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Sunday, October 31, 2010

SpinTunes #2: Round 3 Challenge

Secondary Historical Figures - For this challenge we want you to write a song about an unknown character from history, and what connection they had to a major historical event (fictionalization is fine). Paul Revere's stableboy, General Custer's wife, Hitler's art teacher, King Richard's blacksmith, etc... (2 minute minimum) (your submission is due November 7th 11:59PM Sun)

- Remember we're using Cincinnati time so keep an eye on the counter linked to above.

Example: "Alma" by Tom Lehrer
Here was Tom Lehrer's spoken intro to this song on his "The Year That Was" album:

"Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary that has ever been my pleasure to read. It was that of a lady name Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel who had, in her lifetime, managed to acquire as lovers practically all of the top creative men in central Europe, and, among these lovers, who were listed in the obituary, by the way, which was what made it so interesting, there were three whom she went so far as to marry.

One of the leading composers of the day: Gustav Mahler, composer of "Das Lied von der Erde" and other light classics. One of the leading architects: Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus school of design. And one of the leading writers: Franz Werfel, author of "The Song of Bernadette" and other masterpieces. It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for two years. It seemed to me, I'm reading this obituary, that the story of Alma was the stuff of which ballads should be made so here is one."



Album Art Contest:
In case you have forgot, this round includes an album art contest. You can find Details on the previous blog post.

Submitting Entries:
- Entries must be received by the given deadline. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail in my inbox.

- Send your file in a format that Bandcamp accepts. (.aiff, .wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) You can find the specific requirements for Bandcamp files HERE.

- Name your file the song's title, but without spaces & punctuation.

- Title of the e-mail should be the title of the Challenge & your band's name.

- Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail. (If your song doesn't have lyrics...consider yourself eliminated. Instrumentals can be pretty, but SpinTunes does require lyrics.)

- Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collabed with someone.

- File sharing options if you need them: YouSendIt, RapidShare, ZShare & MediaFire. Please send an e-mail as I already stated, but with the download link if you need one of these services. Please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.

- If you have a BandCamp account, you can just send me a link to your song on BandCamp if you include all the info I mentioned above. Make sure you have it set as a free download, and have it set so that I don't have to put in an e-mail to download it if you pick this option.

7 comments:

  1. Ok, challenge clarification. In the challenge you say this must relate to a "major historical event" and give seveal military examples. But the song example you give, "Alma," has no such connection, instead it is about somwone connect to several important and influenctial artists. So i guess my question is, does "major historical event" include cultural history?

    Thanks,

    Ross

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  2. Yes. It doesn't have to be military related. You could write about Thomas Edison's landlord, Fred Astaire's dance teacher, one of the laborers who built the pyramids, etc...etc...

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  3. As of ten minutes ago, my headphones met with an unfortunate flooring incident. I'm afraid I'll have to save the judges the honor of ranking me out of Round 3.

    It's been fun.

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  4. You still have 3 days to figure out a solution. Don't give up already. Besides...I think Bram has used that excuse already. :p

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  5. Feel free to order me new headphones with a two-day delivery.

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  6. Borrow, beg, steal...or just turn it in as a shadow when you can. :p

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  7. Update: Thanks to the good people at RepairitQuik, the headphones situation has been averted. I will now have an entry available, and the judges will have to rank me out after all.

    Until the Dawn!

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