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Award-Winning Contemporary Jazz Songstress Fiona Ross Can Say: “I Followed My Heart”

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If the key to happiness and a life well-lived is saying “I Followed My Heart,” then award-winning, internationally acclaimed contemporary jazz songstress Fiona Ross — and the title of her new single and video — can say she did just that.

“I love singing this song!” Ross exclaims, adding that, of all the songs on her most recent album, Fierce and Non-Compliant, “I Followed My Heart” is the one she most enjoys.

“In fact, I have many emotions connected to this song,” she continues. “It was the last song I recorded for the album, and it has two special guests: Kim Cypher on saxophone, and the multi-award winning Adam Cooper on vocals.”

For the latter, the duet was a throwback to their early school days when the pair would sneak out of class, break into the rehearsal room, and sing George Gershwin songs together, Ross recalls.

That said, Ross opted for a church as the setting for “I Followed My Heart” vs. a rehearsal room — and how she found it is a funny story in and of itself.

“I spent a few months basically wandering into churches across London, bursting into song and then leaving,” she recalls, laughing. “I selected St Cuthberts Church as it was beautiful and the acoustics worked well with my voice.

“I love singing in churches because the acoustics give my voice freedom,” she marvels. “I actually don’t like singing in a studio environment.”

The video was recorded earlier this spring and features Derek Daley on bass; the video was filmed and directed by Alexander Barnes-Ross, with sound recording from Warren Woodcraft and support from Andrew Turner and Tony Barnes.

“I wanted to do some live sessions, but keep it quite intimate and real. On the album, it has the full band and sounds fab, but doing the video with just Derek was so wonderful.

“I wanted to do a video that was just fun, and about enjoying singing… No fancy make up artists… No fancy settings… Just me doing my thing!”

Ross ‘doing her thing’ is the theme of importance on Fierce and Non-Compliant, and deservedly so.

Based in London and resonating throughout the international scene, Ross is known for her illustrative songwriting and unique fingerprint of sound that blends a Latin Jazz with vintage club styles, plus a touch of Neo soul for good measure.

“Her style is poetic and the messages ooze with Millennial angst,” says Jazz Weekly of Ross’ heart-wrenching ballads and demonstrable lyricism. “This is fabulous, sultry, basement bar midtown jazz,” Jazz Quarterly says of this track in particular — adding “yum” to further assert their point.

The album is not merely a sonic sojourn into Ross’ songwriting journal, but also her jotter notes as an esteemed jazz journalist. “I’ve interviewed some incredible people,” she shares, including Maxine Gordon, Steven Gadd, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lynne Carrington, and Kyle Eastwood, to name a few. “I’d wanted to include some people on the album that have really inspired me as a person and as an artist. I was truly blown away they said yes.”

Since the age of two, there has rarely been a day for the award winning vocalist, pianist, composer, producer, educator, and journalist that hasn’t entered around music. Storied highlights include fibbing her age at 14 years old to elbow her way onto jazz club stages throughout London to gig on weekends, and attending England’s prestigious Arts Educational School. As Head of British Academy of New Music for nearly a decade, Ross is credited for having a hand in training the likes of Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, and Jess Glynne, to name a few.

“Finding the album cover photo of me as a child made me reflect on my childhood and my upbringing,” she continues of Fierce and Non-Compliant. “My parents always wanted me to be an artist, and my whole childhood was based on that. My mum wanted me to be the next Julie Andrews, even sending me to the same school, and my dad wanted me to be some kind of Judy Garland/Bette Davis combo.

“Now that I am finally doing my thing, I do find it sad that they can’t see it. My mum is still around, but in a home with Alzheimer’s, so… She’s not really here, in most ways.”

In her artistic career, Ross has previously released Black, White and a Little Bit of Grey, Just Me (and sometimes someone else), and A Twist of Blue.

But Fierce and Non-Compliant has been the contemporary virtuoso’s most challenging artistry yet, she says.

