Sharing the Stage with a Musical Hero

Tom Ray with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos - via lorenzosmusic.com

I recently had the honor of sharing the stage with one of my biggest musical influences, David Hidalgo.

picture of man singing into microphone by a keyboard also a person playing saxophone

Tom Ray on stage with Lorenzo's Music at the Gamma Ray in Madison WI - via lorenzosmusic.com

Not only did we get to open for him, but I also got to chat with him about his music and creative process.

You can read more about the experience on my band's website - https://www.lorenzosmusic.com/2024/06/played-show-with-one-of-our-biggest.html

Artwork for the original Candy Land game by Milton Bradley from 1955.

I have a vintage Candy Land game from 1955 by Milton Bradley and I was about to sell it so I thought I would add it to my personal art history course concept I've been doing . I'm going to try and see if I can find out how this game was created, designed and why? Here is what I found out about this game https://candy-land.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_Wiki Candy Land is a board game about children exploring a world made out of candy and other sweets that originally came out in 1949. In every version of the game, there are a group of children that go through Candy Land. In the earliest versions of the game, it was a realistically drawn boy and girl. Drawing of the Candy Land kids I did on my phone ☝ https://board-games-galore.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott , while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California. It's rumored that Eleanor also did the original artwork but I didn't find anything that...

How I use one Gmail address for multiple Soundcloud accounts

Do you know the Gmail "+" trick to use one email for multiple accounts on one service? Here's a little trick I use that works for any service. I talked about this on the podcast episode I did with artist Mortimur K . In this case, let's say I used up all the uploads I have for my free Soundcloud account . With this trick, I can open a new free account and use the same Gmail address. I don't want to create another Gmail account to sign up again. Using my one Gmail address for multiple accounts on the same service I don't remember when I learned this but you can alter the name on a Gmail address. Like, let's say mine is "tom@gmail.com". To be clear that is not my email. I wish it was, but this is just a short example. Start with the original Gmail address Add a "+" after the email name Where it says "tom" on the address I can put a "+" after that. Add a "+" after the email name After that "+" I ca...

To Do: Multitasking My Business, Music, and Comics

Sometimes balancing my multiple projects can often feel like an overwhelming task. I sit and think out loud about the tasks I need to juggle this week from my vintage reselling business, my band, and my webcomic series. In this video vlog, I begin the week by prioritizing tasks and setting goals. I'm going to mark them as I go along. ✅ = Done ⏲ = Still waiting Vintage reselling business - The Pop Culture Roadshow With a vintage reselling business to run, the first order of business is to pack orders from weekend sales on platforms like eBay and Mercari. As I pack these items I need to record a 'What Sold' video for my Pop Culture roadshow YouTube channel , turning the task into video content. ✅ Pack orders ✅ List new items I got from estate sales (See my latest eBay store listings here ) ⛔ Create a new "What sold" video for my YouTube page (Recorded not edited - Laptop upgrade issues) Band - Lorenzo's Music I've also got a new song out this month so I nee...

Art Inspiration: Digging on old Scooby-Doo cartoon background artwork

Can we all just take a second to appreciate the background art of the 1969 Scooby-Doo cartoons ? Easily the most inspirational artwork from my childhood right here. I think this scene from the cartoon is what inspired my recent nostalgia for the Money Island computer game I wrote about in my webcomic . Who did these background paintings? I wrote a post about the artist Walter Peregoy who did the background artwork for the series over on my pop-culture roadshow blog . Some of the things I learned about the artist He had a modernist 50s style Designed the 101 dalmatians cartoon look Was an artist for one of the Liquid Television cartoons on MTV Go here to see more... Read more about the artist and their artwork on my pop-culture blog. Go here to see more background artwork

Tom Ray

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