ONOFFON

[onoffon]

Oct 14, 2008, 9:33pm, onoffon wrote:I have to say, it doesn't happen very often these days, but there's nothing better than having someone buy one of our CDs.A few days ago, a gentleman in Great Britain decided to buy our latest CD, Bridge to Presage, from our CD Baby page. He just found it on the site and bought it. How very cool...Then, today, I get another email from CD Baby. Apparently, this gentleman enjoyed it so much that he returned to buy copies of our first two CDs also, Surrender Now and Your Mind.How cool is that?!?!??!!!??Success is measured in many different ways. In our own little way, today was a wonderful success... As a very pleasant follow up to the post above, I happened to visit one of our CD Baby pages today and, lo and behold, it turns out that the gentleman from Great Britian who bought all of our CDs apparently returned to review each one - Surrender Nowhttp://cdbaby.com/cd/onoffonFive Starsjoe.ukauthor: Mr J Westcott"what a diverse band of sounds. jazz fusion instrumentals what great musicianship arranged at the very top of ones game. you must get this album."Your Mindhttp://cdbaby.com/cd/onoffon2Five Starsjoe.ukauthor: Mr J Westcott"for me onoffon cant do a thing wrong. one word amazingly brilliant. ok two words. extraordinaire. ok three then...."Bridge to Presagehttp://cdbaby.com/cd/onoffon3Five Starsjoe.ukauthor: Mr J Westcott"this is one of the best albums i've put my pound notes on in a long time so if you got half a brain about great music then this is one of 3 onoffon albums you've just got to get."joe.ukauthor: Mr J WestcottFive Stars"i have already done a review on this album but im sorry i didn't write what i should have and that is. wonderful. talented. impeccable playing bunch of the highest extraordinaire tremendous musicians that as blown me away. this for me is a master peace of brilliant music. so from the bottom of my heart i thank you."I guess he liked Bridge to Presage so much he felt compelled to review it a second time... Our sincere gratitude to Mr. J Wescott for his wonderful opinions about our music...

[sgs4u]

What a groovemaster!

[onoffon]

Haha, Steve - he was the dashing Hollywood jazz star in his day!I wanted to post something not self promotional - but joyfully inspirational.When I started working at the tender age of 21 at Universal Studios in the special effects department, I worked with many, many special effects men and women. There, of course, were the grizzled old veterans who had worked on films dating back to the silent era, and everything in between. Those of us who started around the same time had grown a special bond between us - learning on the job and flying by the seat of our pants. One such close friend of mine was a guy by the name of Burt Dalton. We had an inside joke, Burt and I, because we (very vaguely) looked alike - and many of the grizzled old veterans used to get us mixed up all the time - so he would call me Burt and I would call him Von and we'd always laugh about it. He was a great guy - hard worker - and good effects man. I even attended his wedding back in the 80's.I tell you all this because last Sunday night, I was very happy and priviledged to see my good friend, Burt Dalton, receive his first Academy Award for his participation in the visual effects team for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.It was a very special feeling to see someone who I knew so well receive an award like that. WAY TO GO, BURT!!!!!

[onoffon]

In the category of "opinions are like *ssholes, everybody's got one", I just received an almost forgotten review request I made from a website that used to be Gods of Music but is now called cOnsensus. They have a group of four or five reviewers listen to the same song and give an average "consensus" review of that song. So, last year sometime, I requested a review on our song, Weekend in Montreal, and this is what finally came back -Consensus Music Reviews -http://www.c0nsensus.com/Song: 'Weekend in Montreal' by ONOFFONhttp://www.c0nsensus.com/reviewDetail.php?requestID=1051Score: 7.14 / 10 MongoKnowsRecords gave a score of 9.12 / 10. Comments were: Dis be da classic Jazz - cruisin' into the future. Everybody in this band is seasoned. They know where they are and where each other are. This is one of those all to rare situations where everybody involved is listening. Great Piece from the Pros.. BEYOND BONEZ Scoring: Songcraft: 9, Recording: 9, Freshness: 9, Musicianship: 10, XFactor: 9.5 nb gave a score of 8.5 / 10. Comments were: Wonderful fusion composition I love the swing start. Deluxe jazz chops and the tenor sax delicious and unpredictable fiery and passionately sexy. The dynamic changes were timely and created depth to the masterful performance. I would love to spend a weekend in Montreal. Scoring: Songcraft: 8.5, Recording: 9, Freshness: 8.5, Musicianship: 9.5, XFactor: 8 Axeman gave a score of 6.37 / 10. Comments were: Interesting jazz that's on and off at times. Terrific sax playing, and the musicians clearly know what theyre doing. WOuld probably be a great live show. The recording suffers from the sax being too high in the mix, making it tough to hear the interaction with the other instruments. Also, the segues between themes could be a bit smoother. I'm no jazz authority but i enjoyed this one. Scoring: Songcraft: 6.5, Recording: 4, Freshness: 8, Musicianship: 9, XFactor: 7 Joga gave a score of 2 / 10. Comments were: Oh my, I might turn this off. The beginnings is so busy that I get a headache. Sometimes that is ok, when it feels musically inspired and is played with a great deal of feeling, but this is just...a lot of sax. When I get to the calm part, I know for sure that techniques is a bit more prominent with the saxophonist than playing from the heart. I have listened to quite a lot of jazz, and this needs to either be spiced up in the busy parts to make it experimental and maybe interesting then, or softened up with a lot of heart all over to at least send some sort of a message to the listener. As it is now, I'm just confused over what you're tryig to show/tell me. I'm bored. Scoring: Songcraft: 1.5, Recording: 6, Freshness: 0.5, Musicianship: 5, XFactor: 0I would venture to say that the last guy probably shouldn't be reviewing jazz but that's cool - it's an honest opinion and it shows how alien jazz is to some people. Even with his score of 2, we averaged 7.14, which qualified us to be on their 'best of the best' page, at #103 -Consensus Music Reviews - Our PicksThe Best of the Best!http://www.c0nsensus.com/ourpicks.phpYou'll notice our song, The Gift Must Always Move, still holds the #29 spot with an averaged score of 7.80.If you're not into instant gratification, feel free to submit some music and wait a year or more...

