![You suck at protoshop. No, you [i]really[/i] oo.](http://blog.gg8.se/images/you-suck-at-photoshop-you-really-do-your-awful.png)
Marty Kraham, aka TV Death Squad is the worst chiptune thief ever
September 19th, 2009Originally published 2009-07-19 and later removed. Republished in 2016 following the news that Marty Kraham has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for having unprotected sex with multiple people while lying about being HIV and Hep C positive, which he was diagnosed with as early as 2007. If you have had sex with Marty Kraham, you should get tested for HIV and Hep C if you haven’t already.
Sources: 2014 chipmusic.org thread, 2016 chipmusic.org thread, News9 news story, Koco news story.
The buzz in the 8-bit community the last 24 hours has been Marty Kraham from Oklahoma, who promotes himself as a chiptune artist under the name of TV Death Squad, but whose whole repertoire seems to consist solely of material from other artists. Here’s a recap of the discussion about him. What started as any Myspace kid uploading Random (Note, the artist known as Random) songs, continued as a successful search for other songs he might’ve plagiarized and ended up as a fruitless attempt to find something about this guy that isn’t fake.
Let’s go through this guy’s merit list.
His Myspace, now empty, contained a number of songs, most jacked directly from 8bitpeoples releases. Here’s a list made by Sycamore Drive. Likewise, his Youtube account no longer exists.
April 16 or thereabouts at Electronic Game Expo 2009, he is “playing live”. Only problem is that the track playing in the background is “Eight Vic Day” by Ten And Tracer from an EP called Dark Before Dawn, released in 2002 on netlabel 8bitpeoples. Download here. The only people playing live in that video are the kids who are playing around with Marty’s effect/noise boxes.
Camera: John Wells
see comments for fraud
These videos were sent to the local production company Above the Bar Productions for editing, about the same time and quite possibly from the same event. The music plagiarized in the first video is “Croatian Love” by artist Mesu Kasumai and the second one is “OK, So The Ninjas Went To Space…,” from Psilodump’s EP Mutiny Of The Robots.
It should be noted that Above the Bar responded quickly and condemned his actions strongly. They’re just a production company that happened to get this tape sent to them for editing.
These two were recorded at Game Core Gaming Convention on September 12. In the first video he makes the mistake of plagiarizing one of the most plagiarized songs in the modern history of chiptune, Random’s Sitge’s Savepoint from Bad Joke EP. His only contribution is to add some very crappy effects on top of the song with the Kaoss Pad in his keytar. He claims that he played it only as a demo to the visuals in his Kaoss Pad, which is a lame excuse since it doesn’t explain why he danced like a wild child, doesn’t explain why he pretended to play on the keyboard and definitely doesn’t explain why he uploaded the uploaded the song to his Myspace and absolutely positively doesn’t explain why there doesn’t seem to be any original material from this guy at all.
In the second video at about 0:35, notive how he picks up his Gameboy, without an audio cable running into it, rocks out for about ten seconds, then probably realizes his mistake and puts it back to rock out with the keytar instead.
The problem here is that people don’t realize that just because people release their music for people to listen to it for free doesn’t mean the music is open for reappropriation. All music on 8bitpeoples is released under a Creative Commons license which permits free listening and redistribution, but (Depending on license flavor) but enforces attribution and restricts the production of derivative works as well as commercial exploitation by 3rd parties.
What is missing (Unless someone downloaded a copy they can mirror) is the video where he’s selling his Prosound DMG. He demos it by playing a SID tune and pretends (badly) to push the buttons in sync with the music. Just as badly as he pretends to play his keytar in those two videos.
What about that keytar btw… That’s the only cool thing about that guy, he ordered a custom made keytar from circuitbender Cosmic Blooper. It consists of a Microkorg XL and a Kaoss Pad on the side.
According to CB’s blog post Marty was in a hurry to get it. My guess is he wanted something to hold in his hands during his big show at GCGC.
So what else…?
LSDj shirts for sale… Hmmm…
Look whose name we have here! Yep, it’s marty again. While I’m sure Johan doesn’t have too much against people selling LSDj shirts, it’s mifts perfectly into Marty’s image as a poser and plagiarist.
(Go look for yourself before while the shop is still there)
And this is how he looks with his custom made keytar. Stereotypically, he looks more like a “tough guy” than a chiptuner. Just look at that pose, priceless!
But there’s one piece missing. When I googled him, I found his Twitter.
