Why Did YouTube Ban Podline6?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 19th, 2009

A little bit of old news, but I still can’t get over the fact that YouTube had to remove podline6′s entire channel from their site. podline6 has been humbly covering old hits on piano and guitar for quite some time now, getting it spot on — and more — when he does covers by America and Bread. His version of “Hot Rod Hearts” on piano is even better than Robee Dupree’s. Above is my favorite America cover on guitar, “Are You There?”

Above: An emotional podline6 talks about copyright infringement

I’ve been a fan of Larry’s covers for more than a year but his account was suspended by YouTube for copyright infringement. Since when was it illegal to cover songs? It’s not like he was making any money out of it. Yeah, we know it isn’t YouTube’s fault, but record labels need to protect artists. Do artists really need all this protecting? If I were a musician and someone did a cover of my song, I’d be honored. But the record label won’t. And it’s not like he’s covering new songs … but that’s besides the point. In hindsight, why is it OK for other people to cover songs on YouTube and not be banned? And why was his entire channel banned?

So when I grab my guitar and cover songs by James Taylor, am I violating copyright law??

Larry has created a new account, under podline66 to continue to make people happy. He never did it for the money. Check his covers. He’s amazing.

Wowed by these James Zabiela Promo Material

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 29th, 2009

I like ‘em because they’re are geeky. Especially the first peg, with the Bender action figure and the army of Daleks. YEP, James Zabiela is doing a big room at the A Venue this coming May 9 2009. Details below!

It’s not often you see promotional material like this for a big room event. You’ve probably seen the invite on Facebook and Multiply but I’m certain that these pegs aren’t as widespread. Heck, it isn’t even on the Driven Manila site. But hey, thanks to May Legaspi for sending these over (we can’t wait for Warehouse 135′s reopening!).

Aaaand tadah, here’s the copy:

RENAISSANCE MASTERS: DJ JAMES ZABIELA @ THE A – VENUE ON MAY 9, 2009.

Hailed the Best International DJ at Australia’s Dance Music Awards in 2006.
The Best British DJ by the DJ Mag Awards in 2007.
With more than one hundred DJ performances across different countries in 2008.

THIS IS CLUBBING ON FORWARD MOVING MUSIC AT ITS FINEST.

Regular Pre-selling – P500
Regular On-site – P700
VIP ticket – P1,000
VIP tables – P10K, P12K, P15K

For ticket inquiries and table reservations, call 8972472 OR 8957471.

Tommy Emmanuel plays Angelina

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 10th, 2009

Not a lot of people know Tommy Emmanuel. When you speak of guitar gods you probably won’t even hear his name. But he does exist, and he’s definitely one of the greatest.

Oh, found him on YouTube.

How to get FREE Eraserheads Second Set Tickets

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 27th, 2009

Today, BlogBank is launching a blogosphere-wide promo to score THE SECOND SET tickets to the Eraserheads. We are giving away 500 tickets (that’s good for two — so 1,000 tickets!!!) and we’re using BlogBank to propagate the news. If you see TULOY ANG LIGAYA on a familiar blog, it will lead you to a splash page that allows you to refer friends to an interesting new project called “Sandbox.”

Here are some samples of blogs with the promo, so you know what to look for:

Fritz Tentativa’s site:

Karla Redor’s site:

Technograph’s site:

As for the curious case of “Sandbox,” well … more details to be unveiled soon!

Tuloy ang Ligaya! See you there!

Garage Band ’09 has world’s largest tuning fork

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 2nd, 2009

Hello Mac user. Have you upgraded to iLife ’09 yet?

Amidst the great reception of iPhoto ’09 and the woes for iWeb ’09 I must say that the biggest improvements to the suite are really with Garage Band ’09. If you play guitar for instance, the new version comes with a built in tuning fork! What it does: it uses your Mac’s internal mic as a tuning fork. I’m not exactly tone deaf but I have been training myself to find the perfect middle key of C to make tuning easier (actually it’s more like “E” since that’s the guitar’s 6th string). While you pluck each string, the computer detects if your key is in perfect pitch. You need to have a lot of relative quiet while doing this. In a noisy room – or depending how sensitive your mic is, you’re going to get wonk readings. But nonetheless, way cool!

The second feature I was excited to play around with was the artist tutorials. There’s nothing better than the Jonas Brothers teaching me how to play “We Got the Party.” There’s nothing better than having Sting teach me how to play Fragile for a mere six bucks.

When I launched it however, I was saddened to the nth degree:

Oh well, nothing for the Philippines yet. Nonetheless, Garage Band ’09 brings in a new dimension to creating music because it doesn’t just give you the tools to mix and create recordings, it teaches you how to do it Garage Band is moving from mere composition software to online music resource!

What a GENIUS this iTunes 8!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 10th, 2008

So along with the hot iPods, iTunes released the new Genius feature for iTunes 8.0 that does two things. First, the new version allows you to make on-the-fly playlists based on one song that you choose. The choice is heavily dependent on the genre, artist and I even think it has something to do with the cadence of the song. iTunes chooses similar beat counts for that playlist.

