Hey Everyone,
So we are having a fundraiser with light food/drinks and some musical entertainment. A list of performers will follow once its confirmed.
Tickets are $20 and to RSVP please use the button below. Along with buying tickets, you can also donate to the cause. Tickets will also be available at the door.

The Gift

Brian D. McTear to me

Jun 8, 2009

Jeez, Bobby. I am sorry it’s one thing after another for you lately. Are you able to get Social Security benefits? I hope you have some way to support yourself.

I think we’re going to have a good time with the blog and thinking of book ideas, and It will be nice for you to be able to work on things so personal and creative, not to mention Redford recordings, and other music as well. Maybe you won’t be playing out as much, but use all the energy you have! Being creative is the best use of energy, especially creativity that celebrates what a good person you are.

I think the site looks great. I like the simplicity.

Love

B

Brian D. McTear to me

May 12, 2009

Hey Bobby,

I am glad you are sending me this. I know just what you mean in your message below and I commend you for so thoughtfully making your point. I am also glad you have so much drive to boost your health. You can do it! I know you can! It sounds like you have renewed patience too, which will help you.

I am glad you are excited about the Weathervane stuff, Bobby. That really makes me feel good.  I am sorry that the explanation for it usually takes so long! That is why I am working on an “introductory video” with Devin right now. So hopefully when it’s up it will explain the whole thing really well. I can only hope at this point.

The end goal is to improve the state of music in our culture and in doing so, to reset the bar on the potential careers that independent artists can strive for. It’s all going to shit right now. Everyone seems okay with the fact that artists have no chance of making a living anymore. Even artists! That needs to be changed.

We hope to achieve our goals with a couple projects, the first (and most likely our “main” project for years to come) is the Weathervane Project Series (I hope to come up with a better name….). Basically, we find great artists and provide studio resources and production staff to record their music. These projects are also documented in a series of videos made for the web. With video we can cover some important aspects of recording that maybe the average person might not understand. Slowly over time, I hope that we can raise the cultural understanding of music, the artist’s vision and the production process. The more people understand, the more they will appreciate, we hope. So if it all works, we provide a really unique opportunity, as well as resources and exposure for the artists, and we educate the public in the process.

I think it could work. For right now, I am pretty much choosing a small handful of artists myself. There will probably be 4 to 6 this year, and the selection is all but wrapped up. But the real push in this start up year is to get the idea out there, and to bring as much exposure to the organization as possible. Moving forward, the series will be curated by a different well known figure each year. As an example, I always say it could be curated by a great musician like Kevin Sheilds from My Bloody Valentine, or even someone who’s NOT a musician, like, say Quentin Tarrentino. This person would head up the selection process for that single year, and the fact that it’s a different person annually will easily push the focus in a different direction that year from the previous year.

Ultimately I hope we can build a campus like facility in Philadelphia (around the Wissihickon, I hope) that has studios, video production studios, and artist residences, so the series can happen in an “artist retreat” like setting. I went to a boarding school, and I always kind of imagine that when I picture it. I think that the city itself would benefit greatly, as it would essentially host what we hope are an elite group of artists every year. Think about the attitude people have about Philadelphia now! It would slowly change and much for the better, if every year say, 10 or 12 groups (that could be 50 people!) have this experience! … This is a WAYS off, but it’s kind of the original vision for the whole thing, anyway.

There’s other project ideas coming along the pike, as well. A very simple one, for instance: I want to build a catalog of unreleased material from great artists. The music will be “donated” by the artist for whatever period of time we can agree on, and we’ll in turn give it as gifts to new donors/members. So what it does is allow artists to donate their music, while hopefully receiving a great deal of exposure in the process. It could be a good way to promote an upcoming record, for instance. And if we are lucky, I could imagine a really huge artist, partially out of support, but also in order to be a part of the good vibes WV has, donating a song and really helping us raise our membership. Like if Pearl Jam had a new record coming out and they were planning to release a song for free, maybe we could ask them to release it through us for the first day. We could put a $2 download price tag on it, and benefit from the race to hear it first. They were probably not planning on making money from the song anyway, so they won’t miss a couple thousand bucks, but meanwhile they are supporting something cool. I just need to plan this out. This will probably get off the ground late this year or early next… I hope.

I also want to  start a high school level summer seminar, or something of the sort, in which we teach concepts of music production and engineering in a studio setting.

Phew. I look up at the paragraphs and paragraphs above and feel like such a wind-bag! I hope it gets the idea across!

So let me know if you need anything else while you are in there. I could bring things to Marianne and Giovanna. It would be my sincere pleasure, as I’d feel like I could do something nice for you.  Maybe I’ll look for some books? Music? You need a guitar or anything? Drum sticks?  Something to bang on?

B

Robert Wolter to Brian

Apr 13, 2009

Hey,

I had to come into Presby for some IV meds, rest and stuff. So that’s where I am. It might be a blessing in disguise because I will be able to move when I get out of here, plus it’s a springboard to catapult me into summer health and goodness.