His only two tweets are right after each other on April 20, the unofficial stoner day. It’s not a stretch to think that he was high when writing those. (Notice how he writes 4:20 as a time of day, not a date) That’s when I start to draw conclusions about the guy. Probably a bit of a stoner. Basement dweller who lived a little too long with his parents and got a little too much for free. A guy with too much aspiration and dreams of fame, and too little inspiration and skill to match up. A guy who can afford to buy a bunch of effect and noise boxes and video game consoles but doesn’t have a clue how to use them for music, but still don’t want make a fool out of himself in front of his family, friends and fans.
At that point I don’t know if I’m supposed to hate him or feel sorry for him.
Update:
Here’s a conversation between Random and Marty. Judge for yourself.
TV Death Squad
random,ive had the whole world pissed off.. FIRST off i am a VJ, not a musician… i specialize in visuals, i am no different than an 8 bit dj with vocals… i have done nothing but help promote how bad ass your music is and even do visuals over it.. EVERYONE at the event knew who wrote every song, thats why i had the setlist with the artists names !! i can understand why your pissed, but it sincerely is not what you think.. anyways, if you or random or wik are upset ill remove any promo for you guys.. let me know
Random
Hi,I have a hard time believing you because:
1. You are clearly making some sounds in the beginning of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCqzJEA0yw. VJs don’t make sounds as far as I know.2. You have a Game Boy on stage, and you pretend to play with it. Why would you do that if you were a VJ only? You are obviously pretending to play the music.
3. You are listed as a live performing band on the Game Core website (http://www.gamecorecon.com/events.html)
4. You say everyone at the even knew what music you were playing, but some one from the Game Core crew has commented on my website (http://randomizer.se/2009/09/another-music-theft/) saying “If we knew we would not have let him play that is BS.” - and if the organizers didn’t know, I simply don’t believe you when you say “EVERYONE at the event knew who wrote every song”.
5. You had my music uploaded on your myspace profile, and you renamed the tune. So what’s this bullshit about “setlist with the artists names”? Again, if you were a VJ, why would you do that?
6. None of the other videos I’ve found on Youtube or Vimeo have any information of what music is actually played. It really looks like you’re pretending to be the artist in all of them, no matter how I look at it.
To sum it up: things don’t look so good for you in this case. If you still have anything to say in your defence, go ahead, but I doubt it will do anything but make you look even more like a liar.
It’s good that you’ve removed your myspace profile and the videos on youtube, though. “Thanks”.
TV Death Squad
i feel shitty about the whole thing. i took down everything i possibly could of, and have said im sorry to everyone on the list. i didnt intend for
anyone to get this upset. again, i am really really fucking sorry that the the videos were misleading. to answer your ?, the entrancer does both audio
and visuals, that gameboy is a “glitch box”, there was a setlist there at gc. and i didnt rename your song to be a douche, i thought it was called strange place or something.. anyways i have done what i can to try to fix a shitty situation. again im sorry
September 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
after reading your analysis/conclusion, I have realised that pity is probably what i feel for him most. all people that plagiarize, at some point in their life will get a feeling that rips them apart - they are pretending to be something that they could never acheive. all they are doing is battering their own self confidence with a giant hammer, shaped like a microkorg/kaoss pad.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
FIRS- awww…
September 19th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
a stoner with too much money and dreams of fame? hmm. interesting analysis
September 19th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
[...] that’s one way of putting it. Also, Gameboy Genius has made a rundown of the thread at 8BC here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Friday Random/Genius TenSome 80’s Ish [...]
September 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
[...] Gameboy Genius » Blog Archive » Marty Kraham, aka TV Death Squad is the worst chiptune thief ever gameboygenius.8bitcollective.com/wordpress/2009/09/19/marty-kraham-aka-tv-death-squad-is-the-worst-chiptune-thief-ever – view page – cached * Marty Kraham, aka TV Death Squad is the worst chiptune thief ever * SGB bootstrap ROM dumped by Costis * How to patch LSDj to use an inverted palette * Gijs’ Gameboy Camera Animation Converter * mGB with extended MIDI channel support * GBC Prosound idea * LittleFM beta testers needed * What is LittleFM? * Fixing Gameboy-powered Arduinoboy MIDI glitches * Testing Gameboy input voltage ranges * Soup is better than twitter * Arduinoboy for Arduino Pro Mini 5V (PCB giveaway!) * TI-boy SE - A Game Boy emulator for TI calculators — From the page [...]
September 19th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
thanks for writing this.
i’ve been rather pissed off about it actually.
hope he learns something from all of this.
