I've been living with Evernote for a bit and really really (did I say really) love it. Evernote is the first piece of software that works the way my brain fails to work AND built into Evernote are the means to harness the schizo-manic-popcorn nature of my mind. I can access my "stuff" anywhere I can access the internet, and I can add things to it with my Iphone. I'm using Evernote for three things; Research, Notes, and Document Storage. Me show you.
Research: I'm into way too many things. I love making music and design and art and film and writing and photography and etc etc etc. I want to work in, dabble in, monkey with and be involved in all of these things, but this does not a productive person make (alas.) I have files and documents and images, sketches, half-done book covers... In general, I can't ever find what I want to, I lose web links, I can't find that pic of the purple and gold cut-paper flower thing I wanted to remember, or the amazing interior I want to save for inspiration. Even when I save images or bookmarks, sorting through them can be counter-productive. In comes Evernote. Whatever I'm doing: browsing design sites, taking pics of locations I want to remember or compiling information about a subject I want to write about, I throw it into Evernote (into a notebook of like subjects,) tag it, and there you go. When I want to find it again I search by the name I gave it (if I remember) or by the tags I assigned to it or even just browse the notebook I put it in (click image below for a larger view of my "design" notebook.)
Notes: My wife thinks it's funny how I write lists. I don't know why, but I work things out making lists. I can get my lists off napkins and get them up on Evernote, I can even record snippets of songs I'm working on or record my father-in-law's astonishing snoring in the night at Red Rock Canyon and upload these files to Evernote for later use (hilarity and efficiency together at last.
Document Storage: My mind likes new, unexpected chaos. This means I can never find that manual for the delay pedal I bought a year ago, never find the list I wrote of songs I want to get posted to Pump Audio; the sad tale jumbles on. Evernote takes this problem and gives me a centralized place to store it all. What replacement water filter goes in my fridge? Search Evernote for the word "refrigerator," or browse through the "manual" tags or whatever. Found. Search the "music" notebook for lyrics to one of my songs? Found again. Me like.
Another amazing thing is the text recognition in photos. It doesn't always work for me (I have horrible handwriting) but it gets it right enough to make this a very compelling feature.
It's not perfect, but for me it's very near perfection; it's like someone asked me what I really wanted in an app and then built it. I actually feel less burdened by the many things I want to keep tabs on, and that gives me more creative "juice" to put towards whatever whim I'm chasing at the moment. So for that I have to tip my many hats to the good folks at Evernote. Bravo...
VERY cool app, plays music that reacts to the environment around it, so if you're on a noisy street the melody gets busy, if in a quiet room the melody gets simple and quiet. Nifty future-stuff there kids...
I'll be throwin down some folky acoustic jams Oct 4th 6:30 at the Pontiac Coffee House in Springdale, AR (map below.) Charge is $6 and goes towards a great cause via Artserve International. There will be art on display and for sale and a couple people (including myself) are doing live painting on site during the music. Also playing are Fool For Now and Listener Project. Pontiac will have coffee and other beverages on sale. Here are some samples of the folktastic rawk I'll be delivering.
Yesterday I found this old "panoramic" shot I took of my studio room in 2006, since I'm about to re-do my studio (and large portions of my house) I thought I would tag this pic with some info about the things in the room, for archival purposes (cue "Memories.") Click the picture to see a larger version.
Mystery revealed! (see previous post.) The short animated film I did the soundtrack for is official, "Foot: Phantom of the Forest" is done and is playing at the ComicCon film festival in San Diego (July 24th.)
Not only is it playing at the "Con" but Funko is making a Bigfoot Wacky Wobbler bobble-head figure based on the Bigfoot in the film, which should be available (with the DVD) at ComicCon as well. W00t!
I did all of the music for the film (except two short bits) and a lot of the sound design, Mike Becker and Kirk Demarais wrote and directed and Vance Reeser did the animation.
My song "As Good As It Gets" from my latest album "The Short Happy Life of Jamey Clayberg" was featured on DJ Jademan's podcast! Coolness. Thanks Jademan!
My friend and frequent collaborator Kirk Demarais posted these pics he had from our college days of RAWK in the 90's at John Brown University. Good times man... Kirk has some web stuff up his sleeve with his archive of band fun, stay tuned!
Not sure who took these pics but:
1) is a bunch of us on a painted up car we hauled gear around with.
2) is Green Jello on Thursday (aka Tuesday Weld) practicing in Dean's house.
3) is Swivel Cherry rocking Theta Tau in Fayetteville, and
4) is Swivel Cherry in 80's costumes on the Life On The Edge cable access show JBU put on for awhile.
If you love music and you've never tried Last.fm you should, it's a music site that tracks what it's users are listening to on their Itunes and Ipod, and using that data provides amazing musical discoveries. To me, this is Web 2.0 at it's finest, taking masses of data and with it giving their users back a gift. Below I've embedded a "channel" that is based on similar artists to Sufjan Stevens, one of my favorites. Click to play it, realizing that the tracks it plays are considered similar to Sufjan based on the tracks other Last.fm users are playing. I find their recommendations to be super accurate, and I've discovered at least 15 bands using different channels. Of course Sufjan may not be your cup of tea, and that's great, you can listen to a "Music like Yanni" or "Music like The Pixies" channel too. Viva la Internet!
So I found this message on an old answering machine cassette my wife saved from college. It was pretty predictable, her Mom calling, a friend inviting her to come over and then John comes on. At first his message was as predictable as the rest, a guy (with a little crush) calling to see what she's up to. She's not home, oh well. But then he pulls a Jon Favreau in Swingers and calls back and the message quickly launches into strangeness, the machine cuts him off, he calls right back and keeps going and once he's committed to the silliness you (and every guy who's ever had an awkward exchange with a girl) can feel the unhinged nuttiness, and the "wow I should not have done this but I can't turn back" just burning in his veins. So of course I had to set it to music and post it on the web! Sorry John. For the record, I made ZERO edits to the audio, his messages appear in the song in the exact timing and order they were on the tape. Enjoy.
I dabble in electronic music at times, but this thing is nuts! I could never play something on this level but the "toy box" way it's put together looks fun.
The most recent song I've written, "Amazing" started as one verse, then months later clarified and became a complete song as I worked on a project for an orphanage in Africa. "Amazing" is featured on my recent EP "Joyfull Noise" and can be downloaded for free on my MUSIC PAGE.
Please open up my eyes, I can not devise The mystery inside this life So many hurting souls out there in the cold Calling for a hand to hold
Every little one, cry to the sky above And it all comes down to Amazing Love When the shadow falls may they find Light somehow And it all comes down to Amazing Love
In my wildest dream, I cannot perceive A world outside of me, this life So many hurting hearts and people torn apart Waiting for a spark to light
Every little one, cry to the sky above And it all comes down to Amazing Love When the shadow falls may they find Light somehow And it all comes down to Amazing Love
This jumbled-up graphic is a frame from a top-secret animation project I had the pleasure of doing the music for. I can't tell you anything about it yet other than it's really cool and fun and will hopefully show for the first time at ComicCon 2008 in San Diego. I did almost all the music and most of the sound effects and had a blast. Here are four songs from the soundtrack, all original Jamey C music written and recorded in my studio (also known as an extra bedroom jammed with gear.)
