Musician/Studio Tech John Williams Lends Talents to Hat City Kitchen

Hat City Kitchen's event coordinator is a musical wizard and technical guru to South Orange and Maplewood's music scene. By Lois Cantwell March 12, 2010 If you are at all into the local music scene, you might know John Williams as the event coordinator for the new local hotspot Hat City Kitchen in Orange. However, with that role at HCK, Williams is deep into his second or third life re-invention. Born in Michigan, Williams's family moved around as his father's career at AT&T demanded, finally settling in Chester, N.J., which he calls his hometown (he attended Delbarton). After graduating, Williams migrated to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the Guitar Institute of Technology (now the Musician's Institute), a place designed to teach working skills to musicians. He told Patch, "There was some culture shock going from Chester to Hollywood. It was a forward thinking place. There had never been a guitar school like that before. It was very creative, like an incubator for formal technique." He studied with Howard Roberts, a well-known Hollywood session player as well as other guitar luminaries such as Tommy Tedesco, Pat Metheney, Joe D'Orio and Pat Martino. "I came home thinking I could be a musician and I did have interviews but they were for cruise ships and Captain & Tennille tribute bands," Williams said. Instead, he went his own way and joined the punk band Ice Nine, eventually opening for Boy George and Culture Club at Madison Square Garden in the 1980s. "That was very exciting," he said. "The week before, we had played at a local club for 25 people and then on Thanksgiving night at the Garden we played for 18,000." Williams played many legendary New York City venues in the 1980s and '90s, including CBGBs, Danceteria, The Ritz and the Peppermint Lounge, as well as New Jersey joints like The Dirt Club in Bloomfield. Eventually he joined Hoboken-based The Cucumbers, led by local musicians Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried (who are now involved with the Songs of the Spectrum project). "I played with them for five or six years," he told us. "We recorded albums in London and New York. At the time, Deena worked at Skyline Studio on 37th Street in the city. I had a background in electronics, I was always the guy who could fix the copier, and I translated that talent for business electronics into being a studio tech." Williams would repair equipment for the band: "When the console caught on fire, they would call me. I came in on the artist's side and went over to the studio side. First, I was the night guy, then the day guy and then I became management." At Skyline, Williams found himself rubbing shoulders with name acts such as Nile Rodgers, the B52s, David Bowie, Thompson Twins, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Diana Ross. In the early '90s, Williams snagged a studio dream job and left the two-room Skyline to go to the giant Sony Music Studios, which had 50 rooms and television shooting stages. "Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Jay-Z, Beyonce all recorded there," Williams told Patch. "Because Sony was so big, on any given day, we could have, say, Paul Simon, Nancy Sinatra and Aerosmith recording. I ran a staff at that point with 20 technicians working for me." Williams moved out here in 1993 and has lived in both Maplewood and South Orange. Today he teaches music, guitar and bass to local students and, of course, is the event coordinator at Hat City Kitchen. He became involved with HCK and the Valley Arts District through his acquaintance with Patrick Morrissy, HANDS Executive Director. "We got to talking about the Valley Arts District," Williams said, "and Pat asked for my help putting together the music venue that evolved into Hat City Kitchen. That's all my equipment in the building. I'm the guy that does the music, the events coordinator." Because he's so plugged into the music community, he was able to reach out to local bands who readily agreed to play the untried venue. Williams promotes Hat City Kitchen through the HCK Facebook page. He also started a thread on Maplewood Online and has used the e-mail contacts that he collected over the years. Behind the scenes there has been a huge community outreach effort, which has been successful by any measure—with the brand new place scoring five filled-to-capacity weekends since opening during a brutal recession. Williams is also one of the founders of Maplewoodstock. He told us the story of how the popular concert came to be. "About eight or nine years ago" he said, "I was talking to Jim Buchanan, Maplewood's Cultural Affairs supervisor, about the number of kids hanging out on Maplewood Avenue on Friday nights. We had the idea to start a concert and our first impulse was to hold it in the train station parking lot. Gary Shippy and Jamie Ross from Maplewood Online got involved, we became the seed of the project. The name Maplewoodstock just came from brainstorming." They later decided to move the concert to Memorial Park. "We wanted it to be a free concert and we invited three or four bands. I was able to borrow P.A. equipment from Sony Music—we brought it out on Friday and brought it back on Monday. Jim had a friend with a bulldozer trailer and that was the stage," said Williams. "We just had music at first and then later added vendors. This year Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk is the headliner. Competition for the 25 or 30 slots for local bands is fierce—there's a lot of talent." Anyone who's thinking about playing should act quickly since the application process is closing soon. Williams currently plays guitar with The Caterpillar Book and bass with New Day Dawn. His daughter Caitlin is at UNC and his son Caleb (a drummer) and daughter Ellie are both students at Columbia High School, where they play Ultimate Frisbee.