September 19th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Upsetting stuff indeed, but I’m actually very happy right now. With the way this guy has been so THOROUGHLY exposed, and with the way folks he’s performed with have been so THOROUGHLY disgusted by his actions, I’m getting more and more confident that scumbags like this will always, always, ALWAYS be brought to justice.
September 19th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Douchebag. You’re a dime a dozen bro.
September 20th, 2009 at 12:12 am
[...] View post: Gameboy Genius » Blog Archive » Marty Kraham, aka TV Death Squad … [...]
September 20th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Hi, I am a performer and promoter. I recently met Marty a few months back at an event we both were performing at. I had some spare time between some performances of mine and my partner who has been a friend of his even longer took me over to watch and meet him and his bassist he had at the time doing what they do.
As for what he does? well Im discovering alot of misconceptions of who and what people think he is. Im finding alot of disturbing twisting in reputation from others that do not know or understand who and what he is. So lets help clear this up shall we?
Tv Death Squad is a DJ / VJ
Him using music is NO different than any other DJ spinning the vinyls. VJ is VISUAL jockey. Just because he doesnt just stand there and let images on a screen roll doesnt mean he isnt a VJ. His entire appeal is by using weird instruments to do visuals, and plays all genres in his set he mixes in everything from circuit bent
stuff to 8 bit over all kinds of music and occassionally has a bassist or guitarist. He also occasionally brings in a turntablist to help bring that special twist. The music
heard on his myspace page was always different and every show is something new.
He is a DJ/VJ NOT a musician. He presents and books himself as such all over Oklahoma and some other places as well. He’s not out selling all this music as his own. I have personally booked him and never once was I led to believe he was anything more than a DJ/VJ. Hisintruments do more for the visuals than anything else. His supposed “wild child” dancing. Well What I say in that defense is since when was it a crime to get into the music you love? He is purely just enjoying what he does…wouldn’t you?
I have personally seen AND heard his sets..its obvious he is a DJ/VJ…a weird style on how he does it..but a DJ/VJ none the less.I feel that this article is meant to make people believe him to be something he is not. Unless you have personally had a sit down converstation or even been by his side touching his equiptment..then I do not feel you are justified in writing an entire article with all this information. He is not a stoner..he is a great guy with a giant heart. He has helped many friends and promoters and has alot of friends.
I am sure that I can come up with HUGE list of friends and fans alike that agree with me.
Thanks for your time.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I am a professional musician, performer and songwriter. I understand what it is like to hear my voice and my music featured without proper accreditation. This is bound to happen from time to time and there are proper ways to both protect yourself from it and prevent it from happening.
The issue I have with this blog is a personal one since I have seen the talent, love and dedication made by Mr. Kraham to this (in my opinion) ridiculous world of “8 bit.” This man has spent thousands of hours studying, building and applying his raw creativity to TV Death Squad. He has a very broad knowledge base of music and entertainment, is a hell of a guitarist and drummer. He builds furniture and he builds machines. Not only is he a social genius, he also an incredibly beautiful person both inside and out. Marty is ANYthing but a thief.
I take it the person who posted this blog is some jealous nerd with his panties twisted up with nothing better to do than cyber hate. The sad thing is, this community has lost one of its most brilliant artists.
I can see that you have built quite a case against Marty Kraham. But what have you really done for yourself by doing so? With all of your stabs about his personal life and reputation, it is very clear that your intention is only to humiliate him while I truly believe that his intention was to love the music and add to it as much as possible. Art is simply an interpretation and should be a collaborative effort..Not an issue for damming in this matter.
It is NOT illegal to cover other people’s songs in public! And NO you don’t even have to “give credit” in this public setting either. Once a song has been released or performed live, it is only illegal to SELL another persons work without paying royalties. Did he sell your music? Maybe you all should consider that you are committing SLANDER by submitting this one sided information.
It appears that Marty Kraham was a threat to you because maybe you are just too jealous that a good looking, charismatic VJ got attention with “your” music, and you felt the need to get your revenge. I would suggest eating a 2000 kcal diet and beginning an exercise regime as well as plastic surgery and psychotherapy, if necessary. This mode of personal recovery would far better suit your personal agenda rather than falsifying information to build a case against Marty.
You scientists should be so flattered that the likes of Marty Kraham, even incorporated his creative genius into your realm of existence.
