Sunday, September 26, 2010

14th Annual Miami Jazz Film Festival

Presented by 88.9FM WDNA Public Radio and Miami Dade College:

"The 14th Annual Miami Jazz Film Festival is an outreach activity to celebrate those artists that continue to leave an indelible mark in the fabric of our culture. It’s an education on how the uses of archival images and other filmmaking devices impact on the final product. It’s an education on how Jazz is visceral, transcendent, and transnational."

DECONSTRUCTING DAD, the new Raymond Scott documentary, will be featured on Saturday, October 2nd at 5PM, at the historic Tower Theater.

Friday, September 24, 2010

LA WEEKLY


Author John Payne recently reviewed the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, the LA WEEKLY. Here's a brief excerpt:
"An enthralling film that tells the story of a truly pivotal figure in 20th-century music whose madly eclectic achievements remain largely obscure. An essential view inside the wonders of creative genius, American-style."

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Don’t Overvalue The Present

LuvSound have released a new various artists collection of ambient music in tribute to Marc Weidenbaum, founder of Disquiet. Weidenbaum recently became a father, and the theme of the sampler is Raymond Scott's groundbreaking 1963 three-volume SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY, which Marc declared one of the '16 albums that changed his life':
For a fan of electronic music, hearing this material by innovator Raymond Scott is akin to a comics fan discovering Windsor Mccay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland or Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix for the first time. The lesson is simple: Don’t overvalue the present. Often the innovations of the past are simply overlooked and under-acknowledged.

Listen to or download the new album here.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Funk Soul Brother

Fatboy Slim is the stage name of Norman Cook, one of the most enduring and successful Pop/Big Beat musicians of the past 20 years. His numerous hits, and collaborations with artists such as David Byrne and Beastie Boys, have earned him the reputation as "the father of mainstream electronic music." Slim has just released five new tracks that he crafted using sample-loops from Raymond Scott's electronic soundtrack for the 1967 film, "The Paperwork Explosion" (directed by Muppet master Jim Henson). The two new EPs, which are collaborations with UK-based DJ/producer HervĂ©, are titled "Machines Can Do The Work," and "Machines Can Do The Work: Remixed.

Both the original, and the "Action Man aka HervĂ© Acid Mix" versions are available now from the iTunes music store, and Amazon.com

 Also out now, a 20-minute EP with three remixes: iTunes music store/Amazon.com

Watch the official video: here

Sunday, September 12, 2010

16th Annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival


The new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened twice next weekend during the 16th annual TEMECULA VALLEY INTERNATIONAL FILM & MUSIC FESTIVAL in California:
  • Friday, September 17th at 5 PM
  • Saturday, September 18th at 11 AM
The film will be shown at the state of the art Movie Experience multiplex at the Tower Plaza Center:
Attendance has grown to over 20,000, and media coverage is extensive and global, boasting over 15,000,000 media impressions worldwide. Lifetime and Career Achievement Award honorees include: Dionne Warwick, Carl Reiner, Michael York, Ray Charles, Rita Coolidge, William Shatner, Billy Preston, Etta James, Louis Gossett, Jr., and many others.

KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival

On Friday, September 17th, the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival will present the Netherlands premiere of the new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD. Gert-Jan Blom of The Beau Hunks, and Stan Warnow, director of the film and son of Raymond Scott, will be present for an introduction and Q&A, followed by live "cartunes" courtesy Nik Phelps and other animator-musicians. The event takes place at the Kriterion theater at 7:30 pm.

Friday, September 10, 2010

102 Years: Happy Birthday, Raymond!


Raymond Scott was born on September 10th of 1908. Today, as we celebrate his 102nd birthday, his fans have a lot to be grateful for (including, for example, the new documentary that is currently making the film festival circuit, and soon to be a DVD release).

One Scott fan, Amy Thyr, who is also an Exotica music aficionado, and founder of TourDeTiki.com, plans to toast Raymond with a special birthday drink recipe along with 20 other partiers and Tikiphiles, tomorrow, during her TikiTour:

We will drink a toast to Raymond Scott! We can’t forget him and all he has given us … and the world of Exotica music. Scott has been recognized as a precursor to Exotica. Several of his songs were written with the intent of transporting the listener to exotic locations by use of innovative instruments and sound effects. Twenty years before Exotica became a musical genre, Raymond Scott was mixing swing jazz and classical forms, Exotica-style sounds, and his own unique style — forming the groundwork to the atmospheric moods of the Exotica movement. Tunes such as 'Suicide Cliff,' 'Snake Woman,' 'Ectoplasm,' and several others qualify Scott as the 'great-granddaddy' of Exotica. The Exotica genre of the '50s and '60s, even today’s Exotica sounds, all have their DNA rooted in the music of Raymond Scott.

For the toast, Ms. Thyr has prepared a drink inspired by Scott's 1940 hit tune, Huckleberry Duck. Amy explains her new daiquirĂ­ creation, which she has dubbed the Huckleberry DuckuirĂ­:

Though “Huckleberry Duck” is not Exotica in the musical sense, it’s now a “tropical” drink as I made it with rum, a little lime and huckleberries … why not? So here’s to Raymond … Happy Birthday … and thanks!

Amy's recipe:

    
      HUCKLEBERRY DUCKUIRI

           • 2 ounces Puerto Rican rum
           • 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
           • 1 ounce macerated huckleberries
           • Approx. 4 ounces huckleberry-flavored tea
              (any good blueberry tea may be substituted)
           • Ice cubes

          Combine the first three ingredients and shake with ice.
          Pour contents of shaker into a highball glass.
          Add huckleberry tea to half full.
          Add ice to fill glass.
          Garnish with blueberries if you like.
          [Complete recipe: here.]