On Sunday, July 10th, sixteen musically gifted high school students from across the US pull into Charlotte for 10 days of music related experiences they will never, ever forget. NOISE! is a summer camp that takes music education to the next level by giving talented teens an innovative and unique opportunity to gain first-hand experience inside the music industry. Students will rub elbows and work directly with songwriters, arrangers, producers, sound engineers, studio musicians, audio architects, label execs, radio programmers, music celebs and educators. NOISE! is life altering for these teens, not to mention mind-bending and dream-inspiring!

NOISE! has been on tour the last 10 years, previously held in NY, LA, Atlanta and Nashville. This year Muzak brings it home to the Charlotte area so their 500 Home Office employees can see and hear first hand the impact NOISE! camp has on the kids.

On the last night of NOISE! camp, July 19, these musically gifted students will perform the annual talent show to hundreds, live in Muzak’s City Center. This highly anticipated showcase of talent, called NOISE! Live, will also be streamed live for all who won’t be able to attend the show in person.

Check to see if one of this year’s NOISE! students might be from your town:

Hannah Cook (Belleville, IL)
Sierra Gant (Spring, TX)
Maggie Thorn (Bloomingfield, MO)
Jordy Searcy (Fairhope, AL)
Joneka Percentie (Charlotte, NC)
Drew McDaniel (Phoenix, AZ)
Willie Griswold (Orlando, FL)
John Hargett (Charlotte, NC)
Sarah Kelli Fleming (Wilmington, NC)
Andrew Stevenson (Doswell, VA)
Filip Skrzesinski (Carpenterville, IL)
Madison Early (Charlotte, NC)
Julia Pettiecord (Yardley, PA)
Brendan Carchidi (Holliston, MA)
Leigh Vargo (Mentor, OH)
Lee Landess (Charlotte, NC)

All sixteen students have been granted scholarships to NOISE! 2011 by the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to supporting music education.

This year we are working hard to allow friends, family and supporters to be part of the action:

Read daily blog posts and regular updates on the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation Facebook page, follow us on Twitter using #NOISE11 and watch NOISE! Live on the Foundation’s Livestream site: http://www.livestream.com/muzakheartsoul

It’s Been a Long Time!
CAGLE & NASH eNEWS
Spring 2011

Side Projects – Cagle (The Other Side of the Ampersand)

Side Projects – Nash (The Other Side of the Ampersand)

Cagle & Nash Side Projects – Both Sides of the Amersand)

• Robyn Springer Live NOW at the Ritz
• New Side projects (Country, Rock and Robyn)
• Grammy Spottings and Radioland
• BBBB
• Cagle & Nash New CD – what’s It Gonna Be?
• Cagle & Nash Live ! (Almost)

• http://www.cagleandnash.com
• www.reverbnation.com/cagleandnash
• www.myspace.com/cagleandnash
• www.twitter.com/cagleandnash
• blog.cagleandnash.com
• info AT cagleandnash.com

The Golden Age of Radio…Thanks to Muzak

Posted by Roberta Keener on 3/10/11 • Categorized as New

Associated Program Services Album 

As you’ve read and heard in several of my latest blogs, Muzak’s early days were all about recording the industry’s best.  These recordings were perfect for building their main product offering, which was music for business.  However, once radio stations heard about this, they wanted in on the action.  You see, back in the ‘30s and ‘40s radio would not and could not legally broadcast recordings sold to the public. If they wanted to feature music, they would book musicians into their studios and broadcast them live, which was an expensive and restrictive proposition.  Muzak’s electronic transcription recordings where produced exclusively for broadcast, making them a great option and a hot commodity for radio stations across the country in those early days of radio.

By the late ‘30s Muzak’s “Associated Programming Services” (APS) began to develop their own “library services” (e.g., programming) for syndication and broadcast networks.    Each week stations would receive one or two new 16” discs with 4 to 6 recordings per side for their library.  Associated subscribers accumulated a library of thousands of tracks in different genres such as big band, jazz, opera, hillbilly, musicals, Negro gospel, classical, popular vocals, and lots of novelty recordings.  Because of the popularity of these recordings, Muzak came to be known as the “hit makers”.

Associated also provided their radio customers with what were known as production aids.  These were recordings in the form of jingles, bumpers, station breaks and IDs, announcements, musical interludes and introductions.  Subscribers could literally produce their own radio shows by programming production aids along with musical tracks and local DJ voice-overs. This proved to be a highly profitable investment in a world hungry for novelty and fresh content over broadcast radio.

