Check out Random Chaos this Friday, August 29th at Red Bones Blues Cafe, 21 Braemar Avenue.

Showtime: 9:00 pm

Admission:  $500

A YardEdge recommended event!!

Part 2

YardEdge: How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?

Michael Sean: I’d probably die of natural causes fairly quickly.

YardEdge: What’s the best and worst parts of being an artist/musician?

Michael Sean: The best is the joy I get from being inspired and the overwhelming positive energy I get from the response of others to my work. The worst is struggling to find that team, representation and the stuff you need to take everything to the next level.

YardEdge: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Michael Sean: Pushing the envelope even more than I am now- By then people would have gotten used to my sound as it is now- I would have to, by then, be trying out in public some of the things I’m thinking of and playing around with privately in my studio now.

YardEdge: Has your style changed at all through the years?

Michael Sean: It has evolved. I am more willing to take chances with my music. It’s not as safe anymore for me.

YardEdge: How do you get yourself in the mood to perform?

Michael Sean: I don’t and shouldn’t need to. I can and will perform in any mood. Doctors and lawyers don’t need to be in a mood to do what they do. I call myself a professional artist – I should act like one.

YardEdge: What do you enjoy most and not enjoy at all about performing?

Michael Sean: The most enjoyable thing about performing is the immediate response from the audience. One of the least enjoyable things is getting a poor review and wondering if you and the reviewer were at the same event (one of the musicians I look up always asks: ‘You really have time to take on that stuff?’) I guess there are more important things I could be concerned about.

YardEdge: If you could be doing anything you wanted, what would that be?

Michael Sean: Creating, touring and spreading joy with my music.

YardEdge: How have you developed your skill (s)?

Michael Sean: I’m analytical- I will analyze a performance and try to work on my faults. I also studied production, writing and performance at the college level.

YardEdge: What is your school background?

Michael Sean: Vaz Preparatory School- Wolmer’s Boys’, UWI Mona- Nat Sci (1 yr)

Berklee College of Music (BM- Dual major in Music Synthesis and Contemporary Writing and Production)

YardEdge: Last CD you bought/downloaded/shoplifted?

Michael Sean: I bought selections of Coldplay- Viva la Vida off iTunes.

YardEdge: How did you feel when you realized that music could make you a living?

Michael Sean: Blessed that I can make a living doing what I love.

YardEdge: How would people who know you describe you?

Michael Sean: Mad, talented, intelligent- fool-fool (in a good way), witty. Technical, under-medicated.

YardEdge: What makes you feel the happiest when you’re doing it?

Michael Sean: Playing or performing my own music for people who appreciate it.

YardEdge: Were you a good boy growing up?

Michael Sean: Hhhhmm- At School I was a teacher’s pet…at home…well…

YardEdge: What’s going on in your head when you’re performing?

Michael Sean: Many things- Listening to the arrangement (sometimes mine can be a bit tricky and I’m hoping everyone’s on the same page). Enjoying the band playing awesomely (I guess that’s a word). Hoping I can make it sound like I want it to tonight. Hoping I don’t forget my own words (funny how you can forget your own words). Making it mean something for the audience.

YardEdge: What makes you want to get up out of bed in the morning?

Michael Sean: It’s one day closer to all the good stuff coming my way.

YardEdge: What makes you happy?

Michael Sean: Good music, great friends. Intelligence and it’s many expressions.

YardEdge: What makes you sad?

Michael Sean: People who don’t realize their own potential- realizing I, at times, have not realized my own potential.

YardEdge: What really irritates you?

Michael Sean: Morons getting together to breed moronic behaviour, unnecessary red-tape, narrow mindedness. Mindless, drone-like behaviour (You all know who you are- you have lunch with the morons)

YardEdge: Last book you read?

Michael Sean: Phantom, by Terry Goodkind (Sword of truth Series)

YardEdge: What’s your favourite film and why?

Michael Sean: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The film was aesthetically beautiful. It brought the books to life. Excellent work on just about all levels of creation.