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The lunchtime newsbucket - chock full o'links

Pink Floyd, Vodafone malware, Windows's origins, WiMAX, Apple's iTunesLP, ad blockers, iPhone App licensing, I Can Afford Cheezburger?, CEOP lack of buttons and more... A quick burst of links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team Pink Floyd Suing EMI Label Over Online Royalties - BusinessWeek Because their songs are seamless, see, and fade into each other, every single download should count as an album. Something like that. Forecast: could get ugly. Of course in the old days, a top person at EMI would have just said "Get me Pink on the phone - he and I can sort this out..." Vodafone distributes phone that spreads Mariposa botnet >> Panda Research Blog Ooh, dear, Vodafone, we think that this counts as an enormous mistake. The Secret Origin of Windows >> Technologizer.com A year after first being announced, Windows was still vapourware - which meant Tandy Trower (no, really) had the job of wrestling it into real, running code in a product with a price tag and a strategy. When he started, it looked "a bit clunky" due to the system font. A fascinating read. Melting down the crown jewels >> Information World Review Tim Buckley Owen on the contradictions generated by the fact that data.gov.uk will make Ordnance Survey data available, but hasn't managed to get Royal Mail to do the same for postcode data. (Note though that the OS consultation proposes making CodePoint - a long/lat set of postcode locations - available for free reuse.) Gaming sites losing out to 'social networking games' >> BBC News As the Games Developers Conference comes into sight, the problem is that Farmville and Mafia Wars are sucking up peoples' time that used to be spent on games sites Another one bites the dust: Cisco steps out of the WiMAX game >> Engadget WiMAX isn't quite a dead duck, but it's starting to look distinctly peaky. Apple's iTunes LP 6 Months Later: LP What? >> GigaOM Noticed how everyone is talking about Apple's iTunes LP format? Um...perhaps they're doing it on Google Wave? Or perhaps it was launched in a hurry to placate the record industry, which wanted to have some way to tempt people to buy albums, rather than singles. Even so, it might work well with the iPad, if that ever reaches us... Should you use ad blockers or not? >> Guardian Technology Worth reading for the debate in the comments too - but why is nobody discussing the idea of the subscription to get rid of ads? All Your Apps Are Belong to Apple: The iPhone Developer Program License - EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation "used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask NASA for a copy, so that the general public could see what rules conrolled the technology they could use with their phones". Inside the Low-Paying Cheezburger Empire >> Ben Huh - Gawker Those pictures of furry cats won't post themselves, you know. Oh, wait, they do. Unexplained: why are the people working at cheezburger so lowly paid? Should Microsoft get into the PC hardware business? >> Ed Bott at ZDNet.com Maybe not all PCs, but a few reference versions? Click CEOP Button - Add-ons Gallery >> IEAddons: where's the Firefox one? CEOP has a "panic button" so kids can report scary people, but is this really only available for IE8? Can't they implement a bookmarklet? Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide >> TED.com That's *Sir* TBL to you. The year before, he was getting the audience to chant "raw data now". This year, he's showing them the how of raw data. Popular [not Frequently Asked?] Questions >> UK Council for Child Internet Safety Perhaps a frequently asked question might be "why is your website so amazingly uninformative?" You can follow Guardian Technology's linkbucket on delicious Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Photo of the Day: 2010 Camaro SS/RS

Today’s photo comes from kykorvette.Be sure to look at all of* kykorvette’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your...