My dad lent me his wireless card while I’m in here so I can get online and do all kinds on internet things. I wanted to work on BrianandBobbySpeak.com while I’m in here, do you still want to do it? Lemme know, my friend Chris is going to help us put it together.

Oh, I checked out Sunset and really like them! I’m excited to see and hear the WeatherVane project unfold. Are you into any other new music nowadays, specifically in Philly? I’m trying to discover new Philly music.

Anywho, hope you’re well. Talk to you soon,

B.

Brian D. McTear to me

Apr 13, 2009

Hey man!

Crap. Well, I am glad you can see the bright side. I am psyched that you’ll be pulling together BrianandBobbySpeak.com.

Check out tumblr.com. That’s what I used to do the WV blog and it’s SUPER SUPER easy, and can look good. Your friend can do the HTML theme, etc.

Let me know if you need anything else while you are in there. I’ll be coming in for a visit to Marianne and Giovanna on Tuesday the 21st.

I wouldn’t know where to start with Philadelphia music:

There’s another WV band that we’ll announce in a few weeks called Danielson (earlier they were Danielson Famile). Incredibly unique and always on the boarder of bizarre. They have great videos, as well. Daniel and I work together a lot. I mixed a couple records for other artists Daniel produced last year: Woven Hand, Dan Zimmerman, Soul Junk. Last week we finished mixing an album he produced for a band call Ortolan. Last Summer Daniel and I produced a band called MeWithoutYou. They are probably the biggest band I’ve ever worked with. They are typically thought of as an Emo band, and weirder yet, a “Christian Emo” band… (Most of Daniel’s projects tend to be spiritually charasmatic), but the new record, I think at least, is a big departure. I’d recommend all the above.

Check out also: Audible, Espers, Capitol Years, ….

Do you have the Bitter bitter weeks albums? Or the Novenas album? (These are my and Amy’s bands) I could definitely deliver a couple CDs.

Hope you feel good in a couple days! Do you know how long you’ll be in? Let me know how blog stuff is going! I am super into it!

B

Robert Wolter to Brian

Apr 15, 2009

yo!

I am totally into this band Blood Feathers. I found them through listening to all the bands you mentioned. I really like Danielson, very cool stuff. You totally have to hook me up with Bitter Biiter Weeks and the Novenas! I don’t have any of your records aside from the music on Myspace. It’s funny my friend Liz was visiting me the other night and she told me she was at a wedding  years ago that you sang at! I forget who the mutual friend was…Philly is the ultimate “6 degrees of separation” town.

I’ll let you know about the progress with the blog.

A’ight talk to you later…

b.

Brian D. McTear to me

Apr 22, 2009

Hey Bobby!

I hope you are doing alright. Devin tells me you have pancreatitis! Crap! I am having miner problems in my small bowels right now. Nothing like what you have, but I am not eating til it passes, which I imagine you are also doing.

I went in and saw Marianne and Giovanna yesterday. I gave them a pile of CDs for you: all three Bitter bitter weeks albums and the Novenas album. The Novenas is Amy’s band that I also play in. Neither band is super active these days, but the albums, I think at least, are pretty great.

I do hope you are feeling better soon!  I can start to put together our blog today. I have no HTML skills, but I can put together the basic blog through tumblr. You down?

B

Robert Wolter to Brian

Apr 22, 2009

Hey…!!!

thanks so much for passing on your records, i’ve been listening starting with Peace is Burning Like a River. it’s awesome, i especially like the title track. the novenas rock, too! i really like you guys…

yeah i’ve been dealing with pancreatitis for about a week now. it’s a lot better but still so annoying. don’t you hate not eating?! it drives me crazy. i hope you’re not in too much pain or anything, i’m sorry to hear you’re having probs. i know for me the pain is the most frustrating/difficult aspect. i can remember when i used to rock out like jon bonham on a daily basis, now i’m more on the level of moe tucker (velvet underground). i just follow my dads advice which is adjust, adapt and overcome. i’m pushing dr. h to get me outta here by friday.

dude, kick ass on the tumblr, i am following it now so you can make me an admin whenever. how should we go about posting? i’ll try to work on a look for the site. maybe we should post pics of us (taken from our macs) everytime we post?

just an idea. lets have some fun with this.

Robert Wolter to Brian

Mar 6, 2009

hey.

have you and amy lived in philly all of your life? have you guys ever thought about transplanting yourself somewhere with a more temperate, drier climate? I wonder if I would feel any better if I lived in say San Diego or Arizona or maybe even Austin. _____ and I talk about it sometimes but both of us have very deep roots here. I think about a lot this time of year in anticipation of allergies and pollen and the hot humid Philly summers. I hope this summer though I can get down to the shore more often and visit the ocean.

I’m glad you like the Weeds! Dev is a real hero with all the work he does with us and I hope the record turns out good. We’re playing the Fire this Saturday. It’s a “no practice/no worries” kinda gig. I love all your cat pics! I know exactly what it must be like at your house. My family thinks I’m nuts.