YardEdge: Quote us your favourite song lyric?

Michael Sean: Take it or leave it, all I’ve got. A heart that beats for you- and I can’t make it stop.

-Anne Chandler

YardEdge: Any close encounters with the law?

Michael Sean: Nah- ah good yute dis.

YardEdge: Any regrets?

Michael Sean: I try not to have.

YardEdge: Tell us a secret?

Michael Sean: Pie+Cake=PieCake

…kidding…

If I told you…people might die and countries would fall- there will be blood.

YardEdge: Final thoughts?

Michael Sean: Intelligence and artistry are ingredients for longevity.

You can contact Michael Sean Harris through his website,

http://www.myspace.com/michaelseanharrismusic

Part 1

YardEdge: Why are you an artist/musician?

Michael Sean: In the 1970’s there were little known genetic experiments being done on children born every other quarter of the hour. I was born at 7:15- it was just my turn…ok, that’s a lie -I was born one. The schools I attended were fairly strong in the arts as well. At Vaz Prep, I was in many choirs, percussion band, drama- we were singing all day in some way or other. Wolmer’s Boys’ was the same- the choir at the time was very strong, with Jeffrey Shields and then Lloyd Brian.

YardEdge: What’s your earliest memory of making music?

Michael Sean: Singing along to country music and calypso with my father…maybe age 3 or 4.

YardEdge: How would you describe your work?

Michael Sean: Which aspect? (LOL) Managing Michael Sean Harris is a full time job. I perform, lecture, compose, coach, consult, do my own PR most times, bookings, publishing… It is intense and engaging. It’s all music and the arts. I’d love to have a team doing most of this so I could just create and perform, but I’ll keep doing everything until my situation changes.

YardEdge: How did you get started singing and writing?

Michael Sean: I have been singing since prep school, doing solos etc. While in High school I was given a keyboard as a Christmas gift- I started writing and composing then- I still have many of those early compositions on cassette. (My sister used to say every one of my early compositions sounded like depressed Chinese music- if you can imagine that- Sigh!)

In 6^th form a group of us entered the drama festival with a piece written by Livingston White called ‘Not Just a Nightmare’- I wrote the songs for it. Cathi Levy was a judge for the competition. After, she invited us all to join Little People and Teen Players Club- been singing and writing ever since. It eventually led to my doing a degree in music at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

YardEdge: Do you consider yourself more of a song writer or a performer?

Michael Sean: I think I’m equal parts- stirred, not shaken.

YardEdge: What other artists have influenced you and how?

Michael Sean: My earliest influences were ABBA and The Beatles…and of course country music- you can hear the Abba influence in the way some of my background vocals are arranged. Rai is also a big influence, artists like Khaled Ang others. Coldplay, Def leppard, Stryper, Robbie Nevil, Peter Gabriel, Sting , Enya, Third World, Bob Marley…the list goes on- you can hear it in my music.

YardEdge: What other interests do you have outside of creating art/music?

Michael Sean: I’m an actor as well- I’ve done quite a bit of theatre. I also have an interest in video production and editing and also some basic graphic design as I tend to wear many hats when it comes to getting my music ‘out there’.

YardEdge: What inspires you to create/write music and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?

Michael Sean: Many things inspire me: people, situations, other songs, folk music, happiness, distress, love, anger. When things get tough- I have to tell myself that this is my dream, and if I am not supporting my own dream- no one else will. I really don’t feel I have much of a choice anyway- this is what I feel I was born to do.

YardEdge: What do you enjoy and not enjoy about teaching?

Michael Sean: I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned either though experience or structured learning. I feel it’s important to share and it’s great when you can look at the people you’re sharing with and tell that they are getting something from it. What I cannot deal with is when people who obviously should be doing something else- people who have no real love or exuberance for music or the arts, put themselves before me and waste my time. They will never ‘get it’ and it wastes the time of the others who have more than a passing interest in music.

YardEdge: Upcoming projects?

