Statistics Vs. Grass Roots

Just a note on why big companies and organizations think you are nothing.

When a survey is conducted to discover if people in Stone Harbor, NJ like to eat octopus at Marabella's Restaurant, they don't actually ask everyone in Stone Harbor. The island has a population of about 20k. They might ask about 200 people or 1%. Here is a set of results for your brain:

Survey question:
Do you like to eat octopus?
80 people of 200 respond YES
Math: 80/200= .4 or 40%

Survey results: 40% of Stone Harbor residents like to eat octopus.

Ok, so you see this and you're like, "Yuck! We don't like octopus in Stone Harbor, we like chocolate cookies!" (personally, I'll take the octopus!). So you start a grassroots campaign to show that Stone Harbor residents like chocolate cookies. You start a facebook page and in a month you get 3,000 Stone Harbor people to "like" your page. The comments are awesome, everyone agrees! So you take all your info to the owners of Marabella's and show them that they should serve chocolate cookies NOT octopus. You clearly show that over 3,000 people agree.

They reject your claim based on the following information:
40% of Stone Harbor Residents like octopus based on a recent survey.
15% of Stone Harbor Residents like chocolate cookies based on the information you provided.

How's that work out? Here's the math as companies often see it:
3,000 people DIVIDED BY 20,000 residents = .15 or 15%

This plays out over and over again in almost any subject that relies on data. Popular music, political polls, television ratings, et cetera. This is why your favorite show gets cancelled, why local bands have so much trouble getting airplay, and why fringe candidates don't stand a chance.

In closing, the above example is why it is so hard to take grass roots movements to the next level. Work hard and kick ass and it is possible. It's just really hard because they use different gauges than real world absolutes.

Above The Shower (video not blog)

Hey everyone. We've been really busy working on Summer Saved Me and booking out for the summer so I apologize for not posting! Here is a link to the Official Lyric Video for "Above The Shower" off of Mixed Signals. Before you ask, yes the girl in the video is the same girl that appears on the cover of Mixed Signals. Her name is Taylor and she's awesome! Thanks so much Taylor!!

Mixed Signals is here

Oversat has released the first in a four album arch. Part 1 is "Mixed Signals." A 6 song EP that details what's to come on the Oversat rollercoaster. We did a soft launch on May 1st. The press has been decent so  far, with a couple of interviews and one album review so far. We have a really great media manager, big thanks to Neil for everything he does. Here's what one reviewer said: 

"Although the sort of music that would have caused me to have night terrors as a child...it certainly has its own dark, frenetic appeal. These recordings also hold a lot of visual power as images of performances are easily conjured without even the smallest frame of reference."

You can download the album at our bandcamp page: Oversat's Bandcamp. Everything was mixed and mastered by the man himself, Scott Minor. We just started a promotional tour for the album. We also just started recording part 2 of this 4 album arch, "Summer Saved Me." This will also be an EP, it will contain 7 songs. 

In related news, Oversat alum Alka-Jon just posted a video of his kids singing a song that will appear on part 3, "In The City." The "In The City" album will be a full length. In true Oversat fashion, it probably won't sound much like it's predecessor. We're really excited about some of the songs on that one, it's got a huge sound.

We're going to post a teaser video for "Summer Saved Me" and for "In The City" (featuring Alka-Jon's kids) in the next couple of weeks. I come post links to some of our press as well. Until then, remember that the Walgreens (In the US) have Premium Brew BIG FLATS lager for only $2.99/6 pack. On that note, it's time that I rejoin the tour already in progress. Continue reading on Examiner.com: Mixed Signals lives up to its name - Pittsburgh Music | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/music-in-pittsburgh/mixed-signals-lives-up-to-its-name-review#ixzz1MvrvKbh9

MIXING & MASTERING "Mixed Signals"

Mixing with the man, himself!

We have finished primary mixing on two of the six songs on the upcoming EP. I feel so luck to be working with a very talented engineer and artist. I won't say his name until we're all done. He has a very strong background in music, and his style of editing and mixing really connects with this albums "mixed signals." We are planning to finish mixing after the weekend, so I'll post another update then. We started by mixing this song that is mostly just people sounds. He had great ideas for playing with the textures and flanges that really made it pop. Next we worked on a song with a '60s Australian rock vibe. He told Jared that one of the guitars, "sounded like the first Pretenders album" which was a very gracious nod. Thanks for being awesome!
-O

I don't sit alone

Just a note: I don't sit alone in crowded rooms. If I ever enter a cafeteria, library, or bar I will opt to sit with strangers over taking a whole table to myself. This is two fold: 1st off I don't see why I should take up a whole table unless I am waiting on someone to join me or I have to spread out a lot of stuff (computer, books, cameras, et cetera). 2nd, I like meeting new people, they usually shoot me an awkward stare at first, but usually they open up and start chatting about whatever interests them shortly after. Just yesterday, I sat with a girl studying her Biology. After a while, she got up and asked me to watch her belongings. When she returned, she thanked me, "thank you, sir" and went back to studying. Shortly after, I started working on my Western Civilization homework. She shattered the stranger boundary and started chatting me up about her Western Civ teacher and we ended up talking about a wide variety of school and life related subjects. Her name is Bree, and she's a new acquaintance. Maybe not a "loan you money" friend, but someone else in the world that has a connection to you.

That is why I don't sit alone.
-O

It's nice to know you're not alone

We got a call from a band in Brooklyn that we've played with in the past. They wanted to know if we could trade some bookings with them. It's nice to know that the connections you make with other bands endure. They will be on their way back from SxSw when we play with them next. We have been too busy finishing the "Mixed Signals" EP to book any festivals so far this year, but we'll probably hit SxSw up next February. Our touring focus remains in the far off land of Norway, where we'll be kicking off our promotional tour for the new EP. I got excited yesterday because I thought my passport came in, but it was my sister's. AHAHAHAAAAAAAH. She' going to Georgia (the country) to teach English in August. Please Mr. Secretary, send me my passport soon.

-O

We exist in sleep or How plant life evolved on Earth

Humans are not very good at astral projection. Not as a species. There are individuals and cultures in our history that have figured it out. The ancient Egyptians as well as modern Japanese put there physical bodies into states that allowed them to transcend the senses to reach the astral plane. Modern physics posits a theory that the world around us and its rules might just be an end product of our interactions. Think of the blueprint for a bridge. You see the bridge and its features. You can drive over a river, it doesn't collapse, it is visually beautiful, it has lanes that pass two directions. The components that make up the bridge do not possess those same qualities. Our universe is the same. A composite.

Have you ever defied the "laws" of physics in a dream state? Why is that possible? Where are you actually at when you are dreaming? You can say, "I'm in my head" but have you ever experienced something in a dream that you've never experienced in your entire life? We're not talking about a memory transferring from short term to long term memory. Have you ever had a completely unique experience in the dream world?

Do trees dream? Do trees ever stop dreaming?

Humans have experienced massive gatherings in the astral plane, but nothing on the scale of planet life on earth. We evolved to value our 5 senses. Our senses are sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. Realize that other organisms have a different set of senses. Plant life do not "think" about their external stimulus to survive. They have forms that provide defense and food without having to interact with their consciousness.

The conscious manifestation of plant life on Earth lives in harmony on the astral plane. The ability to imagine what the astral world looks like to planet life is like trying to imagine what red smells like. Humans might one day evolve to this way of being.

It is possible to interact on the astral plane. It is also possible to live in solitary.