Starting tomorrow, Friday, October 9, 2009 is the 127th AudioEngineers Society Convention. It takes place at the Jacob JavitisCenter and is running for four days. According to the website, this iswhat the convention is about:

“For over 60 years, the AES has been the largest gathering of audioprofessionals and enthusiasts on the globe, attracting delegates fromover 100 countries worldwide.

Workshops, tutorials, technical papers and the trade show floorprovide attendees with a wealth of learning, networking and businessopportunities.”

For someone who has been in a music studio and in the industry, the AES convention is like a wonderland of new toys to play with and anopportunity to get tons of free magazines and earplugs. Either way, theconvention is sure to be an exciting one.

You can visit AES.org for more information.

I was sitting around, listening to my iPod when I heard a song I haven't heard in a long time: Back to Life by Soul II Soul. It's from the album Keep on Movin'. This was my first CD I had ever gotten. My dad gave it to me after I found it among his things. For a few months, it was all I listened to and absorbed into my skin. Though I haven't heard it in a long time, I still remember some of the songs very well. I love the title track.

So I am curious readers...what was your first CD/tape/record etc.? It doesn't matter if it was given to you or if you bought it yourself. How did your first album end up in your hands? By the way, welcome to the first official post of Songkiss'd.

You can either leave a comment or send an e-mail to [email protected] with your response. If you are a member of the Songkiss'd blog on MySpace, send a message or send a tweet @music_views on Twitter.

Either way, let's dive in because Songkiss'd has been waiting too long to emerge. Let's explore the kiss of music!

According to articles from Billboard.com, The Billboard Women in Music Event "celebrates the most powerful and talented women in the music business and is also held in conjunction with the Women In Music Power Players List issue, which recognizes the top female music executives who are leading the industry with their artistic and business vision."

This year's event will be taking place on this Friday, October 2, 2009 in New York City. Today, it was announced that New Yorker Lady Gaga, will be named this year's "Rising Star". Lady Gaga has been making a splash lately from being named the third artist ever in history to have three No. 1 singles on the Top 40 Airplay chart to her wild outfits she wore to the 2009 MTV VMAs.

As said in today's Billboard.biz article, Lady Gaga is "one of those rare examples of a truly unique artist with mass appeal," says Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard. "She has established herself as one of today's top songwriters, and the whole world is waiting to see what her next outrageous but brilliant move or style will be. It is that ongoing anticipation, combined with her success that makes her a rising star."

To read the article, take a look here and check it out.

Here is Lady Gaga's performance at the 2009 MTV VMAs:

On Monday, Michael Jackson's first posthumous single, "This Is It" was released on the airwaves. While the internet was abuzz with mixed reviews about the single, one legendary songwriter named Paul Anka was ready to sue the Jackson estate.

This was because Anka had co-written the song with Jackson back in 1983, but was given no credit when the song came out on Monday. Jackson was listed as the sole songwriter. Back in 1983, the pair had a falling out and the single was never used on a Jackson album. However, it was used as a single for a Puerto Rican singer named Sa-Fire in 1991, being renamed as "I Never Heard".

Anka was given credit after his threat to sue and was given 50 percent of the copyright, making it a potentially a very good payday for the 68-year-old Canadian songwriter. This also will be a great loss in the Jackson estate.

You can find articles on it on Live Daily, Yahoo!, and Entertainment Weekly.

Here is a short clip of the single from YouTube. You have to go on Jackson's official site to hear the full song.

Being a regular blog reader means never being surprised by what other blogs do. You are on top of all of the happenings of the blog and you know what the blog is about. So it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the Brooklyn Vegan, a popular Brooklyn music blog, does showcases!

Being a sometimes reader, this blogger never thought about music blogs moving beyond the computer screen. However, it does make sense. Music bloggers are suppose to be talking about what is happening in music and making their readers aware of the hidden gems that they discover. Instead of just writing about it, the Brooklyn Vegan has taking it one step further and decided to give a showcase with CMJ, (College Music Journal). Turns out, this is something that has been happening for the past few years.

This year's showcase takes place at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 6 p.m. You can read more about it at the Brooklyn Vegan and get tickets here.

Here is a video found on YouTube of a band that played at the Brooklyn Vegan Showcase at CMJ 2006.

Melinda Katz, a lifelong Queens resident, is the only female candidate for Comptroller.

This doesn't mean that she is not a worthy contender in this race however. As always, it is refreshing to see a woman who is willing to take a risk and be the only one standing among the "big boys".  

Katz is running for one of the most important jobs in this city, to be the New York City Comptroller. The city comptroller is in charge of the financial health of the city. And during these recessionary times, we sure do need someone new in charge.

