Why Spotify Is Awesome

I'd read about Spotify and a few UK friends had told me how cool it was. Without examining why, my natural instinct was that streaming was annoying mostly due to inconsistencies no matter what the interweb speed. A short-term problem in the grand scheme of things, but a problem nonetheless. I suppose I felt that way based on attempting to stream Myspace pages unsuccessfully.

Meanwhile, a very trusty hard drive that stored my music (which is backed up elsewhere, but I mean like up-to-the-second additions) was clearly winding down in it's life. Thus, I picked up a Tb harddrive, assuming I could use the other two as back-ups and use the extra space for artist asset management. The hard drive makes my Mac crash (gasp!) and now even using my 200 gig Time Machine hard drive seems to give my computer trouble. Granted I should add another gig of RAM to my machine, but in the meantime, my stored music collection got scrambled some how for the second time this year. I have about 200 gigs of music on there and frequently add discographies to it. But the reality is, that's a lot of content. And all I want to do is have a wide variety of music accessible for work and fun, so pretty much all the time. But it's clearly becoming a pain and waste of time to do so in this form.

The amazing Katrina, who helps me out with Whitesmith NYC commented that it'd be nice to listen to something other than our artists, Edward Sharpe, The Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and The Beatles. I'm just lazy, even though there is loads of music at my fingertips, I just have to take the time to re-organize it again and haven't taken the time.

Well, today I was able to use Spotify. Music snob friends immediately said "yeah, but does it have EVERYTHING." No, of course not. Their catalogue doesn't have The Beatles, Oasis, and anyone or any rights holders who don't want to be on the service. Nor does it have Family Of The Year's live shows or Sydney Wayser's demos. But I do. I love those artists and have those files on multiple Apple devices and backups, including the machine I'm on right now. But Spotify does have a ton of music. And it streams flawlessly, has a sleek interface, correct info, and can be broken down into genre and era. I've had a blast listening to The Spencer David Group and The McCoys tonight while pouring through Sonny and Cher's album artwork.

Thus, I've spent my day and evening using Spotify. There are ads about every few songs. But it was pointed out to me initially, that because it is a UK program, the ads are all from England and are AMAZING. I mean seriously, today I heard one that had a very sensual theme and was from the UK energy department. There are visual ads as well, but I only noticed when I go back to the program to do something. Right now I obviously can't see them because I'm typing in blog land. It's even more fun than downloading discographies because there is artwork and info on the releases as well. NP, more Sonny and Cher. I love it.

Music snobs also need to chill when talking about preferring physical and/or intense high quality. No one is trying to take that away from you. If anything, physical packages are getting more frequent and artists are getting more directly involved with physical releases. I love the NIN box sets I've bought or seen this decade vs. my Downward Spiral CD from 1994.

When I was making dinner tonight (shout out to Williamsburg-Greenpoint CSA!), I was craving newish Oasis, which Spotify doesn't have (yet). So I just flipped over to my iTunes. Not that hard. It just makes me happy that a decade after the thrilling concept of Napster, enough people have finally been allowed to admit that it's a great idea. Eventually some sort of digital music in this form will just plain cover everything and this is a solid step in the right direction. In the meantime, props to Spotify for having Wibbling Rivalry in its collection, which is a recording of Liam and Noel Gallagher fighting in the 90's, that was released as a UK single and charted.

Eventually beyond that, I can't wait till a service like this integrates with what an individual owns and/or creates. ie my asset management system, random live stuff, and eventually eventually film and tv content all in one place/service. A system to upload/filter legit content directly would be amazing as well. I'm sure charging a fee a la Tunecore would do the trick.

A girl can dream.

Back to work?

Love,

Em Wizzle

Whitesmith CMJ Events, Family's Debut & Help Sydney Get To Her Shows

Hello Loyal Wizzle World Readers!

Yes, I know who you are due to Google Analytics. Thanks for the support.

We are SO EXCITED to be throwing our first ever Whitesmith CMJ Showcase and Party.

Wednesday October 21st will feature the far majority of or Comedy and Music clients. Hooray!

The show starts at 7 PM sharp with Emilyn Brodsky featuring Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls. Shortly after will be Sydney Wayser (8 PM) as well as Pinky Swear, which are 3 incredinbly talented gals between the ages of 13-15, featuring Rachel Trachtenburg of The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.

After a production break, the stage will be graced with the comedy stylings of Sara Benincasa, Elon James White and a special guest. Double Hooray!

Post-comedy, Family Of The Year will blow your mind and ease the night into Rachel's dad, Jason Trachtenburg as well as critic favorite, Alina Simone.

MediaVoxNYC will have an installation and a ton of our friends will be there. The show is a one drink minimum and does NOT require a CMJ badge, so come one, come all! (who are over 21 :))

Can't make it? The night before, we're throwing a party at Crash Mansion with our besties at CASH Music. Sydney (9:15 PM) and Family Of The Year (10 PM) will be playing as well as Whitesmith PR client, Invade Rome (7 PM) and old friends Hooray For Earth (12:15 AM). Everyone is thrilled to be sharing the stage with Demander, Sparrow, Morning Papers, and Yula Beeri.

