Pulp Fiction and Pre History

One of my favorite movies of all time is Pulp Fiction. And one of the most quoted scenes from that movie is when Ving Rames says the famous lines "i'm gonna get medeival on your a.."

Well, i am currently in Carcassonne, an incredible Medeival village in Southern France. I'll post pics from many of my adventures soon, but right now i am on a gruelingly slow connection at my hotel with a french keyboard with the letters all in different places. so far i've corrected about 20 spelling errors. Anyway, i have never seen anything quite like Carcassone, and iùve seen a few awesome Medeival places. This is straight out of the movies only its real. Surreal might be a better description. Wait til you see the pics.

In other surreal adventures today, i saw the pre historic cave paintings a Font-De-Gaume, France, which date back to 14,000 years ago, and are the only pre-historic cave paintings like this in the world that are still viewable to the general public. I always thought cave paintings like this were rudimentary line drawings of animals, but that is completely inaccurate. This is true art created by true artisans 14,000 years ago. These paintings among other techniques employ 3 dimensional perspective, subtle shading, realistic proportioning and accurate coloring. These artisans also used the actual shapes of the cave walls to impart 3 dimensional volume and definition to the animals, which is beyond my ability to explain but once you see and understand what your looking at, you quickly realize that these people were highly intelligent. they didnt have universities and school like we do, but they definitely had advanced reasoning, social structure, tool making abilities, and advanced artistic skills.

in fact, "modern paintings" with such accurate proportioning and detail did not re-emerge again until around the 14th or 15th century, which was only 700 years ago. Anyway, your probably bored out of your skull reading this, but i've got to say it was one of the most fascinating and enlightening experiences i've had in a long time. i highly recommend seeing Font-De-Gaume.

Anyway, its late here, i'm going to go walk the walls of Carcassonne one more time before i attempt to sleep, maybe i'll have a glass of wine too, after all, i am in France. i hope you all are doing well, my vacation so far has been fantastic with more great things to come. Pics soon for anyone who cares.
- Ken Lewis

Brussels sprouts and French fries

If ever there was anyone who really NEEDED a break from working, it would be me. I am taking a much needed vacation from the music industry for the next couple weeks. My travels will take me to Brussels, Belgium, and all over Central and Southern France. So, if your looking for tech posts the next couple weeks, sorry your out of luck. I hope to be posting some travel pics and updates, but hopefully, not much if anything about the music industry. Hey, this is my blog, and i get to write about whatever i want, and trust me, if anyone has earned a break from the music industry for a moment, that would be me.

So, i'll be on a plane in a few minutes and soon soaring over the Atlantic ocean. My staff is not so lucky, they will be grinding it out at the studio full time, getting things done. So, if your a client, or potential client, and need something, call, someone will be there to help you. I'll be checking mail periodically.

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Ken Lewis

John Legend should strike Gold Next Week

After 4 weeks of sales, John Legends new album (i produced a song called "Another Again" on the record) has sold 465,000 units in America alone. Gold Records are awarded for sales of 500,000 units, and John sold 60,000 albums this past week. So, it is a virtual certainty that he will top the Gold Record mark next week, giving me my first Gold Record as a producer, but mark my words, far from my last. John's album also debuted #1 on the R&B albums charts, giving me my first #1 album as a producer. With some luck, there will be a platinum plaque in there in a few months.

John is such a gifted artist. I saw him perform for the first time long before he was even signed. Kanye was showcasing him at some NYC artist showcase (this was when we were making The College Dropout album so Kanye wasn't even known as an artist yet, though he was well established as a producer). John played on some of the same College Dropout songs that i did, and we were in the studio together occasionally during Common's "Be" album and i think he also played piano on a Jay Z track i played and sang on. Come to think of it, i did some music for a song on John's first album, but the song didn't make the record. Ugh. missing out on a platinum, Grammy winning album definitely hurt. Hopefully this album will recieve similar accolades. time will tell.

Anyway, i just wanted to share. For you guys and girls trying to get a toe hold in the music industry, or maybe your still in school, just remember that once upon a time, i was an intern running errands, making coffee, answering phones, working for free. That experience was priceless in helping me move up to the next level and the next and the next, in fact i'm still climbing, and with all the good stuff thats happened in my career so far, i have so much more i want to accomplish. The music industry is a long road, and i wish any of you the best of luck if you choose to walk this road, just keep in mind, its alot of humbling, hard work, usually for little or no pay. But if you can make it thru the early stages, there's nothing better (for me anyway) than making a living making music. And on that note, I've got a mix to get back to.

-Ken Lewis