As I mentioned last week in a Cash Sherpa post the one thing I miss the most during this pandemic is live music. In my city just a few weeks ago they shut down bars and restaurants again, and music venues… well music venues haven’t been open for almost a year now. If you are like me and want great music to continue and not devolve into soulless baby shark songs everywhere consider supporting musicans you care about now. There is another interesting artist doing great things listed on Patreon that I’d like to bring to my audiences attention. His name is Mark de Clive-Lowe and Mark creates jazz-meets-electronic genre music heavily incorporating music technology (ableton, native instruments maschine) in his process.

Mark de Clive-Lowe started his Patreon after everything got shut down due to the pandemic. He has been a touring artist for 20 years non stop up until this point. Mark needed to do something, he thought, “since i’m not able to go anywhere, I needed to find an outlet for my creativity.” Patreon seemed like the obvious choice, since it allows artists to produce what they enjoy creating and income to facilitate this process. It is as close as a win-win business model that I’ve ever seen on the Internet, the secret is that it’s self sustaining. Seth Godin talks about art being “a human act, a generous contribution, something that might not work, and it is intended to change the recipient for the better, often causing a connection to happen.” The issue with art only being a “generous act” not paired eventually with some sort of income is it will eventually lead to not enough money in the bank. What happens when there isn’t enough money? Well, you start focusing more on the bills and less on the art. So that’s why I think Patreon is so powerful as a platform. We can have that “generous act” of creating art, but also be supported by a community of fans.

Consider supporting unique artists like Mark de Clive-Lowe on Patreon today visit:

https://www.patreon.com/MdCL

Mark says the best thing about Patreon has been “the feeling of community on it – it’s been really special to get it going. even just our monthly community zoom sessions, everyone shares music they’re loving at the moment and we listen together and chat about it. That kind of thing has been building the community vibe there a lot. We just started community creative collaborations too – inviting members to collab with me and each other regardless of skill level or experience.”

Not only you’ll be able to listen to Mark’s newly created tracks you’ll also get a front row seat to his creative process. You’ll get access to a community on Patreon that likes and supports great music. The Patreon community will get new exclusive music every month as well as access to his extensive archive. The archive includes tracks, monthly livestream performances, community zoom chats and behind the scenes livestreams breaking down different projects, tracks and collaborations. For the music-makers, there’s in-studio zoom sessions, video lessons, multitrack stems, sample packs, and more. Mark’s Patreon page also just started community creative collaborations through his Discord server that’s open to everyone. There’s an exclusive Patreon-only vinyl, private access to works-in-progess and monthly mentoring/lessons available too.

What Benefits You’ll Get:

As a Patreon supporter at the $3 get access to the vault archive. Invitation to Community Collaborations. Invitation to Discover Server. Bonus content and first listens. $10 per month gets you the Vault+ exclusive new music monthly, livestream live set, and monthly community Zoom chat. $25 per month (Top Level) gets you the Vault+ Front Row+ which includes monthly studio sessions, behind the sceens livestream, access to WAV remix stems for selected releases, bonus video lessons, and access to sample pack downloads.

Preview Before Supporting

Everything is sounding good to me from a Patreon standpoint, but what about the actual music? Luckily for you Mark de Clive-Lowe has a YouTube page where he is a featured artist. Check out the YouTube “With Love From LA” page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTedQZJLPY “With Love From LA presents this month’s feature artist – jazz-meets-electronica artist Mark de Clive-Lowe. Today he joins us from his home studio with a special WLFLA set.” If there is one thing that stands out to me is the creativity is taken to the next level. “I’ve always been an advocate of integrating technology with music.” He has every piece of DJ equipment, keyboards, software, live drummer, lights, it has to be experienced in video form to appreciate the scale of the production Mark is putting on.  This is not a Mark de Clive-Lowe exclusive YouTube page so you will need to sign up for Patreon in order to continue watching content such as this. Mark started piano when he was 4 and his experience shows. He grew up aspiring to be a jazz musician and fell in love with hip hop and electronic music along the way.

Conclusion

Do you want to continue seeing and hearing great live music? Support artists like Mark de Clive-Lowe on Patreon so it’s still around after the pandemic is over. Become a fan and support Mark’s Patreon today.

Still Not Convinced?

Here are some quotes from the press about Mark de Clive-Lowe’s work…

– “as genuine as breathing… suffused with a rich, warm sound that embraces us from the first note to the last and focuses on the path more than the destination.” – All About Jazz

– “Way before jazz hybridity became a worldwide phenomenon, de Clive-Lowe was busy designing its blueprint.” – Jazziz

“a beautiful marriage of hip-hop, traditional Japanese music, and Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, all with some electronic music flourishes. This is some insanely good stuff that has reverence for all the music that it references.” – Raw Select Music

– “an underground phenom…” – Okayplayer

I was recently watching an Instagram story showing some adventurers hiking down into Utah’s Slot Canyon. While watching the videos I was imagining myself as these climbers and the thoughts that would be running through my head. I’d most likely be feeling panic because of the claustrophobic feeling these 3 ft or less canyons would likely produce. There’s a famous location in the canyons called “Alcatraz” that is just may be at most 1 – 2 feet across and hikers willingly walk through this spot in Utah. It’s called Alcatraz because the canyons make people feel like they are in prison. Now imagine the intensity of just a canyon and multiply that for a cave. Is there a better place for a horror movie than a cave? Jonathan JJ Perez doesn’t think so, that’s why he’s making a horror movie titled, Beneath, set in a dark, ominous cave.