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Photo of the Day: 2011 Chevy Cruze

Today’s photo comes from kykorvette. Be sure to look at all of kykorvette’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

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Photo of the Day: Chevy Hot Rod

Today’s photo comes from shb4photos. Be sure to look at all of sjb4photos’ photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

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Disneyland Resort Presents a Window on Main Street, U.S.A. to Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, Composers of 'It's a Small World' and Enchanted Tiki Room Theme

ANAHEIM, Calif., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- They've written some of the most memorable songs in Disney theme park – and motion picture – history, and on March 11, 2010, the Academy Award-winning composers of the music from "It's a Small World" and The Enchanted Tiki Room, as well as "Mary Poppins," will receive the highest honor that the Disneyland Resort bestows. The Sherman brothers, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, will receive a tribute window on Main Street, U.S.A. Among the Shermans' more than 150 Disney songs are such familiar Disney theme park compositions as "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" (theme of The Enchanted Tiki Room), "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" (theme of Carousel of Progress) and "It's a Small World," one of the most translated and performed songs on Earth. All three are still performed in their attractions at Disney theme parks around the world, making the music as contemporary today as when it was composed. "Richard and Robert Sherman's contribution to Disney spans 50 years and has touched virtually every aspect of our company," said Robert A. Iger, president and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. "By dedicating a window on Main Street, U.S.A. inside Disneyland we are pleased to recognize them with one of the highest honors our company bestows." "The music of the Sherman brothers has left an indelible mark on the Walt Disney Company and still resonates in Disney parks around the world," said Tom Staggs, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman. "Their songs – particularly 'It's a Small World' and the score of 'Mary Poppins' – are not just touchstones of Disney, but of American culture as a whole. The whole world sang these songs when they were new and they still sing them today almost five decades later. Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman are honored members of the Disney family." The tradition of honoring individuals with a personalized decorative window was started on Main Street, U.S.A. by Walt Disney and has continued at Disney parks worldwide. A Disneyland window is considered the ultimate honor anyone can receive from "The Happiest Place on Earth." The careers of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman span almost 50 years and include two Academy Awards for "Mary Poppins" – Best Score, and Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee." The Sherman brothers gained recognition in popular music with several Top Ten hits, among them "Let's Get Together," sung in "The Parent Trap" by Hayley Mills; "Tall Paul," Annette Funicello's first Top Ten single; and "You're Sixteen," which made the Top Ten twice: sung by Johnny Burnette in 1960 and by Ringo Starr in 1974. In 1960, they began a phenomenal 10-year association with Walt Disney, during which time they composed more than 150 songs for Disneyland Park, other Disney parks, and Disney films and television shows. Their Disney credits include "The Jungle Book," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "The Sword in the Stone," "The Aristocats," "The Happiest Millionaire," the "Winnie the Pooh" series and, of course, "Mary Poppins." The theatrical version of "Mary Poppins" is consistently among Broadway's top-grossing shows and is in its fourth highly successful year at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The North America tour continues to be a hit, and the show's popularity is growing around the globe with international productions opening in Australia and Holland later this year. The Sherman brothers went on to compose other song scores for "Snoopy Come Home," "Charlotte's Web," the Broadway musical "Over Here," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (later brought to the stage in London and New York), "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "The Slipper and the Rose," "The Magic of Lassie" (which earned their ninth Academy Award nomination for Best Song), "The Tigger Movie," the stage musical "Busker Alley" and "Beverly Hills Cop 3." Among the Sherman brothers' honors are three Grammy Awards, 24 gold and platinum albums and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They have also been named Disney Legends, a designation which acknowledges the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney magic.

