Author Archive: Eric San Juan
Eric San Juan
February 3, 2021
For most people these days, The Foundations’ 1968 classic, “Build Me Up Buttercup,” is just that quirky song that has appeared in a thousand movies and maybe gets played at a wedding now and then. For me, it’s long been the sound of what “carefree” feels like. I grew up with this song. It was a staple in my household, and as a result it became one of the first songs I loved. After all, what kid doesn’t latch onto catchy melodies? And this is a VERY catchy melody. Just hearing the title, I guarantee it’s already in your head! But over the years it has become more than just a childhood favorite. It’s a song that represents pure happiness; swinging your arms around and…
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Eric San Juan
February 2, 2021
Prior to my journey into jazz beginning (which largely started with Miles Davis and the legendary Kind of Blue), all I knew of John Coltrane was a fleeting reference in a U2 song. I assumed their reference to A Love Supreme was because it was some important or influential work, but I was young and not nearly as musically adventurous as I’d become, so I did as I often did and didn’t think much about it. Then jazz happened to me. I discovered how great escape it was. How it could put me at ease and transport me somewhere else. It began to influence my own freeform, meandering music. I’d first heard Coltrane on Davis’ classic records of the mid-to-late 1950s and it made me…
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Eric San Juan
February 1, 2021
It’s no exaggeration to say that Public Enemy helped change how I view the world. Much like George Orwell’s 1984, it helped me clarify thoughts I’d had and refine my overall worldview, putting to words an sounds the way I saw politicians, authority figures, media, justice, and more. I’ve extensively written about Public Enemy’s impact on me, so here I’m going to skip the formalities and get right to the song. I still remember the day I first saw the video for “Night of the Living Baseheads.” The blaring horns, pounding rhythm, thought-provoking lyrics, and insane multimedia assault of a music video was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Growing up as a sheltered white kid in a tiny New Jersey town (which I helped…
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Eric San Juan
January 27, 2021
https://unsplash.com/photos/8xYT5qT8t2Q You’ve probably delved into the world of film heaps of times up until this point. You will have been on the other side, though – the side that sits back and enjoys. The side that looks up the latest news in anticipation of the latest installment of their favorite franchise. It is a marvelous business and jumps into people’s imaginations and allows people to get away from real-life for a few hours. They have the power to make us feel emotions that have perhaps been locked away for years. But what if you want to enter this vertical and do it for a living? It’s not a bad universe to enter, after all. Well, it’s pretty similar to most industries – it takes…
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Eric San Juan
January 26, 2021
https://unsplash.com/photos/2UuhMZEChdc As a musician, your passion is making sounds and letting your creativity flow in many different ways. You’ll enjoy the feeling of learning a musical instrument and then creating noises that blend together in order to satisfy yourself and those around you. If you simply dabble in the art, then you’ll be content with playing for yourself and yourself only while you have free time. If you take it a little more seriously, however, then you’ll probably imagine yourself playing in front of thousands of people in huge stadiums. You’ll probably purchase everything you can in order to produce songs and distribute them accordingly. One issue a lot of up-and-comers have is the ability to get their music heard by more and more people….
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