Intreauged? Support Perez and his movie Beneath on Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/884995068/beneath-cave-horror-film?ref=user_menu

(Above) Image from Kickstater Campaing

Filing a movie is expensive. Beneath is projected to cost anywhere from $3,000-$3,500. So any extra money you are willing to donate to this campaign helps greatly.

What Is The Film About?

When a group of cavern tour guides hear about a murder that took place in the cave by a group of cultists, they set off on a journey to find out if the legend is fact or fake.

Are There Any Rewards?

Yes, there are several great rewards for this campaign. Also, you get to support an awesome movie! $5 gets you a thanks credit. $10 gets you previous plus exclusive footage. $20 gets you previous plus digital film. $30 gets you all previous plus Blue-ray copy. The rewards go all the way up to $1000 which gives you a exclusive producer credit, premiere access, poster, cast and director autographed Blue-ray, digital film, and exclusive behind the scenes clips.

Conclusion

I for one really want to see this movie be made. For some reason there are NEVER any horror movies set in caves or anything set in nature for that matter. Horror movies are almost always set in a house or some small urban setting. See that this original horror movie idea gets created and support Jonathan JJ Perez Kickstarter campaign today.

Does the sound of laughter drive you up a wall? Are you similar to the Grinch not being able to listen to all the happy Whos in Whoville? If the answer is yes than I have a new product for you! I’m exaggerating a bit, but the product is called Kill The Cann. The purpose of Kill The Cann is to eliminate that annoying, fake, canned laughter on TV. Finally! Where was this in the 80s and 90s? Support the new Kickstarter here:

Kickstarter.com/projects/579932998/kill-the-cann-laugh-track-suppression?token=9e6754b8

When you think about it, it does seem kind of strange that there are laugh tracks over your favorite TV shows. It’s almost like they don’t trust the audience to know what’s a joke and what is not. It’s a little condescending if you ask me.

Why This Product Was Created

“For some of us, it is really annoying! For viewers, canned laughter can distort the dialogue, make it hard to hear clearly or understand, or simply insert laughs in places that you don’t think are funny. Some of us really don’t like laugh tracks and wondered if a device could be built to remove the canned laughter. As scientists with expertise in image and audio signal processing, as well as speech and vocalization analysis, we were all intrigued. Undesirable canned laughter is definitely a “sound” issue – which is right up our alley. A survey of others revealed this was a common issue. Over 80% of our survey audience replied that laugh tracks on television shows annoyed them. Armed with that insight, we decided to design a simple do-it-yourself solution that anyone could use with his/her own TV.”

What Product Does

“Kill The Cann (KTC) reduces or removes laughter from the television audio using our?advanced signal processing algorithm?(patent pending). Our design works with existing HDMI streaming devices like your DVR and Chromecast, by simply connecting the HDMI cable of your DVR to?our device and then connecting it to your TV. It is very simple to use. Just turn on the switch to suppress laughter in any show you are watching. The available audio tracks of a multi-track television program are processed to remove or reduce certain components of the program, especially audience sounds. This applies to any program which is supplied with several audio channels, whether provided by cable, DVD, Internet streaming, or otherwise.”

How It Works

“A single, multi-channel electronic audio stream enters from the left and is split into single channels. ?The channels are collectively processed in block P above and reassembled into a multi-channel audio stream, which is output on the right. In the middle, the audio streams are filtered in several ways to isolate the audience sounds to be removed or reduced. To understand what we do, you need to know how audio engineers assemble the sounds of a sitcom. Generally, music/special effects get a left and right channel, the left and right sides of the audience get left and right channels, and one channel is dedicated to low-frequency sounds (bass). Finally, the performers get one channel – which they share with the middle of the audience. In our processing, each of the audience tracks and the performance track get special attention.”

When I saw this product, it got me thinking where was this product in the 80s and 90s at the height of sit com popularity? How much more enjoyable would Friends or Seinfeld be without the annoying laugh tracks? I think audiences today are much more sophisticated, laugh tracks are not even close to being necessary. If you are re-watching Friends episodes on Netflix just think how useful this product would be? Please consider supporting Kill the Cann’s $54,000 goal on Kickstarter today.

Ryan Brasier of Cursed Camp Studios is making replica hockey masks, tutorials, and expanding horror art on Patreon. Support his love of hockey masks and horror at https://www.patreon.com/cursedcampstudios. Ryan Brasier owns and operates Cursed Camp Studios. Brasier is an independent artist currently producing his own replica horror hockey masks.

