Dean Madonia: Digression

The simple answer is - yes. I have been waiting all of my life to see the right woman get elected as president of the USA. Do I want Hillary to win? No way.
Why not? I don't believe Hillary is the right woman. I have grown tired of hearing her tired, weak rhetoric, trying her best to be "folksy," sharing different fictional scenarios (in a robotic voice that seems to have been borrowed from Al Gore). A few of my favorite recent examples are the "90-year-old women who didn't even have the right to vote..." and how happy they would supposedly be to see Hillary as president (even though they couldn't have voted anyway because they were minus two years old at the time - national women’s suffrage did not exist until 1920. Hillary, you would have needed to talk to a group of 106-plus-year-olds).

Or how about the cute story of father with his little girl on his shoulders telling her "yes, you can be anything you want to be!" (If you graduate from Yale , become a rich lawyer and your husband become president, etc....).

Hillary even compared herself to fictional hero Rocky Balboa. C'mon girl - don't even go there.

Everything I hear out of Hillary's mouth these days is either some whimsical George-Bush-inspired-folksy-annecdote, or some silly, slanderous comment towards Barack Obama.

I hope everyone is paying attention to all of this. I mean REALLY paying attention. I am not saying that Barack Obama has not said anything negative about either Clinton or McCain . He probably has. I personally have never heard him say much about either, but every time I hear Obama speak, he addresses all of the issues that concern me and our nation in an intelligent and reasonable manner. He stays focused on the issues. He lets the facts speak for themselves - rais ipsa loquitur they say in Latin.
Hillary calls Barack a dreamer. Aren't we all dreamers? Whatever happened to the "American dream?" Was it negotiated away overseas to the highest bidder by a team of lawyers? To quote writer Arianna Huffington on dreaming big: "That's the problem with leaders like Lincoln, Kennedy, and Martin Luther King -- they just weren't realistic enough. King shouldn't have said, "I have a dream!," he should have said, "I have a realistic view of what we should settle for! We probably won't be able to pass the Civil Rights Act, but we might be able to pass a bill condemning segregated water fountains. You probably won't be able to sit at the front of the bus, but I might be able to get you to the middle."

Think about it...

I have nearly completed the new country CD - "Country and Midwestern." I am just re-doing the scratch vocals and then I mix. I sang 5 songs today. I should have all 14 done by the end of the week.

For old fans, this will be something a little different, but if you liked "Deep Sky," you should like this one a lot.

Stay tuned!

Dean

The movie "Foodfight!" has been pushed back again - probably until September. The rendering is way behind schedule and Threshold has just purchased 90 more machines to try to finish the movie up.
Keith and Scott and I have a song in the movie, "Honor Is Ours," and I am hoping the movie and soundtrack are a smash.

Last night I was performing at "Mojo's" in Grand Rapids and the place was rockin. a pretty good night. Well, the night got better when Dale Wallace (keyboard)
Mike Melancon (drums) walked in and joined me for a 45 minute set after their show at the Van Andel Arena with Emerson Drive. I love their song "Moments (written by Sam and Annie Tate and Dave Berg) and I actually knew it. Some of the fans from the show were there and they wanted to hear an Emerson drive song and I got to sing one of my favorite songs with one of my new favorite bands! Sometimes good things happen to good people (and me too).

I am paying for the big night with a horrible day-after - Snowed-in at the Detroit airport waiting for a flight that might not take off till tomorrow. what do you make when life hands you snow? Sno-cones...At least i get a chance to ...drink Starbucks and...uh, eat Quiznos and...buy one of those fleece blankets I have been coveting for so long.

Get ready! I have almost completed tracking my new country music CD "Country and Midwestern. This Cd is all solo written and features my brother-man Val Evans on guitar, Randy "Red" Ridenour on Drums and Brian Eckert on bass. i will be playing guitars and keys. Bruce Boughton will be featured on pedal steel on a few songs and I am also going to have Larry Beaird cut some acoustic tracks. People that know me as a rocker should not be scared, I have been writing country for years and the two styles are starting to come together - It's country that rocks, Mid-western country - hence the title track.! Think Keith Urban, Rascall Flatts, meets Skynyrd and the Eagles.

For anyone who feels let down - never fear - a very angry un-marketable prog-influenced Cd is sure to follow!

Here is what I found for 2006 for top Google seaches:

1. bebo ( What?)
2. myspace
3. world cup
4. metacafe
5. radioblog
6. wikipedia
7. video
8. rebelde (again - what?)
9. mininova
10. wiki

Google News - Top Searches in 2006
1. paris hilton (why?)
2. orlando bloom
3. cancer (sad)
4. podcasting
5. hurricane katrina
6. bankruptcy
7. martina hingis (who?)
8. autism (sad)
9. 2006 nfl draft
10. celebrity big brother 2006 (dumb)


I can understand many of those searches, now I'll have to do a search to see what some of those things are. Don't get old!)

