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Art & Music for Computer Scientists - Rose Marshack and Rick Valentin

Abstract

The title of this talk is a play on words, referring to the jokes about the "Computer Science for Poets" classes. Our idea is to give a bit of insight into the music industry - and other stuff we've picked up over the years - that you won't learn in school. Our whole method for everything we do adheres to the "DIY Ethic" - the 'Do It Yourself' method of accomplishing your goals.

Participants can expect to hear a little bit about the music industry, a little bit about how to survive financially when you want to pursue your dreams, a little bit about freelancing and how we’re starting to go about getting jobs, a little about how to build your own studio, a little about how to start a record label, put out your own record or CD-ROM, and a tiny bit of our philosophy on "getting ahead by being different."


Biography: Rose Marshack and Rick Valentin

In 1992, Rick and Rose quit steady computer programming jobs (language of choice: 8086 assembler) to go on tour with their rock band, Poster Children, and spent the next 6 years touring the US and putting out records, and declaring proudly "We haven't worked since 1992!" During this time they were interviewed a couple of times on MTV, had 3 of their videos shown; they did a public service announcement for FOX-TV, and they played on the 2nd stage at Lollapalooza.

In 1993 they signed a contract with Reprise/Warner Brothers Records and spent their entire advance building a recording studio and computer lab in their house so they'd be self-sufficient in the future. Their latest release, "RTFM", is an Enhanced CD, programmed by the band themselves.

In 1996, bored with rock, they decided to spring an offshoot of Poster Children, an electronic band called Salaryman, and, wanting complete control of Salaryman records, they put out their first on their own label, 12Inch Records. They found a very effective German independent label called City Slang to distribute Salaryman overseas, and spent the most of the next 2 years (when not on the road as Poster Children) touring Europe as Salaryman. They even played live on a popular French TV-show.

Now, in addition to Poster Children, Salaryman, and 12Inch Records, Rick and Rose run XCO Design, a multimedia company, and have been freelance programming, consulting, and graphic designing for the past 2 years.

Rick and Rose met in Allen Hall, here at University of Illinois, in 1985. They haven't won any awards, but they're really happy.

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Last updated 10.01.98 by Valerie Franek, franek@uiuc.edu.