Muzak continued to supply content to radio stations across America all through the Golden Age of Radio (‘30s, ‘40s and early ‘50s – before TV caught on), after which time we boxed these masters up and hid them in storage for over 60 years.  No wonder the Grammy Museum, Library of Congress and Smithsonian are so excited about helping us uncover these American pop culture treasures.  As a matter of fact, I think that’s Bob from the Grammys calling right now.  Excuse me for a second…

Contributed by Bruce McKagan

It’s always been amazing to me that a company like Muzak would open up shop for the first time during the depths of the Great Depression.  Was Muzak’s inventor, Gen. George Squier, a visionary or just a wild dreamer?   By 1934, the year Muzak was founded, the Great Depression had forced the GNP to drop by 30%, 13 million jobs were lost and unemployment had risen to almost 38%.  This sure didn’t seem like a good time to start a business; especially one that produced a non-essential product like music…. right

What’s important to understand is that during these hard times music delivered not only escape from the realities of the depression, but hope.  Musicals, storytellers, spirituals, big band, hillbilly music, opera and novelty songs were the medicine of the day.  Even though the common American was going without many of their basic necessities, radio and phonograph sales were dramatically on the rise.

So I guess George was a visionary after all!  He figured out an innovative way to distribute music to thousands of consumers and businesses by the mid ‘30s.  Ben Selvin, Muzak’s first VP of Programming, was the guy who produced recordings that captured the heart and desires of the American people during the depression.  Recordings by the likes of the Dorsey Brothers, the original Riders of the Purple Sage, the Deep River Boys, the Green Brothers, Fats Waller, Jan Pearce and thousands of incredible artists who performed in the ‘30s and ‘40s.  This was the music that entertained and gave hope to a nation in the depths of the Great Depression.  The rest is history and Muzak was in the middle of it all.

Contributed by Bruce McKagan

Originally Posted on www.muzakblog.com by Roberta Keener on 2/23/11 •

Frank Luther

When Ben Selvin, Muzak’s executive producer in the ‘30s and ‘40s, called on bands and musicians to record for Muzak, he seemed impartial to their musical styles or genres. He booked big bands, jazz, gospel, opera and everything in between. On November 23, 1934, Ben invited his friend Frank Luther into his Muzak studio to record a few tunes. Frank Luther had a trio with his wife, Zora Layman, and baritone Leonard Stokes. They were the first featured act on the NBC radio series, “Hillbilly Heart-Throbs” at the time of this recording. Frank is recognized along with the Carter family and Carson Robison as pioneers of country western music.

Frank’s trio was often found in Muzak studios because of his warm and engaging approach to music. “Oh Dem Golden Slippers” is a great example of Frank’s rural American style. This Frank Luther tune is one of 20,000 Muzak recordings from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s that has never been released to the public and hasn’t been heard in over 60 years. We are in the painstaking process of digitizing this immense library. Over the next few weeks we plan to spoon feed you some of these historic nuggets. Have fun listening to and sharing these pop culture treasures with your friends. I sure am.

Here is a LINK to the original post where you will be able to listen to a sample of Mr. Luther’s work. Well worth the listen

Red Herring Redux - Greg Cagle (produced by Cagle & Nash)

Feb. 12, 2011 – Just released – the long awaited Greg Cagle solo CD Project – Red Herring Redux. The CD is in the production plant and the full list of 12 songs is now available on iTunes.

This is a pleasant departure from the previous two Cagle & Nash produced releases. Here we have a nice blues album. But not the old sad slow depressing blues. This is upbeat and up tempo blues with a tinge of blues and alt. rock swirled in!

Be Sure to Check Out:
Walkin’ – something that often times solves a lot of life’s problems. Just keep on walking.
She Musta Laid a Spell on Me – We’ve all been in this place – trying to search for that elusive ?
Spendin’ Money – Very timely for most of us right now. Enough said !
Years Later – Tom Petty you might want to record this one !
Leave Me With the Blues – leave me with the blues but I’m dancing them away !

Track Personnel:
Greg Cagle – Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Bkgd. Vocals, Sax, Bass, Piano, Organ
Rick Nash – Trumpet & Flugelhorn
James Brown – Alto Sax
Robyn Springer – Bkgd Vocals
David Rhyne – Bass, Drums, Percussion, Organ, Piano
Joe Miers – Bass
David Floyd – Organ
Matt Cagle – Percussion
Dave Zeltner – Piano

Engineered by – David Rhyne @Traffic Sounds Studio
Produced By – Cagle & Nash
All Songs Copyright – Greg Cagle
Published by: Grelloyd Music Publishing / Ricksquared (Music Publishing)

Full Red Herring Redux Track Listing
1. Walkin’ [5:43]
2. She Musta Laid a Spell on Me [4:50]
3. Plenty Enough [4:44]
4. Everything Is Better [5:06]
5. Spendin’ Money [4:38]
6. Back on the River [4:55]
7. If You Don’t know Right From Wrong [5:16]
8. Once Upon a Dark & Lonely Night [4:51]
9. Introduce the Band [5:25]
10. Years Later [4:32]
11. Leave Me With the Blues [4:00]
12. Doo Wop & Soda Pop [3:24]

Check Out Greg Cagle and Cagle & Nash Here

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Red Herring Redux – Greg Cagle by Cagle & Nash

Inventing a Business Model

I’ve spent the last few posts getting you up to speed on the Muzak recording sessions held in our Manhattan during the late 1930’s. But why did Muzak need to record so much music… and in so many genres? Wasn’t Muzak primarily into instrumental versions of traditional songs?  You know, “elevator music” versions of classic melodies?

