The Ramone tagged posts

I have worked at the various mechanics of this performance for quite a while, so I didn’t have a lot of anxiety over execution
This seemed like a good opportunity for me to start working at separating the The Ramone live performance form Live karaoke
I want the stage performance to become a review of the cultural impact of The Ramones
The word “Review” having two different connotations

The traditional definition for review is “A type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932.”

In my case, “music” is Ramones and the “sketches” are the snippets of video that I use in the tra...

My next show will be in a few days at 3 Links in Deep Ellum (I go on first!) and I plan to present a new stage show
Up until this point, I have pretty much played it straight and crammed as many songs as I could into my set
That worked when I was always going to play a quick set but I am planning for slots that are going to be 45 minutes to 3 hours so I need to learn how to inject some variety into the show
Not only that but I also need to use my video editing ideas to create a hybrid that is part Rock Band and part Musical Theater
I was trying to figure out the word that describes my concept and my friend Laura said “Revue” and that’s exactly what kind of show I want to build
There are plenty of strict interpretation tribute bands out there and I do realize that being solo is a novelty fo...

Well, 53 drum tracks for Live Ramones Karaoke but……
WHEW! That sure was an effort
About half of this set list or more was recorded by memory with only a click track
After that, I decided it would take too long to memorize the rest of them so I decided it was easier to play along with recorded tracks
My biggest issue is that most of the live stuff is too fast or too slow for my tastes so I adjusted the tempo of each song to the nearest BPM block setting
I prefer even numbers and tend to go by tens
I rarely even use a bpm ending in “5”, much less any number other than “0”
That might turn out to be a liability later on down the line but I am sure it will show itself to me eventually if it is a problem
After all, I can make mistakes in this series of recordings because I fully intend to re-re...

After the pre-production stage and dealing with the minutia that had to be addressed, it was time for the rubber to meet the road
One of my biggest flaws is that I get disheartened when I run into a problem with set up
One of my biggest strengths is in execution, so I was happy to get past all of the different tweaks and mistakes in lighting and audio and start playing the drums
I knew that I would knock out the first block of “hits” because I chose the songs that I regularly play with both Sedated and The Ramone
The drum recording process consists of me playing the parts by memory to a click track
Out of 30 songs attempted, 25 were successfully executed
53rd, Basement, Blitzkreig Bop, Beat on the Brat, Chainsaw, Chinese Rocks, Commando, Cretin Hop, Durango, Gimmie Gimmie Shock Treatment, ...

After the tedious, repetitive and laborious process of getting the lights just right for the green screen, I have finally been able to lay down drum tracks onto a multi-track

Props to Meatpie and Alan for helping me with compression settings

I have chosen roughly 100 Ramones songs from the catalog leading up to Acid Eaters (since I have only listened to Adios Amigos once and don’t really care for it)
The first 30 have been recorded over the past 2 consecutive evenings
So far, I have relied on playing by memory and keeping time to a click
I can pat myself on the back for that one but keep in mind that I chose to record the material that is on both The Ramone and Sedated’s setlist
I have played and rehearsed these songs so many times that I can (& have) played them by memory
Mostly because...

What started out as an off-hand idea to spice up my busking activities has evolved into a successfully executed concept
I’m not sure the exact date when I first formed the idea but my initial post was in August of 2015
https://wordpress.com/stats/day/rockula.wordpress.com
I don’t consider it official until April 1st 2016 when I played my first gig at The Underpass
Since than I have played a handful of gigs and tweaked the concept
My first shows were the entire 1st album but I would soon generate a new set of songs with better video and audio quality
My current set works fine but I need to expand my library
The second reason I want to create new backing videos is that I learned more about lighting and the relation to Green Screen

One of my biggest obstacles was not having a car
This severe...

******Click Here To Buy A Shirt******
The RAMONE-A One Man Tribute band T-Shirt is now available for purchase!

* My very first Ramones T Shirt from the Too Tough To Die 10th Aniversary Tour
I feel the need to address the reactions that some hardcore Ramones fans have when seeing how the band has achieved cultural acceptance
It is easy to feel like your culture has been yanked out of your hands and sold on E-Bay but read on and I will tell you that “It’s Gonna Be Alright”

There is a certain attachment that we ascribe to the things that help us deal with everyday life
We can all agree that music is the most accessible way to deal with your feelings and to express your own identity
There has never been a more perfect band to provide that kind of strength as The Ramones
Their minimalist approach to their songs also applied to the lyrics, which can range anywhere from hard and cold reality to complete...