I think the subject title pretty much says it all. 

SUP HAPPINESS?


Ricardo Williams blogs?
http://www.thericardowilliams.com/over-1000-plays-on-gingersnap


p.s. i'd like to give a shout-out to Kayla Flora.  sup memphis

Stream my new mixtape completely on imeem
http://www.imeem.com/ricardowilliams



AND/OR

Download each track of "Greetings" from Aralie.com. What is aralie? Its a wonderful new website that incorporates the Radiohead "pay what you want" model. In other words, you can choose what you want to pay; including nothing!
http://www.aralie.com/ricardo_williams/



- Ricardo Williams
http://www.thericardowilliams.com

With less than a week to the release of Greetings from Altamonte Springs, FL, I figured I'd give the net a little taste of the record with a fresh tune.  "Gingersnap", the new song, can be found on the music player.  Listen, love, add, rinse, and repeat.  

Speaking of new music, I have absolutely been in love with the new demo, "Benson Hedges" from the new band, fun.



Cameron and I both agree that "fun" is a pretty odd name, but whatever- the music is what counts.

Speaking of odd names.  Imeem?  That name screams more unusual than odd.  But its catchy and it certainly hasn't stopped the millions of active users including my very ubiquitous-self.  Speaking of which, I've been active on imeem.com for awhile now and I feel like my network there is far weaker than that of titans like myspace or facebook.  It sucks but I guess it'll be that way for awhile until my hundreds of friends in "real life" begin to start saying "imeem me".  Until then, hooray for a weak network!


P.S. imeem me!

Can I just start off by saying that whenever an artist talks about their inspirations they always seem to only mention those related to their respected medium. U2 has always haled Johnny Cash; Springsteen speaks of Dylan like he was the family's favorite uncle; and no one can forget Beyonce's all out ode to Tina Turner at the Grammys. Personally I'm not only inspired by other musicians or the countless genius records from the Beatles. I find inspiration everywhere, from Friday nights at the bar to Caitlin's bouncy rouge locks to my little sister's tween-age insubordination; or sometimes it just hits me like a Sunday sunrise over the lake. Its everywhere- anything and everything gets my creative juices flowing.

With that said, [prepare for me to join that list of previously mentioned musicians] somewhere in between writing music and recording music I stumbled onto Rihanna's "Take A Bow" and I had heard it before and I thought this is okay but in all honesty nothing can really top the Jay-Z introduced smash hit, "Umbrella". That song was everywhere from ringtones to myspace names. BUT! what really hit me about "Take A Bow" was about 41 seconds into the song when she breaks from singing the lyrics for a moment and says one word... "please!". I hadn't had my eyes opened so quickly since my mom dragged me out of bed at 7am for the SATs back in high school. I mean there is something about the way her voice sounds when she speaks that one word, it hits me so hard. I don't know what it is but I know what it makes me want to do and I'm so confused because I'm not at the lake and its not Sunday morning.


Yeah I had to put us together... <3

In just 16 days, I'll release the new record 'Greetings from Altamonte Springs, FL'.  A mixtape comprised of oldies, covers, and fresh tunes on the warm comfort of a cassette tape. 



On August 27, 2008, I'm bringing back the tape.

P.S. my official website is currently online, but its under construction (cause it sucks).

Yes the rumors are true. I'm making a mixtape and don't worry hip hop fans, I won't be rapping. Think mixtape as simply a collection of singles, snippets, unreleased material and failed demos.. sigh. Oh yeah and the fact that I'm putting them on these ...



Cassette tapes, though archaic have an undeniably warm presence when it comes to music to which the digital age has yet to compare. On August 27th, I'm bringing back the tape! <--- FAIL.


* On a completely different topic, most of the movies this year have been lackluster. I think the DarK Knight is the only one that has truly churned my butter this summer.

* On a third topic, get a hold of my favorite imeem playlist: "What does Ricardo Williams love?"




... i suck at staying on topic, my mind is one big mixtape

What does Ricardo Williams do when there's technical difficulties with the recording process?