Music is not supposed to be self-serving and ego based. Music is supposed to bring people together. Rather than spending your time complaining about Marty Kraham, why don’t you try being appreciative that he found inspiration from your music? Isn’t that what art is about? Aren’t you somewhat happy that the music you’ve composed was featured in a visual concepts show at game core? Why weren’t you there doing it yourself? OH that’s right. You’re too busy destroying the reputation of a good man. SHAME on YOU.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
@Darkkitty: See Random’s list in the update section. Why play whole songs separately? Why stand with a keytar on stage? Why pretend to pick up the Gameboy and play it? Why even have Gameboy on stage? Why weren’t the organizers informed?
To me the obvious answer is to make it appear like he’s playing live. I have no doubt that in his mind, he’s a dj/vj, but I also don’t have a doubt that he won’t cry a river if someone mistakes him for a live artists. I also don’t have a doubt he’s a nice person in general, but that’s besides the point of this argument.
(Foot note: The distinction between stoner and great guy is a false dichotomy. Weed generally makes you a nicer and more calm person, but whoever less prone to take initiatives, which would be consistent with my line of argument. But that’s terribly besides the point.)
September 20th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
@Darkkitty @Moonchild - get a clue…
read the article - it’s called theft and Marty is stealing.
Selling “His” Prosound gameboy? I actually prosounded it for him. It’s called dillusional - and NO ONE is going to get away with it in this scene because we have eachother’s backs - tell him to go rip off some other genre becuase if you do it in this scene or to this scene you are toast. There have been far too many instances of this.
T-O-A-S-T
we’ll burn you on the stake.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:04 am
Let me address a few of the points Moon Child’s comment:
Oh great, then you have some kind of reference point. How do you think it feels for Random? It happens monthly that random kids (no pun) upload his music to myspace and pretend that it’s theirs. At some point you get fed up.
And yes, there are ways to protect oneself, like the Creative Commons license, that the music of Random the others was licensed under. It is very liberal and allows you to spread the music, and depending on license flavour, remix it. But the license also clearly states that you must give attribution to the original artist. Read up on that license.
Great. I’ve never heard his own music or seen his furniture, so I can’t judge him by those things. (All the music on that myspace of his was other people’s music)
Maybe you could point me in the direction so I can listen to his drums or guitar?
First off, he did not “cover” the music, it was pure and blatant playback. (Except a shitty phaser effect at one point, and a kid (! not himself!) playing around with a noise box.
Second the music in question was released under a license, even if it was freely available. See above. What it demands is not royalties, but attribution.
What creative genius? Please point me in the direction of music that he made himself, and I’ll consider it. And the visuals were mediocre at best. Sorry, but I don’t see a creative genius in this guy. A social genius perhaps, I’ll give you that.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:12 am
i will never forget the time i saw marty rock a midi guitar hooked up to an elektron sidstation and take 8 bit requests. i remember sitting there at sauced and marty asked us to throw some songs at him. we had a great time hearing deftones and prince songs being played ala video game!! i have also seen him do visuals on the side of a downtown building using a circuit bent theramin that controlled the visuals. ive seen him use a hacked ti99 and an electribe to play a modem ! YOU PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS to think marty was trying to steal your precious music. he wanted nothing more than to share his love of video games and weird technology. in my humble opinion, marty is one of the most amazing and talented artists in the mid west. its a shame you music-misers don’t appreciate a true asset to your culture or maybe your just confused who he is or what tv death squad is all about.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:21 am
Great! Come back to me when you have a recording of him playing live, be it circuitbent things, MIDI guitar, regular guitar or drums.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:44 am
marty made me alot of cool video game compilations this year, i never heard him say once this is my cd. he introduced me to sabrepulse and falco
he is a great dj and his light shows are awesome
September 21st, 2009 at 1:16 am
Patrick and mrpotatohead, I hope you are the same person, since both the comments come from the same IP address.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:24 am
Holy shit, you people defending TV Death Squad are beyond fucking stupid.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:30 am
wow this dude is a total sociopath. I mean it is obvious that Patrick = mrpotatohead. lol same IP too. thanks Nitro this has been rich. love the post.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:36 am
Marty will be patting himself on the back no matter what he does. He is a perfect candidate for prison.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:41 am
As mentioned, patrick and mrpotatohead are posting from the same IP. He as well as Darkkitty and Moon Child are all posting from Oklahoma IP’s. I believe at least one of them are Marty himself, possibly all of them.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:16 am
Learn how to use a Proxy server reject.
If i ever see you… i will kick your ass.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:47 am
Some people need to get a fucking clue… His visuals aren’t even that good.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:36 am
I have not seen him do anything at all!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 am
Heya, I made the Keytar for marty and had a lot of fun doing so.
