“He got me invested in some kind of fruit company. Then I got a call and he said that I didn’t have to worry about money no more and I said, That’s good. One less thing.”

It seems Forrest was ahead of the curve on that one. Far ahead of me, that’s for sure.

Yes, I’m going to blog about Apple. For all of you Microsoft PC folks I suggest heading over to our Video page – there’s nothing for you here.

I want to declare my love for this fine fruit as it’s the cornerstone of my brand new home editing suite. Back in March I wrote a blog about my video production business, Robert Antonelli Productions. In that post I discussed the possibility of getting a “super computer.” Well, after much research and strict financial planning, I’m excited to say that the “Super Computer” is now in my home!

Now before you get all kinds of ideas about what I have in my living room, I’m calling it “Super” because compared to the systems I’ve had in the past, this one is far…superior.

It’s a Mac Pro Tower. 1 Terabyte Hard drive for applications, music, documents, downloads – the usual stuff. Another 2 Terabyte hard drive for video & audio files. My Macbook Pro (the computer I edited all of our “In The Studio” series) has 4GB of RAM. My new Apple has 52GB of RAM.

What’s funny is, my excitement for this amount of space and memory will most likely be obsolete in a few years time. I can just hear the conversation…

“Oh, you only have 52 gigs of RAM? Yeah, most computers start at 300 gigs.”

Of course, that is another great feature of this Mac Pro Tower. In a few years, I can swap out the RAM I have now and replace it with higher, faster memory. I can add a couple of more hard drives too if I’d like.

Needless to say, I’m quite excited. My new Apple has not only kept the doctor away, but it’s made me a bit toy crazy! Now that I have a computer that can truly handle some serious editing, I wanted to get some video accessories that can capture some serious videos. Now dwelling in my living room, next to the Apple, is my new Glidecam 4000 HD. It’s a counter-weight tripod system that allows for very smooth shots while you move.

I also got new lenses, monopod, blu-ray burners, external hard drives, and monitors…It’s been an exciting couple of weeks.

Special thanks to my buddy Dennis Carrol of Dennis Carrol AV. He is wise in the ways of editing and Apple computers and has been gracious enough to lead me through the somewhat daunting process.

We’ll see what other toys and accessories I collect. In the meantime, I’m shouting from the rooftops, “Thank you Apple!”

This trip has been in the works since late last year, and I’m experiencing equal amounts excitement and anxiety as our departure approaches. The excitement is primarily derived from my near-hourly google image searches of Rome, Venice, Florence, and Assisi. The anxiety if primarily derived from – no shocker here – flying.

Ugh. Flying. I hate flying.

Love the airport. But hate flying.

I think what I love most about the airport is that, with the exception of employees, everyone there has relinquished their autonomy and basically accepted that there is no point in rushing or being rude because they have no control over the path to their destination. Juxtapose that with highway travel, for example.

The relaxation I experience at the airport is matched only by the sheer terror I experience during takeoff. My palms sweat profusely. My pulse skyrockets. I give my wife’s hand the grip-of-death as we start pushing through the clouds. And once we are up – I have a zero tolerance threshold for turbulence. Every minor bump and I am bracing myself for falling out of the sky.

But aside from the flying woes I must say I have never been this excited for a vacation in my entire life. The pictures I’ve been looking at…they can’t be real. I need to see the city of Venice with my own eyes in order for me to believe it actually exists.

And once I get back, the Faneuil Hall season will pretty much be in full swing – so keep an eye out for June dates as they start rolling in.

Ciao!

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I wish I was smart enough to tell you what the next big one will be – or better yet, smart enough to invent the next big one. Maybe an app that’s lets you control all of them at once? I’ll call it MyFacetwitgramsterTube (copyright Robert Antonelli 2013).

What I do want to tell you about is a new social media app that Cahill has just joined: Vine

The best way to describe it is “Instagram for video.” The app, which was created and released by the Twitter people, allows you to create a 6 second video that plays in a loop. It operates as most Social sites do – follow people, tag friends, hashtag topics – and as most Social sites go, some of it is very creative and clever and some of it is just plain stupid.

The coolest part of the app is that you can start and stop the camera from taking videos thus creating some pretty cool stop-motion and special effects. As I said, some people are extremely creative with this.

I started getting into Vine back in February and Scott and I both decided that this could be real fun for Cahill. We’ll take it on shows, in Faneuil Hall, in the studio, during rehearsals. Basically anywhere we think a 6-second peak into our musical lives would be fun for you to watch.

iPhone users can download it through iTunes. For the Droid users, I think you still have to wait for it to became available but from what I’ve seen, you won’t be waiting long.

So if you’re on Vine, follow us @Cahill.

If you’re not on Vine, consider this an invitation to another app that is guaranteed to entertain, possibly inspire, and definitely waste your time. But what social app doesn’t waste your time?

There are so many talented artists, so many great songs, and this is for such an important cause that you just can’t go wrong.

