My Heart in Focus: An Interview with Meleni Smith

By Gamal Hennessy

Creativity and connection are the heart of nightlife culture. The artists who perform and celebrate our experience are the foundation of that intimacy. As a fundamental part of our look at New York nightlife, we are going to take time to talk to the artists who bring life to connection. The first conversation in this series is with the singer songwriter Meleni Smith.

Vital Statistics

Name: Meleni Smith

Group Affiliation: solo

Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/melenismith

Latest Project: My Heart in Focus

Next New York Performance: 2.1.12

GH: How did your musical journey start? What was your first motivation? What was your first performance like?

MS: I started singing when I was six. The expression of music always moved me. It was the only art form, besides acting, that had the ability to make me feel extreme emotions.  I always felt very connected to it. My first performance was when I was in the 3rd grade for the entire school when I was chosen to sing the lead to "What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love." I was terrified. I wasn't even trying out for the lead but one of the student teachers overheard me singing to myself and told me to sing for my teacher.  I didn't even think I was doing anything special, but they chose me.  

GH: What is it about performing, especially performing in New York that you enjoy the most?

MS:  Performing is a rush.  You literally feel the adrenaline, the anxiety, the excitement… so many different emotions are experienced no matter the size of the audience.  I have such a love/fear relationship with it because the moment right before I begin, it's like looking down from the top of a cliff and everyone is telling you to jump.  But once you jump the relief and realization that you can do it and its ok feels so great.  Especially when the crowd is there with you and showing love and appreciation for what it is you're sharing. It's amazing.  I think some of the best crowds are in New York because New Yorkers really appreciate art and they love the experience of the live displays... but on the flip side New Yorkers are so spoiled.  They literally have seen and done it all so they can be tough crowds at times too.. haha.. But I love the energy always.  New Yorkers know what they like so if they're into it, they're REALLY into it. 

GH: How have your travels to places like Egypt and Thailand affected your writing and performing?

MS: Being exposed to different forms and styles always affects my art even if only on a subconscious level. I absorb it all and all sounds somehow find their way in my music whether it be new melodies that I pick up or rhythmic patterns.  Egyptian music, in general, uses more notes than American music so it was amazing to hear all the in between notes that I wasn't used to hearing on this side.  The entire experience of traveling by myself to these countries made me fearless and that fearlessness has definitely affected my performing.  I learned that life is really just about sharing your gifts with the people you meet and inspiring as many people as possible along the way. 

GH: What have you learned the most from working with artists like Alicia Keys and other superstars?

MS: I actually never got the opportunity to work with Alicia Keys but hearing her voice on one of my songs was awesome.  I guess from working with more well-known artists, I've learned that at the end of the day, we're all the same. We're all just artists yearning to express what we feel we need to channel into this world.  

GH: Tell me about the creative relationship between your music and your videos? Are they conceived and created at the same time or does one give rise to the other?

MS:  Everything begins with the music. The music is the fuel for all other art forms.

GH: Is there a driving message or focus in your new album?

MS: Well the record is called 'My Heart in Focus' and it basically chronicles falling in love, then falling from love or whatever happens when things change... what we all go through during this human experience. What reminds us that yes! We are alive!! It takes you on a journey of a heart. I have a song for every stage of love from the beginning to the very end. 

GH: What performances do you have planned for the new album in 2012? Are you planning a tour?

MS:  I'm just going with the flow.  I believe 2012 will be all about the flow... But definitely visit my pages for updates!!

http://www.reverbnation.com/melenismith

www.youtube.com/melenismith

www.facebook.com/melenismith

www.twitter.com/melilove

www.mymeleni.tumblr.com

Have fun.

G

The Social and Psychological Benefits of Pregaming

By Gamal Hennessy

According to the Urban Dictionary, pregaming is a synonym for drinking derived originally from tailgating before a sporting event such as a football game. It later became known as drinking before any major gathering. Many people see pregaming as simply a cheaper method for overconsumption. In many cases it can have that effect. What most people do not realize is that the practice also has social and emotional benefits based on bonding rituals that are a natural extension of the activity.

Protection and Identity

According to David Grazian in his book On the Make, nightlife is an anonymous environment. Very few people know who you are beyond what you tell them. This situation is beneficial for anyone who wants to redefine themselves or explore lifestyles that they are not familiar with. This relative anonymity is one of the reasons nightlife is so attractive to young people and counter cultures who are seeking to define themselves outside the framework of conventional society. But that same unknown quality can create a high level of anxiety and insecurity for anyone attempting to define their personae and exploring new situations involving class, age, race, or sex.

A pregame with friends serves two purposes here. First, it creates a social bond for the group that they can turn to for short term support as they venture out. The idea that a young lady won't be abandoned by her girls if she is approached by a questionable man gives her more confidence to go out. A boy who knows he won’t be rejected, isolated or unsupported makes going out easier, even if the bond is largely a facade. The pregame creates that short term bond that makes the rest of the night an enjoyable group activity instead of a nervous isolated one.

A pregame also offers an opportunity for the members of the group to engage in activities that display and reinforce their sexual identity. The subtext contained in the competitive drinking games, sharing stories of past adventures, and the collective preparation for the adventures to come all help to establish each members desired (or perceived) sexual and social status.  Because a large part of going out is about projecting image (even more than the actual sexual, consumption or experiential value) the pregame is a vital part of the process because it helps establish image for the night.