Great news!

I have written a song with my friends Scott Avery and Keith Ridenour that will be on the soundtrack of the movie, "Foodfight!" Foodfight is an animated film by Threshold Entertainment and Lion's Gate Films directed by Lawrence Kasanoff and starring the voices of: Charlie Sheen, Hilary Duff, Greg Ellis, Haylie Duff, Eva Longoria, Christopher Lloyd, Chris Kattan, and Wayne Brady to mention a few.
The song is called "Honor Is Ours," and it was recorded right here at Soft Monkey Music. The wise and wonderful music supervisor, Michael Lloyd liked the demo so much that we cleaned it up a little and re-mixed it and it is going in just like that! We are calling the band "The Swamp-daddies," so that is the name you will see in the credits. Hopefully you will recognize my voice on the track. Michael is a very busy man and we are looking forward to working with him again on future projects.

The three of us will be billed as a band "The Swamp-daddies" - Dean Madonia, Scott Avery and Keith Ridenour.

Ok, I don't want to seem like Dennis Miller here (especially since he became so unfunny and right-wing), but I feel the need to let off some steam. I have tried since I moved to Nashville to be a more positive and less critical person, and I think that I have largely succeeded in that department (If you only knew me before), but I must admit that I am quite upset about CNN. This is a station that is supposed to be reporting news and instead seems like some sort of bad entertainment show. I have never been a big fan of CNN (except for James Earl Jones' voice on the re-joins), and lately I can only stand to flip it on to see what the top stories are, war, famine, floods, etc. You know - NEWS stories. When I have turned it on this week it is Britney Spears Shaving her head, Anna Nicole Smith's refrigerator contents (and custody battle AND will), and stalking Angelina Jolie.

I just want to know who in the hell cares about this stuff? Obviously somebody does care so much that CNN is in a frenzy to cover it for fear of losing a single viewer. How many viewers are they losing because of their new infotainment format?

Doesn't anybody understand the difference between News and Entertainment? Does anybody out there still care about what's going on in the world?
I feel a little bad that Anna Nicole Smith was so materialistic, dumb and drugged that she made such bad choices and surrounded herself with carrion. I am sure that the "Oops I did It Again" girl achieved super-stardom at too early an age and can't handle losing her edge. It sucks that we live in an age where people want to become famous (not for anything in particular - just famous). Well, there is a price to pay for that kind of fame - (Paris Hilton) and America wants to see you pay it.

What a world this is. Celebrities rule. Where are the heroes? The President? Hell no! Not for a long time The last occupation where that title "hero" stood firm and without question was Astronaut. Now we can't even count on them not to be a bunch of freaks.

We need some heroes. Help!

I would like to thank everyone who came to the world famous (really) Bluebird show last night. I really appreciate all of your support and I hope you enjoyed what I thought was a wonderful show with; Trent Jeffcoat, Scott Avery, Deanna Walker and myself. Everyone sounded great and hats off (pun intended) to Trent who is a star that has jst not been discovered yet.. We also had a special guest, Rick Beresford, who sang his new, bluesy version of his old George Jones hit, "If Drinkin Don't Kill me (Her Memory Will)" The whole thing was recorded by the staff at the Bluebird and I will probably put a song or two on the new live CD I am working on. I have been playing in public since I was 8 years old and I am never nervous about a gig, but I did have a litle of the Albert Brooks "flop sweat" ala "Broadcast News" on the first couple numbers. Ha!
Well, one down and hopefully many more to go.

Download individual tracks and help a brutha out!

DEAN MADONIA: The Light Of Reason @ Apple iTunes

DEAN MADONIA: Deep Sky @ Apple iTunes

DEAN MADONIA: Madness And Desire, One Night In America - Apple iTunes

Wyscan CD "Third Wish" to be re-released
Current mood: determined
Category: Music

I have heard from Javier Carrion (bass player from the now defunct prog-rock band Wyscan) that there is interest in re-releasing the CD "Third Wish." I am very excited to hear this news. The Band Wyscan featured jazz guitar player Jonathan Kreisberg, John Roggie on keyboards, Vince Verderame on drums, Javi on bass, and myself on vocals. This was a very positive and happy period of my life and the CD was a long time in the making. Though we had received some distribution through LoLo Records in Japan at the time of release, the band was already broken up and there was nobody pushing it because of new projects. I always hated seeing that Cd die, and I hope this re-release will bring back what I feel was a timeless album of prog material. More news when I get it.

Having a rainy Halloween here in Nashville. Me and the kid have the flu. Tried to vote early tonight with Trina and the lines were crazy - skipped Karate. Trick-or-treaters coming to the door, more than we expected, we are running out of candy.

