Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Mixtape
DJ Matt Werner’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Mixtape takes some of Dr. King’s best speeches and puts them to music.
Free download at http://djmattwerner.blogspot.com/2012/01/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-tribute.html
Oakland in Popular Memory Kickstarter Campaign a Success!
My Kickstarter Project Oakland in Popular Memory was successfully funded!
Learn more at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattwerner/oakland-in-popular-memory-book-project/posts/157495
Oakland in Popular Memory book project
Learn more about Oakland in Popular Memory, my collection of interviews with artists from Oakland and artists who’ve influenced musicians from Oakland, by going to my Kickstarter page and Thought Publishing.
Oakland in Popular Memory Kickstarter is launched!
Today I launched a Kickstarter project to fund my next book of artist interviews titled Oakland in Popular Memory:
My visit to Occupy Oakland
I went to Occupy Oakland as a spectator on Friday night, October 28, 2011. Here’s the blog post I wrote about my experience published on Oakland Local’s Community Voices today: http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2011/10/my-visit-occupy-oakland-oct-282011-community-voices
Working from India’s Silicon Valley
I worked the last week of September in Hyderabad (HITEC City) and Bangalore (Silicon Valley of India). Both areas have very interesting cultures with the intersection of IT. Read about my trip to India on my travel blog.
Interview with Ise Lyfe published on theRumpus.net
My interview with Oakland hip hop artist, playwright, and community educator Ise Lyfe was published on the literary website the Rumpus last month. Click here for the interview.
Google Books blog post about Jorge Luis Borges Doodle
Today I published a blog post on the Google Books blog honoring Jorge Luis Borges’s 112th birthday, to correspond with the doodle honoring Borges at http://www.google.com.
Read the post here: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2011/08/peering-into-jorge-luis-borgess.html
Self-Publishing: How I did it
I spoke at Google this week on my experiences with self-publishing. I’ve also written a series of blog posts titled Memoirs of the Self-Published, which describe my self-publishing process. Here’s the video of me speaking at Google:
Papers for the Suppression of Reality to be published on March 1, 2011
Matt Werner’s first book of short stories, Papers for the Suppression of Reality, co-authored with Dr. Shaka Freeman will hit bookstores on March 1, 2011. The book is being published by Thought Publishing. You can pre-order a copy of the book here: http://thoughtpublishing.org/purchase/
Interview with Pale Kid who raps fast: George Watsky
DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interview with spoken-word artist George Watsky, originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on November 11, 2008.
In this interview, rising hip hop sensation, writer, and performer George Watsky addresses his beef with Michael Cera, and his experiences performing on the Def Poetry Jam, and working with Robert Redford in sustainability. This podcast also features 6 of Watsky’s tracks and poems: Lonely Hearts Club, Half Jewish, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Fight! Fight! Fight! (with Dahlak Brathwaite), Run My Mouth, and his Michael Cera diss track.
Also, check out his website http://georgewatsky.com/ for some funny blog entries, like this one: The Whitest, Least Famous person performing at the NAACP Image Awards…. He has a stop-motion video for I Got This Love and a popular video called Pale kid raps fast:
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 89 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the 40-minute interview and feature on writer and performing artist George Watsky.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“The Dream Shall Never Die” Ted Kennedy mix
Honoring the life and legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy, I made a mix to one of his most famous speeches: his 1980 Democratic Convention Speech, also known as “The Dream Shall Never Die.”
(Right click here and select “Save Link As” to download the MP3)
Kennedy’s speech is mixed to Letting Go (Dutty Love) by Jamaican American rapper Sean Kingston.
This was inspired by when I saw Ted Kennedy deliver a rousing speech in support of Barack Obama at Beebe Memorial Cathedral in Oakland, California on February 1, 2008.
I also made a remix to Robert F. Kennedy’s famous South Africa speech here: RFK in South Africa Remix
Interview with Playwright Chinaka Hodge
My interview with Oakland poet and playwright Chinaka Hodge was published on the literary website the Rumpus today. Click here for the interview.