This album “has been a huge challenge on many levels,” Ross says, having completed all of the writing, arrangement and production, save for two of the 13 tracks produced by Snow Owl. “I have reached into places I have just not been before.

“The ‘fierce’ is coming from many different angles,” she continues. “It has been emotional!”

“I Followed My Heart” and Fierce and Non-Compliant are available now.

What Happens When You Scrap a Car?

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Nowadays it is easier to scrap a car than ever previously. With the escalating cost of scrap metal, breakers yards are emphatically shouting out for business. Their adverts line the highways and flood the classified areas of local papers and magazines, offering perpetually lucrative means of discarding your unwanted vehicle. These offers don’t simply stretch out to free assortment of the car, they also guarantee varying amounts of cash, contingent upon their regularly changing offers. It’s fair to assume that, thinking about this state of affairs, the Council have not had a lot of call for their expense charging administration for the removal of unwanted vehicles in a long time. Be that as it may, here and there, this is a shame.

The Council is dependent upon environmental targets, and discarding family waste is conscientiously observed to guarantee that it meets EEC orders. The disposal of TV’s, white merchandise and engine vehicles is thusly handled in the most cost proficient way, sending the most environmentally stable strategies. Eco-financial matters is set to turn into an increasingly important means of generating income, as well as guaranteeing that we live our lives in a progressively sustainable fashion.

Commercial breakers yards, while subject to the same EEC legislation, regularly don’t discard unwanted vehicles to the same exacting standards. Stacks of consuming cars, heaped in haphazard lines, framing mass vehicular graveyards, are a typical sight all through the UK’s industrial estates. With vehicles left presented to the components for quite a long time, the trustworthiness of the bodywork gets defenseless to rust, devaluing the stock from a reusing perspective. Private operators are geared up to make a benefit, and are in this manner bound to put commercial enthusiasm before green considerations. Open administrations, while enhancing the commercial value of the scrap, place their full spotlight on guaranteeing that waste is handled ethically.

This places individuals in a troublesome position. They have to weigh up the upsides and downsides of either dealing with an organization that will charge them cash for the disposal of their car, however will do as such to exceptionally exclusive expectations, or they can pick to go with the private division, earn a touch of cash, and enter the sustainability lottery.

That was until the ongoing creation of interfacing agencies. Fortunately, there is presently another means of discarding unwanted vehicles ethically without bringing about a charge for the administration. Social ventures have been set up to capitalize on the increased value of scrap, and will tow away unwanted vehicles and procedure them utilizing the most ecologically solid facilities, without demanding a charge. In addition, they will donate an extent of the returns to a charity of the benefactor’s decision, offering clients the chance to appease their heart in a greater number of ways than one

Scrapping a car can be a hard choice to make, you’ve had the darling car for a considerable length of time and it’s simply not worth paying to run or repair it anymore. So once you’ve chosen to proceed with scrapping it you want to avoid any hassle and make sure you’re getting the best value and that you’re utilizing a legal and dependable company to scrap it.

We as a whole realize that scrap dealers are famously known to barter over the cost of scrap metal and you don’t want that happening to you when you’re scrapping your car. Make sure you realize the amount you will get for your car before you arrange for it to be scrapped. Your scrap car merits something so don’t simply part with it! A few companies will reveal to you that you ought to be suspicious of anyone ready to pay for your old car, when actually it’s the opposite way around. As a rule reliable operators will pay you cash for your scrap car and even gather your car for nothing.

Presently you realize your old car merits something, this is what else you have to pay special mind to avoid any hassle when you’re scrapping a car.

Making sure you get a DVLA Certificate of Destruction is critical, anything else just won’t do! You need the real deal with regards to this certificate; it guarantees you are not, at this point liable for the car and that it has been legally reused. Without it you could be facing a fine from the DVLA.