Michael Sean: Working on completing an album- I’m doing it independently so I’m taking my time. I’m also hoping to put finishing touches on another album for my creative partnership – Joy Mechanics. We already have one album of inspirational music out. I’m planning a show for the Phillip Sherlock Centre with my band and invited guests- it should be a really intimate vibe that will give me a chance to talk a little bit about the music and allow the audience to really hear the stuff- still looking for sponsors- but that won’t stop me. I’m also going to be in the next production by father Holung and friends called ‘YES!’.

YardEdge: How have you handled the business side of being an artist?

Michael Sean: I’ve had no choice but to. It certainly isn’t easy…especially in Jamaica.

YardEdge: How would you describe the state of the Jamaican “music industry”?

Michael Sean: It’s a bit more of a hussle than a real industry. I’d love to see some real structure. Regulations with teeth and organizations that actually do something. There’s an American concept of ‘the Good Ole Boys’- I have the impression it’s not really unique to America.

YardEdge: Are you more of a fan of dance hall or reggae?

Michael Sean: I love them both. I love the innovative production and artists in dancehall and reggae done well is beyond compare.

LOOK OUT FOR PART 2 TO COME.

You can contact Michael Sean Harris via his website:

http://www.myspace.com/michaelseanharrismusic

PAST, PRESENT STUDENTS, STAFF AND FRIENDS

BACK TO SCHOOL JAM SESSION

AT THE DECK – Trafalgar Road

(Opposite Guardian Life)

Next Thursday Nite

August 28^th beginning at 7 PM

Get ready to perform!!!!

Farenheit, Martika, and Sean Paul in Poland

Sean Paul and Farenheit were recently seen at the Coca Cola Festival in Krakow, Poland which also featured the Polish singer, Martika (shown above), Missy Elliot, and the Prodigy.

It is a 2 night festival which presents an eclectic mix of popular international artistes.  The first night included Timbaland and the rock band the Kaiser Chiefs.

Seretse Small, CEO and Founder, Griot Music

Griot Music recently received an official endorsement for Live Music Nation from the Jamaica Tourist Board who have pledged their full support.  Live Music Nation now offers quality live music shows four nights a week at different venues around Kingston.

Targeting the Jamaican government for their endorsement of Live Music Nation events and leading Jamaican companies for sponsorship, Griot Music intends to grow their brand as part of a thrust to improve the Jamaican standard of living as one of the few companies actively investing in Jamaican art and culture.Griot Music’s CEO and founder, Seretse Small came up with the idea of Live Music Nation as the first phase in a plan to make Jamaica the live music capital of the world. “As a musician, I want to make Jamaica the live music capital of the world. There’s no other way to do it other than by investing in the development of the musicians themselves”, says Seretse Small.  Mr. Small explained that Live Music Nation has a programme for musicians to allow them to develop in a safe environment, and perform at a high standard to eventually enable them to  tour anywhere in the world.

When asked about the risks involved, Mr. Small responded, “Globally, the music industry is in a slump for the 8th year in a row. Any investor knows that when the industry is in a slump, this is the best time to jump in, take a risk and take advantage of opportunities.”   Explaining that the slump is not about the global economy, because digital music sales are up, Mr. Small believes that the local music industry has been ignoring artist development and so now there are recording artists who cannot perform and have albums with only a few good songs. Seretse further believes that “in any business, you have to do the ground work before you can reap rewards”.

Live Music Nation takes place on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Christopher’s Jazz Café, The Village Blues Bar on Friday and Heather’s Garden Restaurant on Saturday nights.  And starting in September, there will be alternative/rock at Grosvenor Galleries on Wednesday nights.

Shows start at 7:30pm and cost $500. The format of Live Music Nation is three sets that last 45 minutes each performed by a full band.  See a calendar of events online at www.griotpublishing.com

Steve Urchin (Road Manager for Sean Paul) on the road (actually looks like on a plane) in Poland with Liam Howlett from Prodigy