Not Drinking Just to Drink

Descriptions of pregame activities reinforce this concept. In Notes from the Night, Taylor Plimpton describes meeting his best friend at a bar for drinks before heading out to the clubs. The experience they share isn’t about the drinks they consume or any conversations they have with strangers at the bar. It is about connecting with each other in a way that prepares them to enter the nightlife environment with more comfort and pleasure than they would have by just going straight to the exclusive venue. Keep in mind, this bonding experience is often not the result of a conscious choice. It is a natural by-product of the activity that would probably be destroyed if the players went into it thinking about the bonding process.

There are many pregames that end in a sloppy mess. There are many nightlife players that are predisposed to overindulge in alcohol and only use the pregame as the first stop on the road to a drunken stupor. But this does not negate or diminish the value of the pregame on an emotional, psychological or social level. The title pregame is extremely accurate because much like the pep talk that players give each other before a game, pregame drinking puts nightlife players in the proper frame of mind to enjoy the night.

Have fun.

Gamal

How to Find Live Music in 2012 (Websites, Apps and Social Media)

By Gamal Hennessy

I hear a lot of good music when I go out. I also hear quite a few suspect DJ’s, bartender iPods and other random forms of bad music in bars and lounges. This is not a recipe for a good time. To reverse this disturbing trend, I decided to start 2012 by going to see more up and coming live musicians play.

As well intentioned as this idea was, it created a big question: How would I find music I liked without wasting time seeing bands I had no interest in? There are thousands of good musicians who play in New York every year, but I’m like you, I don’t have a lot of time to sift through a lot of white noise. I started looking for ways to focus in on the bands that sounded good to me and avoid everything else.

Like any other problem in 2012, I tried to solve it with an app* or a website. My research has led me to a few contenders that each attempt to connect you to the music you want to hear. This is by no means an extensive survey, but hopefully it will help you find your way to a decent show or two.

Live Music Apps

Gigbeat: The best thing about this app is that it only finds the concerts of artists you want to hear. When you download the app, it scans all the music on your phone, compares it to a database of artists on tour, and then gives you the listings of every musician you listen to who is currently performing. It will also give you an alert to let you know when your artist is playing in your area and allow you to buy tickets to the show.

But the reliance on your music collection is also the worst part of the app. By definition, music discovery isn’t part of the experience because it will only tell you about artists you already know. Also, there is a lot of information on this app about shows you probably can’t go to. It’s all well and good to know that your favorite singer is playing in Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo this month, but if you live in Brooklyn that’s not really helpful. Gigbeat is good, but a function that can suggest similar local artists to the ones on your phone would bridge the gap to make this app completely amazing.

Gigbox: This app has several layers that make it a good source for shows. It focuses on your location and pulls upcoming performances. When you scroll down and find something you like, you can add the event directly to your calendar, share the event with your friends, buy tickets, read the bio of the artist and see videos of them from Youtube. You can also search for specific artists and venues, but this function didn’t work as well as the location search.

As a music discovery tool, Gigbox works well. For every artist in the database, it also cross references with similar artists and the ability to see and hear them before you go to the bar is key. Once upon a time people were willing to hang out in bars and listen to new bands hoping to find something special. But this is New York in 2012. Who has time to sit through 10 bad to semi average bands to find one good one?

JamBase: JamBase is unique because it has both a website and an app, although neither one is very appealing. The website will allow you to search for artists and shows around the world and once you find something you like you can buy tickets, add it to your calendar, buy their music via iTunes, read articles about the artist, join contests and a lot of other different things. The app is a stripped down version of this. You can still add the event to your calendar and get a map to the venue but I found the rest of the interface rather clunky and annoying to use.

The major downside of both aspects of JamBase is the lack of samples. There is a lot of information to wade through on this site and when I was done I didn’t feel like I was any closer to deciding on where I wanted to go. I would avoid this site and the app until they clean up the interface and provide more solid discovery aspects.

Last FM: A lot of the apps on this list are powered by Last.fm, which is surprising considering how unfriendly this app turns out to be. It has functions featured shows, recommended shows and local shows, but it looks like none of those functions work unless you pay for the last.fm service. I can’t tell you how much that service is or if it is worth it because I never checked. There are too many other free services out there to pay for a subscription. I guess that’s why Last.fm has to make money licensing its system to other apps.

Live Concert: This app allows you to import information from other music services (Soundkick and Last.fm) and then lets you search for shows in your area. As a stand-alone app, Live Concert is redundant. It offers the barest of information about the shows, no suggestions or samples that I saw and no ability to export the show information out of the app. It also crashes sometimes, so it’s probably best to skip this one altogether.

Live & Local: This app sponsored by MTV will access your Facebook music likes and then suggest local shows based on your preferences. It sounds good in theory, but the execution was very underwhelming compared to the other apps. It took me several tries to get it to work at all and when it did analyze my preferences it only gave me two shows compared to the dozens offered up by the other services. This service needs a lot more integration and functionality before it is useful as a live music source.

Reverbnation: This might be the best website for live music discovery. Once you create a profile, you can search by artist, genre, location and date range. As you browse through the results, you can hear samples, save shows to your profile, buy tickets and reach out directly to the artist through FB, Twitter or the Reverbnation social network. As a music discovery site, this has almost everything you need to plan weeks and weeks of live music.

Unfortunately, there is a downside. Reverbnation has an app, but it is for musicians, not for fans. You can get to this website on your phone, but the experience is much better on a computer.

Technology has made live music much more rare in New York nightlife, but it can also lead you directly to the live music you want to see. If you have another site or app that belongs on this list, let me know. I’m always looking for more info.

Have fun.

G

* All the apps listed here are available in the Android app store. They might be available for iPhone too, but I can’t confirm or deny that.