[davekershaw]

Wow Von!A range of 1.5 to 9 for songcraft and musicianship 5 to 10! There really is nowt so queer as folk!!

[onoffon]

Mar 5, 2009, 9:12am, davekershaw wrote:Wow Von!A range of 1.5 to 9 for songcraft and musicianship 5 to 10! There really is nowt so queer as folk!! Isn't that amazing, Dave? It just shows how personal musical opinion is.I just looked at Joga's reviewer page on the site and she describes herself as "Swedish girl looking for some fun"...Now, imagine the screener listening to one of our tunes has the ear of Mongo. He hears near perfection so he forwards it on to the job and you feel great about what you've accomplished.But, and that's a big butt, the music supervisor has the ear of Joga and can't understand why something like this would even be sent to her.Granted, this would be an extreme case and hopefully a screener is a little more in touch with what the job is asking for, nonetheless, this is a perfect example of how night and day someone's opinions of the same piece of music can be...Unbelievable....

[davekershaw]

Quote:I just looked at Joga's reviewer page on the site and she describes herself as "Swedish girl looking for some fun"...That says it all Von.She's obviously just having a laugh! Not the kinda person you really want reviewing serious music!

[onoffon]

Mar 5, 2009, 12:15pm, davekershaw wrote:Not the kinda person you really want reviewing serious music!Well... I would agree with you in regards to being part of a review website, but she is a viable opinion and she demonstrates how some jazz is perceived by the casual listening audience.She says she listens to jazz - I would be curious to hear the jazz she appreciates.On the other hand, my favorite from the other reviewers' scores was the Freshness factor. We got a 9, 8.5, and 8.5 - on a jazz fusion tune we released on our first album back in 1997. The 10, 9.5, and 9 in Musicianship felt good too but having it score that well for freshness is great to me.I've mentioned before that we were one of the first 100 members on CD Baby and Derek Sivers wrote to me and requested the right to include this song on their first 'Best of the Best of CD Baby' compilation CD. I still have a copy of it...It's just nice that it's still can be so well received... by some...

[onoffon]

I posted this on the general board but I thought it should be archived in this thread as well...Many of you know of my film background, mainly in special effects. One of the movies I put almost a year and a half of myself into was John Carpenter's The Thing. I worked on the mechanical effects crew for about eight months and another eight months on the makeup effects crew.While hooking up over on FaceBook with an old friend who also worked on the film, I learned that there is a gentleman in the U.K. who is writing a book about the making of John Carpenter's The Thing. I have recently completed my third hour of phone interviews he has conducted with me about my experiences on the film. There have been a few stories I've contributed that no one else brought up so I know I will be mentioned more than a few times in the book. And, I have a few choice pieces of conceptual art and a few pics that I am sending him copies of. He's hoping to have the book completed by the end of this summer, but you know how that goes.It's something I am definitely looking forward to. He said he would continue to contact me if any other questions come to mind. I'm also reviewing the movie to see if I can jar any other memories... What fun...

[onoffon]

Well... I guess after playing in my cover band for more than three years now, I might as well post some pics -Here's one of the lead singer, Mark Anthony Warner, and myself rockin' out -And another of me doin' what I was born to do -BTW - we call ourselves Killer Chihuahua (I don't think I've admitted that until now) and we have a MySpace page with no music (since we do cover only with no licensing in place). But, there's plenty of pics of the band and the regulars that come see us. http://www.myspace.com/killercbandBeing on stage is 'going to my happy place'...