According to news reports, Katz seems to be one of the top two favorite candidates out of the four Democrats in this race (the other being John Liu). She is a candidate that has the support of women, the LGBT community and several of her fellow politicians.

Katz also an intriguing individual from a creative family. According to Gay City News: "Born and raised in New York, she is a single mom raising her 14-month-old son, Carter, in the same house in Forest Hills where she grew up, which she bought after the death of her father 22 years ago. Her father founded the Queens Symphony Orchestra, whose maestro he served as, and her mother, who died in an auto accident when Katz was just three, started the Queens Council on the Arts - there was, apparently some level of creative competition in the family from the get-go. Her three brothers, all older, have followed in their parents' footsteps - two of them leading performing arts programs, the third designing women's haute couture."

In this blogger's eyes, Katz may already have one vote, not only because of her intriguing life but because of this statement she gives on her website about why she is running for comptroller:

"People ask me why I'm running for Comptroller and three simple words come to mind: I get it."

"I get that New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet during the economic crisis of our lifetime. I get that people are angry with Wall Street excess and the enveloping repercussions of its unchecked greed. I get that parents in every borough are worried about their children's education. And my approach to solving these vexing public problems is the same as any family's approach to solving its own private ones: common sense and accountability. I get that, for Comptroller, we need a no-nonsense New Yorker who will work for everyone."

Powerful words that certainly got to this blogger in more ways than one.

You can find out more about Melinda Katz at her website, http://www.melindakatzforny.com

As we get closer to the September 15th elections, many candidates for various positions in the New York City government are on their election grind, talking to as many people as they can before the big day.

One of the most important races is the one for New York City Comptroller. This blogger's two favorite candidates are Melinda Katz and John Liu. What are they doing now, during the final hours?

John Liu is easy to track. Liu keeps updating his Twitter page with every move he makes during the day. About an hour ago, Liu tweeted that he was meeting Assemblymember Adriano Espaillat in Manhattan.

Liu is also willing to forfiet sleep. "Sleep is overrated. We've got to be out here, campaigning, talking to voters, talking about the issues," as Liu stated on NY1 News during Labor Day weekend.

Melinda Katz doesn't update her Twitter as often, though it would be nice. However Katz has been using her voice to woo voters. It was discovered eariler in the week that Katz is willing to sing to her potential voters. Katz sang "God Bless America" to patrons of the Haber House senior center last week.

Here is a video of Katz singing with the Queens Symphony Orchestra this summer:

Twitter and serenades make these candidates a little bit more human, but only the votes will tell if this will work to get them in the Comptrolller's office.

Every person has a pet peeve that they have to obsess and write about. This blogger is no different from the rest. The video below is about these little orange fruit balls that plague our sidewalks and streets. This fruit may seem harmless until you catch a whiff of their putrid insides that spill out once they break apart or get stepped on. For years, the name of these little horrid fruits were nameless, but after doing some research, though this is not confirmed, it is suspected that these fruits are called the Ginkgo fruit.

The ginkgo according to Wikipedia is "also known as the Maidenhair Tree after Adiantum, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives. The ginkgo is classified in its own division, the Ginkgophyta, comprising the single class Ginkgoopsida, order Ginkgoales, family Ginkgoaceae, genus Ginkgo and is the only extant species within this group. It is one of the best-known examples of a living fossil, because Ginkgoales other than G. biloba are not known from the fossil record after the Pliocene."

Seems a little heavy, but that's the official defintion of ginkgo. There is also an article about the ginkgo in the New Yorker from the summer of 2008. You can check it out here. That may simplify things for you.

Now check out the amateur masterpiece below. It may be corny, but it works for this blogger.

John Liu is the other Queens candidate in the New York CIty race for Comptroller.

Revolutionaries seem to be a favorite for this blogger because Liu was the first Asian American to be elected to an legislative office in New York history. Quite a feat for this Flushing resident who has lived in Queens since the age of five.

As it gets closer to September 15th, when New Yorkers will get a chance to vote for who they want as comptroller, you see more of their campaign commericals show up on T.V.

Lui's commericals really show him as a person who is willing to meet his community and talk to individuals about what they want for this city. While this blogger leans more towards Melinda Katz, Liu does have his appeal.

Recently out in the news is the story of Liu working in a sweatshop as a kid. After an interview with his parents, who said that he didn't go to the shop, that his mother worked from home and that he helped her there, there has been a whole contraversy about Lui's memory. He still insist that he did work in the sweatshop, but this blogger doesn't seem too sure because of this blog entry and article found on Lui's website.

Overall, however, he does seem like a good candidate and would come a close second to Melinda Katz for this blogger.