All donations of $1 or more get you the entire 130 songs, and 100% of the proceeds collected will go directly to The One Fund. I’m just starting to work my way through it, but so far my favorite track is Summer Home by the band Old Abram Brown. Beautiful song!

I’ve embedded the tracklist for stream below from Bandcamp. Please listen, share, and above all – donate!

I feel a strange weight on my chest, a sort of aching that makes me want to hold close the people that I love.

Bad things happen all the time, all over the world. Some as bad, some worse. I feel a sense of guilt that the terror that may touch countries and places other than my own, do not create the weight I’m feeling now. I guess it’s what is close to you that matters most and Boston is as close as it gets.

But even as close as I am, there are 179 people who were much closer – 3 of them who were too close.

I can’t imagine the pain, the grief, and the frustration that those victims are feeling. The only way I know how to honor them, is to be thankful for all that I have.

So I guess I want to say thank you to all those who follow what we do. We are lucky to be able to write music, play guitar, travel to shows, laugh with friends. I am so grateful for all that I have and all that our fans give to us. It could all go away tomorrow…tonight…who knows.

And who knows why this happened or who was responsible! I suppose I’ll want to know who did this and why. But I know, like most tragedies, the answers won’t make any sense.

So hold fast the things that do make sense. Say “I love you” to those you should and “thank you” to those who deserve it.

The last thing I want to suggest is donating in any way you can. The following site recently announced by Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Tom Menino is one of many ways to do so.

The phenomenon is this:  Everyone has a different favorite.

In my experience as a fan, when the artists I listen to put out a new release there is almost universal consensus as to what the best and worst tracks on the album are.  Sure, there are the rogue fans who pride themselves on being contrarian, and not everyone has the top five tracks necessarily in the same order, but more often than not the same songs end up on everyone’s short list of favorites. For reasons unknown to me, one of our biggest strengths (in my humble opinion) is the mysterious ability to release albums that produce dramatically different “favorites” lists across fans of similar levels of interest.

This has never been more true than with The Way It Should Be.

Last weekend Bob and I had dinner and *ahem* several drinks with a mutual friend, who late in the evening sheepishly revealed that Grace was his least favorite track on the album. At this point in our musical pursuits Bob and I comfortably take such declarations in stride, but what I find far more amusing is the response we received a few days later.  Another friend dropped a note on my Facebook timeline saying that he had picked up a copy of the album, and – you can already see where this is going – Grace was his favorite track on the album. For reference, Grace isn’t the only track that has produced this contradiction. Tired Man has been extremely polarizing. Another fan review stated that The Way It Should Be was our weakest closing track to date, while two fans have told me it was their second favorite track on the album.

I suppose from a marketing standpoint having an album with several polarizing tracks may or may not be a good selling point, but I truly think it is a wonderful phenomenon. We make music that we love, and I take so much comfort in knowing that no matter who I give our album to, they will be able to find something about that they really enjoy.

His name is Rodriguez, and his story is incredible.

If you listen to his music, he’s a perfect blend between James Taylor and Bob Dylan. His lyrics speak to anti-establishment and paint the picture of a lonely poet just trying to make his way.

What’s so fascinating is that until recently, i had never heard of him. Despite the talent, the song crafting, the voice, and the style, Rodriguez lived the life most musicians fear…complete obscurity.

And it’s true. The thought of creating something you believe in, something you put your heart, soul, and time into, something that is truly your own – the thought of having it basically ignored is a gut wrenching horror. Even for me, and we’re an independent artist!

This man was signed to a label, had major producers and engineers working with him and companies supporting him. He was looked to as the next big thing. But for some strange reason, America didn’t pick up on him. So he gave up. Rodriguez stopped playing music and continued his life as a demolition man. He worked construction and lived almost in poverty.

But…BUT! He then achieved what all musicians dream of…recognition! And he got it in the most unlike of places.

Searching For Sugarman takes you on a true journey of musical subjectivity. It shows you the unforgiving nature of the industry and at the same time, restores your hope in good music finding an audience.

Take an evening and watch it…you won’t be sorry!

Because our releases tend to be a couple years apart at a minimum, I always forget what it feels like right before you release your precious work of art to the entire world for consumption. It is a very strange mix of excitement, apprehension, hope, fear, insecurity, pride, and many other contradicting emotions. I feel so proud of what we have done on multiple levels. I know in my heart that this is the best creative work I have ever done in my life, and I am certain Bob feels the same.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that our audience is going to feel the same way!

Thus, the arrival of emotions with an inherent negative streak. Everyone could hate it. Maybe no one will buy it. Maybe a lot of people will buy it, hate it, and want their money back. I know it all sounds a bit dramatic but these are the thoughts that were running through my mind as Tuesday was approaching. Now that we are on the second day of the release, here is the news I am happy to report:

Tuesday we debuted at #100 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart.
Wednesday afternoon we moved to #78.
And as I am typing this blog I just noticed we moved up to #51.