Halloween is my favorite holiday and we kind of skipped it. I will be a better neighbor (more decorations and more treats) and a better dad (more decorations and more treats again) next year.

There's not much to say that hasn't been said. Today i recieved an email saying that one of my songs was featured in a podcast "Make Blogs Not War." I went to check it out and there is a pretty good show there and they are featuring my 9/11 song, "Cannot Turn Away." The podcast made me sad - these views are my views and have been since the beginning. I am making the song, "Cannot Turn Away" available on my website for free download today.

If you want to listen to the podcast, it is at:

http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/podshow_details.php?ShowHash=4bb3fc861c566d8ed7326051e12e15f0#

As you may know, I play cover songs for a living. I have been in over 40 bands in my musical life. I have played and heard many songs that I wish that I had written. This is not a song, but this is definately something I wish I wrote - It's almost too true to be funny, and whoever came up with this is on my good list! Here it is:

How To Request A Song From The Band:

When requesting a song from the band, just say "play my song!" We have chips implanted in our heads with an unlimited database of the favorite tunes of every patron who ever walked into a bar and all songs ever recorded so feel free to be vague; we love the challenge.

If we say we really don't remember that tune you want, we're only kidding. Bands do know every song ever recorded, so keep humming. Hum harder if need be--it helps jog the memory, or just repeat your request over and over again.

If a band tells you they do not know a song you want to hear, they either forgot they know the tune or they are just putting you on. Try singing a few words for the band. Any words will do.

It also helps to scream your request from across the room several times per set followed by the phrases, "AW COME ON!" and, "YOU SUCK!" Exaggerated hand gestures expressing disapproval from the dance floor are a big help as well, such as the thumbs down or your middle finger up. Put-downs are the best way to jog a band's memory. This instantly promotes you to the status of "Personal Friend Of The Band." You can bet your request will be the next song we play.

Entertainers are notorious fakers and jokesters and never really prepare for their shows.They simply walk on stage with no prior thought to what they will do once they arrive. We don't actually make set lists or rehearse songs. We mostly just wait for you to yell something out, then fake it.

An entertainer's job is so easy, even a monkey could do it, so don't let them off the hook easily. Your request is all that matters. Once you've figured out what genre of music the band plays, please make your requests from a totally different genre. The more exaggerated the better. If its a blues band playing, yell for some Metallica or Slayer or Pantera. Likewise, if its a death-speed metal band, be sure to request Brown-eyed Girl or some Grateful Dead. Musicians need to constantly broaden their musical horizons, and its your job to see that it happens--immediately.

''TALKING WITH THE BAND''

The best time to discuss anything with the band in any meaningful way is at the middle of a song when all band members are singing at the same time. Our hearing is so advanced that we can pick out your tiny voice from the megawatt wall of sound blasting all around us. And we can converse with you in sign language while singing the song and playing our instruments, so don't worry that we're in the middle of singing and playing the chorus.

Musicians are expert lip readers too. If a musician does not reply to your question or comment during a tune, it's because they didn't get a good look at your mouth in order to read your lips. Simply continue to scream your request and be sure to over emphasize the words with your lips. This helps immensely.

Singers have the innate ability to answer questions and sing at the same time. If the singer doesn't answer your questions immediately, regardless of how stupid the question may seem, it's because they are purposely ignoring you. If this happens, immediately cop an attitude. We love this.

''IMPORTANT''

When an entertainer leans over to hear you better, grab his or her head in both hands and yell directly into their ear, while holding their head securely so they cannot pull away. This will be taken as an invitation to a friendly and playful game of tug of war between their head and your hands. Don't give up! Hang on until the singer or guitar player submits. Drummers are often safe from this fun game since they usually sit in the back, protected by the guitar players. Keyboard players are protected by their instrument, and only play the game when tricked into coming from behind their keyboards. Though difficult to get them to play, it's not impossible, so keep trying. They're especially vulnerable during the break between songs.

''HELPING THE BAND''

If you inform the band that you are a singer, the band will appreciate your help with the next few tunes, or however long you can remain standing on stage. If you're too drunk to stand unassisted, simply lean on one of the band members or the most expensive piece of equipment you see. Make sure you set you beverage on a really nice speaker or keyboard as well. Just pretend you're in a Karaoke bar. Simply feel free to walk up on stage and join in. By the way, the drunker you are, the better you sound, and the louder you should sing. If by chance you fall off the stage, be sure to crawl back up and attempt to sing harmony. Keep in mind that nothing assists the band more than outrageous dancing, fifth and sixth part harmonies, or a tambourine played on one and three and out of tempo. Try the cowbell--they love the challenge.The band always needs the help and will take this as a compliment.

Finally, the microphone and PA system are merely props, they don't really amplify your voice, so when you grab the mic out of the singers hand be sure to scream into it at the top of your lungs, otherwise no one will hear what a great singer you are. Hearing is over-rated anyhow. The crowd and the sound guy will love you for it.