Billie Eilish Gets Interviewed By a Robot

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18-year-old pop superstar Billie Eilish swept the 2020 Grammy Awards, and now, she celebrates her Vogue cover by sitting down with the toughest interviewer of all; an AI bot.

How to Choose the Right Pillow for You

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Today every single person knows that it is necessary to have a good rest during night hours because it is the main key to a great mood for the next day, a healthy body and an energy boost for daily life. And a mattress made of high-quality fabrics and with modern technologies provides you such a healthy rest. An orthopedic mattress is no longer just a wish or an accessory but became already a necessity for everyone not only for those who try to live their lifestyle healthily. Moreover, there is still not so big amount of people who think about the importance of such a usual accessory as a pillow.

Unfortunately, the role of a pillow in our rest is highly underestimated! Feeling of tiredness, permanent sore head, the tension in shoulders or muscle pains may indicate that your pillow the right for you. In spite of a diversity of pillows all over, not every single one is good for you. There exist various primary goods pillows are made of as, for example, sobakawa pillow.

Regular One or Orthopedic Pillow: What to Choose

How to find a proper kind of place for a good dream? Diversity of shapes, fabrics, fillings, colors, and sizes is large and you will never find the one if you do not really know what to look for. Sometimes some manufacturers make regular pillows look like special ergonomic orthopedic ones. 

Orthopedic pillows are characterized by:

  • irregular shapes for a stronger body and head hold during the night;
  • hypoallergenic and moist resistant fabrics of a topcoat;
  • special foam filling products for stronger hold of your neck.

Regular pillow filling is usually made of simple natural or synthetic materials such as feathers, holofiber, and others. They can not provide you with good maintenance as orthopedic pillows can. Forms of them are usually either square or rectangular.

How to Buy the Proper One

Orthopedic pillows were made to relax stressed muscles and to improve the blood flow in the neck to the brain. That is why the size and stiffness of it matters a lot. Reading different reviews on jonsguide helps a future pillow owner to understand all pros and cons and to find a place to sleep on with proper characteristics. Because if the pillow doesn’t fit your body or way of night sleep, it will not work as it should.

 

  • Sleep on the back. Pillow with a low hardness in a medium size with a recess for the neck.
  • Sleep on sides.  High and stiff pillows are great to fill up all the space between an ear and a shoulder and conveniently maintain the whole body. 
  • Sleep on the stomach. Soft and thin almost flat pillow for slight maintenance of your head. 

 

Each person is individual and this is the reason you have to learn all the information about your future pillow. Pay attention to every detail before purchase because it will affect your body every day for several hours at least.

 

Pros & Cons Of Listening To Music While Writing An Essay

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The effect of background music on thought processes is somehow more complicated than we previously thought. Pros and cons of music in essay writing in researches are not about “melodies in general” or “writing in general”, but works of particular styles that help (or prevent) solving certain tasks.

  1. Pros of writing with music

Many students and schoolchildren listen to melodies while studying even in class. There is nothing wrong with this because all the people are different and background music can really help someone concentrate, especially if he does a monotonous job. While looking for free essays or writing your paper assignment, students may experience stress and calm melodies can reduce it or even remove it. Also, favorite songs in the background can improve the student’s mood and concentration. Moreover, sometimes students can associate a certain moment of study with a song and memorize the necessary material through melodies.

  1. Cons of listening to music while studying

Unfortunately, despite all the positive aspects, scientists have proved that music is more distracting than helps in learning. Students who listen to songs while doing reading or writing assignments tend to be less effective and walk away, absorbing less information. Loud or too fast melodies can interfere with your concentration during the performance of tasks. Above we mentioned a trick when a material is remembered when associated with a song. The disadvantage of this method is that in the exam you are unlikely to be given the opportunity to listen to music in order to remember something.

  1. MYTH. Music helps you concentrate on work

Truth. Recent studies have shown that music can have a beneficial effect on creativity. In particular, Simone M. Ritter and Sam Ferguson of the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands have shown in their recent work that people who perform creative tasks while listening to classical music are more productive than their counterparts who work in silence.

