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Support Student Radio Nov.3-6! Canton High’s 88.1 The Escape

2010 October 21
by Mike Vial

I’ll be returning to perform on air at Canton High School’s student led radio station (88.1 the Escape) on Saturday, Nov. 6th. The station is leading a pledge drive Nov.3-6, and I’m excited to join them at their wrap-up, a live artist performance day. More info to come when I get a chance to write and when we get closer to November!

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Mike Vial interview @ 88.1 FM The Escape

2010 August 9
Comments Off on Mike Vial interview @ 88.1 FM The Escape
by Mike Vial

I stopped into Canton High School’s student run radio station to do an interview last week with Christina Imnotelling, who caught my Trinity House show in June.

You can request 88.1 to play songs off Mike Vial’s two EPs!

|Request Line: 734-416-7745|
|TEXT Request Line: 734-252-WSDP (9737)|

Listen live at http://881theescape.com/

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Q&A: Irreplaceable Music

2010 August 5
by Mike Vial

Seth Goldin said in his blog today, “The internet has dramatically widened the number of available substitutes…That means you have to work far harder to create work that can’t easily be replaced.” What music from the last three years would you consider irreplaceable? Why?

Annie Capps and crew are definitely irreplaceable in our MI folk scene. If anyone has attended a festival that Annie Capps headlines, like Noreastr, you know where I’m going. Not only does she perform memorable sets on stage, but she ends up being the glue for our music community. Participating in songwriting circles, joining bands on stage for vocal harmonies, being the keynote host–Annie Capps is not only queen of Noreastr, but an essential force in our Michigan music scene.

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Whoa, the Internet is like so fast now!

2010 August 4
by Mike Vial

Yesterday, Natalie pointed out a typo on my website. “Oh!” I said. Without leaving my chair, I picked up my phone, opened the WordPress app, and fixed the mistake. In 10 seconds, it was instantly updated. I then gasped, “Whoa, the Internet is like so fast now!”

Fact: Natalie already made fun of me for that astute observation.

Now, I recognize reminiscing about dial-up Internet and AOL is going to be my generation’s version of “When I was your age, I had to walk to school in the snow up mountains without shoes!”  But seriously, yesterday, I was reminded how good we really have it technology-wise.

I’ll admit it: I’m still impressed with the speed of our digital world. In my defense, I was using a typewriter to complete essays for school 15 years ago. I can still remember the feeling of anxiety while typing with two fingers. One mistake and I’d be fighting with whiteout, ignoring my dad’s observation: “Face it, Mike, you have to type that essay again.”

Fact: The first time I said the “f” word in front of my parents was because of the typewriter.

Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat cites Windows 95, the World Wide Web, and Netscape as influential in changing–flattening–our world. I know Friedman’s right, but when I first saw AOL at my friend’s house, my initial reaction was, “Wow, this is really  slow. Let’s go play Mario Kart.”

Using the Internet in 95 was like watching a turtle cross the road. I would have rather played Frogger. Remember the dial up noise from the modem?  I bet you’ve forgotten how common it was to get knocked off line.  We complain about our cell phone coverage now-a-days, but fifteen years ago teenage boys waited twenty minutes to download a 1000KB JEPG of Alicia Silverstone.

Fact: My parents claim Kurt Cobain ruined their son, but it was actually Aerosmith’s music videos.

And let’s not forget the worst part of the dial-up Internet era: Parents yelling at us for tying up the phone line! My mother’s first experience with the Internet was picking up the phone and hearing a harsh dissonance. Or maybe it was hearing the dial-up modem late at night when she was trying to sleep.

Fact: My mother hated the Internet in the 90s.

When I was in high school, I couldn’t stop complaining like a toddler how the Internet was slow. Now I’m 29 and can’t stop commenting like a senior citizen how fast the world has gotten.

No really! It’s so fast! I can stream a gig live using UStream; I can record and upload a video in HD to Youtube; I can record a demo of a song and publish it Facebook; I can write this blog. All on my fricking cell phone!

I’m not sure if I should be jealous or thankful that my teenage self didn’t have this power.

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How technology encouraged me to buy new music today

2010 August 3
by Mike Vial

Here’s a trail of technology working today that encouraged me to buy “new” music:

I just heard Jeremy Fisher’s “Scars That Never Heal” at a cafe in Michigan. I think the coffeehouse uses Pandora right now. (Don’t tell BMI!) I used Soundhound on my iPhone to discover the song title and artist. I then downloaded the artist’s whole album on my iPhone because I liked the song so much.

However, I read Jeremy’s bio on iTunes: “Jeremy Fisher ignited a massive amount of interest with his homemade Youtube video for ‘Cigarette…'” Oh yeah! I remember stumbling upon that video two years ago!

Why wasn’t I moved to buy this guy’s work then? Why was I moved to buy it now? The answers are redundant. Technology is only a means to an ends, and repetition is important. But the songwriting still matters. Always will.

And now technology will promote the song further:http://www.myspace.com/jeremyfisherhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8hOPs0g2nk

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