''BONUS TIP''

As a last resort, wait until the band takes a break and then get on stage and start playing their instruments. They love this. Even if you are ejected from the club, you can rest assured in the fact you have successfully completed your audition. The band will call you immediately the following day to offer you a position.

I have been sorting through a lot of live recordings that I have been making for the last 10 years. The recordings vary from straight off the board to 24 track mixes and span 10 years of live prformances. I am trying to decide whether to include recordings of the band "Wyscan" in this collection (I may include two tracks from tha live Selkirk/Comcast video). If anyone has any favorite shows or songs that they would want to see included in this collection, please email me at:
deanmadonia@yahoo.com

I will have this collection mastered at "Yes Master" and made available for sale on CD Baby.com.

Nashville's Lightning 100 is featuring yours truly all week long on their "Lightning Goes Local" at 2:40pm and 8:40pm. I am one of two featured artists, I was on Monday at 2:40, I am guessing I will be on tonight at 8:40pm, wednesday, 2:40, Thurs 8:40, Fri 2:40....

This is really a great week for me! Thanks for supporting live music and especially mine...

-D

The Cd party was a smash. We had a great introduction by Cat Bowser, the guys played their butts off, Mark Hornsby recorded the performance to 24 tracks (I will be mixing this next week) and Shawna (the owner of Caffeine) put out a lot of great food and there were no disasters. I sold a lot of Cds too.

Because of my promotion with the company RadioDirectX, "The Light Of Reason" has so far been requested and shipped to 24 radio stations worldwide including:

Jason Wellwood
CILU 102.7FM
Canada

william jervis
Radio lu
Luxembourg

Mudshark
KVMR-FM Nevada City
California
United States

Ed Blake
CJSF
Canada

Matt Rhodes
Matt Rhodes
Pennsylvania

Sean Ison
ILR Television and Radio
Australia

Uwe Golz
Deutschlandradio Kultu
Germany

Tony Bates
Highlands 100.7FM
Australia

Louie Duvall
CKRL-FM 89.1 Quebec city,Canada
Canada

Jorge Medeiros
Musicatotal Radio
Portugal

Erik Vande Voorde
Radio Beiaard
Belgium

Jan Nederveen
Radio Heerde
Netherlands

Hooah Radio
Florida
United States

The Music Korner
Pennsylvania
United States



KWEB-FM
California
United States

Tom Bingham
WCVF-FM
New York
United States

Serge Kozlovsky
Minsk
Belarus

David WILLS
91.3FM Radio NAG
Australia

Kate Klein
KMUD KMUE KLAI FM
California
United States

If you live near any of these stations, call in and request something from "The Light Of Reason"

Howdy!

I am getting a little nervous and a lot excited about the May 7th show at Caffeine, Nashville. caffeine is normally closed on Sunday nights, but they are opening up for us from 6 - 8PM!

If you only come to one show, Come see us on the 7th. This is the official CD relase party for Dean Madonia's, "The Light Of Reason," and "Madness And Desire, One Night In America." Both CD's will be released at the same time! This party will feature the Dean Madonia Band (Nashville) which is:
Dean - Vox, guitar, keys,
Val Lupescu - Guitar,
Mike Walter Drums,
and Travis Vance - Bass.

This is the one to see! WE WILL BE MAKING A 24 TRACK RECORDING OF THIS ALL AGES SHOW! BRING YOUR MOM, BRING YOUR KIDS, BRING THE DOG (STAY OUT ON THE PORCH). THIS WILL BE A HUGE NIGHT AND THERE SHOULD BE A GREAT TURN-OUT.

The ASCAP Expo in LA, CA was incredible. I met so many famous people: Glen Phillips from "Toad the Wet Sprocket," (really cool) Eric Bazillion from "The Hooters" (really cool and also wrote "What If God Was One Of Us"), Jimmy Webb - for the 4th time, Allan and Marylin Bergman (Windmills of Your Mind), Publisher Melanie Howard (Harlan Howards widow who owns "Harlan Howard Songs," she is very nice). Her company just signed that housewife Lori, that was on Oprah that has all of the Faith Hill cuts). Melanie liked a song I played for her and I just MP3'd her another...

I saw Tom Petty interviewed, performances by John Rich, HEART!!!!!!!!! and many others. Heart still rocks. I love them, and those songs unplugged - unbelievable!

I pitched a song to Gustavo Fernandez from Miami. He owns a label "Ghordo Music" and was in town to see one of his acts FULANO perform at the Knitting Factory. I met FULANO and found out that his good friend sung the spanish parts on the song I want him to sing. We shall see what becomes of that...

Scott Avery and I had a blast, we handed out CDs like candy and learned a lot. I networked like a carney...

A great time was had by all.