I previously sold him a bent TI-99 for visuals…I can only assume he used it for VJ content.
As a few other posters have pointed out, he’s a DJ. I know this because he told me if i didnt get the keytar done in time that he was going to DJ without it.
In my experience, DJs don’t usually give credit to to artists while they’re playing live.
Also, I think it would be safe to assume that given the gear he was using, it would be difficult to compose such a rich sounding track in a live setting like that.
Yes, the keytar is slightly misleading. Yes, it’s obvious Marty likes to put on a little show and have fun.
But despite how much effort he may or may not have put into the set, I’d still rather watch his show than a lot of the shitty macbook DJs I’ve seen in the past few years.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 am
I’m going to put my two cents in here, even though this doesn’t concern me at all (hooray internet).
Cosmic Blooper, you are attributing a level of technical knowledge to the audience that just does not exist.
Even among electronic music fans, many people are completely unaware of the difference between a DJ and a producer. How can you expect average, uninitiated people to look at a guy with a keyboard and not assume that he had something to do with the music that’s being performed?
This whole thing just strikes me as sad, because I feel like if people like Marty would just embrace some kind of role, things could be different. I don’t think any chip musician would be upset if a DJ wanted to play their tracks, or if a VJ wanted to use them for a live performance. This music is critically underrepresented. Most people (not all, but most) would be absolutely flattered, even if the performance consisted of a DJ trainwrecking two of their tracks together whilst flailing around.
No, the problem is that Marty has consistently and blatantly misrepresented himself. And that’s sad, because I feel like there’s really room for artistic expression in the kind of territory he’s been stumbling about in; whether that’s live visuals, mixing chiptunes, or just flailing about on stage and pressing knobs.
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
“…It is NOT illegal to cover other people’s songs in public! And NO you don’t even have to “give credit” in this public setting either. Once a song has been released or performed live, it is only illegal to SELL another persons work without paying royalties….”
Please read about creative commons license before you say this things.
If Marty is a great artist ( i have no doubt that anyone can be) then he will come up with this, and kick our asses with his amazing stuff. He have just done the opposite; he has deleted his social network live streaming, and deleted all his videos. Please tell us when we can hear/see his stuff. We all want to forgive about this. And respect him, if he allows us.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
lol
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
It’s actually upsetting that people are defending Marty. From claiming that he was covering the songs when he had actually stolen then and played back the original songs, to claiming that he was just a DJ/VJ when he had uploaded the original songs to his myspace and changed their names.
As many stated, a Creative Commons license demands you credit the original artists. It’s not possible to receive royalties on something that the original artist has given away for free.
Professional musicians or not, the people who have left posts defending them need to read up on Creative Commons and actually go and read these blog posts stating what he has done. If the people putting on the events (GameCon who commented on Random’s myspace and Sauced, a venue Marty was set to play at that I personally contacted and had correspondence with) took issue with his theft, surely that in some way proves what he claimed to do was in someway misleading.
I think that while you lot believe he was promoting the music, he was actually cheapening it by “performing” it in front of unsuspecting audiences.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I compose chip style tunes and have a Chiptunes Composers group on Facebook. It takes me on average 100 hours to make one song, plugging every note and parameter. If I saw someone using my song like that, I would be furious. It is typical of capitalism - stand on the shoulders of giants and use their work for profit. However, I am also an entertainer, and most bands these days perform with backing tracks (for a variety of reasons), and my bands are no different. But this is not the same as playing recognizable songs - these chiptune songs are so obscure to the average audience that the immediate conclusion is “Wow, this guy’s stuff is really good.” Why else would he have all of those consoles lined up? I mean, I don’t think the guy necessarily deserves to be gulag’ed, but I feel like he was perhaps taking advantage of, well, a market that can’t afford to be screwed out of what little notability they have. And by the way, whoever said royalties don’t have to be paid for performing other people’s music live is WRONG - the venue (usually club, hotel) has to pay publishing royalties to BMI and ASCAP to have bands perform cover material. If they are not paying publishing money, they can be sued for $30,000 per SONG PERFORMED.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I do think that the guy has gotten what he deserved. But he did purposely delete everything, wiped himself off the map. That says a lot - I don’t think most people would do that, at least the type of people I know that shamelessly self-promote.
If he can come back and work with the community to make his own music, he could be forgiven. We all have to start somewhere, he just happened to start on a very, very bad road.