Chinaka is known for her Def Poetry Jam appearances and play Mirrors in Every Corner. But her writing and artistic talents are wide-ranging, and include some pretty dope tracks with the Getback Crew:
“At sunset, troubled light” by Composer Fr. Bruno Clifton
Fr. Bruno Clifton, who I interviewed back in March 2009 for Fresh Air about the world premiere of his composition “In the jars, dark liquid,” has a new composition entitled “At sunset, troubled light.” The second of three orchestra pieces inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, “At sunset, troubled light” received its world premiere by the New Edinburgh Orchestra in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 12, 2010.
Fr. Bruno’s piece can be listened to at: http://mattswriting.com/At-sunset,-troubled-light.m4a
You can download the audio file by right clicking and selecting “Save link as.”
The orchestra piece is 9:30 minutes and is a 18.3 MB m4a audio file, which will play in iTunes.
Alternatively, a 22MB mp3 file can be downloaded by right clicking and selecting “Save link as” here: http://mattswriting.com/At-sunset,-troubled-light.mp3
Interview with K.Flay
First Rumpus Radio podcast: Interview with K.Flay
What is your pun threshold?
Are you ready for a pun battle between K.Flay and the International Pun Champion, Joe Sabia? Tune in at the 20-minute mark in the interview.
Topics also discussed by San Francisco hip hop artist K.Flay and Rumpus Radio host Matt Werner include MC Lars, K.Flay’s Mashed Potatoes Mix Tape, K.Flay’s songs, Guinevere, No Ignorance (remix of Paramore’s Ignorance), K.Flay staying straight-edge after her father’s passing, and her Do-It-Yourself ethic in music production. The podcast also features an exclusive acoustic version of Bye, Bye Illinois recorded by Rumpus Radio.
Pun battle excerpt:
What do you call it when Sara Palin gets high?
Baked Alaska.
For more on: K.Flay, visit http://kflay.com. And for more on Matt Werner’s podcasts, visit http://mattswriting.com.
This is a podcast for Rumpus Radio at http://therumpus.net. Voice overs are by Ben Felsing. Interview photo is by Joe Sciarrillo.
Podcast is 26 mins. MP3 file is approx. 60MB. Direct download link: http://mattswriting.com/K.Flay-Interview.mp3
Podcast is also available for free download on iTunes in my Mattswriting podcast channel. Search iTunes for K.Flay to find interview.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Interview with Edinburgh Composer
DJ Matt Werner interviewed University of Edinburgh composer Maciej Zurawski about the world premiere of his orchestra piece Love and War on May 25, 2009.
In this interview, Werner and Dr. Zurawski discuss music theory, Zurawski’s battle with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the role of illness in art, hill walking in the Scottish Highlands, film music, and his compositions, including Love and War, My Home is in the Mountains, What Life Could Be, and The Journey Towards the Open Sea.
Maciej Zurawski’s newest work will be premiering at the Music of Climate Change concert taking place in the city centre of London on Saturday November 28th at 7.30 p.m. Please visit this site for more details: http://earlymusicexperiment.weebly.com/ideas.html
And please visit Maciej Zurawski’s website for more of his music: http://www.theseaofmusic.com/
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 88 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the 40-minute interview and feature on Maciej Zurawski.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Matt Porter: A Mic in the Cathedral EP
Click on image to download Matt Porter's EP. (3 tracks, 49 MB)
DJ Matt Werner is proud to present Matt Porter’s first EP: “A Mic in the Cathedral.” Recorded live by DJ Matt Werner at 3 churches and cathedrals in Edinburgh and Dundee, Scotland, and remastered in San Francisco, California. This small collection showcases the talent of Scottish organist Matt Porter.
Tracks include Matt Porter playing excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata in D Minor, BWV 565; Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Flat Major, BWV 552; and Dieterich Buxtehude’s Prelude in C Major.
The EP can be downloaded by clicking the image above, or the tracks can be listened to individually here:
Prelude and Fugue in E Flat Major- BWV 552
Please see below for videos of Matt Porter playing the organ.