In semi-related news, Family Of The Year's debut EP is out NOW. Pay what you want and spread the word to all you know. We are super proud of them and thrilled that they'll be on the East coast this weekend opening for Ben Folds at Symphony Hall in Boston as well as touring with Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros in November.

And, Sydney Wayser wants to come to your town! We've been locking shows left and right, but she needs to get to you and to do that, Sydney is purchasing her first ever tour van. Help by donating and you'll get lots of goodies.

Much Love,

Em Wizzle xo

YTT Update

Hello All!

Thank you so much to those who donated to my yoga teacher training. Fyi, I raised about $700 though the internet, which doesn't cover the entire program, but offsets it enough for me to definitely be able to do it. Yay!

Last weekend was the first yoga teacher training weekend and it was AMAZING. It's two 25-hour weekends a month through December + a retreat. We of course have to practice everyday and attend class with one of the instructors at least two days week (not a problem as most of the people in the program are regulars).

I entered the weekend relatively stressed, wondering if I'd have time to pull this off + maintain my usual rigorous schedule. Not only did the first YTT almost completely de-stress me, it definitely helped me work out a few things that were going on with work and life in general.

The instructors (Paul Manza, Leigh Evans, and Summer Quashie) are all fantastic and I knew them before the training. I am in awe of Greenhouse Holistic in general. Greenhouse started as a community based studio that wanted to keep yoga reasonable to the community of Williamsburg and have now expanded to 3 locations. I think it's $35/month unlimited for the first month if you sign up with a friend right now. So awesome! The other folks in the program seem great as well, I knew a few of them the studio.

I went on tour in CA last week for Family Of The Year's first ever tour. I'm super psyched to have a deeper yoga practice for traveling purposes, so it was a great test to dive right into a mini-tour sleeping in an RV with 8 of my new favorite people ever. I managed to practice every day, even i it was short and sweet. I have to teach once a week and Brent Freany who plays bass in the band was my first student. You did great, Bubba! :) Fun fact: Brent is a killer web designer. Check out his skillz and hit him up if you need a gorgeous new website: http://www.product01.org/

I have 25 more hours this week and am feeling the same twang of stress about the time commitment, but it's definitely worth it and I know I won't regret it on Monday.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Thanks again.

Much Love,

Em Wizzle

Whitesmith Show Calendar

Hey All!

At our core, we here at Whitesmith Entertainment are massive show geeks.  The lovely and talented Katrina (who also helps run @whitesmithent) has been compiling a weekly show calendar circulated to our team consisting of our community of artists, friends, and suggestions from our tribe of Whitesmithers.

I thought I'd share it with y'all and when we have a busy week (which seems like every week), I'll post this from time to time.  If you'd like to be on our show distro list, please drop a line to katrina@whitesmithent.com

Unfortunately, I'm posting this a day after @SydneyWayser and @EmilynBrodsky's killer show @CityWineryNYC.  We'll have more @WhitesmithEnt produced shows in the coming months and are having a blast.  We'll keep you posted :)

Whitesmith Artists

Emilyn Brodsky
7/6:  City Winery - New York, NY

Jill Sobule
7/7:  The Makeout Room - San Francisco, CA
7/12:  Concert Under the Stars - King of Prussia, PA

Sara Benincasa
7/10:  Theatre 99 - Charleston, SC

Sydney Wayser
7/6:  City Winery - New York, NY

Friends of Whitesmith
Hana Pestle
7/10:  Knitting Factory - Los Angeles, CA

Hungry Hands (featuring Zach and Blaze of @SydneyWayser's band!)
7/8:  Rockwood Music Hall - New York, NY

Jay Brannan
7/8:  Joe's Pub - New York, NY

John Roberts
7/9:  Comix - New York, NY

Luminescent Orchestrii
7/9:  World Financial Center Plaza (River to River Festival) - New York, NY
7/10:  One New York Plaza (River to River Festival) - New York, NY

Rachel Goodrich
7/9:  Hotel Cafe - Hollywood, CA

Suckers
7/9:  Piano's - New York, NY

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
7/7:  Harper's Ferry - Allston, MA
7/12 (11:30 am):  Solar 1 - New York, NY
7/12 (3:00 pm): The Beach at Roosevelt Island - New York, NY

Whitesmith Recommends
theSTART (via Katrina)
7/9:  The Roxy Theatre - West Hollywood, CA

Other Fun and Exciting Things

• Our very own Lydia Berg-Hammond turns another year older (and another year lovelier!) today, July 7th at 9:00 PM.
• Sara Benincasa has a new Sarah Palin vlog up that is really really hilarious.  CNN thought so too.
• Margaret Cho's new show, Drop Dead Diva, premieres on Lifetime on Sunday, July 12th.
• Our new favorite venue, Brooklyn Bowl, opens today!

