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Speaking of the Grammy-winning, Bon Iver, a friend sent me this YouTube video of a gorgeous 24-minute set at AIR Studios. It doesn’t get any better than this. Such a simple concept–piano and vocals with some electronic sounds interspersed. Really, just amazing. One of the most beautiful performances I’ve ever heard.

 

Every once in so often, a band comes along with a magical sound that defies description. In February, I’d caught two performances by Bon Iver on  Saturday Night Live. I’d never heard of the band before, but give props to SNL, once again, for bringing a band to the nation’s consciousness.

As far back as I can remember, SNL has introduced to me to new music. In an era of social media , late night TV shows probably aren’t as popular as they once were. Now that you can see these shows on the web the day after they air, I think they’re going to continue to be a prominent source of music discovery, mainly because of the live performance element that you can’t get with music videos.

Here are there performances. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Beth/Rest

Holocene

Bon Iver’s Holocene Music Video

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I was thinking about one of my most favorite songs of all time, Street Life by The Crusaders. Here’s a live rendition from 2003 at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Randy Crawford is the vocalist.

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There are some records in life that touch your soul. When Alicia Keyes and Jay Z rolled out with “Empire State of Mind,” an ode to the New York City experience, it was a both a transformational and inspirational anthem, embraced by all those whose lives are touched by the opportunity and diversity that exists in the most exciting city in the world. I’ve listened to so many versions of the song, including a beautiful acoustic version she’d done for an iHeartRadio event in New York City, which is my favorite.

I was searching for house music remixes of the song and found not only an amazing mix by Randall Jones, but a nice video tribute to New York City. The track provides the backing for a cool video collage. I especially love the break-dancing parts. I grew up on “breaking” and it brought back memories of challenging myself to learn new moves that I could show off to my friends.

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Having lived in the New York City metro area for over 15-years, building a career first in Internet music and digital media, I’d gone through tumultuous times and faced incredible odds. I somehow found a way to make my mark. No matter how difficult, there was always a new place to go, new people to meet, and new things to do. New York is so big, it’s like 5 cities in one. You’re never really in the same place twice for too long. For each ride on the subway or walking across blocks brings a different experience.

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The Soul Funky Mix I’ve posted is another incredible mix of this amazing song. I love this track, because it reminds me of my time spent on Friday nights at Twilo, were I’d listen to two of the world’s best producers, Sasha and John Digweed, blend a mix of trance and emerging tech house sounds. The breakdown in this mix reminds me of those last nights spent twirling amongst the glow sticks and go-go dancers.

I found both the Randall Jones remix and the Soul Funky remix on SoundCloud. Both players offer free downloads of the track.

Randall Jones Remix

Soul’s Summer Bootleg Mix




New From: $0.99 In Stock
Release date June 23, 2010.
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I spent MLK Day 2011 in the first pew at Chapel Hill, NC’s First Baptist Church, where I was blessed to hear the good Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis give a powerful and inspirational speech. I thought it was important to capture this day for history, so I brought camera with me and shot the entire 37-minute speech. It was a great way to celebrate Martin Luther King’s legacy, but attending this service and now being able to share such an inspirational speech through the power of social media.

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I’m headed out to RDU for a flight to LGA this afternoon to attend Wordcamp NYC 2010, where I will giving a presentation on WordPress and Multimedia. It’ll be good to see some old friends and make some news ones. Here’s a video from the newsroom as I’m about to leave for the airport.

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