Golden Opportunities

It's that time of the year again - Golden Shoulders made their way across the country and stopped in our little corner of the world. We had a great time hanging out with old friends and listening to awesome music. As an added bonus, the concert served as a great start to our Labor Day Weekend which we spent with Travis Biggs and Ben Counihan. The amount of fun we had was inversely proportionate to the amount of pictures we took.


Here's a little clip of the band playing "I Will Light You On Fire." Seriously amazing song.

On the Third Day of Christmas I Posted on My Blog

Guitar Hero III

The newest addition to our family. Awwwww! Isn't he cute? I totally love this game. On Tuesday I called Target to see if they had any in stock and they told me no. I found myself there later that day and wandered over to electronics just to check things out. And what did my wondering eyes behold? The last copy of Guitar Hero III sitting on the shelf. Pardon the surfer speak, but I was stoked! I'm guessing that I'm the only mom to buy this game for herself. I went straight home and played it. In fact, I beat the entire game by the next night. So, yeah, maybe it was set on Easy, but that's still pretty cool/pathetic. So now I can work on Medium.


This game was pretty much the only thing I wanted for Christmas. And now, with 10 days left until Christmas, I've already beat the game once. I'm not one of those "buy it, wrap it, and look at it under the tree for two weeks" kind of girls. I lack self discipline. Although after I bought the game, for nearly a minute, I seriously considered selling the game online and getting another copy later. But I really wanted the game and there's something about selling "hot" items for inflated prices that sucks the jolly right out of the season for me.

Now my big question is: How do I get just another guitar so James and I can battle? I've only seen the bundled packages. Maybe we'll have to wait on that one.

My Music On Amazon.com

Many people have asked how they can buy my music.

I have never really had a good answer for them except to send me a check. I understand that is not always the most convenient way.

Well, now there is an Easier Way.

My 2005 album, Making It Right Again is now available for download on amazon.com, in high-quality (256 kbps) mp3 format. You can buy just your favorite tracks for 89 cents each, or you can get the whole album (14 tracks) for only $7.99.

If you already have this album or have heard it, please go to amazon and leave a nice (but truthful) review.

Thanks for your support.



This album will also be available in coming weeks at other popular online stores including;

• iTunes (U.S., Australia/NZ, Canada, UK/UE, Japan)
  
• Rhapsody
• Napster
  
• eMusic
• GroupieTunes

(Also, if you would still like to buy the old-fashioned disc with artwork and photography (by Desta), contact me at james.gillice@gmail.com. Making It Right Again [2005] is $8 and Let Me In [2003] is $5)

Music News

My song "Now I Understand" has been chosen to be featured on an online compilation CD produced by the Carbon Drum website. Go HERE to check it out. It is track number 6 on the "Rock, Indie, Folk" CD.

There is a contest between all of the featured artists to see who can sell the most of these CD's. If you feel so inclined as to help me win the contest and purchase a piece of James Gillice music history, you can pre-order now for $9 on the site. Rest assured that 2/3 of that money goes to yours truly. Just be sure to enter my name where it says "Which band referred you?"

I have listened to some of the other songs on the CD. Some are OK. Some are even really good.

The song, "Now I Understand" is taken from my 2005 CD called "Making It Right Again". This song also did very well in another online contest last year on the GarageBand website. It received many positive reviews from other artists.

Here is a sample of some of those reviews of "Now I Understand":

Cool Pop Tune
This is refreshing stuff, a quirky little pop number complete with instrumentation from a Xylophone?? or is it Vibraphone, maybe even keyboards. Anyway this is the main hook in the song which also has some really cool guitar bits and other hooks galore jumping out at you. It starts off with some very atmospheric slide too which creates a really cool mood. THis is great pop, very original arrangement and heaps of melody. I love the vocals - slightly distorted and the lyrics are original - what a great song, bit 80s sounding but very original still. You gotta love a song with La La La's that work! Well done.

Reviewed by: Stewart777 from Sydney, Australia

Power pop the way it's supposed to be
This song combines a lot of instrument voicings that you wouldn't normally put in the same song, and somehow makes them all work so well together as a whole. From the lounge-sound of the initial bell tone keyboard combined with that sliding guitar sound that gives it a suedo-western flavor in the verse to the retro sounding electric that drives the very, very catchy chorus. I like the vocals a lot, delivered in a nonchallant style in the verse and kicked up a notch in intensity in the chorus, and all with that semi lo-fi effect on them that works so well. Bridge makes for a nice transition followed by that quirky guitar solo. There is a vulnurability and innocence in the vocals that is very appealing. And there are so many melodic hooks in this song that catch the listeners ear, it's hard to keep track of them all. It's like picking your favorite flavor at Baskin-Robbins. This is power pop at it's best, smart melodically and lyrically intelligent. Well-produced with solid musicianship throughout. I loved this song and I'm adding it to my personal playlist.

Reviewed by: bassoone from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania

The Status of James' Beans

Whoo!! 100 Posts! What an accomplishment!

Now that that's out of the way - I believe my EXACT words were, "James also has some exciting music news, but I will let him tell you. I'll just say I am so proud of him." In fact, I know those were my exact words because I just copied and pasted from my old post. Anyway, I thought that this would spur James to share his music news within the next few days. He did not. So I am going to spoil his fun and spill his beans. He can give you more specific details as he gets them.

A couple weeks ago James entered his song "Now I Understand" into a contest run by a new online music company thingy called Carbon Drum (like I said, James knows the actual details). This new company would select the best songs for each genre and create a compilation CD. And, drum roll please.....James' song was picked for one of the CDs! So we don't have the particulars yet, but if James wants to, he can sell the CDs and there's a small reward for whichever artist sells the most. Most importantly, this CD will expose James' music to tons of people. And it's just downright awesome because an impartial third party picked HIS song over who knows how many were entered. So we're really excited. And James will have more information when we know more. And maybe he'll even post it! Go James!

World Premiere Videos! - "Sneath Clay" 2007

So I tried to post these last week when Travis visited us, but Blogger was having video issues. Here are some videos of James and Travis playing some of their old songs together. They haven't played together in a LONG LONG LONG time. Too long. First is one of their major hits Patiently Waiting. Second is the never-released song Fly Home. Lastly we have the feel good classic Another Sunny Day.

James also has some exciting music news, but I will let him tell you. I'll just say I am so proud of him.