Well, in the early years of Muzak, our business model was much different than you might think.  Starting in 1934, Muzak’s business model was created not only to offer high quality music to businesses, but also to homes. Muzak’s means of distributing music was via telephone lines (the broadband cable of its day) offering customers clearer and more consistent reception than by the less reliable radio. And, since radio stations could not broadcast records sold to the public (due to licensing restrictions) most of the music was performed live, which had its own quality issues.

So just imagine: Muzak’s transcription recordings were high quality soundtracks by exquisite musicians and arrangers, broadcasted via state-of-the-art telephonic technology. And Muzak’s library was building by leaps and bounds on a weekly basis. With such high quality content delivered by a high quality signal, businesses and residences were lining up to get their subscription.

After only a few short years, it became extremely apparent that there was an additional revenue opportunity for Muzak.  In 1935 Muzak corporate introduced Associated Program Service (AMP).  This new business arm offered Muzak’s transcription library to radio stations, giving broadcasters a viable option for more cost effective and quality music programming.  Radio stations across the country immediately began to sign up for the service.  AMP provided a healthy revenue stream for Muzak for nearly two decades.

All of this meant that executive producer Ben Selvin’s task was clear – record lots and lots of music for Muzak’s library:  a variety of artists, playing all kinds of musical styles for a multitude of business models and a broad listening audience.  And that he did – nearly 8,000 recordings in his 13 years at Muzak (1934-1947). No person and no company has produced more quality recordings by top artists than Ben Selvin and Muzak in the 1930s and 40s.

Elevator music?  Not even close.  Muzak captured the soundtrack of American Pop Culture and we’ve got thousands of master recordings in our archives to prove it!

I’ll be back in just a few days.  See ya then.

Contributed by Bruce McKagan

www.muzakblog.com

So off into the world of Muzak archives we go, to our earliest recording sessions. We know the names of nearly all of the musicians and the songs they recorded on specific dates thanks we call our ‘Blue Books’. These books are filled with session charts or stage reports that document the date, band leader, number of musicians, studio, engineer, master number, composer, publisher, and titles recorded at each Muzak session.

Our earliest stage reports from 1934 lack some of the information registered in later sessions, but they still give us an unprecedented look into the past.  A picture of one of the very first stage reports is captured at left.

Our records show that one of the first Muzak recording sessions featured a touring Italian brass band called the ‘National Fascist Militia Band’. Yes folks, this was just prior to WWII and the band was Mussolini’s own Italian marching band, with their American tour scheduled in mid 1934. The tour’s slogan was “Uniting the Hearts of Italy and America”.  Turns out that Mussolini also booked his band in Nazi Germany. During the National Fascist Militia Band’s one and only American tour in the summer of ’34, Carnegie Hall was one of their first stops, followed by a visit to Muzak’s sound studio in Manhattan.

At this session Muzak’s producer Ben Selvin, recorded over 25 songs and marches, including:  To Arms (Fascist Anthem), Royal Italian March, the Meistersinger Overture, the William Tell Overture and the Star Spangled Banner (ironic).  I’m not sure how often these recordings were played after the war began, but they sure made a power musical statement as part of Muzak’s initial library. After hearing these recordings, current producer and Muzak digitizing expert Joe Carter concludes that they are true masterpieces performed by exquisite musicians.

In 1934 we also recorded the likes of the Metropolitan Opera, Joe Venuti’s Orchestra (renowned jazz violinists, featuring vocalist Louie Prima in “Confessing”, found on our 75th website), Harold Kemp and his Orchestra (first “sweet” dance band), Frank Luther Quintet (legendary Hilly Billy band leader), Edwin Franco Goldman Band (renowned military band that played for over 90 years), the St. Bartholomew Choir, and  the Harry Salter Orchestra (played with Gene Krupa, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Jack Teagarden).  All in all during 1934, over 250 tracks in 7 different music genres were recorded by Muzak’s producer extraordinaire, Ben Selvin. Not bad for a company in their first year of operation.

We are currently digitizing many of these tracks from Muzak’s 1934 archive and are excited to give you a taste over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Contributed by Bruce McKagan