At the same time, several decades have been spent researching how sound affects work productivity. A review of laboratory research on this topic shows that there is a phenomenon called “inappropriate sound effect”. Basically, this effect means that the performance gets worse when the task is performed in the presence of background sound. This effect is more pronounced when not only instrumental music but also human language sounds in the background.

Scientists note that this effect is manifested when performing complex tasks that require maximum concentration. In addition, the nature of the background sounds matters. If they do not meet the preferences of the person, the productivity drops significantly.

  1. Can music motivate you to write?

Music can definitely influence the mood by exacerbating the bad and maintaining the good, it can improve or worsen the mood and it all depends on certain situations. During studies, sometimes it is too lazy to do something. Especially with regard to paperwork. But listening to your favorite songs can cheer you up and motivate you to work, do research work and write an essay. This is true because a person’s mood can depend on weather and melodies. Concentrating on working on your essay, you don’t have to listen to melodies, but it can definitely motivate you to find the materials you need to work and at least read them. Then it all depends on how you prefer to continue to work. Perhaps you are from the tech who writes scientific papers to music, or maybe the one who works only in silence. The main thing is that melodies can push you to the beginning of work!

 

Conclusion:

Playing music in the background helps or hinders performance, depending on the person’s task and the type of melodies. Only understanding these relationships will help people increase their level of productivity. If the task requires a creative approach, listening to your favorite melodies can improve performance. If the job requires a lot of information, it’s better to work with or without music at all, or with background music.

1-minute tip for artists: Do a Reddit AMA

Popular on Reddit, an AMA (ask me anything) series are an awesome – and free – opportunity to educate and engage with your followers.

Musically Sound: How a Great Website Benefits Musicians and Bands

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There are few things more satisfying – and challenging – than trying to leave your mark on history as a musician. Whether you decide to go solo or are a part of a band, it is often an experience running on nothing but the passion to play and a willingness to get the job done. While some of the more popular bands out there make so much more than their fair share of profit, it is crucial to note that about ninety-nine percent of bands do not have the same kind of luxury.

It can be quite easy to fall into obscurity, especially if you have a challenging time getting people to listen to your music or watch your gigs. A great way to stay in touch with potential fans would be to make use of a social media account. Aside from that, however, one of the best ways to fight irrelevance would be to build a website. As far as which website builder musicians should choose, the link can help you get started. That said, here are a few reasons why a great website benefits musicians and bands.

On the topic of professionalism

Many people often think of those in a band as people enjoying a hobby rather than an actual career. However, that could not be farther from the truth. There are plenty of people out there who support their families with the money they make from playing gigs and album downloads, which is why it is crucial to show those who are on the fence how serious you are about your musical career.

A website is often the first step when it comes to showing people that you mean business. It showcases a professional side of your band, giving potential supporters the impression that you are in it to win it.

A website can be just as important as a social media account

While having a social media account provides a free venue to build a marketing campaign or two, it is not the only foundation for your career. The use of a social media account is just one piece of the puzzle – building a website is just as crucial. After all, a social media account should not be the only source of information for your band. It is crucial to have a website so those who are curious have an opportunity to see your band in a new light.

How a well-built website can help

That said, while a website will undoubtedly help, making it needlessly complicated and challenging to navigate will only turn off potential visitors. Keep in mind that most visitors give websites less than a minute before they figure out whether or not they want to keep going.

A well-built website ensures that your message is the main focus, and people understand what your site is all about the moment they enter. A musician’s site has to be entirely professional, providing visitors with exactly what they want without any fuss.

 

 

Vancouver Alt. Rocker My Oldest Friend (Jacob Richter of Legends of Tomorrow, Nikita) Unveils New Video/Single, “Ghost”

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Canadian alt rock outfit My Oldest Friend pulls the sheet off its newest single and first mixed-media collaborative project, “Ghost”— available now!

