Listen to Shock Pilot and the JogTunes Indie Podcast

This morning I am going to go cheer on the runners of the New York Marathon. Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit and it will be a great race for everyone involved. I am looking forward to running it myself next year. Before I go I have a couple things I need to post about:

The past month I've working with some artists through twitter and ReverbNation. It was spearheaded by Jonathan Jones of Linwood Studios. My main contribution was the vocals. Steve Morton was also a key contributer of some eclectic sounds. The intention was to create something entirely collaborative online with feedback from listeners every step of the way, which was immensely valuable. We went through several drafts and I am very excited about the result. What began as an instrumental sketch about flight became a story about a Lara Croft-like flight attendant (undercover spy?) foiling a terrorist plot mid-air.

The project is called Shock Pilot and the first song is called "Smokin' Tasers." Find more information about it here:

http://www.ReverbNation.com/ShockPilot

http://twitter.com/ShockPilot

http://linwoodstudios.blogspot.com/2009/10/shock-pilot-official-release-of-smokin.html

Please feel free to stream, download, or share the song from here:

There is talk about offering a contest for people interested in making a youtube video for it. Contact me for more details.

The other big news I am very excited to announce that my song "Why I Run" was included in this month's JogTunes Indie Podcast! Dr. Bob Marcus guides runners through a 60 minute work out featuring a vast array of unsigned and unknown artists, explaining the different tempos for each song along the way. This podcast was indispensable to me when I started researching the idea running music. I used it to feel out the different tempos. I remember being most comfortable in the 150s and 160s. As soon as the pace climbed into 170 or 180 bpm I wasn't able to keep up. Now here I am nearly two years later touting the benefits of 180 bpm, which proves that cadence is definitely something you can control when you know how. The thing I eventually learned was that the speed of your leg turnover doesn't determine your running speed. If you make your stride smaller you don't have to run faster at the higher tempos. The podcast is a good exercise for trying different stride lengths and cadences as well as discovering unknown artists.

Here is the link to the show podcast:

http://jogtunes.com/jti/jtcbrowsepodcasts.php?x=60&v=ID%20between%20453%20and%20465

A big thanks to Dr. Bob! He is so nice. I am really happy to have a song in the podcast and to be on the website. It's the fulfillment of something I was dreaming about a year ago. If you have not checked it out already, definitely subscribe to this podcast. The website is also a useful resource for finding good running music.

http://jogtunes.com/

Song #6 - So Cold

Back in the US-s... A

I had a fantastic time trekking the Italian Dolomites. While we were there they were declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

It was great to go with a member of a huge Italian family. Everyone spoiled us rotten with their kindness. I think I ate my weight in gelato, pasta, polenta, wine and cheese, oh so much cheese. So yea, the carb loading part of my training is covered, just roll me to start line of the Manhattan Half Marathon.

While I was gone ReverbNation invited me to participate in a Microsoft sponsored promotion that offers free downloads from unsigned artists. The artists get paid when their track gets downloaded. Since I was away from the internet I didn't push it too hard; so I was shocked to come back and find I already hit my cap! That means enough people downloaded it that I'm getting paid the maximum amount possible for this campaign. How cool is that? I won't be paid for further downloads but if people keep downloading it next time I could earn a higher cap. I encourage you to check it out at this url:

http://www.myspace.com/windows?homepage=ladysouthpaw

The song I chose for the promotion is called "So Cold." It is the last of the 6 Songs For Running to be written up on this blog. Actually, it was the first song I wrote for this project way back in February when trying to run in the frigid cold was high on my mind. I put it third in track order but it was my first official attempt at writing to the tempo of 180 beats per minute, the "optimal cadence for peak performance."

Which reminds me, my running pal Jess pointed me toward this running music article that was in the NY Times while I was away. It sites some of the players in the growing trend of making music for running. Jack Tupper Daniels the elite running coach and exercise physiologist responsible for the concept of the optimal cadence for peak performance has teamed up with musician Patrick Crowden to create a running music training program. Hellasound was also reviewed. I've been passively stalking them on twitter since their first running release a few months ago so it was cool to see them get some good press. Overall the article was further encouragement that there is a place for music that is conscious of the running experience and still plenty of room for growth. I already have tons of ideas churning for the next set of running songs that I am writing so it's exciting to get back to work on this.

Good news! If you want to add any of the Songs for Running to your running playlist they are now available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, emusic, and Rhapsody. If you take them for a run, please let me know how it goes. Your feedback will help me in writing the new songs.

Thanks!
ladysouthpawmusic(at)gmail(dot)com