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Live Review: Taylor Swift at the Frank Erwin Center

Taylor Swift spent Wednesday night preaching to the choir and man alive, was that choir ready to scream back. Her core audience is women and girls, some of them very young — in other words, folks who dream of high school, are in high school or remember high school. They adore her and Swift knows it. When she wasn’t singing, playing guitar (solo and acoustic on “Fifteen”) or bounding around on stage, she spent a good long time standing there with that “Who, lil’ ol’ me?” smile/stare on her face, absorbing screams and applause. Who knows if it was an ego boost or just a time-killer between set changes? The choir was only too willing to oblige. With a high school setting on the curved screens that made up her stage set, Swift was preceded by male and female cheerleaders, bounding out and flipping around as the opening bars of “You Belong With Me,” Swift rose to the top of the stage dressing a marching band uniform, complete with those large, royal-order-of-the-moose-lodge hat marching bands wear. This, of course, set up the dynamic. She is the outsider, the band geek who can never get the dream boy. So she writes a song about it, a song that anyone can relate to. Tunes like “Our Song,” “Tell Me Why,” “Teardrops on my guitar” and “Fearless” mixed detailed emotions with spot on playing from her band and myriad costume changes. Speaking of flipping, boy, can that gal flip her hair. Admittedly, it’s spectacular hair and she worked it, her head seemingly capable of 360 degree motion — I counted ten different angles in a four bar passage during the piano ballad “You’re Not Sorry” point. Somewhere, her chiropractor is already putting money down on a beach house. Speaking of not being sorry, she may want to start thinking about writing about something other than guys that have wronged her. Sure, it’s made her a millionaire with a roaring fanbase, 10 million albums sold and a shelf full of awards, but it’s starting to get slightly…disconcerting. Before “Forever & Always”, a song allegedly inspire by her breakup with Joe Jonas, she played a clip of an interview with “Today” show host Hoda Kotb, in which she says essentially that guys who she dates who don’t want to be written about, well, “They shouldn’t do bad things.” This phrase then pulses all over the set for the entirety of the song. At 20, she is about a year away from stuff like that losing all it’s charm entirely. Then again, she stretched out “Hey Stephen” well past the ten minute mark by starting it from way deep in the crowd, singing a bit, then moving down the stairs hugging people, slapping five, more hugging, etc. She keeps that up, the choir will let her do whatever she likes. They belong to her and she belongs to them.

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Strokes Playing Lollapalooza, Album Out In September

It looks like it's going to be even more difficult to get tickets to this year's Lollapalooza (as if it isn't already hard enough). That's because The Strokes have confirmed they'll headline the Chicago festival this summer. Singer Julian Casablancas told the Chicago Tribune the New York rockers would top the bill on one of the dates. Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Soundgarden and Green Day are also rumoured to play this year's festival, but the lineup has yet to be announced. Lollapalooza 2010 takes place Aug. 6 to 8 at Chicago's Grant Park. As for the follow-up to 2006's First Impressions Of Earth, Casablancas says the long-awaited album will be out in September. "I've written a lot of melodies for it, but the other guys have also contributed a lot more: melodies, choruses, parts," he told the Chicago Tribune. "It's way more collaborative. So it'll have a different feel than our other albums." In the meantime, Casablancas is still on the road supporting his Phrazes For The Young debut solo album. He'll wrap up that tour at the end of April. You can see The Strokes on June 13 at Newport, England's Seaclose Park as part of the Isle Of Wight Festival. They'll also pay this year's Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival in Scheesel, Germany and Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany in June. In the meantime, you can see Casablancas here: March 23 Providence, RI @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel March 24 New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza March 26 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage March 27 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte March 28 Baltimore, MD @ Ram's Head Live! March 30 Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom April 1 Montreal, QC @ Le National April 2 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre April 3 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues Cleveland April 5 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall April 6 Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre April 8 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue April 9 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Theatre April 10 Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club April 12 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues Houston April 13 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues Dallas April 14 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa April 18 Indio, CA @ Empire Polo Club (Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival) April 21 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre April 22 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium April 23 Des Moines, IA @ People's April 25 Columbia, MD @ The Blue Note April 26 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant April 27 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom April 29 New Orleans, LA @ Republic