The nom de plume for Vancouver-based multi-faceted artist Jacob Richter, My Oldest Friend first landed in 2017; it features back-up vocals and keys from Melinda Richter, Jacob’s sister, and drums from Kurt Dahle.

“The name comes from the title of one of my previous songs that dealt with nostalgia, sadness, and existentialism,” Richter explains of My Oldest Friend as a whole. “This project started when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver, and in wanting to combine my love for music and acting into one creative expression.

“For ’Ghost’ specifically, it’s an exploration of coping with abandonment,” he continues.

Writing songs since first picking up the guitar at age 13, Richter is also an accomplished actor, including roles in Legends of Tomorrow and Nikita. To this end, it’s unsurprising My Old Friend aims to combine his passion for music with alternative mediums, such as film, video games, animation, the written word, and visual art.

“One of my primary inspirations is the idea of combining my art with artists from different mediums,” he explains, forecasting the nature and scope of various upcoming creative crossovers. For example, next on deck are a dancer and her choreography, and a photo series with a photographer. “‘Ghost’ — and its animation — is the first collaboration, and it will continue with other artists.”

“Two creative forces came together in the Fall of 2018 in an effort to create something eye catching and ear pleasing that would make a lasting impact on as many viewers as possible,” adds Peter Jones, the video’s director. “Jacob and I are both parents of young children, deeply involved in the arts, and both have an appreciation for the duality of life.”

An accomplished animator and illustrator, Jones studied the craft at Brigham Young University in his home state of Utah, and contributed to two student Emmy-winning short films, DreamGiver and Estefan. His newly minted animation and art studio, Lotus Mountain, boasts a bold mission to aid in the spiritual progress and enlightenment of the universe, and gives critical insight to why he and Richter connected so organically on the project.

“Ghost,” their first film together, explores the emotional journey of a young man; symbols from the idea of a wife held hostage by pregnancy and childbirth are combined with a tormenting, foreboding monster as the young man explores his fears, shortcomings, and anxieties around becoming a father.

“Life turns to death, expansion fights contraction…” Jones continues. ““The potential for beauty contains the potential for disgust.”

“Ghost” is available now.

Get Estimates about Your Junk Cars Online from Professional Services

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Alt. Southern Rockers IAN ABEL BAND Recall Big “20’s Magic” in New Single & Track That Started It All

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Indie alt southern rock outfit from Los Angeles, the Ian Abel Band bring their big guitars, big drums, and even bigger hooks to create “20’s Magic” — their newest single, available now!

“This is the song that started it all,” namesake frontman, lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ian Abel shares of the track. “We were toying with the notion of going into a studio to record five or six new songs, but we weren’t ready.

“In talking about it with Kenny, he threw out the idea of slowing it down and pre-producing everything in our lock-out space.

“I agreed pretty reluctantly, but thank God I did!”

Abel is referring to drummer Kenny Schwartz; the band also includes Westray Tackett and Karthik Suresh.

“The following Saturday, while nursing a wicked hangover, I got a call from him asking if I wanted to get together to lay down the first song,” Abel continues. “I begrudgingly threw some jeans on, grabbed my ax, stopped to get a 12 pack of beer, and meandered over to the spot.”

The spontaneous session would turn into a 13-hour musical marathon, and the results would reveal a selection of turn-loud tracks and ultimate door openers for the Los Angeles-based band. Previous releases include “Shoes,” “Outlaw” and “Walk Out.”

“That recording session became the spark for what would eventually lead us into United Recording Studios, a licensing deal with All Elite Wrestling, playing the Troubadour, and our music being played around the world,” Abel marvels in hindsight. “Kenny has often said that when we were at a crossroads, he decided to see this through because there was one song in particular that struck a chord with him.

“That song is ’20’s Magic.’”

“20’s Magic” is available now.