Mash-ups and DJ Earworm... new trend in music and technology

According to Jordan "DJ Earworm" Roseman, author of a primer on the topic:

"At its most basic, a mashup is simply the vocals of one song singing or
rapping over the instrumental of another song, assembled on a computer. Each component is edited to make sure the parts flow together seamlessly."

DJ EARWORM MASHUP MUSIC PRODUCER

You might think that a 5-minute mix of fragments from last year’s 25 most popular songs would result in an overwhelming barrage of unrelated experiences, a disposable novelty. Instead, DJ Earworm’s song “United State of Pop” went viral and turned into a national radio hit, being the first underground mashup to break into Mediabase’s Top 100 charts in the Urban and Pop radio formats.

Mashups have emerged as one of the most exciting and talked-about new musical trends of this century, with DJ Earworm re-imagining and re-defining the genre. The first wave of mashups simply featured the vocals of one song combined with the instrumental of another. Through his artistic and technological innovations, Earworm ushers in a second wave, further breaking our musical landscape into myriad fragments and re-weaving them into new compositions of unexpected coherence and beauty.

Equipped with degrees in computer science and music, Earworm blends the arts of songwriting, music production and arrangement, remixing, database programming, and quantitative analysis. He writes custom software for live DJing and mashup production, and wrote the book on mashups (literally! –“Audio Mashup Construction Kit”, published by Wiley), sharing his secrets with a growing culture of DIY remixers. He’s created music for a diverse list of clients including MTV, Universal Records, Cartier, Google and the SF Museum of Modern Art. His DJ performances are in demand, giving events a range of moods all the way from quiet sophistication to rowdy revelry. Listen to his creations at djearworm.com.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Positive psychologist

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has contributed pioneering work to our understanding of happiness, creativity, human fulfillment and the notion of "flow" -- a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play and work.

This TED Talk focuses on Creativity, fulfillment, and flow.

Why you should listen to him:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. A leading researcher in positive psychology, he has devoted his life to studying what makes people truly happy: "When we are involved in [creativity], we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life." He is the architect of the notion of "flow" -- the creative moment when a person is completely involved in an activity for its own sake.

Csikszentmihalyi teaches psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, focusing on human strengths such as optimism, motivation and responsibility. He's the director the the Quality of Life Research Center there. He has written numerous books and papers about the search for joy and fulfillment.

"A man obsessed by happiness."

Richard Flaste, New York Times

Creative Cities Summit 2.0 MLK Marching Band

DSCN0460
Originally uploaded by Ana Luisa Cardona

Detroit's Martin Luther King HS Marching Band opened the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 with great energy.

To view photos and visual notes from this international gathering that took place in Detroit, MI Oct. 11-15, 2008, go to:

http://flickr.com/photos/31598310@N06/sets/72157608219087495/