You may recognize some of these replica masks from your favorite horror movies over the years. The set Patreon goal is set at only $100/month, which is very reasonable. He’s already met $35 of that goal per month. Pledges start at only $1/month with rewards including Patreon only content as well as works in progress.

Who Is Ryan Brasier?

“I have been an artist my entire life and use several types of mediums. Sculpture, painting, pencil, ink, and photography are just a few. My studio started as a hobby to for me to work on projects. Fortunately, as life would have it, I came upon a unique opportunity to be able to work on my art on a full time basis. Building my studio has been a process and I would like to continue expanding my current studio to be able to do more types of art than what I am doing at this time. I have several ideas floating around my brain as well as some unfinished projects laying on the work table.
Having been a horror film fan since I was a kid, those movies gave me the inspiration to do my versions of the masks I am doing. I found a mass produced mask at a chain toy store and thought that would be great to have. When I got it home and looked at it closer, I realized that I could do that type of paint job. In 2011, after researching online, I was able to locate hockey mask blanks to purchase and paint up. Then I started a small company of my own in 2012. It was some time in 2013 that I was in a position to sculpt my own mold and vacuum form masks myself. Having been doing full size masks for a while, mini masks were next for me to offer. In 2014 is when I started doing the independent artist thing as a full time job. By 2015 I had opened an online store to be able to reach more people, and with that, things began to really take off. That allowed me to add to my services in one location and start offering buttons.”

What Do The Masks Look Like?

Why Is Cursed Camp Studios On Patreon?

“You may be wondering at this point, if things are going well then, why Patreon? Along the way of turning my hobby into a career I have had a lot of tips and advice from other great artists. Now I would like to give back to others by giving tips and making tutorials of my own. Also I would like to expand into other forms and mediums and begin to offer more than just hockey masks. Spending less time on marketing and social medias and more effort into my art is my next goal. I would like to be able to concentrate more on the types of art I enjoy doing and what you guys would like to be offered. No matter the outcome of this campaign, I am going to continue creating the art that I’m currently doing, but with Patreon, I really feel that I will be able to do more. I completely understand those who cannot or do not wish to support me in this. As for those of you that do, I sincerely appreciate it and you will be able to help personally with this endeavor. This page is going to be a work in progress and I feel if things go well, it will be an ever evolving experience.”

This is what Patreon is all about, supporting artists with unique passions such as creating horror hockey masks. Check out and support Ryan Brasier of Cursed Camp Studios on Patreon today.

Help support a vet and family on their GoFundMe page. Ray Ray and his family have been struggling day and night for years. GoFundMe is their last resort in trying to get their finances in order.

Interested in helping? Visit: https://www.gofundme.com/veteransupport001

Meet The Family

“We are a prior service family, I am a US Army Veteran   E-6 of 12 years, 10 active duty stationed in Europe and 2 national guard in Maine. I am married to my best friend, and have the best son (14) which I took care of from age 4 to now which I have fully adopted and couldn’t be more proud and my daughter (7) who is the most adorable loving girl and I could never ask for more, also couldn’t forget our 2 labs and 1 cat which we treat as our own babies lol.”

What Happened

“Towards the end of my deployment I received an important message to call my Command Sergeant Major, this was the worst news I have ever received and wish not this happens to anybody. When I called he explained my wife was in a head on collision on the highway and she was sent to the hospital via life flight but passed away due to her injuries, and also that there were kids involved but didn’t know if they were mine at the time.

I had no clue what to do, I broke down, for the next 5 minutes before the next call I was in despair and felt I was in a dream. In the next call he told me my wife was revived, and in ICU but unsure if she would make it through the night, also the kids were from the other vehicle and also the other driver who were OK, I started my way back ASAP and it took a long 4 days with no updates on my wife’s status.

After several surgeries and therapy sessions later my wife was finally able to come home, although in a wheelchair for the next few months I didn’t care, it was December 24th and was the best dam Christmas present I could ever receive, she was safe and in my arms.”

Progress

Just 12 days ago family posted how close they are to reaching their goal. It’s amazing to see all the love and support coming from the GoFundMe community. Really glad people are willing to help and empathize with complete strangers.

This family still needs your help.

Visit their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/veteransupport001

Beer Balancer Android App On Google

In the New Year a lot of you will be making resolutions. Help make 2015 the best year yet with this new unique app.

The Beer Balancer Android App is just the thing to help you get motivated for your workouts. The premise of the Beer Balancer App is it balances how intensely you need to workout based on your beer/alcohol drinking habits. For example the app might tell you earned 1 beer for 100 push ups. The Beer Balancer is a workout motivation technique that will add fun to exercise. Beer Balancing is earning alcoholic beverage consumption through physical exercise. It is a simple system to bring the user’s workout habits into equilibrium with their drinking habits. On the surface Beer Balancing is just a simple app to help the user keep track of their ‘balance’, but Beer Balancing also using gamification techniques to make the experience more engaging for the user. Ideally if you are working out you would want to severely limit your alcohol consumption, but I can see this app being a fun way to track your process. If you are interested in downloading the Beer Balancer App visit: Beer Balancing App

App screenshot:

Here’s to 2015!