Artist to Watch - Inaugural Edition - William Giovanni

One of the big points of this blog is to get the word out about good music you might not have heard about.

Enter "Artists to Watch."

Posts with this title will feature artists you may or may not have heard of, and feedback is appreciated!

So for the inaugural entry of "Artists to Watch," it's William Giovanni.

Artist: William Giovanni

Name: Will G Cashaw

Hometown: Johnstown, PA

Current town: Pittsburgh, PA

Music Genre: Hip - Hop

Bio:

In hip hop, bridging the gap from street smarts to book smarts has always been a sort of dangerous move. Until recent years, “street credibility” and education have not often gone hand and hand. But when positive influences in your upbringing consist of family, pastors, and drug dealers – a contradiction may be what the genre needs.

The Johnstown, Pennsylvania native – also known as Will Gee – mixes a slick vocabulary with a renowned style that has gained him fans from all different lifestyles. His most popular song, “Sweet Science,” is a Muhammad Ali themed flurry of lyrics laid to the soulful sounds of a track produced by Brown Bag AllStars producer, The Audible Doctor. The track has been featured on The Audible Doctor’s “The Spread EP”, Kevin Nottingham’s “Please Listen To My DEMOS, Vol. 1”, and most recently William Giovanni’s “The G Tape”.

William Giovanni is currently working with up and coming Pittsburgh artist Mars Jackson, Johnstown artist Biz. He hopes to work with other young artists such as The 58s, Tanya Morgan and The Embassy Music Board in the future.

You can download Will's latest mix tape, 'The G-Tape" HERE for free!

and he can also be found on thepittsburghscene.com

Don't forget to add some feedback for the artist and myself!

Links for William Giovanni:

- Bandcamp

- Dat Piff

- Soundcloud

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Tumblr

Out With The Old....

Ok, it's been a little bit longer than planned since my last post. What can I say, free time isn't what it used to be! Regardless, I believe it's time for a little catch up:

In the last few months, I moved from Saturday nights to Friday nights at Carson Street Live, and now have moved on to bigger and better. Now, you can find me most Saturday nights at Seviche in Downtown Pittsburgh playing Latin/Global house music. It's a great feel with great food and drinks. If you get a chance to swing through, make sure you say hi and take a picture with me! I'll be putting it up on facebook, twitter, and here on the blog from time to time. This leads me to the next update...

I now have a Facebook Fan Page! Check it out here (DJ Ley Facebook Fan Page), show some love, and become a fan! There is also a permanent link on the right side of the blog now. I truly appreciate the support!

About a week ago, my good buddy Flick from 96.1 KISS FM headed down to the Katy Perry show at Peterson Event Center in Pittsburgh. Now I've been to tons of rock concerts and a few electronic concerts, but never a pop show, so I have no idea what to expect. Well, Katy did not disappoint. DJ Skeet Skeet opened up, getting the crowd amped for the main event, and then Katy came out. I ended up having a great time, a few laughs, and even caught the pop star singing a home town favorite (Black and Yellow?). The seats were great, and so was the show. What came next, I didn't expect.

We ended up heading to an exclusive Meet and Greet with Katy! She was so kind and welcoming to the handful of people who came back, and she gave each of us some one on one time. I give her tons of credit, spending time with us after just finishing a full show! Thank you Katy.

If that wasn't enough, a few days later my friends over at Shop 412 added the picture on their website. Thanks to Aaron and Christian!

More coming later today!

Interested in finding out more about the people and places I mentioned in this post? Check out the links below!!

Flick

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Website

96.1 KISS FM

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Website

DJ Skeet Skeet

- Twitter

Katy Perry

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Website

Shop 412

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Website

Snow, Sun, and a Reality Check

So it's been snowing the past few days, which I'm majorly pumped for. I love snowboarding and Skiing so this is definitely a great time for me. I'll be hitting the slopes of 7 springs this coming weekend during the day, and I'll be DJing both nights this weekend.

And now for the sun: This past summer I was lucky enough to be involved with PghRX's Rehab on the Rooftop, which was a sick way to spend a sunday in the warm summer months. I brought my video camera and finally took some time to put a little sample together. Big shout out to all the DJ's that participated, and Digital Dave and Nugget for getting us all involved. Also, PghRX for putting it all together and Clique Vodka for coming through in a big way.