Granted, at the moment these are just numbers and by no means indicate that the people who are supporting us necessarily enjoy the album they just purchased. But I do think it is safe to say that after all these years, we still have an audience that is eager to hear what we create. If you are reading this blog and happen to be a member of this audience, thank you so much. We would continue to make music even if no one listened to or purchased our albums, but the warmth of the individuals willing to support our creative efforts is completely overwhelming.

To everyone who listens to this album, now and in the future, I hope it brings joy to your life – and I hope we have succeeded in harvesting a collection of songs that are worthy of the audience that listens to them.

Webster’s online dictionary defines cliche as a phrase or expression used so often that it becomes stale.

Cliches run rampant in the music world.  They are the pop makers life line.  Finding love, losing love, heart ache & heart break.  More recently it seems that clubbing, drinking, and dancing have become the vapid expression.  But whether it’s breaking up or break dancing, without cliches, where would we be? You’ll easily wipe out 80% of Cahill’s music library if you eliminate cliches.

You’re probably wondering why I’m bringing this up and why it seems that I’m insulting our music.

I spent this past weekend in San Diego.  A friend of mine got married and my wife and I had the pleasure of attending.  While we were there I got the chance to catch up with another friend of mine.  He’s a Grammy nominated Jazz producer as well as a jazz bass player.  He’s a fascinating guy and lots of fun to be around.  We always enjoy good conversation and I was struck by one that took place while we rested our dancing feet and enjoyed the wonders of an open bar (nothing cliche about that).

The conversation started off with a sharing of personal music tastes.  We then moved to the differences between a songwriters process and a jazz musician’s process (that’s for another blog).  Eventually, we were offering up sentiments on “cliches.”

My friend (his name is Kabir), asked me very simply. “What do you think of cliches?”

My immediate reaction was to say, “I try to avoid them.“  No sooner did the words come out of my mouth, I realized that many of my most cherished compositions and song subjects are very “cliche.”  I tried quickly to reverse my train of thought.  “Well, actually…”

Kabir laughed over his glass of Kingfisher Beer.  “You need cliche’s don’t you?”

What followed was a wonderful realization that cliches are the foundation, but once they’re set, that’s when you try your best to avoid them.

Allow yourself to once again write a song about love…but how are you going to describe it THIS time around?  Pour your heart out about a break-up…but tell me about it in a way that I haven’t heard before.  Death is talked about everyday…how are YOU going to talk about it.

As usual, our newest album is about love, heart break, death, and understanding life.  But out of those clichés has come some of our most original work.  I look forward to sharing them with you!

But, Team Film still has one enormous asset: Chris Nolan.

The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, The Prestige, Memento. Chris Nolan is a film god, far and away my favorite director and third favorite screenwriter (behind Woody Allen and Quentin Tarantino). And he absolutely refuses to shoot in digital.

The entire time I was watching Side By Side I couldn’t help but laugh at the parallels between the film industry and the music industry. Technology is rapidly changing the means by which artists can produce their art, and some of the most established industry names are unwilling to accept it. At this point, I can’t help but let my bias start to sneak in to the conversation. I see many musicians, local and national, still producing vinyl copies of their releases. Vinyl! In 2013! And perhaps the greatest contradiction is that many of these musicians are working in almost completely digital environments throughout the entire recording process.

The motivation to release in vinyl is probably a combination of nostalgia, aesthetics, trendiness, and a little bit of audio snobbery. But such indulgences are of limited utility to even the most enthusiastic music fans, which makes me wonder if vinyl releases are really more for the artists themselves than the consumers of their art.

On our upcoming record, there is a not a single real amplifier. Or a single real piano. One of the drum sounds is from a library sample. And some of our vocals have been tuned slightly by software. In my opinion, this doesn’t remove any authenticity from what we have created, because the studio has become a place of pure creation where you are no longer bound by space, budgets, time, real instruments, or even real musicians for that matter. The only boundary now is your own ability to effectively communicate the sound you hear in your head. So, I suppose my message to the individuals who still embrace analog technologies is this:

Let them die already. And preferably with a little bit of dignity.

Everything will be digital soon, and the world will be a better place because of it. Maybe it’s because I’m as much an engineer as I am a songwriter, but the ability to create music in the tiny office of my apartment, digitally transfer the mixes to a mastering studio in San Francisco, upload the finished audio to servers at iTunes/Amazon/Spotify/Rhapsody, and then collect sales and streaming royalties from Japan…this is a technological revolution that has democratized art.

Twenty years ago you would need an entire corporate infrastructure to engage your audience in such a manner. And now I can do it without leaving the apartment.

Perhaps the most revealing part of Side By Side was during an interview with a relatively unknown filmaker. He said that the inundation of the industry with independent talent is inherently bad because any one who fancies him or herself an artist can readily become one. Once the remaining barriers to entry are destroyed, there will no longer be any tastemakers – just tons of readily available “bad” art.

As if there is such a thing as “bad” art.

Well, here is one artist who desperately wants to live in a world without tastemakers.