The second part of Genius is the iTunes recommendations sidebar, which is their monetization model. When you’re playing songs, iTunes can recommend songs from their library which you can click to purchase. It isn’t available in the Philippines, sadly (see first image).

The Genius concept is not new. Online services such as Last.FM and Pandora have implemented this related playlist scheme for quite some time. Of course, sometimes you get really off recommendations.

I tried a few playlist creations based on KENNY LOGGINS, JAMIROQUAI and RICK ASTLEY and got pretty good results (hmm there are one or two out of place songs, but hey, sometimes Geniuses make mistakes too!). The first song in the 25 song countdown is where all the songs are based from.

Share your Genius Playlist Mix?

P.S. And yes, I listen to BARRY MANILOW, OK? Mandy, FTW.

Rick Astley meets Roderick Paulate in Manila

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 2nd, 2008

So much for me asking Roderick Paulate to move over — Rick Astley finally meets Roderick Paulate, the “Rick Astley” of the Philippines! There’s a very interesting back story to this involving Gabe Mercado, Tals and JC Medina putting up a Facebook group asking Kuya Dick to become the front act. The rest is history:

At 4:02 in the afternoon, I received a call from a my good friend Ken. Rick had somehow heard of Kuya Dick and was game to do a number with him. The producers had gotten in touch with Kuya Dick and while flattered, he felt quite reluctant to do it.

Sadly I wasn’t able to watch – so many others did – Gabe, Didi, and even Amor called me asking where in Araneta I was for the concert! Boohoo! Had I known this was his alleged last concert before his retirement I would have gone. Well, it’s okay at least I still got to meet him in person!

Thanks to Aileen, another closet fan of Rick Astley! Aha! There are so many of us who were in hiding apparently!

Eraserheads Reunion Concert Confirmed for August 30 2008

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at July 18th, 2008

Unconfirmed Update: Entrance is supposedly free as long as you present 20 packs of cigs. The sponsor is Philip Morris.

What else is there to be said, but it has definitely been confirmed! The buzz has blossomed throughout the blogosphere, radio stations and the news – everyone is excited to see the Eraserheads back for a one night only concert at the CCP grounds.

Over the weekend, the buzz was finally confirmed, thanks to one of The Philippine STAR entertainment editor and writer Ricky Lo’s moles: the Eraserheads are going to reunite for a one night only show on August 30, 2008! The venue is supposed to be the Cultural Center of the Philippines open grounds. The other details are still sketchy, but from what I gathered during my own online sleuthing—made easy because the blog posts were careful to cite references—a corporate sponsor convinced the foursome to perform for a big event that’s supposedly free to some 35,000 expected fans.[PhilStar author's blog]

I heard over one radio station that the concert would be free admission but I sincerely hope they charge -imagine a free Eheads concert – folks are going to be camped outside CCP. I’m probably the last to be updated on concert news anyway so don’t take my word for it.

But yeah, I’d really want to be there. Learned a lot of guitar from their hits back in high school.

Broadway-oke Night: Release your inner Jean Valjean :)

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 16th, 2008

So Rockeoke and Popeoke Nights featured a live band. With Broadway-oke, there will be a live pianist on stage! Gabe says the pianist can sight read so you can even bring your own sound of sheet music.

When: March 18, 2008 at 10:00pm
Where: mag:net Bonifacio High Street

Bring your friends! Entrance is free after 10 PM (SPIT is performing before this so if you want a full night, do come at 8:30 PM. Tickets for SPIT are at P200.00 but Broadway-oke is free). For more details, check out Broadway-oke’s Facebook event page.

Re: Fulfilling my dream of becoming a ROCK STAR

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at January 15th, 2008

Photo: with Kate Torralba and the gang

“So where exactly are you going?”

“This thing called Rockeoke night at mag:net BHS.”

“Rokeoke?”

“It’s like karaoke but instead of a machine, there’s a live band playing for you!”

“Wow! So where do you insert the five pesos?”
(more…)

Red Box Blogger Christmas Parteh 12.18.07

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 14th, 2007

So we managed to find a sponsor for a blog party. Been sending out text messages to people to attend but for some reasons SMART has been screwy and not everyone has been getting messages. No need to RSVP – just show up and bring your cameras if you want to catch everyone on non-bloggable alcohol + videoke fun!

We would like to thank Noemi Dado for raffling off a hosting plan and Regnard Raquedan for raffling off The Princess Bride and Veronica Mars DVDs!! Congratulations to AJ and Juned for winning the DVDs and to Poyt for the hosting!

What: Pinoy Blogger Christmas Talent Night!!!
When: Tuesday December 18 2007 7:00 PM to 12 midnight
Where: Joey Room, Red Box Greenbelt 3 Makati
W00t: Free flowing beer and select cocktails

The room fits about 25 people but if it gets full we can always hang around the place – we assume that people will be coming and going, so its all good. There’s also a balcony for smokers. If you want to catch the buffet, please be there at 7:00 roundabouts. There will also be free flowing BEER and select cocktails. So get your singing voices warmed up and let’s get talent night started this Tuesday!

A big big thanks to Red Box Greenbelt 3 for sponsoring!