Let me know what you guys think about the video! Trying to improve wherever I can!

And on a more serious note, a good friend of mine Brandon "DJ Bonics" just got out of the hospital today, and I know I speak for our community of friends when I say Thank you, Lord. You can read more about it on Bonics' Blog Here. Thoughts an Prayers go out to him, and hopefully his story can help to inspire others.

Steelers vs Ravens tonight, it should be one heck of a game... But I'm sure we're all looking forward to seeing what Harrison's Tab will be at the end of the night!

Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go!

-Mike

Blogging (pt.1)

OK so, it's been a while since the last post. I know, I know, I need to put more up more often. Well, I'm here to tell you today that that is soon going to happen. I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past few weeks, and over this past weekend it started to hit me: I have no 'Effin' clue what I'm doing! So I got down to it, and I've started thinking about ways to overhaul the WGL blog. I know, there isn't much here, but I've been browsing the web (like everyone else) and been thinking about other blogs and content that I'm interested in and maybe you are too? So I've thought about this: Why not ask you guys and girls? So here it is: What do you guys like to look at on the net? I'm open to all ideas because I want you to be able to connect to the site and see information on what you want to see! Idea's I've had so far:

Music - New Tracks/artists/bands/etc., Played out tracks, up and coming artists/tracks

Media - TV, Video Games, Websites, News, Gossip, Sports

Social - Who's out and about? Who's rocking the latest gear and what is it? What are you getting into? What's your favorite spot (Bar, Club, Gym, Park, Building, Coffee Shop)?

I'm a Pittsburgh guy through and through, so I'm sure that the beginnings of these sections/ideas will revolve around the city, but truth be told, this Blog was created with the intent to expand my horizons as well as provide entertainment for you all. Now I know the chances that someone outside of Pittsburgh is reading this, but if you are, First let me say Thank You, and second, Let your voice be heard!!!

Let me know what you guys think!!!!

Music Is Life, Pt. 1

Music. We hear it everywhere we go. Sometimes we like it, and sometimes we don't, but the undeniable fact is that it's everywhere.

Everywhere.

To some, it's a drug of choice. New music, new sounds, new beats, classics that haven't been heard before or haven't been heard in a long time. Each one creates it's own high to the listener.

Music is one of those things that defines the human experience. We use it for everything. We use it to motivate ourselves. We use it to help lift us up when we are down. We use it to express ourselves when words just aren't enough. It's hard to think of life without music.

Not everyone will like the same kind of music either, and that's what makes it great. I looked at my music library this week, almost 19,000 songs! But the crazy part isn't that if i pushed play at the first song, I wouldn't hear the same track for almost 2 months, it's that I want more.

If you enjoy music, you know it's addictive. You hear a song, and you might not like the rest of the album, but then you might like it and go out and buy all the other records by the same group or artist. I know I've done it, and maybe it's just me.

All I really know is that when either I find new music or someone points out some new stuff to me, there's no greater feeling than just chillin' out and just listening to the music, alone or with friends. Doesn't Matter. In the end, it's all about the music.

Time to fly. More to come on this later...

In the Beginning..

Well, Here it is. My Blog. Dear God, what am I thinking? Wait, that's most likely, what you're thinking. Or maybe you're thinking, 'Who Is this guy?' How Rude of me...Pause. rewind. Go.

My name is Mike Ley (yes, it's pronounced like the potato chips and no, it's not fake). I am a DJ/college grad working in the real world. I live a double life, but not like secret agent double life ( that would be friggin' Bad Ass tho). I work a 9-5 like most (and I use this term as lightly as possible) "adults", all week long doing computery stuff, go out with friends and other DJ's during the week, and on the weekends, I DJ at a club in Pittsburgh, and party with my buds.

So why did I start this Blog? Great question. Still working on the answer. No, seriously, I started this blog because I have some out there ideas and some wild times in Pittsburgh, and other places I travel to for fun and for work.

Oh yeah, there will be big posts on those travels, that I can assure you.

What do I want to get out of this? Nothing, except for getting my thoughts out there and making some new connections (and maybe a little self promotion from time to time). I'm looking forward to responses, ideas, commentary, and shared experiences. Let's just call this whole thing one massive "social experiment within the human experience."

Get it? Got it? Good. Now, I have one last question...

Wanna get Leyed?