ONOFFON

[onoffon]

Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from the Music Street Journal, who gave us a very complimentary review of our CD, Surrender Now, that I've posted back somewhere in the confines of this thread - they have decided to produce a comp CD featuring artists they've featured in their time on the internet. At no cost to the artists (which is a rarity) and, in fact, paying royalties (which is even more of a rarity) to the participating artists. This project is in its early inception, so it won't happen right away, but I look forward to being a part of it -"Hello Von... At MSJ we have been trying for several years to work out a way to do compilation CD's of the artists we feature. It seems a good way for the readers to sample a lot of different music with less risk than buying a full CD by a given artist. For the musicians it would represent a way to gain greater exposure. I would like for the first batch to do one prog, one metal and one non-prog, beyond that, it's all up to the individual artists. So far it looks like we are definitely on our way to a prog rock one. Thanks, and I look forward to working with you on this project. Gary HillMusic Street Journal"I have recently sent Gary our second CD, Your Mind, and I'm hoping he has a review soon that I will add to our archives here at TAXI. Our thanks to the Music Street Journal and Gary Hill for offering us this promotional opportunity...

[onoffon]

ONOFFON's SSP of the Day focuses on possible future gigs - the first at the NoHo Arts Festival that takes place in early summer in North Hollywood - the festival coordinator wrote me recently -NoHo Fest 2005"Hi Von,I was very impressed with your background and experience. In October please give me a call. I am in the middle of a 2 day music festival for September and want to wait til that is completed.Look forward to speaking with you.Nancy"Thanks to Nancy for her consideration - I also had the pleasure of speaking with Roscoe Lee Owens who runs the JazzZone in Pasadena and also coordinates the Pasadena Playboy Jazz Festival each year. Nothing written in stone but we are tentatively scheduled to perform at the 2005 event - it would be a great place to debut our new CD material in a live performance - thanks to Roscoe...

[onoffon]

The ONOFFON SSP of the Day is a rather tremendous review, written by a member of an incredibly intense rock band called Poised For The Worm - I met him in the early days of Mp3.com and we gained a mutual respect for what each other was doing - here's what he posted just yesterday about our music -PFTW http://www.poisedfortheworm.ca/ Review http://p205.ezboard.com/fthewormhole758 ... ID=4.topic "Onoffon are a dichotomy of strong fundamental jazz roots and ultra-progressive-post-rock-funk-latin vibes. Comprised of members Don Lake - guitars, harmonica, vocals; Von Babasin - bass, keyboards, vocals; and Dave Goode - drums and percussion, this LA-based trio of players know how to put your speakers through a good workout. Listening to an Onoffon track is like being swept away to a place where everything is right with the world musically and perfection seems to be within grasp. Von Babasin plays bass and sings for this band of musical thoroughbreds. He and I have had many exchanges online and I'm proud to consider him a friend and avid supporter of PFTW considering the league he and his bandmates are in is outside our stratosphere. When I use the word thoroughbred, I'm not just grasping at adjectives, I really mean it. Von's father Harry Babasin was a jazz legend in his time. He was one of the first bassists to lead his own band. He played the first recorded pizzicato jazz cello in 1947. He is recognized as the brainchild Of the style later known as the Bossa Nova in 1952. He played with such greats as Louis Armstrong, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Benny Goodman to name just a few. If you're thinking that those are pretty big shoes to fill you are correct, but Onoffon hold their own. If you do a quick search for them online you will be bombarded with review after review praising these guys and their music. I don't think I've ever read a negative word on their music. There's good reason for this... You see, Onoffon write and perform with such technical precision and unbelievable feel that they paint lush aural landscapes with their music and you'll swear you can see their sound in your mind and emanating from your eyeballs. If I were to recommend some Onoffon tracks to beginners, just to get your feet wet, I would start you off with the jazzier side of the band and point you in the direction of songs like "Mardi Gras" and "Weekend in Montreal" (you can find these @ Soundclick). These tracks remind you that Onoffon's roots are firmly planted in the world of jazz and that as a jazz band, they're solid, and write instantly recognizable pieces with great hooks, nice beats, great stops and changes and masterful musicianship. Almost secondary to the entire thing, but not unimportant is the production-level on all of these tracks. You can tell that these guys grew up in or around a recording studio. Now that you have listened to the first wave of Onoffon and developed a level of comfort with their sound and style you may be thinking to yourself, "OK Al, these guys are good and I like their songs and all, but I really don't hear anything that sets them apart from other good jazz bands." I know that's what you were thinking, don't lie. Let me now direct your attention to Onoffon the other side. Mosey on over to SongPlanet and take a listen to "Your Mind". Pretty heavy eh? Not impressed yet? OK how about "Wet Legs"? Listen to that lush, sultry sound. Still nothing? Well then take both "Ocean's Cry" and "Surrender Now" and call me in the morning. Now I am no proponent of using bully-tactics to impose my opinion on others, but if by the end of your Onoffon listening session, you are still not convinced of this band's greatness, then promptly check yourself into the nearest institute or turn your computer off and proceed to tune your radio to the nearest top-40 radio station, you are a lost cause."Our sincere thanks to Al from Poised For The Worm for his support of our music...