So I'm at my home studio area working on some demos for the new record that should be- excuse be, that WILL be coming out this summer (exact date cannot be said considering how busy I'm getting as the summer nears) and some "technical difficulties" occur that prohibit me from getting my work done.  What do I do?  Well for starters, I look around the equipment and make sure everything is plugged in (the obvious first move).  And sure enough, everything is.  Then I proceed to do absolutely nothing and stare at everything for a good 4 minutes; which doesn't seem very long but when you're alone and its dead silent, 4 minutes can feel like a 4 and a half hour documentary on Nazis.  

Frustrated by failure, I began to jump around and bang everything in the room like one of the apes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  At this point, I figured I had only two options left, I could give up and watch some episodes of "24" or I could calm down and sit with my guitar for a moment and sing "The Good Stuff" by Kenny Chesney (an old high school favorite of mine).  The choice was pretty clear- all of the above.  Looking back on the last 8 or 9 sentences, I realize the moral of the story is Jack Bauer has killed dozens of people in the last 24 hours and I can't even solve a problem in my own space.  Yep, something is definitely unplugged.



In other news, last night's show at Underground Bluz was a lot of fun.  Lots of great music from Gitlo, Azurix, 2/5 of Mirror Pal and some awesome others.  P.S. thanks Aaron for inviting me to perform. 


  - Ricardo Williams

There's nothing like coming home and seeing that "'Jenny Come Back' by Ricardo Williams equals 6,050 plays on myspace."  I honestly can't believe anyone on the internet is still listening to this song, but if you are one of them, I thank you; you've made a happy boy out of an amateur singer/songwriter. 

And if you are one of the millions who haven't heard it, give it just one listen... just one play --> http://www.myspace.com/ricardowilliamsmusic

In other news, I've recently fallen in love with "imeem", its a wonderful little social network website that I've been using exclusively to stream live music that I CAN'T find on project playlist.  Take notes kids.  If you use the website, you know what I'm talking about.  You can find any hit and/or rare track in the world on imeem.  Check out what I've been listening to... http://www.imeem.com/ricardowilliams

I'd like to give a shout out to my homie, Jesse Chapman for taking one of two of my favorite new photos on the set of Shannon Bennett's latest film.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessechapman/2431824569/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessechapman/2431820231/

And lastly OMG!! Have you seen the new Dark Knight poster... soooooooooo awesome.  I've tried to stop getting excited about summer movies since last year when awesome trailer + awesome poster + lots of hype = a lackluster Spidey 3 (and the same a year before with Superman Returns)... but you never know.  I've definitely got my fingers crossed for Indy 4.  But one thing is certain Batman may not have any powers but he definitely has the "hip hop-esque" lean going for him.

Dear Internet Friends,

 
I’m checking in from the set of the film, Gutter King on Day 9 for the first of many production blogs. 

So today was Easter Sunday and we got an early start and shot a quick scene on the main location following the sunrise.  Afterwards we took a break for a few daytime hours and returned in the afternoon to continue shooting.  For the first eight days we’ve started filming at the crack of dawn and continued on to about midnight, so it was great to enjoy some time off during the day.

We’ve been shooting our film with the RED One, a breakthrough camera that shoots in Super 35mm quality (ultra HD).   In other words, its producing a quality of footage to which my young eyes and many others have never seen before.   I couldn’t be happier to be apart of this film.   BUT, its not all about the camera… our director has assembled talent from all around the country to shoot right here on location in Orlando, Florida; including a very capable crew and a bright young cast with some seasoned professionals to match.

So far, most of the filming that has taken place has been exterior shots and we’ve battled with natural lighting and worked meticulously to get every shot perfect.  Tomorrow we’ll be shooting a key scene in the film featuring stunt work with my good friend, Mason Sharrow.  We’re all working very hard and are very excited and anxious to see the outcome of this project.   Ah!!! Its getting late, goodnight internet.  Big day tomorrow

 
- Ricardo Williams, Gutter King’s Mr. Awesome
Sunday, March 23, 2008

http://filmscout.org  http://gutterking.tv

P.S. Join our Facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18517163424&ref=mf


P.S.S. Check my twitters for on the spot updates from the set of Gutter King!
http://twitter.com/RicardoWilliams