British, accused of spying
1692: Last person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, MA

-Edmund

Edmund's Community Corner-Call to action

These two stories aired on the premier of America's Most Wanted on Sept 12th

AMW.com | Unknown Jennifer Schuett Abductor - Fugitive
Let's Catch This Bastard

As an 8  yr old girl Jennifer was abducted and from her bedroom by a man who crawled through her window. He took her to a remote area and stole her innocence then slit her throat leaving her to die. Luckily she survived and was found by some children playing hide and seek and now she's fighting back. Help her find this bastard so he can pay for what he did

Click the link below to read the full story on AMW.COM.

.AMW.com | Unknown Jennifer Schuett Abductor - Fugitive

Help find Lily Aramburo, who has been missing for two yrs.

Click the link below to find out more.

http://justiceinmiami.blogspot.com



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Edmund's Movie Rants

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I will try not to reveal too much about this movie as much as possible. For an action movie Rise of Cobra does not disappoint; however the acting is much to be desired. Then again, what's new when it comes to action movies. Your main characters: Ripcord (Marlon Wayans), Duke (ChanningTatum), The Baroness (Sienna Miller), Snake Eyes (Ray Park), Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), and Storm Shadow (Lee Beeyong-heon).

The basic plot of the movie is to prevent the annihilation of the world by techno WMD's. Channing Tatum's "acting" is very hard to watch and quite honestly almost ruined this movie for me. He is not convincing as a no holds barred tactical soldier, however his cast mates manage to save him. Tatum plays Duke, a Special-Ops soldier who along with Ripcord (Wayans) has been assigned to safeguard neo-tech weapons. After being ambushed they are then recruited by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) to be part of a highly specialized covert international team to recover the weapons. Not surprisingly, the movie is chock full of action sequences that do not disappoint nor dominate to the point that you feel like the entire film is just one long action sequence. Throughout the film are flashbacks a la Lost that indicate how the characters in the film became the Heroes and Villains they are today. Thankfully the flashbacks are not a distraction and actually correlate to the storyline quite well.

Sienna Miller as The Baroness-and Ana-does a good job and is one of two characters that I enjoyed more than others (Snake Eyes is the other character). Her character is strong and kicks ass consistently throughout the film until all of a sudden the obligatory damsel in distress nonsense is injected and makes your stomach churn. Her fight scene with Scarlett (Nichols) is enough to make you forget-not forgive-the ridiculous departure from her strength. I suppose it is meant to demonstrate her digress to Ana, but it is not done seamlessly; annoying but not detrimental.

Portions of the film come off as made for T.V., especially when the flashback of how Cobra came to be was shown. I personally feel more could have been put into this given the title of the film is The Rise of Cobra. Albeit the misses, the hits are enough to make G.I. Joe a fun movie for a Friday/Saturday night.

I give The Rise of Cobra a modified Spend that doe:Full price the joint! but take your own refreshments rating.

Happy watching. Edmund

Edmund's Movie Rants Ratings: Don't Bother, DVD That Beast, Spend that doe: Full price the joint!

Edmund's Technoblasts

Edmund's Top 5 Father's Day Gifts under $100

On Sunday, June 21st get Dad a meaningful gift without breaking the bank. Looking for a great gift for the man who has everything, but you don't have much money? I have compiled a list of the 5 best gifts under $100 for dear old Dad.

1. Guitar Hero World Tour Wireless Bundle $89.99

Join Dad as he lives his dream of being a rockstar with this great family freindly game. This bundle includes the game and the guitar! Available for all major game consoles (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, and PS2). Take a further look here.

2. Seagate Free Agent Go 320GB External Hard Drive $89.99

Give Dad a gift that will allow him to organize all his photos, music, movies and other multimedia in compact, stylish place. Ample storage space, USB 2.0 for fast data transfers, and bundled software for data encryption and synchronization. Cool gift for the tech savvy Dad. Click here for full specs. Visit Seagate.com to take a closer look.

3. Insignia Portable Speaker w/Bluetooth $59.99

An economical choice for the Dad who needs music "everywhere". The ability to connect to any portable device via Bluetooth makes this an invaluable purchase. Great sound for a small well priced speaker. Click here for more info.

4. Kodak EasyShare LCD Digital Frame $99.99

Great gift for all Dads. 300:1 contrast ratio, WiFi enabled, Mp3 player, wirleless picture mail, abd media card slots for easy photo uploads and it even plays mini-movies! A good idea to load it up with memorable pictures before presenting it to Dad.

More info here

5. Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 $70.95

Small, clips to virtually any flat panel easily and it captures HD quality video and pictures. Skype is bundled free to give Dad a great way to video conference with loved ones. Buy one here

As you can see there are great gifts you can get Dad for under a $100; so you don't have to resort to magic beans. Of course if buying a gift is not possible, spending quality time with Dad is priceless.

--Edmund