[onoffon]

After yesterday's review, I thought todays' ONOFFON SSP of the Day will be short and sweet - it's from an artist I met while attending one of CD Baby's networking meetings, Clayton Lee -"Von, Thanks for the music, after listening to your CD, I've concluded shock treatments are in order. You're all so talented and it's so well recorded. Wow! What a concept entertaining ideas with chops. Clayton"Thanks Clayton - 'entertaining ideas with chops' - what a cool compliment...

[onoffon]

Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day will hopefully be a little fun for those who've followed this thread. In my early years, 1976-1983, I had a rather interesting day-job. While playing music on the side, I worked in special effects for Universal Studios. I worked on major motion pictures in my time there and I thought it would be fun to post some pics from my experiences in SPFX. Today's comes from the second movie I worked on, 'Jaws II', on which I worked for one and a half years, through pre production, the location in Navarre Beach, FL, and post production. Here's a shot I took of one of the shark burns we did - you can see the cameraman being lowered into the water on a crane from the boat I'm on as the shark bites into the cable it is 'electrocuted' by -My experiences at Universal taught me the necessary elements for my days as a music video producer and director, but that's for future posts...

[onoffon]

One more pic from my days in SPFX is today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day - this one is from John Carpenter's 'The Thing', which I worked on for more than a year and a half, first on the mechanical effects crew for Roy Arbogast, and then, for Rob Bottin on the makeup effects crew. Just before Charlie Hallahan's head rips itself off and runs away, a creature blows out of his chest - this is one stage in that sequence, with Charlie laying on the table with a prosthetic blown open chest attached to him. You can see the makeup in the foreground and a can of 3M adhesive spray next to his head used to attach the prosthetic to his body -Although I continued working occasionally on smaller, independent productions, I left Universal after this movie to more adequately pursue music....

[onoffon]

ONOFFON's SSP of the Day is another chapter in my personal saga - which I guess is what SSP is all about. After I left Universal, I was with a pop/rock group that had a P&D deal in Germany and the 'BeNeLux' countries through a small indie label here in L.A. With my background in film, they also hired me to be the production manager/director of their music video division. I represented the company twice at two of the early Billboard/MTV Music Video Conferences (before it became the MTV Music Video Awards) and even had a music video I directed up for independent award consideration in 1984. We lost out to the group, The Untouchables, for their video, "Free Yourself", but it was a remarkable experience. Here's a frame from the post-apocalyptic video called, "Blast", with artist, Lyndie White -After directing a half dozen music videos for my group and the other groups under contract to their company, they phased out their music video division and I went back to being a band member...

[drew]

Interesting stuff, Von. Did you ever get slapped by any starletts that made it big?

[onoffon]

Another page from my personal path to ONOFFON is today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day. While playing with yet another group I formed, The RH Factor, we were fortunate enough to score the opening slot at the First Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival in 1988. What a gig!!!! From left to right, keyboardist Jim Yeager, me on bass, drummer Jimmi Marcos, guitarist Robb Howell, and percussionist Elpidio Cobian. We were the only group to perform both days. The line up included artists like The Rippingtons, Ronnie Laws, Poncho Sanchez and Stanley Clarke. The stage was outside the Long Beach Arena (we used its dressing rooms) and overlooked the Queen Mary. After our Sunday performance, we were interviewed by famed jazz DJ, Chuck Niles (who recently passed away, R.I.P.) on live radio - KKGO at that time (now KKJZ).BTW Drew - I could tell you stories...

[onoffon]

A quick post for today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day - another from the Jazz Fest - I had the pleasure of meeting Stanley Clarke, who is one of my personal heroes as well as the reason I play an Alembic bass -He knew of, and respected, my father, which was an honor for me also. What an experience... Gotta run - I'm playing today...