Much Love,

@EmWizzle xoxo

I Need Your Help/You Get Free Yoga & Guided Meditation

Dearest Interweb,

You have treated me well.  My team and I use you as a vehicle to spread the word on the artists we love.  Often this is in the form of giving us your email address, or other times it's a financial contribution for live or recorded music to support the continuation of the artists' creative output for everyone's benefit.

However, this time I need your help.

I started doing yoga sporadically in high school when my dad (who was our swim coach) brought in a yoga teacher for our "dryland" training.  This was in lieu of weight lifting, which was a more contenvential approach.  However, my hippie dad also knew it would benefit our focus, goal-setting, and state of mind when approaching a big race or meet.  My college swimming coach continued that approach, though much to the dismay of my teammates (semi understandable as we trained 20-30 hours a week as is).  However, in hindsight, if I was as flexible and mentally focused as I am now due to studying yoga, it would have improved my swimming (in a sport where every bit counts, it particularly would have taken me to the next level with regard to my core, technique, turns, and starts).  C'est la vie.

After my senior year of swimming, I was free to attend yoga classes semi-regularly.  It appealed to me as a non-competitive alternative to sports, since I had been swimming competitively since literally the age of 3 (there is video proof).

As my career progressed and I began tour managing in college, yoga became a saviour on the road, physically and mentally.  Amanda Palmer got me into the Baron Baptiste CD's.  We would do classes in venue parking lots, grassy knolls in the UK on off days, dressing rooms, in the stands of Red Rocks during soundcheck, on beaches, and even in the narrow confines of tour busses.  

When I retired from tour managing in 2006, I couldn't wait to be fully back in Williamsburg and go to yoga ALL OF THE TIME.  Like every day.  Here's an except from my journal 9 days before my last show as a tour manager/production manager in London:

Go to a home.
Make real human connections for more than a day.  Or make more than 3 of them total.
Have a consistant shower.
Sleep in a bed that's not moving.
Spread out my body.
Be alone.
Be alone.
Work out.
Swim.
Run.
Do yoga.
Ride my bike.
Go to shows.
Have off time in the day.

Ah, the life of a tour manager.  Upon my return to Williamsburg, I tried a few studios, but settled on Greenhouse Holistic, which received bonus points for its location right off the Bedford L.  I went to yoga at least a few times a week throughout 2007.  The teachers at Greenhouse were incredibly educated but also tailored the classes to our lives as young folks in NYC and everything we deal with (@EmilynBrosky sums this up well in her song "Swear To God".  Fun fact: Emilyn practices at Jivamukti). 

It is now 2009 and I continue to go to Greenhouse no fewer than 5 times a week and ideally everyday when I'm in town.  The teachers @ Greenhouse Holistic inspire me to be better at my job and an overall EmWizzle.  In addition, I have seen their influence on my local community and friends, reminding us to be mindful and compassionate to all even in a crazy world.  Anyone who knows me is frequently encouraged to come to class and I've had some wonderful experiences practicing with friends, musicians, and co-workers.  

I come from a family of teachers and coaches, but always wanted to work in music. That has been the primary focus of my life for the past 7 years and will continue to dominate my life as I'd have it no other way. But as our company continues to grow, I continue to take pride in our team and its values. I love bringing the people I work with to class and am stoked for my worlds to to collide at Wanderlust next month (some of the Greenhouse teachers are coming out as well  Yay!).

So, what's the point?  Recently, Greenhouse announced it first ever teacher training program.  As soon as I saw the flier, I knew I had to do it, no matter how busy I am. However, I am also a first year entrepreneur. Every dime I make goes back into our team's projects right now, as it should.  With my income going to building a vision I have set forth with a partner, there isn't necessarily extra funds around to foot the bill for a 200 hour yoga teacher training program.  I was on the fence and considered waiting until another point in my life.  I attended the info meeting with Summer and realized that there were many reasons I should become certified.  Whether it's yoga on our deck, on the road, or encouraging yoga breaks for the folks in our work environment, practitioners are all around me and that is something I want to continue to nurture.  Am I quitting it all to move to India?  Not yet :). Just kidding, but I'm not looking to become a professional yoga teacher.  I am seeking a deeper understanding, experience, and acquisition of knowledge to share with all of the wonderful people who come in and out of my life who are drawn to this practice.

Thus, I am seeking donations to complete this program.  Why should you donate?  To be honest, I hesitated on an doing an open donation. I'm used to thinking of creative ways to raise funds for artists, but not for myself. However, I have been overwhelmed with encouragement by friends and family to do so. Many reminded me that meditation and yoga really do make the world a better place for all. Thanks guys!

The cost is $2800 and I would be honored to offer free guided meditation and yoga to anyone who is willing to donate. I think getting groups of my friends together for yoga sounds like a blast anyway, especially in random places this summer and fall.

I am forever grateful for those of you that donate, no matter what the amount. Think of it this way:  I have 1500 Facebook friends.  If everyone is willing to throw down $2, we all get free yoga.  Who's in?

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Namaste 

In to the light we go.

Much Love,

Emily xo