|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Elizabeth Yates Showcase - Thursday, July 19, 2007 @ 09:00 One of Brantford's best-known musicians has never actually played a live gig. Jesse Stutsman is an Internet phenom, logging more than 200,000 hits for dozens of songs posted on sites including YouTube and MySpace. Cyberspace also allows him to collaborate with musicians as far away as Kenucky and Ireland. And his songs were extremely close to being featured on a new BBC TV comedy show. All this without ever stepping on a stage. The Internet is the perfect venue for a 30-year-old multi-instrumentalist and gifted singer-songwriter who's too shy to perform in public. But Stutsman, who works as an apartment building superintendent and is father to four girls, hopes to step out of his bedroom and into the limelight soon. "I'll definitely have to hit the open jam scene to test the waters. But I'm very self-conscious. That's what's been holding me back all these years." Though he played in the concert band at St. John's College and briefly in a local rock band in the late '90s, music was mostly a private obsession for the past few years Then came the Internet - and supportive messages from hundreds of fans who love his songs. "People keep giving me feedback," he says in an interview at home on Freeborn Avenue. "They say, 'You should record an album. You should do a show: I'll buy your album, I'll go to your shows.' "The more it happens, the more you think maybe there's something there." The warm response - up to 100 comments per video - inspires him to keep making music, posting new songs every few days. It also keeps him busy e-mailing fans. "It's really surreal to me . . . I get to maintain a personal connection with these people." Though Stutsman has been posting music to the web for a few years, his popularity skyrocketed after joining YouTube 10 months ago. The video-sharing site is a treasure trove for performers, says Stutsman, who posts his own songs - "dark music with a message" - as well as covers of favourites such as Tenacious D, Pink Floyd and Arlo Guthrie. Currently, he has about 200 videos on the site and 833 suscribers to his channel. "Things have really exploded for independent artists putting out original stuff. The community is growing and growing and growing." The web encourages sharing and interacting with fellow musicians - regardless of where they live - taking Stutsman's downloads, adding their own arrangements and instruments, and posting new, mixed versions. (Check out the jinxbeatz remix of Stutsman's The Last Song on YouTube.) Stutsman's fame almost extended into a whole new medium recently, when a composition called My YouTube Song was initially selected for an upcoming show called LennyHenryTV. To debut this fall, the BBC One program featuring the famed British comic will feature "ridiculous, funny, weird and wonderful" videos culled from the Internet. When producers first contacted the singer-songwriter, he was incredulous. Signing release forms enforced the reality of it all. But ultimately, the piece didn't make the final cut, says Kate Wheeler of Tiger Aspect Productions in London. "It's a shame we couldn't use it. It's a very good piece: everyone chuckled a lot." The extra exposure would have been nice, but Stutsman will keep writing songs, whether he lands a record deal or just lays down his own CD. A self-taught instrumentalist, the singer usually accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. But he also plays mandolin, flute, piccolo, clarinet, keyboards, percussion and "pretty much anything I can get my hands on." Music is a compulsion which consumes at least three hours each day. "There are a lot worse things to get addicted to: I'm happy to have a creative outlet," says the father of eight-year-old twins, Olivia and Kennedy, and Libby, 9, and Savanah, 11. "It's probably one of the main saviours in my life."
|
 |
|
i'm a singer/songwriter from brantford ontario canada...writing simple songs from the heart on the acoustic guitar, most of which are based on my own life and the troubles within...i have been playing instruments since the age of 12..starting with guitar...which i smashed shortly after...joined the st johns concert band at the age of 14 playing flute and piccolo and experimenting with alto sax and clarinet..i played with the band for 4 years...travelling to schools in the area as well as boston mass and wellsboro pennsylvania. At the age of 17 i was given a 12 string framus guitar where i taught myself how to play over the next few years..at 18 i was given my 6 string giannini craviola which i played until just recently..i have spent years trying to perfect my songs and to find my style.In september of 2006 i joined the youtube community and started posting original music and covers. At first the interest was low for the originals but as time went on and i got more and more subscribers, people started to take an interest in my work...which was really all that i wanted..the covers i play are just to get the peoples attention and hopefully divert them to the original material.I am very close to a personal milestone i thought i would never acheive of 1000 subscribers. my greatest acheivement so far is that i have not played a gig but i made the front page of my local newspaper and a full page color photo and an interview in the spotlight section.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Acoustic