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Strokes Confirm New Album Release, Lollapalooza

Fans anxiously awaiting new music from the Strokes have two special dates to mark on their calendars. According to singer Julian Casablancas, who recently spoke to The Chicago Tribune, the quintet will release their first new album since 2006's First Impressions of Earth this September. And there's more good news: the band will bring their new tunes to Lollapalooza's main stage in August for their first U.S. show in over three years! As previously reported, rumors claimed that the Strokes, Lady Gaga, Green Day, Soundgarden, and more would appear at the Chicago fest. The Strokes' festival appearances -- which also include a few European gigs -- have Mr. Casablancas excited for his band's return. "We're getting the biggest offers of our career," he said. "It feels great, because I remember people writing things like, 'We'll see if they're still around in 10 years,' when we first came out." Casablancas added that the Strokes are nearly done recording their yet-to-be-titled fourth album in a Manhattan studio. Last month, the guys checked in via their YouTube page with a nine-minute clip of the sessions. Watch here. "I've written a lot of melodies for it, but the other guys have also contributed a lot more: melodies, choruses, parts," he explained. "It's way more collaborative. So it'll have a different feel than our other albums." If you can't wait for the new record -- or if a trip to Lollapalooza isn't in the budget -- get your Casablancas fix later this month, when the singer will kick off a nationwide solo tour behind his SPIN-approved debut, Phrazes for the Young, which includes a stop at Coachella in April. Click here for full tour dates.

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Magneta Lane @ CMW 2010

Background/Composition: These Toronto natives have three albums and a solid fan base behind them. They specialize in an amalgamation of aggressive rock and melodic pop. Over the last few years, they've developed an oddball relationship with American tech giant, Microsoft, performing for internal company commercials and playing the corporate Christmas party. Grade: 74 Comment: These three ladies were definitely tighter than they were the last time I saw them perform — they're really hitting their stride as a live act. The Horseshoe was reasonably full for their 8:30 slot. Achievement of Rock 'n' Roll Expectations 80-100: Exceeds skill and knowledge expectations, i.e. rocked us so hard we peed our pants. 70-79: Achieves required skills and knowledge. Meets rock 'n' roll standard. 60-69: Demonstrates some skills. Approaches rock 'n' roll standard. 50-59: Demonstrates some required skills and knowledge in a limited way. 00-50: Has not demonstrated required skills or knowledge. Learning Skills: E=Excellent, G=Good, S=Satisfactory, N=Sad Really Oral And Visual Communication Eye Contact: G Pronunciation: G Stage Presence: G Stage Banter: G Image: G Appearance: G Use Of Stage: G Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step: Although there wasn't a lot of chatter coming from the stage, guitarist Lexi Valentine did get the crowd engaged in some clapping for one tune. Bassist French and drummer Nadia King were distant and standoffish, but it seemed a necessary facet of their tough-girl image. Musical Analysis Level Of Participation: G Problem Solving: G Teamwork: E Work Habits: E Organization: G Audience Participation: G Sound: G Composition: G Songs: G Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step: Set lengths no doubt get abbreviated when this many bands are playing, but this seemed like an incredibly short set. They must have only played about six songs. Still, Magneta Lane got the crowd as pumped as you'd want any opening band to. They're the closest thing Canada has to Sleater-Kinney. Other Skills And Areas Of Interest Charisma: G Problem Solving: G Teamwork: G Sexiness: E Haircut: G Indie Rock Footwear: G Nods To Disposible Fashion: G Cool Equipment: G Level Of Inebriation: G Actual Ability: G Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step: Valentine and French started the show with costume masks strapped to the tops of their heads. Not that they had need to cover up, but it would have been fun if they'd actually worn the masks on their faces, instead of using them as an accessory. Fishnet stockings: always a good choice.

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