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Nah… fuck him. ZERO TOLERANCE. do you see how many fucks have been stealing shit? i’m sick of it. Don’t try to be a nice guy. This dude is a prick and i’d have to hold myself back from punching him in the face if i saw him. I know this scene is supposed to be full of nice ppl and everyone is supposed to be all cool with eachother, but these ppl cheapen the whole genre. Seriously, stop the mr. niceguy bullshit ppl. The more we say… you can come back to the scene and make music, the more these jerks are going to take advantage of us. ZERO FUCKING TOLERANCE FOR THIEVES. I am pissed because i was booked with Laromlab one time. The bastard tried to sell me a cd for god sakes. I would have bought it if i had the cash on me. This guy Marty tried to be my friend, tried to text me, and wanted to hang out to legitimize his thievery. Not cool. Not cool at all. I’m all for being mature… but sometimes being mature means protecting yourself and your art. Sometimes that might entail some threatening. Stop being wusses ppl - this guy is stealing and i for one have had enough. NO MORE. This guy and everyone after him goes down.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I met this guy at GameCore Con. I had a press pass, so he was eager to talk to me. He gave me a shirt and “his” CD, and I think he wanted me to take a picture of myself in his shirt? Or something? (I had a camera on me, to cover the event) He wasn’t too clear, but when I searched him afterwards I found this.
Also, I’m pretty sure he told me that he made the keytar himself. He said something about how he likes building unusual instruments. I dunno, overall, I wasn’t too impressed with him. Rather glad I didn’t follow up!
October 4th, 2009 at 6:55 am
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents from my Oklahoma IP. Anyone defending him as an Oklahoman is either him or a close friend. As soon as I heard about this a few weeks ago I informed my friends in both OKC and Tulsa. All of them shocked and disappointed. These friends included area musicians, promoters, and dj/vjs. Everyone was under the impression he built his own gadgets, everyone was under the impression he played his own material, everyone was under the impression he was anything but a fraud. Why? Because THATS WHAT HE TOLD THEM.
The OKC and Tulsa scenes are small. Everyone knows just about everyone and if your out in either city you run into about same faces you see the weekends prior. News travels fast and most people know he is a fraud. So if you have any OK IPs popping up defending him, take it like a grain of salt and sprinkle it on the plate of bullshit where it belongs.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:12 am
As I’m sure many of you are aware, Marty is registered to play at the upcoming Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition on the 24th. The OVGE e-mail account was bombarded with e-mail telling me all about Marty and his performances.
As the organizer of this event, It was my responsibility to e-mail Marty and ask for his side of the story and to inform him of what I had been told and seen in videos.
In a nutshell Marty will still be coming to the OVGE as a DJ/VJ and has stated to me in e-mail he will do original material.
I send this message so that everyone here knows his intentions and my awareness of his past. In addition, I will also note that while what Marty was doing was wrong, I will also NOT TOLERATE any actions against him or the event due to his performing there given he has stated to play original material at the event.
Feel free to send me e-mail if you have any questions or additional concerns I can address.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Like Jessica K, I was at GameCore, but I was a vendor. Marty gave out a few CDs of what he called “HIS music”. The crowd was also under the impression that the music there was being performed live. The music was rather good, and a lot better than a lot of music of similar genre. He never let anyone know that the music was NOT his.
Also, he came up to me and showed off his keytar. He informed me that “I build all my own equipment,” which I found rather impressive. Now apparently, the custom-built piece of equipment that he lugged around all day was NOT his own design. Cosmic Blooper, I would be a little annoyed that he’s trying to take credit for your work.
Also, the visuals for his performance were rather lacking. For a few songs in a row, the only visuals that were being shown had the appearance of being severely glitchy. They would blank out and then back on, but were never clear. Marty failed to notice this for numerous songs. For someone who professes to be a “visual DJ” or whatever he’s calling himself, that’s something that I would think would be slightly important.
One other thing: He’s from OKLAHOMA??? When he came up to me and talked to me about things, including other performances in the area, he told me he was from BOSTON. That’s a slight difference, I’d say.
Granted, his performance was significantly better than any of the other musical acts that day. I wouldn’t even mind hearing him work again. However, I would say that he’s showing a marked propensity for what is simply lying and he’s misleading both the fans and the staff at events he goes to. If he promotes himself as an 8-bit DJ/VJ, that’s fine. But if he continues to claim that he’s a musician, that’s offensive to other musicians. Honesty goes a long way, but dishonesty goes a lot further once it’s found out.