After 7 years*, John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for a special reunion episode of Technology and the Arts, as they catch up on things and once again explore the connections between technology and art. Also, tonight marks 16 years since the debut of the Technology and the Arts podcast on Dec. 13, 2006.
(*Brian was off on the date of the last episode by 11 months during the recording…oops.)
Brian Kelley and John LeMasney return for another Technology and the Arts reunion special, this time to mark the 20th anniversary of WordPress.
Hi. This is Brian. So…the Technology and the Arts podcast ended close to five years ago. At the time, John LeMasney and I were in the middle of a season in which we were taking viewers/listeners behind the scenes as we tried to collaborate on writing a song together remotely.
We started by sharing some ideas we had worked on independently. My contribution was the simple chorus below and a potential title, “Lay It On The Line.” The lyrics reflected how I felt, as a privileged white male, in the wake of Ferguson and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. I wanted to express the importance of not being silent about racial injustice and to be vocal in support of BLM.
bktandem · TechArts – LayItOnTheLine 10-29-2015
John shared some guitar riffs and I soon realized the one at the start of this clip might work as a verse with my chorus.
John William LeMasney · First Draft
Shortly before the podcast came to an end in December 2015, I used a piece of John’s guitar riff in this rough demo to see if the two pieces could work together.
bktandem · FirstDraft LIOTL_mockup
This “draft” version of the song was to be a framework for us to construct a final version. Obviously, it still needed a bridge section, which is why it ends abruptly after the second chorus. Even after the podcast ended, I wanted to complete the song, but a bridge remained elusive and I moved on.
Fast forward five years to 2020 and police brutality and injustices against Black people continue. Black Lives Matter protests flood the nation’s streets again, and it brought me back to “Lay It On The Line.”
Instead of working from the original “framework” GarageBand file, I decided to rebuild the song from scratch, which resulted in a bit of a key change and some rearranging. I didn’t use John’s guitar riff this time, but it still heavily influenced the verse sections.
In my head, I always thought the bridge would just be a simple breakdown into a solo section before one last chorus. But I could never get it to sound right. Then, I thought about Todd Rundgren’s “Just One Victory” and the “Hold that line, baby, hold that line…” backing vocals, and hit upon a new idea for the elusive bridge.
I decided to incorporate similar melodic backing vocals into the bridge, introducing a key change and some new chords in the process. Suddenly, the simple breakdown section I had envisioned became a bit more complex. But with the bridge complete, I was now able to complete the framework of the song. It’s still really a demo, but the song John and I started writing together nearly five years ago is finally finished, structurally.
bktandem · Lay It On The Line (2020 Demo)
And then, because I wanted to give a nod to that original stripped-down draft recording of the chorus, I also created a “quiet mix” version.
bktandem · Lay It On The Line (Quiet Mix Demo)
LAY IT ON THE LINE
Music by Brian Kelley & John LeMasney
Lyrics by Brian Kelley
Arranged by Brian Kelley
Look all around you
And see what’s at stake
A movement is coming
Which side will you take
Battle injustice
Or stay on the side
Will you stand up and fight
Or will you just run and hide?
Take a look at yourself
Are you doing anything that can help
Take a look in your heart
It’s time that you start doing your part
Life’s not worth living
If you don’t take a stand
And champion the causes
Of your fellow ‘man
Your apathy’s weakness
Your silence a joke
How can you sit there
When the system is broke
Time to wake up your mind
And lay it on the line
Gotta lay it on the line
How can you keep saying
That nothing is wrong
When what’s come to light
Has been like this all along
The shield has been broken
The trust is betrayed
Lives have been stolen
By the system we made
Take a look at yourself
Are you doing anything that can help
Take a look in your heart
It’s time that you start doing your part
Life’s not worth living
If you don’t take a stand
And champion the causes
Of your fellow ‘man
Your apathy’s weakness
Your silence a joke
How can you sit there
When the system is broke
Time to wake up your mind
And lay it on the line
Gotta lay it on the line
Bridge
It’s time to wake up and understand. It’s time to support your fellow ‘man
(Now is the time)
It’s time to step up and do what’s right. It’s time to get up and join the fight.
(For us to understand)
It’s time to wake up and understand. It’s time to support your fellow ‘man
(We must unite)
It’s time to step up and do what’s right. It’s time to get up and join the fight.
(as one common ‘man)
Take a stand
(Instrumental-solo)
Take a look at yourself
Are you doing anything that can help
Take a look in your heart
It’s time that you start doing your part
Life’s not worth living
If you don’t take a stand
And champion the causes
Of your fellow ‘man
Your apathy’s weakness
Your silence a joke
How can you sit there
When the system is broke
Time to wake up your mind
And lay it on the line
Gotta lay it on the line
© 2020 Brian J. Kelley/John W. LeMasney
Hi there. It looks like we’ve come to the end of the road for Technology and the Arts. John LeMasney is venturing off to a whole new way of life — and good luck to him — so that means there will be no new content being produced under the Technology and the Arts brand.
I am hoping to relaunch my Tandem With The Random podcast at some point in the near-future, so you can follow me over there. And every now and then, I’ll post some interesting, relevant items to the TechArts Facebook page and Twitter account. But, after 80 total podcasts and webcasts dating back to December 2006, the era of Technology and the Arts — as an episodic entity — is over.
Thank you to those who have followed us over the years — and to those who were guests on the podcast/webcast. It was truly an honor.
Regards,
Brian
After a month-long hiatus (and then some), John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 10:15 pm ET on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015.
John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 11 pm ET on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015.
After a few weeks off, John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 10:20 pm ET on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.
John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 9:45 pm ET on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015.
John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 9:30 pm ET on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015.
If you are a Google Play music subscriber, you can listen to a playlist of songs influencing Brian at the moment.
John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another season of Technology and the Arts – this time, they’ll take you behind the scenes of the creative process as they plan to collaborate on a music project.
T&A: Technology and the Arts 